There was a lot to take in. The room consisted of a lot of seats on either side with Prochiron standing with his sword's hilt to the ground in the middle. I thought he would attack us but he didn't.
Then I heard the same manly voice of the Red One. "You have made it!" The voice boomed from all directions, even echoing. "Where are you?" I demanded. Phantom replied, "Don't mistake me to be somewhere particular. Gods are all around and so am I. I don't need a physical body to live. But I can come into Darknorian form if I want to." The Red One announced.
It frightened me even more. Phantom thought of himself as a god. Well, he is a god. He needs no particular form. But the whole concept of him being all around freaked me out. I thought of him no more than a scary ghost. "Blaze Hunt…" The voice said. "Your grandmother had visited me. My men had found her on the edge of our border. I granted mercy until she regained consciousness. Once she did, she told me everything about you and your journey. I know that your true father, King Jalaar is awakening."
I really didn't appreciate Phantom calling King Jalaar my father. I never treated that jerk as my dad. I only had one father, Albert Hunt – the person I lived my life till now. But I didn't have the guts to protest. I had no interest in going back into the illusory realm created by Phantom.
"I took pity on your grandmother and left her without killing her. But then she was captured by Raptor. That's funny." Phantom had a laugh which I did not like at all. "You are the worshippers of God Ison, my father." Red one declared with a bitter voice. "I could kill you right now but there is something I need. Something more precious than killing God Ison's followers." He said. Mark held his hand tight against his grappling hook, ready for any surprise attacks.
"Grandma told us to meet you here. What do you want?" I enquired. The voice went silent for some time then began again. "You are unaware of this but King Jalaar has three younger brothers. They aren't listed in the history. They were from the wild. The three nature beasts."
Now I became curious and agitated. Why did there have to be more enemies? Wasn't King Jalaar enough to put an end to all of us? "Cryopter – the Terrain beast, Tempest – the Wind master and Inferno – the Ruler of the flames. They all have resurrected back." Phantom declared. Their names themselves were enough for me to go crazy. "Before reaching the King, you will need to surpass these three nature forces. Here's what I wanted."
Phantom's wicked voice made me anxious to leave the room. "I need you DELTAs to defeat the three brothers of the King. If you are successful in doing so, I vow to lend you my army in the battle against King Jalaar." Phantom placed the offer in front of us. It was difficult to resist. Phantom had a pretty strong army of different monsters and if they were on our side, we would have a better chance against the King.
Mark enquired, "But you have so many slaves. Why can't you just send some of them to kill the beasts? Why us?" Phantom replied, "Every member of the royal family can only be killed by a Xorain. It is a boon given from the ancestors. It cannot be broken." I got what he was saying. I was technically a Xorain and Amanda, my sister was a half-Xorain which meant that only we could kill the three brothers.
"But how will we find these brothers?" I asked. Phantom laughed. "You don't need to find them. They're coming for you right now as we speak. Soon, they will arrive. In fact, one of them – Cryopter is really close to your other friends. I am afraid you do not have much time left." The Red One explained.
This meant that the DELTAs were in trouble. I needed to hurry things up. "Okay. So we need to kill the three brothers and then you will partner up with us for the war. Great!" I exclaimed. "Pretty much. I don't want any intruders in my kingdom, therefore, I am willing to help you in saving Darknor. But get this." Phantom said with a deep voice. "If you fail, and if even one of them keeps foot on my land, I will be your worst nightmare!"
That was something to be scared of. The Red One had promised to kill us if we failed. And failure is something I am very good at. Mask was almost shivering. I announced, "We accept. Keep your army ready. In a few days, we will succeed your test and team up with you."
"Sweet deal! Now come out of the illusion!" The Red One shouted and we were back where we started. Mark and I stood at the entrance of the gates to the Palace, the gates behind us were open. "Was all this just some hallucination?" Mark asked, his right hand catching his head as if it would burst with confusion.
I replied, "Probably one of the Red One's tricks. Let's go kill some Jalaar brothers!"