"Would the two of you care for something to eat?" Marrun asked, setting down a wooden tray covered in an assortment of seeds, crumbs and tiny slices of dried fruit upon the flattened hill of mud which served as a table. There were four small items framed around it, build into the floor which were sort of shaped like chairs, and apparently served that purpose. For the moment, two of them were empty.

"No, thank you." the armored guard said in a nervous, feminine tone. "We're here on official business. We were wondering if you have been in contact with your son, Aaron within the past day or so."

The grey furred mouse woman shook her head and smiled, eyes closed. "Oh, dear me, no. You know how kids are. You hardly even see them when you are all living under the same roof. Can't expect them to drop by much when distracted by their fun, little adventures. No, I can't say that we've seen him or his sister since they'd left on their journey. I imagine they'll come back once they get hungry and their clothes need washing."

"Um, right." the guard said, looking to her comrade, who had yet to say a single word, had yet to make eye contact with the elderly parents, and was generally doing an extremely good job of pretending that he wasn't even there. "You should know that your daughter has been accused of high treason, and is being detained at the castle as we speak. Your son and his allies are considered accomplices and wanted for questioning."

Marrun simply laughed, wiping a tear away from the corner of a closed eye. "Oh, those two are always getting into trouble."

The guard looked down at her own plastic mitted paws. "This is quite a serious matter, Mrs. If you happen to have any contact with your son, please let me or one of the other guards know immediately. He is considered to be extremely dangerous."

"Oh, of course, I'll let you know." Marrun said in a calm voice. She took a sip of water from the bowl in her paw before properly meeting the gaze of the armored guest, opening her pink eyes just the slightest amount. "By which, I mean that I won't of course, and even if I had seen him, I would lie, but that's to be expected. Nevertheless, officially, I'm telling you everything that I know, and that I haven't seen him. It will save us both a lot of time if we leave the matter at that, don't you agree?"

"I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation..."

"Oh, have you heard? Apparently he and his sister defeated two separate dark lords! I do hope they didn't touch those foul monsters too much. Who knows where they've been?" The elderly mouse smiled.

"Um, yeah, I did hear that..."

"It's not too surprising. They've always been special after all. Strong, healthy, and while a little difficult at times, they were always kindhearted. They've done a truly great service for all of us, and I have never been prouder."

"Right. Well, it's just that..." the guard cleared her throat, looking down at the tray, nervously reaching for a split seed "It's just that we need to find him as soon as possible. He could be dangerous."

"Well, what's important is that you understand that danger is relative." Marron said, quickly grabbing the guards wrist. The shocked younger woman tried to pull away, but found herself unable to, as the seemingly frail and elderly mother squeezed the white gauntlet until the plastic of it cracked within her grip. "Even if he did, somehow, mean harm, and acted upon it, it's absolutely nothing compared to what will happen to you and your little friends..." she grinned wickedly up at the standing guard, who was still doing his best statue imitation, "...if you so much as harm a single hair on the bodies of either of them."

The female guard looked nervously away from the manic gleam of the old woman's eyes, turning her head towards her comrade for aid. Such aid obviously wasn't coming. Despite his best efforts to ignore the current situation, sweat visibly poured from his face, his body shaking audibly shaking in his armor.

"Now, now, honey." the thin silver furred male said as he stepped forward, clacking his cane on the floor. He was endlessly pleased with this invention. His legs had worked hard all of his life and were due for something of a retirement, after all. "There's no need to scare these good folks. They aren't here because they want to be."

"That's right!" the guard blurted out, smiling nervously, still trying and failing to put her hand free from the mothers death grip. "We mean absolutely no disrespect of course! We're simply doing our job!"

"Oh, of course, we understand that completely." Darren nodded, leaning forward a little further on his cane. "Your job is to keep the people safe. All of the people, including our children, and we really do appreciate your hard work. We just want you folks to remember your duty, and to be sure that you do a good job."

"That's right." Marrun said, her pink eyes wide, smile looking almost crazed. She released her grip on the armored mouses wrist, brushing her paws together, bits of the plastic crumbling away from her fingers as she does. "Otherwise, of course, we'll just have to do our job, as concerned parents. And trust me: You really, really don't want us to have to do that."

The guard quickly stood up and backed away, rubbing her crushed gauntlet as though it were a wound to her own arm, knowing full well that had the mother of the two siblings squeezed just a little bit tighter, it very well might have been. "Um, yes, of course! Don't worry, we promise that we will do our best to ensure that both of your children are safe and out of harms way! We apologize for taking up so much of your time!"

Marrun's expression immediately softened, returning to her usual sleepy, half squint and natural smile. "Oh, it's no bother at all. We're always happy to entertain visitors. And yes, my husband was right. You have no reason to be afraid..."

Both armored guards sighed in relief.

"...for now. But I can't promise that you won't have plenty of reasons to be afraid later."

No one within the house had noticed the small fly buzz through the not quite square hole in the wall that served as a window. It floated upwards, between the rusted catwalks of the upper city, which were currently undergoing significant repairs, and up into the moonlit sky before flying back down the other side of the city wall, landing on Mathias' outstretched paw. The mouse leaned in close, listening to the intermittent buzzing.

"As I suspected, all of the known entrances are heavily guarded." he said.

"You can understand what that creature is saying?" Aaron asked, keeping his distance, afraid of accidentally touching the insect.

"Oh, no, of course not. We've been over this. But, he has a very expressive face, so I get the gist of it." Mathias replied.

"This may, in fact, work out in our favor. The palace guards are spread rather thin, which should make sneaking back into the castle without drawing unwanted attention all the more feasible." Rowan said.

