Anonymous POV – It isn't meant to be anyone so don't bother guessing!

How can you fight something that doesn't actually manifest in a physical form?

How do you defeat something that uses your friends against you?

How do we forge our own futures when we are constantly living in the past?

The events we have experienced throughout our lives have moulded us into the people we are today. Whether it was through immense suffering or immense joy, our decisions and the consequences that followed are what made us who we are. Through sacrifice or through determination, we each have brought an impact upon those around us – some of us may not realise it, but we have genuinely changed someone else's life for the better.

To fight a force so much stronger than we are is a decision that will most likely get some of us killed. Whether the loss of few will outweigh the protection of the many is a matter of opinion that nobody is really sure about. It depends on who you ask. If you ask Jordan, well he couldn't really give you an answer right now seeing as he is still in a coma but I'm certain he'd sacrifice himself (again) to ensure that everyone else has a long and happy life. If you ask Mianite, I'm pretty sure he is willing to get a few of the competition out of the way whilst ridding the realm of the creature that has the ability to destroy him.

One of the terrifying things to experience in your life is to watch someone you love slowly deteriorate in front of your eyes. We've all experienced it, in one way or another. Be it mentally, physically or emotionally – we've all watched in desperation, clambering for a solution or staring hopelessly as we realise the end is near. To stare into someone's eyes, someone you have known for years and just see emptiness, or nothing at all, is a haunting experience. That's not who they are.

They are owed better.

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Caitlin's POV (Time to give you all some information)

I was astonished by the level of stupidity in the room.

Generally, when you confess vital information that pieces together some of the strings of the mystery, you would assume that it would spawn rapid action. You'd think that the heroes that saved the realm once before would step up to the task. Since Jordan was out of action, you'd think that research into a way to save him from his own mind would magically appear and we could all build towards the climax of the story we all lived in.

However, we are only human. Well... excluding the gods and demigods in the room. No-one wants to be the first one to make a move; nobody wants to be the first to make a mistake. Hope is a terrible thing when we are balanced between clinging onto our sanity and falling into the abyss of darkness that awaits us.

In other words, everyone in that room was an utter coward.

"We are in the middle of a war and all that you can do shadow girl is stand there staring into space? Either contribute or get out."

My head snapped up to look at Tom, who was leaning over a map of the realm with a frustrated expression on his face, before moving my gaze across to Tucker who was glaring at me with an expression of utter loathing. Not sure what I had ever done to piss him off, especially since he was the one who got controlled in the last war. I ignored him, continuing to stare out the window where Ianita, Martha and Wag were training. As much as no-one was willing to let Ianita fight; there was clearly no stopping her. So instead of going against the young goddess's wishes, Wag and Martha were training her in both combat magic and in healing abilities – so that she could assist from the sidelines. During the night, I trained Ianita in battling with short swords and daggers; there was no point in training her with heavy weapons as with her small stature she would never be able to carry them.

"You should leave. The boys are only going to get more irritable and violent as time slips away from us, might as well use the time to train. There are spare healing items in the chest for you in the back garden, in case you hurt yourself."

Sonja gave me a small smile, fear for my health clear in her eyes as she glanced wearily from side to side at the so called 'heroes'. Their fists were clenched and their muscles were tense as I walked past them on my way out the door, knowing that Tucker would be cursing my very existence the moment the door shut. I sighed, rolling my shoulders in an effort to stretch out the tired muscles and wandered towards the yard. What the boys didn't seem to understand was that this plan would require a level of subtlety that they both seemed to lack, as in order to save Jordan from his own mind, we needed to weaken the creature that held such a tight grip on him.

Mianite was sitting outside under a tree, just staring into the distance – occasionally conversing with Dianite, like they were best friends all of a sudden. As long as I'd known them, both these worlds' incarnations and the old realms – they had always been at each other's throats no matter what the situation called for. A frown crossed my brow as I walked over to where they were; curiosity and suspicion driving my feet forward.

"What are you talking about?"

Mianite glanced up nonchalantly as I approached; a seemingly innocent expression on his face as he smiled and responded:

"Just discussing the state of our little group of heroes seems to be in, in face of the upcoming war against 'The Shadows'."

"Oh really. Pray, tell me, what is the outcome of this little meeting then?"

"Well let's see. My sister is dead, my grandson is missing, my assistant has vanished off the face of the earth, my brother is a ghost armed with nothing but his sarcasm and the main chance we had of winning is lying on the bed inside with my niece. I was telling Dianite that our only real chance of winning is by switching sides, but then again I bet you know someone in there has already done that."

"It's a well-known fact that the Shadows can possess those weakened both physically and emotionally, or through willing participants. The only way Ianite could have been so easily brought down is if her grief over Spark was taken advantage of. I had hoped that Jordan and Ianita would have been enough to keep her alive but apparently there were other factors I was not aware of. Helgrind and Al's torment of Andor were another matter, something I believe you could have prevented?"

"What do you mean prevented?"

"Well Helgrind worshipped you reverently, and you constantly claim to listen to all the prayers of your followers to help them with their 'trivial mortal problems'. So you would know exactly what happened to Jordan and Andor in that prison and you could have prevented it."

"Watch your tongue."

"No. I will not watch my tongue because you are one of the reasons this realm is in such a mess. Part of this is your fault and I will not let you forget that because Jordan, the man you caused so much agony to is probably our only hope of getting out of this."

"Says the girl who doesn't fight back."

"I didn't fight back against Tom and Tucker, in order to test something. I had faith that they would prove my hypothesis wrong but apparently not. They were driven by anger and grief to try and beat the answers they sought out of me; with every refusal, it only increased their rage."

"We don't have time for pathetic experiments. We need to flush out the traitor and find a way to eradicate the Shadow's once and for all. Make yourself useful, you freak."

I lunged at Mianite, pulling my dagger from my belt and holding it against his throat – deliberately digging in just to let him know that even a god can be harmed. A small trickle of golden blood oozed onto the shadowy blade, caused the metal to ripple and dance in the sunlight.

"Watch your mouth Mianite or there will be more than one god killer on the loose in this realm."

As I walked away from Mianite, my mind whirled with the beginnings of a plan. In order to flush out the traitor we needed to find a way to make them slip up, to say something that they would never say if they were really on our side in this whole war. To do that, we had to take a risk. People tend to slip up when they are fuelled by emotion, be that grief or anger or despair. In order to flush out the traitor we needed to make everyone simultaneously overwhelmed to the point where they were at one another's throats.

There was a massive risk to this plan. By deliberately driving them into this moment of emotional weakness, the Shadows could take control of any one of the people in the room – they might not control the traitor as planned. In order to harm the Shadows, we would have to harm the host and nobody could truly know about the plan or the Shadows would expect it and deliberately pick the next most powerful target after Jordan, to make us weaken our own side.

I slipped my dagger back onto my belt and walked away from the house, hunting for supplies and inspiration of how to hopefully save us all.

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A/N

Wow its been nearly two months since I've updated...

Sorry!

Sorry!

Sorry!

In all honesty, I have just been massively busy - its exam season where I live (A Levels in England) so most of my time before and during has been spent revising or dealing with various duties I need to do.

So this chapter has been on the backburner because it was rather hard to write. I have plans for how this will continue so if things don't make sense right now (though a whole lot of explaining has happened this chapter XD) then they will soon.

Caitlin's plan ought to be interesting...

I'm sorry for keeping you waiting so long but you know, here's a chapter now! The day before Mianite's 2 year birthday! Woop woop!

Hope you are all doing well and feel free to leave your theories in the comments. I won't say which ones are right but I'll definitely help fuel them!

Much love,

Caitlin x