"I don't believe this, I don't believe this," Jim said, pacing back and forth. "You woke us up at 11 at night so we could hear out our enemy-"

"She's not my enemy, she's my mother," I said.

Jim turned to me. Everyone was awake now. The Trollhunters, the aliens, everyone. They all looked tired, so I wanted to keep this short. I didn't want to annoy them any more than they already were.

"Alright, here me out. I'll try to get you all to bed quickly, but this is important." Everyone looked at me like they didn't care or believe a word I had said or was going to say. "You all are probably thinking that there is no threat, since the Genesis Seals are in the ocean, but recently there is a new villain."

"Uh..." Toby said. "Can't we just, you know, take a break?! For what? Like five minutes?"

"Aridam..." Bellroc said. "You must definitely have never heard of him, but now that he's back, you will have had to."

"What does Aridam have to do with us?" Claire asked.

"You thought we were the only ones who wanted to destroy the world?" Bellroc asked.

"He's going to destroy the world?!" Toby groaned.

"Aridam hated all life. Why? We have no clue. But his deep dislike for all things breathing made him seek out the Genesis Seals."

"He's going to kill all life," Jim said, eyes going wide.

"For worse," Claire added.

"Wait...Bell, where's the rest of the Order?" Zoe asked.

"They're at Mount Rainier—no, they're at Mount Rainier. I shouldn't have left them there! Come on, Douxie!"

"I'll go with you!" Zoe added.

Bellroc grabbed my hand, and I held hers and Zoe's and the three of us teleported back to Mount Rainier. We teleported to the mouth of the cave. Bellroc hit the ground.

"No, Bell, Mom!" I shouted, bending down to help her.

"I'm alright," she said, struggling to stand up.

"No, you're not fine. You need help."

"W-what's wrong with her?" Zoe asked.

"She's weak. She's been using a lot of magic."

"I'm fine, Hisirdoux. I need you to check on the others for me." She tried to stand up but fell on her knees.

"Zoe, stay with her," I ordered.

Zoe nodded and leaned Bell up against a wall. I ran inside, clutching my staff, adrenaline pumping through me. When I entered the living room, my heart fell. Everything was a mess. Some candles were still floating while some were slowly melting, turning into a puddle of colored wax on the floor. The huge glass window had shattered. I was careful while stepping over the glass. There were large spikes of ice and snowflakes crawling in the corners of the room. Shrinking vines were everywhere. A single burning flower fell from the ceiling into the open palm of my hand.

"Nari..." I said sadly.

I continued walking, but then I noticed the glass had a distinct pattern. It appeared to be in the shape of the letter 'Y'. Then the letter 'W'. I could've sworn I saw an 'I'. I backed up to see if it spelled out into a message...it did. 'YOU CAN'T WIN.' Aridam...he's back.

"Nari!" I shouted, hoping someone would answer. "Nari?!"

I went down the hallway. It looked even worse. The doors were gone. The portals in the walls were slowly beginning to fade away like Bellroc's strength. There were more falling flowers and helicopter seeds. The hallways were very cold and dark. The temperature seemed to continue to drop like the deep ocean. I looked into Skrael's room, calling his name. His bed had been flipped over. There was a downpour coming from the ceiling. The glass jars on the shelves were shaking. I checked Nari's room. All of the plants were dead. No life. Even Nari's little mushroom pillow had been reduced to ashes. I checked Phoenix's room. The waterfall was melting into an acidic puddle. The ice was slowly losing its color. Her bed curtains had been torn off.

I noticed that the left wall had a faint glow of purple. Suddenly the ice began crackling, and both Nari and Skrael fell from the inside on top of each other.

"Nari! Skrael!" I said.

"Douxie?" Nari said, sitting up.

"I'm so sorry," I said, hugging her. It took a bit, but she eventually wrapped her arms around me and cried a little.

"I forgive you," Nari stuttered.

It made me smile. Nari had several small cuts on her face and arms. She had a large bruise on her shin that looked like it really hurt. The flowers in her hair were dead. Nari's hair was losing its vibrant color, too, so were the vine markings on her arm. Instead of a friendly shade of green, it was becoming slightly brown like autumn leaves. Skrael had blood in his hair. There was a medium laceration on his neck. His hands were becoming a dark shade of gray, so were his feet. He avoided looking at me.

"I am sorry for what I was saying about you and Bellroc," I said to him. "Bellroc apologizes; Nari apologizes. Why can't you?"

Skrael to me and blew a strand of hair out of his face. "I'm not mad at you."

"Oh, well, you look mad."

"Yeah, Skrael," Nari said.

"Nari, he took Phoenix."

