"Where is it!?" Ishiar screamed. "It has to be here!"

"The tracks go all over the place now, it's like there was a big meeting here and then everybody left," Gairanda replied.

"The faerie told us there was a city," Ishiar said. "But there's nothing." There were no buildings in any direction, nor were there hamlets up in the canopies of the trees, as they had half-expected. "Damn the Goddesses!" she swore.

"It's got to be close," Gairanda said, walking around and scouting the horizon. "Maybe if we--"

"GYACK!" came a tiny voice.

Gairanda stopped. Taking a step back, she looked down to the ground.

"What was--oh, do not tell me you just stepped on a faerie," Ishiar said.

Suddenly there was a flash, and there was a woman standing in front of Gairanda--the slightly crumpled black and purple wings at her back easily confirmed her identity. She was wearing a dress of translucent lace, with opaque pieces underneath covering her chest and falling gracefully to her knees.

"She most certainly did!" the faerie snapped, her face red with anger as she rubbed the side of her head.

"Look, I'm sorry," Gairanda said. "I was actually looking out for faeries, I just..."

"It's alright, that's what I get for sleeping under a leaf..." the faerie said, rubbing her face. "Ugh, you humans. If we had a copper for every one of us you've stepped on..."

"Where is Glitterdown?" Ishiar blurted out.

"This is Glitterdown," the faerie replied.

"No, I mean the city," Ishiar said.

"I know," the faerie replied patiently.

Ishiar suddenly wished her frustration would just go ahead and make her head explode like it claimed it wanted to. "Okaaaaay...then indulge a stupid human and tell me, why aren't there any buildings?"

"They're up there," the faerie said, pointing to the canopy above.

"Are they invisible?"

The faerie gave her a queer look. "Oh, right...you guys can't...okay. They're up there, it's just that Glitterdown is a pixie town."

"And?"

"And they're the small pixies, so all the buildings are either in the trees or on them, and the entrances are too small to see from here because the branches are in the way."

"Great," Ishiar said, hanging her head and burying her face in her hand.

"What do you guys need up there, anyway?"

"Four of our companions were just eaten by dragon pixies," Sudvana said. "We need your help getting them back."

The faerie turned slightly pale. "...Wow. That's...um...who, uh, who was going to help you?"

"Anyone we can get," Ishiar said.

"You mean you don't know anybody?"

"Yes. The only faerie we know is currently being digested."

"Ouch...well, I don't know if there's anybody here who can beat a Dragon Pixie..."

"Then don't help us fight them, just help us find them."

"You mean *me?*"

"Unless there's someone you know who'd rather do it."

"But you stepped on me!"

"Please," Sudvana said. "These are our friends. If we don't find them, they'll die."

The faerie took a long look at her and sighed. "Okay, I'll see if I can help you find a tracker. But we'll need to get you up there...luckily, I have some pixie honey with me, since a lot of people need to shrink before they can do anything in this town..."

She pulled out a small vial.

"Each of you take a sip. It will shrink you down to pixie size and then I can fly you up."

She held the vial up to each of their lips, and just as promised, it shrank them down almost instantaneously--what had already been a comically oversized forest became almost unbelievable in it's scope, with each blade of grass the height of a building, the already-enormous trees now looking like elongated planets in the distance. The pixie looked like a titan from here, her body climbing up into the sky to a frightening degree. Her formerly-delicate wings now looked as though they could unleash a gale.

As the last of them gathered beneath her, she smiled down at them.

"Ah hah! Now it's my turn!" she said, raising her foot above them and bringing it down as if to crush them. It stopped only a few inches short of their heads before moving away.

"Just kidding!" she said before bending down and putting her open hand down on the grass before them. "Climb aboard!"

They trepidatiously walked onto her hand and she slowly lifted them and dropped them into a pouch on her waist. With that, flittered off into the sky.

After reaching a large branch high in the canopy, she reached into her pouch and grabbed them. Ralier's armored legs poked into her hands, eliciting a sudden squeal from both of them. Wincing, the faerie carefully placed each of them onto the branch before returning to her small size and fluttering down next to them.

The branch seemed enormous, like it could hold a small city on it's top, and from the looks of things it actually did. Buildings and shops were built all along the top of it, some carved from mushrooms growing out of it's bark, some made from wood, crystal or earth, and even a few that seemed to be dug into the branch itself, topped with little doors inlaid into the ground.

The faerie started walking, and the group followed her.

"So who was the faerie who was eaten?" she asked.

"We didn't get a chance to find out her name," Ishiar answered. "She was a redhead with red freckles and a red and white dress..."

"Did her wings have transparent pink diamonds and little bits of black around the edges?"

"Yeah..."

"That sounds like Maralindi..." the faerie said, a look of distress crossing her face. "Which way did you come from?"

Gairanda pointed in the direction from whence they had come.

"Did you know her?" Sudvana asked.

"Not terribly well, but yes," the faerie answered.

"What is your name?" Sudvana continued.

"Talista," she replied.

They stopped before the door to a small wooden house. Talista stood next to the entrance and flushed a bit.

"Listen, I, um...only know one person crazy enough to try to track down dragon pixies, and when I say she's crazy enough, it's because she's...crazy." Talista said as she started to open the door.

Ishiar smirked. "That's okay. We've already got at least one crazy per--"

All four froze as the door swung open. The house was some sort of workshop, filled to the brim with outlandish devices and machines. Spare parts, tools and junk were scattered everywhere. Standing at a workbench was another faerie with firey orange hair, streaked with black. It was tied back into three separate braids. She had red and orange wings that ended in jagged black peaks, jet black boots, and thick, gauntleted chainmail gloves that looked almost like they'd had a few of their links melted together. On her midsection was a ragged mess of leather, cloth, and metal, along with a huge assortment of devices, tools, guns, and pouches that were hanging from at least half a dozen belts all over her body. She looked more like a geurilla jungle fighter than a pixie.

But what struck them the most about her--the thing that made them freeze in their tracks--was the golden crest she wore around her neck. It was identical in every way to Blast's, with one exception: it spelled out the word "Kaboom."

"Oooohhh..." the strange faerie said as she turned and saw the five people at her door. Her eyes were a glittering gold color. "You brought me new friends, Tabanda?"

"Talista," Talista corrected. "And yes, they've come to request your help."

"How big is it, and are the surroundings flammable?" Kaboom asked with a wicked smile.

"Not that kind of help."

"Oh." Kaboom said, with disappointment in her voice and a slightly confused look on her face. "Then why come to me?"

"They need help finding some dragon pixies."

A slightly disturbing grin crossed Kaboom's features. "Go on..."

"They've eaten some of their friends, including Maralindi."

"Ah. Can't say that I blame them. Muri-badawhatever has always been a cute one."

Talista turned to the others. "She has trouble with names," she said quietly.

"I do not," Kaboom said. "So, dragon pixies, eh? How many?"

"At least three," Sudvana replied.

"Hmmm...shouldn't be too hard," Kaboom said cheerfully. "They are fully grown, right?"

"Uh...we haven't ever seen any before, so we have no way to really know," Sudvana replied.

