After Ray's order the group had set off chasing behind Monk towards the fortress. They had some catching up to do and in truth it was unlikely they would get to the fortress before them. Still, the longer they allowed them to investigate on their own, the higher chance they had of finding something and hiding it from Ray and the others.

Ray could have gone ahead of the others using Noir, but with what had just happened, he was worried. He worried that it might have been part of their plan all along. They were still in the shadow continent territory. They had eyes everywhere and probably even knew what they were doing now.

If Ray left these people, there was a chance that was when they would spring an attack up on them. He also didn't want the same incident to happen as before.

"Damn it.

" Flynn said as he stopped to stomp the ground in anger.

"I can't believe it, how could Kyle be the traitor, how was he taken over by the shadow? I don't understand, he was always looking over us, he had the chance to kill us at any time so why didn't he?

"

"Many strong knights and people get taken over by the shadow.

" Wendy said, trying to comfort him.

"It also happened to Gary and Monk.

"

"But that's different, Kyle was with us for so long. And what about Harry? I heard he was the one who had actually killed Kyle. Isn't he still suspicious, he could be making everything up.

"

The kids hadn't seen what had happened in the leaders tent that day, since they had slept in their own tents. The only ones that were aware of what Kyle had done were the leaders themselves, and the information had been passed down from them.

"You can hate me if you want.

" Harry said, slowing down his pace and matching his speed with the kids.

"Trust me I understand how you feel, this is the first time someone close to me has been affected by the shadow. It can happen to anyone, when I touched those dragon bones, I knew there was something that was trying to take over me. Unfortunately most of its power must have already been used on Kyle.

"You have to be careful, the shadow is able to feed and bring out some of our darkest desires and use that against us. Maybe Kyle wished to improve his swordsmanship and back sash night skills, so he tested it out on fellow knights in the middle of the night. Perhaps Kyle had some type of jealousy against Van, and was why he had tried to kill the prince.

"The problem is sometimes, it is hard for us to tell what is an action that has been influenced by the shadow. It's hard to tell whether these extreme actions were genuine, or actions from the shadow itself, using Kyle like a puppet.

"

"Kyle's not a puppet.

" Flynn mumbled, disregarding everything that Harry had just said. They were just young knights, children at the end of the day.

"Take this as a lesson.

" Lenny said joining in.

"Anyone can be affected by the shadow at any point and time. No one is immune to it. Did you know, even the old dragon knights of Avrion were affected. How do you think they were defeated?

"The divine being had given them power, knowledge and even powerful weapons. In the end, when infected by the shadow, all of those things that had been given to them was used against Avrion.

"

The kids knew about the old dragon knights' well and so did the Redwing army. It was a story told to them all as they attempted to become knights. At the time it was the only hope the human race had against defeating the shadow, and they had even managed to hold them back from attacking further.

Although up until today they had never heard that their defeat was due to them being infected. None of the books would tell them stories of this, but it reminded them that Lenny perhaps wasn't lying, as he was one of the few people that were still alive during the time of the Dragon knights.

All of his experience and knowledge didn't come from books, but were known to him first hand.

"Kyle isn't coming back to us.

" Ray spoke.

"What we need to focus on are those that are alive and make sure that another Kyle doesn't happen again.

"

After travelling for a full day, it was time for them to set up camp as they usually did. They were still in the giant forest, making them feel like ants and on edge. Still, they hadn't run into many beasts or any shadow beasts, or beasts at all apart from their first encounter.

This had made them feel a little safer at night. That night, when Ray was trying to get some sleep, he could hear a strange voice calling out to him.

He looked around the tent, but could see everyone was still asleep. Activating his dragon eyes, he could also see that the guards were standing outside and alive, no one looked to have been attacked or was dying.

Then, the strange voice was heard again, this time he realised that it wasn't his ears picking up the sound, it sounded like it was being directly projected in his head. Leaving the tent, Ray looked at the two guards who were wide awake, and it didn't seem like they had seen anything.

Now though, the voice calling to him was getting louder and he knew he wasn't imagining things. Following the voice, he had left the camp and now he could make out a few words.

"Over…here.

"

The voice said, still guiding him and then he could see it. A dark shifty shadow in the shape of a human, hiding behind one of the giant trees.

Unsure if it was friend or foe, Ray proceeded cautiously. Then when the shadow dipped it's head out, Ray realised it wasn't exactly a shadow he was seeing. It was a ghost.

"Ray I don't have much time, I'm here to warn you.

" Kyle said.

*****

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