

Gabriel a. pino

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Gabriel A. Pino

Text Copyright © 2015 by Gabriel A. Pino

Illustration Copyright © 2015 by Rommel Borras

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN (EPUB): 978-0-692-43758-2

Contents

# I. In the Orange Glow

# II. An order of Crème de Vesicles

# III. The Arch of 1770

# IV. The Spires of Purgatory

# V. The Baroness

# VI. Breakfast at La Symphonia

# VII. A Room Glowing Blue

# VIII. Full Circle

# IX. Neutral Zone K44

# X. The First Game

# XI. New Hope

# XII. The Haven of the Chimera

# XIII. In the Valkyries' Nest

# XIV. Down the Rabbit Hole

# XV. The Vices

# XVI. Connor West

# XVII. Mug Cakes

# XVIII. Wasteland

# XIX. The Panther Remembers

# XX. The Tower

# XXI. Captured

# XXII. Rise of the White Viper

# XXIII. The Gold Totems

# XXIV. Lord Ozio

# XXV. One for the Road

# XXVI. The Owl's Deal

# XXVII. Until Tomorrow

# XXVIII. Obsidian

I. In the Orange Glow

THE NIGHT WAS STILL. Rain was continuing to come down violently on the quiet street on the East End of campus.

Gwen sat in her bed with her long black hair tied back into a ponytail. Fortunately for her, the majority of her boxes had already been moved in when the downpour began late that afternoon.

She looked out her second floor window from her dark apartment. The orange light of the street lamp in front of her brick building brushed her face, illuminated her white skin, and grazed the soft freckles lightly sprinkled along her cheeks. It was the only source of light that made visible her worn sweatpants, grey t-shirt, and all the boxes piled on top of the old carpet.

On the nightstand beside her were the plastic case containing her contacts that she had removed from her ice blue eyes, a cup of hot tea, and the box of leftovers from the Indian restaurant she had gone to with her parents. It was their last meal together before they left her to begin her college life. As emotional as some would take the event, Gwen was a bit relieved when they had finally gotten back on the road. It had been a long day with complaints from her father regarding the condition of the kitchen to the size of the bedroom.

"We're paying $3,000 a semester for this?" he groaned when he first entered and wiped his feet on the hard carpet early that morning.

Gwen didn't have a response. She knew that when it came to being a freshman in college the living arrangements tended to be less than ideal. She wasn't even fazed when she found what remained of an old joint underneath her bed.

Her mother had suggested to her back during their fourth of July barbeque that maybe she would be happier living at home her first year. She reminded Gwen that when she had received her acceptance letter she hadn't been all that interested to attend Kingslane University. Gwen hadn't even finished her first set of ribs when her mother repeated her sentiments of how unenthused she was about learning of the campus having an infamous reputation for being a huge party school.

After several glasses of lemonade Gwen managed to convince her anxious mother that Kingslane, or simply the "universe-city" as students liked to call it for its size, regardless of the party scene, was ranked as one of the best schools in not only Georgia, but also the entire south. Not only that, but they had one of the most reputable law programs as well. This pacified her father especially who had greatly imposed his desire for her to become a lawyer since as far back as she could remember. It was something she quietly detested.

Gwen had only gone along with the plan because it justified her choice to major in International Relations for her undergraduate degree. An adventurer is what she wanted to be regardless of how naïve it sounded and how aware she was of the stereotype she was fitting. It was the young, over-privileged, white female whisking away to exotic countries only for the sake of making new Facebook albums. She didn't care. What mattered to her was that she got the chance to see it all. To experience as much of the world as she could and to escape the life of "practical" for as long as she could outrun it.

She knew her current timeline would involve going to college, exhausting her parents' wallets while still needing student loans, and meeting another graduation. After that would be the worst part. She would sit at home watching television questioning the purpose of her life after college had sneakily convinced her she was destined for the greatest of opportunities. It would take a good year to find a job because everyone will say they want three years of experience for an entry-level position. Then, after obtaining the job that speaks nothing to her passions, she would work to the point of exhaustion and boredom until she forced herself to graduate school to do it all over again in hopes of putting loan payments on pause.

There she was on move-in day, ready to start the first part of the expected, the four years of what everyone said would be the happiest days of her life. It was just as her mother had noticed; the news of getting accepted to Kingslane hadn't really excited her at all.

It wasn't necessarily a difficult school for freshman to get into. It was the general consensus that anyone who had a pulse and a decent level of ambition could ensure an acceptance letter. Though it also wasn't a place a high school senior could consider their "safety school."

Perhaps yes, the area in which the "universe-city" excelled was that of heavy drinking and wild antics. Gwen's mother rarely failed to alert her of the local news stories of students being arrested for public intoxication. The worst of it was in late April when she read an article on her phone about a secret brotherhood on campus that was allegedly controlling one of the most popular bars in the Northern Avenues at the edge of campus accused of providing liquor to minors. The peculiar thing was that the bar remained, even to that very day, untouched by any authorities. Gwen figured the article must have come from a no-name gossip site her mother frequented.

Gwen never considered herself much of a party girl. Like anyone else, she had her fair share of driving aimlessly through town with her girlfriends on weekends waiting for the phone to ring with news of parties that wouldn't come during her high school career. She even had the awkward boyfriends, who lasted six weeks, the nights of too much to drink, and the prom that was nowhere near what movies made it out to be. She had gone through those four years expecting the magical moments but at the conclusion she simply lived the image of throwing her cap into the air on her graduation day. She watched the maroon squares fall to the ground only to ask herself, "was that it?" The anticlimactic moment was the beginning of the loss of excitement she may have had for the college years.

Her friends talked of how they hoped to meet their husbands at school, which she didn't understand. The male upperclassman who would come back for the Christmas holiday from their "amazing" college lives didn't seem to be all that different from how they were in high school. They all still looked desperately for something to do on the weekends, ignored their girlfriends considerably, and lacked any answer when asked what they wanted to do with their lives.

Others talked about turning twenty-one and all the crazy parties they would attend. This also didn't excite her considering they spent the previous two years drinking every chance they got and went to some pretty crazy parties of their own. Was it really all that different to do the same thing in a dorm room or a fraternity house?

Gwen took a sip of her tea. She stared back out the glass at the road filled with parked cars without a soul in sight. She could see the rain converting to a mist fall between the orange light of the streetlamp and her window. She took a deep breath and wondered to herself if she would be happy.

She got up from her bed and walked out into the small hall that sat between the bathroom and the other bedroom. Ahead was the living room that had no furniture other than a small coffee table and her brown three-seated couch from home. To the left of the space was the kitchen with boxes containing all her plates and silverware. She looked down the short hall where she stood to see the bathroom door slightly ajar then to the second bedroom of the apartment on her right. She treaded softly to the open door and looked in to see the bed had no covers and the floor had no boxes to keep it company. Her roommate hadn't shown all day.

She looked to the door, and unlike hers, there was no nametag. She wondered if she would have the entire apartment to herself. A possibility she thought was very unlikely considering Kingslane's size. Her father had gotten her out of the stuffed freshman dorms closer to the south of campus and managed to squeeze her into the underclassman apartments on the East End. It was more expensive, and all the buildings on the east of campus focused around the arts programs which meant she would have to do a bit of walking and navigating to get to her classes towards the center of town, but she didn't mind. She hated the idea of community showers and people being loud in the halls anyway.

Before she could search the kitchen for anything notifying her of her roommate pulling out of her contract, her phone buzzed in her butt pocket.

It was her first campus alert.

Don't forget to tune into the first live KLU 100 broadcast tonight at 9!

She wasn't aware that the school had a radio station.

She rummaged through one of the boxes in front of the fridge. She found her small silver radio and placed it on top of the counter that faced the living room, plugged it in, and turned to the station. She looked to her cell phone to see that it was just about ten minutes left until the hour.

She figured it was as good a time as any to start tackling the daunting task of unpacking the various boxes that littered the white tiled floor. As she was finishing off unpacking the rest of her coffee mug collection, the familiar school fight song began to play and a perky yet shaky female voice joined her in the barren apartment.

"Good evening Kingslane...!" she said through the static. "It is a not so beautiful Thursday, I mean Friday, night here as we are expected to have showers throughout the night with some thunderstorms. My name is Wren Summers and I will be your hoes- your host! Not sure how many people are actually listening... I would like to believe that the weather is putting a damper on all the partying on the Avenues, but whom are we kidding? It's the first weekend back so my bet is everyone's out there drowning in alcohol or rain. Regardless, I will be with you for the next hour g-giving you all the latest news from campus."

Gwen could tell she was extremely nervous and unsure of herself. She questioned if anyone other than her was tuning in. She thought it would be a sad job if no one were. If so, this was just a girl talking to herself live on the radio.

"First up I just want to say what a great week it was here at Kingslane...! So much school spirit, so many new faces m-moving into dorms, and a few of them are joining the hot mess on the streets as well! I mean, who knows how to throw a party better than the Kingslane Lions?! Am I right...?"

Gwen looked up to shoot the radio a disdainful glance as she loaded her forks into a drawer. There was something so forced in Wren's enthusiasm that it made her cringe a bit. Gwen prayed for Wren Summers sake that indeed she was talking to her and her alone.

"As you probably know, our homecoming game is coming early this y-year. This coming Monday, Kingslane will be playing Valmont Tech and our great football team will be led by last years rising star, Wide Receiver Torey Hughes!"

"Corey Hughes, it's Corey Hughes! Jesus, everyone knows that!" snapped another female voice from behind Wren.

Gwen froze at the mention of the name forgetting to react again to the disaster that was the broadcast. She suddenly found herself transported back several hours leaving the Indian restaurant heading into the crowds of people in front of the Northern Avenue bars. The rain had picked up and no one around her seemed to care. She stopped at the emptiest corner she could find and did her best to hail a taxi.

Twenty minutes later as she stood soaked, someone finally stopped only to charge her twenty dollars for the five-minute ride. She had been trying to reason with him but the man didn't care.

Just as he was about to take off, someone came up from behind her and asked if everything was all right. He was tall, thin, broad shouldered, rich brown eyes, medium length dark brown hair, and a charming smile that could be considered highly dangerous.

"Is everything ok?" he asked again.

Gwen hadn't realized she was just staring.

"Um, yeah. I'm just trying to get a cab home but this guy is charging me twenty bucks."

The stranger put a look on his face saying 'that's unacceptable' and bent down to the passenger seat window to have a word with the driver.

She couldn't make out what was being said as the rain pounded against the road and wet, drunk, and disastrous students howled from all corners of the busy street. After a few seconds he came back up and told her that it was settled.

Gwen was confused. "How much is he going to charge me?"

"Nothing. You're good."

Gwen didn't buy it. "Listen, you don't have to pay my cab fare. I don't even know you. I was just trying to lower it from twenty 'cause that's just a ridiculous-"

"Seriously," he interrupted with his grin, "it's alright. What's your name by the way?"

"Gwen," she answered with a tone of vulnerability.

He smiled again as if he noticed the confession. "Well nice to meet you Gwen. I'm Corey," he reached out his hand to shake.

She took it and felt his strong and callused grip.

"I take it this is your first year?"

"Yeah, how did you guess?"

"Well, it's a Friday night on the North Avenues on the first weekend back to school and you're standing on the corner of the Baroness trying to get a cab. It's a rookie mistake I have to tell you."

Gwen felt a bit embarrassed. Not so much because of her "newbie" actions, but because she felt crippled by his charm. She didn't want to look defenseless to him. She envied his level of comfort and ease.

"Listen, it's still really early. You should stay out a little longer. The Baroness is the best place in town. My friends and I come here every weekend. If this is your first time on campus I think it'd be the perfect place to get your feet wet. At least, not as literal as you're already doing..."

"I'd take your word for it, but being new to the school and a freshman, I'm only eighteen. I wouldn't be able to get in."

Corey stepped in a little closer. "That won't be a problem, trust me. The Baroness is famous for it's leniency with admissions."

Gwen considered it for a split second before closing the door on the fantasy. She was remembering her mother's voice from the Fourth of July barbeque. The rumors of a bar that sold to minors and was run by some secret student brotherhood...

She looked behind him at the brick building with wooden glassless windows and the swinging wooden sign that reached out from above the door over the sidewalk... She could see the girls and boys huddled together on the crowded second floor taking shots from small transparent plastic cups.

"I'm sure it's great but I really should get going."

Corey gave her a tight-lipped grin of disappointment. "Alright, well hopefully I'll be seeing you around sooner or later."

Without another word he turned back to the mess of wet people.

"Thanks for the help by the way!" she yelled to him but her voice was drowned out by all the madness...

"It's no surprise he was made captain considering how amazing he performed last year. I will admit, I don't know much about football-"

"You're completely clueless about anything related to football," groaned the other voice alongside Wren.

"BUT I know that Hughes has been dominating on the field since he was a freshman on a full ride scholarship. I'm willing to put my money on this guy being the real deal," Wren concluded bringing Gwen back to the present.

So her taxi hero was the big campus superstar. She assumed that must have been how he was able to get her the free ride. She had asked the tired man as she got into the back seat of his cab what had changed. All he told her was, "That's Corey Hughes!"

She had no idea what she was supposed to take from it. After Corey's comment regarding getting into the bar not being an issue she had embarrassingly thought that perhaps her mom's ludicrous articles may have had some truth to them. The real story was that he was an athletic celebrity at Kingslane and was used to getting everything how he wanted and when he wanted it.

Her stomach twisted a bit. She knew this made her more attracted to him and at the same time made her detest him.

She still believed in guys being the same in college as they were in High School. She didn't really see anything about Corey Hughes that suggested he was any different. If anything, his confidence that oozed smugness made her believe he would be the worst of them. Yet, with just a smile, an invitation, and an assist out of the rain, she felt she was in danger of falling for a worn out trap that so many girls fell into.

"Now ladies, not trying to be a buzz kill, but word on the street is that Mr. Hughes has found himself a leading lady. Yes, a source confirmed to me earlier this week that he was seen with a girl you m-might all have heard of from campus commercials and posters. Adrienne Ferrari, the Student Vice President is the lucky girl. Did I say her name right?" she asked the nameless voice beside her.

A girlfriend, of course, she thought to herself. In the privacy of her new apartment she pictured herself in a swarm of a hundreds yelling his name wanting his undivided attention as he marched by with a mystery beauty on his arm. There was no one to see but Gwen knew her cheeks had flushed red.

A groan sounded. "Yes! You're on the fucking air just keep talking! Where's the announcement?"

'Oh shit! I mean, shoot, speaking of President, I totally forgot. Where is it...?"

Gwen listened as she rummaged through papers and something that sounded like a bag.

"Damn it, I'm sure I brought it," she whispered to herself, though it could be heard clear as crystal.

Gwen wondered if she knew.

"Ah! Ok here it is! Sorry guys, I completely f-forgot I had an announcement to make from the Student Life Organization. The Student Body President, Bright Santos, and the VP who I just mentioned, wanted to make a statement about the recent activity in the city outside of the main Campus.

"'We would just like to address the recent flu outbreaks that have been occurring around the city of Kingslane. As everyone is aware, though the cases have not been appearing on campus, the school sits just south of the much larger district making further infections very possible. Authorities have reported that there have been more cases of the flu over on the southeast of the city. More specifically, the most recent cases have been over on Sussex Avenue. The total number of cases is now up to thirty with three deaths. Please try your best to stay within campus limits and remember to wash your hands!'

"Thirty cases of the flu?" Wren asked the girl besides her. 'If everyone is getting diseased why is everyone out dancing in the rain?"

"I swear if you keep turning to me I'm going to punch you in the face!" the girl hissed.

"However," she began again casually as if the threat wasn't made, "I am curious to how this will affect the Avenues since more than half of the cases are coming from the heart of the city up north. Everyone knows, or at least should know, that the bar scene, though affectionately considered part of the school, actually belongs to the city of Kingslane and not the university. Hopefully they don't put a ban on that anytime soon!

"All right everyone, it's almost half passed the hour. I'm going to go ahead and play five songs in a row for you to hopefully get your night started on the best note!"

Wren's companion could be heard groaning at the pun.

"I will be back for a few more announcements before I sign off until tomorrow. Once again, this is Wren Summers for KLU 100.

"God, that was fucking atrocious."

"You're still on damn it! Press the god damn button!"

Click, went the microphone as a club song immediately followed.

Gwen emptied the last of her cups into one of the kitchen cabinets. A bit of thunder crashed and lightning flashed from the hallway.

She thought about the people infected just a few miles from where she stood. Even though she was just a freshman, she had looked over the city map well. As Wren said on the radio, Kingslane University sat south of the Kingslane City. To the East End, there was just about the entirety of student housing as well as all of the Arts buildings. Just above that, outside the school property laid the village that had rows and rows of wealthy families living in their Brownstones and luxurious townhouses all a great distance from the noise of the concrete jungle.

South of the campus was mostly vacant. It was the farmlands and empty fields that sat between Kingslane and her home in Newtown. Of course there was the hospital not too far from the edge of campus along with the farm studies buildings.

To the North, right between the edge of Kingslane University and the Kingslane City were the Northern Avenues. Gwen was surprised by the look and feel of the streets compared to the rest of the area. The brick buildings, the street players, the brick roads, and corner merchants made it feel like a place torn right out of the pages of a New Orleans fantasy. It was hard to believe that just further north of the bar streets were the dozen immense city buildings and white-collar culture.

The West area, where Gwen was informed was the location of the first flu outbreaks thanks to her mother's panicked text messages, seemed like an extension of the south. It was pretty vast and empty, though there were quite a few housing projects in the area beyond the schools limits. It was, without a doubt, the poverty stricken area of Kingslane. Gwen had never heard of students willingly going over to the West End. The closest bit of campus that touched those parts was the school gym.

Then there was the center of it all, the original buildings of Kingslane University itself. A storm of old white marble buildings where Gwen loved to walk around the most when she had visited the previous winter. It felt like taking a step into the past. She especially enjoyed walking around on that rainy day much like the one she found herself in.

It wasn't too hard to get around. The city seemed to live for the school. Anyone could see that. The athletics of Kingslane were the pride and joy of the area. Student or not, everyone enjoyed to watch the Lions play and better yet, celebrate the victories.

After finishing unpacking, she turned off the radio and went back to bed. She looked out the window once more listening to the drops and letting the orange light caress her face. She laid down on her pillow and remembered the smile of Corey Hughes. She looked at her purple curtains, felt the familiar cold of her comforter, and slowly closed her eyes to engage in an early sleep.

Suddenly, as she dazed in and out of consciousness, she could sense the drops were still falling to the ground though it seemed they had grown much louder. The air in the apartment was not as toasty and became interrupted by a draft. The orange light was no longer against her eyelids but seemed to sink beneath. Opening her eyes looking straight ahead she saw she was looking at the windows of the fifth floor rather than those of the second of the building across from her. More odd was that the colors of the bricks were all brilliant silver and strange flags adorned every other apartment building. Each was identical in having a dark gray field and showing only a silver wing. She was somehow outside seeing the rainfall like walls of water. Though to her shock, she was not wet.

What became even more shocking, or rather horrifying, was the fact that below her, some many feet down, was the street. She was floating in the middle of the air.

She yelled at the top of her lungs trying to reach out for anything to grab onto but it was no use. She was dead set in the middle above the road with her apartment building behind her. The orange glows of the streetlamps shone as she continued her frantic panic. Seconds later she was interrupted by the sound of a soft tune coming from the end of the main street where she had hailed her taxi to go and meet her parents.

Her breathing relaxed and there was no doubt that the sound was a trumpet playing sensual jazz. She insisted it had to be some kind of a dream, no matter how real it all felt.

From the music end she could see a male figure below coming into the orange glow. At first she wasn't sure if it was the distance, but she quickly realized that he indeed was fairly short. He had black hair combed to the right that still maintained certain disorganization to it. He had a stern brow with serious black eyes, a handsome pointy face, a small mole sitting just left to his mouth, a long white sleeve shirt with buttons on the chest, and dark blue jeans. The strangest part of the whole thing was that he appeared to be carrying a sword.

She squinted to get a better sight and saw it in fact was a rapier. The hilt had beautiful coils that guarded his hand and a slick clean blade that he rested on his shoulder. The closer he got into the light she could see that there was a glowing smoke coming from the weapon. Behind him she noticed something was floating. She was about to scream out in fear that whatever it was might attack him. Instead, it casually came next to him, as he showed no alarm.

The floating object was a stone cubed head that had a light gray color. The size of the thing was about that of a storage chest. It shifted its appearance every several seconds like a Rubik's cube resulting in different facial expressions.

The soft trumpet jazz continued to play though it began to pick up pace as growls bellowed below from the opposite end of the road. So deep were they that Gwen could feel them vibrate in the pit of her stomach. She was scared to turn but it was one of those moments that no will or fear could deter the curiosity.

As the creature began to come into the light the trumpet was joined by what sounded like bongos and perhaps a bass guitar. One long leg came forward followed by another. It had the shape of a spider taking up the entire width of the road. The color was a moss green and the head extended far in front of the thing with a face that resembled something human but much more grotesque reaching the height of the third floor windows.

"Spider ghoul sir," The floating head exclaimed next to the sword carrier on the other side of the street in a heavy fake British accent, "I believe you haven't had the pleasure of dealing with one of these in some time!"

"Seriously Notus, why do you keep insisting on the accent?" The swordsman asked impatiently putting more worry to the matter of the rock's speech than the giant monster closing in.

"Why I'm sorry sir but I do believe I sound a great deal more sophisticated with this voice. My attempts at the southern accent weren't fitting and you were most annoyed by the Spanish accent I had attempted over the summer," Notus answered shifting his expression to a frown.

"Well, just keep it down for the next ten minutes so I can take care of this..." He groaned, moving forward.

"Not an issue Master Bright! Will you be sporting the Viper Rapier alone tonight or will you be considering perhaps the Lion's Pride?" he asked, again shifting his expression this time to one of eager curiosity.

Bright didn't answer but just gave him a stern look of impatience that caused Notus to assume a face of sadness. After the matter of the Lion's Pride (whatever that was) had been settled, Bright continued to walk slowly towards the ghoul ahead removing the rapier from its resting position on his shoulder.

Gwen watched him move without a speck of fear. The ghoul began to crouch getting ready to attack as it licked its face with a long lavender tongue. Gwen believed it was grinning.

Bright pointed the rapier right at the beast as the smoke began to flow stronger from the blade giving off a haunting white glow. Looking closely Gwen could see that this Bright was beginning to fashion a tiny smile of his own.

"Spider ghoul, if I am not mistaken you are the one responsible for the severe case of the flu that has plagued eight year old Olivia FitzGerald living on 414 Sussex Avenue just three miles north from the East End of Kingslane University. How do you plead?"

The spider ghoul slowly stretched its jaw downward hitting the glistening black road. It whipped its pointy tongue frantically around its face giving Bright a look of such perverted hunger that Gwen began to feel horrified for him.

"Master Bright, I don't think you should try and converse with such a thing!"

Bright scoffed and turned to Notus. "I can handle it!"

Before he could say another word the creature wrapped the wicked tongue around his waist and pitched him down the street behind it right through the glass window of a 'Mr. Lucas Flower Boutique'.

Gwen believed he was dead, but within a couple seconds he emerged looking more embarrassed than hurt brushing dahlias and tiny leaf like human shaped things no taller than nails off his clothes cursing Notus under his breath.

"Damn baby Greenmen", he began as he brushed off the last one as they scurried away holding hands seeking shelter underneath the nearest car. He closed his eyes pointing the blade of the rapier right in front of him towards the beast. "Let's try this again."

The glowing smoke circulated everywhere. The spider lunged for the flower shop but to Gwen's surprise, Bright jumped with ease out of the way landing on the wall of the brick building on the opposite end and lunged once more towards the beast with such speed that if it weren't for the illuminated smoke, Gwen didn't think she would have seen him.

His blade went right into the side of the ghoul as it gave out an echoing scream.

The tongue went up into the air and down to the creature's side grabbing Bright by his ankle. Before it could pull him however, Bright slashed the tongue right off. The piece that was attached to his leg silently exploded into millions of tiny pieces disappearing without a trace.

The creature was in a lot more pain. Bright landed on top of a Toyota Camry and bent down casually to brush his ankle. He was showing off.

He jumped away from the spot looking light as a feather landing in the center of the street just below Gwen. Again, Bright pointed the tip of his rapier right at the ghoul and fastened his cocky smirk as the music continued to blast.

The thing leaped into the air spreading its eight legs to support itself above the ground in between the buildings as one missed Gwen by an inch. It lunged its long neck forward trying to bite like a rabid animal but Bright was too fast. He was dodging each attempt with ease.

"Good show Master Bright!" exclaimed Notus from the end of the road.

Then, without warning, Bright did one last swift jump into the rain filled air and with a clean swipe of his rapier, beheaded the spider ghoul below as the giant body lost its support in between the buildings and crashed down into the street... Like the tongue, the head and body silently exploded into a million little pieces leaving no trace as the sound of trumpets, bongos, and bass guitars disappeared with them.

He brushed himself off once more. The rapier disappeared and Bright headed back towards Notus's direction.

"Were you growing bored sir?" Notus asked.

"It wasn't much of a challenge was it? I remember spider ghouls packing a bit more of a punch than that."

"Well it has been a considerable amount of years. You've grown much stronger since you were a boy."

"Save the compliments Notus. We should head back. Tomorrow we'll pay a visit to Olivia and see if she's getting any better. That flu was really doing a number on her."

"As it is doing to many others I'm afraid..."

"I know... But those are cases for another day."

"Absolutely Master!"

The two of them disappeared into the dark towards the main road and the orange lights faded from bright to dim and then to nothing like the closing of a play.

Alone she floated, or at least she thought, as the sound of swooshing branches circled around her. The dream had shifted.

There were screams coming from somewhere in the distance. A girl she believed it was. Through the nothing came the heat of blue flames and as the rustling of branches and leaves continued she found herself running with a boy terribly out of breath. A tree came into sight, a large oak, and just behind it Gwen could swear she saw the eyes of a tiger peaking through the grass until all vanished once more.

In the dark she listened to the drops hitting her window.

The next thing she knew, the sun was beaming from the glass onto her face as she lay in her bed. She quickly sat up right, scanned the room, and met the stare of a girl standing at her door.

"Hi, I hope I didn't wake you up... I'm Vivienne, your room mate."

II. An Order of Crème de Vesicles

IT WAS HALF PAST MIDNIGHT when the ghouls gathered the courage to come out of hiding. The rumbling had died and all knew it meant the battle was over.

"Damn Viper!" said Hagus, a stout ghoul who only made it about three feet from the ground and had a sandy skin similar to that of a Shar-Pei dog. His face wasn't much different from one either.

He left his hiding spot of wet trash piled on the corner of the street. He didn't bother shaking any of the grime or grey paste that had been rotting there from his sharp fur. His brow made him look constantly grumpy but in truth, the stale smelling food that covered him at the moment brought him a considerable amount of joy.

He was accustomed to getting things stuck in between the hairs of his body. It was his greatest tool when needing to make a quick robbery of a neighbor's lunch or foreigners' dinner. He frequently let his bulging eyes gloss over and the wrinkles of his face inspire pity from considered social superiors. He didn't have the body to help him move quickly, but his defenseless demeanor had assisted him get out of more than a few accusations in his many years.

"This is the fourth time this week he's made a mess of the town. We have business to run for crying out loud!" said Tich, a tall, pale, and thin ghoul with whiskers like a catfish. "And jazz music as an alarm? What happened to a standard siren? Just because the music is appealing doesn't make the situation any less obnoxious."

He was hideous to say the least. Hagus could also be considered ugly though many thought of him to be so in a charming way. Tich on the other hand constantly wore a pierced lip look with horrible sags under his eyes. It was a sour face that inspired distrust. It could have been due to the fact that he spent days upon days weighing his tiny fortune, planning, criticizing, hating, and resenting his circumstances.

One by one all of the creatures in the area emerged from their hiding spots from small stores to the gutters on the corners.

"What end of Kingslane was it this time?" asked the sandy one as he came up next to the long whiskers.

"Not positive. Though the noise seemed to be coming from the East End of the campus," he answered opening up the blinds that covered his small food stand that sat battered on the edge of the muddy street.

"Figures," the short one commented as he reached for the stand window with his two thick brown arms lifting his legless torso upward. "The Viper might think he is the toughest thing to live but everyone knows he doesn't have the balls to start trouble here in the West End shanties."

"Yes but it's so unfair! If we could pass through to the mortal plane I would say we could stir up just as much, if not more trouble than that bastard."

"Come on now Tich, keep it down, you don't want to risk anyone from the Courts listening to you talk like that..."

Tich did a quick look of the streets as his pale whiskers elevated to scan the area. They had always done an excellent job of assisting him pick up on eavesdroppers trying to get his secret homemade recipes. He hoped they didn't fail him at the moment.

"Well come on, Hagus you know it's true," he began again only keeping his voice down to a murmur as he threw up the right side of the wooden counter to take his place once more for business behind it. "They come into our plane when they wish and make disasters while killing our kind in the process. The Courts don't even bother to keep them in check because they say it's 'out of their jurisdiction,'" Tich stood up as straight as a board with an exaggerated authoritative voice to mimic the officials. "Thank goodness for the Phantom Lords I tell you! They're the only ones in this world that are looking out for ghoul kind."

"Speaking of the lords, do you think they have anything to do with this episode?" Hagus questioned pointing one thick brown arm eastward where the music played.

"If it was, I applaud whichever of the seven organized it. The Courts have been trying to get their hands on any one of them for over half a century and they haven't done shit! I tell you my friend; ghoul kind will be standing stronger than this someday soon," he affirmed as he waved his hand pointing out all the houses made of boxes and tin piled in the shanties.

Tich was only one of many ghouls who celebrated the nearly faceless Phantom Lords. Truly, they were seven figures of power throughout the Astral World seen rarely by any. The Phantoms had been around for centuries and the detested Courts had been able to do little to catch them. They would hide in thick mountains, have ferocious ghouls protecting them, or move so often that it would be difficult to even catch the hint of their scent.

They used strong ghouls for protection not because they needed it. No, the Phantom Lords thought themselves too powerful to have to lift a finger for the daily annoyances of the Courts. Here and there they had been able to take down those cronies, pawns, and decoys but never an actual lord. Always slipping away like smoke and seen only when they wished it.

They were known to give their occasional speeches in public places to boost ghoul spirits. None could forget the episodes that happened thirteen years earlier where it seemed ghouls would finally win the eons long war with the intruders and the Courts. Though as fate would have it, their efforts were mysteriously stopped and the Phantoms took to their corners once again. No more speeches, no more working together, only illegal schemes under the noses of the Courts.

Just as Hagus was about to respond, a greenish little ghoul with a bloated belly, a bat-like face, and large pointy ears hovered down in front of the stand.

"Welcome to Tich and Hagus, the specials today are, yellow sleep of the eye and gutters slime..." Tich recited unenthused leaning his bulb shaped head on his twig thick hand over the counter and twiddling his right whisker with the other. The bat creature's head twitched and turned quickly like a bird and proceeded to make a screeching noise.

"Yellow sleep of the eye. Excellent choice. That will be two pounds of Karma," Tich reached out his hand as it placed two smoky blue pellets in it with his mouth. Tich didn't want to ask if the ghoul had been keeping them in its stomach for safe storage. "Wonderful. Hagus..."

Hagus lunged behind the counter into the small rusty kitchen behind and threw out a small wooden plate topped with a yellow crust.

"By the seven lords Hagus, ever heard of a 'portion'?"

The sandy ghoul didn't answer but just resumed his seat to the right side of his partner on the counter.

The West End Shanties were familiar to everyone as being the most dangerous region around Kingslane. No trespassing mortal dared to wander into the territory alone. Not even the Viper who Tich and Hagus so clearly detested. The streets were of dirt and on wet nights such as the one they found themselves in, drenched in mud. It was stockpiled with shacks used for homes and small business huts much like the one in which the bat ghoul devoured his late dinner.

In the night one could see it from any area of the city. They were twinkling hills in the distance that to any unfamiliar would seem romantic, wondrous, and even alluring. By day however the shanties told a different story.

There was no design or organization to the construction. If the same unfamiliar eye saw them during the sunlight they would think they were looking at the largest garbage yard they had ever seen. The shacks and huts were all stacked one on top of the other with small steep staircases to guide them up and down.

The streets were always crowded whether day or night. Ghouls from not just around Kingslane, but neighboring cities as well, would come to do their purchases. The shanties of Kingslane prided themselves on having some of the best prices in the entire south. Tich would constantly brag about how his famous homemade Sludge of the Toads Breast was not only the most delicious, but also the cheapest costing only a mere five pounds of Karma per pint. A price he dared any ghoul from the Northern Boston or New York shanties to challenge.

Their business had raved for decades, but as the White Viper continued to make his stunts throughout the "universe-city", forcing ghouls into hiding almost every other day, the pair was losing a considerable amount of profit.

Tich stood by his words however. If his beloved seven Phantom Lords were responsible for the ghoul attacks on humans, he most certainly supported it regardless of what it may be costing him. Humans had been bothering their kind for centuries! Why shouldn't they have the freedom to do the same?

As the rain stopped falling, and the sound of Tich and Hagus's fellow ghouls feet, tentacles, arms, and wings splashed on the puddles, the whiskered one looked up through the passing rain clouds to find the floating white circular island of the Courts that he hated so much.

The Courts of the Plane miles in the sky protected and surrounded by the complex train tracks that covered the heavens. Each route led to one of the three arches, each situated in corners of the sky like the angles of a triangle. They were where humans would go after their karma was weighed. At least, those set of arches that resided there in the Kingslane area. The arches to the three zones could be found throughout the planet all connected by the rusting tracks... The Courts and their guards just sat on their floating marble city. They never bothered to consider ghouls. The humans were all they cared about. Were they sent to Tartarus the land of the damned, Asphodel the land of the nothing, or Elysium the land of the rewarded? Those were the only questions those fools could answer whilst they sat on their glorified chairs weighing the savings of human karma one by one. Most ghouls couldn't even afford entrance into Asphodel but what did it matter? Neither the nothing nor the land of the rewarded was an option for them. They belonged to the plane that humans only came to learn of in death. Neither Tich nor Hagus nor any other decent ghoul that they knew of would want to buy their way into their exclusive Elysium. It was a lie after all and an insult to their dignity. Spending a century in perfection. How boring.

Ghouls entering Tartarus however was another tale entirely. A place so wicked that it was reserved only for the darkest and most demented humans. It was the only place that ghouls would get in for free. It was usually reserved for the most unspeakable of their kind but regardless of how "ignorant" those of the shanties were considered they were smart enough to see that it served as an easy solution for the Courts to rid themselves of headaches. After all, unlike Elysium where human souls could emerge to walk Limbo when they pleased, Tartarus was a place of no return unless the Courts commanded it. Asphodel on the other hand was infamous for having what many referred to as a "creaking door." It was a situation that had become a punch line amongst ghouls with the rise of the Poltergeist Trade. Though, that wasn't a subject for discussion in open spaces. One could never be certain who was listening. Not even Tich with the aid of his whiskers.

A small light moved from the marble center and began to slowly move northward. Tich wondered if it was full of the damned or those fortunate ones ready to spend years in naked bliss fornicating like animals. Tich enjoyed the carnal activities as much as any other living creature, but he was always baffled by the extent to which mortals obsessed over it like dogs in heat.

As the bat ran back into the streets, another figure approached the stand.

"Welcome to Tich and Hagus our food is the best, buy it," he moaned rubbing his bulging eyelids while giving a wide yawn. Truth was, Tich had enough years in the business to know when someone was just a gawker opposed to an actual customer.

This one was bulky, or at least he thought. He couldn't be sure since he was completely cloaked in a poncho made of burlap. His hood was made of the same material and Tich couldn't get a glimpse of his face since the stranger kept it pointed to the ground.

Under most circumstances, ghouls would find the figure suspicious, but not so much in the shanties. Some of the most ugly and most foul smelling ghouls passed by the area. Tich had the displeasure of having to serve some of them who did just as the traveler was doing. They concealed their faces and their figure not wanting to alarm any locals. Hagus showed more sympathy for them than Tich did. The short one would always tell his whiskered partner how hard it must be to live so afraid of showing ones face in a world where so many of them looked just as, if not more, vulgar. Tich didn't care. He tended to enjoy them because they would come and eat their feelings and take off as quickly as possible.

This one was different though. He didn't smell like anything looking to drop Karma. Tich's whiskers tipped him to that right away.

"Glass of gutters slime..." The hooded one ordered in a low voice not wanting to be heard by the masses.

Hagus looked back to Tich with a smile. The two of them had known each other long enough to the point that Hagus knew when his partner was suspecting a waste of time.

Tich himself went to the back and poured the plopping grey liquid into a clay mug and threw it on the counter.

"Three pounds of Karma..." Tich reached out his hand and the stranger forfeited the three smoky orbs.

Tich grinned. The customer clearly wasn't from around the area. Everyone from the West End Shanties was aware that their gutter slime was one pound of Karma only.

The figure put the cup to his lips and though Tich couldn't see his face, he knew damn well that the traveler was disgusted by it.

"Is there something wrong?" Tich asked placing both hands on the counter leaning into the hooded figure. There was nothing more that offended him than someone insulting his food to his face.

"Nothing. It is delicious. I have just been suffering from a bit of an upset stomach," he responded in the same low voice.

"Well you should have said so! Gutters Slime is a heavy drink and will probably only make that stomachache worse. You need crème de vesicles! You are lucky we have some in stock and for only two pounds of Karma! Though no refunds for the slime, sorry."

The hooded one said nothing but rather gave over two more smoky beads.

Once more Tich went to the back and poured white syrup into a long glass as thin as a human index finger. He placed it in front of the customer who did not reach for it right away.

Hagus was beginning to lean forward sniffing the cloaked traveler with his pig like nose when Tich threw him a warning look. He didn't want his short little partner scaring the naive costumer away who was willing to give up Karma so easily.

"Are the two of you familiar with this area?" The cloaked one asked letting the white liquid steam.

"Yes we are. My partner Hagus and I have been running this business for over sixty years now!"

The figure remained quiet making the atmosphere a bit uncomfortable.

"Do either of you know of a ghoul that goes by the name of Walltrap?"

Tich and Hagus shot each other a look. Every creature, not only in the shanties but all of the University City, recognized that Walltrap was a very high esteemed ghoul who worked directly under one of the seven lords. Which one he worked for exactly was a mystery to all that weren't directly involved with the lord's dealings. Could this traveler be an employee of Walltrap? Perhaps he was employed directly to a different lord. Or, if they dared to think it, he could be one working alone trying to infiltrate confidential information. Tich and Hagus knew well what happened to ghouls who ratted out others. Though Tich believed they didn't have to worry. He had no clue what the lords were up to. He was equally as confident that his business partner hadn't the smallest idea either. They were simple business ghouls minding their work day in and day out looking to the Courts and the rails in the sky with disdain like any other.

"We have heard of this Walltrap before but I'm afraid we've never met him personally. What business do you have with him?" Tich asked trying to keep the casual tone alive between them.

"I am aware that he works directly with a lord that has taken up business in this area not too long ago."

Again, Hagus and Tich shoot each other a glance. Hagus began to sniff on the stranger more intensely and Tich did not discourage the action.

"That's what they say, but like my friend here said, we don't know him," Hagus interjected.

The stranger tilted his head towards the short ghoul's direction.

"Perhaps you could lead me in the direction to someone who might be in contact with him then..."

"Afraid we don't talk to anyone who deals with such a character pal," Hagus answered.

"That's funny..." The hooded one whispered.

"What is funny exactly?" Tich questioned while polishing a glass.

"This business for the past two months has been used as a summit grounds for ghouls employed directly under Walltrap and others working in direct correlation with the illegal Poltergeist Trade..."

Tich dropped the glass that shattered on the ground. He was shaking with rage. Who was this stranger coming to his place of business to make such heinous accusations?

"Calm down merchant. I am aware you know nothing of this. Until just a few days ago it became clear to me your partner here has been handling the relations on his own..."

Tich looked over to Hagus who was waving his arms frantically.

"I don't know what he's talking about Tich!"

"You should both calm yourselves... You don't want to attract any unwanted attention. After all, you are both aware that the Courts have been buckling down and conducting strong investigations in regards to the activity around the Poltergeist Trade. The lords themselves are damn near impossible to find but you must be crazy to think that any of the seven would risk exposure to save their pawns. They would let the Courts and their little 'Guards of The Arcs' throw you all to Purgatory. Even worse, Tartarus."

Tich moved in close to the hooded stranger. "Who are you then? Who are you that you make such accu-?"

"Stop saying 'accusation,'" the stranger interfered, "It makes it sound like what I'm saying has the chance of being false. Your colleague has been working with ghouls tied to Walltrap, a Phantom Lord, and the illegal Poltergeist Trade."

The calmness in his voice only infuriated Tich further and made Hagus shake more nervously.

"What do you want? I have spent decades running an honest business! I will not have some burlap bitch with farting issues come and ruin it!" Tich exclaimed getting more attention from pedestrians than he would have liked.

"I already told you. I am looking for a meeting with Walltrap. I need Hagus here to set it up for me."

Hagus shook forward on the counter.

"I-I can't! I don't know how to reach him! I've only ever seen him one time. His assailants are the only ones that come here to drop off the Karma in exchange for their food supply!"

As Hagus answered, Tich looked at him as if he were a total stranger. It was just minutes ago that he was blabbering about supporting the work of the lords and here was his colleague, and longest friend, working directly for them. Supporting ghouls against the mortal trespassers that entered their plane was one thing. Having a helping hand in the Poltergeist Trade was another matter entirely.

It was something that had only begun several years back. It was not unheard of for the occasional mortal soul to find a way to escape the creaking door, the arch of Asphodel, and fall from the rails in the sky. Just about any ghoul could recount a story of seeing one of those confused and desperate wanderers in a mission to get back to the "land of the living."

Being Asphodelians, they hardly ever had more than fifty pounds of Karma to their name. Though for some ghouls, especially those in shanty areas, it was enough to persuade some kind of assistance. They would surrender all the pounds they carried in exchange for direct deliverance to the veil back to the place they called home- the mortal world. Ghouls were aware of the truth of what happened to souls who went backwards but they didn't care. They were fifty pounds of Karma richer and managed to condemn a mortal soul in the process. It was a win-win.

Several years back the quantity of souls purging from Asphodel had increased dramatically. They were coming down from the rails in the sky like an assembly line and being directed all over the planet to different exits and entry ways from the plane to that of the humans. Common ghouls were making fortunes and there was no doubt that a lord was orchestrating such an organized movement with little response from the Courts. At least, effective responses that was.

Tich had seen what the angels, the gloriously titled 'Guards of the Arcs', the right hand soldiers of the Courts, did to those ghouls that were caught participating. It was life altering, and worst of all in Tich's opinion, career-ending. He could already see flashes before his bulging eyes of his twig body being dragged to the arch of Tartarus. How could Hagus have done it without consulting with him first?

"That's a shame... You were the most promising lead I have had in a long time."

"So what are you? A guard?" Hagus asked in fear.

"No. At least, I don't think so," The hooded one stood without having touched his steaming crème.

"Wait a minute..." Hagus took another deep sniff of the figure and as he realized whom he was, his puppy eyes puffed with ecstasy. "YOU'RE ONE OF THEM!!! YOU'RE LIKE THE VIPER!! HE'S ONE OF THEM!! ONE OF THEM IS IN THE SHANTIES!"

The yells caught the attention of every creature on the street. All stopped their haggling, stopped their movement, and looked directly to the hooded figure. Each took a deep whiff to be sure what Hagus was saying was true.

Tich himself took a deep sniff and quickly with his nerves slightly calmed, knew it to be accurate. It was a trespassing mortal.

In confirmation, the stranger removed the burlap poncho and hood to reveal a young squared human. His skin was olive and had thick black bushy eyebrows. His eyes were a deep brown. His hair on the back and sides of his head were buzzed like that of a soldier, and on the top lay thick yet fairly short wavy black locks. He was thick with muscle and though the entire frame showed that of a man, the dimpled round cheeks he sported confessed the truth of his young age.

He wore faded pale jeans, and a plane V-neck grey shirt. Around his neck rested a string of black leather with a platinum coin attached at the end. The most interesting thing to his appearance though was the platinum parma, a gladiator shield, that rested on his back. Tich got a better look at the surface of the shield as the mortal spun it around trying to keep the ghouls back.

In the center of the weapon was the face of a panther.

"Alright now I don't want any trouble..." The human said.

"You have some nerve coming into the shanties by yourself you disgusting human!" Hagus yelled. "Just wait until Walltrap hears about you! There won't be a safe place in the universe-city! Better disappear back to your plane if you can."

The ghouls circling him were beginning to cheer in support.

The human would love to get back home, but unbeknown to the street of monsters, the mortal had no idea how to get back, how he got there to begin with, or even who he was...All he knew was the Astral Plane and his life within the weeks he had already spent there.

One four legged ghoul lunged forward. The mortal blocked it with his shield throwing the monster to the merchant hut directly across from that of Tich and Hagus.

"Alright, fine!" The face of the panther spun in the center of the shield and from the top, just above where his arm was strapped, the hilt of a weapon popped up. He grabbed it to reveal a platinum gladius, a small yet sharp sword.

Tich began to look to the sky with wonder. There was no music. No bongos, no bass guitar, not even the blasting trumpet. Was this something that only happened for the White Viper?

The masses of ghouls laughed at the human's short weapon.

"So does the dead meat have a name? Shame your body won't stay when you die... I hear human eyes make for great cocktail garnish," said a ghoul in front row ready to take his pounce.

The human hesitated. He didn't want to reveal to them that he had lost the memory of his own name. He went with the only title he had.

"You can call me the Platinum Panther... I'd be careful though. It might be the last name you ever hear." He threatened, keeping his gladius up and ready.

The mission was a bust. He knew he should have gone in softer. He didn't know if he'd had any experience in undercover Intel in the human world. To his disappointment, he clearly was horrible at the task. He was nowhere closer to finding Walltrap and severely outnumbered in the shanties of Kingslane.

Perfect, he thought.

Without warning, five ghouls smashed forward to attack and the panther dodged. He punched and kicked them out of the way with ease. He was afraid to permanently take any of them down. If he did, there was the chance that all the nervous ones too shaken to get involved might find the courage.

He had to scare them.

Before another ghoul could make a move, the Panther took his gladius and thrust it into the wet muddy ground. He focused his mind and concentrated on what he needed and sure enough like days before, dozens of long sharp platinum blades shot outward from the earth pointing their deadly tips at those around him.

He let go of the grip and made a jump to the unstable rooftop of the closest hut to his right where a dog ghoul was still stirring underneath. He ran as fast as he could while trying to lose them from behind. He willed his shield to produce one more gladius and within second the hilt erupted above his fastened arm. He grabbed it and made a jump to a stack of clay huts that appeared to his right at the corner of the mud road. He landed on the wet stairs in front of the third hut from the bottom and nearly tumbled all the way down. The ghouls were all howling behind and gaining ground.

He hurried down the steep wet stairs and landed on a thin alley at the bottom of a hill between the clay pile and another just like it. Without thinking he headed upwards further into the mess of the shanties.

He knew he should have been going further towards town and not deeper into the disaster but with all the excitement he didn't have time to strategize. Whatever path he saw with fewer monsters seemed like the best way to go.

Perhaps he should have thought of an escape plan before he attempted his mission.

Better luck next time, he supposed.

Out of the huts more and more ghouls began to appear with torches in hand. If he didn't hurry, the entire population of the shanties would be on his tail.

At the top of the hill he took a quick right turn into a thin alley with windowed-stacked boxes looking down on him. At the end, he took another right sliding downhill on the muddy path. Above on the rooftops he could see ghouls emerging. Some were even leaping towards the ground to cut him off.

There were small ones and big ones, ones with claws, others with tentacles, some with two heads, and others with none, some with faces on their bellies and other with blades for hair. They came in all shapes and sizes and none looked inviting or easy to deal with.

He was at the end of the hill and almost towards the forest road leading to the river. All he needed to do was cross that water and keep running through the trees and he would be at the center of the Kingslane campus. No West End ghouls dared go that far inland. Not unless they wanted trouble from the Courts or the White Viper.

The Panther knew of the character. He had heard of him as he traveled the universe-city on the Astral Plane. Something in the title sparked feelings of familiarity and admiration. If he had any clue of how to reach him, or the others like him in Kingslane, he would have been paying them a visit rather than trying to get into the works of Walltrap and his cronies.

He believed that whatever happened to him on the Physical Plane, the plane of the humans, probably had something to do with a ghoul attack. The girl attacked on the East End earlier that night, and all the others in the previous weeks that the White Viper had been helping, were victims of such. There was a strong chance he was too.

The symptoms of ghoul attacks ranged from hallucinations, vomiting, fever, to even coma. Walltrap was supposed to be the liaison reporting directly to a lord. Who better to know what happened or how to fix it than him? If he didn't hurry, he might not get the chance to find out.

There it was, the forest road just feet away. But before he could make it out, three six feet tall, broad shouldered, bald, one eyed, tar skinned muscular ghouls blocked his path.

He spun his gladius in hand and was ready to fight his way through.

The tar ghoul farthest to the left smacked the ground with both fists sending a wave that knocked the panther back. He quickly recovered.

He could hear the yells from behind getting louder and louder by the second.

He was running out of time. If he was going to get out of there he had to do it quick.

"Ok boys, I'd love to stay and play but we need to hurry this up," The Panther closed his eyes, took the gladius with his left hand which was still strapped to the shield, and placed his right hand over his heart. "Come on now, I need this to work..."

Without too much anticipation, the platinum coin around his neck began to glow and from the spot on his chest where his heart beat fast with adrenaline, lunged an eight foot long, towering, platinum robotic panther with two glowing purple eyes.

The jungle cat leaped right for the ghoul in the center and began to slash away at the one eye.

The young warrior ran forward dodging a swing from the tar ghoul on the right and thrust his blade into the ground one more time focusing all his attention to the beast on the left. As before, dozens of long sharp blades shot from the ground. Only this time, they all penetrated through the creature's chest. As the blades made contact, the ghoul lost his chance to scream before silently exploding into millions of little pieces.

He looked over to the edge of the trees to see that his panther had already handled the tar ghoul in the center.

That only left one.

The two of them surrounded it. But before the cat could strike, three more monsters just like it landed from the hills smashing it to a pile of scrap metal.

The Panther could feel it in his chest.

He tried to make a run for the trees but it was too late. All the ghouls of the shanties were surrounding him with torches lit. He decided to try and take as many down as he could if he was going to have to meet his end. But before he could lift a finger, a club knocked the back of his head knocking him to the ground and leaving him unconscious.

As his awareness disappeared, his shield and gladius left with it.

From the crowd Hagus pushed forward and shook the body with one of his thick arms. "Is it dead?" He asked the one-eyed tar ghoul.

"Come on now little Haggy, you know those things can't talk," said a voice from the crowd.

A pale orange ghoul with stick thin legs and a fuzzy beer gut walked forward cloaked in a stained trench coat. His hair was slicked back with foul smelling grease and its face was long with a wide clown like smile that could deter the best of moods.

"Walltrap! He was asking about you!" Hagus exclaimed.

"I know, I know. Your business partner filled me in," he replied getting closer to take a look at the human.

"I think it is still alive. We can kill it if you wish," Hagus urged.

"No, that won't be necessary. He's a good catch. We almost lost one to the Viper tonight. This one will be a more than worthy addition," He snickered.

"Almost? You mean the Viper didn't succeed?" Hagus asked eagerly.

Walltrap fastened his smile so wide it seemed his cheeks could rip at any second. "Times are a changing my friend...Times are greatly a changing."

Walltrap put his greasy hands in his trench coat pockets and headed past the crowd as the remaining tar ghouls dragged the fallen Panther close behind.

III. The Arch of 1770

GWEN HAD NEARLY SET THE kitchen on fire burning her toast and made no effort to take a bite of the breakfast Vivienne had prepared for them afterwards. The eggs sat there cold on her plate after thirty minutes of staring into space.

"Aren't you going to eat?" she asked Gwen emerging from the kitchen to join her at the coffee table with her own plate in the living room. "It's not the best cooking but I promise it'll get the job done."

She had been very kind when she had surprised Gwen a few hours earlier. She was Vivienne Greene, a freshman like Gwen all the way from New York. She had arrived to Kingslane a few weeks early on the count of her family leaving for a month long trip to Mexico. She had been staying with a few girls uptown whose parents were close friends to her own. She had meant to join Gwen earlier but decided to postpone after the rain had started.

She had short chocolate hair that she wore in a half ponytail. She had a button nose, brilliant green eyes, and a short but beautifully curved figure. Judging by how clean she looked, how wonderfully white her smile was, and how elegantly she was accessorized, Gwen wondered if she was one of those girls gunning to be in a sorority.

"The eggs are fine. I'm sorry, it was just a really weird night," Gwen answered.

"I take it you had a heavy night of drinking over on the Avenues then," Vivienne joked.

"No, no drinking for me. I just went out to dinner with my parents before they headed home. It was just a crazy dream I had, that's all."

"Crazy dream? I read in my psychology book that crazy or scary dreams are just a reflection of stress you're having in your life."

"Interesting. I don't think I'm too stressed though," she responded moving the eggs side to side with her fork.

"Not even a bit nervous about a starting college? Nothing to be embarrassed about if you're feeling homesick already," Vivienne tried to pacify as she took small and equally cut bites of her turkey bacon and eggs. "I mean, I know we're in a city and all but the homesickness hit me pretty hard when I saw it from my cab window. It's nice here, don't get me wrong, but it's no New York City. I almost burst into tears and was ready to beg the cab driver to take me back to the airport."

"That sucks. How did you get over it?"

Vivienne took a sip of her hot chai tea. "I guess I just sucked it up. Not that I'm saying you're being a baby or anything!" she immediately tried to cover her words.

Gwen hadn't really taken any offense to begin with. "Oh no you're fine. I got what you meant. And I don't really feel nervous. I can barely say I'm excited honestly... I know I should be but it just isn't happening. I'm sure it will hit me eventually."

Vivienne just smiled and finished up her food quickly.

"Are you going to the orientation today?" Gwen asked not wanting the room to fall to an awkward silence.

"No, I actually had mine last Tuesday. I'm just going to go back to my friend's apartment to get the rest of my stuff. Have you registered for classes yet?"

"Nope. They tell us we can't until after the orientation. I got stuck with the last one... Last name is Watson. Apparently they do it alphabetically."

"Oh, ok. Well I'm going to head out in a minute so if you want to walk out together...?" Vivienne suggested nervously.

Gwen wondered if she was still uncomfortable about the comment she had made. As pretty and neat as Vivienne was, she seemed hyper-aware of the things around her, her actions, and the words that came out of her mouth.

Gwen was actually content by her suggestion. From the little time she had spent with her, she really liked Vivienne. She hadn't been friends with anyone like her in high school. Judging by the amount of scented candles and Vogue magazines she had seen unpacked in her room, she doubted she was going to make a gamer friend or a comic book buddy out of her. As long as she wasn't a psychopath or someone who brought guys home every weekend, she felt confident they would get along just fine.

"Yeah, I just have to grab my bag from my room. Hold on," Gwen responded with a smile and headed for her door.

As she entered the sunlit space, her gaze went straight for the window. The distraction her roommate created had faded and she was back to swimming in her thoughts with images of the dreams she had in the night.

She was no stranger to them. She could remember over her spring break she had dreamt of boarding a roller coaster in the clouds. At least she thought it was a roller coaster... It could have been a train as she reflected on the details of the ride. She also remembered there being something giant glowing brilliantly that she assumed was the moon but was really an island covered in cathedral like white structures surrounded by oceans of silver clouds. It was beautiful but haunting. Other than that there were the twinkling stars and miles and miles of rusty tracks. It was a dream just as vivid as the one she had not too many hours before.

She stood there in her room, able to still feel the heat of the blue fire.

Blue fire? That alone was odd enough. Then there was the screaming and the running through trees. There was a boy, she was sure of it, even though she couldn't make out what he looked like. No there wasn't any way to know what he looked like since she was seeing everything through his own eyes. She could feel his panic, his hopelessness. He was running for his life.

Then she remembered the eyes of the tiger just behind the tree from where the boy stopped. If she had seen the tiger it meant he did as well. The funny thing was neither of them was afraid of it. If anything she felt called by the beast.

And before that there was her floating outside above the street. A giant monster with the long tongue and eight legs against a young man with nothing but a floating stone head companion and a shining white smoke rapier sword.

"This is insane!" Gwen hissed at herself.

They were just dreams. People had vivid realistic dreams all the time. Some even swear that they could see and talk to loved ones as if they were really there. She remembered her cousin waking in the middle of the night over Easter break when they were just thirteen saying she had spoken with their recently deceased grandfather. The whole family, especially their fathers still mourning their dead parent, were full of tears and relief.

Gwen didn't know how to feel about such a thing. It was a dream. Images invented by the mind.

She remembered hating her cousin for some time after that. She was always the child that exaggerated details to get out of trouble or connive to make someone else take the fall for her. For all she knew she was making the whole thing up to get the praise of the adults.

"Only a dream," she repeated as she slid her bag over her shoulder. "Everyone has weird ones and the truth is no one really gives a shit to hear about them."

In a way she was grateful for all of it since getting up so early allowed her to tend to the frizzy hair disaster she had adopted after getting caught in the rain.

Her long black wavy locks were back under control. She put her contacts into her blue eyes and grabbed the dark brown leather bag from her closet.

As she was about to make her exit she stopped in the middle of the doorway. She didn't resist it... She turned to look back to her window. Nothing was different. The sheets and the comforter still lay a mess and the sun kept touching her pillow.

"Just a dream," she said one more time.

"You ready?" Vivienne asked from the front of the apartment door between Gwen's room and her own. "Gwen? Are you ok?" She questioned moving over to take a look as her roommate stayed frozen.

Vivienne placed her hand lightly on Gwen's shoulders bringing her out of it. "Huh? Yeah, I'm good."

Vivienne chuckled. "What kind of dream was it exactly?"

Gwen brushed it off as she led the way down the noisy wooden stairs, and into the bustling neighborhood street.

She took in how pretty it looked during the day. Something she didn't really have the luxury of doing the previous afternoon being so occupied trying to get everything into the building. She had the sore legs as a souvenir to remind her of all the 'wonderful' trips up and down the stairs.

She unfolded the crumpled campus map and searched for where she was supposed to go.

"Alright, orientation and registration..." she began, "The Charles building in the middle of campus. So I just have to get to the main road, take a left, no, right..."

"Just take the campus bus," Vivienne interjected, "If you just go down to the main road and wait at the corner there should be a stop. Make sure you take the blue route. It'll drop you off in front of the Campus Green."

Gwen stuffed the map into her coat pocket. "Thanks. I looked over the campus map a while ago but I'm not really sure where specific buildings are. So, where is your friends place?"

"Not too far from here. I'm just going to walk I think. I guess a lot of people are taking that option today..." she stated trailing off as she stared down the right side of their street.

Gwen too noticed the crowd forming around a small boutique on their side of the student filled road.

There were at least twenty people. She should have gotten going but as usual, curiosity got the better of her as she followed Vivienne down the stone stoop towards the masses.

They walked over to the crowd of spectators and pushed their way through to the front. What she saw made her heart skip a beat.

It was Mr. Lucas's flower shop just like the one she had seen in her dream. She had not seen the shop during the move and she figured that it was a detail her mind had created in the images of the night. Though it was sitting there as real as she was.

There was something off.

As she leaned closer trying not to go passed the police tape she could see whom she assumed was Mr. Lucas himself crying beside the front window. He was a small man probably around his fifties with very little remaining brown hair. His glasses were small and he had a somewhat hooked nose that he was wiping crazily as he sobbed.

Gwen did not see broken glass as there had been in her dream. It would have to serve as proof that indeed it was only in her head. She must have passed by the store on her drive up and seen it. She just probably didn't remember that she had. Something like a subliminal message she supposed. Her mind was just trying to play tricks on her and urging her to believe in things that weren't real.

"Excuse me, what happened?" Gwen asked the girl closest to her.

She was strongly framed with long straight dark auburn hair and hollow cheeks.

"They're saying Mr. Lucas thinks it was some kind of a prank. Kind of a messed up one though, don't you think?" She responded in a deep yet surprisingly feminine voice...

Gwen tried to get a closer look at what the girl was talking about and sure enough she caught a glimpse. A majority of the flowers in the store were dead. Completely withered and fallen in their pots.

"How...?" Gwen exhaled.

"They don't have a clue. It really looks like the flowers just dropped dead. Bizarre isn't it?" the girl added.

"This is so messed up," said Vivienne from behind Gwen. "Mr. Lucas is the nicest guy in town. Not many students buy flowers but they say he's always really friendly and passing them out to people who walk by. It's a shame..."

Gwen wondered how Vivienne knew anything about Mr. Lucas considering she like herself was only a first year. Perhaps the people she was going to meet with had given her a rundown of Kingslane already.

"What are you doing here?" the girl asked looking at Vivienne sternly.

"My apartment is on this road," Vivienne responded changing her stance to one of strength. "Nice to see you too Erin."

"You guys know each other?" Gwen asked.

"No, she's psychic," Erin answered sarcastically.

"Don't mind her," Vivienne brushed off. "Gwen this is Erin, one of the girls I've been hanging out with since I got here."

"Oh, that's great," Gwen commented with a pinch of sarcasm herself. She found the difference in height to be a bit comical but was also amazed at how both of their eyes of fire towards each other made them strangely seem equal. Gwen gave Erin a weak smirk and focused back on the matter at hand.

She jumped back to her dream and remembered the guy named Bright crashing through the window by act of the spider ghoul. She remembered the image of him walking out brushing off all the petals and little greenmen.

The glass is fine though. This is what she was holding on to. Anything could have happened to them. When Bright crashed through, most of the flowers broke out of the pots with dirt and petals flying all over the place. These were still totally intact. The only off detail being that they were all mysteriously dead...

"Alright I got to go," Erin moaned. "There's only so much crying old guys I can stomach. Are you coming?" she asked Vivienne.

"Yeah, we shouldn't keep them waiting. I'll see you later Gwen. Let me know if you find out who did this..." she frowned before making a turn to get out of the crowd with her grouchy companion.

Gwen was about to do the same before the next wave of strange came crashing down. Literally.

The front window that had "Lucas Flowers" written over it fell out of the frame and shattered on the sidewalk in front of it.

Mr. Lucas made eye contact with Gwen for a second, then to the direction of where the glass had broken, and continued to sink his face into his dirty tissue.

Without wanting to give it another thought, Gwen pushed her way out of the crowd and darted for the main road.

*

The center of campus was very distinct from the arts buildings over on the East End. They were all made of marble and the architecture was extremely old. One could tell that they were the original buildings of Kingslane University. In the heart of it all was a long grass field with nothing but a large oak tree in the middle. Around it was three of the old buildings facing the vast green. She was standing in the middle of the grounds underneath the oak, a considerable distance from the road, noting that the one ahead of her was the law library (a place she had no intention of ever becoming familiar with), to her left was a small museum of war artifacts, and to her right was the admissions office.

None of them were labeled the 'Charles building.'

She took out the map from her pocket and reminded herself that the center of campus extended quite a bit. As she moved away from the field she saw that the black pavement entering the campus was replaced with streets of uneven brick.

She headed further west past several fountains and courtyards until she made it to a circular building covered in ivy. The Gold plated sign read "The Charles Building."

She checked her cell phone and luckily she had fifteen minutes to spare.

Inside the lobby there were students sitting at folded out tables sipping on coffee handing out folders. Her steps echoed on the black and white checkered floor. The entire thing was illuminated with the help of the glass ceiling.

"Name?" A thin fair skinned boy sitting at a table asked her without a sense of enthusiasm.

"Gwen Watson," she uttered.

"Watson, Watson," he mumbled shifting through note cards lined out on the dark table. "Here we go. Just put on the nametag, take a folder, and take a seat inside with everyone else. They'll be starting in a few minutes."

Gwen did as she was told and preceded to the double doors.

The assembly hall was in a half circle facing towards a humble well-lit stage in the front. The seats were covered in the royal blue of the school and divided into a left and right section.

Gwen took her seat at the far end of the left where no one was sitting. There were about twenty rows in total and the first twelve were filled. She felt most comfortable sitting in the fifteenth.

As she relaxed, her mind wandered to Mr. Lucas's eyes. The window just fell and shattered...

No, it was an old street for crying out loud. The stairs to her building could wake the deepest of sleepers from how ancient they were. The old man probably hadn't done any maintenance in a long time...

Her mind then moved to Vivienne. The first person she had met on campus. Well, she supposed the first girl. She wasn't really sure if Corey Hughes could count. If all the attitudes in the city were the same as Wren Summers on the radio made them out to be then it was safe to say he should be considered above human.

She chuckled at the idea of a local celebrity. She supposed he was handsome enough to make it happen. Or maybe he was running a secret underground brotherhood that was selling alcohol to underage kids... Her mother would have the biggest gloat if that were true. Though as she allowed Corey to come back into her stream of thought she had to question if Corey himself was even twenty-one.

On the stage, a pudgy looking man appeared wearing a black suit and red tie. He seemed to be Middle Eastern and sported a shiny baldhead. He approached the podium and welcomed the new students to the school.

"This morning we will be taking you on one more tour of the campus before taking you over to the registration office and answering any questions you might have. We are aware that the Kingslane campus is very large and very easy to get lost. We'll have you familiarized in no time!" he exclaimed with a pitch in his voice that Gwen recognized as adults trying to be chummy. "But before you get going we are happy to say that we have the student body President to give a few words before taking you on the first segment of the tour himself. So please help me welcome Mr. Bright Santos!"

The polite claps started as Gwen's stomach dropped.

She had been looking through her emails on her phone until the sound of his name pulled her head upward. There he was.

The face was the same. The black hair, the dark eyes, the pointed handsome features, and the mole on his cheek were all there in the flesh. The only difference was his demeanor. He wasn't as agitated and impatient as he had looked in her dream. He glowed friendliness and welcome.

He sported a navy suit with a matching tie that looked tailor made for him. The way he floated across the stage looked absolutely noble. What was this?

It suddenly came back to her. How could she have forgotten so quickly? Wren on the radio had mentioned the name Bright Santos for the announcement. She never paused to think that the Bright in her dream could be the same as the school President.

I must have seen him at some point during the day. He's the President so there must be pictures of him somewhere. Wren Summers even said there were. It had to be the logical explanation.

But it was all beginning to get too difficult to keep up with.

"Good morning!" he said in a solid voice. It was the same voice that protested the British accent of Notus the floating head.

Gwen ran her hands through her long black hair and took a deep breath.

"I just wanted to welcome all of you to Kingslane University. I asked Mr. Amari last night if I could possibly direct the first bit of your morning tour before handing you back over for your registrations. As introduced, my name is Bright Santos and I am a third year here at Kingslane and it is my second year as President."

The audience gave a polite applause as Bright "humbly" signaled them to stop.

Gwen wasn't familiar with University Presidencies but she found it surprising that he got the job as a sophomore. She thought such a thing was a reserved for upperclassmen...

"I won't bore you with too much. I just wanted to let all of you know that you're all in for a wonderful four years here at this school. Our entire campus is extremely safe; tons to do on the weekends, and of course some of the best academic programs in the south. Put your best foot forward and I have no doubt you'll go far."

