"Renders, to the second spiral!" shouted Fluffy. "Charge!" He added when they didn't immediately move.

"For the Garden!" responded the massed rabbits.

Fluffy watched his family hop forward, bouncing off the Wind Jake that made up the walls and corridors of the Spiral Keep.

Left in their wake was a trail of droplets of blood. Some were normal red blood, but there was far too much of the corrupted black blood that came from the wounds still infected by the demons' taint.

If a single one of them was uninjured, he would shave himself bald with his own wind Qi.

"We can't keep up the supply of vines. There's too many demons gathered around the arms for us to make it back up to the keep." Reported a green flying squirrel.

The vines harvested from the thicket were essential for their defense. No one within the Spiral Keep was made to stand toe to toe against the demons.

When a vine was attached to a Wind Jade, it would grow fueled by the stone's power and hinder the movements of demons on the front line. It would be ideal if all the walls of the keep were coated in vines, but the entire keep was thrown together on the fly, and it was already a miracle they were holding out as well as they were.

Keeping the front line supplied with vines was already iffy with the supply line open. With it closed, they could run out within minutes.

"Signal the boars and ask if they can give a concentrated volley from the third bunker to cover your ascent. Ask if the mallards and fish can help too. We need those vines!"

"Understood," The squirrel said with a bow of its head before darting off to join its brethren.

Time stretched as the battle raged on. Fluffy issued order after order, and reports and his orders began to blur as he tried to halt the advance of the crazed demons.

A weariness filled Fluffy as he blankly stared at a wall some amount of time later for a moment of rest. He tried to think of how long it had been since the start of the battle, since he had a night's sleep, only to be interrupted by another messenger.

Turning to face the rat with its bone plate forehead and tail, Fluffy sighed at the coming problem. They didn't notify him of anything but serious issues.

"The Matriarchs are running out of Qi. They will be pulling back to recover in thirty-four seconds!" reported a legion rat before it retreated, not waiting for a response.

The whole race had a strict chain of command, and anyone outside that chain would be ignored. The only non-rat in that chain would be Master, but that was because the legion rats—like everyone else in the Garden—had sworn to serve Master.

As such, the legion rats tolerated Fluffy because he was the de facto commander, but they saw his commands more as a suggestion. They would do what they would do, and Fluffy would have to adapt the battle plan to account for them.

The rats would never do anything that would harm the Garden or its inhabitants, and when they said they would have to retreat in thirty-four seconds, it would be thirty-four seconds.

If they were wrong, it was due to how something had changed, not because they lied or misjudged their abilities.

Fluffy would have to send out the orders to adapt the battle plan before the seconds passed, or the birds will lose their support and be overwhelmed by the demons' onslaught.

The rats could tell the birds they were pulling back, but Fluffy knew they wouldn't.

The first the birds and rabbits would head about the rats pulling back if Fluffy didn't notify them would be when they asked each other where the rats harassing the demons' flanks went.

"Tell the birds to pull back to the next layer!" shouted Fluffy at one currier before turning to the next. "Go to the rabbits and tell them to cover the birds' retreat. Tell the squirrels—

The Spiral Keep rocked to the side and a multi-colored beam of light sliced through the middle of the room.

The few creatures in the path of the beam shone a bright white for an instant, then fell to sparkling dust.

Fluffy stared in shock and horror at the path of destruction the beam caused, his mind racing to guess if it was some technique of the demons, then the halves of the spiral began to drift apart.

"Latch together the segments!" Shouted Fluffy. "Don't let the demons get through the gap!"

Lunging forward, Fluffy landed on either side of the growing gap and strained to curl his body to make his front and hind legs meet.

The now two sides of the Spiral Keep were massive, and at first, Fluffy's paws slid over the ground without doing anything.

Then others joined him, and the drifting slowed.

"Form links!" Shouted Fluffy while stirring his wind Qi. Fluffy made a bridge of wind Qi between the separate sides of the wind jade.

After a moment of delay, where the surface of the wind jade started to ripple like a pool of water, the living rocks began to grow in the exact dimensions of his Qi consuming it.