"Ah well, if they turn out to be babies I'll only shoot with one hand. So where are they?"

"That's what we need you to help us find out," Ishiar said.

"Oh yeah, right, right. Hang on."

Kaboom went over to a set of rusted iron drawers that looked like they'd had explosives go off inside them several times. Fishing around for a minute, she came out with a strange looking device--it appeared to be a handle ending in a large square, with two antennae on either side and a radar dish on the tip. The word "Nymphdar" was hand-written on it in small letters, underneath the word "Faeriedar," which was crossed out, "Demondar," which was also crossed out, and "HotsleazyfaeriewhowillgetitonwithKaboomdar," which was crossed out but only lightly. Pulling out a large marker, she crossed out "Nymphdar" and wrote "Dragonpixiedar" underneath it.

"Alright, we're good to go," she said.

The group stood motionless, staring at her.

"What are you all looking at me for?" she looked down at the device. "OH! Right. I need to turn it on." She turned a switch and it started beeping quietly. "They're that way," she said.

After giving a sigh of resigned acceptance, Ishiar spoke. "We've got to hurry," she said. "Can you fly us there?"

"Sure," Kaboom said. "Standard me-big you-small thing?"

"Uh...yeah."

"Alright. But no groping."

They didn't have time to ask what she meant as she stepped out of the building, jumped into the air and popped into her full size. Grabbing them with not nearly as much care as Talista had, she stuffed them in her cleavage and started zipping away.

"Waaah!" Ralier's lower body was splayed across Kaboom's left breast, leaving her torso hanging out sideways. Mashed just next to her was Sudvana. Ishiar was practically right between the faerie's breasts, and Gairanda was buried somewhere beneath her clothing.

"You think she and Blast are related?" Ishiar said through the rush of wind as they flew.

"They just might be..." Sudvana replied.

******

Annelique knew they were doomed, but she wasn't going to give up. She didn't care if the Goddess of Evil was in front of her--she'd keep fighting so long as she was still alive.

She slowly drew her sword.

"Do you have any weapons?" she asked the faerie.

The faerie shook her head.

"Stay behind me, then."

All three of the dragon pixies reared up simultaneously. Annelique raised her sword, and...

There was a sound of glass shattering, and suddenly she couldn't see. Smoke as black as ink filled the cave in seconds, drowning them in total darkness. She suddenly heard the sound of a whip cracking, along with the angry snarls of the dragons. She heard a strange noise just before one particularly enraged howl, followed in turn by Blast giggling.

She heard the staccato flapping of the faerie's wings taking off and decided she had better make her escape as well. She took flight in what she hoped was the direction of the cave entrance. She brushed up against a faerie dragon but quickly evaded it in the blackness. Suddenly the darkness parted and she was flying over a mountainside. The black, inky smoke was billowing out of the cave, hanging in midair like lumpy black cauliflower. Suddenly, one of the dragon pixies emerged from the cloud right behind her. Annelique tried to duck behind a tree but it had already spotted her. She weaved back and forth between the tree's enormous branches, trying to make sure there was always at least one between her and the beast's hungry maw--it was a faster flyer than she was, so using the terrain was her only hope of staying out of it's stomach.

The creature suddenly stopped. Annelique perched on a branch and watched it, unsure if it had grown annoyed with her branch-weaving or was considering some new strategy. Suddenly something in the back of her mind put her on guard, and she looked behind her just in time to see another pixie dragon charging her from behind. She swung beneath the branch only a second before the creature's head swooped over it, bits of drool flying through the air as it chomped at the space she had occupied a moment before.

The two dragons began working as a team now, trying to corner her. It was all she could do to stay away from them, clinging as closely to the cover of the tree as she could.

She heard another bang from inside the cave, followed by what could only have been the death scream of the third pixie dragon. At least now there would only be the two.

At hearing the sound, the remaining pixie dragons stopped and exchanged glances. Their looks changed from hunger to fury as they came at her with a renewed fervor. While before they had merely been trying to swallow her, now they were doing anything they could to hurt her--ramming her into branches with their tails and slicing at her with their wings in addition to snapping their baleful jaws. Her spirit, already drained, began to falter under the bombardment. Her flight became wobbly as the slashes and bruises began to take their toll. She struck back with her sword when she was able, but time and again she was belted by the dragons' tails and slashed by their sharp wings.

Suddenly, a tail whip caught her straight in the face, knocking her back and causing her head to smash hard into the tree. She struggled to land on one of the branches, an inch from losing consciousness. She tried to stand, but she could not. Her vision blurred as she saw the two dragons closing in for the kill.

******

"Wait! Wait! There they are!" Ishiar yelled from between Kaboom's breasts.

"I thought you said the ones you were looking for had been eaten," Kaboom said.

"They were--just get us over there!"

Sure enough, the group could see Annelique in the distance, facing off against two dragon pixies. It was fairly obvious they had the upper hand.

"What's wrong? Why isn't she fighting back?" Sudvana said.

"She probably spent the better part of the last hour in one of those things' digestive tracts, I doubt she's got much left in her," Ishiar said.

Kaboom landed on a branch fairly close to the battle. "So what's the plan, babes?"

The girls looked at each other.

"That's a good question," Ishiar said. "None of us can fly."

"What's that black thing?" Sudvana said. "It almost looks like a cloud."

"If we can't eat it and it can't eat us, then who cares?" Ishiar said.

Suddenly they saw Annelique being slammed against the tree, landing on a branch and falling to her hands and knees. It didn't look like she was going to get up.

"That's not good..." Ishiar said.

"Kaboom! Do something!" Sudvana yelled.

"Kay," Kaboom said.

She reached into a pair of pouches in her belt. Suddenly, a pair of gigantic firearms appeared in her hands. They looked like gatling guns, each as long as her arm and twice as wide.

"You might want to cover your ears," she said.

"Where the hell were you hiding th--"

Ishiar's words were immediately drowned out by the thunderous noise of Kaboom's weapons. A shining trail of bullet casings sprayed away from her as she flew backwards from the recoil. Smoking lines of destruction were cut across the tree from the impacts, a few of which landed on the dragons (and the nearby trees, and the mountainside, and just about everything else). They screeched in pain and turned towards Kaboom just as her ammo ran out.

There were several loud clicks as the weapons failed to fire. "No problem, I've got more," she said. Putting the gatling guns back into their comparatively tiny belt pouches (somehow), she withdrew a pistol-gripped pump-action shotgun from somewhere.

Several moments passed as she hovered in the air.

"Um...what are you waiting for?" Ishiar asked.

"This guage is really meant for close range," Kaboom answered.

"We are so dead," Ralier said. "I wonder if being smaller will make us easier to digest."

Kaboom waited until the closest pixie dragon was only about five meters away before she shot it square in the face. It recoiled in pain, circling around and screeching as it shook it's head violently. Kaboom wasted no time in turning to the second pixie dragon, but it had the good sense to turn aside, causing Kaboom's shot to strike it in the neck. This elicited the same screech, but with less volume.

