After the meeting with the humans, Poisudonom returned to the black planet by the sea. Currently, he was swimming inside the empty ocean around him.
'Weird… they haven't met him either.' Poisudonom remained confused about something; not even the humans had met the last Black Defender. 'Let's give this information to the others too…' With that, Poisudonom, with a worried look on his face, reached the black planet as fast as he could.
Poisudonom immediately spotted Garwhole, Eyrunik, Rhihamr, Phocylides, and Anacreon. It felt like they were having a sort of big discussion; it seemed as if everyone was going against Rhihamr.
"We've told you, it's a war, we need to do everything we can!" shouted Garwhole on top of Phocylides' head. "You have to hear your brother, Rhihamr," said Phocylides with a provocative tone.
Rhihamr bit his lips in anger while he closed his fist tighter. "I will never accept your way of behaving…" he whispered while looking down. Phocylides positioned a hand over his ear and spoke in a more provocative way while smirking, "You should speak louder." Phocylides made a small laugh at the end of the sentence that made Rhihamr even angrier than before.
"Hey, look who it is," said Garwhole with his annoying voice as he suddenly spotted Poisudonom walking towards them. The small Krukin started to fly towards him and positioned himself on his shoulder. "What happened? We've never seen you here this often," pointed out Eyrunik as he saw Poisudonom.
"Hehe, right. Since I've been there, I've only seen you when you brought Archilochus back and today," said Anacreon playfully.
"By the way, how is Archilochus doing?" asked Poisudonom, worried for his friend.
"He's currently training on the Earth. He says that he wishes to get stronger so he can kill the one who defeated him in Yalemba," answered Garwhole before adding something else. "By the way, why are you here? Didn't you say you wanted to keep exploring the oceans on the Earth?"
"I've met the humans, the one with the fox and his small group," said Poisudonom. Phocylides, hearing that, moved closer to him. "Did I hear right? You've met Sir Thorne?" asked Phocylides, surprised and with a big grin over his face.
Poisudonom gave him an annoyed look before talking again. "This isn't what matters the most. The important thing is that I had a small talk with them, and I've discovered something important that actually affects all of us." Hearing that, the Krukins there remained curious; even Phocylides and Anacreon wondered what it was.
"They don't know where Ashikunz is either." Hearing this, Rhihamr's and Garwhole's faces twisted in sadness, while Eyrunik and Anacreon remained confused, as they had never heard his name before. Phocylides' face became angrier.
"That stupid Krukin, why the hell did he go alone?" Annoyed, Phocylides gave a kick to the ground under him and walked away.
"Wait, Ashikunz? Who the hell is this?" Anacreon was confused, especially seeing everyone's face. "I don't remember anyone by that name either…" said Eyrunik, confused.
"He is the ninth Black Defender," said Rhihamr. "Eyrunik, you've seen him, but you were too little to remember him. While you, Anacreon… you've been here just for twenty years, you could have never met him," added Rhihamr.
"But what happened? Why have we never met him?" asked Anacreon. "Yeah, if he is one of our brothers, why does he never return home?" asked Eyrunik. "Did the humans kill him?" he added worriedly.
The other Krukins had thoughtful looks on their faces. "Sadly, we don't know either," said Garwhole as he became sad and started to look down.
"He left around three hundred years ago. He just couldn't accept the fact that we had a human ally," said Rhihamr as he got even angrier. Poisudonom, looking at the mood he had caused, decided that he had to go away so he could keep searching for him.
"I guess I'll keep searching for him. I'm sure he can't be dead, he was too strong." Hearing this, Garwhole's and Rhihamr's faces returned to a more relaxed expression. "Exactly," said both of them together, nodding their heads.
Garwhole flew off Poisudonom's shoulder and landed on Eyrunik's. "If you discover anything more, let us know immediately," said Garwhole. Poisudonom nodded his head and left the black planet to return to Earth.
On the starship, Darian's face suddenly became pale as he read the text. It felt like all the worries he had before had just been replaced by this new one. 'What? What does he mean…' he thought, confused. Lily, next to him, noticed Darian's face becoming strange and grew worried. "What is it, Darian?" she asked as she got closer to him.
Darian, before giving the actual answer, immediately got up from his chair. "We need to return immediately. Rusty told me that something important happened."
Liro, hearing this in another room, got worried and came out. "What happened?" he asked.
"I don't know… but we should return immediately." Darian then took his phone and typed to Rusty: 'We're returning.'
"Did something bad happen?" asked Vane as he came out of a room. "Definitely. We should not lose any time," answered Darian. The group grabbed the last of their things before returning to Rusty.
Darian grabbed both of the pictures he had of his family and carefully put them inside his backpack. Then he returned to his room and went to take all the seeds he had brought from XERBAB-7.
"Are there plants you've never told us about too?" asked Lily curiously as she got closer to Darian, who nodded his head. "When Rusty is able to grow them, I'll show them to you."
Darian wasn't even able to give a proper goodbye to the rocket, as he had so many thoughts in his mind that were making him more worried. Liro, noticing Darian's sad look the moment they were coming out of the rocket, positioned his hand on his back. "I'm sure we will be able to return without any problem next time." Darian gave a fake smile, and with that, the group started to return to the base.
The moment they came out, it was already late; it was around 6 p.m. and they had to decide the route to take. "The subway might be the safest…" murmured Lily, as she remembered that they would need to go down the cliff again, and they might not find an actual exit.
"We can take the same path I took when I returned here to Earth, it will take us less than two days," said Darian. The group had already camped in a small spot where there weren't any Krukins.
