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In the depths of the abyss, a roaring howl swept across the darkness as two shadows stepped before a colossal pillar of swirling flames. One was Martin, thin and grey with his staff; the other Lucas, tall and looming with his muscular neck.

"Great chief," the brachio bowed until his head reached his foot, "we fought against the infidel, her companions wore us down but she is wounded."

[b][i]"Did she follow you?"[/i][/b]

A pair of jaws burned with dripping teeth from the column.

[b][i]"Does that heathen plan to tread in our domain?"[/i][/b]

"Indeed," said Martin bowing in turn to lean on his cane, "the half-spirit that broke her free is continuing to assist her, along with Charles Henderson."

[b][i]"Disgraceful."[/i][/b] His voice rumbled like the apocalypse. [b][i]"To think in our age we have to tolerate these infidels who would disturb our ascension."[/i][/b]

"What would you have us do?" asked Lucas.

[b][i]"Stay here and rest. I'd prefer they would have been dealt with, but the sooner you regain your strength the better you'll fight alongside me."[/i][/b]

"Of course," said Martin smiling, "we would be honoured to guard the gates of paradise, oh great chief."

[b][i]"Salvation will come soon, my paklah. For we are all sons of Cxulubcah..."[/i][/b]

The face of a raptor formed from the flames.

[b][i]"And those who dare stand against us, shall BURN like the vermin that took our home."[/i][/b]

=============

"MARY! MARY?!"

Charlie's voice boomed through the passage as he flicked on the light from his hand.

"MARY, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

[i]MARYYYY![/i]

Kirie floated past with Reza beside them.

[i]MARY, PLEASE COME BACK! MARYYYY![/i]

"God," Charlie raised his orb to cast shadows on the wall, "at least she won't get hurt down in Pa'nectacec, even with those Pangaeist fucks."

[i]You seem to know those two.[/i]

The haunter turned back to him.

[i]That one in the grey cloak, he looked exactly like James right down to the markings.[/i]

"I don't know him personally, but," the trike snarled shaking his head, "Martin Campbell was his name so that means he's Gerald's family, he said he was Mary's nephew."

[i]She mentioned before that Gerald's family were cultists, yes?[/i]

"There's this religion back home called Pangaeism, saurians like me and them, we were revived and modified to be more...modern, I guess."

[i]Revived?[/i]

She blinked shaking her head.

[i]What do you mean revived?[/i]

"It musta been almost two-thousand years ago in my world but, there was this big war and most of the humans died when they were the only uh...sapient species in the world. So this doctor, he does a bunch of experiments to, 'give the planet back to Nature', so he basically made a whole buncha anthros with human-like traits, so they could look after the planet his kind fucked over."

[i]Experiments?! That sounds...poorly thought-out I must say.[/i]

"Well it worked, we dunno how cuz most of the records got lost or destroyed over time. But then, I guess someone in his group found a way to revive fossils from ancient dinosaurs so me and Gerald and Mary's ancestors were all part of the anthros too-"

[i]AH! Yes![/i]

She clapped her hands with a grin.

[i]Like the research on Cinnabar Island yes, alright I understand![/i]

"Uhhh, kay?" Charlie shrugged as he kept walking. "So this religion called Pangaeism, the thing about saurians like us, is because we came out of fossils our ancestral memories are more...fresh, I guess? So they do a lotta rituals to try and reconnect with their ancestors, and for the most part it's pretty harmless stuff you just go in a room and smell things and meditate, it's kinda hippy really."

[i]But this group that Gerald's family are with are different?[/i]

"Yes." He nodded as they turned round the corner. "Their rituals are a lot more extreme, with actual fire and putting you in a cage to 'test your mettle' and whatever bullshit they call it. Gerald's dad was a real fucking asshole, he was harsh but a little fair to Gerald back when he was a kid, but then after he failed the ritual at sixteen, he beat the shit out of him constantly."

[i]I see.[/i]

Kirie sighed with a regretful look as Reza headed onwards.

[i]Do you think his father sent those two to stop us?[/i]

"I wouldn't put it past him," Charlie clenched his teeth, "every day he treated him like shit, took control over his whole fucking life. I only met Gerald's parents once, and they were both fucking scum, that's why I got him that job at Termon & Termon, that's why I went for that offer for us to leave home, away from his family."

[i]You chose an entire career path just to help your friend?[/i]

"What would you have done?!" He spread his arms as the light suddenly shifted. "They woulda killed him, or god knows he'd kill himself, I had to save him!"

[i]No, I understand. I agree with you. You're a good friend, Charlie.[/i]

"Not good enough." He walked past with a snort. "Couldn't save him in London."

[i]Stop it.[/i]

Her hand slapped against his chest.

[i]You cannot blame yourself for everything in his life, you may have offered to be his keeper, but punishing yourself for what was beyond your control will not help him or yourself.[/i]

"I just have to find him. I'll only be happy when I get him free."

[i]Until then, we search for Mary. If both of them are lost, then all is lost.[/i]

"Why?"

He turned to the haunter as the shark looked back to them with a cringe.

"I don't know who you are, and to be honest I still don't trust you."

[i]I told you before, I am a friend of Mary's son and I am paying back a debt![/i]

"That's not good enough for me."

[i]I do not care about your approval, I care about Mary![/i]

"How the shit do you even know her kid?!"

[i]When we FIND Mary I'll tell you, alright?![/i]

"...right."

He felt Reza pat his arm and point towards the cave exit, stepping out onto a rain-slick precipice. Far as the eye could see, there were hills upon hills full of graves beneath the constant storm where creatures walked in and out of open crypts, each one having stairs built into the dirt where they ventured down below.

"Woah," Charlie gasped, "I didn't think this place was THAT big."

[i]To contain that many souls I am not surprised but...what is this place?[/i]

"Pa'nectacec," he explained walking down the slope, "where those who accept their crimes, or despise themselves for deeper flaws, come to rest together."

[i]Together? Why?[/i]

"Everyone here knows what they did, or what they are. There's no judgments here, just knowing your deeds are done, and your body is gone. Your only punishment is you never see your loved ones again."

He realised his words as he clutched himself. Kirie grabbed his shoulder with Reza doing the same.

[i]I'm sorry Charlie. I need you to stay with us, alright? We cannot lose sight, Mary and Gerald are beyond here, we MUST find them.[/i]

"Alright...yeah." He pinched the horn of his snout. "You're right, they matter first."

The shark took his hand with a smile, squeezing his fingers tight as the trike nodded gently. Stepping around the gravestones where names had been scoured out of existence, they saw no church, no mosque, no synagogue beyond the eternal cemetery. Every tomb was the same, none smaller nor greater across these darkened hills where the moon shone upon their backs. Some spirits sat on stone benches beside each other, young and old, soldiers and barbarians, parents and loners. The road was long and marked by fences with twisted spikes, bent out of shape as paths spread through the necropolis where old trees cracked and bowed in the bitter winds. Thunder was on the horizon yet it never came, the constant rain drenching their heads to replace their tears. There was sorrow, there was regret, but in the end all who would pass became oddly content with sombre smile, from blood-stained hands to broken-glass feet.

"It's so cold," Charlie shook his head, "even when I couldn't feel it before."

[i]These hills stretch on forever...so many have accepted their sins.[/i]

[i]"Not all of us have sins."[/i]

They turned towards a female voice.

[i]"Some of us just failed to do our best, and have accepted our weakness."[/i]

On the muddied ground was a white crocodile, feral with black stains of the earth covering her belly with eyes of pink glistening beneath the moon. Charlie stepped back cautious as Kirie floated forth.

[i]Have you seen a raptor in dark jeans with purple shirt, has green eyes?[/i]

[i]"She went that way,"[/i] the croc pointed with her snout, [i]"friends down here are very few."[/i]

[i]Who are you, exactly?[/i]

[i]"I have forgotten my name. So too has the world, for I was the last of my race."[/i]

[i]The last? You are-[/i]

[i]"Extinct."[/i] She nodded. [i]"I did not do better, I did not do more for I did not realise how vital it was to keep my kin alive. Now I adorn the feet of my killers, my flesh preserved as a trophy smeared in dirt."[/i]

[i]How...horrible.[/i]

She hovered close and stroked the beast's head.

[i]I am sorry-[/i]

[i]"Do not mourn for me."[/i] She dragged herself away. [i]"Mourn for those who know nothing of their holocaust, those too vain and short-sighted to understand the cost. They will die too, unloved and forgotten, for that is my only comfort. At least here, they built a grave for me."[/i]

The croc walked down to her resting place, settling into the earth as Charlie shook his head and went to where she pointed. There were birds, there were dogs, there were children but all walked the same path bereft of their will, calm in the solace they took of their own personal failures. On a hill beside a tree, gazing towards the endless sea of epitaphs, was Mary by herself with her colours soon fading.

"MARY!"

She didn't turn when he ran up to her side.

"Oh thank god you're alright, come on let's find someplace to rest an-"

"Naw. Whit's thuh point?"

She hunched forwards as the pale blood dripped from her stomach.

"Ah promised ah wouldnae leave him, ah swore oan mah life an' ah failed him."

"But, you didn't!" Charlie gasped. "You never left him, you stayed together even I know that!"

"Doesnae fuckin' matter, ah cannae be with him in this other world, he's oot there sufferin' from them cultist pricks an' ah cannae be there thuh ONE TIME he needs me!"

"BUT YOU WERE!" he grabbed her shoulders to face him. "Mary, please don't tell me you're giving up."

"I...Charlie. Ah cannae do it."

"Why not?!"

"Because ah failed him!" she tried to shout with weakened voice. "You didnae promise him, on the altar, you were there you remember whut ah said!"

"I do," he nodded.

"Ah didnae just fail him, ah broke a promise that ah would never leave him!"

"But it wasn't your fault!"

"Doesnae matter!" she punched her knees with a tightening chest. "He's, s-suffering doon there an' ah wuz supposed tae be there with him!"

[i]Then why aren't you?[/i]

Kirie floated in front of her face.

[i]What happened when you died, how did you get separated?[/i]

"A-ah dunno...he...he just walked, tae sumplace through thuh dark an' ah tried tae stop him, but then there wuz this fire, it kept blowin' in front o' me, ah wuz scared alright, ah fuckin' panicked cuz ah just fuckin' died an' noo he's bein' TORTURED cuz ah wuz too weak!"

"Mary...listen."

Charlie sat down beside and took her hand.

"I didn't know what happened 'til like WEEKS after, do you know how much that fucking killed me?"

"Charlie, I-"

"No, listen, I have to say that. I talked with your folks, they heard nothing aboot you either until we saw it on the news. People had done protests, demanding the government pay oot to families that died in the riot, and they said there was one family they weren't even allowed to talk aboot because of...something, so I called the protest group and well, found out it was your address."

"You...came tae find us?" she blinked.

"I tried. Your parents and I, but the government, the police they wouldn't tell us, they wouldn't even give us your names, they denied you ever died because your fucking company didn't want to lose stocks announcing one of their head scientists was dead!"

