Third Energy Chronicles

by largefish8

Anthors note: Now rated M due to mature scene in later chapter. As usual, the summary is sitting on chapter one for your viewing pleasure. Please leave a review after reading and enjoy. Rated T for gore. Note: Image property of Andrée Wallin and is used with his permission.

21. Chapter 20

The weapons in this were taken or were based off units from the game, Tom Clancy's Endwar and as such belong to Ubisoft. The individual chars however are property of me and Cydra. The poem, dance macabre clearly belongs to Henri Cazalis

Authors note: This story is completely unrelated to mine and Cydra's saga stories.

Chapter 20

Zig, zig, zig, Death in cadence,

Striking a tomb with his heel,

Death at midnight plays a dance-tune,

Zig, zig, zag, on his violin.

The winter wind blows, and the night is dark;

Moans are heard in the linden trees.

White skeletons pass through the gloom,

Running and leaping in their shrouds.

Zig, zig, zig, each one is frisking,

You can hear the cracking of the bones of the dancers.

A lustful couple sits on the moss

So as to taste long lost delights.

Zig zig, zig, Death continues

The unending scraping on his instrument.

A veil has fallen! The dancer is naked.

Her partner grasps her amorously.

The lady, it's said, is a marchioness or baroness

And her green gallant, a poor cartwright.

Horror! Look how she gives herself to him,

Like the rustic was a baron.

Zig, zig, zig. What a saraband!

They all hold hands and dance in circles.

Zig, zig, zag. You can see in the crowd

The king dancing among the peasants.

But hist! All of a sudden, they leave the dance,

They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed.

Oh what a beautiful night for the poor world!

Long live death and equality!

—Danse Macabre by Henri Cazalis

...

Ghoulwyrm sighed happily as his last bodypart phased into existence. "Urgh...about time...maybe that dragon come lately will get off my tailbone now?" he muttered icily.

One of his imps appeared and said, "We've got those sheep's blood candles you wanted, your corporealness. And we've gotten some spiders to weave their webs exactly where you want them."

"Good. Have you recovered any of my collection from my castle?" said Ghoulwyrm.

"All the good stuff was in the underground vault," said the imp, "We're still checking the offsite vaults to see if they're all there."

"Good. The sooner we can blow this popstand, the sooner we can..." began Ghoulwyrm before an angry roar was heard above. "Oh...and there's the boss," said Ghoulwyrm in a deadpan tone.

The imp quickly turned into a cockroach before scuttling into a crack in the wall.

Ghoulwyrm sighed as the door to his 'quarters' flew open and a tired looking dragoness said "Lord Malefor wishes to see you...immediately," yawning.

"I shall be there right away," said Ghoulwyrm, personally thankful that he was nocturnal.

...

Malefor was in a bigger fury than usual, Ghoulwyrm noted as he padded in. He'd heard rumors that he had lost his geas over that Cynder dragoness recently. "Oh...what is it now? I only just got my body back," he said with a tired groan, wincing as a bone clicked back into place.

Malefor turned and said, "Ghoulwyrm, for once, I don't have to go to your wretched tower to talk to your disembodied skull."

"My tower is almost complete with its redecorating," said Ghoulwyrm, "I think you'll find it a more acceptable place for a necromancer now."

"Good...now you can prove you are worth the space you take up. You have no doubt heard about my general's...defection. Four people were responsible, but I want just one got rid of; the rebel's only active magic user. I believe you tried to get her before...enlisting?" said Malefor coldly.

"Ah, yes, the Roph girl," said Ghoulwyrm, "She may be untrained, but the magic of her ancestors courses through the veins of her misshapen body."

"I want her dead...or in a position to be ascended. She could be very useful under our control," said Malefor.

"Ascension might be a problem," said Ghoulwyrm, "From what I've seen, magically-attuned individuals, such as mutators for examples, are more likely to resist the mental effects of ascension. Not to mention her mutated form would also resist transformation."

"Death it is then. Leave the rebels a body. It should help demoralize them quite effectively. The method I leave to you," said Malefor calmly.

"I am grateful for the opportunity, master," said Ghoulwyrm, "Though if you want to make a thorough example of her, it'll take some time to plot out an extensive and suitable demise."

"Just do it..." said Malefor, the calm tone vanishing.

"I shall devout all my cunning to it," said Ghoulwyrm.

"See that you do. My patience has been short of late," said Malefor, laying down.

"The burden of the crown troubles the mind of he who wears it," said Ghoulwyrm, "I shall do my best to lessen your burden." Inwardly, he added, 'Such as removing that crown.'

...

Back at the castle, Ghoulwyrm was encountering a lesser known condition that evil villains got: plot block. "Stupid human mutant thing," he muttered, incinerating another rejected plan.

His imps weren't trying to help, but not very well. "Ooh, maybe you can slip her a poisoned apple," said one of them.

"Tried it," said Ghoulwyrm deadpan.

"Flip her personality?" suggested the other imp only for a rock to appear in a white flash above his head, a note saying 'That's my gig' on it.

While the other imp was recovering, the first one said, "Oh, maybe you can put her into an endless slumber."

"No...the giant thicket spell was lost in the castle," said Ghoulwyrm, not looking up.

The other imp sat up and said, "Or, you could make her hair super long and trap her in a tower."

"Uh, can't she control her hair tentacles?" asked the first imp. "Uh... it sounded better in my head," said the second imp.

Ghoulwyrm snapped at that, blasting them both with eldritch lightning. "If you can't make a suggestion that's not already in use...stop...Disney may not be in business but their lawyers could probably still get us from beyond the grave."

As the imps tried to reconstitute themselves, Ghoulwyrm continued. "In case you've forgotten, I'm not a fairy tale dragon, I'm a ghost story dragon. When we get this girl, we need to do so in a way that will scare anyone who would think to try and replace her into reconsidering."

"Why not use a nightmare on her? Doesn't Cthulhu owe you a favor?" said one of the imps.

"I suppose, but I was saving it for something on a grander scale. What I really need is to know what angle I should work at. What vulnerabilities I can exploit," said Ghoulwyrm, "What all do we know about her, as a person?"

One of the imps pointed out, "She's a mutant in a group of humans who have every reason to annihilate her on sight and she lives alone. She's gotta have self-image issues."

"Perhaps..." said Ghoulwyrm, "But I need to know for certain. Looks like you two have some info-gathering to do."

"We have to go back there?" whimpered the second imp.

"Well, someone has to do it and you are the best I have," said Ghoulwyrm, which sounded rather self-depreciating to himself. "Mummy," whined the first imp.

...

Two mice materialized in a side street in the Moscow Safe zone. "Ok, here's the plan; we just follow Roph around, avoid feet, and we're home in 24 hours," gibbered one of the mice in an imp voice.

"But what about cats?" asked the other.

"What cats?" said the first 'mouse' before a 'meow' was heard behind them. "The universe likes to make jokes at our expense, doesn't it?" said the first 'mouse'.

"Just run," whimpered his companion.

...

"Ok...stupid dragons," moaned the first imp, the two having briefly tried a sheep disguise and been chased by the ex-general and Spyro.

"It was your idea to try a sheep," snapped his companion, neither noticing they were hiding against Megan's front door.

"I think we should try something that's less easy to spot," said the second imp, "Like a fly or spider."

"Ew, you want to scuttle around as a creepy-crawly?" said the first imp.

They stopped as the door opened and a half-asleep Megan peered out and looked down. "Erm...baa?" said one of the imps pathetically, Megan looking at them before shrugging and going back inside.

"Well, at least we found the kid's place," said the second imp. "Yeah...man, she's zoned out. We weren't even in disguise," said the first imp. "Teenagers don't keep good sleep schedules," said the second imp.

The two phased through the wall and peered around, Megan out cold on her bed again. "Ok, it's simple enough. We just find her diary," said the first imp quietly.

"It's got to be around here somewhere," said the other.

The duo stopped to see a moth-eaten notebook, covered in several warning labels. "Ok...do you know how to read human?" said the first imp.

"Well, duh, humans can't have changed their language that much over the last 10 centuries," said the second.

"Fine...off you go," said the first imp, smugly. "What are we worried about? It's just a diary," said the second imp before picking it up.

...

They later agreed that the magical explosion had been impressive, blasting them all the way back to Ghoulwyrm, though they had managed to take a page with them. "Let me guess...booby trapped diary," said Ghoulwyrm, not bothering to look up as they arrived.

"Who knew girls were so secretive?" said the first imp.

"I could have told you that. Even I wouldn't do that," said Ghoulwyrm before looking up and seeing something in the first imp's hand. "What's that?" he said, clicking his talons and making it warp to him. "You got a page at least," he said.

"For what we went through, it better have something good on it," said the second imp.

Ghoulwyrm looked at the first side. "Two whole range eggs. Three pints of milk...one packet of cheese and onion crisps?" he said, his eyes going red.

"Er, maybe we can poison her food the next time she's out grocery shopping?" said the second imp.

Ghoulwyrm glared and turned the page before stopping, a grin appearing.

'Dear diary,

Another lonely day has come and gone. I wish I could go out in public in something over than this big raincoat, but I'll scare the whole neighborhood just by showing my face. I saw a cute guy at the market today, but I know he'd never want to meet me. I'd give anything to be a normal girl with a boyfriend.'

Ghoulwyrm smirked before he stopped, looking to both sides to see the imps sitting on his shoulders, reading. "Can I help you?" he said icily.

"Just...proving that I can read," said the first imp.

"Is it me or does the 'alphas' and 'betas' look a little weird?" asked the second imp.

Ghoulwyrm glared. "Make yourselves useful. Get the...special box. It's just what I think we will need," he said.

"Er, which special box is that?" asked the first imp.

"The cursed music box of Umbria," said Ghoulwyrm.

The second imp gulped at that "I thought that was just for special cases?"

"This is a special case," said Ghoulwyrm, "If anything can a make suitable end of her and good enough example to please Malefor, it can."

"Ok...I'll...erm...go get the box," said the first imp nervously.

...

Chris decided it was just about time to check up on Megan. He's been noticing she's seemed more withdrawn and she needs as much company as she can get.

Cynder was walking with him, to his discomfort. Yes, Matt had made it clear she was ok and Xaoc had given her a clean bill of mental health but he was still worried. "I should talk to her. I know what it's like to not be trusted," she was saying.

"Hey it's not so much that she's not trusted as she can't mingle with others well," said Chris.

"I know the feeling. I had trouble adjusting too," said Cynder sadly.

"Well, the last thing I want is Megan to freak out," said Chris, "No offense, but having a formerly evil dragon visit can be pretty shocking and she tends to blast when she gets shocked."

"I'll be fine. I'm not giant anymore," said Cynder as Chris knocked on the door and Megan answered the door, holding a cup of something that steamed...though from the way the wood above smoked, it probably wasn't cocoa.

"Chris, I was wondering when you'd show up," said Megan before noticing Cynder, "Oh, what a cute little dragon."

"Cute?" said Cynder icily.

"Uh, Megan, this is Cynder," said Chris, "She's completely reformed and she wanted to stop by."

"Really? That's Malefor's ex-general?" asked Megan, "But she's so adorable."

"I'm not adorable. I'm the Terror of the Skies," said Cynder, part of her bringing up her disliked title if only to fend off the 'adorable' comment.

"You're not scary," said Megan, "I've seen scarier things in...well, in the mirror." Her cheeriness quickly puttered out as she looked at her clawed hand.

"Uh, can we come in? Don't want to attract too much attention from the neighbors," said Chris.

"Sure," said Megan glumly.

Once inside, Cynder said, "So...I don't see why you're locking yourself in here. Xaoc's scarier. I'M SCARIER!"

Megan lowered her hood, allowing her multiple eyes and tentacle hair to be more easily seen. "I think I'm pretty high up the creep meter," she said.

