The fake Nydda brought Elisthia back to the palace, and since then the poor woman just existed as a shell of what she once was – spending her days sitting stiff on the bench in the palace garden.

Every day Nydda would come to her, which may have appeared as if she was benevolently checking on her apprentice, but in reality Nydda was doing a sinister thing to Elisthia: She whispered the dark spells again and again, trying to break Elisthia more, to turn her dark like Leidra.

The fake Nydda also cast dark spells on Rovan, turning him more callous with the purpose of eventually making him a puppet of Leidra and telling her where the sword was.

But Elisthia did not die inside completely.

Like a garden ravaged by voracious pests and harsh weather and slowly died out, but not all part of it were dying.

There was a little corner where there was a tiny bud of a new plant still fighting to stay alive. For Elisthia, this little corner was the love she had always had for Rovan.

She first met Rovan when Nydda brought her into the palace as a ten years old girl to save her from a life as a homeless orphan on the street.

Rovan and Elisthia had fallen in love and loved each other since their teenage years.

Their special feeling toward one another had to be put in the back burner when Rovan had to marry Eina to be his queen, a marriage widely used as a way to shore up power and support because Eina was the daughter of one of the richest, most powerful noble families in Halgard.

After the birth of Lyanna and the demise of Queen Eina, Rovan and Elisthia had an affair for some time. A secret known only by the real Nydda, who for whatever reason, did nothing and turned a blind eye toward it – something that Elisthia was thankful for because her affair with the king would have been a major scandal if discovered by people with bad intentions because Elisthia was a sorceress-in-training with no clear family lineage information.

This love that she had for Rovan helped her salvage some of her sorcery from the barrage of dark spells by Leidra.

Elisthia had a talent for a rare kind of sorcery, the one that impressed Nydda enough to take the orphan from the street and train her under her tutelage in the palace, to be her successor.

Elisthia could do telepathy, and she could send her sorcery through the power of her mind. Leidra knew this eventually and that was why she tried to break Elisthia every single day. Elisthia had been sending her sorcery through telepathy to protect Rovan's mind. She sent him messages of encouragement, to remind him of her love, of his daughter's love to him, of the light outside when the dark spell of Leidra flooded his soul. She also made sure Rovan did not fall completely into the darkness of Leidra's spell that he surrendered the sacred sword of Zeus to fake Nydda.

Thus even though Elisthia was weakened by Leidra's constant flooding of dark spells into her soul, she was still able to scrape enough strength to protect Rovan through her telepathy sorcery, and with him, the sword of Zeus.

Now her strength was much more diminished. She decided to take Lyanna and come to Xander's residence.

"Nydda is dead. Our beloved, kind Nydda is dead ..." whispered Xander in disbelief and grief.

Elisthia was not done. She spoke louder. "Listen. Ares has grown mad from his impatience. He and Nydda plan a full attack on Halgard soon. They think Lord Xander is incapacitated, King Rovan is under Leidra's dark spells, and Lyanna is just a child with no power."

Elisthia paused to catch her breath, and continued,"That is why I kidnapped Lyanna from her room and brought her here. The fake Nydda, Leidra, must have known by now that I took Lyanna away. Attack to Halgard is imminent, my lord."

After some coughing, Elisthia managed to stand straight. "The real Nydda is dead. Our King Rovan is with Leidra posing as Nydda, he is mostly under the control of the dark magic of Leidra. The one that changes someone by killing all seeds of love and hope in their heart, the one that kills in silence." Elisthia stopped to wipe the drips of blood from her lips, and continued, "I felt my strength increased when I found out that Lord Xander is back, and Lyanna is alright. But Airin ... it is you ... it is your hand on my hand, it is your gentle message to me, you did not see me as a lost cause, a wounded girl with no hope, those helped strengthen me. The fake Nydda found out about this and doubled her sorcery to break me," Elisthia finished her story and coughed up some fresh blood again.

"But why would Nydda want Xander to be back here?" Airin tilted her head in question.

