Archelous tried to compose himself after Dante had directed his threatening words at him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and spoke trying to keep a steady tone "Very well. Lets move on ...."

Dante spoke sarcastically "Moving on where? Do you call what you said an apology? I don't think so."

Athena turned to Dante "Thats enough. His apology is accepted. I didnt need him to express remorse. I dont take anything personal."

Dante spoke "But you are mine and I do take things personal. I dont forgive and I dont forget. If he was not a Ronas, I would have condemned him to death with no second chance. But since he is my blood, I gave him a warning for his threat to you. Not that he would succeed that easily plunging a dagger into your heart.""

Archelous turned to Dante with a sigh "Thank you for your generosity and letting me off with a warning. Now that your blood match has accepted my apology, I think we can move on." He then looked at the people around the table "We need to plan how to hold off the attacks that are coming our way within hours......."

Dante chuckled "You can try kids. You can delay my army but you cant beat them."He then laid down in his cell and closed his eyes focusing his energy.

Vasile spoke "Whats he doing?"

Athena spoke "Ignore him. He is probably trying to conjure whatever he can from the castle through the cell walls."

Suddenly glass like spheres with lightening bolts inside them appeared above him close to the ceiling.

Dante opened his eyes and put his hands behind his head and relaxed "I reserve those for you as well elemental when I get out of this cell. Vasile, you will get some doses of dark dust as well some lightening bolts but most of these bolts would be shocking the daylights out of Archelous but there is enough for you too. Dont worry. Dont mind me people. Carry on. I am listening to your plans. I look forward to witnessing your failure and disappointment pretty soon."

Vasile turned to Archelous " Your genius idea to bring him to your house doesn't sound so good now. I wish I had never voted yes to this."

Archelous spoke " It doesnt make a difference. Vasile Either way you are going to fight against his army and that means you are becoming his enemy. You can't expect better treatment than the dark dust." He then spoke turning to Arethusa "You showed us information about the top commanders and enforcers earlier in this meeting. You said you got it from the healer coven. Did they give you any more information you would like to share."

Arethusa shook her head "I told you everything I know."

Archelous spoke "Lets go over the strategies then. You can object if you wish and we will consider it. We will hold off the key targets amongst ourselves and the rest of the Ronas army would be fought off by our army in this palace who are trained by me and of course the Transylvanian fighters trained by Vasile would be joining forces with our fighters after they get their civilians to shelters....."

Athena spoke "Archelous, may I suggest that I face off Octavian in this war?"

Dante sighed "My love, you wont be doing anything in this war. I have made sure of it."

Athena spoke "What do you mean?"

Dante spoke "One of my rules states that no one but me is allowed to hurt you or even love you. You wont be put in danger when my army attacks."

Athena spoke "But I will defend this castle. You can't stop me."

Dante smirked "I already have. I have cast a spell on you without you realising it. You cant leave my side. The furthest you can get from me is the other side of the room. You can cast spells from here but you cant leave this room my love."

Athena's eyes widened and she stood up looking around the room. She then looked at the ceiling and saw very small glass like speheres moving close to the ceiling all around the room. She gasped "When did you release those that I didnt see them. So I can only be where these speheres are?" She then turned to Demetrious and Archelous "Do something Can you get rid of those." and she was disappointed to see them shake their heads meaning they couldn't.

It was Vasile who spoke next "Hold on. Did you or did you not expect us to attack you here? Casting spells like this one shows you came prepared. You knew there was a possibility we could attack you and you planned all this."

Archelous spoke "Dont be ridiculous Vasile. He wasnt ready. He couldnt know about what we were going to do."

Dante laughed menacingly and his words made everyone in the room freeze "Actually I knew exactly what was going to happen. I only didnt know how well you could defend yourselves and underestimated the power you had behind your spells when trapping me in this cell. When my wisdom sorcerer, Tiberious saw the vision, he hadnt seen Demetrious working with you since this traitorous brother of mine was still in Arkansas when I was told of this vision. But thats the only difference. I know alot more than you do about the outcome of this battle. Good luck defeating my men. You are surely going to need luck."

Vasile complained "I guess your plan is not as perfect as we thought Archelous."

Archelous sighed "It is fine. In my plan, I was going to suggest for Athena to be guarding this cell in case her blood match somehow pulled any stunts so no difference there."

