Harsh, white light flooded Felix's field of vision as regained consciousness. He grunted and screwed his eyes shut. After taking a few seconds to calm down, Felix opened his eyes, wincing at the light again. Eventually, his eyes adjusted to the light and he could see his surroundings. The walls were painted yellow, and the floor was covered with a patterned carpet, endless connected red and orange hexagons were divided by brown intersecting lines, forming a hypnotizing pattern that was difficult to look away from.

Felix sighed upon realizing a very key detail. His right side didn't hurt. He pressed his hand to his side, and felt unbroken bones. He looked over the rest of his body, All of his cuts had healed, and the skin on his chest and left side had regenerated. The Wendigo must have had some kind of regeneration. As the thought passed through his head, the beast grunted in agreement.

It was also at this moment that Felix realized that he was entirely naked. His face turned red and he scanned the room to find another set of clothes. Luckily for him, an outfit that was very similar to his original clothing lay in a neatly folded stack on a chair a meter away from the bed, on the other side of the night stand.

He got up to dress, but stopped when he looked at the tag on his shirt. It was custom made, with exact measurements listed underneath the brand name. He checked the rest of the clothes, and it was the same every time. Felix racked his brain for a second, and quickly decided upon the most obvious solution. Levi's mysterious boss must have had them made for him, but that raised another question. Just how long had he been unconscious for?

Deciding to put that thought aside for the time being, Felix dressed and made the bed he'd gotten out of. His thoughts turned to Paul and Valentine. If his own treatment was anything to go by, they were both likely to be safe, at least for now. Pushing his worries down, he walked straight up to the main door of the room and twisted the knob, unsurprised to find it unlocked. He left the room and came into a long hallway. The sound of breathing next to his ear triggered his new reflexes, and Felix spun towards the person standing next to his room.

As expected, it was someone he didn't know. Before him stood a young woman, who was shorter than him but likely a few years older. Her skin was the color of caramel, and her hair the color of dark coffee. The woman had brown eyes that managed to appear both disinterested and focused at the same time. She wore a tailored black business suit, and wore black glasses with square frames. Her facial expression was blank, and did not change despite Felix's gaze.

"Oh. You're awake. That's wonderful. I'll be sure to alert my boss." Her voice had an obvious middle eastern accent, and her tone matched her face. Flat and bored.

"Hey, would you mind answering some questions for me?" Felix asked after she finished speaking into an earpiece, informing the message's receiver of the current situation. She shrugged and then nodded.

"So, first, can you tell me where we are?"

"This is one of the Boss's houses. More specifically, we are currently in a subterranean safety bunker. What else may I help you with?"

"How long was I out for?"

"Today would be two days."

"Damn… that long? Are my friends all right?"

"Yes. They were treated the same as you were, which is to say carefully."

"Can you tell me why your boss wants us?"

"I have not been made aware of this information and am unable to assist you in this way."

"I see."

Felix was about to ask another question when the woman's earpiece rang and the operator informed the new duo that the Boss was ready for them. She gestured for Felix to follow her and he complied, observing the hallway as they walked.

There were no pictures on the walls, and they were painted the same yellow that Felix's room had been. In fact, the same carpet was also spread out across the floor. No matter how Felix looked at it, no matter how normal it was, or at least was supposed to be, the repeating patterns unnerved him.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

A few minutes of walking later, Felix and the attendant stopped in front of a large set of oak doors with a design carved into them. The design was strange. It appeared to be a large tree with dozens of roots sprouting from the base of the trunk, and from those roots, more trees sprouted. It repeated and covered the entire surface space of the door, save for a five centimeter wide border, which was smooth and polished until it gleamed and reflected the ceiling lights.

"Freaky." Felix muttered as the woman opened the doors and ushered him inside. She followed him, and closed the door behind both of them. The room was large and relatively bare. A large rectangular table sat in the middle of the room, but it only had six chairs placed around it at the time, three on each side. There were two water pitchers, simple glass things with three cups next to each of them, and once more, one set was on each side of the table.

Two of the chairs were occupied. One the rightmost chair on the side of the table opposite to Felix, sat Levi. When the man noticed him, he smiled and waved. Felix smiled sheepishly and waved back. A thin man sat in the middle seat. He had blonde hair and indigo eyes. Felix had never been good at guessing moods from a person's eyes, but even he could tell that this man was sad. The man's face was expressionless, and his skin was milk colored. He wore a perfectly tailored tuxedo, and while it should have made him look distinguished and proud, he instead looked like a man in mourning.

The sad man looked up at Felix and regarded him with interest. Neither said anything as Felix stiffly walked over to his seat and sat down. Levi smiled, but stayed silent. The attendant came over to the table and sat down next to the man, who Felix assumed was the boss.

