Hope you're enjoying so far, this will be my last/first update for the new year of 2016/2017. My hope is to finish this story and the Ultimate End (PRDT) in the next month or two depending on my life schedule. I know I've said it before, but I've never been this close.

[Disclaimer: mild (and I mean really mild) sexual references, although they don't involve anything particularly dirty. But I should let you know so you wouldn't be surprised. Everything put into the villain stories is to make them more human and more evil]

Until we see each other again, you know... at the end of the page

(If you're wondering about rank for Night Warriors, go reread Chapter 21)

Thalia and Susan Long were not ready to give up.

That's why they found Haley, who had been spending the past week with Sun Park... her dragon master.

It took some work to find the Night Warrior base... but with a little coaching, Haley was able to create an empathetic bond with her brother through their magic and dragon powers.

"Haley?" Jake's voice asked, "Haley is that you?"

"It's me Jake... where are you?"

"Don't know, I was captured. You have to get Mom and Sun, have them find Thalia and get us out of here."

"Us?"

"Me and Grandpa."

Haley looked at her mom and realized that she'd had no idea that her father was in danger.

"How should I find you?"

Jake scrambled his mind for ideas, "A locator spell... but hurry. I don't know how long they're going to keep..."

The connection broke.

"I got him." Haley told them, explaining the conversation she'd just had with her brother.

"How will we find him? I am not sure how to procure a locator spell?" Sun mentioned.

"It's dangerous." Susan recalled, remembering her old master attempting one. It had weakened his heart and only opened the location for a brief time. By then his target had moved and it was too late to leave before the trap was sprung.

"Not by the power of three." Thalia argued, "Three sorcerers can generate a massive surge of energy."

"But it's still dangerous for the lead, if the power goes wary... they'll be the ones to pay for it." Susan pointed out.

"We have to try." Thalia rapidly explained to Haley the basics of spell casting and was elated that she was as much a natural at this as she was everything else she did.

"Okay, I'm ready." Haley decided.

"I don't like this." Sun confessed with Susan backing her up.

"We don't have a choice. I'll be the keeper of the spell since I have the most experience, I've done this before. As long as we stay focused on Jake and don't let our thoughts wander... there won't be a problem."

"And if they wander?" Haley asked.

"It could kill the person that initiated the spell... the spell-keeper."

Haley gulped, "That's good news."

"We have to do it now." Thalia said, looking up at the sun and soaking in it's warmth. The sun was one of many sources for magic. What else could possibly explain plant life? Radiation... all of it... was magic. Mortals called it science because they pretend they can understand it. But an experienced sorcerer can summon the power of the sun from anywhere whenever they choose... but the closer they are to its powers, the stronger they become in turn.

Haley, Susan, and Thalia joined hands in a small triangle.

"Etacol." Thalia chanted, "Yb eht rewop fo eerht!"

The magic began swirling immediately on command, soaking the three sorceresses in magical residue.

"Etacol!" Haley announced.

"Etacol!" Susan agreed.

"Etacol!" Thalia cast.

The three could feel the power between them, passing through space and time to each other... no longer separated by physical or mental barriers. All that was left were three parts of the same hole with invisible lines that only they could perceive.

"ETACOL!"

The three voices echoed up and down the city block, bouncing from building to building, turning every head towards a brilliant display of sunlight that masked their actions from the world around them.

Lightning struck thrice simultaneously, emerging from different spots in the cloudless sky, but each bolt met at the exact center of the mystical triangle the three women created with their powers.

The resulting flashing light created a clear picture of Jake Long hanging above a pit.

When the spell broke each caster was branded with an internal compass that would point in one direction until such a point that he is found.

Thalia felt a tingle in her gut, knowing that not all was as well as thought by the other two witches, who were hugging at their success.

"I have to go now."

"We're going with you." Susan told her, daring her to oppose.

They joined hands once more except this time with the Korean Dragon.

"Tropelet." Thalia muttered, calling once more on the power of three.

The group of four was whisked away into the air until they shot out of it and landed in the middle of a grassy meadow.

...

"I'm a whole new dragon." Jake said.

That was when Rose regained control of her senses.

She spun around and attacked the Huntsman, pounding him back towards oblivion.

