It was the night on Al Mipedim. The sky was clear and many stars shined in the sky.

An old Mipedian gazed those. He ignored the pain in his bones. He was exhausted, but he had a small smile on his face. A melancholic one as his thought wandered in the past. It was all that Gosh could do in the present days. His body grew old and weak. His life as a warrior ended with his age. Eventually, he put his hands together and prayed.

"You should rest Elder," an Mipedian told the old one.

"I will soon. With such a clear sky… I'm wondering how my old friend is doing right now," he commented.

"The Messenger?"

"Yes. The one we once forgot."

"W- Why did we forgot about him. If it weren't for the tablets, we…"

"I don't know. What matters for me was that I remember all the good time we shared and… his words that gave us our home. Somehow."

"Elder. I must insist you rest."

The old one chuckled and used his stick to stand up, "Sure. I have to be strong. The little ones want to hear my stories next morning."

"They never have enough."

"Let's go," Gosh marched slowly towards his home, supported by the other Mipedian. He hoped that his friend was well and strong in the Cothica.

The Mipedian resigned long ago to meet his friend again, in Al Mipedim or the Cothica. Still, he prayed that if he died, his descendants would meet Alexandre one day.

Chapter 24: To The Heart Of Kaizeph

The Chaotic Players had prepared their plan to go back to Kaizeph. They chose to pass once again through the Mipedian territory, as they hadn't been spotted last time.

Peyton was currently absent as the five plans their excursion. The boy was scanning a duplicate for Alexandre.

"You are very excited," Kaz commented to the man. He could see the smile on his face.

"It's been so long. I wonder how you'll feel if you didn't come to Perim for almost 30 years?"

"I don't know," the red-haired boy replied.

Peyton wasn't back yet and they had to wait. He took longer than expected.

"How's it doing with your matches?" Cassandra asked.

"Terrible," he joyfully replied, "I lost half of them."

"Most of his victories are against anyone who seems to trash talk him," Tom commented. He remembered that the man obliterated Klay in his match.

"Klay. I just hated him on first sight," he replied.

Sarah chuckled, "He wasn't able to defeat any of your creatures. Still, you punched Lord Van Bloot with Sobtjek until he was coded."

"Only in Chaotic we could see something like that bro," Peyton said as he joined them.

"You got the scan?" Alexandre asked.

"For sure."

"You took a while," Sarah commented.

"Yeah. I couldn't scan until a patrol passed. The scanner is really shining when a scan is made. A notice me scanning time! Best they didn't notice me and expect us."

Both Sarah and Tom thought about the Messenger Of The Cothica.

"By the way. Did you tell anyone you were the- You know," Cassandra finished with her hands.

"No. I haven't say anything about that. I met Tiaane and just told him my name. There isn't just one Alexandre."

The duo was nervous. Kaz and Peyton were also getting uncertain about that.

"What is it?" the man asked.

"Maybe they will believe you came back," Tom scratched the back of his head and explained his thought, "Then, what would they do? They believe we came from the Cothica. And…"

"You think they might try to come to Earth?" Kaz asked, his thought coming back to his nightmare. He didn't like for it to turn true. Would it be like his dream or different? He never dreamt about the army intervening on Earth.

Cassandra declared, "No point in asking that now. We should get going and get our answers."

"I'll be careful. I don't think putting a mask would help anyway."

Sarah asked, as the group went to give the scan for Alexandre to follow them, "Do you think they can come to Earth?"

The man replied, "It's possible. If we can come to Perim, the other way around is possible."

It felt ominous.

"For that, they need to create the technology. I'm sure they haven't. The materials used can only be found on Earth. No point stressing about it," he reassured the teenagers.

After the man received the scan, they went to port to Perim. On their way they saw something tripped on something and felt on the ground.

"Dammit," the man grunted.

Alexandre noticed something strange. He saw that something stopped the boy from taking another step.

The others noticed it too.

"That's another weird thing going on," MajorTom said.

Another Chaotic Player lost her balance as if she bumped on something. It was a particularly crowed area.

Peyton raised his shoulders, "Everyone has a day where they are clumsy bro. That's clumsy day."

The group chuckled and agreed.

The group ported inside the location they scanned in the Wind Quadrant. Peyton looked outside and saw nothing suspicious, "No Mipedians."

The group turned towards the man who returned to the place where he lived for a year.

Alexandre was quiet as he looked around. He wore his coat to keep himself warm, like the others. He went outside and looked at the corridor, "So little change."

"Alex," Cassandra whispered. She refrained from asking her question.

"Gosh told me that they used this path to enter in Kaizeph during the war. Forming a long line as they left Al Mipedim behind," he began marching forward, following the steps they took a few weeks ago.

"I hope we won't be spotted this time too," Kaz whispered.

Sarah replied, "We just have to be careful and make sure that we avoid seeing them."

Alexandre let out a small smile, "I used to follow Gosh during his patrols. We were harassed by the little kids who never saw a human before. They had so any questions that we had to escape them once or twice," he chuckled. He looked at them, "Gosh didn't know how to handle kids. He was the one who decided to run away while dragging me around."

