Let's just skip the part where we lament the extremely long in coming update and pray as a whole for a decent Soul Calibur 6, yes? And hopefully one for Xbox since every good fighting game is coming out for PS4 only. First KOF14, now Blazblue Central Fiction... damn those stingy bastards!

If there was one thing Hilde was vastly experienced with even at her young age, it was war and battle. With the absence of her father for all these years, it had practically been a necessity for her to become well-versed in combat. After all, the ruler of Wolfkrone was not some coward who sat back and relied on his or her subordinates to fight their battles. The Kings and Queen's of Wolfkrone had always fought on the battlefield alongside their troops. To shirk that duty would have been utterly dishonorable, and the loyal soldiers of the kingdom would likely question such a leader's every decision, if they even followed them in the first place.

That was why Hilde was well-versed in carnage and bloodshed, being the effective queen of Wolfkrone even if she refused to accept the title as long as her father still lived. But even so, her battle experience was limited: she had faced her fair share of foes, but she had not engaged in any truly large scale battles. The assault on Ostrheinsburg would have been her first, had it actually been launched before being nullified by the accursed weather.

But while her experience in large scale offensives was practically nonexistent, the same could not be said for defense. Malfested forces had broken themselves against the walls of Wolfkrone Castle many times since the Evil Seed, in vain attempts to eliminate the largest contesting force in Nightmare's personal kingdom carved out of European soil. Of course, none of those attacks had been truly daunting. They had yet to include massive siege engines or beasts of war or an army that dwarfed anything Wolfkrone had ever seen before. But Hilde didn't doubt for a moment that Nightmare would launch a truly massive assault eventually. Aside from the obviously beneficial prospect of kicking Wolfkrone off of his turf, the souls of warriors and soldiers were more substantial than average individuals, and there were plenty of troops within the walls of Wolfkrone Castle. Destroying this place would be a two-fold boon for the Azure Knight.

Hilde knew this, hence why she had been gradually shoring up her home's defenses over the past few years. But all of the trebuchets and ballistae in the world didn't make her feel truly safe. She always felt that she needed more soldiers, more archers on the walls, more weapons of war with which to defend Wolfkrone from the forces of evil. That may have just been paranoia on her part, but an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure...

This was especially true when scouts from the border sent word of a massive malfested army marching on Wolfkrone. There was no need to ask where they were coming from, since Nightmare was the only one that could rally so many cursed souls, but Hilde had to wonder where Nightmare had mustered so many in the first place. Where had all of these malfested soldiers come from? The few times someone had set foot inside Ostrheinsburg and come out alive, they had never reported massive numbers of malfested enemies in the castle. It seemed like Nightmare had summoned these troops of nowhere, though surely he had possessed them at some point before now.

Either way, it was irrelevant. The fact remained that Nightmare was marching a huge army to Wolfkrone to destroy it, and Hilde was fairly certain that she did not have the manpower to hold them back.

But what could she do? The only way she could bolster her forces now was to incorporate a civilian militia into the military, but that would hardly do much to help. Or would it? Many malfested weren't even warriors themselves: many of those cursed wretches had lived entirely mundane lives before the Evil Seed. There was no guarantee that they would have any decent amount of skill as warriors.

Then again, as far as Hilde knew malfestation had numerous physical effects. Even if they lacked skill many of Nightmare's forces could be physically stronger than her own. Her only advantage was having the defensive position, but that would only really help if her own defenses could significantly reduce or entirely eliminate the enemy before they breached the castle walls.

She would need defensive siege weapons, burning oil, traps, probably a lot of rocks to throw from the ramparts... and only a few weeks to do it all at best. Even the malfested would take time to move any large military force around. But they were already on the move, meaning Hilde didn't even have time to request aid from some other nation. Aside from the fact that most other European nations would balk at the thought of confronting a massive malfested army lead by the Azure Knight, even if they did agree to help they would never be able to get any substantial reinforcements here before the actual battle. And if Wolfkrone somehow claimed victory, anyone who sent reinforcements after the fact would see the perfect opportunity to claim the nation for themselves.

