Volker

I looked over my neighborhood, quiet and serene. It was night, and the position of the moon gave away the floating fortress high above. It was silently hovering there, but not for long I figured.

"Let's hurry," I said, and Aerossi nodded. She spread her wings and kicked of the ground, and taking her hand we flew toward our destination. Images of the girl who I met back then, who I went on a date with and this version of her, who already knew who what was going to happen afterwards. At least, up until now.

The night was cold and the air just slight, making Aerossi's hand warmer than usual. I looked at her, at what kind of girl she's become. If one day her old self goes missing and begins this story herself, I'll only have to wait until she gets through this to be with her again. I love her, Courtney.

I looked back to see the aerial fortress before me and Aerossi breaking suddenly, causing me to shot forward. I recalled the float spell and used it, but the momentum rocketed me into the satellite. It caused me to punch a dent into the machine, but the float spell made my gravity to center on the mechanism. Before I got any special ideas, I rushed to the top with Aerossi behind me, and I found a hatch and looked inside, finding nothing, and opened and entered.

There wasn't anyone on board, so me and Aerossi were uncontested. We looked around for the control room, but it was already sabotaged and hardwired to go off in ten minutes. Not a risk taker, we hurried to the Engine room and found the tank almost empty. We hurried back to the control room and submitted to finding the correct wire, and ended up cutting both in caution. The timer screen blacked out, and me and Aerossi sighed and hugged each other.

But it wasn't to last, as the main power kicked on. The timer screen flicked back on to show us that the firing process was starting up and we had less than four minutes. We double checked the cords and found that they were still cut cleanly, but decided to wave it off. We were out of obvious options, and we were lost for the solution.

I then remembered something from the game: the sinking of the Leviathan Warship.

"Wait for me at the exit, I've got something in mind to take down this piece of metal," I told her, and she nodded and ran off. I hurried back to the engine room and searched for the energy tank. It was jammed shut, so I took the iron sword and broke the lock, then opened it up. there was a ball of light which might have been the gathering power source, and dug the nethicite shard out and tossed it in.

I shut the door and hurried back to the exit where Aerossi was waiting. I recast the float spell as the satellite started vibrating and grabbed her hand as she dashed out the door into the night air. We flew far away, leaving space for the nethicite to do its job, watching the lights on the machine darken as the laser charged, then rapidly failed. The machine started collapsing in on itself, before an explosion from the satellite disrupted the nethicite's work and caused it to absorb and seal away the power taken from the satellite, rather than releasing it in a burst of destruction.

The heart shone brightly for just a moment, before descending slowly as gravity took it down. We flew up and took it from the air, and landed near my house. I hugged Aerossi and she did too, and warmed ourselves up in the cold night.

"I remember now. Your name's Courtney," I said eventually, and she hugged me tighter.

"That's right, it is," Courtney agreed. She pulled away and we kissed. The cold night air was starting to get to us, so we turned to head toward my house when we found that Athena, no, Nihzil was waiting patiently for us to finish.

"Are you ready to go back?" she asked emptily. It unnerved me, how much different her appearances were, but that's how people change. I nodded, and she activated her portal. "From here on, there is no turning back and restarting. Once you walk through, everything will be set in stone and can not be changed without dire consequences. Are you ready?" she repeated her question, standing. She put her hands on her lap, and looked at both of us.

"Yes, I am ready," I said, placing my hand on my sword.

"So am I," Courtney agreed, and Nihzil stood aside.

"After you," she said. I gave her a smile, but she remained blank. I passed her and, with Courtney behind me, entered the portal back to the temple.

Almost immediately we froze at the horror presented to us, and the feeling escalated with the portal closing behind us. I unsheathed my Deathbringer as Ezashin looked up at us with a look of victory. Athena was tied with strands of her own hair to the statues, albeit with her body unscathed. Ashleyian, however, laid on her back, her arms spread out with the contents of her abdomen laid out next her and on her legs. Saikun was nowhere to be seen.

"She's still alive, but she won't be having kids anytime soon," Ezashin said, putting on his business coat.

"You goddamn bast-"

"Bastard, right? Anyway, my job's done here. I have clients to attend to so I'll be heading out now," he said, turning away.

I rushed at him, but suddenly, despite his girth, Ezashin spun around and knocked the air out of my lungs with a solid punch with steel knuckles. I buckled instantly before watching him move on, Courtney catching me.

"Get… Back… Here…" I said weakly, trying to stand.

