The Mentor And The Lightning God

As the two warred, Alexis spoke.

"The Brute King may be able to hold the Dark God back, but he isn't the permanent solution to Zandor's woes. He cannot stop the Dark God from coming over and over again."

"But you can help. If you're wondering how, you already completed the first part by listening to me. The Dark God draws his power from fear. And he does this best by hiding in the shadows. But now you know his name, so the shadows of Zandor are no longer under his control."

"The second part is a bit harder. I need you to denounce the Dark God"

"Absolute Queen!" Seth's raging voice resounded from within the dark domain, followed by loud explosions and flashing lights. His voice brought fear into the hearts of many. For the power that was commanded by his voice alone was no joke.

"If any of you dares denounce me, I will…" Seth angrily exclaimed. But he was cut off by Ray's even louder voice.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP, YOU ASSHOLE!" Ray screamed as his Avatar barreled into Seth's retreating figure.

"Do not let him terrify you," Alexis comforted the people of Zandor. "Even with the Dark Sword in hand, he cannot hold the Brute King back. And that is because of you. Have you noticed that the darkness that surrounds you is getting weaker?"

At Alexis's words Zandorians were forced to observe what has happening around them. And they noticed that the darkness had indeed gotten weaker. It wasn't pitch black like it was before. It had definitely weakened. When Seth gained the Dark Sword the darkness grew stronger. But the more Alexis revealed Seth to Zandor, the weaker his hold on this planet got. And now the darkness wasn't as scary as it was before.

"She's right. The coldness that was contained within initially has disappeared," Duke Essandor engulfed his hand in his element, Earth, and swept it through the dark energy surrounding him before saying this. The dark aura was pushed away slightly before returning to where it was. With his meagre strength this shouldn't have been possible at all. The dark energy should have swallowed his element, just like it did when he tried to resist it the first time.

"Indeed," Sir Blunt nodded his head in agreement. But he was still cautious. Although the dark energy was weakened, he could sense a sinister eagerness within it. It was calm because no one was trying to fight it. If they tried striking with their energy instead of simply probing, they may be in trouble. He turned to listen to Alexis's imprint soon after, seeing that she was not done with what she was saying.

"Also, there are others who are working on kicking the Dark God out of Zandor for good," Alexis smiled and said.

Sure they could instill the spirit of courage into the current generation of Zandorians. But eventually, these Zandorians will die and will be replaced by the new generation. And though now Zandor was aware of other wielding levels and was bound to grow stronger, this wasn't going to take a few centuries. Powerful planets were never born so easily. And this meant that fearlessness of the Dark God would be trumped by time. Even if the current generation passed these legends on, soon they would be forgotten or regarded as mere fantasy. And the Dark God will be able to rise again on Zandor. It would be harder given that Zandor wouldn't be so weak then. But knowing the Dark God, he may relish the challenge. And given that Zandor was a world he had failed to conquer, his thirst for it will be immense. To prevent this from happening, someone else had to make sure that a new barrier was erected around Zandor – a barrier that was specifically for Seth.

"It can't be," Seth's eyes were widened in surprise hearing Alexis's words. His mind naturally went to the only person who could best him as a Sensor; the Elder God who was both a Sensor and a Spiritual God. He thought of Butler Fin!

"But that's impossible," Seth murmured with his mind in disarray. So great was the chaos within his mind that he stood rooted to the spot, not attempting to avoid the fresh wave of attacks Ray had thrown at him. Fortunately for the Dark God, the Dark Sword wasn't as distraught as he was. It pulled back its energy to itself and clouded the disoriented Seth in its bosom to save the confused god's life.

"That sword is really annoying," Ray kissed his teeth in frustration as the Dark Sword saved Seth's life once more. If it wasn't for that queer blade, Seth's physical body would have been destroyed by now.

"At least I know that Mentor is still around," a smile quickly replaced Ray's frown when he thought of Butler Fin.

