The Storm Strikes

I called up Tony and let him know what the situation was. He gave me the address of the Panopticon's base and we agreed to meet there as soon as possible. I had just hung up with him when Red Daniel returned. He had cleaned all the blood off of himself, and was now fully clothes, wearing a black t-shirt with the word RED scrawled across it in red lettering, and a pair of black pants with a familiar veiny pattern on them.

“Wait a sec,” I said. “Are you wearing Reout's pants?”

“They look better on me,” he replied. “So, any idea where we're going?”

I told him the address Tony had given me.

“Good,” he said. “I figured out where we are, and that's not far.”

“All right,” I said.

I texted Tony to let him know it wouldn't take us long.

“So, shall we then?” Red asked.

“Yeah,” I said, turning to Kyle. “You up for this?”

Kyle flex his formerly wounded arm and nodded. I'm still pretty pissed about the High Blood infecting him. But I have the admit, the healing factor he gained from it came in handy.

“Do we have a ride?” I asked Red Daniel.

“Your car's just outside,” he replied. “My guys moved it here after they... you know... kidnapped you.”

“Wonderful,” I muttered. “Let's go.”

We left the room and walked through a hallway to the front door of whatever building we were in.

“Red,” I said, as we walked.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Once we're done with this, I want you to get out of Kyle's body,” I said.

“Can't,” he said.

“Why the fuck not?” I demanded.

“I don't know if you've realized this yet, but I'm kind of new at the whole 'being a borderline God' thing,” he said. “I don't know how to un-infect people. I don't even know if that's a thing I can do. As far as I know, the Red Cap has never left a host willingly.”

“Willingly?” I asked.

“There's been cases of people getting her out of their blood-stream via transfusions, but it's a risky procedure,” he said. “And even if they do that, they're only getting rid of the physical part of her. There'd still be something left, in the depth of their subconscious.”

“Well then, figure something out,” I said.

“Not likely,” he said. “But if it helps you sleep, I'll stay out of his head. Unless he's watching porn, in which case I might join him.”

“You're sick,” I said.

“I'm the Fear of lust, Danny Boy,” he replied, drawing my keys from his pocket. “Mind if I drive?”

“Where did you get my keys?” I demanded, checking my pockets.

“Reout took 'em before I blew her up,” he said. “There's the car. Make up your mind, which of us gets to drive?”

“Do you even have a license?” I asked.

“Do you?” he replied.

“Whatever,” I sighed. “You drive. I don't care. Just get us there.”

“Sweet!” he said.

We all got in the car and started going. After about twenty minutes of driving, Red Daniel seemed to become uncomfortable.

“Does tall, dark, and out-of-focus need to tag along?” he asked, glancing up at the rear-view mirror.

I followed his gaze to the mirror, seeing the pair of burning red eyes in the back seat, next to Kyle.

“Oh, hey Burner,” I said, before turning to Red Daniel. “You can see him?

“Yeah,” he replied. “He's kinda freaking me out.”

“Well, deal with it,” I said.

He sighed, and kept driving. After a while, he glanced at the clock on the radio and smiles.

“Happy birthday, Danny Bo,” he said.

I followed his gaze. It was a few minutes after midnight.

“Happy birthday, Red,” I muttered. Due to the circumstances, I didn't feel much like celebrating.

We found Tony waiting for us a couple blocks from our destination. Red Daniel parked, and we all got out to meet him. Tony gave Red Daniel an annoyed glance before addressing me.

“What's the plan of attack here?” he asked me.

“The plan is to attack,” I said. “Red, you can access the Godsway now, right?”

“Let me check,” he said, vanishing briefly. He reappeared a few seconds later, stumbling a little bit. “What a trip!” he said.

“Okay, good,” I said. “We need to go in there, and figure out where Seraph is. Once we know, I want you to use the Godsway to get close to her, and protect her. The rest of us will create a diversion so you can get her out of there. WITHOUT trying anything funny. Understood?”

“That's not a bad plan,” Red said. “But might I suggest we save it as a backup.”

“What?” I asked.

“Diplomacy, Danny Boy,” he said. “Diplomacy.”

“Hate to say it, but Red has a point,” I said. I turned to Tony and added “Why don't you do the talking?”

“You think I can reason with them?” Tony asked.

“It's worth a shot,” I said. “Besides, you spoke with a Daemon Lord without getting flay alive. The Panopticon should be a cakewalk compared to that.”

“Right,” Tony said. “So we'll talk to them. Try and work something out. See if they'll let her go willingly.”

“And if they don't?” Kyle asked.

“Then we go back to the original plan,” Red Daniel said, smiling.

“Kyle,” I said. “I know this won't sound good, but if it does come to that, you may need to tap into that new power of yours.”

Kyle winced.

“Right,” he said. “I don't think that's a good idea, but if it comes to that...”

“Don't worry,” Red Daniel replied. “The first time's not as bad as you'd think.”

“Can you not?” Kyle said, shooting a death glare in Red's direction.

“Oh, come now,” Red said. “I'm just trying to lighten the mood.”

“And doing a horrible job of it,” Kyle replied.

“Whatever,” Red Daniel said. “If things get dicey, just let the Redness take hold.”

“Fine,” Kyle said. “But I swear, you had better not turn me into one of those... things!”

“I'll be gentle,” Red Daniel said softly.

Kyle continued glaring at him.

“Red, that's inappropriate,” I said.

“I agree,” Red Daniel said. “His reactions to my sex jokes are completely inappropriate.”

“You should problem keep your mouth shut while we're in there,” I told him.

“Whatever,” Red replied. “So is that gonna be a problem?”

He was pointing up at the sky, where the dark storm was looming overhead.

“I don't think so,” I said. “That storm's been following us for a while now. I'm kind of used to it by now.”

“Really?” Red asked, raising an eyebrow. “You're used to the giant mass of Eldritch power floating overhead?”

“Eldritch power?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “You mean you can't feel that?”

“No,” I said. “You're aware that I've lost my powers, aren't you?”

“Yeah,” he said. “But I figured you of all people would... you know what, never mind. We're wasting time out here. Let's go save your girlfriend.”

We approached the doors to the building and entered. The front room was empty, aside from a desk with large double doors behind it. As we stepped inside, a voice came on over a loudspeaker.

“Daniel Ferris,” it said. “Would you and your associates please wait in the next room? Dr. Monde will be down to speak with you shortly.”

Tony and I shot each other a glance. We approached the door and walked through. We were now in a much larger room. It was about the size of two high school gyms, and had a high ceiling, probably two or three stories up. There were about a half dozen wide catwalks stretched out above us. The place looked like it might have been a factory at some point, but any machines and assembly lines that might have been there before had been cleared out. Instead, the walls were lines with desks, occupied by Panopticon employees, and the center of the room was left clear. Everyone there glanced nervously at us as we entered.

“Where's Monde!?” I called out. “We need to talk.”

No one answered. After a minute of waiting, some men entered the room from the other side. Angst them was Monde.

“Mr. Ferris,” he said, putting on a smile that I assume was fake. It looked fake. “And Mr. Helioson. And...”

He locked eyes with Red Daniel, and frowned.

“The High Blood...,” he said.

“Sup,” Red Daniel replied.

“Um, I'm here too,” Kyle said awkwardly.

Monde just kinda gave him a bored look.

“Right,” Kyle said. “I'll just... shut up...”

“Where's Seraph,” I asked.

“I assure you, the girl is safe,” Monde said, lighting a cigarette. “And, should you cooperate, I am willing to negotiate her return.”