When one guides both sides of the gap at once, they can make a link between the two sides that could only be undone by breaking or cutting the connection.

A feat that Fluffy would have said was near impossible in the heat of battle a few seconds ago. The rocks absorbed a portion of nearly everything that came into contact with them, from Qi to physical force. It even absorbed light and heat to some degree.

The portions that got through were not effective enough to matter much.

It was far from perfect, and given enough effort, one could break apart a wind jade, but it took a while.

And if one had the only thing it responded to—wind Qi—they could heal any of the damage before it got too bad.

Squirming into the foot-wide passageway, Fluffy began spiraling out between cut walls, leaving behind strands of Qi in his wake for the wind jade to form brackets along.

In the end, everyone knew they had to hold.

If they were left without orders for a while, they would sooner or later rejoin the fight, or the fight would find them.

It was far more essential to make sure the defenses didn't crumble around them, leaving them to fight from all sides.

So Fluffy bounced off one side of the makeshift wall sending a portion of his Qi reaching across the narrow passage to the other, before leaping farther down the alley and landing on the other wall and sending out more Qi.

If he could get the main structure in place so the sides don't drift further apart, those who followed could finish the rest of the brackets to form a barrier to stop the demons.

As he went farther out in the spiral he went, the more Fluffy began encountering demons attempting to bypass the main corridor. But there weren't nearly as many demons as Fluffy feared.

There was still more than he would like, but it was not the flood of demons from all sides that Fluffy's imagination dredged up from his nightmares—that was if he actually slept.

Not that the demons were alone, rabbits and some smaller birds were already racing through the corridors trying to fend off the demons or making barriers.

They were having limited success, it had been a long battle, and their Qi reserves were not that great to begin with, so there was not much they could do.

Wind Qi coating his ears, Fluffy bounded past a demon crawling through the broken wall, cutting the creature in half from horn to crotch.

Getting a look at what was past the demon—a swarm of more demons, surprise, surprise—Fluffy began racing up and down that portion of the spiral segment, trying to make a barrier to prevent their progress.

He would have to accept that this was as far outward as he could go. It would have to be enough.

Sending out Wind blades to slow their crawl through the gap, Fluffy burned through his Qi.

A few seconds later, more rabbits arrived, helping him blockade the area, stopping the demons' advance in this part.

Seeing that there was little more he could do, Fluffy raced for the front line done the central passageway.

The main passageway was seven feet around. It started from the bottom of the spiral, coiling out and up until it hit a mid-point and bent back in. At the top point, there was a short drop down to another layer of rings that spiraled down inside the original sphere. That process was repeated five times with an innermost cavern thirty feet around dotted with platforms.

Cutting through the rings as he traveled farther out, Fluffy entered the main corridor the front lines were at. As he passed the struggling demons and spirit beasts, he was a white blur along the ceiling.

It was chaos with the broken lines.

The back lines were being swarmed by the demons cutting through the slice. The wounded and recovering birds were sent upon as they tried to hold back the demons long enough for the front line to fall back to them. The demons would have already overrun them if not for the legion rats appearing on mass to reinforce the back line.

Their forces would be lucky to come out of this mess with half the Spiral Keep in their hands.

Good thing we built the strongholds into the walls. Thanks to them, we will lose far fewer spirit beasts than we would have. Fucking rats had to be right. Harumph, they'll never let me forget that… Fluffy thought as he glared at the rat legions clumping upon each other back, forming a wall of bone with their head that they could jab through with their tails at the demons.

Fluffy landed in front of one of the strongholds as he paused to look around.

A flick of his ears killed the nearby demons as he inspected the room. It was a small room built into the walls with a single large passage leading to it.

Creatures Fluffy's size would be able to come and go from the rooms as they pleased, but the birds could only just fit down the passageway and would have to seal themselves in by molding the wind jade.

The room he was next to was already closed off and contained a couple of wounded birds along with resting rabbits and rats. The rat Matriarch in the room was doing her best to heal the bird, but its healing only really worked well on other legion rats, and she did not have much Qi left. The birds might live.

Fluffy hoped they would live. There had already been far too much death on their side.