Put your best foot forward? Gwen cringed. Is he an infomercial from the 1950's?

"One final notice that I'm sure Mr. Amari will highlight again. Past the gym and training facilities on the west side of campus are sections of the Kingslane district that are not under Kingslane University jurisdiction. The entire area still remains a safe place but in recent months there has been some suspicious activity over in West End. I speak on behalf of the staff and faculty as well as myself when I say please be careful with what you do over in those parts of town passed sunset."

Mr. Amari from somewhere off the stage cleared his throat to remind Bright of an important detail. For split second Gwen could see the glistening grin weaken before quickly getting its strength back.

Mr. Santos didn't like being interrupted.

"Oh, yes, and of course don't forget to be washing your hands and using the sanitizer machines we have all over campus. If you don't know yet, there is a serious case of the flu that has been going around Kingslane City and it's important to be careful.

"On a lighter note, I would love to take all of you to my favorite spot on campus! If you would all please gather outside we could get started," he concluded and headed off the stage as the new students slowly rose from their seats to head out the double doors.

Gwen was determined to keep an eye on him. She would risk missing the rest of the tour but she asked herself in all honesty, who really gives a shit?

She had to follow him and see what she could figure out. There was no mistaking that it was he. Bright Santos was the guy that appeared to her. She couldn't shake the belief that she had never seen him before that day. At least not awake.

The groups huddled outside the circular ivy covered Charles building as Bright was waiting in front.

"I only have one piece of campus I wanted to show you myself so just follow me this way," he requested politely heading back the way Gwen had come.

They were back on the large grass field with the wide towering oak still standing strong in its center. As they moved passed the war museum she felt distracted by the tree. It had caught her eye when she arrived but why, she wasn't sure, until that moment with Bright leading the group. The tree was in the dream as well.

The boy panting and running that stopped under that large oak. Both were one in the same. She was positive. Though where were the other trees? The boy had passed many and even some bushes. There was nothing in site but bright green grass and the three campus buildings. Did she dare try and look behind the white constructs for a tiger?

No, now she was convinced she was absolutely losing her mind.

At the end of the field, between the green grass and the sidewalk to the street, Bright Santos stopped just in front of a large stone Arch about ten feet high that contained the year 1770 engraved at its peak.

Bright turned back to the newcomers and refastened his white handsome smile.

"This is the Kingslane Arch. You will notice that I didn't pass through it. This is very important because the arch was built here just before these three original buildings. You might all be aware that originally Kingslane was a law school before expanding its educational options.

"Over the years it was said that it symbolized the entrance into higher learning. It became tradition amongst the students attending the university that they would never pass through the arch until their celebrated graduation day.

"This friends, is now your tradition and your literal finish line. I trust that you will make the school proud and hope you all become as eager as myself to cross the stony end."

A hand in the front of the crowd rose. It was a girl looking rather fidgety and avoiding making extended eye contact with Bright.

Bright nodded to her.

"Well, why 1770? Wasn't the school founded in 1785?"

Bright grinned. "That is correct. The school wasn't officially established until that year. You will also notice that I said the arch was built before these three buildings. It was the very first thing build on this land. Anyone know why the founders started with the arch so many years before actually making the buildings?"

They all darted their stares towards one another waiting for an answer.

"Well, the truth is, no one knows why. All we know is that it sits in the very center of our campus and has developed fame over the centuries. The tradition of graduates passing through it is a little over a hundred years old. That means that the logic behind its creation stays a secret that only the founders know. Might be the eeriness to it that also gave it the reputation of being jinxed should any student cross it before their finishing day."

Another student lifted her hand. She was just as nervous as the last.

Gwen thought it was embarrassing. Yes he was handsome but he couldn't be more than five and a half feet. At least her discomfort around Corey Hughes had some logic to it.

"What happens if students do cross the arch before they graduate?" she asked with a cheesy grin.

Bright returned the gesture. "Well, that's up to the student's discretion. Though it is a superstition here that if students cross the arch before they have graduated it results in a lifetime of horrible luck."

Gwen could already see a few students who she considered to be complete "ass-hats" whispering amongst themselves joking of how they were going to walk through it the first chance they got. She figured they thought it would earn them quality "I have no shits to give" points.

"Well if there are no other questions, that concludes my very short portion of the tour and would ask you to make your way right across the grass to the museum. Mr. Amari will be waiting there for you."

Without another word he headed toward the registration building and made his way towards the brick roads heading deeper into center of campus.

That's all? Gwen questioned herself. I could have googled it!

Gwen waited for the group of students to be half way across the field before heading off in the opposite direction towards Bright.

Passed the registration building and onto the brick roads, Gwen headed down what seemed like a maze of white stone. The uneven bricks were a pain on her feet but she hurried along anyway. The grounds were totally flat with no upward or downward hills or even tight turns to escape.

She had only been about ten seconds behind him but he was gone.

Gwen kept walking what she figured was northward. The buildings would eventually lead her to bars and shopping streets where the Baroness sat. She ran along reading the gold plates of the monument like buildings she passed. The Grey Sciences Institute on her left, followed by the Hill School of Economics in front of it.

She came to an intersection at the end of the Hill building where a fully loaded bike rack sat between it and her. To her right, on the opposite corner, was the Black School of Biology and directly parallel to it, the Black Research Facility.

Gwen looked down all the brick roads but Bright Santos wasn't in eyeshot of any of them.

The next thing she knew, the sun that was creeping up in the east, seemed to be dipping all the way in the west and several people were walking by her staring awkwardly.

Fingers were snapping in front of her eyes and a fuzzy voice was growing louder and louder and easier to understand.

"Can you hear me? Hello?" The female voice said now waving her palm in front of Gwen's eyes.

Like a slap in the face, she was sprung back to consciousness. She looked around her and saw that she was still standing in the same spot. To her right were the Black buildings and to her left the Hill building with a bike rack now nearly empty.

"Hey, you can hear me right?" the voice spoke again.

Gwen looked at the girl. She had short waving golden straw hair and cheeks as rosy as a winter's day. Her eyes a light hazel and a thin yet strong looking figure. She was sporting a navy blue t-shirt that read KLU with a silver lion wearing a silver crown and a pair of jean shorts that highlighted her long and strong legs.

"Hey, welcome back to the land of the living..." she awkwardly joked. "What happened to you?"

Gwen was incredibly confused. The brick streets that were just empty a second ago were now full with movement, bustling, conversation, and stares.

The sun jumped in the sky?

"I-I'm sorry I must have dozed off? I have to register for classes I got separated from my group tour," she mumbled avoiding eye contact.

"Group tour? The tour ended seven hours ago..." The girl informed her as she reached for her cell phone.

Gwen picked up right away that she was about to call for medical help but interjected before she could unlock her iPhone.

"No of course the tour is over, I knew that. I was just, um," she began trying to come up with something quick but once more everything was hitting her too fast. Seven hours... According to the girl she had been standing on the same corner of campus for seven hours. "I meant I got separated from my group this morning and now I'm trying to figure out how I can register," she lied.

Her improvisation paid off as the girl relaxed a bit of her worried expression.

In truth Gwen's insides felt like they were being pulled inside out. What was happening to her? All of these images, the flower shop, Bright Santos, standing on the corner of a street for seven hours without knowing it...

"Well the registration office is just back down this way," she said pointed back towards the way Gwen had walked. "I can take you there. I'm sure there are tons of people still registering late."

Gwen didn't reply but began to walk back down the road with the girl by her side.

"Really I think I can manage fine. I just spaced out for a few minutes."

"No you didn't," the girl shot directly. "I left for lunch around noon and saw you standing there. You were still a zombie four hours later when I came back. I'm surprised no one tried to say anything to you in that whole time. People really are self-involved aren't they?"

Gwen smirked. It sounded like something she would say herself.

"I'm Sam by the way. First year here."

"Gwen, and same."

The pair headed for the offices and to Gwen's surprise and good fortune, she was able to fill up her schedule with all the courses she needed. Sam congratulated her when they walked out an hour later but she didn't care. She was still focused on what had happened.

"Hey we have the same psychology class," Sam pointed out on Gwen's schedule. "I guess I'll be seeing more of you then," Sam smiled. "Listen I know I just met you and I'm not totally sure if I'm only asking this because I think you had a psychotic break down and I feel bad, but a bunch of people are going bar crawling tonight. Would you want to go?"

Gwen was just about to reject the invitation when the sudden premonition came over her that at that very moment, somewhere behind one of the old white stone buildings, she was being watched.

"Yeah, that sounds great. Do you just want to come to my place before? Getting alcohol is probably a bitch," she spat out quickly wanting to feel accompanied and safe.

Sam chuckled. "Not everywhere. Where's your dorm?"

"I'm actually on the East End apartments not too far from the art buildings."

"Well I'm just at the freshman dorm's not too far south of this place. Five minutes from here. If you're ok with what you're wearing we could just go there."

The eyes in the distance felt piercing.

"Yeah sure that sounds fine," she hurriedly agreed and stormed off in the direction of Sam's dorm leaving her new friend to catch up in the direction she was headed.

IV. The Spires of Purgatory

THE RIDE ON THE BUMPY path was chilling. The two ghouls at the front of the boxed wagon steered the large pale blue featherless stork-like creature toward the black and aggressive spires in the northeast.

They had passed the arch only half an hour past but they were already sick of the journey.

Ghouls and mortals could rarely agree or stand one another, but there was one thing both parties could agree on in a silent consensus; none would go to the Spires on their own will.

It was a place constantly moist surrounded by a bright fog and nagging mist. No creature was sure how far and wide Purgatory went, but those who ventured off from the gravel path would never be seen or heard from again. It was rumored that the fog and mist were haunted by those souls who had been damned to the Spires by the Courts. It was also believed that within the fog one could hear whispers sounding as close as the ear able to feel the breath and spit from those lost against their face. Eerily enough, regardless of how quick one turned to see, nobody would appear delivering the sound.

It wasn't the ultimate punishment. No, that was Tartarus and none knew what horrors lied there other than those sentenced. The Spires were a halfway house in a sense. Spirits waiting for their trials would go to wait in their damp cells. Of course there was dying every minute of every day. The wait in Purgatory could last for years, even decades. Though what was that in comparison to eternity? The island in the sky belonging to the Courts was one of hundreds and like its brothers, was the size of a metropolis. Though even that wasn't big enough to keep up with the demanding list of the deceased.

Souls and ghouls feared the aggressive spires heavily guarded off in the distance of Purgatory. This was true, but the towering thorns of metal were themselves harmless. It was that which crept in the unknown that terrorized.

It was a rule constantly repeated to all entering the zone; "Stay to the gravel road until you reach the gates." The two ghouls driving the cart loathed their job as transporters and spent the majority of the way repeating the rule as quietly as they could. Both too afraid to make a noise in the case that the fog might listen and the mist might use them to alleviate the boredom of the gray stillness.

Walltrap had his filthy trench coat wrapped around him as tightly as he could but it was no use. The cold was too persistent. He would stare at the stork that kept its head tilted so far to the ground that he wondered if it was sleep walking the entire way. It was a ghoul just like he and his egg shaped bandaged companion.

Not all ghouls were as sophisticated or as developed as others. The stork was a good example. No ability to speak or probably even to think for itself. Could it in the past have been a lively creature that enjoyed its meager existence? Perhaps it was the drollness of Purgatory that forced it now to keep its head low to the ground. Condemned to travel on the gravel road for an unknown amount of ions. Perhaps it had grown used to the atmosphere and it had fortunately learned to march in a sleeping state. If so, the mutilated looking ghoul was the object of Walltrap's envy.

"How much further Rapshur?" Walltrap asked his bandaged companion.

The ghoul did not blink or shift his position to face his boss. He maintained his beady yellow eyes on the stork ahead.

"Shouldn't be more than another hour..." He mumbled in monotone through the thick wraps.

Even by ghoul standards, Walltrap found Rapshur to be unsettling. He had no idea where his lord found him. He highly doubted he came from Kingslane. Bandaged ghouls tended to come from far off war stricken places on the plane. All relatively alike in the feature that they never blinked.

Through the rattling quiet, off somewhere behind them, Walltrap could swear he heard the sound of a soft watered shore caressing a beach.

Were there beaches in Purgatory? Or better yet, an ocean? If there was an ocean then that would mean Purgatory scaled much larger than just the gravel road and the Spires ahead. Perhaps it was true that like the arches to the three zones, there existed entrances to Purgatory scattered throughout the astral world. There could be across that ocean more spires, and more prisoners...

The back of the cart moved causing Walltrap to jump.

"Relax sir... It is just the captured... We will be rid of them momentarily and we can return back to our work," Rapshur tried to calm.

Walltrap didn't take any alleviation from what his companion was saying. Return to their work. Hilarious. If only Raphsur knew. The Poltergeist Trade was only part of the grand scheme of things. If whispers were true, the trips down Purgatory would become much more frequent. Luckily the job was not his. The White Viper had been making a disaster of the lords operations costing them fully capable and desperate for karma ghouls to handle uncomfortable tasks such as the present one. Walltrap felt himself to be too important to the Phantom cause and was slightly insulted when he was told to fill in and play 'errand boy'. He hoped he was not expected to continue with the line of work.

As they progressed, they were unaware that the shift in the back of the cart was more than just a stir of an unconscious prisoner. The Panther had awoken lying face down in the piles of hay. He lifted himself slowly and as quietly as he could to look around. He could see that he was enclosed in a small wooden wagon with four small square windows. There was one to each of his sides and two to the doors behind him. Each had a set of three metal bars.

Through the windows he could see the fog slowly flowing into the space and feel the chill of the mist surrounding him. It might have been the hit he took on the head, but he could have sworn the strings of thick white substance coming through the bars had the shapes of weak fingers trying desperately to reach him...

He felt his neck and saw that the pendant wasn't there. Within seconds he could sense that it was situated between the two ghouls in the front.

He grinned that they thought that simply taking it could keep it from him. The Panther was eager to make his move but first needed to figure out where they were heading.

Shifting himself slowly to the right, he looked out the window to find not much help. There was only thick fog, the mist, and the sound of what he guessed was a crying child being scolded by a father.

Whatever it was, it wasn't Kingslane. He couldn't have gone that far. He questioned how long he was out for?

In the distance the thick white seemed to shift and he could make out what looked like dark splinters shooting out of the ground. His heart sank.

He could not remember his name, where he came from, who he was, or how to get home, but he knew damn well what he was looking at. They were the Spires of Purgatory. If you had to go to the Spires, you were either there waiting a bland toneless existence in Asphodel for some centuries or horrific ones in Tartarus. There was no chance for Elysium after serving time in such a torturous place.

Though why was he being taken there? Was he dead? Was that why he couldn't remember? Did souls forget their lives once they passed to this plane? If that was the case then what a horrible thing to be sent to the Spires and convicted of crimes in life you couldn't even remember.

Something stirred next to him and he quickly threw his fists up ready to strike. There was something else in the cart buried under the straw. It was small and the sound of its breath suggested it was young.

He brushed the dry grass away and lying there was no ghoul. It was just a small girl in her yellow pajamas. She sat up staring at him brushing the dead grass out of her short black hair getting in more of a panic with every second. She was about three feet tall and barely made it passed the Panthers waist. Her lip quivered and a clear trail of mucus descended from her scrunched pink nose. Her brown eyes were glossing as she looked around expecting someone familiar to appear. As she noticed it was only he, she rushed to reach an explosion of hysteria.

The Panther quickly covered her mouth before she could start crying.

"Hi, hi, it's ok. Um," He had no idea how to deal with little children and especially little girls. "You're alright, there's nothing to be scared of. You're just having a dream!"

A dream? Really? He thought to himself. There were so many non-cliché excuses he could have used but he went with the dream one. It was much better than telling her there was a possibility she was dead. "Just calm down and tell me your name."

The girl began to calm her breathing and the Panther slowly moved his hand away praying that she not scream.

"My name is Olivia..." She whimpered.

"Alright, it's nice to meet you Olivia, I'm," He stopped, remembered he had no name, and knew he sure as hell wasn't going to introduce himself to the scared child as the Panther. "Steven."

Great. Save.

"Hi Steven," she said silently beginning to shiver.

The Panther, or Steven rather, looked down and saw he had nothing but his gray shirt. The Pajamas would have to suffice for the time being.

"Do you remember how you got here?" He asked.

Olivia kept her face down to the ground.

"I-I was sick. My mommy was really scared and I had bad nightmares. A man came and he was dressed in white. I think he was an angel and he saved me from the monsters. But he left and they came back-" her eyes were beginning to produce tears again.

"Alright don't worry," The Panther quickly tried to pacify her taking her into his arms attempting to rub the cold away.

He couldn't believe a girl as young as her was awaiting trial for a crime by the Courts. What could she have possibly done to deserve a sentence at Purgatory? There were different laws for young ones when it came to such a place regardless of their disastrous actions. He was sure of it.

It had to mean the ghouls were transporting them to the Spires for a reason that had to be something other than mandate by the Courts. Steven also had to wonder why the ghouls would be going somewhere that was so strictly governed and patrolled by a power that detested them.

"I need you to just be a little brave for me all right? Can you do that?"

Olivia nodded.

"Ok then. Sit right in the back corner there and don't move. I'm going to have a talk with our drivers," he instructed and let her go as she pressed up to the left corner of the cart.

The Panther gave her a smile and a wink before turning to the splintered wood in front of them giving it a loud pound.

The passenger to the right jumped high with fright.

"What the hell was that?" it wined.

"It was one of the captured sir... "The one to the left responded calmly.

"Hey, quick question, why is it that we're going to the Spires?" he asked as casually as he could, trying to keep the scene light for his young companion.

"Shut up! You'll find out soon enough!" the obnoxious voice from the right hissed.

The Panther recognized the voice even if he only had heard a handful of words from it behind a thin curtain at a Kingslane bar before he vanished. It was Walltrap himself.

"Yeah, that's not going to do..." he concluded.

The Panther now backed up in the cart, focused his fist, and punched through the wood ahead. He could hear the high-pitched screams of a little girl and felt guilty that he was making Olivia so upset. As he reached to the right and grabbed hold of Walltrap's throats he realized it was him who had the pipes of a frightened little lady.

He slammed his head against the wood and tried to keep the blow light enough so that he might still be able to question him once he got free.

He pulled his arm out of the hole and kicked the wall opposite Olivia blowing out the left side. The old wooden wagon came to a stop and fell on its open end. Olivia landed on the gravel but did her best to stay under the protection of the cart.

The Panther rolled and quickly got himself up heading for the front.

He could see Walltrap doing his best to gain his footing as he held both hands up to his oily head.

The other ghoul sat calmly on the stork looking at the scene with its wide gaze.

The pendant was there on the ground and The Panther reached out his hand as the platinum coin flew to him like metal to a magnet. He summoned his shield and fastened it to his left arm.

The wild cat's face on the surface spun and the gladius erupted once more.

Steven pointed it directly at the small bandage wrapped ghoul. "Speak. Why are you taking us to the Spires?"

The ghoul was not alarmed by the weapon as others had been. He kept his cool and his bulging yellow eyes didn't twitch.

"We follow our orders... Nothing more. You are upset and wish to harm us. Such is understandable. You have questions for my superior, Walltrap. I have sensed his fate has been sealed for quite some time. Should he answer your questions I am confident our lord will eradicate him. Should he fail to comply I am confident you will do your will with him. Either way I do not see him surviving this day. Quite the perfect location for him to perish..."

"...The hell are you talking about?" Walltrap questioned in panic.

The Panther didn't like this one. "I can take both of you out. I don't know why you're excluding yourself from this."

He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn behind the heavy bandage a smile had formed.

"Do not be silly. You have already created too much of a ruckus on the road. The mist and the fog certainly have caught on to what is happening and will be making their move soon enough. So soon, that you will not have time to settle us both and gain the answers to your questions. Choices must be made jungle cat. Focus your attention to your goal, or waste your time on me. The decision should be obvious."

"You're a cocky one. You probably know everything he does. You work together for crying out loud!"

"If you wish to take your chances on that gamble then I cannot stop you. I promise you with one hundred percent certainty though that I will share nothing," he replied.

As annoyed as he was, The Panther couldn't help but believe him.

Walltrap was moaning and groaning trying to run his way back down the gravel road.

The Panther made no more comment to the bandaged ghoul and turned to catch his prey.

"Excellent choice. Enjoy your fate Walltrap," said Rapshur as he turned and commanded the stork to continue down the gravel path as they vanished in the cloak of the fog toward the black towering thorns in the distance.

"You little shit! I'm going to kill-"

The Panther threw his gladius at Walltraps twig-like left leg cutting off his threat to his departed ally. So tiny was the thing that the force of the blade cut it completely off, knocking him to the ground.

Walltrap was screaming louder and louder.

"Jesus, shut up you're going to freak out the kid," he told him as he reached out his hand for the weapon to return.

Walltrap was now dragging himself on the rocks collecting handfuls of tiny stones and wet earth, making no progress across the winding road.

The Panther flipped him over, placed his foot tight onto his neck to stop him from making more noise, and pointed his platinum blade right to the tip of his nose.

"My face, have you seen it before?" he asked.

"Don't kill me!" Walltrap squirmed.

The Panther pressed his foot tighter to his neck. He didn't have time. If Rapshur was right, things were about to get much worse for them unless he hurried.

"Answer the question Walltrap! My face, have you seen it before the night in the shanties?"

"No!" he groaned putting both his weak hands on the boot pressing against him.

"I have no memory of who I am or where I am from. I have no idea how to get home. Are you and your kind responsible for this?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

It was getting nowhere...

"You work for one of the seven Phantom Lords... Which?"

"I won't tell you squat!"

The Panther threw his gladius with ease and precision right at his left shoulder causing it and the entirety of his arm to rip off and burst into pieces. The disgusting brown sleeve fizzled empty onto the gravel. Before Walltrap could scream, The Panther placed his foot right on his mouth.

"You are down to your last chance... Tell me, which Phantom Lord you serve and I might be kind enough to take you out of this place. It isn't like you can do it yourself now."

Walltrap struggled, but alas he calmed and tried to nod his head to signal he was ready to cooperate. The Panther removed his foot from his mouth and put it at the base of his neck.

"I have been assisting with the Poltergeist Trade under Lord Avris."

"Why has good old Lord Avris taken such an interest to the trade?"

"I do not know. We're rewarded a decent sum of Karma for our work. We do not ask questions."

"Alright, and I'm guessing your line of work includes taking souls to Purgatory too?"

Walltrap didn't want to say anymore. The Panther pressed the tip of his blade tight to his nose as little specs began flickering into the air.

"I just do what I'm told! I didn't even want to do this anyway! I'm just filling in because that damn Viper keeps killing everyone. Besides, who the lord takes isn't my call."

"The girl. Why do you have her? You don't expect me to believe that someone as young as her has been condemned by the Courts to wait for trial here do you? Or better yet that ghouls have become some kind of business partners with them..."

"Again, I just do what I'm told. You would have better luck talking to a ghoul that is responsible for the abduction!"

Abduction? The Panther thought back to the word of the Viper defending innocents around the city. He knew ghouls attacked humans from the Astral Plane but he didn't know anything about preventing them from waking up by keeping them there. It was possible that Olivia was not yet dead and just the consequence of a kidnapping. Though he assumed a kidnapping of a soul on the Astral Plane would only mean her fate would be just the same as his in due time. As much as he wanted to find Avris and find out if he, like Olivia, was a victim of abduction, he needed to first ensure that the girl got back to their plane safely. If he was lucky, his answers might come up in the pursuit.

"Let me go! I have nothing else you could possibly want!"

"The Poltergeist Trade is about taking souls that have already deceased and shipping them back to the plane of the living. If this girl is still alive it completely contradicts the point! You are taking her and I assume others to Purgatory to wait for death to come so you can ship them back? I can see how that creates a list of clientele for karma but it's sure a lot of extra work. Especially when there are already tons of souls in there desperate for an out. "

"I already told-"

"ARE YOU SO STUPID YOU CAN'T COME UP WITH AN OPINION!?"

With the last yell the chill in the air began to grow stronger.

"Steven!" Olivia cried from behind the cart.

They were running out of time. Whatever the fog and the mist could do, it was preparing to show them.

"Please," Walltrap began but The Panther didn't wait another second before lunging his blade right through the ghoul's forehead dissolving him into million specs of dust.

The Panther ran back around the cart to see Olivia frightened. He strapped the platinum parma to his back and took her up in his arms and tried to let her know everything would be fine.

He looked back to the ground and saw that the dirty trench coat of Walltrap had not disappeared with him. The Panther took the old thing up off the damp stones and wrapped it around Olivia covering her head in the process. Whatever could appear he thought would be better unknown to her.

"It smells like sour milk in here!" She complained underneath the worn coat.

"It's just for a little bit, I promise, "He began to run down the gravel path as the fog began to grow thicker and thicker.

He could hear the sound of the child crying and the father yelling. This time the yells came with the sound of whipping. The fog was becoming so thick that the only assurance they were still on the road was the feeling of the pebbles beneath his feet.

The mist was slapping across his face and every few seconds he would feel like the palm of a clammy hand caressing his cheeks. They were memories of a past trying to rekindle the recognition of flesh...

"We're alright, we're alright," The Panther said to Olivia as he kept moving.

Through the white, the silhouette of a short figure began to appear in the distance. He summoned his gladius and proceeded with caution. As they got closer, his vision cleared and in front of him stood a short young girl with puffy eyes, black hair, and yellow pajamas looking very frightened. It was Olivia.

"Steven! What's happening! I want to go home!" The girl cried.

The Panther quickly removed the coat from the head of the Olivia in his arms. He threw her away from himself onto the stones terrified of the lifeless eyes that had stared back at him.

With his heart racing he looked at the molded gray lifeless body of Olivia lying face down with the trench coat still resting on her back.

"I'm scared Steven!" The living Olivia cried.

The Panther closed his eyes and wiped the moisture of the mist on his face. When he reopened them, the Olivia in the road was gone and the one under the coat was back to her living healthy self, staring at him startled from what had happened.

It was the fog playing tricks. That was all. It was all trying to get in his head and throw him off the trail.

"Sorry, I just freaked out for a minute. You're fine." He picked her up once more choosing to leave her head exposed.

As they moved, the sound of a squeaking swing came from somewhere nearby. Then somewhere in the distance the voice of a woman begging for her babies to wake up.

"Just playing tricks, it's all just playing tricks," he whispered to himself.

"Steven," Olivia whimpered.

"It's alright, we're fine. We're almost out," he tried to reassure.

"No, Steven, something is following us..." she said clutching tighter to his neck.

He turned around with the Gladius ready. There, surrounding them on both sides of the road, were dark figures shrouded in the fog scattered in the abyss around them. There were at least fifty.

They stood unmoving and though they couldn't see the eyes, the glares of the strangers weighed heavy on them.

Were they ghosts? Were they souls who had tried to escape Purgatory and failed?

His breathing was becoming heavier. He couldn't panic. If he did, then Olivia would have no chance.

He held her tight and began to run down the winding way. He didn't stop. He refused to stop fearing they would join the faceless ranks if he did.

With each step he became more desperate. He couldn't think of another time he ever wanted his bed as desperately as he did on that road. Whatever and wherever that bed might be.

The further he got the more voices joined the chorus around them. There were confessions about love that were never spoken, the soft voices of a mother beginning a story with the famous line 'Once upon a time,' the sound of someone desperate for air, the faint yells of a group wishing someone a happy birthday, and with each new whisper came a new standing figure in the fog.

His face was wet and the tip of his nose and ears were numb with cold.

Suddenly ahead, the shape of an arch began to come into vision. The whispers were now screams and he could hear the frantic hissing of a young man's voice close to his ear repeating the sequence "seven, four, three, two, nine, six." With each repetition he sobbed and announced the numbers like they were his final prayer.

The arch grew bigger and the madness became louder.

Then finally, they arrived just inches from the gate and in unison the voices stopped. There was only the mist brushing against their skin and the dreary fog sitting in its quiet. He turned around one last time to see that all the figures were gone except for one. It was towering and thin standing right in the center of the road. It was close enough that The Panther could see his hounds tooth jacket and gray overalls sporting a pair of leather shoes with no socks to cover the dark skinned meatless ankles and feet. The fog covered his face, but he could see him slowly waving his hand and was certain that he fashioned a wide cynical grin.

"Come back soon," said a deep whisper to his ear, and without another thought he took Olivia, lunged through the arch, felt the center of gravity shift, and embraced the free fall from the sky passed the tracks and the floating marble city towards the twinkling lights of Kingslane miles below.

V. The Baroness

THE NIGHT WAS UNDER WAY and Gwen had already consumed a few shots at Sam's dorm. She knew drinking wasn't the logical thing to do considering she had been paralyzed on a street corner with no recollection of the time that passed by, but whether it was paranoia or good instinct, she was convinced Bright Santos had something to do with it.

She was only meant to be her escape from what felt like someone watching her, but luckily Sam, like her roommate, turned out to be very delightful. Her dorm room was small but fortunately she didn't have to share the space with anyone. It was just her bed, the desk provided by the school (which was in pretty bad shape), a carpet much harder than hers, and a shelf holding a considerable amount of Fireball Whiskey.

Sam had tried to pry a few times regarding the episode but Gwen continued to insist to her (and herself) that she was fine.

Samantha Bishop was a girl, who like Gwen, didn't live too far from Kingslane. In fact, she was only about twenty minutes south of her hometown and lived alone for the most part during her final two years of high school.

Her older sister had taken off to New York in pursuit of her dreams to be a singer and her father spent most of his time traveling for work. Leaving Sam with two years to prepare for the madness she insisted would be her college years.

Gwen told her that her roommate was actually from New York. That bit of information made Sam eager for Gwen to invite Vivienne to go out with them. Unfortunately, she didn't pick up.

It was about eleven p.m. when the pair finally made it up into the swarms around the streets of The Avenues. Like the night before there were drunken students everywhere. Guys were puking in alleyways, girls fighting with hotdog vendors, and police officers monitoring incoherent fraternity boys perched up against a tree.

"Becky, no like seriously, Becky, Becky, like, I swear to God I drive a billion times better when I'm drunk. It's insane," Gwen overheard someone say as she tripped all over herself.

She was still extremely overwhelmed with the atmosphere and didn't consider it her "scene." Ironically, all of those people that would usually give her intense space anxiety were the thing keeping her the most relaxed.

Sam had changed into darker denim with her pair of leather brown boots. She had lost her Kingslane shirt and was now in a simple red tank top. Gwen thought she was nuts. It wasn't winter cold but it wasn't necessarily a night of summer heat either. It was strange how chilly the nights had been. She knew Georgia weather could be spontaneous but she was finding the sudden cold in the middle of August ridiculous.

"I hate going into a bar and having to carry my jacket everywhere. It's a pain in the ass. If I'm going to be forced to carry anything it's going to be a drink," Sam had said.

Gwen asked her what exactly she had meant by 'when she went into bars.' After all, they were both just eighteen.

Sam had replied by simply taking out the ID from her pocket. It was a girl with the same rosy cheeks and hazel eyes as Sam; only the hair was a longer platinum blonde, and the face a bit rounder.

"What is this?" Gwen asked.

"It's my sister's old ID. The one in New York I told you about. She let me keep it before the summer started," she stated proudly.

The two of them pushed through the crowds. Gwen looked at some officers sitting on top of horses watching the mayhem doing nothing. She was surprised, but to a degree figured it must be a pain in the ass to bother with so many ID's. On the other hand, the bars on the Avenues were supposed to be exclusively for upperclassmen that would be over twenty-one. Did they just assume that the mess of partying college students were of age?

Sam grabbed hold of Gwen's wrist pulling her out of the sidewalk and onto the open street where there were couples, or perhaps just new acquaintances, making out and getting very flirtatious.

"Sam, I think it's great you have a fake," she lied as she walked up next to her, "but I don't have one so I'm not sure I'll be able to get into any of these places with you. Plus I don't feel comfortable with the whole puppy eyes and sticking the tits out to make it happen."

Sam laughed.

"We're not going to the senior bars, don't worry. Those places suck anyway. Everyone knows what the best place in town is."

Gwen didn't really have to ask since she was already very confident of what the answer would be. Regardless, for the sake of confirmation, she proceeded. "We're going to the Baroness aren't we?"

Sam just turned to her with a mischievous grin and nodded.

They made it to the corner of the street where Gwen had previously had dinner. She stared down the old brick building from across the road with its open square windows and wooden sign hanging over the sidewalk. The line, to no surprise, was wrapped around the block.

Gwen pulled Sam aside at the sight.

"Come on Sam there is no way we're going to get into that place. It's packed!"

"Shh," Sam hushed her and pulled her forward. "Girls usually cut the line, just come on."

The two of them approached the door directly and sure enough the student bouncers let them in without even taking a real look at their ID's.

"Told you!" Sam exclaimed.

"But-"

"It's been like that for a few years now I heard. It's a fucking free-for-all."

The building had three levels if one included the basement to which wooden stairs were set in the center of the floor. Wooden booths, and barrels which lined the walls for decoration, surrounded the first floor. An immense bar reaching from one end of the wall to the other sat at the end of the first floor opposite the front doors. To the girls left and right there were wooden staircases leading to the upper level that had small bars at each of its four corners. Then finally there were wooden barred railings lined with students dancing, drinking, and overlooking the activities below.

As packed as it was, it would seem that the place would be too hot to stand, but both the first and second floor were surrounded with the squared glassless windows she had seen from outside the previous night letting the air feel cool. The entire bar was topped off with soft yellow mood lighting.

The two of them headed up the stairs towards the left corner bar.

"What do you want?" Sam asked.

This is where Gwen froze. She always hated having to ask for a drink at a party. She didn't know of any. She didn't want to come across inexperienced so she went with her easiest escape. "I'll just have whatever you're having."

Sam quickly came up with their cups. They moved out of the thirsty student's way and headed for the wooden railing to stare at the people below.

Gwen took the transparent plastic cup with bubbling coke and took a sip. She could make out the combination of the soda with rum.

Rum and coke? Well I could have ordered this shit myself, she thought.

"Looking for someone?" Sam teased as Gwen eagle eyed the crowd.

Gwen fidgeted a bit. She wasn't aware she had been searching. "There was this guy I met outside of here last night. No big deal."

"Did you get his name?" she asked taking a sip of her own drink.

"Yeah, it was Corey Hughes."

Sam nearly choked on her rum and coke.

"You met Corey Hughes? The 'Kingslane King'?"

"It was just for a minute. He helped me get a cab home. 'The Kingslane King'? Seriously? Does anyone actually call him that?"

"Some people do!"

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Sam shrugged her shoulders as if communicating; I wasn't the one who made it up "I heard he has a girlfriend. I wonder how she would take you two chatting. At the same time I wouldn't be surprised someone like him gets around. You probably already know how he basically runs the Avenues. This place is like the sanctuary for him and his friends," Sam stated. She helped Gwen scan the bottom floor and quickly found their goal. "There! The second booth down from the bar on the right where that skinny kid is playing the guitar."

Gwen followed the direction of her finger and sure enough there he was. Corey Hughes was sitting in the booth with his back to the bar. He had a clean white polo shirt with his sleeves rolled up. Gwen could see the hint of the strong shoulders and the defined chest through the material. His smile was as charming as it had been the previous night. The crowd seemed to rotate around him like he was the center of the universe.

Sitting on the table was a thin shaggy boy on his guitar messing around with the people around them. Standing in front of the table was a giant who didn't really seem to be having the same amount of fun as the rest of the group. He looked more like a bodyguard than a friend.

To the right of Corey in the booth was one of about equal attractiveness as him, though he lacked the magnetism. He had short wavy blond hair, big white teeth, and finished with deep blue eyes. He wore a vintage T-shirt and a leather watch. He seemed like a '"guy's guy." Like Corey, he gave the impression that he was the type one could fall crazy in love with, the type that a girl might see on the street and imagine the wedding portrait. He seemed approachable, kind, and dignified, yet at the same time he oddly possessed the aura of one who would vanish after he'd had you.

To the left of Corey, surprisingly to Gwen's disappointment, was a beautiful, thin, olive skinned girl with long shining straight crow-like black hair. Corey's arm was comfortably around her. It had to be Adrienne Ferrari.

She was literally one of the most beautiful girls Gwen had ever seen in the flesh. She had the face of a supermodel and a figure of equal rank. It was outstanding how even in a place like that, the girl managed to exude a light of class in her small black dress and modest diamond necklace.

"No way, I know her," Sam said pointing towards Adrienne. "Her name is Adrienne Ferrari. She teaches a kickboxing class at the gym on the West End of campus. Has that really obnoxious over polite thing, you know? The smile with the eyes that won't blink so it feels like you're talking to a Barbie?"

Gwen knew what she was talking about. She was familiar with the type.

"Did you want to go down and try to say hi? I mean if he got you a cab he'll probably remember you," Sam suggested.

Just the idea made Gwen's feet stick to the ground like cement. She couldn't possibly go down through the crowd and approach him after Sam described him as the "Kingslane King." He probably had girls coming up to him all the time trying to have conversations.

She hated the idea of being categorized as one of those who had to brainstorm when and how she would have a conversation with another human being. He was probably the most arrogant guy on the planet. She was sure that when he approached her on the street he did it with the certainty that she would just throw herself on him. He was probably a typical, cocky, muscular, college guy who was confident he had the super power to make panties drop with just a, "Nice to meet you."

Corey shifted his attention at the table to Adrienne. He looked at her with those chocolate brown eyes like she was the world's greatest prize. She didn't seem very different to Gwen in comparison to Corey. She sat there like a queen on a throne sulking in what she knew was envy by the girls and desire from the boys.

"Don't babysit that drink," Sam told Gwen nudging her cup upward. "There's an hour left of happy hour and we should try and get a couple more two dollar rum and cokes."

"Don't worry, I'm probably not going to have another one," She mumbled.

She wanted to keep herself in her right mind. The feeling of being followed had calmed since they made it to Sam's small dorm and hadn't returned when they headed out into the night. It didn't mean she wanted to throw caution to the wind. She wondered if she would freeze right then and there only to be snapped out of it by Sam hours later. Perhaps Corey, his friends, and his stunning girlfriend would be staring and laughing as well.

It won't happen because Bright Santos had something to do with it, an assured voice within her spoke.

"Come on, it's Saturday! We have to start classes Monday... Won't kill you to have one last night before jumping into the nonsense."

Gwen took a deep breath, gave the smiling couple one last look, and turned around to follow Sam down the stairs to dance.

The following hour was filled with one more Rum and Coke and a couple of shots of something they were guaranteed was "good shit."

In her buzzed state Gwen began to think about how quickly she allowed herself to get close to Sam. She was glad that it had been she who had found her.

With each drink the pair of them gained more courage to do the most ridiculous dance moves in the middle of the Baroness. Sam had attempted the worst robot and did a walking man that looked like she might have been seizing.

Gwen laughed and served back with the sprinkler, the Macarena (when the song wasn't playing), and in the end settled with churning her hips.

The night didn't go on without the fair share of red alerts. Drunken guys would try and do their best to grab hold of their waist and start power thrusting from behind without so much as a "Hello."

Gwen and Sam had the mutual understanding that creepy stuff like that would not stand. Neither of them understood it. Guys would sneak up from behind them during a song and start humping them like pillows. Was it really so horrifying to go up to a girl and ask if they would like to dance? Apparently, it was, and guys at Kingslane, like guys in every other town they'd ever been, were too cowardly to try. Such a circumstance left them with their rescue system.

When a guy would try and abuse their way to their butts they would simply pull the other close and have an intimate girl on girl dance. They stayed in the system until one O'clock in the morning when Gwen felt herself being pulled back towards a stranger. Only this time Sam did nothing to save her but bulged her eyes and took a deep sip of her beer.

Just as Gwen thought she was doomed, the arms of the stranger turned her around and standing dignified in front of her was the Kingslane King himself.

She hated how her heart leaped. It wasn't just that he was standing there; it was the fact that he must have seen her through the crowd and made it a point to push through the masses to reach her. How strange that just the awareness that a guy a girl admired had noticed her could change a day to feel miraculous.

"Hey cab girl! Gwen right?"

"Yeah!" she couldn't control the grin on her face. It was out of control and was refusing to go any lower than full blast.

"I see you couldn't stay away from the bar!" he yelled over the loud music.

"Um, yeah! My friend really wanted to come tonight so I said why not!"

He kept his boyish smile as he nodded. Then he leaned in close to her ear.

"If you want, you and your friend could come over to our table and have a couple of drinks!"

Gwen's heart skipped another beat. She had only some hours before been thinking by the railing above how Adrienne Ferrari sat as if she thought herself some kind of queen with his arm around her. Now there she was, having fantasies in her head of her sitting next to him being looked at the way all those people looked at her.

Gwen turned to gaze at the table and not to her surprise; Adrienne was staring right at them. She didn't look angry, but she had her slender legs folded and her face rested on her hand that sat on top of the wooden table with her eyes squinting in deep analysis.

"I was seeing you two dancing. You had some nice moves! Maybe you can show my friends how it's done!" he joked.

"That would be great but I think my friend and I are actually about to head out in a bit," she lied.

It wasn't because of the glares Adrienne was sending her way. She couldn't care less about that. She supposed it was her personal embarrassment of how she was quickly overcome by a shallow desire to sit at the "cool kids" table that made her want to flee.

"Well maybe another night. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around here again," he confidently told her handing her a folded piece of paper she saw contained his phone number.

As flattered as she felt, she was becoming aware of how inappropriate all of it was. His girlfriend was literally ten feet away and he was handing her his phone number. She was letting that smile distract her and she felt she was overlooking the clear evidence that he was just as, if not more, arrogant than she originally suspected.

Could he really consider himself so top grade that he thought he could hit on other girls right in front of his girlfriend without any repercussions?

"Talk to you soon!" he said before walking back to his table.

Talk to you soon? What the hell did that mean? She hadn't given him her number so he couldn't have meant that he was going to call her. Was he expressing how positive he was that she was going to be calling him at the first minute she got alone?

"Hey, how did it go?" Sam asked scurrying up to her a bit drunker than before they had gotten separated.

Gwen explained how he was apparently a fan of their dancing and how he had given her his number.

"He wants to bone you," Sam assessed while nodding deeply with her eyes closed.

"Ew, I'm not getting anywhere near him!"

"Really? Because you looked like a groupie."

Gwen didn't respond. She stuffed the paper into her pocket and downed the remaining bit of her beer.

"I think we should get out of here!" Gwen yelled.

"I agree! Ferrari keeps looking over here like she's going to use us as props for her next kick boxing class!"

Holding hands, the pair pushed through the crowd over the sticky wooden floor out to the cold night air.

The mess of people remained but by the late hour they had dispersed throughout the streets. The Police had collected some dozen more drunk students and the fights with hot dog vendors were at a climax. Though the noise was still booming it was nothing compared to the music inside the Baroness. As it usually went, after separating herself from the loud atmosphere, she got the full blast of just how drunk she actually was. The results were not really in her favor.

"Hey, you're more than welcome to just crash at my place tonight if you want," Sam suggested.

Unfortunately that was where Gwen drew the line. As drunk and cold as she was she much rather preferred to get into her own bed. Plus, she thought she should give the new friendship more than just an afternoon and a night at a bar before committing to a sleep over. She politely declined.

"You're probably going to want to take the train home then," Sam responded, "Your 'cab-angel' is still in there and the drivers are going to be charging a ridiculous amount at this time."

"The school has a train system?"

"No not the school. The City does. Just keep a look out so you get off at the Patterson Art Museum stop. It's just a few blocks from the Eastside townhomes that aren't far from the East End student apartments. Just head all the way down this street and climb up the station stairs that are going to be on your right across from the old movie theatre." She instructed pointing her wobbly arm down the direction of a street where others were getting the same transportation idea.

They gave a friendly hug goodnight and Gwen journeyed through the crowd keeping an eye out for the old film house.

Within a few minutes the pitter-patter of raindrops began to come down.

"Wonderful," she exhaled.

Luckily the train station wasn't too far off. She made it up the stone steps just before it began to downpour. She hoped Sam made it to her dorm before getting caught in all of it.

Unluckily for her however, the stop was loaded with the intoxicated.

She looked around for a ticket window but each was empty. She looked up to an old clock that hung just over the tracks reading one thirty in the morning. She supposed the ride at that time was free. She wasn't going to complain about that.

Through the crowd she thought she saw a short brown haired girl with petite features. Maybe the alcohol was playing tricks but she was positive it was Vivienne. She wanted to hustle over to her, but the crowd was too thick and the conversations were too loud for her to yell out.

With no other choice, she stood and waited for their ride to arrive.

As the digital sign above indicated in green letters, it arrived within ten minutes and the masses forced their way onto the carts. She struggled, but managed to get her footing into the metal box. The elbows and shoulders steered her to the back end of the train where she did her best to find the route map.

She only needed to stay on the train for two stops before arriving at the Patterson Art Museum. She was relieved she wouldn't have to stay too long. In the mean time she decided to try and zone out to forget about the bodies pressing against her personal space.

With a lunge forward they were off. The rain was hitting the windows hard as the floor shook slightly left to right. The motion seemed to mimic a rocking chair and was urging Gwen to close her eyes and fall asleep where she stood.

The train halted at the first stop within several minutes. A large chunk of the people emptied and fortunately no one boarded. There was now a bit more space for her to move her arms and legs. She could even see through the crowds all the way to the cart door on the opposite end.

Another lunge forward after the doors had closed and they were off to the next station. For a second, while her eyes were shut, she felt that the lights had flickered on and off. She opened them and stared at the door down the opposite end. The flickers began to occur without stop until the lights went out completely with only the orange lights of the street lamps from outside to assist their vision within the train.

Gwen suddenly remembered Bright Santos. The memory of him came crashing back to her with such a force she needed to shift her position where she stood. Sam and her dancing, the alcohol, the bar, and of course Corey Hughes had proved to be great distractions.

Suddenly, the train came to an abrupt stop lunging her forward before being thrown against the cart door to her back. She fell to the ground in the dimly lit space and realized that they were not at the next station. They had stopped somewhere over a random street between the Avenues and the East End.

She had hit her head hard against the metal. She was grateful the alcohol in her body lessened the blow. She was about to get herself up when between the shuffling legs she made out the glare of a pair of brilliant eyes. They were the glowing eyes of a tiger.

I really drank too much, she thought. There is no way a tiger is on this train. Everyone would be losing their shit if there were.

She rubbed her eyes and looked back to the end of the cart and sure enough, the eyes remained. The golden pair looked at her through the legs as if it were looking at something of interest through the wild grass of a jungle.

Other than being alarmed by the fact that she was seeing a tiger on a train, the beast didn't scare her. There was something soothing about it. Could it be the same tiger she briefly saw behind the tree in her dream?

She was almost sure that what was happening at the moment was no trick of the mind. The cat was looking at her and with everything that happened thus far, she owed it to herself to try and figure out what it wanted.

As the tiger stared, she made the conclusion that it wasn't what she felt following her from earlier in the day when she walked with Sam. She couldn't explain how she knew they weren't the same but she just did. She still placed that act on Bright Santos. She got up and tried to move passed the people beginning to yell and complain about the abrupt stop.

As she moved she refused to break the eye contact and as she proceeded she became more anxious to reach it. When she was just two feet from the glowing gold eyes, the lights returned and the glare disappeared within the bodies.

Before she could express her anger, she was waking up in her bed with the sun hitting her face like it had the previous morning.

She stared out her window for a second before sitting up looking around frantically.

When did I get here? I was just on the train, she thought.

Gwen looked back out the window. It was morning. She picked up her cell phone and saw that it was ten a.m. on the dot

A little over eight hours...What happened from then to that moment?

It was what happened on campus just before Sam had found her.

She was beginning to panic. She somehow got off the train, walked the blocks to her apartment, and changed into pajamas without her being able to remember. What was happening to her?

The frustration of the matter was causing her to build up tears in her eyes. She felt sick. Was the entire night a dream?

She reached for her phone again.

She looked through her contacts and to her relief; Sam Bishop was still there.

Gwen breathed deep and calmly rejoiced that at least the existence of her new friend was real.

She dialed the number and put the phone on speaker. With just three rings, Sam picked up.

"Hey drunky, how are you feeling?" She asked.

Gwen didn't answer right away. It was good to hear her lighthearted voice.

"Gwen? You there? Is this a butt dial?"

"Yeah! Hey! Sorry, I was just curious to ask what the hell we did last night?" she falsely chuckled.

There was a moment of silence from Sam, which alerted Gwen that she was picking up something was off.

"Well, we drank a lot and you got hit on by one of the most powerful and hottest guys at this school... Remember?"

Of course she remembered, she was just glad it was real. Maybe the tiger on the train was true as well.

"Yeah I remember it was just a lot. Wanted to double check."

"Gwen, are you alright?"

"Yeah! Great! Listen, have you heard anything about that Student Government President guy, Bright Santos?" she asked brushing off Sam's question. She figured if Sam knew who Corey Hughes was and even knew a bit of information on his drop dead beautiful girlfriend Adrienne Ferrari, who was also the Vice President, then perhaps she would know something about Bright.

"The short kid?"

"Yeah that one."

"Not really. I mean I know he's the President and stuff. He spoke at my orientation and showed us the Kingslane Arch but you said he did that for you too... Don't know much else. He's no Corey Hughes though. Wouldn't you just want to stick to that boat? I mean I'm starting to pick up on the pattern that you have a thing for powerful guys but I think Corey Hughes tops that one on tons of different scales. I mean think about it, I personally hate heels but if you're into that kind of thing you're probably never going to be able to wear them next to him. You'd be setting him up for a loss already. Now, with Corey, I get there's the obstacle of the chick who looks like someone from a foreign perfume commercial, but he approached you at the bar!"

"Oh no, it's nothing like that!" Gwen began, "I just had a bit of a weird feeling from him yesterday at orientation that's all..."

Sam gave another pause over the phone. "Gwen you sound a bit flustered. Are you sure you're ok? I still think you should go see a doctor about your, you know, thing from yesterday."

"Yeah, actually I think I'm going to head over to the school clinic right now. I'll see you tomorrow for Psych!" Gwen exclaimed and hung up the phone before Sam could say another word.

She changed out of her pajamas and put on a random pair of sweatpants and a Kingslane hoodie over her white shirt. She grabbed her cellphone, wallet, and keys and put her hair in a loose ponytail.

She headed out of the apartment locking the door behind her, descended the rickety old stairs of her building and headed into the crisp Sunday morning air.

Suddenly her hands went cold, as her face shifted to resemble someone who had just seen a ghost. There in front of her was Bright Santos standing patiently giving her a welcoming smirk.

VI. Breakfast at La Symphonia

GWEN WAS SPEECHLESS. There was the grinning son of a bitch right in front of her looking as harmless as a bunny with those teeth and youthful expression. He wore a white button shirt much like the one Corey had worn at the Baroness and a pair of black pants.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Gwen Watson, right? I'm Bright Santos, the University Student President."

Gwen kept looking at him without blinking. Scream? Run? Go along with whatever he was saying?

"I'm sorry to be popping up like this unannounced. Is this a bad time?" he asked now slightly looking her up and down. It was obvious she was anything but relaxed.

Say something Gwen, and say it now, She thought. "Sorry!" She blurted with maximum volume. Now just take it in a bit. "I was actually on my way to the school clinic. I read they only take walk-ins and I really want to get there before all the spots fill up. I really should be going-"

"Well maybe I could give you a ride. It's probably not wise to get into a car with someone you don't know but if yesterdays arch speech counts, you could say we've known each other a full twenty-four hours," he joked.

"No, it's alright. I really should be learning the streets and the bus schedules and stuff. Classes start tomorrow and I have no idea what I'm doing."

Bright just nodded patiently as she made her effort to head down the steps and out of site.

"Gwen..." his voice came from behind. Though this time Mr. Polished was gone. Gwen's feet grew heavy as she quickly recognized the sound of that voice which belonged to the sword-wielder from the dream.

Yes, she was impressed with what she had seen. There was something noble and heroic to him standing straight against the monster. Though since seeing him the previous morning at the Charles building, and being stuck on the corner of a street for over seven hours, and of course the eerie feeling that she was being followed afterwards, drained her admiration.

Just because he slayed the beast, it didn't mean he himself wasn't a monster. Since she saw him walk across the stage as she nearly crapped herself, she allowed a moment to believe that monsters existed. That there were things out there beyond the understanding and that this man in white might contain some secrets a good portion of humanity couldn't even guess at. Maybe that was how he wore his smirk so well. It was a cocky smile of a child who gloated in the reverie that he knew a secret no one else did.

Though as his voice shifted, and he stood there behind her on her apartment steps, she was scared to turn. Scared that though his face would still be the same and he would still be that below average height, that there were things he could say that would change who she was.

It was ironic how she desired adventure and experiences that were against the current of the norm and yet, at the Baroness, she was with a girl drinking and dancing staring at a handsome guy from a distance who if allowed to speak to her for just a few more turns could have made her fully embrace the mundane. As cliché as it was, she guessed one really did have to be careful about what they wished for. She supposed that sometimes once the order is made, there was no turning away from it.

It was time to jump.

"Yes?" she turned to him.

"I don't really have time to do the whole 'friends' thing with you. I think it's pretty fucking exhausting and I already have to do it every day with every person at this school. I know about your dreams and I know you were following me yesterday. I would like to clear some things up with you if you would let me take you to breakfast."

His bluntness was not surprising.

"Well I still have to get to the doctors. It's really important..." she mildly attempted to excuse herself. Truthfully she was just curious to see what else he would fire back with.

"No you don't. Your whole blacking out thing isn't anything serious. You're perfectly healthy."

"How do you know I've been blacking out? And how do you know it isn't anything serious?"

"To answer both of those; because I'm the one causing it."

Again, she wasn't surprised about the revelation. "How?"

Bright lightly placed his hand over the buttons on his white shirt over his chest. "I'm starving. I would love to tell you everything you want to hear over breakfast. Now that you know that I have been mentally 'roofying' you, could you just trust me a little and join me for some food? It's not everyone I tell I've messed around with their brains."

He had his way with words no doubt. There was just something about him. It was something that went beyond the monster slaying. It was that something that stuck out in a crowd whether it wanted to or not.

She considered threatening to call the police. She considered running away or even slapping him across the face. But it wasn't what she wanted to do. Perhaps it was that thing about being young that made the strange so enticing. Something purred to her that he would cause her no harm. She had to at least listen to what he was there to share.

"Fine. But somewhere public."

"Did you think I was going to cook it? Of course we're going somewhere public. It's my favorite place in the Avenues actually. You'll love it."

Gwen walked up to the bottom of the stairs as he descended.

"What bus line do we take?"

"No bus."

"Train line?"

"Fuck that. I have a car."

Bright led her a couple blocks down towards the main road. From the distance she could see a vehicle that stuck out like a sore thumb. Though it was impossible for someone his age to own such a thing, there was no doubt that the car she was looking at had to be his.

Sure enough, Bright approached the passenger door of the 2009 white Rolls-Royce Phantom and opened it for her to get in.

"You stole this didn't you?"

"What? Of course not! Well, not really."

"How did you get a car like this? Are your parents that loaded and arrogant that they would get their son, who's in college, a ridiculously expensive car?" she asked with her usual attitude. Perhaps she should have been a bit more scared, but something told her he wasn't going to attack...

Bright smirked. "Ah, you are asking questions and I already said breakfast first and then all the information you want. So the quicker you get in the faster you will have your answers," he casually responded leaving the door open and heading to the other side.

Gwen did as he requested and got into the luxurious ride with its unbelievable white leather interior.

The windows were tinted but she had every intention in the world to slouch down in her seat and avoid being seen at all costs. First she was spotted at the Baroness talking to the most desired guy on campus and not even twelve hours later she was in the passenger seat of, for all she knew, the biggest drug dealer at Kingslane. She was always one to preach the 'I don't care what people think' speech but there was one thing she never wanted to be categorized as, and that was a 'try-hard.'

The two of them headed down the streets in silence.

"You probably look like a real jackass driving this car. Actually, scratch that. You definitely look like a jackass driving this car."

Bright laughed. She could tell that he liked the attitude.

"So why-"

"Nope! My god kitty cat you have no patience do you? We will have eggs, or at least I will have eggs, I don't know what the hell you're going to order. We will have some small talk, and then you will get to ask your questions! Jesus!"

Gwen zoned out from what he was saying after he said the words 'kitty-cat.' He said he knew about her dreams. The tiger had been in them as well as on the train. Did he know about that too? Or better yet, was he on that train? He must have been if he really was responsible for her blackouts.

"So what do you believe in?" Bright asked flatly.

"I'm sorry?"

"What do you believe in? Do you believe in God, are you one of those angry atheist types, dance naked around the moon...?"

Gwen found the question personal and at the same time had no idea how to respond.

"Um, well I guess I believe there's something bigger than myself. I kind of leave it at that."

"How religious is your family?"

"The normal amount?" Again, she had no idea how to answer the question.

"What do you think of me?"

"I think you're a show off and full of yourself."

Again, Bright smiled. "Why did you come to Kingslane?"

"If I don't get to ask questions shouldn't you not be allowed either?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong but that sounded like a question."

Gwen was about to open her mouth to rebuttal as they passed the train station she was supposed to get off at late the previous night. There was caution tape all over the stairs and security cars parked around piles and piles of garbage.

"What happened-?"

"No! Eggs first!"

After more minutes of driving in silence, they arrived to the valet of a restaurant named "La Symphonia."

Gwen's parents had told her about that place. They wanted to go there for their last dinner but they unanimously abandoned the idea when they got a glimpse at the prices. She recalled seeing a cold antipasto appetizer for almost thirty dollars.

Once again, no surprise that Bright would pick such a place for their meal. She would have been fine with any bagel place but seeing that he was the guy driving a Rolls Royce, he would probably settle for no less.

The valet man greeted him kindly and signaled them to head for the doors.

The building was grandiose with dark brick covered in ivy and large windows. Fountains stood in front of it as small statutes and flowers adorned the courtyards.

"Name please?" The hostess asked as the pair entered the lobby.

Gwen could see everyone dressed in their Sunday best as she wore her borderline pajamas.

"You know I don't usually give a name Mary. Just sit the two of us in the back by the gardens and we promise not to be too much of a bother," he smiled.

The hostess smiled back. "Of course sir! Right this way please," she said grabbing two menus from underneath her stand and took the two of them through the lavish dining hall.

The ceiling was made of glass and the sun poured in all around the tables and decorative wild flowers. It was like an oasis.

Round chairs sat by every table with ivory cushions and gold Victorian rims. White table clothes lay all over the square surfaces as the tips of blue napkins peaked in every direction.

The hostess lead them through the busy aisles to a spot that was clearly for four but placed the two menus for them next to their dining plates. Out the window they could see the garden maze that lay down the hills to the grounds.

"Haven't you ever heard of Starbucks?" Gwen asked.

"No way, that place is overpriced," he answered lackadaisically skimming his menu.

She decided to drop it there. "You come here often?"

"Yes. I come every Sunday for breakfast."

"Why only Sundays?"

"If I come too often they might get comfortable and they will make small talk and I don't want to talk to them."

"Why don't you just mess with their heads?"

"Too many people, that's obnoxious," he replied casually.

The waitress came over and poured them some ice water.

"Good morning. My name is Lindsay and I will be your server this morning," she informed while swishing her blonde ponytail.

She wore her professional face but it didn't take Sherlock Holmes to see she absolutely hated her job.

"Hi Lindsay, I would like to order the scrambled special with raisin toast and melon on the side please," Bright ordered.

Lindsay scribbled the information down. "To drink?"

"Oh, right. Coffee. Black."

"Alright, and for you miss?"

"Just the same as him please."

"Coming right up," she smirked and headed towards the kitchens.

Bright exhaled and threw his menu to the side by the window. He placed his elbows slowly on the table and looked at Gwen as he rested his chin on the knuckles of his joined hands.

"Gwen Watson... You still haven't answered my question about what brought you to Kingslane."

"I liked the school."

"What did you like about it?"

"I don't know. My family wants me to be a lawyer and Kingslane seems like the place to pursue that."

"But you don't want to be a lawyer you want to travel the world. You're studying International Affairs and dropping the bomb on your parents that you're not applying after you've graduated right?"

He definitely knew a great deal.

"What is the point of asking me questions you already have the answers to?"

"There is a difference from getting information because I've demanded it and it being given willfully. This way I get to see just how much of yourself you're actually willing to give up."

"When not coerced?"

"I never coerced you to give me information. I simply asked and you gave it. You just don't remember me asking," he said politely taking a sip of his ice water. "So you have taken an interest to Mr. Corey Hughes. What do you like about him?"

Gwen fastened a smirk of her own. "That's none of your business."

"Oh, but it soon might be."

Gwen leaned in slowly from her end of the table. "How do you figure that?"

Bright now leaned in from his end even slower without breaking the eye contact. Gwen was trying to play a game of chicken and Bright seemed all too eager to engage.

"The old 'universe-city' is a much more complicated place than you might think Ms. Watson."

Ten minutes later their food had arrived and Bright had completely lost the aura of class. He ate like a man who was convinced he would not see food for months. The only moments he came up for air was to take a gulp of the ice water.

Gwen scanned the area to make sure no one was staring. Luckily everyone was too far away to see the beast feasting. She imagined he didn't want a table far away from everyone because he had top-secret bits of information to share, but rather he didn't want an audience watching him while he inhaled his breakfast.

Gwen took several bites of her eggs and nibbled on the raisin toast, but her primary focus was on the cup of black coffee.

"Everything alright here?" Lindsay asked coming to the table fairly out of breath.

"Yes! Everything was really good!" Bright said contently.

"Would you like me to get these plates out of your way?" she asked gesturing her hands towards Bright's clean one and Gwen's semi touched one.

Bright looked to Gwen to see if she was done or not.

"Yeah, that'd be great, thank you," she confirmed.

"Would you like the check together or separate?" Lindsay asked as she piled the plates.

Bright wiped his mouth with his fancy napkin and lightly took Lindsay's wrist. "Would you mind if I spoke with your manager please?"

Lindsay looked a bit confused. Her face went from annoyed and tired to very concerned.

"Um, yes. Sure." her voice went up an octave as she scurried away nervously.

"What was wrong with the service?" Gwen asked the pompous prince.

Bright simply put up his finger instructing her to wait patiently.

A minute later a tall thin man with pepper long hair and a well-trimmed beard appeared at their table giving them both a scan. Mostly his gaze was on Gwen and her unsuited outfit.

"Is there an issue, sir?"

"Not at all. I just wanted to let you know that my friend and I will be taking our meals on the house with a box of complementary blueberry muffins. That's all," Bright told him with a friendly face.

"Yes sir, right away," the manager agreed and walked off back towards the kitchens.

Gwen was wide eyed. "Did you just do to him what you did to me?"

"I've eaten, so sure let's get to it. Yes I did. I call it my snake charming."

Gwen couldn't believe about how casual he was about it. He had just obligated the manager to give them their forty-dollar breakfasts for free along with some overpriced blueberry muffins. The meals were stolen; the car clearly was obtained by the same means, and who knew what else. She had just about reached her conclusion about Bright Santos. He was no hero.

"My snake charming is something we like to call a Physical Ally or rather a P.A. for short."

"Who is 'we'?"

Bright leaned in and gave an intentional dramatic scan of the room before whispering. "Shamans."

Gwen chuckled. "Seriously though..."

Bright didn't answer but kept his gaze on her until she bought it.

"What does that even mean? Do you sit around camp fires and get high on plants over the weekends?"

"No. Shamans are a secret people. They have been around for centuries and we have kept to ourselves over that time. We are the ' travelers beyond the veil.'"

Gwen started to look more confused.

"Let me ask you this," Bright began, "have you ever seen someone deep in conversation with himself or herself? Have you ever heard of someone claiming to be visited by a loved one in a dream?"

The second question transported Gwen back to the memory of her cousin making up stories about their grandfather...

"Who do you think those people are talking to when they're staring off into nothing and being interrupted by no one?"

Gwen looked around the table. "Shamans?"

Bright rolled his eyes. "No. They are talking with those beyond the veil. They are talking to ones their own energy, or soul, or true self, or whatever it is people want to call it, have acknowledged though their mind has yet to do so."

"I'm sorry are you trying to say ghosts?"

"Not really. Ghosts are technically something different from communication through soft spots in the veil but sure, let's call them ghosts."

Gwen wasn't looking any less confused.

"Ok shit, this is harder to explain than I thought. I've never done this before! Let me see..."

The manager came back with a baby blue paper box, smiled, and wished them a good day.

Bright opened the box and took a sniff while keeping his eyes closed in pleasure. "I love blueberry..."

"Can you focus please?" Gwen said flatly.

"Sorry. Since before man came into the picture, there have been different planes of existence. More specifically, there are seven. You and I right now find ourselves on the first plane known as the Physical Plane," Bright stated and paused to make sure Gwen was still following.

He took her lack of eye scanning to be a good sign and decided to proceed.

"The one that follows the Physical Plane is one called the Astral Plane. It is a plane that is not too different from the one we find ourselves on now. Though it is the shedding of physical incarnation and focuses much more on energies and true expressions. That question I just asked about ever hearing someone claim that they had seen a loved one visit them from the dead in their dreams is no illusion. When we sleep our dreams take us to the Astral Plane."

"My dream where you were fighting that monster.... That happened there?"

Bright nodded.

"So what? Shamans are dream police or something? Every time you go to bed you're on duty?"

Bright shook his head. "No. This is the difference between shamans and normal humans. Humans cannot voluntarily go to the Astral Plane. It only happens randomly when they go to sleep. Hard to spot them since they're moving very quickly and only go for some seconds. They also have no control, most of the time, of where exactly in the Astral Plane they go. It's a big place after all. Most of them are able to see loved ones not too long after their passing because their emotions, true self \- are a raw open wound. That type of energy pull can take them directly to the dead's astral self or vice versa.

"Shamans on the other hand can enter the Astral Plane at will. We are able to function there as easily as we function on the Physical Plane. Of course it has its limits... As I have said the second plane is a reflection of this one. While separated from our physical incarnations we cannot travel too far from where we entered the plane."

"Why not?"

"The body cannot exist without our essence for long and the thread that links us back to our bodies can be pulled only so tight. A shaman will begin to lose the memory of their physical life and forget where they entered the Astral Plane to begin with. Our bodies enter a stasis while we're projected but eventually, if gone for too long, the thread breaks. We are dead."

Gwen was processing the information in her head. "You just said normal people could go anywhere on the plane... This same shit doesn't happen to them?"

Bright shifted his position in his chair. "You know how the majority of your dreams are events you aren't aware are actually dreams? This is a random projection onto the plane a great distance away from your body. Being able to go back and forth from a plane we're naturally not supposed to be a part of comes with its price and conditions. Humans usually go back but we have to be more careful."

"What do you mean, usually?"

Bright picked up his coffee cup and took a small sip. "There are tons of things that can go bump in the night. Not in your closet or under your bed but just around the corner of shuteye. Humans might only dream for ten seconds but that's enough time for something out there to grab them and not let them go. Or at least cause enough damage before they wake up."

"Why are shamans able to do this? If what you're saying is true it sounds like you're breaking some kind of natural law of order."

"Beats me. That's the Seventh's place to answer."

