Zussorader walked out of the portal still carrying Marcelos on his shoulder who was no longer struggling telling Zussorader to drop him but just looking and lost in thought. Immediately the armies saw Zussorader walk out of the portal with Marcelos, they all fell to their knees with their heads bowed, and then Zussorader dropped Marcelos on the ground seated and the portal closed up back.

Upon dropping him down, Zussorader looked at Marcelos to see he was sad and heartbroken even though he said nothing other than looking at the ground. No one knows what was wrong with Marcelos except Zussorader who realizes how much Marcelos loved his Marcs and phoenixes.

Zussorader kneeled in front of Marcelos and said to him “I am sorry master but that was the only way we could save you”.

“Open the portal again” said Marcelos silently to Zussorader.

“That was a one-time portal, master. I can’t open it again. It was a miracle that it opened at first” said Zussorader to Marcelos.

“Then I guess I don’t need your help” said Marcelos, and stood up slowly and then turned his back to Zussorader while Zussorader wondered what he was gonna do.

Immediately they came out of the portal, Marcelos could feel his powers back and he tried to use them to open back the portal leading to the prison. The armies and Philip had no idea what was going on and remained in their position as Marcelos continued trying to open back the portal which he had been failing to open except for Zussorader who just watched him still on his knees.

Zussorader couldn’t continue to watch Marcelos rely on false hope because he knew Marcelos was not powerful enough to open the portal leading back to the prison and even if he channeled the whole armies’ powers the portal still wouldn’t open so he stood up and went to Marcelos.

Zussorader stood in front of Marcelos and said to him “there is nothing you can do to open the portal, master”, but Marcelos gave no response and continued doing what he was doing.

Zussorader said to Marcelos again “you are not powerful enough to open the portal for now. What you need to do now is rest and then we will plan on how to get them back”, but still Marcelos gave no response to Zussorader and continue doing what he was doing.

Seeing Marcelos wasn’t ready to listen to him, Zussorader held Marcelos' hands and said to him out loud “you need to get yourself together, Master. We have a world to rule. They are not dead but in captivity which means we have a chance of getting them back”.

Hearing that, Marcelos looked at Zussorader and Zussorader thought he was going to say something to him but Marcelos said nothing but just took his hands from Zussorader and moved away from his front and then tried to open the portal. Seeing Marcelos was deafening to every reason and didn’t want to listen to anything because of the state he was in, Zussorader did what he thought was right at the moment.

Zussorader looked at Philip and gave him a sign to knock Marcelos out but Philip didn’t want to do because he was afraid. Zussorader gave Philip a sign not to worry and to do it and he listened to Zussorader. Philip stood up and walked speedily to Marcelos and hit him with his sword hilt at the back of his neck which made Marcelos fall to the ground unconsciously.

Seeing what Philip did to Marcelos made Marcelos' armies stand up hurriedly and want to attack Philip which got Philip terrified but Zussorader stopped them saying to them that they had to help Marcelos and the only way they could was to make him unconscious because where he rescued him from had affected him badly.

Marcelos' armies listen to Zussorader because he was the one that brought Marcelos back and Marcelos seemed to trust him.

Marcelos regained consciousness in his tent and looked around to see he was in his tent on the bed. Marcelos was about to sit up when he saw Zussorader on his knees closer to the bed with his head bowed. Marcelos sat up saying nothing but Zussorader said to him “I know you might not forgive me for what I did but you should know I did it because I thought it was right. I know what it is like to lose a son and how you feel but you haven’t lost them, Master. They are still much alive even though the thought of where they are can be very sad. I know how you must be feeling but we need you here, master. We need you to accomplish our mission. They also need you to free them because it is only you that can free them”.

“It is okay, Zussorader. I know what you are doing is caring for me and our mission. I am also sorry for acting like that for a while. I was just down for a while but thank you, Zussorader. Thank you for helping me through this. I am back so tell everyone to get ready” said Marcelos.

“Thank you, Master” said Zussorader.

“Call in Philip so we can discuss what is next” said Marcelos, and Zussorader left.

Marcelos, Zussorader, and Philip were all present inside Marcelos’ tent seated on chairs that surround a small table to discuss what is the next to do. Zussorader said to Marcelos “I have the soldiers ready and they are all ready for your command”.

“Okay. Where are the armies with you?” Marcelos asked Zussorader.

“I told them to be on standby till I return when I was coming here. So they are all on standby waiting from my command” said Zussorader to Marcelos.

“Once we are about to leave send a message to them to return to Axrax. We are also returning to Axrax to regroup” said Marcelos.

