250 Back from the dead

Detra and the kids were staring in disbelief as Xadi, Eclipse, and Lance entered the inn they were hiding in right after they assumed the three had been destroyed alongside the East temple.

"How are you still alive!!??" Detra shouted.

"Nice to see you too..." the frog toy replied.

"Answer the question!! We saw the mansion going up in flames!! Is this some kind of trick?? Are you one of the demons in disguise??"

"Demons...??"

Claire and Dia were confused as well as they separated Xadi from Lance who kept trying to devour the toy.

"A demon attacked the temple and blew it up like it was nothing... We thought everyone in it was dead..." Claire whispered.

"Oh... I see... And here I was thinking you were the one behind that..." Xadi commented.

"What!!??"

"I mean... What did you expect?? You're the only mage I know that deals with explosions..." Xadi tried to argue as Claire proceeded to strangle him, but as he was a spirit he couldn't feel anything.

"Are all the others alive as well...??" Dia wondered.

"Yes, yes... Everyone is fine... Right before the temple went up in flames that crazy Hana goddess or whatever appeared in the last second and used her power to teleport everyone out of the building..." Xadi explained.

"Ah... I see..." Detra mumbled, "Someone must have prayed for her and alerted that the place was in danger..."

"Wait... We can call for the gods just by praying to them??" Claire gasped.

"Well... Not anymore..." Detra admitted, "without the shrine, Hana can't be contacted anymore... And I've been trying to reach for any of the others with no success... My guess is that all the other shrines got destroyed as well..."

"So... We don't have access to any of the gods??" Claire gasped, "How are we going home??"

Detra rested her chin on her hand, "We need to get the shrines back... But we can't do that while running away from Kuncker's demon dragons..."

"Then... What do we do...?? I went through all that training and fought in a war to rescue my mother, and now I'm stuck here without being able to see her???" Claire complained.

"Don't worry... We will fix this somehow!" Dia mentioned trying to cheer Claire up.

"How!!??" Claire wondered.

Dia opened her mouth to reply but quickly realized she had no idea. She then stared at Detra and hoped she would have an answer.

"What...?" Detra mumbled while noticing Claire and Dia staring at her.

"You're the adult here... What do we do?" Dia whispered.

"I'm the adult here...?" Detra repeated. She then looked around and finally realized she was truly the only one who wasn't a kid in that place besides the frog doll, "Oh, Lord... I'm the only adult here..."

"This is gonna be awful..." she murmured.

Claire noticed that the woman was lost in her own thoughts and turned to Xadi again, "How did you find us...?"

"The black lion has a really good sense of smell... After we exited the temple the baby grabbed me and wouldn't let me go no matter how much I tried, and when this kid is alone the big guy always follows him around to make sure he is safe... Once he saw that his parents were gone, he just started to roam around looking for any familiar scent while dragging me with it..."

"..." Claire stared at Xadi for a moment.

"What...?"

"I just realized that I'm talking with a possessed talking, walking fur toy like it's the most normal thing in the world..."

"Hehe... Welcome to the world of magic... So anyway, where is my disciple?"

Dia raised her hand to point at the table, "He passed out after absorbing demon dragon fire while trying to protect us and now won't stop overheating..."

"He absorbed demon dragon fire?? Haha!! That's my disciple!!" Xadi proudly boasted, "A couple more years and I will be able to enjoy an easy life while sponging off of him as my number one student!!"

"Oh, you poor illuded soul..." Claire muttered.

"Step back!!" Xadi ordered while jumping on the table, "He is my boy, let me deal with his treatment! Someone get me a wand or a staff!"

Detra handed over Joseph's shield to the toy and observed as he began to take care of the kid.

"Detra, is it ok to let this guy have access to magic??" Claire wondered.

"He knows healing magic and ice magic... He's the best person to help Joseph and his problem... Plus, this will give me time to put my thought in order..."

Detra used this moment to re-cap everything she knew so far. The temples were destroyed, the gods were gone, Evlin and her team were still in the city of the West, and Knucker was out there sending demon dragons after them.

She needed to get the shrines fixed but to do that, she would need to get rid of the demons, but from what she saw, they were now made of dragon DNA as well, and the only way to deal with that was terminal energy.

