"What do we do?" one of the nearby mouse guards muttered to another.

"I don't know... maybe we should just rush it?"

"That's crazy!"

"All I know is that it can't stay there. Go tell it."

"Me? Why should I have to do it?"

"You have seniority!"

"I was recruited one hour before you were!"

"Exactly!"

The young guard sighed, ultimately unable to challenge that logic. He worked up his nerve and very slowly walked up to the dark lord who happened to be casually sitting in the grass, looking up at the tower with great interest.

"Um... excuse me?" he said in a meek voice. Midnight turned a single bright green eye towards the small creature, as the mouse swallowed down a lump in his throat and continued. "Sir? It is sir, right?"

"Yes." the dark lord replied.

"Oh, good! I mean, it would be fine if you we're a sir too, of course, I just meant that..." he cleared his throat, looking away, unable to will himself to meet the gaze of the black cat. "Well, you see, I was just wondering, that is to say the rest of the guards were wondering... it wasn't my idea at all, of course..." the guard said, shuffling his feet nervously.

The dark lord stared at him, coldly, but said nothing.

"Well... um... we were wondering... could you perhaps please, you know..." the armored mouse forced a smile, trying to say the last word with both a forceful and diplomatic tone. "Leave?"

"What?" Midnight said, glaring down at him. "No!"

The guard raised a finger, opening his mouth to object, but in truth he couldn't think of an even adequate counter argument, let alone a strong one. "Oh. Okay." he said, dejectedly, returning to the group of soldiers, his first mission a failure. It had appeared that none of the others standing nearby were willing to take on the task themselves, either.

"Rude." Midnight grumbled over his shoulder, returning his attention to the now severely damaged tower.

<3~ <3~ <3~ <3~ <3~ <3~ <3~ =^..^=

"There's a pretty big gap up ahead, and the stairs past it don't look very stable..." Mathias said, leading the way. He had set up ropes along what remained of the tower's inner wall in order to aid with their slow descent. "Right past that, it looks like we're good!" he said with a smile, before that transformed into a frown upon giving the path ahead a more thorough examination. "Oh, never mind, my mistake. It actually gets far worse."

"Was that really necessary? The whole wrecking the tower thing? You could have brought the entire building down!" Aaron said.

"Hey, I saw an opportunity to make an amazing entrance, and I took it! Any self respecting mouse would have done the same!" Jerin said, "Still, I'm very sorry! See, This is why you need to list off your requirements in advance, so the next time that I need to do a dazzling last-second rescue, I won't inconvenience you! Maybe I should have brought some refreshments too, just to make the experience as comfortable as possible!"

"Heh, fine, fair enough." Aaron said, shaking his head and chuckling. For the moment, it was absolutely impossible for him to be angry with her, which said an awful lot considering just how easily anger normally came to the larger sibling.

A few minutes before, back at the top of the tower, Rowan, now with both feet firmly planted upon the relatively flat surface was bandaging Aaron's wound, while Mathias was dealing with Aaron's still visibly shaken sister. The fact that she hadn't even tried to 'heal' her brother was clear evidence of her poor mental state.

"Did you know that she was so frightened of the sight of blood?" Rowan asked the injured mouse with a whisper.

"No. But back when the village was attacked... well, there was a lot of blood that day. Mostly hers. I guess that it's not so surprising." Aaron replied in an equally quiet voice, not wishing for Jerin to overhear. "This could be a problem. What should we do about it?"

"I do not believe that it is. If anything, this entire situation is a sterling example of just how well our journey has gone thus far."

"Huh? How do you figure?"

"We have battled two dark lords, and faced many other dangers, seemingly been on the verge of dying time and time again, and yet throughout all of that, this is the first time any one of us has spilled so much as a single drop of blood."

"Good point." Aaron said, after giving the matter some thought. That didn't really solve the problem at hand, but it was helpful for keeping things in perspective. Still, he couldn't say that he was pleased with this discovery. Even putting aside the fact that they most likely weren't done fighting, it was upsetting to accept that she still bared such mental scars from that trauma. Not surprising, but still upsetting. Well, one thing at a time, as always. Once the current situation with Theos was resolved, he had fully intended to repay the monster that had caused this, ten-fold.

