A Pink Christmas on the Mile Highway

A Pink Christmas on the Mile Highway is a short novelette written by Looweeja. Its plot takes place following the events of Rainy Days and Wizards of Shapzar, Drug Bust: Code Pink. Each chapter was released leading up to Christmas.

## Cast

* Cullen Edwards

* Wanderer

* Nekozawa

* Dirty Mike

* Jasper Tannon

* Neb Aslo

## A Pink Christmas on the Mile Highway

### Chapter 1

“Merry Christmas, dirtbag” shouted one of the creatures.

Mike knew they were trying to bait him.

“We know you’re in there. We know you’re hiding,” the voice shouted again, it’s sweet, sugary voice juxtaposing its message.

Mike loaded the last bullet into the chamber of his six-shooter. These things can die. They have to die, thought Mike. These abominations didn’t belong in this world, or any other for that matter. Death was their only possible destiny.

Mustering all the courage he had, standing to face the creature.

It was hard to explain. At first glance, it looked like a clown on shortened stilts. But no, those weren’t stilts. It was the lower half of a horse. And on its head was a large unicorn horn, blood dripping from it. Its eyes were large like a cartoon character but horrifying to see on something flesh and blood.

“There you are. I was beginning to think I’d have to find you myself” that buttery voice said again.

“What are you?” Mike asked, expecting no real answer.

“My name is Barley, and I’ve come to give you an early Christmas Present”

The creature tossed over a poorly wrapped mess, hot pink wrapping paper clashing with a washed-out red bow.

“Go ahead and open it.”

Mike, not taking his eyes off the creature (or his gun for that matter) reached down for the present, lifting it with one hand, and putting it on the top of his counter. The creature stared at him, eyes begging in a cutesy way. Mike tore the wrapping paper with just one rip.

It was a head. Christmas lights stapled to it. Illuminated, despite not being plugged in. This was ridiculous. It’s wasn’t even Christmas yet.

“Do you like your present?”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“Oh, don’t worry. You will.”

The lights began to blink. Faster and faster. A bomb.

Mike through himself to the ground just in time as the head exploded painting his wall red with an absurdly enormous amount of blood.

Mike watched the creature, now from the ground. He saw its lower half sported eight horse-like legs, and the body folded down into a large snake-like tail. The creature’s cutesy eyes dilated, becoming slit-like. It’s brow furrowing, and sharp-toothed smile getting wider. From the side of its face came cobra-like hoods. It reared up on its hind legs and raced towards Mike, and was over top of him in seconds.

It was reaching for him.

Mike rolled over, aiming the gun upwards and popping a cap into its mouth.

The creature’s head imploded in on itself.

“Ah yes. Magic guns. Fuck yeah.”

Mike stood amidst the mess that was his shop, looking over the destruction. A large teddy bear dressed like a marine stood outside, his jaw dropped.

“You killed him,” the teddy bear said in a deep chocolate voice. “You Killed Barley.”

“Well, I reckon I did.”

The teddy bear looked around for a moment, then back at Mike.

“If I were you, I’d recommend hiding. When I tell them what you’ve done, they’re going to kill you.”

“Then why warn me,” Mike asked.

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re dead anyways” said the teddy bear walking away now.

Mike sighed.

He had a long night ahead.

### Chapter 2

Jasper Tannon awoke to heavy rain outside. It was hailing. Still groggy he wiped some sleep out of his eyes, and tried focusing on the paperwork scattered across his desk.

This was a weird case.

A couple of disappearances had happened in a relatively short span of time. All believed to be committed by the same two people.

A mass incineration at the docks. A massive explosion in the woods, near the Wind River reserve. A very wealthy businessman by the name of Robert Stanley was killed along with a private detective, Hale Edwards. A few days later a police officer and ex-girlfriend of Hale’s was found dead in Hale’s apartment.

Maureen Belsohn. Jasper had known her. He’d known Hale too, if only by reputation. He was infamous in Trident City. Stirring up trouble, and letting the real cops do the work.

“Tannon. Did you sleep here?”

Tannon looked up, his boss, Captain Ridgely standing in front of him.

“Yes,” Tannon answered weakly. “This case is really screwing with my head."

Ridgely paused for a moment, then nodded in some form of agreement. “It’s a strange case to be sure. Why don’t you take the day off?”

“Alright.” Tannon wasn’t exactly happy with the situation, but he agreed anyway.

\*\*\*

Traffic was normal to see on the mile highway. But Tannon had never experienced a back up to such a degree, and never this early in the morning. Cars were piled up, some seemingly abandoned. Something was going on.

Tannon pulled over to the side of the road, grabbed his trusty firearm and walkie talkie out of his car’s glove compartment and proceeded forward, each step taken with caution. He could hear something going on up ahead. Screams. Gunshots. This was quite a situation.

He grabbed the walkie talkie to radio for backup, however, for whatever reason, the signal didn’t carry. The walkie talkie glitch in his hand before shooting sparks. These things rarely happened. But it was possible the wet climate and a set of old batteries could do something to that effect. A simple accident. Completely unrelated.

Catching his breath, he continued forwards. The visibility was low, but something was coming near him. He could see its silhouette growing larger and larger. And larger. And larger.

And much larger.

A thirty-foot tall porcelain doll was zooming towards him on a set of makeshift roller skates made from car parts. A katana in one hand, a fully automatic rifle in the other.

Tannon froze on the spot. Nothing could explain this. This was just impossible.

The doll slowed down, now stand a few meters away, towering over him.

“What’s the matter sweetheart? You’re not going to run like the others?”

Tannon was still glued to the pavement. But finally, he found his voice. “What the fucking hell did you come from? I mean – shit – where are you and what did you get here.”

“One, I’m not sure where I am, and two, I got feet.” The Doll smile widely, showing a number of recently severed human feet sticking out of its gums.

Tannon is left speechless. He just raises his gun and fires, and to his surprise, hit’s the doll in the head, its porcelain head shattering instantly.

After a moment or two of processing, Tannon carried on. The doll must just be some sort of contraption he thought to himself. Just a robot. A highly sophisticated, advanced piece of engineering unlike anything he’d ever seen before.

Minutes past. People passed him. He moved forwards.

And that is when he came upon the most unsettling site at which this must all have started, just outside Dirty Mike’s shop.

### Chapter 3

Dirty Mike stood outside his shop, his clothes a mess, covered in pink goo and blood. He was dual-wielding bedazzled quadruple barreled flintlock pistols, each with metallic, sword-like magazines protruding from its wooden frames. He stood pointing them at the large teddy bear in combats and a six-foot beach ball with an animate face and machine gun arms.

A good ol’ Mexican standoff (as someone from earth might say).

Tannon watched from the side lines, unnoticed by Mike, the bear, or the ball. Piles of corpses surrounded the gruesome sight, and multiple other inhabitants of the Pink Kingdom watched on as well, beaten and bloody.

In one night, Dirty Mike had caused more trouble for any of them then any singular man they had met, but he was now tired and thirsty. So was the bear. So was the ball. So was everyone else. It had momentarily come to a stand-still.

Tannon breathed deeply. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Everyone slowly turned to look at him, wondering where the scream came from.

“Another mortal fool!” growled a large stuffed bumble bee with various sharpened implements attached to a spinning platform where his stinger should have been. “Kill it!”

Five creatures moved towards Tannon, and in this moment of distraction, Mike blew the heads off the bear and deflated the ball (its organs spilling on the ground). The Five creatures nearing Tannon stopped to turn around, and in THIS moment of distraction, Tannon began firing shots at them, and as they looked back at him, Mike riddled them with bullets.

Five corpses laid out in a colorful, beautifully brutal way. And then, what must have been the remaining 90 or so Pink Kingdom Creatures charged forwards at Tannon and Mike.

Tannon raced towards Mike who seemed to be almost accepting death, if for but a moment. Tannon grabbed Mike by the arm and the two of them reach a car (still in decent shape and the engine still running) just in time as the Pink Forces were just feet away.

“Gas gas gas” yelled Mike.

Tannon skidded away. Little by little, the distance between the army opened, and then they stopped. Out of the middle of their ranks came a weird-looking tiger in a sparkly pink suit, bouncing on his tail, a tommy gun in either hand. “Hoo hoo hoo HOO” it shouted excitedly. And with a massive leap, it flew through the air landing on the hood of the car.

“Where do you think you fellas are going? There’s much death to be spread. Hoo hoo hoo HOO!” It fired the tommy guns, mini acorns crashing through the windshield. “Dammit! That’s the goddamn wrong hoo hoo hoo HOO magazine!”

And then, Dirty Mike sawed him in half with a cloud of bullets. The tiger’s corpse fell limply to the pavement and was run over by the car. Tannon kept speeding onwards, in a state of shock.

“Hey, you might want to slow down a bit.”

But Tannon just kept increasing in speed. Smoke started pouring from the engine.

A bunch of rabbits hopped out onto the road, Tannon swerved to avoid them, crashing through a newly patched fence by a farm.

### Chapter 4

Tannon awoke inside the warm farm house, his head pounding. Hundreds of questions were whizzing around inside of his head. Faces came into focus. The man who’d save his life (and he’d returned the favor) and a brown-haired teenage boy.

“Who are you? Where am I? What were those things? Where’d they come from? How is any of this possible?”

He sat up on the couch he had been resting on, looking for answers from both people, who were surprised to see him awake.

They both paused, and then the older looking fellow spoke.

“Name’s Dirty Mike. Most people know me. I’m surprised you don’t”

“New in town,” Tannon spat out, interrupting the teenager. “Sorry”

“As I was about to say, my name is Cullen.”

“Nice to meet you. WHAT THE FUCK WERE THOSE THINGS?!”

Dirty Mike reached for a massive, dusty book on a coffee table. “It took me a while to figure out what those things were, but, after a bit of reading, I’ve determined where they come from. The Pink Kingdom.”

