Max carries me through the forest, trying his hardest to go quickly but also smoothly as to not jostle my arm too much.

Luckily Cecil's Lightling power seems to still be in affect, since all I feel in my shoulder is a little pinch and not the searing pain it was before.

"Do you think Cecil will be alright?" I ask Max loudly as the wind and leaves whoosh past us.

Gorilla Max lets out a grunt, which I choose to take as a 'yes', andI bite my lower lip, worrying over the real question I want to ask.

Do you think Lager will be alright?

Max doesn't quite remember the way to the Core, so I direct him to the cave, poitning out which way to go while also listening closely for any signs of pursuit.

We reach the cave, and Max sets me down on the ground.

"Are you going to transform back?" I ask when he shows no signs of shifting back into his original body.

He displays his hans, which have no clothes, and I nod in understanding. I've already seen more than enough to last me a lifetime when it comes to Max and his sporadic shifiting; I'm glad he decided to spare me this time around.

"If End shows up, hide." I tell Max, and he grunts in reply.

I make my way into the cave, leaving Max behind. As soon as I'm enveloped in darkness my necklace starts to glow, and I use that light to shuffle my way forward until I reach the end of the tunnel and see a familiar translucent looking barrier.

I look back one more time at where I had come from, praying End doesn't show up and Max stays safe, before stepping through the barrier.

I'm startled when I see that what's in front of me is not the usual scenery of the jungle that Core has displayed every time I've entered, but instead a dead, barren land, almost as if a fire had swept through and destroyed the entire jungle.

I'm starting to question Core's taste in interior design.

I take a few steps forward, ash and dust shifing beneath my feet as I make my way forward.

"Core!" I call, wondering why he hasn't come to greet me.

No response.

Oh no, a sense of dread builds up. What if Dalton has already awoken and it's too late?

I walk quicker, feeling like a rushing grandmother as I make my way further and further into Core' domain, and when there's still no sign of Core himself I grow all the more panicked.

I crest a small hill and freeze, looking at the figure standing some yards away, back turned to me and facing what looks like a giant boulder.

My feet automatically start to take a step back, but then I notice the familiar black suit donned by the person, and I instead take a few steps closer.

"Core?" I call out, not sure if I'm quite liking this atmosphere.

Core still doesn't respond, and I'm just about to start questioning if coming here was such a great idea, when suddenly he turns around and faces me, his expression somber.

"Took you long enough." He states.

I break out into a releived smile, feeling like a huge weight is now off my shoulders.

"I like waht you've done with the place," I say lightly while gesturing around and approaching the boulder, until I'm only a few feet away.

"I haven't done anything." Core replies, looking up at the giant rock with me. "This is the real appearance of my domain, what you've seen up until now are just my modifications."

"Why is the land so...dead?" I ask, hoping that doesn't hurt his feelings in any way. Who knows? This could be a very touchy subject for him.

"Well that answer lies at this boulder, or should I say it's more like a tombstone?" He answers simply, and his tone is so light-hearted it takes a second for the meaning behind the words to actually sink in.

"What? You mean there's a dead person under there?" I ask, looking down at the ground.

"Well no. They're not necessarily dead, although they were close to death before, and I wouldn't say they're under the rock, more like...inside it."

What he has said defeats the whole purpose of a tombstone, but then again what else could he have compared it to?

"Who's inside it?" I ask, already knowing the answer as soon as I ask.

"Two guesses, and the first one doesn't count." Core says.

"Dalton." I say in a low tone, and just then an aminous breeze blows through the deadland like we're in some kind of thriller movie and this is the 'duh duh duhhh' part.

"Ding ding ding." Is all Core says.

I fight the urge to get as far away from the boulder as possible and instead turn to Core.

"I'd love to chat some more, Core, but I'm in a bit of a hurry. Lager's starting to become possesed by Dalton and it's because I spilled my blood and-"

Core holds up a hand.

"I already know everything, and now that you know the history of this island you have a better understanding as well. Your purpose in coming here is to have me reinforce the seal on Dalton and by doing that save the island, but unfortunately I am not able to do that at the moment." Core finishes.

"But....why?" I ask, trying and failing miserably not to seem so shocked by his refusal.

"Remember say....a few months ago, when I gave you that particular mission to carry out? You know, the one where you had to find out who was poisoning Malia and put a stop to it?"

I nod, wondering what connection that has with Dalton.

"Well, as I'm sure you could probably assume, Dalton and I have a very strong connection with our High Commanders, seeing as how Dalton has even managed to start tyring to posses the Darkling High Commander. Since my Lightling High Commander is being posioned and weakened, I too, am losing some of my power."