The group of six had nearly circumnavigated the entire barrier looking for any signs of weakness, any place easily climbed or even slipped though (not such an implausible idea considering the fact that the wall was designed to keep large creatures out, not mice). In spite of their best efforts, they had found nowhere even close to passable.

"That's only if we can get back inside. It doesn't matter how few guards are walking around if we're stuck out here." Aaron grumbled.

They had finally reached their goal, the point where the wall is at it's shortest and weakest, near the rear of the castle, which Leonard the craftsman had regularly complained about. Unfortunately, shortest and weakest were still very much relative terms. There still wasn't so much as a sliver of a gap between the metal plates, and even with quality climbing gear, which the group didn't happen to have, scaling it appeared to be impossible.

"Well, this was a waste of time. We should have just picked one of the entrances and took out the guards there." Aaron said, slamming a fist against the metal barrier in frustration.

"That would have given them plenty of time to sound the alarm. By the time we defeated them, we would have every soldier in the city breathing down our necks." Myriandas stroked along another portion of the wall with a paw, testing the strength of it.

"Don't s'pose I could punch-" Theos began to say.

"No, you can't punch the wall down." his scarred ally replied.

"Hey, let me finish!" the rightful king said. "I was gonna say maybe I could punch holes innit, n' we could use those to climb up."

"How is that idea any better?" Aaron barked back.

"I was hoping that we might get lucky, but I can't say I'm too surprised." Mathias said. "Don't worry, I have a backup plan. We'll need to get somewhere pretty high up, though."

"What's this plan of yours?" Aaron asked, skeptically.

"You're probably better off not knowing. I know you're not going to like it."

Not so far away was a large hill, at least large by mouse standards. It was far from a mountain peak, but it offered enough of an elevated position to offer a clear view of the entire mouse city, not to mention the distant lights of the human one. Normally, the walled kingdom would be nearly pitch black from the outside, just the occasional small torch burning within, not enough the illuminate any real distance, or generate visible smoke. Instead, however, it was awash with lit braziers and tiny nimbus' of light which moved between the buildings. The barely visible roofed in portion of the city showed similar signs of activity. For whatever reason, finding Aaron and his allies was clearly considered a far greater priority than remaining hidden.

Mathias sat down upon the grass, removing several items from a pocket within his cape, including a small hand-mirror, an item not exactly easy to come by, as well as his glass short sword.

"Okay, just tell me what you're doing. If I'm going to dislike it, I might as well dislike it now rather than later." Aaron said with a sigh. While he may have regularly distrusted the judgement of the young former thief, he was confident that the earlier prediction would prove to be an accurate one.

"Fine. I'm doing a minor ritual to summon a group of vampires to fly us over the wall..." Mathias said, raising a paw to stifle the objection which he knew was coming, "And before you say anything, let me stop you right here: I already know how this is going to go. You're going to insist that vampires don't exist, turn out to be completely wrong, and spend the rest of the evening in an even worse mood than you are now, so how about we just skip all of that, and I get to work?"

Aaron blinked. "Is that... is that really going to work?"

"Sure!" Mathias smiled for just a moment, before taking on a considerably less certain expression. "Well, probably. I haven't done this in a while."

"...and you're sure that these creatures won't just decide to eat us?" Aaron asked before shaking his head. "No, never mind, just do it. We can't waste any more time out here."

The dark knight nodded. Aaron had hoped that the nod was in response to his first question. Unfortunately, it wasn't. Mathias lifted the grey glass blade and slid the edge of it along a furless finger, creating a small cut. Sliding the finger across the mirror, he drew a circle with two curved lines coming out each end, finishing with two small triangles at the bottom using the smear of blood. "There. It's done."

Aaron looked around. "But... nothing happened."

"I just put the call out. It might take a little time before we get an answer."

"We don't have time! Why do I have to keep telling you that! Every moment that we wait, my sister is in greater danger!"

"Do you think I don't know that?" Mathias growled back. "I want to get to her more than anyone, but I plan to actually get her out of there, not just run in, get overwhelmed by guards and end up captured or worse." he sighed, lowering his voice. "That involves waiting for a little while. In the meantime, try to come up with other ideas, just in case this one doesn't work out."

"You would be well advised to try to get some rest as well." Rowan added. "It has been a rather long and trying day, and we cannot expect to re-enter the palace without a fight. We should make certain that we are all at our very best."

Aaron sighed and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, yeah I know." It had been a long day for him as well, even if he didn't realize it until that very moment. None of the three had a chance to properly recuperate from the battle against Fury, and his whole body was still just one giant ache. "Let me know if you see anything." he said to Mathias. "Anything at all."

The bowless archer nodded back.

The large mouse flopped down on the grass, resting against a large stone. He removed his hammer from the sleeve at his back, or more accurately, what remained of it. The handle, while cracked, remained largely intact, even if it was heavily splintered at the end where the rock head of it used to be set. He removed some twine from his belt, binding the damaged end, fastening the splintered portions together. Even the handle alone had some heft to it, and would be much better than nothing in a fight.

He hadn't even noticed Theos approaching until the larger mouse sat down next to him.

"Ya know, that brother o' mine's a slimy jerk, but he ain't the type to hurt a kid. I'm sure that sister'o'yers is fine."

"Yeah." Aaron said, even if he didn't really believe it.

"Plus, that kid's pretty tough. Beat Smirk in a fair fight, n' he's no slouch." Theos said, sitting back. "So, issit true? You guys really beat two dark lords?"

"Sort of. Against the last one, we were completely outclassed, and won by pure dumb luck. For the one before we... we.." he paused, giving the matter some thought before abandoning the hope of coming up with a reasonable explanation. "Honestly, looking back, I still don't know how we won that one."