"Wh-...what?" Her eyes dripped as she clutched herself. "They...they didnae even talk aboot mah death, n-not even Anseed?!"

"No, there was nothing." Charlie shook his head. "I knew it was you and Gerald, the way they talked aboot it I thought James had gone too...but I had no lead, the group I talked to said they only knew a family had died, but not even the firefighters on the scene were allowed to tell anyone so...I couldn't find you. I couldn't find Gerald, and I couldn't even find James, who I thought had died until TODAY when SHE tells me he's alive!"

[i]Me?[/i]

Kirie gasped when Henderson pointed at her.

"I thought you all died, I thought...even your son was gone. I could never forgive myself, your parents were in grief and we had a funeral just for you and Gerald and James, but we had no f-f-fucking bodies to bury, your graves are a fucking lie, I had to watch your names be carved into stone, and it's a [i]FUCKING LIE![/i]"

He bowed with shivering heart as his body shook with tearful rage. Reza stepped up to his side and stroked down his back to try and soothe him.

"I wanted to see you all again...I wanted, t-to say I was sorry, for not being there, so you don't think, I don't fucking know how you feel?!"

"No, Charlie ah didnae say tha-"

"YOU'RE AT LEAST TRYING! YOU'RE DOING BETTER THAN ME, I WALLOWED IN DESPAIR AND GOT TRICKED INTO BEING A SLAVE!"

"If it wuznae fer her ah'd be stuck in a forest!" She gestured to Kirie.

"So, we both screwed up! That just means we gotta fix it, right?!"

"But I...I-i-"

"Mary...please, don't give up. Please."

His hand tightened on hers with a deep breath.

"I didn't get this far on my own, I was too weak but you...you got here, you managed, you fought off that golem in Patrelli's place, and those cultist assholes you took down with those, crazy powers you froze out a fucking tsunami!"

"Ah just want tae see him again."

"And we will. But I need you Mary. Gerald needs you. We're going together, I was in the worst state and I could do nothing aboot it because I was trapped in this debt, and you broke me oot the first thing you did!"

"Well...couldnae just leave oor bestie."

She smiled with a growing smirk.

"Who else...would ah hauv tae share lewd things aboot?"

"Hhhah...hahah, y-yeah, or make Gerald all embarrassed everytime we tease about how damn cute he is?"

"Aye...god he's fuckin' adorable."

"He so is."

He pulled her into a hug as Mary kissed him on the cheek.

"We're such a couple o' fannies aye?"

"Yeah, always twisting our horns over one dude."

"Ah mean, he's worth it, he's sweet an' kind an' never does wrang by you."

"The smartest bluenoser I ever met."

"...ah want us tae be together, when we find him."

"...I'd like that too." He hugged her again. "You uh, okay with that, like a sorta commune thing?"

"Of course, he needs you much as much as he needs me. Much as ah need him. Ahm so glad to see you again Charlie."

"I'm glad to see you too...Mary."

They stood up together and turned towards Kirie and Reza, both of them nodding with a smile in return as they looked across the endless tombs. Searching for local friendly faces, they asked around for any sightings of the brachiosaur in black and the wounded raptor in grey. Creatures from every walk of life, every century of every world they saw from hardened crusaders to sickly farmers, suit-and-tie CEOs with blackened hands of ash, alongside tribal warriors from ancient lands.

[i]When we find Gerald, how can we leave this isle?[/i]

"Reza's got contacts," Charlie thumbed to the shark, "Still don't get why we can't just fly."

"Ah know ah been askin' thuh same thing!" Mary shrugged looking to Kirie. "How do you even travel back hame so you can start hauntin' stuff?!"

[i]As I said before, some spirits never leave home due to unfinished business.[/i]

The haunter swept her hands wide.

[i]The Farplane works in mysterious ways, a cliche I know but one that's true nonetheless.[/i]

"She's right," Charlie nodded with Rez giving a thumbs up, "stuff just appears round here when ya need it, nothing gets built anymore, it's like it's always been here, that's why Reza's not too beat-up about his boat since another one'll come by."

[i]How did he become a ferryman of the dead?[/i]

"I mean...you can ask him."

The sailor shrugged with a patient nod as Mary scratched her head.

"Still really want tae fly though, could be like Peter Pan an' just head aff tae thuh stars."

[i]Perhaps I can find a way.[/i]

Kirie grinned to her with a mischievous glint.

[i]I shall find a way, once we rescue Gerald.[/i]

"Scuse me!"

The trike approached a small rabbit in knight's armour.

"Sorry to bother you but can I ask you something?"

"Of course, kupo."

He turned with soulful eyes and a red bauble hanging glum behind his ears.

"How can I help you?"

"We're trying to find this long-necked guy in a black cloak, reptilian, carrying someone that looks like her in a grey cloak in his arms."

"Ah, yes." He smiled leaning on his shovel. "In the valley of the shadow of death, there lies the Hall of Zealots kupo. That is where all their type lives."

"Thuh whit of zealots?" Mary grimaced.

"Those whose beliefs were so unshaken, so deeply-rooted in their nature that for better or worse they died attesting to it. Saints and murderers alike share that space kupo, I have seen the two you speak of come and go from there."

"Can you take us there?"

"Gladly, kupo."

He dug out his shovel from a grave he was digging, despite being shorter than the tombstone beside him as he gestured them to follow, heading down the hills and into the valley where the light of the moon did not reach, nor the gasping winds that crept over the land as the smell of burning came thick in their nostrils. Charlie felt sick to his stomach, Mary cringing as they walked through the deepest point of Pa'nectacec with the triceratops holding a light in his palm to keep track of where they went. The knight led them on as they came upon the front of an old temple, a facade of several pillars sculpted from a deep amber stone with archaic inscriptions of a jumbled language embedded across the top, where two imposing guards stood at its front.

"There," he pointed to the entrance, "they guard it well for only the purest of faith to enter."

"So how do we get in?" asked Charlie.

"Sometimes I have had to point others this way, and I noticed that there is an old part of the wall to the left side that is broken enough to squeeze through, kupo."

"Well, not sure aboot myself," he looked down at his large withered frame, "I'm pretty big-boned."

"Whit if they recognise us?" Mary asked. "They ken oor faces an' Reza's nae a saurian."

[i]I can disguise both of you.[/i]

Kirie wagged a finger as her bell tingled in the dark.

[i]I can form myself into a cloak of shadows for only both of you, similar to the ones Martin and Lucas had.[/i]

"Alrigh' but-"

She felt Reza tap her shoulder as he stepped up between her and Charlie, pointing to himself and then to their guide.

"Wait, what?" the trike blinked. "You...Rez you wanna do this?"

He nodded taking Charlie's hands, kissing them before kissing his lips and pointing towards the temple.

"Are you sure? I mean, I know you and I are, but Gerald, he-"

Reza put a hand on his shoulder and nodded solemnly. He smiled wider with gills swelling up in a breath before pointing back the way they came and motioning a boat riding up into the stars.

"Uh...a-alright, sure, go ahead!"

"I wish you luck on your venture," the knight bowed to them, "I hope your friend is safe, kupo."

"Thank you, uh...what was your name?"

"That matters not anymore. Be safe."

Reza stayed back sitting on the hill next to their guide, looking over towards three shapes slinking to the side of the temple. Kirie slipped in first to check no one was around before motioning Mary and Charlie to crawl through the gap with Henderson last.

"Sh-shit, I knew this would-"

"Just suck yer gut in a bit!"

"I don't HAVE a gut anymore!"

"Och fuck's sake c'mere!"

She rubbed her hands and smeared an exceptionally slippery liquid around the hole in the wall, coating Charlie's bulk as her and Kirie pulled him inside with ease.

"HOO! Thank you, what was that stuff?"

"Lubricant," she grinned widely, "Ahm well-experienced with that."

"Hahaha, ohhh I know for sure though this is the first time you ever lubed me."

"Mmmmm but will it be thuh last?"

"That's up to you an' Gerald," he waggled his eyebrows.

[i]Are you...did you...[/i]

Kirie motioned between them.

"Naw we never fucked," Mary shook her head with a smirk, "just me an' Charlie love tae tease."

"Gerald gets all flusterdorable when we do it," he rolled his eyes, "but no we'd never do it...unless-"

"If he wanted tae! If he doesnae then that's all it is, just flirtin' between pals."

[i]And he is alright with this?[/i]

The haunter cocked her head with a curious grin.

"Oh aye, he kens we'd never do anythin' withoot him."

"Yeah we don't overdo it," Charlie walked past waved his hand, "we're just teasing but we're both there for him first and he knows that."

[i]I see.[/i]

Kirie nodded following behind them.

[i]He is very lucky to have you both.[/i]

"Thanks," the raptor patted her, "yer a good friend tae, ahm glad mah son met you."

[i]I am too! And I have to say again you are very like him, almost frighteningly so![/i]

"Oh aye, how so?"

[i]Well firstly your anger, he had quite the temper on him and the fights he went through he always came out rather-[/i]

"SHH!"

Charlie motioned them quiet as he pointed to the ancient hall of zealots, resembling an Egyptian ruin with tall imperial statues on either side, holding weapons with glowing lights imprinted on their chests. The yawning passage was filled with the chanting of dreaded voices, calls of prayer in various languages with a guttural depth, the hall's acoustics twisting it into that of a dragon's roar that bellowed with rancour as they stiffened their necks. The haunter grabbed their heads and turned her hands into long cloaks of deep black that draped over their bodies as they walked forwards together, hands clasped with heads bowed as they felt the presence of zealots approaching when they passed through halls that expanded to other rooms, all pertaining to different allegiances in their own different circles. The stone became yellow, false gold without the glint as they searched through the corridors that twisted into a labyrinth. There was an odd peace like the first few seconds before the firing line, the dust scattering from their feet. Kirie kept them close in her soft cold embrace as others walked on by, bowing to them in graceful passing. They tightened their chests, holding their breath until their teeth started to shake, like daggers scraping the bone as Mary looked down at her ring.

"Here," she whispered, "this is it."

"Alright," Charlie nodded, "let me handle the talking, I know all their keywords if they ask."

The hall they entered was much more primal in its aesthetic, a cavern filled with scents of an ancient past that gave the saurians a deep deja vu. The walls were covered in paintings that almost resembled photographs, giving the illusion of a rainforest that one could walk through combined with ferns and undergrowth that grew from the soft earth and pierced through cracks in the walls. The ground was warm with ashes, smothering their soles as they saw other reptilians sit in nooks, slowly regressing with slitted pupils.

"Welcome."

A fire crackled at the centre, surrounded by logs where hooded figures sat.

"Have you come to seek paradise?"

"Yes, brother," Charlie bowed, "we just arrived."

"What paklah are you from?"

"The Sons of...Janus." He looked to Mary as she nodded before they sat. "Our mission was a failure, but a few infidels are gone thanks to us."

"Hm, well met," a hood from the other side of the flames clapped his knee, "the fact you came straight here shows how sharp your senses are."

"It was necessary, on the day of...Cxu-rho-khuu SHKRIEH."

