Ch. 3 The Trace Back Number

I walked at a fast pace, watching everything I possibly could as a human in Mid Realm. My senses were surprisingly good- too good. There's no way I would be able to be so aware of my surroundings if I wasn't in some sort of sub realm, but we weren't, we couldn't be, but… I stopped and took an even closer look at my surroundings.

"No way…" I say looking up at the city that mirrored the one we walked through.

"What? Oh shit!" Dante said mouth gaping at the sky city above us.

I looked back at the people on the ground- on our side- They weren't real, they were just reflections of the city above us.

"How-" I start

"This is the Mirror Realm." An old man said happily from the crowd. Your being detained until the praetor and the Council of the Black Legion decide what to do with you all."

"You fucking-" I start reaching for my non existent bow.

"Oh here's your ride now." said the happy old man.

"A black GMC slid up up in front of us, and immediately a hood was pulled over my head the end of gun pushed into my back.

"Now don't try anything." said the old man slightly behind me. This is a mirror of Mid Realm, so your powers are the same as if you were actually there."

I heard Dante say as we were being pushed into the GMC, "Well this is classic. Are you going to tie us to a chair and demand to know why we're here too?"

"Actually yes," said a different voice when we got in the vehicle. "And no. Yes you are going to be tied to a chair. Yes it's going to be in an abandoned warehouse. No, we already know why your here. And yes Michael we are the Eyes."

"I'm surprised that you still have enough of your abilities Michael." said a women sitting next to the Eye.

"Your not an Eye," I say, not knowing how I knew that.

"No , Michael, I'm impressed you even know that." The women said with real apprehension. No we only need one for now. I am Leosmere. The goddess of the zodiac of the Lion."

All I could think of saying was. "I always thought of the zodiac Leo as a guy."

Leosmere's eyes glowed angrily, like a star.

"Hey," I heard Dante tell her, "You say your the goddess of the lion zodiac. Don't make me laugh," he said

"Your brave to have that type of tongue in the situation your in." Leosmere snarled.

"No I wouldn't say brave," Dante said. I could here by his voice his next set of words would set the table for our next move

"I would just say this, being born under the zodiac sign Leo I have some of your personality traits and to be honest…" The room began to heat. "You don't have the right to claim it." Dante said and as he said it leosmere was blown in the face with a gust of powerful wind

She looked at Dante in amazement. "So your a Leo, huh,"Leosmere said angrily, but I could tell from her voice that she was worried. Maybe even cautious…

Dante grinned. "Yes, and since you knew that already, you should also know that I'm not about to let us get taken that easily.

Gray who was so silent I almost forget he was there, looked at me through the bags (though i still don't know how) and sent a silent message with his eyes.

"I may not have my bow or my weapons," I say, understanding what I had to do. "But my most dangerous weapon of all…" I pointed to my head and immediately the Eye made a screeching sound as he was blasted back to wherever he came from. Leosmere looked shocked and so I kept her that way freezing her in time.

"We have to find the Trace Back!" I yelled to my friends after I took off the hood.

"What is that?" Dante yelled back as he fought the driver for the wheel.

"It's a mathematical algorithm. It will help us find out what exactly the patterns are, which will lead us to find out what the fuck is going on in Mid Realm!"

"Look up!" I yelled. Overhead, Manhattan was glowing orange like it was on fire, but there were no real flames.

"That's bad," said Grey, which was like the third thing I've heard him say all day. "It's Hell Sky," he said, darkly.

"The Lord of the Skies of Hell," I say mirroring his tone.

All the sudden there was a screech of tires behind us. "Fuck, more Eye Police." I yelled.

"That would be funny under different circumstances." Dante says. "I don't want to do this man." He yells at the driver. Then on the back of the driver's head two brown eyes open up as if they were sleeping.

"Ah!" Dante says jumping back. "Never fucking mind." He takes the drivers head with both hands and twists hard breaking the monster's neck. Unfortunately, as soon as the driver died the whole car disappeared, along with Leosmere, slinging us forward with the momentum of the car.

"Aaaah!" we scream as we're thrown into a parked car, crushing the whole backside of the car.

…

I looked up at the orange city above us, getting my bearings and checking to see if I broke anything.

"Ow." I moan.

"That fucking sucked," Dante said lifting himself out of the crater he created on the back of the car. Gray had imbedded himself into the trunk of another car. His head was resting through the back windshield. He looked like he got knocked out, until a huge burst water slashed around him like angry ribbons, which Gray used to vault himself in the air. He landed back on his feet so hard the ground cracked- Actually it shattered like glass. Gray didn't even look down to see what had broken underneath his feet.

Then there was a screeching sound in the distance.

"We need to find the Trace Back and get back to Mid Realm before the Eyes catch us. Then I thought about it… Actually no. We need to get caught again.

"Why?" Dante yelled. We just about got killed via road burn just a few seconds ago."

"The Eyes are guarding it. "Leosmere was going to tell us something, before you pissed her off."
"Hey, I thought she was going to kill us."

"Dante, the Black Legion doesn't work for Black. They aren't even evil. In fact… we created it." I said thinking about it. "In the future we create it."

"So why are the Eyes chasing us?" Dante asked.

"They want me…" I say. "My mind is the only one capable of killing them and hiding from them. They can read my mind, but they can't track it… because it's everywhere… Even in their head…"

"Your dangerous," Dante said heavily. "Especially now that you know you can get in their head just as easily as they can get in yours."

"Yeah, except mine is more powerful. I can hide in plain sight. I can hide you both. Hold on let me think. I say closing my eyes.

Instantly, both Dante and Grey grab their ears.

"Hold on!" I yell. You have to adjust to having your mind split in every direction. It will only be temporary, 'because if I did make it any longer, your mind will deteriorate from being split so many times.' I thought.

"I heard that!" Dante yelled out.

"Good that means we don't have to talk to each other out loud.