Black shreds fells from my tattered body and were consumed by the past. By the time my awareness stopped spinning, I found myself in a depressed cave. My sense of feeling gave me all the information I needed. The creatures of this place were massacred.

I alter my vision to detect life, but saw nothing. Even the insects have left this tunnel.

The tunnel is wet and drips with misery. The damp despair gives it a rather alluring shine along the purple walls, creating a simple source of light. The back of the tunnel, like the past is itself is a meaningless swirl of darkness.

My head is turned. I adjust my sight to see a grinning girl. I make note of her features: hair as blinding as the sun, pigtails shaped like arrows and a mouth like a predator from the deepest waters. Despite her short stature, she is brimming with confidence, rather like my dear daughter.

“You’re going to tell the deity everything you know. Confess!” She shakes my ragged body.

My memory slowly fills my mind, like a poison filling its target. I was beaten and captured. This little ball of energy must have taken me away from my captors, a mysterious group of different species known as Shadow Truth.

Perhaps I can strike a bargain with the little creature.

“Great Deity, if I give you the information you seek, will you take me away from this place?” I ask.

“This is where the party is gonna happen. No way am I gonna miss the party.” She hops in excitement.

“Shadow Truth is dangerous. They may bring you to the Nothing along with me.” I cradled the little one in a weak embrace.

The girl pats me. “Poor unfortunate non-believer.”

“A belief in nothingness after death is still a belief. Save your pity for the poor souls who are duped with the hope of rewards for a heroic death.”

Heroes die. Assassins survive. Such is the way of things.

“You will bless the deity with story time and in return the deity shall give you the gift of faith.” She sits cross-legged and rocks back and forth.

I’m too weak to escape and she’s too simple-minded to bargain with. All I can do now is buy time for my daughter to flee.

TomCat steps into the cave, bringing my back to awareness. “Dere Dere, you better be here.”

“Yay! Friendship time! The deity demands snuggles.” Dere Dere hops into TomCat’s arms and nuzzles her breasts.

I had thought this CatBoy general was killed, but some unknown events had her traveling alongside my darling cupcake. The CatGirl shifted allegiance to Shadow Truth so that she could kill me.

Vengeance is a gift that cheers us on but it cannot exist in the absence of hope. This hot-headed feline foolishly takes that hope for granted.

“Why are you looking at me?” she asks, her steamy muscles growing in her arm as she clenches her fist.

The vengeful soldier had a toned body, the eyes of a trained killer and cute fluffy kitty ears. Perhaps if they were sliced off her head, they would make for a nice gift for my sugar pumpkin.

“Stop staring!” She kicks me, causing me to collapse into a puddle of my own purple blood. “I would kill you but I want to know every word they said before you ruthlessly slaughtered them.”

“I’ll do my best to remember but the screams always get in the way.” I scratch my head with a black tendril from my cloak.

Her eyes heat up like forest fires. She removes her heavy gauntlets with feline features before battering my body with her fists.

Such fiery emotion. I envy that determination. Wow. This actually hurts. I must be truly ravaged if I actually feel pain despite it being dulled by my form. Oh, but perhaps a bit of screaming will help satiate her lust for vengeance.

I cry out as best I can but she suddenly stops.

“It’s already on the brink of death. If it dies before we get our information, so does your friend,” says an approaching voice.

The dark angel before me is clad in her own shadow both literally and metaphorically. My body naturally sharpens to defend itself as she approaches nearer.

TomCat growls and turns to Shade. “I’ll behave.” She sits down and crosses her arms.

The last two members of Shadow Truth come in together. One is a fungal woman whose exact species is unknown to me. She is under a haze of pink fumes and giggling.

The other is a renegade Rift Ripper who must be brought to justice. His cloak has been vandalized with a white hue, paying insult to the entire Assassin’s Guild.

A third figure is being carried by the Rift Ripper and is muttering to herself.

Must be Fruity. The precognitive seer with the scent of fresh fruits and a personality the flavor of a lemon.

Betrayer turns to Shade. “How will we make it sing?” The Rift Ripper’s body contorts in into a spiraling blade the hovers over me.

“Sound is only a slice of the truth. A melody does not show the choreography.” The fungal woman’s eyes gaze into me.

Never before have I seen a creature made up of so many lives.

Shade summons up a fiery red book with an angry cat on the cover and a border of black energy. She scans the recent pages and goes to TomCat. She pets her lovingly and whispers in her ear.

TomCat smiles but it dies when her eyes meet mine.

Shade then pulls out my sunshine’s journal. “Before we begin this vision quest, lets review the story so far.”

Wait. It’s her. Of course it’s her. My mind is failing me.

“Luna.”

The angel’s shadow ears stand up. “My name is Shade.”

“You’re my muffins sister. She’s been looking for you for years.”

“Then you best behave,” she smiles wickedly.

