"Is Danny down here with you?" Toby searched, as if hoping to find the halfa hidden in one of the dark alcoves surrounding them.

"No" Krel shook his head, "I thought he was with you?"

"Then where—?"

"Look out below!" Dan's voice floated down like the icy chill of a winter's morning, crisp and tinkling.

"Wha—?"

"—AARRGGH!" The answering shriek was more than enough to send the gathered teenagers scattering every which way and just in time too. Vex—the one who'd been screaming like the manliest little girl—arrived first with a shield blinking into existence mere seconds before he hit the ground. Thankfully it was enough to stop any major damage, but no sooner had he kissed ionic energy, did Aaarrrggh appear from behind and sandwiched him between the cavern floor & the troll.

Landing squarely on Vex's back, the troll pushed him back to the ground with a bit more force than was likely necessary. But it was as Dan gently alighted upon the top of the impromptu puppy pile, that Krel found himself turning away to hide the wickedly relieved grin which had exploded across his lips at the sight of them.

"This one pushed me!" Vex groaned as Dan dismounted, allowing Aaarrrggh to move away.

"Oops" Aaarrrggh deadpanned, completely unapologetic.

"Wingman!" Toby cheered as he hurried for to hug the troll, "You're okay!"

"We stalled Morando, but he is not far behind" Explained Vex as he got to his feet, brushing off the dust. "Quick! Open the door!"

"I've been trying!" Krel exclaimed exasperatedly, throwing his hands up in the air in defeat and just barely restrained himself from his stomping his feet like a child. "But nothing works!"

"Whoa!" Dan gasped as the etchings around the door suddenly became illuminated in an eerie cyan. "Kind reminds me of the one back home, but y'know, blue"

"Your home sounds stranger and stranger with each story, ghost boy" Vex commented as they joined the Tarron siblings in front of the door.

"Yeah…"

"Mama & Papa really did hide the core here…!" The king-in-waiting breathed, staring up at the large circular door in awe.

"It looks like…there's a password" Aja hummed, leaning close as she recognised the latter half. "The end of the inscription is in Akiridion, but I've never seen the other language before"

"Mm, Trollish" Aaarrrggh hummed, easily recognising the first half of the inscription.

"Well, by all means, my stone-faced friend, enlighten us" Encouraged Vex, gesturing for the troll to continue.

"With valiance and justice—" Aaarrrggh read out.

"—Long may—" Krel continued.

"—House Tarron reign" Aja ended. No sooner had the last syllable left Aja's lips did the door ignite, illuminating the dark caverns of the Deep with its glow.

"Glorious!" Vex breathed, shuffling back a step or two as the clockwork door (appearing very similar to Jim's amulet) trundled open.

"Lively!" Toby grinned, using the queen-in-waiting's catchphrase.

"Awesome sauce!" Aja agreed as she too, used the human's.

BOOM!

"…Time to go" Dan squeaked, shoulders suddenly tense and clenched fists hung stiffly at his sides.

"Open up, open up, open up! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my—" Toby agreed, rushing forward to bang on the door as the sounds of artillery fire drew ever closer. At least until the door finally creaked open to reveal the equally dark cavern on the other side, making the boy whimper pathetically. In turn, as soon as the door creaked open just a sliver, Dan flew inside to take refuge in the welcoming darkness, leaving the others to flounder for a moment at the threshold.

"Are you coming?" Dan asked, glowing green eyes peered out from the darkness, when he noticed that they had not moved.

"Or—and I'm just spitballing here—we could, y'know, just stay here?" Toby whimpered as his wide eyes took in the scene before him. "Yeah, let's just sta—AH!"

PEW—PEW! PEW—PEW! PEW—PEW!

"Go! Go, go, go!" Vex ordered, pushing everyone else inside as the Omen's fire rained down upon them. "Take cover!"

"…Uh, so now what?" Toby hedged as the door clicked shut behind them and they were plundered into darkness. One only broken by the glow of the Akiridions' cores and the single soul which had led them down there in the first place.

