Around the back of the castle, Tree Rex frowned, and cast out a bright green light as a guide around the dark parts of the backyard. Surely, all the ruckus he caused would've been enough to keep the guards occupied. All he had to worry about was finding a way in, yet, he wasn't entirely sure if that'd be the easiest thing.

"I have to ask," Crusher whispered as he planted himself against the back of the castle, his eyes darting from side to side. "Why exactly did they make us do the stealth part? We're not exactly stealthy."

"You might not be," 'Enehana remarked as they floated up on a shiny jetpack, their eyes glued to a console, "but once we get in here and I start up my cloaking device, we'll be completely invisible to the naked eye. They won't even know we're coming!"

"Does that thing even work still?" Vatra asked from where he sat on Crusher's shoulder. "It has been a while since you've last used your little devices—"

"And they still work like they're new, tested them myself last night." 'Enehana toyed around with a knob and hummed, but finally stashed the device away in their backpack. "I don't make junk, and these devices are no exception to that rule."

"That's right!" Jorden affirmed as he sat on Crusher's other shoulder.

Jorden nodded as furiously as he could, and Tree Rex chuckled before turning his attention back to the walls. Brushing his fingertips against their rough, stone texture, he frowned as he traced the walls for some kind of gap or crack reminiscent of an opening, or something similar. Though, with all the cracks in this worn-down stone, it was kind of hard to tell exactly what was what. Most of the ones that seemed big enough were just fissures left by the wear and tear of time, and nothing that indicated a secret passage of any sort. So, he turned to the other side of the wall and felt his way around, but found no cracks, switches, nothing.

"Any luck, babe?" Bouncer asked. His warm metal pressed against Tree Rex's skin, giving off a pleasantly warm feeling.

Tree Rex chucked, but quickly shook his head. "Nothing here," he said, tilting his head towards the corner indicating the wall's end. "I suppose we'll have to try the other end."

Tree Rex took a step forward, and beside him, the castle started to rumble—but no, not from his own footsteps. Even with its damages, the castle was far too sturdy for something of that sort. Instead, the wall beside him shuddered, slowly sinking in with sand and crumbled bits of rock cascading down!

The others all circled around Tree Rex as the wall sank further and further in, and it unveiled a totally dark passageway where the wall once stood. A sort of musty smell wafted out from the tunnel, as if it hadn't been attended to in ages, and the walls were filled with cracks and cobwebs. It shouldn't have been surprising, given the worn-down state of the castle, but something about it pricked at the alarm bells in Tree Rex's mind.

"Well, guess we found our passageway," Hot Head remarked, shrugging as he pushed past Tree Rex. With a flick of his hands, red light poured out and acted as a makeshift lantern, illuminating the pathway ahead in crimson. "Let's go find this Kaos guy and—"

SHING!

Hot Head screamed and ducked as a giant buzz saw burst from the ceiling! It swung ahead before it sunk back into the ceiling, and Hot Head turned on his back while his lit hands thrust towards the ceiling. The sounds of buzzing and churning squealed from high above as even more buzz saws slipped down from the ceiling, their metal tinted a bloody red by Hot Head's light. Hot Head flipped back just before they could saw him in half! He transformed into a motorbike and skidded away as they swung, but turned back to normal as he cowered behind Tree Rex.

"Should've guessed that was a little suspicious," Tree Rex sighed.

The saws continued to churn as they lowered from the ceiling, and Tree Rex held up his solar cannon. Surely, one nice, powerful laser beam of raw solar light would be enough to melt these! His solar cannon screeched as it began charging with light, its tip turning a fluorescent green as it did.

Beside him, Bouncer wheeled up as his eyes glowed a bright orange. Crusher's own eyes turned a bright chartreuse as he squeezed his hammer's handle, and Hot Head jumped out from behind Tree Rex while his palms glowed with heat. A buzz saw swung right down for them, and all four of them readied to attack…

But as it came just an inch from Tree Rex's face, it stopped completely and leaped back into the ceiling! Tree Rex turned the light of his solar cannon onto the ceiling as it vanished, right in time to catch the other buzz saws as they disappeared. He frowned and lowered the cannon.

"Just what stopped those things?" 'Enehana asked as they lowered hands glowing with orange light. "I hadn't even used my technomancy yet!"

"I did, actually."

A soft, but kind of high-strung and whiny sounding voice echoed from the darker parts of the hall, followed by footsteps and a faint gold light. Out from the shadows came a lanky, green-skinned troll dressed in rags who held a worn lantern in hand. Their long ears drooped down in tandem with the bags underneath his bloodshot eyes, and the only trace of hair was a few worn, oily strands at the top of their head. They looked to be in quite awful shape—did they live in this castle?

