"Alright," Vaayu croaked. He favored his left side still as he leaned against Vatra's shoulder. His eyes glazed over the halls as he lifted a hand, and pointed to one particular door that was left open a crack just large enough to pour out light. "That should be the throne room."

With a nod, 'Enehana pulled out their console, twisted a few knobs, and pressed a button or two. With a pull of a lever, a tiny satellite burst from the console and sent a pulse from its tip! The pulse covered the entire group in waves of orange light; their bodies disappeared from view with each pulse, until they completely vanished! Now completely invisible, they tip-toed across the hall and surrounded the door.

Tree Rex reached out to push the door open, but he didn't need to. A few tiny, pink, sort of monkey-like things pushed it open for him! They stumbled into some kind of bedazzled throne room with plates of food held carefully in hand. They blabbed something in some kind of gibberish language as they laid the trays next to a throne, which swiveled around to reveal…

Kaos! Yes, that very same Kaos from the day he came back to Skylands! Though now, he swapped out the black robes he wore then for finer, red and gold silk ones, and a fancy crown. The aesthetics of it all reminded Tree Rex of someone, actually. Someone he'd rather forget about.

"Notice anything suspicious about those robes?" Vaayu whispered, his voice coming from down below the other side of the door frame.

"Mm, well, the change in wardrobe is a bit new. Lord Kaos always preferred black," Glumshanks whispered.

"Not just the color. The stitching, the patterns, they're all distinctly Arkeyan." Vaayu hummed just a bit. "In fact, those crown patterns were worn by those in the Arkeyan royal family, and that crown's near-identical to the ones their emperor-kings wore."

Now that Tree Rex got a better look, that did indeed seem to be the case. He vaguely remembered that Arkilles wore a similar ceremonial robe the day they crashed his coronation. Tree Rex winced, and forced himself to keep from crushing the door frame underneath his grip.

Kaos shimmied off of his throne and addressed the monkey things. "I trust that this is the dinner I ordered?" he asked.

Tree Rex winced and shook his head. He only saw Kaos once before, so he wasn't sure, but that voice sounded much deeper than he recalled Kaos's voice being! In fact, that baritone brought to mind Arkilles again—but, even if he didn't succumb to his wounds back then, Arkilles should've been dead! Then again, Tree Rex learned not to question the states of those from his time on this journey. Still, it couldn't have been…

Clenching his teeth next, Tree Rex glanced over as Kaos picked up a chicken drumstick, sniffed it, and yowled as he flipped the whole table! The monkey things screamed as the food fell on them, coating them in stains and mush; they screamed again as Kaos stormed into their faces!

"I told you, I wanted turkey, not chicken!" Kaos roared, fires of rage burning in his eyes. "How dare you insult me with this utterly inferior array? Go make a new platter right this instant!"

More chattering came from the monkey things as they frantically nodded and rushed off. They didn’t even bother to clean the mush from their faces as they bolted out the door and down the halls!

Tree Rex planted his back against the wall still, just in case, but then breathed a sigh of relief as the monkey things disappeared down the halls without even a hint of notice paid to them. With them gone, Tree Rex turned back around and peered into the throne room once more.

"Honestly, what incompetents," Kaos muttered as he hopped back onto his throne. "They should consider themselves lucky! If not for my upcoming trip to Arkus, I'd be in a much worse mood!"

"If that's his good mood, I'd hate to see what he'd look like in a bad mood," Tree Rex whispered.

Though, apparently he didn't whisper low enough, for the throne swiveled around!

"Did somebody say something?" Kaos hissed.

He peered from side to side, and Tree Rex grunted as he pressed himself against the wall once more. He stilled his breathing the best he could as tiny footsteps pattered in. He held his breath and kept himself frozen to the wall as Kaos stepped out and glanced around the halls! For a moment, Kaos's glance fell on Tree Rex and pierced him with a familiar cold.

Kaos merely shrugged and retreated back to the throne room. "Must have just been the wind," Kaos mumbled as his footsteps drew further away.

