The Misfits had been stuck in the sub-realm for two days by now. Lia called a meeting just after another bout of darkness receded. When everyone arrived at the top floor, she looked at them seriously before explaining.
"Five-hour intervals."
"..." They looked at each other before it clicked in their heads.
"I was keeping track and watching." Lia continued, "The lightning comes down every five hours. The worse thing is, every time it appears, the dragon looks more stable, more nimble, and remains active for a longer period of time than before that."
"It is powering up." Rinzen and Simbad said simultaneously.
"Most likely." She nodded, "So we either wait until it gets strong enough, go out, and then we follow it from behind."
"And watch it destroy everybody out there?" Keily asked, sounding like that was not even an option for him.
"I don't like that choice either," Lia answered, looking into his eyes. "But it is the safest one."
"..."
"If you say it like that, you already have another idea." Aurora wrote, knowing her sister well.
"Yes. It is in the core region." She pointed behind her shoulder towards the giant buildings on the horizon. "Those have to have more function than being… buildings. The lightning bolts always hit them in order. If we can disturb it, let's say, demolish one that ought to affect the dragon."
"You realized how big those things are, no?" Raufon asked, "Even if we get there, they ought to be way bigger than we think… how are we going to topple one?"
"My magic can freeze it. Probably. With all of us working together, we could weaken its base so it collapses. It has to be old; who knows how ancient! Whatever thing protected it once ought to be defective by now!"
"I can also help with freezing it. Then you could reheat it quickly; that would likely crush it." Rinzen nodded, watching Keily, Sion, and Simbad. "A focused light beam can be just as hot as pure fire."
"We can give it a try." Sion said, musing, "It is better than just sitting here."
"So… are we going towards the Core Region then?" Ceiline asked with a soft sigh.
"We are." Lia nodded, "We could wait it out… but if we have a chance to stop it before it takes the lives of who knows how many people… we are obliged to try and do it! Questions?"
"When are we going?" Kiely asked, ready to go, and he was not disappointed.
"Now. We have two hours before it wakes up again. We need to get close and find a place to hide while it makes its round."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Raufon asked, and with that, they were off.
On the way, at every junction they turned left or right, Ceiline left behind a peashooter, hidden, making sure they would have something to follow back and a line that would warn them in time if something happened. Heading deeper and deeper into the Inner Region, the buildings became taller and taller and soon they were surrounded with only 4 and 5-story high buildings. Their bottom floors were clearly old shops, workshops, and who knows what else because, by now, nothing really remained, only the skeletons of furniture.
"It is a bit… claustrophobic," Keily said, looking up at the tall buildings. Walking under their shades was nerve-wracking, especially because of the eerie silence. Nothing could be heard but their footsteps as they walked steadily in a row.
"It is outright creepy," Sion commented from behind him. "This was once a bustling city; now it is an undead metropolis. Nothing but a corpse, and we are walking amongst the skeletons of a once thriving place of power. I bet that those who lived here were ruling over a much bigger territory!"
"They were the Heavenly Thunder Sect," Lia said, stopping as everyone looked at her.
"How do you know that?" Rinzen asked, and she waved her hand to gather around, showing her their map. The Core Region's border already showed up on it, and it was clear that some kind of barrier or wall separated it from the rest of the ruins. It was written above it with clear letters, stretching all the way on the map's edges; Heavenly Thunder Sect.
"Never heard of it." Koa mused, thinking a little.
"Me neither." Aurora signed, and slowly, everyone shook their heads.
"Same." Lia sighed, "Also… it is slowly time! Let's try to get into one of the buildings!" She looked around, choosing one at random. Raufon unceremoniously walked to its closed doors before grabbing them, transforming halfway, and ripping them open with a loud clang that echoed far and wide. They stood there a little, listening to the reverbing noise, waiting for it to die down, followed by silence before entering.
This time, it had stairs that led to the higher floors, and they were halfway up when Ceiline's miniature peashooter, sitting on her shoulder, started making noise. The dusk-like weather was still present, so it wasn't the darkness; that could mean only one thing.
"Undead," Simbad said, whispering.
"Up!" Lia nodded with her head, and they quickly disappeared, finding a room with an open door and heading in hurriedly. Rinzen cleaned small spots on the dirty window as they looked around, and sure enough, five minutes later, a group of Undead appeared, walking down the street. They were in a wedge-shaped formation, and the one in the lead was constantly scanning the road from left to right.
"An abnormal one…." Ceiline murmured, recognizing it.
