(Content Warning: This chapter contains descriptions of broken bones/gore)

"This is Taymallat. I am alive-"

"This is Taymallat. I am alive-"

"I am alive-"

Annette hit the stop button on the recording, sighing as she did. "I was hoping no one would hear it."

"Then why did you send it?" Gur-Rai crossed his arms and began to lean back against the wall, but stopped himself.. They were back in the hidden room, the door only partially closed as they weren't sure they'd ever get it open if they shut it all the way. Dhar-Mon had cleared away some of the cobwebs, but it was still dark and airless, not a window in sight.

"Because I had just arrived here." Annette looked exhausted. "I didn't know."

"About the girl?" Kon-Mai asked. "How much of a threat does she pose?"

"More than you could realize." Annette didn't look at the Chosen when she spoke to them. Though Zhang had explained to her that these aliens were on their side, she still seemed wary. "I arrived here on the 18th of August in 2038. If it is indeed 2040 as you say…" Annette swallowed, her throat dry, and looked at her hands. "Then I have been here nearly 2 years."

"Why didn't you just leave?" Bryni asked. "Sure that gate's a bit rusty, but from what I hear, there's a back way."

Annette shook her head. " You really should not have come." She hissed. "I know about the back garden. I know about the sewers, and vents. I even scaled the gate, and the walls themselves. And each time, I would turn around and be right back where I started, as though the world had inverted itself. There is no leaving this place."

In the silence that hung in the air, Kon-Mai stood. "There must be a way." She declared. "If there is escape from the Elders, then there is certainly escape from this Hell."

"Escaping the Elders nearly took our deaths." Dhar-Mon mentioned as he stood up. "I would not be so flippant with this."

"Either way, we won't get anything done sitting in this box." Gur-Rai slid the door open, poked his head out, and nodded. "Coast is clear. Taymallat, did you do any exploring in the two years you were here?"

"As much as I could while fleeing a psychotic woman with a shotgun." With her finger and began drawing in the dust on the ground. "The house is technically four stories. We are on the second floor, you've seen the first with the foyer." She drew a roof. "But there is an attic, here under the roof, and down this way is the basement. I believe there may be a fifth level under that as well."

"What makes you believe so?" Kon-Mai asked as she leaned in close.

"Once while I was hiding in the wine cellar, I found a large door hidden behind shelves and barricaded with strong wood." Annette answered. "I couldn't get it open though, even with my power…"

Gur-Rai chuckled. "What do you think, Brother? Can you rip a door off its hinges?"

Dhar-Mon sighed. "You insult me, Brother, to insinuate I am only useful for my brawn."

"Oh hey now, I never said that." Gur-Rai walked over and wrapped his arms around Dhar-Mon from behind, resting his chin on top of his big brother's head. "You're also the best cook I've ever known."

Annette looked between the three Chosen. "You three are related?"

"Yes." Kon-Mai raised a brow. "What revealed it, our coloring?"

"I should have guessed." Annette looked closer. "Same nose. Same eyes. And you two." She pointed between Kon-Mai and Gur-Rai. "You have the same chin."

"No mention of cheekbones?" Gur-Rai chuckled. "They're our best feature if I do say so myself."

Annette got to her feet, approaching Zhang who stood with his back against the wall, seemingly not bothered by the dust. "...Do you trust them?" She whispered.

Zhang raised a brow.

"I do not like working with aliens, even if they look so human." She gave Gur-Rai a side eye glance, and he smirked at her. "But if you trust them, I'll bite my tongue."

Zhang looked over at Kon-Mai, who had to remain crouched because she was taller than the ceiling.

"Do you trust them, Chilong?" Annette asked. "Can I trust them?"

Zhang swallowed the dry lump in his throat. "...Yes." He said quietly. "The Commander herself selected them."

Annette's eyebrows shot up, and then she chuckled. "Oh Sunny, qu'est-ce que tu fais?" She turned to the Chosen and nodded. "You are right, we should not stay here. If she finds us we are sitting ducks.."

"Shame. This was such a good hiding spot." Gur-Rai quipped as they fileb back out into the hall. "What's our plan, Colonel?"

Zhang sighed, gazing around the house, the familiar walls, that used to be covered in pictures of them. "...Basement." He said. "We're going to get that door open."

.

.