Cynder managed to find her voice. "I've seen worse," she said in a small voice.

"That's only my head," said Megan, pointing at her noggin with two of her left arms, "If anyone saw the rest of me, it'd probably start a mass hysteria."

Cynder nodded weakly before Chris snapped out of it, the only one not fazed. Whenever he saw Megan, all he saw was the kid that had lived on the base with him. "You can't stay here forever," he snapped.

"Where else can I go?" asked Megan, "I'm walking a thin line just by going out for groceries."

"Actually go out. There are already rumors," snapped Chris before a knock was heard at the door.

Megan quickly pulled up her hood and said, "Could you get it?"

Chris rolled his eyes and opened the door to see a FedEx box. "Oh...they really aren't stopped by anything," he muttered, picking it up.

Cynder sniffed it and said, "Whatever's inside it is pretty old."

Chris read the label. "Megan, it's for you," he called, tossing the box over to her.

Megan caught it and asked, "But how could anyone know I'm here?"

"Who cares? Free shit," said Chris eagerly, flicking out his K-bar knife to cut through the tape holding the box shut.

There was quite a lot of packing peanuts inside the box, but eventually, a music box was uncovered. It was a large ornate one, the base designed to resembled a castle with fine details such as tiny gargoyles, battlements, and arched windows that looked pretty realistic. In a glass dome on top, there was a finely-crafted depiction of an old-fashioned dancing ball, complete with dancers in fancy pre-Victorian dancing outfits.

"Kinda disappointing," said Chris after a minute, "I was hoping for a copy of Halo." Cynder glared at the box, something about it setting her fangs on edge.

Megan however grabbed it. "I've always wanted to try these out," she said, looking for where it was wound up.

Eventually, she found the wind-up key at the back, which was very ornate in of itself. There was a large diamond that connected to a loop of gold that fitted neatly into one of the windows. She tried to twist it but it came off in her fingers. But then she realized it was meant to come off as it was a diamond ring.

Cynder and Chris however had discovered their own problem. The door handle appeared to have vanished since the box had come out...and the door had locked. "Erm...Megan?" said Cynder carefully as Chris tried to make his radio work.

Megan didn't appear to listen as she put the ring on her finger, mesmerized by its beauty. Then she started using it to crank the music box.

"Megan!" snapped Chris before finally getting his radio working.

...

While Hawthorn was long gone, there were still some traces of his work left. For instance, there were quite a few people who had negative opinions about dragons, especially about the dragon who had most recently joined their side.

"For the last time, Cynder did not make two of your sheep scream and run around," said Matt in a tired tone, Spyro sitting next to him. Matt had considered it fair that he sit in on these jokes of accusations. Matt considered it rather ironic that he was actively defending Cynder when less than a year ago he would have given Spyro the cold shoulder. But then, he had grown wiser since then.

"That...creature is a danger to everyone here in this city," snapped the leader of the group.

"Cynder is no more of a danger than Spyro is," said Matt. Spyro gave Matt an annoyed look. "Er, which means that neither of them is no more danger to us than our troopers," added Matt.

"You say...for all we know Spyro's a spy..." began the guy only to jump as Spyro lost his cool at that accusation.

"I am not a spy!" snapped Spyro, "How many times do I have to prove myself to you people? Do I have to save the entire world in front of your eyes?"

"Huh...so you can replace that beast, Malefor?" said the man.

Matt winced as Spyro went rigid before he said, "He's all yours but don't kill him. Blood's hell to clean up." Just then, Matt got a buzz on his radio. "Excuse me, I have another call," said Matt before taking his radio to the next room.

He shut the door just as a buzzing noise was heard. "Go for Lynch...Chris, is that you? Your signal's breaking up," he said.

"Matt, we got a major problem," said Chris's voice through growing static, "Megan just got Pandora's music box in the mail and it's doing something majorly weird."

"What? I can barely make out what you're saying...wait, isn't Cynder with you?" said Matt.

"Yeah and she isn't much help right now," said Chris, "Get to Megan's..." However, the rest was drowned out in a blizzard of static.

Matt listened for a second before slowly clicking it off just as several of the anti-dragon group ran out, dragging their badly-singed leader. Matt peered in to see Spyro with glowing white eyes. "Spyro, what do you know about killer music boxes?"

Spyro's eyes stopped glowing as he asked, "What's a music box?"

"Thought that might snap you out of it. Megan got something funky in the mail...probably something from her contact in Romania. We'd better go check it out," Matt said.

Spyro looked upwards before saying, "Now that you mention it, there is an odd placement of magic not too far away."

Matt rolled his eyes and clicked his radio back on. "Viper team to gingerbread house. Xaoc, I think Megan summoned Cthulhu again," he said.

...

Striker and Chloe watched as Matt and a small team tried to kick the door into Megan's warehouse, lovingly codenamed 'gingerbread house' after Matt had been drunk one night. "So...what's going on?" Chloe asked Xaoc.

"Something of a wery unusual nature," said Xaoc, "It vould seem that Megan has received a package that had some sort of power that has activated vile Chris and Cynder vere wisiting."

"That's why Spyro's helping? OOOOhhh...that'll bend a horn," said Chloe as Spyro tried to headbutt the door open and ended up landing on his butt with a dazed look.

Just then, Chloe gave a small twitch. "I bet it'll take them about an hour before they haul out the missiles if they haven't gotten the door open by then," said Chloe, causing Xaoc and Striker to look at her.

Chloe then twitched again and said, "Nah, they'll get in long before then." Striker gave her a confused look. There was something about Chloe's tone that seemed different about a second ago.

After Spyro tried another headbutt and was nearly knocked out, Chloe sighed, the new tone still present before she ran at the door, shifting to raptor form as she did and jump kicking it, demolishing the weakened door...and vanishing into a wall of black.

Everyone stared at the blackness that Chloe had disappeared into. Nothing showed of the interior of the house at all. "Uh, where did my sister go?" asked Matt.

Spyro however didn't wait. "Cynder, I'm com-" he said, his voice cut off as he ran inside.

"Ok...Xaoc, did Megan summon Cthulhu again or not? I thought he agreed not to come back after last time," Matt snapped.

Xaoc tapped the side of helmet in thought before saying, "I don't zink zis is eldritch in nature. I'm not sure vat it is, frankly."

"Good...you go first," said Matt, trying to push Xaoc in only to be grabbed and thrown inside.

"I varned him to not be touching my suit."

Just then, Kala arrived on the scene. "Does anyone need any medical treatment?" she asked, "Wait, where's Matt?" She looked around before noticing the blackness inside the door. She sighed and said, "Let me guess, Matt just charged right in, didn't he?"

"Da, I threw him in," said Xaoc calmly.

Kala sighed and said, "Against all common sense, I suppose I should go in after him."

"Nyet, you should vait out here. Medic may be required. I vill go in your place," said Xaoc, sighing as he heard the noise of something charging into the portal. "Striker just vent through...correct?" he said dully.

"Mhm, I think we ought to put a barricade up to keep everyone else from walking in," said Kala.

"You just be stopping people," said Xaoc before stomping in...

...

...And emerging in a large garden, Georgian era according to his suit's readout. He looked down to see something had painted a tuxedo onto his suit. A cursory look in a nearby fountain also confirmed that a moustache was also painted on and a monocle was glued to the suit's faceplate. "Hmm...it is seeming zat zis simulation is having sense of humor," he said to himself.

"Well, well, look who just joined the party," said Matt's voice, though there was an absence of humor in it.

Xaoc turned to look...and burst out in deep laughter. Matt had lost his camo gear and was dressed like the classic British 'redcoat' officer. Needless to say he looked pissed off...it was probably the powdered wig under his hat.

"I don't know who's responsible for this joke, but when I find him, I'm gonna stuff my gun up his nose," said Matt, pulling out his gun for emphasis and becoming further annoyed when he saw it had downgraded to a 18th century flintlock pistol.

His anger subsided a little when he found the sabre he had instead. "New plan...I'll stab them." he said darkly before saying, "I wonder where Spyro went."

"I'm sure he hasn't gotten far," said Xaoc, "Neizer vill have Chloe or Striker for zat matter."

"Easy enough, FREE MUTTON!" said Matt, yelling the last part to the sky.

Oddly enough, the sound of hounds baying immediately answered that shout but Striker and Spyro still ended up charging around a hedge. Matt stared for a second. It seemed that Spyro had been trying to drag Striker back. "Guys?" said Matt carefully. Spyro snorted and pointed a claw at a dog collar round his neck that said 'Fido'. "I think someone's gonna die later," said Matt carefully. Spyro growled an agreement that sounded more canine than draconic.

"Could be worse. You haven't see Chloe...or Firestar," said Matt.

There was a thud not too far away followed by snarling and a fair bit of swearing. "Speak of ze devil," said Xaoc.

Spyro and Striker stared as a raptor, wearing part of a dress staggered into view before shimmering and shifting to Chloe's human form...complete in a Georgian dress. "Someone's gonna get EATEN!" she snapped, her voice sounding more like two identical people talking at the same time.

"You know, I'm pretty sure she'd have the same reaction even if she wasn't raised by raptors for the last ten years or so," said Matt.

"Ve must locate ze others and leave zis place," said Xaoc, looking around.

"Well, we've got everyone that went through the door. So that leaves Cynder, Chris, and Megan, wherever they are," said Matt. There was a 'vorp' noise and Matt said dully, "And there's someone else."

Kala materialized not too far away. She was wearing a Georgian dress now, but it was nowhere as ridiculously poofy and complicated as Chloe's. "Sorry, I just couldn't wait outside while you were all in here," said Kala.

Matt also notices she still had her glock. "I'll...swap you," he said, reaching out.

Kala shrugged before handing her gun to Matt. However, once the guns had left their respective owners' hands, they suddenly morphed becoming what the other was holding a second ago. Matt settled for screaming.

...

Megan stirred and felt something was different. At first, it seemed it was because her senses were telling her she was lying on something a lot plusher than was in her home, but that didn't seem quite it.

She got up with a groan to hear Cynder's voice say "M'lady...you're awake early."

M'lady? That was definitely off. But paled a lot when Megan's eyes cleared and she saw she was in a large plush bed in a lavish bedroom. She looked over to see a humanoid dragon in the corner wearing a servant's uniform that had been torn out of Pride and Prejudice. "Cynder?" said Megan, deadpanning.

Cynder bowed and said, "M'lady, shall I get your bath ready? We may as well use this early hour to get ready for the ball."

Megan just nodded. "Oooookay..." she said before sniffing a bottle next to the table and saying "Is that you Cthulhu? We beat you at Twister fair and square." Just then, Megan looked down at her right hand and froze. Her hand wasn't grey and there was no trace of jaws near it. She looked at her left hand saw that appeared normal too and there weren't two extra arms on that side.

"I...I..." she began only for Cynder to say "Is something wrong, M'lady?" causing Megan to snap "Stop talking like that."

Cynder frowned and said, "You must have had a more fitful dream than I thought. May I get you some tea? It'll help you calm down."

"I said stop talking like that. Where's Chris?" Megan snapped.

"Out on patrol with the rest of the guards," said Cynder, "Someone needs to make sure no one can rob the castle."

"Castle?" said Megan dully, her eye twitching.

"Goodness, you don't seem to have your marbles gathered, if you pardon me saying so," said Cynder, "A nice hot bath will help clear your head." Megan glared at that, trying to will up that polymorph spell she had read about, only for nothing to happen.

"Now, now, you can't stay in bed all day," said Cynder before pulling Megan out of bed, "Now come, you need that bath more than I thought." Megan found herself being shooed into a sizeable bathroom with a large claw-footed bathtub that was full of hot water. "Let me know when you're finished," said Cynder before walking out and closing the door behind her.