"Teamwork and sound strategy?" Myriandas asked, stepping in behind the rightful king, looking down over his shoulder.

"I'm positive that it was neither of those things." Aaron shook his head.

"Well, you know wut they say... whate'er doesn't kill you was clearly a great idea." Theos smiled.

"Ugh, that ridiculous saying. It makes no sense."

"Sure it does." the larger mouse said. "The world don't care if you got good intenshuns or good plans. Yuh either win or ya lose, live er die. It's all fair 'n the end. There's no such thing as almos' dyin, there's jus' livin. You guys fought em, walked away, and did it good enough that both sides figgered ya won. Tha's all that matters."

"It's the only thing that matters until next time. Right now, we've got a castle full of guards, plus another dark lord after us, who's likely even stronger than the last two. We haven't really survived yet."

"Ya ain't died yet either. That shoul' be the importan' thing. Nether has that runt of a sister o' yers. If ya really think yer on borrowed time, might aswell make the most o'it. Never know, either. Not all debts need'ta be repaid."

Rowan meanwhile strolled about, searching for particularly magical looking stones. The difference between magical and regular stones was a subtle yet distinct one, even if both tended to inflict similar amounts of damage. He walked up to Mathias, looking down at the now blood painted mirror. "I was unaware that you practiced the mystic arts."

"Oh, this? An old friend taught me. It's all I know, though, and to be honest, I'm not really sure how it works. I don't think it really qualifies as magic." Mathias shrugged, suckling at the cut finger.

"Of course it does. If we were to only consider things magic which were flashy and impressive, why, hardly a mage would exist in this world."

"I don't know. You say that, but that thing you used on Fury looked pretty flashy, even if it didn't do much." the dark knight paused, "Uh, no offense. It's not like anything I did worked any better."

"It was good fortune that it had worked at all, and although it had little real impact, in the end, it was probably for the best that it did not explode or anything. The results could have proven quite unpleasant, for all of us." the old mouse said.

"What about the dark lords, though? They seem to do a whole lot of fancy magic. Well, that last one we fought didn't need to, but both Seraphim and Midnight seemed to have all kinds of crazy powers. How come mice can't do that?"

"It is uncertain. Many believe that there is an intrinsic division between our kind, the dark lords and the Makers. The Makers rely on technology, the dark lords, lacking proper hands use magic, and as for us? We do a little bit of both. In time, however, we grew closer to the Makers, emulating them in many regards, including their tools and technology. Perhaps it was simply a reduced interest in magic, or perhaps it is truly impossible to become a master of both. The result, either way, was that as our capacity for invention and building grew, our talents for mysticism had faded. Then, of course, there is the other theory about the dark lords."

"Huh? What's that?" Mathias asked.

"This theory states that they do not have any sort of powers at all. They are simply large and strong, and the magics that they wield are simply a hallucination on our parts, a product of fear, symbolizing the difference in pure power in a way that caters to our imaginations. There is some evidence to support this, as well. You will often hear eye witnesses to the powers of these creatures offer greatly varying descriptions of the abilities at play."

"Wait, so the dark lords don't actually shoot lightning or teleport or have any other crazy powers? They're just big and fast and mean, and all the impressive stuff they do isn't real?" Mathias asked before frowning, "Huh, that seems rather... unsatisfying somehow."

"Indeed. That is part of the reason for why it is not a very popular theory."

"Huh... I just realized something."

"Hmmm? And what would that be?" Rowan said, smiling as he finds a particular magical looking rock nearby, slowly crouching down to pick it up.

"Well, we're related, and knew each other for... well, all my life!"

"Yes, of course."

"Even though that's the case, I think this is the first time since this journey began that we actually had a proper conversation with each other. Doesn't that seem strange?"

"Not really. It has not been all that long, and if one is going to converse, there is much more to be learned from someone you have recently met, rather than someone you have known for your entire life." The elderly sorcerer said.

Mathias felt no need to argue the point, even if it still seemed a little bit strange. It sort of made sense, though, which sometimes was the best outcome that one could possibly hope for.

Aaron had no intention of falling asleep, but that was exactly what had happened. As much as his mind and body needed it, he couldn't help but feel annoyed with himself as he sat up, looking about the makeshift campsite. Theos was snoring loudly, still leaned up against the rock, Myriandas curled up against him, as the square bodied mouse making for an effective natural pillow. As for Johanas and Rowan, they lied a good distance away from the others to ensure that nobody interfered with their much needed rest.

Then there was Mathias, still sitting in front of the bloodied mirror, legs crossed, head bobbing up and down, the slight motions making his sleeping body sway back and forth, each time threatening to fall over before swaying back into the opposite direction.

Far more notable were the four tall, looming shadows behind him.

"Mathias, wake up!" Aaron called, stumbling to his feet, brandishing what remained of his hammer.

"Huh? Hey, you didn't call me thief..." Mathias murmured, standing up, rubbing his eyes. The sight of Aaron's panicked expression awakened him fully, as he turned around just a moment too late.

Wide leathery wings encircled him, squeezing tight. The shadow leaned forward, making the mouses back arch, lifting his wriggling feet from the ground. With a clear glint of fangs shining in the moonlight, the demonic face pressed against his own.

Aaron was about to rush in to strike, and barely stopped himself in time. He blushed faintly under his brown fur, looking away from the creature giving Mathias a long, passionate open-mouthed kiss. As for Mathias, he looked similarly embarrassed by this, even if nowhere near as surprised.

"Um... hey there, Lilith." he said, still held within the creatures grip. The vampiress did certainly have mouse-like qualities, being covered in dark fur and having feet and hands, even if both were similarly fur covered, with the hands being simply a few fingers poking out from the mid point of the broad, papery wings. The face was similarly off, with recognizable qualities such as the beady brown eyes, and the large, albeit pointed, ears, but it also had a strange upturned nose and a twisted mouth, features one could sort of recognize as similar to a mouse, but warped and deformed.

