Taja Ondine Halterman's Story

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. 

Taja glared at the perverted man in front of her, she wasn't about to fall asleep in the same room as that man. She was extremely tired and if she didn't act fast she would fall asleep right where she was, which was in direct view of the perverted man. Everyone had passed out including the Great Yohan himself. "Loser." She whispered.

Wobbling towards the stairs she climbed each one with the last big of energy she had before opening the door and rolling into a seemingly hall and closing the door behind her. She had made it, her eyes barely opened. Raising her hand to her shoulder she gave herself a job-well-done pat right before falling asleep pressed against the closed door.

If someone was to try and open the door, say by the perverted man, than she would be awakened and ready to fight off the attacker.

---

---

Taja woke up in a large pink room and lined up along the walls were tables covered in grey sheets and on top of it was plated of food. Hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, and more! Her mouth watered just looking at it. She hadn't eaten since she the morning she heard the voices. Her brows furrowed, if she would have just stayed home and called her mother about the voices in her head, then none of the events would have happen.

"Momma is probably sick with worry right now and what about daddy?" She said to herself, though in the middle of the room was Sienna pigging out on plates of food. Her face twisted with disgust. "Just what can't you shove down your throat?" She asked the dream Sienna. She just looked up at Taja, her expression blank and she kept shoving food down her throat.

Shivers ran down her back as she moved away from her and towards one of the tables. A sigh read ALL YOU CAN EAT! on it. Well she was hungry and if it was free she might as well. Taking a plate she started to fill it up with hot dogs, a hamburger, some fries, a donut, some gummy worms, and headed to a safe spot away from the lifeless expression of Sienna.

She took a bite of the hamburger and squealed with delight, "Sew gewd!" In six bites she was done with the burger, she understood why Sienna was eating it as fast as she could. The food was amazing! She watched as Sienna got up and grabbed two more plates and return to the place she was at. Taja counted the plates that were stacked in next to Sienna. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Oh there are some more behind her." Taja leaned over, "eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen! How is she eating that much? And why isn't she stopping?"

A voice from under one of the tables could be heard, "Well you see, she is just a pig. Though her thighs aren't as gre-" Taja had shoved her plate into the perverted man's face.

"What are you doing here?! Get out! Get out! GET OUT!" She had kicked him back under the table and ran over towards Sienna. "We have to go! Stop eating!" She screamed as she shook the expressionless red head. Sienna did nothing but eat and look up at her. Taja took a deep breath and slapped Sienna's face. "WAKE UP!" But to no avail she kept eating.

Behind Sienna two doors appeared, one red and one blue. She looked behind her and the perverted man was smiling at them in a very creepy way. She grabs Sienna's hand and runs towards the red door. Behind her the perverted man danced with a broom after them. "Come back my lovely ladies!"

Frederick simply lay on his back and ate his burger in thought. What was he going to do now?...Well he cant just walk back home right now. What if someone sees an unknown man walk out of their neighbors house? What would he tell the police? "Hello officer! This seems to be a mistake, I was inside a parrallell dimension and then appeared in this hous's basment after a teen grabbed a strange device and said magic words!" They would think he was a mad man! He did not need to read books, or watch cartoons to know this was a very bad idea.

Once Frederick finished his burger he soon sat up. Well...there were two teens sleeping in a dark and decrepit basment...which was also dusty he had to add. Well, this was a house...must have a bed somewhere...With a shrug and flex of the arm. He lifted Yohan over one shoulder and Sienna over the other shoulder. And they say Janitor work did not build some muscle. Well he was proving them all wrong! Like...right this instant even though no one was here to look at his acomplishment.

The man easily noted the little girls missing person. He just guessed she had found a secure place away from him. Come of Frederick! Even though a human with horns and a tail are almost impossible...now a girl thinks your a pervert...well, what could he do? He just drew comics and manga, cooked food food and cleaned house very well...man...this kinda stinked but maybe he dould make this up!....somehow!...

With a simple shrug Frederick climbed the stairs from the basment into the house above. There might be a few rooms with beds right? Well...they could be locked for starters, I mean how easy would it be if he placed his hand on a doorknob and...twisted...and...it opened...

