“Malfeaus? Like... like the Malfeaus you guys were telling me about?! Werewolf hell?” Natalie's eyes were bulging now.

“No, no, it has to be a bluff, they don't have the power to establish an anchorhead of that power,” Charlene said. She didn't look like she believed what she was saying.

The doors screeched angrily, then began to open. A thin line of dull orange light splashed across Kouzo's body, then widened to encompass the entire group in fits and jerks. Kouzo couldn't understand what he was looking at outside the door. There was no floor to speak of, but directly ahead was a ten-foot high wall made of soot-blackened brick, hovering in mid-air. On the top and bottom of this wall was an ornate, gothic edging, fluted borders of the same dark material. Some of the bricks on this wall were missing, revealing a dark soil beneath. Yet the missing bricks, or at least the displaced bricks were stuck to the wall. Above and below the wall were noisome reddish brown mists. The colour of rust or dried blood. The main source of light came from a massive glowing orange orb an indeterminate distance away. Other vaguely brighter spots in the swirling mists suggested more orbs in different locations.

“What should w-” Haru began.

The girl's stomach leapt angrily as her center of gravity violently shifted. Haru twisted in confusion, trying to maintain a footing inside the elevator as she suddenly felt herself actually falling towards the door. She caught the edge and managed to hang on tightly, her mind trying to wrap itself around the fact that the rest of the group were falling... sideways past her. The doors of the elevator had suddenly become the floor, a floor that was no longer there. Haru's perception fought against this perversion of physics for a moment before finally accepting its new gravitational alignment.

Kouzo impacted the bricks with a grunt. The wall had suddenly turned into a road. He pushed himself to his feet, suddenly feeling rather tired of it all. The running and fighting, the constant fear of attack. The sleep in May's apartment had seemed to do nothing for him. Every half hour he woke back up, afraid that that white-haired guy was going to be standing in the doorway. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Barry leading a squad of masked and armed paramilitary figures to the apartment. He was afraid he'd wake up and realize Hunter was no longer there next to him.

Kouzo mentally kicked himself for even thinking that. She was Garou, just like him. The antlers on her head, the way she had been ostracized from the sept, it was all because she was a result of the very action Kouzo found himself idly daydreaming about doing with her. He couldn't let himself think like that. Not only was it against everything he had been taught about what he truly was, but she probably wouldn't even consider it anyways. Even if her unenviable position weren't the product of what Kouzo's own rather confusing libido was insisting he do, there was that thing with Gremlin...

Kouzo came to his senses, realizing just how stupid he was being. Here they were in... in Malfaeus, and he was worried about having naughty thoughts about Hunter. He looked up from the road, noticing now that the strange bricks that were stuck at random angles on it were actually displaced flagstones from this perspective. He saw the elevator, suspended doors downward over the road. The elevator itself was set in a spheroidal mass of twitching, vine-like growths. Haru was hanging from the open doorway, ten feet above the ground.

The air was filled with a constant rumbling and the sound of endlessly howling winds, moving and rearranging the omnipresent mists. Above it came the sound of footsteps, colossal footsteps. Kouzo saw portions of the vine lattice-work bow downwards in tune with the footsteps, as if some dinosaur-sized creature was making its way to the upended elevator. “Haru! Let go!”

“Fuck no!” she screamed back, “I'm staying in this thing until it takes me back to the real world!”

“Haru don't be an idiot!” Charlene shouted, “It's not going to take you back, we need to stick together to survive!”

“No! I don't want to be here anym-”

Kouzo felt tired, he felt helpless. He watched in a strange, almost disembodied state as the entire elevator shifted and receded further into the vine growths. Even as a row of arm-sized teeth pierced the back wall of the elevator, Haru still clung to it. Kouzo wanted to move, to do something to help her, get her down from there before whatever that thing was devoured her.

Something moved by Kouzo in a blur. He heard a slightly annoyed voice, “Goddamn dogs.”

It happened too fast to track visually. One moment Haru hung on the elevator, clinging in desperate denial of what was happening. Whatever that thing behind the wall of vegetation was, it was lifting the entire elevator up, trying to get the tasty, screaming morsel inside. The next moment Kaoru was simply there, grabbing the girl and bracing his feet against the buckling elevator, ripping her away by force. There was a horrible wrenching sound as the monster crushed the elevator between a pair of scything claws and stomped away with its prize. Kaoru and Haru fell to the ground in an ungraceful pile.

The vines had already began to grow over the hole left by the elevator.

“She got knocked out by the fall,” Charlene said, “I think she's okay otherwise though.”

“Where's Natalie?” Hunter asked.

“Over here!” May's voice, by the edge of the floating flagstone path, it sounded strained.

The fall hadn't been good for Natalie and her deceased mother. The hospital gurney had landed near the edge of the pathway, disgorging its formerly-living contents over the side. Now Natalie hung over sea of vile reddish mist, using all her strength to clutch on to her mother's deformed body. The only thing that stopped her from falling was the actions of May. Now May desperately held onto the girl's arm, a failing struggle to get not one, but two bodies over the edge. “Damnit, let go!” she shouted.

Natalie ignored her, ignored everything, wanting only to hold onto the body of what was once her mother. “You stupid girl! I can't hold on any longer!”

Kouzo was now trying to help May, but it was still a losing proposition. “Natalie! You'll die if you don't let go!”

“Fine!” Natalie sobbed, refusing to relinquish the hold on her mother's body, “I'm not letting her go!”

“Natalie,” Kouzo shouted, already his voice growing hoarse, “Your mother wanted you to live, let her body go!”

“She's dead! She died because of this stupid Wyrm thing... and I'm not going to give up her body to it!”

“She died fighting it, Natalie. She died to protect you, to make sure you had a shot at life. Please, just let her go so she doesn't fail, I don't want you to die...”

“You don't understand...” Natalie looked up, imploring.

“If you die here, I'll never get a chance to understand,” Kouzo pleaded, “Don't let her sacrifice be in vain!”

Natalie closed her eyes.

A few seconds later Kouzo and May collapsed backwards onto the path, Natalie nearly falling on top of them. For a few seconds Kouzo contemplated simply staying here, sleeping. Why not? The world was coming to an end, they weren't going to be able to do anything about it because they couldn't even return to earth. They were stuck in this hellhole, the realm of the Wyrm, a place the entirety of the Garou race couldn't fight off for centuries. What could they hope to do? They were all as good as dead here. The only one among them with any real experience was Charlene, and Kouzo found himself doubting that she'd been on any epic umbral journeys.

It was the mutual ragged breathing of the others that eventually brought him to his senses. The others were still alive, there was still hope, however small. Kouzo couldn't even begin to calculate the odds of their survival, but figured it was likely infinitesimally small. But they were still alive for the moment, and simply sitting back and accepting death probably would serve the Wyrm better than anything else he could do at the moment. He was going to die, yeah, but he'd go fighting against it the entire way.

Kouzo pushed himself to his feet and saw that Charlene had done the same. He took a moment to actually take stock of the surroundings. The path they were on extended indefinitely in front and behind them, disappearing into the reddish mists after about one hundred yards. He noticed that in one direction the path started twisting in a corkscrew fashion. There were other paths visible too, forming a chaotic network cloaked in the swirling, toxic-looking fog. Many of them appeared to be aligned rather oddly, the 'ground' to the side, or 'up' from where Kouzo was oriented. From what he had experienced so far, he figured it was likely these paths had their own 'personal gravity' as well.

So this was the realm of the Wyrm, Malfeaus? A never ending network of paths that defy the laws of physics, suspended in a sea of rust-coloured mist, floating conglomerations of unhealthy plant growth, illuminated by sporadically placed balls of sickly orange light? Or was this only a small part of it? The few stories Kouzo had heard said that the Wyrm formed its own realm to mirror the madness and corruption that festered in its own mind. “Charlene,” Kouzo deferred to the elder member present, “What do you think we should do?”

Charlene appeared to be taking stock of the situation as well. “We're rather exposed out here. There could be a legion of banes showing up any second. We need to find shelter and fast.”

“Is there any shelter here?” Kouzo asked, “I mean, it's Malfeaus and all...”

“Well, there are stories of packs who have survived for weeks here before finding a way to escape. Not many,” Charlene said, “But unless they managed to stay awake the entire time they were here, unlikely, they must have found at least some relatively safe places to rest up.”

Kouzo's reply was interrupted by gunfire. “Hey, we've got company,” Kaoru said as he fired off another shot into the mists.

The shots were punctuated by shrieks. They were back, the floating, disembodied heads. At least ten or so of the inky creatures circled around the pathway, letting out never-ending screams of pain and terror as they did so. Kaoru drew a bead on another, leading it for a second before fire spat from the magnum and the floating head exploded in a cloud of black smoke. Kouzo saw three of them hovering over Haru's unconscious form. In between shrieks, they were inhaling deeply, as if trying to suck her soul out. For all Kouzo knew, that's exactly what they may have been doing. In a moment the katana was out and two of them had been neatly sliced through. The third spiral away, screaming the entire time.

Two more shots rang out. “Hey guys,” May blurted in a high-pitched voice, half a step away from insanity as she fired a third shot into the first of three approaching scrags, “We should probably start moving!”

“Stay together, I'll carry Haru,” Charlene said as they started down the trail, fighting a running battle.

They managed a pace that was just short of a slow jog, keeping the worst of the scrags and the floating banes off of them by sheer force of gunfire alone. The few that got through were quickly taken down by Kouzo and May while Kaoru, Natalie and Hunter provided cover fire. Kouzo found his theory about the paths' personal gravity proven as his stomach lurched uncomfortably. The path was now curving almost straight downward, but as they walk along it, the gravity changed so that 'down' had now become 'horizontal'. A glance at the other paths twisting through the air revealed scrags running along, under their own personal gravity. Sideways, upwards, downwards, skewed slightly to the left or right. Kouzo's steps faltered as he saw the nightmarish hulk of a nexus crawler pulling itself along, upside down, on a path a mere fifty or so yards directly above them. What if that thing could somehow leap off and adjust itself to this path's gravity? It could fall right on top of them.

“I'm out of ammo,” May called out.

Charlene pointed ahead, “We've got shelter ahead!”

Kouzo turned long enough to wonder if that was such a good idea. The pathway disappeared into a cavern that, like everything else, was floating in mid-air. The fossilized remains of roman-looking columns jutted out of the jagged rock walls. As the group pushed their way inside, Natalie noticed what was being used for lamps. Human skulls with more of that nauseating orange light glowing within. In any other circumstance it would be laughably tacky. Yet here, while they were being pursued by screeching black heads and deformed ape-things with blades instead of hands, the skulls themselves took on a threatening, terrifying atmosphere.

The dull rumble and roaring wind faded away the further they pushed into the dark cave. Hunter produced a flashlight which produced a dimly muted beam, as if something in the air itself was somehow suppressing the light. “What's that noise?” Kaoru asked.

Kouzo listened. People whispering, lots of them. It appeared all around them, yet had no visible source. “Shit, more scrags are coming,” he said.

On cue there was a flash of orange light and a rush of fetid air, and three of the creatures were in the cavern with them. One immediately jumped on the back of Haru, who was being carried by Charlene, and driving both into the ground. Kouzo tried to go to their aid, but was interrupted by another shoving its wrinkled face in his own and opening a tri-hinged jaw. Kouzo stumbled backwards, nearly blinded by the things breath. He heard several shots go off and a thick, rubbery weight fell on top of him.

Kouzo fought his way back to his feet, pushing the unholy thing off him even as it boiled away into nothingness. He saw Natalie standing about him, her own weapon out, offering a hand up. “Thanks.”

“Just returning the favour you gave me,” Natalie said with a dull voice.

Charlene had stood back up, holding a shotgun, “We can't keep doing this, we need to hole up somewhere and rest.”

“Why do they burn away like that?” May asked, prodding the rapidly disappearing remains of one of the scrags.

“They are reverting to the same essence that created them,” Charlene said, grimacing in pain as she lifted Haru, wiping blood that still oozed slowly from the girl's head wound out of her closed eyes, “Their essence is either devoured by other spirits, or it eventually reforms somewhere else.”

“So there's no way to kill these things?”

“Not really, they're spirits, they don't follow the same rules as most of life.”

“Well that's just fucking great,” May muttered, “you guys sure have a great war going on here.”

“Hey, kids,” Kaoru's voice came from around the next bend, “I found some shelter.”

Back to Contents

“It's a... church,” Natalie looked around in fright and awe.

“It's a momentary safe spot, pull those pews in front of the door,” Charlene pointed, “We can probably catch our breath here, but we'll have to move on soon.”

Natalie looked about absentmindedly, hearing the dull gong of church bells over the sound of Kouzo dragging the pew across the stone floor. Everything in here looked like it was made out of a dull grey granite. Azure torches and high, narrow windows dampened everything with an insufficient, cold blue light. There were engraved murals and religious iconography on the imposing walls, separated by columns. Though there were numerous parallels to the Christian imagery Natalie could see on almost any street corner, each and every one was altered ever so slightly so that it became something ugly and corrupt. In one unreachable window Moses parted a sea of blood and pus with a stave made from the petrified skeleton of an asp, revealing a trail constructed out of ground bones for a legion of ravenous, slavering Israelites to cross. On a cobalt-lit wall an unnaturally well endowed Satan tempted an exquisitely formed, fully nude Eve with far more than just a simple apple. She didn't seem to be objecting too much to it either.

Natalie had never been too much into religion. Her father attended church maybe once a month. Her mother... well that was self evident. She never cared too much about it. Even without any religious ideals to have offended by this, though, Natalie still felt spiritually unclean simply by being here. This wasn't a healthy place to be no matter what your religion. It was a blasphemy against the soul. The virgin birth, a demon planted in the belly of an unwilling mother, now tearing itself out of the womb in a torrent of blood and afterbirth. The sermon on the mount, an orgy of fevered preaching, damnation, flagellation, supplication and appeasement.

Natalie found herself drawn to this train of thought over and over again as she wandered idly towards the profane altar. Somewhere inside she knew why it was happening too. She didn't want to think about her mother. The past few hours were disjointed, uneven. An unsorted blur of sensations. There was a sort of numbness on her now, an emptiness where the pain and sorrow over her mother's death should be. Those feelings weren't there yet simply because so much had happened that Natalie hadn't had a chance yet to arrange them. That would require rest and reflection. So long as she distracted herself with examining the blasphemous imagery and swimming in the overwhelming horror of the situation, she would have to think about it. Continued mental torture was the key to avoiding further pain, paradoxically.

A muffled sob drew her attention. They weren't alone in this cold church, with its softly droning bells, the muted sound of distant thunder and the steady drip of polluted rain seeping through unseen cracks. Tired and hurting, Natalie painfully drew her pistol. She had seen enough not to take anything, even a plaintive sob, at face value. The source of the sound came from the front row pew. It was rather pathetic, a barely retrained litany of soft cries and covered pleas. No distinct words, but a general tone of pleading and sorrow.

Natalie found her as she drew even with the blasphemous altar, placed next to a bloodstained baptismal font which boiled over with heavy, yellowed vapours smelling of sulfur. Kneeling before a statue of a lecherous, demonic Jesus, wrapped around the cross in unholy lust, was a naked figure. The voice and general body-shape implied it was female, but it was hard to tell. Its back was towards Natalie, ribs showing plainly though the thin, deathly pale skin. It was bent over in prayer, tiny rivulets of blood oozing from the many lashmarks that dotted its back.

“Jesus, are you okay?” Natalie whispered hoarsely as she ran over to the figure, now definitely identified as female.

The girl continued crying and whimpering, paying no attention to Natalie. Natalie put a comforting hand on the cold flesh, unconsciously avoiding the bloodier sections of her back. The girl's face was obscured from view, covered by tangled, matted hair. Natalie tried brushing it out of the way, repeating the question, but this time without any references to deities. “Natalie,” it was Charlene calling out from several rows back, “I wouldn't do that if I were you.”

“But she's injured!” Natalie said, brushing the greasy hair out of the way so she could get a look at the girl's face, “She needs-”

Natalie's words died in her mouth. The gun clattered to the floor as she stumbled backwards, tripping ungracefully over a pew. The girl's face was just as emaciated as the rest of her body, but that wasn't what had caused the fear. There was a reason the sobs and cries had sounded so muffled and indistinct: The girl's mouth had been stitched shut with chicken-wire. Her eyelids sagged inward, no orbs beneath them and similarly stitched closed. Her ears were likewise stitched shut, the lobes completely ripped away. The thing's gender was once again put into question as there were only two areas of stretched and crudely stitched skin where the breasts should have been, still dribbling blood. Natalie even got a brief glimpse between the thing's legs, something she really wished she hadn't done. Thankfully it was deep in shadow, but even then Natalie saw a dangling piece of chicken-wire attached to a bent needle.

The thing, the mutilated girl implored Natalie with a desperate mewling, reaching towards her with hands bound tightly together around a steel, thorn-covered cross with rusted barbed wire. Natalie froze, too terrified to move or even attempt to defend herself against this strangely pathetic yet infinitely horrifying creature. The blinded, deafened head wobbled back and forth, the restrained hands thumped clumsily over one of the pews. Eventually she gave Natalie up as lost, or simply lost interest herself, and resumed her sobbing position in front of the grinning idol.

Natalie jumped as a warm hand was placed on her shoulder. “W...what is it?”

