~Heyo peeepsss. I'm planning on this to be the last long chapter. Who knows? This is almost ending. A few chapters, 2-3, I don't think it'll be that long. Below is a picture of what the Graydown ring might look like. Not exact, but similar~

-TazTree

The horses landed down gently. The people slid down from the horses, and glared at the guards. There were so many here, perhaps more than the army. And Eden was with them so they must've been on Arine and Marvin's side. 

Arine heard a guard sniff. She heard the voice of Harris growl "Time Keepers." 

These are Tempus Praestites in different castles. Arine thought.

"How did—how did you kill him?" Harris demanded, his voice betraying no fear except the slight quiver of his jaw.

"It is in our power to do so," a woman with dark skin and and a tight bun said firmly. "To quicken lives to death."

"Leader Paola," the King snarled. "You again."

"Major Leader Paola." the Major Leader bored her eyes to the King. 

Arine was trying to process the whole scene at the moment that she didn't realize Marvin was poking her elbow until he whispered loudly to her ear.

"Arine!" 

"Oh wait what?" Arine blinked and focused her attention on him. 

"Look."  he pointed somewhere in the corner of the Wall.

Arine squinted at where Marvin pointed. "I don't...see anything?"

"Exactly!" Marvin breathed. "The Ring isn't there. It's gone."

Arine's eyes widened at that. She looked down at the floor where she and Marvin were standing. She looked at the guards, trying to see if any of them were holding it. 

"The guards didn't get a chance to get it yet," Marvin murmured. "It must have fallen into the crack below the wall."

"What!" Arine exclaimed, loud enough for everyone to hear. Everyone looked at her, and then snapped back to reality. 

"Come on, what are you waiting for? Get the ring!" Harris commanded. 

"Master Harris, the ring is not there." a guard squeaked nervously. 

"Excuse me?" Harris seethed. He looked at Arine. "Give it." 

Arine frowned at him and started to build thorns behind her. "I don't have it."

"I'm asking once, Thorne girl. Give. The. Ring. Or your little Graydown friend will face the consequences first." 

"You will not do that." a man who wore garments similar in color and material as Major Leader Paola said. 

"Leaders and I shall deal with these guards. All of you Tempus Praestites scout the area. Keep the kids safe." the Major Leader ordered. 

Everyone went to action. Guards lashed their weapons while the Leaders, 12 of them, manipulated time to slow their weapons, and killed them. 

Arine Swift Traveled away from the fight, landing somewhere safe. She turned behind her and acknowledged the fact that Marvin was nowhere to be seen. 

Arine bit her lip and started Traveling to find where he was. Before he was next to Arine, and then...he was gone. They were discussing where the ring was...

"Arine, look out!" someone yelled. It was Erik, warning her of something behind her. 

Arine was few seconds too late to prepare herself before Harris jumped at her, pushing her down to the ground. Her hands were stuck behind her back. Harris's arm pinned Arine's neck, making it hard to breathe. 

"Give me the ring." Harris growled. 

"I don't have it." Arine choked out.

"Shut up! I know you do. So give it." 

"I—I don't. It's missing." Arine muffled out. 

Harris cocked his head and glared at Arine dangerously.

"Don't you see what's around you? These Tempus Praestites will be gone, and everyone is suffering. All for a little ring you're too selfish to give. What's your decision, little Thorne?"

"Me? Selfish?" Arine coughed. "You're the one wanting it for selfish purposes. And clearly it seems like the Tempus are winning—"

Without warning, Harris took out a knife and stabbed it to Arine's throat. 

Arine screamed and thorns started to surround them automatically. Harris furrowed his eyebrows and started hacking at the thorns with his knife. The thorns were too thick and strong too pierce through. Arine scrambled away as Harris struggled to cut through. 

Arine sat down, careful to not put pressure on her calf, and put two fingers on her neck. They came out bright red. She winced at the sight. She wasn't sure how she'd heal the cut. 