"I'm too tired to think of anything, guys, I guess I'll go and sleep." Liro was feeling extremely tired, so he already turned over and began to sleep.
"I wonder what Rusty needs to tell us…" said Vane while looking up at the beautiful stars above them. Without noticing, Lily had fallen asleep too, and Darian and Vane were the only ones awake.
"Maybe it is something related to the feather?" added Vane while looking at Darian, who nodded his head. "He would have sent me the picture of what he discovered… I guess something worse happened," answered Darian while petting Snowy next to him.
"Mmm… let's hope it isn't anything bad…" With that, Vane turned around and began to sleep too. Darian, the only one awake, was lost in his thoughts. 'He actually called me Thorne, right? I'm sure I didn't imagine it…' he thought while laying down next to Snowy.
'I haven't told anyone my surname in this world. Then how is it possible that someone knew about me?' Darian began searching for a solution to this question inside his mind. 'Maybe they've read about me in a book? No, that's impossible. The collision after the black planet happened too soon; they would have never had the time to write about me…' Darian's mind was about to explode, as he couldn't find an actual solution to his problem.
'Then how the hell did they know about my surname? It shouldn't be possible…' Darian knew that it wasn't necessarily dangerous, but it all felt strange, especially because he wanted to be the one to discover the truth of what had happened to Earth in these five hundred years.
'I'm sure it isn't anything bad…' Darian looked at the stars in the sky with his eyes half-closed as tiredness began to take over his body.' I think they must have found some old record…' This small conclusion couldn't be a proper answer for Darian, but still, it was something more.
The following day, Darian felt something licking his face. The moment he opened his eyes, he found Snowy on top of him with the others already awake. "Oh, he's finally awake," said Vane. Darian slowly moved Snowy from his face and took him in his hands. "Yeah… I'm awake," said Darian as he received some fruit from Liro. "Eat this up and we can go." Darian nodded as he started to eat the small fruit Liro gave him.
After some minutes, the group was finally ready to return to the base, and they didn't lose any time.
"There should be a river somewhere nearby…" Darian remembered when he was fighting Kyujin and he fell into the river that brought him directly to the entrance of the desert. While they walked, multiple Krukins tried to move closer, but thanks to Liro's illusions and Lily's roots, they died almost instantly.
After two hours of walking, Darian and the others had finally found the river they were searching for. "Is this the one?" asked Liro. Darian searched around with his eyes and thought for a moment. "I'm sure there weren't any other rivers nearby…" Darian looked into the river, hoping that he would be able to see the cave he fell into last time, and soon enough, he was able to see it.
"Oh, finally!" said Darian as he was able to find the cave. "Should we enter from here?" whispered Liro as he felt a bit disgusted by entering the river. "I feel like if we go from there…" said Darian while pointing to the south, "we might reach the eastern part of Africa… and I'm sure if we find some mountains on the walk, I think it is our better solution." Darian was about to jump into the river when he suddenly remembered something. 'Damn, the phone; I would have lost it,' he thought as he took the phone and put it in his backpack, knowing that it would be safe and wouldn't get wet.
"I'll wait for you there!" shouted Vane as he launched himself into the river, landing perfectly inside the cave. "Lily, are you sure you can't do anything with your roots now?" asked Liro. Lily, without hesitation, shook her head. "Sadly, no; some water will still pass between my roots," she answered.
"Come on, you will not get hurt!" shouted Darian as he launched himself into the water too. Liro was at the edge of the river thinking if he actually had to do it. "Maybe it is better to just…" Liro couldn't even finish speaking before Lily pushed him into the river and then launched herself too. "I'm coming!!"
Caught by surprise, the moment Liro landed on the ground he started to cough, as some water had entered his mouth. "You should have at least warned me…" he said while looking away, annoyed. The others laughed softly.
Darian and the others started to walk inside this cave, which took only two hours, and Darian remembered perfectly the way to get to the exit. The moment he went outside, the place was, as always, full of Krukins.
"There are so many…" pointed out Liro. Vane, next to him, turned into a buffalo. "I'll run as fast as I can; get on me!" said Vane, inviting the others onto his back. Everyone else, realizing that it was the best option, got on top of him.
"Let's go!!" shouted Vane as he came out of the cave, rushing at extreme speed towards the entrance of the desert. All the Krukins were taken by surprise and couldn't do anything.
In less than thirty seconds, Vane had reached the desert. The only Krukins in his way were killed easily by Lily.
"We did it…" whispered Liro, breathing heavily. Vane, next to him, turned back into a human. The time was barely 3 p.m. "Somewhere there is the tower of the Arkhos, and from there it is another two hours of walking!" Darian, still with a lot of energy, began to walk towards the base, followed by the others who were significantly tired.
After two hours of walking under the hot sun in the desert, the group finally reached the place where the base was located. "Let's hope everything is still alright…" whispered Darian. The moment he and the group looked at the base, everything was the same as it was; nothing had been destroyed yet.
"Let's see inside," said Darian. The others next to him nodded, and all of them rushed inside the house. Darian opened the door without thinking twice, and what he saw inside made his heart beat extremely fast.
In the house was Rusty, next to him was Bianca, and sitting on the bed was someone else, a girl, someone they had never seen before. Darian was sure she looked like a human, but had something strange about her. Behind her back there were wings, the feathers on them were totally different compared to the ones he had already found. These feathers were red on the inside and yellow at the sides, it felt like these feathers created a sort of heat, because the room was hotter than usual.
"Please… we need your help…" said the woman, who was gravely injured.