-Emilie Autumn

"Seriously, Newman - you have got to let me in on this side hustle of yours someday. I don't know what the hell you're doing but I hear people talking about seeing you riding around in limos with the Brightons! I'm glad you're doing well, man. It was good to see you again."

"Yeah, you too," John said, smirking awkwardly as the man gave a final wave and started to walk away. Honestly, he was grateful he even remembered the man's name without using Observe. He'd been accosted by Grant Jacobson, one of the senior students back at the Academy, probably the most charismatic guy around. He pretty much knew everyone, and apparently even after over a month he still hadn't forgotten about John, the unexpected dropout. John didn't mind stopping to chat with him, although he still felt a little awkward about talking with mundane people. Not only could he basically tell them absolutely nothing about his actual life, but here he was talking to Grant next to a Harpy, which was something he was distinctly aware of whether her wings were out or not. Grant only seemed to notice the beautiful woman, thankfully, and not suspect the wings hiding there...

"That was… awkward," John finally said once Grant was out of sight. He reached into his pocket to pull his phone out once again, hoping that this time he wouldn't wind up stuck in a conversation about school life. Before the phone even cleared his pocket, though, it started to ring. John answered without checking the number, smiling and laughing a little as he started to talk.

"Hey Kim. Sorry about that, guessing you saw-"

"John Newman, you need to go back to your world, right now!"

"M-Moira? Hang on, what's going on? Are you in danger?"

"The Albidians attacked me! They tricked me into leaving the Manor, they recorded your conversation with Lady Arista, and they-"

"Where are you Moira?! I'll be there as fast as I can!"

"No, John, I'm at the Manor! You have to go back to your world right now!"

"What? Why, we should be planning a war, we should be interrogating whoever tried to catch you, we-"

"John you unbelievably dense fool! They used me as a hostage, they threatened my father and they used me to get to the stone! They're coming for your creations!"

All the blood felt as if it had left John's body at once. He felt as Willow must have in her final moments, a deep icy chill travelling across his entire body. He felt like glass, ready to shatter.

Then came the warmth. The flooding, fiery-hot rage.

Status Effect Gained: Shard of Bishamonten [75% Activation]!

"Sophia, we're going back. They're attacking the nest!"

John wasn't sure what made him say nest, but the fire that shone in Sophia's eyes matched his own as he gripped her arm so harshly it must surely have hurt, before warping the two of them back. John had left from his bedroom that afternoon, after awakening from a nice catnap with Maera and Sophia to recover from training.

He arrived in hell.

The flames around them were thankfully mundane, else they'd have been scorched the moment they warped in. The entire house was aflame, smoke and ashes filling the air. John coughed loudly as he tried to breathe, until he realized that there wasn't nearly enough breathable air. John held one hand to his mouth and used Elemental Control to form fresh air, which thankfully did appear to include oxygen, because he could immediately breathe more easily. Sophia was not faring so well, but John couldn't make air for her without fueling the fire, and he couldn't walk around with his hands over both their mouths. John took a deep breath and pulled his hand away from his mouth.

"You need to get out of the house. Find the others, signal me from the sky. These people are insanely strong. We fight together or we die alone, you understand me? I'm gonna check the house!"

Sophia nodded and made her way out the window, choosing the fastest exit from the smog-filled house. John turned back to the rest of the building, trying to figure out how to proceed. Nobody except the kittens would've been **** to these flames, and the fire was far too out of control to save the building. Piles of debris already lay around from where the floor above had begun to collapse in places, and the doorway to John's master bedroom was caved in entirely. John made his own exit, pulling one leg up and delivering a snap kick that shattered most of the weakened wall. The ceiling above it began to crumble down, but with the wood sufficiently weakened by flame and kick, John pushed his way through the mundane wood without issue. His home was already lost; damage control was no longer important.

John rushed to the kitten's secondary room, but found nothing there. He grew somewhat more panicked as he searched, but in under a minute had cleared the house, finding no one. If there was no one here, why had they set the house on fire? And if there was someone here… where were they now?