At the branching paths, the man was searching for the right corridor. He gazed at his left, only one path and right with two paths, one going upward and another downward. He had three choices and only one of them lead to the heart of Kaizeph. He let his mind wander.

"Hum-" Cassandra stopped Sarah from asking a question.

"He's thinking."

"As long as he figures this out before we are spotted," Kaz whispered a little nervously.

"We have to go there," the man pointed at the left side, where they could hear the Mipedians working.

The group gulped.

"Are you sure?" MajorTom asked.

"Yes. Gosh took me there one day when the leaders of the four tribes wanted to meet me as the 'Messenger Of The Cothica'. I couldn't say no if it could help me return home. That time, I didn't plan to unite them yet," he lightly chuckled, "I've been stuck for a few weeks. From what I can remember."

The man went forward and the others followed quietly. They knew the Mipedians were working and they shouldn't be detected.

They quietly advance through the long corridor. They eventually stopped at the end when it expanded. It had a large building that looked like a palace. It was far away and they could see some Mipedians entering or exiting the structure.

"The Mipedian palace," Alexandre whispered.

"It's rather small," Peyton commented as he compared it to the one in Al Mipedim.

"They had to sculpt it in a short time," Sarah guessed.

"Do we have to go through the palace?" Cassandra asked.

The man nodded negatively, "No. It's too far from the core of the city. I don't remember ever going in the palace," his eyes searched around for something standing out. There was a wall made of ice that seemed to have a spot that went inward, "There."

They followed him to the spot while watching if the creatures noticed them. They were still busy with their excavation and relaxed. They remained on high alert in case anything changed.

A few Mipedians noticed them. The Cothica Hunter was among them. The creatures were invisible and observed the group from a safe distance. They couldn't believe that the humans were back and near the ancient palace of their rulers' ancestors.

Taffial had to fought against his wish to speak with the man. It was the Messenger Of The Cothica, in flesh and blood. Something he would never dream to happen. It was a miracle. He felt the excitement raising inside his scales. His tail was waving left and right. He wondered what new secrets they might found. The creature already made sure it was The Messenger who came and it was the case. The group quietly stalked the Chaotic Players. He wondered where they were going and approached them quietly.

"There," he showed them the section of the wall.

The five looked at it and it had a suspicious form. It looked like a rectangle, tall enough for a creature to go through, if it wasn't a wall.

"You're sure it would lead us there bro?" Peyton asked.

"Yes. I often dreamt about this. I used it many times to reach the other Quadrants of the city to meet my friends," he let out a melancholic smile. He looked at it and grumbled, "Still… How do I open this again?" He asked that question as he put his hands on the wall.

"It's a door?" Kaz asked.

"Yes. A specific one. Gosh said that his tribe would have preferred inside the palace, but it's at the opposite side to the center of Kaizeph," Alexandre answered.

The Chaotic Players looked back and had to agree. It was more effort if they tried. The creatures would have to dug so much on the ice. Practicality was more important.

The man began to tap the wall with his hands. He closed his eyes, "What was the song again?"

"Song?" the teenagers asked.

He began to hum something and stopped, "No. Not that one."

"Is there something we have to press on the wall?" Peyton asked.

"Yes. There's a secret passage here. The least noticeable compared to the other tribes own secret passage," Alexandre commented. He hummed something else and nodded negatively. He grumbled a few frustrations as he kept searching, "Come on. What song did I hum with Gosh?"

Taffial watched the man struggling to find a song to open the possible gate. The creature wondered how they overlooked that there might be something there. He looked more carefully and it seemed like a door. The Cothica Hunter felt excitement and waited for the door to open.

The man hummed once again, searching if that was the right song or not.

The others grew nervous as it took some time and they might get in trouble at any moments.

Alexandre smiled as he quietly sang the song. He pressed on a few rocks without looking at them, his body remembering where to press. His finger pressed on the hidden switches on the ice. They could see circles on the ice going in the possibly invisible door. He pressed one of them each second and after a few seconds, they heard something clicking behind the ice. A mechanism activated and they heard something rolling inside the ice.

The section of the wall slowly slid on the side and revealed a hidden door. Slowly and quietly it disappeared into the wall of ice. When it finished, it revealed a long corridor behind the hidden door, going in the darkness.

The man let out a small smile and turned towards the group, "Took a while. Forgot the song was an anime opening," he sighed, "Let's go."

The six humans took out their scanners and activated a switch. It let out a small light as they went into the darkness.

Taffial and the other Mipedians watched. The excitement was exploding under their scales. The humans found a secret door first and The Messenger opened it right in front of their eyes. The only little problem was that none of the important members of their tribe was present. Marquis Darini and Prince Iflar were currently on Al Mipedim.

"You. Call our king and tell him that the messenger opened a secret door to Kaizeph. We will follow them and see what they will find," Taffial whispered to one creature.

"Yes," the Mipedian replied as he returned towards the palace of ice.

The rest proceeded to follow them in the secret door, leading to the heart of the lost city.

AC: This is the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

Next Chapter: An Old Declaration.