“Okay, I feel like I should know what that is, or at least you expect me to know what it is, but frankly I’m clueless. You lost me.”

Mike goes to speak, but Cullen replies first. “I understand how you feel, I had a similar reaction. Oh, sorry mike.”

“Now, the important stuff. The Pink Kingdom. Or, more importantly, its inhabitants. They are as vicious and as deadly as they are weird. We have a major crisis on our hands. If we allow it to spread, this planet may be doomed.”

The room was quiet. The course downfall of hail outside was apparent in this silence. Then Tannon broke the silence.

“This has got to be the worst Christmas present ever. And my parents got me socks once.”

“What relevance does that have?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, on that note, I must inform you, an associate of mine will be arriving shortly. He has much experience with other worldly things. He seems to know a bit about these bastards. Until then I suggest we get some rest. Except you, whatever your name is –“

“It’s Tannon.”

“Yeah I really couldn’t care less.”

“Ouch.”

“You stand guard tonight, make sure those things don’t follow us here.”

“I could probably get the police to set up a perimeter around the area, if they haven’t already. Keep people from using the Highway.”

“Good idea.”

“And what should I do?” Cullen interjected.

“For now, as I said before, I suggest you get some rest.”

“I can help.”

“All the same though, I’d feel guilty, after all, I broke your fence, and stayed in your home and all.”

“Truth be told, in the months since Hale died-“

“Excuse me did you just say Hale?” Tannon was just putting on his shoes, but this caught him off guard.

“My son, yes.”

“Hale Edwards?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

“Oh what?”

“Oh nothing, wait did you just say your son? You’re what, 17? That dude was like forty.”

“He would’ve been 38 this October.”

“So how’s he your son?”

Cullen sighs. He turns back to Dirty Mike. “I don’t sleep remember. I don’t really need rest.”

“Actually, you never told me you didn’t need sleep. I assumed Vampires slept.”

“Wait You’re a Vampire?”

“Some Vampires sleep. Like Black Court Vampires.”

“You’re a Vampire.”

Cullen sighs again. “Yes. I’m a vampire.”

“So my associate should be here sometime early tomorrow morning.”

“In the meantime, I’ll contact Wanderer and Nekozawa and get them over here.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“What was I supposed to be doing again.”

“Standing guard, getting a perimeter put around, what shall we call it? Pink Site Zero? Zero Site Pink? Something like that.”

“Right.” And with that, Tannon went outside into the freezing night to retrieve the radio in his car.

### Chapter 5

Wanderer and Nekozawa arrived at the farm house around midnight. The weather was getting worse, and it was starting to annoy Cullen.

Hail.

Hale. His son was gone. It was coming up on six months now. And it was miserable. Just walking around the empty halls of the farm. Occasionally going to town. The days crept by, each one blurring with the last. It was becoming unbearable.

So to finally have something to do, that was something to look forward to. No matter how bad the circumstances.

Tannon informed the group that a perimeter had indeed been set up, and was being defended by a mixture of city cops, active military personal and even a few veterans. Things seemed to be going rather badly.

“You said your associate would arrive sometime this morning, Mike” Tannon said. “Where is he?”

“Oh, right, I said that. That was actually a lie. I just didn’t want him here until we had some form of plan.”

“So how long will it take for him to get here now?” Wanderer interrupted.

Mike chanted “Neb Aslo, Neb Aslo, Neb Aslo,” and with that, a merchant cart appeared in the middle of Cullen’s living room with a thunk (and an annoying car horn sound). A small man with grey mousy hair poked his head up from out of the window.

“How’s your day going Mike?”

“Could be better. We have a serious problem. A problem called The Pink Kingdom.”

Neb seemed calm.

“Well that certainly isn’t good. I’m sure you’ve told them about it?”

“What I know.”

“Alright. I might as well fill in the gaps. The Pink Kingdom was created when a gnomish child by the name of Alalla, when she was granted magical powers from an ancient relic known as the book. Has any of the soil been transferred over?”

“Yes.”

“That’s bad. That’s really not good” although there was almost more amusement in Neb’s voice then fear. “The soil possesses mind controlling powers. Don’t get too close, and definitely try not to breathe.”

“How are we supposed to not breathe?” Tannon asked.

“You’re a man, are you not?”

“Yeah...”

“Then I’d advise staying away from it. As for the rest of you, I’m sure you’ll be able to do something useful?”

“I got my shotgun” Wanderer chimed in.

“I can blow shit up.” Nekozawa replied.

“Great. Now, I suggest we get a move on. Neb thank you for your wisdom.”

“No problemo.” And just like that, the cart disappeared, leaving an indentation in the floor.

“Next time someone teleports to meet us with a massive cart, could we at least do it outside?” Cullen asked. No one answered. They were all preparing for what was to come next.

### Chapter 6

Everyone piled into the car Dirty Mike and Tannon had crashed through the fence. There was a thick layer of partially melted, partially frozen snow all over the car, and inside it too, from where the windows broke.

It was cold and quiet. The only noise was ambient, the malfunctioning engine doing its best to work and the stormy winter weather, calm for the moment.

“I find silences uncomfortable” Nekozawa stated. “Let’s play an introduction game, since I haven’t met all of you.”

“You mean that asshole” Wanderer said, referring to Tannon.

“Yeah, but I was trying to make this feel less awkward. Thanks Wanderer.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it kid. Jasper Tannon. Missing Persons Detective.”

“Oh...” Nekozawa laughed, staring over at Wanderer, who seemed almost agitated by this revelation.

Great. Another one thought Wanderer.

“I am... Dave Johner...man? Dave Johnerman and I like lasagna.” Nekozawa clearly didn’t want anyone knowing who he was. Wanderer, in this moment, was both incredibly embarrassed by Nekozawa’s horrible attempt at lying, and also proud of him for not giving his name out to the cops. That would be trouble.

“Okay...” Jasper seemed just as embarrassed for Nekozawa as Wanderer was. He was at least reasonable. It’s a shame it would probably get him killed. “And you are?”

The question seemed to take Wanderer by surprise. “Michael Brenner, I like to keep to myself.”

“Well, that’s... nice, I guess.”

“It can be.”

“Well, that’s a nice gun you have there. You do have a license for it right?”

“Buddy, I am the license!”

Tannon just stared at Wanderer for a moment.

“Yeah, actually I do have the license. Just not on me.”

“Alright. Well, even if you didn’t, I’m really in no place to argue with you. We’ll need all the help we can get, to, you know, kill those things.”

“Destroy them, and keep them from infecting the world more like it.” Dirty Mike seemed to be paying attention to their conversation. “Now listen... Tannon was it?”

“I’ve said so many times, seriously, how could you forget?”

“I ain’t some big shot DETECTIVE like you, for starters. I also just don’t care enough.”

“Ouch.” Nekozawa joked.

“So Tannon stop acting so much like a detective, and just make sure we can get across that perimeter.”

“Oh, I’m going in with you.”

“Why would you do that.”

“As long as I’m with you, the police will feel like the have some semblance of control over the situation. It’s the only way you’re getting in.”

“Fine.”

#### \*\*\*

The car pulled up to a janky perimeter, guarded by a large group of frazzled police officers. Behind the perimeter was a heavy fog.

Tannon got out to address Captain Ridgely.

“How the hell’d you survive an encounter with these things?” Ridgely asked.

“A bit of luck. I also had some help. And with your permission, I’d like to take some people in there, and deal with this problem.”

“I’d say yes if it were my call, but sadly, it isn’t.” Ridgely pointed to a group of older men, all bearded, wearing white suits. “They took over this morning. Said they were from some federal bureau or something like that.”

Wanderer, Cullen and Mike all made eye contact with each other for a second. They knew this wasn’t just some federal agency. This was The White Council.

“Oh shit” said Wanderer.

“Shit indeed.” Dirty Mike responded.

### Chapter 7

“I’m Detective Jasper with the TCPD. You are?”

One particularly old looking man, a braided beard going down to his stomach, dramatically removed his sunglasses. “Murloph Vladmourn. City Council Investigators Abroad. And this is MY crime scene.”

“That’s... wonderful, I guess. I was wondering if I could get through?”

“Through? Past the perimeter? Why that’s insane!” another bearded man piped up.

“It may be, but me and my crew think we might have a shot at getting rid of these things.”

“Your crew?”

Tannon gestured to Mike, Cullen, Wanderer, and Nekozawa.

“Wait” said an older fellow with a goatee and particularly filthy looking man-bun. “David Anderson is it?”

“What?” Wanderer said, genuinely confused.

“Yes you.” He said, approaching Wanderer. “Your home and the forest around it were all destroyed by some spirit. Burned. Did you ever find the guy that did it?”

Nekozawa gave a faint nervous giggle, which he immediately regretted. The man-bunned man turned to Nekozawa, looking past his dyed black hair.

“It’s him! Murloph, it’s Nekozawa Kuro!”

“Oh boy...” Nekozawa muttered.

Murloph moved forwards a few steps and then stopped in his tracks. “Does anyone else hear that?”

Something loud was approaching. Hooves.

And out of the smoke came massive stuffed bunnies in heavy spartan armor, orange and green swords in hand, riding eleven legged unicorns with dragon-like wings. The hacked and slashed out at anyone and everyone in sight. The white council members, in a moment of cowardice, retreated.

Cops were being killed left, right, and center. Tannon ducked a slash and shot a bunny between the eyes, and it fell off its monstrosity of a ride (which ran off in some direction). Wanderer was busy saving a couple police officers laying on the ground, while Nekozawa blazed five different bunnies and their steeds at once.

Cullen, was jumping through the air ripping off heads where he could and tearing the bunnies apart, the stuffing in side raining down like an explosion of cotton candy. Mike use his magic guns, shooting the nasty rabbits to the ground and shooting them point blank, execution style.

Overall effective Tannon though. They might just have a chance. The White Council members were now becoming active in the fight, fling spells everywhere, doing damage where the could.