Kaboom unloaded several rounds into both dragons, flying towards a large treebranch as she did so. Just as her last shell was being fired, she reached into another pouch and pulled out what could only be a grenade. Without skipping a beat, she did a backflip off the treebranch and landed on the head of one of the pixie dragons.

She clung to the back of it's head with one hand, still holding the grenade in the other. "Hmmm, let's see, I'm next to a pixie dragon's mouth with a high explosive device, hmm, what to do, what to do..." she mused to herself as the pixie dragon roared and tried to shake her off. "What's that?" she said to the pixie dragon. "You say I should make you go pop? Well, if you say so..." She planted her crotch right on top of the dragon's nose, dug her feet into it's bottom jaw, grabbed it's upper jaw with her hand, and pried it wide open with her legs. She yanked the grenade pin with her teeth and tossed it in, then wrapped herself around the beast's face and forced it's mouth shut.

She hummed to herself for a moment as she waited for the boom, oblivious to the uncomfortable noises being made by the four tiny individuals being squashed between her and the dragon's hard, chitinous head.

When the boom came, it was a wet one--sort of a BTTLLOOOOOORCH. A shocked look entered the dragon's eyes and it began to fall, it's body disintegrating as it did so.

The final dragon was in full retreat by this time, having had more than enough of this particular set of prey.

"Can I kill that one too?" Kaboom asked, a strangely excited edge in her voice.

Ishiar looked over to where Annelique had been. She was still there, looking like she was going to collapse at any moment, but thankfully she was not surrounded by anyone's stomach.

"I don't think we need to," Ishiar said. "Let's make sure Annelique and the others are safe first."

"Awwww...alright."

Kaboom flew them to the cave, where the smoke had finally begun to dissipate. There they found Blast, Ushan, and--strangely enough--Maralindi, who was clinging to the cieling like a frightened butterfly.

"Are they gone?" Maralindi asked.

"Of course they're gone," Kaboom said, just before noticing Blast. Both of their eyes lit up as they saw one another, and they ran across the cave and hugged, just about crushing the four people in Kaboom's cleavage--again.

"MMmmrrrff...you two know each other?" Ishiar asked from between two pairs of breasts.

"Of course we do!" Kaboom said. "She's my sister, duh!"

Ishiar groaned. "I am so sick of being right."

******

A short time later, the group was back in the relative safety of Glitterdown. They all needed time to rest from the gruelling and protracted battle. Presently they were in Kaboom's workshop. Annelique was sleeping in a corner; the rest were simply sitting in a circle on the floor, aside from Ushan, who was leaning back against one of the walls.

"So you're Blast's sister?" Ishiar asked. "Maybe you know why she doesn't talk then."

"What? She talks. She's just not gabby," Kaboom answered.

"So, wait," Sudvana said. "How can you be sisters if you're a faerie and she's not? Is it one of those adoptive kind of things?"

"No, we're from the same egg."

"I thought you couldn't have two species sprout from one egg," Gairanda said.

"Yeah, that's what I keep hearing too," Kaboom replied. "I'm not sure what the deal is--that period is kind of hazy."

"Is she maybe a wingless faerie?" Sudvana asked.

"Girl, there ain't no such thing," Kaboom answered.

"But you're saying Blast isn't human."

Blast suddenly looked at her, with an almost apologetic expression.

"No, that's not what I mean--" Sudvana stuttered, "it's fine, it's just that--"

"No, she's human," Kaboom said. "-ish," she added.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ishiar asked.

"Well, she's not quite human, sort of like they tell me I'm not quite a faerie."

"Then what are you?"

"Um...mostly a faerie?" Kaboom said sheepishly.

"Do you actually know what you are?" Ushan asked.

Kaboom looked flustered. "No..."

"Some sort of doppleganger, perhaps?"

"No, dopplegangers can turn into lots of stuff. I can only turn into two things: a faerie, or a smaller faerie. And Blast can't turn into anything."

Blast suddenly turned and gave her a reproachful look.

"Okay, Blast can turn into stuff, but that's because of her potions," Kaboom corrected herself. Blast nodded approvingly. "In fact, for all I know, she could make a potion to make the sun go out if she wanted to," Kaboom concluded.

"I can see something of a resemblance..." Ushan said, looking back and forth between the two of them. "In talents, if not appearance."

"Oh, yeah, pretty much the only thing is the hair," Kaboom said. "Hers is kinda orange like mine. Beyond that there isn't much. You know, I'm taller, better looking, have bigger boobs..."

Blast frowned and poked Kaboom in the side of the head.

"And you both seem to have this talent for making things explode," Sudvana said.

The way Blast and Kaboom suddenly smiled exactly the same way at exactly the same time was rather unnerving.

"So do you know where the portal of three waterfalls is?" Ishiar asked.

"Yeah, why?" Kaboom answered.

"We need to get there to prevent our planet from becoming a giant space monster and killing everyone on it."

"Oooh! Can I come?"

"Uh, sure..."

******

Less than a day later, the group had rested and Kaboom was effortlessly leading them across the strange vistas of Phaesili to their destination. They were approaching a small but fairly sheer mountainside.

"The waterfall portal thingie is just up there," Kaboom said, pointing to a tall, spire-like set of rocks. Three towering waterfalls cascaded down the stone faces, concealing many shadowed crannies and corridors beneath. Doubtless one of them contained the portal they were looking for.

"Okay, so just to be sure, there's only one portal here, right? We're not going to accidentally go through the wrong one?" Ishiar asked.

"Nope, just the one. It's behind one of the waterfalls, I think," Kaboom said. "That middle one."

"So are we gonna fly, or climb up--"

Ishiar suddenly stopped and dove to the ground with lightning speed. A golden blade swiped through the air where her neck had been less than a second before.

Emerging from her position of ambush came a familiar looking woman. It was one of Aerothi's lieutenants; the same one who had stepped in their way in the Ironbelly throneroom. She carried the same ruby-headed staff and opalescent black armor, burning white eyes and flaming orange hair. What was different was the sword she now held in her other hand; it had a blade of lustrous gold and angelic runes burned in it's surface.

"Never send a dragon pixie to do a real warrior's job," she said.

Annelique's eyes were fixed on the sword she was carrying.

"Ah yes," the woman said, "you recognize this, don't you? Not too long ago, you were using it against us. 'Massis,' isn't it? I must admit I'm not as much of an expert on angelic script as I'd like to be..."

"We kill this person, right?" Ishiar growled.

The woman gave a dismissive glance and raised her staff. There was a pulsing glow and Ishiar was abruptly flung backwards at blinding speed, crashing into one of the smaller trees. She felt an incredible crack against her back and a hundred abrasions and bruises raked their way across her body as she smashed right through it. She hit the ground several feet behind the shattered stump and the rest of the tree fell a short distance away from her. For a moment she was utterly incapacitated by the sudden pain and damage, her body shaking for several moments before she managed to pull herself free of the shattered bark and stagger to her feet.

"...Is tha-that all you've got?" Ishiar said as she stood, feeling blood dripping from several places in her body as she arose--not a good sign.

The rest of the group encircled this new enemy, levelling their weapons at her.

"You can't beat us all," Annelique said.

