Ain't A Hero

Season 3

Bryan Schuder

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

Beta Release

Updated 01/08/2019

Ain't A Hero

Season 3

Dedications

Timeline

Episode 27

Episode 28

Episode 29

Episode 30

Episode 31

Episode 32

Episode 33

Episode 34

Episode 35

Episode 36

Episode 37

Episode 38

Episode 39

Dedications

First and foremost... A special thank you to all the crazy humanity loving folks over at /r/HFY ! Out of all the places on Reddit for writing, you all are the most accepting and welcoming bunch of them all. As long as humanity is involved some how and you want to write, /r/HFY will give you a place to call home. I was not only surprised to find people interested in this crazy tale, but people who repeatedly read episode after episode... And still wanted more. I will try to deliver more! Second season down, hopefully a third and more to go!

So, in an inconsistent arbitrary order of me looking through the series posts, thank you to these fine folks that provided commentary (both praises and criticisms) and those who subscribed. (Please let me know if I missed anyone!)

roflmaono
Attamark
Lithuse
KillerKolonelz
RougemageNick
Twister_Robotics
joe_wood
Fly18
Lurking_Reader
Waspkeeper
bontrose
carpkiller
KahnSig
Shactus
michael15286
Krynja
ProfessorVonSagan
Layxe
zarikimbo
Ryushimojii
atomic_cheese
Rand__Rahl
NinjaTurple
fatboy93
PhalanxLord
Slayalot
K2MnO4
zymurgist69
ChainsawNagitana
Eater_of_yellow_snu
Jonfirst
Nuke_the_Earth
Isitalwaysthisgood
Red-Shirt
WandererOfTheMind
ImperialForgeMaster
barely_harmless
Maxkenny09
Alphamole0
Random-Hats
Applepielord1244
Fieryfight
ccassidyx9
Ghrrum
Thatfurrykid
tipsy_topsy
DudeGuyBor
InitiativeTwentyOne
Sakul_Aubaris
antonthekiller
pie4155
ragnoraknow
nerdy_n_dirty86
RedTheReckless
Shiamu
ZeDestructor
Omega048
MavenDeviant
HardAtomicSmile
testicouille741
Deathcoolbro
SirSchmoopy111
Halefor
cochi522
Olindoga
smeik111
explosiveelephants
LIKE1OOONINJAS
Cyber_Reader
ruruwkzu
spaceminions
CSlade1
JoshXH
sic99
Leginp
Firenter
lazyviking3742
ryan_morland
SirIronTwig
ChainsawHalberd
elemental821
MaartenS16
RollSavingThrow
randommlg
GrayMatter01
Daevis43
Glaris
vittupaahan
Admiral_Sylvor
TRN42
Golddrake
Repeated_613
Voobwig
Dr_Acen
Honoris_Causa
nuacc2
sluglie
mortalnine
mheiszler
pennythoughtful
IntelligentDemise
Makyura
minkshaman
Fkn_Ra
WakelessTitan
BlessedPatrick
ikbenlike
maaghen
Shaeos
garrdor
wiggamail
allorigional64
DarkLordZargon
bracabrad
Stordabjornen
ubercaesium
kaloshade
LurchTheBastard
kumo549
splash_43
Meh12345hey
F0rg0tMy70gin
Dolduck
jaredzz
KorbenD2263
PresumedSapient
minicooper237
mudkip201
Netmantis
Kasaeru
UnholyReaver
Just_a_stae_of_mind
Khelbun
Ice_Man_Cometh
Havok707
Omenofstorms
zombieking26
Kiryln
JJdaJet
AMEFOD
TheBarbequeSteve
TW6173
_Skylos
A_Drunk_Ninja
Maravedis
Moonlitsif
vitalmoss
Brimicidal
o11c
Danr630
readcard
Deadlytower
Einhanderz
HarbringerOfMayhem
Zoutpeper
Tinkerbill93
p75369

-27-

Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian, and Sotalia sit around the dining table. Sebastian's ethereal form twists his mouth and crosses his arms. "Okay. Before everyone got started out on all the usual Monday chores, I just wanted to get everyone thinking about how we need to change our tactics with Noxian."

He sighs with a ghostly echo and scratches the back of his neck. "Any suggestions are valid at this point. Anything we've dismissed in the past, we can revisit now."

The group quietens as minds play around with various thoughts. Cideeda pans a glance over to everyone and shrugs. "We need to go to the other places Noxian's has been spotted at."

Sotalia exaggerates a nod on top of her hand to second the idea and turns her approving gaze to Cideeda. "Definitely, girl. Sorry, I doubted you on that one. I just didn't think that much would be there."

Cideeda grits her teeth with a tug at the corner of her mouth and she bites her lip with a humble expression. "Well. Me neither. I was just hoping for maybe a shack, campsite, or old building out in the woods. Or even just a hidden stash of supplies. But a whole town?"

Aristespha grimaces, grumbles to herself, and fidgets her crossed legs more intensely to match the visible unease flowing inside her. "I'm still looking into that. I've sent my official report to the Grand Library and a copy of the information to Nash."

She slowly exhales a small amount of relief through clenched teeth, uncrosses her legs, and attempts to relax when she catches Sebastian's concerned, loving gaze to her. "I apologize. He's taking a lot longer that usual to get back to me. Especially, with something like this."

Sebastian focuses his attention upon Aristespha and directs a calm, soothing tone to her. "Could he be in danger or trouble? Anything we need to do help him, dear?"

Aristespha manages to present a smile and fights the tension in the air. "Oh no, Sebastian. I'm sure he's fine. It's just... If he takes this long, then I think he found something well beyond expectation."

A similar smile appears on Sebastian and he agrees with a nod. "Well, I hope the information he finds will give us some idea of what was going on there. And... What Noxian was doing there."

Bach blinks his eyes and lifts his head back as prominent thought rises to the front of his mind. "Do we know Noxian's end goal?"

A wave of uncertainty sweeps through everyone else and a collective self-doubt stymies the discussion. Sebastian eventually speaks through the embarrassment bubbling onto his translucent face. "That's the one thing we haven't been able to really figure out."

Dretphi gazes over to Bach and expresses some struggle in collecting the right chain of words. "We have been able to... determine what are NOT his goals. That has eliminated the common options."

Cideeda idly drums a series of claw tip taps upon the dining table, aimlessly directs her eyes up to the ceiling, and gently shakes her head as her tail waves with occasional twitches. "It's always been like that with him. He'll go particular route and you think you figure out his plans, then he diverges completely from expectations."

Sotalia leans upon the table, angles her gaze to Bach, and gestures to him with finger wags in sync to her statements. "This one never hit the news. He just walked in through the front door of a secret Greater Azure Alliance missile silo, went straight to THE ancient second period magic nuke they had..."

A frown of unease forms upon Bach as he watches Sotalia recount the tale. The pause allows the full scope of such a device of mass destruction to materialize in his mind and spring the hairs on the back of his neck up. Sotalia focuses her golden eyes upon Bach and trains a long, black nailed finger point on him. "You know what he did?"

Bach slowly shakes his head and keeps his unnerved stare upon Sotalia. "No...?"

Sotalia slides back into her chair, presses up against the back, puts her hands up in the air with resignation, and groans. "He drained the thing completely of elder energy and disarmed it by ripping the warhead clean from it."

The tension drops completely out of Bach, and confusion and intrigue flood through his mind. "What?! But? I mean- Taking the energy is one thing, but why go through the danger of disarming it. And how would he know how to do that? And if he knew enough to disarm it, he could have easily ransomed whatever else he wanted."

Sotalia nods in frustration tinted agreement to Bach points, flips some hair back over a horn, and crosses her arms with a sigh. "I know. Same things I thought, too. That's what he keeps on doing."

Aristespha reaches underneath her silvery-blue hair, fans it back over her shoulders, and squirms out some nervous energy. "Overall, it has been very difficult to predict where he's going and what exactly he's going to do. It's proven ineffective to use any historical information about past dark lords and other malcontents."

She dons a tight frown, breathes in quickly, and exhales hints of irritation. "What troubles me the most is the knowledge he has and what he does with that knowledge. I've poured over so many resources trying to find out what the common thread is to all his activities."

Her hands interlock fingers, her arms stretch down under the table between her knees, and she leans back into her chair. "There's something I'm missing. Despite how scattered his activities may be, there's a purpose behind it."

Sebastian looks at Bach with some residual embarrassment and shrugs with a hard tug on the corner of his mouth. "Unfortunately, bro, we were really focused on catching up to Noxian to stop him rather than figuring out what his end goals were."

Dretphi maintains a neutral expression upon her face, and ponders past events as she glances over to Bach. "Halting his progress was priority. His activities were dangerous. Implications seemed dire."

Cideeda continues to tap her claws upon the table top and smirks wryly. "Well, you go into restricted zones, steal artifacts from both public and protected places, sabotage attempts to track you down, fend off the police, military, and other adventuring groups, and then start messing with strange magical elements... It usually doesn't mean anything good."

Bach weighs the information, thinks to himself, hums a few times, and nods slowly. Sebastian ponders a few moments himself. "But... We may need focus on that now. Because, I think we threatened him achieving that goal, whatever it is."

Each member of the group individually agrees. Dretphi straightens up her posture and addresses everyone. "We need to train intensely."

Sebastian nods to Dretphi and focuses upon Bach. "Yes. I think we all need to step up our training. Sorry, bro. But you might be getting the worst of it."

A nervous smile creeps up on Bach's face and he chuckles half-heartedly. "What do you mean, brother?"

An amused grin pulls across Sebastian's mouth and he perks an eye brow at Bach. "Well, I think Dretphi needs to mix in some close quarters combat soon. Aristespha and I will start training you in sword fighting. And..."

He darts his eyes between Aristespha and Sotalia, and returns them to Bach. "Whatever you are doing with magic gave you the ability to fend off Noxian's use of magic. So, Aristespha, Sotalia, and you will all probably need to amp up the magic training."

An eager, sharp smile cracks across Sotalia lips and she narrows her eyes with a sly tone to Bach. "We are going to have to do some real combat training. I hope your mage armor barrier is in better shape now."

She flits an eye brow with a grin pushing apart the smile. "Hate to burn a few more holes in your clothes."

Sebastian notices his brother's discomfort as Sotalia focuses her confident gaze upon Bach. He trades glances between the others and directs his voice to Sotalia. "Hey, Sotalia. Thinking about it, when's the last time you ever did any close combat training?"

Sotalia's eyes open wide, her mouth contorts awkwardly, and her expression blanks to a dumbfounded stun. "Uh, um, ah. Why would I need to know anything like... that?"

She keeps her head facing towards Bach, and ignores the other pairs of eyes upon her with different degrees of foreboding smiles.

Bach stands out in the field behind the ranch style house and curiously eyes the area in a mix of anticipation and wariness. He briefly adjusts the magical sparring gear upon him, pulls the protective vest taut, checks the straps on the leg covers over his pants, and tugs at the gloves on his hands. Sotalia taps her foot impatiently as she watches Aristespha stroll up. She slowly swings her head over towards Bach and flashes a confident, playful grin. Aristespha secures her artisan sparring gloves, flexes around in the matching gear, and examines Bach and Sotalia. "I think we need to change up the magical training to take advantage of recent discoveries. We will keep the basics the same, but there's some advanced training I would like to explore."

A wicked tint colors Sotalia's grin. Her eyes light up and focus upon Aristespha. "I think I like the sound of that. Maybe, I can finally get taught THOSE spells..."

She straightens her posture, returns her gaze to Bach, and applies her full attention upon him with a barely audible dark chuckle to herself. Bach smiles halfway at Sotalia, blinks, and puzzles a glance to Aristespha. "So, we're just training today?"

Aristespha shifts her foot inside her boot, nonchalantly looks to Bach, and nods succinctly. "Yes. What else did you expect?"

Bach brushes his fingers through his long brown hair to end in a scratch of the back of his head with a quirk of a lip. "Uh. I figured you two would be questioning me about the whole sending Noxian's elder energy right back at him?"

The inquisitive gaze from Sotalia intensifies upon Bach. Sotalia briefly seeks hints for proceeding from Aristespha, which grants Bach a reprieve from the stare. Aristespha smiles kindly and shakes her head. "Oh, that can wait for later."

Sotalia's expression pops, making way for bewilderment to overtake her. She squints at Aristepsha. "Um. What?"

Aristespha crosses her arms, maintains a calm smile, and shrugs her shoulders. "I do have questions, but those need to be answered in a different environment."

She lifts an eyebrow at Bach with a quizzical tint to her face. "I will say... While I am surprised by what you did, after some thought, it makes sense you were able to."

Sotalia's head tilts and she cocks it back while keeping a confused stare upon Aristespha. She crosses her arms and waits expectantly as she searches for the explanation. Aristespha meets Sotalia's gaze and ponders a moment in her thoughts. "With the way elder energy disrupts most spells derived from Foundation Constructs, someone who creates advanced spells without their assistance might be able to counter that disruption."

Moments later, the revelation dawns upon Sotalia as her eyes flit open and she glances back to Bach before returning. "That does make a lot of sense. And, Noxian did NOT expect that barrier to stop the blast."

She walks forward with an exaggerated sway to each step and her eyes formulate a theory while she holds her chin. "Now, I'm actually really curious as to how good Noxian's control of that elder energy is."

Aristespha nods in confirmation to Sotalia. "That's another theory I've been reviewing. But, to focus on the training at hand, I think one way we can prepare ourselves against Noxian is to... Harden our spells."

Bach strokes his beard and turn towards Aristespha. Sotalia spins quickly in place with an eager smile and a golden glint in her eyes. "Okay! Now that sounds interesting! How do we do that?"

Aristespha grins with a glow in her violet eyes and rolls her hand out at Bach. "Very simple. We craft our spells, and then let Bach attempt to disrupt them."

Bach's eyes open wide in a fit of shock and he slowly rotates his head to stare at Aristespha with a sporadic twitch of the upper cheek. "Uh, excuse me?"

With calming, waving gestures of the hand, Aristespha attempts to dismiss Bach's fears and perks her brow at him. "Defensive spells only. I figured our main focus should be strengthening our barriers right now."

A long exhale of relief escapes Bach and he nods with renewed willingness. "Okay. That I can do."

Disappointment tugs down upon the corners of Sotalia's mouth. Aristespha notices the change in mood and rolls her eyes with a laugh. "Now, now. I actually want to do some offensive spell training today."

Sotalia lifts an eyebrow, places her hands on her hips, and eyes Aristespha with a playful curiosity behind a smirk. "Really?"

Aristespha briefly averts her eyes, sighs, and places her hands on her hips, too. "Well, watching you and Tassilda face off, I realized I haven't thrown a good fireball in a while. So, I figured it might be good exercise to do some target practice later."

A competitive air emanates around Sotalia as the smirk shifts to a proud grin and she postures confidently. "I see. It has been a while. Well, let's get this spell hardening training going then."

With a single nod and waving gesture to Sotalia, Aristespha signals her to prepare. Sotalia stretches out her body, flexes her joints, and steps off to nice flat section of the field. "Give me a minute, need to warm up and check my spot."

Bach bites his lip as he draws a long breath of air and watches Sotalia prepare. Aristesha moves next to him, leans close to his ear, and carefully directs a whisper. "I think she'll probably need the target practice after you dismantle her spells a few times."

With a gradual nod, Bach sighs long and quietly with a grimace. "I'm going to have to agree with you on that one."

A half-fvalian girl holds her tan, brown striped arms out in front, and exhales her sigh to blow long, bright pink hair out of her face. Her eyes wander around the backyard behind the two story house. She hunts for anything that could possibly be more entertaining than the constant lecturing drone of Tassilda. She shifts her weigh around and squirms within her boldly colored, tight fitting shirt and shorts. A sharp snap guides her fuzzy, upright ears and her short-haired tail flicks up. Tassilda steps forward with a strong sneer and aims her frustration at the half-fvalian girl. "Veevi! Are you even paying attention?!"

Veevi rolls her pink pupil eyes dramatically as the motions of her head relay annoyance. "Yes."

Tassilda places her long-nailed hands on her hips, leans her upper body forward, and sternly stares at Veevi with her light blue on black eyes. "Then... What did I say?"

A snarl forms upon Veevi's lips. She grits her teeth, reveals prominent canines, and groans in defiant irritation. "Blah, blah, blah, boring magic theory, you like hearing your own voice-"

She slaps down her arms to her sides and glares in outrage at Tassilda. "And I've been STANDING around for HOURS and done NOTHING MAGICAL AT ALL!"

Tassilda rears back her head, puffs up her chest, snorts out indignation at Veevi, and eyes her with bubbling disgust. "WELL! Whose FAULT is that? Maybe YOU just have NO MAGICAL ABILITY."

Veevi crosses her arms tightly, postures boldly, and smirks meanly back at Tassilda. "Maybe YOU don't UNDERSTAND it well enough to teach!"

The two maintain their stances, bounce prickly commentary off each other, and deny the other the last word. Camera crew exchange glances as the verbal battle escalates. Samantha blinks and writes down notes on her clipboard with a darkly, content smile. Gerald wanders into the area from the neighboring house and steps next to Samantha. "What the hell is going on here?"

Samantha flashes an evil grin to Gerald as she hugs her clipboard close to her chest. "Prime material for this week's episode."

Gerald gazes at deadlock of sneering, anger backed glares between Veevi and Tassilda, "Gods... I heard it over in the kitchen at the crew house."

He lifts a sandwich up to his mouth, bites off a portion of it, chews, and clears his mouth with a swallow. "Skipped the mustard because I thought I needed to get out here."

Samantha eyes the sandwich, sniffs the air, and bites her lip with a pleading gaze to Gerald. "Is there enough left to make another?"

Gerald twists his mouth side to side, catches the endearing expression from Samantha, and grumbles. "Yes. No mayo, spicy brown mustard?"

When Samantha nods contentedly, a series of distant booms and blasts echo up from the background of the neighborhood. Everyone halts to seek the source. Veevi's ears quirk and guide her steps. Her anger blinks from existence and excitement driven curiosity immediately replaces it. "What was that?!"

A far off cacophony of magical energies resonate distantly into the soundscape. Veevi's ears lock onto the origin and she speeds off with childish glee. "I've got to see this!"

Tassilda widens her eyes in shock, frowns sharply, and chases after Veevi with a hand out to grasp her. "GET. BACK. HERE!"

Veevi leads Tassilda with camera crew rushing to catch up as Samantha and Gerald quickly organize the mass of equipment and people. She crests over a small hill at the corner of the property and peers out into a field behind a ranch style house. Her eyes spot the flashes of magical energies forming and watches a half-emin woman with dark red hair and swept back horns release a potent fireball at a boulder in the middle of the field. The fireball impacts with a brilliant explosive burst. Veevi's pupils enlarge as fascination overflows and she squeals gleefully at the powerful display. The half-emin woman follows up with speedy gestures and expedient chants. A bolt of lightning arc from her hand to the large rock. The other hand swings forward to jet a misty beam at the stone mass. A frosty spot on the boulder pours a light fog. Veevi hears a low growl next to her from Tassilda. She darts her eyes over, carefully watches Tassilda, and notices the obvious target of her ire. A sly grin forms upon Veevi and she draws in a long breath, adjusting her pose. She hems dramatically with a long pause, and puzzles over a thought out loud. "Well, if you aren't willing or CAPABLE of teaching me magic... I wonder if SHE could teach me."

With no wind and still air, a wave of invisible force flares out the loose and draping features of Tassilda's wardrobe as her posture stiffens. She slowly pivots in place to face Veevi, lowers her glare down, and suppresses a dark glower down to a stern stare. "Come. I have magic to teach you."

Tassilda spins rigidly back to the two-story house and marches firmly down the hill. As Veevi follows her, she focuses one last glance towards distance group of three and mouths upon a wry smile. "We shall see."

Aristespha places her aetherphone upon the dining table top in the middle of the gathering, leans over, and projects her voice. "I switched the speakerphone, Nash. Are you still there?"

Through the phone speaker a squeak of an office chair echoes in the remote background as a long sigh escapes the man at the other end. "Yes. I am. Wow... What a day it has been."

A brow lifts up on Aristespha and she curls her lip warily. "Okay. Well, did you find anything with the information I sent you, Nash?"

Nash laughs singularly and pauses to draw an audible hissing breath. "Yes and... Well, no."

Sotalia crosses her arms and tugs at the corner of her mouth, briefly eyeing Aristespha before settling back on the phone. Sebastian glances over to Aristespha to gauge her reaction and resumes watching the phone. Cideeda's ears aim forward and she awaits further explanation. Dretphi cocks her head to the side quizzically. Bach leans back in his chair examining the group overall during the silence and freezes stiffly when the wood creaks loudly. Nash lightly whistles and explains. "Okay. Good news, I checked all the database addresses you gave me. And, they all resolved to the documents you described."

He groans as his hand scratching his head sounds out from the other side. "But, I can't find anything else. You're right. Dammit, Aristespha, the things you have to be right about. You found a decatalogging."

A tight frown pulls down Aristespha's lips and a mix of emotions play out the confirmation of her suspicions. "I know... And I usually like being right."

She chuckles lightly and fights to don a loving smile upon noticing Sebastian's concern. Nash snorts and laughs. "I tried my best to find anything, especially after reading the copy of the report you sent up to higher ups."

His tone shifts and he works his voice to a comical aside. "And just between you all, as much as I like to consider myself a brave and bold man... I'm not going to lie. From what you described of the place, it would have not only been understandable for me to shit my pants in terror, but probably expected of me."

The group reacts with scattered snorts, chuckles, and amused smirks. Nash continues his statement after another squeak of the office chair joins the faint sounds of movement at the other end. "That's why they pay you all the big paychecks. Anyway, let me get to the strange news."

The gathering around the table concentrates their full attention upon the aetherphone on the tabletop. Nash draws a long breath of air and exhales slowly as he struggles to start his next statement and his tone develops tinges of embarrassment. "Uh, while I can access the database node logically through various systems... I don't know where it is."

Aristespha pulls back her head blinking and darts her eyes within her mind in vain attempts to process the meaning of that sentence. Sotalia scoffs, standing next to the table, and drops her hands to the sides upon her hips. "Pfft- Um. What?!"

Cideeda's emerald green eyes flit wide and she immediately narrows them to focus with a new twist to the lips from the sudden confusion. "I'm pretty certain those database nodes are NOT small things. I'm assuming, but... Fairly large. Power hungry. Need ample cooling. Require a physical connection to a network system. Not something that's easily moved?!"

Nash grumbles with a humble cadence. "Yep. Correct on all those things. You sound exactly how I how felt when I discovered the empty spot down that node bank where it should have been."

Dretphi leans forward and calmly directs her intrigue towards the phone. "Could the node have been moved? The location information not updated?"

Another sigh precedes a punctuating, implosive click of the mouth from Nash. "I hoped for that, too. But, no move requests, no hardware change orders, and... the network pings show it is still within that particular building. I got the network folks to check it from other locations."

He pauses and a dull thud of a hand landing upon a desk resonates from the audible background. "It's in that building. Somewhere. Damned if I know."

Aristespha rests her elbows upon the table, props her head up between her hands, and slowly shakes her head side to side. "What is going on here?"

Bach strokes his beard thoughtfully and blinks hard, forming a theory in his mind. "There's A LOT of intent behind all of this. This is just a ridiculous amount of effort."

Nash groans in annoyed disgust at the situation. "Tell me about it. The one time I was hoping for sheer incompetence to be the reason behind it all... Nope. So, that will unfortunately make the next steps more difficult. I'm going to do a proper trace of where this thing is early tomorrow. But, I don't know long it'll take since any maintenance information needs to be treated as possibly wrong or lying."

A weak smile finds its way upon Aristespha's face and her voice presents an appreciative tone. "Thank you, Nash. Really. As concerning as the information is, it is good to know it."

Nash snorts with a chuckle. "Be careful with that mentality. Well, I'll call you again if I find anything else out. You all take care. And, if you all could keep away from any more abandoned towns with questionable histories, that would really help keep me from revisiting my alcoholism research."

A laugh escapes from Aristespha and pushes her smile wider as she exchanges amused glances with the rest of the group. "We'll try. Good night, Nash."

With quick hum and playful grumble Nash finishes the conversation. "Okay, I'll believe you. Talk to you all later."

Dretphi sits on her bed just clear of the beams of morning light projecting through the windows. She keeps her arm out and aims the screen of her aetherphone at her face. She maintains a stoic expression while she focuses upon the display. She briefly sighs and speaks long, intricate sentences in a dialect of grath. She waits with a stare despite the attempts of her eyes to shamefully avert. An older grath man on the phone's video feed meets Dretphi with a calm, cool demeanor. His steely gray eyes, that nearly match Dretphi's, search his thoughts purposefully. He tugs at the corners of the mouth upon tan skin similar in tone to Dretphi. After a few tense, quiet moments, he breaks the silence between the two and speaks in a firm but strangely soothing voice. The accent he uses to navigate the language shares many elements to Dretphi's.

With each of his sentences, Dretphi gradually lowers her head more and aims her eyes lower with a frown hinting. The man on the screen pauses when he notices the mood shift. He glances over to the corner of mind, lifts an eyebrow, cracks an amused smile, and speaks endearingly with a far warmer tone. Dretphi lifts her head back up with a full smile, gazes with pride at the older grath man, and softly says a few phrases. A chuckle from the man sounds out through the speaker with a few more words. Dretphi's smile grows more, until she rigidly freezes her expression. A woman's voice rises from the background speaking loudly in grath, and Dretphi's eyes widen. The man nonchalantly turns his head, calls back, listens to a response, and returns to face Dretphi through the phone. He speaks a few sentences and Dretphi nods vigorously and stiffly. The older man laughs, sighs with a playful shake of his head, and smiles warmly with final few words. Dretphi loosens her expression, smiles warmly back, and returns a similar few words.

The phone call ends and Dretphi closes her eyes a few seconds with the happy smile before placing her phone on top of the bed near the pillows. She leans herself forward to stand up, walks out through the doorway into the hallway, and moves into the living room. She spots Bach upon the couch, steps next to the couch, and aims her gaze down. "I am ready for our training. I apologize for the delay."

Bach blinks his attention away from the television and turns his head towards Dretphi. "Oh! Hey. No problem. Let me turn this thing off."

He stretches his arm forward with remote in hand, presses the power button, and rests the remote upon the coffee table. He lifts himself off the couch, stands straight, and navigates his way out from behind the coffee table towards the sliding glass door. "So, what was the delay. Anything wrong?"

Dretphi smiles at Bach and shakes her head as she follows Bach through the sliding door. "No. My birth father contacted me. He wanted to talk to me about my recent publicized confrontation."

Bach awkwardly contorts of the corner of his lips, quirks a brow at Dretphi with a tinge of concern, and uncertainly questions. "So, uh, how did he feel about that situation?"

Dretphi conceals a bite of her lip, and sways her head gradually, slowly side to side. "He reminded me of his wisdom to chose the confrontations I engage with care."

The warm smile returns to her face and she gazes at Bach. "He shared his opinion that he saw no fault in my actions. He relayed that my two house fathers are proud of me. My opponent had it coming in their perspectives."

Bach nods with satisfaction as the two travel to their usual work out areas in the short grass plots near the house. "Well, I still don't know what he said, but I'll trust your decision was the right the one."

A looming awareness picks at Dretphi's demeanor and attempts to neutralize her amusement. Bach squints briefly, lifts an eyebrow, and addresses Dretphi. "Was there something else?"

Dretphi blinks off guard, catches Bach's examination, and sighs with a wary air. "My birth father warned me my mother will call me tonight."

Bach visibly puzzles at the statement and tilts his head to the side. "Warned?"

While her eyes hunt her mind for the correct terminology, Dretphi describes the linguistic error out loud. "Warned is not accurate. The original term does not have an exact translation. It is the act of informing someone with contextual foreboding not probable enough to classify as a warning."

Bach stops walking, blinks hard, and ponders this new information. "There's a word a for that?"

Dretphi succinctly nods to Bach and adopts a plain tone of voice. "Yes. There are variations."

Deedri stands with her back up leaned against the brick wall of the two story house next to the sliding glass door. She stares out into the backyard and watches Veevi wildly swing at the towering Trakenthin with a padded training sword. Each crude swipe meets the thick, straight branch within Trakenthin's single handed grasp. Veevi clumsily hops away, readies herself in a manner she believes fitting of the situation, and charges with a sloppy flurry of overly animated blows. As the unamused Trakenthin fights boredom, he intercepts each strike from Veevi effortlessly and deflects them away with the large stick. The sliding glass door opens and Modoran leans his head cautiously out. He notices Deedri as she brushes the apron of her usual medical mage attire and he smiles with a tinge of ill humor. "I see that Trakenthin hasn't killed her yet."

A furry ear perks over to Modoran's voice and Deedri glances over. She tighten her lips, sighs, and fails at holding back a roll of her eyes. "No. She's lucky he hasn't put any effort into it."

Modoran gazes out to watch another ineffective barrage from Veevi impacts deflection after deflection and shakes his head with a frown curling the corner of his mouth. "Hope she gets tired enough to quit or angry enough to storm off soon. At least before Trakenthin decides to finish it."

Deedri nods uneasily at that thought and cringes briefly. She thinks for a moment and puzzles at Modoran. "By the way, where were you yesterday? Veevi was looking everywhere for you."

A snort escapes through the sly grin upon Modoran's dusky bluish gray face and he flits a smug eye brow. "Oh, that. Well, after seeing how things between her and Tassilda went Monday, I thought I'd figure out a way to keep my distance. Convinced her that playing a game of hide and seek she couldn't win was part of her stealth training."

Deedri crosses her arms, tries to muster a glare at Modoran, but settles for expressing mild, general annoyance. She idly gazes out to the backyard. "That must have been nice. Where did you end up hiding?"

Modoran steps out the rest of the way through the doorway, closes the sliding glass door behind him, and rests his back up against the brickwork near Deedri. "Over into the forest. I decided to spy on our neighbors for a while."

With a quick pivot of her head, Deedri focuses her wide eyed curiosity on Modoran and lowers her voice. "Did you see anything going on?"

Modoran shrugs nonchalantly and presents an unimpressed smirk to Deedri. "Not really. The grath woman, Dretphi I think, was running laps around the house with the human... Um... Bach? It was a pretty intense workout. He could barely keep up."

He blinks as his memory kicks in and smiles happily. "Oh! I did find some more of those protellow seeds in the forest."

Deedri's eyes brighten as she dons excited grin and clasps her hands together. "Wow! There must be a patch deeper in the forest. Even as far as they can launch their seeds, that still means they're pretty close by."

A shrill voice flowing with irritation bellows out from Veevi as she steadies her training sword. "Some swordsman you are! Always blocking and defensive."

Veevi curls a wry smile and she narrows her eyes at Trakenthin. "Are you adopting the same tactics SHE DEFEATED you with?"

The distractions within Trakenthin's mind leap away out of fear from the burst of indignation and ire jetting to the forefront of his conscious thoughts. His posture shifts drastically, his stance changes, and his grip alters on the wooden branch. He awaits Veevi's attack and focuses his glare upon her. With bravado, Veevi lunges forth to assault Trakenthin and confusion erupts on her face as her training blade halts early against an unmovable object. The large stick moves with a brief blur away from Veevi's sword, letting her stumble forward. Trakenthin strikes Veevi's training weapon with an incredibly hard, overpowering back swing that spins Veevi around with her sword. She struggles to find her footing and awkwardly dances upon the grass of the lawn in an uncoordinated mess. She sinks her foot into a section of loose sod and tumbles over herself. Moments after impact, she curls up grasping both hands around her ankle and wails in pain.

Deedri grimaces, sighs with her eyes looking up in defeat, and pushes forward from the wall to a jog over. She lowers to her knees next to Veevi, cautiously reaches through the motions of Veevi's panic, and secures a safe grasp of the leg. Deedri's eyes glow light auburn as she focuses her gaze upon Veevi's ankle. Seconds later, Deedri presents a comforting smile to the worried Veevi and to the ever present camera crew. "You'll be fine, you only just twisted it a little. Let me fix it with a quick spell."

Veevi seats herself upon the grass, props herself up with arms behind her, and allows Deedri to guide her foot onto a lap. With a series of gestures and incantations, Deedri flows waves of blue and green energies into her hands and carefully places her hands upon Veevi's ankle. The energies leave Deedri and sink into Veevi's ankle, each pulse illuminating less of the foot over time. A few minutes later, the magic flow wanes and Deedri withdraws her hands. "That should soothe the pain, combat the swelling, and speed up the healing. But, we'll need to provide it some support for now. I should have some compression wraps..."

While Deedri digs through the pockets of her outfit for the right bandage, Veevi tilts her upper body gradually forward and examines her foot. She carefully flexes the joint around and eventually manages a series of small circular movements. The previous fright and nerves fade to a happy smile. Her eyes glance up to Deedri and Veevi watches Deedri inspect pocket after pocket. The happy smile morphs to a seductive grin when Veevi eyes down near her foot. Deedri finally locates a roll of flexible compression bandage, removes it from the pocket, and pauses. She perplexes at an odd pressure moving on top her apron along her inner thigh. Veevi continues gently brushing her big toe upon Deedri's apron. A wave of uncomfortable, nervous energy flows down Deedri's tail and bristles the hairs down to the very tip as it passes. Deedri slowly returns to face Veevi and presents the roll in hand, and awkwardly forces a smile. "I... found the... compression wrap."

Veevi relaxes her posture, maintains the flirtatious air with a dramatic bite of the lip, and hovers her foot up with a flex of the toes. She gazes at Deedri, waits until Deedri's eyes meet hers, and winks with a quick lick of the lips. Deedri barely contains the scream resonating in her mind behind her professionally courteous demeanor.

Cideeda engages the last lock on the upper outer casing her laser pistol, angles the side of the pistol in hand to showcase the device to Bach, and circles a claw tip over the mechanism. "And that's how you field strip the Arc and Spark Light Lance four fifty."

Bach nods in the seat next to Cideeda and strokes his chin in thought. "So, how many times have you done a field stripping in the field?"

Few wags of tail and darts of the eye through her memory, Cideeda pantomimes the math. "Maybe twenty... five times? With this pistol at least. So long as the laser core is in good shape and you don't break the case seal, it should work long enough to get you home."

Bach glances around the dining table at the containers surrounding both Cideeda and him with curiosity. "So, why laser pistols? From personal experience, you're pretty good with a shotgun."

Cideeda flashes a toothy grin and rests the laser pistol back into its custom protective case. "Well, as much as I love my shotgun, the recoil doesn't help when I need to be moving around and keeping a good aim."

She shrugs as she closes the top of the custom case. "The laser pistols have no recoil, burn lines at targets, and the energy cells weigh A LOT less."

When the laser pistol case rests upon the ground, she shifts her focus to a large rectangular container and securely grasps it with both hands. "Also, I usually use the shotgun for the specialty ammunition most of the time."

She hoists the padded fabric box upon the table top, hooks a claw into the zipper handle loop, and pulls a sly grin at Bach. "Now, with your training today, I have a special task that's perfect for your skill set."

Bach cocks his head to the side, gradually raises a brow, tugs a corner smirk on his mouth, and examines the container. Cideeda undoes the zipper around the perimeter of the top flap's edges and deftly slips a hand inside, seeking something within. After her forearm muscles flex briefly, she withdraws her fist out of the fabric covered case and gently rests a cupped hand upon the table between her and Bach. With some flare, she removes her grip to reveal a small plastic figurine upon a twenty five millimeter diameter base. The shiny details of the miniature glint from the natural and artificial light sources in the room. The figure stands upon the base in a dramatic action pose. It wields a large revolver pointing forward, wears dark emerald green plate armor, and holds a translucent energy shield in the other hand. Bach studies the intricate paint job of the plastic model and glances up to puzzle at Cideeda. "Um... Do you want me to paint them?"

Cideeda shakes her head with a hard blink and a laugh. "OH! No. Never. Only I get to paint them. Which I'm going to touch up but..."

Her expression softens and she dons a sweet, endearing smile. She flutters her eyes, gazes at Bach, and coyly fidgets in her seat. "Could you change their poses for me? I'd really like them to look nice for Legends of Nexus tournament this Saturday at the game shop."

Bach aims his scrutiny at the figurine, returns his eyes to Cideeda, and squirms in his seat as she concentrates her pleading, hopeful expression. Eventually, He cracks a smile, sighs with amusement, and turn his head away. "Okay, I'll help. Just stop using that look on me. No wonder you get all those discounts."

Cideeda drops the cute act in flash and a prominent toothy grin slyly widens. She flips over the top flap, proudly displays her rows of miniatures, and removes tray after tray. She plucks a few out, places them in front of Bach, and instructs him about every single aspect of real world and in-game details. Bach listens with interest and watches Cideeda act out her desired new poses.

-28-

The ceiling fan in the living room spins slow and gently cycles waves of air coming from the screen door. Bach sits at the dining table and concentrates upon the old book from the abandoned town. He briefly examines the necklace and decorative blue ribbon off to the side, before returning to the book. He carefully opens the book, turns the outer pages, and stops upon the first handwritten page.

"This is the journal of Isaac Kurt Huxley. Truth be told, I've been prompted by my wife Sylvia to record my thoughts about our new adventure here at Orth Ridge. I must say, it's been quite the trip to get here and a delightful chaos since we arrived. They are still getting the basics of the village together. The engineers have gotten power and water working just fine, but they seem to be having difficulty getting the aethernet relays online. Some strange interference source in the area from what I've gathered in assisting them. But, they've been able to get radio links functional and even bounce a signal off one of the satellites the Grand Library has managed to reprogram over the years. The fact that something that old still functions still fascinates me to no end.

Overall, we are all settling in just fine. Even little Cynthia is warming up to the place. Once she found out she'd be getting her own room and a play area in the office, I think all her reservations disappeared. I can't thank Dr. Dawkins enough for putting us on this assignment. From everything the records we've found have implied, there's something very unique here. I can't wait until the outer area is cleared by the safety teams. I have to say, it is a bit frustrating to see such an amazing site hinted outside my bedroom window and know we can't go there yet. Sylvia at least has been able to put her writing and artistry skills to use in documenting the happenings of the site. If the drafts of her latest book are any indicator, they'll be quite the exciting read for the higher ups."

Bach eyes follow line upon line of handwritten word upon the weathered pages. He flips through, gives quick glances over each page, and continues until he notices bold and large script. He settles his gaze on the page and squints.

"AMAZING! I cannot relay into words how excited I am! The industrial nature of the outer area was intriguing enough and the hours of speculation about what happened here have made for some epic late night debates. But, we finally were granted access into the circular chamber. The pictures the safety investigators brought back do not do it justice. Unlike the warehouse before it, this chamber is magnificent with the grand circular platform and the strange construction is baffling upon initial inspections. The safety teams have given the area a green for our exploration and have found nothing immediately dangerous. But, we will still take precautions and place a number of flow monitors in the area to detect anything that may be lingering.

I'll admit I'm a bit wary of crossing the bridge through that dark warehouse. Thankfully, they've put up a few layers of barriers to create a protective tunnel and the rest of the area is a red zone. The most I've heard they are doing in that area is sending pure electronic drones to place sensors and they lock down the area before attempting that much. Still, my travels through there will be at a gingerly pace. They're only allowing our team to go through the area at the moment, but if that area seems dormant enough they'll open it up to others. Sylvia is very eager to see the grand chamber and very keen on drawing it. I'm certain a picture will do for the higher ups, but she so enjoys capturing such grand things upon paper herself. From the looks of it, she have plenty of vantage points with the encircling balcony walkway."

A slow breath escapes Bach as recent memories rise up into consciousness. He follows the writing to the next page and the end of the entry. The entries grow longer with each iteration as Bach travels through the daily logs. Before habit takes hold, he stops himself from turning a page. The entry starkly contrasts previous with shaky handwriting and a less writing dated a week later.

"I've finally gotten the presence of mind to write into this journal. Sylvia writes to help her thoughts and I more than ever need any help I can get. Something happened a week ago. They are still investigating. I don't know what happened. Sylvia and Cynthia are fighting for their lives. Something exploded in the warehouse. They were bringing me lunch so we could have picnic in the grand chamber. They were on the bridge when it happened. By the time I got to the archway, I saw them midway on the bridge trying to get their footing to move. That black miasma was shredding the layers of barriers. Marcus, gods he tried to keep the barriers up and keep the safety doors overridden. Gods he blames himself, even after saving me from getting hit by that black jet of energy. Why did this happen? I need to return to their sides."

Bach notices odd markings upon the paper, lowers his head close to the page, and examines scattered water droplet stains below the trailing path of a pen. He rolls the page over to the next entry and his eyes trace the wavering penmanship.

"Dr. Malkav has a plan. I always thought him to be on the fringes of madness with his theories. I never saw eye to eye with him. But. That man cried for my Sylvia and Cynthia. When he thought no one could see, he broke down and cursed the gods like I have every day. If he's right, then this energy can be countered enough to save them. Artifacts with some ability to emit elder energy are being located and rushed out to the site as soon as possible from the Grand Library. It has to work. It makes so much sense the more I think about it. I have to go back, I won't abandon them."

A frown upon Bach's face darkens shades grimmer as he reads the next few shrinking entries. He pauses at a page to stare at the last semblance of writing, a single sentence.

"They're gone..."

A water worn trail of ink drifts aimlessly upon the bound piece of paper through a few of the many bubbles of water stains. The binding of the book wants to remain open on this moisture warped page. Bach slowly resumes turning pages and finds many attempts to start new entries. Header dates reduce to mere pen marks. Finally, an explosion of ink and a small indentation piercing through a few layers of paper serves as the last act of effort.

Bach releases a sigh and searches his mind as he idly stares into a distance. The sound of a mug resting upon the table top brings him back to awareness and he turns his head to see Aristespha. "Oh. Hey."

He glances down at the mug next to him and watches Aristespha sit down in chair next to him with her mug. "Thanks. I think I need the tea right now."

Aristespha lifts a brow with a smirk and shakes her head as she eyes the book in front of Bach. "If it wasn't midday on a Thursday, I would have put a lot more than tea in there to help you get through that book."

While Bach lifts the mug up and takes a long sip, she nods upon seeing Bach's face. "About the same expression I had after reading it over."

Bach briefly eyes the material, uses a free hand to close the book up, and slides it away. "It started out so nice, too. I can see why you are a little on edge lately. I just... Wow. I don't know what to think."

Aristespha rests her head against the chair back, directs some of her silvery blue hair over her long pointed ears, and sighs with a hard blink. "Honestly, I don't know either."

The two share a few seconds of silence. A thought surfaces in Bach mind and he stares at the book. He gradually cocks his head to the side before shifting his gaze to Aristespha. "You think that's..."

Aristespha notices the gesture from Bach, eyes the book, and warily bites her lip with wide eyes. "I've thought that, too. And... I REALLY wouldn't know how to feel about that."

Bach blinks a few times, draws in a long breath, and exhales as he slides the book away from him a bit more. "You got any more experimental materials you want to try to make today?"

A flicker of interest lights up Aristespha's mood and she smiles with an eager tone. "Yes, I do. That sounds like a great thing to do right now."

A tall, bellied man wanders in the walkways between towering rows of metal cases. A constant chorus of fan hum accompanies the low roll of air flowing in overhead duct work. Graying wild hairs freely follow the chaotic winds he continues down the avenue of technology in the dimly lit region of the cavernous chamber. He stops, consults an old paper blueprint, and sharply turns down an intersecting path towards a heavy wall. He halts at the intersection, eyes the map, stares overhead with a flashlight in hand highlighting his interest, and pivots to face a dead end. He squints through the sea of green, amber, and blue status light reflecting upon his glasses and his eyes trace a series of conduits underneath the high ceiling. His flashlight halts upon a collection of junction boxes with slightly newer sheen unlike the piping nearby. The man steps forward in thought and focuses upon a run of tubing leading straight into a concrete and brick wall. "Okay. That's not exactly what I'm here for... But that's pretty fuckin' weird."

He glances down at the blueprint, holds them near the vented door of a server rack, and allows the cooling fan suction to secure the paperwork upon the door's surface. He shines the light upon detailed schematics, traces a highlighted path of wiring diagrams, and taps his finger upon the incorrect section. After a quick check of the change date, the man narrows his glare at the mass of junction boxes with annoyed grumble to himself. "The fuck did they put a junction down here?"

Arms crossed, he studies the wall and darts his eyes to several oddities, each new discovery tugging at the corners of his puzzled expression. He pinches the bridge of his nose, reaches into a pants pocket to retrieve his aetherphone, and taps through a few menus to call out. When the call connects, he places the phone on his ear. "Hey, Harvos. Got a question for you."

The proper, male voice at the other end sighs briefly. "Yes, Nash, what would that be?"

Nash cocks his head to the side and lifts a brow. "Okay, pretend you're searching for an artifact you know should be in your possession. You go to the spot it should be and find out, it's gone."

Harvos replies with a curious tone. "Okay. Following the analogy, I would check to see if it has been misplaced, loaned out, or something is wrong with the paperwork. I assumed you've done similar."

With an exaggerated nod, Nash paces around the dead end row. "Correct. The weird thing is that everything shows that it is still in the room it is supposed to be and there are no signs that it has left that room. So, you go to manually check everything in that room. Then, while tracking it down, you find the plug for some thing plugged in, but the cord runs into a wall... Where nothing needing power should be."

After a brief pause, Harvos puzzles at the concept with his voice teetering intrigue and wariness. "That would certainly be concerning and extremely strange."

Nash places his free hand on his side and dons a tight smile with a grit of the teeth. "That's what I thought. I just wanted to confirm my suspicious."

Harvos chuckles lightly and follows his curiosity. "Well, not that I don't mind helping you out, I have to ask, why did you call me?"

A sly grin cracks Nash's mouth. "Well, it turns out this database node I'm missing has some of your department's decataloged data on it."

A long silence resonates through the aetherphone with a singular thoughtful hum breaking the tension. Sounds of movement find their way out of the speaker from Harvos's side of the conversation. "I'll be right over. This sounds FAR more entertaining than this budget spreadsheet."

A breeze floats across the grass of the field behind the ranch style house. Aristespha inspects a practice sword, feels out the balance, and swings precisely in front of her. Bach stands a few meters away with well-worn practice sword in hand and bubbling apprehension. "So, uh, are we doing basic drills? Practicing foot work? Uh-"

With a twirl of the training blade to aim ahead and a confident step forward, Aristespha smiles with the crack of a grin. "I thought we would spar a bit."

Bach's eyes dart around nervously and an awkward, weak laugh leaks out. "Ah, heh... What?"

Sebastian floats into the space between Aristespha and Bach. "Don't play dumb, bro. I know you know most of mom's sword fighting techniques."

A cringe starts at Bach's cheek and creeps to the corner of his mouth. "Knowledge of, yes. Proper application... Nooo."

He shrugs his shoulders, loosely hangs the practice sword in hand, and glances over towards Dretphi and Cideeda working through stretching routines upon mats off the patio. "You know, how about we join them. I need to work on my flexibility a bit and-"

Sebastian snaps his gaze to Aristespha, gestures his head towards Bach, and mouths out. "Now."

Aristespha focuses her stare at Bach and lunges forward with her training blade thrusting towards his midsection. Bach's eyes catch the sudden movement and assess the assault. He hops back from Aristespha's attack, swipes his sword to deflect, and readies himself to a defensive stance. Sebastian crosses his arms with a sly grin and flits an eyebrow to Aristespha's amusement. "See. He damn well knows the moves. You're going to have to force it out of him."

Bach briefly flashes a sneer to Sebastian but keeps his attention on Aristespha. "Yah, I KNOW the moves, but I've never been able to DO anything with them..."

His sentence trails off when Aristespha steps forward with an overhead swing and drops down her sword to clash upon Bach's blade. He redirects the opposing weapon to the side and backs away. "Okay, you made your point. Let's do some drills. I'm really rusty and I could really use the-"

Aristespha pushes forward with a flurry of careful strikes that startles Bach into action, as he counters each one in a tense display. Bach increases the distance from Aristespha after the final deflection and points his practice weapon at Aristespha. "Stop that! Dammit, Sebastian! What the fuck did you tell her?!"

Sebastian averts his eyes away with a humored smile and chuckles to himself. "Nothing really, bro. Just how mom would always teach us sword fighting and let us spar against each other... That you are probably be the best one to help her practice what I've taught her."

A twitch settles in the corner of Bach's eye and he glares, welling with irritation. "Gods damn it, Sebastian! I'm not that good at-"

He shifts his footing, side steps, and guides his blade to divert Aristespha's lunging thrust. Aristespha stands back up straight, glances to Sebastian with a sly smile, and gazes at Bach curiously. "You have defensive maneuvers. But, I have yet to see any offense."

She grins with a confident pose, readies her training sword, and signals Bach to attack with her hand. Bach sighs with a droop his shoulders, prepares himself, and launches into an attack. After a few well executed moves, that Aristespha counters with some difficulty, he manages to create an opening with a rusty side-stepping deflection. But, he fails to capitalize on the opportunity as clumsiness and lack of practice completely hinder the effort. A loud smack sounds from the surface of Bach's outer thigh when Aristespha quickly moves and slaps the practice blade hard. Bach yelps, hops awkwardly back, and dramatically rubs his pants leg. "OW! Dammit! Did he tell you to hit me that hard too?!"

Aristespha lifts brow and ponders to herself. Her violet eyes flips through the recent events and she eventually nods with understanding. "I think I see what you were you telling me, Sebastian."

Sebastian sighs ethereally, shaking the head of his ghostly form. "It's unfortunately so, dear."

Bach snaps his dubious glare between Sebastian and Aristespha, a hand still protecting the sore spot on his leg. "What else has been said?"

A bit of shame bubbles up into Sebastian's face and he rubs the back of his neck with tight smile. "Well. That you are awful at offense because I always kept you on the defensive. And, well, I'd never let you get an attack off all the way, so you don't know how to follow through properly."

After a long stare, Bach's expression softens to an agreeable series of nods. "Huh. Yah. That's pretty much it. About the only times I won is when I used some magic-"

Sebastian narrows his gaze with a pull to the corner of his mouth and crosses his arms. "Or threw the sword at me."

Bach closes his mouth, meets Sebastian's stare, and eventually averts his eyes in embarrassment. He grumbles and squints to Sebastian. "Oh, what else was I suppose to do? No rules against it. We were tied. And you won the coin flip, so a draw would go to you. I HAD no choice."

A singular cackle escapes Sebastian's stoic facade. "Bullshit! You could have fought me normally!"

Bach snorts and shakes his head. "And lost horribly. Hey! Mom warned the camp instructor to NOT put us in competition with each other."

A wry smile creeps up on Sebastian's mouth as memories appear in his mind and his posture loosens. "That was pretty funny watching him dodge your sword after I smacked it out of the way, bro."

The brothers share a few snickers and chuckles. Eventually, Sebastian resumes a commanding stance and instructs his brother. "Okay. Practice some offense with Aristespha today."

He glances lovingly over to Aristespha. "Be lenient on the timing, but don't be afraid to let him know his mistakes, dear."

A sly grin widens upon Aristespha and she slowly aims her eyes at Bach. "Don't worry, I'll only break what I can fix, Sebastian."

Bach blinks hard and fights off reluctance as he readies himself.

Clanks and clashes of training weaponry fill the air for the next minutes with yips, groans, and grumbles of pain from Bach. Off the end of the back patio, a lattice door opens on the small screened gazebo and Sotalia struts out with faint wafts of steam radiating off her skin and two-piece bathing suit. She uses a towel to pat her face and then drapes the towel across the back of neck, down over her shoulders. She guides water slicked, dark red hair over her horns, stops near Cideeda and Dretphi, and watches Aristespha, Bach, and Sebastian. "How long have they been going at it?"

Cideeda inhales slowly, points her clawed toes, flexes her legs to maintain her full side split upon the mat. She places a hand in front and rests one behind her to stabilize herself and glances up to Sotalia. "Only the last few minutes. Did you fall asleep in the hot tub again?"

Sotalia grimaces briefly and rolls her eyes from own her embarrassment. "Well. Yes. I couldn't help it. It's a nice calm Friday and it's just off the back patio. You can't put a nice thing that convenient to me and not expect me to abuse it."

She inspects Cideeda's position on the mat, cringes with a grit of the teeth, and squirms at the hips. "Girl, I do not know how you can just sit there like that. I think I'm starting to hurt just looking."

Cideeda shakes her head with a simple smile and snorts. "Just time and effort to get there and little to maintain it. I could show you the exercises I did when my mom put me in gymnastics. Nothing too intense, but it's a start."

A loud smack grabs Sotalia's attention and she watches the sparring between Aristespha and Bach. Shaking the sting out of his hand, Bach circles away from Aristespha before returning to his spot. He glares his full irritation at Sebastian. "Dammit! Oh gods! It's like fighting you!"

Sebastian chuckles and shrugs his hands out to the side. "What can I say, bro? I taught her."

Sotalia snickers to herself and shakes her head. "Not today, girl. Too nice of day to be torturing myself."

Cideeda lifts a brow at Sotalia and gestures her head over to Dretphi. "Oh, it's what everyone's doing today. Even Dretphi is doing those exercises."

Sotalia angles her head up and studies Dretphi on the next mat over. Dretphi sits with her legs spread out to form a rough ninety degree angle. She grimaces as she attempts to reach her arms out forward and touch the furthest part of the ground in front of her. After a minute of struggling, she relaxes her arms, straightens her back, and draws her legs together with the residual cringe of pain fading. Sotalia pivots around and walks with a sway to each step back towards the sliding glass door. Sebastian looks over his shoulder, quirks a brow, and coasts backwards up to a pace just in front of Sotalia. "Hey, how's your day been?"

Sotalia stops with a hand on her hip and a nonchalant smile. "Really wonderful. Woke up late. Nice hot tub session. And, I think I'm going to read my novels in the warmth of the sun until we watch our favorite show tonight."

Sebastian adopts a sly grin and nods. "Sounds good. But, the show's not until much later, so you can spare an hour, right?"

A dark red eyebrow perks up on Sotalia's face and she squints her eyes. "An hour for what?"

With a quick glance past her, Sebastian directs Sotalia's attention to the rest of the group. She eyes over her shoulder and returns with dismissive smirk on her face. "I'm good."

Sebastian crosses his arms, tilts his head to the side, and narrows his eyes incredulously at Sotalia. "No. I think you need to put in an hour doing something."