Athena spoke "I agree with Archelous, it doesnt make a difference if I defend this castle from the inside or outside."

Archelous spoke "Now. All of you pay attention. This is how we do this. We form a circle around the castle and form a chain of shields. If the chain is broken, the castle's security would be at the Ronas army's hands. So we must work as a team...."

Dante spoke "No you wont work as a team. You have shown me how disasterous your team work is. None of you can do team work. There is only one way to roll for you to prolong this battle. You work as individuals. If you work as a team, if one falls the rest fall too. Its would be a shot battle for my army to finish off. I want to see a good show. There are four gates to this castle, north, south, east and west. You guard each one individually and when those gates fall, you try that shield chain if any of you still is standing to protect the security shields that protect the building. Those enchantments that my uncle Eric has put in place are not easily penetratable but once the gates fall, Octavian would break it if you dont guard it. So here we go. I gave you a strategy. Now assign your team mates."

Vasile raised an eyebrow and turned to Archelous "I hate to say it but I agree with what he said. It makes sense. A chain shield is risky. If one falls, everyone else falls too. Its not worth the risk. If the other army didnt have Octavian, maybe we could pull it off as a team but I know enough about you Archelous and your powers. If Octavian is a Ronas like you, he is a force to be reckoned with."

Archelous sighed "I was going to ask you to form a shield and I was going to take Octavian on. I think my plan is best. But fine. Lets go with this. It makes little difference. Either way you are all done for after this battle."

Everyone sitting at the table gasped. Azalea was the first one to protest"Archelous dont be so negative."

Archelous spoke "As if you are not thinking it. This is suicide going against the Ronas army."

Dante chuckled "Go ahead Archelous. Do the right thing. Give yourself up to my army. Its not too late. However, when I get out of here I still would bash you up pretty good, for threatening my beloved."

Demetrious turned to Archelous "He is right. Why dont you join the other side if you are not happy to fight this battle on this side."

Archelous spoke "For the last time, I do not have a choice. I wish I did. I cant turn my back on my family. My first loyalty is to my father and this castle. My instructions from my father is that I am supposed to defend this castle with my life. However, thats all I am obliged to do. I have no obligation to protect any of you. I am only going to protect my sister and this castle. Full stop. So if any of you except Azalea are about to die at any point in this battle, I wont run to your rescue."

Arethusa sighed "What is wrong with you?"

Archelous spoke "You ran away from your blood match and you are asking me what is wrong with me. Who in their right mind would turn their back on their other half. I say its all to do with your bloodline. Marisyans are too self centred to care about those they are matched to. You ran away from your blood match and Aretha made her match betray his land and Athena ...."

Dante spoke firmly "Watch it Archelous. Dont make me kill you when I get out of here."

Archelous looked down and swallowed hard "Sorry. I wont go there again." He then looked up around the table. He spoke "Lets talk about what the plan is and then we can go on our merry way. I start with the north gate. That gate is covered by Azalea and I....."

Azalea gasped "Thats where Octavian is based. So we are taking him on together."

Archelous nodded "Yes. I will take on Octavian when he attacks from the ground and Azalea, you will take him on when he attacks from the skies."

Vasile spoke "What do you mean by this? He will attack from the skies? How?"

Demetrious spoke "Octavian is the turquoise eyes warrior from the prophecy. He would unleash all sorts of creatures from the skies and also from the grounds."

Vasile spoke "You mean he is going to throw dragons at us from up there? So I could lend you some of my Transylvanian dragons."

Archelous sighed "He is going to unleash alot more than that. You will see. Azalea and I would hold him off and our army would fight the rest. Hopefully we can get to Donavan and capture him before they get to use him to open that gate. He is held in a prison camp just at Octavian's base."

Vasile sighed "So what do I do. You and Azalea will have all the fun."

Demetrious spoke "But aren't you going to be protecting your people, Vasile during the battle?"

