Some songbirds perched at the edge of a roof scattered when they saw Morgan rushing toward them. He vaulted from the building’s edge to the next. While he was still in the air, Renee cast a bolt of air at his back hoping it would strike him before he landed.

“Fae Barrier!” the hero exclaimed while stretching back his hand.

A small barrier was conjured that absorbed the air attack and allowed Morgan to stick a somewhat clumsy landing on the opposite building. He then continued his furious trek across the rooftops of Seattle, the little girl still tight in his grasp.

“How did you do that?” she asked with surprising coolness.

“I’ll tell you later! I’m gotta lose those two first,” he said, just as Quinn was closing the distance.

She delivered three quick swings with her broadsword, narrowly missing each time as Morgan ducked and weaved. His arms still full, he delivered a roundhouse kick Quinn was forced to block. She was sent flying off the edge, giving the hero the few moments of time he needed to continue his escape. He knew that he couldn’t maintain the distance for long. They would catch up again. There was only so far Morgan could go while being chased by two people as fast as Quinn and Rene through a city full of people he couldn’t afford to wake up with the battle that seemed inevitable, all while carrying a little girl he couldn’t afford to leave behind.

He would have to make a stand somewhere and he conveniently spotted just the place – a recreational park. He hadn’t spotted anyone at the park when he entered, but he made sure to go to the little league baseball field on the remotest end just to be sure

“Why are those two after you? And why did one of them hurt Tito? And why-“

“Look! I’m juggling a bunch of plates right now, so can you give me a minute? I know you must be scared but—“

“No, I’m not.”

“…Huh?”

“I’m really mad that one girl hurt Tito though. Just who does she think she is?”

Morgan blinked. “Look, just stay put here and let me handle this for now, alright?”

The girl looked at him with her anxious-invoking eyes, her hair flowing as he and she flowed through the air. She nodded in agreement right before they landed.

“Thanks. Now, here’s what I need you to do,” he said while putting her down. “Stay here and keep hidden in this dugout. Don’t come out until I tell you it’s safe.”

“You’re not running from them anymore?”

“More running will just mean more chasing from them. They aren’t letting up. They’d chase me up to Vancouver if they had to. Better to just nip this one early. And I can’t just leave you behind either. Both of those girls have no problems with killing you.”

Morgan had noticed during the chase they weren’t just aiming at him and almost hitting her. They were deliberately trying to murder the girl as well. She thought of just leaving her behind hidden and heading elsewhere, but Morgan believed that the sisters would just search her out and attempt to kill her if he left her unprotected. Her guardianship was now among his growing list of problems. He saw the duo arriving, and quickly began his preparations.

“Great Fae Barrier!”

A powerful barrier, one that had florescent butterflies fluttering about it, stretched about the dugout’s exterior. It could only be applied to inanimate objects for a very limited time, but the hero knew it would be enough.

“What’s your name again?” the girl asked.

“You didn’t hear it earlier? It’s Morgan.”

She hummed at the name. “I’m Agnes. Make sure you don’t die, okay?”

Morgan blinked again. That wasn’t the sendoff he was expecting from a young girl who had just seen all the things Agnes had seen, but that just seemed to be a normal thing with her. Nonetheless, he finally faced Quinn and Renee who were both standing on either side of second base. He calmly stepped upon the pitcher’s mound, seemingly unbothered by the malevolent looks he was getting.

“Still can’t get over how much taller he is,” Renee said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, wasn’t he shorter than that enchantress girl he was with when we met him?” Quinn asked.

"It makes sense. He was only fifteen then; still growing. He had a whole nine more years to grow before he came back to Earth.”

"Doesn't matter how much he's grown; he's still the same little shit who murdered us and our father in cold blood," Quinn said coldly.

Morgan made a face. “Murdered in cold blood? I’ll admit that I’ve gotten into some battles reluctantly and took the lives of people I wished I didn’t have had to, but I’ve never just whacked someone because I was feeling like it. I know for a fact though that’s what the little band you guys used to roll with did.”

“Oh, look Renee. He remembers us after all,” Quinn said.

“Oh yeah, I would have never guessed by looks alone. Not just because you guys aren’t supposed to be in this world, but because you were teenagers, only a little older than me when I fought you. But your names, the way you fight, Quinn’s passion for violence, and Renee’s habit of abusing animals. Yeah, you’re the Dannith sisters all right.”

They were daughters of the boss of the meanest band of mercenaries in northeastern Barclave – Marko Dannith. Morgan’s past with Marko’s mercenary company wasn’t all that noteworthy of an encounter in the grand scheme of his travels in Validar. It was fairly early into his journeys and was itself a smaller ordeal he was caught up while chasing after a greater overall threat. Despite the fact that they called themselves mercenaries, they were more akin to brigands. They would even threaten much of their so-called ‘clientele’ into hiring them regardless of if they needed protection or not. Oftentimes, the company was more dangerous than anything else in the area, including any monsters. Marko would even up the pay his band was to receive for their work at the last minute and would have his men ‘confiscate’ the compensation they were now owed when it was not provided. If the reluctant client attempted reprisal, a brutal and often not swift death was soon to follow.