“You're up,” I whispered to Tony.

“What did you have in mind?” Tony asked.

“Simple,” he said. “I wish for Mr. Ferris to remain here for a while. The rest of you may leave with the girl.”

“And what will you do with Daniel once we're gone?” Tony asked.

“I won't harm him,” Monde said. “I will alter his memories to exclude the Fears and everything related to them.”

He gave Red Daniel a look.

“And perhaps convince him he has a brother,” he added.

Red Daniel smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder. Suddenly, my vision became tinged with blue, and a weird feeling rushed through my head.

Don't panic, Red Daniel's voice sounded in my head. Just play it cool.

Are we... communicating telepathically? I thought.

In a manner of speaking, He replied. We've both got a metaphorical foot in the Red Cap's domain. We're still in the normal world physically, but we're mentally connected to the Vice World, and thus each other.

“Daniel's knowledge of the Fears is the only weapon he has against them,” Tony said. “If they come for him, and they will, then he needs to know what he's up against. Otherwise, he's a sitting duck.”

“He has all of you, doesn't he?” Monde said. “How is that defenseless?”

I've got Blood Vessels staking out this building from all sides, Red Daniel continued. I've got a pretty good idea of the layout of this place.

A door not far from the men became engulfed in blue-ness.

That door leads to an alleyway, He said.

Another door, the one the men came out of, was also surrounded by blueness.

They've got Seraph right through there, He said. They're gonna bring her out once you agree to their terms.

“You're suggesting that the rest of us keep him safe?” Tony asked.

“If it comes to that, I know you could accomplish it,” Monde said. “Lord knows, he has plenty of guardian angels on his side. Besides, part of what attracts the Fears to him is the knowledge he has of them. Take that away, and they'd be less inclined to target him.”

“Even so, he'd still be in danger,” Tony said.

“It's his decision,” Monde said, looking at me. “Will you accept these terms?”

So if I get him to bring Seraph out, you can get her out through the alleyway? I asked.

Yes, Red Daniel answered. And then I'll signal the Vessels to barge in here and back you guys up.

Good enough for me.

“Alright,” I  said to Monde. “But I wanna see her first.”

“Very well,” he said, nodding to one of the men beside him.

Wait til I give to the signal, I thought.

Got it, Red Daniel replied, releasing my shoulder.

The man opened the door and said something. Another man walked in, leading Seraph, with her arms bound, over to Monde.

“Here she is,” Monde said.

“Don't do it!” Seraph shouted at me. “You can't take his offer!”

I didn't plan to.

“I'm sorry, Seraph,” I said.

“No,” she said. “You can't!”

I turned my attention to Monde.

“Alright,” I said. It was now or never. I turned to Red Daniel. “Red-”

I stopped short. I couldn't finish the order I was about to give. The sight of Slender Man, standing tall behind Red Daniel, stunned me into silence. Though he couldn't see him, Red Daniel must have noticed him there, as his expression became shocked.

“There's a tall faceless guy behind me, isn't there?” he asked.

Tentacles extended from Slender Man's body and encircled Red Daniel.

“Oooooo, Tentacles,” Red Daniel said, smiling.

The Tentacled suddenly constricted around Red Daniel's body, Binding him in place.

“Oh crap!” Red Daniel choked out. “Tentacles!”

They both vanished into thin air, leaving the rest of us stunned. Monde was the first to speak.

“Well, that was unexpected,” he said.

Shit. This wasn't good. There was no backing out now. With Red Daniel gone, my only option was to go along with his offer, and have my memories erased. But this was my girlfriend we were talking about. I'd do anything to keep her safe. Anything.

“Alright,” I said, turning back to Monde. “Let's do this.”

Monde grinned smugly at me, before turning to his men.

“Hold onto her,” he said. “And seal the doors.”

“What!?” I demanded. “We had a deal!”

“A deal which you were about to break,” Monde said, beginning to remove his gloves.

I could see his hands now. The right one was flesh and bone. Although it was hard to make out from this distance, I could see that his left hand was some kind of pale, mostly plastic prosthetic.

“You were about to order your counterpart to break through and take her away from us,” He said. “I don't take betrayal well, Daniel.”

“I'm done playing around!” I snapped at him, drawing my gun from my coat. “Let her go! Now!”

He reached forward with his fake hand, and shot some kind of static wave at me. My body convulsed briefly. It didn't hurt, but it was enough to make me drop my gun. As I regained my balance, he swiftly drew a gun from within his coat and took aim at Seraph's head.

“No!” I shouted.

I don't think he heard me. I doubt if he could, over the sound of the gunshot. The bullet passed through her skull, spraying blood as it went. He body began to collapse, but he reached out with his false hand and caught her by the hair before she went down. He holstered his gun again and gave me a cruel smile.

“You want her back?” he asked. “Here.”

He flung her lifeless body clear across the room, where it collided with me. I fell down to my knees, wrapping my arms around her. I gazed at her face. She had been beautiful before. A perfect visage. Her smile. Her cheeks. The look in her eyes when we would speak.

It was gone now. Those beautiful eyes of hers had rolled back into her skull. At the center of her forehead was a gaping hole, trickling blood down her face. Her mouth hung open limply. Her beauty had been destroyed. She had been killed.

I tore my gaze from her lifeless bdy and glared at Monde. The smug bastard was standing there, smiling. Revelling in my grief. I laid her down and stood to face him.

“You son of a bitch,” I growled.

“Are you upset?” he asked me.

“Upset doesn't even begin to cover it!” I said.

He laughed and turned around.

“Kill them all,” he said to his men.

When it comes to anger, there's multiple tiers. I don't know what they all are, and I never new what the top tier of anger was, and I'm sure I had never experienced it.

Until that moment.

He had murdered the woman I loved, more than anything, before my very eyes. He mocked my grief over her. And now, he planned to have Kyle and Tony killed too.

My head pounded painfully. I clutched at it and roar in a mixture of rage and agony. The men raised their firearms, prepared to gun us down. The employees at their desks watched on with fear and curiosity.

Before any triggers could be pulled, something happened that nobody there expected. The doors and windows were blasted in, and the black stormclouds from outside flooded into the room. The men all dropped their guns in panic. The employees screamed and fled. The clouds rushed right at me, surrounded my body and soaking into my skin. It burned. Pain filled me as more and more of the clouds were absorbed into my skin, my muscles, and my bones. All the way down to my marrow, feeling as if I was aflame. It hurt. But the power I felt was familiar. I finally understood what that storm was.

The last of the clouds entered my body, and the pain began to fade. The energy inside of me responded to my anger, and accumulated into my right hand, where it expanded and solidified into a large sword, composed of black light. I gazed at it for a moment before turning my eyes back to Monde. He was watching me, a look of alarm upon his face. I locked eyes with the bastard and stood up straight.

“Meilleur Monde!” I snarled. “You are a dead man!”

And with that, I dived into the Godsway. The pain returned. Makes sense. Human's aren't built for the Godsway, and even though my powers gave me some resistance to it, I hadn't been there for yers, so my tolerance had faded for the most part. I didn't care though. I returned to the normal world, directly before Monde, and swung the black sword at him. He had already drawn a weapon to block it with. He held in his hand some kind of collapsible short staff, which stopped my blade before it could cut through him. My eyes drifted to his weapon, which seemed to be encased in some kind of cylindrical force field, protecting it from my energy blade.

“The Sentinal was right,” he gasped. “You can summon it.”

“Shut up!” I demanded, swinging at him again.

