Blood spurted out of the general’s mouth as he drowned in his own blood. The other soldiers watched in horror at the death of their General; the other Lurker used this opportunity to begin its attack on the soldiers. As the soldiers fought the Lurker, the alpha came out of Toby’s body which began to disintegrate into dust before it even fell to the floor. The alpha went into the general’s body through the injury. Once it gained control of the general’s body, it wiped the blood from his face and concealed the wound from the general’s neck so he would look normal. He looked back at his comrade, who had already slain four soldiers and wounded one as his legs were broken with his bones exposed. The soldier screamed in agony from the excruciating pain wishing he would die. The Lurker approached the injured soldier and slit his throat with his formed blade. The soldier’s scream was enveloped in his own blood, gurgling as it filled his throat, choking him to death; the soldier collapsed, leaving only the last soldier standing. He stood frozen in fear as he was cornered by the Lurker and the Alpha in the General’s body. The Lurker slapped the weapon out of the soldier’s hand and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up from the ground. The Alpha looked at the soldier then at his comrade.

“Make sure his death is slow and painful.” Ordered the alpha.

The Lurkers shrilled with glee as he began his torture.

Meanwhile, the knights have returned to the castle, landing in the bay. As the door to their aircraft opened, and the Knights exited the craft, they were greeted by a captain and his soldiers as they saluted the Knights.

“Princess, we are thrilled to see you and the knights are ok.” Replied the relieved Captain. “Where are the others?”

“The General and his men were not too far; they will be coming shortly. Unfortunately, we had casualties.” Rika answered.

“That is unfortunate.” The captain replied solemnly.

The captain then noticed Caleb carrying Kevin over his shoulder and became curious.

“Is that one of the surviving villagers?” The Captain asked.

Rika was going to answer, but Anya raised her hand towards Rika to stop her. She looked at her Princess, wondering what she was going to do.

“Yes, he’s unconscious, but he’s stable. We will put him in one of our guest rooms until he wakes up; we will question him further.” She instructed. “Now, if you excuse us.”

The Princess leads the way out of the hanger and into the castle, where they placed Kevin in a large decorative room with a grand queen size bed. Caleb placed Kevin in bed and stood back as the Princess walked up to Kevin, sitting next to him. She looked at him, who was sleeping so peacefully. She looked at his facial features, admiring his strong jaw line, his long hair as dark as night. She remembered how beautiful yet intriguing his eyes were as she had never seen someone with different color eyes.

“He saved us.” She thought to herself. “I wonder where he came from. Was it my wish that brought him here?”

The other knights stood by, watching the Princess looking at this stranger passionately.

“Your highness, could you explain to us how this person got stuck in that barrier with you?” Vinnie asked.

“I don’t know, really.” The Princess replied. “I thought I was alone until I looked behind and saw him.”

“So, was he the one that caused the pillars to protect us and destroy those Lurkers?” asked Rika.

“I think so. It happened so fast. When I was stuck inside the pillar he was there.

Then she looked at the knights with excitement.

His reiki powers were incredible; I’ve never seen anything like that before,”

“But where did he come from? How did he find us?” Caleb questioned.

The Princess pauses realizing Caleb was right, he just came out of no where like an angel and rescued them. Then she remembers how he addressed her as he approached the pillar and looked back at her.

“I don’t know, but somehow, he knows who I am. He addressed me as the Princess and promised to protect me.” She answered. She then looked back at her sleeping hero and smiled thinking about her wish, thinking about her cry for help at the last minute. Deep down she knew the guy was the answer to her prayer. “I think he’s here to help us.”

The others looked at each other, unsure about the Princess’ confidence in this stranger; Rika watches as the Princess was fawning over the young man which made her upset.

Kevin, sleeping soundly, dreamed about the incident when he was little again. He was knocked out by Agent Parker. Though he was unconscious, he could hear his father calling out to him. He he opened his eyes to see he was in a dark and empty void.

"Where am I?" he asked worried. Suddenly he a flame of light emerges above him as it floats down in front of him. He felt the light to be warm and inviting. The flame began to form itself into the same size and shape as Kevin. It looked like a reflection of him only of pure blue light.

“Who are you?” The young Kevin asked.

The being remained silent, only looking at him.

