The world around Abeke began to fall. Whatever type of weapons the Zhongeese and Eurans were using, were very strong even against a mountain of stone. The walls began to crack as the ceiling shattered like glass.

"We need to get out now," Tarik told them as he wrapped an arm around Lishay to try and protect her.

They all followed out him out, dodging stone that fell from above, and into the main part of the structure. People were running everywhere, gathering what they could and heading down a tunnel that Abeke had not noticed when they arrived.

"That is the best way to get out," Lenori told them as they hurried along with the others, "this will lead us underground for a while before we reach our outside camp."

"We must hurry though, the guards that are out fighting right now won't be able to hold them for long," Tarik spoke, "I told them once they can't hold them anymore to fall back."

Above them, chunks of rock fell and shattered on the ground. Abeke looked behind her to see Rollan dodging the rocks as well. Then something hit her. Not a rock or stone but something else… it was in the back of her mind. She was forgetting something. Looking around at the people she saw everyone from Olvan and Lenori to Anya and Shane. Shane met her gaze and as if they could read each other's minds a name came up.

"Conor," they both said in unison.

"I need to go back and get him," Abeke told Shane as she turned around.

"No, I will go. You need to get to safety," he said.

"I'm faster," was all she said as she sprinted off towards the cells.

More of the rocks were falling as she ran, some nearly missing her as she zigzagged her way through the entrance of the cells. Before she could go any further something stopped her. Looking up all she saw was a huge rock falling from above. She couldn't move, all she saw was the rock getting closer and closer until it wasn't there anymore.

Pain shot through Abeke as she hit the ground with something heavy on top of her. She squeezed her eyes shut but was able to make out some blond hair right before.

"Sha-," she didn't finish what she was going to say when she looked to her side.

Shane was running at her with a torch in hand. If it wasn't Shane who had saved her who could it have been she thought. Her eyes widened in shock and her heart skipped a beat.

It was Conor. He had saved her. He was ok. Relief flooded through her as she relaxed a bit but then realized that they were still in harms way. Conor got off of her and as Abeke tried to stand up screamed in pain and fell back to the floor.

Shane was standing next to Conor with a worried expression. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. My leg…," she stopped talking and looked at her leg.

There was blood, so much blood that Abeke was surprised she was still awake. Someone cursed under their breath.

"Here," Shane tried to hand the torch to Conor but all he did was stare at Abekes leg and frowned.

Conor, without hesitation, went right over to Abeke and swooped her up in his arms. He then turned and began to move quickly out of the tunnel and towards where everyone else had exited. Even though Shane was only carrying the torch, he was behind Conor and Abeke.

This must be because of the magic Abeke thought as Conor, without much light at all was able to dodge every thing that fell towards them and easily get them towards the exit quickly. Before no time, they had made it to the exit tunnel, Conor had slowed down a lot to make for sure that Shane had stayed with them.

Abeke who was still in Conors arms could see a little bit of light up ahead but something was wrong. Abeke felt like the light was getting farther and farther away. Her vision began to sway, making everything become double. Closing her eyes she heard someone yell for a doctor.

She could have sworn it was Conor who did and then she felt him shift her weight as to hand her over to someone else. Opening her eyes as best she could, she looked up to see Conor's worried face. She smiled a little before burying her face in his shoulder.

"Take her to the medical tent," that was the last thing Abeke heard before her vision went black.

Rollan had no clue what was going on. He wanted to turn back when they were heading out to help Abeke but Olvan told him that he was needed elsewhere. Turns out he wasn't which made him a little angry. He was waiting by the edge of the camp for her to come back but he wasn't ready to see her comeback in Conors arms bleeding… a lot.

He followed Conor and Shane to the medical tent.

"We can not let you in," Lenori told him as she ushered Conor and Shane both out of the tent.

"Someone should be with her when she wakes up," Shane told Lenori.

"I agree but," she looked at all three of them," we don't want to crowd around her when she does. One person may stay."