No, Hilde and her people were all alone for this one. They had nothing but their own strength to rely on. Thankfully Luana was finally on her feet again after the catastrophic attack earlier, even though she was now down an arm. She may not have been able to fight in the battle itself, but as her aide Hilde knew the woman would be critical in preparing the defenses. And in the face of these dire times, good help was all Hilde could ask for.

Cyril was not sure if he and his fellow Sentinels were supposed to be able to feel disturbances outside of their own ability to actively sense things, as the Four had never definitely said that they had this power. However, he had no choice but to believe that they could, because right now he felt an undeniable desire to travel towards what felt like a cataclysmic event.

He couldn't even pinpoint what the feeling was exactly, all he knew was that his gut told him to. It was like an irritating itch in the back of his skull, or that deep-seated temptation to fulfill an addiction. It was most unusual, not to mention unpleasant.

It was also unfortunate that the sensation was occurring at night, as he sat cross-legged next to a dwindling fire. He was stopped here because, unlike him, Amy needed sleep. She was only human, and Cyril did not intend to force her through any more effort than she could handle. Even on a diminishing time frame, he didn't mind allowing this kind of reprieve.

Unfortunately, this meant that Cyril had no choice but to sit through his agitation, caused by whatever disturbance this was...

Cyril assumed he was alone in his suffering, but he was quickly proven wrong when Amy abruptly sat up for her position on the soft grass on the opposing side of the diminished fire. "This is maddening."

Considering how early it was in the morning, Cyril was surprised to see the girl awake. "Amy? What's bothering you?"

"I can't sleep at all. I can't shake this insufferable feeling that I need to go somewhere..."

To his credit, Cyril managed to keep a relatively controlled expression, even though this answer shocked him to no small extent. "Amy... this urge you are feeling, it wouldn't happen to be in that particular direction would it?"

Cyril pointed in the same direction his own instincts were telling him to travel, the same way he felt an intangible tug from. Amy followed his direction, then nodded. "Yes, it is... how did you know?"

"I feel it as well."

"Wait, is that normal? This can't be natural."

Cyril nodded. "It likely is not. This instinctual feeling... it is some sort of supernatural lure, I imagine."

Regardless of how tired Amy was, she seemed fully awake by now. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Some higher power is calling us to a specific location. As for why, who can say?"

Amy looked at him incredulously. "A higher power? Like what, destiny? Fate? That sounds ridiculous."

"Considering the fact that the world refreshes itself through Armageddon on a fairly regular basis, are you really going to argue against the idea of destiny?"

The girl frowned at that. "I suppose you have a point there... but what do we do? Do we just follow this feeling? That seems a little too brazen. Besides, no one said we were being called to this destination for a good thing."

"True. For all we know this is some sort of trap set by some powerful supernatural force. But on the other hand it could be something that leads us to our goal. Ignoring it would be foolish, especially since you are feeling this as well. I would be one thing, but it must be a truly powerful phenomena for a mortal to sense it too."

"Do you think anyone else is feeling this... thing?"

Cyril shrugged. "I imagine that my fellow Sentinels feel it as well. As for who else may be, considering that you can, I have no idea. It could be anyone, though I doubt this instinctual feeling is striking all of humanity. It is likely a select few. Warriors perhaps, or maybe just individuals of importance, relative to whatever event is taking place."

"That's a pretty wide criteria, don't you think?"

"Well, we could try to narrow it down by determining why you are within that criteria, but that would likely be a pointless exercise, considering that we don't know who else is being affected. For now we should just ignore it. We can begin moving in that direction come morning."

Amy sighed to herself as she leaned back onto the grass once again. "Just ignore it... sure..."

"What the hell is this?"

Elsewhere in the world, where the sun still shined over the earth below, Xandra paced impatiently near the edge of a forest. Link sat near her, Navi hovering over his shoulder, completely ignorant at to what Xandra was talking about. One moment she had been her usual, hostile self, and the next she had launched into a tirade about something that was a mystery to her companions.

