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Description

Chapter 1

    “What?!” The new Turnee sat gaping in shock at the two Elites before him, Sear smirked slyly and Shame. Her face looked physically pained by the news they had delivered.
    The Turnee sputtered for a few more minutes, about how unfair the deal was and how it should have been explained more. Sear studied her nails in boredom, letting them run out of words. Shame, kept rubbing her arms with her hands nervously, hard to believe she was the superior here.
    “I know, I know but-” Shame was at a loss as she groped the air trying to find the right words for it.
    “You’re fucked,” Sear cut in instead, to her partner's annoyance and the Turnees’ shock. “There is no ‘out’” She made air quotes sarcastically around the word, “Your soul was taken, and now you have a hollow one. And you run on a clock. The only way to make sure you DON’T starve to death is to stick with the ever gracious Lord of Darkness.”
    “But-but, what about the deal? Aren’t I supposed to be stronger, and s-stuff?” The Turnee was stumbling now, Sear merely rolled her eyes.
    “You are stronger, and you can shift to a wolf form that is rather large and you get all of the benefits his Lord promised. You just didn’t hear the negatives, a mistake all of us,” Sear gestured to herself and Shame to punctuate, “have made. Now you just need to deal with it.”
    She slid a glass across the counter, a silver liquid sloshed in its insides. “Now drink.”
    The Turnee did as he was told, treating the beer sized glass like a shot glass. His shoulders immediately slumped, as his whole body relaxed. “What was that?”
    “A soul,” She smirked.
    He gagged, but there were no remnants of the liquid.
    “Congrats,” Shame piped out, her awkward nature belying the imposing figure she really was.
    “Toodles~” Sear waved her fingers playfully as she popped him out of the bar.
    Shame sighed in relief, slumping on a stool “How do you do that so easily?”
    Sear laughed, “Extrovert vs. Introvert as the mortals put it.”
    Shame laughed along with her, “To bad work is the only time we can spend together,”
    Sear wiggled her eyebrows playfully at that, Shame merely shoved the implications away, “I’m straight Sear,”
    “And a shame that is I say.” That earned her a hard shove, she was one of the few beings that didn’t die on contact with Shame. “Looks like we have another on the way…” She was cut off by the appearance of the real Top Ass, Mask; an imposingly towering figure, her movements machine-like as if every move was deliberately decided. “Or we are being graced, by Madame's glorious presence.”
    A low chuckle came out from behind the pale yellow mask, the golden eyes lighting up for a moment. But it was fleeting, as she didn’t put much effort into keeping up an emotion, as it was mostly hidden anyway.
    “His Lord is requesting your presence Shame,” Mask’s monotone never failed to raise the goosebumps on Sears’ olive tone skin.
    “And why didn’t he just zap me there?” Shame acted irritated, as a shield fell over her pale features before she flashed herself out.
    “Because I need to talk to you,” Mask sat rigidly where Shame had been, answering Shame’s question to Sear. An odd habit that the group of them had gotten into when one flashed out with a bidding remark.
    As she seated herself, a glass filled with the silver liquid sloshed ominously a straw swirling around in the thick contents, no trace of the bartender that must have dropped it off. She ignored it.
    “Oh, Sweetness?” Sear leaned an arm playfully on the counter, propping her hand up under her chin playfully. As she sloshed her own glass around in her opposite hand the sound making mortals nearby stand a bit more rigid.
    Mask remained impassive, “Speaking factually, I don’t have your charisma.” Sear rolled her eyes, “But, I need someone who does have it.”
    “Oh? You have my interest,” Sear’s sly smirk turned into a devilish grin as she took a sip from the glass.
    “The LoD has been stepping on too many tails so to speak,” Her golden eyes lighted with venom, a surprising feat considering her face was mostly obscured.
    “Oo, so what was it that pushed you a little too far? Blow up home?”
    Mask ignored the obvious jab, “Actually, it’s more who I didn’t blow up.”
    “Even better,” Sear had an odd light to her eyes, that didn’t really surprise Mask. Everyone in this life got that odd look.
    “He tried to get me to blow the last Resort of Energeia,”
    “Wait I thought they were just rogues?” Of course, she cut in with her first contradiction, the glass lost its swirl.
    “They are, but due to pack nature, some have made small groups. This Resort is what the Energeia like to call living together because they aren’t a pack because they don’t have anyone specific leader. But, they’re still deadly.”
    “So of course he sent you, the Big Gun.” Sear grinned, Mask merely rolled her eyes.
    “But, you know how I give my spiel before blowing the joint about the LoD and all that?” Sear nodded.
“Well, the Energeia laughed and it wasn’t the usual, ‘har, har, you can’t do that’ like I’m used to. Instead, they asked ‘Why the hell are you even with this guy?’. Which is true.”
    Mask always seemed to have to assure things were true and factual, even without being questioned.
    “So?” Sear gestured with the turn of her hand to continue.
    “The Energeia want to get us to turn on the LoD, and I’m not entirely opposed.”
    That got Sear to drop her smirk, as she looked at Mask with a tilt to her eyes. Scrutinizing. “Is this a test?”
    “No.”
    Another fact about Mask: She rarely lied.
    “Do you have a plan?” She quirked a brow, taking another sip.
    “No.” Mask shook her head deliberately left to right once as if it was learned gesture.
    “You want me to help though?”
    Up-down, once.
    Sear sighed, “What makes you think I, will help you?” and she could have sworn Mask smiled, something impossible to really know when her mask didn’t have a slit for her mouth.
    “Because isn’t serving the LoD a lot like being a slave? And if potential freedom isn’t enough, why isn’t helping the Energeia enough? I mean…” She drummed her fingers on the counter, “That’s what Alex would have wanted, yes?”
    “That’s low.” Sear ground her teeth together, “But, sure I’ll help.”
    “Yay.” The word ground against her monotone painfully, Shame was the one who said that most often. She was good at brightening the room, Mask..not so much.

