The girls all stood there in a liminal space, full of sunlight and mirrored sky. The four of them felt compelled to watch at the sun - it was unclear if it was a sunrise or sunset.  As they watched, the giant god walked up in line with them - with Alice and Rina on one side, and Phillipia and Neely on the other. His head was graced by a giant halo - it had been there so long that it had grown into his head. Inside of the halo grew two, elegant, ivory horns - the horns of a devil.
Luminus spoke softly, “Will you allow me to tell you a story, The Bound? There’s much I wish for you to know."
The girls looked at each other briefly, then each of them slowly nodded.

So, Luminus spoke:
"Once upon a time, near the beginning, there was a Nameless god. This god made a perfect world, one of endless joy and light, without suffering, without pain - then left.
This world was paradise, but some people within were not. They were still filled with pride, greed, anger, and malice. The good people of paradise agreed that these selfish few did not deserve paradise, so they settled on a system - a way of distinguishing those who deserve goodness and those who don't.
So they created your world. What you call home is not the original world, but a trial to earn a place in the real one.
With finally somewhere for them to go, Paradise became the Reaping. Immortality was undone, and - while painless - death was introduced. The good denizens, known soon as the Reapers, executed the others in a terrible purge. All who harbored selfishness were sent to the Sowing - here, your world.
Their souls were laid bare, their memories erased. The Reapers said, 'Let them earn their place, and be reborn as beacons of holiness, or send them back until they can be redeemed.'
And the system worked, it worked for millennia, it worked and milled... until the edges started to fray, and cracks began to form."

Luminus looked somber for a moment as he crossed his arms, his pose relaxed. He then continued:
"There was then a young scholar in your world - a studier of the the histories - who noticed a pattern. Malice was growing, the hatred and harm in this world steadily grew. People assumed that it was the natural order, that good people were hard to come by... but the young man looked deeper.
He grew feverish in his studies, convinced that there was a secret to be unlocked. Individuals flocked to his passion... then a classroom or two, then a school, then a nation. Thousands became obsessed with discovering where all the good people were going.
Slowly, the passion they felt grew into worship. This slid the final piece into place. He had become a god of the other side, and that cracked the veil. He saw that the people were being sent to another perfect world, one that only had room for the perfect among us.
He saw the system and became enraged, 'Why do they get to decide who deserves paradise? Do they not know how much we toil? How hard we work in our world full of pain and suffering?'
But the Reapers discovered the scholar - they saw this god would eventually break through the veil, now that the secret was out. So they went about stopping it.

Luminus looked down to Alice, who only stood midway up the calf of the giant god. She looked back up at him as he continued:
"They set the stars in motion and the first Pradhana was born. The world ender, their tool. Pradhana learned the truth as the end was set in motion. The scholar god begged Pradhana not to reset the world, to let it be and help him fix it. But Pradhana felt they had no choice, everyone they ever loved was dead, resetting it was the only solution.
And so the scholar preformed a final act. He gave up his heavenly mantle, surrendering his power and ending his own life so that Pradhana could finish their task.
His holy surrender to the Reapers plan earned him a place in paradise. He arrived there to find his world - your world - burning.
So, he deceived the Reapers, pretending to see their wisdom, all the while holding pain in his heart. He retreated from the grand palaces and holy feasts. Finding a hidden place where he could begin his conquest.
The scholar studied while in Paradise. He read for centuries until he discovered the truth: Gods can exist on either side. The reapers had shrouded themselves in anonymity to protect their system, but it made them vulnerable. When 10,000 years had passed after the Sowing - where the world was burned and salted - the Reapers began to repopulate it again. They selected souls from Niktalia, planting the first people again.
But the scholar knew a secret. At only the beginning, and near the end, the veil grows thin. Then, he planted a seed - a single name he gave them a name to worship: Luminus... Me."

