Nire had been walking with and talking casually to Corda for a while until they arrived at the giant doors that had their organization leader on the other side. Upon arriving, Corda pushed the doors open with no effort at all, and ushered the little girl inside. Fearing what lay beyond the open doors, Nire turned around quickly to see if Corda would enter with her, but Corda already began to comically shut the door, peeping her head out and saying, “Have fun in there!” The woman then shut the door on the girl before she could even respond.

Stepping into the dimly lit room on a red carpet, reminiscent of the red accents on the uniform, Nire could see a desk at the end of the little walkway. On the desk, there was a piece of cloth that lay on the table top and flowed down, covering the front of the desk. It was beautifully decorated with an emblem that Nire had seen all over the tower, so she figured it must have been the emblem of this organization. On top of the desk was one cup that had two incense sticks that were lit and emitted a little smoke into the room. To either side of the desk stood tall flags that stuck out of holders that reflected in the dim light. One flag had the same emblem of Hneev Taw and the other had one that Nire had not seen before. Next to the flags were large potted plants. Behind the desk was a large and tall chair that was facing a large window that had its curtains drawn, allowing only a little light to enter the room. It didn’t look like anyone was in the room, but Nire knew that these people are odd -- their leader was probably hiding somewhere in the dimly lit room.

As Nire looked around the room, trying to find a sign of life, a slight chuckle could be heard echoing through the seemingly empty room. The girl paused for a moment, but allowed no room for panic. Suddenly, the chair began to turn around, curtains on the window rising up with it as well, and a young man with wild and spiky light pink hair revealed himself to the girl. Taking a closer look at the man, he had eyes as red as Nire’s left eye.

Looking at the rest of him, Nire noticed that the colors of his outfit resembled the long coat the rest of the organization members wore, but the style was different. For starters, the young man in front of Nire didn’t wear a long coat, but rather a short coat that had a cape along the back. Tied around his untamed hair was a striped ribbon. The bottom half of his outfit was more or less the same as the rest of the members with the red sash around the waist, baggy black pants, and tall burgundy boots. Nire guessed that the slight difference was to point out that this man was the figure of authority around here. After fully turning around in his chair, the man placed his hands on the table and stood up, revealing that he was actually very tall and kind of lanky.

“So,” the man started to say as he got up, “you’ve finally decided to show yourself.” The man stepped out from behind his desk and pointed straight at Nire, loudly proclaiming, “Carrier of the Eye of Fortune!”

“The Eye of Fortune?” Nire repeated, frozen in place by surprise at the sudden change of pace with the appearance of the man.

“That’s right,” he said nodding. “I was just starting to think that you’d never show.” He then muttered under his breath, “I wasn’t expecting a child to appear, though.” Picking up the lively mannerisms once more, he leaned over onto his desk and spoke once more, “Anyways, now that you’re here, we can finally begin.”

This man was starting to give Nire the same vibes as Kei, the young boy who never stopped talking. “Begin what?” Nire asked suspiciously, to which the young man quickly walked over and leaned over and peered into Nire’s eyes.

“Hmm…” he said, judging the look in Nire’s eyes.

“Uhh…” Nire responded awkwardly with this strange overly charismatic man in her personal space.

“Yes, it certainly looks genuine,” he said half to himself, half to the little girl, smiling happily. “Okay,” he stood straight up, fixing his posture, “As I was saying--”

By now, Nire was getting tired of these people leading conversations with no context and no answers, so like a boiling tea kettle, she exploded, interrupting the man mid sentence. “Wait a minute,” she said, throwing her hand up in front of the tall man to stop him. “What is this ‘Eye of Fortune’? What exactly is this place? Who are you people? Who are you? Why are you all so weird? That water buffalo? And…” Nire lost steam and tears began to well in her eyes. She swallowed the lump that was starting to form in her throat. All the crazy events that had transpired as soon as Nire woke up flashed before her eyes. “What does everyone want from me?”

Surprisingly to Nire, the young man’s lively attitude immediately toned down and he stepped back to get a better look at the situation. Quietly, he spoke up again, “You really don’t know anything?”

“I...I…” Nire clenched her teeth, partly in anger, and partly to hold back the tears. “I just want some answers for once.”

The young man noticed the anger and confusion welling up in the young girl. He smiled a gentle smile and asked, “May I ask for your name?”

The young girl looked up into the man’s face, wiped away her tears, and answered, “My name is Nire.”

The man liked the look of conviction in her eyes. He relaxed a bit more and slightly bowed to the little girl standing before him and said, “Well, Nire, Carrier of the Eye of Fortune, my name is Vam Lis, leader of Hneev Taw. It is a pleasure to meet you. As for your questions, how about a little story first?”

[Refer to Interlude I]

Through the entirety of the story, Nire sat and listened in amazement, taking in every word. When the story was finished, she quickly spoke up, “You’re Vam Lis? That Vam Lis from the story?” Nire asked repeatedly making sure it was true. The shock was like that of meeting a famous celebrity.

“Yes, that is me,” Vam Lis replied unabashedly. Then his tone became more serious than anything Nire had previously heard. “I created this organization, Hneev Taw, to combat the return of my brother, Foom Lis, The Destroyer.”

“Foom Lis, The Destroyer…” Nire echoed despondently. That name felt familiar to her, but where had she heard that name from?

Vam Lis continued to tell Nire the goal of Hneev Taw. “Yes, and your Eye of Fortune is a heavenly omen of luck. It is also a clear sign that my brother has also begun to move. We need you on our side,” Vam Lis finished, almost pleading to the child.