They all turned with a gasp of smiles as the raptor shivered beside him.

"Hohohohohhhh, you offered the light of Pangaea on such a sacred day?"

"That was the plan," Charlie swept his arm around Mary, "it was only the two of us so we couldn't do much, but we managed to make the world a little brighter in our passing."

"Every little helps," said one of the zealots, "what are your names?"

"Angela."

Kirie's voice drifted through Mary's hood.

"Angela...and James, Middleton."

"Hmm, where were you based?"

"Chicago...we're a small paklah, but very devoted."

"All who spread the light of Pangaea to the world are more than welcome."

They bowed as Mary stiffened her legs.

"We shall return to paradise soon."

"Soon?" Henderson leaned forwards. "We're not going now?"

"Not yet, we must fully regress, then the grand chiefs of our paklahs shall bring us each to them."

"What if...our chief is still alive?"

"We'll take care of that," said one Pangaeist waving his hand, "to spread the light of Pangaea makes you one of us, as part of one paklah."

"Thank you..." he felt Kirie tug his ear as he nodded, "we would like to find others from our group, if that's okay."

"Be our guest," the zealot gestured to the nooks, "find a place to rest...you are home now, dear brother and sister."

They stood up with a bow and headed to the depths. Mary pulled him ahead with her ring glimmering inside her coat, guiding them through the ancient world as smaller caves to the side were filled with beasts that never fought nor spoke, with eyes of feral strength and soft sniffs of the air that made them perk up with a tempering growl before Mary quickly moved on. The smell of burning grew stronger as they went down a sloping pit, a dark trembling heat that crept down their spines and raked over their skin. The light of the fire disappeared behind them as pitch black consumed them briefly, before they saw something even more strange in the depths of purgatory.

"Whit...is that?"

"Is that...no, it can't be."

It was the sun, burning bright upon their faces. It was not a warmth, but an evil eye that seethed upon their heads and left an eerie impression on the deathless wastes, the barren earth stretching to eternity with only a small camp of two tents and a fire.

"The fuck is this?"

[i]Do not question it.[/i]

Kirie slipped off their robes.

[i]There are no zealots here, and we found a good place to rest.[/i]

"Whit ya mean rest?!" Mary barked. "Gerald's still-"

"She's right." Charlie put a hand on her shoulder. "You didn't get enough rest sat oot in the rain, you need to recover."

"But, ahm fine ah jus-"

"Mary." He grabbed her firm. "We have time. You go in half-cocked we're both fucked, plus you fight far better than I do."

[i]Charlie is right.[/i]

The phantom nodded floating beside him.

[i]This is a blessing we cannot waste, you rest in the tent, one of us will keep watch.[/i]

"I vote me," he put up his hand, "you oughta rest up too, you both had a hard fight against those fucks."

[i]Are you sure?[/i]

"Yeah I'm good, you both go on and sleep."

Yawning before she could protest, Mary realised they were right and dragged herself towards the tent, her legs suddenly weak as she slipped inside and felt the roaring sun trying to punch through the folds. The raptor basked in relief from the stifled rays that soaked through her weary spirit, Charlie sitting just outside to keep watch.

[i]Mind if I keep you company?[/i]

The haunter giggled as she phased through the tent above Mary's head.

[i]I never liked sleeping alone...always felt better beside a warm body.[/i]

"Ohh aye?" she grinned matching hers. "How warm ya like it?"

[i]As long as it can satisfy me.[/i]

"Well ah warn ya, ah can keep you up all night just gabbin' away."

[i]Oh I wouldn't worry.[/i]

Her tongue slipped out to almost touch Mary's chin.

[i]I have quite the gift at pleasing others with my tongue.[/i]

"HMMMM really now?!" She thrust her head forwards with a predator's smile. "So you were right aboot what sorta energy yer tongue can release oot o' me?"

[i]Keep talking and you'll find out, Mary.[/i]

They leaned in closer. Mary's smile turned wider as did Kirie who slipped her tongue back and closed her eyes. But then she stopped herself with a grimace as she pulled back with the raptor cackling.

"HAH haha, ah win again!"

[i]What do you mean again?![/i]

"Playin' chicken wi' me, you already lost, specially tryin' tease me last time ya spoke aboot yer tongue."

[i]I did not tease you![/i]

"Aye, ya backed doon, cuz naebody oot-chickens Mary Campbell."

[i]Oh my gods you really are as arrogant as your son.[/i]

"Hmhmhahaha, you must ken him well tae say that."

[i]I do.[/i]

She looked back with a fond grin.

[i]We've fought through quite a few battles, I've spent more time than I want to admit on him.[/i]

"Whit like sum kinda project?"

[i]Yes...hmhmhm, funny.[/i]

The spectre shook her head.

[i]Both of us made James our project one way or another, not in a bad way I just find it amusing.[/i]

"Hah, that's uh...hmm." She scratched her chin rolling onto her back. "Do you think ah wuz a bad mother?"

[i]Hmm?[/i]

"Ah mean...s'not thuh best thing tae open up with, sayin' you had your son be part of an experiment, even if it wuz completely harmless an' non-invasive, all ah did wuz put a brain-scanning helmet oan him an' it synced a hunnerd percent-"

[i]Mary.[/i]

Kirie patted her side.

[i]I know the whole story, I know you loved him and did nothing to hurt him.[/i]

"Naw. That's nae true, if ah had just left with him instead o' being with Gerald I...could have given him a good life."

[i]So why didn't you?[/i]

"...ken whut ahm too tired, ahll tell you when ah wake up aye?"

[i]Alright, I'll be here. Sleep well Mary.[/i]

"You too, Kirie."

Turning onto her side she soon fell asleep, the throbbing in her arms and chest consuming her with a deep clenching pain that would slowly ebb away. Kirie looked upon her faded back, staring towards the sun's silhouette that stared back at her like an open wound. Her eyes closed as the dawn crept its fingers into her blearing sight.

[i]"Mom?"[/i]

She looked up and saw the old house.

[i]"Mom, are you alright?"[/i]

[i]"Hmm, oh yes dears I'm fine."[/i]

She turned to a group of creatures, her eyes starting to go as their shapes blurred together, but their scents of warmth ranging from tender fur to dried leather brought a smile to her face. For the first time she felt neither fear nor sadness, when the sunset turned the house from a pale visage to a golden castle.

[i]"You been sitting out here a long time, don't you wanna come in?"[/i]

[i]"Oh no no sorry, the sun is just...so beautiful today."[/i] She looked briefly back to the sky. [i]"Not seen a sunset like this in a long time."[/i]

[i]"Is the festival coming back soon?"[/i]

[i]"It always comes every year."[/i] She placed a paw upon the child's head. [i]"Think of it as a birthday for the entire city."[/i]

[i]"Do cities get birthdays too?!"[/i]

[i]"Well why not, they're alive as well aren't they?"[/i]

[i]"Alright kids, come on."[/i] A large beast motioned them inside. [i]"Mom's having her sunbathing time so go on and play."[/i]

[i]"Okay Auntie Bell!"[/i]

The gaggle of feet stampeded through the door as paws, claws and roots scuttled over the floor when Kirie felt another presence.

[i]"I can't believe you lived in this house all your life."[/i]

[i]"Well, not all of it."[/i] She looked to the shadow. [i]"I would say you've actually been here longer than I."[/i]

[i]"Hah, I guess...I was a real brat wasn't I?"[/i]

[i]"You were...but you got better, Bellissa."[/i] She nuzzled the creature as she felt the brushing of leaves. [i]"I appreciate all the hard work you put yourself through."[/i]

[i]"Well, you helped me after I evolved so, you know...hey, mom?"[/i]

[i]"Yes dear?"[/i]

[i]"...are you leaving us?"[/i]

Her eyes widened as she shifted her body in the grass.

[i]"What makes you say that?"[/i]

[i]"Well, just...I know you're getting on, I can see it in your eyes, every day you walk a little less...maybe it's because of my type but, I think I can sense when someone's about to-"[/i]

[i]"Well...I never would have thought you of all creatures could be so empathic."[/i]

She licked Bellissa's head as she rustled slightly.

[i]"I knew you were the right choice to take over from me."[/i]

[i]"I...just, you've done so much for us, you were the only one who never stopped trying to help me."[/i]

[i]"That's what a mother does dear. Sometimes that's all a child needs. Would you do me a favour?"[/i]

[i]"Sure, anything!"[/i]

[i]"Can you walk with me to the lookout point? I want to see the tower, before it gets too dark."[/i]

Bellissa nodded and stepped to Kirie's side, helping her stand as she leaned heavily against the larger beast. The soft cool vines slipped round her body, slowly lifting her up as they walked through the forest, before she became too tired when Bellissa carried her fully onto her back, the petals of a giant flower cushioning her feet. The sun disappeared briefly as they walked between the trees, before they found it again on a small hill at the edge of the forest. A city lied before them, with lanterns starting to light from old traditional houses with black slanted roofs.

[i]"Alright, we're here."[/i] Bellissa lowered her onto the grass. [i]"It's weird seeing them like that."[/i]

[i]"What do you mean?"[/i] asked Kirie.

[i]"Just never understood all their things like wearing cloth or putting wood on their feet, the houses I get because well, look at them they got no fat and no hair except on the top."[/i]

[i]"And yet we are friends with them,"[/i] she nodded, [i]"they might not always understand us, but they know that we were here first. They want to survive and enjoy life, just as much as we do."[/i]

[i]"I dunno,"[/i] Bellissa shook her leaves, [i]"I just don't get why any of us would wanna live with them."[/i]

[i]"Sometimes...we just want a friend. Some friendships are forged in the heat of battle, some are bound through kindness or charity. What matters is that whatever you do, you bring more hope to the world through your actions."[/i]

[i]"What do you mean?"[/i]

[i]"There are many reasons to fight,"[/i] Kirie sighed lifting her head, [i]"to rage against the fires of injustice, to protect those too weak to protect themselves. Not all of us can, so what we can do, is make the world more peaceful, full of hope for the future. That is why Alice set up this nursery, that is why those who live in the city live the way they do."[/i]

[i]"But...what about me?"[/i]

She felt Bellissa's body rub against her.

[i]"What should I...do? I'm scared mom. I don't wanna be alone-"[/i]

[i]"It's fine."[/i] She looked to her face. [i]"I was scared too, so I'll tell you what Alice told me. Do not let your grief destroy you. Let it be your fuel, to push you on and help others."[/i]

[i]"Like the other kids?"[/i]

[i]"Yes. You're already far more mature than I expected, you will do a much better job than I did."[/i]

[i]"N-no, no come on don't be stupid,"[/i] Bell shook her head, [i]"I-i just, I was, just following you!"[/i]

[i]"And now I choose you."[/i] She planted a paw on her face. [i]"Promise me, from this day forth, you will keep those children safe, and not let your grief consume you, but to inspire you to prevent such pain and anguish from infecting others."[/i]

[i]"I-i...m-mom, please-"[/i]

[i]"Promise me, Bellissa."[/i]

[i]"...alright. I promise."[/i]

A vine slipped round her as her voice started to shake.