“An emanation,” Charlene explained, “a piece of spiritual essence molded to appear human in form and action. They aren't people, they simply are the spiritual representation of the dominant emotion in an area of the umbra. You can often figure out what kind of umbral realm you're in by watching how the emanations act.”

Natalie's fear melted a little and she watched the thing prostrate itself. What was it supposed to represent? “It looks scared and unsure to me, what's that supposed to mean?”

“Fear, guilt, blind devotion to religious authority, both sexual repression and objectification. The worst parts of religion,” Charlene said, “This is Malfeaus, the home of corruption. And among humans, religion is one of the greatest and most easily utilized sources of that.”

Natalie began to get a nauseated feeling, crawling around in her stomach like a centipede. The back of her throat burned, splashed with bile. This place was more than just creepy scenery and demonic creatures frolicking about. It's terror wasn't just in imposing gothy architecture and gut-twisting paths that defied the laws of physics. It was the manifestation of pure corruption. The perversion and decay of human ideals and institutions. The insidious process of making a power structure corpulent and rife with internal corruption. The abuse of authority, taking the trust others place in you, deserved or not, and using it to vision physical and emotional devastation on them to satisfy your own unnatural urges. The reckless defiance and wrenching of even the laws that made up the very basis of the physical world. “This is... this is what the Wyrm wants? Why?”

“You've heard the story, right?”

“Well, summarized, yeah.”

“How's Haru doing?” Kouzo interrupted, “Oh, and we've got the main doors sealed off, doesn't look like there are any other entrances. So on the plus side we'll know what direction's something's coming from, on the downside, we have no way out if it does.”

Charlene glanced over at the unconscious form, blanketed in her own jacket. “I think she got a pretty nasty concussion from her fall. Bad news for a human, but she'll recover soon enough. Thanks to that leech, she wouldn't have been alive otherwise.”

“Hey, Kaoru, come over here,” Kouzo said, standing by a pair of twisted confessional booths.

“What? Why?”

“I want to play priest and guilty-man, you happy? Just get over here, please?”

Kaoru rolled his eyes, “Fine, whatever,” and stepped inside one booth with a snarl while May giggled and watched.

“Why are we doing this?” He muttered through the grate once inside, “Do you get off on this sort of thing?”

“I have my reasons,” He replied, “I just figured you'd want a bit of privacy if I were going to ask something like this.”.

“What?”

“Why'd you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Save Haru, why?”

“I need a reason to?”

“From what I've heard of you, yeah.”

“Oh, what you've heard? Was May telling you stories about me?”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact she has been. She didn't have a lot of good stuff to say about you, and though I think she's more than a little insane, I've also found her to be pretty trustworthy. According to her you're a self-centered monster who gets his kicks from others' pain. Yet you suddenly come swooping in out of the blue when we've just had out asses handed to us, help us dig into Pentex, and now have saved the lives of several of us. Why? What's in it for you?”

“I've been watching you fight,” Kaoru muttered.

“What?” Kouzo stuttered, “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“I've seen someone else fight that way. Don't play stupid, kid, I can see right through it. You know my brother.”

“Yeah I do. Made me do a double-take when I saw you for the first time, you look just like him.”

There was a crash as a hand shot through the grate separating the booths. Kouzo was grabbed by the neck and twisted sideways until his face was pressed up against the shredded remains of the metal partition, “We are nothing alike, compare us again and I'll make sure you're dead long before any of those things out there get a chance to do the job.”

“You won't get out of here without our help,” Kouzo gasped, “and no one's going to be helping you if you go around threatening our lives like that.”

The hand tightened, “It's not a threat. That thing that taught you how to wave a sword around is a non-entity, a failed appendage that needs to be severed before its cancer spreads, understood?”

“You don't like him, I get it,” Kouzo coughed, “now quit being an idiot and let go before you get all of us, including you killed.”

“Whatever,” Kaoru released the gangly boy and kicked open the confessional door, adjusting his trenchcoat as he walked out.

A second later, May slipped in the booth, “So so so... what did you find out?”

Kouzo spent a few seconds coughing and regaining his breath, “Yeah... he's pretty much like you described him,” he rubbed his throat, now a mass of angry red lines, “Still didn't answer any questions, what's your history with him?”

May looked down, “He made me what I am today. Despite that, things were almost predictable with him. He was a sadistic, psychotic, self-centered asshole who wanted nothing more than to see Kitty... I mean, his brother dead. But now...” May waved her hand helplessly.

“Now he's doing good things for people, and you know there has to be some outside motive?” Kouzo suggested.

“No, no it isn't that. The Kaoru I know, he just... doesn't do good things for people, even if there is a reason. He'd rather make things difficult for himself than take the time to associate with people. I know it sounds stupid, but that out there isn't the Kaoru I know, and even if the Kaoru I know is magnitudes worse, that one out there scares me more.”

“Why?”

“Because the Kaoru I know is predictable. How he is now... yeah he does nice things, but he still does a lot of the same stuff he used to. I don't know anymore if he's going to nobly save our lives, or just decide to kill us all because he felt like it.”

“I doubt he'd be able to do that even if he wanted to.”

“If you knew him as well as I did, you wouldn't,” May said darkly.

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Kouzo couldn't sleep. Never mind the uncomfortable, cold floor and constant fear that things were going to attack at any second. It was the sound, that constant, never ending gong of the church bells, peppered with the occasional sob from the emanation near the altar. Kaoru had been about to kill it off when Charlene stopped him, telling him that it would only reform in a few minutes, and the disturbance would likely alert other, nastier things to their presence here. Better just to rest for a few before striking back out.

It was no good, he couldn't relax enough to sleep here, no matter how tired he was. Groaning in pain he sat up. “What's wrong?” Hunter asked.

“Can't sleep here, don't know why I thought I could.”

“If you get tired enough, you could sleep anywhere.”

“Then I guess I'm not tired enough yet,” Kouzo mused, “Listen, I didn't get a chance to say anything about it before, but about Gremlin...”

“Don't say it,” Hunter said, “Especially not here. Look, he's gone, it sucks, but it's not worth getting torn up about or dwelling on it too much.”

“But, you two were, well...”

“Were what?” Hunter asked, looking curious.

“I, um, don't really know,” Kouzo said, looking away.

Hunter turned his face back towards hers, “But you suspect something. Come on, say what you were going to.”

“It's really not my place to say, I'm sorry I shouldn't have even mentioned it,” Kouzo stammered.

“Oh quit stalling and say it,” Hunter grabbed his wrist before he had a chance to move away, “You already brought it up, now just deal with it and be honest about what you think about me. You think I can't take it? I'm a goddamn metis, I've taken far worse from far more disgusting.”

“Well, when you put it like that, alright. I thought you two were, um, sleeping together?”

“You mean having sex?” Hunter asked bluntly.

Kouzo looked down, furiously avoiding a blush, “Um...yeah.”

“Well, the truth of the matter is,” Hunter paused for effect, “Yeah, we did have sex. Fairly often, it was pretty damn good too.”

Kouzo was rendered speechless. Hunter smiled and continued, “And before you state the obvious, yeah we knew it was against the Litany. Guess what? We didn't care. First off, we're both sterile, nothing's going to come of it anyways. Secondly, we've spent our whole lives being fucked over by the rest of you assholes, why should we be going by any of the rules you guys set down if it doesn't suit our interests?”

“But what about opposing the Wyrm? Following the Litany is the best way to do that, right? That's why it was made in the first place.”

Hunter rolled her eyes, “Do you follow the rules, or the thing that made them? I oppose the Wyrm just as much as anyone else. I know the world isn't the best, but I also know that if the Wyrm succeeds it will get a hell of a lot worse and I'd rather not have that. Yet you homids and lupines alike have more fun following the letter of the law than the spirit of it. The whole no-sex-no-breeding thing was because metis' are already fucked over from birth. We can't breed, we're monsters from birth, and we're all deformed for life. But apparently that's not enough, you guys have to treat us like utter shit for our entire lives as well. Apparently following the Litany involves helping the Wyrm out by inspiring division and racism as well.”

“Wait, hold on, I haven't done anything like that,” Kouzo started.

“Yes you have,” Hunter hissed right back, “You looked down on me and Gremlin because we engaged in that oh-so-horrible sin of having sex. Didn't even take a moment to consider the fact that the very consequences, metis offspring, that made that rule necessary in the first place don't apply to us. I'm already a monster to normal humans. Wolves aren't exactly thick on the ground in Wisconsin, and even if they were they probably aren't too interested in associating with us. You'd think the Garou would have a little sympathy for their own kind, but nooo, shun the evil goddamn metis!

“You know, it really sucked at first to have a mother tell you she thought you were a worthless monster when you're barely old enough to talk, but I survived. It was either get over the shit others will say or be mentally fucked for life. I don't care about that anymore, I've had fifteen years of people telling me that I'm nine kinds of Wyrm-tainted shit, it loses its impact after a while. But you know what really sucks? What still pisses me off? When someone like you comes along, pretending to be sympathetic while still looking down on me and acting holier-than-thou with no goddamn basis for it. Yeah, Gremlin and I had sex. So what? Nothing bad can come of it because we can't breed, and if it's still an issue with you, why don't you go find someone I can relate better than another metis?”

Kouzo didn't really have a reply for that. Hunter looked over her shoulder, “I know you're listening in Charlene, yeah we've had sex, care to give your opinion on it?”

“What would you like me to say?” Charlene replied, “You know even if I did have an issue with it, I don't really let it interfere with things. And that's what's important right now, considering where we are.”

“Yeah, but since we've got a few moments, and I don't think any of us are getting any sleep here after all, I'm curious.”

“Honestly? I don't give a shit. I try to keep to the Litany, but I know that serving Gaia's takes precedence, and between Her and some rules she made gave us centuries ago, I'll go with Her any day.”

“Charlene?” Kouzo asked, surprised at the sudden laxness in her attitude.

“Surprised?” Charlene replied, “Keeping to the rules are just fine and dandy when things are mostly peaceful. That's all changed now, we have to do what we need to survive. But Hunter, you could cut the kid a bit more slack. I mean he's had more that a few eye-openers over the past few weeks.”

“Doesn't excuse him for making presumptions about people he doesn't even know.”

“Yeah, but it doesn't excuse you for being a vindictive ass about it. To you, he's just the last in a long line of those who ignorantly make those presumptions. To him, you're the first metis he's ever met. Why not be a little patient and educate him rather than project the annoyance built up from all your other bad experiences on him alone? Otherwise you're just justifying the presumption that you're an emotionally stunted monster.”

“Technically I am emotionally stunted,” Hunter glowered, “and I don't really care to take the time to educate someone who doesn't have the common sense not to judge someone off rumours alone. Gremlin and precious few others have proven themselves to be something other than mob-led dipshits, and one thing they all had in common is they pulled themselves up without the help of others.”

“Yeah, but Gremlin's dead now, and from the look of things, the others aren't going to survive for long. And from what I've seen, you already do get along pretty well with Kouzo. Again, if you have to take the time and sacrifice a little pride to educate someone a little so you have someone to help you maintain mental stability, survival comes first. I doubt Haru here is going to see eye to eye with you any time soon, and Natalie, no offense, seems far too immature for your tastes.”

“Yeah, fuck you,” Natalie called out from across the room.

“Well, she's right, you know,” Kaoru muttered.

“Oh, what would you know about it?”

“Enough to be sure that you've got a lot of growing up to do, momma's girl.”

Natalie glared at him, “Fuck you too, asshole, you don't know anything about it.”

Kaoru smirked, “Don't think so? I killed my mother, you don't see me shedding tears over it. Why don't you grow up and quit blaming your own shortcomings on others?”

“What shortcomings?”

“You're an idiot if you haven't noticed it yet.”

“Fine,” Natalie turned away, “I'm not interested.”

“Too bad,” Kaoru sat on the stone bench in front of the massive, twisted pipe-organ they had made their way to, “I'm bored and am going to make you feel stupid for my own enjoyment. First off: You're an idiot who cares about yourself far more than you care about your mom.”

“Oh, guess you didn't see any of what happened for the past several hours then,” Natalie sneered back at him.

“Yeah I did, that's why I know. Don't get me wrong, I'm self-centered myself. The only reason I care about keeping us alive so far is because the more of you I can put between myself and those things once they decide to attack again, the better chance I have of getting out. But you're self-centered and you're fucking stupid, so much that you don't even realize it.”

“Yeah? Prove it.”

“No problem. You lugging your mom's corpse around proves it better than anything I could ever try to put together. Don't understand? Let me make it clear: Your mom's dead. Her soul's gone. Her body's nothing more than a cooling sack of meat that's going to rot in a short while. If I were so inclined, I could take that stiff you're carting around and rape it, gut it, and use the intestines as a necklace. You know how much difference that would make to your mother? None at all. You know why? Because she's dead you ignorant little shit. Her soul's gone, her body has no value unless you're going to eat it for survival purposes.”

“You fucking ass!” Natalie threw a harsh punch. Kaoru easily caught it and twisted her wrist, making the girl yelp.

“I wasn't done, now shut up and listen. You're not carting her corpse around because you care about your mother. Your corpse isn't your mother any more, it's just a corpse, a bag of rotting flesh. You're carting it because it's a security blanket to you. You're scared shitless and rather than facing things, you'd rather clutch a decaying meat sack. You were ready to fucking plunge to your death rather than give it up. These people here are risking their lives because they care about you, and you chose a sack of dead flesh over them.

“I don't really give a shit about anyone here, and I'm willing to do more for them than you are because I can see the benefits it gives my own survival. You, on the other hand, probably give at least half a shit about a few of them, yet would prefer to be stupid, emo twit. I can respect someone who's a successful, self-centered ass. But you, you're just a fucking moron.”

Kaoru leaned back with a smirk, directly on the pipe-organ's keyboard. Several wheezing notes echoed through the church, shaking the walls and drowning out all other sounds for a few seconds.

Kouzo, Hunter and Charlene jumped at the sound. May, who had been at the alter, looking at the neat pictures inside the flesh-bound book on the podium, squeaked and drew her gun. “And you call me an idiot,” Natalie rolled her eyes.

“Shut up,” Kaoru said, cocking his head and listening. A moment later Natalie heard it as well.

There were screams coming from outside, growing in number and intensity. This was joined by a rumbling sound that came from directly below the ground. Something hit the blockaded door, hard. “Oh hell, break time's over!” Charlene shouted.

“Guys, that doesn't look good,” May pointed to the main aisle between the two rows of pews. There was a thick line of something green and phosphorescent growing there, eventually taking the shape of a spiral.

The doors were hit again. The wood splintered and the iron bars buckled inward slightly. A window far above shattered and the screaming got a bit louder. “Kouzo, Hunter and I will cover the doors. You two leeches, make sure anything that comes out of that,” pointing at the glowing spiral, “doesn't get a chance to survive. Natalie, you keep an eye on the skylights and make sure nothing gets close to Haru!”

“Skylights? What do you mean sk-” Natalie started, interrupted by more shattering glass. Several of the hovering, black banes came down from above, circling over the pews.

Gunfire rang out and Natalie began firing. Within a few seconds, four of them had been struck down, but they were quickly joined by half a dozen more. The symbol between the pews disappeared, taking part of the floor with it. Several rubbery gray scrags crawled out of the resulting pit. A sword and pair of sais flashed in the dim light as Kaoru and May ran eagerly in to attack. A third tremor-inducing strike and a massive hole was punched through the double-doors. Rapidly pulling itself through the gap by several dozen tentacles was a Nexus Crawler, quickly followed by several more scrags. Natalie, May and Kaoru found it necessary to run to the other side of the pit, leaving a trail of dead scrags in their wake as the church became more and more crowded.

Kouzo fell as a barbed tentacle took out his legs. Charlene and Hunter took up positions in front of him, dropping three more scrags. It was a losing proposition though as more tentacles moved in to the attack. “Shit!” Hunter swore as several black ropey appendages wrapped around her wrist, forcing her gun down.

Without warning, the tentacles went slack and dropped off. There was an ear-splitting shriek as the Nexus Crawler collapsed forward, gushing a torrent of semi-translucent goo that apparently passed for blood. Haru jumped off the top of the mortally wounded thing, landing with a graceful roll. “I can't leave you fuckers alone for ten minutes without you getting yourselves into trouble, can I?”

Two final shots rang out and the last of the flying banes dropped. Screams from outside and growing hisses in the corridor outside proved that this would be a very temporary break. “We have to go,” Charlene said, “We won't survive another assault.”

“How about the hole-” Kaoru began before he was yanked off his feet.

A second Nexus Crawler had just heaved itself out of the aforementioned hole. It dragged the vampire towards it, eagerly opening a snaggle-toothed maw. May screamed and ran after him. A katana flashed and the tentacle was severed, just as it dragged Kaoru over the hole. With a surprised shout he fell down the black pit. May didn't hesitate and jumped in after him. With a chorus of exulted cries, a swarm of scrags began pushing their way through the wrecked doorway. “Kouzo,” Charlene shouted, “looks like that's our way out, make sure the others get down that hole.”

Kouzo could feel the woman changing next to him, growing in size. “But how are we-” he pointed at the Nexus Crawler now squatting repulsively over the hole.

“Just go!” the now full-grown werewolf roared and charged. There was a colossal impact, and the fifteen foot tall abomination was physically knocked back by the sheer strength and fury of an enraged Charlene.

