The Twelve finally felt peace after the duels were over. A few hours after the cleaning up was done for the last day, preparations for their last performance was underway. The place they chose to perform in was the same; the arena. After all, the band presentation was supposed to bridge together the parts of their relationships that was broken by the fight. No doubt about it.

As per Keelan's promise to Valeriana, he set up a Gathering in her stead. They were still some things that they had to talk about—urgent matters that they needed discussing. Valeriana found that although these congregations felt tedious to sit through, they were an important part of keeping everyone else informed with regards to certain businesses. If meetings weren't worthwhile, the term wouldn't have been coined.

Valeriana had freshened up after the fight and changed into more comfortable clothes before climbing down from her room when the decided time arrived. Earlier, she had received proper medical attention. Any wound she had was closed and she did not sustain major injuries in exception for bruises. With the way she was, she would have no trouble with performing at all.

Femeron was still in a deep sleep and Keelan had initially given her back. She could not bear to leave the sleeping dragon, so she carried her and came down.

Most of the Twelve were already in attendance, except a few faces were missing—the twins and Corvan still had not come.

The fifth-ranker was somewhat disappointed as she took her seat. Charles looked between everyone expectantly while Tamara was checking her nails. Everyone else was silent, except for the cluttering Keelan made while he ate.

Grandma Khloe had initially prepared drinks and snacks beforehand. Keelan busied himself snacking on these. Grapes, sandwiches, apples, and a couple of exotic sweets. Valeriana chose to grab a cup of apple cider and set it before her.

"Alright, so, what did we get here for?" Aneeka asked as she leaned back.

"Well, I had a few matters to tell you guys and I thought it was a good chance considering we have to practice right after," Valeriana spoke. As usual, she had her hair up in her trademark ponytail as she looked between her comrades. She caressed Femeron's scaly skin as she cradled her on her lap.

"How'd it go?" asked Tamara, smirking knowingly at Valeriana. "Not to mention that little thing on your lap."

She rolled her eyes at the looks she was getting from the third-ranker and decided to cut to the chase. "We were confronted with matters that uh . . . was similar to the one we had in Preluresia."

Her words were vague and cryptic, but the Twelve got what she wanted to say immediately. Looks of suspicion flashed from their eyes and they exchanged glances with one another.

"Then, let's wait for Corvan before we start," Rowe said. "I'm sure he'd want to be a part of the discussion."

Valeriana nodded and paused. Her fingers fiddled with one another as they waited. She suddenly felt nervous and excited in seeing Corvan. With the turn of events from the duel, the first-ranker had suffered drastic changes in his appearance. No one from the Twelve could deny the fact that they very much looked forward to seeing the young lord, especially with his recent haircut.

The minutes ticked by before the main door opened and closed. Valeriana had taken it upon herself to snack on a few grapes and her apple cider. Corvan stepped in sight and eyes were immediately drawn to his direction. Since she had been preoccupied with drinking, the moment she saw him, she almost choked.

Needless to say, the entire room dropped into utter silence. There had been mild chatters beforehand, but once the young lord made his appearance, the dropping of a pin could be heard.

Valeriana's eyes were pinned on Corvan and his new appearance. In her mind, she could only say a few words; holy freaking damn shiznits.

There was no shame in cutting his hair at all. Although he brashly cut at it with his sword, it looked as though he received help with a few snips. The messy touches had been fixed, leaving only one, long strand that served as a reminder of what he had looked like before. It hang on the right side of his head and was casually thrown over his shoulder. Perhaps he had left it there on purpose—obviously.

It didn't look bad at all, to be quite honest. The new haircut gave him a new air. The shape of his face was now more pronounced and the strength of his jaws more evident. His eyes sparkled in a new light.

Tamara was the one who broke the silence with a whistle. As usual, she dropped her line. "Hello, Romeo."

Corvan gave Valeriana a brief glance. After that, he immediately looked away and sat on an armchair. His actions hinted on his arrogance and pride. Nothing has changed.

Charles cleared his throat.

