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Eternal War - 3
by The Synthetic Divine (syntheticdivine@aol.com)

***

AUTHOR NOTES: Well, the third and final part is now 
complete. It took me a little longer then I expected, 
for which I apologize, and it's just a little smaller 
then I expected, for which I also apologize, but I hope 
to make up for it with the next story. If you haven't 
read the first or second parts of the story, it's 
strongly recommended that you do so before reading this 
one or you'll be missing a couple points from the plot. 
Warnings on what stories need to be read before those 
parts lays in the first part, so I won't repeat them 
here.

Feedback is always welcome, and generally motivates me 
to write at a faster pace, so if you'd like to send 
some I can by reached at SyntheticDivine@aol.com but 
please use "Eternal War" as the topic or I might 
confuse it for spam and delete it. My next story after 
this one I'm hoping will be my masterpiece of sorts. 
While it won't be connected to any of my previous 
stories, it will be based in the same world, so 
hopefully those of you who've enjoyed my earlier works 
will enjoy it as well. I've already titled it "Twisted 
Reflections" for those of you who'd like to keep an eye 
out for it.

And now without further ado I present to you the third 
part of my story.


Eternal War: Part 3


Zane was hunting, like usual. Las Vegas was a good city 
for it. Tourists and unsavory types lingering around to 
prey on the tourists. Plenty of people who weren't 
quickly missed by the human world, until the body was 
found. He'd actually taken the time to hide the bodies 
a few times, after he was done with them. But then, 
quite a few times he hadn't. It depended on his mood, 
and precisely where he was hunting. He knew about the 
people hunting him, the ones who weren't human. 

It didn't hurt to manipulate how many bodies turned up 
in which parts of the city, if doing so could 
potentially shift what areas the hunt focused on. He 
didn't want to have to leave the city. He was so close 
to completing the path. He was on the verge of reaching 
the extent of power necessary to read the eighth book. 
After that there'd only be one left.

Still, he'd already had a few run-ins with those his 
master had called the servants of the ssarai untara. 
People who called themselves freaks, and who had 
recognized his face. Luckily they didn't seem to be 
immune to his ability to take life energy, and he'd 
been able to dispatch them relatively quickly. None of 
them had had a chance to contact the ones they served. 
As for the ones they served, the ssarai untara. What 
the freaks called the True Minds, well, those he could 
avoid himself without much difficulty. And that was all 
thanks to his master.

After he'd completed the seventh book, he'd returned to 
the altar room and used the mirror to travel back to 
his master's reality, as he'd been instructed. While he 
was there, his master had taught him how to disguise 
his energy so that most freaks wouldn't be able to see 
it. So that even the True Minds wouldn't notice unless 
they looked very closely at him. And so that he could 
do what the freaks could not. Sense the energy of the 
True Minds. Even when they were hiding their energies 
from each other. 

He could feel them now, even the one who called himself 
a Shadow Mind. He actively avoided them without 
exception. He'd sensed how fast they moved a few times. 
If they discovered where he was they wouldn't have any 
problem in reaching him long before he could get away, 
but he wasn't that worried about them finding out 
precisely where he was. His ability to mask his energy 
was the only reason he'd decided to stay in Las Vegas. 
He wasn't going to be found that way, and he'd learned 
his lesson from the earlier encounters. He'd taken to 
wearing a hooded sweatshirt, keeping the hood up and 
his head down as he moved through the streets. So long 
as he was careful, he wouldn't be found.

It was just after ten, and Zane had drained his third 
victim of the night a few minutes before. He'd left the 
body in the alleyway after. It was his first time using 
this particular area, and he didn't really feel a need 
to hide the evidence around here. At the moment he was 
in the midst of stepping into a coffee shop that was 
open late. However alive sucking the life-energy out of 
people might make him feel, he still got thirsty now 
and again. He didn't really need the caffeine, but he 
figured he might be able to pick up a soda here too. 
Sure enough, a few minutes later he was walking back 
out again with a sprite, sipping the drink as he 
walked.

Almost immediately he felt a cold shock running through 
his system, like some kind of primal warning alarm. It 
actually took him a fraction of a second to realize 
what was causing it. There was a guy walking towards 
the coffee shop from a short distance away. Even though 
Zane kept his head tilted slightly down to shadow his 
face, he could still see the guy fairly well. Late 
teens, dark hair, maybe 5'8". 

He couldn't see the eyes quite as well but he thought 
they were dark. Then the light caught them for half a 
second and Zane got a short glimpse of color. Dark 
green maybe. But that wasn't what had required his 
attention. What was most important was that the boy was 
a freak. The shadowy aura was weak, but it was 
definitely there.

The life-energy was usually stronger in a freak then in 
a human, but this was too public a place, anyone in the 
coffee shop might look out and see. He couldn't afford 
to try draining the guy. So he maintained a steady 
pace, walking away from the coffee shop as if nothing 
were wrong. He was masking his energy, so the guy 
wouldn't notice him, and he'd just go on his way. But 
out of the corner of his eye he saw the guy suddenly 
stop, staring at him. It was only for a few seconds 
before the guy suddenly turned away from him, but it 
was enough for Zane to slow his pace dramatically, 
keeping the guy in the corner of his vision. He didn't 
know how he could possibly have been recognized, but 
just the same he had to be sure.

The guy was facing away from him, but Zane saw him 
reach into his pocket. When it came back out, the 
object in his hand was a little hard to see, but Zane 
knew precisely what it was. A cell phone. The guy was 
starting to walk away as he flipped it open and started 
to punch in a number, and instantly Zane was in motion. 
The boy had almost certainly spotted him, and even if 
he hadn't it wasn't a risk Zane could afford to take. 
The boy couldn't be allowed to finish making that call. 
As he rushed towards the guy at blinding speed, the boy 
had just begun to turn towards him. 

For a freak, the boy's speed was almost as slow as a 
human's. He must be really weak after all. But just as 
Zane had almost reached him, something strange 
happened. It was like an outside force had suddenly 
intruded on his life energy, a force that was somehow 
manipulating and directing that energy into a path Zane 
didn't want it to take. Had he been a normal freak, he 
probably would've fallen vulnerable to whatever was 
happening. But unlike most freaks Zane had accumulated 
an incredible store of life-energy, beyond just the 
outer layer, as well as having previously learned some 
extent of control over his own energy.

