SPELLBOUND

Evie's pulse raced hard as her eyes strained to look at that figure that was moving closer. The hope that Zolan was not dead but still alive brought a hot stinging sensation to her eyes.     

Though she strictly told herself not to get her hopes up yet unless she confirmed it first, she just could not help the waves of excitement from building up in her chest.     

There was only one thing in her mind at that moment and that was to rush over to Zolan. She had never seen any dark faes wearing earrings so far, so she was more than certain that the man was no other than Zolan!     

"That's a man, right?" Evie almost frantically asked the light fae behind her, pointing towards where the figure was walking towards them. Wanting to make sure if she was seeing correctly or were her eyes deceiving her.     

The light fae narrowed her eyes as she stared off into the distance where the queen was pointing at. "I think yes, My Queen."     

"By any chance you see a golden flash from his ear?" Evie could not help but get even more excited as she asked, feeling somewhat relieved that the light fae was also seeing what she was seeing. That means the possibility of it being Zolan was even higher!     

"Yes, My Queen." The light fae reported after another long pause of observing that figure.     

Evie tightened her grip on Onyx's spikes as she communicated with her dragon, telling him about her plans and what she was planning to do.     

Onyx only listened as always but Evie knew that he perfectly understood her.     

Looking carefully at the situation below, Evie realized how dangerous it was for Onyx to go to where Zolan was. Not only for Onyx but for her as well. But there was no other way to get to him.     

"Get ready, Onyx is going to dive in there." Evie notified the light fae behind her.     

"M-my Queen. Don't tell me you're going to where that man is." The light fae now sounded extremely worried. She had not realized that the questions the queen had asked her would lead them to enter into that dangerous zone.     

"Yes. This will be dangerous so brace yourself." Evie gave her sufficient warning to prepare herself.     

"My Queen. Please. This is too dangerous for you! You need to consider the risks if you're looking to go in there!" the light fae could only plead and hope that the queen would consider her reminders.     

"I know. But I need to save that man. I need him. We need him." Evie stressed.     

The light fae shook her head. No matter how she looked at it, this was just too dangerous!     

"Forgive me My Queen but I don't think it's wise for you to risk yourself like this. And what if that man turns out not to be a man all along? What if it was only just a bait to bring you down?" she argued her case.     

Evie's grip on Onyx spike tightened even more. She had of course thought of that already. And she knew how high the probability of that being the case. But what if they were wrong and that the man was the real Zolan?      

If that was Zolan, Evie was certain that he would be bringing them useful news. He had already been presumed to be dead for two days. If he had managed to stay alive all this time, she was pretty sure Zolan must have already observed a lot of useful information as he was behind enemy lines.     

Evie wanted to believe that he was the answer to her prayers on how to defeat those level-five monsters! She wanted to believe that Zolan, that smart-ass guy would never die so easily like that. His fighting skills might not be enough to guarantee his survival, but Evie firmly believed in his intelligence and that it would be more than enough. He must have done something sneaky to survive this long in there and on his own!     

"It's fine. If it ends up not being him, I'll just have him killed." Evie said decisively. Her body glowed brightly. Her magic started to emanate out from her and the light fae could only brace herself, realizing that she could not stop the queen no matter what she ends up saying.     

Taking a deep breath, Evie spoke with Onyx again for the last time.     

The dragon listened to everything that she had said. Onyx first spiraled over the sky, then he doubled back to help the struggling troops that had been near them initially. Then he flew up again, appearing as though he was going to skydive and launch a fierce attack once more.     

But as he dove, he suddenly changed his trajectory and headed past the monsters. Evie quickly muttered out a spell and cast a strong shield around the three of them just as they were low enough to be grabbed by the leaping giants.     

As she had expected, the giants came, slamming against her shield one after another at first, but as they reached the ground, many other giants came rushing at them all at once. Evie saw then that her protective shield was cracking.     

"Your Majesty!" the light fae behind her screamed out in warning.     

"Go on! Onyx!!" Evie screamed as her body lit up. Her magic surged forth, spiraling forwards as she held on to Onyx's spike, reinforcing the shield. Putting all her power into it.     

She would never let these giants defeat her. Never! She could never let anyone hurt the angel in her womb! Never!     

"Go!!!" she yelled and as she roared, the shield that was surrounding them had almost turned black from the giants that were coming at them non-stop.     

When Onyx picked the man on the ground in one of his claws and started to fly upwards again, a giant somehow had managed to grab onto Onyx's other claw.     

"My Queen!" the light fae screamed as they were descending, being weighed down by the weight of the large giant.