************Emily POV************

A garden. Everything green, and the sunlight was almost blinding after having come from the portal she was sent through. Many, many women were surrounding Emily with concerned expressions when she tried to get to her feet. It seemed she was dropped off in the area to await the outcome of her arrival.

“Did they hurt you, child? You’re bleeding from your forearm,” one of the women spoke up while kneeling next to her. Emily winced as the wound was touched, but sighed in relief as it was healed by the woman.

“Where am I? Why are there so many people, and who are you?” Emily asked as she was helped to her feet at last and was able to get a good look at her surroundings.

It was like being on a whole new island with only women. By the looks of it, there was at least a hundred of them, many obviously pregnant. The realization hit Emily hard within seconds. What seemed to be heaven on earth by the fruit trees, sand, and all the greenery around was actually a place Sarium used to keep his wives in containment. It made her stomach turn in fear and disgust.

“My name is Muriel. I am the Seventy Sixth Wife of Lord Sarium. I would assume you are the Four Hundred and Fifty Eighth Wife?” Emily’s jaw dropped at the number, and for a second her mind went blank as she tried to comprehend how anyone could have that many wives in one setting.

“I...I suppose I am.” Muriel smiled as she brushed Emily off and took her arm. Emily was growing increasingly alarmed as she was walked through the crowd of women. The area was so thickly stuffed with women and new faces that she didn’t even realize it when they had walked to a building a good distance away from where she had appeared in the first place. It had been hidden by the trees, so she had not noticed at first.

“Where are we going?” Emily asked as the doors were opened by two women to allow her and Muriel in what seemed to be the greeting hall. The room was decorated in gold, light fixtures surrounded in jewels and crystals. A creamed colored marbled made up the floor while the furniture seemed to be covered in silk and silver castings.

“The First Wife will want to meet you. This is her house,” Muriel explained as they stepped into a library down the corridor.

The walls were all bookcases, thousands upon thousands of books filling the room. A woman sat in the middle of the room on a lounge chair with red satin while reading. She looked up when Emily walked in and gave a warm smile before standing to greet her.

The first thing Emily noticed was her age. She was much older than Emily, the wrinkles and aging marks on her skin signs of possibly being in her early fifties. It made Emily think of how old she was when she was taken to be Sarium’s wife. The next she noticed was her outfit, a blue dress that reached the floor with sleeves to her elbow. She also seemed to be pregnant.

“My name is Regan, the First Wife. You’re just a darling! It’s no doubt why Lord Sarium would have his eyes on you, he does love beauty in his wives. Please, make yourself comfortable and have a cup of tea,” she said as she reached out and took a hold of Emily’s hands. There was a calmness in the atmosphere as the three women sat down on the couch together, Emily continuing to force herself into a tense state and stay ready for anything.

“What did our husband do to take you as his new wife?” Regan asked. The events of the day raced through Emily’s mind, but she wasn’t quite sure if it would be wise to tell them.

“I mean...he didn’t do much of course, I wasn’t given much of a choice.” Regan and Muriel nodded in acknowledgement as three women walked into the room with plates of food for the women.

“You will find many of us here have come from that, so it does not surprise me. I myself was taken from my first husband many years ago. In trade for his life, I agreed to marry Lord Sarium. Of course, that was when I was sixteen, and here I am at sixty five dreaming about that day!” Regan giggled as she took another sip of tea before accepting her plate of food from the girl.

Emily looked at Regan in shock at her simple natured attitude, but accepted the food that was handed to her as she listen to Muriel speak about her past as well.

“Oh, that does sound harsh! I was living in poverty, and when my parents died I was stuck with two choices. Continue surviving, or agree to marry Lord Sarium. At the age of thirteen, I didn’t feel I had much of a choice. Of course, now I realize I could have grown but I don’t know much outside this world so I suppose I don’t mind,” Muriel said.

The two looked towards Emily as if expecting her to talk about what brought her to their home, but she quickly bit into a cracker that was on the plate on her lap. They glanced at each other but pretended not to notice and began to eat as well. Emily’s mind turned to Ron and what was happening to him, fear building up at the thought that he may still very well be in battle.

A half hour later, when Emily had grown to be filled with only anxiety and worry, Regan gave a sigh and clapped her hands together. Two little girls walked into the room and bowed to the women sitting on the couch before taking the plates from them. Emily had forced herself to eat all that was there so as to not be rude and let the women know there was something else on her mind.

“Well, we knew you were going to be joining us, so we had a place built for you. I do hope you enjoy it. After you meet with Lord Sarium to get...acquainted with him...you will be sent back to us and we will show you your new home.”

