We had left the little town and thankfully the castle was only a few days away from here due North so we’d followed the small forest trail that led from the lake and straight into more forest. From there we followed Nero. He seemed to know where to go but now we were stumped. There was a divide in the trail that Nero couldn’t remember being here before so we were camped beside it. I sat facing the divide thinking. Left or right? If I took the wrong one Myra could be in the hands of those asswipes longer since I would have to backtrack and follow the right trail. I closed my eyes and instantly images blurred by. The dark-skinned man, a dark-skinned woman with emerald eyes, then Myra rocking and sobbing.

  Several people, all who looked like Myra in some form whether they had her eyes, smile, or body except skinnier. Then a vision of us taking the left divide and running into a small town and having to turn around and another of us taking the right divide and battling a battalion of fire brigade soldiers and meeting a brown-haired man who was carrying some form of gun. Finally, Ice Temple and the slave being turned into a Morgan were the last images. I opened my eyes and stood walking over to Nero. His chocolate gaze unnerved me slightly with its emptiness. Then he seemed to blink and he gazed at me.

  “You have the answer,” he said and I nodded.

  “Right, but some fire brigade soldiers are expecting us,” I said

  He nodded and got the others who were chatting around a small fire. Datha was with them enjoying their company. I couldn’t enjoy anything until I knew Myra was fine. Funny how she became my friend so fast. My only real friend and Nero was becoming another despite his quiet nature. He was a good guy although I was the last person to go to for picking out those who had a good personality and who didn’t. I had been a bully for four years and had been bullied for thirteen before that. My life had been a mess to start with, and I guess I felt entitled to do the same to others. I made Myra’s life hell for a few days and we ended up here where I was learning the value of others. Ruckus burped and the others followed. My sister wrinkled her nose. Well, not that they had too much value to begin with hehe but at least I was trying to get along and not fall back into my bullying ways. Nero signaled the camp and Niran put out the fire somehow. I didn’t watch to find out how. Once we were lined up and ready to go I warned them of the Fire brigade soldiers waiting for us.

  “It saddens me that we’ll have to fight our brothers and sisters,” said Atesh as he stumbled against a root. Niran sighed and nodded. “We knew it was a possibility from the start,” he said.

  “At least they aren’t Earth brigade. We’d have a hella time with them,” said Ruckus.

  “Are you saying that Earth is better than Fire?” asked Atesh fists clenching.

  “Siegfried has us better trained is all I’m saying,” said Ruckus.

  “He’s right. Earth users are nasty fighters,” said Nero.

  Atesh pouted.

  “What about the Ether brigade?” asked Niran.

  “We are trained by an elite assassin. Our job is different from others. You would not hear us coming for you...usually,” said Nero.

  Niran and Atesh stared while Ruckus shrugged. “Thorn and Siegfried are known to be the most battle-hardened of the council,” he said.

  I sighed and guided the guys. We hid behind a ruined rock wall that had once been a part of the castle before the Great War. Vines were growing from its tallest point down to the forest floor. Beautiful blue flowers grew on them. I went to touch one but a gloved hand stopped me before I touched the inviting petal.

  “Cardavis. Very tempting. Very poisonous,” said Nero.

  I looked over at him and he let go of my hand. I blushed at my stupid idiocy. Of course! Like a fly drawn to the spider if I had touched it no one could have saved me and no one would be able to save Myra. I felt like hitting myself! I put distance between the flower and me.

  “So what do we do?” I asked as we watched the brigade. There were at least a hundred men and a few women. I was hating Sapherine more and more. Women's rights were non-existent here. Heck human existence was a no go and if you were born a hybrid by some unlucky chance, slavery was in your future. The kids were way too uptight! Ugh! Where the heck was a theme park even? Did the poor kids only study and that’s all? Not a life I wanted! I wanted to get out of here. I hoped that Datha might want to come too. I couldn’t leave her here! A hybrid princess. Who would care for her? Who would provide for her? Plus she was an oracle. On Earth the visions would stop bothering her I hoped.

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  “We can surprise them and then…” began Atesh.

  “Leave this to me,” said Nero.

  “Dude, you can’t take on a hundred guys on your own,” said Niran.

  “Maybe not, but I can take the majority of them and leave the stragglers to you,” he said walking off and towards the brigade.