Awkward.

"Alright, so why don't we start?" He looked at Valeriana encouragingly. "But before that, would this friend of yours introduce himself?"

They then noticed a cloaked figure that had tailed Corvan. With their attention solely on the young heir, they failed to notice the newcomer.

"My name is Vallore," he said.

"Oh." Valeriana realized he had nowhere to stay at the moment. "What are you doing here?"

"The headmaster said this is the most suitable place for me to stay. I'll be sure to cause quite a ruckus in the male dormitory should I stay there," he explained.

"You know this guy?" Raziel nodded towards him.

"He happens to be a friend we met at Arlandia," Valeriana told them.

"Why are you wearing a cloak?" Keelan asked out of curiosity, sipping on his cup of drink.

"Why," Brindon repeated, staring at him blankly.

He calmly swept back his hood and revealed his appearance, causing some of them to gasp in shock. Vallore's appearance was in no way ordinary. He had sharp, pointed ears and golden slits for eyes. His hair was pure white and flowed down his back like resplendent silk.

"Larkov!" Tamara exclaimed.

She immediately stood and approached the guy, not bothering to hide her incredulity as she scanned him up and down.

"Are those ears real?" she asked, her blue eyes wide.

"Yes," Vallore answered, his eyes flicking to meet her curious ones.

"Can I touch them?" she requested, but reached out and did so without waiting for a reply.

The drakon leaned back slightly as her cold fingers made contact with his ears. They twitched slightly, making her mouth form an 'o'.

"Tamara, cease that at once!" Charles exclaimed.

Valeriana literally facepalmed at Tamara's actions. Vallore had quite a temper when they first met, especially because of the issue with Femeron.

"Valeriana, you came back with a baby dragon and a half-dragon guy," she said in awe. "What exactly did you do in Arlandia?"

At the mention of half-dragon, Vallore's face contorted in frustration and irritation.

"I am not a half-dragon guy, I am a drakon."

Charles' eyes widened at this.

Tamara hummed thoughtfully as she reexamined him. "You just changed g into a k."

Valeriana could not help but chuckle. She had the same reaction back then.

"What exactly are drakons anyway? And how come you have golden eyes?" Tamara fired, leaning close and staring deep into the golden orbs. "That's a sign of favor from the gods. That must mean you're something akin to a guardian or something."

"That's because he is," Charles cut in. "The drakons went into hiding with the dragons after the Great War. I never thought they still exist. That answers the question with regards to Femeron. Did this dragon come from you?"

"Dragon and drakon. What a tongue-twister." Tamara tapped her chin.

"Femeron is a newly-hatched dragon that got attached to Valeriana when she sought our help," Vallore said. "And it is also because of her that we went out of hiding to resolve the problems with the twin-tailed lions."

"What happened with Avaro's pack?" asked Rowe.

Valeriana coughed into her fist. "Yes, well . . . we might've been wrong about the riddle."

"What of it?" Elfre asked.

"We might've misinterpreted it a bit. I don't know if I'm correct but the order might not be that way. Maybe it's not as simple as right and left or front and back. The star actually signifies something with regards to the direction."

"So, what is it?"

"You see, when you look at the map . . . it sort of goes like—"

"I come prepared." Charles took out something from his pocket—his little blue notebook—and hatched it to the last page. He pulled on one page and unfolded it, which revealed a decent map of the entire world.

"Oh, wow," she said.

"You see," she pointed at Preluresia first. "From front to back. It all started in Preluresia, right? That's front. Now, we first concluded it to be Denovegasia which will be next, but the guardian beasts of Arlandia were struck first. That gave it away. Front to back."

The Twelve felt their brows knitting at her explanation.

"The relevance of the left and right might be with regards to motion. Because, if we look at it this way, going from Preluresia to Arlandia goes from front to back, then—"

"Left to right," Elfre leaned closer and inspected the map.