Both of Sotalia's hands firmly grasp her hips. She straightens her posture and stares at Sebastian. With his ethereal form returning the gesture, Sebastian calmly speaks. "I'm not asking for a lot. Just an hour or two a week doing some kind of physical training. Just to maintain yourself."

Sotalia's stare shifts towards a mild glare and she angles her head back while her eyes keep focus on Sebastian. "Maintain myself?"

Sebastian groans out a sigh and shakes his head. "Yes, you do keep yourself up with your magical training. But, if your magic doesn't work, what do you have to fall back on?"

Thoughts within Sotalia's mind tug at the corner of her mouth. Sebastian continues with a reassuring tone. "Hey, you are the magical power house of the group. But, with me being practically a ghost and Noxian changing up his tactics... I'd really feel better if everyone was at least at a certain physical fitness."

Sotalia crosses her arms and aims her eyes away from direct contact. After each moment when Sotalia settles her gaze away from Sebastian, he shifts over to reestablish eye contact. Eventually, Sotalia concedes when staring up into the sky provides no refuge from the hovering ethereal form of Sebastian. She levels her head and stares forward at Sebastian when he follows her eye line down. Sebastian sighs and closes the distance to whisper pleadingly. "Come on, Sol. What's more of a hit on your pride? Being awkward and goofy in front of us with some exercises, or having a vine controlled by some bratty teenager interrupt your spell because you didn't know what to do about it?"

A snort escapes Sotalia as she bites a smile and shakes her head at Sebastian with an amused tone. "Oh, fuck you. Okay. I'll try."

She hovers a pointed finger in front of Sebastian's chest. "But, I get to stop when you are back to normal."

Sebastian nods with a happy smile. "Fine with me."

Sotalia gazes over to the rest of the group just as another loud smack precedes a yelp from Bach. "I do hope you are not expecting me to fight in my bathing suit."

An ethereal laugh resonates from Sebastian and he shakes his head. "No. You're more than welcome to change clothes and do some sword training. But, I'd figured you could just join Cideeda and Dretphi, today. Plus, I think Aristespha is having too much fun at the moment."

Sotalia grins with an evil tint and eyes Sebastian. "I noticed. You may need to go over there and make sure she's keeping it educational."

Sebastian nods with an eye roll and drifts towards a zealous Aristespha and frantically defensive Bach. "Yeah."

Sotalia takes a few steps toward the sliding glass door, but glances down at herself in the bathing suit. She thinks a moment, spins around, watches Cideeda stretch herself, and then looks at Bach. Her eyes search her mind and witness the pieces come together. With a flicker of mischief, she struts out towards Cideeda and Dretphi. When she arrives, a sinister influence infiltrates her smile as she directs her voice to Cideeda. "So, what were those exercises?"

In a dimly lit section of a cavernous structure, a tall, bellied man stands in the concrete walkway along with an emin man. The emin combs his short, bright brown hair back with a hand and shakes his head in disbelief while his bright brown on black eyes examine the wall ahead. "Nash, these are times I wish you were wrong."

Nash leans his weigh upon the handle top of a sledgehammer and blows air sporadically through his mouth. "Fuck, I've been wanting to be wrong A LOT lately. Strange times, Harvos, strange times."

Harvos loosens his leather jacket off his body and hangs it on a server rack door Nash pulls out for him. "I assume you want to take the first few swings at this wall?"

Nash hoists the other end of the handle up into his free hand with a strong yank, judges the weight of the sledgehammer, and steps up towards the middle of the wall. "Oh, yes. Plus, I think I got an idea where to hit the thing given where all the new concrete got put up."

Harvos stretches his muscular arms out, checks the tips of his horns with a glance up to the overhead conduits, and satisfaction hints in his expression. "Whoever certainly took an impressive amount of effort to obscure the cut lines and blend in the new concrete. What concerns me the most is that I've seen similar from old records of scouts resealing sites to prevent thieves."

Nash lightly taps a spot upon the wall, and slowly rehearses a few swings. "I was SO hoping you wouldn't find anything yesterday. Especially, nothing that would require the both of us to be down here doing manual labor on Friday night."

He glances behind him at Harvos and grins slyly. "Certainly, hope I didn't steal a day from you that Malva wanted."

A flush of red blends in with the light gray tones of Harvos's face and he darts his eyes around as his demeanor weakens with embarrassment. "Uh. Um. No. Of course not... She asked me to go to a cultural expo, tomorrow."

An amused chuckle echoes out from Nash as he rears back the sledgehammer, and grins with a smug smile. "Fuckin' knew it."

As Nash swings forward, a shrill voice projects down the walkway. "Chair Howard! Chair Azerios! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

The sledgehammer drops down, missing the wall. Nash stumbles in an awkward recovery of balance as his body cringes from woman's shout. He steadies himself upon his feet, slowly straightens his posture, and glances over to the surprised Harvos. "Did you?"

Harvos shakes his head carefully and pantomimes a strong no. The woman marches up, stops right behind them, and glares intensely with bright orange eyes. She pulls a sneer up on her patterned face and reveals sharp teeth. "What. Are. You. Doing?!"

Nash pivots around slowly with a painful cringe, letting the sledgehammer slide through his hands upon the floor. He projects a forced smile. "Vetra! Funny to see you here."

Vetra narrows her eyes, focuses her glare upon Nash, and then darts her attention to the sledgehammer. "What are you doing... With that sledgehammer?"

A glint of light from the overhead lamps reflects of a label and she widens stare as she reads the label. "That belongs to MY Engineering department."

Nash pulls a grin hard across his face. "Oh, certainly nothing of interest to you."

Vetra stomps forward with her stare burning up at Nash, and swipes a pointy, dark nailed hand to snatch the sledgehammer away. "Explain why I had to hear from the lab assistant on duty that someone walked into my department's lab, borrowed a sledgehammer, and dismissed any questions saying Official Library Business."

Nash crosses his arms and grumbles in annoyance while diverting his eyes away from Vetra. Harvos shakes his head, steps forward, and sighs with a calming smile to Vetra. "It's a simple exploration that hopefully won't lead to any further complications. We need to get access to a section of the structure that was initially walled up after renovations for security reasons and limiting possible access..."

With a perk of the brow, Harvos gestures towards wall and points out the faint outline of a filled in cut into the concrete and brick wall. "But has since been opened up and sealed without any known records."

The scowl on Vetra zeroes in on Nash pops away and she puzzles ahead, her bewilderment growing with each step closer to the wall. She squints and traces the faint fill lines with a finger. "It has been cut and sealed."

She spots the conduit and pipes from the junction box running into the wall and her suspicion overtakes her thoughts. "Where do those go?!"

Nash sides steps with an evil smile and cranes his head into Vetra's eyesight. "Only one way to find out."

Vetra bounces an unamused stare between Nash and Harvos, sighs with a smirk of determination, and tightens her grip on the handle of sledgehammer, muscles in her arms defining themselves. "Well, it's sanctioned if I make the first swing."

Inside Amaranth's Wrath Game Emporium, people gather around the many tables. Scaled down battlefields decorate the table tops, portraying different types of battles from many eras. A young evuukian cracks a confident grin when he slides a clear plastic stand supporting a giant black four winged dragon with a gray-armed rider across the grid map. "Full power auto burst from Blaureiter's Particle Power Blaster to your Red Gear Master Mech."

The young evuukian picks up a number of dice and continues to fill his hand with more. The human teenager across the table lifts a confused brow and cranes his head around the miniature scenery. He squints incredulously at the number of dice in the young evuukian's hand. "The fuck are you going to do with all those dice... Shallen?"

Shallen glances up with a playful, sneering grin towards the teenager across from him. "Shred the armor right off that damned Master Mech of yours... Dace."

Dace alternates a glare between Shallen and the two prominent figurines on the board. "Bullshit! There's no gods damned way you get to roll that many dice."

Shallen grasps a packet of paper next to him and holds it over the table to Dace. "See for yourself."

With a reluctant grab, Dace's eyes follow the rules printout until the accepting discomfort overwhelms his expression. "What the fuck? How the hell did they allow this combo?! This should cost A LOT more points."

A smug grin crosses Shallen's face and he shrugs with dice rolling out his hand into a shallow box. "Probably in the next errata. But for now..."

Dace drags his hands down his face and watches as Shallen counts dice out of the box. The shop door rings open from the electric chime above and beams of late morning light break into the store. Cideeda steps through, hoisting the large rectangular carrying case up and gleefully scanning the tables for an opening. Bach follows behind with Sotalia and Dretphi stopping after clearing the doorway to gawk in astonishment. Cideeda waves to Steve at the counter, and he looks up from studying a collection of new figurines on the counter. Steve waves back and picks up a clipboard to show Cideeda. "Hey! Sign up is here. Just grab a table for now. Everyone is warming up with a few skirmishes and playing with some of the new units we got in."

Cideeda zips over to a table with space, places her carrying case in a chair, and hops off to the counter. Bach gives a quick wave and nod to Steve as he wanders through the aisles between the tables, examining the various battles playing out. Sotalia and Dretphi keep behind Bach while they both uncertainly survey the activities around them. The trio cross over from the table region into the aisles of book shelves and display stands. Bach glances back to Sotalia and Dretphi. "Both you should take a look around for yourselves. You've both been to a con, you should be able to figure it out."

Dretphi nods in agreement as she slowly pans a gaze out into the novels and books. Her eyes flit open and flash of joy lightens her face as she departs for a particular section of the store. Sotalia lifts an eyebrow as Dretphi walks away. She checks around to not find Bach nearby, pivots to spot him moving towards the front counter, and shrugs as her attention drifts around the area. Bach stands up next to the counter. "Hey, Steve. How's it going?"

Steve breaks from his studies of figurines and rule material to smile at Bach. "Really good, man. Looks like you brought almost everyone from you party. Except for the evuukian medical mage, Ari- What's her name?"

Bach replies with a smirk. "Aristespha. She's didn't feel good this morning."

He squirms slightly as memories remind him and cringes as stale aches confirm. "She went all out on some sword sparring yesterday and worked a few muscles too far."

Steve briefly grits his teeth sympathetically and tilts his head to the side. "Man, I know that feeling. Reminds me after my first self-defense lesson. I was sore for a week. But, can't she heal herself?"

Bach bites his lip and rolls his eyes. "Well, she was able to do some healing without too much trouble, but I think it's a matter of professional pride of the healer to not have to heal themselves. So..."

Steve nods and shows Bach the new figures and rule booklets. Over near shelves displaying graphic novels with cover art of couples in dramatic poses upon colorful backgrounds, Dretphi collects another book and places it on the small stack in her arms. Sotalia stops next to Dretphi, peeks at the stack, and slides one off the top. As she flips through it, a devilish grin crosses her face. "Another batch of romance books I see. Let's see what you picked out..."

Her eyes slowly shift between the cells of the graphic novel and her grin fades to genuine interest. Dretphi leans to gaze over Sotalia's shoulder at the material just as she flips to the next page. Sotalia exaggeratedly lifts an eyebrow at Dretphi and a slight blush of pink emerges on Dretphi's cheeks. Sotalia nods slowly, closes the book, and places it back on the top as she leans close to Dretphi. "I want to read that one after you are done."

Dretphi straightens up her posture, stifles a smirk with a bite of a lip, and quietly responds. "It is an excellent series."

Sotalia winks at Dretphi and scans the display racks nearby. "Oh, I'm sure it is. Speaking of series, I wonder if-"

She kneels down, pulls a comic book off the shelf, and stares intensely at the issue number on the cover. "Twenty eight?! But, the latest I've got is twenty five and Cideeda said she bought the latest when she gave me the last batch."

Dretphi ponders the situation and glances down at Sotalia. "Her purchase of the latest issues. You receiving issues. They can be independent actions."

A soft growl follows Sotalia as she stands up and glowers across the spans between her Cideeda. She tilts her head forward, showing her horns as her hair falls ahead to frame her eyes. Cideeda idly chats with Bach and Steve, grimaces momentarily, and glances back to meet Sotalia's glare. Her furry ears flick back and confusion floods her face as she mouths. "What?!"

Sotalia lifts up the issue twenty eight off to her side, points at it stiffly, and projects a demanding stare back. Cideeda briefly squints and dismissively rolls her emerald eyes back to the conversation with Bach and Steve. Bach squirms as a strange feeling graces his back. He glances back, spooks, and returns his head forward to direct his voice to Cideeda. "What was that look for?!"

Cideeda sighs with trailing grumble. "Oh, she just found out I've been keeping her a few issues behind."

Steve scratches his head and puzzles at Cideeda. "None of my business, but I'm wondering why you would do that?"

A sneer twitches on Cideeda's lips and she glance between Steve and Bach. "The one time she got ahead of me in Tinkering Tina... She spoiled... you-know-what."

Bach searches his mind for the reference, and Steve gasps and covers his mouth in astonishment. "No..."

Cideeda singularly nods with a grimace twisting her lips. "Yes."

Steve sighs solemnly and offers a sympathetic acknowledge back. "Totally understand. Spoiler breakers can't be trusted."

He checks the clock on the wall and taps the screen on his aetherphone. "Well, need to check the sign up sheet and get the brackets together. You sure you don't want to do a historic scenario? You got a great Perimeter Defense Force unit."

Cideeda shakes her head with a smile and walks away. "No. I deal with enough history as it is. This is my fun time."

For the next half hour, people shuffle around tables, move packs of miniatures around, and set up scenery. A few patrol around, answering questions and settling debates. Bach watches from the sidelines as Sotalia wanders next to him. She taps his shoulder and gazes over to a side table, pointing out two people playing a card game. "Have you ever played Conclave of Mages before? It seems like you play mages with spell cards drawing mana from lands. I saw there were A LOT of cards you could get to build a deck. And, there's a chance you could rares that were magically enchanted."

Bach's eye flit wide in fright as he recognizes the game and a terrifying concept dawns in his mind. He calms himself and leads Sotalia down an aisle away from the players. "I played it a long time ago. It's not bad, but there's a number of other games like it that are better to try out."

Sotalia follows along behind and quizzes Bach. "Better how so?"

With awkward smile, Bach goes down the aisle. "A LOT less financial investment, habit forming, and lifestyle destroying. And I'd be FAR more willing to play them with you."

An evil grin forms on Sotalia as the two move down further. At the counter, Steve taps in bewilderment, focuses upon a sheet of rules next collection of new figurines, and glances over to a rotund man hanging out nearby. "Commander Reti's squad seems so counter intuitive."

Dretphi walks up to the register, places down her large stack of books, and notices familiar logos and markings on both figurine and rules material. She studies them closely and her eyes ignite with recognition. The tactical puzzle distracts Steve. "How do you make an assault with this squad?"

A full smile graces Dretphi. "You do not."

Steve glances up to Dretphi with a curious expression. "Really? Then, how do you play them?"

Dretphi answers plainly. "Skirmish. Retreat. Draw their forces out. Ambush."

Steve squints down at the page of rules in front of him and begins to nod. "That might work. Have you played them before?"

With a slight shrug, Dretphi shakes her head. "No."

An unconvinced expression grows on Steve. "Then, how do you know their tactics?"

Dretphi blinks nonchalantly. "I know my birth father's tactics."

Steve reflexively nods and halts with surprise as his mind fully comprehends that statement.

-29-

Late morning sun creeps through the blinds in the bedroom. Upon a neatly arranged desk, tomes of various subjects lay open with sticky pads of notes adorning the pages. Paper notepads and journals intermix with tablets and a laptop. On collapsible table against the wall, an arrangement of medical and magic devices sprawl out on the smooth top surface. The Sword rests against the corner of the bed between the nightstand in its ornate scabbard. Sebastian's ethereal forms crouches next to the bed near a figure underneath the covers. "Morning, dear."

A slight stir accompanies a halfhearted grumble. A playful smile opens on Sebastian's mouth. "Come on. Time to get up, dear. You know if you just lay in there sore for much longer, I'm just going to get Sotalia to come in here with a potion or two."

The blankets retreat and reveal a disorganized mess of silvery blue hair with a pair of violet eyes peering through it. "No..."

Sebastian grins slyly and lifts a brow with a flit. "No, what?"

A delicate hand grasps the edge of the covers tightly and guide the sheets away from Aristespha's face. "No, I'm getting up, Sebastian."

A warm smile spreads on Sebastian's face and he hovers to a seat on the bed next to the stirring Aristespha. "Well, you are moving a lot better today, dear. No curses in Evuukian I couldn't understand so far."

Aristespha gradually rises from the bed, righting her torso up on top the bed carefully and fighting a grimace. "I still can't believe I'm this sore STILL."

Sebastian angles his eyes away briefly with a sympathetic grit of the teeth. "Well, you did go all out on Bach with sword fighting. And... You were really conservative with the magical healing yesterday for yourself."

He stares with a tinge of concern at Aristespha. She releases a long sigh and rolls her eyes. "A proper medical mage shouldn't be their own patient. You are suppose to reserve healing magics for your party unless you are in dire circumstances-"

A hard, eye wincing cringe seizes her statement. She feels along the back of her nightgown and reaches for a particular spot in the middle of her back between the shoulder blades. "Of all the spots for a muscle ache... Argh..."

Sebastian places his elbow on his knee, props his head up on his hand, and covers a smirk. "Can I at least have her get you a fresh cold pack?"

Determined defiance bolsters Aristespha's self-reliance as she carefully stretches her body out from under the covers. "I can get it myself. I just need to stretch out, take some regular aspirin, and tough it out for another day. It's just a few spots that are still painful."

She works herself upright, rests her feet upon the floor, and gently flexes a number of troublesome spots with mixtures of grimaces, cringes, and winces. Sebastian's ghostly figure slides next to her and smiles warm and lovingly at her. "Okay, dear. You know I'll do what I can for you. Even when you completely overexert yourself by beating up my brother."

Aristespha playfully rolls her eyes and fights off embarrassment with a self-aware smirk. "Well. I couldn't help myself. I can actually get an attack through and hit your brother, repeatedly. Unlike someone who'd only let attacks go through when he felt like placating my ego..."

She eyes Sebastian with a sultry smile and perks an eyebrow. "For absolutely ulterior motives."

Sebastian jokingly crosses his arms and shakes his head with a dismissive sigh. "I would NEVER let you win for such thing as ulterior motives."

He looks into Aristespha's eyes with a charming smile and a soft tone. "That was just your natural talents shining through."

The two gaze at each other for many moments. Aristespha laughs softly biting her lip. "Gods, how that still works on me I'll never know."

Sebastian lifts a brow at Aristespha with a smug smirk. "How WHAT works on you?"

Aristespha snorts and rolls her eyes. A melodic digital chime rings out into the room. Both Sebastian and Aristespha spot the aetherphone on the desk. Sebastian flies over to other side of the room examining the phone. Aristespha leans forward in preparation to stand up. "Who is it, Sebastian?"

Sebastian snaps his head up in surprise. "It's Nash, dear!"

Launching from the bed and initially stepping forward normally, Aristespha's motions quickly stiffen and grow more awkward as she travels across the room. The lingering sore spots on her body bluntly remind her of their existence and make the transit difficult. She grasps hold of the desk chair, pulls it out, and splashes onto it. A quick snatch of the phone, she presses the answer button and places it to her long ear. "Nash! Grant me one moment. please"

Aristespha taps the hold button on the phone screen and scans around the area for Sebastian. She locates him at the door, gazing at her and waiting for her. A pain tinged sigh escapes her and she pushes aside her pride to smile meekly at Sebastian. "Tell Sotalia to mix up a mild analgesic and anti-inflammatory with a the weakest magical muscle relaxant potion. Use the topical delivery salve. Bring the adhesive gauze pads."

Sebastian nods slowly with a wink to Aristespha. "Will do, dear."

He floats through the door. Aristespha settles into the desk chair and takes a calming breath before pressing the hold button off on the screen. "Sorry about that. So, how's your morning been, Nash?"

Thin beams of bright sunlight weave through the thick forest canopy and project upon the sparsely littered forest floor. As clouds pass overhead, they mask out scattered silhouettes onto the leaf and brush covered ground. Deedri walks expediently through the trees, occasionally stops to pick up another large seed. She halts her progress and waits, scanning the area. Modoran steps out from behind a tree and waves with a smile to Deedri. "We are not being followed."

A long sigh of relief escapes Deedri and she manages a small smile of contentment. "Oh, good. Thank you so much for helping me. I just need a break from... Well... ALL of it."

Modoran glances back down Deedri's path and nods slowly with a sympathetic eyeroll. "I know. Gods, I know. I have to take breaks all the time."

He strolls up pass Deedri and squints ahead. "I'll admit I felt a bit bad dodging the camera crews before. But now... Not so much."

Deedri twists her mouth and catches up to Mordoran. "Well, stealth is your profession, so I understand. And, I really can't blame you. Especially, lately."

A thought tugs at the corner of Modoran's mouth and he faces Deedri with a perplexed lift the brow. "Do you mind if I ask a personal question?"

With a quick fluttering blink, Deedri perks up and carefully watches Modoran. "You may ask, but I can't say if I'll answer."

Modoran nods and tilts his head inquisitively to the side. "Why did you ever sign up for something like this? I have to be honest, you really don't fit in with the rest of the team."

Deedri's eyes flit wide as the statement startles her. Her expression saddens as her ears droop down and her posture sags. Modoran puts forth a comforting smile and gazes at Deedri. "That's a GOOD thing, Deedri. The rest of team are belligerent ASSHOLES! I've worked with plenty and these are some of the most brazen ones yet."

An uplifting spark lightens Deedri's mood and she struggles to express her satisfaction against cautious humbleness. "Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say that..."

She averts her eyes away from the scrutinizing stare of Modoran. For a few moments she evades, but smiles tightly and allows her carefully modest thoughts out through her lips. "But, they have proven... Needlessly difficult. Very often."

Modoran sways his head from shoulder to shoulder and accepts the response. "I will agree with you there. So, again, why did you sign up for this show of all things? You're a medical mage. Surely, there's better places for you to work?"

Deedri sighs long and slowly shakes her head. She manages to keep a smile upon her face. "I'm a medical mage from a very low end school. The program is accredited and very good, but the school isn't really prestigious or well known."

She lowers her head as she walks next to Modoran and clasps her hands down on her apron. "After so many applications and interviews, I couldn't manage to get hired on by any group or company after graduation."

Modoran continues to watch Deedri and thinks about her story. "No one? No one wanted a medical mage?"

Deedri's shoulders drop lower and she shrinks her stance slightly. "All the nice paying positions either wanted more years of experience than I could provide or a license from a top ranking school. I could always get a job via placement by the school and eventually pay off my loans... But, I... I didn't want to think I worked so hard to not progress that much at all."

She draws in a long breath, straightens up, and puts forth a smile as she glances to Modoran. "Watched the last season's finale of the show, saw the announcement for applications, and applied. I got accepted and here I am. If nothing else, I'll at least pay down my loans a good deal and my mother won't have to worry about me."

Modoran stares forward at a distant break of the treeline and chuckles to himself. "Wow. Well... I applied for very similar reasons, too. So, don't feel bad."

Deedri's furry ears quirk up and she turns her head to face Modoran with a genuine inquisitiveness. "Really? I don't want to be rude and pry too much, but would you tell me your reasons?"

With a brief grin to Deedri, Modoran scratches the back of his head with tinges of embarrassment leaking out his demeanor. "Sure. It's only fair. Um... Well, I'm pretty unemployable in my homeland."

Deedri treads the next statement with a great deal of care and understanding blatantly apparent in her tone and face. "Because the demand for your skills and abilities changed and people got really superficially picky?"

Modoran laughs, shakes head of white hair, and grins slyly as he crosses his arms. "Surprisingly, no. There always someone that wants someone to keep an eye on someone else, or acquire... misplaced items. It's actually for more political reasons I couldn't get any more work... After a particular incident."

A wave of discomfort creeps across Modoran's body language and he keeps his head forward with a weakening grin. Deedri studies Modoran, dons a cheerful smile, and faces ahead. "It's good to know that I'm not the only one that was out of work and had no great prospects. It's actually very comforting."

The unease fades and Modoran smiles with nod. "Same here. Well, the show is crazy, but they pay."

He leans his head over and questions Deedri out of the corner of his mouth. "I have to ask, too. Do you really like that bell you wear around your neck?"

Deedri contorts her face as she contemplates an answer. Eventually, she sighs, pulling the corner of her mouth. "Initially, I thought it was really cute, but I'm a bit over it at this point. Unfortunately, Samantha keeps on making me put it on when we do anything official with the rest of the outfit."

A sinister grin creeps onto Modoran lips and stares forward. "Want me to relocate it for you?"

Deedri ears flick up, she stiffens her posture with a gasp, and bites her lip in eager thought. "Um... I don't want to cause you any trouble... But, unfortunately, I think the crew may have a few spares."

Modoran chuckles darkly as he narrows his gaze forward. "I'm curious how many spares they got."

He squints and pans a scan of the treeline perimeter ahead. "Looks like a clearing of sorts ahead. I'm guessing. The lighting looks strange though."

Deedri focuses her eyes in the direction that Modoran faces and excitedly rushes ahead. "No way! This is amazing!"

Modoran blinks momentarily and then speeds up to keep pace with Deedri. The two reach the forest edge and stop to survey the scene. Within a massive clearing, in the middle of a moat of tall grasses, a colony of protellow plants tower high. Thick trunk width vine stalks sway as a passing breeze tugs the huge broad leaves. Atop each plant, at least one massive circular flower reflects shades of yellow, red, blue, purple, or white. As the protellows shift to the winds, tufts of colorful pods reveal themselves from the imposing outline of the botanical monstrosities. One protellow in the middle rises above the rest. The meter thick base stays perfectly rigid against the passing gusts and the stalk barely tremors from the force of its dozens of sun blotting leaves pulling against it. Deedri gazes up in awe. "I can't believe it! I knew it was large from the distance, but this is absolutely astounding!"

Mordoran cocks his head to the side and eyes Deedri in sheer bewilderment. "What am I looking at here?"

Deedri steps forward with a skip in each step. "It's a protellow patch! Or, technically, a colony."

After a double-take, Modoran points to the largest protellow and hangs his jaw agape. "That's a protellow?! That thing is at least... three... four times the size of the thing that hit Chad's SUV!"

With a careful approach, Deedri reaches a hand out to a much smaller protellow just over her height and examines a leaf with her claw-tipped fingers. "It has to be very old. I wonder what variety these are. Protellow genetics are just fascinating. So much variety in one ancient genetically engineered plant."

Modoran wanders forward staring up in amazement, trips over an exposed root, but instinctively balances himself upright. "Whu- Look at the roots on this thing. Wait, are those... potatoes?"

Deedri aims her wide-eye gaze down onto the ground and kneels close to the spot. As she digs into the dirt with her hands, Modoran drops down to his knees and assists in shoveling the dirt away. After a minute, the two expose a large network of tubers within a patch of loose soil. Deedri grins ear to ear after her examination of the find, plucks a tuber right out of the ground, eagerly eyes it, and halves it with swift bite. Modoran's expression blanks as he stares in confusion. Deedri happily consumes the tuber, but eventually notices Modoran's bewilderment and fights her embarrassment. Modoran glances down at the nest of tubers, pulls one off the bundle of roots, inspects it with a shrug, and bites a chunk off. He chews it for a moment, dons a pleased expression, and nods to Deedri. "Not bad. Surprised they have that much flavor."

Deedri smiles again, reaches down, and plucks more off the root clusters. "I know! My mother has recipes for protellow tubers, fruits, seed pods, stalks, leaves, flower petals, and well... Just everything using the plant."

Modoran twists a few tubers out and presents them to Deedri in his hands. "How does your mother know so much about cooking these plants?"

Deedri briefly averts her eyes with a bite of the lip and sighs. "Well, we were pretty poor and lived really far in the outskirts. So, you had to make due with what you had. Thankfully, there were a bunch of protellows in the area and I'd always go foraging with my mother."

Modoran nods with a gentle smile and studies the growing pile of tubers resting upon Deedri's apron. "So, what are you going to do with all of these?"

With quick scan of one of the nearby larger plants, Deedri points a claw tip out to a colorful tuft around a collection of pods. "If we could get a few of those and a one of the big leaves, I think we might have the rest of the ingredients for tuber wraps at the house."

A gleeful grin swells up Deedri's face, but briefly pauses as she eyes the area and sighs. "But, we really need to gather some of the more alchemical and medicinal parts before we go back."

She stares up at a tall, nearby protellow, slips off her apron onto the ground with the tubers, and stands up to walk over to base of the plant. She flexes her clawed fingers and digs her toe claws into the dirt through her new toed boots. "What we need is near the top. There's usually a few fluid sacs that contain a few useful reagents. It's been a while, but I think I can scale this one."

Modoran snaps his head to Deedri, up to the distant top of the protellow, and tries to glance back to Deedri. "If you need to get something from up there I can-"

He traces the length of the wide protellow stalk up to witness Deedri powerfully ascend the stretch of massive vine. With an impressed smirk, he steps up to the base, speaks some incantations with a few gestures, and scales the plant slowly with magical energy flowing to his hands and feet.

A faint drone of technology echoes in the large office. Bits and pieces of computing electronics liter the area and intertwine with paperwork and books. Across from a row of large flat panel monitors, Nash and Harvos sit opposite from each other at desk. Nash rocks back slowly into his chair and groans in sync with the creak of his chair as he idly shakes his head. Harvos props his head up with his arm as his elbow rests upon the desk. He briefly entertains peeking his brown on black eyes at the displays and turns his head away with a long sigh. He turns his chair, rests both elbows on the desk, and grabs hold of his tall horns in defeated frustration. "I need a break from reading this incident report."

Nash wanders his focus to a screen on his desk, taps a few buttons on a keyboard, and slouches back into office chair with a squeak. "Oh gods, yes. This just beyond fucked and we haven't even cracked open the rest of the bullshit they were trying to hide in those servers."

Document windows close out on the large displays to reveal a plain computer desktop. Harvos shakes his head with a distant stare. "I still can't believe they had a server rack hidden in the old stairwell. Still running and connected to system. And it's full of decatalogged data."

Nash tilts his head forward with a quirk of an eyebrow. "You're amazed about a server rack and not the boxes of paperwork they had stashed in there?"

Harvos sits upright and shrugs his broad shoulders underneath his jacket. "Well, to be perfectly honest, my department is fairly desensitized when it comes breaking into old buildings and finding dusty paperwork. We usually don't find working computing equipment."

Nash searches his mind in thought and nods in agreement. "Huh. Yeah, point taken."

With a squeal of his chair, he leans forward from his recline, draws in a long breath, and grumbles. "Fuck. It's only Monday my week is already shot. This is going to take all my spare time to comb through these systems."

Harvos releases his horns, twists his mouth, and squints his eyes in bewilderment at Nash. "The amount of effort they went to. They preserved the data, took the effort to sneak it some place they could quietly seal away, and still kept it active enough so the database integrity checks wouldn't fire off alerts."

Nash shakes his head slowly and blinks a few times in a daze of thought. "I know. The nodes were connected, so the system watchdogs could still generate all the checksums. So no system degradation alerts would clue anyone into what was going on. All this hidden for over a decade."

With gradual slide of his chair, Harvos plants his feet firmly and stands up tall in a body stretch. "Have you updated Aristespha?"

Nash rolls out from under his deck, spins the chair, and throws himself forward. "Yesterday. Gave her the quick summary of what was happening. Wish I could give her more, but between this discovery and the hornets nest of higher ups her report stirred... I have to figure more of this out before I even have anything that I haven't told her yet."

Harvos finishes the last of his stretches, pauses sharply when an idea flies to the front of his mind, and glances to Nash with an epiphany. "Ten years ago... Ten years ago, my predecessor's predecessor retired from the department abruptly a few months after a major accident... Somewhere near that area but not this site..."

Two exchange a long distant stares. Nash breaks the silence firmly palms his face as his frustration vents out. "Oh, gods DAMMIT! I bet you anything they used that to shade out this whole place. I- I- Fuck! That make sense. Why does it have to make sense?!"

Harvos nods and gazes at Nash with a grumbling groan. "And, how many have kept their silence for all these years? I believe we may need to have a nice long conversation with one particular Dr. Dawkins."

Nash blinks hard at Harvos and radiates reluctant and conflicted agreement with him. "Oh, shit. Well... Before we plot any more upsets in the house of The Grand Library, can we at least get some lunch?"

With a few steps and quick grasp of the door handle, Harvos opens the office door and dramatically gestures outwards to Nash. "After you, sir."

The two exit the office, and Nash locks up behind them. They walk through the large hallways of activity, between groups of students migrating between closes, and around the gatherings of last minute study sessions. They travel down the main stairwell and exit out into one of the main walkways of campus. Once Nash chooses a direction, Harvos eyes him with a knowing smirk. "Ah, the good old Wall Street today?"

Nash shrugs nonchalantly as he continues his pace. "Well, I'm buying two half liters. I was hoping you could keep me from drinking one of them."

Harvos grins with a flash of mischief. "Just one?"

Nash returns an equal grin. "That's the spirit."

Sotalia digs into the refrigerator, slides items around, and eventually clears a path for sport drink from the very back. She quickly twists the cap off and tilts the beverage into her mouth. With a release, the refrigerator door drifts back to close. Sotalia steps out from the kitchen area next to the dining table and wipes the sweat off her forehead with the towel around her neck. "I'm still waiting for you to teach me those spells, Bach."

Bach lifts his head off the couch seat cushion to peer over his sprawled out self to glance at Sotalia and settles his head back along with the rest of his body. "In time. You still haven't got that fireball optimized as much as you need to."

A brief glare from Sotalia narrows upon Bach, and she rolls her eyes with a sigh. "How optimized does it have to be?! There's only so much you can do with ONE spell."

Bach reaches for a pillow on the back of the couch, stuffs it under his head, and contorts his face. "Well, it's not so much optimizing the spell as it is practice for you to handle magic flow better..."

He notices Sotalia's lift of a brow and tries to avert his eyes away. "Listen, before I teach anyone a spell that has the potential of slicing matter to near microscopic pieces, I want to make sure that person is prepared."

With a frustrated groan, Bach pulls himself up to face Sotalia and stops abruptly the moment he meets her eyes sooner than he expects. Sotalia stands next to the couch, crosses her arms, and glares down. Bach sighs with pinch of the bridge of his nose and gazes right at Sotalia. "You have to understand, the regular disintegration beam is dangerous enough and that spell keeps the destruction away from you. The D-Ball contains that destructive force in a carefully crafted ball that doesn't want to stay a ball."

A wave of honest concern fills Bach expression as he faces Sotalia. "I don't want to haphazardly hand that knowledge off and you get hurt because I forgot to detail or didn't factor in a variable. It's something I came up with on a whim and got REALLY luck with figuring out... And not rendering myself a pile of... disorientated atomic matter."

The glare fades from Sotalia and she tugs at the corners of her mouth as her expression warms up to an agreeable smile. She uncrosses her arms, places her hands on her hips, and sighs. "Fine. I understand. But, can we try optimizing some other spell. I'm can believe I'm saying this, but I'm getting bored of fireballs."

Bach lowers his head back on the pillow and nods with a smirk. "Oh, yes. There's a few others that would be good practice."

Sotalia grins slyly and struts away. "Good. I'm thinking the freeze beam next time."

A nervous chuckle manages to free itself from Bach. Moments later, a series of alert chimes ring out simultaneously into a rough chorus around the house. Bach and Sotalia retrieve their aetherphone and search through notifications. Sounds of movement come from the hallway as Cideeda wanders into the living area. "Looks like a bounty alert for the area from the local guild."

Sotalia slowly drags her finger up her phone screen to scroll through the alert text. "Strange that's a healthy bounty for someone not considered armed and without any kind of special precautions."

Sebastian floats in the room from the hallway with Aristespha and Dretphi following behind. "Check out the arrest record and you'll see why."

The group collectively skips through the lists of information and arrive to the arrest section in near unison. Bach's eyes flit open in surprise as he reads the charges off the list. "Holy. Shit. How much money did this guy run off with?!"

Dretphi's stoic demeanor waivers to shock as her mind totals the financial amounts her eyes perceive. She slowly shakes her head and cover her mouth lightly. "This bounty is minuscule to the funds stolen. Amazing."

Aristespha stiffly walks over to the couch chair with Sebastian hovering near, eases herself into the seat, and reclines back with phone in constant view. "Says he may be heading to the Amaranth Valley area or further. I'm guess he's trying for the Perimeter Weird Zone."

Sotalia perks a brow and chuckles to herself in a snide cadence, as she settles herself into the stabilized magical energy chair at the end of the couch. "Ha, an illusionist! Well, that explains a lot. That's the only type of person I figured would be stupid enough to think they could pull this crap off."

Scratching her chin, Cideeda nods a few times and narrows her eyes in contemplation. "That would make sense. I know a few cons and scams you could do to manage some of this, but you have to have some kind of ability or serious help to pull off anything as big as these."

Bach pushes himself up to seat on the couch with the pillow behind his back and observes Sotalia. "Don't care much for illusionists, Sotalia?"

With a dismissive eye roll preceding a waving gesture, Sotalia laughs wryly. "There's nothing wrong with illusion magic. I'm sure those that focus in it and practice it exclusively find rewarding jobs in the marketplace-"

She lip bites down a reflexive chortle and stifles a snort. Bach slowly turns his head back towards Aristespha and Sebastian with an inquisitive brow lift. Sebastian shakes his head with a quiet sigh and Aristespha rolls her eyes and mouths to Bach. "I'll tell you more later."

Cideeda places her phone back in her shorts and shrugs with a toothy grin. "Hey, if nothing else, it might be a good payday if we find him. We've had to hunt down worse to get far less."

Aristespha nods to that sentiment and twists her mouth with some apprehension. "If he's an illusionist, I doubt he's going to walk around looking like his picture in public. But... If he goes too overboard hiding his face, he may be easily detectable with mage sight. Well, something to keep in mind."

Bach angles his back around and glances over to Cideeda with spark of curiosity in his voice. "You all have had to hunt down worst?"

Each tail flick ushers an old memory rising up into Cideeda's mind and she leans against the hallway archway with an amblivaent expression. "Oh, we've dealt with a range bounties. The typical scum of the earth that make you question why there was an Alive option. The hard luck cases. And all in between."

Dretphi slides her phone in her pocket, rests her hands on her hips, and smiles at Bach. "We prefer Alive only bounties. Others tend to be dangerous, morally uncomfortable. Alive bounties tend to be negotiable, workable. Often will surrender before fighting."

Sebastian ethereally laughs and snorts with a faint echo when he drifts next to Bach. "You never know what you'll run into, bro. There was one that was happy to caught. Oddly happy."

An awkward silence hangs in the room as a wave of embarrassment moves through and reveals uncomfortable sore spots on egos from past injuries to pride. Sebastian eyes the playful unease with a sly smirk. "Oh, don't play dumb. None of us will ever forget Leen."

Groans of old frustrations and reflective sighs fill the living room, as Bach surveys the reactions. Cideeda fails to suppress an amused smirk as she gestures her hand out. "I thought it was so weird he kept mentioning how loose the restraints were and only stopped when I tightened them."

Bach's interest piques and he pans a gaze across to everyone and eventually settles on expressing his confusion to Sebastian. "Okay... I'm obviously missing something."

Sebastian shrugs his ghostly form with his arms out with an ill-humored grin. "Well, Leen was a special case. He was an alchemical psychedelics abuser that fried his mind a long time ago. He's a bit wild but ultimately harmless. Unfortunately, he figured out how to escape the facility that cared for him. And well, he learned he really had fun escaping, evading, and getting captured. So, he kept on doing it and getting really good at it."

Sotalia glances over with a twist in the corner of her mouth. "The facility guards nor the local police could catch him anymore and he refused to go back until someone caught him."

She rolls her eyes and sighs with brush of red hair over a horn. "So, the guild has been called multiple times over the years to send a party out to get him. We were in the area at the time he escape a few years ago and bid on the job."

A snicker escapes Cideeda as covers her mouth and eyes Dretphi. "I will never forget the grin on his face when you carried him over your shoulder back to the campsite after he got loose."

Dretphi crosses her muscular arms and contorts her expression between bewilderment and annoyance. "He kept asking, Again."

Aristespha leans over towards Bach with a smirk. "Sebastian was his favorite of our group. He liked how Sebastian wanted to talk about what he wanted to talk about."

Sebastian sighs long and grumbles. "Gods forbid I decide to put those psychology classes to use and quite literally talk him down... From a tree."

Bach blinks a few times as his brain processes the situation and imagines the antics. "Wow. That must have been something else. Whatever happened to him?"

Cideeda gives a toothy grin to Bach and chuckles. "The facility got smart. Started charging bounty hunter groups to capture Leen as a training exercise."

Off to a side of the backyard, behind the two-story house, Veevi idly fidgets and impatiently waits for Chad to walk up to her with a box behind his back. Chad struts up next to Veevi with his trademark white smile and scans his eyes around briefly to note where all the cameras are before proceeding. "Veevi. For whatever our next mission will be, we need to have you at the ready. You are showing promise as an adventurer, but I think I can provide something that will help you immediately."

He presents the case to Veevi, places a hand dramatically on the latch, and opens it with a slow flair. Off near the back sliding glass door, Modoran, Deedri, Tassilda, and Trakenthin observe from a distance. The gathering watch with neutral expressions, unamused. The group directs their attentions towards the box in Chad's hand. Squinting and narrowing eyes attempt to determine what's in the box. Excitement floods Veevi's face. She completely fails to contain her giddiness and grins brightly to Chad. He gently motions the box to Veevi and she reaches a sharp nailed hand inside. Moments later she lifts up her hand, gripping a shiny new laser pistol. "I've always wanted to fire one of these!"

An immediate silence briefly eliminates sound as shock, abject terror, and absolute bewilderment compete for all the faces in the area, save Chad's and Veevi's. Trakenthin's expression blanks as one brow hikes up and one eye cringes to a narrowing squint. Tassilda covers the gasp from her mouth in wide-eyed horror and manages to only blink her blue on black eyes blankly. Deedri visibly pales as her posture stiffens from fright and lower back. Modoran reflexively swears in a dialect of evuukian and struggles to resume another language. "... ... Oh, fuck this."

He swiftly reaches a hand out to the handle of the sliding glass door, silently glides it open, and slips partially in looking back to the rest of the group. Deedri snaps out of her stupor when she feels the fast, repetitive tapping from Modoran's finger on her shoulder. She glances over and watches Modoran signal her and the others to follow. "But, they might need me in case of-"

Two gray skinned, long nailed hands grip Deedri's shoulders firmly and rotate her aburptly to face the house's back entrance. Tassilda leans close to Deedri's ear as she enthusiastically propels Deedri forward. "If they need you, we'll probably easily hear the screams of help inside."

Trakenthin slowly shakes his head and grumbles to himself as he follows Tassilda. Deedri, Tassilda, and Trakenthin file into the house and Modoran gently slides the glass door back shut. Samantha blinks to an astonished grin, hugs her clipboard in anticipation, and glances over to Gerald. "Are you getting this?!"

She examines the empty spot next to her and searches the area. Eventually, she spots Gerald taking refuge behind a large charcoal grill. Gerald detaches the monitor display from his camera, balances the camera upon the top of the grill, and adjusts the aim using the display while squatting behind cover. Samantha looks toward Chad and Veevi, stares back to Gerald, and scurries prone on the ground behind a concrete planter near the grill. The rest of the camera crew adopt similar tactics and quickly assume cover where ever it resides. Veevi nearly hops in place with the pistol in her hands. "I can't wait to shoot it!"

Chad grins boldly, nods, and points out to the fence row across the yard. "I set up some cans and bottles for you to use as targets. I figured you would want to get some practice in the second you got it."

Veevi's pink eyes widen and she pulls a sharp grin across her lips. "I definitely do. What do I need to do?!"

Chad places the box on the ground nearby, pulls a power pack out, and holds it to Veevi. "Well, first, you'll want to load it."

Veevi removes a hand from the pistol, grasps onto the power pack, and shifts her focus between it and the pistol. She cutely, coyly squirms and pleadingly eyes Chad. "Could you show me how to load it properly? It's my first time with something like this and I don't know what to do."

Bravado flushes over Chad and he holds his hands out. "Not a problem. Just watch carefully, I'll demonstrate-"

An alluring gaze from Veevi finds contact with Chad and she softly speaks. "Well, I was hoping to do it, but with a little... hands on guidance from someone... far more experienced."

A sly grin creeps across Chad's lips and he nods confidently. "Oh, I understand. I wouldn't want to take away from your experience."

He wraps his arms out to either side of Veevi, gently supporting her hands, and guides her through the motions. "Now, you turn the pistol this way. Line up the pack up to the bottom of the grip. And, just push it in until it clicks."

With Chad assistance, Veevi slides the power pack in with a click and the pistol's status lights flicker to life. Chad takes Veevi through the arming steps and lines up her first shot to a tin can upon a fence post. He removes his hands from hers around the pistol and steps back with a grin. "Now, that should be lined up. Just gently squeeze the trigger when you are ready."

The wind dies down, the tension wafts within the stale air, and Veevi holds the pistol shakily. She jerks the trigger and a wayward green beam cuts through the air, centimeters above the tin can into the grassy hill behind. Veevi squeaks and her short-haired tail fluffs up from surprise. "Oh! Wow!"

After the initial flush of excitement washes over her, she glances timidly back with a flutter of her eyes, and strokes back her pink hair. "I'm so sorry. I just got nervous and a little too excited. Could you help line up the shot again, and show me what you meant by squeezing the trigger."

The sly grin upon Chad's face grows more bold and he reaches his hands out behind Veevi's. "Of course. What leader would I be without taking time to help my team members?"

Chad moves behind Veevi, lowers his head above her shoulder, and eyes the sights of the laser pistol. His hands over hers direct the aim of the barrel and line up a shot. "Now, look through the sights. Both the forward and the rear sights should line up and be over the tin can."

Veevi closes one eye, stares down the sights, and gradually nods. "They are."

Chad's hand grips over Veevi's hand and he rests a trigger finger over hers. "Now, I'm going to squeeze the trigger, just feel the pressure and learn from how much it takes."

The trigger slowly actuates, pivoting closer to the handle. After a few moments, the trigger engages with a click, and a beam green projects out, squarely onto a tin can. With a bright green flash, it jumps off the fence post in a faint trail of smoke onto the ground. Chad gives his trademark smile and confidently speaks. "And, that's how its done. I think you might have some natural talent."

A sly, sinister smile peeks out from the corner of Veevi's mouth. She slowly eyes Chad's strong arms around her and glances back to his confident grin. With a flexing motion, she lifts her head up and back into Chad's shoulder. She rolls her shoulders onto his chest, presses her back firmly onto his torso. With a few slow, purposeful shifts of her weight, she seductively catches his gaze using a sultry smirk. She perks her ears, resumes her stance forward, and flicks her tail to travel up between Chad's legs. She returns to her coy exterior, and aims the pistol at a new target. "If it's not too much trouble, could you help me shoot a few more cans just to make sure I have the hang of it?"

A brief shift in her tone alludes to her previous demeanor. "And, I want to pull my weight for the next mission. So, if it's possible, could you give me lessons in tactics and other useful adventuring knowledge... later tonight?"

Chad blinks hard out of his stun, thinks very briefly, and dons bold, ear to ear grin. "Of course, Veevi. We can practice all day with the laser pistol. And, I wouldn't be a proper leader if I didn't take time to relay vital knowledge to such a beautiful and promising adventurer like you."

Samantha lifts herself off the ground, keeping her attentive stare upon the Chad and Veevi. She directs a loud whisper off to the side towards Gerald. "How good is the night-vision on the bedroom cameras?"

Gerald pauses moment in thought as his eyes mentally flip through an inventory of equipment specs. "High resolution with IR booster."

The eager anticipation plasters a wild eye grin on Samantha's face. "After this, run a test recording."

Through the glass of the back sliding door, Trakenthin quietly observes the events and turns away. Tassilda sorts through the refrigerator and perks a brow at Trakenthin. "Anything going on?"

Trakenthin pauses a moment in thought, glances back, and shakes his head. "No. I hope."

-30-

Thru translucent vials, a pair of golden eyes scrutinizes the many colors of liquids in the numerous glass containers. Sotalia slowly drifts her head along the display, pausing to examine the listed contents within the ampules. She halts suddenly, squints at the target ahead closely, and flits her eyes open with a corner grin. She carefully plucks a few vials from the shelf display and rest them between other reagents in the plastic shopping basket hanging from her arm. Stepping back, she scans the area. Jars full of dry plant specimens, bins of powders, flasks of viscous fluids, and sealed plastic bags of fresh compounds bolster the reagent stock of the magic shop. Sotalia hums in thought, fishes her aetherphone from her pocket, and taps through a few screens. Her lips tug the corner of her mouth and she reads the calendar underneath a colorful "Miradia's Magic Materials" banner on her phone screen. A thick, black nail taps the Wednesday square and the animation expands out the text. "Wednesday: Premium Protellow Parts! Fresh from the finest forests delivered to our store by expert reagent hunters."

Sotalia glances at the tall emin woman tending the antique wooden counter with a very modern point of sale system upon it. She walks up to the counter and places the basket of items upon the surface. The tall emin perks up with a smile and blinks her purple on black eyes to attention. "Oh! Yes! Hello, I'm Lilacia. Um, did you find everything you were looking for?"

Sotalia lifts up her aetherphone, taps the screen, and rotates it to the view of Lilacia "Almost. I was looking for some protellow anti-microbial fluid sacs. Or, at least the fluid extract. Your aethernet site said you should have had a delivery of some today, but I could not find any out on the store floor."

Lilacia sighs, sags her shoulders, and bows her head momentarily forward, swinging a few long, dark purple hair braids forward. "I'm so sorry, ma'am. My mother was hopeful about our delivery for today, but it looks like it'll be next week. Our normal reagent hunters are having a very hard time getting to their normal hunting grounds... And, haven't stopped by our town, yet."

The aetherphone spins back around and Sotalia eyes the device in contemplation as she sorts through alternatives. "Okay. Hmm. Well, I can make do for now. It'll be a bit more prep in the process."

Lilacia nods sympathetically with a gentle frown. "I understand completely. The compound works so well to cleanse reagents. Just to avoid risking potency loss from boiling alone is SO useful."

Sotalia places her phone back into her shorts pocket and curls a tight smile in the corner of her mouth. "You got that right. It'll be an hour or two at least with each batch. I don't know what I'm going to do until next week."

Lilacia guides a small stray braid over a small side facing, upwards curled horn and nearly closes one eye as she scours her memory with a twist of the lip. "This is only a rumor, but I remember hearing from a friend who works at the police department about a call they answered. Turns out someone's SUV got hit by a huge protellow falling down. So, there may be plants that are old enough to have large, harvestable fluid sacs in the area!"

Sotalia's expression lights up and she dons a presentable grin with a perk of a brow. "Interesting. Any word on where this incident happened?"

After a careful bite of the lip and brief wince, Lilacia frowns and her tone frustrates. "I don't know exactly. All she would tell me is that it was on the road to the where certain reality show adventurers live."

A hard eye twitch yanks Sotalia's cheek and her expression deflates with a slow, quiet groan. Lilacia cocks her head to the side and focuses a long gaze at Sotalia. Her face erupts with recognition and she reflexively covers her mouth with both hands. "Oh my gods! I recognize you now!"

Lilacia energetically squirms and fidgets, full of excitement. "At the Amaranth Adventure Con! You got into THAT competition with that other emin mage! I was in the crowd! That was SO amazing to watch!"

Sotalia smugly grins with a pose and inflates back up with pride as she nonchalantly checks her fingernails on a hand. "Well, we may have gotten a little carried away, but think it was an excellent demonstration of true ability by the end of it all."

With purple on black eyes checking side to side and a quick glance behind towards a back room behind the counter, Lilacia leans out close to Sotalia with a hushed voice. "And I believe she called you a... Well... That foul term..."

An amused chuckle sneaks out from Sotalia and she dramatically rolls her eyes with a smile. "Well, I'll admit I haven't heard that one in a LONG time."

Lilacia covers a side of her mouth with a long nailed hand and eyes Sotalia in a mix of surprise and intrigue. "Do pick up that accent she said THAT with? That almost sounded-"

Sotalia directs an amused smirk and a lift of an eyebrow at Lilacia. "Laskian?"

Lilacia covers her mouth and nose with both hands in shock and retracts her hand away to speak softly. "Yes!"

A long sigh resonates from Sotalia and she shakes her head. "I got closer to that area that I ever wanted to. I didn't know I was in a sunset town until it was well past sunset."

With crossing arms and a cringing stature, Lilacia nods her head down and hooks a few fingers around a horn in nervous habit. "I don't think I'll ever be brave enough go anywhere near that county. I don't think I'd be welcome there at all."

Sotalia puzzles a moment at Lilacia. She quickly surveys Lilacia form and her confusion remains well after a few seconds. "Really? Am I missing something?"

Lilacia lowers her arms to her sides and sighs. "Well, it's because of my tail."

She lifts up her hand holding her long, thick short-haired tail and hugs onto it with a happy smile. "I've heard a few horrible names, too... That I'm not going to repeat with my mother in the area. But, I know what it's like to be on the receiving end."

Sotalia smiles back with an understanding nod and places a hand on her hip. "No need to repeat the small, insignificant words of smaller, more insignificant people."

Lilacia grins as she slides her tail out and moves her hands over the computer checkout system. "Amen. Let me total this up for you."

The shop door open with a chime and an average height man calmly walks in. He scans the store area with a neutral expression and his brown eyes. As he steps forward towards a display, his typical length, brown hair gently shifts upon his tan face. Lilacia and Sotalia gossip at the counter as the man passes nearby in transit toward a shelf. The moment the man crosses behind Sotalia, she momentarily breaks from listening to Lilacia with a subtle squirm and gradually angles her head to eye over. She briefly glances over the man, but resumes her conversation with Lilacia when nothing immediately catches her attention.

Bach and Cideeda stroll down the sidewalk in front of the strip mall. Bach opens up a paper bag with both his hands and shakes his head in disbelief. "It's kind of strange to buy this many power packs and rounds all at once."

Cideeda quirks a brow and shrugs her shoulders while she totes a metal ammo box at her side. "You get used to it. After a while, it feels like business as usual."

Bach closes the brown sack back up and carries it by a hand at his side with an accepting nod. "I can see that. They were really nice and really willing to work a deal with you."

A sneer parts Cideeda's lips and her face settles to an unamused frown. "Not as good as I've gotten before, but in dealing with a town shop like that one... It'll have to do. Certain premium you have to pay for specialized goods."