The basement was dark, damp, and smelled of rot. Dhar-Mon could see more spiders in the corners, and Gur-Rai had to flick away a cockroach skittering up his leg. The stone walls held the dirt at bay, but they could see roots growing through the cracks in the rocks. The wine cellar, perhaps once a thing of beauty that held a collection of the finest wine, was overgrown with moss and dust, hiding the bottles in a layer of grime.

"It's behind there." Annette pointed to one of the shelves decorated with bottles. "I managed to move the shelf, but the door behind it is stuck tight."

Dhar-Mon stepped closer and...staggered. As he drew within range of the entrance, the smell of rotting eggs and metal hit him full force, making him feel deeply sick.

Gur-Rai jumped forward and caught his brother by the arm. "Woah, easy there. You okay?"

Dhar-Mon nodded, but the world was still spinning. "...The air in this place is old." He said. "I am...simply breathless."

Kon-Mai stepped up, took the shelf by the edge, and hauled it to one side. It slid part of the way, unblocking a corner of the door. She looked up at the others, a brow raised, and Zhang came over to help her. Taking hold of the other side, he shoved it in tandem with her, and the doorway cleared.

Doorway was a loose term. The "door" was made of thick stone, and looked like it might have had a handle once, but that was long gone. As the shelf was pulled away, the smell of rot grew stronger, and Dhar-Mon fought the urge to double over.

"This is where I got stuck." Annette said. "I couldn't get through the door on my own."

"It's barely a door." Bryni said, knocking on the stone. "Amontillado! Ya in there?" She chuckled.

"If I shoot it it might come down." Gur-Rai reached for his gun.

"It might also bring the ceiling down on top of us." Kon-Mai replied. "Brothers. Colonel Zhang. Let us join our power."

Zhang looked at her skeptically.

"That is how we opened the door to rescue you." She explained, putting her hand on the stone. "Perhaps alone we are not strong enough, but together…"

"I've never been a good psion, but it's worth a shot." Gur-Rai stepped up beside his sister. "You coming, Brother?"

Dhar-Mon hesitated: every cell in his body was screaming at him to turn around, run, run away from this cursed place, and do not open that door, but he still put his hand on the stone beside them and closed his eyes. Behind him, he felt Malinalli's touch on his back, and all of a sudden felt a bit more at ease.

The door jolted, then slowly slid open. The Shrinemaiden stepped back, letting Gur-Rai peek his head inside. Dhar-Mon almost stumbled back against Malinalli, the stench of sulfur suddenly engulfing him. His ears were ringing and under the screeching, he heard a rising growl.

Gur-Rai drew his gun, undoubtedly feeling the surge of psionic energy as he took one step inside the pitch black room. "...Hello?"

Nothing. For a moment, it seemed as though they had imagined it.

Then a growl came from the darkness, and four weathered, clawed hands dragged their way into the light. Kon-Mai stumbled backwards into Zhang, her heart pounding.

From behind them, a scream. Annette drew her gun whirled around, pointing it at the girl in the blue skirt, who had come up behind them silently. She was slightly dirty and her shirt was torn but, for falling such a way, there were no injuries anyone could see. She cocked her own shotgun, pointing it not at them, but past them into the black room.

"Ano ang ginawa mo?!" She screamed. "Pinakawalan mo siya!"

"What is she saying?" Kon-Mai demanded, drawing her blade.

"I don't know!" Annette snapped as she removed the safety on her gun. But before the three could lunge at each other, a rumbling groan shook the very foundation of the house.

"She said…" Zhang cried as he stumbled "...We released 'him'."

It was then that Gur-Rai let out a scream, and Dhar-Mon dove in and grabbed his brother by the arm. One of the gnarled limbs had taken Gur-Rai by the leg and was attempting to drag him into the darkness. He fired a shot at the unseen enemy, but it's grip did not even falter, and it's hold on him grew even tighter.

Kon-Mai sprang into action, letting out a catlike hiss as she dove forward and sliced off the limb that was attached to her brother's leg. The creature cried out in agony, and as the limp arm dropped, purple ichor seeped into the floor. From the darkness, a pair of lilac eyes opened and glared at them.

"What the fuck is that?!" Gur-Rai spate as he scrambled back to safety, not sure if he should aim at the girl who had a gun pointed at him, or the monster that was trying to drag him to Hell.

The other three hands sprang forth, searching wildly for something—or someone—to grab onto. Zhang barely managed to duck out of the way of it's grasp, leading it to clutch the edges of the door frame. With all it's dormant strength, the creature pulled itself forward, growling as it emerged into the light.