Tree Rex glanced back into the throne room, and his heavy chest started to relieve itself. Kaos hopped back into his throne, and turned around, so his icy gaze was now far, far away from where Tree Rex was. Good, for just the sight of that glance left Tree Rex tight and frozen! Not a pleasant feeling to have.

"Anyways, Vaayu," Vatra whispered from down below. "You were hinting at something about our tiny wannabe tyrant here. What was it?"

"Ah, yes, that," Vaayu whispered back, his soft tone turning a bit more desolate. "You see, this Kaos person, he isn't actually who he claims to be!"

"Wait, not who he claims to be?" Glumshanks cried. A couple of the others shushed him, and he immediately held his breath. When they all saw that Kaos hadn't moved an inch from his throne, Glumshanks sighed. "You mean, he's an impostor?"

"Somewhat. You see—"

"Anyways, I'd got no time to dawdle around here," Kaos remarked as he turned his throne around—and turned all eyes on himself in the process. "If I recall correctly, preparations for my trip to the vault should be almost complete!" Kaos jumped off his throne and cackled as he twirled around. "Once I get that map and head back to Arkus, I'll have my old empire back at last! Oh, how I missed Arkus! Finally, I'll be able to visit its beautiful halls, and have its armies at my fingertips again!"

"Wait, his empire?" 'Enehana asked. "What's that about?"

Vatra hummed for a minute. "Yes, that's right! Chihiro said that he conquered Skylands once in the past, and that elf girl said he was planning to head to Arkus and rebuild his empire with their stock!"

"But, why's he talking about Arkus like he's already been there? There's no way he could have gone there before!"

"Yeah, that's what I'd like to know myself," Glumshanks whispered back. "It's like he thinks he's already king or something!"

"That doesn't matter!" Vatra hissed, the soft shriek of his palms heating up entering the air. "He's right before us, and we need to dispose of him before it's too late!"

"Wait, dispose?" Glumshanks backed away, or at least, Tree Rex thought he backed away based on the soft sound of plodding footsteps. "Did I hear that right?"

"I wouldn't recommend that, Vatra. Killing him won't do us any good," Vaayu butted in. "If he's the person I think he is, then—"

"What are you talking about, Vaayu? It doesn't matter who he thinks he is!" Vatra whispered at just a volume Tree Rex and the others could hear. "We have him right in the palm of our hands! All we'd have to do is burn him away, and our mission is done!"

"And if you do, he'll just be free to run amuck! If what I theorized is right, he's already possessed one person, and if we just kill this body he'll find somebody else to possess! He's not going to stop until he makes his way back to Arkus and gets his empire there back!"

Tree Rex let out a soft, confused grunt as he traced down the sound of their conflicting voices. A couple of grunts and tiny gasps showed the others were just as baffled. Wait, now that he thought about it, that voice and those clothes, they reminded him far too much of Arkilles!

"What are you talking about? Lord Kaos isn't that old, and he's never been to Arkus before!" Glumshanks whispered. "We don't even know where Arkus is anymore!"

"Don't you get it?" Vaayu cried as he raised his voice some. "That's because right now—"

"— we have to take care of this runt tarnishing the name of free magicians!" Vatra hissed as he pulled back Vaayu. "Fine, we won't kill him, but we should at least capture him while we have the chance!"

"Kill him?" Glumshanks cried. "Capture him?"

The sound of soft walking turned to fast running, and footsteps found their way on the carpets—footsteps that looked an awful lot like Glumshanks'!

"I should've known better than to trust the Skylanders!"

Vatra gasped, and another pair of footsteps that singed the carpet followed Glumshanks. "Stop him!"

Tree Rex grunted and moved away from the door, eyes laying on the footsteps. Man, having an invisibility spell started to seem like a bad idea.

"Wait a second—what was that?" Kaos asked.

Once again, everyone planted themselves to the walls. As they did, Tree Rex shot a weary glance back at Kaos's throne room.

There within, Kaos shuffled his way out of his throne room. His eyes glanced around from side to side as he tried to sniff out their very appearance, but soon he groaned and clutched his head once more. The symbol on his forehead pulsed in shades of red and cyan before it finally stabilized in a cyan color as he lifted his head. His lips pursed, his brows tensed as he prodded forward, and he froze in place.

