"Hello again, old friend."

"You appear to be in good spirits this time. You usually don't honor me with a 'hello'."

"Mmmm, well, I suppose even I can feel excitement every now and then. It's all a matter of wringing out every ounce of pleasure from what I do."

"So you have made your preparations for the next world?"

"Naturally. The artifact piece is planted in the embryonic chamber, and soon a relentless monster shall be born to break our little Phoenix."

"Of course, you do realize what will happen to the past of that world because of this, yes?"

"I have seen those events enough times. Besides, the world of the past has it's own savior, even if it's one so foolish as he…"

"I'd prefer you keep such comments to yourself in regards to him."

"I suppose I cannot expect you to change your views on him…It matters not, the stage has been set for that boy to break."

"Do try and go easy on Auris' daughter. It is already bad enough that we're going to need to use her later…"

"I cannot control what that doll will do to her. Not this time. It is better to keep to the shadows, lest that boy come for me earlier than before."

"Our plan is ruined if we don't stick to the finite details, yes."

"You have already chosen your path, dear friend. The road to sin is not paved with regrets when you travel down it for as long as we have."

"I cannot bring myself to disagree. Then let us see how this unfolds…though I suppose from my perspective, I shall only see the very last loop once this begins."

"I shall fill you in on the details when I've had my fun. I shall see you later."

CLASH OF THE ELEMENTS PART 4 EX STORY 4:

THE CALAMITY TRIGGER

Chapter 1: An Illusion of Continuity

In the deep recesses of space, an orb of air flies vigorously through the starry systems. It is guided by a teenage boy by the name of Alex Whiter, who is able to manipulate the seven basic elements thanks to inheriting the title of the Elemental Overlord. Joined with him is a girl just a couple years older than he is. Her name is Shina Aurora, a bubbly sweetheart who can control the energy known as aura. Their journey has carried them across the universe in search of the artifact pieces that will lead them to the Cosmos Drive, which is necessary to save Shina's people from the tyrannical Gravitus.

They have overcome many grueling trials just to obtain three out of the five pieces. As they sparred in the protection of that little sphere, they were blind to just how difficult their journey would soon become…

"Clang!" "Shink!" "Clang clang!" The clashing of cold steel was all that echoed within their secluded space. Shina, even with sweat building up across her silky smooth skin, rapidly thrust her rapier towards Alex, who parried the attacks with precise swings of his amber, fanged scimitar. Though the two were putting their all into fighting, Shina had a smile across the width of her face and a focus more unbreakable than diamond.

Alex firmly arched his brows and observed the swings of her blade. She was trying her damnedest to encroach upon the perimeter of his body, but he was giving no quarter in the way he swung his sword around. Shina cheerfully boasted "I'm gonna getcha eventually!" while making a swift swipe at his forehead.

The blade's miniscule tip could cut with the precision of a scalpel, and Alex pulled his head back to avoid suffering that unnecessary wound. He then gruffly exclaimed "Focus!" and punched his left fist out, sending a bullet of air out at Shina's gut. She lifted her arm up and blocked the air with a shield of blue aura, though not without her body sliding back a few inches.

Her brows perked up without a budge of her lips, keeping her smile in perfect form as she made a swift brush of her rapier downward right as Alex was pushing his head forward. He widened his eyes and brought the broad edge of his blade up to block the attack, but was unable to stop the tip of the rapier from nicking a few strands of brown hair right off the front of his forehead.

When sparks flew from the clash of blades, those hairs flew asunder and Alex swung his sword out, remarking in a blunt tone "Alright, that's enough for this session!" He dispelled the blade with a burst of fire and folded his arms against the chest of his ruffled red t-shirt. Shina's rapier also dispelled in a flash of light, and she folded her arms behind her back to put them between her knee-length platinum blond hair and blue shirt with beige pants ensemble.

Alex let out a dry cough, giving his lips a light tap with his gloved right fist before he remarked "Well, guess I was the one who wasn't focusing. Y-You got lucky." The humility for compliments was something he sadly lacked. Shina flashed her pearly whites in a grin and giggled "Or maaaaaybe I'm just improving after all!"

The boy, looking at her impressive chest before glancing at her face, said in a reprimanding tone "Don't go getting an ego bigger than your chest now." He whipped a pointer finger out and told her in a more arrogant manner "Besides, you only got a few hairs. At best you'll be able to give someone a good haircut now."