John made his way out of the front door hastily, eyes going wide across the lake and the plains around them. There was no one around, not a single soul. Sophia was visible high in the sky, but the scene around him would have almost been peaceful, were his home not burning to the ground behind him.

"John!"

One of Tricia's drones flew up to John's face, hovering in front of him. It was not Tricia on the other end, however - instead Moira was awkwardly fumbling with the manual controls of the drone. Her pleading face showed red, bleary eyes and tear trails blazing their way across her face, but her voice was steady and even.

"Moira, where are they? How many? I need to-"

"Seven of them. John, you have to be careful, if they're there already… you might not be able to stop them, even with all of you there."

"Where are they, Moira?!" John growled, feeling the drone shake a little as he grabbed it by the sides so hard the metal started to creak.

"In the forest to the north. The stone brought them into the mountains, they stumbled around that way for a while before they found the house. Your creations saw them coming and fought briefly, then fled into the forest."

"Is anyone hurt?!" John shouted, though he was already sprinting to the north. Moira tried to keep the drone up but her unfamiliarity with the controls seemed to have gotten the best of her as the drone rapidly fell behind.

"I'm sorry, I don't know - the last I saw them, Seras was carrying Maera on her back!"

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" John screamed, picking up the pace. Sophia soared above him, but John signaled for her to come down to join him. She descended rapidly, picking up enough speed to keep up with her sprinting father during the descent.

"Father, what happened?"

"I don't fucking know," John said, the curses continuing to flow, "but it's bad. Stay with me. Remember that technique I told you about, the one I used with the others? Be ready. We only win this together."

The two of them covered the distance to the forest in record time. Sophia started to lag, but with a valiant effort, managed to keep up with John through mostly sheer willpower, only falling a few yards back at the end. John's chest was heaving in spite of Gamer's Body as they cleared the tree line, barreling furiously forward. There, under the canopies, she started running alongside him - John used Siphon to nearly level out their Agility scores, knowing even if he could reach the Albidians faster, he likely stood no chance without Sophia by his side for Twin-Soul Resonance. John didn't break his pace until a voice called out urgently from his left side; blade already in hand and armor donned during the sprint, John turned and saw the last face he'd been expecting, and nearly the last he wanted to. Nearly.

The demon butler stepped from behind a tree as if forming out of the shadows, his eyes warily glancing back and forth.

"The fuck do you want? Why aren't you fighting?!" John screamed, not caring about the stealth the demon was trying to use at the moment.

"I told you, I'm afraid my life is the only thing I value more than hers," the demon said honestly. "However, I remained here because she ordered me to inform you that I have Maera hidden safely away, to the northwest of the home you built for us. Five of the kittens are also with her, and they have not yet discovered our hiding place - I spent most of my energy concealing it. I was also instructed to tell you that they were in pursuit to the east; Vallya lured them that way to help conceal my hiding place."

"Only five kittens?! Which one is missing?"

"I'm afraid I don't know their names; Lady Lunaya has not shared them. One has yellow hair, another-"

"No fucking time," John growled, resuming his sprinting. Sophia was fast behind him, though the butler only faded into the shadows once more. John could spare no time for the butler, or for worrying which of his children was missing - it didn't matter who, all that mattered was cutting apart every single one of these fucking invaders.

Even at their sprint the wait until John eventually spotted something was painfully long - and it was not a good sight. What John finally noticed was a small bundle of white on the ground, pale skin and long white hair unmoving on the forest floor. His heart tore between pounding away and trying to stop, beating suddenly arrhythmical in his chest as he slid to his knees by her side.

He had recognized Lunaya's features, but gently holding her by the head, John tilted her over and confirmed the Canid Reaper's features. She did not stir or move, but there was a sound coming from her curled form. In confusion, John put two fingers to her neck and found a pulse, though it was faint, and a quick check of her nose revealed soft breathing. She was ****… but alive. John followed the noise to its source and had to gently pry Lunaya's arms and legs apart, uncurling the Canid to reveal a sight that put a smile on John's face, even as tears streamed across it.