Megan stared for a minute before saying "What the fu-" However, something caught Megan's eye that cut her swear off short. In the looking glass above the sink, she saw the image of a girl with bright red hair in a silk nightdress. It took a few seconds to realize that it was her. She looked completely human and looked much prettier than she realized would have been possible if she had never been mutated.

Megan stared for a minute before saying "What the *bleep*?" She paused at the sound of a classic TV censor. "The *bleep*ing *bleep* was that?" she said.

...

Meanwhile, Matt and the others were wandering around. Xaoc and Kala appeared to be the only ones with technology, Xaoc with his containment suit and Kala with her firearm and her working earpiece radio, that had been used to tell the forces outside to stay out.

The others were in a bit of a sour temper, what with Spyro and Striker unable to talk, Chloe stumbling in her dress about every fifth step, and Matt unable to hold a useful gun or swear intelligibly.

"I should be able to do something. Vatever iz causing zis iz using wast amounts of Third Energy," Xaoc said as they walked through the garden they were in.

Matt gave him a sardonic look and said, "Gee, ya think?!"

"I should also be being able to jam out ze vorst effects," said Xaoc calmly.

"Finally," said Matt, looking at his pistol, "I couldn't shoot through a stale loaf of bread with this thing."

"Just be giving me a...moment...zere," said Xaoc, the world seeming to ripple for a second. Matt looked expectantly at his flintlock...and glared as nothing happened.

"Finally," said Striker's voice behind him, causing Matt to twitch.

"That is much more like it," said Spyro, "I never realized how annoying dog's barking is."

"You went for the voices instead of getting rid of this?" snapped Matt, waving the gun in Xaoc's faceplate.

"If I vas doing zat, ze creator of zis illusion vould realize and act against us," said Xaoc calmly.

"How can we be sure it doesn't already know we're here?" asked Kala.

"Because ve are still alive," said Xaoc calmly.

"Alive but trapped," said Chloe, "I think this whole place is just one big trap and Megan's probably right in the middle of it."

"Ve must locate her at vonce or ze architect of zis reality and kill it," said Xaoc coldly.

"At the very least, I'd like to get out of this hedge maze," said Matt, "I never liked mazes, especially the 3D ones."

"Just be glad there isn't a Minotaur in this one," said Kala.

Xaoc shrugged and walked at the hedge, flattening it. At last weight, his suit was close to a metric ton. The hedge could choose to fall down or try and stay up but the end result was the same. "Hmm...simple," shrugged Matt, following.

"Why didn't I think of that?" asked Kala.

"Because you can't use your fire powers here," said Spyro.

"Why's that?" asked Matt.

"Well, I can't do anything," said Spyro before trying to breathe out something but only getting a smoke ring, "I'm surprised that Xaoc was able to get that barking thing off."

...

Megan was now wearing a ball gown that could, in her opinion, pull double duty as a small tent given its size, though she had 'accidentally' tossed the wig that came with it into the fire. Some kind of party was taking place in the grounds it seemed, near a large hedge maze. Apparently, that wasn't even the main event. There was to be a more elaborate setting in the ballroom later, not that Megan was looking too forward to that.

"Cynder, you honestly don't remember Moscow?" Megan tried for the umpteenth time as they walked out, Cynder following meekly.

"No, I'm pretty sure I've never been there. I would have remembered if we had been there at some point. Russia is so dreadfully cold," said Cynder before shivering at the thought.

Megan sighed before a scream came from below, a couple fleeing out of the maze. "Only one person I know can cause that commotion," she muttered as the hedge rippled before collapsing as Xaoc, his suit painted to look like a tuxedo and a monocle glued to his faceplate, stomped into view. All but a few partygoers fled at that.

...

Ghoulwyrm, in the guise of one of the partygoers, stared at Xaoc. "Really? Is that the best you could do?" he hissed to an amulet shaped like a tiny music box round his neck.

"Like you coulda done better, smartass," said the voice of the music box spell's consciousness in his head.

"I probably could. I would have turned him a suit of armor, or at least make his armor like that," said Ghoulwyrm.

"Yeah? There's a being of pure magic in that thing. You want that thing running around without that suit restraining it?" snapped the box's consciousness.

Ghoulwyrm growled and said, "It looks like I'll have to take care of this myself."

"Good luck with that...and don't blame me for not messing with the damn pyromancer either. I'm made of wood, she controls fire, I am NOT pissing her off. You get me?" said the box rudely.

Ghoulwyrm growled and said, "Even in a pocket reality I have to take care of all the details." He sketched a rune in the air that send a small ripple out through all the area. He glared as, as the box had warned, the restriction hex bounced off the one called Xaoc, simply stopping him from further manipulating the dimension's rules. It wasn't what he had hoped but it was better than nothing.

"I need to remove him quickly before he spoils it," said Ghoulwyrm.

"I think that suit weighs a ton, have fun...ahahha," said the box, shutting up with a laugh.

"Urgh...I wish my mentor had told me how to make this thing shut up," Ghoulwyrm muttered darkly.

Ghoulwyrm was about to walk towards the gatecrashers when his new captain of the guards and his men showed up. "Sir, there's a very muscular giant entering the premises," said Chris.

Ghoulwyrm glared at that, a smartarse comment on his tongue before he remembered that they were seeing the filtered version. They'd just see a musclebound giant of a man in a tuxedo. "Why...yes, there is," he said in mock surprise.

"I don't recall them being on the guest list," said Chris, "Shall I take them away?"

"They're...late editions," said Ghoulwyrm as he realized what roles the box had given them. If he played his tarot's right, he could snatch a whole set of souls for the box.

He pulled out his scroll of 'guests' and went down to the bottom. There was a blank space after the last name but Ghoulwyrm tapped it, causing it to expand and fill up with new names.

"Hehehehe...enjoy the party. Nobody bombs my castle and gets off scot free," he muttered with an evil smirk.

...

As Matt and the others were walking into the garden party, there was a surprising lack of response to their entrance, let alone Xaoc, Striker, and Spyro's unusual appearances. At first there had been some panic before everyone seemed to have calmed down.

A footman, next to Matt yelled out "Colonel Brigadier Matthew Lynch!" causing Matt to spin and punch him.

As a pair of footmen was carrying the unconscious one away, Matt muttered to himself, "Brigadier, I like that. Though I suppose I could have also gone with grenadier."

"Erm...what's wrong with Spyro?" asked Striker, the others turning to see Spyro's eyes alternating between twitches and going bug eyed, energy crackling over him.

"Zis may be bad," said Xaoc.

Another footman had taken the unconscious one's place and called out, "Sir Spyro of the Order of the Purple Dragon!"

On cue, there was a flash of light and Spyro was suddenly humanoid, wearing a passable suit of armor and looked pretty shocked and dazed. "Erm...kid?" said Matt slowly.

Spyro's eyes spun for a bit before he said, "Well met, Colonel. How has the campaign against the Spanish been holding?"

"Erm...fine?" Matt said, hoping it was the right answer before hearing the footman beginning to say Striker's name and reaching out to grab him. "Finish that and you'll sing soprano. Striker is incognito," he said without looking.

The footman twitched before his eyes glowed green for a second. "Sure thing, no splinter off my lid. Have fun." before seemingly coming to his senses as Matt let go out of shock.

"Xaoc...did you see that?" he said.

"Yes, wery strange," muttered Xaoc.

Kala was next up, the footman's eyes flashing again before he yelped and jumped back. "Go right ahead, your flaminess," he yelped, a figure in the crowd facepalming unnoticed.

"Curiouser and curiouser," said Xaoc.

"Look...let's find Megan and then Kala can burn the place down," muttered Matt, adding, "Why couldn't this be the 1960's? I'd look like I belonged in UNIT then."

As he and Kala were walking through the crowd, one of the gentlemen suddenly said, "Colonel, I've been wanting to know about the battle near Barcelona. I've heard it was quite a complex battle."

Matt immediately began describing a battle that he was sure he knew nothing about. It was as if his mouth was on autopilot. After a minute he shook his head and said, "Erm...excuse me a minute." before he dragged Kala aside.

"Matt, I'm pretty sure you're not that much of a history buff," said Kala quietly.

"I know I'm not. Apart from reading up on battle tactics and skimming The Art of War, most of my war knowledge comes from all-nighters playing Command and Conquer," hissed Matt, with worry in his voice.

"So where'd all that stuff you just spouted came from?" asked Kala.

"No idea...is anyone else in here?" said Matt, tapping the side of his head.

There was a small 'nope' out of nowhere that sounded awfully like the voice the footman was using when his eyes were green. Matt stopped at that, the faint voice saying "Oh sh-" before cutting off. "Did you hear that?" he asked Kala who shrugged.

"Look, let's find...hey, is that Megan...AND CYNDER?" said Kala, going bug eyed.

Matt turned and spotted who was Megan was referring to. The girl in the fancy gown somewhat resembled Megan, though she was lacking a couple of extra limbs and eyes. But Cynder was unmistakable, even if she did look like a lady-in-waiting.

"Spyro will either blow a fuse or get a nosebleed," said Matt carefully, adding after a thought, "If that happens, get a picture if you can." "With what?" asked Kala dryly.

"Aw," said Matt gloomily as Spyro indeed came into view, took one look at Cynder and fell backwards, Matt sure he spotted a splurt of something crimson. "Just my luck...let's get Megan and book," he said, the two walking towards her.

Just then, an older gentleman walked in front of them. He was dressed in mainly black and purple with a black cape. Despite his hair having gone silver with age and his leaning on a cane, he still looked like he was capable of much activity. "Colonel Lynch, I hope you and your lady are enjoying the party," he said.

"*bleep* off. I'm not reciting anymore war stories," said Matt promptly, Kala jumping in and saying "We're fine, thanks."

"Excellent, I was hoping this party would go off without a hitch. The princess has been having trouble with her self-confidence and I was hoping this would be the thing to lift her spirit," said the gentleman.

"We'd love to talk to her...in private," said Matt.

"I'm afraid that can't happen," said the gentleman, "The prince will be arriving shortly and I must make sure he makes a good impression with her. She has no time for anyone else."

"Let's ask her, shall we?" said Matt pleasantly, walking towards Megan. "YO, MEGAN!" he called

Megan turned around, looking confused. She could have sworn she heard Matt's voice. But just then, one of the footmen loudly announced, "Presenting his Royal Highness, Prince Gaheris!"

"MEGAN!" yelled Matt, absently sucker punching the gentleman in the throat as he tried to yell over her.

However, all attention was turning towards the gate where a young man was walking through with a small entourage of servants behind him. He was wearing a silver suit with gold trimming, indicating that he was second in line for the throne. He was rather handsome, with his long black hair tied in a ponytail with a silver ribbon.

"Oh good grief, what a ponce," said Matt, Kala snorting and covering her mouth. The older gentleman met halfway across the yard and said, "Prince Gaheris, we have all been expecting you. We are pleased you have come to our humble castle." In a low tone that only he and the prince could hear, he muttered, "Don't mess this up."

"Do I have a choice, monster?" said Gaheris quietly.

The gentleman gave him a warning look and turned around saying, "May I present Princess Megan." He beckoned Megan who walked over.

Gaheris smiled and said, "Princess Megan, the stories I've heard are not nearly detailed enough to fully describe your beauty." He took her hand and lightly kissed it.

Megan, despite everything, blushed and said "You have me at a disadvantage, Prince Gaheris."

"Well, my older brother casts a wider reputation than I," admitted Gaheris, "But he can have the burden of the crown. I certainly don't intend to usurp him." He cast a knowing glance at the older gentleman who frowned annoyed.

"That's so cool," said Megan before stopping, spotting Matt waving in the background. Screw him, she'd enjoy this for a little bit. If they'd gotten in so easily then there was sure to be an escape planned already.