    Stale.
    The recycled air hung still, it’s lack of movement giving the illusion of thickness.
    Large wolves, their pelts glimmering in the off yellow light. Sat with their heads on their paws in the metal cages lining the corridor.
    A white fae hung limply in a mortal's arms, her head lolling to the side back and forth.
A low growl swallowed the room, drawing the mortals eyes to gleaming orange ones. The mortal averted his gaze quickly, quickening his stride.
Somehow, even in a cage, the beast’s presence enveloped the room darkly.
“I need to find a new job…” The mortal carried her through a pair of swinging doors.
The dark furred wolf leaned uneasily from side to side, his fire like gaze trying to find something to burn; no wood, nothing but metal lined the walls- barren of any life. The only flammable objects were themselves and he wasn’t about to burn living beings.
“They’re smart, they only took Elementals that can’t control metal.”
    He jerked suddenly, his feral like look directing towards the voice.
    “Relax Porky, I mean no harm; not like I could do any at this point.” A brown fae with zips of blue against her fur; sat against the side of her cage. Her snout peeking out through the bars in his direction.
    “And how can I relax?! They have her!” He began beating against the sides of his cage with his bulky strength, all it earned was a startled yelp from someone on the other side.
    She sighed, “Ya, they do. But you can’t do anything, as you can probably notice now; you can’t bend the metal that easily. It’s some Chiroptera crafted metal; only an Earth Elemental could potentially shift it. And at that point well, I guess you have to hope your Earth bud is more concerned with minerals than flowers.”
    He sat reluctantly down, growling at the lack of dents; “Name.”
    “What?”
    “What’s your name?” The question was more like a command, said in a dead like tone.
    “Luna, what’s yours?” She cocked her muzzle to the right through her bars.
    “Drayko.”
    Thickly laid quiet laid on the corridor, only the sound of breathing and occasional fur against metal.
    Till a loud bang ricocheted off the walls, “What?!”
    A blonde wolf was now laying with his head covered by his paws, “Really Luna?”
    “I was bored.”
    “So you nosed my paw!?”
    “It was in front of my face, the temptation was too much.”
    The white fae was carried back out into the corridor, her pelt now swirled in silver; a ‘K’ imprinted on her forehead.
    They threw her in roughly in the cage next to Drayko, the metal making a wobble sound.
    “Silvia?” He asked tentatively, but his voice was still oddly monotone.
    She groaned, but remained silent; Drayko passed a worried look to Luna. She wasn’t sure why, but it made a ripple of a shiver move through her pelt.
    The wingless that needed a new job; now walked in with a brown male. A green pattern circling his left ankle. He thrashed rather harshly, the anesthetic obviously not working as well on him.
    A second wingless came over, seeing the look of distress on his partners face as he tried to keep a grip on the beast. And stabbed, not slid, another tranquilizer into the male- his body went limp.
    “Thanks.”
    “Anytime brother,” The other wingless clapped him on the back, before walking off to whatever duty he had. Leaving the new job guy to walk through the double doors.