"Pretty!" Aaarrrggh breathed as the soul disappeared into the stone pit at their feet, activating whatever mechanism within that brought forth the holographic storyteller.

"Ah! Too bright!" Dan blinked rapidly as the flash of light blinded him for a moment.

"Is that—?" Krel beamed, eyes wide as he gazed up at the large figurehead poised between them.

"Seklos and Gaylen!" Vex swore, blinking rapidly to clear his vision.

"—The Legend of Gaylen's Core!" Aja ended in awe.

"Aw man! Wish I'd brought my film camera!" Toby whispered as he plucked his phone from his pocket and began to record, "I guess this will have to do"

"From the stars Gaylen created Akiridion-5" Aja began, reciting the tale for those who did not know it. "But his power grew too fearsome"

"Only Seklos found the power to stop Gaylen" Krel continued as they watched the red figure pull back to reveal a blue woman, powerful and strong (with a tiny little planet caught between them). "Channeling her own life energy, she sacrificed herself to pierce his core"

"But the legend did not end there" Kanjigar continued, bursting to life from the orb with a dramatic flair that left them blinking away spots.

"Kanjigar!" Toby gasped, eyes lighting up at the sight of the former trollhunter. "You led us here?"

"Of course! I built this place to guard Gaylen's core for when House Tarron would one day return"

"And—and you've been down here this whole time?" Dan breathed in awe, "Surrounded by all this magic? Without corrupting?"

"Of course, Sire" Kanjigar nodded.

"How?"

"Trollkind has many tricks" He grinned knowingly, "And many trades"

"Hm" Translation: Trolls are just as enthralled in magic as wizards and elves.

"…Sir Can-in-jars" Aja stepped forward as Dan was left to mull over the ghost's words. "We are Aja & Krel Tarron, daughter & son of King Fialkov & Queen Coranda. It is our honour to meet you"

"The honour is mine" Kanjigar bowed to the Akiridion pair as everyone (save Dan) joined in bowing to the royal twins. "And Gaylen's core is yours, House Tarron, as it has always been"

"Wait—!" Dan pursued, confusion & puzzlement pinching at his brow. If this soul—this core—was as powerful as they were claiming it to be, then he should have at least heard it or even felt it once before. But he hadn't, which was most concerning. For something this old to be hidden down here, amongst magic & more, without being corrupted? It was almost unheard (almost, because there were tales of the Ancients burying creatures deep in the earth in much the same manner, eons ago). "How come I've never heard or felt this soul before? If it is as powerful as you say, I mean"

The armoured troll merely grinned in reply and with a sweeping gesture, Kanjigar swept the light across the rest of the cavern as the adjoining antechamber came into view. A glow of violet and gold breathed new life into the room and taking breaths just as quickly. A crystalline tower erupted from the earth, reaching heavenwards and atop the very peak sat a soul unlike anything Dan had ever seen or even felt before. Including Pariah Dark's or Morgana's. Dan's awed gaze travelled up, up, up from the base to the top of the cavern where the all powerful soul sat hidden behind a wall of gem & crystal; but that wasn't what caught his attention (even though he could hear the old soul calling out to him), no, instead it was the bright crimson flowers that blanketed the ceiling.

"Oh, maybe that's why" Dan blinked dumbly, his voice soft and squeaky as the ache of blood blossoms itched beneath his skin. Standing in the doorway of the old soul's antechamber, Dan could feel a great and generous pull that warred with his instincts to not go near the blossoms; one that insisted he protect the soul, to nurture and care for it even at the cost/risk of his own afterlife. "By the Ancients, that's a lot of blossoms…!"

"Those flowers were planted long before my time" Kanjigar nodded simply as he came to stand next to his new king. "Once protection, they are now weapons against our kind"

"Mmm" Dan nodded, "You feel it too?"