"That's strange. I can feel a particularly strong magic presence here," Kaos said, and added with a chuckle, "beside mine, of course…" Kaos's brows tensed even further, almost hiding his eyes. "But, there's nobody here but me!"

The sap in Tree Rex's veins almost froze as Kaos poked his head out of the doorway. As those red eyes locked on him, Tree Rex gulped and took the slightest, most gingerly of steps away. The floor creaked a little underneath Tree Rex, and Tree Rex cringed as he turned back to Kaos. Kaos, in turn, hummed and raised his brows as if he noticed! Kaos opened his mouth, but a powerful, chilling gust burst down and coated Kaos in cold wind!

"Wh-wh-what w-w-w-w-was that?" Kaos shouted, though he could only barely be heard over the roaring winds even at his highest volume. "Who chilled the winds!?"

Parts of the winds swirled around Tree Rex, and Tree Rex shuddered as he took a step forward from the sheer Air Element energy that emanated from them. When he did, his footsteps were light as air, so light that they couldn't even be heard! Tree Rex cast a glance back at where the cold winds swarmed Kaos for one moment more, but charged down the halls right as the invisibility spell started to lift. He became visible once more, as did the rest of the group as they appeared in front of them.

Vaayu ran at the head of the charge. His hands glowed a brighter sky blue as winds swirled around their fingertips, but his run turned to a hunched-over stumble as he rounded the corner. Vaayu took one step forward, and clutched his arm before he collapsed entirely. He fell to his knees as he leaned against the wall!

'Enehana immediately rushed to his side and propped him up further. 'Enehana opened their mouth…

"I, I'm fine," Vaayu panted, though the way he clutched his chest showed that he blatantly lied. "I, just, had a lot taken out of me."

'Enehana closed their mouth into a frown, and turned back to the rest of the group. "Tree Rex, over here!" 'Enehana whispered. "Get him more magic."

Tree Rex hastily nodded and knelt down down beside Vaayu. He lifted his palm, and flashes of green glowed from his palm lines before they fed out in strings of green magic. That magic turned sky blue as it fed into Vaayu's pendant! The pendant glowed brighter, and Tree Rex relented his healing spell as Vaayu pushed himself off the wall.

"Much better," Vaayu panted as he adjusted his shirt. His eyes fell to the path and he raised a brow. "Now, where did they go?"

"Judging by the footsteps," 'Enehana said. "It seems like they went straight ahead."

A platter clattered behind them! Vaayu and 'Enehana turned away to find a wide-eyed monkey thing frozen in the hallways, a platter full of spilled food by its feet as it sputtered. Wait, the invisibility spell, it wore off! Tree Rex completely forgot, and judging by the worried looks he caught on everyone's faces, he wasn't the only one!

"Now, now, this isn't what it looks like," Vaayu started as he stumbled off towards the monkey thing with hands raised. "I promise!"

The monkey thing had none of it! It screamed out some kind of nonsense and raced down the halls. Though whatever it said was complete gibberish to Tree Rex, the frantic look on its face showed it wasn't good! The monkey thing banged on the walls as it screeched, but Tree Rex hit it on the head with a ball of spores and knocked it over! Its eyes drooped as it face-planted on the floor, and soft snoring rumbled from under its face.

"Phew, the sleep spores actually worked!" Tree Rex panted as he wiped his face free of sweat.

"'Enehana, get that invisibility spell going again!" Vatra shouted. "We have to get out of here before they find us!"

The rumble of creaking mechanical joints reverberated from down the halls, shaking the portraits and flags a little. Vatra grimaced as he glanced at 'Enehana beside him. 'Enehana didn't return his glance, for they instead fixed their eyes on their cloaking device as it flashed red and faded altogether.

"I think it's a little too late for that!" 'Enehana shouted.

The walls shuddered ahead of them. Paintings rattled against the walls, and flags fluttered as an army's footsteps and the glint of their glowing red and yellow eyes slipped out from the dark of the halls. Smaller robots came out first, all knights armed with guns and swords and polearms. The back held larger defenders armed with tough, thick swords and solid shields, and the light in their eyes danced as they walked. They stood upright for moments as their eyes fell on Tree Rex's group, and then they all turned red as they charged forward!

