DO NOT SKIP CHAPTERS. DO NOT SKIP CHAPTER TWENTY THREE TO ONWARD CHAPTERS (that didn't really make sense but you get the point) DO NOT SKIP!!!

(Copy-paste ftw)

- - -

Irene's POV

Irene huffed with effort as she knocked an infected into another infected while Vhon fought beside her with another infected.

"Doing great?" Vhon asked, kicking his opponent hard.

"Doing just great," Irene replied, quickly knocking two arrows back and sending them flying to meet its mark, "but we're doing a terrible job of trying to save Erdas. Where are we supposed to find the talisman and solve this riddle?"

"To find the talisman? By solving the riddle," Vhon replied, slicking his dagger across his opponents stomach, "Solving the riddle? When I don't have time worrying about saving myself right now."

"We can't keep this up forever," Irene exclaimed as she quickly glanced at Lenori who was with other Greencloaks, defending the Staff of Cycles and the rest of the talismans. Even the summoners of Great Beasts were helping defend.

Though soldiers from Zhong, Eura, and Nilo have come to help, there seemed to be more infected coming right at them. Just then, Irene caught sight of something red, weaving its way through the battle, followed by more.

She heard Abeke gasp out loud who was fighting beside Rollan, "Redcloaks! They arrived!"

Sure enough, they were Redcloaks, flinging themselves into the fight. Most of the Redcloaks had made their way to the Evertree and had started pushing the infected back, away from the tree.

She saw the Redcloak named Stead standing tall as he raised his voice, "Redcloaks, our main goal is to protect the Evertree!"

She caught sight of Jef, Riley, and Zoey running towards them as they helped defended the Evertree. She then saw one of the Redcloaks running towards them and she recognized Worthy or Devin Trunswick.

"We'll defend," he told them, "You need to figure out how to defeat the Wyrm."

"Right, thanks," Vhon told them and they quickly rushed to where the compasses and the remaining Greencloaks were.

"Okay, now the riddle," Vhon quickly snapped his fingers, clearly trying to remember, "Help me here."

"We're trying," Irene retorted, "Something with the group break-"

A loud voice made all of them turn around, "I would suggest you stop speaking right now and hand me that shiny staff and compasses."

Irene scowled when she saw that Zerif had been talking but froze when she saw that he had a dagger pressed to the neck of Gerald, the Lord of Gaundor. Everyone had stopped fighting as they watched on, unsure while the infected was poised to attack.

Vhon's eyes were filled with rage, "Let him go."

"Give me the compasses and the Staff of Cycles and i'll consider letting him live," Zerif growled.

"No, don't," Gerald spoke, his voice pleading, "Don't do it-"

"Silence!" Zerif hissed.

They all glances at each other with uncertainty. They haven't figured out the riddle and now they didn't know what to do.

"Zerif," Vhon spoke, his voice trying to sound calm, "The Wyrm isn't to be trusted. It's controlling you, Zerif."

"It's a gift for the Wyrm to choose you out of all to have control of others," Zerif replied coldly, "Look what I have earned. An army of people I can control. Freedom from all of my enemies. I can create a new and better Erdas."

"And what happens now that you're able to control them?" Irene tried to reason with him as she saw Worthy trying to inch closer from behind, "What happens now if you win this battle? What would you earn?"

"I would earn freedom and power," Zerif answered. Worthy inched closer.

"The Wyrm isn't giving you freedom," Vhon growled, "It's controlling you, putting thoughts into your head. In the end, all it's going to do is destroy Erdas, destroy all of us, and that includes you too."

Zerif chuckled darkly as Worthy prepared to grab his arm, "You're all just wasting your breath."

The moment Worthy moved to grab his arm was the moment Zerif took to spin around and slice him across his leg. Worthy yelped in pain as he fell down, trying to scramble away as Zerif raised his sword. Right when he was about to deliver the death blow, a staff came flying right at him, hitting his shoulder, distracting him for a moment. Worthy took the chance to roll away and Gerald ran from Zerif's reach.

Zerif growled as he faced his attacker, another Redcloak but she didn't wear the mask. She didn't wear any mask.

Irene's eyes widened in recognition as Zoey gasped out, "Eilene!"

"Oh what a surprise," Zerif growled, "The traitor has come out from underground. I see you've joined the Redcloaks."

"No," Eilene replied calmly, "I've joined Erdas."

And that's when everyone had started fighting again. Those defending the Evertree let out a cry as they launched themselves towards the infected. Irene lost them for a moment before she saw the familiar faces of the rest of the Keepers along with Meilin, Takoda, and two girls she have never seen before.

"You're alive," Zoey exclaimed, rushing forward to hug her brother who hugged her back.

"You're alive," Zoron replied, his eyes filled with relief.

"Meilin," they all turned to see Rollan tackling Meilin into a hug who hugged back, "You're...alive."

"Of course I am," she murmured, hugging him harder and they just stood there, hugging for a moment.

Then Zoron coughed out, "Sorry to interrupt but this is a battle, not a reunion."

Hope let out a small giggle and the two immediately pulled away, a slight blush appearing on their cheeks.

"Where's Conor?" Abeke asked worriedly, "Don't tell me he..."

Just then, there seemed to be more people in the clearing and Irene glanced around to see more infected people, only they had ghastly figures, really pale skin, and had white hair.

"Oh no," George mumbled, "Did they..."

"Find it?" Eilene finished, "Yep, they did and to answer your question, Abeke. Conor is right there."

And that's when Irene saw a blonde, Euran boy standing commandingly on one of the huge Evertree roots as he shouted out orders.

- - -

I wasn't expecting the finale to be pushed back further, hehe. Just a couple more chapters to go guys.

Please vote and leave a comment on what you guys think. Stay tuned for the next, final chapters.