Archelous spoke "Only fighters are left on the ground in Transylvania. Vassil has transferred all the civilians to safety. Some are sent to Alaska and those who insist on staying are hidden in a hideout underground a few miles from this castle. What he is going to do is as fun as what Azalea and I are going to do actually. He is going to hunt down that protector wizard. Oh. I wish I could be the one hunting him down but lucky for Vasile, Octavian has based Zachary and Xander on guard at the west gate. Those two will be protecting Roxana and trying to get her to open that gate." He then turned to Vasile "Here you go, you will have the joy of guarding that gate that has a protector wizard attacking it. Zachary is the secret weapon of the enemies army. Save your Transylvanian dragons especially for the west gate that you will be guarding on your own."

Vasile spoke "A secret weapon? Seriously? But how dangerous is a protector wizard?"

Dante laughed "Listen to Archelous Vasile. Archelous seems to know what carnage Zachary can unleash on your defense system potentially. That protector wizard has powers even he knows not himself so I would bet you would get a tough battle elemental."

Vasile looked at Archelous "Zachary can bring it on. I am ready."

Archelous turned to Demetrious "You will be at the south wing. You will be holding off some tough fighters. Xavier, Sean and Xanthos. They will be there at that gate guarding Rowlen. Try not to beat them. Just hold them up with whatever trick you know and our army at that gate can hold up the rest of the Arkansan army."

Demetrious nodded. "I can manage that."

Archelous turned to Arethusa "The east gate has some powerful ones attacking it. Nathan and Tanya are protecting Dylan and will try to get him to the gate to open it. You, Arethusa would have the joy of guarding the east gate alongside Aretha."

Demetrious spoke "What are you talking about? My blood match is hurt. She cant be part of this."

Archelous sighed "You underestimate her. She is your blood match for a reason. Even in her current condition she is an asset. She has to fight or she leaves. Its her choice to remain close to you. Besides, No one in their right mind would attack these two fatally. They are blodo matches of two Ronas heirs. They wouldnt dare touch them. They would most likely cast spells to capture them. Thats all. I am sure Nathan, Tanya and Dylan dont have a death wish." He then turned to the rest of the table "If you think all commanders are taken care off you are wrong. The rest of the commanders are based in Arkansas and only one summon call away. Every commander that dies or gets captured will be replaced by a new one or thats what we assume. If new forces come in then you have to take on more commanders at each gate."

Athena spoke "I would get my healer coven to come aid us. They can circulate around and help out any gate in trouble. I was going to summon them to go around the region and look for anyone in need of evacuation or healing. But some of them can at least be based around us."

Archelous sighed "I only want the best fighters. Which one is worth coming over to join our defense?"

Arethusa sounded annoyed "You are so offensive. All the coven are good fighters."

Athena sighed "Fine. I will get you the best ones. Tatiana and Alexandra are the best fighters. Are you happy now Archelous?"

Archelous spoke "Why would I be happy? Two of your colleagues showing up here is not going to make my day..." He then glanced at Dante and judging by his hardened expression, he added quickly "No offense intended. I dont like outlaws."

Athena spoke "I summon the whole coven though. The rest can rescue from the region while we battle."

Archelous sighed "I dont think that would be necessary Vasile has evacuated the civilians from the Transylvanian land. Maybe neighbouring regions may need assistance.

Vasile's eyes widened " Actually about that. I just remembered. There are a few regions I haven't evacuated yet in Transylvania. This is because people didn't pack their belongings fast enough."

Archelous spoke in a frustrated tone " You gave them time to pack away? Are you insane? Who cares about their belongings? We need them out of the way so they dont become prisoners of war and soften you up to surrunder. You must now go back and finish your work off. Go on then. Go back there and finish off the evacuation and I will summon you in half an hour. Don't take longer Vasile." He then turned to others " You have a 30 minute break curtesy of Vasile's neglectful actions. Use the time to contact your loved ones and tell them you may die today." He then rolled his eyes at the shocked expressions. "What do you expect. This is war."

Vasile rolled his eyes and spoke " See you later." He then skilfully teleported away through an open portal Azalea had formed for him without being told. She was always happy to see the back of him.

Vasile didn't waste any time and evacuated all the civilians from their homes in the region and sent them through a portal to his underground hide out. He finished before his thirty minute deadline set by Archelous was over but he didnt ask for the summon call. Instead he went around his beloved land to watch the breathtaking scenery of his homeland one last time while it was still intact and hadnt yet become transformed into Ronas land. The Ronas army were known for changing everything in the lands they conquered.