And that is when everyone heard the second wave. Holding shields and spears a second charge of bigger, meaner bunnies came racing through the fog. Behind, a number of rabbits hopping through the air playing flame thrower keytars and grenade launching bagpipes.

CHAOS!

“Duck!” Nekozawa yelled, and many did.

“No, Rabbit” called a bunny.

And the Nekozawa burned a massive hole through their lines. Charred bunny husks laid motionless on the ground. The White Council Wizards were still too busy with the remaining forces to notice Cullen, Wanderer, Nekozawa, Mike and Tannon cross the perimeter and into the fog.

### Chapter 8

The journey past the perimeter was surprisingly quiet. The fog settled into place, floating near the feet of Tannon, Cullen, Wanderer, Nekozawa, and Dirty Mike. The temperature was rising the further in they got into the foreign landscape. Yes. The landscape had changed. The snow stopped. Visible was pale grass, pink soil underneath.

“Remember, don’t breathe to deeply,” Mike reminded them.

They passed by lumps, where automobiles had once been, now covered over by the grass and soil. And then they passed by Dirty Mike’s shop, just the door way and a piece of the sign recognizably from the store, out of place in the bright landscape.

“Let’s take a look, shall we?” Mike asked the group.

“Now hold on just a moment Mike. I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Wanderer replied.

“I agree. Seems like a trap.” Cullen added.

“A trap?”

“Oh not that kind of trap Nekozawa.”

“Sorry”

“A shit. Mike!”

Mike had walked off towards his shop, already standing in front of the entrance. “I’ve put safety precautions in place to make sure I could never be harmed in here. I’ll be fine.” Mike disappeared through the doors.

“That’s not good.”

“Great observation Tannon” Wanderer sassed. “No wonder you’re a detective.”

Tannon glared at Wanderer for a second, the left for the shop to. “No one else coming?”

A pause. Then Cullen stepped forwards.

“Sure, I guess.”

Nekozawa reluctantly walked forwards as well. “Wanderer?”

“Ah hell. Fine.”

They walked towards the door, sounds of distress coming from inside. However, Mike stood unharmed listening to screams.

“In the basement, one of my own traps went off, caught some of them. Proceed with caution.”

Mike crept down into the basement, the group following him down.

As they entered the basement, they saw a large Wooden Duck, a Giranguin (part penguin, part giraffe), and a massive hand puppet floating in the air.

“Invisible unbreakable nets. They work surprisingly well. Alright. Load up.” Mike pointed to a weapons rack.

### Chapter 9

Everyone loaded up with what they could carry. Many magical machetes gloriously gigantic guns. Nekozawa took as many grenades and other explosive devices he could stuff into his pockets. Cullen looked at him quizzically.

“I’m feeling a bit tired out from all those bunnies. I may need assistance” Nekozawa explained.

Cullen shrugged and looked over at Wanderer, who was filling his pockets with some silverware. He exchanged a look with Cullen.

The shrieks of the wooden duck, giranguin, and hand puppet were still apparent, as they hung in the air above.

“Hey Mike. Why are they screaming like that?” Tannon asked.

“Those nets are loaded with low voltage, magic shocks.” Mike said, not an ounce of sorrow in his voice. “If they were human, they’d have lost control of their bladders and bowls by now.”

“Well that sounds pleasant.” Tannon moved over to a rack of hammers and hatchets. Cullen happened to be looking at one rather large hatchet.

“Hey, that was pretty cool. You know, the speed... thing.” Tannon was trying to complement Cullen. Cullen felt somewhat uncomfortable and unprepared for this. For the past number of months, he had not really spoken to anyone else, except the nice girl at the grocery store. She had always been so kind to him... and Hale. She had even shown her kindness as she wished Cullen well when he apparently looked devastated, Hale having been gone for nearly a month at that point. The longest Cullen had gone without talking to him.

Cullen realized he was staring off, thinking about the grocery store, Hale, the past, and responded to Tannon. “Oh, thanks, I guess. Just trying to help out. I can be fast... you know quick.”

“Yep, that’s Cullen Edwards for you,” Nekozawa interrupted, “The guy with lots of fast.”

“Yeah” Tannon said. “And you’re the one with the explosive temper, then right?”

“Yep” Nekozawa said, quieter than normal. “I guess I have a bit of a temper... he he he.”

“Yeah, but you also explode. You know. Fire. Explosive temper...” Tannon said. “I’m just not that funny am I.”

Nekozawa didn’t really answer the question, Cullen, under his breathe, said something to the effect of “Not really” and they all went back to ignoring each other. All was quiet.

And it took them a moment to realize that.

Dirty Mike put his head up. “Do you guys hear anything?”

“No, it’s pretty quiet.” Nekozawa said.

Tannon caught on too. “Oh no.”

“That ain’t good.” Wanderer agreed.

And everyone looked up, to see that somehow, the wooden duck, giranguin, and hand puppet had managed to escape.

“Well, I’ll go fetch them” said Cullen. And with that he was gone.

“He really is the guy with lots of fast” Tannon said to Nekozawa.

#### \*\*\*

Cullen had caught up to them in no time at all. The wooden duck, giranguin, and the hand puppet just come walked out the forest, into a small clearing. Cullen lurked behind them, silently, and they had no idea he was there.

“Are we safe? Do you think we’re safe?” the giranguin asked his friends.

“I don’t know. I think we should keep moving” the hand puppet warned.

“Relax. We’ll be fine” said the duck confidently holding his head up, his bill pointing towards the sky.

“I still don’t feel safe” The puppet said. They continued arguing amongst themselves, the giranguin going back and forth between who he agreed with, backpedaling many times.

Fear. They were fearful. Even the duck, although he refused to admit it to the others. Cullen could feel his energy rising. Even just this tiny bit of fear was making a wonderful snack.

Eventually they began walking again, although trying to stay quiet, the sun starting to set. Cullen followed them. Darting through the trees remaining silent, with the occasional intentional twig snap, further scaring them. Letting his fast-moving shadow be caught out of the corner of their eyes. Circling them again and again, their fear rising more and more.

Finally, they stopped. The giranguin had a leg cramp. How pathetic. Cullen lunged out of the shadows, ripping right through the oversized puppet, slurping up its fear like a cup of noodles. Yummy.

The other two were truly frightened now. Excellent. As they panicked, Cullen remained still, his eyes moving hungrily over them.

He struck again, this time the giranguin, ripping off it’s limbs and devouring the fear and shock, slowly and with care. Oh yes.

Now, only the duck remained, putting on it’s brave face. Bravery. Yuck. It stunk. Its stench was dreadful. But it was not true bravery there was still fear. It just had to be drawn out. Cullen swooped downwards, knocking the duck over, assaulting it with furious blows. Finally, beaten and bruised, it gave up. Cullen ate up it’s fear, a less than satisfying desert. Cullen felt angry. He could’ve done more to make it suffer. To make it truly fear him.

And then he though about what he just did, and was left with guilt. He had enjoyed most of this, wanted to enjoy more of it, inflicting pain onto others. He was becoming what he had once been. A monster. The day Hale was born he promised he’d never be cruel or terrible again. But Hale was gone. Cullen began to weep.

### Chapter 10

It had been just over an hour by the time Cullen got back to Mike’s shop. His eyes were still a little red from the crying he did, but in the low light of dusk it was hard to see.

“We were starting to wonder where you went off to” Nekozawa remarked.

“Those creatures had to be, uh, silenced.” Cullen said. “I made sure they couldn’t tell anyone we’re here.”

Dirty Mike nodded. “We won’t be for much longer either. In the morning we’ll started heading towards the center again.”

“A good idea” said Cullen.

“I have a better one” Wanderer added. “We don’t sleep, we just get a move on.”

“Risky.” Said Tannon.

“Honestly Wanderer, I have to agree with the mortal on this one.” Dirty Mike said.

The group (Wanderer begrudgingly) settled in for a nice sleep.

#### \*\*\*

A shriek awoke the party in the middle of the night. It came from the woods. Cullen knew immediately where from. The site of the killings. Shouting could be heard from the shop. Cullen seemed to be the only one capable of making the words out.

“Find the intruders responsible for this!” said a voice. The footsteps were getting quicker and louder.

“Guys, this is bad.” Cullen said in a hushed voice.” Someone’s found the bodies and now they’re searching the area.”

“Great!” Nekozawa screamed. “So you silenced them to make sure that that they couldn’t lead people to us and you didn’t think to hide their corpses?”

“Would you keep it down?” Mike asked irritably.

“No, you know what Wanderer? Let’s get out of here.”

“Fuck. Fine I guess” said Wanderer walking towards Nekozawa.

And then something came crashing through the roof of the store, landing between Nekozawa and Wanderer, the force of his impact knocking everyone over.

“Hello Wanderer” said the man, standing around seven and a half feet tall, muscle bound, a look of angry amusement on his ugly chiseled face.

“Oh fuck. Not you again.”

“Wanderer, who is this guy?” asked Nekozawa.

“Just some nevernever asshole.”

“Come now, David, that’s no way to talk to your... BROTHER? Is it?”

“What?” Wanderer asked. “You’re not my brother, you’re literally just some asshole.”

“Called my bluff, did you?”

“That’s not even a fuckin bluff you fucking retarded scumbag!”

“Whatever” said the Giant. And with the snap of his fingers Wanderer was turned into a pickle. Nekozawa jumped immediately. And then the giant slurped Pickle Wanderer down in one big gulp.

### Chapter 11

In all the Chaos, Cullen managed to get Nekozawa and Tannon out alive, but Mike was unfortunately left behind. Wanderer was gone. That giant fellow had attacked, and then a swarm of bunnies afterwards. It had been a miracle they had escaped, but thankfully, super speed existed.

“Wanderer no!” Nekozawa screamed. “Wait where the hell are we?”

“I had to get you out of there” Cullen explained. “Otherwise we’d be dead or captured too."

“What about Mike though?”

“Not enough time.”