The gentleman smiled and said, "I'll leave you two to get better acquainted, but don't forget about the dance." More loudly, he called, "Just to remind everyone, there shall be a dance in the ballroom in 2 hours. All guests and their escorts are to attend." While there was only a mild strictness in his words, Matt shivered involuntarily and Kala could feel it.

"I have a feeling I know who's pulling the strings around here now," said Matt with a shudder, Kala nodding in agreement.

Kala tapped the shoulder of a nearby lady and asked, "Who is that gentleman with the princess?"

"Surely you jest," said the lady, "That is Viscount Zyvar, the princess's uncle."

Matt and Kala looked at each other. It's said that in the great multiverse, sometimes different versions of the same people can briefly share a thought with the right words. This more or less happened now as both Matt and Kala suddenly got the overwhelming urge to cut the viscount's head off and throw it to the mental image of some metallic robot spiders. Neither of them knew why...though the beheading idea sounded appealing.

Kala paused and said, "Wait a minute, if her uncle's a viscount, how could she be a princess?"

"Well, 'countess' doesn't really mean much unless she's married," said the lady, "Besides she has enough rank to marry a secondborn prince."

"My brain hurts," complained Matt before saying, "We need to talk to Megan...NOW!"

Just then, a few gentlemen approached and one of them said, "Colonel Lynch, would you care to join us at the shooting range?"

"No...not...going to...I'M GONNA KILL WHOEVER'S RUNNING THIS PLACE...WITH FIRE! Who just screamed?" said Matt. Matt turned to Kala and said, "Please talk to Megan while I'm busy. You're probably better at convincing her than I am." He turned to the gentlemen and said, "Let's shoot down a few pigeons, eh wot?" He cringed after the last part.

Kala sighed and walked towards Megan. "Megan. Time to leave before Matt goes kill crazy," she called.

"Ok, just a few more minutes," said Megan, "If I'm a princess in this dream world, I might as well enjoy it for a while."

"Megan, Matt is losing the plot...and he has a firearm," said Kala carefully.

"I noticed, it was a flintlock, wasn't it?" said Kala, "You know how feeble those things are."

"You do know it's Matt...right?" said Kala carefully.

"Those pistols are one shot at a time and I doubt he knows how to reload them right. Plus I doubt whatever's running this place will allow him to go on a killing spree."

Kala said, "He has a sword..." causing Megan to pause.

"A sword...what idiot gave him a sword?" Megan said, none of them noticing the viscount pausing and seeming to listen with an air of concern.

"Listen, Kala, I know staying wouldn't be a good idea, but when am I ever going to look this human again?" asked Megan, "Just give me some time to enjoy this, to be able to walk among people and not be scary to them."

"Ok...but you're cleaning up after Matt when he goes Freddy Kruger on someone," snapped Kala.

"I'd be more worried about what Chloe would do if someone tries to hit on her," said Megan before looking around, "Where is she, anyways?"

There was a scream at that and a man went by, being chased by an angry raptor. "There she is," said Kala happily.

Oddly enough, none of the other party goers made much of it, as if it were normal for a woman to display her rejection by turning into a killer reptile. The two girls winced as Firestar re-enacted a scene from Jurassic Park on the luckless fop, knocking him into some bushes and following, it ending with an ominous 'burp'.

Gaheris offered his arm and said, "Princess, may I escort you to the balcony where can have some privacy."

"Sure, sure," said Megan, who little a bit queasy about Firestar's actions.

Kala reached out at that, only for someone else to grab her hand. "May I have this dance?" said the viscount, a little too quickly.

"Dance? What dance? There's no music," said Kala. Just then, she heard the tinkling sound of a music box before it seemed to grow into more defined instruments coming from a group of musicians in a corner of the garden that Kala was certain hadn't been there before.

The viscount leaned in, beginning a ballroom dance, though Kala's face was darkening. First off, she didn't know anything about ballroom dancing so finding her body stepping in time by itself was unnerving her. But mostly, she didn't like this guy having his hands on her.

"You have the most beautiful eyes," said the viscount in an oily tone, causing Kala's eyes to narrow.

"Is that really the best description you can do?" asked Kala, "That has to be the most generic compliment I've ever heard."

"Then would you care to describe my eyes?" said the viscount.

Kala glared at the viscount. "They look like they came off a frog's," she said.

"A frog's? You mean like that tree frog's over there?" asked the viscount pointing. As soon as Kala look, he smacked the side of his head. 'I knew I should have cleaned these eyeballs earlier,' he thought, 'They always tend to stick after they've been washed.'

"Now then...let's try aga-eeeeee" he began before Kala, having lost patience, kneed him between the legs and stalked off.

The viscount whimpered for a second before the box said, "Told you not to mess with her, man."

Ghoulwyrm's eyes blazed violet as he snarled, "She shall soon regret this once I've claimed her spirit, which I shall take much satisfaction in breaking."

...

Megan had found the perfect entertainment area: the balcony that showed the shooting range...and thus showed Matt losing the plot at high speed. While Matt was angry about being forced to play his 'role', he had to admit that he wasn't completely unwilling to be blasting the bejeezus out of clay pigeons and wooden discs.

Gaheris came in as the shooting became louder as Matt found out the joys of gunpowder. "Princess...are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Megan, "Though it's a lot louder than I expected."

"He's putting too much gunpowder in his mus-" began Gaheris before a particularly loud explosion was heard and the smoking handle of a musket bounced off his head.

Megan quickly ran over and said, "Gaheris, are you alright?"

"Please, just call me Gary," said Gaheris in a slightly dazed tone.

A faint yell of 'More gunpowder' was heard, Megan facepalming. "You know, maybe we should go to someplace quieter before we lose our hearing," said Megan.

Another explosion was heard and a smoldering cannonball hit the floor next to them. "Yeah, probably a good idea. He's found a cannon," said Gary carefully.

As Megan helped Gary up, she said, "You know where I'd like to go?" "The library?" guessed Gary.

"Maybe later, but I'd to see the stables," said Megan, "I mean, I'm not sure if you've been in a stable very often, but I want to see what horses we have here."

"Oh, I've been in plenty of stables in my line of...I mean I'm a seasoned rider and liked to care for the horses myself," said Gary, quickly.

"Then maybe we can go for a quick ride," said Megan.

"Er, I'm not so sure about..." started Gary but then Megan gave him the 'sad face' and he couldn't fight against it. "Ok, a quick ride before the ball," said Gary, "But I think most of the horses are only for carriages."

"Well, there's got to be one for riding," said Megan before pulling him along.

...

"Boss zombie, got a problem. The babe wants to go horseriding," said the box.

"So what?" snapped Ghoulwyrm, before clearing his throat to remove the squeak.

"We ain't got no horses and I'm having to concentrate on damage control for that psycho with the cannon so I can't make any," snapped the box.

Ghoulwyrm frowned and said, "Yes, that's going to be a problem." He looked around for a solution before noticing the other raptor pigging out at the buffet table. "Well, if I can't find a horse, I'll make one instead," said Ghoulwyrm before casting his magic towards the raptor.

...

"Now zen Striker...remember vat I vas saying. You cannot simply bite ze foot off ze person in front of you," said Xaoc. Striker just hissed at Xaoc before gnawing at the turkey even more. Xaoc groaned and said, "Sometimes I zink zat you need a muzzle." Suddenly, the dog collar that Striker was still wearing flashed before more straps grew from it, wrapping around Striker's face before forming a bridle. "Vell, zat's not vat I had in mind," said Xaoc.

Striker yelped as the bridle began to pull him away, his size increasing a bit as he was pulled round the corner. Xaoc glared and looked around, tracing the burst back to a footman before he strode up. "Did you do zat?" he asked darkly, looking down and illuminating the footman's face with his faceplate.

"Who? Me?" asked the footman.

"Da, you used Third Energy pulse on young Striker. You vill explain vy or I vill do much painful thingz," said Xaoc.

"Like what? There is no magic here that isn't mine," said the footman.

"Erm...boss?" said the box before Ghoulwyrm said "Huh, it's not like you can do anything. Here I control the rules. Now walk away and forget this happened." before being puzzled when Xaoc didn't move.

"Boss?" said the box more urgently.

"Can't you hear me through that rusty pail of yours? I said take a hike," snapped Ghoulwyrm.

"BOSS!" screamed the box as Xaoc began to slowly raise one arm, a fist on it reinforcing the old 'armed and dangerous' saying.

'Do you mind? I'm trying to put this lummox back into his role,' snapped Ghoulwyrm mentally.

"The geas ain't working on him. I told you it wouldn't work on him," said the box, causing Ghoulwyrm to squeak "What?" before he looked up to see a fist eclipsing the moon. "Oh no," he squeaked before everything went dark.

Xaoc wiped the mess off his gauntlet on a nearby bush and said, "Vell, zat takes care of ze director," he said, "Zis simulation should be ending soon."

However, after a minute had passed, Xaoc swore angrily in Russian and looked down to see that all that remained was the fist-shaped crater. "Clever little monster," he muttered before looking around, "I may be requiring backup to find zis von."

...

Meanwhile, Megan and Gary were at the stables, which looked a lot cleaner than a stable should. Namely because there was a lack of animals. "Where are all the horses?" asked Megan.

"The guests probably have their carriages at the building apart from the castle," said Gary.

"But don't I have any horses here at all?" asked Megan.

"Erm..." said Gary before he heard the voice of the box in his head. "Hold on, lover boy, ride's on its way, last stall. Try and have it back intact. I'd hate to see what cannon boy will do if you don't."

"Well, this certainly can't be all the stalls," said Gary, "There are always more than two rows with these stables."

Megan sighed and followed before hearing a familiar, albeit muffled growl. "What the?" she said before hurrying towards where the noise had come from. She turned the corner to see a familiar, albeit larger raptor giving her the evil eye with a bridle bit in its mouth. "Striker?" she said in shock.

Striker gave a snort that sounded a lot more equine than reptilian, if reptiles could really snort. "Erm...Gary? Does this look unusual to you?" she called, Gary walking in. Luckily he managed to lose the 'wtf?' expression before Megan saw.

"Well, it's definitely not your usual steed, but I think it's still possible to ride it. It has a similar shape to an ostrich and I have ridden one of those before," said Gary before grimacing a little at an apparently painful memory. Striker snarled at that and said something thankfully muffled.

"On second thought, maybe riding isn't a good idea," said Megan, "Besides, I think this one has been pampered too much to be of any use."

Striker hissed angrily and kicked a bale of hay at Megan at that. Unfortunately for Megan, the dress she was wearing didn't allow much agility and she was knocked over by the bale. Striker chuckled at that, seemingly impressed at his older form's strength.

Gary, however, didn't see that as funny at all. "Apologize for that!" he snapped, "You can't treat a fair lady in such a manner!" Striker glared and flipped Gary off with his middle claw, causing Gary to glare. "Megan, I believe you're right. This beast is too surly to be ridden," said Gary before picking up a riding crop that was on the wall, "But I don't think it's too ill-mannered to apologize with just a bit of discipline."

With that, faster than either Megan or Striker would have expected, he smacked the riding crop right on Striker's nose sharply.

Striker hissed and made a 'come here' motion with its claw, his mouth snapping as Gary made another swing...and suddenly saw the crop was now extremely short.

"Gary, wait," said Megan as she got up, "You don't have to defend my honor. At least not to him."

"But he knocked you down. I can't let it get away with insulting a good lady without saying it's sorry," said Gary.

"Believe me, I deserved it for teasing him," said Megan.

"But..." started Gary.

"Listen, Striker may be a big pain sometimes, but he'd never want to really hurt me any more than you would," said Megan.