"Wait but all your power can't be placed in the High Commanders, you must have some of it, and what about the Kinling High Commander? He should be fine." I hope, I think while crossing my fingers.

"Yes, but in order to reinforce the seal on Dalton I'm going to need all my power at my disposal. Which means, Ashley, that before we begin saving the island, you have to save Malia first, like you should have a long time ago."

I wince at the jab, but don't argue against it.

"Okay, it shouldn't be long now, I know who's behind this, all I have to do is go back to Lucem Villa and stop them, right?" I confirm with Core.

"If you're so sure you know who it is, then yes. Confront them, make them admit to their crime, and then Malia should recover soon with the person causing harm to her locked away. I suggest not confronting them by yourself though, it may be a good idea to have monkey-boy or that halfling girl wth you." He says.

"Will everything be alright here?"I ask with an anxious glance around the barren land.

"Don't waste your worry on me, Ashley. Dalton should be no threat for now as long as no more of your blood is spilled. I warn you to be extra cautious from now on. There is no time limit, but of course we want to re-seal Dlaton as soon as possible so I urge you to keep that in mind when returning to Lucem Villa."

Okay that makes me feel slightly better now knowing that I'm not on any type of countdown, but that only eases my worry a little bit. There's still so many other factors to worry about, one of the new ones being-

"Lager. If he's under Dalton's control he's going to come after me. Is there any way to stop him?" I ask.

"Surprisingly the Darkling High Commander has done a well enough job in holding off Dalton, but your'e right, he's very volatile at the moment. All I can offer is the protection of the necklace, as long as you have it on, he won't be able to hurt you with his powers."

I ignore the fact that he could probabaly very well harm me without his powers. Hopefully he can fight off Dalton long enough for me to run if he ever gets close again.

"Thanks, Core." I tell him, taking a few steps back. "I'll be back as soon as I can, just you wait."

"Once again, I'm counting on you Ashley. Don't let me down." He says, nodding farewell at me.

I nod back, before turning and speed-walking off in the way I had come, kicking up dirt and dust while trying to keep my shoulder still.

I reach the barrier and slowly ease out of it, entering the cave and keeping my ears on high alert for any signs of danger. I shouldn't have been inside the Core for more than fifteen minutes, but who knows? That may have been plenty time for Lager to track down where Max is.

I make my way through the cave, feeling like a target in the cool darkness as my necklace glows, making me uncomofortably stand out.

Thankfully at the end of the cave Max's hulking gorilla form is still there, and I let out a huge breath of releif as I appraoch.

"Our next stop is Lucem Villa." I tell Max once I reach him. "Do you think you can make it there without stopping?"

He thinks for a second, before nodding. I take a step forward, ready to be swept up into his hairy arm, but he puts a hand up, making a gesture for me to turn around. Confused, I turn on my heel, and suddenly there's a bright flash.

"Don't look." Max's voice says, and I keep my eyes trained on the darkness in the cave in front of me, hearing him take a few steps closer. "I'm going to be picking up the speed, but before that I'm going to heal your arm a bit more."

Out of the corner of my eye I see his hand hover over my shoulder, a warm glow emanating from it. A soothing feeling spreads through my shoulder and arm, and I can almost feel the wound closing up. It's not fully healed, but this defenitely helps.

A few seconds and bright flash later, and I'm tucked into Max's arm again as he carries us through the jungle, true to hsi word and going almost five times faster than before.

We may jsut reach Lucem Villa sooner than I had thought.

I try to keep my eyes peeled, anxious that End could pop up any second with his shadow-travelling, but soon I grow dizzy as the jungle zooms past us.

I look up instead, and through the leaves I can catch glimpses of Mount Lux, still quite a distance away but at the rate we're going we should be there in no time at all.

While I'm being carried I try to think of a plan and lay down the facts, clsoing my eyes so I don't get too dizzy from motion.

Cato is the culprit. There's no way it couldn't be him, not when I saw his eyes and form myself when he tried to silence me.

The only question I have left is how is he killing Malia? We haven't interacted often, but from what I observed he wasn't around her too much, which doesn't give him much opporunity to do her harm. Could there be a partner inc rime he's working with?

No doubt once I get back to Lucem Villa my life is going to be at a huge risk until I unveil he's the evil mastermind. Would Cato still strike if I was constantly with someone like Max or Becky? Then again I'd hate to drag them into this and put them in harm's way.

Not to mention I still don't have any proof of Cato being the culprit besides my own witness testimony. It's not like I can amrch up to malia and accuse her nephew of slowly killing her and expect her to beleive me without any proof.

Max lets out a grunt and I snap back into awareness, opening my eyes and seeing the mountain is much closer than it was before. We must defenitely be in Lightling territory now.