The weight of everything she was just told, on top of everything that had happened previously to the young girl grew and grew into a heavy burden that she did not want to carry. Nire struggled to find the right words to explain herself without coming off as selfish.

“It’s not like I have anything against Foom Lis, but I also don’t have a reason for myself to join you. I actually just woke up from strange visions and strange people chasing after me, so if anything, I--”

As Nire began to pour her story out to Vam Lis, he smiled and asked her gently, “You’re searching for yourself, right?”

There was silence in the air. Nire stood in front of this all powerful man known as The Creator and let it all just sink in. Finally, she spoke up again, but only in a faint whisper. “Myself…”

Vam Lis then straightened himself once more and spoke, “Might I remind you, I have the power to create. I’m sure we can figure something out together.” He offered his hand to her, “So won’t you please join us, if only for a short period of time?”

Nire hesitated once more. She could not explain why she felt so hesitant.

At that very same moment, the large window behind Vam Lis’ desk crashed into thousands of pieces with three bodies crashing through and landing on top of the desk. The three bodies, shrouded in a total darkness, began to wriggle, making way for one of the three to shed that darkness and stand up in the middle of the other two.

“My, my, what have we here,” the body in the middle cooed.

The voice was a familiar voice that Nire had heard once before in a dream. Standing above her, on the desk, was a tall man with long silver hair and a black cloth covering his face. The tall man discarded the cloth to the side and glared at the two people standing before him. His complexion was almost as pale as his light silver hair and his eyes were as red as Vam Lis’.

“Foom Lis!” Vam Lis yelled in surprise at his brother’s actions.

The man who just appeared before Vam Lis and Nire ignored the outburst and turned towards Nire. “Nire,” he said happily, like speaking to an old friend, “what a pleasant surprise to find you here.”

“Aren’t you going to greet your older brother?” Vam Lis said indignantly, not happy with not receiving attention from his younger brother.

“Hmph!” Foom Lis said in response as he crossed his arms and turned the other way.

“What?!”

The relationship between the two brothers was almost laughable if Nire weren’t so paranoid over the sudden break in. She looked at the man with long silver hair and tried to put on a brave face. She had seen the way his hair flowed in the wind and she had experienced how his deep red eyes gazed down into the deepest depths of a person. Nire knew all that, and yet she couldn’t recall the exact moment. It was like waking from a dream and forgetting all that had happened.

Foom Lis began to speak again, “I originally came for your life, Vam Lis, but this has gotten interesting.” He then plopped down, sitting right on top of the back of one of the shadowy bodies who was now on all fours on the desk. The other shadowy body was standing ever so attentive to its master’s side. Foom Lis crossed his legs and sneered at Nire before speaking again to her, “Nire, this man can’t provide you any answers. Those answers you seek lie inside of you. So how about we play a game instead.” The man began to trail off, but still continued to speak in a loud voice, “What I’d really like is for you to join me, but you truly are hopeless right now.”

Nire immediately responded to the man’s proposition. “I accept,” she shouted full of energy.

Foom Lis looked pleasantly surprised at how easily it was for Nire to accept. His look softened after the slight shock and replied, “Excellent.” The silver haired man then got up and as if on cue, the two shadowy bodies collapsed onto the surface of the desk and a shadowy portal appeared, similar to the one that brought Nire to Hneev Taw previously, only this one looked more ominous. Foom Lis began to step through the portal, but turned around halfway through beckoning the little girl who shared an eye as red as his to step through as well. Just then, a shadowy creature of his reappeared in front of their leader as if to say something to him. He brandished an evil smile that was not fitting of his previous soft expression he showed Nire. “Follow me,” he said as he vanished into the darkness flashing a lock of dark gray hair that the girl instantly recognized as Doro’s.

At first Nire didn’t really have a reason to agree to Foom Lis’ game. There was simply a feeling inside of her that told her she had to accept it -- that it would be the correct path. Could it have been Tub’s guidance? None of that really mattered to Nire now, as Doro was potentially in grave danger. Maybe it was Nire’s fault for agreeing that led to this outcome, but now she had to live with her decision, and now she had to save Doro. Nire steeled her courage and jumped in after Foom Lis.

Not a second after, the door flung open and Let came running in shouting Doro’s name. However, he was shocked to see that the new girl was already climbing into the dark portal. He knew inside that he could not trust her. Furrowing his brows even more, he screamed, “I’ll get you,” and dove into the portal as well after Doro, his friend, and the new girl, whom he suspected to be up to no good.

“Count me in, too!” A cheery voice called. Kei ran into the room and jumped into the portal as well, but not before greeting Vam Lis who just stood and watched as these children literally jumped into a possibly dangerous situation.

“Don’t be reckless, now,” called another voice belonging to Corda as she, too, followed in after the parade of people. Corda had been watching Kei, who had been watching Let, who had been watching Nire, and had a feeling something like this was going to happen. Though she did not predict Foom Lis’ sudden appearance, she was glad she had decided to watch over everyone and was glad that she had made it in time.

Staring in awe at that long line of people chasing danger, Vam Lis almost forgot to enter himself, however, when he approached the portal, it had closed and disappeared. Sulking, he said aloud to himself, “Foom Lis is so rude to his brother.” Recovering from that, he then wondered aloud, “What could Foom Lis be planning? Knowing him, whatever it is, it can’t be good.”