"Do you want to save your family?" The being asked in his voice.

Kevin’s eyes widened when he heard about the chance that his family could be saved.

"Yes, I want to save my family." Exclaimed Kevin. "Tell me how."

The being then extended his hand out, waiting for Kevin to grab it.

"If you want to save your family, then it is power that you seek." The light said. "The power to protect."

The young Kevin stood up and approached the being of light. He reached out and grabbed the being’s hand.

"Please, give me the power to protect my family." Kevin pleaded.

"If it’s power you seek, it shall be yours." The being echoed as its light grew bright, lighting up the dark void.

Back in the present, Kevin could hear conversations from voices he’s never heard before. He wakes up moaning; the four then hear Kevin moaning as he is waking up. He opened his eyes, and though bright at first, his eyes adjusted. He then saw a beautiful woman looking down at him. Her eyes were as green as emerald, with juicy red lips and silky skin.

“Oh wow! I never imagined angels to be so beautiful.” Kevin softly exclaimed.

Nervously bashful, the Princess began to blush and looked away.

"Oh, um…t-thank you."

 Rika looked at them both and was tired of this fooling around. She approached them.

“Get up! You are to address the Princess with respect.” Rika snapped.

“Princess?!” Kevin questioned as he looked over to see Rika walking up to him.

Startled by Rika’s stern approach, he quickly sat up and looked around to see that he wasn’t in a bright room with pearly gates and all that stuff they would talk about in that big book about heaven and hell. He was in a royal decorative room with three people and a gorgeous babe dressed in what looked like cosplay outfits to him. He thought to himself that maybe what he dealt with before was probably another dream.

“What’s going on?” He asked. “Did I wind up in some cosplay convention or larping game?”

The Princess and the others looked at each other as they had never heard such words before.

“Cosplay?” The Princess asked.

“What is a larping game?” Vinnie asked.

“You’re kidding, right?” Kevin chuckled as he sat at the edge of the bed “I swear you people get into your weird fantasies.” All though…

Kevin paused as he looked at the Princess up and down. She wasn’t wearing the normal Princess outfits he would see in his favorite anime shows or games.

“I’m really liking your outfit, your highness,” Kevin replied.

Again, the princess’ face turns red flattered by the young man’s compliment but turns away shy that her hero likes how she looks.

"P-p-please, you’re making me blush.” She said. No need for your kind words. She quickly looks at him then quickly looks away as she tried to keep her composure as a princess but hearing his voice, seeing his smile she was looking flushed as she wanted to squeal with glee as he was even more attractive now that he was awake.

Frustrated, Rika pulled the Princess away from Kevin and had her stand behind her. Rika quickly extended her hand and used her reiki energy; as purple particles appeared and extended from her hand towards Kevin’s face. Suddenly her weapon, a Chinese hook, appeared in her hand as it aimed at Kevin, who stood back with his hands raised to show he was unarmed. He began to realize how serious she was.

“I had enough of this.” Snapped Rika. “Whether you saved us or not, you have no right to talk to the princess like that.”

“Whoa-whoa, let’s just calm down,” Kevin said nervously. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, and how did you do that thing with the hand and your weapon?”

Rika looks at Kevin confused as she wasn’t sure if he was messing with her.

“I used reiki, of course.” Answered Rika.

“Reiki?!” Kevin questioned. “So you’re a seirei jin too?”

“What if we are?” Caleb questioned.

Kevin looked around to see where he was as he tried to remember what had happened to him. He then looked back at the knights in curiosity.

“Is this the Advant Guard’s headquarters?” Kevin asked.

“The Advant guard?” Anya asked as she stood beside Rika.

“You know, those guys that hunt us down because of our powers.” He exclaimed. He then remembered back to when it was raining, and how the Advant Guard was chasing him. His memories were coming back to him. He slowly lowered his hands down, thinking back to what happened.

“Wait, I remember now. They were chasing me; it was raining. I fell off my bike, hanging on a cliff. I thought I was going to die until I heard my friend speak to me telling me to let go…and I did.” Kevin explained.

“Then a gemstone I found saved me. It shot me up into the sky, and next thing I know, I was leaving earth.”

Once Kevin mentioned Earth, everyone looked at Kevin, surprised; even Rika lowered her weapon. The weapon dematerialized into reiki energy, which she absorbed back into her body.