How...covinent! The room led to a single bed which looked like someones personal room. Well he plopped Yohan right in bed and pulled the sheets over him. Then after looking around the house descovering almost every other area in the process, he soon found another empty room and got Sienna tucked in...

Now what? He had nothing to...Oh! Thats right! This house was dusty! And dirty! He was going to clean this place up! Easily grabbing a broom and with a mop and a bucket of cleaning water. He got to work cleaning this house at a quick pace. "A janitors work is never done!...maybe I should cook some food afterwards...yeah...more burgers sounds nice..." He nodded ro himself as he dleaned the house.

Shiro and Yohan traveled along a set of stone stairs. With each step they took, the spiraling motion they underwent as they ascended upward messed with Yohan's mind. How could the place have been built and yet he could only see the same pattern over and over again? How could he not see any differences in the steps when he could see things like cracks in them? Perhaps they were minor things to complain about, but to him it was like a bad itch that just wouldn't go away.

It finally came to an end when they ascended up to the top of one of the castle's towers. Seeing the castle itself like this struck Yohan in a way only his body seemed to recall, a feeling of overwhelming excitement that made him want to see the castle in full. His attention quickly was drawn back to Shiro when he pointed out towards the land around the castle. When Yohan rushed over to where Shiro stood, the excitement was quickly gone and replaced with horror.

Barren. It was a barren wasteland that surrounded the castle. Not a single fire to light up the land, not a single plant could grow here, not a single sign of life was here. "Why?" Yohan spoke with a growing despair to his tone. "Why is it like this?"

"This is the struggle everyone eventually faces. Ruin, Desolation, Destruction, Death, Despair, Madness, Agony. This is the world outside of this castle now."

"But... How could it have gotten to this point?" Yohan's question forced Shiro to inhale greatly before releasing it slowly. The expression on Shiro's face showed the pure sorrow he held for his next words.

"Because hope dies out. When hope dies out, one loses the will to fight. When one loses this will, they want only the end. This is that end now, creeping it's way into the mind and infecting everything around it with corruption. If nothing is done, there will only be nothing. This castle is the last stronghold against this nothing. When this castle falls, death will come."

"What... What can I do about it?" Yohan turns his head to look at Shiro, who's eyebrows rose before quickly lowering as his eyes closed.

"Believe. You must believe." These words left Yohan confused, yet when he went to speak, everything became blurry to his sight. He felt tired, his eyes closing as his mind drifted off.

---

Back we shall go, for all of you connected. The feeling of shared bonds shall pass on similar feelings. A tightening grip of visions shall now take hold for this point of time!

The loud noise of thunder caused his eyes to open, if it weren't for his helmet rain would be dripping all over his face. He rose up from the ground to find he laid upon grass, his body shaking with upmost fright! His head felt foggy, his chest heavy with fear, while his skin crawled with pain that cut deep into his soul. A terrible night had striked his home, and only he had lived to tell the tale.

His body shot up to rise, quick with adrenaline, as a storm rained down upon his armor. The heavy force of rain clashed with his armor, an eerie darkness tried to cut off his sight! With his newfound energy, he pushed himself up to his feet to look for his parent's castle. Alas, with a flash of lightning and a roar of thunder, he had found his home. The darkness was not there merely for looks, it had somehow creeped it's way to the physical realm!

The castle he once called home had now been consumed, the darkness before him reeked of something born of wicked desire. Visions struck through his mind of how he had been inside the castle, of how he had traversed his way through it and saw the fallen bodies of his comrades before it appeared. The sudden darkness that had consumed his home had now latched itself onto the castle, everything inside was more than likely lost. Within minutes, the sound of horses came in the distance, the knight looking over to see his friends approaching his position. Someone had found him, and that could only mean more disaster awaited him.

"My prince, thank the gods you survived!" One of his fellow knights spoke up, with all of the horses stopping before him. "Thy castle was attacked by a wicked force of magic! Where is his Majesty?!"

"I cannot say." The prince said. "I did not see him come out. I, too, had thought myself consumed."

