It was a dark and stormy morning. The sun was long from showing up. Lexy didn't wake up to the crash of thunder. No, she woke up to the sound of barking.

Lexy groaned,

“Ugh fine I’m up, happy?”

The barking ceased and she got dressed into her uniform and equipped her mech and knives.

Lexy walked out of her room and headed to the bathroom to take her medication then swiftly returned to Varikin. She took a deep breath and then let it go. It didn't do much to ease the tension. Instead, the thick feeling of tension bound into her skin. Like a tightening cord, it felt as though it could cut off circulation, but it didn't. She nodded to Varikin,

“Come on.”

He nodded and the duo headed downstairs. No one is out yet. This lets Lexy breathe easily.

The duo then left the mansion and entered the dark forest. Put a hand on Varikin and closed her eyes. She opened them and the duo was now in reality. They stand on side of a plateau with the rebellion doorway to her left. Varikin turned into his ferret form and hopped onto her shoulder. While Lexy looked around to see Jackson hand Talo a mech. He looked over and saw Lexy,

“oh good you’re here and you’re already ready to go. Good, since that’s everyone, let's head to the launch area”

Jackson and the squad of wonder wolf pairs walk up a rock path that opened up to the top of a plateau launch aria. To Lexy’s and Varikin’s surprise, the whole plateau was filled with rebels ready for takeoff.

Fendres and Alcore looked at the new arrivals,

“Alright, that’s the wonder wolf squad. That everyone. The first battalion is prepared for takeoff!”

Varikin without a word hopped into Lexy’s bag and she turned her mech to normal and turned it on as everyone turned on theirs and they took off.

******

Mic, the director of the play, was sipping some of his tea. Still drowsy from the stress of the play.

“Hey Mic, nice job on the trapeze artists but why are they on the rafting?”

Mic turned to his co-director giving a face of confusion,

“What trapeze artists?”

The young cat beast-blooded co-director pointed at the rebels on the rafters,

“those”

Mic spitted out his tea and dropped his cup,

“Those are intruders, and the king is in danger!”

What two guards were supposed to be in the same room were now knocked out and tied up at the door. Standing by the two guards was Jennie spear in hand. The two directors put their hands up in surrender knowing they don’t stand a chance.

The squads go into faze two and connect all the door handles with a wire and then Fendres handed Jennie the end of the cord,

“if you do me the honor?”

Jennie smirked,

“oh of course.”

She said with sarcastic delight blue electricity surges from her hands when she holds the cord. Alcore then gave the signal to cut the audio.

The crowd of nobles began to whisper with worry. Alcore then gave the signal for the two squads up on the rafters to hop down and the squads at the windows to leap through and make their dramatic entry by shouting,

“for today!”.

The actors on the stage flee in terror and hide.

Alcore and Lexy along with Jennie, Jackson, Leo, and Kuma accompanied by a few others all walk onto the stage.

Leo hands Alcore a microphone,

“I 1.2.3 testing alright I will tell you this once and only once this is not part of the show but does not be alarmed we are not here to kill anyone and if you are wondering about yourself your highness no not here to kill you.

In Fact, all of your soldiers are all safe and knocked out, and back to the question probably on everyone’s mind. Who are we and maybe why we are here? Well, I will gladly tell you we are the doves and we are here to state our demands to the king.”

Alcore turned his direction to the blood king in a booth with a Butler but the king’s attention is not entirely on Alcore it is also on Lexy who has her gaze on him with a smirk as she mouths to him silently “my move”

Alcore with a smirk on his face continued,

“Our demand is simple. Be a real king before I come in to replace you. ”

The audience looked up at the king for a response. The blood king stood up,

“ I would like to see you try”

Alcorn shrugged,

“Very well if we don’t see change, we will come for you and we will capture or most likely end you. You must understand we will prevail with or without you”

And with that, the doves left as soon as they appeared.

The blood king watched the rebels leave and smirked when he leaned into a communication device,

“I told you they would come. Now tell me what do the observers have for us?”

The other end came to life,

“you know that trade town up north in the intersection of the two rivers?”

The blood king noded,

“You mean Charter?”

The other line comes back to life,

“yea there hiding there.”

This was music to his ears,

“Perfect ready the troops we have some exterminating to do.”

****

Lexy sighed when she took off her helmet and put it in her bag with her mech and equipment. Lexy put on her bag and Varikin hopped onto Lexy’s shoulder,

“That was interesting.”

Lexy nodded “did you see the look on the noble's face? That was funny.”

Varikin noded “That I did.”

