On the 4th day.

Inside the healing room.

Ramza was ecstatic while rubbing the herbal ointment on his friend's feet because the skin color was already returning to normal. He looked at Zemeth's face and spoke. "Brother, you better wake up now! We are waiting for you to open your eyes..."

Still, Zemeth's eyes were closed, but Ramza was no longer worried. He continues rubbing the herbal ointment on his friend's feet for the last time.

A few minutes later, he was already out of the healing room, looking at Jegun with a bright smile on his face. "His feet were already completely healed!" he announced jubilantly.

"That's great!" Jegun beamed. "Which means one thing... the poison was already gone from his body," he concluded. "He will wake up anytime now... or probably tomorrow," he added excitedly.

Ramza was sharing Jegun's enthusiasm. They sat on the chair and play chess on the center table to pass time. They were looking forward to the day that Zemeth will finally awaken from his slumber.

~

Meanwhile, inside Esmeralda's room, the atmosphere was gloomy.

Vearah was chatting with her student. "What's wrong with you? You only get out of your room during mealtime. Why are you sulking here inside your room?" she asked her gently. The dismal expression on her face worried her.

Esmeralda sighed. "I was just thinking that how happy I felt after getting out of the castle. It's my lifelong dream and I'm finally here at last. But Jegun suggested to me one thing... to return to the castle and put an end to everything... after Ivy is rescued of course," she said.

Vearah's brows furrowed. "How can you put an end to the castle?" she asked curiously.

"By burning the castle along with its inhabitants," Esmeralda replied.

Vearah's eyes widened.

"Yes. We both know that it's possible to end the castle prematurely. When my heart stops beating the blazing barrier will burn everything and everyone inside the castle. That's the end of everything, the castle will no longer exist. No humans will suffer anymore inside the castle," Esmeralda explained.

"B-but you also have to die... it's not right!" Vearah protested.

Esmeralda took a deep breath. "Yes, that would be the scenario. I was a fool to believe that after I escape the castle, I will regain my life and my youth back. But the current situation is trying to force me to see the truth. The castle... as long it remained standing, will claim innocent victims and now that there is a way how to open the blazing barrier, the enemy might find a way how to exploit it and unleash hell on humans. That is one thing I can't allow to happen," she elaborated further.

Vearah released a troubled sigh. "Now I know what's troubling you. So...what is your plan?"

Esmeralda shrugged. "Part of me wants to end my life to finish the castle but another part of me wants to continue living and enjoy my life," she said wistfully. "Those are two conflicting emotions that are weighing heavily in my mind nowadays," she said sadly.

Vearah was staring at Esmeralda's miserable face. "You don't want to die right? But you also want to bring an end to the castle, severing your ties with it for good, am I right?"

Esmeralda nodded her head. "Yep, that's right!"

Vearah looked over the window and beyond. Trying hard to find a solution for Esmeralda's dilemma. "Don't worry much, Esme. I'm sure we can find a better solution to your problems."

The two women were enveloped in silence for a few minutes. Their mind were both preoccupied.

"If you finally decided to sacrifice yourself, you will do it here or inside the castle?" Vearah asked.

"If I want to end my life, I would rather do it here so that you can give my body a proper burial. I don't want my body to burn inside the castle. I want to die with my body intact and perished in peace," Esmeralda stated.

"But you can't do it here or anywhere because Ivy is still trapped inside the castle. You have to do it after Ivy escaped the castle," Vearah reminded her.

Esmeralda nodded her head. "Yes, I know that. That is why I'm having tormenting conflicts inside my mind right now. I honestly don't want to go back inside the castle. If I will sacrifice my life then I should do it here... not there," she lamented.

"Then we shall send Zemeth and his friends back in the castle, this time their mission is to rescue Ivy," Vearah suggested. "Then after they rescue Ivy, you can now proceed with your plan to finish the castle for good," she added.

Esmeralda sighed. Tears sprang in her eyes. "I don't want to die yet, teacher!" she began sobbing hard in front of her.