Behind Rowan, Jerin sat upright, looking more than a but little embarrassed. "Sorry. I guess I was just a little more tired than I thought. It's been-it's been a long night."

"Are you sure you're okay? We could rest a little longer." Mathias replied.

"I'm fine." She said gruffly, looking away from him and rising to her feet. "And I'll be even better once this is finished. We've still got work to do."

Even aside from the fact that a sizable portion of the tower had been completely destroyed, navigating Jerin's over-sized sword through the stairway had posed its own serious difficulties. She had simply run up the side of the tower earlier, but going back down the same way, especially considering the shape that the structure was currently in, felt a lot less feasible.

"Okay, since nobody else is going to ask, what's the deal with... that?" Aaron asked, pointing at the sword. Due to its sheer size, it was nearly impossible to point in Jerin's general direction without also pointing to the weapon.

"I already told you!" she replied.

"No, not about what the sword is, although that explanation was also a little unhelpful, but how you can carry it with one hand like that without even getting tired." Aaron said. The blade dwarfed his old hammer in every regard, and being almost entirely comprised of solid metal, it was clearly much heavier, yet she hardly seemed to notice its weight. Trying to maneuver the shape and size of it through the narrow stairwell was another matter, however. it was almost a blessing that half of the wall was destroyed, occasionally giving them a little bit more space to work with.

"I've been training hard ever since I was gone. I guess I've just gotten stronger!" Jerin grinned.

Aaron stared blankly at her for a moment. "You were gone for six hours."

"Wow, that long, huh?" she replied. "No wonder my neck is a bit stiff."

Jerin, of course did not become so powerful from six hours of training. Counting the discussion with the king, the transport time, the encounter with Midnight, the trip back and regular breaks, it was actually significantly shorter.

There was a distinct air of relief when they had finally reached the bottom. It was slow going, the remains of the tower constantly threatening to crumble beneath their feet every step of the way. The trek was tense, uncomfortable and very, very tiring.

"Heh, 'bout time ya all got back." Theos said, cracking his knuckles, Myriandas and Johanas stepping in behind him. "You all missed quite tha fight. Should'a seen it! I took on four oh 'em guards a' once!"

He is about to regale the reunited group with the tale of his heroic conquest when he looked about the courtyard at the dozens of moaning or unconscious guards which Jerin had single-handedly dispatched upon her return to the city.

"Well, I'm sure that they were particularly large guards..." Mathias said, reassuringly.

"I's true! They were huge!" Theos said.

"Well, anyways, Jerin, you already know Theos, I guess. What you probably don't know is that he's the rightful king of this nation." Aaron said.

"Oh, okay." she nodded.

There was a bit of an awkward pause before Aaron again spoke, "Uh, I expected you to be a little more surprised by that information."

She sighed in response. "Look, it's been a busy day, and I've got a lot on my plate right now."

"Right, right, sorry." Aaron replied.

"Um... guys?" Mathias asked. "Is that a problem over there?"

He was, of course, referring to the massive black feline lying across the ground in front of them, going somehow unnoticed by the group up to this point. As for the small group of guards which had earlier did their best to shoo the dark lord away, they hadn't stuck around, just in case the gigantic predator had decided to become a little bit more active.

"Oh, that's just Midnight!" Jerin chirped excitedly.

"Uh, yeah, we know. We've met." Aaron responded, eyes locked on the lord of darkness.

"Don't worry about him! We had a nice chat and worked out all of our differences, and now we're best friends!"

"Stop saying that!" the dark lord whined. "We are not best friends!"

"Oh, I get it! That's why the prophecy said that you would fail to defeat Midnight. It's not that you would fight him and lose, it meant that you'd never fight him at all." Mathias said. "Still, I didn't expect that matter to be resolved so abruptly."

"What? What prophecy?" the black cat asked.