Nari gasped. "No."

We returned to Camelot with Skrael, Nari and Bellroc. People were very happy to see Nari. Skrael...not so much.

"Trollhunter..." Skrael said.

"Skrael..." Jim said.

Jim's mom patched them up. She said that the two siblings were lucky that their wounds were very minor. She did tell Nari to not overexert herself and damage her knee because further damage could've been done. Skrael's neck wound required a couple stitches, but it wasn't that bad—or so he said. Bell slowly got worse. At this point, she struggled to stand on her own without leaning on something or someone. Sometimes I wondered what life would be like if Merlin was here—if Merlin wasn't dead. If Merlin were alive, I'd just hope that he'd try to help Bell. He probably would; drop all other things and help.

"Alright, somebody explain what's going on," Claire said. "A few days ago, the Arcane Order were our enemies, now we're uniting with them? I'm confused."

"Me too," Aja said.

"Aridam is back," Nari said, playing with Archie's tail, much to his annoyance. "What more is there to clarify?"

"For starters, we don't even know who this Aridam-guy is?" Steve said.

"I thought Douxie told you," Nari said.

"I gave them a short summary. I was more worried about you and Skrael."

"Aridam is an ancient wizard from long before Camelot's age who sought to destroy the world out of pure hatred of all sentient beings," Skrael said rather fast. Everyone perked up and looked at him. "We tried to stop him, but his power proved to be too great."

'Therefore we had to lock him up in a protective bubble that he would never—or so we thought—escape," Nari said.

"I thought we were through with the ancient wizards," Toby said.

"Does he do anything other than complain?" Skrael said.

"Be nice," Bell said.

"Can I have a word with you?" Blinky asked.

"Yeah, sure," I said. Blinky led me and Zoe away to Jim, Claire, and Toby who were gathered in a corner to talk.

"Are we actually thinking about this?" Claire said.

"Yes," I said. "Bell is my mother."

"I understand, but...she was also our archenemy. Who's to say that as soon as she sets her eyes on those Seals she won't betray us."

"Look at her." I said.

Bellroc lay on one of the couches. Skrael sat next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. She looked upset, not at me, but just upset in general. Or maybe she just looked tired. Nari sat in one of the chairs, knitting something. Skrael conjured solitaire cards out of magic and began playing while still trying to comfort Bellroc.

"She's not going to hurt any of us."

"Hopefully..." Jim said.

"Now, Jimbo, a part of me is starting to agree with Doux here. I mean, look at them."

Nari giggled. She stood up and handed Bellroc and Skrael a pair of mittens each for their signature color of magic. Nari slid on her own mittens and sat on the couch next to the three of them.

"Do either of them look like they're gonna destroy us all?"

"Uh...now that I think about it..." Blinky said.

"Jim, you need to make it up for Douxie for trying to sabotage their relationship in the first place," Zoe said.

Jim sighed. "Zoe's right, so is Blinky. I've been selfish and cruel."

"And an idiot," Zoe added.

"Okay, maybe not an idiot, but fine. We'll go with Douxie's plan-"

There was a glitching sound. The projector in front of Camelot pulled down in front of us. Bellroc and Skrael sat up in surprise. Nari dropped her needles in surprise when Aridam's face showed up on the screen. At least, that might've been Aridam. I'd never seen him before in person. He has deep gray skin. His eyes flashed a bright neon orange with a third eye on his forehead, looking in all kinds of directions---everywhere except us.

"Since when did this Aridam dude have access to our technology?" Toby asked.

"He can hack anything," Bellroc said, standing up. Skrael supported her but still didn't take his eyes off the screen.

Aridam began speaking, but in some kind of unknown language.

"Speak English, dumb-dumb!" Nari shouted.

Aridam cackled. "Ah...little Nari."

Nari gasped when he said her name and ran to hide behind me.

"The Forest Child. You still contain that same spunk you had a million years ago, yet you haven't grown an inch. Skraeling." Skrael raised an eyebrow when Aridam said his name like that. "Bellroc...Keeper of the Flame. Keeper of Time, too. How's it going, by the way? The portal world?"

"Aridam, you tell us where Phoenix is!"

"Right here." He turned the camera to show Phoenix tied up in magical bonds. She had a look of terror on her face. Aridam placed a huge sword near her neck while he checked his sharp nails. Aridam was floating. He was clearly taller and much larger than Phoenix. He wore pointed shoes and a dark patterned tunic, a blood red sash around his waist with an orange trim, and long bands wrapped around his legs.

"Let her go!" Jim said.

"And who is this?"

Jim was about to speak before Aridam interrupted.