He parried my attacks and managed to break away from me. He reached out with his prosthetic hand, which disconnected on some kind of cord and fired off like a goddamn grappling hook, grasping one of the catwalks and dragging him up to it. I looked down at the energy sword. Last time I had wielded it, it had faded away, taking my powers with it. I wouldn't let that happen this time. I concentrated, and pulled all of that power back into my body. It hurt again, but I ignored it and focused back on Monde, I raised a hand, and sparks danced along my fingertips. I harnessed that power, and fired it at him as a bolt of lighting. He raised his fake hand and shot some kind of magnetic wave at my lightning bolt, causing the power to disperse before it could hit him. I vanished into the Godsway once more, reappearing on the catwalk beside him. I summoned Burner to me and slashed at him. He parried with his weapon again. We continued clashing. He managed to break away again and leap to the next catwalk. He is surprisingly athletic. I focused all my power on the catwalk he was on. It broke free of the walls, bending to my will, and began folding in on itself. He leapt onto the next catwalk after that. I crumpled the catwalk I was already controlling into a ball and launched it at him. He jumped off the catwalk he was on, falling to the ground before he could get hit. He landed on his feet and ran in my direction. As he ran beneath the catwalk I was standing on, he fired his grappling arm, grabbing the catwalk. He used the momentum of his run to swing up behind me. He retracted his arm as he fell upon me, swinging his weapon downward. I tapped into the Red Cap's power, allowing my blood to harden, and I caught his weapon in my free hand. Though I still felt the impact of it, my blood absorbed most of it, and a tingle of pleasure flowed through my body in response to the pain, invigorating me. I used my new strength to fling him to the end of the catwalk, disarming him as I did. I let go of the Red Cap's power ans he drew his gun and took aim. He fired, but before his bullet could hit me, I was surrounded by a dome of spiraling flower petals, which the bullet collided with harmlessly. I focused on Monde and sent the petals flying at him. They were like razors, scratching his flesh as they sped by.. Though they didn't deal any mortal injuries to him, he still screamed from the pain they caused him. I raised my free hand toward him, and the petals vanished. Strings shot out of my fingers, drawing blood. I winced a little and shrugged off the pain as I send the strings flying at him. They entangled his body, binding him up and lifting him into the air. I threw him down to the ground floor as hard as I could. He cried out in pain as he collided with the floor. I released my strings and used them to lower myself down there. As I did, he managed to rise to his feet, having taken a lot less damage then I had hoped he would. He tried to turn and run from me, but I shot a strong fireball at him. The force of the blast sent him flying into the wall. Though his clothes and hair were singed, his body was mostly unharmed from the fire, having only some slight burning, and I could see blisters beginning to form. That could have been a lot worse for him. I sent a wave of coldness at him from below, causing ice to form over his feet, locking him in place. Could see the panic in his expression as I approached him.

“It's over,” I growled at him.

“Stop!” Tony's voice rang out.

He darted between the two of us, with his bokken in hand, and turned to face me.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

“Stop,” he said to me. “Don't do this.”

“He deserves everything that's about to happen to him!” I said, taking a couple more steps forward.

“I know your mad, but you need to calm down,” Tony said.

“Get out of the way,” I said, continuing my forward motion.

“Killing him won't fix this!” Tony pleaded with me.

I stopped walking. We were face to face now, only a couple feet separating us.

“No, it won't,” I said. “But it'll make me feel a lot better.”

“Don't do this, man,” Tony begged.

“Enough!” I snapped. “Get out of my way!”

He looked terrified for a fraction of a second, before he choked it back and met my eyes defiantly. He drew his right leg back and raised his wooden sword, taking a stance against me.

“No,” he said simply.

I growled at him and swung Burner at him. He swung his bokken, and the two weapons collided with each other. My flaming sword sliced through his wooded one, splitting it into two pieces. Tony drew back his hand from the heat, dropping the piece of the sword he was holding as he did. The fear had returned to his expression.

“Don't make me say it again,” I said. “Get out of my way.”

He shook his head and straightened up, meeting my outraged gaze his his defiant one.

“I won't,” he said.

“Damn it!” I shouted. “Why are you protecting him!?”

I saw the faintest hint of doubt on his face as he considered my question, but it faded as it was replaced with determination.

“Because its the right thing to do,” he said.

Without warning, Burner vanished from my hand. A second later, it appeared in Tony's hand, startling us both.

“Burner!” I shouted. “What is this!?”

Burner materialized behind Tony. I could see him clearly now. Hovering there, in pitch black armor. Most of his head was encased in an intricate helmet, with two long horns coming out of the sides and reaching into the air. The sin of his face was the color of the night sky, with an ashen gray goaty surrounded his fanged mouth. He met my gaze with his fiery red eyes, and spoke softly to me.

“You're last order to me,” he said, “Was to protect Tony Helioson.”

His naginata materialized in his hand.

“And that's exactly what I will do,” he finished.

It finally sank in what was happening. What I was doing. I had raised my sword against my best friend. My anger had blinded me. I had lost control of myself. The rage was still there, but it was now becoming overshadowed by regret.

“Tony,” I said, taking a step back. “i... I'm sorry.”

“It's okay,” he said, allowing the sword to fall to the ground.

I looked back up to him and took a gulp.

“He killed her,” I whispered.

“I know,” Tony said, taking a step forward.

“Shes gone,” I said.

“I know,” Tony said, pulling me toward him and hugging me.

“She's dead,” I whispered.

“I know,” he whispered back.

I closed my eyes and hugged him back. Tears were beginning to fall.

“I'm sorry,” he said, but there was a sceond voice mingling with his. A very, very British voice.

“I'm so sorry.”

I opened my eyes. It was no longer the building that I was standing in, and it was no longer Tony I was hugging. I was at the edge of that cliff again, and Ben was standing there, holding me.

“I couldn't see everything,” he said. “I knew you would be hurt, but I didn't see this!”

“It's not your fault,” I said, patting him on the back in a “there, there” gesture.

“It feels like it is,” he said. “I pushed you to bring back Red Daniel, and now Sera is dead...”

“I know,” I said, repeating Tony's words of comfort. “It's not your fault.”

Then I was back in the room, hugging Tony again.

Monde met my eyes, with a sickened look on his face. He was fiddling with the wrist on his prosthetic.

“Well, this is all very sweet,” he said. “But I'm afraid I must bid you adieu.”

Sparks of white light began flashing from his hand, and in a blinding explosion of light, he vanished. His clothes and hand, which were left behind, fell to the ground where he had been stuck.

“He got away,” I muttered, releasing Tony.

He turned to where Monde had been and sighed.

“I'm not sure how much he deserved,” Tony said. “But he should've answered for this.”

“I know,” I said.

We both turned to Seraph's body. Kyle was kneeling over it, looking depressed. I picked up Burner and we approached him.

“This is wrng,” Kyle said. “This shouldn't have gone down like this.”

“I know,” I said, taking a seat beside him. “We'll get him.”

We all sat there, looking over her. The Panopticon had all fled after I regained my powers, leaving us all alone with the dead body of my girlfriend.

“So how long til the Panopticon frames us for this?” Kyle asked.

“Probably immediately,” I replied.

“Damn it,” Kyle said. “We should get moving, huh?”

“Yeah,” Tony replied.

“Running from the Fears is one thing,” I said. “But cops... damn it. This is gonna suck.”

At that moment, Red Daniel appeared, stumbling a bit, obviously still unused to the Godsway.