Alexis's words helped him understand that his Mentor hadn't abandoned him. Just like Seth, he knew that the only person who could cause Seth any real issues was Butler Fin. Alexis was a powerful Scholar, but Seth was stronger than her because he was much older and much more experienced. Unfortunately for Seth Butler Fin was an old god with vast experience as well. For that god was a Sensor too, and could cause actual harm to Seth, not just physical.

"I cannot believe the two of you hatched a plan without me in mind again," Ray chuckled and pushed forward. Here he was thinking that Alexis had left without making any major headways. Yet here she was speaking to Zandor. And she had also sent Butler Fin on a task apparently. With a thought Ray commanded his avatar to strike and it sent a powerful sword light in Seth's way.

*Boom*

The Dark God was sent flying several meters away, but he was largely unharmed. For the Dark Sword stood steady. Even this strike wasn't enough to wake Seth up. For his eyes were still glazed over as he mumbled 'Impossible' over and over again. When had he ever suffered such a setback? When had he ever been played so? It was because he had never fallen short of any that he was still full of confidence even after finding out that he was outnumbered greatly by the gods of this realm. Yet it seemed he thought too little of Zandor and too much of himself.

"I wonder where they are," Ray thought to himself as he smacked Seth flying again. He couldn't help but wonder what Indra and his Mentor were up to.

"I really thought that we were leaving Zandor," Indra had a bitter smile on his face as he followed Butler Fin through the woods. The two were in the Forest of Gloom. They didn't move particularly quickly, neither did they look ruffled by how much time they were using up.

"Why would we? Do you know how much I would have to spend to get us both out of this planet?" Butler Fin raised one of his eyebrows in disdain and said. Sending Abe and the others out of Zandor had depleted much of his stores, and what he had left was only enough to bring them back. Leaving with Indra would exhaust everything, leaving the two gods stranded even if they did bring the kids out of Systema.

"What about the children? Mane wouldn't be happy if anything happened to his friends." Indra shook his head and said. He may have known Mane only a few days, but the boy was quite strong willed, and so were his friends. Neither was going to let any of their friends come to any harm. Butler Fin abandoning the Silver Wolves on Systema to a bunch of Divine Servants certainly wasn't going to sit well with Mane, especially if any of his friends died.

"Then you don't understand those children – or Mane," Butler Fin smiled and said. Indra looked at the Butler as if to say, 'You're going to explain, aren't you?' And explain he did.

"It is true neither of the Silver Wolves would allow harm to come to one who belongs with them. But they aren't the type to 'baby' each other"

"Back within the Eastern Empire Mane had allowed Abe to come to harm so that he will grow. He knew that his friend could die, but he did it anyway. Why?"

Indra shrugged his shoulders as if to say, 'why are you even asking me?' Butler Fin let out a faint chuckle seeing the reaction of the younger god and said,

"Faith"

"Faith?" Indra wanted to make sure he heard right. After all, how could wielders base their decisions on faith?

"Yes, faith," Butler Fin nodded his head. "I know it sounds silly, but that was all there was to it. He didn't have any prior information or statistics that instilled confidence. All our young Supreme had was faith. He believed that Abe wouldn't die from something so trivial"

"'How can the friends of the Supreme be ordinary' was what Mane said. And he was right."

"If the Silver Wolves can't deal with a few Divine Servants, then why are they the warriors who walk with the Supreme?" Butler Fin smirked before taking a few more carefully trodden steps. Suddenly his eyes brightened and he said, "We are here."

"Finally," Indra clapped his hands eagerly. The two didn't walk so calmly because they had nothing better to do. The darkness that surrounded them reminded them that there was a massive battle raging in the skies of Zandor. And the constant loud bangs should have hurried them along. But they were walking past a formation, and they needed to be cautious.

"This formation was set up years ago by an old friend. It keeps the real core of the Forest of Gloom hidden. So no one would be able to find it apart from those who know the key to avoiding it." Butler Fin looked slightly out of sorts when he spoke. Whoever this friend was, surely the Butler missed him greatly. Which begged the question, 'was this person still alive?' But Indra recognised his position here. He had no rights to ask such a question.

Mane had visited this forest many times. In fact, the secret hideout of the Silver Wolves was here. But Mane had no idea that the core of the forest was hidden.