Would she really hurt her sister? My intuition is weakened. I mustn’t test her patience.

“I want to know what your fascination with her is. Let’s see if this helps.” She glares at me as she opens the journal. Her eyes soften and she touches the page. She takes a moment and then begins the rundown. “Annolette lived with her mother and sisters.”

“Sisters!” The deity cheers. “Who are the sisters?”

“Tumble and me,” says Shade, turning away from the deity’s gaze. “Don’t interrupt again.” She looks back to the book. “When mother didn’t return, we went to the slave auction to save her. It was there that we were separated.” Luna turns the pages till she reaches new content. “My sister is abandoned by the hero who saved her. Well, he was kidnapped, but I suppose she didn’t know that. My sisters were taken to Sunny Village where she meets with Braven.” Shade’s eyes are pierced with fear.

Ah, so she won’t hurt my daughter, after all. There’s no mistaking the look of a worried sibling.

Shade gulps as she reads. “He sells off Tumble and tortures Annie before my shadow pups can save her. I should have known it was him.” She nibbles on her thumb as she reads more. The angel then looks up at me. “You saved her. Why is that?”

“It’s in our nature to protect angels,” I tell her, lifting up my body as it falls apart.

“And why do you want Betrayer dead?” she asks with a dark glare.

The deity pops up. “No spoilers! Continue the story!”

“Ugh. Fine.” Shade opens up the journal. “My sister befriends a Cuckatrice.” A small smile graces her otherwise terrifying face. “That’s just like her. Oh, and she meets up with a girl hero. Those are rare.” Her eyes flare up. “This Poppy was picking on my little sister. Betrayer, go out and find her. Bring her here.”

The Rift Ripper bows and heads out.

Why is Betrayer listening to her? Is it fear or something else? Couldn’t be romance. An assassin must cut out hearts not open their own. To do so is to show weakness and weakness means death.

“So she learned how to bond. Hmmm. I’ll have to test her power later.” Shade paces around as she continues to read. “My little sister, going against a Wood Primordial to save a girl she just met. So foolish. Hmmm, I may not have to defeather that bird after all.” Shade’s face goes pink.

“What is it?” I ask.

“What my sister does with her hero is none of my business,” says Luna while gazing intently at the pages.

“No censoring! The deity demands you reveal the juicy details!” yells Dere Dere.

“Demand all you like. This is her special moment.” Shade closes her eyes and moves past the next couple pages. “First kiss and first kill one after the other. Didn’t know my little Sheepy had it in her.” The shadowy angel smiles with pride.

“Stop, heathen! You have dishonored story time!” Dere Dere lunges for the book but is yanked out of the air by shadows and held to the ground.

“The Hero’s Militia came to her rescue. Not bad.”

TomCat’s ears shoot up. “Wait, she met with them. My brothers are members of the militia. What does it say about them?”

Shade reads silently. “They took over a CatBoy camp and freed the captive heroes. Aha! That’s why she was at the Village of Doomed. The Hero’s Militia brought her along for their suicide mission. They did it to save their sister.”

TomCat’s eyes water up before she starts bawling. “My stupid brothers recruited a whole army to save me. I love those crazy bastards.”

Dere Dere comforts her. “They will surely be rewarded with eternal bath time in the Blue Beyond for their bravery.”

Shade’s eyes widen with shock. She looks to TomCat and decides to stay silent. “The journal only has one of their deaths. And it ends soon after. It ends the moment you capture her.” She glares at me. “You slaughter the militia heroes and then capture my little sister.” Her shadow encroaches toward me and pulls at my body with its black roots.

“He’s mine to kill!” yells TomCat with eyes flaring with rage.

“Yes…of course. He’s going to tell us all about the plot involving my sister and reveal the location of the Portal. Within that thing’s twisted memory is the gateway to the truth,” says Shade, pressing me against the ground and flattening my body.

“Wait, aren’t they insane? Is a Rift Ripper’s memory even reliable?” asks TomCat.

The mushroom woman’s fingers turn into syringes and take a bit of Fruity’s blood.

“What are you doing to her?” TomCat pushes the mushroom off her friend.

“Mixing precognition with visualization.” She pours the blood onto a shroom on her body and then collects the dust with her webbed fingers. “The spawn of both shall reveal all to us.”

I don’t get to choose what to hide, but I can do my best to delay them. They want my story, they’re going to get it from the very beginning.

The mushroom woman rubs the powder into my head and then pulls out a hazy image.

“All the secrets of the world lie in the roots of its denizens,” she says, wrapping my memory around her arm before firing it into the ground.

My very first memory appears as a hazy mist around us.

The mushroom woman pours everyone a drink.

Shade signals everyone to drink and they all enter a trance like state.

They won’t just see my memories; they will experience it for themselves. Perhaps I can win them over. Within the dark cave of my past may be a light of opportunity after all.