“Not enough time?! You saved us, didn’t you?”

“I’m sure he did all he could.” Tannon stood up, the ground he stood on was raised, and he towered over them, the morning sun reflecting off the back of his bald head. “Shit just got real. Right now, we’ve got to do the most logical thing anyone could in our position. Summon Neb Aslo of course.”

#### \*\*\*

Mike awoke with a Jolt. He was sitting in a buggy, chained down. Staring him in the face was the giant.

“Hello sunshine. How’d you sleep?” the giant asked.

“Fucking terrible actually, asshole.”

“Such a pleasant person, aren’t you?”

“Get used to it pal. What do I call you anyways?”

“For now, let’s stick with Sanderson.”

“Alright. Shut the fuck up Sanderson.”

“That’s no way to talk to your captor is it?” said Sanderson, a smug smile crossing his face. “I’d like to show you something.”

“What?”

“If you’d just look out that window...” Sanderson pointed to a window behind Mike. Mike looked outside to see a towering pink castle.

“Well that ain’t good” Mike said to himself.

“Not for you it ain’t.”

#### \*\*\*

Neb Aslo was pacing back and forth, just outside of his kart. “Oh, this is bad. This is very bad” he kept saying to himself. “Just look at the weather! It isn’t even raining! This is bad.”

“So, is there anything you can do to help?” asked Tannon.

“I have some ideas, but I need a second opinion.” Neb said. “You guys are going to have to come with me.”

### Chapter 12

Tannon, Cullen, Nekozawa, and Neb climbed out of Neb’s cart. They stood on top of a hill, facing a small (albeit, poorly constructed) house. The pink soil not visible in the surrounding area and a light rain was sprinkling down.

“Well, this is it” said Neb. “Hopefully some of our questions will be answered.”

They walked towards the house, and Neb knocked on the front door. A woman came to the door. Tall slim, looked as if she were in her mid-thirties.

“Neb. I wish I could say it was pleasant to see you again” she said. Neither her nor Neb said anything for a few moments.

“Okay... this is... wait what were your names again anyways?”

“Cullen.”

“Nekozawa.”

“Detective Jasper Tannon, TCPD.”

The woman stared at Tannon, then turned her gaze back to Neb. “You brought a policeman here?”

“Relax, he saved Mike’s life... when was that? Yeah about two days ago. Killed some pink kingdom inhabitants.”

“Neb, how on earth did he kill inhabitants of the pink kingdom?”

“Uh... you? You don’t know? You didn’t notice, or hear? They seen to have been transferred over here and have started infecting things. From what Mike says, it seems as though Shapzar wizards are involved.”

“Well that’s worrisome” she said. “You’d all better come in.”

And they did. The entire of the house had a rustic cabin feel to it. Cozy. And it also seemed a bit bigger.

“We haven’t officially been introduced” said Tannon.

“Yes we have,” she smiled, “I know all your names.”

“But we still don’t know yours.”

She smiled even wider. “For now, call me, let’s see. How about... Kara. Yes. That works.”

“Alright Kara,” said Cullen, “Neb said you might be able to help us-”

“In dealing with the pink kingdom? Yes. Thought so. Well, I think I have something that could help.” She stood, and glided towards a bookshelf, pulling out what looked like an encyclopedia, (labelled Simple Magics for the Misinformed: Volume 7 – Disappearances, Reappearances, Banishes, and Reformations), which she brought over and sat down with. She flipped through the pages, bookmarking a few pages here or there.

Then she flipped back to the first bookmark.

“Right. This is some fairly simple stuff right here. Say the words here” (she pointed to a weird looking phrase) “and think of a certain target while doing it. Should send them back to where ever they came from. Your going to want to use this on any settlements you find, although that gets tricky.” She flipped through more pages. “This one is a turns subjects back into their original forms, figure it’ll be useful for Wanderer.”

“Wait, how do you know about Wanderer?” asked Nekozawa.

Kara smiled again.

“Did you read our minds?”

“Glanced at them more like it. Read whatever thoughts and emotions were on your minds at that moment. If I were reading your minds, you’d know it. And don’t worry Nekozawa, your fetish is safe with me.”

Nekozawa went beat red.

“Although, I’d advise you see a therapist about it” she continued. “Lastly, this one. Banishing. When you rescue Mike... again, yes, of course I know... when you finally get to Mike, he should be able to help you with this one. There’s a good possibility that if he’s alive, he’s being taken to wherever their leader is, and main settlement. By using a banishment charm, you essentially block off this whole area to them ever coming back, unlike the first disappearance spells. It’s quite tricky, but as long as Mike is alive and there’s someone else here that’s done magic before you should be fine.”

Neb turned to Nekozawa. “Hey kid. Cat boy. What’s your name again, Nowazippo, Nickotolla, Necywitzer-”

“Nekozawa.”

“Right. You can do magic right?”

“Ah bit, yeah.”

“Great, then you can help Mike solve this pickle. No pun intended.”

There was a silence. Then Cullen spoke. “That’s a lot of what ifs.”

“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” She chuckled.

“If this does succeed, how do we find you and bring it back to you?’ asked Tannon.

“It has a charm in it. I’m going to give it to one of you to hold onto it for me, Cullen, and when you are done whoever I’ve entrusted to hold it for me, Cullen, will be able to read my name in right here on the first page.” She flipped to the front and pointed to a blank space. “Then I’ll come collect it.”

“Why him?” asked Tannon. Cullen looked at him as if to say rude and Tannon added “legitimately curious, no offense intended.”

Kara smiled. “I don’t know, Cullen, I guess I just like you. Well you should be all set.” She got up and walked them to the door. She gestured for Cullen to hang back a minute.

She put an arm on his shoulder, her expression becoming sympathetic. “I’d just like to say Cullen, I’m quite sorry about your son. If you need anything from me, feel free to ask.” She leaned in and kissed him, no tongue or open lips, but nonetheless, strange, and she pulled back. “Sorry. Sometimes I get a little too carried away. Don’t die.”

Cullen walked away feeling very confused. As he crested over top of the hill it was back to pink grass and a sunny sky. Nothing, not even the rain could be seen from where he was standing. He felt something he hadn’t felt in many centuries, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.

### Chapter 13

They headed back to Neb’s kart, each and every one, a bit confused. Neb pulled something out of his pocket. “Here, you might need this. Actually, you’ll definitely need this.”

Neb pulled a compass out of his pocket. “This compass is pretty cool, it’s sorta like Jack Sparrow’s compass from Pirates of the Caribbean movies.”

Tannon, Cullen and Nekozawa looked at each other as if one of them was supposed to understand what Neb was saying.

“Oh right, you don’t have those yet. Anyways. This compass doesn’t point north, but rather what you’re focusing on. Thinking about. You know. That kinda thing, etcetera. I’m rambling... here,” he said looking at Nekozawa, “Catch!”

Nekozawa reached to far and fumbled to catch the compass, but nonetheless he caught it.

“So, can you take us to Mike and Wanderer?” asked Cullen.

“I could, in theory,” Neb said “but I’d rather not mess with The Pink Kingdom.”

“But dude, with you we could get this thing done so much quicker” Tannon said.

“That’s true. With me you could. But I have this thing about interfering with events, so...”

And in less than the blink of an eye Neb and his kart completely disappeared, his kart’s horn echoing through the forest.

“Shit! Well what do we do now?” Tannon screamed.

“Could we please try to remain calm. The solution could present itself,” Cullen said.

“The solution could present itself?! Are you insane? We’re in the middle of a hostile environment with a ‘magic’ book and a ‘magic’ compass, and being hunted by abominations that by all means shouldn’t exist! What are we supposed to do now?”

“Guys?” Nekozawa asked.

“What is it?” Cullen asked.

“I’ve been testing the compass. And I think works. I’m not sure if this is good news, but, Wanderer, Mike, and the big boy are all headed in the same direction.”

“The big boy?” asked Tannon, coming back around.

“Yeah, the tall boy? Big dude who deepthroated Wanderer in pickle form. Jesus. This is getting ridiculous.”

“Which way” asked Tannon.

“That way” said Nekozawa pointing forwards (slightly to his left).

“I guess the solution presented itself” Cullen said to Tannon, doing his best to not sound sarcastic.

“It did. You were right.” Tannon admitted.

“Nice backpedal, Tannon” said Nekozawa.

#### \*\*\*

At this point Dirty Mike was really living up to his name. Covered in all sorts of dirt, soil and mud. His face scratched, bruised, beaten and swollen. He seemed perfectly out of place walking through the gorgeous, bright halls of the castle.

Sanderson walked behind him, pushing him upstairs and through the halls.

“So where are you taking me Sanderson?”

“The dungeon. You’ll remain there until Alalla is ready to meet with you.”

“Aren’t we fairly high up to be near the dungeon?”

“Alalla isn’t cruel. She made sure the dungeons were still pleasant. Turn left up here.”

They continued down the corridors until reaching a door with a painting of a sun rising over a meadow with a unicorn prancing around on it, labelled Dungeon in a nice curly font.

“Here we are.”

“Yeah thanks genius, I’m illiterate and clearly couldn’t read the sign on the door. Although, come to think of it that font is a bit hard to read.”

“Just shut up and get in there. I’ve had enough of your attitude.”

Mike was shoved in, and the door was locked behind him. Mike turned around to see a massive, open concept “club” to say the least. Complete with a bar, tables and a dance floor (which was currently being used by a women’s volleyball team). It was a very mixed group of people (and creatures) that shared the space.

“Hey” said a guy at a table near the door.

Well maybe this ain’t too bad after all Mike thought.

### Chapter 14

Mike had no idea how long he’d been in the “club” for, an he didn’t particularly care at the moment. He sat around a table with half-a-dozen other prisoners, all playing a card game. Mike had been playing with them for had felt like hours. He still didn’t fully understand the game, but based on his opponents (and their decisions), they didn’t truly understand the game either.

“Alright. I’m all in” said Mike.

