The inner we went, the steeper and lower the cave become. It was a walk of around twenty minutes more when the cave finally opened into a large space. Callan who was walking ahead of me suddenly stopped causing me to bump into him.

"Callan, a little warning next time." He didn't reply though. Curious to see what has caught his attention, I gently moved him a little to the side, so that I can step forward.

The moment my eyes met with the scene ahead of me, I was left thunderstruck. In front of me was a large open area with the rocks protruding from the walls. Many types of stones were embedded in the rocks. The amount of Larvikite present here was enough to feed armies of wights like us. Finally, we achieved what we wanted.

In a trance, Callan stepped forward and touched the stones. I saw him looking intently at something. In order to not disturb him, I also stepped towards a stone on the opposite side from where Callan was. Some of the stones were too big and some were too small. I kept on searching until I found the right size for my belt. I looked around to find something with which I can break the stone when I heard the sound of hammering.

Turning around I saw Callan with a screwdriver breaking something. I made my way towards him to see him with a larvikite in his hand. As I reached him, he extended his hand toward me.

"Give me your belt. I will fix the stone in it. By that time, you take the screwdriver and bring a stone for me." I nodded and did what he asked me to. With the screwdriver in my hand, I returned to the stone I had found earlier. Carefully I broke it and made my way toward Callan.

Seeing me approach, Callan stood up and removed his belt. He handed that to me and instructed me to remove the stone pieces from it as he almost completed work on mine. We worked in silence with only the sounds of tools clanging for an hour or so. By the time we were done on both the belt, it was almost dawn. And now, our adventure came to end. Or so I thought.

Standing up, Callan gave me the broken pieces back to keep them as a memorandum of the difficulties we faced due to them. Laughing at this, I suddenly hugged him tightly. He was taken aback by my sudden action but then he responded to me with the same force.

"I have this friendship as a memorandum. I don't need the stone pieces." I whispered to his confused expression.

"Hey, girl. I am not breaking this friendship. You need more than a stone to get away from me." He whispered matter of factly. I chuckled at him and both of us made our way back toward Aaron.

As we approached the end, sounds of metal flashing through the air and Aaron's neighing were beginning to be heard. Sensing something wrong, one look shared between us was enough to cause both of us to break into a run. And sure enough, when we reached outside, we saw a lethal fight taking place.

There in front of us stood a girl in her mid-twenties who was striking Aaron with a metal sword in her hand. She was wearing a small red top and shorts. Her back was facing us but we could clearly see Aaron. Blood was oozing out of a large cut on his foreleg. His hurtful neighing was a clear indicator that he was wounded in many more places but it could not be seen in the dark of night. The girl, unaware of our presence, was about to strike a deathly blow on him when Callan had enough and shouted at her to stop.

She turned around and I saw her face. Her red hair was open and flying around. There was a chain belt around her waist which made me realise that she was also a wight in control. Her hazel eyes were judging us. From the number of cuts on her legs, it was clear that she had been the one following us in the forest. She slowly made her way toward us. She was limping a little and from bruises, on her arms, and it was clear that Aaron had put on a tough fight with her.

"What do you want from him?" Callan asked boldly. I admired him for his courage. The sword in her hands and the blood on it were actually giving me creeps.

"Nothing." She tried saying calmy but her voice betrayed her. She was really hurt. Then slightly tilting her head, she continued. "I was coming to meet you guys. But your pet attacked me first."

"Us? What do you want from us?" I asked though I had a feeling that I already knew the answer.

"Your stone," she replied, a small wicked smile forming on her face. She was adamant about her goal. I had to give it to her.

"Why ours? There is so much inside the cave. Go and take it from there." Callan answered back. I mentally facepalmed myself. Callan could be really dense at times.

I replied to him before she could. "Because she is the one who attacked us initially. Am I right?" realisation dawned on Callan's face and a smirk appeared on hers.

"I knew girls were more intelligent than boys," she said matter of factly.

"How did you even find us?" I asked her ignoring her previous comment.

"That robot." she said pointing to the one robot in Callan's hands "There are many of them. But they are all mine. Every full moon they would lead me to one of us and I would destroy a stone. Though the one you picked was the one who was always giving me wrong signals. When you tampered with it, the signals stopped and I realised something was wrong. When I came here, I saw you and..."

"...you followed us. Why though?" Callan asked. To her, it may seem that he was merely curious but I knew him better to identify the hidden anger in his voice.