"Is something amiss?"

"Would I be acting this irritated if something was not amiss?"

Link wanted to say yes, because Xandra was always irritated, but he was not eager to have his head separated from his shoulders, so he stayed silent, which allowed his comrade turned tempest to continue.

"Something is wrong: very wrong! I feel compelled to travel to the east... there is something drawing me there."

"Is that so strange? Gut instincts are normal, are they not?"

Xandra whirled on the Hylian in an instant, as if she were furious that he wasn't aware of the true nature of the situation. "This is no gut instinct you simpleton! There is a supernatural force at work. Something or someone is pulling my strings! First of all, how dare they, secondly, why? For what purpose?"

Link subtly scooted away from the dark haired beauty before she decided to cleave something in two with a blade of wind. "I suppose we have no choice but to go investigate, yes?"

Xandra stopped in her tracks, instead angrily tapping her steel clad fingers against her arm. "Yes... yes, we must investigate immediately."

Navi did not seem at all pleased by the notion. "Does this mean we have to use the wind teleport thingie again...?"

Equally uncomfortable with the notion, Link merely sighed. "Yes Navi, I believe it does."

Seong Mina was surprisingly awake in the late hours of the night, for reasons she had herself told Talim were of no concern. Worried half to death about Hwang's fate, the Korean warrior could barely get to sleep. She had told Talim not to worry about Hwang, being as tough as he was, but even so Mina could not do the same. A facade was what it was, but at least Talim wasn't awake to see it. She was too busy sleeping away the fatigue of the past few days, spent helping the injured and the unfortunate. Thankfully their gracious hosts were still allowing them to stay in their residence.

However, Talim's idea of sleep must have been very fragile, because with no warning at all, she shot straight up in bed, and more importantly, scared the ever living shit out of Mina.

"We have to go!"

Needless to say Mina was not completely capable of offering a coherent response. "W-what?"

The young Filipino priestess turned to her companion with determination. "We need to leave! I know where we are going next!"

"T-Talim, it's nearly midnight. Besides, what are you talking about?"

Talim had hopped out of her bed by now, moving around the room and collecting her sparse belongings. "There is a great disturbance in the wind. Something serious is happening, and it's going to happen soon! We need to get to Europe right away!"

Mina tried to stop Talim from running around, but for some reason the girl was way too excited to be hindered. "Talim, you've got to slow down. What are you talking about? Why do we need to go to Europe? More importantly, are you sure about this?"

"I am always sure with the wind! I can sense a great deal of bloodshed approaching... an important battle is about to be waged, with the taint of the Cursed Sword about it. We need to go Mina, we have to be there."

At this point Mina knew better than to question Talim and her connection to the wind or whatever, but she could still question the decisions the girl made based on her senses.

"Can't it at least wait until morning? Neither of us is fully rested Talim, and it's late, not to mention that you can barely see the moon out there. Is now really the right time to leave?"

Mina's very true words gave Talim pause, enough at least to stop her from moving about so rapidly. "I suppose you are right... but when morning comes, we definitely need to move as soon as we can."

"Alright, fair enough..."

"Oh, Mina..."

"Hm?"

Talim looked at her senior questionably. "Why were you awake already?"

Not one to drop her confident facade so easily, Mina simply smiled. "I had just gotten up for something to drink is all."

"Oh. Well, I do hope you sleep well for the rest of the night. We have a long way to travel tomorrow..."

"Yeah, we sure do..."

With that, Talim laid back down, leaving Mina to scowl to herself. Why must everything be so complicated?

"Is this normal?"

Ivy sat across from Siegfried in a tavern they had decided to take a brief respite at during their journey, where the scarred knight was trying to hide the insanely bright light of Soulcalibur from the rest of the tavern occupants. Even wrapped in cloth as it usually was, the sword was emanating a bright light that shone through the fabric with ease. Needless to say, Siegfried's attempts to hide the thing was not working. Every eye in the room was on him.