"Quiet…" Lia waved her hand, watching them walk down the street.
They were obviously taking their time, stopping once in a while as the one in the front looked at all the buildings before moving his gaze back to the street. As they watched, the darkness came again, and this time, when the lightning struck the towers, they heard an unnatural, otherworldly sound coming along with it. It was not like electricity but like a wild river rushing past them before disappearing.
The deep, stomach-turning roar of the dragon made the buildings shake, and even the Undead on the streets lost their balance for a moment as it flew up high. None of them said anything; they just remained still and waited, trying to breathe as subtly as possible.
They managed to endure the nerve-wracking hour, especially when the dragon circled above them, and the Undead examined their building. In the end, both left, yet none of the misfits dared to breathe in relief. Not until the dragon came back, landed in the Core Region, and the faint light returned to the Sub-Realm.
"Holy shit…" Koa grumbled, "Are we really going… closer?"
"We have to," Lia whispered, scanning the streets but could not see the Undead patrol. "Come on… We have five hours before it wakes up!"
"And the Undead?" Ceiline asked as they sneaked down from their hiding place.
"We will try to avoid them as long as possible… Who knows what happens if we alert them!"
"They are going to wake up the sleeping dragon," Rinzen added, being sure about it.
…
….
……
Senaita was watching her disciples meditating, waiting for them to refill their energies, when she heard steps coming up on her ziggurat. Looking at the arriving figure of the two outer disciples, she almost shouted at them why they were even there. They were still carrying the filth from their physical form, something that had to be washed out before being truly part of the Soulbound Sect. Coming up to her, they essentially scattered their filth onto her ziggurat.
"What is it?" She asked sharply, walking forward, stopping them from reaching the top. She only tolerated their presence because a Grand Elder brought them here.
"We… Elder… We," The man stuttered, lowering his head, trying to look small in front of her, "When controlling the puppets, they picked up something close to the Core Region. We… investigated the source, but… we couldn't find anything."
"Couldn't do it because there was nothing but a crumbling city or because you are still inadequate in controlling mere husks?" She asked, looking down on them literally and figuratively. They had no real answer to it as they were still getting used to sharing their minds and senses and controlling multiple 'drones' at once. It was extremely disorientating and confusing, feeling like they were in a weird dream. When waking up, many of the disciples were sick and felt like dying, confused… some even mistook their own identities with each other because their consciousness remained entangled.
"We…"
"Continue no further!" She snorted, "It is a crumbling wreck! It was ravaged already in the previous harvest. Continue patrolling, and when we come down again, point us to the zone you identified the disturbance in."
"Yes, Elder!" They bowed, leaving.
"Trash…" She mumbled, before turning back to her disciples, waiting so they could descend once again.
Looking at their calm, meditating faces, she grimaced again, dissatisfied with them too. She hand-picked her disciples, ensuring they were as obedient as possible. Their minds were morphed to her liking, making sure they were subservient to her will. Only that way could she retain her own personality when occupying the body of something like a dragon.
That creature was once a host of immense power and part of an ancient bloodline. The difference in bodies, scale, and the energy needed to make it move was tough to pull off and get used to. Her disciples did nothing but act as batteries while she was maintaining her mind's clarity and ordering the body to move around. Even then, when one of her disciples lost focus, that was enough for foreign thoughts to seep in, disturbing her concentration. When at least half of them were exhausted, controlling the dragon any longer was impossible, and they had to rest. Worse… they were not improving. If there was no change soon and they still failed to cast any spell with the dragon's body, they would have to rely only on its strength.
"I may need to sacrifice some of you…" She thought, watching them kneel around the stone altar. "This is my chance to rise to the rank of Grand Elder… I won't let it slip!"
…
….
……
Back in the sub-realm, the Misfits finally reached the border. It was in the form of an energy wall that looked similar to the one in the Academy surrounding the training fields. Touching it resulted in rejection; no matter what they tried, it did not let them in.
"What now…?" Koa asked, looking at the energy wall with a wary expression. "How are we supposed to go through?"
"Electricity?" Raufon asked, but Keily shook his head.
"I tried. I know not many electric spells yet, but it did not react to those I tried."
"Can't you teleport to the other side?" Sion asked, looking at Lia, who shrugged with a defeated expression.
"No. I can't teleport since coming in… I tried, but because we are sealed off, I can't access No-Space!"
“So… we are stuck…” Aurora signed.
"You need to resonate with it." A shy and timid voice added, scaring all of them.
