The long awaited battle that they waited and trained for an entire year for suddenly wasn't going to happen. When they arrived, the enemy claimed they wished to surrender. For many of them it didn't make sense, but as Bliss checked what the date was, she realised that they had arrived a day earlier than the set date.

This only confirmed her suspicions and the reason for the attacks beforehand, they had arrived before whatever the Shadow wanted to do could be done. If they were to fight now, then they would win this war with the help of Van and his crystal.

"Did they state the reason why?

" Sir K asked.

"Apparently Gary is waiting on orders from the Shadow inside.

" Jack replied.

"He himself no longer wishes to fight, but because of Gary's position they will not take a direct order from him to surrender so he is waiting for a reply from the Shadow and those above him.

"

"Maybe Harry was able to convince him or something, get the real him to come back.

" Martha said with hope in her voice.

"I still think it's a trap.

" Bliss replied.

"You can see how well prepared they are to fight even when we catch them off guard, and don't forget the attacks from before. If they wanted to surrender then why not just send someone out to us beforehand and tell us to stop?

"

The group was silent for a while, until Sir K spoke once again.

"But are we meant to start a fight against people who are not willing?

" Sir K said.

"If we can leave this place, this battlefield without having spill blood on both sides then it will be a relief. A bigger victory than we ever imagined.

"

It was a tricky one, but the group needed to decide what their next plan of action was going to be.

Inside the fortress, underneath the castle itself, Harry, Monk and Gary were still very much in the middle of conversation. They had left the foregoing area and now we're heading to a completely different place while they continued to talk.

"By now I'm guessing the Redwings will have reached the fortress gates.

" Gary said.

"And our side should be claiming surrender right about now.

"

"Surrender?

" Harry replied.

"Don't be an idiot. They are not fools; they will never believe such an obvious trap.

"

"You underestimate war and the kindness of Avrion's past. With you gone it will be Sir K leading them. Avrion knights have been taught not to go to war against those that aren't willing to fight. At the same time he will not want any of his own men to be hurt if it's not necessary. Besides, it doesn't matter if you believe the surrender or not, the goal is just to buy time.'

"Buy time, buy time for what?

" Harry asked.

At the end of one of the underground tunnels, they seemed to have entered an area where it was void of any of the other workers. The three of them stood in front of a large strange door, with the same symbol Harry kept seeing since he got here. The strange eye on the clothing of the Dark guild members as well as certain items of great power.

Placing the hand with the Dragon gauntlet on the symbol, the gauntlet started to light up slightly and the door successfully opened. As soon as it did, the feeling of regret, sorrow, sadness, a mix of negative emotions had hit Harry.

Looking at the other two, Gary had a large grin on his face, but Monk also seemed to be affected by the strange feeling coming from inside.

"Come on, we are nearly there.

" Gary said.

Moving forward, the other two followed and eventually they were in a room with nothing but a large empty pit in the middle. When looking down into it, it was impossible to see how far or deep the hole went.

This was because there was a strange fog not too far into the pit that could be seen blocking the view of anything down there.

"There is a reason why this place was a number one priority for the Shadow to take over.

" Gary said.

"Here is one of the few natural teleporters in the world. That links our world to His.

"

"To His?

" Harry replied confused.

"Of course, I'm talking about where the Shadow originally comes from. In there we can connect to the shadow, feel his powers and he will give us more. This is the reason why we fight, it's the reason we will never lose this place to you.

"Harry, I want you to come down there with me.

" Gary requested.

"Go down there?

" Harry pointed to the large abyss,

"Are you crazy? You can go yourself you crazy fool!

" He shouted. The sick feeling was still felt in his stomach and he wanted to do anything to get out of here.

There was no way he was going to go down in that pit with Gary.

"Have I not treated you nicely, Harry? You are not tied up like a prisoner. I have offered you strength and power, your life is in no danger. So why not just do this one little favour and trust me?

" Gary asked.

"Trust, tell me lets build upon our trust. What do you plan to do down there? Why do you need to even go there?

"

Instead of replying though, for the first time the look in Gary's eyes seemed completely lost. He was no longer in there with him.

Monk who was behind him started to back away slightly and appeared to be heading for the door, which seemed like a good choice at the moment. Looking at the door, Harry too felt the need to make a break for it.

As soon as he made a step through, Gary's gauntlet started to glow and slammed his fist into the ground. Chunks of the earth came up and started to levitate in the air around him.

By now, Monk was long gone and out of the door, but sadly for Harry it looked like all the attention was now on him.

"Harry, if you can't join me, then you need to die!

"

Moving his fist, the rocks moved as well heading for Harry aiming to crush him.

With no weapon, all Harry could do was avoid them, and that he did. He ducked and weaved out of position for each of them, but soon he would realise that the gauntlet allowed him to have complete control of the rocks. It wasn't long after that it seemed like the rocks were coming back.

In total there were five large pieces which were now circling around Harry.

'How am I meant to get out of this one?' He thought.

One of them came at him and Harry narrowly avoided it by bending sidewards, but then he was hit by another rock on the leg, causing him to stumble down onto one of his knees. Another rock came at him and had hit him across the face this time.

'If only I had a weapon I could use, anything!' Harry thought, but there was nothing on him or around him and before he knew it, he felt his body being lifted into the air.

Gary had Harry in his hands by the throat, using the dragon gauntlet to lift him above his head.

"If you wanted to find out why I wanted to go into the pit so much, then why didn't you just say yes to coming with me?

" Gary asked.

"Now it's such a shame because if you don't come with me, then it means you will have to die.

"

The grip around Harry's neck got tighter, it felt as if Gary really wanted to kill him he could at any second by crushing his throat. Instead, he chose to make Harry suffer by slowly suffocating him.

His vision was slowly fading, and now he felt like he was starting to see things. Another presence had entered the room, and when his eyesight came back for a brief second, he opened his eyes and he could see something red.

It looked like hair, but it was red and long and was someone's hair he had never seen before. That's when Harry noticed that it was a man, but there weren't many people he knew who had red hair. From behind he couldn't tell who it was, nor could he recognise the person's size and hairstyle.

"You want someone to go into the pit with you?

" A voice said. Gary's grip on Harry's throat was broken off with a strong punch from the stranger and Harry could finally breathe again as he dropped to the floor.

"Then me and you can go down there together dear friend. If this links me to him, then let's defeat him together.

"

Grabbing onto Gary, the red haired man suddenly jumped into the pit before falling in the strange man said one thing,

"Thank you for looking after the Redwings.

"

*******

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