It felt as though an hour had passed since we sat there, Paul giving me time to mull over the best way to decline. It was getting pretty awkward. He finally broke the silence, "Crow, that'll be your name."

"Why?" I looked over at him.

He chuckled, "'Cause you're a scarecrow, you got crows followin' ya." He raised two fingers at those points. "Got a problem with it, Crow?"

"I'm not jonning." There was a pause, as we stared at each other.

Paul leaned back, taking another long chug. "We lost two of our best last night, you put yer life on the line for us. Yer one of us." He raised a brow, begging me to deny it.

"No." I crossed my arms.

"You can do whatever you want, just come when we call ya. We'll do the same if you need help. It's dangerous, even in a small town like this." He took a slow breath, "You need cars right? We can give you bikes, we're not gonna take advantage of ya."

Staying silent, I crossed my arms and scowled.

He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a deep sigh. "Yer a tough one. I'll give you that." He put the bloody beer down, "Tell you what, we'll help you with what you need, but you have to hear us out when we ask for help. I'm not asking you to help us or come when we call, only that you'll hear us out. That thing... it did that to you right?" He pointed at my hook.

Looking at it, I slowly nodded. "You guys killed it right?"

He shrugged, "Mike drove down a ravine, we saw its body burning in the sunlight while we stood in a cave. It smiled, but I don't think it died. Something like that, there's more to killing it. Especially when it does something fucky with souls." He showed his stump, "I should be able to regrow it, or at worst attach somebody else's, but I can't. It just rots and falls off. We can't fight that thing alone, so please."

"Yeah, if shee comes bock give me a call." I didn't want to get caught out by that monster, not alone at least. "Howl many bikes can I have?"

"Three for now, wherever you want." He offered his good hand and we shook. As I pulled away, the moon turned from yellow to blue. I looked up at it. "Did you see that?" I stared at it, rubbing my throat. It felt different. My clothes were different.

He looked at me, then at the moon. "See what?"

I pointed at the full moon, "It changed colors!" Why wasn't I slurring!? I felt panic rising.

"It's always been blue, are you okay Crow?" He picked up his can of Blue Blood, making my anxiety spike. It wasn't right, this wasn't right. "Anyway, I have a map at Phil's Pub." He rubbed the back of his head, "Shit, we have to change that."

This couldn't be happening, why was this happening!? Why now!? "What did we just agree on?" My hands were shaking.

Paul scratched his chin, "Three bikes, wherever you want. In exchange, you hear us out? Yer not going to back out now, are you?"

"No, it's... it's nothing." I stared at the moon, only to be helped up when Paul offered me a hand.

"The sooner we get this taken care of, the better. Let's introduce you to the family, alright?" He smiled, as I nodded and followed along quietly.

We entered Phil's pub through the back, the vampires looking a bit battered. They kept calling Paul, 'Logan,' for some reason. There was some cheering, as we went towards the basement. Can we trust them? The thought came over my mind, as I saw some scandalous posters. They really liked the Hazard Kings. We went under after one of the vampires opened the cellar for Logan.

It was your typical mancave, with blood beer on every shelf, a huge TV that took up an entire wall, and some trophies from monsters they killed. "How many of you guys are there?"

Logan tilted his head at the question, as he gestured for the five in the room to get out. "About fifty, though only about a dozen of us fight and hunt. Fancy vampires call me a prince, but I'm just one of the boys. Always was, always will be." He walked over to the sofa and put his feet on the table."

"Weren't you going to introduce me to the others?" I asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Yeah, that's what we're here for. Eugene gets mad if I don't do the 'official' stuff here in the cellar." He yawned a little. I looked at his crocs to see there weren't any marker drawings on them anymore. "We're just gonna sit here for about ten minutes then I'll ask you if we have a deal. You say you agree, then Eugene shows up and welcomes you to the family. She handles most of the planning stuff."

"Who's Eugene?" I leaned against one of the walls, next to a trash panda trophy of unusual size.

"My wife, lost our daughter to that bastard." He pointed at the trophy I was standing next to. "Fuckin' 'coons."

It was quiet after that, while I stood there pursing my lips. He had a daughter earlier, now he didn't. The moon changing colors wasn't the only thing that changed. That meant something happened that changed the past. Fuck will I even recognize my parents? I shook my head, knowing exactly where to go after this was done. I didn't have to wait long.

"Yeah, as I said, the bikes are yours. Do we have a deal or what?" He blurted out suddenly. I almost jumped, but managed to keep cool.