Perhaps growling was the wrong word: the creature had no mouth, and the noises it made could rather be heard deep in the souls of all who stood close. Tattered robes hung off it's emaciated body, and rather than walk, it hovered toward them like a ghost.

"It can't be…" Bryni gasped. "That's…"

"An Elder." Dhar-Mon was as pale as the moon, his eyes wide with total abject horror. Kon-Mai stumbled backward, her breathing quickening against her will and her body shaking like a leaf in a storm. As he was perhaps the only one still with his faculties, Gur-Rai got to his feet and grabbed his siblings by their arms.

"RUN!"

They did not need to be told twice.

Bryni, Annette, Malinalli, all three Chosen, and Colonel Zhang all took off up the stairs. Zhang looked around, searching for the girl in the blue skirt, but she had already disappeared like the wind.

Behind them, they heard the walls of the basement crumble, and a plume of dust erupted as the Elder, barely more than a mummified corpse, burst out from the rubble and used it's bent limbs to drag it's body through the wooden hallways, crawling almost as fast as the group ran. Annette ducked into a small room to their left and Bryni and Zhang followed, but the Chosen and Malinalli seemed to not notice, focusing only on sprinting as fast as they could.

The Chosen were fast; with their long legs and superhuman strength, speed had never been an issue for them. But now that this thing was scuttling towards them like a spider out of hell, they just could not seem to make their legs move fast enough. Dhar-Mon scooped Malinalli into his arms, her short stature meaning she'd been falling behind, and Kon-Mai began to slow, her tired body still trembling.

"Don't you dare!" Gur-Rai grabbed her hand and pulled her along. "Keep fucking going!"

The hallway ended in an open door, light pouring through it like the pearly gates of paradise, and they all made a mad dash for it. The Elder was close on their heels, screaming at them in garbled Etheric. One clawed hand reached out and closed around Kon-Mai's leg, sending her falling and splaying across the floor, her leg bending in a way it was never meant to bend.

Gur-Rai turned and aimed his gun at the monster and unloaded a shot right into the Elder's purple eye. While it did next to nothing to actually hurt it, the wound did make it loosen its grip on Kon-Mai long enough for her to crawl away towards her brother, who looped his arm under hers and pulled her along into the sanctuary of the open door.

Dhar-Mon put Malinalli down and slammed the door closed, taking his hammer off his back and sticking it under the handle. Malinalli rushed over to Kon-Mai, who Gur-Rai was helping down into a seated position.

He took a look at her leg and turned white as a sheet. "Oh."

"It's alright." Kon-Mai tried to assure him. "I am fine, it doesn't hurt." She chuckled, perhaps to try and calm her own nerves. "It cannot be that bad."

"Konnie." Malinalli dropped beside her. "Don't look now, but it definitely is that bad."

Despite the warning, Kon-Mai looked. At first, it looked like she'd been impaled with something sharp, like a pipe. Then she saw that the object was red, and white, and…

It was her bone. She had a compound fracture. But that...didn't make sense. She'd had broken bones before, much worse than this. And this felt nothing like it.

"It does not hurt." Kon-Mai insisted. "At all."

"Well, that's good at least." Gur-Rai patted her shoulder.

"Unless you're in shock." Malinalli pulled on some Nitrile gloves. "Dhar-Mon, is that door blocked?"

"Yes." He assured her. "But I hear the...creature stalking the hall on the other side."

"You know if that thing wanted to, it could break down the door." Gur-Rai said, sliding down to sit beside his sister. "I can't believe we found an Elder in the basement…"

"Perhaps it is weak. It may not pose as much of a threat as we believe." Kon-Mai suggested. "Did you recognize it, Brother?"

"I was a bit too busy running for my life to ask if it was our long lost uncle." Gur-Rai grimaced.

Dhar-Mon turned from the door. "...It's aura was not one that I recognized." He replied to her. "I did not know there were others besides those we knew; those who created us."

"Weren't there a few Elders that XCOM killed in the Early War?" Malinalli asked as she began fussing with trying to set the bone back in place. "Maybe that was one of them."

"It's very possible." Dhar-Mon said. "But why is it here? In this place?"

"I have a more pressing question." Gur-Rai stood up.

"More pressing than the Elder trying to kill us?" Malinalli raised a brow.

"Absolutely. Where the fuck is Zhang?"

.

.

