| 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐸𝒶𝓈𝓉 |

Lucias stood patiently outside of the Queens room. It had been three days since he handed Tara over to them and he still hadn't received his reward. They finally let him through the gates but he still had to wait hours for when the Queen was ready. All he knew was that Queen Amelia was busy with something and that he should wait by her room. His normal calm persona was slowly fading, all he wanted to do was have one talk, not man or woman, just to talk. He probably stood outside her room for about an hour before the Queen arrived. It was the first time he had actually seen her up close, he hadn't seen a true blood vampire so beautiful before. He himself was a true blood but from Karn, very different to the ones from Staeso. She greeted him with a warm smile and a hand shake.
"Russel told me about you. Sorry for the delay I've been working on a project." Her attitude wasn't what he was expecting. He thought she would be a snob and only care about herself, from the little interaction they had he knew why the people liked her.
"That's alright my Queen." He turned his body towards the door.
"Shall we." Amelia nodded and followed him inside, two guards followed her. Lucias didn't like the company of the guards but didn't bother to question it, this is the Queens castle after all, she needed her protection. He pulled out a desk chair and sat on it while Amelia sat on the end of her bed. First thing he noticed when she sat down was that she was pregnant.
"Had no idea you were pregnant my Queen." He sounded surprised.
"Not many do, I would like to keep it that way."
"Who's the father?" This was the wrong question to ask, she stayed silent and ignored his question completely.
"So what do you want?" Her attitude was more rude now, obviously she had been offended by what he asked.
"I've come to you with a request. Here in Staeso I've done nothing, back in Karn I was a fighter. I know you probably have your whole Order worked out but if I could I would like to be apart of it. Not as anything big or another but someone who can assist you." His accented voice was soothing for her to listen to, sure she didn't understand some words but she got the picture.
"I've got a personal guard, Russel. I think he's a good enough fighter."
"Yes my Queen, but, I'm not talking about fighting." Amelia's face changed, it now had a look of intrigue to it.
"What can you provide then?"
"As you've seen i'm a very good manipulator, I easily fooled that old couple. Now imagine my uses put to a larger scale. Any enemies you have could easily be eliminated if you just get me to do it."
"How." Amelia was trying to get as much information as he could.
"Let's say you don't like a certain ally you have. You give me to them as a gift of kindness, then I slowly gather information that can help you take them out from the inside or outside, whichever you prefer." Amelia smiled when he said his idea. She quite liked the idea of someone who could take someone down without force, as someone who couldn't fight she respected how he did things.
"I like that idea, your hired."
"Thank you my Queen. I won't disappoint." Amelia paused for a moment, she had just thought of the best idea.
"You say your good at manipulating. Well I've got the ultimate test for you."
"What is it?"
"Tara. Right now she is recovering from an experiment, shell be very dazed and confused. I wont you to befriend her, she'll be on show to the kingdom tomorrow so she's got to be stable. You need to make her really believe that she is and always has been one of us, a member of the Order." Lucias nodded but didn't respond, it took him a few moments before saying anything.
"I can do that."
"Good. The guards will direct you to where she's being kept. Goodbye." Amelia stood up and walked over to the balcony, acting like he wasn't even there anymore. Lucias got up and followed the guards. The idea of manipulating the mind of a child was something he didn't agree with, deep down he already felt bad for the deaths of Adam and Mary. Anymore to do with Tara was just a constant reminder at that point. But it was his Queens orders, he must follow them.