"Deactivate!" 'Enehana screamed at the top of their lungs as they shot out a hand.

The smaller robots all froze and stumbled back. Pillars of sparks burst from the back of their heads as they collapsed on their backs. Their weapons slipped from their hands and their eyes dimmed, but the larger robots charged across the floor and crushed their fallen comrades' bodies underneath their feet! The twisted, sickening sound of crushing and screeching metal rang through the halls. They mixed with the crumbling of the ceiling as the robots pressed their heads up for moments before they knelt down and surrounded Tree Rex's group. Even when knelt down, these robots still stood a whole head—no, a whole body above even Tree Rex himself!

Tree Rex hopped back as one hand snapped out for him, and another shout came as Crusher smacked away a hand that reached for him. Tree Rex clenched his teeth as he backed away, and slammed his hand against the ground, cracking it open in that instant. A whole forest of thick vines leaped from the group and wove themselves around the group, forming a veritable shield for only a moment. An obsidian blade ripped through the vines, and their parts withered as they tumbled over and hit the ground! The defender wielding the blade aimed for Tree Rex next, and stabbed its sword dangerously close to his chest while he hopped away.

"'Enehana!" Tree Rex called between dodges of the blade. "Do you have any idea what these things are supposed to be?"

'Enehana took only one glance from where they charged the cloaking device, and dropped their head back down. "Arkeyan Defenders Mark 2.5! Their armor's solid, but they hadn't fixed that weakness to electricity from the original blueprints! One good charge, and it'll be out for weeks!"

Electricity, huh? Tree Rex glanced over at Bouncer, who already charged a static blast from his hands as he wheeled away from another defender's blast. Right before he shot, the crack of thunder roared, and lightning struck the defender down right before Bouncer's eyes! The defender's sword dropped from its hand, and its body jerked in sharp, but robotic movements as the lightning leaped from it to the next defender, and the one after that! Bouncer wheeled back into Tree Rex's back as the world around turned yellow, and then sky blue.

The Arkeyan Defenders lifted themselves up, backed away in a bit of surprise, and formed a gap in the dome they formed around Tree Rex's group!

Tree Rex knelt down, scooped up 'Enehana, Vaayu, and Jorden from the ground and ran the fastest he could! As he approached the gap, he dropped down and slid through. His hands carefully folded over those in his grip the whole time, but as he escaped, he sprung to his feet and unfolded them.

"Everyone alright?" he asked. His face fell as his eyes caught wind of Vaayu, all labored breaths and cold sweat as he leaned against Tree Rex's finger. "Vaayu?"

"I, I," Vaayu panted, before he silenced himself as Tree Rex applied a small spark of green magic to his arm.

Like a solvent, it dissolved into his ghostly body. Its light shifted from purple to a clear sky's blue before it disappeared, and Vaayu sighed and closed his eyes. His breath steadied a bit, becoming softer and more even as he rested. Tree Rex took this as a sign to kneel down and cast spells further. Applying his finger to Vaayu's shoulder, Tree Rex let out small, steady breaths of his own as he applied flash after flash of green Life magic, each flash shifting in color as Vaayu's body adopted it.

The sound of pounding footsteps and whirring wheels came closer as Hot Head, Crusher, and Bouncer raced up to Tree Rex's side, but they weren't the only ones! Those pounding footsteps shook the halls again as the defenders charged after them. The halves of their shields still raised, but quickly lowered, almost like…

"They're gonna fire!" 'Enehana cried. "Duck!"

Tree Rex hit the floor immediately, and the others quickly followed as the defender slammed the two halves of their shields together and shot off white-hot lasers! The lasers only barely grazed across Tree Rex's back, and left a vaguely numbing, tingling feeling of warmth behind as their screech disappeared. It replaced with the pound of footsteps as the defenders charged at top speed.