“So I think like, eight Fears want me dead now,” he said. “And I think-”

He shut himself up as his eyes found Seraph lying there before us.

“Oh...,” he whispered. “Oh no...”

Sadness lingered on his face fr several seconds before anger- mostly at himself- eclipsed it.

“I should have done something!” he snapped. “I should have avoided those tentacles and saved her!”

“It's not your fault,” I said, but I don't think he was listening.

“Fucking Slender Cunt!” H shouted. “Coming in here and fucking everything up! I oughta-”

“Red!” I shouted at him, silencing him. “It's not your fault. Monde did this. He's the one to blame for all this.”

Red Daniel stood in silence, several emotions fluttering across his face.

“Ugh!” he said, ruffling his hair. “If Slender Man hadn't shown up, we could have pulled it off!”

“Maybe we could have,” I said. “But it's too late now. There's no point in dwelling on how it could have been avoided. The fact of the matter is, it happened. It's done, and we can't change that.”

Red Daniel looked at me for a moment before his eyes widened.

“You've got your powers back,” he whispered. “You could... hr soul... You...”

“No,” I said. “It's too late for that. Her soul is long gone. And with no Archangel to claim it, there's no telling where it might have gone, or even if it still exists.”

“Then... she...,” Red muttered. “That's... we...”

He growled in frustration and grabbed his head with both hands. Then, with a sharp twist, he snapped his own neck and collapsed to the ground.

“Dude,” I said. “What the hell?”

“Sorry,” Red Daniel coughed. “I needed to break something and my head was the only thing within reach.”

I got back to my feet and looked down at him.

“We need to go,” I said. “Can you pull yourself together?”

“One sec,” he said, dragging himself back to his feet and snapping his head back into place. Lucky bastard, with his healing factor and such.

Kyle and Tony rose as well. I knelt down and picked up Seraph's body. It wasn't easy. Now that the adrenaline was gone, I was back to being a scrawny weakling. Kyle stepped forward to help me. I nodded over to where Monde's clothes were.

“Get his hand,” I said.

“You sure?” Tony asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

Tony went to retrieve it and then we all left, intent on getting as far from the scene as we could.

Happy fucking birthday.

Blood

I spent hours trying to think of some way to get out of there. Kyle was right about the chains. They were seemingly unbreakable. And I couldn't pry the spike they were attached to from the ground. It s in there pretty good. After a while, a sickening realization began to sink in. The only way I could put an end to whatever the High Blood was planning. I drew my sword and stared at it for a long time.

“What are you doing?” Kyle asked me. I guess he had an idea of what was going through my head.

“You said they need me alive, right?” I asked.

His eyes widened in fear. H knew exactly what I was thinking. The destiny Ben saw for me. I would have to sacrifice myself to protect the people I care about. If I allowed the High Blood to execute their plan, I had no doubt it would end badly. People would get hurt. People that I love. But they needed me alive to pull it off. That was a variable I could easily remove.

“You can't,” Kyle said.

“What else can I do right now?” I asked him.

“I don't know!” he said. “But not this! This is crazy!”

“I know,” I said. “But I don't see a whole lot of choices here.”

“What about Seraph!?” Kyle demanded. His eyes began flashing red. “What about her?”

“I don't know,” I said. “If I'm out of the picture, the Panopticon wouldn't have any more reason to hold her hostage. She'd go free.”

“You don't know that!” Kyle said. “And could you imagine what they'll do to her? What they tried to do to Tony?”

“Maybe that's better,” I said. “Maybe she should forget all this...”

“Are you listening to yourself!?” Kyle demanded.

“Enough,” I said. “I have to do this.”

“No you don't!” Kyle said.

“I said enough!” I snapped at him.

He took a step back. His eyes returned to their normal color. I could see his fear in them.

“Don't do this,” he said softly.

“I have no choice,” I said.

I raised my sword. As I did, I saw Burner materialize before me. He was clearer than before. I could almost make out his features. He appeared to be wearing some kind of armor that I couldn't place, and he seemed to have messy hair.

“Master,” he said. “This isn't right.”

“Take care of Tony,” I said to him. “Protect him for me.”

“If that is what you wish,” Burner replied.

I pointed the blade of the sword toward my heart. I knew it would hurt. I wasn't expecting to get it right. I was sure I'd screw it up, and end up bleeding out slowly instead of ending it all quickly. I took a deep breathe and closed my eyes, bracing myself for the pain.

“I wouldn't if I were you, mate,” came a voice.

I opened my eyes. I was no longer chained to the floor of that strange room. I wasn't quite sure where I was. The skies were red, with black and gray clouds scattered throughout it. I stood near the end of a rocky cliff, overlooking a vast void, stretching as far as my eyes could see.

“Nice view, eh?” came the voice again.

I looked beside me. A young man was sitting at the edge, with his legs dangling casually off the edge. He had mousy brown hair, and pale skin, and was dressed in jeans, a shirt, and a tight coat, all black. At his side lay a jagged shortsword, with a hand guard. He looked up at me, with a smile on his face. Is eyes were bright green.

“Ben?” I asked. “But... how...?”

“I've been here a while,” he said. “Come on, put that thing down and have a seat.”

I lowered my sword and sat next to him, confused.

“I thought you died,” I said to him.

“That's what I heard, too,” Ben replied. “Not sure I believe it though.”

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Let's not waste time on questions you already know the answer to,” he told me. “As much as I'd love to reminisce, we've got something important to talk about right now.”

“Something important?” I asked. I was beginning to feel lightheaded.

“Yes,” he said. “Like the fact that you were about to impale yourself on my old sword.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Not a good idea,” he said. “You need to stay alive. You've got a road ahead of you still.”

“But if I stay alive, the High Blood will be able to do their plan,” I said.

“Is that a bad thing?” Ben chuckled.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I can see destiny, remember?” he replied. “And this whole thing might not be as bad as it seems.”

“Destiny doesn't always play itself straight,” I said. “And the High Blood can do some horrible things with what's in that book.”

“Who told you that, exactly?” Ben asked. “The Red Cap? The Black Joker?”

I didn't say anything.

“I feel betrayed,” he said, jokingly. “Who are you gonna trust? Them, or me?”

“Sorry,” I said. “I guess I haven't been thinking clearly.”

“I don't blame you,” he said. “This whole thing is screwy.”

We both laughed. I think the sky lightened up a bit.

“I'll admit, though,” Ben said. “I can't see everything. Just small pieces of a grand picture. I don't know anything for sure.”

“So what should I do?” I asked.

“You should do what you do best,” he said. “Live. Survive. No matter how much pain weighs you down, don't let it break you. I know that whatever happens next will hurt you. More than anything you've experienced before. But if you die now, everything will go to shit. You've got to press on, like the stubborn bastard you are.”

“Daniel?” Kyle's voice sounded, breaking through everything I was seeing.

I was back in the room, standing with my sword's tip placed to my chest, and my leg still bound in chain. I lowered the blade, breathing deeply. Where had I gone? Had I been in that room all along, stuck in some kind of waking dream?

“Change your mind?” Kyle asked nervously.

“Yeah,” I said. “Someone talked me out of it...”

“Who?” he asked.

“Benjamin Malkator,” I replied.

“What?” Kyle asked. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” I said.

It was then that the High Blood began entering the chamber. I couldn't count them, but I'm sure there were at least a hundred of them. And I'm sure that that was only a fraction of the High Blood's numbers. They all stood a distance from us, on the other side of the circular indentation. Reout was the only one to step forward.

“Took you guys a while,” I said.