Suddenly, the woman's whole body was engulfed in black, and smoke began to fall from her skin. The color even seemed to drain from her staff. Only her burning white eyes and the golden blade of the sword Massis remained the same.

"You are wrong," she said. "But if you return from where you came, I will not have to harm you."

The answer she recieved was a warcry and a lightning bolt from Sudvana. The bolt fizzled and vanished a foot away from the mysterious enemy, and the arrow that followed from Annelique's bow froze in midair at the same distance. Despite this, Annelique was already charging forward and drawing her sword, as were Ralier and Gairanda.

The sorceress made a simple gesture and Ralier found herself flipped onto her back. Next she turned her ruby-headed staff on Gairanda, who dove to the ground before even bothering to find out what it did. It was a good thing, too--the crimson laser it emitted felled several of the trees behind her in mere seconds.

With her attention turned to the side, Annelique took a well-executed stroke towards her enemy's midsection--unfortunately, though her eyes were pointed another way, she still seemed fully aware of the situation and effortlessly deflected Annelique's obsidian blade with Massis. She attempted a counterstroke, but the angel was also aware of the situation and was already stepping back. By this time, Ishiar had once more reached the fray. The woman waved her hand, instantly encasing Ishiar in a solid inch of ice. Almost as instantly, Sudvana raised her hand, shattering the ice as quickly as it had formed.

This turned the enemy's attention to Sudvana and she fired the energy beam from her staff towards the diminuative enchantress. Unfortunately, lacking Gairanda's experience, she did not get out of the way. There was a flash of crimson light and a scream, and when the light faded Sudvana was crumpled against the earth, her body smoking and motionless.

Annelique could see the writing on the wall--even if they won, this fight was going to be too costly. "Through the portal!" she yelled. She sprinted over to Sudvana's unconscious body and took her in her arms before lifting off and swooping towards the waterfall.

A bolt of blinding fire erupted from the enemy's hands, but it was deftly dodged by the angel. She reached the waterfall in short order. Before long the enemy sorceress was stuck in a swordfight with Ishiar, though it was obvious Ishiar wasn't winning.

"Hey inky!"

Kaboom was yelling from across the glade. She had a bazooka. The second the woman looked, Kaboom fired.

The sorceress raised her hand and an overwhelming gust of wind blasted the missile back, along with everything else in the area--it was so powerful that it was ripping branches off of the mighty trees and uprooting the mushrooms that were growing around them. It sent Kaboom tumbling across the ground and her rocket exploded against a nearby tree (sending it crashing spectacularly down across it's neighbors).

Gairanda used the distraction to flank the sorceress and slashed her across the back. A strange noise emitted from the strike; the noise wasn't that of cut flesh or metal; it was an odd, otherworldly ringing sound, like a bell tearing itself in two. The sorceress raised her hands to retaliate, but Gairanda was ready--she had already siezed the sorceress' wrist with her other hand, and with a hard yank, she pulled her forward and sent a punishing knee into her ribcage. Ishiar took advantage of her momentary vulnerability by plunging her sword into the sorceress' back, causing the same strange, ringing noise.

Their success was momentary, however. The sorceress growled and blue flame began to jet out from her skin in all directions. Gairanda and Ishiar both screamed in pain; Ishiar ran and Gairanda backstepped until both were out of the flame's range. Gairanda faltered and half fell--she could feel her armor almost cooking her skin. Ishiar, already weak, said something resembling "fluhpth" and fell over.

Annelique, on the other hand, did not seem worried about the fire. Swooping back down from the waterfall, she plunged right through the wall of flames, her obsidian sword held high. Again came the ringing and there was a shriek from the sorceress before Annelique emerged from the other side of the conflaguration, arcing back upwards as smoke trailed from her body. The jet of flame stopped, revealing the woman once again. Her shadowy form had faded, leaving her looking as she first had. A small trickle of blood was visible down the plates of her armor. She was glaring at Annelique, her teeth clenched together.

"Why do you serve Aerothi!?" Annelique said, hovering in the air after her attack. "Don't you realize what she plans to do?"

"It is you who does not know her plans, Angel," the sorceress said.

"Then enlighten us," Ishiar said as she awkwardly attempted to stand up.

"I have been sent to stop you. That is all I intend to say. If you want to know more, I suggest you ask her yourself, if you survive."

With a glare, she levelled her staff at the top of the waterfall. The stones began to shatter and the water exploded into steam as the crimson laser fired into it.

Gairanda ran up to her and attempted to sieze the staff away, diverting it's beam into the air. The sorceress dropped Massis and grabbed Gairanda's skull. Suddenly the valkyrie's body erupted into flames. Gairanda grit her teeth for a moment before screaming and falling to her knees. Smoke billowed from her skin as she fell--it was all she could do to keep from collapsing entirely.

Annelique took the opportunity to swoop down and pick her up, flying through the portal alongside Kaboom. Ishiar, grudgingly admitting that she was outmatched, was running shortly behind them, with the others a little ways behind her. The sorceress yelled and fired into the portal again; there was an explosion and an avalanche of stone, stopping Ishiar in her tracks. The entire series of waterfalls began to collapse; surely the portal was collapsing with them. Ishiar leapt from the shattering waterfalls and hit the ground with an awkward thud.

This left Blast, Ushan, Ralier and Ishiar alone against the sorceress. Ralier was just barely managing to turn herself right-side-up.

"Your portal is destroyed," the sorceress said. "I see no further business between us."

"Oh, I think there is," Ishiar said. "You're going to leave here and then you're going to hunt down our friends."

"Yes, I am. Losing your own lives now will not save theirs later."

"But killing you will."

"No...it won't." she said gravely.

"What is your name, witch?" Ushan finally asked.

"Ah yes, the succubus. Ushan, is it not?" the sorceress answered. "My name is Leiasell."

"Leiasell?" Ushan asked, an incredulous look crossing her face. "Leiasell, the slayer of Krogaga?"

"Yes."

"Why would a hero join with a sorceress who wants to end the world?" Ushan asked.

"Why would a demon want to stop her?" Leiasell answered.

"You know her?" Ishiar asked.

"By reputation," Ushan replied. "Leiasell was said to have slain a demonic dragon named Krogaga, saving an entire nation in the process. She was considered quite the noble hero."

Leiasell's expression was flat and motionless. "Unfortunately, a long time has passed since then. Long enough for me to learn that nobility is like gold...you always want to have it, but in times of difficulty, you have make do with less. In any case, the four of you may leave here. If you attack me again, I warn you that it is unlikely that any of you will survive."

"That's what they all say," Ishiar said.

"Ishiar, wait," Ushan said. "Leiasell, you clearly do retain the nobility you are known for. Why do you work for Aerothi? What makes her plan noble?"

"As I said, I cannot discuss it."

"Let's beat it out of her," Ishiar said, though her skin was still smoking slightly from the last time she had tried and her legs were visibly wobbling.

Leiasell simply looked at her. After a time, she spoke again. "Ask yourself, honestly. What will happen if you attack me again?"

Ishiar glared back. She glared for a long time. To everyone's surprise, her only answer was an angry tear falling down her cheek.