"I forgot those ceiling saws were still there," the troll said as they scratched their head, bowed down and sighed. "Sorry about that."

The troll chuckled, hummed and scratched his head as they trailed around where Tree Rex and the others stood. They all gave the troll odd looks and mumbled things under their breath as the troll gave them a look-over. After trailing a full circle around them, the troll sighed and trudged back to Tree Rex's front. Actually, now that Tree Rex thought about it, this troll's voice sounded a little familiar.

"You must be the Elder Elementals, correct?" the troll asked, before they cast a glance up at where Vatra, 'Enehana, and Jorden rested on Crusher's shoulders. "I don't quite recognize you ghosts, though. I guess the Skylanders must have gotten some new recruits since I was last on Skylands."

"Wait, you know who we are?" Hot Head gasped.

Tree Rex blinked and took a step back. "Just who exactly are you?" he asked.

The troll chuckled and ran a hand across his head. "Oh, pardon me, I must have forgotten to introduce myself," the troll said before bowing. "I'm Glumshanks, Lord Kaos's butler and right-hand troll—"

At the sound of those, words, everyone pointed their weapons forward!

Glumshanks gasped and immediately held up his hands. "Wait, wait, hold your fire! I don't mean you any harm!"

"Then, pray tell, what are you doing here?" Vatra asked as he floated down. As his feet hit the ground, he stormed up to Glumshanks and crossed his arms. "I presume that you were the one who lead us into these halls, right? What kind of intentions would you have in leading up to a dark, isolated place full of death traps?"

"Well, the death traps were unintentional." Glumshanks gulped and twiddled his fingers. "But, I did want to meet with you. You see, I have a deal for you."

"A… Deal?"

A few whispers came as the others turned to each other and huddled close, but Tree Rex knelt behind Vatra and Glumshanks. The two of them turned their heads to him, but Tree Rex just nodded and moved his hand forward.

Vatra nodded back to Tree Rex in turn, and he turned to Glumshanks as warmth dusted the tips of his fiery red hair. "Go on."

"Normally I wouldn't really do this, but desperate times call for desperate measures." Glumshanks sighed and scratched the back of his ears.

"Well, you see, Lord Kaos has been acting, odd. Ever since he came out of that Conquertron a few days ago, his voice has gotten all deep, and he's been weirdly obsessed with Arkeyan things, and he always seems sort of out of sorts, I suppose. He insists there's nothing wrong, but I've known him since he was a baby. I can tell when he's lying like I can blink, but I can't get him to tell me what's going on with him at all."

"So I presume you want us to spy on him, and figure out why he's acting so strangely?"

Glumshanks nodded. "I can help you get into the castle without getting any attention from Lord Kaos's armies—in fact, I've already diverted them away."

Vatra frowned deeper, drumming his fingers against his forearms.

Tree Rex knelt further down, and tapped Vatra's shoulder as gently as he could. "You know, this could work out for us," Tree Rex whispered. "We can get into the castle without any fuss and get some extra information, and once we get it, we can take care of their plans to go to Arkus! We'd be killing two termites with one stone!"

"Isn't the saying two birds?" Vatra whispered back as he raised a brow.

"Yes, but I wouldn't want to hurt a bird."

Vatra chuckled and rolled his eyes. A hint of amusement laid in his normally-solemn stature that quickly faded as he turned to Glumshanks.

"Alright, we'll help you find out what's wrong with this Kaos fellow."

"Great!" Glumshanks clapped his hands, turned around and walked deeper into the depths. "Right this way, please, and, er, please watch your step. I thought I deactivated all the traps, but I'm not sure."

Tree Rex winced, but nonetheless cast a light down on the floor. He not once moved it from where Glumshanks walked as they passed through the halls.

The light at the back faded by the minute, and the faint sounds of rustling wind outside made way for dripping water and faint drafts. That musty stench strengthened and faded at random intervals. A faint gold light passed over them, one not strong enough to illuminate the path, but bright enough that it gave some semblance of visibility to the paths underneath. It was all dirt and broken stones that looked as if they hadn't been traversed in years.

"This was a secret passageway Lord Kaos's wilikin used to sneak in," Glumshanks explained as he held up the lantern. "His Majesty never wanted them rummaging around the castle, so he kicked them all out, but they'd always use this path to get around that. Nobody knew" — Glumshanks chuckled for a moment — "well, beside me of course. Being the head butler, I knew this whole castle inside and out!"