Valeriana shrugged and continued explaining. "Now, the next target may be Arlandia. We sweep from right to left, and go slightly from back to front. Then there goes Larkovia to Aetheria, left to right, back to front. Aetheria to Denovegasia is right to left and front to back. You guys get the pattern, right? When we all draw these connecting lines, it forms—"

"A star," Charles finished.

(A/N: Sorry to butt in but just because there's a star, doesn't mean I'm part of the cult.)

"From front to back will point a star, to the left and right its sweeping starts. That makes sense," Rowe thoughtfully concluded. "That means Larkovia is the next target. What of the undines?"

"I will need to arrange this as quickly as possible. I will set out once the festival is finished and send out a letter to my father to respond to this issue at once. If it is truly like it is, then we'll have to reevaluate what this riddle means. It seems more complicated than it lets on. I will be back in a few moments, please continue discussing this." Charles stood and hurried to his stairs up to his room.

"After Charles, it means that my continent is next." Rowe contemplated. "I will send out a letter of warning to my mother to take care of the continental guardians. If this is how things are, Denovegasia will be the last continent."

Keelan stopped eating and seemed like a frozen chipmunk with the way he looked.

"Damn," Tamara said as she grunted. "Will we really let those demons play us?"

"I don't know what they're up to, but if this is how they'll do things, then we will have to play along."

"Don't you think it is important that the Celeste Dispatch Division take part in this? We aren't exactly authorized knights that can operate on these issues," Aneeka said, leaning forward with a look of distress.

"But will they let us partake?" Tamara asked. "I know we aren't fully-fledged knights, but we're the one who discovered this matter. I think it's no coincidence that we were set up to this."

"What? Are you saying that this is a matter of fate?" Raziel waved.

"Look, you people," Tamara stood in a way as though she was going to start an inspirational speech. Vallore's eyes were drawn to her as she took a stance, looking somewhat interested in what she has to say. "We cannot not take part in this. Aside from the fact that it concerns our continents, we are the Celestial Twelve."

"Yes, the Celestial Twelve." Aneeka's voice was not of agreement. Rather, she held the tone of reason. "Not the Celestial Knights. Tamara, we aren't fully-trained. We barely handled the matter in Loquin. We barely handled the matter with the Gilerads! And it took the entire Twelve of us to resolve it!"

"But we handled it. That means we're capable."

"We might not be as lucky as next time," Aneeka said. "We're putting ourselves in danger unnecessarily because of this when not all of us have stayed in the academy very long. Genevieve, Zevlin, Brindon, and Valeriana are only first years. They may be rankers, but they're hardly experienced! We may be the Celestial Twelve, but to these issues with regards to demons, we're still wet behind the ears."

"As much as I hate to say this, Aneeka makes a point," Valeriana said. "When we were trying to purify the twin-tailed lions, lots of things happened. The behavior of the guardians when taken over is very aggressive. If it weren't for the fact that we managed to find a weakness to them, we wouldn't have succeeded in bringing them to the Empyrean Volcano. Without Vallore and the dragon's help, we would've been decked out."

"We need to act," Corvan said. It was the first time since he entered that he spoke. "Even if it's currently not within our reach to challenge this issue, there's no doubt that our connection with the matter puts us in a position we cannot abandon. This riddle has had us involved. There is no way we can back out."

"What do we do, then?" Elfre asked.

"We train. Improve ourselves. Besides, you've heard what the familiars said. The blood moon is coming forth. It's only a matter of time. That is the prime day for demons to go wild. With the state the royal family is in, their power might not even be enough to keep them under control. It is palpable we aren't ready, but we have to be. There's no choice in that matter."

It was then that Charles reappeared holding a rolled parchment. "I have not heard much, but Corvan's words makes me agree. We aren't ready, but we have to be. In times of war, relying on others only goes so far. In the end, your life is yours to defend. And with our positions in our respective continents, our involvement is inevitable. Our responsibilities weighs us down. It stops us from running."

"Alright, I admit defeat," Aneeka said. "We'll just have to prepare for the worst, then."

"That's right." Tamara nodded. "Now, we still have band practice. Let's get this out of the way first and end this festival with a bang!"