It was humid within the tropical forest of the island, Barry cleaved through the dense vegetation of vines and brushes with his sword while Puck and Ron followed from behind.

  “I’m sweating so much from this humidity.” Ron commented, wiping his face with a hand.

  Puck was fine under the conditions that they were given, and although Barry was sweating about the same as Ron, he didn’t complain one bit and continued pressing on. “Going based off the map, we should be close by. From there, we should be out of this humid forest and rest a bit.” Barry reassured.

  “Good. I can’t wait until we get out of- AH! Bugs! They are on me!” Ron panicked upon seeing a few slithering centipedes clinging to his robes. “Somebody help!”

  He would then be assisted by Puck, who swiftly snatched each bug off of Ron and munched on them like they were snacks. “Don’t worry, Puck ate them all!” The Kobold said, giving Ron a warm smile.

  “U-uh, thanks Puck. I forget that you seem to eat bugs without a care.” Even though Ron was pleased that Puck came to his rescue, he still found it gross for someone to be able to consume bugs without a care.

  About 30 more minutes would pass until Barry spotted a clearing up a hill and passed some trees, after climbing up the steep route, Barry reached the top and looked out. He smiled a bit with what he found. “Castle found, now we can take that rest you’ve been wanting, Ron.” Barry informed the other two.

  Puck and Ron joined up with him to take in the view they saw together. From their perspective was the same castle that was encircled by a body of water with linked routes of water that were connected to the ocean outside. About two acres away, was a magnificent blue and white castle, standing out of the body of water. It had different variations of sea reef decorating it and the walls surrounding it. There were two bridges on opposing ends, leading to a gated entrance.

  “Look! Are those fishy people?” Puck claimed, aiming a finger at what he was referring to near the gates.

  There were groups of amphibian humanoids with webbed limbs, claws, fins and whiskers. Their entire bodies were a dark blue pigment, and in their hands were different kinds of weapons to use against those that invaded their territory. There were a couple of these beings that wore less armor than the rest, but were presentable in flashy light wear that Barry and Ron could only assume was something that told them they were high ranking officials of their clan.

  “They appear to be similar to Merfolk, but they aren’t quite that…” Ron said, racking his brain to think of what they were exactly. “Ah! Unlike merfolk who are more civilized and can speak in coherent words, these people are more sinister and vicious. They are referred to as Murkers. Beings who typically raid trespassing ships that invade their territory. Think of them as evil versions of Merfolk.”

  “So they’re in our way, understood.” Barry concluded.

  Ron rolled his eyes. “Yes, so it seems…however…something doesn’t make sense to me?” The illusionist rubbed his chin.

  “What doesn’t make sense? All we need to do is break through their fortifications and nab the prism? There’s really not much else to think about.” Barry was curious what he was trying to get at.

  Pondering his thoughts a bit more, Ron shared what he was reflecting on. “Murkers usually reside out in the ocean, never at a place like this within a secluded island. They like loot, so it would make sense for Murkers to make their homes deep within the ocean where there is most traffic of trade like cargo ships, so that’s why I’m puzzled why they would be here…doesn’t make sense. I especially would like to know why their castle is above the water, when it should be down below…”

  Barry gave it some thought as well, there was no reason for Barry to doubt what Ron was saying because he, himself, didn’t know much of anything about the world. But in the end, Barry didn’t really care because they still had a mission. “Let’s not think much about it, probably isn’t important as of now. We’ll take a good look at the layout and report back to everyone else with your magic.” He advised.

  Although what Barry’s words were true, to focus on the present, he didn’t want to let go of what he was trying to piece together. Ron sighed, “Alright, whatever. I can still feel the heat even after getting some shade.”

  The three surveyed the area some more before heading back to the others. When they returned, all the ships were docked and their crews were off board and waiting for them to come back with their findings.

  With everyone banded together, Barry asked Ron to conjure up the layout of the water castle with everything else as Barry and Ron explained. Everyone was impressed by the utility that Ron provided with his magic, believing it to be pretty unique when it came to constructing a plan.

  It was a given that the gates leading through the castle walls would be dropped if they came too close, so they had to do something about that if they were to get everyone inside. Anna, Buford, and Barry appeared to be the only ones capable of vaulting the walls and keeping the path open for everyone else. But the Murkers also had rapid-fired turrets that fired coral at them, so getting close would be problematic as well.