"Yep, guess that means I'm helping you guys." As soon as I said that, I saw a pale lady standing by the entrance. It was as if she fell from the shadows.

She looked like a lady at least. Gothic ballgown, hair pulled back into a proper bun, red lipstick, at least I hoped it was, and makeup. She was a vampire and she wasn't going to hide it. She stared at me for a second then smiled. "Welcome to the family!" Her arms were thrown up as she embraced me in a very close hug. I was forced to stoop down as my head was held against her chest.

Eugene moved her entire body, forcing me to move with her as she faced Logan, "Logan! He's not a vampire, what'd he do to join us?" There wasn't any anger in her voice, despite how loudly she was saying it all.

Logan chuckled, "Well, babe, he helped us fight off one ugly monster. They were kind of the reason we lost a few trucks and people. He ain't an ordinary scarecrow. I gave him some good terms since he's able to fight the boys and win."

Eugene finally looked down at me between her bust, before pushing me to the ground. "Did he kill anyone?"

I put my hands up, "No ma'am."

Logan nodded, "Made Edwin freak out, sent him into a frenzy, but we were chasing him. I'll tell you about it later. I bet the boys want to talk to him a bit." Eugene hopped onto his lap and started kissing him.

"Fine." She sighed, "He'll talk to them while we talk, alone." I tipped my hat and left.

Closing the cellar door, I walked right out in an attempt to leave. Only to have someone grab my shoulder again. I lost precious hours getting to know the names of everyone at the bar. I had to play bar games where everyone was supernaturally good, and worst of all I had to drink a can of bloody booze. I hated it, but they were nice. It wouldn't be too bad to help them out now and again.

Looking back up at the moon, I saw that it was still blue. Thinking back to when I was human, it was blue back then. It wasn't. I know it wasn't! My head ached, as my mind struggled to cope with what I saw. I shook my head, walking down the empty streets. I'd look into it later, I needed to check on my parents. I needed to know they were doing alright.

It was past midnight when I finally got to my home. My limbs were shaking as I finally made it back. I wanted to walk in through the front door and go straight to my room. To pretend that all of this had been on really long nightmare, but I couldn't. The hook where my hand used to be, that feeling of loss, told me all this was real.

The lights were off in the house, everywhere except the kitchen and my parents' room. I walked towards the side, after making sure no one was watching. There wasn't a soul up at this time of night, hell it was probably 1 AM already. I need a watch. The thought came and went as I grabbed the fake rock by the air conditioner. The key was still inside it, the security code shouldn't have changed. I looked up to see a purple cat sitting on the wooden fence covering the unit.

"I'd put that back if I were you." He spoke while cleaning himself.

He was the same cat at the construction site! I looked at the key in my hand, the fake rock cradled in my hook. "Why?" I asked, looking back at him. "I want to see them. I hadn't even moved out yet." I kept my voice low.

The cat's was lower, as he sat on the plank of the fence. The white wooden thing with tiny wooden films crisscrossing each other to make x's. The spots where I scuffed it as a kid, the chips from years of not being painted. I had promised to get to it last year, before all of this. "It's a bad idea."

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I held the two things to my chest, a red hot pain digging deep inside me. "Why, though?"

He was looking down at me, "Because you remember what everything was like before."

"Before what?" I put the key back inside the fake rock. "Why are you here?" How it hurt to do that, how I wanted to ignore him. Yet, he didn't even flinch when that monster came. He only watched and it didn't see him. I couldn't fight it without knowing anything about it. As far as I knew, it might be stronger than Leah.

He hummed, before looking at the moon above us. "How the colors changed, how the names of business shift, how names no longer hold meaning." He looked back at me, "The fact that you can see me." His ears folded behind his head.

"I'm not supposed to?" I looked around, the lights growing dimmer. The shadows started to move. "I don't want to fight you..."

"Of course not," he stated matter of factly, "I was only confirming that you could see the veil lifting. Tell me, are the shadows dancing?"

"They aren't supposed to?" I felt small with his piercing eyes focused on me, so much like a mouse.

"You're supposed to feel it, not see it. It means that you were stolen from our fold." He hummed to himself, his tail swishing.

"I was supposed to become a cat instead of a scarecrow?" The realization was crushing.

"What? No." He showed his teeth, "What I meant was that you were taken out of the normal way things were meant to progress. A god chose you as their champion, which protects you from the changes you see. Fate is something you yourself choose. It is a pain for how the natural order was meant to define such things."

