After they all got up and ate breakfast, they sat down to talk about the next steps. Everyone mourned Marcus' loss, so they didn't blame Jayden for his angry outburst.

'All right, I think we should start sorting what we know,' Jayden started. 'We learned that the Shadow that Grand Inquisitor made a pact with is Brath, one of the most powerful of them all. Is that correct?' He looked at Sam.

The other Mage sat cross-legged, holding Kara's hand and stroking it with his thumb absentmindedly. He already looked better. His eyes were still all black, but the dark circles under them were gone, and his skin was a touch less sickly pale than in the Shadow Realm. He looked at Jayden and nodded slowly. 'Unfortunately, you are right.'

'What can you tell us about him?' Myrica asked.

'Not much more than what you already know. Brath is shaking most of the Shadow Realm. I don't know exactly when it all started, but he must be ancient. His appearance was very mysterious. Some even say he did not originate in the Shadow Realm. But once he appeared, he started to gather power immediately.

'He used to be the leader of the radicalistic part of Shadows' society, the ones who opposed sharing the knowledge with Realmfarers. His methods became more and more vicious and uncompromising with time. He ordered more experiments with Light Magic, leading to degradation of the whole society.'

'What a cheerful fellow.' Arlo sighed.

'Quite.'

'Have you ever encountered him yourself?' Myr asked.

'No, I'm not that stupid.' Sam scoffed. 'As soon as I've learnt about him, I made sure I stay as far away from him as possible. Luckily, my Light was never very potent, so searching for me wasn't worth the effort.'

'Do you think he knew about you?' Iris asked.

'I'm sure he did. Look, I know you all have a lot of misconceptions about the Shadow Realm. The thing is its inhabitants are not some mindless creatures lurking there and waiting for the chance to break into our world. Well, at least not all of them. They are sentient creatures, and they have a mind of their own. They might not think and act the way we do, but I risk the assumption they are similar in more ways than we would like to admit.

'So yes, Brath has the Shadows who serve him, a whole lot of them. That's how he knew when you came there. One weak Light Mage might not be worth the effort, but the whole squad of humans? That's another story.'

'The Shadow we let get away,' Kara growled. 'I bet it was that pathetic thing that led him straight to us. I knew we should have killed him.'

'That wouldn't change a thing, love.' Sam squeezed her hand gently. 'The moment you stepped into that realm, all nearby Shadows could sense you. It's not every day that something so exciting is happening in this godforsaken place.'

'Do you think Alaife is all right?' Iris asked hesitantly. Since they left the Shadow Realm, the thought was weighing on her mind, filling her with guilt. 'We did leave him there while all those wild Shadows were swarming the place.'

'I'm sure he's fine.' Sam waved his hand dismissively. 'I can still feel my bond with him, still can use Shadow Magic. That means he's still alive and kicking.'

'That's a relief.'

Jayden raised his brow. 'Are you seriously worried about the Shadow right now?'

'And what if I do?' she hissed back. 'He is a nice... Shadow? I feel like we left a friend out there.'

'I get you, Iris,' Sam said in a surprisingly serious tone. 'Alfie saved my life more than once out there, and I trust him completely. I felt bad for leaving him there too. But those books mean more to him than his own life. He would never agree to leave that place. Don't worry your pretty little head about it. I'm sure once we left, those Shadows lost their interest. They might have gone mad in their yearning for light, but they rarely destroy things just out of pure malice. There's nothing in those dusty old books that might interest them.'

'That is good to hear, although we do not have time to worry about such things,' Myrica interjected, her voice calm and calculated. 'What we need to know is how to defeat Brath. It has already been said that we must draw him into our realm to do that. Any ideas how we can do that?'

'Well, that's a tricky part,' Sam admitted, rubbing his chin in thought. 'I would say we could lure any Shadow by waving some light around to tempt them. But if what you said is true, and Grand Inquisitor is providing Brath with a steady supply of light, I don't think it will work.'

'So, in other words, we are doomed.' Jayden sighed.

'How exactly does that work?' Myrica asked. 'The feeding on the light? Is he physically coming to our realm to do that?'

'Probably, yes. It is also possible that Brath doesn't have to cross all the way. If the Veil is thin enough, he can pull the light into his realm. It's like dipping your hand in the lake to fish out something.'

'So, if he can pull things to the Shadow Realm, he also can be pulled here the same way.'

Sam was silent for a moment and then nodded. 'Yes, that's how it works. Do you think pulling an almighty Shadow who fed on so much light to our world is a good idea?'

'No. But do you have any other way to prevent Grand Inquisitor from using Shadow Magic that enslaves our kingdom?' the huntress asked pointedly.

'Well, no. But...'

'Then stop complaining and think of ways to make that happen. You are our expert on Shadow Magic. We need to know as much as we can to pull this off.'

'Oh, Lord Sun, you people are crazy.' Sam sighed, but then the wide grin lit up his gaunt face. 'I like crazy!'
'Sometimes, I question our sanity for relying on him.' Jayden rolled his eyes and turned to Kara. 'I can't believe you married someone like that.'

The woman shrugged but couldn't keep the smile off her face. 'What can I say? He has his charms.'

'Of course, I have! I told you, I'm delightful!' Sam cackled but then took up a serious tone once again. 'Getting back to the topic. This thing you want to do... It won't be easy. If we want to drag Brath out here, it would be best to do it where he usually feeds on the light.'

'In the main headquarters of Inquisition?' Jayden asked. 'Lovely.'

'Yeah, but getting there and doing that is only half of the problem,' Sam continued ignoring the jab. 'You have to understand that even if we pull him here, it won't be easy to kill him.'

'We killed Shadows before.' Jayden shrugged.

'Not ones of his magnitude. Brath has been feeding on light for hundreds of years now. He is the most powerful Shadow in the whole realm. You can't just kill him off with a simple light arrow, like a regular creature.'

'How can we kill it then?' Myrica asked.

'We need more power. Like a lot more.' Sam looked over Jayden and Iris. 'I have no idea how powerful you two are with your magic, but between us three, all we would do is probably tickle him.'

'Why don't we just kill Grand Inquisitor then?' Arlo asked. 'I know he has Shadow Magic and all, but so have we now.' He gestured at Sam. 'I bet it would be easier just to keep him busy enough for one of us to get there and take his head off.' He put his big hand on the axe suggestively. 'Here, problem solved.'

'Well, I hate to burst your naïve bubble, but it wouldn't solve our problems in the long run.' Sam sighed.

'And why not? It's nice and simple.'

'Sure, let's say we do that, and kill Grand Inquisitor. Good for us! But then, Brath will still be there, at the edge of our realm, still bursting with all this power he consumed. How long do you think it will take him to lure another person into a contract? We will get back to the square one again.'

Arlo scratched his head and gritted his teeth. 'You might have a point.'

'What if we had more Mages?' Myrica asked.

'How many more?'

'Just before we ventured to Shadow Realm, Inquisition raided our camp and caught most of the remaining Mages. At least twenty of them,' Jayden explained.

'It might work, but I fear it could still not be enough.'

'And what if we have this?' Myrica took out a beautiful Azure Crystal from her pouch.

Sam's eyes became wide as saucers. 'Is that...'

'The Crystal of Illumination? Yes, it is.'

'I thought it was just a legend! How did you....'

'It matters not now ' the huntress interrupted him. 'Do you think that with this, we will have enough power to deal with Brath?'

'I'd be damned if we don't! With more Mages and this little miracle, the scale looks pretty balanced now.'

'Good. Let's discuss the details then.'

Picture by KELLEPICS from Pixabay