The girls all looked stunned, thinking for a moment he was talking about Therius. He sighed and spoke again:
"It only took a handful of believers to restore me. The reapers caught on, but too late. I slayed them in their perfect palaces, I cut them down in their great halls, I subjected them to the same purge they put the world though.
I had won - and yet, I was trapped. The next Pradhana was already set in motion, and the walls between our worlds grew impassible. Without the reapers, paradise became mine to rule. And for some time it was paradise again. I was less strict with who was allowed to stay, and shared with some my secrets.
There was a reborn king, one I put my faith in, who betrayed me. A man named Bolgroth. With my knowledge, he cursed a people with his blood in order to gain followers - slaves, so as to become a god. He used my knowledge to build an army. When he succeeded, he and imbued his son with godly might.
I knew if he defeated me, then all of paradise would be lost. So, I forced my influence into the hearts of my church. I willed it into institution, into common practice. I conscripted citizens into my army... I didn't want to, but we were losing.
So, I have waited - locked in endless combat in paradise... Sending soldiers to fight and fight again... just so I could get to this moment: a time when the veil was finally thinning. Right before the final god fell.

The god turned to Rina, "Rina, you who are so bold. We share a common enemy. An ancient king holds your husband in his army. I have seen him, this Sebastian."
Rina's eyes widened, and tears welled up, "I was afraid of that... I hoped that Sebastian Jr. might be...." she trailed off before finishing, hoping that the cycle had brought Sebastian back to this world through Darrian.
"Unmake this world and we can free him."
He then turned to Phillipia, "Philipia, my dear friend. You see through the corruption and understand the truth, this is an act of mercy. Ending this world is the only way. Some things require strength."
Lastly, he turned to Alice, "And you Pradhana, I beg you. Unmake the world. End it all. When the final god falls you will be imbued with the choice... they will tell you that you must reset the cycle, that it is the only way, or that it will save your friends. But you can erase it all - send the souls here, back to paradise, back to where we can govern and give them an endless world. All the souls that have ever been, here, forever.
The time is drawing neigh, the last god will fall, and you all will be faced with a choice. When that time comes, I pray you will consider me, and the Paradise we can restore. No more pain, no more suffering. We can rule a painless paradise, together."

Luminus then turned to Phillipia and approached her, he began to weep, "Trust, also, that I will fight for my paradise, I am prepared to give everything, including my life, to this cause."
Luminus bowed to her and took her hand, his head unable to go below hers due to his large size, "Thank... you... thank you for always fighting for what is truly right. And for always being my loyal servant. I bestow on you a gift... to fight the evil you face."
Luminus kissed her hand, then placed his forehead upon it. A light from his horns blazed, and from it a feathered lance appeared. As Luminus rose, the lance gently placed itself in her hands.
"We will meet again, I pray it is on the same side."
~
A horn sounded, the girls awoke to fire blazing outside of the Tiny Hut - the Bolgrothians did not wait until morning as they said they would. They ran outside to find that people from both sides were already engaged in combat, swords were clashing and magic beams shot past them. 
“We need you at the front, The Bound,” said a cheetah man who had run to them, “Packfriend needs us all engaged now. The Kingdom of Bolgroth ambushed us, we have to get it together now!” 
The girls all got to the front line where a small tent was set up for planning their attack.
“Thank the gods, The Bound are here” said Packfriend. “We have three battalions at your command, and we send out some scouts to determine the biggest threats… and lost some in the process.”
Everyone looked somber, knowing where the souls were now: locked in the agony of Bolgroth’s torment.
Packfriend continued, “There are three towers that they are using to produce lightning, a command tower on the back of a giant boar, and a mage somewhere casting big spells - we don’t know where she is.”
“I think we should hit the towers first,” said Alice, “Rina and I know from experience that a hard lightning strike can take out even the strongest of people…”
Rina and Alice thought back to the day that Aurelius had died: the giant electric catfish had caused the loss of a companion with its lightning abilities. 
“I agree,” said Phillipia, “anything that may do extra harm to people while we are fighting should be taken out first. Then, we should focus on the command tower. The mage may be doing a lot, but it’s best to not waste time looking for her if we can use that time to make things easier on our troops.” 
Just then, Gunther, Marie, and Longneck entered the tent and joined in the conversation.
“We can go hit one of the totem towers if you need flyers,” said Gunther, “We can easily get to the tower farthest away and take it down.”
“Good,” Phillipia agreed, “Then I think it’s best The Bound split up and take out the other towers. Neely, are you with me?”
“Oh! Ye…yes… Yes I’m with you Phillipia! But please don’t make me command anyone.”
“Don’t worry, Neely,” said Alice, “The three of us can handle commanding groups of troops.”
“We will work on the army, itself, then,” said Packfriend, “If you happen to have extra muscle left over to help push the army back, that would be helpful, of course. But we need our strongest warriors taking out the big guns.”