Lexy looked to Varikin a shadow fell over her face, “We still have a good seven hours before sunset. I have a promise to keep. I'll understand if you don't want to help me.”

Varikin raised a brow,

“What did you promise?”

Lexy looked to the distant desert and then pulled out a cloak from her bag and put it on,

“To find Callum and they went missing on tax day. No, they weren't taken by the soldiers. I should know. So I'm going to be investigating missing kids. That kind of stuff.”

Varikin looked to Lexy,

“Sure, where are we going to start though?”

Lexy put a hand on Varikin’s scruff while she closed her eyes,

“Charter.”

Lexy opened her eyes and the two were now in the streets of the dusted city. She began walking along the streets taking time to listen as people passed by when Lexy noticed it. The particular cart she saw in the black market was covered in vines and led by a deer fox.

Lexy walked up to it and the salesmen looked to her with wide eyes,

“Oh, hello little one, what are you doing here?”

Lexy frowned,

“I'm looking for information. Have there been missing children lately?”

The salesman hummed his wolf ears flicked a bit,

“Well, there have actually. I've seen some people plead to the church for assistance on the matter since the royal guard hasn't made much headway on the problem. The church is just over there.” he pointed to a large white building with stained glass.

Lexy tilted her head,

“So who has been taking the kids?”

The salesmen shrugged,

“If I could guess it would have to be those crazy people that hop on the roofs at night. They had haunting orange eyes.”

Lexy narrowed her eyes and pulled out a small notebook and pencil from her bag writing the info down,

“ Do you know any more about these crazy people?”

He shook his head,

“no, but it may be worth asking the white sword what they know.”

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Lexy nodded,

“Thank you for your assistance.”

Lexy walked away and headed to the church building he had pointed to. It was when Lexy got closer with Varikin by her side that she noticed the stained glass depicted a woman with blue hair and white clothes with golden accents.

Lexy looked to Varikin,

“Hop on my soldier.”

Varikin nodded, turned to his ferret form, and hopped onto her shoulder. He then hid in her hood peering out.

Lexy entered the church and was immediately surrounded by white-cloaked figures,

“State your business to the church.”

Lexy pulled off her hood,

“I'm here about the missing children.”

The guards were about to say something when Azriel came in,

“what is going -”

He stopped once he saw Lexy.

“Oh, hello, what do you need?”

Lexy looked to Azriel,

“I'm investigating the missing children.”

Azriel hummed,

“The missing children. Ah yes, the children that weren't taken by the guard but still taken. The reports say they were taken in the middle of the night. Very few witnesses but a few of our soldiers have found the thieves outpost.”

Lexy narrowed her eyes,

“and where is this outpost?”

Azriel tilted his head,

“and why should I tell you this?”

Lexy frowned,

“Well, now that I know there is an outpost. I'm just going to find it on my own.”

Azriel raised a brow,

“Are you saying you would be willing to find them on your own?”

Lexy petted Varikin’s furr,

“Yes, yes I would.”

Azriel hummed his tail flicked back and forth irritation clear in his expression,

“Then I believe we could work together instead of going alone. I and a few others will assist with this.”

Lexy scratched Varikin’s chin,

“And when are you going to attack?”

Azriel smirked,

“Today actually we were going to leave within the hour. You can come if you have a ride.”

Lexy stopped petting Varikin and glanced at him. Varikin nodded and Lexy looked back to Azriel,

“Sure.”

Lexy and Varikin headed out of the church and watched when the other church members came out with tiger horses. Azriel looked to Lexy,

“You have a ride?”

Lexy nodded and looked at Varikin. Varikin hopped off her shoulder and transformed into his giant wolf form. He laid down for her to get on. Lexy got on Varikin’s back and looked to Azriel,

“Yes, yes I do.”

Azriel sighed in defeat,

“Very well.”

With that Azriel clicked at the horse and they began their ride. Lexy hung onto Varikin on the journey she learned something you hold on with legs, not arms or you fall off.

The ride was an hour-long. They slowed when they had begun to approach a large canion that had bridges in the upper parts of the rock. Lexy noted how there were random large patches of glass. She narrowed her eyes at another patch while Azriel raised his paw,

“Be ready.”

Lexy heard movement across the rocks and she looked up to the top of the rocks to see a whole hoard of dutch lizards. They all had haunting orange eyes. However, Lexy found it strange that the beasts had yet to attack.

Lexy quickly loaded her bow with an arrow and set her gaze back on to the entrance of the canyon. She glared when she saw Albis with his hood down and two others behind him. He smiled at Lexy,

“So we meet again, guardian.”