Gary looked a bit taken aback and said, "How would you know I'm not like that?"

Megan smiled and said, "I can see it in your eyes. You'd rather endanger yourself than let me come to harm."

Gary felt like his heart was in a vice before he said, "You have to leave...you have to leave before sunrise."

The box said, "Hey kid, what the hell you doing?"

"What?" asked Megan but before she could question it further, she heard someone saying, "Princess, what are you doing down here?" Megan turned to see Viscount Zyvar walking towards her, holding an ice bag to his head, oddly enough.

"We were going to...ride," said Gary, waving to Megan to untie Striker.

"Well, there's no time for that now, especially since the princess needs to put on another dress now," said Zyvar, giving Megan an annoyed look. Megan looked down and noticed that the hay bale had left the front of her dress rather messy and her backside wasn't probably immaculate from landing on the floor. "I'm afraid you'll have to hold up on any more socializing until the ball. Now where is Cynder?"

With that, the viscount walked out. Megan glared and said, "Ok, talk or I feed you to Striker. What was that about sunrise?"

Gary was about to speak before the viscount called, "Prince Gaheris, you're not spotless either! We need to have you cleaned up at once."

Gary winced before saying, "I'll have to tell you later. Just try to get out while you can."

Megan thought for a moment before saying, "Ok, but in case I don't run into you later..." She quickly pulled him forward and put a peck on his cheek.

Gary stared as Megan walked off, speechless and his brain stalled a bit before there was a flash of light and he was suddenly standing in front of the viscount, looking annoyed. "The box tells me you were a little...talkative," he said darkly.

"Get yourself another man, I'm not doing the rest of your twisted play," said Gary defiantly.

The viscount's look darkened and said, "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right. It almost sounded like you were saying 'no' to me."

"I...I was," said Gary, his voice shaking.

The viscount smiled and said, "Gary, Gary, Gary, my deluded little minion. Aren't we forgetting one teensy-weensy, easily-overlooked-but-ever-so-crucial, little detail?" With a burst of purple flame, Ghoulwyrm reverted to his normal form as he roared, "I OWN YOU!"

"I...I don't care," said Gary, sounding terrified now and trying to back away from Ghoulwyrm.

"Gary, it's been over five hundred years. When are you going to accept your position?" snapped Ghoulwyrm.

"You may own my soul, but you don't own my spirit," said Gary, trying to build up some bravado.

Ghoulwyrm rolled his eyes and said, "Of course I own your spirit, you idiot. It's the only part of you that's left!" To illustrate, Ghoulwyrm stabbed his claws through Gary's torso which became ghostly and translucent at his touch. Gary winced at that as Ghoulwyrm said, "You know I can make you suffer...soooo badly...you'll wish you could die again.

"Now listen very carefully, 'your highness'. You are going to straighten up and fly straight. I want that girl at the ball and nowhere else and you are gonna keep her from getting away. And if you get out of line again..." Ghoulwyrm twisted his claw in Gary's 'guts' more harshly, causing Gary to emit a gasp of pain. "Do we have an understanding?"

Gary nodded weakly and Ghoulwyrm smiled in a mock fatherly fashion and removed his hand. "Good boy...who knows? Maybe I'll even let you back out into the material world?" he taunted.

Gary winced as he held his gut, which was disturbingly unmarked by Ghoulwyrm's 'persuasion'. "You know as much as I'd like to think that you've learned your lesson, I need to make absolutely sure," said Ghoulwyrm before wrapping his hand over Gary's upper face. Gary screamed in a muffled voice as it felt like a hot brand was on his face.

Ghoulwyrm let go, revealing a purple mark on Gary's face before it became a ballroom mask that resembled a wolf's head. "There we go, just a little insurance to make sure you don't forget your lines or try to ad-lib again," said Ghoulwyrm.

Gary was trying to pull it off. "What is this?" he said, struggling.

"Oh, just making sure that no matter what happens, she stays...she doesn't have to be breathing," said Ghoulwyrm with a smirk.

Gary glared at him through the eyeholes and said, "You're a monster."

"Oh, good, I was worried I wasn't trying enough," said Ghoulwyrm in a mock-flattered tone before snapping, "Now get up and get to work."

Gary staggered up to his feet and walked away, though he wasn't going on his own free will. "Megan...I'm sorry," he whispered.

…

Megan meanwhile was trying to reach Matt. If they'd gotten in then they had a way out, Matt, Kala...even Xaoc. They'd have an exit.

Suddenly, a pair of guards appeared in front of her. "Princess, we're here to escort you to your room," said one of them, "You seemed to have gotten turned around." "I'm not lost. Get out of my way," said Megan darkly.

"The viscount gave us exact orders," said the other, "You need to get ready for the ball."

"I said out the way," snapped Megan, trying to force her way past them.

The two guards simply grabbed her arms and started marching. "You need to get into a clean dress," said one.

"You can't keep everyone waiting," said the other.

"Good grief, they're clockwork," muttered Megan darkly as she was dragged back.

The guards soon brought Megan to her room and roughly deposited her inside. Megan would have rushed out the door, but the two guards stationed themselves outside. "I have got to find a way out of here," she muttered. Megan immediately noted the quilts and ran to the window only to see that the house had somehow gotten an extra 3 floors. "Ah, dammit," she muttered.

As she was looking down, she heard rushing footsteps and Cynder's voice panted, "M'lady...forgive me for being late..."

"Cynder, how many times have I told you..." said Megan as she turned around. She paused when she noticed that Cynder's skirt had a lot more wrinkles in it than before, her corset wasn't so tightly laced, and the shoulder of her dress was noticeably askew. She had a feeling that if Cynder had hair, it would be disheveled.

"No problem...who were you with?" she said, getting ready to make a mental note to wipe such memories, knowing how it'd chew Cynder up once she was cured.

"With? Who said I was with anyone?" asked Cynder, sounding nervous.

Megan gave her a disbelieving look and said, "It wasn't with that knight, was it?"

"Uh, no, certainly not Sir Spyro, I mean, er, please don't tell anyone! If the viscount finds out, he'll throw me out for sure!" begged Cynder.

"Believe me, I'm not gonna tell," said Megan with a sigh and mentally throwing the mind wipe memo in a bin.

Cynder gave a sigh of relief before noticing her dress was a little out of shape. She blushed and started straightening it out. "Er, I suppose I should help you get into your new dress now," said Cynder, noticing the hay on Megan's.

"Take as much time as you want, Cynder," said Megan darkly. As Cynder was helping Megan out of her dirty dress, Megan commented, "You know, you and Sir Spyro would make a good couple."

"Oh, but that would be improper," said Cynder.

"Nonsense, you two are meant for each other," said Megan.

"You really think so?" said Cynder pleasantly.

"Oh, no question," said Megan, "It's as if you two have already met."

Cynder sighed happily at that before twitching. Megan noticed the twitching and asked, "Cynder? Are you feeling alright?"

"I...I dunno. I just...ow. I think I have a headache," moaned Cynder.

"You sure it's not more than that? Maybe something you think you know about Spyro?" asked Megan. "It's weird...I had a vision of us...in a huge place with floating islands...I think I was trying to kill him," said Cynder.

Megan paused at this, not certain if this was the kind of memory that Cynder should be recalling. "Anything else?" she asked carefully.

Cynder paused and said, "I think he and I were chained together at one point...by the neck?"

Megan paused at that, before assuming it wasn't what she was thinking of and nodded "Anything else?"

"Just that we standing on a giant crystal...in the heart of a world...and I was telling him..." Cynder struggled as she tried to recreate the memory.

"...that you love him?" suggested Megan, admittedly guessing but she had a good idea how these stories went.

Those words quickly clicked into place in Cynder's memory. And with them, the confining blocks that had been keeping her real memories out cracked apart.

Megan spotted that in her eyes and began a mental countdown. "WHAT AM I WEARING?" yelled Cynder. Megan said, "5…I believe it's a maid's uniform." Cynder glared at Megan and said, "Excuse me?"

"By the way, you missed a spot in the corner. Go dust it, will you?" said Megan. "Don't push me or I'll be doing the dusting with your head," said Cynder. "Geez, ok, look. Do you remember where Chris went? I think he's been turned into head of the guard." said Megan calmly.

"Well, I know he's not in the northern part of the castle, because that's where Spyro and I..." Cynder trailed off as some of the memories of her altered self trickled through.

"Cynder, Cynder?" asked Megan before snapping her fingers in front of her face.

Cynder shook her head and said, "I'm fine, I'm fine, but I've learned more about humanoid physiology than I ever wanted to."

"Well, it's all part of this little matrix. As soon as we find the red pill or whatever the exit is, you'll be back to normal. Hell, your mind might be trying to reassert your form already," said Megan, looking around.

Cynder looked at her hands and said, "Good, though I might miss these. Megan, you think you could figure a way to make dragons like me when we get out?"

"No...Matt has enough trouble making people accept dragons as they are. If I did that, he'd kill me...with a spoon," said Megan grimly.

"Another time, maybe," said Cynder, "Though as I recall, I think Malefor was experimenting in that field. I don't think he's made a stable breakthrough yet."

Megan glared. "Look, can you fly me out of this lockup or not? Gaheris seemed to think we should leave before dawn and part of me thinks there's a good reason to trust that."

"I could, but there's not really anywhere to go," said Cynder, "Despite what it looks like, this world is smaller than you think. What looks like the forest from here is actually the edge of this illusion and it's impossible to go beyond that."

"How'd you know that?" said Megan suspiciously.

"Viscount boasted about it while you were sleeping," said Cynder "Anything else he bragged about?" asked Megan. "Mostly how even Malefor will be impressed by his cunning and that the Music Box of Umbria is working better than he would have imagined."

"He has the Umbria Music Box? The Box of 10,000 Souls?" said Megan in terror. "The Box of 10,000 Souls?" asked Cynder.

"It's also been called 'The Box of the Suspicious Bronx Accent', but that's not nearly important right now," said Megan, "This music box was cursed by a sorcerer so that anyone caught within it will lose their souls at sunrise. As far as I know, no one has been able to escape from it."

Cynder looked confused at that. "Wait...if nobody escaped, why are there stories?" she said.

Megan paused and said, "I don't know. Maybe whoever owned the box before Ghoulwyrm bragged about it. But we better buck tradition if we're gonna get out of here. , as soon as you're back to normal, you fly us out of here. We'll just follow the craters to Matt and he'll get us out..." began Megan before a lightning bolt hit Cynder in the back, her form flashing back to her normal form as she passed out.

The viscount strolled forward, his hand crackling. "Somebody has cold feet, it seems," he sneered.

"Listen, pal, I don't know which one of Malefor's sniveling mages you are, but you're making a big mistake with messing with me," said Megan.

The viscount frowned and said, "You haven't figured out who I am yet? How disappointing."

"I don't care..." snapped Megan before she was tossed into the wall by a familiar blast of shadow magic.

"Try again...surely you remember Romania...and my lovely castle," he said icily.

That memory quickly sprang to life in Megan's mind. "But...that castle was blown to dust. Nobody could have lived through that," she said.

"Well, I wasn't exact alive before that, was I?" said the viscount.

"Oh no..." whined Megan, trying to back up as the 'viscount' grinned with teeth that no human should have.

"Now, 'princess', you have a ball to attend to and I can't have you miss it," said the viscount.

"If you're so powerful, why don't you just take my soul here?" snapped Megan.

"Alas, that would save a lot of time, but this curse doesn't have any room for deviation and I'm afraid that it can only end in the ballroom."

A Bronx voice echoed out of thin air, "Damn right...there's rules to this kinda thing...down below and upstairs would have my hinges if I cut corners."

"So then, are you going to be the belle of the ball freely or am I going to have to do some enforced method acting?" asked the viscount, his hand crackling with purple energy.

