The Misty Fire

by Punk19

With Master Vile taking over the Americas, Angel and her children, who's numbers have recently been boosted by the adoption of Guyunis, are forced to reside in a different country. Will they be left alone to live a normal life or will the ghosts of their kin bother them again?

26. Chapter 26

When air is displaced by some air-traveling vessel, like a plane or a jet, it normally rushes back to fill that opening with a bang and that was what happened when ShaamVile Kondee Surfeit's ship, the Urumbuis-12, exited the bruised, purple/red sky that was over and on the other side of the Rhine river. ShaamVile Surfeit's arrival had caused a lot of air displacement, which caused the roar that caused many to lose their ability to hear and that, in the hours to come, would cause many ear-related traumas; he didn't need to be told that there was something wrong with his ears. He screamed, like everyone else who was outside, when the roar happened. His small, elf-like ears were throbbing and he couldn't hear out of the right one; he could hear just a little out of his left ear and it was from that ear that he was able to take in what was going on around him.

His blown hand had made things difficult for him. He was afraid that he wasn't much help around his employer's ship, or to his fellow co-workers; he hadn't really been thinking when he attacked that Claydo in late-September. His attack on the Claydo wasn't a wise one and he was paying a good price for it. The Claydo that he attacked had said something on confiscating the material—the photographic and video evidence that he just got through acquiring, after he saw Young Master Bile in that dump on the twenty-fifth of September—at the same time that he was coming towards him; he reacted quickly and quite unwisely. He hadn't really put much thought into what he was doing at the time... or about its consequences, for that matter. The five-strand, red energy attack, that he used on the Claydo, had done some damage to his hand. All of the fingernails that were on his right hand had been burned right down to their quicks; while Eldass had pointed that out to him, after they returned to their employer's mansion, he hadn't really paid any mind to it. He just shrugged it off. He went off to get what he had just gotten developed then he gave his brother, who was pretty much a genius in video editing, a call.

After giving his brother the scoop on why he needed his help, he and the video camera that he used on that day went for a ride. He was a rather proud man with his old Chevrouette Capie; his old car had gotten him from the garage, that his employer had generously made available for his employees, to his brother's driveway in nothing flat. His old, light brown, four-door Chevrouette Capie was more than ten thousand years old yet it still purred like a kitten and the ride was still as smooth as it was on the day that he had gotten it.

"Homs, y'old dog." his brother, Rupali Akokificos Modulavich, said after he reached his place. His brother, who was fifty years older than he, and who had a headful of dark brown hair, and who was rather chubby in comparison to himself, was sitting on his and his wife's front porch. It had almost looked like he was waiting for him.

He and his brother had talked some, had played the catch-up game, then he gave the camera over. Rupali had looked the camera over before leading him into the house; he sat on the sofa that was in his brother's house for nearly thirty minutes after reaching the house's interior. Rupali had been a pro—all of the useless junk that was on the footage was removed and something was also done to make the footage more appealing to the viewer. After the footage was edited, he and his brother shared a drink and then some words. About fifteen minutes later, he went on his way. His employer saw all of what he was able to get for him two days later. While his employer was pretty raving mad by the time he got to looking over the evidence that he was able to get for him he was able to tell that he was happy with what he had given him.

His hand had started paining him on the morning of the twenty-sixth of September; after waking to find his injured hand all tangled up in the bedding of his and his wife's bed, he yelled. His wife, who was sleeping peacefully at his side at the time, had practically leaped from the bed in blind panic after he yelled. The ends of his fingers had gone from their normal, brown color to a nice, dark gray color during the night; there were a few burns on the first joints of them fingers but, for the most part, it had just been the ends of his fingers that gave him grief on that morning. His wife, Abara Modulavich, née Komav, had to pull three of the fingernails that were on his right hand that morning. The other two fingernails were pulled the following morning.

He couldn't use his right hand for shit right now; the fingernails were growing back, but at a painfully slow pace, and the burns were healing just as slowly. He took the bandage that was around that hand off on the second of October; he had a feeling that he would need to use that hand and, since he didn't want the bandage to get in the way, he took it off—this was a very wise thing to do, since he found himself joining in mini-battle with the same Claydo that he had a to-do with in late-September, after his employer, his employer's small platoon, he, and nearly half a dozen of his co-workers stormed the building that Master Vile was in at the time. He downed more than four pain pills the following day for that decision; the idea of taking a few stiff drinks down had crossed his mind once or twice on that day but, by the grace of the Gods, he was able to keep himself from the bottle... and from asking his employer to send him home on injured relieve.

"How many were out?" someone off to his left asked. While he couldn't be sure, he thought that it was a female who had spoken.

"Ten, I think." someone else, this one sounding male, said back.

He pushed himself to his knees slowly then shook his head; he snatched his hands to his head with a groan afterwards—a ring in his left ear was heard at the same time that his head started to ache. His vision, which had always been perfect, grew blurry before finally clearing up. He pressed the fingers of his left hand against his left temple gently then pulled one of his legs up. He pushed himself up quickly then stood perfectly still for a second or two before taking his first step forward. He found that his balance was horrible in that first step; he nearly fell back to the ground but, by quite a lot of luck and drive, he managed to remain on his feet. He stood still for nearly a minute before trying again. His legs felt very much like rubber. They were shaky and it almost felt like there were no muscle in them. He had to fight for each step that he took.

He convulsed almost uncontrollably after leaving his employer's ship with one of the many spare boxes that six or so Solarized Crystal lights were in; if not for manning up, he would of gone back into the ship for another coat. After a mild fight, he went on to do what he wanted to do, which, at the time, was to take the box over to where Yhozah Impan Zultoa was. Yhozah Zultoa, who he and his co-workers sometimes called Impan, was the one fixing or replacing the damaged or broken lights that the local deer and wild equines had their fun with the night before; he was all too willing to go out to give his co-worker one of the spare boxes. After receiving Yhozah's text message, he raced off to the storage space that was in his employer's ship. He beat all of his co-workers there so he won the chore by simple quickness.

The trek over to where Yhozah was was a long one; if it wasn't as cold as it was, and if the wind and the snow wasn't as bad as they were, he would of made the trip in nothing flat. The trek to where Yhozah was had taken all of five minutes. The wind-driven snow, and the depth of the snow, and the bitter cold had made his movements slow and stiff; while Yhozah was a sport when he reached him, he was plain annoyed over the fact that he was slowed up by the weather. Yhozah had said nothing adverse towards the weather when he reached him; his co-worker—who looked more than a little cold, and who's nose was a nice, beet-red color—had just thanked him for retrieving the box of lights for him then he set to work in replacing the first of the ten noted lights that the wild deer and ponies had either destroyed or damaged with their wildly bizarre, nighttime conducted, antics.

"Don't know who's worse with these things," Yhozah said about two minutes before the explosion-like roar happened. "The deer either leap into or rise up on their back legs to paw at them. The ponies do the same damn thing and, as always, once the lights are down, they lose all interest. They move off to either a different light or they just disappear into the night."

"I wouldn't say that the ponies do the same thing as the deer," he said back. "The studs seem to see the lights as a threat, we've lost—"

"A little over a dozen from the studs just rearing up to box at them," Yhozah replied quickly. "We'd be laughing ourselves silly over their antics if these things weren't so expensive."

"Over two grand a light," he said, distantly. Not only did the Solarized Crystal Lights light up an area brightly, they also had a hovering mechanism and a trespassing alarm built in them. His employer, after looking over the compiled evidences that he, Abevo Speelin, and Olok and Ulok Gzujus had gotten for him on his sons, and after calming down from the rage that he felt after discovering that his nephew had kept valuable and important information from him, had instructed that a hundred of the expensive lights be put in his ship's cargo space. Of them hundred lights, fifty-seven were lost. If the order for the pole lamps, that were brought along, wasn't given out soon, he was quite sure that one of his co-worker's would be getting the order to go retrieve some more of the lights.

He was just gearing up to voice that when the roar happened. Yhozah and he had screamed in pain. Yhozah dropped to his side then was pretty much covered over by the snow while he just collapsed to his stomach. He could see Yhozah off to his right; his co-worker was sitting up, and he looked quite lethargic. The female that he heard earlier was with him. She had a piece of gauze pressed against his left ear so, he guessed that his co-worker had sustained some sort of extreme, ear-related, trauma to that ear. Yhozah Zultoa, Eldass Zultoa's thirdborn son, who had green skin, blue eyes, and light blond hair, was talking but he wasn't moving any, which concerned him a little. He had just started in Yhozah's direction when he felt a hand wrap around one of his wrists. He was just turning in the direction of the one who had grabbed him when his legs gave out from under him.

"Whoa, Homsi." Ulok Gzujus, a blue-skinned Goblin, who had warts on his cheeks, large, brown eyes, and a straight nose, said after hooking his arms under Homsi's armpits. Ulok helped Homsi to his feet then led him to where Yhozah was.

"Where am I?" Homsi asked stupidly.

"About fifteen yards from Master Tazir's ship," Ulok replied. "You'll probably experience a black-out here and soon; you're lucky to not be bleeding out of your ears."

"I can't hear out of one as is," Homsi mumbled.

"I'm sure that can be fixed." Ulok said. When he reached the spot where Yhozah was, he stopped then gently pushed Homsi down to the ground, so he was sitting beside Yhozah. "Attaec, make sure that these two are placed in Master Tazir's ship soon. Ear troubles are enough for these two I think, don't need to add any frost-bite injuries to that."

Attaec Ionif, a near-purple skinned Goblin—or Goblinette, as one of her gender called themselves in her society—, who had pretty, yellow eyes, that had blue pupils in their centers, set in a rather peaceful looking face, looked at Homsi for only a second before looking at Ulok. She nodded her head then went to work in helping the two men in her care; there were two other maids tending to two others and there were two other butlers walking around, looking for the ones who had also been out when the roar happened. The ship that was behind her was just fifteen minutes arrived, but she felt that it had already over-stayed its welcome. No warning was given on his arrival. No memo was posted on the bulletin board that was in the room that her employer had set to the side for just her and her co-workers. No text message was sent to warn them that ShaamVile Surfeit was on his way either; they were caught completely off guard by the man's arrival. Her employer, who was nowhere in sight at the moment, would of let them know to be on the look-out for his grandfather's arrival. He wouldn't of just left them hanging. He would of made a point to let them know about the man's imminent arrival, just like when his father and then that repulsive, sick-acting, perverted Trobrencus radioed in to warn him of their imminent arrivals.

The large, pear-shaped ship, that was behind her, was a nice, shiny black color. It was parked right between the Altrhein and the Bärensee; while the ramp was down, there was no activity going on around it. Either the man who drove and then landed the ship hadn't given his staff the order to clear the area around his ship or he had decided to forgo giving the order of his campsite being cleared; DuruVile Surfeit, her employer's father, and the only son of the man who piloted the pear-shaped ship, was the ship's only entrant. He raced right over to where the ship was landed then, after the ramp was lowered, he went in. He hadn't been seen since, so she guessed that he and the ship's pilot were engaged in a rather deep conversation or, quite possibly, he was being forced to sit and wait until the man who had fathered him had completed the necessary protocols that happened after a ship was landed.