The thought of seeing one of the Elders in person made Emily’s heart drop, but she swallowed her fear and nodded in response. There was nothing she could do but agree and do as she was told, for she knew if she did not do so she would be punished by Ron’s island being attacked more. She still didn’t know if there was still war happening there now.

As if on cue, there was a sudden light near the door. Emily quickly glanced up to see a man standing there with a sour look on his face. By the emblem on his chest, she assumed he was a guard of Sarium. Emily stood with a sigh and walked towards the man, who in turn took her arms and locked them together with glowing string.

Emily could hear Regan and Muriel gasp out loud at the sight of it, Muriel whispering ‘abnormal’ under her breath. It suddenly hit her that they had no knowledge beforehand that the new wife would be an abnormal. She couldn’t help but grow sad at the thought, but she held her head high anyways. The guard created another dark portal and pushed Emily forward. It had been an hour since Emily had arrived at her new home, and she was already greeted with fear.

When the girl came out on the other side of the portal into a velvety bedroom, she wanted to throw up from the horror and realization of what was going to happen. A laugh came from behind her as the portal closed, and when Emily turned to face the person it was connected to she was hit with the aura the man had about it.

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Sarium was sitting across from Emily on a chair next to a dresser with a smile on his face. He was naked with a necklace of a sword dangling on his neck. The two stared at each other for a moment before he stood up and walked towards Emily. She growled and took a step back, the water pot behind her shaking as her magic built up in the room.

A wave of his hand was all it took to destroy her magic that had gathered. Emily’s face went white at how easily he had done so, all anger gone. Sarium stood in front of her with a grin, one she wanted to replace with an expression agony.

“Let’s get started, shall we?”

************Ron POV************

Training was much more difficult that Ron thought. Everytime he tried to concentrate, his mind would turn to that girl the intruders were looking for and managed to get their hands on. The thought that she had been given up to be some strangers wife seemed to stab him in the chest, and he couldn’t figure out why.

Ron winced as the mind block stung him again, but he was growing increasingly more annoyed at it. He wanted to remember her, to figure out what it was he knew about her and why his emotions were scattered when it came to her, but she was gone and it was killing him.

A light suddenly burst from the orb on the kitchen table. Ron stood up and ran to the cabin from where he had been meditating outside to see what it was. A letter was lying on the table with the words ‘READ OR I WILL FIND YOU’ on it. Ron quickly ripped it open and began to read it.

“Ron, why has Emily not replied back to me? I expected her to reply, but there has been nothing. If you hurt her, I will hunt you down, god or not. Whether you care or not, she loves you and will sacrifice herself for you. I knew that after the first letter she sent back, but she needs you to make her not do that.

My guild is at the ready for battle. We all care for her, she has fought for us in many ways and we will fight. I will not be formal in this letter in fear she could be in pain. Wherever she is, we will get her back.

James.”

Ron stared at the words and considered what to say. It then occurred to him that this James could be of assistance to the safety of his people, and he quickly grabbed paper and made a pencil out of thin air.

“James,

This is Ron. A group of people had attacked my island out of the blue, all after Emily. Situations have thrown itself out of the blue and she was taken. We are preparing ourselves for war, but I am afraid we are not strong enough to protect ourselves, even with me here. I underestimated the enemy and was rightly defeated, but the woman I was battling seemed to be apart of a different group altogether.

The woman I was against called the one who took Emily “Sarium”. I don’t know who that is but you may. I request your assistance and that you come so a plan may be made to save Emily and protect my people.

Ron.”

The blue light took the letter, and in a matter of seconds a new letter appeared. Three words were written in shaky, large letters.

“On our way.”

Ron sighed and stood up to warn the villagers about the newcomers heading over to help, but a new light brought a different letter. This one was cream colored and had a stamp of a rose over it. Ron hesitated but picked it up.

“Hand over heart,

The wife stands strong.

Husband takes part

Beyond the light given willingly.

Sweet scent brings blood

Darkness covers all.”

A poem. Ron read it twice more before folding it and putting it in his pocket. He was concerned about who sent it, for he thought only James could send letters with the orb and he knew it wasn’t from him. He decided to ask the boy about it before things got even more crazy. Ron ran towards the village to explain what was going to happen, and as he did the image of Emily crept into his mind once more.

This time, he didn’t try to ignore it and let the pain of the mind block fill him as he ran. It was almost refreshing to feel it pull on his nerves and wake him up more. It had felt like he was swimming in a dream since he was hit with the spell. He could hear the sounds of metal on metal as swords were being created, the chatter of people mingling within the sharp clanks.