"She planned to make Rovan to be her puppet, to surrender the sword to her, She does not want another person in this world or any other worlds who also has the right to claim the throne of Halgard ..." Elisthia shivered. "Lord Xander is the real king of Halgard, he has the lineage of the royal House of Metiocles, someday someone could heal Rovan, and possibly steal the sword from her, and summon Lord Xander back so he could shore up support for a rebellion..." Elisthia took a deep breath, and continued,"Nydda only wants to deal with Rovan, and not Lord Xander. That was why she convinced Rovan to open the elegarii and let her take him back. Along with Lyanna. Lyanna would be the next queen indeed in her plan. A dark one, just like her."

Airin gasped. Lyanna would be turned to be like Leidra! That could not be! "And Airin ... Airin just came at the wrong time and wrong place ... you are a kind person, Airin, but Nydda also plans to kill you along with Xander and me," Elisthia shuddered and her gaze at Airin was full of remorse.

"Why didn't Leidra kill you when you sat at the garden, Elisthia?" Airin asked in confusion.

"Because then Rovan would die too. I maintain my telepathy to his mind to protect him, something Leidra has been trying to break by breaking me, turning me dark. But she fails so far. She is running out of patience, and she is furious. She will kill us."

Airin tried to breathe, to get something in her lungs, but the act of breathing became harder when shocking revelations about what had happened around her kept coming. Nydda was not Nydda. Maybe her gut feeling had been trying to tell that all along – the shiver, the fear she felt whenever she met Nydda. The coldness of Nydda that startled Lyanna even in her own world. Nydda was Leidra. She had been living among the Halgardians all this time.

Elisthia shuddered, and blood streamed again from her mouth. Her eyes widened, and her face turned so pale as if it was drained of all blood.

Then the young woman let out a shriek. "Nydda tried again to grab full control of Rovan!" she cried. "The sword of Zeus is in great danger! Nydda is forcing Rovan to take the sword out of its storage, within the body of the king." Elisthia convulsed, and shouted,"My telepathy is soon not going to be strong enough to protect Rovan and the sword will fall into Leidra's hands, and with that, the well of elegarii will open to her dark warriors! Lord Xander has to be healed! Only him and his gifts can help Halgard in the dark times that will come our way."

Airin froze. The faces of her young students flashed in her mind. Without those orbs of imagination that fell into the well of elegarii and emerge in her universe to spread those fantasy creatures, imagination to her universe, what could life be like for those children and millions others? Grey, uninspired, bland, boring? What kind of life would it be without those inspiration for arts and colours and poems and all that was just purely and simply beautiful? How about origami? Would she still be able to fold anything without inspiration, without motivation to create something beautiful?

Then she thought of something.

"Lyanna!" she waved at Lyanna who by now just kneeled and sobbed quietly next to the door.

The little girl looked up, and stared at Airin. "Lyanna, come ... help Uncle Xander ..."

Lyanna was confused. "How? I am just a child ..." she shook her head in uncertainty.

"Lyanna, listen, sweetie. Your uncle is poisoned, and he is going to turn into stone if he forgets all that is good. A heart dies because it forgets ... it forgets hope, it forgets its reasons to fight." Airin found a shred of courage the more she remembered her students. Those little innocent ones. "Uncle Xander needs you to help him remember ... the good times," she waved at Lyanna again.

This time Lyanna stood up, though she doubted for a moment, but when Airin nodded at her, she nodded back, balled her fists, and walked to Xander who now slumped by the wall. Elisthia followed her with her gaze. It was clear the young sorceress was still fighting hard too to keep her telepathy to Rovan. But her gaze had turned more steely now knowing that Airin was there too. She nodded at Airin. "Do what you need, Airin! I will fight hard to keep Rovan with me in my mind! He will not surrender the sword to Leidra!"

Airin startled at first, and she realized, at this moment with Xander badly poisoned, and no enforcement to help them could be expected from the palatial guards or others who did not know about who Nydda really was, and they were still under the command of the king, and by extension, his puppetmaster, Leidra/Nydda.

Thus it came down now to just her, Elisthia, and Lyanna, to do whatever it took to protect elegarii. She doubted if they could. A teacher, her young student, and a wounded sorceress-in-training. What could they do against enemies so brutal, so hateful, and so full of dark magic?