Shane and Rollan looked at each other.

"If it is ok with you two," Conor started, he voice soft but scratchy, "I would like to stay with her."

"That sounds fine to me," Rollan told him and looked at Shane.

Shane looked like he was wincing but not from pain. Rollan could tell that he didn't like the idea of Conor staying with her because of what has happened to him. Also, the fact that they don't know a lot of what Conor is able to do with what power he has.

"If it makes you feel better… I'll put the chains on," Conor looked down at the ground as he said it.

Shane nodded. "That will be ok. I will be back with the chains," he then stood up straight and walked away.

Conor smiled sadly and turned to go into the tent. Rollan reached over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's nice to have you back," Rollan told Conor as he turned towards him, "You know, you don't have to put the chains on."

Conor sighed. "It would make Shane happy if I did though."

Rollan shook his head. "You aren't here to make Shane happy-"

"I know but it also makes me happy. It could be the last line of defense if I were to… turn," Conor told him.

"I don't think that's going to happen."

"It could though, at any moment. I can't control it that much when other things are going on. It was easy when I was in the cell. I had no distractions, or anything to worry about," he looked back towards the tent that Abeke was in, "Well, I still worried about you guys."

Meilins name came into his mind. He still wondered if she was ok although he tried not to show it or bring it up unless they were talking about the subject. Not knowing where she was or anything at all made his heart hurt.

Rollan took a breath and closed his eyes. "Did you… did you ever see Meilin?"

Conor turned to him. "Yeah I did. Even though we were on separate ships, they ended up both coming here, to Eura. We were in the same group that was getting tested with the… magic. I was after her though, only one person went at a time and…"

He stopped talking. Rollan didn't want to force anything out of Conor. He had no idea what he had even gone through fully. They were never truly informed about the way that the magic was put into peoples bodies or anything that happened after.

"I think it would be best if we talked about this with Olvan and the others. It could be used to help us," Conor told him as Shane walked back over to them, chains in hand.

Conor held out his arms. Shane tightened them around both of his wrist and ankles. Conor then started to hobble into the tent.

"Wait," Rollan said before Conor left to go inside. "I know you said about waiting for everyone else but please I just have one question."

Conor smiled. "About Meilin?"

Rollan nodded. "When you were there, was she ok? Or you know did anything bad happen to her- hurt her?"

His smiled dropped and Rollan saw something, hurt maybe flash in Conors eyes. "I think it would be best to wait for the others." With that he turned and went into the tent.

"I'm sure she's ok. It's Meilin," Shane told him, "Olvan wants to see us. He would wait for Abeke to get better but he changed his mind after hearing about her condition."

"What does he need us for?" Rollan asked as they began walking towards the largest tent. "Before you answer that, is this place secure enough from the Zhongese and Euran warriors? It seems pretty noticeable."

"It does but we are hidden very well. The tunnel we were in may not of felt like we went very far but that tunnel was over a mile or so long. And as far as the warriors know, we died beneath the mountain," he replied. "Olvan wants to see us because he thinks we should go undercover again but this time go into the main headquarters."

Rollan stopped him. "Wait, so your saying he wants us to go into the place where they create the super soldiers?"

"Pretty much."

They were coming up on the main tent. It was bigger than the rest with a dull green color. Guards were stationed outside or the entrance, two on each side. When they entered, a small table was in the center with Olvan and Lenorie at the head, Anya on the left of them and Lishay on the right. Rollan noticed that Shane seemed to relax a little when he saw Anya. He went over to sit by her while Rollan went to go and sat next to Lishay.

"I'm glad to see that none of you are hurt. I was told about Abekes' condition and had decided that she will not partake in this assignment," Olvan told them.

"What, in more detail, is the assignment?" asked Shane. "I know that we are going undercover but that's pretty much it."

"We will send in a team in order to get information about their next moves. The team will be split in two in order to cover more ground and see the layout of the fortress-"

"Who will you be sending in?" Rollan asked.