Ron’s people looked up at him as he approached with a new light in his eyes, and they knew there was news to come. When he came to a halt in front of the gates, one of the children ran to him. She raised her arms up to be picked up, which Ron gladly did.

“Where is Jeremy?” He asked. The crowd looked at each other as if wondering if the man was near them.

“Here. What is it, Ron?” The man who had once shown Ron a vision the first day he met him walked forward with obvious curiosity on his face. Ron quickly walked up to him and pushed the letter into his hands.

“I need to speak with you later. What is happening is beyond what I had ever thought would be possible in terms of strength. This goes past even my knowledge of the world, and recently I’ve been learning more about things than I ever have in my years of living. Take this, read it, and I will come see you tonight.” Jeremy nodded and slipped the letter into his pocket before slipping back into the crowd of people.

Analicia walked forward and crossed her arms. Ron glanced at her before taking a deep breath.

“We have allies. It seems the girl Emily had a large group of people behind her, and her brother is on his way with his guild to help us with a variety of things,” he explained, much to the mixed emotions from his people.

“So you’re inviting more people associated with her? She’s the reason we are in this mess!” Someone cried out, and it seemed many of the people agreed.

“I am not able to train you efficiently enough! To be born what she was is not her fault, and we will not make it one. From what it seems, they are strong warriors that I did not know. They will be worthy in helping us. Please treat them with respect.” There was a shuffle of feet, a long silence.

At least until a sudden flash of light burned behind Ron.

Cries of alarm rang out as the villagers ran backwards towards their homes in fear as people began to pour out of the light. Many of them were quite large, some carrying warhammers across their backs as they walked through.

“Ron. It’s been awhile, old friend! I would love to catch up with you sometime, but that should wait until after Emily is retrieved,” a voice called out as a tall, well built man walked through with a woman strolling closely to his heels, an aura of magical strength wisping around her as she followed.

Arturo grinned and smacked Ron on the back in greeting. Ron smiled and shook his hand before glancing at the woman. She had a long green dress on that seemed to dance at her feet with each step she took. Gems decorated her neck and fingers, all but one radiating magic. It took Ron a moment to realize why.

“This is my wife, Celby. She wishes to find those with magic abilities and train them to be able to use it,” Arturo explained as Celby stepped forward and bowed deeply.

“My husband has told me much about you. As he has said, I would like to help train those who can use magic. I am a warlock, and I feel I would be useful in this time of need.” Celby snapped her fingers, a large black orb suddenly appearing in her left hand while a book was in her other.

“That would be incredibly useful, I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Ron said as she slowly walked towards the village.

More people were walking through what was now obviously a portal. Ron counted people as fast as possible, seeing fifty six people in all. After the last person stepped onto Ron’s land, a woman quickly skipped through and closed the portal.

“The next time I’m asked to do something that difficult, Celby can do it! Not only did that strain me to a ridiculous point, but I had to make it extra big for the Firefly group to walk through!” The woman growled as she walked up to a man who had a very sheepish expression on his face. A group of people off to the side quickly looked away when she glared at them, the Firefly people Ron assumed. He had to admit, they were very big with their weapons all over half their body size.

“I’m sorry, Nicolette, I thought you could handle it,” the man said as the woman walked closer.

“I handled it, didn’t I? I love you James, but one of these days you’re going to have to learn how to create portals yourself.” Ron perked up at the name at the same moment James noticed Ron.

“Where the fuck is my sister!” James yelled as he turned towards Ron. Both Ron’s people and James’ guild went dead silent.

“I...I honestly don’t know. The woman I was up against gave me the name Sarium, but it means nothing to me.” Ron quickly explained. As quickly as he had become angry, James became almost pale with fright.

“Sarium. That pervert has my little sister,” he whispered as he looked around.

“I’ve heard that name before. Isn’t he an Elder? I didn’t think he would take that kind of interest in Emily?” Nicolette said. James shook his head.

“No, this may actually be both a good and bad thing. The bad thing is, Emily will be forced to make love to Sarium. But because of his ways, she will be safe for the time being until Destamos finds a way to get her hands on her. For now, it is best to help Ron in whatever he needs until we come up with a plan to get her back.” Nicolette’s jaw dropped at his words, and after clenching her fists and taking a few deeps breaths she managed to gather her emotions.

“I understand. Emily is strong, as long as she can put up with the constant...pushing from Sarium, then we have some time.” Nicolette finally faced Ron.

“We will do everything in our power to help you. The woman who came here to attack you to get at Emily won’t back down. If she doesn’t get her hands on her, which we don’t think she will, then she will come back here to kill everyone on this island. Even if your people scatter and run, she will hunt them down one by one. As a guild, it is our job to make sure that doesn’t happen. Tell us what to do.”