Jegun arrived in the mountain.

He walked towards the entrance of the house. "Hello...anybody there?" he said.

Esmeralda appeared in the doorway and was surprised to see the missing man. "Jegun, you\'re finally back! It\'s nice to see you again! Where have you been? Come inside!" she said, wearing a pleasant smile on her face.

They sat on the wooden chair near the doorway.

"Where have you been? They told us that you\'re missing! We already think of the worst scenario," Esmeralda said.

Jegun smiled. "I fell on the rabbit\'s hole while chasing a fleeing monster last night. The fall knocked me out, and when I woke up, it\'s already daytime," Jegun replied.

"Are you kidding me?" asked Esmeralda, laughing.

Jegun smiled. "Yeah, it\'s kind of funny that it happened to me, but it did," he laughed along with her. Then his face turned sad. "But anyway... I\'m here for another pressing matter," he said.

"What is it?" Esmeralda asked after seeing the worried expression on his face.

Jegun sighed heavily. "Bhork, Dredo, Ogeme, and Simuz left the island to find me. Unfortunately, they haven\'t returned until now. Which is a bit worrying because it\'s not like them to be gone for so long..."

Esmeralda pondered for a moment. "Maybe they went too far to find you," she explained.

"You could be right, but they failed to send someone to report back to the island. That\'s one thing that bothered me. Besides, what they have done is out of character..." Jegun said.

"Indeed. In that case, I\'ll volunteer to help find the boys," Esmeralda said.

"Thank you, Esmeralda," Jegun said.

"Let\'s wait for Aspen... he will be back anytime soon," Esmeralda said. "I\'ll go to my room first...to make preparation," she said.

"Okay, go ahead..." said Jegun.

The girls rushed to Jegun\'s side after Granny left.

"Grandpa! Thank, God, you\'re back!" Ella said happily.

"What happened to you, Grandpa? Where have you been? Why did you go missing? We are worried about you!" Kate said.

Jegun smiled. "Calm down, girls. Grandpa is back, safe and sound," he told them.

"What happened to you, Grandpa?" Ella asked curiously.

Jegun scratched his head. "Ah...I was chasing a monster who\'s running away from the castle, the creature went into the forest, and I have to find him on foot. Accidentally, I stumbled and fell into a hole. I was knocked unconscious for a few hours. The next time I opened my eyes, the sun has already risen from the sky. I managed to get myself out of the hole and go back to the island. Only to find out that the boys that went to search for me haven\'t returned to the island until now. That got us worried because until now, we have no idea of their whereabouts," Jegun explained.

"Oh, my!" Kate said. "Who are they, Grandpa?" Kate asked right away \'coz she\'s getting worried about Ramza.

"It\'s Bhork, Dredo, Simuz, and Ogeme. They\'ve been gone since morning, and now it\'s past lunchtime, they haven\'t returned yet," Jegun said with a gloomy sigh.

Ella raised her brow. "First, you went missing, Grandpa. And now four of the boys were also missing, this is strange," she commented.

"Strange indeed," Kate agreed.

"My short disappearance is nothing strange. What is strange is the boys gone missing. Not even a single one out of the four men able to report to the island. That what bothers me," Jegun continues to blabber, trying to get the worry out of his chest.

"Don\'t worry, Grandpa, I\'m sure the boys will return later before the night is over," Kate said, trying to comfort the old man.

Jegun sighed. "I wish you are right, child," he said and released another heavy sigh.

A few minutes later.

Aspen arrived in the mountain.

He was relieved to see Grandpa Jegun safe and sound. "What happened to you, Grandpa? Why did you go missing? I went to find you in the vicinity of the castle, and I can\'t find you anywhere. Did the boys found you?" he asked.

Jegun smiled. He can\'t believe he has to keep repeating the same story again and again. But he was glad that Aspen is the last one to ask. "It\'s a long story, Aspen. But since you asked, I am obliged to answer. Last night, I saw some monster fleeing from the castle. I tried to hunt one monster that went to the woods. I have to search for him on foot. Unfortunately, I fell into a hole and was unconscious the whole time, when I wake up it\'s already day time. I managed to get out of the hole and return to the island. That\'s when I know that the four boys were missing," he narrated.

Aspen chuckled a bit. "I\'m glad that you\'re not injured due to your fall, Grandpa."

Jegun laughed. "Well..what can I say? I have nine lives," he said and grinned.

"Ah...wait...you mentioned of the boys went missing. What do you mean?" Aspen asked.

Jegun took a deep breath. "After I went missing, the boys went to find me all over the castle and the neighboring areas. Unfortunately, it seemed they are the ones missing now, and we can\'t find them," he said.

