Project Tabora: C/1/

Chapter 1.

The stage is set.

Vast mountains rose from the mist, like immense monuments of frost and ice sculpted by the hands of giants. Gabriel Maroque was filled with a heady sense of awe at the sight as he gazed up at the impossibly enormous glacier-mountains. For a moment, he wondered how something so gigantic could have been hidden for so long.
“Incredible.” Serena whispered.
The breathtaking sight similarly affected his colleague, Gabriel saw, and he could only nod in agreement.
The sky-liner Astartes was still quite a distance away from the majestic mountains, yet the entire viewing-bay was already filled with the sight. He could hardly imagine what a human would look like upon the great Taborean Range, so small, so minute, so insignificant. It was absolutely amazing, how the natural skyscrapers of blue and white towered over the entire landscape, allowing no other consideration to come into mind save itself. Gabriel spotted clouds hovering about it barely above the halfway mark: a testament to the height that this sheer wall of ice possessed.
“It's so huge..” He found himself murmuring. “And we're still a day or two away..”
His communicator buzzed, jolting him from his reverie. As Gabriel began to take it out, he saw that Serena was doing the same.
“Huh. We'd best get going then.” Serena said, reading the message quickly once more to be certain.
“A possible location to start from? I wonder what the sensors picked up.”

“.. we're looking at approximately twenty minutes travel time from where the Astartes will land. My lady Astartes here cannot locate any suitable location within the moutains, henceforth designated the Taborean Range, to land. We'll be landing at the edge of the whole Tabora Plateau itself, right here at the northern end. Then you archaeologists will take what equipment you need for a forward camp and head here,” The gruff Captain jabbed at a spot on the holo-screen just ourside the white patch indicating uncharted territory, “which will be a permanent spot for any further expeditions. We won't be establishing base camp, because it's just too dangerous, this is unknown territory, ladies and gentlemen. We know precisely nothing about the Taborean Range.”
“Congratulations. You archaeologists will be the first to ever set foot on that big block of ice. I don't care about it, one way or another. However, I am in-charge of your safety and administration. Your team will travel on the hoverbikes, because I don't see any other way of getting up there. Three-dee.” He instructed the computer. The holographic display on the screen flipped horizontally and large formations began projecting upwards. With another instruction, the display scaled down in size, reducing the size of the Range to be just above the heads of the members of the expedition.
“I don't have to tell you people that the Range is enormous. Its size is far beyond anything we've ever seen and the scanners can't even find the end of it.” The Captain cleared his throat before expanding a section of the mountains. What originally seemed like a single enormous block was now thick vertical pillars conjoined around the middle. Further enlargement focused on a natural basin surrounded by sheer mountain-faces that left only three openings.
“Your team enters through the southern valley and the forward camp will be set up right in this basin. There doesn't appear to be any streams running through- all frozen obviously- so any supplies you need will have to be taken from the Astartes. The basin itself is about twelve odd klicks in radius, situated nineteen and a half klicks above sea level. Temperature range is negative one in the day and can fall to negative ten past sundown. Any questions?”
“Captain Torrasky, why exactly was this location selected?” A thin, bespectacled man asked. “While I understand the need for proximity to this dismal ship,” The Captain stiffened at the insult. “I cannot comprehend the reasons for your choice.”
“Mr Karkasky, your concern is.. noted.” A slight tone of anger coloured the Captain's raspy voice. “However, there is good reason for this location.”
Captain Torrasky selected the north-western mountain face and the projection enlarged once more.
“Scanners indicated artificial formations of metals upon the face of this peak. The Acies Array acquired visuals of an entrance.”
An image appeared on the screen. A distinct entrance, the archway formed of some smooth grey rock, the passageway half-smothered in the pristine white snow. It was a doorway carved into the mountain, clearly a sign of a civilisation that made its home within the bones of the planet.
A ripple of amazement went through the ten members as they observed the image.
“Clearly,” The Captain continued, “You will want to explore it and that, Mr Karkasky, is the reason for my choice.”
Sinder Karkasky nodded. “Captain, do we have a frame of reference for this structure? To put it dumbly, how large is it?”
“I understand your lingo perfectly.” The Captain snapped. “The Acies Array puts the width of it at twenty metres, the height is about thirty-two.”
“That's enormous!” Arnold Winfried gasped.
“The Golden Ratio, huh? More proof that it's artificial.” Karkasky commented.
“Captain, does the Acies have any visuals of the interior?” Serena asked.
“No, Miss Hartmann. The Acies Array cannot penetrate the interior. In fact, this visual was the closest the Array could go. Any further and the image becomes so much static.”
“I see. Thank you, Captain.” She subsided into thoughtful silence.
“Any other questions?”
“There aren't... there's no sign of life at the entrance, is there?” A wispy, nervous male asked.
“Not that we have discovered, Mr Winfried. No electronic signatures, except ambient ghostings from the material itself. As I said, the Acies cannot probe further. If there's nothing else, then go and get all your equipment ready. The Astartes touches virgin ice in twenty hours.”
Each downloading a copy of the information gathered, the archaeologists broke off into groups as they departed the briefing room.
Gabriel walked with the polemical Sinder Karkasky and a quiet, soft-spoken professor of geology by the name of Dorian Painter.
“What do you expect to find in there, Gabriel? Ancient ruins, just like the speculations of popular pulp fiction. I honestly didn't expect Horske to have a good reason for such a location, convenient though it may be.” Karkasky snorted.
“Sinder, at least try to be polite to the Captain. After just now, he probably wants your skin if he didn't before.” Gabriel sighed. “Horske Torrasky is quite the able Captain and we're lucky that we have him and not some unlearned bigot as Captain.”
“Yes, well, it doesn't matter. What matters is what we're going to find. I can just imagine the headlines: 'Ancient civilisation discovered in mysterious mountains' or maybe something like 'Tabora Plateau greater mystery than ever'. We'll be famous, my friend!” Karkasky spread his arms dramatically.
“The headlines will be filled with the same issues as usual.” Dorian commented. “'Tensions peak after failed peace talks'. Have the papers even reported 'news' for the past few months?”
“Truth in that, Dorian. Anyway, Sinder, what makes you think it'll be an ancient civilisation? For all we know, it might be some strange alien artifact.”
Karkasky shrugged, a smirk filling his expression. “I don't know. Whatever it is, what do you two intend to bring down there?”
“You have it easy, don't you? You just need your recorder, don't you?”
“Perhaps a handy note-taker too. You'll never know when the inspiration for description hits you. Both of you, on the other hand..” Sinder laughed mockingly. “I bet you two'll be lugging so much equipment along, you'll be dead tired when we just make camp.”
“Knock it off, Sinder. Being the linguist-cum-documentarist doesn't give you the right to be an ass.” Gabriel said irritably.
“You're just sore. A little premature, I think, to be sore. Now don't,” Sinder lifted a hand to stop Gabriel's retort, “get so worked up, go ahead and prepare. I shall retire to those minute quarters that we call rooms.”
Karkasky left with a last parting smirk and Gabriel could feel his choler rising at the abrasive man.
“Relax, Maroque.” Dorian put a hand on his shoulder. “We have work to do.”
Gabriel nodded, slowly turning away from Sinder's diminishing figure. “Right. According to this, we'll need to clear out the snow first for the camp. That's not a problem. If this mountain is like anything we've seen before, the next layer will be the- what are you laughing at?”
“Maroque, you're concentrating on a camp when everyone is thinking about that entrance?” Dorian chuckled softly.
“Well, yeah, I mean, it's not like we have any information on that entrance. The Acies didn't get anything after all, I'm just working with what I have.” Gabriel retorted defensively.
“Regardless of what Karkasky said, I am curious about that structure.”
“Who isn't?”
“I mean, just look at the thing.” Dorian called up the image onto his datapad, filling the holographic display with the mysterious archway. “There isn't any buildup of snow at all within the entrance. Right outside, the ground is clear for a metre or so before snow starts piling up. Someone or something's clearing the snow. From surrounding images, it's quite clear that precipitate is quite.. abundant.”
“Remember, the Captain said there were no electronic signatures. Maybe the snow just doesn't fall there.” Gabriel remarked, sounding unconvinced himself.
“Maybe.” Dorian said dubiously. “I'm going to consult the Acies.”
“Then we'd better hurry, I bet some of the others have the same idea as you.”
As they quickened their pace, Dorian continued expounding upon his theory.
“.. so whatever this is, it's definitely far more advanced than anything we've ever known. Neither of us are experts in this field, so we'll have to check with-”
“Woah woah woah, slow down there, I've never seen you this excited. You might want to calm down a little there.”
Dorian placed his palm against the blank square plate embedded beside the door. The panel lit up bright blue and within a moment, the gunmetal grey door slid open with a hiss.
The Acies Array was, strictly speaking, not entirely mechanical in nature. What was mechanical about it were the multiple display screens, where paragraphs of data scrolled through continuously and the holographic projection of the observed image as well as the thick and dull cables which seemed to cover all the walls and floor. Several cables, most prominently, were attached to the displays on one end and into the rear of the helmets.
The helmets were vaguely reminiscent of those purportedly used by ancient mariners: they had large and singular portholes rendered opaque by some strange misting upon the lens. The face of the Acies was, thus, unknowable.
The core of the Acies was organic. Three people stood in a triangular formation, each facing outwards. They wore the grey helmets, the portholes glowing with a fey light that made Gabriel shiver. They were garbed in form-fitting black suits with obsidian bands embedded in the psychoactive material about their limbs and neck. The backs of the three were arched backwards, their spines so curved that Gabriel could almost hear them breaking. Protruding at regular intervals from the stressed spines were what looked like rounded spikes about ten centimetres long and three centimetres in radius. The strange garb gave Gabriel the impression that they were humans no longer, but were some strange, mutated deviant harnessed and enslaved. These three people were not normal; their minds were enhanced by virtue of a genetic roulette and their psychic capabilities were harnessed for the Array. Whispers filled the room, vague whispers with contents just frustratingly out of reach of comprehension.
Dorian stood before the three; the trio did not respond in any way whatsoever to his presence.
Clearing his throat, he announced, “Recall last vision.”
What sounded like a faint whisper interspersed with a moan flitted through the room, causing Gabriel's hair to stand on end. He had never liked the Acies Array and found it quite disturbing.
The holographic tank flickered and the image of the stone archway formed.
“Zoom out.”
The archway became smaller and Gabriel saw that the snow built up to a prodigious height around the structure, but only after a certain distance. For that distance, the snow was simply missing and bare ice was exposed.
“It can't have been melted away then..” Dorian muttered.
A pneumatic hiss sounded once more and a ebony-skinned woman stepped in, accompanied by the comparatively pale form of Serena Hartmann. As always, Gabriel felt himself inhale sharply in Serena's presence.
“Well, Carmen, it seems that others have the same idea as we do.” Serena smiled and Gabriel couldn't help but smile in response.
“Hartmann, Santiago.” Dorian nodded in greeting. “I suppose that we all have the same purpose. We may as well settle all our queries in one viewing. If there's anything else you want to view, feel free to say so.”
Carmen Santiago was bald, not through any fault of her genes, but through her own choice. Her smooth brown pate was covered by a cap and the lack of hair facilitated her connection to the logic banks containing her memories. She was a documentarist, as Karkasky was, but she dealt more with images and videos. Nobody had said it, but when Gabriel found out that she was psychic, he knew that she was also there as their emergency communicator, in case mechanical means failed. That in itself was astounding, because psychics were expensive these days thanks to the Anglo-Sino conflicts and because the Taborean expedition wasn't particularly well-funded. As it was, their budget had limited them to this small team of ten and while the Astartes was quite grand, this was to be its final voyage before being decommissioned. He wondered vaguely what would happen to the Acies Array when the ship would be decommissioned..
“.. Maroque? Maroque?”
Gabriel blinked as Dorian waved a hand in front of him.
“Yeah?”
“You zoned out there for a moment. Everything okay?”
“Yeah.”
“As I was saying, the Array cannot detail the composition of the arch. It's not any material I can think of, can you?”
Gabriel watched the screen for a moment before shaking his head. “No. We'll need to go right to it. Serena, you're the geo-chemist here, what do you think?”
“I'm sorry, but I've got no idea as well. The first thing that came to my mind was that perhaps there's a high concentration of chromic acid within the rock, but that wouldn't make sense, considering that the Acies can access it from any direction and wouldn't be stopped. Also, remember that the Acies is first and foremost psychic. For the Acies to be unable to function, the rock likely has a disruptive electromagnetic field coupled with psi-infused crystals. Unless it's simply warded..” Serena trailed off and looked meaningfully at Carmen.
“No, the psychic imprints I'm picking up from the Acies is nothing like wards. It just.. is. It doesn't seem.. I can't put it very well, I'm sorry. It's just natural.”
“Natural? That's clearly artificial.” Dorian remarked.
“No, no, not in that sense. Natural, like it's meant to be there.”
Gabriel shared a look of disbelief with Dorian: neither of them were as yet wholly comfortable with the idea of psychics. Back at the University, he had never had any contact whatsoever with these mind-reading, thought-transmitting freaks.
“Well, if that's all, then I don't suppose there is anything more to see. Shall we leave, Maroque?” Dorian turned to the door.
Gabriel followed in suit, head turning to catch one final glimpse of Serena. As the door hissed shut behind them, Dorian chuckled.
“Turn your head any more and you'll snap your neck.”
Face blushing rubicund, Gabriel retorted, “You're very loquacious today, aren't you? You weren't quite as talkative as when Sinder was here. He would have made a great conversationalist with you.”
“Karkasky is a caustic upstart with no sense of decorum. He has no respect whatsoever.” Dorian remarked irritably. “Don't compare me and him.”
Gabriel kept silent, noting with surprise his friend's hostile reaction to the linguist. He hadn't realised Dorian disliked him with such vitriol.

The Power Plant

Is it really so strange that I shiver when people talk about a newly built power plant? I have had strange experiences which you can judge for yourself as to whether or not they justify my reactions to such stimuli. I shall accede to your threat, but this story may yet cause you to beg me to stay silent about it forever until infinity ends and the world has broken in darkness, you who blackmail me.