"Anya, Tarik, Conor, both of his brothers, and you," Olvan told them.

"Wait," Shane stood up, "Why am I not in this?"

Lenori was the one who answered. "We thought that since you were on the last one, then Anya should go on this one. Plus, she is less likely to get noticed since some of the other guards might recognize you from our previous mission."

"But this mission is more dangerous than the other one. I want in and I want Anya out," Shane told them.

"Shane," Anya cut in," now is not the time for this. I got asked to go in personally. Plus it makes more sense just from what Lenori told us about how they might recognize you."

"I don't care if they realize who I am. You are not going to be apart of this," Shane snapped but then, realizing what he did, sighed and sat back down.

Everyone was quiet for one long, awkward moment. Shane kept his head down the whole time.

"What if we both went?" Anya asked.

Olvan frowned. "We only wanted to take six, it would be less noticeable but one more person…," he turned to Lenori.

"I don't think it will be that much of a difference. It is just one more person. Just switch up the roles and it would work," she finished.

"Thank you," Shane told them as Tarik walked into the tent.

"Did you talk to him?" Olvan asked Tarik.

"Yeah I did and he said that he would do it but you should hear what he has to say," Tarik walked over to where Lishay was sitting and stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. "From what he told me, getting in will be the easy part but they do daily checks on who is where. They always make for sure that the same guards do the same thing so there isn't confusion. With this, if a guard does something bad then they get put on the front lines or are next in line for testing new… magic theories."

"Who did you talk to?" Shane questioned.

"Conor," he answered. "I told him that we would all need to hear what he has to say though. I just got some basic information. He told me that he wouldn't leave the tent until Abeke woke up."

Olvan nodded. "Ok. Until then, you are all free to go."

Rollan turned to his right where Tarik was standing, waiting for the others to leave before he did.

"Tarik," Rollan said to get his attention.

He looked down and smiled at him. "Are you still mad at me for coming back?"

"Ok first of all, I wasn't mad just very… confused-"

"In an angrily way?" Tarik asked, the smile still on his face.

Rollan looked at him with an annoyed expression. Tarik just laughed.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"When you were talking to Conor, did he say anything about Meilin?"

Tariks' smile dropped, just like Conors did. "I think it would be best if you heard it from him. I don't want to get anything mixed up or tell you the wrong information."

Rollan dropped his head. "Do you think it would be ok if I went and talked to him know?"

Tarik nodded. "It would probably be ok."

Rollan stood up and walked out of the tent heading towards the one that Conor and Abeke were in. As he walked, he noticed how quiet the whole camp was. He still didn't understand how the enemies couldn't see them. It wasn't like they were hidden very well. All they were, was in a forest with trees surrounding them on all sides. Rollan could hear a stream off to the side and thought, that because of the noises from the forest, it drowned out any noise that they made in the camp. He took a deep breath as he reached the medical tent and pushed open the thin flap.

There wasn't much to the small tent. There was a cot that Abeke occupied with a small wooden stand on the left side. On the right side was a smaller cot barely a few inches off of the ground that Conor was in. Rollan noticed the worry in Conors' face. He hadn't even turned to see who had entered, he kept his gaze on Abeke whos leg was elevated on a blanket and wrapped in white cotton while the rest of her was covered in a tan blanket.

"How is she doing so far?" Rollan asked Conor as he went over to sit by him on the cot.

Conor shrugged. "I don't really know. The medic said she was fine but… I keep seeing pain flash in her face even though she is unconscious."

"She'll be ok, I know it," Rollan told him reassuringly.

Conor absently nodded, not taking his eyes off of their friend in the cot. "I just hope she doesn't feel any pain."

"All we can do right now is hope," Rollan turned to him. "Would you be able to tell me about… Meilin? I know you said it would be better to wait for Olvan but I just want to know. It's been…"

He stopped talking and closed his eyes. Finishing that sentence would have taken everything.

