Dara knew that a mage could only use his power for a limited time. Just like a man couldn't continue running the whole day, a mage couldn't continue using his power without consequences. Too much use of power could drain a mage's strength. For this room to exist, several mages must be nearby to continually maintain the existence of this room. Those mages couldn't continue using their powers forever. So, Lady Hye-Kyo's threat that Dara would be left here all alone to die of old age meant nothing. The moment the other mages stopped using their powers, this room would collapse and Dara would be back into the real world. Even the barrier that now surrounded her couldn't be maintained by the young mage standing beside Lady Hye-Kyo.

Darahad lived most of her life inside the Oracle. And she had learned a lot during those years about magic, science and the people of Haldor.

As an incarnation of the Oracle, she had believed in the Oracle's cause. She had blindly helped the Oracle find among the visions she and her sister incarnations have glimpsed, the best future suited for Haldor.

All of that had gone to waste because of Jaejoong's defiance. Jaejoong had also freed Dara from the influence of the Oracle. He had allowed her to feel and to think for herself. And though she now decides her fate, everything she had known and learned during her time as the Oracle's incarnation remained with her.

And she definitely knew the kind of person Lady Hye-Kyo was. And like what Jaejoong had instilled in her during their training days in the oasis, knowing your enemy well would greatly help you to defeat her.

Lady Hye-Kyo repeated her demands.

"Choose to support me and you will have everything you want, including Jaejoong. But choose to defy me, and you will die here."

"What do you mean support? Become a member of the cult? Allow myself to be brainwashed by your followers? Lose my identity?" she said sarcastically. "As for Jaejoong becoming mine, would this Jaejoong be the man I know or someone else devoid of memories and has become the Lord of Darkness?"

Lady Hye-Kyo smiled.

"Turning Jaejoong into the Lord of Darkness in order to change this world that would make mages supreme was the idea and cause I used in order to continue my son's fight and rally the members of the Cult of SooHyuk to me. I gave them a worthy purpose so they would fight for me and follow my orders even though I remained in the shadows and only my three lieutenants know me directly." She motioned to the man beside her to take off his hood.

Dara saw the young pimpled face of a seventeen-year-old boy.

"Lady Krystal was also your lieutenant, wasn't she? Who is the third one?"

"Jaejoong unfortunately have already caught him even before you appeared in this time. But the council never knew he was my lieutenant and thought he was just an impressionable young man easily swayed by causes. They will try to change his ways of thinking, but they will fail. And when I need his help again, he would assume his place in the new world I will create.

"If you choose, Dara, you could replace Lady Krsytal. What I offer you is more than what Jaejoong and the world of Haldor could give you. The moment this world is changed, whatever rules the nobility had built would become useless. Your marriage to Jaejoong would be accepted in the new world."

"In exchange for all of this, what do I have to do, Lady Hye-Kyo? Bring Jaejoong to your cause?"

"Yes! If you can convince him to fight for our cause, then we need not take away his memories. He could become the Lord of Darkness and fulfill his true destiny. This world would rip itself apart if science and magic continues to exist side by side. Only one must remain supreme, and that should be magic because science is dangerous."

Dara understood that Lady Hye-Kyo was fighting for her son's cause and belief in order to pay f