After a long and thorough search, Harry was nowhere to be seen and it didn't look like anyone else had spotted him either. The suspicion that the Dark Guild was behind it quickly disappeared. They knew how Harry was acting, especially towards Van.
It was something they should have seen coming, and now it seemed like they were too over confident after successfully defending several attacks from the Shadow, with Harry even being one of them himself.
"The real question is what do we do now?" Lenny pondered deeply, it was a concern for the Redwing group. They had already lost strong members of their force on this trip and that included Ray, their most valuable asset.
"It would be tough to travel without Ray, especially with no goal.'' Jack said. "They might have already taken him to the shadows. With so few people here there isn't really anything we can do. Perhaps we should send a message to Sylvia and ask for her guidance, or head back there ourselves."
"I don't think that would be a good idea." A voice interrupted, it had come from Monk. The meeting they had was taking place in one of the large tents that the Redwings had set up. Only the leaders of the Redwings were present and upon seeing Monk, the new leader of the Dark Guild, they all quickly drew their weapons and were on guard. They didn't trust Monk and they thought perhaps a whole bunch of Dark Guild members were going to raid them any second.
"Relax everyone." Martha said, making a gesture with her hand for them all to put their weapons away. "I was the one who invited him."
"Martha..." Jack called out. "I know you care about him, but he's not the-"
"He is the same." Martha interrupted. "Isn't that right Monk?"
In this situation, Monk had decided that it was time for him to come clean. Not just for the sake of the Redwing members but those in the Dark Guild as well. If they didn't know now then it could be the end of them all.
He explained what had happened just like he did so with Martha, but it didn't seem like they were as easily convinced as she was.
"I don't know much about your past." Katie said, as she didn't know about Monk like the others did and was one of the last to join the Redwings along with Lenny. "However, if you are acting as a so-called double agent, then you could at least tell us why they want Van so badly, and why did you say it wasn't a good idea for us to return?"
Monk looked at the ground for a few seconds and then clenched his two fists tightly before answering.
"That's why I've decided to tell you. Honestly I thought with the white crystal and Ray they might never get to him, but it seems that the Shadow has infected those close to you without you realising it." Monk stated.
"I'm sure you know that there are things in our world known as Gods. We don't know exactly what they are but we know they're beings with special powers that seemingly live forever, even if they are put to death they are reincarnated. It is believed that one of these Gods is inside Van."
"This information lines up with what we know so far." Lenny interrupted. "Bliss is the God known as the Divine Being, then there is Sera from the Empire who seems to have the power of the God also. Bliss had mentioned that Van's power comes from a God within."
"Correct, although your words have only made me realise that what they said was true, and I hoped it wasn't." Monk replied. "Using the power inside Van, they hope to open up a portal. The Shadow was able to open up a portal before but it didn't succeed like it had hoped."
"What do you mean?" Martha asked. "What type of portal are you talking about?"
"Using Van, just like before they can open up a portal to Hell, but it is not Hell as we know it. This is a special place where dragons lie once they have died. The Shadow successfully summoned one before using Gary, but that was a failure. For some reason, the Shadow is hoping to summon all the dragons and allow them to roam free on Bronzeland once again. The more time we waste, the quicker this will become a reality and we have to stop them."
It sounded beyond crazy what Monk was suggesting to them. Before they knew about Ray they thought that dragons were just a myth, but at the same time it didn't make sense for Monk to lie about these things, for it didn't change much of the decision they had to make.
In the end, the one that broke their silence was Monk.
"I never expected them to get Van so soon, but what you all don't know is that the Dark Guild has been wanting to separate from the Shadow for a while now. There have been several attacks on the villages within the shadow continent, and some of them are awfully suspicious. It looks like with a little more investigation, I can change their minds, and perhaps our two sides can join together."
"Join sides with the Dark Guild!" Katie scoffed at the thought.
What he was suggesting sounded barbaric. Even before the shadow existed the Dark Guild and the Knights of Avrion were mortal enemies, and now they were suggesting to join together.
"It's a big if." Monk replied. "What I suggest is for you to go and try to stop them using Van, by any means possible, and I will try to find evidence on the Shadow, that's why I volunteered to come here, but this doesn't look to be the shadows doing."
With that said, Monk walked away giving the group a lot to think about.
It was clear what he meant by the words 'any means possible', if they had to, they should kill Van to stop the world becoming overrun with dragons.
"I think we should listen to him." Martha spoke. "We can send a message to Sylvia asking for support. I fear that this may cause a big war. Ray is still in the shadow continent, and he will be able to follow us. I know this is dangerous, but this is too important to not try. A lot of our lives may be lost, but it's also a chance to stop the shadow from completing their goal."
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