"Hey Matty! Ya'll don't write, don't call, what'ca too busy to talk to lil'ole me?" the creature said, the voice distinctly feminine, having a sing-songy quality to it, perky and energetic in spite of her otherwise monstrous appearance. It still held Mathias tight, smiling down at him. She wasn't much taller than him, the wings looking downright frail, yet still held the black furred mouse up without the slightest hint of effort.

Three other shadows stood behind her. At first, like her, they appeared to be simply formless black shapes, but as Aaron's eyes adjusted to the moonlight, he could see that despite their black fur, they were all inexplicably colorful. The one apparently called Lilith had strange purple streaks through which could charitably be called her hair, running down her back, around her chest and thighs (if the short stubby legs had any part which could truly be considered thighs). As for the other three, they each had their own color and patterns, one in the form of mystic looking green runes, another covered in blue spirals, and the fourth with a strangely uniform orange plaid pattern. Aaron couldn't help but stare at this.

"Hi. I'm Grant." the orange painted vampire said in a boyish voice, waving the fingers at its wing-tip, shyly.

"Uh... hi. Aaron."

The others all awakened from the general commotion, watching the strange new creatures with surprised expressions.

"Fascinating!" Rowan said, for neither the first time this night nor the last, approaching the female vampire who still held Mathias in a strict grip. "I have heard tales of such creatures, but to think that I would actually see one in person. Life is truly full of surprises."

"Aww, reckon I ain't nothin' special." Lilith smiled, finally releasing Mathias who didn't quite land on his feet. "Just a good'ol country gal tryin' ta get by in this crazy world." she grinned wider, showing her fangs, fluttering her unnaturally long eyelashes.

"Heh, yeah, sorry it's been so long." Mathias said, standing up and dusting himself off. "I'm usually asleep at this hour."

She shook her head. "Aye swear, you sun-lovers. Never saw the point of it. Hurts yer eyes, makes e'rtything all hot n' sticky. Better off w'out it, if ya ask me."

"Yeah, maybe, but it's got it's good points." Mathias replied, still looking a little embarrassed, rubbing the fur at the back of his head.

"Aww, where're my manners? Aye swear, wish aye could pin em to my chest, so aye don't ferget em." she stepped back, stretching out a surprisingly long wing, pointing it to her three companions. "This 'ere is 'FromPassionPain', this one's 'XxHellMoonxX..."

"How do you pronounce that?" Johanas asked, scratching his head.

"Aye just said so, silly!" Lilith chuckled. "Oh, and this 'ere is Grant."

"Hi. I'm Grant." he said with another awkward wave of his 'fingers'.

"E's a little strange, but a good kid."

"Oh, well this is Aaron, the mighty marauder. Then we have the rightful king, his majesty Theos Face-puncher, along with his comrades, Myriandas the Divider, and Johanas the Chopper..." Mathias said, looking to Theos' group. "And of course, my great grand-father the great Wizard Rowan-"

"Sorcerer, please."

"Oh, right, sorcerer, sorry! And, I, of course, am the dark knight, Mathias!"

"Dark knight huh?" the vampiress asked with a giggle. "Ya'll don't look that dark."

"Heh, yeah, I'm kind of working on that." Mathias grinned back at her.

"Um, sorry to interrupt. It's nice to meet all of you." Aaron said. That was a lie, of course. He was thoroughly creeped out. "We were hoping you could maybe help us... uh, if it's not too much trouble." he added, keeping his distance.

"Heh, Aye knew it. Only e'er call when ya'll want somethin'." Lilith smiled.

"Sorry about that. It's kind of an emergency, though." Mathias said, looking away from her, still blushing a little..

"Aww, ya know I can't stay mad atc'you. Well, best spit it out, b'fore its bites out yer tongue!" she said.

Mathias explained the situation, doing his best to keep it as brief as possible. All the while, Rowan made polite conversation with the three companion vampires, taking mental notes all the while. Theos, always looking for new creatures to punch was tempted to pick a fight, but his comrades managed to convince him this just wasn't a good time for it, and that he needed to save his energy for the battle to come. As for Aaron, his face was ashen, eyes wide, hesitant to even blink out of fear that if he looked away for even a moment, he would feel fangs upon his throat, drinking away his lifes blood.

"Issat all? Jus' need a lift over that lil wall o'er there? Why tha's no problem atall!" She said.

"Wow, really? You're going to help us?" Aaron said.

"Sure as a skunk's blood stinks!"

"Um... right..." Aaron replied, having no idea what a skunk was, much less how its blood smelled. "I've got to say, you're a lot friendlier than I expected."

"Yah, people think we're just blood thirsty monsters, but we're all jus tryin' ta get by, n' help whenever we can. Ain't that right, FromPassionPain?"

She turned to the green painted mouse and scowled. He held a squirrel in his grip, fangs dug deep into its throat, as the creature stared vacantly up into the sky. The vampire looked up only to meet the angry glare and coughed, setting the squirrel, still lightly bleeding from the neck, upright, and patted it on the head. The vampire made every effort to give a wide, friendly smile, which would have worked out a lot better had his teeth not been actively dripping with blood. As for the squirrel, whatever glamour it had been hypnotized by had been broken, and it quickly scurried away.

"Um... right." Aaron said.

"There are six of us, and only four of you. I suppose we should decide which of us shall go first, and who will need to wait." Rowan said.

"No bother, most o' y'all look pretty light. B'sides, we don't got much time. Nearin sunrise, I reckon." the vampiress said.