"Oh, the dark lord said so. You know, the one that's made of rocks, and lives in the miniature shrine, and can see the future?" Jerin replied.

"I do not believe that he was made of rocks." Rowan said.

Midnight shook his head. "I swear, it's like you creatures are incapable of making sense."

Aaron glared at the feline, removing his club from the strap around his back, stepping towards the lord of darkness purposefully.

"What do you want?" the feline asked.

"You attacked our village, Destroyed our home, killed our friends and hurt both me and my sister." he growled.

"Yeah I did." the dark lord nodded, "What do you intend to do about it?"

Aaron stared at the black beast, gripping his club tightly before returning it to the strap across his back and sighing. "Nothing, I guess." he said, knowing that this wasn't the time to be picking another fight. Really, he had no right to complain. This was the best outcome that he could have possibly hoped for. Still, like so much else within his life, it still felt more than a little bit unfair. "I just want you to know that I don't like it."

"Acknowledged." Midnight replied in a surprisingly respectful tone.

"Hey! There they are! The intruders!" a trio of guards called, rushing towards the group, only to be thrown back with a heavy clang as a single sweep of Jerin's sword struck all of them at once.

"Come on. We'd better get to the palace." She said.

There were no shortage of guards on the journey to the castle, and every member of the group, well aside from perhaps Midnight, who was trotting along behind, were both willing and capable of assisting with the fight, only to find their presences quite unnecessary as Jerin effortlessly swatted the opponents aside, regardless of how heavily armored they were, or many tried to attack at once. While their spears did give them a good deal of range, it was still not even close to enough to close the gap before Jerin knocked their wielders away.

"Wait, the king is planning to summon a dark lord inside of the city? That's crazy! That monster could destroy everything!" Jerin exclaimed in response to having the situation finally, albeit briefly explained to her. She didn't even stop to take a breath, shattering the armor of another guard who was left sobbing on the ground as the party rushed past. She looked back to the great black cat following behind. "Oh, no offense."

"None taken." Midnight replied.

"Truly fascinating..." Rowan said, seated atop the dark lord. Midnight didn't really like the idea of carrying him around, but the sooner that they reached the palace, the sooner he could get home, and it was quite obvious that the old mouse wasn't capable keeping pace with the others. "If you have the time, I would love to discuss the nature of your abilities. My own sorceries clearly pale in comparison to your own, and I am certain there would be much to be learned."

"Forget it." Midnight grumbled. "I'm not your friend or your ally, I'm just here to make sure Jerin doesn't get hurt." he paused briefly. "Not because I care, or anything, it's purely because I'll get in trouble if she dies. There's nothing benevolent about my actions. It's selfish. Really selfish. Downright evil in fact."

"Yeah, yeah..." Jerin chuckled, her sword sending another pair of mice flying.

"It's true!" the dark lord said. It was not entirely true, of course. The reality was that he would have loved to show off his powers to the old mouse, even be happy to teach a trick or two, maybe even learn a little bit about mouse magic, which, while weak, seemed to stem from am entirely different source than his own. The attention and general respect would have been nice. A little too nice. It was bad enough that he had found himself genuinely worried about the girl, on a level which went far beyond mere self preservation, he couldn't risk becoming attached to any more of these pitiful creatures.

"Uh, maybe you should go a little easy on these guards..." Mathias said.

"Don't worry! I'm just using the flat of my sword to knock them out!"

"You know, just because you're using the flat of your sword doesn't mean that they can't be badly hurt..."

"Wait, what?" Jerin asked, with a concerned squeak, tensing up at the words.

Aaron smacked the dark knight in the back of the head. "What's the matter with you?" he grumbled, before saying in a louder voice to his sister. "Uh, he was just joking! They'll all be fine!"

"Whew, that's a relief!" she grinned, completely unconcerned with the anguished cry from her most recent target.

It was true, of course. While none of the guards injuries were mortal, it was not the sort of situation where they'd simply wake up a few minutes later, a little dazed but otherwise perfectly fine. Still, they were in a hurry, and details like that could wait until later. At last, the seven mice and one dark lord had reached the palace gate.