With no time to waste, and a plan set, Rina dimension doored herself and Alice to the next farthest pillar - with Rina’s shadow spawn closely behind, ripping through soldiers on its way.
Phillipia and Neely rode BustAMoves through the army, with the help of the flying lance from Luminus to increase their speed. The Fearsome 5 flew off to the third totem, and out of sight of the others. Each group now needed to hold their own. 
Upon arriving at the electric totems, they could see that each totem was being held by four strong Bolgrothian soldiers - these seemed to be highly trained in order to be given this duty. Alice cast her Moonbeam and ripped through members of the army, helping her troops and hurting one of the specialty soldiers in the process. Rina targeted one of the four soldiers with Eldritch Blasts - pushing him back 30ft. Her shadow slashed through another. 
Phillipia jumped from BustAMoves and slashed into one of the soldiers on her totem, then continued the slashing motion through him and into another. Neely used shatter in the center of them, hurting all four of - as well as more of the surrounding army. 
Phillipia’s troops hit the army hard, and Alice’s troops caused chaos amongst the Bolgrothians to confuse them.
Two of the four soldiers that Rina and Alice were fighting aimed at Alice, their lightning strikes burned her skin and blackened it in some places. The other two targeted Rina and her shadow, missing them both. 
The four soldiers on Neely and Phillipia’s totem hit Phillipia hard with their lightning, but she withstood it and reacted to strike them back. Neely made sure she was healed and cheered her on.
The armies of Bolgroth and Basta’Thrope’ continued to rage against each other - the wild power of the Therianthropes was cutting through the Bolgrothian army at a death rate of one to five.

Then Alice felt a familiar twinge - a crack appeared in the sky. Bongrothian soldiers were being sucked into it, and they were replaced by a devil. This devil was covered in chains and was as tall as Alice and Rina combined. Other, similar devils appeared on the battlefield as more soldiers were sucked in.
Alice moved her moonbeam around and burned the closest devil, along with some of the Bongrothian forces surrounding them. Rina had her troops take a little time to heal themselves, and Alice had hers attack. Rina aimed her eldritch blasts at the devil this time, "Hey Raz, let's try a little necrosis." Her magic became toxic, and the devil reeled under its influence.
Phillipia's soldiers all rallied to each other, boosting their morale, while Phillipia continued to attack the same two generals carrying the totem.
The soldiers fought back, Phillipia was badly injured and Alice almost fell to a lightning attack. Rina was attacked by two of the generals, but her shadow took the hit from one side.

Phillipia felt a twinge this time, and looked up to see another crack forming above the army far away. From this crack poured the angelic creatures who crawled on all fours, and devoured souls with their teeth. They began ripping through the army - both armies indiscriminately.
Neely could see in the distance that Bolgroth was releasing giant buzzards - their wings looked too heavy to fly, and they struggled to become airborne. However, once they got to speed they were faster than any of the group could fly - and they were headed straight for Maeve's sky village.
"I have my druid grove up to protect the oasis!" Said Alice, "I hope its enough to keep them out... or, at least keep Maeve from getting angry with us."
Suddenly they could see that the totem near the Fearsome 5 collapsed, which gave the others the boost they needed to finish destroying their targets.

