Sienna Cartlow's Story

Rina payed attention as much as she could given the circumstances, to everyone as they introduced themselves. The boy was conspicuously silent, but she decided not to press him. After all, knowing the names of the others was just nice, not necessary. When Sienna mentioned the marks on their bodies, Rina checked herself. So she did have one in the shape of a key. In all the commotion, she hadn't registered it. It was honestly one of the most unsettling aspects of this nightmare. It felt like this place was infecting her.
Through her inspection, she listened to the others talk about their ideas. Finally, she herself shined in. "I think Taja's right. Moving around this late might be a bad idea. You were scared of something out there," she nodded at Yohan and Sienna. "What if we leave and can't get to another shelter?" She adjusted the strap of her bag, trying to get it more comfortable on her shoulder. "I know we can't leave if we just stay here, but if somebody gets hurt or something, then we'll be in bigger trouble." Although, if they needed to go, she was pretty sure that she had a tiny flashlight in her bag and if they affixed a piece of colored cellophane over the lens, then it would be hard to see. On top of that, they had at least one bruiser, and maybe their demons could defend them? "Well," she decided, "Whatever the rest of you decide, I'll come too."

Miranda grumbled, all this talking made her head hurt. She put her feet up on the desk and leaned back, listening to the words being spoken. She held up a hand, however, as Taja spoke of Miranda's Demon being a Werewolf. This hand up would indicate a desire to talk, but would be interjected by a laugh.

"I am a werewolf. Why else would my Demon be a feral version of myself?" she said, looking to the young girl. "And fine, if you guys are going to stay here, do it. Leave me alone, don't break anything, and don't make a mess without cleaning up."

Night Hunt

"Yohan." He decided to reply to Sienna, figuring it would at least keep them from getting curious and looking up his information. He didn't want them finding out about his past, that would mean there was a chance he could get attached to someone and might start caring for their well being. As his eyes got a chance to look around and see everyone's demons, he sighed lightly as he realized how difficult things might become with how much of a clash everyone's personalities were already becoming.

This is when the little girl named Taja decided to start complaining about how he said he would follow Sienna and took it into something he didn't see going. She went on to mention something about voting for a leader, which made him raise one of his eyebrows. "I never said she was going to be leading all of us." He bluntly stated, even if this little girl had been an adult, he would still have thought of her as a brat right now. "I just said I'm following her lead, some of us actually don't want to die a horrible death here with no food or water available to us. And before someone suggests, I doubt eating those 'demons' is a great idea."

This is when Taja decided to go on a huge rant towards Sienna about why she brought her here. He only cared enough to pick up the key information from it, the rest sort of went in through one ear and came out the other. It honestly sounded like she was crazy, he certainly had never met a child who tried to talk as well as her. After this, Taja decided to speak up about the whole night thing. When she went up to him and asked about him being special, he was about to answer when she walked over to her demon and kicked it in the shin.

Just as he was about to go and head outside, in came Rina with something else to make him feel like he should slam his face into his hand. "You think any of us want to stay here in this dump for the night? This place has no food or water for any of us. Even if people used to live here, this place has been cleaned out. No beds, no bathrooms, no nothing. If you three want to stay here for the night, fine by me, I don't care. But some of us actually want to go back home and not have to worry about being stuck here for who knows how long."

The only reason he even spoke this much was due to the circumstances surrounding them, and the fact he was getting irritated with how these three were acting. After relaxing his mind for just a moment, he turned to look over to Sienna. "Hey, if you still want to go, I'm ready to move out whenever you are." Turning back to look outside, his eyes noticed how the sky had changed to a darker shade of green. A moon was also rising up into the sky, the color of the blue stood out from the rest of the sky. Well, guess that would shut the little girl up now about if it was night time or not.

As his guard was down, the ground suddenly shook and caused him to stumble back a few steps as he tried to balance himself. Was this some kind of earthquake? Once the shaking had calmed down enough, he raced towards the doors and opened one of them slightly just enough to get a good enough look out towards the town, and that's when he saw a cloud of dust having emerged over in the distance. That's when a red looking creature began to rise up as pieces of a building fell off it's body. He could quickly piece together that this thing had been sleeping inside one of the buildings and it's awakening had destroyed it with ease.

The size of this thing could only be guessed as somewhere around twenty feet tall, that's if this thing didn't turn out to be bigger upon coming over. It looked like some kind of wolf, but how was it this big?! It also had a bright red color to it's body, with some fangs being seen even while it's mouth was closed. As it's eyes opened, they revealed a dark red color to them that upon looking into it could only be described as looking into hell itself. A bright red mist began to spread from the creature, causing the strange masked creatures to begin howling in pain as Yohan felt fear paralyzing him to the spot.

The masks on the demons seemed to break or snap in half as the black liquid bodies suddenly sunk to the ground and briefly became like a pool before rising up and twisting to form a similar, yet smaller form to the red wolf. A foul stench swarm through and caught up to each of them, as a low growl began to emit from the red wolf. Had the creature awakening caused them to change to this form, had it been due to it becoming dark, too many thoughts raced through Yohan's mind as he felt his body shaking. This creature was intimidating to look upon, yet there was something else to it that no normal person could ever feel right with. It had the stench of death coming off it's form.

The black liquid wolves all had a dark aura surrounding them as they began to search around the town for any sign of life, Yohan felt he should close the door, but the red wolf gripped his heart with a fear that he had never felt before in his life. He felt a fear for his very life, and the mere presence of this thing caused such a strong reaction only brought fear of what it could do in a fight. It's head slowly turned towards them, Yohan's eyes widening as he tried to think there was no way it had noticed them. That's when it happened, and Yohan felt everything go numb.

The red wolf just... smirked?! It's eyes had turned into this gleeful demonic glare, as it's mouth had stretched out into a hellish smirk which showed off the sharp teeth it possessed. The act of smirking alone was weird, but the expression it gave was just... inhumane. He had been freaked out by weird drawings or pictures before, sure. Humans could come up with some disturbing imagery, that was for sure, but in this very moment, the expression of this fiend alone was more terrifying than even Miranda's demon. That's when Yohan fell backwards, his body hitting the floor as the door silently closed and took the fiend's expression out of sight.

His mind just went blank upon seeing that thing's... smirk. That was the best way he could describe it. His skin had taken a paler tone, his body couldn't stop shaking as his breathing only quickened and his heart beat wouldn't slow down. Bringing his hands over his face as he was incapable of standing back up, it quickly started to sound like he was entering into some kind of panic attack. However, everything with him suddenly stopped as he slowly brought himself up to his feet. Had he calmed down somehow? He walked past all of them as he made his way over to some corner he figured no one would care about. That's when Yohan ejected some liquid from his mouth as he took a few steps away while wiping his mouth with his arm before collapsing down to his knees and then slowly falling face first to the ground as his body twitched and shook where it lay.

Sienna Cartlow

Sienna listened in for anything of importance in the rambling speech of the ten year old, vaguely identifying the boy named Yohan near the start. From there, though she took mild offense at the lack of faith in her ability, it was somewhat amusing to see her feline companion getting a little ruffled at implying her incapability due to being a ‘tiny cat’. Then came the further comments about her fitness, which Sienna snorted about. She didn’t exert herself unnecessarily, and leading didn’t have anything to do with how tough or fast you were. All you needed was the right head for it, and she was certain that she’d be more fit to direct them than the musclebound dimwit behind the counter. Voting was just as good as picking blind at this point. They’d be guessing based on looks and superficial information who’d be good to take charge. Still, she didn’t particularly care if she was ‘in charge’ or not. She’d make her own judgements what to do regardless. Yohan seemed to think following her was a good idea, but she had mixed feelings about that at this stage.

Then there was the elaborate tale of Taja, a ridiculous and what would have been considered the unbelievable imagination of a child if not for the present situation that Sienna and company found themselves in. Disembodied voices in her head? Visions of her? She’d call the girl mentally ill in almost any other circumstances. Here and now though, she had no choice but to believe her. Even so… Sienna wasn’t able to take the backhanded compliment without some hostility, narrowing her eyes. She’d graduated from bovine to still overweight but in what was considered an endearing way. Wonderful. Somehow, it was even more awkward the way such slang was being thrown around by a ten year old… Was that the voice in her head talking again? Regardless, Sienna simply hmmph’d again, though subconsciously folded her arms low over her stomach.

The focus of attention shifted back to Yohan, Taja now pressuring him for answers and responses, laying out her own reasoning for wanting to stay in this place. She wasn’t entirely wrong – for whatever reason they’d been lucky enough to have some refuge with this place. Still, it felt bad just to hole up in here and wait for morning, whatever that would be like. If they just delayed, it might work out, but Sienna just had a feeling in her gut that that wasn’t the case. They needed to work on finding a way out of here, and with no idea where they were or if there was any food or anything around, they needed to work on that sooner rather than later. Even if they could scavenge up stuff to live somewhere like here, Sienna had no intention of staying. She needed her comforts. Life wasn’t worth living if it was 100% crap and filled with struggle.

Before she got to chip in her own opinion, the earth trembled and knocked them about, Yohan quickly running to take a look outside. Great, what now? The runt seemed to shit his pants regarding whatever was out there, stumbling back from the door, then off to the corner to chuck his guts up. Sienna winced slightly. Well, the stench from that corner was gonna be another reason to hopefully leave soon. Ah well, Miranda’s problem. She was the one that wanted this shithole clean. Deciding that Yohan was too occupied to appropriately respond on what he saw, Sienna took charge to be the next to peek outside. What she saw was not comforting in the slightest, but she had more than enough mental fortitude to avoid a breakdown. She’d seen enough shit today that something like that was becoming par for the course.

“Well shit.” Sienna commented simply, looking back over her shoulder to the others. “Depending on what that thing and the little wolf things do, we’re either gonna be stuck here or will have to high tail it. And we’ll have to pick soon.” She added, making an annoyed sound with her tongue. “Though I’m gonna be honest, we might be fucked either way.”