[i]"I...I love you, I'm s-sorry I was such a brat-"[/i]

[i]"Shhhh it's alright, I forgive you dear. I love you too...oh. Is that..."[/i]

Her eyes started to fade.

[i]"The...the tower."[/i]

[i]"Huh, wh-what?"[/i]

[i]"They...there are birds, at the tower."[/i]

[i]"What, w-where, where are they?!"[/i]

[i]"I see them...oh, Millie. They heard you...they heard you sing..."[/i]

The sun was almost blinding as she caught sight of the tower, a grand pagoda rising above the city, soaked in amber as two shadows flew around it. One draped in silver, the other a golden hue. Bellissa never left her side, her soft cold scales pressed against her body as Kirie rolled onto her side, and felt her last breath escape from her body.

"Kirie?"

Her eyes opened once more.

"You alrigh'? You were mumblin' stuff."

[i]Yes...s-sorry.[/i]

She hovered upright to see Mary back in full colour.

[i]I was...having a dream, of something.[/i]

"Wuz it bad? Cuz you're...cryin' a wee bit."

Kirie felt a tear on her cheek that she brushed away.

[i]It was nothing, just...a memory, of when I was alive.[/i]

"Oh, a-ahm sorry, ah won't ask if it's too-"

[i]No, it's fine. I used to run a daycare centre, looking after children.[/i]

"Awww," the raptor grinned clutching her knees, "that sounds lovely."

[i]It was. I haven't thought about it in years and I almost struggle to remember their faces...but.[/i]

Her smile grew as a warmth touched her breast.

[i]I can still remember their voices, their scents, the forest and the house that we lived in.[/i]

"That's good." Mary rubbed her thighs. "Ah didnae get time tae ask, but...how do you know James?"

[i]Well I suppose I could tell you more of the story, we have time after all-[/i]

"Well, actually mah real question is...why are you daeing this?"

The raptor straightened herself to face her better.

"Don't get me wrang, ah trust you, you put yerself through a lot just to help me find Gerald an' I appreciate that, but you keep saying you owe it tae mah son tae help us, an' ah haftae ask...why? Whit do you owe mah son fer?"

[i]Alright.[/i]

She nodded with a jingling of her collar.

[i]I suppose since we're about to face the source of this, it would be a good time to put all my cards on the table. But in return, I want to ask you something.[/i]

"Ohh aye, whussat?"

[i]When you jumped into the tunnel, after we fought that Martin and Lucas...what did you mean by not leaving him to die 'again'?[/i]

The raptor stiffened her arms and pulled back with regret.

"You...you wanna know?"

[i]I'm telling you my dark secrets, only fair that I hear yours.[/i]

"Heh...alrigh'." She spread her arms. "You go first."

The haunter clasped her hands in rememberance.

[i]After I died, I travelled from place to place, forgetting who I was slowly through the passage of time. One day I found a mansion, where a girl had been locked away from the outside world being prepared for a ritual.[/i]

"Ohhh christ," Mary leaned back, "another fuckin' cult?"

[i]She was kept pure and unsullied from the world so as to be made a sacrifice, one necessary to prevent a great evil. She accepted her role gladly, until she met this young man, the son of a folklorist. He was kind to her, and the few moments they had together were the happiest she had ever been. But her family feared she had been tainted and so tried to get rid of the man swiftly...then she found out they had killed him.[/i]

"Fuck." She shook her head as Kirie nodded. "That's awful."

[i]All she ever wanted was to not be alone, to be content with a fellow heart. The ritual failed, for her heart had been tainted not through love, but through sorrow, and so the great evil swept through the mansion, and drove the family to a fatal madness. At the time I had no name, having forgot my own but then I heard her story, through echoes of the past and old records left behind. Her name was Kirie. I wanted the same thing she wanted too.[/i]

"Did you ever...find someone tae be with?" Mary shuffled close.

[i]Only once. She was murdered too by selfish men.[/i]

"I...I'm sorry."

[i]Don't be.[/i]

She smiled to the raptor.

[i]Your son brought them to justice...and my friend is now at peace thanks to him.[/i]

"He...he did?" she gasped. "Issat how you met him?"

[i]I knew him before then, but only briefly in passing. A wanderer between worlds I helped a few times in his darkest hours. But it was because of this that we became friends and I owe him a great debt, so you can consider my helping you a means to repay him.[/i]

"Issat all? Really?"

[i]...no.[/i]

Kirie rubbed her fingers with an awkward look.

[i]I had...feelings for him. I wasn't sure why, for the longest time, I felt something inside me want to protect him. This angered beaten youth, his heart so full of rage and emptiness, always alone, never staying in one place for too long and I pitied him. I only started to understand recently why I wanted to help him.[/i]

"Because you...love him?"

[i]No.[/i]

Kirie started to quiver from her lip.

[i]I...I was never a mother. But I wanted to be...for those who had none. Since then I always felt...empty, without a smaller hand to hold. I guess what's why I kept following James, not because he needed a mother. But because...I need to be one.[/i]

"...I understand."

The raptor took her hand.

"You remember...Robert, back in the forest?"

[i]Yes, your brother.[/i]

She sighed deep and clenched her fist.

"When ah wuz aboot eight, we went aff tae thuh woods, just tae get away from thuh city an' aw, yanno, spend time together. He took me everywhere with him, ah wuz his wee pal, snuck me extra chips doon at work."

[i]He sounded quite a rogue.[/i]

"Aye he wuz. We were in thuh woods one day, playin' hide an' seek an' ah wuz searchin' fer him fer ages, thought ah'd never find him...when ah did, he wuz lyin' doon wi' half his face in thuh water, nae response just...didnae wake up."

[i]What...happened?[/i]

"A brain aneurysm." Mary slumped forwards. "That's whut they called it, just one o' them things, doctor said it wuz rare fer it tae happen young, he wuz s-seventeen he had his whole future left fer him-"

[i]I'm so sorry.[/i]

She placed a hand on her thigh.

[i]That is terrible, no wonder you were so distraught.[/i]

"Ah just keep thinkin' back tae that day, wondering if ah coulda done summat different. If ah hadnae gone tae thuh woods he woulda got tae hospital fast, maybe if ah paid attention aboot his headache comin' oan an' bein' queasy all week, maybe he woulda lived. But ah couldn't have known. No one could. But mah father blamed me."

She picked at her claws staring down at her feet.

"I know he did, never said it directly but ah ken he did...he loved him, Robert wuz a feisty bastard who never took anythin' lyin' doon an' dad loved that. My mother didnae think anything, she wuz distraught, not just fer Robert but cuz ah had tae deal with that sae young. I don't think mah dad ever forgave me, not because he actually thinks it's mah fault, but because he needs someone tae blame instead of sum burst o' blood in thuh brain."

[i]That still makes him wrong.[/i]

Kirie shook her head.

You were but a child, how could anyone blame you for that?!

"Doesnae matter! Ah thought, if ah hadnae gone tae thuh woods then maybe things woulda been different. But it's not different. It never will be. That's why I became a doctor."

She looked up to the phantom with tears trickling down.

"Ah thought aboot Robert...dying alone with naebody tae help him. Not even his baby sister, thuh wee lass he loved, his best friend. That's why I said whut I said. That's why...I never left Gerald, even when the fire came in our hoose an' burned us tae ashes. Ah didnae want Gerald to suffer, like my brother did. No one deserves tae die alone."

[i]I...I understand.[/i]

Kirie smiled squeezing her hand.

[i]Then let's find him. Together.[/i]

They pulled themselves free from the tent as Charlie smiled at them from his own, the sun never shifting from its place in the dead burning sky.

"Morning sleepyhead."

"Issit?" she looked up.

"I dunno, we ready to go?"

"Aye." Mary pointed beneath the sun. "Gerald's that way, but first."

She clapped her hands together with a deep focus as she clenched her eyes shut. Her body became enveloped in a blinding light, her friends stepping back to see a glorious coat of peerless white drape across her form as she twirled herself round with a smirk.

"There, that's better!"

"Wait is that your lab coat?!" Charlie blinked.

"Aye, thought tae mahself yanno, could do with a bit mair, wanna look presentable tae the bastard that kidnapped mah man."

[i]You look quite fetching![/i]

Kirie slinked around her in a drifting circle.

[i]Is this what you wore in your work?[/i]

"Aye," she spun round again to let it flow, "comfy but airy, keeps ya warm an' keeps ya cool."

"Considering all the fire I smell in the distance," Charlie tapped his horn, "that's gonna help."

"Right then, we're aff, FER GERALD!"

"YEAH, FOR GERALD!"

[i]For Gerald![/i]

They bumped their fists together before dashing off through the wastes, the vile crown of the hellish sun roasting on their backs with a ruthless simmering rage. The desert soon stopped at the edge of a giant cliff, a black deep tear from which there lied Nothingness underneath.

"Do we go in?" Mary asked.

"I dunno," Charlie sniffed, "looks pretty bottomless and full of death."

"Maybe there's sum cave that heads doon to thuh wah-wait. Wait."

She bent down and slipped her hand over the edge, darkness parting around her fingers with a pure black ink.

"This is...oil."

"Seriously?" he rubbed his horn. "So it's a river, or even-"

[i]Wait, look! The sun![/i]

Kirie pointed to the sky.

[i]Something...something's happening![/i]

Slowly descending for the first time, they watched the orb sink into the horizon. At first it felt like a timelapse, but then it picked up speed with a hurtling force that soon hit the far distance with a colossal explosion that ripped through the earth. The ground shattered around them like glass as fissures formed into flames with surging blasts that shot upwards to the air. The land formed a plateau separating them from the rest of the desert, shunting forwards across the oil sea which started to burn behind them in a tremendous display.

The sky turned dark with a searing heat, the horizon burning violet as they shot forth at a daring speed before hitting the coast of an island, surrounded by a ring of fire from the black ocean that formed a wall of insufferable flames beneath the night. A twilight sky howled with the apocalypse, the island cloaked in ashes where every tree shone like obsidian beneath the fire. At the centre of this isle of death, was a rising pillar of flame that they approached between rotting ferns that melted in their hands.

"Welcome."

A smug familiar voice called to them.

"Is something I would never say to those such as you but, here we are."

From the lifeless jungle came Martin floating upon his silver winds, along with Lucas stomping behind with knuckles cracking. Mary balled her fists as Charlie puffed up his chest and Kirie prepped a shadow ball.

"Where, the FUCK IS GERALD?!" she screamed.

"That is a question you should ask our great chief," said Martin.

"Alrigh', where are they then, cuz ah got a FUCKIN' SCORE TAE SETTLE WI' YOU!"

[b][i]"Vulgar bitch."[/i][/b]

A burning tremble came from the pillar of flame.

"You stand in my temple, demand with insults and think you won't be punished?"

"OH AYE, YOU THUH CHIEF?!" she jabbed at the inferno. "Well come on then, fuckin' COME ON, SHOW ME YER FUCKIN' FACE!"

"We're here to take back Gerald!" shouted Charlie. "And you're not stopping us whoever you are!"