They only heard the first words when they were already in a battle formation, forming a circle around Lia.
"Wait!" Lia voiced hurriedly, her heart beating in her throat. Hearing that voice, she did not feel the same when she faced the Intelligent Undead. But… it was still giving off a weird aura she was trying to locate.
"For what?" Sion whispered but got no answer.
"There!" Simbad and Lia said simultaneously, pointing towards a crumbled building, and Rinzen had already raised an icy prison around it.
"Don't hurt me!" The voice cried out again, sounding afraid and on the verge of tears.
Walking closer, they finally saw the owner of it. It was a small girl, barely looking more than nine or ten. She wore rugged clothes around her thin, frail body while her rusty-colored hair was very faded. She had big, fox-like ears and a similar tail that was missing patches of fur from it. Her eyes were hidden behind a long strap of cloth wrapped around her head as she crouched there, holding her head, cowering.
"A kid…?" Koa asked, looking confused.
"What are you doing here?" Simbad walked close, watching the suspicious body that was extremely pale.
“I… don’t know…” She replied.
"Convenient," Koa whispered.
"How did you get here?" Simbad continued.
“I… don’t know…”
"Conv-" Koa wanted to repeat it, but Aurora elbowed her. "Same."
"What is your name?" Lia asked this time, and the small girl raised her head, glancing directly at Lia, watching her with covered eyes.
"Rose…"
"At least that is different," Koa murmured.
"She hasn't got the aura of an Undead," Rinzen interjected, maintaining the icy prison. "Neither their smell."
"..." Rose shrunk smaller again, and a flash went in from Simbad's finger, cutting a thin line on her hand as red blood appeared, flowing naturally. "Don't hurt me! Please! I… I am not evil!" She cried, and they could see the strap around her eyes growing wetter and wetter.
"She seems living enough." Simbad nodded, and after Lia considered it a little, with a wave of her hand, Rinzen dispelled her magic. She glanced at Sion and Aurora, and both of them stood ready, watching the small girl, prepared to attack at a moment's notice.
"I won't be bad… I… won’t… Promise… Please…" Rose cried again as if seeing their thoughts. "Please… I want to go… out… The monsters will… find… me…” She said, looking directly at Lia again.
"Why is your eye covered?" She asked instead.
"It is too bright…." At this, the group looked at each other, feeling weird, and Lia furrowed her brows.
"Take it off."
"No…" She murmured.
"Do it," Simbad repeated, his voice stern, and it was clear he won't ask a second time.
This extremely scared Rose, making her whole body shiver.
“You will… kill me…” She sobbed, sounding as if she had already regretted speaking out. She just couldn't help it. They were the first group since a long time ago that appeared here. Since the monsters came.
"We will kill you if you don't," Simbad said, and there was no mistake. His tone told them he would do it.
With trembling hands, Rose reached to her head, and when the strap of dirty cloth fell down, her emerald green eyes were twinkling, just like any Undead's would.
"I am not… one of the… monsters… promise!" She sobbed, squinting at Lia, her eyes watering not just because of her panic but because she was struggling to keep them open and focused.
"What now…?" Koa gulped, feeling sorry for the little fox girl, yet even she suspected something was wrong.
"You know how to go through?" Lia asked.
"Y-yes…" She nodded.
"Can you teach us?"
"..." She was opening her mouth multiple times but couldn't bring herself to say it. Lia already knew she was too afraid to say no to them, so she asked something else.
"Can you bring us over?"
"Y-yes…" She replied with a shaking voice. "You are trying to kill… the monster… I know… where it is. I… saw him fall from the… sky…”
"Bring us to it," Lia said, her voice stern and her mismatched eyes looking into the trembling, green irises of Rose.
The young fox girl hesitated only briefly, but in her eyes, Lia was not just standing there. Her body was mainly invisible to Rose. What she was seeing without her blindfold was a sea of blackness, occupied by bright, warm lights, coming from the Misfits' bodies. It was their souls, pure, uncorrupted, nothing like the greenish, stinking forms of the monsters that arrived a while ago. She instinctively spoke out, seeing hope in them, but now she was unsure. She was afraid that they would kill her… she saw that a few of them would do just that if given the order. Even the one standing straight before her thought about it. Rose could see it as her emerald eyes were blinded to everything except one's soul and their honest thoughts and feelings. She knew if she said no now, she would lose her only option of being saved… and she wanted to be saved. She wanted to leave here…. She wanted to go… home.