Knowing what he had to do, Fluffy bounded off, traveling through the passages within the Spiral Keep too small for demons until he arrived at a hole for the outermost wall.

Poking his head out, Fluffy looked for any nearby massed demons, then began running along the outside of the keep.

He was looking for the source of the multi-colored beam attack. He had to know what it was and if it would come again.

"Oh, shit~" gasped Fluffy when he saw the source.

It was Master.

Power dripped from his fur, searing the ground.

Two dozen feet away from Master, plants burst with life becoming bigger and more vibrant in color as they were saturated with the waves of energy coming from Master. Their limbs were loaded with fruit before they were suddenly covered with tumorous growths from leaves to trunk and stem. Abnormal growths formed and bulged before bursting, causing the plants to collapse into husks.

The very ground beneath Master's clawed feet seemed to twist and writhe as the unending burning power washed over it.

And Master contained the power warping the world around him without apparent destruction or mutation, for now. He would not last much longer.

Even he could not contain the terrifying forces welling within him.

His body was continuously destroyed as it regenerated. And once his skin was cut, it was not blood that rushed out but raw multi-colored power.

A power that was—

What is that? Thought Fluffy looking to the side only to jump back in surprise.

"Rather interesting, don't you agree." Stated the first demon that appeared. He was smaller—like a miniature version of himself—but his baring of authority and power had not diminished.

"I have never seen the like of the power tearing through his body before. It is some combination of creation and destruction energy, with a hint of the chaos spark at his core. It is rather intriguing, don't you think?"

Fluffy was wary of the demon, of how it appeared out of nowhere and the no doubt twisted words it uttered, as something else past the demon was calling for his attention. But the demon's words kept on distracting him.

Keeping one eye on the demon, Fluffy tried to hop to the side, only for the demon to follow his movement.

"The real question isn't if Jake will live. With this fight almost over, that is nearly a guarantee. It is what will happen afterward. Will you huddle within the Garden, futilely hoping something will save you?" the demon asked, voice filled with derision and scorn.

"Or will you use your Master's ability to purify heavy energy entering his land and use destruction energy as fertilizer to stimulate growth, to expand beyond his valley into the rest of this mystic realm? You would have more spirit beasts, stronger ones even, to hold back the flood of demons that will come. Even if he's gone, it'll work the same. It's not like his presence is req—

Jumping into the air, the rabbit flipped, gathering his Qi. He sent it out the bottom of his foot, solidifying the air so he could kick off it, rocketing down towards his Master to help him.

It was too late.

Far too late.

Already an oversized imp that put all the other imps Fluffy had seen so far to shame was standing before Master.

Before Fluffy traveled his own meager length forward, the demon had struck his Master in the chest with a burning fist of black fire.

In a moment that seemed to last forever for Fluffy, he watched as his Master's chest caved in and the fire raging along the imps arm rushed forward, wrapping around Master's body.

All at once, the scene jumped forward. A bar of multi-colored light consumed the imps fist and slashed through his body as Master disappeared as he was thrown backward.

Fluffy was strong enough that he was able to turn his head to see Master rip a hole through the warped space around the valley and disappear off into the dome.

A moment later, the dome shuddered as something shifted, and the opaque barrier that Fluffy, and all the other spirit animals within the Garden, had known their whole lives began rapidly flickering between night and day. After tens of rotations, it settled on day, and the dome became transparent, with a slight hazy fuzz.

There was still a barrier, but where a once impassible boundary existed, now it was just another wall that needed to be climbed on one's path to power. A life outside of the dome called to him. To them all.

“—uired for the process to work. But then again, maybe you and your compatriots will leave his mystic realm and flee the cataclysm that will end this universe if left unchecked. To run as far as you can before this undefended fortress falls, and the weight of the massed destruction energy within Tartarus bursts forth from this fragile bottleneck to crack existence open to the void and create the fissure necessary to pull everything back to the Sea of Chaos, where we all came from." The demon said like it was never interrupted as Fluffy puffed to a stop inches from the sparkling remains of the demon who struck Master.