Attaec split her attention between Yhozah, who wasn't only very lethargic but was also suffering from a minor bleeding issue with his left ear, and Homsi, who she had yet to get around to looking after. Homsi, from what she could tell, was just plain confused; there were no fluids oozing out from his ears and he wasn't acting like he was in pain. Her co-worker, who was fifteen thousand years her senior, was looking around in a daze. It almost looked like he had forgotten where he was, which was sort of comical, since he had been residing in the location that they were all in for nearly a month. Attaec grabbed one of Yhozah's hands then pulled it up; she told him to keep his hand pressed against the piece of gauze that was against his ear then she slid over to where Homsi was. Homsi jerked up after she placed her hand on him then looked at her from over his shoulder.

"You okay?" Attaec asked after her co-worker calmed down.

"Abara?" Homsi's large, expressive, blue eyes blinked rapidly.

"No," Attaec said. "Attaec."

"Oh," Homsi said back. What Attaec said next he didn't catch. She was on his right side—his deaf side—now. He slowly turned his head in that direction. "What was that?"

"Was asking if you was okay." Attaec said, a little louder this time.

"Don't know." Homsi replied. He brought his hands up then rubbed the temples of his head slowly. "Can't hear out of my right ear, can hear only a little out of my left, and—"

"Your head hurts after you make any movements?" Attaec questioned. She hoped that that was what her co-worker was about to say. She wasn't one who liked to interrupt others.

"Mhmmm,"

"Let me get a gauze wrap around Yhozah's head," Attaec went to Yhozah's side. A roll of gauze was in her coat pocket; she was fast in using it after taking it out. "I'll get you two back to the ship as fast as I can; think you two need to arrange a date with our employer's medical chamber."

Like Attaec Ionif, he was annoyed over the fact that his grandfather hadn't radioed in or given him or anyone else in the area a head-ups to his imminent arrival; while he didn't know about the ten-guessed staff members, who were outside of his ship when his grandfather's ship finished its descent from the planet's final atmosphere and ozone layer, he did know that there were a lot of people out there that were hurting. He hoped that his four sons—and his wife, should she be somewhere out there—weren't among them injured folk. He'd be yelling himself hoarse if his boys—or his wife—were found to have any ear-related injuries on them and no, you-be-quiet's or do-you-know-who-your-yelling-at's would keep him from doing so. As he saw it, Hazaar had enough on his hands with whatever was troubling him with his leg, and Lhaklar had enough on his hands with the gash that was on the side of his head; neither of them needed any further injuries on them that would drag them down or make their current lifestyles become even more difficult.

He wished he knew where they were; if he knew where they—all of them—were, he'd waste no time in going to claim them. They'd be in his ship, either taking a warm or a hot shower or eating a meal that they had probably not had in a long time if he knew where they were. Shit, they'd probably all be sleeping a sleep that was worth ten times the ones that they had slept in the last ten months if he knew where they were.

He didn't know where they were, so he couldn't go to them. He couldn't bring them to his camp, they wouldn't be taking any warm or hot showers and they wouldn't be eating any meals fit for kings and they wouldn't be sleeping a sleep that prince's slept and their injuries wouldn't be looked into and then treated. He was annoyed over his grandfather's not calling in to warn them of his imminent arrival and he was frustrated over how little information he knew on where his sons were and on how they were doing.

Unlike Homsi, Yhozah, and the other Goblins who were outside when his grandfather's ship sounded off, he, his brother, his sister-in-law, his nephew, and his father were inside a sound-proof ship. He and his entourage went over to Trobrencus's ship, which was the closest ship to them at the time, when the weather started to get bad; they had just gotten inside when the pebble-sized hail started to grow in size. His entourage were joking around while he was just being quiet and to himself; he was thinking about a little something that his mother had said from time to time when things either started to get bad or when one's troubles started to bog them down. He had still been thinking this little saying when he and his group reached Trobrencus's ship.

"When you speak of your troubles, you're telling the stone that's on your chest, and the lump that's in your throat, to go away. You feel better and cleaner and you also feel like you can breathe easier after you've spoken of your troubles."

That was the saying. It was something that a parent usually said when they either noticed that one of their children was in a glum mood or when they saw that there was something troubling one of their children—it was the nice way of asking a child what was troubling them. Most of the time, his mother had said that to him after he and his father had one of their spats and, most of the time, he had told her what was ailing him. While he would never contradict something that his mother had said to him he did wish that he knew who it was that made that saying up; how he wished he could find that person and then play grapple-the-neck or slap-the-face with him or her. He didn't feel any better and he definitely didn't feel cleaner and, as for that easier breathing thing... well, he had never really had any problems in breathing during the last ten months. He was probably not going to be sleeping any easier when it came time for him to slide under the covers, that were on the bed, that was in the chamber, that was in his ship, that he was using; the rock that settled on his chest, and the lump that formed in his throat, after he found his wife and sons missing in January, were still there. While the discovery of where his sons were had made the task of consuming food and drink easier he still couldn't taste anything that he ate or drank and he believed that the reason for that was based solely on his wife's location still being unknown.

While he had no problem in breathing, he did feel that each breath that he took had a pain to it. His heart continued to ache and his breath continued to come out in a long and drawn-out way; it wasn't an easy task in making up the report that he gave to his father and brother earlier. His thoughts on where Bile and his two injured sons were, and on how they were faring, had distracted him quite a bit when he made that report and his thoughts on where his wife and their youngest son, Lazeer, were had mixed in quite well with them thoughts. By the time he went off to find Cheshire, to see if he could look into the memories that he had of what he saw at the fair, when he saw Bile and Lhaklar, he was a nervous wreck. Fraught with worry, and with questions that were just not being answered. Answering the questions that his father, brother, and sister-in-law had asked him had also been tough; he had come close to cracking several times, but he had managed to keep himself together.

It was a little tougher for him when he found himself answering some of the same questions that his father, brother, and sister-in-law had asked after he, they, and Triskull reached Trobrencus's ship. Olok Gzujus, the twin brother of Ulok Gzujus, who was currently helping one of his fallen comrades to his feet outside, had done exactly what he had told him to do after going over and then giving a copy of the report that he made sometime after he, Kuruk, Qeeta, Cheshire, and Eldass and Zshon returned to camp on the night of October the twenty-third to Trobrencus. While he was handing the original report to his father and brother, Olok was giving the copy to Trobrencus and, while he was answering the questions that he was asked, Olok had done his best to answer the questions that Trobrencus had asked him—which were the same ones that he was answering. Olok was about to leave Trobrencus's ship when the weather changed. He and his group had just reached the ship when the man realized that he couldn't leave it.

It wasn't all, totally, bad, though. Trobrencus's wife, Bahne, had wrestled them out of their coats then had led them to the room that was in her husband's ship that was set-up like a living room. She told them to sit down before going off to some other part of the ship for a few minutes; upon her return, she had a tray that five porcelain cups were sitting on. They were hustled into drinking every last sip of her Ginger Basil Tea—which had looked milky and which had tasted rather disgusting. Bahne and Trobrencus both agreed that employer's shouldn't pamper the ones in their service so, Olok, who was a member of his staff, was spared of having to swallow and then stomach Bahne's tea.

The "smoothing out" of what Olok had told Trobrencus had happened right after he and his group had gotten comfortable. The situation that was so unkindly thrown at him had become even more real to him during that process—and during the process of answering the questions that Olok hadn't been able to answer. He was angry, he was upset, he was confused, and he was worried all at the same time. Except for his father, who left the ship after using Trobrencus's CB radio to let his father know that he had clearance to land his ship, he and his family were all currently seated in the room of Trobrencus's ship that was set-up like a living room. Olok was told to stand in the hallway, just outside of the ship's living room—which was where he still was. Since Olok didn't work for Trobrencus, he wouldn't bow down or adhere to anything that Trobrencus said to him. Olok Gzujus had no loyalty towards Trobrencus; he was loyal to him and his wife only.

"Tazzy, hate to ask—I'm sure that home-life isn't well for you and your daughter at the moment—but, how're things at your place?" Bahne asked. Her voice was no higher than that of a whisper, which was normal for her, as she normally did speak in a whisper-like voice.

"You're right on the not-well part," TazirVile replied. "Other than my place feeling less full, everything is going well."

"Still have Zanra?" Bahne asked.

"Yes,"

"She doing well?"

"Yes,"

"That's good. Bet she's gotten big, Angel and the boys'll probably not recognize her when they see her again."

He would be the Universe's biggest liar if he went and said that he had recognized the dog after returning home after everything settled down on Ssaaloo, Irmondoxa, Puspadom, and Ashomono. He had forgotten all about the dog so, when he came home, then was jumped on by the dog, he had automatically thought that one of his staff had allowed for one of their dogs to roam his halls. After a few minutes, he remembered who she was—after pushing her away from him more than twice then yelling for one of his staff to come retrieve her, that was.

It was strange; before his wife and sons were found, and then returned to their rightful home, he hadn't had a dog wandering his mansion's halls. Trobrencus gave his wife one of his seven week old, home-bred puppies after she went to talk to him in late December of last year; he wasn't too fond over having that puppy in the house and he had actually hoped that Trobrencus would take the puppy back or that Bahne would put up a stink over her husband's gift to his family. That puppy, from what Eshal had told him, had gotten big over the months. She wasn't a puppy anymore. With her being nearly a year old now, she was taking on the appearance of an adult dog. While gangly and a bit on the immature side, she would soon mature into a fine dog, with good leg and muscle. The dog, much like his bats, fish, and Platypuses, and much like his wife's pet Sekhems, had become apart of his house and life now so she was there to stay. Eshal had mentioned several times in her text messages about how smart and well-trained Zanra was; he believed her. The dog was very obedient and not once had she messed in the house or destroyed anything that was in the house.

While he was accepting of the dog, he was adamant about their not getting another and he was for sure not going to allow a cat to enter his house or life. Cats, in his opinion, were worse than dogs. They scratched. They chewed. They shed their fur much worse than a dog did and they also had a good habit of not using their cat boxes when they had to use the bathroom... not to mention, the hacking up of the hairballs. Yuck!

"The weather is most depressing here. It is always like this or—"

"According to the general area report that came out of the computers that are in my ship, no." TazirVile quickly answered. "The weather is unpredictable here. It rains a lot, and the temperatures are mild during the warmer seasons."

"My brother really screwed the planet's weather systems up—he destroyed the ozone layers in getting here." KurukVile said quickly.

"Got here fast and angry," TazirVile admitted. "Don't know of anyone who wouldn't after being told that their missing family is on a planet that they've been said to not be on."

The room that he was sitting in had two, brown, microfiber couches in it. There was a chair attachment on the one that he and his brother were sitting on; the couch that he and his brother were sitting on went around one of the room's corners. The lamp that was behind the couch, that he and Kuruk were sitting on, had a red bulb in its crystal-like fixture; the lamp's base had a hook-like design to it. The other brown, microfiber couch was directly across from him; Irka and Triskull were seated on that one. Bahne Surfeit, who was born and raised under the surname of Brotzol, was sitting on the matching chair, which had an ottoman in front of it; the chair that Bahne was sitting on was right between the two couches. Irka was sitting on Triskull's left; the couch's multi-brown pillows were on their chocolate brown coffee table, that was between the two couches, had a tall vase on its surface. It had half-dead roses in it.

