I left the castle, strolling down the dirt pathway toward the stables. I wasn't used to taking this walk alone. Most of the time, Jonga stayed by my side. We walked and talked about our days, laughing and smiling. Now, the loneliness overwhelmed me as it walked hand in hand. The night air mocked my breathing as it breezed through. Creatures scurried in the night, causing the horses to bray from within the stables.

I thought of the Rabaka and Jonga. I don't think they would be stupid enough to attack the same night. Jonga acted without a thought, and liked to hunt his prey, but I was sure the members of the Rabaka were a lot more calculated than he was.

I peered into the dark stables, the tinder rats were bothering the horses, scurrying under their feet. Their blue fur reflected in the moon's light as they darted away from me, hiding underneath the hay.

I sighed, shushing the horses as I continued down the path toward the cottage a little ways down. I expected a light to be shining inside, Jonga hanging in the door, waiting for me with a smile. The delicious scent of roasted potatoes and herbs stemming from the house. But the house was silent and dark. The smells were phantom.

We had lived with each other for as long as I could remember and now that he was gone, the cottage was no longer a home. It was a reminder of the past.

Jonga was not just a housemate, he became my brother. Once Jonga revealed he was a part of the Rabaka, I felt conflicted. The Rabaka was everything we stood against and more. An evil organization set out to destroy, and they achieved in destroying the one thing they had believed in; the Guardian. The wall was our sole protector now.

I remembered the first time I met Baria and the Guardian. I was walking through the woods alone, lost and afraid. My mother had sent him there to find a unique plant, but I could hardly remember her face now. I was so young, six years in age.

I traveled for what felt like days, hiding in the hollows of trees. I feasted on strange violet bumpy berries that left a horrible taste in my mouth and found rainwater from within the waterways in the woods.

It was the way to survive.

I searched for the plant my mother described, one I now knew as the Santrom plant. I wasn't sure why my mother needed it, but after seeing Qia use it, I knew someone was injured and close to death.

The more I searched, the further I plunged into the belly of The Sacred Wood. Swallowed alive, I found myself in a clearing with a large tablet illuminating blue in tinted writing. I could not understand the language or interpret it. As I narrowed my eyes, from behind him, a bush quivered.

I remembered how much my heart surged as Jonga appeared. Black, long dreadlocks scourged with dirt and branches. His eyes were dangerous and black, alerting me of danger. He gulped, his skin was a shade darker than my own. I wondered if we were both lost from the same place, but never bothered to ask. I was too terrified to.

At first, I was skeptical about running. My legs wouldn't allow it. Until I recognized Jonga was holding a spear. I tried to run away, my breathing burned his lungs. My tiny legs crumpled underneath me as ropes wrapped around my calves. I remembered how cold the ground was as my face greeted it. Jonga brought me to my knees, pressing the spear into my chest. He gritted his teeth, his eyes highlighting with an ousting of ferocity.

"Wait!"

Jonga staggered over me, searching my face.

"I am lost!" I shouted out. "Please, don't hurt me. I am lost."

Jonga heaved, moving himself from my body. He blinked, uncoiling his spine. "I am lost too."

Once I explained who I was and that I was lost, Jonga reconsidered his choice to kill me. Though we both did not know that we were being hunted. From behind Jonga emerged a beast of silver. Golden orbs as luminous as the sun danced in its eyes. The creature stood towering over us with a majestic woman on its back.

Baria.

She was beautiful. Hair soft and golden like a halo. It was drawn to the side, falling in waves to her side. She was vibrant and entrancing like a flame. The dress she wore was red, powerful and intimidating. The sleeves of the dress hung to the ground, almost touching the grass.

I remembered my breath caught in my throat when I first saw her.

Just as Jonga did, Baria struck. She pressed a dagger to my throat. "I will kill anyone who passes my land!"

"Please, no, no!"

I remembered she was human for a moment. She had displayed empathy for me.

"Why are you here?" she inquired, pulling the knife back. "Tell me now or meet your fate."

"We are lost," I spoke up for the two of us.

"I've been traveling for days, maybe weeks," Jonga expressed.

"Please, miss, don't hurt us," I pleaded. "Please."

She sighed, straightening. "Very well," she whispered. "Since you are lost, and I have found you, you now belong to me."

We rode on the back of the Guardian toward the river leading to Udan, and the rest was history. I was hers and Jonga was my brother.

I smiled as I opened the door to the cottage. Blackness waved me from within. Beyond the darkness was a window illuminated with the moon's light and a mess of a room. With enough light to see, I wandered over to the table near the front of the door and pulled open the drawer.

Within, I picked out a candle and a match. Striking it, the flame came to life. Quickly, I touched the flame to the wick and stood back. The flare of the candle provoked the shadows to lift. Hiding in the shadows was someone I knew well. My stomach twisted as I stared at his face.

Jonga.

I stepped back, faltering. At one time, I would have been thrilled to see his face but with the threat made...

"I am not here to fight today," Jonga whispered. "I have come to talk to you."