    “Damn mortals,” Drayko growled, his voice was low and rumbled, it seemed hard to distinguish his growls and his speaking voice.
    “This- is why I like the Barren Realms, don’t have to deal with this.” The blonde male piped up, his accent seems to ignore some grammar points.
    “But here you are, why did you venture to Orias when you got nabbed?” Luna smirked up at him, “This is Lucky, just so you know.”
    “I didn’t venture out...but I wasn’t with my pack, staying with our kind keeps us safe. And this proves my point!”
    “Lucky, I was a rogue for quite awhile before I was nabbed. I don’t think this is because you left your precious pack..I’m thinking it has to do with our physical traits.” Luna thought out loud, drawing Drayko’s attention.
    But he oddly didn’t seem overly surprised by the why he just leaned against the metal he now shared with Silvia.
    A groan came from her cage, “The mortals aren’t doing this alone.” Her voice had a lilt, as she spoke with factual clarity.
    “And how do you know? I don’t put it past a Wingless to try to abduct some of us.”
    A shift from her cage, as she moved to stand, “No, Wingless are known for believing in our kind, Elementals, even more than the other species. A Mani is in there.” A sudden crash came from her cage.
    “Silvia?” Drayko tried to peer around, but could barely fit his snout through the bars.
    “She passed out.” Luna, had a look of concentration etched on her face, “A Mani?”
    “A species that mainly lives with the Chiroptera, but why would they be working with Wingless?”
    “Power. Greed. Why else?” Luna seemed quick to jump to that conclusion.
    “But, the Chiroptera and the Mani have been working and living together for ages- you know how the Chiroptera got the idea they were born from Dragons rather than bats? That was the Mani.” Drayko explained, leaning against the back of his cage.
    “So obviously they're manipulative, so they probably want more power!”
    “No, the Chiroptera and the Wingless don’t get along well, it would be too risky for the Mani to break that connection with the Chiroptera- especially since I can smell Clera on these guys.” Drayko curled his lip in disgust at the thought of Clera.
    “Clera?” Luna cocked her head, still confused.
    “You really don’t know much about the Mortal Realm, do you? Clera is the country run by the Terrere Clan of Cato, the only guys in the Mortal Realm that still harbor slaves- known for their Bird Men. They are worse to Aves, but of course, the Chiroptera hate them as well. It wouldn’t make sense for Mani to risk everything by partnering with Clera..”
    “You’re thinkin' way too big here, your girl said ‘a’ Mani. Meaning one. And we’ve only seen two Wingless, this could just be a ragtag group of mad scientists.” Lucky was leaning out of his cage again, his slender build aloud his legs to hang out to his elbows, and his chin rested on one of the cross bars.
    Drayko’s ear flicked on your, but said nothing about it, “In the Mortal Realm to go against your Clans will is to go against your Clan, just like Elementals with your pack; are you suggesting that this group of mortals abandoned their Clans, for this?” He gestured broadly with his paw to the cages lining the corridor. “If that’s true that means whatever they're doing behind those double doors to us, is really important to them.”

