We speed down the road following Jake on his horse. He slows down to a trot as we read beside him. Our two horses begin to become skittish as we ride alongside Jake. Jake looks toward me. “Where are they?” I frown shrugging at him.

“I have no idea.” Zona glares at him as Jake looks forward. Jake closes his eyes as the air around us starts to cool.

“They are in a nearby town.” Lupa sniffs the air agreeing with him.

“I can smell death and smoke on the air.” We ride fast toward the town. As we approach it, we see destruction in the town. The town itself is fairly large. The north side of the town looks mainly intact but large fires are raging inside. Jake stops his horse and gets off. We follow getting off also. Jake looks toward Zona. “Stop the fires. White Wolf try to separate them.” He looks at me. “You stay close to me.” I frown as Zona and Lupa exchange looks. Lupa’s hair changes as she races into the town. Zona looks at Jake.

“If anything happens to her... let’s just say that it will be a lot harder to come back from ashes. ” Zona heads into town exhausting the flames. Jake starts to march toward the town with me following him. I notice blood stains on the ground causing me to get sick to my stomach. We get to the town center as a large pile of bodies are piled up.

“You need to hide girl.” I head to a nearby building as Lillian jumps off the roof. She lands causing a few cracks to form in the sidewalk.,

“Oh, it’s so nice to see you again. That means that fire bitch is also here.” I take a step back as Lillian steps forward. Lillian stops looking up as Jake steps in front of me.

“I thought I told you to hide.” I glare at the back of his head.

“She jumped from the roof. If you didn’t stomp into the middle of town, maybe she would have not seen you.” Lillian looks at Jake somewhat interested. Two tendrils shoot out of the darkness as Jake easily cuts them in half. Lillian lunges at Jake. Jake side steps her slicing her across the back. I take my chance to take cover behind some fallen rumble. I poke my head out as Jake systematically starts to cut down Lillian. He stabs her through the body kicking her with his foot sending her flying into the square.

“Creature. I will give you one chance to die peacefull-” He stops as two black tendrils go straight into his helmet. I stop staring shocked at him. She smiles as her body begins to heal.

“Such a shame Jake. We could have worked together.” She gets a smug look on her face staring at me. “Now it’s time for a snack.” She tries to yank the tendrils out of Jake’s head. She does it again frowning. She looks to see Jake having ahold of the tendrils with his free hand. He brings his sword up cutting them off. She looks slightly concerned as the black tendrils disappear. Jake looks completely unhurt as Lillian takes a step back.

“What’s wrong creature? Do I sense fear within you?” Jake’s voice sounds cold as he slowly stalks toward her. Lillian takes another step back sending a tendril at him. Jake slices it in half coming his march toward her. The sky slowly turns black as Jake starts to disappear and reappear in different places. “A lot has changed since the last time you were here.” Lillian looks around with a panicked look on her face as Jake appears behind her. He sends her flying with the blunt side of his sword. He intercepts her midair sending her flying toward the ground. She hits the ground with a thud. As she gets up, Jake lands on her throwing his sword through her chest. “Pathetic creature.” Three tendrils wrap around Jake. They try to crush him, but the tendrils are unable to muster any more force. A tendril pulls Jake’s sword out of Lillian throwing it through the sky. She glares at him standing up. She flexes her arm slicing at him across the face. Jake doesn’t move from the attack. Jake breaks the tendrils holding him of as he grabs ahold of Lillian. He starts to punch her in the gut with a series of blows. He finishes the attack with a knee to her face. She stumbles backwards landing against a fallen cart. “Such a shame. To think Zona Everlast couldn’t defeat you. At least I can hold this over her head.” Lillian looks at him seething with anger.

“You fool.” Jake walks to her as I feel someone behind me. I turn around seeing Grant looking at Jake interested. Grant looks down at Jake’s sword weighing it in his hand.

“Excuse me, girl. I must deal with my old friend.” I step away from him as Grant starts to walk toward his sister and Jake. Jake stops seeing Grant jump between him and Lillian. The sky starts to lighten up as Grant drops Jake’s sword. It sticks into the ground. “Somewhat shameful for him to beat you sister.” Lillian spits blood from her mouth as her body slowly starts to repair itself. It looks like her healing ability is slowing down.

