Again, only some minor changes. But this is where the original story ends. Chapters, the few that remain, will be entirely from scratch and drastically different from the abysmal original one that followed this.

Enjoy.

Earlier that day...

It all happened so fast.

While Ezekiel and Endymion was searching the upstairs she and Stone were doing the same to the first level. Most of what they were looking at Cassandra had no idea what it was or did. Small charms and other assorted items were scattered everywhere but neatly arranged. All in all, the house was very well organized despite being abandoned for god knows how long.

Cassandra had subconsciously gravitated over to the bookcase. At least books would be a simple matter compared to the weird things in the cabin. At least that's what Cassandra thought until she discovered they were all written in some obscure language. Didn't help matters that Jake, skilled linguist that he was, couldn't read it either.

Speaking of the man, Cassandra almost caught him watching her. The man would give her strange looks every few minutes. As if he expected something to reach out of one of the books and attack her. The redhead wasn't sure if she should be flattered he worried about her or a little insulted he didn't think she could take care of herself. Cassandra really couldn't fault him, an evil shadow monster would have been something none of them could stand against.

Cassandra just told herself that was how Jake was. He always worried about and looked after those he called friend. Whether it was in a bar fight or against evil mummies, Jake was like both co-worker and protector.

It was himself Jake should have been watching out for.

One second Cassandra was searching through a new book and the next she heard a commotion from across the room. She looked up just in time to see Jake being thrown across the table in the room's center like a ragdoll.

"Jake!" Cassandra screamed without thinking as she rushed over to the fallen librarian. She barely made one step before she saw the woman standing where Jake was moments before.

Twin fires in her hands and a maniacal smile on her lips.

Before the woman could attack Cassandra, the ceiling exploded directly over the former and Endymion came crashing through from the floor above in a hail of splintered wood and electricity.

The witch, at least that was what Cassandra figured she must be, dove aside before the falling sorcerer and debris could crush her. Endymion was already charging before his feet even touched solid ground.

While the two mages fought, Cassandra rushed to Jake's side. To her utmost relief, she heard him groan quietly. That meant he was alive at least. Although judging by his inability to get up he must have hit his head on the wall, that or the witch clocked him in the process of throwing him. Regardless he was both alive and awake but badly dazed.

Taking Jake's arm and slinging it over her shoulders, Cassandra tried her best to get him back to his feet. Normally with head trauma like that it would be bad to move him so quickly, or roughly, but the cabin was starting to go up in flames and they were still inside. They could worry about his head once they were safely outside.

The redhead was only a fraction of Jake's size though, she could barely get him to stand.

Salvation came in the form of one Ezekiel Jones appearing on Jake's other side. With the two of them together, plus a recovering Jake, they were finally able to get their fellow librarian moving.

Despite her own fear, Cassandra was optimistic as they approached the door. Once they were through it a short walk later would get them outside into fresh air. The flames were getting stronger fast and the smoke was even worse. If they didn't get out soon they might suffocate before the fire got them.

The downside of optimism is that sometimes the world has to smack you back down to earth.

Just as they reached the door, Cassandra was suddenly pushed. She went one direction while Jake and Ezekiel went the other. The redhead was unsure who did it but the act saved all three of their lives since a large piece of flaming wood fell where the trio had been standing.

The up side was that Cassandra was alive. The reverse was that now she was trapped in the burning building with no way out. To top it off there was the witch and wizard trying their hardest to kill the other.

"Cassie!" Cassandra could hear Stone yelling for her. She tried to call back she was fine but was forced to dive when a stray ball of flame shot toward her. Instead of a direct hit, the magical attack grazed her side. Burning her flesh and singing her clothes at the same time.

Part of Cassandra hoped Jake didn't hear her cry of pain.

"JONES!" Endymion's yell was loud enough to be heard over the bonfire the house had become, it may have even rattled the very foundation of the building.

Cassandra looked up from the floor just in time to see the witch knocked across the way by a boot to the abdomen. Without missing a beat, Endymion hurled one of his revolvers under the obstruction blocking the doorway. If he planned to do anything else, he never got the chance because the witch was instantly pressing the attack once more.

The female librarian didn't have the will to stand up anymore. She was unable to focus, both due to smoke inhalation and the heat beginning to blister her skin.

The wound to her side must have been a second degree burn at least. It hurt worse than anything she could remember, but she could still feel it. It was almost enough to wish for a third degree instead, if only for her not to have to feel the agony. But she dared not look down at the injury out of fear of what she would see.