The fuzzy blue crocodile to his right looked annoyed. “You sure about that new guy?”

“Yeah. I am.”

“I’m all in too” said a guy across from Mike.

“Me also” said a green gorilla two seats left from Mike. Everyone else folded.

“So, what did you have?” the crocodile asked Mike.

“Uhhh... no. You three first” said Mike.

“Or, instead of being cliched we all reveal our hands at the same time” said the guy across the table.”

“Fine” Mike agreed. Mike, the gorilla and the crocodile all put their cards down at the same time, the guy across the table hesitated, having bluffed, but it seems he thought his hand was stronger than it truly was. He threw his cards in the air and walked away.

“Well Mike, you have Jeremy” said the gorilla. “The Overdeity of Minigolf. No matter what the hand, an Overdeity always wins.”

“Crap. Looks like you win again Mike” said the crocodile, lowering his head into his hands.

“Well, beginner’s luck I guess” Mike said, smiling.

At that exact moment the door opened wide, and Sanderson and a few bunny minions walked (and hopped) in. Sanderson grabbed Mike by the back of his hair and slammed him face first into the table in front of him.

Mike slammed into the table knocking it over and landing on the floor. Sanderson grabbed him by the ankle and dragged him out of the room. “Alalla would like to see you now” he said.

Mike was dragged up seven flights of stairs and through many long corridors before he, Sanderson, and the bunny guards reached a massive set of doors. Black. Sinister. Unlike any other part of the castle Mike had seen. Even the “club” was pretty bright and upbeat, even if there was a high stakes game of Intermittant Heroes going on.

Sanderson grabbed Mike by the shoulder and stood him up. He opened the door just a crack and shoved Mike in.

Mike looked around the room and was quite surprised. It was grey and dimly lit. It was mostly empty, but in the very center was a boardroom style table with many different grizzled looking unicorns, horses, rabbits and ducks (and one single person) in suits were talking in hushed voices. At the very end of the table sat a girl on a gingerbread throne.

A duck noticed Mike and stood. All conversation quieted down. “Approach. You are in the presence of The Pink Committee”.

Mike did as they said and walked forwards. “I thought I was supposed to speak with your leader Allellena? Alleyly? Alalela?”

“Alalla?” a bearded unicorn asked.

“Yeah that’s it.”

“Talk if you’d like, but I doubt there’d be much conversation” said the unicorn, gesturing to the figure at the end of the table. Mike looked closer and saw flabs of fake skin slowly peeling off her sweaty decomposing skin, cotton candy stuffing showing through the gaps. Her heart beating, visible for everyone to see, half shriveled flesh, half gummy candy. She seemed to be slowly melting into he gingerbread throne, some flashy icing trying to distract from that, and doing poorly. “Help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...............” she croaked, her voice like the whispers a chain-smoking extra-terrestrial.

Mike stood in shock at the sight.

“You are the one who killed, what was it, like 50 of our inhabitants?” asked a slightly younger looking unicorn.

“Look at him now” said the duck. “Sanderson just dragged him up here. What ever he did, he’s lost his will. Lost his way.”

“He could still help us” said a horse.

“Slow down. What do you want from me?” Mike asked.

The group calmed. A somewhat elderly horse (who seemed like some sort of leader or main speaker) turned to face Mike. “We searched your shop. You know some shit, and we think some of this shit could help us, you see, we’re dying. Our world is dying. Our way of life is dying.”

Mike burst out laughing. “You seriously want me to help you? You expect me to help you? That’s absolutely ridiculous! What do I have to gain from helping you?”

“You can live for a start,” said the horse. “We could always leave your world.”

At this, multiple figures stood and began arguing again. This continued for minutes, until finally, in her scratchy voice (like the devil’s gay uncle), Alalla spoke again. “Find..... the........ booooooooookk.............”

All arguing stopped. Everyone just looked from person to person.

“Give me some time to think about it” Mike said, breaking the silence. “I might help you, just a little. But first, you need to agree to my terms.”

“Maybe” said the old horse.

### Chapter 15

Nekozawa led Cullen and Tannon through the forest, following the directions from the compass Neb had given him. They had been walking for what felt like days, although they had no perception of time anymore.

The Sun refused to go down. It was always high in the sky, just at a slight angle.

Sleep was hard to come by for Nekozawa and Tannon, the glare of the sun constantly in their eyes.

As exhausted as they were though, only Cullen felt hungry. Tannon and Nekozawa assumed they should start feeling hungry at some point, but at this point, it was small talk.

“Stop” said Nekozawa. “Someone’s approaching.”

“I hear them too” said Cullen.

“Them?”

“From what I can guess, ten or so.”

“Oh shit! This is not good” Nekozawa was complaining. “This is not good.”

“Now hold on a second” Tannon said. “We’ve faced plenty more than that, and done fine. I’ve seen you two in action. The fast one and the furious one. We’ll... we’ll be fine-”

“Tannon, we were at full strength then, not to mention had Wanderer and Dirty Mike helping us. We are SCREWED!”

“Snap out of it kid! We’ve been through some pretty weird, tough, awful shit, but GOD DAMMIT WE CAN DO THIS!”

“Do you hear that?” Cullen asked the two of them.

“No” Nekozawa responded.

“Thanks to your shenanigans, they know we’re here.” Cullen said.

Then all at once, eleven assorted cronenbergian beasts lept out from the bushes towards Cullen, Tannon and Nekozawa.

Cullen strained himself, speeding up. He lunged towards three, taking them down, with some resistance and crouching on top of one, who he punched in the stomach repeatedly, trying to evoke some fearful response, but they had lost the element of surprise. It seemed hopeless.

Tannon shot two in the head right off the bat, and hit a couple more point blank. But they were getting to close and tackled him to the ground.

Nekozawa was in a similarly dire situation as a cyborg cabbage patch kid from hell was currently strangling him. He had to morph back into his feline form to escape it’s grasp, but it launched itself at him and clung to his side. He tried to cause an explosion nothing other then a few sparks flew. He ran head first into a tree and collapsed.

The two creatures on either side of Cullen had regained some consciousness and groggily tried to pull Cullen off their comrade.

Tannon, also unconscious, was being carried away by some of the creatures. The cabbage patch kid (who seemed to be leading them) spoke in an uncomfortably too deep voice. “I believe these are the other intruders. Alalla gave of strict orders to bring her the shop owner and do what we like with the rest. I don’t see the shop owner, so we may have to keep searching, but until then, looks like we have a decent lunch ahead of us.”

Cullen chuckled a little. This was almost too ridiculous to take seriously. Almost.

### Chapter 16

Mike awoke. It was completely impossible to tell whether or not it was early or late. There seemed to be no way of keeping time. He didn’t know how many days had past for him, but it must have been a few. His bruises were healing. He wasn’t quite so stiff and sore. He felt good, weirdly.

He pulled back his silk sheets and wandered over to the massive window-wall. He pulled back a set of drapes revealing the colorful landscape bellow. He stood there for a moment, lost in thought. Then, breathing deeply, he turned back and walked towards his closet, on the opposite wall, about six meters away.

For his cooperation with the Pink Committee, in agreeing to help save The Pink Kingdom, Mike had been given a suite in one of the upper levels of the castle. It was nearly three-thousand square feet. The Pink Kingdom didn’t cheap out.

Mike pulled a brown pinstriped suit out of his closet. It was smooth, and fit like a glove. It was the most comfortable garment of clothing he’d ever worn in his life. It was truly an exquisite thing. He laid it down on his bed, along with a white shirt and a navy-blue tie. Satisfied with his clothing choice, Mike walked over to his bathroom, past his tub and into his separate shower, with its fancy glass door.

Once finished in the bathroom, he reentered his bedroom and enveloped himself inside his new suit. Standing confidently, he strode out from his master bedroom into the hallway of his suite and down to the open concept kitchen/dining/living room where he prepared his breakfast. A fried egg on a piece of whole-wheat toast, which he buttered lightly. To go with it he had glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. A man in his position needed lots of protein for maximum success.

Upon finishing his breakfast, he grabbed his keys and some blank paperwork he was supposed to work on last night, but he’d procrastinated. This wasn’t to big of a deal however, as, if the paperwork even came up during his meeting, he could just improvise. But the odds of it coming up were rather slim. He strolled down a dozen or so flights of stairs before entering the massive throne room.

Inside, many committee members were busy with their points of articulation. Upon noticing his arrival, the head speaker (an elderly horse fellow by the name of Carnives Thonitt) stood. “Welcome friend. Come take your place.”

Mike took his place and sat down. The end of the table he was sitting at was taken up by the party within the committee he’d chosen to join. The Reformers. Their party leader was an older unicorn (named Refavah), one of the oldest committee members, and at one time a personal adviser to Alalla. His beliefs were firm, but reasonable. His entire purpose was to find ways of returning The Pink Kingdom to where it once came. Mike liked this idea.

There were two other parties. The Imperialists, who believed the best way to keep the Kingdom strong was to expand and harvest more resources. They were radicalists. Their party leader was a duck (named Skimsmiks), who was youthful, and irrational. Mike (and the rest of his party) had nothing but distain for Skimsmiks.

The majority of the council however was made up of The Believers. Their platform is that what happens, happens for a reason, and that they should go with the flow. They were exhausting, but they were more likely to agree with the Reformers than anyone else. Thonitt was their leader.

“Well, as I was initially saying, the crystalline pillars are cracking.” Thonitt continued with a speech he’d been giving before Mike came in. “The energy within our kingdom, that powers our society may very well be gone soon. We need some form of solution. An alternate source of fuel.”

“Right” said Skimsmiks. “I suggest we send people outside, into this new world. Search for alternate fuel.”

“I keep saying, we should leave them alone!” Refavah cried out. “This is an already full world. We have NO PLACE IN IT!”

