Enya felt the strong arms of her husband encircling her as if to protect her from the gut-wrenching pain. Hadrian continued her story, while she silently sobbed listening to the deep vibrating voice through his chest.

"We didn't directly teleport to my home. But, stopped at Fayfox town, to see whether anyone was following us. When we went home, they had already fixed Eiden's armor. We found them alright, and no one had tried to attack Eiden.

But, we decided to leave as soon as possible. Ravik preferred to join us, and also my father's butler, bodyguard, and one of his apprentices. Shouldn't have taken that bastard" he growled in anger.

"Dray," Enya smacked lightly on his hand. Enya hated him the same as Hadrian, but she didn't approve of his choice of words.

"We started packing because we had only essentials. Especially if we're going to the fallen city, there's a need for many protection amulets and concealers. Mother was absolutely right, it wasn't even an hour after our arrival that we felt the wards breach, even though they will hold the outsiders a good many hours before coming to the house, we didn't want to risk a fight."

Hadrian looked at his father with a slight smile.

"Lucky for us, my father is paranoid, and there were quite a few secret ways to leave. We left for one of our hunting cabins. It was like hide and seek, going there only gave us a head start. We heard Mother was assassinated that night. Contacting anyone from the Palace was risky, considering everyone close to us might be under surveillance.

We didn't want to expose Star to the dark magic in the fallen city. We left him with my father and went there, but the place was heavily guarded. It took us like over three months, finally to get into that place only to find it empty. You were taken somewhere.

Then, master Alfred started developing a sequence to connect your key to ours. Meanwhile, we found that there might be connections to the black dragons in the ancient Sangona.

We found a Craig guide to go to the Sangona. The master's calculations showed that the distance was enough to pick up a magical signal coming from the key.

We didn't know that Ricardo, Father's Craig apprentice, had sent the word to rebels or the imperial league. While at the Sangona, working to use the sequence, we were attacked. I don't know how that explosion happened, but the portal opened connecting Enya's part of the key, and Enya was sucked into it instantly.

The pull was irresistible. While being sucked into that, I threw a blast of my own, I wanted to throw Ravik and Star out, who were standing further away from the portal. I didn't see what happened, because I also fell in.

Later when we woke up, except for Star, all the adults were in the shadow dimension.“ Hadrian stopped to see Enya. It was hard to recall the ordeal. The fear they felt when they found only Star was left outside, alone and possibly hurt.

"It was horrible to find all of us there except him," Enya said in a quivering voice.

"I was thrown back a few feet when Master Hadrian hit us, but I couldn't escape. The young master was standing just by my side, I didn't even see what happened to him, the portal magic was very strong." Ravik added.

Enya started describing their experience.

"We fell near the mountain you mentioned, very close to a field of hot water pools. Don't know for how long we were unconscious. Hadrian and Ravik woke up first. Derik, Father's bodyguard, and I woke up next, but Father and master had gotten shocked by the explosion and didn't wake up for quite some time.

Ricardo, and Chilli, the Craig guide, had also fallen there. Uncle Mel, Father's butler was staying at the camp, as we heard later, he was either killed or taken away by our attackers.

We were all shaken, and weak by the shock of the explosion, so we tried to find a place to rest. We didn't know that the plant's thorns were poisonous, but we tried to avoid them anyway. After passing the pools, there was a group of large boulders. At first, we thought to rest among the boulders. It was luck that we stumbled over the cave entrance.

We realized this was the shadow dimension. But, we knew absolutely nothing about it other than it can corrupt people. It didn't take long for Chilli, I think it was because he was injured by thorns.

We started adding protections around the cave, and still with two of our people unconscious, we told everyone not to go out unnecessarily to avoid any more injuries.

We weren't aware that Chili had walked out, and when we found out, we couldn't ignore it. Dray and Ravik went out searching for him, only to see that he wandered to the hot spring field.

You weren't there too long to see, but there must be fissures in the pool bed because hot water shoots out from time to time. Water seemed to be boiling like in the pools and shooting high up into the air like sprinklers.

