The closer the group came to the centre of the Crystal Sphere where the palace once shone among lush green trees, the sparser the few patches of dead forests became. More and more traces of destruction and fire scarred the land. And soon, no more hiding places opened the view to a far spread of nothingness. 

Morana's uncles inched ahead cautiously. Mulberry and Buddy needed to stay behind among the trees, since they would rouse too much attention. Pebble was with them, meant to watch over them until the group returned from their brief excursion, but who knew if she would comply? Onyx circled overhead, mapping out all the wandering foes for Hongjoong. Some goblins dug around the dirt nearby, trying to find riches under the occasional crunch of metal. Hongjoong guided their fellowship around them, shrouded in their coats and the veil of magic that was impossible for the small creatures to peer through.

Morana clung to Yeosang's branches for dear life. She was scared of the shadows in this place; the headache weighing on her from the whispers of all the dead yelling for revenge. Though she wanted to be with her father, he relied on Wooyoung to be guided safely. Yeosang's grip on her was pacifying, the winding hold of his branches lively.

There was no castle to find in the place the castle was meant to be.

In the distance, a camp of wood and furs assembled among the dulled shine of crumbled crystals. In a circle, the once gleaming gems formed a wall around the crude constructions. Dark figures lingered about, massive and with heavy maces and clubs on their shoulders.

Hongjoong had everyone huddle together at a safe distance. Though they were painfully out in the open, no one spotted them among the ashes. 

"This is new," was the first thing San said when he met Hongjoong's eyes. His wings were drenched in Hongjoong's spell, turning them dark and unsightly for no one to expect his origin. "When I last visited this place, the rubble of the castle was strewn about."

So those were the leftovers. Morana stared at the beauty of their shine, the colours of a rainbow sealed under the sturdy surface. No sun danced on them, and the jagged edges of each chunk weren't cut by craftsmen. 

The orcs gathered the splintered walls and ceilings of the elven castle to build themselves a fort where the emperor once had his seat. Mocking his loss and claiming themselves as new rulers.

While they whispered among each other whether it was worth getting closer, Morana trailed her clueless eyes over the sole gate she could spot. Some orcs guarded the wooden frame, and it was decorated with the most peculiar tokens. 

The orcs liked to string up bones and fur for war decorations, not unlike the gryphon-borns. Draped over crooked wooden stakes, they propped up skulls and pieces of armour they found, resembling scarecrows most frightening. Morana spotted a pile of helmets she could only imagine humans to wear. They were neatly assembled into a pyramid almost reaching as high as their shiny wall. How many people had fallen? 

There were multiple such peculiar decorations. Morana spotted white wings stretched above the entrance, feathered out almost artfully. But some other shapes on those crossing beams were hauntingly formed like people. 

Did the orcs pin up the corpses of their enemies as a sign of mockery?

Morana squinted her eyes, though her heart fluttered in her chest. Part of her felt queasy, the other was fascinated by the craft. When she leaned to see better, Yeosang's eyes dashed over.

"Don't look," the dryad warned her, covering her eyes with a leafy hand. Morana tried to peer past him, but his face was strict.

"Don't torment yourself. Those aren't things anyone should look at, especially not a child."

"Where are the elves?" Morana asked. She spotted human helmets, a seraph's wings. Some of these bodies had feathered stumps on their backs, others were draped in the robes of Hongjoong's people. But none were as fragile and graceful as Seungyoun.

A thick silence spread among the adults, all conversation dying down. 

Yunho busied himself by tucking Aodhán's stubborn blond curls back under his hood. The boy's golden eyes shone with the same innocent question, but a darkness loomed over the faces of the adults.

Onyx fluttered down on Hongjoong's shoulder, disrupting the silence. He cawed into his ear and the mage entered his mind, seeing through his eyes to form a picture of sparks among them.

Morana's question was brushed aside. Only making her more curious.

In Hongjoong's depiction of the camp from above, fires danced among their huts. Some orcs lived here, but the place wasn't grand. Too little food in the area to sustain them. 

A throne rose in their middle, hailing their chieftain with stolen treasures they found among the rubble. Wooyoung clutched his hands into angry fists at the blatant display of travesty. 

Confusingly, holes dotted all around their encampment. Morana understood from Thistle that the orcs burrowed. Were they retrieving elven treasures to pay for their war? Or even to adorn themselves with?

Yeosang shared the thought while Yunho whispered to Mingi, explaining the vision to him. Morana wanted to shove them apart when Mingi leaned into him with so much trust, but she didn't want to risk failing their mission, so she left it at a glare that got wilfully ignored.

"What could they have been digging for? The crown?"

A worthless crown to adorn themselves with. There was no empire left to reign. 

Hongjoong looked displeased enough that it couldn't be just about that.

"These tunnels reach deep... I saw them in Pebble's memory. She came from the darkness and I didn't understand at first that this was how. She wandered for long until she found the light. They must have unearthed her while digging."

The silence was almost stifling. Wooyoung gnawed on his lips, clueless, while San's frown already jumped to the next dread.

"We heard of the legends about his survival, so the orcs also might have."

Yunho exchanged a wide-eyed look with Yeosang. Bored, Morana dug around the ashes but all sticks she picked up to play with crumbled apart in her fingers. If only Pebble was here. They could explore those interesting war symbols together.