The Misfits had been stuck in the sub-realm for two days by now. Lia called a meeting just after another bout of darkness receded. When everyone arrived at the top floor, she looked at them seriously before explaining.
"Five-hour intervals."
"..." They looked at each other before it clicked in their heads.
"I was keeping track and watching." Lia continued, "The lightning comes down every five hours. The worse thing is, every time it appears, the dragon looks more stable, more nimble, and remains active for a longer period of time than before that."
"It is powering up." Rinzen and Simbad said simultaneously.
"Most likely." She nodded, "So we either wait until it gets strong enough, go out, and then we follow it from behind."
"And watch it destroy everybody out there?" Keily asked, sounding like that was not even an option for him.
"I don't like that choice either," Lia answered, looking into his eyes. "But it is the safest one."
"..."
"If you say it like that, you already have another idea." Aurora wrote, knowing her sister well.
"Yes. It is in the core region." She pointed behind her shoulder towards the giant buildings on the horizon. "Those have to have more function than being… buildings. The lightning bolts always hit them in order. If we can disturb it, let's say, demolish one that ought to affect the dragon."
"You realized how big those things are, no?" Raufon asked, "Even if we get there, they ought to be way bigger than we think… how are we going to topple one?"
"My magic can freeze it. Probably. With all of us working together, we could weaken its base so it collapses. It has to be old; who knows how ancient! Whatever thing protected it once ought to be defective by now!"
"I can also help with freezing it. Then you could reheat it quickly; that would likely crush it." Rinzen nodded, watching Keily, Sion, and Simbad. "A focused light beam can be just as hot as pure fire."
"We can give it a try." Sion said, musing, "It is better than just sitting here."
"So… are we going towards the Core Region then?" Ceiline asked with a soft sigh.
"We are." Lia nodded, "We could wait it out… but if we have a chance to stop it before it takes the lives of who knows how many people… we are obliged to try and do it! Questions?"
"When are we going?" Kiely asked, ready to go, and he was not disappointed.
"Now. We have two hours before it wakes up again. We need to get close and find a place to hide while it makes its round."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Raufon asked, and with that, they were off.
On the way, at every junction they turned left or right, Ceiline left behind a peashooter, hidden, making sure they would have something to follow back and a line that would warn them in time if something happened. Heading deeper and deeper into the Inner Region, the buildings became taller and taller and soon they were surrounded with only 4 and 5-story high buildings. Their bottom floors were clearly old shops, workshops, and who knows what else because, by now, nothing really remained, only the skeletons of furniture.
"It is a bit… claustrophobic," Keily said, looking up at the tall buildings. Walking under their shades was nerve-wracking, especially because of the eerie silence. Nothing could be heard but their footsteps as they walked steadily in a row.
"It is outright creepy," Sion commented from behind him. "This was once a bustling city; now it is an undead metropolis. Nothing but a corpse, and we are walking amongst the skeletons of a once thriving place of power. I bet that those who lived here were ruling over a much bigger territory!"
"They were the Heavenly Thunder Sect," Lia said, stopping as everyone looked at her.
"How do you know that?" Rinzen asked, and she waved her hand to gather around, showing her their map. The Core Region's border already showed up on it, and it was clear that some kind of barrier or wall separated it from the rest of the ruins. It was written above it with clear letters, stretching all the way on the map's edges; Heavenly Thunder Sect.
"Never heard of it." Koa mused, thinking a little.
"Me neither." Aurora signed, and slowly, everyone shook their heads.
"Same." Lia sighed, "Also… it is slowly time! Let's try to get into one of the buildings!" She looked around, choosing one at random. Raufon unceremoniously walked to its closed doors before grabbing them, transforming halfway, and ripping them open with a loud clang that echoed far and wide. They stood there a little, listening to the reverbing noise, waiting for it to die down, followed by silence before entering.
This time, it had stairs that led to the higher floors, and they were halfway up when Ceiline's miniature peashooter, sitting on her shoulder, started making noise. The dusk-like weather was still present, so it wasn't the darkness; that could mean only one thing.
"Undead," Simbad said, whispering.
"Up!" Lia nodded with her head, and they quickly disappeared, finding a room with an open door and heading in hurriedly. Rinzen cleaned small spots on the dirty window as they looked around, and sure enough, five minutes later, a group of Undead appeared, walking down the street. They were in a wedge-shaped formation, and the one in the lead was constantly scanning the road from left to right.
"An abnormal one…." Ceiline murmured, recognizing it.