"How are you here?" She demanded.

"The rift," Jake answered, "isn't that right?"

The Huntsman didn't answer so Jake continued, "When I wished Rose's life had gone differently the timeline split. And when she started to remember the past... The timelines began to merge again."

"I suppose that makes sense." Rose said, kicking the Huntsman in the gut. "And that's why you're not dead."

"A clever theory, surely. But the truth is my force was too strong for the universe to be rid of. So, I was banished to the dream realm to haunt those that destroyed my life until their dying days."

"Sounds like an ego at best." Jake said, walking closer to Rose and hugging her. "Where's your body?"

Rose shrugged, "I can't remember. But we have to stop them... Mother Darkness is rising... and if she reaches full power, I don't think all the dragons in the world could save the light."

"Neither do I. The Light Academy has been destroyed... all of their people are dead or they ran. I don't know how we're going to do this."

"The Aztec Skulls?" Rose suggested.

Jake shook his head, knowing for a fact that he destroyed them.

"The power of three?" Rose offered.

"Maybe... Thalia and I should be able to get a good spell going. If my mom can help..."

"Your mom?"

"Yeah, Gramps told me she was a Light Guardian back in the day. If she's still got the stuff..."

"Then we'll have everything we need to lock Darkness away for another eternity."

Jake nodded.

"And him?" Rose asked, jerking her thumb towards the Huntsman who was wrapped in mental chains.

Jake focused a bit extra until he could pull at the roots... The Huntsman could only have been born from thoughts of someone that knew him from the original timeline. That left a very small list... and no one was more afraid of him than his archenemy.

And like a weed, Jake pulled that fear out of the darkest corner of his heart. He pulled until there was nothing left... and the Huntsman before them dissolved in a dark shimmer.

"It's over."

Jake woke up and sensed something different... not like when he dreamed and made contact with someone. He was fully awake...

It seemed like a long shot... but...

"Haley?" He asked quietly, even though no one could hear him no matter how loud he thought it. "Haley is that you?"

...

Helen Grace Ramirez was not a happy camper.

Her inauguration as the official leader of the Night Warriors ended in revolution, resulting in the public and painful executions of nearly forty percent of her forces. Due to the strict rules of status rising, there was no way she could elevate more forces to replace the ones she lost.

Darkness herself was slumbering frequently, sixteen out of every twenty-four hours of the day. For the remaining eight, she conspired in her private study, procuring forbidden spells and trying to locate her other half... the Light.

Not that the new Corporal should know anything about that, but one does become curious after a while. And to be expected from a group of rule breakers to break rules, even if penalties invoked broken necks.

Ungodly Corporal Mace had been up to her neck in work since her status was raised by force. She'd barely been able to enjoy her newfound power as the second most powerful member of the Night Warriors... let alone the abilities granted to her by Darkness following her inauguration.

But what really struck the new leader... was that it had been days since her other half had come to talk.

Oh how she loathed that other half... and long since wished that it was a separate person that could be tortured and killed. But it was more like a voice inside her head, telling her what was correct and what was wrong.

Part of her, no matter how much she tried to deny it, would always be light. Perhaps no human could truly expunge light from their soul... but that didn't stop her from trying.

To be completely honest, the fact that she hadn't appeared made her anxious.

Had she truly destroyed that part of herself? Was she finally successful a dozen and a half forbidden spells later? Did killing the previous Corporal prove to the other side that evil is stronger than good? Or was that side simply corrupted like the rest of her?

Or was she simply waiting until Mace screwed up even more?

Corporal Mace took her mask off and set it aside, rubbing her eyes and considering making a younger recruit come and massage her whole body, which still ached from her brief battle with the American Dragon.

"Annabelle," she said, pushing a button on her central communicator channel, "to the Corporal office, immediately."

The massage wasn't exactly what Mace was looking for, but it helped soothe the tension in her limbs. Taking away the distraction of pain and replacing it with tingly feelings running up and down her body.

"You may go now Annabelle."

"You do not require further services?" She asked.

"Not tonight. I require rest, go about the rest of your night as previously instructed."

"Yes Corporal."

After another boring hour of work, she decided to go to sleep as she told Annabelle she would.