You turn the truth then you turn your back. You're a victim of yourself. the hate remains the hurting still exists, I'm so tired of it all-Sick and Tired – Black Sabbath

Sirius carried Kathleen back to his sphere. There was debris from what seemed to be thousands of destroyed spheres, creating a sick kaleidoscope of color against the black. Sirius grew sadder and sadder each time he had to dodge a piece of colored pulsating light. Once a piece brushed past him and he could feel the energy inside it withering away and dying.

"How do they die Sirius?" she asked. "How do an – luminaries. How do luminaries die?"

"There are really only two ways. A luminary will die instantly if their sphere is destroyed. They are connected. A luminary cannot exist without its sphere." Sirius grew silent for a moment.

"Then what's the other way?"

He took a deep breath. "The other way isn't as painless and sudden. A luminary can die if all their energy is drained out of them. What flows like blood on Earth is energy here. The more we lose the weaker we get, and when it's all gone, we die. The whole process is extremely painful and it can take years before a luminary's energy is completely gone."

"Then how did she kill that luminary in your garden? The young one?"

"Zoi's are movement. They can create and destroy. They can suck the energy out of something. That's what she did to him. She sucked the energy out of him and sucked the energy out of his sphere so it imploded."

"Oh…"

Almost the rest of the way back was silent. It was only when they were in view of the green sphere did Kathleen ask another question.

"Sirius, what did you mean back there when you said I used the Zoi on myself? I didn't understand what Sol and Andromeda understood."

This question was easier to answer. "The Master didn't grant you your wish. Maybe he felt bad about cheating you, or maybe he cheated you out of your wish in the first place. Either way, I knew it wasn't he who had let you understand me. Because when I needed the Zoi, when I needed to get it away from you, you couldn't understand me. You had asked the Master for the ability to be able to understand your dog. And you couldn't.

"But when Leo died and returned to my true form you could see me and understand me and answer me back. You could understand me, what I really was. That is how I know. You must have said to yourself 'I want to understand him.' Because you couldn't understand me while I was in my dog form. To understand me you would have had to have been able to see and hear and talk to luminaries, if only for a short while."

Kathleen nodded in understanding and they flew back into the sphere.

Over the next few days there were several more attacks from the monsters. Sirius was called by Alpha and Polaris three times to help take care of two luminary eaters and one sphere eater. Each time he left Kathleen stared out into the universe on the observatory deck. She bit her nails and waited with bated breath for Sirius to return. When she saw his green form finally appear she let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding and went down to meet him. She didn't touch the Zoi again, and noticed it had turned back into a dagger.

Sirius didn't like being away from Kathleen for so long. After each monster was killed he hurried back to his sphere as fast as he could and was relieved to find her still there.

This whole monster business was troubling him greatly, but he did not confess his uneasiness to her for fear of worrying her. Why should the monsters, after millions of years of confinement in Unknown Space suddenly surface? And Polaris and Alpha had called upon him about the most dangerous monsters that had appeared in the last few days. Where were they when the sphere eater attacked Andromeda's sphere? Surely the Initomi had been patrolling somewhere around her sphere that they could hear the terrible sounds of screaming and destruction. Why hadn't they come to help? Nothing made sense to Sirius and he made a decision not to help the next time he was called away.

But the next time it happened, he didn't have a choice.

"Kathleen!" he called. She came running down the stairs and was startled at the urgency in his voice. Sirius was standing with an orange luminary with small wings.

"Kathleen I have to go… It's Sol… another monster…" Kathleen felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. Not only did she like Sol and not want him to be hurt, but if anything happened to him than something would happen to Earth.

"What's wrong?" she said in a shaky voice.

"I'm not sure the extent of it, but I have to go, right now. Will you be okay here alone for a while?" Kathleen nodded. Sirius turned away from her and took off, taking the orange luminary with him. Sirius flew off toward Sol's sphere and the orange one went off in the direction of Andromeda's sphere.

Kathleen felt sick.

Andromeda was lying in her garden. She loved her garden. It was the only place where she felt that she could forget about everything. She would lie on her back and feel the life in all the flowers flowing up through her and filling her.

Her garden was a seemingly endless field of flowers. A small stream of pink winded its way through the countless stems and petals and blades of grass. She stared at a green flower that dipped down toward the edge of the stream. It was weighed down by tiny beads of pink that rested on its petals.

She stretched out her arms and looked up. The roof of her garden she had changed to look like what she thought resembled a sky on Earth. It was a green sky with orange clouds. Andromeda had never been to Earth herself. She smiled to herself and closer her eyes, letting the life of the flowers well up inside her. That's when Firiana crashed in.

