AN: This was a rushed chapter but here we are, also included one of my fave quotes from Grigori.

Time was illusion, the cycle of night and day went by quick or slow it was all a gamble to guess. There wasn't a real sun or a moon, just a warped sky that horribly resembled daylight and nightfall. Abbie was grateful she didn't have to eat or drink anything to keep going, whatever magic was sustaining her body she was grateful for it. Sleep was strange, it wasn't like she needed to sleep to keep going but it kept Abbie regulated a centred, she could escape into a comforting nothingness or meet with Ichabod in her dreams.

But now Abbie's mind was playing tricks on her. They had been on this mountain trail for what felt like weeks yet there were days where Abbie would look up at the castle and it would seem so close and other days it seemed further than ever. Then there were the days where the castle would disappear completely hidden behind the dark clouds and the mountain fog was so heavy. Today was one of those days.

Reynard had once again carried Abbie on his back whilst he climbed the face of the mountain and jumped over jagged rocks until they found a mountain path safe enough to walk on. The path was long and rough made from years of giant footprints disturbing the earth. It was a risk traversing on this part of the mountains, but it was the quickest route in their vicinity. In the distance Abbie could hear the faint sounds of voice she looked behind her and felt the ground, thankfully the ground was not shaking, she listened carefully and heard the voices again this time louder it was definitely more than two were yelling. Abbie and Reynard exchanged looks and slowed down. They crept forward to hide behind a small rock spire and peeked around to see a small group of people on higher ground arguing back and forth with each other. There was about five of them, one of whom was shouting at a person that was hidden behind a protruding spur and dense fog.

"No, enough is enough! we are part of your squadron, not the cannon fodder we left for the bleedin' feeders!" Yelled a short, stocky blond haired, bearded man he extenuated each word by pointing at the person out of view. His hand was slapped down by a woman came into view causing Reynard to gasp.

"You think any of you could have made it this far without me. How dare you question my wisdom?!" She said. The woman was tall, beautiful red-brown skinned, her long dark hair was in a thick single braid that fell past her muscular shoulder and brushed passed her waist.

"Look Orzala-"

"Don't address her that way stupid." One of the other men warned. Reynard sank back down with his back against the spire and cursed repeatedly under his breath.

"Hey, what is it?" Abbie questioned already dreading his response. Reynard provided a nervous smile and chuckle and scratched his head.

"You know how I said that... I stole the fire power from a Hellhound, that isn't really the truth. See the woman with long hair that looks like she is about to rip that guy's head off, I got it from her." Reynard laughed against nervously and Abbie threw her head back stifling a groan.

"Why the hell did you lie, we had a moment we were bonding Reynard."

"Hey, don't judge me for lying when you are withholding information even after we had that moment Nightlight." Reynard stressed her nickname to illustrate his point. Abbie was not amused and glared at him. "Alright, so, before I met you I was with Orzala's army thought safety in numbers right, but the army was really there to push her forward and the only people who may have a chance at even getting to the castle was those in her squadron. I worked my way through the ranks and got her good side then..."

"Oh god." Abbie said already dreading what Reynard was going to say.

"She trusted me enough to make me her second and when her guard was down I tried to steal her fire. The thing is the fire from an Ifrit is uncontrollable and scary, so I couldn't steal that much. She was mad."

"Understandably, she wants to see you gone from this plane."

"She thinks I am already that's the beauty of it, we just have to hide and wait until they're gone." Abbie pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a puff of air expressing her annoyance with Reynard once more.

A small smooth pebble no bigger than penny shook, the ground made small tremors. There was a stillness that carried on for a solid minute until the head of a one eyed giant with huge tusk became visible through the fog.

"OH hell!" Abbie breathed.

"Their shouting drew it here."

"Damn it." Abbie looked up to check on the bickering group who had not even seemed to notice the rising beast, but that wouldn't last for long. Abbie got out her crossbow, Reynard went to stop her.

"No! Just wait here, the fog will hide us."

"Yeah, but for how long? We are literally stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"Let me do it. I'll climb on its head and stab the eye out, then jump off, then take out the leg so it'll fall off the ridge to its death."

"How about I shoot its eye out instead of you climbing on the thing? Let's keep it simple."

"Alright, that makes more sense to go for it. I've got your back Nightlight."