With quick eye to the bag in his hand, Bach chuckles with a smile. "That's true. I doubt there's too many hunters around here hunting small game with energy weapons."

A snort escapes Cideeda. She presents a toothy grin to Bach and shakes her head. "Actually, those power packs aren't that uncommon.."

She searches her shorts pocket and grits her teeth when she briefly glances at the munition container in tow. "It's this damn caseless ammunition for Dretphi's submachine gun! Outside a few vendors, no one has it in bulk and they want a king's ransom for whatever they have."

She retrieves her keys and the humvee fob from her pocket, aims the device at the humvee nearby, and presses a button. A series of chirps emit from the humvee with quick light pattern. Cideeda steps up, unlocks the back hatch door, and swings it up. "But, one of the nice things about being registered with the guild is that you can purchase near-military grade equipment from anyone without too much trouble."

Bach smirks with a sarcastic tone as he places the paper bag within the cargo space of the humvee. "What about military grade equipment?"

Cideeda hoists up the ammo box securely inside the humvee, rests a hand upon the container with a rap of claw tips, and gazes at Bach with a sly, toothy smile. "Oh, a little paperwork and a few days..."

She reaches up to firmly grip a hanging pull down handle, lowers the door once Bach is clear, and pushes it securely shut. She props herself against the back hatch door, grins, and winks at Bach. "If we go the official routes."

Bach blinks blankly as all the possible connotations emerge in his mind. Cideeda shakes her head and scans out into the shopping mall area. "Borderlands markets are interesting places. Anyway, you see any sign of Sotalia?"

Bach surveys the vicinity and eventually spots Sotalia exiting Miradia's Magical Materials. "Oh, looks like she just got done."

Cideeda twists her head towards the same direction Bach faces. "Good. Should be able to get back in time for lunch. I wonder what Dretphi settled on cooking."

Sotalia strolls up a minute later with a smile and wave to Bach and Cideeda. "Mission accomplished enough. Looks like protellow sacs are hard to come as of late. But..."

She grins proudly as she places a hand on the hip and lifts a brow. "Heard a rumor as to where to look for some."

Cideeda's arms cross and she narrows her stare upon Sotalia. "Really?"

While Sotalia recounts her recent experience in the reagents shop, Bach idly gazes out into the distance of the mall. People move around the between the various store fronts, often stopping to admire products of choice behind glass display windows. Bach passes his stare back over the entrance of Miradia's Magical Materials, watches an average height man calmly exit the door with a branded plastic bag in hand. As his attentions drift away, the man glances down at the sidewalk. Bach refocuses upon the man. Just as he starts to follow the man's gaze to the sidewalk, the details of the man's face waver to a blurry haze then quickly revert back clear. Bach blinks hard, carefully aims his head towards the group and keeps an eye peeking out the corner to track the man. "Hey, Sotalia? Was there a man in that store with you?"

Sotalia tilts her head in thought and looks to Bach. "Um. Yes. There was this man that came in. Nothing out of the ordinary from what I could tell. All I know he asked for a reagent I've never used before."

She retrieves her aetherphone from her pocket and lifts a curious brow at Bach while she slides through menus. "I messaged Aristespha to see if she knew what it was used for. I've learned most of the ones for medicinal purposes, so I'm curious as to types of potions it was for."

Bach slowly moves his head nonchalantly and quickly aims his eyes at Sotalia's phone screen as she presents the a sent message with the name. "I know I've heard of that before, but it's been so long since I've done any serious potion making."

Cideeda narrows her eyes at Bach with a tinge of concern. "What's going on?"

With a smooth slide around to the opposing side of the vehicle, Bach directs the others to follow suit. "I swear I saw that man's face phase out for a moment. Almost like an illusion resetting. It was strange."

Sotalia dons a more serious tone, taps a few button on her phone, and holds it up to her ear. "You know I thought I felt something magic wise when he walked near me. But given it's a magical material shop and all, I didn't think much of it."

The phone speaker sounds out into Sotalia's ear and she responds back. "Hey girl! Did you get that message I sent you?"

She focuses upon the phone while Bach and Cideeda split their attention between the conversation and the man walking through an aisle of cars in the parking lot. Sotalia's eyes flit wide open as surprise leaps up onto her face. "A component for illusion spells? So, like a potion to help change how your face looks?"

The eerie silence between Bach, Cideeda, Sotalia, and Aristsespha on the other side of the phone call looms heavy. Aristespha speaks through the phone much quieter and at a quicker pace. Sotalia nods quickly. "Understood, we'll keep a watch on him and-"

Cideeda ears perk and lock onto the slam of a car door closing. She leans out from behind the humvee and spots the average man in the driver's seat of small gray sedan. "Shit! He's leaving in a car!"

Sotalia snaps her head towards the vehicle with the man and grits her teeth. "He's on the move. Gods damn it!"

Cideeda rushes to the driver's door, presses a button on the key fob, and slips into the driver seat. "Get in! Let's see if we can tail him."

Bach moves to the rear passenger door, opens it, and hops into his seat in one fast motion. Sotalia zips to the front passenger door, cracks the door wide enough, and slides into her seat. The humvee's power plant spins up to life as everyone inside readies themselves and Sotalia places her shopping bag into the seat behind Cideeda. Cideeda glances into the rear view mirror at Bach. "Bach, check near the back and look for a box labeled Trackers."

After a fast series nods, Bach guides himself through the aisle towards the back, bracing upon the nearby seats. "So, I guess a crash course in tracking devices, today?"

A sinister grin flashes upon Cideeda's face while see checks for clearance to get out of the parking spot. "Exactly! I'm going to keep an eye on this guy and try to maintain a good distance behind him. But, we're going to need to plant a tracking beacon on him. Because if he wanders off too far from city traffic or we keep tailing him for too long, he's going to get real suspicious, fast."

Sotalia secures her aetherphone in a cup holder and taps a speakerphone button the screen. "We're in the humvee. I've got you on speakerphone."

Aristespha voice blasts out of the phone. "Okay, so he bought reagents for an illusion spell. What else happened?"

Bach braces himself against the roof of the humvee with box in arm as the vehicle rolls out of the parking space. "As he was walking out of the shop, he nodded his head forward and his face... went out of focus separate from his body. Thinking about it more, it had to be an illusion spell refreshing."

Aristespha hums in thought and calls out through the phone. "Bach, have you mage sighted it yet?"

The humvee turns sharply and Bach follows the inertia to flop right into his seat. "Not yet, I'll confirm here in a moment. I didn't want to do anything too obviously magical, near a possible mage."

Sotalia directs her voice down while she maintains a casual gaze forward towards the sedan in the distance. "I felt something magical when he walked past me in the store, so he's used magic."

Through the phone, background footsteps echoes change inflections as Aristespha moves on the other end. She hums affirmative and sighs as her mind processes. "Okay. You guys keep tracking him. I'm going to update Dretphi and Sebastian. Tag a tracker, if you can safely. Chances are if he's getting reagents, he may need to brew up another batch of whatever he's using to change his appearance."

Bach places his hand on the back of Sotalia's seat and gradually leans out with glowing blue eyes. He squints out ahead, seeks between other cars on the road, and settles upon the gray sedan. After few moments, he nods with confirmation. "He's got magic flow all around his head area."

Aristespha replies affirmatively through the aetherphone connection. "That is confirmation enough for now. Sotalia message me all the info about his vehicle. If I correctly remember illusion magic and materials, it's going to take a while to process the reagents and mix them. He's got have some place to set it up."

Bach opens the metal "Trackers" box in his lap and examines the collection of electronic devices inside. "He's probably staying at some cheap motel that takes cash and no questions."

Aristespha's voice sounds out. "I'll start getting a map together, in case he runs off. I'll call back later."

The phone's display blinks to a call end screen and Sotalia lifts the device back into her hands, keeping a nonchalant stare forward with thumbs at the ready to message. Bach returns his attention to the box of electronic devices and glances ahead to Cideeda. "So, where do I start?"

Vehicles flow through the busy intersection. Stoplights alternate through their programs to control the passage of cars, trucks, and other transportation equipment. A gray sedan slows to a stop before a red light. The driver searches ahead in the distance and compares a map on his phone. The humvee gradually brakes to a halt a few cars behind. Bach clicks a final button on a small metal cube with a coiled wire protruding from it. He raises a brow and eyes Cideeda through the rear view mirror with reservation on his face. "Umm... Okay... Frequency set, protocol selected, calibrated to the local nav beacons, and my phone is picking it up. Anything else?"

Cideeda shakes her slightly and continues to maintain a vigilant watch ahead. "No. That should be it. Write down the frequency and protocol. Now, we just need an opportunity."

Sotalia squints her eyes through her relaxing, carefree facade, and witnesses the behavior of the man in the gray sedan. "He's looking for something and checking his phone. What is he-"

The stoplight turns green and vehicles accelerate forward through the intersection. The gray sedan creeps ahead of the pack after crossing through and reveals a blinking right turn signal to the group. Sotalia's eye flit open and corner grin forms on her lips as she notices the rows of fast food advertisement signs. "Oh, he's hungry. He's probably going to turn into one of these places ahead."

Bach glances up from the device in hand and scans the scene ahead with a nod. "Makes sense. Grab everything in one trip and head back to wherever he's hiding out."

A twist curls Cideeda's lips and she snarls in anticipation. "That could work for us. But, I bet he's going through the drive thru..."

Her voice trails off as she drifts momentarily in full thought and a sly smile overtakes her face. "I got an idea. Sotalia, take the wheel and get into the driver's seat when I tell you."

A spark of surprise hits Sotalia, but she quickly nods, undoes her seat belt, and prepares with determination. The sedan slows down significantly and the front tires pivot. The vehicle coasts a right turn into the parking lot of a fantasy themed fast food restaurant with Draco-Burger prominently upon a wood and stone sign. While keeping her left hand on the steering wheel, Cideeda reaches down with her free hand, pulls the seat's adjustment bar, and slides the seat back. "Now!"

As Cideeda slips out of the driver's seat into the aisle, Sotalia grabs hold the of the steering wheel with her right hand, hops over into the driver seat, and steadies her control of the vehicle. She adjusts the seat back up, clicks the turn signal lever, and follows along the same path as the gray sedan. Cideeda gestures to Bach to hide down out of sight. "Keep low. He shouldn't be too suspicious if it looks like only one person is in here and I need your help."

Bach carefully falls out of his seat to join Cideeda in the aisle and presents the tracking beacon to her. "Okay. Here it is. What's the plan?"

Cideeda briefly directs her voice to Sotalia as she peeks over the dash to see the gray sedan move into the drive thru lane. "Sotalia, keep behind him and just use the drive thru to order something. I'm going to hide under the humvee and sneak up to plant the tracker when I get the chance."

A hard blink squeezes Bach face with a brief shake of the head. "While its moving?!"

The confident toothy grin overtakes Cideeda's lips and she chuckles. "Not the first time I've done it. And, with the humvee being direct electric drive at the wheels, there's not that many moving parts underneath it and plenty to grab onto."

Cars wrap around the building within the marked off drive thru lane and periodically progress forward. The gray sedan follows along the curve of the path and a menu screen partially obscures it. Cideeda nods, pats Sotalia quickly on the shoulder, and plucks the tracker from Bach's hand when she summons his attention. "Okay. I need you to open and close the door for me. Then, I need you to tap the floorboards to warn me when you all are going to move and listen for my taps when I'm secure underneath."

She pulls the seat release bar under the rear passenger's seat and slides it back to give herself room. Bach scoots up to the seat, leans over the cushion, and grips onto the door handle at the ready. The humvee slows to a stop. Sotalia keeps her gaze forward and calls out from the corner of her mouth with a hand casually covering. "Okay. He's still behind the menu sign still, go for it."

Cideeda nods to Bach and he partially opens the humvee door. Cideeda gracefully zips through the opening, gingerly swings herself underneath the vehicle as the door closes, and latches herself to the underside with the faint sounds of claw tips hooking onto the chassis. She slides tracker down the front of her shirt and taps the floorboards above. Bach reacts to the noise and lowers his head back close to the floorboard, aiming his voice at Sotalia. "She's secure underneath."

Sotalia nods gradually. "We're moving."

Bach firmly drops his hand on the floorboards a few times. The humvee rolls up in line and stops just behind the sedan. Cideeda waits a moment and her ears sift out a man's voice ahead calling out an order. She claws and climbs underneath, moving closer towards the front of the humvee. She keeps herself near the center, gripping onto solid supports and the edges of protective underside plating while she navigates forward. The man stops speaking, and a voice through the intercom repeats the order to confirm. Cideeda hangs just under the front bumper of the humvee and judges the distance to the rear bumper of the sedan. She checks her footing and grip, extends an arm out, and barely touches the underside of the rear bumper. With a determined smirk, she retrieves the tracker from within the front of her shirt, and readies herself as tail coils protectively around her leg. Her ears pick up the intercom stating a price and a series of taps upon the floorboards. "Dammit."

She locks in her position under the vehicle and lightly kicks the floorboard. The humvee creeps forward up to the ordering station. A bored, unamused woman sounds out from the speaker. "Welcome to Draco-Burger, how may I serve, your highness?"

Sotalia angles her head and projects her voice at the station. "I'll take a Lord's Meal with large fries, no onions, double pickles, and Lady's Tea to drink."

Cideeda groans with an eye roll and focuses on the gray sedan ahead. The line ahead affords only the minimal amount forward room for the sedan. Cideeda grins, judges the distance, and prepares herself. The sedan begins to roll forward and a stubborn sparks ignites Cideeda's drive. "Not this time."

She lunges herself forward with both arms stretching out, pushes from herself underneath the humvee, and latches her grip onto the chassis of the gray sedan. The moment she flops onto the pavement, she arches her back and tenses her legs to keep the grind of the parking lot on the heels of her toed-shoes. Bach lifts his head up from listening to the floorboard and directs a confused tone to Sotalia. "That was a weird sound..."

The voice over the intercom finishes confirming the order and states a price. Sotalia settles her gaze forward and surprises wide-eyed watching Cideeda cling to the underside of the gray sedan. Cideeda pulls herself forward, reaches the tracker underneath the vehicle, and magnetically nestles it securely within the corner of a chassis beam. She eases herself from underneath following the movement of the ground, releases her grip of the sedan, and quickly signals Sotalia forward. As the Sotalia eases the brake off, Bach glances over with concern. "Wait! I haven't signaled Cideeda-"

Sotalia answers back with a corner smirk to Bach. "I know where she is. She just signaled us to move."

Confusion seizes Bach's expression and he carefully sneaks a peek over the driver's seat shoulder to briefly spot Cideeda. "Oh. Okay."

Cideeda aligns herself between the wheels of the humvee with a few shuffles, and waits with open hands and ready claws. The humvee gradually creeps over her. When the mid section is over her, she latches onto familiar spots. Bach smiles with relief as a few dull, metallic thuds resonate from the floorboards. "Okay. She's secure."

He sighs long and rests his ear on the floor. The man in the sedan receives his food from the drive thru window, inspects it quickly, and turns his attentions ahead. As the gray sedan drives off, Sotalia drives the humvee up to the window. A younger teenage man adjusts his servant themed printed shirt uniform, opens the castle turret decorated window, and drones the price. Sotalia hands over a company card, waits a minute, and receives her card, a bag food, and a drink. Once she places the food into the passenger's seat, Bach taps the floorboard and receives a response from below. The humvee rolls ahead and into a nearby parking spot. When the humvee's powerplant spins down, Cideeda swings out from underneath the vehicle with a confident, toothy grin. She opens the front passenger's door and Sotalia picks the bag up to inspect the order. Cideeda plops herself in the seat and exhales with relief. "That was close! Let's head back to the house and get everyone else."

Bach checks his phone and nods. "Sounds good. I'm picking up the tracker and the map app is plotting the coordinates."

Sotalia starts to nod as she examines the bag. She growls out a grumble and abruptly closes the bag up in frustration. "Gods dammit. I'll be right back, they gave me a medium fry and forgot the straw."

Night darkens the area around a small, rundown motel. The motel sits in a deteriorated, paved lot just off a two lane highway. Apart from the dim outdoor lights next to the doors, only a neon sign occasionally flickers to life to cast blue hue upon the surroundings. Off to the wooded perimeter of the property, Dretphi scans through binoculars to the end motel unit with a gray sedan in the parking space. "Nothing. Still."

In middle of the group, Sebastian's ghostly visage reforms next to Aristespha with cool, focused expression. "Phased in there just enough to see him when he was busy. It's definitely what was in the file picture. And, it looks like he's busy brewing up some potions and some kind of cream."

Aristespha nods as she checks through the messages on her aetherphone. "That does make sense. Refreshing myself on illusion magic, there's a host of alchemical components that help the details, functionality, and longevity of illusion spells. But, it takes a while to prepare."

A smug grin cracks across Sotalia face as she stares menacingly towards the motel. "Good. Then he's not going anywhere soon."

Cideeda stretches her arms out, pats down her bodysuit, and eyes another electronic device in an open case. "Any word from the guild yet?"

Aristespha shakes her head as she squints hints of irritation at her phone. "No. I sent the report and request an hour ago. And still... Nothing."

Bach wanders his eyes between everyone in the group and scratches the back of the his head. "Umm... Question. What's the proper process here?"

Sebastian drifts down next to Bach with an explanatory tone. "Well, any time you get information about a bounty, it's usually proper to report the findings. This way the guild gets more information to help everyone out, even if you aren't interested in the bounty."

He narrows a stare at the motel and contorts his lips in frustration. "If you think you have located the bounty, you are suppose to send in a Request for Pursuit to the guild."

Aristespha looks up from her phone with a sigh and brushes some hair back over her long ears. "The guild then checks with the local authorities for any limitations and allowances. They'll also confirm if requested methods of capture are acceptable. It also helps sort out confusion between multiple groups going after the same bounty."

She glances back down to the device's screen and curls a twist in the corner of her mouth as she squints in confusion. "Usually, it doesn't take this long in an area like this. Especially after an alert."

Cideeda taps her claw-tipped fingers upon the small electronic equipment in front of her and groans. "They usually don't have any problems authorizing trackers and covertly installing remote cutoffs."

Bach quirks an eye brow and apprehensively eyes Cideeda. "Didn't we already put a tracker on there?"

A sly, toothy grin appears on Cideeda's face and she playfully shrugs coyly. "Well... Yes. Sometimes you got to take the initiative and ask for forgiveness later. Most places prefer you use tracker rather than risk provoking a high speed car chase or standoff situation, anyway."

Sotalia glances over her shoulder as she lays prone next to Dretphi and pulls a dry smirk. "Turns out not many places want an epic mage showdown right in their most populated areas."

She holds a pair of binoculars up to her eyes and stares out through them towards the motel, gradually adjusting focus and her aim. She mumbles condescendingly. "Not that an illusionist is going to put up any kind of worthwhile fight. Ooo... I make pretty pictures of stuff I can't cast..."

Dretphi rests her eyes away from the binoculars, and sighs. "For reports, we attempt to obtain photographic evidence. Helps grant us authority to approach the situation as needed."

Bach nods and briefly flickers his eyes blue towards the motel. "That would be nice. But, I doubt he's going to show his real face out in public."

Sotalia smiles as she scans the parking lot and rows of entry doors to the different motel rooms. "Bah. He'll mess up eventually. Maybe he forgot something in the car or wants a candy bar from the snack machine."

A small, awkward smile graces Dretphi's lips and she lightly taps Sotalia's shoulder with a soft tone. "THEY are back."

Both Sotalia and Dretphi aim binoculars upon an evuukian man and emin woman wandering from separate cars. They cling upon each other midway to the motel and embrace each other upon the wall off to the side of a room door. Sotalia snickers as she fidgets in anticipation. "I hope they got a bed without a headboard, because she might get those horns stuck if she's not careful."

The couple collectively manage to get the door lock open, in between their activities, and roll in together with the door securely shutting behind them. A collection of vehicles approach the parking lot from the road. Sotalia and Dretphi check up from the binoculars before examining the activity through the lenses. Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, and Sebastian peek out from the cover of the forest brush and visually hunt for more information. In moments, vans roll up through the lot aisles with headlights off, stop, and unload equipment carrying crews. The crews take positions throughout the area, hiding behind cars and other structures. Cideeda eyes fully open in shock after she squints to scrutinize the side of a van. "NO. Why the hell are THEY here?!"

A wave astonishment and disbelief shakes the group to full attention. A lone black sports utility vehicle with partly reformed, large dents along the roof, creeps up behind the gray sedan to block it in. All the doors open. Chad, Trakenthin, Tassilda, Deedri, Modoran, and Veevi exit. Chad and Trakenthin rush up to either side of the end unit's door with trailing Veevi behind Chad. Tassidla takes cover behind the doors of the SUV with Deedri. Modoran disappears. Minutes later after hushed discussion, Trakenthin steps in front of the door, rears back, and slams an armored boot to knock the door off its hinges.

A strong eye twitch cringes Aristespha's reddening face. Bach blinks absolutely dumbfounded. Cideeda's jaw hangs open as she gestures with her hands out in pure bewilderment. Dretphi growls and clenches tightly onto her binoculars, her arm shakes with muscles flexing. Sebastian blinks in synchronicity with Bach and the brothers struggle in vain to figure out the situation. Sotalia's wide-eye rage barely subsides with the firmly clasped hand of Dretphi keeping her down prone.

A repetitious electronic chime blares out into the bedroom and a hand with long, sharp black nails presses down a button the aetherphone screen. The alarm silences and Tassilda slowly rises from bed. She blinks her blue on black eyes and guides the strands of her long black hair off her swirling horns down upon her pajama top. With a pull of a small chain, the lamp upon the nightstand illuminates the room and she momentarily shields her eyes. After a few minutes of sitting idly in a morning haze, she slides on a pair of slippers and plods across the room to a satchel of toiletries and beauty supplies. She rummages sleepily through the bag and retrieves toothpaste and a toothbrush, and wanders groggily off to the bedroom door.

Tassilda steps slowly through her bedroom door, glances down one path towards two doors, and listens for a few moments. In the silence, she faces ahead and stares down the stairwell at the faint glow of morning light downstairs. She sets off towards the open bathroom door down the opposite stretch. While continuing along, she passes a door with a brightly decorated sign stuck upon it. A long glare carves annoyance into each letter of the name upon the sign, Veevi Valiant. Tassilda rolls her eyes hard with a long grumble as she shakes her head. She drags her sleepy self closer to the bathroom door, but startles as the door ahead at the end of hall opens. Tassilda mumbles and blinks. "What is he doing up?"

Her eyes open wide in bewilderment as Veevi slides out between the ajar door and into the hallway. Veevi stumbles around in a drowsy daze and idly slides down a Flames of the Phoenix T-shirt that's too large for her. Her tail wags freely in vain to maintain balance and she stretches her arms up to absentmindedly reveal no other clothing. A few meters of travel, Veevi blinks to awareness and glances over to catch the glare of Tassilda. A sly smirk creeps up on Veevi's lips and she eyes Tassilda smugly. "Well... Good morning."

Tassilda's stares accusatory at Veevi and slowly crosses her arms while contempt radiates. "Morning. If I'm NOT mistaken, your room is on the other side of the hallway."

Veevi's stance straighten as she steps forward towards Tassilda, a smile on her face. "Oh, I'm not mistaken. Chad invited me over to... discuss... some things. We had the most wonderful conversation."

Tassilda places her hands to her sides, postures herself proudly, and marches slowly forward. "Oh, I'm certain much was talked about. Did you... secure... a reference for the next group you go off to after this SHORT TERM internship?"

A sharp toothed grin parts Veevi's mouth and she tilts her head of pink hair slightly forward to defiantly eye Tassilda. "Oh, much was secured. I believe we came to an agreement about the terms of my internship."

A brow sharply hikes up on Tassilda's face and she narrows a condescending glare to Veevi. "Interesting. I'm sure you made use of your... unique... talents... Would any of those help explain the lack of any of your own attire at the moment?"

Veevi giggles, suggestively slides her hands down the oversized Flames of the Phoenix T-shirt, and pulls it down by the sides. "Oh, this? No, of course not. Our discussion got a little too energetic and excited, and something got spilled. Chad was ever the gentleman and let me borrow one of his shirts for the night."

She sighs playfully, rolls her eyes at Tassilda, and struts in front of one side of the bathroom door frame.. "We were just ever so relaxed that I just fell asleep and just now woke up."

Tassilda arrives at the other side of the door frame and glowers at Veevi. "Well. I hoped you enjoyed your... discussion. But, I think your focus should be upon other things. For example, what other professions you'll explore in the very NEAR FUTURE."

Veevi perks a brow, grins sharply with a glint in her eye, and flicks her tail up with a dismissive lift. "Not as near as you think. So you better learn to teach better that NEAR FUTURE."

She sidesteps swiftly through the bathroom door past Tassilda, and the bathroom door shuts tightly with a click of a lock. A wave rage flashes upon Tassilda's face and a spark of blue ignites her eyes. She grasps hold of the door knob and attempts to torque it open out of sheer aggravation. An echoing snicker from inside the bathroom leaks out into the audible air. Tassilda sneers as she grits her teeth and growls tinged with boiling rage. A piece of fabric softly thumps against the wooden interior door and faucet values squeak to usher the flow of rushing water from a shower head. Moments later, the sounds of Veevi singing one of her song drifts out from the background din. Tassilda releases the door knob and slowly exhales wavering with spite. She steps back, draws in a long breath, and closes her eye as she release the air. A tentative calm roots in her demeanor. She pivots swiftly and walks away towards the stairwell. When she nears the stairwell, Deedri cracks open her bedroom, peeks out from the other far end of the hallway, and spots Tassilda. She weakly waves. "Morning."

Tassilda pauses and her expression softens. She nods with a neutral smile to Deedri. "Morning."

Deedri glances with concern down the hallway and leans further out her door. "Is everything okay?"

Tassilda contorts her mouth momentarily and sighs in resignation. "Yes. It is just fine. A brief conversation with Veevi."

Deedri's eyes flit wide and she bites her lip in apprehension. "Oh. Okay. I just heard a lot going on and wanted check to make everything was okay."

With a nod Tassilda turns towards the stairs, but pauses for moment. She aims her gaze to Deedri and directs a loud whisper. "If you need to use the bathroom soon, I would use one the one downstairs for now. This floor's bathroom is presently... unclean."

Veevi's singing spikes in volume during the song's dramatic chorus. Deedri's ears droop down and her expression unsettles with a frown. She nods in full understanding to Tassilda and quietly retreats behind the bedroom door. Tassilda returns her attentions forward and marches down the stairs, muttering a few insults in a uniquely accented emin dialect.

-31-

Aristespha paces around her room with an aetherphone firmly pressing against her long, pointy ear. A faint tune of a light instrumental wafts from the speaker and she grits her teeth with a sneer as the hold music grates her patience. The music stops abruptly and a voice calls out. Aristespha blinks back to attention. "Yes. I'm still here."

Her eyes wander around the room, while she idly shifts her weight between her feet with a rigid posture. After moments of listening, she suddenly pauses, winces her eye, and pivots slowly as her tone lowers. "What do you mean by a... Processing error?"

The voice from the phone speaker maintains a polite, explanatory tone. But, Aristespha's face articulates her boiling ire and her stance twists as she stretches her irritation out across her body. Sebastian's ghostly face phases through the bedroom door and he attempts to present a smile to Aristespha. He halts progression through the door upon examining Aristespha's body language and waits in cautious observation. With frustrated pops of a knuckles on her free hand, Aristespha's expression slides from frustrated to furious. She manages a relatively neutral tone for her next statement. "I understand that. We sent the information. Got a confirmation of receipt by the system. And, we were waiting for an approval response. We were NOT denied. We received NOTHING. We STILL have NOT received ANYTHING."

The person on the other side of the conversation continues with the same polite, explanatory tone, but tinges of questionable sympathy now sprinkle over the intent. Aristespha draws a long, slow breath in through her nose with a contorting flex of her shoulders. Sebastian's eyes widen in dreadful anticipation and he glances around the area, questioning his few reasons to bear witness. Aristespha strains a painful sign from an exhale and rubs her forehead tightly. "I think I'm having difficulty expressing the situation in Americ. You wouldn't happen to have anyone fluent in any of the Evuukian languages?"

A positive reply chimes in from the speaker. A dark grin graces Aristespha's lips and creeps along her face. A flash of violet flickers in her eyes and an odd hint of cheer colors her voice. "Why, that is excellent to hear. I'll be able to express myself perfectly that way... Oh, could I request this be recorded and forwarded to the issue review department?"

She tilts her head forward with the confirming response of the phone representative, casting a darkening shadow upon her eyes. The evil grin spans both corners of her mouth. "Thank you."

A roll of eloquent, proper Evuukian streams from Aristespha. The tone remains polite, but twists in inflection and stretches of pronunciation deviate from the surface presentation. As she continues, odd spikes emphasize parts of words while flexes in pace hint towards contrary semantics. Sebastian stares in awkward fright as his mind pieces together excerpts he understands well and the a few very familiar terms urges him to withdraw. He gradually pulls himself back out of the room through the door and retreats from the audible barrage of uncomfortable terms, aghast.

Sebastian drifts back and spins mid-flight to coast down the hallway towards the living room archway. He exits the hallway into the living room and pans a gaze around. Bach slouches out in his stabilized magical energy chair and rests his head in the middle of the seat back. Dretphi twists her mouth as she glares forward in roughly the television's direction and settles back into her side of couch, propping her feet on the coffee table. Cideeda's tail coils up in front of her and she adjusts her head upon a pillow against the couch arm. Sotalia turns her head resting upon her hand and eyes Sebastian with a sigh from the couch chair recliner. "So, how's it going in there?"

Sebastian tugs at the corner of his mouth and briefly grits his teeth as he tries to present a positive expression. "Given what I could roughly make out... About as good as you'd expect."

Sotalia grumbles an understanding nod and glances over at the television. Bach tilts his head up and aims his gaze at his brother with a curious quirk of the brow. "I'm new to all this. But, what the hell could have happened? I mean we were there a LONG time waiting to hear something back and we were lucky to spot him."

Sebastian ethereally sighs with a nod and gazes ahead in thought. "I know, bro. I don't know how they would remotely be able to find him. Maybe they had some prior information? I wouldn't be surprised if a show like that had a few connections to pull for information."

Bach perks a suspicious brow and ponders. "Maybe a mole inside the guild office?"

A slow grimace of intrigue entertains a place on Sebastian's face and he idly scratches his chin. "Maybe? That's not a rare thing, bro. But even if they do have someone, it's one thing to provide information... It's another thing entirely to interfere with guild operations. That's risking A LOT and it'd have to be done really carefully."

Cideeda grumbles to herself and claws out to the remote on the coffee table in front of her. "At least I was able to sneak over and get the tracker back."

She grasps hold of the remote, aims it at the television, and twists her head upon the pillow towards either side of the couch. "Anyone against me finding a movie or something? I need a good distraction right now."

Sotalia reaches inside her house robe pocket, draws out her aetherphone, and taps through a series of screens. "Let me check the listings."

A few seconds later, devious smirk cracks her lips and she squirms eagerly in anticipation of her discovery. "Channel one nine dash eight two."

Cideeda presses down the buttons and flicks a furry ear towards Sotalia. She briefly eyes over towards Sotalia before seeing the video on the screen and biting her lip to squelch a snicker. Upon the television, a tall, muscle-bound grath man sneers defiantly into the camera. He simply grunts, hoists up twin machine guns as the camera rockets back, and blazes sprays of fire and lead towards countless foes. Bach sits up into his chair with a spark of interest and watches the screen. "Wow, I haven't seen this movie in forever. I think it was back in first year? Or second?"

Sebastian hovers down next to Bach as he stares at the screen in fascination. "Yeah. It may have been during the summer break when we didn't have anything else going on. I remember one movie night where everyone brought the most ridiculous movies."

He echoes a snort and shakes his head in amusement. "Damn, bro. If I remember right we watched this thing a dozen times."

Bach smiles and chuckles. "Oh yeah. There's no way you can experience all the ridiculousness in one viewing..."

As Bach's voice trails off, he notices an odd silence next to him and slowly rotates his head towards the couch. Dretphi crosses her arms as she focuses a highly unamused glare upon the screen. Sotalia and Cideeda snicker between themselves and barely contain a snort and giggle. Dretphi slowly draws a long breath and sighs equally lengthy as her tone tinges with irritation. "Change it. Please."

Sotalia finally releases a laugh. "Oh, come on, girl! You don't want to see a big, gruff grath mow down waves of bad guys with nothing but grunts, growls, and scowls? I wonder how many women will throw themselves at him?"

Dretphi narrows her eyes and rolls them away from the screen with a few phases in grath under her breath. She reaches a hand out to the remote in Cideeda's hand. Cideeda moves the remote just out of reach with a toothy grin at Dretphi. "Aww, I like this next part where he headbutts the head off the bad guy and attaches it to his belt as a trophy."

Without her effort, Cideeda abruptly slides down her pillow and across the crouch, and feels Dretphi's tight, secure grip around her ankle. Just when the remote is within Dretphi's grasp, Cideeda tosses it over to Sotalia. "Catch!"

Sotalia fumbles around to a recovery and presses the volume up button. "Oh wait! Here's a really important bit of dialog!"

The television displays the aftermath of a scene of destruction. Bodies lay on the ground in heaps and piles of rubble crumble out from the partially leveled buildings. The grath hero stands triumphantly, shirtless, with a strangely timed breeze blowing the smoke from his spent machine guns up to intertwine with his long hair. He pans a scowl out to the landscape and... grunts with the faintest hint of a lip curl. Sotalia grins mischievously dripping with sarcasm. "Quote of the movie."

Dretphi glares at Sotalia and huffs as she settles back into the couch. She releases her hold on Cideeda's ankle. "Please. Change."

Sotalia waves her other hand in a calming gesture toward Dretphi, lowers the volume, and flips through the other channels. "I know, I know. Don't worry. There's a comedy just coming on."

Bach blinks a few times, glances over to Dretphi, and awkwardly shrugs his shoulders. "Umm... I didn't think it was that bad of a movie. But, I'm missing something, I guess?"

Embarrassment tinges Dretphi expression as she resumes her normally calm demeanor. She sighs and manages a small smile to Bach. "It is not the movie itself. It is the trend the movie inadvertently started."

She momentarily averts her eyes and shakes her head at herself. "The movie is satire. Parody of glory hunting grath of the past. Many grath did not perceive the satire. They saw it as encouragement. I was in..."

A few moments of thought later, Dretphi nods as her mind settles on an acceptable term. "High school... when this film released. It made dealing with certain classmates... Aggravating."

Bach slowly nods as he thinks about the situation and gradually frowns with a pull of the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, I can understand that frustration. I remember a few of those trends and fads hit our hometown. Thankfully, most of those died out in a few years."

Sebastian ethereally groans with an eye roll and glances down to Bach and Dretphi. "I got so tired of people adopting titles for their ranks in all their cliquish clubs and expecting you to use them."

Dretphi dons a smile as she notices the movie start up on the television and gazes at Bach. "I tolerated it. I thought I was done when I went to college. My younger brothers entered high school. They imitated that behavior."

An evil smirk graces Dretphi's lips as she punctuates her statement with flexing fingers and cracks of knuckles. "Behavior that ceased promptly after I returned home for summer. I will not suffer such anymore."

A few quick blinks, Bach gives a single tilt of the head in wide-eye agreement. "Fair enough."

Dretphi's expression fades back to faint, self-reflective embarrassment and she sneaks a bite of the lip. "My response is... to a fault... in those affairs."

Aristespha steps through the archway to the hallway. She carefully rubs the soreness out of her ear and slouches her shoulders with a long, sigh. "You would all believe it was a communication systems error that coincided with a clerical mishap during a law mandated break?"

Everyone directs their confusion at Aristespha. Sebastain darts his eyes around attempting to decipher Aristespha's last statement and cocks his head to the side as he stares blankly at her. "Um... The hell does that mean, dear?"

Aristespha twists her mouth and grumbles as frustration paints her face. "It means some idiot night shift clerk highlighted the message right before he dashed off to the bathroom, which flagged it as read, and no one else noticed it."

Silence hangs over the room as the group collectively gawks, dumbfounded. The movie on the television peaks in volume and Aristespha perks up with a spark of delight. "Oh, I love this movie. This is just want I need right now."

Dretphi slides the coffee table out. Cideeda scoots up into one seat. Aristespha slides through and into the middle seat on the couch. Sebastian floats near Aristespha as both Dretphi and Cideeda pat her on the back, and Sotalia and Bach give her sympathetic looks.

Samantha crosses her legs as she settles upon her bed, seats herself, and hoists a laptop upon lap. Her eyes scan through different applications, menus, and messages upon the screen. She pivots on the bed to angle the glare from the fresh afternoon sun off the display and she leans over to the aetherphone resting upon one of her bed's fluffy pillows. "Okay, Howie, I just got confirmation from the editing team. They got a rough cut put together and are getting the effects crew to get it polished. They should be sending you the rough cut in a bit."

Howard's voice sounds out from the speakerphone with an air of satisfaction. "Good! I trust that our adventurers enjoyed the successful capture?"

Samantha nods with a smirk and rolls her eyes. "Oh... Yes. Chad was quite apt to boast his actions and even recognized the contributions of others for the successful capture. He also... celebrated... with Veevi."

Delight oozes through the phone with a dark chuckle and Howard takes a long breath in. "Excellent... I hoped those two would latch onto each other and... share... common goals."

He pauses a moment and his satisfaction wanes momentarily. "I was a little worried when she came on strong to Deedri. That was NOT my intention. Keep the crews' focus away from her for a few more days and give a her bit of reprieve. I feel like I need to make it up to her."

Fingers tap upon the laptop keyboard and Samantha flips up a few sheets of paper off her clipboard. "Will do. We got some nice footage from the house cameras of Tassilda having tense conversation this morning with Veevi, right before Veevi stole the upstairs shower away from Tassilda."

Laughter echoes around the room on the other side of the call and resonates through the aetherphone speaker. "Yes! Send me that video when you get a chance. I want to see it and see if I can get any new ideas. I wonder what else Tassilda will surprise us with, given the proper motivation."

A sly smile graces Samantha's lips and she navigates through windows on the laptop eagerly. "I'll get sent to you in the few minutes."

A progress bar appears on the laptop display and slowly creeps across its background width. Samantha gazes outside through the window next to her bed and scans around the bright scenery. She sighs, contorts her mouth, and furrows her brow in thought. "I still can't believe you found that illusionist guy and got him to set himself up."

Howard snorts and snickers to a chuckle from the other side of the call. "Oh, Mack? I'm amazed he got the message I left with his sister. Totally, did not actually expect him to respond back. That fraud has been on the run for years. Ever since that one governor got caught trying to pull another Sundial Tower Scheme and exposed the money he was trying to launder through it."

A dismissive tone briefly hisses from Howard and he resumes his explanation. "He sounded really worn down on the phone. Guess he finally learned all that money is worthless if you can't stick around anywhere long enough to use it."

Samantha rests her laptop off her lap onto the bed top away from her and unfurls her legs into a stretch. She slides herself down across the bed, lets her brown, shoulder-length hair drape out, and tucks her arms between her head and a pillow. After a few seconds of idle silence and her staring out the window into the sky, she rolls her head over to aim her curious concern to the phone. "So, what's going to happen to him now? Are you really going to pay your lawyer to represent him?"

Howard sighs and groans with hints of frustration coloring his acceptance of the situation. "Yes. He's a short-sighted, greedy fool. But... Gods dammit... He's still a close enough cousin. And... I promised my great grandmother I would do what I could to help him."

He draws a long breath as faint sounds of an appliance door closing rise from the remote background. After a few electronic beeps peak through the other phone's microphone, he nonchalantly continues. "With my lawyer, returning most of the money he's hidden, and good behavior, I should have him working that illusion magic as a children's show host in a few years as part of his early release plan."

Samantha hazel eyes flit wide and she covers her mouth as laughter snorts out an escape route. She shifts her hand up to her forehead and cackles loudly. After a few quick breaths to calm herself down, she sits up and directs her voice towards her aetherphone. "WOW. I was wondering how you were going to twist that one to your favor. A children's show host? Oh. Gods. You don't mean... THAT show?"

A dark, foreboding chuckle flows out from the speakerphone and Howard's voice fills with humored pride. "The favor to my great grandmother is granting him the opportunity to use my resources, at his expense. He WILL pay me back. With THAT show. Wearing THAT costume."

Samantha shakes her head side to side slowly and whistles lightly in astonishment. "Wow. That's pretty cruel and unusual."

Howard dismissively pops an exhales from his lips and adopts a dramatically sarcastic tone. "Yeah. Wow. So terrible of me. Steer a group of relatively harmless rookies capture him when he's willing, provide legal defense resources, and secure him a job after he gets out. I'm such a cruel person."

Samantha rolls her eyes slowly, exaggerating each degree of rotation with a goofy smirk and sticks her tongue out briefly to punctuate her feelings. "Dammit, Howie. You're still pretty much taking advantage of his situation."

An unamused groan vents through the phone and Howard sighs. "Well, you know where he was going to go if things didn't work out?"

An eyebrow perks upon Samantha's face and she curiously eyes her atherphone, aiming an ear. "Hmm... We all noticed he was preparing for a longer trip and using alchemy to prepare a larger batch of components. So where was he going to go if this didn't work out?"

Howard plainly states with deadpan cadence. "The Perimeter Weird Zone."

Samantha eyes flit open and surprise washes over her face. "Okay. Never mind, you saved that idiot from himself. That idiot is lucky to have you as benefactor."

An appliance chime rings out from the phone, the sound of a small door resonates from the background of the other side of the conversation, and Howard sniffs the air loudly. "Ah. That he is. That reminds me. We also got lucky, too. One of my favorite informants within the guild let me know that Sebastian's group was waiting for permission to pursue Mack."

Absolute shock overtakes Samantha's face. She snatches her phone off the pillow and holds the device close to her whispering voice. "What?! How!? If it wasn't for the fake fan submitted tip you came up with, Chad and crew would have never been able to spot him earlier without his disguise that day and file with the guild."

Howard maintains an explanatory tone as his inflection reveals a forming idea. "Yes. The report said they spotted a suspicious person with a high possibility of being Mack, followed him, and were waiting for permission to tag the car Mack had with a tracker and remote cutoff. Thankfully, Mack didn't show his real face and they couldn't get photo confirmation to jump to capture mode."

Samantha plops back down onto the bed and groans in frustration. "I guess I should be glad they are thorough. That was too close!"

A plotting voice carries over from Howard's end of the call. "Or close enough."

A brow lifts up on Samantha face. "How so?"

Howard wallows in a scheming satisfaction, and relays his thoughts. "They would have been probably been denied pursuit because our team filed first for a capture. But, a clerical error of sorts left them hanging... To witness those young, upstarts take what they thought was theirs right in front of them."

Samantha dons a dark smile and focuses upon her aetherphone. "I think I see what you are getting at. But, whatever are YOU scheming, Howie?"

Howard chuckles and expresses a hopeful, plotting tone. "I think we need to present an opportunity for the two parties to work nearby each other. I'll have my associate at the guild keep an eye on what missions they bid for and see if that can be arranged."

He drifts off as faint footsteps echo within the room at the other end of the call. With a soft thud and a furniture sliding across a floor, he continues his line of thought. "We'll see if that happens, but for now... I've got a more immediate plan to enact upon our lovely group of fledgling adventurers."

Samantha blinks away from watching the progress bar on her laptop and returns her attention to her phone. "And, what would that be?"

The soft, barely audible sounds of Howard's lips pulling to an ear to ear grin cross the threshold of the microphone. "Oh... Just extending a certain trial period to see what more can happen."

Inside a well decorated living room, Nash and Harvos take seats upon a fine leather couch at the direction of an elderly well-dressed man. Nash scans the area, pauses to examine the many artifacts, awards, and photographs upon the walls and shelves. Harvos nods towards the elderly well-dressed man as he calmly walks over to his aged, leather recliner and lowers himself down. "I want to thank you, Dr. Dawkins. I wish the situation surrounding this meeting could have been better."

Dr. Dawkins settles into his chair, pulls a lever on the side, and reclines back. He eyes over at a small table, hovers a hand over a bottle of brown liquor, and grasps carefully onto it. He pulls the cork out, pours the dark amber fluid into a glass, and extends his arm out with the bottle to Harvos. "You young ones help yourself and keep it away from me. I don't need temptation that close to me right now."

Harvos takes hold of the bottle and spots two glasses upon an antique coffee table. He glances over to Nash, and eyes the glasses with a tipping gesture of the bottle. Nash squints to the read label, flits his eyes wide open, and slides his glass over under the bottle's mouth. "Well, we thank you for the hospitality and we will do our best to keep this temptation over here."

With a dry chuckle, Dr. Dawkins cracks a short grin. "It's good to see they kept with tradition in picking a replacement for the computer science department."

He lifts his glass to his lips, enjoys a long sip of the liquor, and releases a long sigh. He sways his head to gaze at Harvos, his short white, combed hair brushes audibly against the recliner's head rest. "Despite my absence, I have kept up with my old department's progression. I'm most pleased that my successor choose a proper one himself. You have handled the Archaeology department nicely so far."

Harvos bows slightly forward with effort given to keep his horns clear of any obstacles and pours some of the bottle's contents into his glass. "I try my best. I still am trying to figure out the dark, dreadful mystery known as the annual department budget."

Dr. Dawkins smiles and playful rolls his green eyes. "I wouldn't get too hung up on that one. Some mysteries are better left alone."

He pauses a moment and allows a long exhale. With another sip from his glass, he stares forward contemplatively. "Well, I have read your message and the reports."

The fluid in his glass swirls around with the motions of hand and he gazes into amber liquor with a mournful sigh. "I had hoped I would never have to relay this information again. But... Upon years of reflection, I have doubted much of what I did to handle the Orth Ridge disaster."

He slowly turns his age weathered face and regretfully stares upon Nash and Harvos. "I'm going to tell you everything I know and pass on the records you DON'T have... And... I will let a generation far more current than I decide what to do with it. I don't believe we knew what to do then... Because, I still don't know today."

Harvos and Nash exchange glances and then both return their attention. Dr. Dawkins gestures with a wave towards Harvos' and Nash's glasses. "Drink up, young ones."

Harvos and Nash each lifts their glasses up and tip back the dark amber liquor into their mouths. Nash licks his lips and grants a very satisfied nod to Dr. Dawkins. Harvos gently blows out some relief through his mouth and briefly winces with the burn of the drink. "So... Um... Dr. Dawkins, where do you want to start?"

Dr. Dawkins tugs at the corner of his mouth, hems, and swirls his glass around. "Let's start with the information that is the most immediately useful to you right now."

Harvos and Nash indicate their agreement. Dr. Dawkins draws a long breath and explains. "There were some points in your report that stuck out to me. First, the Elder Energy Condenser Chamber. We never got it working."

Harvos blinks and cocks his head to the side slightly, donning an inquisitive expression. "What is non-functional before? Incomplete?"

Dr. Dawkins perks a brow towards Harvos and strokes his trimmed, white beard. "Not that I know of. We just couldn't figure out the damned thing. So, the fact this Dark Lord Noxian was operating it is very worrisome."

With a long blink of brown on black eyes, Harvous draws a concerned breath and puzzles. "So, who would have had enough knowledge to even figure start to decipher it?"

After a long grimacing stare, Dr. Dawkins furrows his brow. "It was team effort to examine that artifact. I would attribute Dr. Malkav to being the most knowledgeable, but his team were very skilled in their own specializations."

He lifts a finger up on his free hand points to a photograph upon the wall. "On that wall is a picture of the team... when they first got there."

As Dr. Dawkins pours a healthy sum of the liquor into his mouth, Harvos motions towards the picture on the wall. "May I?"

Dr. Dawkins nods slowly and directs Harvos's attention. "Dr. Malkav is the third one from the right in the bottom row."

Harvos lifts himself off the couch, walks over to framed photograph, and examines it closely. He carefully inspects the image of a number of people and focuses upon the man third from the right in the bottom row. The man stands proudly with a confident smile and graying hair in a professional lab coat. Harvos eyes wander and he notices a man and woman holding each other with a small child held between them. The man grins happily with specs of gray in his brown hair and the woman smiles forward with long red hair flowing in a breeze at the time. The little girl holds down her similarly red hair by a blue ribbon and grabs onto a bright blue scarf around her neck. Harvos pulls his head back and turns back towards Dr. Dawkins. "Who is the couple with the child?"

A wince of long withstanding pain grips Dr. Dawkins's face but he finally manages to sigh. "That would be Isaac, Sylvia, and Cynthia Huxley. That's a tragic tale that I don't have it in me to recount at the moment. I will say I still feel responsible for sending putting them on that assignment. Such a wonderful family..."

Harvos nods understandingly, steps back towards the couch, and seats himself back down. "That's okay. There's plenty more to cover."

Dr. Dawkins finishes another sip of his drink and eyes Harvos. "Yes. Another strange point in the report was the description of the Formation Factory is drastically different now."

Harvos's interest piques and he leans attentively forward. "How so?"

Experienced green eyes level a stare at Harvos and Dr. Dawkin speaks in a calm but confused tone. "The entire floor below the walkway was filled with Nightmare Miasma. It took our best barrier teams to... extract... whoever we could..."

With a wide-eyed expression, Harvos drifts back into his seat and ponders the drastic difference in his mind. Nash glances over to Harvos, then shifts his attention to Dr. Dawkins with a quizzical stare. "Okay. I have to say something and interrupt. You are using a lot of proper sounding terms that I've never heard of before, but you are speaking as if they were the proper names. I've got to ask... What the hell was this place for?"

Dr. Dawkin empties the last of his liquor down his throat, sighs, and dons a serious gaze upon both Harvos and Nash. "That's the most frightening thing of all of this and a fact we discovered far too late. Understand we came to this site thinking the best. We initially thought the site was a magical factory of some kind. We didn't know what at first."

He rests his empty glass upon the nearby table and settles his hands upon the arms of the recliner. "Our first investigations showed an amazing possibility. We thought this was a fabled manufacture lab for Elder Geists."

Shock splashes upon both Harvos's and Nash's faces and both simultaneously reaches for their drink glasses. After both enjoy a sip from them, Dr. Dawkins continues. "Promising signs. The size of the plant access, the elder energy collection and storage, and the magical structure forms seemed to fit the bill."

Deep sadness from the past flow over frustrations and colors every aspect of Dr. Dawkins as he manages to maintain his composure. "But... Gods. Damn. It. It was the exact opposite. It was small scale factory for creation of those gods forsaken Nightmare Geists."

A long looming silence fills the ornate living room as shock grips Nash and Harvos, and regret fills Dr. Dawkins. Minutes later and a generous refilling of drink glasses by Nash, Dr. Dawkins shakes his head slowly with a distant stare. "It was never our intention to dig something like that up. But, too much was explored by the time we discovered the damning evidence. We didn't want to cause attention or a panic. So, we just designated the area that stored the Nightmare Miasma as a high level hazard and redirect all focus on other areas of the facility."

Pausing to collect his thoughts, Dr. Dawkins explains further with a growing frown upon his lips. "We should have handled it better, but none of us knew how to handle it best in the first place. We figured a little ignorance couldn't hurt and taking advantage of the safety protocols we already had should keep it relatively safe."

He sighs and shakes his head in puzzlement and ponders. "The strange part is that it was working so well. The area seemed stable from hourly readings and layers of protection were there. We even had our structural engineers working on an alternative entrance to the facility."

He sinks into his recliner and tilts his head to the side with a hard frown. "But, something happened. Something happened to the storage container and... We lost precious lives that day. We handled it the best way we could think of. We tried to hide that place away as quietly as possible and took advantage of another incident to obscure what loose ends we could. It was not our proudest moment, but... I couldn't in good conscious at the time let that place be explored any further. It NEEDED to disappear back into history."

Harvos searches his mind for response but struggles. Nash blinks blankly and his stare drift off around the room as his thoughts overtake him. Dr. Dawkins only manages to shake his head side to side slowly. He lifts his head up, gazes towards the photograph at three members of the Huxley family, and mouths to himself. "Gods forgive us."

Cideeda, Bach, and Dretphi sit next to each other on the couch in the living room, all focusing upon a strange hovering object upon the coffee table's top. The dim, blue magical orb teeters side to side and drifts around on the table top with a small few centimeter cube camera on top. Bach grimaces in concentration with glowing blue eyes and contorts his mouth in thought. "Wow, this is a lot more difficult than I thought, but I think a few adjustments should get it to work."

The fingers on his hands twitch in slight movements and the camera carrier orb gradually stabilizes. A magical thread faintly shimmers and the orb's shape warps minutely. Bach nods with a smirk. "I think I got it now."

Cideeda pulls a toothy grin across her mouth and aims the remote at the television and presses down a button with a claw tip. "Good. Now I got the receiver's video output connected, so it should be able to get a feed from the camera."

The television flickers a few moments and a view of the back screen door from within the living blinks up onto the screen. Cideeda picks up a small control console, examines the wiring on the connection panel, and then adjusts a few dials. "Not bad at all. Hardly any interference. Need to tweak the focus and white balance."

Bach watches the screen, nods, and gestures carefully with his fingers. The camera orb moves slowly forward, swaying and balancing sloppily. After a few cautious twists and turns, the magical creation glides with significantly more precision. Dretphi smiles with interest, and places her hand near the camera orb to provide obstacles for it to maneuver around. "This could be useful."

Aristespha steps in through the hallway archway, scans the room, blinks at the television screen with interesting, and locks her intrigue upon the hovering camera laden magical orb. She steps near the couch and watches the orb carefully move on the coffee table top. Bach perks his eye brow, sways his head side to side, and shrugs indecisively. "I guess? I don't know. Most of the time if you want to sneak something by a mage, you want to use pure tech solution that they can't sense. Otherwise, there are remote sensing spells that do a good job already."

Aristespha braces herself on the couch arm and leans over above Cideeda, paying careful attention with brightly violet eyes. "Yes. But, the magical signature is very small."

Cideeda's ears flick their aim from Aristespha to the magical camera orb and track it while she grins. "There's very little noise."

Sebastian's ethereal form drifts into the room from the hallway, pauses upon sighting the group, and hovers above to watch. Bach squints his eyes in contemplation and tugs his mouth to a corner. "Well, I don't know how you'd test it properly."

A sly smirk graces Sebastian's lips and he laughs to the group. "Hey, bro. Send it over to the hot tub gazebo."

Aristespha smiles slyly touches a finger to her lip as her mind ponders. "That's not a bad idea, Sebastian."