Zhang hauled Bryni to her feet, and she waved him away. "I'm fine." She insisted. "I'm fine. Just kinda winded."

"La baise qui était?" Annette spat, panting as she leaned against the wall. "Was that...it can't be a…"

"That was an Ethereal." Zhang growled. "An Ethereal. In the basement, locked away like a demon."

"Looked kinda scraggly for an Ethereal." Bryni said. "Ain't they supposed to be all godly-like?"

"They are mortal, Firebrand, just like us." Zhang pulled his pistol from his belt and cocked it. "I need to find Malinalli. She is definitely in danger."

"She's in danger?!" Annette looked at him like he was insane. "WE are in danger, Chilong!"

"I promised Senuna I'd protect her." Zhang glared at Annette. "We cannot be split up for long, that thing will go after someone, and if it goes after them…" He couldn't finish that sentence. "Sunny would never forgive me."

"She is not yours to worry about, Chilong." Annette insisted. "We will be lucky if any of us get out of here alive!"

"Thanks, that's helpful." Bryni said, one hand on her hip. "I'm with ol' Chilong here. Molly's my pal, and bless her heart she couldn't hit a standing target if it picked up the gun and shot itself." She pulled her gun off her back. "If it comes at her and she ain't got the others to carry her off, that demon'll drag her right on down to Hell."

Annette rubbed her hands over her face in utter exasperation. "Do you even know where to look?"

"I think I saw her and the Blue Man Group take off down the hall."

"Then we must follow the hallway." Zhang looked at Annette. "Will you stay here or come?"

Annette squeezed her eyes shut. "I never should have sent for help." She drew her own, worn out pistol. "Let's find them, Chilong."

"Righty-ho!" Bryni flung the door open and screamed.

The girl in the blue skirt, her eyes wild with fury, shoved Bryni inside and pointed her shotgun right in her face. "Walang hiya ka, punyeta!" She spat, Bryni backing away.

"What is she saying?!" Bryni let out a yelp, stumbling and falling and continuing to try and crawl away. The girl took her shot, missed as Bryni rolled off to the side, and Annette pointed her gun at the girl.

"Wait!" Zhang raised his hands. "Don't shoot!"

"Nakulong siya!" The girl looked up at them, her eyes glowing purple and her black hair floating around her shoulders. "Sino ka?! Bakit ka napunta?!"

"We don't speak Tagalog!" Annette spat. She pointed at the shotgun in the girl's hands. "Gun! Down!"

The girl instead put up her middle finger and pointed her gun at Annette.

"Bulan." Zhang's voice was calm as he stepped between the two women, looking at the girl with the blue skirt right in her glowing eyes. "Mangyaring huwag saktan kami."

Annette and Bryni looked up at Zhang in disbelief, Annette moreso, but neither of them could match the horror that appeared on the girl's face as he said her name.

"...Shaojie?" She stammered, her voice weak and cracked.

He nodded, his hands still raised. "Narito ako upang matulungan, Bulan."

Bulan's look of disbelief morphed on her face into a look so full of hate it sent chills down Zhang's spine. "Ang iyong "tulong" ay pinatay sa atin." She cocked her shotgun and pointed it in Zhang's face. He took a step backward, closing his eyes as he prepared for his end...and the sound of a pistol going off sent his ear ringing.

Bulan collapsed to the ground unceremoniously, her body crumpled like a sheet.

Annette shook her pistol, which was smoking. Turning on her, Zhang snapped. "Why did you do that?"

"Why…?" Annette looked at him in disbelief. "Chilong, she had a gun pointed at your face!"

"What'd you call her, Colonel?" Bryni asked as she scrambled to her feet. "What's that word? Bu-lahn?"

"Bulan…" He stared down at the body of the girl, blood staining her white shirt. "Her name is...was Bulan Kepa."

"And how do you know that, Chilong?" Annette asked. "She's a teenage girl, I doubt you were friends before the war."

"I know." He almost whispered. "I don't know how to explain this."

"Well, start at the beginnin'." Bryni continued to pry.

"When I was part of the Triad, our client was a Filipino man who owed us almost 2 million dollars." He whispered. "They...we kidnapped his children. All of them. I was only 18, and the oldest girl was no more than two years younger."

Bryni looked down at Bulan's body. "...Heavens to Betsy…" She looked up at Zhang. "...And that's her, is it?"

"She knew me." He muttered. "She recognized me. Said my help was what doomed them to begin with."