They saw him burn, more like he was standing under the hot water and wasn't trying to move. They called, but he just fell into the pool after the burning. Dray and Ravik came back and told everyone to stay inside

After Father and Master woke up, we tried to find a way back. Also, we took turns to go out as pairs, trying to look around and found there was a sea around us, but didn't know what lay ahead, and had no means to cross.

Another thing was food and water. We tried boiling water. Water however tasted extremely foul, and none of us had a lot of food with us. Of course, we had our survival emergency packs, but being outside for a long while, none of them were stocked full.

So, we rationed our food. Then at one point, while Dray and I were away, Ravik and master were outside trying to find a suitable magical site for another portal sequence he developed. Father was staying inside because when the explosion hit, father got a cracked rib. We limited him walking too much, and Derik was there to help him.

Ricardo had attacked Derik when Father was sleeping trying to steal food, and when Father woke up, Father attacked him. And subdued him.

He was snarling like a wild animal and confessed that he sold us. He actually tried to get Eiden before. We didn't realize, but we didn't leave Eiden alone for more than a few minutes. Once he tried to take Eiden out, but Eiden wanted others to come as well and he dragged Hadrian along with Ricardo to see the village.

I think it's not completely Ricardo's fault, though I hate that guy, but I think he was too vulnerable to dark magic influence. He had this bubbling hatred for Nesols because his family was wronged by Nesols, years back.

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The dark magic had made him too strong. A little later, he attacked and killed Derik and ran away before we caught him. Then he continued to attack us. It was he who injured both father and Dray. Since Dray is the strongest in the group, I think shadows influenced him to attack Dray as much as possible.

We found the water was also making people sick, and both Father and Master got weakened without much food and their magic constantly trying to deal with the dark magic that comes with drinking water.

Then Ricardo got both Dray and Ravik while they were outside. Ravik managed to get Dray into the cave, well Ricardo was killed there. I don't know how long it was, I guess like three days or so. We didn't leave the cave at all.

After some time, Dray became completely incoherent and then fell unconscious, Father was already unconscious and Master was more or less incoherent. Ravik's wound also was infected, if Dray passed from a feverish to cold state, there would be no cure. I thought we weren't going to survive.”

Enya had to stop her story for a long moment, it was harder to think now her son was going through the same situation.

"The..the reason we couldn't believe it was Eiden, was because more than once, a lot of times, something like Eiden tried to lure us away. I once almost followed a thing that looked like Eiden and acted like him. You were just in time."

Enya smiled at three young creature people who were now staring at them with widened eyes and horrified expressions.

For a moment, there was complete silence in the room. Everyone seemed extremely distressed by the said events.

"We..we can go and get Eiden again?" Nub asked in between sniffles.

"It's not like before I'm afraid." Stravros sighed before looking at them sadly.

"This pocket dimension was an empty space when we created it, but shadows had altered it adding realistic features. But, they can change them at will.

It has booby traps like cliffs, canyons, hot springs, and poisonous thorns that we know now. After one intrusion, it might have changed because the traps didn't work and you escaped.

You had a link to find Enya. Your trip already affected the dimension. It'd be a blind search, and it can be much more hostile this time." He looked grave.

"I don't care, I'm not going to let Star die in the hands of those bastards." Hadrian snapped.

"Easy, young man. We need to think of a way to find him, blind charging will cause only the loss of our people." Hadrian's father said with disciplinary firmness.

"My lady," Ierma turned to Enya.

"Was it Lord Elvin, the mastermind of this?" Seemed like it was a question everybody wanted to ask as their eyes turned to see Enya.

"Frankly, Ierma, I don't know. Cousin Elvin going this deep into the dark, I can't believe." Enya said. Hadrian interrupted.

"Puh, it's him, he tried grooming Eiden for the title and matched the kid with his daughter." he spluttered in anger. Enya too felt horrifically disgusted. How could they use this naive child and his own daughter?

"What are we going to do now?" Master Alfred asked. He was lying in a reclining position, similar to Hadrian's father. They were still very weak. Hadrian's magic felt tense and emotional, he was functioning purely on rage.

She stood up, turned to Simon and his group, and looked around for others.