“Come on. We have superior arms and power in compar-”

“Actually, you don’t,” said Mike. “Speaking as an ambassador from Trident City, we have a surprisingly large supernatural community. I myself managed to take down many of your citizens when my shop was attacked, now imagine multiple wizards all flinging super-charged fireballs at your armies with the snap of their fingers. Or Vampires cutting through the army within seconds.”

“Are we really letting this one speak?” asked Skimsmiks. “He openly admitted to killing innocent citizens of our domain. Not to mention he was a simple shop keeper before all this.”

“He represents the people of this world” said Refavah, “and offers an interesting, new perspective.”

“By that, you mean an idiotic perspective, right?”

“I would not have you speak to a member of my party that way!”

“Enough of this,” said Thonitt, “I would have a civil debate, not petty name-calling in this room. Settle your personal issues on your own time. We are still no closer to fixing our situation. And first things first. Fuel.”

Mike was sure his paperwork would not be mentioned. Nothing ever got done around here.

One unfortunately deformed unicorn cried out "I keep saying, what if we turn the beings of this world into a fine paste and make a machine that was powered by said paste."

And then all at once, the committee broke out into multiple micro arguments.

"How are we going to find a relic like the book in the first place?"

"We still have waste issue problems! You all seem to be forgetting the plumber's strike going on right now."

"I bet your mother was a cotton-headed ninny-muggins!"

"With a couple of gods on our side, who's to say we can't abolish salads?"

And it kept going and going and going for hours.

### Chapter 17

Cullen, Tannon and Nekozawa were bound at the wrists and ankles by ropes, their captors dragged them along. Each was weak. To weak to fight back. Tired and Hungry. They had been captives for what seemed like an eternity. Despite constant threats of being eaten, they never were. They now approached a massive colorful castle.

#### \*\*\*

Mike rolled over in his bed and looked at the window, the light leaking in from his blinds. He walked over to his massive window, opened the blinds and looked out across the landscape, taking in its details. Beautiful.

Mike pulled a grey pinstriped suit out of his closet. It was soft, and fit like a glove. It was the second most comfortable garment of clothing he’d ever worn in his life, the brown suit being the first. The grey suit was exquisite like the brown. He laid it down on his bed, along with a baby-blue and a bright red bow tie. Fairly satisfied with his clothing choice, Mike walked over to his bathroom into his shower.

Once finished with that he reentered his bedroom and enveloped himself inside his suit. Standing confidently, he strode back over to the window, he took one last glance out at the landscape and noticed figures approaching. Some random inhabitants he vaguely recognized and some prisoners... Cullen, Nekozawa and Tannon.

Mike raced out the door without breakfast, and ran down a couple dozen flights of stairs to greet his former comrades.

#### \*\*\*

Tannon, Nekozawa and Cullen were pushed through the gates and into a courtyard which resembled a playground, even down to the children playing in it. It would’ve been perfectly peaceful if not for some beheadings going on just a ways away.

“This is delightful” remarked Nekozawa.

“Move along you worm!” an oversized porcupine said.

Out of the castle doors in front, strode a very clean Dirty Mike. “Woah! Welcome guys! It’s nice to see you again.”

“Mike?” asked Nekozawa, “What the fuck? Where have you been?”

“Wait, Mike, you know know these worms?” asked the porcupine.

“Yeah, actually, I do. I’ll take them from here. Bye.”

#### \*\*\*

Mike called a private meeting with Thonitt, Refavah and Skimsmiks to discuss a plan.

“So, you’re saying, you might just be able to find the book with your resources and save us?” asked Thonitt.

“Yes, exactly” Mike replied.

“How do we know you won’t try to betray us and run away, or worse, use the book on us?” asked Skimsmiks.

“Well obviously we’d combine forces.” Refavah said.

“Exactly” said Mike.

“Good” said Skimsmiks “Then I shall send Sanderson with you, as well as some other volunteers.”

“Great” Tannon muttered.

### Chapter 18

After a good night’s rest Clean Mike, Tannon, Cullen and Nekozawa all prepared for a long day’s journey.

Mike made sure he was up early enough to go to board room. He entered and everyone stood, staring at him.

“Today, our newest member, Mike” Thonitt announced, “will be setting out on a quest, with the intention of saving our ways of life. It is our great pleasure to wish him off on his journey.” Thonitt began to clap, and was followed by the Reformers, Believers and a few Imperialists.

“Well, I thank you all” said Mike, “but you deserve some of this praise, after all, you let me be apart of your wonderous society.” He clapped too. He noticed Skimsmiks rolling his eyes. Fuck that shithead Mike thought.

Mike listened in on some more conversations.

They talked about the fuel crisis, whether to expand once in possession of the book, the possibility of calling a truce and living peacefully on this world (and theoretical taxes on imports and exports), and then back to fuel. As usual, no real progress was made on these topics. After maybe an hour, Mike left (walking out to more applause, mainly from his own party) and made his way down to the courtyard.

There Cullen, Nekozawa, Tannon, Sanderson, a crocodile official named Glockey (sent by Skimsmiks as well), and three bunny guards were waiting. A hare secretary was writing down what armors and weapons to make sure everything was in order. The bunny guards were shoeing the secretary away.

“So, are we ready?” Mike asked.

“I guess so” Cullen said.

“No funny business you four” said Sanderson pointing to Mike and the group, “or might have to hurt you.” He smiled wide, and revealed his large pointy teeth.

A large wagon pulled by some multicolored hedgehogs rolled up. Everyone piled in. Cullen and Mike managed to sit close to the back, where eyes were off them.

They journeyed off, out of the courtyard, out of the “safety” of the castle. During their journey away, Sanderson started out constantly looking over his shoulder, but stopped, as he must not have thought anything was actually happening.

That’s when Cullen pulled out Simple Magics for the Misinformed: Volume 7 – Disappearances, Reappearances, Banishes, and Reformations, which thankfully had magical properties allowing it to fit in his pocket, without looking obvious. Cullen didn’t really know how it worked or why he’d even discovered it, but he just sorta knew he could hide it there.

“Kara said you’d know how to use this to remove The Pink Kingdom” Cullen said in a hushed voice, the wagon wheels on the ground nicely muffling his voice.

Mike looked at him, tilting his head slightly. There was a certain look in his eyes. Almost like his happiness was crushed. For the first time since arriving in the Pink Kingdom, Mike felt like his old self, and he was unsure how he felt about that. “She definitely knows her stuff” Mike said. “worst case-scenario, we conjure a banishing charm and keep them out of here for good. But in the meantime, lets try to help them out.” Mike stroked his chin, in thought. He missed the way his stubble felt.

### Chapter 19

Tannon sat looking out the window, eyes somewhat unfocused, lost in thought. The landscape flew passed, progressively becoming less pink and more green. It was a relief to Tannon when he heard the sound of precipitation. It was snowing. The landscape was growing more and more white.

Nekozawa sat silently beside him.

The bunny guards and Glockey were all shivering, which seemed to amuse Sanderson. “Look at you. The cold bothering you? Pathetic. This dumb, weak mortal is fine with the weather. And so is the weird cat-boy.”

“Thanks” Tannon said sarcastically.

“Did I say you could speak to me mortal scum?” Sanderson yelled at Tannon. Tannon was used to being yelled to.

“No, I guess not.”

“Did I give you permission to speak to me a second time?” asked Sanderson leaning towards Tannon.

Tannon stared blankly back at him.

Sanderson burst out laughing. “Wow. You really are something. Most people I do that to back down immediately. You just took it.”

“I’m a cop” Tannon stated. “I know how mind games work. Especially in a dangerous place like Trident City. I have to keep it together. But frankly, you don’t frighten me.”

Sanderson now actually looked pissed, and sat backwards into his seat, moving away from Tannon.

“What. Have I struck a nerve?”

“I think you did” said Nekozawa. “You’re all bark and no bite,” Nekozawa said to Sanderson, in a raised voice.

“Watch your mouth boy, or I might have to watch it for you.”

Nekozawa and Tannon looked quizzically at each other.  Then, at the same time said “What?”

“For starters, I’m not a boy” Nekozawa continued. “I’m a young adult. But moreover, you want to watch my mouth? What kind of a dumbass comeback is that? You sound like a middle schooler trying to sound more intimidating.”

“Yeah, that’s actually pretty dumb” said Tannon. “I’ve heard a lot of open-ended threats in my time, and that’s one of the lamest I’ve heard.”

“Must you really try to provoke him?” Glockey interrupted.

“Shut up, Glockey. I can handle myself” said Sanderson, a cold smile forming on his face, rage in his eyes. “Let me tell you something, cop. You’re new to this world. There’s a lot you don’t understand yet. And there are some beings you really don’t want to piss off.

“And let me guess... you’re one of them?” Tannon asked

“Well... yes.”

“Ha. You still don’t scare me.”

“We’ll see about that. We shall see. As for you, boy...”

“Ouch.” Nekozawa muttered.

“... not everyone appreciates your obnoxious sense of humor. Sometimes, you should try shutting up.”

“Well FUCK YOU then, mate!” Nekozawa screamed.

“Alright, that’s a little petty too, don’t you think?” Tannon asked.

“Eh, I guess” Nekozawa admitted.

#### \*\*\*

Everyone was silent until they were approaching the perimeter.

“STOP WHERE YOU ARE, AND GET OUT OF THE WAGON WITH YOUR HANDS UP” screeched a loud voice over a megaphone. “I REPEAT, STOP WHERE YOU ARE, AND GET OUT OF THE WAGON WITH YOUR HANDS UP. WE ARE ARMED AND WE WILL FIRE IF YOU DO NOT COMPLY!”

Tannon, opened the door and got out. Nekozawa, Cullen and Mike followed.

“TANNON?” came a voice from the other side. Tannon looked up to see the combined forces of the police and military, Captain Ridgely holding the megaphone.

“Hey” said Tannon. “We may have a truce of some sort. If you allow us to pass through, we might just be able to send this thing away and resume our normal lives.”

“I’m not sure I can do that, Tannon.”

