Demetrious was laying on his bed and playing with his light spheres while awaiting his brother's summon call. He found it calming to juggle those spheres and throw them around the room in his hours of loneliness in his chambers. He was trying so hard to distract himself from what could happen next for him and the rest of North America no thanks to his brother. The wait was frustrating for him but it ended sooner than he thought.

As soon as the summon call came, he waved his hands and collected his light spheres and put them aside. He took a deep breath and stood up and teleported to his brothers special meeting room. As his foot touched the ground, he felt Athenas presence in the room as well as his brother but he did not detect any of Dante's commanders.

As Demetrious found himself in the middle of the meeting room, Dante was right in front of him and staring at him with his cold eyes while Athena was standing at the back silently observing the two brothers carefully . Dante spoke in a bored tone " I bet you know why I have summoned you here by yourself. Don't you brother?"

Demetrious nodded " Of course. It is time to summon the other half of the jewel of illusion from the heart of the Ronas statue in Arkansas. I guess it's not going to change anything if I told you I wish to have no part of this. You have made up your mind but at least hear me on this. Dante I think you have forgotten the basic principles in treating your blood match. You are hurting her by going after her coven. They are healers. Why can't you leave them be. They won't ever pose a threat to you. It's not moral to attack them."

Dante frowned " Of course you can plead to me all you want. It won't make a difference. That coven is no ordinary band of healers. They have kept my blood match away from me for as long as they could. The time I have given to Athena is over. All territories have fallen, except Alaska."

Demetrious sighed " Come on Dante. You will regret hurting your blood match by threatening the life of her coven."

Dante raised an eyebrow " Of course and that coven includes your blood match. Don't worry my treatment of her would depend on her co-operation. If she is obedient towards me and my rules, I would go easier on her. Lets hope she is not one stubborn empath like you. Time will tell surely. Well. Now Lets get this over with. Shall we?"

Demetrious did not like the dark glint in Dante's eyes at all. He spoke " What if I refuse to help you summon the jewel? It's in dormant state so it needs both of us."

Dante stared at Demetrious with an intimidating glare that made him take a step back. Dante's voice shook the walls " Do you really want to find out? Do you Demetrious? What do you think i will do? I would take pleasure in hunting down your blood match. You will be leaving your blood match, Aretha at my mercy. This jewel would only help me locate Athena's coven faster than my trackers. Have no doubt that our trackers can locate your blood match one day one way or another. No one can hide from the Ronas army that is lead by me. Check the prophecy Demetrious. Now don't test my patience. Give me your hand before I make you regret thinking about crossing me."

Athena could feel the waves of conflict and pain within Demeyrious's heart. She didn't want him to act irrationally and take on Dante without any plans or consideration of the consequences if he was to lose the inevitable battle between them. So she spoke quickly but gently " Demetrious don't fight him. Don't have any doubt. My coven and I would handle everything that happens next. Do as he says."

Dante raised an eyebrow " Saved by my blood match. Looks like she is already warming up to her future brother in law. So what's it going to be Demetrious? Are you going to obey me or will make life difficult for yourself by defying me, little brother?"

Demetrious looked defeated. Reluctantly he offered his hand to his older brother to take. As Dante held his hand, an intense ray of light was radiated from their entangled hands. Dante quickly whispered a spell and took a deep breath and closed his eyes and spoke " Now Demetrious. You must Say that spell out loud too. Now. Call upon the other half of the jewel of illusion that's been hidden inside the statue of our great ancestor for the past century. Lets wake it up."

Demetrious forced the spell out and suddenly the sound of an object falling in front of the two brothers boomed into the room.

Dante and Demetrious both opened their eyes and stared at the mesmerising jewel in front of them. Dante let go of his brothers hand immediately and raised a hand. Then the jewel flew into his hands.

Athena crossed her arms over her chest and spoke "You may assume that victory is yours. But it's not all over for me and my coven until you capture us. If you think you can keep me here forever you are mistaken. I will leave and you will only hear from me on your commemoration day when all representatives from all territories are called upon to kneel to you. That day hasn't come yet. Has it?"

Dante sounded playful "Darling. I am just about to summon my commanders. Do you really think it is wise to try to make me lose my temper like this. I advise you to keep quiet while I introduce you to my commanders and address them." He then threw numorous burgundy coloured stones on the floor and then slowly walked to a desk at the far end of the room and placed his jewel of illusion on the desk while gesturing to Athena and Demetrious to stand at either side of his desk. He then closed his eyes and summoned his commanders.