Dretphi stands up from the couch, walks over to the back sliding glass door, and cracks it open wide enough for the orb. Cideeda contains a mischievous giggle. "Oh, I haven't seen her since breakfast. She probably fell asleep again."

Bach lifts a scheming brow and gestures his hands in purposeful, controlled movements. The camera orb hovers off the coffee table, floats quickly down to a few centimeters above the floor, and glides out the back door with swaying momentum. Dretphi returns swiftly to the couch excitedly and watches the television with the rest of the group. The screen shows the outside world from perspective of the ground upwards, and displays the progress of the camera orb as it flies just over the patio towards the tall lattice doors of the gazebo. Bach stares intensely at the television, finger motions directing flight path adjustment. The view gradually rises to center itself to a bottom opening between the lattice and passes through to dark room that brightens in seconds. Cideeda taps a button and turns a dial slightly to clear up the picture. "That should get it. Let's see if the audio works."

The television speakers sound out a background bubbling from the remote room. The camera view pitches up to show the profile of the hot tub and a hand with long black nails resting off the edge of the hot tub rim. Bach focuses his glowing blue eyes and exhales long to calm himself. Moments later, the perception from the camera rises up, slowly climbing close to the side of the hot tub as the bubbling volume grows. The group watches tensely as the view crests the top of the hot tub top. A loud snore cuts through the ambient din of the hot tub. Sotalia's head rests upon a water-proof cushion, her dark red hair spread out damp and faintly wavy. Her arms anchor her partially floating legs and body to the edge. Snickers and snorts fill living room air from the group as Sotalia's snores echo out from the television. Aristespha lowers herself down upon the couch arm and directs her voice to Cideeda. "Can that camera make any... sudden, loud noises?"

Cideeda dons a wicked smirk and eyes Aristespha. "There is a retrieval beeper that can get pretty loud."

The group exchanges glances that form a silence agreement and Cideeda gazes forward expectantly as her claw tip flips up a protectively covered button. She waits a few moments and presses it hard. A loud shrill ring blasts bounces into the gazebo. Sotalia golden eyes spring open in utter shock, her arms reflexively draw away from the edges of the hot tub, and her upper body slides unceremoniously into the water. Her legs and feet briefly pitch up into the air before splashing back as she sits up in a state of utter confusion, her dark red hair drenched over her face. Her hands grasp the outer edge of the hot tub. She blankly glances around the area while the rest of her mind resumes awareness. Dretphi suppresses a giggle and taps Bach on the shoulder. "I recommend escape now."

The camera's view back away, drifts down the side of the hot tube, and leaps through the hole in the lattice back into the bright patio. Soon the magical camera orb zips through the opening in the back sliding glass door. Dretphi pulls herself off the couch, closes the glass door the rest of the way, and quickly returns back to her seat. The camera orb slowly increases its altitude and lands upon the coffee table top. Sebastian works the humor out of his face and settles to a proud smile at Bach. "I think that was a success first test right there, bro."

Bach bites his lip with uncertainty and sighs with an eye roll. "Well, she was asleep. So, it really didn't test whether or not a mage could easily sense it part."

Sebastian shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly with his arms to the side. "Sotalia can feel out some really small amounts of magic. She's very sensitive to any magical activity. So, it's a good sign she didn't immediately wake up when it got that close to her, bro."

The back glass door slides open and Sotalia steps through with a towel wrapped around her hair and another larger towel wrapped around her chest. She stretches out a yawn and turns to see the gathering at the coffee table. She blinks in surprise, spots the television imagery, and then grants her full attention to the magical camera orb idly hovering on the coffee table top. Her golden eyes open wide along with her pupils, and she plops down to her knees. She lowers her head to closely study the magical orb with grin of delight. "This is so cool! Have you tested it yet?!"

Bach tightens his lips and maintains a neutral smile. "Sort of. Tested the waters... So to speak."

While the magical construct distracts Sotalia, the rest of group fight to keep their composure. Sotalia narrows her eyes with a flash of an evil grin and lifts an eyebrow. "So, when are we sneaking this thing over to spy on our neighbors?"

At that statement, a wave of inspiration spreads through the group and attentions shift to the magical device with eyes occasionally drifting to gaze out the back window towards the corner of the property.

-32-

Behind the two-story house, in the large back yard, a fast moving evuukian man wields dual, wooden training short swords and repeatedly attacks a stoic grath man, who promptly blocks with quick movements. Modoran hops back, away from Trakenthin, and rolls his shoulders in an exaggerated stretch. He shakes his head of short, white hair and draws a smirk across his dusky, bluish gray skin. "Damn, you are deceptively fast."

Trakenthin cracks a confident smile and readies his wooden practice sword. "You are an acceptable challenge."

Modoran rolls his dark blue eyes and flicks the hair off his long, pointed ears. "I'll take that as a compliment from you."

He changes his stance, carefully analyzes Trakenthin's body language, and waits. Two maintain careful watch of the other, before both launching into flurries of activity. Loud dull thunks sounds out from the training equipment clashing into each other. Modoran dashes around Trakenthin in circlular motions broken by lunges at an opening in defense. Trakenthin holds his ground, his practice blade swiftly intercepting Modoran's assaults. He tenses up, directs all his focus upon Modoran's approach, and swings out. With cunning deftness, Modoran shifts his momentum to force his body to an evasive direction and dives out of the way of the incoming blade. He instinctively rolls away on the ground from Trakenthin's reach and springs up back onto his feet. After brushing flecks of grass blades and leaves off his tight fitting training gear, Modoran sighs. "Too close. I almost gave you that one."

Trakenthin repeatedly draws in long breaths of air and briefly removes a hand from his sword handle to wipe sweat off his brow. "We have been training for an hour. It is advisable to break. We may grow careless. We should not burden our medical mage with needless injuries."

He glances over towards the back sliding glass door of the two-story house and gives a respectful nod to Deedri, who spooks at the sudden attention. Deedri gathers her composure and awkwardly waves towards both Trakenthin and Modoran. "S-sorry. I didn't want to interrupt. I admit it was exciting to watch."

Modoran turns his head in surprise and blinks when he ponders Deedri's existence near the door. "How long have you been out here watching us?"

A flash of embarrassment fills Deedri's face and she averts her gaze during her admission. "Umm... Just the last ten minutes, maybe? I lost track watching you two..."

Trakenthin grins, puffs out his chest proudly, and nonchalantly props himself up with his sword. "Fan of martial combat?"

Deedri steps away from the brick wall of the house and walks out towards Trakenthin and Modoran. "Well... Somewhat? I don't mind a good non-lethal competition."

When she arrives near both Modoran and Trakenthin, she searches inside one of the large pockets on her apron and retrieves two plastic, flip top containers of liquid. She places one in each hand and holds them out to Trakenthin and Modoran. "I was working potions and medical supplies in the kitchen when I saw you start sparring. So, while the main batch is slow cooking, I mixed up some simple stamina boosters from the leftovers."

She eyes the two the vials with a tinge of uncertainty and then gazes at both Trakenthin and Modoran. "The orange one has a citrus flavor and the yellow one is closer to banana. Protellow flower petals aren't consistent with their taste."

Modoran glances towards Trakenthin and gestures at him to the vials. "I'll let you choose. Both sound good to me."

Trakenthin's expression drifts back to stoic as his eyes momentarily scan around the area and he grasps hold of the yellow liquid filled container with a nod. "Thank you... I prefer banana."

Deedri draws a happy smile on her lips, flicks her furry ears with the tickling of the wind, and gives the remaining container to Modoran. "Drink up. The mixture is only potent in this form for a few hours. After that, it's just flavored water made from expensive ingredients."

Trakenthin and Modoran each flip the tops of the containers and pour the liquids into their mouths. Trakenthin carefully closes the lid and returns the vial to Deedri. Modoran nods a few times as he smacks his lips while experiencing the flavor, and gives the other vial back. "That was really good. Thank you."

He slyly smirks and aims a lift of an eyebrow towards Deedri. "So, have you done any fight training before? I'm sure we could show you the basics, if you want to join in."

Deedri eyes widen, her ears perk up, and she bites her lip in a fight between interest and hesitation. "Well... Any training I've ever done has been strictly for defensive purposes. Medical mages aren't suppose to lead the fight. We are trained to avoid and evade. If that fails, we are suppose to use magic from as far as possible to disable or impede long enough for escape."

She clasps her hands in front of her upon her apron and shrugs with an innocent smile. "It's frowned upon for a medical mage to have to heal themselves due to their own fault of endangering themselves."

Her eyes wander from the gazes of Trakenthin and Modoran, and she rocks ever so slightly to her bashful admission. "But, we do receive some very discipline specific training for defensive close quarters combat."

Modoran sheaths his practice swords into scabbards attached to his belt and crosses his arms with a curious, intrigued smile upon his face. "That's interesting. What did they teach you that's so specific?"

Deedri dons a happy smile with a chipper stance and recounts a summary as she tracks her points with a count of fingers. "A lot of grappling and escaping different holds. We drilled on being grabbed and shaken, and what how to react properly. Many hours of concentration training to teach us how focus magical flow when surprised. Also, common throws and pressure points."

Trakenthin nods plainly and stretches his back. "Sensible. Useful collection."

Modoran places his hands on his hips and tugs the corner of his mouth in thought. "Any examples you can show us?"

With a reserved nod, Deedri takes a step back, plants her stance, and takes a long breath. "Yes. If you could grab my shoulder Modoran, I will demonstrate."

After a few blinks processing Deedri's change in demeanor, Modoran glances to Trakenthin, shrugs his arms out to the side, and places a firm grip upon Deedri's shoulder. "Like this-?"

When Modoran's hand grabs onto Deedri's shoulder, she clamps tightly with both hands onto Modoran's forearm. She quickly spins inwards into his space and tugs Modoran's arm forward, full force with a sharp duck. Modoran follows his arm across Deedri's back, over her shoulder, and flattens the grass beneath his back with a loud thump. For a few moments, Modoran stares blankly at the blue sky above and the clouds conveniently obscuring the noon sun overhead. Deedri's concerned face graces his view of the world and she kneels down next to him. "Are you okay?! I'm sorry! We always trained pretty rough... Being classes full of medical mages, we were prepared to handle most injuries on the mats."

Modoran shifts his focus from the skies above and gazes into Deedri's auburn eyes. He eventually regains his composure with a gallant grin. "I'm just fine. That was an impressive throw that I just wasn't expecting from you. I truly apologize for underestimating you."

A blush of color highlights Deedri's cheeks and she quickly breaks eye contact while she stands back up. Modoran sits up, brushes more grass off his sparring gear, and notices an extended hand from Deedri. He graciously take hold with his hand and she helps pull him up. Trakenthin scratches his chin and quirks a brow. "Good form. Good results. Needs practice."

He straightens his posture and grins smugly. He pushes his practice sword to a stand in the dirt and rests his hands on his sides. "I respectfully doubt you could throw me. Did you receive instruction in confronting an opponent of my stature?"

Deedri's ears perk up and she pulls a slight grin. "Well, with great size differences we were taught to use a different approach. I can show you, if you want. But, it won't be as dramatic as a throw, since I don't want to harm you by accident."

Trakenthin cocks his head to side and stares down at Deedri while his mind puzzles out her last statement. "I am curious. What do you need me to do?"

Extending an arm out, Deedri gestures the motion to Trakenthin. "Just hold your arm out like this."

With an incredulous air obscuring an honest wariness, Trakenthin reaches his arm out, holds it in place, and maintains a careful watch of Deedri. Carefully, Deedri places the palm of her hand underneath the base of Trakenthin's forearm, and moments later a flicker of auburn lights her eyes. Trakenthin's wrist sharply rotates inwards, his forearm muscles tense. His forearm seizes to shaking definition. He witnesses the spasm in wide-eyed bewilderment and moves his arm slowly to observe the phenomena from different angles. Seconds later, his muscles relax back to normal and he flexes his released wrist and hand. "What. Happened?"

Deedri clasps her hands back together and rests them in front upon her apron with a proud smile. "It's a use of medical magic that locks the muscles up by causing them to contract. I used a very low strength on you. That way it was short and painless."

Modoran shakes his head side to side to break from his gawk at Trakenthin's arm and glances to Deedri. "I have to admit... That's a bit scary. And, impressive."

Trakenthin finishes stretching his arm and wrist out, and gazes at Deedri with a renewed interest. "What else can be done?"

Deedri's eyes search her mind and she relays what she finds. "Well, the simplest measures take the least amount of energy and concentration. So, targeted muscle locks and nerve signal disruptions. More advanced, you can disable limbs, cause coordination issues, and... invoke violent evacuations."

Modoran and Trakenthin exchange looks and return to stare warily, slightly uneasy at Deedri. She sighs with the faintest trace of an evil smirk. "Either AND both ends."

Modoran and Trakenthin blink long and wide-eyed in response. Deedri grimaces uncomfortably and frowns as she continues. "In dire situations, medical mages can be very destructive, despite it going well against our principles. We can sever tendons, rip muscles, shatter bones, and rupture organs.

Trakenthin shifts his stance back straight and contorts his mouth gradually. "You have my sincere respect for your capabilities."

After a series of quick nods, Modoran tries to maintain a confident smile despite the betrayal of his mind's thoughts. "Please, let me know if I do anything to make you angry. I WILL apologize and correct it."

Deedri deflates and her ears droop to the sides. "Please understand, I don't want to ever use my training that way. It's not why I chose this career."

Her ears lift up slightly and she eyes Trakenthin and then Modoran with a shy smile. "If I'm going to be aggressive, I only ever want a sparring weapon in my hands."

A sly grin graces Modoran's lips and he winks to Deedri. He draws out a training short sword from a sheath on his belt, hands the wooden practice blade handle first to Deedri, and nods to Trakenthin. "I think we can help you there."

Sitting around the dining table, Aristespha, Sebastian, Bach, Dretphi, Sotalia, and Cideeda intensely listen to the voice of Nash through Aristespha's aetherphone. Nash's voice echoes out into living room holding the eerie silence of the gathered group, as nervous glances aimlessly seek around the area. "So, that's all I got right now. Not exactly the news I wanted to give you all on a Saturday evening, but... I figured you all needed to know want exactly was there. Despite how grim it fucking is."

Aristespha rubs the temples of her head with both hands and releases a long, dumbfounded sigh. "That was not exactly what I thought it would be, but I can't say it wasn't out of the realm of possibility."

Nash remains silent for a few moments and sounds out a similar sigh over the phone. "I'll send you the rest of the information and documents we got as Harvos and his team puts them into the system. Unfortunately, I don't know how much more I'll be able to get you, since higher ups are getting involved."

With a shift to sly tone, he playfully whispers loud. "But... I'll be sure to relay what I can when they aren't paying too much attention."

A smile cracks on Aristespha's face and she rolls her eyes with a flit of the brow. "As always, thank you. I'll let you go now. We all will need some time to process all of this ourselves tonight."

Nash laughs with a confirming cadence. "Can't blame you. I'm going to go back to researching alcoholism and archaic video games. You all take care."

Aristespha moves her hand above the phone and hovers finger over the on-screen button. "You too."

With a light tap on the display, the phone ends the call. The group exchanges mixed expressions between themselves and a looming silent pressure weighs down upon them all. Sebastian drifts back from the table in thought and takes few moments to pan a gaze around the living room. As his attention rotates around the room, finally settles between both Bach and Cideeda. Bach stares down at the table top with his eyes sorting through his mind while his expression blanks out. Occasionally, a twitch of his cheek precedes a blink. Cideeda squirms in her seat with arms crossed. Her hands cover her elbows tightly, her tail subconsciously coils up defensively around her waist, and she shrinks her stature, drawing herself inwards. Sotalia gently rests a hand upon Cideeda's shoulder, rubs her back comfortingly, and whispers. "You okay?"

Cideeda returns her focus back to the group overall and nods slowly with a weak smile. "Yes. Just old memories coming back."

A wince appears upon Sebastian's ethereal face and he uneasily contorts his lips with a long ghostly sigh. He gazes at both Cideeda and Bach with concern and dutiful resignation. "I know it's a really uncomfortable subject for the both you... Especially, since it's come up recently. But, is there anything you two are willing to tell us about Nightmare Geists from experience? You are the only two people I know of that have had first hand encounters."

He watches both Bach's and Cideeda's discomfort and responds with hesitation. "If it's too much, I understand-"

A small, stronger smile graces Cideeda's lips and she looks up to Sebastian as she stretches some tension out of her body. She unfolds her arms, guides her tail onto her lap, and combs the fur with her clawed fingers. "It's fine. I just don't know what I can really add. My last encounter was over twenty years ago and I was just six years old. So, I only remember bits and pieces at best."

Her shoulders stiffen. She rolls them out with an uneasy exhale and briefly, distantly stares to herself. "I remember what it looked like when it tore out part of my mother's old house and... grabbed hold of me."

She pauses a long time, and witnesses supportive expressions of concern appear upon the rest of the group. After a considerable effort to navigate her emotions, she finally continues. "I remember, the black flaming aura it had. Its grip was cold and the fire felt like it sunk into your very being... And... tried to... negate your very essence? Existence? It's really hard to describe, but it felt like something was trying to cancel out a part of your very being."

She closes her eyes, leans into the chair back, and breathes out a shudder. She grips her tail tightly and manages a strong smiling composure. "After that, all I remember is my father firing his imbued Perimeter rifle, falling into my mother's arms, and a group of adventurers firing all kinds of spells at it. Then, I passed out and didn't wake up until a month later."

A grimace overtakes her face and she sighs in frustration, shaking her head. "I try to remember more each time I think about it. But, that's all I have right now. I wish it could be more useful."

Sebastian nods graciously and presents a thankful smile. "It's fine. Any details you can give will help us all."

He glances to Bach, waits a few seconds, and witnesses Bach's silence. He tilts his head to the side. "No pressure, bro. If you don't feel comfortable now, we can-"

Bach voice interrupts in a serious, explanatory tone. "Four to five meters tall. Black... Almost light absorbing, magical miasma that radiates out like fire. Two legs. Two arms. And, a mass at the top that served as a head. But, it was completely featureless... But... Something like eyes... looked at me."

His eyes lock forward and refuse to acknowledge the stunned stare of Cideeda across the table from him. A few breaths enter and leave his lungs. Bach blinks back to awareness, notices the looks upon him, and sighs. "It was late afternoon, near dusk on the fourth day of the assignment out at some old ruin that once served as a magical power collector. Condenser, maybe? Either way, nothing was suppose to be out there. It was a gift shop away from being a tourist trap at that point."

Lifting his head up, he recounts the events to the rest of the group with a frown. "An hour after we set camp up, it walked right into the area. Immediately saw us... And roared. It sounded like bellowing, enraged. distorted static. It just charged at us with no other warning. We scattered out, hoping we could keep rotating distractions so we all could get far from it. But... It didn't care."

Bach sits up straight in the dining chair, crosses his arms tightly, and shrugs up his shoulders with a cringe. "Most our spells did absolutely nothing to it. Well, some temporarily knocked out chunks of it, but those reappeared back in seconds. Raw energy blasts did the most to it, but nothing really damaged it. Unless it was missing a lot of itself, it did not slow down."

He closes his eyes, carefully draws in air, and a grim nature tinges his voice. "It knocked down my instructor and was lining up to run down the three other students. Two, who could barely walk, were trying to get another unconscious student out of the area. So... I decided to give IT something else to worry about and hit it with a D-Ball."

Sotalia interest piques and her attention focuses upon the current part of the tale. Bach opens his eyes wide and shakes his head. "That was one of the dumbest things I have ever done, even with everything I've done recently. It turned out the D-Ball hurt it deeply. It wailed out in utter anguish and paid attention only to me. That's when I noticed it was missing a bigger chunk than normal."

Aristespha attentively watches Bach carefully and Sotalia leans slightly over the table in anticipation. Bach groans from past defeat and frustration colors his tone. "But, gods dammit, it still reformed. I literally saw the shredded magical essence that comprised it recondense back onto its body."

Hope flattens out within Sotalia and Aristespha nods solemnly as her mind processes the new information. Bach blinks as the scene from the past plays back out in his mind and his face grimaces more. "Thankfully, the other students escaped, but it was coming right for me. I threw... D-Ball after D-Ball at it... I don't remember how many? A dozen or so... I was completely panicked. I wasn't thinking clearly at all. I had never thrown that many before. I don't know how it was possible even today."

Sotalia eyes widen as she internally calculates the raw energy mathematics. Bach sighs as his distant gaze drifts towards the table top surface. "I got cornered eventually and I was completely tapped out. I'd hoped to slow it down enough to get away from it, but very little phased it. When it stood over me, I had never been more scared in my life. It reached down for me..."

A long silence follows Bach's trailing statement. His eyes dart around a scene in his mind and his face contorts to the replay of events. As tension shrinks his posture and he sinks into his seat, a firm hand grasps Bach's shoulder and Dretphi speaks calmly with concern on her face. "Do not stress yourself. We understand if it is difficult. Painful to recount."

Bach's attention returns to the warmth of the living room and the supportive group around him. He dons an attempt at a smile and shakes his head with a sigh. "It's okay. It's just a really hard part to remember, because I'm not entirely sure what exactly happened. It feels disjointed and I don't know how to piece it together to make any kind of sense."

His body language loosens up and he vents out tension through a long exhale. "All I'm sure of is that there was a bright flash. Next thing I can remember clearly is waking up the next early morning to the sounds of rescue teams searching the area."

With an attempt at levity, Bach shrugs his shoulders and unfolds his arms out with a smirk. "So, I don't how useful that information is. Well, except don't piss of a five meter tower of black fire burning magical destruction. And well... Run away, if possible."

Sebastian leans forward, cranes his head around, and meets his brother's gaze with a smile. "It's good information. Thanks for telling us, bro. Really. Every bit helps."

Holding her chin by a hand in thought, Aristespha glances over to Bach with a curious perk to her brow. "I remember reading reports stating that narrow spectrum, specialized energy spell does very little to a Nightmare Geist."

Bach turns his head towards Aristespha and slowly nods to confirm. "Yes. I don't think it even felt those spells hit. The disintegration spells and raw, broad spectrum energy attacks did the most harm."

Cideeda shakes her head with disbelief and an astounded grin upon her lips. "I can't believe you picked a fight with one."

After a roll of the eyes at himself, Bach groans at his past self's actions. "That was NOT my plan. But, to be honest, I really didn't have a plan at all. I just felt I had to do something and threw the most dangerous thing I could think of at it."

An amused, proud grin appears on Sebastian's ghostly face. Sotalia narrows her eyes at Bach with quizzical lift of the brow and raps her long fingernails on the table. "A dozen of those disintegration ball spells?"

Bach shrugs awkwardly and briefly grits his teeth to an uncertain grin. "Well, I guess? Maybe a little less? I was too focused on flinging one after another to keep an exact count..."

He pauses a moment, internally replays the words he allowed from his mouth, and winces to resignation as realizes the implications. A devious grin reveals itself upon Sotalia's mouth and she sits back with an air of renewed interest. "That's REALLY intriguing to hear."

Aristespha nods in thought and resumes her conversation. "From the research I've read, that makes sense. The currently held theory is that elder energy can permanently harm a Nightmare Geist, since they were designed and mass produced to neutralize Elder Geists. Accomplished by quite literally charging into contact with them."

Dretphi perks an eyebrow and tilts her head to the side. "They are suicide tacklers? Sacrifice themselves to destroy the target by contact?"

Aristespha nods slowly, rests her arms on the table, and idly plays with her aetherphone. "Exactly. They were an unfortunately effective solution to what was thought to be an invincible defense."

In the moments of idle thoughts afterward, she picks up her phone from the table, angles the display into her view, and taps through a few menus. "So... I know we have some food we could eat here. But in light of recent news, I really want to order in from that multi-cultural buffet place, again."

The rest of the group mentally shelves previous topics and shifts focus to the immediate concern of dinner. Each debates on what to add to the quickly growing order.

Deedri wanders between sections of the kitchen. Rows of neutral colored cabinets encircle the space and stretches of patterned counters tops line the space below with breaks for appliances and the dual basin sink. Deedri's ears perk behind her and adjust to a source somewhere upstairs. She pauses above the kitchen sink after resting a pot in the larger basin and waits. Her ears minutely flick and twitch as they pick out faint voices. Eventually, she releases a long, disappointed sigh, lifts the handle on the faucet, and guides the spout over the pot. She quietly murmurs to herself, while her toe claws dig into the tile floor. "They argue so much..."

With a clawed finger hovering over a paragraph of instructions in a book, she reaches out to the oven and turns the temperature dial down. When the pot fills up halfway, she cuts the water off, lifts the pot, and places it on the electric stove top burner. Navigating around the surrounding space of the kitchen, she sweeps up herbs into a bowl from a cutting board resting upon a counter top, plucks a few roots from plastic bags resting on the bar joining the kitchen to the dining area, and steps over to swing open the refrigerator door to pull out two dimly glowing blue glass flasks. She slides over to the stove top, clicks the knob to the appropriate electric burner and glances behind her to squint at the book. With a confirming nod, she mumbles to herself. "Hmm. Might need a little more protellow fluid extract..."

Trakenthin's head peers over the counter top bar from the other side of the dining table and he watches attentively. He observes with great interest, his idle hand keeping his place within a thick novel. After a few minutes of Deedri darting around the many stations of the encircling kitchen, Trakenthin speaks carefully within a lull in activity with a genuine curiosity. "Did you not finish potion brewing yesterday?"

Deedri stands back up from with a pot lid from a shelf under the oven, and places it on top of its mate. She spins around, blinks in thought, and smiles with a nod. "Yes. I finished brewing potions yesterday. I'm finishing up reagents and other materials today."

Trakenthin slowly acknowledges, blinks his hazel eyes, scratches his and gradually returns his attention to his book. "Oh. Understood."

A prominent series of muffled stomps upon the carpet covered stairs precedes a long growing growl of Tassilda as she rounds the corner of the archway leading to the kitchen. She grimaces with stifling, blue on black eye twitching rage. She stands flexing her long, black nailed hands, and exhales a shaky groan of boiling irritation. "The NERVE of that... CREATURE."

Trakenthin only affords a simple blank stare with a slight lift of the brow to Tassilda. Deedri pivots in place to glance over to Tassilda and keeps stirring a spoon in the contents of the pot. "What's happened?"

Tassilda slowly steps forward, regains her composure by rolling the tension free from her shoulders, and readjusts her tight fitting workout pants and top with a dramatic sigh. "SHE has Chad convinced that somehow I will be able to teach HER anything about the magical arts anytime soon. The only thing that wretched little snake is good at is finding the right beds to keep warm in."

Deedri frowns and shakes her head side to side, and weakly pleads, uncertainty betraying the original intent of her words. "We should at least try to give her a chance?"

Both Trakenthin and Tassilda stare at Deedri incredulously. Deedri's ears droop and she bites her lip as her eyes avert from them. "I'm trying. I like to give everyone a chance, but... She's really making it difficult to do."

Trakenthin shakes his head of short dirty blonde hair and with a slight frown. "Noble intent. Wasted on that one."

Graceful, proper confidence gradually returns to Tassilda and she groans in a mix of sympathy and frustration towards Deedri. "Your efforts are commendable, but I question how long you will be able to keep that attitude. Especially, given that I suspect she is going to overstay her welcome."

Deedri blinks and winces slightly with a twist to the corner her mouth. "What do you mean?"

Tassilda turns her head, tilts her eyes down, and lifts a brow. "Given recent nocturnal activities, I think her internship is going to last longer that any of us like."

With a cringe and a long grumble, Trakenthin growls out his irritation. "I must concur. I have HEARD Chad's approval."

He snorts with narrowed eyes, flips over to the next page in his book, and stares idly at it for a few moments. His lip curls to a sneer of disgust. "I have yet to NOT hear both in recent nights."

Tassilda rests a hand upon her ample chest and closes her eyes with a twist of the head. "You have my most sincere sympathies. I can't even imagine trying to sleep with that going on."

Deedri contorts her mouth in concern, sighs, and glances over to Trakenthin. "I have plenty of medical cotton that works well in the ear for dampening sounds. I know from personal experience... You can have as much as you need."

A sly smile graces Tassilda's mouth and she shifts her weigh with sway of the hips to eye Deedri. "Speaking of things medical... I was curious to what the procedure would be if a member of the team was to experience discomforts of a... Social variety?"

Deedri dons a blank expression as she searches within her mind, flipping through protocols. "After an initial questionnaire, a visual examination, and if necessary a manual inspection. Possibly a few tests to determine more details as to the nature of the ailment. Magical remedies may be needed in extreme cases or to alleviate severe discomfort, but usually a prescription antibiotic or curative compound will handle it."

She rests a curled finger upon her lips, thinks a moment, and continues her response. "Thankfully, there are many potions and creams that the patient can self administer after initial treatment."

An evil grin overtakes Tassilda's lips. She flits her brow at Deedri, rests her hand upon her hip, guides her black hair over a horn, and ices her words with heavy sarcasm. "I'm so glad you are well versed in such procedures. I feel given the interactions between our illustrious leader and our... spirited... intern... Your knowledge may be put to the test."

Deedri pauses from stirring the contents of the pot upon the store top as realization washes a wave of discomfort over her body. Her stare grows distant, her furry ears pull back low, her shoulders tense, and she visibly shudders. After a few moments, she resumes mixing the boiling concoction upon the stove top. "It is my duty to the team to satisfy all medical needs to the best of my ability."

She eyes Tassilda and Trakenthin and sighs. "But, I do sincerely hope certain aspects of my abilities are not put to that particular test."

Deedri's ears flick back towards the stairs and she curiously eyes the archway, puzzling. A faint, nearly transparent shimmering figure darts around Tassilda, quickly moves around the side of the table opposite to Trakenthin, and reaches the sliding glass door. The door shifts open slightly and the figure blurs with activity. An invisible force rolls out onto the backyard and disturbs a long line into the grass. The mass of visual distortion lowers down to the floor, lifts up the white tablecloth, and slips underneath the dining table. Deedri's ears twitch to another source of sound from the stairwell, her eyes widen, and she devotes her full attention to mixing the contents of pot before her.

A series of light, rapid steps cascade down, and Veevi rushes out into the shared kitchen dining area. She glances to Trakenthin studiously reading a book, Tassilda looking over the kitchen, and Deedri preparing a mixture. Brushing her pink hair out of her pink pupil eyes, she scans the rest of the area and spots the open sliding glass door. She puffs up her chest boldly underneath her short length shirt, sways her hips, places her hands upon her short shorts, and proudly struts to the door with a sly smirk on her lips. "If I had my guess..."

Veevi pulls the door open the rest of the way, peers out into the backyard, and excitedly snickers as her eyes follow the trail in the grass. She steps through outside, closes the door behind her, and intensely follows along the path of parted grass. Trakenthin slowly lifts his head from his book, flips it pages down upon the tabletop, and stands up carefully. He steps over to the sliding glass door, inspects it, engages the lock, and slides the vertical blinds to conceal it. He sits down, lifts his book back up, and cracks a dry smirk. Tassilda grins sinister, pivots in place, and strides towards the front door. "I'll get the other door."

The transparent visage rises from underneath the table with a flip of the tablecloth and grows more opaque to reveal Modoran's worried expression. "Gods. I'll be glad when this internship is over. She is a persistent little pain in the ass. I can't even hang out in my own room with her pestering me to teach her how to sneak around."

Trakenthin rolls his eyes, Deedri frowns, and Tassilda flits her brow as she returns through the archway. "About that... We have an interesting theory about that."

Sotalia pulls her lip up into sneer and flicks a finger across the surface of the tablet. The readout on the display casts a flicker of light onto her face as she lays out in the recliner. After a few more swipes through various screens of official text, she releases the tablet onto her stomach and stretches her arms out to the side with a groan. "All these jobs are either boring, annoying, or both so far!"

She rolls her head to the side to gaze over the couch at Cideeda and Dretphi. "You two find anything good?"

Cideeda pulls herself up from a slouch on her pillow to sit upright and glances over her shoulder to Sotalia. "Found a few ruin survey and inspection jobs near that other place we had suspicions of being a Noxian hang out. Might be able to take care of a few jobs there and check out that one location at the same time."

Sotalia angles her tablet up to her view, taps the on screen map with a lift of brow, and brings up a new listing of items upon the screen. "Okay. These looks a bit better."

Dretphi sits opposite to Cideeda on the couch with her arm propped upon her knee, supporting her head with a hand. She squints at a tablet upon the coffee table, cocks her head to the side, and puzzles at the description on the device. "There is a local whelp removal job."

Cideeda twists her lips and briefly sticks her tongue out in disgust. "Pass. They may be pests, but I don't like killing the little guys."

Sotalia's head rocks against the cushion of the couch chair in a rough nod of agreement. "Too cute for me to annihilate with my spells. Now give me some really nasty vermin or slimes, then we can talk."

Dretphi lifts her head up and gazes towards both Cideeda and Sotalia as surprise mixes into her expression. "They want them captured alive. Unharmed."

Both Cideeda and Sotalia exchange glances with Dretphi. Sotalia touches a search button the display and eyes over to Dretphi, her interest piqued. "What's the job number?"

Cideeda presses a few spots on her tablet and waits. Dretphi drags the document down to a large header and reads off the encoded number. "Three six one six dash eight six seven eight."

Seconds later after golden and emerald pairs of eyes scan the literature upon respective tablets, Sotalia speaks up with a childish delight and excitedly squirms in the recliner chair. "Oh. My. Gods! These are fancy whelps! I SO wanted one of these when I was a teenager."

Slowly examining the documented list, Cideeda's brow flits and she stares at the inventory, surprised by the individual descriptions. "Wow! I can see why whoever wants them captured unharmed. If I remember right, these are some expensive breeds. The job pays decently, too."

An amused smile graces Dretphi's lips and she glances over to Cideeda and Sotalia with an air of satisfaction. "Should I bookmark the job?"

Both Sotalia and Cideeda nod in unison as they continue to read the details of the job. Across the room at the dining table next to the kitchen bar, Aristespha, Bach, and Sebastian survey a collection of documents, maps, pictures, and other articles upon the table top. Aristespha hovers a pencil over a spot on the map, taps idly, and ponders, staring at a page of paperwork. "It all checks out. But, I still can't believe it."

Sebastian slowly shakes his head as he floats above the dining table and carefully inspects the spread. "It was a huge operation to create the place and almost as huge to conceal it afterwards. I don't think we would have ever found it unless we got those coordinates from that bunker computer system."

Bach blinks hard and long, lifts his head away from the organized chaos upon the table, and rubs his eyelids. "We printed this much off and there STILL more coming in. It was nice they included an office printer as part of the house rental, but I hope they don't charge per page."

Aristespha pulls back her silvery blue hair over a long, pointed ear, and sighs with a smile and playful eyeroll to Bach. "No, they charge a flat rate per month. But, they may reconsider that after we are done."

The tablet near Aristespha vibrates upon the wooden tabletop which amplifies the rumble. Aristespha taps the screen, reads the notifications, and slides it over to Bach. She leans back into her chair and groans in mild defeat. "Oh gods. Another batch. Could you look through them? I need to focus on what is out here for a bit."

Bach nods and guides the tablet over. He slides the old, necklace and blue ribbon wrapped journal off to the side, and maneuvers through a series of menus on the tablet. "Sure. I'll see if it's anything relevant."

He sorts through the lists of document files, peeking at the contents through previews, and stops upon one large image file. He taps the preview on the screen and it expands the image out to the extents of the display. Bach closely examines the scanned photograph of a team of people lined up in the rows. With a quick gesture to zoom in, he scans from the top through the rows of faces. He reaches the bottom row and ends his search at the right corner. "Hmm, here's a picture of one of the teams..."

His finger drifts near the close button, but recognition boils in his mind and freezes his movement. Familiarity seizes Bach's full attention and his eyes lock onto the people in the bottom, right corner. He enlarges the section more and stares closely, his head lowering close to the picture. He scrutinizes a man, woman, and child. A minute later, he slowly rotates his head to gaze upon the old, necklace and blue ribbon wrapped journal. His eyes widen. He reaches over to lift the blue ribbon in hand and snaps back to the blue ribbon in the child's hair. He squints at the woman and notices faint lines draping from her neck. Bach blinks hard, feels the necklace, and exhales with a stammer. His focus falls upon the child's bright blue scarf. His eyes open fully, his pupils narrow, and he withdraws his head back away from the tablet. Both Aristespha and Sebastian observe Bach confused. Sebastian sinks down lower to Bach's level and questions. "What's wrong, bro?"

Bach raises the tablet display towards Aristespha and Sebastian, and points at the bright blue scarf. Second later, Aristetpha covers her mouth in shock, while Sebastian's visage visibly pales.

-33-

Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia walk on the sidewalk next to a tall brick building rising above the sparse urban center. The group searches around the area. Cideeda's ears flick towards a point in the distance and lead her facing. "I think the park is over there. Sounds like a lot activity."

Aristespha nods quickly to Cideeda, shields the sunlight off her aetherphone with her hand, and squints to read. "You are probably right. We are in front of the city hall, so that should be the right direction. Lord and Lady Valentropen said on the phone they would meet us there."

As the group moves on, Sotalia nearly skips with each step, excitedly fidgets with a sway, and smiles. "I can't believe this is a mission! I never thought anyone would contact the guild to find fancy whelps! Their pictures in the mission brief were so cute."

Sebastian's ethereal voice resonates from the sword at Aristespha's side. "Remember, we have to return them."

Sotalia sighs with a grinning roll of the eyes and waves a playfully dismissive hand while she averts her gaze elsewhere. "I know. I know. We eventually have to return them, but a half hour or so with one won't be too much of a trouble."

A slight smile cracks upon Dretphi's lips and she directs her voice to Sotalia. "The Golden Gale is impressive."

Aiming a picture on her aetherphone at Dretphi, Sotalia smiles wide with a bite of the lip. "I know. But, I still love this Nocturne Nightmare. Just look at those little horns and yellow eyes!"

Bach rolls his shoulders in a stretch and rocks his head slowly shoulder to shoulder with a nonchalant smirk. "Well, I hope I'm not too rusty at baby dragon wrangling."

Sebastian speaks out from the sword with a ghostly laugh. "Bah, after all the times we had to catch Lagi, I think you'll be fine, bro. Though, I remember it being a lot easier when he got bigger."

After a flash of memory crosses Bach's eyes, he blinks back to awareness with a slow shake of the head. "Well, right before his wings grew out to match his body. Then, he started maintaining level flight."

A series of pained chuckles sound out from the sword. "Yeah. Gods. How we didn't get into any more trouble than we did, I will never know, bro."

The group approaches a street intersection, check both ways, and quickly cross to another stretch of sidewalk near ancient, decorative fencing. The long ironwork row twists and turns in intricate patterns, from artistic purpose and eras of neglect. Over the fence, tall green grass unrolls underneath the canopy of gigantic, ancient trees and supports a carpet of bright flowers and landscaping. Next to a large stonework "Centenn Park" sign, a flagstone path branches out into the natural flow of the land and partitions large sections of stonework and alcoves of benches along the way. People travel along the walkway to and from sections the park. The group strolls along the trail, while winds rustle untold numbers of leaves above and sway waves of sun speckled grass below. In a large open, paved area, colorful booths and tents contrast the plain architecture and simple natural surroundings. Small groups wander through the crowds to visit the booths of artists, craftspeople, and performers. Off towards the perimeter of the fanfare, an elder evuukian couple sit on a park bench in the shade. Aristespha spots the couple, moves up to lead the group, and glances back. "That is probably Lord and Lady Valentropen. I'll lead ahead and do the formal greetings. From what I remember, they are the heads of a minor house. We'll see from there."

A silent acceptance spreads through the rest of the group as they hang back. Aristespha checks her attire and appearance over, assumes a proper posture, and gracefully approaches the elder evuukian couple. She grants a small bow, pleasantly recites an elegant series of phrases in a very proper Evuukian dialect, and stands up straight awaiting a response. The elder evuukian man rises from the park bench, his attire radiating proper presence despite business casual appearances. He examines Aristespha carefully with a proud stature, and nods his head with a slight smile. He holds his hand out for the elder evuukian woman and she promptly pulls herself up. She brushes her elegant sun dress off, grants a slight bow to Aristespha, and then smiles appreciatively, grasping hold of Aristespha's hands as she converses quickly. The elder evuukian man notices Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia nearby and lowers his head down next to the woman. He speaks softly and eyes towards the group, motioning his head. The woman blinks to awareness, briefly covers her mouth, and waves in the rest of the group. "Oh my! Where are my manners? Please come over. I just haven't been myself lately. Forgetting my basic courtesies of all things."

Aristespha waits for the rest of the team and then directs the couple's attention. "Lord and Lady Valentropen, this is the rest of my team. Sotalia Feratosia, Dretphi Veranattin, Cideeda Garadra-Deeseeni, and Back Warwick."

Lord Valentropen surveys the team and nods calmly. "I would like to say that I am quite pleased that an accomplished adventuring group as yourselves bid. What was supposed to be a long weekend outing has turned into a troublesome ordeal. My wife and I were here to for a local whelp show. Then, some rouge group decided to release the whelps outside when we were away."

Lady Valentropen enthusiastically replies and gazes excitedly across the group. "We just didn't know what to do! We don't know this area and the only thing that came to mind was filing a quest with the guild. That was quite the experience in itself. I had to explain that I wanted my fancy whelps captured... not... eliminated!"

An eye roll accompanies a muted sigh from Lord Valentropen while he keeps his lips pressed shut. Aristespha presents a calm smile and pats Lady Valentropen's hands in hers. "It is not a typical request. But, we excel with such quests. We will be happy to find your fancy whelps and bring them back to you safely."

Lady Valentropen smiles brightly, lets go of Aristespha's hands, and pivots towards the park bench to search inside a large purse. "Thank you so much. Let me get my tablet. I must show you pictures of my precious little dragons."

Sotalia and Dretphi gather near as Lady Valentropen enthusiastically showcases choice photos, taking time to happily recount traits, mannerisms, and descriptive features. Lord Valentropen sternly sighs and focuses on Aristespha. "While my wife goes into great detail about about her pets, I have taken precautions for such a situation. I paid for magical markers and electronic tracking collars. I have the relevant information for you and your group."

Aristespha nods with a confident, professional smile, and gestures towards Cideeda. "I and the other mages in our group can handle the magical tracking. Cideeda is our technical specialist and should be able to use the tracker information."

Cideeda steps up next to Aristespha and both discuss details with Lord Valentropen. As the two groups converse, Bach drifts his gaze out into the vicinity of the park. His attention wanders over to a gathering of children sitting on the brickwork underneath the shade of a gigantic tree. He notices an elaborate booth that resembles a small stage in front of the children. Bach reads a fancifully lettered title upon the booth.

"Brento and Kayleedi's Puppets Present the Past"

The stage curtains split apart with the sound of clacking wooden rings and a pull strings. A dark mist billows out from the back drop and rolls over the stage, fading away. Two glowing, blood red eyes pierce through the foggy veil and a sharp, jagged edged mask slowly pushes forward past the stage. A black sleeved arm directs the menacing glare of the mask upon the audience, who react in playful fight with some failing to hide their honest fear. A woman's voice dramatically announces. "Brento and Kayleedi's Puppets Present, The Scourge of Dark Lords!"

The mask retreats back into the dispersing mist as the curtains close. The woman's voice speaks up over faint noises of activity behind the scenes. "We start back in the time just after the Abstract Prism was created!"

The curtains part to reveal a mystical, colorful background and a hovering, slowly spinning prism. An orb of bright light glows behind the prism, and rainbows from the refracted light project out in the area to the delight of the audience. A detailed wooden puppet stands triumphantly near the base of the prism. His arms move smoothly as he adjusts his wizardly hat and brushes off his finely tailored robes. A man's voice proudly speaks. "It took the combined efforts of thousands of mages, an untold amount of Elder magic power, tremendous sacrifice of magical potential..."

The puppet mage turns to the audience for a fourth wall aside with an exaggerated eye-rolling head gesture. "And A LOT of bickering about how the whole Foundation Construct thing should work... Yeesh. You would think I was trying to get them to agree upon what flavor of ice cream to get."

Children not hypnotized by the sparkling prism snicker. The puppet returns to admire the prism and his arm unfurls out to the prism. "Surely, with this triumphant device we shall bring forth a new age of magic energy to everyone and no longer have to fear the terrible abuses of Elder magic that so plagued us to this point."

Another puppet hops from the side of the stage and moves close to the other. She taps her hand to her chin in thought towards the audience. "About that..."

She pivots to face the mage with a flare of her elaborate sorceress dress. "What are we going to do about the Elder magical energy already imbued in the world, power focuses, creatures, artifacts, and well a lot of other things?"

The mage pauses stiffly, slowly spins in place with an arm out to gesture a point that never comes to his mouth. He moves his hand to roughly scratch the back of his neck as his previous confidence leaks out. "Uh... We'll... Uh... Oh... Um..."

He cocks his head to the side and plainly states. "We REALLY need to do something about that!"

The sorceress repetitively nods dramatically in return, as the audience laughs. The curtains draw back together, the female voice rises above the sound of shuffling in the back. "Over the years since, many have sought out the tremendous power of Elder magic for their own reasons."

The stage opens back up to a plain backdrop and a fanciful puppet rises up at center focus. A small spotlight shines on him and highlights his gaudy crown and flowing robes. The woman continues her narration. "The first was a former king, deposed and driven mad by what he had lost. He was the first to don the title Dark Lord. He became known as Dark Lord Hellstrom."

Dark Lord Hellstrom boldly puffs out his puppet chest, waves an arm out to the audience with dominant male voice. "I will use my former wealth of enchanted artifacts to not only regain my kingdom... But, I will make THE WORLD my subjects and lead them as I feel they should!"

The female voice speaks up with a tongue in cheek tone. "His timing wasn't the best."

Two groups of mages descend down from above and hover from nearly invisible strings with dour, stern glares upon Hellstrom. After boastfully preening himself to the audience, Hellstrom notices the gathering above and meekly admits. "Oh, right. I totally forgot all the mages that created the Abstract Prism are still alive and... Still are really powerful... Uh oh."

He comically dashes around the stage in a panic as the mages fly after him, eventually escaping off stage. After a few moments laughter from the children, another figure moves from off stage to the center and stands proudly. The woman narrates. "Seeing the failures of Dark Lord Hellstrom, Dark Lord Strad worked in the shadows, quietly converting people to his cause. He used strange Elder magics stored in his ancestral castle in attempts to extend the lives and powers of himself and his followers... at the cost of the lives of others."

A pale skinned evuukian puppet rises, unfurls his cape draped arms out, and pans a hard stare out into the audience. "I and my coven will continue on forever and guide this world from the shadows."

In backdrop, pairs of small glowing eyes glimmer into existence. A few average puppets move near and dramatically fall out of view when Dark Lord Strad directs his hand to them. A faint trail of light streams from each fallen puppet and collects within Dark Lord Strad. "A few peasant lives is a small price to pay."

The narrator's voice chimes in with an unamused tone. "The peasants didn't agree. Neither did the many bands of adventurers hired by the peasants."

The eyes retreat away and cutouts of groups of peasants with pitchforks and torches march towards Strad while adventurers descend from above. Strad acts out a dramatic death scene before falling out of sight with everyone else. After some behind the scenes activity, two puppets appear in the shadows to either stage side and the woman's voice calls out. "Many more Dark Lords would try to rise to power, but not all Dark Lords started out with evil intentions."

A small spot light shines down upon a fvalian woman puppet and the narrator elaborates. "Dark Lord Reevani wanted to help the ruined environment of her home land..."

Dark Lord Reevani cheerfully addresses the children. "I just want to make my home pleasant and green again..."

The spotlight shifts to a dark red and Dark Lord Reevani claws out her fingers with a menacing grin. "But it seems I HAVE to make EVERYONE STOP DESTROYING IT... By destroying THEM."

The spotlight returns to normal and slides over to the other puppet, as Dark Lord Reevani falls out of view. The newly lit emin woman puppet tosses her long hair back over her fanciful horns and elegantly waves a hand out to the crowd. "I, Dark Lord Decimatala, just want to be the best mage in the world and further our understanding of magic."

Her eyes flicker red and the puppet smiles with oozing evil intent. "It's just shame that NO ONE seems to understand that they SHOULD NOT get in MY WAY."

The spotlight dims, the Dark Lord Decimatala puppet drops out of view, and a new puppet rises up in the center. The woman voice puzzles out loud to the audience. "Then, there are those whose motives remain unknown and continue to operate in mystery to us all..."

A directed light fall upon the center puppet, the head lifts up to show an iconic mask bordered by a hood. The children gasp and stir as recognition takes hold. Bach freezes and his eyes widen to full attention upon the mask. Chorused whispers emerge from the audience to declare the Dark Lord's name. Noxian. As the masked puppet remains on stage, the prism rises up into the background briefly with the bright white light behind it. The prism lowers back down and the woman questions out loud. "What drives these people to seek Elder magics?"

The male voice presents another query. "Did they start with evil intent?"

The woman replies with another question. "Does having so much power just lead people down such malicious paths?"

An uneasy wave squirms through Bach. Without missing a beat, the man's voice presents another theory. "Or does Elder magic now corrupt those who wields it so thoroughly that you eventually become a Dark Lord?"

Bach winces and remains very quiet as his eyes stare down into himself searching for something. The woman narrator triumphantly speaks out, as adventurer puppets spring forth from all corners of the stage and charge the Dark Lord Noxian puppet. The scene pause and the woman narrates loudly, triumphantly. "Whatever may the be case, there will ALWAYS be heroic adventurers that will answer the call and defend all us from The Scourge of the Dark Lords!"

The curtains close up to the cheers of the children, applause of the parents nearby, and the quiet commentary of passersby joining the audience. From the sides of the booth, a man and woman fvalaian hop out. Both wear colorful outfits and grin with showmanship flair. The woman perks orange-red furred ears, sways her orange, white-tipped bushy tail, and tilts her head to the side, settling her long ginger hair. "I'm Kayleedi!"

The man stands proper with a faux dignified air about him. He bows forward, letting his short, dark gray hair shift forward, wags his silvery fluffy tail, and waves his gray furred ears. "I'm Brento!"

The two ready themselves, glances over at each other with a nod, and start quickly gesturing with speedy incantations. Both release magical energies simultaneously, the stage curtains swing open to the various puppets used in show taking bows, waving at the audience, and making a presence. The stage closes back up and Brento and Kayleedi take a final bow before waving to the crowd. As the audience disperses the two meet and greet, and enthusiastically interact with everyone. Parents and children, guided by parents, donate money into a tip box, which Brento and Kayleedi excitedly demonstrate their appreciation. Bach blinks back to awareness to a familiar set of claw points on his arm. Cideeda lifts a brow as she releases Bach's arm. "Hey, let me see your phone for a minute, need to get the tacker information in it."

Bach reaches into his pocket, retrieves his phone, and hands it to Cideeda. "Oh yes, sorry. Just spaced out there."

A sly smile graces Cideeda's lip and she snorts with a shake of the head. "Don't hide it, you were watching the puppet show."

Bach shrugs with an awkward smirk and sighs. "You got me."

Cideeda grins with a wink to Bach as she taps through various menus on Bach's phone. "It was a cute show. I caught bits of it after I got the tracker info from Lord Valentropen."

She pushes a hand on Bach's back and rotates him around towards Aristespha and Sotalia. "You'll probably need to go over there, they're discussing the magic marks on the whelps. Probably something you need to be part of."

Bach nods in agreement and walks over toward Aristespha and Sotalia.

Along a row of small brick townhouses, Sotalia strolls down the wide sidewalk next to the access road as the wind rustles the leaves of the greenery overtaking the area. She holds up her aetherphone, squints at a fluctuating bar display, and lifts a brow. Slowing to a stop, she glances around the vicinity, eyeing the seclusive spots in the nooks of the building architecture and crannies within the trees and between the bushes. She places the phone into a pants pocket, rolls her shoulders in a stretch, and closes her eyes. Gradually she lifts her arm up and pans her open palm in a scan of the area. As her hand aims towards an alley, she pauses and cocks her head to the side with a confident smirk. Moments later, a loud metallic crash rings out and sounds of something digging in debris prompt Sotalia to spring her eyes open. She rushes towards the corner of a wall framing the alley and peeks down the corridor. In the midst of scattered piles of junk and strewn trash, a black scaled whelp perches itself upon the rim of a large dumpster and digs through the garbage. He briefly scratches at his collar before resuming his inspection of the bin. Sotalia smiles slyly, perks her brow, and mutters under her breath and the din of junk crashing upon the pavement. "Hello, Nocturne Nightmare."

The Nocturne Nightmare leans forward into the dumpster, carefully searching among the refuse. It sniffs and snorts, occasionally grasping something within it's front paws before it flings it out of its way. Back claws grip the edge of the large metal container tightly and its pair of wings stir to keep balance. Sotalia quietly slides out into the gap between the walls of the alley, raises her arms, and focuses her full attention upon the whelp. With graceful, purposeful gestures, she slowly mouths out incantations as flows of magical energy stir around her body. An almost imperceptible warping of energy gradually stretches out from her and closes the distance to the whelp. The Nocturne Nightmare lifts his head up briefly, munches on an extremely old, plastic wrapped sponge cake, and licks the creme filling before resuming its dumpster dive. As the barely visible field envelopes the black scaled, horned whelp, Sotalia grins triumphantly and narrow her eyes with a confident lift of an eye brow. "Gotcha."

The Nocturne Nightmare's body drifts upwards which surprises the whelp. It attempts to latch onto the dumpster rim with both pairs of paws, but the claws only scrape off the smooth rolled edges. The whelp attempts to flap its wings to escape but all attempts to propel itself fail while it drifts down the alley towards the opening. The forces upon it rotate and right it to face Sotalia as maintains concentration and gestures to reel the critter in. The creature glides in front of Sotalia and stops within a meter to float helplessly in front of her. Sotalia smiles happily at it and raises the pitch of her voice with a sweet tone. "Oh, hello Urivennotropalin! That's a really pretty name your daddy gave you. How about you be a nice little dragon and come with me back to your mommy and daddy. If you are good, we'll stop by the market and get treats."