  “Say, Ron…couldn’t you disguise us as one of those Murkers?” Anna suggested, thinking back to when he disguised her to ambush the Chakarie shamans during the battle in Haglethorn.

  “You really want to take that risk?” Ron was surprised. “Once these things try to communicate with you, your covers are blown because they speak in weird dialects and other noises. Not to mention, they all have a unique scent to themselves.”

  “I’m willing to take the risk, what about you, two?” Anna glanced at Barry and Buford, she had a feeling that Barry would agree to such a bizarre plan.

  The plan was crazy to Buford, but he knew the importance of the mission and agreed. “Sure, I’ll agree to it. Sounds insane, but let’s give it a go.”

  Barry thought it over for a moment, it was a plausible idea, and he was all for it despite the risks. “I’m in, we’ll disable their turrets and keep them from shutting the gate while also stirring up trouble.”

  Luna then raised her hand, she had an idea herself that she thought would be useful. “So there’s two bridges, right. What if I cause a distraction from the other end to split their forces and make it easier for everyone else to storm the other end?”

  Her proposal sounded interesting, given that her power was to duplicate herself, she could mingle in her clones with a couple of Ron’s illusion’s, as if chasing down Barry, Anna, and Buford in their disguises, to make it seem like a real army arrived to assault their castle. And with most of their forces distracted with them, the three can easily pass their defenses and accomplish their mission before sending in the others on the opposite side through the gates.

  Ron then thought about the potential arrival of the unknown being that was supposedly arriving in the near future. “But what about the person that we saw in my vision? What’s the plan for when they show up?”

  “We’ll improvise.” Barry said, not worried at something that wasn’t presented at the moment. “They’re not here now to be considered a problem, so just focus on what’s currently in our way and worry about them when they arrive. Just be ready, is all I can say.”

  It was true, there was no use worrying over someone that wasn’t there already, so might as well control the outcome of what was presented in their favor. And with their plan set, everyone decided to put it into motion. Abe’s identity as a spirit would be revealed to everyone else the moment he unsummoned his carriage and animals, but everyone that didn’t know were shocked at first, then relaxed soon after with some explanation from Barry’s group. Abe would be joining everyone, but staying on the sidelines because he wasn’t much of a fighter.

  The whole entire group ventured through the forest, with Barry and Ron guiding them to where they spotted the castle. There were a lot of people that commented about the humidity, but sucked up to it, there was no other option for them to make it to the castle. The water routes leading from the ocean outside the island to the surrounding waters of the castle wasn’t safe for any ships to pass through due to ridged rocks and coral, so everyone had to go by foot.

  Thanks to Ron’s visual aid, when they arrived at the hill with the view of the castle, everyone was able to quickly get into their positions. Team A, which consisted of Barry, Anna, Buford, Luna, and Ron, would initiate contact with their distraction and disable their turrets and keep the gates open. So that Team B, which consisted of Kat, Puck and the other contestants, could storm in on the other side once given the signal by Barry.

  With the five getting into their places, Ron asked again if they were sure about going through with this crazy plan of theirs. Barry smirked, “This is about the 4th time you’ve asked us this question. Yeah, we’re sure. Sounds like you’re more worried than us.” Barry commented, thinking how funny it was that Ron was nervous.

  “I’m just making sure, I would hate for all this to go wrong. Can you blame me?” Ron replied, he really didn’t want the plan to fall apart.

  Luna nudged him on the elbow to get his attention. “We’ll be fine, Ron. Just think of how funny it’ll be to see the look on those Murkers faces when they interact with our trickery powers. This’ll be so cool!”

  “I-I suppose, alright, let’s do this.” Ron felt encouraged by Luna’s words, becoming a bit calmer.

  Luna then cupped her hands together near her mouth and got up on her toes to whisper in Ron’s ear, trying to not let Anna hear what she was about to say. “Make Anna look silly out of them all for me, will ya?”

  Anna looked at her sister and felt like she was trying to tell Ron something that was referring to herself. “Hey, what are you telling him?” She asked with suspicion, eyeing her from head to toe.