[b][i]"Is that so...Charles Henderson?"[/i][/b]

The trike suddenly balked hearing his name.

[b][i]"You of all saurians should know EXACTLY how this will end."[/i][/b]

"N-no. No, o-oh god no-"

[i]What is it?[/i]

Kirie looked to his face now white with fear.

"He...only one person ever called me Charles."

[b][i]"You always ran,"[/i][/b] the snarling flame hissed, [b][i]"instead of facing your problems head-on like I did. Like Gerald would have done, if he had stayed with me and learned...to be a TRUE Campbell."[/i][/b]

"Wait...whit?"

The column of fire soon parted to reveal two raptors upon a central dais of black polished obsidian. One had been cast inside a steel suit, suffocating him with chains binding his body to the earth as muffled screams came from the black visor covering his eyes. The other floated above him, wrapped in a severe black cloak with trails of ember flickering behind like fuses, his eyes of purest white with peeling burns that left black rings around them. Charlie almost screamed, trembling through his knees with a sob with a sudden anguish as Mary gasped.

"You...y-you're Gerald's...father."

[b][i]"Much to my disgrace."[/i][/b]

His hand swept down towards the imprisoned one.

[b][i]"I hoped you would not disturb the ritual that he will finally pursue to redeem our family name."[/i][/b]

"N-NOOO, [i]GERAAALD![/i]"

She ran towards him before Martin and Lucas stepped in front, blasting a gale that she dodged and crunching a rippling line of earth she leapt over before a violent surge of flame would scoop upwards in front of her, forming a wall far too thick as she stopped in her tracks before a shadow came through and punched through her stomach, sending her flying to crunch against the stony shore.

"[i]MARYYY![/i]"

Charlie ran after her as Kirie quickly covered him, hurling a shadow ball towards the father who dodged in a sudden blur of ash, slashing her face from the shadows with deep raking scars when he reformed inches in front of her, causing her to shriek before a single fist that sent her fading through Charlie and scraping through the ashes beside Mary.

[i]H-HHRRRKH! Wh-what...what even ARE you?![/i]

[b][i]"The patriarch of the Campbell clan."[/i][/b]

He swept his cloak to reveal his scarred burning body where his wounds filled with flames.

[b][i]"My name is Onesiphorus, the grand chief of this paklah who shall join our brethren in paradise."[/i][/b]

"[i]Y-y-you...you...f-fucking BASTARD![/i]"

With a surging breath Mary stumbled on her feet.

"YOU! YOU [i]FUCKING ARSEHOLE, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT![/i]"

[b][i]"Typical, a heretic who blames others for her weakness-"[/i][/b]

"[i]SHUT UP![/i] YOU GOD-BOTHERING SHITFUCKING [i]PRICK,[/i] GERALD DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!"

[b][i]"Oh?"[/i][/b] A smile crept over his humourless lips. [b][i]"Enlighten me."[/i][/b]

"Everything Gerald suffered, all thuh times he hated hisself, never thought he wuz good enough fer anybody, that was because of YOU, torturing him, beatin' thuh livin' shite oot o' him!"

[b][i]"Because he knew what he was, a wastrel, failed to uphold our family honour. I gave him the chance to make himself great like his father, but despite all of my love and dedication, he failed because of his OWN weakness-"[/i][/b]

"[i]SHUT YER [b]FUCKIN' FACE![/b][/i]"

Charging at him again Mary braced her hands with a thickening bile that poured behind her, slashing forth through the flames as Onesiphorus struck back with a lashing burn. Some of the fire she managed to extinguish, but the raptor lord came looming high with a hammering fist to crush her skull until she leapt back to evade his strike. But she wasn't able to avoid the shockwave that ripped through the isle, when he slammed into the earth, the ocean of fire now a waveform of violence as ashen soot was thrown into the air that blinded her vision, and a dark fist from Lucas crunched her jaw to fall backwards.

[b][i]"I admit I have some grudging respect, much like a cockroach that evades my grip."[/i][/b]

"Nn-nnnngh!"

[b][i]"To think that a race traitor has more spirit than my son ever could. Disgusting."[/i][/b]

"Why do you even want Gerald?!" Charlie shouted picking her up. "You fucking despise him, why can't you just LEAVE HIM ALONE?!"

[b][i]"Because he is a Campbell, and as such he must learn his place."[/i][/b]

"WHY DON'T YOU DISOWN HIM THEN?!"

[b][i]"My blood still RUNS IN HIS VEINS!"[/i][/b] He bellowed with savage flame. [b][i]"If I am to meet Cxulubcah himself in the great land of Pangaea, I will NOT arrive with an incomplete clan!"[/i][/b]

[i]So all you care about is your pride?![/i]

Kirie shouted floating above Mary.

[i]You want your son as nothing more than a trophy of your clan![/i]

[b][i]"One that will prove my greatness!"[/i][/b]

[i]And what of HIS son then?! Will it never end until you amass your bloodline in this otherworld-[/i]

[b][i]"Yes."[/i][/b] He nodded with sagely grin. [b][i]"This is but the fate for the true Campbells, we are indebted to our heritage and we shall owe it our lives, and I won't have those such as my miserable DISGRACE OF A SON ruin that for me, like he already did in life!"[/i][/b]

"You deserve disgrace." Charlie clenched his fists. "All you had to be was a good father first, and everything else is secondary. But you couldn't even do that, you never cared aboot family, only for your damn CULT!"

[b][i]"A father is a father all the same,"[/i][/b] said Campbell spreading his arms of liquid fire, [b][i]"I am a father to my paklah, and as such I must consider what is greater for all and not just one. But I wouldn't expect such understanding from selfish heathens such as you."[/i][/b]

"We warned you to turn back," said Martin floating forth, "but if you so wish to be purged and watch our ascension in your last moments, then by all means."

"I hope you're ready," Lucas punched his fists together, "last time was a warmup. Now there's no holding back."

"Fine," Mary tightened her claws still dripping with acid, "ah made a promise tae Gerald, tae never leave his side, an' you bastards are the only thing standin' between me an' him. If ah haftae kill all of his fucking scum family then trust me, there'll be NONE OF YOU LEFT!"

"Damn FUCKIN' STRAIGHT!" Charlie stepped up brimming with anger. "I've wanted to beat your fucking face in for years, and now, one way or another, I'm going to make you SUFFER for everything you did to Gerald!"

[i]Your abuse ends here![/i]

Kirie floated to their side.

[i]You will never see the paradise that you NEVER DESERVED![/i]

[b][i]"First the mammals take our home, and now YOU betray your own kind?!"[/i][/b] He raised his hand with crimson through his sleeve. [b][i]"Then you shall die together, like the VERMIN YOU ARE!"[/i][/b]

With a grand sweep he sent a violent shockwave that burned the sky to a molten red as the battle began. Mary shot a burst of liquid ice forming a guard against the heat as Martin and Lucas came charging from the sides with a whirling fist towards Kirie and a rippling burst of jagged rock towards Charlie. The triceratops hurled a ball of light to blind the cultist, with Mary rushing between them to face her father-in-law as the grand chief summoned a blinding shock from his fingers like a miniature sun, detonating with a blast that sent her flying back across the silted ash. Rolling herself back up she shot a frozen spear towards his face that he dodged before a second one pierced his shoulder with an arctic burn causing him to snarl with vicious rage.

Diving towards her he threw his burning fist across her cheek, blackening her face as she countered with a scalding hot liquid that slashed over his eyes before crunching her other fist into his stomach. But he barely staggered and grabbed her throat to hurl her across the shore, cracking her head against a tree and diving towards her like a comet when she dodged out of his path., feeling the old tree rip out of its roots as Campbell sent it flying into the ocean.

[b][i]"Filthy WHORE!"[/i][/b]

The tree went flying into the ocean when his single punch ripped it out from its roots.

"[i]FUCKING ARSEHOLE![/i]"

She drove her foot in his stomach harder, trying to force him back before he grabbed her head and smashed it onto his knee then hammered both fists into her back to send her falling.

Her friends were kept back by Martin and Lucas, the raptor slashing through Kirie's face as she grabbed his arms with several ropes to crack them behind his back, the tender snap of his fragile form being countered by the resetting crack of them back together. The haunter held on tighter trying to keep his limbs broken, her eyes slitting against the savage scirocco he burst from his body that shredded her essence and weakened her strength, but not enough to undo the ropes before she dislocated an entire arm causing the wind to die down when he fell back with a shriek.

"[i]ENOUGH![/i]"

A charging beast came from her side as she drifted out of sight, turning to strike Lucas with a clouded punch when he threw back a haymaker that crushed her down into the dirt. The brachiosaur lifted his arms high for another hammering strike, but Charlie slammed into the larger beast to throw him down with horns piercing his side. Lucas gasped from the double-stab but stopped himself being thrown by digging his feet into the earth, grabbing Charlie's horns like a bull before swinging the triceratops with a guttural roar and cracking his legs against a boulder. Groaning as he staggered up with shivering limbs, Charlie hurled another golden orb at the guardian's eyes before tackling his legs, crawling up his chest to strangle him hard as he could. Grabbing Charlie's horn as he clenched his teeth, the brachio wrenched his head down to kick him across the sands, before the haunter came lunging for his head as he formed a sudden crater with his fist.

A cloud of black dust formed around him as Kirie tried to pulse her own darkness to search for the fiend, but then Lucas came punching the back of her head, followed by Martin who drove a vicious uppercut of razor winds that sent her up high above the cloud before the raptor summoned a roaring typhoon from below Lucas' feet, spinning him upwards with a moon-striking punch that sent Kirie back down into a deeper crater. Her body turned weak with a pale fuchsia, the cultists' offensive cut short when Charlie shot Martin with a blast of light and boot-kicked him hard in the crotch to send him back, spinning round to kick Lucas hard as he could but barely moving the giant who grabbed his throat and punched deep into the trike's stomach. But his distraction would help Kirie shove a deep-rooting vine into the brachio's waist, fuelling herself with strength he stole from his body as her form returned to a deep indigo.

[i]Come on, we have to help Mary![/i]

"GO, I'll keep 'em back!"

Shooting across the darkened isle she rushed towards Mary struggling to pull herself up, clutching her chest where the shirt had torn with her flesh that struggled to reknit itself before Kirie pulled her back and swiftly blocked Onesiphorus' attack with a dark pulse of energy. The clan leader did not stop his advance as he crunched his fist of flame into her body, then cracked Mary's jaw with a burning elbow. She pushed hard on her back foot to keep standing, slamming her head into his chest before grabbing his throat with acid pouring from her fingers that boiled down his neck and shoulders. His body tightened hard resisting the toxic, grabbing her arms as he burst his entire body with a small explosion that threw Mary back and burned her already-ruined chest.

[b][i]"Pathetic."[/i][/b]

He walked over to Mary's crumpled form with burning ash in his footsteps.

[b][i]"Were my son a better male he would have found a respectable wife who understands the truth of our ancestors."[/i][/b]

"N-NNNGH!"

She staggered up before he kicked her back down with molten foot.