"Thou mustn't speak lies, m'lord!" The knight proclaimed with disbelief. "No man could hath survived from within!"

"'Tis only the truth I speak! I was within, and here I stand before thee! Would thou question me in a moment of crisis?!"

"T'was not my intention, but that would make thee the first man to hath survived! This evil has spread throughout the lands, m'lord! Our forces dwindle each time we attack! This could very well spell the end if his Majesty truly is dead!"

"There is a way, but thou would hast to take me to a wizard!"

"Hath thou lost thy mind?! Wizards hath brought nothing but misfortune upon the lands! What makes thou think any wizard can be trusted?!"

"This one owes me a favor, and I intend to find out from him the truth of this evil! If my father truly is dead, he will know. I will ride alone if I must, but either way I am seeing this wizard!"

---

Yohan's eyes slowly opened as his eyes narrowed. He could hear it raining, again with this huh? He reached out slowly and grabbed hold of the time near his bed, his eyes shifting tiredly to look over at it. Eight A.M. huh? That was unusually early for him. Oh well, he could at least get people out of his house so he could go back to sleep. He already heard the noise of something moving about, no doubt it was that weird adult they had met before.

He got up to his feet and walked out to the living room, as he did so, he heard the sound of a television already playing. His eyes slowly narrowing until he walked out into the living room to fully see and hear it. "Yesterday afternoon saw a terrible tragedy." The news was on, and they were talking about yesterday of all things? "A model crashed her car and died immediately upon impact. Police suspected her ex-boyfriend Richard Leonard to be behind the case, however when coming to his home for questioning, they found Richard nowhere to be found."

Wait a minute, yesterday, accident... No, it couldn't be. They were talking about that lady who just crashed and died before they were sent off?! No, he had to calm down, he was overthinking this. He still couldn't entirely believe that everything yesterday was connected, it had to be just coincidental. "Richard Leonard, known by some as Little Ricky, is the son to Walter Leonard, the very same wealthy man who owns Leonard Industries. Richard has been known from an early age for getting into trouble and if found linked to this new murder, could find himself arrested for the last time."

"In other news, five individual's suddenly vanished yesterday without a word. How do we know this? Well, let's now go over to the man who was called in to start the investigation." Yohan had to sit down for this, he had a feeling he knew exactly what was going to happen next. Sure enough, a man wearing a large coat appeared on the television screen.

"This isn't the first time I've been called in for this. Lately, groups of people seem to be going missing like these five from Timberland. A man in a nearby town also went missing, we got reports of him heading off to work when people say he just suddenly never turned up to it." Yohan's mind turned to the man he had seen getting devoured last night. It had to have been him, someone who looked ready to go to work suddenly being attacked. This was starting to make his head hurt, if only he knew how that device in his basement worked!

"We couldn't get anything positive until we discovered another unfortunate accident. Sadly, there was another crash sometime last night, and it took the life of yet another person. Luckily, what we could find left lead us to find out it was a person linked to one of the five who went missing." Another crash, another death. Unfortunate, perhaps they'll go more into this second crash when they aren't so focused on the missing people.

"So where did this lead you next?" A woman's voice asked the man with the large coat.

"Well, we were able to find out about a girl named Sienna Cartlow. Wouldn't you know it, she was supposed to be at work only to dissapear just like the man in the other town. Through this, we were able to get into contact with a man, who you'll hear from later when the second crash comes up." This wasn't looking good to Yohan, how the heck would the others react to hearing this?

"So I hear you worked all night to find out where Sienna had last been seen, is that correct?"

"Yes, it is. We found ourselves going to Timberland Gym, where some passerby's who had seen the crash had apparently spotted a woman who fit Sienna's description. We don't know exactly why she went there, but if my assumption is correct, she was snatched up with the others and taken away. This is where we found out about the other four, and that's where we stand now. Two people dead, five missing. I had heard the crime rate with this town had gone up recently, but to think things would all come together like this here is unfortunate."

"I'd just like to personally thank you for all of your hard work in discovering this." The man with the large coat gives a quick nod to this.