"Are we too late?" Wooyoung fretted and the sudden turmoil in their group startled Aodhán, but Hongjoong shook his head, still steadfast while Yunho, Wooyoung and Yeosang looked so lost and pained at the vision of their old home gone. Everyone had known, had seen it fall, but the reality was even more depressing than Morana imagined.

"Impossible. The dragon is with him," Hongjoong insisted. But that was where all of them tapped in the dark. Whether Seonghwa was alive and whether he was consumed by this dragon they kept mentioning.

Morana was interested in meeting a dragon. Would it be very big? It had destroyed these lands in the matter of a day, so it had to be powerful.

"What if this is Yongguk's doing? He is of the same blood. If he can also control the dragon with his voice, he could take over the empire after all," Yunho suggested, but Yeosang shook his head. 

"He would have used the dragon as a weapon before if he could. But he might try to find Seonghwa to kill him or use him as a motif for more war."

For a while longer, they grumbled to themselves, but Morana could tell they wanted to check. Where these tunnels led. If the orcs had actually dug so deep to find a dragon and the lost emperor there. There was hope in their eyes. And fury to let this place rest and not vandalise it further in San's frown.

After a while, Hongjoong nodded. 

"We'll check. We won't get any stronger than we are right now, with everyone here. If they really dug all the way down to the dragon, we have to stop them."

Was there hope in his voice to find Seonghwa and save him? Or could they be crazy enough to hope the orcs killed the dragon, and they found their husband unscathed? Or to even glance at him briefly while they appeased the disturbed dragons by clearing out the orcs?

Morana was so curious about how this would go. To see them fight and to discover the slumbering beast.

Mingi, of all people, ruined her dreams. As if they hadn't just warmed up to each other. He was hesitant and quiet among the others, despite his impressive size. But now he spoke up in a careful whisper.

"Shouldn't we get the kids out of here first? I won't be of much help down there, but I can watch over them in a safe place."

Offended, Morana shoved Yeosang's lingering hands off since he fully knew not to trust her and that she kept trying to peer past him.

"I'm staying! You are only here because of me and Pebble! I'm not going anywhere."

And Mingi shouldn't, either. He was the biggest of them all, the strongest by sheer body strength alone. Even if he was blind, his senses were keen to pick up on those around him. He could intimidate their foes, he could pretend to have captured them and be an allied demon. The possibilities from the story books were endless!

But her uncles didn't look convinced. Morana quivered under their stares, but she didn't back down, thick-headed like a gryphon.

Thankfully, the very same gryphon understood her tenacity best.

"Hongjoong... You always have one way to leave, don't you? No dwarven artefacts hold you back?" He mumbled, and the sorcerer watched them warily, ready for some sort of trick. They all looked reluctant to bring the kids into danger, but if they split up to make sure Morana wouldn't sneak after them by herself, they also lost the stability of the group.

"None."

"Then that is your answer. If it gets dangerous, you leave with the two."

Morana didn't like that.

Just her and her brother? What about her father she just found? What about Yunho? Wooyoung and Yeosang? Wouldn't that mean she might lose them?

Skeptical, Morana peered up at Mingi. But he nodded his agreement.

"Are you sure?" Hongjoong double-checked with him and Yunho. Morana bit her lip, not about to protest if she got what she wanted. They were strong, no? There was nothing to be afraid of. 

Morana would get to go on her adventure and accompany their quest to find Seonghwa, or at least make sure his grave was undisturbed, and then she would go home with her father and be happy there. She was pretty sure by now she didn't need two people to take care of her. With Mingi and her other two uncles, she would be fine.

"I'll protect them," San vowed when everyone concurred. 

With an elegant twist, Hongjoong got to his feet. He looked over to the fort and his face was dark with contempt for these creatures and what they had done to the empire.

"Then let's find out how we can get rid of those orcs so we can see what they are searching for. And if this is their prison, we might be able to free a few elves," he finalised the plan. 

San's hand rested on his sword as they figured out the best strategy to attack. Meanwhile, Yeosang knelt before the girl and made sure her cloak was tucked tightly around her frame.

"If there are elves, you don't look, Morana," he summoned her and Morana groaned. She could barely be excited and terrified of this place at the constant nagging that ripped her from her thoughts.

"You keep telling me that! What am I doing here if I can't look at anything?!" She wanted to look just because Yeosang told her not to.

But Mingi stepped to her side, and his tail swished behind him. He placed a large palm on Morana's head, soothing her with his heat.

"This is no place for a child, so please listen to us. Otherwise, it's too dangerous to bring us along. If you hear someone crying, you don't look. Promise me that," he asked her, gentle in his deep voice.

Morana deflated. She didn't want to fight with her soft-spoken father, especially so soon after their reunion.

She pouted to the side.

"Fine," she huffed, but she would be upset with them about this. 

Proud smiles tried to lift her spirits as Yeosang glanced at Aodhán.

"I'm not looking either," he quickly assured, too much of a chicken to even try to get behind the secrets of this place.

Soothed, Yeosang moved on to discuss with Hongjoong. Morana rolled her eyes at his back.

Pebble always got to look, and she was much smaller than them. What nonsense.