The crystal chandelier, that was hanging from the center of the ceiling, was a nice piece. He found himself as being quite favoring towards it. There were two, brown side tables in the two, unoccupied corners of the room. A brown phone sat on one of them; the other table had a rather old-looking phonograph on it. There were four photographs up on the room's walls; one of them depicted TrobrencusVile and his wife—Bahne was in her husband's arms; both she and her husband looked quite happy in the photograph. The photograph that was beside that one was of TrobrencusVile's three oldest children—DananVile, DazassVile, and TrivitVile. The photograph that was on the other side of the room had CelobraVile, her twin sister, BenociVile, their husbands, and children in it. The photograph that was beside that one had the whole family in it; everyone in it looked very happy.

The room's carpet was a light brown color. The room's walls and ceiling were a dark brown color. There was a multi-brown fur lined up at the foot of the couches and chair. He had a distinct feeling that Trobrencus hadn't had a hand in the room's decoration, while Trobrencus had an elegant style to him, the room just gave off the impression that a woman—Bahne, perhaps—had been at the helm in the decoration department.

"My nephew, Vile, knew all this time that they've been here," TazirVile said a few minutes after complete silence had settled in the room. "He's known and he's not said a thing about it. After I was shown concrete proof that my sons were here I got mad. Simple as that."

"Trob showed me the report that you made." Bahne said. "Think he and I would of done the same thing."

At the time that the compiled evidences of his sons were shown to him, he was in his office. He woke up on the day that Homsi, the Gzujus twins, and Abevo Speelin gave over what they were able to aquire with a sort of feeling—something had told him to not get but so involved in working that day, which was why he had only been half-working at the time of their, and Eldass's, entrance to his office. When the five Goblins came into his office, he dropped what he was doing. He asked them why they had just walked into his office without knocking first then he stood up. The five Goblins gave him what they managed to collect quickly; they hadn't even bothered in taking a seat when he started reviewing what they brought to him.

The Gzujus twins had shown him what they collected first then he looked at what Homsi and Eldass had managed to collect then Abevo gave him the folder that he had on him. His first reaction was shock; all four of his sons were seen, but in different locations and almost all of them were seen on the same day. His second reaction was anger; them five Goblins had backed off in a hurry when he started raging. Whatever papers he had on his desk at the time went flying, as had most of what occupied the top of his desk. He was mad enough to punch holes in the walls. A window had actually been broken and Teskon, his pet albino bat, who he had owned for a good, long time, was terror-squawking.

Homsi, Eldass, the Gzujus twins, and Abevo ran off after he gave them the order to get his ship ready a few minutes later—relief was written all over their faces when that order was given. He probably would of left the room relieved to, come to think of it. The anger that he expressed on that day was unacceptably large; it continued to be at that unacceptably high level all during the trip through space. All of that anger was released after he landed his ship then went to Washington D.C.; his nephew had gotten a rare viewing on how angry, forceful, serious, and authoritative he could get.

The first thing that ran through his brain after he saw Bahne Surfeit, née Brotzol, for the first time was that Trobrencus had made off with one hell of a fine catch. Bahne was a very beautiful woman; she had creamy-colored hair that flowed down to the middle of her back, darkly tanned skin, and a heart-shaped face that had two, very bright, solid blue eyes in it. Bahne's heart-shaped face also sported a small, yet trim, nose, a pair of large, full lips, and a trim chin in it. Bahne had an hourglass-shaped figure—her breasts were large, but they didn't throw her appearance off any; her hips were round, but petite in appearance. Bahne's manicured fingernails were a painted purple and black color; she had a little, purple eye-shadow on her eyelids. Her lips had light purple lipstick on them.

He was doing his best to not stare at the woman—she had a near see-through, purple-colored tunic-poncho blouse on over a pair of dark blue pants. There was a pair of purple and sequin, flat-shoes on her feet. The purple, five row, crystal and zircon necklace, that hung from around her neck, was a nice piece of jewelry. The ring that was on her ring finger was, without a doubt, her wedding ring—it had an 18kt, yellow-gold band; the large, rose-shaped, purple diamond, that was in the band's center, was quite shiny. The only woman that could rival Bahne in beauty, he truly thought and believed, was his own lovely wife.

"The pictures that're in that folder, Trob and I were wondering—" Bahne started to say. When her husband entered the room, she stopped talking.

"My dear, I do believe that the young ones demolished all of them chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons that you made during our trip here." TrobrencusVile said. His voice was low and weasel-like; there was a growl-tone in his voice that made anyone that wasn't family cringe.

"Was expecting for that to happen. No one can resist them." Bahne replied. "I'll make some more later on."

"What was it that you was saying before I walked in and disturbed everyone?" TrobrencusVile asked.

"About the pictures that were in that report that Tazzy's employee brought over," Bahne said. She looked over at TazirVile slowly. Someone of no relation would of jumped at the woman's beauty; TazirVile sat unflinching on the couch. "Trob and I were wondering about the health of your sons."

TrobrencusVile sat on the chair attachment to the couch that TazirVile and his brother were sitting on; KurukVile merely glanced at the man while TazirVile simply looked at the man from the corner of his eye distrustfully. Up to twenty-one hundred years ago, he didn't know a thing on the man or know of his existence; the man was introduced, then became apart of the family, after his grandfather was brought back from Limbo. It took a long time before trust was struck between he and the man—he seemed to be very wary of people and he also had a way of looking down on a being for any odd thing that was under what he called "His Norm". His distrust in the man started after he assaulted his wife with his car—apparently, after coming upon his wife sitting before his residence's front gate, he was angry and decided to take it all out on her. He followed his wife, who was trying to back out and then away from his property, with his car a ways before striking her car with his own. From what his lovely wife had told him, some hours after the event happened, the man had also ripped her from her broken vehicle afterwards. He was probably never going to trust the man again.

TrobrencusVile Bloym Surfeit looked nothing like a typical Surfeit. Most of his physicial appearance was inherited from his mother, Birava Yamubabba, who was a pureblood Zomo. His bi-color head and body was the only thing that said that he was of "Surfeit" blood—his left side was light blue while his right was a puss-like creamy color. He lacked the elongated ears that most in the Surfeit family had—like his own, the man's ears were located within his head. His eyes had red irises in them; the sclera and pupils, that were in them, were white. There were red, blood trail-like markings under the man's eyes. The man had several, droop-like, red flaky patches of flesh on his cheeks and forehead. The man's lower lip drooped and had a shredded appearance—how he and his wife kissed with that lip being the way it was was beyond him. The nose that was in the center of the man's face was trim and pointy; it had triangular-shaped nostrils in it. The fingernails that sprouted out from the ends of each of the man's fingers were a dark, cream-color. Not only were they medium-length but they were filed enough so that their ends were finely sharp.

TrobrencusVile, who was called either Trobrencus or Trob by his family, and by the people that either knew or were close to him, had scruffy-like, dark purple hair that was very well kept. His hair was cut all nice and trim on the front and sides; there was a long, braided strand in the back that fell past his collar bone. The braided strand of hair had a dark purple bow on its end.

Trobrencus was wearing a burgundy, Satin trimmed, velvet tuxedo and shoes; there was a burgundy, black-buttoned, vest underneath the tuxedo jacket. A gold chain ran out from the left side breast pocket of the vest; it ran over to the pocket that was on the other side of the vest. Trobrencus had a white, button down, long sleeved shirt on underneath the vest; a striped, burgundy cravat tie, that had a gold button in its center, was around his neck. Trobrencus had come into the room using a brown stick that had a downturned, sterling silver, cobra handle; the mouth of the sterling silver cobra handle was open, so it looked like it was about to bite the one who grabbed it. The eyes of the cobra were ruby; the fangs were gold. Trobrencus had no problems with his legs, or with any other part of his body. He was very physically sound—the cane was just used to make his appearance seem more important. Trobrencus stood a good, six foot, four inches; he was a big man, who had a nicely built body full of ample muscle.

"There's something wrong with Hazaar's left leg," TazirVile said. "I'm not sure what happened but he's walking around with a very pronounced limp, and he seems to of lost weight."

"How much weight?" TrobrencusVile asked.

"Ten, maybe fifteen pounds." TazirVile replied. "He's still a feisty thing, regardless his leg pains and weight loss." he ran his tongue over his lips once before going on. "Lhaklar looks to of also lost weight—between five and ten pounds. He has a ga—"

"I noticed the gash in the photos, it doesn't look good." TrobrencusVile said. "Bile, I noticed, looked good. Looks like nothing's changed with him, why's that?"

"I haven't a clue."

"We didn't see anything on your wife, or Lazeer, in your report... or in the photographs that were included in your report. How come?" Bahne said as she casually crossed her left leg over her right.

"We didn't see them," TazirVile replied. "Angel's been missing for quite some time now. She was last seen five months ago. In May."

"Maybe the younger boy is with her." TrobrencusVile suggested.

"He's been seen—last seen in September; Hazaar was with him—he was complaining about his leg hurting him then." TazirVile said. Before TrobrencusVile could say anything else he leaned forward. "Lhaklar was seen on the twenty-sixth of September, in a city that's near here called Bühl. Bile was seen the day before, in a town that is also near our location called Au am Rhein. Hazaar and Lazeer were seen on the same day that Bile was, but they were pretty far from here. They were in a place called Yunnan—that's in south China. Angel was last seen on the day that my nephew invaded the Americas. She was seen fighting his troops; she disappeared soon after that sighting occurred. As far as I know, she hasn't been seen or heard of since."

"You checked them locations?" TrobrencusVile asked.

"Yes—on the sixth of October, I had ten of my staff go into the shield that's around the city of Rastatt. They went in so I could investigate the areas where my sons were seen at. Two of my employees went with me; we found not a trace of my sons, but we did find evidence that proved that they were in them locations." TazirVile said. He sat back on the couch. "Three of my sons were seen on the twenty-third of October. My brother, my sister, my stepfather, and I saw them in a city called Munich—that's some miles from here."

"Along with a fellow that resembles my son," KurukVile spoke up. He gestured towards Triskull, who merely rolled his eyes at the mention of the fellow that his father continued to say was his son. "I was in the area at the time to hear Bile call him Numbskull which—"

"Sounds very similar to your son's name. I didn't see any photographs of him in the folder." TrobrencusVile said.

"He's really the only one who saw him." TazirVile said. "He was unavailable to be reached at the time that I was compiling that report, which is why there weren't any photographs of "Numbskull" included in what you was given."

"Have any photographs on you of this "Numbskull"?" TrobrencusVile asked. TazirVile stood up. He reached his hand into his slate gray tuxedo jacket then withdrew a small, brown leather case that was in his inside jacket pocket. He leaned forward after removing the case from his jacket then gave it to Trobrencus. He sat back on the couch afterwards. TrobrencusVile opened the case then looked at the its contents quickly before looking up.