"Well, it wasn't just me, you know. We had parents to a little kid who kept calling us, asking where their daughter had gone. We had some school staff members who told us of a man who went missing and just left his keys strangely out in the front. The owner of the Timberland Gym suddenly going missing when she had last been seen there and not going home. And, of course, the helpful young man who helped us out with the second crash incident."

"Thank you again for all that you have done in this. Now, we will present picture ID's of the five missing individual's with the names of each. We can only hope that the worst hasn't come for them and that they are all still safe."



"Rina Jasmine. Sienna Cartlow. Taja Halterman. Miranda Wallace. And Frederick Bell. See, I told you we'd find out who they were." The man sitting next to Ricky spoke out, giving a devilish grin to him. Ricky just kind of gave an awkward stare while continuing to eat for the first time today.

"Well, well, well. You said it, and it happened. Wow, sir, how did you ever do that?" Ricky gave a taunting chuckle to follow. "But seriously, how did you do it so fast? People shouldn't of given these punks five seconds."

"I told you, Ricky, I have ears and eyes in the best places. I knew people connected to them wouldn't resist hearing that someone important to them had gone missing. If that second crash had never happened, we would of never been able to confirm a connection. Poor girl apparently went out searching last night for her friend, and ended up dead instead. Lucky for us, since we would of had to deal with her if she got too close."

"Haha, I know exactly what happened to that girl!" The Djinn couldn't help but give a sinister laugh. "I ain't telling you buttheads though, it's going to be my little secret." Another chuckle to annoy Ricky, who raised his arm and swung it through the demon to swat him away for a bit like a fly. The food was just too damn good to waste with such an annoying loudmouth to spoil it.

"So what do you want me to do about it? If they go home, that's the end of the story right? Nothing can be done then!"

"You underestimate our power, Ricky. We have roots deep within the world of Gaia. Think about it, Timberland is a dump of a town! Nobody cares about some little place that just barely got put on the map. The only reason the news is even like this today is because we demanded it to be as such! You already saw yesterday first hand what this power can do when you put your mind to it. Tomorrow, you will begin searching for these intrusive little brats."

"Oi, you ask a lot out of me, you old man. How am I going to find them among so many?"

"Oh, don't you worry Ricky, they stick out like a sore thumb, just as you do now. They have only just begun to live a life of fear, we will have answers out of them yet. And if they are the sources we picked up on last night, well... We'll just have to take care of them, won't we?" A sinister laugh escaped the man as he stood up and walked over to a window.

"Sure, as long as you keep your word to give me Timberland to do with as I please." The Djinn flew back over near Ricky and gave a sinister grin upon his words. "I'm going to have fuuuuuuun~"

A sudden crash was heard Somewhere in the house as the resident werewolf awoke from her sleep, flinging whatever was on top of her off of her body and onto the ground. Sitting up she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, her Demon staring at her as it lay next to her, like a lover from a one night stand. "Here you are, in the house of a young man, and you're not going to take advantage of that?"

Silence.

"Oh come on, you haven't done anything fun in a long time." Again, silence. "Raid the pantry at least? Fucks sake Miranda you've gotten boring....and you smell." it was that that merited a response. A Grunt in the affirmative. Of course, the noses of mere humans, magical or not now, wouldn't be able to detect the smell that Miranda and her Demon could pick up, but it was time for a shower regardless.

Standing with a grunt, she stretched out her tall, muscular body, bones and joints cracking in relief as she did so. Walking out to the living room, where Yohan watched the news, the woman grunted and leaned against the wall. "Yo....boy....Yohan, whatever your name is....you got a shower and some extra clothes for me to wear till I can get home?" She asked, looking at the boy with lazy, but still predatory, piercing eyes.

Frederick crossed his arms together as he looks over at his finished masterpiece. A now clean house! Not a speck of dust left, every item organized and it smells clean and not dusty anymore! Heck, the basement was so clean you could hold a skating ring down there!...it would be wise to actually not try skating down there actually, its just very clean and you would just likely fall down...