A minute or so later, Valentine and Paul came in, also escorted by an attendant. They waved to Felix and sat down at the table. Their attendants left the room, shutting the doors behind them. It was now that the boss decided to speak.

"Hello. I hear you two gave Wolfgang some trouble. I'm the guy who wanted to see you. My name is Arthur Langston. It's a pleasure to meet you." Langston spoke with a voice that could only be compared to barbed wire wrapped in velvet. While it was smooth and easy on the ears, it was very clear that this man was dangerous. Felix and Valentine quickly exchanged a worried look, and after a speedy and silent debate, it was decided that Valentine would speak.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Mr. Langston. I'm Valentine, and this is Felix. We're sorry to have caused so much trouble for you." Lexi's voice was calm and professional. Given how she'd spoken up to this point, Felix was utterly confused by her seemingly ever changing demeanor.

"It's not a problem at all. Hearing that there are people out there that can fight with Wolfgang as well as you did is valuable."

"However, we were under the impression that you were trying to kill us. That's why we objected to this meeting in the first place." At this, Arthur looked confused. He rubbed his forehead and sat forward, resting his elbows on the table.

"The only operative I sent after you was Wolfgang. And he was specifically ordered not to kill you." Levi nodded, and Felix recalled him murmuring something about such an order near the end of their fight.

"I see. If I may ask, what exactly did you want us for?"

"I want you to join my crew. That's all."

"Why? More importantly, what do we get out of joining you?"

"Answers. It's obvious that you both want information about your current predicaments, and I have that information." As Arthur spoke, he pulled something out of his lap and set it on the table. It was an old and battered book. The cover was thick brown leather, which was torn and faded. The pages were yellowed with age, and the spine was virtually broken. All in all, while mysterious, it was most certainly the exact opposite of impressive.

"What's that?"

"It's a research journal. I found it in Stalingrad a long time ago, ah, wait… you call it Moscow now, don't you? Eh, doesn't change the fact that this book has a lot of information about us in it." It was Levi who spoke this time. His voice was serious, and his trust in the book was apparent in how he regarded it.

"All right. If we're going to join you, we're going to need at least a little information to go on. About you, and about what we are."

"Fair enough. As I said earlier, I am Arthur Langston, and I am the founder and current leader of Langston Investigations. My company investigates supernatural threats. As of now, our influence is nationwide. As for the information about you, I'll leave that to Wolfgang." Levi nodded, and opened the book. He flipped through a few pages, and finally found the one he was looking for.

"Okay, here it is. The three of us are Tethers. A Tether is a nonhuman entity that is created when a lesser immortal's soul and a mortal's soul are exposed to one another in a dire situation. The mortal's soul latches onto the lesser immortal's soul and drains life energy from it to sustain itself and remain on the mortal plane. This process only happens when a lesser immortal and a mortal are on the brink of death, and is not triggered if both are not in danger of dying. Tethers are biologically immortal, and maintain an altered mortal body, while gaining all of the lesser immortal's abilities to a greater degree. The lesser immortal's weaknesses, if any, are also transferred over to the new body. Both minds will inhabit the same area, and while the mortal mind is often dominant, the lesser immortal can take control of the body." Levi looked up, and chuckled at Felix's confused reaction. Valentine, on the other hand, seemed to have understood the explanation.

"In layman's terms, we're humans with monster attributes." Valentine rubbed her temples as she spoke. This was a lot to take in, but assuming the book was correct, this was very, very important information.

"Um, Levi, Is this 'Tethering' process reversible?" Felix asked with an unsteady voice. He just wanted to see Myra again, and if that immortality thing was true, he may never get to do that. The thought alone made him want to cry, but for the sake of not wanting to look pathetic in front of everybody, Felix managed to keep his tears held back behind his eyes.

"Just a second." Levi flipped to the next page and scanned it quickly. Finding his answer, he closed the book and put it back in his lap. Felix waited, body tense with anticipation. Would his current worst fear prove to be true or false?

"The Tethering Process is permanent. There are no known methods to separate souls fused in this manner, and the book gave a list of all the stuff whoever wrote it had tried. Furthermore, the book implies that we go to an entirely separate afterlife, should one of us somehow get killed." Felix took a deep breath. He nodded and took another breath. If all this was true, he was never going to see Myra again. Felix sighed. He could cry later. Right now, it would seem that this group was the best option. Maybe they could give him a new purpose.

Felix wasn't paying attention, but if he was, he would have seen the boss eyeing him. He could sense Felix's sadness, and was enjoying being in the presence of such despair. Valentine did notice, and nudged Felix. He looked up, but the boss had averted his gaze.

"So, will you join us?" Langston's question was short, simple and authoritative. Felix and Valentine whispered to each other. A few seconds later, they had come to a conclusion.

"We would be happy to work with you."