Stepping back from the door to let someone else take a look, Sinopia was the next to speak to her. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll do my best to protect you.” The demon cat cocked it’s head slightly, smiling sweetly. Sienna simply eyerolled as she made her way across the room. “I’m going to check the back, see if there’s another exit. We can try to board up the front door if there is, and we’ll slip out the back if it looks like that giant thing is gonna smash its way in here.”

Taja had no idea what was going on when and why the ground was shaking. She held onto Elsworth before realizing what she was doing. He just smirked. Rolling her eyes she leaned off of him and straightened her outfit out. "Earthquakes are natural." She said mostly to herself.

She saw Yohan run out of the gym the a true idiot and sighed. If he gets himself killed... are we responsible for it? She thought to herself, but he ran in not to long after and puked in the corner. "Ew." She said before moving away from where he was. Next Sienna went outside and seemed to handle it better, a lot better. "Is it that bad?" She mumbled before walking over and taking a peek outside. Her body froze for a moment before silently moving behind her own demon. Her tiny hands shook. She was terrified. What on Earth could that have been?

She didn't want to be here anymore. She didn't want to be with these people. All she wanted was to go home, eat, and be safe in her own house. She listened to what Sienna was saying but said nothing. She didn't feel like talking. Her heart raced as she tried hard not to cry.

Familiar

His mind had dropped all trains of thought for a brief period. All he could pick up on clearly was the sound of his own heart beat thumping in his chest. However, a sudden rushing feeling bursts throughout his body and pushes him to rush up to his feet like his life depended on it. For a moment, all he could do was just stand there as he looked around at everyone. Who could truly say they wanted to stay after seeing that horrifying beast emerge? He probably looked like a real coward after all that, and it made him feel like they were going to hold him for this. Well, only one he could think to do, and that was walk right back into the frying pan!

Walking past everyone back to the front door, he pushed on it just enough to peek back outside. No way was he going to let himself be seen in full sight of that beast or any of those others. Luckily that horrific expression it had earlier was gone now, but it had moved. Each step it took made a loud thud, at least they could tell if they were going to be chased by this thing. A trail of red dust seemed to form behind it as it walked, making tiny black spots start to appear all over the creature's body. Just as he began to question what this could mean, the next action it took put an immediate stop to that.

It had stopped in front of one of the buildings, what seemed to look like a home of some kind. The creature raises up it's right front leg and put it gently on top of the building, only to quickly push down and crush the house with little to no effort, with the sudden collapse raising up a dust cloud. This only proved one thing to him: This thing was strong and it would have no problem crushing them if it decided on it. From what little he could see of the demons moving around, it looked as though they were all searching for new prey to feast upon. He quietly pulled back and closed the door shut, letting out a silent sigh as he shook his head.

"I'll help." His words words sounded shaky after having recovered, though even that was questionable right now. Still, he wasn't going to just sit here and wait for that thing to come crushing this place down and them with it. He could see that everyone was uneasy just from being here, it didn't help any that they each had some weird creatures showing up and making things difficult. He, along with whoever else decided to help out, went off to search throughout the gym and take whatever they could find to block up the front door. It wouldn't help any against big red out there, but at least the smaller ones couldn't find them this way and make things worse.

It sounded like Sienna would be leading them out through the back, which he had no complaints about. He didn't even know if there would be a back to go out of, but it was better to look and so he walked with them to the back of the building. Sure enough, there was a back door leading out, which took off a great burden from him and made him feel calmer, to a degree. As they headed outside, he looked around to get a better view now that they weren't stuck within the building they had just randomly appeared within.

It came as a great shock to him when he saw just how strange and yet beautiful the sky looked right now. Sure, it had an eerie feeling to it at night time, but the blue moon came off as almost inviting and seemed to put an unexplained ease in his mind. Although the buildings themselves were made of an odd structure, he couldn't help but make a mental now on how closely they resembled buildings back on Earth. It almost pained him to think that once upon a time, people lived here and perhaps acted a lot like how people did back home in Timberland. Alas, that thought came to the shattering reality that perhaps that red creature had attacked this place, and it angered him as he thought on it.

Although he expected to hear the demons all make noises, it was strangely calm and quiet all of a sudden. He wanted greatly to speak up and say something to the others, but he realized that if he did, he might end up speaking up too loudly by accident and give away their position. But that gave way to another question: Where could they go from here? Explore the town for a possible means of escape? They had no means of fighting back the demons here. Go outside the town and try to find somewhere else to go? For all they knew, there was worse out there than this big red creature! Sienna may of been right earlier when she said they might be screwed.

Meanwhile, Frederick would notice a man in a suit suddenly standing outside the school after he had finished screaming of his joy, as if this man had been waiting here for him all along. "Ah, you came." The man spoke, closing a pocket watch in his hand and putting it away, turning to look over at him. "Well, congratulations on cleaning up the school. You may not know who I am, but that is not important right now. What is important, however, is giving you a reward for doing such a fine job, and in such record time too! I must say, I am impressed!" The strange man would only get stranger as he tilted his head down and smiled.

"Now then, how shall I decide on rewarding you?" The man suddenly snaps his fingers as raises up his head, his eyes now closed for some reason. "Ah, I know! Why don't we shake hands on it?" The man outstretched his hand all of a sudden, keeping his eyes closed and that smile on his face. If Frederick went to shake his hand, he would suddenly find the man pulling his arm back and opening his eyes to reveal them of a more yellow color, his grin becoming twisted and growing out to give a wicked look to him as he swings his arm across the air for some reason, however, Frederick would quickly notice everything around him blurring up before he would just poof and be gone. "Well, that was fun." The man would suddenly become panicked as the wizard appears near him. "Ah, yes, sorry about that old friend! Let us be going now to discuss our deal!" Without another word, the two vanished without a trace!

Back with Yohan, it didn't take him very long after thinking about all of this to stop as he heard a growl coming from nearby. His eyes widened as he swallowed nervously as his eyes went to look, and sure enough, one of those demon hounds stood there staring at them. It walked out of the shadows of one of the nearby buildings they were walking by to give them all a good look at it's new form. It's inky black body seemed to have gained a solid shape from the previous form it used to move around in, black drool came down from the right side of it's mouth as it growled, leaving a small black ooze down near it as it approached them. It's now red eyes stared them down with a glare that only held malice within it.

The demon suddenly came to a stop and rose it's head up, emitting a loud howl that made Yohan almost stumble back out of fear. When the howl ended, more growls came out as other demons quickly came to the area and began to surround them, all of them keeping a slow yet menacing pace as they began to encircle them. The numbers grew greatly, to a total of twenty of them were now surrounding the group as they all looked ready to attack at any minute. Some of them even began to bark aggressively at the group, the barks sounding deep and demonic compared to how normal dogs sounded. He felt his feet gave way and he collapses to his knees, his hands soon touching the ground as well with his entire body shaking with fear at the reality that they were doomed.

"Oh, crap." The only words he could find the strength to get out, his heart beat raced fast and pounded hard against his chest, his hands rising up and taking hold of his head. He was so afraid, he couldn't even notice that a man named Frederick would randomly appear nearby the group, however the demon hounds didn't seem to pay him any mind for now and kept their focus solely on the group they had surrounded. "No way, I'm going to die here? This is the end? I'm such an idiot, I should of known I would of died horribly one day. What more can I do...?"

"So is that it?" The white haired male appeared again near Yohan, the hounds all began to stop as they started to get ready to pounce. "Not even a fight to the death for your life? You will just roll over and play dead again?"

"I have no means of hurting demons!" Yohan cried out, raising his head up to look at the white haired version of himself. "What can I do?!"

"Stand proudly and fight fate. You are the only who always believed that destiny was a facade. Prove yourself here and now to everyone that you aren't what they picture you to be!"

"I can't... I don't have the strength to fight back anymore." Yohan closed his eyes tightly.

"So you want to be looked upon as a coward forever?" This caused Yohan's eyes to open back up suddenly.

"No... That's not it." Yohan shook his head, his hands slowly gripping into fists.

"Then what is this bull about not having any strength? You know the truth deep down in your heart, don't you?" This caused Yohan to hesitate a response. "Or do you not care if these people die along with you?"

"No, I don't want that!" Yohan began to feel anger rising flowing through his body, his fists began to shake rapidly in response.

"What is it going to be? Will you stand up and fight back, or will you lay here and die?!" The white haired male shouted out, staring down at Yohan with a serious expression for once. Yohan growled out as he pushed himself back up to his feet and his expression suddenly changed into that of a fierce one, his eyes becoming alive again for the first time in years!

"I WON'T DIE HERE! I WANT TO LIVE!! I WANT TO FIGHT!!!" Yohan's shout caused the white haired male to smirk suddenly, giving a sudden cackle as his form erupted up into white flames, his once human form suddenly becoming engulfed and turning into more of a shadowy figure with his eyes glowing purple.

"Very well. I have heard your response and shall leave you for now. Do not forget that I still linger in your shadow! Ah-hahahaha!" As the white haired boy's form vanishes along with the flames, Yohan felt a stabbing pain come over him as he fought hard to stay up on his head, with a new voice suddenly coming to him, one that the others could hear sounded like both Yohan and the white haired boy talking at the same time.

"You've kept me waiting, boy. I have heard your plea for help and have come to make a deal with you. If you truly wish to live, you will be wise to accept it. If you do not, you can rest back on the ground as these mutts eat you alive!"

"What... What is this deal?" The question caused the voice to laugh loudly, the hounds all staring curiously now as they seemed to go into a more defensive reaction, as if they could feel something threatening was coming.

"I shall lend you my power temporarily, and shall unlock part of your hidden potential. If you wish to see the true strength of your soul, you would do well to try to make me appear again in the future. I do not know when that will be, but for now, I shall ask for you to give me something of importance to you." The voice suddenly grew quiet for a few seconds. "Ah, I know what you shall give me! Your right arm shall be my price! So, do you agree to a deal with your own inner demons?"

