After the words were spoken by the strange shadow man, something clicked inside Van. Something bad was about to happen, very bad, and it was all going to be because of him.

'Not again, I can't let others get hurt because of me again! I have to do something. I can't let more people die!' Van thought as he struggled, kicking his feet and screaming. Pure frustration and anger could be felt in his screams.

The shadow man had left the magic circle that Van was trapped in. Wiz then tapped his cane on the ground a couple more times until the magic circle underneath him started to light up and glow.

A burning sensation was felt inside of Van's stomach. The screams of anger soon turned into screams of pain, so much so that now no sound was coming out. His eyes faded as they hollowed out and the whole room started to glow.

The power had started to sweep out from Van's body and flow into the circle underneath him. Then a great white light shined out from the circle, hitting the very dark clouds above and separating them.

"It looks like the plan is working out perfectly." The shadow man said. "Sen, I'm sure everyone will be happy to see you when they return."

The Redwings had managed to climb back down from the fortress that was located high in the giant tree, and before leaving, Monk had given them the direction towards the main fortress where Van would have been taken.

Soon, the small Redwing group had entered the snowy terrain, which happened to be the same direction where Ray had fallen, but they wouldn't be looking for Ray. Instead, they were waiting for the people from Avrion to arrive.

Knowing such a large force was to be sent over, Lenny was able to create a large teleportation device, and Bliss had done the same at Avrion. Then using what beast crystals they had managed to gather on their journey here, they were able to power both ends of the magic circle. Just a few moments later, in the cold, harsh and thick snow, the Redwing members appeared with Wilfred leading at the front.

"It's good to see you again." Jack said, looking at them all.

"Whoa, did they send everyone from Avrion?" Flynn thought as he looked at all the troops. In total now, it looked as if ten thousand members were sent.

"It looks like that little dwarf did a good job." Jack said, looking at the werewolves that had been sent along, and they were wearing the special yellow armour that was created for them.

"Unfortunately, Ray is not with us so Jack has taken command for now." Martha said. "But as the council members such as Sir K are here -"

"We are here for support, if the people have been following Jack for now, then it must mean they have a lot of trust in him." Wilfred replied. "Besides, I'm sure Ray will join us at a later time, he always knows when trouble is brewing. I believe he has a sense for these things."

It didn't take long for the full force to travel towards the main fortress. According to Monk, the fortress wasn't too far away, and once they could see the lava flowing river, as long as they followed that, they would get to the fortress.

While halfway through their journey however, they all noticed something high and tall in the sky, a bright white light. It lit up the giant tower it was emanating from and pierced the clouds above, and they could see what looked to be a circle that was slowly opening up.

"Are they opening up another rift?" Lenny asked while looking at it.

"You mean, the same one that the dragon form before came out of?" Jack asked.

Knowing what Monk had told them, it seemed to be partly true and they would soon need to speed up.

Following along the lava river which was scorching hot even by being near it, they could see another one on the other side a great distance away, and finally the grand fortress could be seen.

It was a strange sight to behold as the rivers seemed to run uphill on either side and started to swirl towards the back of the fortress. In front of the fortress was a large flat snow wasteland. There was nothing but snow.

"There are no beasts?" Martha said, as she flew up high trying to see if she could spot anything.

"They don't need any," Lenny said, looking at the front of the fortress clenching his fist. Standing in front of the fortress a great distance away were three unidentifiable figures.

Standing at the front of the ten thousand Redwing members were Jack, Martha, Wilfred, Sir K, Lenny, and the twins, Badger and Sloth.

It was a great shame that in the past there were even more Redwing members, but many were lost to the Shadow and the one that had brought all these people together wasn't even here.

"They would have known we were coming. Are they going to fight with just those three?" Badger asked as he pulled out a pair of daggers.

"Those three have the power to wipe out a large number of us, look closely they are not human!" Lenny shouted, as his ferric eyes were staring at one of the figures in particular, the female looking beast with wings on her back. "They have the grand mage Wiz, and to the side of him are the two of the strongest humanoid beasts in existence."

"Is it true?" Wilfred asked with a frown on his face. "They are humanoid demon tier beasts?!"

Hearing this stunned a lot of the Redwing members, but luckily they were away from the main group. The Demon tier was the highest tier of beasts and knowing the strength of a legendary tier beast, they couldn't hope to win.

"I will get revenge!" Lenny shouted. "Especially that female one, for killing my family. The Shadow will pay!"

The others always wondered why Lenny had a deep hatred for the Shadow, but he never spoke about it much. Now they were starting to get an idea of why.

With Wiz standing at the front of the fortress, he lifted up his staff that also acted as a cane and soon black portals were appearing. They would open up and beasts started to pour through.

******

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