Page 74 of Chaos Unleashed

He shakes his head, but his reply is hesitant, “No, we don’t know. But as I've mentioned before, with the Underworld in the turmoil that it's been in the last few decades, no one has had the chance to investigate.”

“But you have a theory, right?” I ask, following a hunch.

Again, the Hellier hesitates, but with us all looking at him, he eventually nods, “Yes, several people have mentioned the possibility that they’re in the in-between.”

“I’ve never heard of it,” Mayhem says with a frown, and I know that he’s itching to get more information about it.

Khaos rolls his eyes, “That’s because it’s a legend; it’s not actually a real place. It's been spoken about in whispers for as long as I can remember, but no one has any proof that it exists or has ever existed.”

The Hellier nods, looking a little bit embarrassed as he replies, “That’s why I was hesitant to mention it.”

“Now that everything should start to calm down in the punishment half, put a team together and get them to investigate the dragon disappearances. The last thing we need is dragon spirits causing mischief. They’re not the easiest to wrangle.” Khaos replies. “It shouldn’t be too long until I’m back, and I want an update on the situation.”

“Yes, commander,” the Hellier replies and then disappears.

Once I’m sure that he’s gone and we start walking again, I ask, “It’s a pretty big coincidence that the only missing souls are from the Dragon Realm.”

“It’s more than a coincidence. I think Monty was right, and we’re going to be going to the Dragon realm,” Reaper replies. Now that the idea isn’t being sprung on him, he seems to be handling it a bit better, and it makes me wonder if Monty knew that he was going to struggle with it, so I gave him a warning.

For all his eccentricities, Monty is a good supe, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest for him to risk himself in order to help Reaper. Very few people see that side of him though, and I guess that’s because he doesn’t show it to many people.

“We can’t just leave the Underworld,” Loki says, “it’s in a mess; it needs Khaos and Hades, especially the Soul side.”

“Monty said that we needed to get out,” Zev reminds him, knowledge in his eyes.

“I don’t want to leave either,” Hades replies, “but we’ve done as much as we can to help them now. I am putting as much of my magic as I possibly can into the realm while I’m here; that will make a massive difference. We need to go to the Dragon realm, not only because the key fragment is there but also to see what’s happening with the dead dragons and where they’re going.”

“He’s right,” Storm says, “I don’t like it any more than you do, but we need to listen to Monty.”

“We will be coming back,” Zev says with an amount of surety in his voice which is reassuring.

I have to admit that, like the others, I don’t want to leave, I want to stay and help this realm after what those fuckers have done to it, but I also know that in order to keep the realm safe from that god fucker, then we need the last key fragment.

“Good,” Hades replies to Zev.

I can only imagine how difficult it is for him to leave his realm after being forced to be absent for so long.

“In order to get into the dragon realm, we’re going to have to do quite a lot of preparation; I can't just create a portal to get us there. We would be killed immediately, and Farren won’t even be able to use the Void.” Grey explains.

“The Void is being a bit hinky since I got my magic back anyway. I haven’t been able to travel through it,” I explain.

Hades' eyebrows raise, “Oh, well, that’s interesting. Back to my point, though, we need to head back to the Shadowlands. I’ve got several books that can help, and we’ll also need some things from Monty’s shop. There are customs and things that you all need to know about they’re a tricky species to get along with.”

“Well, this sounds not at all complicated,” Loki says sarcastically, making me grin.

“Let’s just get out of here, and then we can focus on the next steps,” Reaper suggests.

“I agree. I don’t know about you, but I desperately need a proper meal and an actual shower, at least before we head off on our next mission.” I reply.

“Here, here.” Khaos agrees wholeheartedly.

“Xerxes might have some information for us as well,” Mayhem suddenly suggests, clearly still focused on the information about the Dragon Realm.

“Shit, where is X?” I ask, knowing that I didn’t pick him up and feeling really bad about it.

“I picked him up, but he said he was being summoned back to the house, and he disappeared,” Zev says. “I would’ve mentioned it before, but with Monty showing up and then coming here, I completely forgot.”

“No worries,” I smile, “I was just panicking that I’d left him behind.”

---