Gwen put on a face that could have been perceived as the equivalent of a giant question mark.

"Right, the Seventh, as in the seventh and final plane. Shamans came into existence by mandate of the Seventh."

"You refer to the seventh plane like it's a person...Whoa, is the Seventh supposed to be like, God?"

"What? I don't know. No one does. All we know is that the seventh is the final plane. It is the ultimate truth, the ultimate consciousness. There are so many man made definitions of what 'God' is supposed to be. We know that it is beyond the definition. We shamans travel to the second, and touch the power of the third, but that's as far as we go. Anything after that is too close to the ultimate truth. It can be too overwhelming for the single spec of energy of a human being to come back from."

"So does that scratch out heaven?"

Bright slapped his palm against his forehead.

"Again, you are thinking too small. Heaven, Hell, the afterlife, whatever you want to call it, is just another expression of singular human experience. The idea that you either go to a wonderful place or you go to a terrible one, all have one thing in common; you. The singular experience, not the collective as the upper planes would seem to suggest.

"Those that reside naturally on the Astral Plane refer to these places of consequence as Elysium, Asphodel, and Tartarus. The entrances to these realities exist on the Astral Plane a.k.a., Limbo. The matters of these three places are not responsibility to shamans though. That's a story for another time."

"Another time? What makes you think there's going to be another time? Everything you're saying sounds freaking nuts."

Bright smiled and looked at the Gwen.

"Look at me and tell me you don't believe every single word I'm saying."

"Nice try, but we both know you have your little mind game snake thing or whatever you call it. You would probably just mess with my head to believe everything coming out of your mouth."

"No that would be impossible."

"Oh really? Do I dare ask why?"

"Because my snake charming ally can only alter the actions of a person and memory against their will. I can't actually change their intuition, beliefs, love, or hate. That is all tied to the true self. I'm no God. As much as you like to believe that I try to build myself to be one."

Gwen paused for a moment.

"I don't think you're trying to build yourself up to be some God. I think you surround yourself with pretty little things to look like some untouchable and unreachable king of the earth. My guess is you had no friends growing up or you were the black sheep of the family and this is your ultimate revenge. Am I warm?"

Bright had no reaction.

The next thing she knew she was no longer sitting at the table in the elegant Symphonia restaurant. She was standing on the sidewalk where the sound of hustling cars surrounded her and a calm breeze passed her cheek.

She looked around. To her left far down the street were the old white buildings from the center of campus. To her right were the last streets of the Avenues where a couple small businesses resided like Marshall's Pub, and at the far corner, the old Marquis Theatre.

She looked ahead to to see she was standing in front of an old white house shrouded in bushes and flowers. It was big, but not obscenely big. It had a wraparound porch with rocking chairs and even a wooden swing. The window shutters were a deep blue and as cute as the house was, Gwen couldn't help but feel it was a bit out of place on the street corner surrounded by old vintage brick buildings and century old university colleges.

There was a short black metal fence surrounding the house that Bright stood in front of with his arms folded.

He did it again.

Gwen wanted to punch him but she caught herself. "What is with you and the color white?"

"I would be happy to answer that. Would you like to come inside?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I don't want to come inside. Do people get like, aneurysms from that mind thing you do? There has to be some kind of health issue with it."

"Trust me, I'm not the one causing people to get sick around here. We don't know why the Seventh created shamans, but we're aware our job is at least to stop the things that do harm innocent people. Things aren't supposed to work backwards but we are the exception of the rule."

Gwen thought back to her dream yet once again. When Bright pointed the sword at the ghoul and mentioned the name of a girl. Olivia FitzGerald, she remembered.

"I've only scratched the surface of everything Gwen. I had to get you out of the restaurant because you were about to make a scene and I couldn't have that."

"Why? Didn't want your crisp clean image ruined by the girl who looks like she rolled out of a closet?"

"No. Like I said, this town is a much more complicated place than you know."

"What does that even mean?" Gwen exclaimed really starting to lose her patience.

Bright pointed his finger at her tranquilly. "There's the scene."

"You know what? Screw this. I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear any of this. In fact, use your weird mind thing to make me forget. I will be on my way, you can keep being an asshole, and everyone wins."

"I can't do that."

"Why?! Why didn't you just make me forget you and all this crap when you were first getting information out of me? Seriously do you just like to mess with people because you're that bored and lonely?!"

Gwen was going for low blows but she didn't care.

"I can't make you forget because I have to tell you everything before you make your final choice."

"Choice about what?"

"The tiger you are seeing I have been seeing as well. It is an omen. Something we shamans like to call 'the calling to the cause.'"

Gwen was slowly beginning to string the pieces together, but Bright announced it before she could.

"You're a shaman, Gwen Watson."

VII. A Room Glowing Blue

THE LANDING WAS SOLID.

The Panther and Olivia managed to hit the center plaza just in front of the grand fountain. Ghouls and spirits looked to them in alarm and curiosity. Other than the five foot wide crater and the small rumble of the ground, they hadn't made too much of a fuss.

Olivia was still clinging tightly to The Panther's neck holding her breath.

The Panther looked up to the tracks in the sky and to the gray arch in the far West. It was indeed a long jump down.

"That was awesome!" Olivia exclaimed pulling away from his chest throwing the trench coat off of her.

He couldn't help but laugh at her amusement. They were out of the zone of the spires and for that, even if he still did not know whom he was or how to get home, he was incredibly grateful.

He looked around them and saw the ghouls. Those that surrounded however were not like those on the West End of Kingslane. They had sophisticated robes, suits, and even togas. Regardless of their shapes and sizes they all walked with incredible posture and wore looks that intensely resembled those of classic judgmental rich folk.

In their midst were figures of glowing white smoke that The Panther recognized to be souls no longer pertaining to the realm of the living. They were wanderers now looking around observing their new reality. Some were looking for loved ones they had left, as they tended to do when so recently having arrived and received their fortunate sentence from the Courts for Elysium. It was the only sentence that allowed spirits to exit the realm and travel to the Astral Plane. Then there were others who were eager to get to the Avenue shops with pouches full of Karma.

It was a completely functional city without the turmoil or disaster that infested the all too close shanties. It was strange to the Panther how places so radically different in culture, behavior, and apparently wealth could be in such close proximity to one another.

The fountain in front of them made of copper standing giant in the shape of a tortoise shone brilliantly in the plaza lights.

He was back to the safety of Kingslane and he was sure they landed close to the North End. He just had to get himself situated and he would be able to find his hideout with ease. He had felt Kingslane a prison, but after seeing just where souls went to serve time awaiting trial, he couldn't wait to get back to what he now considered his amazing sanctuary.

"Steven?" Olivia asked in whisper.

The Panther took a couple of seconds before remembering it was his temporary name. "What is it?"

"Can we go to my house now?"

"Do you know where your house is?"

"Yeah! I've been here before. This looks like the town plaza where my mommy and daddy take me to play with the birds. It's just a lot bigger. I also don't remember a giant turtle..."

The Panther scanned the plaza. Indeed the stone grounds were about a mile wide and a mile long and the fountain itself was the size of a house with over a dozen illuminated currents shooting out from the base of the tortoise. He had nothing to argue against it. He would trust that his companion knew what she spoke of.

"Ok, well what's your address?"

Olivia straightened up in his arms to deliver the answer. She remembered in school being emphasized the importance of knowing your address and she was clearly oozing joy that she remembered it in this moment of need.

"414 Sussex Avenue!"

"Alright then," he said with a grin, "let's get going!"

Luckily for them, the street signs in Kingslane on the Astral Plane were all the same as the ones located on the Physical. Sure the city looked five times bigger than what it actually was, but that didn't mean anything was out of place or rearranged. It was all reflected just as reality, only it all appeared as what the living changed in its energy.

"Are the bad guys going to try and follow us?" Olivia asked as they made their way through the crowds of the plaza.

"No, I think we're fine. Besides, after I get you home it won't be a problem for you anymore."

"I don't know..." she responded unconvinced.

"What don't you know?"

"The other guy said the same thing but the monsters still came back for me. He even killed that giant spider thing. After it was over that ugly monster with the big belly and gross hair came and got me."

The Panther kept quiet for a moment remembering what she had said to him in the cart in Purgatory.

A man dressed in white.

Now she was saying that he had destroyed a spider-like creature. The ghouls in the shanties spoke of the White Viper killing a spider ghoul over by the East End of town. Sussex Avenue, if he wasn't mistaken, was around that area.

It seemed too good to be true, but he was certain that he was holding the girl that the famous White Viper was trying to protect.

Was the Viper aware of this? Had he figured it out? If he had, it would mean that he would be looking for Olivia. It would also mean it was a safe bet to finding his way back home.

"Did you ever meet this man when you weren't dreaming?" He asked her.

"No. He only came when my fever would get really bad and my nightmares would get really scary. He had a shiny white sword and he got rid of them. He was really nice."

Damn, he thought, so much for giving him a visit.

If she stayed on the Astral Plane longer then he would get the news soon enough and begin looking.

The Panther wasn't sure how long she could stay on the Astral Plane before the things that happened to him would begin happening to her. He also didn't know if the ghouls would soon be coming after him once again. Though he was no longer creeping in the West End Shanties, it didn't mean that the rats couldn't be lingering in classy territory.... city or shanties, it didn't matter. No ghoul, no matter what rank of living, detested "intruders" like himself.

"You're like him aren't you? The guy in white with the cool sword," said Olivia readjusting herself in the Panthers arms.

They were out of the plaza and onto the streets where ghouls rode the backs of giant slug like creatures. Others zoomed in the air above on insects that strongly resembled dragonflies. Then there were those that took a modern approach skidding across the black roads in mini motorcycles or noisy fume spewing cars.

"Like him, how?" He asked back.

"He said he was something called a salmon."

The Panther shot her a confused look. She noticed immediately that she said the wrong word.

"No, it's shaman! That's what he said! You guys are shamans!"

The Panther couldn't remember. Though the word did create a feeling in the center of his chest where the metallic beast would shoot out when he needed it most. Like a key in a lock something clicked and silently he agreed. He and the Viper were these so-called shamans.

"What else did the man tell you then?"

"Well, he told me that he protects kids and other people from monsters that try to hurt us and make us sick. He was super strong like you. But I think you might be stronger. But I think he's a lot faster. Do you all have different super powers?"

"I suppose we do," he said taking a pause on the corner of Lexington and Elm. If he was right, they only needed to continue down Lexington a few more blocks before arriving at the corner of Sussex.

Cars, slugs, and snails scurried their way down the road. The cross walk went green and they continued.

"What do you mean 'suppose'? Do you have a white shiny sword like him?"

"No, I just have my shield and my own sword that you saw me beat the bad guys with."

"Can you jump as high as the other guy?"

"What do you mean? You were with me when we were falling out of the sky for miles and I landed us safely. It was ten minutes ago!"

"Yeah, but that's falling. Can you jump as high as him?"

The Panther exhaled with laughter.

"Yes. I can jump just as high as he can. Probably even higher."

"Do you fight monsters to keep people safe?"

"I'm sure I did..."

"You did? Did you stop or something?"

"Well Olivia, I have to tell you a secret... Unlike you I don't know how to get back home."

"Didn't your mommy and daddy make you remember your address?" she asked with such worry that it was clear she couldn't imagine a mommy and daddy that would omit doing something so important.

"Well I bet my mommy and daddy did, but the thing is I have been in this place for a while and when people like you and me stay here too long we start to forget things about back home. Things like our address."

Olivia leaned in and hugged the Panthers neck tighter. "I'm sorry Steven. That's really sad."

"Don't worry. I'm going to be getting home any day now."

He couldn't be positive of it. He couldn't hold Olivia hostage in the Astral Plane until the Viper came looking. She had parents who were probably worried sick. He was going to have to return to his first approach. He was going to have to find Lord Avris and see if he himself was a victim of what happened to Olivia.

As they passed Washington Street, the Panther realized that there was a sudden shift in architecture and color. The Copper brick of the buildings behind had ended, and now there were Gray and silver townhouses and Victorian structures with metal picket fences. Flags adorned the streets. There was one on every other house that had a silver field and light Gray wing in the center.

It was as if they had stepped from one city right into another. As the Viper's flag, which had a snake encircled biting its tail adorned the white cathedrals and ancient buildings of the center of the city, the flags of the other rulers of Kingslane adorned their respective areas.

It meant no danger to him. He had never managed to catch anyone like him while they were projected onto the Astral Plane. They were more like ghosts than the white glowing spirits that walked those streets... He was under the impression that they were more concerned about having their colors and flags up rather than the pressing issues of the city. But he didn't think this of the White Viper. He was doing all he could and then some. The whispers around Kingslane were too great for him not to know it.

In the silence the pair reached the corner of Sussex Avenue. The building ahead read 301 and the one to its left, 303. Left it was then.

"This is my street," Olivia said raising her head to look around.

"Yes it is. Does it look familiar?"

"A little. It's like the plaza. It's bigger. And there aren't weird bird flags and my street isn't all silver and gray. This is ugly."

The Panther appreciated the honesty.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at 414. The house, like all the others on the street, was silver and gray and had the black metal fence in front with the small patch of grass behind. The porch had the typical swing and rocking chair and the pointed top Victorian home sat quietly undisturbed.

He put Olivia on the ground and opened the squeaking fence door.

"Will you come with me?"

"Of course," he smiled.

The two of them proceeded. The door wasn't locked. That was no surprise. Locks didn't really exist on the Astral Plane. Not unless the proper means were taken on the Physical one for ghouls or other beings not to enter the mirrored space.

The living room was quaint. Brown leather armchairs all were facing the unlit fireplace on the far left wall. The hall went down to what he could see was the kitchen. The stairs to their right went directly up the bedrooms. He assumed that would be where Olivia could get back.

"Wait!" The Panther commanded, as Olivia was about to hurry up the steps. "They came back to get you after the man in white helped, remember? Let me go up first to see if there's anything up there. Just sit here in the living room for a couple minutes."

Olivia nodded and obediently went to the large brown armchair closest to the window looking out to the silver street.

He was ready to summon his Parma but in truth, the fall from Purgatory had tired him more than he would have liked to admit. The last creature to try and attack Olivia was a large spider ghoul. He wasn't sure if he had the fuel to take out a monster of that caliber after all he had recently been through. He would need the aid of his faithful friend. That was, if he could summon him.

Every time he had done it thus far was under moments of desperation and serious stress. Even if there were a reason to be nervous at the moment it wasn't enough to create the same emotional pull to summon the panther as he had done.

He closed his eyes and focused. He imagined the beast lunging out once again. The stealthy movement, the platinum skin, the glowing purple eyes.... He took himself back to the panic at the spires, the faceless ones, and the voices that crept up to his ear.

The ground began to slightly shake, the coin around his neck lit up as it had done, and to his and certainly Olivia's surprise, the immense metallic panther lunged forward landing on the stairs ahead breaking steps with its large claws upon impact.

"Wow!" Olivia yelled.

He couldn't open his eyes just yet. The panther was out, but it was different. He could feel the link that tied the beast to wherever it came from inside him. He was afraid that one wrong move would cut the tie and sends it flying back. How he would have liked that the breaking of his thread to his body worked the same. Should it break, he could be easily lunged back. Though as life went, that would be too easy.

Go upstairs. Scan the rooms. If you find any ghoul, no matter what kind or class, kill it.

The beast stirred and purred and made its way up the stairs. Remarkably, for a being made entirely of metals it made very little sound as it continued forward. The Panther himself kept his eyes closed, seeing through the purple eyes of the beast from where he stood.

Slowly up the stairs he could see two doors were open, one to the left and the other to the right. Like the rest of the house, no lights were lit. Ahead sat a thin rectangular table pushed up against the right side of the hall. A small green plant sat in the center as the rest of it was adorned with framed family pictures.

He wanted to scan the room on the left first, but didn't need to send a command. The beast seemed to have the same idea. He wasn't sure if it was memory or belief, but he had a feeling that he and the platinum cat were one in the same. It came from within, which meant it was all he was. His thoughts belonged to it and vice versa.

The room had a bed neatly made in the center. It had its brown pillowcases and a brown comforter with white sheets. There were more plants in different corners and a double door closet that sat closed. It was probably a guest room.

The beast turned and headed for the opposite door.

Bathroom. Baby blue tiles, clean round white sink, small shower, toilet, and mirror. Nothing suspicious seemed to be residing there. He noticed the dripping of the faucet. Other than that it was as quiet as the grave.

They continued down the hall. Another room sat to the left and one more straight ahead. He assumed the one in front had to be the master bedroom. Best to check that one first.

The door was closed so the cat moved its metallic tail to tap it open. Unlike the other rooms, this one was not dark. There was a light of damp blue color glowing from the walls illuminating the sewn quilt at the end of the bed along with the white pillows and sheets.

As soon as the air brushed against the cat's metal face, the Panther below could feel a sudden wave of sorrow brush over him. It was certainly Olivia's parents' bedroom and they were clearly suffering greatly with the condition she was in on the Physical Plane.

There was no sign of human aura, which meant that though their sorrow tainted the room entirely, they were currently not inside.

That left only one more to investigate. Olivia's room.

The house was empty. If there was anything that could be a threat it had to be in there. The unleashed beast could feel his nerve downstairs. It was beginning to growl and get itself into a position that would allow it to attack at any moment if necessary.

His tail struck forward and slammed the door open.

The room was dark and the sound of the leaky faucet continued to echo from down the hall. Step by step the cat proceeded.

Olivia's room was nothing out of the ordinary. A large white chair piled with different stuffed animals sat next to the pink bed adorned with hearts. There was nothing there. No ghouls, no spirits, no threats. Worse though was just how severe the lack of anything was. The Panther knew there had to be something. Not in the regards to a threat, but there had to be a sign that would be Olivia's direct link back to her body.

This could only mean two things. Either Olivia was dead or the body had been moved. Entering Purgatory, unlike the three zones of Tartarus, Elysium, and Asphodel did not contain the 'thread breaking' security measure. In that regard, both he and her still had the chance of being alive on the Physical Plane.

He had to trust that the parents had moved her. If the blue glow of sorrow from the parents' room indicated any clue, he would have to believe that they had taken her to a medical facility in town. It would make the most sense other than the more negative option being the morgue.

This meant that the pair wouldn't be parting ways just yet. They would have to travel to the Kingslane Hospital. On the Physical Plane it wouldn't be too much of a hassle, but from what he could see, he knew that the city on the Astral Plane was about three times the size of any regular Metropolis. By foot, it could take them an entire day's time to get to the South End of town.

Each hour that Olivia spent on the Astral Plane increased her chances of losing her memories, or worse, her life. There were many hospitals within miles of Kingslane. He couldn't be sure that the one located there in town would be where she was.

He broke the link. The vision of the purple eyes disappeared and he was back at the foot of the stairs.

"Is it safe?" she asked coming to join him.

"It's safe, but I don't think we're going to be able to get you home this way."

"But this is my house!"

"I know, but I think your mommy and daddy might have taken you somewhere. When you started getting sick, did your parents take you to the doctor?"

Olivia nodded beginning to get glossy eyed. This was her time to get home and it had been snatched from her.

"Look, don't worry. You are going to get home to your parents. It's just going to take another day."

Olivia started sniffling wiping away her tears.

"I don't remember what my daddy looks like," she whimpered.

The Panther's heart sank. It was already starting.

"Olivia, when you would go to the doctor would you go here in town?"

Olivia nodded.

"We went to the hospital that was close to the horses."

That settled it. Kingslane Hospital in the South End of town was in proximity of the University farmlands.

"Well I think that's where your mom and dad took you. We'll head there first thing in the morning."

"Why can't we go now!?"

"It's late. We were lucky that we weren't followed." At least he hoped they weren't. "We'll wait for the daylight. After that we'll head for the south and get you to the hospital."

Olivia silently agreed.

Who knew, perhaps his rift would be there as well. He could hope.

"In the meantime, let's get you to bed!" he said with a smile trying to lighten the mood.

Olivia smirked back weakly and started climbing the stairs.

The Panther walked to the door ready to lock it before remembering what he knew. No locks on the Astral Plane.

He sighed and decided he would stand watch while Olivia slept.

Upstairs, she was already under her sheets with a grey cat stuffed doll under her arm. He wondered if she always slept with it or if it was the metal panther that inspired the choice.

"Alright, try to get some rest. I'll be downstairs."

"Wait!" she yelled.

"What is it?"

"Can you bring the big kitty back?" she asked shyly.

The Panther smiled. He closed his eyes and focused as he had done. The coin lit and the ground shook and out lunged the panther onto the floor. This time it had cleaned up its landing only leaving small claw marks on the wood.

He looked on as it approached her with its purple eyes opened wide and purring for attention.

Olivia abandoned the stuffed grey cat, stood on her bed and put both hands on the cold platinum face.

"This is your power animal right?" she asked.

Power animal. Just as when she had said shaman, he felt that familiarity strike him again.

"Did the man tell you about power animals?"

"Yup. He said everyone has one. It's what lets you guys come here whenever you want. It's so cool! I don't know what mine is though," she said sadly.

"I'm sure it's something cooler than a big metal panther."

The cat turned to look at him with a raised brow.

Calm down. He thought. The cat seemed to hear it and refocused its attention to Olivia.

"He'll stay with you while you sleep," he assured her.

She got excited rummaging her way back under her covers. The cat, clearly too big to get on the bed without breaking it and squashing her in the process, headed for the foot of it rolling itself into a comfortable ball.

"Steven?"

"Yeah?"

"What's your glowing necklace?"

The Panther had grown tired staring at the thing days ago in hopes of answers. He just knew it glowed when the purring beast on the ground lunged out from his chest. He grabbed the thin leather and pulled to reveal the small coin at its end. One of the faces was blank as the other had the symbol of four slash marks.

"The man in white had one too. You get them when you guys become shamans right?"

The Panther nodded.

"I can't wait until I get a shiny necklace," she stated turning on to her side to doze into sleep.

Down the stairs and back towards the empty kitchen he sat himself at the island situated in the center. Another day with unknown risks and dangers lied ahead. Only this time a little girl was at stake. He would do what he had to. The Phantom Lord would simply have to wait one more day.

VIII. Full Circle

"OK, SO LET ME GET this straight. Seven planes. We reside on the Physical Plane. When people die they pass on to the second - which you call the Astral Plane or Limbo, where they are directed into one of the three zones called Asphodel, Tartarus, or Elysium. Elysium is what people consider heaven. Everything else that exists on the Astral Plane is an exaggerated or distorted version of what exists here. This is where ghouls and human spirits from Elysium can be.

"Humans visit the Astral Plane when they dream. They have no control over this most of the time. During their trips they can be detected by ghouls and be tormented. Sometimes this results in a one-time case of sleep paralysis or can evolve into greater illnesses for the body on the Physical Plane. You, and other shamans have the ability to travel to Limbo whenever you want, appointed to you by what you call the Seventh Plane that is the ultimate consciousness. In Limbo you deal with ghouls that try to hurt the living. You are able to do all of this with the help of something called a power animal. Every human being has one but not all are meant to channel it and become shamans. That is what a "calling to the cause" is and apparently under ALL of this, I am supposed to believe that I am one of you!" Gwen concluded her sum up as she slammed her hand on the top of Bright's kitchen granite counter top.

He sat calmly on the stool by the island at the center taking a sip of his iced green tea. "Yea that just about covers it. Any more questions?"

"The dream I had where I saw you fighting that monster..."

"That was a ghoul. More specifically it was a spider ghoul. That was more than a dream. It was your calling to the cause. Or at least the first."

"And you think my power animal is a tiger."

"I don't think, I know it is a tiger. I have been seeing the damn thing for a few weeks already. I didn't want to tell Notus or else he would be bugging me left and right to find you."

"Notus? The weird 'Rubik's cube' head thing. What is he exactly?"

"Rubik's cube... Why didn't I think of that? I like that. Notus is a gargoyle. A once passed human spirit sent back to the Physical Plane to watch over a sacred space for shamans called havens. Being linked to a haven allows a shaman to go undetected and be protected from ghouls while on the Physical Plane. As I have already explained they can do a bit of damage even to us here. Gargoyles require the stone encasement or else they would not be able to exist in this life.

"When human spirits try to sneak their way back into our world they quickly become corrupt. Their state can't sustain them so they try to create artificial bodies out of whatever they can find. Usually they use dirt, dust, garbage, and animal bones. Remember, nothing is supposed to go backwards."

Gwen thought back to earlier that morning as they drove passed the completely polluted train station.

"Is that what happened at the train station last night? Spirits that snuck back?"

Bright nodded. "At least I hope that's the worst of it. Those are what we like to call poltergeists. Recently in Limbo there has been movement of something coined the Poltergeist Trade. A faction of ghouls, or possibly worse up the food chain, has created a business of transporting them from their original location to veil entrances here."

"Veil entrances? As in there's another way to get between them other than going to sleep?"

"Well yes. Graves are the physical entrance. Only appropriate right? It's where the body is laid to rest where the soul apparently enters its new existence. Only fitting. The grave of course has to be hollowed."

Gwen's face was drawing a blank.

"As in a body already has to be residing there," he concluded for her.

"That makes no sense. If they're marching around looking for bodies why don't they just take the one occupying the hole?"

Bright grinned sympathetically. "The physical entrance is not at the bottom of the grave but resides at the opening of it. If a poltergeist tried to go down to reach the body it would only be sent back to Limbo."

"Why would ghouls do this?"

"Karma."

"Wouldn't forcing spirits to go insane be bad karma?"

"No, not that. Karma is a form of currency. It's what is used in Limbo. They've been making a huge profit. I have wanted to try and cut them off at the source but their movements have been hard to follow. Not to mention, there is a conflict of interest when it comes to the trade."

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked walking over the island to grab a seat.

"The Courts."

"Those are the... Ophanim and the angels?"

"Correct."

"They're the ones that judge spirits to decide to what zone they're going to. Why would they have a conflict of interest?" Gwen questioned.

"The Courts were appointed by the Seventh to monitor and assign souls in the directions they're supposed to take. The Seventh appointed the shamans to keep the peace between ghouls and humans. The Poltergeist Trade is taking those already dead; those possibly coming from Asphodel and sending them back here. If they were souls already assigned to zones then they would technically fall under jurisdiction of the Courts. However, since it would seem ghouls are now running a trade business with these souls that would make it a shaman related matter. Argo, we continue to clash on the issue."

"Can't you just try and work together?"

Bright nearly choked on his tea from laughing. "Oh, it's been so long since I've talked to someone who has no idea about the shaman world. This is really refreshing!" he snickered whipping the excess tea he spilled on his white shirt. "The Courts loathe shamans with a bloody passion. They would seem to see eye to eye with the ghouls on the fact that we're intruders on the Astral Plane who don't belong there. I've tried to keep my nose out of it but last night was the biggest poltergeist swarm I've seen yet!"

Gwen remembered the cold night. "Do the poltergeist have something to do with the weird cold weather in the middle of August?"

"Afraid so. Humans aren't wrong about death having a chill..."

"Well, it's not like I would remember this so called swarm..." Gwen groaned.

"Oh right," Bright leaned in to look Gwen directly in the eye. "I give you permission to remember all the events of last night."

A flash of light blinded her.

It was night and the rain was coming down from the outside. She was back on the cart of the train. The tiger had just disappeared as the lights flickered back on. She looked around to find everyone agitated by the sudden halt.

The cart jerked violently forward knocking everyone to the ground before the lights once again turned off taking the orange glow of the street lamps with them. They were in complete darkness with only the pitter-patter of the drops to keep them company.

Towards the opposite end of the cart where she had just been standing reappeared the golden eyes of the tiger. She suspected that it was playing with her.

She kept herself to the ground this time and refused to break the eye contact. Though luck would intervene once more as the cart jerked violently again, though this time to its side knocking her head against one of the metal poles.

The noise against the cart was growing louder. Gwen looked to the window and strangely she did not see that the rain was getting any heavier....

The patter against the metal outside began to be joined by something that sounded like choking. Or was it gargling? Whatever the sound, it was an uncomforting noise and it appeared to be coming from different directions.

Another slam against the cart came. Gwen learned from her mistake and took hold of the pole before she could go flying. She got herself to her feet and approached the window with caution as everyone began to panic.

There appeared to be a storm of garbage outside. She could make out banana peels, newspaper, toilet paper, rotting fruit, chicken bones, and then, out of nowhere, a screaming face slammed against the glass.

Several others had noticed and shared in her reaction to scream.

"What was that?" A shaking guy behind her asked.

"I'm not sure," she said unable to take her eyes off of the window.

It was a face. It was a screaming face. But it had no flesh, no teeth, and no tongue, not even eyes.

Another screaming face slammed against a window some seats down from her. Everyone gave out a shriek. Then, another one appeared next to it, and another at the opposite end, until there were faces and muddy arms slamming against every window. They were trying to break in.

The choking sounds were growing and some of them sounded as if they were wheezing. Gwen scanned the ground for the tiger but it was gone. She felt it was for good this time.

The things were beginning to rock the cart on its sides. She and the other passengers were all very aware that the train was stuck on a rail hovering over an intersection below. If they succeeded in capsizing the cart they would fall to severe injuries or worse.

Gwen held tight to the metal pole with palms sweating. She wanted to do something, but what?

A light began to glow outside as the rocking slowed with it. She looked out and realized it wasn't the orange light of the streets. This was pure and had something penetrating to it. It reached out and destroyed every piece of darkness. If it weren't for the sky and surroundings looking white, she would have guessed that it was the sun of a spring afternoon.

The slams of trash, the sounds of gurgling, and the wheezing noises subsided. The light lit up everything from the distance. A slam shook the top of the cart greeted by several more screams.

The doors slid open in front of Gwen and the figure from the top of the cart jumped down dripping wet. He was carrying with him a sword with a strange hilt radiating a glowing smoke...

"It's you..." she exhaled.

She couldn't see his face, but she knew. Who else would have a sword like that. It was Bright Santos. She could feel him looking right at her.

He stepped forward and gave her a gaze up and down.

"You again? I find you following me this morning and now this?"

"You knew I was following you?"

"No shit. You have absolutely no stealth."

Gwen was about to open her mouth to argue back, but through the open door came another guest. This one was not as passive as Bright.

In the luminous glow it appeared to be a giant glob of mud and weeds. Like the images thrusting against the windows, it was a human body or an artificial one made of anything that could be found.

The figure had taken hold of one of the male students who was doing what he could to get it off. As he pushed, all he managed to do was splatter mud over the ground and get caught deeper in the mess. The hollow body desperately reached for his mouth and tried to connect it with his. It was wheezing louder than the collection that had been outside and its arms of cardboard and rotten apples forced their way up the young man's shirt.

Just as the thing of mud made contact with the boys' mouth splattering filth all over his face, Bright lifted the glowing sword and pointed it right at the creature.

The blade blasted a blinding light. The manic body stopped moving as smoke from within was sucked out towards the long thin metal.

The mud, apples, cardboard, and weeds fell to the ground of the cart as the boy coughed doing his best to regain air into his lungs.

"Must have missed one," Bright said simply as if what he missed was a roach in the kitchen.

He refocused his attention back to Gwen.

"Now, before I deal with everyone in here, let me ask you something. Why were you following me this afternoon?"

This time, she could see what Bright's trick did to her without losing consciousness. The words were coming out of her mouth with no effort of restraint or thought.

"I had a dream and you were in it fighting a monster with that sword."

Bright slapped his hand against his forehead. "Have you been seeing an animal?"

"Yes."

"Does that animal happen to be a tiger?"

"Yes."

"Fan-fucking-tastic. I'll deal with you tomorrow after I clean this mess up."

Again, her vision faded and she was being thrown back into the kitchen. Gwen came through gasping for breathe on all fours. All the images of the previous night had come pouring into her head at once.

"Sorry about that. I should have given you a warning," Bright apologized and picked her up leading her towards a large sunroom connected to the right of the kitchen.

The two of them took their seats on large straw chairs as the sun brushed their faces from overhead.

"What was that you did with your sword?"

"I caught the poltergeists inside. You see my swords isn't any old weapon."

"I figured that much the first time I saw you use it."

Bright held out his hand and from thin air appeared the shining rapier with the swept hilt.

She had not seen it up close nor had she ever seen it sitting still. The clean blade reflected the beams of the sun and the sweeping branches twinkled. As Gwen leaned in closer she could make out the swept hilt was actually made of various serpents designed to protect Bright's hand.

"It's called the Viper Rapier for a reason."

Within seconds the blade began to exude the white glowing smoke.

"I thought you couldn't do the things you do on the Astral Plane here..."

"I can't. These objects are unique though. This sword is something called a totem. It is a gift from the power animal we carry inside. They aren't for free though. We have to earn them from our animal before we can use them. This totem is unique in that it creates a kind of sphere of light around a limited space. It makes a pocket in the physical world a lot like a gargoyle's haven where I, and any other shaman, can do things here that we can do on the Astral Plane. That is the ability of my totem though. In general, they're primary use on the Physical Plane is to store poltergeist. The obnoxious part is going back to the Courts and dropping them off. Which reminds me that I have to do that at some point today..."

"So power animals give shamans weapons to defend themselves..."

"Not always a weapon. It can be any item really. Though I assume in recent years weapons have been the primary focus...the power animal usually leaves its mark on it as you can see with the snake coils on the hilt," he stated. With a flick of the wrist the rapier was gone.

"My brain is swimming..." Gwen said standing trying to collect herself.

"I know it's a lot to take in and there's still a lot you don't know. You're not going to learn it all in a day. The only thing you need to decide right now is if you want to answer the call."

"So I can say no?" Gwen asked turning around eager for the response.

Bright sighed. "Yes. You can reject the call. There is always a choice in life. As much as people would try their best to convince us otherwise."

"If I say no you're going to erase my memory again aren't you?"

"I'm not ruling it out," Bright shrugged.

Gwen frowned and stared at the ground.

"Now that's not exactly fair is it?" Bright questioned stepping up from his chair.

"What isn't?"

"You want to say no but you still want to remember it all," he began, "why would you want to remember it? If you reject it you would have no access to it. Or are you one of those types that just like to know of something special to convince themselves they are too? When in reality you're too cowardly to get your toes wet..."

It had subsided, but the level of annoyance she felt towards Bright Santos was surging back.

"You told me Kingslane was a more complicated place than I could imagine. Why do I get the feeling that goes beyond what you've already explained?" she changed the subject.

Bright walked out of the sunroom and down into the study which had books covering wall to wall. An old wooden desk sat in the center with a vintage globe standing by its side.

Bright walked to the multicolored sphere and gave it a weak spin. "I explained to you how Notus is a gargoyle and that he protects a haven which is a safe place for shamans allied to the owner, correct?"

Gwen didn't respond but waited for him to continue.

"These havens are incredibly rare to find in this day and age. The gargoyles reveal themselves only to shamans they sense worthy enough to take ownership of the haven. More specifically, the gargoyles only reveal themselves to viceroys."

"Viceroys? You mean like an authority appointed by a monarch?"

"Exactly. As rare as these havens are to find, there exist four of them and four gargoyles here in the 'universe-city'. You are speaking to one of the reigning viceroys of Kingslane," he stated proudly straightening his posture.

Gwen rolled her eyes. She wasn't going to bow if that's what he was expecting.

Bright turned and pointed to a map pinned up on the study wall. It was a map of the school campus only different sections had been colored over. He took her hand and led her to face it. She was a bit surprised at how soft his palms were considering he fought monsters every other night.

She could see that the center of campus was covered over in white. The West End and the southern sections were shaded in black making it the largest shaded region. The east was shaded in silver and was about the same size as the center only slightly larger since it reached out to Kingslane city village, something that wasn't property of the school. Then there was the north, the most active zone of Kingslane. Everything from the Avenues to the stadium were shaded in what she figured was bronze.

In that instant more dots in her head began to connect. The Avenues, the Baroness....

"You asked me about my taking an interest in Corey Hughes. Why?" she asked though she knew the answer.

"Because it is with strong confidence that I believe Corey Hughes, or rather the Copper Tortoise, is the viceroy that governs the northern division of Kingslane."

There it was just as she expected. Corey Hughes, the handsome, the alluring, and the famous, was a shaman.

"You said that Limbo was a reflection of our plane. Whatever happened to places on one reflected onto the other, right?"

"Yeah, I've said that a ton of times actually. Has it really not stuck yet?"

"The Baroness. Is that Corey's haven?"

"No it can't be."

"Why not? Seems pretty charmed in there to me."

"The Baroness is as attractive as it is because he and his rogues have done a number of keeping it clean in Limbo. It's basically a 'hands on' aura cleansing. The place glows there so it glows here. But it isn't the haven.

"Remember, like my sword can do, havens exist in a pocket of reality. To access them you have to find some kind of an object that sits in an open space. I don't doubt that their haven is somewhere close to the Baroness but where exactly I'm not sure. Either way it's of no interest to me. All the tools I need from a haven I have at my own."

"You called them rogues," Gwen observed blanking out everything else he had said.

"Right, you're new. As I explained, all humans have power animals but not all are called to the cause. It doesn't mean that those uncalled can't be made into shamans. Some of the viceroys in these parts have taken the liberty of turning their college pals. These posers are referred to as rogues. A shaman that creates a tribe from rogues has no tribe but rather purely a brood.

"So to the east you have the brood of the Valkyries. They run just about all the student housing facilities and art departments. The tribe of the Snare governs the west and the south. Don't be dazzled by the large terrain. It's nothing more than the hospital, the farmlands, and the school gym. I suppose you could count the ghettos further west too. Then there's north which is ruled by the brood of the Fist and lastly the center of Kingslane ruled by me. The tribe of the Chimera."

Gwen looked around the house and waited to see if she would hear footsteps from the stairs or the floor above. The house remained quiet. She had heard him say the word 'tribe' but something was obviously missing...

"Ok so it's not really a tribe. It's just me. But the name of the tribe is the Chimera regardless. Truthfully I've hated the idea of having charges. Way too much responsibility and all it really does is slow me down."

Gwen was processing the new set of information. She had another hunch and once more her gut was telling her she wasn't wrong.

"The four groups don't get along do they?"

Bright shook his head.

"How do you deal with each other at school? I know you're kicking ass in Limbo but I've seen Corey and his friends. You wouldn't stand a chance, no offense."

"None taken. That isn't a concern though. They have no idea I'm the White Viper."

"Don't tell me you wear a mask when you're on the job."

"No need. Though we look like ourselves on the plane we can't be recognized. Even if they've seen me there they have no way of knowing who I really am unless I reveal it."

"That makes no sense. I saw you in my dream and recognized you just fine."

"That was your calling to the cause remember? Of course you could see my face without any issue because you were meant to find me. Which brings us back to our most important matter at hand..." he stated getting a bit impatient.

Gwen left the study and went back into the kitchen to grab some water.

"You are a viceroy and you don't get along with any of the other viceroys here. If I was called to the cause towards you that means I'm supposed to be your charge? What, so that means I basically have to do everything you say which probably includes not talking to Corey?" The amount of willful defiance in her voice was surprising to herself considering she thought she was clear about never talking to him again.

"You sound rather upset over not talking to a guy you barely know... Besides I wouldn't prohibit you from talking to whomever you want. Just wouldn't mind a bit of information every now and then..."

"Are you serious?!"

"Of course not! I could care less what that redneck is up to! He's a useless shaman. All the Vices are. My focus right now is on the Poltergeist Trade and this damn flu so obviously caused by ghouls and figuring out who is responsible. I would like to get back to my work but again; I have the pressing matter of you at hand."

Gwen gulped her drink and threw it to the sink. With every answer he gave her, five more questions popped into her head. She could tell he was losing his patience and there was only so much more "Q&A" he was willing to tolerate. Did he really expect her to make a decision without all the facts? What was the rush anyway? Did people called to be shamans really have a one-day time limit to make the choice that would change their lives entirely?

"I understand you have more important things to be dealing with right now, but that doesn't minimize that this is completely new and I have no idea what this would even mean for me!"

"Alright. I will give you three more questions today. Only three. I'm already behind schedule as it is. Our conversation should have wrapped up at breakfast."

"Whose fault is that?"

Bright shot her the same eyes of fire he gave Notus. It wasn't a very good feeling to be on the receiving end of those black eyes.

"Ask," he commanded.

Gwen wrapped her arms around herself and scanned the kitchen trying to figure out what trajectory of questioning she wanted to follow.

"Alright. You say you, Corey, and two others are viceroys that are only appointed by a monarch. Is there some kind of shaman royal family?"

"There was." Bright answered without giving any more details. He raised his hand and lifted one finger. "You have two more questions."

There was a royal family? Were they overthrown? Were they dead? Did she want these two be her remaining two questions?

No, she needed to cover as much ground as she could with the remaining two she had.

"You and Corey are college students. I'm going to take a chance and assume that the other viceroys at Kingslane are as well. Wouldn't that kind of position go to an adult? And I swear you better give me something more than a short answer."

Bright squinted at what he smelled to be a threat. He let the strike fall and exhaled deeply before answering.

"Yes, the position would traditionally go to someone much older than the four of us. Times have changed and shamans are nearly extinct. At least the real shamans are. I trust that the world is littered with broods and rogues all over the place. I'll throw some extra info your way and let you know that only true shamans can hold the title. Therefore none of the other three would have been approached by the gargoyles of the city unless they were." he concluded and raised the second finger on his hand. "One more. Make it a good one."

"What would you do if you were me?"

This one had Bright straighten out. "It isn't my place to tell you what you should or shouldn't do. This is entirely your choice as much as you would like to think I steal that from you."

"You've basically just told me that I'd be entering a world that sounds a hell of dangerous. It would also be a world where it sounds like I would be your damn servant."

"A charge isn't a servant."

"Oh really, then what is it?"

"An heir..." The way he said the word was so light and delicate that she could see just how much he treasured status and title. She would be lying if she didn't feel the slightest glimpse of interest at the mention.

"Come again?"

"You are the first person that I have known to be called to the cause to my tribe. If I make you a shaman you would be the first. Therefore it would make you the Heiress Apparent to my tribe. In other words, you would one day be viceroy should something happen to myself."

She was glad it was her last question. She had reached her limit of just how much she could stomach. Swords, spirits, courts, power animals, havens, gargoyles, totems, death, royal families, cars, viceroys, Corey, the tiger, her life.

It was all flooding her head at once and getting overwhelming.

"Alright, well that was your third and final question for now. I will strike a deal with you. I will give you this week. You will accompany me on shaman business. Tomorrow I have to do a check up on a little girl I recently helped. You should remember my mentioning her name in your dream. Olivia FitzGerald. From there I will take you to the haven of the Chimera and properly introduce you to Notus. I have yet to tell him a word of all of this so I will safely assume he is going to lose his shit. In the meantime," he broke off.

The kitchen vanished, the sun was now setting, and she was standing on the stone steps to her apartment. Bright was nowhere to be found.

"He's just doing it to annoy me," she moaned.

She stuck her key in the door and looked down the street to old Mr. Lucas finishing his sweep of the glass.

The spider ghoul was a beast and for a second she allowed the image of herself standing tall in the face of the creature oozing courage to flood her mind. She couldn't resist the small smile that came across her face before stepping into the building.

IX. Neutral Zone K44

THE PANTHER AND OLIVIA HADN'T stopped walking since they left the house early that morning.

Ghouls of all sorts attended to their business. In their routines they had committed to dodging the glowing silhouettes of the human spirits heading to check on their loved ones in their final moments of sleep. Other souls, new to the existence in Limbo, roamed aimlessly amongst the crowds as ghouls provided them no assistance to ease their confusion.

The air was thick throughout Kingslane. The smog and pollution was so strong that the two of them could look directly at the sun above. The humidity was no help either making every wrong move a chance to put a passerby on the verge of conflict.

They had been moving for over nine hours heading south for the hospital. He had tried to rent a dragonfly like the ones they had seen flying above the previous night from a ghoul who uncomfortably replied that he had none available. The Panther however could hear the buzzing of their wings far behind the counter deep in the warehouse. The heat and the heavy air promoted his desire to stab the lime green monster but he managed to control himself.

They had no other choice but to take the journey by foot. Luckily for Olivia, being as small as she was, rode on his back for a good measure of the way.

The hour was now approaching five and the blazing sun above was beginning to dimmer in its power. Through the thick layer of smog the burning yellow orb had become a deep vermillion. The pace of the city had begun to shift from its friction and aggression to one of steadiness and caution.

They had approached the edge of town about to enter the meadowlands that headed straight into the most vacant part of Kingslane. He imagined that on their plane it wasn't too big and couldn't be more than a ten-minute drive at most. Though as the greenery was just as much a part of Limbo as the city, there was no doubt they would extend for miles.

"How much longer do you think Steven?" Olivia asked with her cheek laid on his shoulder as she rested on his back.

"Not too much longer I hope."

He set her down lightly on the grass next to him as an idea occurred. Leaving the ghoul-populated streets meant he didn't have to worry that the presence of the cat would bring them unwanted attention. He hoped it wouldn't have a problem with it when he summoned it.

Once again, his eyes closed, focused, the coin shimmered, and out from his chest erupted the giant metallic cat.

We need to get to Kingslane Hospital. Though I am sure you already know that.

The cat did nothing but stare at him with the illuminated purple eyes.

All right... We'll need a ride there. The sun has started going down and I don't know what kind of dangers are in the southern meadowlands. I need you to take us.

The cat turned around and placed itself close to the ground for the two of them to get on board.

"Is the kitty gonna give us a ride?" Olivia exclaimed running over to the metal beast.

"Yes he is!" The Panther replied lifting her up with ease placing her in the front right behind its head.

He jumped on, and without warning, the panther was off running through the grass nearly throwing its owner to the wind.

So maybe it isn't exactly myself, he thought taking note that the creature didn't have much regard for his safety.

Olivia was having the time of her life. The beast moved through the grass smoothly like a plane in the sky. The breeze that whipped across their faces, however dry, was a welcomed change to the sulking heat they had been enduring throughout the day. The further the cat went the more the sky seemed to clear itself of the pollution of the city. The faint hint of stars could be made out as the steel web of the tracks above began to come into vision. The Panther could see floating up above in the west was the marble island. It glowed beautifully in the fading light of the sun.

They would never help, he told himself.

His kind stayed to one side, the ghouls another, and the Courts to theirs. That was the way it was. He had to be brave. Get Olivia back to her body and find Lord Avris. It wasn't the safest of options, but who was he to pass up a little danger?

The red light of dusk seemed to disappear quickly as they were left with the radiating silver glow of the moon. Olivia laughed and The Panther continued to look out in any and every direction for something suspicious.

Nothing came.

A good half an hour later the cat began to slow as they approached the peak of a grassy hill. Over the horizon, they saw the strong wide structure of what looked like a robotic fortress.

It was shaped like a clover lying on the ground with its four petals raised in the air covered in glass windows. In the distance they could see small figures moving all around in different rooms and lobbies. A moat about twenty feet wide with illuminated crystal blue water circled the fortress along with swarms of small hovering droids.

"I don't think this is the hospital..." Olivia stated as she scanned the robots buzzing in scattered directions.

"No this is it. Everything looks different here remember?"

The Panther dismounted and assisted Olivia.

Stay here. I'll be able to check in with you. Stay alert and make sure nothing suspicious is coming. If you sense danger let me know right away.

The metallic cat nodded.

He wasn't sure exactly how he would let him know that danger was looming, but he assumed that if it could connect to him the way it had done in the house, then it should be able to do the same out there.

Olivia approached the Platinum face and stroked it lightly as the creature purred.

"Bye robot kitty."

"Let's get moving Olivia. Can't be out in the open like this for too long," he instructed. He summoned the parma and accessed the gladius blade.

The pair made the descent down the grassy hill as the metal cat stayed watching them from behind.

As they approached, the Panther found the structure more jaw dropping. The droids that buzzed around in the air zoomed inside the building as well. They could see clouds of human spirits roaming the halls through the transparent clover walls. He thought that the twinkling effect was something of the building, but as he looked closer he could see hundreds of small stars. They were star-rifts, entrances of human beings into the Astral Plane. Though unlike shamans, these were more than likely involuntary. It was a hospital after all...

The two of them approached the lit waters of the moat. The bridge ahead was ten feet wide and made of glass going straight for the doors ahead under the first leaf of the clover. They had just taken their first steps onto the transparent walkway when the buzzing droids above changed their tone.

They looked up to find that all of them had begun to give off a pestering beep like one might hear from a car alarm. Along with the sound were tiny flickers of red bulbs from the top of their heads. It only took several seconds for them to be surrounded by the glowing hive.

Up close they looked like mosquitos. Their wings flapped so rapidly that they were impossible to see and each possessed six needle thin legs that looked more for stabbing than balance.

"Relax, there's nothing to worry about," he reassured, though his placing his arm in front of Olivia didn't support his words.

"Identify," the droids stated in unison with voices that sounded like a high-pitched answering machine. Their red blinking lights continued to beep. "This is Neutral Zone K44. Dismiss your weapon, shaman."

He had never heard of a Neutral Zone. Did this mean that ghouls weren't allowed? What about the Courts? Did the floating marble island assign the flying droids?

He slowly put his gladius back into the sheath of the parma and willed it to vanish.

As soon as it had disappeared from sight, the blinking red lights had gone with it to be replaced with a constant green glow.

They returned to their normal buzzing and the soft light made them seem more like fireflies in the summer.

"Identify. This is Neutral Zone K44. What business brings you to Kingslane Hospital?"

"My friend has been lost here on the Astral Plane for some time. She is trying to-"

"Beginning records scan. Identify. Patient name."

"Olivia FitzGerald," he answered.

The green lights went slowly on and off as they processed information.

"FitzGerald, Olivia. Patient number: H0824-21. Check in early yesterday morning. Physical Plane Prognosis: coma with unidentifiable cause. Star-rift localization: room 1328. Condition: sixty percent until function cease."

Without another word the droids flew back into the air.

"What did they say?" Olivia asked.

The Panther only heard a bunch of numbers.

"Uh, come on. I'm sure there's someone inside we can ask."

As they reached the end of the glass bridge, something in his chest made him feel terribly uneasy.

Something was coming.

Passed the glass doors, they made it into the tall empty bright lobby. It was hard to believe that such a place existed in the middle of nowhere.

"Can I help you?" said a female voice from ahead that sounded like it was submerged in water.

She was a ghoul, though what kind, the Panther wasn't certain. She was short, bright pink, and made entirely of liquid. In reality, she looked like a giant bowling pin shaped lava lamp with fingerless fat arms and toeless fat legs. The Panther couldn't figure how to address her since he couldn't make out a face. All that seemed to be at the head were three spiked balls circling each other.

"Yes, I am trying to get my friend here to her body. The flying things outside said a bunch of numbers. I'm not really sure what they were but I think she's here."

The bowling pin creature bobbed a bit allowing them to hear the shifting of the liquid.

"Well hello there little one! What is your name?"

"Olivia FitzGerald."

"Alright then, just give me one second. I apologize about the Volfeeds. They're a new security measure we've implemented some months ago."

"Security measure? What for? Are ghouls giving you troubles?"

She may not have head a face, but the Panther could tell his question didn't exactly sit well with her.

"Well sir, there are many different types of ghouls as I am sure you could say there are many different types of humans. This is Neutral Zone K44. We attend all those in need on the Astral Plane. As you know the ill from the Physical can appear here as well. That whole 'light at the end of the tunnel' story is usually due to our long white halls."

"Do all ill humans come here?" he asked with hope. Perhaps his star-rift was also in Kingslane Hospital.

"Oh no sir! I apologize. We are only one of the medical neutral zones. Though all of them by the interior look rather alike is what I meant. Though I have to admit, I think this is the best one I've worked at thus far. Each leaf of the clover is for a different type of patient. This branch is strictly reception and guests. The other three are respectively for humans, ghouls, and those from the Courts."

The pink ghoul raised one of her oval arms. Out of thin air a small rectangular image appeared in front of her. Olivia's name resounded from nowhere and her face appeared on the frame.

"Ok. Here we go. Olivia FitzGerald. I do say your parents have been very worried. The aura colors of the room have taken on a peculiar blue. We'll have to do a cleansing as soon as you've been returned. I do hope your resumed health inspires a positive energy release. It would really alleviate the workload for the cleaning staff.

"Now, you are in room 1328. That means first leaf, third floor, and twenty-eighth room. If there is anything else I can assist you with feel free to call out for me. My name is Sern."

"Wait!" the Panther called to her.

She didn't turn, but the three spiked balls in her head shifted their rotation. Perhaps it was her way of turning around.

"You said those flying things outside were for an increase in security."

"That is correct."

"What far? You say this area is neutral for humans, ghouls, and the Courts. What do you need security for?"

"Times are growing strange my shaman friend. Our patient intake from the human plane is growing exponentially. Though curiously enough, they are much like the case of young Olivia. Their star-rifts are appearing in our facilities but they are not accompanied by an astral form."

"What does that mean?"

"It means exactly what you suspect it to mean young shaman. They are being separated from their bodies as they dream. If I am not mistaken, running a quick diagnostic on you, you are at about nineteen percent until function cease. Such low thread percentage would suggest you have no recollection of where your star-rift is located. It would also suggest that you are like many of the patients we are receiving here who coincidentally are all young ones as well.

You are more than welcome to stay in our facilities shaman should you find the answers to remember your identity. Though I'm afraid to say I do not think your star-rift is here. If it were, our voice recognition system would have delivered your room information."

"Thank-you." the Panther exhaled.

The ghoul nodded politely and took off toward the far white wall ahead and walked right through it.

The two of them were now left alone in the giant empty white leaf.

Star-rifts were appearing without astral forms. They were more than likely being taken to the Spires of Purgatory. Walltrap was no help in figuring out for what reason. At moments he felt regret for killing him. He could have provided more answers with good incentives... He could only justify his actions by believing he would have slowed them down.

He considered telling Sern where the astral bodies were but he remembered the human souls ignored by the ghouls on their journey south. It was the Neutral Zone, yes, but he thought it too easy to just believe that the treatment of all beings there was equal. What if that pink liquid ghoul was unaware of a Phantom Lord working in the city? Would she still be so in favor of neutrality or would she set her sights, or spiked orbs, on another agenda?

He couldn't trust her. He didn't want to trust her. He just wanted to help Olivia on his own and let that be enough.

"Steven, come on! This one says L1! It has to be where I can get home!" Olivia exclaimed tugging on his hand.

The Panther began to move with her while once again feeling something nudging him in the distance.

Show me what you see. He instructed.

As he closed his eyes to darkness, the purple lights of the cat opened wide. He was still situated high on the hill looking over Neutral Zone K44. In the distance he could see the volfeeds flying and buzzing. The air of the night was still.

You're as nervous as I am. Keep your eyes peeled. If anything happens I'll call you back. I won't be much longer.

The two of them arrived to a glass circle on the ground.

"Destination." the voice of Sern came from nowhere.

"1328!" Olivia yelled before the Panther could respond.

The glass picked itself up from the ground and flew out of one of the tall windows and into the leaf just left of the lobby. There were ghouls who looked exactly like Sern roaming all over the bottom floor and those above it. The leaf seemed higher than the first and there were perhaps over a hundred levels. Volfeeds hovered everywhere and white astral humans could be seen through just about every room window.

"Darn," Olivia grumbled as she noticed their glass transport enter the third level instead of continuing to move upward.

They floated along a white tube, which could have been compared to a very clean subway. Alas they landed in front of a hall that had a sign reading "Rooms twenty to forty."

They headed forward in the silent space where each of their steps seemed to echo. As Olivia grew more excited, the Panther grew more restless. He couldn't see anything from outside but he knew there had to be more to it. Could the danger already be within the K44? If it was, then the two of them were already at risk.

They arrived at room 1328. The Panther told Olivia to wait for a moment. He was going to summon his totem but he quickly remembered the alarms of the volfeeds. If it truly was a neutral zone then there should be nothing within the facility that could threaten them. Again, he opted to not believe it.

He opened the door, and much like the bedroom at the house, the entire space was glowing a damp blue. The difference however was that over the middle of the bed was the small twinkling light of a star. It was in fact Olivia's star-rift.

"Steven, is that what we're looking for?" she asked as she stared at the small light.

The Panther sighed deeply. He was partially relieved and in a strange sense, sad that once again he would be alone.

"Yeah pal. That's it."

"What do I have to do?"

"You just go up and touch it. When you do that you'll wake up and you'll see your mommy and daddy. You'll be home and all of this will have been just a bad dream."

Olivia looked to the ground. "What about you?"

"I'll be fine! I got the big kitty remember? Who knows? You might find your way back here someday. Might even pay you a visit."

"Can we ride the big kitty again?"

The Panther laughed. "You bet! Now get going," he instructed her kindly giving her a pat on the head.

She knocked his hand aside and embraced him in the strongest hug she could give. He couldn't help returning the gesture.

"Alright. Now seriously, off you go."

Olivia gave him one more smile and turned to the bed. She reached her hand out slowly to the glimmering star, and in a quick flash both the light and she were gone.

He wished to celebrate her return home, but again, the alarming feeling in his chest returned, only this time greater than before.

He closed his eyes and when they opened in those of the metal panther he could see that it was no longer on the top of the hill. It was running around the perimeter. Something or things were chasing it. How big, he couldn't see.

They found him.

He tiptoed back out into the hall just as the blue color of the room was beginning to fade. He scurried down back to the glass panel.

"Destination." the voice of Sern sounded again.

Before he could direct the glass to the lobby, it occurred to him that whoever had come for him could possibly already be in the building.

"Back exit?" he asked.

"Cannot recognize. Destination."

Shit.

"To Sern?" he asked and waited. Luckily for him the glass panel was back in the air and moving further down the clean white tube.

He made it out of the leaf as the platform began its ascension towards the opening in the next. He was outside, but he knew it would only be for a couple more seconds. He looked below and knew he had no other choice. Just as the glass was about to enter the next section, he lunged off and began his descent to the illuminated water below.

Come to me. He asked.

He couldn't close his eyes but he knew that the metal panther had heard him. Something was telling him that it was quickly on its way.

He hit the water causing a mini tidal wave. To his surprise, the water wasn't deep at all reaching only to his knees. He wasted no time and began to run out into the open. There was only the sound of his breath and the beating of his heart against his chest. He was aiming up the hill and determined to make it out of sight. His panther speed was a useful tool as he glided across the grass.

Within seconds, the metal cat was running beside him. He jumped mid run and landed on the sleek metal back.

Go. Go as fast as you can... It's just us now.

The cat gave out a roar and moved across the meadowlands like a bullet leaving the bright Neutral Zone K44 behind.

The Panther was moving at a speed he didn't think was possible. It was like a missile rocketing through the air. The city ahead was growing closer but with their progress came explosions. Chunks of dry earth flew into the air making clouds of dirt around them.

Don't stop. Give me everything you got.

The closer they got to the buildings the more insistent the explosions erupted. In the distance he could see a parking garage glowing with what appeared to be white smoke. He could barely hear it because of the wind zooming passed his ears but was certain it was the sound of bongos, a bass, and a trumpet...

It was the White Viper. He was there on the Astral Plane in the middle of a battle.

Change of plans. Head straight for the glowing smoke.

The metal panther did such a sharp turn that it nearly knocked him off once again.

The dirt clouds continued to accompany them. He wanted to turn and see what was firing but at such a speed he worried he might get thrown to the wind.

Just as the smoke was at it's brightest and they were but a yard away, the music died and the light disappeared. The panther jolted onto the third floor of the dark parking garage crashing into a dozen rusting cars.

They rolled and tumbled until he lay there covered in debris, dirt, and car parts. The metallic cat vanished leaving him to fend for himself. He recovered quickly in the mess and found shelter behind a mountain of rubble and a blue car that had been flipped over.

He sat there with his hand over his mouth terrified that his breathing might give him away.

He wanted to yell out for the Viper but the fear that his enemies might hear stopped him. The glowing smoke was his greatest hope realized and in an instant it was gone.

He couldn't have gone far. The Panther wanted to jump into the night and find him but those explosions were not to be taken lightly. Whatever had found him out in the Neutral Zone meant business.

"Well?" said a croaking sound from behind.

The Panther tightened his grip on his mouth.

"Did we kill him?" the voice sounded again.

"I don't know. Go check the pile of cars over there," said another.

How many are there? Can I take them?

"You go check!" croaked the first once more.

"It's just us two and you know we can't use those explosives in the city. The boss will kill us."

It's only two. He just needed to summon his parma and strike quickly. If he succeeded, The Viper could still be within reach.

"Kill you I would indeed...." said a shrill and sly voice.

The Panther's stomach dropped. He looked straight out into the glowing city lights. How he wished he could teleport out to any building in the distance. The voice he had just heard he knew in his heart of hearts, even if he had never heard it before, belonged to a Phantom Lord.

"Boss! What are you doing here?"

"Would you like to try that again?" the male voice menaced with an effeminate ring.

"Uh, sorry boss. I just meant that you seem so busy I didn't think you'd want to bother yourself with the shaman kid."

"I didn't want to... Though after you sent out the alert that you found him in the Neutral Zone I figured I should see the fuss. I came with at least a dozen others but that pesky White Viper showed up and demolished them in minutes! I believe he had been following us for quite some time. Tricky little thing, I have to hand it to him. He tried a few seconds with myself but was clearly overpowered. I am obviously the most powerful lord of all seven. I know one hears those rumors about Rath being the strongest but please. He's a brute. Don't tell him I said that... But, you know, I am the most cunning and impressive. I take it the pest is buried underneath the rubble?" he asked.

"Yeah boss, we're sure!"

"How can you be sure of it if you haven't retrieved the body?" he hissed with little patience.

"Sorry Lord Vane!" the first voice squealed.

Lord Vane? Not Avris? There's two Phantom Lords in Kingslane?

"Silence. I don't want to hear anymore whining today. It is bad enough that Avris has been complaining to me about the monthly poltergeist quota. Do I look like I work for him? 'Vane has to secure more souls, Vane has to find more ghouls to ride that fugly bird to the Spires 'cause the panther brat killed them, Vane has to double the numbers he's bringing in.' I know I'm the most talented and I know I'm the smartest but seriously! The nerve! Do me a favor and get digging! I want that body to end this dismal conversation with Avris once and for all!"

"Y-yes boss!" the two of them stuttered together.

The Panther could hear the sound of cinder and cars being shoved and thrown aside. He needed to act. Lord Vane himself said that the Viper took out twelve ghouls but was no match for him. Was this true? Or was it the lord being his proud self? He couldn't take the chance. He had to retreat.

"This is taking forever. Would you like me to do it for you?" Vane asked with sarcastic manners.

"W-well if you would like to help boss that would be-" the ghoul began, but never finished.

A gurgling sound came followed by what he knew were millions of pieces vanishing in air.

"What an idiot. Asking me to dig like some basic bitch! Don't just stand there shaking like a leaf, keep digging!" Vane barked at the remaining ghoul who by the sound, continued to shake as he ruffled through the rubble.

This was it. He had to get out. If he didn't make a break for it at that moment he wouldn't survive.

"Faster!" Vane yelled as the ghoul, with more anxiety, lifted the stones.

The Panther turned slightly to face the blue car and the mountain of debris. He drew his gladius as quietly as he could. He had one technique that might give him a few seconds at most. If he could angle it just right, he might be able to get the rubble to thrust on to them. He had one chance to pull it off. That was it.

He directed the platinum blade at the ground, focused on the image of the gladius going into the stone and hundreds of giant platinum blades erupting towards Vane and his crony.

Then, with a thought of Olivia laughing, he lunged his blade as hard as he could, the storm of swords erupted, the boulders and the cars flew towards the screaming ghouls, and without a moments hesitation, the Panther ran for the towering buildings in the distance.

X. The First Game

GWEN'S ALARM WENT OFF AT 6:30, 6:45, and then again at 6:55. Each time with a groggy face she turned the beeping sound off from her cell phone and went back to sleep.

"Have a good first day Gwen!" the sound of Vivienne came from the door followed by its slam that brought Gwen upright in her bed with electricity.

What time is it? She thought to herself as she scrambled to unlock her phone.

8:43

Shit.

Her first class started in forty-five minutes and she wasn't dressed, fed, or anywhere near Campus Center.

She rushed down to the bathroom on the opposite end of the hall to Vivienne's room to brush her teeth, somewhat brush her hair, and put her contacts in. She could see that everything on the counter had been organized and labeled by Vivienne. Her things were set in neat rows from tallest to shortest bottled products and what appeared to be in lines based of order of use.

Gwen would have to prepare to face some roommate 'shade' when she got home after leaving the entire bathroom counter a complete disaster in her hysteria.

Bolting back to her room she put on the first pair of jeans she could grab from her closet and whatever T-shirt was on top of her laundry pile. She picked up her big brown leather bag, threw a notebook in it, grabbed a couple of pens, pencils (one was actually an eyebrow pencil) and chucked them in as well. She hurried to the kitchen and ripped a raisin bagel out of the plastic bag she had bought after Bright left her.

No time for cream cheese.

Out the door she flew down the rickety old stairs and into the crisp morning.

There were students everywhere talking amongst themselves looking relaxed and in their element while she felt she looked like a raging maniac.

Down the street she could see the school bus stopped on the corner. She picked up her jog to a full sprint but the old bus driver seemed to be completely oblivious to anything happening around him. He closed the bus doors and took off just as she made it next to the stop sign.

She yelled some profanity that caused some girls to stare and boys to chuckle.

She whipped out her bus schedule trying to hide it from spectators. She didn't want anyone to know she didn't know what she was doing.

She found the bus route that came along her street and saw that it passed by every twenty minutes.

Twenty fucking minutes?

She wished a 'Corey Hughes' would pop up and make a magic taxi appear. But no, she was on her own for this one.

She waited by the stop until the same man came around to pick her and seven other students up. The small group looked out the windows or listened to music on their cell phones as the driver, Mr. Smart, told stories of his youth enthusiastically to no one listening. He dropped them off in front of the famous school arch where Gwen thought of Bright and his stories.

9:21

There was no time to think about the alternate world that existed parallel to hers. First day of English was about to start and she was at least ten minutes from the classroom.

Priorities.

She hustled deep into the maze of white marble buildings and scurried along the brick roads between them.

The morning sun was warm and she could feel her hair beginning to frizz from the heat she was giving off.

She made it up the steep stairs to the McConall building and yanked on the heavy wooden door.

It was air-conditioned and she was grateful. The interior was as white as the outside. The windows were tall and the sun beamed in making the hall blinding. She looked for 217.

There wasn't a soul out in the open. She could hear the sound of sharpies on boards and professors lecturing students on the material for the semester both left and right.

She looked at her phone. It was 9:30 on the dot.

They couldn't have gotten started so quickly, she thought.

She found 217 and proceeded slowly. The room had ten wide rows that went upward able to hold about fifteen to twenty students each. Instead of individual desks, the rows had long wooden tables that were shared.

Each of the eighty something students stopped their note taking to turn and look at her as she walked in.

The professor, a small caramel skinned woman with her crow black hair stretched back into a tight bun looked at her with eyes of poison.

"You are?" she asked putting a cap on her sharpie.

"Um, I-m-"

"I know you're not a student in this class," she said before Gwen could answer.

"Well, actually-"

"Because I know a student in my class wouldn't show up thirty minutes late."

Gwen was confused. She looked down to her phone that read 9:32 and then scrambled with her nervous fingers to her class schedule.