"Ever seen him before?" TrobrencusVile's eyes were twinkling; he was now in a seated forward position on the couch's chair attachment. He gave the small, brown leather case to KurukVile, who looked through the contents quickly before passing it to his son. Triskull glanced at the photographs that were in the case uninterestingly then leaned forward to return it to its owner.

"No," TazirVile replied after taking the case back.

"He does resemble your son," TrobrencusVile said to KurukVile. "I do see a resemblance."

The conversation that they were having was put on-hold for a bit after a child walked into the room. The child looked quite a lot like Trobrencus; while she didn't have a bi-colored face or body, she did have long, dark purple hair. The complexion of her skin was quite pale; the sclera, that was in her eyes, was a light red color, while the irises and pupils were a cream-like color. She had three, loose patches of flesh hanging down on her face and she also had red, flaky patches on her chin. Like Trobrencus, she had dark red, blood trail-like markings under her eyes. She was wearing a stylish, Islamic-style dress that was a light brown color; there was gold embroidery on the dress's skirt and on the hems of the arms. She had light brown shoes on her feet. TazirVile knew who the child was; she was the youngest child and daughter of Trobrencus and Bahne. Her name was Varaxcan and she was four hundred and sixty-four years old.

"Vara," TrobrencusVile said. He scooped his daughter up after she reached him.

"Don't think I need to ask who it was that was the Macaroon Champ," Bahne giggled. Varaxcan had chocolate on her hands; she wore chocolate on her cheeks and chin too. TrobrencusVile pulled a black silk kerchief out from his tuxedo jacket; despite Varaxcan's struggles to get free from him, and despite her attempts to push the kerchief away, he got most of the chocolate off of her.

"Kids at this age, they're a-okay with getting dirty or sticky but they sure put up a fuss when it comes time to get cleaned up." TrobrencusVile said. He released Varaxcan, who practically ran over to her mother.

He was thinking about how fussy Bile and Lhaklar were when they were Varaxcan's age when it came to getting cleaned up when Olok rushed in; while Bile was a good listener at Varaxcan's age he had also been right mischievous and, yes, he was rather fussy when it came time to getting clean. He had found himself as chasing Bile down his mansion's second floor hallway once; Bile, who was no more than three hundred and four years old at the time, had come in all muddy. He had needed a bath and he was the "appointed" one to give him one... or try to, that was. Bile had refused to stay still while in the tub and, when he turned his back to grab the towel that was on the toilet, his adopted son, who he hadn't even adopted yet, had taken advantage.

Bile leaped out of the tub then ran right past him into the hallway. Angel had laughed, some of his staff had laughed, and he had laughed but, as he laughed, he also learned that when one bathes his or her children it was best to either keep a hand on the child that's in the tub, so that the child wouldn't get it into his or her head to jump out, or grab the towel fast before the child could think up an escape plan. While Lhaklar was slower than Bile, he did the exact same thing at that age.

When Olok Gzujus, a blue-skinned Goblin, who had warts on his cheeks, large, brown eyes, and a crooked nose, walked into the room, Varaxcan went from being an innocent, sweet child into being a complete terror. Varaxcan must of learned from her parents the ways on how to treat staff—she charged right at Olok, then kicked him twice, before rubbing the palm of her right hand on his white striped tuxedo jacket. Trobrencus had either not cleaned that hand or Varaxcan had slipped it under her father's cleaning radar; the front of Olok's tuxedo jacket had a child-sized, chocolate-colored hand-print on it now. Olok looked down at the chocolate hand-print before walking over to him. Varaxcan walked over to her father, who was smiling.

"Olok," TazirVile said after his butler reached him. Olok looked none to happy with what had just happened to him; restrained anger, and frustration, was very evident on the Goblin's face. "what is it?"

"Bad empoy-wee! Bad! Bad!" Varaxcan exclaimed. She pointed at Olok then started jumping up and down. "Bad! Bad! Empoy-wee bad!"

"Sir, I've just been told that the weather's gotten better outside." Olok relayed. "Several others in your service were outside when your grandfather arrived."

"How many?" TazirVile asked. While he tried to keep the alarm out of his voice, he was clearly concerned over being told that some of his staff were outside of his ship. "How many and were they outside when my grandfather finished his descent?"

"My brother claims that eleven were outside when your grandfather finished his descent." Olok replied quickly.

"Have my daughter, younger siblings, and my niece and nephews returned to camp yet?" TazirVile asked as he stood up. His concern levels went up a few numbers after realizing that his daughter and younger, half-siblings, and his young nephews and niece were given permission to leave camp some thirty or so minutes earlier.

"No sir, we haven't—"

Even though the only thing that captured ShaamVile Surfeit's arrival was the watertower, that was on the outskirts of Steinmauern, it would be some hours before the footage was looked at and then passed along to the people that ran the country's security. The cameras that were on the roof of the watchtower were pointing in the right direction when ShaamVile's ship came into view but, while footage of ShaamVile Surfeit's arrival was captured, there was no footage of where his ship went. All of the cameras that were on the watertower malfunctioned right when Mr. ShaamVile Kondee Surfeit's ship exited the bruised, purple/red sky that was over and on the other side of the Rhine river.

Bile, his two brothers, Angus, Aubin, Abelle, and Franziska hadn't been allowed the privilege of seeing ShaamVile Surfeit's ship; they were too preoccupied with their ear-pains to worry about what came out from the sky.

The first thing that was on their minds, after their ear-pains started to subside, was to find where everyone was and then to regroup and then assess their injuries. Angus and Aubin were in a sort of underground snow shelter, which Aubin threw together after Bile ran off to collect Guyuns. After Aubin got the snow shelter fixed up, he grabbed Angus by his ankle then yanked him down. His wrecked, jean jacket was thrown over them afterwards. The shelter that Aubin built gave him and Angus some protection from the snow, the hail, and the howling winds; Aubin had worked hard to get the four sides up and he had also worked hard in making sure that them four sides were firmly packed with snow. The two of them had made it out much better than the others, so they had less injuries on them. Aubin's right earlobe was bleeding—a chunk of hail struck it when he was making the snow shelter. Angus had a bleeding cut to his forehead and cheek. The rest of the group hadn't made-out as lucky as them.

Angus and Aubin were floored when they saw the state of their friends; instead of seeing their friends return to the area, where they had formerly been, before the hail started to fall, uninjured, all of their friends came back with some sort of injury to their bodies. Abelle's mouth was a bloody mess—the claim of her biting her tongue, and then her lower lip, after the roar happened, was made. Abelle also had two knots on her forehead and a bleeding cut to her right cheek. There was a spreading, purple bruise on Franziska's left wrist; two deep cuts were on her forehead too. Guyunis claimed that the still-bleeding puncture marks, that were on his right arm, had come from Bile; his chest and shoulders were bleeding and bruised in more than a dozen places and the back of his head was cut and bleeding—these injuries, he claimed, had come from the hail.

Those injuries were the medium-end of the injury assessments. While Angus and Aubin were shocked over seeing them injuries, they came very close to fainting after seeing Bile and Lazeer's injuries.

"Okay, four of our seven are present and accounted for," Aubin said after Guyunis and Franziska stepped into view; Guyunis and Franziska had actually been the first ones to show up to the re-grouping. Abelle had shown up right after so that had made five of their seven accounted for. "Where's Bile and Lazeer?"

"Bile's, uh, coming." Franziska said, rather nervously. "He's coming, but very slowly. Give him a minute."

Bile had practically been duck-walking; while Aubin was able to note the strange way his friend was walking, he had very nearly missed the fact that his friend was also walking with a very noticeable limp. Angus had let out one hell of a scream—the first scream that Baruk and his group heard—after Bile walked up. Bile's left knee and shin were very badly swollen; the left leg of his brown pants was an odd, reddish-green color from the knee on down and the fabric of that same pant-leg was stretched rather tightly around that knee. Bile's elongated ears were cut in many places and there was a rather long bruise on the right side of his neck—which was causing him considerable pain; he couldn't turn his head in that direction without grimacing. While Bile's knee had looked bad enough to scream over, Angus hadn't screamed because of it. He screamed after seeing the sight of blood on the crotch part of his friend's pants.

The crotch of his Bile's pants, Angus had noticed, was dark; the three handfuls of snow, that Guyunis managed to shove down his brother's pants, had melted. Right in the center of that normal wetness was a fist-sized, reddish-green spot. The fist-sized hailstone that struck Bile in the groin had struck him so hard that it made him bleed down there. Bile could barely stand; he was seated on the snow nearby. The lit joint, that was between his lips, was trembling ever so slightly.

The second scream that Baruk and his group heard hadn't come from Angus, nor had it come from any of the other human teenagers that were in the Steinmauern Kiesgrube mining area. Angus came very close to screaming after seeing Lazeer but, at the very last second, that scream evaporated. The left side of Lazeer's face was very badly swollen and it was also caked in dried and drying blood. The diagonal gash that went across Lazeer's left eye was re-opened by a hailstone; Lazeer's eye was swollen shut. Bile, after seeing the state of his younger brother's face, had reached into the front left pocket of his pants. His pocketknife was removed from his pants pocket and then thrown to Guyunis, who caught it clumsily.

"Over and then under, G. Got me? Do not cut the eye; cut the flesh over and then under the eye only." Bile said afterwards. Guyunis shook his head before tossing the knife back. Bile grew angry afterwards. "Guyunis, you're the older brother here! Grow some balls, help the younger brother ou—"

"Y-y-you're the-the older bruder not me." Guyunis stammered. "You do i-k-t."

"I can barely stand, I'm not available. You can stand and you are available." Bile said back. "Do it."

Lazeer screamed right when he saw Guyunis coming towards him with the knife. He screamed then he turned in an attempt to get away. Guyunis had closed the distance very quickly; he grabbed Lazeer in a tight hug then produced the knife. Aubin and Angus had to hold Lazeer's arms for Guyunis to do as he was told to do; it took three tries before the deed was done. The first time, Guyunis had looked about ready to cut into Lazeer's eye; Bile yelled for him not to. The second time, Guyunis chickened out. The third time was successful. The six-inch long blade, that was in the knife's Dragon-Motorcycle handle, had cut into the bruised flesh that was above and then below Lazeer's injured eye like butter; with the deed done, and with finding no other use for the knife, Guyunis threw it back to its owner. The other knives that were in the Dragon-Motorcycle handled knife—the four-inch and the two-inch—hadn't been used.

Lazeer's eye was open, he could see through it, but he was quite traumatized. He didn't want anyone near him right now. He was currently seated a ways from his brothers and the human teenagers that he and his brothers joined earlier that morning. The HB Classic Blend cigarette, that was in his mouth, was lit; Guyunis gave him the cigarette after he cut his face with the knife to relieve the pressure of the swelling. Guyunis had lit it for him before walking off.

"Should we chance it? Collect everyone then go home?" Abelle asked Aubin.

"No, not with Bile being in his current state and not with Lazeer... you know, acting the way he is." Aubin replied. "It'd just be wrong to leave them here and we'd not get far if we left for home anyways. Best we just sit tight and wait until we're all physically able to go."