This was going to be where she finally died. To think she always assumed it was going to be in a hospital with everyone around her. Burning to death was also not a method of death she ever envisioned but that's the life of a librarian for you.

At the very least Jake and Ezekiel likely made it. Ezekiel would be distraught for a time but would be fine after a while. Jake... would be badly broken. He would take it the absolute hardest and not spare himself any guilt.

The crack over Cassandra's head was proof that she wouldn't burn to death at all.

Just as the ceiling gave way, Endymion appeared beside her. A quick gesture of his hands and a dome of bright light appeared around both of them. Less than a split second after, the roof broke free and fell. The glowing barrier the only thing stopping them from being crushed.

Cassandra was by no means an expert on the use of magic. But she could plainly see the look of exertion on Endymion's face as he struggled to keep the shield up over the pair.

After holding the entire roof for five seconds, fissures began to form along it's shimmering surface. Each increasing in size with each second that passed. The shield was already breaking!

"Arms around my neck now!" Endymion growled. The tone of his voice made Cassandra obey without hesitation.

In a flash, Endymion wrapped his own arms around her waist. The hold was so tight against her burn wound that it almost brought her to tears. It made her reflexively tighten her arms.

The moment Endymion took her in his arms, the shield vanished.

All the air was sucked from Cassandra's lungs in a bright flash of light. It was as if her body was spinning wildly through empty air but at the same time never moved an inch. The sensation lasted only as long as it took to blink her eyes.

After opening them, Cassandra found she was no longer inside the cabin. Instead she and Endymion were standing outside the burning structure.

When Endymion released his hold, Cassandra fell to her knees desperately trying to suck in air. Whatever it was he did made the redhead feel like every tiny bit of air had been sucked from her lungs.

It was right then that the pain on her side returned full force. Her suffering was so intense she fell to the earth clutching at the wound, tears forming in her eyes.

With his characteristic speed, Endymion was at her side in an instant. Before Cassandra could say another word, he pushed her so that she was flat on her back. The action jarred the burn even more but Endymion didn't seem to care.

Endymion's eyes scanned along her side and hip. The sorcerer's face was blank, almost mechanical in his examination. Like he was looking over a broken toaster rather than a damaged human body.

"This will hurt." Three words was all the warning Cassandra received before Endymion's hand clamped her mouth shut. When his skin made contact with hers, she felt an electric shock pass through her body.

Cassandra found she literally could not move a muscle. She could still see and speak, although the hand over her mouth muffled any sound that she tried to emit.

The rush of terror was already there with her own paralysis, but it only grew when Endymion's spare hand lit up in bright green flames. What was he about to do to her?

The answer came when he pressed the flames into her burned side.

Cassandra wanted to scream, she tried but the hand muffled her voice. If not for that, she would have yelled until she was horse, and then kept yelling. This pain was at least twenty times stronger than her burn wound was. It began where Endymion pressed his hand but extended further and further out the longer his hand was in place. She tried to forcibly will her body to move away from the cause but the shock she had been given prevented anything of the sort. With her body paralyzed, Cassandra could do nothing but sit there and endure. When she wished and begged her own body to pass out, it wouldn't.

All she could do was make muffled whimper noises and cries.

When Endymion finally pulled his hand away, tears were running rivers down Cassandra's cheeks from the pure agony. Her breaths came in desperate huffs.

Endymion moved his hand away from her mouth with another spark of electricity through her. This time it had the opposite effect, the first paralyzed her while this one reversed it.

Her first instinct was to hit Endymion, hard. But her body decided it wanted to grab onto the spot that hurt so much first. To her utter bewilderment, she wasn't burned. All she found was smooth, unblemished skin.

Cassandra looked down at herself in confusion. There was no sign she ever had a burn on her side. All the redhead found was unharmed skin and her badly singed and tattered dress.

Blushing furiously, Cassandra tried to cover herself with her arms. What remained of her bra, and a lot more than she would have liked, was on plain display.

A coat was offered by Endymion, whose eyes were completely averted. It was the first time she had seen him without it on. She remembered when he pulled the knives from under it she had pondered just how many weapons were under the thing. Cassandra could see holsters for his two revolvers, sheaths for the blades, but the one that was strange was the short metallic rod in the middle of his back.

The woman took the garment and draped it around herself. She and Endymion were more than a little different in size. The coat actually brushed the ground when she stood back up.