"If you care at all about the lives of others, do not interfere with us any further," Leiasell said. With that, she simply vanished.

Ishiar continued to glare.

She glared at that empty space for a long time.

*****

The ground beneath Annelique was rough, covered with prickly brown grass and rocks. She winced slightly at the scrapes and bruises her impact had caused; she hadn't hit the ground hard, but it was enough to cause small red scrapes on her skin. She looked around as she pulled herself up. Gairanda and Sudvana were lying motionless on the ground, both a few meters away from her, and both still smoking and unconscious from Leiasell's attacks.

Annelique felt as though she was ready to collapse herself. She stood and cradled a patch of scraped skin on her arm, simply staring into the sky and waiting.

They appeared to be on a shallow mountainside. The plants were squat, sparse, and rough looking, as were the rocks and dirt that littered the ground. It appeared to be twilight; a few of the closer stars and planets in the sky dimply illuminated the ground but left the rest of it dark. She was reasonably certain she was on her own world, but she had no idea where.

Even though she had seen her move through the portal, Kaboom was nowhere to be found. And even as she waited, she already knew the rest of her companions would not be coming. She felt the portal's energy surging and collapsing even as she fell from it onto the earth; the sorceress had destroyed it. She would go back if she could, but as it was, all she could do was hope her friends could escape from that horrible enemy.

She took a deep breath and sat down. The rough ground was uncomfortable, but she didn't care. She pulled her knees up to her chest and cradled herself, trying to let the horror and uncertainty of the last few minutes--hell, the last few weeks--fade from her mind. It dawned on her that she had nearly been killed several times; it was a miracle she was even here. Perhaps there was something to this whole fate concept after all...

Then again, if this is what fate was like, she wondered if maybe she'd rather do without it.

She closed her eyes and let her body slump against itself. Her wings waved idly in the gentle wind that blew across the mountainside. She felt her hair tickle the back of her neck as the same wind caught it. She couldn't help but be reminded of that first night she saw it, those perfect black curls staring at her from the mirror in that perfect place.

She took another deep breath. Her whole chest felt cold, even though the wind was warm. She looked at Sudvana; even now, with her body crumpled awkwardly against the earth and ashes and burns all over her, the enchantresses' face was beautiful.

She wanted to heal her, but she just didn't have it in her. She had nothing left. Even now she felt her own limbs were growing stiff and cold from sitting idly on the ground. Her body begged her to just let it sleep, and for a moment, she almost did.

But she was not going to leave any more of her friends defenseless.

She forced herself to her feet, doing her best not to shake. She cleared her mind as she walked over to Sudvana's unconscious body. She closed her eyes and focused, envisioning the magical energy around her, drawing it from the air around her and the earth beneath her. She could feel it coursing through her as she focused it into her right hand, stripping her own precious energies along with it. As her eyes opened she saw a bright point of light in her hand. She summoned a great rune to her mind; it was a symbol that Klayer had taught her. As it's shape appeared her mind suddenly swam with overwhelming visions of wounds mending and energies replenishing themselves, as if she was seeing through the eyes of everyone who had ever cast the rune--and, in a way, she was. That is what gave runes their power.

But like most things Klayer had taught her, the rune was a powerful tool, and also a costly one. The point of light expanded into a bright golden ray as the rune drew all the energy it needed and took physical form before her. She felt her magical energies depleting almost instantly and she began to feel her life force quickly drain. Her mouth dropped open as she fell to her knees. She quickly clenched her teeth back together, falling onto her hands as the spell began to fade as quickly as it had appeared. She was panting slowly--she was not short of breath, but her body's energy had been exhausted in an entirely different sense and it didn't seem entirely sure what to do.

She carefully shifted her weight back and sat back on the ground, doing her best not to fall. At first, the spell seemed to have no effect, but soon Sudvana's face began to stir. Her lips pulled back into a pained grimace and she squirmed on the hard ground; the larger ashes that clung to her skin fell, though she remained patched with black. She slowly pulled herself up, groaning slightly. As her eyes opened her face looked from left to right, her blurred vision eventually spotting Annelique sitting not a foot away from her.

"Annie? Are you alright?"

"Yes," Annelique said quietly. "Are you?"

"I dunno," Sudvana replied. "I think so."

Annelique smiled ever so faintly as her eyes slowly closed.

"Good..."

The word escaped her lips even as her body was collapsing backwards onto the ground. She wasn't sure if it was her exhaustion or the rock she hit that caused her to lose consciousness so fast--all she knew was that she didn't care.

*****

Leiasell gave a nod to her fellow warriors as she walked along the battlements. Aerothi was standing in an otherwise unremarkable spot, looking out over the parapets into the field below. She had changed her dress since Leiasell had last seen her; a dark red dress with white trimmings now adorned her and she looked as eerie as she always did.

A tall woman turned towards her. Blue-streaked white hair flowed between her heavily armored shoulders. An enormous blade hung at her back, it's edges forged from black adamant but it's center looking as though it was carved out of pure emerald. Small runes were carved into the stone along it's length, giving it the look of an elaborate gemstone. This was Arake, one of Aerothi's four top lieutenants and her personal bodyguard.

"Leiasell," Arake nodded. "It is good to see you have returned safely."

The warm sentiment was not shared by the woman behind her; another lieutenant, crimson-haired with eyes the color of copper. Though they shone fiercely, Leiasell had always thought there was something behind them--something painful that her piercing gaze and firey words were meant to hide. The woman gave Leiasell a dismissive glance before returning her gaze to the field below them.

"They are inexperienced and poorly organized, but they have great strength of will," Leiasell said. "The angel in particular is dangerous."

"Is?" Arake said, raising an eyebrow. "So I take it you left them alive."

Suddenly another voice was added to the conversation--eerie and whispering, coming from Aerothi's lips. It said only a single word:

"Yes."

"And why might that be, Leiasell?" the crimson-haired woman asked, a hint of accusation in her voice. "I told you not to go alone."

"They are not the only ones who want to stop us, Rea." Leiasell replied evenly.

"They are different," Aerothi said. Her eyebrows stitched together as she said this, as though she were perplexed by her own statement.

Rea's expression softened a bit, changing from anger to curiousity. "How do you mean?"

There was a moment of silence, Aerothi's gaze never wavering from the endless horizon. "I don't know," she finally said.

"There is something strange about them," came a fifth voice; Shannon, their chief tactician and commander of the mighty battleship that even now hung in space above the Ironbelly fortress they had so recently conquered. Locks of raven hair framed her dark blue eyes. A draping black tunic was visible beneath her suit of opalescent black armor. A pistol hung at her hip, matched by a strange, bladeless sword handle on the other. Her plumb lips barely moved as she spoke, almost flowing around her words.

"They don't seem to match the flow of events here..." she continued. "And they have encountered your might twice and survived."

"We had to let them go the first time," Leiasell said.

Before she could continue, Shannon interrupted her. "But why this time?"

Leiasell gritted her teeth as she searched for an answer. "I sealed the portal. There is no sense in killing more people than is necessary."

"You are underestimating them, Leiasell," Shannon said.