Natalie fired twice, dropping one of at least ten scrags that had just clawed through the doorway. The next sound was a loud, empty click, “I'm out!”

“Just go down the hole!” Kouzo said, falling back under a flurry of swipes. Natalie offered one last desperate look at the fighting werewolf before jumping into the pit. Hunter followed, giving a quick “Get your asses down here!” before jumping.

Kouzo hesitated at the edge of the hole, waiting for an opening in the titanic battle in front of them to help Charlene. There was a loud crash as a third and fourth Nexus Crawler barreled through one of the walls. Kouzo was struck by a flying chunk of granite, stumbling to the edge of the hole. He saw a pinpoint of light deep below. “Just jump!” Haru shouted.

“But Charlene!” Kouzo protested, fighting his way back from the edge.

“I'll stay, just go,” Haru planted a foot on his head and shoved hard, knocking him into the pit. She turned in time to get knocked to the ground, a scrag on top of her. With a deep growl she ran Kageneko through its chest, then kicked the thing off her. Four more took its place, ready to skewer the girl on their bladed arms.

A wall of fur landed between them, sweeping the group out of the way. Haru noticed several deep lacerations on Charlene's back, and a dripping stump where her right hand used to be. “Charlene!”

“Go!” the werewolf roared, plucking the girl from the ground and lifting her over the pit. Haru saw the steaming corpse of the second Nexus Crawler.

“No!” Haru screamed as she saw a large, claymore-like claw plunge out Charlene's chest and the Nexus Crawler behind her lift her off the ground. The werewolf's grip on Haru faltered and loosened, dropping her on the ledge. Kageneko clanged as it fell into the pit.

The last thing Haru saw before she too lost her grip and fell were two Nexus Crawlers physically ripping Charlene in half.

Back to Contents

Kouzo fell for what felt like an eternity. The church quickly faded into an indistinct bluish smudge in the far distance. Meanwhile that tiny little pinprick of light failed to grow at all. Once the muted glow of the church was no longer visible, the light below was the only thing he had to keep himself orientated. After a while he began to wonder if this were actually Hell, or a gateway to it. Wasn't that what Malfeaus was supposed to be? Whatever it was, it sure felt like he was falling all the way to the hot glowing core of the earth.

The walls of the pit had quickly lost their rocky outline, now becoming smooth and metallic. Occasional lines of large rivets flashed by. As the light finally started to grow brighter, Kouzo realized he was once again experiencing that sickened sensation that indicated that gravity had decided to take an early lunch break. In a few seconds 'down' had now become the circular wall of pit. Which direction it was in relation to the church, Kouzo had no idea, as he had been spinning quite a lot on the way down. Unfortunately he was already falling at terminal velocity at what had been 'down' a few seconds ago, and what was now 'sideways'.

Kouzo 'fell' several feet and impacted the side of the tunnel. He discovered with revulsion that the walls of this tunnel were coated in something that smelled of soured milk and had the consistency of industrial grease. He slid along the tunnel at a rapid speed, picking up a disgusting coating of the substance. The light had now grown to a nearly unbearable brightness, and in another second, Kouzo had suddenly run out of tunnel floor to slide along.

Still heading at an incredible speed, he shot out of the ragged end of the tunnel like an exceptionally gangly bullet. There was another short fall, and Kouzo found himself sliding in and through a large expanse of mostly soft dirt. After thirty feet of this he finally came to a halt. Clods of dirt fell on and around him, remnants of his ungraceful exit from the tunnel. For a while longer Kouzo simply contented himself with simply laying there, it was sort of comfortable in the sand, even if there was something that felt suspiciously like a bent syringe needle poking him in the back of his leg.

His relaxation was interrupted by the ground shaking and something that sounded like a burlap bag full of bricks being thrown against a tree-stump. A second later Haru fell on top of him with a grunt. Kouzo made a more dog-like sound than he ever had before as all the air was driving from him by one inadvertently perfectly placed elbow. Trying to roll away from the tangle of limbs, Kouzo dragged himself over the edge of his self-created crater while simultaneously teaching himself to breath again. He was greeted by a sound that isn't describable, but instantly recognizable to anyone who had been in a similar situation. It's the sound that is made by something that comes within half an inch of ending your life, but doesn't quite. It doesn't matter what the thing is, or what the surrounding circumstances are, the sound is always the same, and it is always impossible to describe what it sounded like to another.

In this case, it was the sound Kageneko made as it fell out of the air and stabbed into the dirt directly in front of Kouzo, causing a slight breeze as the razor-sharp blade passed within an inch of his neck. Kouzo froze, giving the sword a good, long look. Closing his eyes, he nodded, accepting it as simply another case of brushing up uncomfortably close with death. “Haru,” the boy choked out, surprised at how hoarse his voice was, “where's Charlene?”

Haru was busy trying to find her limbs again. Kouzo gave his surroundings a good look for the first time, dimly realizing that, since they were still in Malfeaus, they probably were in quite a bit of danger. At first glance, this appeared to be one of the nicer areas they had so far stumbled into. A lake, nestled in a sandy valley rimmed by mountains. The sky appeared fixed in one direction, and the ground in the opposite, that was a relief. Closer examination revealed things that quickly disabused Kouzo of the notion that 'nice' and 'pleasant' were anything but alien concepts in a place like this. The sky was still full of that nasty, reddish mist. The sand was gritty in places, powdery in others, full of random small rocks, detritus, fragments of bone, and yes, that was a syringe that was stuck in the backside of his calf.

The lake was the worst part, probably designed to be that way. It wasn't water, or even heavily polluted water that filled the massive cavity. A sticky, jellied substance, opaque black, like semi-congealed tar quivered and throbbed. At many points along the beach things were fighting free of this substance. Squirrel-sized things, looking like miniature deformed cats, apes, people, and insects, all with too many or too few appendages, crawling and stumbling up the beach and heading for any one of the several passes through the rocks enclosing this mile-wide area. Whenever two or more of the misshapen things got too close to each other, one would turn on the other and a vicious, if tiny fight would erupt, always ending with the victor completely devouring the vanquished and growing in size, taking on a combination of both their physical traits.

Occasionally a section of the tarry substance that made up the lake would bubble outward and splash several dozen feet up the shore with a gelatinous 'plop', trapping any number of the tiny creatures beneath it. The substance would then run back down into the lake proper, dragging several former-escapees along with it. Over the surface of the lake circled a swarm of the floating, black heads, trailing clouds of vapour behind them. As Kouzo watched a massive inky tentacle rose from the center of the lake and snared several of the banes, dragging them into the black goop with a chorus of screaming protests.

“Haru,” Kouzo said again, numbly attempting to dismiss the scene in front of them as they didn't appear to be in any immediate danger, “...where's Charlene?”

The look in her eyes told him all he needed. The fact that she hadn't come out of that tunnel right after him told him it, even if he wasn't willing to accept it. Kouzo stood up and promptly began to fall over, legs refusing to have anything to do with the concept of bipedal motion. His collapse back into the small crater caused by his and Haru's fall stopped by Hunter, who lifted him back to his feet. With shaking legs he began taking one step after another towards the pipe sticking out of the rock wall, the pipe they had escaped from. “Kouzo, where are you going?” Hunter asked, not liking the dull look in his eyes.

“Seeing what I can do for her,” Kouzo said without emotion.

Haru ran up and stood in front of him, “You can't do anything for her, she's dead and the church is swarming with Wyrm-minions.”

“Nice to see you're taking it so well,” Kouzo said, pushing past her, “if she's dead, she died trying to save us. If she's not dead, the least we can do is try to prevent something worse happening to her.”

Haru grabbed his arm, “Kouzo, she's dead. I saw it happen with my own eyes. She died saving our lives. What we need to do is try to get out of here, that's the best way to honour her memory.”

Kouzo waved one hand around helplessly, searching for words that would not come. He sighed and collapsed on the dirt below the pipe, knees giving away. Absentmindedly he began trying to wipe the grime that had accumulated on him from his trip through that sickly greasy substance. There was no real success to be had in that endeavor. The substance clung to his skin and the dirt clung just as tenaciously to it. Nothing short of a full shower would get rid of it. Kouzo gave a half-chuckle at the futility of it all, knowing that it could change into a sob at any second, “...shit.”

Hunter sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulder, “Come on, it looks like we can rest here for a few minutes before going on. I can't believe I'm being the positive voice here, but you can't give up hope while we're still alive.”

“How long will that last though?” Kouzo protested, “We're in the fucking lair of the Wyrm, we've just lost the one most likely to get us out of here alive. The same's probably going to happen to the rest of us, fighting a running battle, getting overwhelmed and picked off one by one,” he gave off another choked laugh, “I... I'm not entirely sure I can take yet another person I care about dying.”

Haru spoke up, “Kouzo, don't think that way. I know how you feel, you saw it yourself. I wanted nothing more than to just crawl back inside that elevator and hide from everything until all the badness went away. It's a shit situation, we're kind of fucked, and a lot of me wants to just give up. But come on, there's still a little hope. We've gotten this far, we'll find a way out of this, get back to Milwaukee and start fixing things. I don't care if it sounds delusional, if it's the only thing we have going for us, let's take it and run with it.”

May grimaced, trying without much luck to remove the sickly grime from her. She was currently resisting the temptation to go talk to Kaoru, who was idly kicking at the little crawling things a bit further down the beach. She could feel the urge boiling in her blood. It was the bond, pulling at her, growing stronger again. She knew she was living in denial, somehow forcing herself to believe that being stuck in close proximity to him wouldn't cause the bond between them to strengthen a second time.

She caught herself gazing at Kaoru, almost longingly. A set of nails raked up her arm, biting deep into the skin. May sighed and forced herself to turn away, thankful at least that the self-inflicted pain had broken through the rosy mists imposed by the blood shared between them, even if temporarily. Part of her mind kept insisting that it was alright, it wasn't that bad. After all, she was terribly lonely. All she had was Mallory to keep her company, and even he couldn't satisfy other wants that she more or less constantly felt. Hope flared now that she knew that Hikaru was indeed still alive, but what good was that now? Like Mallory, he was back on 'earth', not here in this foul smelling hell. The only one here for her was further down the beach, why not simply go to him?

“Eff that shit!” May swore, biting her cheek until it bled. Fuck the blood bond, she already had enough voices whispering in her head. She didn't need this one trying to tell her the humiliation, pain and abuse he heaped on her wasn't that bad. The constant torture, mental, emotional and physical, nearly nonstop. Granted, some of the lighter stuff he did wasn't that bad, rather exciting actually. And the sex itself, that was fan-fucking-tastic, but...

May rolled her eyes, “Oh my fucking god!” How much longer before she completely caved to this?

“What?” Natalie asked.

“What?” May replied, looking at the girl lying on her back in the sand.

“Well, you said 'oh my fucking god', I was just wondering what you were talking about.”

“Nothing.”

“Hey, you and that fucker, you guys have history,” Natalie said, lifting her head slightly, “did he really kill his own mother?”

May had to think about the question. She wanted to tell Natalie that it depended on which universe she was in. Her dreams told her that the Kaoru she used to know, the one in the life before, killed his parents a few seconds before he killed her. As for this 'life'? Well, he didn't delve into the history too much, but everything else matched up to the point that it seemed just as likely. “Yeah, killed his mother and father, and wants to do the same to his brother,” May didn't really have to urge to try and explain the concept of past lives in a parallel universe that might not exist to the emo-tastic little schoolgirl.

“Why did he do that?”

“Well, there's the fact that he's a psychotic, mass-murdering asshole,” May listed the points off on her grimy fingers, “the fact that he's always hated his brother more than anything else, and the fact that he kind of got shafted in terms of inheritance.”

“Inheritance? What?”

“Kaoru came from a pretty damn rich family, they help run a good chunk of the Yakuza. He and Hikaru were born twins, but Hikaru came out first, so being the 'elder' by a couple seconds, he was destined to inherit their father's position in the business, kind of shit deal for Kaoru. Then Hikaru had the change hit him, something that, from what I've heard, only happens to one family member out of every four generations or so. Just made Kaoru even more jealous, I guess being the younger brother just plain sucks. Well, Kaoru got mixed up in some bad business...”

“Bad business?” Natalie said disbelievingly, “Isn't the Yakuza like a Japanese crime-ring or something? I thought 'bad business' would be, y'know, expected for it.”

“Yeah, well, that's just normal business for them. He got involved in stuff that was pretty dark even for the Yakuza. Apparently some Kindred infiltrators decided he'd make a good patsy and ended up embracing him. Well getting turned into a vampire kind of sent him off the deep end. He ended up going on a spree, killing everything undead in his family's part of the organization and then diablerizing each one, which only made things worse.”

“Wait, you're losing me,” Natalie said, sitting up, “Diablerizing? What is that?”

May waved her hands, trying to find the right words, “It's when one vampire, well, he kind of eats the soul of another vampire and gains some of its power. Apparently it's the biggest sin a vampire can commit and God himself is supposed to directly punish those that do it. I can't speak for God, but each time he did it, he went a little further off the deep end. By the time he finished with the fourth one, he'd decided that dear daddy wasn't fit to run the family business if these kindred were working in the organization without his notice. So he went about trying to 'claim' the inheritance for himself, killing mommy and daddy, and trying to kill Hikaru so that he'd be next in the line of succession. Thankfully Hikaru got away, fled to the states, and Kaoru's been following him ever since.”

“So he killed his family, and now he thinks he can go around acting like a bad-ass?” Natalie rolled her eyes and gave a grim, self-indulgent smile, “He's probably compensating for something.”

May arched an eyebrow, “Um, he killed most of his family, devoured the souls of at least four kindred, chased his brother, a goddamn werekitty, halfway around the world, still ruthlessly slaughters anything that gets in his way, and simply marched in and seized control over all the Kindred in Milwaukee. I don't know what stone you've been living under, girlie, but from where I come from, that sort of qualifies as 'bad-ass' ten times over.”

“Whatever, he's a self-absorbed fucker whose completely wrong about me, and I'm going to prove it and rub it in his face.”

“Yeah, you do that, let me know how it goes,” May said mockingly. She was only half listening anyways, her vision already being drawn back to the sulking figure up the beach. She was pissed and confused about what had happened back in the church. When that thing, the Nexus Crawler had dropped him in the pit, she had jumped in right after him. It had happened too fast for rational thought. May knew she could feel the blood pulling at her, but she was also certain that she had made the choice to follow him of her own free will, regardless of what the blood-bond between them dictated. Was it the bond that made her do it, or did she actually...

“Hey, guys?” Haru ran up to Natalie and May, followed by Hunter and Kouzo, “who the hell is Kaoru talking to?”

Kaoru wandered along the beach, staying just out reach of the lapping oil or tar or whatever the hell it was. He offered a brief glance to the boiling sky. It definitely wasn't night here, yet he was up and wandering around. It was pretty obvious this wasn't earth, it looked like the whole 'burning in the light of day' thing only applied to the sun itself, not any other daytime light, which actually was rather nice. He could admit to himself that he did sometimes find himself missing being able to go out during the day, even if only because it made him appreciate a nice cool night even more.

Kaoru crouched down, poking at something the size of a large lobster with five legs that laboured up the beach. The thing turned and bit him on the wrist, sinking dozens of needle teeth into his flesh. “Ouch.”

The vampire stood up, lifting the tenaciously clinging critter. He grabbed what looked like the things back, ripped it off his wrist, and spent a moment staring into a cluster of yellow-ish multi-faceted eyes nestled in a bed of writhing feelers. Sucking on one fang, Kaoru tossed the thing into the air a yard ahead of him and punted it back into the tarry waters that birthed it. “Beautiful, isn't it?” a voice behind him said.

Kaoru turned sharply, pistol out and pointing at the source of the voice. “No need for that,” the figure reclining on a spar of cracked and broken concrete and rebar said in an indulgent growl, “wouldn't do a whole lot against me anyways.”

“Who... what are you?” Kaoru asked, giving the creature a quick once over. It looked vaguely like the other lupines did when they went around in that brutish half-man-half-wolf state. Tall, thick and hulking. Pointed ears, slavering jaws and wicked claws. This one, though, was completely hairless, and looked rather emaciated to boot. Its skin was covered in a network of scars and tattoos, forming a spiraling pattern of hieroglyphs that covered every inch of exposed flesh. A yellow/white sack of flesh covered in pink scars and intricate blue tattoos.

The thing regarded him with a pair of milky white eyes. Though looking like nothing more than a pair of blind, cataract-ridden orbs, the facial expression gave them impression of a full visual examination of the vampire, backed by a cruel intelligence. Apparently not displeased with what it saw, the thing favoured him with a grin. It's mouth was filled with uneven barbed fangs made completely out of silver, “If you're looking for a name, you're destined for disappointment. It must have been hundreds of years since the last one who remembered my name died now. Hundreds? Maybe it's actually thousands, so many have gone by it's hard to tell.”

“I'm assuming the passage of years took your sanity as well then, so what do you want?”

“Kaoru! What the hell is that thing?” the rest of the group were coming up the beach. Haru already had Kageneko out and was advancing slowly on the creature.

“Oh put your toys away,” it said, rolling onto its back and stretching, completely ignoring their threats, “if I wanted you dead, you wouldn't even have a chance to draw your weapons.”