Little Moira, cute red ears and fiery eyes alight, was mewling away inside of Lunaya's grip. She looked clearly stressed but otherwise unharmed, looking up to her father with scared eyes as she reached up to him. John lifted the young Neko gently, cradling her for a few moments against his chest. She whined against his shoulder as he patted her, rising to his feet and turning to Sophia.

"I can't wait. Find the demon, get him to haul these two to wherever he is hiding them. I have to find the others, they could be in danger."

"Father, I thought you said-"

"Go, now! Then you can join me after. That's an order!"

John took back the points he had granted to Sophia with Siphon, racing on ahead alone. The blade in his hand felt as light as a feather as he sprinted, the trees passing by like towering blurs as he dashed between them. He didn't have to go very far before he started to hear sounds, faint as they were. Voices, clearly, but he couldn't make it out for a few more seconds. Near the eastern edge of the woods, with the horizon slowly coming into view once again, John finally saw other figures - but only two. Vallya, standing over a man pressed to the ground with one of her white heels pressed onto his chest.

"Now then, sweetie… how about you tell me just where that other half of yours is? Otherwise I might have to press down a little harder."

"Fuck… you."

The vulgar words came from the man under Vallya's heel, who was squirming against the Star Guardian but clearly unable to free himself. As John got closer he noticed the smile on her face that was almost sinister, growing more so as she leaned over her pinned enemy.

"Now, now, no need to be so feisty," Vallya said, twisting her heel across the blonde's chest. "I can do this all day… or I can end it in an instant. Your choice."

"P-please, if you keep me here… you have to let me go!"

"I don't have to do anything. I'd tell you what I want to do… but that would only be even more terrifying for you."

"Vallya," John called out, approaching her quickly with blade in hand, "what the fuck happened here?!"

"John!"

Vallya turned toward John with a look of surprise on her face, breaking her concentration. The man under her foot tried to struggle free - but only for a moment, because as soon as he tried to lift off the ground, Vallya shifted her weight slightly and bore down on him with what must have been a tremendous ****. The man was immediately slammed to the grass and cried out in pain.

"John! You finally got here, thank goodness," Vallya said, clasping her hands together as she bowed to him, still keeping the Albidian firmly planted to the ground. A genuine look of sadness crossed her face as she continued. "I'm… I'm sorry. I couldn't fulfill all of my duties as a Guardian. I chased away those intruders, but I couldn't protect everyone."

"Vallya, what happened? Who couldn't you protect?!" John half-shouted, though they were only feet apart. Vallya scratched at one of her half-sleeves, averting her eyes before speaking sadly.

"I… I tried to protect everyone. But these men were strong; almost stronger than me, and together they were too powerful for me to stop. They captured Mithra during their initial ****, and I had to steal the young ones away to prevent them from being captured. After they burned your home, they caught up with Lerianna, and when I realized that this man had a twin, I tried to use him as bait… but by then the others were too hurt. I drew them away, but when Seras tried to rescue me, they captured her, too. All I could do was escape with this one, hoping we could find out where they were taking the others."

Lerianna, Mithra… and Seras. All captured? All so quickly? The Albidians were powerful, that much John knew, but…

"You're certain they're gone? We can't catch up to them, cut them off?"

"No, John. I'm sorry," Vallya swore, shaking her head in sorrow. "They used the stone. They escaped from this world, and I don't know to where… but I think we can find out from-"

"You fucking bitch!"

The man underneath Vallya swore, though he was no longer struggling so harshly. His body now began to spasm and twitch, and a thin trail of smoke was coming out of his mouth.

"This is your fault, first you killed him, now you've killed me, I'll-"

Abruptly the Albidian's entire body combusted, a blazing black fire consuming his body as Vallya was **** to pull herself back, ebony flames licking at her heel as she pulled her foot away from the downed man. He screamed in an unquantifiable agony, wrenching back and forth as the flames ate away at his body at an unnatural rate. John had scarcely begun to comprehend what was actually happening before the mage gave one final wail and was silent, his body giving a last , violent shudder as his torched flesh fell to the ground.

