(During Issue 10: After Guardians and agents left Lair's home)

"Thank you, Bartholomew." Vathek says as he drinks refreshments from the cup given to him by Ray.

"Sure." Ray says as he texts her mom. "Now I have to text my mom for an extended curfew. It's almost midnight don't you know?"

When Eric and Ray reached inside the barn and up to the front of the crowd, they saw their trainees as they bound and tied up Vathek to the ground like a helpless animal, as he was still known to the new rebels as one of the high officials of Phobos' men. He tried to explain that he converted sides and is now with Caleb, but they did not listen to his pleas and lies. The mob finally ceased when Eric and Ray explained to the trainees that he told the truth. Ray then ordered to release and to serve him as a guest. The training was then dismissed as Vathek needed to speak to the legionates immediately as they meet up and loiter at the backyard wooden terrace of the barn.

"I'm sorry what our trainees did to you, Sir Vathek." Eric apologizes as he whirls his spoon in his tumbler as he prepares his chocolate drink. "You must understand that they're the new recruits from the 'Sanctuary' and the news of your conversion somehow never got to them."

"You don't have to apologize for that Lyndon, a hospitable punishment is what I deserved." Vathek replies calmly as he once again sips from his cup.

"And may I ask why you're here?" Ray asks as he prepares his hot chocolate. "You do know that you risked your life coming here only to send a message. If we hadn't been here, what else could have happened to you? Head on a pike?" he jokes rhetorically

"That's gruesome." Vathek replies as he ignores Ray's bad joke. "But if I were here directly from Elyon's behalf, is it worth risking my life for her to send a simple message?"

"Hear that Eric, 'your' Elyon—" Ray teasingly calls him.

"Loud and clear, Ray." Eric annoyingly replies as he drinks from his mug and looks at Vathek. "And what message did you received from Elyon? And how on Earth did you even break into the castle to meet Elyon?"

"Surprisingly, she came to us and not the other way around." Vathek explains. "She risked her life as she secretly came to the 'Old Palace' to ask for help."

"And I thought the 'Old Palace' has fallen?" Eric asks.

"Frost pulled back his forces from there because the Queen's rest house was gone, which was supposed to hold most of the soldiers there." Vathek drinks once more in his cup. "They rather sleep in the barracks than to clog themselves in the abandoned settlements. When we learned it was abandoned, I and a fifty of Caleb's rebels settle in."

"So what did she asked for?" Eric asks.

"Theory." Ray imitates Eric's concluding and theorizing gestures. "She comes and looks for the whereabouts of 'her' Atlas, didn't she?"

"When did I ever talked like that?" Eric annoyingly criticizes Ray. "And what's with the 'her' before Atlas?" he says as he drinks.

"Bartholomew is right, she's actually looking for you Lyndon." Vathek says.

Eric suddenly chokes hard from his drink and then coughs continuously as he tries to get rid of the liquid from his respiratory tract.

While, Ray dumbfounds from what he heard. "No way! So Eric finally does start another harem—"

"Shut it, Ray!" Eric wheezes from the cough as he pounds his chest. "I think Elyon wants to find 'us' in particular and not literally me. I'm just represent the group that's all."

"She wants you and the Guardians to help her rescue her foster parents at Dungeon Rock, one of the main prisons at Meridian." Vathek explains.

"See! I told you Ray—Wait! What did you say? Dungeon Rock?" Eric asks suddenly. "Isn't where Grantaire said about the raid would lay siege on?"

"That's right." Vathek replies. "According to Elyon, Commander Alborn and Captain Miriadel are now in grave danger and are to be executed soon, very soon. That is why I'm asking you boys to be ready and to take siege to the prison midday of tomorrow to not only free them but the rebels as well."

"Heck!—tomorrow?!" Ray exclaims. "Grantaire instructed us that we would at least be ready before the month ends! Could we at least wait for Grantaire's announcement?"

"Ummm…I hate to break it with you because sadly boys," Vathek says in a saddening and low tone of voice. "The reason I'm here as a temporary informant was because, Officer Gjhoel—Grantaire is now held prisoner there."

Eric and Ray then reply with anxiety written on their faces, with eyes wide open and jaw slightly drop in confusion and in disbelief. 'No! That can't be right! A strong legionate just as he is, is captured!'