"No, you are simply not worth my time. If you want to be killed so very much, then I'll tell one of my associates to come and kill you," Ezashin said calling his portal.

Courtney gently put me down and grabbed her spear and tried herself to fight Ezashin, but the demonic business man was prepared for her, whipping around breaking the spear and punching her across the room, causing her to cough up the blood that was leaking through my teeth.

"You two need to figure out that both of you are outclassed, undermanned and underpowered," Ezashin stated, walking through his portal.

I struggled to get up, and the portal reappeared. Nihzil darted out to her daughter, Saikun following with his hood up. Nihzil snapped the threads and caught her falling daughter, before trying to wake her. Saikun went to Ashleyian's side and used a recovery spell to seal up the wound mostly. The entrails stayed outside of her body, but she opened her eyes weakly.

"Sai…" she said. he nodded and moved over to me and helped me up to my feet and over to Ash. His hood caused his face to be hidden by the shade, arousing curiosity, but I turned toward Ash. When I could breathe normally, Saikun helped me lift Ash. Nihzil took Athena out of the area, then returned to help me. I looked over to Courtney, but Nihzil stood in my line of sight. She moved me away from her, and Saikun moved over to Courtney.

Nihzil resummoned her portal, and hesitated before we went through. I took this moment to look over my shoulder. Saikun had Courtney in the air, through telekinesis, and drew his sword. I panicked and turned to go after him, but Nihzil blocked me and pushed me through the portal. I was paralyzed, unable to save Courtney.

My arms felt weak, but with Ashleyian in them I had to stay strong for… what I had… left to save. Damn it! Damn it all!

I followed Nihzil silently, finding myself back in the Feywood. This part wasn't familiar, and soon we came across a tunnel with a large door with a runic keyhole, one that doesn't use a physical key. The cold air and snow chilled me, and I stood there, waiting for further notice from this woman. Saikun, you traitor.

Nihzil stopped before the tunnel and took Ashleyian from me, then whistled. Cedric warped his own way here, and landed with a resounding thud on the moist ground. Nihzil said something unintelligible before teleporting away, leaving me and Cedric to do whatever. I looked at him blankly and he motioned to lead into the tunnel. I nodded, and turned into the tunnel and entered. The lock broke and the door opened, and we went through. Cedric buffed himself up, trying to get me to smile, but to no avail.

Inside the tunnel was a wide cavity in the mountain flooded with lava, with a trail leading up to a platform in the midst with a massive blacksmithing setup. The anvil was very heavily dented, and the hammer's handle broken. Cedric put his hand out to stop me, and shook his head, then gestured to himself to go out there alone. He did so, and the lava stirred. The waves rippled out from a single point far out in the lava basin, then trailed toward the platform in a curved fashion.

A being rose out of the water causing the ripples, and looked the two of us over, before rising out of the water and standing taller than Cedric. It had the form of a minotaur with red skin, brown fur and hair, and yellow horns, along with red eyes and a long tail and a fierce talon-like claws and built muscles brimming for its chest.

"….And who the hell are you two?" it said.

"Cedric," the horseman said, the words warped somewhat.

"Volker," I said evenly. The heat was sweltering, but I wasn't sweating just yet. I recalled a bit of random memory, and raised my voice. "Are you Oni Getsu?"

"Yeah, what the hell do you guys want? Want to fukking fight, or are you just here to appease me?" Getsu asked, and Cedric drew the Umbral Excalibur and shield from the sheath on his new belt. "I like you, Cedric, but I'm going to have to fukk you up now. Boy, you're next."

Getsu reached into the lava and ducked into it for a moment, and when he came back up he held what I believe to be the Damascus Cleaver. True to its name, the stainless steel blade easily fit into Getsu's hand and looked like a long butcher knife in scale. He gripped the blade with both hands and swung. Cedric parried, and pushed Getsu back. The heat in the room built up as I gripped the Deathbringer tightly, causing my hand to hurt.

Nihzil

I sat patiently for Volker to finish his fight, amusing myself with the mixed feelings of Athena as the doctors prevented her from seeing Ashleyian's operation in progress. She struggled against the doctors and finally the security guard, before being hauled out by five of them. She tried to reenter the building, but the police arrived and took her away, finding out that the taser doesn't work on her.

The forest here seemed to be snowing, but I couldn't feel the cold like everyone else. It was beauty given a form all around me, and the smell of twisted pine felt sweet. I laid back in the snow, listening to the soft crunch of the crushed flakes beneath me. I wondered what everyone was doing, as everyone seemed to have something going on.