Annette grabbed his hand. "Chilong, now is no time to dwell on this. Did you just say we need to find the child?"

"Yes." He looked to Annette. "And she's not a child anymore."

"Old habits." She pulled him out of the room, gesturing for Bryni to follow.

As they closed the door, Bulan's arm twitched violently.

.

.

Malinalli wrapped the gauze tightly around Kon-Mai's leg. "That's the best I can do for now."

"That is fine." Kon-Mai insisted. "I told you, it does not hurt."

"It should hurt." Dhar-Mon insisted, laying glowing hands over his sister's leg. "Are you dizzy? Cold?"

She shook her head. "My leg is slightly numb. Other than that, it does not feel broken in the slightest." She looked down at her leg. "How can you tell it's healing?"

"I...can feel it." He sighed. "That is a lie, I cannot feel it. In fact at the moment, I cannot feel anything but turmoil and unrest."

"Probably because of the monster that's traipsing around outside." Gur-Rai said, his ear pressed to the door. "I can hear him muttering."

"Could we speak to it?" Kon-Mai asked. "Perhaps it shall cease it's attacks."

"That sounds like a bad idea." Malinalli said as she looked to Dhar-Mon. "...But we might at least find out what it's doing here."

Dhar-Mon looked away from Kon-Mai. "Brother, will you guard the door?"

"Sure thing." Gur-Rai gave him a thumbs up.

"Malinalli, I ask that you take my hand." He said. "An Elder's mind is strong and terrible, and two minds stand a better chance than one alone."

"Of course." She took Dhar-Mon's hands and sat across from him. She felt a click, their minds linking like they had so many times before. This time, the two reached out with their collective consciousness, looking for other signals.

As they settled into their trance, Kon-Mai got to her feet, testing her leg. There was no pain. It was stiff, but she still had most of the feeling in it. It didn't feel broken.

"Something is quite wrong here." She said.

"Oh really?" Gur-Rai crossed his arms and leaned his back against the door. "What tipped you off?"

Kon-Mai sighed. "Beyond the Elder in the basement."

"I feel like that's a pretty big development, Sister." He looked behind him, as though he were waiting for something to slam against the door. Thankfully, nothing came.

Kon-Mai began to sift through the papers adorning the tables and desks. The room was too small to be a library, but the array of books gave it the impression it was at least used as a study.

"These photos are quite faded." She held one up. "The color has washed away. It's monochrome now."

"Give it here." Gur-Rai held his hand out, and Kon-Mai brought the photo into his waiting hand. He only took a glance at it before laughing. "Oh Sister, are you that naive?"

"What?" She growled.

"This is a black and white photograph." He waggled it toward her. "Humans didn't always have digital scanning technology, you know. God, you would have died in the film days."

"I knew that." Kon-Mai crossed her arms and Gur-Rai could see in her face that she, in fact, did not know that. "Why do you think it is here?"

"Who knows? Could be an old photo." He examined it in more detail. "Maybe an old family…hm." He looked closer. "Hey, Kon-Mai, remember the girl who attacked us?"

"I could not forget her if I tried." She said.

He turned the photo around. "Is it just me, or does that look like her?"

"The quality is such that it doesn't look like much of anything." Kon-Mai took the photo back and squinted at it again.

It was indeed a family photo, and a large family at that. An older man and a woman stood on either side of the group, the man wearing a business suit and looking very proper and the woman dressed in what was almost a ball gown, with high padded shoulders and a fan in her hand. Between them, five children of varying ages stood, the youngest being an infant that was held by one of the other children. Smack in the middle, the tallest girl stood, as though she were connecting it all.

Kon-Mai brought it closer. "If it is her, she is younger here."

"Why's it in black and white then?" Gur-Rai held up his fingers. "For one thing, if that was taken before the invasion, and I'll bet you it was, everyone had color photography by 2015. Why would they be using shitty film?"

"Perhaps it is niche?" Kon-Mai reasoned.

"Okay, but also consider." Gur-Rai held up a second finger. "The invasion happened 25 years ago. That girl was barely older than a teenager."

"Perhaps she looks young for her age." Kon-Mai said. "Malinalli is 26 and she looks incredibly young."

"She'd be at least forty, now."

"There are forty year olds that look young."

"Okay, guard the door for me for a second." He pulled away from his spot, and Kon-Mai leaned against it, watching as her brother began to rifle through the papers on the table.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Well Sister. I have one last question for you." He held up the photo again. "This looks like the same family, yes?" He held it up to a Philippine newspaper, folded neatly and covered in dust.