What boggles my mind is that we're very near the base of the mountain already, which emans we've travelled miles upon miles of ditsnace in what only feels like half an hour, and yet Max's breathing is still coming out in steady huffs, not shaken in the slightest.

I remmeber what feels like a long time ago, back at Braun labs, when Zero was doing his physical examination and it also surprised me how much more advanced they are physically......well, except for Becky. I recall the struggle with her up Mount Lux the first time around. I guess there's an exception to everything.

We reach the base of the mountain and Max pauses, looking at me for the nod to continue.

"I don't suppose you can turn into a giant, blue bird?" I ask, and he snorts, rolling his eyes and shaking his head no.

"Well I better brace msyelf for a bumpy ride then." I say, winding my good arm around his arm to hold onto it.

Max begins the ascent, and now that we're out of the jungle I can really feel the mid-day sun beating down on us, turning this ride even more unpleasant but oh well, it's not like I can say anything when 'my ride' consists of being hauled by a giant, blue gorilla.

We pass many of the temple-like structures, Lightlings rushing out of the way as Max zooms up the path, stopping to stare at us with different colored eyes.

I wonder if Cato already knows we're here. Better to be on constant alert than caught unawares though.

About ten minutes later, we fianlly reach the top, where the huge doors which are the entrance to the Villa stand.

Max sets me down , his breathing slightly more ragged now than what it was before, but still impressively stable for someone who just ran more than a marathon and climbed a mountain in record time.

I start to approach the door, frantically wiping sweat off as the Lightling guards tense at our appraoch.

"Erm-Hello, it's me, Ashley Cartwright, The human. I was a guest here a few days ago, but now I'm back and would really appreciate an audience with your High Commander." I tell them, feeling incredibly awkward.

They don't talk, staring at me blankly, and I look back at Max, who shrugs his huge shoulders.

I turn back to the guards and take another step, stopping when they tense even further.

"We don't mean any harm, we jsut need to see Malia-I mean the Lightling High Commander."

Still no response.

I throw my hands up in the air in frustration, but all of a sudden the doors open, except not from outside, but from the inside.

The guards step aside and there's a streak of black hair before a familiar figure is throwing herself at me, squeezing me in a hug.

I wince, feeling an ache of soreness in my arm but ignoring it for the moment.

"Ashley, you stupid jerk! What kind of idiot leaves without a word only to show up injured and half-dead?" Becky yells.

Her words are harsh, but when she pulls away I see her dark-brown eyes are slightly glinting in the sun, looking a little more wet than usual. Should I allow myself to beleive she's crying over me?

I chuckle sheepishly, shifting on my feet.

"I'm alive." I say with a little 'ta-da' movement, which doesn't seem to entertain her. "I'm sorry for not saying anything, and trust me I can explain everything, but first, do you ahve any idea where Cato is?"

Her eyebrows furrow in confusion and she shakes her head. "A few days ago he requested to leave lucem Villa to go out on a scouting mission, I don't know all the details, but he said he'd be back soemtime around tomorrow morning."

Could it be he went looking for me?

Wait this is a big opportunity! While he's away I don't have to worry about watching my back and look for evidence against him. Still if he's returning tomorrow morning that doesn't give me a lot of time-

Becky interrupts my thoughts by turning to look at Max, who's in his gorilla form. "Don't tell me Max carried you all the way here while you're still recovering. And where's Lager? You didn't come here without telling him, did you?"

I flinch and look back at Max, who's meets my eyes anxiously.

Becky sees this eye exchange and her face turns grave. "Follow me." She says, before turning on her heel and walking back towards the entrance doors to the Villa.

I follow her, giving a little wave to the guards as we pass and hoping they don't see us as the enemy anymore, but then Max goes and ruins it by snorting triumphantly in one of the guards directions, seeming to say 'Ha ha, look who gets to go in now, sucker'.

I roll my eyes, and for the first time since being chased by Cato, meeting with Zero, and nearly dying, step into the Villa.





Dear readers, another filler!!!! Maybe this is why it takes me so long to get out chapters sometimes. Filler chapters do not make me enthusaistic in the slightest, but it's also not an excuse for my veryyy long absence. I was seriosuly debating putting this on Hiatus for a while, but because of some of your guys comments, I decided to squeeze out this chapter. I think with this filler out of the way I'll be more happy to write, so I don't think the next chapter will take nearly as long (crosses fingers). Still thank you all! Without your encouragment this book would probably still be on chapter one lol, and I don't know how to thank you enough. I hope you enjoyed! Vote, comment, and take an IQ test cause during corona I feel like my IQ has significantly droppeddddd. This chapter isunedited, so sorry for any super confusing grammar mistakes. Lots of love,

Dangeroustoken