"I find it hard to even stand in the same vicinity without pain and yet you can enter the room, my king" He respectfully replied, "That is a feat most formidable. But I s'pose, a king such as yourself could not be considered as such if you were not"

"I take it that these flowers were meant to keep me—to keep Death—from collecting this soul?"

"You are most wise, my king, even for your age"

"I'm only twenty-seven!"

"Precisely, still young for one so wise"

"…Eh, it's not the worst compliment, I'll give you that" Dan nodded in acquiesce as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I am most honoured, then" Kanjigar smiled.

"Heh…this has gotta be the loudest soul I have ever found"

"Loudest?"

"Their memories" He spared a look at the troll at his side. "They sing out to you, if you listen close enough"

"Wait—!" Toby perked up at the conversation going on behind them. "Souls have memories?"

"Course they do" Dan smiled softly, "It's what makes you, you. Think of it like a sandwich in a lunchbox"

"Huh? Sandwich? Lunchbox? What d'you mean?"

"The sandwich is your soul and the lunchbox in your body. If you take the sandwich out of the lunchbox, then you've still got your lunch—or in this case—your memories"

"I don't really get it…?"

"That's okay, it's just how Lunch Lady explained it to me"

"Cool~!"

"This is truly a most sacred place…!" Varvatos breathed with one hand placed on a violet crystal at the base, eyes blown wide as he broke the awed silence between the Akiridions as they were confronted by a piece of their history.

"It is now yours to protect" Kanjigar smiled, projecting his voice so that he didn't have to move further into the blossom-guarded room.

"We did it, Krel!" Aja jubilantly hugged her little brother.

"C'me on, for Mama and Papa!" Krel pulled his sister up the crystalline tower, using the hoverboard to rise upwards.

PEW~PEW! PEW~PEW!

The royal twins had barely made it halfway up the tower before a laser fired from the beyond the doorway, its heat barely glancing past Dan's ear as the Tarrons were blasted from the air. Screams echoed about the cavern, ones of terror that made your blood turn cold and ones that shrieked of pain as they dropped to the floor and out of the way of the gunfire as Morando appeared from thin air.

"Here ends the House of Tarron!" Morando purred as he blasted his way through the adjoining wall, mindless of anyone who stood on the other side. Dan (and in turn, Kanjigar) who had been stood sentry in the doorway, suddenly found himself having to grit & bear it in the antechamber least he wanted to become trod under foot by the Omens who accompanied the tyrannical leader. "Gaylen's core is mine!"

"Varvatos Vex says NAY!" Varvatos decreed as he stood guard over the crystal with Aaarrrggh stood by him and Toby found himself trying to clamber to his feet despite the burden of his too-heavy armour. It wasn't working, but at least he had some crystal to take cover behind should (when) things go south.

"You should go" Dan turned to the troll, only to find that he had only disappeared in a flurry of blue orbs and dots.

"Omens, attack!" Morando replied, just as ferociously.

PEW~PEW! PEW~PEW! PEW~PEW! PEW~PEW!

At his call, the crimson robots began to fire ruthlessly on the gaggle of heroes, leaving them to scramble for both cover and/or defence. Grounding his teeth together against the aching pain, Dan rushed to help Toby to his feet whilst the bulkier pair moved to swarm the robots (it took him far more effort than he cared to admit to push the boy up onto his feet). Beyond their shoulders, the Tarrons twins scrabbled up the tower in an effort to reach Gaylen's core before Morando.

"We have to get the core, Aja!" Krel cried as he desperately dug his nails into the polished rock for some sort of handhold.

"Right" Aja nodded as they both turned to scale the crystalline tower. Morando was not too far behind them.

"Boom, boom, shake the room!" Aaarrrggh fist-bumped Varvatos in victory after having taken down the first waves of Omens.

"The Trollish symbol of victory?" Varvatos hummed as he inspected his fist for some sort of answer, only to be cut off by the next wave. "Most impress—! Mmphf!"

PEW~PEW! PEW~PEW! PEW~PEW! PEW~PEW!

"You good?" Dan asked as he finally righted Toby upright.