Even so, Zane probably couldn't have effectively fought 
the minute changes occurring in his life-energy, but he 
didn't need to. He responded by flowing a surge of un-
manipulated energy in with the altered energy. It 
didn't completely negate the effect, but it diluted it. 
Enough for Zane to seize control for the second 
necessary to rush in the last couple steps and grab the 
boy by the arm that was holding the phone. And then it 
was over. The instant Zane started to pull the energy 
from his body the guy was rendered helpless. Zane felt 
the force that had been manipulating his energy 
evaporate just like that.

Ever since the seventh book had been completed, the 
draining process had been slightly different for Zane 
then it used to be. There was still the unbelievably 
intoxicating rush of pleasure, but now something 
accompanied it. It was like he could occasionally catch 
glimpses of the minds of those he was taking the energy 
from. And he definitely got them from this one. Short 
flashes of images or bursts of sudden knowledge, but it 
was enough for him to piece together basic facts. The 
boy's name was Leon. He was a new servant of the one 
who called himself a Shadow Mind. Zane had killed two 
of his servants already. And Leon... Had been a very 
naughty boy in the months prior to his coming to Vegas. 
His powers were rooted in manipulating the life energy 
of other things. That was how he'd recognized Zane. He 
didn't see auras the way the others did.

When Zane finally released the boy's drained corpse and 
watched it drop to the concrete, he immediately 
starting walking swiftly away. There had been no cries 
of alarm from inside the coffee shop yet, which was 
good. No one had noticed, and it bought him a little 
time. Even as the sense of being alive seemed to rush 
through every inch of his body, at the same time Zane 
felt a surge of relief, but not because of the coffee 
shop thing. 

Even had they noticed, he'd still probably have been 
able to make a getaway long before any human contacts 
in the police office could get the information to the 
ones that were hunting him. No, it was because Leon's 
having recognized him was a fluke. He'd been a little 
worried for a second there. But no, his ability to hide 
his energy was still effective. Leon had just been a 
rare exception to the rule.

The moment Zane was out of sight of the coffee shop he 
broke into a run, using the full extent of his speed. 
He had one destination in mind. Leon had had quite a 
bit of energy, despite the weakness of the touch in 
him. Zane got the feeling it might have been just 
enough to open the eighth book to him, and he was of a 
mind to check.

***

The trip through the void was horrifying, as it always 
was, and when Zane finally emerged in the hall of dark 
stone his relief was palpable. He knew he'd have to 
travel back through it again soon, but for now the 
flicker of the light from the torches lining the walls 
was almost calming. Slowly he began walking down the 
hall, towards the room where he knew he'd find his 
master waiting from him. He hadn't been able to 
memorize the path he'd first taken, but then it would 
have been meaningless if he had. 

The route through the halls changed every time he came 
here. It was like a maze of some kind. Endless 
intersections of hallways that all looked exactly the 
same. With only the reverberance through the aura of 
the place that guided him onwards. He had the feeling 
if it weren't for that, he might get lost in the halls 
and never find his way out. Still, this time, as with 
the last, after several turns through several long 
halls he finally came face to face with the archway 
leading into the throne room.

Standing up a bit straighter, Zane walked steadily over 
to the archway, passing through and into the throne 
room beyond. His master was sitting there, as always, 
on the lone piece of furniture in the room. The throne 
itself, which even now gave off the same blue glow Zane 
had first seen in the altar room what seemed like ages 
ago. He didn't stop until he was just under the center 
of the platform where the throne itself rested, at 
which point he dropped to his knee and bowed his head, 
remaining silent.

"Only one book remains on the path." The voice finally 
spoke a few seconds later.

"Yes, master. I finished reading the eighth book just 
before I came." Zane replied, a smile on his face as he 
lifted his head and rose back to his feet.

"But the book that remains is just to complete the path 
itself. Once you have finished it, there remains a 
final book, a tenth book. It will bring about my 
transition into your world." The figure in the blue 
cloak told him.

This was the first Zane had heard of another book. "But 
I thought you were going to use my body to transition 
into my world, master. And what is the tenth book? I've 
only seen the nine that guide me on the path."

"I will discuss the transition more later. For now I'll 
focus on your question. And the answer is that you have 
seen the tenth book before." The figure told him 
simply.

Immediately Zane started thinking about virtually every 
book he'd ever read, quickly going over them in his 
head, trying to pinpoint even one that might have been 
the tenth book. But no, he was absolutely sure he'd 
never read a book that might fit the description 
before. And he couldn't even remember a quarter of the 
books he'd simply seen. "Where did I see it, master?" 
he finally asked softly.

"In a dream." The figure answered.

It took a few seconds, but then suddenly Zane had it. 
And strangely it made sense. "The night before I did 
the ritual that gave me my power, I had a dream... A 
dream about a book made of flesh. It was sitting 
precisely where I'd put the nine books. Was that the 
tenth book, master?"

"It was. It is the final key." The figure replied 
steadily.

Suddenly, Zane felt a spike of worry running through 
him. "But.. The book was made of flesh. When I saw it 
in the dream, there was still blood dripping from it. 
Where will I find a book like that, master?" he asked 
in the same soft voice.

"Once you have completed the path, the book will grow 
very quickly inside you. Like a new organ. And you will 
pull it from your own stomach. It will be the 
combination of your flesh and my word, the symbol of 
our unification. And only it will have the power to 
pierce the laws of your reality and pull me into your 
body." The figure said.

Immediately Zane felt a sinking feeling in the pit of 
his stomach, and for a second he thought he might be 
sick. But he quickly seized control of himself. He 
could not show such weakness before his master. The 
idea of having to pull the tenth book out of his own 
body was enough to disturb him even now, after all he'd 
been through. But if it was what had to be done to 
bring his master's plan to fruition, then it was what 
he would do.

"I... Yes, master." Zane finally said, offering a 
little nod.

"Don't worry." The figure said, and it's voice was 
almost.. Gentle. Zane had never heard that tone in his 
master's voice before. "It will only hurt for a little, 
and then I'll wash it all away." It promised him.

Zane just nodded again, taking a few long slow breaths 
to help steady himself. "So, you won't use my body to 
enter the world, Master? You'll enter it while it's 
still in my world?" he queried. It was a confusing 
point, he hadn't thought it worked that way.

"You don't understand. They are the same. It doesn't 
matter if your body is here or there. I enter it, and 
we are one. I do not have to pass into your reality to 
enter your body. I enter your body, and then because of 
that I am inside your reality. The laws that bind your 
world are satisfied." The figure told him.