"Fine!" He didn't know what had come over him, he was suddenly shouting and having confidence in himself and this mysterious force? It was unlike him, not long ago he had admitted to himself there was nothing left inside and that he would just rot for the rest of his days. He outstretched his right arm, opening his hand back open as he closed his eyes tightly. "DO IT!"

"I like that attitude! VERY WELL!" White flames erupted out all over Yohan's right arm, burning away his sleeve as he shouted out in pain, his skin burning away with the white flames consuming all of his arm. "But I shall not be taking it to hell on this day! Instead, I shall leave it cursed for all to see that you have made a deal with a demon! Ahahahaha!" The laughter mattered little to him over the pain he felt, the white flames merging with his arm in order to produce a fine and smooth scaly surface to replace the human skin he once had over it. Gripping his hand once more, he could feel very faintly small claws having formed over the tip of his hands as opposed to having human nails.

"Do not fear, if all goes well with the others, they shall receive the same treatment! There is more than enough hell hound scum for you all to rip apart! Now, release thy rage and call upon me!"

"Alright!" Yohan grew a smirk suddenly as it felt like the pressure of others judging him had faded away, for once he could act like how he truly was with no hesitation! "Come out, my Familiar!" The demon once again laughs as a purple aura bursts out around Yohan, the demon hounds suddenly leaping back and begin barking rapidly in aggression as a figure rises up from out of Yohan's body and forms a humanoid like form behind him, though it would appear to be more like an outline of something for now, the fact it was there at all more than confirmed it's connection to him. Along with this new figure appearing, a dark purple outfit forms itself and replaces Yohan's previous attire, looking very similar to what a hero in a story to make them look cool and stand out.

"Heh, wow, how ridiculous." Yohan looked himself over and began to laugh. "Never imagined myself seriously ever wearing something like this. Whatever, this is gonna be fun." Putting a hand on his neck and rotating his head around with a battle hungry grin over his face, he brought up his arms and slammed his human fist into the demonic one. "Hell yeah, watch out you dumb hounds! You got nowhere to run now, do ya?!"

"It is time to strike, show these pathetic demons who is stronger!" Both Yohan and the strange figure laughed in sync as Yohan rushed forward and grabbed one of the demon hounds by it's head, raising it up and slamming it into the ground. Narrowing his eyes as his grin grew a little briefly, he suddenly emits a high pitch sound that rushes through the demon hound's body and causes it to howl in pain as it's body bursts into pieces and fades away.

"Well lookie here, it looks like you don't like me do ya?! Alright Familiar, your turn!"

"WITH PLEASURE!" The figure vanished from sight, reappearing in front of two of the demon hounds and knocking them quickly into the air without much time to register how fast he was moving. It quickly appeared behind the two hounds and slammed them both into the ground, punching into them rapidly before picking them both up and slamming them into one another with a loud cracking sound, with both of the demon hounds letting out a painful howl before breaking apart and fading away like the first.

"Alright, you ready for a combo this time?!"

"Yes, pick out the targets and I will follow suit!" Yohan rushed off after the figure spoke these words, slamming his demon arm into one of the hounds and knocking it down into the ground. Another hound tries to jump at him and bite his neck, but Yohan was quickly to slam his demon arm into it and send it crashing into the other one. The figure appeared near them and didn't give the two hounds much time to react as it slammed a fist into them and for whatever reason, the hounds suddenly began to speed up and twitch faster and faster until both of them erupted into pieces and, as with the other three, the pieces faded away.

"Yeah, that's how we do it!" Not even caring that it may or may not be physically there, Yohan went ahead and exchanged a high five with the figure.

"I have lent you what power I can for now. You do not remember my name for now, and you do not currently have the strength within yourself to handle my power. However, I encourage you to find the strength to one day call out my name and summon me back out! Be aware that you will only have dominion over one power, I am sure you will do fine though. If all goes well, the others will undergo the same ordeal you have and also gain new strength! Until we meet again!" With those words, the figure slipped itself away back into Yohan and faded, as the purple aura around Yohan diminished enough to just barely surround his form.

"Whoa, what?" Yohan suddenly spoke out, feeling a little dizzy as he couldn't help but feel like his head had just gotten hit full force by a punch. "Oh geez, hope I don't pass out now." He could see that fifteen of them were left, he hoped the figure was correct and that the others could handle the rest while he tried to gain a hold of himself after... Whatever the hell just happened to him!

Meanwhile, unknown to them all, a figure stood nearby and observed the situation. "Yes, I can confirm five... No, at least six of them now." The figure spoke quietly, holding a finger up to his ear as he adjusted his shades. "One of them just took five of them out with the help of his Familiar. It was a surprise to me too, but he has the potential. From what I could hear, it sounds like he has only just awakened to his power. I believe he has The White flowing through him, so he could prove to be an ally. I shall continue to observe and see if the other five undergo the same ordeal or not. I am sure if they do, they can handle the other demons by themselves. Yes, I understand. They could be the solution we have been looking for."

When Frederick laid eyes upon the strange well dressed man, it struck him as weird...not because he looked suspicious or the fact that he was in front of a school seemingly waiting for someone. What was weird that someone like him was offering reward to a janitor like Frederick? Wow! Can it be true! Someone who knows the true power and value of a janitor in this world? Someone who actually appreciate the man that sweeps the floors of rubbish and mopping the floors of stains!

The man had a smile as he wanted to shake hands before he received a reward. Well! You can always trust a strange well dressed man with a pocket watch. They usually are always really cool people, shows always portrayed the strange but cool dressed guys as a good guy! Heck who knows, maybe he was a secret agent sent to offer him a position as the janitor for the white house! Now that! Sounded like a great reward in his mind. "Thank you my good man! Its always nice to see other appreciating a janitor. But yeah! Lets shake on it!" Fredrerick smiled as he walked down the stairs full of energy and grabbed the mans hand without even a trace of hesitation.

Of course, that was when his arm was pulled forward and the mans eye would soon glow yellow along with a wicked grin. Now he was no rocket scientist, but that was not normal. What was not normal was the world becoming all blurry and in a second. With a blink. He was no gone. Vanished without a trace.

That was not the worse part, his keys were left behind. His poor keys for his car! He dropped them when he went to shake his hand! Oh the humanity!

Rina glared at Yohan for a moment when he criticized her before taking a breath and calming down. Of course he'd be short with her: they were in a wretched situation. She opened her purse, taking inventory of its contents until the sound of retching made her look up. As Rina went over to check on Yohan, she spotted the red wolf through the door. And that's why I didn't really want to leave, she thought, but held her tongue.
She listened to everyone else talk, chewing on her lip. What exactly were they going to barricade the door with if there wasn't anything left? Well, no matter. Whatever equated to furniture in this hellscape might do.

Rina followed Sienna to the back to scope out their surroundings. It looked about the same as the front to her: more black buildings, the night sky, nothing even remotely helpful. She was about to go back to hunting for barricades when she heard the sound of dogs. Turning around brought her nearly face to face with one of the demons. It snarled at her and the others.
Rina slipped her bag from her shoulders and held the straps together in both hands. A quick survey of the area made it evident that there was nowhere to run, so they would have to fight as long as they could. Still, Rina couldn't help but feel that in a matter of minutes, she was going to be mauled to death. The girl moved back a few steps, taking note of Yohan on the floor.
"Well, isn't this a pickle," her demon said, resting its smooth, white hands on her shoulders.
Rina only shrugged her shoulders to shake it off.
It sighed and patted her on the head, then interlaced its fingers behind its back. "I could help you, if you like."
"I thought making deals meant eternal damnation?" Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a new man, though she didn't say much. Instead, Rina kept her eyes on the dogs, not really in the mood to chat. Even so, part of her latched on desperately to the idea of being saved.
"You'll be damned anyway if you die here. Give me your right leg, and I will give you what you need to save yourself." As it spoke, Yohan launched himself at the dogs. "Like him, though you really shouldn't rely on him to save you all."
Rina weighed her options quickly. "Fine. Do it," she said, standing still so that he could take it. If she fought unassisted, she'd probably lose a lot more than that anyway.
Her demon smiled and it burned her flesh away, replacing it with something that looked and felt rather like white porcelain, patterned with what looked like veins filled with liquid gold. "Now, I think your instinct is strong enough." It gave her a push forward.
A few residual tears of pain were still trickling down her cheeks. "Come on, Familiar," she said, launching herself at the dogs. As she did so, he clothes were changed to some new tight, green ones and an ethereal being of the same color worked in tandem with her to push back the demons.

Sienna Cartlow

Finding a way out the back of the building had been easier than expected. For as dystopian as this world looked, the building they found themselves in had a simple wooden back door, which after a brief peer through the window, Sienna opened and began checking the path was clear. Seemed good, as far as she could tell. Turning to see that it seemed everyone (reluctant or not) was behind her, she motioned for them to follow as she took a few steps out before hopping off of a slight lip. “Looks like the coast is clear for now. Let’s get to work grabbing what we can.” Sienna commented to the group, striding slightly further ahead to look past the outcroppings to get a better vantage point. It seemed that the back door came out into a small pit, so they needed to climb slightly in order to truly get free. The moon shone down on all of them like a spotlight, but at least they’d be able to see where they were going.

Moving to start climbing up the side of the precipice, Sienna didn’t get very far at all before she got to stare fear in the face. Rising to the top of the mesa, it took her a moment to realise just what she was seeing as she stared into the black abyss of its pupils. So tight was terror’s grip that she didn’t manage a word or scream, instead just hanging in the moment as she saw herself in its eyes, watching in shocked silence as its jaw slowly opened, dripping black blood or saliva or god knows what to the ground in front of it. Finally, she let go, dropping back down to the pit and skidding to a stop, nearly stumbling over a partially buried rod as her back foot hit against it. Briefly, she tore her eyes away from it to look back to the door, but it was far too late for that as more of the creatures began to swarm and circle them. A true pack hunting their prey, and they were cornered. There was nowhere to run.