No doubt, you have heard of that infamous nuclear disaster- accident, they call it! But no mere accident could have wrought such a horror, may I never lay my sight on such a thing ever again! God! Even as the image in my mind blurs with the thankful erasure of memory's weakness, I still shudder to think of it. For what happened there, in that distant Oriental land of Japan, that accursed place, Tomioka of Futaba district in Fukushima, what happened there in that forsaken nuclear reactor should never have been, should never have existed!
No, it was not that one you speak of, not that. That was too well-publicised. I refer to the other plant, number two, eleven and a half kilometres south of the nuclear plant which you speak of, the number one. I tell this to you with great reluctance, for fear that I might be reported to a madhouse. Yet, even a madhouse would perhaps be a more pleasant avenue. I wish, I hope, I pray that what I had seen was just a mere figment of my madness, but how could even the most warped and twisted depths of my mind spawn such hallucinations?
It all began with that dreadful earthquake on that day of 11th March in the eleventh year of the second millenium. March.. Did it not bring back certain memories? Had I not discovered such a similar date of significance in that bewildering manuscript my old grandfather, Francis Wayland Thurston, left behind amongst his papers after his as-of-yet unaccountable death? Woe betide that day that I had found those papers! That hideous bas-relief sculpture, whose form was thankfully only captured in photographs and yet cursed that it should ever have been captured in physical shape! I still see it now at times, in my dreams and even in my waking hours, that haunting image of a pulp-like head adorned with tentacles over the mouths that looked as if they would begin writhing about like sibilant, horrifying, unnatural snakes! That misproportioned and grotesque body, covered with scales and fitted with a pair of rudimentary wings, a caricature of an octopus, a dragon and a human all at once.
11th March. That date, were it not for my curious delvings into my grandfather's personal effects, would have meant nothing to me. But that I have is the reality, if reality I can still trust, and 11th March was a date of great significance. In my grandfather's records, on the night of 22nd March in the year 1925, that blackest city that was drowned and should never have been raised but for a freak of nature, though I cannot help but wonder how much of it could have been an accident, the nightmare corpse-city of R'lyeh arose from the depths of the unknown ocean floors. The days prior to it, according to my grandfather, were choked full with cases of hysteria, wild dreams of great Cyclopean cities by sensitive individuals, the sky-flung monoliths dripping with green ooze and slime of foulest compositions, of which that bas-relief sculpture was based upon. Those dreams, my grandfather says, were the calls of sleeping, dreaming Cthulhu. On that day of 22nd March, the visions and madness peaked into an orgiastic climax of crazed violence, where gibbering nonsense words of self-proclaimed prophets filled the streets and suicide cults rose from nowhere, as if as a mimic of R'lyeh! But after that day, nothing more of that nature was to be seen.
We were lucky. We, the human race, were lucky that Cthulhu had not been able to escape his prison-throne and was forced back into his millienia-long slumber.
So I thought, after reading my grandfather's shaky words. That was the case closed. Though I had been shaken, there was nothing more to be done, I imagined fancifully, as if such horrors can ever be successfully staved off.
For twenty days before that day, 11th March, newspapers screamed at me what I was slow to grasp, or perhaps, guessing at its nature, did not want to acknowledge. “Mass Suicide Cults gathering strength in Auckland!”, “Is your stress giving you nightmares?”, “World Sculptor's Asssociations & Societies reject strange art as 'disturbed'” and so forth. That pattern had reformed itself, so horrific were its implications that I had denied it utterly, pretending that I knew nothing about it. With every passing day that I denied it, the headlines leaped out at me with such boldness that I was tempted to simply stop reading the papers.
Then it happened. The earthquake, originating off the coast of that Asian country and I knew, without having to name it, that R'lyeh had moved, that the undersea currents had dragged it there, or perhaps, God forbid, the tides of the sea had been commanded to move so.
God above! For now I must recount to you what had shook and still shakes me so. I, a graduate of the acclaimed, and oftentimes fabled, Miskatonic University, was employed on such a mundane teaching capacity that I had pleaded futilely to be posted to another job more befitting one of my academical learning. If only my pleas now stemmed from that source of indignation as it had then.
I took meagre comfort in the fact that this demeaning position would bring me on a tour of places that, while inherently dull in their ends, were extraordinary in their means. I speak of nothing other than the curved cylindrical shapes which powers vast nations with harnessed lightning, smoke pouring out in thick, languid clouds of venomous black.
I arrived at dreary Tomioka on the eve of that fateful day, which was to prove so horrendous in ways nobody sane can never imagine. I set my foot onto that wet ground, noticing instantly the foetor carried by the noxious wind. Had I ever been put off by the sea-breeze in any seaside village? But no, this was different, this wind bore no relation to any fresh sea-spray-ridden gale I ever breathed. The pungent odour cut my olfactory organs viciously and I cringed in disgust, my scholarly pursuits conditioning me to a state of piteous delicacy.
A first glance at the people inspired nothing but disgust, disgust with no apparent cause. Something in the angles of their odd, narrow heads and that hideous shambling agitated distaste in me. They walked as if unstable, shaking from side to side like a spiteful drunkard roaming the night, arms slack and loose about their side, bringing to mind an image of what an artist I once knew had dubbed “Devolution”. Anthropoid, as opposed to human, these inhabitants seemed. Their bulgy eyes that seemed to stare without blinking and their flat noses were completely unlike other Japanese as I knew them and it seemed to me that these people might not be related at all to the Japanese gene-stock.
I entered the plant without much ado, introducing myself in the indigenious tongue to the chief engineer. His appearance was that of a normal Oriental and I permitted myself a vague sigh of relief, vague owing to not knowing what or why that relief had come about. I found, after brief conversation, that he was from neighbouring Naraha. He was greatly pleased at my appearance, both in the action and the description, he too disliked and abhorred the swarthy appearance of the inhabitants and preferred to deal with them as little as possible.
I spent many long hours talking to him that day, and what he had to say about the history of this town that I was contracted to teach in at its junior and elementary schools was disturbing and uneasily laughed away. His words were more of myth and legend than concrete fact, yet I could not help but connect his words to my deceased forebear's manuscript.
I shall now endeavour to repeat to you part of his speech into our English though I shudder in foul remembrance of anything connected to those days in that accursed region.
“When I was a young boy, my grandmother would warn me to stay away from any stranger, particularly those of Tomioka. There was, she claimed, bad blood in them and bad blood between them and us. I saw little of people from Tomioka, but I vividly remember the one time when I met one on the streets. Even in those years, the Tomioka folk had already gained that inhuman appearance of regression... Yes, even then.. It gave me nightmares for a long time. My grandmother told me that they were not believers of Shinto, our Japanese religion, but worshipped some evil spirit of the sea. She told me that their religion brought with them great riches- have you seen the strange trinkets they sell to tourists? Those images and its material components are not of this world- but at the cost of sacrifices.. Human sacrifices, she told me.. I listened to my grandmother's stories with great attentiveness, because they were usually interesting but this one was just macabre.”
“Her stories about this always began with dire warnings about how many young children disappear in the area of Tomioka and she would then carry on describing just how these adolescents were said to have been laid on altars made of a stone that could not be found anywhere on land and then slit from navel to throat, baring their innards to the cold, wintry air and letting the blood drip down the altar whilst invoking nameless dark demons of the deeps.. The air, I remember, has always been like this, ever since I was young. She would tell me about how her sisters told her about eerie witch-lights on the top of the hill towards the north were seen at definite times of the year... No, my grandmother was not the only one who told me such tales, other people too, but I thought it was just a legend.. What made me decide to work here? The nuclear plant, nothing more. I have no other reason to be here except for my work.. Yes, my friends and family tried to dissuade me from coming here and I can partly see why they would do so. The air is unwholesome, as you have said, the people are queer and belligerent.. It is hard to get anything out of them except passive acknowledgement...”
“I don't like this town, but my job is here and I am used to it. What troubles me is the rate of disappearance in the town. If you look at the older areas, you'll find many buildings that look as if they have been abandoned, boarded up with planks, but sometimes at night, you can hear people talking inside, many many people... This town is ancient.. It is only your first day here, but you will notice weird rituals taking place.. Recently, the rituals have been increasing in frequency. They are anticipating something.. Something.. Oh, have you noticed how very sub-human they behave? They don't speak properly, they don't walk properly.. It isn't natural. Once, just before my grandmother died, she told me that the people here weren't completely human. Inter-breeding with something.. She never explained, or she didn't have time to explain, because she died days later.. My grandmother? A remarkable woman, I loved her very much. Cause of death? A kitchen accident, she slipped and fell onto a knife. Very strange, she was ever nimble in the kitchen... I don't believe she died so simply.”
“The nuclear plant? I don't know why it was constructed here, except that there's a lot of seawater if we ever need it for any problem, though seawater will ruin the plant.. Fish are abundant here, more so than anywhere else in Japan.. More than four thousand megawatts produced by the plant.. The religion here? We in Naraha call them 'cultists'.. I don't know if they have a name for it, but whatever it is, it is unnatural. I have seen some of their religious images, disgusting part-humanoid things with an octopus head, small wings on the back, a great bulk covered with green scales.. Are you okay? Your face is extremely pale. Are you sure? I'm not sure, I don't recall a name given to it.. Maybe if I had a starting sound to help.. Yes.. I do believe that was the sound. Cthulh- Mr Thurston! Mr Thurston, are you okay? You are not well, not at all.. I'll take you home.. The power plant can do without me for the night..”
It was that incredible description that tore apart my veils of self-evasion, that horrid sculpture of that monstrous thing, that which I must not name or face insanity in remembrance of everything. As I rested at home and he took his leave of me, my mind was racing as my heart thundered without pause. If the folk of Tomioka were indeed what my new friend's grandmother claimed to be, then this was no place for me. Sheer terror almost brought me to running down the immaculate, pungent streets and leave the town immediately with nervous energy but my rational mind- Rational, ha!- stopped me from doing so, and I reassured myself with meaningless words that such fantasies belonged to ages past, that phantasms of my grandfather's past did not exist, that in this enlightened age of ours, no such monster could exist. Curse the day I ever read the Necronomicon! Curse the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred! Yes, I have laid my eyes on that tome of monstrous formulae and many more! I have delved into the cursed Unaussprechlichen Kulten, the fragmented but still diabolical Book of Eibon! The Pnakotic Manuscripts I have gorged my eyes upon, the King in Yellow horrifically analysed and deconstructed!
I apologise for my outburst.. I am still touchy about this, but I have promised to tell you what I found and I shall do so now. Perhaps all my words were but a digression in vain hope that I might leave without naming what will soon be named..
That night, the wretched all-seeing eye of Polaris grinned down at me. It is thankful that I know not fully what it saw that made it laugh with that twinkling light from the cosmos. Suddenly, I heard strange cries in the night and I looked out of the window. As my friend had said, devilish witch lights shone from the hilltop in the distance. But what caught my attention was not that.
Under flickering street lamps, the hideous folk of Tomioka were shambling through the streets indolently, their shifty eyes staring into sheer emptiness as they held strange candles with soul-searing symbols and blasphemous images inscribed into the wax. Their mouths opened, tongue lolling; it was they who emitted that awful noise, that terrible cries of words that I beheld in some formulae of the Necronomicon. A single sentence, if sentence that horrible jumble of syllables and consonants was, repeated itself over and over through the frightful cacophony of unholy sounds.
“Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!”
God above, God of this earth, that demented shouting nearly drove me to my knees and I could scarce bare the sight of the cultists, so many of them, so numerous as they marched away. Only when the last of them passed my window did I see just where they were headed.
The nuclear plant was their destination. The first thing that came to my mind, astonishingly, was not to flee the town and never look back or even inquire as to the nature of their rites. You might say that I am embellishing my story to make myself look like an unlikely hero, for unlikely it is. But I say, it is in the unlikeliest situations that men do things that on hindsight are foolish and inconsistent with their thoughts.
My first thought was to warn my friend. I had to get to him somehow at the plant and perhaps help him away. I do not know what I wanted to do, all I knew was that I had to get to him.
The means were simpler than expected, for in Japan, nobody expects to steal anything and so I helped myself to a motorcycle by the side, keys still in the ignition. I drove as quickly as I could, skirting around the discordant sources of the continued ritualistic yells.
How long it took me to get there, I do not know, for as I entered the plant, there began the start of my nightmare.
Inside I found my friend, trembling and cursing in a corner. He was as incoherent as my mind must have been, his visage was a mask of fright, pale, shaky, eyes wide, lips unable to keep together firmly. I tried to tell him about what I had seen, but my own tongue was unable to form the proper vocalisations. I tried to pull him, but he pushed me away with a force that only desperate souls have, people who have witnessed things that should not have been and wish to see nothing in the world any more.
I'a! The cries of the cultists had grown louder and louder; they had now entered the building and my friend was abruptly and frantically spurred into action at the sight of them. I ran after him, even as the front cultists spotted us and gave a horrific shriek that no human's vocal cords can ever reproduce, it chilled me to the bone and yet spurred me on.
I'a! The accursed cultists chased after us with that heretical speech churning about their tongues and pouring in unspeakable foulness from their lips as I ran and followed him. No thought of where we were heading entered my mind, for all thoughts were crowded out by an infinite horror. Only now in the aftermath, months later, the questions come to me: What did they want there? I shall never know, and I am grateful.
We ran, our legs pounding against the floor in such desperation that I fancy that the entire plant shook with our strides. But truly, it was a race between life and insanity or eternal death. No doubt, that was the fate the cultists must have had for us, to be their sacrifices on that infernal altar described in such menacing detail by my friend. Oh, what I would have given to never have been there!
But perhaps it is thankful, not to me, that I was present, for mayhap without my presence and actions, our world would be clad in doom.
The reactor room! I'a, i'a, what I saw there can never be unseen! Even now, I cannot lie to myself, I cannot say that it was a dream, surreal though it felt, impossible though it was, I cannot bring myself to say that it was not!
Let me calm down for a moment before I continue.
The reactor room had a clear window, its view directed to the majestic producer of electricity, that which smashes and crushes atoms together. An erect pile, pierced through with numerous rods like a voodoo fetish of barbaric, primitive tribes, a modern totem pole.
The lights were on, but, heavens above! If only it were lightless, that I would not behold what I saw! That great pile was covered in some kind of viscous, thick, slimy, black thing that drooled down to the floor in a slimy pile, but that was not the worst, it only drew your attention to that which was what would have tortured a stronger mind and utterly destroyed a weaker consciousness.
I'a! It cannot be unseen, not now, not ever, not even with that opiate joy with which you have obtained this horrid confession by blackmail! I say loudly, here and now, that I should have gone to jail, for my story was never intended to be made, never intended for human ears! Lock me behind bars!
But I gave my word.
I.. Yes.. The pile. A large, gaping black hole with faint spots of toxic green appearing and disappearing, a gaping maw, a hungry abyss had been burned through in the floor by the pile. That hole was as large as the pile, if not larger and the edges gave the impression of the biting effects of acid. I thought the hole was empty, but.. The slime dripped down and did not fall into the abyss. It landed on the hole.
It wasn't a hole! God help us all, that black gap was not a hole! Or rather, it was a hole, occupied! A closer look told me what I should not have sought. The blackness was bubbling, yes, bubbling! Small onyx bubbles formed and burst and- I'a! I can see it, I can see the eyes! Those eyes, forming and bursting in that gigantic amorphous blob of supreme idiotic malice! It had no form, no solid shape, but was just slime and it kept changing! It grew limbs and organs and eyes and tongues and tentacles but nothing of it held solid for more than a single moment, bursting and spraying droplets of itself all over the floor! Where it touched the floor, there were sizzles of smoke. That hideous, iridescent blackness, a shapeless mass of protoplasmic bubbles, faintly luminous and with the myriads of temporary eyes and organs forming and un-forming, bursting and spewing pustules of sick greenish light in a display over the room.Dread, disbelief and terror overcame me all at once, as it still overcomes me now! I lost consciousness there and then, before my mind could contemplate that sheer impossibility and my soul could flay itself into futile attempts at escape.
Have you read the Necronomicon? Have you? If you had, you would have recognised my description. I will never be able to look at a power plant, nuclear or no, ever again. If that thing, the shoggoth could lie there, under the plant, feeding on its power and growing larger and larger until one day, some day, it would burst out, large enough to consume and fall upon houses, when it would be larger than any subway train or train station, when it and the rest of its kind would sweep over the world and clean the land evilly of anything organic.
As I have said, I lost consciousness there, and my knowledge of what happened during my lapse of awareness is limited to my conjecture based upon what I saw when I woke. Perhaps I only fainted for a minute or two, for when I awoke, I was in a corner of the room. My friend must have hid me under the panels of bright buttons and flashing alarms, rest his soul. I saw a cultist, adorned with strange jewellery of a kind I have never seen before, the same jewellery my friend had mentioned, saying, “Those images and its material components are not of this world”. The cultist stood over my friend with a curved knife in his hand, stylised like his ornaments and radiating a hateful aura. You may laugh at me when I use such words, but there are no other words to describe it. Looking at that knife, I could feel the sheer weight of its wrath and I knew, I know, that knife has been used on many an altar. Do not ask me how, it is something that you can only realise on your own. A scream sounded and the cultist turned towards me, something like a startled expression forming on his own distorted visage, with those unblinking, wide, fish-like glassy orbs. I must have screamed, but I was still disoriented then and my friend took the chance to knock the cultist to the ground. My friend's expression was bestial at that moment when he attempted to wrest the knife from the cultist's grasp, horrifyingly bestial. It makes me wonder just what exactly humans were, aeons ago..
I ran forward and pushed their hands into the cultist's heart; oh God, the knife was radiating heat as it slid into his chest like a blazing knife cutting soft, rancid, oozing, putrid butter. His flesh was such and his blood- no, he had no blood! That cultist did not have blood, he had ichor! The foul ichor stung like an acid, making me spasm uncontrollably for a moment in memory of the shoggoth. My friend breathed heavily beside me, gesturing wildly for a moment before articulating his actions.
“They.. They want to use the power here, they want to use the power here. Mr Thurston, I don't know what that wretched thing said, it didn't make sense, maybe you can understand it. There were strange sounds and it seemed as if he was saying that something was rising. What was that something? It sounded like 'R'lyeh' to me.. Mr Thurston! What is going on? He said something about using the power to open up a tomb and awaken some monstrous thing, I don't dare to repeat what it said. Yes, yes, the thing they mentioned was that name I told you about that they worshipped. Are they summoning a devil?”
I'a! A devil would have been a kinder end to these insidious means! I completely understood everything he told me. Do you hear me? Completely. The cult.. that nightmare-cult was not formed in that town without reason. They had contrived, in an eldritch plan spanning across the centuries, to release the Great Old One himself from R'lyeh when it next rose by their town. They had manipulated and schemed for the nuclear plant to be built there and- how could they ever have known of the existence of nuclear power years before its appearance?
This revelation only came to me in the form of unworded emotions of horror induced by those horrors which span the cosmos and bridge the past and future with such mindless ease.
The only thing that came to mind was to stop it, for if we did not stop it now, the entire earth would be enslaved in that darkness, those cultists would sell us all to an eternal torture of our souls and we would be devoured, being but mere slave-things for it to destroy and manipulate.
“Mr Thurston.. is it possible to.. destroy that thing?”
My friend had seen the shoggoth and kept his voice low, deliberately controlled. His spirit was made of a firmer stuff than mine, thank the stars. I know not how I would have thought of what he knew were he not there.
Yes indeed! I knew that it was possible to at the very least hurt the shoggoth, if not destroy, and simultaneously stop the cultists' foul plans! I told him what I intended, he nodded and began to work; I had not such a skill-set as his.
I gingerly peered at the pile, still producing electricity for the town to use, for the cultists to doom the world. It seemed as if only one cultist had broken away from the main group to pursue us and no other disturbed us.
The control rods were being removed from the pile, like gigantic needles being removed. I did not dare look further down the pile, lest I lose consciousness and all sanity.
I did not need to see the shoggoth to know what effect removing the control rods had: An ear-piercing shriek tore through the whole structure, repeating itself over and over again in acute agony. The shoggoth was crying out, “Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!”
That mad, shrill piping! Fiendish noise! Eldritch cry! It went on and on, “Tekeli-li!”
I don't know how long it took before the thing stopped its wailing, but my friend was the one who pulled me up and spurred me to run.
Never have I ran with such haste! The nuclear plant was to explode. With the control rods removed, the heat would be too great for the coolant and cause the whole facility to overheat. Thoughts of our own well-being did not cross our minds, but we realised it all too soon.
We ran out of town, all the way to the subway station where we took a train nervously, paranoid, unable to stop moving, pacing back and forth.
The lack of an explosion could only mean that the cultists had averted the disaster. But from later reports, the damage had been done. We parted ways when he stopped at Naraha, white-faced and swearing never to go back to Tomioka. It was not long after when the earthquake struck, but by then I was safe, on a flight back here, to New Zealand.
You know my whole story now, blackmailer. I feel a strange sense of release now that I have no more secrets to hide. Draw your own conclusions from this tale that seems like fantasy. Understand why I drug myself day after day, night after night with this opiate which without a doubt is killing me slowly. It does not matter. The cult of Tomioka yet lives and I have done too much to ruin their plans. I do not expect to-
Oh God, behind you! That thing!