Evlin and Marcus were away, and Ellie was still weak from her fight with Mia. So the only one left was...

"Hey, girl...?" Detra asked while looking at Dia.

"Eh...?" the kid replied.

"How would you like to learn how to fight?"

Dia just tilted her head, "What...?"

Part 2

"Ugh... My head..." Evlin whispered as she finally woke from her slumber.

She looked around and noticed that she was being carried by Ashley while her group was being escorted down what appeared to be some kind of street with lines of buildings on her left and on her right.

"What in the world...? What's going on...?" she mumbled.

"Oh, good! You're awake!" Ashley replied.

"Ash!!?? What's going on?? Where are we going??"

"To the palace... For... Some reason..."

"Palace...? What pa- Wait..." Evlin choked as she began to give another look to her surroundings, "Is... Is this the city where we met???"

"Yeah..."

"What are we doing here??? What happened with the temple of the West??"

"That's gone..." Auren who was walking in front of her with Ria by his side replied.

"What!!?? And the temple of the East??"

"Gone as well..." Leona replied while walking behind her with Marcus on her left, "and Hana as well..."

"... All the temples are gone??" Evlin whispered.

"I can't contact the South god anymore..." Gustav answered as he walked in front of Auren, "We are on our own..."

Evlin felt like she had just woken up from a wonderful dream and dived into a nightmare. She honestly wishes she could return to the white void and spend more time with her niece right now. Reality was not looking so good at the moment.

"And what are we doing going to the palace...??"

"The king says he wants to see you... Something about unfinished business..." Daren commented while walking behind Marcus alongside Lilith who was still looking depressed thinking about Lance.

"The king...? Why would the king want to see me???" Evlin wondered.

"We don't know... His soldiers just appeared outside our door like he knew we were coming somehow..." Gustav admitted, "But we figured that this might be a good chance to request for support on our mission... If we are going after Knucker, we could ask the kind to send some of his men with us once he finds out that it's for the sake of bringing the gods back..."

"I see..." Evlin commented, "I guess it's worth a try... But still..."

"Still...?" Ashley repeated.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something... Something important involving me and the castle of this kingdom..."

"Ah!" Ashley gasped, "That's right! Didn't you made the king put you on the wanted list or something??" she whispered trying not to alert the guards in armor walking in front and behind her group.

"Oh yeah..." Evlin noted, "I think that was a thing that happened at some point... But none of the people here ever bothered me too much with it so I guess I kinda forgot about it..."

"But what did you do exactly?? Why were you on the wanted list??"

"Also, how big was the bounty on your head?" Ria added.

"Ria!!??" Evlin shouted while glaring at her.

"What?? If the worst comes to happen we can just sell you and get some money to help on our trip..." she then came closer to whisper in her ear, "it's not like there is any cage that can lock you down anyway..."

"Why do you make it sound like I'm a dangerous wild animal...?"

"... I think you blowing up the ceiling of West's temple with your scream played a big part in that..."

"Wait... I did what...?"

"Silence!!" one of the guards screamed, "You are about to meet with the kind of Greyart!"

The group was now standing in front of a large gate that kept the entrance to the castle sealed. Large doors made of gold with drawings of a serpent emerging from underwater and spitting water on the land could be seen sculpted in it.

As an art teacher, Evlin got really interested in the detail on the gates and she began to wonder if she could use that somehow in her classes.

Her friends continued to enter the palace until they arrived at the throne room where fifty or more guards were waiting for them inside with weapons in hand.

"Wait a minute..." Evlin whispered, "I think I'm starting to remember this place now... This is the castle where I was summoned!!"

"What...?" Ashley gasped, "You were summoned here?? By whom??"

They finally stopped under the guard's orders and were forced to bow take a bow as he announced the entrance of the king.

"Bow down to our highness!! The king Fauren!!"

Evlin stared at the man who took a seat on the throne and began to lose all color on her face.

"Oh, Lord no..."

"Welcome back... My love!" whispered the small prince that summoned Evlin into this world who was now the current king of the country.

The same prince that was going to make Evlin his bride and ended up getting punched in the face by her.

Evlin just looked at her team and the many, many soldiers there were surrounding them right now, "... I think I might have killed us all..."