Still, Ivy didn't seem overly perturbed about all of the attention, instead focusing on this abnormality with Soulcalibur. That being the case, Siegfried figured he might as well do the same. Besides, if anything hostile came out of this event, he was sure the two of them could handle anyone or everyone in this tavern.

"No, I can't say that it is. Granted, I've had it glow on me before, but not like this."

"Why did it glow in those other cases? Do you know?"

"Usually it was a reaction to powerful malfestation."

Ivy cocked an eyebrow at him. "Well clearly it must have been a more powerful malfestation than just the two of us."

"Indeed. It was usually a reaction to Soul Edge itself."

"Can you at least tell what the source of this malfestation is?"

Siegfried tightened his grip on the legendary weapon. "It seems to be coming from the direction of Ostrheinsburg."

Ivy leaned back in her chair. "Well that's no surprise... but since this doesn't happen all the time, something unusual must be going on, right?"

"I suppose so. But we were already heading that way in the first place. Is there really any need to increase our pace?"

"Depends. Are you worried about whatever abnormality this is?"

The ex-Scwarzwind member scowled in consternation for a moment, then sighed in defeat. "Yes, I am. We should investigate this as soon as possible."

"Then yes, we should increase our pace."

Siegfried wasn't a man that liked to complain, but even still he had to groan. After all, considering how little Ivy wore she barely had to carry anything other than her own body on the road. He, on the other hand, carried around a giant sword made of crystal and heavy steel armor besides. Wherever he went, well over one hundred pounds came with him. Heck, probably two hundred, because he didn't know how much Soul Calibur really weighed in this form. Couldn't it at least transform into something smaller until he needed it to fight?

So yes, he had every right to complain in this situation. Even holy knights on noble quests needed to rest every once in awhile.

For the record, Xianghua actually didn't lead a very satisfying life. Aside from defeating Soul Edge one time in the past, she really hadn't accomplished much to be proud of. Granted, she had once held a very respectable military position in China, but she had given that up on her quest, and she would never be able to return to such noble heights, at least within the military.

That's what she got for abandoning her post, but it had been worth it to stop Soul Edge's rampage for a short time. However, at the time she had left she had been only half concerned with saving the world. The other half of her motives had simply been staying in very close proximity to Kilik. Despite being a level-headed, reasonable young woman, Xianghua had no choice but to admit that she had been rather smitten by the monk when they had first met. And when he had told her of his quest to purge evil from the land, why not accomplish a good deed side by side with a looker like him? It was two birds with one stone.

And for all it was worth, it should have been pretty easy to score. Kilik had barely ever interacted with women outside of his pseudo sister Xianglian, and even after beginning his travels, it was just him and Maxi. There was literally no other woman in his life besides Xianghua, and yet somehow, after all this time, she still slept alone every night, and still suffered through every label of 'very good friend' that came out of Kilik's mouth.

How could any man, even a monk, be so dense? Xianghua had been intentionally subtle about her feelings in the past, but she had been blatantly obvious about them from time to time as well. She would bet very good money that if she stripped naked and told Kilik to ravage her he would do nothing but stare her down in confusion, probably telling her to put clothes on because she'd catch a cold or something.

And that was why she knew it was density of mind and not determination. A man on a determined mission wasn't completely oblivious to the obvious, he just chose to ignore it because he had something more important to do. Kilik just didn't register the situation in the first place.

And then there was Maxi, practically the only other person Xianghua really cared about since they were best friends by now, and the aesthetic revolutionary was constantly throwing himself into deathtraps for revenge on Astaroth.

In short, Xianghua had given up her title, respect, and military position only to receive a love interest that had no interest in her and a best friend who was likely to die on any given day of the week. She had saved the world too, but considering the fact that Soul Edge hadn't taken all that long to come back, the trade off really didn't seem worth it.

Still, there was nothing to be done about it now. This was her lot in life, the decision she had made: travel around with Kilik to destroy Soul Edge for good and hope he might be interested in romance at some point along the way, or afterwards if their work was ever actually finished. By now that last part seemed like a real long shot.