[Story End]
A/N: Holy nuts, I managed a short story! It's just under 5k words. This is my tribute to H.P. Lovecraft. Written in that magnificent style, though I think I didn't do it quite well. Okay. If I have anybody reading this from Japan, I just want to say, no offense is intended to anyone of any race or religion. I only used the Fukushima incident as my setting because a) inspiration made me do it, b) the Lovecraft style involves terror in places closer than expected. If anyone from Tomioka, or anywhere at all is offended, I wish to apologise. Hope you had a good read, people!
-agoraoptera the Homo Ludens

Fader

“... and the utilities bill's been spiking as if we have more than the three of us! I don't know if it's because of..”

Traces of Mrs Luden's voice filtered through the beige door and the loud rhythmic music playing in Hans Luden's room. He got a snatch or two of Mr Luden's response, something along the line of similar confusion. Whatever it was, Hans simply could not be bothered. He stretched and leaned against his chair, yawning and looking around his room. He rubbed his eyes tiredly; it was barely afternoon, the sun was still hiking its way up stoically into the bright blue sky, yet Hans was already tired and worn out. He put his hands back onto his keyboard and mouse, then stood up and left his computer. He had to rouse himself somehow. Hans punched the little buttons on his phone, asking his friends out and left his room, music still playing. He didn't notice the slight, humanoid-shaped indentation on his bed as he strode out, only making a mental note to ask Mrs Luden if she had used some sort of perfume on his room. The slight flowery scent in his room was quite appealing in his opinion, though he consistently forgot to ask her about it for at least two weeks now.

It was night. Hans walked into his room, shivering slightly in the cool night air. The night air brought with it the same aroma he had detected earlier in the day and he looked around to see if there were any perfume canisters about. There were none and he shrugged, reaching for his computer and then stopped. Hadn't he left it and the music on? The monitor was black, but it was still running. Hans powered up the monitor and saw that the music had been paused. That was weird. He had set it such that a password would be required if he let the screen-saver run. A password that Mr and Mrs Luden certainly did not know. He frowned in consideration. There was no one else in the house. Was there?
Abruptly, his head snapped around with the thought that perhaps there was someone else in his room. But no, there was nobody there, he was merely imagining things. Hans put the question aside for the time being, for he was tired and it was late. Lying down onto his bed, he did not realise that the bed was warm, comfortably so. Within moments, he lost consciousness and dreamed.

Hans didn't remember the curiosity of the night before when he woke. It only came back to him the following night, when he woke in the middle of the night abruptly, covered in sweat and exuding the stench of fear. It was a recurring nightmare, one of abandonment and confusion. But as his breathing slowed and his heart regained its tempo, he could have sworn that right at the end, there were a pair of arms holding him with all their strength and a voice, an angelically sweet voice, whispering to him that all was fine. Hans threw aside the blanket and walked down to the kitchen; he needed a glass of water and some fresh air. After a few minutes on the porch, Hans headed back in, ready to sleep again and, if need be, face his fears. Climbing up the stairs slowly, he stopped stiff just before the top. A chill came over him and a shiver ran down his spine. He hadn't turned the lights on. But there it was, the bright light of his room shone, spilling out into the corridor and illuminating the hallway. A shadow was there, right in the middle of the light, a feminine shadow cast by a feminine shape. Hans charged up the last few steps, tumbling towards his room with a sharp sense of fear. But just before he could see the entirety of his room, he caught sight of a slender hand reaching out and flicking the lights off. Hans stumbled into his room, unable to see anything and flailing wildly with a soft gasp. He quickly turned the lights on again, but by then, it was too late. There was no one there. Hans quickly moved to the window and looked below, but there was nobody. Had he been dreaming?
“Show yourself.” Hans whispered softly to his empty, silent room.
Nothing replied, nothing stirred but the gentle breeze, that sweet flowery smell in ascendancy.

If he dreamt the night before, Hans couldn't remember. All he could remember was that voice again, that soft, petite voice. It had said something, something that he only now half-remembered.
If only I could... His memory left out the next few words, ...show myself.
There was someone in his house, that much Hans was sure of. All that was left was to find out who, to find that who, to confront that who. Though thus far, all his encounters with this mysterious person had been by chance and Hans had no idea where to start fro-
There, there was that smell again. Hans desperately turned around, eyes searching all about his room. There! As he turned, he caught sight of someone lying down on his bed, but as he completed his revolution, that someone faded into translucency and out of sight within the time it took for him to turn about.
“No! Please, whoever you are, show yourself!” Hans pleaded to his now unoccupied bed as his eyes searched fruitlessly about. Spending a few more unsuccessful minutes, he finally gave a frustrated sigh and headed down.

Breakfast felt stale and tasteless to him. Avoiding Mr and Mrs Luden, he took the steps up to his room before stopping halfway. The thought came to him and Hans decided to sneak up, just in case whoever it was was there. Taking each step with a slight quiver, making not more than a slight creak on the aging staircase, he peered around the door frame into his room and nearly gave himself away with a shout of surprise.
There was someone there, a girl not much older than him, short blond hair framing her porcelain face, pink irises reading something on Hans' table, a baggy shirt that Hans recognised to be his own covering her thin, almost malnourished frame, delicate fingers flipping the page of his book, those same fingers he had seen turning off the lights that night. That perpetual flower-filled smell that suffused his room emanating from her.
Hans inhaled sharply and the girl looked up abruptly, glittering eyes widening in shock and surprise, her hands coming up to hide her face. He started to run in, started to open his mouth to tell her not to run, started to try to communicate with this mysterious, beautiful girl.
He never got the chance.
Even as he reached for her, her slim body started to fade away, fade as if someone was erasing her and for a moment he could see through her, before she disappeared completely and utterly. The last thing he saw of her was her lips mouthing a word, regret painted in those unnatural eyes. Sorry.
Unable to control his momentum, he crashed through empty space where she had been barely a moment ago. Pulling himself up, he felt the empty air as a blind man would, hoping to feel someone, feel something real.
But there was nothing.


A/N: My first ever completed story! I feel good about things :)
-agoraoptera the Homo Ludens

Three

-STORY START-

Sitting in the living room, watching the television with his father, an obligatory role of a son, Edelus suppressed an urge to grin as his beautiful winged Triel snuggled against him even closer. He wanted to hold her tighter to himself, but his father would question. Sometimes, he really pitied his father for not being able to see her. He really pitied everyone. All the other poor, sad people who didn't know magic existed, those people who couldn't see his lovely Triel. He didn't see the point of fictional television dramas when he had such a woman with him. He faked a yawn.

“Dad, I'll go sleep first.”
“Alright. Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite.”
Edelus climbed the stairs to his room, taking two steps at a time, eager to talk to his Triel. She flitted up ahead of him, her wings beating lazily as she waited for him to open the door.
He paused for a moment, enjoying the wind generated by her flapping and then opened the door, smiling to Triel and abruptly froze.
“Loce! What are you doing on my bed?” He asked, suspicious.
A girl lay on his bed, dressed in only a large, baggy shirt that reached to her thighs. In contrast to her casual appearance, she held an exquisite violin, as well as a matching bow. She looked at Edelus thoughtfully.
“I still haven't gotten used to having a name. Loce.” She rolled the name about her tongue as if savouring it. She shrugged and lay back down on the bed.
Edelus closed the door behind Triel and sat on the bed beside Loce.
“Is that my shirt you're wearing?” He asked the messy-haired girl.
“Yeah. Why?” She sat up languidly, replying with a placid expression.
“Could you, er, don't wear my clothes? I.. It's just weird to wear clothes that a girl has already worn.” He ended lamely.
Loce nodded and just continued looking at him unblinkingly. She held the violin parallel to herself and Edelus saw a dazzling golden eye where her hand grasped the instrument staring out at him from within the onyx wood inlaid with a similar gold, partially hidden by jet-black strings.
“Master.” Triel murmured into his ear as she hugged him tightly.
He returned the embrace as tightly as he could, pulling her onto his lap. “Yes?”
“Are you really tired?”
“Nah. I'm alright.”
“Are you sure, Master?”
“Yes, Triel.” Her look of concern made his heart melt and he petted her head lightly. “You're really cute when you're so worried, Triel.”
She blushed slightly and lowered her head, Edelus just catching a glimpse of a small smile on her face.
Her movement revealed her neck; a black band of cloth encircled her throat.
“What were you doing today, Loce?” Edelus asked as he stroked Triel's hair.
“Nothing.”
“So you were just lying down on my bed the whole day?”
Loce nodded.
“Seriously?”
She nodded once more.
“Come on, Loce, you need to go and do stuff. Don't you find it boring? We'll help you-”
“I don't need your help.” Loce suddenly muttered fiercely. She got off the bed and lifted the window open. Glaring back at the succubus and her master, tears glistening in her eyes, she leapt out of the window.
“Loce! Oh, for the love of- Loce, come back!” He called out as he ran to the window.
In the dim light of the street lamps, Edelus could barely make out her fleeing figure, his large shirt billowing behind her. As she ran past, the street lamps sparked and blew, exploding with a sharp crack in a shower of glass one by one.
Triel made a 'tsk' sound. “So sensitive. Well, she'll be back. You really look tired, Master. You should sleep.” Triel grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the window. “Sleep, Master. Get some rest. She'll be fine.”
Edelus sighed. “I don't think anyone else has to deal with their violins running away.”
“You're special, Master. Now sleep. She will be okay.”
“Alright. You're probably right.”
Triel snuggled up close against him as he slept with his arms around her.

