The Emperor frowned deeply and shook his head to this madness!

That boy of his!

Sahara saw the Bands returning and simply teleported all of them to the cold palace, knowing that her headache was getting slightly worse as the time went on.

She had been able to handle more and more, now that she had used the spiritual essence more and more, but it still was easy to obtain pain from using the spiritual essence that was not her own.

“Your Majesty!” Both of the Ministers yelled out, bowing straight away to the Emperor.

“Where is Minister Rolland and Minister…” The Emperor started but through their fear, he was interrupted by one of them, “They are…They are on the palace walls, Your Majesty! There’s only us left! They are…They are…”

 

Matthew widened his eyes in pure astonishment, but the Emperor turned to Sahara, “Bring them here to us.”

“Imperial Father…That is not what they are meaning…” Matthew stated.

Sahara looked at Matthew and frowned…

Shaking her head, she brought out another star and then put a handout to the Emperor, expanding her vision to not only him but Matthew as well.

All three of them watched with the eyes of the ‘star’ going towards the palace walls, and came to a halt upon the large opening into the palace…And there they were…

Heads, three heads were attached to pikes…

And one of them was…Her father…

 

Sahara didn’t have time to feel glad that this wasn’t a trap, as the Ministers were really one of them and not one of Prince Liam’s. She didn’t have time to go through memories of her father, even though most of them held his obvious greed and anger towards her…Suddenly, everything went black…

Matthew stated out Sahara’s name in worry, seeing her fainting, and picked her up.

He knew it! It was too much for her!

The beheaded heads were forgotten to Matthew as he worried of Sahara but…The Emperor was completely ashen in anger!

Both of his most important Ministers were dead!

How dare he! How dare that insolent son do this to him!?

Clenching his fist with one hand and the decree in his other hand, the Emperor continued to stand there but it was obvious to everyone else that there was fury that was surrounding him.

Silence overcome everyone then, as they watched the Emperor and got scared to the further degree of fury seen in his eyes as the time went on! None of them had ever felt such a forbidden feeling, nor did they ever see the Emperor like this before!

Matthew looked at Band One and Two, then at Kin…This was not good…

 

They were now right near the palace, right near their enemy!

And where were they to go!?

Having found a Minister now to state the decree, there were only two here that were loyal, and they did not have the same type of power as that of a right or left Minister!

The people may not accept the decree or…Worse…The decree may not get as far as being known if they were caught!

Matthew felt a slight sense of panic to the two precious bodies that were in danger! His beloved and his son should not be here right now!

Why didn’t they wait one more day!?

 

***

 

Sahara could only see black, yet she was sure that she was somewhat awake at the same time.

She felt like her conscious was being plucked away from her though, or to say, away from Matthew and where her body was.

To what felt like wind going across her in waves, yet not feeling it, perhaps just hearing it, Sahara then heard mumblings and rumblings in the far distance.

She didn’t know where she was but as she felt like she was going somewhere, it seemed she was getting closer and closer to these mumblings and rumblings!

Voices seemed to go through her mind, but she could make no sense of them! The rumblings felt like it was the earth moving below her yet, she couldn’t feel it…It was weird…

What’s going on!?

In the next second, a blurry sight was being seen and she didn’t know if it was her real eyes seeing this or like one of her green stars but…

As the blurry sight turned more and more real, and like a ‘HD’ version, Sahara felt an excessive amount of astonishment wash over her.

 

She thought that the Divine Beasts would eagerly pounce upon the invaders that was in front of it but…She didn’t think that it would just stand there, in the seen distance of what seemed to be the army coming from Red Haven.

The mumblings turned into yells and the wind and earth around the Divine Beast started to circle around it.

What’s…Going on? Sahara asked through eyes that couldn’t shift away from the sight.

‘You will see Master.’

That voice, that she tried to dismiss normally, Sahara listened to it this time without a problem.

Looking at the army, Sahara swallowed, taking those sitting forms in and some where even drinking or eating.

Was it some sort of party in the middle of the vast wilderness? She tried to joke…But it didn’t work…

 

Not knowing how much time went by as the mumblings and rumblings continued but suddenly things changed, and some strange looking people looked like they were trying to sing but they were completely off pitch.

‘They achieved it.’ The voice stated. ‘We had a feeling that you should have seen this, even if they had failed…’

“Achieved what?” Sahara asked, seeing the army to what looked like cheering?

‘The Divine Beast is now under the shaman’s controls.’

Sahara felt like time stopped, and as the news finally set in, Sahara felt like vomiting!

Con…Controlling a Divine Beast!?

Are you kidding!?

