Duke was teleported right on top of a distant mountain from the Land of Hearts. He clutched his chest as blood started to spill out of his glowing heart. He felt like he was dying from that final attack from Krane and Overbrawl—it damaged his heart very much. The visible neon heart fell out from his chest, and then Duke rapidly grabbed it, whispering to himself quickly, "No no no no no! Don't die on me, please!" He quickly placed the heart back in his chest, and he sat down on top of the mountain. He sorrowfully looked across the shimmering night sky of the Land of Hearts. He watched the tall pink towers that were crowded and surrounded by each other glow a bright, faint pink. The Blushinites were in bed already, and then he looked down from the mountain. He was high—way too high. Below him were tall trees that couldn't even measure up to the mountain's height. Then he grabbed a rock and threw it across the land in anger.
"They got the Power Gem!"
The rock hit a small tower and then descended to the ground. Duke moved his arms and body around to adjust his mechanical suit, then he looked back at the kingdom. He sighed, and then he took out his heart to look back at it again. He stared at it deeply, and then a small tear ran out from his right eye.
"I'll do it... family, friends, everyone..." He had one Power Gem with him—that was the Intelligence Gem. He is 15 years old now. Ever since his parents died to Lunaranites, his friends died to Lunaranites, his entire family died to Lunaranites. What made him cry the most? His girlfriend... his one and only one...
When he was 12, he was captured by Lunaranites—not because the Lunaranites tried to kill him, but so then he could watch his one and only die...
Flashback:
Duke was chained on a wall, unable to escape the madness. He looked around frantically, shouting for help, but nobody came. The Celestianites said that they would save him in time, but they were taking too long. Duke was chained. Then, the arch-shaped door right in front of him busted open, and walking on the red carpet was King Dreadixz, dragging along Grace. A Celestianite with white feathery wings that had golden sparks on them, and she had a golden tail that was soft as well. Her horns hadn't grown yet, but they were a shimmering gold. Her skin was white while her eyes were yellow. Grace was in cuffs—she was unable to escape the imprisonment. Then the Lunaranite pushed her violently onto the ground, and she started to scream, begging for her life. Duke looked around, confused. He didn't know what Dreadixz was going to do to Grace. But then the unthinkable happened:
Dreadixz took out his spear, and he faced Duke's direction.
"This is for the war," he declared.
"NO! DON'T DO IT, DREADIXZ! PLEASE! SHE'S THE ONLY ONE I HAVE LEFT!" Duke pleaded, trying to escape from the chains to save her. But he just couldn't. He was too weak. He was chained.
Dreadixz lifted up the sword, ready to slice her in half.
Duke pleaded even more,
"PLEASE! DON'T KILL HER! JUST KILL ME INSTEAD!"
Tears started to run down from his eyes, as they started to get watery.
"PLEASE, DREADIXZ, I'M BEGGING YOU! LEAVE HER ALONE! I'VE LOST MY FAMILY, MY FRIENDS, MY PETS, EVERYTHING!!! DREADIXZ, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!!! SHE'S THE ONLY ONE I HAVE AND I'LL EVER HAVE UNTIL I DIE! I GOT NO FRIENDS! I HAD NO ONE TO LOVE ME! I GOT NO PARENTS TO SUPPORT ME! PLEASE DON'T TAKE ALL OF THAT AWAY FROM ME, DREADIXZ, PLEASE!!!"
"It's alright, Duke. Even if I am dead, you'll still be in my presence. I'll still be around you no matter what," Grace said in a soft voice. Dreadixz smirked dreadfully,
"She said she agrees. I'm sorry... but you won't have anything for your life... EVER."
Duke cried, "NO!"
Dreadixz then sliced her in half with a loud grunt, blood flying out of her body and the two halves falling apart from each other. Intestines were exposed and splattered on the ground, blood gushed and swarmed. Duke watched. He watched it all. He saw it all. He was traumatized. He shed tears—all of the tears he had in his body. He cried, he wailed, he whimpered. He watched all of the blood spill out from her body with wide eyes, and Dreadixz was just laughing. Dreadixz was laughing menacingly, as he just committed a crime not even Satan could commit. He was free, and he rushed toward her body. He looked at her—completely split in half. He just couldn't take it. He wanted his parents to comfort him, at least friends that could help. But no, all of that was also gone. He was the last one in his life, standing.
Then, Grace's spirit wrapped around his body,
"I love you..."