Edelus woke up feeling warmth in front and behind him. The one in front was Triel, his sweet, beautiful Triel. But the warmth behind him was tingling, not unlike the sensation one got from static electricity.
He turned his head to find Loce curled up against his back. He could see that she had been crying, faded lines of her tears across her face. In her hands, she still held the violin and the bow, though now the eye in the violin was closed. A rubbing of something leathery against his arms told Edelus that Triel was awake.
He slowly got up, careful not to wake Loce.
“Morning, Triel. Don't rub your wings against me. They'll rub the skin right off me, I swear.”
“Sorry, Master. Are you going to punish me?” Triel asked, her voice oddly hopeful.
“I'll save that for some other time.”
Despite his caution, a deep yawn sounded from behind him, signaling the awakening of Loce. She reached up to him to pull herself up, but Edelus recoiled in pain the moment she touched his shoulder.
“Ow! You're a little too sparky today, aren't you, Loce. Keep a lid on your lightning, please. I really don't appreciate getting stung. Are you feeling better now?”
She again nodded, expression blank as if the events of the night before had never happened. “I apologise. I shall keep my emotions under control from now on.”
“Master, are you okay?” Triel ignored her female companion.
“Yeah, just stung a little.”
He let Triel fuss over his shoulder for a little longer and then got up, stretching.
“I don't think I've got anything to do today. So, Loce, you want to come out? We could go to the park or something, I don't know. But, uh, could you change into something else first?” Loce was still wearing Edelus' shirt.
Loce nodded and started to pull off the shirt.
“Wait, wait, wait! Don't strip in front of me, Loce!”
“Why?” Loce's expression was one of complete curiosity; she didn't completely grasp the nuances of human society and she still found clothes to be odd, having been used to not being in a violin case for more than a century.
“Because it's.. indecent. Just.. Okay, I'll turn around.” Face red as a ground cherry, he turned about and sighed.
Suddenly, the sound of knocking came from the door. Edelus' eyes widened and he quickly rushed to Loce, no longer caring about decency.
“Quick, hide!” He hissed as he threw his blanket over her. “Keep still and keep quiet, don't make a sound!” He quickly lay over her, concealing the lump under the blanket that was her just as his father came in.
“Ed? I heard some shouting from downstairs. Were you talking to someone?” He asked, looking about Edelus' room.
“What? No, no, I wasn't talking. There's nobody here. You're imagining things, Dad.” At Edelus' words, Triel started giggling.
“Are you sure?” He asked once more, expression doubtful. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”
“Positive, Dad. I've got nothing to tell you.”
“Alright. Brush up, breakfast's downstairs for you and Cassandra. I'm leaving for work now.”
“Yes, Dad. Bye, Dad.”
“Take care of yourself, son.” With a final sweeping look of the room, his father left and closed the door behind him.
Edelus exhaled in relief, shoulders sagging. He looked at Triel, who was seated on the floor, laughing and hugging her legs.
“What's so funny?
“Imagining things, huh? But anyway, Master, I think you do have something on.”
“Really? What?”
“Orchestra practice? Remember? Every Saturday morning?”
Edelus smacked his head. “Oh, shit! I knew I forgot something.” He glanced at his tableside clock and swore. “I'm gonna be late! Where's the violin, where's the violin..” He muttered as he ransacked the room.
“Uh, Master? On your bed?” Triel asked, pointing at the conspicuous lump where Loce remained still.
“Not her.” He lifted up the blanket anyway and immediately turned away, seeing Loce partially undressed. “Loce? Dress up, why are you staying so still?”
“You told me to keep quiet and stay still.” She looked up at him. “Can I move now?”
“Yeah, yeah, I only told you to stay still so that my dad wouldn't see you. Triel! Where did I leave my violin?”
Loce replied instead, saying, “But I am your violin.”
“I had another violin, the one I bring to orchestral practice.”
“Use me.” She got up and started to change her clothes.
“What? How am I going to, uh, use you? You'd have to be there and people will see your body-”
“This body can disappear. I am the violin and the violin is me.”
“What? Okay, never mind, just change up first, I'll just keep looking for it.”
“I'm done. Play me.”
Edelus whirled around. Loce was dressed in a black band uniform with a golden trim, perfectly complementing her short, shining, blond, nearly golden hair. She stepped towards him and held out the violin that was herself.
“Take me.” She insisted with an edge in her voice, a slightly manic tone tinging her words. “Play me.”
“Uh, okay. Right.” Edelus gingerly took the violin, expecting to get shocked at any moment; he had noticed small blue sparks crackling about her hair. As he held the violin, careful not to cover the brilliant eye, Loce sighed lightly and seemed to be absorbed into the violin in the moment of a single wing beat with a feeling of static electricity where she had stood which made Edelus' hair stand on end.
“What the- Huh.” Loce, in her violin form, seemed to be shivering ever so slightly, though whether from delight, pleasure or just her innate lightning, Edelus didn't know. He lifted the bow and began to play a short, simple and jaunty tune he was very familiar with.
However, the music that came out startled him. The notes were a hauntingly melancholy, a deep sadness in the tune. Somehow, though the original tune was supposed to be cheerful and uplifting, what he now heard bore a grief and loneliness so thick that he nearly choked and felt the heavy urge to weep.
Barely managing to control himself, he stopped playing and looked down at the golden eye worriedly.
“Why so sad, Loce? Why? You're not lonely anymore. You've got us.”
The eye blinked once as if to acknowledge him and the vibration increased slightly in intensity. He somehow knew that Loce felt better.
“Master!” Triel tapped her feet impatiently, arms folded. “You're almost late and you haven't even had your breakfast yet! I packed it for you already, quick, Master, change and let's go!” She held out a paper bag, evidently containing the breakfast she mentioned as Edelus rushed to obey.

“Man, Edel, you really came on the dot today.” The ginger-haired boy murmured to him as they both readied their violins.
“I nearly forgot about practice, Beland.” Edelus replied softly.
“Let me guess, your little devil reminded you about it.”
“Actually, that's true.”
Beland snorted. “Yeah, that's likely. A little old for imaginary friends, aren't we?”
“She ain't imaginary.”
“Whatever you say, man. By the way, nice violin. How much did she cost, then?”
“I picked her up.” Edelus tried to mutter without moving his mouth too much as they began to play. In his hands, Loce all but sang. He winced slightly as he noticed the difference in tone that Loce was making compared with Beland's violin; he could feel Loce trying to curb it though.
“Stop!” The conductor held out his hands. “Edelus Weissar! Are you playing the right notes?”
“Y-yes, sir.”
“Are you certain? Come out here and demonstrate to us how you played.”
Sighing inwardly, he obeyed the conductor and started to play. He tried not to take notice of the conductor's hard stare as he finished the bar and looked up expectantly.
“Hm. You played the right notes, Mr Weissar, exactly on the tempo, but why does it sound slightly different? Have you been taking care of your violin?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hm. Go back. Treat your violin well, Mr Weissar, violins are temperamental. Treat them with love and care and they will serve you faithfully unto your end.”
Edelus flinched inwardly again upon hearing those words, thinking about how literally the conductor's advice could be. He went back to his seat, Triel sitting at his feet, her face unreadable.
“Weird playing indeed, man.” Beland told him.
“I followed the score precisely.” Edelus retorted.
“And yet there is something different.” Beland replied. “Have you been feeling sad, man?”

“Just straight copacetic, Beland. I'm perfectly alright.”
“Like hell, you are. If you were perfectly alright, you wouldn't be having imaginary girls hanging about you, would you?”
“She isn't imaginary! Heck, Beland, you want some proof?”
“I certainly wouldn't mind, but please, do keep your volume down, our good conductor is glaring at you.”
“Right.” Edelus mumbled as the violin section of the orchestra started to play. As soon as their portion of the music concluded, he began again. “Just look at my violin, Beland.”
“What of her?” He drawled in his accent, an eyebrow raised.
“Her name's Loce. Here, check this out.” Edelus moved his hand lower down the violin to reveal the eye. As he did so, he felt a slight tugging on his pants.
“Master, this might not be such a wise idea.” Triel told him.
Edelus ignored her and showed Loce's eye to Beland.
“Nice decoration. You painted it yourself?” Beland remarked, clearly unconvinced.
“You're a real skeptic. It's a real eye. Look.”
Right on cue, Loce turned her eye to look directly at Beland and blinked.
“Woah, shit, man, that is some crazy shit you got right there. You're serious, aren't you?” Beland whispered, awed and shocked.
“Yes. Like I said, my little succubus isn't imaginary, in fact, she's sitting on my feet right at this moment.”
“Hot damn, Edelus. I knew you were cracked up, but, damn.”
“I'll introduce you to Loce later.”
“Okay.” Beland couldn't stop looking at Loce.

After their practice ended, Edelus brought Beland to the nearby park.
“Give us a moment, will you?” Edelus said, as he went behind a bush. A few moments later, he reemerged, followed by Loce in her elegant band uniform, holding the violin and bow in one hand. She had a slight smile on her face as she grasped Edelus' hand in her free hand.
Beland whistled appreciatively and bowed. “Hello, my good lady, I do believe my esteemed companion Edelus mentioned your name to be Loce?”
“Oh, cut the aristocratic act, Beland.” Edelus remarked, as Loce nodded, almost shyly.
Beland glared at Edelus for a moment and returned his attention to Loce as they sat down. “It's a little hard to believe, Loce. You're a violin?”
“Yes.” Loce nodded.
“Wait, but then, isn't that you?” Beland asked, pointing towards the violin in Loce's hand.
“Yes. This body is just a form I took.”
“Uh, right. Hey, Edel, got any more surprises for me?”
“Not really. I mean, if you could see Triel, then you would see that she's on my lap right now and- Mmph!” Edelus made a muffled sound as Triel kissed him hard. As he returned the intimate gesture, Beland stared at him with an expression torn between amusement and embarrassment.
“Hey, Edelus, you know, all I can see and all everyone can see is you kissing and hugging the air. I grew up in this neighbourhood, man, I sure as hell ain't gonna be seen around here with someone like you.”
Edelus broke off the kiss, breathing deeply. “Sorry, Beland, but you picked this crackpot for a friend. What a choice you made. Look, Triel sure isn't going to let herself be seen, because I'm pretty sure everyone here will freak out due to her wings. And her tail. Let me think, yes, Triel, sweetheart, flap your wings, give Beland a breeze.”
Clearly overjoyed to receive his attention once more, Triel rushed to obey. The gust was so strong that Beland's hair whipped around wildly.
“Hey, man, tell your little devil to stop! I believe you now, alright? No need to mess up my hair like that, you know how long it took for me to style it?”
Grinning, Edelus halted Triel.
“Man, Edelus, you're bat-shit crazy, you are. Though what I'm wondering is, why would your gal pick you? Unless you've got some hidden bad-ass insanity that you haven't told me about, I don't see why Triel would just hang around you all day. And all night, too, am I right? Oh, damn. She's a succubus. I see.” Beland whistled again. “So you two go at it every night, huh?”

Face reddening, Edelus punched Beland on the shoulder. “We never! We don't do anything so.. obscene!”
“Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it, Ed, I would do the same if I had a succubus.” Beland smirked as he re-styled his hair.
“We don't! We never have! Our relationship is perfectly clean!”
“Don't do anything obscene, eh? Yeah, sure, the most you'll go is make out with her in the middle of a public place.”
Edelus sighed deeply. “Beland, she can't be seen by anyone else.”
“But you can be seen, so I think that you really shouldn't do such things in public.” Beland paused and glanced at his watch. “Man, just look at the time. I'd best be going now.”
“Not having lunch? You're meeting someone?”
Beland replied as he walked away. “Not really. I don't actually have anything on, I just figured you might want some alone time with your babe. Have fun.”
“What an odd person.” Loce remarked.

“Edelus!” The shout echoed from downstairs all the way into his room.
“Yes, Cass?”
“Where'd Dad go?”
“Give me a moment!” He shouted back and turned to Loce. “Okay, stay here, hide under my covers and don't come out until I say so.”
Loce nodded and moved to obey as he ran down the stairs and nearly crashed into a blue-haired girl wearing a French maid uniform.
“Hey, be careful!” She huffed indignantly.
“Yeah, well, you did shout. Dad's gone to work, which you would have known if you'd woken up earlier. It's already afternoon, you know.”
“Sorry.” Her playful tone made it clear that she wasn't sorry at all and she grinned at him. “Like my costume?”
“Uh.. Yeah.. You're really into this whole dress up thing, aren't you?”
“All for you, brother.” She teased him, preening, knowing that he liked such dresses.
“Uh, that sounds so wrong.”
“Why would it be?”
“Because siblings don't...”
“Come on, we're not even related! I'm your stepsister, remember?” She reminded him in a singsong voice.
“I treat you like my little sister.” Edelus replied seriously.
“Don't worry, you'll always be my big brother.” She tiptoed to kiss him. “Now, if Dad's not at home, I'll be leaving now. Don't tell him about my costumes! Oh, and I'll be home for dinner!”
“Never. Have fun, Cassandra. I'll get you something good. Anything you especially want?”
“Nope. Love you!”
Edelus watched her leave the house as she blew him a final kiss. He turned to see Triel with her hands on her hips, glaring at him.
“What did I do?” He asked.
“She's not the only one who can dress up, Master! I could dress up in that maid uniform just as well!”
“What? I don't like-”
“Yes, you do! Don't hide it from me!”
“I'm not hiding anything.” He headed back to his room.
“Master, you know I'd do anything for you!”
“Yeah, but I don't want you to do anything like that.” He lifted his blanket. “You can come out now, Loce, the house is empty.”
“Okay.”
Half-turning, Edelus found his shoulders grasped by Triel.
“Triel! What are you doing?”
“I'm proving to you how much you matter to me, Master.” She pushed him onto the bed and straddled him. For a moment, Edelus almost gave in. However, his conscience won out.
“No, Triel.” Edelus pushed her back reluctantly.
“But why?” Her voice was almost a whine.
“It's just not right.”
“Ah, Master, I love it when you're so firm. But, you want to as well, don't you?”
“What I want and what I should do are two different things, Triel.” He kissed her on the top of her head lightly. “I can't give in to my wants.”
Triel shuddered. “Master, it's not just you. My body is becoming so hot, Master. Very, intolerably, hot. Especially.. between my legs.” Triel gasped, trying to breathe. “Please, Master, quench my fire. Please!”
“I'm sorry, Triel. Lie on the bed.” Edelus quickly left the room as Triel complied, trying to hold back her desire. He returned with a pail of iced water and a cloth. Triel moaned in disappointment, having still held out hope for his acquiescence. He soaked the cloth in the freezing liquid and started to wipe Triel's face.
She gasped in shock at the feeling of the water, the extreme cold a contrast against the burning of her body. Even just sponging her, Edelus could feel the sheer amount of heat coming off her body. He paused to dip the cloth into the water again and he continued down her body slowly, bit by bit easing her fiery lust into something more manageable. The act of sponging her wasn't just for her benefit. It helped keep him under control as well, reminding himself that he was responsible for her as well. It pained him to see her writhe, especially under his own hands, but he knew he couldn't afford to make love to her, as much as he wanted to. He had never done so and he didn't intend to start then.
Slowly, but surely, he reached her thighs and stopped to feel her temperature. It was normal, or as normal as a lusty young succubus like her would have, which was higher than a regular person's. Her breathing became slow and regular, her pallor less flushed and Edelus felt relieved.
Loce had been looking on quietly but now she asked, “What was it she kept asking from you?”
“It's...” He trailed off, unsure of how to explain to a violin. “Actually, I have no idea how to explain it to you. You should ask her instead.”

Edelus covered Triel's dozing form with his blanket and kissed her lightly once more before lying down beside her to take a nap.

“Master.”
“Hmm?”
“I think you've got a stalker.”
“Say what?”
Edelus stopped walking and turned behind, catching a flash of black going behind a corner.
“Uh, Triel? That is human, isn't it, whoever that is?”

“Yes, Master.”
Edelus walked towards where the figure had hidden, Triel half-flying, half-stepping lightly on the concrete ground behind him. Loce had declined to go for a walk with them, claiming fatigue, though Edelus didn't see how that was possible. When the person peeked out again, her face was directly in front of him and she flinched in shock, taking a few steps backwards. The raven-haired girl smiled, almost beatifically, as she clasped her hands together.
“I knew it.” The girl whispered, slightly breathless. “I knew I couldn't be the only one.”
Edelus and Triel exchanged mystified looks. “Uh, hello?” Edelus waved a hand in front of her face, impatient with her odd behaviour. “Er, were you following me?”
“Hm, what? Yeah, I was following you. This is a dream come true, I knew I wasn't the only one.” The girl started talking to herself again.
“Only what?”

