After spending a few days with Redrick, doing nothing more than enjoying themselves and having a good time together while they waited for their belongings to dry, the time finally came for them to continue their journey.

Their belongings—including the map, the Dominion book, and Ramsay’s sword—were finally dry.

There was no longer any reason for them to remain at Redrick’s home. It was time to leave. They had to return to the land of the living.

Ramsay, Noah, Benjamin, Ryn, Lilia, Kylie, Kinsley, Mike, Hawk, Tracy, and Camelia gathered around Redrick to say their short and temporary goodbyes.

It was only temporary because Redrick would be returning with them.

But even though he would be going with them, none of them would be able to see him once they returned to the land of the living. Only Esther would still be able to see him.

That knowledge made the goodbye more difficult.

Camelia, especially, struggled to put her feelings into words. There were not enough words to express how grateful she was to Esther for keeping Redrick in the land of the living instead of leaving him in the spiritual world.

She had thought she had lost her brother forever. Now, she had been given the chance to see him again.

Camelia spent more time saying goodbye to Redrick than anyone else. In truth, she would not have wanted to say goodbye at all. She did not want there to be any goodbye between her and her dead brother.

But she had to.

The others were waiting, and they needed to continue their journey.

Camelia could not explain the extent of her happiness at being able to see her brother again when she had already accepted that she would never see him again.

She did not want to leave him, but she had no choice.

Eventually, the time came for Esther to return them all to their physical bodies.

---

Esther returned Ramsay, Noah, Benjamin, Ryn, Lilia, Kylie, Kinsley, Mike, Hawk, Tracy, and Camelia to their bodies.

One after another, they woke up back in the forest. Their eyes opened, and they immediately felt the cold.

Their bodies had been left in the forest for days, exposed to the elements while their consciousness had been elsewhere.

They were weak, cold, and far from fully recovered.

The group therefore remained in the forest for another day. They needed time for their bodies to fully recover before continuing.

Esther and Redrick were fine, but the others needed the extra time.

Once everyone had recovered, they finally went to retrieve their belongings. Everything was now dry.

With their things gathered together again, they looked over the map as a group. They needed to know where they were heading next.

After studying the map, they finally discovered their next destination... Michan Mountain.

Now that they knew where they were going, there was nothing left to keep them there.

The group gathered their belongings and began their journey once again.

Redrick went with them. But as before, only Esther could see him. The others could neither hear his presence nor see him beside them.

Their journey continued with Redrick walking among them, invisible to everyone except Esther.

---

Meanwhile, far away from them, the Union Kingdom had continued preparing for what was coming.

Before Karl, Dawson, Nelson, and Hemdal arrived, the Union Kingdom had only one head lord—Lord Kruv.

However, there were other leaders within the kingdom who represented the different beings living under the Union Kingdom.

There was Lord Adel, the Lord of the Fauns. There was Lord Arash, the Lord of the Biies. Then Karl was made the new Lord of the Shapeshifters.

Dawson was made the Lord of the Silver Army soldiers and their people under the command of Lord Kruv.

Hemdal was supposed to become the Lord of the humans, but Hemdal rejected the position. He believed he was not fit or right to hold such a position for the humans.

Hemdal might have believed that about himself, but Lord Kruv made sure that things were handled differently.

Even though Hemdal rejected the title, Lord Kruv made sure he was seen as the head of the humans and would serve as their leader.

Together, Lord Kruv, Lord Arash, Lord Dawson, Lord Adel, Lord Karl, and Hemdal formed a council... They called it the Council of Hope.

Each lord had a responsibility to address the needs of their people, look after them, and take care of their well-being.

The Council of Hope had been created for more than simply leadership. It was created so that the different beings could learn more about one another.

The lords needed to understand each other's people so they could know how to help one another and build a better home where everyone could live together in harmony.

At the same time, they had to prepare themselves for what was coming. They knew something was on its way. And they were waiting for it.

There were still some beings within the Union Kingdom who had no leader of their own. For those beings, Lord Kruv and the Union Kingdom council were responsible for seeing to their needs and wants.

Dawson, Karl, Hemdal, and Nelson were shown the people and places they needed to know within the Union Kingdom.

After they settled into their new home, however, they soon realized that they did not feel suited for any particular job within the Union Kingdom.

That was even though two of them had now been made lords. They wanted to contribute in another way. So they joined the army camp.

There, they became generals and teachers to the armies.

The armies of the Varlyns, Fauns, Biies, humans, Shapeshifters, and Silver Army soldiers trained together.

They were the only armies of their respective peoples within the Union Kingdom, and they lived and trained as one. Because of that, they were constantly exposed to one another's methods.

They gained ideas from each other. They learned from each other. And they became more familiar with the different ways each group fought.

When Nelson, Hemdal, and Dawson joined the Varlyns' army and began training alongside them, they finally understood what Karl had told them about the Varlyns and their Nylins.

They saw them in training. And what they witnessed made them realize that Karl had not exaggerated.

The Varlyns and their Nylins could play a major role in helping them win against Marcelos.

Dawson, Hemdal, and Nelson also discovered something else about the Varlyns' army.

It consisted of both males and females. Anyone could choose to become a soldier, regardless of who they were.

That was the law of the Varlyns.

And even those Varlyns and Nylins who were not soldiers were trained well enough to defend themselves. That meant the entire Varlyns population could suddenly become an army if they ever chose to.

For soldiers who wanted to become great, training alongside the Varlyns' army and their Nylins was something they could only pray for.