English 2001- 9:00- 10:45- M/W

She didn't know what else to say except "It won't happen again."

The woman said nothing but stared at Gwen as she headed up the stairs on the right side of the rows and made her way to the last seat on the top.

Even several seconds after she was seated the woman continued to stare. Eventually, after what felt like an hour, she turned back to the board to continue writing down important dates for the course.

Everyone turned back to face her and their notes except for one that sat in the fourth row a few seats down to her right.

She caught his grin and it made her feel all the more mortified.

She was sharing a class with Corey Hughes.

"So," the professor stated an hour later, "Your homework for Wednesday is to read chapters two to six in your anthologies. There may or may not be a quiz."

Gwen looked down to Corey who was skimming the pages of the book she had forgotten to bring. He whispered to his blond friend next to him that was the same from the night at the Baroness.

They both groaned about the thick wad of pages that she guessed had to be well over a hundred.

As everyone rambled up to gather their things and move out, Gwen did her best to book it first.

Unfortunately, Corey wasted no time in walking over.

"Hey, nice job with the first impression," he joked.

His friend stood next to him looking uninterested in waiting to see where the conversation went. "Hey, I'm going to go, I got Statistics in fifteen minutes."

Corey nodded to him and Gwen watched as he took off.

The Copper Tortoise, she thought.

She didn't think it very suiting for him. She could see something like a lion that was the mascot for Kingslane. Then again, she didn't understand what made her such a tiger. She supposed the power animal business went deeper than exterior impressions.

"Hey," she said to him unevenly.

The last time they had bumped into one another was in a typical college setting. It had the potential for a typical young drama and now she couldn't shake that he was some kind of spiritually super powered student who was breaking mystical laws to give he and his buddies some popularity advantage.

He was an athletic star. Bright used his ally to get himself into incredible positions within the school. What was the ally of Corey Hughes and did he use it for the same purposes?

"Did you and your friend have fun on Saturday?" he asked not budging from his spot as she continued to frantically get herself together to head out the door.

The uptight professor had even taken off leaving just the two of them and a few girls in the front row exchanging numbers for a study group.

"Yeah it was a lot of fun. Danced a lot. Did you and your girlfriend have fun?"

She didn't expect the last part to blurt out. She was expecting it to get awkward but Corey didn't budge. He only grinned wider.

"Yeah she had a great time. She isn't a big dancer though. Adrienne usually just sits, watches, and has a few drinks. She usually doesn't stay too long before heading to some boring bar with her friends. I was surprised she stuck around the entire night."

It wasn't surprising to her. Corey had made it a point to walk over to Gwen in the crowd. Why wouldn't she have stayed to watch? Gwen smirked and started to descend the stairs.

"What are you up to for the rest of the day?" he asked as if the term 'girlfriend' had not been brought into the equation.

"I have another class then probably going home to start reading the insane amount of pages she assigned," Gwen concluded not bothering to ask him the same.

"Well you should probably take a break from the reading and come to the game tonight. It's the first one of the season. Everyone in Kingslane goes." He laid it out smooth.

He was the star player for the Kingslane Lions. She believed he was asking her to attend so she could gawk and be a fan girl for him like so many others. What was making her frustrated was that on a deep level she wanted to and she liked that he wanted her to be there.

"I don't know I have a lot of stuff to do. Plus, this teacher clearly already hates my fucking guts so I don't really need another excuse for her to loathe me by not being ready for the quiz. Aren't you a sophomore?"

That question caught him off guard. He became a bit nervous and tried to answer with the same confidence he started his pursuit with. "Yeah, um, well 2001 is a sophomore class. Did you skip the freshman English classes or something?"

"Well yeah. I mean 1001 and 1002 are just like standard reading and writing classes. Most freshman skip them when they score on their standard level tests..."

Corey shuddered a bit.

She had basically called him stupid without meaning to do so.

"Yeah, I wasn't able to do as well as I wanted to with summer training for football and stuff. More a math guy honestly..."

"Yeah, I get it. I'm honestly horrible at math so I'm a little jealous," she tried to pacify.

Corey's confidence and smooth demeanor had returned to full power. "Well maybe I can give you a little help sometime."

Gwen laughed it off and realized they were the only two left. "I really have to go. My psychology class starts in ten minutes."

She was out the door just as she heard Corey call out his hopes to see her at the opening game.

*

"So did you find your mystery guy?" Sam asked as she and Gwen walked out of their first psychology lecture.

"Who?"

"You know, the school President. Brian?"

"Oh right, Bright. Yeah, well, he found me I guess."

"What do you mean he found you?"

"Well yesterday morning, after I called you, I was heading out of my apartment when there he was standing in front of my door."

Sam stopped her just as they were about to make it passed the building's entrance. She grabbed Gwen's arm and pushed her to the side of the student traffic. She practically pitched her into a wooden bench next to a table covered in old magazines.

"He was at your apartment? Gwen, you sounded bat shit on the phone yesterday morning. What if he was at the Baroness and he drugged you and then he followed you home? He's probably a sex offender!"

"If he was trying to pull something on me wouldn't he have tried when I actually got home while I was still allegedly drugged?"

Sam took a deep breath and shook her head. She was clearly trying to find patience in the conversation she felt she had a greater grasp on.

"I'm not a pervert Gwen, how am I supposed to know how these maniacs think? Did you call the cops? And what did the doctors say when you went? What did he say when you found him standing there?"

"Ok, calm down Nancy Drew. He did not drug me. He was really nice he just wanted to take me out to breakfast..."

"You didn't go with him did you?"

Gwen rolled her eyes weakly trying to dodge the question.

"Gwen, what did the doctors say when you went?"

Again, Gwen dodged Sam's eyes and did a quick scan of the emptying hall.

"Are you serious? Listen I know we've only known each other a weekend, but shit. You have to be careful! I know it's a college town but look at the school we go to. What could he possibly have to say to you at breakfast anyway?"

Gwen's mind did a quick recap of the conversations she had with the White Viper in his lavish home. She remembered the flashes of the train surrounded by rabid souls covered in grime and garbage. She reviewed the idea of the entirety of Kingslane, the 'Universe-City' divided into four factions, each governed by a different viceroy where Bright served as one and her determined to be short-lived puppy dog crush, Corey Hughes, was another.

She saw students, like herself, walking in and out of the doors to the building. Some were holding campus maps, others swarmed by their friends in deep conversation, others alone in thought, and others looking like they would rather be anywhere else. Any one of them right then and there could be one of the remaining two viceroys who governed a different section of Kingslane. Perhaps any of them could be rogues, those false shamans that Bright said the viceroys were creating.

She turned back to meet Sam's disappointed glare. She was a first year like herself. Were the chances of her being a rogue really possible? How could she know? After all, she was introduced to this truth of the Astral Plane and its wonders on her first weekend. What wasn't possible?

"Listen. He was really nice. He took me to this place called La Symphonia in the Avenues. We talked, I went home, end of story. I know you're just trying to look out for me and I appreciate it, but it's good."

Sam took another deep breath. "Ok. You're grown. I know you can make these decisions on your own but damn! Hottest athlete in school one night and the next morning the tailor made President? You have a thing for success don't you?"

Gwen wasn't sure if she should be offended by the question. There was something in the tone of Sam's voice that made her believe there was very little she could say that could be interpreted to make her seem mean. The only other person that Gwen knew could be so forward was herself. It was something she appreciated.

"Not at all. I don't think of Bright that way."

"But you do Corey?" Sam rebutted with the same harmless force.

"No, no, not at all. He has a girlfriend remember? And he gave me his number in front of her. He's probably just one of those cocky assholes."

"Yeah, I mean, no doubt Adrienne probably goes to bed every night lighting a candle in prayer to convince herself he'll never cheat, but that's their problem. However, you have proven to be really inconsistent with your attitude about guys as made clear a minute ago, so to prove that you really don't care about Corey, I want you to rip up the number he gave you."

Gwen gave her a puzzled look. "That's random."

"No it isn't! He gave you his number thinking you wouldn't be able to resist calling him. Prove him and me wrong by ripping it up."

"That will prove nothing."

"It would be a step in the right direction. Look. I'm not saying a bit of action every now and then isn't great. But we are way, way, too young to be getting ourselves involved in that kind of drama. My sister, back when she was in high school, would date the biggest douche bags. She would go through so much shit with them and for what?

"You go through a long period of being obsessed with them, you finally get them and then it becomes basically a year of polluting social media with pictures of your first summer together, first trip, first holiday, and first whatever. Behind the scenes you're fighting every five seconds with him about shit he really doesn't care about all so that you can blow up the internet when you hit the one year mark as if that is the biggest milestone that must be reached.

"Then what happens? It's done. You made it one year and everything else after that is pretty much downhill. The arguments get worse since somehow you think fighting is better than embracing the boredom that is your union because what you have failed to realize is that relationships at our age only require two things."

Gwen waited for her to continue but she clearly wanted her to ask. "...They are?"

"Good dick and conversation."

"I'm sorry?"

"Good dick, and conversation. What else at our age do we need from a guy besides some fun and a laugh? If he can't deliver on these two simple things then it's not worth it. Therefore, you should take that number and rip it up and start your freshman year off on the right foot."

"Well, I would love to but I don't have it on me. It's back at my apartment. I'll do it when I get home," she brushed off.

The truth was, she didn't want to get rid of it. As much as her speech made sense, Gwen meant every word she had told Sam about thinking that Corey was some pompous ass. What kept her from ripping up the piece of paper was the proposal Bright had made to her at the end of their meeting.

She could join the White Viper's tribe and become mixed up in what was going on at Kingslane. She could become part of something bigger than anything she had ever known. Something that Corey Hughes himself was involved with, and if all true, was what he was using to make himself such a self-entitled superstar like Bright.

She didn't want the attention the two of them starved for. No, she was tempted by the assured delivery of adventure. She had Corey Hughes, or rather as Bright called him, the Copper Tortoise's phone number. It could potentially be of use to him. It could potentially be of use, to them...

"Well, you will have a chance to prove your word tonight. Since speaking of the devil, he will be playing at tonight's opening game. Students get in free."

Gwen wasn't really excited to stand in a stadium while everyone boosted Corey's ego. She was much more interested in going back to Bright's house. She had wondered several times since the previous day if her desire was something he had implanted into her head. Though according to him, his little talent could only change a person's thoughts or actions. It couldn't change people's feelings.

"I don't know Sam, I still have another class today at four and I have an eight a.m. tomorrow morning. I was thinking about just calling it a day early."

"Not an excuse. Tuesday classes won't start until Thursday because of the opening game tonight. It's a Kingslane tradition apparently. Come on! If it sucks we just leave."

Gwen wanted to continue the protest but in the end something told her Sam would just end up dragging her there if she had to. She also felt bad that she hadn't spent any time with her new roommate. Perhaps she could get her to come along.

After Bright had dropped her off at her apartment she had hoped to find Vivienne but unfortunately the place was empty. Her room was completely set up and oddly looked like it hadn't been touched.

She made a bowl of popcorn and got some of her favorite movies to show her in hopes that she might want to spend some time to get to know one another. Unfortunately, the night reached late hours and Vivienne never showed. The only interaction she had with her was when she bid her a good day that morning waking her up in panic.

"Alright Sam." Gwen agreed.

"Yes!" Sam exclaimed.

She was going to continue her sell of the evening's activities, but her smile quickly wiped away as her face caught the vision of someone coming down the hall.

Gwen turned to see it was Bright not looking like his usual dapper self. He was wearing a vanilla colored sweater that looked like he got it from the bottom of a backpack and his hair was a mess. The color in his face was off and the space under his eyes was a bruise like purple.

"Hey, are you alright?" Gwen asked as he reached the pair.

"Yeah, never better. Can we talk for a minute?" he asked with his eyes half closed.

Gwen turned to see Sam wasn't looking all that impressed with the image.

"Don't worry. I actually have to be taking off. I have a class in half an hour anyway," she said flatly as she scanned Bright up and down. "Gwen, I'll just come to your place around seven? That way I can get a front row seat for your tearing up the number."

"Yeah, sounds great. I'll see you later."

Sam stood up shooting Bright one last eye of fire before heading out the door. The hall was just about entirely empty.

"What number is she talking about?" Bright asked as he rubbed gently in between his eyes.

"Sit down," she instructed as she dug into her bag.

"No, I'd rather stand..."

"Suit yourself," Gwen pulled out the small crumpled piece of paper that had the digits written in blue ink. She lied about having it at her apartment. She knew if Sam saw it there she would insist she destroy it on the spot or would have taken it and ripped it herself. "It's Corey Hughes' phone number. Sam and I were at the Baroness Saturday night. He came up to me and gave it. Thought it might be useful for you. You know, seeing as he's your foe or whatever," she informed and handed him the piece of paper.

Bright took it weakly and scanned the numbers.

"Oh wow, what do you know, he gave you the real one," he said with amusement before he ripped it into four pieces and threw it in the garbage beside the bench.

Gwen's jaw dropped slightly as she watched the pieces disappear. She was disappointed in herself to find that a part of her actually did want the number after all.

"Why did you do that?"

"Gwen, I'm on a first name basis with everyone over at Student Records and I can literally mind control just about everyone. If I needed Hughes' phone number, I think I can get it myself. A for effort though."

Gwen now gave him a scan of her own. She wasn't sure if she should move out of the way since it looked like he was going to vomit at any second. "What do you have?"

"I have 'severe Astral Plane ass kicking' syndrome."

"Come again?"

"While we visit the Astral Plane our spirit is separated from our bodies, this is true. When we suffer 'physical' damage on the second it translates back to our bodies on the first when we come back. It's not a cut or a bruise or something. It translates into an illness, a virus, and in my case, the worst stomach flu. Ghouls attack humans and they get sick. We're no exception."

Gwen let this new bit of information sink in. she recalled in high school learning briefly about shamans and how they were witch doctors who would travel to the spirit world in order to vanquish whatever was causing a person their ailment. Now she was looking first hand at what Bright had mentioned at his house. Yet another detail she would be signing up for if she agreed to join him.

"I was under the impression that you were the toughest, best, non-rogue, shaman there was at Kingslane. What happened?" she teased as she picked herself up leading him out into the fresh afternoon air. She hoped it would help settle his gut.

"A Phantom Lord happened."

"What are those?" she asked as they headed east hoping to find a quick root to his house.

"There are seven of them. They're the limbo equivalent of mob godfathers I guess. They're stronger than your average ghoul and usually don't show their faces. They let their goons take care of the dirty work."

Gwen was trying to imagine what these Phantom Lords must look like. Were they as big as the spider ghouls? Were they as grotesque and manic as the poltergeists? She saw him look the eight-legged beast in the face without a flinch. Now at some point between her departure of their conversation and her psychology class, he had come face to face with one by himself and clearly lost. Her decision was leaning more and more towards the decline side by the second.

"Seven in Kingslane or seven all together?"

"All together."

"Wow... I know you said Kingslane was special with the whole 'four gargoyles' thing but why would one of those guys be here?"

"I was wondering the same thing. After I sent you home and dropped the souls off at the Courts I caught word that there was a lord visiting Kingslane. Though it wasn't a one-time thing. Apparently the visits have been frequent."

"You said you were afraid something higher up the food chain could be responsible for the Poltergeist Trade... I'm guessing these Phantom Lords are what you would consider higher up then?"

Bright nodded weakly with his eyes closed.

"I came back to my body to go do a walk by Olivia's house to see how things were going-"

"Stalking a little girl. Not creepy."

"Also not the time for jokes."

"Sorry."

The two of them took a turn up a busy street where the stadium could be seen in the distance.

"I walked by but something felt off. The house was alone. I got a closer look and I could sense there was a lot of sadness."

"You can sense sadness?"

"I, like any real shaman, can sense energy. Emotions are energy. We can't really sense it exuding off of people. That would be mental torture but don't doubt that humans, all humans, are constantly giving it off."

"Like heat?"

"Yes, but I'm talking a spiritual type of energy. The frequency of this can change from positive to negative, but it is constant. It can rub off on others or intimate surroundings like their home."

Gwen thought about the cliché lines she would hear on that daytime talk show about how what one thought shaped their reality. She supposed that they were right after all.

"I got the spider ghoul. It was the one that had been making her sick. The sadness in the house had doubled in two days though. I didn't understand. I was actually going to come grab you for the walk so I could keep telling you more info."

"Why didn't you?"

"I really didn't want to anymore to be honest. Besides, something was up and I needed to figure it out quick. You would have just-"

"Slowed you down. Got it. Continue."

"Turns out she had been taken to Kingslane Hospital. When I drove over I got her nurse to tell me that she was in some kind of a coma. I might be a bit of a jerk,"

"A bit?"

Bright groaned. He wanted to fight back but he was feeling too crummy for the sassy words.

"Yes, a bit. Kids are off limits. I went searching every inch of Kingslane on the plane I could. Luckily, I managed to catch wind of a gang over by the southeast-parking garage that belongs to the Goldstein Art Museum. They were directly employed to the Phantom Lord paying a visit. I managed to get out of them that they worked for Lord Vane. The last one knew what I meant when I talked about Olivia but he thought I was someone else."

"Someone else? One of the other viceroys or one of their charges?" Gwen asked.

"No. Don't insult me. He called me 'the Platinum One'. Said they were instructed to find me and stop me from helping the girl and that I knew too much. Before I could get anymore answers Vane threw a knife in his throat. He knew I wasn't the one they were looking for. I barely landed a single hit while he wiped the floor with me. Luckily I found a chance to make a run for it."

"'The Platinum One' then. Any ideas?"

"No. None of the viceroys or rogues at Kingslane has the color title of platinum."

"There's a question I have. What's with the colors?"

"Not really sure... Michael would tell me he thought it had something to do with personality. Then he figured it was just random. Regardless, a shaman finds out their color when they answer the call."

"Who's Michael?" Gwen questioned.

"What? Where did you hear that name?"

"From you. You just said Michael told you that. Who's Michael?"

Bright was starting to look frustrated and confused. "No one. Forget it. The important thing is that I need to figure out where to find Olivia and now I have to figure out who this 'platinum one' is. Then there's the issue of Lord Vane. Need to find out why he wanted this platinum guy dead and what he knew that he would make him take up so much interest."

"Could be a girl you know."

"Sure, whatever," Bright moaned with frustration.

The pair arrived to the top of a hill and began to make their descent where they could see Bright's house at the corner.

"You seem a lot more relaxed about all of this today," he observed while keeping his head down as he practically slept walked.

Gwen hadn't really noticed it until he mentioned it.

"Yeah I guess I am. I don't know, I guess I've just had time to digest a bit of what you said. Did you just want to talk to me about everything that happened last night?"

"Yes and something else. Though I think I can already see the answer."

"What's that?"

"You're going to say no to the call," he stated with certainty.

Gwen stopped him as they reached the front of his house.

"That's why you're calm now. You've already decided you don't want to take it and you're sure I'm going to erase your memory so it doesn't even matter what I say."

Hearing him say the words really put it all in perspective. He was right. She felt like the biggest hypocrite and the biggest sell out. She had wanted adventure and she had wanted to explore, but there she was, with this opportunity for something that was bigger than she ever could have imagined, and it all felt like too much. It was too much too fast. She looked at him standing there unaware that she had even led him back to his house. She didn't want to see herself in that position.

The Phantom Lords sounded horrifying. She wasn't sure if she could stand the way he did those nights before. Maybe the tiger belonged in the dark...

"It's a lot. There's still so much I don't know. I want to help you. I really do, but committing to everything, I just don't know. Maybe the viceroys and their buddies think it's just fun and games but I can see how seriously you take this even if you do steal like a giant thief.

'Tell you what. You don't look up for erasing anyone's mind today anyway. How about you get some rest and tomorrow I will come over early since classes are cancelled so you can decide if you want to erase it or not. Deal?"

Bright breathed heavily and held tightly to the fence. He didn't respond as he threw the small door open and stomped his way up to his house.

*

The lights were blasting down on the cheering stadium. The music could be heard from many blocks away as the streets were filled with food vendors, people painted in the school colors of grey and blue, and of course, the drunk.

Gwen and Sam were unable to get their hands on anything alcoholic since it was only the Baroness that they could get served. Given, if one had planned properly anyone could have gotten something to drink for the event. It seemed all of Kingslane and everyone in a ten-mile radius of the school was attending.

They were lucky enough to score seats ten rows up from the Kingslane end zone. Something that Gwen took complete credit for since she made sure they arrived early so they could leave just the same.

"So where was your roommate?" Sam asked.

"Honestly I have no idea. I talked to her a bit Saturday morning and I have barely seen her since. I mean, she got here a week early and already knew people in town so I think she's just spending a lot of time with them I guess."

"Well, at least that means you can bring guys over without a problem."

"Um, no, that wasn't really part of my train of thought."

"Oh really? Corey Hughes walks up to you at the end of the game and asks to come over and you just say, 'No thanks, I think I'm just gonna knit with my scented candles and a quilt tonight.'"

"I don't know how to knit..."

"You know what I mean!"

"So what, your main goal is to get dudes back to your dorm room?"

"It's not the goal but I wouldn't dismiss it either."

"I never said I was dismissing it I'm just saying when I recognize that my roommate is very absent my immediate thought isn't sex in the living room."

"You know what, I'm going to confess, I don't know the first thing about football," Sam moaned.

"Why did you want to come then?" Gwen asked as she watched a girl half her size down a Slurpee cup worth of lemonade vodka.

"They're supposed to be really fun!"

"Yeah, it's a real hoot..."

"Well at least there are the players to stare at. I know you're waiting to see if Corey finds you to throw a wink."

"Jesus, enough with Corey! Do you want to hook up with him?"

"Gwen, look at him. In the name of everything holy of course I want to get with him. You know you want to too! I mean you just mysteriously lost his number... Real convenient."

Gwen looked out to the field where she could see Corey huddled around the Kingslane team. Things were different. It wasn't like the bar. All she could think of was "The Copper Tortoise."

It was entirely ruined and she really didn't mind. Her concern was more on how Bright had stormed off after her answer. For someone so determined to go at it alone, he seemed really upset over getting exactly what he wanted.

The score was thirty-eight to six, Kingslane winning. There was about ten minutes left on the clock for the last quarter.

"Hey, Sam-"

"Yeah, yeah, we can get out of here. We should avoid the smelly crowds anyway."

The two of them turned to head for the stairs. Gwen felt that as the huddle broke, Corey had spotted her in heading for the exit.

They made it out into the crisp night air where some fans had the same idea. There were people still chugging, girls arguing on the phone with a parent or a boyfriend, and then those sweeping the trash off the sidewalk.

"Hungry?" Sam asked.

"No I'm not. Actually, I don't feel so hot," Gwen confessed. It was a god part of the reason why she had wanted to get out of the stadium.

"Oh no. Did 'tailor-made' give you whatever he had?" Sam questioned as she began to take her distance.

Gwen knew that couldn't be possible since what Bright had was Astral Plane caused.

"No, I'm sure it was just that hotdog I got at the beginning of the game. I should probably just head home."

"Well I'll walk you. God forbid Bright shows up again at your doorstep when you're ready to ralph all over the place."

"Thanks," Gwen smiled weakly.

The two of them made their way across the stadium street and towards the main road.

"Maybe we should just catch a cab," Gwen suggested as she found it harder to stand up straight. There was a sickening pain coming from her left side. A cold sweat was slowly starting to come as she felt herself getting chills.

"Some hotdog you had there..." Sam stated.

"Yeah, they're demonic," she tried to joke, though the pain was getting more intense by the second. She was beginning to fall to her knees.

"Ok, see, this is why you should have gone to the doctor! I'm going to call 911."

"No! I just need a cab."

"You can't just sleep this off! You have to go to the doctor and see what's wrong with you!"

"I'm not going home. I need to get to Bright's house."

"You. Must. Be. Kidding."

The pain was blinding and her insides felt like they were cooking. The next thing she knew she was throwing up all over the sidewalk.

Sam could see a couple of police officers grimacing at the sight and continuing with their conversation.

"Oh my God. Ok, just let it out. Good idea. You need to sit down here for a second. I'm going to go talk to those cops. They probably think you're just some drunk chick. I'm going to go explain and see if they can give us a ride to the hospital."

"No, no hosp-" Gwen was trying to protest but the words wouldn't come out.

Once again she was throwing up.

Bright would know what was happening. Bright would know what to do. How could she reach him? She was stuck. Immobilized by this pain that wouldn't let her see straight let alone allow her to navigate herself to his house.

<Just hold on> a voice said deep in the back of her head.

She closed her eyes on the side of the road surrounded by her vomit while people walked by and commented quietly to themselves. She could hear Sam in the distance trying to get the officers to react. Though within seconds the voices were gone and as she opened her eyes again she could see the city was bigger, the street was empty of people, and in front of her was a beast with legs of a bird and the torso of a muscular man. The head was squared and its face was smashed in with nostrils flaring and wrinkles waving grotesquely. It had one giant hand around her neck and the other wrapped in a fist he beat against her abdomen.

It was the Astral Plane.

The sickness was gone, and instead she felt the mind-blowing pain of the punches.

"Ah! You finally decided to join me!" The beast said through its toothless smile.

Gwen reached her hand up to the monster's rough fingers but they were rooted.

"Hey!" A voice yelled from a neighboring roof.

The monster stopped his blows to gaze up. He moved out of the way and let Gwen fall to the ground in order to avoid the punch that left a hole in the pavement.

Gwen, on her side, tried to look at her savior. She had thought it was Bright, but this one had a shield fastened to his back with the face of a panther in its center. In his hand he held a small sword and stood directly in front of her.

"If you want to get to her you're going to have to go through me."

"Ugh, shaman! What business do you have here! Move along!"

The stranger threw his sword so quick that Gwen could have sworn it had magically appeared in the ghouls shoulder.

The shaman ran forward, jumped in the air, and kicked the ghoul right through a neighboring brick wall ahead.

He turned to kneel in front of her. "We don't have much time. You have to wake up."

"Wake..." Gwen exhaled.

The Panther lifted her shirt slightly and grimaced at her abdomen.

"Shit, that's bad." He looked up to see the small glowing star right above Gwen's chest. "Your star-rift is here in the middle of the street? What was he doing to you back on the first?"

"Who are-" Gwen tried to ask but she could barely keep herself from passing out.

"Don't worry about that. What's the last thing you remember? Were you alone?"

"Sam."

"Sam? Is that your boyfriend? Was he with you?"

Gwen couldn't keep it up. From the concaved wall she could see bricks beginning to shuffle. The ghoul was coming back for the second round. If he were anything like Bright it wouldn't be a problem though she wasn't sure if she was going to be around much longer to see.

"I got to get him away from here. Just rest your head. If they move the rift we'll find it. I've gotten pretty good at that," he smirked and laid her down before jumping through the hole in the brick building.

Her eyes focused on the small twinkling star above.

<I'm almost there> the voice from the back of her mind sounded once more.

The light all around the street was beginning to fade and all that was left was her soft breath and the warm star. She wanted to reach her hand out to take it but no strength would come to assist her.

<I'm sorry. This is the only way> it consoled.

The single star began to be joined by others until they were everywhere. The ground beneath her had disappeared and she was floating in the cosmic air with nebulas and different constellations. Before her eyes were flashes of memories of her parents and herself. Some of them were of her on playgrounds, others of her at swimming practice.

She began to see a familiar day of work on a farm that she had never visited in her lifetime. She stared upon a black blizzard with intense dust clouds moving towards her. Then there were images of Japan. It was the dead of night and she was shrouded in black running silently from roof to roof. Strangely enough she was a man in this unfamiliar memory. Then she was lying in a trench covered in rain and mud as bombs went off hearing other men yell in German. Lastly was a memory that like the others she couldn't recall yet it didn't feel as distance. There were explosions muffled by the layer of earth above her as she sat afraid in a basement crying holding hands with a little boy with dark hair and thick eyebrows like the shielded warrior who had come to save her in the present. Memory after memory came to her until silence sung. In the distance, stars were beginning to cluster together and move closer and closer towards her. The more stars joined, the more vivid the outline of the tiger became.

The shape began to radiate dazzling electricity as the voltage replaced the constellation. The creature gave a roar, lunged for her, and the cosmos vanished. Her limbs radiated with the desire to move, her eyes closed as she could feel beaming light and heat caress them.

The Golden Tigress spoke something deep within her chest.

Then the dazzling stopped. She awoke. The sun was out. A floating stone face looked at her with concern before reshuffling to express a smile.

"Oh thank goodness you're awake. Master Bright will be most pleased."

XI. New Hope

EACH PUNCH HE LANDED ON the ghoul's face cracked and boomed through the street.

Getting embarrassed by how terribly he was getting beat, the bulky monster was starting to throw his arms at the Panther without any thought. He charged and slammed into neighboring walls before slapping his palm on the concrete several times to squash him like a bug.

The Panther wasn't impressed.

He dodged each movement with ease. A punch in the side and then a kick right on the creature's chicken knee caused it to break in two. The ghoul gave out a yell that sounded in three different octaves. The Panther jumped into the air and kicked the monster in the dead center of his chest with all his force sending it flying across the street leaving a large trench in front of the stadium.

The Panther rocketed high in the air, summoned his parma, and landed with both feet on the ghoul's chest shoving the shield right into his neck.

"Start talking," The Panther commanded.

"Eat shit shaman!" the ghoul croaked.

With his large hands he grabbed the Panther like a sandwich. He wobbled up on his one remaining good leg and began to chuckle as bloody slime dripped from his mouth.

"I'm going to crush you! You try to make me look like a fool in front of everyone! I'll bite your head off right here and now and spit it you out! You're nothing without your puny sword."

"Who said all I had was a puny sword?"

The Panther-face on his shield rotated within the ghouls grasp and locked. A long platinum hasta spear shot out through the monsters thumbs causing him to scream once more and let go of his prey.

The Panther flipped back and caught the spear as it landed into his right hand. He took his shield off of his left arm and strapped it onto his back.

"If you insist on this, I promise I'll make you look more foolish. It would be much easier for you to just tell me what I want to know."

The ghoul was crouched over his bleeding thumbs. His breathing was getting heavier and he was looking at The Panther like a rabid dog.

Spinning the spear in his hand he smiled tauntingly, sure of his victory. He wanted to have his fun with him but at the same time he needed answers and he needed to get back to the girl as quick as possible.

The ghoul made a weak attempt forward and the Panther responded with a jump in the air, spinning the spear, and landing right on the beast's shoulders. He drove the hasta deep into its left side, and slime hissed out.

He flipped forward, keeping both hands on the weapon, and as he landed on his feet he used all of his strength to flip the monster over his head and onto its back leaving a crater on the pavement.

He withdrew the platinum hasta as more slime spewed onto the concrete. It was much weaker now and didn't look like it had much else to give.

The ghouls circled around them looked breathless watching the madness. Some were scared and others were looking at the Panther with the same intensity of loathing that the beast had been giving him. They wanted to interject and save their fellow compatriot but at the same time each was probably paralyzed by the idea of what he could do to them if they stepped in.

"Let's try this again. What did you want with the girl?"

The ghoul took deep breaths trying to keep awake.

"It was a bounty. It was appointed some time yesterday. Fifteen pounds of karma for the ghoul that found her and took her out."

"Her rift was with her astral body. Were you attacking her while she was on the Physical Plane?"

"Yes."

"How is that even possible?"

The ghoul chuckled. The Panther had no patience for his teases. He put the point of his spear right to the creatures chin.

"We can attack humans when they unintentionally project here as you know, but you should also be aware that a human aura becomes easier to trace when they have been in direct contact with one of your kind."

The Panther didn't remember this. Just as energy brushed on the walls of a space it seemed that the energy of a shaman can rub off on others.

The girl had been in contact with shamans on the Physical Plane. This had to mean she had met someone from a Kingslane tribe. Better yet, perhaps one of the viceroys themselves.

"Why was there a bounty on her? There has to be multiple people in this town that have come in contact on a regular basis with those shamans."

"Seriously, what kind of shaman are you? You can throw a weapon around but you don't know shit about either your world or ours. That kind of contact only has such radiating effects on potential shamans. One's who you like to say are 'called to the cause.'"

"Who would put such a bounty on a potential?"

The Ghoul spat out dark slime.

"Lord Avris. It wasn't until earlier today according to words on the street that she was in fact a potential to the White Viper himself. Had I known I would have told that stupid lord to raise his bounty! Greedy bastard!"

Now the Panther was paying attention with every fiber he had. The girl was not just a random victim like Olivia had been. She was a shaman potential to the White Viper. If he was able to find her that meant that she had already come into contact with him.

"Where did you pick up the trail to this girl? And how did you learn she was a potential for the Viper?"

"It was difficult at first. The humans today had some kind of celebration. As usual when they are under the influence of substances that your kind obsesses over because they apparently don't like their existence, whining fucks, they create those distortions of color around Limbo. At first they cloaked her until she emerged from the stadium.

"As I already told you, the word that she was the Viper's came from around the city. Apparently Avris knew. The Phantoms have great power. Of course he has the means to know these things."

"But where did you find the trail?" the Panther questioned, pressing the spear tip deep into his chin.

"It was some blocks from here on the East End. The same street where the Viper took out the Spider on the Saturn day."

The Panther took to his fingers for a second to recheck what day he meant exactly. The ghouls addressed the days of the week by the planets excluding Earth and Pluto. That would make Saturn day the previous Friday.

Was it really that easy? Both Olivia and the potential from the same area of town focused around the same attack?

"I take it Lord Avris has his grievances with the White Viper. Who doesn't around these parts though if we're being honest." the ghoul spat out.

The Panther looked down to the ghoul and having no more questions, lunged his spear right through his head. The millions of pieces burst everywhere, and then there was nothing.

He spun the spear and threw it in the air positioning his back so that the blade would fall directly into the sheath of the parma.

He looked around as the spectators were still staring at him angrily or with horror.

"Nothing left to see here. You can all head home now."

By that time, one of the witnesses would have gone to Avris and told him of everything that was happening. The big brute might have been easy but he knew the lords would be another story. He had to get out of the open and get back to the girl.

Across the street he ran and to his dismay the body was gone and so was the star-rift.

Could she have died? The wounds were severe enough.

He had to trust that she made it.

The ghoul had said that the location of the origin of the signal came from the East End in the same location where the Viper had his battle those days past. That would be his greatest lead. He was running out of time. That street would become his home until he either found his salvation, or death came to greet him.

XII. The Haven of the Chimera

"TRY NOT TO GET UP too quickly. You have been through quite a lot. Best to get your rest," the floating cubed head said politely.

Gwen sat up slowly as the feeling of a comforting breeze brushed against her side. She was sitting on the ground in the center of what appeared to be a grand foyer, made entirely of wood. To her right were two staircases that coiled upward to the second floor. Beneath the stairs was a living area with large brown leather couches, a fireplace and a piano in the far corner.

To her left were two pointed doors left entirely open. A large patio lay outside with a vast horizon of green treetops ahead. Behind her she could hear the soft ticking of a clock. There was a small room with books covering all three walls, accompanied by large comfortable chairs.

Ahead of her, passed the foyer, was a sunlit dining area. It had ten-foot long table with wooden benches pushed up against both sides equal in length. The walls around it, including the ceiling were made entirely of glass.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Gwen. I do apologize that you had to wake up on the ground. As soon as Bright arrived with you he set you down and headed immediately to his research. I would have taken you to your room but I am a bit disabled in that element I am afraid..."

Gwen stared at the head. It was the size of her torso and as she remembered, made entirely out of stone. His face looked like an old Wiseman with a chiseled beard and droopy eyes in place.

"You're Notus. Right?" she asked lifting herself up.

The gargoyle's face shifted into a kind smile and the eyes twisted into a squint to match the grin.

"Yes! I am glad to see Master Bright has told you about me! I am the keeper of this haven indeed."

The haven. That was where she was. It was one of the four secret locations in Kingslane where the different tribes, and broods, considered bases of operations.

"What happened? How did I get here? The last thing I remember was that I was ralphing all over the street. I swear I saw something attacking me. Then someone came... I thought it was Bright but it was some other guy..."

"Oh dear. You have been through considerable stress. Your poor stomach must still be going through a great deal of exhaustion from all the- excitement. I shall prepare you a nice and natural pear juice! That will do just the trick to get you back in order."

"How-"

"I may not be able to carry or touch you but this haven is entirely under my control. Whatever my Master, or rather Masters now, need I can fix up in no time at all!"

"That's very sweet but I don't think I will be a 'Master.' Bright and I talked early yesterday. I don't think I will be becoming a shaman."

Notus's expressions shifted to one of confusion.

"But, dear, you are a shaman now. Do you not remember?"

The words made Gwen's head spin and all the muscles in her face relax. "What do you mean, I am a shaman?"

"Oh goodness... You were more out of it then I would have suspected. After you were attacked your wounds on the Astral were terribly grave. There was no way you could return to your body without severe deficits or death. The only thing Bright could do to preserve your life was to make you a shaman then and there. You are officially the Golden Tigress. You have the shaman pendant to prove it."

Gwen reached her shaking hand to her neck and found a thin leather cord with a gold coin attached. One face had a snake in a circle biting its tail while the other had an image of Notus's face.

Gwen began to breathe deeply. She remembered the hand and seeing many stars that were within arms reach circling around her. She remembered the memories that were nothing she had experienced in her lifetime. The tiger constellation charging towards her, consumed by lightning... It was all part of the process. It was all part of her crossing into that world without a choice.

"You look upset, Lady Gwen. Perhaps a tea would be better to calm your nerves?"

"No, no. Notus, I need to speak with Bright. Where is he?"

"I apologize Lady Gwen I cannot take you to him now. He has asked not to be disturbed."

"Ok well I want to disturb him. You said I was a Master too right? So, full speed ahead to wherever he is."

"Yes my Lady you are indeed a Master but I'm afraid Master Bright is the viceroy of this haven. His orders have precedence over any other Masters that may arrive... Therefore I cannot go against his wishes to be undisturbed," Notus replied timidly taking notice of Gwen's building agitation.

"My friend Sam. She was with me when everything happened. She was talking to a cop trying to get me to a hospital before I blacked out. Where is she?"

"I am sorry Lady Gwen but I do not have these details. Bright simply left you on the ground around midnight and has not emerged from the Void since."

Gwen headed out the double doors onto the large creaking wooden patio as Notus floated behind her nervously. She hadn't noticed that the ocean of leaves around the haven were bigger than the average. Each sheet of green was as large as a face and the branches coiled and extended like walkways.

Gwen turned to Notus suddenly causing him to stop abruptly in midair. "Where exactly are we?"

"The Chimera haven is located in Campus Center; The White Viper territory. More specifically, we are above a large oak tree that is situated on the Campus Green."

Gwen thought back to the orientation the previous Saturday morning seeing the tree Notus was speaking of on the way to the Charles building.

"Well how do I get down?"

Notus bobbed a bit from side to side, not wanting to speak.

"Notus?" Gwen asked impatiently.

"Well Lady Gwen, you see, it was also Master Bright's orders that under no circumstances should I allow you to leave the haven until he has spoken with you. I have my hands tied. Figuratively speaking that is..."

Gwen exhaled deeply and moved passed him back into the tree house mansion.

"You said he was in the Void. What is that? A room?"

"Yes I suppose you could classify it as a room."

"And I'm guessing you're not going to tell me where it is since he doesn't want to be disturbed."

"That would be correct."

"But if I look around for it you really can't do anything to stop me."

"Well he didn't say I was to stop you should you go looking, so no I suppose I couldn't do anything. You are also a Master after all. I couldn't possibly harm you."

"Awesome. Good to know."

Without another word Gwen headed down to the sunlit dining room at the far corner of the mansion. The ceiling was incredibly high and the morning sun shone down with the serene image of the blue sky. Up a few small steps to the right was a large kitchen. There was a jet red fridge that looked like it belonged back in the fifties. In fact, everything in the kitchen looked like something someone found at an antique store.

Ahead of the kitchen was a staircase that headed up to circular exit with no door. She ran up to find a plank walkway with rope banisters coiling through the smooth tunnels of leaves and branches. She held on as she wobbled down. She descended through the leaves and arrived at a pool surrounded by green. Like the dining hall, it had a giant opening above to allow the sunlight to touch the crystal water.

It was a massive round pool with a fountained shore, lawn chairs, and if she wasn't mistaken, a Jacuzzi at the far side by a brick oven. None of it was making geographical sense but she decided to save the comments for Bright when she found him.

She turned back up the walkway to find Notus hovering at the entrance.

She didn't comment. Instead, she looked beside her. To her left were the twin staircases she had seen below and another exit like the one she had just taken at the far end of the hall. To her right, another exit just like it. She could see that the paths were dirty and the leaves and branches did not stay neatly to the side like the one to the pool did. Rather they extended through the middle over the planks.

She decided on the path to the right. Holding to the bannisters, specs of the sun broke the walls of leaves. As the path continued she started to make out that there were several wooden doors on either side of her along with one at the end of the walkway.

"You have found the first set of dormitories. Pardon that the hall is a mess. You see, these are the female corridors. Bright never spends any time over in his own room so you can imagine these would be much less tended to..."

Gwen could hear the hint of loneliness in his voice. She knew the gargoyles primary responsibility was to protect the haven and those who resided there. Though from what she could make out, she was guessing that Bright didn't spend any time there unless he had to.

"Though you needn't worry! This is a quick fix," Notus assured.

A quick gust came and all of the overextended branches snapped falling onto the plank walkway or through the wall of leaves. Another gust blew and the branches and dirt were parted off into the air leaving the pale wood completely clean.

"There we are," he said shifting his stone face to a warm smile.

Gwen shot him a weak one back. She was beginning to feel awful about snapping at him seeing that unlike his master, he was very kind.

She proceeded up the inclined plank and saw that the doors had numbers carved on them.

"Seeing as you are the first female charge, you can have whichever of the rooms you like. I know a bedroom isn't necessarily a compensation for this life you didn't want, and you surely have your own in Kingslane somewhere which I am confident is very nice, but I can promise you that your room here will feel quickly like home!"

Gwen didn't comment but proceeded to walk. The second door to the right that read "3" seemed like good a choice as any. She took hold of the round gold doorknob and entered.

There was plenty of sunlight beaming through the windows. The entire space looked like a camp cabin and like the hall, there was dirt and leaves all over the floor.

"It's, um, really nice. I bet once people get stuff moved in and clean it looks amazing."

"Oh please, close the door," Notus instructed with excitement.

Gwen did as she was told.

"Now put your hand on the knob again but this time don't open it until I tell you."

Gwen slowly reached for the knob and left her hand on the cold surface.

As she waited for his command she could hear things creaking, thumping, and moving in the room until it fell quiet.

"Alright, go ahead and open," he said with a giggle.

Gwen slowly opened the door again, and this time the sight was a complete transformation.

Two circular wooden steps surrounded the king-sized bed covered in white and yellow sheets with a large black wooden frame. Off to the side, where there had been the solid wooden wall, was an opened double door walk-in closet stuffed with clothing. To the wall parallel to the door was a large black wooden desk with a rack of different video games and comic books on its side. It was a pleasure of hers that not many people knew about.

To the right of the bed was a folding screen with the design of a gold tiger from one end to the other. Each of the three windows now had a yellow cushioned nook that looked like perfect spots to read.

"How did you do this?" Gwen asked in disbelief.

"It is the way of the haven. The rooms customize themselves for those who are assigned to them. The purpose of this space and myself included, is to make you all as comfortable and safe as possible."

"Safe from what though? The dangers are on the Astral Plane, aren't they?"

"As you can see Lady Gwen, last night serves as an example that there are still a multitude of dangers that can reach this plane."

"Wonderful," she scuffed.

She closed the door to the room and headed out back down to the open hall. She headed passed the top of the twin staircases towards the other ascending walkway she assumed was the male dormitories.

"Lady Gwen, what are you doing?" Notus asked nervously from behind.

"I want to see Bright's room. There isn't a rule against that too is there?"

"Well, no, he hasn't put any restrictions on the matter but I have been looking after Master Bright for twelve years now. I am assuming safely that he wouldn't take well to this."

"Twelve years? I figured he got the haven when he started school here... So he's been a shaman since he was a little kid?"

"Yes my lady. He arrived here when he was just eight years old. The Poor thing was shaken and scared... His room isn't much different from when he arrived."

Gwen flashed back to her dream once more. The boy running in the dark filled with fear arriving at the tree. She was seeing through the eyes of Bright those twelve years ago.

Gwen continued down the leaf hall. She was going to ask Notus which it was, but from what impressions she had gotten from Bright, she had a strong guess as to which room was his.

She continued to the very end to the room that had the number one carved into the center. She took hold of the gold knob and entered.

Sure enough, she was right. There in front of her was a room decorated similar to the house he had in Kingslane. The walls were white and he too had the same round steps that elevated the king sized bed covered in white sheets and comforters. The ceiling was domed and had a large white encircled snake biting its tail with a crystal chandelier in the center. At the end of the bed was a long ivory ottoman. There were stained hickory shelves alongside the wall and lace curtains at the windows. With the sunlight, the entire space radiated a heavenly brightness. Everything except for two small square pillows on the bed however. One was red and the other was blue and oddly enough, the faceless things seemed to own the room.

"Nothing to see, clearly," Notus commented.

Gwen stepped into the space. The desk was in the same location as hers, except there was nothing to either side of it. There was simply a closed notebook, three pens lined neatly to the side, and at the end of the desk resting on the wall were two ivory paperweights. One was the shape of a lion and the other in the shape of a ram oddly resembling chess pieces.

She turned back to the bed and stared at the blue and red pillows feeling as if they were ghosts looking back at her.

"He doesn't sleep here does he?" She asked.

Notus turned his head from side to side. "No, he hasn't slept here for quite some years now."

She decided to ask no more questions that could possibly get her floating friend into trouble with the master of the house. She exited the room closing the door slowly behind her.

Once out of the tunnel she headed down the twin staircases. She proceeded to the left where the ticking clock and the books rested. She noticed that behind the globe in the far left corner, was an empty space where the books didn't meet. She moved passed the sphere and examined the wall. She pushed hard and a click went off from behind. The wall shot up revealing another planked path with the rope bannisters.

Down she went through the leaves and branches. The thin beams of sunlight began to be drowned away as a stone structure came into vision below. It was a large space. The ground was made of rock similar to Notus. Four thick rectangular pillars held the structure up at the four corners and above was a ceiling identical to the square ground.

In the center of the platform was a glowing indigo orb as big as a wrecking ball. Oddly, as the thing glowed, everything around it, including the green, was shrouded in darkness.

Taking steps forward she could see that Bright was standing directly behind the orb looking deep in thought.

"Bright?" she called out.

He quickly snapped out of his focus as if from a daydream. The light of the orb minimized and the darkness around them let up to allow the leaves and sun to return.

"What are you doing here? Where's Notus?"

"You told him not to disturb you but you didn't tell him I couldn't look for you myself."

"Clever," he stated sarcastically.

Silence fell on them for a few seconds as Bright looked back to the orb.

"I'm a shaman," she said flatly.

"Yes, yes you are. A 'thank you' wouldn't be out of order."

"A thank you? Yes I'm thankful that you saved my life but that doesn't change the fact that this life isn't what I want."

"Nor does it have to be."

"What do you mean?"

"Shamanism isn't a permanent deal. There are ways to give up the title. I did what I did to save your life. I take it you're still feeling a bit sick?"

Gwen hadn't paid much attention to it with her surprise and exploring the house. Though as she stood there she could feel her insides feeling hot and bloated.

She nodded.

"That will take some time. Once you are back to complete health, I will do you the favor of removing your shaman status. You see, conversion is a last hope method to save a person from certain death."

"Wouldn't everyone be a shaman if that's true?"

"Exactly. Who has the faith or the courage to allow a loved one to go when they literally have the power in the palm of their hands to save them even if it's not their destiny? I pride myself on not being a supporter of such a 'brood promoting' factor, but you see, you actually were called to the cause. No shaman law was technically broken.

"You don't have to worry though. Once you're fully healed it won't be a problem for you anymore."

Gwen could tell he was looking much better than the other day but he was still angry by her decision. She didn't want to express too much relief, but she had just been told that she could have her cake and eat it too. If alone, she would have jumped for joy. She decided to try and take the attention away from the subject.

"What happened last night? Besides my becoming a temporary shaman."

"You were attacked. It was actually one of the reasons I came to see you. As I told you, I had a run in with a Phantom Lord. Potential shamans have this tendency to become clearer in vision to ghouls in Limbo. It's not unheard of that they can fall under attack. I was going to bring you here directly just to bind you to the haven in the meantime. Until you decided, that is. After you told me your decision I figured it was something that could wait until morning. Notus can just cleanse you and you can be on your way."

"If this is true why didn't you try to do this earlier? Even before you found a Phantom Lord in town?"

Bright turned to look at Gwen again with eyes of intolerance.

"I'm sorry princess you're not necessarily on the top of my list of priorities. Children being abducted and not returning to their bodies and all, remember?"

Gwen brushed off the snap. "Did you ever find out what happened to the girl?"

Bright turned back to look at the orb.

"She's back to her body. Apparently she woke up the night I fought Lord Vane. I was on my way back from visiting her on the Astral Plane when I started sensing something with you. When I got to your location you were already badly beaten.

"Whoever saved you was lost in the building fighting the ghoul. I would have joined in myself but I was too weak. You only had a few minutes at most anyway. I acted, you went back to your body and I returned to mine.

"Luckily I got to the site before they could take you to the hospital. I used my power on the cops and your friend Sam. All was said and done before the masses came out from the stadium. Had they gotten out five minutes earlier I wouldn't have been able to mess with their memories without exposing myself to the other viceroys."

"Well, thank you."

"Did you manage to get a look at who saved you?" Bright asked ignoring her gratitude.

"Yeah, but I don't remember much. He had a shield. It looked silver and there was a cat's face in the center. I think it was a panther. Anyone from the broods?"

"No. He's not from around town. It seems strangers showing up here is the trending thing to do these days... Though after paying Olivia a visit, I am going to assume that your rescuer and hers are one in the same. This, 'platinum one'."

"So he can't be that bad. He saved her and me. What else did she say?"

"Nothing. Even when a normal human spends days in the Astral Plane, they return and their memories are victim to the same consequences as dreams. They become blurs. Not that it matters, but in today's shaman world, no one is to be trusted. We don't know whom he works for or what his end game is. It looks like my list of assignments keeps multiplying."

Gwen flashed back to the boy running towards the tree.

"Well reflecting back what do you have? The Poltergeist Trade, this Lord Vane who is probably behind it for reasons you don't know, a young girl being abducted from her body, and a panther character saving the day," Gwen checked off.

Bright stayed quiet as he stared at the orb.

"Bright I do remember something from last night. Though it was strange..." Gwen began recalling the flash of memories.

"Be more specific. I think all of this could easily fall under the category of 'strange.'"

"When I passed out I started seeing things. They were from the past. My past or at least I think."

Bright looked to her curiously. "Memories...?"

"I don't know how they could be. In some of them I was a man and in one of them I was even in a country I've never even been to before."

"A reincarnated soul..." chimed Notus looking amazed.

"Reincarnation? That's a thing too? I thought you said spirits couldn't go backwards. That it was against nature."

"It is but it wasn't always," began Bright, "the Reincarnation Plea was one of the many contracts that the Courts could give humans. When souls would arrive lacking enough karma for Elysium they could seek an extension to accumulate the funds. They would be returned to life though from that moment they would have no recollection of the previous time on the Physical Plane. So much information would be cheating the process after all. They would come back and usually in more difficult circumstances then the previous turn. No surprise since having a second chance is already a huge gift. Why wouldn't it come with a catch?

"Becoming a shaman must have let you catch glimpses of your previous lives."

"What happened to the plea? They stopped it?"

"Yes they discontinued the plea at the turn of the twentieth century, World War I. So many souls were requesting it that they 'couldn't keep up with demand.' I called bullshit. As if mass death was anything new. They probably only did it thinking it would cut off shamans. Most used to be spirits that have been here before you see. More specifically, souls that in some way were warriors like knights, gladiators, samurai, and ninjas. I suppose they thought they were cutting us off at the source. The Ophanim have their angel wings stuffed so far up their asses that they fail to realize even in cases like the Reincarnation Plea we can't be touched by them. Like I told you, we were appointed by the Seventh and our rules are set by the Seventh. Sadly, the Seventh seemed to agree with the Courts regarding the plea. No matter if it was a human or shaman dying, reincarnations and assignments to new lives was always handled by the lottery conducted by one of the upper planes like the fifth or sixth. Though you could say it even agreed a bit too much..."

Gwen flashed back to the memory of her shrouded in black leaping from roof to roof. "If this is all true then how did I manage to get reincarnated and what do you mean a little too much?"

"It means you must have made one hell of a case the last time you died to someone very important," Bright stated looking at her impressed and curious of what other surprises she could muster. It was quickly followed by the familiar eruption of impatience and anger. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, they implemented a different deal that has been a plague ever since."

"What deal is that?"

"Not important now. As you can see I'm busy and those are matters that won't concern you anyway."

"What is this thing anyway?" Gwen asked ignoring the rudeness.

"Again, nothing that concerns you," Bright mumbled.

"It is the Void Lady Gwen. It is the window that allows shamans to look upon activity happening on the Astral Plane and this one alike. It is a useful tool when Master Bright is trying to locate a ghoul," Notus stated as he floated from the entrance towards the two of them.

"Really? So are using it to find Vane then?" Gwen questioned.

Bright didn't look too happy with Notus giving Gwen information.

"No. As I have said, the lords are very powerful. They possess enchanted objects that cloak them from any Void. I dabbed the tip of my rapier into a smudge of ghoul blood on the ground belonging to the one who attacked you. If your hero failed to eliminate him, I would have had a direct link to tracking him down. Unfortunately, he isn't showing up which means he's dead," he said unpleasantly.

"I get you don't like me but you don't have to sound so disappointed the ghoul who tried to off me is gone," Gwen mumbled.

Bright didn't answer right away. She figured it was for the reason that Bright had explained back at his house. Ghouls and shamans dislike one another. She was a potential who had become visible on the Astral Plane. If they could kill her before she ever had a chance to become what they called "intruders" then why wouldn't they take it?

"Olivia is snatched from her body and taken to a specific location on the Astral Plane. Where, I still have no clue. Then there is the attack on you, which if research serves correctly wasn't a random offing. Rather it was a bounty for the alleged Heiress Apparent to the White Viper."

"Right. They hate you and they would hate any shaman you would make."

"No, you see a potential can show up on the plane but there is no way they would have known who that shaman was a potential for. They somehow had that information beforehand. Information that is literally impossible to obtain..." Bright's voice trailed off in a way that made Gwen and Notus feel all the more curious.

"Master Bright, what do you think this all means?" Notus interjected.

"It means there are big things happening in Limbo. I have to get to the bottom of it before it gets out of control."

With those words, the orb disappeared and the natural light took control once more. Bright moved straight ahead directly for the pathway without further acknowledgment of the others.

"Alright, since you don't need or want me around, can you please tell me how I get out of here? I'm bound to the haven so I should be fine to go home," Gwen demanded as they made their way through the secret door and back out into the grand foyer with Notus close behind.

"You can't leave."

"Why not?" Gwen asked impatiently getting tired of hearing those words.

"Though you won't be tomorrow, today, you are a shaman. That means you don't have full control of the projections. I've already told you that humans go into the Astral Plane unwillingly when they dream. Unless they're abducted the way Olivia was, it's usually an 'in and out' situation. You though, are a shaman. Your body will feel as real as it does here. You will move there as easily as you do here. If you remember anything I said over breakfast, you will remember that there is a third plane of power you could tap into which might be more dangerous than helpful if you don't know what you're doing.

'There is no way of telling if when you go to sleep you won't unwillingly show up in Limbo. New timers have a tendency to act like dreaming humans; they're unaware they're dreaming until they're too far away from their star-rift. I told you that the havens are a pocket outside of reality. You won't be able to project here."

"Well can't you just watch me while-"

"I'm not wasting my time with you!" Bright shouted.

Gwen could feel Notus shift his shape out of control.

She could see him panting with rage and trying to get himself back under control. It was hard for her to believe that the infuriated shaman she was staring at was the same person who wore that cool and collected smile on that stage Saturday morning.

"Notus, tell me how I get out of here," she said calmly to the floating head.

"By command of your viceroy I forbid you to assist her leaving this haven until I have eliminated her as a shaman!" Bright yelled.

Notus shifted his face to look very upset.

"You don't want me here. You sure as hell don't like me. If I end up on the Astral Plane, that's on me. I will deal with it."

"That coming from the one who didn't want to be a shaman because she was too scared."

"I would rather take my chances there then to watch you try and tell me what I can and can't do. So Notus, please, how do I get out of here?"

Bright did not look to the floating gargoyle. It seemed the silence suggested that he had the green light to tell her.

"The torch at the corner of the patio. When the light of the flame is lit it means the coast is clear and you can exit. When the flame is off it means there are normal humans within eyesight. When the flame turns back on, just grab the base of the torch and will yourself out."

"Thank you, and if I never see you again I just wanted to say it was very nice to meet you. My room was lovely. Bright, just stop by my place tomorrow so you can do whatever you have to do."

Notus gave a bow as she headed out to the porch without giving Bright another glance.

In the silence they heard the flame flicker on, a swooshing gust, and knew that the short-lived Heiress Apparent had vanished.

XIII. In the Valkyries' Nest

BY MIDNIGHT, GWEN FOUND her phone to have several unanswered text messages. All of them were from Sam.

"Hey, so Kingslane won last night. Sucks you couldn't come out. I know you said you were feeling under the weather but I was thinking maybe it had something to do with whatever was wrong with you on Saturday. I'm telling you, you probably got roofied and it was probably that sketch ball! I'm free after three tomorrow. Just give me a call if you want me to go to the clinic with you..."

Bright had made her believe that she cancelled on their night.

Little did Sam know that not only had she been present eating strangely cooked hotdogs with her, but afterwards had been turned into another mystical young shaman roaming the streets of their school.

She had decided to stay inside until Bright came around to reverse it. Though her symptoms had subsided and there was no more burning feelings in her stomach, her walk home had presented its own struggles.

As she walked the streets towards the East End she could sense different emotions pressing against her. It was the only way she could define it. Anger, jealousy, lust, frustration and more seemed to waft into her face as she passed any and every building, apartment, house, or even park. Everything had some kind of emotional strain that refused to go unnoticed. They were all scents fuming from things alien to her.

Bright had mentioned shaman sensitivity to the emotional aura of a given location. She wondered if there was a way to shut it off. There had to be if Bright Santos could remain as aloof as he did every moment of the day.

From her apartment room window she looked down to the street illuminated by the orange glow. There in the spot where a blue mini cooper had just passed was where she saw the White Viper for the first time. For that night, she belonged to that world.

She looked to the window across from her where the blinds were shut and she could feel a sensual push brush against her knees and elbows that left her feeling hot and bothered. She rushed away from her bed not wanting to sense more of how those who lived across from her were staining their walls with sex.

On some level she thought she should be grateful. If she could keep herself distracted with all the emotional noise, then there would be no way for her to fall asleep and accidentally slip into Limbo. Of course she was curious of what existed there and what she could see. Perhaps another run in with her savior...

This was the second shaman she had seen in action on the Astral Plane. He wasn't as fast as Bright but he certainly looked stronger. She wondered if he was worth being worried about. He had helped her escape the ghoul and, if all were true, saved Olivia FitzGerald after all.

She lay down on her brown couch in the living room. The only thing shattering the silence was the ticking of a clock from the second bedroom. Again, there was no sign of Vivienne since she got back.

The idea of her jumping in the air the way Bright and the Panther had come rushing back to her. Certainly, once upon a time they each were as scared as she was. Notus had even told her how horrified Bright had been when he arrived at the haven. What haunted her was the thing in the Physical world that was after him those twelve years prior...

I could overcome the fear, she thought. She could be the Golden Tigress. That would also mean that she would be the Heiress Apparent to Bright Santos, The White Viper.

Every time she remembered his outburst in the haven however, she just felt more repulsed by the idea. He didn't look like a team player or even a person who would get along with someone by his side. He would probably just use her to do his chores or maybe even drive him around in his luxurious car as he sat in the back seat.

A raindrop fell on her forehead as a chilly breeze passed by.

A raindrop? Inside? She asked herself as she looked up to the glowing night sky as clouds moved quickly. She looked around to see the lights of many lanterns and the streets bustling busy with activity. She was outdoors.

On the sidewalk she could see short things, tall things, round things, and spikey things pushing through and giving her odd looks up and down. In the sky, dragonflies buzzed and popping tin vehicles hauled their way on roads next to creatures saddled on the backs of crickets and centipedes.

The buildings were like skyscrapers and those in the north in the actual Kingslane city could be seen shooting to the sky passed the clouds and train tracks. As a six armed thug knocked into her she realized exactly where she was.

Somehow, while she lay in the dark living room she had fallen sleep. How long she had been walking in the Astral Plane, she wasn't sure. The creatures and exaggeration of details didn't make it easy to figure out where she was either. She looked frantically around for the little twinkling star that had floated above her on the street when she was clinging to life. Though there was nothing to be found.

The heavier she breathed and the more nervous her composure became, the more the creatures would stare. She had to move, and she had to get out of sight. She turned the way she came and hoped she would be able to navigate her way back to her apartment.

On every other building she could see a silver winged flag waving weakly in the rainy air. She assumed with confidence that it meant the flag of the Valkyries. She was still on the East End of campus. She just had to relax, walk, and not attract so much attention to herself. Seeing how she was the only human for miles it was safe to say it wouldn't be easy.

Seven blocks down the road, her hair and clothes wet, and the grounds reflecting walkers and streetlights, she was more lost than she had been from the start. Despite the flags and consistent silver color, the place looked like a mix and match of random architecture.

She couldn't recognize any of it.

She continued, though the further she went the mess of ghouls seemed to deplete leaving her to question if it was a good sign or a bad one.

She got to the edge of a hill where far ahead she could make out the colossal structure of a labyrinth that surrounded huge Greek like buildings. In the distance she could make out a few flags that had an encircled snake biting its own tail...

Campus Center.

It meant she was on the edge of Valkyrie Territory and Bright's.

The rain was beginning to pick up and she still had no way of fixing her predicament. She knew that as much as the rule stood true for people on her plane regarding avoiding the late hours of the night alone, she was confident it had to go double when a human was alone in the ghoul infested Limbo.

She decided to turn back. That was, if she could remember how to get back to where she came.

The ghouls continued to stare. She was getting the feeling that they were beginning to notice that she was lost. After a few moments their stairs began to redirect to her neck and then back to her eyes.

She placed her hand to her chest and found the gold coin still with her. Only it was giving off a golden glow that shifted slowly from bright to dim.

She didn't want to admit it, but as much as she detested looking at Bright, she was beginning to think he was right about staying at the haven. He had said that when her life was in danger he was able to sense it. There had to be a chance he was there.

Then again, judging by his own outburst and anger, she wouldn't be surprised if he was already aware of her circumstance and was deciding to let her sweat for not listening. Just the possibility that he was somewhere on a rooftop watching her and having a private joke about the wet and nerve wracking ordeal made her determined not to let her fear reflect on her face.

She would keep moving and figure something out. She had to.

The rain was beginning to pound. She could barely keep her eyes open. She wanted to find a place to get out of it but where, she didn't know.

She turned into an empty alleyway and ran to its end towards a dumpster. The best she could think of was finding a trash bag to use for cover. She started rummaging, but as she lifted the third soggy bag, she felt someone's glare on her from above.

She slowly stepped back and raised her eyes to get a look but the rain wouldn't let her. Something told her it wasn't Bright.

She abandoned the trash and ran back out to the streets that were nearly empty. The eyes from above continued to watch her. She could feel it. Whoever or whatever it was jumped from building to building keeping tight on her trail.

She crossed a road as an old popping car missed her. Another presence came on her radar across the way. A turn to the right and a quick crossing of another street and she could feel the first figure jump across the air to another silver building. The two were now together.

She turned at the next available left only to find herself in another dead-end alley. She tried to turn around but her mistake was already done. A willowed limbed, thin, and female human shaped figure with long blonde hair blocked the way out. She heard a splash behind her as another figure, more robust than the first, with dark brown locks landed in the alley. Two individuals that were definitely human had set a trap for her.

"What do you want?" Gwen asked.

The strangers didn't answer.

The brunette grabbed Gwen by the arm and threw her against one of the brick walls. She crashed hard into the stone and fell to the ground. The brunette wasted no time quickly taking hold of her throat. Her grip was locked tight as she lifted Gwen into the air struggling for breath.

Enough, Gwen thought.

In less than a week she had been mind-attacked by a short prick, emotionally pulled by a stranger, and made to look like a drunk on the street while being taken to the brink of death. She was done with the victim position life had been insisting she play. If she really was a shaman, and ghouls in the town really feared the White Viper, then she was going to make sure they felt worse when they heard of the Golden Tigress.

The stranger threw her against the wall sending her to the ground once more. The mess of brown hair shot a punch and Gwen managed to dodge it as she heard the fist crash into the wet pavement.

Instinctively she placed both palms on the damp ground, raised her body up, and thrust both of her feet right into the girl's chest. She watched her slam even harder into the parallel brick wall leaving a wide crater.

The brown hair moved away from her face and Gwen could see she was a girl that couldn't be much older than her.

She couldn't believe what she had just done. She had imagined being able to do things like it when she read comic books or played video games. Even in her privacy trying to teach herself to do a handstand she had never come anywhere close to it let alone the attack she pulled off. She had done the attack like she had known how to do it all along.

The blonde one came running towards her and glided through the air grabbing Gwen by the neck throwing her onto her back. The water splashed everywhere as she could feel more rain pound against her face making it harder to breathe.

The girl was trying to keep her down and wasn't making any attempts to really fight.

Gwen tried to yell. What came out however was the undeniable roar of a tiger. She kicked the girl off, sending her flying out of the mouth of the alley. She placed her hands beside her head, raised her legs in the air, and threw herself back onto her feet.

The brunette came back throwing faster punches and jumping from wall to wall gliding through the rain.

Gwen jumped at her as she was in mid glide, knocked her to the ground, grabbed her by the collar of her brown shirt, lifted her, and slammed her into the brick wall.

"What do you want?" she yelled.

The Brunette answered by kicking Gwen in her stomach forcing her grip to unlock and throwing her back. The blonde had returned throwing switch kicks, round kicks, and spinning her legs through the air with such speed it was difficult for Gwen to block. Truthfully, she couldn't believe she was blocking to begin with.

She managed to grab the girls left leg before it could clock her in her right cheek. She spun her through the air and slammed her entire body into the brunette making another massive crater in the silver brick wall.

As the two tried to collect themselves out of the hole, Gwen took the opportunity to make a run for it.

Back onto the street she ran. She didn't know in which direction but she didn't care. She needed to get as far away as she could.

The rain was subsiding quickly. There soon was nothing but drops falling from the edges of the buildings and the sound of her feet splashing in the large puddles.

It didn't take long for the feeling of the two jumping above to return.

There wasn't a ghoul in sight. It was only she and the two roof stalkers.

She stopped running and turned.

Both of them floated down into the center of the street throwing their soaked hair out of their faces.

"Who are you?" Gwen asked again sternly.

"More importantly is who are you?" The brunette asked in a deep feminine voice that suited her well. "Are you the new heiress to the White Viper?"

