After considerable time, Serpantha stopped them all, looked at the wall. 'There is a corner right there, and when we turn it we're going to come face to face with whatever is controlling this place.'

'How do you know?' Rachel asked.

Venibilles cut in and answered, 'One memory before the worst one, isn't that obvious?'

Heiki looked dead ahead, and Calen braced herself for what she knew had to be there.

Serpantha turned to his brother and looked him in the eyes, 'Whatever happens you need to trust me and listen to me, because I think my prediction was right.'

Larpskendya nodded.

They turned the corner to see the same Wizard who agreed to help Calen. He was smiling, yet his expression looked sinister. He walked towards Serpantha until he was directly facing him.

'Well done,' he spoke, in a voice much deeper than Larpskendya's or Serpantha's, 'you figured it out. Not that I am impressed you should have been able to, and it's rather disappointing you did not figure it out sooner.'

Serpantha just said, 'Hello, father.'

That is when everyone drew back from them both.

'What?' Calen could not hold back.

Serpantha turned so he could see everyone, including his father, and said, 'My father, you weren't expecting that were you Calen? He walked out on my entire family when Larpskendya was very young, and my mother was pregnant. He just left the planet and we never heard of him again. Obviously, the whole situation is a lot more complex but this is hardly the time for life stories. Now, I will ask again, Calen, is there anything you want to tell us?'

Calen froze up.

This time Heiki turned to Calen angrily and said, 'Tell him!'

It surprised everyone, but Calen tried to keep her dignity by ignoring Heiki and saying,

as if she had the right to be angry, 'He offered to help me, and he said he would restore everything to how it should be and how it has always been.'

'Would you like to know what his idea of how things should be is?' Serpantha asked, and then addressed his father, 'You can tell everyone or I can.'

His father did not move a muscle, so Serpantha continued, 'Without immense detail, he wants things back to how they were when I was a child. A peak in the war, both sides fighting constantly and evenly numbered. For whatever reason, he enjoys all of the fighting.'

'I don't understand…' Rachel said.

'He's pro-war.'

Rachel's confusion increased. 'But how can any one from Orin Fen be pro-war?'

This time, Larpskendya spoke up. 'There are some people who can't get past their own superiority and their own selfish, righteous indignation, and they can't weep for what's really going on. They see nothing, they hear nothing, and they receive nothing. All they know is what they have been told: by memories of others, by their parents before them, and by a false sense of history. They point the finger at others who do not subscribe to what they view as Right and Wrong. Very much the way of thinking High Witches have, however our species isn't perfect either, and there become people such as my father.'

Serpantha added, 'In short of what my brother said, he believes killing is the only way forward, and will more than willingly take another's life. Right now, however, I'm confused to why he's doing this.'

His father scoffed, 'You say that as if you're innocent son.'

He then created a misty image of Serpantha as a child.

Rachel could never imagine Serpantha being a child, but there he was, young faced, black messy hair and a tracksuit – but a very, very vicious look.

'So you all think Serpantha is a saint? That's the little boy who knew how to fight battles. That little boy wanted all of his friends to fail. That boy enjoyed killing. He knew what I was leaving for him, and wanted it.' He looked directly into Serpantha's eyes, 'He's you.'

Serpantha hid how much this was affecting him well. But not perfectly. This was clearly very hard for him, and clearly brought back the worst times of his life. 'Yes,' he agreed, destroying the image. 'But that isn't me. Who I was as a child influenced who I am now, but in no way am I the same now. I am proud of that whether you are or not. I regret my past, deeply; however, I am grateful you walked out on us, because it turned out to shape me into a much better person. And I cannot blame myself, as you force me to fight as child. I can never forgive you for that.'

'What do you mean he forced you to fight?' asked Rachel, even more confused.

'I mean exactly that.'

'Oh, but you got older and after I left things began to change, didn't they? I could not trust you to raise my family – I should have known.' His father said in disgust. ''You had such a promising start in life, him on the other hand—' he nodded towards Larpskendya, '—you raised that. Congratulations, a perfectly good waste of magic.'

Rachel interjected. 'What do you mean things changed? You didn't used to be like him…'

The Wizard gave a sinister laugh. 'For years he was. Sadly, he grew up and he met people like Owlola, and he stopped believing what I did. Of course he never told me, he never had the nerve to stand up to me that way, so he deceived me for years. I left believing you were old enough to raise my children to my beliefs – only when it was too late to return I realised my mistake.' He lightened up, which was even more unsettling to witness. 'But such things can be amended if you offer the right things.'

Another misty image was created of a human Chinese woman, with short black hair with a flat fringe, emerald green eyes, and a circular face. She was lifelike, yet there was an eerie sense about her. He made the figure walk right to Larpskendya, and when she faced him, although she was much shorter than he was, she put her hand to his face, stroking down his cheek to his chin, still the same full-lipped smile.