"As you say, master." Zane replied, still not entirely 
sure he understood, but accepting his master's word for 
what it was.

"Are you happy with the things I've taught you?" The 
figure asked, it's voice once more entirely neutral.

"Yes, master. The ability to hide my aura and to better 
sense the auras of others has proved useful. The only 
problems came from my own errors, which I have since 
learned from, and from one incident that was beyond 
control. But I believe I can effectively hide myself 
from the ones searching for me until the ninth book is 
complete." Zane answered.

"Good. But there is still something else I believe 
needs implementing, now that you have the necessary 
power for it." The figure said.

"Of course, master. Whatever you feel is best." Zane 
replied.

"You see, you now have the necessary strength to carry 
with you a more direct link to this place. Only there's 
a downside to it. While that link can be used to travel 
here, you can only use it in the most dire of 
situations." The figure told him.

"Why, master?" Zane asked, feeling slightly confused.

"Because it is a one-way trip. The path created within 
the mirrors allows for a smooth, established transition 
between the worlds. The link you'll be carrying will 
not. If you use it, your body's connection to your 
world will be severed in the process. While you will 
arrive in this place, you will be unable to return to 
your world, nor I through you. That's why it can only 
be used when your death is imminent, or when your 
capture by one of those who hunts you is certain. 

"If you are captured, you don't have the strength to 
escape otherwise. And while the True Minds would kill 
you outright, even the Shadow Mind would quickly figure 
out that you cannot be used towards the purpose he has 
in mind, which would inevitably result in your death. 
In those situations you are already lost, and by 
returning here you can still serve me, even though your 
value to me will be greatly diminished. In no other 
situation is the use of the link acceptable. Your body 
must remain bound to your world as it should be unless 
there is no other choice. Understood?" the figure 
demanded.

Zane just nodded slowly. "Yes master. I won't use the 
link you give me unless I'm certain that I will die 
otherwise."

"Good. Then brace yourself. This will be uncomfortable 
for you until the link is firmly in place." The figure 
said.

Carefully Zane spread his legs slightly apart, trying 
to take as balanced a stance as he could. And still he 
wasn't ready for it when it came. The figure didn't 
move, it just stared at him, so he had no warning. One 
second he felt completely normal, and the next it was 
like a hook had somehow been passed into his body 
without him feeling it, before suddenly being jerked 
into place. It was the jerk he felt, a stabbing 
sensation straight through him, and a feeling for a 
split second as if his insides were being pulled 
outwards. In the next second though the feeling had 
passed, and he could faintly feel it there inside him. 
Like some invisible line extending from his body 
outwards.

"If the time should come where you need to use it, 
simply grasp it with your mind and pull. It will in 
turn pull you here. But remember what I said. It is not 
to be used except when there is no other choice." The 
figure repeated.

"Yes, master. Is there anything else I should know?" 
Zane asked, still trying to get over the sensation he'd 
experienced. If that had been enough to unnerve him a 
little, he couldn't imagine what he'd feel like when he 
had to pull out the tenth book.

"There is. The ssarai untara are not far from 
discovering where they can find the one who calls 
himself a Shadow Mind. If that should happen and a 
confrontation ensues, you should take advantage of the 
opportunity. Even after the battle is over, they will 
be occupied with what just happened for a time. You'll 
have a small window where you should be able to take 
energy as you please without being noticed, while the 
others are distracted." The figure explained to him.

It made sense. If the Shadow Mind were somehow to 
manage to beat multiple enemies, it would need time to 
recover, and the freaks who'd been serving the ssarai 
untara who died would be temporarily left without 
someone to take orders from. If, more likely, the 
Shadow Mind were to be defeated, there would likely be 
a short frenzy as the word spread and all the freaks 
hunting through the city were informed that the search 
for the Shadow Mind was no longer necessary, and that 
Zane himself was now the only target. After that 
though, things would become slightly tougher for him, 
so it made sense to drain as much energy during the 
confusion as possible. "I understand, master. I'll do 
all that I can to take advantage of the situation, 
should it occur."

"Excellent. No one has ever come so close to completing 
the path as you have now, but don't let that fact cloud 
your mind. You haven't succeeded yet. You cannot relax, 
even for a second. Never allow your concentration to 
drop such that your aura becomes exposed, and never 
lower your guard. You must be aware of your 
surroundings at all times. Completing the path is the 
only thing that matters. Do not fail me now that you 
have come so close." The figure told him gravely.

"I will serve to the best of my ability, master." Zane 
replied, bowing his head ever so slightly.

"Then go." The figure said, before once more Zane 
suddenly found himself standing in front of the mirror 
he'd entered this place through, the one that led back 
to his world. Though the journey through the void was 
always a terrifying experience, Zane steeled himself 
and stepped through it.

***

Zane was standing on the edge of a roof, staring down 
at three people walking along the empty sidewalk below. 
He'd followed them for a few buildings now, listening 
to them. They probably would've seen him if they looked 
up, but they never did. They never had reason to. He 
never made a sound anymore unless he wanted to, no 
matter how he was moving, or over what surface.

They were talking to each other, the three of them. Two 
of them were in their late teens, the other a couple 
years or so younger. A guy and two girls. The older guy 
and girl were talking about trying to sneak into a 
club, but the younger girl wasn't interested. She 
apparently wanted to go back to the hotel they were 
staying at, but the others kept trying to talk her into 
going to the club with them. Finally they gave up 
though and in aggravated tones said they'd go back to 
the hotel with her. The younger girl, obviously picking 
up on their annoyance, told them to go ahead to the 
club. That she knew a place a few blocks over where she 
should be able to catch a cab. 

The other two didn't even argue, they just offered to 
walk her there. The younger girl was obviously somewhat 
annoyed herself, because she told them she could take 
of herself, and then just stormed off down the alley 
beside the building Zane was on. The older two watched 
her for a couple seconds, before suddenly glancing at 
each other and shaking their heads. Without another 
word, they continued up the road in the direction 
they'd been heading a moment before.

Still Zane didn't make his move yet. He waited for a 
bit. The girl was walking at a nice brisk pace. He let 
her get a little past halfway up the alley, and let her 
friends get further up the road, before he finally 
stepped off the roof. It was a decent drop down to the 
alley below, but he landed cat-quietly, his shoes 
hitting the pavement but making no noise. With a smile 
on his face he stepped up behind her, keeping pace with 
her for a few seconds before finally making his 
presence known.