"Done that many times, but still have yet figured out how to make it less painful." Endymion spoke, a hint of remorse in his voice. "Healing magic tends to hurt worse than the natural healing process. Such is the trade-off."

Healing magic? Couldn't that be used to...

"Come, we need to move." Endymion was already walking away before Cassandra could voice her thoughts.

Cassandra scrambled to follow the man, her hands holding onto the lapels of the coat to keep it closed. What was this thing made of anyway? At a distance, it seemed like leather but leather was not this soft, nor this tough feeling. The feel of the material beneath her fingertips seemed unnatural, even by the standards of a librarian who was around magic daily.

"Your friends are too far ahead of us to catch back up. They likely sprinted all the way back to the vehicle." Endymion looked to the sky. "It'll take us too long to get back on foot."

Cassandra let out a sigh of relief. At least Ezekiel and Jake made it out of the cabin. She would have called one of the two men but an examination of her pocket revealed her cell phone's condition as charred beyond repair.

Hopefully Cassandra could reach her fellow librarians before one of them did something stupid out of grief or something. Ezekiel would be mostly fine, it was Jake Cassandra really worried about. Ezekiel would look after Jake at least.

Just then Cassandra felt a spike of pain lance through her head. She hissed quietly under her breath taking her head in hands. It felt like a hot poker had been jabbed through the back of her neck and up into her head.

Of all times for the brain grape to start acting up...

"This'll work." Cassandra had been blindly following Endymion's lead. Only now seeing that he was leading them seemingly in some random direction into the woods. Now he had stopped in a small clearing.

"For what?" Cassandra looked around quizzically. There was not much here save grass, trees, and more grass. Certainly nothing that would be of much help for them.

Endymion didn't respond at first. Opting to remove the rod from his back harness and begin drawing in the dirt. "We need to get back to Salem, immediately. I could fly myself but I cannot carry you at the same time. Nor can I in good conscience leave you here alone to walk back on your own."

Endymion could fly? Maybe he could levitate himself or something.

"Then what are you doing?" Cassandra examined the symbols in the earth. They were practically gibberish, but Cassandra wasn't exactly good with languages.

"Teleportation sigil."

"But can't you just…"

"No." Endymion cut Cassandra off. "That was only short range, and normal teleportation magic isn't going to work right now." Endymion paused and froze as if he was hearing something Cassandra wasn't. It didn't last long but long enough to worry Cassandra.

"What now?"

"She's making her move. Ethe already put a block on the town to stop the quick way back." Endymion explained, albeit cryptically.

"What are you talking about?"

Endymion looked up from his writing, oddly enough not stopping while he did so. His gaze toward Cassandra was making the redhead uncomfortable. It was as if he was staring right through her. "Tell me, do you have a strange feeling at the base of your skull? Like a pain from nowhere?"

"How did you know that?' Endymion must have seen or sensed something in Cassandra's body language.

"You can feel it too Miss Cillian."

"Feel what?"

"You can feel the magic being casted from a distance if it's strong enough. Right now, you're feeling a combination of a Zikeke barrier charm, and a soul absorption field." Endymion turned his gaze back to the runes being carved into the dirt. "The first prevents all forms of teleportation from passing through, while the second does what she was doing to individual people on a massive scale. This," Endymion pointed to the drawing at his feet, "is a Tikore teleportation sigil. It will bypass her own barrier."

"But didn't you say all forms of…"

"I did." Endymion nodded sadly. "The fact that I must resort to this means…" Endymion stop speaking and drawing, his eyes staring at the ground while he let out a sigh. "Remember what I said about worst case scenario?"

"You said we don't want to even consider it." Cassandra felt her stomach twisting into knots.

"Your monster, is named Ethe." Endymion resumed drawing, but his face contorted into a mixture of regret and worry. "If I don't stop her right here, right now, your world will burn. There isn't a single thing in the world that could come close to even slowing her down."

"Surely one witch can't be that powerf…"

"Ethe is no mere witch." Endymion scowled. "She may look human, but that's just a glamor. In reality, she is what's known as an ifriet. You have them on this world, but not one like her."

"Okay, some new super rare monster?"

"Worse. Ethe is a magi, like myself. Whereas I am The Traveler, her name is, yes I know it's ironic, The Witch. I suspect she may be the reason for them being called 'The Salem Witch Trials'."

"So, she's this all-powerful wizard?" Cassandra questioned. "Not the first one of those we had to deal with." Memories of Prospero marched through the redhead's brain.