Abbie cautiously approached the giant, she could clearly see the Cyclops whole body. It was holding a large wooden cudgel in its hand. Abbie noticed the fog was starting to thin out she hide behind another rock spire and aimed the crossbow at the Cyclops eye, yet the beast kept moving and turning its head, sniffing at the air most likely for a meal it was obvious that Abbie would not have a clear shot. Instead Abbie aimed for the h hand carrying the cudgel. The spectral bolt whizzed through the air and pierced the thick hard skin of the Cyclops causing the creature drop the large wooden cudgel with a hard loud thud.

"What was that?" Reynard heard a man from the yelling group ask from afar. His eyes darted back and forth from the group to Abbie.

"Did I leave you in miasmic swamp? No, I pulled you out!" Orzala shouted shoving her finger in the bearded man's face, he in turn smack her hand away from him and squared his shoulders in an attempt to look intimidating. Reynard shook his head, the man would pay for that. He was thankful for the bearded man's abrasiveness and ignorance occupying Orzala and her whole squad's attention.

The Cyclops was staring at its bleeding hand confused, it wasn't moving and Abbie took this as a golden opportunity to shoot it directly in the eye. The Cyclops let out a deep agonised roar, it stumbled around blindly and swinging its arms around in reckless abandon, it was slowly inching towards the edge of the trail threatening to fall. The Cyclops stomped its large green feet, causing the ground to shake so ferociously that the cries from the Cyclops was all that was heard and not the power struggle between Orzala and her subordinate.

"Nightlight!" Reynard gave a whispered shout and gestured that Orzala and her followers were approaching the suspicious sounds. Abbie focused on the Cyclops knee and shot it out, it roared and wobbled closer to the ridge. Reynard panicked when he heard Orzala voice getting closer as she ordered her subordinates to investigate the commotion. "Nightlight!" He called again with urgency.

Abbie whipped head around as saw the demons had left the area where they were arguing and were fast approaching them. Abbie ran to the large spire with Reynard, she took her hold of Reynard's hand and he held her close to him and used his other arm to bring her closer to his chest. Abbie looked up and him and nodded signalling she was ready. She gasped once she felt the familiar coldness of Reynard's shroud envelope her entire being until they were completely camouflaged in the shadows.

"It's hard to yell at all of you with all this noise!" Orzala said. She stopped right near the rock spire that Abbie and Reynard hid behind. Abbie could now see her face, she was a beautiful woman she had a streak of white in her hair, thick eyebrows and a horizontal scar on her long broad nose. "Oh, it's a stupid Cyclops."

"Lady Orzala may I?" asked an older woman in a dark cloak. Orzala shook her head no and made a fluid motion with her fingers summoning a large fireball, she held it in her hand for a few seconds until it turned into a swirl of blue and red when it became the right shade of purple she desired she lobbed it at the Cyclops setting its entire head aflame. The giant roared and moved backwards, finally falling off the edge. She grinned when she heard the multiple crashes of the Cyclops falling.

"Now back to what I what you were saying Connor about how I was a bad leader. Did you see how easily I took out that Cyclops you need me. We all need each other so fall back in line."

"No, not until you prove-" Connor voice was instantly diminished as Orzala spun around and stood in front of him as a 8 ft tall demon with skin that resembled magma, Abbie could feel the sweltering heat that radiated off her body, it was immense the smooth pebble stone right by Orzala's foot was somehow melting into a liquid, however no smoke emitted from it or her. Reynard pulled Abbie closer to him to keep her safe from them.

"Be quiet you disgusting rodent." Orzala bellowed she turned her attention to the thin man next to Connor and kicked him in the chest. The Ifrit viciously stomped on his face and chest, getting out all of her aggression with every stomp, Abbie covered her mouth to stop herself from uttering any type of shock. When Orzala was done, she composed herself and bore down on Connor. "Know this, the only reason why he is dead and not you is because you are not the most useless one on the team. Now fall in line." With that Orzala shrank back to her normal size and her magma like body chipped away to reveal her smooth brown skin underneath.

"Yes Lady Orzala." Connor stuttered in a defeated tone. He and the rest of Orzala's team followed her back the trail and jump onto the wall. When they were completely gone Reynard released them from his shroud he rested back and breathed heavily. Abbie stood up to stare at the Ifrit's old husk that was unbearably too hot to even be near.

Abbie approached the body of the man that Orzala deemed useless and had chosen to make an example out of. He was a middle aged, bespectacled man, his wrinkled skin was burnt horribly and a rib was sticking out of his badly bruised chest, it made a gruesome noise as he struggled to breathe, the man looked human, if he was a demon he would have revealed his true form by now. He really should stop and let the fires take him, but for some reason he was intent to suffer on this plane a little longer.