Glumshanks took a few steps forward, paused, and hummed as he rubbed a hand against his chin. "Now, if I recall correctly, there was another trap of some kind here, but I can't remember what it was."

Glumshanks took a few more steps forward as he hummed—when a saw buzzed right past him! He screamed and jumped back as it came inches from sawing him in half; he gulped and stumbled backwards, backing into Crusher's leg as he did. His whole head coated itself in sweat, and in such short time, too!

Considering the whole path ahead quickly filled with buzz saws that swung around in spiral formations, and practically churned the whole ground around them as they worked, he had reason to be scared.

"Oh right, the saws," Glumshanks sputtered. He shook his head, tossed sweat beads everywhere, and wiped himself off as he stumbled forward. "Now, if I recall correctly, the switch to turn them off should be at the end of the path—" Another buzz saw rushed past Glumshanks, and he shuddered before he hopped across. "Well, better make this quick."

Glumshanks held the lantern as high as he could and jumped again. He shuddered for a moment as a buzz saw zipped behind him, gingerly tiptoed forward, but jumped back as another buzz saw passed in front of him! He clenched his teeth, sweat dripping down again as he held the lantern high once more; finally he jumped forward, narrowly passing another saw before it could slice him. One saw zipped past his front just as he went to jump once more, more chasing after his back and sides… The saws completely caught him in their grip, and he could only stand and clench his lantern as he sought some kind of escape!

"Looks like he could use some help," 'Enehana remarked as they stretched their hands and grinned, "and I could use something to practice my technomancy with!"

'Enehana hummed as they stretched out their hands, and closed their eyes as an orange glow consolidated around those metal hands of their! A similar orange glow shone in the saws' metal as their rapid-fire runs slowed to a crawl before they finally stopped in place. In their center, Glumshanks' eyes flickered as he lifted himself up.

He waved at 'Enehana, hopped aside and pulled a lever on the side of the wall. The saws all sank into the ground while the gaps they raced around sealed themselves up with shiny metal.

Everyone tip-toed over them just a bit gingerly… Just in case. As they rejoined Glumshanks, they crept into an open door at the end of the path. There, yellow light tinted the world around, and unveiled stone in shades of brown and gray and filled with cracks.

Tree Rex smiled and lowered his own light source as his group passed through the door. The lights were bright enough that they showed a room filled to the brim with solid stone blocks about half his height. Its sides lined with ledges to other rooms with sealed-off doors. In the center, the ground below was cracked, just like the rest of the room was, but the cracks seemed a bit bigger and thicker compared to the rest. The musty smells and chilling sounds of before vanished, leaving the room in an odd state of tranquility.

"One of these doors should lead us to the next room, but I can't remember which one," Glumshanks remarked as he scratched his palm. "All of them being sealed off doesn't help, either."

"Allow me to take care of that then," Tree Rex said, his eyes glazing over one of the push blocks.

Surely, all it'd take to unseal those doors was throwing a block like that in there—a little brutish a method, but it would get the job done. Tree Rex walked over to one block and grabbed it by the bottom, grunting as he strained to lift it up. Even with all his might, it didn't budge! After a few more tugs, he unwrapped it and sighed, and moved to a second block that would hopefully be a bit easier to move. Just like the one before, he could only strain and groan as it refused to move an inch.

"Oh, right! I think those blocks have a special enchantment on them. They won't move without a switch," Glumshanks said, drifting off to the side of one wall.

Flipping a part of the wall open to reveal a panel filled with switches, Glumshanks glazed them over and frowned. "I believe the one to release them was…" Glumshanks flicked one switch and grinned. "This one!"

A click sounded through the room, and Tree Rex grunted as the block he moved to grab started to shudder. He grabbed onto it and went to pull—but instead of grabbing it, it grabbed him!

He screamed as the block zipped off with him in tow. It moved with such intense speed despite the added weight of Tree Rex himself, but soon it stopped at a moment's notice. The stop flung Tree Rex into one of the walls!

He smashed into the wall's side before he knew it, and his whole body crunched as rocks flew out around him. Sand flew into his eyes, and left them burning and stinging as he rolled into a small chamber. Tree Rex placed his hand over his face, healed away the pain in an instant, and pushed himself up to find himself in a small, dome like room with no sort of decoration. Something told him this wasn't what they were looking for.

Tree Rex stumbled back out of the room, but jumped back as another pushblock zipped past him with Hot Head screaming as he clung to it, and Bouncer hot on its heels. Crusher ran away from another, and Jorden screamed with glee as he rode atop one pushblock before it stopped and tossed him in front of Vatra and 'Enehana. The two helped him up before they ran off as another pushblock rushed forward and threatened to smash into them!