"Hi." He said in a soft voice. Immediately she spun 
around, her eyes wide. He didn't make too intimidating 
a figure with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled back 
the way it was, but he could still tell the gears were 
whirring in her head. Here he was, a complete stranger 
approaching her in a dark alley, looking reasonably 
clean and friendly, but apparently the sort to walk up 
to random girls in strange places in the dead of night. 
Finally she seemed to come to some internal decision. 
She didn't scream, but he could tell she was ready to 
at a moment's notice, with one wrong move from him.

"Can I help you?" she finally asked quietly, her voice 
barely above a whisper, backing up a couple steps as 
she said it.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said, still 
smiling. "I was just looking for directions. But if I'm 
bothering you, I could go." He made a vague gesture 
behind him as he spoke the words.

She relaxed marginally, her breathing becoming not 
quite so shallow. "Uhm... It's ok, but I don't live 
around here, so I doubt I know what you're looking for. 
Still, if I can help, I'll try."

"Great. Can you tell me..." He started, taking one step 
closer as his smile widened. "How to get to heaven?" 
and just like that he lunged forward, one hand clamping 
over her mouth to prevent her from screaming, the other 
locking over the back of her neck to hold her in place. 
And then he was pulling the life out of the girl, the 
sudden burst of intense pleasure that accompanied the 
flow of energy seeming to enhance the humor he found in 
his own joke.

Zane just stared into her eyes as she slowly died, 
studied the pain and fear in her eyes as he sucked the 
energy out of her. The euphoria of the pleasure was 
intoxicating, but he kept his focus despite. So focused 
on her in fact that it wasn't until her hair had turned 
completely white and he'd released her corpse to let it 
drop to the ground that he noticed something important 
in the distance. 

There were two True Minds lingering together, he could 
feel them. They'd already been right beside each other 
for forty to forty-five seconds or so, which was 
extremely unusual. He'd never before felt any of them 
together for more then a few seconds at a time. He 
supposed they didn't need very long to communicate with 
each other. However for some reason two of them had 
gathered together for an extended period, now.

Zane stood near the body of the girl he'd killed, just 
waiting a little. He wanted to see if this led 
anywhere. It didn't take long, either. Maybe fifteen to 
twenty seconds later, just when he realized what they 
must be waiting for, he felt it. The Shadow Mind 
suddenly appearing right beside where the True Minds 
were. The Shadow Mind often did that, suddenly 
disappear and reappear. It wasn't like the others. The 
True Minds could move at some truly amazing speeds, but 
Zane could always tell they'd moved. Whereas the Shadow 
Mind's energy sometimes just vanished, as if the being 
itself had somehow disappeared from the city, only to 
later reappear later, often in a different place.

The instant the Shadow Mind's energy appeared this 
time, though, the world convulsed. Zane couldn't 
explain it any other way. It was like the world around 
him had suddenly heaved up and began to rock back and 
forth at rapid speed. Immediately he lost his balance 
and dropped to one knee, but he had trouble holding 
even that position without going sprawling. It took him 
a fraction of a second to realize that the Shadow Mind 
and the True Minds were fighting. This had never 
happened before. 

They'd never come into contact. But now they had and 
their energies seemed to be clashing so strongly that 
the world itself was responding. Faintly he could feel 
a third True Mind in the city rushing towards the spot 
of the battle. The fourth True Mind that was usually in 
the city had left it about an hour ago. Which wasn't 
unusual, as one of them would occasionally leave for a 
few hours before returning. But now he could feel 
multiple True Minds in the distance rapidly converging 
on Vegas at amazing speeds. It was only a split second 
before the third True Mind reached the others and it's 
energies joined in the clash as well.

The shaking of the world became so intense and so 
disorienting that for a time Zane lost total sense of 
the world around his body. All he could feel was the 
conflict in the distance, and one thought that kept 
running through his head. This is what it was like when 
gods clashed. He knew the True Minds weren't really 
supposed to be gods. After all, even his master was 
far, far more powerful then they were, but still. From 
everything he was sensing, from the way the world 
rocked with every impact of their powers against each 
other, what else could they be?

The conflict between the four beings in the distance 
felt like it was being fought on two fronts at least. 
He could sense the reverberations of physical impacts, 
but more important and more pressing was the energy. It 
was like a thousand unbelievably strong tentacles 
flashing back and forth so swiftly he couldn't follow 
it. He could only feel the effects of the powers 
rapidly striking each other again and again.

He'd finally adjusted enough that he had a bare sense 
of his surrounding environment. Somehow he'd wound up 
outside the alley he'd been in without ever realizing 
he'd been moving. The rocking of the world seemed to 
send him stumbling and even sprawling in different 
directions. There were humans on the streets, and they 
were staring at him. They didn't seem to be getting 
thrown around the way he was. In fact, they seemed to 
have perfect balance, and to be confused by what was 
happening to him. But that made no sense. 

Could it be they couldn't feel what was happening to 
the world the way he was? But how was that possible? 
How could they not feel that? It was so strong that 
Zane was amazed the very buildings weren't crashing 
down around him. And then he realized, the buildings 
around him weren't taking any damage, not in the 
slightest. If the world was really quaking the way it 
seemed to be to him, there should've been visible 
damage to at least one or two building by now, but 
there wasn't. Maybe it really was something he was 
experiencing that no one else was. Maybe his sense of 
the energies clashing in the distance was throwing off 
the world for him alone.

Seconds passed, but for Zane it felt like far, far 
longer. His mind was processing information as swiftly 
as it ever had, and the things it was trying to process 
were overwhelming. The world's continued shaking around 
him was having the effect of making him extremely 
nauseous, and it was all he could do to keep the 
contents of his stomach where they belonged. The 
problem with his being able to sense the powers 
clashing in the distance was that it was all he could 
sense. He couldn't even tell who was getting hurt or 
who was winning. There was only the reverberations of 
the battle, like shockwaves flying outwards at high 
speed every time the tentacles of energy struck each 
other.

Zane found that at some point he'd clutched his hands 
tightly to his head, as if trying to shut out the worst 
of what he was feeling. The very world around him was 
starting to groan. A low, deep sound. As if the very 
fabric that held it all together was slowly coming 
apart. It was one of the most unnerving sounds he'd 
ever heard. Like the planet itself was crying out to 
make the clashing powers stop. Or maybe it was just 
another thing that was in his head. Maybe it was his 
mind that was groaning under the onslaught of the rapid 
and seemingly never-ending shockwaves.

