The aroma of smoke traveled in a whirlpool around the sky above the hill of the burned tree, slowly enveloping the ship of the envoy from outside the layer. The vessel tries to break free, but before its pilot could even try to charge the engines, the black powder was already clogging the insides; for now, Ashen managed to ground one nuisance. Only its lord remained.

Ashen- “...So, you said that Feth is a friend of yours now? Right, moindre Tutha?”, grinned the old dragon. He gambled on keeping Ecne occupied while he figured out why large portions of his ash have disappeared. His discerning eye kept flying toward the white dome.

Ecne- “ DON’T…” he huffed, but quickly robed a layer of composure, intuiting Ashen’s scheme. Up until then, the dragon barely took him seriously; even trusted a gaggle of children to deal with the Lord of Mask.

 -“Piece of Partholonian shit”, muttered the Tuatha under his breath.  With a rapid sleight of hand, he picked all the masks kept in his cape. “ I truly wished that we could have collaborated, last of the Partholonian Custodians. Today I’ll end your 9th life, hunt for your last vessel and spare you from taking another breath of dreaming of taking revenge on our Dia.”

Ashen, blowing hot air through his nostrils- “...Sure. Listen, whatever fantasies you’re living right now are not of my concern. I’ll just scrape you from between my claws like an annoying, wedged pebble then obliterate that traitorous librarian.” The old beast then turned toward the city, putting together what the white dome was. “ Fog, mists and distorted mirrors…Right, back to this clown show.”

The old dragon didn’t even try to be subtle with comparison, which popped the last of the restraints Ecne had left; his shaken hands compressed all of the mask pieces with a slam that sent a shockwave around him. “ Listen here, you embarrassment. Better yet, look at why I’m called the Lord of Masks!” His closed fist started to glow, breaming with golden lines of light. The hand then opened and a shining cube spinned aimlessly atop of it. “Behold” was the last thing the Tuatha uttered before covering his face in the melting golden material. 

Like liquid, it dripped over his cheeks and eyelids, seeping into all the slots. Ashen wasn’t one for any honor code and used the opportunity to shower his enemy in a beam that bore in the ground behind the Lord. Everything touched by the attack was obliterated, except for the target, who started to shine in the same glimmer as the cube. Line of gold covered the Tuatha’s body and after a few seconds he was complete.  

Ecne’s face was hidden entirely behind a eyeless, mouthless plate of gold. He took one step but in Ashen’s eyes he was already four ahead. 

Ashen- “ Wait a second, I kno-” but he was interrupted by an encroaching wall of flames from the lord of mask’s left hand, while the right gathered energy to fire a piercing shot. The dragon avoided the scorch but got caught in Ecne’s trap by getting one of his legs shut clean off.

Ecne- “ All of my masks serve me in union now”, he boasted before mimicking a kick swing to launch a barrage of lighting attacks. “ Now weep your last ashes, predecessor, and spare this world of your incompetence once and for all.”

…

Between the growls and frantic wipes of his rapier, the frenzied Perren sturred some slurred words, difficult to hear or comprehend. 

-“ Where?”, asked Arim, repeating what he thought from his crazed teacher. “ Is that what you said?”

GIol- “ Yeah, I heard it too. Looks like he gets saner if he’s focused on one person at a time”, added the insectoid lancer, before pushing the young man from the berserker’s bashing dash.

Perren- “ STOP! CHANGING!” His yell scared off stalls of birds hanging out in faraway trees, reaching Emile and humans hiding place. At the sound of the screech, Temitayo cowered her face in her knees. Thinking that she was just frightened, Maci tried to cheer her up, but then heard her mutters-

Temitayo- “ It’s my fault. I’m to blame for following Ecne’s orders!” The girl cursed and tried to put more burden on herself, but no one there thought the same. 

Maci- “ Hey, chin up. I won’t try to tell you that you’re entirely in the wrong…at least not now…but it’s a spur of the moment decision, right? Now c’mon, let’s get you up, this isn’t the time to be moping around.” The teen ended with a wide smile on her face, believing that she said more than enough to make herself clear.

Finely-”And!”, the young photographer added with emphasis- “you listened and believed us that something was wrong with your boss. And now you and your firgs are helping us help him. So don’t push yourself that hard.”

Maci- “ Why are you repeating what I said?”

Finley-”...Your head and mouth are sometimes desynced, did you know that?” the boy added while pushing a brow up to his forehead. “ Emile, when we get back you should take your niece to a head doctor or something. I’m genuinely concerned about her.”

-” Neurologist”, replied the quivering, soft voice of Temitayo. “ You’re thinking of a neurologist.”

Maci- “Hey, don’t help him out”, scoffed the teen while threatening her boot up to Finely’s face.

Their bickering was interrupted when Lian bent her back to her knees with a dry, long cough. “I’m fine, I’m fine”, she said, not convincing anyone. “ Using a piece of Ogda as a lens helped cool down my eyes, but these dam powers still like to damage my insides. Emile, what about you?”