"What-?" Aspen\'s eyes widened. "How could four powerful Nephilim assassins disappear just like that? Without a trace-? Unbelievable!"

Jegun sighed. "Yeah...sounds unbelievable. Normally, they would have returned to the island by now or have at least one of them went back to the island and report, but, until now, they have not done so. I don\'t want to entertain negative thoughts, but since they went missing this long, something bad must have happened to them," he said.

"Hmm, Grandpa, maybe they went to a faraway place to find you," Aspen suggested trying to lighten up the old man\'s heavy load.

Jegun shook his head. "Even if they do that, they can always return to the island to report of there activities because they knew that we will worry if they can\'t come back to the island any time of the day. Those guys can do teleportation with ease, that won\'t be too hard to do in just a blink of an eye," he reasoned.

Aspen nodded his head. "I see... in short...they must be captured by someone-?"

"I dunno..." Jegun said sadly, feeling guilty because he is the reason why the men went missing. "That is why I\'m here to ask for help from you and Esmeralda since we are short of manpower today. Zemeth, Ramza, and Agran will guard the castle starting today until the break of dawn tomorrow. Then Esmeralda and I will find the boys..." he said.

Aspen smiled. "No problem, Grandpa. I will help you find the boys," he assured him.

"Thank you, Aspen," Jegun said, feeling relieved. The three of them would work hard tonight to find the boys as soon as possible.

Meanwhile...

Inside Immortal Vearah\'s bedroom.

Esmeralda was sitting on the bed, busy flipping on the pages of an old book. Then she read page 60 and pause...she was memorizing the few lines of incantation from the book. She rose to her feet and went to the cabinet. She opened all the drawers to find something...

There it is! At the lowest drawer of the cabinet was a very old looking crystal ball. She immediately grabbed it with both hands, her face shining with excitement. She remembered that her mentor mentioned to her about the usage of this crystal ball. It can only tell what happened to a person or things a few hours before they disappeared. The only downside, it can\'t predict the future.

She stared at the crystal ball. It looks rusty and blurry for being stored inside the cabinet for so long. It might no longer work, but she can always try. She picked up a piece of garment from the closet and began wiping vigorously the surface of the crystal ball, wanting to restore its original shine.

Done...she took another clothe from the closet which belongs to her late mentor and rubbed it quickly at the surface of the crystal ball. Then she closed her eyes while uttering silently the incantation she learned from the book.

A few minutes later, she opened her eyes and opened her mouth.

"Crystal ball...show me the last few hours of my mentor Immortal Vearah\'s life before she passed away!" she commanded.

The crystal ball suddenly shimmered. It was covered with a purple light all over its surface...then slowly...scenes were flashing on the surface of the crystal ball showing the last hour of Immortal Vearah on earth.

Esmeralda saw with her eyes how her mentor confronted the fake Ivy and killed the impostor with her dagger, then a thick black smoke came out from the mouth of the slain woman and enveloped Vearah\'s whole body. Then the next scenes showed the disintegration of the immortal\'s entire body, and the beautiful butterfly formed out of the particles, and then it disappeared completely.

All of a sudden, the crystal ball lost its purple glow and returned to its transparent color.

Esmeralda feels relieved that they no longer have to travel far and wide to find the boys! The crystal ball can tell them what exactly happened to the boys!

She left Vearah\'s room while holding the crystal ball and her mentor\'s clothes in her hands. She joined the people in the living room. They were still discussing the disappearance of the men. She put the crystal ball on the center table and addressed everyone. "Guys, this crystal ball can show us where the men have gone to and what happened to them during the last hour. Sad to say, it can\'t predict the future," she said.

Everyone\'s eyes were glued to the crystal ball in amazement.

"How does it work, Granny? And who owned the crystal ball?" asked Kate curiously.

"My mentor mentioned this crystal ball to me a long time ago. I just remembered it today. I searched for it in my mentor\'s room and found it at the bottom drawer of the closet. I cleaned it and found the book which contains the spell that can command the crystal ball to show the last hour of the person\'s life before they disappeared," Esmeralda explained.

"So, how does it work?" Jegun asked while staring at the crystal ball. Great curiosity was flashing in his eyes.

Esmeralda looked at the old man in amusement. "I will just rub your clothes on the crystal ball, and voila! We will be able to see what did you do during the last two to three hours with your life," she said, smiling.

Jegun shook his head vigorously. "No way! I went to the toilet before I come here. I don\'t want anyone to see what I\'m doing in the toilet!" he said, making goofy faces for everyone to see.

Everyone laughed at grandpa\'s statement.

"Esmeralda, show us now what this crystal is capable of..." Aspen said escitedly.

"Alright..." Esmeralda replied.