One by one, the Ronas commanders appeared in the room and dropping to the floor and kneeling to their master. They were all trembling and shaking as they could feel another powerful presence in the room as well as their master. They had no doubt about it. They knew that this knew female presence could be no one but masters blood match. They were well aware that their master held his blood match more dear than anything in this world. They were hoping that they never crossed this female and never got on her wrong side otherwise they were not going to live long.

Dante slowly walked towards his commanders and as usual took his time before addressing them. he started circling them and sent waves of fury towards every single one of them that even made them shake in fear uncontrollably.

Dante, finally addressed the commanders as he stood in front of them "You may rise commanders. You are allowed to make eye contact too. My blood match, Athena is present too in this meeting. You have the privilage of being in her presence prior to all other citizens of Arkansas. Count yourselves lucky. You must show her the same respect that you do to me needless to say "

As the commanders rose and looked into the cold grey eyes of their master, they just noticed how all commanders from Arkansas and the Ronas camp in the west were summoned this time. No commander was left behind this time. This sent alarm bells. When their master issued an all inclusive summon call it either meant that a big mission was coming up or their master was looking to prosecute one of them.

Dante spoke with his usual formal and firm tone "You are wondering why I have summoned all of you if we are so close to victory. As you know, all territories have now surrundered to us except for the Alaskans. I have some upcoming missions involving all of you until we can all return to castle of spears and rule from Arkansas. But before that I would like to hear from you .... Xavier. What failed you at guarding those three high class prisoners at the leadership division prison. "

Xavier swallowed hard as he stared into the eyes of his master that promised no mercy at all. His master hated anyone of his commanders showing weakness so he spoke while trying to keep his voice steady and avoid shaking "Master. I think there were certain individuals helping Alpha Augustus's army from the inside of our camp. I am certain there were people taking sides with that prisoner, sabrina. I did visit her cell around midnight to interrogate her about her knowledge of the possible whereabouts of her former partner, Octavian. When I arrived she was found unconscious in a coma. If she was awake, I could have tormented her long enough for her to reveal the whereabouts of Octavian so that could also ...... have lead me to find my long lost brother, Xander. The guilty one could be a commander or high class head enforcer too. There was no way to find out who did this. The guards made to forget one hour from their shift. They could not tell me who had visited her cell prior and ...."

Dante narrowed his eyes and looked into the faces of all his commanders and spoke "Enough Xavier. That sure sounds suspicous. I want anyone who has knowledge to step forward."

Athena was alarmed at that point. She quickly spotted the trembling form of a blue eyed commander who was ready to step forward. No commander in their right mind were going to lie. There was also another young man standing next to the blue eyed commander who was also about to step forward. he had a dark look in his eyes and that unsettled Athena to feel his waves of dark powers. So she did the unexpected and decided to intervene. She quickly cast a spell and formed a black shield that resembled a curtain in front of all commanders and enchanted the shield in a way to disallow them from hearing anything at all in the room.

Dante turned towards Athena and spoke "Athena. drop this shield this minute. we are not playing games here. You do not interefere when I am questioning my commanders. Can you explain yourself."

Demetrious was looking at Athena worriedly. He knew his brother was on edge. He hoped that Athena knew what she was doing.

Athena took a deep breath and spoke "I am going to share something with you Dante that is against my better judgement. We both know you felt who was responsible for the crime that was reported."

Dante nodded "Exactly, so you felt their waves of guilt too. But, dont tell me you want to plead for the lives of my junior commanders, Zachary and Xanthos. Obviously they failed to report to me what they had been upto last night, especially Zachary's waves of guilt were undeniably intense when I posed my last question.I may let off Xanthos lightly but Zachary is one I cant let off easily. I dont tolerate indiscipline. Impossible."

Athena sighed "What if I told you that the ..... blue eyed commander is special. Very special. You cant hurt him."

Dante rolled his eyes "Zachary has to learn the hard way not to cross any lines while he serves in my army. But, darling, it is needles to say that all my commanders are special. I picked them myself one by one. They are the finest graduates from the noble academy of Arkansas."

Athena spoke as though every word was causing pain to her. " No. You dont understand. He is not like every one else in this room. he is .... he is .... a protector wizard."

Dante looked irritated. "thats not possible. There is nobody in his family who has ever become a protector. Unless they have hid their powers till now somehow. How do you know?"

