Angel could feel that same feeling as before… it didn’t just feel like he was being watched - he was being watched. What confused him, however, was that even when he felt like he was looking right at the gaze, he couldn’t see anything looking back. Was it a demon? Could demons turn invisible?

It had been a few days since the last major earthquake, the one that had led Angel and Ren to meet for the first time. The people on the radio had said that no one had managed to fall into the cracks formed by the earthquake, and there was no mention of any chasm. 

Ren explained, “Chasms seal themselves when the demon that created it closes it themselves, dies, or leaves for more than a few hours. That’s what allows my family to do our work without any interference.”

“Oh…” Angel looked out the car door, looking around at the surrounding buildings. 

He lied to me… I mean it’s far from the first time someone’s lied to me, but I just don’t get why he did. As much as I want to hunt demons, and as much as I was worried about it before… it would’ve been fine if I couldn’t. I’d still have my Dream, and I’d at least be able to protect Mom that way.

Angel leaned back in his seat with a sharp exhale. “So, Ren…” He continued, “Who was that girl you were with at the cafe? Her name was Eileen, right?”

“Looks like you know how to eavesdrop…” He gave that some thought. “Well, I suppose I’m not any better.” Ren tapped at the steering wheel before he said, “Anyway, yes, that was Eileen.”

   “A partner on jobs? She alright after the earthquake? It looked like you just left her there.”

“She’s my fiancé, and while she’s not my partner, she knows how to handle herself… Eileen’s been around demons enough to have a Dream, after all. She’s actually been by the office a few times, I’m honestly surprised you didn’t see her.”

Was she the woman in the elevator? No, I remember Eileen had orange hair, and the woman in the elevator had black hair like Ren… “Well, I’ll probably bump into her once or twice at your office since we’re working together now.”

 The tapping on the steering wheel got faster. Then, after a few moments, the car came to a stop in a street parking space. “Should be that one over there.” Ren gestured at the building about a block away. “I’ll keep the car running, you just run in and grab Dallon’s stuff.”

“... alright.” Angel stepped out of the car while regretting trying to push the truth out of Ren. He probably has his reasons…

Beside the dry cleaners, Angel noticed a comically thin building that seemed to be the home of a new storefront. Considering the nextdoor building had its basement cave in, the owners of that shop probably couldn’t pick a worse time to set up shop there.

As Angel got closer, he saw two people right outside that thrift shop. One was a girl he didn’t recognize, and the other seemed to be the girl that worked at the Liberty City Public Library. Weird I’d bump into her here… 

The moment he passed the girl, he felt the feeling of being watched disappear again. That’s a relief… He continued to the dry cleaners next door as Marcy looked over her shoulder and at Angel, then down at her jacket.

The entrance to the dry cleaners read closed, though they likely had been for a while. Angel knocked at the door a few times without receiving a response. However, he was able to notice the door was unlocked. He popped his head in and asked, “Is anybody here?”

No response.

Dallon wouldn’t have sent us if nobody was here to give his stuff back, right? Angel took a step inside and began to look around. The racks once full of clothing now only held a few pieces of clothing, giving a strange abandoned feeling to the room. “I’m here to pick up some clothes for Dallon Brookes…” Now that he was closer, Angel could scarcely make out some odd warping on the stairs leading downstairs. He repeated, “Is anyone here?”

To say Angel had a bad feeling about this would be underselling it, but his curiosity was just enough to outweigh that. Besides, if something bad had happened, then he needed to help whoever was inside.

The stairwell had been twisted into something strange and alien. Ren had told him about chasms, but Angel had yet to see one in person. No, that wasn’t right… The hole back at his mother’s apartment had been an entrance. It just hadn’t been so obviously warped.

Behind Angel, the bell above the door jingled. Marcy had followed Angel in, following the eye on her jacket. It was fixated on the Angel for a moment before shifting to the stairwell.

Marcy bluffed, trying to hide the fact she had followed Angel in. “Is everything alright? I came to pick up my…” 

Angel’s face looked grim. He hadn’t paid her any mind after all. 

Did something happen downstairs? Marcy walked over to Angel’s side, her eyes widening as she caught a glimpse of what he had been staring at. It was like a gateway to another dimension - like the universe tried to find a way to fuse two separate places together in a strange twisting mass.

A moment passed before a shadowy hand shot from the shadows deep on the other side. However, unlike the black mass he had seen before, this one radiated a strange, electric blue light. It pulled Angel in, leaving Marcy confused.

The eye stared into the abyss, giving Marcy the push to jump in after Angel and try to help with whatever calamity they had stumbled into. 

Like a closing maw and its teeth, the room’s floor compressed and the stairway was pulled under. Both Angel and Marcy were now sealed inside. 

* * *

Shit! Angel tried desperately to focus on his Dream, barely able to summon it as the demon's hand continued to pull back deeper and deeper into the chasm. He pointed farther down at the arm, sending his Dream shooting toward it. 

The moment his Dream’s finger connected to the demon’s arm, the blue glow around the beast’s form grew brighter and its grasp on Angel only got tighter. 

Come on! Didn’t Ren say these things were weak to energy? It worked last time! 

In the distance, a large cavern approached. It barely resembled the basement he expected, the stairs leading nowhere and yet simultaneously leading to random places around the room. The way objects sat on the floor, walls, and ceiling, gravity seemed to be irrelevant. 