"Okay, good. I guess I'll go with you." Mathias said.

"If i's all the same ta y'all, I'll take this one right 'ere." the bat woman said, stepping up to Aaron, who was all but frozen in place. "How 'bout it, handsome? Wanna take a ride?"

"Uhhh..."

She clearly took that as a 'yes', giving him no time to object. She spread her broad wings, and with a single quick motion leapt in behind him, gripping each of his upper arms with her claw-like toes. He let out a uncharacteristic surprised squeak, which he would normally have been quite embarrassed by, but at that moment he was overcome with far more urgent emotions than shame. Theos, the largest of the group was similarly picked up by Grant, with Myriandas and Johanas both carried by the back of the necks with surprising ease, and Mathias and Rowan experiencing the same.

Flying is a wondrous experience, in theory at least. In practice, when you find yourself acutely aware that the ground flying past is a just few toes grip away from crashing into you, it's more terrifying than anything. This was especially the case when carried by the vampires, which flew in a janky, fluttery fashion, nothing like the graceful glide of most birds.

Aaron tried to take his mind off the certain death speeding by beneath his feet. "So, uh, is it true that if a mouse is bitten by a vampire, they become a vampire too?" he asked.

Lilith grinned wickedly. "Ya'll wanna find out?"

That put a pretty decisive end to the conversation. FromPassionPain and XxHellMoonxX said nothing, instead contemplating the injustice and cruelty of this indifferent world, while Grant made incredibly awkward small talk with the rightful mouse king, Theos.

Before long, although still far longer than Aaron would have liked, they' were all set down upon solid ground, their backs to the city wall, and thankfully on the correct, inner side of it. Ahead, hints of torchlight could be seen moving back and forth, but there are no guards to be spotted within the immediate vicinity.

"Thanks a lot, Lilith. I owe you one." Mathias said.

"I figure it'sa lot more'n one at this point. Jus' be sure ta call more often, 'kay sweetie?" she smiled a fanged grin back.

"Definitely."

The vampires all spread their wings to fly away.

"Just one last question, if you would." Rowan asked. "You implied that you needed to finish before sunrise, and showed disdain for the light in general. What exactly happens when you are out in the sun?"

"We die-" FromPassionPain said, finally speaking up for the first time since his arrival.

"You die from sunlight?" Aaron asked.

"No, we dye. As in we dye our fur." the male vampire responded. "It fades in the sunlight, and we prefer for it to last as long as possible."

"Really? That's it?" Aaron asked, rather underwhelmed by the explanation. He wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting. It just seemed strange for zombies to apparently be reduced to dust by the light of day, yet for vampires, creatures of the night as they were, to only be mildly inconvenienced..

"Hey, y'all have any idea 'ow hard it'is ta get our feet on'is stuff?" Lilith said. "Takes hours ta get lookin' jus' right too, so we try to re-apply it as lil as possible!"

Aaron was about to say something. He wasn't not sure exactly what, but it still felt as though something should be said. In the end, he just settled for. "Right..."

"Good luck on... what'er it is yer doin'!" Lilith said. "Hope ta see ya soon! You 'specially." she grinned at Aaron, blowing a quick kiss, as all four flew into the air, vanishing into the night sky.

The four simply stared up a few moments, the stars slowly fading from view as the first hints of dawn began to crest over the horizon.

"Well, that was... something." Aaron said, before turning to Mathias. "Um... are you two... I mean do you two have a... thing going?"

"What, you mean the kiss? No, of course not! That's just how she says 'hello'."

Aaron nodded, now praying all the more desperately that he would never see that creature again.

"Huh? How did you get in here?" a familiar voice asked. The group turned to see Leonard, the wall builder, holding a wooden mallet in hand.

"Uh, it's a long story." Aaron said. "You're not going to tell anyone, are you?"

"Nope, isn't my business, I figure. Don't know exactly what you and your sister are accused of, but it doesn't take an expert to tell that it's not right."

"Wait, do you know where Jerin is? Have you heard anything?" Aaron asked, grabbing the thin, startled mouse carpenter by the shoulders.

"I didn't hear anything specific." Leonard said, much to the larger mouse's disappointed reaction, "But I do know something is going on at the hand of god tower. Braziers at top are lit, and the entrance is well guarded, for the first time in well... ever, I think."

"Why would she be up there?" Mathias asked.

"Maybe to draw us out. We, that is to say you and your friends are clearly considered a threat, otherwise they wouldn't be on such high alert. We don't even know she's up there, of course." Johanas said.

"So what should we do?"

"Simple. We go up." Theos said plainly. "There's somethin' going on up there, and whate'r it is, it needs stoppin."

"Aren't you three supposed to be retaking the castle?" Aaron asked.

"Yup, but we can help with you folks first. Wouldn't be muchofa king if I didn't help a kid in trouble. Plus, if she's not there, tha' brother of mine might be, and I wouldn't wanna to miss that." the larger mouse replied.

"The hand of god... I've heard the name before." Mathias said, brow furrowed, desperately trying to recall. That's when he remembered that he had a walking exposition machine standing right next to him, in the form of his great grandfather, who he turned to ask. "What exactly is it?"

"Long ago, a certain religious sect existed within the city, an offshoot as to what is presently known as the Starman cult. While the better known version these days proclaims that their God lives beneath their feet, this sect believed the opposite, that the higher power existed within the heavens. They had a great tower erected, as real estate was much more readily available in those days, and building upwards ensured they required much less of it. It was said that from there, the head of this religious order could hear the voice of the divine. He prayed at the peak for three days straight before his tragic fall."

"Huh. What happened to him?" the former thief asked.