“I needed time to recover after what your little pet did to me,” Reout said.

“You had it coming,” I said. “So, what is all this?”

“You'll see,” she said, drawing her knife. “So, will cooperate, or do you plan to make this difficult?”

I shoved my sword back into its sheath and looked her straight in the eyes.

“Do your worst,” I said.

She looked very annoyed by that. Of course. She was hoping I'd struggle. Too bad for her.

“Fine, then,” she said.

She slit her palm on her knife, and approached the circle. She allowed some of her blood to drip down into it. She then turned back to me, and handed me the knife.

“If you're so cooperative, then give us some of your blood,” she said.

I brushed her knife aside, and drew my sword instead. Didn't wanna catch anything from her.

“If my blood's all you need, then what was the point of keeping me alive?” I asked, cutting into my palm enough to draw blood.

“Blood is only one of two things we need for this,” she said, taking my sword and flicking some of my blood into the circle with hers. “We could have easily gotten the blood from your corpse. Your hatred, on the other side... we can only get that fro you while you're alive.”

“Well, I assure you,” I said. “I've got plenty of that to go around.”

“Good,” she said.

She turned back to the circle and took a bag out of her pocket. She opened it up and began sprinkling various sands of different colors in the circle, while chanting. As she did, I saw some runes surrounding the circle begin to light up. I hadn't noticed them before, but now they glowed with a crimson light. The other Blood vessel's in the room began chanting along with her, syncing up their voices perfectly. I saw the blood in the circle begin to expand and mix together, until the indentation was completely full of it.

“Now,” Reout said, turning to me. “This is where your hatred comes in. I need you to hate me. Hate my creator. Dig into your soul and allow your loathing to consume you.”

“Daniel?” Kyle asked. “Why are you going through with this?”

“Don't worry,” I told him, recalling Ben's words. “This will all work out.”

I remembered Red Daniel. Everything I could about him. His cocky, flirtatious demeanor, that hid a much more sinister personally. A psychotic asshole who enjoyed killing, causing misery wherever he could. A man who got off on pain, whether he was inflicting it or receiving it. His past, which he had told me all about. The sins he's committed in his past. What he did to Seraph. What he did to the Board. What he did to those people before my final confrontation with him. It was wrong, and the very though of it sickened me.

I so so caught up in my thoughts that I almost didn't notice the red light emanating from my body. My hatred was actually becoming some kind of energy, surrounding me in a vortex of crimson light. It remained for a little while before leaving me, and being soaked up in the ool of blood. The chanting died down slowly, and the light stopped coming from me. The runes on the ground faded away, leaving only the pool of blood, and an eerie silence.

“So what now?” I asked. “What did that do exactly?”

“It should have worked!” Reout snapped. “Where is he!?”

She turned on me, gripping the knife tightly.

“You did this, didn't you!?” She demanded. “You disturbed the ritual somehow! What did you do!?”

She raised the knife, prepared to attack with it. I summoned Burner back to me and took a defensive stance. But before either of us could make a move, something I wasn't expecting happened; An arm shot up out of the pool of blood. Everyone stopped and stared in stunned silence and the hand pressed itself to the floor and began pushing down, lifting the shoulders and head of a man from the blood. It shouldn't have been possible, since it was only an inch or two deep, but there was a human body slowly emerging from the circle. And, I realized with a jolt of horror, it was a body I recognized. As it rose fully out and stood up straight, I could see that it was none other than my own body.

The blood began sliding off of the body, like water, slowly exposing the man's blood red, shoulder length hair, along with his other features. There was no mistaking him. Kyle could see it too, as he was the first of us to speak.

“Red Daniel,” he gasped.

“Master!” Reout exclaimed delightedly.

Red Daniel opened his eyes and observed us to a moment with a confused expression, taking us in slowly. Then he cracked a wide smile and looked me in the eyes.

“Danny Boy!” he said. “What a pleasure to see you again! And in new duds! Love the look!”

He made to stick his thumbs in his pockets, only to stop when his hands met his hips.

“I am not wearing pants,” he commented, apparently just noticing.

“You aren't wearing much of anything,” I informed him.

“and now I know what Daniel's Junk looks like,” Kyle said. “Anyone got brain bleach?”

“Could you please cover up our genitals?” I asked. “People are staring.”

“Staring?” he asked, turning around and finally noticing the res of the High Blood standing around watching us. “Oh! Hey!”

He scanned the crowd and singled out a young girl in the front row.

“You!” he said, pointing to her.

“Me?” she asked nervously.

“Yes, you!” Red Daniel replied. “Give me your pants!”

“M-my pants?” she asked, visibly flustered. “Couldn't you ask for-”

“A guy's pants?” Red Daniel finished for her. “No. Fuck that. I want the skinny jeans. Gimme.”

The girl awkwardly removed her pants. I thought I saw a camera flash somewhere behind her as she did. Some people...

She tossed the pants over to Red, who managed to squeeze into them.

“Ouch!” he gasp, as he tried to pull up the fly. “Zipped my pubes! I need to manscape. Such a chore...”

“TMI, dude,” Kyle said.

“Says the guy who was looking at my junk earlier,” Red replied, fixing the zipper and buttoning up his new slacks.

“Explain!” I said, getting annoyed. “What is all this!? How are you alive!?”

“Well, it's a little complicated,” Red said, grinning smugly.

I pointed Burner at him and allowed the blade to ignite. He took a step back, fear flashing across his face.

“Explain,” I repeated.

Red Daniel closed his eyes, seeming to get his thoughts together.

“This may take me awhile,” he said. “This little ritual here is used to bring people back from the dead. It's a little tricky though. You need several things, but there's three big items involved that are most important for it to work. You already know two of them, I'm sure. The Blood and the Hatred of the man who killed me. That would be you.”

“go on,” I said.

“The last thing,” he said, “Is just a small shred of the dead guys consciousness.”

“Your consciousness?” I asked. “But how...”

It hit me before I could finish the question.

“Reout's blood!” I said, but I realized it was even more than that. “The High Blood's blood! You've been there this whole time!”

“Bingo!” ed Daniel said. “It all happened the night you killed me.”

“But how!?” I demanded.

“Believe me,” Red Daniel said. “I really did wanna die that night. And I guess my body did. But Things didn't quite play out like I was hoping. Instead, I sort of... became the Red Cap...”

“How the fuck does that work!?” I demanded.

“Well, I only took a piece of my Red Cap to this universe with me,” he said. “She was weak. Strong enough to empower me and stop me from offing myself, but not much more than that. I performed as much debauchery as I could to strengthen her, but it wasn't enough. Her consciousness was weaker than mine. And I'm not sure ow, but for some reason, in my dying moments, my consciousness elclipsed hers.”

It was starting to make some sense to me. He had replaced his Red Cap when I killed him. That explained why he was able to corrupt the Sentinal's blood during my fight with him.

“I killed my Red Cap, Daniel,” he said glumly. “I didn't mean to, but I killed her. And now I've taken her place...”

He took a deep breath before continuing.

“I became connected to all of the Vessel's I helped create,” he said. “But it was all so new to me, and I was weak. I couldn't do what my predecessor did. I had trouble speaking to them, or controlling them. Only a few could really hear me, and the best I could do was influence their actions slightly. So, I gave them the idea to find the Bleeding Crest and bring me back.”

“And that's why the True Redness and Abdalin were afraid of that book,” I said. “They new what could happen with you getting your body back and leading the High Blood.”

“Um... Master?” Reout interjected.