She folded her arms over her soaked brown t-shirt where it was clear to tell she had some very defined muscles. The way she tightened her mouth highlighted the one dimple that resided on her left cheek.

"I'll ask again. This time answer my question or I won't make a crater in the wall with your body- I'll break it in two. Who are you?"

"I like her attitude," The brunette smiled to the blonde. She kept her arms folded across her chest standing taller at the threat.

"Babe, seriously, don't start drooling," the blonde voiced with obvious jealousy rubbing her shoulder where she had gotten slammed. She lacked the same physical definition of her companion but she had very long legs that she showed off with her tiny shorts. Her bottom lip was plump and pink. Whether it was always like that or just an effect of her ass getting beat was unclear. Her eyes seemed to droop lazily, which gave the idea that no matter what the circumstance, she was always bored.

"Calm down," the brunette told her with little patience. Gwen could tell the jealousy episodes between the pair were something regular. "You'll have to forgive my girlfriend. Doesn't really like fighting all that much...physical fighting that is..."

The blonde scoffed.

Gwen didn't answer as she still waited for her response.

"I'm the Blood Eagle," the brunette finally answered. "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" she asked her whining partner.

"Pearl Crane," She pouted.

The Blood Eagle ignored the obvious gesture of dissatisfaction and continued. "We're going to need you to come with us, Heiress."

"How do you know who I am?"

"Everyone knows who you are," Eagle started. "You were attacked in the middle of the street and some random shaman came to your rescue by the stadium. Just because ghouls and shamans don't like each other doesn't't mean we don't hear things...Only took about an hour for all the 'White Viper's new heiress noise to break out."

"How did you even find me?"

"Um, are you retarded?" The Crane mocked pointing to a silver flag on a nearby building.

"You're the Valkyries..." Gwen assessed.

"That's right... We can see everything that happens here with a weapon in the haven."

"The Void..." Gwen stated simply.

"How does she know?" The Crane hissed to the Eagle.

"All the havens have one! Sparrow told us that, Jesus."

The Crane turned around giving her back to her girlfriend.

"We're two of the Valkyries, yeah," responded the Eagle

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

The Eagle smiled which also accented the dimple on her left cheek. "I'm sorry but it's not really an option. Do you sense that?" she asked.

As soon as the words left the Eagle's mouth Gwen could feel the presence of two more figures on the rooftops behind her with one to the left and one to the right.

"More of your friends?" Gwen asked trying not to let the worry show in her voice.

"Yeah bitch so don't make it hard and just come with us already," the Crane chimed in with a voice that sounded like something coming from a valley girl.

Gwen was aware she was outnumbered. She was confident that she could take out the couple but she had no idea what the other two were packing.

She had to keep going. Eventually Bright would sense it. If she could just hold them off for a bit longer and maybe even find a place to hide...

"So what do you say?" The Eagle questioned.

Gwen answered by jumping forward, grabbing the Cranes head, and slamming it into her knee before throwing her across the street.

The Eagle landed a punch across her face, grabbed her shoulders and slammed her knee into Gwen's gut. She followed it by flipping into the air and kicking Gwen in the back, forcing her onto her face.

The two from above had descended and were walking slowly towards them. With the Eagle, they completed a triangle around Gwen while the Crane cursed up a storm on the curb.

Gwen looked up to see both had identical brown hair that was much lighter than that of the Eagle. The one to the left was slightly shorter than the other and spun a green staff in her hand that looked very much like a lacrosse stick. When she stopped spinning Gwen could see that it was actually a dream catcher attached to a staff with two brown and white feathers wrapped around the neck.

She put the net in front of her face and examined Gwen through the strings. "Golden Tigress. Powered by electricity. No totem. Tiger power animal has given her heightened agility and a boost in strength. Pretty fast too, but nothing like the Viper."

"Ok, I can do something!" the one to the right voiced. She had thick bangs that covered her forehead though the damp streaks allowed the hint of acne to be seen behind it. She lacked much of a chin and had very small teeth.

"Shut up Parrot. Let us deal with this," Eagle chimed.

"Problem, ladies?" said a voice that Gwen had only heard speak a couple sentences yet she already knew it well.

From behind the Eagle approached the well-built, dark haired, olive skinned shaman with the gray V-neck T-shirt and shield strapped tight to his back.

"Owl, who is this guy?" The Eagle asked.

Gwen saw the girl with the dream catcher lift the circle in front of her face to see the Panther through the strings.

"Platinum Panther. His power animal is generated by the metal element so I'm seeing a huge strength factor with M.P. assistance. The shield totem can produce any hands-on weapon he wants," she said with concern.

The Eagle rolled her eyes with impatience.

"Four on one isn't a fair fight, or rather, three on one. I don't think she counts," he stated pointing over to the Crane who was still fussing about the knee to the face.

"Valkyrie territory buddy. If you're one of the Tortoise's frat boys, keep walking," The Eagle commanded.

"Sorry, can't say I've ever met the Tortoise personally. I'm not actually from around here."

The Eagle turned back to the Owl. "Seriously, who is he?" she barked.

The Owl didn't flinch at her command but tried again to look through the strings.

"All I'm getting is his title. I'm telling you, I can see into anyone's head with this. If nothing is coming up then it doesn't exist," she responded.

The Eagle grinned back to the Panther. "I get it. You're a lost one. We've recently become pretty familiar with those... We'd love to help you but as you can see we have our hands full at the moment."

The Panther stopped in his walk. "Let her go and this doesn't have to get ugly," he stated politely.

"You're really going to try and hit girls?" The Parrot yelled.

Gwen thought the voice of the Crane was annoying, but the Parrot had one to compete with.

"I'm not going to be the one touching you," The Panther began before an immense metallic panther shot from his chest landing a couple feet from the Eagle. "He is."

The Eagle's back was turned to Gwen but she could tell by the tension of her shoulders that she was strongly considering running.

"Enough of this," The Owl mumbled from behind.

Without warning, unlike the others, she didn't glide but literally flew through the air and landed between the metal cat and the man. She held her staff to eye level between herself and him and said the word, "fears."

The Panther fell to the ground grabbing his head beginning to panic for no reason. The metallic cat behind her was losing focus swooshing all over the street crashing into cars.

The Owl kept her staff steady directed at him as he continued his state of horror.

"Interesting. He may not remember his life on the Physical Plane but he has definitely found some stuff to be scared of here," she said.

Gwen rose to her feet quickly and jumped up behind the Eagle.

"Look out!" The Parrot warned with her annoying shrill that didn't come fast enough.

Gwen grabbed a handful of her hair on the back of her head and slammed her face first into the ground.

She tried to recover quickly to go after the Owl but she was beat to the punch.

The staff was now pointed at her. Gwen could see the Owls hazel eyes through the netting.

"Sadness," the Owl commanded.

Suddenly, Gwen's vision was blurred. All she could see were flashes of the past. Things that had made her cry to sleep. Images of heartbreaking rejection, moments of being teased by the cool girls in elementary school, and that dance she was too afraid to go to in seventh grade all came pouring into her sight piling up emotionally on her at once.

It felt like hours but it had to have been only seconds. Her sight returned to normal and she could see the dream catcher staff on the ground. The Panther had one arm around the Owl's neck from behind and had her right arm wrapped around her back.

Apparently the staff could only work on one victim at a time.

"Interesting totem you have there..." he assessed still looking disturbed by the visions the staff had caused him.

"Let me go or I fly us fifty feet in the air and drop you," she threatened.

The Panther rolled his eyes. "Seriously? I fell like a mile over the weekend and barely bruised. Besides, you try and pull anything and my cat over there slashes the life out of your Viceroy Eagle."

Gwen got to her feet to see the Parrot was shaken. Like the Crane, she clearly wasn't much of a fighter.

"She isn't our viceroy," The Crane spoke walking up angrily. "That's why we came for the stupid Heiress."

"Elaborate," The Panther instructed still keeping his grasp on the Owl.

"Our viceroy is the Silver Sparrow. She was kidnapped over a week ago."

Everyone remained quiet. The look on the Panther's faced expressed more concern than Gwen thought it would have.

"By who?" The Panther asked.

"We don't know," the Crane said while whipping the gravel from her lashes. "We know the rules of the plane. If she doesn't get back to her body in time she's going to forget who she is, or worse she's going to die. She's missing the whole first week of classes and we can't keep dodging calls!" she yelped in a borderline hissy fit.

"So you were going to what? Take the Heiress and hold her hostage until the Viper found her for you?"

Judging by the silence from all the birds, it was clear that this was exactly their master plan.

"We just want her back," The Blood Eagle spoke getting to her feet and spitting the gravel out of her mouth. "We're getting desperate. It's not like the shamans in town get along to begin with!"

"Rogues," Gwen corrected. She couldn't believe it came out of her mouth. She was turning into Bright.

The Valkyries shot her an angry insulted look. Clearly they were familiar with the infamy of the title.

"Let's propose something else," The Owl entered trying to pacify the situation. "A summit. We will reach out to the other two viceroys in town and hold a summit to make a formal request."

Gwen thought she was out of her mind. Why would anyone agree to that if they insisted on going around trying to kidnap people?

"Why do you think anyone would agree to that?" The Panther asked before Gwen could express the idea.

"Because if viceroys are getting kidnapped by ghouls it's only a matter of time before they start coming after everyone else. If I'm not wrong, this one here was attacked for being a potential to the White Viper, before she was even officially a shaman. If that isn't going to spark some interest to talk I don't know what will," the Owl commented.

The street fell silent again as they each let their thoughts stir.

"Your call, Tiger lily," the Panther directed to Gwen.

The nickname had caught her off guard. "Um, yeah. Seriously though, if you were able to rationalize that in seconds why didn't you open with it?"

"Because even if this summit does happen and the other two show up, it's the Viper's help we want," The Eagle began, "we're also aware he would have been the least willing to do so."

Gwen figured it was true. "Alright. I'll talk to him," she agreed hesitantly. "When and where?"

The Crane stepped forward. "There's a restaurant called La Symphonia. On our plane it's this fancy place. It's the same here but it's also the tallest point around campus and it's impossible to miss. Tomorrow at eight," she instructed.

None of the other Valkyries spoke. They were clearly agreed.

Gwen remembered the clean and decadent restaurant. It was a strange coincidence that it should be there that the Valkyries wanted the summit.

"Fine. Now get the hell out of here," Gwen commanded.

The Panther let go of the Owl. She slowly bent down and picked up her staff.

The Metallic Panther looked at them as they walked still on their guard.

The four wet and beaten birds regrouped. The Eagle, the Crane, and the Parrot began gliding from wall to wall to reach the rooftops as the Owl simply flew through the silent night sky.

Gwen looked to the Panther.

"That's the second time I've had to save you now Tiger lily," he joked.

Gwen scoffed. "You saved me once. I had them taken care of. Besides if it weren't for me you'd still be panicking," she fired back.

He smiled. "It's late. The ghouls will be talking about all this commotion soon enough. We should get you back to your rift."

Gwen's stomach sank. All of the fighting had made her almost forget.

"What's wrong?" he asked noticing the look on her face.

"I don't know where my star-rift is," she confessed.

The Panther exhaled in relief. "If I got an ounce of karma for every time I've had to hear that... Not to worry. I've been camped outside your place since last night. I saw you come out. I can take you back."

A shower of relief came over Gwen as she hurried to get beside him.

The Metal Panther disappeared as they began their walk in the silent night.

"Seriously though, thank you for last night. I would be dead if it weren't for you," she said.

"Don't mention it. Just doing the shaman duty aren't I?"

"Yeah, I guess you are."

"How are you liking it so far? I mean, other than being attacked by a rival tribe in the pouring rain," he joked.

He was charming. She wondered if maybe he was Corey Hughes instead of allegedly this Copper Tortoise.

"Oh, it's just great," she began sarcastically, "Is it true what the Owl said? About you not remembering?"

The Panther sunk his head a bit. "Yeah, it is."

"How long have you been lost?"

"Wish I could tell you. I think maybe a bit over three weeks now?"

"But that would mean you're dying." She didn't know what other way to word it.

"Yup. That will ultimately be what happens to me unless I can get back to my body soon. Much like this Silver Sparrow."

The Panther took her down a left and continued onward down a road that regardless of the distortion was ringing a bell to her. Getting caught up in the peace of their march, she realized she had overlooked an important detail.

"You said you were camped outside my apartment... Why?" she asked stopping in her tracks.

The Panther chuckled. "Relax, I'm not trying to attack you. I've been looking for the White Viper. After I killed the ghoul from last night I got a clue as to where you lived. I figured one of these days you would show up on the plane. Just had to wait."

"What do you want with the Viper?"

"I think he can help me get my body back."

"Seems to be a popular thought around here...You think he's the only viceroy out of the four that could help you?"

"They could all potentially help but as we just discovered, one of them has been kidnapped and the other two I've never seen or heard from. The reputation of the Viper goes way beyond Kingslane. They say he's a schmuck but he's good at what he does. He seemed like my best bet."

Gwen was reviewing the details in her head. This guy who saved her life twice was on the verge of death and somehow was managing to keep his cool. Had it been her, she knew she would be screaming and pleading for help being aware of every second she was losing.

"I can't promise anything but I'll talk to him." She knew he was skeptical of everyone and especially The Panther who he only knew as the 'Platinum One.' He was going to be unhappy about the request for the summit. She could only imagine his reaction to helping the stranger.

She was aware that morning would come and Bright would be at her doorstep to take away her shaman status. She didn't want to confess the fact to the Panther. After all, what did it really matter?

Things were different. The Panther had saved her twice and in the process created a nickname for her. She would postpone her elimination until Bright did what he could to help him. She owed him at least that much. How she would word it without his ego being bruised was another story.

The Panther simply gave her a nod.

"Alright, here we are," he said stopping in front of a forty floor silver building with a Valkyrie flag on the wall.

"I have to move," she mumbled.

She began to go up the taller than normal stairs before realizing another important thing. "Where are you staying now?" she asked.

"Oh, um, just back to the roof across the street. There were some people having sex on the third floor I think. Kind of happy you projected when you did honestly. Aura was getting uncomfortable."

"Well why don't you stay in my place. I mean, at least here you'll be safe. I'll talk to the Viper first thing in the morning."

The Panther hesitated for a bit but ultimately agreed.

They both entered the building up to the third floor apartment, which strangely enough was the only place Gwen had seen to look exactly the same.

"Still needs some breaking in, I guess," he said taking note of it as well.

She stood in her doorway and saw the twinkling star floating over her couch.

"Good night Tiger Lily," he said as he lay down on the living room floor.

"Good night-, Sorry, I never got your name. I know you're not supposed to tell others on the plane but I think it's safe to say you're not one to kill a girl in her sleep."

The Panther grinned.

"Thanks, I think. I would tell you but I don't remember it. A friend of mine for a couple of days called me Steven if you want to use that."

"I'll just find it out tomorrow," she said with certainty.

She gave him one more look as he rested himself on the ground. She then walked over to the tiny light and put her hand to its warmth.

XIV. Down the Rabbit Hole

"LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT," Bright began as he took a sip of the orange juice that Gwen had given him. "You came up with this entire position on how you don't want to put your life at risk and become a shaman because of the dangers that it would put you under. Yet here you are now, saying that you have changed your mind after being lost and ambushed on the Astral Plane. This is very interesting."

Gwen walked over to the kitchen where he was resting against the stove.

"I already told you, I haven't changed my mind I just want to wait until the Panther is safe. He's already helped me out multiple times."

Bright looked up as soon as she had finished the thought.

Gwen immediately knew where she went wrong in her statement.

"He came to help you? I was the one still recovering from puking my brains out rushing to make sure your head didn't explode here on the Physical Plane!"

"I know, I know. But you have to admit that if he wasn't there to fight that thing off you might not have had the time. He helped me last night with the Valkyries. I owe him. He's stuck on the Astral Plane and he has no idea where he's from or who he is."

"Exactly, that makes him all the more dangerous."

"How?" Gwen asked.

Bright lifted up his hand slowly wearing a look on his face like he was getting ready to explain the obvious to a toddler. He pointed out his index finger and continued from there. "First of all he isn't from around here. A stranger from outside of Kingslane leaves the potential for anything. Second, he has been lost on the plane, which means he's been separated from his star-rift too long. What caused this to happen? What enemies does this kid have outside of this town? These are all potential threats that he could bring directly to us. That is, unless he's the bad guy who got dealt the wrong hand."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "He isn't a bad guy. He's a genuine good person who's just trying to be nice."

Bright laughed and threw the remaining bit of juice into the sink. "...Says the girl who was going puppy eyed for Corey Hughes. Oh, and sorry, it was pulpy.

"These are the facts Gwen. Your new friend doesn't have any memory of his life on the Physical Plane. If he has no memory of his life, he has no memory of who he is. The guy you met is just a condensed version. He was kind and brave, sure. When he remembers his life, and remembers who he is, he might not be so gallant."

Gwen didn't want to believe it. Bright Santos was by far the biggest downer she had ever met. He was paranoid beyond all understanding. Everyone was an enemy, everyone was out to get him, and the world was one giant screwed up battlefield.

Yes, the Valkyries tried to kidnap her. As she woke up that morning however, and waited for Bright to arrive, she found a strange space of understanding. Somewhere in Kingslane were four girls who had the body of a friend that hadn't woken up in days. She had missed all of her first classes, probably missed calls from home, and hadn't answered emails... Anyone would be desperate.

She remembered them saying how kidnapping her would have been the only chance they would have to get the help they needed from Bright. As she stood and listened to what she thought was nonsense coming out of his mouth she could now understand their position a bit better.

She had to make sure the Panther got back to his body before his life was lost. Lost to what, remained a mystery. She saw the floating marble island in the sky. The arches into the different zones where all the dead went after they were judged. He had saved Olivia and he had helped save her. Wouldn't someone like that go straight to Elysium? Wouldn't someone like that be rewarded? Maybe he had made some mistakes along the way that landed him where he was, but everyone makes mistakes. Which ones are the ones that cost us? How heavy do they have to be and what decides that? There were so many things going through her head. She could only take it one step at a time.

Return the favor. Who he is and what he's done is his business. It doesn't matter who he could return to be. The guy that saved you is good. He deserves help, She told herself.

"Where is our little friend by the way?" Bright asked as he sat down on Gwen couch.

"Here," She answered lightly.

The glare Bright shot her however didn't follow suit with the theme of 'light.'

"He is here? Are you nuts?! If and when he gets back to his body he knows exactly where to find you!"

"That's my problem!"

Bright was giving another laugh. Another dry, small pinch of anger, laugh.

"When you give up being a shaman, then yes it is all your problem. Right now however, all of this is my problem. You are part of a tribe even if it is for only five minutes. That isn't just a sense of a team; it's a sense of family. I am swallowing the fact that all of this, and all of our ancient tradition means shit to you but I won't let you be careless just because a big metal pussy played your 'hero' to get to me.

"You remember that much right? He is after me. So do not stand here and tell me it is your problem when your new boyfriend is only using you to get to who he really wants."

Gwen remained quiet. She had spent so much time hating his attitude and his arrogance she didn't take the time to consider it by his perspective. She remembered again Notus telling her of the day he showed up to the haven as just a child shaken scared... She had been through the scariest night in her life and she believed that it was nowhere near the demons he had seen.

"Ok. You're right. I'm sorry. You are talking about a team, a family. I don't know your traditions, but I do care. You are scared he might be dangerous but what about the off chance that he's actually one of the good guys. Don't you owe it to your very tradition to see?"

Bright looked down to the carpet shaking her words around in his head.

"I'll talk to him," He pushed through a closed mouth.

Gwen felt a bit of relief. "I want to come too."

"Fine, but I'll be the one doing all the talking."

"No problem," she said trying to keep the mood fluffed.

"You still don't know how to control projection," He guessed correctly.

It was true. The previous night was her first time on the Astral Plane and it was totally by accident. She had no idea how to consciously do it.

"It's easy," he began without waiting for her confirmation on the matter. "You just sit back, relax and close your eyes. Picture your power animal. Let it guide you."

Before she could do as he instructed, the door from downstairs opened and light steps made their way up.

Vivienne popped in with her backpack stuffed with dirty laundry and schoolbooks.

Now she decides to show up, Gwen thought to herself.

"Hey," she said to Gwen giving Bright an odd wave.

"Hello," Bright sprang before Gwen could have a word in.

Gwen could hear the difference in his pitch. It was President Bright again.

"How are you? I'm Bright Santos, a friend of Gwen's," he introduced reaching out his hand with a fastened grin.

Vivienne threw her bag towards her door and walked forward to meet his palm. "Vivienne Greene. I know who you are. You're the school president. You have tons of posters and stuff around campus. Kind of like meeting a local celebrity!" she teased.

Gwen was astonished. The two of them were remarkably equally equipped in 'fake ass behaviors.'

"Where have you been? I feel like I've barely seen you since move in day," Gwen entered before she would be forced to watch cringe worthy banter.

"Ugh, so busy. I've just been running around town meeting with professors, shopping for supplies, rearranging my schedule, meeting with my new boss, helping set up for this week's first meeting for the debate team, it's just been really crazy."

"Well it's an impressive schedule," Bright slithered in, "keep it up and maybe you could even have my job someday," Bright patronized.

Vivienne politely laughed. "No I don't think I'd really want something like that. Not really my interest area, but thank you. Didn't you have class today?"

Gwen went wide-eyed. Shit.

In all the excitement she has completely forgotten about the actual reason of why she was in Kingslane to begin with. It was not just any class she missed, but it was her second English lecture with a possible quiz from a professor that despised her.

Gwen took a quick look at Bright's face and could tell he wasn't happy. "I wasn't feeling too well this morning... You're probably hungry! Bright and I just finished breakfast but I could make you something," she tried to move aware from the subject of her negligence.

"Oh no, don't worry about it. I just stopped by to drop off these clothes and pack some new ones."

"Where are you going now?"

"Class silly. I have a full schedule today and then I have to head straight over to the radio station for my first shift."

"Radio station? Are you working with that Wren Summers?" Bright asked.

Apparently other people did in fact listen to the school radio.

Vivienne looked a bit uncomfortable at Bright knowing someone in common with her. "Yeah, she's my student boss. I'm not getting on the air or anything I'm just helping out behind the scenes. Heading to a friend's right after though..."

The three of them stood in the living room as things began to get a bit awkward.

Vivienne looked around before slowly retreating backwards towards her bedroom closing the door behind her.

"She sucks," Bright hissed.

"Shut up!" Gwen hissed back hoping Vivienne hadn't heard it.

A few minutes later she emerged from her room with her bag full with fresh clothes.

"Alright, well I'm sorry I haven't really been around. Maybe we can do something this weekend?" Vivienne asked with one hand on the knob.

"Yeah sounds good," Gwen responded with a smile.

"Nice to meet you Viv-" Bright began but was cut off by the slam of the door. "Seriously if you weren't such a quitter I'd say just move to the haven. That girl is diabolical."

Gwen brushed it off and situated herself back on the couch. She did as he had instructed. She walked over to the opposite side and sat down. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She imagined the tiger from her dream and the train. She could see its wide eyes, the stripes, and its sharp teeth... She continued to breathe and watched it move as its tail swooshed side to side. It turned away from her and began to head out into the vast nothing.

"Well?" Bright asked.

"Well I'm not going to be able to do it if you interrupt me," she snapped.

"Gwen, turn around," Bright instructed as she felt a hand tug on her shoulder from behind.

Startled, she jumped and found eye contact with Bright who, like herself, was standing in the center of the living room. Over on the couch were two twinkling stars where they had been sitting. Standing by the door to her room was the Panther trying to hold back a laugh.

"How- when-"

"Calm down. You did it. You just weren't aware that you did it. It's a matter of consciousness. With practice further down the road you would have been able to be a natural," said Bright.

"Would have?" the Panther asked confused.

"That's beside the point," Bright brushed off not wasting any time, "You were looking for me."

The Panther straightened himself up and put his game face back on. "I'm sorry. I'm the Platinum Panther and yes, I have been looking for you for a while."

Bright didn't comment. He waited for him to get on with it.

"Then the Tigress has probably told you that I have no memory of my life on the Physical Plane. I am stuck here and my time is almost up. I was hoping you could help me find my way back."

Bright scanned him up and down. "Why should I?"

The Panther smirked. He knew he would have to bring a bargaining a chip. "You assisted a girl named Olivia FitzGerald. I spent a couple days with her. She was abducted with myself and I am sure the ones who tried to take us are the ones who took the Silver Sparrow."

"And they would be...?"

"I'm sorry. I would love to tell you but that's my piece. Help me find my body and I will tell you everything."

Bright wrinkled his lips unpleased with the circumstance. "Have you stopped to consider that I might already know who is behind this?"

"I understand your reputation is strong. Regardless, if you really are aware of everything that is happening, you will want all the help you can get. Even the White Viper isn't that powerful."

Bright's lip gave a twitch. "The Valkyries lost their viceroy to the abductors. They wanted some kind of a summit, am I correct?"

The Panther nodded.

"Your coin. Let me see it." Bright reached out his hand.

The Panther stepped forward and drew the platinum circle from under his shirt. Bright flipped it over a couple times and let it fall back to the Panthers chest.

"The viceroys of Kingslane have only come together once and believe me, it was not under friendly circumstances. My charge told me the location and time for this summit. If I entertain the idea and decide to attend I suppose you will want to come along?" Bright asked without making a comment on the necklace.

"Well yes I would, after I return to my-"

"No, no," Bright cut off. "I will help you get back to your body. If you're not aware, there's only one way to do it... You have my word. Though only after you have come to assist us."

Gwen heard him say 'us.' She couldn't deny it felt a bit good.

"You have to give me a bit more to go on than that..." The Panther stated nervously. He wasn't trusting Bright.

"Fine, give me your coin again," Bright instructed.

He lifted his coin up once more and held it out for him to take.

Bright grasped it in his hand and closed his eyes. Through the creases in between his fingers Gwen could see a shimmering white light emerge. Seconds later he opened his hand and let the coin fall back to his chest. When it was over Gwen could feel a strange connection to him like she could feel with Bright. It was something like a magnetic pull.

The Panther picked it up and looked it over. Gwen could see from where she was standing that one side of the coin had the face of Notus like hers and Bright's and on the other the snake encircled biting its tail.

"Did you just do what I think you did?" Gwen asked.

"Yes. The Platinum Panther is now a part of our tribe. A viceroy can sense the rift of all of his charges. And to calm your nerves, yes I can sense it. It is very weak but still active. I would guess it has about a good day left before the thread is cut for good."

Bright said it like it was just an any-day bit of information but the news of the Panthers time being condensed to hours left an anxious look on the cats face.

"I know where your rift is. You are part of my tribe. Half of the work is done. You guarantee nothing goes wrong tonight and I will tell you how to get home as soon as it's over. Hell, I'll even personally see to it that you get there safe and sound. You have my word."

Bright stretched out his hand for a shake.

The Panther gave it a look and with no other options, took it strongly into his.

*

"Everyone ready?" Bright asked as the night fell.

It was half an hour until the time of the summit. Gwen wondered if the Valkyrie birds were able to get a hold of the other viceroys, or better yet, convince them to attend.

She was nervous, excited, a bit scared, but truthfully more excited than anything. She did her best not to let Bright see it but she felt he could practically smell it on her.

Since that morning when they returned from the Astral Plane she had been drilling him with questions. "Are you going to help them? Do you think it's going to get dangerous? Do you think they know anything?"

It didn't matter though. Bright wasn't budging. He was calculating putting all of his chess pieces in order. He was preparing for the game.

The Panther summoned his shield.

"No Totems. Well, not yet," Bright instructed. "They say it's a summit for them to ask for help. Let's at least give them five minutes before we give them an honest opinion."

The three of them headed out. Unlike the previous night, the sky was clear, and the net of tracks could be seen above with ease. The floating island hovered to the west. It felt like a giant eye to Gwen. Staring, analyzing...

The streets were silent. There were a few ghouls here and there but overall it was tranquil.

"Up we go," The Panther said, and without another word he was climbing up the front of Gwen's building. Bright was quickly about to follow before Gwen stopped him.

"How are you doing that?!"

"M.P., The Mental Plane? The Third?" Bright listed for her waiting for something to register on Gwen's face. "Have you listened to a word I have said?"

"Never mind that, just tell me how you're doing it."

"You did it last night when you were fighting the Valkyries. The third plane is the plane of the mind. It's what allows shamans to do super-powered stuff."

Gwen was beginning to remember what he had told her at their breakfast Sunday morning. With the Mental Plane, almost anything was possible. She just had to believe it to be.

She focused on the desire to climb the wall the way the two of them could. Sure enough, within seconds she was jolting upward passed the Panther.

On top of the roof she couldn't hide her smile. It felt amazing.

<Enjoying the perks?> Bright's voice asked from inside her head.

The feeling of it made her jump a bit. She looked over to him as he stood on the edge of the roof laughing.

"How are you doing that?"

<Same way you climbed up the wall. The Mental Plane lets people in the same tribe communicate telepathically. I told you that each plane up is one step closer to the loss of the self and closer to the ultimate source. The third shows you the first break in the walls. Don't get any crazy ideas about trying to fly though. I told you shamans have their prices to pay. Our M.P. abilities are limited to features of our power animals.>

What he was saying made sense, but it wasn't any less creepy to her. She could feel his thought in her head. It felt so foreign and uncomfortable and much closer to Bright than she would ever want.

"Can the other tribes do this? Even the broods?" she asked.

Bright nodded. "Unfortunately, but it's a key tool when it comes to elements of surprise. On the same note, they can have something launched on us at any minute in there so we have to be on our toes. You said you didn't want to be in danger but I warn you, this could get ugly."

"I'll be fine," Gwen assured though weary if she believed it. She would just have to convince herself to.

"Alright well, we'll be traveling by roof top. More secure than letting ourselves get caught up with ghouls down below. The jump is easy. Same as the climb, you just..." But before Bright could finish Gwen was already swooshing through the air landing softly on the roof ahead.

She shot him and the Panther a smirk. "Let's get moving."

The three of them jumped from roof to roof in the night. After a few minutes, Gwen could make out the oddest-looking tower in the distant Northeast. It looked like the space needle, only much more aggressive.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Our destination," Bright responded.

Gwen couldn't believe it. That giant tower ahead was La Symphonia.

"This world is an exaggeration of ours. What happens here influences the other," Bright reminded.

La Symphonia back on the Physical Plane was just a very high-end fancy place but there it was a majestic tower overlooking the city as its own unique skyscraper. The three jumped off the last roof and onto the street below directly in front of it.

They had to be somewhere close to the Avenues but the buildings were still the silver of the Valkyries.

There were lights from the ground shooting upward highlighting the tower in its glorious white color. From the ground up, the building was incredibly thin but widened at the very top where the tables and bar rested. The entire structure was covered with vine and a deep circular pool surrounded it with a swooshing current.

"What's with this place and moats?" The Panther asked himself.

"Do we just walk in?" Gwen asked.

"That's the tricky part," Bright began, "like in our plane this place is very exclusive. Ghouls don't just walk into this place. They hate us and they definitely won't want us just barging in."

"If this place is so off limits why would they make the summit here?" Gwen asked.

"That my friend is why we brought the extra muscle. This could very well be a trap. We need to proceed with caution. Maybe even split up to try and find a way to the top floor without..." But Bright was cut off from finishing the game plan as something flickered on the edge of the street and the pool.

They waited a second, and again the little sparks appeared.

"Totems now?" The Panther asked.

"No. Not yet..." Bright said in a slow whisper.

The sparks were now a constant and a small ball of yellow electricity was appearing before them. Seconds later, stretching and widening, the electric ball was beginning to take a shape until at last, there on the ground sat an electric rabbit.

"Is that one of those digital pocket monster things?" Gwen asked.

"No way. I know which one you're thinking of. I'm pretty it's a mouse, not a rabbit," The Panther responded.

"Really? I always thought that it was a rabbit because if you look at-"

"Shut. Up." Bright hissed at both of them with little patience.

The creature moved to its left while keeping its gaze on them.

"It wants us to follow it," Bright concluded.

"Is that a good idea?" Gwen asked.

"Let's find out."

It hopped down the road leaving bits of spark wherever it landed. The three of them kept close behind as it made its way around the circular pool. It stopped not in front of a door, or even a bridge to get across, but rather a trash can. The rabbit dissolved back into a ball of electricity and zipped down under the cylinder somewhere below.

"Underground entrance..." The Panther pointed out skeptically.

"Bright. I-"

"Viper," he corrected before Gwen could continue. "Don't ever use real names here. Start getting used to that."

"Sorry. I'm just saying if this is getting too sketchy we can just turn around. You said it yourself it's not our problem," said Gwen trying to find comfort. It was unclear if it was her fear speaking or her concern for everyone's safety in a situation she had insisted on.

"No, we're going ahead. At least I am. Don't tell me you're starting to go chicken on me now..." Bright taunted.

Gwen didn't answer.

"You don't have to worry," Bright assured. "That rabbit was a power animal. One I recognize actually. The Copper Tortoise is here."

The mention of the tortoise settled a bit of her nerves. If Corey really was there she wasn't going to let herself look scared.

The Panther kicked the trash into the pool to reveal a dark hole in the cement.

"Panther, you'll go first," Bright commanded. "Sorry but a deal is a deal. You're here to ensure the Tigress and I are safe. That's how I'll tell you where your body is."

The Panther exhaled. Without a word he jumped down into the dark below.

A few seconds later they could both hear the distant splash.

"Come down! Coast is clear!" he yelled.

"Alright, Tigress you're next."

"That scared?" Gwen teased back.

"Trust me. You don't know fear," he said and pushed her forward.

Gwen took a deep breath and lunged down into the cold dark. Just the same, seconds later, she splashed onto the moist steel ground and Bright followed seconds after.

"I can't see a thing," Gwen complained.

Next to her a white light appeared in the form of smoke as Bright had summoned his Rapier totem.

"Better?" he asked walking forward without waiting for a response.

Down the tunnel they moved as they caught up to the waiting rabbit hovering centimeters above the water.

"Couldn't that thing just touch the water and shock the crap out of us?" Gwen asked.

"Yup," Bright said flatly.

The answer wasn't reassuring but at least they were all on the same page.

The rabbit continued to hop. A fork appeared with two tunnels and the electric power animal took the narrow tunnel on the left.

Bright dismissed his sword seeing that the light of the animal was more than enough to guide them.

Down they went in silence until they arrived at a large steel door as drops of water ran down the face of it from the stone above.

The rabbit vanished and they were left once more in darkness. Gwen could only hear the sound of dripping and their breathing.

Suddenly, the steel door opened and in front of them was a thick young man with curly dirty blonde hair.

"See you found the place alright," he said.

Bright stepped forward first into the candle lit chamber. Gwen and the Panther followed closely behind.

Unlike the tunnels, the space was warm. There were perhaps hundreds of candles making it incredibly bright. There were red carpets piled on top of one another to cover the rusted metal floor. Red Velvet chairs and couches circled the center of the room as a candle chandelier dripped above a round table.

The blonde that opened the door moved his way to the left of the room to stand with two others in front of an old trunk. One was even larger than the blond with a short beard and ape like face, and the other was much smaller and scrawny. He looked like he was trying to match his comrades tough demeanor but it was going horribly wrong. In front of them, sitting in one of the red velvet chairs was a young man with straight brown hair, about the same height as the blonde, and looked equally as strong.

This was supposed to be Corey. Gwen stared but she couldn't recognize him. The hair was the same and so were they eyes and the shape of his body but he didn't look like him.

You won't recognize them even if you already know their identity. You'll only know when the shamans reveal it to you themselves, Gwen could hear Bright saying again.

To the right was a different story. A girl with straight crow black hair, arms folded, and looking bored sat alone with no one behind her. Was this the fourth and final viceroy?

Dead ahead of them, all four of the Valkyries sat waiting eagerly for Bright to arrive.

The round-faced Blood Eagle stood first at the site of him. "Thank you for coming," she said through gritted teeth. She obviously didn't like humbling herself and especially not to the Viper. "Now that the three are here we'd like to begin."

Bright fastened his arrogant smile, pulled up a velvet chair at the south end of the table, and took his seat as the Tigress and the Panther stationed themselves behind him. "Take it away."

XV. The Vices

"OUR VICEROY HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED," The Eagle began.

"Wonderful! Drinks on me," Bright exclaimed throwing his arms into the air. No one was very amused by the joke except for maybe the girl sitting alone.

"It isn't a joke..." The Owl spoke up clearly taking disgust to the Vipers behavior.

"Tough crowd," Bright added, "so your vice is gone. How do you know she was taken?"

"Because we were there when it happened," The Crane entered glossy eyed and ready to cry her way through the rest of the evening. "It was just before classes were going to start early last week. The Parrot told us of a spot we could practice flying over on the West End-"

"The West End? Did I hear you correctly?" the thin black haired girl asked. "By the West End you wouldn't mean my territory would you?"

Her composure was poised and she held a passive aggressive smile on her face. Her voice was as soft as flower petals but there was no mistaking that underneath it was a handful of thorns ready to shed blood.

"Not in your territory Widow. We were further west than your zone," The Eagle clarified.

"I'm sorry, but can we forget about territories for just a minute," the Owl spoke up again, "Our viceroy, our friend is missing! We called for this summit so we could come to a truce and get her back."

"Get her back from who?" The Tortoise asked.

Gwen felt her insides squeeze as he spoke.

"That's what we don't know," The Eagle spoke before the Owl could open her mouth. There was no denying that there was tension between them.

"But you're '90210 extra' girlfriend just said that you were all there when it happened," The Widow commented.

"This is how it went down," the Eagle began, "we were practicing using our M.P. over in the west of the city not too far from the shanties as the Crane said. Something came out of nowhere. We were ambushed. It was like they were waiting for us. We fought them off as best we could but we had to retreat. When we got back within campus borders and regrouped we realized she wasn't with us. Some ghouls took her. We don't know why and we don't know to where."

"The West End Shanties?" Bright spoke again, "I know you broods are all about making stupid decisions but even you have to know that going far west is extremely dangerous. Last time I checked none of you even had totems. Of course, how could you considering you're all rogues?"

"Not all of us," The Owl corrected taking her emerald dream catcher from under the velvet couch where she sat.

It wasn't received well by the other two viceroys as the Widow shot out of her chair and two long thin metallic legs shot out from around her back pointed straight at the birds. The Tortoise jumped out of his chair as well holding up both of his arms, which were quickly encased in torrents of water. Bright was the only one who remained calmly in his seat.

"I wasn't going to do anything," The Owl comforted putting her staff slowly down on the table.

The Widow retracted her spider legs and the Tortoise allowed his arms to return to normal.

Gwen tried to look at Bright from the corner of her eye. He had said that no rogue could possess a totem. What was the deal with the Owl?

"You're new," Bright observed looking right at her, "I don't believe we've had the pleasure of running into each other before tonight."

The Owl didn't show any sign of softness. "I'm the Emerald Owl. I think that's all you need to know."

"Spunky. I like it," Bright chuckled.

"Can we please get back to the matter at hand?" The Eagle asked with agitation.

"What do you want us to do exactly?" The Tortoise asked placing his arms, unexplainably dry, on the table. The way he leaned forward and the tone of his voice suggested he was probably the only sympathetic viceroy there.

The Eagle seemed to pick up on it and focused her attention exclusively to him. "Help us find who is responsible. You have been listening to the news these past few weeks. People have been falling into these weird flus and then into comas. Whatever is responsible for that has to be responsible for what happened to the Sparrow."

"So you have been listening to the news then?" Bright asked acting sarcastically bewildered.

The four Valkyries turned to him un-amused waiting for him to get to his point.

"I'm just saying, you have been hearing the news over the past few weeks of innocent people falling sick and eventually not waking up. You even think its all ghoul related. Million dollar question for you birds; what is it exactly shamans are supposed to do?"

The Widow rolled her eyes and rearranged herself in her chair to get comfortable. She knew that the Viper was about to go on a rant about the importance of duty.

"Look, we know you..." The Eagle began but the Viper quickly cut her off.

"No, you look. I've watched your pathetic little broods treat the Astral Plane like your fucking playground for over a year now. Your viceroy, however thick headed she is, knows about the laws and responsibilities of shamans. You have known that what has been happening to people around here has been ghoul related and yet you have done absolutely nothing to try and stop it or figure out who is responsible. Now your leader is a victim to it. Somewhere back in our reality you have a body stuffed in a closet and the phone calls and door knocks are getting harder to ignore.

"Just say the damn truth. You really don't give a rat's ass what happens to her. You selfish, naive, ignorant pieces of shit are just getting worked up because sooner rather than later you're going to be wanted for an 'innocent' girl's death."

The Eagle was fuming. The Crane was fighting back tears staring at the ceiling, the Parrot was looking side-to-side trying to get some type of instruction over how she should be behaving, and the Owl strangely enough sat quiet accepting every word.

"Oh come on now, what's the need for the drama Viper?" The Widow asked with false concern. Anyone could tell she really liked watching the four of them squirm.

The Tortoise seemed the most aware of it as he gave her a look of total intolerance.

"Problem, handsome?" she asked realizing his gaze of complete loathing.

"I just think you're one to talk of drama, that's all."

The Widow smiled wider. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Everyone at this table knows you are all about trying to start up trouble. For all we know you're the one who took the girl."

The Widow quickly wiped away her grin. "You flaccid excuse of a man... Are you honestly accusing me of working with the things that nearly wiped away everything my family stood for? Unlike you and the pigeons over here, I'm not about turning centuries worth of tradition into a clubhouse and something else to do on the weekends instead of jerking off into a sock."

The guys behind the Tortoise were beginning to get tense.

"What is it fellas? Want to hit little helpless me?" the Widow asked returning to her passive aggressive composure. "By all means give it your best shot. Especially you bunny rabbit," she directed at the blonde, "wouldn't want to disappoint your viceroy would you? Or should I say your man crush?"

The blonde quickly released his anger and replaced it with uncertainty and uncomfortable fear. He looked at his comrades eagerly and tried to keep himself composed.

"Don't talk to my brothers that way. If you have an issue you can take it up with me," The Tortoise interjected.

"Gladly handsome," The Widow said in almost a whisper.

"Good luck getting these two to work together..." Bright mumbled over to the Eagles direction.

"We know that the tribes of this town haven't necessarily gotten along," she responded slowly.

"Broods," Bright and Gwen said in unison. He looked behind him in shock and gave her a thumb up.

"Whatever!" the Owl exclaimed, "The point is we need to put our differences aside. Widow, we don't think you are responsible for going after her. If we did we wouldn't have asked you here. The Viper is right. My tribe has been irresponsible in our duty as shamans. For this I can only say I apologize. I cannot speak for everyone however.

"She was taken and yes, she wasn't the most powerful of you. Truthfully it can be easily argued that she was the weakest. Regardless, something is happening on the Astral Plane. We are not safe. If you three aren't concerned for yourselves then perhaps you should be concerned for your charges."

The room fell quiet.

"I know who is responsible for your viceroys disappearance and where she is," The Panther spoke.

Gwen had almost forgotten he was even present.

The Valkyries looked to him with urgency.

"Why didn't you say something last night?" The Crane questioned.

"Well, you were attacking an innocent person in order to coerce a viceroy to helping you," he answered as if it were obvious.

The Tortoise and the Widow both shot the girls a look as if saying 'oh really? And you have the audacity to ask us for help after that?'

The girls ignored the stares and kept their focus on the Panthers case.

"Well, where is she?" The Owl asked.

<Are you sure you want to share that?> the sound of Bright's voice rang in Gwen's head. Apparently the telepathic communication couldn't be used exclusively. <It's your bargaining chip my friend. That's the bit of information that assures I get you back to your body. Sharing it now might risk that...>

Gwen wasn't sure what he was trying to play at. What difference did it make for him to share the information with the people who most needed it?

<I am aware. But something tells me neither the Tortoise nor the Widow are going to be able to work together on this. They might not even want to help these girls at all once I give them the information. They at least should have what they need to try and do the best they can. Especially if it's going to be alone.>

Bright didn't answer.

"Purgatory," The Panther spoke aloud.

The word caught everyone's attention.

"Come again?" came the Widow.

"I'm nearly positive that the Silver Sparrow, along with all the other kidnapped are being taken to the Spires of Purgatory."

"What makes you think this?" The Tortoise asked.

"I think this because it was where I and an innocent child were being taken just some days ago. I managed to fight off our abductors and escape with the girl."

"Who were your abductors? Where is the girl?" The Widow asked again with more interest.

"It was a ghoul that went by the name of Walltrap. I killed him. His accomplice escaped. I helped the girl find her way back to her body."

"An ordinary ghoul? Find it a bit hard to believe that a regular Joe could do all of that," The Tortoise doubted.

"Walltrap was not the one in charge. He was just a pawn. I was lead to believe that the one responsible for the abductions was the Phantom Lord Avris but I learned this to be incorrect...."

Everyone in the room tensed at they guessed at what came next.

"Why do you think that?" The Eagle asked.

"Because," The Viper interrupted, "there is more than one Phantom Lord currently operating here in Kingslane. Lord Vane appeared a couple nights ago. Now we could assume that both of them are working together on this but for those of us that are familiar with Lord Vane, we know he isn't a big fan of sharing the spotlight."

Now the tension in the room was at its critical point. There wasn't just one Phantom Lord but rather two in their city.

"If they aren't working together than what are they both doing here?" The blonde from behind the Tortoise spoke up. He had managed to shake off the sweat of his exposure.

"Well as you are all aware that people have been falling into comas all around Kingslane City you are also aware of the giant increase in pollution of public places. Game of twenty-one questions to find out why that is?" Bright asked.

No one commented. They all knew that the trash around the city was recent surges in the Poltergeist Trade that they were all accustomed to letting the White Viper handle for them.

"My guess is that Vane has been here in Kingslane for a little over three weeks. Around the time that the illnesses began," the Panther commented.

"So Vane is responsible for the patients not waking up. Hm, I thought he was running the trade. My mistake. Makes sense though. It would take something real ballsy to kidnap so many humans literally right under the Courts," Bright assessed to himself as if no one else were there. "So we have two Phantom Lords in our city," he acknowledged everyone calmly, "I know we are feeling extremely popular now to be given such esteemed attention, but what are we going to do about this?" he asked the table with false enthusiasm knowing the result would be the same as always. They would hide.

"Any ideas as to the point of the human abductions? I mean, why not just kill them?" The Widow ignored the Viper.

"I am not sure," The Panther began, "some ghouls in Limbo are hoping it is some kind of resurrection of the massacres."

If the mention of two Phantom Lords didn't fully get the attention of the shamans, the reference to the massacres definitely did.

Gwen managed to catch a look at Bright at the corner of her eye and saw that even he was a bit stiffened by the theory.

"That can't be..." spoke the Eagle. "The Sparrow told us those days were long gone. There was no way the ghouls could do something like that again. The Courts did everything to make sure it couldn't..."

"I am only saying what I have heard. I know back then there was enough proof to confirm the lords were involved and working together. Since then they went their separate ways. The idea that two of them might be working together now is stirring things."

The room fell silent once more. The drips of wax hitting the surface of the wooden table was all that sounded.

"You say that they are being taken to Purgatory," The Widow began, "everyone here is educated enough to know that it's Court territory. Are we supposed to believe that the Courts are also working with the ghouls? Are they teaming up this time to finish the job?"

Gwen did not like the use of the word 'massacre.' Again, she was seeing Bright running to the tree. She was thinking of him telling her there used to be a shaman monarchy, and for some odd reason the image of the ram and lion paperweights in his bedroom came to her as well.

"The Courts hate us but I don't think they'd team up to off us," Bright pacified.

"Sending living human spirits to the Spires obviously isn't good news," The Tortoise entered. "If they aren't working with the Courts then we have to assume they're running things there underneath their noses. So, the all-powerful Courts have lost their control over Purgatory?"

"These are all important questions, and we will help in whatever effort you want to take to try and get to the bottom of it," The Owl promised. "Right now, we just really need to get the Sparrow back. Will you help us?"

The viceroys stirred the information.

"The road to Purgatory is something unsettling," The Panther stated. "It was one of the most uncomfortable and nerving experiences I can remember. I know that isn't saying much since my entire life is a blur but I promise you it isn't for the weak hearted.

"If for some reason the lords are working together and they have seized control of Purgatory, I don't think it's going to be as easy as getting in there and asking for people to be returned. It will be guarded and it will be dangerous."

"Wow, Panther you make an offer impossible to refuse," Bright answered sarcastically.

"Well, I'm sorry to say you'll have to count me out," The Widow concluded as she rose from her chair.

"No surprise there..." The Tortoise mumbled.

"I'm sorry handsome but were you going to be so valiant and agree to assist?" she asked eagerly waiting for his reply.

The Tortoise looked at her with tight lips and eyes of fire. He was a man who clearly disliked speaking to women in a horrible manner but the Widow could have been his greatest challenge.

"Widow please," The Owl began with a tone of panic, "If what the Panther is saying is true it will take all of us to get her and everyone else back!"

The Widow didn't budge to the plea for mercy. "Look, I'm sure this is all very tragic for you but the Viper is right. You broods have been a plague to this town. If the Sparrow is gone then maybe it will allow a better shaman to come and claim that haven of yours. It's survival of the fittest sweetheart. Though for arguments sake I suppose I could lend a hand for a trade..."

"What do you want?" The Eagle asked.

"Well, I'll give you a hand in getting your viceroy back if you give me your haven."

"What? The West and the South not working out for you?" The blonde behind the Tortoise sprung in.

The Widow didn't bother to look at him. "I'd keep my haven silly. I just want theirs also."

Gwen noticed Bright shift in his chair a bit.

"What?" The Owl asked. "You already have a haven why do you need another."

"I'm a material girl, what can I say."

"Come on Widow," Bright spoke up. "You know it's not theirs to give. The Sparrow would have to be the one to forfeit."

"She'd also never agree to it," the Eagle added. "She loves the place."

The Widow shrugged trying to look cute. "Oh well! Can't say I didn't try."

The Tortoise scoffed at her response.

"But don't worry," The Widow started again towards the Tortoise, "Handsome over there is going to get all his circle jerk buddies together and help you get your bird back, right?"

The Valkyries looked to the Tortoise and his tribe.

"Listen," The Tortoise began in a soft volume. His expression was somber and the four of them knew well where his words were going.

"Come on!" The Eagle exclaimed. "She's calling all of you pussies to your faces and you're seriously going to just prove her right?"

"It is more complicated than that!" The Tortoise slammed his fist on the table.

Gwen could see Bright looking unentertained. He seemed to already know how everything was going to conclude.

"I would help you. I would," The Tortoise affirmed.

"What's the matter then?" The Widow asked tauntingly. "Don't want to let your boys see something scary?"

"That's enough," Bright interjected expressing his boredom with all of it. "The Tortoise doesn't want to help because he runs a brood. His stooges are nowhere near equipped to handle the shit Purgatory can throw so they'd most likely get themselves killed. Now, he could go but in the case that he too gets axed there is a really good chance the haven and its gargoyle will kick the others out.

"Shamans without havens are open targets and it's only a matter of time before ghouls find them from the Astral Plane and make their lives hell before killing them. As for the Widow, she doesn't want to help because she's simply a self-centered egotistical bitch. Can we move on?"

The Widow whipped her hair back and rolled her eyes at the Viper. "Since you seem to have everything all figured out, I'll just be taking my leave. Two Phantom Lords running around the city after all. Don't want to be here too long."

She headed for the door. As she placed her hand to the metal she turned flirtatiously to the Tortoise. "See you around stud."

The steel echoed behind her as she headed into the damp tunnel.

"I really don't like her," The Tortoise groaned.

"So what are we going to do?" The scrawny one of the foursome spoke up.

The Tortoise exhaled. "We're going to go too."

"What? You can't!" The Crane yelled moving herself to block the door.

The big guy from behind motioned as if waiting for a command from the Tortoise to make the Crane move.

"Calm down Rhino," he told him. "I'm sorry but the Viper's right."

"You really are cowards!" The Owl entered. "The Tortoise is only pulling out because he's scared for you three. Instead of being men and stepping up you're choosing to hide behind him?"

The Tortoise ignored her and looked to the Viper. "My guys and I will start to patrol for poltergeist. We'll do what we can to help get it under control."

Gwen listened to him try and make up for his lack of help by committing to the Poltergeist Trade. She felt they were empty words. After all, a shaman needed a totem in order to catch poltergeist on the Physical Plane. If they were all rogues except for him, what help could they really be?

The Tortoise lifted himself from his chair and made his way to the door. The three rogues followed close behind making their way out into the tunnel.

Gwen didn't know what to do. She wanted to go after him and call him out but she knew the rules. She couldn't reveal who she was just as none of the others could or would choose to do so. He was supposed to be a leader. He was supposed to push his team to be brave and work together. For him to stay behind to cover for them looked like the biggest confession to how unnecessary his converting his friends to shamans was.

The Crane broke down into tears and buried her face in her hands. She curled up into a corner of the velvet couch as the Parrot desperately tried to console her.

"It's ok, talk to me. What do you need?" she asked desperately trying to get in her good graces.

Everyone else ignored the Parrots horrible timed attempt to be loved.

"What about you?" The Owl looked to the Viper. "Are you just going to leave too?"

Gwen looked at Bright. He was juggling things in his head. He was weighing every piece, every angle, and combining them in different orders to predict different conclusions and their consequences.

"I'll help you," he confirmed.

Gwen couldn't believe it. The shaman who hated the broods, probably wished they'd pack their bags and leave Kingslane, was volunteering to assist.

"What's the catch?" The Eagle quickly entered.

They may have not known the Viper as personally as Gwen might have in the days since she met him, but they knew of him well enough. If the Viper were going to give his service for people he considered completely unworthy of the shaman world, it would be coming at a great price.

"What's the matter, you don't think I would just help out of the goodness of my heart? Innocent people stuck at the Spires also, not just Wren Summers."

The Eagle and the Owl went wide-eyed. The Crane stopped her sobs and the Parrot scanned the room with a panic.

"W-where did you get that idea-?" The Eagle tried to brush off the claim but the Viper wouldn't have it.

"Come on now. You specifically wanted my help not just because I'm the strongest in town but also because I'm the sharpest. You don't think I know the identity of the viceroys and their brood babies?"

Gwen was floored. Wren Summers was the girl from the radio show. The girl she had listened to on the night she had moved into her new apartment. The Valkyries had said she had been missing since early the previous week. There was no way they could be one in the same.

"By the way," Bright started again with a smile, "if you're going to pose as Wren on the radio at least try and learn how the thing works. You were a disaster last Friday."

Gwen remembered the awkward broadcast. One of the Valkyries had pretended to be Wren while they hid the real one somewhere on campus.

"What's your price Viper?" The Eagle repeated. She wasn't going to buy the idea that he had such a giving heart. She surely didn't want to feel she owed him anything either.

"Fine," he exhaled dropping the act. "I will help you get Wren back. My price is this. I want you Blood Eagle, the Pearl Crane, and the Puce Parrot over there to abandon the tribe of the Valkyries and join the tribe of the Chimera."

Gwen couldn't believe what she was hearing. Apparently neither could anyone else.

"You what?" the Eagle said through gritted teeth.

"Come on Eagle, you heard me loud and clear. I'll help save the Sparrow. When I do so, the three of you will join my tribe."

"Excuse me," The Owl entered, "Not that I'm eager to get in that line but what exactly has me excluded from this proposal?"

"I don't like you," he told her lackadaisically.

The Owl gave a strained laugh and turned away to the back of the room.

"Do we have a deal then, Eagle?"

"Babe, don't listen to him!" The Crane cried getting up from her seat. "He's lying. He doesn't know who we are. He's just trying to scare us. It's the fucking White Viper you know he's just as bad or worse than the Obsidian Widow," she tried to convince the Eagle.

The Crane took the Eagles hand in both of hers and tried to sensually persuade her love.

"Come on Lindsey, give me a bit more credit than that," Bright called the Crane out by her real name.

She looked at him with shock.

"We don't have to stand on ceremony if you don't want to. I can address all of you by your real names if you prefer. Also, if you're going to make at least half an effort to keep your identity secret, try choosing a meeting place that isn't directly related to the restaurant you work at."

Gwen looked to the Crane and remembered the waitress from their breakfast. He truly knew the identity of every shaman in Kingslane. By the sound of it he kept a close eye on each of them as well.

"So you just want us to save the Sparrow and then tell her the three of us are out after she's safe?" The Eagle asked.

"Yup," The Viper answered easily.

"And you, the White Viper, are going to take the three of us into your tribe along with those two. The maximum amount of charges a viceroy can take on is six. You're really willing to give up that many spots for three shamans you don't care for?" The Eagle added with a hint of emotion in her voice. She was on to something.

"That's right," The Viper replied with a grin.

"Why don't you just say what your real price is?" The Eagle asked with a knot in her throat. "You help us save the Sparrow, we join you, and you take away our shaman status."

It all clicked to Gwen. He had told her back in the haven that once she was healed he would free her of her shaman status. A viceroy had the power to do it to members of his own tribe. This was his angle. He would save the Silver Sparrow and destroy the brood in the process.

"I get it," The Owl chuckled stepping forward. "You really do try to be the noble one don't you? I have a totem. We all know that's the universal symbol for a real shaman. You don't want to axe me because you think I'm the actual heiress apparent to the Sparrow."

Bright didn't look cornered by their discovery. It was an easy enough conclusion to make. With all the chips on the table Gwen could see there was great difficulty in all of their faces.

"Fine," The Eagle said weakly.

"What? Babe, don't you think we should at least talk about this! Don't we get a say in this too?" The Crane asked.

"Yeah, don't we get a say?" The Parrot repeated frantically.

"Shut up Dawn!" The Crane snapped.

"Discuss it all you want," The Viper spoke again. "The conclusion will be the same. The night we head in there, you commit yourselves to my tribe. That will let us use telepathy for the mission. When we get out of there, if we're all so lucky to do so, I will behead you."

The girls sat silent for a bit.

"The Sparrow doesn't even like me you know," The Owl mumbled. "I was never even a part of her circle. I just moved to town a couple weeks ago and I kept having weird dreams. So many birds... She found me and she didn't like me. I wasn't crazy about her either. She rushed me through it all and before you knew it I was starting college as a shaman.

"No one told me what I really was. The library in the haven explained it all. I was the only one who was called. I was the only one who could fly and use M.P. to the fullest potential, and just about a week ago I got my totem. She doesn't even like me..." the Owl trailed off.

"Cute. Not my problem," The Viper answered. "Do we have a deal or not?"

"I said fine," the Eagle repeated. "I don't know about them but you have my word."

"Sorry, very honorable of you but I need all three or nothing."

The Eagle looked to the Crane and whispered comfort in her ear. The Parrot looking very anxious wanted someone to tell her they were going to rebel, fight against it. No one would.

"Fine," the Crane agreed.

Everyone looked to the Puce Parrot.

"Ok, fine, whatever, just leave me alone!" she burst beginning to stretch her arm anxiously.

"Why not just do it now and get it over with?" The Eagle suggested.

The Viper laughed. "You know I'm not an idiot Erin so why even bother? You know if I do it now it gives you time to find my haven and go back on your word. Can't have that happening. Your shaman status ends two nights from now. That's when we'll be going to Purgatory."

"Ok. We meet back here in two nights. Same time," The Eagle stated.

"Wonderful. Now do me a favor and get the hell out while I speak to my two cats for a bit."

The Valkyries said no more. The Eagle rubbed the Cranes shoulder as she led her out the metal door. The Parrot fluttered out with her head held down and the Owl did her best to walk out with dignity.

The creaking door shut behind them and the three were left alone.

"Are you sure we're safe here?" Gwen spoke up. "What's going to stop them from calling the ghouls to come and take us out right now?"

"The fact that I'm the only chance they have to get the Sparrow back," Bright answered.

"Ummm don't you think the fact that they could serve up the White Viper on a platter a good enough bargaining chip for a trade?" Gwen added.

Bright fell silent. "Good point. Let's get the hell out of here."

Back into the cool night atop an empty roof across the street from La Symphonia tower the three of them regrouped.

"I'm sorry if you didn't want me sharing that information," said the Panther.

"It's alright, you just wanted to give them fair warning for what they were getting themselves into. I just wanted to see how you would act under a little pressure. You didn't have to fear me going back on my word though. I already made you a part of my tribe," Bright answered.

"About that," Gwen entered. "He's probably almost out of time. Shouldn't we be getting him back to his rift?"

Bright gave her an annoyed look. She wasn't doing the best job at hiding her desire for the Panther to get back to the land of the living.

"All right Panther, we are going to be traveling a bit north from here," stated Bright.

"How far north?" he asked.

"Edge of the state north," Bright clarified. "Since I don't want to get too far from my rift I'm going to head back to my body and drive up there as soon as I get back. Steal one of those dragonflies. Fly your way straight North and look for Dalton. There will be a hospital. I believe it's Neutral Zone D-26.

"Judging by the thin thread you're on, I wouldn't waste anytime searching for you rift there. Like I said I'll be heading up tonight."

"Me too!" Gwen interjected.

Bright looked at her blankly and continued. "Finding you won't be too difficult. Once you return to your body I'm sure your memories will return as well. Therefore, Tigress, you might want to say goodbye to whoever this is since we'll be meeting the real Panther soon enough."

Gwen scoffed at his insistent negativity.

"After I bring him back to the land of the living will I be removing your shaman status?" Bright added with heightened volume. He wanted the Panther to know all the cowardly details of his accomplice.

Gwen stared at him with loathing. "No. I take it you're going to need all the help you can get in this Purgatory place, right?"

"Well, yeah, but you don't want danger. This is literally going to not only be extremely dangerous, but potentially very frightening as well."

Gwen looked at the Panther. She still felt in debt to him. "I'll handle it."

Bright smirked. "Alright but don't start complaining when we're in there. I'll need you to pack a bag and take it to the haven tonight before we leave."

"Why?"

"Well, seeing as you haven't thrown in the shaman towel just yet, you still belong to my tribe and I don't want you around her for the time being."

"Around who?"

"Seriously? You didn't connect the dots before? You're a great educated guesser when it comes to the world of shamans but you couldn't string together the obvious conclusion of that meeting?"

Gwen folded her arms, tightened her lips, and glared at him waiting for his point.

"Your roommate, Vivienne, is the Emerald Owl."

XVI. Connor West

"WE FOUND HIM ALMOST FOUR weeks ago," the Doctor explained as the three of them walked down the quiet and cold hospital hall. "Paramedics brought him in after finding him in an old van just off the interstate. He was in the back lying on a mattress next to an older man. He had high fever and there was some vomit next to him."

"What about the other man?" Bright asked.

"Dead unfortunately. Suffered from multiple heart attacks. Body was in pretty bad shape as well."

"So they were attacked while they were traveling. Not unheard of for shamans who aren't linked to havens. They both fought and his companion got the shit end of the stick. He must have escaped in all of the mess and got lost," Bright assessed loudly so Gwen could hear.

The doctor wasn't reacting to anything he was saying. It was the beauty of the snake-charming ally.

"He woke up around four in the morning. Bit weak, which is to be expected of someone who's been in a coma for nearly a month."

"Can I see his file?" Bright asked with hand extended.

"I'm sorry sir, this is private. We only release medical information to the patient or family members. Are you family?"

Bright looked him right in his eyes. "Sure, we're twins, same mom and everything. Give me the file."

The doctor nodded. "Wonderful. I'm glad your brother is on his way to recovery."

Bright took the manila folder and looked it over. "Connor West, eighteen years old, originally from Alberta Canada, blah-blah-blah..." He spoke as he flipped through the sheets of paper.

"Anything interesting?" Gwen asked un-enthused. "It's a medical record not a biography. If you want to find out more about him you should probably just go in and ask."

"What room number?" Bright asked the doctor, ignoring Gwen.

"This one right here," he said pointing to one that read 215.

"Excellent. You can go ahead and get yourself a coffee doctor. We got it from here."

"I don't drink coffee but that sounds like a good idea." The man in the white coat headed back down the hall from where they came leaving Gwen and Bright alone.

"Are you ready?" he asked her.

"You're so dramatic. Just go in," she replied by taking the doorknob into her own hands and proceeding forward.

The blinds were shut though a bit of morning sun was creeping through the edges. The TV was in the far corner of the room flashing light with low volume and static.

In the bed was a young man neither of them recognized as expected. He was thinner than the Panther from the plane. He had some facial hair and that on top of his head was longer and greasy. He was awake though he looked very tired. He slowly turned to them and as he caught the sight of the pair his heart monitor began to beep stronger.

"Calm down," Gwen began, "It's just us. We're not here to hurt you."

The heart monitor continued to beep and he was beginning to reach for the nurse's button.

"Hm, I was afraid of this," Bright entered lazily. "I told you when Olivia woke up she didn't remember details..."

"That was different though right? She was a normal human."

"Yeah but this one has been on the Astral Plane for almost a month. He was on the verge of death. He might need a bit of help..." Bright stated stepping slowly towards him trying to catch his eye.

"You said your power doesn't work on other shamans," Gwen reminded him, hoping to see if he had been lying about the piece of information.

"It doesn't. I'm doing an ancient technique called 'talking,' you might have heard of it in some old books..."

Connor was still panicking. He had the button in his hand and he was shaking ready to press.

"Come on Connor," Bright started, "we were just together in Limbo. You were lost and we helped you get back."

Connor was looking from Bright to Gwen.

She was trying to keep her face relaxed for him to keep calm but she didn't know what else to do. "Yeah," she entered unsure of where to go from there, "you saved me remember? I was the girl getting her ass handed to her by a couple of lesbians."

The joke didn't seem to be going anywhere.

Bright reached into his shirt and pulled out his coin. "Do you remember this?"

Connor began to relax. He was staring at the coin intensely. Something about it was striking an emotional nerve but the confusion was still there. It was morphing into frustration.

"Look under that ugly apron they got you in," Bright instructed.

As he was told, Connor took his hand and reached around his neck and pulled out a platinum coin attached to a leather cord.

"That's it..." Bright continued.

Connor looked to the coin as it gave off a small flash of light.

The heart monitor returned to normal. The scared man in the bed was gone. Regardless of the facial hair and longer greasy locks he seemed to look familiar. The difference was the normal composure of his face had not returned. The way he wore his brow, the way his jaw locked... Yes, the scared man in the bed was gone but the one from the plane hadn't returned.

"Viper? Tigress?" he asked in the low voice she recognized though it now carried a sharp edge.

"Yup," Bright said coolly. "Glad to see you found your way back home."

"Thank you for your help. I was down on my last hours, I'm sure of it," For a moment he looked over Bright's shoulder to see Gwen still standing very close to the door. "You can come in. I won't hurt you," he stated sternly.

Gwen was boggled by it all. In Limbo she had seen Corey though he hadn't looked like himself. Now she was looking at Connor who looked just like he did on the plane only he wasn't the same man. It was as Bright had said. The memories would return and they would manifest to bring back the personality that had taken shape over all the years of his life.

Gwen moved toward the chair underneath the TV in the far corner. Connor kept his eyes on her the entire way.

"Alright," Bright said interrupting the moment he considered to be nonsense, "what's the last thing you remember?"

"I had made it to the neutral zone and-"

"No, the last thing you remember from here."

Connor looked down to the blanket covering his legs letting his vision wander into the past. The further he went the more somber his face would go. The bags under his eyes seemed to stretch further and his hollowed cheek sunk deeper.