And then suddenly there was a flash that numbed his 
senses for the briefest of instants, and when they 
cleared again one of the True Minds was simply gone, at 
least that was what it seemed like at first. But he 
quickly discovered something else. He could sense the 
energy of the fallen True Mind, the life energy of the 
dead. Even at this distance. It was so immense and so 
potent that it was as clear to him as if the corpse was 
at his feet. 

The battle between the Shadow Mind and the other two 
raged on unabated, but it wasn't as disorienting as it 
had been. While there were still shockwaves, and they 
were still disturbing the world around him, they had... 
Relaxed slightly. The rapidity had faded ever so 
slightly. Oh, it was still throwing him completely off-
balance, but the very fact that it wasn't as bad as it 
had been a moment before was relief enough. And the 
groaning of the world had stopped. Still, the True 
Minds in the distance were fast approaching the site of 
the battle. It wouldn't be too much longer until the 
first of them arrived to back up the others. And there 
was no way the Shadow Mind could take them all.

Despite the continued shaking of the world around him, 
all Zane could seem to focus on was the feel of the 
massive amount of energy left behind by the death of 
the True Mind. It seemed far, far more then all the 
energy he'd taken from every human and freak he'd 
killed in the past combined. With that kind of energy 
there was no question he'd have enough to read the 
ninth book and complete the path. But he was hesitant 
to start trying to pull it into himself. The feel of 
the energy was ever so slightly different then all the 
energy he'd taken before. What if he couldn't handle 
that kind of energy? What if it did something to him?

In the end though the allure was too great to resist. 
Bracing himself slightly, he reached for the energy. 
The instant he made contact it began rushing into him 
like a tidal wave, and he found it was like nothing 
he'd ever felt before. It didn't bring with it the 
pleasure that most energy did. It didn't even feel the 
way that most energy did. No, the effects of this 
energy was far more extreme. Almost instantly he was 
assaulted by a barrage of images, flashing through his 
head so fast he didn't even have a chance to try to 
determine what he was seeing in one image before the 
next was already taking it's place. However he could 
feel what it was doing to him. Knowledge, the energy 
was carrying with it an incredible amount of knowledge.

Zane felt an intense pounding in his head, similar to 
what he might experience during a headache, only this 
time it was neither pleasurable nor painful. There was 
also a sense of pressure, deep inside his skull. But 
both these things were barely even noticeable under the 
intense onslaught of images that were overwhelming him. 
What he could feel through it was the power welling up 
inside him. The more the knowledge seemed to be packed 
into his head, the stronger he became. He tried to 
focus on that, rather then the images. To try to draw 
his attention away from the stream of pictures in his 
head long enough to be able to really think again, but 
it was hard.

It was only because of that that he was finally able to 
get the impression. There was something hidden in the 
knowledge, something deeper. Some truth that held it 
all together. It was the key to everything, he could 
feel it. And if he could just reach it, it would change 
everything. The more the knowledge seemed to build up 
in his head, the more it seemed to come together. He 
was getting closer to it. And he knew if he could just 
drain off all the energy left from the True Mind, all 
the remaining knowledge, he would have it. He would 
finally discover what it was.

He was so caught up in everything that he barely even 
noticed when the world around him stopped shaking, but 
it was a good thing he did notice, even barely. It was 
only for the briefest of instants, but he could 
suddenly somehow sense the attention of the Shadow 
Mind's and the other two True Minds turning. His feel 
of them was far stronger now then it had ever been 
before, but the horrible thing was that their attention 
was suddenly fixing on him. 

He was still shielding himself from them, but somehow 
they could now see him anyways, despite that. His 
draining of the dead True Mind's energy suddenly 
stalled. He felt vaguely like a child who'd been caught 
with his hand in the cookie jar. He didn't have time to 
contemplate it though, because all of a sudden the 
Shadow Mind was rushing towards him, the two True Minds 
right on it's tail.

If he hadn't already taken as much energy as he had, he 
wouldn't even have had time to notice. As it was he was 
already processing information at least ten times 
faster then he had a moment before, and he got the 
impression that that was only the smallest fraction of 
what he would have gotten had he managed to complete 
the drain. He was caught frozen like a deer in 
headlights, not sure what to do. 

He couldn't run, not with how fast the approaching 
Shadow Mind was moving. If he tried to draw more 
energy, he'd barely have time to get even a little 
before the Shadow Mind reached him, and it wouldn't be 
nearly enough to give him sufficient strength to try 
and fight the thing. And in the time he sat there 
trying to figure out what to do, it was enough to cut 
out all of his options altogether.

As Zane felt the Shadow Mind reach him, for a split 
second he caught the very faint image of a blonde boy 
standing in front of him, but he didn't have time to 
make out more then that before something impacted with 
him, hard. And then the next thing he knew he was being 
swallowed by shadows. That was the only way he could 
think of to describe it. It was like the nearby shadows 
suddenly exploded outwards to wrap around them before 
quickly sucking them in. There was a brief dizzying 
sensation, almost like vertigo, and then he was 
somewhere else.

 For a second it was hard for him to make out what it 
was, but then he realized it was a tunnel of some kind. 
Only it wasn't like any kind of tunnel he'd ever been 
in, because vision seemed to work different here. He 
got no real sense of up or down, only of left and 
right. To his left was a shadowy wall, only through it 
he kept getting brief flashes of images. Places, he 
somehow knew. Places that were just on the other side 
of the wall. To his right was also a wall, only this 
one seemed thinner and semi-transparent. Beyond it was 
a world unlike anything he'd seen before.

In many ways it shared a lot of similarities with his 
own world, only this one was ultra-real, like some 
incredibly vivid painting drawn by a master of the art. 
The colors were more vivid, the landscape more alive. 
The world seemed starker somehow, realer then anything 
he'd seen in his own world. Only things about it were 
strange. Every so often things about the world seemed 
to shift, to change. And strangely enough he never 
seemed to notice it changing as it was happening. It 
was only a short while later that he'd realize that 
things about it were now different.