Red Daniel turned his attention to her.

“It's nice to see you again,” she said, giving a respectful curtsy.

“Ah, yes,” Red Daniel said, smiling at her. “Ms. Rodriguez. I like what you've done around here. Gathering new recruits, tipping the war in our favor. Well done.”

“Thank you, Master,” she said.

“And have you been a good girl in my absence?” He asked.

I scoffed and muttered “As if...”

Red Daniel gave me a questioning expression.

“You sound bitter,” he said. “What did she do, exactly?”

“She pulled the same shit you did with Seraph,” I said.

“Come again?” he said, quirking one of his eyebrows.

“That right-hand skank of yours molested my girlfriend!” I snapped.

“Is this true?” Red Daniel asked Reout.

“Yes sir,” Reout said. “He was being uncooperative, so I took measure's to-”

She stopped speaking as panic took over her expression. She stood completely still, as if frozen in place, before her body literally exploded, and shards of blood red crystal fell to the ground around us. When I looked over at Red Daniel, I could see nothing but rage and contempt on his face. He had crystallized Reout's blood inside of her body and then caused it to explode. I didn't even know that could happen. With a deep breath, he turned to address the High Blood.

“I want to make one thing very clear,” he said. “Daniel Ferris, and those close to him, are not to be touched. Am I understood?”

A nervous silence followed. Red Daniel spoke again, this time his voice stern and raised.

“I said; Am. I. Understood!?”

They all took a step back, and they all said some variation of “Yes, sir,” in quiet timid voices. I could really see it now. The ability to put that much power into his voice. The ability to strike so much fear in the hearts of his followers. Red Daniel wasn't joking. He really was the Red Cap.

He really was a Fear.

“Now, what's today's date?” he asked.

Someone piped up with “February 14^th, 2016.”

“Well, then why are you all here!?” Red demanded. “Go out! Party! Throw an orgy or something! It's Valentine's day! Get outta here!”

The Blood Vessel's began clearing out, nd Red Daniel approached mine and Kyle's shackles. He formed a crystal key from his blood and unlocked us.

“Sorry about all this,” Red Daniel said. “And... about... you know... what I did to Seraph. Dick move on my part.”

“Yeah, I'm still pretty pissed about-,” I stopped mid-sentence as a thought occurred to me. “Did you just... express guilt?”

Red Daniel shrugged.

“Got any plans tonight?” he asked me.

My thought's went back to Ben. He said something about an ally, and that I'd need his help. I didn't wanna believe that this was what he was referring to, but it made sense. It swallowed my pride and looked my counterpart in the eyes.

“Seraph's been kidnapped by the Panopticon,” I said. “We need to save her.”

Red Daniel smiled.

“Okay,” he said. “Count me in. Just let me get cleaned up first. I am literally covered in blood right now, and while that's normally just another Sunday night for me, we've got places to be, and I need to look presentable.”

“Good idea,” I said.

“You two just wait here,” he said. “Hang out. Update your... do you still have that blog?”

“Started a new one,” I said.

“Oooooo,” he said. “I'll have to get caught up. But first, clothes. You boys just make yourself at home on...”

He looked around a bit.

“Where the hell are we?” he asked.

“No clue,” I said.

“Right, well, I'm gonna look around, see if I can find some clothes,” he said. “And maybe a shower. May take a while.”

He left the room, and I started writing this post. So yeah, Red Daniel's alive again. Fortunately, he's on our side. I think? I dunno....

Hang in there, Seraph. We'll be there soon.

Going Downhill

I should have done it. I should have destroyed that fucking book.

I tried to. I was about to do it. I was alone, outside the car. Seraph and Kyle were in the gas station, getting some supplies. I was obscured from view, with Burner in one hand, and the book it the other. I ignited Burner, and prepared to set it aflame. But something stopped me. It was a voice in the back of my head, holding me back. It was calm. Gentle. British...

“Don't do it,” the voice said.

“What?” I asked.

“That book will be important for you in the future,” the voice said. “If you destroy it now, and important ally will be lost to you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What ally?”

“I can't see everything,” the voice said. “But you will need his help.”

“But-,” I began, intending to ask who the voice was referring to, but another thought occurred to me.

Couldn't see everything. That's what the voice had said. IT had knowledge of the future. That, plus the accent, could only mean...

“Ben!?” I asked.

Silence.

“Ben!” I almost shouted. “Is that you!?”

There was no answer. The voice was gone. Just great...

I looked down at the book for a while. If that really was Benjamin's voice, then could he have been right? Had he seen a future where I'd still need this book for something? I saw Kyle and Seraph begin to head back outside. I stuffed the book into my backpack, intending to look into it and make a more informed decision on the matter. We all got back in the car. I didn't tell them about hearing Ben's voice, or that I had kept the book.

It was a couple days ago that we ran into trouble. We had stopped to take a rest and stretch our legs for a moment. It was getting pretty late, and there weren't a whole lot of people out. And then we were attacked. High Blood member's began appearing from the shadows and coming at us. There were eight of them. I knew we couldn't handle this many of them.

“Run!” I shouted.

The three of s turned tail and fled. The High Blood gave chase. We ran down an alleyway. But before we reached the end of it, one of the High Blood appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and stuck out their foot, catching my leg and throwing off my balance. I stumbled to the ground, and quickly picked myself back up. By the time I was on my feet, several more of the High Blood had caught up. Including Reout.

She was standing a couple feet from me, holding Seraph in a hammerlock. Kyle was being restrained by another High Blood.

“Hello, Daniel,” Reout said, smiling. “I don't want this to get too difficult. Just give us the book, and well leave you all alone.”

I summoned Burner to my hand. Kyle angrily shouted at Reout.

“He doesn't have it any more!” he said. “He burnt that thing up!”

“Don't lie to us,” Reout said. “We know you still have it. The Backer made it very clear that you're still in possession of it.”

Seraph gave me a panicked look. I averted my gaze, focusing on Reout. I drew Burner from his sheath and set the blade aflame.

“Let her go!” I ordered.

Reout just laughed at that. Then she glared at me seriously.

“Enough of the games, Daniel,” she said. “Give me the book.”

She slid her hand up Seraph's side and grabbed her in a way that absolutely infuriated me. It brought back a memory that I can't stand. A memory of Red Daniel touching her in a very similar way.

“Or else poor, dear Seraph will have to pay for it,” She said.

The storm above us began crackling with white lightning. He had caught up with us several days ago, but hadn't done much other than that. Now, though, it was growing fierce. It was almost as though it was feeding off of my anger. I saw the blurry, red-eyed figure of Burner materialize behind Reout, with his naginata in hand.

“Burn it hell you Blood Vessel bitch!” I shouted.

As if it were a signal, Burner plunged his spear into Reout's back from behind. With a howl of pain, she loosened her grip, and Seraph broke free. The Vessel restraining Kyle must have let his grip go slack from surprise, because Kyle broke free too and drew a handgun from his coat. He turned quickly and put a bullet in his captor's shoulder.

“Get out of here,” I instructed both of them.

Kyle fired off a couple more shots at the surrounding Vessel's and they both took off. Burner cm to hover beside me, his weapon at the ready. A couple of the Vessel's expanded their blood and slashed at me with it like blades. I swung my sword at the speeding blood. Before the blood reached me, it halted in midair and retreated from the flames. The Vessel's were shocked by this, but I wasn't as surprised. I had already realized this would happen. They weren't intimated by Burner's fire, but their blood was. It was Burner's flames that had killed Red Daniel, and their Red Cap remembered that. I took a few steps toward Reout, who was clutching her wound. I could tell that it wouldn't last for too long. Blood Vessel's heal quickly.