[b][i]"But I suppose you two fit each other...one worthless cretin meets another...perhaps your grandson when he passes on shall better understand the truth of his lineage."[/i][/b]

"Touch...mah family, an' ahll rip yer fuckin' NECK!"

Raising his foot to stomp her face, he was blinded by a shot of acid from her hand before she grabbed his ankle and flipped him on his back, launching herself forwards to start hammering his face with punctuating shrieks.

"YOU, FUCKIN', BASTARD, YOU FUCKIN', TOUCH, MAH FAMILY AGAIN, AHLL BREAK YER [i]FUCKIN' CUNT IN HALF![/i]"

Between her savage blows she aimed for his eyes to blacken them harder with dripping fists, both sulphuric and hydrochloric acid combined in her fingers to burn harder into his skull. Someone grabbed her from behind, a pair of thick black arms that swung her off Campbell and slammed her down on a vicious knee to her back. Her shrieking stutter signalled her crumpling fall before Lucas kicked her towards the rocky beach, as she rolled down towards Charlie getting beaten across his face by Martin. The raptor cultist felt a stabbing vine shoot in his leg, seeing Kirie quickly push the other end of the vine into Mary's body which, while less effective than on herself, the sapping transfer of his energy helped her recover enough to stand back on her feet.

"C-come oan!" she grabbed Charlie. "We cannae stop!"

"A-AAAAGH, D-DAMMIT!"

"ENOUGH of this!" Martin ripped the cord from his leg. "Your tenacity is insufferable, albeit admirable as our chief has said, but you are testing our patience!"

"Your fucking garbage family's been testing mine for YEARS!" Henderson shouted. "I don't care what you do to me, if I have to die so Gerald is free, then I FUCKING WILL!"

[b][i]"I'm glad you AGREE!"[/i][/b]

The ripping slash of a fiery wave came hurtling towards them as they ducked, the scientist shielding their heads with a freezing liquid to resist the flames before she launched at Martin and threw him in a headlock whilst the trike ran towards Lucas to grab his arms. Kirie took on Onesiphorus who was readying another vengeful strike, the phantom shutting him down with a slashing rope that whipped across his face and made him shiver with a sting before she punched him. Campbell stepped back in a dashing burst that forced her away, his feet dragging in the dirt before he launched turning his body into a tremendous fireball that the phantom dodged barely.

[b][i]"HMPH...a parasite."[/i][/b] He turned sharp causing a wave of black ash. [b][i]"Just like his wife."[/i][/b]

[i]I am a friend of the family, unlike YOU![/i]

[b][i]"Friend?"[/i][/b] His hands clenched to become crimson spheres. [b][i]"What friend are you to stand in the way of MY family's name, from achieving greatness before Cxulubcah?!"[/i][/b]

[i]A friend who protects others from monsters, especially the ones who fathered them![/i]

[b][i]"Have you never had children?!"[/i][/b]

He spun his body with a whirlwind that she dodged underneath.

[b][i]"Have you ever had to suffer the pain and grief of your child failing to live up to your family name, your hopes and dreams for the future of your people, RUINED because your son was weaker than you thought, despite EVERYTHING YOU DID FOR HIM?!"[/i][/b]

[i]I know EXACTLY what you mean.[/i]

She balled her fists with indigo flame.

[i]I know what it means to ensure the strength and hope, that your children must carry on to the future. But a child is only as strong as their parent, so if you thought your son was weak, that makes you the WEAKEST ONE OF ALL![/i]

[b][i]"RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAARRGH!"[/i][/b]

With charging fists Campbell lashed at her face, a fiery whip forming from his claws into a magma serpent that twisted from his hands and tore across the sky with cracking boom that deafened their ears with thunder from the heavens. Kirie dodged the first two strikes, the lash burning through the ground like a volcanic fissure that sent curtains of flame rising high. She hurled a shadow ball at his face, Campbell ducking under to swing for her head as Kirie countered with a dozen ropes twisting together, binding to form one thickened stronger cord that sparked against his flaming tether. The island started to split across the sea, the world burning faster as the haunter swerved between the fire whips to bludgeon his head with her rope, crunching into his cheek before the blunt spiral turned into a dozen tendrils that wrapped round his throat and viciously strangled him.

[i]Y-you...will NOT win![/i]

[b][i]"It was...never about winning-gh-GHRRRKH!"[/i][/b] He clenched his teeth with eyes bulging. [b][i]"This...was about setting our future in STONE!"[/i][/b]

With the clan chief bound in restraints, his subordinates took on Mary and Charlie who wrestled against them. Lucas managed to grab him by the horns and throw him towards the raptors, kicking Mary in the head with Charlie's foot before grabbing her arm and twisting it off Martin's neck.

"You alright?" he muttered.

"N-nnngh...that bitch almost choked me to second death."

"Then let's make them see the light," Lucas smirked punching his fists.

"Ohohoho...yeeees I quite agree, my old friend."

Climbing onto Lucas' back, the raptor summoned a whirlwind of great ferocity that uplifted both of them, the brachiosaur fuelling the earth to his command from the fractured cracks to pull up the mantle in pieces of obsidian. The boulders created a barrier, orbiting like planets as Mary and Charlie stared upon the gathering storm, the fires of hell rising, the trees forming silhouettes against the inferno like dark satanic mills.

"HIT THE DECK!"

Henderson grabbed Mary and rolled her into the dirt as a boulder crunched down the shore behind them, Mary pulling up into a run and firing back with hydrofluoric shots that melted slowly through their stone defences. One of the boulders Martin pulled into his slipstream and swung like a giant hammer, crashing down upon the shore where Mary and Charlie stood as it split itself apart from the island. They ran fast and leapt across to the main isle before the wall of flame would ignite the oil ocean separating between, whilst Martin swung his stone like a grand mace to carve through the land and burst great lahars upon the two spirits.

"MARY, GET ON MY BACK!"

"ALRIGH'!"

The trike lifted her up and waited for the tsunami of sludge to dip close enough for their heads. With a forceful heave he threw her with all his strength, roaring against the tide that drowned him in its mass and sent him back to the sea of flame. The raptor leapt high upon the hammering stone, dashing from one boulder to another like stepping stones in the rapids.

"[i]GET [b]FUCKIN' WREEECKED![/b][/i]"

With her fist raised high above the raging typhoon, she slammed knuckle-first into Lucas' skull and crunched his long neck into his chest. The chemicals round her fingers turned solid before impact as the brachiosaur screamed when his neck muscles popped with the crackling of bone, his head driven like a nail into his body which fell straight down to earth. Martin tried to leap off but Mary swung herself up by latching onto his tail, grappling on his back to drive deep into his kidneys until he vomited with shrieking retch.

"HOW YA LIKE ME NOW YA [i]FUCKIN' PRICK?![/i]"

"[i]A-AAAARGH, [b]AAAAAAAARGH![/b][/i]"

"LESSON NUMBER ONE ABOOT THIS FAMILY!"

She grabbed his throat and jerked his head back to stare deep in his eyes.

"[i]DON'T, [b]FUCK,[/b] WITH YER AUNT MARY![/i]"

Like a sword made from stone, her elbow raised high trickling fibres of chemical bond that formed a jagged hardening mass that came down upon his face. His skull split apart as white essence spurted from Martin's head, falling to the black sands with his face now a pile of shards along with his equally-headless friend, their forms convulsing in desperate gasps as their souls started to fade. She turned towards her final opponent, the grand chief of the Campbell clan being strangled within ropes.

"KIRIE!"

[i]I'M FINE! GET GERALD![/i]

"ALRIGH'!"

Dashing towards her beloved, the raptor felt the heat turn harsh underfoot upon the smooth black-stone dais as she put a hand to her face and summoned a cooling force to repel the flames. His screams burned from inside his bondage, sobbing shrieks as his head writhed and shook against his full-covered cage.

"GERALD, [i]GERALD AHM HERE, AHM HERE FER YOU GERALD![/i]"

"G-GERALD, GERAAAALD!"

Charlie came stumbling behind with broken leg.

"I'M HERE, I'M HERE BUDDY I WON'T LEAVE YOU!"

"CHARLIE KEEP BACK!" she warned him. "IT'S BURNIN' LIKE FUCK AHLL COOL AFF ONE O' THE CHAINS!"

With bursts of ice-cold seawater she raked across the chains closest to him, Charlie forcing all his might on his other leg to pull it free as the tethering chain started to rip from the earth. Mary did the same with another, blasting from her claws a surge of hyper-oxidised salts that would violently rust the chain until a wretched coppery flake melted between her fingers.

"C'mon, come on, it's alrigh' Gerald, ahll get ya free!"

"C-COME ON, HURRY!" Charlie lumbered to the next chain that Mary cooled off. "We'll get you out buddy, I promised you I wouldn't-[i]GA-AAAARGH![/i]"

[b][i]"You will NOT DISGRACE MY FAMILY AGAIN!"[/i][/b]

The voice of Onesiphorus boomed over their heads as Charlie was pelted with a full wash of flame, sending him hard to the stone dirt as the ropes burned off of Campbell's sleeves when he backhanded Kirie fast to send her crumpling into a tree.

[b][i]"Even if you manage to break him free,"[/i][/b] he said floating down to Mary, [b][i]"that runt of a husband you had is gone forever."[/i][/b]

"Thuh fuck he's nae," Mary spat with liquid fists, "whatever you've done tae him, ahll bring him BACK tae who he was, as long as it takes!"

[b][i]"You'd drag him back down to your level again? You, a supposed doctor who wields power over life and death, would be so selfish as to condemn him to a life of eternal WEAKNESS?!"[/i][/b]

"HE WUZ STRONGER WITH ME THEN HE EVER WAS!" She blasted him with surging plume that he dodged. "Gerald wuz stronger with me, just as much as I wuz stronger with him, that's why ahm here, THAT'S WHY AH WENT THROUGH [i]FUCKIN' HELL TAE GET HERE![/i]"

[b][i]"If he was so strong with you then why did he keep our family NAME?!"[/i][/b]

A jet of ash fogged her face before she evaded his punch.

[b][i]"Because he KNOWS what he is, regardless of what I or he wants, we are bonded by blood, HIS DESTINY LIES WITH ME!"[/i][/b]

"[i]FUCK YOU![/i]"

She grabbed his neck and threw him down with roaring haymaker.

"YER A FUCKIN' PSYCHOPATH TAE THINK YOU OWN ANYBODY!"

[b][i]"THEN WHY DID HE CHOOSE TO DIE IN THE FLAMES?!"[/i][/b]

He countered with rising fire that scarred deep through her chin.

[b][i]"Why did he choose to join the great Cxulubcah, over life with you?!"[/i][/b]

"[i]YOU FUCKIN' TORTURED HIM![/i]"

Mary slammed her head into his before crunching fists into his skull.

"THAT'S WHY HE NEEDED ME, THAT'S WHY I DIED WITH HIM, AH NEVER LEFT HIS SIDE, CUZ YOU TRAUMATISED HIM!"