But hey, at least she was good at pretending to be all sunshine and rainbows, because Kilik couldn't notice anything amiss with her attitude as they traipsed about the oriental countryside of their home continent in search of leads on Soul Edge. He may have been romantically dense but at least he could recognize when someone wasn't acting normal. Now, if only he could realize that Xianghua's attempts to entice him weren't normal aspects of her modus operandi...

Before moving any farther down the road they had called home for the past several hours, both Xianghua and Kilik came to a halt as they felt something unusual. It wasn't something that far gone, just... a sudden urge to go somewhere. Not even just 'somewhere' in particular, they just both felt like they should head roughly northwest. Why, neither could say.

"Xianghua, are you sensing something unusual?"

"You too? I mean, it's just this... itch, I guess. I feel like there's somewhere we need to be all of a sudden."

"Yes, it's strange..."

"Is it really? I mean, something kind of similar to this happened when we hunted down Soul Edge the very first time. It's not like we've never been drawn somewhere before."

Kilik nodded his agreement with Xianghua's assessment, though he still seemed uncertain. "True, but something still seems off. I know it might sound ridiculous, but this situation still feels different. This feeling is more acute than last time. Before we were drawn in by vague feelings that were difficult to follow, general directions at best. This tug feels a lot more precise."

Xianghua had to agree. In the past, there had been an attraction between Soul Calibur and Soul Edge that allowed she and her friends to track it down, despite not knowing that her Krita-Yuga had been the Spirit Sword at the time. But it had always been a very faint attraction, giving them wide leads and even wider areas to search for the Cursed Sword. What they were feeling right now was far more acute. It was telling them were to go to the letter. Or at least, it probably was. Even now Xianghua could stare right at the point on the horizon she felt the need to follow. That felt pretty precise to her.

"Should we ignore it? I mean, it's irritating, but I'm sure we could block it out..."

"I suppose we could, but would that be wise? If the last time this happened we were drawn to Soul Edge, I can only imagine that this is the same."

"But we don't have Soul Calibur anymore, it can't be the same."

"Perhaps we were affected by the Spirit Sword's presence during our original hunt for Soul Edge. Even if that's not the case, I still can't imagine ignoring a phenomenon this powerful being a good idea."

Xianghua agreed with that completely, and hey, if they were sensing this, surely Maxi could as well? Maybe this would actually be the best way to find him. With nothing to offer in terms of dissent, Xianghua merely fell in behind Kilik with a quick nod, completely forgetting about her earlier personal woes as something supernatural commanded her attention.

Although she didn't like him in the least, Cassandra would begrudgingly admit that Ezio was actually quite useful as a traveling companion. As he traipsed about the world with Cassandra and her sister, he was always the first to discover important information, or a clue that would determine where they should head next or what the world situation was. In that sense it was great to have him around, but in everything else? Cassandra would have much rather done without him.

The trio of travelers had left Greece behind some time ago, allowing them to traverse strange territory once again, though, thanks to the world travels of all three of them in the past, they were not entirely clueless in regards to geography and whatnot. Even so, the small city they currently occupied was unfamiliar to them all, though they weren't planning on staying for long anyway. It was just a small city of wood and stone, there only to provide settlement for a farming community, and for travelers like themselves to restock their supplies.

Cassandra was currently sitting atop a wooden crate on the side of the street, pretty close to dozing off actually, but the conversation between Sophitia and Ezio wouldn't allow her to do so entirely. She didn't trust that sleazy man at all: and anyone who wasn't as trusting and naive as Sophitia would have seen that the Italian was constantly moving on her, albeit subtly.

He was such a playboy... and though Cassandra greatly disliked him, she couldn't help but wonder why he never hit on her. Surely she was just as pretty as her sister right? The only reason people thought Sophitia was more beautiful than her was because her sister exposed so much of herself in dress. Cassandra would admit that she liked to show off her legs, but at least her more womanly assets weren't bouncing around in the open, covered only be mostly transparent white cloth.

Yeah, that was definitely it. Cassandra was definitely just as beautiful, just not as easy. Yep.