"I'm not going to be able to fit in there." Midnight said, examining the large but not quite large enough gateway to the structure. Even if he could, the inner hallway was far tighter. "I'll see if I can find a way in around back."

He was quite careful in crouching down to help the old mouse step off of his back. He wouldn't want to hurt it, after all.

"Stop right there!" another large group rushed towards them.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Shesh, how many guards does this castle have?" Mathias said.

"I am impressed that they had so much armor designed. I can see them actively recruiting to deal with a recognized threat, but clearly their armaments were also prepared well in advance." said Rowan.

"We're in a hurry, and they just keep coming. We can't just stay and fight them, but if we just ignore them, they'll attack us from behind." Aaron said.

"Go on ahead." Myriandas said, stepping forward.

"That's right. We'll hold them off." Johanas added, stepping alongside her. "You all take Theos and deal with that traitor king."

"Ya sure 'bout this?" Theos asked.

"Don't worry, we can handle this. You need to reclaim your throne." the shrouded mouse replied.

"I promise that your sacrifice will not be in vain!" Jerin said, eyes welling up with tears, "I'll never forget you... um... uh..."

"How can you still not know my name?' Myriandas growled at her.

"When would I have learned it?" Jerin asked. All things considered, very little time had passed since she had reunited with her group, and even less since she had joined with Theos and his allies. "Sorry! I guess it was pretty rude, considering you made the effort to learn mine."

The veiled woman tensed up. She scanned through her memories of the previous night, looking for any point that the young mouse's name may have come up, but within the scant few seconds that she had available, couldn't come up with one. "Ugh... anyways, we're not sacrificing ourselves, we're just fighting a few guards!" Myriandas sighed. "Whatever... just go!"

The two stood at the steps of the castle, looking out upon the several armored palace guards with spears drawn, pointed straight at the pair.

"We are under orders to take in any traitors! Throw down any weapons you have and stand aside!" the lead guard called.

"I am Myriandas the Divider, a member of the royal court! I hereby order all of you to stand down!"

The guards all looked to one another and mumbled amongst themselves, before coming to a quick consensus.

"We're acting under direct order from the king! His authority is far greater than yours!" the lead guard replied, not even thinking to question the credentials of the woman, which she would have been hard pressed to verify.

"That's not true. What about the edict made by King Gorrin the Weak, which granted all members of the royal council absolute authority?"

More grumbling. Thankfully, one of the new recruits had just happened to be an amateur historian, who was very much aware of the event in question and in turn spoke up. "That was three generations ago!" he said.

"Aha!" Myriandas grinned. "That edict was never officially overturned, so you admit that proclamations grow weaker with age. By the same token, you must admit that that means that the king's proclamation has grown weaker since he had made it, whereas mine, being far more recent, has never been stronger."

"That's ridiculous!" the same guard/history enthusiast had said. "He only gave the order yesterday. It wouldn't have weakened enough by then to make your order have more authority, especially when that authority is further diminished by an extremely old policy!!"

"Ah, but by your own reasoning, you have proven the concept that authority diminishes with time! Now, it's only a matter of quantifying the exact value of each authority, along with the approximate rate of said deterioration.Then, it's just a simple matter of..." she said, before narrowing her eyes, pointing a fingerless gloved paw forwards. "Wait, a minute... what's that?"

"Huh? What's what?"

"That thing, behind you!"

The guards all turned, of course, to look at nothing. Meanwhile, Johanas drew his cleavers and leapt at the distracted armored mice, mentally envisioning each of them as a particularly stubborn ingredient in dire need of preparation. It wouldn't be long until that distraction method was considered an old trick, a cliche that nobody fell for, but seeing as how it had just been invented a few days before by Myriandas, it was still seen as both a cunning and very much viable tactic.

The five mice, lead by Jerin who was somehow the fastest despite carrying a massive chunk of metal around (and also having a rather commanding lead due to the fact that nobody wanted to follow too closely behind the dragging blade), charged through the hallway and into the throne room, the tip of the sword making a steady grinding sound as it continued to scrape along the floor behind her. Even held nearly horizontal across her back, this is pretty much unavoidable. They were expecting guards, at very least the king, but instead the huge chamber sat empty, aside from minister Taro, who huddled, trembling in front of the carved stone throne.