Emile- “ Well, I feel a bit lightheaded being so far away from Ashen, but it’s manageable. You on the other hand don’t look that good…”

Lian- “ Yeah, you are right. I’ll take a break here- next to this nice, cold cave wall. Besides more light spectrums, I haven’t caught anything else. Let the other know that Perren’s fog stayed the same: it's still all over the place inside his head, and not as a concentrated speck like whomever is piloting that ship.”

The teens hand a napkin to the exhausted redhead, who gracefully takes it. 

Maci- “ Are the abilities really that much of a hassle?” The girl asked,  while glancing with concern at her grandfather.

Finley- “ Yeah…I mean, I could use them without much strain even if it's Mincha acting as my Fect partner.”

Lian massaged the back of head, right above the neck, where the mark of her pact lay hidden. It was right there, as usual, a pulsating flesh bump- except that now she felt something more.

Lian- “ Hey, can someone check something out for me?”

…

Ogda’s whips managed to disarm Perren of his rapier, but as if directed by instinct, yanked on the chain that linked his weapons and pulled it back into his arm. Or at least that’s what it looked like, but the pull was animalistic, lacking self-restraint and the piercing blade flew past the teacher, past the water firg and almost struck one of the coins.

Grushie ran out of its trajectory with just a few centimeters saved between the tip of the blade and the middle of his chest. Panting, he looked at where the rapier cracked a tree in half, then back at the nonsensical attacker. 

Grushie- “ What in the holy layer is he? Arim, Zinc, you trained under that?”

-” GIVE IT- WAIT, WHERE DID MY RA-”, the berserker then leaped over the entire field from where he was and where the rapier struck, rummaging as if looking for something. 

Ogda- “...I think I got it.”, murmured the water firg.

Giol- “ Told yea before, Ogda, speak up on the field”, quipped the lancer.

Ogda- “...Right.” He felt a rising heat of anger growing in his chest, but manageable this time. Controllable.” I think he is getting lots of conflicting images in his head right now. I don’t think he can see…or comprehend where he is or who we are.”

Arim- “ Good…good. Ok. We have something to work with. But it looks random, right?”

Ogda- “...Don’t know. I’m not sure…but I think we’re causing them to change.”

Scramble- “ How, by moving around and just trying to hit him?”

The water firg just shrugged. “ Maybe.”

Giol- “ Ah, dammit. Fine, I’ll test it out-”, he yelled before anyone could try and stop him. “ Wish me luck.” Aftward he ran in front of where Perren was ransacking, making as much noise as possible. It worked, but judging by his twitching eyes and trembling chin, you could have thought otherwise. 

Perren- “ Enemy?”, he rumbled to himself, becoming more and more animalistic with each phrase. 

Giol- “ Enemy, yes! I’m the enemy! Look at me!” The lancer gulped but felt like this was his chance.

Perren then turned his whole face around to the left and right, fighting to keep his gaze on his surroundings. 

Giol- “ Looking for someone?”

Perren- “ Rest?”

Giol- “ Rest? The others? You finished them off, I’m the only one left!” He then nodded toward Ogda, who in turn started to stretch out his limbs, carrying the coral sister and her shield, Zinc. Having only one person to focus on, Perren’s fractured mind found solace for a bit; a break it seemed, enough for him to become stable on his feet at least. 

The teacher scrubbed his eyes, but a numbness kept him from feeling anything. So he pressed more and more, before a sting made him tear up. “ Where…Caer’s forest? That can’t be right, I was in-” His hand panicked, and swung the knife hard enough to send shockwaves in multiple directions, a few of which hit Zinc’s armor and chipped bits off him. The rest cut Ogda’s limbs in pieces, dropping Mincha on the ground.

Perren- “ What was the noise?”, to which the sweat covered Giol replied in haste by throwing a pebble in Mincha’s direction.

Giol-  “ Dammit, my attack missed you!”, tried the lancer to faint, while changing the rock back to its normal size. Hidden by the shadow of the boulder, Ogda picked up his package to finish the delivery.

Perren- “ Missed?...Of course, right. You attacked….”

Giol- “ Yeah…we are fighting, right?” 

Perren- “...We are? I don’t know. My mind is-”

Giol- “ Foggy? In that case, we aren’t forced to do that. Why are we even fighting about it?”

Perren- “ Why?!...Why? Why…I saw him…I remember Feth, floating above Victor’s head, covering him in mist…” Just then, Mincha barely scraped his temple with her fingers and Perren immediately fainted, with a white cloud evaporated through his ears in a second. 

Giol dropped from exhaustion and nerves, panting like a wild dog. “ Dammit that was scary. I’m not doing that again.”

Arim- “ Too bad. I thought I could count on you distracting Ecne.”

Giol- “ That’s a death sentence and you know it”, laughed it off the lancer. “ Besides…we’ve lost them out of our sight. Guess you guys were too concentrated on Perren, but Ashen and the Tuatha have disappeared.”