“Not the only special one. I'm not alone. Ahh..” She sighed pleasantly at the thought.
“I have no idea what you are talking about. Would you care to explain?”
“Thank you, thank you!” The girl hugged him tightly, obviously oblivious to his words.
Edelus pushed her away after a moment. “Look, miss, I don't know who you are, I don't know what you're doing and I would really appreciate it if you'd stop talking to yourself and answer me!” His voice grew in volume until it turned to a shout, finally losing his temper.
The girl stared at him wide-eyed, frightened. “I'm sorry. I just.. I've been looking for someone like me for so long!”
“What do you mean, someone like you?”
“Come on, I can see her perfectly fine! Don't you dare tell me it's just a costume she's wearing!” The girl pointed at Triel, who looked back at her in perfect innocence.
“You can see her?” Edelus asked, not knowing if she was making things up. Immediately after thinking that, he mentally hit himself. Of course she couldn't be making it up.
“Yeah, I can see her clearly. And the bond, the link between you two, I can sense it. It feels so bright and vibrant. It's life energy flowing through your bond, isn't it? It's so fast moving. She's leeching off your life, isn't she? But it looks to me like you've got more than enough, even after she's taken a fair part of it, huh?” The girl spoke quickly, barely taking a breath.
“Slow down. Triel is doing what?”
“Triel? Nice name. She's feeding off your life force, of course.”
“She's feeding off my-” Edelus glared at Triel accusingly. “You never told me anything about this.”
Wings flapping urgently, Triel babbled quickly in a panic. “Master, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hide it from you, it just didn't really matter and I-”
“Didn't matter? This is my life! You've been around me for my entire lifetime just to be a parasite and steal my life energy, is that it? Is that why you've really been with me? Not because you like me, not because I'm your friend, but because I'm just a host for you to feed on?”
“No, Master, it's not like that! We're more than friends!”
“Apparently less. So I'm just the naïve little host and you're the parasite. Get away from me.”
“Master! I-”
“Get away from me!”
Tears brimming in her scarlet eyes, Triel slowly nodded. “It's not what you think.” She whispered. “I love you, Edelus. You,” She turned to the onyx-haired girl. “I'll get you for this.”
“Don't threaten her for telling me the truth, Triel. You can't blame anyone but yourself. Begone.”
“I love you!” Triel sobbed for one last time before her wings flapped once, hard, and she was in the air, flying far away into the blue sky. For the first time for as long as he could remember, Triel was no longer by his side. He felt hollow.
Edelus turned to the girl, realising that he was crying too. He wiped away the tears and took a deep breath. “I.. Thank you for telling me the truth.”
The girl looked at him oddly. “I didn't want this to happen. I thought.. I thought you had an agreement with her.”
“She didn't tell me anything.”
“Still.. How long has she been with you?”
“As long as I can remember.”
The girl frowned. “If she's been leeching off you since you were a kid, shouldn't you be dead by now? You look fine to me. More than fine.”
“I don't know and I don't particularly care.” Edelus snapped.
“I'm really sorry.”
“It doesn't matter. Who are you?” He softened his tone, trying to calm down.
“Zephyra Eurus. You are?”
“Edelus Weissar. Uh, how do you..”
“How do I what?”
“How can you see.. Triel?”
“I don't know. I've never seen other things before. But then I caught sight of her following you just now and I knew you were like me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I.. can do things.” She lifted a hand and Edelus peered at her palm. He heard wind whistle in his ears and a small, dust-grey cyclone arose from nothing within her grasp. Without realising it, he gasped.
She closed her fingers around the whirlwind and it vanished, dissolving and disappearing into the now still air.
She tilted her head to the side, smiling as she looked right at him. Edelus returned the smile, doing his utmost best to forget Triel.
He took her hand, asking, “Would you like to come to my house?”
“Sure.”

As he opened the door, a figure in maid uniform stood there, hands clasped behind her.
“Cass! I thought you were- Wait, Loce?”
“Welcome home.” Loce bowed down deeply.
“Wait, but, where did you get that?”
“It was in your sister's room.”
“How many does she have..” He murmured to himself. “Anyway, why are you wearing it?”
“I thought it would look good.” Despite her bland tone, he knew that she couldn't have decided to wear it just for aesthetic purposes.
“Right. Uh, Zephyra, meet Loce. Loce, Zephyra Eurus.”
“Hello. Where's Triel?”
“I told her to leave. Don't ask.”

Loce nodded.
“Hello.” Zephyra looked at her curiously. “You're not human, are you?”

“Zephyra, she's a violin.” Edelus supplied.
“A violin? Wow. That's cool.”
“Come in.” Loce ushered them both in.
As Edelus showed Zephyra around the house, he realised that there was the smell of cooking in the air.
“Wait, Zephyra, give me a moment.”
He rushed down only to find... nobody.
“What? Hey, Loce?”
“Yes?” Her voice echoed from the kitchen. He peered inside.
“Loce, you're cooking?” Even without looking at him, Loce could hear the surprise in his voice. Inwardly, she smiled and continued stirring a pot of soup.
“I thought you would like to have dinner after your walk.”
“Where did you learn to cook?”
Loce pointed to a side. Edelus stared, aware that he was close to having his jaw drop agape. A laptop, his laptop, was open and the web browser was open to a recipe site.
“But.. I.. How did you figure out my password?”
“You put my name and Triel's together.” Loce shrugged. Her face was as blank as ever, but Edelus knew that she was laughing inside.
His face started growing hot. “Yeah, whatever, anyway, is that dinner?”
“Yes. I cooked enough for four just in case your sister wants some. Will she be coming back for dinner?”
“Cassandr- Oh shit!”
As if thinking about her summoned her, the doorbell rang loud and clear. He ran and opened the door.
“H-Hi, Cass.”
“Hi, bro! Why're you so red-faced?”
“Just.. Just a little out of breath.”
“Aw, you don't have to be so flustered at seeing me. Or is it my clothes again?”
“No! It's something else. I, uh, I-”
“Never mind, big brother. You don't have to explain that, I understand.” She winked at him and walked in. Edelus gulped worriedly, wondering what he was going to say to his sister.
Cassandra sniffed the air and grinned. “Since when did you cook, brother? It smells great!”
Edelus held his breath and looked away as Cassandra walked into the kitchen.
“Edelus! Who is she?” Cassandra nearly shrieked. “Why are you wearing my clothes?”
A loud gasp was heard and then Loce ran out.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” Loce ran up the stairs and Edelus felt somewhat gratified to finally see an expression on her face: panic.
Edelus quickly entered the kitchen and held Cassandra by her shoulders. “Cass, it's not what you think it is.”
“You've got a girlfriend!”
“No, I just said, it's not what you think it is.”
“You betrayed me!”
“Cass, calm down. It's a long story.”
“How do you want me to calm down?” She was close to tears and Edelus felt as if he was torn up on the inside.
He hugged her, patting her back. “Cass. She is not my girlfriend. She isn't human. You've seen her before.”
Cassandra didn't reply for a few seconds, her chest heaving with rampant emotions. “What do you mean, she isn't human?”
“Loce,” He paused, unsure of whether he ought to be blunt or not. “Loce is my violin.”
Cassandra pulled back and regarded him with confusion. “Your.. violin?”
“Yes. You know, the black and gold violin you said was so beautiful?”
“I don't understand, what do you mean? The violin is hers?”
“No. She is the violin.”
“I still don't get you.”
“I am the violin.” Loce had changed back into her band uniform again and she stood on the stairs, holding her true self in her hands.
“How did you change so fast? I don't get what either of you are saying!”
Edelus stepped past Cassandra and walked to Loce. “Watch, sister.”
He took hold of the violin and Loce nodded as she disappeared into the ebony instrument.
“What the- What just happened?”

Edelus raised up the violin and bow. “This is her, Cass. Magic. It really exists.”
“Oh. My. God. You have got to be kidding me.”
“Does this look like a joke?”
“Magic exists. Magic exists. Magic exists. Why did you never tell me?” Cassandra exclaimed. “How long have you had her?”
“I.. It just never seemed to crop up, Cass. I haven't had her for that long either. She came to me about.. Let me think.. A few weeks ago?”
“A few weeks is a really long time!” Cassandra caught sight of Zephyra at the top of the stairs listening to their conversation. “Now who's that, Ed? Don't tell me she's not human either.”
“Ah, Zephyra, I think you can come down now. Sorry for making you wait so long.” Edelus glanced away for a moment, embarrassed. “And she's human, Cass.”
“So you do have a girlfriend!” Cassandra erupted.
“No, no, no, I only met her today!”
“Only the first day and you invited her over?”
“That's because she's the first person I've ever met to know that magic exists! Don't make assumptions, Cass!”
“Oh, okay. Sorry, big bro.” She smiled and waved at Zephyra. “Hello. I'm Edelus' younger stepsister, Cassandra Weissar.”
Tilting her head, she stepped closer to shake her hand. “Hello. I'm Zephyra Eurus. Pleased to meet you.”
“That's a nice name. Make yourself at home.”
Loce materialised back into being and apologised to Cassandra. “I'm sorry about wearing your clothes.”
“Nah, it's alright. Besides, you looked pretty good in it. You know he likes it too, huh?”
Loce nodded and Edelus poked her. “Hey, enough already. And don't you have soup to tend to?”
“Edelus! You made your violin cook for you?”
“Oh, no, Zephyra and I just got back when I found her cooking.”
“I cleaned up the whole house as well!” Loce added, as she went to finish cooking.
“Heh, no wonder you wore that.” Cassandra smirked. “You're cooking dinner for all of us?”
“Yes.”
“Wait, since you're a violin, do you need to eat?”
“Even a violin has to eat. It takes energy to maintain this body.”
“Oh. It's a good thing Dad's going to be late tonight.”
“Yeah.”
Cassandra went up to her room, leaving Zephyra and Edelus in the living room.
“Your sister's really nice.”
“Yeah. I'm glad I've got her.”
“What can you do, though? You didn't tell me.”
“Me? I don't know, to be honest. I don't think I've got anything even vaguely magical.”
“Come on, there's bound to be something you have. Otherwise, you wouldn't have attracted that succubus girl or Loce, would you?”
Edelus didn't say anything, not liking her reminder of Triel.
“Come to think of it, I think that might be it. Even though she's been draining your life almost constantly, and according to you, for how many years?”
“I'm nineteen.”
“For at least fifteen years, and yet you seem to be in the pink of health. Perhaps that's what's special about you. Your life force is.. Uh, you have a lot of life energy?”
“I don't know.” Edelus took a small plastic watering pot and started to tend to the plants.
“Hey, that might be it. Just look! I could sense something seeping out from you just now outside, but now it's practically gushing. Look at the plants!” She pointed excitably.
Edelus stopped what he was doing and looked. The plants did look that much brighter, more vibrant and greener. The stems seemed thicker and straighter, even one of the plants that had appeared as if it were withering had lost its sickly yellow dried hue. He could see that they were curling up, moving and growing towards his hand.
“Huh. You're right.”
“But the changes in you, they're really odd. I don't think it's because you have a lot of it. I think it just restores itself faster than you lose it, even when she drained it away. Either that, or your body is constantly creating more and more and so the excess overflows and spills out. Wow.”
“Wait.” Edelus looked up sharply. “You mean that even when Triel was around me, I still had excess amounts of life force?”
“Uh, yeah, I think so.”
Edelus closed his eyes. “Oh God. It didn't even hurt me and she was just trying to live and I accused her of hurting me... I have to get her back.”
“Uh, actually, that isn't really going to be hard.”
“Why?”
“I can still see your bond. While I can't feel anything moving along it, I can probably still figure out where she is by following the link.”
“Really? Take me to her now, please!”
“Okay. No guarantees though.”
“Hold on. Loce! I'm going to find Triel with Zephyra! If Cassandra asks, just explain to her, okay?”
“Okay.” Loce came out, wiping her hands on a towel. “But don't come back too late, or your dinner will be cold.”
“Thanks, Loce. I really appreciate that.”

“This way, I think. It's getting really bright now, I think we're getting quite close to her.”
“I'm counting on you, Zephyra, I can't see anything at all.”
They found her by a tree, lying limply against the trunk.
“Triel! Triel, wake up, are you alright?” Edelus rushed to her side. Her pallor was far paler than it should have been and her crimson tresses had lost part of its former luster, appearing faded and dull. Her body felt cold, even to his human hands. It completely shocked him, how much she had changed within only a few hours. He shook her lightly.
She opened her eyes weakly. “Master... I'm sorry.. I love you...”
He kissed her deeply. “Take as much as you need, Triel. Take as much as you want.” He rejoined their lips.
As they remained entwined around each other, she slowly grew stronger. She started to return his kiss with more vigor and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Abruptly, Edelus' knees buckled and he ended the kiss. He looked at her face, searching for signs of recovery concernedly. Her skin had regained its usual rosy blush, her hair its scarlet hue and her eyes were as lively as ever. But there was still guilt in her eyes and she started to voice it out.
“Master.. I'm sorry for hurti-”
“Hush, Triel. I should have heard the whole story. It wouldn't have hurt me, would it?”
“N-No, Master.”
“You just want to get back to me, so much that you're willing to give yourself imagined blame that you know is just my misunderstanding just to come back to me. I should never have treated you that way. I should never have made you cry.”
“No, Master, it's alright. I don't mind. As long as I can be with you.”
“Not just for my life, I hope?” Edelus asked playfully, nipping her ear.
“Not for your life, but for you. I want you, Master. I love you.”
“And I you. Now, Triel, tell me about this life siphoning effect.”
She nodded slowly, afraid that he would send her away again if her explanation was not to his liking.
“It's like this, Master. I need life energy to live. And... Your life energy is..”
“Is what? Don't worry, Triel, I just want to know.” He reassured her, seeming to realise her doubts and worries.
“Let's just say that it's of a high quality. Like really good. It's.. nourishing.” She cringed as if expecting him to shout at her. When he didn't, she continued cautiously. “Also, your life energy... doesn't run out. Like, people usually have a certain amount of life energy in them at any time. It's constantly being used, but it tends to only be replenished when they eat something. But your energy isn't just replenishing, it's filling up so fast that you're filled to your capacity. Your body, I don't know how, continues to build up the energy until your body can't contain this amount and then it just kind of spills out.” Her words come out in a rush and she stops, taking deep breaths. “You have so much, so abundant that while I can just take as much as I could ever want and still there would be more, I sometimes get so terribly afraid, Master. I'm sorry.”
“It's okay. I think I understand now. You're feeling better, right? Let's go home, Loce has dinner on the stove.”
“Loce can cook?” Triel asked, clearly surprised.
“I know how you feel. She really caught us flat-footed there. Zephyra, will you be joining us for dinner?”
“If you don't mind, sure.”

“Mmm, this is really good, Loce.”
She beamed in response to Edelus' compliment. “Thank you!” She was seated beside him and she gave him a quick hug and then drew back, face blushing furiously even though she showed no other expression save a small self-satisfied smile reminiscent of a cat.
Triel glared at Loce, while Cassandra held a semi-shocked expression and Zephyra just smiled and continued eating. When Edelus had returned with the two girls, Zephyra had utilised her power over wind to let Cassandra be able to see Triel. Triel had been impressed and the two had promised to trade pointers regarding magic.
On his other side, Triel sat without any food on her plate; she didn't need it, though she could eat if she wanted to. She reached to get more food for Edelus.
“Here, you should eat more, Master, today was eventful.”
“Thank you, Triel. I suppose I should be helping you, seeing as how I wronged you.”
“No, Master, it's what I should do. You are my master, after all.”
He kissed her on the lips and resumed eating. Zephyra could see Triel's black, pointed tail curling up in delight behind her. Zephyra turned to Cassandra with a raised eyebrow and a smile on her tilted head.
“Cassandra, is your brother... really such a playboy?”
“I.. never saw him like that, to be honest.”
Edelus coughed self-consciously at their words, trying to remind them that he was still present and could hear clearly their dialogue.
Almost immediately, both Loce and Triel fussed over him.
“Are you okay, Master?”
“Edelus, don't eat so quickly, you'll choke.”
“I'm alright, I'm alright. Sheesh, I can take care of myself.” His mouth crooked into a wry grin. “Cass, I think you ought to eat more instead.” He reached over and moved a portion of food from his own plate to hers. “Zephyra, you ain't eating a whole lot either. Do finish up everything, if you two would be so kind.”
Zephyra laughed. “Alright, good sir, I shall be your obedient servant and finish it.”
“I mean, don't force yourself if you can't. You're our guest after all.”
“I can stomach it, Edelus, don't you worry about me.”
“If you're sure. See, Cass? She's just our guest and she doesn't complain as much as you do. You could learn a thing or two from her.”
“Hey, that isn't fair, I haven't made a single complain tonight! Loce's cooking is delicious, unlike the garbage you always buy back.”
“Garbage?” He spluttered. “Please, be thankful! It tastes perfectly fine! But, yes, Loce's cooking is delicious.”
“Thank you.” Loce finished up her food. “I'll wash the dishes then.”
“No, no, you already cooked, I'll wash it.” Zephyra offered.
“Zephyra, you're our guest. It would be rude to make you wash the dishes.” Cassandra stopped her.
“No, honestly, I'm fine.” Zephyra swept her long hair out of her eyes. “I want to help.”
“We'll both wash the dishes, alright?”