Gritting her teeth, Sienna looked to the pipe she’d slid against, and quickly reached down to wrench it free of the ground, snapping the rusty metal rod from the dirt and brandishing it in front of her as a makeshift weapon. It was better than nothing. Inching backwards to place her back to the others, she could only hope they either had the same plan as her, or at the very least served a distraction for the ones behind her. Not that she thought they really stood much of a chance. A steady cacophony of growls barks and snarls seemed to break out amongst the creatures, before an ear-splitting howl shook her to the core. Faintly, she heard someone fall near her mumbling an expletive. Honestly, it was taking all her nerve to stay standing. Maybe it was just some base instinct keeping her going. Defiance in the face of futility.

Then, shouts. The boy, Yohan, he seemed to be going more off his rocker than usual, both him and the white haired doppelganger mincing words and values. Sienna only heard half of it, though she was amazed that the beasts decided to stay back as long as they did. Perhaps evidence of some sort of hive mind or leadership structure? Could they just be holding them up for the giant red one they’d seen? Briefly, her eyes flickered about the encircling dogs, looking for some sort of way out. Even if there was though, who’s to say they wouldn’t just all turn on her before she got two steps away from the ring? Shit. If they were going to die, she wanted to go quick. She’d always joked that she wanted to be shot in the head, now a gun and bullet would do wonders for her.

Yohan seemed to have other plans. In a scream of desperation and rebellion, he seemed to explode with a raw energy as his twin burst into white flames, causing Sienna to stagger back from him. It was that moment of weakness that one of the wolves chose to exploit, leaping at her the moment her guard was down. By chance or perhaps something more, Sienna barely managed to turn back in time, pivoting to swing her pipe at the monster, only to have it weave to the side, dodging the strike. Stumbling back some more, Sienna now realised she was separated from the others as it came at her once again, this time with no intention of stopping. Instincts ablaze with a will to survive, Sienna brought the pipe between her and the maw of the beast, though the weight of the tackle still caused her to slide back in the dirt, barely staying upright before she impacted the wall of the pit.

Snapping at her face and splashing its ooze everywhere, Sienna grimaced as she looked into the abyss of death, her arms quaking under the strain. With each bite of its jaws the crunching and snapping of metal could be heard, the pipe straining to stay in one piece and keep the girl from her demise. It was all she could do from her position pinned as she was. Part of her thought about letting go and accepting it. I mean, what did she really have to be afraid of? She’d always told herself that if she was to die, she’d want to go fast. Anytime, anyplace, it didn’t really matter. She was inconsequential in the world, and she’d rather just end it then live uncomfortably or in pain. Why was she trying so hard to fight the inevitable?

“Look at you. My, you’re as pathetic now as you’ve always been.” The snide voice of the feline spoke, eerily close, almost like it was whispering in her ear, yet there was no way it was possibly there. “This beast, like the world, weighs you down. Suppresses you. No matter what strengths you have, the potential you hide, it means nothing. Not unless you have the will to be all that you are.” It was mocking the way it spoke, illusory riddles filtering through Sienna’s mind. “So what will it be? Fade away like before? Or will you actually be something worthwhile? Do you have the drive? The fire inside?” Sienna didn’t know what to say, but she could feel something in the pit of her gut. Seconds were passing in reality, but to her mind, it was like a movie reel of events and sensations unlike any that she’d ever felt before. A crackle of power. Possibility. Flames of passion seemed to kindle within her, the spark beginning to ignite into a roaring flame. Though she couldn’t see it, she could feel the cat’s smile. “You’ve always felt it. You know you’re better than everyone, more deserving. You’re worth more than anyone else. You value yourself over all others, there’s no sense in hiding it. Accept and embrace it. Tell me, would you miss that? Sacrifice is needed, both in your world and in this one in order to reach your goals.”

Sienna couldn’t feel her heart anymore. Nor could she hear anything, not even her own breathing. Only the voice of Sinopia, and her siren song of temptation. “Give it to me. Give me all of you, and I will shape you into something greater.” There was a tension in the voice now. A forcefulness. Maybe desperation? But Sienna couldn’t sense it. She couldn’t even move, her body almost paralysed. Her lips were dry and cracked, but weakly, she knew she had to answer. Later, she’d say that she didn’t really understand what it meant at that moment. That she’d been deceived into agreeing to a contract where the terms weren’t clear. Sienna valued herself over all others, that was true. To have that taken from her… She couldn’t have expected what Sinopia intended to do in order to claim that.

---

“Where is she..?” The rain was heavy now, pelting the windscreen of the young girl behind the vehicle. It was dark too, her headlights reflecting off the road in sharp white as she squinted to see what lay in front of her. Tate had ended up calling Rio and mentioned something of Sienna leaving the store, and since then they hadn’t been able to get into contact with her for several hours. It didn’t make any sense. Sienna was lazy sure, but she wouldn’t just up and vanish like that. Not without checking in at least. Something was wrong. Things had been a little weird today, but something in the pit of Rio’s stomach told her that she needed to find Sienna. It was why she was roaming the streets, scanning for any signs of her. Inefficient, maybe, but she had to do something. She’d checked all her usual hangouts, and now was circling the local area near the corner store, just searching for a sign.

Travelling down the street, suddenly, the light from her headlights reflected off something in front of her. The eyes of a feline sitting in the middle of the road. In a moment of panic, Rio spun the wheel of her car, skidding as the wheels failed to grip onto the slick wet road and spinning out as she slammed on the brakes. With a soft thunk, the vehicle collided with only a small amount of force to the side of the brick building. Wincing a bit in pain from the whiplash, Rio slowly pulled herself back upright. It wasn’t enough of an impact to activate the airbag, but it was still a big jolt. Geez, what kind of cat goes out in the rain like that? Sighing to herself to try and stop her heart pounding, she faintly noticed the bright lights approaching her. The world was filled with the squeal of brakes, before a crushing symphony of twisting metal sounded. Then, nothing but the sound of rain. In the night, the cat sat watching the scene in silence before vanishing into the darkness.

---

Slow at first, moving backwards in a way that seemed unnatural. Steadily, Sienna forced the monster back as she began driving herself from the wall, lead pipe in hand. Then, under strain from both sides, the pipe split in twain. As the wolf closed in to bite her face, Sienna’s hands spun with dextrous position, fingers dancing as she turned the split pipe ends inward into a reverse grip, before plunging the now jagged ends of the material into either side of the creature’s skull, driving them through it’s body and wrenching the head to the floor. By now, the aura that had begun to surround her was in full view, a haze of orange mist growing into a fiery swirl of energy. Despite the apparent lethal injury the wolf had sustained, it could writhe about unfazed, like it wasn’t even harmed. Moving to sit back up, a sudden heel slamming down into the back of its head forced the sharp pipe to impale into the ground, pinning the thing by its head as it struggled to right itself.

“The deal has been made. I have taken my end of the bargain, and now you shall have yours.” Sinopia spoke, but it wasn’t the feline that everyone knew. Standing before Sienna was a tall, sultry women, hair cut short into a bob-cut. A plunging, sleeveless dress gleaming with sequins and patterns followed each inch of her curves to her knees. Around her head, she wore a headband adorned with a tall feather, while draped low around her arms was a fanciful feather boa. Shoulder length, form fitting gloves perfectly fitted her slender arms, while silken black stockings rose from tall heels. A large ring on each hand, a hipflask in her garter, pearls strung around her neck, a cigarette holder in one hand and a feathered fan in the other, her accessories highlighted the aspects of her lifestyle. Heavy makeup enhanced her face in a smokey look that drew the eye. Apart from the voice, the only thing that identified her as what had once been a tiny cat was the slim tail creeping from the dress, the pointed ears atop her head, and those ever haunting eyes. Briefly, her eyes drifted downwards as she noted the wolf attempting to bite at her leg. “Ah ah sweetie. Bank's closed.” With a swift and sudden motion, she crushed the beast’s head underfoot, yet miraculously, managed to keep herself perfectly clean. “Mmm, it’s the berries to be back to my true self…” Stretching, she moved to take Sienna’s hand, the gobsmacked girl flabbergasted by the flapper girl in front of her.

“Now that we’re jake, I think it’s time you dudded up big cheese.” The accent began to become thicker as she spoke, the demon holding a pouting smile as she opened her fan, waving it past Sienna’s body. As it glided up from dogs to kisser, Sienna’s clothes underwent their own miraculous change. Stylish and swanky, Cartlow became something of a cross between the dress of a witch and a boudoir outfit, a revealing ensemble that showed plenty of leg and thigh, the smallest of frilly skirts covering her mini-shorts. Midriff on full display, the outfit continued upwards into something of a corset type top, though part of this was hidden under the shawl like cape that billowed around her. Almost mockingly, her head was adorned with a fashionable variant of a traditional witch's hat, while in her hands, a tight bundle of straw forming a neat broom. Sienna staggered slightly as she adjusted to the new heeled boots she wore, briefly bringing her hands up to look at herself.

“A little fluky, but you look like a choice bit of calico.” Sinopia commented, bringing her fan up to lift Sienna’s chin and look deep into her eyes. Taking the lit cigarette in her holder, she dipped it onto the end of the broom, setting it ablaze. Slowly, Sienna seemed to come back into reality as she stared into those flames, twirlingthe broom about and stepping forward, uncaring for how she looked. “Time for the show, let’s give them something truly spectacular, Sinopia.” Sienna glanced back over her shoulder, looking to her Familiar with a smile. Seeing this, Sinopia tucked her fan and cigarette holder away, reaching to take a swig of her flask before flicking out her hands, a pair of Tommy guns materialising in her grip.

“You said it bearcat. Let’s blouse.”