"There's still plenty of them snacks in our bags, think they'd like one or two of them?" Abelle asked.

"Everything that's in them bags is probably like a frozen Popsicle by now but, yeah, try it." Aubin replied. "Might help them—don't think giving them something to eat would hurt them any."

Most of what was in the green duffel bag was cold, but nothing was frozen so, Abelle quickly rummaged through it for something that she thought Bile and Lazeer would like. She got a bag of Sandies Pecan Swirls out from the bag first then she pulled a Chocolate Chunk—a cookie that was right big in size—, then, after a moment's pause, she took two Milky Way's and then a Twix bar out of it. She walked over to Bile quickly after taking them snacks from the bag. She showed him the snacks that she had when he looked at her then asked if he wanted one. He politely took the bag of Pecan Swirls from one of her hand then said thank you afterwards. Abelle went over to Lazeer next; at first, Lazeer didn't want anything. He just wanted to be left alone. She was just turning to walk away when he sighed. He asked if the Chocolate Chunk cookie was available; she said that it was before handing it over. She dropped one of the two Milky Way candy bars at his feet after giving him the cookie then went over to where Guyunis was; while his injuries weren't as bad as his brothers', she knew that he wasn't feeling well or like himself—he was still in shock over having been asked, and then told, to cut his brother's face. Guyunis took the Twix candy bar from her quietly then walked off; she stood where she was for a short while then went back to where her brother was. Aubin, she noticed, after returning to his side, had obviously taken advantage of the food duffel bag being open—an open bag of potato chips was in his hand.

"While you were out, giving them snacks, Franziska hid just about everything that's got nuts in it or that has N-U-T-S written on the package." Aubin said. "If you want anything that has nuts in it, ask her. She'll know where it is."

"Probably a good idea—the snow that's under Bile is a reddish-green color." Abelle said. She shivered; she had tried to not look down after giving Bile the bag of Pecan Swirl cookies but, in the end, her curiosity had forced her to. The snow that was in front of Bile, right where his crotch was, had turned a light, reddish-green color.

"All the way around Bile?" Aubin asked in alarm.

"No, just where his crotch is." Abelle said quickly. She then added, "And where his left knee is."

"We need to get Bile to a doctor or something." Aubin said, after being silent for a few minutes. "Either get him to a doctor or call his mum or something."

"And how do you expect to get him to a doctor, Aubin?" Franziska asked. She had an unwrapped Payday candy bar in her hand. "He can barely walk."

"Angus and I can support him. Help him along or something." Aubin suggested.

"He weighs twice, maybe three times more than we do." Angus said. He balled the Barbecue chips bag, that he had in his hand, up then tossed it over his shoulder. "The snow's also pretty deep. We'd never be able to get him out of here by carrying him."

"Okay then. Why don't one of us go back then? Get some help and then—"

"Sure, and by the time the one who goes out to get some help comes back, we'd of all been captured or consumed by them aliens that are in that camp that's a few miles from here." Abelle sassed.

"Anyone have a cell?" Aubin asked. "Angus, you know their mum's number, right?"

"No on knowing her cell number. I know their home number though." Angus replied.

"Anyone have a cell?" Aubin repeated, then added, "Abelle and I left ours at our place."

"No, can't afford one." Angus said.

"Battery died on mine last night. I keep forgetting to charge it." Franziska said.

While they were worried about Lazeer and Guyunis, their main worry centered mostly around Bile. Their main worries were centered around Bile either bleeding or freezing to death and on his not being able to get up when it came time for them to go home; with no option of carrying Bile out of the area, or back to civilization, and with no one willing to run the risk of leaving to go get help, and with no one having a workable cellular phone, they decided to just sit tight a while longer before seeing if Bile's pains would subside long enough so he could stand and walk somewhat comfortably back. Franziska and Abelle went to the duffel bags; they grabbed the bags then collected the snowboards—the latter, of which, had very nearly been buried in the snow. They brought those items back to where Aubin and Angus were then sat down. Bile did nothing for a while. He just sat in place, smoking his joint. When he did move, it was only to scoop the snow that was around him over his lap. He went back to being still after his lap had a good pile of snow on it.

Lazeer, they saw, had stood up. He was walking towards Guyunis, who was standing nearly out of sight, under some trees. They watched as Lazeer went to his adoptive brother then they turned their attention back towards Bile. In the time that they were watching Lazeer, Bile had decided to lie down; it looked like his hands were laced behind his head. His joint looked to be finished.

Franziska decided to get up at the twenty or so minute mark of their waiting to see if any changes would happen with Bile. The weather had since gone back to being what it was before the hail started falling; the visibility was relatively good, so she could see where she was going. Bile seemed to of disappeared; the spot where he was was empty, which she thought was strange. She hadn't seen him get up or move off. She knew that he was around somewhere. She had a Mars candy bar on her—it was hid on her person after she found it among all the other candy bars that she and her friends had scarfed from the dumpster that was behind the Au am Rhein Hauptscule building; while the idea of eating the candy bar had crossed her mind once or twice, something had kept her from doing so. While she didn't know the reason behind her not wanting to eat the candy bar—she had always been a fan of Mars candy bars—she had a feeling that, if Bile was still in the area, he might want it.

The new snow that settled over the old snow was rather fluffy and light; it puffed up as she walked over to where she had last seen Bile. The wind carried some of the disturbed snow away, while the rest just settled back on the rest of the snow that was on the ground. She stopped after reaching the area where Bile was last seen at. She didn't dare take a step further—she didn't want to run the risk of stepping on or kicking him.

"Bile?" she said, almost in a low whisper. "Bile? You ah—"

When Bile sat up, the snow acted much like a blanket did after one sat up in bed—all of what covered his body fell to his lap. Bile's action of pulling his right leg up was done normally; his action of pulling his left leg up, so it'd be even with his other leg, was done very slowly. There was no change in the injury that was on Bile's leg; his left knee and shin were still badly swollen, but it looked like it had stopped bleeding. Franziska didn't know how long she stood there, staring at Bile's injured knee; it seemed that she was put under some sort of spell that was forcing her to remain standing in one place while staring at one thing in particular. Even when her hair blew in her face, she didn't move or look away. It was only when she felt a tug on her arm that the spell was broken.

"Earth to Franziska. Hello, hello-lo-lo-lo-lo." Bile said. Franziska looked down; she saw that Bile's hand was wrapped around the half of the Mars candy bar that was sticking out of her hand. Franziska allowed the candy bar to slip through her hand. Bile looked at the candy bar then at her. "This for me or—"

"It is, yes." Franziska answered.

"Thank you; while I'm not hungry right now, I'll keep it for when I am." Bile said.

"How's your knee?" Franziska asked. The question just popped out. She hadn't had a chance to check or to even prevent it from being asked. "I-I mean, I see that you can bend it now. Does it feel better or—"

"It's stiff, and it still hurts like hell, but it's best that I move it some. I'm preventing it from becoming so stiff that I can't use it by moving it... it also helps the blood that's in it to "flow" better." Bile replied quickly.

"Think you could stand, or walk, on it?" Franziska asked.

"Might be able to," Bile replied. He cleared his throat then looked down. What he said next came out shaky. "It's my balls that'll probably keep me down, sadly. They hurt more than my knee."

"The snow's deep," Franziska said absently. Even though she was a girl, she knew well how one of the male gender felt about his balls. A male being's testicles were fragile things and they could keep a male down if they were hit in a bad way. "Do you think that you'd be able to make it back to the shield that's around Steinmauern if Angus and Aubin helped in supporting some of your weight?"

She wasn't the greatest of students when she was going to Au am Rhein's Hauptschule, or High School; besides skipping classes with Abelle and Abelle's friends, she was also notoriously famous for not attending her physical education classes. She was a rather bright pupil in all of her other classes but, when it came to her physical education classes, that brightness had just not turned itself on so, she had just not shown up to them. Her parents hadn't been happy with her on her grades for them two classes, or on her not going to them classes, but they were perfectly happy with her other classes. The grades for her other classes were good—she had either gotten low A's or high B's in them classes. She was just one year past graduating; she graduated from Au am Rhein's Hauptschule, or High School, one year after Aubin graduated. Her Phys. Ed and Health classes hadn't held her back.

Bile never answered her question. He just sat where she found him quietly for a while, doing what she thought was a strange ritual. He'd stretch his left leg out slowly, keep it stretched for a nearly two minutes, bend it slowly before repeating the slow stretch all over again. He grimaced with each stretch. He hissed every time he brought his leg up then he'd grimace again when he went to stretch his leg out again. He continued to do his strange stretching for all of ten minutes before looking up at her. His glowing, yellow-green eyes locked on her green ones; a secret message was passed between the two of them. Bile's message was pretty clear—he didn't want her to bother or even help him as he got up. Her message was just as clear; while she was annoyed over being told to not intervene, she was compliant with his wish in not wanting to be bothered or helped to his feet.

Bile took in a deep breath before pitching himself forward; he groaned as he sat up, on his legs, then he groaned again when he forced his body up. He swayed ever so slightly after standing; his legs were splayed out but he was standing. He stood where he was for a few seconds then took two, small steps towards Franziska, who backed away. The crotch of Bile's pants still looked damp, but it looked like the reddish-green spot that was in the middle of that dampness hadn't grown. Franziska took two more steps back then turned and started making her way back to her friends. Bile followed behind her slowly.

"Did the snow numb y'up enough to get up and walk or are you just trying to impress us?" Aubin asked after Franziska and Bile reached him, Angus, and Abelle. He was trying his best to hide the smile that wanted to spread across his face.

"Trying to impress ya," Bile replied. He tipped a wink in Aubin's direction then looked around. "Where's Guyunis and Lazeer?"

"Over there," Abelle said. She pointed at a cluster of trees that were about forty-five feet away. The only thing that they could see were a pair of glowing yellow, scalene triangular-shaped eyes. They didn't seen Lazeer at all. "Lazeer went over there thirty minutes ago; we didn't see him leave so, he must still be with Guyunis."

"Your bruder really blends in well with the shadows, Bile." Angus said.

And that was one of the reasons for why Baruk and his group missed seeing Guyunis. The shadows that were under the cluster of trees, where Guyunis and Lazeer were standing, were so dark that Guyunis had pretty much become cloaked. It was only his eyes that could be seen, but Baruk and his group hadn't seen them either. It was Bile's current state that they were focused on; Bile's bloody pant leg, and the damp and bloody crotch of Bile's pants, had their full attention. Except for one, they went numb after seeing the state of Bile's pants. Eshal, in complete and utter shock over what she saw, had pulled back almost at once after seeing the oldest of her brothers. A scream shadowed her lips; her face was bright with fear; and her eyes were very nearly shut. She was gasping and gurgling at the same time. She was trying to get herself under control and she was trying to keep her breakfast down at the same time.

"Bile looked healthy. Perfectly healthy. I saw no sign of weight loss or injury on him." her grandfather, Cheshire, said to her father eight and a half days ago. While she wasn't really hiding from the two of them, she had listened in on their conversation—she was right around the corner from them when they were talking about her brothers.

"He looks like crap now, what in the Universe happened to him?" Eshal's frantic mind asked away.