Nocturne Nightmare whelp, Urivennotropalin, narrows his yellow eyes, snarls up his nostrils, and rights his head back. His wings flare out to reveal the intricate designs upon the just over meter wingspan. He bares his sharp teeth, tilts his head to prominently display his elaborate main pair of horns, and holds up his front clawed paws towards Sotalia. With a puff of the chest, he draws in lung fulls of air. He breathes out a loud growling roar with a slowly shake of the head. The high pitch and small size of the whelp completely disarms the terrifying display of draconic power. Sotalia's jaw drops as she cups her hands over her her mouth and nose in an adoring gasp. She admiringly gazes upon the whelp and squirms in absolutely delight before reaching both hands out for the whelp. "Oh. My. Gods. You are absolutely adorable! That was SO CUTE! I don't know if I'll be able to give you back!"

Urivennotropalin blinks in sheer utter confusion and cocks his head to the side trying to understand the opposite of his expectations. His attention returns to the situation just as Sotalia's long, black fingernails scratch upon the undersides of his chin. He attempts to growl defiantly, but it falters away to a sputtering, bubbling purr as each delightful scratch lulls him to comfortably close his eyes. Sotalia grins ear to ear with a slight bite of lip as Urivennotropalin follows her hands. "OH! Your mommy was right. You are such a big baby when you get your scratches."

Sotalia guides Urivennotropalin onto her chest and shoulders. He melts onto her under the constant attention. She continues to pet and scratch the whelp to his delight, and carries him out of the alleyway back in the street. "Oh, I am SO spoiling with some treats from that market."

In an empty, abandoned field, Bach puzzles at the readings upon his phone and slowly pivots the area, scanning around. He finds nothing but an open field shadowed by passing clouds, an overgrown treeline that weaves through an ancient chain link fence, and a solitary, rusted metal shed. He stops his gaze upon the shed, closes his eyes, and reopens them to a blue light. He places his phone away and nods his head in self agreement, eye dimming back to normal. He walks towards the shed and avoids various noisy pitfalls littering the path along the way. When notices the crude, old lock upon the shed door, a child's voice calls. "W-w-who are you and why are you here?!"

Bach pauses and darts his glance around searching for the source. A few seconds later, three middle school aged children leave the concealment of the treeline underbrush and position themselves guarding the door of the shed. Bach shifts his eyes between them. An emin girl with small horns and short, brilliant green hair addresses Bach. "Who are you and why are you here?"

The tall grath boy and tall human girl summon up their resolve and stand quietly to either side of the emin girl. Bach lifts a confused and puzzled brow at the group, shrugs to himself with an awkward tug to the corner of his mouth, and sighs. "I'm an adventurer hired to find some lost fancy whelps. Have you seen any colorful whelps that match these pictures?"

Bach retrieves his phone, taps on the screen, and presents a series of pictures to the children. The images of the fanciful creatures capture their attention. But upon a particular picture of green and brown scaled whelp, blatant recognition reminds them of their duty and they muster wavering but stern stares. A slight smirk graces the corner of Bach's mouth and peeks at the picture to confirm. "I see. I don't suppose you've seen the Viridian Forest Racer?"

The emin girl's green on black eyes glance between her two friends and she carefully answers. "We have... seen it in the area."

Bach nods with a growing smile and swipes through the phone gallery to show a picture of Lord and Lady Valentropen with the Viridian Forest Racer. "That's great news! If you could tell me where he is I'll be able to get him back to his owners."

The children each examine the picture upon the phone and a wave of guilt washes over them. The emin girl puffs up, glares at Bach, and holds out a hand. "I want to see your guild ID! If you are a real adventurer, you should have one!"

Bach tilts his head to the side at the defiant outburst, reaches into his pocket to pull out his wallet, plucks his guild ID card out, and places it into the awaiting hand of the emin girl. The three children draw in close to squint and inspect the document. The human girl looks over to the emin girl with reluctant acceptance. "Uh... It looks legit."

The grath boy perks a brow and eyes Bach inquisitively. "Intern?"

Bach sighs with a shrug. "Long story."

The emin girl returns the ID to Bach and bites her lip in a mix of frustration and moral conflict. Bach shakes his head with a smile. "He's in the shed, isn't he?"

Her mouth opens to contradict, but she agrees with the statement. "Yes. But how did you know?"

Bach presents his phone again and flips to a screen with a signal strength indicator. "He's got a radio collar on him and there's a magical mark on him, too."

With a heavy sigh in sync with the disappointment of the others, the emin girl pulls out a key from her shirt pocket and sadly unlocks the lock upon the door. "I guess he should go back to his home. We found him wandering around hungry and thirsty. We've been giving him water and feeding him..."

The door swings open to cast a brighter light inside the dim, rust ventilated shed. The everyone shocks at the scene before them. Upon a bed of pellet animal feed scattered all over shed floor with scraps of packaging littering the area, a green and brown scaled whelp lays belly up, wings out motionless. Fright grips the children and guilt seizes the emin girl. "Oh no! We just got the feed because we heard that's what whelps eat and I-I-..."

As tears well up in the distraught children's eyes, Bach steps forward, kneels down next to the whelp, and narrows a curious eye at the critter. He notices a slow rhythmic motion of breathing, quirks a brow, and pokes the full belly of the whelp. The whelp releases a shrill belch, squirms upon the bed of feed, and nuzzles his nose into the pile. His tongue lazily wanders out to drag a few more pellets into his maw, and sounds of slow crunching follow. Bach rolls his eyes with a shake of head and grins over the shoulder at the puzzled children. "Dont worry, he's fine. He just over ate and fell asleep. Reminds me of my friend's dragon when he was little."

The grath boy watches the whelp squirm uncomfortable upon the pellet pile and directs his concern to Bach. "He is uncomfortable. Can we help him?"

Bach glances back to the whelp and nods with a smile. "Sure. He probably has A LOT gas trapped in his stomach."

He gently rolls the whelp over, folding back his wings and guiding his idly waving legs. "So, who wants to learn how to belch a dragon?"

The children gather around excitedly as Bach carefully lifts the lazy whelp up, patting the whelp's tight belly. "Don't worry. Everyone will get a turn. There's plenty of gas to get out him."

Hidden in the bushes along a disused access road, Cideeda and Dretphi peer out and alternate stares between a partially open candy bar and a pair of whelps intently observing the candy bar from the safety of a high tree branch. Cideeda leans close to Dretphi's ear and whispers cautiously. "Get ready. I think the red one is going to try for it."

Dretphi nods, glances down at her hands as she sorts through the mesh of a throwing net, and narrows her eyes in thought. "Understood. Still curious as to why they are this cooperative. Usual whelps are competitive."

Cideeda's furry ears flick and adjust to series of sounds emanating from the tree top. "It is strange they aren't nipping at each other to figure out who gets first pick of the food. And, it's really weird they haven't left that tree after we spotted them."

A flash of red peeks through the gaps of the foliage and a crimson whelp launches off the branch down towards candy bar. It flaps hard to a stop and lands short of the candy bar. It scans the area with its shiny red eyes and creeps closer to the treat with each pass. After a few seconds, it lowers its head down and contentedly sniffs the chocolate covered bar deeply. A series purring barks call out from the woods and the crimson whelp responds similarly. Dretphi curls her arm around her side with the net draping in hand and focus upon the candy bar consuming whelp. Cideeda maintains a vigilant watch and holds her hand up. The moment the turns its head away from Cideeda and Dretphi's direction, Cideeda's hand drops. "Now."

Dretphi flings forth the net with a masterful spin upon the last moment of release. The net spread out wide as it lofts upwards above the target. The crimson whelp lifts his head up to peer around its horizontal surroundings, but fails to check straight above. The net splashes down on top of the whelp. The moment it registers the weight of the net, it attempts to fly away in a panic flurry of shrieks and flops upon the dirt. Cideeda grins confidently and glances over to one of two cages. "Nice! I'll get the cage ready. You hoist and deposit, I'll release and lock."

A loud shrill, angry screech echoes into the area and glints of gold sparkle through green of the tree top leaves. Fast rhythmic rushes of air quickly bellow and a four winged golden whelp jets down next to the crimson whelp. Dretphi and Cideeda exchange glances and both stare out, puzzling at the situation. The two whelp trade chirps and purrs, and investigate the net. Dretphi tilts her head to the side and her eyes process a thought in her mind. "The Golden Gale came to rescue the Crimson Raider?"

Cideeda blinks in short-lived astonishment that flashes over to irritation. "Shit! They're trying to bite through the net!"

Dretphi and Cideeda both quickly grab cages and rush out to the two whelps. The Golden Gale hisses and strafes to block off access to the Crimson Raider. Cideeda and Dretphi maintain a tense stand off with the Golden Gale while the Crimson Raider gnaws on the tough fibers of the net. Cideeda eyes Dretphi and gestures with her claw tipped fingers. "I'll distract, you secure."

With a quick nod, Dretphi circles gradually away from Cideeda. The Golden Gale bounces its glare between the two, until Cideeda snatch the border of the net and tugs it sharply. The Golden Gale full attention bears down upon Cideeda and its snap its mouth at her swiftly dodging hands. Cideeda rapidly reaches in a constant barrage of attempts to grab the net, avoiding the fast nips of the gold-scaled whelp. The Golden Gale continues to feverishly defend against each assault upon the net for tense seconds. It stops to its surprise when a firm but gentle hand prevents its mouth from opening, and a strong arm wrap around to tightly press its wings against the torso of a grath woman. Dretphi lifts the golden creature up and away from the fray, as it helplessly waves it's paws out into the air with a great deal of shock in its eyes. Cideeda gathers the ends of the net, props a cage door side up, opens the door, quickly lowers the netted Crimson Raider inside, and closes the cage door. She carries another cage over to Dretphi and the two lead the Golden Gale inside. The two breath out and vent their tensions with laughing sighs. Cideeda double-checks the locks on the cages and chuckles to herself. "Well, not exactly what I had planned, but I'll take it!"

Dretphi nods with a few breaths and concern directs her narrowed gaze to the unhappily barking whelps. "There is something wrong. I do not believe they are acting normal."

Cideeda kneels down between the two cages and examines the whelps as they peer out and scratch their cages towards their original tree. "I have to agree. This isn't right."

Dretphi stands up, walks over towards the base of the tree, and squints upward. "Something is there. Could you climb up?"

With a confirming nod and smile, Cideeda moves over to the awaiting Dretphi, places a foot in Dretphi's interlocked hands, and rides the boost up along the trunk until she dig her claws into the bark. She continues to climb up the tree, surveying each level of branches on her way up to a collection leaves and sticks. After a few more pulls, her head crests above the rough nest. She gazes inside with a smile and laughs down to Dretphi. "We're going to need to a rope and padded bags. We've got eggs."

Between tall brick buildings along a sidewalk, Aristespha strolls down past store fronts and surveys the goods present in the display windows. As she rounds the corner, she looks down the extra wide sidewalk to fenced section in front of a business, stops walking forward, and places a hand on a hip with a smirk. "Hmm, I think we found one, Sebastian"

Sebastian's ethereal voice resonates from the sword. "Really, dear? I didn't hear the phone beep. Did you sense the magical marker?"

Aristespha sways her hip to the side, glances around briefly, and taps the sword at her side. "It's clear, pop out and see."

The ghostly visage of Sebastian forms next to Aristespha and he follows the direction her sight line ahead. He narrows his eyes, reads a sign taped to a metal railing door, and snorts out chuckle. "Huh. I guess so."

A gentle gust of wind flutters the cardboard sign against the fencing.

"Cafe Clarks still OPEN, so come inside! Outside closed due to miserable little flying fucker! - Frustrated Management"

Sebastian's visage fades and drifts back in towards the sword. As Aristespha moves forward, she retrieves her aetherphone, taps up a signal indicator, and stares up near the roof tops of the buildings with a faint violet glow in her eyes. She reaches the entrance into Cafe Clarks and inspects the daily specials upon a decorative chalkboard as a mischievous grin graces her lips. "Ooo... They have quite the selections of teas. I wonder..."

A bell rings out from above the entry door and an apron wearing evuukian woman server holds the door open. "Hey! Welcome to Clarks Cafe. I'm afraid the patio area is closed right now. The sky terror is still loose."

Aristespha lifts a curious brow at the woman, navigates through a few menus, and reveals a picture of sky blue scaled, white plated, whelp with a prominently pointed nose cone and peach wing membranes. "Does it look like this?"

The server eyes widen sharply and she briefly snarls her upper lip. "That's the little shit... Oh, pardon my manners. He's been terrorizing our customers when they are trying to enjoy our pastries and drinks."

A man's voice from inside calls out. "And that bastard have been stealing anything magical that isn't nailed down!"

The serving woman sighs and points up to the roof top of a nearby building. "He's up there right now. Watching. Waiting. We're hoping he'd moves on soon..."

She pauses in thought and smiles eagerly. "Wait! Are you here to get rid of him?"

Aristespha nods as her bright violet eyes focus upon the blue scaled whelp perched up on the roof top. "Yes. There's a few that escaped. This one is a Sky Lancer variety of fancy whelp. I need to capture him."

She thinks a moment and looks around the server to call inside. "He's been stealing magical objects?"

A chorus of people confirm and list the many trinkets and larger items. Aristespha nods, gestures to the server, and lifts the latch on the fence gate. "Follow me and act like you are seating me."

The evuukian woman follows along, going through all the motions with Aristespha responding appropriately. When Aristespha sits down and the server leaves after placing down a menu, Aristesha calls out to the server. "Excuse, where is your bathroom?"

The serving evuukian woman blinks in confusion and points inside. "This way."

Aristespha stand back up and removes the sword and scabbard from her belt. She lays it down upon the table top, pulls out the blade enough to purposefully glint the sun bright up towards the whelp, and concentrates her purple glowing eyes upon it while holds it. A devious smile draws across her lips and a low ethereal chuckle resonates from the sword. Aristespha joins the evuukian woman inside and waits with her back against the wall near the door. "Let's see if he is... Interested."

Mere seconds later, wind cutting wings descend down upon the table top. The whelp keeps his single pair of wings out and steps cautiously around on his only pair of legs. His silvery, greedy eyes focus upon the blade and his claws clamp down upon the scabbard. With fast, powerful flaps from his meter wingspan, he manages to barely lift the scabbard off the table. The Sky Lancer momentarily glances down at the lack of progress and looks up to see Sebastian's ghostly, flaming form grinning menacingly at him. "OOGITY BOOGITY!"

The whelp shrieks in terror, drops the sword in panic, and flurries its wings opposite of Sebastian, right in the path of an awaiting Aristespha. A wave of energy launches force from Aristespha's gloved hand and envelopes the whelp in an immobilizing field. The Sky Lancer remains nearly motionless, breathing freely with eyes darting around in bewilderment. Aristespha calmly walks up to the frozen critter and finishes a series of incantations with a simple tap upon his bony nosecone. Long tiny snores sound out from the whelp as it remains stuck in the air. Aristespha continues walking to her previous table, slides the sword fully back into the scabbard, taps out a quick message upon her phone, and seats herself to read the menu. Sebastian drifts down to a seat next to her. The server steps around the sound asleep whelp and bows slightly to Aristespha and Sebastian. "I've been informed by my manager that anything you... Two want is on the house today."

In the midst of stunned silence and customers wandering back out to the patio, Aristespha nonchalantly points out something on the menu. "While I wait for the rest of my group to secure the whelp, I very much would love to sample your Briley Black tea."

Dusk dims the sun's orange-red light upon closing market booths and people clearing the park. An emin girl, grath boy, and human girl run happily in the open fields, drawing colorful trails of magical energy from each of their wooden wands. Sotalia scratches Urivennotropalin one last time as he rests cradled upon Lord Valentropen shoulder. "I'll miss you."

Lady Valentropen shakes her head at a bloated, gassy Viridian Forest Racer resting in disgust of itself inside his cage. She sighs in disappointment and mutters a phrase in a high dialect of evuukian. She steps up and glares down at the Sky Lancer, who shamefully lowers his head. Finally, she smiles warmly to the Golden Gale and Crimson Raider together in a cage over a cloth nest of their eggs. Lady Valentropen graciously bows to Cideeda and Dretphi. "Thank you so much for being so thorough! I knew those two have been very sweet to each other, but I didn't know their relationship was that far along."

Aristespha presents a few pieces of paperwork to Lord and Lady Valentropen. "I know this is your first time using the guild system, so I'll be happy to guide you through the process to close out a quest upon completion."

Bach's attention drifts out and he spots Brento and Kayleedi closing up their stage for the night. He casually wanders over, sees the donation box, and places some money inside. Brento and Kayleedi notice the gesture. Brento bows gentlemanly. "Thank you, kind sir."

Kayleedi happily bounces and smiles. "Thank you. Since you're here, we are always looking to improve our shows. Do you have any suggestions?"

Bach thinks a moment and smiles at both Brento and Kayleedi. "Not really. It was really well done. But... there's one detail you need to update..."

Brento and Kayleedi together lean in with ears perking for Bach's next statement. Bach keeps his smile and lifts his brow in thought. "Noxian doesn't wear the mask anymore."

-34-

Off to the side of the single story ranch style house in training next to steel plate targets, Dretphi stands out in a clear, grassy area under the shade of a tree. She carefully lifts a long, broad, two-handed sword up, readies herself, and performs a series of swings, cuts, and lunges. The drills are slow, purposeful and allow her body to feel the entire motion of the weapon. She mentally reviews every movement of the sword and herself, occasionally pausing to correct a misstep or adjust a path. After many minutes of consecutive actions of her training regime, she slows to a stop, lowers the blade down to rest down on the ground, and frees a hand from the handle. She wipes the sweat off her tan forehead, leading a number of blonde braids back over her ears and shoulders. She rolls her shoulders in a stretch, and leans her upper body out forward, back, and side to side to flex free tension. She gazes back down at old two-handed sword. As she rolls the blade, a beam of sunlight through the tree's shading canopy highlights the many nicks, scratches, chips, and dents. In the midst of the scars of many battles, flashes of sun reflect inside faint series of orderly, tiny grooves throughout the blade.

A mixture of frustration and determination fills Dretphi's face and she tightens her grip upon the two-handed sword's handle with both hands. She hoists it up, points out angling upwards, straightens her posture, and closes her steely gray eyes. With brief contortions of her focused expression, she stands still and silent, directing her attentions solely somewhere within. Seconds later with momentarily twists of her face, a faint trickle of red glow flows via the many small channels upon the blade. As the crimson energy travels from the handle up the blade, branches light up from the central pathways pour out on the dull edge of the worn weapon. Dretphi breathes carefully, slowly, with the lift and lower of her large chest. The red magical energy approaches the middle region of the sword, and progress slows tremendously. The years of untold damage upon the physical blade hinders the progress of flow and often halts it completely. Dretphi strains her expression and curls her upper lip in sneering flits. She grimaces and winces her eyes as the magical flow stymies to a deadlock against the many obstacles. Her grip fluctuates between tensing and relaxing as the strain of effort contends with need of calm focus. Bach's voice shifts from apologetic to curious behind her. "Hey! Sorry for taking so long to get out here, Sotalia had a question- Uh, what are you doing?"

Dretphi spooks and her body shudders to attention. Her focus crashes back into the awareness of her surroundings and her posture snaps rigidly straight in surprise. The red flow retreats back with wisps of stray energy venting from the edges, dissipating into the air. Within moments of awkward silence, Bach's eyes scrutinize the blade carefully and meet Dretphi's fading surprise when she glances over. "Is that a flow blade?"

Dretphi blinks off to her normal calm with hints of embarrassment lingering as she smiles slightly. "Oh. Yes. An old flow blade."

Bach steps closer to the side of the blade as Dretphi holds it up. He examines the weapon with a growing grin and interest. "Wow! I didn't know you had one of these. It's been awhile since I've seen one. Last time I remember seeing one, it was way back in school."

He glances up to Dretphi with excitement filling his smile. "And the collection they had on display was locked, sealed, and guarded by some really humorless people. I've actually never been this close to one."

Dretphi's smile at Bach widens with a sense of pride. She looses her grip on handle, moves a hand to support the end of the blade, and presents it level to show off. As Bach inspects it with respectful restraint, Dretphi's smile warms. She rolls, rotates, and angles the sword following the cue of Bach's interest. Seconds of investigation later, Bach nods and stands back with a smile. "That's pretty amazing thing to have. The way they are constructed and the materials used are fascinating. The non-magical magical weapon."

Dretphi delightfully nods and gazes upon the scarred, two-handed sword. "It was my mother's first flow blade. Flow weapons are her favorites. She gifted me this to practice with."

Bach perks an inquisitive brow to Dretphi with a mischievous smirk. "Despite the wear and tear, I bet it still could do some serious damage when charged up. So... could you...?"

He eyes the sword briefly and glances expectantly to Dretphi. "If it's not too much to ask?"

Dretphi bites her lip, rests an embarrassed expression upon the sword in her hand, and sighs sadly as pride falters. "It. Is."

Bach blinks blankly and stumbles his expression awkwardly to a sincerely apologetic tone. "Oh! Uh... I'm sorry. I didn't know and I apologize for bringing it up and-"

Dretphi grips onto the sword, frees the hand supporting the blade, and pauses Bach's rambling by waving a hand. "No. It is nothing bad. It is..."

With a self-reflective roll of the eyes, she groans with frustration and relays her admission. "A personal deficiency of ability."

She catches the careful confusion upon Bach's face and sighs with a weak smile as her tall stature shrinks slightly. "I have troubles flowing the blade."

Bach nods as his concern fades and he dons a supportive smile. "Oh. Okay. I actually might be able to help you there. If I'm not overstepping any boundaries."

Dretphi's smile perks up and she shakes her head. "You would not. I have not explored outside help before..."

A smirk graces the corner of Bach's lips and he lifts a brow. "Proving something to yourself?"

Dretphi grumbles and nods slowly in acknowledgment of the truth. Bach rocks his head sympathetically, shrugs his shoulders, and tugs at the corner of his mouth as he glances down at ground. "I understand. I may be able to help, but I first need to get an idea of how you use a flow blade."

He lifts his head back up to notice Dretphi presenting the sword handle first to him. Bach cautiously grabs hold of the two-handed sword with both hands, and hoists up the mass of the blade. His body slightly teeters in a sloppy attempt to find balance and Dretphi almost catches him with a guarding hand. Bach tightly smiles, chuckles at his own expense, and steadies himself. Dretphi stands off to his and demonstrates a proper large sword wielding stance. Bach roughly mimics the posture and position of the arms. Dretphi quickly averts her gaze, forces a humored grin off the face, and watches Bach with a supportive, calm expression. Bach draws a long deep breath, exhales slowly, and closes his eyes. Moments pass in silence. A flow of red rises up the blade. Crimson energy branches out through the tiny channels and ducts, and wicks out tthrough the blade. The magical energy reaches a quarter way and eases the pace. Bach quirks a brow, cocks his head to the side, and contorts his mouth. Dretphi watches, swaying between excitement and intrigue, as the red flow retracts from the edges of sword and purposefully moves down specific pathways. The energy encounters different nicks, scratches, dents, and chips and they visibly impede the flow. Bach grimaces as his magical surveying continues. After a minute, the flow retreats back to the hilt and Bach relaxes with a flutter of his eyes. "Okay! Wow! That was NOT easy."

Dretphi pulls her head back slightly and blinks in honest surprise. "You had difficulty?"

Bach nods and glances over to Dretphi, eyeing the sword. "Oh gods, yes! The wear and tear makes it tricky, but... Damn... The channel material it has is NOT the easiest to get through. The resistance isn't the worst. But, the capacitance you have to overcome is SIGNIFICANT."

He loosens his grip of the sword, shifts his hands to support it by the flat of the blade, and offers it back to Dretphi. "Your mother certainly gave you a challenge right there. I'm certain you can do it. But... Gods... That's like teaching someone to climb using sheer cliff face."

Dretphi grips a strong hand onto the handle of the sword, hoists the tip upwards, and eyes the upright blade briefly with a slight sneering frown. "That is a..."

Her steely gray eyes search her mind and settle upon the specific term to express. "VERY... appropriate description of her teaching style."

Noticing Dretphi's expression, Bach pivots slowly towards the backyard, surveys the forest line, and cracks smile. "Well, there's a few things that can be done. You've done really good on your own, especially with what you have been working with. But, I think the first thing to do is to get you something that's actually approachable to train on."

A brow perks on Dretphi's face and she gazes over to Bach as she rest the blade flat on her shoulder. "What would that be?"

Bach glances back with a grin. "A larger version of the small magical training focuses. A staff of sorts. They're sort of like magic flow puzzles and training tools that a lot of mages have to keep in practice."

A spark of excitement lights up Dretphi's eyes and an interest tints her tone. "Can you create a staff?"

Bach scratches the back of his head and points over to forest. "Well, I figured while we are doing laps, we could swing by the forest and look around for large tree branch."

Dretphi cocks her head to the side and puzzles at the idea. "Does it need to be a branch?"

Bach shrugs his shoulders with his arms out to the side. "Well, no. So long as you can lay down some basic magically conductive material in the object and embed a few little magical augmentations, it'll work. But, I thought it'd feel a bit more personal using something unique. I mean I could use the broom in the hall closet."

Seconds later, a suspiciously sly smirk creeps up on Dretphi's face and she grows a small grin that bites her lip. "Curious. Would Sotalia USE the broom then?"

Bach opens his mouth and lifts a finger to respond, but his thoughts stall out the words. He closes his lips and gradually wags his finger up and down in thought. He entertains a reserved smile. "That... Hmm... Now, I'm tempted to actually do that."

His blue eyes meet Dretphi steely gray eyes, and he flits a brow with a mischievous grin. "I'll test the process out on the broom first. It has been awhile since I've made one after all. I wouldn't want to accidentally waste any choice materials we find."

Dretphi dons a tight, guilty smile and nods in agreement. She steps over to the trunk of the shade tree, sheaths her two-handed flow sword, and leans it securely against the trunk. She signals Bach and the two start jogging laps around the large backyard field, moving closer to the forest tree line.

Bright sunlight glows out from the frosted skylights set into the high ceiling roof and joins the extra illumination from the rows of light fixtures spanning the lengths of support beams. Between sections of open areas packed with vendor stalls, aisles of products and goods upon shelves, and a long row points of sale stations, customers wander through the massive grocery market. A constant ambient music plays in the background and frames the din of shopping activity. Sotalia pushes a wire frame shopping cart in front of her with one hand, while the other hand thumbs through a scrolling list on her aetherphone. "Okay, we are looking for a very particular brand of ice cream for Aristespha."

Bach and Dretphi each peer over a side of Sotalia's shoulders and examine the picture on the display, an ice cream carton with Evuukian writing on it. Bach squints briefly and nods. "Okay. I'll see if I can find something that looks like it. I can't read Evuukian that well."

Dretphi perks a brow and studies the image on Sotalia's phone. "What flavor is it?"

Sotalia brings the phone close to her golden eyes, takes her hand momentarily off the shopping cart handing to brush dark red hair out of her view. "Let's see... Coffee, green and black tea, dark chocolate. Swirled in a rich cream... You know, I might get a carton for myself."

Sotalia leads the shopping cart around a corner into a long aisle of glass door freezers units. A variety of frozen treats fill the icy shelves and prominently display themselves with colorful packaging to prospective buyers. Small signs hang out from boom mounts on top of the freezer units with brief terms in different languages. In the main walkway, near the other end of the aisle, a grath family stands around their filled shopping cart. Two grath women observe the pleads of a grath boy and girl. The raven haired grath woman shakes her firm stare between the two, speaks a few words in grath, and glances to the other grath woman. The other woman resolutely nods in agreement, shakes a few strands of chestnut hair forward, and addresses each child in a similar dialect of grath. The young girl with flowing black hair and hazel eyes gazes pitifully towards both women. The boy with light brown hair and the similar hazel eyes glances over to the girl, thinks a moment, and speaks with a very nice but blatantly begging tone. Both women exchange resolute looks. The dark haired woman crosses her arms and the other places her hands on her hips. Both return their stares to the children, simultaneously shake their heads, and voice clear denial. Sotalia snickers quietly and Dretphi cracks a humored smirk. Bach searches for an answer between the two of them. "So, what's going on?"

Sotalia rolls her eyes with an amused smile and continues to survey the items through the freezer windows. "Oh, the kids are trying really hard to get their moms to buy something."

Dretphi shakes her head slightly with a tight smile as she scans another frosty refrigeration unit. "The dangers of venturing close to this aisle."

A grath man, carrying arms full of grocery items, rounds the corner and walks up to the two women and two children. The two mothers stare up towards the grath man. The two children spin around and beam up with brilliant hope and anticipation. The man blinks his hazel eyes, carefully places the cooking supplies from his arms into the cart, and awkwardly inspects the situation before him. He wanders his gaze between the mothers and the children. Both children release a spree of pleas and latch onto the man's legs. Dretphi briefly looks over and returns her attention towards searching the frozen shelves, sneaking a bite of the lip under her reserved smile. "Unfortunate timing."

The man looks down between the children. He lifts his head up and checks the expressions of the two women. Each lift inquisitive brows in return. The raven haired woman resets her crossed arms and the hazelnut haired woman sways her hips to the other side. The man reluctantly sighs, gradually kneels down, and places a hand on a shoulder of each child. He speaks calmly, shares his attention between both, and asks a simple question. Both children go silent, glance over to their mothers, and return with honest shakes of the head. The man shrugs, presents an explanation, and gives an acknowledging nod to the mothers. Both women agree with a similar gesture. The man grimaces as he watches the children lower their heads sadly, and ponders to himself. He holds up a thought with a finger and winks to the mothers. Sotalia perks a brow with a curious smile and directs her voice to Dretphi and Bach. "Oh, dad has an idea."

The father gets the attention of the two children and proposes a possibility. The childrens' minds ponder the plan and both warily look to each other. Both mothers forcefully flatten smirks and present stoic fronts when the children cautiously pivot around. The boy and girl both gaze up to their mothers. The boy asks warily and the girl waits in anticipation. The two women dramatically mull the question over and a sly glint appears in their eyes. The raven hair woman loosens her arms, leans forward to both children, and pans a judging stare to both. She states a demand to the cringes of the children. The chestnut haired woman nods in total agreement, motions a point over them, and states her own request with a firm tone. The children process the terms and silently deliberate if the arrangement is worth the costs. Seconds later, they both nod to each other and relay determined acceptance to their parents. The parents gesture the children off down the aisle. The children rush down in glee past a few freezers and stop to excitedly gawk at the selection of frozen treats. While the children debate their options, the parents share stifled snickers and humor at the situation. Sotalia grits her teeth briefly in amusement and shifts down to check another freezer unit. "I don't know. Cleaning up the yard would have been a deal breaker for me."

Dretphi shrugs as she opens a windowed door and reaches inside. "Depends on the yard."

She picks up a box of frozen fruit ice cream cups and shows it quietly to Sotalia, hints of guilty pleasure leaking out. With a glance, Sotalia shakes her head with a sly smile. "I'm certainly not going to object."

Bach kneels down, levels his head to a row of products, and squints. He gazes over towards Sotalia. "I think I found the brand over here. What did that box look like again?"

Sotalia steps over, squats down, and taps a long, black nail on the glass. "There is it. We really need to teach you some basic Evuukian and few other languages."

Dretphi eyes Bach with a lift of a brow and neutral expression. "Grath would be useful."

The children finally cease their discussion, agree upon one item, and retrieve it from the freezer. They hurry over and present their choice to their awaiting parents. The mother and fathers inspect the item, allow it into the cart, and usher the children quickly away from aisle's influence. Bach stands up and steps clear of the door as Sotalia opens it and reaches for a carton inside. He walks back to the shopping cart with a sigh and an ambivalent shrug. "I know I should. You have to understand, I've barely passed every language class I took... and I really tried."

Bach checks over his shoulder to the departing grath family before they clear out of view and returns his attention to Sotalia and Dretphi. "The most I ever retained was bits and pieces of history and culture. But, there's still things I don't quite know. For example, is there any standard structure with Grath family houses? I never found anything official."

Dretphi eases a few stray blonde braids over her shoulder and pulls her mouth to a side with a slow shake of the head. "Many tried to implement structure in early practice. No structure was agreed upon. No official structure since."

Bach watches Sotalia place the evuukian labeled carton of ice cream into the cart and quizzically looks at Dretphi. "So, pretty much whatever the members of the house decide?"

Dretphi nods with a slight smile. "Houses are for flexibility. My house, Veranattin, formed between my birth mother. My birth father. My two house fathers. They served together in the military. Adventured for years. Never felt good about separating."

Sotalia grips onto the handle bar of the cart and pushes it forward down the aisle. "I always thought that was really nice reason."

With a slight twist of the lips that settles to a small, awkward grin, Dretphi rolls her eyes and sighs with tinges of amusement. "My mother thought my house fathers would starve to death without clean clothes if they did not continue together."

She notices Bach's blinks of thought and tilts her head to the side with a gradual shrug of the shoulders. "They concurred. A doctor. An engineer. Both intelligent, excellent fathers... Unfortunately... Both require domestic guidance?"

Sotalia snorts with smirk as she scrolls through a list mixed with pictures on her aetherphone. "Given the stories I've heard from you, that's a really nice way to put it."

Bach pulls a corner smile and quirks a brow towards Dretphi. "Yeah, I remember you telling about how you nearly stabbed your house father with a sword. Because he didn't listen to your birth father to get back from the training area."

Dretphi sighs and trails grumble as she grimaces closing her eyes. "Such traits have presented themselves in my two brothers. Occasionally. Thankfully."

The shopping cart rolls out into the one of the wide, perpendicular walkways and Sotalia turns to the right. She spots an item on the phone list and shows the screen to Dretphi. "I think that might be on the other side of the market."

Dretphi squints her eyes briefly and pivots around to face down the long run, checking the aisle signs as she scans forward. "I believe that is correct. I want to check the vendors. See which ingredients I can get fresh. Meet up near the checkout?"

Sotalia nods and resumes driving the cart forward with a spark of determination. "Sounds good, girl. We'll try to finish it up quick."

With a brief wave, Dretphi departs, her pace hinting of excitement. Bach watches Dretphi move quickly away, realizes the growing distance between himself and the shopping cart, and speeds over to keep up with Sotalia.

Deedri walks next to Tassilda in the main walkway of the market. She surveys over the contents of the cart, idly bites a claw tip in thought, and eventually nods slowly. "I think that's almost everything... A few cans of vegetables... And, well, the things that Veevi wanted."

Tassilda redirects her stare from a wall display and indirectly glares at Deedri with her light blue on black eyes and an unamused narrow of the brow. She sighs with the hint of a growl and faces forward while pushing the shopping cart onwards. "If that miserable wretch of a creature wanted her pastries and sweets, she could have been dropped off with us. Instead she's going with Chad on some errand he failed to tell us about."

She quirks her brow and eyes Deedri with a snide smirk framing her commentary. "If I had my guess, it would the quest to find the trashiest alley to explore themselves in. Her native environment."

Deedri tries to maintain a decent smile that quickly crumbles to an awkward feint. A long sigh escapes her lungs and she faces forward, averting her eyes away momentarily. "Well, I still think we should get what she requested. Maybe she'll be more cooperative... with a good faith... gesture?"

She glimspes the unmoved expression of Tassilda and her tuft-tipped ears droop to the side as she resumes a wary stare ahead. "Well, I guess it's for the best. She asked for a lot really sugary and fat heavy things. Even if they are the light and diet versions."

With a flit of the eyebrows, Tassilda's interest piques sharply and a devious grin creeps between her lips. "Really? Well, in that case, I think a bit of goodwill MAY actually be in order. I wonder the how packaging differs between the regular versions and light versions?"

She lifts her head up to read an overhead sign and directs the shopping cart down the next aisle, immediately aiming her head towards the nearby shelves of canned goods. "What exactly did we need down this row, again?"

Deedri steps into the mouth of the aisle from the main walkway and watches Tassilda kneel down to examine an array of cans. She pans her view down the aisle, seeking all the way towards the other end of shelving row. "A few cans of carrots, corn, peas, and-"

Her eyes shock open, jaw drops, and tail fur frays out, her sentence trailing off. Bach blinks in surprise and momentarily grits his teeth when he locates Deedri at the opposing end of the aisle. He notices a pair of familiar, swirling horns cresting above the top handle of the shopping cart and the emin woman behind attached to the horns. Bach and Deedri exchange awkward nervous stares. Sotalia's attention remains upon a selection of canned vegetables next to her entrance of the aisle, unaware of her distant surroundings. Bach cringes over to Sotalia and Deedri grimaces towards Tassilda. Bach and Deedri search frantically for a solution silently between themselves. Eyes dart around and heads search the area, disaster looming closer.

Finally, Bach points to Sotalia, leads gesturing finger point out behind him, and nods with a thumbs up. Deedri replies with a fast rocking of the head. She motions towards the cart, pantomimes its movement with her hands, and waves a hand in front of her eyes before tilting her head to Tassilda. Bach quietly raises two thumbs up and focuses upon Sotalia. Deedri watches Tassilda carefully as she slides around the shopping cart. She gently grips the front lip of the cart's large, wire-frame basket and gradually maneuvers the end to obscure the crouched Tassilda from view. With a final inspection, Deedri stands to further intercept, facing away from the distant end of the aisle. Bach steps out into the wide, perpendicular walkway and desperately searches the area. A hope of relief sparks in his face as he finds Dretphi contentedly carrying a few wrapped bundles a number of aisles away. He aims his voice at Sotalia with faint veneer of concern coloring his tone. "Oh, hey! It's Dretphi. Oh, I think she's trying to wave us to come over."

Sotalia lifts her head up, spins herself around, and walks out into the wide pathway. She spots Dretphi and chuckles to herself. "Well, looks like she found plenty. We better get the cart over to her."

Bach steps around Sotalia, firmly grasps hold of the cart, and motions Sotalia politely in the direction of Dretphi. "After you."

A sly smile graces Sotalia's lips and she graciously accepts the gesture. She strolls forward out in lead towards Dretphi, drawing her dark red hair over her horns and fanning it back past her shoulders, a hip sway in each step. Bach turns his head down the aisle and aims a whisper at Deedri. "Thank you."

Deedri's tufted ears flick back forward and she lifts her hand up, showing a thumbs up over her shoulder. She continues to block sight of Tassilda. Sotalia's playfully mocking voice calls out from he distance to Bach. "Well? Do you need my help to push?"

Bach snaps his head forward and shoves the cart into motion. As the cart rolls, he fishes his aetherphone out of his pants pocket and struggles through menus to tap out a message. After a few seconds, he manages to stumble out a message and send it. Moments later, Dretphi glances down at her shorts pocket, balances her load of packages to a single arm effortlessly, and works her aetherphone out into view. Her eyes flit wide briefly and she quickly returns her phone to her pocket. With a smile, she locates Sotalia, and waves happily at both Bach and Sotalia.

Deedri glances over her shoulder, gradually guides the cart back into its original position just as Tassilda stands up with a few cans in her hands. Tassilda places her hands back on the and pushes forward, spotting the cans of mixed vegetables at the other end of the aisle. "I have never understood the logic behind how they arrange stock in these places. They must scatter everything on purpose to keep in your in here for as long as possible."

Deedri follows along to the side of Tassilda, and releases a long, quiet exhale of relief.

The garage door on the ranch style house rattles and parts from the concrete slab. The large, wide sections of the door follow along tracks on both sides of frame and hinge briefly at the crest of the track. Outdoor light casts into the garage. Common household cleaners and tools of the domestic trade line the shelves of one wall. The daylight glow reflects off the dull, worn metal housing of the large plasma particle cannon and the scarred barrels of the minigun resting upon the long workbench. Partially disassembled robotic mountings and electronic connections lay out on the wooden tabletop from each weapon. In the corner of the garage, a golden magical energy barrier with rough edges faintly flickers.

Bach kneels down and inspects the engine area of his sidecar motorcycle, wiping dust and light dirt off with a rag. With a content nod, he stands back up and admires the vehicle before him. He brushes off his armored duster, adjusts his vest, and settles his feet in his plated boots. He eyes the helmet upon the motorcycle seat with an eager grin. Sebastian's ethereal form phases through the kitchen door. He scans the area quickly, locks his gaze onto Bach, and coasts over to his side. "Hey, bro! What are you getting into?"

Bach glances over to this brother and shrugs nonchalantly. "Oh. Uh. I thought about riding around the back roads in the area. It seemed like a nice day and Aristespha didn't seem to have much for me to do today."

He rolls his eyes towards the motorcycle with a chuckle and shakes his head. "And honestly, brother, I'm curious if the thing is riding right. Haven't had a chance really to check it the last two months."

Sebastian nods in thought and drifts his attention inwards. Bach cranes his head around to Sebastian, reads his brother's mannerisms, and puzzles during the wait. Sebastian's focus returns and he meets the anticipating gaze of Bach with a hopeful demeanor. "That gives me an idea! Bro, I need a favor from you."

Bach slowly nods his head and narrows his eyes, pulling a corner of his mouth along with the inflection in his tone. "Okay... What would that be?"

A pleading tinge colors Sebastian's ethereal sigh. "Would you let Aristespha ride along when you go out?"

After a number of confused blinks, Bach cocks his head to the side and nods simply. "Uh. Sure. I've got no problems with that. It's not going to be exciting or anything. Really, just driving by scenery to the fuel station and taking the long way back I mapped out."

Sebastian smiles wide and bows his head forward in relief. "Perfect. That's what she needs right now. Just something to distract her from her own thoughts for an hour or two would be perfect."

Bach squints at Sebastian's face and searches for more information. Sebastian frowns, tugging the corner of his mouth, and explains. "She been obsessing over the whole Noxian, Orth Ridge, and Grand Library situation the last few days. Normally, she's really good about pacing herself, but... This stuff hit a bit too close to home."

Hints of frustration snarls Bach's upper lip and he grumbles. "Plus our... Neighbors... haven't made themselves easy to ignore."

Sebastian rolls his eyes with a long groan and rubs a hand on his ethereal forehead. "No shit, bro. I've gotten pretty good at understanding evuukian, but there were things said on that phone call that I don't think I have the capacity fully understand."

Bach dons a smile and gestures towards the door. "Well, you should probably check with her to see if she wants to go."

A sly grin parts Sebastian's mouth and he floats back towards the kitchen door. "Oh, I can convince her, bro. I have my ways."

After Sebastian phases through the kitchen door into the house, Bach's eyes search around his mind for the context to that comment. He gives up on the venture with a shrug and pivots towards the motorcycle. Stepping around the vehicle, he leans over, reaches inside the sidecar, and feels around. After reaching up to the very front, he grabs hold of an object and pulls his arm out to reveal another helmet. He carefully inspects the riding helm, checks the straps, and quells some embarrassment by cleaning a layer of dust off the shell. A few minutes later, the door to the garage opens and an unamused, casually clothed Aristespha exits the kitchen, moving down the few steps to the garage floor. As Sebastian hovers close to her side, she flashes a sharply narrowed glare to him. Sebastian weathers the visual onslaught firm and stern. The couple stares in deadlock for over a minute. But, Aristespha finally closes her violet eyes, sighs deeply, and softens her expression drastically. "Okay. I agree, Sebastian. Maybe a distraction would help."

Sebastian smiles lovingly to Aristespha and shrugs nonchalantly. "You know Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia will keep the sword safe. And TURN OFF your phone, dear. We'll call Bach if we need to call you."

Aristespha's lips flit into a snarl. She draws out her phone from her pants pocket, exhales out her irritation the moment she holds down the power button, and nods in agreement as the device shuts down. "I promise I will not turn it before I get back, dear."

Sebastian grants a single proud nod and motions towards an awaiting Bach. Aristespha follows the gesture and gazes upon the riding helmet resting Bach's hands. Bach smiles with blatant uncertainty. "Honestly, I got this helmet in hopes that someone else would ride with me someday, a long time ago. It should still be good and I think it might have ear adjustments, but I'm not sure. Uh... BUT, I might be able to-"

A genuine smile graces Aristespha's lips as she watches Bach explain a feasible process to accommodate her. She glances over to Sebastian with a humored grin and returns her attention to Bach. "It will work fine."

Bach blinks back to awareness, puzzled. Guiding her fingers through her long, silvery blue hair, Aristespha splits the strands into a bundle over each shoulder, lifts up both around the front of each ear, and carefully envelops the long tips in a protective, concealing layer of silvery blue. A quick, loose braid secures the fashion. Aristespha picks up the helmet, adjusts the straps, and slides it on without trouble. She gracefully walks over to the vehicle and hops into the sidecar. "Well? I'm ready."

Late afternoon light casts modest shadows from the trees arching over the paved two lane road. The rolling green hills smoothly divide out stretches of farmland upon flatter fields and the creeks in rocky beds. Bach casually pilots the motorcycle along the gentle curves and inclines. He cruises through the shaded tunnels of canopy, rolls carefully over old scenic bridges, and navigates the sparse, nearly forgotten intersections. When Aristespha's gaze fixates on something of interest, Bach gradually slows the pace and eases the vehicle closer to that side of the lane. Both take turns pointing out old structures, random animals, and other sightings along the way. Shadows grow longer as the sun edges closer to the horizon.

Upon a long, straight stretch of road, Aristespha firmly pats Bach's side and directs his attention out to a section of the road side. She signals to stop and points out a location ahead, across from the target. Bach nods, eases off the throttle, brakes to a halt, and parks the motorcycle on the shoulder. The engine shuts off and Bach peers out into the forest on the other side of the road. "So, what are we stopping for?"

Aristespha twists around and lifts herself up in the sidecar, and scans the area. "I thought I saw a protellow over in this- There it is!"

She excitedly motions a circle out towards the massive fallen plant stalk laying in the woods with her hand. "Sotalia mentioned the girl at the reagent shop had heard about protellows in the area. I think it was something about one falling on a car?"

Bach briefly squints into the distance, lifts his visor up, and searches for similar objects within the layers of forest. "I think there's a few more in there. But, I can't quite make them out."

Settling back into her seat, Aristespha glances down over the side, and spots a partially eaten protellow seed in the mix of road debris. She sweeps her arm down, quickly snatches it off the rock speckled dirt, and holds it up for inspection. An eager grin grows across her mouth and she pulls out her aetherphone from her pants pocket. She glances at the dead screen of the phone, lowers her finger to the power button, and freezes abruptly. With a careful exhale, she reminds herself, places the phone back in her pocket, and humbly requests. "Could you check where we are? There's probably more protellows in the area to look for."

Bach's attention returns from the treeline and he retrieves his aetherphone out. He taps though menus and a map loads up on the screen. "Okay. It's still narrowing the fix, but we took that turn and have passed that one access road, but haven't made our next right. Close to the house, actually."

Aristespha's interest piques and she lifts her head up to see Bach's phone. "Really? Let me see."

A flash horror splashes over Bach's face when memory recognizes an important detail of the area and the very reason for the next right. "U-um- I'll mark it on the map for you. It's going to be dark soon and we should really get going-"

Suspicion directs Aristespha's eyes and she hoists herself up from the sidecar to a better viewing angle of Bach's phone. Her eyes immediately notice the route back and the strange semicircle detour. She gradually lowers herself back into her seat and points ahead with a stare to Bach. "It will be dark soon. So, we should go the most direct route home. We should skip the right turn."

After a few moments of pondering, curiosity guides Bach's nod once with a blank stare ahead. He flips a handlebar mounted switch on, drops his foot hard on the kick start, and revs the throttle as the engine rumbles to life. He holds a finger up to Aristespha as his eyes glow blue and lowers both his hands down each side of the motorcycle just above exhaust. A flow of blue energy spills over the exhaust piping and radiates out to the muffler and manifold. Sounds of the engine disappear from the ambient din, and Aristespha presents an amused smile. Bach sighs amused with a shake of the head and grasps hold of the handlebars. "That spell exists because of my brother."

The motorcycle shifts into gear and rolls up to speed. After a few minutes, the vehicle crests over a small hill and a particular two-story house becomes visible down the street. Aristespha's eyes flicker violet and she leans forward, scanning the area in front of the house. A devious grin creeps ear to ear and an evil glint sparkles in her eyes. She turns her head slightly and directs her voice to Bach. "Stop in front of the driveway behind the black SUV. There's something I have to do."

Bach grumbles and drives the stealthy sidecar cycle closer to the two-story house. "Gods dammit..."

Aristespha's eyes flash violet, her hands gesture quickly, and she quickly speaks a series of incantations. Bach coasts the motorcycle near silently to target and glances over to Aristespha. "Okay, what's the next part of the plan- The fuck is that?!"

He gawks bewildered at the four centimeter diameter, swirling rainbow colored orb cradled in Aristespha's hand. A blue flash fills Bach's eyes and he puzzles at the magical ball while Aristespha continues her gestures and incantations. The moment she finishes, Aristespha quickly scouts the vicinity, launches out of the sidecar, rushes up to the back of the black sports utility vehicle, and carefully pokes the rainbow orb up a tailpipe. She bolts away, jumps back into her seat, and throws her arm forward. "GO!"

Bach grits his teeth, cranks the throttle hard, and steers the lurching motorcycle down the street. Some distance later, he calls out. "Okay! What the fuck was that spell?! And, what the fuck was I just an accessory to?!"

Aristespha settles back into the sidecar seat with a sinister grin and relaxes with a reassuring wave to Bach. "Don't worry. It won't damage anything."

Bach groans and glances at Aristespha. "Well! That's a good start. So, what does it do?"

A sinister chuckle escapes Aristespha and she shakes her head. "Oh, you'll see. We might get lucky and see it on tomorrow night's episode! This is one of my favorites from Nash."

This fails to dismiss the unease within Bach.

-35-

Deedri, Modoran, Trakenthin, and Tassilda stand on the covered porch of the two story house. One small camera crew maintains a distance off to the side to capture the group waiting on the wooden deck. A young fvalian man steadies a camera on his other shoulder with a shrug, while a young fvalian woman glances over with a smile on her face as she adjusts levels on an audio recorder. The older man behind his head between the two with an amused eye roll and aims a boomed shotgun mic overhead towards the porch area. Deedri presents a cheery exterior, that occasionally wavers. Modoran leans upon the house front nonchalantly with hands in his pockets and eases a sigh out. Trakenthin crosses his arms and stoically stares out, traces of irritation twitching his eye. Tassilda places her hands firmly on her hips and glares out a beam of contempt to targets in front of her. She mumbles to barely audible to the rest. "I do NOT like the feeling I'm getting about this."

Out in the front yard, the majority of the other recording crews position themselves around Chad and Veevi. Chad walks confidently towards the black, dented sports utility vehicle, steps around the front towards the driver's side, and flashes a bright, signature smile to a camera with a smug flit of the brow. Veevi energetically skips over towards the passenger's side of the vehicle, excitedly bouncing her long, pink hair across her tight fitting shirt. As she opens the passenger's side door, she sneaks a wink at the camera, guides the short haired tail poking out of her skin tight shorts in her hands, and hops into the car seat with a prominent landing shake of the body. Chad settles into the driver's seat, closes his door, places his keys in the ignition, and grants the rest of the group a simple acknowledging wave. Deedri and Modoran return with similar gestures. Trakenthin and Tassilda continue to stare unmoved. Veevi closes her door and Chad starts the engine. As Chad and Veevi engage in a conversation inside the confines of the cab, attentions outside gradually shift towards the back of the vehicle. Deedri blinks in surprise and squints curiously. "Does anyone else see that strange-"

Tassilda eyes flit open with sinister amusement and a short, wicked grin cracks on her lips. "I DO. Is that YOUR handiwork?"

Deedri snaps her glance over to Tassilda and quickly shakes her head wide eyed shock. "What?! Oh! NO! Of course not!"

A smirk creeps from the corner of Trakenthin's mouth and he eyes Deedri. "If it is yours. Claim it."

Defiant embarrassment wells up on Deedri's face and she grits her sharp teeth. "I would NOT do such a thing! I wouldn't have had time anyway. I've been busy making potions and other supplies."

As Deedri crosses her arms upon her apron, Modoran snorts out a few fits of laughter as his cool exterior fractures at the sight before him. "It's okay. I believe you. Something like this would actually be my thing, but I've been too busy myself."

Underneath the vehicle a thick, glowing mist clouds around the wheels and baseboards to form a fluctuating rainbow mass. Just above the background noise, a strange, high pitch rattle replaces the anticipated low engine rumble. Chad checks his mirrors, shifts the vehicle into gear, and turns his head towards the back window. As the sports utility vehicle rolls back out of the driveway, the rainbow haze stirs up into the draft and blows up above the hood. Veevi tilts her head to the side and blinks dumbfounded at the strange colorful vapors. She briefly eyes Chad, remains silent, and returns to watch the fading mists. Tassilda covers her mouth just as an ill-humored snicker escapes. "Oh. Chad doesn't realize what's happening yet. This is TOO good."

All camera crew redirect their equipment on the dissipating colors flowing out from the vehicle as it finishes backing up on the street. Chad swings his head around and pauses on Veevi's awkward forward facing silence. Veevi glances over with a smile. "Well, let's go! I can't wait to get it!"

Chad nods with a charming smile, returns his attention forward, and accelerates the black sports utility vehicle. Outside the cab, a sharp, shrill din substitutes the exhaust rumble of the large engine and a stream of rainbow clouds erupt in the draft of the speeding vehicle. A few seconds later, a van with the "Next Adventurers of Nexus" logo follows behind, the drivers and passengers visibly laughing. Modoran breaks out cackling and steps around gasping for breath. Trakenthin stifles a series of snorts as his amusement fights for freedom. Deedri tightly works down an ear to ear awkward smile and firmly presses her crossed arms down to hide her giggles. Tassilda shines a devious grin, holds her long nailed hand in front of her mouth, and dramatically laughs, posing with her other hand on hip. Samantha blinks with jaw agape and gradually rotates her face away from the concealment of her clipboard. She eyes the resolute Gerald when he lowers his camera down and directs a whisper to him. "I know it's Friday and the production teams are getting ready for the live reveal tonight... But..."

Gerald gazes a Samantha with a wide grin and nods calmly. "Yes. I think Howard will approve a rush process of this footage for a clip tonight."

Inside the confines of the living room, Sotalia snickers and points towards the television, leaning forward off her side of the couch. "Oh, it HAS to be Deedri that did it."

Cideeda bites on a claw tip and flicks a furry ear as she ponders. "I don't know. She's always seemed genuinely nice."

Sotalia sinks back into the cushions of the couch, aims her gaze to Cideeda, and grins. "I'll agree, she is. But, that doesn't mean she can't get even. In fact, it'd be perfect cover for her to do anything. No one would expect it."

The possibilities weigh in Cideeda's mind and she eventually shrugs it off with a content smile to Sotalia. "I still don't think she's behind it. But if she did, I support her decision."

