Now that they had gathered all four Layan Eyes, Prince Sean, Wren, Laya, Emperor Lune and Stuart were heading for the world beneath the Bernink Province to claim Laya's Treasure. Mieu had left ahead of them, saying that someone wanted to meet Sean, and she was going to tell them.

However, as they approached the river nearby Hazatak, they saw that Mieu had collapsed! Wren ran over to check on her.

"I hate to say this, but Mieu is dead." he said sadly. Sean and Lune hung their heads. Laya began to sob. Even Stuart looked downtrodden.

"But how? She was perfectly fine a few minutes ago!" the prince said in horror. Wren was also confused, but they were about to get even more confused. Because, just as Wren picked up the lifeless form of Mieu, someone came walking towards them from behind a large mesa next to where Mieu had collapsed. Someone who Prince Sean never thought he'd be seeing again...

"Well, this is a nice surprise! I didn't think this would happen..." Sean gasped. It was King Ayn, his father!

"Dad! I thought that you and Mum had been killed!" the prince said in shock, running towards Ayn and embracing him.

"I didn't think I'd escape, but I did. Unfortunately your mum had to sacrifice herself to save me." Ayn explained. Yet that didn't explain how Mieu had suddenly collapsed.

"So, you survived the destruction of a planet? How did you do that?" Stuart asked. Ayn released himself from Sean and cleared his throat.

"It wasn't a simple task. My wife, Thea, cast the Sakryuka Technique upon herself, and I had got pretty badly burned by the fires." Ayn said. For information's sake, the Sakryuka Technique is a combination of the Sacrificia (sometimes just called Sak) and Ryuka Techniques. It activates the Sak Technique first, which heals wounds and removes any and all physical bodily harm (and can even heal devastating spiritual harm, such as wounds caused by magical energies and massive explosions), at a cost to the caster's life. Basically the caster uses their life to heal someone else, which is why this technique is normally used as a last resort. The second part of the Sakryuka Technique is the Ryuka Technique, which teleports the target to the location specified by the caster (as long as it is sensible and safe to do so).

"In other words, she used her life to heal me, and then she teleported me here, to the Bernink Province. But, as my spiritual energy was travelling here, it got caught in the blast from the exploding planet. When I eventually landed in the Bernink Province and returned to my material state, I was pretty badly injured. I looked like I'd been blasted with tiny glass shards. I was nearly dead, practically."

"But that still doesn't explain how Mieu was dead when we got to her! Quit the story and tell us how she died!" Sean snapped. Ayn carried on with his story, to Sean's disapproval.

"I landed in the Bernink Province just moments after you left England. I saw your spaceship returning, and I telepathically told Mieu of my arrival."

"But she only told us she was gonna tell you of our arrival!"

"That was a cover story, Sean. I told her to cast the Naresta Technique, but she could see that even that technique wasn't going to heal the damage. I could see tears in her eyes, and she said the word 'Sak' to me, before she cast the technique. I was healed, but she had given her life to save mine."

"She cast the Sak Technique!" Sean's mouth was open in shock. Eventually Stuart had plucked up the courage to speak. He couldn't believe what Mieu had done, either.

"She gave her life to save yours." he said slowly. Ayn introduced himself to Lune, Laya and Stuart, and then Sean explained why they were here in the Bernink Province. But just as they were about to head for the river, Ayn handed a bright red envelope to Sean.

"I found this in my pocket. It's addressed to you, and it wasn't there before." Sean tore open the envelope and pulled out a letter. He read it aloud.

Dear Prince Sean and party,

I've finally found out what that creature meant by the Dark Force needing a vessel to be truly reborn. A couple of other demons were talking about it. It's also why I've been kidnapped.

They're gonna use me as the vessel! I tried to escape, but I was caught and taken back into the cell! I think I may have found out something really spooky about Laya's Treasure - if it's true, then it'd be best if you didn't claim it. They're saying that Laya's Treasure isn't the thing that'll defeat Dark Force. They're saying it IS Dark Force.

This'll probably be the last letter I write to you. I just hope that everything will be OK, and that Dark Force will get defeated. I'm just so scared...

Lots of love, Lyle

X X X

P.S. The thought of being a vessel for Dark Force makes me sick, as in... bleuurgh!

After Sean had finished reading Lyle's letter, Ayn had turned very pale.

"I was wondering where he'd gone... oh, that's terrible! We simply have to do something!" Ayn said, shaking. Wren tried to think of what to do, and so did Lune, Stuart and Laya. After a few minutes' pondering, Lune had come up with something.

"Lyle said that Laya's Treasure is Dark Force. Now that's really weird. But I can't bring myself to trust that, so I suggest we go and claim Laya's Treasure." Lune said. He'd overstepped his authority, but Sean didn't seem to mind. The prince's personality had mellowed, just like Lune's personality had.

"Yeah, Lune, you're right. Let's go." Sean said, and so they headed for the river, where Wren transformed into the Wren-sub, and took them all to the world beneath the Bernink Province.