"The small one," Aerothi suddenly said. "With the orange hair. Did she survive?"

"Yes," Leiasell said. "But she did not make it through the portal. But...others did."

"Dispatch them," Shannon said bluntly. "The portal of three waterfalls emerges three miles east of the peak of the mountain of shadows. I suggest you find them quickly."

"Is that really necessary? They--"

"Yes," Shannon said firmly. "Whatever tricks that mountain can pull will not stop them. And this time, I'm sending Rea with you to make sure the job gets done. Return as swiftly as you can. We will have need of you soon."

Leiasell said nothing, but instead outstretched her hand. The firey edges of a portal opened not a foot from her. Rea stepped through without comment. Before Leiasell could step through, however, Shannon spoke again.

"And when you've dealt with them...go to Phaesili and finish the rest."

Leiasell did not reply; she simply stepped through the portal. A moment later it squoze itself shut and vanished.

"Do you really think they're that dangerous?" Arake asked.

"I have complete confidence in your ability to protect our leader in their absence," Shannon replied. "No use in taking chances."

Arake found herself biting her lower lip. Something about this was nagging at her, but she didn't know how to put it into words...

She didn't really know what it was.

She just knew something very bad was coming.

*****

Gairanda awoke on a patch of rough ground, her whole body stiff. Her clothing was in shambles, practically burnt to a crisp. Her armor felt uneven and warped from the heat of the sorceress's attack.

There was something strange about her surroundings--she could only see a few meters in each direction and the sky seemed blotted out almost completely. Only the faintest forms could be seen; there were motionless black shapes at the edges of her vision, partially obscuring the banks of ashen fog that were being blown through the air.

If she didn't know better, she would have thought she was in Faneglut, or some other dark dimension.

Grasping her blade, she stood up and took a harder look around.

"Annelique!" she yelled out. "Blast! Sudvana!"

She looked around and listened, but only the rushing wind could be heard. None of them were anywhere to be seen, and if they had heard her, she hadn't heard any reply.

She reached down to her belt and lit one of the miniature lanterns that was still relatively undamaged. It didn't seem to help much, but hopefully it would help her companions spot her. The one thing it did do was reveal some of the dark shapes silhouetted around her--twisted, leafless trees, undaunted by the wind, their bark an almost ghostly grey.

Darkwood trees, most likely. Perhaps she was still in Phaesili...or perhaps she was in Faneglut after all.

She yelled her friend's names for a bit longer before giving it up and looking for tracks on the ground. Surprisingly, the earth was completely untouched, save for a single pair of tracks, very clear and heading in a very obvious direction. They appeared to be Annelique's.

Something seemed awfully suspicious about it; she immediately believed it to be a trap.

"She's not coming for you," came a voice from behind her.

Gairanda immediately flipped around, her sword in ready position.

Some ten meters in front of her was what could only be a ghost. The ghost's face was very familiar--she was almost certain she had seen it before, but she didn't know where.

"She believes she's already found you," the wraithly creature said with a smile. "But the important part of you is here...the nutritious part is here."

"I think you'll find I am a more costly meal than I am worth," Gairanda replied, holding the point of her sword towards it's body.

"I am just a reflection of what is to come. Someone who wears my face is coming to devour your body. Let me bring your soul peace and it will spare you the pain."

Suddenly, it hit her. This ghost looked almost exactly like one of the women she had seen in Aerothi's de-facto throneroom.

"Another of Aerothi's agents is coming for me?"

"Yes, and she will find you defenseless," the ghost said.

"I think not," Gairanda replied, holding her sword in front of her again.

"You assume you will be able to escape this world before she finds you."

"No, I'm perfectly happy fighting her right here."

"You cannot fight her here, for she is in the waking world."

There was a short pause as Gairanda considered the spectre's words.

"You mean I'm dreaming...and I'm trapped here."

"Until one or the other of us devours you," the ghost said. "I offer you a painless and merciful death. Hers will not be so."

"I will never accept death," Gairanda said. "Not so long as a breath remains in my body."

"As you wish," the ghost replied.

Suddenly, columns of earth began to jut out of the ground around Gairanda, siezing her like a giant hand and squeezing her hard--so hard that she feared her ribs would crack. She did her best to fight her way free, but it took only moments for the crushing power of the stone tendrils to overwhelm and crush the breath out of her.

As she grit her teeth against the pain, the ghost wafted over to her. "It doesn't have to be this way, my child. I don't want this cruel creature to find you...nor do you need to suffer by my hand. Let me lead you to peace."

Gairanda sneered at her. Two could play at this game. If this was a dream, she could manipulate it just as easily as this ghost.

She imagined the earth around her cracking, crumbling around her like dust. She focused all of her will on the image, trying to force it into reality in this strange realm.

Yet the rock did not crack. It did not budge; not even the smallest seam became visible in it.

"My poor dear," the ghost said. "You make the mistake that everyone makes in assuming that this is *your* dream. This is my dream; that is why you have no power here, and that is why you cannot awaken."

"If you have all the power here," Gairanda croaked with what little air she had, "then I'll just have to take it from you!"

She struggled with all her might against the stone that held her, but all she felt was her muscles rapidly weakening--it felt as though they were turning to water.

The ghost placed a cool hand on her cheek and a strange feeling came over her--it was calm, serene. Her anger and aggression drained away as though they had never existed.

"You will not live forever, Gairanda, daughter of the Ironbellies. I have seen your fate; one of you is going to die under the gaze I now possess. If it is you...then it need not be one of your companions."

Gairanda suddenly felt like she had swallowed a rock. It didn't feel like the ghost was decieving her...not that she was particularly experienced in the trickery of ghosts.

"Die in peace," the ghost whispered as it vanished. It moved like a wind through Gairanda's soul, even as she felt a strange, ethereal pair of lips begin to tickle her toes.

Gairanda wanted to fight, but she couldn't. All the pain was gone...she felt totally calm, a warm tranquility washing over her in gentle waves. The ghost's mouth felt comforting as it moved up her legs, the stone seeming to dissolve as she moved up Gairanda's body. The whole scene seemed to gradually vanish until it was merely the two of them floating in a shifting void.

"If I die...another will be spared?" Gairanda asked.

"If you die, another will be spared," the ghost replied. "Though I do not know whom."

Gairanda closed her eyes.

Her entire life, she had been defending people...protecting their lives by risking her own. But she had never faced this before...a guarantee that she could save a life in exchange for her own certain death.

She realized she had never faced the fear of death.

Every time she had thought of it, one simple thought deflected it--she would refuse to go down. She would fight until she was dead and then some--death wasn't something she had to worry about, because by the time she'd have to think about it she would be dead already.

But now, for the very first time, she truly had to think about it--and she felt true fear.

She looked down at the ghost whose lips were now around her midsection. Her legs seemed to be disappearing into pure, formless darkness. They felt warm, as if they were wrapped in a blanket that was gradually turning them into a liquid and then draining them away.

It was said that if you were eaten by a ghost, your soul would be digested and you would lose the memories of your previous lives forever. Was it really worth it?

But how could she consider herself an Ironbelly if she wasn't willing to make that sacrifice?