Miranda watched the others leave out the back, sensing the presence of a giant Wolf...Demon...thing outside, her lip twitched. "You're all fools if you think you can run from wolves and not get hunted down like Cattle." She called to them as they barricaded her front door. She watched them head to the back door and rolled her eyes, her Demon sitting on the desk, staring at her.

"What?"

"That's a nice picture on your desk there."

Miranda's Sapphire eyes turned to the only picture she had left of her baby brother. She snatched it and held it close to her chest. It had come with her into The Other Side....

"Those are some lovely eyes, too." the Demon scooted closer as Miranda stood, taking the picture out of it's frame and stuffing it into her shirt, she'd buy a locket, and wear it. She wouldn't let this Demon have it.

"Fine then...choose. Your eye, or your last picture of dear little brother."

Miranda's beautiful Sapphire eyes narrowed, she heard the howl outside and growled. She moved towards the back, only to see twenty large demon wolves, despite seeing some of them fall, her Alpha blood boiled and she needed to assert her dominance over them. Prove to them that they were useless unless lead by her and her alone, and if they rebelled, they died. Her Sapphire eyes turned Amber, and a hand covered her left eye, her Demon taking it. It singed and burned, the woman let out a silent scream of agony as she bent over and leaned against the door frame, the burning going all the way down her nerve, then down her spine to the rest of her body. When it was over, her left eye had turned permanently Amber, and glowed as if back-lit.

"You should thank me....I gave you something out of fuckin Lovecraft or some shit like that." her demon said, crossing its arms. "Give it a try."

Raising an arm, another five of the Wolf-things stopped in their tracks, the most ungodly screams escaping their throats for a second before they were silenced, and they began to jerk around, as if being controlled by an outward force. Walking forward, Miranda lifted her arm, her expression oddly dull as her Demon, no, her Familiar boosted her power, its own eyes glowing brightly as it amplified Miranda's power.

"Mutation....fun, in'nit?" the Demon said, loud enough for everyone to hear as the Wolves then began to crack and morph, bodies bubbling and twisting as they became grotesque, horrifying creatures, finally their necks snapping at an odd angle, and their bodies dropping to the ground as Miranda blinked.

"interesting...." She looked at her hands, then at her Demon, narrowing her eyes. "Just like the myths of old...one magic eye for the werewolf..."

Taja stayed and helped with inventory. She thought it would be best just to stay back, just in case. For a moment things seemed fine until she heard Yohan yelling and commotion going on with Sienna and Rina. That is when she saw other creatures. "More of these things?" She whispered.

"No, we are just someone who can help you, is all." Her voice came from behind her and she slowly turned around. Standing there was her, but with horns and a tail.



"I...You..." She was trying to figure out why this girl looked like her.

"I am your familiar, if you trade me something very important to you than you can have some of my power to unlock some of your power." She said with a smile. Taja fidgeted in place...she looked at Elsworth and he shrugged before looking at everyone else. She would have to fight, most likely, and powers would be useful. She didn't have anything valuable to her...and people were giving their arms. Maybe if she would to give something greater she could be greater.

"My h-heart..." She mumbled, looking at the horn version of herself. The horn-girl smiled and gently poked her chest where her heart was.

"Deal."

The pain was worse than she had imagine. A white flame like light came from her chest. Taja dropped to her knees and curled as the pain seem to engulf her, but it didn't last long. She felt embarrassed, peeking to see if Elsworth was smiling, but he was no where to be found. Slowly she stood, looking at her feet she saw a swirl of pink and grey aura around her for just a second. She felt weird and wobbled some.

"Looks like they need some help." Her familiar said.

"Do...Do I have to?" She asked her. Her familiar nodded and she looked over her shoulder before walking over there. She watched as Miranda mutated the the wolves.

Her familiar leaned in, "stretch out your hand towards on of the wolves and turn it a bit." She did what she was told and instantly the hound began to mutate in an ungodly form before its neck snapped. The wolf dropped just like the five from Miranda's did.

Taja's hand pressed against her chest. "What...I can mutate too?" She looked at her horn-self disappointed, but her familiar shook her head no.

"You have the power to copy other's magic. Now..look at your outfit! It is so cute..." She looked down at her body and she was in a pink and grey outfit. How did that happen?

"We shall meet again soon, okay?!" With a laugh and skip the familiar had disappeared into Taja's body.

"Whoa." The first word that came to his mind jumped straight out of his mouth, right before his body started to shake as his head started to feel lighter. He collapses to his knees, putting his hands up to his head as he closed his eyes, hoping it would go away quickly. What in the heck just happened to him? Why was he wearing this outfit? And why, of all things, did he just talk to some creature?! All of these questions made him nervous, had he truly been damned just now by a demon? If so, did that mean that all along, people were right and that he was just some freak?

For some reason, he just stopped caring about that and threw it aside, it was of no importance to him right now was it? Surely the more important thing was to get out of this place alive, right? It had to be, after all, they all seemed to be awakening to some kind of power, even if others were awakening to more horrific ones. That's when he was reminded of his arm, and he looked upon it and opened his palm to see some kind of demonic symbol now on it. That's when he started to feel his heart beat grow faster, as his arm started to shake on it's own.

That's when everything around him went black, his eyes widening as he looked around in a panic. He felt something familiar about this, his heart racing as tears began to go down his eyes. "Why does it hurt? My head is killing me right now. I don't want to go through this!" He ended up speaking outloud, though the others could hear his voice they could not see what he saw right now. Holding his right arm out in front of him, he struggled to fight against a growing feeling of dread inside of him as his palm closed on it's own.

White flames suddenly burst forward, the white flames quickly turning blue as his eyes widened. "No, wait, stop!" An impulse had taken over, but it was too late, as the blue flames spread over the area around him and quickly engulfed him as well, his arms raising up in front of himself to protect him. Yet when he looked back, he was back where he had just stood previously, no sign of any flames in sight. Raising his human arm up slowly and wiping his eyes, blinking a few times as he tried to get his head back from that experience.

That's when he felt the ground begin to shake, his eyes widening out of surprise as he took a few steps back. He knew what this was, and sure enough as he looked over, he could see the giant hound walking around the town, the smell of death quickly filling his nostrils as he rose a hand to cover over them. There was something different about the hound from before, now it seemed to be giving off an aura like he had a minute ago. A black aura that could only be described as looking upon death itself. A being of such malicious intentions, holding incredible power within it's body to the point that it could crush whatever it saw as a threat. Yohan suddenly knew what this thing was, and the realization spread dread back into his heart. "A Hell Hound?!"

The realization came at a poor time however, as the Hell Hound suddenly came to a halt and looked over towards the direction his voice had spoken up from. His heart pounded quickly once more as he felt frozen to the spot, all this noise might attract it to them, and the power he could feel coming off of it was too much for him to comprehend. The hound slowly began to walk over towards them, he could start to see it's face start to fully come into view as if it was excited to have found prey once again. He didn't know if he could fend it off without making it angry, was this really where they were meant to die? How ironic, a guardian of the after life was about to send them all to it without anyone knowing they were even here.

That's when a miracle happened, an explosion far away somewhere went off and caught the Hell Hound's attention. It's movement came to a sudden halt as it's eyes held a sense of curiosity in them, turning it's body to look over at the smoke now rising somewhere far off in the distance. A strange growl began to come from the hound, a noise he could not hear before making the deal with his Familiar. The Hell Hound's face twisted into an even more horrifying expression than before, a look befitting only for a devil as it could no longer contain the pure malice and excitement it felt. A wicked dog like chuckle suddenly burst forth from the hound, it's body suddenly bursting into flames as all the red that had been on it turned into a red mist around it.

The power it began to emit caused Yohan to be sent flying off his feet and be slammed into a nearby building, his body falling forward as he felt himself unable to move as if being crushed under the thing's power as the cackle slowly came to a halt and the flames died down, revealing the black body of the Hell Hound. Raising up it's head in what looked like joy, it gave off a sudden howl before becoming a blur and sending out a small shockwave as it ran off, hitting Yohan once more as he struggled to stay awake despite the pain he felt right now. He could see the Hell Hound run through a path of destroyed buildings it may have made when first arriving and soon only a trail of red dust could only be made out of it as it ran off into the distance far away from the town.

Once the Hell Hound was gone, he felt his body able to move again as he slowly began to rise up to his feet while letting out a low groan. As he began to brush himself off, a new voice suddenly sprang out and shocked him. "Good to see you all have developed." A man in a business suit suddenly emerged, his blonde hair struck out and those shades kept his eyes hidden from Yohan. He looked to be close to seven feet in size, even with the suit on Yohan could tell this guy's body was built to be strong. "That Hell Hound has left for now, you can thank me later for that after we get you out of here."

"Hold on a minute. Who are you, and how do I know I can trust you?" Yohan was on the defensive, surely the man could tell that today had not been the best of days for any of them. The man seemed to give a smirk at Yohan in response, sending a shiver down Yohan's spine.

"My name is not important to know, why I am here is classified information. What I can say is that I was out on business here when I noticed you all running around." The man looked over towards Frederick and grinned. "You should stay with them if you want to get out of here alive. As you all can already probably tell, this is no place for normal people to wander in. However, you all have potential, so perhaps we could strike a deal?"

"I'm not in the mood for deals. And you've given me no reason to trust you." Yohan's statement made the man suddenly laugh out, though Yohan couldn't tell if the laugh was normal or wicked in nature.

"Well here's a fact, if I wanted you all dead, I would of done it without revealing myself. I also have knowledge of the powers you all just gained, why would I even bother revealing this when I could try to lie? I have been nothing but honest, believe it or not, and I have come to the conclusion that we can help each other out." As much as Yohan hated to admit it, he seemed to have a point. Whether he liked it or not, this man was the only hope they had of getting out of here and if he had driven that Hell Hound away when he could of just left them to die, Yohan had to reluctantly admit to himself that they did owe the man something for helping them out.

"Okay, what do you want?" The man pulled out his cellphone and looked it over, taking note of the time it said on it before putting it away. Did that mean technology could work here, or was the man's cellphone special? Yohan would have to ask that another time.