“What are you?” Kouzo asked. He was looking at the patterns on the things skin. He received a harsh shock when he did so. He had only been taught a little about the Garou glyphs. The symbols that represented Gaia and the Wyrm, some of the tribal symbols, a few more common symbols that were used to mark territory, read-able to Garou but nothing but nonsense symbols to normal people. One that he had learned though was the symbol for his own name. What had shocked him was that he now saw the symbol on the thing's skin, tattooed in ink that looked like it had the fading of centuries on it.

The thing smiled again, “So you already saw it. Your name upon my flesh. All Garou who gaze upon me see the same thing. Most often it is part of a story written on my skin, a story of how and when they are going to die. Most often the how is by my claws, and the when is right after they read the story.”

Kouzo gulped, drawing his sword, “So then... what about us?”

“Take a look at the lake,” the creature pointed.

“Wait, you're the First Metis, aren't you?” Hunter asked.

“The what?” Kouzo said.

“How do you know that story?” Haru asked.

Another silvery smile, “You are right, I am the First Metis, now, take a look out on the lake. See how beautiful it is? A perfect reflection of life itself. It spawns forms from a disgusting soup, they feed on each other and grow ever more advanced, the weak falling to the strong. Eventually, though, all of it will return to the base essence that spawned it. Life itself is based on a cycle of corruption, denial and destruction. A never ending struggle to escape the mindless appetite of the base elements and natural laws that created you, destroying or subverting those around you to make yourself stronger, then allowing your own genetic material to be corrupted and recombined to produce another generation of offspring who will follow the same path as you. And in the end, your own body falls to corruption as you die and are decomposed. A never ending cycle, one could almost describe it as a spiral.”

“Wow, thanks for the biology lesson,” Kaoru spat, “so did you have any more useless metaphors to offer us?”

“Those of you who know how to read them saw your names on my flesh, yet you didn't see the story that illustrates how you will die. That is because that story hasn't been written yet, which strikes me as curious. So I come to you with an offer, you've piqued my curiosity, and so I'm willing to give you some aid, for a price of course.”

“Like we'd accept aid from you,” Haru said, “There are legends surrounding your evil.”

“Yes yes, I've heard all of them,” the Metis giggled, a sound like a deflating bagpipe, “usually stated just before the teller coughs up some more blood and dies at my hands. But you're not dead, not even coughing up blood, which makes this a unique situation, and one definitely worth considering, no?”

“What are the terms?” Kaoru said, growing impatient.

“Those banes out there,” the Metis pointed at the swarms flitting over the lake in chaotic circles and oblongs, “They haven't noticed you yet, but it's only a matter of time before they do and move in to feed. From the look of things, you've already encountered this. You have no chance of survival so long as your pathetic attempts to resist the corruption that is innate to all life shine like beacons on all of you.”

The First Metis reached into its mouth and made a wrenching motion. It then spat. Six silver teeth clattered onto the shattered block of pavement. The beast resumed speaking, new teeth already growing to fill the gaps left by those removed, “Each of you take one and keep it on your person. They each contain a small shadow of my own aura, one of all but perfect corruption. The banes will see you as one of their own and let you pass unhassled.”

Kouzo picked up one of the teeth. His fingers tingled and burned where they touched the silver, and all his skin crawled, as if trying to escape something truly repugnant. “And what do you want in return for this?”

The Metis looked at each of them, then finally settled his gaze on Hunter. The lips parted slowly, turning into an impossibly wide rictus as the creature grinned and drooled. Kouzo stepped in front of her, “You're not doing anything with her, and I don't care if I have to die to stop you.”

“No, I have no intention of actively doing anything with her. She's already part of what I want on her own. It's what you shall do, all of you, that concerns me. You will, in due time, engage in acts that will be directly and knowingly in the service of my totem, my master. You will do this of your own free will. That is your end of this arrangement, is that understood?”

“Who's your master?” Kaoru said, taking his own tooth and examining it.

“You just had to ask, didn't you?” May muttered darkly.

With a luxurious yawn, the First Metis stretched out like a cat would and jumped over them, landing on the beach a few feet away from the black substance, “A word of warning: The charms you carry will render you invisible to the spirits here. But spirits are simple creatures, governed solely by their instincts and senses. They are not the only things here, and other less-simple creatures will not be similarly fooled.”

“Who's your master?” Kaoru asked again, this time louder.

“Many Garou take spirits of many types as their totems, mentors, guides and masters. The relationship is always a personal one with direct communication and respect between the spirit and the Garou,” the Metis slid into the oily substance with a sucking, sloshing noise. Just before its head disappeared beneath the waters it called out, “You know well enough of my totem. You call it the Wyrm.”

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“This isn't quite what I was expecting,” Hunter said, looking around in confusion.

“Yeah,” Kouzo agreed, “It's not exactly, er, fitting in with the rest of the, um... decor?”

“Maybe they just missed this section?” Haru pondered hopefully.

“Or maybe we found a way out,” Natalie started, then finished a little more soberly, “...that was in plain sight and unguarded...”

“There's too many flowers,” May said bluntly, “It smells like a damn hippie convention without the BO... though I guess that's not that bad.”

Once the First Metis had disappeared, they had quickly put together a plan of action that would hopefully lead them out of this hole. The well-rehearsed operation consisted of sticking together and heading through the nearest pass through the rocks to see if it lead anywhere better than the lake of tar and its polluted beach. Natalie had gone as far as to entertain the wild hope that the way would lead to something just possibly a little better, or at least less horrible than what they were dealing with up till now. What she got took her so much by surprise that she was still reeling with the shock of it.

It had been a cave or natural tunnel, extending about half a mile before opening back up into... this. What 'this' was appeared to be some sort of garden. It was not filled with rot and corruption. Monsters did not pick bloody fruit off of branches that oozed with vile, festering sap. It was actually filled with lush greenery, bright flowers flavouring the air with exotic and tantalizing scents. Well marked trails done in a quaint British fashion, topped with exquisitely maintained flagstones led through fairytale-like hanging vines and deep green creepers.

“It's kind of nice actually,” Natalie ran her hand along rough, but cool and earthy feeling bark, “probably just to lure us into a false sense of security, but why not enjoy it while it lasts?”

“Because I have better things to do than frolic around like some fag in this stupid little garden?” Kaoru suggested.

“Oh really? Like what? We're stuck in the pits of hell, I guess you've got a full schedule of sulking about like some goth-tard, don't you?”

“Like getting the fuck out of here, because I'm not exactly eager to stay here any longer than I have to.”

“Well isn't that just a wonderful plan?” Natalie skipped ahead, taunting Kaoru, “We're lost in Malfeaus, we're wandering blind, without a clue where the hell we are, where the way out is, if there even is a way out, and followed by a legion of things that want to see us dead. But we can't stop to burn off some stress in the first nice looking area we've been in so far because mister sour-apples over here is deathly afraid of the slightest suggestion that his balls aren't the biggest things around here, right?”

“Whatever, play your stupid fairytale game, it's not my idea of fun.”

“Yeah, because you're the big bad-ass Kaoru! You have to be tough and unfeeling all the time, can't let anyone get the idea that you might want to simply enjoy yourself sometimes, right? It's kind of funny, you were accusing me of being stupidly self-centered just a few minutes ago. Now you're the one being a whiny little bitch when we're in someplace that, even if it is just an illusion, it still has the potential to make some of us feel a little better, regain a little sanity and stability.”

Kaoru sucked on a tooth, “I could bring your fun to an end right now if you insist on being an annoying little twit.”

Natalie turned and walked back up to him, “What are you going to do? Kill me? I just watched my mother die, my entire life got turned upside down a few days ago, my home city's become a living horror-movie, I've nearly been raped, sent insane in some unholy ritual, and if you haven't noticed, we're sitting in Hell you fucking moron! Just what do you plan on doing that's worse that what's already happened? Is your dick so small that you have to compensate by attempting to bring others down? I know a lot of people who have that same sort of mindset, you know. They all go to high school, guess that speaks worlds about you, doesn't it?”

May suppressed a giggle. Kaoru settled for simply ignoring the girl and stalking on.

“You know, it is rather nice out here,” Hunter looked around, “and we're all probably feeling rather tired.”

“It's a trap, it has to be,” Haru pressed on, “letting our guard down would be a really stupid thing to do out here.”

“Yeah, but letting our guard down anywhere in Malfeaus is a really stupid thing to do,” Hunter pointed out, “Not only that, but we have to rest sometime. If we don't do it soon, it won't matter how much we try to keep our guard up, exhaustion will weaken us too much to fight back when something decides to truly fuck with us.”

“You're suggesting we stop for a rest, try and catch a little sleep?” Kouzo asked.

“Do it in shifts,” Hunter replied, “That way at least somebody's up and alert the entire time. Kouzo, I suggest you and Natalie sleep first, you've been going on for the longest.”

“Wait a minute, we didn't agree to this,” Haru said.

“In a minute it's not going to matter because Kouzo's going to fall over, look at him,” Hunter insisted.

Haru studied the Metis then nodded, “Alright, you've got a point.”

“Kouzo, come on, lay down, you need sleep,” Hunter said, leading the gangly one off the walkway to the soft grass where he slowly fell, barely conscious enough to keep himself awake.

Kouzo suppressed a yawn, “Don't let me sleep for too long, alright?”

“Go to sleep you idiot,” Hunter said, putting his head in her lap. Haru turned away, biting off the comment she was going to make about the two of them together like that.

“I'm sorry, for judging you like that,” Kouzo muttered.

“Don't be,” Hunter ran a hand through his hair, “I shouldn't have snapped on you like that, not here of all places.”

“No, it was rather stupid of me to do something like that,” Kouzo replied slowly, not able to resist the yawn that came this time.

“Yeah, well there's always room for improvement. Don't let it distract you from the fact despite what I said, you aren't nearly as bad as most of the unwashed masses out there.”

Kouzo's voice was trailing off, “Coming from you... that's a hell of a compliment...”

“Hey Natalie, you should get a little shut-eye as well,” Haru called out.

The suggestion was met by May giggling slightly as she pulled the heads off of flowers and ripped the petals off, one by one. Kaoru was leaning back against a tree, sunglasses on, intently staring at absolutely nothing. “Natalie?” Haru tried again.

“She went a little ahead,” May said, “I'll go and get her, you keep watch over those two sleepyheads.”

“Two?” Haru began, and noticed that Hunter had leaned back against a tree and fallen asleep herself.

“Hey, Hunter, get up, I don't want to-” Haru found herself opening wide for a yawn. She tried again, “Hunter, I'll be damned if it's just me and the leeches pulling guard duty, come on.”

Jostling her didn't help. The woman's mouth dropped open in a quiet snore. The only reason she hadn't completely fallen over sideways was because her antlers had gotten caught in the bark of the tree. Haru found herself yawning again as she tried to wake the Metis up. She shook her head, trying to shake off the sudden attack of lethargy. She finally noticed the scents in this little glade suddenly seemed a lot more intense. No longer did they smell like sweet, fairytale blossoms. The scent had become cloying, confusing, overpowering. Haru rubbed her eyes, the air seemed full of clouds of pungent pollen.

Turning to find that leech, Kaoru, the girl fell to her knees. She felt herself moving in slow motion, dreamlike, as she regained her feet. Every time her moved her head, everything in her field of view left trails behind them. For the first time she noticed the sound of crickets in the forest-garden. It was a soft, constant drone. Hypnotic, lulling. For a moment Haru managed to drag herself back to alertness, just long enough to notice that Kaoru was no longer sitting against the tree, the three of them were alone in the glade, and two of them were deep asleep. Haru yawned again, deeply inhaling another cloud of that confusing, dizzying pollen.

“Oh... shit...” she breathed as she collapsed, giving in to the drugged air.

Natalie made her way back along the trail, looking around uncertainly. “Guys? Hello?!”

May turned around in anger and impatience, “Kaoru, I know you're being a pissy bitch right now, but could you at least-”

There was no one standing behind her anymore.

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“Sir, all units except for Bravo 4 have reported in.”

Barry rubbed his temples, leaning back in the cushy office chair, “Status?”

“Bravo 3 and 5 reported sightings of the Fomori entities, sir. Surveys of the general populace report about a 34% decrease in sightings in the past week.”

“And Bravo 4, is there any reason for their lack of reports?”

“No sir, they were patrolling sector C when all radio contact was lost.”

“Sector C,” Barry mused, looking at the map, “Where Pentex is located. Very well, establish a perimeter there with two teams, detain any and all personnel that leave.”

“Yes sir,” the man saluted smartly and left.

Barry sighed and looked back at the computer screen. Several dozen windows were up, most showing pictures or videos of some sort. A few keytaps and the Puerto Rican stared intently at the screen, seeming to focus on something several inches beyond the flat-screen monitor. The window opened up on its own, a Pentex security feed, several days old, supposedly secure. The faces were indistinct, the shot had been made when they were in the process of running down the corridor, but a long, red scarf was clearly visible on one of the running figures. Kouzo.

“Gotcha, you bastards,” Barry said with some sympathy, “what are they doing with you down there?”

“Haru! Haru!” Something cool and raspy grabbed her hand. Haru's eyes fluttered open, she tried to remember where she was.

A second later the small girl was on her feet, looking around the clearing. Natalie backed away, looking uncertain. “Where are the others?” Haru demanded.

“I don't know, I came back and you were the only one here,” Natalie said.

Haru closed her eyes and concentrated. It took a few seconds, but eventually the cells in her nose, and just in her nose, began to shift, heading more towards her canid half than her human side. She inhaled the air. Vegetation, the very slight remains of that pollen that had incapacitated her before, and soil. Beneath it all the slight scent of rot, it had been there all the time.

No sign, however, of anyone else. Haru looked around and made doubly sure that Kageneko was securely at her side. “Alright, we need to get moving and find the others quickly.”

“Hold on,” Natalie looked around insecurely, “Before we go...”

Haru rounded almost angrily, “What?”

“I was so fucking scared... I thought I was the only one left,” Natalie embraced Haru before the latter had a chance to resist, “You don't know how happy I am to see you.”

Haru's eyes widened in shock, she didn't quite know how to react to this. With some confusion she put her hands on Natalie's back, “It's alright, but we really need to-”

Her voice stopped with the first pseudo-reassuring pat. That didn't feel right at all. Her back was cold and hard. “Natalie?” Haru tried to push the girl away.

She only gripped tighter, the hiss of breath hot on her chest. “Natalie...” Haru fumbled over the strangely unyielding back, it almost felt like a block of wood underneath her tank-top, looking for a way to pry the clingy girl off of her.

“Natalie!” The breath had changed tone and intensity. The soft hiss began to escalate, Haru realized it didn't sound organic at all. Haru began to struggle more, but Natalie held her tightly with a strength that seemed to far exceed her tiny frame. Haru's fumbling hands found even more than was strange. The hardness in Natalie's back came to a sudden crease. As Haru gripped Natalie's arm, trying to push it away, she realized the skin there was just as hard. And now without any clothing to mute the sensation, it actually felt just like a block of wood.

Haru's struggles were restrained. Thin wires wrapped around her skin, holding her down. Haru managed to grip Natalie's hair and, realizing how plastic and fake it felt, pulled her head back.

Lifeless glass eyes stared up at her, clicking as they shifted position in carved wooden sockets. Natalie grinned at her, a grin that opened wider and wider until it became too impossibly large for any human face to contain. The girl's mouth opened, then the entire jaw unhinged, revealing a set of crooked nails. The Natalie-doll lunged forward, burying two dozen sharp points into Haru's shoulder and chest. Haru screamed at the burning pain and wrenched herself away, body growing larger and more muscular in pure reaction as she did so. The wires holding her arms down sliced into her skin, then snapped as the muscle beneath bulged ever larger.

With a cry of pain and rage, Haru tore the thing from her and threw it into the trunk of the nearest tree. There was a hollow wooden clanking as the hideous marionette doll struck and collapsed to the ground in a pile of wood joints and translucent wires. Haru clutched her sopping, perforated shoulder and stared in terror at the doll, only the burning fire of rage keeper her from complete shock and paralysis. The marionette began to spasm, wooden joints clattering across each other as a maddened shriek emanated from within.

The wooden puppet shivered to a halt as Kageneko's blade was buried deep within the central body. Haru wiped the cold sweat from her brow, hoping the unholy thing was dead. There was no such luck as one hardwood hand wrapped around the blade, then a second, working to pull the doll up the blade, closer to the girl that held it. With a shriek louder than any the doll had given off, Haru raised the blade, and the doll impaled on it, and hammered it on the ground, trying to remove the thing.

Trees and shrubbery around Haru began to rustle, and beneath it came more clanking and hissing breath. More of them, the dolls. The Natalie-doll finally fell off Kageneko, and Haru turned and bolted. Within a few seconds she was nothing more than a terrified wolf, jumping back and forth through the low foliage, madly fleeing phantasms seen and unseen.

Haru burst through the last line of bushes and found herself teetering over a vast cliff. Paws scrabbled for purchase as her maddened flight threaten to cast her over the edge. Warm hands grabbed her and yanked her backwards, mere seconds before her own center of balance plunged her into oblivion. Haru let out an angry, frightened snarl and twisted away from the thing that gripped her. It was Hunter. Forcing herself back into a more human shape, Haru drew Kageneko and made sure at least several paces were kept between her and both Hunter and Natalie who stood near the cliff edge as well.