"Please, don't hurt me!"

"Where's Leon?" The largest mouse asked.

"King Theos? Is that truly you? By the Makers, we were told that you had died!" the minister said, rising to his feet. "You must stop him! He's gone mad, and will destroy us all!"

"Uh, none of that is an answer to where he is." Jerin said, scratching her cheek.

"Yes, yes of course. There is a secret ritual site, hidden behind the throne."

Jerin looked up. Atop the handful of steps, behind the twisted throne was a large tapestry depicting a group of mice, all covered in assorted bandages and bruises, cheering on a larger one, who held his fists in the air. Within the windowless room, it still moved, as though caught in a strong breeze. She rushed forward, leaping over the throne, and slashed straight through the cloth, making it fall to the floor in a heap of tattered fabric, revealing a hallway hidden behind it.

"That was a valuable heirloom..." the minister said, his voice somewhere between meek and accusatory.

"Eh, I ne'er liked it 'nyways." Theos replied.

The five mice rushed down the narrow stone hallway, Jerin's sword barely fitting, the edge scratching against the right-hand wall, before they finally reached the outside. Up ahead stood a series of stone steps leading up a mouse-made hill, at the top of which sat a circle of runes. Standing alone, in the center of those runes was king Deathlocke Soulcrusher. The five ran halfway up the stairs, Midnight bounding around the perimeter of the castle, finally taking a seat behind the party.

The small mouse looked down at them with an annoyed expression.

"Well, isn't this just lovely." the false king sneered, looking between Jerin and Theos, "The two most irritating people that I know just happened to team up, because of course you did. How could you possibly not have?"

"We're here too, you know..." Mathias said in a low voice.

"What, do you really want to be considered irritating?" Aaron asked.

The dark knight shrugged. "It would just be nice to be acknowledged."

"It'sall over, Leon." Theos says. "I'm takin' back the crown."

"How?" the king asked.

"Huh?"

"How exactly do you plan to do that? Based on what legal authority?"

"Well, you know..."

"Oh, don't tell me, let me guess: Your plan was to punch me a lot, and then somehow that would make you the rightful ruler of the kingdom, right?" the king growled.

"Well, I was thinkin'a maybe kickin' a few times, too..." Theos said, looking down, shuffling his feet.

"Oh, of course! Well, forgive me for assuming that your plan was stupid and not well thought out! Clearly, your mind has expanded dramatically during your time away from the castle! Why, the old you would have never thought of a strategy as clever as kicking!"

"I just figgered, ya know, me legs are right here... might as'well use em'..." Theos grumbled, still looking away. Hardly a creature of subtlety, even he could recognize the sarcasm, even if he didn't quite know how to respond to it.

"Hey! He might be a big, dumb ugly oaf with no fashion sense whatsoever, but he's still the rightful king!" Jerin shouted up at the robed mouse.

"Ya know, I do got feelin's..." Theos replied in a soft voice.

"Oh, and look who else is here! The foolish child who just blunders around, doing whatever she feels like, never considering the consequences! And I see that you've brought another dark lord with you! Makes sense, you were about due! It's been, what, a whole day since the last time that you did that?"

"Hey, I'm just sitting here. Leave me out of this!" Midnight said.

"Seriously? That's what you're going to criticize me for? I mean I know that I'm not perfect, but isn't that super hypocritical?" Jerin asked, arms folded. "Ugh, I can't believe I almost married you."

"Wait, what?" Mathias said.

"Don't even think of comparing my carefully laid out plan with whatever nonsense you've involved yourself with." Leon growled to the girl, before turning to Theos. "As for you, brother... let's just say that I happened to step down, handed the crown over to you, and you took over the leadership of this country. What then?" the crowned mouse asked, still scowling.

"Huh? Well, I was kinda hopin' to punch you a bit, but I guess that'd be okay."