"There is nothing to talk about," I hissed. "You are a part of the Rabaka! You betrayed Udan." Anger roared inside of me. "How could you? The Guardian saved us from our deaths!"

"There is much you do not understand," he answered with a sigh. "I told you there is much I cannot tell you as well."

"Then why have you come back here?"

"I said to talk."

I scoffed, setting the candle onto the stand placed on the table. "Then start talking."

"I will not let a Kaijan rule Udan," he spat. "You and I both know I will not let it happen. It is unfair that Baria's rule ended and I have no choice of what happens to her or our kingdom."

Jonga had no say in the ruler of Udan. This was Baria's will.

"It's not your choice to make and it's not our kingdom," I growled. "It's under divine law that she rules over Udan."

"You are so blinded!" he shouted, his words coated in venom. "I wish you saw what I did. I wish you knew what I did."

"I wish, too. I never know what is going on in your head, Jonga."

He shifted his head and closed his eyes. "Her kind murdered my family!" he cried out. "I saw it. The Rabaka showed me what Kaijans have done."

"She isn't like other Kaijans. She isn't like the ones we learned about as children."

"She is like your precious whore," he spat, laughing. "The dead one."

I felt the anger brew inside of me. I tried not to strike. I couldn't control my words. The death of Anai was still heavy on my heart and he knew that. "Don't you dare speak ill of her!"

"I'd apologize if it wasn't true," he retaliated. Moving on from his comment, he continued, like he never insulted me. "I want you to leave with me."

"Why?"

"We were found together," he whispered. "A divine force made sure we were united. I wanted to tell you I found your way home. I know where you belong. We were always close by, we were always meant to find each other one day. We don't have to be lost anymore. There's a way out of Udan."

A way out of Udan? All these years we've been bound to Baria's side and with her death we were freed...

Though with Mara on the throne, I promised my loyalty to her. If I were to leave, I would break my promise and betray the people I've lived with since I was a boy.

"I don't believe you. Your mind is poisoned."

"I want us to go home," he went on, disregarding what I had said. "Go back to our true home with me."

I shook my head. "Udan is my home and I serve it."

"Come home, Hona."

Home. I didn't know where that was. Jonga claimed he knew but he also claimed to be apart of the Rabaka.

"No." I gritted my teeth. "I will never follow that cult."

Jonga tutted. "You know what you were told! You don't know the power they hold! The plans they have! The world has been mistreated and they want to restore it."

"So it's true then, the Guardian is dead."

Jonga stepped forward, reaching out his hand and drove it forward, lashing it toward me as he acted it out. "I tore its heart from its chest," he explained, staring into his curled hand. "I felt it beat in this very hand. It cried for mercy, but I was merciless. I drank its blood from its carcass and bottled it for the others."

I felt bile rise in my throat. This was not the same boy I spared with years before. The man I lived with.

"Why?" I pried, horrified. "I need to understand why?"

"You don't know my pain and never will," he whispered. "The Rabaka does. I wanted you to understand, but you are so damn blinded by your own selfishness. You've turned against me, and I will, against you."

He was against me the moment he stood against Udan.

Jonga fiddled with his trousers, removing a vial from his pocket. With the light of the moon, he held it in so I could see. Inside was a metallic crimson swirling like an elixir. I thought I was going to hurl. I controlled my breathing as I stared at what remained of the Guardian. The blood inside of the vial stirred like my stomach.

"This is left of it," Jonga confirmed.

My mouth numbed. "What have you done!"

"I have become more powerful than anyone could imagine," he laughed. "I can do so much now than I could before."

More powerful. The Guardian held power. From the legends, many queens and kings alike have tried to kill it... Jonga was successful. After centuries, someone had taken its Power.

"How are you able to control such a Power?" I gaped. "The ancestors of the goddess Rei were able to. Are you—"

"I am not an ancestor of the heathen Rei," Jonga interrupted, then smiled.

"Rei is dead," I whispered, remembering one lesson from before. "Isn't she?"

"That's what Baria told us in the library," he explained. "But Rei was hiding from the world and we found her."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Your precious queen won't remember who she is," he whispered, "but I know who she is. I know the truth about your Kaijan."

Nothing he was saying was making sense. "Rei?"

"Well, it's more complicated than that," Jonga said with a laugh. "If I explained everything to you, what fun would that be? If you are not willing to come with me, you'll have to piece the puzzle together yourself."

I gritted my teeth. Tonight, I would lose my brother. "I will never go with you."

"Fine," he said, walking toward the front door of the cottage. He moved like a shadow, smelling like the vile stench of blood. "I have achieved the unthinkable, the unimaginable, it's a shame you won't join me in my triumph."

"Mara will not let you destroy Udan," he vowed. "Neither will I."

"It's already being done," Jonga answered. "Since the moment you've sided with her and become a traitor, Udan has been falling, ripping apart at the seams. Once the Rabaka sinks its teeth into this land, Udan will be wiped from the map and be no more."