  “I was just asking him to make sure to add on some very cool features to all of your looks. Maybe make Barry look like a ranking official compared to the rest of you.” Luna lied, saying it all with a casual expression.

  “Hmph, sure you did…” Anna had been with Luna her entire life, she knew her behaviors like a book, something was off.

  Ron thought about Luna’s request before performing his magic, manifesting a whirl of blue essence around the three with his hands, he shaped their appearances in the image of his choosing.

  They all watched as Barry, Buford, and Anna’s body began to morph into the same features and traits like the Murkers that were guarding the castle. Webbed limbs, claws, fins, etc. Ron made them all look like average Murkers warriors, with no unnecessary features that would make them stand out. But there was one thing that he could have omitted from their transformation, yet chose not too…

  “Wow! We’re actually one of them! This is so cool.” Buford was ecstatic by the fact Ron was able to change their appearance into a Murkers. “Can I swim like they do?”

  Ron shook his head. “Nope, this is all a hoax, I don’t know the type of magic that legitimately transforms your physical bodies into what you want. So again, try to blend in until you’re all able to vault their walls to cause chaos.”

  Anna happened to turn her back towards the others while she was inspecting her new look, but has she was doing that, everyone else spotted something odd with her back. It was a sign on her back that read the words, “Kick Me”.

  Luna had to maintain her laughter by muffling her mouth with her hands. Barry was also amused by what he saw, but kept it cool.

  “Um, Anna?” Buford said, wanting to point out the odd thing that was making Luna and Barry laugh.

  Anna turned back around to face Buford. “Yeah? What’s up?”

  “You have something on your-” Buford was about to explain to her what it was until Barry interrupted him by adding in his own mix of words.

  “Ron messed up and forgot to add some fins on your ears because we’re all still seeing a bit of your true appearance.” Barry lied, Luna glanced at Barry and laughed internally. They were both in on making fun of Anna.

  Buford was confused by what was said, so he tried speaking up, but was interrupted again by the pull of Luna’s hand. “Come on, we’ll let Ron fix up my sister and get into position. I can’t wait to see how this all goes down.”

  Barry left along with them, while Ron tried to fix on his mistake, of what he did to Anna for a moment. After about 5 minutes, they were all in their places. Ron had something to give to Luna before she headed out, handing her a pouch full of rocks that he bestowed elemental glyphs upon to be flung by her slingshot.

  Buford would be the first to lead Barry and Anna to the bridge, followed by Luna and her army of clones to make it seem like they were chasing down the three who were a part of the Murkers' people. And on the count of ten, they all began to execute their plan into action.

  There were a bunch of Murkers guarding from both up top and below the outer walls of the castle. It would be the ones patrolling on the walls that were the ones to spot three of their Murkers running away from an army of contestants looking to kill a few of their kind.

  Immediately after taking notice, the Murkers communicated with each other and got online. They spread out, with some manning the turrets and the others setting up a barrier to prevent the army from breaching past and through the gate.

  Some of the Murkers on the walls were mages themselves and launched blasts of water as projectiles, alongside their archers and the coral spears from the turrets. The three Murkers that were running away were allowed safe passage through their defenses before the gate was dropped shut.

  A couple of Ron’s illusions disappeared after one or two hits, evaporating into the air, but Luna’s clones utilized their slingshots to fire back. Only one of Luna’s clones had the pouch of enchanted rocks, and when they flung a rock at one of the Murkers, it detonated into a burst of electricity that shocked them so intensely, that the foe became unconscious. Ron was amazed by the effect electricity had on these enemies, thinking it might have been one of their weaknesses.

  Overall, the Murkers were confused. They found it strange that once they defeated one of their enemies, they would completely vanish into nothing once they struck something. At first, they thought none of the people fighting against them were real, but it didn’t make sense because empowered rocks from their slingshots were physically striking them, with some electrifying their warriors. It was very puzzling for them all.

  After the three Murkers made it past the outer walls, they were confronted by one of the Murkers who appeared to be a higher ranking official of the clan. It tried speaking to one of the Murkers with gurgles and snarls, followed by a bit of sniffing.

  The three did not reply to its speech and instead broke away to reach the top of the castle walls. This was very strange for the superior Murkers to see, it was also very confused by their scent because it seemed to be…foreign.