"I'm so grateful for your assistance, you risked your lives for us. It's an honor to have you by our side. But none of you are bound to stay, the more you stay with us, the greater the risk. you will be hunted. if you want to go to your family I have no objection. Only, I beg you, not to give others away."

Enya watched them, they looked nothing but loyal to the core.

"We aren't going anywhere without finding Kit." Cissa, Eiden's Lugar friend, said indignantly, drawing to his full height with perked pointed ears. Enya smiled with affection.

Simon stood up.

"My lady, I swore an oath when I took the position of footsoldier over 10 years ago. To serve the monarch, faithfully to the end. For me, my lady, you're the true heir to the title.

I will not break the oath, I will serve you for whatever task you undertake. My magic will be yours to command." He bowed deeply. Others followed him, standing up. Enya's heart warmed with his words.

The young man, Sage, Enya remembered his family, specialists in developing magical roses, and stood up shyly.

"Mm..I..I would like to stay too. I disliked the young master because we had a dispute years ago. I only came to stop my father from coming, as he is suffering from joint pain, I was worried about him doing too much work.

Seeing the young master take responsibility seriously, I think he's grown up. Father must have seen that. Besides, I already learned so much from Guru. I'd like to help." Sage shuffled from foot to foot.

"I have nothing but respect for your father, Sage, I loved his work since I was young. I would like to hear later what Eiden did to displease you. I'm very much thankful for your help." She smiled as the young man got red in the face.

Enya turned to Guru who sat silently throughout the whole meeting.

"Guru, I can't thank you enough that you let us, strangers, impose on your quiet life. Do you mind if we stay here for a few more days?"

Enya was thoroughly satisfied with how the events turned out during the meeting. Knowing that Eiden was hurt, and taken advantage of by their own family was not easy. Enya spent the rest of the day discussing their shared information with her newfound uncle.

Sage and Guru had succeeded in germinating a seed of bleeding heart flower, and their constant day and night care with a lot of cleansing magic, is growing fast. Enya thought the presence of the ancient magical plant itself was like a nourishment to her uncle, as he is more lively and his memory and mind become clearer.

Eiden's friends were a great help at the house, and everyone marveled at Clade's strength and the speed and agility of Lugars.

"Enya," Hadrian came to her and sat down by the side.

"Isn't it great we have these people helping us?“ she leaned to his side as he wrapped an arm around her.

"All thanks to Star," Hadrian mumbled.

Enya had a chance to see her son when he came to rescue them. For Hadrian, it was hard, knowing he missed the chance, and could possibly be the last to see Eiden.

"We will get him back." Enya softly kissed the hand she was holding.

After a few days, the group gathered to discuss the usage of the boats to sail to the Islet of Cora.

"Good morning all of you." Enya started the meeting.

"We talked about how to reach the Islet of Cora. It's said that there are a lot of protections around the island. So, young Ivar kindly agreed to let us use his two boats. Ierma has already attached some protections, but we need to add a few more. Also, we need to store some food, because this journey might take a few days, or even longer.

When they left Ivar's cottage, he had taken his boats further upstream of the fjord and anchored in a cove to keep them hidden. He can take you to the place by teleporting. I recommend first seeing them.

How about we start preparations right away?"

Everyone agreed it was the best and easiest way to travel to the island. Eiden's friends were excited about the Sea voyage because they had never been to sea before. The problem for them was the cold weather in the North Sea, but the prepared clothes with heat enchantments attached would help them conserve body heat without using much energy.

They decided to use the larger boat with Ivar as the captain and Gorga, who grew up in a coastal village elected to sail the smaller one. The boats were cleaned and more protections were installed for the hull and sails. The food wasn't much of a problem as Ivar's fishing gear can be used for fishing. Although Mother had recorded some descriptions of the island and newly added protections, her father's untimely death left no precise details of them.

Lord Stravros had a marginal idea as illusions, entry restrictive barriers, etc., however, he guessed Enya being Esrion's daughter, would feel them, and probably protective wards would answer to her magic.

Her uncle also recalled that there had been sea serpent people around that area. Island inhabitants had known sea serpents from the early days, and their abilities allowed them psychic communication with many intelligent reptile species.

With all this information, they got ready to depart a day later, early in the morning for the Islet of Cora.