The Varlyns were exceptionally skilled with swords and archery. Watching their swordsmanship could leave anyone dumbfounded by the artistry behind every movement.

Their archery was no different. They did not simply fight like the other beings.

The Varlyns had their own way of fighting. Their techniques were different from everyone else's. Their fighting skills were said to be immortal and not of this world.

And beside them were their Nylins, who made them even more formidable.

Together, the Varlyns and their Nylins possessed a style of combat unlike anything the other armies had seen.

And now, those skills were being shared among the armies of the Union Kingdom as they prepared for what was coming.

The Varlyns soldiers were also known to be incredibly quick learners whenever they were taught something new.

Their eyes and brains worked in an extraordinary way. Once they were shown something, they could understand it and replicate it almost immediately.

That was one of the reasons they had been able to learn so quickly from the other beings who were willing to teach them, especially when it came to fighting skills and battle strategies.

The Varlyns did not keep what they knew to themselves either as said. They did their best to share their own skills with the other soldiers.

However, learning the Varlyns' fighting techniques was not easy for the other beings.

The moment the Varlyns demonstrated their swordsmanship and archery, many of the soldiers found the techniques difficult to understand. The movements were unlike what they were accustomed to, making it difficult for them to reproduce what they had seen.

The Shapeshifters and the Biies eventually refused to learn the Varlyns' swordsmanship and archery.

The Shapeshifters saw no real need for it because they could fight in all kinds of animal forms, while the Biies already had their claws and tails to rely on.

To them, learning how to use swords, bows, and arrows was unnecessary.

Since the Shapeshifters and Biies had no interest in learning those particular skills, they were instead made to watch the Nylins' training.

By observing the Nylins, they could learn a thing or two that could improve their own fighting abilities when they fought in their preferred forms.

The human soldiers, Faun soldiers, and Silver Army soldiers, however, were much more interested in the Varlyns' fighting skills.

They wanted to learn them despite knowing how difficult they were.

The Varlyns continued teaching them, even though the other soldiers were still struggling to understand and properly reproduce most of what they were being shown.

But that did not stop the training.

Everyone learned from one another inside the training camp. Every army had something to offer, and every soldier had something that another soldier could learn.

They trained together because they wanted to make one another better.

They knew that the immense battle ahead of them would require them to be as prepared as possible.

Dawson, Karl, Nelson, and Hemdal had not joined the armies simply to make them stronger. They wanted to do more.

Karl trained the armies whenever she wanted to, and whenever she did, she showed them some of her incredible fighting skills.

Her abilities were enough to leave the Varlyns, Fauns, and Biies astonished. They had not expected Karl to possess such extraordinary fighting skills.

Watching her fight made the Varlyns respect her even more.

But despite everything they were doing, Hemdal, Karl, and Dawson could see a serious problem.

There were not enough soldiers. They felt that the number of soldiers they currently had would not be enough to stop Marcelos' armies.

Even if every army in the Union Kingdom was combined, they still did not believe their numbers were enough.

They therefore implored Lord Kruv to raise more soldiers from his people.

Lord Kruv agreed.

Hemdal, Karl, and Dawson also began raising more soldiers from among the humans and Shapeshifters living in the Union Kingdom.

They recruited more men to join their armies and personally trained them with the help of Commander Alek.

They knew they had to prepare as strongly as possible for what was coming. If they were not prepared, they could meet a cruel end.

Marcelos' armies were unlike ordinary armies. They could not stay dead. Even if the soldiers killed them, they would return.

That meant the Union Kingdom needed to be strong enough to hold them off and kill as many of them as possible while creating the opportunity they needed to reach Marcelos.

If Marcelos could be killed, his armies would come to an end with him. That was what they were preparing for.

---

While all of this was happening, Karl still had something else on her mind. She remained curious about what Lord Kruv had meant when he told her there was a connection between her and the Varlyns.

Eventually, she went to him and asked about it, but Lord Kruv did not reveal anything. He told Karl that it was not yet time for him to explain the connection. He assured her that when the time came, he would tell her exactly what he meant.

For now, he wanted her to focus on the task before them.

Karl listened, but she could feel something in Lord Kruv's words. He was confident. He was not speaking as though the connection was merely a possibility. He knew there was a connection between her and the Varlyns.

That only made Karl wonder even more: What was the connection? How had it come to exist? What was it about her that connected her to the Varlyns?

Karl could also sense that Lord Kruv was deliberately keeping the information from her until he believed the right moment had arrived. He was saving what he wanted to tell her for the day he felt it was appropriate.

Karl could do nothing but wait. And she looked forward to that day.

---

Meanwhile, Esther and the others continued their journey. They traveled for days.

Along the way, they played, laughed, talked, joked, and rested whenever they needed to.

Redrick remained with them throughout the journey, although only Esther could see him.

Whenever Redrick wanted to communicate with the others, he had to rely on Esther to deliver his message to them.

Despite that limitation, their journey remained enjoyable.

Eventually, after traveling for several days, they finally arrived at their destination. Michan Mountain stood before them.

Esther, Ramsay, Noah, Benjamin, Ryn, Lilia, Kylie, Kinsley, Mike, Hawk, Tracy, and Camelia stopped before the mountain. They did not immediately enter.

They knew they could not simply venture into Michan Mountain without first understanding what they were walking into. They needed to know what the mountain was about.

So before anyone stepped inside, they brought out the Dominion book and the map.

They would study both carefully first. Only after they understood what awaited them inside Michan Mountain would they venture into it.