The glossy photo in his hand, while not a direct match, greatly resembled the photo of the family plastered across the front page, under boldly printed letters Kon-Mai couldn't decipher.

"...It appears so."

"Okay. So answer this." He held it up and pointed to the date on the paper. "So why is this newspaper dated back to 1960?"

.

.

Zhang and Bryni poked their heads out into the hall, Bryni holding her breath. Annette guarded them from behind, her eyes darting around wildly. "Mon Dieu." She whimpered. "I can feel him in my head. I can't tell if he's right behind us or on the other side of the property."

"His psionic field is overpowering." Zhang agreed.

"Y'all managed to kill these fuckers before, right?!" Bryni hissed. "How'd you do that?"

"We shot at them until they exploded." Zhang grumbled.

"Ah."

Zhang gestured for them to move, and the three crept along the hallway.

"Where ya think they ran off to?" Annette asked.

"I don't know." Zhang looked around them. "...This was the Father's wing."

"He had a wing?" Annette asked.

"He was quite wealthy." Zhang replied. "We are near the study."

"Maybe they went-" Annette broke off. "...I hear him."

"The Ethereal?" Bryni gasped. "What's he saying."

Annette grimaced in pain, clutching her head. "I...I don't know. He's speaking but I can't understand!"

"The three speak Etheric!" Bryni said. "I'll be you they could-"

"It's not Etheric!" Annette shook her head violently. "It's all turned around...I hear French, Russian, Etheric and Chinese, it's like his mind is...it's a soup, a mosh pit of stimuli."

"Don't try to reach out." Zhang knelt beside her, his hand on her shoulder. "Block him out. You can do it."

"He's too strong."

"No he's not. You are stronger, Taymallat." He insisted. "I have seen you kill these things before."

"That was different." She looked up, tears in her eyes. "I wasn't so scared back then."

"Courage is not the absence of fear." Zhang said. "Courage is remaining steadfast even when fear consumes you."

Annette took a deep breath, gripping his arms as she did. "You're right."

"I know." He helped her to her feet, looking around. He, too, could feel the Ethereal's forceful tug. Anyone with a glimmer of psionic attitude could probably feel it. Cautiously, Zhang reached out.

Annette was right. The Ethereal's mind was a mess of words and sounds and feelings. If Zhang had been less experienced it would have sent him reeling, and even now he was having trouble keeping himself from slipping into the chaos that was this creature's mind.

He lingered a moment longer, looking for...something. He wasn't sure what, but within the mass of images, he saw a group of weathered Ethereals standing in a circle. Most were purple. One had pale white skin and eyes that were more green than blue. One glimmered with gold light.

He pulled free, nearly collapsing beside Annette, his head still swimming from the madness. But now, at least, he could hear his voice, and he heard it clearly.

"Masha. Shamash. Coming. Come. Take me home. Take me home. Take me home."

.

.

It felt as though something was interfering with their attempts, trying to stop Malinalli and Dhar-Mon from reaching out to connect to whatever it was. Perhaps pushing forward was unwise.

They did it anyway.

Malinalli found herself soaring through the dark and damp hallways, moving as though she was flying. Purple energy surrounded her. Her arm hurt but…

Not her arm. Humans had two arms but when she looked down, she had four, all long and gangly. She squeezed Dhar-Mon's hands, just to keep herself grounded in reality.

The creature...the Elder...didn't know she was there. She assumed it couldn't feel her over the static already coursing through it's synapses.

"Stay with me, little phantom." With Dhar-Mon's words she was pulled away, her perspective changing so she was now outside the Ethereal, looking toward it. She had not seen many Ethereals, only the Elders, and that had been through Dhar-Mon's own lens.

But she could tell this one was in bad, bad shape. It's robes (they looked different from the robes the Elders wore) were ragged, half torn and slightly burnt. There seemed to be holes in it's grey skin, exposing green bits of rotting tissue and muscle. It could barely fly anymore: instead of gliding gracefully, it's already bent feet dragged along the wooden ground, scraping off even more skin and leaving droplets of glowing blood..

She looked to the hand Kon-Mai had cut off. The hand that had hurt. Grey flesh, though rotten and crusted, encased an entirely new digit, like an embryo.

"It can heal itself." She thought.