She felt an icy terror inside her, breaking through even the serenity the ghost had given her. She simply floated there, paralyzed by indecision and fear as the ghost's lips moved up over her face.

Within moments, she was engulfed in a warm, thick darkness, and she felt herself beginning to seep into oblivion.

*****

"Annelique? Annelique?" Sudvana said as she touched the angel's face. She had apparently lost consciousness, succumbing to the trials of the last few hours. Sudvana gently patted her on the forehead and decided to let her sleep.

She stood up. She was a little weak, but considering she'd just had her ass practically phasered off, she felt little worse for the wear. She saw Gairanda nearby, also unconscious and looking badly burned--apparently she had been hit by the sorceress's staff as well. She couldn't see any of the others but did not want to cry out for fear that something hungry would come out of the darkness looking for her voice.

As she wondered at the fate of her companions, she felt a strange magic being borne on the winds that were blowing across the dust and rocks. There was something unnatural about these mountains; something that put her on edge.

She realized with a start that she had lost her staff; whether it was in the fight with the dragon pixies or the sorceress, she didn't know. Luckily, she still had the demonic book of magic strapped to the back of her belt; perhaps it would have something in it that would help her determine where they were.

Like everything she had, the pages were corroded and burned around the edges; some were almost destroyed. Bits of ash flaked off as she turned them, trying to find a useful spell. She found a few interesting ones; spells for controlling plants, destroying elementals, and a whole lot of spells on how to fight angels and enslave girls, but not much in the way of navigation spells. She did find one spell, however, that might be useful. It was a read magic spell, supposedly designed to allow the user to find out the powers an enchanted item had, but it might help her discern what this strange magical field was.

Most of the page was intact; it had a small set of runes and chants corresponding to different kinds of items; one for potions, one for rings, one for magical creatures. Luckily, there was even a rune and chant that was meant for reading magical fields and auras.

She didn't usually cast spells from books--most of her magic was of the intuitive style, where she would envision the effect and will it into existance. Books and chants were meant as focuses; they trained the mind to make the spell stronger, and through the use of symbols they increased the caster's concentration...at least, that's what Latella had always told her. When she had used chants herself, however, she had always felt something move through her as if from the outside...maybe it was her imagination, but often the words seemed to have a power of their own.

She read over the chant a few times and memorized the symbol; it would be awkward to cast the spell without being familiar with it, but it would probably be better than making it up as she went along. She then began to focus her mana as she read the spell aloud:

"Powers of magic, heed my call; reveal to me the forces unseen, the powers unknown, the magic of the mind's eye. Unfurl in my mind the purpose, the way, and the power!" With this last word, she focused her energy into creating a burning rune in the air, the magical cue that her chant was complete. As the rune brightened to an almost blinding level, she began to feel something squirming into her mind. She felt shapes as if they were inside her skull, and overlapping images appeared as if they were being projected from behind her eyes.

She saw three images. The first was merely of herself and her two companions, complete with the rune she cast, blazing in miniature in the center of the vision. The second was the same scene, except the edges were darkened into obscurity and only the sleeping form of Gairanda was visible; neither she nor Annelique were in it. The final vision was the reverse; Annelique's sleeping body, with Sudvana and Gairanda seemingly erased from the scene.

She also felt something else...entities, worming around in a way she couldn't quite piece together. She knew there were things around her--a few were watching her. But even with the power of her spell, she could not see them, nor could she identify them. She wasn't even sure how she knew they were actual entities.

What worried her most, however, was where they were. They seemed to be surrounding the group...all except for one, which was directly over Gairanda's sleeping body.

That was worrying.

As the visions began to fade from her mind, she walked over to Gairanda.

Gairanda's face was pale, and as she drew closer, Sudvana realized her sleeping body was trembling.

"Gairanda?"

There was no response. Sudvana shook her gently. "Gairanda?"

She shook her with more force. She did not awaken. Instead, her skin grew visibly more pale, and sweat was appearing on her face--whatever this entity was, it was doing something to her.

"GAIRANDA!" she screamed as she picked up the other woman and shook her hard. "WAKE UP!"

Gairanda wouldn't awaken. Sudvana knew she had to get this thing away from her, but she didn't know how--she couldn't see it, and now that the spell had faded she couldn't even sense it.

She didn't even know where to start on how to wake someone up magically, but she tried anyway. "AWAKEN!" she yelled, summoning mana to power the word, but it did nothing.

"WHATEVER YOU ARE, GET AWAY!" she yelled. She frantically flipped through the book again, looking for a spell to banish spirits. As she did, she heard a voice come from behind the trees.

"Get away, should I?"

A centauress appeared from behind one of the trees as if she had stepped out of the night itself. Her hair shone pitch black, and her human half was covered in silk robes that matched, lined with a blood red. A long wooden staff with hooklike blades on the pommel was in her left hand.

"Are you doing this!?" Sudvana demanded, her hand already beginning to summon a crimson flame.

"Foolish is the one who comes to the mountain of shadows unprepared," the centauress said. "It is most fortunate that the ghosts have left one for me."

"What ghosts?"

"My, you truly are unprepared, aren't you? Ah well. You won't have much use for that knowledge where you're going anyway," the centauress said with a grin. With that, she raised her staff, which began to emit a greyish glow. Sudvana felt something happening to her legs--she didn't have time to find out what, however. She knew she'd have to take the offensive if she was going to survive against this thing.

She flung a firebolt at the Centauress. It seemed to strike something just a few inches shy of her, the fire blasting out and flowing around her. Sudvana fired another, to the same effect.

The Centauress smiled. "You will find that such paltry magic is quite useless against me, little human."

It began galloping towards her. She attempted to step back as she summoned energy for a stronger spell, but her feet were frozen to the ground--the Centauress' spell had encased them in stone. Turning her attention from the centauress, she instead fired her spell into the ground--a powerful lightning bolt that shattered the stone, but also blazed across her legs. She faltered and just barely ducked sideways quickly enough to evade the centauress' bladed staff.

The centauress began to summon energy for another spell. Thinking fast, Sudvana locked her mind on the energies it was focusing and tried to draw them to her. A visible line of energy appeared between them as Sudvana sucked crimson energy from the centauresses staff into the palm of her hand. The energy felt hot as it surged up into her arm and quickly became painful, but it was clearly interfering with the centauress' ability to cast the spell.

She tried to channel the energy back into one of her own spells. She could feel it building up at a very rapid rate as both the centauress' power and her own combined, and just as the energy reached the limits of where she could contain it, she fired it as another lightning bolt.

This one seemed to penetrate whatever magical defense the centauress had and blasted her back. She was stunned for a moment as she recovered from the shock of the spell; in the meantime, several more firebolts were launched at her, but these blasted harmlessly around her just as the previous ones had. Apparently she had magical protection up to a certain strength; a normal firebolt wouldn't crack it, but maybe Sudvana could summon something that could. She began to draw upon her mana and build up another spell, faster and more powerful than before.

