"Morgan?" Ramon grunts as he tries pulling at the hand stuck in the bathroom floor, "You know this fellow?"

"Sort of." I begin kicking the floor as well, trying to break its surface open, "We met at that party your father threw a while back. Was one of the Montfort House Guard."

"Before they all disappeared." Ramon's brow begins to cloud with sweat from the exertion, "No good, its almost as if your man is part of the floor."

"I can't even crack the floor tiles. Its harder than iron." I sigh in resignation, "Just like all the back door of this damned place. Still, this is a good sign though."

"You have a weird sense of what is 'good', Mac." Ramon quibbles as he rises to his feet, flexing his sore hands.

"There has to be a way for Morgan to be stuffed into the floor." I explain as we leave the bathroom, "Meaning there's a mechanism to remove him as well. This place isn't just a cage."

"Alright, I get that part." Ramon agrees hesitantly, "So what is that mechanism you're talking about?"

"I, uh, don't know." I reluctantly admit with a red face as both of us stand about in the villa's living room.

"You. Don't. Know." Ramon remarks dourly.

"Well, we can find out!" I rally my spirits, "We'll need to comb every inch of this place, but it should be doable."

"The dynamite didn't work." Ramon rubs his temples, working off some of the stress, "So I suppose this is the only way. Lead on."

At my direction, Ramon and I start searching the living room with a fine toothed comb, hoping to come across any sign of how Morgan ended up in the floor. Or better yet, a way out of this conundrum. Give me back my life as a magic knight any day. You really don't realize how much security a dead end job provides until its gone.

A life of excitement is great. Until all the excitement falls on you.

"Mac, is it just me, or has this room become smaller?" Ramon pipes up after another fruitless search.

"I don't think so?" I respond, shaking my head while scanning the area with the Eyes of Ea. Still nothing, no odd nooks and crannies or hidden switches.

"Your sense of distance has been screwy ever since you got that blindfold." Ramon insists, "This room has definitely gotten smaller. I've been noticing it for the last minute or so."

"No way." I dismiss, "How is that -"

I'm cut off by something bumping against my back. Its the wall. And I wasn't leaning on it just now. Cold sweat soaks my clothes at the realization that Ramon might be right.

"Mac, what's wrong?" Ramon asks as he sees me stand in place.

"Ramon, I can't move." I say, keeping my voice as calm as possible, "My back is stuck to the wall."

"Let me pull you free." Ramon grabs my outstretched hand, but no matter how hard he tugs, my back is fastened tight to the wall. I send magical power to my legs, attempting to power out of this predicament, but it makes no difference. I can't move an inch.

"Shit!" I exclaim and Ramon turns around in alarm. And he sees it as well. The partition leading to the villa's kitchen is noticeably closer. The distance must have shrunk by nearly half while we were too preoccupied to notice.

"The house is shrinking!" Ramon cries out in alarm and right on cue the ceiling begins to press down, lowering itself in graceful silence.

"Get out of here! Go!" I urge Ramon pushing him away. But to my horror, my friend doesn't budge either.

"My feet are stuck, Mac." Ramon wobbles in place, the villa's carpet holding him in its resolute grasp.

"Guess we worked out what happened to Morgan in the end." I smile bitterly as the wall becomes a giant sucker, drawing me in.

"Didn't help us though." Ramon is close to crying and by now the ceiling is brushing against his head. His body slowly starts getting lifted in the air as the plain white surface gradually swallows him, like a gourmand enjoying an appetizer.

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The suction force from the wall strengthens and forces me to arch my back and eventually lifting my entire body of its feet. As the churning surface of the wall engulfs me utterly, I become limp, losing all sensation. One final thought hits me right before consciousness fades.

At the end of the day, I didn't understand what's going on. At all.

................

MORTON SAFEGUARD REPORT:

TWO POTENTIALLY INFECTED FILES DETECTED.

EntityMacNair AND EntityRamonDasar

MOVING POTENTIALLY INFECTED FILES INTO QUARANTINE

...........

"And what is the progress of the Ark?" the Sage, once again wearing the skin of the bartender, asks Mandor in the dimly lit tavern.

"We're almost done." Mandor reports, "The Order works fast. There's still the matter of the Seed of Creation though."

"I am still working on that." the Sage taps the counter in annoyance, "The Seed is held by Enn, and we don't have a way of accessing his haven. Yet at any rate."

"But you do have a lead?" Mandor looks up hopefully.

"Yes. Unfortunately, it has to do with Sylvia - ARGH!" the Sage doubles over in pain, screaming incoherently.

.........

WARNING!

REQUIRED ENTITY IS MISSING FROM INSTANCE!

LOADING FROM BACKUP ...

.....

"I am fine." the Sage pants heavily, "Whatever it was, the pain passed just as quickly."