“You sure you can get home from here?”
“Yes, Edelus. You've already walked me a long distance, you know.”
“Okay. If you say so.”
“Yes, I do say so.”
“Well, ah,” He cleared his throat. “Today was eventful.”
“It certainly was.” She agreed. “It's rather late now. I think I'll go over to your house tomorrow. Is that fine with you?”
“Uh, yeah, sure, I guess so.”
“Alright. Bye then.”
Cassandra took a step forward, then suddenly turned back and hugged Edelus, grinning and she gave him a deep, long kiss.
“I think I like you, Edelus.” She broke off the kiss and started running. “Good night, sleep tight!” She called back to him.
“Good night!” He waved back, grinning like an idiot.
He looked after her retreating figure, only turning to leave when he couldn't see her through the darkness anymore. He caught sight of a stormy look on Triel's face.
“Now what did I do?” Edelus sighed.
“You never look at me anymore! You barely even talk to me, ever since Loce came along. And then just now at the dinner table, you kept talking to the others and you couldn't be bothered with me! Don't you love me? You love me, right? Right? Right?” She started sobbing as her voice hit a crescendo.
“Of course I love you, Triel. I always have.” He caught her just as she nearly sunk to her knees and he hugged her tightly. “I really do, Triel.”
“Then why?” She pounded her hands against his chest ineffectually. “Why have you been ignoring me?”
He pulled her head closer so that she would cry on his shoulder. “You've always been with me. It's not fair to the others.”
“I don't care about the others.” Her muffled voice sounded thickly through his shoulder.
“Hush. You're mine, Triel. I love you.”
Triel slowly slid down from his grasp and her lips trailed down from his lips all the way towards the bottom. Edelus stood ramrod stiff as she did so, but quickly jerked away when she reached his sensitive regions.
“No, Triel, just no.” He started walking. “Come on, Triel, let's get home.”
She flapped her wings, obviously disappointed and still slightly hurt. Tail drooping, she ran and caught up with him, holding onto his arm tightly as if it were her lifeline.

“Cass, what are you doing?”
“Well, I was feeling kind of lonely and all, so I was thinking that I would just come over...” She trailed off airily as she finished dragging in a mattress.
Cassandra was standing in the middle of his dark room, the mattress on the floor with a pillow and blanket laid on it.
Edelus looked around the unlit room for a moment. Above him, head nearly touching the ceiling and slightly to the side, Loce lay in a hammock he had set up for her, peering down at Cassandra expressionlessly with a novel in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Triel was fast asleep on top of Edelus, having been drained by the events of the day.
“Eh, Cass, I already have two girls sharing a room with me.”
“Are you discriminating? You always used to share the same bed with me! I'm only asking to sleep in the same room as you.”
“We were kids back then and you were afraid of the dark. Ah well, if it makes you happy.”
She smiled warmly at him. “Thank you, big brother. Good night. I love you.”
“I love you too. Sleep tight.”
Perhaps woken up by their brief exchange, Triel stirred.
“Edelus?” She mumbled sleepily.
“Yes, sweetheart?” He stroked her hair lovingly. “It's still night. Sleep.”
“Mmm..” She mumbled something unintelligible against his chest and adjusted her position on him.
“Edelus, so she's your girlfriend?” Cassandra questioned, a bit more force in her words than one would expect from a concerned sister.
“Uh, I guess that's what you could call it.”
“You love her?” For a moment, her voice seemed to crack a little.
“Yeah.”
“Don't you love me?”
“Of course I do. Cassie, it's rather late, we ought to get some sleep. Zephyra's coming over tomorrow, remember?”
Triel yawned again and raised her head, looking at Edelus blearily. “She's coming? But, you promised Beland you'd go with him to move your stuff to the manse, didn't you?”
“Oh, right. I suppose she could come to check it out. Thanks for reminding me.” He tousled her hair affectionately.
“Manse? What manse?” Cassandra asked sharply.
“The Ashwood manse. You remember the price of the estate just kept falling and falling until it became absurdly low? Beland and I took all our savings to go buy it. It was so cheap that we still have left-over money. I told you I was gonna move out soon, right?”
“You're moving out when?” She asked quietly, frowning.
“I don't know. Perhaps the day after, or a few days later. Certainly within this week though.”
“Have you talked to Dad about this?”
“No. I will tomorrow morning, though.”
“What if he says no?”
“I don't care. I'm old enough to make my own decisions.”
Cassandra was silent for a moment, then she nodded.
“I'm going with you.”
“No.” Edelus didn't even have to think before he replied.
“I don't care what you say either. I'm staying with you.”
“But how will you-”
“There's no problem. The manse is close to school, right? There's not much else for me to settle.”
“But what about money?”
“Dad's contract things, the one that gives Dad money every month-”
“Bonds.” He corrected.
“-yeah, bonds, sure. Anyway, he told me quite a few were put to our names, so we'll get the money.”
“But still..” Edelus tried to protest weakly.
“No 'buts', bro. I'm staying with you, whether you like it or not.”
“I do like it...” He murmured softly, but Cassandra still heard him and smiled.
“I'm glad you feel that way.”
“You heard me?” His face flushed, though it could not be seen in the darkness of the night. “Never mind, sleep. I'm tired too.”
Loce observed their conversation silently and continued reading the novel once they finished talking.

They were seated at the dining table, munching on a breakfast of toast.
“Dad?” Edelus asked hesitantly. Behind him, Triel patted his shoulder encouragingly.
“Hm?” His father continued reading the newspaper and paid him no heed.
“I'm going to move out.”
The words caught his attention and Edelus' father set down the paper.
“What do you mean, you're going to move out?”
“I've got a house.”
“Since when did you- How much was it- Why didn't you tell me?”
“Not too long ago. Beland and I split the cost. You remember the Ashwood manse that was selling at a few thousand? I used my savings, Dad. I still have a fair bit left, that's how cheap it was.”
“The manse? You sure have taste.. So you're going to leave your sister here alone in the house?”
Edelus cleared his throat nervously. “Well, uh-”
“I'm going with him.” Cassandra spoke up.
“What? Young lady, do you have any-”
“There isn't any problem. I've got it all thought out. While Ed hasn't gotten a job yet, we can still survive on the money that your bonds are supplying. My school isn't all that far from the manse. Clothes and all that, I'll just move them over. Food is covered with the money.” She told him defiantly.
“Edelus Weissar, did you ask your sister to do this?”

“No, Dad, I want to live with him.” Cassandra defended him.
His father sighed and rubbed his face. “You're old enough to make decisions for yourself, Edelus. I trust that you will take care of her. If there's anything wrong, this house will always be here for you.”
“Yes, Dad. Thank you.” Edelus nodded gratefully. “I'm bringing my things over today.”
“What about furnishing and all?”
“It's covered, Dad. The previous owner really thought it was haunted and refused to touch any of the furniture.”
“That's good for you. If it really is haunted, you can come back here.”
“I'll try to visit, Dad.”
They continued eating in silence. After they finished eating and cleared up, their father opened the door and was about to leave for work as he exclaimed in surprise. Edelus and Cassandra rushed to the front door to see Zephyra standing there.
“Hello, uncle.” She smiled.
Their father looked back at Edelus, who quickly nodded. “She's a friend, Dad.”
“Okay. I trust you three won't mess up the house.”
“No, Dad.”
He excused himself and left for work, leaving the siblings, Triel and Zephyra standing in the doorway awkwardly.
“Uh, good morning, Zephyra. A little early, aren't you?”
“Well, I missed you.” She grinned, teeth flashing. “I couldn't stand another moment alone at home, so I came early.”
“Uh, okay. Right, I forgot to tell you, I'm going to move out of this house.”
“That's cool. Where will you be staying then?”
“The Ashwood manse.” Edelus named an address.
“Isn't that supposed to be haunted?”
“Yeah, but that's why it was selling so cheaply. I'm bringing all my stuff over. So, uh, you wanna come?”
“Sure, I always wanted to check out whether it really was haunted or not. I'll give you a hand. You're heading over now?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Edelus excused himself to call Beland.
After a few rings, Beland picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Bel, I'm going to head over to the manse now.”
“Oh, alright. You bringing your violin babe?”
“I'm bringing everything.”
“I'll meet you there.”
“Got it. Oh, and Cass's staying with us.”
“What? Never mind, I don't really mind. Bye.”

It took them some time to gather all of Cassandra's belongings, Edelus' already packed. When they finally reached the manse, the sun had risen high in the sky and the heat was beating down on them fiercely. At the gates, Beland was there with some of his own belongings.
“There you are. Hello, Loce, hello, Cassandra. And you would be?”
“Zephyra Eurus. Pleased to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine. Anyway, let's get out of this blasted heat.”
The manse was imposing with only two stories. The colour scheme was nothing extravagant, simple mahogany wood, windows of an ashen tone and a burnished bronze to the pillars. However, the atmosphere was extremely gloomy as they entered, and the sudden drop in temperature could not have been merely due to escaping from the Sun's rays. The floor was white marble and the entrant room was large. It seemed as if the entire front half of the manse was a foyer for people to enter. Elegant staircases on both sides led to the second floor. There were couches and tables about, gathering dust from disuse.
“Wow. It's amazing.” Cassandra breathed.
“It'll look even better once we've cleaned it up.” Beland retorted. “Put the bags there, let's get cracking.”
“Wait a moment, did anyone hear that?” Edelus stopped them.
“Hear what?”
“It's stopped now. Sounded like someone, a girl I think, crying.”
“A-are you sure?” Cassandra looked suitably spooked.
“Yeah. Maybe this place really is haunted.” Edelus said, with a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Can I stay by your side? Please don't leave me alone.” Cassandra grabbed his hand tightly.
“You sure you still want to stay here?”
“Yes. I want to live with you.” She reiterated firmly.
“Alright, don't fear.”
The six of them started to clear away the dust and cobwebs from the furniture and bring back the manse to its former glory. At least, that's what Beland told them they were trying to do.
As Cassandra wiped the tables with Edelus, a loud bang and a yelp sounded from the second floor.
“Zephyra? Beland? Are you two alright?” He called upwards. Loce, Zephyra and Beland had decided to clear the second floor while Triel, Edelus and Cassandra would settle the first floor.
“Yeah, we're all fine and dandy, Edel. The door just slammed and we just about jumped a foot.” Beland replied.
“Alrigh-” He stopped abruptly as Cassandra squealed and pointed at the wall. The wall had been covered with dust accumulated over quite some time and suddenly, it was as if there was an invisible hand writing on the wall, leaving trails of dust.
“Leave.. this.. house.. now..” He read as the words formed in the dust. “Zephyra! I think we've got a ghost!” Edelus spread his arms out as if to protect Cassandra from anything that might hurt her.
“Coming!” But as Zephyra came running down, the words were erased away, again as if an invisible hand wiped the wall. “What's up?”
“There was writing on the wall. But..”
“There's nothing there now. You sure you weren't imagining things?”
“Definitely. Cass saw it too.”
“I don't know, I can't see any ghost around.” She looked at him doubtfully.
“Never mind then. I'll call you if anything happens again.”
“Okay.” She slowly made her way back up.

They spent the better part of the day cleaning the manse, but they had finally accomplished it by the late afternoon. Edelus decided to take a long, hot bath after Loce did so and he entered into an ornate washroom and filled the large, jacuzzi-like bathtub.
He sighed contentedly as he submerged into the hot water, the heat relaxing his tense muscles. He closed his eyes and rested his head against the side.
“Why aren't you scared?” A feminine voice sounded right in front of him and Edelus nearly sprang out of the bathtub in fright.
“What the-” He saw, directly in his face, a translucent girl leaning forward and looking at him curiously. Seeing his reaction, she smiled and pulled back, settling into the water beside him.
“Ah, now you're scared. I never did like to go for the cheap scares like this.”
Edelus' first reaction had been shock, but now he started to get embarrassed.
“I'm not wearing anything, don't look, turn around!”
“You're talking to me and the first thing you can think of is privacy? Funny human.” For a moment, it seemed as if the ghost, if such she was, would heed his words. However, instead she floated through the water and leaned onto him, arms pinning his shoulders against the sides of the tub. “What do you think? The writing on the wall thing was pretty cool, wasn't it?”
He started to blush furiously at such close contact and he tried to push her away but found that his hands went right through her, though the water which she occupied was distinctly colder.
“You can't touch me unless I want you to.” The girl frowned. “So, why are you in my house? Why were you cleaning it up?”
“I-I bought it over and I'm going to stay here, could you just turn aroun-”
“You're going to stay here? This should be fun. I haven't talked to anyone for so long. It gets so, very, lonely around here.” Her voice lowered to a coo as she talked. She laughed when she noticed his scarlet face and she drew back to the other side of the tub. “Such a funny reaction. Are poltergeists really that common nowadays that I'm not scary anymore?”
“N-No, I just, it's just, I, uh-”
“Your incoherency is amusing as well. Anyway, nobody paid the water bills so I haven't had hot water for so long. I just want a nice, long bath.” She immersed herself in the water up to her chin.
The water seemed to lose most of its heat, becoming lukewarm within moments of her immersion. The girl slowly nodded off as Edelus watched, her head sliding down into the water. He couldn't see her under the foamy surface of the water. Suddenly, he flinched as he felt something cold settle light against his lower abdomen.
He cleared away some of the surface soap and saw her lying on him, her ghostly short hair unaffected by the swirling water. Slowly, her arms started to clutch about his body and Edelus shivered at the abrupt change in temperature. Her expression was that of innocent sleep, comfort and rest enveloping her as she dozed without a care.
Without warning, she gave a bloodcurdling scream that seemed to echo through the whole manse endlessly. Edelus shivered as he tried to cover his ears from the horrible shriek. She started to cry and pressed herself against Edelus as if hiding from some terror.
Almost as if she had been waiting just outside the door, Loce rushed in, clad once again in the uniform of a French maid.
“Edelus? I-” She didn't continue as she took in the scene: Edelus with his arms spread wide open and a translucent girl crying against him, seeking shelter with his naked form. As Loce stood ramrod still, Cassandra popped in behind her, as well as Triel, Beland and then Zephyra.