“Haru, jesus what happened? Your shoulder!”

Haru ignored this. The hot, lancing pain in her shoulder had deadened to a frigid numbness, “You two just keep the fuck away from me!”

Natalie looked at Hunter, then back at Haru uncomprehending, “Haru, come on, it's us-”

“I said keep the fuck away!” Haru raised the blade, fully intending to strike the girl if she came any closer.

Hunter nodded, raising her hands as a sign of non-aggression and backing away a few steps, “Haru, we're on the same side here...”

“I don't know that,” Haru was on the verge of tears, “How do I know you're not one of them? One of those back there? The... the dolls?”

“Because I can tell it's really you,” Natalie said, stepping forward.

“Get back!” Haru raised the blade again.

Natalie took another step forward, “Call it stupid, I sure am, but I can tell it's you. Maybe it's that pack thing we got put into, but can't you feel that sort of connection with us? If it weren't the real me, or it weren't the real you, how come I'm feeling that connection? Come on, don't tell me I'm the only one.”

The blade wavered in the air. Haru didn't want to trust her, she had to be one of those dolls, just waiting for her to lower her guard. Standing back up, she sheathed the blade. She did trust her, and she could feel the bond between them. No sort of real knowledge, but the underlying certainty that the woman standing in front of her was a member of her pack. “Alright... alright, I believe it's-”

Haru staggered and fell to her knees. Hunter ran forward, examining her shoulder. “Oh crap, what happened to you?”

“Dolls...” came the reply, lilting as shock began to set in, “...one... bit me...”

“Bit you?” Hunter looked incredulously at the wound, “Hon, it looks like you rammed your shoulder through a wall made of broken glass.”

“Teeth like nails...”

“It should have healed by now,” Hunter was now concentrating heavily on the wound, growing nearly as pale as Haru was as she focused her own energy, making the wounds knit through sheer spiritual willpower alone, “Those teeth were made out of silver.”

“What was that about dolls?” Natalie asked, helping an exhausted Hunter to her feet.

Hunter put her hand on Haru's shoulder, “Haru, you've got a phobia of dolls, don't you?”

Haru nodded, wincing as she experimentally rubbed the other shoulder. “That's what I thought,” Hunter said, “I've heard about this place before. The Umbral realm of Dream, part of it lies in Malfeas. The story said that it was warped by the Wyrm into a place of nightmares, those caught within being exposed to their worst fears. I guess it wanted to focus only on you, Haru.”

“Why?” Natalie asked.

Hunter shrugged, “Perhaps Haru had the... juiciest phobia, so to speak. Perhaps there was something about her psyche that made it all the more attractive to whatever runs that forest.”

“We should... we should keep going,” Haru shakily regained her feet.

“Yeah, agreed,” Hunter said, “I did all I could for that wound, but the rest is going to have to heal on its own, and I don't want to stay near that forest any longer than I have to.”

“I don't want to stay here any longer that I have to,” Natalie added.

“Well that goes without saying, so should we just follow the bridge?”

“Bridge?” Haru asked, looking up.

Natalie pointed at the structure, extending from the cliff edge about a hundred feet from where they stood, extending and disappearing into the red mists.

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“Don't scare me like that! It's bad enough here!”

“Sorry May, have you seen any of the others?”

“No, I thought I was the only one left. That bastard Kaoru just disappeared from right behind me.”

“I don't like it here, it's not a nice place.”

“Well gee, that's an amazing observation, what led you to that conclusion?”

Kouzo didn't bother replying, pushing further ahead in the now dark and noisome trail. He had woken up alone in the clearing, but it no longer was the clearing he had fallen asleep in. The trees, bushes and trail were still there, all in the same positions. But there was now a darker, twisted, half-rotten aspect to them. There had been no one there at all when he woke up as well. Plunging half-panicked through the trail, he only now just ran into May.

“Hey, wait, there's something up this way,” Kouzo voice called back.

“Is it Kaoru?” May stopped, nearly slapping herself for that. Stupid fucking blood, still dragging her mind towards him.

Kouzo was giving her a strange look as she rounded the corner. She scowled, “Oh shut up, it's not my fault. And don't go out of sight again, you're barely entertaining at all, but you're way better than being alone out here.”

The two looked up at the tall, wrought-iron gate. Kouzo pushed one of the doors experimentally. The gate opened inward, screaming in protest the entire way. “Well isn't that just the most inviting sound you've ever heard?” May cleaned out one ear.

Kouzo was staring forward, his jaw agape, “Hunter? Hunter?!” he ran forward.

“Wait up you idiot!” May yelled, chasing after him, running up the steps to the doors of a massive, tilting cathedral. It was too late, Kouzo had already slipped between the half-ajar doors, disappearing into the darkness inside.

May looked around. The church tottered in a grand yard filled with dying scrubs and weeds, all bathed in the bloody glow from the ever-present mists above. The strangling forest was kept in check by a rusting, iron fence whose gate they had just passed through. She didn't want to go inside, she just wanted to get out of here. Hell, she'd deal with Kaoru, fine, if it meant that she didn't have to be in this shitty little place any longer. For once that sadistic asshole was actually the lesser evil.

Rolling her eyes in anger over the fact that her only company here seemed to be stupidly in love and willing to risk their lives over it, May went through the doors. The inside was much as the outside would suggest it to be. All heavy, gothic architecture, a few staircases, some ponderous, sealed portals. The floor was the only thing that looked different, though. Instead of the massive flagstones one would expect in a place like this, it was actually neatly tiled.

There was something about those tiles, though. “Kouzo... where did you go?” May's voice quavered slightly as she looked more closely at the tiles. Each one had engravings on them, yet none were the same. There must have been thousands of tiles in this area alone, each and every one unique, yet connected. The engravings passed seamlessly from one tile to another. All of them followed the same pattern. Spirals, millions of them, small and large. Twisting through each other, brushing up against each other, engaging in a maddening dance with each other. “Kouzo?”

May advanced slowly through the only available passage. Soon the ceiling opened up, revealing towering, fluted columns that extended indefinitely into the blue mists obscuring the vaulted ceiling above. As May continued through the twisting, maze-like passageways, her journey was interrupted by the occasional bird-like scream from above. Aside from this, and the clicking of her boots, there was no other sound. After what seemed like hours of fruitlessly walking down these endless corridors, May finally lost her patience. Nearby was a torch-bracket set into the heavy, cinderblock wall. “Fuck this,” she said as she used the bracket as a level to vault onto the edge of the wall, looking to see what lay beyond.

“Oh... shit...”

It was a maze. It was a goddamned labyrinth. A chaotic tangle of corridors, all just like the one she was in, extending for at least a mile in each direction before disappearing into the cold blue mists. She would have to find her own way out. Gnawing angrily on her tongue, May dropped back in the corridor. Well, maybe there was a way to circumvent the whole maze-aspect of this place. She could climb back up and balance along the tops of the walls. Choose a direction and go with it, not confined by the corridors any more. This place perverted the laws of physics, the inside was many square miles larger than the outside would suggest. Not only that, but it was giving her the creeps far worse than anything else had so far. Despite the open-air nature of the corridors, she was feeling more and more claustrophobic. Claustrophobic and alone, as if in these miles of space, the only one watching or even acknowledging her was herself-

May shrieked in terror and spun as a hand was placed on her shoulder. She threw her back against the wall, fumbling for sais that didn't seem to want to come out as the figure in front of her stammered out an apology. A cold, undead terror pulsed through May as the beast inside of her demanded she flee from this thing, examine it from a distance where she wasn't quite so immediately vulnerable.

The blood haze began to lift as May desperately fought for control over herself. Blurred outlines began to resolve themselves into more detail as a distantly mumbling voice began to gain clarity. May blinked in shock as she began to recognize features on the person standing in front of her. Her mouth opened, her tongue moved but no words came out. It couldn't be him. Here? Now? There was no way it could be possible, everything inside her rational mind screamed against it.

Unfortunately her rational mind had been reduced to near-silence by the events of the past several days. May gave something that was halfway between a sigh of relief and a choked sob. She collapsed on the figure in front of her, “Hikaru...”

She felt the warm embrace of his arms. Buried her head into his neck. Inhaled the scent that was him and no one else. She was in hell, but that no longer mattered because he was here. Somehow, against all reason, he had come for her. May openly sobbed, mentally pushing away everything. This place, this detestable labyrinth, the sickly, dark forest that surrounded it. She wanted nothing but her and Hikaru to exist.

For a moment it was true. For a moment it was nothing but her and the one she loved. Then something else intruded. It was so minor that she didn't even notice it at first, but it quickly inflamed, growing until it could no longer be denied. It was part of what she now was, something placed into her the moment she physically died and was reborn into the curse of undeath. It was hunger. Hunger for more life, for sustenance, only able to be temporarily sated by the life of others, by their blood. It had been several days since she last fed, and the hunger had been there, but it was nothing she couldn't control and drag out for several days more by conserving her energy.

Now it came back, worse than before, aroused by the presence of what it wanted so close by. May could smell it... feel it... right beneath his skin. The carotid, less than an inch from her mouth. May realized in terror that her fangs had already grown, nearly brushing against his skin. “Hikaru... please, run...”

“No,” came the voice. Ignorantly reassuring, “I don't want to lose you ever again, I love you.”

The statement hit May hard. Here, in this hell she began to understand how much the simple support of others meant. And the statement of love struck her, knocking her psyche off track, crushing what little willpower she had left. Another sob escaped her, but May no longer had any control. A sense of depersonalization came over her as she watched the ensuing events helplessly. She watched and felt herself bury her fangs in Hikaru's neck. He didn't struggle at all as she greedily fed upon the hot, thick liquid that came out of there. Gorging herself in an animalistic fashion. She felt his heart slow, falter, come to a stop. His body went limp, and she went down with it. Still latched eagerly to his neck, still trying to get the last bit of life-blood still in him.

The figure that was May let the corpse of her former lover fall away, licking her lips, sated. As the fires of hunger were quenched by the blood of her lover, May could feel herself returning to her own mind, her own body. No longer a displaced observer, May realized she had never been that. She was the one who had done this, she had never left her own body. It was her who had betrayed his trust, using it to feed herself. The hunger, and the life it had just taken, were irrevocably a part of her. May simply sat and stared, not even able to work up the courage to cry. A large part of her, her stability, her center, her will to go on lay dead on the ground in front of her, by her own actions.

“So you got to him before I could,” a voice behind her said.

May nodded dumbly, not even looking up to acknowledge Kaoru's existence. He continued, “Then you won't mind being sent to be with him, sharing an eternity in mutual oblivion.”

May felt a warmth. Somehow, during the process of feeding, a bed of straw had appeared beneath the both of them. It was to this that Kaoru was now holding his lighter. Flames licked greedily, spreading outwards towards May and the corpse. “Of course,” Kaoru said, walking away, “you will never really join him. His soul's gone wherever. You, on the other hand, have no soul, you will burn with that which you loved, yet killed.”

The woman nodded again, no longer hearing, no longer comprehending, simply wishing escape.

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“I can't believe we're actually doing this,” Haru said, fingering the silver tooth in her hand.

“Doing what?” Natalie asked.

“Allying with that monster, the First Metis, it's... I know we're supposed to be surviving, but this is a level of just-plain-wrong that I'm not sure I can keep justifying for much longer.”

Hunter looked up at several banes that glided serenely by, screaming the whole way. They paid no attention to the three bedraggled girls walking in the street below at all. “Would you rather be dead, or tortured by those things?”

“I really don't know,” Haru replied, “I mean, fight the Wyrm, help Gaia in whatever way possible, right? I know we don't exactly agree on the best way to do that, but I think even we can agree that willingly aiding the First Metis kind of goes against that, right?”

“I want to stay alive. I'm not ready to die yet. Yeah, playing along with that thing's plan, whatever it is, probably isn't the best idea. But dying here, alone, stranded from earth or anything healthy certainly won't help Gaia either.”

Haru took a quick breather, leaning against the side of a nearby building. “Can we take a quick break? We've been walking for a few hours now, and I'm getting really hungry.”

Natalie's own stomach growled audibly in reply, “What is there to eat around here? I'm not tempted to trust the fruit back in that forest, even if we were still there. And here...”

If it weren't for the twisted sky and the occasional missing chunks of concrete, this would have looked like the industrial section of any large city. Steel girders, rusted rivets and imposing brick walls dominated the 'landscape'. Roadways with gutters rilling over with acidic waste writhed around each other, bound by crumbling, trash-littered sidewalks. All of it was suspended over that opalescent red nothingness that dominated the rest of Malfeas. A nightmare tangle of welded, leaky pipes, belching smokestacks and rickety walkways.

“Um... Haru, I know this is kind of weird question, but... can I hug you?” Natalie asked.

“No,” the girl replied firmly.

Natalie sighed, “Okay, I kind of figured as much.”

“Is this how it happens?” Haru asked, looking up towards the sky.

“How what happens?”

“How someone falls to the Wyrm, is this it?” Haru said, “Just forced into more and more desperate circumstances. Making more compromises that seem like the only good choice at the time, but then coming back to find the combined weight of all those choices has pushed you too far. That the only option left is to forsake everything you thought you were fighting for, just to escape the pain of it?”

“We have to make compromises,” Hunter argued, “that's the way all life is. Gaia made us, not just us, all life, out of love. She would not want that which she loves to just mindlessly serve her. Nor would she want it to mindlessly die in some supposed defense of her. She would not create life to just to see it all die in conflict against the Wyrm. I think, more than anything else, keeping alive is what would glorify Gaia the most. I don't give a shit about the stupid, suicidal fantasies of the Get.”

“But isn't the greatest act of love you can show someone to die on their behalf?” Haru asked, “To offer your life in place of theirs when it comes down to it? Showing that you are willing to give up everything you have just so that they have a chance to continue on? I... I just don't know anymore. I claim I am willing to serve Gaia and fight the Wyrm in all ways possible, and I want to believe that. But when I close my eyes, when I take the time to really think about it... I'm not willing to die for it just yet. I could just stab myself in the heart with Kageneko so that yet another one of Gaia's creations doesn't fall to the Wyrm, but I haven't.”

“That's not corruption, hon,” Natalie said, “That's just a willingness to survive. Look, I don't know how much of this I believe, but look at it this way: Gaia gave you life. Do you really think she wants you to just throw it away when the chips are down?”

“We're Gaia's warriors. We were made to fight, to take the violence and direct it back at that which would threaten Her. It's our job to protect Gaia so that other life has a chance to survive and grow, free of the corruption of the Wyrm. If we're not willing to lay down our life to defend those who can't defend themselves, then what? Who will stand for them then? Who will man the wall when the forces of the Wyrm come, if not us? You've been stuck in the same place I have for the past... I don't know how long now. You've seen what the Wyrm is, how sick its madness is. This is what it wants the world to become! If we're not willing to give our lives to defend Gaia against this, then this will be what our world turns into. I just... I've realized I'm not willing to give my life up for it just yet... I don't want to die, and that's not what Gaia made me for.”

“I can understand dying if you have no other choice,” Hunter conceded, “But when there are still other options available? We're stuck here, in Malfeas... but we're not dead yet. There's hope, there's still a chance we can get the hell out of here. Gaia made us to fight first and foremost, and die only if it's the only option left. We're not dead, and I don't know about you, but if I'm going to die, I intend to go out fighting it the whole way, taking as much of these assholes with me as possible.”

The buildings passed by under weary footfalls. The occasional scrag loped by, treating the three as nothing more than scenery. It was a surreal experience. Under any other circumstances, they would be fighting for their lives against these things. Yet now it was almost like another day on earth, walking by what amounted to little more than familiar strangers. Not even a nod of recognition or acknowledgment, each stuck in their own world. Brushing close physically, yet still occupying separate worlds.

It was Natalie who first noticed they were being followed.

“Guys... we're being followed.”

Hunter continued walking, “Well, if they're in hearing distance, you just gave us away, then. Keep walking like nothing happened.”

Natalie got the messaged and hustled along, head down, “I saw one a few blocks back, watching us before running off. There was another in one of the side streets, sort of ducking into a doorway as soon as I looked.”

“Banes?” Haru asked.

“I don't think so,” Natalie said, “They actually looked human.”

“Crap, worse than banes,” Hunter muttered.

“Worse?” Natalie asked, wondering what could be worse than those hentai-nightmares, the Nexus Crawlers.

“Black Spiral Dancers,” Hunter said.

“Here?” Haru asked.

“Why not? It's the home of their god. And the ones you meet here would probably be the cream of the crop.”

“But how are they worse than banes?” Natalie asked, now rather confused, “Aren't they werewolves... I mean, Garou, just like us?”

“They're not true Garou,” Haru spat.

“They are just like us in that before they went their own way, they had pretty much the same experiences as us,” Hunter said, “and that is exactly what makes them so much more dangerous than mere banes. They can relate to us far better than any inhuman spirit, so they know what hurts us the most and are more than willing to use it against us.”

“Not only that,” Haru added, “but since they aren't spirits, I'm guessing the First Metis' charms aren't going to fool them like they have the banes.”

“Why would anyone voluntarily follow...” Natalie waved a hand, trying not to dwell on the crawling fear the other two womens' statements had awoken in her, “... all this?”

“I wouldn't suggest asking them,” Hunter said, “They're insane, each and every one of them. That's what exposure to the Wyrm has done to them. Maybe that's why they somehow see all this as a desirable outcome.”