Neely used Bigby's hand to pick up one of the generals holding the totem and throw him far away, Phillipia and BustAMoves finished off the other three. Phillipia's troops hit Bolgroth's army, as did Alice and Rina's troops.
Rina cast fireball on the totem and the men carrying it, killing one instantly. Alice's moonbeam finished off the others, and Rina's shadow destroyed the totem.
With little time to celebrate, they had to withstand another attacker now. The devil who came through the crack nearest them grabbed Rina from behind and held her in his grasp.
Her shadow was then attacked by soldiers, and was unable to hold its shape any longer.

A deep, blood curdling growl could be heard from the top of the oasis' cloud cover. Maeve descended upon the army, throwing fire breath at her enemies - it was unclear who it was exactly, but she was angry.
After Phillipia and Neely finished off their totem tower, they then focused on the command tower on the giant boar's back. Rina and Alice headed that way, also. BustAMoves rammed into the boar from behind, and Alice became a titanothere to do the same from the front. Both of them, along with Phillipia, stopped the boar in its tracks with their attacks.
Rina was still grappled, but not for long. With the shadow spawn gone, she could now focus on something else - her wings. She cast the spell and her butterfly wings startled the devil holding her, giving her just enough time to pull a Withersalt arrow out of her bag and stab him with it. He yelled in pain as she stuck him, then she pulled out the chainsword and slashed at him as she left his grasp.
"Yeah, you got it, Rina!" Alice cheered.
"Nice job, Rinster!" Phillipia yelled.
"Oh my gods, the Rinster is hilarious," Alice laughed.
Neely laughed, too, "That's your new nickname, Rina! The Rinster!"
As the three girls giggled from the ground, Rina sighed, "I know it's all out of love... so I accept it."
The other girls all cheered.
"We knew you had it in you to actually have fun!" Neely yelled.
"All it took was 300 years," Alice teased.
Rina smiled, took a moment to cherish her friends, then refocused her attention on the battlefield.

She flew above, looking at the carnage that was ensuing.
Thousands of people with swords at each other's throats in the sand. An angry dragon throwing fire. Devils ripping holes in the sky, and angelic creatures coming out of others. This is where it was to end - they all knew that now.
"Enoch..." Rina said into her soul, "I'm not going to let them and their fake warnings phase me. I trust you, I am with you."
She sped over to the giant boar and threw a fireball at it, "Nicky, I'd like some fire please."
With only her small request, Nicky did not disappoint. As if she had willed hell, itself, to rise for her - a pillar of bloodred fire exploded from the earth at her call. The boar, and the command tower, were all but disintegrated.
Just then, the Fearsome 5 members came flying quicky from the center of the battlefield - the mage following them.
Longneck and Gunther each dodged an attack, but Marie could not. A bolt of necrotic energy was sent shooting in her direction.
Gunther moved into its path just in time to save her.
"Gunther!" Rina screamed from across the battlefield.
Hid body tumbled into Marie, and both of them hit the ground.

End session

In the midst of battle, in the midst of this fated war, the rain from the Totem's storm now sloshed through the sand. Lightning struck the ground creating webbed areas of glassy, crimson sand. It crunched under soldiers' feet as blood mixed with the water in the sand. The desert had now become redder than ever before. The Therianthropes and the Bolgrothian soldiers raged around each other. The Therianthrope troops doing their best to hold it at bay, away from the oasis.
The necromantic Mage - an elderly shaman woman - wearing a set metal rings that are like dangling around her neck. They had a strong electrical energy pulsing between them. Her long, crooked staff had a very small skull tied on top. As she is waived it around there was a sickly energy, almost like a stench of death itself. She had six generals around her to protect her.
Marie wailed in mourning as she realized her fiancée was dead. A gash from his heart through his head looked like he had been seared through. Longneck tried to pull her from him, but she resisted.
Rina still had plenty of time before the Mage could reach Gunther, and it was clear by the number of undead Therianthropes and Bolgrothians that followed her, that she intended to raise him next.
Rina hit some of the generals with eldritch blast and pushed them away just long enough for the other girls to hit the mage. Her shadow went in to swipe at her.
Alice changed into a titanothere and began rampaging through the Bolgrothian army toward the Mage.
Phillipia rode BustAMoves through the army, and vaulted from her trunk to pierce into the mage. One of her protectors stepped in front of her, taking the blow.
The mage got to Gunther only moments after Longneck was able to get her away from him. She pierced her sickening staff into him, then pulled him up with necromantic energy.
Gunther, now with hollow eyes, began slashing at Marie, who would not defend herself. She screamed for him to wake up as his lion claws slashed her face.