Cassandra probably would have sunk further into these self assuring thoughts, if only she was not immediately distracted by something else: an unusual feeling that she couldn't quite place. She had no idea how to identify it, other than the fact that she suddenly felt like they were wasting time here. Like they really had somewhere else they needed to be, preferably very soon.

It didn't take her long to realize that something was of for Sophitia as well, because her conversation with Ezio came to an immediate halt at roughly the same moment Cassandra started to feel strange.

"What is this unusual feeling?"

Fully aware that something like this couldn't be normal, Cassandra rose from her seated position to talk to her sister up close. "You're feeling weird too? I don't know what it is, but I kinda feel like we should be on the move."

"Yes, I feel that way as well. As if we have somewhere to be that is certainly not here. But what would produce this sense of urgency? "

Ezio found this comment strange. "Surely this is just a more powerful manifestation of your desire to find your daughter?"

"I wish I could agree, but this is not the same. I know what the desire to find my daughter feels like. This is just a feeling that there is somewhere of importance to be."

"Well, such a feeling is unusual, certainly. I may only be speaking for myself, but I find that ignoring such instincts is poor practice."

Sophitia nodded, but turned to Cassandra anyway. "What do you think? Pursuing something so vague could just be nothing more than a distraction in our quest to find Pyyrha..."

Cassandra didn't have to think on it very long. "Normally I would agree, but for all we know this is a sign from Hephaestus or something. Or maybe it's just influence from one of the spirit swords? Either way, ignoring it sounds like a bad idea. We may as well investigate unless it becomes obvious that it's getting us off track in finding Pyyrha."

With all three of them in agreement, the two Alexandra sisters plus one made short work of their affairs in the city and began to move towards these uneasy feeling s, wondering what their source could possibly be.

Taki was not an individual that was used to failure. As an elite shinobi, she was resourceful and skilled, and accomplishing a mission was almost guaranteed for her, self-imposed or not. That was why, as she stood atop one of the highest branches she could find in the forest she currently occupied, she seethed with frustration. Granted, the gentle light of the moon above her was relaxing, but even it was not enough to soothe her agitation. For all of her skills and talents, she had not gotten any closer to discovering the origin of the unnatural phenomena plaguing the world. She had not discovered anything of note regarding the disasters: no demonic influence, no supernatural origins... nothing. Not even anything related to the spirit swords.

All of her investigations had ended in failure. And now she was here, staring out over the land with no idea what she should do next. As a ninja she hated being unsure of her next move, but she had no idea what to do...

Briefly, she wondered what Setsuka was up to. Taki had not formed any significant connection with the woman, but having teamed up with her for a brief period of time, she was at least curious of her whereabouts. Had she found Mitsurugi a second time? If so, she had almost certainly been defeated once again. She was good, just not Heishiro Mitsurugi good. Not yet. That would require a lot more training. Matching someone who lived their life solely for battle was no easy task.

Still, Mitsurugi probably wouldn't kill her. Not because he was a nice guy by any stretch of the imagination, but he found no use in killing those weaker than him. Only slaying a worthy foe was of any honor.

Taki couldn't imagine living by such a creed. As a ninja honor was a mostly nonexistent part of her life. She did what had to be done, however it had to be done. And anyone that threatened her life was a target that needed to be eliminated, weaker than her or not.

Either way, Taki sort of hoped Setsuka was alright, out of politeness if nothing else. She was far more concerned with her own matters at the moment...

Those matters became significantly more complicated a few moments later, when Taki felt an unnatural influence on her own senses. Her training in the shinobi arts and demon hunting in particular had long since taught the woman how to detect the exertion of unnatural influences, but rarely did she feel them being exerted over her own mind. Someone or something was trying to affect her, however subtly, and that alone was cause for alarm.

Still, as Taki allowed this outside force some leeway within her own mind just to determine what its purpose was, she was met with only surprise. Most mental supernatural influence aimed to dominate the minds of mortals and force them to their will. Whatever she was feeling now was just... a suggestion. It was more like being urged to take action, but it was nothing forceful.