"Viper-"

"Bright," he corrected. "My name is Bright."

He looked back up to him. "I'm sorry, but I think we've made a terrible mistake."

Gwen sat up straighter in her chair. There was a chill to the way he said it.

"My name is Connor West. I am originally from Alberta Canada-"

"Already got all of that buddy. Fast forward to the horrible news," Bright instructed as friendly as he could.

"I traveled with another shaman. He was my guardian since as far back as I can remember. He went by the name Crimson Owl."

Gwen's mind flashed an image of Vivienne at the mention of the bird.

"Connor, I'm sorry to tell you that your guardian was found dead when they found you," Bright informed.

Connor did not react to the news. "I assumed so. If he were still alive he would have been with me on the plane. He never left me alone too long. Something I found really annoying actually..." he trailed off before Bright cleared his throat to get him back on course. "The thing was my guardian was an Elder."

Now Bright's face had joined the somber club. He looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"I-I'm sorry? Bright asked.

"He was an Elder. He protected me since I was a child. He was the one who made me a shaman."

"B-But there was no crest on the second side of your coin, so there's no way you were a..." Bright was trying to spit out.

This was a new Bright to Gwen entirely. No calm, no cool, just a child consumed by nerves and panic.

"He didn't make me a viceroy. I was like him. I was an Elder as well."

The claim was something Gwen could see Bright was waiting for but was dreading hearing aloud.

He left Connors side and headed to a spot on the wall closest by the door. He punched the ugly pale blue and yellow wallpaper and used his other hand to keep him up.

As usual, Gwen had no idea what was going on.

"If you hadn't saved me I would have been lost anyway," Connor tried to pacify.

Bright didn't answer immediately.

As the room fell tense and only the sound of the early morning talk show and static was left to fill the room, Gwen decided she would test her luck. "So what exactly is an Elder?"

Bright kept his face to the wall.

Connor noticed he wasn't going to answer his charges question so he took it upon himself to clear the air. "As Bright has explained, he can create shamans. He can bring them on to his tribe. He has his limit like any viceroy but he can make them and eliminate them regardless.

"An Elder, more formally known as a Taita, is a special kind of shaman. We are born with a special gift. We can create new viceroys without the need of inheritance. We can take any human and create new viceroyalties thus making new tribes and potential for more new shamans..."

"Well that sounds like a good thing. What's the-"

"The problem Gwen is that the role of Taita comes with a deal," interjected Bright, "they themselves can never be part of a tribe. They are independent shamans-nomads. The day they become part of a tribe is the day they lose their power to create new viceroys and the potential for new tribes!" Bright hissed through gritted teeth. "Since the massacres, Elders have been said to be extinct. When I didn't see a crest on your coin I just assumed you were a rogue without a haven. There are tons of those. I just didn't stop to think..."

Gwen could see that the further he got in speaking the angrier he became.

"There's that word again," Gwen attempted to lead the conversation away from the topic at hand, "You said it last night and now again. The massacres, what are you talking about?"

Connor looked over to Bright curiously. "You haven't told her yet?"

The tensions in Bright's shoulders eased and he turned around to face them. "No, I haven't been able to get around to it. By all means though my new charge, share," he concluded.

Connor didn't know Bright well enough to understand that his rudeness went beyond just when he was upset. He didn't seem like the type of guy who would just take a beating, especially a verbal one. For the moment he went along with his new viceroy's command, as Gwen was confident he would figure it out on his own soon enough.

"The shaman massacres were events that happened about thirteen years ago. It was the darkest year in shaman history. It was the year our kind was nearly wiped into extinction."

"How?" Gwen asked.

"To this day I don't think shamans know exactly how it came to be. It was the Hollowed Eve. It's what normal people now call Halloween, which is the night that the veil between the living and the dead becomes very thin. All magic comes at a price. What shamans can do is defined as its own branch of it. It's one of the four that exist next to witches, warlocks, and the roma.

"Our price is that on one night of the year, the Hallowed Eve, our power becomes nonexistent. We cannot travel to the Astral Plane but the ghouls can see us clear as day from over there. It is the one-day that all shamans go to their havens for refuge. It is the place where we cannot be found since it exists outside of either the Physical Plane or Limbo."

Gwen thought back to the gargoyle Notus and the mansion tree house. She assumed it was just a clubhouse for the broods. She never imagined that in reality they were actually used as safe houses.

"The Hallowed Eve passed, and shamans emerged from their havens ready to continue living their lives like always. Only when they did, they found that the veil had not returned to normal. It was not only still weak but also completely corrupt.

"Ghouls were passing onto our plane with no consequence and shamans could not use the M.P. so they were pigs for slaughter."

Gwen remembered Bright saying there had been a royal family...

"Your king and queen died in these massacres didn't they?"

Connor nodded. "It happened five months after the massacres began. After that it was all tribes for themselves. At least those that survived. Now there isn't anything left except the few tribes that stay in hiding and the broods full of young people treating shamanism like a toy."

Bright looked up to him. He was silently content that he and Connor saw eye to eye on the present circumstance of their traditions.

"Ghouls running around here? Wouldn't they have showed up on the news or something?" Gwen asked.

"They're ugly but they're also extremely organized. When the veils were weak they were able to do a lot of things. Using the bodies of shamans they killed as suits for hiding was one of them."

Gwen shuddered at the thought. "So that's why everyone was so scared last night when you said ghouls think the massacres might be starting up again."

"That's right," Connor confirmed.

"What stopped the massacres?" she asked.

"Surprisingly enough, the Courts," Connor started, "They lasted for almost exactly a year. The first week of the following October the veil was repaired and everything went back to normal. Only shamanism was almost a thing of the past."

"During that time you were all being killed they didn't help?" she added.

Bright laughed.

"No," said Connor. "I'm sure Bright has told you that the Courts, the ghouls, and the shamans haven't gotten along in well over a century. When the massacres began they turned a cold shoulder. It wasn't until they realized the condition of the veil that they went to repair it on the fourth plane. Ghouls weren't exactly ignoring human targets. The Courts had just as much at stake as we did. Of course, it took some time for the first human victims to show up so they had no problem pretending nothing was happening in the mean time."

"And it took them a year?" she asked.

"Time moves slower on the fourth plane," Bright interjected. "The higher the plane passed the third, the slower it moves. There are myths that say the Seventh is just a still image. All the universe and all the cosmos as an infinite canvas..."

The concept was difficult for Gwen to get her mind around. The idea that life, all existence, was nothing more than a giant picture. A picture already started and already finished. All they were and all they participated to it was said and done. They were just specks of paint on a much larger piece of work...

"This doesn't make any sense," she started to think out loud, "You say that they can only attack shamans on our plane on Halloween. How did they get me then?"

"You were only a potential, you weren't actually a shaman. You were still fair game. Nor were you bound to the haven..." Bright reminded her remembering their argument.

"But thirteen years ago I'm assuming the majority of shamans were bound to havens. Notus can make anything happen in that thing. It wouldn't have been the most comfortable but didn't they just stay in hiding?"

Bright stepped closer to jump on the question before Connor could make a sound. "Havens are hidden from even shamans unless the protecting gargoyle wants it to be found. Found by a viceroy it deems worthy to govern it. Though as the massacres spread like the plague the ghouls somehow knew where the havens were. One by one they were destroyed and the families that hid inside were slaughtered, eaten, or hollowed for more hides to assist them in their disguises.

"How did they..."

"Another mystery," Bright began, "that in thirteen years no one has been able to figure out. It's said that there was only one living person who could know the whereabouts of every haven on the planet. That would be the shaman king himself."

"Did people actually believe he betrayed his own kind? I mean he was killed...He wouldn't have helped them before losing his own life."

"The logical conclusion," Bright chuckled as the memory of those he considered ignorant flashed passed his eyes, "but there were many who did. Havens were being destroyed from the beginning. The crown was losing control and many viceroyalties were breaking communication with the governing family. It was complete chaos.

"No, the Lords have great power... They somehow got a hold of something that aided them in their mission..."

"About those Phantom Lords..." Gwen followed at their mention, "You said that they were heavily involved in the massacres. Once they were over they just went their separate ways?"

"Well yes," said Connor, "Whatever they had done to break the veil so ghouls could enter this plane and render shamans defenseless was over. They're cowards. Once the advantage was gone the seven of them took to their corners of the world. I'm sure they were scared whatever shamans were left were going to come looking for them...Lucky them right?"

"Connor," said Bright, "What else do you remember about your last night before getting lost?"

Connor again stared at his blanket letting the images and voices of the past churn in his mind.

"Nothing. Only that we were on our way to Kingslane regardless. About a year ago my guardian sensed a Taita summoning from the city. I assume this one had a hand in creating either The Copper Tortoise or the abducted Silver Sparrow."

"Why not the Obsidian Widow?" questioned Gwen.

"She mentioned her family last night," Connor reminded." It has to mean her father or mother made her a shaman. She has inherited her shaman status rather than been appointed by an Elder. If this is true, than she is like myself; someone who at a very young age has been fighting to survive in the world being hunted by ghouls unable to see an attack coming..."

"Yeah, yeah," Bright entered unsympathetically, "then she found the West Haven in Kingslane and she's been living it up ever since. After I found out who she was I went into her records. Her case is similar to mine. She's been in Kingslane since she was about eight. Attended the Avery Academy in downtown Kingslane, graduated first in her class, and is going to school on full scholarship. They give her more credit than I do. I wouldn't be surprised if her ally is some kind of mind manipulation as well."

"Bright," Connor began with a hint of hope in his voice, "do you know of another Taita in Kingslane?"

Bright's expression went somber and his body tensed once again as he remembered his mistake. "No. I haven't heard of one coming into Kingslane since I got here. I'm sorry."

Connor squeezed his blanket with both hands as tight as he could. He was angry. He had lost almost everything to accomplish nothing. He was an orphan, alone, weak, and lost a power that meant the hope for their kind. Gwen wanted to sympathize with them but it was all still too new. She could understand the weight of it; she just couldn't feel it pushing her down as it did to them.

"Well where do we go from here?" Gwen asked sitting tall from her chair hoping to create a new sense of optimism.

Neither of them replied.

"Guys, this isn't over!" Gwen exclaimed. "The Sparrow is still out there. We have to save her. Afterwards we can question her and Corey. If an Elder really did make one of their tribes than one of them will know what happened to him! Just because Bright never heard of one doesn't mean he's dead. Better yet, he might still even be in Kingslane!"

Connor loosened his tension on the blanket and slowly looked up to her. "This is true. I am not an Elder anymore so I won't be able to sense a brother or sister but there might still be hope."

She was happy that even though the real Panther seemed as brooding as Bright, he at least had a greater sense of positivity.

"So what do you say, viceroy? Are we going to kick some ghoul ass or what?"

Bright looked to her still with the unpleased face. "You think it's as much a game as the broods do."

"I know this isn't a game. I've already almost been killed once and I'm sure the shit is going to happen again."

"Then why the flip?" Bright questioned her standing straight. "Seriously, you were completely against this and now that you're horny for this wounded soldier you want to play Wonder Woman? Wasn't it Corey just five minutes ago? Seriously, what place do you have as a shaman when you're completely driven-"

Bright was stopped mid-sentence by the quick and loud slap across his face.

He slowly placed his hand on his cheek and turned to look at her calmly.

"I was called, I didn't do the calling," Gwen said in a low whisper, "I met Corey before any of this was even a dot of imagination so you don't get a say in it. You're right things have changed. You're telling me countless people were slaughtered and today there are others just like Connor running for their lives from things they can't even see. Worst of all, the world doesn't even know it's happening. This is bigger than me and it's way bigger than the street gang shit I thought was going on.

"Something is happening. I don't know how I know it, I just do. Something tells me you feel it also. You put up a front that you have it all together but we both know that's bullshit. I saw through your eyes in that dream... I could feel your fear. The truth is thirteen years later it hasn't left you. You still think that in the dead of night when the air is still, it's all going to start again..."

Bright continued to look at her without blinking. She didn't break her stare either.

"If I was called to you than something out there doesn't want you facing it alone. So decide now. Do you want my help, or not?"

"You'll go through some training sessions at the haven," Bright stated. "Around, the clock. This isn't going to be another alleyway ambush. I need you ready. Once we're in you are going to do everything I say. No questions. Is that clear?"

"Crystal."

"Well," Connor entered slowly trying to ease the electricity, "I still have a question that needs answering."

The two of them broke their glares and looked to him.

"Will you allow me to remain on your tribe?" Connor lay out.

"Yes," Bright responded quickly. "You're no rogue and anyone who can survive a month on their own on the Astral Plane is someone I wouldn't mind having on my team. You'll be in charge of Gwen's training."

"Say what?" came in Gwen shattering her tough demeanor.

"I take it you and the Owl were living on the road," Bright assumed ignoring Gwen.

Connor nodded.

"Alright, then we'll get you to the haven immediately and bind you to it. Notus will be quick to get you settled. I don't live at the haven and Gwen here lives in some basic ass university apartment with the new Valkyrie. She refuses to listen to me and move in so you'll have the tree mansion to yourself."

Connor nodded looking choked up. He had never known the comfort of a haven or the sense of security that came with one. He had endured his most troubling trial and there in his hospital room, fate was dealing him a new hand. The tear filled eyes weren't for the bed or the fresh food. No, they were for the fact that his greatest wish was coming true and the Crimson Owl, whoever he was, wasn't there to realize it with him.

Bright placed his hand on Connors shoulder. "I know, I know."

It was the most humane and sincere moment Gwen had seen of him.

There they were, two young men who knew and shared the same history. Gwen wondered if it was this factor that made Bright unable to bare others around him. The knowing that their mundane issues didn't hold a candle to what he had endured. Perhaps he was truly the most emphatic of all, only he had not found a soul truly in need of sympathy.

Gwen's chest pulled her once more to the small lion and ram on his desk. She knew the past was only just beginning to unfold.

XVII. Mug Cakes

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA what our professor is talking about?" Sam asked as she pulled a slice of apple pie from the dessert stand.

"Huh?" Gwen mumbled staring out into nothing.

"I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but are you feeling ok?"

"Yeah, just a late night," she replied grabbing a slice of apple pie for herself.

Sam took the answer and continued with the conversation.

The pair moved away from the dessert stands and navigated through the swarms of students. The Dining hall was fairly new. Gwen had read in their campus brochures that they had done renovations to the property adding new tables (like the red leather booths where herself and Sam had been eating), new cooking equipment for each of the food stands situated all over the two floor building, and the spiral staircases located on opposite ends. Gwen enjoyed the gray brightness that poured in through the windows on cloudy days like the one they found themselves in.

"So like I was saying, psychology test next week, I know you missed yesterdays class but hopefully my notes will catch you up," Sam repeated as they scooted into their booth. "There's like a hundred people in there and all she does is read off the power point, which by the way, is almost directly word for word from the textbook.

"What's the point of me buying the book if she's just going to put it on all her slides? Or better yet, why take the damn class? Just tell me I have to read this thick ass novel and spit out the info in a few months and call it a day!"

Gwen was picking at her pie with her fork not paying attention to a word she was saying.

"Jesus, GWEN!"

Gwen jumped as she finally looked up to make eye contact.

Sam grinned. "Hi, I know you've decided to make your first week at college look as close to a mental breakdown as you can make it but I really do want to survive the first semester."

"Yeah, Psychology, I totally agree," Gwen stated.

Yes, she was exhausted from driving all through the night and all morning leaving her to run immediately to class after they had dropped Connor off, but all-nighters were nothing Gwen hadn't experienced before. No, it was the time alone in that classroom, sitting in normality after what felt like eons. Letting the dust settle in the uninterrupted silence allowing herself to analyze and pick apart every piece of the puzzle.

Now there was a psychology exam after only a week of class. The problem was she couldn't care. She couldn't care about getting a good grade on a test about a cat in a box and a crying baby. She was more preoccupied with the idea that she had to learn to become adequate in defending herself in an alternate reality or face being trapped there in a demented foggy prison as Bright and Connor described it.

She wondered if she could just ask Bright to use his ally on her professor. Tell her to give her an A even with all the exam bubbles blank. She snapped back to her criticizing him about his abuse of power. Was she excusing it now? She was having her first fit of stress of shaman responsibility, something that would probably not be her last, and she was stuck having to balance it with her life.

This was something Bright had to deal with regularly yet he kept his composure for everyone around him. Maybe using his power wasn't all the bad if it meant he kept his sanity...

"So I was thinking since the test is next Monday we could meet up on Sunday? The student center is open until midnight so we can get some coffee, make some study guides, and quiz each other."

"Yeah, yeah that works great," Gwen lied.

The rest of the day went the same. Sam took off for evening classes and Gwen headed home to her apartment. The orange tint of the street lamps had returned to the sidewalks as she moved in silence.

She hadn't said goodbye to Sam. She had given her a casual 'see you later,' but she hadn't said goodbye. Was it arrogant of her? Should she have been more cautious and expressed how grateful she had been for the week they were friends?

She was thinking like a dead woman walking! The White Viper, the infamous shaman that almost all ghouls on the Astral Plane feared, would be with her. All except for the Phantom Lords, and there were two of them lurking around in the astral shadows...

They would also have the help of Connor and his giant metal jungle cat. They would certainly even the odds. Then there was the Blood Eagle, the ruthless Valkyrie. Sure, Gwen had held her own fairly well against her and the Pearl Crane but they were still more hands on their side.

Then there was the Emerald Owl... Vivienne Greene. Her roommate. She had wanted to lay it all on the table the second she got home from the hospital in Dalton but Bright made it clear he didn't want her to do it. He said that they had a good chance of making it out alive and when they did he needed all the pieces to be just as they were. She would have to just keep Vivienne's secret for as long as she could.

If Bright was jumping ahead to future circumstances then he had to be confident about their prospects. She had to cling to that if nothing else.

Gwen walked up her stone stoop, unlocked the door, headed up the noisy wooden stairs, and into the apartment where Vivienne was on the ground watching TV with homework.

"Hey," she said warmly with her hair tied back into a neat bun wearing small reading glasses. Even in sweatpants and an old t-shirt she looked like she could be ready for a brunch in a moment's notice.

"Hey stranger," Gwen replied. She was worried she wasn't going to be able to talk to her normally without blabbing something shaman related.

Vivienne chuckled at the 'stranger' comment. "Sorry, I've just been running around town non-stop. This is like the one night I actually have to just sit at home and get some homework done."

Gwen didn't answer. She floated to her room and dropped her bag on the bed and scanned her things.

She's a Valkyrie not a thief, she told herself.

"Hey Gwen?" Vivienne called from the living room.

She headed back out keeping close to her bedroom door. "Yeah?"

Vivienne closed her notebook and turned to face her roommate with a kind expression. "How about we get dinner or something? We haven't had any time to get to know each other and we're going to be living here for a year. I want to hear all about your life and what you wanna do here at school..."

Gwen smiled awkwardly.

I want to survive the weekend, that's about it for now, she thought.

"Well I actually just ate at the dining hall..." was what actually came out.

Vivienne's smile wore off a bit. It seemed she was getting a hint that Gwen didn't really want to get to know her. "Oh, yeah, that's fine. It's getting pretty late I get it. Did you have dessert?"

"Um, yeah, apple pie."

"Oh was it that vegan apple pie?"

"Yeah, wasn't good at all," Gwen laughed.

"I know! I had it a couple days ago. I'm sorry I know it's supposed to be healthy and everything but I'd rather have the fat stuff than eat something that tastes like grass."

"I know right?"

Gwen was letting her guard down. She needed to be more careful. For all she knew Vivienne already knew what was going on. She might have already put the pieces together. Didn't that dream catcher totem of hers allow her to see into the minds of other shamans the way it did against Connor? She had it underneath the table during the summit the previous evening. She could have easily have used it against Bright. She could know what his real identity was and could even know hers. After all, she had barely been around the apartment since she moved in and now she was suddenly there, studying, practically waiting for her to get home and eager to spend time with her.

"Well look, if you want some real dessert I bought some stuff to make mug cakes if you want."

"What's a mug cake?"

Vivienne's eyes widened and she stood up excitedly. The sudden movement made Gwen twitch a bit.

"You've never had a mug cake before? Ok, I have to make you one. I'm telling you, they're one of man's greatest inventions."

Gwen clearly didn't have much say in the matter as Vivienne rushed over to their small kitchen and began grabbing ingredients from the fridge and the cupboards.

"Um, well, Vivienne, I actually,"

"Oh, no, call my Viv. Everyone calls me Viv."

"Ok, Viv, I was actually going to head out to stay at a friend's house tonight. We were going to get up really early to go for a run before our classes."

"Are you a lesbian?" Viv asked poking her head up from behind the fridge door.

"What? No!"

"I mean I have no problem with it. I'm actually around a lesbian couple here on campus a lot. They're great. When they're not fighting that is..."

Was this her putting out the bait? The Owl knew the Valkyrie lovers had ambushed the Tigress. Was the little bird of prey looking for a flinch?

"Well, no, I'm not a lesbian. But I really only came to pack my stuff and head out."

Vivienne slowed her progress on collecting the ingredients. "Oh, ok, I understand..."

She seemed genuinely upset.

Gwen remembered the Owl's speech in the underground room. She had expressed how she wasn't very welcome with the Valkyries. That her becoming a shaman was because of dreams she and the Sparrow had been sharing. She was the only one truly called to the cause. The only real shaman amongst them and the only one Bright was going to allow to keep her title once the rescue at Purgatory had concluded. Gwen allowed the idea of a girl sincerely doing her best to make a friend to pass through her iron wall.

At that angle, she could see it. Like her, she arrived at the school and was suddenly thrown into a world she didn't understand. Sure, the two of them shared the experience of being recruited by viceroys that didn't care much for them but Gwen had to admit as rocky as her interactions with Bright were, there was no doubt that he had warmed to her. She also had the good fortune of making friends with Sam and making contact with Connor who seemed like he would make a great tribe-mate. Vivienne was alone.

"Well, listen, I mean, it's still pretty early and I could just get a cab over there in an hour something,"

Vivienne smiled up. "Really?"

Gwen nodded.

"Awesome! Ok, I have stuff for a chocolate espresso cake but I'm not sure if that will keep us up until dawn. How about apple cinnamon? It could help us remember what something apple flavored is really supposed to taste like."

"Sounds great!"

The hour of mug cakes ended up turning into three. Gwen had taken her seat on the kitchen counter that looked out to the living room and Vivienne sat her small self next to the sink on the opposite side.

They had each consumed two of the apple cinnamon mug cakes where the first had been overly cooked and the second was closer to warm raw batter.

"So only child? I wonder what that would be like sometimes," Vivienne stated with her last spoonful of cold cake.

"It's alright I guess. Do you and your brother fight a lot?"

"Oh no, he's great, don't get me wrong. Kind of needs a lot though. He started talking late and my parents took him to the doctors a lot when he was younger. Thought he might have some disorder. They said he has Asperger's."

"Ass-burgers?"

"No, Asperger's. It's a developmental disorder. It affects the ability for someone to socialize and communicate."

"Oh, that sucks..." Gwen answered unsure of what to say.

"Honestly, he creeps me out sometimes. He's fine most of the time..."

"But..."

"But sometimes there's something I can't put my finger on. I get these crazy ideas that maybe the doctors were wrong and that it's something else. I remember I got home late after a party with some of my friends close to three in the morning last year and I found his door open. When I went to check on him he was just standing in front of his clock staring at the time mouthing something. I thought he was sleep walking so I didn't bother him.

"There's a lot of other weird stuff too but I won't bore you with it. Besides, you'll probably think I'm a freak if I start talking about the supernatural."

You'd be greatly surprised. "Well how old is he?"

"Eleven. He's really smart and gets great grades. Girls even chase him around all the time, which is funny since he barely talks at home. The closest thing to fun he has is when he's out catching bugs at Central Park."

"Well what did you do for fun back home? There must have been a lot of cool stuff to do," she asked trying to take the talk down a different road.

"Yeah, but it's nothing that spectacular, really..."

Gwen was willing to bet the Valkyries she had come into contact with had given her a hard time with the fact that she was some big flashy city girl.

"You don't have to put it down. New York seems really cool! I bet there's a ton of stuff to do up there."

Vivienne smiled in a way that expressed relief. "Yeah, there is! I love to go to Central Park, shopping of course, walking through Chinatown... My parents let me see a Broadway show twice a year. I used to be obsessed with Beauty and the Beast when I was a kid. I kind of still am... I have a secret obsession with cartoon Princesses. I know, I'm a loser..."

Gwen laughed. "Nothing wrong with that. A little Stockholm syndrome never hurt anyone. And what's wrong with liking fairy tails? I actually really love reading comic books and watching anime. Kind of similar."

"What's anime?"

"Oh," Gwen was a bit surprised she had never heard of it. "It's a Japanese animated series."

"Gotcha. So is anime a really popular show?"

"No, anime is the name of the genre. There are different animated shows that are classified as anime," she corrected.

Vivienne laughed in embarrassment. "Oh ok! You have to show me some of your favorites some time."

"Yeah, that would be really nice..." She trailed off feeling the urgency to depart growing on her.

"You should go up and visit the city someday. I recommend during the holidays. I love the lights, and the park is covered in decorations. Ice skating at Rockefeller isn't the most amazing thing but it's still an experience."

Gwen suddenly felt her phone vibrate on the counter next to her foot.

"Oh shoot, your friend," Vivienne remembered. "It's been way passed an hour hasn't it?"

Gwen didn't comment but picked it up to see that it was definitely Bright calling.

"Do you want to borrow my car?"

"You have your car here? I thought freshman weren't allowed," Gwen said.

"Well, it's my friend's car. She, um, isn't using it right now so she let me borrow it..." Vivienne replied turning her back to face the sink.

"Oh, well no it's alright. I have cash for the cab. I'm just going to go and pack my stuff real quick."

In her room she could hear Vivienne washing out the mugs filled with the remains of cake. She took the opportunity to send Bright a quick message.

Calm down. Just got a bit behind school stuff. I'm heading to the haven now.

"Hey," Gwen began as she emerged back into their living room with her things, "I might not be back this weekend."

Vivienne stood by the couch with her arms folded. "I think I might not be back this weekend either... Still, um, waiting to see how some stuff works out."

Gwen remained silent unsure if Vivienne was as aware of the circumstances as she was. Maybe she would never know.

"Alright, well, I'll see around then," Gwen said with hope.

"Yeah, take care out there..."

She let the door close silently behind her as she tiptoed down into the crisp night.

*

There was no one in sight on the campus green. The white marble buildings showed no light from their windows and the street in front of the school arch only had a car pass by every few minutes or so.

Notus had explained how one exited from the haven but she wasn't sure how one necessarily got in.

She stood in front of the large oak tree and placed her hand softly on the jagged bark. She closed her eyes and focused on letting herself in. Nothing happened.

"Oh come on, just let me up already!" she exclaimed a little too loudly.

Nervous, she scanned the wide field around her. Nothing.

She kept her hand firmly on the bark. She could hear the crickets sing in the distance and the cars zooming on some faraway road.

You have to will yourself, she remembered Bright saying.

She closed her eyes again, breathed, focused on the crickets, didn't ask for what she wanted, she demanded it, and with a quick blast of wind she opened her eyes to find herself on the front porch of the tree mansion.

"You got it," Notus exclaimed floating inside the open double doors. "I had the utmost confidence you would figure it out. Congratulations!"

Gwen thought that Notus could be the stone face spokesperson for optimism and positive thinking, which was a quality that would be great in a world as torn as the shamans, but at the same time, incredibly annoying.

"Hey Notus, nice to see you again," she said politely carrying her bags passed him into the grand foyer. The darkness of the night didn't allow for much site of the green leaves from the windows but the candle lit mansion managed to look equally stunning.

"Oh no Lady Gwen," Notus returned to block her in her path. "Drop that bag at once! It is my responsibility to take that to your room, so don't worry."

Gwen did as she was instructed and watched as her bag vanished.

"There are fresh sandwiches in the fridge, though the new master has been hounding them down since he arrived today..."

"Oh, and how has Connor been doing?"

"Well, Master Connor seems to enjoy his room. The decoration is a bit, bland if you ask me but he is feeling very comfortable indeed. He spent most of the afternoon exercising. I thought he just got out of a coma?"

Gwen smirked. "What about Bright? Where is he?"

"Master Bright is down in the Void.... You will come to find Lady Gwen that it is really the only space he spends anytime when he is here..." he answered sadly.

"Hey," a low voice came from the top of the two sets of stairs.

Connor was descending in new fitted clothing that Notus had magically summoned in his room closet. A white t-shirt, gym shorts, and a pair of new sneakers. He had shaved the facial hair he had grown while in bed, and washed and cut his greasy long locks. He was beginning to look a lot more like the Connor from the plane. Though his brow, his expression, and the way his jaw locked were still different.

"You're late," he began, "Bright wanted us down in the Void two hours ago for your training."

The edged remark caught her off guard. "I'm sorry? I was held up a bit, I-"

"I don't want to hear excuses. You're his heiress apparent and we're going into a very dangerous situation. The least you could do is be on time," he groaned walking past her towards the small library where the hidden door to the Void sat.

"Wait a minute," Gwen spoke reaching out and grabbing his arm. "What is with the attitude?"

Notus could sense the tension. He slowly floated backwards towards the glass-dining hall.

"The attitude Tigress is what has kept me alive. You might try wearing one yourself if you're planning on doing the same when we get out there. Afraid it's going to need more than slapping your viceroy across the face," he replied pulling his arm out of her grip.

She didn't know what to think or say. He was as much a stranger as the faceless Valkyries were. She wondered if this Panther would be so happy to help her out in a moment of crisis again.

Though a more pressing matter at the moment was wondering just how easy he was going to go on her during her first training session.

# XVIII. Wasteland

THE SPACE WAS AS DARK as it had been the first time. The indigo orb was floating in the center giving off the same eerie smoke that drifted over the cracked stone floor. Bright was looking deep into the surface of the sphere, seeing something that was invisible to the rest of them.

"Any luck Master Bright?" Notus asked flying quickly across the chamber wanting to get a word in before the other two could do so.

"Nope. It's silent as the grave. Nothing happening in Limbo tonight which makes it perfect for us to train these two."

Bright stepped away from the orb and as before, the smoke ceased from spewing and the light disappeared. They were alone on the square cracked ground lit only by torches fastened on the four pillars of each corner.

"How exactly is this going to work?" Gwen asked nervously.

"Well, you know that the haven exists in a pocket outside of reality. We can access the M.P. here as well as our totems. The Void can also mold the space to look like something else. A different atmosphere to fit whatever our needs are. Just like the rest of the haven only this one is specified to a more violent nature," Bright informed.

"Which means...?" Gwen asked confused.

"Just watch," Bright instructed.

He closed his eyes, and suddenly the brushing of the leaves outside in the night vanished. The light of the torches was blown out though everything became brighter. The cracked stone floor beneath their feet shimmered away and replaced with shallow puddles of dark water. From them, cable lines erupted and twitched sparks of electricity. From the darkness outside came natural light, bringing the leaves of the tree into clear vision. They were there only for seconds until ruined cement buildings pushed through the branches causing them to be dismissed just as the torches and the floor had been. A breeze whipped across Gwen's face and she could smell the distant odor of salt water and trash.

The flux of the setting stopped and the surroundings were still. They were no longer in the chamber of the Void but rather standing in a city long since forgotten. Most of the buildings were eroded lacking walls to their exterior allowing Gwen and the others to see belongings sitting in bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms like ghosts. The one's that managed to keep some of their form had water stains streaking down the gray cement.

The shallow puddles invaded the sand. Gwen could continue to smell the ocean as the breeze hit though the air was thick and the atmosphere too muggy for her to stand. The clouds above covered the entire sky and zoomed past like boats on the open water...

"Welcome to the wasteland," Bright yelled from atop one of the hollowed out buildings.

Connor was stationed right across from her ankle deep in one of the puddles. He wasted no time summoning his parma onto his back.

"Woah, I don't even know what is going on! What am I supposed to do?!" She asked in a panic.

"You're going to train of course!" Bright yelled from atop his station. He looked down on them like he was a referee. He was enjoying every moment of Gwen's panic.

"Right, I got that part, but how!? I don't have a totem, I don't know what I can do out here!"

"Well, that's what training is for Tigress," the Panther stated as a long spear shot out into the sky from his parma. It landed directly into his right hand. He spun the long weapon with ease and pointed it directly to her. "Just waiting for your order Viper."

Gwen didn't stick around for it. She turned away and began to bolt across the thick paste. No puddle was the same in depth causing her to fall and trip with almost every step. The thickness of the air made her few strides feel like miles and the sand seemed to grab her wishing to make her sink below.

The cut power cables from the poles occasionally gave another twitch and spark. As if the Panther hunting her down wasn't worry enough she had to add the risk of being electrocuted as well.

"Now!" She heard Bright shout not too far from behind.

The command kicked her adrenaline up. She concentrated on each movement trying to keep her balance.

"He wouldn't actually stab me with that thing right? I helped save his life! He's just trying to scare me! I have nothing to actually be scared-!" But before she could finish the thought, the brick building to her left exploded.

The chunks of debris sent her flying and crashing into a solitary cement wall. A piece of stone whacked her across the face as several others plummeted her chest, legs and mouth.

She fell face first into the wet sand.

"Come on now Tigress," The voice of the Panther barked.

She lifted her face from the wet grains and saw him approaching with his spear tightly in hand and face as rigid as ever. He gave his weapon a few spins before lunging it towards her.

Instinct kicked in and she flung herself back against the wet stone as the spear hit the wetness where she had laid.

The Panther stopped walking. "What are you doing?" He asked impatiently.

"I- I don't know! I already told you I don't know what I'm doing!" she yelled with a knot in her throat fighting back tears.

She hated the position she was in but she hated Connor seeing her overcome with emotion even more.

"Don't bother crying, I won't show you any sympathy. You have ten seconds to make a move. You can try and actually fight back or you can keep running around this place."

Gwen gritted her teeth and wiped the sand off her face. She stood. Her chest hurt badly and there was a bit of blood coming from her mouth. Standing up, seeing her legs were fine enough to move, pushed her to once again run for it.

She could hear Connor scoff at the decision but she didn't care.

Why is it whenever someone is trying to kick my ass in this world it has to be freaking wet? She thought to herself as she came to an opening.

A soccer field sat in front of her. The fences that surrounded it were either torn apart in places or collapsed in others. One of the large goals had a net and the other had a corpse draped over the tarnished material.

From behind, Gwen could hear the roar of a beast.

"Wonderful," she exhaled.

She looked beyond the soccer field to see only miles and miles of flat desert. There was nowhere for her to run.

She turned to look down the path she came to see the robotic panther speeding towards her with its purple glowing eyes. She held her arms out and braced for the impact.

The cat threw itself into the air with metallic mouth open and ready for flesh. It crashed against her with a force she wasn't expecting. The two of them dragged across the sand, through the fence, and into the center of the field. The panther pinned her down in the deep wet ditch with its nose inches from hers.

Her arms were numbed as the panthers weight sank deep into her shoulders. She flailed her legs, pushing sand in every direction as water poured into her shoes.

"That's good!" Connor yelled from behind.

The Panther jumped back off of Gwen and sat itself waiting for another order. It kept its purple eyes on the target.

Gwen rolled slowly to her side. One of the robots claws went deep into her left shoulder and blood was flowing into her ditch.

Connor now had his small gladius sword in hand ready to finish her off.

Behind him, she could see Bright jumping from afar landing on top of the closest building to the field. He folded his arms looking very disappointed at the circumstances.

"You think you're better than us don't you?" Connor asked with agitation. "You come up with speeches of your positive thinking. You think you're wiser and cleverer than us. What life have you seen that makes you so sure? Have you seen horrors? Have you experienced things that make you terrified of sleep?"

Gwen began to sit herself up. "Hey, prick, it was my so called innocent thinking that saved your ass, you might want to remember that!"

Connor grinned. "Yeah, you saved my life, after I saved yours twice. You think your one kindness gives you some kind of moral superiority over us. You think it earns you some position to call shots and walk around like you are above all of this. You want this world? You want to stay? Then don't expect to live what the broods of this city and the rest of the world live. Learn to experience terrors and overcome them. If you can't, then I'll make sure we leave your dead weight at Purgatory."

Without another word he threw the gladius right into her left knee.

Gwen yelled at the top of her lungs. The small blade was poking out from behind her leg and more blood spewed into her hole.

She looked up to Bright. He was staring intently on the scene omitting any further type of reaction.

The blood that remained in her veins was beginning to boil. She stood herself slowly holding her weight on her uninjured leg. She placed both of her hands on the grip of the gladius and yanked it out in one clean pull.

The rage was almost a buzzing in her ear. It was shaking, bubbling, and beginning to erupt but her breath kept it all in order. She needed to use it.

From the corner of her eye she saw the quick current of electricity shoot across the wet ground. One whip caught Connor bringing him down to his knees with an uncontrollable twitch.

Gwen assumed one of the cable lines must have hit the water. It was her chance.

She hopped forward with the gladius still in her grip.

The metal panther didn't move. It sat where it was and watched her proceed giving off a growl that grew louder the closer she got to its owner.

Gwen attempted to slash him but he quickly blocked it with both of his arms.

He looked up to Gwen with little control of his eyelids and quivering lips. He threw her down to the ground and wrapped her arm behind her back taking the weapon back into his possession. "C-cable l-l-ine isn't g-g-going to help you."

Like in the alley, something kicked in that was unknown to her.

Though she was down to the ground, she kicked Connor off his own feet forcing him to release her. She cartwheeled back to standing position though the landing was rough due to her injured shoulders and leg.

She looked out to Bright. He still wasn't budging.

Did she tell him to call it off? Is that what he wanted? Did he want her to cry and tell him his assumptions were right? Tell him she couldn't handle any of it? That the two of them, the two boys who lost their youth to disaster and monsters she couldn't put a face to, knew more than her about life and the world?

Did she let Bright stand there and continue to hollow himself to people? Did she let the soldier beat her to a pulp and break her spirit in the process?

No. She couldn't.

Somewhere in the pit of her chest she could feel the roar of a different jungle cat. Not the panther, no, it was the Tiger again. She had seen it in her dreams, seen in the mess of legs on the train, it had roared for her when she was ambushed, and it met her at the door of death to take her back to the living in all its electric beauty.

She didn't find the tiger. The Tiger didn't come looking for her. It was always there. Through every moment of her life, every step, every bad memory that Vivienne made her relive by help of her dream catcher, through every young lustful obsession...

There in the imagined wasteland as her blood and chunks of sand dripped it was all becoming clear.

There are those that think the Seventh is just a still canvas. A picture already drawn and we're just playing out the paint and its strokes...

She wasn't enthused about life when she arrived at Kingslane because her life hadn't started. Her calling hadn't sung to her.

Then why was I so willing to say no? Why was my first reaction to get away from it as far as I could?

The tiger purred.

We're all called to something, one way or another, some people are meant to cure, some are meant to inspire, and some might even be destined to create conflict. I was always meant to find my way to Bright. There's a chance I was always meant to know Connor as well. I ran because I was scared to accept what I had always wanted. I think many people do it. Not just shamans. Bright said to look beyond the individual experience. The canvas... There is a bigger picture that goes beyond the understanding...

Another quick whip of electricity zoomed across the shallow dark water. It shook Connor more intensely knocking him onto his back.

There were no power cables jolting the ground. It was coming from her.

"Thanks?" she said to the Tiger deep within.

Gwen hobbled over to Connors shaking body. She kicked down on his chest. He grabbed her foot with both hands and threw her beside him.

With both arms stretched out she managed to catch herself and flip back to her footing.

Connor got himself up. The metal panther vanished and it was just them standing in the ghostly soccer field.

She didn't wait for him to get ready. She jetted across the ground and began throwing punch after punch. Even though he had been electrocuted twice, he was still able to block some of her blows.

She wanted to beat him. She needed to beat him. That need was more fueling than the pounding of her temper.

More and more waves of electric current ran through the wet ground zapping Connor.

She could feel herself getting faster with every punch and every kick.

Connor was regaining his demeanor and as the two of them battled the sound of their fists, arms, and legs making contact began to explode like the sound of thunder.

Gwen went for a punch to his face but he was quick to get out of the way. In half a second with both his hands, he grabbed ahold of her attacking arm, lifted her in the air, and threw her with all his strength into a neighboring decaying building.

Gwen's body shot through the humidity like a missile crashing into the stone causing what remained of the structure to collapse entirely on top of her.

The rubble and cement hurt, but it was not life ending. The incredible weight felt more like a rough experience of falling off ones bike.

She threw the walls and bricks off of her. She was ready for whatever Connor had to throw next.

He had jumped high and was descending rapidly aiming for where she stood.

She moved out of the way as he hit the ground making it rain chunks of wet sand.

She ran at him and again the two were locked in the dueling of thunder. Her desire to win was still growing and it seemed his was only ascending as well. The ferocity of their attacks with each hit seemed to cause the rubble around them to jump a few feet into the air.

Connor grabbed a hold of her neck and lifted her off of her feet ready to throw her into a wall once again.

"Not this time," Gwen groaned.

She kicked him right in his nose where blood began to spew instantly. Her feet hit the ground but she kept both her hands on the pair of his still loosely gripped on her neck. She high kicked his elbow forcing it to bend the opposite way.

He yelled in agony as she took the broken arm over her shoulder and threw him forward onto his back.

"Alright, I think that's good," Bright said walking through the destruction.

The cloud filled sky disappeared as the crack stone ceiling descended through it. The wrecked buildings crumbled as darkness began to fly towards them from every angle. The wet sand at their feet drained through cracks in the earth, which were revealed to be the ones of the stone Void chamber floor.

Her wet clothes were instantly dried, the wound in her knee was closed and the aches and sores of her muscles and bones had disappeared. She was standing in the torch lit area of the haven like none of it had happened.

Connor's bloody nose was no more and he wasn't suffering from any electrocution spasms. The only thing was that he was still face up on the ground in front of Gwen as she had both hands still on his arm that remained perfectly intact.

"What the hell happened?" Gwen asked letting go of him.

"Like I said," Bright began, "Pocket. Outside. Of. Reality. The illusion the Void creates, whatever we suffer in it, disappears with it."

Connor stood up and quickly checked to see how his elbow bent with a smile. He obviously was impressed with the magic of the Void.

Bright turned his back to them and headed up the wooden bridge towards the library entrance. Connor and Gwen quickly followed.

"So what was the point of that if none of it was real?" questioned Gwen.

"Oh it was real alright," Bright corrected. "We're shamans. We don't fight with our real bodies, at least not all the time. We fight with the spirit. Your spirit is connected to the Void when you're in there. The growth you experience, the things you learn, are all real. Just because you're not condemned to a hospital bed when you're done, doesn't make any of it less valuable."

Gwen and Connor stood speechless.

"I really thought I was hurting him in there..." she said with concern, "Did you?"

Connor shook his head. "Wouldn't make sense to send you to the edge of death when we're about to go on a mission to one of the most heavily guarded placed on the Astral Plane would it? Glad to know it didn't stop you from doing it to me though," he finished and began to make his way to the winding stairs.

"Hey," she called after him, "I'm sorry. You threw a sword at my knee and you made a building explode on me. I was just trying to defend myself."

Connor turned around and walked close to her. Like his panther had been, he was just an inch from her face. Even though there was no sand, no metal claws, and no blood, the numbness in her arms was there just the same along with the deadly tension.

"Don't ever apologize for trying to survive," he told her. "I meant what I said. I was glad it didn't stop you."

He turned once more and began his slow climb up the stairs.

"Hey Connor," Gwen tried again.

He stopped at the top of the stairs and waited for her to speak.

"I don't know what you remembered when you woke up. Maybe you'll feel comfortable enough some day to share it with me. But the guy I met on the plane, the guy that was lost, he was a really nice one. Don't let him stay lost too much longer alright?"

Connor stared at her for a second and then continued to head to his room.

"Well that was a decent evening," Bright yawned. "Think I'm going to head home."

"You're leaving?" Gwen asked as he was already heading for the front doors.

Notus was floating off towards the dining room looking disappointed.

"Well yeah, what am I going to do here?"

"I don't know. You have a room. You could just stay."

Bright grinned. "Don't hold your breath."

He turned out the wooden doors, held the torch that was on the edge of the mansion and vanished through the darkness.

"Lady Gwen, sometimes you just have to accept things as they are. Sometimes the greatest things our heart desires is standing in front of us with a hand outstretched but we are too stubborn to see it."

Gwen let her mind trail back to her bloody stance in the wasteland and grinned. "Or maybe we're just too scared to receive it..."

She headed up the curved wooden stairs towards her own bedroom at the opposite end of the haven and knew there was hope for them both yet.

# XIX. THE PANTHER REMEMBERS

Connor closed the door behind him and sat down at the end of his new bed. It had been made at some point after he had left to explore the rest of the haven. The dark grey sheets lay flat and pressed on the king sized mattress over the black wooden box frame close to the ground.

He had two simple white pillows at the head, a dark grey wooden desk next to the door, a pull up bar in his closet entrance where an entire set of new clothes hung waiting to be worn, and by the wall, a complete wrack of lifting weights.

Nothing else was in the room. He didn't know what else there was to expect. A bedroom continued to feel unreal. He sat there in the silence with the occasional song of an insect from the maze of branches disrupting his numbness.

He stroked the material of the bed feeling harmony and guilt. He looked around him at what little there was and felt afraid to touch anything else. It didn't feel like it was his. It was all staring at him and he wondered if he deserved its company. Was the true owner of it all going to pop through the door threatening to call the police like so many times in the past?

The past. He remembered. He remembered all of those years of very little with his protector Joseph, the Crimson Owl. He was just about six when they met. How they did was still a blur. He only knew that the bald tanned skinned man with sagging eyes was a friend of his family.

Connor had grown up with his parents in a modest home by a great lake. His father would spend a great deal of time out on his boat and his mother would argue with him every time he stayed out drinking late. Overall though, they were happy.

He believed he had a sister though her face, like his parents, wouldn't return to him. He only remembered laughing with that little girl, being scared with her, being in the kindness of his mother, the distance of his father, and the sound of water every day.

Then, like a terrible and sudden panic, he could feel it all end. The inside of his shoes wet, the screams of his mother, the crying of the little girl, and a kiss farewell, the one last gesture of kindness from his father before he was sent out on the boat he loved so dearly with Joseph.

After the night of darkness on the water the memories would become broken. The furthest back he could recall was the walking. The endless walking they would do besides roads, through trees, and over mountains.

Though the peripheral would change, the memories always told him the same thing when he looked ahead; Joseph's back carrying what he could manage cursing under his breathe and engaging in conversation with himself making Connor feel that he, like those things his protector carried, was more a charge than anything else.

It was their first spring together that it seemed Joseph would begin his efforts to turn around. Though to pacify him of his parents was not his aim. After full days of marching and their fire set up, Joseph would begin to speak to Connor of their heritage, their history.

He explained why his parents died. They were shamans and their enemies were turning them into fantasies of a past long gone. He would say that everyday more and more were being killed. There was a fire inside of Joseph. He would tell Connor the stories and his passion would quickly evolve to rage. He would look out beyond the trees through the darkness of their camp and Connor could feel his desire to pursue the ghosts.

Joseph wanted revenge. He wanted to fight and make the monsters of a plane not too far from theirs suffer for what they had done. Every night he would listen to the hoot of an owl or the howl of a wolf he would be forced to listen to the whimpers of a scared boy he vowed to protect as well. He was a man of his word and though his promise made his resentment of Connor stronger, he never left.

That spring of stories and news of what was happening to the people of their world took them into the hot summer. Every week a new lead for refuge was destroyed. New allies had gone quiet and there was nothing but booming silence from all around.

"There is a haven forty miles south of here," he would say in the morning and by night he would sense it no more.

By late August Joseph had committed to traveling to the state of Washington where he said he knew of a viceroy that governed. Their travels took them three weeks through forest and rain.

"Once we're close I know the Void will alert him to us. He'll probably send some of his charges to find us and take us in," he would repeat to Connor during all of their rests. Each time he began, Connor's belief that he was only trying to console himself grew stronger.

They arrived on the outskirts of Seattle on the first week of September in 1998. It was the first time Connor had seen a dead body.

The haven was no more. Mangled women and children surrounded a small cave and hollowed skins of shaman men draped the neighboring shrubbery.

Joseph fell to his knees and wept. It was the first time Connor had seen him do so in their months together. It would also be the last.

He stood up, marched to Connor with a straight face, pulled him by the neck of his shirt, and dragged him to a creek some feet from the cave. With all his clothes, Joseph threw him into the fast running water and told him to sit there.

"Is the water cold?" he asked Connor through gritted teeth.

Connor whimpered and couldn't answer. The images of the bodies and skins still stained his thoughts.

"I said, is the water cold!"

"Y-yes," Connor sobbed.

"Good. Now sit there and let the cold reach your very bones. I want you to feel it all. You are going to sit and meditate. Focus your mind. The cold and the pain are only in your thoughts. You are a son of two shamans. You will become one and you will be better than them, better than me, better than all of this."

Connor did as he was told on that first day of his training. Training that would never leave his days in the years to come.

Halloween came and Connor could see a small town full of costumed children running from house to house as he sat atop an overlooking point. He huddled himself tightly underneath his blanket trying to recover from another two hour meditation session.

"What are you doing?" Joseph questioned him in a panic pulling him from the neck of his shirt, as he had grown accustomed.

"I was just seeing-"

"Shut up! I told you about this day. I told you how dangerous it is! You weren't by the fire and you nearly scared me to death!"

The sags under his eyes had grown deeper over the months they had been together. He remembered his gut being larger and on that Halloween he looked like one of the skeletons that hung outside one of those families' doors.

"Don't let anyone see you. Any of them could just be wearing a skin. Keep by this fire and don't you dare fall asleep."

The night drifted and the sun rose. Nothing happened. The Hallowed Eve had reached its end and in the weeks to come they would find so had the chaos.

The feeling of shaman death, the breaking twigs from flesh-suited ghouls in the distance, and the inability for Joseph to enter the Astral Plane had disappeared.

"I'm going to project," he told Connor one morning by their fire, "my body is going to change color a bit but don't pay it any mind. I will be back as soon as I can. I'm going to see what has happened."

Connor stared at his companion, as he seemed to sleep with the color of his skin looking paler than normal. He watched and waited for five hours.

When Joseph returned he seemed dazed.

"They fixed them... The Courts fixed the veils... They say what ghouls are-were here must have died the second they were repaired... Said they couldn't sustain their form here any easier than a poltergeist could... It's over... It's over, they're fixed, and it's all over..."

He wandered into the trees and repeated the words to himself for some time.

Connor believed that the training would end. If the ghouls were no longer with them then they would be safe.

Joseph knew better. Their training continued as usual.

"The veils are repaired but we're still not bound to a haven. We're open targets for ghouls on the other plane."

"I thought they could only get us when we're sleeping," Connor said to him as he balanced himself on a log with his left foot.

"They can only get humans when they sleep.... Shamans shine constantly on the Astral Plane... They can pick us up there and get us at any second..."

Then Connor made his mistake. "But, I'm not a shaman. Only you are. They can't find me."

His eyes were closed but he could sense the new tension and rage. He heard Joseph pick up a log and throw it directly at him. To Joseph's surprise, as well as his, he managed to punch it away before it made contact. He opened his eyes and locked with Joseph. He was half expecting him to be angry that he dodged the attack but instead the man's face was serene.

His training was paying off.

Connor came to regret the move regardless in the weeks to come. Joseph believed he was getting better and for that, his training was intensified. The key element added to the vigorous practice was hand to hand fighting.

Joseph didn't care he was only a child. In fact, Connor believed he never saw him that way.

"There has been no word from any surviving shamans," he said to him over fresh snow on a February afternoon in 1999. "What if I am it? What if you are it? The only shaman left on this planet. Are you going to let our ways be extinct?"

Barefoot and in a worn tank top, Connor relied on the black sweatpants he wore for warmth as the chill consumed every piece of him. He lunged for a kick in the face but Joseph caught his small foot with ease, pulled him close like he weighed no more than a feather, and slammed his elbow right into his mouth.

Connor face planted to the ground and saw the red drops fall to the pure white. "No, I won't let it die."

"Good, very good."

"But, you said to me that a viceroy has to inherit his title. New viceroys must earn it from their superior or their governing parent. You are not a viceroy so how am I to keep the tradition alive?" He spat more blood from his mouth standing straight ready to try again.

Joseph grinned, a rare thing to see. "You are not a viceroy and neither am I. I am something else, as are you. I am a Taita, an Elder of our world. We have the unique ability to create completely new viceroyalties. I can bring you into the realm of Taita and you too will one day possess the power to turn ordinary human beings into great and powerful rulers."

Connor sprinted forward, attempted two punches to Joseph's abdomen. He landed one though the second was slapped away. Connor found the opportunity to use Joseph's knee as a jumping point and land the kick across the face he had wanted to cement so badly.

His trainer barely moved.

"If you have this power why haven't you converted a regular human to a viceroy already?"

Joseph faked a move to the right that Connor jumped on too quickly. He shifted to the left, swiped his leg to knock Connor off his feet so his back could land on the cold wet earth.

"We are responsible for the survival of our kind... No desperation must force us to create viceroyalties out of any person. They must hold the things a powerful leader must possess. Most importantly, as a Taita, you will be able to see their power animal as clear as day. A power animal is a reflection of the soul; in fact it is the soul. You must judge wisely whom you will grant such gifts. For you see, we can create them, but destroying them is another matter entirely..."

"Can you see my power animal then?"

"Oh yes."

"And...?"

"In time boy. In time."

The weeks became months and the months became years. They found no shamans, no Elders, no havens... They were alone.

Countless occasions came where Joseph would become suddenly ill. He would be forced to project and fight whatever threat was attacking. Connor had no choice but to stand by and watch him convulse, foam from the mouth, heat up with a fever, and eventually return to him.

"Make me an Elder already," Connor had told him at the age of twelve. The attacks are wearing you out and they're happening more frequently. I can help you."

Joseph wouldn't allow it. "You still need more training. You need to be stronger, faster, and ready to continue this war. Even if that means alone."

"What does strength here matter? I don't take my body with me."

"But it is your will, your mind that fuels you to become stronger on this plane. That power of mind is what you will take with you the day you go to such a dangerous place. It will one day be your greatest weapon."

More time passed, they continued to live like nomads in the woods, the mountains, the abandoned gas stations, and houses. With more preparation Connor continued to build his skills though the noise of normality in the world around him continued to sound. As it pulled him making him question his priorities, it only made Joseph slip further and further from the man he was.

He was beginning to bring bottles of liquor around the campfire and his fits of rage had become more frequent.

He was fourteen the first time that Joseph had drunken himself to sleep in the middle of the afternoon in the fall of 2006. Hungry, Connor saw no choice but to go to find food himself.

Hunting was the usual means to acquire a meal but as the day was beautiful and the neighboring town was bustling with life, he didn't resist. Cautiously, he made his way into a local super market to steal what food he could hide inside his hoodie two sizes too big.

As he stuffed a cold packet of chicken tenderloins into his baggy pants he heard the sound of a laugh. Frightened that he had been spotted, he jumped. To the aisle neighboring the cold meat section was a group of young girls.

They were all laughing with glistening white teeth, straight washed hair, and clean and colorful clothes. They looked at him oddly as they looked for snacks for whatever event they were planning.

Connor had fought a grown man, run from monsters wearing the rotting skin of people, and saw dead bodies regularly in his time growing up. The fear he found in him then was different. It was exhilarating, horrifying, and an ecstasy he wanted more of.

The three young women gathered their basket; shooting him one more smile and laugh before turning away.

He looked them up and down and wanted to follow. He wondered what he would say. He had never seen girls like those before. He had never heard such laughter or seen such lighthearted joy.

"Hey kid!" An employee screamed to him noting the bread sticking out from the packets of his hoodie.

Connor shot the girls one last look before running for the front. He heard their laughs one last time as he moved. His face flushed with embarrassment, exhilarating him enough to run faster than he ever had.

So much in him changed after that day. He was beginning to smell almost as bad as Joseph after too many days of no rivers or sprinklers. Joseph was beginning to notice it as well. "You are almost a man," he would say, "Time to really start acting like it."

After that, Connor's fighting training began to include knives, he was taught to use guns, and kill for his own food.

"I'll go steal us something to eat today," Connor would say eagerly getting up from his sleeping bag almost every day.

"You are getting too used to that business," Joseph would tell him. "You should be hunting!"

"We need to keep our strength up. It makes more sense for me to get us some beef or chicken. We're close to a new town. They won't recognize me. I'll be careful."

Joseph could tell his interests were more than just about the meat. He agreed to allow Connor to go though skepticism came heavily with the approval.

Connor had grown into a teenager and his body began to take form thanks to all the training Joseph constantly put him through. He was beginning to notice that the attention he was giving the girls in the supermarket had become more mutual.

As he slipped out of the market with bags full of food he had stopped to notice a beautiful dark haired girl waiting patiently outside the store.

He felt the pull to finally speak to one. To find out what they were about. To know them...

"Were you planning on bringing that back to camp any time soon?" a voice from behind made Connor jump.

Joseph had followed him. There, he noticed the stares Connor loved to surrender to the young lady. He rolled his eyes and pushed him forward towards the road.

In the following months Joseph began to mock the awkward mustache that was growing on Connor's face. It was his newfound hobby to make Connor uncomfortable for the phase in his life he was experiencing. As awkward as it felt, it all came to a climax when Connor's shorts had fallen by a creek when they were getting themselves cleaned up. He was embarrassed but Joseph once more rolled his eyes.

"Nothing I haven't seen before. Do we have to have the fucking talk thing?"

"What? What talk?"

"Ugh, your body gets hairy, girls become the center of the universe, you fuck them, and babies pop out nine months later. Questions?"

Connor had shaken his head wanting the dialogue to end.

What little Joseph did manage to teach him was that he should always be civil, they should walk through doors first, and that he shouldn't curse when he was around them. Then, on the nights Joseph would become piss roaring drunk, he would remind Connor that they were selfish life sucking leeches that made it their job in life to make men miserable. He should never let one become the center of his world...

On the Fourth of July in 2008, under the booming sound of fireworks, a sixteen-year-old Connor had finally arrived at his time.

He remembered seeing the stars and the nebulas and the metal panther lunging towards him. The feeling of strength and his senses heightened to emotions and mysticisms all around him blasted like gunfire.

Weeks went by with little sleep. The worst cases were those when they camped too close to neighboring towns. He could feel waves of anger, fits of pleasure, blasts of joy, and oozing fear.

"How do you deal with this?" Connor asked clutching the sides of his head feeling his sanity and the sense of himself slipping.

"It takes time. You need to breathe. Don't fight their truths. They are all specs of dust in the dunes that will lead you to the Seventh one day. Embrace them."

Connor looked to him able to see the faint image of a crimson owl circling above.

It would be the same anywhere they went. Streets filled with people minding their days but through his eyes he would see them amongst a jungle of wild color; canaries, snakes, Kangaroos, dogs, beetles, butterflies, wolves, and so many more.

He learned to control the waves of emotion and the visions became second nature. He traveled to the Astral Plane and experienced the freedoms of Limbo.

He never would admit it, but Connor found quickly that he was stronger, faster, and more agile than Joseph while projected. He had trained him to be a fighting machine and so he was. Ghouls tried to attack and he was able to fend them off with ease and fluid ferocity.

The stronger he became, and the better rounded as a shaman he grew, the more unhinged Joseph seemed to become.

At times Connor would forget that Joseph too spent no time with anyone else other than him throughout the years. Their interactions with the outside world had been limited and anyone in their traditions was more legend than reality.

Only once on the verge of his seventeenth birthday in 2009 had they managed to come into contact with someone of their world. He was an Elder like them who had spent the last several years spiraling out of his wits in New Orleans.

"They're dead... They're all dead!" He shouted to them from the corner of a bar. "No shamans are left. No viceroys, no elders, and certainly no royal family. You heard; the bodies of those poor princes were cut into pieces and thrown into fire for feeding. What's the point? We survived it. Let's just try and blend in with the rest of the world as best we can, no?

"Besides, no havens are left either," he laughed at his sadness, "one way or another I- or the two of you- are going to be attacked by something you can't handle and it'll all be over."

Joseph cursed at the elder and told him to fuck himself. After hovering in New Orleans for several days he eventually would swallow his pride and visit the stranger once again to offer him a place with them. Unfortunately, all they would find was his corpse covered in blisters and flies in a hot hotel room.

Connor struggled to find his hope but the ability to project into Limbo and fight ghouls had become his own drug. No fear, no hesitance.

Joseph on the other hand was gone. He spent most of their days arguing with no one, mixing his liquors with wines, and leaving all responsibilities for food, shelter, water, and safety to Connor.

"Save the princes... They're alive...Stupid fuck-they're alive..." he would mumble.

Joseph never knew the day that Connor had earned his parma totem from the panther within. On a full moon when he had begun throwing up, Connor had nearly let him go seeing it only as another round of too much to drink. Though as his companion convulsed and bled from his nose he managed to project just in time.

Seven Nymph Ghouls; tall, thin, dreary, and wooden covered in poisonous barbs had ambushed their camp sensing the poison that Joseph had corrupted himself with.

Resenting Joseph for his lack of accountability, leaving him alone to fight, taking away his childhood, forcing the life on him when he could have walked away at any time, consumed him.

The Panther roared and gifted him with his weapon that would become more of an aid in the following months than Joseph could possibly be.

"Joseph," Connor began one night as they had broken into a house eating a decent meal and taking a long needed shower, "Why don't we stop our traveling now. I am trained and I can keep us safe. We can find a house just like this and stop moving. The war is over. There's nothing left. We haven't heard from another shaman and we have never heard from a haven. We can stay put and build a life. What life we can manage..."

Joseph threw his glass of brandy at the wall and stumbled close to Connor's face. He could sense the whiskey in his breath and the smell of his un-brushed teeth.

"There is nothing left. Our job is to find a haven. That is where we will settle. We have to rebuild our people, our tradition. How do we know we're not the only ones left!? Do you really want to insult everything your father helped build and worked for?"

"There is no haven. Why don't we at least find a suitable person to make a viceroy at least? We've spent years looking for hope that doesn't exist. Can we at least find a person to convert?"

"You think it's that easy?"

"Yes!"

Joseph's palm smacked against Connor's cheek. "Would you condemn a person to this life? Condemn them to what we have lived?"

Connor kept quiet.

"Of course not...without a haven, a place to be safe, there is no reason to bring innocents into this."

Then in a flash he was eighteen. Spring was turning into summer and a strange sensation passed over the both of them as they crossed into Alabama. So overwhelming was it that Connor could have sworn it sobered Joseph in seconds.

It felt like something was calling. It was similar to what they felt from the elder in New Orleans only that the signal was intentional. Something, or someone wanted to be found. It was taking them towards Georgia.

Joseph was electric. There was another elder, maybe even a haven. There was the chance for home only hours away.

They threw caution to the wind. Connor knew better but he couldn't help but embrace the new sense of life that had consumed his companion. Together they stole a van, filled it with stolen food, a mattress to sleep, and rocketed towards the University of Kingslane.

Joseph talked more than Connor could remember on the drive. He was laughing, he was talking about possibilities, he was speaking of who they could see, what chances there could be to gain back the past.

It was all a dream until somewhere around midnight, just passed the state border, when Joseph began to cough blood. He crashed their van and Connor began to spew red just the same. They both projected to fight. Ghouls were coming from every corner of the tall grass around the road. There were too many.

It had been nearly a year since Joseph had fought on the Astral Plane. He could barely keep up with the movements of the creatures that glided through the curtains of green.

"You need to go now Connor," Joseph said to him as his side shed blood.

"What? No, we can get there together! I can take them all, watch!"

Connor through spear, sword, axe, and mace but he could not keep up with the creatures in the dark.

One bit his leg and another made it to his shoulder.

"Time to go now Connor," Joseph spoke again lifting the young man up and pushing him away.

"No! We're doing this together!"

"You've done good. You have become an excellent shaman. You need to keep going. You need to be the one to make all of this worth it. You need-" but before he could finish, blood erupted from his mouth as blades penetrated him from behind.

No more words, no more breath. Joseph had died instantly with his eyes wide open.

Connor screamed and from the depths of his chest the Platinum Panther emerged to fight.

He mounted the power animal's back and the pair lunged swiftly alone through the dark night towards the city in the distance.

Entering Kingslane so filled with ghoul life and whispers of a character named the White Viper, he would lose track of the moment that he ceased to remember who he was.

"Master Connor, are you alright?" the voice of Notus came from his door.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied.

"Well, there are a couple of steaks downstairs with steamed vegetables if you are hungry. I'm sure that, um, inspiring session worked up quite the appetite."

Connor threw himself back on his bed and stared at the wooden ceiling. He listened to the sound of the leaves outside and the crickets singing.

The image of Gwen fighting the Valkyries came to him. He could see her screaming as his blade went through her in the wasteland. Then she returned the favor by beating the life out of him and a part of him liked it.

But reality was with him again. Joseph had taught him, never make a girl the center of your world. We are warriors. Survivors. Don't trouble yourself with drama and the nonsense they speak. You'll get the urges like all of us do. Do what you will to them and move on.

He had agreed. He didn't know if he really felt such a thing for Gwen anyway. He thought she was a bit annoying. He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy crushing what he thought was childish optimism in the wasteland. He would have to spend most of his time watching over her. Bright would make that his primary job. A part of him enjoyed the idea of always having a girl to save. Like Spiderman, his favorite hero, would do for Mary-Jane...

"Master Connor, I promise the food is very delicious! I can even make you some apple pie for dessert if you'd like!"

"Yeah, I'll be right there!" Connor replied.

He grinned thinking about how Joseph would react to all of it.

Then the realization returned as it had when he walked down the stairs for Bright's training session. The fact that made him release all that rage on Gwen who reminded him of his crying self in the cold water...

Joseph was dead. They took him. They took him like they had taken so many others. There was only the Viper, the gargoyle, this bed, and the tiger lily.

Life is odd, he thought. Life is very odd.

# XX. The Tower

THE FOLLOWING MORNING WAS NOT as brutal as Gwen's previous training session.

Once more she was under the illusions of the Void though in a much calmer setting. She sat atop a sand dune in the middle of a vast desert under a full moonlit night. The temperatures were beyond freezing allowing her to see the breathe in front of her. She continued to do as she was instructed by sitting in silence, trying her best to concentrate, and meditate to connect with her power animal once again.

Unfortunately, after five hours of the process, she had little to no luck in achieving communication.

"You have to learn to tap into the power of your animal in circumstances other than high stress," Bright had said after they finished breakfast in the glass dining room. "Connor did an excellent job of getting your adrenaline going which makes it easier to access the beast. I mean, makes sense right? Survival mode and all that crap."

"What's the problem? We're going into a dangerous place, isn't it a good thing that the tiger wakes up when I'm, you know, in danger?" she had asked.

"You need to be able to access it constantly not just under crazy circumstances. Your mind is your greatest weapon on the Astral Plane. If you can't get it in order then your dead weight. Thinking brute strength is the key to victory is some Copper Tortoise shit."

Gwen hadn't felt much at the mention of Corey's shaman name. For someone treated as the school's hero she was very disappointed to see he wouldn't risk his neck to save an innocent girl. Maybe even more innocents if the abductions were really happening like clockwork. On the other hand, it could be a bit admirable to turn down everything for the sake of protecting his friends...