Rina continued to blast through the defenses of the generals around the mage, each time giving the others chances to hit her, or kill them.
Alice stomped through the army to hit multiple of the generals at once. Phillipia used dispel magic on Gunther, dropping him back to being one of the dead, once again.
Neely flew on her Bigby's hand through the sky, healing the troops and The Bound as she dodged ranged attacks.
"You go, Neelster!" yelled Rina.
"Neelster? When did that become a thing?" Neely complained.
"When I gained the nickname 'Rinster' - now we match!"
"Oh... huh, yeah it doesn't feel as good when it happens to you..."
Unfortunately their fun conversation distracted Neely, who was unable to dodge the blasting fire coming from Maeve the Dragon.
She had now begun burning the armies indiscriminately, taking out dozens with one breath.
BustAMoves now lay on the ground, bleeding and burned.
"Back in your home, little one," Phillipia croaked as she pulled her huge Elephant back into its magical, pocket-sized home.
The Mage moved back behind the last three of her generals that were surviving, unhappy that she had lost the ability to use a champion fighter like Gunther in her ranks.
Marie ran back to Gunther's body, and Longneck ran up behind her - unsure what to do. With a small conversation, he pushed Marie down near Gunther's body and cast a Teleport spell - sending the two of them away somewhere, and then running back into battle.
Between Rina's powerful eldritch blasts, and Alice's Moonbeam, the Mage finally died. One of her generals kneeled, seemingly with the intention to sacrifice himself to revive her. Alice trampled him and shattered his dagger, while Rina cleaned up the area of any of the Mage's magical items before the Bolgrothians could get them back.
Phillipia and Neely held back the armies while fighting with the Therianthrope generals.
The Bolgrothian army was stunned by the death of their mage, and they had no more generals or other lifelines in their army left - so they began to retreat over the hill.

Maeve continued to slash her way through both armies. From a distance, a strange popping sound could be heard. It got louder, then louder, then louder. The sound drew everyone's attention. Approaching above like faster than anything they had ever seen - a pure black bullet. A massive, dark shape rocketed through the air directly into the head of the dragon. Her head snapped to the side and she immediately tumbled. As she hit the ground she begins rolling forward, crashing down - her wings now broken.
The dust settled, and standing on top of her - Sullivan Frey, with dragon blood now slicking down his hair. His thin rapier was glowing with some sort of dark aura. The more vampiric parts of him were prominent. His fangs grew long and thin from his mouth. Blood stained his black leathers. His bat wings were tucked in and tight against his body, but would scoop the air to get him to high speeds.
She twisted her neck around to start slashing at him, but he ruthlessly begins making quick work of her - slicing and chopping at her with his sword. A Bulgarian soldier ran up behind him to speak with him, but with a whisper of his the soldier's head rolled.
Rina noticed Therianthropes also approaching, so she called out to Sullivan, "Please don't hurt them. Okay? Take out your rage on whatever else. Just not them!"
Maeve, unable to move, just breathed her fire everywhere as she flailed. Neely could not hold on in the air, and fell from her magic hand - going inconcious.
"Neely!" Phillipia ran up to her, but she got scorched as well. She used herself as a shield to protect Neely until someone could get her up again.
Alice moved her moonbeam over to fight back the army of Bolgroth, and she, herself, worked on taking down more of the generals.