Demetrious nodded "Trust Athena. She is a healer. Well, healers can detect people with those kind of ancient genes. Besides, protector wizards can appear out of no where even with no one like them in their bloodline. He just may as well have the dominant genes for it. Its just that maybe his dominant genes havent surfaced yet. But surely they will."

Dante was looking at Demetrious with annoyance "It seems like you dont mind it if I let that kid off here. he has some waves of empathy like you surely. It makes me wonder if I should even listen to you demetrious. When you take someone side, it raises questions on why you do it. What is your motive for defending him. His waves of empathy seemed too pacifist to me." He then turned to Athena and spoke "Take down the shields from around my commanders. Your interruption is forgiven. But Zachary wont be spared. His future status as a protector wizard wont save him."

Athena looked determined and walked up to Dante and stood in front of him and while staring into his eyes defiantly, she spoke "You cant ignore this information I just shared with you. I just revealed to you something that no one but a healer can sense. He is too young so no one else can sense his potential but my kind. As you must know he has healer blood in him from his maternal side and his father ...... may be a potion maker and also may have some weak protector genes. I am unsure. His heritage is not that clear. Zachary definitely has some dominant protector genes in him. Look, you would regret it if you hurt him. He is a protector. It means he can call upon earth and water to protect those you command him to. His kind have empathy inside them and you surely don't like that. But that would be vital about him serving you in future. He is a loyal warlock and would never break his word. If he swears allegiance to a cause he won't betray it. Protectors have a conscious like no other warlocks. They have hearts of gold and good intentions always. Be good to him Dante or you would regret it."

As Dante looked to be deep in thought with narrowed eyes considering Athena's words, It was Demetrious who spoke next "I dont mean to question you Athena but how about his siblings. There are two more commanders in this room whom share blood with him so does this mean they are also .... protectors." He couldnt help it but be curious.

Athena shook her head and turned to demetrious and smiled "I have felt the girl's aura. It is much .... darker. She is surely a powerful healer even though she is too young yet but she is not a protector. I doubt she could ever harness the powers of earth and water with her will. But she has other hidden powers I can not sense yet due to her being underage. And the other one .... is.... well more complicated. I would not wish to discuss him Demetrious. His aura shouts out that he is a nightmare."

Dante ignored Athena's last verdicts about Zelina and Sean and he spoke "Fine. I trust your judgements Athena. And I think I know where Zachary's next role would be." he looked playful to Athena's surprise and spoke "He would be guarding my heirs. he would be assigned to protect our children one day in the near future and be their mentor also." He then laughed out loud and turned around "Fine. You have got my attention. Now release those shields. I am not in the mood to attack your enchanted shield and hurt you in the process. I would let the crime go... lightly."

Athena breathed out a sigh of relief and waved her hands and the shields disappeared and the startled commanders looked around with curiousity as the silence and darkness had ended for them.

Dante spoke with finality in his voice " Xanthos and Zachary, I condemn you to three nights of night shifts starting from today. You only got off lightly because my blood match is present and I do not wish to shed any blood in front of her and also since there is another motive for me to forgive this crime lightly." He was looking directly at Zachary as he spoke. It made Zachary cringe to feel the full stare of his master on him looking at him almost with .... interest. It left Zachary confused but he tried to push that to the back of his mind and concentrate on his masters next words.

Dante then started circling his commanders and continued addressing them with a serious and firm tone " As you are aware all five territories up north, in the west, in the central region, down south and in the east have completely surrendered. Surely there may be some uprising from some low life rebels but it won't be long before we would break their resistance. Alexander, report to me about the situation in the central region, east and south. I already know that the North and western territory is completely under our rule but I need briefing on regions I have not yet visited."

Alexander shook hard as his master was addressing him but he managed to pull himself together and report without wavering " Master, the central territory has been under transition eversince they surrundered and the take over is complete. In case of the eastern and southern territory, as you commanded me a few hours ago, when those two territories surrendered, I did deploy two armies out there. I assure you that our army personnel are now overseeing the transition of laws into Ronas protocols and architects are demolishing traditionally built buildings and replacing them with Ronas style monuments and accommodation with Ronas Logos."

Dante became thoughtful " Are you telling me that our forces did not encounter any resistance at all in the east and south. Alexander I asked you to report to me which means not to miss any vital information."

Alexander responded instantly " Master, our forces did not face any resistance as they entered the eastern and southern territory."

