We skirted around the dark palace looking for an entrance. Ravi and Atith led the way. We found a heap of broken mountain rocks, which the demons had used to build their hive-like palace. The rubble piled against the wall below a dark corridor with no sentries.

"This can bring us halfway there," said Vorac thoughtfully and turned to me. "But we will have to climb the rest, Nikita."

"Geez, we should have brought a rope," Atith said.

I knew it would be the case.

"I do have a rope with me," I told them. The avatars gave me a relieved look. Then we started towards the heap together.

"Give me it to me, Nikita," Vorac said, and I pulled the rope from my bag.

She tied one end of it to her arrow and notched it to her bow. Then she took a high aim. I didn't know how she could do it, but Vorac expertly shot the arrow against the stone wall in a calculated angle that the arrow clinked and crocheted back, wrapping the rope around one of the pillars until it lost its momentum.

"The gods bless you!" Tusita gasped. "You're truly the best archeress the world's ever seen!"

"Took you long enough to admit that," Vorac said as she tugged the end of the rope to make sure it was secure. Then we got moving. Atith climbed the rubble first then Tusita and Vorac. I went after them while Ravi stood guarding the ground.

When I neared the top of the rubble, my hands felt raw as they tightened around the rope, but there was no time to waste.

I pushed forward. Suddenly I heard voices from the ground.

"Hurry, Nikita," Atith whispered. He had gotten hold of the rope and tried to haul me up, but a chunk of rock under my feet rolled off. A few stones began to come loose beneath me. Ravi jumped forward and thrust her hands out. A gust of wind picked up the fallen rocks before they hit the ground then she whirled her body and hurled them all into the night sky.

We all let out a sigh of relief. After I was pulled over the corridor, Ravi followed afterward. She needed nothing to aid her. With just two leaps of her light feet, she was with us.

"Let's go," she said, and we did without saying another word.

We crept into the palace through a window. Along the deserted hallway, fire torches were burning. Then we heard the guards before we saw them. There was also a distinctive insect-like chittering with a click-clack of lobster claws on the stone floor. It was dark and hard to tell what kind of beast it was.

Tusita held up her hand to stop us from moving further. We hide behind a pillar as at least five demons appeared. They were familiar greys —large body and small heads with enormous jet-black eyes. I knew at once what they were — man-eaters, Rakshasas. We had battled with them before.

Four of them were male and one female. The female demon was thin and human-size but she had impossibly long fingernails, which glinted like black knives when she steered her mount, the monstrous giant insect. The others walked ahead of her.

"We need to get that one," whispered Tusita.

"Have you lost your mind?" Atith said in a low hiss. "All we need is keep moving. If they see us and rally their mates, we will be in trouble."

"And where are we moving to if we don't know where to go?" she said. "We need to find tidings of the princess."

"I agree," Ravi said. "The quicker the better."

The demons were turning to another corridor, and we followed them.

"Give me the rope, Nikita," Tusita said and I handed it to her. She looped it into a lasso. "I will catch the Rakshasi, and all of you, except for Nikita, can silence the others."

"Wait, but what about their crawling..." I said.

I didn't get to finish. Tusita had darted out into the hall. She cast the lasso over the demoness's throat, yanking her backward.

"Now!" Tusita hissed to us.

Vorac sent a swift arrow one after another. Two demons collapsed to the floor. The other two shielded themselves. After they recovered from their shock, they rushed towards us with a growl.

Atith lunged at them.

The first demon swung his sword at him, but the avatar deflected it with his shield. He then thrust his spear into demon's hairy chest. The demon squealed and fell heavily to the floor. As the last man-eater was turning to flee, Vorac shot an arrow that struck him between the shoulder blades and went right through his chest. He fell and disintegrated into a pile of dust along with the others.

The insect whirled around with a snake-like hiss.

Tusita struggled to tie down the Rakshasi. I ran to help her, but it was like tying a writhing bull. Ravi distracted the giant insect with her air-blades, but the monster's segmented body was a glossy black exoskeleton as tough as steel. Her wind power hardly did any damages. The insect skittered forward then its tail curl up. I realized it was a scorpion.

"Ravi, watch out!" I cried.

She rolled out of the way before the stinger bore a hole in her body. Vorac fired her arrows again, but they clang off its armor-like body. As the scorpion charged again, Ravi almost got stomped under those deadly sharp legs. Then its stinger recoiled and made a swish through the air. At the same time, Atith skidded across the floor and used his shield to parry it.

But we saw the stinger burst through his shield and went into his body.

"No!"

In desperation, I jumped forward and summoned the Moonsword from my hands. It was as if I had done it a thousand times. The light burst forth and out came Chandrahas in all its glory. I ran to the hideous creature and chopped off the venomous tail.

The scorpion reeled in pain.

But it didn't stop until it killed us or something stopped it. The creature raised its two snapping claws and opened its drooling mouth, and the mouth was also made of nightmares. Two smaller claws crawled out of it. The big claws snapped at me left and right. I swung my sword to repel it then dove out of the way.

Vorac sent an arrow that pierced through the monster's left eye. The scorpion reared its body, stunned and disorientated. I took the advantage to chop off one of its claws. The creature jerked its body upward in agony. Seeing the opening, I slashed my blade across its belly.

The scorpion broke in half, spilling its gut. Then the monster moved no more.

By the time the bodies dissolved into black dust, Tusita had successfully captured the last Rakshasi. Now the demon was under Vorac's mind power.