"I have already told you: He plummeted from the peak of it. Some claimed that he was successful, that the strange Gods spoke to him, granting him ancient eldritch knowledge, knowledge which was far too much for one mouse to bear, and thus he threw himself to his death. Others say that the Gods once thought benevolent were revealed to be cruel and malicious beings, allowing him to raise to such heights purely for the opportunity to throw him off, destroying him using the very monument he and his people had struggled so hard to create. Then, there is the third theory: This one states that after three days of straight prayer, he simply fell asleep, and seeing as how the top of the tower was somewhat sloped and lacking any manner of railings, he fell off, entirely by accident."

Aaron sighed and said. "Why don't you ever start with the most plausible explanation?"

Rowan's furrowed his brow, looking to the larger mouse. "I thought that I had?"

"So, what exactly are you doing out here at this hour?" Mathias asked Leonard.

"Walls don't sleep." replied the carpenter. Mathias shrugged. It seemed as good an answer as any.

The tower wasn't terribly far away. In truth, nothing within the city was terribly far away from anything else, but the tower was particularly non-far away, with the group able to take shelter between the tall villas which, while more attractive on the outside, were really no better designed or more comfortable within than the standard shacks or domes of mud.

The tower ahead was of considerably more advanced construction. It really had to be, being so tall and narrow and round, simply stacking up piles of materials wasn't enough to keep it upright. Unlike the city walls and even most buildings which were mostly made up of large boards and plates, fastened together and over top one another, the hand of god was built of much smaller items of varying sizes and materials. None were larger than a mouses head, all stuck together with mud and any other sticky, malleable and reasonably solid substances which the builders could come up with in ample supply. For sheer height, it dwarfed even the palace, but even at a glance, it clearly listed heavily to one side. Between that fact, and the sheer amount of work it took to make something essentially hollow, with the only truly usable point being the rounded peak, the construction was largely considered a waste of time and resources, a product of fervent religious fanaticism over practicality. If one wished to stand on a round, flat surface, they could simply do so on the ground, after all. Sure, the view may not be quite as inspiring, but the ground was incomparably safer.

As they were told, the tower was unusually well guarded. Sure, there was always one soldier around to keep kids from playing in it, but unless they were expecting a veritable army of children to storm it (which, in all fairness, has been known to happen), it was clear there was something up there worth protecting. Even from so far below, a fiery glow was visible atop the slanted, stone peak.

"Okay, there are 10 guards." Mathias whispered to the group.

"And who knows just how many more within earshot, ready to join them. If we rush in and attack, we won't be any better off than we were in the palace." Aaron replied.

"We will require a diversion. Something to draw them away." Rowan said.

"Heh, sounds like fun." Theos said, smiling his broken toothed smile, cracking his knuckles. "I was gettin' tired of sneakin' round anyways. That fake king brother o' mine don' like heights, now that I think 'bout it. He won' be here, but that sister of yers might be." he turned to his two allies. "You two. lead half the guards ta the left, try n' lose 'em. I'll take the other five to the right."

"Four. Half of 10 is four." Myriandas shook her head.

"Ya sure?"

She simply glared in response to him questioning her area of expertise, to which could only reply, with uncharacteristic nervousness. "Okay, okay!"

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Aaron asked. "It could be dangerous."

"Like that'd stop me. You get that brat o' yers, then we'll take the castle, and I'll deal with that brat o' mine. Deal?" Theos said, stepping forward, stretching out his shoulders for the workout he was certain was to follow.

"Deal. Just... be careful."

The largest of the mice mouse gave a dismissive wave of his paw as the three stepped into the light.

"Ey, you! O'er ere!" he called to the guards.

The guards all turned to him, one of which, even through the misshapen plastic visor was clearly furious. "Why you! How dare you divert our attention away from our duty! Get him!" he shouted, followed by the excited cries of his comrades, glad to finally be able to do something aside from quietly standing in the dark, no matter how uncomfortable having to move around in the armor may have been. These newer recruits didn't quite understand the appeal of idleness at this point. For a proper seasoned veteran, it required a near catastrophe to make one travel even the shortest of distances unless directly ordered. The soreness they would feel the next day would teach this lesson quickly enough, however.

At first Aaron feared that the larger mouse was simply planning to run in and start punching, but true to his word, he actually ran past the tower with surprising speed for a man of his size. Johanas and Myriandas took to the other side, half of the guards similarly charging behind them. Even though these recruits had the will to give chase, running at any speed within the cumbersome plate mail was a challenge in itself, giving the group of mice a fairly early and decisive lead. It remained to be seen just how long the three could maintain it, though, once reinforcements had begun to arrive.

Knowing there wouldn't be much time before this activity attracted extra unwanted attention, the three remaining mice rushed in through the stone doorway. There were no guards inside. There was simply no room, with the spiral stairway of irritatingly uneven steps hardly being wide enough for a single large mouse. One could have made the argument that the stairs, as a result, would have been the perfect place for a guard, since it would be virtually impossible to sneak get past them, but they were an uncomfortable place to stand for any length of time, and the guards certainly weren't being paid anywhere close to enough to walk up and down the steps all night long.

As the three traveled upwards, the round wall periodically opened up to small windows, allowing what earlier would have been moonlight, but now just the dark pink of the approaching morning which, while not outright bright, still spread it's slightly-less-darkness into the otherwise black pathway. The further up they traveled, the brighter things became, both from the morning light no longer being blocked by the city wall, and the warm glow of the brazier up above.

It wasn't long before the small square opening leading to the top of the tower was reached. There were no guards up at the top, both because there was no need had the entrance been properly protected, and nobody wanted to have to stand watch on a slippery slanted surface where certain death was only a few lengths away in any direction. A single large brazier burned at the far end, releasing a plume of thick smoke now plainly visible against the brightening morning sky. On her knees, arms spread to either side and secured to small spikes set in the slanted floor was Jerin, her head lowered, body battered and bloodied.