With a slow nod, Sotalia stretches her legs out, rests her feet on top of the coffee table, and folds her arms behind her head. "Always a rookie mistake to push the nice, quiet ones too far."

Across the room at the dining table, Bach lifts his head up from the project upon the tabletop, blinks a few times, and pivots his confusion at Sotalia. He hoists a brow sharply up and stares at her momentarily. Sotalia continues watching the show, oblivious of the attention. Bach rolls his eyes with a twist of the lips and drifts his gaze at Aristespha. Fingertips drum pairings on the opposing hand and Aristespha settles into the recliner chair, deeper underneath a blanket cover. She conceals the devious glee on her face behind her hands. Bach draws a deep breath, sighs with a roll of the eyes, and returns his focus to a number of small sticks resting on the tabletop. He looks up and watches Dretphi carefully carve out grooves into a broom handle, using a chisel from a set of woodworking tools. She guides the fine blade edge and follows inked paths with rigid precision. Bach smiles as he inspects Dretphi's work. "That's looking really good. Once, you finish that pattern, we'll do some basic flow inking. After that, you can start working on your actual staff."

Dretphi draws a slight smile, and turns her head to glance at the large, trimmed, debarked branch resting against the wall in the room corner near the dining table. "I want to practice further. Apply my best effort. The branch needs to dry first."

Bach examines the large piece of wood, nods, and picks up one of the small sticks in front of him. "Understood. That was a nice find. Even the branches you cut off are good enough to make some nice practice focuses from. You can try carving one of these and practice flow inking it, too."

His eyes dimly glow blue and faint flickers of magical energy swirl around the piece of wood in his hand. Purposeful patterns draw out a few millimeters from the surface and encircle the stick completely, sparing some limited space at the base. In seconds, the intricate designs shrink onto the surface, pressing tightly into the material. With a few faint sparkles, the work fades from view and Bach's eyes return to normal. With a little effort, he focuses upon the wooden stick and the previous patterns light up with the tip glowing a hazy trail of magical illumination. He doodles out a few shapes and letters in the air, waits for them to fade away, and places the finished practice wand off towards the table corner. Bach pauses a moment, lifts his head up, and catches Sotalia staring over from the couch. "What?"

Sotalia rests her head upon her propped arm, cracks a sly grin, and averts her eyes away pseudo innocently. "Oh... Nothing. But, if you are making another batch, my nieces and nephews were quite happy with the last set. If you got a few other effects, they would love them."

Bach briefly narrows his eyes at Sotalia and perks an inquisitive eye brow. "You know you can make these yourself, right?"

Sotalia lifts her head off her hand, brushes some dark red hair over a horn, and winks a golden eye with a smile. "Yes. Of course. But, who am I to deprive you of your fun?"

With a long sigh and shrug, Bach surveys the remaining stock of wooden sticks with a tug to the corner of his mouth. "Right..."

The television blares out a new jingle of music and displays some flashy graphics. The screen cuts to a shot of the Flames of the Phoenix group sitting around a table.

"Now, we bring you live inside the dining room to witness a major announcement from Chad Bosch, leader of the Flames of the Phoenix."

Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian and Sotalia collectively pour their attention to the television. The view focuses on Chad as he stands tall at the head of the table and overlooks Tassilda, Trakenthin, Modoran, Deedri, and Veevi. "I'm sure you've all been wondering what errands I've been running with Veevi."

Tassilda crosses her arms, Trakenthin eyes Chad with a flit of a snarl, Modoran simply quirks an unamused eyebrow, and Deedri vainly maintains a calm demeanor against the awkward attentions of Veevi. Chad presents his signature, heroically bright, white smile and chuckles out loud. "Well, I won't keep you in suspense any longer. Veevi."

Veevi excitedly stands up from her seat, reaches into her short shorts front pocket, and pulls out a rectangular card. With a dramatic fanfare and exaggerated pose, she presents the guild identification card in pan across the table and winks to the camera. "Say hello to Veevi Valiant! Official Intern of The Flames of the Phoenix!"

A fvalian swear slips through Deedri's lips before she seals them tightly under the pressure of her hand. Modoran blinks in bewilderment initially at the announcement, then eyes Deedri with guarded amusement. Deedri ties to assume a cordial exterior. Trakenthin grumbles to himself, retrieves his aetherphone, and taps up a paused game to absorb his attention. Tassilda glowers at Chad and her smile fails to disguise her gritting teeth as her ire visibly radiates outwards. Veevi grins brightly against the contrast of the team and flashes a seductive perk of the brow to Chad. She narrows her eyes and purposefully reflects the overhead room light off the card's plastic coating at Tassilda. A low growl vents through Tassilda's sneer and she swipes her hand out at the card. "Let me SEE that fraudulent mockery! There is NO way the guild would authorize you to be a rest stop janitor, much less an intern!"

Veevi snaps back her hand and sidesteps swiftly behind Chad with mocking fright. Tassilda tries to slide back her seat and glances to either side when her efforts fail. She discovers Trakenthin's foot hooked behind the front leg of the chair. She glares intensely at Trakenthin and harshly whispers. "Do you mind?"

Trakenthin keeps his visible attention to the game on the phone, but directs a quiet, firm response back to Tassilda. "Stay seated. No victory to be had here."

Tassilda draws a loud breath through her nose, contorts out the frustration on her face, and eventually releases a long, irritated sigh. She awkwardly shifts her expression back to a reserved, unamused state. Veevi slinks back into her chair and leans over to Deedri. One hand firmly grips the chair back and the other shows off the card to a wary Deedri. Chad coughs to attract everyone's attention and addresses the group. "I think that actually went quite well. Now, another order of business..."

He narrows his eyes a pans an accusatory stare across group. "Who the hell put the spell on the SUV?"

The conversation breaks down to a blame game as the scene view retracts from the borders of the television screen. The show transitions to other week highlight clips. A sinister grin creeps out upon Aristespha's mouth and she squirms delightfully into the cushions of the recliner, a faint giggle hidden behind the audio of the television. Hoving near, Sebastian blinks to attention and glances over to Aristespha. He maintains a long quizzical stare at Aristespha until she notices. The two engage in a quick conversation of eyes and emotes before Aristespha sighs and waves off the subject. "I'll tell you later, Sebastian."

Sebastian drifts his gaze back towards the antics on the television display and curls a smirk. "Okay, dear."

The nighttime illumination of the moon and stars casts through the sliding glass door into the living room. Faint reflections of the night sky glimmer in the finish of the coffee table. A dark blue hue radiates out into the room upon the walls and furnishings. Light, clicking steps sound out from the hallway and Cideeda wanders through the archway with a yawn. She rubs her eyes and walks in a hazy consciousness, her tail swaying lazily from underneath her long, large nightshirt. She rounds the dining table, plods forward into part of kitchen area, and stops in front of the refrigerator. Firmly closing her eyes, she averts her head away from the flash of light as the fridge door opens up. Reaching inside, her clawed fingers rummage around and feel out the various items inside until she carefully cracks open her eyelids enough for her emerald eyes to spot the target. Swiftly she removes the branded yogurt fruit cup clear and lets the door seal off the light. After a few moments, Cideeda blinks open her eyes, inspects the package, and circles a clawtip around to slice the foil lid off.  Lifting the lid off by her clawtips, her nose sniffs the near the underside of the lip.  Her hand pauses briefly as her eyes refocus on yogurt speckled foil and she quickly licks the top clean.  She plucks the plastic spoon off the side, pushes it out of the wrapper, and stirs the contents of the cup. Rolling the foil lid and plastic wrapper together, she underhand tosses the balled up mass into the garbage can.  With a number of spoonfuls in her mouth, Cideeda sates her smile and wanders forward along her return route.

Pausing for a few more scoops from the cup, her eyes spot a few wooden magical practice focuses on the corner of the tabletop. Her attention diverts from the snack and her consciousness piques as a thought rises in mind. She quickly inspects the vacant, silent vicinity and gently rests the yogurt treat with spoon nearby on the surface of the dining table. Her hand hovers over the sticks and her fingers wrap around one of the rods. She lifts it up, securely wrapping her hand over the other, and focuses her gaze upon wand. She breathes in slowly, bites her lip, and concentrates all her focus inwards. Seconds past and her face twitches as she exhales steadily. Occasional muscle flexes move her arms. Her mouth twists and contorts from sneers, smirks, and snarls. Her hands and arms tremble from strain and she sharply yanks air through her nose and vents through her gritting teeth. Closing her eyes tightly, she mutters in hopeful, encouraging tones to herself over minutes, occasionally slipping into fvalian. A few words clear the threshold. "Come on... Come on... Just once..."

Eventually, a final sigh of defeat escapes has she relaxes her whole body. Disappointment washes over her face and she straightens her posture with a simple, accepting shrug. She gives the wand a longing stare and holds it above the corner of the tabletop. But, her fingers pause right before release. Cideeda's grip tightens back and she rolls the stick in hand, her eyes searching her mind. A subtle smile graces her lips and she mouths to herself. "Some day..."

With a secure grasp around the practice focus, she pivots in place, picks up her yogurt cup with a free hand, and walks through the archway into the hallway with clicking, light steps.

Deedri flips through a few pages in a book upon the counter top of the encircling kitchen. She traces a claw tip through a long series of instructions, nods in confirmation after each bullet point, and taps at the last line of the remaining step. She pivots to another section of the counter surface, picks up a glass jar, and inspects the contents. Her auburn eyes visually count the small green plant sacs and narrow carefully to perform a recount. With a grimace, Deedri swings her attention back over to her book and checks the last instruction again. Shifting her focus over to a collection of calculations on a scratch piece of paper, she groans in frustration and twists her lips at a realization. She lifts the glass container back into view, deliberates with a long stare, and eventually sighs with a frowning shake of the head. Deedri rolls her eyes at herself and mumbles under her breath "No. You know better than that..."

She opens the refrigerator door and carefully places the jar inside. She pulls open a drawer, draws out a sheet of plastic from a cardboard roll, and stretches out the film tightly over a nearly full, glass bowl of blue translucent fluid. With a firm two hand heft and a swift toe claw pry of the door, Deedri settles the larger container inside the refrigerator. She seals the door back up, checks her apron, and tucks her notes inside book on the counter. She scans room and moves with a cautious gait around the dining table towards the back sliding glass door. Her tufted, furry ears flick and perk towards the front of the house. Distant voices barely rise out of the background quiet of the two-story house. A cringe flashes upon Deedri's face when her ears aim towards the stairwell. After a few moments, she slinks next to the back door. She flips up the lock and gradually slides the door wide enough to squeeze through. With a slow, firm pull, the large glass panel returns flush to the frame and Deedri steps gingerly around the perimeter of the backyard, her gaze darting between the visible vantage points of the two-story house. She squints cautiously to the balcony of the next door house. She swiftly weaves within the shadows of the scenery and creeps progress to the forest line.

A series of fast foot steps cascade down the stairs and Veevi swings around the archway into the dining area. She hops energetically into the entry of the kitchen. Her disappointment shows as she blinks and searches the area. Veevi crosses her arms, scans the countertops with her pink eyes, and blows a few stray pink hairs out of her pouting face. She wanders around the dining table and eyes out into the backyard through the sliding glass door. Her eyes snap to a point in the distant treeline and narrow as she leans closer to the glass panel. A mischievous, sharp grin creeps along her lips and she feels the position of the lock near the door handle. With a significant effort, she guides the sliding door open, steps through, seals up the transparent gate behind her, and slinks swiftly towards her target.

A gentle breeze rustles the leaves in the canopy overhead. The sun projects the clouds upon the tree tops and fragments of the pattern flicker below onto the forest floor. Deedri gazes up above and catches the chorus of the forest in her ears and squints her eyes at the glints of noon sun slipping by leaves. A peaceful smile rests on Deedri's lips and she stands calmly within the moment, each second stripping away layers of stress off on the passing winds. An unfortunately familiar, dangerously enthusiastic voice shatters the sensory haven. "Hey, Deedri! Wait up!"

Deedri's ears droop sharply. Her auburn eyes slam open to narrow pupils, and a strong wince cinches up her upper cheek, snarling her upper lip. Her shoulders abruptly tense, her posture snaps rigid, and the fur on her tail flares out. A series of fvalian words spit through her clenching teeth, barely muted by her tightening lips. She slowly pivots in place, her feelings fighting against the pleasant facade her expression locks into. Veevi skips fast down the forest path and waves to Deedri with a wide grin. "What are YOU doing out here?"

Deedri presents a calm smile, nods to Veevi with her hands held tightly upon her apron, and honestly responds. "I was short of an important reagent for a batch of wound treatment salve. So, I am going to retrieve some from a source nearby, before the batch risks spoiling."

Veevi hops to a stop next to Deedri with a cheery smile and cocks her head to the side with a wink. "I see..."

After a few blinks, Deedri warily returns the smile, rotates herself around, and glances down the path. "I'm afraid it's nothing exciting, really. Just need to find the right plant and I'll be right back. Just a long, boring walk in a plain, average forest..."

Veevi's glints a grin at Deedri and looks down the path. "Sounds nice and relaxing, actually. Could I come along?"

An uneasy wave radiates through Deedri's core and she grants Veevi a gradual nod. "Sure, I guess..."

Deedri turns forward completely and walks down the path. Veevi follows with an initially faster gait, easing in pace to the side of Deedri. The two start down the center of the path. Deedri maintains her focus mostly ahead, occasionally peering out of the corner of her eye. Veevi stretches her arms and body out, feigning nonchalant. She gazes out into the scenery with fleeting interest and gradually adjusts her position along the trail. After minutes of casual nature watching, the gap between Deedri and her remains. Deedri's toed boots stir up the debris littering the rough shoulder of the path. She side steps around a small bush in the way, and returns to the outer edge, restoring the buffer zone between. Veevi lifts a brow with a smirk, sighs out loud, and directs a quizzical tone to Deedri. "So? I have to ask, what do YOU do for fun?"

Deedri recalls her attention from the distance back to her immediate surroundings, and quirks an ear over to Veevi. "Oh. Uh. I don't know. I read a lot fantasy and science fiction books. I really enjoy a lot of the Pre-Cataclysm books they find and republish."

With a calculating expression, Veevi draws a sly smile on her lips and concentrates a piercing gaze at Deedri. "I kind of figured that. Okay, your turn! Ask me a question, now."

Deedri blinks a few times and her eyes search her mind for a few seconds. "Um... Where did you grow up?"

Veevi giggles cheerily, and shaves a few centimeters off the divide between her and Deedri with a subtle overstep. "No where special. I'm just simple southern coast girl from around New Valdo. So, where are you from?"

Auburn eyes sort through memories and Deedri crosses her arms as she recounts. "When I was really young, I lived on the south coast, too. Actually, west of New Valdo in Dothan. But, some monster tore through part of the town. Killed few militia and injured a lot of people, including a girl a few years older than me."

She shrugs simply and keeps her sights forward towards a closing, familiar forest perimeter. "My mother was thinking about moving already. It made her decision easy. So, I grew up in a small town outside of Anta."

Silence looms above the two as they continue walking down the path. Veevi looks around the area before settling an anticipating glance at Deedri. "So, it's your turn to ask me a question."

Deedri tugs at the corner of her mouth and stumbles out a question through her indecision. "Ah... Um... Uh... Well, why did you become a pop star?"

A proud grin parts Veevi's lips. She draws an exaggerated breath in and melodically proclaims out with dramatic gestures of the arms. "Why?! Why not! I've got the body and the voice of star. Why not perform for the world, and gift myself to adoring fans near and far..."

Another subtle slide over shrinks the gap between Veevi and Deedri. Veevi's short-haired tail wags closer to Deedri's long-haired tail with each sway. A softer tone taints Veevi's voice and she seductively bites her lip. "Speaking of adoring... So, do you have anyone to adore you?"

Deedri eyes flit wide and she senses Veevi's immediate proximity. The short-haired tail swings over the long-haired tail, coiling slowly around in a gradually tightening wrap. Veevi gazes with a sultry undertone to Deedri. "Boyfriend, maybe? Or... A girlfriend-"

From beyond the transition of forest to field meters away, Bach's distant voice calls out. "So, the fluid sacs are located near the top, underneath the big flower top?"

At another point out of immediate sight, Sotalia speaks in a loud, curious tone. "Yes. Did you find some? Show me where they are at!"

Veevi halts her progress and stares forward, her furry ears puzzling at the sounds ahead. She feels a swift brush within her tail's grasp as Deedri rushes ahead, pulling the long-haired tail clear. Deedri hides behind a large tree trunk and peers out to the side, observing the activity. She momentarily glances up to the skies above with a thankful expression to powers beyond.

Out in the many stalks of the patch, Bach and Sotalia stand underneath the shade of a larger protellow plant. Bach circles out an area with his finger, aiming upwards into the giant flora. "I think I see a few up there."

Sotalia squints for seconds, contorts her mouth in thought, and blinks her eyes. She quietly recites a few incantations, gestures her hands to touch opposing finger tips, and looks through the magical energy framed within up at the protellow. A smile graces her lips and she separates her hands, wisps of fading flow trailing from her finger tips. "That's them. Now, we need to get up there and pick them."

Bach furrows his brow, slowly rotates his head, and hoists an eyebrow at Sotalia. "What? Like climb up there and pluck them off?"

Sotalia places her hands on her hips and flashes an unamused expression at Bach. "Yes. As much as I'd like to use magic to pull them off..."

Her eyes roll. She groans with a trailing sigh and drones technical from memory. "Aristespha has explicitly said to avoid using any direct magic to acquire reagents to prevent cross-contamination and avoid accident alchemical misfires during processing."

Bach scratches the beard hair on his chin and develops a sly smirk. "So... Indirect magic is okay?"

Sotalia places her hands on her hips, shifts her gaze to Bach, and amuses at the idea with grin. From behind the clearing's edge Deedri harshly whispers. "Where are you going?"

Veevi boldly strolls out from the brush perimeter of the forest line. A gust of wind flares her pink hair out. She approaches Bach and Sotalia, and energetically waves with a proud tone. "Hello, fellow adventurers!"

Sotalia pulls the corner of the mouth, narrows curious eyes at Veevi, and frees a hand from the hip to grant a plain wave. Bach blinks, darts his gaze side to side around the area, and eventually responds with a simple, meek wave. Veevi skips over with a spunky demeanor and poses confidently in front of Sotalia. "I don't think we have officially met. I'm Veevi Valiant, rising star, AND... Newest member of the Flames of the Phoenix."

Sotalia slightly pitches her head up and lowers an examining stare carefully upon Veevi. An intrigued smile draws across her lips. She guides dark red hair over a horn, gazes at Veevi with golden eyes, and poses proudly. "So, I have heard. Sotalia Feratosia. Mage."

Bach shrugs nonchalantly, notices Deedri cautiously walking up, and waves again at her. "Um, Bach Warwick. Intern...?"

Veevi focuses upon Sotalia, tosses her pink hair back, and responds with a charming smile. "I actually got to witness some of your spells when I was training the other day. Impressive."

Deedri stops in front of Bach with a calm smile, and shuffles over to keep at least a meter gap between her and Veevi. "Hello. I am sorry to interrupt. I was out to gather some reagents from these protellows. Veevi joined along to for the walk."

Scratching the back of his head, Bach nods and points a thumb up to the large looming protellow shading the vicinity. "Well, so are we. We're trying to get some of the fluid sacs from up around the top and were trying to figure out how."

A spark of enthusiasm lights up Deedri's face and she steps forward with initiative. "Oh! Perfect! That's the same thing I need. Let me climb up there and I'll gather enough for all of us!"

Bach glances up the tall plant and returns a concerned expression to Deedri. "Um, that's pretty high up there. Do you want any help?"

He notices the quick, awkward glance Deedri aims towards Veevi as she passes by him on her way to the base of the large stalk. She flexes her claw tipped fingers to Bach with a sharp grin. "Don't worry. I've got the climb part covered. I just need to concentrate on the task. But, if you could keep watch, that would be very helpful."

Bach's mind processes the situation. He briefly gestures to Deedri to wait and steps next to Sotalia with a grin. "Hey, maybe you should share some magical education pointers with Veevi. One fellow mage to another aspiring mage."

Sotalia slowly rotates her head and casts a dubious eye to Bach. She examines his expression, notes the subtle wink, and soon grows a devious, mischievous smile. With a proud shift of her pose, she taps a contemplative finger upon her lips and grins at Veevi. "Why, of course! If I am to assume correctly your present teacher, I do believe her distinctive emin haughtiness may be impairing her ability to properly educate you."

An intrigued smile parts Veevi lips and she places her hands on her hips attentively. "Why, yes. I do believe it is. She keeps telling me to go through long, pointless drills and tries my patience with trivial practice exercises."

Sotalia chuckles darkly, waves out her hand, and sprinkles a dramatic flair to her sigh. "I figured. I do believe I should share some important hints and tricks to help you along your path in the magical arts. And, I'm certain if you demonstrate these proficiently to an audience, you teacher will EVER be so motivated to teach once she recognizes your potential."

Veevi's attention fully affixes on Sotalia's examples, gestures, and incantations. Sotalia demonstrates a series of small, colorful, and exceptionally flashy spells from the simplest instructions. After each quick performance, Sotalia coaches Veevi until she enacts the basic functionality. Meanwhile, Bach assists Deedri as she deftly climbs up the stalk of the towering protellow. Deedri's finger and toe claws render the task routine and she secures herself near the top of the stalk. With expert precision, she extracts the fluid sacs into the safety of her apron pouch. Bach stands by at the base and keeps a vigilant watch overhead, and spots other locations that he calls out to Deedri. After half hour, Deedri's feet touch stable ground and she sorts through her apron pocket. "There was quite a lot on that protellow and the sacs looked freshly formed. I have more than enough. Here."

She scoops up a double hand full and presents it. Bach retrieves a cloth bag from his pocket, opens it up, and guides the contents from Deedri's hands in. "Thanks. Really. The local reagent shop was out, so we've been looking for a source."

He glances over his shoulder and returns to face Deedri with a grateful expression and softer voice. "Hey, by the way, thanks again for the other day. Didn't think we really needed a showdown at the grocery store of all places."

Deedri rolls her eyes away with a sighing shake of her head. "I understand completely."

She briefly peeks around Bach at Veevi and returns her eyes to Bach. "Thank you for the latest distraction."

Bach blinks, quirks a brow at Deedri, and points through himself at Veevi with a light snarl. "Yeah, it looked like you needed a break from... her..."

Deedri narrows her eyes to a tired, unamused expression and sighs. "You have no idea."

She retrieves her aetherphone from a side pocket, taps the screen, and reads the time of the clock. "Oh good, I should actually be back in time to complete my batch of wound salve."

After a gracious bow, Deedri navigates the thick surface roots over near Sotalia and Veevi with Bach following. "I hate to leave so soon, but I must get back. But Veevi, you are more than welcome to continue your lessons."

Veevi flashes a sly smile to Deedri, flits her dark pink brows, and sighs contentedly as she stretches her arms back. "Well, they want to do video journal segments today and I don't want to be late for mine. I have a lot to say."

She nods to Sotalia with hints of respect. She excitedly squeals with childish glee. "And I can't wait to practice what you've shown me! Thank you so much!"

Sotalia crosses her arms with a smug smirk. "Oh, I'm certain you'll definitely impress your teacher."

Deedri waves at Sotalia and Bach, and quickly moves towards the tree line and the forest path. Veevi slinks over to the side of Deedri, trying to close distance Deedri refuses to relinquish. Bach slides next to Sotalia and gradually angles his gaze to her, puzzling. "So... What all did you... teach... Veevi?"

A sinister glint shines off Sotalia's smile and she flexes her long, black nailed fingers on a hand. "Oh, you know... Just a few simple spells and flow techniques."

Bach's stare narrows at Sotalia and he twists his mouth suspiciously. "Okay. What would those be?"

Sotalia nonchalantly inspects her nails and fails to contain her overflowing self-satisfaction as it forms into a wide grin on her face. "Oh. Just a few of the most distracting, flashy, trashy, lowest common denominator spells you can find. Only the BEST ones to show a starting student. A few of my favorites from when I was an annoying teenager."

A snort escapes Bach and he gazes off into the forest with a slow side to side sway of his head. "Wow... Just wow. You think she'll actually follow through and use them?"

An evil laugh slips out from Sotalia's mouth and she reaches out for cloth bag full of fluid sacs. "A young, egotistical girl with something to prove the world? Trust me, she will NOT miss the opportunity to try."

Bach hands the fabric sack over to Sotalia and she happily nods at the contents of the bag. She carefully wraps the end of the bag up, and secures a hand around the opening. With a motions to Bach, she steps forward towards another part of the forest perimeter. "Well, we better head back. I have potions to make."

Bach shakes his head and follows along behind with a dry chuckle to himself. "Next week's episode is going to be interesting."

A wicked sparkle dances in Sotalia's eye. "I do hope so."

Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia sit around the dining table. Sebastian's ethereal form hovers overhead. He scrutinizes the collection of documents littering the surface of a large table covering map. Narrowing his eyes in thought, he slowly nods in agreement. "That makes the most sense. One of Noxian's old hang outs is nearby and there's a few... uh..."

He pauses moment, contorts his mouth hesitantly at words at the front of his mind, and sighs reluctantly. Aristespha smiles amusedly with a shrug and gazes lovingly at him. "Go ahead and say it, Sebastian."

Sebastian floats over and lands down on the floor. He holds his ghostly arms out and plainly states. "A few simple, routine, and easy jobs... in the area. Now that I've cursed all of us by saying that, let's look at our options."

Cideeda reaches out over the table, arranges the a few quest print outs next to each other, and compares coordinate lists to the map. Dretphi peers over another row of papers, guides a finger on one hand along the text, and points out the location on the map with another finger. Sotalia gestures quickly and taps the spots Dretphi designates, leaving a magical highlight on the surface. Bach shifts his focus between the papers near Cideeda and Dretphi, picking out keywords and mulling over his opinion. Aristespha squints over the data and turns her attention to one her tablets. "I'm going to guess that Hattan will be the best place to get rooms for a few days. I'll start searching the area."

Sotalia perks up, faces Aristespha, and flits her dark red eyebrows. "Hey! See if you can book that one place with the day spa next door. That was REALLY convenient."

Aristepsha rolls her eyes with an incredulous smirk and eyes Sotalia. "It's only going to be for a few days. I doubt we'll really have the time for such activities."

Sotalia pouts with a sigh and mumbles. "You should still try... Please?"

Sebastian's eyes follow a road on the map and he notices a particular location that pulls a snide grin on his face. "Hey, bro. You think we should stop by Tullachester? Stop by the old house?"

Bach lifts his head up, squints his eyes at his brother, cracks a lopsided smile with a cringe, and lays down the sarcasm. "Yah, sure. We can swing by and tell the new renter, that the land lady most definitely conned, all about the plumbing, heating, cooling, electrical... structural... and ethical problems with that place. I'm certain they would also love to know the best places to put the pots and pans when it rains or what creatures make which noises in the attic."

Dretphi stares over to Bach with an uncertain expression and struggles for the right words. "That residence sounds... Difficult?"

Bach rubs his eyes to pinch of the bridge of his nose with an honest smile on his lips. "Yeah. That actually sums it up. That town has nothing going on for it. There's one decent bar in whole area and that only showed up in the last few years."

Shrugging his shoulders and Bach pans a gaze at everyone with a chuckle. "When being abducted AWAY from the town is the highlight of your time being IN the town, it probably isn't a good place. Two months out and still NO desire to go back."

Sebastian crosses his arms and smiles with an ethereal laugh. "Okay, so that's a strong NO on stopping in Tullachester."

Dretphi traces the route out on the map, pausing at key points, and plots the travel in her mind. "The roads are serviceable from experience. Not sure if we can arrive at by nightfall. Just after, maybe."

Cideeda idly scratches her jaw line and her emerald eyes study the path Dretphi points out. "Worst case, we camp at a rest stop in the mountains. I remember a few coming from Anta."

Aristespha smirks, lifts her tablet up off the table, angles to Sotalia, and flits her brow slyly. "I can't get that one place, but..."

Sotalia shifts her attention over. Her eyes widen and she bites her lip in gleeful anticipation. "That will work, girl."

Sebastian hovers up and hangs over the table, his eyes sifting through the job notices. "Okay, let's bid on jobs, get some work, and book the rooms. Take it easy tomorrow, and we set off Monday."

-36-

Sunlight shines in through the small window panes of double doors leading out to the balcony. Inside the small bedroom, Gerald lays on the modest bed and props up a thin monitor upright on his chest. His dark brown eyes idly watch a video playback. Intermittently, his finger presses a control button to pause the progress, spins a jog dial to revert a few seconds prior, and taps another button to resume. Holding the display with one hand, he brushes his hand through his short, dark blonde hair, and the hidden gray hairs glint in the reflected light. A series of wooden creaks sound out from the stairwell leading up to the bedroom door. Gerald stops the video on his monitor, aims his eyes over toward the noise, and waits. Seconds later, Samantha climbs the final step of the stairs, swings into the room by the door frame, and beams a wide grin to Gerald through the open bedroom door. "How are YOU on this fine Sunday morning!?"

Gerald quirks brow and slowly rests the screen on the side of the bed, guiding the slack of the cable leading from a large camera over the side. "Fine...?"

Samantha walks forward and exaggerates her individual steps along the wooden floor as she hugs on to her clipboard. "Well, good. Anything interesting on the cameras?"

With a simple shrug, Gerald tugs at the corner of his mouth and eyes over at his recording equipment upon a nearby table. "Nothing too exciting. Caught Deedri wandering off into the forest again. She was by herself this time... Well, until Veevi followed along after her. But, both came back. Deedri looked pretty annoyed. I noticed she was holding her tail to the side. Haven't figured that one out, yet."

Samantha drops herself to a seat upon the modest bed, turns to face Gerald, and holds out her clipboard. "Guess where we're going."

Gerald reaches out his hand, takes the clipboard, and puzzles over the paperwork clipped on the wooden plate. His eyes trace the text upon the pages, and he quickly flips over the sheets as the content surprises him. "Hattan? Really? Huh. Haven't been there in a while. Wow, there's a bunch of jobs out there right now."

An ear to ear grin graces Samantha's face and she chuckles darkly to herself. "Yes, but not so many that a few couldn't be sniped from a CERTAIN group."

After a few blinks, Gerald returns the clipboard to Samantha and shakes his head. "Wow. Hope Howard isn't overusing his contact at the guild."

Samantha searches through the pages and inspects them with a smile to Gerald. "Nah. Howie said he's just getting the info and using it as an advantage when bidding through the proper systems. Oddly, there's this really simple sounding pest extermination job that's just been passed over by everyone."

Gerald lifts his brow and glances over to Samantha curiously. "What's the pest?"

A few pages flop over the top of the clipboard and Samantha lifts the documents closer for her eyes to read. "Um... Simple, harmless slimes from the looks of it. Even our group should be able to handle that."

A long groan sounds out from Gerald as he rolls his eyes over to a collection of protective clothing hanging in the closet. "Please tell me you've at least warned the crew to pack waterproofing gear."

Samantha sighs and nods dismissively. "Yes, of course! Though, I did make sure to not remind the team. Howie's orders. He wants to see if they'll take the proper precautions... Or, learn the hard way."

A singular laugh escapes Gerald and he smirks knowingly to Samantha. "Right... I'm certain he's hoping for the hard way. It ALWAYS gets better ratings when they learn the hard way."

After a sigh and snicker of agreement, Samantha flips to the last packet of paperwork between clip and excitedly displays it to Gerald. "Did you see where Howie booked us?"

Gerald leans his head forward off the pillow and squints briefly as his eyes dart left and right. His eyes flit wide open and he settles his head back down. "Wow! Not bad, Howard. Guess he was in a good mood when he made the reservations. Really fancy."

Samantha tilts to over towards Gerald and amuses herself on a thought. "Howie found out that the owner will shill out to anything... So long as the hotel gets mentioned excessively in the promo materials."

She leans back to level and laughs with a short grin. "Plus, one of the researchers found out that the owner's kids LOVE the show."

Gerald snorts and shakes his head side to side on the pillow, twisting a smirk. "Now THAT is the angle that Howard used. I'm sure of it."

He puts both his hands behind his head, relaxes his arms out, and eyes Samantha. "What was it that he said? If they don't want to deal with you, see if they have children they want to deal with less?"

Samantha draws in lungs full of air, blinks with twisted lips, and slowly exhales out a begrudging sigh, gazing upwards. "Yes... He's said that a number of times. But, it works. Does it ever work."

She throws herself forward off the bed, stands up on her feet, and stretches her arms and back. "Well, I need to go finish up the paperwork and get copies over to the team. I think we'll be able to head out Tuesday and use tomorrow to prep."

Gerald nods, pulls his upper body up from rest, and smiles to Samantha. "Sounds good. We can get the standard mission loadout ready in no time."

Samantha pivots with a sly grin, lifts a bundle of paperwork up, and reveals a section of interest to Gerald. "We'll also need the promo equipment ready. Howie has booked one of the event rooms for a surprise fan meetup."

Curiously perking a brow, Gerald draws a sinister grin and narrows his eyes at Samantha. "Before... or after the slime stomping?"

Samantha responds with an evil smile and wink. "Well, of course, after, if at all possible. Have to try to give fans the genuine adventuring experience."

Two wide lanes of roughly paved road stretches out through a continuous cleared strip between the forested edges. The humvee coasts along the smooth asphalt and the suspension only occasionally shakes from the rare dip and rough patch. Along the maintained shoulder, trees pass on by with sporadic gaps between, allowing clear views of farms, open fields, access roads, and rustic houses. Opposite the road border, a large, grassy median serves as a barrier from another pair of similarly wide lanes with an equivalent border shoulder. A red, low profile motorcycle zips around the humvee from behind into the opposing side of the road with a high pitched roar. The cycle captures Cideeda's attention as it shrinks into the distance. She shakes her head with an amused grin and glances through the rear view mirror at Bach. "These roads are nice..."

She quickly eyes down at the dash and spots the needle on the speedometer. "And to be fair, we're going a hundred kilometers per hour smoothly, but I don't know if I'd open it up like that."

Leaning out into the isle to peer through the front windshield, Bach snorts and settles his head back on his seat's headrest. "Yeah. That's why I stuck with my bike. Way too easy to tempt fate on those things."

Sebastian aims a glance to Bach and dons a amused smirk. "Remember that one guy in the dorm, bro? The one that wrecked his bike-"

Bach's eyes flit wide and he coughs out a reflexive laugh. "Up the tree! Oh gods! I still don't know how he did it without magic. It's one of those things I still try to figure out."

Sotalia blinks, rolls her head over on her headrest, and directs her voice back. "That actually happened? I always thought Sebastian was just exaggerating that part."

With a chuckle and a side to side sway of the head, Bach grits his teeth in a near smiling grimace. "No. It was UP the tree. I stood out there with everyone else trying to figure out how it happened."

Dretphi briefly gazes up from a finely carved staff in her hands and momentarily ponders such a feat of physics. But, the allure of the staff snatches her attention back as she concentrates upon it. After a few moments, a glowing flow gradually creeps up the handle and navigates the grooves in the wood. As the energy travels through the pathways, the routes become gradually more complicated higher up the staff. As the humvee rolls down the road, Dretphi devotes her full focus towards progressing her magical might up the wooden maze. Sebastian notices a metal road sign with a single line of text and his ethereal form grins smugly. "Tullachester, five kilometers, bro. Still don't want to swing on by to see how things are?"

Bach gradually rotates his head up to his hovering ghostly brother, lifts a brow, and slowly shakes his head side to side. "Pass. I'll enjoy the sight of the off ramp disappearing behind us into the horizon."

A slight grumble from Aristespha next to him draws Sebastian's attention and he expresses concern. He lowers his head just over Aristespha's shoulder to peek at her tablet's display. "What's wrong, dear?"

Aristespha brushes back a few stray, silvery blue hairs, twists her mouth in mild annoyance, and squints at the screen. "I was hoping we'd win the bids on a few other small side jobs, Sebastian. But, someone secured the bid for a few of those quests."

Sebastian tugs his lips to the corner of his mouth and puzzles at the list of jobs on the tablet. "Well, probably a lower bid from someone else, dear. At least we secured what we really wanted. Can't fight the lowest bid on those smaller jobs."

His eyes gravitate towards a job header and he points his finger towards that particular listing. "What was this job again? I don't remember seeing a bid on that one."

Aristespha gently taps the entry and the program display expands the detailed information out upon the screen. She grows an evil smirk and aims her narrowed eyes at Sebastian with a lift of an eyebrow. Sebastian's eyes bounce left to right with each line and he abruptly averts his head away with an amused snort. "OH! THAT job. Wow... Good luck to whoever bidded on that one. I figured THAT would stay unbid for at least few more months."

Gently lowering the tablet down onto her lap, Aristespha stretches her arms over the back of her chair and arches her back in the seat briefly to relieve her muscles. "I would... Ah... Not be surprised if it comes back up on the guild board in a week."

Sebastian nods slowly with a tight smile and gazes to Aristespha. "I hope they make the work comments public on that one."

Evil tinges the grin that splits Aristespha's lips as she looks into Sebastian's eyes. In the front passenger's seat, Sotalia watches the road ahead, scanning out towards the horizon. She squints to see one distant long-haul cargo truck ahead, yawns, and shifts herself around on the seat to find a comfortable posture. Her eyes flit wide and she cringes slightly as a new discomfort seizes her attention. She nonchalantly places her hands on her knees, pushes her legs close together, and searches the upcoming shoulder. A few minutes pass. Sotalia squirms gradually and momentarily curls her upper lip to reveal gritting teeth. With an idle fidgeting tap of her finger on her knees, she keeps her attention forward in a hunt for some specific item. The humvee crests the top of a hill. Sotalia's eyes open wider and lock onto a large metal road sign ahead. As it passes by, she directs her voice back towards the group with a light tone. "Hey, there's a rest stop ahead... Does ANYONE need to stop and... use the restroom?"

Cideeda perks an eye brow, angles her head slightly towards the center console, and notices the empty, extra large cup of fancily ordered coffee. She returns her head forward and conceals a smirk on the side of her mouth away from Sotalia. Aristespha shakes her head and continues to stare out her window at the midday scenery below a cloud speckled blue sky. "I am just fine. Remember? I only ordered the SMALL coffee and tea."

Bach shrugs and watches the world speed on by out his window. "Not me."

Dretphi briefly diverts her attention away from the magically glowing staff, looks ahead, shrugs, and resumes her focus. "No."

Sotalia twists her lips and notices another road sign. She draws in a careful breath and exhales long. She peers back over to the shoulder of her seat and dons an uncomfortable smile as pleading hints infiltrate her voice. "Is everyone sure? No one could stand to take a break, stretch out, and enjoy the local scenery...?"

An eye brow sharply hoists up on Bach's face, Aristespha peeks over from the corner of her eyes, Dretphi pauses her flow progress, and Sebastian plainly stares right at Sotalia. Cideeda grins mischievously and mockingly sighs as she watches the exit sign draw close. "I guess NO ONE needs to stop. We'll see what's around in an hour or so..."

She directs a toothy smile to Sotalia. Grumbling to herself while her body language telegraphs a developing unease, Sotalia eyes the distant exit ramp. A long awkward silence looms inside the cab as the group collectively awaits. Sotalia growls in defeat and calmly, hesitantly pleads. "Cideeda... Could you take this next exit?"

Cideeda eases off the accelerator, gazes ahead, and gradually turns the steering wheel. "Why?"

Drawing in a breath through her gritting teeth, Sotalia mumbles loudly. "So, I can use the bathroom."

A snort escapes Cideeda as she directs the humvee down the exit ramp and rolls her eyes. "Yes, we can."

Aristespha rotates her gaze at Sotalia, presents a smug, triumphant grin, and giggles to herself. "I was wondering how long before that EXTRA LARGE coffee you got... after I warned you... worked its way through you."

Cideeda grins wide, Dretphi smirks shaking her head, Bach rolls his eyes, and Sebastian snorts ethereally. Sotalia stiffly sits in the car seat, and stares ahead out the windshield glaring an unamused expression forward. "Oh, HUSH, girl!"

A sly smile cracks upon her lips, and she aims a tease towards Aristespha. "I especially don't need a lecture from Queen of the Hot Wings."

Dretphi stifles a snort late and averts her gaze away. Cideeda presses her lips tightly together and keeps her view squarely on the road. Bach examines the expressions of Dretphi and Cideeda, and presents a quizzical stare at Sebastian. "Okay, I'm missing something here."

Sebastian shrugs awkwardly and works out an ill-humored smirk from his face. "Well, bro, there was this one time-"

He halts abruptly mid-sentence and mildly winces a cheek. Beside Sebastian, Aristespha twists a grip tightly onto the sword and glares bright violet at him, with the glow encompassing a distinctly reddish hue. Sebastian closes his mouth, allows his mind to ponder some new information, and directs a neutral expression to Bach with a flat tone. "...that will not be discussed at this time..."

Moments of quiet hang in the air as the humvee rolls to a halt at a stop sign intersection. Sotalia snaps her head to peer over the shoulder of her seat, a sparkle of mischief in her eyes and her horns prominent with the downwards tilt of her head. "So, after a LONG day of spellcasting-"

Aristespha's eyes fly open and she grits her teeth at Sotalia into a twitching glower with a faintest growl.

The humvee rolls between the faded markings of parking spot. As the powerplant spins down, the doors open. Sotalia closes the glove box, tucks a roll of toilet paper under her arm, and gingerly hops out. She scans the area, her stance squirming. "Okay, where's the bathroom in this place?!"

Cideeda steps onto the pavement, walks to the front of the humvee, and squints her eyes towards a number of buildings in the area. A wary expression rises upon Cideeda's face as scouts the structures and she frowns slightly. "We might want to keep driving for another place. This rest area looks... Under serviced?"

In the overgrown clearing before the group, a collection of picnic tables, permanent shade canopies, and snack machine kiosks surround a central park building. The long grasses thoroughly obscure where each touches the ground. Aristespha stands next to Cideeda, cocks her head to the side, and fights the disgust on her face. "Oh my..."

Bach pans a gaze across the vicinity and simply shrugs without surprise. "We're just south of Tullachester. This is about what I expected."

Sotalia grimaces while surveying each building and perks up as her eyes settle upon the central building. "I bet they're at the big building! I'm going to go check!"

She swiftly power walks down the winding path from the parking lot up towards the large structure, her speed tempered by caution. Sebastian floats above and drifts forward uncertainly. "You want me to check that building out first?"

Sotalia aims her voice back and continues onward. "No! I'll be fine."

Aristespha sighs, glances up to Sebastian with a smile, and strolls along the same direction as Sotalia. "Don't worry, Sebastian. I'll accompany her and make sure she doesn't fall in."

Dretphi gazes up towards the tree tops, cups a hand around her ear, and puzzles as she pivots to face the source of a faint bird song. Bach looks over, traces her line of sight, and searches the high parts of the forest. "What are you looking for?"

After few seconds, Dretphi's eyes briefly widen and she points out a large, brilliantly colorful bird preening itself upon a tree branch. "There. It is a... zone parrot? I think that is the correct term."

Bach follows the angle of Dretphi's arm and spots the animal sorting through its brightly patterned plumage. He blinks and gawks in bewilderment at the creature. "Wow... I don't ever remember seeing anything like that around here of all places."

Dretphi nods, lowers her hand to her hip, and contorts the corner of her mouth. She tilts her head to the side, letting a few platinum blonde braids shift upon her shoulder. "You should not. This place is not this creature's habitat. I do not know why it is here. Strange."

Cideeda's ears flick around and hunt the soundscape, concentrating on specific noises. Seconds later, she turns her head towards Dretphi and Bach across the hood of the humvee, with a twist to her lips. "There's at least two other birds that sound like it in the area."

Astonishment tinges Dretphi's expression. She crosses her arms, leans upon the humvee's side, and lowers her head slightly in thought. Bach eyes over curiously to Dretphi with a cautious tone in his voice. "Uh, anything we should worry about?"

Dretphi turns her head to Bach, dons a light smirk, and shakes her head confidently. "No. Zone parrots are not hostile. Annoying. Destructively curious. Do not attack people."

She lifts her head back up to stare at the leaves as the wind rustles through the canopies, and continues pondering. "It is just... Odd. They do not migrate. Live in weird zones. No where else. One this far away could be excused. Maybe lost. Three? There is another reason."

Sebastian's ethereal form drifts over above and gazes out into the area. He glimpses over near the central building as both Sotalia and Aristespha disappear around the corner of the structure. Hovering down onto his feet next to Bach, he leans close to Bach's ear. "Thirty seven."

Bach blinks hard and swings his head over to face Sebastian dumbfounded. "Thirty what?"

Contorting his face to contain his ill amusement, Sebastian sighs with a roll of his eyes. "Thirty seven hot wings. In one setting. We got roughed up bad, bro, on one mission. She spent the entire day patching us up out in a remote location and worked up an... appetite. She demanded we stop at the first food place we drove pass on the way back... It had to be a wing place."

Around the corner of the central building, Aristespha and Sotalia stare into a dim entryway next to a women's bathroom sign. The corridor turns sharply at a right angle into a dark, unseen room. Sotalia cringes and grumbles as she peers into the shady hallway. "I think I see the light switch on the wall there."

Aristespha gestures with her hand and a small orb of light hovers above her outstretched palm. She nods to Sotalia and the two walk slowly through the entry, approach the forward wall before the right angle turn, and move next to the light switch. Both turn to face down the corridor into the inky darkness filling the echoey room before them. Only a few dim glows from narrow, dirty high windows provide any direct illumination into the room with the ambient glow from outside barely reflecting in around the bend. Sotalia places her finger underneath the switch and toggles it up. The two watch as the overhead lights gradually flicker to light and surge a bright shine into the room. As the brightness floods the tiled public restroom, amorphous collections of loose specks retreat chaotically away. The scattered masses crawl into the darker parts under sinks and disappear into the shaded regions of the row of stalls. Abject horror overflows from Aristespha and Sotalia faces, their jaws drop agape, and the pupils of their eyes shrink to pin points. Aristespha covers her mouth and slides her eyes over. Sotalia meets Aristespha's eyes with a cheek twitching grit of the teeth, slowly shakes her head. "No..."

Both take synchronous steps away and carefully retrace their paths back outside. Once well in the light of day, Aristespha pivots promptly to search the nearby treeline. After a few moments, she directs Sotalia's attention towards a large, obscuring shrub, and laughs out her nerves. "I think that one will work just fine."

Sotalia dramatically exaggerates a nod and quickly skips over to the target. "I'll make it work!"

Decorative light fixtures hang down from the tall ceiling in the modest hotel lobby. The dusk sky casts an orange hue through the windows to mix with the warm glow of the overhead lamps. The ornate slate floor path from the entry splits the lobby into two distinct sections. Plush wooden couches form small group meeting spaces scattering one area. In the other, elaborate chairs surround the long tables encircling a central kitchen with chefs busily working on orders. Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia sit around a table, each with menus in hands.

The elevator chimes out in the lobby pass the front desk and a tall man with a long black beard and shorter hair steps out. Cradling a wide brimmed hat in his cybernetic arm, he brushes some lint off his jacket and secures his Borderland Ranger badge onto the jacket's front pocket. He walks nonchalantly out upon the floor in dirt speckled boots, nods a hello to the desk staff, and leads himself towards the exit. As he travels the divide between the sections, he glances over to one side and then to the other. His pace slows to a stop as recognition dawns upon his face and an amused smirk graces his lips. With a sharp pivot, he calmly approaches the table with the sitting group, stops politely nearby, and bows slightly. "Pardon me for interrupting, but I do believe I have made all your acquaintances a few weeks back."

Aristespha gazes up from the menu, studies the man's face, and smiles pleasantly. "Yes we have... Captain Hays, I believe?"

Captain Hays nods an acknowledgment. He quickly greets and shakes everyone's hand. He glances over everyone with a smile and addresses them. "It's good to see you all are in good shape. I've heard some interesting things through the usual sources."

Aristespha quirks a brow and studies Hayes with a slight grin. "Oh, really? I do hope nothing too terrible. Also, I am ever so sorry we haven't gotten around to contacting you. We haven't had a chance to wander towards the border regions."

After a hearty chuckle, Hays draws in a breath and shakes his head slowly. "Understandable. I'm certain you've been busy. And truthfully, for a Borderlands Ranger, I've been away from the borderlands A LOT as of late."

Dretphi lifts a brow and gives Hays a quizzical gaze. "Why is that?"

With twist of the lip, Hays quirks a brow and ponders a summary. "Well... to put it simply... We've been trying to figure out why the weird zone and borderlands critters are everywhere they shouldn't be."

He casually strokes his beard and sighs with tinges of frustration. "It's nothing like we've seen before. We occasionally have a few odd migrations if a zone shifts around, but this isn't one of them."

The group exchanges looks as a new light shines upon recent events. Bach glances to Dretphi and Cideeda before he shifts his attention on Hays. "We actually saw some odd creatures today."

Hays examines the expressions at the table and tilts his head curiously. "Really? What did you all see?"

Dretphi calmly and clearly states to Hays. "Zone Parrots."

Hays pauses in thought and meets Dretphi's eyes. "Where?"

Dretphi returns the gaze with a serious tone. "Northwest. Up the highway."

Bach squints at his memory and recounts. "Um, yeah... Just south of Tullachester at the old rest stop."

After a long pause, Hays hums as his mind processes the implications. "That's over a hundred kilometers from where you should even start finding them normally. Hmm. We should compare notes. I'm here with my two scouts trying to chart the movement of all these critters."

With a nod, Aristespha offers an empty seat at the table. "If no one objects, I am certain you could join us and we can discuss this further."

After the rest of group indicates their agreement, Captain Hays holds his hand up with a happy sigh. "I would love to oblige you and greatly appreciate the offer. Unfortunately, I'm on a mission to get food for two very tired scouts and two very obnoxious scout whelps."

Sotalia's eyes light up and she aims a pleading gaze with a bright smile towards Hays. "Well, maybe after diner you all could stop by so we can discuss this further..."

Eyes focus at the table focus upon Sotalia and await in amusement for the rest of her statement. Sotalia flutters her eyes at Hays and colors her voice coyly. "...and you are more than welcome to bring the whelps over."

Captain Hays smiles proudly and grants Sotalia an affirmative nod. "I'll see what I can do. That would be up to Heccaeh, but I don't think he'd mind. It'd give Chana a break from entertaining them."

Aristespha retrieves her aetherphone, taps through a number of menus, types out a brief message, and presses firmly on the screen. "Here's my contact information and our suite number."

With a gracious bow, Hay starts to turn away, stops, and grins at the group overall. "Before I forget, I want thank you all for assisting Captain Hackle and capturing the thudkickers. He was doing a favor for us, since that group had left our jurisdiction without our knowledge. Thankfully, they've been relocated to a calmer weird zone."

His eyes narrow slightly and he hoists a brow with a hint of amused suspicion. "A few of us are bit curious how you adjusted the attitude on that alpha male. We're not complaining. That particular alpha was an absolute asshole, so humbleness didn't hurt him."

As a searching gaze scans the table and settles upon Bach, Hays smirks with a chuckle. "But we can't figure out why he's now spooked by men wearing full helmets."

Down a fashionably decorated hotel hallway, Deedri and Tassilda both peek out around the frame of their room door and stare cautiously towards the intersection leading to the elevators. Tassilda grumbles, snorts out her irritation, and pouts. "This figures. We arrive ahead of schedule to a very nice hotel next to a top rated day spa, with the rest of the day free... And, we have a camera crew stalking us, just waiting for us to leave."

Deedri sighs sadly as her ears droop to the side. "I know. I've heard it's really nice. But, I don't think I could enjoy it like that."

Her ears flick back and her head swings the rest of her around. The next door down the hall opens into the room, Modoran slips deftly around, and carefully eases the door back shut. He scans the area and notices Deedri waving at him. Deedri energetically signals Modoran over and he slinks swiftly behind Deedri and Tassilda. Modoran checks down the hallway and with quizzical expression. "So, what are you two up to?"

Tassilda briefly glances back and grumbles as she resumes her focus on the bulky shadows projecting out from the elevator lobby lighting. "Trying to determine if we could actually enjoy the next door day spa... while under surveillance."

Modoran slides out from the door alcove to the middle of the hallway, and leans to peer down the way. He balances himself back standing, stretches his body, and presents a nonchalant smile to Deedri and Tassilda. "Are you ladies ready to go?"

Tassilda and Deedri exchange glances and nod hopefully towards Modoran. Pulling out his aetherphone, Modoran holds it up briefly before tapping upon the screen. "I'll send a message when it's clear. Just be ready get to the elevator."

Both Tassilda and Deedri excitedly dart back inside their room. As their door closes automatically, Modoran casually strolls down towards the intersection. His lips subtly move as his voice mumbles out extremely quiet incantations and the fingers on his free hand trace out very minute gestures. His posture stiffens and body language develops suspicious mannerisms. He quickly rounds the turn, awkwardly notices the two cameramen sitting on lobby benches, and blatantly averts from eye contact as he rushes right up to the elevator call button. The two cameramen glance to each other and focus their full attention upon Modoran. Both puzzle when Modoran presses the upwards call button, stand up, ready their equipment, and pantomime an agreement that both should follow.

While the seconds pass, Modoran's nervous ticks become more and more obvious, intriguing the men greatly. One of the two elevators open with a chime and Modoran nervously darts inside with the two camera operators immediately behind. Modoran checks his aetherphone briefly, hides the screen down from view, and presses the button for the next floor up. The doors slide shut and a gentle acceleration pulls down on an extremely nervous Modoran and two very suspicious cameramen. The digital elevator display changes to the next floor and ring brightly with a voice announcement. When the doors part wide enough, Modoran bolts clear of the elevator car, slides out a sharp turn, and tears off in a full sprint down a hallway. Both camera operators nearly crash into a pile out on the elevator lobby floor and scramble after Modoran.

On the elevator button panel, the previous floor's button slides in momentarily and lights up. Immediately afterwards, an unseen force adds the second floor of the basement parking garage to illuminated selection. Finally, a finger fading back into opacity firmly presses the door close switch. The rest of Modoran's body sheds off the transparent guise and he smirk smugly while tapping out a message on the phone. The elevator seals back up and faintly hums down a floor. The display changes, a voice announces the floor, and the doors part to an eager Tassilda and antsy Deedri. Both quickly step in at the prompting of Modoran and he smiles nonchalantly. "Next stop, freedom."