Tannon looked back at the wagon. “Come on out. Show them you mean no harm.”

Hesitantly, Glockey and the rabbit guards got out of the wagon, dropping their weapons and putting their hands behind their backs. And then Sanderson jumped out, wielding Wanderer’s shotgun and fired it at Ridgley.

“Get down!” yelled Tannon.

### Chapter 20

The shot went off, kicking back in Sanderson’s arms, the beads spreading out incredibly fast and missing the majority of the police, killing no one.

“God dammit. This thing is crap!” At that moment, the gun went off in Sanderson’s arms, almost hitting him in the face, but he managed to get out of the way of the barrel just in time. “Fuck!”

The police and military were all getting back up. Seeing this Sanderson rushed off into the forest.

The bunny guards prepared them selves for a fight, but as there were only three of them, they were killed within seconds by the military. Glockey remained fully on the ground, surrendering.

Tannon stood up looking to both the military and his newfound friends. “We can’t let the big dude-”

“Sanderson.” Mike interrupted.

“Right. Sanderson. We can’t let Sanderson get away!”

“I’ll fetch him for you” said Cullen. And with that, he ran off into the forest after Sanderson.

It didn’t take long to find Sanderson. His fear felt tangible to Cullen, who chased it like a rabid dog, reminded of the thrill of the hunt. He spotted Sanderson sitting behind some trees, cursing.

“Stupid thing, piece of shit, god dammit.”

Cullen, kept his presence hidden, gliding through tree tops, until reaching the one Sanderson was crouched behind. Sanderson’s fear was strong but his anger was almost overpowering. Cullen crawled down the tree, spider-like, and hovered over Sanderson.

With a quick, snake-like movement, Cullen reached down and pulled Sanderson up trying to scare him, and suck the fear from him. But Sanderson hit Cullen with the shotgun and fell to the ground.

Sanderson got up quickly, raising the gun to Cullen, but Cullen pounced at him, knocking the gun out of his hand. They struggled on the ground, Sanderson surprisingly strong enough to fight a vampire. He may have been straining himself, but it was impressive.

He punched Cullen in the jaw, Cullen falling into a patch of pink and green grass, with a light snow covering.

Sanderson went for the shotgun again, but Cullen was to fast, grabbing Sanderson by his outstretched arm, and then by his throat, and threw him backwards into a tree.

Cullen approached, when something happened. He fell over.

#### \*\*\*

Cullen stood on the end of a pier. He watched as a man rose out of the water. Hale.

Hale was wearing a pair of bright swim trunks. His hair was almost fully grey, but was in surprisingly decent shape. He looked healthier here, at what was assumedly age sixty, than he had done at thirty-seven. He was followed out of the water by two children, both girls around the ages of nine and twelve, and a late thirty-something wife.

They were all conversing with each other as they walked up the pier, towards a large house. Wide open green planes laid around the house. The sky was a rich pink, and the setting sun looked stunning on the horizon. This certainly wasn’t Umbral-la.

Cullen followed them towards their very modern looking house. As they opened the door, he too tried to go through it, but it was as though he were being blocked from seeing that. He could still see through a window though. Hale looked happy, as did his family. And that was enough for Cullen.

#### \*\*\*

Tannon approached quietly. Cullen lay on the ground, suffering from a violent seizure. Sanderson was slowly getting to his feet, looking over at the gun.

“Well kid, I guess this is the end of the line for you” Sanderson chuckled. “You seemed pretty tough too, but now I realize you may not be.”

Tannon rolled his eyes. Was that really the best one-liner he could come up with? Tannon raised his gun, making his way forwards, one step at a time.

When he felt close enough, Tannon announced himself. “Your one-liners still suck, Sanderson. Or maybe I should just call you Saderson.”

Sanderson looked up in surprise, them smiled. “Saderson? Really? You think my one-liners are bad?”

“I was attempting to make fun of your childish insults-”

“By making one about me. I understand the intention, but it sucked. You’re pretty dumb you know.”

Sanderson leapt forwards, Tannon shot him multiple times with his pistol but each bullet seemed only to do minimal damage. Sanderson punched Tannon in the face incredibly hard, knocking him to the ground, and began punching, kicking, and biting him. After a minute, Sanderson stopped.

“You scared of me yet, you pathetic weasel?”

“Still no” said Tannon, smirking behind his bruises. Tannon had managed to hold onto his pistol, which he now had aimed directly into Sanderson’s groin. He pulled the trigger and Sanderson fell over backwards.

Cullen seemed to be recovering from his seizure and caught sight of Tannon.

Sanderson had meanwhile crawled over to the shotgun. Cullen pulled out his book and flipped to the first bookmark. Cullen read the words just as Sanderson turned around with the gun.

At that moment, a hand reached out through Sanderson’s chest pulling the shotgun out of his hands and inside the chest cavity. Sanderson’s head disappeared in an epically bloody explosion. The rest of Sanderson’s body fell apart, and standing where Sanderson had been moments before, was Wanderer, buck naked and noticeably thinner.

“Somebody wanna grab me some clothes? It’s fuckin freezing!”

### Chapter 21

Tannon, Cullen, Wanderer, Nekozawa and Mike gathered in a crowded police precinct, as they all caught each other up on what had happened, and told the police everything they knew. Well not everything. As much of the magic stuff was left out for the benefit of the mortal’s minds.

“The pink kingdom is a force to be reckoned with” Mike said.

“Are they really?” asked Wanderer. “Think about it. They haven’t actually been able to get past the perimeter with much success.”

“Well, that’s down to how severely they underestimate us” said Mike. “That is our advantage.”

“So, what do you propose then?” asked Ridgely.

“Well, it’s simple” said Tannon. “We go in and hit them full force.”

“You think your wife would be willing to help us?” Wanderer asked Nekozawa.

Nekozawa blushed and smiled awkwardly. “Um... I’ll see. Maybe, he he.” Nekozawa walked out.

Ridgely seemed somewhat confused, but considering how desperate they were, he didn’t feel the need to ask. “so, we load up with the swat, and go in with the military, guns and tanks blazing.”

“Basically” said Tannon. “I say we get to work.”

And with that everyone in the precinct busied themselves making sure everything was in order.

Tannon turned to Cullen. “You okay?”

“Yes” Cullen replied. “Thanks for helping me.”

“No problem. You have seizures often?”

“Well... no. I wasn’t having a seizure, I was having a vision.”

“Okay. What was it about?”

“My son.”

“Mmmm. So, you okay?”

“I- I don’t know. For the first time in a long time, I don’t know.” Cullen looked down. He had no idea what to say.

Tannon put his hand on Cullen’s shoulder for a moment, then somewhat awkwardly removed it. “Well... if you ever want to talk to someone about it, if we both make it through this... if I make it through this, you can talk to me. My... my wife and I have been having a rough go recently. We have a daughter. Beautiful baby girl. Three years old. We’ve been trying for a second for a while now. She just had her second miscarriage back in November. I know it’s not the same as loosing a child after so many years of raising them... but it’s still devastating.”

Both of them sat silently in their sadness and sorrow. Finally, Cullen said “I- I’m sorry, Jasper.” and returned an awkward shoulder touch.

Tannon smiled. Both of them sad silently in their sadness and sorrow. Finally, Cullen said “I- I’m sorry, Jasper.” and returned an awkward shoulder touch.

Nekozawa came back, red in the face, an embarrassed grin on his face.

“So, um, she says she’s going to call in some favors. It looks like she’ll help.” Nekozawa swallowed.

Wanderer looked at him. “So. Anything else you want to tell us.”

“No!” Nekozawa’s voice cracked as he said it. “I- uh, eh he he he, um. I’m good.”

“Alright” said Tannon. “Let’s show these pink assholes they fucked with the wrong people! We’re saving Christmas!”

“That was a really dumb line” said Nekozawa.

“Almost as dumb as some of the shit that Sanderson said” Mike added.

“Shut up, I was trying to have a moment” said Tannon.

“Sorry” said Nekozawa.

### Chapter 22

Tannon sat at the driver’s seat of decked out police SUV, leading a convoy. The strangest convoy he’d ever seen. Multiple tanks, a couple heavily armored reconnaissance vehicles (filled with a SWAT team each), many undercover police cars and most strangely Nekozawa’s wife Seoch and her “friends”. Seoch was in a palanquin pulled by some extremely fast men in leather gimp suits, while her allies rode on snow leopards. Nekozawa himself was in his cat form sitting on Seoch’s lap.

Various other spirts and fae tagging along merely floated beside the convoy.

Wanderer and Mike sat in the back seat, quietly discussing their plans. Cullen had decided to wait back at the border, to make sure no one could get hurt if the Pink Kingdom prevailed.

As the castle drew nearer, a massive army came into site. Horses, unicorns, snakes and rabbits, all twisted by the warped nature of the kingdom.

“This is where the fun begins” Wanderer said.

Cullen felt a vibration in his pocket. He pulled the book out and looked in the front cover to see a name. He said the name, and was suddenly transported back into Kara’s cabin.

“Good to see you again Cullen. You didn’t go with them?”

“What? I-”

“Oh, don’t worry” she laughed. “I knew you wouldn’t go with them. I doubted you would.”

“Then why did you give me this book?”

Kara smiled again. “I thought you’d be able to use it for... other things.” Her smile widened further. “If ever you feel the need to talk, you’ll be able to contact me. And I’ll be contacting you whenever I feel like it.”

“Alright, then? I’m not sure I understand.”

“Oh, you will. And it will be beautiful. One more thing. What’s my name?”

“I-” Cullen strained to think, turning the book open. “Your name is [REDACTED].”

And he was back in the forest, thoroughly confused.

### Chapter 23

Chaos erupted on the battle field as both armies collided. The massive snow leopards leapt onto the many steeds of the bunny guards and began using their jaws to rip them to shreds. The magically inclined folks riding said leopards gracefully removed themselves from their steeds, somersaulting from the backs of the mighty war beasts and cast spells, jinxes and curses, left, right and center.