His senses were all jumbled here. He couldn't sense 
energy or auras, but he could still feel some things. 
He could feel the Shadow Mind beside him. Though he 
couldn't sense the energy he somehow knew that's who it 
was. It was almost like the Shadow Mind was some giant 
bird of prey swooping down the tunnel at high speeds. 
Although speed was relative here, as he also somehow 
knew that time seemed to move differently in this 
tunnel. Perhaps that knowledge came from the stuff he'd 
gained from the energy, he wasn't sure. It was like he 
was somehow attached to the Shadow Mind. Not like he 
was being carried so much as like he was moving with 
it.

There was some kind of pull on the Shadow Mind, he 
could feel. A pull towards the transparent wall, 
towards the ultra-real world beyond it. It was almost 
magnetic, like the world was trying to suck the Shadow 
Mind towards it. And it was getting stronger the longer 
they stayed in the tunnel. But the Shadow Mind was 
resisting it, he could tell. It wasn't allowing the 
pull to draw it towards the wall. It just kept moving 
further and further down the tunnel.

It took a little longer before Zane realized what was 
behind them. He hadn't realized he even could see 
behind them until then. It wasn't like turning your 
head, because he didn't really have a head to turn. He 
simply wanted to see behind them, and so he did. And 
faintly behind him he could see two large things 
swooping down the tunnel behind them. Now that he saw 
them he knew that the resemblance to birds was only 
slight. 

They were like strange winged shadows speeding down the 
tunnel. The other True Minds, he knew almost 
immediately. The ones who'd been chasing the Shadow 
Mind. They had followed it here. They were following it 
even now. They didn't seem to be gaining any ground on 
it, but then they didn't seem to be losing ground 
either. As he continued to shoot down the tunnel with 
the Shadow Mind, the other two remained the precise 
same distance down the tunnel behind them.

It occurred to him in that instant that if that 
continued to be the case, the Shadow Mind couldn't 
escape. Especially since the magnetic pull from the 
right wall was getting incredibly strong. And only then 
did he realize that it didn't even really matter. It 
was remarkable it had taken him that long to see it, 
but he supposed he'd been caught up in everything going 
on around him. However, there it was, as plain as day. 
It was over. He was captured. He'd failed. There was no 
way he was going to manage to get away from the Shadow 
Mind even if it escaped the True Minds. It was too 
powerful. And if the True Minds managed to kill it, 
well, then they would just kill him too. Either way, he 
had no chance.

He wasn't given any more time to think about it though 
because suddenly the Shadow Mind reached out. It looked 
more like a shadowy claw then a hand, and without 
hesitation the Shadow Mind jammed it into the left 
wall. Immediately their momentum through the tunnel 
stopped, but before the beings behind them could reach 
them, the Shadow Mind's second claw was in the wall 
too. Before them in the wall was an image, faintly 
layered in shadows. But as Zane watched the Shadow Mind 
seemed to pull with it's claws and the shadowy layer 
disappeared from the image, and then they were lunging 
into it. Once more there was a slight dizzying 
sensation, and a sense of vertigo, and then suddenly he 
was bathed in shadows, only the shadows were exploding 
outwards.

The Shadow Mind literally leapt back into the world as 
the shadows retracted back into their natural place. 
It's arms were around him, and it was literally 
carrying him, as if he were weightless. They were in 
some kind of forest, though he had no idea which or 
where it was. In the distance Zane could sense True 
Minds rushing towards them, more now then ever before. 

Immediately the Shadow Mind burst into a full run, 
moving so fast that the entire world around them became 
a faint blur for Zane, he couldn't make out where they 
were going or anything around them anymore. But he felt 
it when the two True Minds suddenly emerged into the 
world at very close range behind them. And almost the 
instant they did Zane suddenly found himself being 
swallowed by shadows again.

This time he was almost used to the dizziness and 
vertigo, and then he was in the tunnel again. Oddly, 
the pull from the right wall on the Shadow Mind was 
weak again. He guessed that returning to the normal 
world was enough to sort of reset it to whatever it had 
originally been to start. This time he had his 
attention focused behind him from the beginning, and so 
he saw when the two winged shadows suddenly plunged 
into the tunnel in pursuit of them. The Shadow Mind 
might be able to move back and forth between the normal 
world and this place, but he wasn't going to lose those 
two this way. But then, maybe the Shadow Mind wasn't 
sure exactly how to lose them either, maybe this was 
just desperation.

Again they traveled down the tunnel for some distance, 
the two winged shadows staying right on their tail, the 
pull from the right wall growing stronger all the time. 
And once more just when the pull started getting so 
strong it seemed like the Shadow Mind would have 
trouble resisting, it stretched out a claw and hooked 
it into the left wall. And mere seconds later they were 
plunging into a cleared image in the wall and exploding 
back out into the real world. This time they seemed to 
emerge on top of the ocean, or at least some huge lake. 

Zane couldn't tell for sure because there were waters 
stretching in every direction, shadows playing over the 
still water from the heavy clouds above. And the Shadow 
Mind's feet seemed to be resting on top of the water 
without sinking into it. The thing was actually 
standing on the water, but Zane didn't have time to 
ponder this before once more the world around him 
turned into a blur as the Shadow Mind moved.

In the distance he could feel the approaching True 
Minds. Only they were much closer now then they had 
been the last time. It was like they could somehow 
predict where the Shadow Mind was going to emerge and 
they were all converging to cut him off. The Shadow 
Mind might have been able to put a small enough 
distance between it and the other True Minds to run 
when the others were distracted by suddenly sensing 
Zane, but that had been a fluke. Zane got the strong 
feeling that once one of the True Minds finally reached 
the Shadow Mind this time, it wouldn't be able to run 
again.

Once more it only took a split second before the 
shadows consumed them again. They were rushing down the 
tunnel again, and like clockwork the two winged shadows 
quickly shot into it behind them. The entire time they 
were traveling down the tunnel this time, Zane thought 
about his situation. He was going to have to use his 
link to his master's world, that much at least was 
clear. He only hoped his master wouldn't react too 
harshly to his failure. Still, he wasn't sure exactly 
when he should use the link. He could still feel it 
inside him, even now, but he wasn't sure if it would 
work the same way from this tunnel as it would from the 
world he was usually in, and he didn't want to risk it. 
So he waited. It was all he could do.

Only this time when they finally passed back through 
the wall and exploded out of the shadows, it was almost 
too late. Because there was a True Mind there, waiting 
for them. They were in a clearing of some kind, with 
trees surrounding it. And there was a True Mind 
standing just in front of them, it's energy already 
gathered for the attack. If it hadn't been for the 
power Zane had gained earlier, he wouldn't have even 
been fast enough to notice the True Mind before they 
were hit, but as it was he saw it and instantly knew 
that if the True Mind attacked, he was dead. The attack 
would hit them both, and even if the Shadow Mind 
survived it, he wouldn't. Zane immediately grabbed the 
link inside him and pulled hard, just as he suddenly 
felt the energy be unleashed towards them.