"I know," Conor started, "where do you want me to start?"

"When you first saw her," he answered.

"Well, when I first saw her, we were both leaving the ships that had brought us. They had lied about taking us to our homes unless you were from Eura that is. As I was being pushed off of the ship, I looked over to see her and a few others. I wanted to get her attention but if I talked then I would have been… tortured-"

"Wait, they tortured you guys?"

Conor nodded slightly. "That's how they controlled us so well. It wasn't much more than a kick or a punch though. We were escorted into a building that then took us down, I don't know how far down but we were far underground. There wasn't much to it. We formed in lines and one of the Zhongese Generals recognized Meilin and put her in the front, she was going to be the first one to get tested. I overheard the soldiers talking about how they changed the… power level of it to make whoever it was being tested on more powerful than the next. They thought it would be fine so when they forced Meilin into that chamber, she turned around and looked right at me…"

Conor took a shaky breath. "She knew the whole time that I was there. When she looked at me, it was as if she was saying goodbye, like she knew something bad was going to happen. Then the… magic came. I couldn't see everything that happened all I know is that the guards were yelling at each other as they carried… her body out of the… place. Before they got all of the way to the stairs, she stirred and knocked both of the guards into the wall of stone. Something had happened to her, she was like the super soldiers but stronger, more uncontrolled. It took ten others to finally knock her out."

Rollan just stared at the far end of the tent as he listened to Conor. When he finished, Rollan didn't know what to say. Meilin had been turned into one of them. "How long did it take for them to stop her?"

"I don't know for sure but Rollan…" he turned to look at Conor, who looked like he was terrified. "They… I'm not sure if she's still in there. One of the guards was saying that after what she went through there might not be a chance for her to-"

"You came back," Rollan snapped," don't tell me that she is gone."

Conor looked back towards Abeke. He knew that telling Rollan about those… things that it would hurt him. He hated it but knew how Rollan felt in some sort of way. Everything brought him back to when he was in that tunnel. The events kept playing over and over in his head. How he wasn't fast enough to protect Abeke from the falling rocks. If only he could have gotten out of the cell sooner. When he had heard the boom from above and watched the ceiling crack… to be honest with himself he was ready to be buried alive but he heard something- no someone. The person was running, he could hear the steps and then realized that with the ceiling falling, they were most likely to be buried like him and he couldn't let that happen. A weird feeling came across him and he knew right then that he was losing control except this wasn't like the other times when he went berserk. This time he felt in control. Standing up he broke the chains off without even knowing what had happened. The cell door was still intact. He had walked right up to it and ripped it from the stone it was attached to. Then he was running, down the darkened tunnel, only lit by a few torches that were barley on the wall anymore. That's when he saw her. She didn't seem him though, she was too focused on looking above her at the crumbling stone. He ran as fast as he, pushing each step till he reached her and moved her out of the way. Both of them had fallen to the floor and Conor couldn't speak. He heard Abeke cry out in pain. Getting off of her, he saw blood on her leg. After that, everything went by so fast. He just wanted to make for sure that she was going to be ok. Abeke had lost a lot of blood as they ran toward the camp and out of the bottom of the mountain. Through everything that happened, there was one thing that he remembered to vividly. It was the look on her face when Conor had looked down after the medics had asked for her, she had smiled and that was when the adrenaline that made the super soldiers… well super, it was gone. Conor was himself, in control but it was because of her that he had been able to control it, that power that he knew was killing him from the inside.

"Who will take care of her when we leave?" Conor asked quietly.

Rollan sighed and looked at Abeke. "Probably the medics, that is there job."

"I know but," Conor stood up and walked over to the other cot," I don't want her to wake up and not have someone that she knows be here."

Rollan nodded. "When are we leaving?"

"Soon, I think a little after sunset so we can reach there and be covered by the dark," Conor told him sitting on the cot next to Abeke.

"I'm sure she'll be ok," Rollan assured.

"I hope so."