“That's it, I'm bathing with you next time.” Triel declared possessively, arms folded.
They were seated around a table, the girl who claimed to be a poltergeist still holding on to Edelus, an arm wrapped around his neck and wiping ethereal tears from her eyes.
“You'd do something obscene with him. I'll join him to watch you.” Cassandra retorted.
“Can you two stop squabbling and get back to the point?” Zephyra told them. “Look, ghost girl, what's your name? What's going on?”
“Rena Ashwood, poltergeist. This is my home and I want all of you to get out!” She detached herself from Edelus, her bearing proud and regal.
Zephyra shook her head. “Look, you belong to a different time, Rena. In this day and age, we bought this house legally and so it now belongs to us.” Both Triel and Loce raised an eyebrow at her use of the word 'us'. “Besides, you said it yourself, you're a poltergeist. How then could you be the true Rena Ashwood?”
“I am Rena Ashwood! I am her and she is me! There is no difference!” She yelled, fists clenched tightly in anger.
“Poltergeists are spirits made, not ghosts born of a dead individual. You're not Rena Ashwood and you have no claim to this house.” Zephyra retorted, an unnatural breeze tossing her hair backwards, giving her the appearance of a fierce warrior woman. She looked almost ready to forcibly evict the girl, with her bare hands if she needed to.
Edelus was just about to tell Zephyra to knock it off, when flames erupted in the poltergeist's hands, her expression murderous.
“I am Rena Ashwood. Neither you nor anybody else has the authority to say that I am not.” She uttered quietly. “I have seen a future, and you living here will destroy this house. All of you shall leave, except for him.” Rena pointed a blazing finger towards Edelus. “He will prevent the destruction.”
“You only saw a future, not the future.” Loce replied calmly, lightning dancing about her eyes and fingers. “It is possible that this future you saw is true, but it is equally possible that the future you saw may never come to pass.”
“You speak truth.” Rena nodded, her expression softening. “But, this is a chance I will not take.”
“No way. We're either all staying here, or we're not staying here at all.”
“No!” She shrieked, causing everyone to grimace. “He must stay, he has to stay, otherwise nothing will survive, nothing will remain, nothing! But the rest of you must leave! All to dust, all to ashes!” Rena seemed like a mad prophetess in that moment, yelling at the top of her voice.
“Rena.” Edelus touched her lightly, causing her to flinch and turn, almost thrusting her flaming hands at him. “You say you saw the destruction of the manse. But if you saw it being destroyed, how do you know I will save it? I don't doubt you, but your words are contradicting.”
“I.. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know..” The flames extinguished themselves as she started to sob again. “I don't know, but I know that you have to stay.” Rena stared at him with glistening, manic, wild eyes.
“If I stay, then the rest of them will stay with me. Either I leave or we all stay, Rena.” He told her gently.
“I..” Rena was torn between the need for Edelus to remain and the need to chase out the others. “I need you to stay.”
“Then they will stay as well.”
She nodded and took a deep, shuddering breath. “I'm sorry. I'm.. not usually like that. I simply cannot bear the idea of my home being.. destroyed.” She smoothened her already immaculate hair and spoke in a more controlled voice. “I am Rena Ashwood, pleased to meet you.”
They introduced themselves in turn.
“What now?” Cassandra asked.
“What now? It's rather late, so I propose that we get dinner and divvy up the rooms. I can only assume that the manse- damn, I can't get used to calling it our home- doesn't have any food, yes?” Beland asked.
“No food. What, I don't eat. Why would I have food in the house? Where would I get it anyway?” Rena retorted.
“Hey, chillax, I'm just asking. No need to be so serious. I'll go buy food. Zeph, are you having dinner with us?”
“Sure, I don't mind.”
“Right, does this place have a telephone? If so, we'll order in.”
“It does, Bel, don't you remember? We did buy a land line. At least, we restored the existing land line, if you want to be technical about it.”
“Good point. Is everyone fine with Chinese food?”
The others gave sounds of agreement and Beland left them to call the restaurant. Edelus cleared his throat.
“So, we need to settle the rooms. Beland already decided that he's gonna take the room with the view of the road. As for me, I think I'll take the one with the tree just out of the window. Triel, you're obviously sleeping with me-”
“I'd accept no less, Master.”
“-Cass, you're going to sleep where?” He continued as if he hadn't heard her remark.
“Your room. I don't want to sleep alone.”
“But this mansion is ours, it's haunted, yes, but said spirit haunting said mansion is right here. We're all friends now.”
“It's just creepy, I'd have nightmares. Just let me sleep in your room.”
“Fine.” Edelus sighed. “Loce, you?”
“I don't mind a hammock above you, as before.”
“What? But, this manse has so many rooms, why don't you people just sleep in your own rooms?”
Loce shrugged. “I'm a violin. You've never heard of a violin that has his or her own room.”
“You're the first violin I've ever heard of who talks.” Edelus muttered. “Look, my room's gonna be kinda crowded. Triel, Cass, you and me. That makes four of us-”
“Five, actually.” Zephyra interrupted.
“What do you mean? Triel, Cassandra, Loce, me, that's only four.” Edelus asked, utterly confused.
“Haven't you realised, Edelus? I'm gonna stay with-”
“Woah, woah, woah, slow down, wait, stop, no.” He raised a hand to prevent her from speaking any further. “You? Stay with me? This is, what, our second day knowing each other and you're gonna move in with me? Stuff like that only ever happens in books or something! Besides, what would your parents say?”
“You're right. It's only our second day knowing each other. I guess that's why you don't know.” She sighed. “My parents disowned me. They called me a freak. They called me a trouble-maker. You see, when I used magic to severely hurt a couple of men- it was in self-defense, mind you, they were going to molest me- the police thought that I was some kind of psycho woman and arrested me. Basically, my parents bailed me out and severed all ties with me. I don't have a house to live in. Why else do you think I didn't let you walk me home all the way? I was staying over at a friend's house.” Zephyra smiled sadly, head tilting.
“Oh my God.. Zephyra.. I'm so sorry, I didn't know..” He embraced her tightly, wanting to comfort her.
“It's fine. I got over it.” She exhaled. “It sure is nice to know that someone cares about me, though.”
“So, you're staying over? Your clothes and all?”
“Oh yeah, I guess I'll get them from my friend tomorrow. I'll just wear this to sleep.”
“I could lend you clothes.” Cassandra offered.
“Thank you. I really appreciate it. You only have my word to go on and we've only known each other for two days, but you still trust me. Thank you.”
“All's good, Zephyra. All is good. You can stay, I suppose.”
“I..” Tears of gratitude started to well up in her grey eyes. “I can't thank you enough.”
“You can thank me by not crying, Zephyra. It's really okay.”
She nodded, sniffing and wiping her eyes. “Thank you.”
“Well, back to the point, whatever it is, you are not going to sleep in my room. There are too many people sleeping in my room and it's not because I hate you or anything, but not my room. Not my room.”
“Alright, I guess I'll take the room beside yours then. Anything I need to take note of, landlord?” She asked him jokingly.
Edelus frowned, realising something else. “About that.. How have you been getting money for food and all?”
“Street magic. It's a good thing you live this side of the city.” Zephyra looked away, embarrassed. “I just do some, you know, sleight-of-hand tricks.”
“That can't have earned much.”
“No, I mean, sleight-of-hand tricks. You know what I mean?”
“Huh?”
She sighed impatiently. “Come on, Edelus, you're not that dense, are you?”
Triel fairly bristled at her remark and though Loce's expression remained the same, ominously black sparks crackled in greater intensity as she flexed her fingers.
“I'm a little slow, if you'll pardon me. What do you mean?”
“Sleight-of-hand. Lifting, alright? I've been stealing to support myself.”
“Stealing?” Edelus stared at her. “But.. You..”
“I? What?”
“You just don't seem like that sort of person.” Edelus stated, reevaluating his opinion of her.
“You steal?” Beland was standing behind her and Zephyra nearly jumped a foot when he spoke.
“Uh, yes.”
“You are not staying here.”
“What? Beland, don't be an arse.” Edelus told him.
“No. What if she steals-”
“I wouldn't steal from you two! Edelus, you've treated me very well so far and it's only right that I repay the favour.”
“Thieves can say whatever they want.” Beland stated darkly, taking a hostile stance.
“Beland!” Edelus snapped sharply. “She wouldn't steal from us!”
“And how can you be sure of that? Old habits die hard. You mean well, Ed, but you're just too naïve.”
“I'm too naïve? What, and you're so much more matured and experienced than me?”
“You just don't seem to realise, people can lie.”
“She.. She isn't.. lying.” Triel forced out jerkily, drawing their attention. “I don't like her, but.. she wouldn't steal from you. I can sense the.. truth in her words.”
“You really dislike me, don't you? Why is that so, I wonder?” Zephyra asked, not at all disagreeable with Triel's dislike.
“You still have to ask?” Triel's voice rose in volume. “You made Master hate me! You hurt him, you made him hurt m-”
“Enough! Triel, I don't want to hear anymore about this! What's done is done, I still love you!” Anger flitted across Edelus' face for a moment, then dispersed into a more serious expression. “Look, Beland, I gurantee, if anything goes missing, you can hold it against me.”
Beland snorted and crossed his arms, shaking his head. “Noble, but stupid. If anything goes missing, I'm not going to blame you, Ed, that would just be plain idiocy. No, siree, if anything goes missing, I promise to make that person pay.”
“Your threats aren't needed, nothing will go missing unless we lose 'em.”
“Hmph. I sure hope so. I ordered the food, it'll be here in half an hour.”
Edelus smiled at Beland's not-so-subtle change of subject. Beland shrugged and left to bathe. Edelus put an arm around Triel, pecking her cheek lightly.
“Thank you.”
“I did it for you, Master.” Triel began to squirm uncomfortably. “Master, I-”
“Yeah, I can feel it.” He started to pull his arm from her, her body temperature increasing dramatically. Suddenly, she grabbed him and hugged him tightly, her hips bucking involuntarily against his thigh.
“Help me.. Help me, Master..” Triel moaned, her body flushing and burning with a rush of blood.
“Cassandra, Zephyra, I'm sorry, we need a little privacy.” Edelus apologised as he carried Triel up to their room. He started to lay her down on his bed as before, but this time, Triel resisted.
“No.. Master.. I don't want to.. I want you, Master.. You.. Please..” Her pleas were interspersed with desperate moans as she sought to pleasure herself with his body.
“Triel.” Edelus commanded sternly. “Lie. Down.”
“If I disobey, Master, will you punish me?” Triel panted, voice intensely hopeful.
“Get down!” He roughly grabbed her by her shoulders and set her on the bed.
Triel shuddered in delight. “I love it when you're so forceful.” She tried to reach to Edelus, but he smacked her hand away.
“I said no! Damn it, Triel, I said stop!” He yelled at her. She cringed uncertainly from him, her expression alternating between fear and delight. He breathed heavily, mixed emotions of anger and guilt rising within his chest.
“I'm sorry, Master.” Triel coughed a little. “I.. I couldn't control it.”
“Is it over now?” He asked curtly.
“Yes, Master. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Forgive me, Master.” She dropped to her knees in a gesture of obeisance.
“Then what? I'll forgive you, then this will just happen again and again. I'm tired, Triel. I don't want to talk about this.”
He left the room and sat on the opulent staircase, hand to his head. He exhaled wearily and closed his eyes.
“Hello.” A voice drifted from in front of him and footsteps tapped lightly up towards him.
Without opening his eyes, he replied. “Can't I have some peace?”
“I'm sorry.” Loce moved to sit down beside him on the steps. She observed him for a minute or so before speaking again. “You're tired.”
“Yes.”
“You're sick, aren't you?”
“I am, am I?” Edelus replied thoughtlessly, not really heeding her words.
She lifted a hand to his forehead and nodded. “Feverish. How do I treat fevers?”
“Fevers? Sponge the person down, I guess.” He answered, still not recognising the implications of her words.
“I'll get a sponge.” Loce stood and started to headed to the kitchen.
“I don't feel right.” He commented unsteadily. Then pain lanced through his head sharply and he saw, a blast of images, then he fell limply.

What's happening! Loce's thoughts all but screamed in her mind as she watched him slump to his side, apparently unconscious.
“Edelus?” She barely managed to keep her voice steady. When he did not respond, her composure nearly broke, but she forced her expression to remain calm. She put her violin-self onto him, then lifted him up, struggling slightly, though her manipulation of the atmospheric static helped to support a part of his weight. Loce headed back to where the other two were still sitted, stopping at the door. Unable to hold down the handle and push open the door at the same time, she summoned up sparks of brilliant blue lightning, crawling with agonising slowness towards the handle, dragging it down bit by bit. The moment she heard the click of the door catch, she almost threw herself at the door, pushing it open with the combined weight of herself and Edelus.
“Zephyra, Cassandra, help.” Why isn't he waking up! “He just fainted.”
Loce didn't hear them, all she knew was that the two of them were helping her to lay him down, Zephyra calling up a cooling breeze and Cassandra feeling his forehead. Only after watching her semi-dazedly for a few seconds, did Loce realise what Cassandra was saying.
“-not the first time, he's dehydrated again. I told him to drink water!” Cassandra ran to get a cup of water.
Loce looked closer at Edelus and saw that Cassandra was right. His lips were dry and chapped, his skin pale and clammy. He must have been feeling dizzy throughout the whole day. Cassandra returned within moments and Loce helped her to get the life-giving liquid into his body.
In the midst of feeding him the water, he suddenly choked and coughed, eyes opening.
“Edelus, are you alright?” What happened to him? Loce looked at him, refusing to let a single shred of her wild emotions surface.
“I..” His eyes darted around rapidly, as if searching for an unseen foe. “I don't.. Where's.. I was on the stairs, wasn't I?” He asked cautiously.
“Yes. I carried you here.” Loce affirmed. “You just suddenly fainted.”
Before she could say more, Cassandra cut in. “I told you to drink more water! You got dehydrated again, right? I told you befor-”
“Cassandra! Stop!” He snapped, a hand going to his forehead. “I wasn't dehydrated, damn it. It's something else.” He looked up. “Where's Triel?”
“I don't know, you brought her up, didn't you?”
“Triel!” He shouted towards the hall abruptly, momentarily shocking them.
Immediately, she floated from behind the door, wing beats holding her afloat.
“Master.” She responded quietly as she kneeled down in front of him.
“Did you see it too? Did you feel anything from that moment?” He asked her urgently.
She hesitated, then nodded. “You saw. And I saw, by our bond.”
“You know something?”
“I knew this day would come. I just didn't know if you were ready yet.”
“Ready? What for?”
Triel started slowly, uncertainly. “There are.. three. Three people. Each have something special about them. Different from regular people. Different from the psychic people. Different from the magical folk. Just.. different. They hold the key to everything.”
“What do you mean, everything?”
“Life. Death. Space. Time. Everything. When they come together, the power encased within is unlocked. It's.. a primal thing. It's the birthing force of the universe. This power is immense.”
“Why is there this power encased within three people?” Edelus demanded. Loce could only stare on and listen to Triel's revelations.
“This.. creation force expended much of itself in the making of the universe. I don't know if it's sentient or anything, but then at the end of all it made, it broke apart. It splintered. It simply didn't have enough energy to hold itself together. It broke into three parts. The three parts were to remain dormant and recover, then plant itself within the three people to reform.”
“And then what? What's the point of it?”
“This power is so strong, such that if it ever reforms together as one, it would destroy the universe.”
“So you're saying that the end of the world is locked in three people.”
“Something like that, yes.” Triel bit her lip nervously. “The thing is, you're one of the three.”
“Now you're just kidding me.”
“No, Master.”
Edelus just looked at her. He just shook his head and exhaled.
“Let's just leave that aside. I don't want to think about it. I only need to know, what the hell was that that we saw?”
He had seen images, rushing images. A woman, lips, an eye, Earth cracking asunder, a collapsing sun, eternal dark, brilliant light reborn, a new Earth. There were sounds too, unintelligible whispers, a calling, endless screams and lastly, 'Come'.
Triel took a moment to look around; Zephyra had taken a seat, Cassandra stood with her arms folded, Edelus looking searchingly into her own eyes.
“I don't know. I think she might be one of the three. But, Master, if she is, don't trust her. The other things in the vision, I think she wants to release the dormant energy and destroy the universe.” Triel looked at Edelus wide-eyed. “What I'm sure of is that she sent the vision. She wants you to meet with her. She wants to end everything.”
Edelus stood up and sighed. “I don't know what to think, Triel. But I'm tired now and all I want to do is sleep. I'm sorry for fainting, Zeph, Cass. But let's get some sleep now.”
“Hm, Edelus, dinner's still coming, you know.” Zephyra reminded him.
“I'm too tired to eat. I'll go sleep first then. Good night.”
He walked back to his room, dropping onto his bed, falling asleep as he reached a hand towards the open window. Triel stood vigil over him, her wings flapping to accentuate the natural breeze.