Lexy glared at Albis and then smiled at the electrical scar over his face,

“I see you survived Alvagorian, it's a shame he could have had your ears match.”

It was Albis who now glared at Lexy and then his gaze set on Azriel. His eyes widened in fear yet he clenched his fists in anger,

“Azriel.”

Azriel only tilted his head to the side a bit,

“Albis, tell me how is this going to play out?”

Albis gave a wicked grin that,

“With you dead!”

Albis turned to the two others,

“Do it”

Their eyes widened,

“But sir-”

Albis interpreted them with an angry shout,

“JUST DO IT!”

They nodded and disappeared. Albis looked back to the group and snapped his fingers while he turned away. The royal dutch Lizards leaped in for the attack. The creatures snarled and barred their teeth while they unsheathed their claws.

Lexy watched the tiger horses snarl and unsheathed claws of their own. Their riders pulled out what weapons they had and began to fight the lizards.

Lexy swiftly pulled back her bowstring, took aim, and fired. The arrow flew through the air and hit one of the monsters right in the eye. Varikin leaped at an incoming beast biting straight for its throat. Lexy tightly held onto his back for dear life.

When suddenly what had looked to be flower petals whizzed through the air and the monsters fell dead. Azriel growled,

“Come, we must move on, the children are at stake here.”

Varikin calmed down and the group entered the canyon. Upon entrance, they felt the ground rumble and the wind pick up. Lexy looked to the sky to see sand swirling and frowned. Despite it, the group continued until the canyon ended at a cave with torch illuminated lighting. Azriel eyed the cave,

“It would be better if we left the tiger horses here”

The others of the group nodded while Lexy hopped off Varikin. Varikin turned into his normal wolf form. Lexy readied her bow while Azriel grabbed a torch while they went down the cave.

The ground rumbled again and the ceiling of the cavern began to crumble. Lexy’s eyes widened,

“GO!”

The group rushed out of the collapsing cavern and looked in awe when it opened up to a huge cavern with crystals. The crystals glowed a haunting orange while the only other light was emanating from the torch Azriel was holding. Through the dim lighting, she could hear the sound of children crying when the ground rumbled again.

Lexy looked to Azriel,

“Get the kids out of here, I'm going to stop the earth from shaking.”

Azreil raised a brow,

“But it’s the earth.”

Lexy shook her head,

“No, it’s not. Now GO!”

Lexy looked to Varikin,

“Come on!”

Varkin nodded and the two went down a cave to their right. When they went down it the ground didn't just rumble. Lexy heard the ever-familiar roar of Alvagorian. Lexy quickened her pace. She heard the sound of chains shaking and then Lexy saw why, when she entered a gigantic cavern that had seven immense arches. Each arch had a huge chain that was tethered to Algavorian.

Algavorian’s once blue eyes were both now a haunting orange. His entire body was coated in dark wispy energy. Albis walked up a set of stairs that led to a deck in front of the dusted wendigo. When he did he put on a dark metal helmet that let his own set of haunting orange eyes glow. He held in one hand a bladed spear and glanced at Lexy.

Albis smiled and looked at Alvagorian. The dusted wendigo lowered its head revealing it had a saddle attached to its lower neck. Lexy’s eyes widened and she looked at the cave. She felt her blood go cold,

“The others won't make it if we battle here.”

She looked to Varikin,

“Hang on to me.”

Quickly Varikin turned into his ferret form and hopped onto her shoulder. Lexy dashed toward Algavorian and Albis while she put her hand out. The second she touched Alvagorian she thought of the open fields in the veil.

The storm was still raging and the only light was the lightning crackling off the storm and the haunting orange light that seeped from Albis’s and Algavorian’s eyes.

Albis’s eyes widened and then he smirked,

“I see the tale is true, you really are a hero of Discord’s making. You are the guardian.”

He sighed as if he finally found peace in the world. But as all peace, it never lasts forever and he gave out crude laughter when he tightened the grip on his spear. While Algavorian began to take in a deep breath, lightning crackled from the beast's mouth. Through the sound, it was near to impossible to hear Alibis but Lexy clearly heard the following dialogue.

“You're a hero right? THEN DIE LIKE ONE!”

Lexy’s eyes widened while she quickly began to run,

“Varikin, let's kick this lizard’s but!”

Lexy focused her energy on Varikin while he leaped into the air and he transformed into his Nevermore form. Quickly Lexy grabbed onto Varikin’s back. This let them barely escape the bolt of lightning from Alvagorian.