Poking the side of her lips while staring at him slyly, she asked "Then why'd ya stop?" Alex closed his eyes and replied "Cause it's time to check how close we are to the next planet. It's been around four months, we should be close by now."

"Ooooh alright…" Shina giggled as she reached for her right pocket and tapped the shrunken artifact inside. As a trail of aura stretched out past him and exited the sphere, Alex thought to himself "…She picked up on my lessons quicker than I was expecting. Guess it makes sense…She's always prided her memories, so she's developed incredible recognition skills because of it. All she needed was the confidence to apply it to fighting."

"…Still, I worry about her getting an inflated ego. Last thing I need is for her personality to go in the completely opposite direction of what it was before." He glanced over his shoulder and saw Shina pointing ahead. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he had accidentally drowned out what she said, leading to Shina asking "Did you hear me Alex? The aura's pointing to that planet!"

"Huh?" He raised his brows and looked back ahead to find that the trail did indeed end on a planet. To his disgruntlement, it was yet another Earth. Alex tapped his fingers impatiently on his elbows and with a scowl creeping up the right side of his face he moaned "Three Earths in a row…Why can't these pieces land on Mars or something?"

"Alright! Time to put my training to the test!" Shina was pepped and raring to go, like a car whose engines had been warmed to race at breakneck speeds. Alex turned around and stamped his foot down to halt the sphere. He widened his eyes open into a fierce glare and said "Not until we review what we've done over the last few months."

Shina's jaw drooped down and she playfully went "Awwww, really?" She then flexed her right arm and started rubbing her bicep, telling him confidently "Look at these muscles. Aren't these the muscles of a girl who's ready?"

"O-Oh don't give me that crap! Your body hasn't changed an inch." Alex said with a flustered blush across his face. Shina giggled and brushed a hand out beside her hip while responding "I know, I'm just teasing ya."

She nodded her head and gave off a more attentive vibe with her posture before saying "Alright teach, whatcha got?" Alex laid his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans and remarked "What's the importance of waiting to change forms?"

"Ummm…" Shina laid her pointer finger and thumb at an acute angle against her lips while gathering her thoughts. She snapped those same fingers out a few seconds later and said "It's because when we change forms, our bodies are healed up, so if we can it's better to get in whatever damage in our weaker forms so we don't waste a perfectly good heal."

"Correct. But that was an easy one." Before Alex could get to the next question though, Shina raised her hand and he caught it out of the corner of his eye, prompting him to inquire "What is it?"

"We've been so busy training I haven't really gotten the chance to ask…What's up with those colored triggers on your sword?"

Alex quickly replied "I use all seven of them to go into my Phoenix Form. Think of it as me triggering all seven forms of elemental energy in my body simultaneously." As he grazed a hand out past his elbow Shina asked "But couldn't you use them separately? Then you'd be able to heal yourself eight times."

"No point in focusing on one element when I can just power-up all seven at once with better results." Alex was snide in his response, as though that should've been an obvious answer. He then scoffed and remarked "You're getting off track. Now what have you determined about your Valkyrie Drive?"

Shina raised the bracelet on her right arm before her chest and took her answer seriously "In this form I can wield a blade that's able to interact with solid mass and aura at my choosing. The aura blade is non-lethal but can still cleave away a person's aura to the point of rendering them powerless. I can also pass on the power to cut away aura to other people for a period of two minutes, but I can't make their weapons also do non-physical damage to the body."

"Your normal abilities are also heightened. Ok, so you HAVE been paying attention." Alex managed to muster an ounce of visible pride in her progress through his smile, but quickly discarded it when she smiled and pronounced "I wasn't an 'A' student back home for nothing!"

"Hmph, teacher's pet…" He then grumbled rudely before telling her "Final question, and the most important one of all…What are you to never, EVER touch, ask about, or even consider thinking about?"

Shina paused and her chest heaved from a deep sigh. Letting it go, she murmured disappointingly "That stone in your pocket…" Alex turned his body and told her "Don't give me that, it's for the best if some things remain a secret."

"…I swear Alex, it's like you have enough secrets to write a novel." Shina smiled in a playful manner as the boy looked back. She honestly told him "Ya know I don't mean any harm wanting to know more about you."

Alex sighed and told her "Not that I don't trust YOU, but…" As he then thought about the being who had been following them and causing trouble, he slowly turned his head forward and a ton worth of distress weighed his body down. Shaking his head, he tried to discard the concerns plaguing him by laying his arms out beside his body and remarking in an overly confident tone "Besides, you learned something about me over the course of this."