Zussorader said okay to Marcelos while Philip was surprised and he said to Marcelos “we are returning to Axrax? We should be going after the royal blood. They have cost us a lot of damage”.

“We can’t continue going after them without the Marcs. They would have gone far away from us during those time I was imprisoned and without the Marcs, we won’t be able to locate them so we should return to Axrax” said Marcelos.

Philip reasons what Marcelos said to be right but he asks Marcelos “what about the dark crystal that is with them?”.

“I don’t think the dark crystal is with them. I haven’t been able to feel the energy and presence of the dark crystal during those times we were close to them and that can only mean that it is not with them. They must have hidden the dark crystal with the others that didn’t go with them on this journey they have embarked” said Marcelos.

“What if the dark crystal is with them and Esther finds a way to keep it cloaked so you won’t be able to feel its energy and presence?” said Zussorader to Marcelos.

“No. The dark crystal is like a flesh of mine it can’t be cloaked from me. Even when I was asleep I could feel its power. It is not with them but the others and we just have to find the others and get it from them” said Marcelos.

“But finding the others will be very hard since we don’t really know them and they will be in hiding” said Zussorader.

“That is why I will be leading the purge myself. I will make sure to fish them out and get my crystal so I can save the Marcs and phoenixes” said Marcelos.

“Yes, master” said Zussorader and Philip in a union.

“Get ready to leave now” said Marcelos.

“Yes, master” said Zussorader and Philip in a union.

After traveling for days using the map as a guide, the princes, the princesses, Hawk, Benjamin, Lilia, and Ryn got to a place on the map by dawn called the River of Voices. The place was a river filled with fog which they had to cross over. They all stood closer to the river looking at it and Esther read out the warning in the map to the others so they could all hear and be cautious. The warning says “no matter what, do not look into the water as you cross the river”.

Upon hearing the warning, Ryn said “we should not into the water as we cross the river? I don’t think that will be easy”.

“And what do you mean by it is not going to be easy? All you need to do is just not look into the river as we cross it” said Mike.

“If it was that easy the map wouldn’t emphasize the words no matter what which means there would be something in this river that would make us want to look at the water” said Kinsley.

“They are both right. They will truly be something in the river that will want to make us look into it and we must not look into the river if we want to cross it safely” said Esther.

“Why are we worrying about not looking into the water? I think we should also worry about how we can get a boat to cross the river because there is none here” said Hawk.

Hearing that, they all realize Hawk is telling the truth and Lilia says “how do we get a boat then?”.

Esther looked for an answer on how to get a boat from the map and she saw the map made words visible to her on the map and she read out loud “put a hand into the river and say “sailor, I want to cross the river of voices even though I shall not return”.

The princes, the princesses, Hawk, Ryn, Lilia, and Benjamin find what they hear weird except for Esther. Tracy said “Does that mean there is a sailor with a boat on this river somewhere?”.

“I think you heard what the map said right” said Noah.

“We shouldn’t be wasting time let just do it and see if there is truly a sailor with a boat” said Camelia.

“So who is going to be the one to put his/her hand into the river?” asked Benjamin, just then they all saw Ramsay bend down in front of the river.

Ramsay puts his left hand into the river and says “sailor, we want to cross the river of voices even though we might not return”

After doing what the map said they needed to do to get a boat that would help them cross the river, Ramsay moves a little bit backward from the river after removing his hand.

The princes, the princesses, Hawk, Lilia, Ryn, and Benjamin all stared at the river awaiting the so-called sailor to show since he hadn’t. The princes, the princesses, Lilia, Ryn, Benjamin, and Hawk were now getting tired of waiting and were now doubting the words the map revealed when they suddenly saw the sailor sailing toward them in a long and wide boat that could accommodate a lot of people at once, not far from them.

As the sailor sailed to them, they all took a careful look at the sailor and saw the clothes the sailor wore looking tattered and his face looking horrific in a skull shape. The princes, the princesses, Hawk, Lilia, Benjamin, and Ryn didn’t get ready to do anything upon seeing the sailor because they knew he was the one to help them cross the river with his boat so they waited for him.

The sailor stopped the boat closer to the princes, the princesses, Hawk, Benjamin, Ryn, and Lilia looking at them and then he asked them “and are you the ones who want to cross the river of voices?”.

“Yes, we are” said Esther to the sailor.

“I can help you cross the river of voices but you will all have to give me something in exchange for my help” said the sailor to them.

“What is it you want then?” Esther asked the sailor.