Vasile was becoming emotional. Tears were threatening to come but he tried to keep himself together and resist crying. He was afraid. He knew the enemy had a much bigger army than the Transylvanians. Vasile knew that the truth was far from what his home land's army could imagine. The chances of victory were slim and almost non-existent. What was he to do except to lead his comrades to fight and hope for the best.

Vasile visited every part of his land within his short time. The only land he had left off was the land occupied by the enemy. They had surrounded the castle in a large vast circular path. Without thinking of consequences Vasile dipped himself into the ground and appeared in the middle of one of the bases. He kept himself hidden on a roof top of one of the bases. Lucky for him, one of his gifts was shielding his presence with the element of his chice which was mostly air. Now they couldnt trace his presence unless they searched hard for hours. But he was gone by then. He looked at his surroundings and inhaled the crispy fresh air and whispered "Farewell my land I knew you and loved you." He then decided to move to another part of the base but a crowed gathered around a girl in front of the building he was on got his attention. By the looks of it, there was a heated discussion going on over the girl who was on the floor restrained in golden strings.

Curiousity got the better of him and he moved down and hid behind a tree and listened to what was happening. "Hold on. I recognise them." He thought. He remembered the faces of the Ronas commanders that Arethusa had briefed people at the castle about earlier in their meeting.

It was Xanthos pointing angrily at the girl, Serena she was called if he was not mistaken sitting on the floor and shouting at Xavier "I caught her setting free some of the prisoners we caught when we landed. She even fought off the enforcers to block them from tracing them. They escaped through a portal created by non other than herself. She must be put on trial on the spot."

Xavier rolled his eyes "She is a commander. We cant have any trials for her unless master is present. As you know master is occupied with other matters and absent. We can only lock her up in the captive division waiting for master."

Xanthos growled "No. I am sure Octavian as acting leader can pass on the judgement....."

Suddenly Vasile felt the waves of power from Octavian. He walked to them and they immidiately stepped aside and faced him standing stiffly looking not so confident now. Octavian's spoke "My judgement is to lock her up. We dont have time for this either way. When master returns, this issue will be resolved. Now get back to your post Xavier and Xanthos. The enforcers will deal with her and lock her up. You should worry about breaking the gates and not occupy yourself with some stupid commander's actions. You are dismissed."

The enforcers lead Serena inside the one of the buildings and Vasile smiled. He waited a few minutes and then let the ground swallow him. He focused to sense her and as he became sure that she was all alone in a space above the ground, he decided to resurface.

Serena tied up to a bed with golden strings and starting to feel weaker and weaker as the enchanted restraints were taking effect. Suddenly she gasped as she saw a handsome young man appearing from inside the ground right in front of her bed. She couldnt believe it. She whispered "You are an .... elemental."

The new comer smiled and walked to her bed and waved his hands and made the restraints disappear. Serena quickly got up and teleported herself to another part of the cell she was locked up in. She put up her shield and looked at the young man who looked way too confident and cocky for being a stranger who was crazy enough to break into a Ronas captive base at the front line. The stranger walked to him and spoke "Put down the shield beautiful. I am not going to strike. I justw ant to get you out of here. Thats all."

Serena spoke "Why? Who are you anyways?"

He spoke "Put down the shield and I will tell you."

As serena put down her shield, he walked to her "Look. We dont have much time. I know you dont know me but believe me when I say, I am your only way out of here. Now Let me hold your hand and get you out of here. I know what you are capable of and I know you will defend yourself if I just grab you so I am asking for permission before I teleport you away."

Serena spoke "But if you can get me out, why not get anyone else in these cells out of here too."

Vasile shrugged "Because they dont interest me like how you do. Besides there is only one prisoner who is conscious. The others I can feel are knocked out from the weakening effect of the golden strings. Getting you through the ground takes some energy from you."

Serena asked "Why not teleport on the ground then?"

Vasile spoke "As if you dont know. Seriously. Havent you seen the security outside. We would be intercepted. Since Donavan is locked up next door, this place is at maximum security. Now can I hold your hand without you striking me. I dont think I like that."

Serena nodded and held Vasile's hands. Minutes later they were inside a room with walls made of diamonds and lit up by Chandaliers made of Emerald and ruby stones. Serena let go of Vasile and looked around "Wow. Where are we? This room looks so unique."

