“Sir. Sir! We’re here!” an aloof voice said through muffled hearing. The older man woke up to the younger one slightly shaking him. He looked around  for any indication of his surroundings but received none, he yawned and prepared to lay back down. The younger man sighed, shaking him harder. The older man sat up, giving up on any chance of more sleep. Cheers and prayers roared from outside of their dark enclosure, the older man smiled while rubbing his eyes and fixing his hair. Once done, he practiced his smile a few times before giving the go.

        “Open them.” He said. The younger man opened the curtains of the automobile to see thousands of people crowding around it. They all smiled, not a single face distraught. Some smiled as tears of joy rolled down their faces. He waved, smiled, and nodded through the window, working the masses. The younger man did his best to catch a glimpse of the town itself as they slowly moved through the crowd. People had to move out of the way of trollies and other automobiles as they filled the streets. All of the buildings looked identical despite serving completely different purposes. Shops, homes, departments and schools, all white with crosses at their fronts. The only difference was the signs plastered on each building, even the townsfolk needed help identifying them. The beautiful sunny sky brightened each building’s white paint and gold crosses. It looked like a town full of stars. 

        “Is this Kansas, Carreon?” The older man asked, still holding his smile.

        “Oregon, your Auspex.”

        “Really? How much longer till we are at the church?”

        “Driver?” Carreon asked, pulling open the privacy door. 

        “About 15 more minutes, your Auspex!” He said from the driver’s seat. 

       “Can we make it in 10?” He asked. The driver honked his horn as he lightly pushed through the crowd and ignored traffic lights. The auspex gave his final waves as he closed the curtains, finishing with a deep breath. 

        “Oregon is much too advanced these days, why did I think we were in Kansas?”

        “You travel often, your auspex, a little confused is all.”

       “What you don’t understand, could be your downfall…” 

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        Geoffren hid behind one of the many large trees in the long spanning forest. He peeked around it, watching Ebnus walk away none the wiser. Once he built distance, Geoffren and the rest unveiled themselves from behind the trees and followed. Being as silent as possible, they followed Ebnus through the dark woods. Geoffren signaled for Kelnick to turn his eyes off, worried he would notice the green glow coming from behind him.

        “You don’t need my sight anymore?” Kelnick asked.

        “I have Ebnus’ energy signature carved into my brain, I know where he is at all times.” Geoffren responded.

        “Ok good, I wasn’t thinking you were obsessed either…” Bullus said sarcastically. 

        “You all are young, so I wouldn’t expect you to be able to understand, but Ebnus’ energy is the perfect beacon. It’s recognizable and intense, it’s great as a pin. Every object in our perception radiates life force to some degree, making it difficult to tell which is which sometimes. It’s like being in a room full of loud baby chicks blindfolded, Ebnus’ energy is a rooster.” Geoffren said. The group all remained silent, completely weirded out by Geoffren.

       “Don’t you think this is a bit much, General? We should just let him know we’re here.” Evanglow spoke up. Geoffren ignored them as he quietly walked on air. Their trek was a sequence of strides to the backs of trees. Waiting behind a group of trees for a few minutes then quietly moving to another the next minute, almost like a ballroom dance. They had been doing this for 6 hours so far, without a single break. The monotonous shuffle of feet from one tree to the next drove the others mad, especially Raygal, who had been silent this entire time. Geoffren noticed Ebnus had suddenly stopped, he grew worried and moved closer to get a good look at him. Through the trees he saw him readying for bed so he signaled the others to as well. As most of them slept, Geoffren watched Ebnus. While he watched, Raygal watched him, he had finally had enough.  

       “He’s sleeping, General. I promise you can take your eyes off of him for one second.” Raygal said, walking over to Geoffren. 

        “Oh I know, I just…wanted to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid again. I wanted to make sure you all would be safe around him.” Geoffren lied. Raygal nodded his head with a content look. From behind them they heard a faint cooing accompanied by small flapping. They turned around to see a small carrier pigeon with a note tied to its back. The pigeon landed on Geoffren’s finger without hesitation.

Ebnus. Raygal slept, having to bare the unreciprocated respect they both suffered from, a chain starting with Ebnus, and ending with him. A chain with infinite distance between each link. Morning finally arrived and the others were rudely awoken with wind once again.

       “Ebnus left about 30 minutes ago, I decided to give you guys more time to sleep so we could be more alert today.” Geoffren said. The group continued following him, swiftly keeping up with Ebnus. Raygal wouldn’t let his emotions get in the way of orders, he kept up with the group despite being upset. 

       “You ok, firecracker? You haven’t spoken all day, I’m not complaining, I'm just curious.” Bullus said. Raygal remained silent as they moved from tree to tree. Geoffren neglected all care to his silence, completely focused on Ebnus energy and the surrounding area. Raygal watched him from the back of the group, looking forward to him as he looked forward to Ebnus. His neck hadn’t moved an inch once they had begun their routine. The back of his head was a sight Raygal was not fond of. A mundane sight of the hairs on Geoffren’s neck was given life as they sharply stood on end, with his reaction ensuing after.

       “Eyes.” Geoffren said as he was looking to his left. 

        “But I thought–” Kelnick said, lost.

        “Eyes!” Geoffren shouted as he pointed to his left.

        “Nothing, sir.” He responded. Geoffren then alertly looked to his right. Kelnick followed and still saw nothing.

        “Same as before, nothing.” He said. Geoffren’s eyes began to bead as he sensed unease standing tall amongst the smaller pools of energy. The energy of people was much more distinguishable than that of an inanimate object. A person’s energy was more active and could even carry an emotional aftertaste. Being encompassed in the forest for days made his familiarity with the energies of his allies, apart from Ebnus, uninterested him. They became rocks for him to walk past and ignore. The sudden sore thumbs, however, gave him worry. They moved towards Ebnus. Geoffren’s body jolted towards his location. The group watched as he flew through the woods to find him. A pink light began to shine as he got closer. In seconds he had found Ebnus. Geoffren stopped in front of him, frantically looking around. Ebnus carried an angry look, like he was ready to kill Geoffren.