Dante nodded " Very well. But we both know that it only means that some kind of late resistance is inevitable from the rebels of the east and south. Also the central teritory around the sacred river is a risky zone where rebelious acts must be expected. Have no doubt. Rebels might delay our army's return to Arkansas and my commemoration day may be postponed but I assign you as the responsible one to oversee the capture of any low life who may cause such inconvenience to me. Do what you have to do Alexander. I dont care if you have to send any personnel to every single house in the central, south and east to capture any one involved in any rebelious acts against the laws of Arkansas and bring them to me. I want delivery of results."

Alexander spoke shakily "yes master."

Dante then aproached Dylan who was standing stiffly next to Tanya and Xavier. Dante spoke "Now Dylan and Tanya. I wish to remind you of the importance of your role as those responsible for overseeing the capture of every single name on my wanted list. You have been doing a satisfactory job so far ..... but now that the war of North America is almost over and we are victorious, my patience is getting to the end of its limit. I want them all captured alive. Use all the resources you have. Deploy all your top trackers to a wider range of periemeters in various territories and make sure all those I seek for now are captured and brought to me."

Dante then walked to Xavier and Sean "I assign you to select your best men to surround Alaska's borders. I have plans for that territory. Their duty would be to ensure no one leaves Alaska. I would deal with that defiant territory myself. It is a personal mission to me. Very personal." he then turned and glanced at Athena as he spoke.

Athena closed her eyes and tried to keep calm and stay strong. She knew exactly what Dante was reffering too. Dante was not going to be pleased with any outcome but burning Alaska to the ground completely. It was an outrageous intention by him but it showed the lengths Dante was willing to go to ensure Athena had nothing much left to give her love to.

When Athena opened her eyes, she realised that Dante was still addressing his commanders. He was speaking with a firm and cold tone as usual "Now commanders, those of you who have to oversee special operations, must send your best personnel in your division to fulfil their special missions. But the challenge would be for you to lead them from ... far. Thats right. All of you commanders would be accompanying me to the next offensive missions and then we would all return to Arkansas when I am satisfied with the results. This war has to be ended, my way. First stop is capturing the healer coven and the next would be to capture all rebelious forces resisting our rule from th eastern, central and southern region. You would accompany me on visits to south, east and central territory to ensure all regions are completely under our rule. That should take less than three days. I assure you. Last but not least would be to capture every member on the wanted list. As you know the last mission wont be achieved fully until Alaska falls. You may be dismissed. Collect your best personnel. Prepare to leave this base within the next hour. I would summon you when the time comes."

As Dante dismissed his commanders, he turned to Athena and walked up to her. he had a victorius smile on his face. He chuckled and then spoke" Do you know what makes me most satisfied? While I was addressing my commanders, you couldnt do anything Athena. Nothing at all. I love the fact that the other half of the jewel of illusion was in this room and you could not use it to teleport yourself out of my well sealed chambers for the simple reason that it ..... only answers to warlocks from a Ronas bloodline. Don't you find it frustrating? You are standing here Athena, helpless and defenceless. A jewel that is capable of relocating you to your covens location only is a few meters away from you but you can't use it. It only answers to me and Demetrious. I would use it to keep you by my side for as long as I wish until I capture your coven and hurt them in front of you. Then I would let you go. What do you say my beloved. Do you still wish to defy me and my touch?"

Athena was fuming and contemplating on how to get back at Dante's taunting words but to her surprise someone else in the room beat her to it. Athena was horrified as the scene in front of her unfolded. Dante was suddenly hit by a white light and thrown to the opposite wall and a golden shield was forcing him to be confined in a small space as he tried to sit up. Then she looked at Demetrious with horror "What have you done Demetrious? He will ..."

Demetrious interrupted her with an urgent voice"I would send you back to your coven this instant using this jewel. Please dont resist it. I cant keep Dante restricted for so long. I cant do anything else. Go Athena and warn them, protect them in anyway you can. There is still time. Dont let Dante hurt Aretha, Please."

Before Athena could protest, she saw a blue light radating from Demetrious's hands and hitting the jewel of illusion that only answered to a Ronas. Suddenly the room started to fade and she heard the the voice that made her shiver in worry and fear "You traitor, Demetrious. You will pay for this." She then witnessed the faint response of Demetrious "I know that." Suddenly, everything else faded and she couldnt tell what happened next. Athena couldnt see anything else now except a white light.