Mudeenu walked down the dungeon as he learned that the prisoner escaped. He was in a bad mood by the simple fact that the enemy just managed to come in and to come out without sounding the alarm. He had so many questions in his mind. His big question was how he managed to do it.

He was a bit worried how his uncle would react. They didn't plan anything if the metalists would come to rescue their comrade. They knew the tribe would do something to save him, but just that quietly, it just left a bad taste in his mouth.

His fingers cracked a bit under his scales as he approached the room where they interrogated the prisoner. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He hoped it wasn't too bad. Because it didn't matter if he wasn't there, security was his responsibility. He was the one who caused this. He didn't organise everything to assure that the rescue wouldn't be possible.

Mudeenu frowned as another question came, "Did they wait that I was gone to strike or not?" If it was yes, that mean that the metalists watched the castle for a while. If it wasn't the case, it would be a coincidence.

He reached the room. He glanced at Tianne who was there first and investigated the room.

"How bad is it for me?" he seriously asked.

"No one is dead," he replied, before he gave the full report.

The prince sighed in relief. It was still terrible, but no life was lost because of his wrong decision. Now, he had to face the wrath of his uncle.

Chapter 66: The Aftermath

Theb-saar sat on his throne and observed Mudeenu straight in the eyes with his shiny red eyes. His claw tapped on the throne as he listened to the report. He showed no emotions on his face as he learned everything that happened to their prisoner. He frowned a bit when he learned what happened to his guards and the interrogators, but sighed in relief when he learned they were fine. He rested his back against his throne and listened to the rest of the report.

"We are trying to figure out how they escaped after they found him, but there are no traces of them. I don't want to speak too fast about their method of escape, but I believe they might have used a telebracer. It would be much harder to get out of the castle if they transported the prisoner in his current state. That is all for my report. I… I'm sorry to say that we have failed," he bowed in front of his uncle. Right now, he was the Captain of the Guards. His duty rested on his shoulders. If the metalists went to Iflar, they could have kidnapped the crown prince too. Just the thought of losing his cousin made his stomach twist a bit.

The creature waited for his king to talk. He looked in the eyes of his kind and awaited his thought. He knew it wouldn't be good for him.

"It doesn't matter if he escaped or not anymore," Theb-Saar replied.

Mudeenu didn't expect that answer. He dropped on the ground, snout first. He grumbled as he looked at his king, "W-what do y-you mean?" he was confused and had no idea what was going on. He expected his king to be angry about everything. He quickly stood up and acted like he didn't just drop like that, "I-I don't understand."

The king, thankfully for his nephew, answered, "Because we obtained everything, we can from the metalist. He spoke a lot after I broke him a bit. He didn't meet Peyton, but he claim that the boy is safe and sound. I do not fully believe his words that came from the reports, but I believe it is true. Peyton is unharmed and king Titanium wants something out of him. He refused to answer it. I can guess that it's because he is our guide," he twitched his head a bit, "And he doesn't need any other human. That's what we managed to get out of him."

"What is the plan of their king?"

"I have no idea Mudeenu. We know that they got him because he is our guide. Why Peyton and not the others? It's because their king is interested in him," Theb-Saar crossed his fingers. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, before his red eyes looked at his nephew again, "Sarah also paid a visit. She is searching for her friend and told me a few things. It's more than what we got from the prisoner."

"What is it?" Mudeenu asked.

Theb-Saar seemed to hesitate a bit to answer. He sighed and smiled a bit. He could trust his nephew. He probably made him worried sick with how he looked at him. He partially raised Mudeenu himself, "This is just between you, me and Iflar for now. You cannot tell the anyone else until the Guardian of the Cothica's explain to the council about the metalist."

"It has something to do with the Cothica?" the princes guessed. He didn't like this.

"Yes. I will also warn you that Sarah knows more than she explained to me. I could see it," he crossed his fingers together, "The metalists were creature that came from the Cothica. This was the world they came from."

"W-what?" The prince kept his mouth shut. He knew they were much more his uncle would say. He had to stop interrupting the king.

Theb-Saar nodded, "Yes. They came from the Cothica. They enslaved the humans long ago, but they lost the way against the humans. The humans exiled them here. That war caused so much damage that it was only recently that humans could return to the Cothica with the scanners," he finished the resume. He didn't get into details. He could see his nephew wanted to ask so many things. He crossed his arms and waited for his questions.

"When did Sarah came?" the first question came.

The blue mipedian chuckled quietly, "Not too long ago. The moment she heard we capture the metalist she asked if I knew anything about where Peyton was. I told her that we are not certain yet. We are just proceeding with eliminations."