    Nelson awoke on the other side of the doors, immediately struggling his legs were locked by metal clamps; two on each leg, one around his neck, and one around his muzzle. His green eyes widened.
    “Ahh, you realize you should have worked on your metal a little bit more?” A tall male came forward, cackling as he spoke. He flicked the syringe in his hand, causing the green liquid to shift around in sickeningly slow movements.
    He tried to respond, but it came out muffled and gurgled behind his maw- but with the deep angry sound you didn’t have to guess much what he wanted to say.
    “Well, at least you’ll be going to a good cause yes?” Closing in with a grin, the male put his hand on Nelson’s forehead; guiding the syringe into his skin, “Let’s hope your trustworthy, yes?”
    A burn lacerated his skull, he tried to cry out but it only rumbled in his throat. It traveled through his body almost whimsically if not for the pain, until it found his left leg. It encircled it harshly, almost hissing in his mind as it latched onto him.
    It wound up his foreleg, with the intricacy of art- but Nelson only wanted it to stop.
    ‘Hello there, friend.’

“So, this is it?”
Mask gave Sear a droll look, they now stood as wolves; their frames sleek belying their size.
“Yes, but we’re still outside the forest; are you eager to enter?” Mask flicked her tail, her fur was a constant ripple of gold and white with a drab dull yellow beneath it. Some called her pretty, Sear had seen better.
“I’m ready when you are.”
Mask nodded, taking the lead as Sear followed. She made sure to burn her footprints in the ground.
“So...you trust these guys?” It was hard for Sear to remain quiet, and easy for Mask to do such.
“Trust is a heavy word. No, I do not.” Her monotone was as constant as ever, Sear rolled her eyes.
    “But we’re still meeting these guys?”
    “Are you scared?” In wolf form her mask only covered the top half of her face, so as she turned to look back, Sear could see the twitch of a smirk. Maybe that’s why she preferred being a wolf.
    “Of course I’m not scared, just rationalizing it all.”
    “Of course, why would Sear be scared? Silly me.”
    Their walk turned back to quiet, but the presence had shifted. Something was watching.
    Mask remained quiet about it as she walked, her tail swishing lightly back a fourth.
    Sear followed Mask’s lead but swished her tail against the forest floor- burning the tops of the leaves briefly before they sputtered out. Hisses echoed through the treetops.

    Sear managed to keep her jaws closed as they came out into the clearing, a hard feat.
    As compared to everything that Sear had seen in her 224 years, the beings in this clearing seemed to jump out at you in color; glowing reds and rippling golds, every color that could be thought of were in these beings pelts- and more that Sear hadn’t ever thought of.
    It was hard for her to reconcile these beings with the rogues that the Lord of Darkness claimed to be better than, and even harder to think her soul was mixed with one of them.
    A sleek female came forward, her deep grey pelt rippled like the souls in the glasses she drank at the bar; her gaze was a sharp blue that seemed to cut you as it passed. Her face was accented with white under the eyes and around the muzzle, on most that would make her seem old. She glowed with life.
    “You’re back. With a friend.” Her gaze passed over Sear, analyzing her from toe to ear tip. She smiled knowingly, who did she think she was?
    “My companion, Sear.” Mask’s monotone ground against the lively air, her before rippling pelt now seemed dull compared to the others.
    The female flicked her ears at the name as if she expected another. It rose the hair on her pelt.
    “I’m Alura, as you may remember Mask.”
    “I do.”
    The name seemed oddly familiar to Sear, but resided in memories under a lock she didn’t want to open.

    There was banging in the vents.
    The wolves all seemed to crane their necks towards the noise, it was a miracle there wasn’t a mortal rushing in right now.
    The grate over the vent burst forward, freeing from its bolts and hovering shortly before it clanged against the floor.
    A trio of wolves came out of the vents mouth, streaming down in an awkward line; the lead bending the metal under his paws to slide out into steps. The others followed such steps.
    At this point, both Silvia and Luna had been through the double doors and thrown into their cages.
    Luna’s stripes now blazed an angry red against her brown fur.
    A similar brown fae jumped down to her cage, her expression broadcasting her worry, “Luna?”
    “Lucy?”
    “I’m going to get you out of here-” Lucy panicked, fiddling with the latch to open the crate.
    The burly male wolf of the three strode towards Nelson, “I’m Argus, and I’m your protector.” And with that, the crate door flew off its’ hinges.
    “Can you not make all this racket, or at least get out of here quickly.” A female seemed exasperated were she stood.
    “My apologies Grace, let me speed up the process.” Argus then blew all the doors off their hinges from the crates, well maybe blew isn’t how to describe it- as he was bending the metal to do so.
    The other wolves uninvolved looked around in terror, waiting for someone to make a move.
    Then as the Symbols moved towards the vents- all hell broke loose.
    The Symbols and their Protectors managed to make it into the vent ahead of everyone else, and they all sprang out into the open in a flood of fur and clashing bodies.
    Everyone then dispersed, getting to their paws and running off in various directions- the Symbols and their Protectors stood for a moment and let them disperse before making a break for it themselves.
    And of course, the mortals broke out after them- though they used the door.
    “Catch them!” A slender man in a disheveled lab coat shouted from the depths of the building, and out came the scientists- even the one who wanted a new job.
    They immediately honed in on the Symbols and their Protectors, and they of course- ran.