Marko Dannith and his Gray Company were a lot of murderers, robbers, and extortionists – plain and simple. But the ‘jewels’ of his band, were not any he or his men had stolen. They were his two daughters, Quinn and Renee – Marko’s Princesses, as they were often called. Both were quite different from each other. Both were born by two different mistresses of Marko – Quinn by some Zokarian merchant’s widow and Renee by a courtesan from Camille he fancied. Both were talented in different areas – Quinn being a skilled martial artist and user of Quintessence while Renee had a greater affinity for spells, especially air elemental ones. Both had opposite personalities one could argue were just separate facets of their father’s; Quinn having received Marko’s brashness and love of violence and Renee his calculated cruelty. They did share one distinct quality between them, however: Ruthlessness.

In the Chosen One’s opinion, the daughters were even more ruthless than the father.

“I remember how,” Morgan began. “your dad was always nervous about leaving either of you in control of the company. Not because you two couldn’t handle it, but because he thought you were both way too harsh to the clientele; and that’s really saying something coming from a guy like Marko. Much as he threatened and tormented his clients, he didn’t like killing them because that meant less business later. But you two? You would snuff somebody out just because you felt they were disrespecting your dad. You even took out whole families sometimes. Somehow, you girls took the reputation of an already pretty notorious group and made it downright sinister. Which is why it’s really strange you’re calling me a coldblooded killer.”

Renee shrugged. “Father was getting soft. Guys who never thought of crossing up, who shut and put up when they were told, were already starting barking and snapping even before you and your friends showed up on our turf. We had to remind them who it was that was on top in northeast Barclave.”

“And you did kill Father in cold blood, you bastard!” Quinn exclaimed. “He was already defeated when you ran a blade through his back. He didn’t even have a weapon!”

Morgan shook his head “He had just killed the soldier who was escorting him to his dungeon block, had set the building on fire, and then tried to escape while everyone else was busy putting out the flames.”

“So, what? That means you can just cut down an unarmed man?” Quinn asked.

“And I thought heroes were supposed to have higher morals than that,” Renee added.

The hero sighed. There was no talking sense into the relatives of an unrepentant criminal, especially if the relatives in question were unrepentant criminals themselves.

“One more thing before we get started,” Morgan said as he popped his neck and got in some light stretching. “Why are you guys in my world?”

The Dannith sisters were circling about the Chosen One like lionesses looking for the optimal angle to strike when Quinn answered “Dunno. You killed us and then we woke up in southern Utah ten years ago.”

“Hmm. So, you’ve been here for as long as I was in Validar. Explains why you both speak fluent English.

“We’ve learned more than just how to speak your native language in that time, Mr. Chosen One,” Renee said, a small whirlwind gathering around her. “We’ve advanced more than a little over the decade. You’re not just facing ‘Marko’s Princesses’ this time. This time we’re ready for you.”

Her sister smirked. “And this time, you’ve got no friends to back you up like before. It’s just us and you.”

Morgan finally finished his warm-up on the pitcher’s mound.

“Alright. Whenever you're ready.”

The Dannith sisters at first did nothing but steady their sights on the hero. He was standing a little too lax for their liking. He even kept his hands in his sweat jacket. It was as if he didn't take them seriously. Agnes watched anxiously from the dugout, waiting for someone to make a move. She blinked at an inconvenient time, missing the half second it took for Quinn to close the distance aiming to strike at Morgan’s legs. Renee cast a spell at the same instance, conjuring a sharp blade of wind that soared like a stealth jet toward Morgan’s head.

The sisters moves were in perfect sync, but Morgan’s reflexes and sense of timing were simply beyond their coordinated attacks. With his hands still in his pockets, Morgan Fosbury Flopped like a high jumper between Quinn’s real blade and Renee’s magical one. Before coming back down he threw a punch at Quinn’s head, missing by a stray margin and leaving a fist-shaped impression on the mound.

Quinn backed for a moment, but she wasn’t sent reeling. She closed the distance again, swinging manically at the hero. The wind hissed sharply with every slice, but the only thing she lopped from Morgan was a few loose locks of hair. Mumbling something under his breath, he slipped in close after dodging one her strikes and let loose a small but explosive combustion of blue flames at her torso.

“Faerie’s Fire!”

The spell’s impact sent her reeling until she hit the baseball field’s fence. With her incapacitated for a moment, Morgan gave his attention to the other sister who had been casting an exceptionally strong spell in the meanwhile.

“Devil’s Nimbus!”