"No, you idiot..." Leon sighed, head rested in a paw. "What happens to this kingdom?"

"Well, I guess we go back to the way things were done before..."

"Oh, of course!" the king said. "Why didn't I think of that? So, instead of having a system of taxation based on property values and relative incomes, we'll go back to picking up mice by their ankles, shaking them really hard, and just taking whatever falls out?"

"I figgered it was a good way ta see who has disposable income..."

"Or how about your approach to healthcare? You know, Your 'give them something to really cry about' policy? The one that turned minor injuries into multiple day hospital stays?"

"Hey, I's not my fault those wimps couldn't take a punch!" Theos said.

"And don't even get me started on your recycling initiative!"

Rowan shook his head solemnly. "Those poor children..."

"Okay, Okay, I'll admit it!" Theos says, "Maybe some o' my ideas weren't tha best."

"No! They were objectively the worst!" the king spat. "Everything you did, every single decision made the lives of our people harder, slowed technological progress, and undermined the safety of every one of us!"

"Well, I don' think they all did..."

"And the worst part? The people loved you for it! Even when they had nothing to eat, because you thought that vegetables were for sissies, even when the walls started crumbling, because the workers were constantly injured because, once again, safety gear was for sissies, even when you responded to anyone who came to you to offering advice by just grabbing their wrist, holding them down and insisting that they 'stop hitting themselves', people adored you!'

"Hey! I din't do that to anyone who offered advice! Jus' you!" Theos said, "N' that wasall in good fun! Your makin' me sound like a real jerk here!"

"Oh, Makers forbid that I make you look bad, rather than leaving you to do it on your own, as always! Do you know what's happened since you've left the palace? Our population has grown, we've made great strides in research on medicines, metal tools and magic. The people are safer and happier than they have ever been... and they still mock me for it! When they would have shrugged their shoulders when you drunkenly punched down a family home, they look to me with contempt when I have a house for four built, because, hey, why couldn't it have housed six? Or twelve? No matter what I did, it was never enough! Why is that?"

"Huh, this isn't going the way that I thought it would..." Aaron said. Traditionally, no matter how bad an encounter with a villain goes, you have the moral high ground, if nothing else.

"Maybe it's because leading isn't just about fixing everything, and making it better... it's about inspiring, making people want to fix things themselves, and improve their world. We aren't just a collection of the things that we do, we're more than that. We're what we feel, what we think, how we treat others, and how others want to treat us." Jerin said. "And you? Well, you're just unlikable."

"...and that's what it all comes down to, isn't it? The people are more interested in someone that makes them smile, rather than someone who will keep them alive? Well, I don't care what those ingrates think that they want. I'm not handing my kingdom over to that buffoon just so that they can cheer while he reduces it to ashes. Maybe they don't appreciate technical innovation or security or new methods of agriculture, but I do know one thing that even the most slack jawed peasant can appreciate." King Leon says.

"Oh yeah? Wha's that?" said Theos.

"Power. If they can't love me for the countless gifts which I have given them, they can at least fear me." He turned and raised a paw to the air. "Sovereign of the eternal veil! You have partaken in my offering of strength, now, I beseech you, please! heed my call, Dark Overlord, Ahnyma Ex Mortis!"

For the briefest of periods, nothing happened. That was when the sun went black, a pair of great wings spreading to either side of it. It didn't soar or even glide down to the magical circle, instead simply seemed to drift, appearing at first so far away but approached at an impossible rate, like a thumb held before your eye which when moved the smallest amount suddenly goes from a small object to encompassing your entire view.

It flapped its wings unnaturally slowly, with a heavy whoosh of wind at the end of each feathered sweep, floating downwards, a shape of pure blackness, extending a pair of deep grey scaled claws to the earth which it daintily landed upon. It tilted its large head, long black beak partially opened, exuding a cloud of dark smoke, and stared down at the stunned group of mice with soulless bright red eyes, the whole body cracking and sizzling with tendrils of unnatural energy.