Serpantha looked at his father pleadingly. 'No. That isn't fair that crosses a line.'

Larpskendya just breathed heavily at the image, having to stop himself from reaching out to her, almost forgetting she wasn't real.

'I have the ability to bring the dead back to life, and you of all people are objecting?' His father lightly laughed. 'You could bring back so many people. Even your sister who you yourself sent to her death.'

'I didn't send her to her death; she wanted to go!' Serpantha said, not truly believing it.

Addressing Larpskendya, their father said, 'I could bring her back to life son – the woman you love. All you have to do is say two words and I can do it, maybe Heiki here can make a clever observation about how I bring the dead back if she likes being so smart.'

Serpantha rapidly turned to his brother and nearly shouted. 'Don't listen to him. The dead should stay dead; this is not something to tamper with. If what I have told you means anything you know how disgusting he believes interspecies relationships are, do you really trust him over me?'

Larpskendya stumbled to try to say something for a few agonising seconds, until he said shamefully, 'Do it.'

He couldn't meet anyone's gaze – not even his father's – and as a blinding light from the woman's body engulfed them all it was impossible to see what was going on. The next thing anyone saw was Larpskendya catching her as she heavily fell.

What was surprisingly more remarkable than this woman coming back to life was the way Larpskendya reacted to her being in his arms. His eyes, which were so dead even when he smiled, lit up – his entire face did – and he almost laughed at the shock and happiness. The way his eyes watered from joy took away so much seriousness from the situation, and momentary seeing this potent, renowned Wizard made so happy by the presence of a mere human woman made everyone happy themselves, in some kind of inadvertent transference no one truly understood. Everyone except Calen and the Wizard who had brought the woman back to life. While Calen was simply in awe of how simply one person – a human! – could make him so happy; moreover make him gamble so much. His father, however, stood in amusement at how easily his son could be manipulated through a human. It became immediately obvious just how much Larpskendya cared for her. Not just by how delicately he tried to rouse her, but from how he looked her, his mannerism, and the fact he risked so much to bring her back despite his every instinct.

When she finally woke and shakily stood with his help she looked around. It became clear her head was still spinning and it was likely her vision was blurry, but gaining her composure and looking around carefully at everyone, she finally spoke in a Scottish accent, 'If anyone would like to explain to me what's going on that'd be grand.'

No one spoke, everyone was too shocked, Larpskendya was too overwhelmed with emotion; Serpantha simply looked at his brother in pure betrayal.

Larpskendya couldn't speak.

She turned around to see him, and they both held each other's forearms, which wasn't entirely for the purpose of steadying themselves. For a long time, they gazed at each other, saying nothing yet so much.

Finally, Larpskendya managed one word. 'Zina?'

Zina looked confused and simply said, 'Yes?' she gave a small nervous laugh, 'what's the matter? What happened?'

'You…'

'…died?' Zina completed, her head beginning to ache at all the memories flooding back.

After a few deep breaths, Zina broke away from him and turned powerfully to Serpantha, although her voice was still trembling. 'Care to coherently explain?'

Serpantha looked directly at his brother and said with almost eerie tranquillity, 'No. Frankly I'm too angry to.'

'Oh thanks, that's professional.'

'She has a point,' added Larpskendya.

Serpantha glared at him, saying nothing, which almost made the situation worse.

In a desperate attempt to justify himself, Larpskendya said, 'You would have done the same if it were Owlola.'

'Amusing,' joined their father, 'because you've been gone so long that it is.'

Serpantha shot back quickly with one word. 'Elaborate.'

'Knowing the fate of her own mother did you really think she would last longer than she had to?' His father practically teased. 'Obviously that should not give you hope that you have not been gone many years, because you have. Unsurprisingly, I am disgusted at how humanised Venibilles managed to grow up – one look at him shows how smug, proud, and vain he is, and more, but your daughter will grow up more so.'

'There is nothing wrong with being human, my son has a right to live his life anyway he wants, my opinion is hardly needed if he is not harming anyone. All I've ever taught, or aimed to teach, anyone is that they can live their life how they wish, as long as they accept any consequences of their lifestyle.'

'What happens to Volüsa?' Venibilles spoke up, not bothering to hide concern or fear.

Serpantha shot him a warning look, but Venibilles continued to stare at his grandfather firmly.

'She became almost disgustingly human.'

Zina interrupted him. 'Don't mind me, just act as if I'm not here, and insult my kind.'

Ignoring her, the Wizard continued. 'Luckily she had the morality not to have children, but she still married a human. It must run in the family.' He looked directly to Rachel. 'She actually married your brother, which explains why they never had children. She got her retribution for it all in the end, but that doesn't justify her behaviour.'