In that moment time itself seemed to freeze. With his 
senses he could see the energy, hovering only a couple 
feet away from them. And then he felt it, like his 
insides were being pulled outwards. Like a hook had 
been planted in his guts and was being reeled away with 
tremendous force, and it was carrying him with it even 
if his body didn't want to go. It was an incredibly 
weird sensation, but worse it was extremely painful. It 
was like he was being torn apart from the inside out. 
And just when he started to try opening his mouth to 
scream, the world around him vanished.

***

In a clearing in a stand of trees three figures stood, 
waiting. They knew they could do nothing further to 
pursue the one they'd been chasing, and so they let the 
others gather. Quickly other figures began to appear 
around and beside them, having approached at such 
incredible speeds that to any outsider who watched they 
would have simply appeared out of nowhere. But the 
figures saw them coming, they alone were fast enough to 
see the approach of the others like them. It was only a 
matter of seconds until the full group stood there. 
Eighteen in all. The others weren't coming, they knew. 
They could feel them. The ones who felt their current 
business was too important.

Usually when two of them met they would simply be able 
to read each other, the way they read humans and 
freaks. Information could be transferred extremely 
quickly that way, and communication was far far faster 
then it would have been had it needed to be vocalized. 
But with so many of them there, such methods were 
rendered useless. Reading others like them was far far 
more complicated then reading a human or a freak, and 
trying to read that many of their kind that rapidly 
would be extraordinarily confusing. So vocal speech was 
the only solution.

"Where is it?" A child-like female voice asked, the 
tone seeming strangely wise.

"The abomination disappeared." Said a male voice, stony 
and almost grating. This one from the figure who'd been 
there the longest. "It didn't shadowstep again, or we 
all would have felt it. And it didn't step into the 
pocket it's been hiding in the Line or I would've 
sensed it at this close a range and been able to 
follow. I'm not sure what it did."

"I felt something." Said a third voice, female, the 
tone beautiful and melodious. The one it belonged to 
was among the three who'd been there first. One of the 
ones who'd been chasing the abomination and had arrived 
just before it disappeared. "But it wasn't in the 
abomination, it was in the boy. Very faint. Almost a 
pull of some kind. There the instant before they 
disappeared and then gone when they were."

"You're certain, Raeth?" the stony-voice asked. "I 
didn't feel anything like that. But then my focus may 
have been too much on the attack I was preparing to 
catch it, if it was truly that faint."

"Did you feel it, Talen?" another male voice asked, 
this one steady and methodical. It was speaking to the 
remaining one of the three who'd arrived there first, 
the other one who'd been chasing the abomination.

"I felt something similar to what Raeth described." A 
male voice said, light but somehow infinitely cold. 
"There was definitely some kind of pull within the boy 
just before they vanished."

"Perhaps it had to do with the books." A female voice 
responded, it's tone vaguely resembling a feline purr.

"You mean, the legend about the creation of a book that 
can make it's holder into a god?" the methodical voice 
asked scornfully. "I still can't believe it concerns so 
many of you. It's a myth, nothing more. We are the only 
gods this world will ever know."

"Yet we've gotten our hands on the books before, and 
they are in a language even we can't read. Every 
written human language we can decipher by glancing at a 
single word or symbol, but with those books for all our 
studies we could not read even the smallest fragment. 
The only explanation for such a thing is that they were 
written by one of the highers beyond." The icy cold 
voice responded. "Besides, we've destroyed the books 
before, and every time they've come back. All the 
evidence points to a higher source then us being behind 
them. And if that's the case, then who knows what 
they're capable of."

"I'll say what I've said before. They could have simply 
been larikans of a kind we aren't familiar with. It 
would explain their reappearance, and even perhaps our 
inability to understand them." The methodical mind 
persisted.

"And I'll tell you what I've told you before. You were 
never among those in the presence of the books. I have 
been. They were not larikans. I would've known. That is 
not the sort of mistake one of us would easily make. 
No, I may not be sure of exactly what they were. But I 
am sure that they weren't larikans. For once, you 
should trust our judgment." The icy cold voice shot 
back.

"Further discussion of that is meaningless. Besides, 
there is another possibility." The beautiful melodious 
voice broke in. "I know you are all aware of Char's 
death. What you do not know is that after that death 
the boy was somehow able to tap into the remnant 
energies the way he did with the mortals. He gained 
enough that his power was magnified several fold. That 
was how we and the abomination managed to sense him in 
the first place. What he got was by no means complete, 
but it is possible that the weird mixture of what 
knowledge he gained with his already existing powers 
allowed him to do something we haven't seen before."

"No." The stony voice responded. "It wouldn't make 
sense, regardless of what he might have been capable of 
prior to absorbing those energies. In taking in the 
knowledge of one of us, he cannot have gained an 
ability that is beyond us. Especially since that 
absorption was incomplete. No, it had to have been 
gained from another source."

"If it really was from a higher source, then there's 
nothing more we can do then what we've been doing. What 
will be will be. We return to our normal paths and 
simply maintain vigilance against anything unusual. We 
cannot confront something until there is something to 
confront." Another voice said, the tone somehow 
bringing up images of wind blowing through trees.

"The United States will need to be re-divided with 
Char's passing. His death leaves the entire southeast 
open. Our lines must be re-drawn." The melodious voice 
murmured.

"That is an issue for those of you who reside there, 
and not for those of us with better things to do with 
our time." The almost-feline voice purred. And then one 
of the figures in the clearing turned and was gone at a 
speed only they were capable of.

As if it were a meeting that had been somehow dismissed 
in an unspoken fashion, more and more of the figures 
turned to disappear back towards the places they came 
from. The hunt for the abomination had been concluded. 
The task was left for those who controlled the United 
States to mop up the freaks who had chosen to serve the 
abomination during it's short rise to power.