"Come back here tomorrow night." The man's statement caused Yohan to give a nervous expression.

"We've just barely survived this night! What makes you think all of us will just come back here of our own free will?"

"Because you are now targets. If I could feel your power, what would a person with actual harmful intentions do? There are people with this power on Earth that have connections, some darker than others. They could easily find you and your family or friends if they so wished it. I can keep you all safe from darker eyes for now, but it will not last forever. If you want to learn how to harness these powers, you would be wise to return to this place tomorrow."

"Ugh, fine." Yohan didn't like hearing any of this, but what better option did any of them have? "What time?"

"Eleven PM." The man stated with no hesitation.

"What? Isn't that a little late?"

"Yes, and it is the perfect time to explain some things as well as help you all. I am not forcing all of you to come back, but I do advise you do, lest you realize the horror that will begin to follow all of you from this day forward." The man turned his back to them all and began to walk away. "Best not to attract too much attention to yourselves. I will be waiting."

"W-wait a minute! Where is the way out of here?!" This question caused the man to stop and look back at them.

"Why, it's at where you live. Or, would live, in this case. Do not mistake this place for the town called Timberland. Or else you will find yourself becoming attached to this place." The man chuckled and walk off into the darkness. Yohan felt so confused right now, but they had no other choice it sounded like.

"Just what is going on here...?"

As Frederick regained his consciousness, or rather finished disappearing to wherever he was supposed to go. Well, obviously he was confused. Was this a reward? A free trip to...some parallel looking town of Timberland...Hold on! This place looked like Timberland but it looked weird which could only mean one thing! He traveled dimensions! His reward for cleaning a whole school was have an experience to those dimension travelers in books and shows! This...was...so

"COOL!" Frederick shouted as he jumped into the air. Now this was a great story! Getting to experience another dimension firsthand himself! Oh this was so cool! Of course his attention soon focused on a group of teens...and was that a little girl? Did that mean they also traveled dimension as well. Well, now he felt old, seeing so many young faces in the crowd.

Of course, he heard the the well dressed man say to stay near them to stay alive. A new dimension and full of danger? Wow! Maybe this was the part in so many stories where the guy reveals to the party that they are destined for greatness...or destined to become a rank and file hero so go fight horrors beyond their minds comprehension.

"I have to say trustworthy well dress man! This is like...The best reward ever! Who knew that cleaning, cooking and drawing comics and manga would one day pay off! My dad was right! A janitor was always destigned for greatness! I mean who else would pick up the mess left behind after a hard day? Non-janitors? Please, if people did that then the world would never need janitors. Wait...I am getting off track right now...Who are you exactly, you some Angel? Demon? or some special dimensional entity that has a great plan in mind that requires all of us currently here...And don't lie that you are like some special messenger! I can sense that you are not some random joe! I mean the clothings gives it away! Frederick was almost...surprising unfazed by the entire situation. In fact he seemed more casual than needed.

Sienna Cartlow

Standing with full confidence before the approaching wolves, Sienna slowly turned her broom around in her hand, the flaming end leaving trails of embers that drifted in the air. The crimson sparks flitted through the air like falling fireflies, slowly falling towards the ground. Then, as the monsters that stood before Sienna began to move, the cinders began to fly upwards as if anticipating her next move. The most confident of the monsters charged forward as it leapt for her throat, Sienna’s eyes flashing as she reacted immediately, sweeping the broom in front of her in a wide horizontal sweep, the flames around the brush growing into a wide flare and engulfing the wolf that she struck and sending a wave of fire before her. From behind, the remaining creatures attempted to take advantage of her distraction, flanking Sienna in a squad of three.

With a duck and tuck, the broom was wielded expertly like a staff, the blunt end jabbing the first in the throat before she whipped it to the side and smacked the second to the side. Pivoting, her spin allowed the flaming end of her broom to twirl with her and knock the third aside, all three now knocked to the ground and shaking off their injuries as they snarled at the girl. Splitting up, the three moved to attack Sienna from different angles simultaneously. Drawing back into another spinning pirouette, Sienna swept a circle of flames around her, which immediately erupted into a pillar of fire all around. Lifting the dogs skyward from the force of the heat, it seemed Sienna was nowhere near done with them. Bursting out from the pillar, standing atop the broom like it was a surfboard, Sienna flew about the sky as she intercepted each of the dog’s trajectories, piercing through them in a spiralling fire drive and obliterating their shadowy being.

Down on ground level, Sinopia was doing her own part to eliminate waves of the canine monsters attacking them. Taking some steady steps, twirls and graceful movements, each fire from her guns shredded into the beasts, the noise timed to her movements to form a rhythmic tune, an instrumental of gunfire that provided the melody to her dance. It was quite the site to behold, displaying an uncanny sense of timing and finesse. As the dust and smoke settled, little remained of the creatures that had made the mistake of targeting Sienna and Sinopia, and as things calmed down, so too did Sienna’s sense begin to return to normal.

“Wait, what?!” Sienna stated in shock as her thoughts and feelings began to return to being her own. Taking a moment to look to her absurd outfit as she held her hand in front of her, she managed to stop herself from covering up out of embarrassment, but the incredulous look and flustered expression was a dead giveaway that she wasn’t comfortable with what she was wearing. “What the hell are these clothes, and why the fuck am I wearing them?!” Sienna stated in an outrage, immediately turning to Sinopia for an explanation. The feline-woman glanced over her shoulder towards Sienna as she dematerialised her guns, giving a bit of a snicker. “Doll, I just wanted to Razz you a bit. If you want something more Darb, you’re going to have to earn it. “sides, it fits now I’m your familiar.” As she spoke, Sinopia had pulled a bottle of booze from seemingly nowhere, undoing the cork to take a large swig. As she did so, one of the nearby dogs had roused from its injured state to leap at her. Eyes narrowing, Sinopia spun, clubbing the beast with the glass and shattering it, spilling the alcohol everywhere. “Tsk, Horsefeathers. Damn Bluenose ruining my fun. And here I was going to get Spifflicated…” Sinopia muttered as she instead pulled out a cigarette, lighting it. Taking a long draught, she sighed as she noticed the monster once again rising to its feet. “Shoulda stayed down Wurp.” Flicking her finger, Sinopia’s cigarette fell down onto the alcohol covered wolf, which promptly erupted into flames. It wouldn’t be getting back up this time.

Sienna meanwhile was coming to terms with her outfit and the craziness that was going on. She didn’t like it in the slightest, nor did she really care for the guy who gave some half-assed explanation to Yohan before buggering off. Not that she heard much of it from where she was – her combat with the wolves had drawn her somewhat away from the group. Making her way back, she continued to mumble aloud to herself her thoughts. “What kind of a loser uses a broom as a weapon? I don’t know what’s more lame, the broom, or the fact that I used it…” Stopping as she reached Yohan and the others, Sienna folded her arms. Anyone who commented on the clothes or her stomach was dead. “Well, what now? I’d like to get out of here before more of those things appear…” Briefly, her eyes turned towards the older man who was still with them. How long had he been there? Raising an eyebrow, she said the first thing that came to mind. “And who the hell are you?”

As the dogs retreated, or at least it seemed that Sienna was more than capable of taking care of the rest, Rina backed away. She brushed some stray hair out of her eyes. She couldn't help but glance down at her mostly bare leg. The implications were sinking in, now that she had time to consider it. A wave of nausea swept over her.
"There, there," her familiar said as Rina regained her composure, though it might have been sarcastic.
When she had mostly recovered, she inched closer to the two new men and Yohan, listening in. In addition to the janitor, who seemed affected in how jovial he was with this nightmare, there was a well dressed man. Out of all of them, Rina found him most unnerving, probably because of how familiar he seemed with this place. She listened quietly to his orders, admitting to herself that it wasn't a terrible idea to take control of her powers, especially since she'd made a pact with a demon to get them. She did wonder if "your house" was just Yohan's or each of them had to go back to their own places. Also, how would they get back here?
Rina took a deep breath. "Excuse me, Mr. Janitor," she said to Frederick, too strung out for politeness. "Who are you? Or what's your name?"

Taja had a glimer of hope of going home. She just had to get to her house, right. It wasn't that far if she ran fast enough. She didn't care about her new power, she just wanted to return home. Everyone seemed to have powers now, so they could take care of themselves, right? She was just about to turn around and head for her house when a strange man appeared.

A Janitor? Here? She was confused and wonder if he was secretly a monster too. Maybe he was trying to trick them into a trap. He was way to hyper in a place like this. She stood behind Rina and watched from a distance. She didn't want to have to deal with him if she didn't have to.

A New Conflict

Well, this was a fine start to a horrible night. Recapping the whole incident so far was... Troubling, to say the least. A strange man appearing and sending him off to the gym, only for an accident to happen while everyone was there. The strange bell like sounds that only they seemed to have heard, shortly after these sounds they were sent here. A Hell Hound, a living creature of folklore of all things, had almost found them and would probably have killed them. Then this power, these Familiar's that had appeared with them, and to put the cherry on top a strange man appears and tells them to go to Yohan's house.

So many questions roamed through his mind. Who were the two men he had encountered? Could they be related to all of this somehow? The first man was certainly suspicious, though how involved he was with this whole thing and how much he knew of what would transpire remained a mystery. The second man seemed to have just found them and has taken interest in them. Is it possible the first man had informed the second man of them coming? That put a scary thought in Yohan's mind: It would mean the two had planned for all of this. Though only a theory to him for now, things were too suspicious and events happened too well one after the other to just shrug it off. There wasn't a choice in the matter, caution had to be taken from here on.

A new question arose from thinking about this, how many people lived among them that knew of this place? Was it possible they had been observed for years if this was the case? Once again, he could only think of this as a theory. There was no real proof or evidence of anything he had thought of so far. For all he knew this was just a "thing" that happened often and the reason no one talked about it was because no one came back to tell the tale. Perhaps he could convince some of the others to help him investigate into matters tomorrow, after all the man did expect them to return here together. It seemed like a good idea to try to get to know some of them.

