Thora and her siblings were bound in chains by the bug-monsters and dragged off the ship to a tall tower. Everything about the tower reeked [i]evil[/i]. It was crimson red, like blood or rust, and it was covered in spikes and chains. The air was full of a powdery smoke that choked her and made her feel dizzy and sick. The bug-monsters brought them to the very top of the Tower and bound them to a spike jutting from the center of the highest platform. A few of the bug-people, who flew and seemed to be magic, floated in a circle around them, chanting in a strange language. A circle appeared around them, glowing a sickly green, with lines and strange runes inside it. Cal groaned, his head hanging, and Lidy strained against the cords binding them, gasping for breath. Thora saw someone coming up the stairs. It was the creepy woman, Eris. She smiled. "Yes, this ritual will be just the thing to finish them off after the Queen is killed. There is enough Queensblood, between the three of them, to seal it off." Suddenly many ships began to appear in the sky. Eris pointed. "They are here. The battle begins." Thora looked up at the huge ship in the sky. The one called Leviathan. They've brought the Traveler, too, aglow in a phosphorescent haze. Chained and bound, just like them. Thora felt very small. If such a great thing could be bound, what chance did she and her siblings have? Below she saw Queen Mara and the traitor, Ana. They were fighting the bug-people and Dark Guardians. Thora saw Ana and the exo woman she must have been in her dream blasting an ogre with ice and blowing it to dust with a grenade. Eris flew down toward them smiling, as a full brigade of Awoken armada rose from behind the Keep, with the Hive symbols- that's what the bug-people were called, she remembered, the Hive. Blasts of light knocked the Armada out of the sky. Eris scowled, frustrated, then shrouded herself in darkness to perform a ritual. A single beam of blinding Light tore through the dark sky as fast as a shooting star, straight toward the Keep. Zavala slammed into the Keep. Thora could feel it shaking beneath them. She struggled against the binds. She and her siblings would be crushed in the rubble! "I'm sorry," Thora whispered, as the Keep began to rumble, vibrations jiggling them around, rubbing the coarse rope into their skin. "I didn't see this far. I can't think of anything else?" "Are we gonna die?" Lidy asked fearfully. "I think so." Thora couldn't be brave anymore. A tear slipped down her cheek. "I love you guys." "I love you too, Thora." Cal pushed against the ropes, snuggling up to her, seeming to recognize the importance of the moment. "And you, Lidy." "And I love you, Cal and Thora!" Thora managed to get her arms loose enough to wrap them around her siblings and hold them close. "If we die, we die how we lived. Together." Petra hung back, remembering what Mara had told her about the human traitor, Ana. Thank goodness they knew about that from Thora's vision. As they closed in on Eris, Petra drew nearer, but staying out of Ana's sight. She had been disguised as a regular soldier so she wouldn't attract attention. She heard Eris saying, "All of my detractors in one place. Thank you for bringing them to me, Ana." The Exo whirled around toward Ana as she froze their feet in stasis, readying a knife toward Mara. Petra pulled her own knife and made her move, leaping from the shadows and tackling Ana, flipping her over and driving the knife into her heart. The traitor guardian went limp. Petra stood, triumphant. "How?" Eris asked angrily. "[i]You[/i] were supposed to he dealt with!" Mara rises to face the creepy woman, her face cold and proud. "It's over, Eris. The Darkness can never win so long as there are those with Light within them." "At heavy a cost." Eris grinned maniacally at Petra. "I'm afraid your children are in that rubble." "What?" "They were kidnapped by my associate earlier this morning, and I had them tied atop the tower for a ritual, but I'm afraid there's no way they survived the destruction." "You're lying!" Petra cried, pointing her sidearm at Eris. The Witch's smile widened. "Petra..." Mara stepped forward, putting her hand on Petra's shoulder. "No, she's lying. They're safe at home. No one can get onto Hjura-1 that hasn't been brought there by someone else who can. That's part of the magic." "She's not lying." Mara scrutinized Eris, probably reading her mind to see the truth. "Ah, the Fanatic. Uldren must have given him access while he was insane. My poor brother...." Petra shook her head. "No. No!" "Yes!" Eris cackled. Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding Light, and Eris screamed. The Traveler broke free from its cage. Zavala took a deep breath, his light returning to its full strength, as Eris dissolved in a whirlwind of color. Petra broke away from Mara, running to the ruins of the Keep, leaping through the rubble. Her children could not be in there. They could [i]not[/i]. She saw something soft and green and dug it out. It was Cal's dinosaur, Drackie. Petra fell to the ground as though she had been struck. They had been everything, everything to her! First she had lost Crow when he left her, left her just like all the others had, and now her children? How could this happen? "They're gone," she whispered aloud, choking. No. All she could think was no. They were too young to die. This was too wrong to be true, but it was. She clutched the stuffed animal to her chest, unable to keep back the tears any longer, shaking with agonized sobs, not caring that Mara and Zavala and the others were probably watching her. It didn't matter. They didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore, not without her little Thora and Lidy and Cal, the only ones left in her life who loved her. They had needed her, trusted her, her [i]babies.[/i] A thousand memories of their bright eyes and loud laughter flashed through her mind, and she didn't think she could live without them. Petra was used to losing everything. She'd lost everything so many times, and never stopped going, never gave up hope, never let herself forget what she was fighting for. But this... This was too hard to bear.