A black sphere of compressed air the size of a cannonball was propelled Morgan’s way. It made the air screech and tore up the earth in its path as it barreled toward its target. Morgan quickly amassed the Quintessence into the tip of his sneaker. With a resounding kick, he sent the ball of violent black air back toward its caster.

Only by a hair did Quinn evade her own spell, which detonated like a stack of dynamite where she stood. She shuddered at the sizeable crater left behind where she had just been standing. While the Dannith sisters recovered, Morgan returned his hands to his sweat jacket’s pockets. He had yet to take a step off of the mound.

“Yeah, you guys definitely improved. Quinn,” the hero began, looking her way while he addressed her. “Your attacks are a lot crisper than they used to be. Before, you were all power and nothing else. The younger me would have died at least three or four times by now. Your soulbound sword is better quality too. I remember Phoebe shattering your old one with spell not even half as strong as my Faerie’s Fire.

Quinn’s face contorted as the Chosen One carefully evaluated her performance like he was her martial arts instructor. He then turned to the other sister.

“And Renee, your magic is on a whole new level than before. That last spell you cast: it was at least a Class VI, right? Surprised you could cast it so quickly, and with barely any incantations. If the current you got into a spell slinging duel with the Phoebe you fought before, she wouldn’t stand a chance. Hell, the way you and your sis have learned to coordinate your attacks, you two could even give Cerdric some work.”

Renee bit her lip, her frustration simmering as strongly as her sisters. He was toying with them.

Initially, they thought he would be simple prey between the two of them the way he just ran earlier, but their assumption had been off base. Even while he ran, he had managed to ward off their attacks, all while his hands were mostly occupied carrying a little girl he was trying to protect at the same time. Now that he didn’t stand his ground or protect a third party who was caught in the middle, things were completely different. Morgan Moon not only could face the sisters at once, he could do so with ease.

“Whenever you’re ready,” he said to them once more.

The sisters exchanged a look. The first one to make a move was Renee. She let her crystal orb rotate rapidly in the air before sending it burrowing underground. Morgan cocked a brow at the trick, wondering if he should be for once. The answer came in a small tremor beneath him. Two man-sized tornados burst from the earth on either side of the hero. Their upper halves took the shape of beefy demon-like creatures that kept bits of dirt and rubble swirling within their torsos.

“Two wind elementals at once?” the surprised hero said.

Renee had improved even more than Morgan gave her credit for.

The turbulent titans’ synchronized attacks caused Morgan to move for the first time. The pitcher’s mound was torn asunder like a jet turbine had been planted into it. They pursued him, the whirlwinds beneath them throwing up dirt like dust devils as they homed in on the hero. Quinn joined in the fray, turning it into a 1v3 in which Morgan was mainly on the defensive.

Every few moments, he would find an opportunity in-between his myriad evasive maneuvers to throw a riposte here and there. Morgan nearly had a clean shot to severely wound Quinn but one of the elementals got between the two and took the brunt of the blow. Its body composed mostly of air with the odd piece of earth, it restored itself with short order and the throng on the Chosen One resumed in earnest.

“Renee, do it now! I’m ready!” Quinn suddenly exclaimed.

“Alright!” her sister hollered back while performing a series of gestures. “Great Gale!”

Morgan realized at once what they were planning. What Renee was casting wasn’t a powerful spell. She couldn’t use such magic while also managing her air elementals, especially not without her crystal orb. It was a simple spell with a simple purpose, to kick up a cloud of dirt and debris from the baseball field to obfuscate Morgan’s vision. It was only then, as dirt and clippings of grass were blown up all around, that he noticed the subtle gleam in Quinn’s eyes. They had been enchanted with Nocturnal Eyes earlier. This was another one of their strategies.

The sounds of thrusts, slashes, and blunt strikes came from within the cloud. Agnes watched and listened as intently as Renee to the unseen battle. After a while, the constant noises stopped and abrupt silence followed. Soon after, then the sound of a blade piercing flesh came, followed by a scream of agony.

Immediately, Renee invoked a second gale which cleared the field of dirt and debris. A sadistic smile came across her face. Quinn had plunged her sword into the Chosen One’s chest. Both of Renee’s air elementals had one of his arms in their grasp while her sister had run him through. He stared at the elder Dannith sister wide-eyed and contorting in pain. Quinn returned his look with one of her own; one of almost perverted satisfaction. The barrier that protected Agnes’s dugout faded away, its caster dying with only seconds left until expiration.

Renee looked the little girl’s way. “Sorry, sweetie. Looks like your guardian’s done. Any final words for him before he croaks?”

“He’s not my guardian, just some suspicious guy I met. I already told you I don’t him,” Agnes said in a far calmer tone than the younger Dannith sister expected. “Also, you and your sister are pretty stupid. You’re making this way too easy for him.”

