Allies and Enemies

Chapter Fifteen: Knowledge

"I saw Sophie, alive," I pleaded to Rowan. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know," Rowan admitted. "I don't know."

"We have to find out," I said firmly but not harshly. "If we know what the cause of this is, then we can figure out how to turn our friends back."

"This is something that's never happened before," Rowan said. "I have no idea where to start." I thought hard.

"Well, how about checking the Underworld?"

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I walked up to my father's castle, Rowan at my side.

"You cannot enter," the guard intoned. He seriously didn't remember?

"Mihalis, it's me, Kianna. I'm simply checking up on the underworld," I said to the guard. He should remember me, he's always the one on duty when I come. I suppose it's been a while.

"Oh, forgive me, my lady," Mihalis apologized. He bowed me in. "I warn you though, it's been different without the lord here."

"It's all right, Mihalis," I replied on the way in. "I can handle myself." Although, as I walked through the dark halls, I could see that Mihalis was right. Everything was empty, and I couldn't see a single person.

"Where is everyone?" Rowan asked, bewildered.

"My thoughts exactly," I replied. We searched the castle, then the Fields of Asphodel, then Elysium, and even the Fields of Punishment, a place I would rather have erased from my memory.

"Do you think..." Rowan started.

"Oh heck no, I'm not going down there," I protested.

"But maybe..." Rowan started again.

"I think they would've been in the Fields of Punishment," I said. "Many of the villains would've gotten out by now anyway, though I don't know how."

"All right," Rowan sighed, defeated. Then, suddenly, we each had the same idea at the same time.

"Rachel," we said in unison.

"My goodness, how could we forget?" Rowan groaned.

"I have no idea, but I guess it's been a pretty long time," I exhaled. "Come on, we should check..." I trailed off, realizing what I was saying. Rowan realized it too.

"We'll head there and confirm," Rowan agreed. "If she is there..."

"Everything would make sense," I finished. "Come on! We finally have a lead."

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I peered over the edge of the cliff on Obsidia, Rowan looking down with me.

"If I was a villain, and this was my base, where would I keep my most important prisoner?" I muttered to myself, looking all around. I pulled out my micro binoculars and zoomed in.

"Hang on," I said, zooming into a particular area. "Oh no." My worst fears were confirmed as I saw a flash of red hair. I focused on that area, and I saw the pale, weakened face of Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I swore quietly. "I think we just found all of our answers."

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"This all makes so much sense," I groaned, a hand pressed to my forehead in annoyance. I'd pulled aside all the leaders, minus Zoya and Genya, who I couldn't find, and explained everything that we had found.

"They have the power to resurrect people from the dead?" Ginny asked in horror.

"Yes," Rowan replied.

"So does that mean, everyone who died..." Katooni trailed off.

"Have come back. Our allies are now our enemies," Legolas finished.

"How does that work anyway?" Reyna asked.

"Rachel has access to all the realms," I said. "She's a wanderer though, so she hasn't been around for a long time. She can also wander in and out of the Underworld, which means she, along with Rowan and me, can come back from the dead. My guess is that they captured her to show them the way out and back into the worlds. Somehow they also met each other along the way, and probably decided to team up to be mutually beneficial."

"That does make a lot of sense," Shahanda said. She had been propelled to represent the Jedi along with Katooni at the request of the remaining Jedi. I wasn't surprised by the proposition.

"What do we do?" Katooni asked.

"We've got to rescue her," Ginny said. I nodded.

"The question is how," I replied.