“What's that?” Haru pointed ahead.

A mere three blocks away loomed a structure different from the rest. It towered several stories above any of the other buildings. The construction differed quite a bit from the surrounding architecture. It was dome-shaped, composed mostly of glass, or some other transparent substance. The massive panels were held in place by an elaborate metal framework. Pipes and conduits of every size and shape ran outward from this giant structure, most connecting to nearby buildings and twisted power-stations.

It was hard to say what was inside the glass. Whatever it was glowed far too brightly to be clearly seen, pushing away the surrounding red mists. Mostly it was a glaring white light, but often tinged with colours from the full spectrum. Hunter's eyes went wide, “...Here? Actually here?!”

“What?” Haru and Natalie said at the same time.

“Holy shit! Come on, we have a chance to get out of here!” Hunter said, bursting into a run.

The other two girls were dumbfounded. A second later, they were racing to catch up with the sprinting metis. “What the hell are you talking about?” Haru shouted, “What is that?”

“Should we...” Natalie panted, “...be worried about... the Spirals... ?”

“It's the Nexus Vortex!” Hunter cried, not slowing down, “It's a direct link to the Flux Realm, the home of the Wyld! The... Malfeas, it uses the connection as a source of creative power, since it cannot create on it's own. But we can... we can go through the other way, and get out of here!”

By now the three had reached the base of the structure. It was far more than just a dome. The road came to an end several meters in front of the structure, and they could see into the empty space below. The dome continued downward, eventually curving back inward nearly a mile below. It wasn't a dome, it was a giant sphere, suspended in a network of pipes. Nearby a path connected to the sphere, spiraling up towards the top. “There's got to be a way inside,” Hunter said, beginning to run along the spiral path.

“Goddamnit Hunter, wait up!” Haru growled, trying to keep up.

“Yeah, aren't you being a little hasty?”

The exertion of running quickly made talking a luxury that could not be afforded. All energy was directed simply towards keeping up with the antlered figure ahead. After what seemed like an eternity of exhaustion, they finally reached the end of the path. The very top of the dome. Infinitely below, behind a wall of something that, though transparent, must have been thousands of times stronger than mere glass, burned a sphere of pure energy. At the top of the dome were several large conductors and generators. In the middle of these cumbersome objects lay a single hatchway.

“This is it!” Hunter gasped in happiness, gripping the handle of the heavy metal door, “Our way out! All we have to do is-”

The woman cried out in sudden pain, releasing the handle and clutching her belly. “Hunter!” Haru cried, going to her side.

“Get... get that hatch open,” Hunter wheezed, falling to her knees, “It's definitely the Nexus.”

“What's wrong?” Haru asked, trying to figure out what just happened as Natalie wrestled with the hatch.

“The Wyld, it's energies. It's giving strength to all life, even that within me.”

Haru had to admit, right here she felt like she had caught a miraculous second-wind. Even Natalie looked surprised at the strength she displayed muscling open the hatch. But why was Hunter so hurt?

“What do you mean? Life within you?” Haru put a hand on Hunter's taut belly, wondering if perhaps she had wrenched something loose in her excitement.

Something beneath the skin kicked outwards. Haru drew her hand back, shocked. A few seconds passed before comprehension dawned. “You... you're...”

Hunter looked up, “I... apparently so...”

A series of harsh yips drew their attention. They were no longer alone on the top of the dome. Seemingly melting out of the shadows of the various machinery came several figures. “Well you were just about the last thing we were expecting to see here,” came a harsh, mocking voice.

The three women backed together. It quickly became apparent they were surrounded. Nearly a dozen figures, most armed, some in human, some in crinos, even one in lupus, surrounded them. “You're... Black Spiral Dancers.”

It was just about the stupidest choice of words, Natalie knew. But given that the only other thing she could think to say at the moment was something like 'What are you doing here?', this was actually the lesser evil.

“Well, she certainly is a bright one,” said one, a shorter female with dirty blonde hair cascading in a tumble of tangled locks, “I easily see how they got this far, with intelligence like that.”

A couple of howling cries, equatable to laughter only on the loosest of criteria, answered this. “Fight?” Natalie asked Haru, uncertainly pulling out her own pistol.

“Mine's bigger,” another one said, pulling a pump-action shotgun from the depths of his trenchcoat, “Care to trade some fire and see who dies first?”

“I'm... I'm not ready to die yet,” Hunter said, still clutching her abdomen.

“A good attitude to have,” said the first, “though your presence here says otherwise.”

There was a loud click. Natalie looked in shock at her own pistol, only now remembering that she had run out of ammo back at the cathedral. “Shit.”

Footsteps and a grunt turned their attention back. During the momentary distraction, Hunter had moved back several steps and allowed herself to fall through the hatch, into the burning sphere below. Haru and Natalie watched in shock as her body shrank and disappeared. “Oh hell!” the blonde shouted, “Get that hatch closed, grab the others!”

Haru spun and jumped at the first one, Kageneko out. It was the blonde, a look of dumb surprise on her face. She hadn't expected such a vicious resistance, only having started to draw her own dagger. Haru easily knocked the weapon aside and drove Kageneko deep into the woman's side. Kicking off of her and spinning to face the other Black Spirals, Haru shouted, “Natalie! Through the hatch!”

Natalie tried to run, but was grabbed before she could make it two steps. She thrashed back and forth, screaming as a hulking figure that made Barry seem small wrapped his arms around her. It was no use, she couldn't move in this thing's grip. “Aww, she's quite a thrasher,” a gutteral voice gurgled.

The girl's eyes widened in sudden fear and realization as a monstrous hand began groping her chest. It was happening again, just like at the movie theatre. But this time, this time there was no fight. The hours upon hours of terror and exhaustion had simply removed it from her. Natalie screamed and fought as the huge hand pinched and squeezed, but she was helpless in the monster's grasp.

Haru had fallen to the ground, brought down by three of the Spirals. Nearby a headless corpse lay, blood flowing freely across the glass, turning a bright, burning crimson by the fearsome light below. Haru took a deep breath in, feeling the rage shoot across her body as it began to transform. She was ready this time. They weren't fighting, they were violating, raping. There was no doubt now, Haru was willing to die to save Natalie from this, and these assholes were about to find out.

Before her transformation could truly get underway, Haru felt something cold snap around her neck. As her muscles bulged, she felt a constraining tightness, a horrible, suffocating burning. A silver collar, snapped around her neck. If she continued to grow, she'd only end up severing her own head. Haru cried out in pain and frustration, clawing wounds open on her own arms in an attempt to beat down her own rage before it caused her to kill herself without accomplishing anything.

“Come on now,” a hideous voice called out as a dozen hands grabbed Haru, lifting her to her feet and holding her in place, “If you hurt yourself too much, you'll leave nothing for us to have fun with!”

Haru struggled, but like Natalie a moment before, she was now rendered quite helpless. A shocked gasp was elicited as cold metal slipped under her shirt. There was a brief sensation of straining fabric, then another slap of cold air. The girl realized her shirt had just been sliced open, exposing her to all the Spirals standing around her. Haru's eyes widened in true fear. She heard Natalie, already openly sobbing in defeat over whatever they were doing to her. She realized the same was about to happen to her.

“No!”

Haru dared to open her eyes. She promised herself that she wouldn't cry, but tears were already forcing their way out in response to the rough squeezing and groping that was starting to be inflicted upon her own chest. The first Spiral she had attacked, the blonde, was tottering back to her feet. The wound in her abdomen, mortal but not quite fatal, seeped with blood. The woman's face was pale from blood loss as she glared at Haru with a mixture of hate and exultion. “No! We have our orders!”

“Hang the orders!” the large one holding and ruthlessly fondling Natalie growled, “These bitches deserve a good fucking!”

One of the Spirals had offered a hand to the blonde. She slapped it away and staggered to the hulking one holding Natalie. Haru watched with a helpless sort of respect as she fearlessly slugged him across the face, breaking his nose with an audible crack. “The interlopers are to be delivered undamaged! You already lost one of them, maybe we should give you to the Lady instead.”

The huge one actually blanched in fear at the mention of the 'Lady'. “Y...yeah, 'course. They won't be hurt,” he stammered, still holding on to Natalie.

Haru heaved a sigh of relief, head sagging and eyes closed. For a moment there, she was certain she was about to undergo something far worse than anything she had ever experienced before. Her mind rebelled at even the thought of it, the thought of being...

“Don't look so relieved, sweetcheeks,” the blonde sneered, giving Haru a light slap on the cheek, “By the time the Lady is done with you two, you'll both be wishing that all that had happened to you was rape.”

Back to Contents

“Hunter?! Hunter!” Kouzo ran down the corridor screaming. He had been doing this for several minutes now, and exhaustion was finally beginning to forcibly insert sense into his head.

She wasn't within hearing range, obviously, Kouzo thought as he slowed down and took the time to actually examine his surroundings. Apparently he was lost as well. Damnit. Thankfully it was quieter here than outside. There were still plenty of creepy sounds about, the strange howling coming from the rafters, but other than that, merciful silence. The more Kouzo looked around, the more it looked like he was in a maze of some sort.

“This is a lot bigger in here than it looked on the outside,” he said to himself, turning down a random, likely looking corridor.

He realized that he had left May behind him when he had run after Hunter. It was a stupid move, but at the time he assumed she would be able to keep up. Obviously not so, unless this place was busily fucking around with the laws of physics, making it impossible to keep together no matter how much you clung to each other. That would also explain why he lost Hunter in here. He swore he had seen her head into the door of this... well, this church thing.

Kouzo stopped and examined his surroundings again. Things were beginning to add up. For the first time he looked down at the floor, noting the spiral-patterned tiles with a depressed sigh. “Oh, shit.”

He was in a cathedral, and inside the cathedral was a maze, one might call it a labyrinth. A labyrinth with a heavy spiral-motif.

He was in the Black Spiral Labyrinth.

Kouzo nodded and walked casually to the nearest wall. He spent a few seconds softly beating his head against the wall at his own stupidity. Here was something that could only be related by hushed whispers in the stories he was told, it's renown that dark and infamous. A place that was seen by so few that the nearest firsthand sources were always a 'friend's cousin's room-mate's ex-girlfriend's brother-in-law, who's now in a mental home'. Few had seen it, none had come back sane. It was where one went, or where one was taken to fully forsake Gaia, to voluntarily give one's mind up to the Wyrm and become the most feared tribe. It was the birthplace of the Black Spiral Dancers.

And Kouzo had simply blundered into it.

A hundred pairs of invisible eyes watched him, he could feel it. Every shadow held a malign spirit, holding off its final attack simply out of amusement. He wasn't alive through his own luck or ability. Malfeas wasn't that sort of place. It was the madness of the Wyrm incarnate, the entire place was its own living entity. He was alive only because it wished to keep him so. For what reason, he had yet to see.

The sound of laughing drew his attention. It wasn't a pleasant laugh, it didn't even sound like a sane laugh. Strangely enough it didn't sound like May. Kouzo moved forward, interested yet cautious. That voice did sound vaguely familiar, something he had heard many times before, if not necessarily raised in that hideous laughter. Yet he couldn't quite place it. Someone close, yet so far unrecognized, as if he were hearing the voice in a context he had never heard it before, thus it threw off his memory. It was when he turned the next corner and beheld the source of the laughter, he realized whose voice he had heard laughing almost maniacally.

It was his own voice.

Kouzo saw himself, yet he could barely recognize him. The large amount of blood and shredded entrails covering his body may have had something to do with that. The sight, even after everything else he had seen here, shocked the boy. For a moment his mind refused to accept it, and in the effort, relinquished control of his body, which collapsed against the door that had suddenly appeared behind him.

Kouzo... the bloody one, turned to face himself. He threw a grin at the boy, displaying sharpened teeth that were just as bloodstained as the rest of him. “Surprised?”

Kouzo, sagging against the door, waved a hand helplessly. The wave took in the entire scene: The corner of the labyrinth had suddenly turned into a perfectly mundane-looking hospital room. In the hospital bed lay Hunter, hooked up to a respirator and heart-monitor, both beeping away contentedly. In the other corner of the room lay Haru. Unlike Hunter, she was not breathing. Several bloodied rags of flesh were all that remained of her throat, and a pulpy hole glistened in her belly. Between them stood the other Kouzo, covered in his packmate's blood, grinning like a madman. “Wh...what happened?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Kouzo replied to himself, “Haru threatened Hunter's life, and I... that is, you, defended that which you loved.”

“No...” Kouzo said, eyes wide, “I wouldn't ever...”

“Yes you would,” Kouzo replied, picking errant strips of skin from his shortening claws, “I did, and I'm you.”

Kouzo stood up angrily, “No you're not! You're some Wyrm-spawned illusion, you're not even real, none of this is!”

His accusation was met with a maddened, high-pitched giggle. Kouzo barely recognized it as his own voice, was he even capable of such a sound? “Of course it's an illusion, but one taken from your own mind. There is nothing here that you have not already fully formed in your subconscious. It's an illusion, I'm an illusion. But all it will take to make this a reality is the right conditions, one improperly placed threat, one moment of lapsed judgment and control.”

Kouzo shook his head, still unwilling to accept. The other Kouzo looked at him with disdain, “Oh don't pretend it isn't true. I am not some Wyrm spirit sent to mislead you. I'm you, your subconscious, everything you truly feel, even when you're unwilling to admit it to yourself. I am you, when you have the guts to reveal you have nothing to hide. Why feel bad about it? I, and thus, you, love Hunter. You'd kill to defend her, to keep her alive. You would be willing to kill even your own packmate for this. Do you know how few people in the world truly feel this sort of love? This devotion?”

“No!” Kouzo roared, leaping forward and slamming his doppleganger into the wall. His muscles bulged with supernatural might as he lifted his bloody copy above the floor, holding him by his neck, “That's not love! That is not a part of me, and if it is, I'll rip it out, beginning with you!”

The other Kouzo laughed again, seemingly unfazed by the fact that his windpipe was steadily being crushed, “But I'm you. If you kill me, you'd be killing yourself. Do you really have it in you to do that? Not out of anger, not out of emotional instability. Stop and think about it for just a second before you go idiotically attacking an illusion created by your own mind?”

“Think about what?”

“The fact that I am a part of you. I am you, and so long as you live, so will I, as we are one and the same. Ripping through this illusion will not kill off what is inside you. The only way to truly do that is by putting a bullet through your own brain. So, if you kill me in anger, you demonstrate that you have such little control over yourself that you would not only kill others in a moment of instability, but you would kill yourself as well. Is that what you truly are? A self-destructive monster?”

Kouzo growled, then released the other Kouzo. “So... this is what I'm destined to do? Kill Haru in a fit of rage because she threatened Hunter?”

“No, you aren't 'destined' to do anything. This is merely what you're capable of, given the right encouragement. Don't like it? That's too bad, it's who you are. Look on it, smell the blood, drink in this scene, because this is what you are.”

“A monster,” Kouzo said, taking out his sword, “A monster that can be set off and kill that which he cares about in rage,” he placed the point of the sword at his chest.

“Exactly,” the bloodied Kouzo said, smiling, “So why would you want to subject loved ones to the constant risk of being around an unstable monster? Isn't it best to slay the monster that threatens them... yourself? What reason do you have to put their lives at risk with other actions?”

Kouzo turned in a flash of motion. A moment later the doppleganger was once again pinned to the wall. This time a sword was buried in his chest. Kouzo twisted his wrist, forcing the blade to turn inside his copy, eliciting a groan from the latter. “Hope,” Kouzo said.

The doppleganger coughed up blood, “H...hope?”

“Hope,” Kouzo replied, “If that situation ever comes up, I hold on to the hope that I can retain enough self-control to do the right thing, the least harm to others. Until then, I am far more useful to my loved ones alive than dead.”

“Y...you...belieeeeve...thaaaa,”

Kouzo smiled. It was a grim, mirthless thing. With a yank he drew the sword from his copy's chest, “Thank you for the disillusionment, it will give me extra incentive to be... vigilant against myself. But you've overstayed your welcome, please, get the fuck back into my subconscious where you belong.”

The other Kouzo slumped downward, lips curling upward. The eyes were closed, the corpse no longer breathed, yet it continued to speak, even clearer than before, “Congratulations.”

Kouzo blinked suspiciously, “Congratulations? For what?”

“For passing the first test of the Labyrinth, the first test of the Black Spiral.”

Kouzo kicked the corpse angrily, “You call that a test?!”

There was a sodden crack as the corpse's neck broke. The head lolled at a nauseating angle, yet still continued to speak, “A test of personal fortitude and honesty. To be confronted with an unsettling truth about one's self, and not self-destruct in the process. You've proven that you can accept some of the darker aspects of your psyche and still struggle to survive. Admirable traits in any Black Spiral Dancer.”

“I'm not a Black Spiral!” Kouzo snarled.

“It matters not,” a hollow laugh, “You are in the Black Spiral Labyrinth, passing the test of the first Spiral and gaining some of the Wyrm's power in your mastery of it. There are nine more Spirals to pass through, should you wish to achieve true power. Be advise that only one has ever successfully passed through the ninth Spiral.”

Kouzo's skin began to crawl, “I don't want any of the Wyrm's power, I just want to find May and Hunter and get out of here!”