Well with a whole house clean...now what? Oh yeah! Breakfast or...something...eh, everyone likes bacon. Unless they were vegetarian. Or hates bacon in the first place...Alright he should just cook the bacon. Heading to the kitchen and basically raiding Yohan's fridge, Frederick took out a tray of bacon and began to fry it on a frying pan because what else would he use? His coat? Nah, that would catch on fire and that would be bad!

Food for Six maybe? Some people might have more appetite than others though...Eh...Cook the whole tray of bacon! That will solve the problem. Wait a second...forget just bacon! He would fire up another spot on the stove and Raid Yohan's fridge again and get out a few trays ground beef. He was making some burgers! Because burgers were awesome and delicious!

Frederick whistled to himself as he began to mix the ground beef with some spice and bread crumbs giving it that extra crunch when people bit into it. A few eggs to loosen it up a bit and presto he made himself some meat patties. He soon threw that on the frying pan after spraying it with a non-stick spray and whistled to himself as he cooked. The smell of food filling the house.

Eh...He'll pay back whoever owned this house...Wait? Why was he just raiding someone's fridge to cook?...Ah who cares! He was going to pay them back with money so in a sense...he was just cooking food like normal, he just had to pay for another persons groceries instead of his own groceries.

Rina listened to Fredrick, her face growing more drawn the longer he spoke. Oh, hell, maybe he'd be easier to deal with tomorrow? His observation of her outfit made her uncomfortable, especially as she became more aware of her bare midriff. She'd never liked her stomach on the best of days, but now..."Cool," she said once he had wound down and Sienna had made her comments. "I'm Rina."
She rubbed the back of her neck, watching the others follow Yohan out. It didn't take long for her to decide to tag along as well. She didn't know what else to do. Besides, judging by Yohan's waving around and the vague sounds of voices, it looked like he might need the company.

The walk passed uneventfully enough and she scampered up the stairs into the "house" as quickly as she could, praying that the insides would be safe. As her eyes adjusted, though, she noticed sketches and words all over the walls. A shiver ran down her spine. Worse for her, she was hardly paying attention to Yohan, bizarre behavior seeming normal coming from him. The stairs and door snapped shut, bringing forth immediate panic that sparked in the back of her neck. She nearly cried when she felt herself being pulled into the wall with the others, but she heard her demon speaking in her ear.
"Don't worry, kiddo," it said. "I'm not going to let you die now."
And as it turned out, she didn't have long to be frightened: soon enough, the bizarre feeling of being transported wore off and she found herself in a strange room. Common sense would dictate Yohan's house.
Rina plopped down on the floor and pulled out her phone, leaning her back against a wall. She fought to stay awake as she texted her uncle, telling him that she was safe, but before she could finish, she dosed off.

In the morning, she woke feeling stiff and sick. It took her a moment to get her bearings, but the momentary panic made her more alert. She stretched, checked the time and started up the stairs. Her leg caught her attention, warped by the pact with her demon. Well, now she knew it wasn't all a dream.
Rina followed the sound of the television to the lounge. She looked from Miranda, to Yohan, to Sienna crying on the floor. Then she caught Sienna's name on the TV. Between that and the headline at the bottom of the screen, she put two and two together and backed out to head to the kitchen.

Taja woke up, the noises from television causing her to slowly sit up. She was away from the door. She was to hungry to care at the moment though. Standing up she followed the smell of food till she reached where the television was. Some people were missing and there in the photo of people were her. Her family had to be worried.

"Of course they are, they probably fired your stupid nanny too. Way to go, Taja. The great Taja. The Sweet Taja." Elsworth had appeared out of nowhere, standing next to her like he somehow belonged there. Her tiny hands curled up into a fist.

"Why can't you just leave me alone. Obviously you aren't wanted." She turned away from him and walked into the kitchen. It smelled really good, her mouth watered, and her stomach growled. In a low voice she asked, "Hey, Pervert Man, when will the food be ready? I would like to go home as soon as possible."

---

---

Cayson laid in bed staring up at his action picture poster on his ceiling. He wasn't supposed to have anything on there, but his parents never looked up to see it. It had been a month so far. Yesterday he had went over to Taja's house to see her, but there were cop cars. He figured that something serious was going so he ended up at the park with a few friends. His friend, Gregory, told them that he overheard his mom telling his dad that Taja had went missing and that there was a note from her saying that she had went to the store, but that she never returned.