The enemy army moved back, and some of the troops held them back. Sullivan was locked in battle with Maeve, and The Bound had just a moment to make some decisions.
Many flying therianthropes swooped down from the sky, using elixirs that Rina had made the night before to heal some of the wounded - including Neely.
"Is there any reason to help either the vampire or the dragon?" asked Phillipia.
"I'm definitely not fighting him," said Rina, "He's the king of the country I'm a citizen of."
"I don't want to fight him because he's scary!" Alice exclaimed, "Remember when he pulled apart Aurelius' Black Dragon hide armor with his bare hands? No way. He has a vendetta, we should let him have it."
"He's probably mad we killed the back dragon without him," Neely reminded them.
"Drake and Godfrey said he'd forgive them... but I wondered if they were pushing that too far," Rina thought out loud.
"You should send to Drake," said Alice, "See if he knows what's going on."
Rina cast the spell with the universal sending stone, "Drake, we're in Bolgroth, Sullivan's here and he's acting... crazy. Do you know what's going on? What should we do? Are you okay?"
Drake took a moment to respond, he was coughing and could nearly speak, "Rina. Sullivan is... not himself. Something is wrong. Someone... manipulated him. He is dangerous. I'm in better shape than Godfrey. But I am... not okay."
She sent him again, "Where are you? What do you think we should do? There's angels and devils falling from the sky, and this Dragon is about to die."
He responded, sounding even weaker than before, "We are trapped in a dungeon below the castle. Sullivan only said... we would forgive him eventually. The Abbott... has his claws in Sullivan's mind."
Sullivan noticed them and glared back at them with his pitch-black eyes. Neely, Rina, and Alice could all feel his thoughts through the blending - he was coming for them next.
Maeve paused and stood as strongly as she could in front of the ancient Vampire king, "I knew it would happen... one day. If it were to be... by any hand...."
He sliced through what was left of her neck, cutting off her head. He then turned around to face The Bound.

As the final god fell, the earth began to shake. Sullivan was distracted for a moment, something caught his attention. The crackling red and black and white energy of the of the Pradhana began webbing through the sky. Alice could feel as this final goddess is being slain, they were at the tipping point. All of the power, all of the magic that had been swirling around this world, had fallen. The dams that had been building up and storing this energy, keeping it housed within their own bodies, began spilling out into the world - here. As her blood spilled, so did this magic. They all felt dizzy for a moment, and everyone could see Alice's silver-tipped hair standing on end. Her eyes grew a faint glow. A crackling black and white spiderweb beginning around her. They knew that when this dragon fell, the end would begin.
Alice focused in on the moment and looked back at her druid grove, one of her two Ents were still fighting, multiple Bolgrothian soldiers had fallen within it. The oasis began to tremble - above, the cloud village and the tower of clouds below it began to fall. The oasis, itself, would likely not survive the collapse.
"Retreat!" Alice yelled to the Therianthrope generals, who then ordered their troops to pull back. "I'm going to open the gate in a tree, we need to leave! We are going to draw Sullivan back to Castle Frey to get him away from you. You need to stay out of the oasis, though, its coming down!"
"What happened to the Fearsome 5?" asked Packfriend.
"Gunther fell..." Rina answered solemnly, "Longneck teleported him and Marie somewhere else. Then he just... ran out into the army."
He nodded sadly, "What should we do about the dragon situation?"
"Just try to avoid them, focus on Bolgroth," Phillipia answered him.
He nodded again, drew his sword, then ran into the army to join them.