"Yep! Goodbye, rust bucket!" Toby nodded vigorously, before they moved to join the fight; Toby with his War Hammer and Dan with his ghostly powers.

"Eep!" Dan squeaked as he quickly jumped in front of Varvatos & Aaarrrggh and threw up a green shield of ectoplasm to protect them from the Omens.

"Hello, rust bucket" Toby quickly found himself backpedalling as he became overwhelmed by the sheer number of Omens tucked into the small space. A quick glance over the boy's chrome-plated shoulder showed that there were even more waves of crimson robots flowing in through the gap in the wall. "Ahhhhhh!"

"Wingman!" Aaarrrggh wailed in worry from behind the wall of green.

"Toby! Get back here!" Dan gritted his teeth. If he didn't have to worry about the blood curdling blossoms above his head, he would've been able to easily take these hoards out in one fell swoop. As it was, he was barely able to keep standing and hold up the shield (the only thing currently keeping them alive).

"Coming~!" Toby sang hysterically as he retreated back to the safety of the bubble (and was yanked inside thanks to Aaarrrggh).

"Nn!" Dan grunted in pain as the tussle above brought petals raining down upon them; they broke through the ectoplasm with ease and sizzled agains this skin like bacon in the pan.

"Danny!" Toby panicked, worry clear in his tone.

"I—I'm okay" Dan lied, "I'm fine"

"But—but aren't those flowers poisonous to you?"

"Oh…absolutely!"

"…But doesn't that hurt?"

"Do you…always ask…so many…questions?"

"…Sorry"

"We have to hurry!" Krel cried as he spared a quick (and worried) glance down towards the others below where they had quickly become surrounded and even with the added layer of Varvatos' serator shield around Dan's, it wasn't helping much. Even from this height, the king-in-waiting could see the pain etched onto his friend's face, could see the way his arm shook with the effort to keep the shield up; it wouldn't long now. Plus, the sight of Morando hot on their tails was not a good one; which was why he decided to do what he did. "I'll stall him!"

"Krel—!" Aja panicked as her little brother (the engineer not the fighter) leapt from the crystal and made to confront Morando.

"Go!" Krel replied as he descended, "Yeah-heh-heh-heh!"

"Aah—ack!" Morando squawked as he suddenly toppled from his perch, landing on another close by.

"Stay away from my sister!" Krel moved to stab the downed General with his serator, only to find that his fighting chops were once again lacking because a hand simply snapped up to grab the boy, snatching him from the air.

"Out of my way!" Morando snarled as he tossed the boy aside and over the edge of the tower's side. Down, down, down he fell until finally, Krel came to dizzying stop upon the base with an almighty thump upon the crown of the dome.

"My royal!" Varvatos cried, watching the blue boy squeakily slide down the backside of the green dome. "Ghost boy! You must create an opening!"

"Nn! I…can't…!" Dan ground out through the pain and exhaustion. "I…can…barely hold…this…up…!"

"Hey, hey! Guys! Please don't fight…!" Toby tried, "He's currently the only thing keeping us from not dying!"

"Hmpf!"

Up above them, Aja continued to race against Morando for the coveted prize of Gaylen's core. Back and forth the two tussled, grabbing outstretched limbs and pulling hair like they were no more than toddlers in kindergarten. Eventually—at Morando's behest—the Omens were able to destabilise the delicate crystalline tower and sent it tumbling down to the earth. Dan barely had time to blink before everything seemed to hit the fan; something—likely crystal—hit the top of the shield, cracking it open like an egg.

The halfa, who had not expected the straw to break his back, collapsed under the weight of it all (the exhaustion, the pain, the shock and the long exposure to the blood blossoms. He only hoped that this purge would be less disastrous than the first). Lying wheezing on the floor—or was it in Aaarrrggh's arms?—Dan could only watch through a haze as Morando snatched Gaylen's core from underneath their noses and Aja wailed in her despair over a war lost before it had even begun.