“You’re from Earth?” Rika questioned.

Kevin looked at them oddly as they looked shocked that he mentioned Earth. He wrinkled his face with uncertainty, trying to figure out if they were still acting or if they were serious about the question.

“Yea, why?” Kevin questioned.

The Knights looked at each other, unsure if they should tell him. They weren’t sure how he was going to take it. Princess Anya felt he needed to know the truth; she moved Rika aside as she sat right beside Kevin who looked at her, still unsure of what was going on.

“This isn’t your planet Earth.” The Princess answered. “You’re on our planet… Zonia.”

“What?!” Kevin softly exclaimed, shocked to hear what he was saying.

“The bridge between our world and yours has been closed for half a century.” She continued.

“Wait, What?!” Kevin yelled in complete shock.

The aircraft that General De Grandis and his men were on back at the hanger arrived and landed. The Captain and his crew, who waited patiently for their return, were outside the hanger. They walked up to the aircraft as it opened to reveal the slain soldiers.

“By the stars of Aeries.” The Captain said under his breath. “Stay armed, men, and prepare to fire if you see the enemy.”

The captain’s troops took out their weapons and carefully approached the ship. The Captain and his crew were about to enter until they heard soft, groaning noises that sounded like the General. Suddenly slowly walking out of the ship was General De Grandis walking a wounded soldier out of the aircraft.

“Captain, we defeated the monster.” the General said in his weakened state.

The Captain and his guards hovered over the survivors to assess their injuries, but the general motioned for them not to get too close as he and his comrade were exiting the aircraft.

“Stop crowding us and give us some room.” The General ordered.

The Captain and his men responded as they moved back to give them room.

“Sir, what happened?” The Captain asked.

“We were ambushed from the inside by one of those things.” Replied the General. “It came out of nowhere; we were lucky to survive.”

“Where is the creature?” Asked the Captain.

“It’s remains are inside.” Replied the wounded soldier.

“I’m glad you guys are ok.” Replied the Captain. “Let us escort you to the infirmary.”

“You don’t think I know where that is, Captain?” Snapped the General.

“No, sir.” The Captain nervously spoke up. “I just thought-

“You thought wrong. Start investigating how that thing got on my ship immediately.” Ordered the General.

The Captain saluted then he and his men started examining the ship while the General and his soldier left the hanger. Once they were out of the hanger and with no one in sight, they started to search for the Princess and the one responsible for killing off their kind, Kevin. Meanwhile, Kevin was still in disbelief that he was in another world. He sat at the edge of the bed, bent over with his head buried in his hands, trying to process it all. The Princess and the Knights gave him space as they stood across the room.

“Do you really think he’s from Earth?” Caleb asked softly to the others.

“That pillar of light did bring him here.” Vinnie softly replied. “It must’ve somehow bridged our worlds.”

“The only way for that to happen was with the help of the gemstones, and those have been lost to us for years,” Rika added.

The Princess wasn’t really focused on the conversation. She couldn’t help but look at the melancholy earthling who sat alone. Knowing that they weren’t going to get any answers just standing there, she had to learn more about their visitor. She left the group and walked over to him. The knights watched, curious as to what she was going to do. Rika watched them carefully, especially Kevin.

The Princess approached Kevin, who was still distraught with his head buried in his hands as he remained still. He didn’t bother to see who was walking up to him; she sat next to him again.

“Are you alright?” The Princess asked.

At first, he didn’t budge, but he then lifted his head up and sat up straight, just looking ahead, staring into space. He let out a big sigh of defeat.

“I-I don’t know,” Kevin said with disappointment in his voice. “One minute, I’m running for my life; the next, I’m in a new world. What if the Advant Guards got my family and friends? There’s nothing I can do.”

The Princess looked at the melancholy Kevin. She felt sorry for him as she couldn’t imagine what could be happening on Earth. She thought back for a second about the lessons and stories she heard when she was little but then remembered the harsh truths she was taught.

“Then truly nothing has changed on Earth.” She solemnly said.

When Kevin heard the Princess’s statement, it got his attention to the point that he looked at her confusedly.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“Our kind actually came from Earth before we made a home here on Zonia.” The Princess replied. “Like you, we were hunted down for what we are.”