“Daniel!” Kyle's voice rang out from a distance. “Come on!”

I turned to see him at the end of the alleyway, with Seraph a distance farther from him. I turned and glared into Reout's eyes.

“I don't like killing people,” I said. “But I have done it before. And if you even think of laying so much as another finger on Seraph, I will not hesitate t do it again.”

Reout glared back at me angrily. I sheathed my sword and began sprinting to catch up with the others. But someone else had beaten me there.

A large Panopticon Van screeched to a halt a few feet from Seraph, almost hitting her. Three men got out the back, and one of them shot Seraph with a tazer gun. She fell to the ground, convulsing, and the two other men rushed over to her and picked her up. Kyle lifted his gun to try and stop them, but another shot was fired from the driver's window of the van, hitting him in the arm. He cried out in pain and dropped his gun. I drew Burner, and faced the Driver, who had begun stepping out of the car. He took a stance across from me, holding a hunting rifle in his hands.

“Mr. Ferris,” he said, in a soft, kind of French-ish accent. “I'm glad to finally meet you. My name is Meilleur Monde.”

“I've heard of you,” I growled.

“I'm sure you have,” he said. “I would like you and your friends to come with me.”

I was about to tell him to go have intercourse with himself, when a whip made of blood lassoed my wrist. I looked back to the alley to see Reout standing there, with the rope of blood stretching from her palm. She looked pissed. Monde saw it too.

“The High Blood!” he said, turning to his companions. “Fall back!”

The others began loading Seraph's unconscious body into the van. Monde stepped back into the driver's seat, and took one last look at me.

“If you live through this, and want your girl back, then come get her,” hee said. “Your friend Tony knows where I'll be.”

They then took off, taking Seraph with them. I couldn't stop them. One of the Blood Vessel's appeared behind me, and bashed my knee with a metal pipe. I went down, and next thing I knew, Reout was standing over me, glaring daggers down at me. She kicked me in the face, and I lost consciousness.

I came to in a new location. I was in a large room, obviously made to hold a lot of people. The only furniture was some long tables lined along the walls. There was a large, circular indentation on the floor on one side of the room, not too far from me. It was about as wide as a kiddie pool, and maybe an inch or two deep. I had a chain bound to one of my legs. The other end was driven into the stone floor by a spike. Kyle was chained up too, a few feet from me. He was conscious too. His bullet wound had been treated, and his arm was bound up.

“Kyle,” I said. “What happened?”

“The High Blood brought us here,” he said. “I don't know why, but they need you for something. The book wasn't enough.”

I looked to my side to see my backpack lying there. Sure enough, the Bleeding Crest was missing from it.

“How's your arm?” I asked.

“Hurts,” he said. “But t least I got street cred now.”

He cracked a nervous smile, but I could tell that something was bothering him.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

His smile faded as he looked me in the eyes.

“No,” he said. “Daniel...”

As I looked at him, I noticed what was wrong. For just a brief instant, a red light flashed across his eyes, then was gone.

“I think they infected me,” he said.

“Shit!” I hissed. “We've gotta get out of here.”

I summoned Burner to me and tried to cut through the chains with his flames. It id nothing.

“I don't think that'll work,” Kyle said. “That stuff's reinforced Tungsten. I think it's enchanted somehow, too. You can't melt it.”

“Damn it,” I said.

Fortunately, my backpack still had me laptop in it, so I was able to type all this up. This is all my fault. If I had burnt that fucking book, I wouldn't be here right now. Seraph wouldn't have been captured, and Kyle wouldn't be slowly converted into one of the High Blood's Vessels. I need to find a way to escape from this place. I don't know when the High Blood will be back, but I need to get out of here before then. Kyle said the book isn't enough. They need me too. So, that means that if I can escape, it'll throw whatever their planning off the rails. I have to try and get Kyle out too. I got him into this. I need to get him out.

This is all my fault...

Quick Update

Apparently, shit has been going down all over the place. I've heard from several of my contacts that the war between the Red Cap's is escalating fast. I was also informed by Dyson that one of the last remaining Scion's has vanished off the face of the Earth. Simply disappeared. Also, the Daemon Lord Isaac is tracking has struck a few more times. Not a good sign. Estren's also been busy. Several of the remaining Dying Man shards have been stirring up trouble. Some of them have special powers, like HELLFIRE does. Estren's the one having to deal with them. He's considering starting a new blog to keep the rest of us posted on that situation.

I do have some good news. I think I know where the Panopticon's new base is. I haven't checked the place out yet, but I will soon.

I also received a visit from Jack today, regarding the note he left for me.

“What do you want?” I asked him.

“Just one small favor, to put a dent in that debt of yours,” he said.

“What is it?” I asked, suspisciously.

“You will soon come to blows with the Panopticon,” he told me.

“How are you so sure?” I asked.

“It's bound to happen,” he told me. “And when it does, I want you to do something.”

“And what would that be?” I asked.

“I simply want you to do the right thing,” he said, smiling.

“The right thing?” I asked.

“You'll know what it is when you see it,” he said. “I'll speak with you afterwards. Au revior.”

And then he vanished. I don't know what's going to happen, but something tells me doing the “right thing” will end badly. Very badly.

-Tony Helioson, signing out

Souls

After months of waiting, Marshall finally paid me a visit. He appeared in the doorway of my room, observing me silently. Upon seeing him, I grabbed the wooden box that I had received from Adon and turned to confront him. He spoke before I did.

“Finally going to ask, huh?” he said.

“What are these?” I demanded. “And why are you having me find them.”

He sighed and stepped into the room, walking along the wall over to the window.

“Do you know how many Emissaries I've killed?” he asked.

“13,” I said. “The other you, from my timeline, mentioned it.”

“That's right,” he said. “They're what I'm looking for.”

“So these objects carry the souls of those Emissaries?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“And why are you collecting them?” I asked.

“I have my reasons,” he said.

“Tell me,” I insisted.

“No,” he said, quietly.

“What?” I asked.

“No,” he repeated. “I don't need to tell you. And I won't.”

“Then you can find the rest of them on your own,” I told him.

“Oh really?” he asked.

“I wanna know what I've gotten myself into,” I said. “Just why are you gathering these? What the hell are your intentions?”

He glared at me through his one good eye, judging me silently.

“Fine,” he said after a while. “You really wanna know what my intentions are?”

“Yes,” I said.

“I intend to bring them back,” he said.

“WHAT!!??” I demanded.

“You heard me,” he said.

“Why!?” I demanded. “These are servants of the Game Master! Why should they deserve to-”

“And there's the difference between you and me, ParaDan,” He said, cutting off my sentence. “You allowed 15 years of pain to destroy the man you used to be. You threw your morals away, and you no longer see servants as people. They're just fodder for you to cut through with that rapier of yours.”

I fell silent, not quite sure how to respond to that. It took me a moment to think of what to say.

“Even by my standards, this sounds like a bad idea,” I said. “How do you know this wound explode in both of our faces?”

“I don't,” he said. “But I need them. They're exactly the soldiers who can help.”

“So what, are you trying to build some kind of army?” I asked.

“Yes,” He replied.

“For what?” I demanded.

“Daniel wasn't wrong when he said you might have made things worse for this timeline,” he said.

“And what's that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“Do you know what happens when you time travel?” he asked.

“It splits the timelines, doesn't it?” I asked.

