Huntik Trilogy. Volume 1 The Battle Against The Specter

New Secrets

Zhalia, with less serious injury than before Dante used Everheal on her, smiled at her friends and children before turning to the devastation that had caused the final battle. Several of the seekers who had fought were on the ground.
Dante and the others split up looking for the survivors.
Lok watched as he advanced into the dust Eathon and ran to him, risking stumbling several times.
"Dad, luckily you're fine!" he exclaimed, watching him shaking off the powder from his clothes.
"I do, Lok, but I got splitted from Metz and I don't know where he is! I've been looking for him for a while and I hope he's okay..."
Suddenly Dante's voice, broken by tears, resounded throughout the valley.
"No, Metz!"
Lok's eyes widened and he turned. Eathon ducked him and preceded him.
All the seekers who could walk came running towards the shouts.
Dante was kneeling on the ground and holding Metz's head who was still alive.
"Everheal!" Danteexclaimed, pressing on the wound that Metz had on his chest.
"Dante, it's useless." the man whispered. "I was wounded by Shadow, after Montehue allowed me to come and help you and Marcus. I didn't see that Darkfog coming..."
"You mustn't die! It's not right!" Danteexclaimed in tears.
Zhalia and Guggenheim leaned over, next to Dante.
"Fortunately, that sword didn't hit you too." Metz laughed coughing.
"You're dying because of me." Dante sobbed. "How can you smile in a time like this?"
"It's not your fault." said Metz. "I fought for the salvation and freedom of all of us." he smiled at Dante, narrowing his eyes. "We have defeated another threat. I know you will get along and you will be a worthy heir to me."
Dante shook his head trembling.
"Please, Metz, don't leave me! I still need you!"
"Dante, return to the Huntik council as its head, for me." Metz asked him. "I know you'll make me proud."
"Metz, I can't..." Dante tried to say.
"Help him, Guggenheim." Metz interrupted him.
The blond seeker nodded.
"You already know what you have to do." he added before turning back to Dante. "It's time for you to know everything about your past and your parents."
Dante shuddered.
"Don't make that face, everyone has real parents." Metz smiled at him, then he closed his eyes.
"Metz?"Guggenheim called him.
"No, Metz!" Danteshouted, holding the lifeless body of his mentor to him. "Metz!" his cry was unstoppable.
Dante had risked losing his mentor before because of the curse of the Legendary Titan of the Body, but Metz had really left him this time.
Zhalia put a hand over Dante's shoulder to try to comfort him. Marcus and Clara took each other's hands, while Cherit was crying beside them. The survivors who had witnessed the scene were moved and the members of the council, intervened in the battle, approached Dante with sadness on their faces, awaiting instructions.
Guggenheim approached Dante, he whispered something in his ear and he answered nodding.
"We need to clear the area and take the wounded to the nearest hospital of the Foundation." Guggenheim ordered. "When Dante wants it, he will give orders in my place."
Helicopters and jets of the Foundation were called to transport the wounded and the bodies of the dead; the first were conducted in Germany and the latter in Manhattan.

A few days had passed since the final battle. The Huntik Foundation was in mourning. Each seeker wore dark clothes in every base of the globe, trying to continue with their normal administrations.
Dante had the Legendary Titans of Antiquity sealed in the safes of the base in Manhattan and he took care with the council to organize a memorial ceremony for the seekers who had recently fallen in battle.
The ceremony took place right at the headquarters of the Huntik Foundation under a monument honoring the seekers who had not returned. It was Dante who gave the speech for the occasion, definitively taking Metz's place in front of the seekers unrelated to the story.
"I begin by telling you that the council doesn't want me to notice the cause of the death of the seekers we remember today." he sighed, looking up at the audience and meeting Scarlet Byrne's frowning gaze. "I think not telling you what happened is an insult to their memory." Dante went on, seeing Montehue clasp her shoulders and whisper something to her. "These seekers died in the final battle against Shadow and none of them will be forgotten because they fought bravely to protect what we care about the most: our families and the freedom of all of us!"
Den and Harrison turned around, hearing the unfavorable comments at the moment of a seeker wearing a custom tuxedo.
"Together with them we remember the former head of the Huntik council: Metz, who also died in battle." Dante stopped again to check his emotions and, taking a deep breath, went on. "Metz was a man who knew how to look far, who has always been able to implement his choices wisely and to me he was more than a mentor, he was a father. I have to thank him because without him I wouldn't have become what I am and I wouldn't be here talking to you today. We won the battle, but we all lost someone. The reminder of all of them will always remain alive in our memory."
No one had looked down during the whole speech.
Before leaving the steps, Dante turned, turning his back on the crowd and lowered his eyes, trying to give himself a gesture and not to moisten his amber eyes. He left the monument shortly thereafter and stood near Zhalia, his children, Cherit and his team members. Samuel, the son of Lok and Sophie, even though he was young, he understood everything that was going on around him and looked down, out of respect.