"You lost me. Should we be doing this out here?" I gestured to the fact that were standing right beside my house.

"Tch." He turned and disappeared. I put the rock back, before getting up and heading in the direction he faced.

I'd see him reappear, only to disappear further down some kind of path he was leading me down. Through the backyards of my neighbors, and past creeks once we made it into the forest until we reached a clearing. It felt like minutes had passed, yet we were so much further. A strange stone jutted out of the ground, looking like an anvil with purple moss clinging underneath it. The cat stretched out on it as if he was basking in the moon's glow. "Where... are we?" I asked.

"Nowhere in particular. You can consider this my domain, a sanctuary, or holy ground." He rested his head on his forepaws, idly watching me.

"Does... does that make you a god or something? I have so many questions." I found a nearby stump and dragged it over to sit on. I looked up to see the moon was purple here. Did it change without me noticing?

"Anything with the right kind of power can make a domain. A sword, a shield, it's like tapping into a rift in space. I am not a god, nor am I a demon. I'm something more, yet also less at the same time. An outsider like yourself, an observer witnessing our universe falling apart and rebuilding itself."

"Woah, woah, woah!" I held up my hands, "That what is falling apart?" That was concerning.

"The universe, existence itself, the world, the solar system, the stars, the milky way. Look up again, what's different?"

I slowly looked up as he asked, staring at the moon. The empty sky with so few stars. I had thought there were clouds, but so many of the stars were just gone now. Only amethyst specks remained glittering. I didn't remember seeing purple stars before, yet with so many gone... "What happened to the rest?"

"You are seeing the domain of my lady. The territories she has under her, the one who breathed life into me. We met a year ago."

If only I didn't have button eyes so he could see them going wide as I looked at him. "You were the decoration she touched? Wait, that was her? I don't understand, what is your lady? Who is your lady?"

He closed his eyes, "A vessel, nothing more, nothing less. I don't have all the answers, nor would I give them to you if I did. All I need to tell you is that I will be watching you, and yet it was because of you that I was given this life."

"Why are you watching me?" I clasped my hand against my hook, looking down. "Will... will you die if something kills me for good?"

He raised his head, looking a little stunned. "You're worried about if I'll cease to be, because I was brought to life because of you?" I nodded, and he didn't laugh. He started to say something, but smiled softly. "Perhaps, I do not know. I do know that I am to keep your meddling in the natural order in check. Don't assassinate people, or cause massive destruction. Otherwise, I might have to stop you myself."

I let out a small laugh, "I'll try not to, but sometimes there isn't much of a choice it seems. Are you in charge of the shadows?"

He shook his head, "I'm in charge of the local veil around you. When you see me, that means it is being lifted. We exist outside what some might call causality. Beings beyond us exert power beyond our imagination, their power is without concept or limit. How else can you explain everything being rewritten in so many ways? This shattered world has been glued back together more than once."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"Let's start with some of the concepts. Monsters, they aren't real, are they?" I shook my head. Clearly, they were. He let out a low laugh, "You're a monster, yet whenever someone figures it out they forget. The veil lifts and protects their minds. Why though?"

"I don't know, what's the point in asking me?" I crossed my arms, looking back at him.

"You should think about these things. When answers aren't readily given, you need to form your own conclusions and metrics for measuring the validity of the world. If you don't, you'll be swept up in lies and falsehoods that ruin you when a crucial moment comes. As for monsters, there are so many works of fiction pertaining to them. Yet, they don't exist. They are tales spun by elders in a village, passed along to caution overeager children."

"Where are you going with this?"

"Fine, something more personal then." He folded his ears back, clearly upset I wasn't letting him do some grandiose speech. "Do you remember fighting with your friends or family? An incident in the past, buried in your subconscious? How a story went one way, yet they disagree with you? Did you eat that chocolate bar, or are they lying? Didn't they steal it? You saw them eat it, but they say it was yourself?"

I slowly nodded, not about to interrupt him. It was something that everyone experienced, there was a theory behind it, and... Oh no.

"As the color of the moon changes, so too does history. The color of the sun, your memories, brand names, actual names. Everything." This couldn't be real. He continued on, "Your human life reflects these changes, yet your mind rejects them. Does it hurt, knowing the moon wasn't always blue or purple? I can only see it when it is purple." He laughed softly.

A feeling of sickness washed over me. "You're lying."