Description

Chapter 1

    “What?!” The new Turnee sat gaping in shock at the two Elites before him, Sear smirked slyly and Shame. Her face looked physically pained by the news they had delivered.
    The Turnee sputtered for a few more minutes, about how unfair the deal was and how it should have been explained more. Sear studied her nails in boredom, letting them run out of words. Shame, kept rubbing her arms with her hands nervously, hard to believe she was the superior here.
    “I know, I know but-” Shame was at a loss as she groped the air trying to find the right words for it.
    “You’re fucked,” Sear cut in instead, to her partner's annoyance and the Turnees’ shock. “There is no ‘out’” She made air quotes sarcastically around the word, “Your soul was taken, and now you have a hollow one. And you run on a clock. The only way to make sure you DON’T starve to death is to stick with the ever gracious Lord of Darkness.”
    “But-but, what about the deal? Aren’t I supposed to be stronger, and s-stuff?” The Turnee was stumbling now, Sear merely rolled her eyes.
    “You are stronger, and you can shift to a wolf form that is rather large and you get all of the benefits his Lord promised. You just didn’t hear the negatives, a mistake all of us,” Sear gestured to herself and Shame to punctuate, “have made. Now you just need to deal with it.”
    She slid a glass across the counter, a silver liquid sloshed in its insides. “Now drink.”
    The Turnee did as he was told, treating the beer sized glass like a shot glass. His shoulders immediately slumped, as his whole body relaxed. “What was that?”
    “A soul,” She smirked.
    He gagged, but there were no remnants of the liquid.
    “Congrats,” Shame piped out, her awkward nature belying the imposing figure she really was.
    “Toodles~” Sear waved her fingers playfully as she popped him out of the bar.
    Shame sighed in relief, slumping on a stool “How do you do that so easily?”
    Sear laughed, “Extrovert vs. Introvert as the mortals put it.”
    Shame laughed along with her, “To bad work is the only time we can spend together,”
    Sear wiggled her eyebrows playfully at that, Shame merely shoved the implications away, “I’m straight Sear,”
    “And a shame that is I say.” That earned her a hard shove, she was one of the few beings that didn’t die on contact with Shame. “Looks like we have another on the way…” She was cut off by the appearance of the real Top Ass, Mask; an imposingly towering figure, her movements machine-like as if every move was deliberately decided. “Or we are being graced, by Madame's glorious presence.”
    A low chuckle came out from behind the pale yellow mask, the golden eyes lighting up for a moment. But it was fleeting, as she didn’t put much effort into keeping up an emotion, as it was mostly hidden anyway.
    “His Lord is requesting your presence Shame,” Mask’s monotone never failed to raise the goosebumps on Sears’ olive tone skin.
    “And why didn’t he just zap me there?” Shame acted irritated, as a shield fell over her pale features before she flashed herself out.
    “Because I need to talk to you,” Mask sat rigidly where Shame had been, answering Shame’s question to Sear. An odd habit that the group of them had gotten into when one flashed out with a bidding remark.
    As she seated herself, a glass filled with the silver liquid sloshed ominously a straw swirling around in the thick contents, no trace of the bartender that must have dropped it off. She ignored it.
    “Oh, Sweetness?” Sear leaned an arm playfully on the counter, propping her hand up under her chin playfully. As she sloshed her own glass around in her opposite hand the sound making mortals nearby stand a bit more rigid.
    Mask remained impassive, “Speaking factually, I don’t have your charisma.” Sear rolled her eyes, “But, I need someone who does have it.”
    “Oh? You have my interest,” Sear’s sly smirk turned into a devilish grin as she took a sip from the glass.
    “The LoD has been stepping on too many tails so to speak,” Her golden eyes lighted with venom, a surprising feat considering her face was mostly obscured.
    “Oo, so what was it that pushed you a little too far? Blow up home?”
    Mask ignored the obvious jab, “Actually, it’s more who I didn’t blow up.”
    “Even better,” Sear had an odd light to her eyes, that didn’t really surprise Mask. Everyone in this life got that odd look.
    “He tried to get me to blow the last Resort of Energeia,”
    “Wait I thought they were just rogues?” Of course, she cut in with her first contradiction, the glass lost its swirl.
    “They are, but due to pack nature, some have made small groups. This Resort is what the Energeia like to call living together because they aren’t a pack because they don’t have anyone specific leader. But, they’re still deadly.”
    “So of course he sent you, the Big Gun.” Sear grinned, Mask merely rolled her eyes.
    “But, you know how I give my spiel before blowing the joint about the LoD and all that?” Sear nodded.
“Well, the Energeia laughed and it wasn’t the usual, ‘har, har, you can’t do that’ like I’m used to. Instead, they asked ‘Why the hell are you even with this guy?’. Which is true.”
    Mask always seemed to have to assure things were true and factual, even without being questioned.
    “So?” Sear gestured with the turn of her hand to continue.
    “The Energeia want to get us to turn on the LoD, and I’m not entirely opposed.”
    That got Sear to drop her smirk, as she looked at Mask with a tilt to her eyes. Scrutinizing. “Is this a test?”
    “No.”
    Another fact about Mask: She rarely lied.
    “Do you have a plan?” She quirked a brow, taking another sip.
    “No.” Mask shook her head deliberately left to right once as if it was learned gesture.
    “You want me to help though?”
    Up-down, once.
    Sear sighed, “What makes you think I, will help you?” and she could have sworn Mask smiled, something impossible to really know when her mask didn’t have a slit for her mouth.
    “Because isn’t serving the LoD a lot like being a slave? And if potential freedom isn’t enough, why isn’t helping the Energeia enough? I mean…” She drummed her fingers on the counter, “That’s what Alex would have wanted, yes?”
    “That’s low.” Sear ground her teeth together, “But, sure I’ll help.”
    “Yay.” The word ground against her monotone painfully, Shame was the one who said that most often. She was good at brightening the room, Mask..not so much.