"Oh, don't tell me. I know who you are already. And I know who you aren't. I know who all of you are!"

"Don't touch Phoenix!" Nari said.

"I don't plan to. I need all of you alive." He growled.

"Phoenix, here, has been telling me everything about you guys."

"No, no! Don't listen to him!" Phoenix shouted.

"SHUT UP!" He said, bringing the sword closer to her neck. "I could slice those wings off faster than you can flap them."

Phoenix looked at the camera nervously. She then began blinking rapidly.

"Well, we know who you are!" Claire said. "And we know what you want."

"Oh, do you now? Then you probably know why I'm here. Why I have the fairy."

"Why does he have Phoenix?" Skrael asked, turning to the Guardians of Arcadia.

"I thought I told you," I said.

Skrael raised an eyebrow.

"We dumped the Seals in the ocean."

"IDIOTS!" Skrael said through his teeth.

"Clear the ocean," Aridam said to Phoenix.

She shook her head.

"Clear it..." He said slightly louder. "CLEAR IT, OR I WILL COME FOR YOUR FRIENDS!"

"Phoenix..." Skrael said.

Aridam removed the bonds, and Phoenix stood up. She slowly walked towards the water, staring down at its murky depths with weary eyes while all of us could do nothing but stare and pray under our breaths that something good would happen. Phoenix held up her hands as high as they could possibly be and closed her eyes in deep concentration. The water swirled around like a vortex. It started off slow, but it eventually sped around quickly like the wind from a hurricane.

"What's he doing?" Krel asked.

"He's using her...to empty the ocean and get the Seals."

We couldn't see everything since it was on camera, but we could clearly notice that the water was beginning to drain rapidly until it all disappeared leaving a gaping hole in the earth's surface. Aridam growled. If he removed his mask, I was sure he would've been smiling. Phoenix dropped to her knees weakly. Aridam pushed her away from the camera and ended the recording as he jumped into the ocean to retrieve the Seals.

"He's really that determined," Nari said.

"Why does he hate life so much?" Claire asked.

"No clue," Nari said.

"I have a much better question. Why on EARTH would you put a magical item that contains more power than any of us in the ocean in hopes of keeping it away from a group of people—who aren't actually the real threat—with a member that can control all forms of water?!" Skrael exclaimed.

"I get it. You're worried about Phoenix, but the point of this is to work together," Claire said.

Skrael nods.

"We know that Aridam wants the Seals to restart the world, but what's his plan after that?" I said.

"Also won't he disappear along with it?" Toby said. "If the Seals are supposed to erase all forms of life, won't Aridam count?"

"Aridam isn't exactly what you'd count as a life form," Bellroc said. "He's something else; something far worse."

"And what did he do to you or what did you do to him that made him hate you all so much? Or know so much about you?"

"We don't exactly know," Nari said. "Aridam is sneaky and cunning. He's always found a way to hack through something. However he managed to break through that spell? Only a master wizard could do that."

"Looks like Aridam's been training," Jim said.

Suddenly an orange and black portal opened up and Phoenix, bruised and cut, fell through into the middle of the floor of Camelot.

"Phoenix!" Skrael said, running towards her.

"Skrael?" She looked up weakly.

All of us ran to her aid.

"Aridam, he's coming. He's coming! He's got an army of Signal Watchers and dozens of other monsters. And the Seals. We don't stand a chance."

Skrael embraced her. "Calm down, calm down."

"Signal Watchers? What are Signal Watchers?" Claire asked.

"You don't want to find out," I said, recalling the traumatic experience of being lost in the maze.

Suddenly a portal opened in front of us. It was like a swirling vortex that seemed to pull magic towards it. Aridam floated through, holding his long pointed sword in hand. I wasn't paying attention to the weapon; I was paying attention to the floating Seals, held right above his hand.

"He's got the Seals!" Bellroc shouted.

"Aw..." Aridam said, noticing Phoenix and Skrael huddled together. "How cute. You know, Skrael, Phoenix here was just telling me about you guy's relationship." He passed through the coffee table like a ghost. "How you were friends at first sight. How you had your first kiss when she was a freshman in high school. How you broke up because one of you took the enemy's side. But now you're back together. Too bad, you won't get to see a happy ending."

Aja drew her serrator and charged towards Aridam with a battle cry, but without looking he held out his arm and she froze. Her body was encompassed in an orange. Aridam looked towards her and tsked as if disappointed in her presence. He probably was.

"I really hate it when you breathe. When things like you, breathe."

"Let her go!" Krel shouted, holding up his serrator which morphed into a gun.

"Hmmm..." Aridam said. Then he held up Claire, AAARRRGGHH, and me