| 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒲𝑒𝓈𝓉 |

The six of them had reached the mining yard, over by a few of the holes were muddy pickaxes, sortable weapons to use. The heavy rain and slight mist hid them, but it was also a disadvantage for them. Up ahead was the gate, the one and only way out of the camp. Normally there would be at least ten guards on the gate during the day but at night there were less. That didn't matter though, they were armored and had actual weapons. Five of them had old pickaxes while one was a crippled kid, the odds didn't look good. But they pushed on, stepping through the mud and getting closer to the gate. Now that they were closer they could finally see, four guards stood in front of the gate while one stood near the lever. They hadn't noticed the group yet so that was their one key advantage. Drake looked at Francis then back at the men.
"Stay behind us." His deep voice said. Francis nodded and didn't complain about those rules. Silently Drake rushed towards them, the others ran towards the guards also. Once they had noticed Drake was already a few feet away. The level guard began to scream as loud as he could, hoping to get the attention of other guards. He was quickly silenced by Drake, his pickaxe lodged deep in the side of the mans skull. With ease he pulled the weapon from the dead mans body and turned to the others. The four guards looked at Drake with horror, An angry Ork was something none of them wish they saw. While they were distracted the rest of the group attacked them. Since the guards were distracted they had no chance. They all were quickly silenced with pickaxes to the skulls. Francis looked towards where the sleeping quarters was, a light quickly grew in brightness as if it was getting closer.
"Drake. Their coming."
"Fuck!" His attention was turned to the level.
"Siren hold down the lever, I've got an idea." Siren did as he said and pulled it back with all her might. The gate lifted high enough so Drake could stand under it. Once he was he grabbed it with his arms.
"Now, slowly let go of the lever."
"What. Why."
"Someone has to stay on the inside to keep the gate open. Doing this means we can't all get out." She had a look of panic but knew they had no other choice. She let go of the lever and the full weight of the gate was on Drake, he managed to hold it but was obviously struggling.
"GO!" He screamed. The other five quickly ran through and waited for him on the other side. Using the rest of his energy he pushed the gate up and quickly fell back, narrowly avoiding the gate falling back down. Venessa ran over and helped him up, he was slightly out of breath but apart from that he was good to go. They all started running across the wet soil towards the pier, Francis let the group since he was the fastest while Drake struggled to catch up at the back. A few seconds after they started running the gate slowly opened once more, this time the other guards were there, led none other then Alpha. The group was at half way and they could actually see the pier slowly form out of the mist. Some of the guards continued chasing while others began to shot arrows at them. One arrow stuck Drake right in the back, causing him to fell to the ground instantly. Siren being the person she was ran back to help him, the two of them were quickly surrounded by guards. Venessa also stopped in her tracks, not to give up but to fight. Francis turned for a moment to see where the others were, he stopped once he saw Venessa standing there. He called over to her.
"What are you doing!?"
"GO!" She yelled. The two strangers didn't even stop, they already made it to the pier. Francis looked to the pier then back to his friends in need. The decision on what to do was so hard for him, he knew the right thing was to help his friends but being a cripple that wouldn't be possible. He looked at the path he stood on and how it branched off another way, towards the clearing. Instantly his dream flashed before his eyes again, the great dragon that dwelled in the dead forest.
"Please be real..." He said under his breath. Instead of helping his friends or running to the boat he ran the way he was facing, towards the heart of the island. In seconds he vanished into the mist, completely hidden.

Venessa put up a good fight, killing five and wounding many others but once Alpha joined in she was quickly disarmed. A few guards ran towards the pier while Alpha and the best of his guards rounded up the ones they caught. Drake, Siren and Venessa were now side by side on their knees.
"Why the fuck did you do this. First off you didn't even make it to the fucking pier, secondly you wouldn't of even known how to leave on boat and thirdly your all just dumb fucks."
"Go rot in hell you mutt." Drake yelled. Alpha instantly grabbed drake by the throat and spat in his face.
"Don't insult my race you Ork, you don't even belong in these lands." Alpha threw him back down to the ground then kicked him a few times. he lent over to one of the guards with him and whispered something. The three of them couldn't make out what he said but knew it was probably something bad. Five minutes passed and the three of them were still on their knees, they hadn't moved a muscle. The two man he got to the boat were quickly captured and brought to where the others were. Instead on joining them in the line they were made to go on their knees opposite them. Looks of sorrow were shared between all of them. Alpha stood in between after he noticed them staring. After the long wait Alpha's guard finally brought over what he wanted. Alpha slid the metal gauntlet onto his hand then turned to his captured.
"Some of you might know this gauntlet." The majority of them remained silent, Siren on the other hand had started to really panic.
"No?" He looked down on them all.
"Allow me to explain. Each leader of the four kingdoms had a special weapons. Midnights Gauntlet, The light sword... eh... a few others, I forgot their names. Anyways, they hold immense power and are given to the leader of that race. Since the way of ruling has changed I was given the gauntlet by my good friends Amelia and Octavian, it was a sign of peace and good fortune between our faces. Of course I accepted such a wonderful offer. Would you like to see what it does." He smiled like mad man. Siren started to panic even more, tears fell from her eyes as she knew what was to come. Alpha turned to one of the men, it was the middle aged human. Slowly he placed the gauntlet over his face and tightened his grip. The man reached out and tried pulling the gauntlet off his face but he seemed to be powerless. Suddenly the gauntlet glowed a bright purple, a muffled scream came from the man as the color grew brighter. They watched as the mans hands slowly got thinner and more decayed, in seconds his fingers looked twisted and rotted. Alpha released the gauntlet from the mans face, what was left was horrific. The mans body looked like it had been mummified and forgotten, his skin was black and decayed but his eyes were still visible, they rested deep in the eye sockets, a haunting sight. The body fell into the mud and instantly crumbled into ash. The four who were left looked on in horror, even some of his guards looked scared.
"You four... Have made a serious mistake." He grinned and looked at the man knelt down next to the ashes. An elf like Venessa, looked to be on the younger side but you could never tell with elves.
"Well, I should say you three." He lunged forward and grabbed the elves face. What followed was the same horrific death the other man got... Painful and frightening.