"That girl asked something else?" Mudeenu crossed his arms.

"She asked if we know anything else. She is searching for any clues to save her friend here and on the Cothica. So far, there is nothing else she could tell us," his red eyes shined a bit brighter, "She also said that Kaz was also busy with his search. However, she didn't mention anything about Tom. I'm sure Tom would try to find Peyton too, so why didn't she mention it?"

"Maybe she didn't think about it my king. You said everything you could tell her and maybe that was the end of the conversation… Unless you asked about him," he saw a small nod at him, "You did ask about him and the answer stood out."

Theb-Saar chuckled. He stood up from his seat and approached his nephew, "Yes. I did ask her that. She said that Tom is also gone. He is a prisoner of the elementalist. However, she almost let something slip through her mouth. She said it's to avoid trouble with the tribe, but-" he scratched his chin, "I know there is something else. I don't know what it is, but she almost said what it was. It might have something to do with Tom training to master some kind of power that the humans of the Cothica have," he glanced at the ceiling.

"I heard of it. The power to call light in their hands. It's like when we use our elemental power, but it's something else entirely."

"The metalist has power over darkness and humans' power over the light. It makes sense humans has power if the metalist, who also come from the Cothica, has it. The question is why Tom trained to master it recently and not before," the king concluded.

The captain of the guards has no idea the why, "You want me to investigate?"

"Yes. There might be something important in this matter. Everything came after Peyton was captured. We need to figure out what it is," he concluded.

"I will not fail you, my king."

"Just say uncle Mudeenu," he chuckled when Mudeenu just looked at him and nodded negatively. He put his hand on the shoulder of his nephew. He raised his like his son, "We still need to learn more about everything the m'arrillian's brought. There is more to find there."

"Any progress on the tablets?" since he wasn't in charge of those, he had little update on the matter. He knew that it was helpful and eliminated a few locations.

"Yes. Some of them will be useful to Maxxor and to us at the same time. We know that the metalists lives far away from the elementalists. After all, the metalists exile form the Cothica would make those two tribes' natural enemies," the king was well aware that it only eliminated many places, "We also know that the elementalists territory are on the northern side of the ocean. That means that the metalists are at the opposite direction. They are surely in the southern part of the ocean. However, the m'arrillians never recorded anything about the metalists. Which mean they were well hidden for a very long time. No one knew of their existence until they showed up," he frowned a bit.

"Do you think their tribe spied on us for a long time? They came from the Cothica and they surely had battlegears that functioned the same way as the humans. Maybe one that warn us from the stars, like those things?" Mudeenu shivered at the thought of such battlegear existing. That they were eyes in the stars that observed them for a long time.

"I cannot say yes or no about that," the ruler sound worried about such battlegear to exist. How could they launch a surprise attack or a rescue mission if seen from the stars? Maybe that was how they rescued their comrade quickly and easily, "I believe so. Maybe they knew of the castle and the previous rulers too," he took a few steps towards the door, "I do have an idea how to save Peyton," he glanced at his nephew.

Mudeenu pushed his scary thought away. The little chuckled from his father told him what he might had in mind, "We will need to find the location first."

"We can use the telebracer while being invisible at the same time. The metalist will never see us coming if we reply in kind," Theb-Saar clenched his hands.

The captain of the guards saw the muscles tensing under the blue scales of his uncle. He nodded a bit, "I will warn the guards and planned a counter measure for the metalist. We will assume they might have battlegears to see us invisible and reorganise everything within our walls," he bowed and left the throne room.

Theb-Saar returned to his throne and sat on it. Now that this was over, he needed to focus on many other things. He had to find a way to save Peyton and his parents. Since he declared his honest friendship with Peyton, he wouldn't let the boy hurt by anyone.

Last year, it took a bit of effort to contain himself. He was often ready to lose control of himself when the m'arrillians invaded the Cothica. The thought of his friend in danger made him panicked a bit. He guessed it was the price to be friend with a human. They tended to cause so much trouble. So much weight on the heart, one, he knew, was worth it.

He crossed his fingers. The information they obtained was a lot, but it wasn't enough. He closed his eyes and sighed, "I wished I've already saved you Peyton," he took a deep breath. He couldn't show any weakness. Not in front of his tribe. Not even when he was alone. He had to be strong. He needed to be strong. Peyton wasn't hurt. His parents were safe. Whatever Titanium plan was with Peyton, it was one that needed his friend to be unhurt. He hoped it was also the case for his parents.

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: Brain Storm.

Sarah grunted about how little she found with her guardian on Earth.