    Stale.
    The recycled air hung still, it’s lack of movement giving the illusion of thickness.
    Large wolves, their pelts glimmering in the off yellow light. Sat with their heads on their paws in the metal cages lining the corridor.
    A white fae hung limply in a mortal's arms, her head lolling to the side back and forth.
A low growl swallowed the room, drawing the mortals eyes to gleaming orange ones. The mortal averted his gaze quickly, quickening his stride.
Somehow, even in a cage, the beast’s presence enveloped the room darkly.
“I need to find a new job…” The mortal carried her through a pair of swinging doors.
The dark furred wolf leaned uneasily from side to side, his fire like gaze trying to find something to burn; no wood, nothing but metal lined the walls- barren of any life. The only flammable objects were themselves and he wasn’t about to burn living beings.
“They’re smart, they only took Elementals that can’t control metal.”
    He jerked suddenly, his feral like look directing towards the voice.
    “Relax Porky, I mean no harm; not like I could do any at this point.” A brown fae with zips of blue against her fur; sat against the side of her cage. Her snout peeking out through the bars in his direction.
    “And how can I relax?! They have her!” He began beating against the sides of his cage with his bulky strength, all it earned was a startled yelp from someone on the other side.
    She sighed, “Ya, they do. But you can’t do anything, as you can probably notice now; you can’t bend the metal that easily. It’s some Chiroptera crafted metal; only an Earth Elemental could potentially shift it. And at that point well, I guess you have to hope your Earth bud is more concerned with minerals than flowers.”
    He sat reluctantly down, growling at the lack of dents; “Name.”
    “What?”
    “What’s your name?” The question was more like a command, said in a dead like tone.
    “Luna, what’s yours?” She cocked her muzzle to the right through her bars.
    “Drayko.”
    Thickly laid quiet laid on the corridor, only the sound of breathing and occasional fur against metal.
    Till a loud bang ricocheted off the walls, “What?!”
    A blonde wolf was now laying with his head covered by his paws, “Really Luna?”
    “I was bored.”
    “So you nosed my paw!?”
    “It was in front of my face, the temptation was too much.”
    The white fae was carried back out into the corridor, her pelt now swirled in silver; a ‘K’ imprinted on her forehead.
    They threw her in roughly in the cage next to Drayko, the metal making a wobble sound.
    “Silvia?” He asked tentatively, but his voice was still oddly monotone.
    She groaned, but remained silent; Drayko passed a worried look to Luna. She wasn’t sure why, but it made a ripple of a shiver move through her pelt.
    The wingless that needed a new job; now walked in with a brown male. A green pattern circling his left ankle. He thrashed rather harshly, the anesthetic obviously not working as well on him.
    A second wingless came over, seeing the look of distress on his partners face as he tried to keep a grip on the beast. And stabbed, not slid, another tranquilizer into the male- his body went limp.
    “Thanks.”
    “Anytime brother,” The other wingless clapped him on the back, before walking off to whatever duty he had. Leaving the new job guy to walk through the double doors.