[b][i]"Wh-what?! YOU chose to die with him?!"[/i][/b]

"Because I love him! I love Gerald, even if it meant givin' mah life fer him, cuz that's wuz whut ah PROMISED HIM!"

[b][i]"Hhhah...hhhmhmhhahaha!"[/i][/b] Onesiphorus shook his head with vengeful smirk. [b][i]"You...chose to die with my worthless son rather than survive with yours?!"[/i][/b]

"Yes." She nodded with solemn face. "Ah made a choice between givin' mah son a mother, or givin' Gerald sumbody tae die with. Does that make me a bad mother, cuz if it does then fine, I accept that."

[b][i]"And so the liar reveals herself,"[/i][/b] said Campbell the senior, [b][i]"at least you shall die again knowing your truth."[/i][/b]

"I always knew the truth. Ah never hid that from anybody, an' ah still did better with mah son in two years than you did fer twenty."

[b][i]"And why do you think that?"[/i][/b]

"Because mah son is still alive," she gritted her teeth, "mah son's made friends, saved people, made a lotta mistakes an' fucked up plenty in his life, but at least he had a life an' did better with it than you ever did."

[b][i]"Cocky little bitch."[/i][/b] He cracked his knuckles with sparks of flame. [b][i]"What does a punk like you even see in my worthless son?!"[/i][/b]

"IT'S CALLED LOVE YOU [i]FUCKING PRICK![/i]"

Launching towards him she grabbed one of the broken chains and lashed for his face with a sudden strike, knocking him back as he countered with a brutal fist into Mary's stomach that made her choke with a heave. From his side a rope came twisting round his throat, wrenching him back as Kirie swept into view and pulled hard to give Mary an opening when she slammed her knee into Campbell's chest, hammering the back of his bowed head with both fists as his throat tightened sharper from the strangling cord. Punching the earth with fiery claws Onesiphorus gave a monstrous bellow that caused his body to explode, melting the cord and blasting Mary back to almost crumple beside Gerald's writhing form, his screams trembling out as she rolled to grab another chain and severed it quick. The father came forth with a trailing fire behind him, grabbing Mary's throat and crushing her down in the earth before lifting her up once more and rearing back his arm. The raptor grabbed his head and swung up her feet to throw both of them down, kicking herself away before stomping on his face with reckless abandon.

"HOWSIT FEEL, BEIN' TREATED LIKE [i]SHIT?![/i]"

[b][i]"GHHRRRAAAAAARGH!"[/i][/b]

"[i]YA LIKE THAT YOU FUCK, HUH, HOW DO YA LIKE ME [b]NOOOW?![/b][/i]"

A cannon-burst from his fist sent her hurtling back, before Kirie slammed an orb to the back of his head as Mary tackled his legs to scar his thighs with a deep raking of acidic claws. With white spittling out across her arm from his leg, she held him tight as the haunter grabbed one of Gerald's untethered chains and wrapped it around Onesiphorus' neck, strangling him even harder whilst his legs were in tatters from his daughter-in-law's revenge. Grabbing the chain against his throat, he smouldered his claws hot enough to start melting through the steel as both of them backed off, before he palmed the earth in a monstrous shockwave of fire that Mary quickly leapt over.

[b][i]"BEAR WITNESS TO PARADISE, BY THE WILL OF CXULUBCAH, YOU SHALL [u]SUFFER FOR YOUR SIIIIIIIIIIN!"[/u][/i][/b]

His body detonated in a crimson tornado, rising towards the sky with catastrophic force that consumed the entire dais where Gerald stood still trapped beside Mary and Kirie. The haunter tried to attack the father as a wretched typhoon spun from his hand wreathed in flame, twisting her entire form before Onesiphorus slammed her into the scattering earth, whilst Mary ran towards Gerald and ripped through the last of his chains.

"GERALD, GERALD CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

[b][i]"H-hrrrkh...h-hrrrrrrRRRKH!"[/i][/b] he crumpled free onto his knees.

"GERALD I'M HERE, IT'S ME! GERAAAALD!"

[b][i][u]"INFIDEEEEEEL!"[/u][/i][/b]

The roaring scream rang through the air as the sky turned a deeper red, violently assaulting their eyes from its sheer intensity as Onesiphorus hovered in purest black.

[b][i][u]"Your bones shall carve the path to PANGAEA, HEATHEN SCUM!"[/u][/i][/b]

Grabbing her husband, Mary pulled him out of reach from his father's burning volley, a shattering burst of volcanic rock from the spectre of ashes that loomed above them. Blinded and confused with fear, Gerald's sobs resonated through his helm as Mary tempered her claws to try and dissolve the metal.

"Gerald, GERALD, listen tae mah voice, just listen!"

[b][i][u]"ENOUGH OF THIS!"[/u][/i][/b]

She pulled him away again as another volley tore through the land.

[b][i][u]"Traitors shall suffer the same fate as the verminous mammals who INFECT THE EARTH!"[/u][/i][/b]

He struck upon them with flaming whip that was deflected by Kirie, her ropes binding into a solid mass to block the strike as Mary shielded her husband. But then she heard something, shuddering past her ear.

[b][i]"G-great...great fire."[/i][/b]

"Whuh...G-gerald?!"

[b][i]"G-great...fire, took the sun away."[/i][/b]

"Gerald, Gerald it's me, GERALD!"

[b][i]"NNRRRAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!"[/i][/b]

Shoving her aside he lunged towards Onesiphorus, the chains still wrapped round his arms slithering behind him as he swung towards his father's head who was shocked as much as them from the surprise attack. Kirie took his chance to punch the back of the clan chief's head, sending him down to the floor with burning soot off his sleeves as Mary came running with a hard football kick to his skull. Gerald followed up without thinking as he whipped Campbell's back, violently ripping white essence from his spirit as he roared with shuddering snarl before Onesiphorus shot his son with a ball of liquid flame. Gerald barely staggered, screaming ever louder as he slashed him half-a-dozen times with tearing chains that split his stomach apart and cut open his arms sending his father down again.

[i]MARY, NOW![/i]

The moment he got back on his feet, Mary saw Kirie waiting behind him as she waited for Gerald's final strike, slashing at the patriarch's bleeding legs before his wife charged with claws sharpening from molten acid to form twinkling daggers as the haunter rushed his back.

[b][i][u]"GHRRRKHRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!"[/u][/i][/b]

The storm would finally cease. Standing upon the glistening dais, Mary sunk her claws deep into her father-in-law's open stomach, with Kirie's fist leaving an imprint in his skull from which a rooted vine was now sucking his withering strength into the phantom whilst his son's chains wrapped round his legs.

[b][i]"I-im...possible...Cxulub...Cxulubcah...forgive me-"[/i][/b]

"You want forgiveness?" Mary braced her arm. "Gerald never did, so why thuh fuck should anyone else?"

[b][i]"All of you...ruined our world, you heathens."[/i][/b]

"Naw, you did. Now it's better without pricks like YOU!"

With one savage uppercut, she split his chest in half with a gurgling shudder from her vicious claws, white porous silk flowing from his wounds as the last of his spirit would fade from existence. The fires had gone from the ocean, until ash only remained as Mary crumpled to her knees, Kirie coming close as they looked towards the ghost wrapped in steel.

"Gerald...Gerald, c-can you hear me?"

He said nothing, shivering as they watched the armour slip off his limbs from the chains unravelling. Charlie came staggering up from the beach in time to see his beloved friend, the clanging thud of burnt steel ringing across the island.

"Gerald, Gerald oh god I'm s-so sorry, Gerald please t-tell me you're-"

[i]Stay back.[/i]

Kirie put a hand before them.

[i]Something is wrong, his aura is cursed.[/i]

"Wait, cursed what do you mean?!"

The helmet split apart as they saw his face. Charlie started to weep, clutching his mouth as Mary walked forwards with a limp.

"Gerald...oh christ, Gerald."

[b][i]"...Mary."[/i][/b]

What had once been her husband was now a black burning beast, almost skeletal in his image. Fires smouldered across his arms and wrapped down his feet, his voice trembling in a rasping hiss.

[b][i]"I...I failed you."[/i][/b]

"Wh-whit? No, no Gerald you didnae, ahm here now."

[b][i]"I...I was always...weak."[/i][/b]

"N-NOOO!" Charlie stumbled forth. "Gerald don't say that, you're here, y-you made it see, we all made it!"

[b][i]"My...s-son...great fire came and...t-took my son away."[/i][/b]

"Gerald, we're here, it's fine, everything's over, we can all go home-"

[b][i]"N-NOOOOOOOOOO!"[/i][/b]

His body burst into flames as they fell back.

[b][i]"F-FIRE! FIRE SHALL CLEANSE ME!"[/i][/b]

"WHIT'S HAPPENING?!" Mary shrieked.

[i]I-i don't know, his aura suddenly-GET BACK![/i]

[b][i]"MAAAAAAAAAAARYYYYYYYYYY!"[/i][/b]

Another shockwave threw them back harder, falling back into the sands of darkness as Gerald stumbled forth with a shivering breath.

[b][i]"Blood becomes ash...ash becomes light!"[/i][/b]

"Gerald, wh-what," Charlie collapsed to his side, "oh god please don't tell me he-"

[b][i]"Bones become dust and I too know the GREAT FIRE!"[/i][/b]

"Gerald, n-no, GERALD COME BACK, [i]IT'S ME, CHARLIE![/i]"

[b][i]"Respect the..f-fire, and walk amongst mortals, as rulers of this LAND!"[/i][/b]

"[i]GERALD STOP![/i]"

Mary grabbed his arm as Charlie stumbled, her hand pressing against her husband's chest as his eyes widened with a sudden shock. A violent burn pierced through her heart just before Kirie pulled her back and threw her down along with Charlie into the dirt beneath the shrieking howl that tore through the sky and shattered the mountain in half with a rumbling fury.

[b][i]"CXULUBCAH! CXULUBCAAAAAAAAAH!"[/i][/b]

"[i]GERALD, GERALD STOP, STOP IIIIT![/i]"

[i]HE CAN'T HEAR YOU![/i]

Kirie sheltered them against the roaring flame.

[i]HE'S LOST HIS MIND, JUST BRACE YOURSELF![/i]

[b][i]"N-NO, LIFE BEYOND THIS!"[/i][/b]

"[i]GERALD, PLEAAAASE![/i]"

[b][i]"I CAN NEVER ESCAPE, I CAN NEVER ESCAPE!"[/i][/b]

"[i]GERALD, NOOOOO![/i]"

[b][i]"I...F-FAILED YOUUUUUUUUUU!"[/i][/b]

A blinding light tore through their eyes as they buried their heads in the sand. Kirie caught a brief glimpse of him, a sliver of darkness cutting through the dead crimson sky before disappearing into eternity. The world was silent once again.

"Wh-...where is he?!"

Charlie whimpered looking around the barren shore.

"No...n-n-no, NO, GERALD! [i]GERALD![/i]"

[i]He is gone.[/i]

Kirie pointed to the sky.

[i]His mind is gone too it seems.[/i]

"No...no no no, no, no d-don't tell me that, don't...don't fucking do this to me."