Arine looked back at the Seasonal Wall. The place for the ring was still empty, and so many people were fighting and getting injured for it. It must've fallen down under the wall in the crack, like Marvin had said.

Marvin. He must be under there! 

Arine jumped up and pushed through the fighting Leaders and guards. She barely missed an arrow slicing through her. They seemed to not have noticed Arine, but Arine noticed that there were much fewer guards, but much less Leaders fighting too. 

Arine's lips turned to a thin line before she Time Traveled under the Wall. 

It was quite a strange experience, Time Traveling there. Arine was descending fast and harshly. It was similar to Time Traveling to Seasonal Island but much quicker and Arine luckily didn't land on water. Instead, she landed on hard rock, that had sharp edges to it. Arine stood up, and  looked at her surroundings. 

The walls were smooth and maroon colored. There were many wall paintings, paintings of bright green grass with flowers and and cold breezes with snow falling. They depicted different seasons, the look, the feel, the sounds. 

Arine walked further and noticed a large picture frame that had the sun and waxing crescent at the top. At the bottom was a red leaf, a rose, a snowflake and a bright green leaf. Arine assumed they were symbols of the seasons and the top were symbols of Lux and Nox. 

"Marvin," Arine called, an echo of her voice repeating her words. "Where are you?"

Silence. Arine waited uncomfortably for a reply. Suddenly a rock was flying at her, and Arine ducked wildly before it smashed roughly to a small picture frame, making it fall. 

Arine looked at the picture frame then back again to see Marvin, his expression angry. His face then softened when he saw Arine.

"Oh, it's you Arine." he let out a sheepish laugh. 

"Of course it's me! Didn't you hear my voice?" Arine said, mildly exasperated. 

Marvin shrugged. "Have to be ready for any threats."

Arine rolled her eyes and walked toward Marvin. "Have you found the ring?"

Marvin's tone grew somber. "No, I haven't unfortunately. The ring should be somewhere here, but it is not visible."

Arine bent down on the ground to check if the ring was there. "Could it be in between these rocks?"

"Perhaps."

Arine and Marvin went to opposites sides of the wall and started searching for the ring. Arine had searched for things many times with Marvin. They had searched for the Graydown ring in the castle before. They could find it again now. 

Marvin had started his gray light again which lit up the room. 

"So," Marvin started. "How's the battle doing?"

"Oh there's a lot that has happened," Arine recounted. "Like guards dying, Harris being trapped in thorns..."

"Harris got trapped in thorns?" he laughed. 

Arine smiled, and nodded. 

"What else?"

Arine bit her lip while sliding her hand on the wall. "Well, a lot of the Leaders got down too."

Marvin clucked his tongue understandingly. "Their items must've been taken. Their items that fuel their power." 

Arine raised her eyebrow in confusion. 

"You know, like your watch," Marvin pointed at her wrist. "Greater Families do not usually need a sacred item, but untrained ones usually do. But normal Tempus Praestites need an object for them to use their powers."

"Ah." Arine peered at the ground, becoming tired with the search when she started coughing. 

Her coughs put pressure on her throat, and she coughs up blood. Marvin notices this first and his eyes widened in horror. He ran up to Arine, and patted her back as she coughed.

"Arine, what happened? Who hurt you?" he asked, panicked. 

"It-it was Harris." Arine coughed out. Her back bent down as Marvin swung an arm around her shoulders to steady her. 

"It's okay, it's okay. You'll be fine. We'll get Harris and the guards out of here. They'll know not to mess with us," Marvin grinned at her. "But first, we'll need to find that ring."

"Didn't you say that when it's dark the Graydown ring glows?" 

"You remember! Indeed, it does." Marvin held Arine and trudged into the depths of the underground.

It seemed that they were walking for a long time. Arine was losing blood quickly, and she grew more weary. She shut her eyes tightly, fighting to push off the feeling. Marvin sensed this and had a steel grip on her.