"Impossible." She heard Dhar-Mon almost beside her, but it felt more within her. "Their power is great and nearly limitless, but even the Elders cannot regrow limbs."

But it wasn't impossible. They saw it, right there.

Malinalli reached forward with the hand she wasn't sure was there but she hoped was. She felt Dhar-Mon pulling back for a moment, before he followed her movement, extending their reach, grasping outward…

The Ethereal reeled back. It had seen them, and now they could hear—they could see—within its mind, or rather it's mess of a mind. Words, some in Etheric, some complete gibberish, and a few Malinalli understood, came at them like a wave of alphabet soup. Malinalli almost broke under the immense pressure, but she calmed her breath, stood her ground, and held.

The Ethereal saw them now, it's purple, sunken eyes breaking through them like hot coals. It threw words at them like rocks. "Who? Who? Who dares? Ethereal? Alaukika? Alaukika?"

Ethereal. It thought they, or at least Dhar-Mon, was one of its own kind.

"Yes." Malinalli said, hoping to pacify it. "Ethereals. That's us."

Instead of calming, the Ethereal's power flared, like she had thrown gasoline on a fire. "Aus Alaukika." It lifted it's four arms. "Not Ethereal. Mortal. Mortal."

She felt Dhar-Mon press in front her her, his more powerful mind blocking the psionic assault that was aimed at her. "Xyuas tousal."

The Ethereal's own power seemed to draw back, almost in confusion.

"Identify yourself." Dhar-Mon said again, and this time she could understand him.

The Ethereal's mind was a blank slate, but through the maze of confusion and pain, one word emerged.

"Ya'uq." It said.

She could tell Dhar-Mon did not recognize that name. "How did you come to be here?" He asked.

More silence. Then, a ship, great and black and…like the Temple but different. It felt younger. A menacing fifty Ethereals stood in a circle, most grey with purple eyes save for the two who stood at the front. One shimmered with golden light. The other, green and blue, and as she gazed into the pale white face of that Ethereal, Malinalli felt her chest tighten, as though a painful memory had been dug from her psyche.

"Shamash." Ya'uq focused his purple light on the one that was glowing gold. "Where is Shamash? They shall come. They shall save me. They promised."

Dhar-Mon's fear was palpable as he spoke. "...There is no Shamash." He said. "I know only Bhandasura, and Camazotz...and Abyzou."

"Abyzou." The Ethereal said the name gently. "...Child."

"Child?"

"Daughter of Shamash. Child of the Sun. Child." He sounded sad. "Only a child."

Dhar-Mon growled. "She is no child. She is a monster."

"Dhar-Mon." Malinalli said quietly. "Don't."

Ya'uq did not seem to respond at first, so Dhar-Mon continued. "Who brought you here? Who are you?"

Another moment of silence before they were bombarded with words: "Hammon. Ilah. Jabal. Lugal. Wadd. Suwa. Tamtu. Shamash…"

The names began to blend into each other, and Dhar-Mon recognized none of them. Each Ethereal had a face, a name, an identifying feature and yet, he could not say he'd ever seen them before. He knew there had been other Ethereals who had come before, who had died long before his birth in the Early War, but he did not hear the names of Reue or Imdugud, or those he rarely spoke to like Xezbeth or Tiyanak, or even the names of his mother and fathers.

But at the end, there was one name. One name he knew, a name that made Malinalli shriek loud enough to sever the connection.

"Senuna."

.

.

Gur-Rai caught Malinalli as she stumbled backward, holding her head. "Woah there, I'm no matador and you're no bull, so quit charging." He led her to the table and she leaned over it, feeling like she was about to vomit. "Well? What did you find?"

"There were others." Dhar-Mon said. He was still on the floor, and Kon-Mai had abandoned the door to kneel beside him and help him. "The Ethereal that stalks these halls is called Ya'uq. He came to this place with a cohort of forty-nine others."

"Fifty in total? Mom always said there were only about twenty Ethereals when they came." Gur-Rai puzzled.

"He does not know the Elders. Our Elders." Dhar-Mon shook his head, his eyes still closed as though the light hurt his eyes. "He knew Abyzou, but…"

"It seems like he knew her as a kid…" Malinalli finally choked out. "He called her a child."

"Well she definitely acts like a child." Kon-Mai muttered.

"He called her the daughter of Shamash." Dhar-Mon added. "And then, it named Shamash as one of the Ethereals who led them here. Their eyes were gold."

