Deep in the forest that Kioku and his friends had found themselves in was a cave. The inside of the cave was not occupied by an animal, however, within the cave on a stone bed lied one of the generals of Nitram's army, Haiza.
Haiza slowly opened his dark eyes, he rose with a concerned look on his face. He wore deep red robes lined with patterns of black horror struck faces, his shoulder length hair was tied back and black horns sprouted from both sides of his temple.
"To think that more who carry the scent would appear," said Haiza in worried tone. He pointed at the ground in front of him and a fire erupted, the flames were deep red and glowed brightly as a deep feral voice came from them.
"What is it you want Haiza?" Asked the voice.
"One of my clones was defeated."
The voice remained silent at the news and when it spoke, it sounded slightly concerned.
"Apart from the old Godslayer and his apprentice no one should be able to defeat a clone that carries half your power."
"It was two young men," Haiza said, he was glad his leader was realising the gravity of the situation.
"They both had the scent."
"I see," the voice now sounded extremely worried, a long silence passed before it spoke again.
"Circulate a mental image around our troops and tell them to be cautious and report any sightings."
"Understood, but my lord," said Haiza, he had yet to deliver the most interesting news.
"Yes."
"One of them carried the scent of Arela Hadasuke."
The voice broke into a loud harsh laugh that shook the cave. Haiza smiled slightly, he was right to assume the news would be intriguing.
"Return at once Haiza we must plan accordingly," the flames disappeared leaving Haiza with a wide grin as he stepped towards the mouth of the cave.
"It seems your son will be taken by us as well Arela."
♤♤♤
Kioku walked through the forest trying to find his way back to camp. He carried Mora on his back who had collapsed after the fight and was turning a deep shade of green.
'He doesn't look good,' thought Kioku. 'I hope that woman can heal him as well."
Kioku emerged into the campsite, Zeru was now standing with a black portal floating behind him, the woman was next to him looking worried.
"I think he's been poisoned," said Kioku and Zeru came forward to carry Mora instead as Kioku turned to the woman.
"Your name?"
"Iplis," the woman said with a worried look at Mora.
"Can you help him?" Asked Kioku, a slight note of panic could be heard in his voice, the woman nodded and Kioku stepped forward into the portal.
Kioku found himself in the large living area of a house. It had smooth black leather chairs arranged in a circular pattern, a small wooden table had been put in middle.
Zeru rushed forward and placed Mora on the chair with Iplis coming up behind him. Mora's breathing was strained and he had turned purple. Iplis rested her palm on his forehead and Mora got enveloped in a light green glow.
"He was poisoned but I managed to neutralise it," said Iplis as she rose, the green glow had disappeared and Mora appeared fine but remained unconscious.
"He won't wake up for a few days."
"Thank you," said Zeru with a bow.
"Who are you pe-,"
"Who we are doesn't matter," said Kioku. "We saved you so you'll keep your end of the bargain, there's no need to know who we are."
"Wonderful."
Kioku quickly turned at the sound of the voice and there in the hallway that led to other rooms stood a man with spiky black hair that shot up and bright red eyes, he was as tall as Kioku and looked about his age. He wore a travelling cloak similar to the one Zeru wore, the cloak of the Shadow Guard.
"Who are you?" Asked Kioku raising his sword, Iplis rushed forward and stood between the two.
"Don't worry, he's a friend."
Zeru frowned and Kioku's eyes became more wary as he surveyed the man's clothing.
"Why do you have that uniform?"
The man raised his arms in surrender and gave Kioku an amused grin. "You may not know me but I know you, Kioku Himira, the prince of the Shadow Realm."
Iplis' eyes widened and Zeru looked taken aback, only Kioku remained calm.
'A human Godslayer who's royalty in the Shadow Realm, if the other Great Realms knew he existed, it would be all out war,' thought Iplis.
"That doesn't answer the question of who you are."
"Soyin Rian, apprentice to Elder Nero and captain of the Shadow Guard squad three," said Soyin playfully. The sword in Kioku's hands disappeared and Soyin moved towards Mora to examine him.
"What happened?" Asked Soyin in a serious tone.
"Haiza," Iplis said darkly. "They managed to hold him off and we escaped."
"We killed him," corrected Kioku. Iplis gasped and Soyin stood and turned to Kioku with a grave look.
"What you killed was his clone."
"What?" Asked Kioku, the looks on Iplis and Soyin's faces told him something was definitely wrong.
"Haiza is a god, if it was the real him you'd be dead," Soyin turned Iplis and they seemed to have a silent conversation with their eyes.
"Sorry you had such an unpleasant experience the moment you came here," said Soyin with a smile.
"Why don't we sit down and have a chat?"
"What do you want?" Asked Kioku coldly, the way Soyin spoke, Kioku clearly understood the meaning behind his words.
"I'll cut right to it then, we need your help," said Soyin sighed softly whilst rubbing the back of his head.
"With what?" Asked Kioku suspiciously. The way Soyin spoke was as if he expected Kioku and his unit to arrive.
"Sit, I'll explain the situation."
Kioku and Zeru sat opposite to Soyin and Iplis whilst Mora remained sleeping to their right. Iplis had brought some water but Kioku didn't drink it, 'Trusting easily gets you killed,' thought Kioku, remembering Hakai's lesson.
"Your mission is to get to Asgard right?" Asked Soyin and Kioku nodded.
'He knows too much,' thought Kioku with a meaningful glance at Zeru,
'Depending on what he says we might have to take him out.'
"Well to get there you'll need to find a root of the World Tree. At the edge off this town there is a great root of the tree, however, a group demons led by the demon god Nitram and his three brothers also want to use the root to invade Asgard."
"Why don't you just destroy it?" Asked Zeru.
"The World Tree, Yggdrasil, is virtually indestructible," said Iplis. "Only beings like Chaos or Order are capable of damaging it."
"This world, Hœrde, has been almost completely destroyed by Nitram's army," Soyin continued, Kioku noticed that Iplis was clenching the ends of her skirt.
"This city, the Land Of Beginning is all that's left."
"That's all tragic but what happens to you doesn't concern us," said Kioku indifferently, he closed his eyes and lay back.
"We just need to use this root and get to Asgard."
"The root only activates once every full moon and that's one month from now you dolt," Iplis said with an angry glare at Kioku.
"Before then we can definitely expect Nitram to attack with full force."
"Who the hell are you calling a dolt," said Kioku angrily. "Nevermind, judging by that layer of grass on your head, I should've realised there's only dirt inside your skull."
Iplis touched her green hair and looked angrily at Kioku, She stood and pointed a finger at him, which glowed brightly.
"In short," Soyin said loudly, Iplis sat back down angrily.
"You'll have to work with us dear prince."
'There's no way around it, they clearly have more knowledge on the situation and have a greater force,' pondered Kioku. 'Working with them is our only option.'
"Fine."
"Great," Soyin said happily.
"However," began Kioku, his eyes were cold as he looked at Soyin. "Our mission and our identities must remain between us, else if something is revealed,-"
"Is that a threat shadow prince?" Asked Soyin with a mysterious smile, his cast a shadow over his eyes.
"You can take it however you like."