"You never had to deal with a magi." Endymion snapped. "And especially not one going through the power rage. Be thankful she's only in the opening stages, were she any more advanced, I wouldn't stand a chance, and your world would already be ash."

"Power rage?"

"I don't have time for the long explanation, so I will provide the short one." Endymion almost sounded like his words were rehearsed. "Her power is growing exponentially by the second, the stronger she gets, the deeper she slips into madness. Like Cicero levels of crazy." At Cassandra puzzled look, Endymion kept talking. "Ember Mary?" Cassandra was only growing even more confused. "How about the Joker?"

"Like from Batman?" Not the first thing Cassandra expected to come out of Endymion's mouth.

"Ah, one you have heard of, good." Endymion nodded. "Now imagine the Joker, but with the power to level entire planets on a whim, then give him the ability to travel to other worlds. That is how bad a magi going through the power rage is."

"Oh." The knots had grown from mild worry, to full blown fear now.

"Oh indeed." Endymion wore a tight-lipped smile, with no humor whatsoever. "We need to kill her, and quickly."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Cassandra remembered the battle in the cabin. Ethe and Endymion seemed to be on equal footing, but if she was growing stronger as fast as Endymion claimed, that was going to no longer be the case.

"Simple." Endymion clapped his hands after replacing the bar on his back. "We fight. Normal procedure for a power rage driven magi is to gather a group of other magi to hunt them down. But time is a luxury we do not have if we wish to save your earth. I will have to tackle her on my own."

"All by yourself?" Cassandra might be scared out of her mind at the prospect of what they had to face, but she was a librarian. More than that, Jake and Ezekiel were librarians, and Baird was their guardian. Sitting back and watching a battle for the world was not something they did.

The question that burned within Cassandra was about Endymion himself. If he was like this Ethe, a magi, and could jump to other worlds then why was he still here? It would be wise to do as he said, leave and gather his fellows before confronting Ethe. Why wasn't he doing that?

Endymion looked over the completed sigil. "If necessary, yes. But I would suggest you and any of your surviving friends flee to your Library and find something that can stop and all powerful monster while I engage. If we're fortunate, I can slay her. If not, it will be up to all of you."

Cassandra was already compiling a mental list of what they could use when Endymion motioned her over.

"All you have to do is stand in the middle of the circle. This will be different from blinking I used earlier, more stable."

Cassandra stepped onto the circle without hesitation. She knew what was at stake, it was time to, as Ezekiel might say, "get dangerous".

"One last thing." Endymion held up one of his hands. "I need you to remove these rings for me. They're enchanted so I cannot do it myself."

They were simple silver bands without any additional adornments. Nothing really special from what the redhead could see. If he was stopping them now it must be important to remove it so Cassandra did just that.

"Thank you. Now, you ready?" After pocketing the ring, and at Cassandra's nod, Endymion touched his palm down to the ground, the symbol lighting up with a brilliant light.

When Cassandra blinked her eyes, she found they were no longer in the forest. They were however directly in front of their foe, Ethe.

Along with a massive burst of flame coming straight toward Endymion and Cassandra.

Endymion was more than ready for the attack. The fire was deflected upward with a swipe of his hand. His opposite hand thrust forward sending a bolt of lightning that struck the witch dead on.

While this was happening, Cassandra had noticed who was behind them. Ezekiel, Jake, and oddly enough Colonel Baird too. All three were thrown into a pile on the ground. Cassandra instantly rushed to Jake's side. Unlike the others, he seemed the only one not fully conscious.

Ezekiel and Baird said something but Cassandra was not paying enough attention to hear.

Endymion took several steps back before raising his arms up, a shield like the one he used to save them from being crushed appearing over the entire group.

Cassandra knew with Endymion standing guard they were the safest they could be. She focused her attention on the fallen librarian. "Jake?"

Cassandra had been running her fingers through is hair when she heard his voice. "Cassie?"

The redhead had no time to react before she was snatched into a crushing hug from Jake. Despite being caught completely off guard she returned the embrace. "I'm glad you're okay Jake."

"Is this heaven?" Jake spoke softly.

Cassandra almost giggled at his question. She was not able to answer before Endymion did it for her. "No Mister Stone, this is most certainly NOT heaven."

Jake looked past her to only now see Endymion was here as well. "But I thought you two..."

"Please, if a burning building was enough, I'd never have made it to my fifth millionth birthday."

Honestly, this ended up being a lot longer than I was expecting.

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