Briefly coming back to reality, he looked around at everyone and his head turned as he searched the place for any more signs of those creatures. Such terrible and horrifying things seemed almost impossible to exist, just like the Hell Hound, yet they had almost died to them as well. Well, it looked like his free time was going to be spent trying to figure at least some things out now. "I know what he's on about. I don't know how it's connected to all of this, but if it can get us out of here sooner, we should at least try." As he listened to his own words, he made things sound easier than they could be for his position. He couldn't question the man's interest for now, if this was a trap and the house had already been destroyed, it was better to find out than to wait and be attacked again.

At least he knew where to go, that was a start. As he walked off without another word, hoping to whatever divine powers that may exist that had brought them here that the others would follow him, he once more went back into his train of thought. That accident, he'll probably see it on the news when they get home. There's no way it would just vanish, at least he hoped so anyway. For now, he moved his focus to the strange sound they had all heard. There was a limit to how many times one could ask the same question and word it differently, no matter how many times he focused on all of this, no matter how much he focused on each one individually, his mind would only race and tire itself out at this point. Ignorance truly was bliss in this moment, as the curious mind he now possessed had been added to the list of things that could go wrong and did.

As he walked out into an opening of the town, he pushed aside any curious thoughts about how much this place resembled Timberland for now and focused on the building that should be where his home was. Well, it may have taken about ten minutes to walk over here, but the building stood out clearly as the only one that had not been crushed in this area. That's when trouble decided to voice it's ugly opinion. "Hey, I got an idea." Though his form did not appear, Yohan knew who's voice it was. "Let's leave them. Dead weight is never a good thing to carry, and they look like trouble."

"Can you please shut up for one day?" Yohan already knew the white haired boy would just brush him off, as the figure now stood at his right side and seemed to be more off than usual. He now stood with an almost eerie Cheshire cat's grin, his teeth looking more sharper now than before as his eyes had turned slightly more demonic to fit the expression he was going for. Yohan could see the white hair looked wild and moved slowly with an almost savage feeling coming off of it.

"You know you want to." The figure spoke slowly and with a malice intent behind it's tone of voice. "Why bother bringing more pain into your life? Parents didn't do that enough for ya?" The figure chuckles as he raises up his right hand and slowly had his fingers rise up and the tips of his fingers becoming sharper, letting every crack and strain of the extension be heard to all.

"I'm not playing this game." Yohan tried to brush him off again, but the boy just wasn't having it and suddenly appeared in front of Yohan, though he now stood directly in front of the door to the building. Yohan's eyes narrowed into a glare as he stared down the boy. "Get out of my way."

"Grew a backbone suddenly?" The boy chuckled as he points his twisted fingers at Yohan's direction. "That's unlike you. Earlier today, you were struggling to shake off that feeling of death enclosing in on your heart. How can you say anything to me when you are so weak that you could just do it again?" The fingers suddenly shot forward, the sound of blades being unsheathed rang out through the air as they headed straight for Yohan with full speed...

... Only to stop in front of his face, inches away as Yohan didn't move, looking more angry now by this action. The fingers retract as the boy licks the top row of his teeth tauntingly. "Face it, boy. You need me. Without me, you'd be hanging by the rope right now with those pathetic and dull eyes of yours rolled into the back of your head!" Yohan began to walk towards the door as the boy continued. "The more you repress me, the worse it will all be the day you explode! What would mother think of you, knowing her little boy has so many holes in his head!" Yohan's arm moved to swipe through the boy, causing him to poof into smoke clouds as Yohan grabbed hold of the doorknob and opened it quickly.

"Get lost, I don't need you. Never have, never will." Yohan walked into the building, leaving it open for the others as the white boy put himself back together at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the direction of the house as his eyes narrowed and his grin returned full force.

"That's right, deny yourself the pleasures of being human. You have two people you could unleash those teenage hormones out on and yet you instead want to get them home? There is such a thing as being too kind to other people, you know! Watch, the moment you let your guard down around them, they'll just stab you in the back like all the rest! Don't blame me when you find yourself bleeding out on the floor!" Letting out a small chuckle, the boy fades away into smoke and was gone.

"I'm going to have nightmares again, aren't I?" Yohan rubbed his forehead in frustration as he closed his eyes briefly. Letting out a tired sigh, he opened his eyes and walked over to the door that lead down into the basement. He had no memories of being down there, there was just something that told him not to go down there. But it was the only place he could think to search, well, technically it wasn't even his home, but he knew he might as well start with the most suspicious place in the building.

If the others had indeed followed him, he would make a motion with his arm to let them know to come down this way. Grabbing hold of the basement door, he opened it slowly to see stairs descending down into... Complete darkness. Well, he certainly wasn't expecting this, and a thought of how his place looked much better than this version tempted him to speak outloud, but he felt he would just be annoying the others by this point. Looking around, his eyes caught sight of a candle and a box of matches next to it. Raising his left brow as he saw this, he slowly reached over to grab hold of the holder the candle rested in and grabbed one of the matches.

Looking over at the wall nearest to him, he held the match up high on it before quickly striking down on it to make a small fire alit. He brought it over carefully to the top of the candle and set it alit, raising up the match and blowing out the fire on it as he put it down where the candle used to rest before looking down nervously. Letting out a nervous breath, he slowly began to descend down into the stairs into the basement, each step making a loud thud as he found himself surrounded by mostly darkness. Once he saw the stairs end, he swallowed nervously and slowly set down as he raised up the candle slightly and his eyes widened at the sight he could make out.

Some kind of strange device was set on the wall opposite to him, having a small space at the top of it as the rest was hooked up to the wall itself. The rest of the room he could make out looked to be covered in sketches of said device, strange writing and letters were used to point out various things on each sketch, but he could make none of them out. Walking over some of the sketches on the floor and making his way over to the device, he carefully placed the candle down near it so that he wouldn't set some of the sketches ablaze. One sketch he could see seemed to make out placing your hand in the hole and speaking a word, he could just barely make it out as his eyes narrowed slightly to try to focus in on it.

"I can ask questions later." He spoke to himself, not wanting to risk staying in this place for longer than needed. He turned to look at the device and tried to make out how something so strange could be set up like this. But the instructions couldn't be wrong, right? If they were, they would probably face something far worse than that Hell Hound. No, he had to stay positive. They were going to get home, and that was that! He reached out his hand slowly to place his it in the hole in the device, looking back over to the sketch once he did before looking back at it. "Well, here goes nothing." After all, it was the only option they had, right? Taking in a quick breath and letting it out, he finally mustered up the courage to speak the word. "Gaia!"

At first, nothing happened. It was possible the device had been here for years, and the time spent had caused it to malfunction perhaps? There was no way, it just had to be his imagination! Then, it happened, the device started to spark and glow! In any other situation, he would dare to say it was a beautiful sight to behold! The device started to make a hum that at first was low, but grew in sound as the device glowed brighter. As the device continued to stir up, the entire room around them suddenly began to shake! Suddenly, a bright blue color erupted from the device and spread it's way throughout the room, the stairs all moving down into the ground as the way they had come in suddenly slams shut! There was no backing out now, this device was taking them to wherever whether they had a choice or not!

With a flash of blue light, a bright blue circle suddenly erupts without warning over where the device was, Yohan only realizing at the last second his hand was now stuck in it! The others would see, in what felt like an instant, Yohan is lifted up from the ground and pulled in full force! Though he was gone, the others would quickly find themselves being pulled in towards it with increasing speed, in very little time at all they could now only see bright blue light as they felt themselves seemingly disconnect from reality itself...

When Yohan opens his eyes, he finds himself back in his actual basement, his eyes widening as he found himself standing just where he was, hand within the hole in what seemed like the same strange device. Pulling his hand quickly out of it, he looked around to see all the sketches were now gone, and when he looked behind him, he could see stairs popping up. Clearly his parents had not told him a few things, and he tried to make a good note to remember to search around the place at a later time? Wait, why did he want to do things later? That's when it hit him, his body suddenly feeling heavy like a boulder and his mind quickly losing any train of thought.

He felt dizzy, his eyes quickly becoming half closed as he swayed from side to side before ultimately his eyes closed completely and his body gave up to let itself fall down on the ground. In no time at all, he was asleep! As the basement returns completely to normal, the device momentarily makes a low sound similar to a growl before shutting down entirely. Now unable to be seen by everyone, the white haired boy stood near Yohan as he stared down at his body, though this time he looked normal for some reason. "So I guess this is just how it is. Time for another dream, a new door has opened and five others dragged out of the comforts of reality. I can only hope they don't disappoint me." With those words, and a strange feeling coming over Yohan in his sleep, the boy fades away, waiting for the day he will be called upon again.



Ricky couldn't move his arms or legs, they felt numb by this point. The numbing was nothing compared to the pain that pulsed throughout his body with every beat his heart took. He was stuck to this uncomfortable wall, and these people were crazy. The torture had not let up, and they were making sure Ricky had time to let all the torture he had endured so far sink in. "Alright." One of the robed figures spoke up. "How did you get here? How did you use the Magical Portal?!"

"It wasn't easy, you know." Ricky looked up at the figure and grinned slightly. "But I don't trust you with crap!" This earned Ricky a sudden smack across his face, his cheek aching from having to endure further pain as he groaned out slightly.

"Insolent fool! I will not tolerate this attitude any longer!" The figure suddenly grabbed hold of a weapon and raised it up, causing Ricky's eyes to widen. "This ends now!"

"Stop!" Another voice sounded from the distance, Ricky could only make out a person standing in front of some light in the distance. "We need him."

"Need him?! For what?!" The robed figure shouted out in anger.

"There were faint readings earlier. He must of brought some others with him. Ask him where he is from!" This caused the robed figure to throw the weapon aside, only to grab hold of Ricky's collar and raise him up roughly.