Vasile smiled "We are underneath the ground in one of the rooms in my hide out for my people. This kind of architecture can only be carried out by my people, elementals. Alpha Augustus has some architects that come close but they cant build anything like this. This is a multi story palace built underground. We are on the top floor. Once I leave you here, you can go exploring and you may make yourself comfortable. A pretty girl like you should be away from war. I dont want the Ronas army to capture you and put you on trial for treason. Why did you show up here at the front line anyways. Your name wasnt on the list of commanders deployed here. You are supposed to be in Arkansas. Your duty was accompanying the healer division here if they were summoned at any time at the battle. Why did you disobey orders of your superiors. Even Xavier, your senior commander has a reputation in europe too. Only crazy people and those not afraid to die defy him. I bet you are the latter, unafraid of death because surely you dont look crazy."

As Serena was admiring the room, she turned to Vasile "Who are you? You seem to know so much about me and I know nothing about you? I want to know the name of my saviour and one who knows so much about the Arkansan Ronas army."

Vasile smiled "I am Vasile, I am a half Transylvanian- half Arkansan elemental. My experties mainly is in controlling dragons. My profile is not as interesting as yours too and of course not as interesting as your boyfriend's. Whats his name, Zachary. I bet he will rush to save you from your cell tonight when he hears you were caught but he will be too late. I beat him to it."

Serena bit her lip "Would you be able to get Zachary out of that battle too. I would like to fight by his side. You know I mean fight by your side for Transylvanians to defeat the Ronas."

Vasile chuckled and walked to Serena and stood in front of her staring into her eyes "Firstly, I cant get him out. He wont oblige. He has two siblings serving the Arkansans. I have heard Dante Ronas has tightened the laws over the years and anyone associated with traitors can also be prosecuted if Dante Ronas demands it. I know Zachary's siblings are loyal commanders to the Ronas army and its unlikely for them to be executed if Zachary deserts the army but they still may get tormented if Dante gets into a bad mood one day."

Serena's eyes widened "Oh. No. You are right. Damn it. They are going to go after my family if I betray my army. You have to take me back. Please. take me back. I didnt think that our master may hurt them upon return. I wasnt thinking that far into the future."

Vasile spoke "Relax, they wont suffer. I am pretty certain."

Serena spoke "How can you be so sure."

Vasile spoke "Biological families are the ones summoned to courts only for any offender."

Serena spoke "Exactly. My parents and my brother, jasper are in danger."

Vasile sighed "But you are adopted...."

Serena looked at Vasile with wide eyes "I am what? No I am not."

Vasile spoke "What do you mean? You mean you dont know?"

Serena spoke "But I am not adopted. How can I be? How do you know?"

Vasile spoke "You are adopted. I read your file alongside files of other commanders that were shared by Demetrious with me and a few more people at Bran Castle. You see, Demetrious knows alot about background information since he used to work at the magic science division and has read all the files. He combined his knowledge with that of healer coven and Arethusa and here we are. I know alot about you and other commanders. Sorry."

Serena shook her head and stepped backwards "But I cant be adopted."

Vasile spoke " But you are eighteen. They must have told you when you were at age of maturity or ....are you. As an elemental I can sense powers better than others. Especially when they are in dormant state and right now I can feel your powers are close to the surface but not fully mature. Trust me you cant be eighteen yet. Now that I am focusing I can see how much potential power can burst out of you pretty soon. I am sure you are seventeen, going to turn eighteen. Maybe they changed your date of birth or something to confuse you and your parents if they ever looked for you."

Serena was shocked "But who are my parents?"

Vasile spoke "Since the Arkansan enforcers went into the trouble of changing your date of birth, your parents must be of ancient Arkansan bloodlines and enemies of Eros Ronas."

Serena was shaking her head in disbelief "It cant be. I cant believe it."

Vasile was about to respond but then groaned "Damn it. Archelous is summoning me. I have to go. I cant stay to comfort you. I am so sorry. I will be back soon if I am not dead by the end of the battle. I wish I could take you with me to the battle. But you are a Ronas commander. They would execute you if you fight against the Arkansans as a commander. Not everyone has the immunity that Demetrious has as a Ronas. Farewell for now."