He clutched his head and started to weep.

"Gerald...I-i came for you...I-i promised I wouldn't...g-god FUCKING DAMMIT! I-I FAILED HIM!"

"Naw."

Mary gripped his shoulder as he looked up.

"You didnae."

"HOW, YOU JUST [i]SAW HIM![/i]"

"He's still there. Inside his heart."

"H-how, how the FUCK do you know, he just left screaming his head-"

"When ah touched him I...ah felt his heart screamin' oot tae me. To us."

A smile came from her lips.

"He's still there Charlie. He's still inside, ah know he is."

[i]Is that true?[/i]

The haunter drifted before her.

[i]You sensed his...heart?[/i]

"Ah cannae explain it, but ah ken he's still there, he's just...suffering. We took aff thuh chains but there's like another set o' chains wrappin' his mind an' twistin' him up, he's beggin' fer help. Ah haftae help him, ah haftae-f-fuck, shit!"

She clenched her teeth and gripped her leg.

"F-fucking christ ah killed that bastard sae hard mah kidneys are sair."

"Hhhhah, hhhhahahaha...we sure did," he pulled her close, "we...god he really is just...gone forever right, Gerald's dad?"

[i]Yes.[/i]

Kirie nodded with a smile.

[i]Him and his two followers have lost all fragment of their spiritual being. They are gone from this world and the next, never to exist again.[/i]

"Thank fucking christ." Mary slumped rubbing her head. "But...whit aboot Gerald, where's he gone, we haftae find him!"

[i]You are both far too weak, we need time to-[/i]

"NO!" She staggered to her feet before crumpling in Charlie's lap. "I have, I have tae s-save Gerald-"

"Mary...she's right," Henderson sighed, "my leg's fucked, somehow, and you can barely stand."

"F-fuck that Gerald needs help-"

[i]Then let me find him.[/i]

She placed a hand on her chest.

[i]I will find him. I promise you, on my soul I promise I will not leave Gerald to suffer.[/i]

"How...how can you find him?"

[i]I am well-travelled in worlds beyond the Farplane. Gerald I sense has managed to depart too from this realm, so even if you were able to leave now, you would not find him by yourselves.[/i]

"Ugh...hah...hhhhahahahahaha, aahahahahaa!"

She started laughing which slightly scared the trike beside her.

"God he always has tae make it difficult, righ' Charlie?"

"Hah...yeah. Hahaha, y-yeah I guess he does."

"So...is he gonnae be alrigh'?"

[i]He's free now, partially.[/i]

Kirie clasped her hands with warming grin.

[i]Both of you managed to free his spirit, now we must free his heart.[/i]

"Can you dae that?" Mary asked.

[i]I will find a way. In fact, I already know a friend who is versed in rituals concerning the heart and mind, to delve and defeat personal demons.[/i]

"Wish they'd been around now," Charlie muttered, "I was all ready for a reunion, got my best tears ready like when I was best man."

"Oh aye, you cut it pretty close wi' thuh stories you gave," she elbowed him.

"You didn't stop me, I just wanted to see how red I could get his face."

"Hmhmhahaha-a-aoooow, f-fuckin' shit!" The raptor clutched her chest as it throbbed again. "Alrigh'...ah guess, we can stay here 'til we're good enough tae find oor way back."

[i]I can find Reza, and the knight to help you back if you wish.[/i]

"That'd be great," Charlie sighed, "what aboot Gerald, how are you gonna find him?"

[i]I fear the rings might not be enough.[/i]

Kirie shook her head looking up.

[i]Travelling beyond this realm may be too much a distance for them to track-[/i]

"Ah ken where he went."

Mary put a hand to her heart.

"It's...again, ah dinnae ken how to explain it but I feel like ah sense where he is."

[i]What, really?![/i]

"Aye...it's like, if ah close mah eyes an' think of him, ah can sense where he's heading."

[i]In that case...the only way I could see the same is if you gave me half your heart.[/i]

"Wait, what?" Henderson shook his head. "You can do that?!"

[i]Yes. The heart is the emotional centre of the spirit, if I had a part of it I could sense the same thing that Mary senses but I would never ask you to-[/i]

"Ahll dae it."

Both her friends looked to her with a shock.

"Just half of it, it's nae permanent issit, you can gies it back?"

[i]Wh-what, I...um, y-yes I can give it back of course, but-[/i]

"Mary are you serious?!" Charlie gasped taking her arm. "I know we wanna find Gerald but that's a big risk-"

"Ah trust her," she said to him, "Kirie's the only reason ah got here, both of us are here cuz of her, we managed tae free Gerald and kill his bastard family."

"But...this is your heart."

"An' if it can find Gerald then ahm givin' it tae her." She looked back to Kirie. "That alrigh' by you?"

[i]It...I mean, I will not force you, this is your choice and I will easily find him if you did but...are you sure you want to?[/i]

"You've done so much fer mah family," said Mary taking her hand, "you helped mah son, you telt me things aboot him an' got me this far tae Gerald, why shouldn't ah trust you?"

[i]Just...never been given someone's heart before.[/i]

"Well like you said, ah cannae go searchin' fer him oot there, but you ken how tae travel."

[i]If that is your wish, then I promise you. I will find Gerald and bring him back safe.[/i]

"Thank you. Then may my heart...become your guiding key."

She placed the hand of Kirie upon her breast. Feeling a warmth spread through their fingers, the phantom gasped with a sudden swell of alien emotions that wedged deep into her thoughts. Anger and love, sorrow and jealousy, kindness and bitterness hooked deep into her essence, plunging down to her own heart as Mary's half nestled within. It was an odd sensation for both of them, the raptor feeling emptier, lighter and more adrift than usual. To the haunter she felt burdened, as if carrying the weight of some unknown past when a golden light drifted from Mary's chest to Kirie's form before melting down into her being.

[i]Th-there...yes. Now I sense him too, somewhere beyond.[/i]

"Issat...clear enough for ya?"

[i]It is...I can find him. I will bring him back.[/i]

"Thank you. Alright." Mary sat back against the black sand. "Just uh, dinnae forget tae ask Reza alright, this place is fuckin' awful."

"Seriously," Charlie snorted kicking the soot, "if this is paradise I hate to see what hell looks like."

"Och we sent 'em there, dinnae fret they're sufferin' worse than ever."

[i]Well you actually erased them from all existence-[/i]

"Kirie dinnae spoil it fer fuck's sake."

[i]Hmhmhmhm! Alright, I will let your friend know...but, can I ask another favour?[/i]

"Aye?"

[i]...may I have both your rings?[/i]

She bashfully held out her hand.

[i]My friend who can dive into hearts, and cure minds of their demons, she performs rituals that require objects sacred to that person.[/i]

"Uhhh, seriously?" Charlie sneered looking between them. "First you take half a heart now you want the rings?"

[i]I assure you I will not lose them, I already risked my soul through this journey.[/i]

"She's right Charlie," Mary nodded, "but you promise tae get him back?"

[i]On my very soul.[/i]

With a reluctant look, but seeing Kirie's face, she twisted off the rings from her fingers and gave them to the haunter.

[i]I will find you again, do not worry, I shall be back soon with Gerald.[/i]

"You better," Henderson shook his fist, "I'll kick your ass if you welch on us."

[i]I don't even have one, but noted.[/i]

Kirie smiled with a shake of her wisp.

[i]I shall see you soon Mary, Charlie.[/i]

"Thank you," said Mary smiling back, "fer everything you done...Kirie."

They watched the phantom leave as her trailing purple tail skirted across the ocean and back to the empty shore of cracked desert earth. Charlie pulled her close as she laid her head on his shoulder, watching the sunset remain eternal.

"I hope this works," he muttered.

"Aye it will," Mary sighed, "we got this far...Gerald's free from his family, that's...whit matters."

"I dunno much on this Kirie but if you trust her then that's good enough for me."

"Ah do. It's...funny but, ah think she's sum sorta guardian angel fer mah family."

"Bit late for a guardian ain't it?"

"Mah son's still alive aye?"

"Hah. You're right."

He wrapped his arm around her.

"I can't wait for him to hear that."

===============

In the depths of his cave, Noh'jhin continued his work scanning through records and compiling his data. Sometimes he left the orb floating upon its stone plinth to examine the crystal prisms, tapping the console of light to form complex derivatives that glimmered across his face.

[b]"You have returned."[/b]

He did not turn his head to welcome the visitor.

[b]"How went your search for the Campbells?"[/b]

[i]I found them.[/i]

Kirie floated with a bow to him.

[i]Thank you, for letting me.[/i]

[b]"Good, now we can begi-"[/b]

[i]I have not rescued them, yet.[/i]

His neck craned with suspicious eye towards her.

[i]Gerald is lost, his spirit was tortured by his father for who knows how long, I must bring him back to his senses.[/i]

[b]"I thought we agreed you would do what I ask when you found them."[/b]

[i]Yes, but you ALSO agreed that I would bring them together in eternal peace and until they are I cannot help you in your mission.[/i]

[b]"...very well."[/b]

His claws pinched between his eyes as he walked back to his desk.

[b]"Do you know where Gerald has gone?"[/b]

[i]Yes.[/i]

She pressed a hand to her chest.

[i]I know where he lies. But I have an idea, something I want to suggest that can solve both our problems.[/i]

[b]"Oh?"[/b] He tented his claws. [b]Tell me."[/b]

[i]I have dealt before with such burdens of the soul, wracked and tortured spirits bound in chains by their own grief. I have a friend experienced in such, a ritual I shall prepare but there is a problem. This can only happen with a living body as the host.[/i]

The haunter tapped her hands together with growing grin.

[i]What if I used...Oddclaw, as a host? If I lure him to someplace where I contain Gerald, I can use the ritual to send Oddclaw into his own dreams and so help him prepare, mentally as you requested, for that future confrontation.[/i]

[b]"Aaaaah,"[/b] Noh'jhin stroked his chin, [b]"and in turn he shall exorcise his grandfather's spirit through your machinations."[/b]

[i]Yes exactly![/i]

[b]"Impressive...that is why I chose you."[/b] He nodded with a wave. [b]"I admit your methods are unorthodox but I see great potential for their future, Kirie."[/b]

[i]Thaaaank you sire.[/i]

She bowed until her head reached the floor.

[i]I am so glad you have such faith in me-[/i]

[b]"Don't misinterpret faith for intrigue, I have yet to see the fruits of your plan which while I endorse, you must first succeed."[/b]

[i]Consider it done.[/i]

The phantom slipped back to the entrance.

[i]I shall repay my debt to James and his family...of that I promise you.[/i]

[b]"I know you will."[/b]

He turned as she departed. In his sphere upon the desk, were notes concerning the gold key that he was crafting with its odd floating shapes. Only he understood its calculations, which he noted would specifically overload the metaphysical traits of an entity.

[b]"That wretched vagrant shall be gone from eternity soon. Too long he was left rampant across Spacetime Six, but now my task as the Doer who undoes shall be finally complete when I sever all remnants of your work...Hau'rhun."[/b]