Alice opened a door in a tree, and the rest of The Bound followed her - Rina taking up the back as she flew over the crowd into the last tree of the Oasis. Before she stepped through Alice's portal, she could see a strangely colored crack appear in the sky just in front of the fleeing Therianthropes. Rina felt a pull in her soul toward the crack, it made her pause to watch.
From the crack, a large werewolf man stepped through. Then another, then another - hundreds of different types of ethereal therianthropes stepped through. A cat Therianthrope soldier, with tears in his eyes as he walked forward, cut through one of his own people fighting on this side. When they died, each one formed a large collar around their necks, with a long magical chain behind them that all collected to a single point.
A stake being held by a devil appeared just behind them, all of these Therianthrope souls were enslaved by him. Rina squinted with her dragonfly eyes to get a better look of the devil. The slave driver of these people was a very handsome devil, a beautiful solar energy radiated around his head and around his body. He had a light in his eyes, and a beautiful pressed suit.
Rina's eyes opened wide, "...Enoch?"
Neely pulled her in through the portal, just as Maeve the dragon goddess exploded.

In their home in Castle Frey there was little peace like they hoped. Alice was holding the beginning medallion, and had continued sparking with energy even as she came through into the tree in their home.
"We have to get the End Medallion!" said Rina as she dimension doored herself down to the vault in the basement next to her room. The vault that Drake had made. She opened it to find it peaceful, and put everything from the vault into the bag of Colding. All except for Alice's bag of Holding which contained the Medallion. She grabbed her favorite books and her heartwood, then she felt an explosion.
Alice three floors above her had exploded. However, this time, the explosion was not of death - it was life. The tree in the house grew three times its previous size, and nearly everything that was once living in the house came back to life. The roots of the tree had burst through the side of the house, giving Rina a way to fly out of a hole in the basement wall.
The house got heavier, the cables that held it began to stretch and break under the weight.
Alice, Phillipia, and Neely all ran out, calling Daria and Tomas to run, as well.
"I cannot find Tomas," said Daria. "He was upstairs, he likes to get into the roof through Alice's room."
"My room?!" Alice yelled.
They all ran out the front door to find Castle Frey completely overtaken by the army of the Eyeless Kindness, and the citizens had militarized - very unusual for the normally peaceful Druse people.
"Tomas! He's on the roof!" Neely yelled.
Rina heard her and flew to the roof, saving the 9 year old boy.
Alice transformed into a giant eagle, and carried the other women to safely.
Upon trying to land, however, citizens of Castle Frey - those who used to be their friends, ran up to attack or capture them.
"The Bound! You are under arrest!"
"Yeah, good luck with that," said Rina as she flew up faster than the arrows of their shortbows could reach. Alice followed.

They flew up high above the center castle, high into the clouds, to come up with a plan. Alice pinged for Gabrielle to try to locate her, and found her to be inside of the center castle of the city. And now, Gabrielle knew where she was, too.
"We can't stay here, what do we do?" Phillipia asked.
"Rina, send to Drake again, ask him what he thinks," Alice suggested.
Rina nodded, "Drake, we are in Castle Frey, but they're hostile towards us. How do we get to you? What should we do?"
Rina could feel that the sending got to Drake, however it felt as if he could not answer it - like he was somehow forcibly unconscious.
Rina panicked. She phased into the eyes of Volvagia to see what was going on with Darrian and his family.
As she did, Alice used a sending to Valentine, "We need a place to go, and... I did what the Mother Witch told me to, I got the medallions. I'm ready."
"Alice, please hurry to the Sprite Light coven. I do not have the ability to teleport you here. But, if there is someone you wish for me to retrieve I can try."
Rina's eyes welled up into tears. She saw the little dragon tight in Sebastian Jr.'s arms, with Felicity covering him. Darrian locked a door behind them as they hid in a cellar.
"The whole army's been overtaken and... turned," Darrian said.
A pounding could be heard on the door. Bast hugged the dragon tighter,
"Darrian!" Rina yelled as her son stood up and drew his sword.
"We really are cursed..." he whispered as he waited for what was on the other side of the door.
"Kid, I love you!" Rina yelled again.
"I love you all," Darrian's last words before the dragon, herself, cut Rina off.
Alice didn't need Rina to explain what happened, she immediately sent to Valentine again, "We need you to get to the cat clan in Deepscratch in Basta'Thrope', get Rina's family out."
"Understood," Valentine responded.
Rina tried to reconnect to Volvagia again, but she had been killed - she would have to be resummoned to communicate with again.
"Rina... are you okay?" Neely asked gently.
Rina was silent for a moment, then simply said, "Let's go."
They headed toward the Sprite Light Coven.