        “Ebnus, you’re in danger, jump on my back i’ll–”

        “Didn’t I tell you to stop following me…” Ebnus said, tightly gripping the sharp crystal. Geoffren looked down at it with a scared swallow. His arms and eyes, slowly raised to Ebnus to show he meant no harm.

        “What did I say would happen if you kept following me?” Ebnus reiterated.

       “Yes sir!” He screeched. He punched into the ground, shattering it below them. Rocks and trees began to fall atop them as they went under. Geoffren aimed at the sky and sent air around them, dispersing all of it. He watched as Ebnus left his line of sight, his energy was still clear as day, so he tried not to panic. They all fell into a system of caves with water surrounding their ankles. Ebnus splashed into the water as he landed. He spit out the terrible tasting cave water as he got up. His heavy wet cloak weighed down on him. 

        “That dumb old bastard, what was his plan?” He thought. Noticing just in time, he saw the same gaseous claws slash at him and he jumped out of the way once more. His cloak was ripped in half that time.

        “I’m getting closer…” A tired and high-pitched voice said. A woman with long stringy black hair and dark skin stepped out of the shadows. She wore the confederate uniform without any shoes and was also dripping wet. Ebnus sized her up, studying her. Her closed body posture and nervous hands gave him an idea of her tactics. The noise of water dripping from the top of the cave to the water they stood in echoed through its hollow corridor. 

        “Two sucker punches and I’m still standing, you’re gonna die since I’m watching you now.” Ebnus said with a confident smile.

        “My manipulation requires it. I thrive in the dark, the conduit of ‘sucker punching’.” She replied. Her speech bothered him, every sentence ended like she was shy and confused.

       “Are you nervous? Even with the echo I can barely hear you! Speak up, dumbass!” He said. She became silent and just stared at him from across the water. The cave water held a soft blue glow that allowed them to see each other's faces. Ebnus’ eyes began to give off that bright pink hue they usually do. His arm extended out from what was left of his cloak and sent a barrage of crystals at her. They bursted from the ground towards her at high speeds. Before they could reach her she disappeared into the darkness again.

       “Teleportation?” He thought as he had a crystal shoot up from under his feet, sending him into the air. As he took off, the claw came from under him and sliced the crystal in half. The crystals glowed brightly, helping illuminate the cave. He was propelled towards the roof of the cave, the enemy appeared from its darkness with two gaseous claws. With a crazed face she trashed at him with the claws. He quickly created a sword to cut them to no avail, they created deep cuts in his arms and face. He fell back down into the water, now staining it with his blood. He stood up as the shadow from before shot towards him atop the water. He created crystals under him that pushed him forward, allowing him to surf on them. The shadow closely followed him as he traversed. The claws reached from the shadow, cutting at the crystals as it was catching up. Ebnus circled around the area, creating more to generate light. 

darkness and the larger claws replaced her. Despite being shrouded in darkness, Ebnus could make out the claws from the little light the handheld crystal gave and his ability to sense her energy. One formed a fist and punched at Ebnus, he created a shield but still felt the force as it sent him flying. 

       “I need more light! When in complete darkness, her claws grow in size and power. I need to limit them with light!” He thought. As he landed he slammed the shield into the ground, planting it like a seed, growing a glowing crystal film along the sides of the cave. The dark claws went away once more. Though once they disappeared, she wasn't there. He noticed where she was too late, she came from behind him and sliced his back. He grunted and created a crystal sledgehammer, swinging behind him hoping to hit her. She sank back into her shadow and zipped away. Ebnus’ blood darkened the water, spreading through it like wildfire. The dark pool of blood created the perfect conduit for her and the dark claw thrusted through it, grabbing Ebnus by the throat.

        “Can you hear me when I’m this close, you arrogant yankee?!” She said, choking him. 

        “You butternut bitch, don’t get confident, I just haven't won yet!” Ebnus groaned as he swung the hammer at her head. She dodged it as she sank back into the dark water, reappearing behind him and kicking him to the ground. Ebnus got up and surfed away on his crystals, the claws once again destroying them. The cave never found a balance, constantly teetering between lit and dark. Each time it darkened, Ebnus was ferociously cut by the claws. They once again caught up to him and grabbed him off of his crystals, slamming him into the water. The cave grew dark once again, the claws growing in size. They flung him around, slamming him into the water. He created a large crystal beaming with light to get them to disappear. Once they did he laid in the water exhausted, knowing he didn't have much time before she came and finished him off. He brought himself up as the shadow came in his direction. 

        “It’s over.” She thought as she moved through her shadow. Spots of darkness were completely visible from her shadow, these spots indicated areas she could come through or teleport to. Light however, was a different case, she could not see if surrounded by light in her shadow. Sadly for her, Ebnus had figured this out. Louina saw the dark spot in the water and jumped through it to the surface, ready to finish this. She emerged through it, only feeling the weight of Ebnus’ wet cloak. In panic she quickly threw it off but was pierced through her stomach by a sharp and serrated crystal, lifting her high off the ground and filling the room with light. Louina vomited blood onto crystal through her stomach, confused. 

        “Moving instantaneously through the dark, crazy shadow claws, intangibility, ridiculous speed…all this just to lose. Once I figured it out, all I had to do was place my cloak in the water, you thought it was a pool of my blood and you jumped through hoping to kill me. Though you failed, I told you, you’re a waste.” He said.

        “But I am an elite…”