The elevator car shuts back up. Tassilda glances over to Modoran with a sly grin. "What did you do? Knock them out and stuff them in a broom closet?"

Modoran rolls his eyes with an amused sigh. "Nah. Just had them chase my ghost."

Deedri spots the light for the second basement garage level and puzzles. "The second level of the parking garage?"

Modoran casually shrugs and presents a calming smile to Deedri. "Well, figured at least one other crew is on the ground floor and the SUV is parked on the first level of the garage. So, they're probably monitoring that. But, we should be safe to wander over to the stairwell leading out to street on the second level of the garage."

After a few nods, Deedri blinks as a thought crosses her mind and she gazes up to Modoran. "What are you going to do?"

A long pause holds Modoran's tongue and he ponders the situation. "I don't know actually. Probably wander around the city until dinner? Didn't really have any plans."

Deedri entertains a genuine smile and flits an eye brow. "Ever been to a day spa?"

Modoran's dusky bluish gray skin flushes with purple undertones around the cheeks. In an attempt to avert his face, he runs his fingers through his light gray hair to scratch the back of his head. "Oh. Um. I-I wouldn't want to intrude."

Tassilda rolls her eyes with a dismissive shake of the head. "Oh, please. Don't play modest now. If you get us there, you are more than welcome to join us."

The elevator doors slide apart and Modoran leans out to check the vicinity with an awkward smile on his face. "Well... Then I better get you two there. Looks clear so far. Follow me."

Beams of light shine through ancient gaps in the tall ceiling of the solid stone structure. Faint traces of dust drift aimlessly through the huge, long hallways and barely stir to the whims of the wind outside. A flash brightly illuminates an area immediately near Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia. Aristespha inspects the fresh image on the display of her aetherphone and shakes her head as a bored sigh vents. "I can't discern difference. Everything seems to be matching the old pictures."

Cideeda's ears flick around, her eyes keenly inspect the area, and she sniffs the air. She pulls an unamused smirk into the corner of her mouth and shrugs. "Nothing. Still nothing out of the ordinary. I'm actually feeling a little disappointed."

Sotalia kneels down to the ground, picks up a small, unlit magical indicator stick, and rolls her eyes at herself. "I know I should be okay with this, but..."

Dretphi twists her lips and grumbles. "This place is tediously mundane."

Staring up between the columns of light streaming from the holes above, Bach's eyes search for anything of interest. "I'm really surprised they haven't just bulldozed this place down. There's no sealed off areas or anything hidden left. They didn't need adventurers for this job. They needed a building inspector to tell them demolish it already."

Aristespha nods in agreement and fights back a frown. "I know, but everyone is still paranoid about these old places. So, a job is a job, and for what they are asking... it's not THAT terrible of a payout. We actually haven't spent that much time here."

Bach shrugs his shoulders and holds his arms out to his sides. "Yes. Can't believe I'm actually wanting there to be something new or signs that something has changed. But, I'd even take trashy graffiti at this point."

With a glance over the shoulder, Cideeda nods in agreement at Bach and exhales out her idle frustration. "Some days, you just bring home the paycheck and wonder if they would have even known you were there."

Aristespha aims her aetherphone towards another marked section of wall, firmly presses an on-screen button, and a flicker of brightness erupts out from the flash. She squints inside a shaded archway next to the wall's markings and directs everyone's attention. "Quick check that room, please. It's listed as clear on the report. Let's just make sure before we move on."

Dretphi acknowledges, lifts up her sub-machine gun, and approaches it cautiously. Cideeda directs her laser pistol towards the archway and circles out opposite from Dretphi, gradually closing in on the target from the other side. Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia ready themselves and observe Dretphi's and Cideeda's progress. With her back against the wall, Dretphi slides up to the entry point and awaits Cideeda on the other side. The two silently exchange hands signals and confirm a plan. Dretphi toggles the flashlight on her weapon and sweeps the room from one direction from the archway. Cideeda crouches down, grabs a flashlight from her vest, flicks it on, and pans both her laser pistol and flashlight across the room. The two make a few counter-balancing passes before lowering the weaponry and turning off their lights. Cideeda shakes her head with an exaggerated eye roll. "We have confirmed it is still an empty room."

Dretphi walks away towards Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia and smirks lightly. "Additional dust. Maybe."

Aristespha plainly nods her head, types in a few notes, and muses sarcastically. "I'll be sure to put that in the notes."

Sotalia places her hands on her hips and pivots around slowly in thought. "I wonder what's taking Sebastian so long. He's been off scouting ahead for a long time."

With a firm grip on the sword, Aristespha closes her eyes and lowers her head in focused concentration. Seconds later, her brow quirks and contorts as confusion plays out on her face. Sebastian's ethereal form materializes next to her and he gazes over to everyone, gritting his teeth. "Uh... Um... I found something."

Aristespha lifts her head up and stares at Sebastian suspiciously. "Okay, Sebastian. What would that be?"

Sebastian's ghostly visage spins gradually to face Aristespha and he manages to put forth a weak smile. "Well, dear... It's uh... It'd be easier to show."

He points down the hallway to a nearby side branch off the main hall. "There's a safe vantage point down there."

Sebastian drifts forward towards the side passage and pinches the bridge of nose in reluctant annoyance. The group follows quickly behind down the main hallway, turns down the offshoot, and travels along to the end archway. Cideeda's nose twitches and an odor in the air bewilders her. "What? What is this smell? It feels so familiar..."

The hallway end opens up to a walkway above a small arena, encircling high on the back wall. Daylight radiates a column down from a single opening above in center the roof upon a strange collection of gelatinous pools of pastel colored slime. A glistening coat covers every surface below and each slime creature refreshes the layer with each slow, oozing pass. Colorful, amorphous blobs undulate along the on the floor and slop over obstacles. Occasionally, a mass will stop and spray a stream of viscous liquid at a random target before sliding along. Hundreds of slimy beings navigate the ramps and steps of the arena below, with new ones sporadically solidifying out from the translucent pools. Sebastian rest his face firmly in the palm of his hand as he witness the horrific disgust upon the faces of Aristespha, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia. Bach gawks in absolute confusion and flounders on forming a response. "Huh? Wha? The fu..."

Cideeda visibly shrinks back and hugs herself uncomfortably. Dretphi's eye winces in erratic repetition as she stares blankly at the scene before her. Sotalia's fingers flex on each hand and a golden glow sparks in her eyes with each tightening of her fists. Aristespha surveys the scene and the gray and blue hint of her ivory skin pale further. But, a thought crosses her mind and she blinks back to awareness. She lifts up her aetherphone, navigates through a few menus, and carefully reads a section of text on a document. Her eyes light up and a wicked, smug grin reaches ear to ear on her face. "This is an INSPECTION ONLY job."

Sebastian shakes his head and hovers next to Aristespha. The rest of the group congregates around and pairs of eyes all examine the same section of text upon Aristespha's aetherphone. Sebastian snorts with a ghostly echo. Soon a chorus of laughs, chuckles, and snickers fills the air. Sotalia holds back her laughter briefly when she strolls out. "Well, consider this place fucking inspected! Job done!"

Sebastian leads the group out through the entry and shakes his head. "Well, I guess that slime extermination job just got a lot bigger."

Cideeda snorts and grins in ill-humor as she leaves. "Hope whoever gets a bonus for this one."

Dretphi breathes out a long sigh of relief and rushes ahead. Aristespha finishes taking a picture of the scene on her phone and clears pass the entryway with Bach. She glances over to Bach and gestures her head back. "Could you please seal that opening off and put a manual deactivation trigger on it?"

Bach's eyes glow blue and nods with a wry smirk. He reaches out a hand, and a golden hexagonal matrix forms out. "May the gods have mercy on whoever opens this up."

-37-

A faint stream of vapor steams out the top of the half full pot of coffee under the coffee maker. A few torn open packets of creamer and sugar rest near a small stack of foam cups upon a small table. Early morning light beams into the modest hotel room from the sliding glass door to the small balcony. The sun's projection creeps past the regular bed with bags of personal care items and clothes stacked upon it. The radiant glow off the bed sheets illuminates a wide brimmed hat on a nightstand next to a futon bed. The sun eventually reaches the other regular bed, furthest from the glass window. Heccaeh's head rolls away from the light with an unconscious grumble. A curled up dark blue whelp shifts slightly on top of Heccaeh's chest, while a sleeping brown-striped whelp rises up and down upon his stomach in sync with slow breaths of slumber. The persistence of dawn finally overtakes Heccaeh's face. Not even the subconscious perk of a brown furred ear shields his eyes from the overwhelming sun. Following a series mumbles, Heccaeh yawns wide and groggily opens his hazy gaze. He turns his head towards the ceiling and attempts to lift his upper body off the bed. He pauses at the beginning of his rise and surveys the two weights on his body. He rolls his lavender eyes, works his arms out from under the covers, and carefully sneaks his clawed fingers underneath dark blue whelp. Gently he slides the slumbering whelp to one side of the mattress. Exercising similar care, he relocates the brown-striped whelp next to the other. His chaotic, shoulder length tan hair settles as he rises to a seat upon the bed. He slides over to the edge, places his clawed feet on the ground, and stands up. He narrows his eyes towards the glass sliding door and discerns two figures on the balcony. He glances overs at the coffee and then longingly eyes the bed. In place of two whelps, two large lumps stir underneath the daylight shielding covers in the warmth of Heccaeh's spot. Heccaeh slowly shakes his head with a smile. "Lazy little shits."

He tugs his ratty, old t-shirt straight, plods over to the small table with coffee and cups, and scratches the backside of his loose gym shorts. His moderate, thin tail limply hangs until the scent of coffee sparks a semblance of life. With precision and coordination uncanny, Heccaeh pours out a cup of coffee with a specific process of applying creamer and sweeteners, and lifts the concoction under his nose. He ambles towards the sliding glass door, breathing deeply of the brew. He finally reaches the door, slides it open, and his vision adjusts to the brightness. Captain Hays glances over his shoulder from staring out past the balcony and laughs. "Well, good morning, sunshine."

Heccaeh cracks opens his wincing eyes and peers out from behind a hand shielding the morning light away. "Morning, Captain."

A sly grin graces the lips of a young woman as she leans against the brick hotel wall. "About time you woke up."

Heccaeh eyes the woman and sighs as he opens his eyes slightly more. "Come on, Chana... I'm still recovering from the late watch schedule."

Chana chuckles to herself, lifts her head of shiny, coppery hair against the wall, closes her eyes, and basks in the dawn warmth. She reopens her copper eyes and gazes over to Heccaeh with a smile. "I know. Still, you need to get to bed sooner."

Heccaeh shrugs his shoulders, turns to face Captain Hayes, and studies the expression of reserved concern. "Is there something wrong, Captain?"

Captain Hays twists his mouth in contemplation and hums in thought. "Don't know. Tell me, what do you hear right now?"

After a few blinks, Heccaeh puzzles at the query, takes a long sip of his coffee, and focuses his ears out to the local soundscape. His ears rotate, pan, and twist around hunting for noises. "Well, a few normal city sounds, but... Nothing else..."

He stops in thought, steps up to the railing of the balcony, closes his eyes, and sweeps his head. As his ears focus out into the distance, an unease bubbles into his expression, and he opens his eyes towards the Captain. "Nothing else at all. I don't hear any of the wildlife sounds we heard yesterday morning."

Chana frowns and bows herself off the wall. "Gods dammit... I was hoping I was just paranoid."

Captain Hays draws in a long breath of air and grumbles. He nods in commiseration and strokes his beard. "And here I was hoping age may have finally taken some of my hearing. No such luck."

He pivots away from the balcony railing and steps towards the sliding glass door. He pauses before crossing the threshold into the hotel room. "Both of you pack up for a perimeter sweep today, please. I get the feeling we shouldn't wander too far away from the town. And, get the little ones ready to do some aerial recon."

Captain Hays briefly snarls his upper lip and grumbles to himself as he walks through the hotel room, his sights upon the coffee pot. "Gods willing, may we find nothing..."

Chad proudly leads Tassilda, Trakenthin, Deedri, and Modoran, with Veevi at this side. Veevi grins, oozing bravado as she keeps a hand on her holstered laser pistol and another hand on her hip. The rest of the group observes the surrounding walls on either side the branch off the derelict building's main hall. An unease looms over Tassilda, Trakenthin, Deedri, and Modoran. A few members of the camera crew keep their distance at ideal angles to capture the progression down the dark passage. Chad directs his voice over his shoulder with a bright white smile. "Do not fret. This should be the last stop for this mission. From what the report said, it was another infestation of slimes that was recently discovered. So, it shouldn't be any worse than what we have faced so far."

Veevi excitedly chimes as her fingers drum on the chassis of the laser pistol. "More target practice from the sounds of it!"

Tassilda rolls her light blue on black eyes and groans disdainfully, glaring at the back of Veevi's pink haired head. "Oh, so that's what you call blindly firing at anything that moves and running around scared when anything gets near you."

A snide sneer arches Veevi's upper lip and she angles her head back to narrow a stare at Tassilda. "Oh, on that same thought, what do YOU call it when you panic cast spells at point blank range and shriek like a cheerleader when you get spattered with goo?"

Both Veevi and Tassilda two lock eyes and silently engage in a staring contest fueled by mutual contempt. Deedri shifts her gaze away from the competition, draws in a long breath, and sighs long, letting her shoulders slack. "I just hope it's a small group we can keep our distance from. I don't have anymore clean changes of outfits with me."

She lifts a hand up, to adjust the small bell around her neck, and notices the silence as it moves. A exhale of relief escapes her lips as she hides the slime residue on the exterior of the bell with a quick wipe of the fingers. Trakenthin spots a patch of congealed muck on his armor plating, grunts out some irritation, and reaches into his pack. He pulls out a spray bottle, holds it in front of his vision, reads the label, and pulls the lever trigger to spritz down the muck. Modoran shrugs his shoulders as he casually strolls along at the back of the group and glances back behind. "Well, at least they aren't the corrosive variety."

Trakenthin nods in agreement, pulls out a roll of paper towels from his backpack, and carefully wipes the loosened ooze off his armor. "Indeed. Would need days to repair armor from exposure."

Chad slows to a stop, lifts a hand up to a halt gesture, signals the rest of the group behind, and squints his eyes at the golden barrier in front of him. "This type of barrier looks familiar. I can't recall how."

Tassilda and Deedri peer around Chad and Veevi, and then exchange glances towards each other. Both mirror a silent agreement and acknowledge their shared suspicion. Veevi boldly steps up to the barrier with a sway of her tail, taps a finger solidly onto the transparent golden surface, and pivots around to Chad. "Well? So how do we get it open?"

Drawing an aetherphone out of his pants pocket, Chad taps the screen, scrolls through paragraphs of text, and settles upon the last entry in the notes section. "Well, if you want to do the honors, there should be a disc in the middle that you turn clockwise three times."

Veevi spins back around into a dramatic pose, puzzling at the barrier. She hovers a finger near the magical wall, grips onto a raised disc, and spins the disc quickly. After three revolutions, the disc disappears and the seal disperses into the air as a magical miasma that fades moments later. Veevi eyes widen with a manic tinge. She pulls her laser pistol at the ready and grins with the flit of the brow to Chad. "Ready?"

Chad dons his trademark brilliant grin and strides forward. Veevi edges out in front of Chad and leads the gathering of people out of the passage onto a walkway overlooking an arena. Veevi's eager expression shatters upon her senses witnessing the scene before her. The slime molds ooze with impunity around the entirety of the area and express a superiority over the small domain. Chad struggles to maintain a bold, willing expression. Eventually, he settles for a false smirk to hide his reluctance from the plastic wrap armored camera crew as they spread out for ideal recording angles. Tassilda covers her mouth in shock as the light blue in her eyes shrinks to the horrific scene. Deedri grits her sharp teeth and reflexively winces an eye in a constant twitch. Trakenthin lowers his eyes lids to a completely unamused glare at Chad. Modoran keeps his lips tight and squelches a laugh into an awkward snort. After a the stun wears off, he manages to mouth out. "Well, fuck us..."

From the ceiling, a pastel colored blob free falls to a wet squishing flop onto the walkway in front of Veevi. A laser pistol muzzle lowers down at the small slime mold. It remains still for a minute. Veevi quirks her brow and puzzles at the motionless mass before her. "Huh? I guess the fall killed it?"

The blob contracts itself suddenly and ejects a stringy stream of viscous gel at Veevi. The jet of mucus splats squarely between her eyes, drifts down into her mouth, and trails a gelatinous flow onto her chest, flowing down her shirt. Veevi blinks aghast and slowly turns around to the group with her arms rising in sheer disgust. "Buh... Ungh... Wha..."

From out of the group's silent expressions, a malicious light ignites Tassilda's eyes. A devious grin menaces towards Veevi and Tassilda assumes a superior pose. She presents a mocking, waving gesture of hand with a derisive tone. "And I thought YOU... Of all people... would be used to something like THAT."

As a rage boils up inside, Veevi spits out a wad of muck on the floor in front of Tassilda, and draws back her lips to reveal gritting teeth. Tassilda cackles out into the echoing arena and narrows her eyes at Veevi. "Well! That conveniently answers my other question. Right, Chad?"

Chad flashes a sneer to Tassilda. Veevi growls loudly and points angrily at Tassilda. Trakenthin, Modoran, and Deedri all attempt to maintain calm, neutral expressions, under the building pressure of ill-humor.

Cideeda pans a flashlight underneath a simple, dusty wood framed couch and shifts her focus from the floor to the underside. She sighs, slides back out from under the furniture, and springs up, brushing the futz off her body suit. "Well, he didn't hide anything under the couch."

Dretphi stands up on the toes of her boots and peers over layers of undisturbed powdery haze on the office shelving and sneers disgustedly with a twist her lips. "Nothing found here."

Sotalia stands in the middle of the main area of the small office outbuilding with her arms crossed and grumbles to herself, wearing a frustrated frown. "Figures the one place I picked would be a bust."

As her fingers ruffle through a pile of blank paper, Aristespha glances over to Sotalia and smiles out some reassurance. "Oh, it's not a waste. Noxian probably was here at some point recently. And the fact it's archaeological site office is very interesting, given what we've learned."

Sebastian's ghostly form phases down from the ceiling and floats to stand on the floor. He shrugs his shoulders and holds his arms out to the side. "Well, nothing up in the attic of the place. One less squirrel given how quickly it ran out the hole in the roof vent."

Heavy armored boots step slowly across the room toward the large front window. Dretphi peers out into the dirt lot, focuses her attention upon the faint, water washed tire ruts in the soil, and releases a long sigh. "May have been recent tracks. Can not tell. Weathered away."

A muffled flush sounds out from behind a door with a restroom sign. The bathroom door opens and Bach steps out pondering a thought. "Checked the toilet tank and the plumbing works perfectly fine. So, I doubt anything was hidden in there."

He contorts his mouth, searches his mind for possibilities, and scratches the back of his head. "Didn't the police and government investigators pick this place apart?"

Sotalia uncrosses her arms, places her hands on her hips, and dismissively rolls her eyes with a sigh. "Yes. Yes, they did. But, you never quite know if they got everything. Your average law enforcement is looking for evidence of normal crimes."

She draws a long breath, gently exhales out her frustration, and manages a smirk. "To be fair, they're not expected to deal with someone like Noxian."

Twisting her lips, she pans a gaze across the office and grumbles to herself. "I totally thought he'd at least stop by here on his way from Anta."

Dretphi pivots in place and quirks a brow at Sotalia. "He may have. Lack of evidence is not lack possibility."

An idea rises in her mind as she narrows her eyes to the abandoned archaeological site, the aging fence encircling the area, and the rusty lock on the entry gate. She turns her head slowly towards the rest of the group and lifts an eyebrow with curiosity twisting her lips. "Did any report mention exploration of the site?"

Thoughtful silence floods the room as everyone exchanges looks and realizations dawn upon each member. Aristespha steps over towards the large main office window, cocks her head to the side, and blinks as her mind flips through memories of documents past. "Actually... No."

She crosses her arms, lifts a hand up under her chin, and drops her head on top. Sebastian hovers over to Aristespha's side and blinks as a smirk cracks out from the corner of his mouth. "I remember there was a lot about what they found in here... But, not a damn thing about the checking the IN the site."

Bach dons a quizzical expression as he ambles up to the front door and peeks through the smaller inset window. "Well, given the latest discoveries, I get the distinct feeling that ancient sites are not just a coincidence."

A smug grin graces Sotalia's lips as she strolls up to the door, guides Bach off to the side out of the way, and turns the doorknob. "So... Anyone against a little off the records exploration?"

Cideeda reaches her clawed fingers into a vest pouch, lifts out a soft, thick fabric case, and presents a toothy grin to the rest of the group. "As long as the lock goes back the way we found it, was it ever really disturbed?"

Dretphi eyes Cideeda and mumbles faintly sardonic. "Yes."

Excitement infiltrates Cideeda's gait as she nearly skips out the opened door. She unfolds the carrier to gleefully examine an array of lockpicks within. "Details. As long as I get to use my nice set of picks!"

An awkward quiet looms in the cab of the black sports utility vehicle as it rolls along the city streets. Chad keeps his eyes forward with a persistent unamused expression as he steers through the traffic. His fingers comb through his slicked hair. He shakes his hand afterwards, disgust lingering in his face. Behind him, Tassilda attempts to towel a mass of congealed slime out of her raven black hair and grimaces as she strains the parts of the glob out. After a few more tries, she flops the heavy towel on her lap and stares out the window, sunlight shines of the glistening layer soaking her form fitting clothing. Sitting on the back bench seat, Trakenthin inspects an empty spray bottle of cleaner. He examines the dried splatter on his armor plates, releases a long, annoyed sigh, and drops the bottle on the floor of the cab with sharp resignation. Modoran nonchalantly relaxes on on the other side of the back seat, glances over behind to the cargo space, eyes his slime coated short swords, and shrugs his shoulders. He casually settles back with his mostly try jacket. In the seat ahead, Deedri momentarily loosens her strategically crossed arms, inspects the state of her outfit, and frowns in stale embarassment. She hooks her claw tips into the fabric and attempts to pull the damp, clingy cloth off her figure to her dismay. Peering over the shoulder of the front passenger seat, Veevi eagerly gazes at Deedri with a hungry smirk and seductive flit of the brow. Deedri subconsciously senses the pair of eyes upon her and cinches her arms back over her chest to conceal the outline revealing section of her garment. She flashes an stern glare back. Veevi darkly giggles, turns herself forward in the seat, and arches her back in a stretch as she slides her hands down her ooze soaked shirt. "Oh, live a little! Flaunt it if you got it..."

After a few seconds stopped at the green light, Chad snaps his awareness back to the task of driving the vehicle and accelerates forward. "Well, it's a mission accomplished... Despite the... Difficulties."

Tassilda rolls her eyes dismissively and groans out her irritation. "Difficulties?!"

Chad narrows his eyes down the road ahead and shakes his head in frustration. "We're almost back the hotel and proper showers."

Discomfort radiates from Deedri as she secures the wrap of arms and shrinks into the seat back. "Good. Park down stairs, run to the elevators, and go straight to the hotel room. That's the plan right?"

Chad only offers an forboding silence in response. Tassilda arches an accusatory eye brow at Chad, through the rear view mirror. "Well? What's the plan, O' Great Leader?"

A forced smile pushes itself upon Chad's face and he musters a bit of bravado in his tone. "We are to pull up to the hotel drop off and walk in through the front doors. The line for the fan meet up is queued up there."

Tassilda drills an ireful scowl through the headrest in front of her to the back of Chad's head. Trakenthin draws a long breath and exhales another fit of resignation, shaking his head. Modoran relaxes with a yawn. A mischievous smile graces Veevi's lips. Deedri glances at the status of her slime soaked wardrobe and visibly pales. Tassilda glances over with concern, picks up the small towel, and offers it to Deedri. "It's not much I'm afraid."

Deedri sighs, nods appreciatively, and carefully grasps onto the offering. "T-Thank you..."

In the back seat, Modoran perks up at hearing the wavering tone of Deedri's voice, eyes either side of his mind in thought, and brushes a hand on his mostly dry, armored jacket. Deedri sizes up the towel reluctantly when a zipping noise from behind spins her ears behind. She blinks a few times in confusion and surprises when Modoran's arm reaches over from the back of her seat. His hand holds an armored jacket, and Modoran offers with a soft tone. "Here."

Deedri hesitates for a moment, but graciously accepts the garment. She drapes the article over herself and turns her head back to face Modoran. "Thank you so much..."

Her sentence trails off, her eyes widen, and a flush of pink fills her cheeks. Modoran nonchalantly settles into the seat shirtless, and grants a small wave as he looks out the side window with a genuine smile. "Not a problem."

With simple nod and a muted smile, Deedri faces forward, glances down at the jacket, and starts to put it on. Tassilda sneaks a tap of the elbow to Deedri's side and presents a sly smirk. Deedri tries to hide her amusement, subtly biting her lip, and latches the zipper tracks of the jacket together. From the front passenger's seat, a pair of pink eyes narrow.

Chana sits on the hood of an old, weathered jeep with her legs crossed, hands together, and her eyes closed. She calmly breathes slowly and occasionally tilts her head with a curious twinge in her face. "I can't quite put my finger on it, but something distant feels... odd."

Standing a few meters away on the ground, Captain Hays lifts up a pair of binoculars and searches the green canopy of treetops from the vantage point of the winding hillside road edge. Heccaeh stands an equal distance from the jeep opposite of Hays. He hoods his eyes with a hand and squints out into the distance. "Strange. Looks like Ralli and Orrento are flying back this way. But... It's way too early."

A puzzled brow lifts on Chana's face and she opens her eyes towards Heccaeh. "They're moving really fast! Much faster than I normally sense them flying."

Hays aims his binoculars towards the growing figures of the whelps and tracks their approach as they swiftly close in. His eyes widen from behind the lenses and he shouts out. "Heccaeh! Get ready. They're not slowing down."

Heccaeh blinks and directs his ears forward as a cacophony of squawks and screeches echo out. He braces himself, shifts his weight upon his feet, and holds his arms forward with hands open. "What the-"

The dark blue whelp pitches its wings sharply, fans out to air brake moments before impact, and latches onto Heccaeh's shoulder. The brown-striped whelp swoops tightly around the other side of Heccaeh, claws onto his duster, and scrambles up to the top of his back. The two creatures constantly repeat a series of distinct crude mimics of fvalian words while crawling around chaotically in a sheer panic. Heccaeh dances for balance, tries in vain to secure the whelps, but fails about. "The fuck is up with you two! Calm down!"

Chana slides swiftly off the hood of the jeep, rushes over to Heccaeh, and wraps her arms around the dark blue whelp. Hays tosses the binoculars onto a convenient vehicle seat cushion, speeds over to the other side of Heccaeh, and reaches out for the brown striped whelp. His cybernetic arm clamps down upon the handle of the frightened creature's harness. Chana hoists up the dark blue whelp, manages to free claws from Heccaeh coat, and rocks the critter gently to soothe some of the fear. Hays secures the brown striped whelp long enough for Heccaeh to get a hold. With a loud bellow, Heccaeh yells out sternly in a dialect of fvalian and the two whelps silence immediately. Each of the subdued critters dons an anticipating, spooked gaze to Heccaeh. Hays releases a long exhale and lifts a brow at Heccaeh. "Okay. So, what's going on?"

Heccaeh rolls his shoulders, straightens himself, and collects his composure. After catching his breath, he stares down at the bright, brown eyes of the striped whelp and calmly, but firmly, speaks. "Orrento. What see?"

Orrento blinks for a few moments and very roughly mimics out the same series of fvalian words from before. Heccaeh nods to Orrento and directs his gaze to the dark blue whelp. "Ralli. What see?"

Ralli pulls her head out from hiding underneath Chana's arm and quickly repeats another vague approximation of the same fvalian words, and buries head back. Bewilderment overtakes Heccaeh's expression and he faces Hays trying to comprehend the words. "Well, they saw something. The words are. Black. Fire. Huge. Walking?"

With the last word from Heccaeh's mouth, Hays's expression crashes to a solemn dread and his posture stiffens. He slowly pivots and squints into the distance with a slow wary draw of breath. "Are you sure?"

Chana and Heccaeh focus their attention on Hays. Heccaeh nods and glances between the two terrified whelps. "Yes, Captain. Both said the same thing."

Hays nods firmly and quickly steps over to the jeep, a dutiful determination prominent on his face. "Okay. Load up the little ones, check their harness trackers, and figure out roughly where they encountered... Whatever the hell they saw..."

He retrieves an aetherphone from his jacket pocket and taps out a number. He lifts the phone to his ear and a voice at the other end greets him. "This Captain Hays of the Borderland Rangers. I need an emergency aerial recon in the Hattan area. Who do you have right NOW?"

In a large hotel ballroom, a long line of people splits out into individual sectioned of areas. Between the ropes of the queue stands, loose gatherings of people wait expectantly and gradually approach the end of the sections as space permits. Across a cleared path, opposite a line taped at the mouths of each area, Chad, Veevi, Deedri, Modoran, Tassilda, and Trakenthin sit at individual tables, piles of The Next Adventurers of Nexus swag littering the tabletops. Chad beams a brilliant, proud grin to an overflowing line and poses for the flashes of multiple cameras. His trademark bravado-filled voice cutting through the ambient din. Veevi exaggerates her appreciation to the admiration of the crowds filling her line and rewards their attention with cute, coy acts bordering on suggestive. She signs both The Next Adventurers of Nexus and her musical career promotional material with an elaborately decorative signature. She occasional sings out a chorus line from one of her songs when a fan captures video.

Deedri sits awkwardly behind the table next to Veevi's.  A smile fights to contain and obscure her wide eyed, near panic as she politely fields fan after fan for pictures, while the bell around her neck rings with each new pose.  She gazes out in a mixture of terror and shock at the number of people in her line. Next in the row, Modoran maintains a suave and debonair attitude, and entertains the many requests of the people arriving at his table. With a far shorter line, he freely grants the extra time to each person. Tassilda exudes a sultry confidence and provocatively styles the presentation of herself with a dark, controlling charm. In between people at her table, she searches the overflow of the queues for Veevi and Deedri, with an exceptional focus on Veevi's, and winks at candidates with an alluring curl of the finger, beckoning them over to her line.

Trakenthin idly scrolls through paragraphs of text on his aetherphone, ignoring the very few people that wander into his queue. Hearing the hem of a young man in front of him, he glances up to pay attention to a stubborn, determined fan, and glares at him. After a minute, Trakenthin slowly rises from his seat, towers over the young man, and leans forward enough to emphasize the sheer difference of stature. Trakenthin focuses a stoic stare downwards. Behind the fan, a group of friends press photo buttons on their phones.

"Holy shit, dude, you got him to stand up and stare you down! I'm posting this picture on the forums!"

The loose gathering of friends depart and empty out the line. Trakenthin maintains the glare at the group and catches the glances when a few look back. He narrows his eyes and concentrates his attention on the group until they exit the ballroom. After a few moments, he gradually lowers himself back down, settles into his seat, and resumes reading the text on his phone. He peacefully drags through a few more pages of text, and tries to tune out the world. A young woman's voice speaks. "Umm... Hey. Sorry to interrupt."

A grimace forms on Trakenthin's face and he begins to summon up a dismissive grunt. He lifts his head up from the phone, guides his eyes upwards, and pauses as his expression blanks. A young, tall woman with piercing hazel eyes smiles hopefully and lifts up a book with a hand to showcase the cover. "This is going to sound really weird, but I saw you reading this book on an episode... And... I started reading it myself."

Sudden confusion forces Trakenthin's eyes into a fit of puzzled blinks. He shifts his focus to the book and his eyes flit open in immediate recognition. The woman subtly squirms out a bit of embarrassment and brushes back her long silvery hair over a shoulder. "Well, I just wanted to thank you. I've enjoyed it immensely."

Trakenthin lifts his head up to gaze at the young, tall woman's tan face and a genuine smile forms on his lips. He nods with delight. "You are welcome. I wait for the next book release."

The woman lights up at the response and bows slightly. As she lifts her hand to wave and starts to step back to leave, Trakenthin interrupts with an eagerly curious tone. "Who do you think will be the chosen?"

Stray hairs sway with the momentum as the young, tall woman halts, redirects her attention at the question, and excitedly answers. "Oh! I don't know. I think it's between Caspan and Mayon. I can't see any way how Jonas would be."

Minutes go by, Trakenthin and the young woman engage in an enthusiastic discussion about the book. She flips open her book to particular pages and points out certain passages. He summons up another set of passages on his aetherphone to counter her proposal. Each maneuvers the debate to press the other to revealing their honest thoughts on the matter. Eventually, a number of people file into the queue leading to Trakenthin. The young, tall woman glances over her shoulder, realizes the growing line, and apologizes overall. "Oh! I'm so sorry. I tend to ramble on."

She gazes out towards the exit and waves at a group of people watching both her and Trakenthin. She return to face Trakenthin with an embarrassed eye roll to herself. "I really shouldn't take up any more of your time. Thank you, I really enjoyed talking to you!"

A panic grips Trakenthin as he watches her balance shift to walk away. "W-wait! I should sign an item for you."

He searches the tabletop and frantically flips through the materials on the table. Despair weighs down a frown on his face as his hunts continues in vain. The woman thrusts a pen and the book opened at the inner cover. Trakenthin glances up a moment, witnesses her smile with a wink, and bashfully takes the pen. He signs his full name, stops, and looks up mildly ashamed. "I apologize. What is your name?"

With a pleasant chime to her voice, the young woman replies. "Shayuri."

Trakenthin nods graciously, finishes a message, and returns the pen. Shayuri steps away with a wave and rushes over to her group of friends. Trakenthin keeps smiling well after she leaves with her group out the exit. He drifts his gaze around the area and notices the large number of stares focusing upon him. Modoran blinks in complete bewilderment, his mind unable to fully process the series of events. Tassilda covers her mouth with both hands together, her light blue on black eyes fully open in sheer amusement. "Oh, my gods... That was precious."

Modoran leans back in his chair and directs his voice around Tassilda, sporting an eager, quizzical grin. "You did write your phone number in her book? Right?"

A harsh sneer arches up Trakenthin's upper lip, his eyes narrow to mean glints, and a frown pulls back the corners of the lips to reveal teeth.

"Hey, could you sign this?"

Trakenthin's glare shifts over to another fan thrusting a promotional group photo towards him and marker hovering close enough for the odor to irritate his nose. He slowly rotates his head at the items before him, and slowly rises from his seat. He levels a soul piercing, stoically cold glare right into the face of the fan and grunts solidly to a trailing growl. The young man cautiously steps back but stalls his progression after a meter. Trakenthin systematically cracks each knuckle, each pop jarring the teenager further and further away. Quickly, the guy rushes away into the back of another line.

From a raised platform in the corner of the room, Gerald smirks with a chuckle to himself as he aims his shoulder camera. Samantha draws a dark grin on across her face and glances up at Gerald. "Oh, please tell me you got that."

Gerald simply smiles as he sights his next shot through the viewfinder. "Every bit of it, of course."

A weathered, worn jeep speeds down the twisting access road. Chana locks her eyes forward on the road ahead, braking down to an ideal speed before the sharp turns, and accelerating through. Heccaeh sways with the forces and checks on the two whelps, Ralli and Orrento, each in a secured carrier crate. Captain Hays's cybernetic arm clamps firmly onto the overhead roll bar and prevents him from sliding with the shifts in acceleration and direction. He keeps his aetherphone close to his ear and calls out with a commanding, official tone. "This is Captain Hays, you are on speakerphone. Who am I speaking to?"

Over the phones loudspeaker a man's voice responds. "Kaleb Hellstrom, sir."

Hays nods to himself and scans the skies above. "I've heard that name before. Are you the dragon rider that's done a few northern borderlands surveys?"

Kaleb sounds out promptly with a sprinkling of pride. "Yes, sir! Just flying back from a weird zone perimeter survey this morning when I got the call from the guild."

The jeep slows to a stop at an intersection connecting the access road to the main highway. Chana searches both directions for traffic before gunning the vehicle down the highway towards the city. Hays warily stares out into the distant hills between the trees and draws a long breath of air. "Good. You should have the coordinates from the guild office. I need you to do a pass over the area from high up... For your own safety."

After the microphone on Kaleb's side of the call rubs against a surface, he speaks clearly but cautiously. "I'm coming up on the coordinates... What am I exactly looking for, sir?"

As the jeep accelerates to highway speeds, Hays presses his elbow against the window switch on his door armrest and triggers the window to roll up. He adjusts his voice towards the to the phone to the lower noise level. "Something big and walking around."

Kaleb's reply crackles from the phone as a strange distortion adds an odd, faint echo into the background. "Okay, sir. I'll see what's there. I should be in the rough area now. Waiting for a fix on my navigational computer from the ground beacons to confirm. Also, I'm having some strange interference-"

He pauses mid sentence, allowing the interference to prominently play out clearer. After a few seconds, Kaleb continues as confusion colors his voice. "I'm seeing signs that something has happened here. Definitely to the southwest of Hattan. Strange... I see a few trees down that look really recently felled..."

A sharp deep shriek funnels into the microphone from the other end of the conversation and intrigue fills Kaleb's tone. "Wait, Lagi senses something... Where is it, Lagi!? Okay... He's flying towards something and it looks like the fallen trees are all points along the same path. Something big is definitely moving and it is big enough to knock down- Oh, wow, actually snap these trees."

Hays narrows his eyes towards the southwest and firmly states a warning. "Keep your altitude high. While, I hope its nothing, I don't want any unnecessary risks. Just need a confirmation."

Kaleb affirms the mutual understanding. "Understood. Okay, whatever it is, it's going in a straight path towards town. There's almost no deviation and..."

A thunderous shriek bellows out and temporarily overloads the microphone to silence. Hays's eyes spring wide open and he yells out to the phone. "Come in?! Kaleb? Are you okay?!"

Moments of distortion, static, movement, and wind blasts out the speaker of the phone. The audio chaos distracts both Chana and Heccaeh. A minute later the noises calm down, and Kaleb's voice graces the call. In between heavy pants, he speaks coherently. "Yes! Yes! I'm okay. Sorry, sir! Lagi and I had to... Uh... Increase our safe distance... But... We have... Something?!"

Hays brings the phone close to his ear and speaks slow, firm. "What does it look like?"

Kaleb puzzles and his mind audibly searches for something to match the description. "Uh, um. A giant man covered in black fire that-"

He halts mid sentence and a horrific realization looms in the tremor of his words. "Sir. Is this... What I think it is?"

A long exhale escapes Hays mouth and he grits his teeth as he draws in a new breath. "Send me the best picture you can."

The jeep speeds past a Hattan city information sign off to the side of the road. Chana maintains the vehicle's direction but her focus drifts to the eerie dead air of the phone. Heccaeh aims an ear at the phone while he tends to the still spooked whelps hiding well within their cages. Captain Hays' phone chirps a notification. He holds the phone out in front him, trains his eyes on the display, and presses his thumb on the new message. As the screen renders a photograph, the whites of his eyes grow, a bit color leaves his face, and his body tenses. He resolutely calls out to Kaleb. "It unfortunately is. I want you to know, you've done your job and can go home far from here."

Hays continues reluctantly but pleads a sincere request to Kaleb. "But, if you can, we're going to need eyes on that thing. I don't want to ask too much but-"

Kaleb interrupts with a long sigh and a nervous chuckle. "Lagi and I will do what we can, sir. It doesn't seem to even be paying any attention to us, so I think we can track it safely for now."

A smirk parts from corner of Hays's mouth and he slowly nods. "Excellent. Ranger Heccaeh will transmit all the official radio frequencies. Switch over to them and keep us updated. I need to make a few calls."

Before the call cuts out, Kaleb confirms. "Understood, sir."

Captain Hays taps through a series of menus, searches through a list of contacts, and directs his voice to Chana and Heccaeh. "Heccaeh, contact Kaleb get the info and see if you can figure out the trajectory and speed of that thing. Chana head straight the city hall and park it in the lobby if you have to."

A progress bar appears on Captain Hays' phone and he waits with a solemn stare out towards the southwest. The bar finishes and the phone remains silent. For minutes only the wind outside competes against the quiet dread filling the cab, until the phone rings. Captain Hays lifts the phone to his ear, attempts a smile, but settles for only half. "Hey, Hackle. Sorry for your heart attack, but we're short on time and Hattan is going to need anything it can get as soon as possible. Worst part is that it doesn't even know it needs it, yet."

After a few nods he responds to voice of Captain Hackle coming through the regular earpiece speaker. "Thank you. If you can let them know we are on our way, that will save us time. We'll do what we can do from there. Also, we've got a guild contractor in the air keeping an eye on it... Well, I'll let you get to it."

Hays takes the phone off his ear, presses the end call button on screen, and sinks back into his seat with a long sigh. Heccaeh blinks in thought, leans up into the space between the front driver's and passenger's, and uncertainly ponders. "Uh, Captain. What's the plan and how are we going to do it?"

With a long draw of breath, Hays wells with determination and tilts his head to each shoulder with solid cracks of the neck. "We somehow evacuate one of the larger towns in the area enough to get as many people clear in what little time we may have. And, hope there's a town left to return to."

A solemn frown weighs down his cadence and Captain Hays searches in utter vain for an advice to share. "As for how? That's a good fucking question. The last time any major city in this part of the world tried to evacuate out of the path of a Nightmare Geist was Dothan. And may the gods have mercy on us all if that's what we are comparing to."

-38-

A small, blue, brightly glowing orb drifts towards the upper part of wall, touches the inscribed surface, and sticks to a stop. The illumination casts out in a circular arc and small shadows stretch out from finely detailed carvings. Another ball of light floats at the engraved stone, halts upon contact, and shines another source of light. Aristespha squints her eyes at the shapes and words written, and points out another spot as she studies. Bach carefully aims his hand at the target and gently launches another small blue, glowing orb out. Sotalia's golden eyes scan the wall. Her head stops at points and she leans her stare forward. She taps Aristespha's shoulder and gestures towards a section of inscriptions. Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sebastian cautiously examine a large, round platform in the middle of the space. Dretphi aims a high-powered spotlight out and traces the outlines of the many small structures surrounding the platform. Cideeda deftly examines the strange but familiar console obviously cabled to other equipment nearby. Sebastian hovers around overhead, surveys the vicinity from above, and fights an uncomfortable recognition. "This... This is REALLY similar to the Orth Ridge site. I can't shake it any more."

Sotalia nods as she crosses her arms. She sighs, cocks her head to the side in thought, and idly drums her long nailed fingers on her arm. "This writing is the same as the bits and pieces I saw inside that damned chamber."

An eyebrow perks on Aristespha's face and she places her hands on her hips with a curious gaze upon the writing on the wall. "The context seems different. I'd have to sit down and decipher the proper translations, but I get the impression this place's purpose is not the exact same."

Bach steps away from staring at the inscribed surface, scans his eyes across the area, and ponders the situation with twists at the corners of his mouth. "Well, it looks like it has a smaller version of that elder energy collector chamber? But it doesn't have that nightmare factory attached to it. So, maybe... A just remote gathering site?"

As the large spot lamp shines a huge, bright circle of light around the chamber, Dretphi pauses her sweep, gradually retraces the path back, and focuses the beam upon a decaying pallet of canisters. The cylindrical containers stand half a meter tall and a quarter meter wide, and various labels adorn the perimeter of small, dark windows in the sides. Dretphi's eyes narrow, her attention locks onto a small detail, and she approaches cautiously to confirm. Her eyes flit wide the moment she confirms her suspicions and she directs her voice to the rest of the group. "Dust has been disturbed on these vessels."

Cideeda stands back from the control console, places her hands on her hips, and nods in confirmation with her own observation. "Same with the controls over here. Someone stood here and worked this system. You can see the contrast between how thick the dust build up is. The dirt on platform has been stirred up, too."

Sebastian flies down between Dretphi and Cideeda, and glances between the two. "Okay. Any guess at how recently it was all mixed up?"

Dretphi returns her head to face the lightly dusted hand outline in the thicker covering on a number of containers, and concentrates her mind on the task. Cideeda squints her emerald green eyes as she kneels back down to compare different surfaces of the equipment and platform. She lifts her head up and glances over to Dretphi. "Um, it's not recent. You don't get this much build up that quickly unless something is adding that much dust to the area. I'd guess over a month? I don't think much more than two?"

She shrugs at Dretphi and Sebastian. Dretphi eventually nods and sighs in a mild frustration. "Agreed. Not enough information. Hard to tell. Would need to observe rate that dust collects."

Aristespha stares at the containers and lifts her head back as recognition springs up in her mind. "Those are old magic energy storage containers."

Upon hearing this, Bach snaps a stare at the containers with glowing blue eyes. "They're empty now, but they do have some significant capacity."

Sotalia narrows her eyes as a dim golden glow flickers, and struggles to maintain the gaze, grimacing the whole time. Aristespha blinks out her glowing violet eyes, and looks over to the ethereal form of Sebastian. "I think Noxian was here, Sebastian."

An awkward smirk graces Sebastian's transparent face and he sighs with a weak smile. "It makes sense. Given the possible time frame, where this is located, and recent information about what Noxian has knowledge of... This was probably a stop for him right after we confronted him in Anta."

A brief smile cracks Sotalia's lips but fades as the rest of the predicament processes in her mind. "Well, he was here and maybe he did something similar to what he did at Orth Ridge. So, what's the plan now?"

Sebastian surveys the various texts, pieces of equipment, and other items in the area. He shrugs his shoulders and releases an ethereal grumble. "Well, wish I had more of a plan, but... Take pictures, regroup back at the hotel, and see if we can find any more clues?"

As a collective agreement passes over the group, various alert chimes echo out into the cavernous space from different aetherphones. Each member, except Sebastian who hovers towards Aristespha, draws out their devices and examines the bright red alerts. Eyes widen in shock. A slight tremor in the hand shakes Cideeda's phone, and Bach stares in silence at the warning. Sebastian quickly darts towards the exit and signals the rest of the group.

On the aetherphone screens, a message flashes. "GUILD BROADCAST ALERT! Nightmare Geist confirmed heading towards Hatten. All able groups are requested to assist in evacuation efforts. DO NOT ENGAGE THE NIGHTMARE GEIST. Respond to get contact information for authorities in the area."

In the city streets, a long convoy of buses, trucks, and military transports roll down the main street towards a rough southeastern direction. Police cars ride ahead, clearing traffic and ordering people out of the way. A number of adventurers and officials guide lines of people onto awaiting transports. Veevi stands on top of truck bed, yells out instructions with an animated, cutesy flair, and gestures everyone watching towards a line. Chad marches and bellows out orders to half-listening crowds. Deedri assists medical professionals evacuating patients out of the hospital. Trakenthin hoists up equipment and supplies into cargo vans. Off the street in a park, at an old city perimeter wall, squads of people form on top of the raised walkway. Captain Hackle and Captain Hays each examine a holographic map and both study it carefully. Hays sighs with a hint of a growl and shakes his head. "As destructive as that bastard thing is, it's at least consistent with its direction."

Hackle nods solemnly and narrows his eyes at the path projection overlaying the city map. "Given the information we've collected, it is on a route to cross near the center of Hattan. If it's any consolation, it seems to be the sparser northern district."

After a long draw of air in, Hays sneers to gritted teeth and releases a slow breath out. "If it just walks through, we may be okay... But, it could honestly go into a full rampage at any time."

Hackle lifts his hand up and traces the route with a finger into the holographic projection. "Hopefully, we've been able to evacuate out a majority of the direct path and we're trying to move as many people out of the surrounding areas."

He glances over to Hays with a serious tone. "I've sent a few of my scouts with your rangers and the infiltration specialist from that group on that show to double-check to make sure we don't have any stragglers or people trying to hide out. But, being thorough takes time."

Hays shakes his head as his expression sours and the pulse of the moving target indicator closes the gap between it and the town. "We don't have enough time to do this right. If we could just slow this thing down..."

Pulling his aetherphone out and holding up nearby with his cybernetic arm, he taps an entry on a list and waits for the device to connect. Kaleb's voice calls out from the speaker. "Hello?"

Hays speaks firm and calm. "This is Captain Hays, again. You are on speakerphone with Captain Hackle. Question. Have you noticed anything that's slowed the geist down?"

An awkward silence of background wind drones over the phone, but eventually Kaleb speaks with an uncertain tone. "Not really. This thing just breaks through buildings like they were wet paper bags. About the only thing I've seen that's slowed it down was when it tore through a machine shop. I think some of the acetylene tanks went up."

After a few moments, Kaleb continues with a hints of defeat in his voice. "It looked like chunks of it were blown off, but... It... Reformed? It's hard to say from this high up, but it's like the black fire mist just collected back on it. It just moved on after that."

Captain Hackle's arms cross behind his back and he uneasily smirks with a lift of brow at Captain Hays. "The only thing I know that slows those things down is raw magical blasts, but even that is limited-"

Kaleb interrupts with renewed vigor over the speakerphone. "Raw magic? Um, sirs? I think I might be able to help with that!"

Hackle focuses his attention upon the aetherphone and curiously quizzes. "How so?"

A confident tone rises in Kaleb voice from the other end of call. "Lagi, my dragon, has been taught a bunch of spells. A lot of raw energy attacks. We could try to see if those do anything?"

Hackle eyes Hays briefly. Hays nods interested. Hackle smiles keenly and calls out to a woman nearby. "Sergeant Violet? Could you please make sure Specialist Thayal has a good view of the geist?"

Sergeant Violet salutes quickly, grips tightly a radio off her belt, and keys up the unit. "Specialist Thayal! Do you have eyes on the target!?"

A second later, static fades out to a grumbling man who finally manages to muster a response. "Yes, Sergeant Violet... It's the only thing of interest I see from up on this hotel roof, apart from the dragon that keeps flying around."

Sergeant Violet nods and Captain Hackle resolutely commands. "Kaleb. Proceed with caution. This is a risk, but I'd rather risk it out there than here, right now."

A loud dragonic roar echoes from the distance with chorus resonating through Captain Hays's aetherphone. Kaleb's voice stands out from the din of background wind. "Understood! We're going to build up speed for a pass and line up for the shot!"

From the skies above, a blue and black scaled, white plated dragon sharply dives, his rider tucking close and secure to the saddle. Leveling off at an altitude above to the tallest buildings in the city, Lagi swings a swift, wide turn over the cityscape with wings swept back. Flows of magical energy pulsate from his wings and through his body up towards his mouth. As the pulses speed up and glow with brighter intensity, he opens his mouth and the flow condenses to a bright turquoise-white ball in front of his open maw. As he jets high over the old city perimeter wall, the loud draconic shriek distracts Tassilda along with a number of other mages gathered upon the wall. Lagi rockets over the suburban streets and greenery below on an intercept course with the Nightmare Geist. Through goggles, Kaleb focuses his full attention and points his particle power blaster forward. A bright green laser beam paints the target from an underside module. With barely a kilometer separating Kaleb and Lagi from the Nightmare Geist, Kaleb clicks a bottom trigger of his blaster and a shrill tone chimes out.

The turquoise-white ball launches from Lagi with a reverberating sound of energy release and colors the sky behind it with a bright, misty trail. Kaleb ducks sharply to Lagi's right side. Lagi's wings flare out and he breaks hard to the right. The energy projectile zips through the air along its arc towards the five meter tall, humanoid, amorphous mass of black raging fire. The potent turquoise orb drops low and solidly impacts the leg of the nightmare creation. An explosive burst of magical miasma erupts a visible shockwave along the nearby suburbia. Small bits of debris tumble and nearby windows shatter as the concussion radiates out. Within the dirt cloud, magical haze, and debris, a low, unnatural growl rumbles with strange hints of strained white noise infiltrating the unsettling tone.

As the visual chaos clears in the distance, Sergeant Violet's radio crackles to life and Special Thayal's voice rises out of the background noise. "Whatever that was did some damage! It stopped moving! It think there's a big chunk out of its leg!"

The joy from Thayal's tone sharply drops out, but hope still remains. "Unfortunately... it's healing back up... But... it's taking a LOT longer to do so and it is still down on a knee."

A grin forms on Hays's face and he calls out to Kaleb through the aetherphone. "Kaleb! How many of those can your dragon do?"

Kaleb replies with slight embarrassment. "I don't know, sir. We've never had a chance to find out."

Hackle smiles as determination sparks his eyes. "Consider this your chance... Rain. Hell."

In a dimly lit room, dust covered equipment hums out warm breezes of air from back side vents and swirls of particulate stir in the few sprays of light overhead. A large flat table display glows colored outlines of shapes through a haze of age and neglect. Idle indicator chirps sound out from worn, dull speakers and form an ambient soundscape. A bright flash fights its way through the obscuring funk and a loud chime rings through the distortion. Nearby, a white haired, thin man sits in a chair at a old metal desk, and guides down his searching gray eyes upon an old manual of diagrams and instructions. He flips back the hood of his hoodie and pulls down his blue scarf. Keeping his focus on the material, his hand wanders off to the side, pats around on spread out plastic wrap, and finds a sandwich. Subconsciously, the hand brings the sandwich close to the mouth, and the old man calmly takes a large bite. After a few seconds of chewing, his graying beard surrounded lips twist with a roll of the eyes and the man grumbles. "... always stingy on the olives..."

Another loud chime crackles through the background din and another bright pulse backlights untold years of grime. The man pauses, swallows, and slowly rotates his head towards the large table display. He waits for a minute and squints curiously at the dusted covered screen. Minutes pass and just as he begins to turn his head away, the man's eyes widen as yet another glow pulses and another loud chime accompanies it. He slides back, rises out of the chair, and steps quickly over to the system. A disgusted snarl curls his upper lip and he swiftly wipes his sleeve covered forearm across the width of the display and directs his full attention to the mapping information. A brilliant indicator radiates out from a point and prompts of text render near diagrams off to the side. The wake of the pulse outlines a starkly contrasting black void. Concern floods the man's expression and his eyes search his mind for an explanation. He places the sandwich in his mouth, bites down to secure it, and swings the freed arm out to snatch the manual on the nearby desk. He flops the tome down, speeds a hand through a flutter of pages, and backs up to focus on a particular page. His other hand taps up an on-screen interface and quickly navigates through a series of menus. The imagery on the map shifts through a variety of color schemes with diagrams morphing to the new context. Change after change sweeps over the visual information, until one final mode darkens the screen except for the previous void, that now glows a pixelated white noise. Horror narrows the pupils as the display flickers an unstable light onto the man's worn face. He slowly removes the sandwich from his mouth, lays it down nearby, and shakily presses on the bright spot. An explosion of diagrams, details, and dialogs overload the entire screen space. Warnings flash around red colored numbers, figures chaotically jump around, and bright yellow messages caution the many unknowns. The man's jaw drops briefly before he grits his teeth and determination fights through the terror on his face. "But how?! When did it?! I- I-... I have to stop it... Before any more damage is done..."