Bright had set the Void to take her to a serene location. Knowing the temperatures of a desert drop dramatically at night, the environment would be peaceful enough while still having the distracting factor of the cold to test her focus.

The frigid air however wasn't her greatest obstacle.

She had never attempted to meditate before.

Was she supposed to just sit there and stare out into the night and think about the tiger? Was she supposed to breathe a specific way? All the time had granted her was silent confusion. As she approached the sixth hour her mind lingered on the fact that she could barely feel her toes anymore and her fingers were on a completely different level of numb.

<Bright, I'm sure you can hear me. Can we just wrap this up? Nothing is happening...>

She waited for a response but only the wind blew.

<Seriously, we're supposed to go to Purgatory tonight. I know you want me to have control but I don't think I'm going to develop that by sitting here. I did more than ok against Connor last night, there's no reason I can't just rely on that to get by. >

Suddenly, the sand dunes began to melt to the ground. The moon shattered into tiny pieces mimicking all the stars until all vanished behind the stone ceiling. Night shifted to day and leaves returned back into vision all around her.

Bright was standing in the middle of the chamber with a face of disappointment. "Gwen, I appreciate your sparks of team spirit but I don't think you're going to be able to come with us tonight. You're not ready."

Gwen got off the ground and marched over to him ready to argue. "You have to be kidding me. Connor throws a sword through my knee accusing me of not having as much hardcore survival experience as you two and here I am literally volunteering and you want to tell me 'thanks but no thanks'?"

"Connor was only doing that to get a rise out of you. He wanted to make you angrier than you were afraid. He was just doing his job of training you. It's not like he actually thought any of those things."

Gwen didn't believe him. She suspected he had used the thoughts as ammunition to get the job done but she couldn't shake her gut telling her they were all rooted in truth.

""You don't want me fighting ghouls, that's fine, but you can't play rescue and fight at the same time. I'll help the Valkyries get the Sparrow and I'll be out before you know it."

"You and the Valkyries alone? That'll work in our favor," he said sarcastically.

"They won't hurt me," Gwen assured.

Bright chuckled the way he did when Gwen came up with something he perceived to be naive. "And what makes you so sure of that? Your roomy is your new bestie so there's no way in hell she'd fuck you over? She doesn't know you're the Tigress remember?"

Gwen hesitated for a moment. "She's not like the others."

"How do you know, you barely know them."

"She just isn't. She's the same as me. She got thrown into something she doesn't understand and she just feels really alone. The Sparrow doesn't even like her! None of them do! She's going in there because she thinks it's the right thing..."

Bright squinted his eyes and scanned her face like trying to read a small font text. "Miss Greene got to you didn't she?"

"What? No, I'm just saying it's the truth. I was right about Connor wasn't I? Maybe I'm just as right about Viv. Don't you think it's a little curious how I got landed into the tribe that has two of the most negative, pessimistic, PTSD suffering shamans in the city?"

"Viv?" He echoed ignoring her question. "You're on a 'pal name' basis now? That's reassuring..."

Bright turned to head for the bridge up to the mansion with Gwen following close behind.

They exited through the bookshelf entrance and out into the grand foyer.

"How'd it go?" Connor asked from his seat at the foot of the left set of the spiral staircase.

"Great, I was cold for almost six hours, best meditation session ever."

"Oh dear," Notus said with worry floating down the stairs behind Connor. "The Sahara Night illusion I'm sure. Master Bright was obsessed with that one for almost a year. I know it tends to get more than a bit nippily there. Would you like some hot chocolate Lady Gwen?"

"No, I'm alright Notus. Everything get's erased remember?"

"Oh, right you are my lady."

"What's the deal Bright?" Connor asked. "Is she anywhere near able to handle this?"

Gwen turned to Bright eager to hear the response that was sure to be against her favor.

"She'll be fine. We have our work cut out for us but with the Valkyries it shouldn't be anything I can't handle. Just need you to be on your toes."

Connor nodded as Gwen stood surprised by his words.

"The game plan is this," Bright continued, "We get ourselves through the arch of the spires. The fog will be enough cover so no guards will see us coming from far way...whatever those guards might be.

I'll take the three stooges into our tribe before we depart so we can all have M.P. access with one another. In the case we have to split up, we'll be good.

"Gwen, you're going to have to be able to keep your calm. The telepathy element of the M.P. can only work when the mind isn't flooded with stress, panic, or a turbulent stream of thought."

Gwen understood then why he wanted her to be able to tap into the tigress power without the survival mode element. Yet he decided for her to go along anyway. Did it mean he believed she could get it under control when the situation demanded it?

"I don't want the Valkyries going for the Sparrow alone. They can jump back on her ship just as quick as they can jump off. Though I'm guessing the Sparrow won't have enough strength to shift them back over to her brood. Regardless, we play it safe.

"Gwen here seems to think the Emerald Owl is on some kind of moral high road. She is the only one we won't have an M.P. link with. I'll need you to stick with her, communicate, and be sure she's leading the charge," he instructed her.

"Won't that be kind of difficult since the Blood Eagle tends to call the shots?" Gwen asked.

"Won't be a problem. The Eagle will be with me. Consider her my insurance."

"What about me?" Connor entered. "Where do you want me?"

"Connor, you're the third shaman of your age including myself that I've seen who knows how to tame. Not an easy thing to master. Even though you're not a Taita anymore I want you to know you're still one hell of a shaman. I'm going to be relying on you most of all. If things get bad, which I'm sure they will, I'll need you to make sure Gwen and the others get out safely."

"Taming?" Gwen chimed in.

"It's a powerful shaman skill Lady Gwen," Notus responded shifted his face into one of amazement. "A shaman that can reach the beast within can learn to release it to fight beside him or her. It takes a great deal of emotional awareness and usually a great moment of vulnerability as a right of passage. After all, it is the souls shape emerging from inside to expose itself. Only fitting, wouldn't you say?"

Gwen thought that the robot panther was just a unique totem belonging to Connor. She had no idea that these beasts could actually come out to assist. She thought back to the electric rabbit that led them down into the sewers. It was no bird, meaning it belonged to one of Corey's brood members. What intense vulnerability had the rogue demonstrated to be able to learn a technique that Bright deemed so challenging?

The White Viper... what did that thing look like when unleashed? Gwen wondered if he really did know how to tame or if he was just saying so to make himself look superior. She'd love to know what he exposed in his case if he was telling the truth.

"What about you?" Connor rebutted to Bright.

"I will be able to handle myself. Just keep in touch. If for some reason I'm over my head I'll reach out."

"There are two Phantom Lords in the city. I think it's safe to say there's a good chance you'll be over your head," Connor answered with concern.

Bright shrugged with a smirk. "What can I say? All in a day's work."

*

The night came quick.

Gwen called her parents and had as casual a conversation as she could muster. Her mother told her that her father had been working hard on redoing her bedroom for when she came home to visit.

She was asked a handful of times if everything was all right. The oddness in Gwen's voice was a clue to spark the question but she also knew that it was the norm for her mother to insist.

So she lied.

"Have you made anymore friends?" her mother asked.

"Yes mom. They're great."

"Is your roommate nice?"

"Yes mom, she's really nice."

"Well there you go Gweny-bean! College life is turning out to be good! I told your father, you know, I told him; she is going to settle in just fine! She just needs a couple of days and she is going to love it! How about boys? Any you like?"

"No mom, no one special has popped up in the week I have been here."

"Well I'm not talking about someone special, I just mean is there anyone fun to look at!"

"Yeah, I guess you could say there are a couple."

Her mother giggled on the phone.

"Alright Gweny-bean, I gotta go get dinner ready for your dad. Call more often for crying out loud! We love you and we miss you."

Gwen echoed the same sentiments and hung up.

"Ready to go?" Connor asked standing at the door of Gwen's haven bedroom.

"Huh? Yeah. We're you listening to that?"

"Your phone call? No. Doesn't concern me what you and your parents talk about. As long as it wasn't about how you're going to infiltrate a spiritual prison to save a kidnapped soul against the most dangerous crime syndicate."

"Oh, you know what, I was going to but all of that slipped my mind," she joked.

Connor actually broke a smile for a second before burying it quickly. It was like a breakthrough of sun at stormy tides.

"Bright's waiting downstairs."

The two of them headed down to meet him by the torch at the entrance of the mansion.

"Now remember you three," Notus began nervously from behind them. "Nothing crazy! Do your duty and get home safe. I-I'll have a fresh batch of cookies and lemonade waiting for you when you return. You should even make it a day by the pool to celebrate your victory!"

Notus face kept shifting and turning unable to settle on an emotion. Gwen took it to mean he was overwhelmed.

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea," Gwen assured him. "How about some oatmeal raisin cookies too though. Those are actually my favorite and I'll definitely want some of those when I get back."

Notus finally settled on a soft grin. "Absolutely Lady Gwen. I'll get started on a fresh batch right away... Now go. Go be heroes. Shamans of good for the sake of good."

He turned back through the open double doors in a hurry. He was made of stone but Gwen wondered if the floating head could produce tears...

"Alright guys here we go," Bright said taking the torch by the grip disappearing out of sight.

When they regrouped seconds later outside of the tree they hurried their way over to the faculty parking not far from the white marble buildings that surrounded the campus green. Bright's luxurious ride was sitting there waiting.

They rode in silence down the street towards the East End.

"Bright, where are we going?" Gwen asked.

"Your apartment."

"Why mine? I thought we were going to project from your house."

"Nope. La Symphonia is closer to your apartment."

"What about Vivienne?"

"She isn't going to be projecting alone, trust me."

Bright parked the car just outside of Gwen's stone stairs. They hurried inside and did a quick scan of the apartment. No one was home.

"Alright, we have thirty minutes until show time. Let's get a move on."

Bright sat himself on the living room couch. Gwen went into her room and laid herself on her bed looking out to the orange lamplight. She smiled and thought of the snake biting its tail on Bright's room ceiling at the haven.

Connor lay down on the floor next to her.

"Are you sure you don't want to just lay in Vivienne's bed?" She asked.

"It's alright. Comfort isn't exactly where my mind is at."

He closed his eyes and Gwen watched as his skin went slightly pale. That's what it must look like when a spirit is projected to the Astral Plane.

Gwen laid her head back on her pillow, listened to a clock in her kitchen tick, closed her eyes, and let the tigress lead her way.

After what felt like a few seconds, she realized she was sitting staring at a twinkly star in the center of her bed. She looked beside her and noticed another one on the ground next to her. Bright and Connor were already in the living room in game mode.

Like they had done before, they climbed up to the roof of the building and jumped through the night towards the towering Symphonia in the distance.

They landed in front of the moat where one of the Valkyries was waiting eagerly for them alone. As they approached and saw the thick bangs they realized it was the Parrot.

"H-hi!" she said awkwardly. "We're all up in the bar," she stated.

"What? I thought only ghouls could get into the restaurant?" Gwen asked.

"Well yeah! But it's empty tonight. No one's there, it's just us. Besides, the entrance to Purgatory is in the sky above the rails so we'll need the highest point to get up there, right?"

Gwen wasn't liking the feeling of it. Perhaps the Valkyries did have something up their sleeves. She waited for Bright's call.

"Lead the way bird," he commanded.

The Parrot turned to the tower and began levitating upward. Gwen and the others crossed the moat and began to climb the vine-covered tower until they reached the circular glass walled restaurant.

They jumped in through an open frame following after the Parrot to find the Eagle, the Crane, and the Owl waiting at the 'O' shaped bar in the center of the space. Like reality, the place was very high-end. The carpet and all the tables were a soft ivory as a giant crystal chandelier hung covering the entire ceiling and the circular restaurant was all topped off in creamy champagne light. The view was magnificent. Gwen could see the twinkling lights of the city around them. In the distance she could make out the labyrinth of marble, in another direction she could see darkness beyond the buildings that was probably the meadowlands towards the south. The city lights illuminated the insects gliding across the sky in neat rows like aerial traffic.

"Alright, you're here," spoke the Owl. Gwen didn't pick up the same uneasiness from her as she was getting from the Parrot. In fact, she wasn't getting it from the other two either. She had gotten the impression that the Parrot was an odd one but she was certainly acting odder than usual.

"Yes, we're here, as promised," Bright said lackadaisically heading towards the bar looking beyond the Valkyries to see what the ghouls consumed. There was little uniformity to the bottles as many were straight and others round, and some even zigzagged containing different colored liquids and a variety of ghoul parts floating inside. "Though let's begin with your end of the bargain before we go anywhere. We're going to need communication between each other up there and you know the M.P. will only work between members of a tribe."

"Wait! Maybe we should talk about our game plan first!" the Parrot blurted, situating herself behind a table a considerable distance from the bar scrunching the white tablecloth.

"Seriously, what is wrong with you?" asked the Crane with annoyance as she tore up a napkin into pieces. "I know this is dangerous and all but you've been acting like, really weird all night."

"No, it's alright. I suppose we could discuss that first," said Bright with a bit of caution.

<Bright, something feels off, > Gwen thought.

<I feel it too man. I don't know what's going on but maybe we should be careful, > added Connor.

<Of course we're being careful. I don't sense anything weird coming off these three. The Parrot isn't a concern. She's bottom of the food chain next to the Owl with this group. She's probably just shitting her panties about going up. Relax. >

Gwen wasn't buying it. The whole situation had her on edge. Why wasn't he more suspicious of them being inside La Symphonia? They met in a sewer the previous time like rats. She wasn't sure about ghoul customs but she wondered if a Friday night wouldn't make for big business. Regardless, the emptiness of the most popular restaurant in town was unsettling.

"You three are going to join my tribe before we leave. That's one. We'll divide into search teams. Eagle and Parrot are with me. The Crane and the Owl will follow the lead of the Tigress. The Panther will be my scout. Things get hectic for either team; he'll head over to help. Clear?"

"If what the Panther said is true there are more innocent people in there," The Owl spoke. "Other humans who have been abducted. What do we do about them?"

"Nothing," replied Bright.

"Excuse me?" she asked with a look of disgust.

"There is no universal sign for someone who is just projected or actually dead. My bet is that prisoners will be yelling that they were also kidnapped and we'll end up leading a mass escape. It's too much confusion and too much trouble. This abduction situation needs more investigating and that is going to take time. The mission is the Sparrow. Period."

Gwen didn't like it much either but she had to agree. It needed to be in and out. She looked out the window to see the marble city floating in the distance. She was sure whoever sat up there wouldn't appreciate the cleanup they would need to conduct if their shaman group ended up releasing all of those prisoners.

"How are we going to get up there?" The Crane asked in her valley girl voice. "Like, the Owl is the only one who can fly. The rest of us can literally like, float, and that's it..."

"You don't need to fly to get through the arch," Bright stated. "You only need to will yourself through it. This high point is a good idea though. The less time a big group of shamans is seen floating up into Court territory the better."

"Why would anyone want to go up there...?" The Eagle mumbled to herself.

The fidgeting of the Parrot distracted Gwen. She had begun shuffling her feet and looking frantically out the windows.

<Bright...> she tried to call his attention. He wasn't responding as he was having an exchange of words with the Eagle over how the transfer of the tribe would work.

The Parrot was rubbing her sweaty palms and scratching her neck with intensity.

<Bright> Gwen tried again, but he was still distracted.

"Parrot, what's wrong with-?" Gwen tried to ask but before she could finish the tower shook and the chandelier clanged slightly above them.

The room fell quiet.

"What the fuck was that?" The Crane asked nervously.

The tower shook harder causing glasses and bottles to fall from the bar and the lights to blow out like candles. All that remained was the night and the twinkling lights of the city below them and out in the horizon.

The Eagle looked to the Parrot with gritted teeth. "What did you do?"

Another shake came from the bottom of the tower causing them all to fall to the ground. Next, they could hear the sound of creaking metal bending from below. The chairs and tables slowly began to slide to the south of the tower.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The Parrot yelled.

The tipping was beginning to pick up speed. The tables and chairs were beginning to fly past them breaking the windows below leaving large holes for them to fall through.

<Gwen! > Connors voice rang in her head. <Keep calm. Look up to the bar in front of you. Get to it! > He barked.

She was beginning to slide down the ivory carpet doing her best to find something to hold on to. She was beginning to panic.

<Gwen, you- believe that- will work out. > Bright's voice sounded like static in her head.

It was like he said. The emotional stress was interfering with her ability to use the communication link.

A table flew just above her head. She could see that Bright and Connor were already on the other side of the bar looking down to her with their hands outreached.

The Crane screamed and plummeted past her after a bottle of green liquid smashed on her face. Her arm scraped the shard of broken glass at the window before falling to the cement below.

"LINDSAY!" The Eagle yelled out for her.

"You can levitate!" Bright yelled at her.

"She's way too panicked to do it!" The Owl corrected.

The Owl was hovering above Erin as she clenched tightly to the carpet. She tried to pull her towards the bar but she just punched her away as she too began slipping down to the open window towards the Parrot. The Owl gave up and flew down to Gwen.

"I got you!" she assured and flew her up to Connor and Bright behind the bar.

The Four of them looked over to see The Eagle purposely fall down to where the Parrot was holding on to a step to the left of the window that lead to an elevated section of the dining area.

She positioned her feet on the side of the rise and grabbed the Parrot by the hair and began punching her as the tower continued to pick up speed towards the ground.

"What-the fuck-did you- do!?" she yelled with rage and tears punching the Parrot as blood began to spew from her nose.

The sound of the creaking metal now boomed.

"We can survive this right?" Gwen yelled to the Panther. "You said you fell from the sky last week and barely had a scratch!"

He didn't answer her question. "Nothing is going to happen to you Tiger Lily. Just brace yourself!" he commanded.

For a second she forgot her panic as she noticed he had called her Tiger Lily again.

The tower now was in full speed collision for the ground.

Bright turned to look at the intact glass above them. "Up there! Jump!"

Without another word, he lunged from the bar and broke the glass flying out into the open air.

"I got her!" The Owl yelled to the Panther who was hesitant about letting her go.

"Go then!" he barked at her.

The Owl grabbed Gwen by the arms and flew out the window with the Panther close behind.

The tower crashed onto the city streets with the sound of an explosion.

The seconds felt like hours. Gravity eventually began to take Connor and Bright as they themselves began to fall towards the debris-clouded ground.

"We have to get out of here!" said the Owl trying to fly out away from the area.

"No! We have to go down and get them! What if the lords are down there waiting!?"

"All the more reason why we need to leave! Just use M.P. to talk to them and tell them we're safe!"

"No! I'm not leaving them!"

"Tigress you don't have a choice!"

"Damn it Vivienne just let me go!"

"What?" the Owl asked caught off guard causing her to lose her grip on Gwen.

She fell to the ground with incredible speed right towards the brown clouds. She broke the surface and continued to descend on what she couldn't see.

# XXI. Captured

GWEN COULDN'T STOP COUGHING. The dirt cloud was thick and it was nearly impossible for her to open her eyes.

Her anxiety rendered her unable to concentrate as she was supposed to. She landed rough on her ankle and tumbled down piles of rock and dirt.

At least it's not wet this time, she thought as she came to a stop atop metal and rocks.

Things were moving all around her. Creatures were barking and growling. She wasn't sure if they were as handicapped with sight as she was or if they were possibly sniffing her out.

She got herself to her feet. Her left ankle was hurt but not too badly. After all, she had sparred with Connor with multiple stab wounds. A fall was child's play compared to everything else.

<Bright? Connor? Where are you guys?> she communicated furiously.

No reply.

<Connor! Bright! Where are you?>

A few more seconds but still no one answered.

Shit. She was going to have to limp her way out of the dust cloud.

She turned around and hoped that no one would hear her. She was alone and her tribesmen were nowhere to be found. She had to keep cool. They would send a message out soon enough. She just had to be patient and try to find some safe ground.

"Help..." a voice croaked.

It wasn't a ghoul. It sounded familiar. What sounded foreign was the lack of vigor.

She moved closer to where the voice was coming from and there on the ground she found the Pearl Crane with a chunk of a wall on her legs.

Gwen rushed over beside her and told her to be quiet. Whatever was out there was still running and searching for bodies. They had to be careful.

"Just stay calm. I'm gonna get this off of you," she tried to comfort her.

"Don't leave me, please. Don't go, please just get me out of here!" the Crane whimpered.

Gwen grabbed the rocks and with all her will she lifted the debris off. The rubble crashed beside them a little too loudly. The scurrying in the distance stopped as growls replaced the pattering of the steps.

"We don't have a lot of time. Can you run?" Gwen asked, helping the Crane to her feet.

Her legs were a little scratched and bruised but she seemed to be all right.

"Yeah, I think I'm ok. Where's Erin?"

"We'll figure that out, just come on," Gwen commanded as she took her by the hand and picked a random direction to move.

The growls were joined by the sound of dozens of legs sprinting in unison in what Gwen was sure was their direction.

The two of them were now running as fast as they could. A wall of rubble appeared in front of them. They quickly decided to turn right. The masses of wreckage went on for what seemed like miles.

"Wait!" the Crane whined. "She's calling out to me. She's around here somewhere. We have to find her!"

She wanted to get out of there and find Connor and Bright. But she knew if she let Lindsay go alone there was a good chance she was going to get ripped to shreds.

She wasn't much back up but she was something.

"Where is she?" Gwen asked.

Lindsay ran her fingers through her hair and looked down to the ground trying to keep the dust out of her face. "Over this way!" she yelped taking Gwen back the way they came.

"What? No, I don't think we should go that way!"

"She's down here! They probably have her! We can't just abandon her!"

As Lindsay forced the way back through the wreckage they were almost immediately intercepted. Flesh covered things flung themselves from the tops of the mountains of rubble from every corner. Gwen could make out that they were large creatures that looked like dogs turned inside out.

They circled the pair of them stepping in slow with sharp rotting teeth exposed and at the ready.

"Down!" howled a grizzly voice somewhere in the smoke.

Into view emerged not one, but seven large round towering wooly ghouls.

The mutant dogs did as they were told and hid away their teeth and took their seat calmly around the girls.

"Ah, vee av two more 'ere! Ow nice. Oo shamans really are a piece ev work. I wouldn av guess al you vould av survive dat crash," the one in the center bellowed.

The Crane smashed herself closer to Gwen. She was pushing so hard she thought she was going to get knocked over.

"I dink dat make all oh dem doesn it?" he asked his comrades.

"Wit dem it six," the one closest to his left groaned, holding onto the Eagle behind the neck.

She kept her eyes staring right at the Crane as she did the same.

"Wait!" yelped an obnoxious voice.

A small girl with messed up bangs and a bleeding nose shook off the one ghoul holding on to her as she ran in front of the ringleader.

"W-w-we had a deal! We got you the White Viper so you give us back the Silver Sparrow and you let us go!"

The wide ghoul laughed and slapped the Parrot with the back of his brown haired calloused palm. So large was the hand and so hard was the blow that it sounded as if the Parrots jaw may have cracked.

The Eagle sniffed and nodded as she heard the smack.

The Parrot shook on the ground as she tried to recover herself.

"Pick er up," he commanded the ghoul behind him. "I don av time foh dis crap."

The dogs stood up automatically herding the Crane and Gwen towards the group of ghouls. Two of the henchman forcefully took hold of them with their clammy grip.

Gwen looked besides her to see Connor and Bright extraordinarily calm under the circumstance.

<Connor told me you were calling out. Sorry I didn't answer right away,> Bright rang in her head. <I was trying to figure out what their plan was for us exactly.>

<Well, they knocked down a freaking tower with us inside so my guess is, kill the shit out of us?> Gwen responded.

<Calm down. I was well aware that the Parrot was odder than usual. I had a feeling she was trying to pull something but I never guessed she was capable of this. I wonder how she even found a direct connection to the ghouls?>

<Bullshit!> Gwen accused, <you suspected nothing! Can you just admit that you made a bad call and we're in a shitty situation because of it?>

<Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear your pointless whining because I'm too busy trying to figure out this Parrot predicament.>

<With all due respect Bright, can we think about that later and figure out what it is we're going to do now?> Connor entered.

<Right, well, like I said, I knew the Parrot was up to something. I wanted to let it play out since whatever it was I'm sure would either lead to a battle that would distract the city from the gate into the Spires or better yet, get us caught and get us a one way ticket in.>

<Are you serious? S-so pulling a Trojan horse was your master plan? That's what you've been cooking up?> Gwen asked in impatient disbelief.

<Um, it's working isn't it?> Bright thought back at her.

<Bright, are you nuts?! The Crane fell out the window!>

<Hey, it's not my fault the Eagle wanted to play it dumb. And the Crane said it herself remember? 'We can like, totally like, float, like, you know?' How is it my fault if they can't control their M.P.? Seriously, I'm surprised they haven't gotten kidnapped sooner.>

Gwen decided to give it a rest as the large hairy ghouls pushed them all forward out of the smoke cloud as ghouls lined up on the sidewalks watching them march.

Some clapped, others laughed, others spat as they moved. It was a joyous occasion for them, the defeat of their number-one enemy.

Most of them were going craziest for Bright. They saw him and yelled, begging their capturers to rip his arms off. Others wanted them to rip out his tongue. Another one wanted them to cut his privates off and feed them to their hounds.

Gwen looked over to him. He wasn't fazed by any of it. Or at least he wasn't showing any signs that he was. He was cool and collected looking straight ahead as the ghouls lead them towards the train station.

<Train? The train goes into the Spires?> Gwen asked.

<Not that I can remember,> Connor answered.

<There is a train route leading inside. There's a secret track that detaches from the net and serves as a ramp to go through the arch. It's supposed to be some extra security measure or something. Don't worry; the gravel path doesn't even have ground patrol. Really low class shit.> Bright reaffirmed.

<Not like they need it...> rang in Connor with a thought he meant only for himself.

<Gwen, the Owl was supposed to have you, where is she?> Bright questioned ignoring Connor's comment.

As he mentioned the shaman name her stomach sank remembering the last seconds she had in the sky with her before getting dropped.

<Um, well, about that,>

<What did you do?> Bright groaned not really wanting to hear the answer.

<I may have called her by her actual name, > she confessed.

<Son of a bitch. Wonderful. If she's half as smart as she looks she'll probably have put some clues together to figure out who you are. That means it'll only take her a couple more clicks to figure out who I am too. Thank you Gwen, for in five seconds ruining the colossal hold I have over the other viceroys in this city. Really, great work. >

<Again, can she be another thing we can deal with later? > Connor interjected. <I understand that is an issue but as far as I can tell she's no where to be found. Let's deal with what we have in front of us and when we get out of here you can see what you want to do about the Owl. >

<Oh I already know what I have to do. I have to behead the little monster,> Bright snapped.

The ghouls took them up the metal stairs away from the crowds. Some tried to climb the sides of the metal to continue heckling and take a swing at Bright. Again, he continued to act as if nothing were happening.

Gwen could see that the Eagle had almost as straight a face as Bright. She might have been too occupied lingering on the thought of beating the Parrot further that the yells of ghouls felt too far away to bother with.

The Crane on the other hand was a different story. She was sobbing and looking to the Eagle for comfort. The giant ghouls continued to pull her away with every attempt she made to nuzzle closer to her love. Being as frail as she was, the tiny tugs sent her tripping over the steps leaving her knees beaten.

The Parrot kept her eyes to the Eagle as well though not looking for comfort. She was barely blinking looking more afraid of being thrown onto the train and being alone with her than dealing with the yells of the ghoulish mob.

They reached the top of the landing where the station looked nearly identical to how it was on the physical plane. Even the train, made of metal and looking like any other inter-city train sat there giving no clue that it was used as transport to a spiritual prison.

Without warning the ghouls grabbed each of them from behind the neck and thrust them onto an empty cart shutting the door with them inside.

The six of them collected themselves taking advantage of the momentary privacy and the minimized noise from down below.

The Crane jumped over to the Eagle and kissed her intensely.

"Are you alright?" Lindsay asked.

"Me? What about you?" Erin asked stroking back her dirty blonde hair and looking to the wound on her arm caused by the glass at the window.

The Parrot was tiptoeing backwards trying to make the best of their distraction. The Eagle however wasn't distracted for long.

She looked up away from the Crane and stomped over to the Parrot grabbing her by the hair and throwing her to the ground.

"That's enough Eagle!" Bright yelled.

"Enough? She betrayed us and ruined the entire mission! 'Enough' will be when I see her rot a slow death at the Spires."

"Oh come on," Bright said lightly, "A Valkyrie was a bit dishonest, shock of the century. Besides, I want to take advantage of this little alone time."

"What are you talking about?" The Crane asked.

"I want you three to change over to my tribe, duh."

"Open your eyes!" The Eagle hissed throwing the Parrots head back to the ground getting up to meet Bright's stare. "There is no deal anymore! You were supposed to help us sneak in and get the Sparrow out. In case you haven't realized you little school boy bitch, we've been captured!"

The train jerked suddenly and began to move forward.

"Alright we don't have that much time," Bright said as she saw the scenery moving past them. "The plan is still on. Yes, your 'dumb as rocks' tribe member made a shitty move but it gets us into the Spires without having to sneak. We'll be at the heart of the place in minutes. Maybe even directly to where they're keeping your viceroy. Convert your tribe status now and we can still pull this thing off."

The Eagle and the Crane exchanged looks.

"Fine," Lindsay spoke. "All or nothing right?"

Bright smiled. "Excellent. Give me your coin."

The Crane took out a plush pink coin from underneath her shirt. Bright placed it in his palm, a white light flickered through the creases of his fingers and fell back to her chest. The face of Notus was secured on one of the sides and the encircled viper on the other.

The Eagle gave her dark red coin as well and followed the same process.

Bright walked over and knelt down in front of the Parrot and changed her puce colored coin last.

<So everyone can hear me? > Bright asked out loud.

<Yeah, loud and clear,> the sound of the Cranes voice rang.

<Excellent. From this point forward we'll be in tight communication. I suggest everyone take a seat, >

<Why? > The Eagle asked.

Bright didn't answer but pointed out towards the distance.

The train rail ahead seemed to shoot directly up into the sky. They were about to be firing upward like a space shuttle.

They each took a place on the hard plastic and held on to one of the metal poles.

Gwen managed to grab hold just as the train radically shot up.

The speed was incredible. She could feel herself pressing into the plastic as the train darted.

The locomotive gave a quick upside down turn and spun until they were flat again jetting across clouds and heading for a towering simple gray arch that sat above the net of the train tracks that covered the city.

Passed the plain crumbling stone entrance they could all feel the sudden change in the temperature and the condition of the air.

Bright fog surrounded them. Strangely enough it reminded Gwen of the smoke that came from Bright's rapier.

Out their windows they couldn't see much. They weren't on land. The train was instead flying above a gravel road curving and headed straight for things that looked like black thorns in the foggy distance.

Gwen looked over to Connor.

His jaw was locked and he didn't look very comfortable. He seemed more nervous than the Valkyries but then again, neither they nor she had spent any time there.

Gwen leaned closer to the window to get a better look to what they were riding into. The thorns grew closer and she could begin to make out thin skeleton like winged creatures climbing up and down the rusty metal towers and flying from one to another picking through the bars of the cells.

<Those are harpies, > the sound of Bright voice came to all of them. <Don't look them in the eye. They take it as a personal invitation to torment you. >

They descended and smoothly landed in the center of the forest of black spires.

The cart doors opened quickly after their arrival and two of the Sasquatch ghouls forced their way through the entrance grabbing Bright and Connor from their seats.

"Dis you stop oo lil shit!" They told them as they pushed them out the door.

<Wait, what? This place separates prisoners by gender? > Gwen asked out.

<Oh yeah, forgot about that detail,> Bright moaned. <Not a problem. Remember; just keep calm so we can stay in touch. The plan hasn't changed. The Eagle, and definitely the Parrot, weren't going to contribute much to my end anyway. If we really are separated by gender then you all will have a better chance of finding the Sparrow than us. When you got her, just give the signal.>

<You got this Tiger Lily,> Connor encouraged.

Without another word in, the door shut and the train jetted off on the ground deeper into the decrepit jungle.

Some minutes later the train stopped again and the remaining ghouls waited outside of the cart barking at them to get out. Gwen lead the way as the other three followed close behind.

They were all quickly grabbed and shoved out into the dirt.

They could hear the screech of the harpies above them. The area smelled like a filthy birdcage.

Gwen kept her head pointed towards the ground as she could hear the flapping of wings and see ugly feathers float to the ground where many more rested. The screeches sounded closer to her the more she stepped.

She was determined to avoid their eyes.

"Deh lord vill be appy tah know vee didn jus grab any ol shaman, but vee got deh Vite Viper!" the ghoul behind the Crane exclaimed. "Vhat bout oo lil beech?" he taunted, poking her blonde head. "Are oo deh new are-ess errone been talk bout?"

The Crane didn't respond.

"Vhat are oo def? Spek up!" he barked smacking her down to the ground.

"She isn't the heiress!" Gwen yelled before they could hurt her. "I am."

"Oh, oo deh sparky new prancess!" bellowed the ghoul behind her. "Deh lord vill prolly kep oo as toy foh bit, tah relly make deh Viper skerm."

They all laughed.

Which lord was it? Vane or Avris? Were they there in the Spires at that very moment? If that was the case then Bright was definitely going to be way over his head. He was going to need all the help he could get.

<Viper can you hear me?> Gwen called out.

<What is it?>

She was surprised and relieved that he finally answered the first time she called.

<These clowns are saying there's a lord. I'm not sure which one or if he's even here but they mentioned one.>

<That's it?> Bright asked

<Well yeah!>

<So you're reaching out to tell me there maybe might be one of the lords we already knew was in town here at the Spires, sort of?>

Gwen closed her eyes and grimaced. She needed to try and take his resolve as a lesson to keep the same level head but her experience and the present circumstances weren't going to allow that.

<Let me know when you find the Sparrow,> he said one last time before going quiet.

"'ere vee go, tower 189," the ghoul behind the Parrot stated.

A swarm of harpies flew down from above screeching at the top of their lungs. They grabbed the girls by the shoulders and flew them up into the air.

Gwen could hear the yells of the Parrot echo all over. She wanted to make a sound but decided to keep her mouth shut.

The claws of the harpies were sharp. Clearly there was no rule in Purgatory in regards to going easy on the prisoners. Gwen could see both shoulders of the Eagle shedding blood though instead of screaming in pain she bit her tongue.

The harpies jerked them like food. Their wings were so rattled and decrepit that she assumed it was the cause of the roughness instead of their intent for cruelty. They circled the sharp spire above until throwing them one by one through the bars of the highest level below the tip.

They recovered easily enough though found that they were one girl short.

The sounds of the Parrot screaming were still booming.

Gwen ran to the open barred door but one of the harpies quickly sealed it screeching at her from outside. The face was leather yet looked strangely feminine. The beak was short and its white eyes had dried blood clustered in its corners. They looked like vultures addicting to drugs. The feathers were covered in what she could only assume was feces which made it confusing to determine if they were naturally brown or if time in the gunk had made them that way.

The Parrot was crying and screaming as two of the harpies took turns dropping and catching her.

<Parrot, shut the hell up! They like to get a rise out of prisoners. If you don't stop they're only going to keep going or get worse!> Gwen yelled.

The Eagle and the Crane looked from behind her without worry. They rather seemed to be enjoying the sight of watching her suffer.

"Give it a rest Tigress," said the Eagle. "She deserves every second."

"Oh yeah? Would you like it if I said the same considering you tried to beat the life out of me and abduct me in an alley?"

The Crane scoffed. "What are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know!" Gwen yelled.

<Parrot, if you stop, they'll let you go!> she yelled but the girl wasn't getting it.

The harpies were screeching and throwing her into the air. One of the falls came close to her landing right on her head but one of the disgusting birds managed to catch her with only a bit of her brown hair scraping the dirt.

The second harpy was beginning to grow jealous. The two flapped, pecked, and scratched at one another in mid air. Some of the blows were hitting the Parrot instead leaving her scratched and bleeding.

In the distance a horn boomed.

All the screeches of all the harpies ceased. The two forgot about their quarrel.

The door to their chamber flew open and the harpy in possession threw the Parrot head first into their cage. The bars squeaked and slammed shut as all of the dirty things flew high into the sky towards the north.

"Where do you think they're going?" The Eagle asked.

The Crane ran to the bars to look but she couldn't make out a thing.

Gwen was the only one to check on the Parrot. Her clothes were a bit torn and the slash marks didn't look too deep. Other than having the poop smeared on her, nothing looked too serious.

"You going to be alright?" Gwen asked.

"I-I think so," she replied.

With the assurance Gwen pushed her down into the piles of dead grass that covered the stone floor. Just because she didn't want her to get ripped to pieces by harpies didn't mean that she was on good terms with her. She agreed with the others that it was her fault that everything was happening after all.

"Just what were you thinking trying to make a deal with ghouls? I've only been involved with this crap for a week and I know better than that!" She yelled at her.

The Parrot collected herself and stood up as she hugged her left arm. "I'm sorry. I just thought that if I talked to them and gave them what they really wanted they would just let us go. The Sparrow doesn't even do anything!"

The Eagle and the Crane didn't say a word. They kept themselves to the bars of their prison trying to look out to what had summoned the harpies.

After a few minutes the swarms of them had disappeared. They were left alone to the stillness of the chill and the eeriness of the fog.

Gwen scanned the chamber. Dead grass was everywhere and mounted alongside the circular walls. There were several more bars lining different spots of the spire. She could look out to see many more spewing upward from the ground. Some shot straight up while others tilted on angles. All of them however had the rusty black texture to them with oval windows covered in bars. There were about five chambers in each spire piled one on top of the other.

"What was that?!" The Crane squealed backing away from the bars.

"What's what?" The Eagle asked her.

"The fog... I swear it was like a hand. It was trying to grab me."

Gwen was remembering Connor saying that Purgatory had its disturbing elements.

Keep calm, she told herself once again.

"Just get away from the bars," Gwen told them. "Sure there's a lot of stuff here that isn't people friendly."

"Who put you in charge Tigress?" the Eagle bit.

"Um, last time I checked I was leader for our half of the team."

The Crane and the Eagle both chuckled.

"You're not in charge of anything princess," the Crane entered. "In case you're just as blind as the Viper, we're locked up here just as bad as our viceroy. Oh, and we're trapped so there's no way we can go out and look for her."

The horns boomed again in the distance.

"Why the hell do they keep blasting that thing?" the Eagle asked in agitation.

As the sound died they could begin to hear murmuring from the chambers below them and those in the spires neighboring theirs.

Gwen slowly approached the set of bars closest to her and could see a group of women in the spire parallel to them huddling together burying their heads in between their legs and wrapping themselves with their arms. They were preparing for something.

"Get away from the bars," Gwen commanded.

"Look, not only is she blind she's also deaf," the Crane added to the insults.

"What is wrong with you? I helped you get out from under those rocks," Gwen reminded her.

"Yeah and then I got landed in here."

"And who's fault is that?!"

"Um, guys," the Parrot chirped.

"Shut up!" The three of them yelled in unison.

They were about to get back to their arguing but they all noticed that the temperature drastically dropped and all of their skin began to feel clammy and ill.

The fog was growing thicker and rising from the ground higher and higher flooding into the spires like a growing tide.

The Parrot backed herself into one of the piles of dead grass as deep as she could in attempts to cover her body like a blanket.

Whispers began to come in from every direction. Gwen could hear the sound of a woman giving birth, then there were different yells followed by gunshots. Someone was counting numbers without taking a breath, then something that sounded like gurgling or choking as someone said a prayer.

The whispers were getting closer and some were even reaching their ears. So close that they could swear they felt them breathe on their cheeks.

"Make it stop!" The Crane yelled.

The fog was now pouring sensually into their bars. The way the trails of white seeped looked like serpents approaching a wounded prey.

A young man begging for his life with a thick Spanish accent, someone was yelling in rage as the sound of bones cracking oozed into their ears.

The Parrot yelled out in a fit of panic.

Gwen turned to see that an arm was wrapped around her neck coming out of the dead grass. An exhausted pale hollowed face emerged from the pile. The girl lifted her other hand to the center of the chamber as all of them watched the fog be forced out through the bars they came.

The whispers remained but as the space emptied the sound of them became muffled and difficult to understand. The girl had made some kind of bubble around them.

"Get off me! Get off me!" The Parrot screamed.

The girl didn't have much strength to her so she didn't resist the Parrots demands.

She had short straight dirty blond hair like the Cranes. Her clothes were tarnished, stained, and worn. There were great purple bags under her eyes and her expression was almost manic. She didn't look like she had slept in some time.

As beaten as she looked there was something interesting to one thing she wore; around her head was a band with two silver wings that sat folded to the sides. She wore the piece over her hair that made the oily blonde locks look even flatter.

"Oh my god," the Eagle began.

Gwen didn't need to hear it to know exactly who she was.

They had found the Silver Sparrow.

# XXII. Rise of the White Viper

"ANYTHING?" Connor asked while seeing the fog flooding towards them.

"No. They were taken deeper into Purgatory. The Fog probably already reached her and is interfering with the M.P. connection. Either that or they're panicking," Bright answered as he lifted the dead grass inspecting their ground level chamber.

"Damn it!" Connor punched the bars causing the metal to clang.

"Calm down. You've been here already; you know what the fog does. It's just supposed to keep prisoners disturbed. It can't actually hurt us."

"Gwen doesn't know that. Neither do the Valkyries."

Bright paused as he took notice of something unique in Connors concern. "I know. We don't have a lot of time. The fog is coming in, which is why the harpies took off. They can't stand the voices any better than we can. If we're going to make a move it's going to have to be now."

The platinum shield appeared on Connors back. "Sounds good to me."

"Alright, we're closest to the front gates. I need you to go into that mess and find Gwen. The fog should only last a few more minutes."

"You're still going to go up against an entire hive of harpies? You heard Gwen. One of those lords is probably here. Kicked your ass pretty bad last time, what makes you think you can do so much better now without backup?"

Bright lifted his right hand and made it into a fist. Suddenly, the way the rapier and the parma could appear, a new object emerged that covered the back of his palm. It was made of chiseled red stone in the shape of a ram's head. The spiraling horns coiled out to the sides of his wrist and the nose rested on his knuckles. Two eyes made of precious red gems looked furiously outward.

"A ram totem? But-"

"I have tons of surprises Panther. As soon as I bust these bars down, go."

Connor nodded and stepped out of the way. He didn't know what the totem could do but he was sure it was going to be loud.

Bright bent his knee and let the nose of the ram tap the black metal ground. With a strange cracking noise the red color of the stone vanished as the totem mimicked the properties of the spire chamber. He lifted himself and the new black ram still maintained its twinkling gem eyes.

He stepped to the very opposite end of the metal bars, got himself into position, and with his ram covered fist, threw a punch into the empty air.

The head of a massive metal ram, about the size of their chamber, shot from his fist into the door of the prison.

The head successfully took out the bars and a large portion of the wall with it.

"That's pretty useful..." Connor said admirably as Bright made his way out of the hole with the ram totem back to its red stone state.

It appeared that it could only fire one projectile of whatever it copied. Regardless, it was very impressive.

He followed Bright onto the grounds. The Spires shot up all over like a black bamboo forest.

"Use your senses," Bright instructed, "even if you can't communicate with her you're still part of the same tribe. You can sense one another. Use that."

Connor understood. He placed his hand over his heart and called for the metal beast. In a second it lunged out with saber teeth ready to attack.

Bright turned to head down back towards the entrance.

"Hey!" Connor called out.

Bright turned waiting impatiently for what he had to say.

Connor stared at him for a moment. He didn't know why he called him. He had been through many things over the years. He lost the man who looked over him and had done everything in his power to keep him safe. He was lucky enough to immediately find refuge in strangers. Bright had brought him back to life. He gave him a home. Agreeing to engage in the most dangerous mission and seeing the Viper standing there without a spec of nerve made him believe regardless of the loss, fear, and hopelessness that had become his existence that they had a fighting chance.

The White Viper might actually live up to the legend.

"Are you going to say something or just stand there? We're kind of losing time here," Bright snapped.

"Just, good luck," Connor replied.

Bright rolled his eyes and nodded. He summoned his rapier into his left hand and to Connors surprise in his right, appeared a long, thin, and very dark blue piece of wood that looked like a giant toothpick. It was equal in length to his rapier and as soon as he got in comfortably in hand, the entire thing lit into blue flames that didn't burn him.

"Get going!" Bright yelled.

Connor jumped on the beast and ran straight into the thick fog. The strange thing was that it seemed to open to him like arms ready for a parasitic embrace.

The temperature dropped as he remembered. The voices came almost immediately. There were prisoners made to wait days and weeks without company that were finally seeing a living human being. Each one was desperate for their voice to be heard.

Don't pay attention to it, he told himself. It can't hurt you.

The fog was so thick that it was nearly impossible for him to see the spires. Things were moving and he could hear steps shifting the dirt. They were standing there watching him, waiting, wanting to play with him.

<Gwen, can you hear me?> he mentioned out as the cat ran passed spire after spire.

Connor had a hunch and closed his eyes and tried to project himself into the panther's vision as he had done in Olivia's home. Sure enough, the purple sight was back and he could see everything as clear as day.

A voice was running after him on his side. It was desperately telling him it could dance. It could dance anyway he wanted it to...

Faster, he thought and the panther did as such.

As quick as they were moving the fog wasn't disappearing.

<Crane? Eagle?> he called out.

Still nothing.

In the distance behind him he heard a boom and the loud screeches of over a dozen harpies.

Bright.

He commanded the panther to stop and turn. He wanted to go and help him. The memory of Joseph, the Crimson Owl, insisting he run was echoing to him. It didn't have to be the same. He could stop another pointless death. He dismounted the panther and stared out to the fog from where he came. Another boom and more screeches rang.

He summoned his gladius sword from his shield and the panther behind him growled at him not to go. It wasn't foreign to him he knew that. It was as much a piece of him as both his hands. If it was urging him to stay it meant that he himself knew he had to do as he was instructed. But his legs weren't turning...

The voices had been distracted by the commotion and were starting to get their priorities back in order. From every corner they were getting louder and speaking memories of the last minutes of many lives.

From Bright's direction he could hear the air whooshing from above. Something headed directly for him. It couldn't be the voices. It was something different. He got himself into fighting position as the panther stood ready by his side.

If Harpies were approaching then it could only mean Bright had already met his end.

No, he's alright, Connor told himself. Some just got passed him - that was to be expected. He can't hold them all back he tried to convince himself.

It was getting closer and he tightened his grip on his sword.

From the fog the silhouette of a small figure came into vision and the sound of a screech blasted.

The harpy appeared with wings flailing crashing to the dirt sliding to Connor's feet.

He lunged his sword right into the wrinkled head making it explode into millions of pieces leaving nothing behind.

"I already took care of it," A female voice stated as it walked up in the clear.

It was the Emerald Owl. Her short chocolate hair was all over the place and her cheeks bore several scratches from talons but all in all she looked all right.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "How did you get here?"

"I followed you," she said walking up with her dream catcher staff in hand.

"When? After you let the Tigress fall into the mess so you could escape?"

"That's not what happened. She caught me off guard with something and I lost my grip. I wanted to go down there but I decided to wait and see. They took you out of the wreckage and boarded you guys on the train. Lucky for me I can fly."

"Did you see the Viper?"

"Yeah," she responded nervously.

"What is it? What happened to him? Are they overpowering him?"

"What? No, it's nothing like that at all. He just looks annoyed like he's trying to kill a bunch of fruit flies. I didn't know shamans had that much power... How does he have two extra totems?"

"That's a talk for later," Connor commanded. "We need to find the Tigress and the others, fast."

As Connor finished speaking he jumped as something yelled in his ear.

"What's wrong?" the Owl asked.

"You didn't hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"The voices in the fog... You can't hear them?"

The Owl looked at him confusedly. "No?"

Connor looked down to her dream catcher. The strings that formed the web were glistening green.

"I think your totem is intercepting all of it somehow. Do you think you can amplify that?"

"I don't even know what you're talking about or how it's doing it... The Viper told me to come help you but I'm not sure how much I can."

"Don't worry," Connor began, pushing her onto the back of the panther and jumping himself to the front. "You're probably the only one not affected. I'll keep us moving but clear your mind and try and find the Sparrow."

The Panther darted through the spires once more with the two of them firmly on its back. The booms from behind were sounding softer the farther they travelled.

<Tigress? Eagle? Crane?> he tried again.

Still, there was no answer.

"I'm sensing something!" the Owl exclaimed.

"Where?"

"Um, Turn left!"

The panther made a sharp turn, slid across the dirt, and jolted onward once more.

"I'm pretty sure it's her. She's weak."

"Is she in a panic?"

"No."

The fog didn't affect the Sparrow either? He wondered if it was some kind of special Valkyrie ability.

"Up here on the right," The Owl instructed.

The Panther came to a stop aside one of the black spires which pointed straight and tall.

"She's in the top chamber. I don't think she's alone. Do you sense the others?"

"I can't. The Viper told me to try but all the voices.... I don't think it's letting me reach them."

"Alright well I'll get you up there. Keep your weapon ready."

"Not going to inconveniently drop me too are you?" he mumbled to himself loud enough for her to hear.

The Owl ignored it and carried him up to the highest chamber leaving the panther below.

He jumped out to grab a hold of the bars and secured his footing in between them unable to see beyond them with the thick layer of grey. Strangely enough, his knuckles that gripped the other side of the metal felt a slightly warmer temperature than that which consumed where he and the Owl hovered.

"Can you pull them off?" The Owl asked floating beside him.

"No." he answered flatly. "I can hear people talking in there though. It sounds like it's on the other side of a wall instead of bars... Tigress!"

"Panther?" a voice came from inside the chamber.

"Yeah. What's going on? I can't see through the bars. Is the fog that thick in there?"

"No, it isn't in here at all. We found the Sparrow. She's using her totem and keeping it out somehow."

"Wow, I thought it only worked on solid objects..." The Owl reflected.

"Well maybe ask her to cut it out for a minute while we figure out how to open this thing."

"No need," the Owl commented.

The Panther turned and noticed that the fog was retracting. The rusting spires were becoming clearer as were the figures inside their chambers.

He could see Gwen standing in between the Crane and the Eagle as the Parrot knelt beside a pale distraught blonde with a headband over her hair that contained two closed silver wings.

"Thank god," said Gwen making her way over to him. "It wasn't in here but we could still make out some creepy stuff."

"Don't get too relaxed," Connor groaned. "If the fog is gone it means the harpies will probably be getting back."

"Where's the Viper?" the Crane asked.

"Doing his job. What can that totem do exactly?" he directed towards the Sparrow giving no sympathy for her condition.

"It lets me move things with my mind," she exhaled weakly.

"And you couldn't move these bars off?"

"The harpies would have been on me in seconds...." she replied.

"Alright, well I'm going to need you to pull them off now."

"She can't!" The Eagle snapped. She didn't like the Panthers tone with her. "She tried before and she collapsed. She isn't strong enough."

"Well unless we want a small repeat of the Symphonia crashing, she's going to have to find the strength."

"We need to come up with something else," told the Crane.

"Sparrow," Connor directed to the weak girl.

She replied by tilting her head back to meet his eyes.

"If you're too weak to use the totem then I'm going to need you to lend it to someone who can."

"Don't be crazy. You already have the three of us, you want to take her totem too?" the Eagle questioned angrily.

"Get your priorities straight! I'm not going to be using the totem... I'm pretty sure they can be inherited when a shaman dies," he stated looking Gwen in the eye for a moment. It might have been the link between them by the M.P. but she felt he too had seen the ram and lion paper weights. "I think they can also be loaned between tribe members for as long as the owner wants," he concluded.

"Well you took us out of her tribe remember?" the Crane whipped back.

"W-What?" The Sparrow stirred eagerly as she was listening to the words.

"Not all of you," Connor clarified. "Sparrow, the harpies will be back any minute. I need you to lend your headband to the Owl for a few seconds, alright?"

The Sparrow was still looking dazed and unsure of what was what.

The Parrot took her hand and told her it would be fine. It would only be for a minute. She helped the Sparrow remove the band, which they treated like a crown.

The Sparrow looked at the Owl with dislike. Even in her weak condition it was obvious that there was a short difference in weight between rotting in the chamber and letting the Emerald Owl wear her most prized possession.

Surviving however ultimately won. The headband vanished and reappeared on the Owl's head. Only instead of on top of her hair it disappeared under it with only a bit of the leather showing on her forehead. The thin black cord turned emerald green and the folded silver wings sprung open through her hair to look like those belonging to the helmet of Hermes.

"Good work," Connor told her. "Owl, can you use it?"

"I think so. Get down," she instructed him.

Connor jumped from the bars and fell to the dirt below.

The Owl lifted her left hand towards the bars and concentrated. She pulled with all the strength her mind could muster. The metal echoed through the vast spire forest and creaked until alas the metal bars flew off falling to the ground beneath her.

The Owl flew in towards the Sparrow to help lift her up opposite the Parrot.

The headband vanished as soon as she touched the ground appearing over the Sparrows oily blond hair with folded wings and black leather once again.

"Get me the Crane," she groaned.

The Owl didn't protest. She seemed used to the treatment.

She flew out of the chamber taking Gwen with her.

"You ok?" Connor asked her as soon as she landed.

"Yeah, let's just get the hell out of here."

The fog had completely vanished out to the horizon. They were left in the stale gray surrounded by jagged metal as the screeching of harpies blasted in the distance.

"Ok we have to move," Connor commanded lifting himself back on to the Panther. Gwen jumped behind him as The Parrot and the Crane floated down with the Sparrow.

""Wait!" The Crane yelled, "We can't fly her out of here!"

"I could fly her out," the Owl tried again.

"No," the Sparrow complained. "You two can hover me out."

"No they can't," the Eagle snapped as she landed to the ground. "The Owl is the only one of us that can fly. She's going to have to carry you out. We don't have time to argue over it."

The Sparrow stared back at her with hurt.

Connor wasn't that experienced in the world of romantic affairs but if he had to bet he would take his chances that something had happened between the pair of them.

"Babe," the Crane interjected catching wind of the feel as well, "I got her. Just watch our back ok?"

The Eagle nodded to her and turned away.

"Wait," Gwen spoke. "Put her here."

She lunged off the back of the Panther so they could situate the Sparrow.

"What are you doing?" Connor asked in protest.

"Our mission was to get her out of here. She doesn't want to fly with the Owl then the fastest way to get her out is on here with you."

"Yeah, but my mission is to keep you safe."

"And I will be," she assured him with a grin.

She ran over to help the two get the Sparrow onto the back of the cat.

The screeching was growing louder coming from the west.

"You do realize to get out of here we're going to have to go through them right?" the Eagle reminded them.

"Let's not waste anymore time then," Connor suggested as he, the panther, and the Sparrow darted for the noise.

# XXIII. The Gold Totems

THE THREE BIRDS TOOK to the air, gliding from spire to spire while the Owl floated down beside her. "Sure you don't want another lift?"

"With your butterfingers? I think I'll take my chances down here."

"Alright, Gwen."

It wasn't the haunting fog that made the cold chill flush over her.

"W-who?" she tried to play off.

"Don't bother. My totem doesn't work on viceroys but I'm willing to bet the Viper is Bright Santos. What the dream catcher can show me is limited to the plane I'm on. Here I can only see what makes the Golden Tigress but if I used it back on our plane it would show me Gwen Watson.

"It's me. Vivienne. You already knew that though. It's why you didn't want to stay at the apartment the other night."

Gwen didn't think it the time or the place to have the talk. Did she keep denying or did she admit it so they could focus on their escape?

Suddenly, the Owl's face shifted and it seemed as if pieces of a mask fell from her skin until she could see her clearly. Vivienne Greene was standing right in front of her. It was as Bright had said. When a shaman reveals their identity, it is then that the charm wears off.

"I don't know what you're talking about so can we please get back to getting out of here alive?"

The Owl didn't entertain her clueless act. She took back to the air and began to fly towards the others.

Gwen followed behind her in a run. She saw Vivienne flying above with her staff in hand. The deal Bright made was only for the other three birds yet Vivienne was more dangerous now than all of them combined.

Her heart was racing faster. She knew it wasn't a contest but all she wanted in that moment was to pass Vivienne in the air. The tiger inside Gwen growled. It had listened to her request and before she knew it her legs were taking her across the dirt like a missile.

She was moving as fast as the metal panther. Within some seconds she passed the drifting birds that jumped from wall to wall until she made it next to Connor.

He looked at her in shock.

She smiled but her waist distracted him.

"What is that?" he asked through the loud wind.

She looked down to see a black sash tied around her. It was peculiar in that it sparkled gold regardless of the color of the fabric.

It was a totem.

She hadn't felt anything fasten itself around her yet the sash was very tightly applied. The material felt remarkably comfortable and even in the gross and desolate Purgatory, it managed to twinkle so brilliantly. She was grateful that her power animal gifted her with her very own totem but she felt a little underwhelmed. She was running faster than she had ever moved and if it were due to the golden sash then it would be, in her opinion, a disappointing totem. She had seen Bright move on the Astral Plane and it wasn't thanks to his Viper Rapier. She had seen Connors strength and power on the plane and it had nothing to do with the parma or the weapons that came from it. Bright had said shamans adopt physical attributes from their power animals. She had shown strength of a tiger when she fought the Valkyries. Certainly speed would be a naturally boosted element as well. The Sparrow had a headband that could move things with her mind and the Owl had a totem that was mentally intrusive. Moving as fast as a tamed power animal wasn't exactly on her list of desired totem abilities.

Ahead, the sky was blotched with black spots. The harpies were returning and ready for blood.

She was worried for Bright. There were at least a hundred flying their way. She wanted to get to him and make sure he was all right. Make sure he was alive.

The gold of the black sash began to shine until it was giving off currents of electricity. The volts spread down to her legs and upward until they consumed her. The next thing she knew, a ringing came in her ears, her legs dissolved along with her arms and body, and she felt herself become like a flash of lightning.

Everything she could see warped as she shot over the ground at the speed of light.

When she stopped, she was standing still. The electricity disappeared from her body and the sash was back to normal. The harpies were no longer in the air ahead of her but rather a mile behind.

A boom shook the earth and ahead she could see towering blue flames between the first ten spires of Purgatory about a mile away. Just beyond them she could make out the metal-gated entrance and a winding gravel path that went out into the fog.

The totem could turn her into a bolt of lightning, or a ray of light, and help her move across great distances.

Now that I can use, she thought.

Screeches of burning harpies in the distance rang. She looked out to see the tongues of blue fire reaching high into the sky.

She looked back and saw the moving cloud of harpies was no longer flying together but each member rather was zigzagging in the sky darting downward attacking its prey.

They had reached the others. She wanted to turn back but the sound of the fire and the attempts of Bright to fight alone were tugging.

If the totem could move her at the speed of light, then she would try to be at both places at once.

She ran for Bright. She wanted to zip again but had no idea how to use the totem or how she managed to make it work in the first place. She had wanted to get ahead of Vivienne. She was angry. Angry that she revealed whom she was and that there was little she could do to stop her. She was helpless and at the mercy of the Owl and her staff.

With the train of thought repeating itself, the sash shined, her body dissolved, and she shot forward at light speed.

She stopped to feel the heat of the fire around her. Bodies of harpies wounded and struggling covered the ground. She moved past pillars of hot blue flames to reach the edge of a crater where Bright was standing strong at the bottom.

His rapier was secured in his left hand and in the other she could see what looked like a giant dark thorn consumed in blue fire. There was something else on the back of the hand that wielded it but she couldn't make it out.

His clothes were ripped and there was blood coming from his right arm.

"Bright!" she yelled out, but the sound of the mayhem was too loud.

There were about twenty harpies remaining in the sky circling the perimeter trying to find a way to dive down into the hole to attack.

She looked back down to him. He was tired.

The thorn in his hand suddenly loosened and draped down like a fiery whip. He threw it upward to one of the harpies and Gwen saw the wooden totem extend all the way into the sky and wrap itself around one of the vulture-like creatures necks.

It beat its wings crazily as the other harpies did nothing to help.

Bright yelled as he yanked the creature into his pit. The harpy plummeted and crashed below as the whip unraveled from its neck and back into the solid thorn.

With it, Bright stabbed the vulture through the face as it vanished into microscopic pieces.

Gwen jumped down and slid to his feet.

He turned in fright and threw his rapier down but managed to catch himself, as the tip was just an inch from her left breast.

He allowed a second of relief at the sight of her and quickly switched it to disappointment. "You're supposed to get out of here while I hold them off! Where is Connor?"

"They're coming! I don't know what happened! I got a totem and it brought me all the way here in like a second!"

Bright gave himself a moment to look down to her waist to see the glittering black sash.

"Congratulations," he told her sternly.

She got to her feet and stood by his side. "Let me help you."

"I need you to get out of here with the others. That thing does what? Let you teleport?"

"I don't think so. I think it just let's me move really fast for a really short period of time. Like a lighting dash or something."

"Alright, it's not a videogame, but the explanation is fair enough. Can you use it to get back to everyone else and get them out of here?"

"I think so but I'm not leaving you. You need help."

"Damn it Gwen! Not a discussion! It's an order! Get to the others and get them out! We don't have time for this!"

Gwen wanted to stay and fight him like usual but the discussion was taking energy from him that he needed. He wasn't going to budge and the only thing that might get him to move was to go back and get the others past the gate.

"Fine, but I'm going to come back for you."

"Whatever! Just go!"

Gwen turned to look at the top of the pit. She needed to get control of the totem fast. She desired to get to the top. She believed it with confidence the way she climbed the wall of her building, fought the Eagle, and entered the haven.

Her body again became engulfed, she dissolved, the ringing in her ear came, and before she knew it, she was wobbling on the edge of the crater.

There was no time to try and recover. She looked out to the distance where the cloud of harpies was still swooping on the others.

She concentrated again, the electricity took her, and she was off.

In a second, she was gone from the blue fire and into a different frenzy of chaos.

Harpies were flying everywhere and the screeching was nearly deafening. The robot panther was leaping into the air grabbing them by the necks and ripping their heads off as he brought them down to the ground. The Parrot was hiding in a corner with the unconscious Sparrow.

The Crane was doing her best to fight them bare handed but the Eagle was having to come in and help her with nearly every attacker.

She scanned for Connor. He was the only one doing much of anything. Swords were shooting from the ground stabbing multiple harpies in the sky. He was attacking as many as he could, jumping off the sides of the spires from one to the other.

He made it all look like an art. Attacking, killing, and fighting were his job. She could see it. He knew how to handle himself well.

In the corner of the sky from where Connor was battling she could she Vivienne maneuvering herself in the air as a swarm of them chased behind her. She was holding onto a long platinum spear instead of her staff.

"Panther!" Gwen called to him.

He sliced off the head of one of the harpies and fell through the millions of little pieces towards the ground. "What happened to you?"

"The totem. We can talk later, I need a weapon," she ran up to him dodging the question.

The shield on his back spun until a platinum mace shot out into the air and landed in her hand.

"Try not to disappear this time. Now give 'em hell," he told her before heading back out.

A harpy glided for her. She managed to slam it right into a spire close by as it struggled and flapped uncontrollably. She hesitated only for a moment before taking the mace and striking the ghoul's skull. It disappeared almost instantly.

It was the first ghoul she had killed. It would have done it to her if it had gotten the chance first, she was aware. It didn't make the action any less important.

It wasn't getting a room in the haven or exploring the Astral Plane for the first time that made her feel a part of the world. It was that moment, watching all the tiny particles vanish into nothing, that felt like her entry. She had taken the life of a creature that represented a group of living things considered a shamans mortal enemy. She was now a member of a war that seemed endless.

"Get us out! Please!" a man in the lowest level chamber of the spire where the harpy exploded yelled to her. "We're innocent! We haven't done anything we swear! They're keeping us here against or will!"

Humans. People just like her. Imprisoned by the Ophanim, the guardians of the Courts. Could this too be her end? They hated shamans as much as they detested ghouls. If she killed the ghouls should she not liberate those of her kind that were imprisoned? Was it not the right thing to do?

They were there awaiting trial for a crime they committed. What evidence was there of the crimes? Ghouls were capturing the living and keeping them at Purgatory as hostages. For all they knew, the Courts were abusing their power. No shaman could enter Elysium unless they wanted their thread cut from the first plane. What proof was there that humans "worthy" of paradise were really beyond that arch in everlasting bliss? What if all of it was a lie and everything after death was just an eternal misery by either the hands of ghouls or the Courts.

But Bright in the pit with blue fire came flashing in her mind before she could overstep. He was right. To liberate any of them would mean to slow them down. She had no choice but to ignore the demands of the sentenced regardless of how much her heart wanted to do something.

Vivienne threw the spear into the wing of a harpy sending it slamming into the ground.

She dove down thrusting both her feet into the creature's chest. She removed the spear and sent it down somewhere more fatal. The harpy dissolved into nothing. As cut throat as her movements had been, she looked more uncomfortable doing it than Gwen had.

"There's too many," she told Gwen. "We have to get out of here!"

Gwen snapped out of her moment and turned to the Parrot and the Sparrow.

"Is she alright?" she asked looking at the unconscious blonde.

"She's too tired to keep going! I don't know how we're going to get her out of here!"

Gwen threw the Sparrows arm over her shoulder and lifted her limp body off the ground while trying to keep the mace firmly in her hand.

"Just wait here," she told the Parrot.

She looked out to where she came, focused, and hoped that the sash could take more than one.

The electricity came and everything disappeared as the lightning speed took over.

She stopped just west of the gate with the pillars of blue fire still erupting somewhere behind her.

She looked to her side and luckily the Sparrow was there with her. She hopped out of the open gate and sat her down just outside of it a safe distance from the edge of the gravel road. She was nervous about leaving her alone but she hoped that the spires were too busy to notice an unconscious prisoner outside.

She turned and zipped again back into the fight. She ran for the Parrot but noticed the Eagle trying to help the Crane whose leg was badly wounded.

She changed direction and went to grab her.

"I got her!" she told the Eagle.

"She can't run!"

"I know, I said I got her! Go help the Panther and the Owl!" she yelled.

She lifted the sobbing Crane onto her feet and zipped them out towards the gate.

Her crying was much louder there without the drowning noise of the harpies.

"Shut up!" Gwen yelled at her.

She was sobbing and confused by what had happened.

"What, how, what, I, I, my, leg,"

"Yeah it's bleeding I see that. I need you to be quiet!" she repeated. "We're outside the gate. You need to be silent while I get the others. If they hear you they'll kill you!"

The Crane covered her mouth with both her hands as she continued to hysterically cry into them.

"Close enough," Gwen said before turning back and zipping to the battle.

First the Parrot, then the Eagle, and then Vivienne, all of the Valkyries were outside of the gate.

She zipped back feeling dizzy and drained. She imagined the sash must have its limits.

"Alright, I saved you for last like you wanted! They're catching on to what I'm doing and they're flying for the gate! Let's move!" she yelled at Connor.

He looked to his panther and silently commanded it to run ahead.

Thirty something harpies above dived together in unison and crashed at the ground as they managed to zip away with only a second to spare.

Again, they stopped just outside the gate where the others were waiting eagerly.

Gwen was surprised they hadn't taken off as soon as she left for Connor.

"Can we get out of here now?" the Eagle asked.

"The Viper is still in there. I'm going back," Gwen told them.