"Brother..." she said in a soft, weak voice, slowly raising her head. "You've come. Please, help me..."

Mathias was about to rush forward, when Aaron pressed a paw to his chest, stopping him in his tracks.

"That's not her."

"What are you talking about? Of course its me!" she said, looking to him with a confused expression.

"She never called me 'brother' in her life." said Aaron, "And I'm pretty sure she never said 'please' to me in her life, either."

"Ah yes, of course. A reasonable deduction." Rowan said, "And then there is also the fact that the girl before us still has her natural tail."

Both Mathias and Aaron looked to one another. Aaron coughed. "Um, yeah, of course I noticed that, too."

The white mouse blinked, suddenly looking far more enegized, and looked back over her shoulder at the long furless tail swaying back and forth behind her and sighed. "How on earth did I forget that? Ugh, that's just embarrassing." she said, rising to her feet, the cords which seemed to bind her paws simply falling away instead.

Aaron drew his former hammer, now club, Mathias his short sword, with Rowan holding a new magical stone in each of his hands. It was difficult to say whether the stones outside of the city were truly exceptional, or he had simply picked up a little extra magical ability from his encounters with the lords of darkness, but they glowed with an unusually bright blue hue. Meanwhile, the mouse who looked like Jerin waved it's paw, and was shrouded by a heavy mist, it's body darkening behind it. The mist faded to reveal elaborate red and black clothing, a furred head tilted to one side, with the white smiling mask facing the group, a single large purple eye watching them through it.

"Where's Jerin?" Aaron growled, gripping the wooden club tight with both paws.

The one eyed mouse chuckled, pulling something from his belt, figuring that even if it did make his earlier error all the less forgivable, it was still worth it for the dramatic spectacle. He tossed a long multi-colored cord onto the stone floor. Jerin's tail. "She's gone. Don't worry, though. You'll all be joining her shortly." he said.

"What do you mean 'gone'?" Mathias said, in a concerned tone, eyes locked on the artificial tail.

"Don't listen to him. He's lying." the larger mouse grumbled.

"It's true. I personally left her at her final resting place." the red clothed mouse said.

"Wait, you said you left her there. Does that mean you didn't see her die?" Mathias asked.

"Well, technically no, but-"

"Whew, I was worried there for a moment there, I gotta admit." Mathias chuckled.

"The only reason that I didn't see it was because it was far too dangerous!" Smirk said, than just a hint of annoyance in his voice. "No one could have possibly survived that!"

"Uh huh. Well, it turns out we all have a ton of experience when it comes to unsurvivable experiences, and yet, here we all are." Mathias shrugged.

"This is ridiculous. you're simply in denial." Samuel growled, shaking his head before smiling once more. "It hardly matters, as I said. I knew you would come. You adventuring types just can't resist a lit up landmark. Now, you can all die here together."

Aaron grinned. "Do you seriously think that you can take on all three of us at once?"

The masked mouse smiled. "Normally, that would be a rather tall order, I must admit. Fortunately, I have an added advantage."

He removed two items from his belt, the first, his familiar long wooden toothpick blade, and the second, a very familiar metal needle. The three mouse allies froze at the sight of it.

"A sizable portion of its power was drained for the king's ritual." he said, looking it up and down, the length fully straightened, the tip sharpened, and most of it's natural gleam restored. "It still has more than enough power remaining to destroy the likes of you, however."

"What is this 'ritual' that you speak of?" Rowan asked.

"Finally willing to acknowledge me, are you?" Samuel sighed. "Fine, I might as well tell you. The king, in all his great wisdom, has decided that the best way to protect this country is through an offering of power. He intends to summon and harness the strength of a dark lord."

Aaron and Mathias looked to him with stunned expressions, before Mathias turned to his great grandfather.

"Have you ever heard of such a thing?"

"Yes. It has been attempted on more than a few occasions." Rowan said, solemnly. "From my experience, it never goes well."

"Indeed. But, who knows? Maybe his royal highness will get lucky." Samuel said.

"What about Theos, the true king of these lands? Isn't he a friend of yours? Do you have no loyalty to him?" Mathias asked.

At this question, Samuel paused, giving the matter a few moments of thought. "I would like to say that he has outlived his usefulness," he said, "...but that would falsely imply that he was ever useful in the first place. I kept my eye on him for a while just to be safe, but it proved to be a complete waste of time. It wasn't even worth reporting his presence in the city to King Leon. He can simply drown in those ghastly drinks that he enjoys so much, for all I care."

Aaron furrowed his brow, staring down the red garbed mouse. "And what exactly do you stand to gain from all of this?" Aaron asked.

"If it works, the opportunity to have an easily malleable fool with the power of a dark lord at my disposal. if not, I still get the sword, and the ability to seize control of the power vacuum. Assuming there's anything left to rule over, of course."

"You're really willing to risk so many lives purely for a chance at obtaining power?" Rowan said. "Clearly, you are a very small man."

"I didn't force King Leon to do this. I simply don't see it as my business to stop him. Why should I? Who knows, maybe he's right, but that wouldn't matter to you, would it?" Samuel glared at the elderly mouse. "You never had any vision, any interest in true progress. You worked to obtain power that you'd never use, knowledge that you'd never share, and all the while considering yourself superior, eager to shut down anyone who dared to aim higher, to actually accomplish... anything!"