  It tried communicating in a louder tone to get their attention, but the three chose to ignore it again to do whatever they were planning on doing. Something was clearly off, so it began instructing the other Murkers to stop and restrain the three who weren’t listening.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Other Murkers appeared and tried to reason with them at first to get them to stop, but the three continued to pay no mind to their kind. And the first thing that raised their concerns to the next level, was when one of the noncompliant Murkers kicked one off their turret and swiveled it around to mow down others guarding the walls.

  Another traitorous Murkers drew their greatsword and began carving its way to the other side where the second bridge was through ranks of Murkers. While the last traitor suddenly underwent sudden changes, morphing into a full on werewolf before lashing out at everyone around him with his new hammer. None of the Murkers knew what was going on at the moment, it was too much to process what was happening.

  “Well, the disguises worked enough to get us in. Might as well go all out, right?” Anna told Buford, she was still in her disguise as she fought off the enemies around them.

  Buford thrashed about, knocking back against some warriors who were thrown off the wall and crashed down on the ground within the walls. “Of course, time to get some swinging practice with my new toy.”

  Taking her brand-new tomahawk, Anna hurled it at one of her enemies that was about to send a volley of spears at them with a turret. And with precision, she was able to land a direct hit, caving in their head with the spiked-end of the weapon before recalling it back into her hand.

  She was then jumped by more enemies who tried skewering her on all sides with their tridents, but she was able to easily evade in time with a single use of her teleportation skill. A red mist was left behind that inflicted damage over time, due to the mist being breathed in. Anna would then reappear standing on their weapons and spun around with the axe-end, cutting away at their limbs that spurted out red blood.

  Her weapon would then radiate a crimson glow at the end of both the spike and axe end. She smiled and executed another whirling motion to expend the red energy that was harvested from her enemies blood. A pulse of red energy expelled outward, inflicting damage at the Murkers and cutting deep within their chest. “Oh yeah! I’m going to love using this.” She said with enthusiasm.

  The two continued to fight off against the side of the wall, while Barry travelled his way to the opposite end. Barry blocked and dismantled each enemy that tried to block his path, after training in his dream against armed foes multiple times, he was able to break through without much trouble. They were simply not at the level that would require him to go all out, at least not until he would encounter someone of a superior caliber within their forces.

  The turrets and mages would be the most problematic as far as obstacles go, he always had to keep in mind their ranged attacks interrupting his combos. But nonetheless, Barry was able to break through and disable each turret by destroying the triggers on each one.

  Buford and Anna were still the ones causing the most trouble on their side, which gathered more forces than what Barry was expecting. This was a good thing for Barry because it meant that there would be less resistance for when the other contestants charged through the gates.

  Upon reaching the gate, Barry easily eliminated every enemy there after some time and looked onward past the bridge. He quickly sent Kat a message to tell her and the others to rush the castle now that he had taken out those guarding the wall.

  After receiving Barry’s message, the mass of contestants with Puck and Kat sprinted towards the bridge with urgency. It was like they had planned, with Buford, Anna, Luna, and Ron stirring up trouble on the other end, everyone else was able to enter through the walls with hardly any resistance…or so it seemed.

  Barry glanced down at everyone rushing to make it across, but then saw something bubbling in the water. He had to warn them of what he was seeing, “Wait! There's something in the-”

  He was interrupted by the arrival of a few Murkers who caught sight of his presence, launching projectiles at him, to which he dodged but was annoyed. Barry had to shift his focus back to the matter presented, he couldn’t allow anyone to close the gate.

  Bursting from the water below, were a group of large orange-red armored lobsters monsters, they had six legs and four arms with two being pincers and two others being scythes. Foam bubbles formed from their mandibles before unleashing a spew of sticky pink substance at the people. Those caught in it, found it difficult to pull free from the foam that entrapped their legs to the ground.

  Everyone tried fending off against these lobsters, but cracking through their armor was a challenge. There were a couple of contestants whose abilities were based on physical prowess, they would have the most success in order to peel off their layer of protection.

  Kat and her ghost, Dusk, tried protecting those that were stuck in the pink foam to the best of their ability. But her black magic could only do so much against the lobsters exoskeletons to inflict damage, she could only slow them down to a degree with her chains of bindings.