Baruk, after the two screams were heard, had made the decision to take a little stroll in the direction that he thought they had originated in. His sister had tried to stop him; he continued on, regardless of her attempts to stop him. Gaajah had joined him right after he started off, so had Sudir and Selik. Phaggo, Blaiga, and she stayed behind for a short while then they followed; a rather upset Kassa had taken up the rear. They walked past most of the abandoned town's buildings without stopping; the food marts and eateries, the clothing stores and the laundromats had all still been standing, but only barely. The laundromat building was missing all of its washers and driers; there were big, gaping holes where them appliances had once been. The floor of the laundromat building was very nearly swallowed up by a flood of mud that turned to ice in the five days that it was winter-like.

Selik peered into the food mart once, when they walked by it, then he commented on how the place looked like a wrecked ship on the inside. The church, that was in the center of the abandoned town, had put a five minute pause to their stroll.

The spire, that sat atop the church's roof, had smashed to the street some time ago; the ground, for nearly fifty yards, was littered with the spire's remaines. The windows were all broken; some of them were boarded up, but there were plenty that weren't boarded up. The church's steps were crumbling; the material, that was put on the outside of the church, was either warping or dangling in place. The insulation, that was in-between the building's interior and exterior materials, was blowing to and fro in the wind; it was an ugly, dark yellow and green color—to her, it resembled moss and vines. The air that was around the center of the abandoned town had stank of sadness, despair, and there had also been the smells of rotted or rotting things mixing in. They moved on quickly after that five minute period of shock ended. The exit of the town was a quick one; Baruk had practically been running by the time they exited the town.

It took them all of twenty minutes before coming upon Bile. Since there was no path to walk down, they just followed Baruk as he wound through thickets of thorny bushes and overgrown trees. They went through the thorny bush thickets and the overgrown trees slowly, while Baruk just cruised right through them—his hands and face were cut and his stockings were a shredded mess, thanks to that. When they reached a clearing, that was on the other side of the thorny bush thicket and the overgrown trees, Kaasa started fighting with her brother. They fought verbally, and then physically, for all of five minutes before Baruk walked off.

The Rhine river was very close now; the river, which was completely frozen over earlier, was now a churning, angry mess. The waters, that were released after the roar sounded, were now crashing against the still-frozen parts of the river. Kaasa was rounding everyone up to head back to camp when Baruk made a sound. He cleared his throat then gestured for them to come over and fast; at first, they refused, then, after he jabbed a fire-engulfed finger at them, they did as he wanted. They were all cold and hungry then; she bet that the cold and hunger had been forgotten now. They were looking out from a show-covered hill, where a bunch of half-skeletal, blueberry bushes were growing on, when Bile sat up in the snow.

"If I ever start a fight with you on where you're going, or on where you're taking us, slap me." Kaasa said to Baruk shortly after Bile sat up in the snow.

"There's four others with him," Phaggo pointed out. "Two males and—"

"Two girls, daddy says that he thinks all of my brothers took on a bachelor's lifestyle." she returned, then she said, in a rather numb sort of way, "My mam hasn't been seen in a long time; my dad says that he thinks my brothers took on a bachelor's life after something happened to our mam."

"Maybe Bile hooked up with someone or something?" Blaiga said after they went silent for a rather long two minutes. "Been hanging out with four others that are also baching it out on their own or something?"

Like Gaajah's claim of eavesdropping on his father, when his father was talking on the phone to his father a few days ago, she had also eavesdropped on her father when he was talking to her grandmother about what he thought was going on with her brothers. Her father was trying to keep his suspicions away from her, but she knew them and she was worried that he might be right and wasn't what she was seeing proof of her father's suspicions? She read in a book once about how the patriarch, or male leader, of a herd or grouping of animals ousted the younger, adolescent males from the group. The same book that she read had said that the ousted young males joined up with other ousted males as a Bachelor Unit or Group.

Well, there was Bile. Her adoptive brother, three hundred and one years younger than she, was with a group of humans that consisted of two males and two females. Was Bile with a Bachelor Group or was he just hanging with some humans? The book that she read hadn't said a thing about female bachelors and it had also said nothing on females joining with all-male bachelor groups. The book that she read had said that female animals usually joined up with other, unrelated males or they went and lived a solitary life. Where humans like animals? Did they throw their adolescent male and female young out of the house? Did them just-ousted adolescent humans join-up with other ousted youngsters? The book that she read had said nothing about intelligent lifeforms ousting their young—it had just been written on animals.

She was wondering why Bile was with two girls in a possible Bachelor Group when he stood up. He stood awkwardly, and she wondered why, then, when he turned, then started to follow the blonde-haired human back to the three other humans that were sitting nearby, she saw the state of his pants. Bloody and wet was the word; reddish-green left leg, and the crotch wet and reddish-green. Bile, she knew, had reddish-green blood so the reddish-green staining that was on his pants was his blood. She didn't notice his walk. His odd, little, swaying to and fro walk, with his legs deeply bowed. She had just taken one look at the blood that was on his pants before turning away.

"Oh, I can't watch anymore." Blaiga said as she turned away from the sight that was happening in front of her. Eshal saw that Blaiga's dark blue face had gone a pale, light blue color and she also saw that Blaiga was swallowing hard.

Kaasa turned away next; Sudir and Selik tried to keep looking forward but, in the end, they turned away too. It was only Baruk, Gaajah, and Phaggo that had the nerve to stare forward at Bile as he walked his bowlegged, duckish, and limpish walk around the three humans that were in his company. One of the humans, a male, who had red hair, and who was wearing what-looked-like a rather torn-up jean jacket, had run off towards a cluster of trees. Baruk had followed the human's progress for only a second before returning his gaze to Bile. When he saw the human female with the blonde hair and her three companions, he had initially wanted to run out to give them a little spooking. He didn't know why he called everyone over at the time that he gestured for them to come to where he was; all he knew was that he was compelled to get them over to where he was and fast and he had done so.

The desire to run up and spook the four humans that were in the clearing disappeared right when a drift of snow rose up, beside the blonde-haired girl. He envisioned some sort of snow monster rising up from its slumber, or maybe even a predator that was waiting under the snow for some unwary animal to either come near or step on it. Instead of some snow monster or predator coming up, out of the snow, Bile appeared. The girl gave Bile something, then they talked some, then Bile just sat stupidly in place. Bile had just sat in place for a while before standing up... very strangely.

Bile, the kid that he tried to bully when they were younger, and the kid that he tried to continue to bully a few weeks after he and his loser-brothers and their mother were found and then brought home, had pitched himself forward before standing up. He swayed almost drunkedly at first, with his legs all spread out, then, a few minutes after he stood up, he started to follow the girl, who was backing away from him. Bile followed the girl back to where the other humans were in a very bowlegged, duckish so of way. He was also limping rather badly too.

"Please, someone use their communicator or something," Sudir said. He sounded very sick. Baruk pulled back just a bit for a second, what he saw he didn't much like. Sudir, his and Kaasa's younger brother, looked rather sick in the face and he was shaking his head back and forth. "Call Uncle Tazzy or my dad or something. I'm all for bullying but I'm not for watching someone walk around with blood on the front of their pants... where their balls are."

Phaggo was just reaching into the pocket that was on the left side of his loose, faded blue pants when he saw movement to his left. He looked up; his O-shaped mouth dropped almost instantly. While he could of yelled, something within him kept him from doing so. What came out of him was a hybrid between a grunt and a moan. The communicator that he took from the left pocket of his pants dropped from his hand to the ground; he was too paralyzed to retrieve it. He just stared at the three people that were walking out from under a cluster of trees that were a distance from him.

What he saw was almost like a walking shadow, except for the clothes and the chains and the hoodie. The person who was walking behind Lazeer had a very strong body and he looked pretty tall and it also looked like the person had some wounds to his upper body and to one of his arms. Phaggo reached over; while keeping his eyes on Lazeer, the human with the red hair, and the dark-person, he tapped Gaajah on the elbow. He wasted no time in pointing the three people out after Gaajah turned towards him. Gaajah looked at Lazeer, the red-haired human, and the dark-person for only a second.

"Baruk," Gaajah said. "Lazeer, I see La—"

"Lazeer?" Eshal practically pushed Gaajah over. She cupped her hands over her eyes to get a better look at the three people that were walking towards Bile and the three other humans. She looked at the three people for a minute before lowering her hands. "That's Lazeer but... who's..."

"Numbskull?" Baruk said. "Looks almost like my and my siblings' brother. He—"

Lazeer, the dark person, and the human were too far for them to see much in detail but, now that they were a little bit closer, and now that the dark fellow shoved Lazeer, they were able to see that there was something wrong with Lazeer's face. Phaggo wrestled a small pair of binoculars, that had a rather sensitive camera equipped on them, out from his brown jacket then held them up. He adjusted the settings once then, after making the focus become clearer, he gasped. He dropped the binoculars; while he would swear later that his fingers was nowhere near the sensitive camera's initiate button, he and his parents, along with all of the other adults that were in the Rastatter Rheinaue clearing, would receive a big jolt and then some major chills after seeing the image that the binoculars' sensitive camera had taken. He scooped the binoculars up from the ground quickly then gave them to Eshal. Before stooping down, he gave her a warning of what she'd see through them. He was retrieving his communicator at the same time that Eshal was looking through his binoculars.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you look no worse for wear, Baby Brother." Bile said after Lazeer and Guyunis walked up. Aubin went over to stand next to his sister; he only went over to retrieve Guyunis and Lazeer after being asked to.

"Yeah, no thanks to you and your damn knife." Lazeer snapped in a low whisper that Bile barely heard.

"Me and my "damn" knife probably saved your eye." Bile responded. "And don't you forget Monsieur Guyunis, he—"

"Yeah, i-k-t was your idea though." Guyunis said. "I didn't even want to do it, Bile. You forced me—"

"I "forced" you into doing it because it needed to be done." Bile said quickly. "I was unavailable at the time. I had my own pains to worry about. You was available and, being that you was and are older than he, you got stuck with the job."

"You...!" Guyunis lunged towards Bile. Snow flew behind and around him when he pulled back at the last second.

"Lhaklar would of done it with little or no fuss or problem." Bile said. He had actually been readying himself for a fight. He was glad that his brother had pulled back; he wasn't in the mood, or in shape, for a fight.

While the left side of Lazeer's face was still swollen it wasn't as swollen as it was nearly forty minutes ago. The blood flow that was coming out of the re-opened gash that went across his younger brother's eye had stopped; there was quite a lot of dried blood on the left side of his brother's face, and there was some blood on the collar of Lazeer's jacket too. Lazeer looked plain miserable; he was shying away from anyone or anything that came within close proximity to his left side and, for some odd reason, he was voicing his wish for everyone to give his left side a wide berth in a very low whisper that could barely be heard.