"Hey...no mind control. You know the rules. If they're not part of my collection, you don't pull their strings," snapped the voice, an oven glove of all things appearing over the Viscount's hand.

"Am I not the owner of you, artifact? Am I not the one who has caused this girl to fall into your trap along with several others? My will here is the only one that matters," snapped the Viscount.

"You want upper and lower 'management' to come on down here and fry your ass for breaking the rules?" snapped the voice, a large grimoire materializing on the viscount's head before roller-skates appeared on Megan's feet and she began to roll towards the door "That said...I spent ages getting this ball ready for zombie face over here. I don't care if you escape afterwards..." it said before a demonic voice that even caused the viscount to yelp said "BUT YOU ARE DAMN WELL GOING TO THAT BALL, MISSY!"

The viscount rubbed his head as Megan was sent rolling out, "Yes, it's time to bring this play to a close. Assemble everyone into the ballroom. The final act shall begin."

"Ah, shut up, zombie boy. You sound like a cut price director," said the box voice, back to normal.

...

Meanwhile, the others were trying to rendezvous. This place had been doing a pretty good job of keeping them distracted. Matt was more than halfway into his role when the girls found him and it took a few glasses of punch to snap him out of it.

"I'm sure punch is actually a drink...not a fist," complained Matt, angrily as he rubbed his jaw. For some reason his shooting buddies had tried to attack them as he tried to leave, completely forgetting they had given him a cannon.

"Well, we were considering snapping the head off that ice swan and shoving it down your red jacket," said Chloe.

"Let's find Spyro and bash his head on something till he calms down," said Matt, venomously before they stopped to see two of the guards, including Chris it seemed, dragging along Cynder, now back to normal.

"Hey, how comes she's not a biped anymore?" asked Chloe.

"Who cares? That looks like a big axe that guy has," said Matt, pointing to a hooded man holding a battleaxe.

"I think she's in bigger trouble than just for breaking the dress code," said Kala.

"I was being sarcastic," said Matt, walking forward and grabbing Chris, "Not cool, captain."

Chris turned to Matt and said, "Colonel, shouldn't you be getting ready for the ball? Your jacket smells a bit too thickly of gunpowder."

"Bite me, Chris. Time to wake up and let go of Miss Cynder before I show you how I got to be head of Vulture Brigade," snapped Matt, at the end of his patience.

"Miss Cynder is being escorted off the premises," said Chris, "Her employment here has been ended due to insubordination and scandalously compromising one of the honored guests."

"Eeeerk. Wrong answer. Kala, shoot them please," said Matt angrily, pointing at the guards holding Cynder who looked shocked. Kala pulled out her glock and fired a few shots, but they kept pinging right next to the gaps in the guards' armor rather than into them. "Kala, I said shoot them, not ding them," said Matt.

"Well pardon me for not having enough time in my busy medical schedule to practice on my marksmanship," snapped Kala.

"Right. When we get back, you are training with Tanya," snapped Matt, before turning and headbutting a guard who tried to grab him and apparently not even being phased by the fact he'd just headbutted a metal helmet and still knocked the guy out.

The other guards were drawing their swords when a deep voice behind them said, "Good grief, I cannot leave you alone for half an hour vithout you starting a fight." Two of the guards were picked up and banged together until they were knocked out.

Chris glared at that before lunging at Matt, getting a double kick to his chest and having his head sandwiched between two lost helmets. "Night-night," said Matt before a click was heard, one of the guards having grabbed his musket before having his head grabbed by Xaoc...and crushed. "Xaoc! What the hell!" yelled Matt.

"Do not be so concerned," said Xaoc, "None of zem are really real. Next time you turn around, zey von't even be zere anymore."

Matt glared before turning and seeing that the guards, minus Chris, had all vanished. "Ok, point to you. Least it means the kid gloves are off. Tell me you have a way...hold on," said Matt, before punching Chris on the jaw, knocking him out again. "As I was saying, tell me you have a way out," he continued.

"Nyet, vatever's running zis vorld seems wery determined to stick to a certain pattern like a...a..." Xaoc fumbled for the right word before Chloe supplied it, "Fairy tale?"

"So...we just derail it. Would help if we knew the rules." snapped Matt.

There was a pop at Matt's words, Matt looking up and being hit in the face by a book. Kala and the others waited patiently before Kala carefully removed the book from his face. The book looked like an old storybook, complete with a leather cover and an embossed image of a fancy music box on the front side. The title was clearly taking the piss, entitled 'So you want to escape with your soul: Abridged version'.

"I get the feeling whatever's running this is a Grade A smartass," said Kala carefully.

"And here I was worried it'd be a pompous prick with an inflexible approach to tradition," said Chloe as she tried to get her corset into a more comfortable position. "What's it say?" moaned Matt.

Kala was flipping through the book and said, "Mostly, it tells about how the music box that started all of this was cursed to trap a person in their fantasies."

"Life story...blah, blah, blah...how about escapes?" snapped Matt.

Kala skipped to the end and said, "Well, it seems the only way out is in the ballroom, if we're able to find it. Apparently, there have been quite a lot of victims who never got out in time."

"Ballroom...where the ball is," said Matt, grabbing Chris and shaking him till he came too, "Time for the ball."

"But I have to guard the castle..." said Chris dizzily.

"I'll handle this," said Chloe before kneeling down to Chris, giving him a nice full view of her low neckline. "Oh, it seems that I have not been able to find a beau for the ball," she said in a coquettish tone, "Do you think the tall, strong, handsome captain of the guards could escort me to the ball?"

Chris stared for a minute before a squirt of red shot out his nose and he passed out. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," said Chloe before standing up and adjusting her bodice, "By the way, where's Striker?"

"I zink he's in ze stables," said Xaoc, "I've been trying to find out vere zat is for a vile now."

"Oh..." said Chloe before Matt snapped "WHAT?"

"Have you tried calling for him?" asked Kala, "I doubt they have a stable sturdy enough to keep him in."

"STRIKER, GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!" yelled Matt.

There was a succession of smashing sounds before the nearby wall exploded outwards and a larger Striker jumped out and tackled Matt. Xaoc walked over to the wall and looked at the long line of holes that apparently led to the stable. "Feh, clumsy construction," said Xaoc, "I could probably tear down zis whole castle vith my bare hands." Then the series of holes shimmered before the walls mended themselves.

Xaoc stared for a minute before shrugging. "Zen again...time for us to be going," he said.

...

Ghoulwyrm glared as three of the guards rematerialized. "Urgh...I guess I will have to activate those upgrades early," he muttered.

"Hey, don't be so hasty," said the box's voice, "They're heading for the ball now."

"Fine...but don't think it's because you said," said Ghoulwyrm, the box saying tauntingly "Sure...is definitely not cause technically you're in my world and I could anything to you."

Ghoulwyrm glared and said, "Are we forgetting who owns who around here?"

"Speaking of which, you certain that spell is going to keep that boy under control?" asked the box.

"Of course, it's one of my own," said Ghoulwyrm smugly, calmly ignoring the mutter of 'showoff' from the box.

"Well, everyone's gathering at the ballroom, even got the 'princess' into a fresh gown," said the box.

Ghoulwyrm nodded, turning to walk in only to see the door had vanished. "Ok...why?" he said tired. "The girl's friends wanna fuck you up...and one of them managed to sneak a weapon through the portal...that damn pyromancer. I'd go as someone else if I was you."

"Hmm, the Viscount has been drawing a bit too much attention," said Ghoulwyrm, "Very well, a simple change of costume shall suffice. Anyways, it's not me who's going to be in the spotlight, it's her."

"Yeah...except I'm losing control of their plus 1's if you get my meaning...that damn wraith," snapped the box.

"We don't have him controlled. So long as he's occupied long enough, his soul will be forfeit along with the others," said Ghoulwyrm.

"Yeah...and if they work out how to get out? They're working together...not just some loner. I warned you we shoulda just taken the kid," snapped the box.

"Well, Cynder was already in the house and it was just too good an opportunity to pass up. And with Lynch and Spyro in tow... I don't have time to go through this conversation again. I must make sure that they're too preoccupied to escape," said Ghoulwyrm before heading out, his form shimmering as he went.

"Yeah, right. I'm starting to root for them," muttered the box.

...

The castle's ballroom was definitely of the large and finely-decorated varieties. There were easily about a hundred people in the room and there was still more than enough space for people to dance.

The gang wasn't in there just yet. They were busy trying to snap Chris out of it while Matt and Xaoc went looking for Spyro. "What makes you think he'll be here?" said Matt, looking around.

"Since everyvun is gathering here, it's only a matter of time before Spyro appears," said Xaoc.

"Look...we're not gonna find him just standing-oh, there he is," said Matt, looking over to spot their target sitting gloomily near the punch.

"Looks like he's not having such a fun time," said Xaoc.

"Ok, let's go get him." said Matt, strolling over. "Hey dude," he said behind Spyro, causing the dragon to jump,

"Oh, hello, Colonel," said Spyro a little sadly. "Vy ze long face?" asked Xaoc. "Well, I met an enchanting young woman this evening and I can't seem to find her again," said Spyro.

"Oh, we know where she is." said Matt without thinking.

"You do?" asked Spyro excitedly before pausing and saying, "Wait, how would you know who she is?"

"Erm...XAOC, GRAB HIM!" yelled Matt. Spyro glared, drawing his blade and trying to stab Xaoc, clearly under whatever illusion stopped people panicking at the 7 foot tall armored figure, only to look horrified when his blade snapped.

"Are ve quite finished?" said Xaoc annoyed. "But how..." started Spyro. "It's easier to show you," said Matt, "Hopefully your real memories will pop back in. Xaoc, if you will."

"Da...zis may beink painful." said Xaoc before bringing his fist down on Spyro's head

Spyro quickly crumbled to the ground. "You could have just picked him up and carried him over," said Matt.

"But zen he vould make more of a scene," said Xaoc.

...

Spyro groaned as he came too, his head feeling like it was in two very flat pieces. The last thing he remembered was arriving with the others at that castle and then his head hurting.

He heard Kala's voice say, "He's waking up. Does he still think he's a knight?"

"I hope not...he's got 4 legs again," said Chloe's voice.

"Yeah, that'd be hard to explain," said Matt's voice. By then, Spyro's head was clearing and he looked up to see the others. He was wondering why they were dressed up like that when the memories of the hedge maze started to come through.

"Well done, did you enjoy your trip to the matrix?" said Matt sarcastically.

"What? Wait, where's Cynder?" asked Spyro.

"I'm here, Spyro." said Cynder, walking into view before she said to the others "It looks like the ball's about to start." "Which means the 'Princess' should be making her grand entrance soon," said Chloe.

Spyro shook his head again before turning to look at Cynder, a few memories shoving forward. Pretty soon, memories of 'Sir Spyro' started resurfacing, engaging some of the party guests in conversation, flirting with a certain attractive lady-in-waiting, retiring to the lookout tower to...

The others watched as Spyro began to sound like he was choking as his face scales turned red.

"Is there something I need to know about?" asked Matt.

"No!" said Cynder quickly.

Matt blinked before saying "How's interrogation of Chris going?" before a yell of "GUARDS! HELP ME!" was heard from down the corridor. "Badly I presume," said Matt.

"Well, he better snap out of it soon," said Kala, "The ball's going to start in a minute and if he's not out of it, we'll just have to manage and hope he doesn't get in our way."

"Well, that's what we got Chloe here for-OW!" yelped Matt as Chloe grabbed one of the fingers of the hand Matt was patting her shoulder with and twisted it. "Never mind...Xaoc...try hitting him," winced Matt.

"Wery vell," called Xaoc and a metallic clang was heard a second later.

"Ow...what the hell, Xaoc," snapped Chris's voice.