***

The void had never been so terrifying on any of Zane's 
previous trips through it. Before while he'd thought he 
heard a scream or some monstrous cry in the distance, 
now they were all around him, assaulting his senses 
with every passing second. And it was like there was a 
constant whispering in his head from multiple different 
sources at once, in languages he didn't understand. 
There was a sensation very much like a sort of shifting 
nausea deep inside him, changing steadily with time but 
keeping him constantly unsettled. Faintly he could feel 
the Shadow Mind, seemingly attached to his side the way 
he'd been to it's in the tunnel. And he could somehow 
sense that the Shadow Mind's surprise and even fear was 
as strong as his own.

The sense of having been consumed by the shadowy aura 
had never been so strong. From time to time the 
sensation intensified such that he couldn't even think. 
But he could still occasionally feel the vast creatures 
moving through the darkness around him. And their 
attention seemed to linger on him far longer this time 
then they ever had before. Somehow he knew that these 
were the kinds of beings who could erase him from 
existence with one flick of their mind, if they so 
chose. And he got the impression that a few of them 
were considering swatting him as he passed by. But even 
though he kept waiting for the blow to fall, not sure 
he'd even feel it if it did, it never came.

It was hard to tell how long he traveled through the 
darkness. It seemed even longer then the other times 
had been. He supposed it could have just been his fear 
of the things going on around him drawing it out in his 
own mind, but he really didn't think so. In fact, there 
were a couple times near the end where he started to 
wonder if he was going to make it at all. If he might 
not just wind up lost in the void until one of the 
things he saw in the darkness decided to finally 
destroy him once and for all. But finally, just when 
he'd been starting to give up hope, he found himself 
emerging from the darkness, stumbling to his knees on a 
dark stone floor.

For a second it was disorienting, and it was only when 
his head quickly began to clear that he realized the 
Shadow Mind was standing beside him, staring at 
something. Swiftly looking up, Zane found that they 
were in the throne room. His master was slowly stepping 
down from his throne, it's attention focused solely on 
them. Beside him, he heard a strangled noise emit from 
the Shadow Mind's throat. Somewhere between surprise 
and horror.

"You're..." The Shadow Mind finally whispered, it's 
eyes fixed solely on the cloaked figure, who had begun 
to stride towards them. And then, without another word, 
the Shadow Mind slowly dropped to it's knees beside 
Zane.

The figure continued to stride in their direction, 
coming to a halt maybe five feet in front of them and 
simply pausing there. A long moment passed before it 
finally spoke. "I'm displeased." It said softly, and 
somehow Zane knew it was speaking only to him. "To try 
to drain the energy of one of the ssarai untara was a 
move so foolish I didn't think you'd be stupid enough 
to make it. 

It should have been obvious to you that trying to take 
in the energy of one of them would give you away to 
those nearby. If I had wanted you to try to use their 
energy I would've given you explicit instructions to 
that effect. As it is you came very close to ruining 
your body for me. Even a short while longer and it 
would've become impossible for me to ever enter it. 
Luckily for you it's still salvageable."

"I'm sorry master." Zane said quickly, bowing his head 
deeply. "I... I didn't know."

"Silence." The figure said softly, and immediately Zane 
shut up. "You didn't fail me completely, after all. You 
did sever your connection to your world in coming here, 
but you were right to do so when you did. And you 
brought me a gift that satisfies me." The cloaked 
figure's attention suddenly shifted to the Shadow Mind, 
and Zane could see the boy's eyes widen. "You know what 
I am?" the figure asked the boy.

"I do." The Shadow Mind whispered. "The book. The final 
book. The one I was hunting for. It wouldn't have made 
me stronger, would it? It was designed to help you." He 
said as if just realizing it, his voice somehow 
resigned.

"The books were mine. And no, the tenth book wouldn't 
have helped you. However, you have something that helps 
me. While I cannot use your body, your link to the 
world still remains. And it is unique in it's nature, 
different from anyone else's. The body of Zane is still 
usable to me, if only barely. Merger is still possible, 
even if the adjustment will occur a bit more slowly. 
And then with time I can take your link from you, and 
use it to propel my new body back into the world. It 
will take much longer then it otherwise would have, but 
my path into your world is now assured. So you see, 
Zane." The figure's attention turned back to him. 
"Despite your severe error, you still managed to 
deliver to me the thing I desired."

"I'm... Thankful I was able to do that much for you, 
master." Zane answered, not quite sure what else to 
say.

Zane noticed the flicker of a smile on the Shadow 
Mind's face a bare fraction of a second before it 
acted. Zane had just assumed that it had accepted it's 
defeat in the face of his master, but apparently it 
wasn't quite ready to give up without a fight. It had 
to know that it really had no chance at all, but 
perhaps in the end it came down to some kind of 
desperation. Whatever it was, Zane could feel the 
tentacles of power suddenly erupt outwards towards his 
master. 

They were moving too fast for him to follow, but it 
didn't matter anyways, because in a fraction of an 
instant the tentacles had been severed. Zane didn't 
even feel any power emanate form his master, but it was 
still like some mystic knife had sliced cleanly through 
the outstretched energy. The lingering power of the 
tentacles seemed to hover in the air for a split second 
before evaporating, and then suddenly the Shadow Mind 
was on the ground, clutching it's head and screaming.

For a long moment the boy laid there, literally 
writhing in agony. Zane couldn't tell if it was having 
the power severed the way it had been that was doing 
this to the boy, or if his master was causing the pain, 
but whatever was causing it the boy's suffering was 
immense. It went on for a long moment before the 
screams suddenly cut off as suddenly as they'd started. 
The boy simply lay trembling on the floor, staring at 
nothing.

"Not the smartest decision he's ever made." The figure 
said softly.

Zane just watched the boy, who continued to lay on the 
ground, gazing at empty space. "Will his link still be 
usable, master?" Zane asked hesitantly.

"Of course." The figure told him, in a tone that said 
the answer should've been obvious. "I wouldn't have 
done anything to jeopardize that. No, my route into 
your world is still there. As I said earlier though, 
there are varying factors that will slow things a bit. 
And I'll admit that I am uncertain quite how much 
they'll be slowed. It could be five years, or five 
hundred. Neither is very long for me, though. 
Eventually, your world will be mine. It's just a matter 
of time."

***

(And so the story ends, for now. At some point in the 
future I might write the continuation to this story, 
but if I do it will be a long way off yet. I've got 
many other stories left to write before that one. For 
now you'll just have to make do with my next story 
"Twisted Reflections", which I hope will be my best 
yet. Until I get the first part of it out, dear 
readers, be careful of the dark.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This story was written as an adult fantasy. The author
does not condone the described behavior in real life.

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Kristen's collection - Directory 44