I sighed, and watched the vapor become visible in the cold. I stared on when it dispersed and up into the tree, whose branches were laden with snow. One swift hit to the tree and-

Something raced over my head and hit the tree, making the snow slip from the branch and land on me like I was just thinking. I sat up to see Volker with an emotionless glare. He held both Cedric's great sword and Getsu's cleaver, which appeared too heavy to actually hold up so he was dragging it.

"So everything went according to plan," I told him cheerfully, smiling brightly, and he dropped the cleaver to smack me across the face. I looked back at him to see that the glare was now watered down, and a tear ran down his cheek. "Oh yes, everything," I repeated.

He dropped the great sword as well and knelt down, hands on his face as he cried for his lost friends. But everything worked out in the end, Getsu's dead, his first mission accomplished, albeit by proxy, and he retrieved the sword he wanted. Now all that's left is to purify the sword and find Toushou. I started to laugh, and I reached down and put my hand on his back in congrats.

'Ashleyian Piren'

With my younger self in the hospital, Saikun cleaning up loose ends, Volker and Nihzil dealing with Getsu and Athena in jail for the week, the only thing I had left to me was assisting Mikimi and Cynthia in the kitchen fixing dinner. There was a knock on the door, so I quickly washed my hands and hurried to the door. I peeked through the eyehole and saw someone who wasn't wanted, but I opened the door anyway.

"Good evening, Miss Osvolt. Do you have a moment? I would like to have a rematch that you promised me almost twenty years ago, when you were about fourteen," Ezashin said, recalling a terrible memory. I felt like slamming the door on his face, but pride kept me from doing so.

"Come in. I'll take you to the basement," I said, stepping aside for him. Sonia was right behind him, but I shut the door on her, but she phased through. I shot her a glare, but she shook it off. I led them down the hall then downstairs to the basement. I then activated the Void room and opened the door that led into it. I held the door open for them and closed it after retrieving my blade Satsui.

"Sonia, it would be best if you stood out on this match. It is an one-on-one non-lethal sparring match," Ezashin told his subordinate. Sonia nodded and stood back, relaxing.

"Ezashin, how much do you remember of that day?" I asked, walking a bit inwards, measuring out the current size of the room. It wasn't a stable room, made from a pocket dimension that was made just for the purpose of being somewhere that people would not interfere with the community while they can cause cataclysmic power bursts. Of course, as with every pocket dimension, it had its limits, and a few cataclysmic power bursts would tear the fabric of it, causing the dimension to collapse on itself.

"I remember that you took down another one of my members, but that I won the fight I had against you and Athena, along with Volker and Courtney. You still have your mutts somewhere, don't you?" Ezashin joked, and I nodded.

"I take care of them, unlike you," I said.

"Oh dear, of course I can't take care of all of them! They're simply too modest and nice for their own good," he followed up, reaching into his coat for his steel knuckles. I drew Satsui, and slung the sheath over my shoulders. This was going to be mine this time.

Sonia Diller

Ash lunged, and Ezashin sidestepped to dodge and knocked the glowing sword out of her grasp as she passed him, and it fell out of her reach as she tried grabbing it out of the air. Ezashin then grabbed her and threw her away, and she nimbly slid to a stop. Ash then circled around to the right and went for the blade. Ezashin reached out and grabbed a handful of her hair just out of reach of the blade and pulled her away. He then grabbed her throat with his other hand, letting go of her hair, and slammed her into the ground a couple times before holding her into the air.

"What happened to your strength that you had back then? Did you just leave it at the temple twenty years ago?" Ezashin asked, throwing her towards a wall. Ash stood up using the wall as support but Ezashin walked over to the wall and began smashing her against it until she was coughing up blood, then threw her to the ground. She struggled to her knees, choking on blood, as Ezashin stomped and pinned her to the ground.

"Well?" Ezashin asked, picking her up and pinning her against the wall. She glared at him for a moment, then turned away. "I can't have this now! You were supposed to beat me in the second round so that we can have a third one!"

Ezashin dropped her to the ground and went over and picked up her sword and went over to the defeated Ash. She was an ordinary human woman who supported Nmend and had tangled with the supernatural, but had no power on her own. He picked her up again and forced the sword into her hands, then backed off to give her some room.

