“So, why don’t you get the staff out of here?” Rylie said, echoing Mark’s thoughts.

Joselyn flinched just barely, “They’re out there. They most certainly saw you come in. The moment we step out, staff in hand, they’ll be on us.”

“I guess,” Mark said, “I guess I don’t understand why they suddenly want it. Why they want anything. There must be something behind all this. No way that one day, Fiend just up and decides to join forces with one another and target a specific goal.”

“You’re thinking that someone is behind it,” Joselyn said. “You think someone is controlling them.”

“I do. If I’m not mistaken, the Fiend artefact is about control, is it not?”

Joselyn nodded, “That is my belief as well. Though, its existence is a myth at best. Let alone what its power are. Though controlling Fiend members like a shepherd would certainly be my best guess.”

“Thank you, Joselyn. I’ll have the chief put a few members on duty here. They’ll station outside the fence in order to be able to access their powers, of course. Rylie, you and I have someone we need to visit.”

Joselyn bowed slightly at the neck to both of them before Jack guided them back out. The fire inside of Mark raged again as he reached the gate, and he could feel the relief pouring off of Rylie. He looked over to his partner, who was now smiling brightly.

“I honestly felt completely lost in there. I haven’t had my powers for long, but it was like losing an appendage.”

“Every single time. They say they can’t help it, but I think it’s a subtle way to throw their power around. Now, Joselyn might know, but I won’t be the one telling her if she doesn’t. One of Natalie’s Knowledge colleagues studies artefacts. That includes Patron Artifacts. Do you know what those are?”

Rylie shook her head. Mark continued, “It’s not common knowledge. Everyone at Piety knows about the staff, but I was certain it was in France. As for the other artefacts, they are usually kept hush-hush and known only by the top tier of that collective. They all have different abilities, but you can bet your ass that any of them getting into the wrong hands can cause great pain to that collective.”

“So, what’s the Fiend one?”

“That’s the big question. It most certainly exists. But they don’t have a leader. They don’t have anyone to pass on information too. If it exists, they don’t know about it. Let alone any of the rest of us. So, we have no idea what it is. And we have no idea what it’s capable of. Though by the looks of it, it finds a way to get the members to work as a collective.”

“Hopefully,” Mark continued, shooting off a text, “Natalie’s friend knows a little better than I do.”

He slid his phone back into his pocket. He then quickly brought out his sword and slid it into the stomach of the man who leapt for Rylie. She spun to him, seeing the dirty man as his body slumped, and Mark pulled his sword out. A howl surrounded them. The Fiend collective did not contain magic, but Mark could hear footsteps as they ran. Some were laughing, others were snarling.

Rylie’s hands lit up as she pulled her dagger from its sheath and went back-to-back with Mark. He kept his sword pointed in front of him. Ten people encircled them, blood and dirt caking their skin. Some had nails and teeth sharpened into points. Others had crude weapons. They stopped a few feet away, each of them pacing, waiting for a decision to be made.

At once, they all jumped forward, swinging at the pair. Mark cut into one’s side with his sword before swinging it the other way, smashing into a woman with his hammer. Rylie was blinding them as they were on her, stabbing out with her dagger as they were on their back foot.

Mark pushed away from his partner, creating some distance. He was a flurry of blows, increasing the weight of his shield as he punched and kicked Fiend members. They kept coming, his weapon shifting from sword to axe to hammer as he moved from one enemy to the next. He looked to Rylie and was surprised to find that her power adapted again. She was shifting the light from her hand to her palm, then lobbing them at monsters like a baseball. Once connected, they set a bright yellow flame to her target. Fiend members howled as they were burned and stabbed.

More and more kept coming, until Mark and Rylie were getting overwhelmed, forced to push their backs together again. Bodies laid around them as Mark tried to get a feel for the battlefield. Over thirty living feral humans were surrounding them and attacking before suddenly, they stopped. They backed off the pair, and started moving back to their hideouts.

Mark and Rylie stood their ground as the feral humans walked off. Mark looked into one woman’s eyes. She looked like she wanted to come for him and rip out his throat, but that something was stopping her from doing it. Her feet dragged her back toward the tree line against her will.

“What the hell was that?” Rylie said, gasping.

“A warning,” Mark said, “Whoever is controlling them knows we’re here. And they wanted us to know we won’t be enough. Nice fireball, by the way.”

“Thanks. It felt less fireball, and more radiant though. Maybe it’s just the church giving me ideas.”

Mark took pause at that statement. The light he felt in the pocket dimension was more than light. It felt radiant; protective even. Up until now, Rylie’s light didn’t feel radiant to him, but her saying that left him flabbergasted.

“You okay, Mark?”