Varikin took to the skies while the rain fell in sheets and the lightning crackled like the drums of war. Lexy could see nothing but darkness until a lightning bolt struck. Varikin glanced back at her when he circled Algavorian.

“Any ideas on how to beat this guy? You don't have any splitter arrows and I know you can't see well in the dark as I can.”

Lexy looked at her father's knife and an idea hit her. She pulled off her hoodie and took out her father's knife.

“Alright, do you know how a bird of prey dives down?”

Varikin nodded,

“I do.”

While Lexy tore a long strip of fabric off her hoodie she blindfolded herself. She tightened her grip on her father's knife.

“Great, I need you to do it to this big lizard. But I'm going to hop off when you head down. ”

Varikin dodged a lightning blast from Alvagorian,

“Alright, I just hope you know what you're doing, hang on!”

Varikin pushed against the air and began to go higher, and higher. Until he entered the very clouds of the thunderstorm. Lexy held on to dear life when Varikin even went past the clouds. Lexy felt harsh winds blow at her and her heart skipped a beat as varikin dived down.

It was like a rollercoaster, she’s reached the point of no return on the ride. Lexy focused on spreading her magic out to use the technique Jackson had taught her and she could see the magic flow through Algavorian. Lexy also noticed how one of the wounds from her splitter arrows was on Algavorian’s shoulder.

Lexy watched when Varikin swiftly approached Algavorian, readied his claws for an attack, and clashed with the beast.

Lexy quickly took the opportunity when she saw it and leaped off Varikin toward Algavorian’s shoulder. She raised her blade in the air when the lightning crackled and the thunder roared in her ears. Albis watched in awe when her father's knife glowed such a vibrant purple that it looked like a sword.

Lexy pushed the blade into the same point one of her arrows struck, she focused on her magic spreading. Albis’s eyes widened,

“You're not supposed to be able to do that!”

He frantically looked around as the black magic spread over Algavorian who was shrieking like a dying rabbit. Quickly Albis slid off the dying beast and watched as it turned to dust with a crackle of energy. leaving only a giant scorch mark in the land.

Albis stared quietly at the scorch mark while Lexy was caught by Varikin. Varikin quickly landed in front of Albis and looked to Lexy,

“What do we do with him?”

Lexy slid of Varikin,

“Ask him if he knows where Callum is.”

Lexy walked up to Albis and he eyed her chain scars with a wicked grin that pushed against his cheeks,

“Dear what pretty scars you have.”

Lexy stopped and narrowed her eyes,

“What would you know about these? I've had them since I can remember.”

When Albis reached for his spear, he laughed, but as Varikin growled, he halted. Albis eyed Varikin and then Lexy a sly knowing glint in his eyes,

“I know not just about your scars.” He laughed maniacally,

“I know who gave you the scars. Spoilers they are someone you miss very much.”

Lexy glared having enough she looked to Varikin

“ I vote to take him to the rebels. After all, he is also one of the general's right hands.

Varikin noded and changed to his human form. Lexy handed him her blindfold and they used it to tie Albis’s hands together. Lexy then put a hand on Varikin while Varikin had a hold on Albis.

Lexy closed her eyes and thought of the rebellion's cafeteria. She opened her eyes and Varikin kicked Albis away,

“Quick! it’s Albis's right hand of one of the blood king’s generals!”

Albis’s eyes widened when the whole cafeteria went for him as if he was dinner for the wolves. Lexy wiped the blood from her mouth,

“Alright let’s head home bud.”

Varikin nodded and Lexy placed a hand on his shoulder. Lexy closed her eyes and when she opened them she was in front of the mansion. Lexy looked to Varikin who was now in his wolf form.

The two-headed up to the building and entered the mansion. Lexy and Varikin entered the mansion to see Thokath talking on the phone again,

“uh yes, I understand very well call you later.”

The phone clicked and Thokath turned back to Lexy and smiled,

“high kido are you going to eat dinner with us today?”

Lexy gave a tired smile,

“you know why not.”

Thokath looked at Lexy and her tattered state. Worry was in his eyes but he sighed in defeat. Frustration replaced worry. It was clear she wasn't going to tell him today either.

“Good to hear that I had the maids make pie.”

Lexy raised a brow,

“you really love that stuff, don’t you?”

Thokath nodded,

“yes, yes I do.”

The three enter the dining room. Lexy smiled when she saw everyone sitting at the table. She took a seat next to Carin while Varikin headed to his food bowl.

The butlers come in and set food in front of everyone. Lexy turned to the butler “thank you.”

He merely nodded and left

Lexy eats her food quickly and then heads to bed.