Arine's version started to become blurry. She was holding on to the edges of consciousness, trying to think past the pain and blood. She felt herself slowly falling, falling—

"Look!" Marvin shouted.

Arine came back to full consciousness and fluttered open her eyes. She inhaled at the sight. They had entered a room with glowing light, and wall and floor paintings everywhere. The ground wasn't made of rock, instead it was made of smooth marble. The paintings were paintings of symbols, symbols such as a bow and arrow, an eagle, flowers. 

The most eye catching object was a large clock hung in the middle of the room. The outer ring of the clock was shaded in hues of white, pink, golden and red—colors of the seasons. The Roman Numerals were imprinted and the hour hand pointed to the I.

"The Tempus Family room," Marvin breathed. "All past and present families. Over there, the Thorne symbol!"

Arine turned her head to where Marvin stared. She saw green thorns spiraling, similar to the thorns designed in her ring. 

"Wow."

"And the Graydown symbol!" Marvin looked at the symbol of dark gray clouds.

"So...the Ring may be here?" Arine inquired. 

"A high chance." Marvin replied. 

Arine wriggled to get out of Marvin's arms but Marvin reminded her she was hurt. Arine frowned, but didn't move as Marvin explored. His hand brushed through the symbols until it reached the Graydown one. 

Arine squinted her eyes tiredly. "Where could it be here?"

"My knowledge is as good as yours. Though it should be here somewhere." 

Arine stared at the clock. It looked to be a symbol of power, of greatness, of so many things. The clock brightened the whole room up with a glow. 

Without hesitation, Arine pushed herself away from Marvin, puzzling him and ran to the clock. Marvin called out to her but Arine ignored him. She stared at it towering over her and jumped to try and hold onto it. It was too high up for her to do so. The jump used up lots of her energy and she panted. 

Marvin caught up to her and said "What's wrong? What are you trying to do?"

"The-the clock is glowing. It's the source of this light. And if the ring is glowing..."

Marvin's eyebrows show up in realization. "It might be behind it! Smart girl. Okay, I'll use the wind to make you go up. Check behind there." 

Arine bobbed her head and felt herself rise up above the floor. She checked behind the clock, searching for the ring. It was dark behind there, which made it difficult to see.

"Do you need more light?" Marvin asked. 

"Yes please." Arine answered. 

The gray light shone brighter and made the back more clear. There, Arine could see, was a ring tucked into it. She tried to get her fingers inside to take it, but it was too narrow for her fingers. Arine bit her lip, trying to think.

Roots. Thin roots could catch onto the ring and give it to Arine. She imagined them sprouting and holding onto the edge of the ring. In a few seconds, she felt a cool weight in her hand. She looked down at the ring and smiled.

"You can lower me down." Arine said.

 Arine reached the ground and showed Marvin ring. His eyes brightened when taking the ring and examining it. 

"We're so close," Marvin said excited. "So close to fixing this. So close to safety." 

Arine shared his excitement. The room then started to dim slowly, the light from the clock going away. Their victory was becoming short lived when the ceiling broke, and tumbled in were guards of Rose-Grayen and people of Tempus. 

A rumble of grunts and groans filled the room. Arine and Marvin blinked at them.

"This is...um, an interesting arrival." Marvin cleared his throat.

"What, you need more lights? Because this room looks like it needs it." Harris growled at him. 

Major Leader Paola stood up formally and addressed to Marvin. "Have you found the ring?"

Marvin looked lost. "Well, er—"

The King's eyes narrowed on his finger. "He has it. The boy has it. Get it!"

Guards started running up to Marvin, and Marvin slashed at one blindly with the sharp edge of the ring. The others he kicked at or punched.

Arine scanned the room. 6 Leaders could be seen, and 50 or so of the Tempus Praestites, including Eden. That was relieving. 60 of the guards seemed to be there too. Arine's shoulders drooped at the tension of everything. 