"So am I," interjected Connor.

The two of them, along with the panther that was emerging form the forest of black metal, headed towards the Viper.

When they arrived at the edge of the crater there were no harpies to be found. The blue flames were crackling tranquilly in the chaotic scene. The only figures to see were Bright standing still at the bottom of the hole and at the opposite edge a hooded and cloaked figure.

The cloak it wore was dark blue suede and under its hood was a cerulean mask with plush white feathers around the eyes. The fabric of the cloak covered his mouth. To its side it held a large plumed white-feathered fan with cerulean tips.

Bright stood with his weapons at the ready staring intently at the figure.

"Come on, there's three of us. We can just attack-" Gwen began but Connor lifted his hand to silence her.

She looked to him and saw the expression of nervousness on his face. She could only see the back of Bright's head but she was convinced that he was assuming a similar expression.

"What's going on? What is it?" Gwen asked.

The metal panther crouched in a defensive position; Connor removed his shield from his back and strapped it firm summoning another gladius sword to his hand.

He took a deep breath and prepared himself. "A Phantom Lord."

# XXIV. Lord Ozio

THE CLOAKED ONE TIREDLY RAISED the plume-feathered fan and brushed it in front of him. A large wind whipped across the ground and all of the blue fire went out like a candle.

The gust had made Gwen slide back but she managed to catch her footing.

The sound of harpies rang around all of Purgatory. They had disbanded their unified efforts to attack the escapees and resumed their posts to the prisoners that still remained in their chambers.

"What the hell is that, a totem?" she asked, but Connor said nothing.

Though the figure was a considerable distance away, Gwen could see the eyes through the mask. They looked human. They rested half open like those of someone who had given a large yawn.

"Ay me," it spoke in what felt like a whisper but the volume reached yards. "This is new."

Connor and Bright remained as still as statues.

"What is the matter?" He spoke again brushing the sides of his fan. "You create disaster and now that you are caught you have nothing to say...? What would the Courts think of what you have done to their Purgatory...?"

Gwen didn't feel all that nervous looking at it. He was a bit large, she would give him that, but he didn't look like much. It was difficult to confirm since the cloak looked like a puffy blanket consuming him. She would have guessed that their new enemy was scrawny and fragile due to its lack of width.

"What are you doing here?" Bright asked through gritted teeth.

"So the snake can speak after all...Wonderful," It giggled. "How about I ask the questions and you provide the answers. You have broken into my house after all."

"You expect me to believe that the Courts appointed you here?" Bright asked.

"I don't care what you believe Viper. This is an absolute mess and it just won't do. You're not expecting me to clean this up are you? I'm way too tired for that today. Neither are my harpies. You could maybe live your sentence here doing that for us..."

"Fat chance," Connor whispered with rage.

The lord lifted its tired eyes to look at Connor. He had quite the sense of hearing.

"You have been trouble too haven't you?" he lifted his blue tipped fan and pointed it at Connor.

He twitched a bit at having the plumed thing facing his direction.

"My comrades have told me about the difficulty trying to catch you. First you escaped from, well, here after Avris's pet beat you in the shanties, and then Vane sends his assassins on you in the south of the city and you still somehow managed to slip through his fingers... mind boggling."

He moved his fan a little over to his right so that it faced Gwen. "Who is this pretty girl? Viper, is she your heiress? She is, lovely."

Connor was trying his best to stay where he was but from the corner of her eye Gwen could see him wanting to raise his gladius arm to cover her.

The tension was building but still, she wasn't feeling the full weight of the danger. What she had registered was his referring to the other Phantom Lords in the third person.

The fan-carrying ghoul was a third lord.

"Where are my manners? You don't know who I am do you little lady? I am Lord Ozio." As he introduced himself he maintained his feathered fan in her direction.

Ozio stood there staring at her. He breathed in a loud sigh occasionally smacking his dry lips from under the cloak. He was severely unsettling. She had never seen the other lords but from what she could make out, Ozio felt very appropriate for the job of running Purgatory.

"Why are you kidnapping the living?" Bright asked from below trying to get his attention away from Gwen.

Ozio kept his feather where it was and dropped his eyes from behind the mask to look at Bright. "I am kidnapping no one boy... Everyone has their roles... I am just doing mine."

He raised his free hand slowly towards his concealed mouth with one glove covered finger pointed out to signal the shaman to hush. "I thought I said no questions..."

The panther beside Connor growled louder and louder. It wanted to pounce on the phantom's neck.

Ozio took notice and finally removed the feather from Gwen's direction and swooshed it towards the metal beast. Another sharp burst of wind and the panther went flying through the air like a pullet right through a neighboring spire.

Screams came from inside of it on all levels as it collapsed to the ground.

Connor fell to his knees clutching his heart.

"Control your feelings..." Ozio instructed Connor.

"Your problem is with me Phantom, not them!" Bright yelled.

"Is it? You have all trespassed. You three and the ones outside by the gates shaking like leaves... You all should be locked away here..."

The blue fire from the thorn in Bright's hand burnt a bit brighter.

The lord slowly pointed the feather at him. "Calm down little Vice... This can't possibly end well for any of you..."

"Connor come on, get up," Gwen whispered from the edge of the crater.

Connor looked like he had the wind knocked out of him.

<Eagle, get everyone and get out of here! > Gwen commanded in thought.

<What's going on? > She answered back.

<Just get everyone and run for the arch, now! >

"Tiiiigggrreeeeessss..." Ozio said like calling a pet. "What are you doing?"

Gwen looked to meet his stare.

"No one is leaving... How can I make that more clear so you understand?"

The next few seconds happened so fast.

Glowing smoke erupted from Bright's rapier and blue flames did the same from the thorn. In a blur, Bright shot up the steep earth right for the phantom yelling a battle cry.

He began slashing away at Ozio though he lazily dodged every attempted swipe.

"We have to help him," said Connor out of breath.

Smoke and fire shot everywhere on the other side of the crater. Bright had the phantom stepping back as he continued his relentless front.

<What are you waiting for? > Bright's voice yelled in their minds. <I'll hold him off as long as I can but you need to get going! >

Again, he was starting the sacrificial hero talk.

Ozio may be dangerous but Gwen knew he was right about one thing. They all made the decision to enter. They were all involved for better or worse.

<No way, we're staying and we're taking him out together! >

"Gwen," Connor spoke up getting to his feet. "He's right."

"What?"

"Bright gave me the order to keep you safe. That's what I'm going to do. I'll do what I can to help him but you need to get moving."

"You two are the most brooding and dramatic boys I have ever met! What's the point of inheriting his stupid tribe if Phantom Lords are taking over?! You said it yourself remember? I better not look to live the way the broods do. Well, running now sounds pretty damn broody to me!"

Suddenly, the dull grey of the Purgatory sky went dark and turbulent like a coming storm. From the black clouds, a flash of gold lightning struck her arms as she felt the tiger in her chest purr.

As the smoke cleared she looked down to find her arms covered in what appeared to be black gauntlets. The leather covered her forearms tightly and reached the backside of her palm with four golden spikes over each knuckle.

The sky resumed its originally state as quickly as the lightning had flashed.

"Another totem?" she asked in disbelief. "How many do shamans get?"

Connor couldn't believe it himself. He got to his feet and helped her up examining the new gift.

"Not sure. I don't think it's impossible for a power animal to give a shaman more than one. Never heard of getting two on the same day though. What do you think they do?" he asked curiously.

"Guess we'll have to find out."

She turned her arms over to look at the underside of the gauntlets and without warning, a small gold dagger shot from the underside of both her wrists into her hands. They were some types of throwing knives. She believed they were kunai.

Something about holding the smooth and cold weapons felt familiar... She could feel a tingling running from her shoulder all the way to the tips of her fingers where the skin and metal met. An electric current was charging the kunai making them shine bright spewing sparks off electricity.

She threw them both against one of the spires and watched as the jolts flood out and spread over the towering metal construct.

"I guess that answers the question," Connor said impressed.

A boom echoed above them as Bright was shot from the air and back into the crater.

The dust cloud whooshed around them as Ozio returned to his original position from across.

From the smoke in the hole the long blue flamed whip shot out like a tongue and wrapped itself around the phantom pulling him in.

More slashes could be heard and more booms echoed.

The phantom shot straight up into the sky out of the crater followed quickly with Bright having both weapons blazed and ready. In the air he continued to slash about with intense speed. Though as fast as he attacked, it appeared the lord dodged even faster.

Gwen summoned two more of the gold kunai and charged them.

"What are you going to do?" Connor asked.

"He doesn't know I have this. I just need a shot..."

"You just got those. Throwing them at a inanimate spire is one thing but do you really think you can hit Ozio?"

"The tiger gave them to me for a reason. I have to try. I don't know what it is but I feel like I've done this before. Just trust me."

She kept her eyes on the battle as they slowly descended towards the ground.

"I got one," she said confidently and threw one of the daggers.

In a second, Ozio kicked Bright straight in the chest with an echoing boom, sending him flying towards a spire. He crashed into the metal leaving a dent before collapsing to the dirt several yards from the crater with both thorn and rapier extinguished.

The phantom caught the electric dagger and quickly threw it back penetrating Gwen's right arm.

She gave out a scream in pain as the force of the throw knocked her on her back. Though the hit was intense, the electrical current seemed to do nothing to her.

Connor rushed over wanting to reach for the kunai dagger but hesitated as it still gave off sparks of electricity. "Know what you're doing huh?"

Ozio swayed in the air and landed softly on the dirt like an autumn leaf. He made it all look so easy.

"Not good enough girl..." He told her.

"How about me?" A voice came from the sky.

Connor and Gwen looked up to see Vivienne floating with staff in hand and the headband refastened under her hair.

With her free palm she tried to restrain Ozio lowering herself to meet him at eye level.

Gwen wasn't sure if it was that Ozio was extraordinarily large or if Vivienne was just so petite, but the difference in size between the two was jaw dropping.

"What are you doing?" Ozio asked with a giggle.

"Finishing this," she said trying to force her palm into a fist. She was trying to crush the phantom with the help of the band but Ozio wasn't looking nervous.

He began to stretch up his arms slowly enjoying the look of pain it was causing Vivienne.

"Vivienne, stop!" Gwen yelled threw gritted teeth yanking the dagger from the wound that vanished into the air the second it left its unintended target.

With one last strong motion outward, Ozio broke free of the telekinetic hold, breaking Vivienne's fingers in the process.

Before she could finish her yell in pain, Ozio brushed his fan sending a rapid wind to send her flying into the same tower where Bright laid limp at its feet. She herself left a dent in the metal and fell to the ground losing her grip on the dream catcher.

"Any more takers?" He asked.

The fear had arrived. Gwen had no idea how they were going to stop him. Bright had three totems and he had barely made a scratch on the Phantom Lord. Vivienne had two and she was thrown against the wall like a fly.

What difference could she make?

"This isn't just myself pretty cat..." Ozio said floating lazily towards her and Connor across the wide hole. "All seven of us can do great things... Each a god in our own right... You never had a chance..."

Gwen could feel tears of anger forming in her eyes.

She summoned another kunai dagger, charged it along with the other that remained and threw them at Ozio.

He brushed his fan upward sending them flying into the air.

Connor moved in front of her with his arms lifted in defense.

"How gallant...But again... No chance... I heard that you miraculously fell all the way from our gate and landed on your feet in one piece. That is some strength you have. However, let's see how you land this..."

Connor sensed the attack coming and stepped forward to join the fight. Ozio spun the fan in his hand and with a disturbing crunch Connor's left leg twisted backwards.

He yelled in agony collapsing to the ground.

Ozio smacked his lips with glee. He waved the fan upward once more and Connor flew into the air like a missile out of site.

"No!" she yelled out.

She was alone.

"You're a monster!"

She called two more kunai, used her sash to zip left, stopped after a second grabbing her footing, and threw her daggers hoping to get him on his side.

He brushed his feathers again and both daggers darted right to the dirt.

"I'm tired... This is precious rest time you are taking from me..."

"Hey!" Bright's voice came from the foot of the spire where Vivienne remained unconscious.

The two of them turned to see him flick the thorn on the ground like a match as a row of blue fire shot down between Gwen and Ozio.

"This is cute...."

Bright jumped in the air and landed next to Gwen.

<We only have a second to do this, > he thought as the red ram totem on his fist vanished and appeared in her hand.

<Take one of those off and put the Face of the First on. Tap the nose of it to one of those electric daggers of yours. When you get the shot, send a punch with the totem at Ozio. It'll do the rest.>

<Got it. >

Ozio brushed away the fire leaving a light trail of smoke.

Bright lit the thorn and his rapier back to their glorious state and went for him once more.

"Again...?"

Gwen willed her right gauntlet to disappear and did the same to put the ram onto her right fist. She could see Ozio entertaining the same game as before.

From the underside of her remaining gauntlet she summoned a gold kunai charged and ready. She tapped the nose of the red ram to the tip of the dagger.

Amazed, she saw as it began to absorb and mimic the properties of the weapon. The rock was gone and now on her wrist sat an electrically charged golden ram head. The eyes, she noticed, didn't change from their red form.

Ozio, with just a brush of his feather, shot Bright over towards the mouth of the gate where the Valkyries were huddled.

Now, she told her herself. Though she wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

She threw the charged kunai as a decoy that Ozio sent into the sky with a light laugh. After seeing his fan occupied, she threw a punch into the open air.

A giant electric gold ram head the size of a wrecking ball shot from her fist leaving the totem back to its original red rock form.

It charged at the phantom with the speed and force of a locomotive.

He couldn't react with his fan fast enough and the charging head made contact slamming him out through the metal fence that surrounded Purgatory and out into the open land.

After several yards of travel, the head exploded and a frenzy of electricity was left with the lord. He could have been screaming but the loud cracks of the yellow lightning drowned all noise.

She zipped over to Vivienne with the help of her sash, lifted her up and zipped over to Bright.

"Are you ok?"

"Never better." He groaned, as the electrical storm was still raging out in the distance. "Wasn't sure if that was going to work... Yay us..."

Gwen helped him to his feet and zipped them both out of the gate.

<Panther, where are you? Come on, >

"I'm good. I'm here," a weak voice came from behind her.

She turned to see Connor hopping towards them with his leg twisted facing the other direction.

"How did you-?"

"It's not our physical strength that wins here remember? M.P. is the will of the mind. Though if I'm being honest the fog was somehow slowing down my fall... I don't know if I'm going to be able to land the way I did before when we get out of here."

"We will deal with that when we actually get there," Bright interjected.

The Crane and the Parrot were mesmerized by what was happening out in the fog.

Harpies were flying from their post towards the entrance to see the light show.

"Alright everyone, let's go!" Bright yelled to them.

The seven of them moved as Gwen and the Eagle carried an unconscious Vivienne with them. The Sparrow once more wasted no time taking the headband back uncaring of her comrade's condition.

They ran down the twisting and turning path as the electricity subsided and a toasted cloaked body plopped to the ground.

Still in a weak run, Gwen had to ask. "Viper, he's burnt to a crisp. He's either dead or we have a shot to finish him off right here, right now."

"Trust me Tigress, he isn't dead. I have a feeling we'll have another encounter soon enough. For now let's just focus on getting the hell out of here."

The fog was closing in on them.

Vision was once again becoming clouded and voices were starting to creep.

"I told my baby brother not to touch it. I told him, it's not my fault what happened..."

"Seven, nine, nine, four, three, two, three, seven..."

"You can't make a fucking meal you can't fucking do anything! What fucking good are you?"

"The lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green..."

"Mercy! For my children, please, mercy!"

It was almost impossible to see. The only thing guiding them was the feel of the stones beneath their feet. The cold sweat was running down their faces and backs as they tried to breathe the heavy air.

Screeching of the harpies rang behind them.

"Get off me, I don't want to! Get off me!"

"Daddy, I don't feel well. My tummy hurts...."

"To hell with your God! You are evil! Do you hear me?!"

"Help! I can't swim! Help me!"

The arch appeared in the distance and shadowed figures approached from every side of the path.

Faceless and haunting they stood wanting to reach them.

"Ignore them, just keep moving!" Connor yelled.

"Panther, what about those?" Gwen asked looking at two figures standing in the middle of the path.

"It's just trying scare us. They can't do anything, just don't stop!"

They were getting closer to the figures and the fog was clearing around them. Unlike the ones out in the fields, the ones on the path seemed to glitter in vibrant colors.

One was lanky and sported violet pants that hugged its twig legs tightly reaching his waist. He wore large purple glittered platform heels that his equally thin ankles could barely support. The leather material of the pants bulged around the hips making him look ridiculous. On top was an equally tight long sleeved jacket flooded with purple jewels. If there were actual sunlight in Purgatory the thing would have blinded them. The shoulders were puffed and around his neck were giant necklaces of purple, violet, and sapphire stones. His face was the worst of it. It was caked with pounds and pounds of makeup. The pinks, whites, and magentas all reached his hair creating two spikes that shot back looking as sharp as the spires.

Next to him, the other figure was dressed much less extravagant yet still with a pop of flare. His face was concealed with a mask of solid gold that covered everything but his left eye. He wore a top hat strapped with a gold ribbon and a tailored gray suit covered in gold chains. Each finger had three bulky rings that went over his white gloves. Around his shoulders was a long grey cape that twinkled like Gwen's new sash and at his waist hidden within the cape was a remarkable gold gourd that showed itself every few second through the soft swooshing of the gray.

Bright stopped moving.

"What are you doing?" Connor asked out to him.

"He's stopping because he's realized he is in the presence of greatness," The purple jeweled one spoke with sass striking a feminine pose.

Everyone else followed Bright's action. The faceless ones around them kept their ground as well. Gwen couldn't shake the feeling that they were all smiling.

"I'm sure you've heard of me," began the one in purple, "I am Lord Vane."

The one in the gold mask cleared his throat.

"Oh," Vane said lazily, "and this would be Lord Avris..."

# XXV. One for the Road

THE GIRLS LAID VIVIENNE SLOWLY onto the smooth rocks. Connor kept his balance at Bright's side facing down the two Phantom Lords that had appeared before them.

"Going somewhere?" Avris asked muffled behind the mask.

"Where is Ozio?" Vane asked scanning out behind them.

"He's unavailable at the moment..." Bright responded.

"White Viper!" Vane exclaimed with a large grin causing the globs of creams and powders to crack and drop to the ground. "Oh it has been a minute! I see you're feeling much better."

Vane took the heavy necklaces and wrapped them around his fingers unable to keep still. Gwen found his constant need to move bothersome.

<What do we do?> Connor questioned.

<I'm thinking...> Bright replied.

"I like your gold," Avris stated as he looked at Gwen's totems with a hunger. "It's black yet it twinkles like a fortune... I bet things like that are rare to come by."

Gwen put both her hands into fists.

<What can they do?> Gwen asked.

<Each one is a little different,> Bright began, <Tigress you still have the Face of the First. I need you to charge it again.>

<There's two of them. Can the totem make two shots at once?>

<No...> he replied with frustration.

"Well all of you look like you've seen a ghost," Avris assessed.

"You know what it is," Vane began, "It's my outfit. They probably have never seen anything so beautiful."

"Let us pass. We only came to get our friend," spoke Connor.

"You..." Avris looked to him. "You're the Panther aren't you? The word on the street is that you were looking for me. I also heard that you took the liberty of taking out one of my hardest workers. Maybe I should return the favor..."

The group stood huddled. The arch was just some feet behind them. They were so close to freedom and in their way were two ridiculously dressed ghouls.

At least Gwen thought they were ghouls.

It was peculiar how all the creatures she had seen in Kingslane below were of so many different shapes and sizes yet Ozio, and the two new lords included, all managed to keep human figures.

Vane reached into his jacket and pulled out a thick jeweled dagger and began to look at himself through the polished blade.

"Is this really the time?" Avris asked.

"Calm down. I mean to use it to hurry this along," he assured.

Vane slowly brought the dagger to his mouth as he began to kiss his own reflection.

Suddenly, The Parrot, Erin, and Lindsay began to scream along with all of the faceless figures surrounding them. One by one the gray and the mundane began to shake away and replaced with purple stoned jackets and an ocean of colorfully spiked hair...

They were surrounded entirely by dozens of Vane replicas.

Erin and Lindsay quickly ran to Vane's feet stroking, petting, and fawning over the odd lord.

<What's going on?> Connor asked.

<It's the dagger. It's Vane's Phantom Relic. Each lord has one. You saw Ozio's fan. I don't know what the limits are to that thing but for some reason it's only affecting the three of them,> Bright replied.

<Something to do with being rogues?> Gwen entered.

<Could be...>

<Don't forget about all of them out there... I thought they were just illusions,> Connor interjected.

<Guess not. The real question is, can they do anything besides stare? > Bright questioned giving a scan to the odd looking figures that watched them.

"I like these! I'll keep them for pets!" Vane exclaimed as he brushed Lindsay's hair.

"Do as you wish. I have business to settle with these," Avris groaned, taking steps forward. In a very unpleasant sound, each of his movements boomed with the cracking of his joints. Evidently the Lord didn't get around to moving very much.

"White Viper, you have been trying to meddle with my trades for some time now. The other pests in the city seem to mind their business, why can't you? Then there's you," Avris shifted his only visible eye intensely to Connor, "you're not from around here yet in a matter of weeks you have done so much snooping! It's bad for business and very bad for profits. Am I to understand that you have rendered Ozio indisposed?"

"Yup," Bright answered.

"Fucking typical," Avris spits behind his mask, "he's given one job and he can't even do that right."

"Given the job by who?" Bright attempted to pry.

"Oh no, it won't be that easy. You've all been a real frustration... Ozio let you get the upper hand but I assure you, you're not leaving."

<Panther, can you still tame?> Bright asked.

<No, I don't think I can, I'm still pretty beat.>

"If you're going to kill us you can at least answer our questions," Bright continued hoping to buy them some time. "It won't make any difference now will it?"

It was difficult to assess what Avris was thinking. Vane kept petting the hypnotized Valkyries ignoring the conversation.

"Oh, Viper... you're trying to smart your way out of this. What do you want to know? The obvious I'm sure. Why are living human spirits in Purgatory, how we're even at the Spires to begin with... But come on, those are all the wrong questions. What you should really want to know is, to what end?"

He was toying with them.

"Fine, to what-" but Bright couldn't finish.

Avris darted forward with the sound of his joints crunching before getting Bright's throat gripped tightly in his hand.

The Vane replicas around them began to howl and giggle with enjoyment.

The sudden movements made Connor lose his balance on his one good leg. He crashed to the ground defenseless and open for a hit but Avris didn't bother. His one eye was looking intensely at Bright watching him struggle to breathe.

Gwen was getting angry and though she hadn't looked down, she knew that the knuckles of the gauntlets and the sash were twinkling a brighter gold.

"Let him go!" she yelled.

It wasn't the voice that made Avris turn. It seemed he could almost smell the shinning. He lustfully turned to her and stared at her waist and hands. His eye grew wider and the sound of a thick gurgling could be heard from the back of his throat.

"Those really are beautiful pieces..."

Gwen had to take it.

"Oh yeah? That's not all they can do," she led on. She slowly raised her right hand and allowed a gold kunai to slowly poke out from the inside of her wrist. As the tip came into vision and the dagger grew to full form, the wild mind of Avris seemed to grow with it.

"How many of those can it produce?" He asked eagerly.

"Infinite amounts. All the gold daggers you could ever ask for."

His grip was loosening around Bright's neck.

"Give them to me."

"You can have them for a trade," Gwen responded.

His mouth couldn't be seen but Gwen knew Avris was grinning. "You are in no position to be making bargains little bitch."

"Maybe not but if anything happens to me then these beauties will disappear forever. Think of all the gold you'd be missing."

"Avris hurry up already," Vane commented from behind as the Parrot was eagerly biting for his crotch. "This one seems to be a bit over eager."

"What do you want?" Avris asked dropping Bright to the stones.

"Why are you doing all of this?"

"Be a little less vague..." Avris teased while keeping his eye on the gold dagger.

"How are you controlling Purgatory?"

"Courts just aren't what they used to be..."

Bright was shuffling up trying to get himself collected. He was looking at Connor intently trying to communicate through M.P. but as she could hear nothing, she was sure the grip around the neck had overwhelmed him.

<Come on Bright, need you to come up with a plan and fast,> Gwen thought hoping he heard it. "So what? You're working with the Courts?"

"Something like that I guess..." Avris was saying like a victim hypnotized. His eye was even twinkling along with the pointy dagger.

"Why are you three working together? What's the point?"

"Not just us three... All of us back together again..."

"All seven lords working together? For what?" Gwen was now stepping back slowly as Avris was getting very eager himself.

"For everything. Everything... We want, everything...as do our partners."

"You call the Courts your partners? That's a friendly way to refer to a group that you've hated."

"Not them. They're more pawns than partners... I mean our partners on the Physical Plane. Deals are struck and promises are made. We need to make sure the captured continues if we're to meet the promised quota for their war."

"...Whose war? Shamans?"

Avris was raising his fingers like to a wishing star. "You are not the only branch of magic that pollutes your plane..."

Connor was back on his feet. Vane was too distracted to note he had recovered from his fall. Bright was breathing regular again now closer to Wren.

Gwen had almost forgot about her in all the commotion. She was as silent as the grave looking cryptically at her friends as they perversely bit at Vane.

<Ok Tigress we only have one shot as usual,> Bright chimed.

<What about answers?> she chimed back.

<Fuck answers we can get them later. Now listen,> he began as Avris raised one hand dreamily towards the dagger. <Charge it slowly. The Sparrow will take care of the rest. When the dagger makes contact-run.>

<What do you mean? In case you haven't noticed there's two of them and only one dagger!>

<The day you just do what I say without questioning will be one for the books.>

<Tigress,> Connors voice came in, <Just do it.>

She took a deep breath and slowly charged the dagger. As the gold started to disappear underneath the crackling current of electricity she could feel something pulling it to its side. It was the Sparrow using her totem.

Gwen loosened her grip as the dagger, fully charged, pointed right toward Vane. Avris was beginning to lose his mesmerized state though not fast enough. As soon as the tip had found its destination the dagger was off.

Like a flash of lightning the glowing weapon landed right into Vane's head. All the clones around them mimicked the convulsing in the frenzy of light.

Avris covered his one eye as a whip of blue fire encircled his neck from behind.

Bright was holding on tightly waiting for all of them to get moving.

The spelled Valkyries snapped out of it. Connor yelled at them to go forward. With only a few whimpers and confused looks they tumbled ahead and through the arch.

Connor hopped over to Gwen with Vivienne over his shoulder and carrying Wren by his side.

"We can't leave without him!"

<Move. That's an order,> Bright grudged mentally trying to keep Avris from moving or breaking free.

The flashing light was dying down as Vane collapsed to the ground twitching and shaking.

Connor pulled her. She looked back yet her legs went forward.

The arch was some feet, a foot, inches, and at last they were through...

The seven of them left the foggy spires and zoomed out into the night sky where twinkling lights glowed below them through the net of train tracks.

They hovered for a second, and began to fall towards the astral ground.

# XXVI. The Owl's Deal

GWEN MISSED THE RUSTY TRACK by a few inches as she fell.

Spinning out of control, she was losing awareness of which way was up. Gaining speed she could catch glimpses of little lights, the dark sky, and the large marble island off in the distance.

"I got you!" Connor's voice blasted in her ear as she felt him grab her waist canceling her spins and keeping her focused towards the city below.

"Your leg!" she yelled to him.

The Eagle had grabbed a hold of Vivienne during the fall who continued to remain limp. The Crane held tight to the Sparrow and the Parrot looked like she might have fainted at some point during the descent.

The able Eagle began to slow down as she used the M.P. to control her fall. The Crane with eyes closed tight held on to her beloved's only available hand fearing a repeat of the tower.

Gwen knew if she couldn't get a grip on herself she was going to collide with the concrete in a very messy way.

To her surprise, as well as Connor's, they too began to slow down.

The Sparrow was using what little strength she had to secure their landing.

Though it was still a bit rough, the two of them managed to land on the abandoned street without a scratch.

The night was quiet. They could hear the chirping of insect wings on other avenues. Random bangs on what sounded like trashcans echoed and some abandoned bottles rolled aimlessly on sidewalks.

The Eagle put Vivienne lightly on the sidewalk as the Sparrow looked to her with fury.

"Wren..." Lindsay began, as the Parrot was about to hit the concrete.

Wren didn't look, but the Parrot slowed down just enough to make her new landing spot in a dumpster relatively harmless by shaman standards.

Gwen and Connor seemed to be the only ones concerned with her well being after seeing her boom into the trash.

After a few seconds she popped out with a bleeding forehead pretending her tribe members negligence hadn't happened. She was especially acting the fool in regards to seeing Gwen and Connor standing securely on the street instead of her.

The Parrot looked to the Sparrow with gratitude and a weak grin knowing that her viceroy did her the "favor."

Their heavy breathing was the music. Each of them was panting with adrenalin rushing.

They all looked to the sky with worry. Nothing was falling after them. No lords, no Bright. The Arch of Purgatory stood silent and gray above the rails of the Courts looking serene and untouched. Their escapade felt like a secret between it and they.

"That can't be it..." Gwen mumbled to herself looking up to the sky.

The Valkyries huddled around each other with intense looks of guilt on their faces.

Connor limped close to her offering no comments of hope. He had belonged to the world long enough to know there was no point.

"Tigress,"

"Don't," Gwen began, "we just have to go back. It's just him and Avris. We have to go back and get him. We can take him!"

"That's not going to happen."

"He's still alive! We have to go back!"

Connor looked at the ground and refused to meet her eyes.

He succeeded in getting her out. It was an order from a viceroy that could very well be dead within the hour. She saw herself going back to the talk she had with him inside his stolen comfortable house. If he was gone then that made her one of the Vices. She would have to inherit everything she was nowhere near ready to confront.

"Wait, what's that?" Lindsay spoke up as she pointed at the sky.

Gwen and Connor looked up together to catch something darting quickly to the ground.

<A little help!> the voice of Bright boomed in their heads.

Gwen couldn't believe how happy she was to hear it. "Sparrow! Catch him!"

There were some seconds of hesitation, but just in time as instructed, the Sparrow slowed down his fall as he lightly crashed against the pavement in front of them.

Bright stood and cracked his neck looking relieved.

Gwen wanted to run and give him a hug but something caught her. It wasn't the way they played. They locked eyes and fighting back a smile she nodded to him.

Connor limped forward. "How did you get out of there?"

"Threw him into the fog," Bright began fastening a tone of ease. "It's going to take him a while to get back to the path. We should have enough time to get out of the open before something can come after us."

"What about Ozio and Vane? Will they heal?" Connor asked.

Bright let out a sigh and nodded. "It'll take Ozio a bit longer than Vane but he'll be ready none the less."

"Then we need a game plan. We need to be ready for when he comes looking," the Eagle chimed.

Bright took his gaze away from his tribe and repositioned it towards the Eagle, the Crane, and the Parrot. There was no more worry or warrior mode. No, he never looked more like a viper to Gwen than he did at that moment. He was a slithering predator who wanted his due.

"We will be, but fortunately for you three, it won't be a problem."

"Wait!" The Crane yelled. "You're going to need help! We pissed off three Phantom Lords. They're going to come after you! All of you! You're going to need help and the Tortoise and the Widow aren't going to do shit!"

"Why are you so willing to fight? You've spent your entire time under the Sparrow hiding and trying to learn how to fly..." said Bright.

"Stop," the Sparrow mumbled from her seat on the ground next to the Crane.

She lifted herself up with the assistance of the Parrot and looked at Bright with as much authority as she could muster. She did not wear the suit well nor did it look like one she wore with frequency. It was a front, a last resort.

"You're not going to take them from me. I just saved your life for fucks sake."

"I would have survived that easy. You just saved me the symptoms of a hangover tomorrow morning. And besides, it's already done, look at their coins," Bright said happily.

"I'll switch them back."

"Do it," Bright began to threat summoning his rapier to point directly at her. It was the hiss of a Viper threatened, "and I will duel you right here right now."

Duel? Gwen wondered.

<It's a battle between viceroys. A ring forms around the chosen place for the fight. It's one to the death though the loser doesn't die on the Physical Plane. They just stop being shamans. Only viceroys can do it,> Connor stated.

Gwen wasn't aware that her thought had transmitted through the M.P. Regardless, she was grateful for the information.

"That isn't fair! She can barely stand! Not to mention she just helped you get down!" The Crane yelled.

"Then be a woman of your word and get over here so I can cut your damn head off," he replied impatiently.

Without warning, the Eagle charged. It looked like Bright and Ozio only this time Bright was the far superior fighter. He didn't have to move even half as fast as he had done with the phantom.

Gwen looked to the weak Valkyrie and wondered if she could fight with the same level of tenacity. The key difference between Bright and Ozio however, was that he was not as much in the entertaining mood.

He kneed her in the gut taking the air out of her and threw her to the concrete.

A glowing circle surrounded the two.

"NO!" Lindsay yelled flying forward. She did not float, she did not glide, but she flew for what was probably the first and final time like a true crane towards them.

She penetrated the circle and landed next to her. She avoided eye contact with Bright as she lifted her up and tried to fly Erin out.

Bright did not react. He didn't have to.

They hit the edge of the glowing circle like an invisible wall.

"What is this?" she asked in a panic.

"Wow, the Sparrow really is a shitty viceroy. She never explained to you what a Circle of End is? Same as a duel circle but only smaller. It's where a Viceroy eliminates a charge that has to go."

"Please, we can-" the Crane began to cry with her whine but the sound was cut by Bright's rapier crossing her throat.

No blood, no head falling to the ground, just a line of light across her neck and her body vanishing into dust leaving behind the pink metal coin that hung around her neck before it dissolved as well.

"You piece of shit," the Eagle moaned, as she held tight to her abdomen see the embrace of her love vanish in thin air.

The Sparrow was back on the ground crying running her fingers through her greasy hair. She was blaming herself for everything that was happening. She closed her eyes tight talking to herself as if hoping to wake from the bad dream. In a sense it was, but unfortunately that didn't make it any less real.

"You were never meant for this world," Bright spoke to the Eagle. Oddly, he was trying to pacify her. "You know that. You were never called. A girl who didn't feel she had friends found you. You liked Wren. But she didn't like you back."

"Shut up!"

"You met Lindsay and the Sparrow felt alone again. She brought you into this, all of this, as a hope to keep you with her. She didn't like the Owl but you knew she never really liked Lindsay either. It didn't stop her from brining her on board..."

"Shut up!" she yelled again throwing a punch that he slapped away like a bug.

"This world, this life, isn't for you. It never was. She brought you into all of this because she was terrified of her own company. I'm doing you a favor."

"Viper!" The Sparrow yelled weakly. "I'm going to kill you for this!"

The Parrot was backing away slowly. She was going to try and make a run for it. She tripped over the unconscious Owl almost falling onto her butt.

Bright ignored the words. He kept his eyes on the Eagle.

"I want you to know, you won't remember a thing. None of the time you spent here."

Gwen was surprised to hear it.

"Can't keep a world so secret if the scorned and the grumpy beheaded are telling the masses now can we? Though honestly, I consider it another favor since everyone would probably think you're nuts."

"Why are you telling me this?" The Eagle asked keeping her eyes to Bright's feet.

"Because I'm hoping you will take some comfort in knowing that what you fear to lose won't be an issue in a couple seconds."

"What about Wren... and Lindsay... If I don't remember-"

"Oh you'll remember them! Of course you will. I know you all spend a lot of time together outside of the plane. That can't be changed. Neither can what you feel... No magic alive can alter emotion."

"She'll bring us back," the Eagle tilted her head to meet his eyes. "She'll bring us right back."

Bright made a sarcastic pouted face. "No, no she won't. Only the viceroy that beheaded the shaman can bring them back."

The Eagles faced loosened at the realization that there were no more cards to hope for.

"See you around, Blood."

Another slash, another line of light across the neck, the body vanished and the crimson coin remained before dissolving into nothing.

The circle disappeared and Bright looked up to the Parrot.

"No! Wait! Money! I, I can do stuff! I can help you guys out! H-Homework! I can do it for you! I'm great at writing papers!"

Her squealing had rung to Vivienne as Gwen and Connor noticed her waking.

She looked confused, then very aware of the last thing she remembered.

She got up to defend herself but scanned around her to see that they were back in Kingslane.

"What happened?" She asked.

She looked at the Parrot scared and the Sparrow in despair.

"What happened to Eagle and Crane?"

"They're alright," Gwen spoke up.

"They kept their end of the deal," Bright added still keeping his eyes to the squawking Parrot.

It was coming back to Vivienne. She slowly arrived to the realization that they were gone, shamans no more.

"Y-you did it... You beheaded them..."

The Sparrow groaned on the ground as she spoke the words.

"Yup, now I just have to take care of this one."

"No," the Owl said firmly. "That's enough for today."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me Viper. Or I could use your real name if you prefer..." It was not easy for Vivienne to stand up, especially to someone like Bright who seemed to have his moments of enjoying torment. She had endured less than ideal circumstances with the Valkyries. The Owl dealt with standing the insults of the Eagle, the scoffs of the Crane, the competition of the Parrot, and the disgust of the Sparrow. Though there she stood doing her best to stand up for the tribe she came from.

Gwen doubted it had anything to do with affection. For whatever reason it was she found herself admiring the way she stood there. Shaking in a way that wasn't even present when she went face to face with the Phantom Lord. She was afraid but at the same time she was finding courage to do what she believed was right. She was finding her voice and not apologizing for it.

Bright chuckled. "That's the worst bluff I've heard in a while. I save your viceroy and you now want to cut the deal short?"

"No bluff. We are grateful for your help but if you keep preaching this whole 'shaman responsibility' thing then there should be no price for what you did tonight. An innocent girl was dying in a cage and she had to be saved. The Tigress called me by my real name when La Symphonia fell. I know who she is and I'm willing to bet I know exactly who you are too. If you want dirty politics, I'll play. Here's your deal. Get the hell out of here and I don't tell the Sparrow, the Widow, and the Tortoise who you really are. How does that sound?"

Bright looked over to Gwen with those eyes of fire.

She could feel her stomach tie in a knot. She never feared them, but this time was different. She made a careless mistake and it was one that could cost him, all of them, dearly.

"So what's it going to be?" Vivienne asked.

Bright's jaw was locked and his eyes were drooped. He wanted to rip her head off and they all knew it.

In traditional Bright Santos fashion however, the expression was wiped and shoulders lost their tension. A smile came over him and he was the calm cool debonair once again. "What are you doing Owl?" he questioned calmly. "This one doesn't like you!" he exclaimed pointing his rapier to the Sparrow behind him. "What are you trying to defend exactly?"

"I told you, we've been through enough tonight."

"I could duel her right now you know," Bright began with poison in his voice. "Yeah, I could duel her right now and win easily. You're her only real shaman charge. She's gone and you become viceroy of Kingslane East. What better Cinderella story than that?"

Vivienne didn't pause to consider it. "I'm only going to say it one more time Viper... Take your charges, get out of here, and your secret is safe with me."

Bright kept silent keeping her stare without a blink.

His rapier disappeared and he turned back to Connor and Gwen before shooting a stern look to the Sparrow.

"You'd be wise to not tell Lindsay and Erin of the Astral Plane again. I see another rogue added to your ranks and I will come after you with everything I got. Understood?" he said as he walked away uninterested of their understanding or if they were agreed.

He walked passed Gwen without making eye contact.

She wanted to say something but no words were coming.

The Parrot unfroze and shook towards the Sparrow in disbelief of what had happened.

"T-t-thank you so much," she squeaked to the Owl.

The two of them helped the Sparrow to her feet and moved quickly to float into the sky.

Bright didn't wait for them to follow. The street was alone as Connor and she were the only ones to keep it some company.

"Does this mean it's over?" Gwen asked.

"It's never over Tiger Lily... It is never over."

# XXVII. Until Tomorrow

"NOTHING," BRIGHT STATED AS HE looked into the smoke of the Void.

Connor, Gwen, and Notus circled around him.

"Surprising considering they were so brave when we were being shipped off to the Spires," he concluded.

Connor and Gwen remained silent as the smoke disappeared and the light returned to the chamber.

"Lords Avris and Vane in Kingslane and Ozio playing warden in Purgatory..." Bright thought out loud.

Connor was sweating rubbing his hands together intensely. Gwen looked over to him trying to avoid looking at his leg.

He wore a pair of black gym short with the right sleeve rolled up. The limb was red and covered in bulging hives, smeared in a white ointment that Notus had given him when they had arrived late in the night.

The entire car ride was filled with him severely scratching to the point that blood got all over Bright's leather seats. Bright was in and out of a fever that was caused by the severe smashes he had taken at the hands of Ozio.

She wondered how long it would take for her to forget the sound of Connor's nails slashing against the skin of his leg as she drove with her breath held.

She could only keep telling herself over Connor's discomfort and Bright's mumbling next to her to a Michael that wasn't there that they were alive. They were all alive.

Her right shoulder had a bit of a rash where Ozio had redirected her kunai dagger. She thought it would have been worse considering how deep it went. She wondered if the fact that the weapon was her own had anything to do with the effects...

"The Courts will act Bright," spoke Connor.

"I know," he replied unenthused. "But that's to be expected... What worries me is the idea that the Phantom Lords are invading Court property. Or worse, the seven are working together to finish us off with their help."

"I think the Parrot is the least of our worries, but do you think we should be concerned about what the Owl said?" Connor asked trying not to look at Gwen.

"Well, for now, there's nothing we can do. She knows who we are. Wrong move on our part and she'll tell the other viceroys. I'm just going to have to lay low for a while and try and come up with a plan for destroying the douchebag."

"Bright, there were four of us fighting Ozio. Eight totems... and we got our asses handed to us...Tell me he's the toughest of them," Connor added.

Bright looked to him ready to deliver the bad news. "Lord Ozio governs and is powered by human sloth. He's the laziest of the seven. I'm assuming he's acting as warden of Purgatory by one of the others' orders. The Spires have always been a heavily guarded area of the Astral Plane where once in a century something actually succeeds at breaking out.

"Whatever the lords are planning they gave him the easiest of the responsibilities. I hate to break it you Connor but Ozio is probably the weakest of the syndicate.

"As you could see with Vane and Avris, though their dominant sin is the source of their power it's also the source of an extreme weakness. What happened at the arch was just a giant stroke of luck. They could have killed us in seconds."

"This might be a dumb question but aside from their crazy outfits they looked very, well, human. Are they-"

"No," Bright cut off quickly, "they're very much ghouls. I'm sure they don't look anything like what we saw for real but that's what the relics do. They're what channel the power of the governing sin and when each of them inherited a relic they were transformed."

"But why into human shape?"

"I'm not sure. I assume because humans have been the source of their troubles for centuries. Always preferred by the Courts. Perhaps they thought there was some secret strength or benefit to looking that way so when the transformations happened they adopted that shape in hopes it would prove beneficial."

Gwen knew some color left her face at the words of their disadvantage causing her to pay little attention to the lords' appearances. She was given two totems at once and it wasn't enough. At least not alone...

"Bullshit," she spoke up.

Connor turned to look but Bright was still too disgusted to address her.

"Yeah we had eight totems but we were fighting it in turns rather than all together. You saw what that ram totem with my kunai did to him. There's no way with a unified effort we can't kill those things."

"The Phantoms can't be killed," Bright commented staring straight to the stairs. "The host can, but the power of the Phantom Lords will live as long as the seven sins do. The masks and the Phantom Relics will only find another ghoul to harness the power and it will go from there."

Gwen was aware that whenever Bright was angry, which was a good percent of the time; he would be determined to set up camp in 'pessimistic land.' It didn't help that his anger was towards her so she decided she would just keep her comments for another day.

"What do we do now?" Connor asked.

"Since your leg looks like ground meat and last night was ridiculous, we lay low. We need to get you registered into classes."

"Classes?" Connor questioned for the first time looking actually nervous. "I never even finished high school..."

"So? You need something to do. Or were you planning on working out every day and beating up ghouls? We're shamans Panther but we are also still living. We have to participate in this life. You're no exception. You're eighteen years old and I think a college education would be good for you.

'We'll start you off with some basic prerequisite classes."

"Ok, but the thing is I'm not very good at-"

"You're going, end of story. No one on my tribe is going to sit here all day while Notus feeds him snacks. Speaking of school, don't you have a test to study for Tigress?" Bright asked making his way to the stairs.

"Bright," Gwen tried again but he moved quickly avoiding the attempted apology for the tenth time. "We still haven't talked about the Elder that Connor was after! Plus this ally that the lords have here on the Physical Plane!"

Bright was out of sight before she could continue.

"Don't worry Lady Gwen. He will come back into his senses soon enough. He just needs some time to digest, that's all," Notus assured from the edge of the chamber.

The wind blew and the leaves ruffled. Connor turned slowly for the stairs.

"Are you mad too?" she asked.

Connor stopped without turning around and took a deep breath. "I'm not mad but I do think it was careless."

"I was dangling in the sky after we got attacked. It was an accident."

Connor came around to meet her eyes. "This life, this world, is full of stressful situations. There was a reason Bright wanted you to get control of your emotions."

"This is bullshit. I practically save the day in there and this one thing puts me in the dog house?"

Connor was starting to get rigid. "It isn't a point system Gwen. You saved us, great. That's the job. Just like the Owl said. Or should I say Vivienne or whatever...

"We're only as good as our last screw up. You did well in there. No one is taking that away from you. Not even Bright. If he were, I think he would have done to you what he did to those two Valkyries on the spot."

A chill ran over Gwen as he said the last words.

"As for the Elder Joseph and I were after, don't worry. I've already started the search. It's a big city so it's going to take some time but Bright's P.A. Should be a big help."

"Where are you thinking of starting?"

"Honestly, up north from campus. An Elder would want to lay as low as possible. Being on the Astral Plane I could see the nicest parts of town were the calmest. If he wanted to avoid attacks from limbo it might be the place he would stay."

"Wow, if Kingslane campus looked big in Limbo what do the sky scrapers look like?"

"Maybe you can come with me and check it out sometime."

Gwen paused to sense the tone of fear in his voice as he made the suggestion. She nodded to him with a grin to let him know it was a strong possibility.

He turned and headed up the stairs leaving her alone with Notus.

It was true. If it had really been a deal breaking mistake he would have beheaded her just the same. Ironic it was that only days ago she was asking for it and there in the possibility of being released from the responsibility it was the last thing she wanted.

She wondered if becoming a shaman did something to a person's mind. Maybe it pushed a person to want the life. Perhaps some type of mind trick like Bright's snake charming. She couldn't think of any other reasons why the Eagle, Crane, and Parrot would be so desperate to hold on to being shamans if it wasn't because of some supernatural hypnotized desire.

Of course she could never know. Bright said it himself. Once a shaman was beheaded they would have no memory of the time they spent as one or on the Astral Plane. The last thing she would probably remember would be her night out at the Baroness with Sam staring at Corey Hughes from the second floor.

She would never know he was a viceroy of Kingslane.

"Lady Gwen, it is a beautiful Saturday and I do believe it would be a waste for you to spend it sulking. Perhaps I could get you a pitcher of something refreshing and take it to you by the pool. I also have the batch of oatmeal raisin cookies you specifically requested, " Notus offered shifting his face into one of eager delight.

"No, that's ok. I have a lot of stuff I have to try and figure out honestly."

"Like what my lady? Perhaps I could be of some assistance!"

She wanted to brush him off but considering he was the only one in the haven that wanted anything to do with her, she felt compelled to take him up on his offer.

"Well, I have a psychology test on Monday, I'm pretty sure I have to have an entire book read for my English class by Thursday, I have no idea what my professor is saying in my calculus class, my only friend Sam thinks I'm mentally ill and will probably be disappearing since I keep acting strange which I don't see stopping anytime soon, and of course, my roommate is one of the Valkyries who knows I'm the Golden Tigress and that Bright is the White Viper. What do you suggest?"

Notus began shifting his face for about twenty seconds before it landed on one that appeared to be dumbfounded. "That does sound like a list Lady Gwen... In regards to your courses, I would tell you I am well studied in many subjects and would be happy to tutor you. In regards to your living situation, I would strongly urge you to move here to the haven. Bright is rarely around and Master Connor keeps to his room or the gym."

"We have a gym in here?"

"Yes, of course, I have everything here, don't be silly. As for your friend Samantha, well, I know I don't have to remind you that your lives as shamans should be kept secret from all humans... I trust she has been a good friend to you thus far. All you can do is try to be the best you can for her."

Gwen cracked a grin. "You really are helpful you know?"

His face spent only a second shifting into a wide grin of glee. "Why of course, Lady Gwen."

"Alright then... I guess I'll get packing my stuff today and try to be moved in here by Monday. Don't know what I'm going to tell my dad about the apartment but I'm assuming he'll be happy he won't have to pay so much. Then again... he's probably going to get really suspicious if he won't be paying anything..."

Gwen scurried up the stairs as Notus floated behind.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like the pitcher of something refreshing my Lady?"

"No, that's alright Notus. After almost dying last night I think I would like to just go do something in the normal world for a bit."

*

It was as Notus said. The day was beautiful without a cloud in sight and was probably the warmest day of the month thus far.

The streets were alive with families and young people stirring. She made her way passed la Symphonia to see all the flowers in the front dead and electricians working hard to fix a power outage. She had seen what a body through a window of store could do, but she had no clue what the future would be for the high-end restaurant that was completely demolished the previous night in Limbo.

Standing on the corner looking at the wreckage was a thin girl with her blonde hair tied back holding her apron and waitress pad in hand with a look of joy on her face. Lindsay, the former Pearl Crane, had come to work like any other day not expecting to see the restaurant in the disastrous state it was in. Anyone could tell she was happy by the surprise. Her manager would walk around frantically on the phone and each time he got close to her she would wear a false face of concern and disappointment.

"Get out of here! Does it look like we're opening?" he yelled at her.

She turned around hiding her wide grin. Reaching quickly into her pocket she withdrew her cell phone and quickly dialed. "Erin! Guess what..."

She didn't remember. The night before and the adventure they had survived were erased from her memory entirely. She was once again just a normal college girl enjoying the indefinite time off she was granted from a place of work she despised. Life was good on her merry way to the girl she loved to enjoy the Saturday.

It was a mansion whose astral self no longer existed... How long did the building in front of her have before it was also a pile of dust? She turned to continue walking just as she heard a woman yell at the top of her voice from inside the restaurant caused by the sight of a rat.

She turned the corner onto her street where people were sitting on their stoops playing cards, some were bustling running errands and others were hung over boys and girls leaving apartments that didn't belong to them.

She saw one walking her way buttoning up and carrying his belt in his hand. His short brown hair covering his forehead...

"Corey?" she asked out.

He looked up genuinely surprised to see her. "Hey! What are you doing here?"

"I live on this street. What are you doing here? Or do I really have to ask...?" she teased looking at his belt and un-tucked shirt.

"Come on now, I'm not that kinda guy... Just stayed at my girlfriend's place last night. Had a bit too many to be driving."

Gwen laughed awkwardly. "I'm sure your place can't be too far from the bar."

Corey's grin was weakening a little. "I actually don't live on campus. Got an apartment in the city. Share it with a couple guys from the team."

The two looked at each other trying to get a read.

"Sorry, you sort of just, gave me a bit of an impression last week," she stated.

"What impression was that?"

Gwen couldn't bring up his lack of courage in the underground chamber. "Um, nothing, forget it. It was nice seeing you," she tried to brush off and cross the street but Corey's rough hand took her wrist gently but firmly.

"Hey, is this about Adrienne?"

"What? What about her?" she questioned with no emotional surge at the mention of the name. "Come on, I've seen you three times. Four if you count this. What you do with girls in your private time is your business."

He kept his hand on her wrist and held his stare. It was rigid and at the same time trying its best to be penetrating. It was all part of his act to make girls swoon and yet she wasn't tempted to in the slightest.

He was looking at her with concentration noticing something new. "You're different..."

"What?"

He smiled a bit enjoying the change. As if it was a new level of a challenge. "Yeah there's something different about you. I don't know what but I like it."

"Well I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting comfortable with this new, world."

"I'm sorry if you got some other idea. Adrienne is a special girl. I'd still really like to be friends."

He was throwing the "friends" card and paying attention closely for a twitch.

"Why?" she asked without fear. It was gone. She didn't feel the nerve wrecking need to flee or come up with something impressive to say. She was looking at this person with his bed-head and wrinkled clothes and no longer saw something to fantasize about.

"Maybe I think you're pretty special too," he added.

"We barely know each other," she stated out loud. Though it wasn't for him she said it. She was thinking out loud realizing the embarrassing truth. A stranger who she didn't really know had emotionally crippled her. There was no reason to be afraid of him. There was nothing real or concrete to anything about her interactions with him. He was just a young man. Yes, a handsome one, but that was it; a human being on the Physical Plane going through the process like any other.

"Corey!" A crisp champagne voice came from a stoop behind him. His confidence quickly shrunk into a demeanor of defense. "Corey! You forgot your watch!" the olive skin black haired beauty yelled running up to him.

She smiled and handed it to him while giving Gwen a quick scan of suspicion.

"Hi," she said awkwardly before turning to whisper to Corey as if Gwen had magically disappeared, "Who is she?"

"Hey, um, Adrienne, this is my friend Gwen," he stated without offering anything else as an introduction.

"Hi," Gwen said.

Adrienne looked confused staring from her to Corey.

"Nice to meet you... How do you guys know each other?" she asked.

"We're practically strangers... Corey just helped me get a cab last week while I was drowning in rain. I was also at the Baroness last Saturday."

Adrienne looked up to Corey with a smile of admiration. "A lot of girls were at the Baroness last week... and yeah, that's Hughes for you. I'm a lucky girl." She wrapped her arm around him and placed her other palm lightly onto his stomach. Something about the look screamed that she was trying to communicate how much he belonged exclusively to her.

"Do you live on this block?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, just moved here last week for this year. Just across the street from Mr. Lucas. So sad what happened..."

Fucking fantastic, enemy roommate and enemy neighbor. "Yeah I know. I hope he can get his stuff back in order."

Gwen wasn't one to obsess about her body and how she looked, but standing next to Adrienne made her want to hit the gym that very moment. Then again, she would like to see her attempt what she was capable of on the Astral Plane.

Gwen looked up to Corey and smiled with a deep breath. "It was very nice to see you Corey. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again. Nice to meet you Adrienne."

Adrienne gave her a weak wave as Gwen turned for her building.

She ascended her stoop, unlocked her door and slowly headed up her creaking steps.

Vivienne would be inside and she would have to come up with a game plan of how to face her. She could attack her straight on and find something of her own to threaten her with, or she could try to keep up the act that she had no idea what she was talking about.

Either way, neither seemed liked a good option. It should have been a no brainer. Live in that apartment with someone who would probably be her sworn enemy, or move to the secret mystical tree mansion with a floating head serving you anything you want with a custom made room with clothes all for the price of free.

Her issue was the very thing that Bright had told Connor in the Void. They belonged to the physical world and they had lives to live regardless of being shamans. With Phantom Lords invading the city and the tensions between tribes escalating she knew she was guaranteed many more episodes in the Astral Plane that would probably result, at times, worse than just a rash on her shoulder.

The idea of at least having a normal college student apartment might be her only lifeline in the mess. She had to know if it was at least worth fighting for before totally jumping on board to residence at the haven.

She slipped her key in, and headed inside with her head held high.

The living room was empty as well as the kitchen. The lights were all off with only the sunlight beaming in through her bedroom window touching her pillows and sheets.

She turned to Vivienne's room where the door was left ajar.

The bed sheets and blankets were gone leaving only a bare mattress. The walls were empty and the desk alone.

She was gone.

She walked into the abandoned room, which never warmed to the presence of its owner.

She sat herself on the ground beside the bed looking at the dust particles float in the sunlight. She could hear the ticking of the clock in the kitchen. She closed her eyes and decided to enjoy the moment of peace.

# XXVIII. Obsidian

THE NIGHT WAS AS TRANQUIL as the day had looked through the Void.

No ghouls had come to begin clean up on the debris and rubble that surrounded the street where the tower of La Symphonia had stood.

Bright had felt a bit of a sting in his heart when he had read Gwen's message about the restaurant's condition when she had passed it on her way home.

He was going to miss those blueberry muffins.

Not five minutes into his projection on the plane before he could he hear the whispers from what few ghouls were out.

"They say he's the one that did it," said one covered in scales.

"The Courts are thinking of ordering a full blown manhunt on every shaman caught on the Astral Plane," said another with no legs propping itself up with only its bone thin arms.

Under most circumstances he would have taken the roofs as he had instructed Gwen to do, but after such a night of hell, he wasn't sure anything he encountered could be much worse.

He had arrived at the site of destruction half past nine as he told her he would.

She was late. Though that was to be expected of someone so conceited and disrespectful as the Obsidian Widow.

He stood at the center of the mess atop a pile of rock.

The Widow was as conniving as she was self-obsessed. One would think standing in the center of the spot would be like setting oneself in the center of a bull's-eye. But Bright knew better.

The Widow was a different class of mastermind. She didn't like attacking so blunt. She thought that something for boys to play with. She was herself a set of obsidian chess pieces choreographed to lure the innocent whites into corners of surrender.

"Sorry I'm late," her voice rang from a neighboring mountain of rubble.

He had not heard her approach. He did his best to hide his surprise but her grin was evidence that she had seen right through it.

"I'm glad to see you're alive and well after your expedition. Can I safely assume that everything went smooth? Well, other than, you know," she asked with false concern pointing at their surroundings.

"Everyone is alive if that's what you're asking."

"Excellent, excellent..." she replied with obvious disappointment.

"You're wondering why I asked you out here?"

"Yes I am. I'm also wondering why you couldn't have asked me in a more discreet manner... Trashing the West End properties of the school and leaving a dumb snake drawing on a wall with a request time and a line reading 'where you ruined' is a little vague babe. I took a wild guess that you would be here. Lucky me."

Bright didn't respond. He stared at her in her entirely black ensemble and the black oval shaped backpack with the red hourglass behind her. He hated that totem.

"Do we really have to talk in the open like this? There has to be somewhere a bit more private. I would suggest the chamber underground but considering as the street is trashed, I highly doubt we'll be able to get down there."

Bright still didn't answer. He continued to stare. He wanted her to keep running her mouth and avoid the silence. It made him feel all the more certain of what he was going to accuse her of.

"I didn't come all the way out here for a staring contest Viper. If you have something to say, you best be out with it."

The Viper summoned his rapier.

This made her twitch and lose her footing for a second over the chunks of brick where she stood. She regained her cool as several pieces of stone tumbled down into the crevices beneath them.

"You're looking for a fight then? How will the other viceroy's take this? You already beheaded two charges from the Valkyries. They'll be on you in hours."

"I thought you didn't know the details of last night..."

The Widow folded her arms and smiled with pierced tight lips. "What do you want Viper?"

"You see Widow, I've been having a bit of a hard time after what happened."

"Must be all the blows to the head. You probably just need some days to rest."

"No, you see, that's not it. I just, started asking myself some questions and you could say I was spinning a pretty thick web..."

"Seriously, a spider pun? I know I didn't give up time of my Saturday night for this shit..."

Bright ignored her remark. "You weren't very keen on helping the Valkyries get their viceroy back. Kind of odd considering you're the reason they were in the mess to begin with." Bright tightened his glare. He wanted to see every movement, every blink, and every breath she made under the accusation.

She surprisingly kept as stiff as a board. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

"Well, the Valkyries are scared of their own shadows. They've never gone anywhere outside of the East when they've projected here and we both know that's pretty rare considering they probably spend the majority of their time playing in the Void of their haven."

"So? They're pussies. What's new?"

"We know they're cautious, that has always been like the Sparrow. She hardly ever lets them leave the nest."

"Fucking lord. You really need to stop the power animal puns."

"Odd that one of the few times they actually do leave their area they find themselves all the way near the edge of Kingslane close to the West End Shanties. Your dominion."

"Come on now Viper, you and I both know our governance only covers the campus. The shanties are just outside of the school. I only cover the gym, the meadowlands, and the farmlands."

Bright ignored her words. "You made them an offer before mine. You offered them your help in exchange for them giving up their haven. I would think a trade was what you were after since everyone knows your area doesn't cover jack shit. But you wanted them to just give you their haven... Why would you need two?"

"I don't know Viper, why would I? It all sounds pretty ridiculous if you ask me."

Bright continued to ignore her. "Four havens in one town. Even before the massacres it was hard to find two in the same state. They turned you down but you're the Obsidian Widow. You don't set up a trap without a backup."

"Oh please, you're boosting my ego, please continue."

"You've been in contact with one of the Valkyries for a while. That's how you were able to get them off to the West End. I would say it would be impossible to guess which one, but after seeing the fidgety Parrot go out of her way to meet with ghouls to ambush me and my tribe it makes my question really easy to answer doesn't it?

"She was able to get in contact with the ghouls that day because you helped her. She was brave enough to go out on her own because you were the one egging her on to get out to the West End where the Sparrow would get kidnapped.

"The Sparrow would die and the Valkyries would be left without a viceroy. The Gargoyle would most likely kick them out since all of them were rogues. The Parrot scared would come to find you and tell you where it is so you could claim it for yourself in their name. Either way, you would have won."

The Widow kept staring. "You're as self obsessed as I am. You really think I would demolish this entire tower and make deals with ghouls just to kill you?"

"No, not me. You weren't expecting this semester's batch of freshmen to bring the Emerald Owl, a real shaman and heir to the Valkyries. You wanted to make sure she died. My death was just a great bonus."

The Widow started to laugh. "Oh Viper I have to hand it to you. You're quite the detective. I'd love to keep my game face but you are good. Yes, I had my fingers crossed. You know the power of just one gargoyle over a haven. Imagine a viceroy controlling four. It would be the closest thing to the return of a shaman monarchy. Someone from that royal family might even come out of hiding for it!"

Bright scoffed. "Still chasing ghosts Widow?"

"Come on Viper. Don't do that... If you're guts are as good as you say, you know as well as I do that there are no ghosts. At least one of the princes survived the massacres. He or they are out there. The totem crown is somewhere and I intend to take it for myself. I suggest you do your best to stay out of my way or fall in line."

"Well kudos to you for all your hard work. I wonder though, if you ever do achieve this crazy fantasy of yours to become Queen are you planning on taking someone you care nothing about to be your decorative king?"

"Now I really have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh come on Adrienne, did you really think it would be so hard to figure out who you were after I learned your boyfriend was the Copper Tortoise."

The Widow's face of comfort was replaced with one of tight fury.

"I mean, congratulations on getting a guy you can't stand to fall in love with you but I'm sure you're not planning on keeping him around for too long."

"You think he's in love with me?"

"Can't keep his hands off of you can he?"

"You think that's love? You think the way he looks at me like his trophy is love? Let me tell you White Viper, you and I are two poisonous peas of a pod as much as you try to hide it behind your fake righteousness. Don't go throwing judgment at me.

"I think you can recognize the difference between lust and love," she said. "Corey Hughes, the Copper Tortoise, big, sexy, strong man of Kingslane University who is really just a simple country boy at heart. It's not me he wants. He's a dog like so many others. You learn how to dangle the treat, and even if it's not that good, the anticipation, the craving, is enough to drive them crazy! Corey Hughes doesn't want me. No, I know guys like him. Guys like him are just as scared as the Sparrow and her Valkyries. Shitting their pants with fear of anything that walks a different beat from their small town rituals and traditions. His little group that looks at me with disdain not just because they know I have zero shits to give about their Vice but because I'm a stranger!" She cleared her throat.

"They don't know me. I didn't grow up swimming in the same lake on the weekends or have a one-on-one relationship with Corey's mom, the great cheerleading coach who helped get my girls and I ready for homecoming...

"One of those hair styling airheads that goes to a community college is going to be the one to happily marry into the Hughes family. My intention aside, there was no way a city girl like myself was going to get in. I'm taking what I need and that is no concern of yours... Love? Ha! You're smarter than all of them. Love is only love if you're willing to get a little crazy and take a chance on something scary. Don't mistake his horny for any of that...

"He's a settler. The convenient and the comfortable is what he's going to pick. I mean hell! He's a fucking Shaman Viceroy and knows exactly what happens to normal people after death and he still tries to drag me to church on Sunday! He's convinced Jesus is waiting for us in Elysium."

Bright laughed. "What, he doesn't believe the Shaman Creed?"

"You mean the one that states that shamans don't go through any of the arches when we die but rather move straight on to be reunited with the everything, the seventh? He doesn't even know it exists... In for a bit of surprise when he kicks the bucket I'd say. How did your new heiress take the news? Don't tell me she was looking forward to Jesus too. Or better yet, you told her what Elysium was and she couldn't wait for a century of endless food and getting fucked by gladiators every day."

Bright shook is head. "One day all of this will stop surprising me..." He ignored the latter of her questions.

Adrienne smiled. "Oh no, the White Viper has not told his heiress the truth of a shaman death? Tsk, tsk, how immoral of you.

"Look at us... you know neither of us fit those categories of mundane. The Widow and the Viper... Destined to make empires and have our names known throughout the world on both planes. A love? A home? You know better than that..."

Bright didn't answer her speech.

"So, you know I was responsible for the Sparrows bad weekend. You know I'm dating the Tortoise and being as paranoid as you are, you probably suspect I have something up my sleeve to get the boys club haven too. Spoiler alert- you're right. You have your shiny sword so I just need to know, are we going to be fighting tonight?"

Bright made his rapier vanish.

"Great! Then I will be on my way. Corey is taking me to the bar. Again..."

Before the Widow could descend on the rubble the Viper called out to her one last time.

"Touché with the Sparrow, and who really gives a shit that you're fucking a guy you hate. I won't fight you on their behalf but the second I get the hint that you are after my jungle cats or myself, I'll cut your fucking head off and then I'll make sure to make your life a living hell back home Adrienne."

Adrienne was left fuming above the debris.

Bright turned and jumped into the moonlit night to the nearest rooftop and moved quickly for his rift.

The Obsidian Widow was after the gargoyles of Kingslane. She claimed for the purpose of making herself a new queen over the ashes of their fallen monarch. But again, he knew the Widow. She didn't believe in the direct approach. Not when there were twists and turns to corner prey.

Like Connor, she grew up in the shaman world during and before the massacres. She knew secrets to the gargoyles that the other two viceroys of Kingslane probably couldn't even imagine.

She would be coming for him soon regardless of his threat. He could have taken her out right then and there but she had been right. He had beheaded two shamans in public not a full day prior. To take her out would make the Tortoise and his friends uneasy. It might even spark the Owl to tell his true identity.

He no longer held the chips but failure wasn't an option. He grinned at the challenge and was eager to meet it.

The Obsidian Widow, the Phantom Lords, the ever increasing Poltergeist Trade, the abduction of innocent souls taken to Purgatory, his identity on the tip of the tongue of a rival shaman, the Courts soon to express their rage over the spires, and eighteen credit hours to him were all tomorrow's problem.

For the time being, he would let Connor's leg heal, Gwen's feeling of guilt to fester, and his enemies nervously wonder his next move.

The rest of the weekend he was determined to take for himself. As much as he couldn't stand him, he even entertained the idea of some tea with Notus in the library. After all, the darker days would be on them soon. He considered it a good idea to try and enjoy some simple things while he could. He would hate to regret not living them while he had the chance.

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