The younger Dannith sister furrowed her brow. Before she could ask what the little brat was saying, her sister let out a “What?!” She turned around in time to see Morgan’s body disintegrating into florescent butterflies that fluttered about before disappearing themselves.

Renee's eyes widened. “A doppelgänger?!”

“Yep,” a distant voice answered before a soaring projectile made a devastating crack against Renee’s side.

When the projectile ricocheted off her it revealed itself to be only a baseball. Still, it hit her with such force it sent her tumbling and rolling across the earth until she skid onto first base. She remained conscious but sorely wished she hadn’t. She would have spared the intense pain of most of the ribs on her stricken side being shattered on impact and the writhing from her that it incurred. Before she even came to a stop on the ground, her air elementals had already been dismissed, their conjurer’s concentration thoroughly broken. Fragments from them merged into her crystal orb which fell at Quinn’s feet.

Quinn bore the crystal no mind. She had turned to face where the baseball had been thrown, but the pitcher was already gone. In fact, he had moved as soon as the ball left his hand and struck its target. By the time Quinn caught a glimpse of Morgan, he was already at her flank. She shifted and tried to counter, but he was simply too close, too fast, and too accurate. A powerful blow was delivered that took Quinn a few feet off the grass before she plummeted back down at the hero’s feet. Coughing and gasping, she watched Morgan destroy her soulbound weapon be shattered with a single stomp before dissolving into spiritual essence.

“Yeah, you guys have definitely got way better since we last fought, but you could still do with some work,” the Chosen One lectured, picking up the baseball he had thrown. “Nocturnal Eye is a good spell, but it’s no true replacement for the natural night vision the subterranean and nocturnal creatures have; especially if you're trying to keep track of someone who can move faster than you. Also, if you’re doing something like manipulating two high-class elementals at once, best to stay focused. Even a grand magus can lose their concentration if they slip up.”

“W-why…?” Quinn muttered, trying to talk between her coughs.

“Hmm?”

“Why… can’t we even touch you?! We trained for ten years with our father! When we fought you before, you needed three people to take me and Renee on, and we nearly killed you all!”

“Well, sure, but… I was only fifteen then, Quinn. I had been in Validar for barely over a year. I was still learning the basics when it came to martial arts and magic. I got nine more years of experience after that and fought people and monsters way beyond you guys and your dad. Let’s be honest here, you guys were just glorified extortionists preying on small towns and minor lords in the backwaters of Barclave. How do you think your family compares to say… the Demon Queen of An Shan or the Lich of the Immortal Library? Those are the types of people I wound up fighting later on. You and Renee are way stronger than the me who fought you when I was fifteen, but the me right now could kill a few dozens of the fifteen-year-old me with a hand tied behind my back.”

It sounded like arrogance, but from the performance Morgan had just put on, Quinn knew it was true. She and her sister had come at him with all they had and they couldn’t even scratch him. Frustrated beyond belief, Quinn pounded her hand against the earth, making it tremble.

“If Father was here, we could of-“

Morgan snorted. “Just what do you think your dad could have done to change anything?”

The opportunity for an answer presented itself when Morgan and Quinn sensed a familiar Quintessence approaching. Marko Dannith, leader of the Gray Company, landed nearest his youngest daughter. Rene smiled weakly at his appearance, her ribs still in excruciating pain.

“Father… What took you so—“

Taking a good look at him answered her question more clearly than any word that would have come from her father’s mouth. His clothes were torn, he had severe burns and lacerations all over his body, and he bled profusely.

“Q-Quinn… Renee… Leave the Chosen One… A-alone… Please… I…”

He dropped to the ground, the heat of his Quintessence completely gone from his body. Marko Dannith was dead. But who had killed him? Marko Dannith was far from the most dangerous man in Validar, but nobody save Morgan or another Validaran should have been able to put him in this condition. The killer arrived shortly after her victim had dropped to earth, flying in gracefully on a broom like a witch from classic fiction. As she did, Morgan felt his blood run ice cold.

“Oh… Not her,” he muttered to himself. “Anyone but her…”

A woman of extravagant beauty, with features that seemed otherworldly, descended upon the baseball field. Her most striking feature was not her gorgeous figure or her flawless skin, but her eyes that gave one a feeling of deep anxiousness.

“I’m surprised you made me take as long as I did with you, Marko. You really are a stubborn one,” she said. “All you had to do was listen, but you chose to fight until the end instead. I guess you always were a stubborn one.”

Morgan shook his head in disbelief. Why on Earth did she of all Validarans have to be on Earth?

“Veronica… The Dragon Witch of the Oblivion.”

The witch glanced her powerful gaze the hero’s way when she heard him say his name.

“Oh! Morgan, it’s been so long!” she exclaimed with a glowing smile. “I bet you missed me, didn’t you~”