The demon wasn't even looking at Fluffy as it spoke, instead looking in the direction of where Master flew off to. "The choice is yours, little spirit beast; prolong existence for as long as your meager abilities allow, possibly reaching heights you could not dream of, or live knowing you turned your back on everything. That while you selfishly cling to life, you doom every child in existence to corruption and death. The choice is yours, Fluffy."

As the demon puffed into a cloud of smoke that shot off towards the Master. Scorn and derision laced the words the demon spoke to him, but he knew they were not wrong.

He could feel it.

Call it what you will. The weight of Fate. Or destiny. It pressed down on him.

Fluffy had a chance, a moment, to actually matter on a cosmic scale. Even if it was only for the most minuscule fraction of a second.

Would you accept if you knew you could do something that matters, but it would kill you? To make everyone acknowledge what you had done? Who you were.

"Yes!" shouted Fluffy at the top of his lungs and as loud as he could think, his voice filled with resolve and joy.

A weight of Authority settled over Fluffy. It was not direct power but a weight that infused all his actions.

He was, The Warden's Regent.

Ears perking up in excitement, Fluffy looked around the tramped garden.

Fluffy did not know how many beasts died, and the fighting wasn't even done yet, but if half their number remained, he would be surprised.

Their numbers would replenish soon, though. The time it took for a female to give birth or egg to hatch was less than half that it should be. And Fluffy was pretty sure it was growing shorter.

He did not know and didn't care to find out the reason. All that mattered was their numbers would soon surpass what they originally had. If the growth rate of his cultivation was any indication, the newborn kits should pass through the first cultivation levels within weeks or months.

There was a lot of work to do, and they might struggle, but Fluffy was up for the challenge. And so were the rest of the spirit beasts. He was the Regent, after all.

Chuckling to himself before he fell on his back, laughing out of pure joy, as one plan after another flicked through his mind. Fluffy had a lot of decisions to make. And everyone would have to listen to him. Finally~

**********

Jerking awake, Fang's ears flicked back and forth as he leaped from his bed and ran out onto his balcony. He did not stop or slow as one stride took him from the door to the railing, which he jumped off of without hesitation.

Landing with a slight bend of his legs and thump from the three-story drop, his claws dug into the cobblestones as he took off in a sprint across the square, looking up to the sky.

For years, Fang had been restless. It was not that he had nothing to do. There was always some task.

Sure he missed the day when the Mistrunners spread over the grasslands integrating the different surviving tribs. They swept over the scattered basins dotting the land as they slaughtered the abominations.

Then the Other Swarm Queens came, and it was a struggle to survive.

Cities fell, and whole clans were lost to the ravenous maw of the swarm.

At the time, as they struggled for survival, it was desperate and terrifying. But looking back, that was when Fang felt most alive. When he had a purpose.

Fang lived to fight.

After they dealt with the swarm and made contact with the elves to the north, what else was there to do.

The impenetrable mist was covering the wall of stone making up the Crown to their east.

No one was able to build a bridge over the Trench, not that the mages would let anything but the Arch span the Trench to the south.

And the west was literally a mountain range that tried to kill anyone that entered it. There was only one good pass through the mountains, and the Roneea summoners held it.

They were an excellent whetstone to hone the younglings, and it's not like much was over there besides razed cities. The land never really recovered after the deaths of the swarm.

That didn't matter.

It was in the past. All of this was in the past.

Stopping in the main square of the Weeping City, Fang looked up at the lone fireball traveling across the sky.

It was larger than anything he had ever seen exiting the Crown before. The comet called to him, and a part of Fang longed to join it. To be reunited.

That was what first got him up and about, but after the initial shock of being drawn so sharply, Fang ignored it. He did not need nor want what it offered. He had long since grown past that impulse.

Behind the meteor, still climbing into the sky, the wall of mist that had stood undiminished for untold centuries flickered before fading, showing the stone that lay underneath.

It gave the impression that if you pushed hard enough, you could get through and touch the other side.

And maybe one could, but Fang was more concerned with the wave after wave of black fire rapidly blooming from the top of the Crown.