“Took you long enough Jake..” Grant stares at Jake. The holes in Jake’s armor perfectly allows Jake’s eyes to shine through. They share a look of unspoken anger between each other. Grant punches Jake across the face removing the rest of his helmet. Jake returns the hit with a punch to the gut. Grant takes a few steps back smiling slightly.

“Oh... I’ve missed you so much.” Jake presses his attack against Grant. Grant keeps up his defenses up only counter attacking at the right moments. Lillian joins in on the attack causing Jake to take up the defensive. Grant hops back as Lupa flies through air tacking Lillian from her attack. Jake stands forward grabbing his sword from the ground piercing Grant through the stomach. Grant looks down shocked as two tendrils slap Jake sending him flying a few feet back. Grant rips the sword out of his gut looking angry. He throws the sword back at Jake. Jake barely dodges out of the way catching the sword midflight. Lupa picks up Lillian throwing her at Grant. Grant catches Lillian with a tendril. Jake and Lupa stand ready to take them on. Lillian body doesn’t seem to be healing anymore. “We might want to leave sister.” Lillian growls angry as black tendrils rise up from behind her.

“No Grant. We need to finish them now.” She takes a step forward as both Grant and Lillian are engulfed in flames. Zona lands next to Jake and Lupa concentrating on the pair. The fire burns hotter and hotter expanding slowly. Zona looks at Jakes and Lupa.

“Get everyone out of here now. Lupa you need to ca-” The flames slowly stop as Grant and Lillian look unhurt at the certain of the flames. Lupa slowly grabs her head trying to claw something out. She howls dropping to the ground. Jake takes a step forward as he slowly shakes. He looks at his hand disappearing within some nearby darkness. Zona drops to her knees trying to cause fire to erupt form her. “My magic...” Lupa grabs her head screaming in pain. Lillian slowly skips over to Lupa smiling evilly. Grant walks over to Zona with a look of pain on his face. Lillian kicks Lupa in the gut laughing. Zona looks up at Grant as he back hands her.

“Confused?” Zona spits up blood as she raises herself back up again. Lillian grabs Lupa by the hair throwing her up into the air. Tendril rush toward Lupa stabbing her multiple times. Lupa lands looking broken and discarded. Zona looks on in horror as Grant makes her look at him. “One of the few gifts that I don’t bring out often.” A black tendril pierces Zona’s leg causing her to stifle a scream. I start to panic reaching for a discarded sword. Lillian walks over to Grant looking down at Zona.

“Ohh.. Grant. Can I eat that one? I want her to feel the pain she caused me.” Grant licks his lips shaking his head no.

“This one is all my sister.” I pull the sword out of its rumble looking back. Grant looks down seeing Lupa grabbing ahold of Grant’s foot.

“Let. Her. Go.” A tendril wraps around Lupa throwing her across the square. Zona looks on at her a tear dropping from her face. Grant waves his hand toward his sister.

“Go eat the pet.” Lillian starts to march toward Lupa cursing Grant underneath her breath. I rush up behind Grant dragging the sword behind me. Zona looks up at Grant breathing heavily. Grant pauses for a second. “Hmm.. interesting. Even in the face of absolute death you show no fear.” I swing the sword down in an arc. It connects in his shoulder causing him to look at me. I realize my mistake as he reaches over ripping out the sword. “That was a mistake girl.” He tosses Zona away from him as he looks at me. He stops looking behind me. I look behind me seeing the top half of Lillian gets thrown toward us. Her body skids a few feet resting at Grant’s feet. Grant looks down with a hurt expression on his face. “Lillian...” Crunching can be heard as both Grant and I look over at it. Lupa steps out of the darkness showing her in her monster form. However, her fur is a deep red and her eyes are black. Her claws ooze this strange purple air. She looks at Grant snarling as in her hand hangs Lillian’s lower half.