The woman stood in front of him amidst a featureless plain of endless beige. Her face held a smile of familiarity and warmth, her features soft and feminine. She turned to look at the side, where another man stood. That man was looking at her too, expression unreadable. It seemed to Edelus that the man had a slight hazy outline, as if there was another silhouette of himself superimposed upon him, as if two of him were standing on the same spot. The woman was clad in a gossamer dress of green, while the man wore an intimidating black outfit that reminded Edelus of what bikers wore, though slightly toned down.
Then Edelus' attention went back to the lady as she spoke.
“Come. We are one.”
Her voice was gentle, yet contained a hint of something bitter and choking within.
Then the scene changed, becoming a location that Edelus recognised to be within the very city where he lived. The man looked at Edelus with something like a slight question in his face. Then realisation dawned on his face, as if recognising Edelus. Abruptly, the hazy outline vanished from the man as a translucent image of the man detached from him and floated towards Edelus.
“Tomorrow. Stay where you are.” A gravelly voice muttered in his ear. Then the woman beckoned to both of them, and Edelus woke up.
He knew he had woken up, but for a moment, he wondered if he hadn't opened his eyes yet, for he couldn't see anything. His surroundings were pitch-black and Edelus raised a hand forward to bump into something thick and rough. He felt around himself. He was encased in something rough.. bark? Confusion arose in him and he pushed at the thick wood. Surprisingly, easily, the wood gave way, withdrawing from him with the pressure he applied on it. Light shined through in brilliant rays, momentarily blinding him. His eyes adjusted quickly and he was confronted with the strangest sight yet.
From the window he had left open the night before, plants had grown in. Vines, creepers and other climbing plants had spread into his room, edging towards him. The large ash tree by his window had extended an arm in, the source of the bark blanket that had enclosed him. Edelus could barely recognise his room, overrun as it was by the fauna of the garden. All of the plants seemed to be growing in his general direction and Edelus felt as if he had stepped forward into a future where humanity was long gone and plants grew unchecked over the remnants.
A muffled sound came from above him and Edelus looked up to see Loce lift up a clump of vines dangling from the ceiling onto her face. Her hammock was relatively clear of plants, save the vines that hung from the ceiling.
“Edelus? What's all this?” She asked, reactionless as ever.
“I.. have no idea.”
“Okay.” She rolled off the hammock and landed lightly on his bed. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah..” He replied distractedly, still taking in the mess that was his room. “Where's Triel?”
“I'm here.” Her voice came from the floor. Edelus peered over the edge of his bed, seeing a thick layer of some form of vegetation covering the floor. He spotted flashes of red under the deep, vibrant green and he pulled aside the green growth to reveal a cross-looking Triel.
“Uh, Triel, how did you get there?”
“Master, this is what I was afraid of.” She rolled her eyes in annoyance. “This is precisely what happens when firstly, I don't drain enough from you, and secondly, when you sleep so riskily, when the window's open and your room's just above the garden.” She sat up, plucking the leaves from her hair.
“Oh. This is because of that, is it?” Edelus rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Where's Cass?”
“She freaked out when she saw this and she decided to sleep in the opposite room.” Loce replied.
“So that means she and Zephyra-”
“Are sharing a room. Yes. She went for school earlier too.”
“Huh.”
He went to the bathroom to wash up and properly wake himself up. When he reached the dining table, he was surprised to see Loce laying out dishes.
“What's gotten into you? You really love cooking that much?”
She looked up into his eyes, her twin golden orbs gently observing him. She shrugged and replied, before going back into the kitchen.
“I don't mind.”
“If you say so.” Edelus replied dubiously. “Triel, I dreamt last night.” Then he told her everything he saw.
“He must be the third!” Triel spoke excitedly. “I think he's coming to find you, Maste-”
Just then, a heavy rapping sounded on the door. Glancing at Triel, Edelus ran forward and opened the door quickly.
The man he had seen in his dream, the third, was standing there. Up close, Edelus realised that he was but a youth as well, about his own age. But there was a hardness about him, something in his demeanor that told Edelus that he had gone through terrible things. His eyes were crimson and piercing; though his eyes looked harsh, he seemed as if he could also be gentle and kind.
“You.” Edelus said, barely containing his nervous anticipation.
“Me.” His voice was as rough as it had been in the dream, if dream it truly was. “Atai Bernstein. Quickly, we don't have much time. The Hartmann bitch draws close.”
“Wait, I don't get it, what's going on?”
Atai frowned impatiently. “My name is Atai Bernstein. You are?”
“Edelus Weissar.”
“Edelus. Last night you dreamed and saw me. The other person in the dream, that woman, she's Natalay Hartmann. She wants to unleash the power held within us three and bring every damn thing in existence to ruin.” Atai spat. “I assume that she,” He nodded at Triel. “That she has told you everything? She is your other half, right?”
Edelus shook his head slowly. “I don't understand what you mean by 'other half'. And I do not know if she has told me everything.”
“Master, there's one more thing I wanted to say, but you were too tired.”
“Yeah?”
“Each of the three have a special aspect, something they control. All creatures within their particular domain of power heed them. And there is one of these beings who advise them and guide them. I'm yours.” She hugged him tightly.
Atai nodded. “That's basically it. If you need to know, my aspect is of the spirit. Quickly now, we have to keep moving, the Hartmann bitch is coming.”
“No.” Edelus stood firmly, that single utterance causing Atai to freeze and turn.
“What did you say?”
“I said no. I am not leaving. This house is mine. I don't even know you. I-”
“Oh, you know me. Look deep into my eyes, Edelus Weissar. Look deep and recognise that what lies in me lies in you. We are two parts of the whole. You recognise me.”
“I...” Edelus had no reply as he gazed into Atai's blood-red irises. Atai was right. There was something familiar within, a spark of something that he knew. “Look, whatever it is, I'm not going to move. I just bought this house, alright? I'm staying here and damn if I'm going to move for one woman I haven't even met.”
Atai's eyes flashed with anger. “You're willing to put the world at stake just to stay in a house? Granted, you've got taste, but you want to trade the world for a few moments of luxury?”
“Not for luxury. I just.. Look, if it's that important to you, why don't we just stop her from coming in?”
“Ward this building?” Atai asked, slightly taken aback. He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Damn, I've been running for too long. You're right. This building is defensible.”
“Defensible? You sound like you're expecting a siege.”
“In a way.”
Atai stepped back out of the large doors and walked to the front of the garden, Edelus following out of curiosity. The black-clad man moved his hands in intricate mystical passes, all the while murmuring arcane syllables.
“He's casting wards.” Triel muttered into Edelus' ear. “I can identify most of them. Protection, secrecy, strengthening of the foundations, among others. He's good. Wait, why did he throw up a ward to hide our minds?”
“Astute of you.” Atai remarked as he finished the last ward. “That's the most crucial thing. She mustn't see our minds. By the way, you have a ghost somewhere around here, don't you?”
Rena chose that moment to float from the house behind Edelus, leaning onto him. He shivered and jerked at the sudden change in temperature.
Atai looked at her, a smile forming on his rugged visage. “Come, little poltergeist.”
Rena pulled away from Edelus and almost dazedly drifted towards Atai.
“I.. heed your call.” She spoke as if reciting a ritual.
Atai held Rena's shoulders and looked her up and down. “Cute. What's your name, little one?”
“Rena Ashwood.”
“I see. Normally, I would tell you to be at peace, but it's evident that you have been here for quite some time and we will have need of you when she comes. Stay by my side, Rena.”
“Yes.”
“And now, Weissar, you got any food? I've been riding all night and I haven't got a single bite yet. I parked my beauty right there.” He jerked a thumb in the direction of his motorcycle.

Beland glared at Atai over the table and Atai returned the look with a smirk of condescension.
“You sure have an interesting habit of inviting people over, Edelus.” Beland said irritably. “I don't want to have to remind you that this is our house, not yours alone.”
“Look, Bel, it's alright.”
Edelus hadn't told Beland anything about what the three was and what had happened, only that Atai was someone who had to stay for some time.
“I would much prefer it if you told me what was going on, instead of making decisions and expecting me to follow them like some dog!” Beland slammed down his spoon and angrily stomped out of the house.
“He's leaving?” Atai feigned an expression of surprise. “I wonder what the hell might have ticked that bastard off.”
“Stop it. That's my friend.”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.”
What a jerk. Edelus thought, munching on his cereal. Still, he seems experienced in these stuff.
Zephyra, sitting by his side, looked at Edelus with a questioning eye. He pointedly ignored her gaze and finished his breakfast.
“So, Triel, is it? Triel, what are you?” Atai asked.
“I'm a succubus.” She replied, adjusting her position on Edelus' lap.
“A succubus? Hells, Weissar, you're one lucky bastard.”
“Shut up.”
“And you're living with so many babes, eh?” Atai continued as if Edelus had not spoken. “Makes me wish for the quiet life sometimes.”
“Nothing goes on between Master and them!” Triel interrupted hotly.
“Heh, looks like someone's possessive. So, girl, what's your story? You're not human, that much I can see.” He turned to Loce.
“I'm a violin. Does it matter?” She replied plainly.
“When the Hartmann bitch comes, we'll need every bit of help we can get. What can you do?”
In response, lightning started to form about her head in the shape of a rough halo. From the way the lightning sparked and crackled in his direction, it was obvious that she dearly wanted to strike Atai but she held back.
“Feisty. And you? You're clearly not amazed by the violin's light show, so you must have something in you.” Zephyra was the next he questioned.
Zephyra didn't bother replying, instead a sharp gust of wind blew past and toppled his breakfast. He leapt back to avoid the spill, cursing as Edelus smirked.
Rena rose up in front of Zephyra.
“Don't you ever dare to do that again!” Flames erupted and wreathed Rena once more.
“Or what?” Zephyra stood, rising up to her challenge.
“Zephyra, don't!” Edelus held her back.
Nobody did anything for a few moments. Then Atai laughed.
“All your babes seem real fiery, Weissar. That's good. We'll need that sort of spirit when the Hartmann bitch gets here.”
“Why do you keep calling her 'the Hartmann bitch'?”
“Why? 'Cause I like it, that's why.”
“You keep talking about them-” Edelus indicated the girls “-as if they're mine. What, you had some lovers' spate with Natalay Hartmann and now you're jealous?”
Atai's face darkened. “Say that again and I will break every bone in your body, Weissar.”
“You were involved with Natalay Hartmann and then you broke up with her.”
Something incorporeal, reminiscent of Rena, burst out from Atai's body and flew straight towards Edelus, sending him and Triel crashing to the floor, Edelus flat on his back.
“Edelus!” Zephyra threw a powerful blast of air at Atai, who ducked and dodged it swiftly. At the same time, Loce's crown of lightning slammed towards Atai, but the electric bolts hit Rena instead, who had interposed herself between the blinding blue arcs and the arrogant man who had been the target.
As Edelus caught his breath, a ghostly form of Atai held him down, a sneer held on his see-through visage. Out of the corner of his eye, Edelus could see Triel with a snarl on her face, just about to claw the double.
“Weissar, tell them to stop, yeah? Or I'm going to have to hurt you-”
Edelus slammed his hand against a nearby chair in a burst of anger, his vision clouding over in red. He felt something leave his body in great bursts and the wooden piece of furniture grew, green leaves sprouting from newly-grown thick branches and bursting out so rapidly at the image of Atai that when the wood connected with him, it sent him sprawling on the floor.
“Stop!” Atai yelled, breathing heavily as though he, and not his ghostly self, had been thrown to the floor.
“Guess who started it.” Edelus retorted as he got to a half-sitting position, helped by Triel. “Loce, Zephyra, stop.”
Zephyra glared murderously at Atai, barely restraining herself from doing further. Loce held her face expressionlessly, but lightning crackled off her vigorously and the eye in her violin-self had opened wide. Edelus could almost imagine the violin glaring.
Rena however, was lying, or more exactly, floating a few centimeters off the table. Her eyelids fluttered as though she was struggling to return to consciousness.
Atai quickly went to her side. After a few moments of holding her temples, he looked up at Loce.
“You're lucky you didn't hurt her more.” His words were laced with venom. “Be glad that she will wake soon.”
As he spoke, a loud thud sounded.
“Shit. She's here already.” Atai swore. “It's a good thing she can't breach my wards.”
Another thud.
“You sure?” Edelus asked worriedly.
“Yes.” Atai hissed as if taking offence that Edelus would doubt him. They exited the house, standing in the garden as they looked outwards. “She's here. She can't see us through my wards.”
A third thud sounded and they saw black and red threads momentarily flare into existence along a bubble-like transparent shield encasing the entire building away from a side.
“She's there.”

Natalay Hartmann stood there serenely, looking, but not seeing. Beside her stood a black stallion with eyes the colour of fiery brimstone and hooves with flames rising up from them.
“A nightmare.” Atai told them.
“I can't sense your mind, Atai,” She started speaking suddenly, her voice high and clear through the semi-visible shield. “But I know you're here. Your wards are too distinctive. The only reason you would come here is if the third is here. I know you can hear me. Come out and join me. I do not intend you any harm.”
“That's likely.” Zephyra muttered.
“Zephyra, don't do anything.” Edelus warned. “You too, Loce. Triel... stay close to me.”
The woman continued speaking. “Continuing this pointless defense is futile. I will break through eventually. But I do not wish to force you. I would much rather talk to you. I give you until midnight to lower the wards and come out.”
She ran a hand along the mane of the horse. Flames erupted from its nostrils as it snorted and it knelt down to allow her to mount.
“By midnight today.” She called out. “We shall meet, one way or another.”
Then she waved her hand in front of her, causing the air to shimmer ahead. The horse trotted into the shimmer and vanished.
“Damn, I wish I could do that.” Edelus murmured to himself.
“Actually, I'm half-certain you could, Master.” Triel replied. “But it would take practice.”
“We have until midnight.” Atai announced. “Until midnight to prepare. That's what she's telling us.”
“What if she really wants to talk?” Edelus asked.
“She doesn't. She just wants to subjugate you and I for her own purpose. She wants to destroy everything.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. She sent that vision to you too, didn't she? Didn't you see how she envisioned the world to implode?” Atai asked impatiently.
“Yes, but at the end there was a new Earth, wasn't there?”
“She's lying, Weissar. You don't look as if you can do any magic and to teach you would take too long, we have only until midnight. Succubus, you teach him any offensive or protective magics that you believe he can master by midnight-”
Edelus' phone sounded, interrupting Atai's instructions. Ignoring the expletive Atai sent his way, Edelus answered the call.
“Hello?”
“Edelus, help!” Cassandra's voice screamed through the phone's speaker. She sounded as if she were about to say more, but her voice cut off, replaced by the sinuous voice of Natalay Hartmann.
“Your sister is with me. I will take care of her for now, but make your choice wisely. Remember, by midnight. If you wish to make your choice earlier, simply step out of the barrier if you cannot convince dear Atai to lower the wards.” Then the line went dead, the call ended.
“Cassandra! Hello? Shit!” Edelus swore.
“You have a sister?” Atai asked. “Damn, but you can't afford to get distracted now, Weissar. Weissar! Where are you going?”
“To get my sister back.”
Just as Edelus was about to breach the invisible line, Atai pulled him back forcefully.
“Idiot!” He hissed. “The moment you step out, your life, and that of the world, is forfeit! You really don't care?”
“She's my sister!” Edelus hotly replied. “I have to-”
“You don't have to do anything, Weissar.”
“But I-”
“Weissar, think! The Hartmann bitch won't do anything to your sister. She loses your support instantly if she does.”
“How do you-”
“I know her, okay? Natalay Hartmann won't hurt her!”
Triel pushed him back towards the house. “Master, he's right. Cassandra will be okay. What matters now is that I teach you what I should have taught you too long ago.”
The fight seemed to drain out of Edelus, leaving him limp. He nodded and slowly went back into the mansion.

“.. so I haven't seen any creatures around the manse, but they could just be hiding. I don't think so, though.” Triel explained. She had drawn several intricate circles around the two of them with her own blood while Zephyra and Loce stood by the side, watching with interest.
“Why have I never seen these beings?” Edelus felt uncomfortable with naming them as 'creatures'.
Triel averted her gaze. “I.. made them stay away.”
“You made them stay away.” Edelus coolly repeated and shook his head. “Never mind that.


-STORY END-

A/N: *sigh* I'm sorry guys... I know I promised a full story.. I'm sorry. I couldn't continue. The story just didn't want to be written anymore. Sounds like an excuse >< I'm working on another one. I'm sorry. I know, I'm disappointed in myself too. I'm sorry.