Chapter VI: Reunited

The moment the door flew open Hugh and Nathan charged forward, ready to take on anything coming through it.
"Nathan, Hugh it's us!" Trevor shouted dodging Hugh's sword by mere inches.
"Trevor?" Hugh said as they backed away from the door dropping their weapons to their sides.
He nodded and walked into the room followed closely by Mina, Soma, Hector, and the others.
Nathan scanned the group and asked sternly, "Where is Eric and Isaac?"
"They are below us fighting Lisa and Camilla." Hector replied.
"What?!" Nathan shouted, "You just left them there by themselves?"
Yoko stepped forward and put a hand to Nathan's shoulder, "Be calm Nathan, they can take care of themselves. And besides, they told us to continue on. Have faith in them."
Nathan dropped his head and nodded, he then looked at the others and stated, "Well there is no need to stand around, let's get to the throne."
"Wait, Nathan do you know where Serenity is? Maybe we should try to find her first." Mina questioned nervously.
Nathan turned to her, considered for a moment then shook his head. "I don't know where she is, but I think we better move forward. After we lost her, she could be anywhere in the castle."
"I agree with Nathan." Hugh said turning his head to gaze out the window, "Even though I want to know if she is safe we need to continue on. We have to get out of here as soon as possible."
In agreement they walked through the room silently until they passed the broken window where Nathan and Hugh crashed through. "Nathan, Hugh?" Simon asked, stopping just beyond the light glistening through the broken shards of glass.
"What is it Simon?" Nathan replied turning back.
"There is no doubt in my mind that you felt the disturbance in the castle several minutes ago." he stated simply.
A slight smile played on Johnathan's lips as he said, "I'm pretty sure we all felt it, the entire castle was shaking."
Simon's face tightened as he said, "No, I was not referring to that. We all know that was Chaos. While we were running up the stairs I felt...something that I haven't felt in a long time."
At this all eyes turned to him and stared with mixed emotions of fear and concern. "Go on Simon, what was it?" Charlotte urged nervously.
"He doesn't have to, I felt it too. And I'm sure Adrian did as well." Nathan said gravely, his eyes glancing at Adrian's cold face.
"What is it? I feel something, but I don't know exactly what it is." Mina asked.
Before Nathan could reply Eric and Isaac burst through the door and both turned and slammed it shut behind them. "What are you doing here?!" Eric shouted behind his shoulder, "You should be long gone from here already!"
"Mina, Charlotte! Seal the door, do it now! Hurry!" Isaac demanded with as much force as Eric had.
The two snapped into action and in seconds the door was sealed with strong magic. "What's going on?" Jonathan asked as Eric and Isaac joined them.
"It's Morris and his friends. They're after us and it won't be long before they get in here." Eric said.
"We have to get to the throne as quickly as possible, there's something not right here." Isaac stated as they continued their journey out of the dim room and emerged into a brightly lit hall.
"We were just talking about that before you ran in." Trevor explained.
"It couldn't be what I think it is, it's impossible." Nathan stated almost to himself.
Suddenly Adrian stopped cold in his steps, his clam, cool eyes growing wide in almost horror. He absently put his head down to meet his hand rising to touch his brow.
"Adrian?" Jonathan asked with concern.
"No..." Simon said coldly, "That's not possible, it can't be." Simon was wearing the same look as Adrian and soon Trevor, Julius, Hector, and the Graves brothers had the same look of terror and disbelief.
"How?!" Eric demanded and slammed a fist into the wall. "I thought this was over!"
Not one had to ask what they were talking about, they all knew as soon as Adrian stopped walking what it was. None could believe it, and none wanted to believe it. What they sensed now was pure horror, grief, and defiance all in one. Every being in the castle, alive and dead, could feel it now. The pure malice that was surging through the castle and the land put everyone on edge, and, unknown to everyone, it was about to get much, much worse.