"Are you sure?" Mandor supports the Sage's body, the man too weak to stand by himself.

......

C:\SAGE\Run Library

C:\SAGE\Library\Load EntityRamonDasar

........

"Lil Ramy?" Richard asks in surprise as Ramon Dasar walks into the family dining room, "I thought you were out in the field?"

"I just woke up bro." Ramon stretches his arms as he settled down at the table with the rest of his family, "What's for breakfast?"

"Its dinner." Richard eyes Ramon worriedly, "Are you sure you're feeling fine bro? And where's that bodyguard of yours?"

"What bodyguard?" Ramon quirks an eyebrow.

......

Sparks fly as the long dagger clashes with Alice's battle mage wand. Her withered arm, strengthened by magic manages to hold firm, but the effort devours even more of her enfeebled reserves.

"You aren't Nair." she pants, regarding the man standing before her in a shabby coat, the hood pulled down from their brief skirmish.

"Tell me where your Nair is." the Stabber demands, "And I'll leave you to fight your battle."

The Dasar bandits ignore the pair completely, too occupied with firing their muskets at the advancing enemy army. The cannons roar in defiance, initiating yet another artillery duel between both sides. The Stabber had picked the right moment to make his appearance.

"No idea." Alice spits out. She didn't care the slightest about Nair. But Nair was accompanied by someone far more important.

"I don't have time to play games with an old woman." the Stabber snarls, "Mary needs me!"

Alice twists her battle wand, the hidden blade snapping out just in time to meet the Stabber's fresh charge. An explosion of pressure sends the Stabber skidding back as Alice no longer holds back her still considerable power.

"Call dusk," Alice declares, her voice firm as magic trills in the air, "The inevitable end, the dying light!"

The blade of Alice's weapon drinks up the surging magic, a concentrated force of inevitability. Alice throws the wand like a javelin and with a will of its own the wand flies toward the Stabber, hungering with malicious intent. Death, like dusk, is inescapable. Alice's curse would simply bring forward this inescapable fact for the Stabber.

"Not good enough." the Stabber merely states, his body in motion.

The wand bends at an impossible angle to strike the Stabber, but passes through his ghostlike form impotently, slamming into the ground with an explosion of gravel.

"How?" Alice blurts out in disbelief.

The Stabber advances confidently, his knife glinting in the moonlight -

And he abruptly stops.

"Auuggghh" the Stabber moans as he sinks to his knees, the cry of a dying animal.

Alice blinks in surprise at this sudden turnaround, before noticing an oversized crossbow bolt embedded in the Stabber's back. Turning her eyes up to the roofs of the buildings around the firebase, Alice spots the shooter silhouetted against the full moon.

A fully armored man in platemail, wielding a massive arbalest one handed.

.......

SCAN DETECTS SUSPICIOUS PROGRAM. CLEANING IN PROCESS

WARNING!

REQUIRED ENTITY IS MISSING FROM INSTANCE!

LOADING FROM BACKUP ...

.....

"Sage? Why is the sky turning red?" Mandor queries worriedly as he pats the Sage's back gently.

.....

C:\SAGE\Run Library

C:\SAGE\Library\Load EntityMacNair

EntityMacNair cannot be found in library!

A FATAL ERROR HAS OCCURRED

A FATAL ERROR HAS OCCURRED

A FATAL ERROR HAS OCCURRED

.....

The Sage screams in pure agony, tearing at his clothes.

"PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN" he cries as Mandor wrestles to keep the Sage from hurting himself.

The ground shakes as if struck by fever, causing Mandor and the Sage to lose their balance. Mandor lands hard, striking his head on the stone floor. A nasty cut sends some blood into his eye, but Mandor's attention is quickly drawn to the Sage again.

"Enough." the Sage moans as he flops about like a fish out of water.

The tremors grow in intensity and Mandor can hear cries from the streets of Deshawn City.

.....

A FATAL ERROR HAS OCCURRED

A FATAL ERROR HAS OCCURRED

A FATAL ERROR HAS OCCURRED

.....

"Earthquake!" Alice shouts as her men cower in their places.

The attacking gendarme scatter back to their own side, eager to rush back to safety. Only the armored man remains nonplussed, loading another bolt into his arbalest and drawing a bead on the wounded Stabber. Flashes of lightning lance through the roiling clouds that gather under the crimson sky. The Stabber paws desperately at the ground, barely clinging to life.

.....

CLEANING CLEANING CLEANING CLEANING CLEANING

.....

"ENOUGH!" the Sage bellows in the throes of elemental suffering, his voice reaching heaven itself.

....

Alice starts, gazing skyward. Was there a voice just now?

Its gone now. Just that beam of light descending toward -

The light hits the armored man with apocalyptic force, sending a blinding shock wave throughout Southmarsh.

Washing everything away.