"You-you actually came!" The king said, looking up at the terrible beast before him, an expression of genuine surprise in his voice. "After all my prayers, all my sacrifices, you're truly here!"

~Yes. We have long since heard your call, even before you knew that we existed. We could feel your anger, your pain, your frustration, but at last you have proven yourself worthy.

The beak didn't move, but somehow everyone, not just just Theos, Jerin and her allies, but everyone within the mouse city could hear the voice, seeming to not come from anywhere, but rather everywhere, including within their own heads. To even call it a voice was somewhat inaccurate, as it sounded more like several different voices over top one another, not quite in sync with one another, all mixed with a sharp, shrill metallic whine.

"This... this could be a problem." Rowan said, looking up at the creature.

"Hey, we don't have to worry! We've got out own dark lord to help us!" Jerin said, looking back towards Midnight, but found herself rather alarmed to see his ears drawn back, eyes wide, and tail lowered.

"I'm not fighting that!" Midnight said.

"What? Why not?!"

"Look at it! Just-just-just look at it! Look at the size of it!"

"It's almost as big as you..." Jerin said, not sure what the big deal was. She was used to fighting opponents way bigger than herself, after all.

"I know! And look at those eyes! And that energy! I can feel it from here!"

"But you said that you wanted a fight!"

"Yeah! A fight I can win! Look, I'm just bored, I just wanted to pass some time. I'm not looking to get myself killed!" the dark lord whined, backing up a couple of steps.

"But-but you said that you'd get in trouble if you didn't bring me back safely!" Jerin said.

"You know what? I'll risk it. Sorry, kid, you're on your own." the black cat said, turning tail, and sprinting towards the nearest wall which it leapt over with a single bound.

"He-hey! Hey, come back here you coward!" Jerin shouted after him, but the dark lord Midnight was already long gone.

She shook her head, arms falling to her sides and sighed. "Unbelievable. You know, Aaron, you were right. This whole adventuring thing is seriously overrated. I thought I wasn't expecting much, you know, maybe find some treasure, beat up some bad guys, face off against my lifelong nemesis, but I just get disappointed at every turn."

"Uh, Jerin..." Her brother said, unable to even appreciate that his sister had, once again, admitted that he was right.

"Instead, it's all worrying about whether you're doing the right thing, and wandering around town trying to figure out where you're supposed to go..."

"Jerin..."

"-And then, just when you finally think you're reaching the end point, the terrible evil that needs to be vanquished to set everything right, he turns out to just be some wuss who runs away at the first sign of danger! Facing Midnight was supposed to be my big moment! Instead he was just some idiot with a dumb plan who couldn't even follow through with that..."

"Jerin!" Aaron shouted.

"What? What is it? Can't you see that I'm busy lamenting here?" she shouted back.

Aaron pointed to the huge black bird, and the mouse king standing at its feet, smiling smugly.

"Oh, right. That." she said, having briefly forgotten its presence.

There was a powerful gust of wind when, with a single quick motion, the dark overlord spread it's wings, which seemed to stretch out for forever, filling the entire horizon, before they closed in around the group. They never touched Jerin and her allies, but surrounded them in a ring of pure blackness which expanded above and beyond them, leaving all of the mice standing within a void of pure emptiness. This wasn't darkness, as they could clearly see one another, but there were no traces of light. At least not at first. Then, a single small shine appeared within the sky, followed by another and another. Countless stars rapidly blinked into existence, forming a luminous night sky all around them. Looking down at their feet, they saw that they no longer stood upon the stairway, but rather a mirrored floor, cold to the touch on their bare feet (with Jerin, wearing Smirk's boots being the one exception to this). They weren't alone, however. Not far from them the dark overlord Ahnyma stood, somehow darker than the pitch black space which encircled in all directions, somehow above it beyond it, the unnatural environment twisting and distorting behind the creature, as though the cosmic void were trying to escape from the presence of the entity which had so commanded it.

In the distance, the mice of the city could all be seen, white outlines frozen in place with the remainder of the city, the walls, the buildings, the ground all faded away to nothing, leaving only the empty forms remaining, heads turned towards the terrible creature.