Rachel yelled at him. 'You mean Eric's dead? We've been gone that long!'

He mocked her, looking down on her like an insect he could easily crush. 'Intelligent girl.'

'Oh don't start. Just because you're old and bitter enough to be willing to kill your own family for disagreeing with your sick values and games! Time isn't solid anymore, I know I can go back to when I came from, so you can stop trying to manipulate everyone into agreeing with you.'

'Whoever this girl is,' Zina smiled in approval. 'I like her.'

'And I'm human,' Rachel added, hearing Zina's praise. 'Something you think is for some reason awful. If Volüsa grew up, or grows up, to be someone who was able to help him, something I couldn't do. Ever. No matter what he was still closed up and hostile, but Volüsa changed that. And that makes her remarkable, and it makes Eric remarkable if he got Serpantha's daughter, a Witch, to fall in love with him, and stay with him on Earth. Which only draws me to the conclusion that you have no idea what you're talking about.'

'I love her.' Zina announced.

'How sweet, are you finished?'

Although he was annoyed at how his father could dismiss Rachel that way, Serpantha decided to let it go, and instead ask, 'Was she happy?'

'For the time she spent with Eric, yes, she was, although as I said previously she got her comeuppance.'

'I can imagine,' murmured Serpantha. 'Unlike you, however, I have no desire to see the future – especially my own daughter's. What happened to you to make you want to?'

'That's when we come to why you hate me,' grinned his father. 'How I was as a father is your own burden to bare, however why you're so frustrated with me right now is because I go against everything you believe. I have no reason for why I'm doing this, I just enjoy it – I wasn't raise to, and you will hate me for saying this but your mother was wrong about everything, and thought she knew much more than she did.'

'If there was no reason then why leave when you did?' Serpantha challenged him, refusing to accept what he was saying.

'I felt I could trust you, and frankly I was tired of looking after my children because I never liked any of them anyway.' He shrugged. 'Not all was lost, though; you managed to raise some respectable fighters. Just look at Toyé! Oh, but you even managed to get her killed. The only reason Larpskendya's still alive is magic and luck, I'm sure you'll outlive him though, why break the habit of a lifetime?'

It was clear to everyone how much that comment affected Serpantha.

Unsurprisingly, Calen asked, 'Who's Toyé?'

Sharply, Serpantha turned to her and said, 'My sister. The youngest in our family. She did reconnaissance – although to you they are the equivalent of the slime that first crawled out of the oceans, your magic pattern is so similar that you fail to detect it as a threat. She was the best of the best, and I wanted her to find out what was happening on Ool after Heebra's death. I was too foolish to realise you can do something right a thousand times; you only have to get it wrong once. She was wary of the idea and I should never have pushed her to go – it's not that she was unable to return, she managed to – she died in my arms, there was nothing I could do. It's the only time I had ever seen her look truly distressed or frightened, and she looked at me begging me to help and I could do nothing.' He paused. 'She died in such a horrific way because we were trying to help you.'

Calen was frozen, unsure what to say or even feel – should she feel guilty? Moreover, what why was she feeling sympathy and empathy? She was completely sane of mind now, and had everything – why should she care? She decided it was just his overpowering presence, and the way that when he spoke his words had such an emotional affect on everyone. Not just her.

'It's called guilt and shame get used to it,' Zina spoke up, again, as if she was reading everyone's thoughts. 'So Toyé's…dead? What could have happened that was bad enough to justify her going to Ool?'

'I remember that happening,' Heiki murmured, having witnessed first-hand just how distraught Serpantha had been over it.

'How could I forget Heiki!' The Wizard began, again.

Before he could continue, Heiki cut him off. 'Look I know you're going round everyone here and making them angry or sad for whatever you hope to achieve and I'm sure that's great fun, but you have nothing to use to get to me. Everyone I know or have known is right here with me, and you can't say anything to me I haven't already said to myself. Or that I don't already know.'

'Exactly, Heiki's right – stop with the sick games.' Serpantha added. 'As for me it's impossible for me to feel more guilt than I already do; you're wasting your time.'

'Oh I think you could,' said his father cheerily.

'Tell me how you're doing this!' Serpantha became desperate, yelling at his father in frustration. It was rare for Serpantha to lose his composure – no High Witch or Gridda had ever had that affect on him. The way he snapped clearly scared both Zina and Larpskendya, and even though Heiki had seen him this distraught before it still shook her up. Her anger towards him had completely faded; there was no way any of this was his intention.

'I was about to tell you,' his father said, as if he was hurt, 'however you cannot blame me if you manage to feel more guilty. Surely this is just what you deserve.'

'Please don't confirm anymore of my suspicions…'

He did.