“That's one thing,” he said. “It also creates a temporal ripple in the new timeline. It can last for several years, but normally doesn't do much. When I went back, it really didn't have too big of an effect, other then drawing some unwanted attention. However, the ripple you created is another story. Because of it, something is coming. Something bad.”

“So I've basically doomed this timeline?” I asked.

“Not quite,” he said. “Making things worse isn't always a bad thing. It gives us a chance to make things better.”

“What?” I asked.

“Your presence here gives us an opportunity to stop what's coming,” he said. He then motioned to the box in my hand. “But we'll need help.”

I looked down at the box in my hand, pondering it.

“This is a really stupid idea,” I said.

“It's risky, yes,” he said. “But it's worth a shot. Same logic you had in mind when you time traveled, right?”

He was more or less right about that. Still...

“I'll try this out,” I said hesitantly. “But if this goes wrong, it's on you.”

He smiled. “Good. I know where the next one is.”

At Long Last

We were stuck on the Board for a while before we finally encountered someone. Seraph was the first to spot the masked man watching us from the top of a mostly undamaged building. She tugged on my coat and pointed him out to me. I thought for a few moments before waving at him. He promptly vanished.

“Sure that was a good idea?” Seraph asked me.

“We'll see,” I said. “Just play it cool.”

Immediately after saying that, I drew Burner from his sheath and spun around to parry the spear coming down at me.

“Attacking from behind?” I asked the man. “That's original.”

Up close, I could see the man a bit better. He was dressed in black clothing, with straight red hair almost to his shoulders. The mask he had on was broken. His mouth and most of his right cheek were exposed, and what was left of the remaining mask was cracked and chipped away in places. His chin was coated in stubble, and his skin beneath it was deeply tanned. The symbol on the mask resembled most of a spade with the top half of a two or a three on top of it.

I motioned for Seraph and Kyle to step back. The man had enough courtesy to wait for them before attacking me again. His speed was impressive. I've seen better, of course. ParaDan or Damien could've outrun this guy easily, but this guy was still good. I managed to keep pace with him, deflecting his attacks. He vanished a few times, trying to take me by surprise, but I was able to stop his attacks in time and counter. I switched to the offensive and kept slashing at him. He repeatedly blocked me with the pole of his spear. Burner quickly ignited brightly and I swung again, cleaving his spear in two. He teleported a few feet from me, dropping the two pieces of his spear as he dd and drawing a short sword at his side, then he rushed back in.

He was clearly better with this weapon. Without the spear encumbering him, he was able to take back the upper hand and force me onto the defensive. He managed to knock Burner out of my hand, then, with a smile on what could be seen of his face, he vanished again. He appeared in the air above me and began dropping downward fast, sword gripped tightly. I dropped the sheath and raised my left arm above me, picturing a shield as I did. The ring around my middle finger dispersed into light and reformed as a buckler. I braced my legs as his weapon met my shield. I don't know what Abdalin made that buckler out of, but it's certainly durable.

I threw my arm to the side, throwing off the man's balance, and I swung a right hook at him, catching him in the jaw. I summoned Burner back to me and swung my sword the other way, knocking the sword from his grip. I ignited Burner and pointed the sword at the now unarmed man. He stood silently, string at the tip of my sword intently.

“That's enough, Gale,” Came a man's voice.

The guy I was fighting nodded and vanished. I turned around to see another man standing several yards from me. He had semi-short black hair, that was neatly combed and tied up in the back. His clothes must've looked nice at some point, but were now stitched up in places and carried a couple of patches. He stood up straight, with his arms folded professionally behind his back.

“The Ace Of Clubs, I presume?” I said.

“Please,” the man said, smiling. “Call me Giron.”

“All right,” I replied. “I'm Daniel.”

“I'm aware,” he said. “After all...”

He spread his arms wide, drawing attention to the broken landscape around him.

“Your counterpart thoroughly wrecked our shit,” he said.

“I had nothing to do with Red's actions,” I said.

“Yes, I know,” Giron said. “Unfortunately, as much as I wish to trust you, I can only see his visage when I look upon your face.”

“Yeah, I get it,” I said. “I came here for a reason.”

“The Bleeding Crest,” he said. “That book is out of both of our reach, I'm afraid.”

“What do you mean?” I sked.

“The Game Master sealed it shortly before his death,” he replied. “After Alphonse stole a page out of it.”

Of course. The former Ace Of Spades, and Estren's brother, took one of the Game Master's spells before his desertion.

“There has to be-” I started to say.

“There is no way in,” Giron cut in. “I'm afraid that we are all unable to enter without his assistance.”

“Not all of us,” A new voice sounded.

Abdalin appeared a few seconds later, holding a thing, dusty book in his hand. Giron was taken aback by his sudden presence.

“Seriously, did you even try?” Abdalin asked. “I managed to break in, and I had like, thirteen shots beforehand.”

“What took you so long?” I asked.

“A lot of books to look through,” he said, tossing me the tome. “Plus, I can't track you without my mask. Had to look around for you idiots.”

I looked at the book. Inscribed on the cover, in an almost illegible cursive font, was the title “The Bleeding Crest”. This was it. “This was the book the High Blood wanted.

“Abdalin,” Giron said. “I need to talk to-”

“I'm not interested in the position!” Abdalin snapped. “There's already someone else who'd be perfect for the job! Talk to him.”

“But-” Giron said.

“He'd accept,” Abdalin said. “And he'd be much better suited than me...”

I could feel some kind of self-loathing coming from Abdalin when he said that. Without another word, he grabbed me and teleported us both back to the normal world. He then went back for Kyle and Seraph. And the car. We all stood in silence for a while.

“So,” I sid after a bit of time had passed. “Who else is there?”

“Who else is there for what?” Abdalin asked.

“To become the Game Master,” I said. “The way you were talking, it sounded like...”

“It doesn't concern you,” Abdalin said.

I shut my mouth. He obviously didn't want to talk about it.

“One more thing,” he said, pointing to the book in my hands. “I read through that.”

“You did?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “The Red Cap is right. You absolutely cannot allow it to fall into the hands of the High Blood.”

“Why?” I asked. “What's in here?”

“You saw what they did to the Board when Red Daniel brought them there, right?” he asked. “And you know how many Cards died because of it?”

I nodded.

“If they had that book, They would do the same thing to the other Red Cap,” he said. “And any poor bastards who found themselves between the two of them would meet the same fate.”

Shit. That's bad.

“You should destroy it,” he said. “Soon.”

And with that, he vanished. I'm gonna follow his advice. Once I wrap this post up, I'm setting that thing aflame.

Looking Into It

This is Tony again. I'm back at Hideaki's house now. Isiore picked me up. That was kind of her.

I don't know what's going on with Daniel right now. Can't get through to his phone. Funny that a domain with seemingly infinite Wi-Fi has no cell reception. Maybe his phone died or something. I don't know. But I'm sure he's fine.

The Panopticon has me concerned though. Their targeting Daniel now. And I know why. He's a threat to them. Their goal is to suppress information on the Fears. Stop people from believing in them. As a walking magnet for eldritch bullshit, Daniel would obviously pose a problem for them. Especially after the incident I had with them before.

So, I've decided to dig up as much as I can about them. Moss has agreed to help me with that. There has to be something we can find that can be used against them.

One more thing. I got a note today. It was short and simple. I said “I came up with a favor you can do. Get back to you soon.” At the bottom right corner of the page was a single, red thumb print. I guess Jacks finally got something for me.

-Tony Helioson, signing out.