"Beautiful. Truly beautiful..." the king said, looking around in astonishment. "It's like an entire universe, like I could reach out and touch the stars. As though the very galaxies themselves are within my grasp."

~Of course. You had sought out a higher power, did you not? And there are no powers higher than us.

"Yes, of course... it's just... it's more than I could have ever dreamed of! As much as it shames me to admit it, I had doubts. I've faced failure and ridicule at every turn, and somehow I expected this all of this to be a lie as well, that my faith would have been for nothing... but you're here! Here to grant my wishes!"

~Yes.

"Those idiots. They pray to the Makers, to that ridiculous Starman, to embodiments of luck and fate, entities which don't care, false deities which have no real power, but all of that is going to change. You, great one, will be praised and worshiped by the people, and anything that you seek will be given. To think that my foolish advisers actually thought that I required an alliance with that ridiculous hero, but who needs that when I can stand at the side, nay, even at the feet of a God?"

~Your fealty has always been appreciated. It has granted us strength and form, and now, the time has come for us to return that favor.

"Yes! Yes, of course!" The king pointed to the still stunned group. "Them over there! My most hated of enemies! Destroy them, I beseech you, and together let us create a beautiful new world."

~Gladly.

Jerin, Theos, Aaron, Mathias and Rowan all tensed, weapons drawn, staring into the terrible living shadow, watching as it raised a heavy black talon, an afterimage trailing behind it, three separate translucent black feet following along the original path before merging with the original, and stomped it down onto the back of king Leon.

"Saw that coming a mile away." Mathias said with a sigh..

"Really? I didn't..." Jerin said, "...and what's a mile?"

"Why.." King Leon pleaded in a weak voice, looking back up at the dark overlord as best he could, his body broken, the three toed foot pressing down onto his back as he lay, sprawled out on his stomach upon the mirrored floor.

.~We are answering your prayers. Destroying the one that you hate most of all.

"No... I never wanted to die..."

~No, you didn't, but you did wish to fail. You knew all along you were unworthy, a betrayer and that you needed to pay for your crimes. You knew that all through the disdain, the mockery, that you were the cause of it all. As for dying? Well, that's simply a means to an end. Don't worry, however. It is not all in vain. You are just the first of countless enemies which shall fall to my power. Now, close your eyes, my child, and sleep. Dream of the beautiful horror which we shall create, and know that it is your legacy, even if you shall not be there to see it.

It opened its beak, black tar-like strings dangling from it, a sickening deep red glow welling up from it's throat, before it let out a surprised squawk, leaping backwards, the space behind it bending and warping with the motion.

Theos pulled his fist from the cracked glass-like surface where the talon once stood, crouching over the collapsed form of his brother.

"Ey, you! Nobody beats up my family but me!" he called to the creature.

"Theos... you- you saved me..." the king coughed.

"Well yeah. Yer a bit of a tool, but hey, don't wanna see ya get killed er anythin'."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I never wanted this. I wanted to help the people, to be strong, and for them to realize it... for them to respect me. For you-for you to respect me, but it was all a waste wasn't it? I've just ruined everything, like I always do." he sobbed, face buried in the one paw that was still capable of moving. He let out a surprise squeak as he looked up, only to be punched hard in the snout. With a new pain on top of his massive collection of other ones, he growled up at his sibling, paw rubbing his nose, "What? What was that for?"

"Ta make ya quit yer blubberin'." Theos said. "Yer spoiling my awesome moment. We'll settle this later. Right now, we gotta deal with this freak."

~You... your presence offends us. Begone.

Theos looked up at the dark overlord, tilted his head and said. "Huh?"

That was when the ground had vanished beneath his feet, a perfectly round circle of emptiness with him and his injured brother at its center, revealing an endless black chasm beneath them. The royal siblings simply hung in the air for a moment, the rest of the universe taking just a little while to adapt to the fact that they were still sitting upon a flat surface which no longer existed, before they fell, hollering into the abyss, the sound promptly cut off as the hole vanished above them.

~Much better. Now, where were we?