"He was caught spying in the Phobos castle by the Whisperers, the personal guard of Phobos created literally by Phobos himself." Vathek explains. "He may be interrogated or worse tortured by Phobos' men and anytime soon, he and the captive rebels might soon also meet their fates."

"Alright we'll go." Eric agrees hesitantly.

"Eric, don't you think it's too risky? Heck! We didn't even announced to our trainees about this early on." Ray argues.

"Our trainees may not be fully ready, but come to think about it Ray, we're not alone in this fight. If we have the Guardians on our side then sneaking in to the cells hiding in plain sight would be much easier." Eric replies sternly. "Didn't you mention Elyon asking for the Guardian's help, Sir Vathek?"

"Yet Elyon doubts if the Guardians would answer and affirm her favor." Vathek says as he drinks and empties his cup. "That's why I'm also here to ask and convince for the Guardians' help. I also need yours to direct me to Guardian's house and present myself to her."

"Well guess what, welcome to Open Hill!" Ray greets him sarcastically as he drinks hot chocolate to his tumbler. "Sixty miles away from Heatherfield, where the girls are."

"I thought you Earth legionates are in Heatherfield? Caleb even directed me to ask help in the 'Pasture Heights', where you guys are."

"Ashcroft is in Heatherfield." Eric explains as he opens the barn's back door. "Yet I think, this is a good opportunity for you to be here too. You have been familiar with the layout floor plan of Dungeon Rock haven't you?"

"I do. I was a guard once before I became legionate. Why are you asking?" Vathek asks.

"To plan out the rebel escape, of course" Eric says as he enters the barn as the two follow him inside.

The whole midnight until dawn, the three legionates rushed yet tactical planning. Vathek drew the floor plan on the available wall inside the barn using available markers, pointed out guard positions, time of guard mounting, traps and escape routes. With these information, they strategize out on how the movement of rebels would flow throughout the entire prison and how to escape without being noticed by the enemy. They also codenamed their operation: Operation Hegira.

"The sun's about to break." Ray says as he sees a glistening light from the horizon. He rubs his eye-bags and stressed eyes. "I hope mom understood what we've been through the hours of sleepless planning." He says as he watches a campfire outside as the stainless steel pot boils the hot water.

"How many drinks did you have?" Eric asks as he sluggishly rubs his face as he warms himself by the fire. "I took eight."

"Beat you, nine." Ray chuckles as checks and opens the pot lid.

"Well I'm on my way now boys." Vathek consents as he approaches them from the barn and wears his long cloak.

"I'll usher your way out." Eric says as they both walk back inside the barn and approach the front of the portal. "Remember, as you exit from the portal nearest to the 'Ruins' and inside an abandoned, and what we-call, an amusement park, a boy with the large glasses and blond hair will wait for your arrival. He will lead you then to the Guardian's home." Eric reminds him. Earlier at the struck midnight, he called on Nigel first, to take on the task, but was busy on that moment as he hides the portal at Elyon's home and also tailed the agents; so Eric called on Martin, who hesitantly agreed to help.

"Yes I got that." Vathek replies as he readies himself to step in the portal.

"You also don't have to tell the Guardians that you came from us right?" Eric asks worriedly.

"Remember what I taught you back then in the academe, Lyndon? Legionates secretly serve the underworld like we don't even exist." Vathek reminds. "You don't have to worry, I would just tell Will that I knew all along where she lived when I was with Cedric."

"That's good to hear." Eric relieves.

"Well good luck to us, Lyndon." Vathek says as he prepares himself to go through the portal. "I hope Operation Hegira would be a success."

"It will be, Sir Vathek" Eric replies with a proud grin.

Vathek then snickers in amusement. "You boys must call me Vathek from now on without the honorific, we're all legionates aren't we? I'm no longer your teacher and master anymore. It maybe a few months since your debut but after so much you've gone through, you boys are far more than I expected you to become." He smiles as Eric smiles proudly back at him. Vathek then finally enters the whirling and enlightening portal.

"Such an inspiring way for him to exit like that." Ray teases from behind as he enters and holds two tumblers up.

Eric chuckles as he approaches him and takes his tumbler with the hot chocolate in it. "Did your heart melt from his motivation or just felt the clichéd type of thing?"