    “Damn mortals,” Drayko growled, his voice was low and rumbled, it seemed hard to distinguish his growls and his speaking voice.
    “This- is why I like the Barren Realms, don’t have to deal with this.” The blonde male piped up, his accent seems to ignore some grammar points.
    “But here you are, why did you venture to Orias when you got nabbed?” Luna smirked up at him, “This is Lucky, just so you know.”
    “I didn’t venture out...but I wasn’t with my pack, staying with our kind keeps us safe. And this proves my point!”
    “Lucky, I was a rogue for quite awhile before I was nabbed. I don’t think this is because you left your precious pack..I’m thinking it has to do with our physical traits.” Luna thought out loud, drawing Drayko’s attention.
    But he oddly didn’t seem overly surprised by the why he just leaned against the metal he now shared with Silvia.
    A groan came from her cage, “The mortals aren’t doing this alone.” Her voice had a lilt, as she spoke with factual clarity.
    “And how do you know? I don’t put it past a Wingless to try to abduct some of us.”
    A shift from her cage, as she moved to stand, “No, Wingless are known for believing in our kind, Elementals, even more than the other species. A Mani is in there.” A sudden crash came from her cage.
    “Silvia?” Drayko tried to peer around, but could barely fit his snout through the bars.
    “She passed out.” Luna, had a look of concentration etched on her face, “A Mani?”
    “A species that mainly lives with the Chiroptera, but why would they be working with Wingless?”
    “Power. Greed. Why else?” Luna seemed quick to jump to that conclusion.
    “But, the Chiroptera and the Mani have been working and living together for ages- you know how the Chiroptera got the idea they were born from Dragons rather than bats? That was the Mani.” Drayko explained, leaning against the back of his cage.
    “So obviously they're manipulative, so they probably want more power!”
    “No, the Chiroptera and the Wingless don’t get along well, it would be too risky for the Mani to break that connection with the Chiroptera- especially since I can smell Clera on these guys.” Drayko curled his lip in disgust at the thought of Clera.
    “Clera?” Luna cocked her head, still confused.
    “You really don’t know much about the Mortal Realm, do you? Clera is the country run by the Terrere Clan of Cato, the only guys in the Mortal Realm that still harbor slaves- known for their Bird Men. They are worse to Aves, but of course, the Chiroptera hate them as well. It wouldn’t make sense for Mani to risk everything by partnering with Clera..”
    “You’re thinkin' way too big here, your girl said ‘a’ Mani. Meaning one. And we’ve only seen two Wingless, this could just be a ragtag group of mad scientists.” Lucky was leaning out of his cage again, his slender build aloud his legs to hang out to his elbows, and his chin rested on one of the cross bars.
    Drayko’s ear flicked on your, but said nothing about it, “In the Mortal Realm to go against your Clans will is to go against your Clan, just like Elementals with your pack; are you suggesting that this group of mortals abandoned their Clans, for this?” He gestured broadly with his paw to the cages lining the corridor. “If that’s true that means whatever they're doing behind those double doors to us, is really important to them.”