"Wait, that was the one to move them!" Glumshanks proclaimed. The others shot him glares, and he gulped, scrambled back for the panel and glazed over. "The release switch has to be somewhere in here…"

"Or, we can just move them the old fashioned way!" Jorden cried as he flung out his hand. "Earth magic!"

Crusher nodded as he slid back from the running blocks, spun his hammer around and smashed it into the ground! Fissures of brown light formed in the ground's cracks, and with a swing of Jorden's hands, the light glowed even brighter as it spread along the ground.

It fed into the pushblocks and stopped them in an instant. The pushblocks froze for a moment, hovered out of the ground for another, and smashed into the rest of the tunnels' walls. The impact shattered both themselves and whatever remained! The tunnel trembled from the ensuring shockwave that burst from the impact, one so powerful that the ground below splintered and dropped them all down into the dark below!

They all grunted as they crashed down into a room completely enveloped in darkness, and hit cold, hard floor of… Some kind. With everything being so dark, it was hard to tell. The only light came from Vatra, Jorden, and 'Enehana's ghastly bodies, which glowed like weak lamps.

"Let me shed some light on things," Vatra grunted as he stumbled out and cast out a hand.

Warm, red light spread out from his hand and across the room, illuminating it in crimson tones as torches formed along the walls! The firelight of the torches brightened the room, completely illuminating a glass, checkerboard floor that sparkled underneath the light! Its walls were painted with murals of beings done in all sorts of fancy styles, all of whom danced, and drank, and made merry. Light cascaded down in sparkly shades of pink and purple… Whatever it was, the whole look was far too fancy for something like this! It looked like it belonged in a noble's manor, not an underground passage!

"Ah, I remember this place! This was the king and queen's secret dance room," Glumshanks said, chuckling as he stepped up. "Whenever they needed some time away from their duties, they'd sneak down here and dance the night away."

Jorden and 'Enehana both chuckled and turned to each other other.

"Would you care for a dance then, dear?" Jorden asked, blushing and adjusting the helmet on his hat.

'Enehana chuckled and took Jorden's bigger, much bulkier hand in their own slender one. "Gladly.”

'Enehana pressed themself close to Jorden's chest as the two of them twirled around the ballroom, stepping from side to side as they swayed and twirled and spun. With one step of 'Enehana's, the normally-pink lights tinged themselves in shades of orange and brown reminiscent of a warm evening as they danced, and soft music filled the room. A few sparkles cascaded down from the ceiling, illuminating Jorden and 'Enehana as they danced like there was nobody in Skylands but the two of them.

Just the sight made Tree Rex smile—in both senses of the phrases, he hadn't seem them dance like this in quite some time.

"You know," Vatra chuckled in a sort of weary tone, "this romantic atmosphere really reminds me of someone. He was always quite the lovebird…"

"Ah, yeah, him," Crusher whispered, his voice faltering. "I… No, that's a stupid thing to ask. There's no way he's still alive anymore."

"Is something wrong, Crusher?"

Vatra turned to Crusher with an almost expectant gaze, but Crusher frowned and shook his head.

Tree Rex sat beside him and frowned—he knew exactly who Crusher was talking about, after all. The man with the wind at his heels, the heart of both a lover and a fighter, and their shared passion entwined in his fists. He was one of their most passionate allies, after all, and not a face that could be easily forgotten. In fact, just looking at this dance floor, Tree Rex could almost see him with his dark as night hair streaked with blues as bright as the sky, rambling about his dreams of bringing his future partner here to dance while Vatra groaned and told him to hurry it up…

"Hey, babe, something up?" Bouncer asked as he gently nudged Tree Rex's shoulder. "You looked like you were spacing out there!"

Tree Rex blinked, and shook his head as he pressed his legs to his knees. "Just thinking of an old friend, that's all."

Bouncer frowned for a moment, but even that frown of his faded as he wrapped his arm around Tree Rex's.

"If that's all you're doing, come on! We might as well take a shot while we're here!"

Tree Rex grunted as Bouncer pulled him onto the dance floor, his own wood pressed against Bouncer's hot metal. His legs must have fallen asleep while he was reminiscing, for they shuddered and numbed so much that he could barely stand; they only stayed up from how Bouncer held him tight. The light shimmered in Bouncer's eyes, and warmed his metal as he laughed and spun Tree Rex around. Neither of them fancied themselves dancers, he knew this much. But, after everything that had happened these past couple days, something as silly as this was a welcome escape.