"You are not entirely wrong." The old sorcerer said. "I did obtain some measure of power, and a far greater amount of knowledge. I had also learned much from history, particularly the part about how power without responsibility only leads to misery and pain. Perhaps I did focus too much on that aspect, so afraid that action, any action, might lead our people down a dark irrecoverable path which I would have been responsible for. Instead, it was so much easier to simply do nothing, to let the world make its own decisions, and wash my hands of it. It was arrogant to think that I was so great that I could change everything, and all the more so to think that if the future turned out differently than I had hoped, that I would be responsible for it. While it is true, action without thought can be destructive, that doesn't mean inaction is necessarily the correct answer. When the responsible stand idle, after all, it only allows the irresponsible to act with impunity. Irresponsible persons, such as yourself... whoever you are."

Samuel gritted his teeth, turning the paw holding the wooden blade. Upon a finger was a crude, tarnished metal ring which he pointed towards the Rowan. "How can you not remember me after all this time? You gave me this ring! You raised me for months! Whenever I had a question, you were there to answer it, whenever I needed you, you were there to help... at least until you weren't. How can you not remember all those nights spent researching together, debating, contemplating the nature of ourselves and the universe?"

The elderly mouse looked away. "I am sorry." he said, with more than a hint of guilt in his voice.

"For the longest time, I idolized you! You seemed like you knew everything, could do anything! But then, I realized what a fool you were, content to wander about in your plain, drab robes, scoffing at my brilliant fashion sense! You were simply jealous, unable to accept that I had harnessed the image of a true battle-mage in a way that you, with all your years of study could never hope to!"

"You are no sorcerer! You look like some sort of circus performer! It is clear that you have no respect for traditional mysticism, with its subtlety and grace! With its humility! Instead you seek to be loud, arrogant, and extravagant. That is not the way of the arcanist, and it never will be!" Rowan glowered.

"Wait, wait just a minute..." Aaron said with a sigh, a paw over his face. "Are you telling me that the big fight you two had, the one that had this guy exiled from the university was over his choice of clothing?"

"No, no, I think I get it." Mathias interjected. "The clothes are just a symbol, a representation, an example of modern thinking versus traditionalism, a clash of generations. It isn't about what they wanted to wear, it's about embracing the new and challenging the status quo versus following the tried, true and incredibly safe methods of the past."

Both Samuel and Rowan sighed at Mathias.

"Embarrassing." The red garbed mouse said, with a shake of his head.

"Do not think too poorly of my great-grandson. He has a habit of over thinking things." Rowan added. As for the dark knight, he looked similarly disappointed. He thought that his theory had sounded really good.

"Anyways, after all that happened between us, after all of our more recent clashes, have you truly become so senile that you still can't remember me?" Smirk spat, his ire focused back upon the elderly mouse.

Rowan shook his bowed head. "Perhaps that was a time that I do not wish to remember."

"Typical." the masked mouse smirked. "Nothing has changed. You might think you're doing something great and brave by following that foolish girl, but in the end you're still afraid to face the reality of the modern world."

"I have never considered anything that I have done to be great, and I still do not." said the old mouse. "I simply do as I wish to, as I always have. None of us need to be great. Simply living is enough, is it not?"

"No." Smirk glared at him, raising the paired blades over his head. "It's not. And you've been doing that for far too long already."

He swung the wooden sword at the empty air in front of him, nowhere close to within range to strike any of the three mice. A terrible torrent of wind followed in it's wake, forcing the three to cover their faces and struggle to maintain their footing. That was when the metal blade was similarly swung, the surface glowing bright, tendrils of golden energy flowing through it, spreading through the winds like a web.

The force of the spell wasn't lethal, but it was painful, sending surges of electricity through each of the mice, singing the tips of their whiskers, forcing every muscle to tense. It was, however, enough to make Rowan, the lightest and least sturdy of the group, lose his footing and fall backwards, towards the slanted rim of the tower. He tumbled over the side, only to be caught by the paw at the last moment by Mathias. Unfortunately for the younger mouse, there was little to hold onto, and he wasn't exactly known for his upper body strength. It took everything that he had to avoid falling while maintaining his grip, but pulling up Rowan, even considering the fact that the old mouse was lighter than anyone his size had any right to be, seemed to be nearly impossible.

Aaron let out a grunt, little tendrils of electricity dancing across his armor and skin before fading away to nothing. He looked up at the smirking face of the red garbed mouse, standing with his twin swords at the ready. After a few moments, the older brother smiled softly and chuckled to himself.

"What's so funny?" Samuel asked

"I was just thinking: I'm really quite good at this. The whole fighting thing, you know? Don't get me wrong, I'm no master or anything, but put me up against any mouse in the city, and I figure I'll win almost every time. Unfortunately, I haven't had much chance to show it. I've been getting in so many bad match ups lately. People stronger than me, dark lords which are virtually immune to damage, that sort of thing. I just haven't really had a chance to cut loose and show what I'm really capable of."

"Uh huh."

"Then, you come along. You see, I've got a lot of frustration built up, and have just been waiting for someone to let it out on, and you know what? You'll do perfectly. I guess that must sound pretty silly."

The red clothed mouse smirked. "Not at all. I've been feeling the exact same way."

"Good. Now, let's finish this quick, okay? Between beating you up, finding my sister and stopping that idiot king of yours, I've got a busy day ahead." Aaron said, turning his body sideways, the heavy club raised over one shoulder. Things were far from their best. His sister was still missing, Mathias and Rowan were still hanging on for dear life (well, in truth, the fall probably wasn't from a fatal height, but still would be less than pleasant), every guard in city was after them, and there was still a dark lord out there who had vowed to claim their lives. Things really were quite terrible, by all objective standards. Despite that, despite all of that, the larger of the mouse siblings couldn't help smile. He'd earned this opportunity, and he was absolutely determined to enjoy it.