  One of the lobsters was struck with a direct hit from Puck's fireballs, the monster screeched with agony as the intense heat burned away at its carapace. No ordinary fire attack would have softened its armor, but Puck's flames were something unique.

  “Puck’s fire make weird shell monsters soft! Let Puck work his mojo!” The Kobold informed everyone, and they listened.

  Kat had an idea and asked Puck to ride on her floating shield so that Dusk could keep Puck out of reach from the lobster monsters while launching his fireballs. Puck laid on the flat side of the shield as told and took off into the air.

  Picking his targets and placing his shots directly at center mass, Puck softened the hard-armor of each lobster so that the whole team could have an easier time defeating these delicious sea creatures. Dusk zipped Puck around, being the best driver it could ever be. Puck was having a blast the whole time this was going on, being able to fly around in the air exhilarated him.

  The entire group of contestants seemed to be handling the mob of lobster monsters much easier now, and began to push back against their opponents. Kat yanked away two contestants with her chains, saving them from being crushed between some pincers, and fired a blast of purple magic at the soft spot of the lobster. The blast wounded it critically, causing it to recoil backwards in another lobster.

  Back on the other side of the castle walls, Luna and her clones were able to invade through the gate of their bridge to assist Buford and Anna in prolonging their distraction. Luna commanded her clones to swap to maces to engage the Murkers, while she continued to fling the glyph rocks Ron had given her.

  Her clones switched to their melee weapons and charged ahead at a pack of enemies, however, the clones coordinated their attacks all together. The ones in front boosted some that were behind up in the air by using their bodies, while the rest continued to assault from the front. The Murkers were then attacked from both above and below, while being shocked by Luna’s slingshot. She had taken Barry’s advice in consideration, thinking of different methods to engage her enemies.

  Attacking from almost every direction made the Murkers go on the defense with so much pressure being applied to them, Ron disguised himself as a random Murkers in the midst of battle when no one was looking and subtly placed electric glyphs around the area as traps for their foes to walk into. He would camouflage his traps with his illusion magic afterwards, detonating them whenever he saw an enemy get near one.

  His traps were able to catch multiple adversaries off guard with a burst of electricity suddenly erupting beneath, or next to them. Ron was happy with his purchase of his new gloves, even if it wasn’t a power that he could call his own, he was glad to be able to provide some way of applying offense to their foes.

  More enemy reinforcements showed up with big lobster monsters and the addition of a couple of Murkers that appeared to be elite warriors of their kind. A few of them were experienced mages carrying coral staffs with sea colored topazes attached to the ends of them. They all applied a buff to their comrades by whirling a couple of magic orbs around them, imbuing them with power before sending them off to engage Team A.

  Buford looked down from the wall to see Luna engaged with the new forces and had to jump in to alleviate the pressure that was being piled on her. He bulldozed through a row of enemies with brute strength and lunged down at a lobster spewing pink foam at Luna and her clones. Using his momentum, Buford applied everything he had to bonk the lobster on the head, completely shattering through its armor and squashing its head on the ground. “Wow, that was brutal.” He commented, seeing a shocked expression on all of Luna’s clones.

  Seeing how strong Buford was capable of, the majority of the elite forces targeted him. The spellcasters tried restraining him with water whips from a distance, while the physical fighters went toe-to-toe with him. The lobsters went after Luna, mainly because they too were terrified of being hammered into the ground in one hit.

  “Luna!” Anna shouted, she backed down from her current opponents to go help her sister, but not before charging her tomahawk with a couple of licks from the blood of her enemies.

  A couple of Luna’s clones were destroyed from taking too many hits, Ron’s glyphs only helped so much when used against the lobsters because of their dense armor. His identity would become exposed after one of the spellcasters realized he was trying to help the intruders and blasted him with a jet of water, reverting Ron back to his normal appearance.

  The lobsters spewed more of their sticky pink foam at Ron and Luna, sticking Ron to the ground, but having no effect on Luna due to her Passive Class ability. Although she was covered in the icky sea foam, she was not bound to the ground they stood on. This was confusing to her enemies, never seeing anyone capable of resisting these lobsters' special attacks.