"For what reason would I have to lie? The most inconsequential events mean the most to us, don't they? They define us. A chocolate bar being stolen by your best friend, eaten by them, or yourself. A memory tucked away and built upon subconsciously as a reason for trusting someone you've known your entire life. How about the trope where a childhood friend was a boy, then suddenly they're a girl? When you accept lies, you leave yourself open to not knowing the truth."

I blinked, unsure why there was power behind that word. "Accept lies?" I couldn't recreate it, how he uttered it.

He nodded, "Yes, my lady governs it. You can tell who someone serves by the color of keywords. Did it feel purple to you?" I nodded, as he continued. "It should be the same as that other one you saw. Leah, was it?" His grin grew, as I was dancing in his paw.

"She's like you?" I couldn't stop myself from saying it.

"Yes, we all have different masters. Those beyond the god you serve. It is why we as servants can exude a fraction of their power with certain words. We know what it means, we have met the vessel that feasts on the gods themselves and is more than the concept. We managed to survive and serve under them. My position is sought after, and I was created by one of those beings"

"Gonna stop you there." He frowned as I interrupted. "I appreciate you giving me some answers, but please, I don't need the 'I serve a greater power' bs. Are you trying to recruit me or convince yourself that the one you serve is super awesome? Like, that's the problem with being edgy. Is your vessel cool?" He nodded a little, "Cool, I believe you. I don't need to hear anything else. I got a lot of other questions, if you aren't going to answer them I'm going to go sulk about not being able to see how my parents are doing."

"You're a bold one, I'll give you that."

"Stop, dude. Just chill." I pinched the bridge of my nose. "You almost got me swept up in all this. It sucks that things are being rewritten, but can I stop it somehow?" He shook his head, "Alright, you don't know that. Great, cool even. That, or you feel like I can't do jackshit and you're probably right. Thanks for telling me that I'm not going crazy, it means a lot. Got a name, bud?"

"Yes, but I will only tell you after you earned it."

"Kevin, got it. That's what I'm calling you."

"I don't like that name." He glared at me.

"Then give me the one you'd be okay with being called. If you can't come up with one, tell me when we meet again. I'm happy that you let me into your domain, but you aren't supposed to influence things. You just watch, with some stipulations or rules. Got it, like watchers from a comic book. Will my parents be alright?"

"If causality allows such, but it changes. I cannot guarantee that they will be fine should the moon or sun change again."

I nodded, "Alright, how often does that happen?"

"Typically it varies. Now appears to be a period of strife, so up to three times a week. Sometimes they only change once every couple of decades."

"Nice, kind of like how Logan lost his daughter and kept his wife. Tragic events still happen, but if a survivor was found it changes on a whim."

"That's remarkably accurate." He purred to himself, looking at me the way all smug cats do.

"The more important the person, the more likely shit is to stay relatively the same for them. While people that weren't anybody could disappear. Thanks for the explanation, I'm gonna go back to the fields and pray. I imagine a god could help me out." He didn't say otherwise, so I turned around. "See you later, Kevin."

I bolted, not looking back to see his reaction. Not that he'd be able to do anything to me if he was just an observer. I could have been wrong and he might be a lot more hands-on than I realized, but it was worth it. Once I got out of his domain, I looked around feeling the tug of the corn. It helped to guide me back to where I needed to be.

Dawn broke as I finally arrived. Joe was perched on the shed, while Igor waved at me. "So the Guardian returns!" He held his arms out seeking a hug. I gave him a quick high-five, not wanting to be pulled into an embrace like that again.

"Anything happen while I was gone?" I looked at the two of them.

Joe shook his head, "Not really, though I am curious about what happened while you were out."

Igor sighed, "Just vermin sneaking into our abode, though the crows make short work of any pests. It is wonderful that they work for the obviously inferior potatoes. I bought a freezer and a bag of fries so I do not need to keep paying those blasphemous corn fryers." He put a hand to his head, "If only I had known. May the Corn forgive me."

I put a hand on his shoulder, "The corn understands, Igor. Trust me, it appreciates you." He made happy sounds that are impossible to describe as he ran off to go pray. My head ached as I remembered an alter. That wasn't right...

"Something wrong?" Joe cawed.

"How long has there been an alter here?" I rubbed my temples.

Joe tilted his head, "Since I got here? Why, did you not know about it?"

"I guess I forgot." I looked in its direction, knowing that even this place wasn't safe from being altered. Although I guess I kinda knew that with Igor's name changing. I just didn't expect an alter. Did it mean that the god of Corn was changing as well? The thought sent a shudder through me. I headed towards the altar, the memories already there for what I needed to do. I had to know, I needed to make sure.