He rubbed the bottom of his chin and hid a smile that could've easily escaped the sides of his face "I'm a DAMN good teacher. Ha-HA!" The laugh was just the icing on the pride cake he whipped up. He then slowly shifted towards holding his arms up to guide the sphere of air towards the planet. However, his concentration would swiftly become interrupted by the combination of a pair of soft mounds pressing against the back of his neck and the owner's arms crossing diagonally over his shoulders and before his chest.

"Thanks for putting up with me these last few months Alex. I know I was a bit of a butt, but you still trained me so…Thanks, I really appreciate it." In her rush to give such delicately spoken praise to the boy, she failed to realize how her expression was making him feel. The boy's muscles had tensed up, and blood gushed through his veins like a dam had burst. He shifted his gaze all-around and couldn't tell if the sweat on his skin was his own or simply remnants from Shina's body arms.

It was not him saying anything that got her to retreat, but rather her suddenly but slowly pulling her arms away and looking at the boy with a curious glance. He failed to notice her observation as he commented "W-We still need to work on you jumping me out of the blue like that…! Geez, nearly gave me a heart attack." He pounded his chest a couple times and then shook his head as Shina continued to look at him.

Her eyes barely had to look down to be even with the back of his head, and it was at that moment she found herself realizing he was now just a couple inches shorter than her. Her heart fluttered against her chest and she laid her hand against it before whispering to herself "When did he get this tall…?" She was left humming in thought about this peculiar feeling she felt upon recognizing that until the moment Alex managed to reach the planet's atmosphere.

To the shock of them both, they came down on a part of the planet that had been shrouded in a starry night sky. "Well that's a first." Alex dryly remarked before glancing back at Shina and asking "So do we actually have a trail to follow this time?"

She reached into the pocket the stone was in and summoned the aura trail again. This time it pointed eastward in a curve away from the sphere. Alex widened his eyes and said "Holy shit, I can't believe it. Doubt it'll be that easy, but at least we get some goddamn guidance this time."

He swerved the sphere to follow after the trail, occasionally looking down at the surface to see if he could determine where they were. Nothing about the way the planet looked screamed of familiarity to him, yet there was something he could sense that he didn't quite like. Rustling his nose into a crumpled grimace, Alex scowled a little and said "There's something in the air down there…something poisonous."

"Well, good thing we're up here then!" Shina said quite nonchalantly. Alex shook his head and commented "True but…That doesn't bode well for anything being alive around here."

"Hmm, well ya got a point…" Shina hadn't considered that and took on a slightly melancholic tone once she thought about it. However, soon enough her head perked up and she pointed past Alex's head towards something while proclaiming "But I think the human race is doing just fine on their own!"

In the distance was an impressive looking metropolis built up a massive mountain. The place housed hundreds of buildings across dozens of spread out tiers, some of which pierced even the cold, heavenly clouds. In the dark of night those buildings' bright lights sparkled very clearly, making it look like some sort of divine titan if you looked far enough away. There were railways stretching out for miles away from this city, and roads were attached away from the sides of some of the higher tiers thanks to some thick, curved steel tunnels. And it's not like the mountain was all there was to this city. Some buildings were around the edge of it, attached to smaller mountains or being on the surface of the planet itself. With such scope to take into consideration, it was easy to imagine a small continent's worth of people fitting in this one place alone.

Slowly continuing their flight towards the city, Alex blinked a couple times and then mentioned "Huh, the 13th Hierarchical City…Kagutsuchi. So that explains the 'poison' covering the planet. We've ended up in the BlazBlue world." He then sighed and moaned "Great. We REALLY needed to be wrapped up in another convoluted mess."

The roar of rockets shook the sphere the two were in, and they ended up focusing on an advanced looking, average-sized carrier jet that was flying straight for the city. Alex slowly clapped his hands together while remarking "We probably shouldn't try to draw attention to ourselves this time." He then dispelled the sphere and broke into flight along with Shina, who dropped and stumbled for a moment due to how suddenly the ground vanished.