  “He’s going to get himself killed!” whispered Atesh.

  “Let him go. He knows what he’s doing,” said Ruckus, a strange glint in his eyes.

  Ruckus knew what Nero was about to pull. I felt it. I paid attention as I was sure it would be a show to watch.

  Nero approached the brigade calmly as if he were just another traveler and one brigadier turned to him.

  “Where do you head?” he asked.

  “I have business in Saphiros,” Nero said.

  “I need to see your passport and registration then.”

  “I have a signet ring but that is not why I’m here. Can you move? You are blocking the way to Saphiros for my friends and I and we really don’t appreciate it,” he said, smirking.

  “Oh really, who are your friends?” sneered the man.

  “Above you,” was all Nero said then the sky darkened to a dark purple, and reality bent. From the bend, light flashed and hundreds of guys and girls came into view, forming a circle around the brigade. Some were near copies of Nero and some were completely opposite. There was one dressed as a rocker that I realized came from my realm. They were all holding violet rings. They stood on the strange platform that had formed above the soldiers. Then they all began floating to the ground aiming at the violet rings. A violet glow seemed to come off them and feed into the rings, causing them to glow a blue-violet. Nero smirked and lifted his arm, his hand in a fist. The people stopped falling, suspended in the air.

  “Will you let us pass,” Nero asked as the soldier stuttered and aimed a fireshot at one of the people. She was blue with orange-tipped hair. The shot went through her and kept going to hit the nearest tree.

  “Very well,” Nero said and opened his hand. All the people pointed their violet rings and let them fly at the brigade. Each ring linked with the other until a big circle of violet light was flying towards the brigade. I covered my face as it landed and exploded, incinerating most of the soldiers there except for a handful. The people landed and smirked before disappearing in a flash of light.

  I stepped out from behind the rock and came over to Nero who was smirking at the few brigade members left. They were nursing burns, large ones. I glanced at Nero and noticed that his chocolate eyes were rimmed with violet rings while the pupils were almost the entirety of the eyes. They were receding slowly.

  “Hey, man. You ok?” I asked him.

  He nodded. “Bringing my other selves to this dimension always weakens me,” he said.

  “Other selves? Those were all you?”

  “Yes, from different realms. I’m a Watcher,” he said and my eyebrows rose. A watcher? Those were rare. They were Ether kin who could travel the realms as free as a jaybird. They kept watch of other realms and the fluidity of the space-time continuum. They were the male equivalent of an oracle. We had an oracle, a watcher, and a seer on this team? What luck! Even better, Nero could take Myra and I home! He’d been there most likely. Hell, I could probably ask to go home now but I wasn’t. Not without Myra. I was probably two days from Myra then all I had to do was find the dungeons and bust her out of there!

  The dungeons were outside connected to the castle by a long hallway last I remember. The others were securing the handful of survivors from the brigade. They were too shocked to do a thing and Datha was slowly healing them with runes. I walked over to them one arm around an exhausted Nero. I sat him down near Datha and watched as she fretted over him. He muttered something before slumping over and closing his eyes. Datha growled muttering and shifting Nero over so his neck didn’t get a crick in it and left him to sleep it off. The forest rustled and the man I saw with the almost Earth-like weapon appeared pointing it at Nero.

  “I saw what he did. We need him,” he said.

  “Who are you,” I asked.

  The forest moved and we were surrounded by several men in camouflage and holding guns, the same as the man before us.

  “We ask the questions around here,” he said. “Now he’s coming with us,” he said, smirking. He motioned for his men to pick Nero up and carry him.

  “Wait, why not take us too,” I said. I wasn’t leaving Nero with these people.

  “What can you offer us?” the man asked.

  “Two hybrids, two Fires, and one Earth kin,” I said.

  The man thought it over for a minute. “What kind of hybrid?”

  “Wind/ Ether, “ I replied.

  The man huffed. “Fine, take them,” he said pointing to us and some men nodded and pointed their guns at us while a large man picked the unconscious Nero up.

  We were bound with rope and the brigaders were shot behind us. I closed my eyes at Datha’s cry. She didn’t need to see that.

  “Alright move out!” yelled the man and we began to be herded in a separate direction from the castle. I hoped that Myra could hold on a little longer. Maybe the oracle was right and I wouldn’t rescue Myra.