Kon-Mai and Gur-Rai looked at each other in confusion. "I don't remember a gold ethereal." Gur-Rai said.

"He knows Senuna." Malinalli finally added, sinking back to the floor.

The silence that followed was uncertain. Kon-Mai spoke up first. "She is the Commander. He would know her if he fought-"

"No." Malinalli turned to face her. "He knew her because she came here with him."

"Came here...what?" Gur-Rai looked thoroughly confused.

"He named the Ethereals he came here with. Named every single one." She clasped her hands. "And he said Senuna. I heard it clear as day."

A light tapping on the door knocked the three of them from their stupors, and Kon-Mai drew her blade again. "Is it him?"

"I don't care to know." Gur-Rai said as he pointed his gun at the door.

The tapping came again, rhythmically, almost like knocking. Dhar-Mon stood, and Malinalli stepped towards the door.

"Should we open it?"

"No." Kon-Mai asserted.

"What if it's the others?"

"What if it is not?"

The knocking grew into a loud banging. "HEY! Y'ALL ALIVE IN THERE?!"

"It is them!" Dhar-Mon took his hammer away from the door and opened it, moving out of the way as Bryni stumbled in, followed closely by Zhang as he pulled Annette along by the hand.

"Xièxiè tiāntáng, nǐ hái hǎo." Zhang cried as he saw Malinalli. "...You look troubled, young one. What happened?"

Malinalli and Dhar-Mon looked at each other with unease.

Zhang knelt in front of her, horror in his eyes. "What did you see?"

.

.

The moon would be full that night, as it always was. She drew her power from that moon.

The door to the attic creaked as it opened. Bulan Kepa stumbled inside, her clothes soaked in her own blood. But the wound on her neck was healed, pink skin covering the scar that would fade with the dawn.

She could not worry about herself though. Not right now. She looked around at the four beds, the ones that needed her the most.

The first one she checked on was the baby. Marikit always had trouble sleeping, and that was true tonight: her baby sister stared up at her as she wheezed, her wrinkled skin pulled tight over bones. Bulan lifted her from the crib, trying to bounce her to comfort her, and the infant's skin blistered under her touch.

Laarni was next to check on: the baby before the baby. She at least was sleeping through the undoubtedly incredible pain. The second eldest of the girls, Diwata, followed Bulan around the room with glazed eyes, her lips pulled taut against yellow teeth.

Bulan could hear Ali and Isanagi rising into sitting positions. She went to their beds, pushing them back down, crooning at them to "Sleep, sleep, please sleep."

But her siblings did not sleep. Instead, each one sat up and stared at her with open eyes.

Bulan sat in the center of their beds, facing the attic window that looked out to the glowing flowers in the garden. With her corpse-like sister in her arms and tears brimming in her eyes, Bulan began to sing.

"Ili-ili tulog anay,

Wala diri imong nanay.

Kadto tienda bakal papay.

Ili-ili tulog anay."

Summery: The chapter begins with Annette replaying the message she sent to XCOM, and lamenting that she sent it without knowing the full severity of the situation. The house is apparently impossible to escape, as every time she has tried, she has wound up back in the house. With few other options, the group agrees to check the basement, where Annette had found a sealed off room. Using their combined psionics, they are able to get the door open, only to reveal that a near-death Ethereal had been sealed behind the wall, much to the shock of the house's resident. After being chased through the halls, the group is separated in two, and Kon-Mai suffers a compound fracture in her leg while escaping. Mysteriously, the injury does not hurt her at all. After treating Kon-Mai's wound, Malinalli and Dhar-Mon attempt to make contact with the Ethereal, to perhaps convince it to let them leave. Zhang, Bryni and Annette, having been separated from the other group, opt to go looking for them before they are confronted by the girl in the blue skirt, whom Zhang knows and is able to speak to. While she is hostile and the confrontation leads to her being shot by Annette, Zhang reveals that in his youth as a Triad member, the girl—Bulan Kepa—was among one of the kidnapping victims. While they resolve to find the others, Malinalli and Dhar-Mon establish contact with the Ethereal, Ya'uq, who reveals that he has never met most of the Ethereals from the Early War, but came here with a coalition of fifty Ethereals, one of whom seems to have been Senuna.

(This was supposed to only be two chapters, but I am a terrible procrastinator, and I also feel like I have too much planned for this finale to have crammed it all into one chapter. That being said, this is so fun to finally get out there, and this one off spooky story is giving us some real insight into the lore~)