Marvin ducked under the guards and ran to Major Leader Paola. He pushed aside guards trying to grab him and began speaking to the Major Leader in a rushed voice.

"I must get back to the Seasonal Wall." Marvin stated.

"You will not. That is not where the ring belongs," Major Leader Paola declared. "The Wall is a pathway to here. We got here when you found the ring."

"Oh." Marvin looked around dumbly at the room. 

"Where do we place it then?" Harris demanded her. 

"You must smash it,"  the Major Leader explained, ignoring Harris. "In front of the clock."

Harris jumped on Marvin and pulled on his finger. Marvin yelped and tried to get Harris off of him. 

Quickly thinking, Arine thought of a ceiling piece to drop on Harris. Marvin poked Harris to warn him of the ceiling piece falling, and Harris's distraction let him escape him. Marvin gave a quick nod of appreciation to Arine, and dashed towards the clock. 

Arine made distractions with thorns and rock pieces, but the guards were quick to block them. There were fallen guards from quickened lives and hit by weapons, but the Tempus could only speed and slow time one at a time. 

The guards appeared to be a good distance away from Marvin, who was sliding the ring off his finger and was placing it on the ground. Marvin surveyed the room and caught Arine's eye. Arine gave him a tight smile and motioned for him to step on it. The moment of anticipation filled Arine as Marvin looked down at ring and raised his foot. 

Another foot connected with his, knocking him back to the ground. It was the King. Marvin stood up and looked at him furiously. The King matched his expression. 

"Move." the King commanded coldly. 

"I will not." Marvin replied firmly.

The King started to step on the ring until Marvin pushed him back with air currents and Arine ran to the King to pin him down on the ground.

"Now!" Arine urged. 

Harris scrambled over to Marvin and pushed him face first to the floor. Marvin's knee hit the ring, crushing it. Marvin looked over at Harris and smirked at Harris's horror. 

The room shone brightly. All the Rose Grayen guards starting falling, and fading to nothing. The King grunted in pain, but shot one enraged look at all of them, and at Harris before disappearing too. Harris tried to speak but it was too late for him. He was gone. The rest of the Rose-Grayens were gone. 

Arine felt a tight pull inside her, and before she understood what was happening, she released a power that went around the whole room, making it vanish. They were outside, and the once dirty, empty moss grew to bright green grass and fields of flowers. The sky had turned a bright blue, the blue of spring.

The Tempus Praestites looked at her in awe and Marvin looked at her proudly. 

"We did it," he exclaimed. He took Arine's hands. "We restored the seasons!"

"We did!" Arine cheered and was pulled into a hug by Marvin. 

Arine had flashbacks on the struggles of the past days. The past month for her, and for everyone. But now everyone was safe, including the Time Keepers. 

Marvin released her and Arine looked at the Tempus. 

They smiled at her, and Eden was beaming, her face practically as bright as the light the power Arine released had been. 

The Tempus Praestites hugged each other, and praised each other of the battle. 

Arine smiled uncontrollably, her emotions mixed up into joy, sadness, relief. 

Major Leader Paola then walked towards Arine and Marvin. She gave them both a warm smile.

"Arine Helly Thorne and Marvin James Graydown," she said. "Thank you for all your hard work, determination and courage today. You have saved us and everyone in this world from devastation. We cannot praise you enough."

"Thank you Major Leader." Marvin bowed down, and Arine did the same.

"We must celebrate. Back in the Tempus Castrum." 

Arine was about to say something when she gasped harshly and fell down to her knees.

~GUYS GUYS THIS IS ALMOST DONE. A SHORT CHAPTER AND EPILOGUE AND THEN THIS WILL FINALLY BE COMPLETED. I'M REALLY EXCITED FOR THIS. :DDD This chapter went a little quick but I couldn't help myself. I wanted to get to the ending :))~

-TazTree