When he heard the news he was angry. Who could have taken his Taja? Whoever it was was going to get a fist to their face. Rolling out of bed he got dressed and headed down to the kitchen where his mother was cooking for everyone. The news was on and he wouldn't have paid attention if it wasn't for Taja's picture on the screen. So Gregory's mom was right. He shoved some bacon into his mouth and grabbed a toast before sliding his back pack on and heading towards the door.

"Where do you think you are going?" His mother said.

Cayson swallowed his bite and smiled, "Out."

"Not till you brush your teeth." She said sternly, not even looking up at him.

"But I did already!" He whined.

"Mind coming over here to let me smell your breath?" She asked, smiling up at him now.

He grumbled, running upstairs to brush his teeth before running with the toast in his mouth out the door.

I will find you, Taja. Don't be too scared. He thought as he ran towards the closest store to Taja's house.

Starting Off Good

"At last, I have ascended up in the world." Ricky said as they walked down some stairs to get to a Gateway to prepare for tomorrow. "My place is here, among the strong, among the elite, among the great! I, Ricky, am going to show this world who is boss! I will be the one who will be remembered for a great new era in humanity's history! I will --"

"Little Ricky had a little lamb!" The Djinn interrupted. Ricky stopped to give him a quick glare before looking forward to resume walking.

"I will march upon the bodies of my fallen enmies! With this power, I am --"

"Little Ricky had a shortcoming!" The Djinn interrupted again. Ricky stopped and gave him a very annoyed expression before taking in a deep breath and shaking his head.

"Ahem... I am the harold of chaos, of darkness, of hatred, of sin! And then, and only then, shall I look upon the sky and declare --"

"I'M LITTLE RICKY! I compensate for my little dick by making up stupid bullcrap!"

"SHUT! UP!" Ricky turned and glared darkly at the Djinn.

"Okay, okay, I will." The Djinn held up it's hands and shook them briefly.

"That's better..." Ricky raised his head and closed his eyes, puffing out his chest as he gripped his jacket with both hands. "I look upon the sky and declare --" He turned to look at the Djinn, who said nothing. "And declare...." He watched him carefully, slowly turning back forward before smirking. "And declare --"

"I. LIKE. DIIIICCCKKKSSS!!!!" The Djinn burst out with laughter as it spun around Ricky.

"RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Ricky was overwhelmed by rage, swiping his arms furiously at the demon as his face went red with pure rage, you could almost see the smoke coming from his ears. "I'LL KILL YOU, I'LL FRIKKING KILL YOU!!! GET BACK HERE, YOU SON OF A WHORE!!! GOD DAMMIT!!!!!"

"Aaww, is that any way to treat your betters?" The Djinn slipped itself through a wall, Ricky pounding his fists on it repeatedly in frustration.

"COWARD!!!" Ricky began slamming his head on the wall, only for his eyes to widen as The Djinn poked it's head back out, but now twisted and malformed.

"Boo~"

"WURAAAHH!!!" Ricky fell back and fumbled about like a scared little child. The Djinn slipped back fully into the room and laughed hysterically at Ricky fumbling about.

"Ah, I'm just pushing you, kiddo. You talking in a loud speech to purposely annoy me is one thing though." The Djinn shrugged as he began to float forward. "C'mon! Those kids make you look like a pussy!"



It didn't take long for people to come out, almost as if all at once. It was unusual, really. It had been so long since he had bothered to pay attention to actual groups of people, sure there was school, but he had zoned out more often than not. Life had changed itself in one single day, and today felt like it could all go wrong. "Come back here tomorrow night." The man's voice came back to him, it felt like it had just been a few minutes ago he was talking to the strange man.

Why should he bother, none of them had any real reason to -- "Because you are now targets." He put his hand on his head. "If I could feel your power, what would a person with actual harmful intentions do?" They could be sensed? By who, when, how close did they have to be, what special conditions had to be met?! "There are people with this power on Earth that have connections, some darker than others." They are... living among us? Living as common people?! "They could easily find you and your family or friends if they so wished it." ... What time did they have to meet him again? "Eleven PM."