She kept her hair from flapping about by laying a hand on the back of her head, then remarked in a curt manner "I don't think we can avoid that just by losing the air sphere." Alex blinked a couple times more then brushed his hand out and told her "O-Ok smart alec, then find us a scarcely populated spot in the city so we can land undetected. "

"O-K!" Shina closed her eyes and concentrated on the small auras belonging to the populace of the city. There were but specks from this distance, but there were a few visible gaps amongst the swarm that she could easily pick out. Lunging her pointer finger straight ahead, she exclaimed "There's a spot somewhere on the south end of the middle tier!"

"Left or right?"

"Left."

"Ok…" Alex wiggled his head left and right, cracking his stiff neck bones before flying towards the part of the city Shina pointed out. Kagutsuchi didn't look so intimidating the closer they got to it. In fact, it looked quite beautiful. It had been a very long time since either of them had seen a luminous metropolis, but it was mostly through the shows and games they experienced. To see one up close and personal caused Alex of all people to let out a quiet, child-like "Wooow…"

The two of them quickly dropped down into an alleyway on the west edge of this tier of the city, slipping past some slant slats on the rooftops and landing safely on the ground. A cat almost spooked them with a panicked meow before it scampered, but they quickly got their bearings back after. Alex brushed the sides of his shirt free of dust and then remarked reluctantly "Alright, now what?"

Shina shook the artifact beside her chest and remarked with an innocent grin "Heh…we've lost our trail." Alex clenched his arms so tightly against his chest he was almost giving himself a hug. "Grrr…I knew it was too damn easy. At least our searched is confined to this city."

He perked his head up and slowly observed the heights that Kagutsuchi reached towards. In a tone dripping with dread, he closed his eyes and mentioned "Yeeep…just got to search this entire goddamn city. No big deal AT ALL." Shina patted a hand on his right shoulder and with a thumbs-up remarked "We'll pull through! Lets just focus on figuring out the time period first."

Alex shook his head and was drawn towards objecting, but found that there was actually nothing objectionable about the idea. With a couple blinks he put his hands in his pockets and remarked "Yeah, that might actually give us a clue as to who or what has the artifact piece this time."

"Lets go then! I've always wanted to explore a big city." Shina was quick to break into a sprint, but Alex swung his hand out and grabbed the back of her shirt to reel her back in. "Not so fast there bucko. We're going to walk out there like NORMAL people, ok?" The boy raised a pointer finger up and waggled it like he was correcting a puppy.

Shina looked at Alex for a moment and shook her head, then quickly turned his grab against him by grabbing onto the wrist of the hand latched to her shirt and giving it a tug towards her. "Come on, it's totally normal for friends to be running together in the streets!" With that said she whisked the boy right out of the alley as he stumbled along against his will.

"H-Hey! SHINA!" Alex's stoic demeanor was replaced with a gasping fluster as he tired to get the girl to stop, but he soon found himself looking away from her as the sights of the town caught his interest. The streets were pretty condensed, sandwiched between buildings with an oriental architecture that stretched out for miles on end. Attached to the roofs were paper lanterns stringed between the buildings, and there were plenty of neon signs scattered about with Chinese characters on them. The town looked especially nice in the dead of night, like it was in a state of eternal celebration.

The city was filled with people of many nationalities. Not just Chinese, but Japanese, Africans, Europeans and Americans too. Most noticeably, some of these people also had animalistic features, like furry tails and pointed ears. It was definitely a stark contrast from the people of the Guilty Gear world, where everyone looked human. Thankfully, they also differentiated themselves from those people by having relatively normal looking clothes. At least that means the two of them wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb.

After a few seconds of running through the streets, Shina suddenly stopped and Alex kept going until he ran into her rear and recoiled a few steps back. As he rubbed his forehead and looked up he heard a grumbling sound coming from his companion. She slowly turned around and rubbed her belly with a giggle. "Hehe. Whoops, I should've been paying attention to my stomach sooner." She rubbed the back of her head and looked embarrassed as her stomach made a sound that was like someone gargling sewage.

Alex tapped his right toes on the ground while folding his arms against his chest. "You should've said something sooner. Whatever, I'll make you dinner." Shina shook her head a couple times and then with cheeks puffed was upfront in telling him "Ooooh I'm sick of your home-cooking! I'm a growing girl, I need some more variety or I'm going to wilt away to nothing!"

"H-Hey, I work hard on those meals damn it. I don't need to be hearing this shit." He resigned himself from saying that out loud, instead insisting on sighing and asking her "Fine then. What do you want?"