  Anna teleported on the back of one of the lobsters, driving the red glowing spiked-end of her weapon into its head. Upon striking it, the weapon punctured clean through, the red energy was shot out inside the beast, creating a rupture. Screeches of the beast were heard for a couple of moments from the excruciating pain it was feeling, before dropping dead. “You guys okay?” She asked the two.

  Ron struggled to break free from the sticky foam that he was in, but found no success. “I’m stuck in this disgusting sea foam, so no, I don’t think- Behind you!” He warned Anna.

  She sensed a fast moving attack approaching her from behind and evaded it via teleportation, it was one of the mages who tried blasting her with a jet of water. “Luna, help Ron out while I handle this.” Anna asked her sister, and took on the mages.

  Luna commanded some of her clones to distract the rest of the lobsters, while she hurried to get Ron out of his sticky situation.

  Weaving through the projectiles to the best of her ability while reserving her mana, she took an opportunity and chucked her tomahawk in an arcing motion. Her weapon zoomed around, aiming at chest level. One of the mages raised a water shield to deflect the attack, causing it to fail. Yet, they felt their mage armor shatter due to Anna stab with her dagger, after teleporting behind them. ‘Drats! Another one of those self barriers!’

  A couple of the other mages tried attacking her with some spell slinging, but she avoided them all together with some teleportation. The red mist that she left behind was inhaled by her enemies, bypassing their barriers and harming their lungs. ‘Ah! That’s right, my red mists can harm those that breathe it in.’ She had forgotten that was possible.

  Buford was being impaled by the elite warriors, they were holding the werewolf back pretty well on their own, especially after being buffed by their mages. Everytime he tried going for a swing, these warriors would be quick enough to stop his motion in time with a simple stab to the joints before it could even reach half swing. “Come on! Just let me hit either of you once!” He barked.

  Although he was able to endure the punishment that was being applied to him, eventually these warriors would be able to overwhelm him sooner or later. If only he was under the light of a full moon instead of broad daylight, he would have no problem steam rolling through everyone present.

  He then saw the image of another werewolf appear behind his enemies and let out a loud bellowing roar that spooked the Murkers so much that they immediately retracted their weapons from Buford's body to create some space. “Another werewolf? But how?” Buford was confused.

  Another werewolf manifested from right behind the warriors, cornering them back into a wall. Buford was starting to understand where all these werewolves were coming from, believing that they were illusions created by Ron to give him a moment to gather himself.

  It was in fact Ron who was set free thanks to Luna and controlled the werewolves to dance with the warriors so that Buford could strike at the right moment. Buford appreciated the help and prepared himself to go in swinging. And the moment when one of the warriors realized it was all a trick after seeing their attacks were phasing through these illusions, they were blinded after Ron detonated them.

  Buford bone rushed them with savagery, spiralling at them all with his hammer of pure strength. With all his momentum that he carried, his attack knocked them all like they were bowling pins to the sides. But that would not be the end, he quickly jumped to each one, applying enough bludgeoning force to incapacitate each one of them.

  “That was rather annoying. Thanks, Ron.” Buford said, as he looked around to try and locate Ron, but couldn’t find him. “Ron?”

  “I’m right here.” Buford heard his voice, but couldn’t quite find him. “I’m the tree pot next to you.”

  Looked at the tree Ron was referring to and laughed, he was amused by his current disguise at the moment. “That’s hilarious, Ron! Nice cover up, but isn’t it out of place for a tree to be-”

  “The lobsters! Help Luna and squash those disgusting lobsters!” Ron reminded Buford, he still had some residue of the sticky foam on his body.

  “Oh, damn! You’re right!” Buford then hurried on over to give Luna a helping hand, brandishing his hammer to get to smashing.

  Anna had the mages attention the whole time, although her weapons kept getting blocked by their mage armor while having to retreat due to their attacks, her red mist still harmed them. The mages would be the first to run dry of mana due to her excessive aggression until eventually one of them was hacked by the neckline. It would not be long for her to dispatch the mages soon after.

  It was just the lobsters at the moment, but since everyone was able to work together without any interference, eliminating these large monsters would be a breeze. Especially since Buford wasn’t being held up against anyone. The only troubling issue regarding them were their adhesive attacks, but it was manageable in the end.