It would’ve been a sight to marvel at if Angel weren’t about to be consumed by a demon that was only thirty meters away now. As much as he struggled, there didn’t seem to be any way he could avoid that fate. It was like the demon was consuming his energy; his body felt weak and his Dream’s attack only seemed to make the demon stronger.

Wait… Looking over at his dream, it was no longer just a hand. The arm of the Candy Man… Trusting his gut, he thrust his arm up with his index finger extended. His dream, the Candy Man, followed suit. It didn’t shoot up, nor did it look like anything happened at all. It had an arm now, but… was that all? Was its growth only surface level?

Behind Angel, the sound of screaming grew louder. The arm that held Angel, now only three meters from the demon, stopped in its tracks.

Now that Angel was able to get a good look at it, he could see that the beast was like a haphazard mess of pure black mass with protruding arms. It was using them to support itself at the center of the room, with its own center only having a toothy maw. 

Meanwhile, after the screaming reached its apex, Marcy got a mouthful of dirt as she came crashing down at the base of the demon and tumbled a couple meters. That sudden shift of gravity was brutal.

Where the hell am I? Marcy tried to steady herself, almost immediately getting a good look at the demon with Angel in its hand. Like any person would, she froze. It felt like if it were to have eyes, it would be staring right at her. 

What could she do? Could she do anything? She reached for the eye on her jacket, pulling a card out with a figure of the demon inside. It’ll still be there if I fold it… She took two opposite sides of the card, then tore it in half. 

A matching tear appeared across the demon, causing it to loosen its grasp on Angel just enough for him to fall up. Luckily, he was just able to adjust his position so that he didn’t land flat on his head.

Candy Man might’ve done nothing back then, but… Could it have brought her here, or have given her a Dream? No, if Candy Man works by transferring energy, then that wouldn’t make any sense… 

Before Marcy could grab another card, the demon swiped at her with three of its multi-jointed arms, slamming into her sides and causing a cracking sound from inside her chest.

Angel glared daggers at the demon. Could it have been karmic energy? He pointed up, then at himself. His body felt like he was overflowing with energy, but he had no idea if his theory about karmic energy had been correct. Well, he’d have to attack either way. He figured the best bet would be to take out its arms.

In a flash, Angel lept toward a nearby arm and punched through it. It seemed that while direct energy didn’t break it, brute force could. That, or the brute force had enough energy that it couldn’t absorb it. 

One down… thirty to go. He landed sideways on the stairwell and attempted to jump toward the next arm, but was pulled and fell toward the nearby wall. Not only did this demon have the ability to absorb its greatest weakness, it had created a chasm that was near impossible to navigate.

With Marcy down, it wasn’t like he could rely on her to help like she had before. The chances they could handle this thing on their own were slim. He really shouldn’t have pressed Ren to tell him the truth… maybe then he’d have been there to help.

He must’ve had his reasons, right? Angel hadn’t known him long, but he could tell that he was smart and down to earth… Whatever reason he had must’ve been reasonable.

Four arms in opposing directions came shooting toward Angel, which he was barely able to punch through. However, it seemed they only served as a distraction, as two more arms came crashing into his side, heavily bruising him in the process. 

It was strange. Angel could notice the process of the pain subsiding. That slow gradual process had been sped up. It seemed the energy coursing through his body could do more than he had thought.

However, a minute and four seconds into the energy boost, it began to fade quickly. Angel was fine for the time being, having been healed, but something told him that things could go south very quickly. He couldn't move. He couldn’t move at all.

This happened back at his mother's apartment, didn't it? The rush, then the fall… He had been too confident. Of course something like Candy Man would have its limits. Angel just hoped that this wasn't his last mistake.

The risk of staying was high, but their odds looked even worse if they tried to run. 

 Marcy held a folded card in her hand, the torn one from before having crumbled into nothing. She was positioned in such a way that she could stare right into the hole they came through. Come on, just a little more time… Marcy tried her best to stand up, the pain of her injuries making it a Herculean task. I can't believe I'm doing this… “Hey!”

The demon turned its attention to Marcy. Its mouth was dripping with oozing black saliva, and it looked like it was big enough to easily fit her entire body as the demon shifted its central mass closer to her. “What you hold in your hand… you intend to harm me again?”

“Yeah… that’s it.” Marcy winced as the demon grew ever closer. That should be good enough… She took the card and unfolded it. “You’re as good as dead.”

Suddenly, the light of flames filled the room all at once. At the center was Ren, burning brighter than Angel had ever seen. The flames expelled by Furnace Fire came to a stop as he got close.

Angel reached out for Ren, terrified as to what would happen if he used his Dream on the demon. “Wait - that thing absorbs energy!”

A burst of flames surrounded Ren’s entire body the moment he got within a meter of the demon. The fiery ball was about fifteen meters wide, and seemed hot enough to burn Ren alive.

As the flames and fight came to a close, Ren was the only one left standing. Sweat dripped down his face as he picked Marcy and I up while the chasm began to slowly close around us. 

Ren tried to assure Angel, “Don’t worry about what happened here. You did some damage and… you’re alive. You should be proud of yourself; that was a pretty strong demon.” He looked over at Marcy. “As for you… because of your quick thinking, I was able to take care of the demon without worrying about any collateral damage. Thank you.”

Between the patch and that demon, it was almost impossible for Marcy to keep up. What made it more confusing was that it didn’t quite feel all that strange to her. It was like a curious itch that had been bugging her had finally been scratched. 

“... No problem.”

At last, her Dream could rest. The eye was able to close for the very first time.