“Yeah, I just-,” he began. His phone chimed and he pulled it out to check, “Natalie’s friend can meet us at Louie’s in a half hour. Up for some potato skins?”

The two of them got a rideshare and rode to Louie’s. Rylie continued talking about her new power, but Mark was distracted. There was no way that somebody just stumbled upon the Fiend artefact. On top of that, they knew the staff was moved to Chicago and was actively using Fiend to try and get a hold of it. Control one patron, get rid of another. Assuming they were a member of a third one, whoever it was could be very dangerous.

Their car pulled in front of Louie’s and Mark saw him. He could sense the familiar feeling he got from Natalie washing off of the man. He was average height and wore his hair in braids. His glasses were frameless. He had a few light scars on his face, but otherwise looked happy. He greeted them with a smile.

“Andre Tipton. You must be Mark and Rylie.”

Mark shook his hand, “Nice to meet you, Andre. Want to go inside?”

The three of them took the booth Mark had been in when Keith approached him, waving to Lou as they walked past. She smiled at the three of them with a quizzical look, but asked no questions. Knowledge had a tendency to meet with anyone or everyone who wanted to know something. As a group, they were as neutral as Louie’s Bar.

“So, you have some questions on some artefacts. I’m assuming the Patron ones.”

“Yeah,” Mark said, “specifically any information you might have about the Fiend one.”

Andre let out a low whistle, “I could have almost sent all I know about it in a text. Though I will say it is the one I’m most obsessed with.”

Rylie asked, “Obsessed? Why?”

Andre smiled, “Ms. Shaw, I have seen every single Patron artifact except for two. One is the Guardian Shield. That being said, your Agency has given me pictures and information about it throughout the course of my studies. The other, of course, is the Fiend Collar.”

Mark perked up, “A collar? Is that what it is?”

Andre nodded, “Contrary to popular belief, the Fiend Collar has been seen. It just has a tendency to disappear shortly after. I’ve gone as far as Siberia to see it, only for it to not be there when I arrived. The group that had it was attacked while I was in transit, and it was gone.”

“Do you know what it does?” Rylie asked. Mark was growing impressed at her excitement.

“I do not. Though I believe you two have an inkling?” He looked at Rylie’s shocked expression, “One of my powers. I can tell when someone is withholding information I want. Comes in handy from time to time. So, what do you know?”

Mark laughed, “Well played. Based on what we’re seeing, having the collar allows the user to control the Fiend. In this case, they have them working together. Even as far as scouting and organizing.”

“That’s,” Andre said, absentmindedly stroking a scar on his cheek, “not the greatest news. But that makes sense. All the artifacts do something that can’t be done otherwise.”

“Wait,” Rylie interjected, “doesn’t the Piety Staff just bond someone to Piety? Can’t the Patron just do that themselves?”

Andre looked at her, “No. We all have different tests, and the staff is theirs. To truly join their collective, you must have faith in their patron. You must want to serve a higher being, willing to drop anything and everything in your past life to do so. They’re all told that when they’re ready, they’ll have to touch the staff. Piety herself will use that to decided whether or not they mean it. True faith. Why the interest in the staff?”

Mark was quiet for a minute, trying to get a grasp on Andre. As a whole, Knowledge was neutral. Individually was another story. Some just wanted to know everything and anything about science. Others wanted to learn how to take over the world. He decided Andre was more in the learning category.

“Whoever has the collar is organizing the Fiend to watch and attack Grandhall. The staff was moved from France to Chicago. I assume to add more to the faith.”

Andre nodded, “Seems like a possibility. But what would they do with the staff?”

“Destroy it,” Rylie said, taking her cue from Mark, “My personal guess is that they have a problem with Piety’s ability to suppress magic. They’re gathering Fiend members until they can overwhelm Grandhall and take the staff. Destroy it and kill the members, then…”

“Then Piety dwindles. I don’t know if you know this, Ms. Shaw, but there used to be more Patrons. They started losing followers until they didn’t have any. And then they just stopped existing. They give us powers, yes, but they need that connection to keep on ticking.”

“So, whoever has the collar is trying to get rid of her,” Mark said.

“No offense,” Rylie said. “Why is that a problem? I know Piety isn’t the worst, but one last Patron can’t be that bad.”

Andre and Mark shared a look, then Mark nodded to the man. Andre cleared his throat, “There is a balance in this world, Rylie. Humans will never be the end result. Eventually, there will be one Patron whose followers are stronger than all the others. They will kill all of the rest until there’s one fact that remains.”

He swallowed, “Whoever is doing this is trying to make sure their magic can’t be suppressed. That is almost certain. They will take out Piety, then use the overwhelming force of Fiend to weaken everyone else. Whoever they’re following, we need to stop them. Otherwise, whoever it is won’t stop until they’ve wiped out every living thing on this planet.”