“Things you brought with you can not cross the river with you so they must all be given to me in exchange to help you cross the river” said the sailor to them.

The prince, the princesses, Hawk, Lilia, Benjamin, and Ryn looked at one another upon hearing what the sailor said except for Esther and Camelia who immediately presented the things they had to the sailor except for their swords and the map. Seeing them do that, Kylie said “are we really going to give them our things?”:

“You just saw both of them did so we are going to have to do the same also” said Mike.

The princes, the princesses, Lilia, Hawk, Ryn, and Benjamin present their things to the sailor except for their weapons and the sailor tells them to drop them at the edge of the river on the ground and get on the boat with their weapons. Immediately the princes, the princesses, Hawk, Ryn, Lilia, and Benjamin sat down in the boat, the sailors sailed the boat forward.

There was silence as the sailor sailed the boat forward while the the princes, the princesses, Benjamin, Lilia, Ryn, and Hawk looked around the fog because they couldn't see anything except the fog and they were unable to look at the water as per warning. As they journey on the water, Camelia is the first to hear a voice that resembles that of Redrick call her name and that makes her look at Mike who was close to her asking him if he was the one that called her name but he said no.

Camelia looked at the others to know if it was one of them that called her but saw it wasn’t anyone and that made her wonder if she heard wrong. Camelia continued looking around the fog when she suddenly heard Redrick's voice calling her name with a crying tone and begging her to save him. Hearing that, Camelia was shocked and she looked at the others asking if they heard what she just heard but they denied they didn’t just then Ramsay and Noah also heard the voice of the father calling their name and begging them to save him.

Noah and Ramsay were shocked to hear that and also asked the others if they heard what they heard but everyone said no and that quickly made Esther realize something was happening. Esther asked Ramsay, Noah, and Camelia what they heard and they found it impossible to tell and explain it to Esther. Seeing they couldn’t explain and tell her what they heard, Esther was worried and she told everyone not to look into the water no matter what because she came to realize it was the river that was making them hear things.

Esther was watching everyone closely when she suddenly saw them all behaving weirdly looking around like they were looking for something and some of them were putting their hands on their ears like they trying to stop things they were hearing. Esther realizes at that moment that something is happening but she has no idea about what to do since she doesn’t know what is wrong with them and they won’t be able to tell or explain to her. Esther looked at the sailor and saw he was less concerned about what was happening so Esther moved closer to the others to try to talk to them.

The princes, the princesses, Hawk, Lilia, Benjamin, and Ryn all suddenly began to hear the voice of someone they loved and had lost crying to save or help them. Not only were they hearing the voices, but they had also been enchanted by the voices they were all hearing so when Esther was trying to talk to them they did not answer her and acted like she wasn’t even present.

Even though they were all acting crazy, Esther knew it was the river not them but she didn’t know what to do but must make sure none of them ever looked into the water. Esther was watching over the others when she felt something pin her down in the boat which made it unable for her to move any part of her body except her head. Esther wondered what was it that pinned her down and wanted to free herself just then she saw the others all looking into the water saying repeatedly that they needed to save or help someone, and that made Esther unhappy because she realized they had been enchanted.

Immediately the princes, the princesses, Hawk, Lilia, Ryn, and Benjamin looked into the water, they all felt something draw them into the water. Esther watched as they all entered the water and then suddenly felt she was unpinned. Esther stood up angrily and unhappily and looked at the sailor who seemed not to be concerned about what had happened.

Esther thought of what she could do now that everyone had entered the river and the only thing she thought she could do was to also enter the river to get them back. Esther looked into the river thinking something would happen but nothing did and then she heard the sailor say to her “It is called the river or voice for a reason. I am sure you know that. The river will never accept you. You are too powerful enough for it to manipulate”.

“I don’t care. I have to save my brothers and sisters” said Esther to the sailor.

“If you go into the river you may not make it out alive because it will not try to keep you but kill you” said the sailor.

“I can’t let my brothers and sisters be captured by the river. I must get them out of the river” said Esther.

“You should have told them all what the map says. I would give you a tip to make it out alive. Remember this, nothing is real except for him. Only he is real. Once you find him you get to survive” said the sailor.

“Thank you” said Esther, and jumped into the river.

Immediately Esther jumped into the river, she saw the others sinking and swam toward them. As Esther swam toward them she suddenly could not find the others anymore in the water and that made her stop looking around in the water wondering what happened and where they had all gone just then Esther suddenly felt something stabbed her from behind and came out at the front.

Esther looked at what stabbed her and saw it was a sword in the shape of water and that made her scream out loud in anger.