"Alright boy. Where are you from?"

"I come from Timberland. Why do you care?" Ricky felt himself dropping back to his former position as the figure released his collar.

"He says he is from Timberland! Is there a Magical Portal nearby it that could of released such massive Magic?!"

"I recall the Emperor having handed out some Portal's to those who agreed to serve him some months ago. If that is the case, this boy is one of them. However, The Black his body has endured should of easily morphed him into a demon."

"So what are you implying, General?"

"This boy could be useful to the Sukodo Empire. Do not torture him any longer, rather conduct an experiment on him. Let's see how strong he can get when exposed to high amounts of Black. Have it done by sunrise."

"But rushing his development like this will have severe consequences down the road. Are you certain you wish for this to be done?"

"I am. I have full confidence he will serve us well until he breaks down. Literally." Then, everything faded to black for poor Ricky.

As Frederick was busy talking to the strange dressed man, his attention switched to the two teenage girls who asked him who and what he was. Wow! They certainly had manners, going to ask him for his name first. They must have been taught well by their parents. Man...Kids these days are growing up into fine adults. "My name? Of course! My name is Frederick Bell! I am Thirty-two years of age! My hobbies include Janitorial work! Cooking! And making comics and Manga! I also was born and raised in Timberland. As for who I am, I am human!...at least I think I am still human...Maybe after I came to this place I am some sort of spirit now...or maybe my race was changed to become something other than human...No clue, all I know is that I have no idea why I am here!" Frederick introduced himself with a grin that showed off his pearly white teeth. He certainly took care of his teeth.

Of course he noticed the clothing the two wore...Woah...What was the word that explained their outfits? Eyecatching? Yeah that was the word. Of course he did really care much for fashion, just good old comfort from his jacket and a good pants was all that mattered in clothing for him. However he found himself looking a bit away from the teens and noticed a stranger sight.

The small girl hiding behind Rina. Ok, granted a small girl here was a strange sight, however what made this strange was he could swear he saw horns...and was that a tail?...Hold up a second there. Fredrick blinked a few times and furiously rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. He then would poke both eyes with his fingers which made him groan in pain while holding both of his eyes. There was also some "ow's" and "Bad idea!" from him.

After a half minute of Frederick holding both of his eyes in his hands, he gave a sigh of relif as the pain went away. His focus returned to the small girl Taja and relized...she still had her horns and tail. Alright, he was not imagining that...but the dress she wore was...Adorable! Man her parents had an eye for fashion...granted he did find it a teeny tiny bit weird for a girl her age to have tick-ish thighs...Wonders of genetics he had to guess. Girl must have inherited the Thigh gene.

With his inspection and introductions with the three close indivduals. His attention soon turned to his surroundings. Wow, he remembered this part of town in Timberland! Actually...this place looked almost exactly like Timberland but far...far more creepier. Hey, he remembered reading something about dreams and how that you only have dreams in places you know. This looked like Timberland but this was a strange dimension...wait! Maybe this was some sort of dreamscape!...wait, a dream is not usually this creepy. This seemed more along the lines of a nightmare. So, he was in some other nightmare dream dimension?

Maybe...Maybe he gained the power to enter dreams now! Actually...that did not sound that cool, he liked the idea of travelling dimensions more. Maybe he was overthinking it? Frederick went into thought as he tapped his chin in though and he paced back and fourth trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle...granted it was like trying to solve a puzzle with only several pieces out of one thousand so he gave up in the end.

His attention soon however focused on Yohan. Oh hey! Another person! A teenage guy this time...wait a second...One guy surrounded by girls? Hold up a tick! He read enough Manga to know where this could head to. He must be a hero or something of a story! Whenever someone is surrounded by only or mostly members of the opposite gender they are always the main character...Or perhaps this was more along the lines of a story which involved the whole group together instead of only the guy...huh?...He really overthinks things huh? Good thing he likes to think a lot! Speaking out loud and basically saying the girls and him were like something out of a harem was not a good thing to hear...

Grabbing something wrapped in a napkin, Frederick pulled out a hamburger and began to munch on it. He had gotten a little hungry thinking about his situation so he decided to eat his home cook burger! Bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheese with two grilled patties! Mmmm! Now this was a meal worthy of a hard days work. He wanted to eat it in his car but now circumstances changed. Now he was eating it in some other dimension.

As soon as Yohan opened up a door and was signaling for what he can easily guess as them to follow him. With nothing much to do Frederick while munching on his still warm burger began to follow Yohan down a flight of stairs which led down. He was not sure if the others were following, he could easily look back to ensure they were there but...he was cautious about turning around. In dark creepy places like this if one turned around they would suddenly encounter some sort of jumpscare! No way was he taking that risk!

Eventually they reached the basement when Yohan picked up a strange device. He soon shouted the wors 'Gaia' into the air. "What? Was that some sort of magic---" Frederick was about to comment until the device would begin to glow bright and begin to hum. Suddenly the kid in front of him gets pulled into the device and him being second he knew he was next in line. "I was kidding about the Magic wordAGHHHHH!" Frederick exclaimed as he was suddenly lifted off the ground and pulled into the device as well.

The next second he woke up in a basement, was this the same basement that they had just entered...how strange...Urk...this place smelled rather dusty like no one cleaned the place. Man, sometimes people need janitors at their own home. But for the moment, he was now lying on the ground staring at the ceiling. What a day...

He soon took a bite from his burger still clenched in his hands.

Taja just watched the madness around her lay out. Honestly she didn't need to be in the middle of all that, but then there was the strange man to just appear. He looked up Sienna,Rina, and Miranda before his eyes fell on her. They looked her up and down before resting on her thighs. Blushing she screamed, "Pervert!" before hiding fully behind Rina. Her body trembled slightly with anger, why the nerve of some people! All sorts of monsters live here.

She followed Yohan reluctantly to the basement, god only knows the idiot may bring them into a death trap. She almost stopped when she saw the pervert monster go in, but she wanted to go home and if this was the way. She ran down into the portal like contraption and appeared near the perverted monster man. With one swift kick she to the back of his knee she ran to Yohan. If the thing attacks I can use Yohan as a shield and run for it. By the looks of him, he won't last long anyway. Hurry up girls! She thought, hoping the could actually make it out.

Sienna Cartlow

“O… K…” Sienna managed to state as the man known as Frederick Bell introduced himself. A 32 year old weirdo. Either that or one of this world’s denizens doing an extremely poor job of being a normal human being. As his rant continued, Sienna felt the need to interrupt him as her annoyance grew. “We don’t need your life story Fred.” Dismissively shaking her head, she watched with some mild amusement but also concern for the man’s sanity as he proceeded to poke his own eyes with more force than any sane person would do. Turning back to Yohan and the others, it seemed the decision had been to follow the man’s advice and go to his house. Whatever made Yohan and his house special was anyone’s guess, but it wasn’t like she had any better ideas. Briefly looking to Sinopia, it seemed she’d returned to a small feline form, leaping up to perch first on her shoulder, than her hat, causing the top to sag a little in front of her face. Despite a few swipes, Sienna found herself unable to remove the freeloader, and so with a sigh and heavy footsteps, began making her way to follow the others close to the rear.

Travelling was relatively quiet. Perhaps everyone was coming to terms with the changes they’d gone through and fighting the disbelief setting in? Sienna herself still found it hard to believe it was all happening, but her senses told her otherwise. She could feel pain. This wasn’t some dream. It was as Sinopia had said. She had to come to accept a reality different from the one she knew. It was annoying having some smug ass cat on top of her head, but at least the darn thing had proven itself helpful to some extent. It let her fight, and seemed fairly intelligent, even if its dress sense and language was weird. The days of mafia and 80s slang were well gone by this point in time. Still… things could have been much worse.

Looking over to Yohan and listening to the ethereal voice that somehow floated around him, it was clear that his familiar was provoking him in a far different way. It was a little awkward hearing the discussion between the two, if a little trite. Honestly, any person would have a brain would just ignore or not dignify half the comments with a response. At least, she knew she was smart enough to do that. Maybe that was why Sinopia chose not to bother her with all the psychological mumbo-jumbo, and had relegated herself to a physical annoyance and causing minor embarrassment by altering the way she dressed. Having enough tact not to bite on any of the comments made by the demon (Particularly the ones pertaining to her), Sienna simply remained silent for the better part of the journey. She had no intention of making friends with any of these people – Just get home and try and forget this whole thing happened. Though she hadn’t voiced it, she had no intention of coming back here after they were out. She’d had enough of demons, monsters, familiars and all that nonsense for one lifetime.

When they finally came to Yohan’s alternate world basement, it seemed that there was some sort of machine and a bunch of sketches related to it. Curious, Sienna leafed through a few while they plotted their next move, folding a couple up for her pocket before Yohan declared he was ready to give it a go, judging by the vague instructions. It wasn’t like they had many other options, and though Sienna was a little sceptical of how Yohan had both began taking charge and figuring all this out, she didn’t raise any complaints. If he could get them home, that was all she could ask for. The next few moments were a blur of panic and forces beyond comprehension. For a moment, her body was filled with a wrenching feeling as she was dragged forward, the g-forces making her feel ill before she tumbled free and onto the floor in… Well, another basement. At least this one didn’t smell like a dilapidated shithole.

“Well, fuck me dead. We’re alive and I assume back on our Earth.” Sienna commented as she managed to drag herself back to her feet. To her relief, she was back to the clothes she had prior to leaving, as that would have been an awkward walk home. “I’d say it’s been fun, but it really hasn’t. I’m heading home to… to…” All of a sudden, it felt like she was taking that magical portal again. The room was spinning and sucking her in, and she could barely keep her footing. In fact, she didn’t. Moments later she hit the floor by the stairs in an unconscious daze as the fatigue hit her all at once. Sienna was already pretty lazy, so that sort of exhaustion meant she fell asleep almost immediately in spite of her best efforts.