He could concur with his brother's desire of not wanting anyone near his left side—he didn't want anyone near his left leg and he definitely didn't want anyone coming within distance of his still hurting groin. On the Pain-O-Meter, his left knee and shin were a high-level eight. His knee and shin hurt with each step that he took, but he knew that he had to keep walking and going or else, they would go stiff, which would result in his not being able to go home. His groin was paining him a lot more than his knee and shin though; he was hoping for a long, soothing bath in some luke-warm water after getting home. His mother would most probably want to take him to see a Urologist soon after finding out about the hailstone that hit him down there and he, honestly, was hoping that she did because, he didn't like the idea of going through life without his balls or with going through the pain that he was feeling on a daily basis.

"A luke-warm bath. A light snack. Ma taking me to one of them doctors that specify on male reproductive issues or injuries, then, depending on what the doctor does after he sees me, sleep." he was thinking. "That's what I need. Take it easy for a while; only move when I have to. Take my meals in bed; maybe listen to some music while I'm in bed, or read a magazine or something. Ma'll take care of me, she always does. She's always there to help us when we're down."

When he and his mother spoke earlier, he said nothing on where he and his tag-a-long brothers were going and she said nothing on whether they could leave the safety of the shields; while he had no plans in telling her where he, Guyunis, and Lazeer had gone he really didn't know what to tell her if she asked him where he went with his brothers.

Could he tell her that they went to an area in Au am Rhein that had lots of hills in it? How about an area that was in Elchesheim-Illingen that had lots of hills in it? Could he get away with saying that they went to a town that was a distance from the one that they lived in to snowboard and shoot off their BB guns? He didn't like the idea of leaving the safety of the shields earlier, when Angus was leading them to the Steinmauern Kiesgrube mining area. One time, last year, he was discovered as being outside of the shield when he should of been inside of it, by his mother; she wasn't happy when she found him outside of the shield and she had let it be known. Both he and Lhaklar, who was with him on that day, when their mother discovered them walking within close proximity to the camp that housed people that they knew a long time ago, were grounded for two weeks following that discovery. What was going to happen if this little outing was discovered? A three week grounding? A month, two months? A whole damn year? He shivered at the mere thought of doing absolutely nothing but house chores for twelve months; he could deal with being grounded for a week to two weeks but he didn't think he could do a full, twelve month grounding. The longest he had ever gone in a grounding was four, hellaciously long, and boring, months. He didn't want to go through another of that type of grounding and he didn't want to have to go through a twelve month grounding either.

"Bile?" Guyunis asked. He saw Bile shiver; he was concerned for him.

"Do us all a favor," Bile said. He looked at his two brothers. "If you two don't want a grounding, don't say where we went today. If ma asks where we went today, lie. Say we went to a town or something that has lots of hills in it. Don't say that we came here, or that we left the shield."

"Where? What do you sugges-k-t we tell her when she asks us where we went today?" Guyunis asked.

"Say you went to Rottlichwald," Franziska said quickly. "Say we went there to snowboard, then use our BB's."

"Rottlichwald is another nature reserve, but it's a much better managed one and it's also closed off to the public at this time of year." Aubin said. "My sister and I are just going to say that we hopped a section of the reserve's fence if our mum or dat asks us where we went today. You three should say the same thing if your mum asks you where you went today."

"Is it inside the shield?" Bile asked.

"Yes," Aubin replied.

"Okay," Bile and Guyunis said together, in unison. Lazeer just gave a thumb's up to show that he agreed with the plan.

With a plan on what to do if their mother asked them where they went that morning in place, they started getting ready to leave the area. Abelle, her brother, Angus, and Franziska grabbed their duffel bags, then their snowboards and BB guns, then looked over, at Bile, who was just standing idly in place. Bile nodded his head then started walking in the direction that they had come, when they came to the location earlier that morning. Angus walked beside Bile, while Aubin and Franziska walked side by side behind them. Lazeer followed behind them. Abelle looked at Guyunis, then started following the others. Even though the weather was bad, and even though the snow came to nearly their knees, they managed to go twenty yards before coming to a stop.

The scream that penetrated the area was loud, pained, and there were trace elements of surprise in it; Bile was the first to react to it. He was the first to notice who it was that screamed. Aubin and Franziska seized up for a second before turning around while Lazeer, Angus, and Abelle turned around immediately; what they saw stunned and paralyzed them for nearly a full minute. While they could see what was going on, they couldn't really process it. It was like their brain-processors had shorted out. They could see and they could think about what they were seeing, but they couldn't really process them thoughts or the traumatic scene that was going on in front of them. It was only when Eshal and Blaiga ran into view that the processing happened and that their sudden paralysis broke.

"Guyunis!" Bile bellowed.

Bile tried to run forward, but his leg prevented him from getting very far. He tripped, then fell down after taking five steps. The yell of pain that escaped him, after his left knee struck the ground, was nearly as loud as his screaming out for his adoptive brother, who was being mercilessly attacked on three sides by people that were both related to him and that he didn't know. Bile tried to get up but his leg prevented him from doing so; he was forced to watch in terror as his brother rolled and then twisted and turned in every which way as the ones that attacked him upped the power that they had put in their attacks. Bile couldn't believe it! They hadn't had any issues all that morning and they hadn't seen nor heard anything of the ones that were in the Rastatter Rheinaue nature reserve, that was right next door to where they were; while he wanted to believe that it was pure coincidence that they had found them, he also wanted to believe that some sort of cruel joke was being played on them.

On Guyunis's right, there was Gaajah who, technically, was Guyunis's nephew. To Guyunis's left, there was Selik, who was also a nephew of Guyunis's, and, right behind Guyunis, near Guyunis's flopping and rolling and twisting and turning feet, was Baruk... who was Guyunis's grand-nephew. They were all attacking Guyunis at once. All of them had strands of red-colored energy flowing from their hands. All of their faces looked hideously mean.

The scream that he heard had come from Guyunis. He screamed after one of his three attackers wrapped him up in a series of red-hot, red-colored energy strands. Smoke was coming up from between the red-colored energy strands; he could smell flesh burning under them energy strands and he could hear Guyunis's pained screams, but he couldn't do anything to help him. His damn leg and his crotch prevented him from helping his brother out.

"Keep at him!" Eshal screamed at Baruk, Gaajah, and Selik, who had Guyunis practically pinned to the ground. "I don't want him anywhere near my brothers!"

This was the second time in eight days where he was caught unprepared for an attack and, unlike the first time, where the attack was a small one, and where he just took a small step or two back, he was paying dearly for his unpreparedness. He was in pain, he was screaming incoherently for help, and he was growing angry over the fact that someone had run up to attack him. He was deafened by his screams, so he couldn't really tell what the girl, who was running towards Bile, had said. The girl, who ran past his pinned-down figure, was going straight for Bile, who must of collapsed—he was nearly lying on his side on the ground! Bile's lips were moving. He knew Bile was yelling something, but he couldn't tell what that something was and he couldn't tell who Bile was yelling for or at. The girl, a rather pretty one, who had light blue skin and hair, but purple bangs, reached Bile quickly.

Bile, he saw, pushed the girl back when she got to him. Bile's push mustn't of fazed the girl because she came at him again. He wished that he could get up and help his bruder but he couldn't; while he was worried about his temporarily crippled bruder, he couldn't speak or even stand. He didn't know where Lazeer was and that went double on the four humans that he and his bruders had spent time with that morning. He figured that the humans had run off in a panic, which he thought was very appropriate for the situation that was going on.

As he flailed around, feeling his body burn and feeling his body pains grow worse and worse by the second, he took in his three attackers. All of what they were wearing was fuzzy, so he couldn't make out what they were wearing, but he could see some of their facial features. The person to his left had bi-colored skin, just like Bile; the left side of the person's face was dark red while the other side of his face was a full silver color. Unlike Bile, this person had twisted and ringed horns on top of his head. He couldn't see anything else on that person; his limited vision had only allowed him to see that much. The only thing that he could make out on the person that was to his right was that he had light blue skin and slightly elongated ears that were a darker blue color. The person behind him was so fuzzy... he could barely make out any of his features. All he could be sure of was that the third person that was attacking him looked very similar to Bile. Each of the three people that were keeping him pinned to the ground looked mean; the one who looked very similar to Bile had what he called a pleasure-smile spread wide across his face—a smile that said, in the simplest of ways, he was enjoying himself.

"You Demon-Spawn!" why his mind was replaying his past was beyond him but, he was suddenly remembering one of his former-mutter's, Lulu Meyer, screaming at him after she saw him using his Elemental powers one day. Lulu and her husband, Randolf, adopted him two months and three weeks after his birth-mutter returned him to the adoption agency after she discovered that his current and so-many-times-said-forever mum—Angel Irene—had him in her custody. He didn't know much about Lulu. He didn't know her maiden name and he didn't know much of her past history. Lulu Meyer was a particularly cruel and overly-religious woman and she was sure mean towards him. When she saw him using his Elemental powers one day, she flipped. "You dare use them Demon powers in my house? You dare to use them powers of the Devil in my house?"

Lulu Meyer, he remembered, had beat him whenever she saw him using his powers and she had encouraged her husband and kids to do the same thing whenever they saw him using his powers and, thanks to them—and their oldest son, Lukas, and later on their grandson, Bruno, who kept the beatings going whenever they saw or heard of him using his powers—, he had grown fearful of his powers and of using his powers. He had pretty much been a rookie with his powers when his new mum adopted him; he had barely known the basics of his powers and he had, initially, intended to keep them at that. After seeing his bruders sparring, using their powers without fear and using more advanced moves and steps, he decided to try to let that fear go. While he had grown use to his powers, and while he knew that it was okay to use his powers, he still had a mild fear of them.

"Probably because you don't know the full extent of your powers yet." his mum said one day, a few months ago, after he and Hazaar came home from sparring. Hazaar wasn't in a good mood and he was ashamed of himself because, instead of sparring with Hazaar, he had mainly been running in fear. He had told her about his fear after she asked him how his sparring went with his bruder; he had originally wanted to lie but, instead, he told her the truth of how he felt about his powers. "You're still learning the ropes of your powers—you're still in training, I mean. Take it easy, they'll come to you in time. Rushing the lessons only brings trouble; you don't learn as efficiently as you should—rushing while training could well get you hurt. One day, you'll be just as good with your powers as your brothers are with theirs."

While he wasn't as good in using his powers as his bruders were, he had grown better, stronger, and wiser in using them and he wasn't as scared of them as he use to be. All of his bruders could use all of the elements in their powers, from air to ground to water to fire, while he had only acquired the use of three of them. He couldn't do Elemental Air; not even a puff of air would fly from his hands, which he thought was strange. No one knew this little issue but he; only he knew that he couldn't use that one power in the Elemental powers. He figured that, one day, the ability to do that power would come to him. Maybe, he just wasn't ready to learn that power or, maybe, he wasn't strong or wise enough to be equipped with it yet. He was content with waiting for that power to show up in his repertoire of powers. While he was content in waiting and hoping that that one power would come to him, he did wish that one of his acquired powers would disappear. While he now felt okay with his Elemental and Energy powers, he was absolutely terrified of this other power that he could do.