There was no rain of black flame like the first time the Crown was consumed in fire. This was far worse.

Tension was building up in the air. It pulled and pulled until the world felt like it would be ripped in half, then the Crown rippled, and a nearly silent imperceptible wave rolled out across the land, lessening the tension.

Fang had felt it once before, just not as strong.

It was right before the Other Swarm Queen had first appeared.

The blooming of black fire did not stop, though it did slow as Fang continued to look up. He could feel the tension slowly building again.

Eventually, something else would make its way into their world and work with whatever was already here.

They needed the bastard to go back where he belonged, to do his duty. And if he wouldn't go willingly, someone would need to make him.

Looking at the High Priestess running towards him, Fang studied her. She was young for her position but not the youngest that had ever taken up the role. She looked so much like her ancestor, the first High Priestess, and he hoped she would be up for the challenges that would soon come.

Huffing, Fang growled out, still looking to the sky, "Kaleena, prepare every tribe, ready every spear. The People are going to war. We will do our duty."

"What is going on, Ancestor," she asked a bit breathlessly and concerned.

"The Others are breaking through to this world. So long as the Crown burns, more will come."

Gulping down a big breath of air and visibly steadying herself as she patted down her dress, at his words, she asked in a surprisingly calm voice, "We fight with the Ancestor."

Shaking his head sadly, Fang said, "Not this time. I must get a bastard to do his job. This will be your burden. You are ready. Do not doubt yourself." Nuzzling her face like he did when she was a child, he gave her a tiny lick trying to cheer her up and lessen the weight falling onto her shoulders.

She giggled, pushing him away. He turned with the push looking up at the meteor falling through the sky calling to him.

The sooner he caught up, the better.

**********

Katherine ran.

Ducking around one corner into an alleyway, the soft slap of her feet echoed off the walls. Too loud. It was too loud.

She could not slow. She heard their thumping feet behind her. They would catch up soon.

Throwing herself to the ground, she crawled forward, knees and hands scraping across the stone cobbles, passing into a small crevasse in a pile of broken wood crates.

This was her turf. She knew it like the back of her hand. Every turn, every crevice, and every path to the roofs.

Squirming around broken slivers and spikes of the rotting wood, Katherine flinched as she scraped her arms and side.

Soft grunts of pain escaped her throat from the scrapes, but she did not slow. She knew better.

They would not give up, not this soon.

And even if she through them off again, they would come back.

They had done so for the past few months.

She had seen them grab other street rats, some of them her friends, over the months they had been here.

When they grabbed them, they beat them until they stopped fighting, then dragged them to their warehouse. None of the kids ever came out again.

Katherine wanted to help. And she did, but her help wasn't worth much.

She wanted to go save them, but she was a child.

"You are a worthless stain upon our family! How something like you could be born from our bloodline is beyond me. Get out, and don't come back!" The voice of her aunt tour through her mind locking her in place for a moment before she continued crawling past the pain in her chest.

Her aunt had taken everything from her mother as she lay dying of her wounds, everything that should have gone to Katherine. And once her mother took her last halting breath, she kicked Katherine out within the same day.

All because she could not summon her wolf. Her stupid, stupid wolf.

For a moment, Katherine paused, clamping her eyes shut as she huddled against the ground.

Turning her attention inwards, she reached inside of herself and called out for aid while mentally holding a passage open. She would be the bridge for her spirit to travel. Just like she was taught. Like the books, she was given said. Why won't you come out! She shouted in her mind in frustration. She had already spent too many tears on her wolf and would not cry for it again.

Something stirred deep down. It always did, but like the countless times before, nothing happened.

Her wolf refused to come out. To help.

Opening her mouth in a silent scream, Katherine clenched her fists and lowered her head to the shallow puddle of stagnant-smelling putrid water she was crouched in.

This is where I belong… She thought as despair crashed over her for a moment. No one wants me…

The crates she was huddled under shuddered and creaked as something heavy struck them, and she thought she heard a muffled voice.

Freezing, Katherine's breath caught in her through as the crates creaked and groaned.

Breath rushing out once the noise settled down, Katherine scuttled forward again. She needed to get out of here.