Ravi was holding Atith. His eyes were closed, and his face was pale, but he was still breathing.

"That was a stupid way to save my life," Ravi said, but I could hear her voice quiver with emotions. My own throat tightened.

"I'm fine," Atith croaked and opened his eyes again.

"You just got stabbed by a scorpion!" I gasped.

"He's fine, Nikita," Tusita said. "I bet the scorpion couldn't even make a dent in his armor."

Ravi removed the shield which still had the severed stinger stuck in it, and we saw his body was perfectly unscathed. Atith looked at us with a sheepish smile.

"Everyone, we need to go now," Vorac said to us. "I know where they keep Princess Amarisa."

Through the cobweb of the demon's mind, the moon god's daughter had plucked out the secret they tried to hide.

It was in a chamber deep inside the bowel of the island mountain. It could be reached by going to the north entrance and down the cave stairs. We continued on our course.

We found the north entrance. There were two giants standing in the doorway.

Tusita swayed beside me.

"Are you alright?" I whispered, noticing that she had grown pale with a sheen of sweat on her forehead.

"Oh no," Vorac breathed and came to inspect her. We found a claw wound on Tusita's forearm, which had turned a shade of purple. "The poison nails."

"I'm fine, just a scratch," Tusita said through her clenched teeth. "Follow the plan."

Her determined look made no room to argue. Vorac and Atith nodded. They slithered closer to the entrance.

First, Vorac shot her arrow. It went under one of the giant's jaw, pinning his tongue among his teeth, so he only bit the cold metal and fell dead. When the other giant turned to see what had befallen his friend, Atith struck him over the head with a blow of his shield. The head rolled off. The giant fell forward on his knees. Their bodies disintegrated into black ashes, and the wind erased all their traces.

But then we realized there was a padlock on the doors, and we found no keys.

"Let me try," Ravi said and stepped forward. Her hand hovered over the padlock and the wind began to swirl around us, but even more so around the doors. The air turned freezing cold, in fact, very cold that I started shivering. But a moment later, Ravi stepped back and motioned to Atith.

"Give it a blow but not too hard as to make any noise," she said.

Atith held his shield at the right angle before he hacked off the frozen lock.

The doors let out a tiny crack and we quickly went inside.

Down the cave steps, torches were lit. There were winding hallways, confusing us. An invading army could wander for days in this palace. Had it been built for just that purpose? This was indeed a fortress where the Demon King lived.

The thought of Ravana being in the very same place sent a rush of rage through me.

"Do you know where she is?" Atith asked Vorac in a low voice.

"From what I read in the demon's mind, Princess Amarisa is held captive in a room with jade doors," she said.

"Good, let's find it," Tusita said.

As we walked through the maze for what seemed like forever, my feelings and all the thoughts started spinning in my head. They crawled into my senses and were blurred around the edges.

Then I thought I heard a faint whisper. No words were to be heard. It was a crying maiden in distress.

The ice around my heart melted. The grief lifted like a veil. Realization struck me.

"Amarisa!"

"Nikita, what is it?"

"I heard her," I said. My heart jumped to my throat. I looked to the right and down the passageway. There were large jade doors.

"There!"

The cries of my friends did not reach me as I took off running towards it. I ran as if my life, my existence depended on it.

The double doors had two leaves of emerald jade inlaid with plates of reddish gold. I gave them a shove. When the doors swung back, both leaves were also opened. Inside a spacious chamber, fine columns stood tall with hanging red silks.

My eyes darted around the place.

In the middle of the room was a great basin of water surrounding a stone fountain, and at the upper end of the raised dais was a couch of juniper-wood set with gems and pearls. Canopy-like curtains of red satin-silk looped up with gold string. There sat a familiar maiden.

Her stature was hunched over and her long inky hair strayed as night. Her hands covered her face. Her flowing locks, her dainty form, her hearty crying, I knew her. A swoon of joy flooded through my chest.

"Amarisa!" I screamed her name.

Amarisa turned and saw me. Her eyes were ruddy from crying.

"Nikita!" Her voice was hoarse with tears. I sprinted across the room towards her. When I reached Amarisa, I fell on my knees and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. My hands pressed her head to my chest. She cried, and so did I.

"You're safe now," I said with tears of relief and joy. "I will take you home."

Then her face lifted, and through my own tears, I could see her smile again. My friends came running through the doors. I looked back at them with a joyful smile, but all I saw on their faces were terrors.

"Nikita, get away from her!"

I was confused as to why they said such thing, but when I looked back at my princess again, she was no longer Amarisa.

Happiness fled me when her skin darkened. Her sadness was replaced by a maniac grin. Before I had even the slightest moment to understand what was happening, a strong, hot pain rippled through me and burning deep inside my guts. It spread all over my whole body, and I gasped in shock.

I could neither move nor scream in pain.

"Nikita, no!"

My friends rushed over, but it was too late to save me.

With a clever trick of illusion, Amarisa's innocent face morphed into a permanent grimace with red hateful eyes. Her lips bare, showing her fanged teeth. Her hand gripped the hilt of a sharp dagger that had plunged into my body.

My mouth fell open in a voiceless cry as she pulled the blade out of me again. Blood dripped from the wound, soaking my shirt. So much blood. I could hear Vorac's arrow flying past my ear and went right into the demoness's forehead. She didn't have a chance to scream as her body fell and started to crumble. A grey fog settled over my eyes. Tears streamed hot on my cheeks, blinding my vision with more pain and disappointment.