John approached the body slowly, eyes wary over the man's singed and unrecognizable form. The scent of burned flesh filled the air so powerfully that John nearly gagged, but he **** himself closer. Vallya stepped forward, sorrow touching her brow as she placed a hand on John's arm.

"I'm so sorry! I caught him to try to use him as bait. Seras killed this one's twin earlier during the battle, and he lit up like that when he was slain, but I didn't expect it to happen if I kept him alive. When they escaped and left him behind, I tried to interrogate him, but he wouldn't speak, I didn't… I'm not sure how this happened…"

"Moira said they have some kind of kill-switch, it’s why they know almost nothing about the group and why none of them have ever been captured. Guess they can trigger it from the other world… that's kind of terrifying," John muttered. "Where is everyone else?"

"Maera got hurt, we had to leave her behind to be hidden. Lunaya got herself hurt fighting with one of them to save Moira, I'm not sure what happened after that - we drew them away from her."

"…What about Seras?" John asked, his heart nearly stopping at her abrupt silence. "Lerianna? …Mithra?"

"I'm… I'm sorry, John," Vallya said, actually looking sad for the first time since she'd been Purified. "They were captured. Mithra was grabbed when they went for the kittens, protecting them while we carried the rest away. Seras and Lerianna both fought them off of Lunaya after she rescued Moira… but they were both caught during the fight."

"No… fucking… no, I don't believe this shit," John growled.

Status Effect Gained: Shard of Bishamonten [100% Activation]!

John's head began to feel faint, his mind whirling, body unstable. He tried activating his Heal spell through his aura, but it had no effect and did not relieve the symptoms. John tried to take a step forward and ended up whirling in place, doing a half turn and falling to his knees instead. John groaned as he tried to stand again. John raised up his head and saw someone else there - his hand tightened on his blade as he saw a black-haired man step toward him. The man was tall, a full two inches taller than John, at least. His hair was tied up neatly in a bun, and his armor… that armor was old. And odd. Orange cloth worn as an overcoat over blue and black garments, a white scarf around his neck, one scar across his left eye, and baggy white pants. He met John's eyes, and John noted that the man's were filled with rage... but he didn't seem ready to attack. Actually... he looked quite sorrowful.

"John? John are you alright? We have to move, they may return."

John gasped as Vallya gripped him by the shoulder, staring up into her eyes in shock for a moment, before turning his gaze back. The forest around them was empty, save for the smoking corpse of the dead Albidian. The strange man was gone…

"Alright, alright, let me… let me get my head on straight," John grumbled, shaking his head as if to clear it. "I had Sophia take care of Lunaya, we found her on our way here. We're going to go make sure everyone is alright, then we're going to go after those fuckers and get my family back."

"But what about this world? If they have the stone, then they can return at any point."

"It has an hour cooldown, but… to be safe, Evellyn, can I… can I destroy this place? If I do, what will happen to them?"

"The Portal Stone uses the same system as your ability, John. If you voluntarily remove the area it was last cast from, it will be unable to return here until that area is replaced - you cannot remove a zone that you are in, but you can technically recreate zones from outside this world, so your World Shift is safe from being locked out."

"Lunaya is going to have to lose her home, then. At least for now. Another thing these wretches of the world have taken from us… gather the others that remain, we're going to rush back to the house, then meet up with the Order. Fly ahead of me and meet me back at the house once you've gathered them, you'll move faster alone."

Vallya nodded and saluted immediately, flying away through the trees at a rapid pace. John regretted it immediately… the feeling of being alone was not something he experienced often anymore. Being alone like this only made the **** on his home hit that much harder.

John glanced at the charred corpse a few feet away for a few moments, contemplating something. The wheels in his head slowly turned, his eyes narrowing at the unrecognizable body. Slowly, hesitantly, John reached out a single hand, lightly touching one finger to a patch of clothing that was still somewhat intact to avoid touching the man's scorched flesh; most of his leather was incinerated, but a few strips still remained that were not magical ash. An instant later, the body disappeared... vanishing into John's inventory.

Slowly, John stood and staggered off through the woods, breaking into a sprint toward home.