"It's about time," said Matt, "Unless Megan's gotten a mind whammy, that should cover everyone."

"She doesn't," said Kala, "She just wanted to enjoy some time being human. I bet she wouldn't mind leaving now."

"Good, let's go find whoever's in charge and chop them into bits. Kala, if anyone tries to stop us, shoot them in the face till they stop twitching," said Matt, pointing dramatically at the ballroom, "Let's go party."

Just then, the announcer suddenly called, "Presenting her royal highness, Princess Megan and her escort, Prince Gaheris." Everyone turned to look to see the young couple descending the stairs. Megan was in a fresh new dress while having Gaheris hold her arm, he wearing a ballroom mask resembling a wolf's face.

"Xaoc, tell me you retuned so I can get my gear back," hissed Matt.

"I'm trying, but zere's a lot more protection around altering zis reality zan zere vas before," said Xaoc.

"Just work on it. I get the horrible feeling that whoever's running things will cheat if we get close to leaving. Kala, was there any clue in that book on how to leave?" Matt said.

"Mostly about confronting the box's owner," said Kala, "And I've got a good feeling that it's that viscount guy."

Just then, the announcer called out, "Unfortunately, due to suffering from bad indigestion, Viscount Zyvar will not be attending this dance."

Matt glared. "You keep them busy while I go find and chop the viscount up," he snapped, reaching for a door handle, opening it...and seeing a black void, several creatures with tentacles for faces around a table looking over, one saying in an echoing voice "Hey...we're trying to play poker here...damn mortals."

Matt quickly closed the door and said quietly, "I thought Cthulhu was involved with this."

"Yeah, blame Cthulhu...it's always Cthulhu's fault...NO I WILL NOT SHUT UP, GRAHAM!" said a voice from the other side.

Matt turned to the others and said, "Guys, I don't think we'll be seeing any more of the castle tonight."

"You'd better not, asshole...void damned mortals," snapped a voice from the other side.

"So we won't be sneaking off to the viscount's room, if it even exists anymore," said Cynder.

"But the book made it very clear that the owner has to be within the illusion for it to keep going," said Kala, "The viscount couldn't just walk out."

Xaoc thought about something before remembering the 'helpful' footman. "It iz just a role...like ze agent in ze matrix. He could be anyvun in zat room," he said.

"So how are we supposed to find him?" asked Chloe.

Matt shrugged and said, "Stab everyone with a fork and find the guy who bleeds black?"

"That's a stupid idea," said Chloe, causing Matt's head to hang before continuing, "But given that's all we got...grab a fork and get poking."

Matt grinned and the four humans started for the dining table. Just then, the announcer called out, "At this time, we invite all of our guests to join in the dance." The musicians quickly took up their instruments and started playing a ballroom waltz.

Xaoc stared as Matt and the others immediately began walking towards the dance floor, though the stream of colorful but bleeped language from Matt confirmed it was anything but voluntary.

The four of them were soon twirling around the dance floor in sync with the other guests. "Matt, I had no idea you were so light on your feet," said Kala.

"I'm not," said Matt, "Well, not when it comes to dancing. Someone's pulling the strings again."

"Oh, that's too bad..." muttered Kala.

"What was that?" asked Matt.

"Er, I mean, this is bad, we need to cut loose quickly," said Kala.

Xaoc however was looking around with Striker and the two dragons. "Ve must locate ze puppetmaster," he said.

"How are we supposed to spot him?" asked Spyro.

"Ve are creatures of Third Energy. Ve should be able to spot another user," said Xaoc grimly.

Spyro looked around and said, "The problem is that everything here's been crafted with Third Energy. If not directly made of it, then fueled by it. It's going to be hard to pick out the real from the fake."

"Zere iz alvays ze vay. Zere vill be an epicenter...an eye of ze storm if you vill," said Xaoc sagely.

Spyro tried to sense it, but it was not very clear. "This may take a while to narrow down," said Spyro.

"Zen ve must, how do you say, narrow it down," said Xaoc, absently hitting a passerby.

"And we better be quick about it," said Cynder, "Dawn will be here within the hour."

"Da," nodded Xaoc, punching out another one.

...

Ghoulwyrm laughed to himself as he watched his enemies being forced to literally dance to his tune.

"A shame I could not bring any recording devices in here," said Ghoulwyrm, "I suppose I'll just have to savor the moment as it happens."

"Yeah, yeah. The dragons, the raptor and that wraith are still outside my control," said the box annoyed.

"But they don't know where to strike," said Ghoulwyrm, "As long as we keep them going around in circles, they won't be able to do anything until it's too late."

"The big guy's just smashing everyone," said the box in a matter-of-fact voice.

Ghoulwyrm made an annoyed face and said, "Now that's just plain messy. Still, his trail's ice cold and his damage quickly undo itself. He won't be anywhere near anytime soon."

"Yeah...I don't think so. I can't run the ball and make people reappear, not at the speed you want. He'll run outta people before we run outta time. Also, I think the pyro's losing her cool, unless people usually let smoke out their ears," said the box.

"Interesting," said Ghoulwyrm, "But she's still held by the dance and it's her partner who'll be suffering most."

"When she reaches critical mass, I'll lose control," reminded the box.

"How unfortunate for him," said Ghoulwyrm, turning his attention to the centerpiece of the dance. Gary seemed to be behaving much better. That should keep the girl occupied long enough for the curse to finish.

...

Megan was busy cursing to herself mentally as she was forced to dance...and when a shadowmancer cursed, it wasn't just a word...Ghoulwyrm would get some nasty shocks once he left. The other thing on her mind was that Gary seemed surprisingly cold.

"Gary? Are you ok? You've hardly spoken," she hissed quietly.

"What is there to talk about?" said Gary, his voice not showing a bit of warmth.

"What were you going to say back in the stable?" asked Megan.

"It doesn't matter anymore," said Gary.

"Yes it does, you sounded terrified," said Megan.

Gary seemed to pause before saying, "It still doesn't matter. It's far too late."

"It's not too late," said Megan before one of the footmen flew overhead from a Xaoc backhand. "See?" she said cheerfully.

"The door might open just enough for you to get through now," said Gary, "But it closed for me a long time ago."

"What?" said Megan, starting to lose her temper at all the lack of info.

"You should have learned by now that everything in here is false, including me," said Gary.

"What?" said Megan before paling as she noticed that she couldn't feel a pulse. "Erm..." she began.

"You and your friends, you're the only ones in here truly alive," said Gary, "The rest of us are only ghosts...and a vampire dragon."

"Wait...did you say vampire?" said Megan.

"Among other things," said Gary, "I've seen him drink the blood of those he's vanquished by more mundane means more times than I've cared to remember."

"Good, now spin round slowly, I need to look around the room." said Megan absently looking for mirrored surfaces.

As the two of them slowly spun around, Megan glanced all about the room. She wasn't looking at the other party members directly, but at any reflective surfaces near them, trying to spot a gap in the mirror where there wasn't one in the crowd.

Finally she spotted what she was looking for; one of the watchers near the buffet wasn't reflecting in the punch bowl. "Now get me closer to Xaoc," she hissed.

Unfortunately, the music has changed direction, causing the dancers to move away from where Xaoc was currently 'hunting'.

However she ended up going past Matt and Kala, hissing "It's the guy next to the punch."

"What?" asked Matt.

"The guy by the punch, no reflection," said Megan before they waltzed away from each other.

Mat twisted his head to see a small crowd was now round the punch and he mentally started counting reflections. It didn't take him long to notice a gap between reflected party goers and even less time to notice who was missing their reflection. "Kala, I think we've found the puppeteer," said Matt.

"Good, I'm just about to blow my stack," said Kala, able to make an angry gesture with her hand.

Matt nodded and began to try to aim their dancing to head towards the punch bowl. As they got closer, Matt informed Kala about the missing reflection. "Think you can put a couple of holes in his costume?" asked Matt.

"Even if I could keep my hand steady enough, I'm not that great a shot," said Kala, "But I've got an idea of what I could do. You still got that fork?"

"Yeah, what of it?" asked Matt.

"It's silver," said Kala.

Matt looked puzzled, "But werewolves have reflections." only to be headbutted.

"Gimmie the damn fork!" snapped Kala.

"Ok, ok, geeze," said Matt, managing to slip his hand into his pocket during a beat between notes and putting the fork into Kala's hand.

"Ok, let's get closer..." said Kala.

Ghoulwyrm was watching the dancers go through another repetition when the box's voice said, "As much as I like to watch these guys go on and on, I should probably mention that the kid's running low on stamina."

"Who cares?" said Ghoulwyrm.

"You said it yourself, you want her to suffer. She can't feel pain if she's out cold," said the box.

"I thought the point of this dance was to make her dance until she drops dead," growled Ghoulwyrm. "Since you've already gotten, I'll have to remind you that if the target dies before time is out, their soul gets away," said the box.

"Aw…" said Ghoulwyrm sulkily, crossing his arms.

The box made a sighing noise and said "Act like a ten thousand year old and not a one thousand year old."

The musician's maestro signaled for the musicians to finish their song and the dancers stopped their twirling. The other party guests applauded for the music and the fine dancing. Chloe's first reaction however was to clock Chris across the jaw, causing him to twirl and fall over. "Perv!" she snapped.

"It was...the dance..." moaned poor Chris from ground level.

The box wasn't kidding about Megan being weak on her feet. Gary was helping her over to an ornate chair. "I think we can allow a brief interlude. The girl will be too exhausted to figure out how to break out of here, let alone muster enough strength to do so," said Ghoulwyrm.

"Erm...the pyro lady's coming over," warned the box.

Ghoulwyrm looked up to see Kala walking over, a pleasant look on her face. He worried a bit, but he reasoned there was no way for her to realize who he was. His current guise looked nothing like the viscount, being a somewhat portly man with a large black beard and a buttery yellow outfit. "Can I help you?" he asked pleasantly.

Kala just smiled before saying sweetly, "Let us the hell out of here, you twisted creep."

"What?" asked Ghoulwyrm but before he could fully process this, Kala suddenly lunged forward and jabbed her fork into the base of his neck.

The effect was immediate. Not only was there black blood gushing out of the wound but the fork became covered in a white flame. The 'party goer' let out an unearthly shriek that was nothing like what a human should sound. The ballroom seemed to quiver for a second before it started changing. Banners hung from the ceiling became huge spiderwebs.

Statues of cherubim that were in niches along the walls became demonic gargoyles. Every candle blew out, leaving the room in partial darkness as everything else became ancient, broken, or covered in dust. In three times the blink of an eye, the ballroom became much more like a mausoleum.

The party goer himself shifted, human flesh and masquerade clothing falling away in tatters as his form surged in height, arms become long wings, a long slashing tail behind him, his wounded neck stretching out as his screaming face stretched into a cadaverous muzzle. Eventually, the large claws grabbed the fork and pulled it out, crushing the now-tarnished metal in their grip. The large wyvern glared at the group and said, "Now you've crossed the line."

Matt had jumped back at that before tripping over a gunstrap...a gun strap? He looked down to see his AK-74u. "IT'S ABOUT TIME!" he yelled.

He quickly unloaded several shots into Ghoulwyrm...who didn't even twitch as they hit. After Matt stopped, Ghoulwyrm pulled a bullet out of one wound and examined it. "Lead? Do you really think a mystic creature like me can be harmed by such a common metal?" said Ghoulwyrm tauntingly.

"It's got a grenade launcher," said Matt.

"A what?" asked Ghoulwyrm before he proceeded to explode. "And stay blown up," said Matt.

"Er, Matt," said Chris as he pointed out that Ghoulwyrm's innards were reassembling, what few that were destroyed being regenerated from shadow.

Ghoulwyrm managed to say, "Ok...OW...that's cheating, that's my job." before he clicked a talon.

