With reality now starting to make sense to Jake, he had a very strange and odd feeling in his body. He could not really explain it or wrap his head around it but he knew for certain that he was no longer on Veda. At least no longer on any part of it that he knew.
Looking at his surroundings, Jake could still see the people who called themselves the true mages, with their faces still hidden by the hoods of their oddly long clothing which seemed to drag across the floor but never actually touching it.
"Where am I?" Jake asked. It looked like he was in a high security building from the number of bars he could see across the round walls of the building.
Jake was no longer in the pod so he could feel his magic in his body once again and he was still trying to decide if he should immediately attempt to run away.
"You do not want to do that. Trust me." After saying that, the true mage who spoke took his hood off and the others began to do the same.
Jake saw their faces one after the other and they looked like regular humans, except for the different marking on their individual faces.
The marking was purple and was on the left side of their forehead. It seemed to be in motion as it released a faint amount of energy and somewhat swirled in the same spot.
As the last true mage at the back of the others took her hood off her head, Jake could see her face and the marking she had accentuated her aura of elegance which magnified her beauty. An epitome of perfection.
Now staring straight at Jake, he noticed their eyes and saw that they all had golden irises which looked as though rays from the sun was being reflected in their eyes.
'Well damn.' Jake thought. 'And people think Sky is more than handsome.'
"I think that is a compliment," the mage said, "but don't you think our appearance should be the last thing on your mind at the moment?"
"Not really." Jake answered. "I'll need to remember your faces in case I need to find you and kill you. Don't you think?"
"The impudence of this boy." he said and laughed then waved his hand in front of Jake.
Jake felt something heavy hit the right side of his face and even with his stats, he knew that whatever it was that hit him was very strong. He spat blood onto the grassy floor and he felt one of his teeth become loose.
'Just from one hit?' Jake thought, still trying to maintain a calm countenance.
"I am Mithral, and by now you should have figured out that we can hear every one of your thoughts. Try not to think so loudly anymore. You have something that belongs to us."
"And what could that possibly be?" Jake asked.
With another wave of his hand, more powerful this time, Jake felt another hit on his face and the impact made his head hit the grassy floor with a strong force.
Both sides of his face was bleeding now and seeing Mithral moving his hands in the air, vines appeared out of thin air and began wrapping around Jake's whole body part from his head. The vines then fastened themselves to the bars behind Jake in a way that rendered him completely motionless.
"Now you will only speak when asked a question." Mithral said.
"That's not really fair is it?" Jake asked with a chuckle.
Mithral was about to wave his hand again but was stopped by another of the true mages.
"What are you doing Mithral?" the true mage asked. "We do not want to kill him before we acquire what he has."
Turning to Jake, the true mage spoke. "I apologize for Mithral. I am Serryl and as Mithral said before, you do have something that belongs to us. Although you did not steal it, we want it back nonetheless."
"And I'm asking again, what exactly do you want from me?"
"We want the magic in your possession. Magic mimicry." Serryl answered.
***
Back on Veda, everyone present was looking at Maron, the six-tailed wert, and now their attention had been divided.
The number of werts in the new wave was frightening and some soldiers were physically shaking from the thought of what was coming to them.
Their numbers had reduced after fighting the first wave and now more werts were coming down.
"Guys what are we going to do?" Kevin asked.
"We stay and fight." Kyle answered without hesitation.
"Are you kidding?!" Kevin shouted. "That's suicide. We can't possibly kill every single one of those werts including the six-tailed wert."
Slowly stepping away from the others, Max kept his eye on the werts flying towards them and when he thought he was far enough, he turned around and began to sprint away.
Looking behind her, Nikki saw Max running away and shouted out to him.
"MAX! Watch out!"
He didn't respond and kept running as though he had tunnel vision then from his back, a huge claw went right through his neck which killed him on the spot.
Kyle had already started running towards Max to at least try to save him but he wasn't faster than Maron which had flown to Max and killed him.
"None of you leaves this place alive!" Maron shouted and at that moment, the werts surrounded them all from every side, ensuring anyone who tried to leave was killed.
The soldiers that had been in the penitentiary had also come out and although some managed to escape, some were also stuck with the other soldiers.
Most of the prisoners in the penitentiary had used the chaos caused by the werts to escape and since the penitentiary was literally destroyed, there weren't any prisoners left. They had either escaped or died when the penitentiary was destroyed.
Just as the werts were about to start the massacre they had planned, a magic circle appeared on the floor and a man came out of it.
Standing up straight with his head held high, six emblems with the Ansteria insignia (a Phoenix)on the left side of his shoulder, the man looked around almost like he was assessing the situation.
The rest of the soldiers had bowed their heads slightly when they saw him and he gave a little nod to acknowledge them.
Maron flew to the man who had just appeared out of nowhere. 'Who walks straight into chaos like that?' he thought.
Anna had shapeshifted into her normal form to conserve her mana and to allow it to replenish and now, seeing the man who had come out of the magic circle, she immediately recognized him.
"Dad?" she said.
Her father, the monarch of Ansteria, had just appeared and out of the still open magic circle, more soldiers began to come out.
Hundreds of circles began to appear all around and hundreds of soldiers began coming out.
"That's Anna's father?" Diane asked with surprise.
"An actual monarch." Smith said in disbelief.
"These guys are so screwed." Kevin said with excitement.
"Commanders!" the monarch shouted. "Kill as many as you can but don't worry about this one." he said, looking at Maron.
"You cocky bastard!" Maron shouted and flew down to attack him.
From the body of the monarch, a grey coloured mist was being emitted and it was encompassing the entire area.
The monarch took his sword out of its sheath and immediately deflected the claws of Maron then gave him a huge gash across his hand.
It was obvious that the monarch was faster than him and more powerful but Maron still thought he could win the fight.
Dark clouds suddenly formed around his whole body and lightning could be seen in the clouds.
"You're not the only one with magic." Maron said, smiling.
The mist being emitted from the monarch's body had stopped and two five-tailed werts that had been dismembered stood to their feet.
The grey mist had gotten into their body and it dragged the limbs of the werts across the ground, back into their original position.
The same thing happened to two dead four-tailed werts and one two-tailed werts in different places.
When people saw them, they tried attacking them but they flew into the air and remained there. Their eyes were grey and they still seemed dead.
"Don't worry about them." the monarch said. "They are under my control."