Oscar was awake. In his room inside of the castle, he was awake. 10, the freakin' PM, and he's still up. His room was painted all pink, with red heart-shaped pictures of Starla, and he had a lamp right next to him that lit the entire room. He was sitting in a big royal pink bed that was really fancy to him. His nightstand was red, just a few inches away from him, where a picture of Starla with a heart on it sat, and where his phone was at. He knows why he's awake. Starla. The type of Celestianite girl that makes his heart skip a beat, which is why he's so very loyal and flirty to her, but yet fails every time Scourge Don is wandering around. Don is his friend and all, but the different version of Don made him question reality itself. Why was Don so different? He questioned himself again, yet again, and again. Oscar was very confused indeed. I mean, what could possibly turn Don so dark and edgy? He thought for a moment, laying on his bed with a Starla plushie right next to him. He shook it off, "Eh, maybe it was Incarceration."
Meanwhile, Don was in the dark cave, thinking to himself quietly. Was Starla right? He wasn't sure if it was a yes or no, the only thing he was really sure about was free will. He was sure to himself, and very sure to himself, that his free will had gone missing. He doesn't have the ability to think for himself or think for anyone else anymore. He's Scourge Don now. Already said a thousand times, but he's just really moving into it. The real Don inside him is trying to figure out why it all started in the first place, and it started with Don leaving Ella and running into the forest. He knows that Olsen is still alive, just injured badly. He's really scared of the prophecy and doesn't want anything to do with it. But ever since he turned into Scourge Don, he seemed to fear the prophecy less, but fear more of himself… The Don inside of him thought about the future. Would the world be broken? Would he become the next Dark Don? Oh, would he? He is very hopeless, isn't he? Well, maybe—just maybe—he could find a way to choose. Stay a Scourge Don, or stop a Scourge Don?
In the Wizard's Domain near the table and through the library books, the crew stood around admiring the potion Eldritch created. "Say, so you basically need Leviathan meat and the Gadian Seawater in order to make this kind of stuff?" Kayson said, his eyes peering through the spherical bottle in hunger and awe.
Eldritch chuckled, "Yes, my fellow children, that's how you make the Olibigrath Potion... This potion will have the power to turn your friend against the negative versions of themselves..." Sophia's tiger tail perked up, "'Turn Against'? E-excuse me, what?!" "Yup, it turns the user against the bad versions of themselves. Cool, am I right?" Eldritch said enthusiastically.
Sophia shook her head, and then she placed the jar back on the brown wooden table. She threw her eyes at the other books, then she turned to Eldritch.
"Look, old man, we're not here to forcefully turn Don against himself! We're here to change Don emotionally and mentally, like how Incarceration changed him." Eldritch looked up at Sophia, and then he slowly rubbed his fingers against his large white beard. He put his finger up,
"I'm sorry, I suppose I do not have any recipes for transforming your friend back to normal emotionally."
"That's something you guys must learn how to do on your own."
Everybody exchanged glances at each other, and then William flared his pterodactyl wings, scaring Kai.
"How exactly are we supposed to do that?"
Eldritch walked away from them, and he went between two large bookshelves, and sat on a rocking chair right next to one of the swirling blue vortexes.
"Well, do you guys know what he would want from you guys?"
Everyone nodded, then Eldritch held his staff up into the air. Then he got up from the rocking chair slowly, then he turned his direction to the emerging light from the portal, pointing his staff at it.
Angel walked right next to him only to ask him,
"Okay, but what are you trying to tell us here?"
Eldritch smiled softly,
"I'm glad you asked..."
He pierced his staff through the portal, and the glowing vortex started to reflect onto Angel's eyes and everybody's bodies, and it swirled around like water. Then, the energy separated from the middle to create a wide open circle in the center—it was Celestia. The radiant bright yellow clouds to the shimmering golden town glistened through the sun's light, with thousands of Celestianites wandering around like this was an actual city. Then, something terrible happened. Lunaranites started raiding with their spears, and the Celestianite soldiers flew out from the castle like heavenly angels. Battle cries ripped through the air, and the sounds of loud clashing and explosions started to fill the atmosphere. Buildings were getting knocked down by radiant lunar blasts, while Celestianites were getting stabbed violently. Their leader, who wasn't Dreadixz, started to fly towards the Celestianites in his dragon form with his sword out. He sliced through them, he stabbed through them, and he slashed through them violently with no problem.
More Lunaranite soldiers started emerging from the dark, fighting back with immense strength, and the Lunaranites started to fall.
Everyone watched the fight in full shock and complete awe. Jocabed shook her head shouting, "What's going on?!" Everyone looked around frantically, and Dark Don was nowhere to be seen at all. He vanished, he was nowhere to be seen at all. He left the crew. Then Keyler's phone started ringing. He quickly slipped it out of his pocket, and he put it by his ear. Then someone started talking through the phone, he didn't know who it was, but it was urgent. They were talking about something, something dangerous, something urgent, something that could be coming to them in the near future.
The phone quickly hung up.
He slowly and steadily put his phone back in his pocket, then he slowly turned to the crew with the most and the first serious face he has ever made, "Celestia. Now."