The man steps away from the table display, snaps his head towards the exit, and rushes over. He flips his hoodie up, guides his blue scarf over his mouth and nose, and slams open a metal door to a harsh echo down a dark hallway. The static spot moves along a straight path and the chaotic glow illuminates the surface underneath a stray olive slice.

Kaleb looks down off the side of Lagi and surveys the ground far below. A kilometer long, straight trail of destruction carves into the suburban surface. Every few dozen meters along the path of damaged streets, plowed houses, and fallen trees, a ring of scorched terrain darkens an open area. Debris lays scattered meters from of the impact point and deep indentations mar the ground. Wind whistles through the blown out glass window panes in barely intact buildings and carries paper waste from many shredded garbage cans. A black fire covered humanoid mass rises from the dirt and fresh magical residue mist. It stands just above five meters tall and a haze of loose, dark miasma condenses upon its form, replacing the missing material of its being. The head protrusion upon its shoulders twists upwards and slowly watches the dragon fly in the sky via an eerie shadowy void. It resumes the slow march forward towards the town. Kaleb shakes his head and growls in frustration along with Lagi's irritated, teeth baring snorts. "I know! You're doing good, boy! But... this thing is on a whole different level!"

The nightmare geist stomps ahead. While its head maintains a solid glare above, the creature's long arm reaches out with an unnatural stretch, and an amorphous hand clamps tightly around a nearby fire hydrant. The hydrant twists off the base pipe against unfathomable forces and sheered bolts rocket out, sparking off a car body, splintering through a tree, and embedding into brickwork. A geyser of water blasts out from open pipe. Specialist Thayal's voice erupts from the radio system in Kaleb's headset. "LOOK OUT! I think it's going to throw something!"

The geist plants its feet into the dirt and draws its arm back as black flames blaze out along the length. Lagi's bright green eyes snap to focus upon the hellish mass and his body tenses. A thunderous boom explodes out when the creature flings the hydrant to a supersonic, red streak at Lagi and Kaleb. In splinters of second, a protective golden bubble projects out from Lagi as he twists into a right angle evasive dive away as the bullet blurs through the previous flight path. He drops altitude fast, and unfolds his wings to level out above the tree line, powering fast away from the geist. Kaleb blinks around, glances behind to the geist resuming towards Hattan in the distance, and searches the sky to find a soaring dot falling towards the horizon. "Holy. Shit. That was too close."

Lagi bellows an agreeing bark and gradually flies upwards. Captain Hays's concern sounds over Kaleb's headset. "Kaleb?! Are you okay? We saw you dive back there and lost sight of you. Do you hear me?"

Kaleb nervously laughs and recollects the pieces of his composure quickly. "Uhh... Yes. We're fine. I guess its finally got tired of us slowing it down. Gods, I hope Shadeesa doesn't see that on the news before I get home."

Lagi lets out a rolling whine in commiseration. Captain Hackle calls out with a commanding but appreciative tone. "Then, you best head that way. We're going to fall back away from the projected path and try to get people further from possible danger. Thank you for buying us all that time."

Lagi grumbles a series of barks, growls, and whines, and glances over his shoulder to Kaleb. A stern and solemn expression fills Kaleb's face as he watches signs of fatigue sneak into Lagi's eager face. Kaleb shakes his head and pats Lagi's back with a long sigh. "Understood. As much as Lagi and I want to keep going, I have to call it. We'll find a place to rest up nearby and keep in the area."

From the old perimeter wall, Captain Hays and Captain Hackle watch the distant figure of a dragon and rider fly away. Hays nods with smirk and directs his slight relief to his aetherphone. "We'll be moving to the southern region of town. Keep tuned to radio for updates. Rest up for now. Out."

Hays taps the call end button on the phone's display, lowers his cybernetic arm down, and stows the phone away in a pocket. He scans the vicinity to see the remaining evacuation vehicles loading a final few passengers and military trucks waiting to depart. Hays and Hackle quickly pack up the remaining bits of equipment, rush down old stone stairs, and jump into the bed of transport. Sergeant Violet follows suit, secures the tailgate up, and sits down near front. With a few slaps on the cab exterior, the vehicle rolls forward into formation with the last the convoy. Hackle shakes his head and sighs grimly. "Is it bad to honestly hope that all it does is just level a few city blocks and moves on?"

Hays removes his wide brimmed hat off head head, lowers it down onto his lap, and wipes the sweat off his forehead. He eyes over to Hackle with a shrug of the shoulders and an uncertain grimace. "Some would say that's wishful thinking. Hopefully, clearing out the area of people will keep it focused on whatever destination its going to, rather than targets of opportunity. Gods damned fucking ancient terror weapons..."

A distinct ring momentarily confuses Hays and he glances at his pocket. He quickly retrieves his aetherphone, reads the identification, and his interest piques sharply as he taps the answer button on the screen. "Miss Aristespha. Good to hear from you."

Hackle lifts a brow and turns his head towards Hays attentively. Hays nods with the conversation and chuckles in spite of the situation. "No. Thankfully, it hasn't quite made it to the town center yet. Before anything else, what direction are you approaching the town from?"

He glances over to Hackle and gestures at the equipment. "Northeast? Okay. Let me get your group up to date with the situation. That area will be dangerous in the future, but if you could check a few areas we haven't covered completely yet on your way to safety, we'd appreciate it."

The humvee rolls to a stop at an empty intersection. An eerie silence looms in the air as the people devoid streets, hastily abandoned cars, and swaying open doors of buildings surround Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, Sebastian and Sotalia. Cideeda shifts the humvee into park, undoes her seat belt, and directs her wary, nervous voice to Aristespha. "S-so, where did they last say it was?"

Aristespha subdues her own nervous energy, examines the map on her tablet, and references a few lines of text on her phone. "A few kilometers away from this position. At least that is what they last reported when they had sighted it. It has drifted off the projected course and they haven't been able to maintain a constant visual of it."

Sebastian ethereally sighs uncomfortably and presents a reassuring smile to Cideeda. "Hang in there. This is the last area they needed us to check to see if anyone is still around."

Sotalia glances over with concern and rests a hand on Cideeda's shoulder. Cideeda summons her drive and puts forth determination behind her smirk. "I know. Need to make sure no one is left behind."

Drifting back in the cab, Sebastian aims his gaze at Bach with a smirk. "Holding up, bro?"

Bach glances to Sebastian, exhales out some stress, and manages a few rocks of the head forward in some semblance of a nod. "Uh, yeah. Just feels weird. Ready to leave once we're done."

Sebastian checks in Dretphi, who gives a thumbs up, and floats up through the open top hatch of the humvee. "Okay. Hop out, quick check for any people in the area, load back up, and then we drive far away from it."

The group collectively agrees, doors simultaneously open, and everyone exits the humvee. Sebastian flies high up into the air above the intersection and searches for activity through the windows of taller buildings. Cideeda and Dretphi rush to opposing street corners and survey down the long roads for signs of life. Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia peer out with pairs of glowing eyes out into the area. After a minute, Sebastian drops down to pavement near the humvee. "Okay, everyone. I don't see anything. If there's anyone still in the area, let's hope they stay hidden for a little while longer."

Aristespha, Bach, and Sotalia each agree and move back towards the humvee. Dretphi squints her eyes down the long stretches of street for one last scan. She turns away and quickly steps back to the humvee. Cideeda releases a breath of relief and pivots swiftly around toward the rest of the group. Her ears flick back around and lock on to a distant noise. Her eyes widen and she spins her self back around hunting for the source. Sebastian notices the sudden movement from Cideeda and zips his ghostly form near. "What's up?"

Cideeda's ears frantically perk and tilt and her emerald eyes stare far down the street. "I heard someone. Down this way."

With a series of waves and gestures, Sebastian signals the rest of the group to gather near. Cideeda walks cautiously down the street and carefully listens to the quiet. "Well... I thought I heard something..."

A few blocks down, a little girl scrambles around a building corner and topples onto the sidewalk. She lifts herself up unsteadily and lunges forward in a haphazard sprint down the intersecting street roughly towards the group. Cideeda runs forward at the girl, and directs a cautious shout. "Over here! This way!"

The rest of the group follows behind, but Cideeda out paces the pack to meet the scared child midway down the street. Cideeda kneels down to catch the blonde haired girl in her arms as the child collapses in a panicked, panting slump, exhaustion setting in fast. Sotalia slows her pace as a wave of unease and nervous energy grips her expression, and her golden eyes dart around the area. "Oh shit... What the hell is this feeling?!"

Repetitious, solid, low thumps emerge from the background, and echo distantly between the tall buildings. The volume rises quickly with each subsequent impact. Wide eyed horror paralyzes Cideeda. She stares blankly at the rest of the group and fails to hide her trembling. Bach stares down the street, his stance tenses and fear radiates from him. Sebastian assesses the situation and wave of terror washes over him. "HUMVEE. NOW."

Dretphi sweeps the little girl up into her arms and charges forward to the humvee. Sotalia and Aristespha both assist up Cideeda up by a shoulder each, and guide her along. She quickly regains awareness and her fright drives her forward, unconsciously pulling both Aristespha and Sotalia along. Bach bolts after the rest of the group once they pass him. Sebastian flies behind and keeps a watch down toward the building corner. A dark billowing, elongated shadow stretches down the cross street behind the structure, from the late afternoon sun. With a solid, resounding impact, the massive, black fire coated, humanoid form plants its foot to a halt. Chunks of pavement slide clean off the road as the tremendous weight sheers the surface. The nightmare geist snaps its head to aim down the roadway and pauses. The shadowy void within its head stares out. It flexes its amorphous fingers out into long, sharply pointed digits, digs its other foot into the cracking asphalt, squats down, and lunges forward. Sebastian's ethereal form pales and he yells out. "IT'S COMING! Break right into the next alley!"

Bach looks over his shoulder and watches the nightmare geist bound forward. He glances ahead and witnesses the pace of the group overall. Each of the geist's steps shrinks the distance between it and the group... far faster than the group can approach the alleyway. In the few, precious moments, Bach's blank stare barely hides the thoughts racing through his mind. Through the chaos of hopeful possibilities and improbable plans, one option recessed far, far back stares right at him. It cuts through the mental din, forcing all other thoughts to concede, and silences the competition. Bach closes his eyes hard, draws a resolute breath in, and opens his eyes to a flaming blue. He slides to a stop along the pavement, pivots to face the incoming creature, and tenses his whole body. His right hand shakily opens as regimented, organized flows swirl around his body towards the palm of the hand, and his left hand braces the other by the wrist. Sebastian passes by Bach, abruptly halts, immediately spins around, and screams with ghostly reverberation. "BRO! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YO-"

Sebastian's ethereal form distorts and twists to his surprise. Aristespha turns around as the sword shakes forcibly in the scabbard at her side.

"NEW. UNFAMILIAR. FLOW... CLOSE. BY."

The voice of the sword stuns the progress of the group and they all turn to look back. Standing in the path of the charging, black fire bellowing, humanoid mass of terror, Bach stands rigidly. Every part of his body strains, and he shudders out a fearful chant to himself. "Just... a little... not too much... Keep it together... Focus... You can do this... Control it... Dammit..."

Bright white threads shimmer within layers upon layers of tubular magical constructions where previous magical energies swirled. The thin, faint white flows stream gradually towards the palm of Bach's trembling right hand. Mists steadily radiate out from the ends the conduits and condense into ball of pure white light near Bach's clawing fingers. The orb brilliantly shines and overpowers the presence of the sun upon the pavement. The nightmare geist fades its charge and eases to cautious, calculated steps forward. It soon halts short of an arm's reach from Bach and focuses the shadowy void in its head protrusion upon the glowing white orb. Bach carefully lifts his head up. With sweating dripping all over and his face contorting in constant strained twitches, he glares with gritting teeth and flaming blue eyes as pinpoints of white shine from in the middle of the pupils.

Bach raises his braced right hand up, palm forward, and guides the white orb ahead of himself.

Bach steps forward.

The Nightmare Geist steps back.

The two deadlock for minutes. The geist's flaming form waits with idly flexing hands and Bach maintains the flow of energy to the growing orb against blatantly mounting stresses. Aristespha, Cideeda, Dretphi, the girl, Sebastian, and Sotalia watch in absolute silent, stunned awe. A pain winces Bach's eyes briefly, and the nightmare geist's arm flames out. The creature's arm unnaturally extends out in a clawing swipe at Bach. Reflexively Bach swings his right hand towards the attack, aims his palm at the monster's arm, and suddenly flexes his fingers out. A ray momentarily floods the area with blinding light, impacts into the crude elbow of the geist, and fractures white energy into the very structure of its being. In mere moments, the energies flood thoughout the arm and the limb fragments into a fading white vapor that disappears completely. The geist bellows out a thunderous, anguished scream that rattles nearby windows and assaults the air with a cacophony of chaos, white noise, and rage. It stumbles back meters across the street, crushes flat a parked cargo truck as it falls off balance, and flails in agony upon the splintering ground. Bach staggers back and snaps a glance back to the sheer bewilderment of everyone else. "We... Need... To... Ru-"

The loud crunching of concrete and pavement interrupts Bach's warning and he swings his attention back to the nightmare geist contorting itself back upright, with its remaining hand digging deeply into the roadway. The shadowy void within its head glares right at Bach, with clouds of darkness venting out. Jets of black flame erupt into a swirling maelstrom around its body and its legs tense up. With an earth rattling roar, it flings itself forward at Bach. The massive figure shades out the afternoon light from Bach. As horror darkens upon Bach face, the pinpoints of white light in his eyes explode and blast out the blue. The thin threads of flow bulge into torrents, shattering the containment vessels and rushing towards Bach's hand. A palm rises up to the nightmare geist, fingers flex, and a blinding flash erupts between Bach and the monster. A ray of energy floods into the chest of the black fire terror, cracks spider out throughout hidden surface behind the dark flames, and the shadowy void ignites in a geyser of white haze. The splintered form leaks billowing clouds of white miasma and the very structure disintegrates. The light of sun beams through the expanding divides until the last few fragments of the nightmare geist fade from existence.

Silence fills the area as Aristespha, Cideeda, Dretphi, the girl, Sotalia, and Sebastian attempt to comprehend. Bach doubles over and drops to his knees harshly upon the asphalt in a gurgling groan of pain. He tightly wraps his arms around himself as his body strains. Through gritting teeth, his face displays an internal torment as the white light shining within the glowing blue of his eyes pulses chaotically. Chokes and coughs escape Bach and his tortured form sways erratically. Cideeda blinks back to her senses with the source of her fright gone. She focuses upon Bach, and overwhelming concern overtakes her expression as she steps forward with her hand out. "Bach?! Are you okay-?!"

The blue glow surges in defiance and crushes out the bright white. A spherical pulse of white energy blasts out from Bach. It expands outwards in mere fractions of a second, swelling out into the vicinity. Cideeda freezes as agony silences her and seizes her body. Sebastian's form flickers once as the wave passes through his form and again when swaths of the energy divert abruptly into the sword. The wall of the bubble fades as it expands out. Many people throughout the safe zones pause in confusion, and both radio and aether transmissions distort briefly. Far way, in a car speeding along an empty back road, a thin, whited haired man stares widened, gray eyes towards the city, his jaw agape under his blue scarf.

Cideeda yelps when her muscles release. Her eyes roll back and she collapses limply backwards. Aristespha and Sotalia catch her motionless body. Sotalia golden eyes hunt for a reason and panic explodes in her voice. "CIDEEDA!? What's wrong?! Speak to me, girl!?"

Sotalia's voice cuts through the haze impairing Bach and he clumsily twists his head around to clearly witness Aristepsha performing a vitals check on Cideeda. Bach pales immediately as a sickening, horrific guilt overwhelms his consciousness. Through quivering lips, tears flooding his eyes, and choking fright, Bach manages to shudder out a weak plea. "N-n-no..."

He flops upon the warm pavement, his body relaxes despite the shocked ethereal yells from his brother, and the world shrinks away from his senses as he loses out to unconsciousness.

Muffled sounds resonate from the outside world into the cab of the humvee. Peaks of voices leak into the background silence of the space. Laying on the back bench seat with pillows propping his head and legs, Bach stirs underneath a thick blanket and mumbles in muted incoherence. His eyes flutter groggily open and he blankly gazes up towards the ceiling. The orange cast from the setting sun beams through the windows and illuminates the area warmly. Bach's expression shapes as his consciousness returns and recent memories flood back. As each moment passes, his face twists towards a greater degree of doubt, misery, and despair. Despite the warm blanket and the heat of the sunlight upon him, a constant shiver forms from the cold, sinking regret within Bach. The last moments of memory flash before his eyes and the tears well up as his breathing shudders audibly. Dretphi's soft voice sounds out. "You are awake."

Bach stiffens sharply, startles to immediate awareness of the area, and stares frightened at Dretphi's steely gray eyes as she kneels down in the aisle, next to the bench seat. She gazes back in confusion at Bach's expression, brushes her fading platinum blonde braids back over a shoulder, and puzzles with concern. Bach averts his eyes away and meekly mutters. "C-c-cideeda..."

Dretphi lifts her arm, gently grasps onto Bach's shoulder, and speaks calmly. "She is okay."

Bach's eyes widen, his face lightens, and looks up to see the warm smile of Dretphi. She nods to confirm and reassuringly pats Bach's arm. "She woke ten minutes after you went unconscious. Passed out from tremendous pain. Aristespha found no physical issues with her. She is tired. Today has been tiring for everyone."

As the relief washes over Bach, he firmly closes his eyes and a stream of tears leak out along with a few wet sniffs. Dretphi reaches her free hand over pile of supplies and medical equipment in a seat, grabs hold of a wash towel, and gently blots the water off of Bach's cheeks. Bach draws a shaky breath, exhales a long, relieved sigh, and sinks into the pillows supporting his head. After a number of quiet seconds, he opens his eyes, timidly turns his head to Dretphi, and musters his voice. "What happened after I passed out?"

Dretphi twists her lips and quirks her brow in thought as she summaries. "Aristespha fully focused on your care after she deemed Cideeda okay. Determined no immediate danger. We put you here. She is monitoring you."

She points out one of Aristespha's tablets upon a specialized dock nearby to Bach and lightly taps his hand. "She probably knows you are awake."

With a slow effort Bach moves his hand around under the blanket, feels the monitor clips and cuff, and nods understanding. Venting a frustrated sigh, Dretphi continues her explanation. "Travel to proper facilities has proven difficult. Reversing an evacuation seems to challenge as much the evacuation."

Bach weakly manages an accepting shrug. He blinks, thinks a moment, and queries. "What happened to the girl?"

Dretphi presents a warm smile and motions her head briefly towards the outside. "Being delivered to her mother. Long story. She was... Very... lucky that Cideeda heard her. We would have left. She would not be... here."

The calm Bach experiences fades over the next minutes as the full scope of the situation dawns upon him. A nervous chill sends shivers throughout his body and he stares distantly up at the ceiling of the humvee cab. Dretphi eyes her hand upon Bach's shoulder as she feels the shudder, glances over to the vital monitoring tablet, and directs a genuine concern at him. "What is wrong?"

A frown weighs down Bach's lips and dread taints his tone. "Explaining all that's happened..."

Dretphi dons a calming demeanor and speaks carefully as she reassures. "Do not worry. The truth of today will ONLY be known by our group. No one outside our group has shown correct knowledge of our activities today. They will NOT learn of that truth from us. Despite what we may tell them."

Bach nods with a smile, exhales slowly, and winces as a long hidden shame erodes the comfort Dretphi imparts. "That's good to hear. But, that's unfortunately not the hard part..."

A curious brow lifts on Dretphi's face. Bach twists his lips as he fights for the words to speak, but remains silent. Dretphi gently pats Bach's shoulder and grants him an understanding nod.

-39-

Bach sits on the hotel balcony walkway with his back against the warm brick. He gazes out into the Hattan cityscape from the upper story lookout and taps his feet against the metal railing. With a long sigh, he rests his head against the wall behind him. "Well, this has gone better than I expected. But, I really wasn't all that hopeful. So, probably not the best gauge to go on."

Sebastian's ethereal form shrugs while sitting down on the concrete balcony floor and he glances over to Bach next to him. An uncertain hint leaks into his tone. "Well, bro. If what happened yesterday was anything like the first time you encountered a Nightmare Geist... Shit..."

A frown weighs upon Bach's expression and he cringes with introspective disappointment. "Well, the worst part about it is that I had more control this time. And, well, I actually woke back up on the same day. So, I guess that's an improvement?"

Sebastian leans forward and turns a frustrated stare at his brother. "Bro, I know you had your reasons and all... But... Seriously... What. The. Fuck?"

A low grumble escapes Bach and he hisses out his own irritation. While Bach tries to avert his face away, Sebastian maintains a solid glare at him. "Why didn't you ever TELL ME of all people?! I'm your fuckin' brother! All the times you had my back, but you didn't trust me to do the same for you?! You damn well know I would have and would STILL do anything for you. But, you just ditched and used that lame excuse that you weren't cut out for adventuring."

Gritting his teeth, Bach closes his eyes and tilts his head up against the hotel brick towards the noon sun overhead. "I-I-I... I don't know. At the time, I was too freaked out... I... I couldn't think straight for weeks after that encounter. Hell, I still don't even know how I even did it. I was too scared out of my mind to commit those important details to memory. So, what could have been said if I couldn't even explain it myself?"

He locks eyes with Sebastian and winces with a painful sigh. "I mean, what would you do if you suddenly started spewing forth Elder energy?! And not just when you want it. Imagine this energy creeping in when you use even a modest amount of regular magical energy? And, every time it does, it just fucks up all the normal magic you want to do!"

He draws up his legs, rests his elbows on his knees, and holds his head in between hands. "Gods... I guess... It just made sense at the time to get away from it all. I was so afraid to say anything about it. I mean, the only people who use Elder energy these days like that are Dark Lords, right? It just... It just... It just made sense to not say anything and go with one of the many reasons people guessed."

His head lowers and his fingers comb through his long brown hair, sweeping up his front white streak. He exhales a regretful breath. "I SHOULD have told you about it. I'm really sorry, brother... But... Whatever THIS is, it just feels dangerous and that I shouldn't use it at all. It doesn't help that anyone that extensively uses this elder energy stuff seems to wind up becoming the next deranged Dark Lord that tries to destroy the damned world."

After a few moments of silence, Bach rotates his head to face Sebastian's concerned frown. "It just felt like anything about it shouldn't be known by anyone else. As if it was safer for everyone else to never speak of it again. Never touch it again... Keep it locked away..."

Sebastian blinks in thought and stares out in the Hattan skyline. Seconds within his mind later, he nods with a smirk and snorts. "I think I get it, bro. Thinking about, it probably only would have been a matter of time before someone at the school would have gotten suspicious. Then, the higher ups would have gotten involved. And eventually, the worst people would be looking for you. Gods, it would have been a real mess. Then, there's a bunch of other possibilities that I don't want to think about."

His smirk parts into a proud grin and Sebastian returns to face Bach with a wink. "But, you couldn't just live out your life as some supposed lame mage, could you?"

Bach rolls his eyes at himself and groans with embarrassment. "Well, what the fuck was I supposed to do?"

He shrugs his shoulders, stretches his arms out behind his neck, and relaxes his legs out with a weak smile. "Had A LOT of time to think about things, so figured out something I could do with what I could safely use. It's not a lot, but I think it's worked so far."

Sebastian lets out a ghostly laugh and shakes his head with a smile. "Well, bro, you've done plenty to save our collective asses. So, I'll say it's worked pretty fucking good so far. I have no complaints about that much."

A brief grin graces Bach's face, but fades as other thoughts enter his mind. "I just hope I can smooth things out with the rest of the group. This was kind of a really shitty thing to keep from everyone."

A long ethereal sigh sounds of from Sebastian's transparent form and he dons a supportive smile. "We'll have a good group talk tonight. Sort through everything. I think everyone will understand once you lay it out."

Uncertainty twists Bach's mouth and he fights a heavy frown. "I don't know. But, at least Dretphi seemed supportive, so that's good. I don't know about Aristespha."

Sebastian chuckles and rolls his eyes with an amused smirk. "She'll probably just quiz you endlessly about everything for the next few weeks and try to figure out what's going on. Honestly, bro, she's been trying to understand out why you were so dedicated in learning all the low level magic stuff, when people researching that stuff specifically aren't THAT dedicated.

He leans next to Bach's ear and drops his tone to a whisper. "I think she's happy to get an answer more than anything. She's had that figuring-it-out look since yesterday."

Bach nods briefly but slows to a sad hang of the head. "Sotalia... Well...  She seems... angry at me?"

Sebastian tugs at the corner of his mouth and echoes a sigh . "Give her time. Her reasonable side will eventually win. From experience, she can rile herself up something fierce, but she'll calm down enough to think it out. But, don't bother her until then. I've made that mistake a few times."

A watery glint outlines the bottom of Bach's eyes and he sniffs to swallow back the starts of tears. "And Cideeda... I don't know what to say. Dammit. I can only thank the gods that I didn't hurt her permanently... Or worse."

Sebastian and Bach both face out into the city and stare distantly to the horizon. Minutes later, Sebastian hovers up to stand upon the balcony surface and looks over his shoulder into the sliding glass door to the hotel room. "Well, I'm going to see what everyone else is up to and figure a good time to get everyone together."

Bach nods and glances up to Sebastian with a pleading expression. "I think I'm going to stay out here for a while. See what courage I can muster up."

Sebastian presents a comforting smile to Bach. "I understand, bro. It'll be okay. Give it some time."

Above a sea of green tree canopies, Lagi glides through the skies with Kaleb scanning around the area. As Lagi's shadow upon the ground passes by a unique collection of rocky spires, Kaleb acknowledges the landmark and peers out ahead to spot a distant clearing. "Not bad! Not bad at all. We made great time. In fact, almost the exact time I told her we'd be back this morning."

Lagi snorts and tilts his wings to navigate his approach towards the open area ahead. Kaleb scans the tree bordered field ahead. Within the confines of the forest clearing, wind rustles the leaves on rows of plants growing in a large garden. A windsock flutters on a tall mast extending up from the top ridge of a huge hangar. And, the sun reflects off roof mounted solar panels upon a long brick house. Delight lights up Kaleb's face when he recognizes the familiar structures. Lagi purrs contendedly and lines up his final approach to a worn dirt track in the middle of the field. The joy wavers as Kaleb notices the form of Shadeesa, standing expectantly with arms crossed at the end of the landing. "Uh oh... I think the local news ran THAT video clip..."

The stirring breeze blows some of Shadeesa's dark green hair over her light gray, pointed ears and wraps a few strands around her horns. She maintains crossed arms and glares her green on black eyes right at Kaleb and Lagi. White freckles decorate the cheeks of her stern face and a housework stained apron waves in wind over her pronounced stomach. She continues to affix her irritated stare upon Kaleb as Lagi glides down to land. With a final few flaps of both pairs of Lagi's wings, he secures footing upon the grassy soil. Lagi watches warily as Shadeesa calmly strolls towards him with arms still crossed and glances back to Kaleb, quietly whining with worry. Kaleb slides down off the saddle, plants his boots upon the earth, and presents a placating smile to Shadeesa. "Don't worry, boy. I'll talk to her."

Lagi scoots nervously behind Kaleb and peeks over his shoulder when Shadeesa closes in. Kaleb attempts a bashful grin with a weak laugh. "I take it you saw the-"

Shadeesa flicks up her index finger and holds it in front of Kaleb to his wide-eyed, abrupt silence. She sidesteps around Kaleb and levels her stare at the worried dragon hanging his head low and avoiding direct eye contact. A warmth fills her face and she reaches out to scratch underneath the chin of Lagi with her long, thick nails. With a kiss on his muzzle, she smiles at the relieved dragon and pets his head as she holds him close. "You did very good, Lagi. Thank you for keeping him safe."

Lagi purrs at the affection and resumes a prouder posture when Shadeesa lets him go. A stern glare immediately overtakes Shadeesa's face when she pivots to towards Kaleb. As Shadeesa's eyes stare through his very being, Kaleb sheepishly searches for the words in his mind that might help him at this moment. "Uh- I- Um- I just couldn't leave- I had to- Uh- Help...?"

He anxiously scratches the back of his head of short, blonde hair. "I know I shouldn't be taking risks like that and I thought we were playing it safe and-"

Shadeesa's hands grasp either side of Kaleb's face, guide him slightly down to her level, and pull the two close together. Kaleb remains quiet as Shadeesa gazes into his eyes. Seconds of silent communication later, Shadeesa's expression softens. She closes her eyes, gently but firmly butts her head against Kaleb's forehead, and presents a smile. Her hands drop down, her arms slip underneath Kaleb's shoulders, and she embraces him tightly, resting her head next to his. Kaleb wraps his arms around her, with moments taken to comb the stray hairs out her face and over her horns. "I'm sorry."

Shadeesa giggles through the sighing release of tension and squeezes Kaleb. "It's okay... I'd honestly be very disappointed if you hadn't helped out."

She rolls her eyes at herself and twists a humored smirk. "Can't rightly fault you for what I'd want to do myself."

Kaleb chuckles and sways gently side to side with Shadeesa. "I love you."

Shadeesa loosens her hold of Kaleb and smiles back at him. "I love you, too."

The two share a quiet moment. Kaleb blinks, thinks a moment, and dons a quizzical quirk to the brow. "Have they said anything about what happened to the Nightmare Geist? Lagi and I got clear before it hit the town. And well, I haven't heard anything useful from any of the news sources."

Shadeesa puzzles over the idea and shakes her head. "Only speculation from what I've heard. A LOT of wild guesses. A few involving Noxian either releasing the thing or getting rid of it... Or both. No one can make sense of it, but that doesn't stop them from trying to explain it to everyone."

Kaleb groans with a shrug of the shoulders. "And the sky is still blue, too, I guess."

Lagi cranes his head around to scan the vicinity and his attention locks onto a distant shrub speckled with bright berries. He wanders away from Kaleb and Shadeesa as the two continue to talk.

Dretphi pushes open the decoratively frosted glass door, and steps from the hotel hallway into the large, tall chamber housing the indoor swimming pool. She sniffs the humid air and listens to the ambient hum of water filters operating nearby. She searches the length of the pool and finds only a horned head of dark red hair leaning against the edge of the shallow end. As Dretphi approaches the steps leading into the pool, she notices Sotalia residing within her own thoughts. Sotalia stares blankly across to the other end of the pool, while her arms idly wave across the water's surface. Dretphi sits down cross-legged nearby on the concrete perimeter of the pool and glances over to Sotalia. "Is there something wrong?"

Sotalia startles back to awareness and reflexively splashes some water. She quickly spins herself around and looks up to Dretphi with an awkward smile. "Oh! Uh... No. Just taking a break from swimming around this really nice pool."

Dretphi spots the mostly dry hair and swept-back horns upon Sotalia's head, then focuses an incredulous stare right at Sotalia. After contorting the corners of her mouth, Sotalia grumbles and sneers with hints of irritation. "Fine. I'm thinking about... Yesterday."

She pushes her feet easily along the shallow end's bottom and paddles slowly with her arms to a wandering float in the pool. "A lot happened and I'm just trying to process it all. That's all."

A blatant lift of the eye brow telegraphs how unconvinced Dretphi remains at that statement. Dretphi maintains a stare at Sotalia and awaits an answer. Sotalia settles upon another wall of the pool, notices the examining gaze from Dretphi, and expresses her internal deliberation. A minute later, a low growl swells out loudly from Sotalia and she pushes forceful waves of water out with both arms. "Okay! Gods damn it!"

Sotalia slips her feet underneath herself, stands up from the water, crosses her arms, and promptly sits on the pool perimeter. She grumbles out a sigh and shakes her head as the water drains off her swimsuit to wick into the darkening concrete. "I KNOW this is probably short-sighted and childish, but I can't help to be... Well... Angry."

Dretphi nods and inquisitively cocks her head to the side. "At?"

With a furrow of the brow, Sotalia rolls her eyes with a grimacing breath in. "Bach. More specifically at that the fact that he, oh I don't know, HID A CERTAIN THING FROM US!"

She grits her teeth, hisses her frustration, and rolls her shoulders. "I don't know! A certain part of me just can't shake feeling disrespected and betrayed. Even though there was probably no intent to do so...  It STILL would have been REALLY useful to know about THAT power before this point!"

Dretphi draws in a long breath, brushes back her some of her platinum blonde braids, and ponders. "Would it have?"

Sotalia opens her mouth but the words halt at the tip of her tongue. She sighs as past situations play out in her mind and her face relays how little the review even convinces herself. Dretphi speaks a single word in Grath. Sotalia blinks, processes, and slowly nods at the concept. "That translates roughly to... Death by remedy... Yeah.  That might apply."

She loosens her arms, rests her hands upon the walkway, and contends with a growing unease. "I'll admit, it was really spooky seeing him with that little control over his magic. I don't think he wanted to use that option."

Dretphi frowns and stares down at the water and the warping reflections of the overhead lights. "He was scared."

Sotalia agrees and flit of the brow. "I certainly was too with that thing charging at us-"

Glancing up from the pool, Dretphi makes eye contact with Sotalia. "Afterwards. When he woke up in the humvee. Fearful. I believe of... Us. He was horrified of what he may have done."

Seconds of quiet later, a long sigh escapes Sotalia as she frowns and relaxes her shoulders. The previous ire filling her flickers out and she slowly kicks waves with her feet under the water with a light pout. "Gods... Well... I'm NOT going to let him off the hook. Still don't like the fact he kept quiet about THAT, among other things he has yet to tell me... But..."

A sly grins graces Sotalia's lips and a mischievous air surrounds her as she stretches out her figure. "I'll try to be NICE to him and alleviate his fears. Maybe he'll open up more now.  After this, what's a few other acdemic details and spells in comparison?  Right?"

An annoyed groan echoes out from Dretphi and she glares unamusedly at Sotalia with a slow side to side sway of her head. Sotalia playfully shrugs it off with a tilt of head, shifting the curling ends of her dark red hair. "What?"

Dretphi dismissively rolls her eyes then narrows a stare at Sotalia.

Captain Hackle and Captain Hays walk down a blockaded section of street. Members of the Greater Azure Alliance specialists investigate the area. Sergeant Violet orders around Specialist Thayal and a few others in the company, with a specific focus upon Thayal when he tries to avoid duties. Chana and Heccaeh trail loosely behind Hays, while Chana pets one of the two whelps clinging upon each of Heccaeh's shoulders. Hays and Hackle both stop around the perimeter of a rope barrier and stare at the encircled section of road surface. The enclosed street visually resembles the rest of the roadway. Hays lifts an inquisitive brow and glances over to Hackle. "So, your group figure anything out yet?"

Hackle draws a long breath in, puffs his thin frame's chest out, and smirks. "Apart from the obvious that initial investigations have granted us, the fading elder energy residue, notably... Not too terribly much, actually."

The wry grin pulls across his mouth and folds the lines of age on his face. "I do have my theories. And given a certain bit of information we both know about parties possibly present in the area, I have one particular theory."

A solitary laugh escapes Hays and he crosses his arms, drumming his fingers upon the metal of his cybernetic limb. "I think we both share that theory."

He turns his head back to examine the cordoned off pavement and directs his lowered voice to Hackle. "So, are you going to investigate them further? Because, I personally have no professional stake in this now. Charting that nightmare's path back, with how we figured the animals were moving, it left out that weird zone roughly a week ago and headed straight here."

Hackle quirks a brow and mulls over the information with a few twitches of his gray mustache. "Strange. What could have prompted it to travel here, so recently?"

Hays ponders with a frown and grumbles as the frustrating possibilities rise in his mind. "Well, I get the feeling this one was homed in on something. Hell, this bastard may been zone hopping all the way from the Perimeter Weird Zone, starting over a month ago. Got a bunch of vague reports to sort through on that one."

With shrug of the shoulders, he lifts his chin up, pivots around, and scans the remaining bits of destruction, pausing to admire a very flat vehicle. "But, it has ceased to be, so my jurisdiction ends here."

Hackle shakes his head slowly, sneaks a smile on his face, and releases a long exahle as he glances at the tall city buildings surrounding the area. "The city still stands mostly in one piece. No reported loss of life. And, there's no longer an immediate threat. So, I believe my jurisdiction is about to end, too."

The two men idle in silence as specialists continue to inspect and assess the damages by taking both technological and magical measurements. Minutes later, Hackle flashes a humored grin at Hays. "You think THAT sword did it in?"

Hays chuckles and replies with a similarly amused smile. "Only thing I've ever known to put down one of these things is some ancient artifact. That sword is about the only one I know in the area right now. Didn't know it could do this, but I'm not one to complain about a gift."

Hackle nods and hums as his attention settles upon a question still in his head. "It's good to have it in capable hands. Still, I have to wonder about what attracted this geist here of all places."

Hays reaches into his pants pocket, retrieves his aetherphone, and taps through a series of menus to reveal a map. He holds the device within convenient viewing of Hackle. "I thought about that. I wondered if maybe there was something further along the path. But, the only thing it would have run into was a bunch of random ridges over near the United Appaland States."

After studying the map, Hackle straightens his posture, crosses his arms behind his back, and dons a satisfied smirk. "Well, I guess that will have to be another mystery left unsolved... Along with what may or may not have destroyed this particular Nightmare Geist. Without proper observations to report, I can only assume it must have self-destructed, or suffered a catastrophic malfunction."

A sly grin cracks on Hays's lips and he places his aetherphone back into his pocket. "I mean... It was only just a few hundred years old."

Hackle leads a healthy fit of laughter with Hays, and the two men walk away from the cordoned section of street towards the barricade exit. Hackle directs a sarcastic tone to Hays. "I truly wonder what wild theories the local news investigators will fill their reports with. I have been running low on comedies."

Hays squelches a snicker and shakes his head. "Wait a month, there will be a movie."

Samantha slowly steps through the elaborately decorated hotel hallway, studies her clipboard, and flips through a number of papers. She stops riffling, throws a bundle over the metal clip, and scribbles out notes upon the page below with a pen. "Okay... I think we can make this work still. The editing team will have a bit of extra work, but a few dramatic cliffhangers between the commercial breaks should make it workable."

Gerald cranes his head over near Samantha's shoulder and skims through the paragraphs of correction speckled literature with a dubious sneer. "I guess. Most the shots we got of the monster were from VERY far away. And, some of the video got slightly corrupted by that weird magical wave."

Tapping the pen to her lips, Samantha lifts an intrigued brow as an idea enters her mind. "Ah... We can spin it off as footage recorded by the locals of the monster with a bit of special effects work. Mix in the scenes of the team helping with the evacuation efforts... And, then throw together a dramatic narration over a mosaic of the news broadcasts and fade in to scenes of the aftermath... With... With..."

Gerald dons a sly smile and directs a suggestion into Samantha's ears. "Interleaved clips of individual video journals talking about the whole event."

A delighted glint sparkles in Samantha's eye and she grins widely, excitement putting a lift in her step. "Oh... Yes..."

She feverishly jots down a series of sentences and sketches out a number of diagrams in the empty margins of the pages. "I'll need to type this up and send it to Howie for final approval, but I like it enough that we should go ahead get the clips for it!"

Gerald nods, pulls out his aetherphone, and navigates through the interface. "Send the crews out to get footage of where the team members were assisting, along with shots of the destruction?"

Samantha taps the pen upon her clipboard, stalling on a final step of the rough outline upon the paperwork. "Yes.  Need a closure scene to finish up on..."

Seconds of travel down the hall later, Gerald blinks out of drifting thought and glances over to Samantha. "A wide shot of the site the authorities are investigating, voice over about the strange disappearance of the monster, and some dramatic music?"

Biting her lower lip, Samantha quickly writes down the sequence of events and nearly skips along the next few meters down the carpeted hallway. "Oh, I'll let the editing team go all out on that one! Hide some faint old secret society symbols, too!"

She looks up from the clipboard at Gerald. "So how long before you can get set up for the video journals?"

Gerald calculates the time upon the top of his mind and shrugs nonchalantly. "Maybe half an hour or so?"

The two move down the hallway, until Samantha stops outside a hotel room entry. She knocks quickly and loudly upon the door. Seconds later, the inset peephole darkens briefly and the lock unlatches. The door opens to reveal the towering frame of Trakenthin, who simply stares down at Samantha and Gerald. Samantha smiles confidently and gazes up at Trakenthin. "Personal Interviews in half an hour."

Trakenthin nods slowly. As he closes the door, Modoran's sardonic tone leaks out. "Oh, my favoritest thing to do!"

Gerald and Samantha travel down to the next door. Samantha raps upon the wood and waits. The door opens to Tassilda standing, arms crossed, with hints of defiance in her posture. "Yes?"

Samantha narrows her eyes at Tassilda and assumes a more assertive stance. "Personal Interviews. Half an hour."

She notices Deedri waving in the background and flashes a nice smile with a wave back... Right before Tassilda firmly shuts the door. The duo approach the next door and slow their pace down. Gerald tilts his head, and aims his ear at the door, waits a few moments, and then snorts. Samantha rolls her eyes dismissively as the unmistakable sounds of carnal gymnastics resonate faintly from inside the hotel room. She sighs, shakes her head, and directs a sarcastic tone to Gerald. "We'll come back in fifteen minutes or so."

Gerald snickers with an ill-humored smirk. "That long?"

Samantha blinks with a tight smile as the situation amuses her. "Oh really?"

With a derisive snicker, Gerald pivots and steps down the hall with Samantha following behind. "Well, let's just say I've been noting the duration of events when it comes to the time codes on the videos."

Afternoon sun rays beam through the sliding glass door leading out to the balcony of the hotel room. The light shines upon the sheets of the bed nearest to the balcony and barely reaches over to touch the base of the next. Cideeda steps through a doorway joining another similar hotel room and searches the area, puzzling. She halts her stare over the luggage and bags laying out on a pulled out sleeper sofa, and plods over with her hands on her hips. She slides over a bag, unzips the top, and rummages through the contents while mumbling to herself. Aristespha lifts her head up from a pile of paperwork and tablets upon the room desk and glances over to notice Cideeda. "Did you misplace something?"

Cideeda's ears perk back and guide the rest of her head as she pauses her hunt momentarily with a grumble of frustration. "Yes. I can't find my headphones. I thought I packed them, but can't remember which bag they ended up in."

Aristespha slides out, stands up from chair, and steps over next to Cideeda. She leans over to another suitcase and opens up pocket. "Well, you can borrow mine. The ear pieces aren't quite the best fit for you, but they might be a close enough fit for a little while."

An appreciate smile appears on Cideeda's face and she gives a Aristespha nod before resuming her exploration of her bag's contents. "If I don't find them in this bag, I'll definitely take you up on the offer. Thank you."

After a few digs underneath layers of clothes and other personal items, Cideeda uncovers the magic flow practice wand.  She stares at the device and a frowns forms. She slowly grips onto the wooden, magically inscribed stick, and her mood sharply darkens with a depressing, audible sigh. Aristespha glances over from her luggage and witnesses Cideeda's longing stare upon the practice wand. A compassionate, sad smile graces her lips and she directs a concerned tone. "As medical professional, I can say you are physically healthy today."

She sits down on the bed near the sleeper sofa, places her hands upon her knees, and presents a patient, comforting demeanor. "But as a friend, I can tell something has been bothering you since yesterday. I would be happy to listen."

Cideeda glances over to Aristepha, back to the practice wand, then back. Her ears droop, a long mournful exhale escapes her lungs, and she lifts herself to a seat on the bed next to Aristespha. As she rolls the magical focus in her clawed fingers, she wrestles down the words to form a sentence. "I know I shouldn't be surprised... Or even really think about it at this point, but..."

She stares at the practice wand, grimaces, and focuses her thoughts. "I don't know. Despite there not being anything... Known... to modern magical medicine that can fix my magic issue..."

Aristespha angles her head to catch eye contact with Cideeda, and waits calmly. After few silent moments, Cideeda continues her explanation with a slight waver to her voice. "I just never quite gave up on that ridiculously unlikely chance. And well, seeing... Someone..."

She pauses a moment to communicate unspoken and Aristespha acknowledges with a nod. Cideeda draws in a breath. "Someone struggle pass supposed limitations to do amazing things, I thought that maybe there was a better chance for me than I thought? There was some kind of hope? Maybe I'm not the only one? And something could change?"

Her eyes close, and she sniffs, tempering the emotional swell. After a small cough, she blinks her emerald eyes open and presents faux grin. "Well, now, it seems that I've just been building up my hopes, again. So, you know... Just facing the reality of it all, again. But, at least, I'm still me. Still the same as I was before."

As her voice trails off, she drifts a stare at the wand.  Aristespha breathes in carefully, rests a hand upon Cideeda's slumping shoulder, and squeezes gently. "I will not tell you to hope blindly. I'm not going to tell you to ignore the reality of the situation. But, I will say... You should NOT exclude the possibility."

A sadness tints her tone and she maintains a strong smile despite her thoughts. "I can't say it is similar to yours, but I've had to face the reality of my own situation. And my hopes seem to grow a little less likely with each day. But, while I'm not making any great future plans based on those hopes... I still include the possibility that my hopes can happen. That way, I keep searching for ways to make them happen."

Cideeda lifts her head up, turns to face Aristespha while she stares ahead, and notices the damp corners of her eyes. She straightens her back up, pulls in a breath of air, and vents out her tension. "Well, if you keep entertaining that possibility, I'll try to do the same, despite myself."

She presents an honest, toothy grin and Aristespha smiles genuinely in return. Cideeda shifts her focus to the practice wand, grips it with both her hands, and chuckles. She closes her eyes, concentrates, and turns her attention inwards. A few moments later, she open her eyes, shrugs nonchalantly at Aristespha with facetious laugh, and finally gazes down at the practice wand.

A green glow illuminates from the inscriptions wrapping up the base of stick.

Cideeda and Aristespha both stare at the wand blankly. Aristespha's face falls right into perplexed and gives way to outright shock. Cideeda's hand trembles in the dim green light, her jaw hangs wide open, and her emerald eyes widen. The astonishment barely allows her a single word. "H-H-how...?"

The aetherphone screen shows a man and woman sitting behind a wide desk. The woman stiffens her posture and defiantly retorts. "How can you say it ISN'T Dark Lord Noxian?! It makes perfect sense! Release this terror upon the populace, and then triumphantly show up to destroy the beast. That way he fools people into thinking he's justified! Who wields that much elder energy? A Dark Lord! What Dark Lord is there? Noxian!"

The man narrows his eyes, and reinforces his composure. "But WHERE is Noxian? Why hasn't he revealed himself to take the credit? And Nightmare Geists have been dealt with by other means. There is another explanation that doesn't involve the latest magical criminal that hasn't been seen or heard from in three months!"

The clouds glide out of the way the late afternoon sun and the light shines on Bach's face. For a moment, he stares at his faint, sad reflection in the glare of the phone screen. He firmly presses the close button on the video stream and puts the device away in his pocket. As the sounds of Hattan fill the background, Bach closes his eyes tightly and winces in self frustration. He rests his head back upon the balcony brick, stares off towards the horizon, and mumbles to himself. "Dammit, you fuckin' idiot... What did you expect was going to happen?"

A loud, swift slide of the glass door to the hotel room snaps Bach into reality from his head space. Dretphi quickly leans out the doorway, and energetically motions Bach over. "Come here."

Bach blankly stares as Sebastian's ethereal form zips out behind Dretphi and dramatically gestures at Bach. "You have to see this, bro!"

Uncertainty slows Bach's progress to stand and he apprehensively approaches the sliding glass door. Once he follows Sebastian inside, he feels the firm pressure of Dretphi's hand on his back ushering him towards the doors joining the two hotel rooms. As he moves along the route, he glances over to Sebastian and searches for an answer. "Uh, what's going on?"

Sebastian hovers next Bach with a shrug. "Not quite sure. It's only been like, ten minutes. We're still figuring it out."

The trio arrive in the other hotel room. Bach stares in utter confusion at the scene. Cideeda sits on the hotel bed with her arm extended out. Sotalia holds her hand out while seated next to Cideeda, and slowly demonstrates a series of magical gestures, voicing the relevant parts of the incantation. Aristespha slides the room chair up closer, opposite of Cideeda, and places her hands underneath Cideeda's arm with glowing violet eyes. "Okay. Whenever you are ready."

Bach cocks his head to side as he tries to understand the situation. Sotalia subdues her anticipation, and calmly leads with the first gesture and incantation part. Cideeda carefully mimics the motion, pronounces the sound, and visibly concentrates. Part after part, Sotalia shows the process and Cideeda repeats as accurately as she can. A flash of recognition sparks in Bach's mind of a very simple training spell. With the final part, Cideeda strains her focus and flexes her fingers out.

A small speck of cloudy light flickers into existence above Cideeda's palm. It hovers very shakily for a few seconds before dissipating in a puff of magical miasma.

Sotalia covers her mouth and nose with both hands in awe. Aristespha moves her hands away, lifts up her head, and blinks the glow down in her eyes with a smile. "Well, you'll need many years of practice. But, that looked and felt like normal beginner's flow."

The excitement within Sotalia wins out against any restraint and she wraps her arms quickly around Cideeda in a hug. "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I'm going to show you all the best spells! And you'll get to practice with the rest of us!"

Flexing the claw tipped fingers of her hand, Cideeda stares blankly and watches her hand as she sways with the enthusiastic embrace of Sotalia. As the smile forms, a flow of tears roll down Cideeda's face and she sniffles. She tries to wipe the water off her face, but laughs as she struggles against the hold Sotalia. Bach remains silent, props himself against the nearby wall, and gazes on, absolutely bewildered. Dretphi smiles brightly at Cideeda and rests a hand upon Bach's shoulder. Sebastian proudly grins at Bach. "Heh. Told you it'd be okay, bro."

After Sotalia calms down enough to release her, Cideeda looks over to Bach, with a tear soaked smile. She watches the mix of confusion, embarrassment, and nerves play out on Bach's face as he obviously fumbles about a response. She presents a toothy grin to Bach. "So... How are you feeling?"

Bach stops, smiles weakly, and shrugs as nonchalantly as he can muster. "Well... Happy... But, very, very confused right now."

Cideeda nods slowly and giggles. "About the same here."

Layers of conversation from the lunch crowd fill the background inside the sandwich shop. A middle aged woman with blonde hair, rearranges the area around the register. She moves a number of items within easy reach of her left arm, pauses to survey the workspace, and readjusts the shoulder strap of her arm sling. When th e phone rings, she winces as she fights against habit to not move her right arm. With a quick pivot, she answers the phone with her left hand and pinches the handset between an ear and shoulder. Exercising great care, she taps out the order on her computer screen, relays the cost, waits, and then presses the confirmation button. After the call, she smiles over to a small, blonde haired girl sitting on stool, and steps over to see the number of crayon drawings on paper upon the counter. She kisses the top of the girl's head, and hugs her tightly with her left arm. The little girl pauses from her art and happily returns the affection. "Love you, mommy."

As the door opens, the chime sounds out and a thin, older man walks into the shop. He calmly steps towards the counter, his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. While he waits near the register, he loosens the blue scarf around his neck and scratches his gray facial hair. The middle age woman glances over and delights. "Isaac! I'm glad you are okay. Especially, after all the chaos over the last two days."

Isaac shakes his head and laughs. "It's has been quite the few days, Lydia. I came yesterday, but your employees said you were-"

He glances down and notices the sling holding Lydia's right arm and a worried frown flashes on his face. "Oh my! What ever happened?"

Lydia looks down and sighs. "Well, long story short, when that monster wrecked a machine shop, some of the debris eventually crash landed through my apartment and onto me."

She lifts some of her hair to reveal a bandage on her head. "Broke my arm, hit the floor, and got knocked out cold."

With a wide-eyed attention, Isaac's face flits between worry, concern, and some relief. "Well, I'm happy to see you standing."

He glances over at the little girl and summons a smile. "Well, I see that Leigh is okay. That must have been frightening for her."

Lydia draws a tense breath of air and her posture stiffens. "Oh gods. You have no idea! After I didn't wake up for an hour, she braved out on her own to try to find help for me. She wandered right into the path of that... thing..."

Isaac remains silent and turns his horrified stare to Lydia. Rolling the unease out of her shoulders, Lydia loosely holds her hand near her mouth while she looks to Leigh. "I don't know all that happened.  She ran away from it. And thank every god out there, a wonderful group of adventurers were around the area. They swept her up and got her to safety."

Lydia exhales and rests her hand on her chest. "The rescue team had to nearly sedate me when I woke up and couldn't find her. But, it was less than a few minutes later she was turned in to the authorities."

She drifts off in thought while looking at Leigh, then remembers. "Oh! I'm so sorry. Let me take your order first, then we can talk our ears off. Your usual?"

Isaac confirms with a smile and holds up a finger. "Yes, but extra olives today."

With a quick nod, Lydia focuses her attention to the computerized order system and carefully taps the order out with her left hand. Isaac studies the nearby sheets paper next to a large box of crayons. He happy smirks and curiously observes Leigh coloring. "What are you drawing today?"

Leigh briefly looks up and taps her hand on the pile of paper. "My new friends. Look!"

Isaac chuckles to himself, and examines the drawings. Green eyed fvalian. Tall woman with blonde braids. Woman with blue and gray hair, and violet eyes. Horned, red haired woman. And a faintly shaded man. Isaac blinks, thinks a moment, and watches Leigh color in her latest drawing. "Is that another drawing of a friend?"

Leigh shakes her head while she concentrates on the picture. "No. It's the monster. It's okay. The hero stopped it."

Upon the paper, a giant, solid black figure nearly fills half the page, but a solitary man with white crayon colored over him stands in the way of the dark form.

Timeline

Week 1

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Week 2

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Week 3

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 10

Episode 11

Episode 12

Episode 13

Episode 14

Episode 15

Episode 16

Week 4

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 17

Episode 18

Episode 19

Episode 20

Week 5

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 21

Episode 22

Episode 23

Episode 24

Episode 25

Episode 26

Week 6

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 26

Episode 27

Episode 28

Week 7

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 29

Episode 30

Episode 31

Episode 32

Week 8

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 32

Episode 33

Episode 34

Episode 35

Week 9

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Episode 36

Episode 37

Episode 38

Episode 39