The centauress sneered. "Two can play at that game, bitch." Swirling her staff until it was held vertically in front of her, she suddenly began sucking Sudvana's energy, far more forcefully than Sudvana had. Almost instantly Sudvana had lost her entire spell, and the centauress twirled her staff again and emitted a blast of white energy that crashed into Sudvana like a wave of hellfire. She fell hard to the ground, feeling like her whole body was burning all the way down to the bone. Nonetheless, she stood up, another spell already in her hands--and this time, she was holding it tight in her mind, so if the centauress tried to grab it, it would at least take some effort this time.

The centauress threw a trio of firebolts; Sudvana evaded two and magically deflected the third, but only barely. She found she was staggering slightly--her skin was still searing from the centauress' last spell. She fired off an icebolt, mentally guiding it towards the centauress' staff; hopefully she could screw it up somehow. The icebolt instead impacted against the centauress' magical barrier, but it seemed to waver just enough to leave a smattering of ice crystals on the centauress' robes. The centauress' eyes suddenly burned orange and billowing flames began to shoot from her staff. It was all Sudvana could do to run, but running speed was not an advantage that humans had over centauresses. She dove to the ground as she felt the flames beginning to lick her back, and the centauress stopped and reared up, preparing for the finishing blow.

Sudvana shoved herself sideways, narrowly avoiding the crushing hooves. She was clearly outmatched in magic...but as an enchantress, what else could she do?

It was then that she realized that she had rolled fairly close to where Annelique was lying, still asleep and seemingly oblivious to the whole battle. Sprinting to her feet, she ran over and drew the angel's obsidian sword from it's scabbard. The centauress had been close behind her and did not realize what she was doing in time to avoid a point-blank attack with the poisoned blade. The centauress shrieked as the sword carved through her, Sudvana's uneven, dragging stroke only making it worse. Sudvana felt a strange sensation as the blade sliced through the centauress' flesh; it felt like something was oozing into her veins as life force seeped from the blade into her body, stolen from the centauress by the blood poison enchantment it carried. The area around the centauress' wound grew slightly discolored and she was momentarily taken aback. Sudvana wasted no time, immediately pulling back for another lunge and stabbing the blade right through the centauress' midsection. She simply held it there and let the blood poison enchantment do it's work--it was slowly killing the centauress from the inside out. The centauress screamed and tried to attack, but Sudvana was just too close to for the centauress to effectively hit her and the sudden, dizzying pain was making spellcasting practically impossible. Finally, the centauress dropped her staff and simply grabbed Sudvana by the neck. Flames erupted from her hands, rising around Sudvana's face. Sudvana grit her teeth and clenched her eyes shut as the flames tore away at her skin, but she kept her grip on the sword.

Finally, Sudvana could take no more and both combatants began to collapse. Sudvana fell onto her back just as the centauress let go of her, crashing to the ground with the obsidian blade still buried in it's belly. Both could still move, but only barely.

Sudvana was the first to recover enough to stand up again. Her whole body throbbed with pain, but she trudged over to where the centauress lay, kneeling at the monster's giant backside. Opening her mouth wide, she began to shove the centauress' wide rump into her mouth.

The centauress panicked and tried to spring to it's feet, but Sudvana locked her arms around it's back legs and kept her trapped sideways across the ground. Meanwhile, she could feel the centauress' struggles weakening as the poison grew stronger within her.

The Centauress grabbed the hilt of the obsidian blade and tried to pull; she had little success, only pulling it out inch by labored inch as Sudvana swallowed her from behind much faster.

Sudvana's belly suddenly burned with a strange new desire, and she realized this was the first time she had attempted to eat another creature whole. She hadn't even planned it--she had just sort of started doing it. She pulled with her arms and felt her stomach eagerly beginning to suck the creature down her throat as she made several hard swallows. Soon she felt the hooves of the centauress' back legs scraping along her tongue and going down her throat.

The monster had a strange taste--salty and tangy, but the second it's rump hit Sudvana's stomach, a wave of pleasure hit her that was unlike anything she had ever felt before. She began to wolf down the centauress with a new zeal, taking almost a foot of it's body in with each loud gulp. By the time she reached it's human half, the centauress had gone limp, having pulled the sword only halfway out of it's body in spite of it's panic. Sudvana grabbed it and yanked it out the rest of the way as the furred horse body gave way to smooth, silky skin. It was delicious, having an almost creamy quality to it.

There were a few almost imperceptible squirms and shudders from the centauress as she glomped down the rest of it. By the time the creature's head was pushing it's way down Sudvana's esophagus, her belly had stretched so far that she feared it would rip itself open. She found herself short of breath as her lungs made way for her bulging stomach.

She could still taste the creature inside, and could feel it as her belly began to churn it. The feeling was incredible--it felt like her stomach was having sex. She wrapped her hands around her enormous belly, laying flat on her back and panting as the wave of new sensations flooded her mind.

The experience was so intense that it took nearly two full minutes before Sudvana realized what had been happening only moments before the centauress had appeared. Her pleasure turned to panic as she turned towards Gairanda, trying to force herself to her feet despite the enormous load she was now carrying. She had to literally drag her enormous belly across the rocks to get to her.

"Oh no..." Sudvana gasped. Gairanda's skin was sheet white now--even her hair was beginning to fade.

"Hey you!" Sudvana yelled, pounding on her stomach. "Wake up!"

She felt a feeble kick of a hoof from inside her.

"What were those ghosts you were talking about!?" Sudvana demanded.

The voice she heard in return was almost inaudible--it seemed to be faint even without being muffled by her stomach.

"Let me...let me out and I'll tell you."

"How about you tell me and then I might let you out."

"The ghosts..." the centauress panted, her voice weak, "...the ghosts attack you in your dreams...you need a dreamwarden, or a spell...or a faerie who can dreamwalk..."

"What's dreamwalking?"

"Some faeries can...learn...to enter...and change..." The centauress' voice trailed off.

Sudvana sighed. She loved the feeling of the centauress in her belly, but she might be her only chance.

With great effort, she forced her stomach muscles to contract and her throat to open, flinging the centauress' slimy body to the ground. It laid there completely prone, soaked all over and completely motionless.

Sudvana sighed again. Picking up the centauress' staff as a precaution, she quickly waved her hand over the centauress and cast a minor healing spell.

The centauress squirmed for a moment before realizing it's surroundings and bolting to it's feet. Seeing Gairanda holding it's staff, it stood warily still.

"You were saying?" Sudvana asked.

"I..." the centauress thought for a moment, "--was saying that some faeries can dreamwalk. They can enter other people's dreams, and influence them from the inside. They can rescue people who are under attack by the ghosts."

Dammit--where was Kaboom?

"Do you know any faeries around here?" Sudvana asked.

"There are faeries here, but they are our enemies," the centauress replied. "They would attack me on sight. Besides," she said, looking over at Gairanda, "I doubt you could reach them before your friend over there was dead. It looks like a ghost has already got her."

"What do you mean, 'got her'?"

"Anyone who falls asleep on this mountain without magical protection is drawn into the ghost realm. They will devour the person's spirit, resulting in complete oblivion. That is quite obviously what is happening to your friend there."

Sudvana's heart began to pound in her chest as she looked over to Annelique's sleeping body.