The numerous armored vehicles drove into the mess, deploying SWAT teams, SEAL teams, and other various teams who had been around to help, each member of each team packed to the brim with as many weapons as said person could manage to carry on them.

Rocket launchers were fired into the mess of curses, resulting in various weird effects. Nekozawa pulled a band of grenades from one soldier and ran forwards with them blasting a massive hole in the defenses of The Pink Kingdom, providing Tannon, Mike and Wanderer with passage through the battlefield, with minimal interruption.

They drove over the charred corpses of many who had fallen, furthering themselves to the gates. Nekozawa and a few random fae ran beside the SUV, continuing to clear a path for it.

A group of bear-sized hamsters, with rather sharp teeth, raced forwards at the SUV, a lean bunny warrior on top of each, all wielding crossbows.

Nekozawa launched an explosion their way, which seemed to do little at best. The SUV swerved out of the way and slipped between a narrow gap between two of the hamsters, the hamsters struggling to turn around, but managing, and still chased the SUV.

A fae floating above summoned numerous sharpened blades from the ash in the sky, which was launched into the midst of the hamsters, striking two, killing one. Another fae brought a massive earthy barricade up in front of the line of massive hamsters, which slowed them somewhat.

A decent sized tank pulled up beside the hamsters and shot a massive shell at the herd, killing three. Nekozawa glided over to the tank, landing on its barrel with ease.

As it fired its next shot he jumped to the shell, super charging it with his power and destroying the last seven hamsters.

The SUV reached the gateway to the castle, and slammed right through, the gate flew off its hinges and hit the walls of the courtyard. The children that had been playing there stood, morphing into horrific nightmarish creatures, all launching towards the SUV, and landing on it. They all began punching, kicking and tearing away at it, one even punching into the engine.

Wanderer leaned forwards from the backseat, shooting the thing with his shotgun, all its life force drained by the gun, and it slumped forwards into the hole in the hood it had made, falling into the engine.

With that, the SUV started to smoke. Another creature on the side cut into the gas, just as the SUV burst through the main doors of the castle.

Tannon, Mike and Wanderer had just enough time to jump from the wreckage and behind some cover, and the SUV exploded, killing the monsters on it. Burning them to bits.

The three men marched forwards, armed with some good ol’ magic weapons. For Wanderer, the demon shotgun of course, along with an explosive dagger in case things got very serious. For Mike, his magic pistols, and more than enough ammo. His suit was wrecked and his stubble was filling in again. Tannon had chosen a large axe-hammer and a magic six-shooter, which launched spells.

They walked forwards, their army behind them.

### Chapter 24

As Wanderer, Mike and Tannon made their way through the Castle, an army of cops, soldiers and wacky magical beings pursued, Nekozawa rushed up to them in cat form riding on the back of a very large snow leopard. The leopard tackled a bunny guard to the ground just as it was about to thrust its spear into Mike’s back.

Mike turned to look at the leopard, saying “Nice save!”

“You’re welcome” it replied. “Now hop onto my back you three.”

Mike, Tannon and Wanderer did, Wanderer sitting backwards shooting at what came near them.

He also had a clear view of the destruction behind them as a couple of tanks barged their way through the front entrance of the castle, destabilizing most of the castle’s front atrium. The further forwards they plowed, the more castle came crumbling down. A fae raised one of the tanks into the air, and put it against a wall. Slowly the tank ascended upwards into the castle, blasting away at floor after floor.

Then none of it was visible, as they were taken up a side passage by the snow leopard, Nekozawa gliding alongside them.

They passed through many corridors, disposing of any and all obstacles that got in their way.

As they neared the top of the castle, the closer they got to the board room, the quitter everything was.

“Well, Merry Christmas I guess” Tannon said. “It may be our last, but its because we’re making a difference. We’re toppling The Pink Kingdom.”

“Fuck yeah we are!” Wanderer shouted proudly, raising his shotgun and shooting a bright red penguin-lizard creature right between the eyes.

They slowed upon finally meeting the menacing black doors. The snow leopard pushed the doors open with one paw. Gathered inside the room were many of the committee members. Thonitt, Refavah, and Skimsmiks stood side by side, all deep in discussion. Shana was the first to notice the intruders.

“M-Mike? How could you do this?” asked a member of the party Mike formerly belonged to.

Mike had no words, and grimaced.

“I knew we never should have trusted you” said Skimsmiks.

“Trust this bitch” Wanderer yelled shooting Skimsmiks, and he imploded on himself.

The committee members were all shocked. Mike slid down from the leopard’s back and walked to Thonitt and Refavah. As he was about to open his mouth, Alalla spoke, her voice, like a gremlin with throat cancer...

“The peace-bringer propositions us... the book is lost... kill meeeeeeeeeeeee!” she breathed deeply. “The peace-bringer offers us salvation.  SALVATION!”

And then the room was quiet again.

Thonitt turned to Mike, a smile forming on his face. “It was destiny that brought you here, Michael. You are the ‘peace-bringer’? What is it you offer-”

“Cut that out you daft fool” Refavah said, smacking Thonitt upside of the head. “Has it ever occurred to you that there is no fate or destiny deciding things for us?” He turned to Mike. “We thought you might help us leave this realm with ease, peacefully. And you have brought death to our ways of life. Mike, I am very disappointed in you.”

“I wish I could say I was sorry.” Mike said. “But I am not one of you. I never was, and you are a threat to the existence of all beings of this planet. I bring you salvation in the slightest of ways. We have with us many powerful spell casters with the abilities to send you back to where you came from.”

“LIES!” shouted Alalla, like a demonic gangster. “YOU ARE A FALSE PROPHET! YOU BRING NOTHING BUT DEATH AND DECIET! YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR CRIMES!”

“I’m not so sure about that” said Wanderer.

Alalla exploded, a massive hole appearing in the ground. A tank made yet another massive hole, rising through the floor. The military and the fae all arrived, each balsting with everything they had towards the board. Nekozawa fed off the explosive energy...

Wanderer jumped onto Tannon and Mike, teleporting all three of them to the Nevernever.

Nekozawa let go and set off a massive nuclear explosion, as every piece of the pink kingdom was obliterated. The cops, military and fae remained protected by a bubble charm. They began descending slowly to the ground.

Seoch looked at the mortals. “Now I’m afraid I’m going to have to modify all of your memories now, in order to make sure word does not get out about this.”

Tannon, Wanderer and Mike sat on the edge of a blackened void, beside a hellish highway. They sat silently. Mike raised his head. “You know, this whole incident has me thinking...”

“Bout what?” asked Tannon.

“Getting involved with some local politics.”

All three of them laughed. Their laughter died down.

“So, Wanderer, you going to teleport us back?” asked Tannon.

“No, not yet, no. I made us some other arrangements.” A taxi cab pulled up beside them.

“Hello Wanderer. A pleasure to see you again” said Simon Greene, his voice as cold and unfeeling as always.

### Chapter 25

Cullen sat in his chair by the fireplace, reading the newspaper. Carnival Gang Stopped by Hero Cop, It’s a Christmas Miracle. Apparently, all members of the law and military who accompanied the fae to fight the Pink Kingdom had their memories altered. In this case, a gang using circus and carnival themed weapons had set up shop in the woods and kidnapped several people off the mile highway. That is what the papers had reported, and for all intents and purposes, that was what most believed.

Tannon had taken a majority of the credit for the heavily altered events. That was nice. He deserved some recognition for what he had done. He had stopped by earlier in the day to make sure Cullen was alright. A nice man.

Cullen put the paper down, and sighed. It was the first Christmas without Hale in 38 years. He looked over at his tree, decorated with multiple different ornaments featuring pictures of Hale and himself... and one with Isabelle.

The sun was barely visible outside, but was quite low in the sky. Normally, Cullen would’ve been having dinner with Hale right about now.

Cullen had eaten the fear of a few rabbits already today, and didn’t feel like having more. Oddly, he felt tired.

He got up and walked over to Hale’s room. It hadn’t changed much since childhood. Hale had moved out around the time he was 18. Hale had taken many of his more current possessions at the time with him, leaving some blank spaces in the room.  Cullen had moved some of his things from when he was younger back in.

Those were simpler days.

Hale may not have had nightmares in the strictest sense, but he did suffer from some pretty intense visions. Most nights Cullen would curl up beside Hale, stroke his hair and the back of his neck, rub his back, just to make him feel comfortable.

Cullen didn’t really need sleep (and didn’t have a bed), but he’d spend many nights fondly gazing at Hale. All the while thinking here is this thing that I helped make myself, this beautiful, living creature. It was a completely indescribable feeling, one he knew only a parent could understand. To feel this exact sort of love for another, this protective caring nature to look upon this creation of yours, and no matter how troublesome they might be, think in those peaceful moments, and you would realize there’s something truly good.

No.

Something great inside of you.

He was however, for the first time in nearly a century, beginning to remember what being tired felt like. He laid down on Hale’s bed, looking at the empty space next to him imagining his eight-year-old son laying next to him. The son he so admired.

For the first time in well over a century, Cullen slept.

#### \*\*\*

Cullen was surrounded by darkness. He stood on a marble floor, surrounded by bloody corpses. His hands were red from it all. Tears streamed down his face, although he was not quite sure why.

The floor faded from around him and he now stood in a foul acidic environment. The walls were an unsettling pinkish grey, it was unpleasantly humid. The walls around him had bodies in them. Melting away like clay, receding into the walls. Some of them looked excepting of there fate while others screamed. One scream in the distance sounded very familiar.

It was Hale! There may be yet a chance of saving him.

Cullen ran towards the sound, when it all went dark again.

He was back in the room with the marble floor. Bodies surrounded him. A cold laughter was heard in the background. The laugh of his father, who stepped out from the shadows.

“I’m very proud of you, my son” he said.

Cullen awoke, a feeling of anger lingering deep inside him.