She would survive. Show them all what she was capable of.

A squeak of fear popped out of his mouth as a second hit slammed into the gathered crates. The second hit struck harder, and the rotting wood she was next to shifted.

Splinters impacted her side, nicking her skin, and the sound of creaking and cracking filled her ears.

A cold sweat covered her body, and she crawled forward as fast as she could.

She felt her knees and palms scraping against the ground and her ragged clothing rip and tear as it was caught on the surrounding wood.

Hand over hand, she crawled forward as the walls around her began collapsing, and more of her clothes and skin was pierced by wood shards.

Bursting out of the end of the wooden tunnel, she crawled forward a few feet before she could get her feet under her and continue running.

Turning a corner, she ran down the alley and onto a street.

There was little difference between alleys and streets in this part of the docks. They all were covered in piles of trash and debris. The only real difference was that there wasn't enough debris to block the streets like in the alleyways.

"Over here!" Shouted a gruff, deep voice, "The little bitch is running west!"

At the first sound, Katherine had turned on the ball of her foot and shot off down the street opposite the voice.

People were living in the rundown half-collapsed buildings around her, but they knew better than to make noise or interfere.

Anyone shouting at here at his time of night wasn't alone. Thinking they were in a group of less than a dozen would also be a mistake.

Only the gangs were brave enough to proclaim their presence, and even then, only when they had the numbers to back it up.

She could hear the responding shouts of the gang members from the neighboring streets, there were too many, and they were too close.

Teeth flashing in the moonlight, Katherine gave a barely audible snarl as her body tingled. She was being hunted… Again.

She was tired. Tired of running. Of hiding.

The world around her slowed, her ears twitched, and she breathed deeply from her nose.

Her lips stretched wide as she visualized her target. He was the weakest.

A ray of moonlight cut across the street. Seeing her path, Katherine darted to the side.

Leaping off the cobbles, her right foot landed on the back corner of a wooden kart. She ran along the kart's edge before leaping to a shop's awning.

As she angled herself to run diagonally over the awning and onto the roof, every step she took found a rafter to support her weight on the rotting thatched awing and broken tiled roof.

Foot landing on the roof's edge, her body teetered on the ball of her foot.

The building she was standing on was at the corner of an intersection of streets. Already, she could see burly shaggy men running up to the intersection from the far side.

As the scuffed and slaps of feet were approaching and passing underneath her, she tilted forward right foot, giving a slight push forward.

"She went up there!" Shouted the man that was chasing her.

A savage smile split her face as she heard the warning. It was far too late to matter.

As she fell, other shouts rang out into the night, and her target stumbled to a stop right in the middle of her path. He wants to die, she savagely thought to herself.

Hand whipping out for the small of her back, her legs were bent, waiting for the impact.

Bringing her hands forward and down between her legs, she locked them together, falling dagger first. Angling the blade, she waited for the impact.

Driving the blade into the side of the man's neck, she hit with the force of all of her weight and a fifteen-foot fall.

Hands clamped onto the hilt, Katherine felt a slight tug, and the dagger tried to twist out of her hand when her feet impacted the thug's shoulders, and she started falling forward, the blade slicing through the side of his neck.

The man beneath her grunted as she hit him. Halfway through, as she started rolling forward, the grunt turned into a groan and then a gurgle as she ripped out her knife.

Continuing her roll forward, her shoulder hit the ground then she continued to roll over her back and onto her feet.

Spinning around, she took two steps forward toward the man clutching the side of his neck.

The dying man's eyes were full of panic as he collapsed to his knees, he tried to speak something, but all that came out was burbles as blood poured out of his mouth.

Slamming her knife into the other side of his neck, she twisted the blade before yanking it out.

She looked over her shoulder. She locked eyes with one of the thugs standing frozen in place, face bloodless at the horror of what just happened.

Flashing her teeth at the man, whose face was turning red and began twisting in rage.

The men nearby were stumbling to a stop and looking around in confusion as their brethren shouted and pointed behind them.