  Once the last lobster was struck down by Buford’s mighty hammer, everyone panted from exhaustion. “Was that…was that all of them? Are there going to be any more of them?” Anna wondered, she took a seat on a ledge to rest some.

  “Well…” Ron unveiled himself, sitting down on the ground while flexing his tiresome hands. “Let’s just hope that the others were able to make it through the other side, we were supposed to cause a great disturbance here.”

  Suddenly, just as they were getting their second wind, more Murkers emerged from out of the castle and the pool of water within the walls. All armed to the teeth to be rid of the intruders who broke in. “You just had to say something, thanks, Anna.” Luna commented, giving her a disappointed look.

  “Shut up, mouse.” Anna flicked her little sister’s forehead.

  They all squared up against the additional reinforcements, replenishing their reserves with some of Sherry’s potions, as they prepared to do battle against them all. The four of them questioned if they would be able to last any longer against the forces presented to them now, debating whether they should retreat or not.

  And just as the first Murkers was able to launch the first strike with a water spell, a bright golden fireball of glory exploded on impact, along with every other ally that was near them. “Puck here to help friends!”

  They witnessed Puck floating in the air on a shield, the four would then see the rest of the contestants arrive on the scene from all directions to provide support and engage the enemy. “About time we got some reinforcements of our own!” Buford cheered, they were relieved to see help come to aid them in their time of need.

  Kat tripped up some Murkers with her black magic, while her pal, Dusk, continued to offer Puck a ride all throughout the area, raining down fire on their foes. “Sorry, we’re late. We encountered some of those lobster monsters and a bit of those Murkers.” She apologized to the four upon regrouping.

  “Don’t worry about it, you all came at the right time.” Luna replied with a smile before pointing at Anna. “She just had to open her big mouth and summoned more goons.”

  Anna nudged her sister on the head, making Luna rub her head. “Not another word out of you…” She then looked through the crowd of people fighting against the Murkers, puzzled about something, and had to ask. “Hey, where did the grouch go?”

  “Grouch? Uh…” Kat had to think for a moment about who she meant. “O-Oh! You mean, Barry. Um, after clearing the path for us. He told everyone to rush and help you guys, while he went inside the castle to go and look for the prism.”

  “Oh, I see. So he abandoned us to handle the rest, while he goes inside to steal the prism all on his own. How nice of him to let us do all the dirty work.” Anna professed with her arms crossed.

  “Figures he would do that, what a jerk.” Ron sided with Anna, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

  Their responses made Kat feel nervous because it seemed to them that Barry didn’t care about them at all. “W-What? No, I-I’m sure Barry believes we have the situation under control and is trying to get the prism in the midst of the chaos. So please don’t give him a hard time when he returns.” She fidgeted with her staff as she defended Barry’s intentions.

  Everyone else laughed, thinking how funny it was for her to defend Barry’s reason. “Relax, we’re only half-joking. We know Barry’s taking advantage of the mayhem outside, but he could have at least told us before starting all this.” Anna said, still a bit bothered.

  They heard Puck yelping with joy as he zoomed around, assisting the others. “Someone’s having a good time at least.” Luna commented and wanted to jump back into the fight. “Come on, we still have work to do!”

  And so the five of them went back to it, with the rest of the contestants landing a surprise attack on the Murkers, they were able to quickly turn the tides against them. It was thanks to their creative planning that everything was going as smoothly as they had hoped.

  However…Abe would appear on the scene, riding in from the skies on the back of a griffin. He landed on the castle walls and shouted down below at people. “I don’t mean to alarm y’all! But there's something big and heading our way!”

  Anna flung her tomahawk into the back of an enemy and recalled it before replying. “What’s coming here? Be more specific, Abe!”

  The great animal whisperer tried thinking of the right words to describe what he saw because it was something he had never seen before. “Well, it flies for starters! Uuum, what else…it's made of metal, aaaand…did I mention it was huge?”

  Tired of his vague description, Anna got up on the walls. “Fucking hell! Just show me!” She urgently asked him. The two hopped on the griffin, and they soared up into the air to see what Abe was talking about.

  What Anna saw was something she could not believe herself, what they had seen from Ron’s vision might actually come true in the near future. She wasn’t sure what could prepare them for what they were about to face next, it was something straight out of a movie. “Is…is that a flying aircraft!?”