So, Tree Rex just laughed along, clinging to Bouncer the best he could as they twirled along the dance floor. They both stopped on one corner and shared a quick kiss—though it felt so much longer. He forgot what it felt like to be intimate with a partner… All those years sealed away made him forget what it felt like to do a lot of things.

"Why don't I take the lead this time?" Tree Rex asked, and took Bouncer's hands in his own as his legs started to steady.

He took a step backwards, and a soft click came from underfoot, just barely loud enough to be heard. Across from them, 'Enehana and Jorden both withdrew as they turned to the back of the room.

There, a part of the back wall retreated upwards, and unveiled a dark passageway. Seemed as though that was where they had to go next.

So, they all gathered together, crowded around the entrance, and ducked inside as Vatra and Hot Head headed the front of the group. Vatra frowned as he cast out flames for a lamp with a wave of his hands, and Hot Head did the same as he held out his hand.

The dark of the halls caved in, making way for the light. It unveiled masses upon masses of stone tunnels with dirt floors, and walls adorned with torches. These torches were useless to them; they extinguished and rotted long ago. The stale water that dripped down evaporated from the flames.

An eerie sight, but nothing that dissuaded them as they trekked down. The largest members of the ground ducked down as they tried to squeeze their way through the tunnel.

Tree Rex himself ducked a little further from the length of his horns, and resorted to crawling down as the tunnels tightened a bit further. A cool breeze brushed against his face as he did, like the refreshingly chilling breezes of spring—but, that couldn't be right! They were inside a solid rock tunnel. there was no way for a breeze to flow through here! Besides, it was the autumnal season, not the vernal one, but he supposed that autumnal breezes were pleasant as well. He recalled his days as a mighty, firm tree, where the autumnal season would paint his leaves in such a splendid variety of colors like jewels in a dragon's treasure hoard. Another breeze slapped Tree Rex in the face, and he shook his head the best he could. His horns stung as their bark scraped against the sides of the tunnel. No, he couldn't get distracted, he had to find this Kaos person!

Tree Rex crawled through the tunnels. Their sides widened by the second as he crawled further—and more disconcertingly, the breezes grew stronger as well.

"Hey, is it just me," Hot Head asked, his teeth chattering and sending embers across the floor, "or is it cold in here?"

"Must be a draft," Glumshanks remarked as he rubbed his own shoulders in some attempt to warm up. "This castle's been abandoned for so long, and we hadn't had time to patch up all the odds and ends. Don't worry about it." Glumshanks' own teeth started to chatter and he shook his head. "Anyways, I think there should be a door at the end of this tunnel."

"Found it!" Bouncer cried from the front of the group.

The tunnel grew spacious enough that it allowed Tree Rex to stand at full height. So, Tree Rex stood and glanced over the group.

In front of him, Bouncer pressed his hand against a wall at the end of the tunnel with a few sparse cracks that were just big enough that light poured in from them. Bouncer moved to push his whole self against the wall. The wall's cracks spread across the surface and thickened with each push, but with those same pushed, the winds that burst and whipped around Tree Rex grew stronger, more furious even! Their cold, harsh breath pushed against Tree Rex, leaving him to shudder as the wall continued to crumble.

Another push and the winds howled even louder—wait a second!

"Bouncer, wait—" Tree Rex called.

It was too late, for Bouncer already shattered the wall! Light poured in, but it wasn't the only thing that did! The winds behind Tree Rex howled and burst through, and coated the walls around in frost as they sprung up and pushed everyone ahead! The light came in fast as they crashed in a pile onto a hard cobblestone pathway. The wall behind them sealed itself back up as they grunted and stumbled back up.

Tree Rex was first; he crawled out from the top of the pile, pushed himself up and scratched his horns. "Just what was that?" Tree Rex asked. "And… Where are we?"

Tree Rex frowned and crept across the stones while the others got up behind him. His eyes locked on a large, curious device that looked like a quarter of large, sharp blades bolted to a round center—some kind of fan, he presumed? Whatever it was, it was the only thing besides them here. Everywhere else was completely walled off by thick, stone walls!

"I don't like the looks of this place," Crusher trembled. He clung to his hammer as he stumbled forward. "We'd better find a way out, quick."

A soft click resounded, and all heads turned up right as a loud, whipping sound like a roaring mega-lion shook the world!

The giant fan began to spin right before their eyes. It started at a slow pace before it went fast, faster, fastest, until it was little more than a round, giant blur! With that blur came winds so powerful that it lifted them off their feet, and thrust them back into the wall, pinning them all to the spot as they screamed!