    Nelson awoke on the other side of the doors, immediately struggling his legs were locked by metal clamps; two on each leg, one around his neck, and one around his muzzle. His green eyes widened.
    “Ahh, you realize you should have worked on your metal a little bit more?” A tall male came forward, cackling as he spoke. He flicked the syringe in his hand, causing the green liquid to shift around in sickeningly slow movements.
    He tried to respond, but it came out muffled and gurgled behind his maw- but with the deep angry sound you didn’t have to guess much what he wanted to say.
    “Well, at least you’ll be going to a good cause yes?” Closing in with a grin, the male put his hand on Nelson’s forehead; guiding the syringe into his skin, “Let’s hope your trustworthy, yes?”
    A burn lacerated his skull, he tried to cry out but it only rumbled in his throat. It traveled through his body almost whimsically if not for the pain, until it found his left leg. It encircled it harshly, almost hissing in his mind as it latched onto him.
    It wound up his foreleg, with the intricacy of art- but Nelson only wanted it to stop.
    ‘Hello there, friend.’

“So, this is it?”
Mask gave Sear a droll look, they now stood as wolves; their frames sleek belying their size.
“Yes, but we’re still outside the forest; are you eager to enter?” Mask flicked her tail, her fur was a constant ripple of gold and white with a drab dull yellow beneath it. Some called her pretty, Sear had seen better.
“I’m ready when you are.”
Mask nodded, taking the lead as Sear followed. She made sure to burn her footprints in the ground.
“So...you trust these guys?” It was hard for Sear to remain quiet, and easy for Mask to do such.
“Trust is a heavy word. No, I do not.” Her monotone was as constant as ever, Sear rolled her eyes.
    “But we’re still meeting these guys?”
    “Are you scared?” In wolf form her mask only covered the top half of her face, so as she turned to look back, Sear could see the twitch of a smirk. Maybe that’s why she preferred being a wolf.
    “Of course I’m not scared, just rationalizing it all.”
    “Of course, why would Sear be scared? Silly me.”
    Their walk turned back to quiet, but the presence had shifted. Something was watching.
    Mask remained quiet about it as she walked, her tail swishing lightly back a fourth.
    Sear followed Mask’s lead but swished her tail against the forest floor- burning the tops of the leaves briefly before they sputtered out. Hisses echoed through the treetops.

    Sear managed to keep her jaws closed as they came out into the clearing, a hard feat.
    As compared to everything that Sear had seen in her 224 years, the beings in this clearing seemed to jump out at you in color; glowing reds and rippling golds, every color that could be thought of were in these beings pelts- and more that Sear hadn’t ever thought of.
    It was hard for her to reconcile these beings with the rogues that the Lord of Darkness claimed to be better than, and even harder to think her soul was mixed with one of them.
    A sleek female came forward, her deep grey pelt rippled like the souls in the glasses she drank at the bar; her gaze was a sharp blue that seemed to cut you as it passed. Her face was accented with white under the eyes and around the muzzle, on most that would make her seem old. She glowed with life.
    “You’re back. With a friend.” Her gaze passed over Sear, analyzing her from toe to ear tip. She smiled knowingly, who did she think she was?
    “My companion, Sear.” Mask’s monotone ground against the lively air, her before rippling pelt now seemed dull compared to the others.
    The female flicked her ears at the name as if she expected another. It rose the hair on her pelt.
    “I’m Alura, as you may remember Mask.”
    “I do.”
    The name seemed oddly familiar to Sear, but resided in memories under a lock she didn’t want to open.

    There was banging in the vents.
    The wolves all seemed to crane their necks towards the noise, it was a miracle there wasn’t a mortal rushing in right now.
    The grate over the vent burst forward, freeing from its bolts and hovering shortly before it clanged against the floor.
    A trio of wolves came out of the vents mouth, streaming down in an awkward line; the lead bending the metal under his paws to slide out into steps. The others followed such steps.
    At this point, both Silvia and Luna had been through the double doors and thrown into their cages.
    Luna’s stripes now blazed an angry red against her brown fur.
    A similar brown fae jumped down to her cage, her expression broadcasting her worry, “Luna?”
    “Lucy?”
    “I’m going to get you out of here-” Lucy panicked, fiddling with the latch to open the crate.
    The burly male wolf of the three strode towards Nelson, “I’m Argus, and I’m your protector.” And with that, the crate door flew off its’ hinges.
    “Can you not make all this racket, or at least get out of here quickly.” A female seemed exasperated were she stood.
    “My apologies Grace, let me speed up the process.” Argus then blew all the doors off their hinges from the crates, well maybe blew isn’t how to describe it- as he was bending the metal to do so.
    The other wolves uninvolved looked around in terror, waiting for someone to make a move.
    Then as the Symbols moved towards the vents- all hell broke loose.
    The Symbols and their Protectors managed to make it into the vent ahead of everyone else, and they all sprang out into the open in a flood of fur and clashing bodies.
    Everyone then dispersed, getting to their paws and running off in various directions- the Symbols and their Protectors stood for a moment and let them disperse before making a break for it themselves.
    And of course, the mortals broke out after them- though they used the door.
    “Catch them!” A slender man in a disheveled lab coat shouted from the depths of the building, and out came the scientists- even the one who wanted a new job.
    They immediately honed in on the Symbols and their Protectors, and they of course- ran.