Shina looked around for a little while, walking a ways into the crowd so she can get a better view of the signs. Pointing towards the corner of the left row of buildings that was near the edge of this tier, Shina remarked "Well…I've never had Thai food before." Alex raised his brows and remarked "Really? …Hmm, neither of I now that you mention it."

With a turn and a clap, Shina exclaimed "Great! Then lets go there!" Her enthusiasm deflated a little as she realized "Though…we don't have any money…" Alex waved a hand out and said assuredly "Forget about that, I'll work around that little issue with my powers."

"You're not going to dine-and-dash, are you?" Shina voiced in a concerned tone. Alex, in a quite offended manner, told her "The hell? No I'm not. Have a little faith in me won't you?" Shina slowly nodded her head and with a swipe of her hand out said "Oh I'm just joshing ya. Come on, lets go!"

She turned around and started to wade through the crowd towards the restaurant. Alex followed, but began whistling innocuously while putting his hands behind his back and wiggling his fingers up. From the pocket of a nearby citizen, a few bills slid out and flew right into his hand, and he quickly tucked them away in his pocket before he entered the restaurant.

The place was compact but homely. It had a few sleek mahogany tables and chairs and pillars with golden dragons wrapping around them. The lights were covered by square panels with a fancy oriental pattern, with paper lanterns added between them. The smell of spicy sauces and steamed shrimp in the kitchen whiffed past Alex's nose, and his mouth began producing saliva at an alarming wait. He had to swallow some of it before it flooded out.

A waitress wearing a nice Chinese dress greeted them with a tray at the waist and a gentle bow. "Welcome! Are you waiting for anyone else?" Shina laid her hands before her chest and with a respectful bow remarked "No, it's just the two of us."

"Then right this way. We have just the table for you." The waitress gestured her hand out towards a table right beside her, and Alex and Shina sat down across from each other. The waitress turned around and picked up a cold pitcher from the service station along with a pair of mosaic glasses for her tray. She offered the two a drink, but Shina requested a cup of tea instead of the complimentary water. Then the two were given their menus and they started to peruse it in a matter of seconds.

"Plenty of options to choose from…What are you looking at Alex?" Shina peered over the top of her menu with her curious gaze, finding that Alex was looking back at the pillar in the center of the room that held a bunch of advertisements and a couple wanted posters. With a flick of the fingers, one of the posters were ripped off and flown into Alex's hand. He looked at it and saw a prize of 90 billion being handed out for someone who could capture a person by the name of Ragna the Bloodedge. The picture drawn up of the person wasn't very flattering, as his face was goofily disfigured with horizontal slits for eyes and a chiseled square chin.

"…I think I have an idea what time period we're in now." He flipped the poster over the raised menu so Shina could get a look at it while he picked out the food he wanted. She picked it up and asked "Oh, Ragna the Bloodedge's wanted now huh? That might mean he's in Kagutsuchi this very moment."

Suddenly the restaurant went silent and a glass could be heard breaking in the distance. Alex looked around and found some of the once easy-going people freezing up in fright. He brushed his hand out towards them and commented "MIGHT, people…We know nothing about his location. Just get back to your meals, don't mind us."

When their weary eyes looked away, Alex chuckled for a couple seconds and then promptly glared at Shina over the top of his menu. With piercing, quiet anger he told you "Lets just expose ourselves right now, huh?!" Shina whispered in an apologetic tone "S-Sorry…I got ahead of myself there."

"Damn straight. Anyone with a decent grasp on technology can find out we don't originate here, and last thing I want is the fucking NOL on our ass." Alex had to be a little harsh in his reminder, and Shina quickly said "I said I was sorry, geez! So you're saying we should try and find him?"

"I don't think so. He won't know anything about the artifact. Though come to think of it, maybe…" Before he finished his sentence, the city was struck with a mighty tremor. Plates went crashing to the ground and some of the lanterns fell from the ceiling. A couple people fell off their chairs, including Shina. The tremor ended, but only for a moment. Then came a few aftershocks, followed by another large tremor. Alex grabbed the edge of the table as everyone else panicked and hid under them.

"What the actual hell is going on here?!" He exclaimed before getting off the table and swinging his hand down to help Shina to her feet. She rubbed her rear and remarked "I don't know, but this can't be good!"