That in itself was unusual, but curious more than anything else. Taki felt completely normal, aside from her awareness of this supernatural intrusion, and the slight urge it was granting her, telling her that she should to travel in a certain direction. The only question now was whether or not she should heed such a suggestion.

On one hand, it could be something important. The guidance of a spirit or some such towards her goal. On the other hand it could be the work of evil, perhaps from Soul Edge or even the time manipulating Zasalamel. In that sense, it could have been nothing more than a trap.

But traps were usually laid to guard important things. If Taki was to close in on her goal, perhaps springing the trap was the best idea? It was quite possibly her only option for furthering her own objectives.

Coming to a decision quickly enough, Taki leaped from her perch, diving towards the ground below and preparing to follow the distinct urge that was currently allowing to affect her.

As someone who had been trained as an assassin from an extremely young age, it was almost impossible to sneak upon Tira when she was sleeping. Even secluded from the waking world, she could almost always feel on an instinctual level when something was amiss. And because she possessed this by now natural ability, she was quick to wake from her slumber when something unusual caught her attention.

The first thing her violet gaze was met with upon awakening was simply darkness. She could see nothing, but only for the few moments it took her to adjust to the minimal amount of light available. As soon as that process was over, Tira took to analyzing her immediate surroundings in hopes of discovering what had awakened her.

Unfortunately, she had no such luck. She was still in her old room from the Birds of Passage, still alone, and still safe. There was no indication of anything unusual at all.

But she knew better than to simply ignore her own instincts. She had been awoken by minor disturbances many times in the past, only to find assassins attempting to slit her throat, or lecherous men with impure intentions, or even beasts of the wild attempting to catch their prey off guard. Tira never ignored the instincts that had been ingrained in her mind from the Birds of Passage. Never.

So until she discovered the source of the unease that had awakened her, it would be impossible to relax. Leaving a mystery unsolved just wasn't going to work.

That said, it didn't actually take long to deduce that her unease was actual stemming from her and nothing else. For some reason she felt restless. That in and of itself wasn't unusual: Tira often felt a bit antsy if she wasn't doing something to enjoy herself. But that only happened when she was bored, and last time she checked, it wasn't really possible to be bored when asleep.

So whatever the source of this restlessness was, it wasn't normal. But even though it wasn't, it was irritating her all the same. Tira wasn't the kind of person who ignored whims and desires with ease. She preferred to satisfy her urges as soon as possible, and as long as this strange feeling persisted she would only feel agitated.

That being the case, her next course of action didn't even require a discussion between the two halves of their fragmented mind. It was understood by both that the only thing to do now was leave the ruins of their guild and find some way to appease the insufferable urge to do something particular yet unknown.

Within his temporal rift in time, Zasalamel was, for the second time in far too short a time frame, struck by something he was not at all fond of. The first time it had been a completely unprecedented rift in the flow of time itself. Now it was simply a manipulation of it, affecting the minds and wills of several individuals across the world.

This was in fact something that even Zasalamel was capable of to some extent: just not to the extent occurring right now. Still, it wasn't hard for him to determine the nature of what was going on. From what he could discern, the souls of powerful warriors the world over were being drawn to Europe, though for what purpose he could not say, just as he could not determine the source of this manipulation.

Either way, it was certainly unnatural, but there was nothing that Zasalamel could really do about it. For all he knew it was simply destiny. And besides, ever since his plan to end his own immortal life had failed miserably, the ancient scythe wielding man had been more interested in observing the wheel of time rather than disrupting it. He had seen the future once already: a future of innovation and technology the likes of which man had never seen. So long as that future came to pass, he really didn't care what happened along the way. And that was why, as he prepared to track the source of this unnatural influence himself, he was determined to not get involved in whatever was going on unless it seemed conducive to the premature end of the world.

Naturally, he had no idea that such things were in fact at stake even as he thought them.

Yes, this took forever to get published, and yes, it's short as hell. But it's only a setup chapter for bigger, longer events, and hopefully come Christmas break I won't have a shit ton of work, school, and quintessential bullshit to take up so much of my time.