"Fucking idiots," Katherine muttered to herself as she took off in a sprint down the street, sheathing her knife, leaving the dying—or dead, but who really cares—man behind her.

Katherine breathed out, and her near-omniscient perception of the world and strength left her. That burst of strength and perception was the only part of her bloodline that she could display.

The problem was it popped out whenever it wanted, not when she needed it. I would have at least been allowed to stay if I could control it. And mom might not have died…

This was not the first of the Long Shanks—stupid name—that she had killed.

There were many reasons the Long Shanks traveled around in groups, and she was one of them.

Not that they knew, they were too stupid to realize she was picking them off whenever she found them alone.

Na, they wanted her for her stupid hair. Her stupid hair that only those of her family had.

She tried to keep it dirty by rubbing grease and ash into it, but her natural color still shone through.

It was a constant struggle to keep it covered. Her hair was like oil in water to anything she put on it. She could violently shake her head around while her hair was covered in grease, and globs of it would fling off. What was ridiculous was when she put mud in her hair in the morning, and she sat on the side of the street begging for coins, and her hair was its natural color again by the end of the day. She didn't even move or touch her head much. It was like her hair ate anything on it.

She was careful.

She had to be. Whenever her hair shone through lately, this happened. Though sometimes, this happened when her hair was still stained. The slavers weren't all that picky about the children they grabbed.

But anyone unique tends to disappear fairly fast these days.

Feet beating against the ground, her anger seethed within her. She hated them.

And she would kill them all when she grew up. When she was stronger.

They did not deserve to live. The only thing they did in life was abuse and inflict suffering on others.

Turning a corner, Katherine skidded to a stop.

Her eyes scanned her surroundings, looking for an alleyway. An out.

Taking a step back, she turned and darted further down the street, running from the group of men and women storming down it.

Heart pounding in her ears, fear began to prickle in the back of her mind. This was more people than they had ever sent after her before.

They were everywhere. She could hear them shouting on all the surrounding streets.

A fire-red light lit up the night high in the sky, and a rapid series of concussive blasts reverberated through her chest.

Slowing a half-step, she fought the instinct to turn around. She was curious about what in the blasted Trench was going on behind her. She would be some kind of freak not to be curious about what was happening.

Dodging around a Long Shank's member who was staring in shock at the light, he tried to grab Katherine at the last second but was too slow. She kept running as the man stood in place, turning and looking back up at the sky once she passed him.

Crashing into another woman standing in front of an alleyway, she drew and stabbed her dagger into her gut, making her take a step back in pain, then darted into the alleyway.

She had more important things to do at the moment. Ask anybody, and they would agree with her. Pausing, as her head was about to pass into the alleyway, her eyes flicked to the side to the ball of fire falling through the sky.

"Come'ere ya little bitch!" Snarled the woman as she lunged forward at Katherine, hand clamping onto her ankle.

Letting out a squeal of shock as her leg was pulled out from under her, Katherine lost the grip on her dagger as she fell to the ground.

She heard the clink and ding of her blade as it bounded off to the right of the alley.

Fingernails digging into her leg, Katherine looked at the woman's twisted face and her bloody hands.

Hands out to the sides, searching, Katherine raised her lag as the women yanked her closer.

Slamming her heel into the woman's forehead, the woman's face twisting to the side, Katherine tried to pull her ankle free from the loosened grip.

The woman's other hand came up and grabbed her other leg pulling it to the side. Lifted her head up, she gave Katherine a blood-stained flash of teeth, only to flinch back when she met Katherine's eyes.

Coming forward, twisting her body, Katherine slammed the brick she picked up off the ground into the woman's temple.

Dropping the brick when the woman's body dropped limply to the ground, Katherine scrambled across the alley and frantically searched where she last heard her knife fall. She would not leave her mother's blade.

She heard lumbering steps and a deep voice call out, "Liz! Liz! Are you alright!"

Hand clamping around the blade, Katherine clasped it tight as she staggered to her feet.

She could feel the blade dig into her finger, and blood began to make her hand slick as she began running down the alley.

For a moment, the sound of pursuit spotted, and she could hear a voice mumble something before heavy feet began pounding after her again. Feet that seemed to shake the ground and rumble off the walls causing dirt to drift down.