“It's too late to concern yourself with that. You willingly entered the Labyrinth and voluntarily undertook its first test. By doing so you have already accepted your reward, and a small part of the essence of the Wyrm now flows through you, as much a part of you as your blood and soul. If you truly wish to find your companion, though, she is closer than you think.”

“What? Where?”

“Hunter never entered the Labyrinth. Whether what you saw, or thought you saw, that lured you in was a spectre created by the Wyrm, or by your own mind's desperate want for her, is up to you to decide. May, on the other hand, is currently failing the first test.”

“Where is she?”

“Undergoing a Shakespearian tragedy. You shall nose her by the burning of her namesake tree, and soon she shall be attending a politic convocation of worms, a grave... woman indeed.”

“What...” Kouzo started, but he had already picked up the scent. Burning wood. Instinctively he followed it. Soon the smell was accompanied by a soft weeping. Was that sound really May? Kouzo didn't even think she was capable of such a sound.

For the third time he came across a dead-end. Growling in frustration, Kouzo eyed the non-existent ceiling of the Labyrinth. He could see a growing plume of smoke an indeterminate distance away, but he still was no closer to it now than he was five minutes ago. Growing sick of the Labyrinth, he ran and vaulted unsteadily onto the narrow walls, affording himself a better view.

Why hadn't he thought of this before? Navigating was so much easier when you weren't actually in the passageways themselves, when you could look at things from above. Sure enough, there was May. Kneeling, head down... on fire. Kouzo ran forward, completely oblivious to the flames that licked at him as he leaped down into the passageway. With a flying tackle he plucked a rapidly charring May from the flames, the two of them collapsing in a heap by the far wall.

May was the first to react. She tore at the Garou holding onto her, fighting to get away, screaming the entire time. Kouzo struggled to hold on, wrenched back and forth as the woman thrashed, “Goddamnit May, it's me! Stop it!”

“No!” she screamed in a childlike voice, “Let me go die!”

By this time Kouzo had noticed the bloodless corpse on the floor. He recognized it as his former sensei, Hikaru. He noticed the trickle of blood from May's lips and began to come to an understanding of what happened, “May, no! That wasn't really Hikaru, that was just an illusion!”

“I don't care!” May screamed, “I can't ever see him again! I might end up killing him if I do... I'd rather die... what the hell am I talking about, I'm already dead, just let me go!”

“No!” Kouzo shouted back, “I'm not going to let you kill yourself over something that you think might happen. Do you know how stupid that sounds?”

“I can't trust myself!” May still thrashed, but the pure exhaustion of this place was beginning to wear on her just as much as it was on Kouzo, “I'll lose control... I'll lose him.”

“Then trust us,” Kouzo said, gasping for breath as another spasm from May caught him sharply in the ribs.

“Why should I trust any of you?”

“Why not?” violent coughing from another elbow, yet Kouzo still found himself holding on, “Don't be a suicidal idiot... if you really want, I promise I'll kill you if you lose control!”

May stopped out of shock, “You'll... what...?”

Kouzo hesitantly let go, ready to try and grab her again if she tried to make a run for it, but unsure whether or not he actually had the strength to hold her down. “If it stops you from killing yourself in a panic,” Kouzo said, tenderly rubbing the harsh bruise in his abdomen, “I'll make you a promise. If you lose control, and try to kill Hika-sensei, I promise to kill you before you can, okay? Will you at least trust that?”

“Why... why would you do that?” May asked.

Kouzo shrugged, the groaned in pain as several muscle-groups informed him that was a really bad idea, “Because I don't want you to die, at least not like this.”

May thought about it. It wasn't often someone announced they would be willing to fight for her life. In fact, up until now only two had. One did so only because she was little more than a valued toy to them, and the other... failed. Wonder how this one would turn out?

“Fine,” May spat out what little blood from Hikaru remained in her mouth, hoping she would never taste that again, “You fucking better, or I'll kill you, then kill myself.”

Kouzo managed a weak smile, “You're such a lady.”

“Whatever,” May rolled her eyes, “You're the idiot who got us into this, care to get us out?”

It was far easier than either of them thought it would be. Upon later reflection, Kouzo realized that this was to be expected, the first test was over, and those that didn't want to go further needed a way out. It only fit that a disorienting, randomly shifting place like this horrid cathedral would provide, if only to allow some to spread its infamy by word of mouth to others.

The massive, steel-bound doors closed ponderously behind the two of their own accord. “How long until we get to go home?” May asked despondently.

“Probably not for a while, if ever,” a mocking voice replied.

The two looked up. Nearly a dozen humans and wolves stood in a semicircle around them. The wolves had patchy, mangy fur and open sores. The humans didn't look too much better. Behind them was another semicircle, this one composed of scrags and no less than four Nexus Crawlers. Kouzo tried the door behind him. The iron latch rattled loudly, but the door didn't budge. His other hand went to his sword. He watched as half a dozen pairs of hands tightened on their own weapons, half a dozen muzzles opened, bearing crooked, chipped teeth in a low growl. Kouzo drew his sword and slowly set it on the ground in front of him, motioning for May to do the same with her weapons, “Well...shit.”

A woman with blonde hair stepped forward, “The Lady wishes to see you two.”

Back to Contents

“Oh come on, do you have anything interesting here at all?” Kaoru shouted at the rocks.

The rocks didn't reply. They hadn't replied the last four times he had asked them either. In fact, no one except for Kaoru had spoken ever since he had gotten separated from the rest of those idiots back in that forest. That was an indeterminate number of hours ago, it was hard to tell time in this place, and his own pocket watch didn't seem to want to work anymore. He had stared at it for a good thirty seconds, giving it more than enough chances to start working again. That whole time it merely stared back up at him, its hands impudently refusing to move and properly keep track of the time. Kaoru had nodded, understanding, then thrown the pocket-watch into the rocks hard enough to shatter it into over a dozen pieces.

It was a watch given to him by his father. Two months later he killed the man, Hikaru had gotten a better gift anyways.

The forest had ended suddenly at what appeared to be sheer cliffs. Kaoru had been walking in a straight line for quite a while now, and wasn't about to let a pile of rocks divert him from his chosen course. It had taken some effort, handholds were inhumanly difficult to find here, but he had proven that it would take more than mere rocks to deflect him.

Where was he going? To find whoever was in charge here and make him point the nearest way out. Did he know where that theoretical person was? No, but this place seemed to re-orient itself at random, so if he kept going forward, he was bound to run into him, or something which could point the way to him, sooner or later. Would he be able to take on someone powerful enough to run this place? The question didn't even occur to Kaoru. He had a goal, and there was going to be nothing which could stand in the way of that for long. If it took the rest of the universe a little while to realize that, fine, so long as it got around to that in the end.

Kaoru knew at several levels this was a childish way of looking at the world, but everything he had seen so far had led him to the conclusion that this was the proper way to go. It didn't matter what your limitations were, or what you thought your limitations were. You either went out and got what you wanted, or you sat back and wasted away, a failure. If Kaoru wasn't strong enough to get what he wanted, he would die, and he hadn't died yet.

The rest of them... they were interesting. That woman, May, she was involved somehow. Kaoru wanted to know just how, what she knew, what part she played in what happened to him. If she was actually involved in the fucking over that others gave him, he would voluntarily return to this shithole just to pluck her out and show her that there was far worse than this place in store for those that tried to fuck him over.

Kaoru looked around. There was a new sensation creeping in cautiously, as if testing waters it had left behind long ago. Doubt. This place was... depressing. Kaoru was sociopathic. He was an inhumane monster, and if there were any just god, he would be burning in some fiery hell for quite a long time for the things he had done. Kaoru accepted that. He didn't celebrate it by any means. That would make him little more than a sadist. Kaoru wasn't a sadist, they were impotent little twats, emotionally insecure and lacking in any sort of self-control. Seeking some sort of vicarious release through the torture of others. Kaoru tortured others, sure. But never out of any quest for personal pleasure of self-validation. No, each and every time it was for another purpose.

If there were a just god, Kaoru would be spending an eternity in hell for his crimes. But one thing Kaoru was certain of, given everything he had seen and experienced, was that there was definitely no just god watching over everything. There was just the universe, and it was a cold, callous, uncaring place where millions suffered and died for no reason at all. Kaoru was a monster, but compared to the universe, he was a fucking choir boy. Kaoru had a reason for the things he did. The universe was heartless, and showed no hesitation to trample and torture the weak. So Kaoru would be anything but weak. He would find strength, he would take it from the universe by force.

Yes, he had to torture and kill to do it. But that was no different from what the universe already did. Those the suffered and died, they either did it at the hands of someone who had a definite purpose and goal, or at the hands of a mindless universe that had no ulterior motives, no ambitions. In the grand scheme of things, Kaoru was ahead compared to the morality of the universe.

And if and when he finally reached his goal, a position of unassailable power and security, he did find a god? Well then, that god would have a lot to answer for. Millions upon millions of years of living things suffering and dying while it stood by and watched, and to what end? Kaoru's own crimes were a mere drop in the ocean compared to that, and he had an ambitious goal behind it. It didn't justify his actions by any extent... but then again in a universe with no overlying justice, what good was a limited, mortal justification anyways?

And what of his brother? That was an annoyance. A particularly bothersome one. It was bad enough Kaoru had to deal with a mindless, uncaring universe. But when one's mortal inheritance, one's birthright was stripped away by a sentient, feeling being, an entity that should know better, that is capable of actually acting in a just fashion... that is simply beyond inexcusable.

Things had to be taken one step at a time. Ultimate power was the eventual goal, but Kaoru had an eternity to accomplish that, and there would be many steps he had to take along the way. One of the much closer steps was the annihilation of a certain halfwit brother who had squandered his own life and potential, and temporarily impeded the progress of his better sibling.

Why the focus on one individual when there were so many other guilty of that and so much worse? Maybe it was a human failing that still clung to Kaoru, he still took Hikaru's negligence, and the delays on his own ambition that it caused, as a personal affront. In which case there was all the more reason to punish and kill that catty little fuck. Through the destruction of his brother, Kaoru would purge that human pettiness from his own soul. The next steps in his journey would be far easier to make if he weren't faced by such limitations as petty, irrational jealousy, envy, and need for vengeance and vindication.

It wasn't worth too much consideration at this point, though. There was little he could do here and now to achieve that goal, there were other matters that had arisen. Before he was taken... here, he was in the process of addressing another matter. He didn't care much for vampiric society. A silly little collection of drama-whores playing at running humanity? Kaoru once tried lowering his own ambitions to that level, it was painful. But even so, their existence, and his own, being undead himself, did raise concerns. It was only natural that Kaoru would try to find the origins and limitations of his own state so that he could better compensate for them on his own journey.

It was through much research, correspondence, and admittedly extended torture of those who had the knowledge Kaoru needed, but were unwilling to part with it, that Kaoru found out the secrets of the Antideluvians, of Cain Himself. How much was myth and how much reality, Kaoru still wasn't certain, but he knew at the very least the Antideluvians existed. One had risen and was eventually defeated by the actions of something called the 'Technocracy'. A collection of human willworkers who, like Kaoru, were gunning for the apparently vacant position of god. Unlike him, they claimed to be doing it for the betterment of humanity. Some of the allegedly greatest minds in the world and they were trying to work towards the betterment of something that, collectively, had no interest in bettering itself? It didn't take a genius to see that wasn't the brightest path to follow.

No, the Antideluvians were a more pressing concern. One had been defeated, but there were more, and they would eventually wake up and try to reclaim what was theirs, the whole of Kindred kind. Kaoru was not about to allow that. Not for the sake of other Kindred, but rather because he happened to be one himself, and he didn't feel like being devoured by a ten-thousand year old leech.

And now there was more to worry about. Apparently the werewolves had gotten something right in their fanatical little cult. In a roundabout way, Kaoru was sort of glad he had been taken to this place. It would truly have sucked if he got blindsided by this 'Wyrm' thing when he was much further along, now he could plan much better for it.

Even so, this place was grating on him. It reminded him of himself in a way. Corruption, torture and pain. All things he had done, but not nearly to the extent of this place. It was true, he was pissing into the wind if he seriously thought he could do better in the mental anguish department than this place and its ruler, and that annoyed him in some strange way. Not because he wanted to be the best and torturing others, but rather because of the reasoning behind it. He tortured because he felt it was a necessary means to an end. This place... this place tortured because that apparently was the ends. Apparently the ideal universe in this 'Wyrms' mind was a place of eternal corruption and torture. Kaoru just didn't see the point. It didn't irk him because it was torture, it irked him because it was useless, pointless torture.

And so he was walking forward. He was better than this place, and some point he would bring a reckoning here like everywhere else. He was brought here, which meant things from this place could go the other way, which made it a threat to him. Like every other threat, it would need to be eliminated.

But first he had to get the hell out of here.

“Well lookie here boys!” a voice called out raucously.

Kaoru looked up, raising an eyebrow.

“Looks like we found us a lost little puppy!” another voice called back.

An eye twitched. “Puppy?” Kaoru asked the two sneering figures.

The one on the left, a short man in, Kaoru's eye twitched again at the sight of this, goddamned leather chaps grinned at him, showing maybe half the number of teeth he should have, “Yep, puppy! Ye got the smell o' Wyrm on ye, but ye don't got any markins'.”

“Markings?”

“Whoo-ee, he dun' e'en know about th'markins'” the first laughed, becoming so southern he was barely comprehensible.

Another two men came out from the rocks behind Kaoru, “Eff 'ee dun' have th'markins', then 'ee can't pay proper 'spect to th'Wyrm, cannee?”

“Yep, tha's right,” the first and largest said, “So's 'would only be right fer us t'skin him so's t'properly 'spect the Wyrm ourselves.”

Kaoru placed a hand on his katana, “Puppy?”

“Lookit that!” one howled with laughter, “'Ee's got 'imself a knife, Cletus!”

The large one, apparently Cletus, drew a winchester, “Y'know what they say 'bout knives an' gunfights, donchee sonny?”

“I think I'll kill you last,” Kaoru said.

“Hard t'kill when ye're dead,” Cletus grinned and fired, striking Kaoru in the chest.

Kaoru was forced a step back from the shot. He jerked his head to the left, cracking his neck, and reached into the wound, withdrawing the silver bullet. “I'm already dead you moron.”

“Shit, 'ees a leech,” another said, firing at Kaoru with a thoroughly antiquated revolver.

“Th'ell? 'Ee stepped in the shadows!”

“I see 'im, I got AAAAAUUU...”

“Where'd ee go? Where'd ee go? Jeezus fuck I can't see-”

“Shiiiit! Cletus, my arm... he cut my arm off! He cut my urk!-”

“Well, it looks like everyone else is dead.”

Cletus spun around and found himself facing the end of a large chrome barrel. “Wait...ye never said 'ee had a gun!”

“You never asked,” Kaoru grinned and lowered the gun, shooting the Black Spiral in the crotch.

The stony walls echoed with high pitched screams as the werewolf tried to regain its feet. Two more shots rang out and Cletus was reduced to trying to drag himself away by his hands, his legs rendered useless by a pair of silver bullets. Kaoru nonchalantly walked forward and kicked the feebly struggling figure onto his back. He took out his now bloodstained katana, “Do struggle, I wish to see how you react to this.”

The downed man's eyes widened in fear as the gleaming, silver point was placed against his chest. He tried to back up, but Kaoru placed a boot on the man's abdomen, driving the air out of him. “You see, my brother shares your... allergic condition... to silver. It's why I had this sword crafted in the first place. I haven't really gotten a chance yet to see how one of your kind die by exposure to it, so I do expect you to be honest with how it feels. Your information could prove very useful when I do this to my brother.”

The blade pressed harder against the werewolf's chest, ripping through clothing and slowly pressing through the flesh beneath. Cletus screamed again and tried to push the blade away, but Kaoru refused to budge. He continued pressing slowly forward, carefully taking in the sensations and resistance as the blade pressed against and pushed through skin, muscle tissue, cartilage, lung (as Cletus suddenly interrupted his screams to start coughing up blood), and finally the heartwalls.

Kaoru with withdrew the blade just as slowly, taking note of the man's decreasing struggles and haggard, gurgling breath. He moved the blade an inch to the left and repeated the process, watching blood from the first wound pool around the second indentation. Cletus was no longer moving or breathing by the time Kaoru withdrew the blade. Nodding sagely, the vampire wiped the katana off on Cletus' ragged coveralls. He looked up and noticed the rocky gorges had ended suddenly at another sheer wall, this one of some immense fortress. “So, your presence here actually has a purpose then. I wonder who's inside.”

Half an hour later, Kaoru was looking down through the window. The climb up the wall had been aggravating, it was even more difficult than the first cliff he had come to. Now, though, there was at least some compensation for his troubles. The giant man-wolf below, poring over what looked like maps and endless lists written in a language Kaoru didn't care to comprehend at the moment, looked like he might actually be of some importance.

Nodding to himself, Kaoru proceeded to kick out the glass and leap into the room below, katana out and aiming to take out one of the beast's legs at the knee.

The last thing he was expecting was to be easily plucked out of the air by a massive claw and casually thrown through the nearest wall. There was a deep, resonant laugh as Kaoru picked himself out of the rubble. “Are you suicidal, or just plain stupid, bloodsucker?”

Kaoru's blood raged through his dead veins. There were several snaps as bones mended themselves. He would definitely have to feed soon. Perhaps off this thing once he had killed it, “You know what I am... that's a plus.”