Suddenly, the chair that Megan was sitting became covered in chains, binding her in place. However, that didn't draw as much attention as to what was happening to the party guests. Their flesh seemed to sink and shrivel while their hair either fell out or grew stringy and their clothes becoming tattered. Soon the group was surrounded by several skeletons wearing very shabby-looking party outfits.

Gary had also let out a cry of pain and was grabbing at the mask on his face. "Gary, what's happening?" asked Megan only to see that his fingernails were now claws and grey fur was sprouting from his hands.

Matt rifle butted an attacking undead before seeing the Gary-monster growling at Megan before he fired into its back.

Gary snarled before turning around, revealing his face was more like a wolf's than a mask, including a mouthful of sharp teeth.

"Bad dog," snapped Matt, firing another burst, causing Gary to stagger back and fall over the table. "Xaoc, get over here and break these chains!" he called.

"Shouldn't be a problem," said Xaoc, smacking a group of skeletons away from him with one blow, "Ze things are easier to knock over zan bowling pins."

"Which is why I'm calling up the advanced guards," said Ghoulwyrm before his claws flashed. The suits of armor that had been standing at intervals around the ballroom also flashed, flames leaping up behind their visors. They all stepped forward and held up their swords and axes, which were all glowing a hot orange.

Matt span and fired his remaining grenade launcher round at a cluster of them, blowing them to pieces before he turned back to the chain, reaching into his returned armor and pulling a few pins out. "Come on..." he muttered ,fiddling with them.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the last of Ghoulwyrm's reinforcements as the gargoyle statues were coming to life and were climbing down the walls. And to make matters even worse, spiders were descending from the ceiling on strings of silk. They grew as they descended until they were the size of cats when they touched the ground.

"Spiders? I hate damn spiders!" screamed Chloe, literally punting one where, by pure chance, it landed on Ghoulwyrm's face and clamped there, shivering.

"This place was supposed to be a fairy tale fantasy?" asked Kala as she knocked another skeleton down.

"That music box must be German," said Chris.

"Actually, it's Italian," called Megan.

"Ah, just as nasty but easier to beat," said Chris.

"I object to that comment," said the voice from the air.

As Matt was trying to get the chains on Megan undone, a gargoyle started stomping over to him. It was about to make a fatal dent in Matt's skull when Striker jumped onto its back. Matt managed to scramble back as Striker tried to chew on the gargoyle's back, causing it to screech angrily and try to drag him off.

"Matt, just get my arms loose, I can handle the rest," said Megan.

Matt nodded. "Close your eyes," he said, switching his rifle to single shot and aiming at the locks. Megan winced, hoping Matt couldn't miss from this distance. There was a deafening bang and the lock practically exploded.

Megan started pulling the chains off before suddenly shouting, "Matt, look out!" Matt barely had enough time to turn around before the werewolf that had been Gary bowled him over.

Matt ended up trying to hold Gary's jaws back. "Bad...dog," Matt snapped again, firing the rest of the clip at close range. The werewolf let out a whine of pain, even if the bullets didn't get through his pelt.

"Wait, don't hurt him!" called Megan.

"No chance, he's trying to eat me!" snapped Matt before finishing off with a painful knee to a painful place.

Megan got the chains off of her and hurried over to the injured wolfman. "He's as much a victim as we are, more even," she said.

"He's trying to eat me!" snapped Matt as Gary lunged at him again.

However, Megan got between them and yelled "STOP!" Quite surprisingly, Gary froze before his claws could hit her.

Ghoulwyrm was trying to hold Xaoc's shovel-sized fists away before they could grab his head when he saw that. "Gaheris, it's not break time. Continue with the chewing of faces!" he snapped.

Megan put her hands on the side of Gary's head and said, "Gary, you know you're not a monster. You aren't just some mindless beast under Ghoulwyrm's control."

Gary winced at that, like Megan's touch hurt him. Megan however was feeling under the fur for what she knew would be there...the edge of that damned mask. "Gotcha," she said as she finally found the edges.

She got her fingernails underneath of it and pulled hard. Gary yelped in pain as he felt his skin being pulled off, but somehow, he was able to keep himself from attacking. With a final yank, the mask came flying off, dissipating into purple vapor as Gary returned to human form, albeit in torn clothes.

Xaoc finally managed to snatch Ghoulwyrm as the lich snapped "NO!" Xaoc said "You are having severe lack of fortitude...ow," he said as several of the armor suits slashed him.

Several spiders scurried over and swarmed over Xaoc, covering his body with strong silk. Ghoulwyrm placed a claw on the silk, causing them to change into steel chains.

"That shall keep you bound long enough," said Ghoulwyrm, "Now I need to take care of something personally."

With that he headed for Megan, backhanding Matt aside absently. "You know, I'm actually impressed. That mask's got half a dozen locking hexes on it," he said casually, blasting Striker as the raptor lunged, causing him to shift back to his normal adolescent size. "It's almost a waste to crush your potential, but still, I think your soul will more than compensate for whatever's lost," said Ghoulwyrm as he reached for her.

However, Gary had gotten back to his feet and had drawn the rapier that had went with his costume. "Keep back, monster!" he shouted.

Ghoulwyrm turned at that. "Do you mind? I'm kind of busy," he said annoyed.

"You shall not lay one hand upon her," said Gary, stepping between Megan and Ghoulwyrm.

"Still acting the valiant prince?" asked Ghoulwyrm, "In case you've forgotten, you're not a real prince. You were a footman when I found you, not even an employed one. You're nowhere near anything noble and neither is she."

"Nobility is not about what status you were born into or what your job is," said Gary, "It's about showing honor, courtesy, and compassion for others. Something that she knows more of than you ever will. And as long as I'm still standing, you shall not hurt her."

Ghoulwyrm rolled his eyes and said, "There's no award for rousing speeches here, Gary. Now be a good spirit and move over so I get her." He reached one wing around to grab at Megan, but Gary stabbed its palm with his rapier.

"Ouch...why you little...ow...STOP IT!" snapped Ghoulwyrm as he got stabbed every time he reached forward.

"Megan, get to the music box on the mantle," called Gary as he parried against Ghoulwyrm's swipes, "You have to destroy it to break the spell."

"Spoilsport," said the disembodied voice as Megan ran for the mantle, grabbing the box and smashing it into the ground. "Finally..." said the disembodied voice.

Ghoulwyrm spun around and shouted "NO!" when he saw the smashed music box. There was a rumble as the room started shaking and cracking.

He turned again to see what looked like a human teenager wearing pre-black month's clothing "Oh, I've been saving up for this day, 'boss'," the kid said, grinning and an orange glow visible in its mouth before it turned Megan. "Get lost, Kid. You and your pals won a get out of oblivion free card."

The spirits in here were definitely taking advantage of this. The skeletons were crumbling to pieces, leaving behind ghosts who heading upwards. "NOT you," said the kid, holding up a hand and causing the ghosts that hadn't vanished to be pulled back before he looked back at Matt n co. "You still here? Get lost before I lose my nice side." waving a hand and making the warehouse door appear.

Given that the other minions were falling to pieces (or in the case of the spiders, being squished with great impunity) there wasn't anything to keep the gang from leaving.

Megan began to pull Gary along only for a dark tendril to grab him. "Hey, no souvenirs, girl," said the kid, ignoring Ghoulwyrm's angry yells.

"I'm not leaving him here," said Megan, "He doesn't deserve to be with that creep."

"Megan, it's already too late for me," said Gary, his appearance becoming more ghostly, "But you still have a chance. Leave while you still can."

"He's got a point. He's already dead...unless you want to join him. I haven't eaten since the Sumerian era," said the kid with an evil grin.

"Megan, it's time to go," called Matt as he pulled her along.

"No..." snapped Megan only for Matt and Chloe to grab her arms and drag her back.

Ghoulwyrm glared as the door vanished before summoning his own exit...and staring horrified as it didn't work. "Now I did say I was hungry...and I don't mind if it's a little...out of date as mortals like to say," said the kid, his form rippling.

"Oh crap," whimpered Ghoulwyrm before a clawed hand twice as big as Xaoc's grabbed him...

...

Malefor was starting to lose his patience. According to what Ghoulwyrm said, he would be emerging from the box to show him the souls had collected at dawn. And the sun had risen 10 minutes ago.

He finally poked the box...and yelped. The thing was red hot, even to his own scales. "What in convexity..." he muttered before the box opened, a smell of brimstone coming out before Ghoulwyrm's skull popped out, the box slamming shut.

The skull hopped around to face the horrified Malefor and said "Don't even ask...and he fainted." in Ghoulwyrm's voice, Malefor having passed out from shock and surprise.

...

While Malefor was having a small 'nap' Matt was headed to see Megan, who had refused to even come out her warehouse.

"Poor girl was probably shaken up pretty hard by that living nightmare last night," said Matt, "We probably won't be able to get her to leave that house unless we put it on fire."

"Megan?" he called, running up.

To Matt's surprise, there were several cardboard boxes in front of the warehouse. He looked around and asked, "Is someone moving in?"

"Actually, I'm moving out," said Megan's voice. Matt turned and spotted Megan carrying out a box, the hood of her longcoat down.

"You sure this is a good idea?" said Matt carefully.

"Last night, I got a taste of what it's like to be walking among people," said Megan, "I might not be a princess or even look that good, but I'm tired of living in the shadows. If I have to skulk out of sight, I at least want to be where my friends are." She gave the warehouse a short glare and said, "Besides, that place has too many bad memories now."

"Ok, I'll see what I can hook up," said Matt, looking at the warehouse and back at Megan, "You get ANY problems, come straight to me or the others."

"Right, I'm not about to accept any unexpected packages or open doors for strangers," said Megan, "I just wish I could have done more for Gary."

Matt began to say that Gary was in a better place before they both remembered the...box's inhabitant. "We'll work something out. We got out after all," he said.

"The rules are different for Gary. But at least it couldn't get any worse for him, right?" asked Megan.

At those words a pigeon with blood red eyes landed "Letter for Miss Roph...pleasedon'thurtme!" it said.

Megan's tail lashed and tightly wrapped around the pigeon. "I'm pretty sure the Enclave doesn't have talking pigeons," she said, "So I'm guessing you're from Ghoulwyrm's private stock."

"SPAAARE MEEEEEE!" screamed the pigeon before holding up the letter. "I'm just a messenger. You wouldn't shoot the messenger, would you?" it said in a terrified voice.

"If the message is bad, I might make an exception," snapped Megan before grabbing the letter.

Megan looked at the note which read "Gary will make a fine substitute." in Ghoulwyrm's gothic handwriting.

"A fine substitute? A fine substitute for what?" demanded Megan.

"The boss is a bad loser. The box only gets let loose for a few minutes when it's smashed. He's gonna vent on the kid," said the pigeon going bug eyed as the tail squeezed. "Offering...condolences…" it rasped.

"Now you're going to be sending a message from me," said Megan, "Tell Ghoulwyrm that I'm going to free Gary and any torture that he puts him through I'm going to bring down on him tenfold."

"Yes...ma'am...please stop crushing my larynx…" rasped the pigeon.

Megan transferred the pigeon to her hand before flinging into the air a lot faster than it could have flown on its own. "AAAAAAaaaaahhhh..." was the sound that followed it.

"You threw him so he'd go over the automated AA cannons. You know that, right?" said Matt, calmly.

"Don't worry, he's not a real pigeon, probably won't kill him," said Megan.

There was the distant rapidfire sound of the AA cannons. "Do we care?" said Matt. "So long as Ghoulwyrm gets his message, no," said Megan. "Fair enough," said Matt.

And there we have a little Halloween chapter for you. I hope you enjoyed it as much as me and cydra had writing it. Please read and review.