She was…Completely shocked and…Scared…

If before this army was something to be worried about, now…This army was something that could definitely change the scales!

Sahara was officially thrown into a type of panic to a different future to the original one that she was only slightly trying to comprehend!

‘Don’t forgot, Master, it is still a beast and will not be able to go through the anti-beast shield.’

Sahara shook her head, no…

Just having the Divine Beast would be intimidating and would stoop moral! Not only that, who would step out of the shield to defend, especially if they attack…From outside of the shield?

At the moment, anti-beast shield or not, the Divine Beast being controlled was not a good thing!

 

This type of change, this type of…

Sahara widened her eyes to see some of the army even now attempt to attach themselves to the Divine Beast. Seeing that the Divine Beast didn’t do anything, Sahara bit her lip in anxiety.

‘Master, it seems you have more work ahead of you.’

Sahara would have normally gotten angry at hearing words such as these but was completely shocked to go that far at this point of time…Because…She agreed with it completely!

After some time of just watching the army attach themselves to this Divine Beast, it finally took an earth shuddering step and the direction it was going…Was, of course, closer towards Green Haven! It might still stop at Blue Haven but…It was obvious that they were directing the steps of the Divine Beast closer, that at least was true!

This…Changes things…

 

What do I do? Sahara asked herself, continuing to watch the Divine Beast walk.

Could I stop the controlling?

If she could stop the controlling somehow, perhaps then kill the shaman’s, so that it can’t happen again…

The army was quite large, if she were to have a one-track mind of killing the shamans, would she not only survive but would the controlling stop anyway?

Then, if she can’t get to the shamans, what is she to do? She can’t wait for the beast to make it all the way to Green Haven! There are still innocent people there, there’s still…Matthew and Kin!

Taking a deep breath in, Sahara tried to calm down.

The Divine Beast might be huge, but it was slow, wasn’t it? So it would take a while to get to Green Haven, especially…

That’s right, Sahara remembered, only more will be added to this army when they reach Blue Haven…

Dammit!

That would mean, if she were to kill the shaman’s, in an attempt to stop the controlling, she needed to do it sooner, rather than later!

Why?

Why can’t she stop for a moment!

I mean, she thought, will the beast walk without stopping at all, when normally an army would have to for sleeping and eating? Wouldn’t this all just let their army be still fresh and not exhausted upon getting to their destination?

Ok, she told herself, in an attempt to calm down, I don’t know yet if the beast would continue to walk closer at all so…Just calm down!

 

…It was good and all to be busy, especially when there weren’t any computer games on this planet, but…Sahara already felt exhausted, and her problems only seem to get bigger and bigger!

‘We will let you go now, Master. Normally you would have your own spiritual essence and we could do this without taking your conscious out of your body but this time we had to use our own spiritual essence and so your body is currently still in Green Haven and unconscious. There is no time to speak further, as you are still in a crisis in Green Haven! We trust your judgement, Master. Now wake up!’

In one moment, she was watching the Divine Beast, in another she woke up with widened eyes and seeing Matthew’s face right in front of her.

Putting a hand to her head, Sahara blinked a few times.

“Sahara! Are you ok?” Matthew asked, his voice holding a bit of panic.

He was just about to organize how they would get out of the cold palace, thinking that it still wouldn’t be good for them to stay there, even though they were slightly hidden away and still unknown about.

Sahara groaned and nodded.

In a defeated way, she let her hand flop down and sighed, “We have another problem.”

The Emperor came into her view then and stated, “This King is aware of our predicament!”

Sahara put her feet on the ground, and said, “Oh, the one I’m talking about is much worse…”

 

The Emperor frowned, what could be worse than he being off his throne and his son running riots!

He wanted to set things straight right now!

“The army heading here has just controlled a Divine Beast.” Sahara bluntly stated. “They have not met up with Blue Haven’s army yet and so, I…If there is a time to try and stop the controlling of the Divine Beast, by killing the shaman’s, it should probably happen soon, instead of waiting for both armies to link up!”

Silence overcame the room as the few around them hardly believed their ears to the words of ‘Divine Beast’.

The Ministers didn’t even know what the Divine Beast really was, the Bands knew but found it highly unbelievable and Matthew was the most that felt like the situation had indeed becoming something drastic!

“Control…Divine Beast…That is nonsense! Only a Golden Emperor can control a Divine Beast!” The Emperor stuttered. At least he knew a little of something about this but believing it was another issue entirely!

The denial was easily seen in many, so all Sahara could do was sigh and say, “Nonetheless, I just saw it. They have a Divine Beast and perhaps their time to get here will be shortened…Maybe…”