The giant werewolf was now holding an even larger glaive. It regarded Kaoru curiously. “You've made it this far, which means if you are stupid, it's that special kind of stupid that can change worlds. And if you're suicidal, you're going about it in the most overcomplicated fashion possible.”

“Are we going to fight, or do you intend to talk me to death?” Kaoru growled.

“Yes, yes, we're going to fight, you've got my attention now. We'll see if you're more than just a flashy entrance. But first, do have the etiquette to properly introduce yourself.”

“No,” Kaoru said and charged.

Despite the inhuman speeds Kaoru moved at, attacking from a dozen angles every second, he couldn't find an opening in this thing's defenses. Each time he drove the katana towards and exposed area of flesh, it was deflected at the last second by that huge glaive. After five seconds, a dresser-sized fist knocked Kaoru into another wall. He looked up in time to see the monstrous figure leaping agilely through the air, glaive descending in a cruel arc.

The vampire snarled as the beast inside him roared in appreciation of the violence. The glaive bit into the rocks, missing Kaoru's flesh by a hair. The giant werewolf twisted and jumped out of the way as Kaoru rolled aggressively forward blade first. He found his feet and once again sent the power of his undead blood into action, leaping backwards over the beast's head as the glaive traced a narrow, burning line down his back. He landed on the thing's shoulders, quickly regaining enough balance to lift the katana and prepare to drive it into the back of the monster's neck.

Ham sized claws ripped Kaoru off his perch and he was slammed into the floor in front of the creature. He saw the glaive rushing towards his skull.

The two opponents faced each other, a good dozen meters separating them. Kaoru's back was a pounding sea of agony, and blood coloured his vision, courtesy of the red line in his forehead, left by a glaive that only just missed cleaving him in half. He noticed for the first time the decent sized gash on the werewolf's left calf, he had gotten a good hit in after all. Kaoru growled invitingly, waiting for the beast to make the first move. His fangs were extended, everything seemed brighter, more immediate. He was ready to fight and kill. He might die, but he would truly live before that happened.

So he was rather confused when the giant opposite him began to laugh, slamming the glaive into the already shattered flagstones. “You're incredible!” it roared gleefully.

“So what?” Kaoru shouted back, “Let's get this finished!”

“No,” came the reply.

Kaoru blinked, “What?”

“Killing you would be a terrible waste,” it continued, “Especially when there is no good reason for it right now.”

“Are you trying to distract me or just bore me?” the vampire hissed, “Hurry up and attack or I will do it for you.”

“A bargain,” the thing offered suddenly.

Kaoru was confused now. “A...what?”

“You're looking for power, are you not?”

Kaoru's eyes narrowed, “What of it?”

“I wouldn't dream of standing in the way of such ambition, so long as it doesn't directly involve me. So a bargain. I help you achieve your ends, and you help me achieve mine.”

“Go on,” Kaoru replied hesitantly.

“No, not until proper etiquette has been followed. Introductions first. As you imposed on me, it is only proper you introduce yourself.”

“Name's Kaoru,” the vampire said, still holding the sword out warily.

“Number Two.”

“What?”

“That is...not exactly my name, but more my station, Number Two.”

Kaoru stifled a giggle, “Well... I can't say it doesn't fit. Number Two to what?”

“The Wyrm. Now, the bargain, you do something for me involving the skills you just so aptly demonstrated, and I shall do something for you in return. Name your terms.”

Kaoru carefully sheathed his katana. “Terms? To begin with, you get me out of this second-rate hellhole.”

“And?”

Kaoru thought about it for a second, “And then you get a few... acquaintances of mine out of this hole as well.”

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Kouzo couldn't help but run his tongue along the inside of his cheek. The wound there had mostly healed already, one of the benefits of being Garou, but it had left behind a long scar. Delicately touching his own cheek, he found a similarly raised line of skin on the outside. He found himself wishing for a mirror just so he could see what this new scar looked like. He wondered how he would explain it to others, “Why yes, I got this one from making out with a pain-obsessed agent of the Wyrm.”

As unsettling as such thoughts were, they were preferable to obsessing over what they were being put into now. Though he didn't know it, similarly distracting thoughts were wandering through everyone else's heads at this moment. An unconscious, collective attempt to avoid wondering too much why they were all sitting around a table in what looked like a smart, well-designed corporate meeting room. “Well it sure beats the scenery so far,” May said brightly, “I remember once when Kaoru brought me into a room kind of like this and-”

“Do you always babble on so freely about your own delusions of what we may or may not have done together?” a mirthless voice said from the doorway.

May stood up quickly in reaction to the voice. She turned and saw him, leaning casually back against the door, patiently examining his nails. May opened her mouth, ready to let that asshole know exactly what she felt about him at the moment.

“You fucking asshole!” Haru and Natalie screamed at the exact same time.

May closed her mouth.

“You're in league with them aren't you, you Wyrm-tainted piece of shit!” Haru bellowed, her frame bulging outwards as a frenzied rage built up in her blood, “We go through hell and back and you show up like nothing's wrong?! You're dead, fucker!”

At the same time from Natalie, similarly increasing in size, “You want to see if I really care about my mother or not, shitface? How about I demonstrate it by ripping your fucking jaw off and using it to make you chew you own dick off!”

Kaoru shrugged as the two women advanced, unsheathing his sword, “Fine, die pointlessly then.”

He lunged forward at Natalie with lightning speed, then blinked in surprise as she voluntarily moved forward and took the stab in one massive forearm. The sword plunged easily through the flesh of her massive war-form. Natalie reached down and grabbed the handle of the weapon before he would rip it back out of her and wrenched the sword from his grasp. “Well son of a bitch,” Kaoru said in mild surprise as he narrowly ducked an enraged backhand from Haru.

She twisted back easily and wrapped one huge set of claws around Kaoru's throat as he recovered his feet. He had been caught off guard for one fatal second. Not knowing what the two had gone through, he did not expect them to be quite so suicidally enraged and willing to die simply for a chance to vent the helpless frustration that had built up over the past several hours. Haru easily lifted the vampire up and slammed him harshly against the wall. She drew him back and did it a second time, causing large chunks of drywall to fall off, revealing cracked and bloodstained concrete beneath. Natalie took the sword, now coated with her own blood, and plunged it through Kaoru's chest, pinning him to the wall.

Kouzo now moved forward, trying to pull Haru's arm away. She turn and backhanded him, sending him sliding across the table, crashing through a nicely padded leather chair at the other end. May jumped on Natalie's back, screaming in the mindless rage of one mystically bonded to the vampire now pinned to the wall, trying to choke the life out of the werewolf. She buried her fangs in the girl's neck in a frenzy, trying to drain the life from her. Natalie thrashed back and forth, whipping the woman on her back around like a ragdoll. May managed to hang on though, and Natalie eventually collapsed to one knee.

May briefly stopped biting the girl, adjusting for a better position. She looked up just in time to see one ham-sized fist belonging to Haru heading towards her at an incredibly high speed. The impact of the hit plucked her easily off of Natalie's back, turning her nose into powder and sending her flying into the wall beside Kaoru. Natalie got back to her feet and cut loose with a blood-curdling howl. Haru turned to face the one other occupant who had suddenly entered the room. It was another Garou, this one so hulking it dwarfed even the two other monsters in the room.

Both Natalie and Haru charged it eagerly, now fully lost in a rage-fueled frenzy. The giant roared with laughter as two sets of curved talons ripped easily through its flesh. Just as rapidly as the claws carved through it, the flesh healed. The monster swung its own fist around, moving easily despite having to stoop deeply to fit under the ten-foot high ceiling. Natalie was smashed aside by a forearm that was half as big as she was. Haru lunged forward, and found her face wrap inside one of the thing's hands. It turned and smashed her head into a wall. It did it a second time, then a third before Haru finally stopped struggling.

Monstrous laughter continued to echo throughout the room, “These are the ones you want so much to save, vampire?!”

Natalie curled up on the floor, rubbing her own head, slowly shrinking back down to human size, “S...save?”

Kaoru grunted, reaching down and yanking the sword from the wall and out of his own body. He landed easily on the floor, “Yeah, save, though I'm already regretting that decision.”

Haru shook her head dizzily, “What... what the hell are you talking about, leech?”

“Yeah... just what's going on here?” Kouzo said, picking himself up from the wreckage of the chair he had flown through, “Not that I'm not grateful for being saved from what we were about to go through... but how do we know this isn't going to be any worse than that?”

“Because you've been offered a chance at life, a chance to leave here,” rumbled the monster.

“And just who the hell are you?” said May, grunting in pain as the power of her own blood mended the shattered cartilage and bones in her nose. It was almost reminiscent of when... when Kaoru would break it.

Despite being hunched over, the colossal Garou managed a slight bow, “I'm afraid I have no name, as it has been lost to history.”

“Oh that's just fucking peachy,” Natalie said, “first that Metis without a name, and now you. Does anyone here remember their name?”

“You can refer to me simply as 'Number Two',” the monster said, ignoring the comments, “And you have no idea how lucky you are.”

Kouzo's eye twitched, “Well you better explain to us pretty damn quickly how lucky we are, because right now all of us are more than ready to go down fighting, and take you with us, than go through any more of the kind of shit this place as been throwing at us.”

“Oh shut up, puppy-boy,” Kaoru sneered, “He already told you he's giving you a chance to get out of here.”

“Blow me, bloodsucker,” Kouzo snapped back, “Ever heard of those little things called 'lies'?”

“If you're about done,” Number Two rumbled, just a bit louder than before, “This is the offer I had originally just for this vampire here, but at its request, has been extended to all of you as well.”

“Oh great,” Haru muttered, “Another chance to gloriously serve the Wyrm.”

“I could always have you delivered back to The Lady,” Number Two smiled, exposing several rows of fangs the size of baseball bats, “I believe there was any number of enjoyable things she wanted to do with the lot of you.”

“What are the terms?” Kouzo said, visibly paling at the mention of The Lady.

“First off, your ignorance on the subject ought to be reduced somewhat. It is only fair you know the background of what you will be getting yourselves into,” the Monster intoned.

“We haven't agreed to anything yet,” Haru growled.

“I am Number Two. More specifically, Number Two to the Wyrm itself. I know, more than anything else here or anywhere else, the wishes and ways of the Wyrm. The Black Spiral Dancers, the Banes, that silly, limited corporation Pentex, even the First Metis. I know of them all, I know where they stand and how they relate to the Wyrm and how the Wyrm relates to them. The Wyrm's desires on the Tellurian and the Umbra alike are known to me. I run this realm, and I am the one everyone eventually answers to.”

Haru smiled, “So... if we killed you, we'd be dealing a huge blow to the Wyrm itself?”

Number Two smiled back, “You can't kill me, and any attempt to, here in my realm, would be a futile effort on your part. Please, put away your childish fantasies about some glorious death for now, you'll get your chance soon enough, against another servant of the Wyrm no less.”

“What are you talking about?” Kouzo asked.

“It is the one thing I share with no one here. It is the biggest secret of this whole realm, of the Wyrm itself. It is something which, if ever truly realized by everyone here, it would collapse the entirety of Malfeas. I can tell you because the denizens here, by their very nature and design, cannot even listen to you, much less believe you or take you seriously.”

“And this big secret is...?” Kouzo asked goadingly.

Number Two smiled broadly, “The big secret? The secret is this: There is no Wyrm.”

Silence fell on the room. For a few brief moments everything sat suspended, waiting for someone, anyone to react. Haru was first, her voice little more than a whisper, “What?”

“There is no Wyrm.”

“Bullshit,” Haru replied.

“No, it is the truth. The Wyrm as you know it, as everyone else here knows it, does not exist. This realm? It has been running off its own impetus for centuries now, only truly under my governance and nothing else, no outside influence. The actions of the Black Spiral Dancers and Pentex? Their own doing, at the goading of the lesser Triatic Wyrms and Urge Wyrms, which themselves are under no higher power.”

“I can't believe that,” Haru said flatly, “I just can't. The Wyrm is... it's everything that's corrupt. It's symbolic and physical at the same time. You can no more claim there isn't a Wyrm as you could claim there's no such thing as hatred... it just makes no logical sense.”

“Deal with it,” Number Two said, “I was there, I've seen it and felt it. The Wyrm, that great god of Corruption, Consumption and Destruction? It is gone. I know because I used to see it when it was still around. I could feel its presence, I could hear the maddening whisper of its insane voice, like bladed feathers inside my mind. Such an experience you could never imagine.”

The giant beast brought itself out of its own reverie, “It happened quite a long time ago. In the centuries since, I was in a sort of state of denial. I believed that perhaps it was off enacting some grand scheme, it would return at any time, finally free of its bonds and ready to put the world back into balance for good. After so many decades with no sign of it, no hint of its impending return, doubt has begun to creep into my mind. I've finally realized the truth: The Wyrm is no more. It has discorporated itself, and all that is left is its own realm, its brood, and the many other things which continue of their own volition. I've realized that if the world and its spiritual reflection is to ever be set back from its imbalance, the imbalance caused by the maddened actions of the Weaver, it is up to the Wyrm's former followers. More particularly, it is up to me.”

Natalie had found her way into one of the unbroken chairs, “So...the Wyrm's gone, you want to take its place. Where do we enter into all of this? What do you want from us?”

Kaoru grinned, “He's got competition.”

Haru raised an eyebrow, “What?”

“I got into the position I currently occupy because I was unique. There is, within this realm, a certain structure. A cathedral, designed to test how dedicated one is to the principles of the Wyrm, and how fit they are to take on the rigors that will face any true devotee of Corruption. The Black Spiral Cathedral,” May shivered at the reference, remembering her own experience there, “Within this building is a labyrinth. Any who wish to walk the length of this labyrinth must face nine tests. Tests of their physical capabilities, their mental fortitude, the purity of their soul. Of all who have walked the Black Spiral, I was the only one who had ever passed all nine tests. I was the chosen in the eyes of the Wyrm.”

“What about the others?” Natalie asked.

“Dead, insane, or both. The Black Spiral is not forgiving, if you are not fit, you will be weeded out. If your mind is not tough enough, you will lose it. It is always the sojourner's voluntary choice to walk the labyrinth, and many had voluntarily trekked to their own death or madness. I was the only one who had managed to walk from one end of the labyrinth to the other. The only one to face all nine tests and come out successful.”

Haru had caught something in the monster's speech, “Was?”

Number Two nodded, “Yes, was. That all changed recently. No less than a year ago, by your standards, another came to the labyrinth. This one was an outsider, one of the deluded tribes, not even a Black Spiral Dancer. Yet he, like I, managed to pass all nine tests of the labyrinth. And like I, he received the same reward once he reached the end of it.”

“What's that then?” May asked.

“When I reached the end of the labyrinth, I received something very few ever get the chance, the honour to get. I was allowed, for just one moment, a full glimpse of the Wyrm itself, in all its glory. A single glance at true divinity. That one look has affected my mind greatly, and the knowledge contained in that single glance has given me power beyond belief. But now the Wyrm is gone, so I had always wondered what would happen if someone else were to successfully traverse the labyrinth. What would they see, if not the Wyrm?”

“And now that someone has, what did they see?” Kouzo asked.

“I still don't know,” Number Two admitted, “I believe, though, that they only saw the endless void that the Wyrm once occupied. The Abyss, so to speak. They looked into it, and the Abyss looked back into them. And, as has been written about before, they became the Abyss. The only problem was that by this point in the labyrinth, the traveler would have known what the expected reward was. He was expecting to see the Wyrm. So when he confronted the Abyss, he believed that void itself to be the Wyrm. And when, as is its nature, the Abyss made him a part of itself, he then believed himself to have become the Wyrm, to have become its Avatar in this realm and beyond. It sent him quite mad, you see.”

“You're one to be talking about madness,” Haru muttered.

“Wait a minute,” Natalie said, working things out, “About a year ago, this guy goes through this labyrinth, beats all the tests. And then he comes out the other end, completely fucked up in the head, thinking he's the Wyrm? Umm... doesn't that sound a little like someone we all know?”

May groaned, “Oh god, not him.”

Kouzo looked back and forth, confused, “What? Who are you talking about?”

Natalie pointed to her hair, “Y'know, that Sesshomaru Sephiroth wannabe? White hair?”

Kouzo's eyes widened, “Him?!”

“So you know about him?” Number Two smiled, “This is most... fortuitous. Perhaps your coming here and eventual meeting with me was more than just mere chance.”

“So, this is a wild shot in the dark,” May said, “but I'm guessing you want us to kill him?”

Number Two grinned, “His insanity is laughable. His misguided belief that he is, in fact, the Wyrm would be cause for much mockery in any other circumstances. Unfortunately, the power he gained from the Abyss cannot be denied, and his continued existence threatens to collapse all that I have worked for. My task, my duty, is the balance of the world, it is far too grand a challenge to allow to be threatened by one madman. You, my patsies, are charged with his execution, for the good of all.”

Kaoru sucked his tooth, “And in return?”

“In return you are allowed to leave this realm alive and relatively whole in mind. You will have the knowledge that your actions have helped save the world from falling too far out of balance... and you will each receive a couple of artifacts of considerable power to help you accomplish this task... which you will be allowed to keep afterwards.”

“Artifacts?” May asked, confused.

“Weapons,” Number Two elaborated.

“Alright, I'm in!” May said brightly.

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