Vearah breathed deeply and rubbed Esme's back gently trying to console her. "Let's find a way...okay? Maybe there is a way to end the castle without leading to your ultimate demise," she said.

Esmeralda shook her head. "Before the three elders passed away, they told me that the only way to end the castle is through my death. Only my death can burn the castle in smithereens," she said miserably.

"I see...you are afraid to die?" Vearah asked.

"Exactly, I don't want to die yet. I feel like I missed so many things in life. I want to live another 100 years into the future if possible," Esmeralda said in wishful thinking.

Vearah patted her student's shoulder in sympathy as silence descended heavily around them.

Outside the room.

Jegun was looking for a chance to talk to Vearah and Esmeralda to discuss Ivy's delicate condition inside the castle. He waited near the door of Esmeralda's room, hoping to see the women coming out together.

He didn't wait for long. The two women exited the door wanting to talk to him.

Vearah addressed Jegun. "Since you're here already we will discuss how the rescue will go on..."

Jegun smiled. Very much pleased that the women are now willing to talk about saving Ivy with him.

They gathered around in the living room and began their discussion.

"I can enter the castle anytime, no one will hurt me, or else if I die everyone will also die, that's a fact," Esmeralda stated.

"That's a given and we can exploit that to our advantage. However, if Zemeth and the boys will enter the castle they won't be able to bypass the vampire's threshold. In short, the only way to go inside the castle undetected is to perform the old route... genie in the bottle style. Just like the way when Ella entered the castle, the vampire was not able to detect the bottle inside her bag which hidden the boys in their smoke form," he said.

Vearah nodded her head agreeing to Jegun's plan. "That's a good plan...so...once the boys already have Ivy and retrieve the golden dagger, they can escape the castle together. After their escape...what will happen next?"

Jegun looked at Esmeralda trying to gauge her decision.

Esmeralda was quiet, she was looking at the window and beyond.

Jegun cleared his throat. "We can make Esmeralda's heart stop beating for a while until the castle crumbled beyond redemption then resurrect her back to life using the magical healing potion that the king of elves has given me. It was able to resurrect Ivy back to life when she died for a few minutes. I'm sure it will also be able to resurrect Esmeralda..." he said confidently.

Vearah looked Jegun in the eyes. "How high are the odds that Esmeralda will come back to life?" she asked wanting to be sure.

"Ivy and Zemeth benefited tremendously from the magic healing potion. I'm sure it will work the same with Esmeralda," he replied positively.

Vearah looked at Esme.

Esmeralda nodded her head and looked at them bravely in the eyes. "I'll take it..." she said.

Jegun smiled brightly feeling relieved that Esmeralda finally agreed to the plan.

"If in case the magic healing potion fails and I can't come back to life, then I wish to be buried here in the mountain," Esmeralda told them her last wish.

"Ah, let's not talk about that yet. I'm optimistic that no one will die," he said.

Esmeralda took a deep breath. "I don't want to rush the rescue right away, besides Zemeth is still in the healing room. We need proper planning to make everything work according to our plan. I will discuss things with you guys some other time. I'll take my rest now," she said and left her companions to continue their discussions.

Jegun looked at Esmeralda's retreating back. "Is she okay?"

Vearah glanced at Esmeralda while she was entering her room. "She's okay physically... but mentally she's not. She has been living in the castle for a long time and she was looking forward to this day and to think that her life will end again soon. That's a hard thing to swallow," she emphasized.

Jegun sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, I feel guilty that I even suggested it to her. But there's no other way to end the castle. It's now or never," he said.

Vearah nodded her head. "I understand, you are just stating the obvious. Esmeralda knows it too, therefore I can't blame you regarding this matter. She was just trying to escape responsibility and yet it's all coming back to her now. Returning to the place that she doesn't want to go back to is very hard for her to come to terms with. Let's just give Esmeralda enough time to warm up to the idea, maybe her mood will improve in the days to come..."

"I hope so," Jegun murmured to himself.