"I want you to come with us," Fripp told Asa. "There are a few shipments of Drakonium we need to disarm. We're splitting up in groups; you'll come with me and the fifth Soul Rider to South Hoof."

Asa didn't hesitate to agree to go.

Lisa brought up that this may have been a trap and that there was a possibility that there was no Drakonium at all, but the chance of it existing and causing harm was too great to ignore.

Evergray and Avalon agreed to stay at the library and guard it and the portal to the Wild Weave. "We'll hold down the fort, right, Avalon?" Evergray asked his brother.

Avalon replied, "Certainly, hm. I was quite the brawler once. I'm not opposed to a little tussle if the need arises."

"They'll need an extra pair of hands," Zerxes stated, nodding at Asa, and he stayed behind.

Fripp, Asa, and the fifth Soul Rider went to South Hoof and found the barrels of Drakonium. As Asa approached one of them, Fripp exclaimed, alarmed "Asabel, don't touch those!"

She stared at him a moment before saying, "Fripp, I'm technically dead. The Drakonium itself can't hurt me by just me touching it."

The fifth Soul Rider asked, "But what about when you were in Pandoria? Didn't it hurt you then?"

Fripp looked away. Asa noticed and replied, "Mr. Sands destroyed my amulet, so I was vulnerable to the light."

"We must disarm these barrels," Fripp stated, changing the subject. "Be very careful, please."

Unfortunately for them, there was actually no Drakonium; it had been a plot by Dark Core to distract the Keepers of Aideen. Once they realized this, Fripp said, dismayed, "It can't be! The shipments are empty. This can only mean one thing...Oh, no! It was a trick, a ruse, a trap to split us up, just like Lisa predicted! We may have seen it coming, but the risk of the Drakonium being real was too great to give in to inaction."

"I must depart! As a protector of Jorvik, it is my duty to ensure the balance of this fragile realm." He then told the fifth Soul Rider to find the other four and that the future of Jorvik rested on their shoulders. Then, he turned to Asa. "Come with me. I need you."

The look in his eyes startled Asa. "But I-"

She began to protest, but he was insistent. "Please, Asabel. There isn't any time."

Asa nodded, and she disappeared with Fripp while the Soul Riders met up shortly afterwards.

Asa was unsure of where Fripp had taken them. It was a strange place she couldn't describe, and she was unable to talk, yet somehow her thoughts communicated with Fripp's. She felt the presence of other druids as well.

"It's something worse than we feared. The end of this realm as we know it," she heard a voice say in her mind.

"We must hold on and do what we can while the Soul Riders do their part," Fripp's voice echoed.

"There is more," yet another voice stated. "Dark Core is plotting something. They are calling it 'Crimson Glow'. We don't know anything else right now, but it isn't good."

"We are already spread so thin. There are so many factors at work here, and we still don't know what it all means."

Asa suddenly entered the conversation. "Let me see what Dark Core is up to. I can infiltrate their headquarters."

There was silence, then Fripp asked, "Alone? Absolutely not. We can't take any risks of anyone getting hurt."

"Let me help. I can do this. I know how Dark Core operates, and I can get in and out quickly. It's the least I can do after everything I've done."

Fripp hesitated, then said, "Take someone with you, and be careful, My Eclipse."

Then, Asa found herself back at Fort Maria with two amulets around her neck.