"Please." the man managed to force out while coughing up thick dark blood. "Kill me." Abbie bit her lip. Abbie aimed her crossbow at his head, her finger was near on the trigger the humming of the oncoming spectral bolt until she was about to pull until she heard a light growl and saw a large shadow moving in the fog, the ground shook once more. Abbie lowered the crossbow and backed away from the dying man she ran from the looming giant, Reynard followed close to her.

The man was screaming now begging, the giant would be occupied with him instead of sniffing them out. Abbie's face remained unchanged, she didn't look back, and she understood how it had to be now that they were so close

The heavy onslaught of rain that Abbie and Reynard hid away in the sanctuary had now subsided, the rocks were slippery and cut into Abbie's skin as she dragged her body up. Her hands had grown rough and knees were scuffed. Her body was haggard and slick and sticky with rain and sweat and dirt. Yet, as she rested on her scuffed knees a glimmer of hope as well and triumph was present in her eyes. Abbie opened her dry lips to speak but her words, but choked on her words at the sight before her.

No longer did she have to look up because the castle was in front of her, the only thing separating her from the castle was a long winding road and rickety rope bridge that swayed in the breeze. The light from the castle reflected off the soul keys that hung off the mammoth tree, one of those keys belonged to Reynard. He too was on his knees, covered in sweat and dirt and rain. He stared up at the tree and clutched at his chest yearning.

"Come on, we're not there yet." Abbie said, rising to her feet and offered her hand to him to help him up he accepted it and stood up. "We need a strategy things in there are going to be different."

"The castle is a labyrinth, and everything we've seen outside it will be there too and a lot more. Things in there will mess with your mind and prey on every fear you have."

"How long did you spend in there."

"Not long, maybe a week."

"A week? So you don't have the most knowledge on where to go."

"We'll flip a coin and hope for the best."

"I don't see anything wrong with that." Abbie retorted. "The plan is to find the flute and get your soul key back. We leave together. We fight the foes that we know we can take and out run the ones we can't."

"Do you have a better handle on your witch and witness powers?"

"Witch yes, witness no. Haven't been able to breathe fire since then, and the dagger I'm not sure about it, why can't I use another staff I made a tornado."

"Yeah, I underestimated how magically inclined you are my fault you told me you've done big spells without any type of training. You have an enchanted ancient Ghanaian knife made from Damascus steel and the handle is the best type of Ghana gold right there on your belt, you know how rare that thing is."

"I had a clue the first time you gave it to me and you didn't want to let go of it." Abbie teased. "Who did you steal it from?"

"I took it from Orzala." Reynard chuckled at Abbie's surprised expression. "Keep using it, you won't have to rely on only your blood to power your magic."

"Well what about your shadow magic. They'll be plenty places to hide in a dark castles."

"True, but there is a good chance we won't be the only ones hiding in the shadows."

"I'll keep that in mind." Abbie replied. They neared the rope bridge a large unnerving vulture perched on a snow white tree that stared at them.

"Don't look it in the eye, it makes you want to jump off." Reynard warned. Abbie looked down as she passed the large bird of death and slowly walked on the rope bridge with Reynard following close behind her. She kept a firm hold as the bridge swayed to and fro , Abbie inched closer, putting one shaky foot in front of the other slowly nearing the gates. The loud squawk of the vulture startled her. "Ignore it." Reynard said.

The buzzard kept squawking, taunting. Abbie smirked and walked faster with her head held high, she had fought hard to get this far and a demonic bird playing mind games would not deter her from storming the castle. Once reached the end of the rope bridge, the bird went silent and flew away and the rope bridge snapped and fell to the bottom of the pit of spiky jagged rocks and discarded weapons.

Witness and Demon stood together side by side at the castle door which told the story of a large dragon carrying a woman and devouring multiple people and a large where the dragon slept under. The top of the door had a menacing stone gargoyle with red beryl eyes looking down at them with contempt. The door was sealed by a large copper dragon head, the dragon growled and its mouth moved.

"Welcome caged soul to my labyrinth." The seal spoke in a deep gravelly voice. "You wish to claim the key to your soul which binds you here? This no easy task, yet you have made it this far. But heed these words accursed one, when the weak court death, they are sure to find it." A bolt of crimson lightning hit the seal, splitting it in two, the doors burst open inwards. Abbie held up her crossbow pistol and Reynard withdrew his sword, their eyes met and without a word they understood that they could trust each other here.