"Quiet…" Lia waved her hand, watching them walk down the street.
They were obviously taking their time, stopping once in a while as the one in the front looked at all the buildings before moving his gaze back to the street. As they watched, the darkness came again, and this time, when the lightning struck the towers, they heard an unnatural, otherworldly sound coming along with it. It was not like electricity but like a wild river rushing past them before disappearing.
The deep, stomach-turning roar of the dragon made the buildings shake, and even the Undead on the streets lost their balance for a moment as it flew up high. None of them said anything; they just remained still and waited, trying to breathe as subtly as possible.
They managed to endure the nerve-wracking hour, especially when the dragon circled above them, and the Undead examined their building. In the end, both left, yet none of the misfits dared to breathe in relief. Not until the dragon came back, landed in the Core Region, and the faint light returned to the Sub-Realm.
"Holy shit…" Koa grumbled, "Are we really going… closer?"
"We have to," Lia whispered, scanning the streets but could not see the Undead patrol. "Come on… We have five hours before it wakes up!"
"And the Undead?" Ceiline asked as they sneaked down from their hiding place.
"We will try to avoid them as long as possible… Who knows what happens if we alert them!"
"They are going to wake up the sleeping dragon," Rinzen added, being sure about it.
…
….
……
Senaita was watching her disciples meditating, waiting for them to refill their energies, when she heard steps coming up on her ziggurat. Looking at the arriving figure of the two outer disciples, she almost shouted at them why they were even there. They were still carrying the filth from their physical form, something that had to be washed out before being truly part of the Soulbound Sect. Coming up to her, they essentially scattered their filth onto her ziggurat.
"What is it?" She asked sharply, walking forward, stopping them from reaching the top. She only tolerated their presence because a Grand Elder brought them here.
"We… Elder… We," The man stuttered, lowering his head, trying to look small in front of her, "When controlling the puppets, they picked up something close to the Core Region. We… investigated the source, but… we couldn't find anything."
"Couldn't do it because there was nothing but a crumbling city or because you are still inadequate in controlling mere husks?" She asked, looking down on them literally and figuratively. They had no real answer to it as they were still getting used to sharing their minds and senses and controlling multiple 'drones' at once. It was extremely disorientating and confusing, feeling like they were in a weird dream. When waking up, many of the disciples were sick and felt like dying, confused… some even mistook their own identities with each other because their consciousness remained entangled.
"We…"
"Continue no further!" She snorted, "It is a crumbling wreck! It was ravaged already in the previous harvest. Continue patrolling, and when we come down again, point us to the zone you identified the disturbance in."
"Yes, Elder!" They bowed, leaving.
"Trash…" She mumbled, before turning back to her disciples, waiting so they could descend once again.
Looking at their calm, meditating faces, she grimaced again, dissatisfied with them too. She hand-picked her disciples, ensuring they were as obedient as possible. Their minds were morphed to her liking, making sure they were subservient to her will. Only that way could she retain her own personality when occupying the body of something like a dragon.
That creature was once a host of immense power and part of an ancient bloodline. The difference in bodies, scale, and the energy needed to make it move was tough to pull off and get used to. Her disciples did nothing but act as batteries while she was maintaining her mind's clarity and ordering the body to move around. Even then, when one of her disciples lost focus, that was enough for foreign thoughts to seep in, disturbing her concentration. When at least half of them were exhausted, controlling the dragon any longer was impossible, and they had to rest. Worse… they were not improving. If there was no change soon and they still failed to cast any spell with the dragon's body, they would have to rely only on its strength.
"I may need to sacrifice some of you…" She thought, watching them kneel around the stone altar. "This is my chance to rise to the rank of Grand Elder… I won't let it slip!"
…
….
……
Back in the sub-realm, the Misfits finally reached the border. It was in the form of an energy wall that looked similar to the one in the Academy surrounding the training fields. Touching it resulted in rejection; no matter what they tried, it did not let them in.
"What now…?" Koa asked, looking at the energy wall with a wary expression. "How are we supposed to go through?"
"Electricity?" Raufon asked, but Keily shook his head.
"I tried. I know not many electric spells yet, but it did not react to those I tried."
"Can't you teleport to the other side?" Sion asked, looking at Lia, who shrugged with a defeated expression.
"No. I can't teleport since coming in… I tried, but because we are sealed off, I can't access No-Space!"
“So… we are stuck…” Aurora signed.
"You need to resonate with it." A shy and timid voice added, scaring all of them.