Ash felt the grip of the sword like she had never held it before, but shook her head and readied a strike. She charged, and started to swing but she was too slow. Ezashin uppercutted her and she buckled. Not satisfied, Ezashin held her up and punched her over and over until she started coughing up blood. Ezashin threw her down again and she stayed down, this time dropping the sword at Ezashin's feet.

"Now, this time I won't just do what I came here to do and leave. No, I think you are in need of a lesson," Ezashin told her, picking up her sword and flipping her onto her stomach. He took the blade and cut off her shirt collar and worked his way down the fabric. He took off her frayed shirt and reached down to undo her bra strap when a giant fist appeared and punched Ezashin off of her into a wall.

"Now what in the hell is going on here? Be nice to the fair lady," a young man's voice rang out and the fist receded. It belonged to a young boy with shaggy white hair and bright red bespectacled eyes, and as his arm came back to him it reverted into a human's to match the rest of his body. "Now where did you learn your manners?"

"You punkish brat, we were in a gentleman's brawl, a sparring match you could say, one-on-one was the goal. But since your mother was too messed up in the head to teach you proper respect for those older than you…" Ezashin sighed.

"What did you say about my mother?" the boy retorted, glaring at Ezashin.

"I said that your mother is too messed up in the head to teach you manners," Ezashin repeated, and the boy's anger spiked.

"What was that? My mother's messed up in the head? I'll fukking kill you!" he shouted, transforming into a wolf-like demon. He clenched his fists and iron formed around them to make gloves, and he swung. Ezashin realized that this was more than he could chew and stared in fear as he was pummeled against the wall.

When he reached back to throw another punch, I darted in between and teleported me and Ezashin from the room. It crashed into the wall behind us, fortunately not harming either of us.

"Now that's some firepower," Ezashin noted, before collecting himself enough to sit down in his office chair. "Now let's see what next on the schedule," he said, pulling up the calendar and putting on his reading glasses.

"It's dealing with the girl that showed up in the desert. The one who destroyed Michael's human form and was sent to this time," Nihzil told him, playfully kicking out her legs.

"Ah, yes. Here it is. Should we invite her into the club? Maybe doing so would be advantageous."

"I don't know," Nihzil said, before looking around this space of Nothing. "It never happened."

'Ashleyian Piren'

The young man calmed down enough to take a breather, and reverted back into human form. His clothes came back as well, albeit a different design. He wore a blue tee and a black unbuttoned dress shirt over it and loose black jeans, and blue and white tennis shoes which laces were undone.

He walked over to me and sat me up, as much of a mess that I was. "You alright?" he asked, and I nodded.

"As good as I'll ever be," I told him, and he started chuckling.

"I thought I was the one who needed help," he remarked.

"You came for help?" I asked and he nodded this time. "If you wait for just a bit longer, I'll send help your way, but right now I need to rest."

"You humans don't have the endurance we do," he noted and once more I looked at him.

"What are you? For that matter who are you?"

"A pure blood demon, going by the name Mikaru Keiko," Mikaru told me, his red eyes blinking towards me, before turning away.

"Relax with me for just a few more moments," I asked, and he held me closer. "Mikaru, huh. You wouldn't happen to know a girl named Brianna, would you?"

Courtney

I shook my head from the thoughts of Volker, the guy who went for a date with me one day and disappeared completely for nearly a week, trying to convince myself he had left for good. But the idea of recalling someone right before meeting them again persisted.

I looked back to my notes and read them over, trying to store them once more into my memory. The teacher rambled on, and I jot down some more notes when the bell rang for lunch. I rushed to put my stuff in my bag and left the room. I met up with Kris as we went down the hallway and we started to talk about the latest complaint about the teachers. I left the hall and went down the stairs and followed her into the lunch line. I took a teriyaki rice bowl and took a milk before heading over to the far side of the Commons and took a seat on the end of the bench.

"Hey." I turned around and saw him, Volker. He was beaten and his shirt was bloodstained, and he looked very tired. He had his bag hanging next to him and his hair was a brown mess. But in his eyes I could see a deep sadness.

I got up and hurried over him, before catching him as he fell from the sudden pressure. "What happened to you?" I asked him, surprised.

"Took a walk, fell down some stairs, escaped from the hospital," he said, before fainting. The staff members arrived shortly after and he was sent to the nurse's office until an ambulance arrived to retrieve his wounded body. It didn't mean I was exempt from school thereafter, but it made me a bit happier that he was at least in one piece.