He heard Miranda call out to him and he got up to his feet, looking over at her. She still had that same look from yesterday in her eyes, even if it seemed more hidden today. "Yeah, I do." He spoke up. "It's not that far up the stairs. Second door to the right. There's some unused clothes in the third door to the left, nobody cared for those clothes anyway." He wasn't going to follow her up those stairs, he felt unsafe around her. Maybe it was because of yesterday, or maybe it was multiple things. Whatever the case, the appearance of her inner demon last night meant she could be trouble.

By the sounds of it, and the looks of the entire bloody place being cleaned from head to toe, Frederick was currently making something in the kitchen. For some reason, it made Yohan think he was the perfect fit for the old definition for a housewife. Suddenly, Sienna was throwing things like left and right, holy balls! He had to duck to avoid the picture as his eyes shifted to Sienna and stared at her for a little while as if she was about to do something again. Luckily she didn't, but it was obvious what was going on the television right now was upsetting her. He started to feel bad for her, he wanted to say something to her, but she began to walk without another look or word. It was probably better not to say something anyway, he didn't want anymore stuff being thrown around.

He could hear more movement in the house, but it didn't sound like anymore trouble was going to happen. He walked over to the painting she threw and picked it up, looking over at the picture. Yohan, five years old, with his parents. All of them were smiling, Yohan looked like he was so happy, his parents looked so satisfied here. Ten years already, huh? Time sure flies by when you are lost. He would have to fix it later, it was the last thing he had left to remember his parents by. Placing the broken picture on a desk, he decided to pick up the broken pieces of the things Sienna threw, being careful not to stab or cut himself as he sighed. He'd have to get a bag to get rid of the broken mess later.

Yohan decided to experiment with something, looking to fingers on his right hand and focusing on them. He walked over to the nearest wall and tapped it lightly with the tips of his fingers, but nothing happened. It couldn't work with this? He looked over to the television. "Oh, that'll do." He pressed the tips of his fingers on it as he focused. Sure enough, the sound began to change to a certain rhythm instead of the news talking about typical news stuff. He couldn't help but smile a little, his spark was back and he wasn't about to let some corrupted people scare him down. He walked over to the window and stared outside of it, tapping his foot to the beat playing from his television, though none of the lyrics were actually being sung.

---

Ricky stopped once he was back home and pulled out some headphones, putting them on and plugging them in as he began to walk, hands in his pockets as he began to move his body side to side with the beat he heard. The Djinn stared at him curiously, unable to hear the beat, but shrugged. He taps Ricky's shoulder and motions for him to speak out the lyrics, to which Ricky shrugged and decided that was fine. No harm in doing it, right? After all, the demon and him had been working together just fine so far, why not?

---

"You think you got your game planned out?" Yohan started, boping his head to the beat. "To a T. Yet I'm two steps ahead yeah."

---

"So you step into my way, stand down. It's a trap, one more step, and you're dead (yeah you're dead.)" Ricky continued.

---

"Why just a picosecond ago, clear blue skies, but now lightning's struck your last resolve." Yohan picked it up.

---

"It's not an accident that no one hears your cries, as your last strength seems to dissolve." Ricky finished.

[ALL TOGETHER NOW!]

"You'll never see it co-miiinnnngg!"

As Frederick was finishing up his cooking, a sudden crashing noise made him jump a bit. "Oh come on! I just cleaned the whole place..." He sighed to himself as he turned off the fire meaning he was now done cooking.

"Why must you clean up another persons mess? Obviously whatever happened it was the fault of someone else, you should let them do it instead of just paradeing yourself through filth and muck." The voice in his head spoke. To this he had an argument for.

"Wanna know why? That's because I get paid to clean up messes! Just like my dad before me he was possibly the greatest janitor that ever lived! He was the most amazing father I could ask for so I will follow in his steps. Of course a disembodied voice has no use for money because you probably don't need to eat. And you seem to not need any place to sleep in. heck, you might be mooching off in my mind right now and chilling like a moocher you moocher!" Frederick spoke firmly as he began to plate the hamburger.