They only heard the first words when they were already in a battle formation, forming a circle around Lia.
"Wait!" Lia voiced hurriedly, her heart beating in her throat. Hearing that voice, she did not feel the same when she faced the Intelligent Undead. But… it was still giving off a weird aura she was trying to locate.
"For what?" Sion whispered but got no answer.
"There!" Simbad and Lia said simultaneously, pointing towards a crumbled building, and Rinzen had already raised an icy prison around it.
"Don't hurt me!" The voice cried out again, sounding afraid and on the verge of tears.
Walking closer, they finally saw the owner of it. It was a small girl, barely looking more than nine or ten. She wore rugged clothes around her thin, frail body while her rusty-colored hair was very faded. She had big, fox-like ears and a similar tail that was missing patches of fur from it. Her eyes were hidden behind a long strap of cloth wrapped around her head as she crouched there, holding her head, cowering.
"A kid…?" Koa asked, looking confused.
"What are you doing here?" Simbad walked close, watching the suspicious body that was extremely pale.
“I… don’t know…” She replied.
"Convenient," Koa whispered.
"How did you get here?" Simbad continued.
“I… don’t know…”
"Conv-" Koa wanted to repeat it, but Aurora elbowed her. "Same."
"What is your name?" Lia asked this time, and the small girl raised her head, glancing directly at Lia, watching her with covered eyes.
"Rose…"
"At least that is different," Koa murmured.
"She hasn't got the aura of an Undead," Rinzen interjected, maintaining the icy prison. "Neither their smell."
"..." Rose shrunk smaller again, and a flash went in from Simbad's finger, cutting a thin line on her hand as red blood appeared, flowing naturally. "Don't hurt me! Please! I… I am not evil!" She cried, and they could see the strap around her eyes growing wetter and wetter.
"She seems living enough." Simbad nodded, and after Lia considered it a little, with a wave of her hand, Rinzen dispelled her magic. She glanced at Sion and Aurora, and both of them stood ready, watching the small girl, prepared to attack at a moment's notice.
"I won't be bad… I… won’t… Promise… Please…" Rose cried again as if seeing their thoughts. "Please… I want to go… out… The monsters will… find… me…” She said, looking directly at Lia again.
"Why is your eye covered?" She asked instead.
"It is too bright…." At this, the group looked at each other, feeling weird, and Lia furrowed her brows.
"Take it off."
"No…" She murmured.
"Do it," Simbad repeated, his voice stern, and it was clear he won't ask a second time.
This extremely scared Rose, making her whole body shiver.
“You will… kill me…” She sobbed, sounding as if she had already regretted speaking out. She just couldn't help it. They were the first group since a long time ago that appeared here. Since the monsters came.
"We will kill you if you don't," Simbad said, and there was no mistake. His tone told them he would do it.
With trembling hands, Rose reached to her head, and when the strap of dirty cloth fell down, her emerald green eyes were twinkling, just like any Undead's would.
"I am not… one of the… monsters… promise!" She sobbed, squinting at Lia, her eyes watering not just because of her panic but because she was struggling to keep them open and focused.
"What now…?" Koa gulped, feeling sorry for the little fox girl, yet even she suspected something was wrong.
"You know how to go through?" Lia asked.
"Y-yes…" She nodded.
"Can you teach us?"
"..." She was opening her mouth multiple times but couldn't bring herself to say it. Lia already knew she was too afraid to say no to them, so she asked something else.
"Can you bring us over?"
"Y-yes…" She replied with a shaking voice. "You are trying to kill… the monster… I know… where it is. I… saw him fall from the… sky…”
"Bring us to it," Lia said, her voice stern and her mismatched eyes looking into the trembling, green irises of Rose.
The young fox girl hesitated only briefly, but in her eyes, Lia was not just standing there. Her body was mainly invisible to Rose. What she was seeing without her blindfold was a sea of blackness, occupied by bright, warm lights, coming from the Misfits' bodies. It was their souls, pure, uncorrupted, nothing like the greenish, stinking forms of the monsters that arrived a while ago. She instinctively spoke out, seeing hope in them, but now she was unsure. She was afraid that they would kill her… she saw that a few of them would do just that if given the order. Even the one standing straight before her thought about it. Rose could see it as her emerald eyes were blinded to everything except one's soul and their honest thoughts and feelings. She knew if she said no now, she would lose her only option of being saved… and she wanted to be saved. She wanted to leave here…. She wanted to go… home.