"For you. Believe me, I am doing it for you. I can't let you take new stones from here. You need to die in this life for your own greater good." She sounded pretty convinced of what she was saying but it made no sense to either of us and this fact was making me angry.

"You know lady, as far as public services go, I have a feeling you really suck at it." Callan seethed with anger. This however made her angrier.

"I am trying to save you here." she cried.

"That's debatable you know." A husky admiring voice broke our argument.

All three of us turned to look at the speaker who was a really old man appearing from behind the trees.

"Hello, Seraphine. Nice to see you alive," he said addressing the girl. I had heard that voice before but I couldn't remember where.

"Zubeneschamali..." She whispered. I am not sure if she was saying a name or having a conversation with him in another language. But I wasn't about to interject anytime soon.

"So, you decide to grace this poor soul with your presence again?" She continued "What made you come this time? Is it mercy? Do you feel sorry for me?" Venom was clearly dripping from her voice. Whoever this person was, he had a history with this girl. And I am sure they didn't part on good terms. The only thing I knew was that I need to check on Aaron before he dies from bleeding, grab the seething Callan and leave this place as soon as I can.

"You are wrong. I had no idea you were even alive all this time," he said really calmly.

"Am I supposed to believe it? That you, who knows everything, didn't know about me?" She hissed. The special emphasis on the word everything didn't go unnoticed by any of us. Callan and mines face were more confused than ever, but it clicked something on the old man's face.

"You know everything?" he asked. When the girl ignored him, he called her gently "Seraphine."

"DON'T SAY MY NAME!." She yelled back suddenly, causing me and Callan to flinch. The old man on the other hand showed no reaction to it. He stayed quiet for a few seconds before whispering calmly again.

"You are wrong, child. You are helping no one. You are killing them."

The girl, Seraphine scoffed at his words. "I don't believe anything you have to say. Lies and fairy tales are all that you have fed me. I told you everything and you just played with me. It must be fun to see me like that. A stupid girl sharing stupid stories. I used to laugh with you but it must be you who had the last laugh every day. I am done with this game of pretends." she shouted. "FUCK YOU! I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU OR ANYONE! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

And then she flipped the fifth hook on her chain belt, disappearing forever.

Callan and I looked at each other, unsure of what just happened here. As far as final disputes with the villains go, that wasn't the most dramatic. The girl looked really angry at someone and the only logical explanation could be that it was the old man's fault. Clearly, there was a past between the two and that past was the reason this Seraphine girl was attacking innocent souls. I looked behind to see the man still standing there, crestfallen for not being able to make her stay. I had a lot of questions for him, questions that I believed he held the answers to. Even though my curiosity was at its peak, I had more pressing matters at hand. Aaron was still bleeding. So, instead of finding answers, I dashed toward my friend and inspected his leg. Callan also came to the same conclusion and running behind me knelt beside Aaron.

"It's deep. Bring me some leaves." I ordered Callan. He immediately bought some large leaves and I wrapped his leg making a temporary cast for him. I looked for any more injuries but nothing was major. "It's better now. He can teleport. Take him to a vet before going back." I told Callan. He however seemed to be looking for something else.

"Callan?" I called.

"The man. He is gone, Ana." Callan said facing me. "He had a lot of answers."

I also looked around and saw that he was right. Even I wanted to confront him but it seemed he had other ideas. "Well, we will think about him later. You have to take Aaron to the vet now and I need to go back. It's late." I spoke.

I really needed to go. Ginny could arrive in Dora's room any moment now. Callan realised the emergency and nodded his head. I turned to Aaron and slowly caressed his mane, telling him a smooth goodbye. I felt a hand on my shoulder and Callan turned me around so that I was now facing him. Taking my face in his hands he spoke gently.

"It isn't goodbye Ana. I did woo you, remember? I will find you again. Go now." he said giving me one of his most beautiful smiles. I returned the favour and reluctantly left for good. It was now time for me to live Dora's life. It was now time for Dora to form one of her most beautiful memories and perhaps the last memorable one before her demise. And I needed to reach her place fast.  

Whew! What just happened? Who is Seraphine? Who is the Man? What history does both of them share? If you are as confused as Anana and Callan, vote on the chapter and let them know. Maybe together with them, you can unravel some mysteries. Who knows?

What song reminds you of Anana and Callan's relationship at this point? One of the songs which I relate to, personally, is Somebody by Dagny. Tell me yours!