She plunged right through the walls of the sphere and the impact forced her to turn several somersaults as she struggled to regain her balance. Andromeda sprang to her feet and ran toward her.

"It's Sol!" screamed Firiana. "Sirius already went, Sol's sphere… Please help him!" Andromeda formed her katana with one hand, grabbed Firiana's arm with the other and was flying toward Sol's sphere less than a second after Firiana had finished what she was saying.

Sirius burst through the wall of the orange sphere. Sol was lying on his back in a pool of thick orange liquid. Sirius was afraid he might be too late.

"S-Sol?"

There was a gentle twitch in his fingers. Sol slowly opened one eye.

"Sol!" Sirius bent down and held his Zoi to Sol's forehead. There was a flash of light, and Sol's wounds were healed.

"Let's get you off the floor," said Sirius, and pulled him off the floor. He slung one of Sol's arms around his shoulders and helped him over to a couch. After seeing that Sol was comfortable Sirius pulled up a chair.

"What happened to you?" asked Sirius.

"Monster attacked me on my way back from Andromeda'," whispered Sol. "Luminary eater. I barely made it back here."

"Where were the Initomi!" shouted Sirius. "Where was Alpha or Polaris? What are they doing that they can't help us when we are attacked!"

Andromeda ran through the wall of the sphere, dragging Firiana behind her.

"What's going on!" she exclaimed as she rushed into the room.

"Sol what happened to you!" She was shocked to see that his color, which was always so bright, had gone dull and heavy.

"It'll take a while before I'm back up to speed," said Sol. "I lost a lot."

"What did it look like?" demanded Sirius abruptly.

"It was like a scorpion. Light blue," replied Sol.

"Andromeda, let's go," said Sirius, his spear forming in his hand.

"But Sirius-" began Sol.

"No!" shouted Sirius. "I'm tired of this! You've been hurt, Andromeda's been hurt, I've been hurt, all by these monsters! Who knows how many of Andromeda's subjects died at the hands of one! No more! If they're not going to help us we have to take care of ourselves! If they're not going to protect us than I will!"

The following silence rang with the energy of Sirius' speech. No one dared to move.

"Andromeda," he said more gently. "Are you in?"

All she could do was nod.

They found it quickly. It had caught Sol, a lesser luminary, by surprise and while he was alone. But it was no match for Andromeda and Sirius together. They dispatched it by cutting off its tail and pinchers and Andromeda flew underneath it and buried her katana in its belly. It burst into glittering dust and drifted away before Sol and Andromeda had even broken a sweat. They were about to fly back to Sol when two figures came flying into view.

"I c-can't believe we almost didn't make it!" shouted one voice. "H-How could we have ended up halfway across the universe when a monster attacks?"

"It wasn't my fault!" screamed the other. "I scheduled that meeting weeks ago! How was I to know a monster would attack!" It was Polaris and Alpha.

"What have you been doing?" said Sirius to them as they came closer. He spoke in an eerily calm voice. "Every time I or Andromeda or Sol is in trouble you don't come. Where is the Initomi? Where is our backup?"

"I'm sorry Sirius," said Alpha. "But with all the attacks the Initomi are spread thin enough as it is! We've killed almost a hundred monsters since the attacks began and even more are killed by luminaries like you."

"That's not good enough," replied Sirius. "How many have died Alpha?" Andromeda turned away. "How many luminaries have died because your Initomi is spread to thin?"

Alpha had nothing to say in reply.

"Sol almost died today because your Initomi is spread so thin. Don't let this ever happen again."

"Sirius we've been trying to get here for the past hour and a half. We're sorry we didn't get here in time but Sol is okay and you killed the monster quite easily."

An hour and a half!

Sirius suddenly realized how long he had been away from Kathleen.

"I have to go," he blurted out to Andromeda. "Go back and make sure Sol is okay."

"Of course," she replied. Sirius flew off toward his green sphere as fast as he could.

He stepped into his sphere and looked around. Instantly he knew that something was wrong. Something didn't smell right.

"Kathleen!" he called. No answer.

"Kathleen!" he shouted, louder. Still no answer.

Feeling sicker every second Sirius rushed up to the observatory deck. No Kathleen. She wasn't in her room either.

He traced it down to the garden. The smell. The smell he hated. The ozone-jasmine scent that he traced back to so many bad memories that still stung him. Kathleen was gone and she had been here. She in her pearly white with her blue consort. They had Kathleen.

It is said that Sirius' subsequent scream could have been heard beyond the corners of the universe.