“You shall die this day demon.” A mixture of the Sister and Lupa rings out. Grant goes to pick up Lillian, but Lupa slashes the air sending a wave of purple magic at Grant. Black tendrils form around Grant trying to protect him from the attack. Lupa dashes forward ripping into the protective barrier. Her impacts on the barrier sends Grant flying to the nearby building top. He raises his finger as a giant tendril forms behind him. He sends it at Lupa with great speed. Lupa extends her claws ripping large chunks out of the tendrils. Zona pulls me out of the way of the destruction. Grant stops his attack jumping to another roof top just as Lupa lands on the previous roof top. Grant looks towards us one last time before stepping into the shadows. Lupa sends a large wave of purple magic toward the building destroying it. Lupa looks over to us jumping onto the ground. She looks to be exhausted and panting really heavy. She takes a step towards us but turns back to Lillian’s body. Black tendrils rise from the body forcing it up into a sitting position. The missing parts of her body are filled in by darkness. She stands up as her body contorts. Her hands are replaced with multiple tendrils as her legs start to reform. It lets out a blood curdling screech causing the nearby windows to break. I cover my ears trying to block out the screech. Lupa charges the creature slashing it across the face. I look to Zona terrified.

“What.. what is that?” Both Lupa and the creature are dealing great strikes back and forth against each other. The ground starts to crack underneath their feet from the attacks.

“We need to leave now!” She grabs my hand pulling me to escape from the town. I look back to see great strikes causing the ground to rumble underneath our feet. Buildings start to cave in on themselves as the fighting grows more and more tense. We barely make it out of the town as we turn back to see Lupa and Lillian with both hands interlocked. The shear force they are using is causing wind to swirl around them. I look at Zona.

“Is there anything you can do?” She looks at Lupa as the black tendrils start to stab at her exposed areas. Zona tries to do her magic as flames burst forth from her hands. She is about to charge back in there as Jake reappears in front of her.

“Zona. If you go in there, both of you will be killed. You need to finish this now.”

“I am going too.” She says angry. She tries to get past him as he glares at her.

“Idiot! You need to burn it now!” Zona realizes what Jake wants her to do. She shakes her head no as a howl is heard from the town. We look over seeing Lupa being pierced with thousands of tendrils. She gets thrown into a nearby building causing it to crumble to the ground. The creature uses black tendrils to pick Lupa up and throw her into the air. She is brought down with such force that causes a crater in the ground. The creature looks over to us tendrils excitably moving around. Zona holds her hand up focusing on the creature.

“Come you bitch. Got get me.” The creature starts to sprint toward us. Jake frowns glaring at Zona.

“If you don’t do it now, that creature will kill everything. Do it now!” Zona shouts at Jake.

“A little bit closer, and Lupa won’t get caught in the fire.” Jake frowns as the creature closes in. He shields me. Zona closes her eyes sending a massive fire wave toward the creature. We all see the creature start to jump to dodge the attack. Before the creature can jump, Lupa grabs ahold of it. Zona’s blast engulfs the pair. The red flames slowly turn back as a scream is heard from the flames. Zona finally opens her eyes as the flames end. Zona lets out an exhausted breath looking at us. “See.. It’s all taken...” She looks at me confused. I feel tears run down my face as she looks toward the town. She shakes her head no as she sprints toward the town. I try to go after her, but Jake prevents me from leaving.

“We need to find the other one.” I step past him angry and pissed at him.

“We need to help Zona first.” I say trying to get a grip on what just happened. Jake blocks me from continuing.

“Zona Everlast is broken. She will not help us now.” I take off after Zona. Toward the edge of town, everything surrounding the area is ashes. Jake walks up behind me as I shoot him a look.

“I am not leaving her.” I walk past him going to Zona. As I approach her, I hear her muttering something. I see tears slowly falling down her face. “... Zona... We need to...” She stands up looking at me with a change in her eyes. She stands to her feet trying to balance herself.

“You. You caused this. You caused me to lose my... Everything!” Small flames fall off her as she stomps toward me. I hold my hands up trying to defuse the situation.

“Zona.. I didn’t..” She throws some flames at me, but they disappear before they get to me. I watch Zona fall to the ground in a heap.

“Leave. Me. alone!” Jake rides in on his horse.

“Leave her alone girl. We need to go.” I bend down to comfort Zona as she sobs gripping a hold of her necklace. I look up at Jake angry with him.

“Help me with her now Jake.” Jake looks at me for a second. He looks either angry or impressed I addressed him in my tone. He gets down off the horse picking up Zona. Zona slowly passes out. “Also, my name is not girl. It’s Ashley. Ashley Price.”