I assumed that the clan had liked the Headquarters because they never came out of their rooms after their lunch post practice session.
Master Polwern was an exception. He had given one look to his room and joined us in our discussion. The DELTAs along with Wade Zaveri and Master Polwern were discussing about our next step. I began, "We need Mr. Adonis's help. He is the greatest craftsman I have ever met and will surely serve the purpose of building up weapons for us wisely." Oliver and I gave the details of how we got our weapons from Adonis.
Everyone looked impressed and agreed to get the man on our side. "So it's decided. Blaze and I will leave for Trouflet town tomorrow itself and meet up with Mr. Adonis. The rest will stay here and practice with the Variaries clan. Agreed?" Oliver announced. After a few moments of thinking, everyone nodded.
I should have been happy that I was going to my town. But the unforgettable memories of my burnt house kept haunting me. I did not deny Oliver's plan though. We needed to do this. "Okay. We will meet up for dinner at eight. Till then, chill out. All of us can live without violence for some time." Wade declared. We laughed and went back to our rooms.
I placed Magnum along with the scabbard on the wall pin. Throwing me on the bed felt relaxing but a good sleep would be much better. Thinking so, I immediately dozed off.
Once during the quest to stop Raptor, I had gone to sleep in Xavier's warship. There I had a nightmare of what was to come. King Jalaar had not even awakened at that time. Now that the awakening had begun, of course there would be more dreams. I entered into my stupid scary dreamland once again.
I wasn't physically present even in the dream. It was as if I had become air, with only eyes. It was a thundering nighttime. I saw Mount Hysuptris in front of me. Loud roars were heard at the peak, the place where we had fought during the ceremony. But now, there was much more going on. Soldiers – at least a thousand – stood on the foothills of the Mount. Giants were present along with weird looking monsters I hadn't seen during the awakening.
For some reason, I knew every monster type's name. There were hybrids (horses with the upper body as normal Xorains), Griffins (fusion of lion and eagle), ravens (about ten feet tall) and many more deadly creatures. I had no interest in focusing on any more enemies. The view of the monsters on Mount Hysuptris was excellent. But unfortunately, we needed to battle them in the mere future. I remembered what Rock Flames had said before his death. The Worst Is Just Beginning! I found Raptor standing somewhere between them. In front of the newly forming army, he looked tiny, only about ten feet tall. But his strength spoke for him. None refused his command. He was standing in his Normal Form.
"Ravens!" He called out and immediately, the whole species flew towards him. There were about thirty of the ravens but I feared that much more were coming. After all, it wasn't even half of the army yet. There were more recovering as they spoke. "Go and check out the world. There would have been a lot of changes since two thousand years. Patrol the area – kill anyone you find. Our dominance should be visible. The rest along with me shall now travel to the Abandoned Palace. It will soon show up!" Raptor announced and the ravens made a cackling noise and flew off in different crews.
The monsters looked charged up for battle. That was disturbing news. Raptor put his wicked smile on and talked, "Tempest and Inferno will never let the DELTAs get to us! They are doomed!!" I hadn't been noticing but my vision had reached extremely close to Raptor's face. At last, just when he slapped me on the face, I woke up. I had fallen from the bed. I lay there for a few minutes before I came back to my senses.
I slowly got up; still shaking with the dream I had just seen. I clutched my watch. I was about half an hour late. I quickly changed my dress, grabbed Magnum and walked out. I went straight for the dining hall. (Yes, there is such a thing in the Headquarters as well) I walked in to see everyone staring at me. Blaze Hunt had become the show of the night for being half an hour late after watching a dreadful nightmare!
I thought explaining would take some time and marched straight to get my dinner. As I was dining, the others got curious. "Where have you been?" Xavier enquired. "Yeah! Wade has some bad news. You have to hear this." Oliver said. I looked at Wade who seemed as if he was a tough scientist. His hair was out of shape as if he had been hard at work. Even his face looked pale like he had slapped himself a couple of times.
"Blaze, you may know that our Headquarters have tremor systems. I checked up on them and it shows negative. Something bad is happening out there in the real world. It may be a sign of the arrival of the monsters." Wade explained. I stopped chewing and replied, "About that…"
Everybody's eyes were on me. I narrated the whole dream I had seen while also trying to chew in between the gaps. The others got tensed. Master Polwern said calmly, "They are trying to dominate the whole world even before their master has awakened." Mark asked, "Raptor talked about travelling towards the Abandoned Palace. Isn't the palace one of the biggest mysteries in history?"
Amanda nodded, staring on the table, "The Abandoned Palace vanishes and appears at strange times. It has its own horrific history but we know one thing for sure. The Palace shows up during the rise of the evil. It is said that the Palace is desperate to commence the dark era. For the dark era to arrive, it will help King Jalaar just as it had two thousand years ago." Her speech had intensified the tension and it wasn't healthy for my negativity.
Xavier spoke, "Question (a): Is the Palace a living structure like the Temple Of Past? Question (b): How does the Palace's mechanism work? I would like to know the mechanism to help with my builds." Everyone ignored him and continued. "Blaze and Oliver, you need to be careful while going out in the open. There is a chance you may meet up with some ancient monsters." Wade warned. Oliver smiled and nodded. The meeting concluded.
I sat on the bench near the practice zone, watching the others fight with enthusiasm. Master Polwern sat beside me. It had been two hours since the practice had begun but we weren't ready to give up. The Variaries students were fighting a tournament on the big turf in the middle while the DELTAs practiced with the machines nearby. Just watching them fight encouraged me about thinking positive. We weren't totally dead, were we?
After practicing for another hour, we ended the battles. The Variaries clan and DELTAs were really getting along. They chatted with each other and laughed as they walked out. One of the Variaries students said, "Tomorrow let's have a battle. Variaries versus DELTAs!" Xavier replied, "That will end bad for you people!" I didn't understand why he said that even though they would be up against two hundred students.
I walked into my room and sat on my bed, thinking about tomorrow. The monsters were finally coming into the world. The real fight would soon begin. I remembered what the future teller had told King Jalaar about me. The Slightest Hope. With these thoughts, I fell asleep.