Corner after corner, she turned blindly, losing her way as she carefully reached with her left hand grabbing the handle of her knife.

Her breathing was ragged, and her body ached, but she never stopped. Not until she exited out onto another street.

For a brief moment, she raised her knife while lowering herself into a fighting stance before she tossed the knife to her bloody hand and clumsily sheathed her knife thanks to the bloody wound.

After her blade was put away and before the scum could charge forward, she began cracking up in a full-body laugh that caused her to curl over arms across her stomach.

It was ironic. As much of life is. Oh, so very ironic.

They had finally caught her. She knew she could not escape this.

A half dozen men and women with clubs were before her, ready to fight.

Coming up behind her were two or three more gangsters.

It did not matter.

A wall of water filled with the detritus of the slums was towering over them.

She could feel the rumble of it traveling across the island. She had felt it for the last little bit, even if she didn't know what it was.

The only reason she saw it now was the Tower lighting up the night with a purple brilliance.

Strange shadows danced across the surface of the wave of water thanks to the violet light, bringing nightmares and specters of death to Katherine's mind.

That was what it was.

She would not survive this. None of them would.

They had finally caught her. She could feel a hand clamp down on her shoulder that yanked her up to the mien of sadistic anger spread across the man’s face.

Not much of his face was visible to her through the tears willing up through her laughter as she looked at their death.

His head slowly turned as others around them shouted in fear and terror.

"What in the Trench!"

"Matron, save me…"

"By the Empress~!"

The man dropped Katherine to the ground, staggering back before he turned and futilely ran.

She was only peripherally aware of him, her eyes locked on the water.

Between one teary blink and the next, a purple wall was standing halfway up the water wave, still growing taller.

Not that it would matter.

Crashing into the violet wall, more than half of the wave was stopped.

Cracks spread over the surface of the wall, and in less than a second, sections began bursting out as the force of the water was too much, spraying water into the air.

A second violet wall was already in place behind the first, but a portion of water was already crashing down a few tens of feet in front of Katherine.

The top of the wave was not stopped, for the violet wall was not tall enough.

She watched as the top thirty feet of water continued towards her, crashing into and smashing one building after another. Anything in the waves way was removed by force.

Between one breath and the next, the warm water slammed into Katherine, consuming her. She tumbled through the darkness slamming into one object after another, the world dropping to black as she lost consciousness from the repeated impacts.

**********

On a cliff clouded in steam, a group of two men and a woman sat at a stone table sipping tea.

The white long-haired, and long-bearded and mustached old man whose hair hung down to his chest set down his teacup, looking off the side into the steam for a second before he spoke. "The time has come; we must send out an expedition before others come to steal our bounty. We must gather our chosen." Despite the wrinkled body appearance, the old man's voice was anything but weak. His voice might be wispy, like a stray breeze could carry it away at any moment, but it was filled with an undaunted strength.

"I need time. My descendant is off creating connections with the barbarians. They have much that can be exploited, as you both know well." The old wrinkled woman's snapping words and brusk tone washed over both men, who nodded in acknowledgment.

Settling back in her chair, she relaxed, sipping at her tea like the conversation no longer concerned her.

The old man turned to the youngest of their group, who, instead of looking ancient like the other two, only looked old and worn, saying, "And you, Ming?"

Setting down his tea, the youngest gave a thoughtful look replying, "Hmm, I too much retrieve my descendants, if need be, they could be back within a month, maybe two."

Looking back into the steam, the old man stroked his beard before answering the unasked question, “No… that will not be necessary. If fact, it would be best to wait a bit longer. I feel the natural energy and treasures beginning to rise again. This might be a bigger boon than we first thought."

"So long as the Emperor and other large sects don't get involved." The old woman stated, receiving nods of agreement. Downing her tea, the woman said, "Let me know when, and we'll be ready." Before she vanished into a streak of shadow.

"So abrupt," the old man turned to complain to the younger, only to find he was also gone. Grumbling to himself, the old white-haired man basked in the swirling steam sipping his tea.