"No shit, but we're not going to find out standing around here!" Alex swung his fist out and after a nod from Shina the two ran right out of the restaurant. The citizens were in an equal amount of panic as the signs were crashing down around them, crushing a few under their weight while other people fell into chasms that split open across the ground. It was like the apocalypse had begun for the world, but a quick look to the outskirts saw that only the main area of the city was suffering from these tremors.

Getting away from the collapsing, breaking buildings, Alex and Shina turned around and looked up towards the top of the city. With her body reeling back as she let out a gasp, Shina thrust her pointer finger and exclaimed "L-Look!" Alex was horrified to watch as a large, serpentine black maw smashed through the innards of the city and dug a massive fissure into the rocky mountainside before it was dragged right back in with a sky splitting roar.

The tremors continued to shake Kagutsuchi to it's core as Alex grimly thought "The Black Beast…Damn it, we had to come during THIS period?!" As though things weren't bad enough as it is, Alex suddenly felt a surge of incredible power coming straight down from the sky. He dreaded to look up but found his head moving on it's own to look, watching as a massive white light was growing as it rapidly descended towards the city.

"SHINA! AURA! NOW!" His panic was something Shina was quite unused to and it threw her off-guard for just a moment until she looked up and saw the same light was mere seconds from hitting. She was uncertain that her aura would be enough, but she quickly slammed a hand against the ground and manifested the thickest dome of aura she could right as the beam of light came crashing down on the entire city. The tremors just grew worse as Alex found the power of the beam bringing him to his knees even through Shina's aura.

Shina's aura was cracking layer after layer even as she poured more into it, and the screams of the people were drowned out by their deaths or the roar of the beam itself. She slowly pushed herself towards holding her hand against the aura for more support, but the aura simply wasn't going to last. She looked to Alex and with dread building up inside her body as they both looked helpless, she slowly started to stretch her hand out towards him.

Alex looked at her, seeing her head shake back and forth with tears in her eyes. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed her hand with no intentions of backing down. "L-Like hell I'll die here! H-Hold on Shina, there's still something we can do…!" He began reaching into his other pocket, fighting against the immeasurable pressures of the beam with all his might. The aura was just seconds from shattering, and Shina's strength was draining to the point that her grip began to slip.

Alex, for a single moment, paused and turned to Shina right as he touched the stone in his pocket. She was frightened, vulnerable like a child, looking just as weak and human as he did that very moment.

The aura shattered apart, and the recoil from that flung Shina away from Alex's body. She was swallowed into the white light, unable to even give a farewell. Alex was alone, his body slowly being consumed by this beam. He couldn't believe what was happening. He closed his eyes tightly and opened them up, praying that he was just asleep. That this was a nightmare and not a cruel reality born from an even crueler fate. He shut and open his eyes what felt like many more times than it actually was, his groans of frustration growing louder and hoarser with every attempt.

With his hopes fleeting along with every fiber of his being, Alex's expression stretched out into a monstrous form as he let out a shrill scream of "GOD…DAMN IT!"

Then, just like that…The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi was nothing. The cacophonous apocalypse ended in dead silence, with not even the hollow winds being kind enough to pass by and offer their condolences to the fallen. All that remained as proof this city existed was a bleached, smoldering hot crater that stretched out for hundreds of miles, and the memories of a particular person that floated high above the city as it sang it's swan song.

It was a young girl of elegant but mature demeanor who wore a gothic frilly black gown and jacket, complete with a red ribbon bow tie, upside-down blood red crosses on her skirt and shoulders, and a pair of black pony heel boots. Under the glow of pale moonlight, this girl held a lofty black umbrella over her right shoulder and let the wind gently brush her long blond pigtails that were tied in place by black ribbons. The girl freed a hand from the confines of her frilled cuffs and rested it under the bangs of hair beside her face.

"The little rat runs tirelessly through a maze, his miniscule mind thinking nothing more than to partake of the cheese that was promised to him at the end." The girl spoke in a droll manner, carrying a tired weight in her tone. "But he was not privy to the rules, and like his kin before him he ran amuck until he starved to death…Just another number to add to an ever growing pile of tragedies."

Gazing down upon the crater with glistening red eyes and a smile that gently bore her tiny fangs, the girl inquired to an audience that could not hear her "So then Mr. Overlord…How shall you fare in the maze? Is your fate of death destined to repeat itself over and over, or are you perhaps the exception to this cruelly crafted charade? I am looking quite forward to observing your actions here forth, little rat." And then, like the wind, she vanished silently from the view of the world.

Next Time: Standing Alone