"Neither, I just feel sleepy as of the moment." Ray says as he sluggishly drinks from his tumbler.

"Well you better put your mind and body to it because now or never, it's going to be longest day of our lives." Eric chuckles as he exits again to the barn toward the tents where the Meridianites rested.


(During Issue 10: Next day, before Will wakes up.)

Meanwhile a hundred kilometers away, in the Tubb's Residence, specifically Martin's room full of shelved books in each four corner wall, Martin drudgery wakes up and stops his continuous alarm from his clock. He has set his alarm at three-thirty as of a while ago when Eric told him to meet a certain Meridianite at the abandoned carnival.

'Boy! Am I beat!' he says as he sits on his bed, rubs his eyes and stretches his arms upward. He takes his glasses from the side table and wears them and blinks his eyes and clears his vision. He stands up and sees through the dark window as dawn begins to break.

'What were Eric's instructions again?' Martin asks himself as he drags himself to closet to change in his outdoor casual after using the bathroom. 'Right, gotta help a Merdianite to Will's house.' he snaps as he recalls. Because of his sleepiness, he wears his shirt at the wrong side and he even misplaces his leg to the wrong pants and soon he wobbles in imbalance.

"Oooff!.."He falls over to with his face flat on the floor, "I hope being a legionate is more worth it than this!" he irritatingly complains.

As he gets up, he prepares the things he needs to bring into his bag, especially the weapon to defend himself. He then wears his jacket and proceeds to down the stairs and out from his home. Finally, in the garage, he takes his bike out and rides off in the chilly and dark atmosphere.

As he arrives to his destination, he goes around in circles to find an opening. He then finally sees one when a broken wooden fence below that creates an entry hole. Due to his scariness and clumsiness, he trips from his bike and lands on the ground. 'Is it because of my fear or darkness that tripped me over?' he hesitantly says to himself as he stands up once again and leans his bike on the fences.

He crawls through the hole and enters the ghost-town-like place. 'This gives me the creeps! I hate being in the dark!' He shivers and trembles from a mixture of the cold air and the upcoming fear and anxiety. From his bag, he does a Harries flashlight technique to both on his gun and flashlight: he takes his hand gun with a silencer out on his right hand with the flashlight 'ice-pick' grip on his left as both back of the hands stick to each other.

He investigates around the area as he points his flashlight around. His hands shiver in fear as the air around him becomes too hard to breathe, tears of sweat falls from his head and heart races as he hears every beat of it. 'Why do I ever have to agree to this! I hate the dark!"

Finally, he founds the 'Tunnel of Love' devastated and abandoned as if it was worn out of hundred years. He gulps as he enters silently and quietly into the darker and haunted tunnel. He cautiously flashes his light all around but all he sees is fallen debris and thick cobwebs all around him. Then on the end of the tunnel his body pauses as he fears on a glowing light on the far end of the waving tunnel.

'What the—is that?! A g-ghost?' he asks himself as he bravely tip toes near to the glistening light as it flashes brighter on the wall. 'Or it might be—'. Suddenly his mind snaps as he remembers Eric about the portal inside. His body and mind relaxes for a bit, he slowly walks to the turning point of the tunnel and finally, he stands before a weird mixture of light particles continuously revolving in to the center of singularity.

'I'm not dreaming am I? Is this what you call a—portal?" He blinks twice and lowers his gun and flashlight. He approaches the vortex gradually as he takes every careful step of the way. He carefully reaches his fingers out to the mesmerizing plasma tailing ends of the portal and feels a small tiny amount of heat as the molecules and waves of light touches and warms his skin.

"Amazing!" Martin exclaims in awe. "How could such sentiment object such as this exist? So the existence of the bending and warping of space, is real?! And I thought sci-fi flicks are even better!"

"Hey!" says a grunt voice behind him. "Who are you?!"

Shockingly and surprisingly, Martin quickly takes his gun out and points behind him. "W-Who—are y-you?" his wimpy voice stutters in fear as his hand rattles and points the gun to a large and scary-looking blue—galhot on front of him.

"Easy now!" the blue galhot said. "I'm Vathek and I'm an ally! I came from a friend of yours."

"O-Operation?" Martin with a scared look on his face reassures as he still quivers and points his gun at him.

"Hegira." Vathek replies.