Tree Rex gritted his teeth and slammed a palm against the floor, summoning a giant shield of bark. The shield splintered and caved as the defenders charged through and towered over them. They split their shields once more, and the one at the head of the charge slashed for Tree Rex, who hopped back a few paces, just barely grazed by every swipe.

Beside him, Bouncer futilely shot off a few rockets, and slammed them in the face of another defender as it swung for him. The most they left were harmless bursts of fire as they exploded against the defender's carapace. He gawked at the failed attack, and the defender slashed against his chest in his moment of distraction, knocking him on his back! His chest sparked for moment as its open gash laid bare, but with a slap from his hand, the metal on his chest folded in and sealed itself, leaving only a thin white scratch behind.

"Don't aim for the face, aim for the chest!" 'Enehana shouted from Tree Rex's palms. They grimaced as Bouncer wheeled back into the fray, and dug into their backpack before they yanked out a megaphone and held it to their lips. "I SAID, DON'T AIM FOR THE FACE, AIM FOR THE CHEST!"

The sudden volume shook the room and left everyone else involved shaking. Everyone but 'Enehana, who hovered out of Tree Rex's palms and nudged on Jorden to do the same! The two of them left Tree Rex's hand, and glared over at where the defenders shook just slightly and raised their shields. Their own ghostly bodies glowed a bit brighter in response. 'Enehana turned to Jorden first, hovering up just a bit slightly and whispering into his ear.

Jorden nodded and punched his fists together. The ground rumbled, and completely split as pillars of stone burst from the floor! They smashed through the wood, and tore the carpet to bits before they pierced right through the defenders' chests next! The defenders’ eyes flickered as their bodies laid propped up by the pillars, each arranged so that they left the heart of their bodies completely open.

While the defenders laid vulnerable, a rain of flaming arrows shot from the other side of the hall. They merged into a trio of larger arrows as they pierced the defenders' hearts, melting away their armored carapaces! The liquid metal bubbled and dripped down. The red tint from the heat brushed against the complex inner mechanisms that supported the glowing core in the defenders’ exposed chests!

'Enehana and Jorden both turned around as red light glimmered against their faces, and Vatra appeared in a pop and flash! He slunk down and panted, ghostly beads of sweat creeping down his forehead. With a pat from Jorden, he keeled over and collapsed!

"Whoops," Jorden remarked as Vatra collapsed by his feet. He chuckled and propped Vatra back up. "Sorry about that."

"That Ancients-forsaken troll got away," Vatra hissed, smoke burning from his palms. "I almost had him, but then he found some secret passage in the walls and disappeared! I'm sure he's on his way to tell that Kaos person we're here!"

Jorden dropped Vatra back on the ground with a wide-eyed urgency. "Then we need to get these things scrapped and get goin'!"

"And this is where I come in," 'Enehana whispered, holding out their arms.

Their prosthetic hands glowed a brighter shade of orange, pulled themselves apart and shifted. They became functional cannons in a matter of moments! The glow slunk into the cannons' hearts as they set into place with a firm click, and lasers burst from the cannons, sniping out the cores!

The glass shattered and raised down as the pillars disappeared, and the defenders quickly followed as they collapsed on their fronts. The dull sounds of them powering down in a warped, twisted manner intersected with that of their pipes bursting and mechanisms crunching as they collapsed. A low rumble swept across the room in time with their slow death. For a moment, one defender's finger twitched, and sent everyone back as it showed one last sign of dying life… But no, the defenders were done for.

However, a whole other army of robots rested behind them, all eager to fight! The robots all raised their weapons and ran, only to skid to a short stop as a deep voice boomed in rage!

"Just what is going on here?" Kaos howled from across the halls. "All this racket is ruining my gloating!"

A few sharp gasps came from the group, and Tree Rex himself prepared to bolt—but stopped as a thick mist coated the halls, obscuring everything ahead from view! He glanced down to his palms to find Vaayu awake and bright. His hand held out and seeped mist by the second, and he glanced back up at where the mist raised.

Just to be safe, Tree Rex flicked out his hands. A wall of vines stretched from the floor to the ceiling, its thick, thorny exterior choking out any sights. With this done, Tree Rex turned tail and raced back down the halls, the others close behind him.