Staff from other palaces were helter-skelter when the explosion occurred. The ground shook violently. Some ran outside to see the source while some hid in their rooms. The ones, who had run out, witnessed fire and smoke bleeding out from the broken South Palace. The roofs had caved in and the balconies had ripped off. The water sprayed from the inside. It flooded the entire palace compound. Overall it was a maze of slabs, brick, dust and debris. Destruction was written everywhere.

Some of the debris had landed in the adjoining palaces. Isidorus' palace was right near Ziu's and it was affected majorly. The rubble from the explosion had stretched across to his palace. Especially his garden. All the ramblers that he had planted so affectionately had splayed on the ground.

​​

---

Adrianna and her team had just reached the boundary of the Wizard Kingdom when they heard the explosion. It was ear piercing even at that distance. Shocked, they stopped and turned to look back. Some seventy miles away, the skyline was a riffed with a brazen flash of lightning in the black skies, which was a backdrop to the huge ball of red, orange, blue, white and grey fire that spewed upwards leaving a string of rings of fire and smoke that rose swiftly. At the top this gigantic ball of fire reduced its intensity but from this more balls mushroomed. They overtook the smoke rings. The fire torturously coiled and curled and gnarled its way all over.

Adrianna was so shocked that her sensations numbed. She was containing the fear inside her heart—fear of something known to her. But soon the fear ripped through her heart and it came out through her throat. "Mihr!" she shouted as she realized what might have happened. There was this maelstrom of horror amongst everyone.

She couldn't believe her eyes. Her mind went to his family, to Nefasky. Her skin was lined with goose bumps. Ziu had successfully created mayhem in the Wizard Kingdom. Horror converted into anger. Initially she had swallowed the anger when she heard about Ziu. She had been very patient, calm and controlled as she formed strategies upon strategies. The anger was like fire in her belly, billowing softly. Her only calm was when she was with Dmitri.

After she saw the explosion it made the seed of anger erupt in her belly to the extent that it became a fiery dragon whose fire blazed in her eyes. Her entire body shook uncontrollably. The fusillade she viewed created the inferno she couldn't manage.

"Ziu!" she shouted his name in a way that if he were near her, she would have wrung his neck. Her hands rolled into tight fists until the knuckles became white. "I will make you suffer, Ziu. And I will make sure that you die painfully and slowly. I am going to kill you and enjoy killing you. Wait and watch!" Adrianna turned her broom and ordered. "Let's go!"

The entire group was in coherence with her thoughts. They turned to leave. Although it was night, the sky was lit with an orange light of fire. Another cannon was fired and hit the wall. Another crater was formed in it. The light from it flashed across and the entire wizard army could be seen.

Adrianna was leading them. As soon as they reached the periphery, she shouted, "Cast the invisibility spell."

Everyone took their wands out and immediately they all became invisible. But they were stunned to see that Adrianna hadn't cast the spell. She was still proceeding to the frontiers, flesh and blood. Isidorus waved his wand at her to cast the spell but the magic knocked. She wasn't letting anyone do that. Before he could do anything, they were all over the bounds and then across them. They all were flying at a higher altitude so that the cannon balls wouldn't harm them.

Isidorus' heartbeat raced. It was nearly exploding. He wanted to rush near her to protect her, but inside he knew that something inside her had snapped. She was not going to hold her wrath anymore. He braced himself for the show holding his breath, almost gulping it down to stay quiet. Images of what could happen next flashed through his mind and his hands became clammy.

---

Ziu heard the noise of the explosion. He was ecstatic. One of his plans had succeeded. It gave him a sense of confidence. His eyes shined. He was on his broom positioned near one of the tanks that was firing the next cannonball. Suddenly his face broke into a smile and then he broke into laughter. "Adrianna, you are so gone!" the laughing lines on his face showed prominently. This was the time to increase the attack. The wizards must be all rattled, he thought. He clasped his hands to his chest feeling buoyant. He felt he would be on top of the world. He would now conquer the Wizard Kingdom. He would rip the crown from Adrianna's head after beheading her. He could almost imagine it. "Yes!" he muttered. "You are so gone now. You are nothing in front of me. I am the most powerful wizard and I will prove that."

Ziu sat up, straight and alert. He had gone ahead of the game by not only creating a state of unrest inside the Wizard Kingdom but also on the outside.

Like a champion he went to the next tank to order it to fire the cannon. He was about to order it when he noticed that the winds had grown. Disregarding it as a weather phenomenon, he shouted on the top of his voice, "Fire it!" He had a plan in which he had thought of firing two tanks simultaneously, and at the same time instructed the soldiers to fire their automatic machine guns at the same point.

The tanks started to load their cannons.

"Open fire with your guns just after the cannonballs have hit the wall!" he yelled from behind.

The soldiers took their positions.

The winds had picked more velocity. The soft rumble had grown to a gnarl as the trees susurrated. The soldiers loaded the tanks and were ready to fire when the winds became all the more powerful. A small swirl developed in the midst of them. The soldiers ran to the back to stand with the tanks in order to protect themselves from the howling wind.

The velocity of the winds picked up. They started to whirl in a dangerous way making a howling sound. Soldiers were unable to hold their weapons properly as they couldn't keep steady on the ground. The trees creaked, crying to stay intact against the onslaught. The soldiers took a few steps back.

All of a sudden, the swirl gathered more winds that gyrated around it and they saw a woman who had leapt out of nowhere and landed in the center. She crouched low as she pressed her hand to the ground creating a tornado like field.

The velocity of the winds looked so high, that no soldier dared approach it.

"Adrianna!" Ziu exclaimed with excitement. So many good things were happening in one day. He would kill her this instant.

"Ziu!" Adrianna snarled, baring her teeth. Did he forget that she was a half werewolf? Her eyes with golden yellow slit stared at her prey.

Their eyes locked. They looked at each other with hatred that consumed their bodies.

"Fire now!" came the order.

The bullets started rolling out of the barrels. But the soldiers couldn't steady themselves any further. They found it difficult to hold the weapons.

As if the disaster in front of them was any less, they heard a soft rumble behind them, which grew into loud thumps.

They became scared. Were the beasts of the forests—

Ziu clenched his teeth.