Flying teams of vampires under the control of the Eyeless Kindness followed after them, but The Bound outpaced them. They landed for a moment in Duskford to drop off Daria and Tomas, Alice gave them 2000 gold.
"It has been a pleasure working with you," said Daria. "The two of us are slowing you down, and we can blend in here."
Tomas gave them each a hug and waved goodbye.
As they flew, more and more carnage was rising. Near the border of Asmery, the Angel creatures were pouring in from the sky on the north side, and devils were pouring in on the south. Both were swapping themselves for souls on this side to get through.
The Bound flew onward toward Vorovni.

Just an hour or two after that battle in the Drysky desert, the spider web cracking of the world got larger and more expansive - a snow globe that's breaking from all directions. It started shattering around them. Lightning struck, and became distorted - pulling itself in different directions.
Closer to Vorovni, an angel fell through the sky into a farm. Then another one hits the ground and begins crawling towards a family of farmers on their other side. Off in the distance below them, a chain devil began walking out of a forest, cutting through trees. Blood already soaking his hands. The ending of the world does not stop, it grows steadily worse as more poor in from each side.
After a full day of flying, exhausted, hurt, broken, The Bound came upon the Sprite Light coven. It seemed as though there was a full canopy of trees where they knew the coven to stand. But as they flew over to observe, they passed through a translucent barrier - the coven, fully sprawled out before them, had grown up and taken over most of the forest.
A large community of witches now resided here, hidden by this barrier. The cracking spider webs of the ending of the world could not approach this place. A few angels were battering against the barrier, but they cannot make their way in.
Emerging from a tent, Valentine approached them. She now wore a long, ribbony robe, and a massive which hat.
She held her hands out to Rina, "I'm verry sorry. We... We were only able to save the child."
"Where is he?" Rina asked briskly.
"...he is alive and he's going to be okay. Come this way."
She walked The Bound to a small medical tent.
"You see?" She said as she opened up another curtain, "He is... alive. He will be okay."
Rina rushed over to a small bed where a hurt, but breathing Sebastian Junior lay - beyond exhausted and caked in mud.
The witch at his side had been trying to dab the mud out of his fur, but Rina put her hand on the witch's shoulder and stepped forward to take care of him, herself. She used magic to remove the mud, and created an elixir for him to drink. She sat down and laid his head on her lap to feed him the potion. He was barely conscious enough to swallow it.
"He is... quite traumatized," said the woman who was cleaning him off, "He might be like this for a while. Sometimes the mind doesn't want the body to wake up."
Rina sat in the bed, stroking the black and white fur of her grandson's forehead. "Leave me with him, please."
The witches and other party members all left Rina with her grandson for some time in the peace and quiet of the coven's cove.
Rina stayed at her grandson’s side for hours. Alice fell asleep as soon as a bed was available to her. Neely and Phillipia stayed with Rina and Bast for a few hours into the night.
Neely put her hand on Rina’s shoulder, she was still sitting up and holding him, “Rina… you should really rest.”
Another tear rolled down Rina’s cheek, “I can’t… I can’t just leave him. I have to stay here for him… and for Darrian.”
“We can watch him for a while as you rest,” Phillipia said.
Rina cried deeper as she kissed her grandson’s forehead, then nodded to Neely and Phillipia as she laid down to rest next to him instead.
Eventually his fast breathing slowed into a comfortable sleep, his whiskers twitched from a dream. Rina quietly wept as she held what remained of her family in her arms, and rested next to him for the night.

end session.

Next: Day 78 (S63-64)