“It’s not like you knew how strong she was. For now, just put it in the back of your mind. We will begin preparations and figure out a counter plan.” Desaray patted the top of Cinder’s head, which seemed to calm her slightly. 

A while later everyone was gathered in the meeting room. “The Demon Queen of Darkness huh? I heard tales about her. She was so powerful that she made the entire world into an eternal night. The only way to defeat her was to use the power of light. It was a light dragon who had helped the people of the past seal her away.” 

“Regal, did you just say a light dragon?” Desaray’s ears perked up. She knew of one light dragon!

“Yes. In order to disperse the shadows you needed the power of light. But only the power of a light dragon was strong enough to disperse the shadows enough to find their way to the source, which was the demon queen herself. I believe it is the same manner in which you were able to fend off Miss Cinder here before.” Regal explained. Cinder lowered her head and softly spoke: “So-Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, lass. There was no harm done. In this room, you are not an enemy but an ally, so raise your head.” Regal did not mean to put Cinder down. He was just using her as an example.

    “I know of a light dragon.” Desaray stood up. “Juna, I need you to spread your roots far and wide. Look towards the skies and find every flying island you can.” 

“Got it!” Juna did not even need to ask Desaray any questions. She always followed her orders faithfully. 

“My best friend Becky Is a light dragon. If we can find my family and she is still alive, we can gain her help in protecting this kingdom!”  Desaray took a deep breath. She had not planned to do this so soon since things in the kingdom needed to be settled first, but now she had no other option. Without Becky’s help, there would be no way for them to fight against the Demon Queen of Darkness. 

But Desaray also felt nervous. She had changed so much. Would her friends recognize her? Would her father recognize her? These thoughts had always eaten at the back of her mind, but she had no choice but to try.

“Cinder and I will begin searching the floating islands once they are located. Regal, Juna, I want you two to start organizing people to enter the dungeons. We need to get multiple groups at a time going and leveling up. All citizens need to be at least level 60 to 80 within a few month’s time. I think we have at least that long before anything big happens. 

“Make sure all shelters are stocked up on a few years worth of food. Interconnect them as well. We will begin expanding and creating an under city just in case the battles with the demon queens grow out of hand. This goes for all cities. We will be a second Kingdom of Serenity underground. Each village and city should have a means to enter it.” Desaray knew they did not have much time. Luckily, they had earth magic, so digging an underground city would be easy. They could even make areas to produce food. But for now, they needed to work on creating a living space for all citizens.

“We will get right to it!” Regal stood up. “I will also have all citizens do their part.”

“Yes. Do not keep them in the dark. If we were to ask them to start helping with such a big job, they would grow wary, so we will be honest and explain things from the start so that they know exactly what we are up against and why we are asking them to help.” Desaray also did not wish to hide anything from the public. This was a disaster that could destroy the world. If the Demon Queen of Darkness was this powerful, what about the other two demon queens? If they started fighting, how much of the world would go to hell? 

Because of this Desaray wanted to make sure every citizen was going to be safe. She did not take over the human city to allow them to die. They, too, were part of her kingdom. The same went for Rain Ford City. She did not wish for anyone to die, which was why she decided to make an underground city a place for everyone to fall back to. This way, they could slowly gain their strength and wait for a time to reclaim their lands.

From that day forth, Desaray was very busy. She had Yi Ling look after Lily while she and Cinder investigated the different floating islands that Juna found. Between her investigations and checking on the progress of things. An entire month passed.

“Desa, I found another floating island. It is coming on shore now from the ocean.” Juna’s words caused Desaray’s eyes to light up. It had been a few days since the last floating island. 

“Send me over now. I will go and take a look….” Desaray took a deep breath. Every floating island she had gone to thus far had always made her nervous. The what-if factor was really taking a toll on her heart.