This other power that he had, that he was terrified of, was almost always triggered by bouts of either extreme anger or emotional stress—he'd get real mad, or real upset, then his body temperature would soar. Sometimes, his body would glow a green color and, sometimes, it wouldn't. Sometimes, he'd just swing his arm out or kick out his leg and a stream of green fog or smoke would shoot out. The stream of fog or smoke would come out from either his hand or foot for the longest of time before dying out—he'd find himself utterly exhausted after that happened. People would claim that the area where his green fog or smoke had struck was poisoned by radiation; sometimes, small amounts of radiation were found in the area where that fog or smoke had struck while, other-times, the area would be so radiation-filled that it, and the areas around it, had to be evacuated. While he didn't know why the radiation poisoning kept coming up with this power of his, he did know this: he would be exhausted and sick for nearly a week after using this strange and scary power.

He had caused a lot of damage the last time he used this power. A lot of people were injured and he had actually killed three, who were doing nothing more than either sleeping in bed or getting a late-night snack or, quite possibly, just staying up because they couldn't sleep. He destroyed his new family's former home by using that power, then he set fire to an island nearby in his rage. This power, he fully believed, was deadly and dangerous and he, honestly, didn't want anything to do with it. He started showing this power very early on in life. It was a very weak power in his kid-years but, it seemed to of grown stronger as he went into his early and then mid-teenage years and he didn't know why. He wasn't using this power to train with; he hoped that, by ignoring the power, it'd be forgotten. That hadn't happened. He feared that it would be unleashed here and soon; he was getting angry. He could feel his anger growing and he could feel the dial as it inched closer into that black zone.

"Selik! Add more power, will ya?" the guy to his right yelled at the guy, who was to his left.

"I'm putting near everything I got into this fool, Gaajah!" the guy to his left, the one who had the spiraling horns on his head, yelled back.

His arms, the entire time he was flailing about on the ground, were free. They were either in front of him or to his sides. Since his arms were currently at his sides, he angled them then closed his eyes. He felt the anger that he was trying to keep down boiling and roiling inside him, he felt the volcanic lava of his blood burble as it readied itself for the eruption that was about to happen, and he felt his inner body grow tense. It seemed like all of his internal organs had slowed to a crawl as the lava that was his blood started to course through his veins at a much faster pace. When he felt his blood reach his heart, he jerked his eyelids open; the energy bands, that had just settled over his arms, were engulfed in a green glow, then they were burst off his body as if they were suddenly cut. Two of the three people that were attacking him took half a dozen steps back before coming at him again; he jumped to his feet then leaped up. He kicked the person that had the slightly elongated ears, that were a darker blue color than the rest of his body, in the gut then he turned and grabbed the person that had the horns on his head by the throat. He heaved the person up then, with a loud roar, slammed him to the ground. When the fellow with the dark blue, elongated ears came at him again, he swung his fist. The fellow with the dark blue, elongated ears made a sound then dropped to his side in the snow. Just one swing was enough to take him out.

He turned his head down for only a second to see what the other fellow would do then, after seeing that the horned-guy was cowering from him, he walked towards the one fellow that was still standing. Bile, who now seemed to be miles from him, was calling for him to come to him. From the corner of his eye, he saw that the four humans that he, Bile, and Lazeer had joined that day for some snowboarding and BB gun shooting were dealing with three other beings. Franziska had her arms wrapped around the neck of a tall, dark blue fellow, who looked somewhat like Lhaklar, Hazaar, and Lazeer; she was holding on for dear life as the guy twisted and turned his body every which way to get her off. Abelle was fist-fighting with another of the beings—this one looked feminine—while Angus and Aubin were teaming-up against the other being. Lazeer was racing towards Bile; another feminine being, who looked like Lhaklar, Hazaar, and Lazeer, was chasing him.

"Yuhm cahm bein ein oult!" the fellow in front of him said.

He didn't know what the guy said; while he took three courses in languages at Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, then two others in Goboshu's Academy of Meanness, he didn't take the language that the fellow that was standing in front of him had used and, really, did it matter? The guy must of meant what he said in his unknown language because here he came.

He dipped his left shoulder low then, with a cat-like grace that he didn't know he possessed, slid out the way. He stuck his foot out; the guy tripped over it then fell flat on his face. The fellow got to his feet quickly then came at him again; his assailant swung one, fire-engulfed fist after another at him. He dodged each blow before holding his hand out. When the guy's hand met his own, he made a fist; a current of near-clear energy flowed down from his left arm on down to his hand. The guy that's hand he was holding screamed in pain before charging forward. He used the same cat-like grace that he used earlier again to get out of the way then he turned around. He kicked his leg up; while he didn't understand the reason for why, he suddenly found himself laughing after the sole of his heavy brown boot struck the guy's left thigh with a loud, meaty thud.

After the guy stopped, then turned around, he was able to get his first, real look at him. Up to that moment, he hadn't really had a clue as to who he was fighting; all he knew about the fellow was that he looked somewhat like Bile... now that his vision had cleared up some, and now that the fellow had stopped for a second, he could see that, while the fellow did resemble Bile a little, he didn't, fully, look like Bile.

Like Bile, the fellow had elongated ears that went only half of the length of his shoulders. They were colored differently, though; along with having red, Tiger-like stripes on them, they were black. The left side of the fellow's face was a blood red color—a very dark red color that was so dark, it almost looked black—while the other side of his face was an imperial red color, which he did think contrasted nicely with the color that was on the other half of his face. The guy had long, imperial red fingernails on each of his fingers that were pretty sharp. The fellow's eyes looked plain evil to him. He had never seen eyes like his and he hoped he never would again. The scleras and the irises were a fiery red color while the pupils were small and black in color. The fellow stood six foot, three inches and he had a very strong-looking body that had good muscle on it. That was all he could take in on the fellow that he was fighting. The fellow ran at him, yelling like a madman all the way.

"Nienke... diem!" the fellow yelled as he ran towards him.

The near Bile-like fellow lunged then swung both of his fists at him. He was temporarily disorientated by a punch to the face; the fellow took full advantage of his confusion by landing blow after blow on his body. He shook his head as the fellow's fists struck home in his stomach, chest, and shoulders then, after the fellow's right fist struck him on the hip, he swung his arm. The fellow went sailing two feet. He landed on his back, then slid a further three feet back, before stopping. He got up then charged at him again; a fire attack was being prepared for use at the same time that he was running back into the fight. He lunged at the guy then tied the guy up in his arms after their bodies collided; black and near-clear electric currents crackled and then popped from his backside. His subdued opponent screamed in agony as he electrocuted him. He was just gearing up to add more oomph to his attack when he suddenly felt himself being pushed back. He sent a red bolt at the fellow after being pushed from him then, after feeling someone's hand wrap around his wrist, he kicked his leg up. The fellow that he was fighting, who had, yet again, just lunged at him, screamed a shocked scream then dropped to his knees.

"Hey! Heyheyheyheyhey!" Bile said in rapid succession when Guyunis turned on him. Bile took three good punches in the chest from his brother before deciding to wrap his arms around him. It took a short while before Bile felt Guyunis calm down; he only released his brother when he felt that he was a little more calm. Guyunis shook his head then turned to look at the fellow that he had just battled.

"Wha..." Baruk said. There was a spot of blood on the snow between Baruk's knees. The spot of blood grew when Baruk opened his mouth; fresh blood sloshed the snow, as did two of his teeth. Baruk looked at the blood, then at his teeth, in shock before stretching his hand down. He picked the two teeth up then looked at Bile and Guyunis. "Who..."

Bile winced then pulled himself and Guyunis back; he was having a hard time in putting all of the pieces together of what just transpired in the last five minutes. It was like time had slowed up for him. He remembered Eshal, his adoptive father's oldest child and only daughter, running up to him and he also remembered her running her hands over his top half. She asked him several times if he was alright before he managed to push her back; while she yelled in surprise, his push hadn't deterred her any in fussing over him. Blaiga Ubalki, his adoptive aunt and Lazeer's actual, blood-related aunt, was doing the same thing to Lazeer at the time. Lazeer, he thought, was smart in running off; Blaiga chased after him after he took to his heels.

Angus, Aubin, Franziska, and Abelle had either noticed Sudir, Phaggo, and Kaasa and had decided to fight them, so they wouldn't be allowed or tempted to join in on Baruk's, Gaajah's, and Selik's attack on Guyunis, or they were fighting in defense after Sudir, Phaggo, and Kaasa attacked them. Guyunis was fighting and beating back Gaajah and Gaajah's younger brother, Selik, right when Eshal returned to fussing over him. Eshal helped him to his feet—he was rather fuzzy on the details of this happening; he didn't know if he let Eshal help him to his feet or if he struggled when she was helping him to his feet—then she tried to lead him away. He pushed her away from him then he went towards Guyunis, who was fighting BarukVile Glosu Surfeit—his grandfather's young son, who was two thousand, one hundred, and one years old—at the time. He had just reached Guyunis when Guyunis kicked his foot up. He barely had any recollection of pulling Guyunis away, but he remembered very clearly that Guyunis's boot was kicked squarely into Baruk's face.

Before his fight with Guyunis, Baruk had looked like a near-perfect replica of his father. Now, he looked... very messed up. His face was cut in many places and each of them cuts were bleeding and quite profusely too. His mouth was a bloody mess; each time he opened his mouth to speak, or to make a sound—any sound—, large globs of blood would come out. He was also losing teeth. The first time he spoke, he lost two teeth. He lost two more teeth after speaking for the second time. He was looking at his evicted teeth in a comically shocked sort of way; it was like he was trying to decide whether or not they had come from his mouth or if his eyes were playing tricks on him. Baruk's lips, both the top and the lower, were split in the middle; there was blood dripping from them. The heel of Guyunis's heavy, waterproof, brown boot was imprinted on Baruk's chin; the blood, that was flowing from Baruk's torn lips, and from the corner of Baruk's mouth, was going down his chin and jaw before falling down to the snow. Bile thought he was going to vomit; he had seen boxing and wrestling shows, where the boxer or the wrestler came out of a fight with a busted or broken face, that was bleeding just as badly as Baruk's was, but... but in them shows, the blood had looked very fake. The greenish-colored blood, that was coming out of the many wounds that were on Baruk's face, was not in any way, shape, or form fake. That was real blood. The real deal. Baruk's face was really broken. He was really losing teeth and he was bleeding real blood.

"Oh shit," Bile managed to say. He grabbed, and then squeezed, Guyunis's arm at the same time that Gaajah and Selik ran over to Baruk's side. "Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!"

"Baruk!" Gaajah exclaimed. He pulled back after Baruk looked at him. Gaajah's complexion went a degree lighter for only a second before going green; he turned around after his complexion went green. He started getting sick at the same time that his younger brother was getting sick.

"What..." Baruk said, now his eyes held that terrified look. He was scared; Bile could see it and so could Guyunis. Baruk coughed into his hands twice then started to stand up; he was just pushing himself up when he saw two more teeth on the snow, between his knees. He lost it right then and there. He looked down, at the two teeth, that were on the snow, that he knew were his, then he looked up at Bile, and the fellow that he had just fought. Bile waited only a second more for Lazeer, Angus, Aubin, Abelle, and Franziska to reach his side before reaching over and then grabbing Lazeer by the elbow. He teleported them out of the area at the same time that Baruk started to get hysterical.