"Me?...a moocher...and...forget it for now then..." The voice decided to give up this battle for now. Obviously, this man has something wrong in the head.

"Hey, Pervert Man, when will the food be ready? I would like to go home as soon as possible." A small voice spoke, directed at him. Only one certain girl called him a pervert...And her insult was upgraded! That was mean...Frederick sighed but regained his smile as he began to stack burgers on a massive tray. "They are all cooked to perfection! A stove cooked meat patty! A nice small stack of bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and a nice homemade Barbeque sauce! I call it the Texas Burger! Fit for any burger lover! Breakfast!...Lunch...Dinner? Forget it! Foods ready!" Frederick raised a fist in the air as he laughed proudly at the twenty burgers he had cooked.

"Have thou sinned now? Its not enough that you degrade yourself for meager janitorial work but now being perverted to the younger generation. How low can a human go I wonder?..." The voice spoke.

"Well excuse me random disembodied voice! I am neither a Pedophile nor pervert! I happen to look at the tail growing out of her back, and my eyes noticed her thighs. Have you seen a child's thigh that thick? I Don't think so whatever you are! I looked for a total of two seconds, that's it. And for your information if I was lonely I would find a girl that would like to get with a janitor cook comic writer! Thank you very much!" Frederick spoke in his own head as he gave a huff before he nabbed himself a burger and bit into his hard cooked meal.

Delicious!

"And now you are deluding yourself...One must---"

"Hush nwow! Ish fwood twime! Shve complicwtd twlk fer lwter!" Frederick spoke in a mouthful as he happily ate.

Miranda let out a small grunt as Yohan showed her where the shower was, and told her that there were fresh clothes in another room. Moving to the third room, she quickly found a set of clothing that would fit her; some leggings, a tank-top, and a hoodie. Folding them and then grabbing a towel before moving into the bathroom and locking the door, the werewolf proceeded to strip as she waited for the water to heat up.

She was quiet, staring at her body in the mirror. She wasn't overly-proud of her toned, muscular body, but she wasn't ashamed either. She looked good, and she appreciated it. Biting her bottom lip she shifted her hip to one side, thinking about the events that had just transpired. Another world, hell-hound things....a new power, and a demon following her around, doing lewd things in the corner of her eye.

Waving the sight out of the way, Miranda growled softly and stepped into the shower. She wouldn't linger however, taking only perhaps seven minutes to wash her body and rinse her hair before turning off the water and stepping out of the shower, grabbing a towel and drying herself quickly and effectively. Grabbing the clothes she'd found, she put them on, leaving the bathroom with the hoodie draped over one arm, and the towel rummaging through her hair to dry it, but otherwise in a kind of provocative outfit until she put the hoodie on over the thin tank-top.

Sighing she licked her lips at the smell of the food the man in the kitchen was cooking, and was drawn to the kitchen to wait until it was finished. Once it was, she wasted no time in picking up two fully stacked burgers and a plate before sitting at the table, and eating quickly, her canines flashing themselves into view every time she went to take a bite of the burger. Large, sharp, and intimidating, it only solidified the fact that she wasn't human.

Her phone went off. Standing, she quickly found it and answered it with a loud, almost growling huff. Her father was on the other line. "I'm fine. Yes, fine. No, I didn't officially leave. I'll explain when I see you again." there was a pause as her father lectured her about staying on duty even if no one showed up to work out. "I know, Father...look, it's something you need to hear to understand. I'll be home soon." Another lecture. "Understood, Father.....Yes....Okay. Goodbye." she hung up and a low growl rumbled from her throat before she sighed and turned back to the table, moving to finish her food.

She looked straight at Yohan, knowing he'd heard some part of her conversation, it would be impossible for everybody to not hear anything, she spoke loudly and clearly, yet for such a strong voice, it had an almost...beautiful quality to it, one that made people want to listen to her speak. Either way, she needed a car and to know where she was, as was the question in her eyes as she looked to Yohan, expecting him to know what she wanted based on how her own family spoke in person with each other.