"What is the veil?" Rein asked.

"I'm glad you asked." Akeem finally took his turn in the conversation. Rein looked back, surprised by Akeem's sudden appearance. The man had not come out since he had woken up. It seemed like he was waiting for his chance to come out of the woods with an interesting topic.

"You see, the veil is what we call the phenomenon of people gaining memories and talents of people from the other side."

Slightly shocked, Rein asked, "What people? That world is completely barren."

"Ha, it is now, but to give you an example, Samira inherited the memory and talents of a very talented skryer, an artist who could perform SpectaGuard shows with heavy strings. When we refer to the veil weakening, we mean more people are finding these memories, and those who already have them are gaining more and more vivid memories. Samira is able to distinguish emotions and feelings from her memories. Now, while this may sound all well and good, it isn't." Akeem put on his first serious face since Rein had met him. "With the veil weakening, it means the barrier between our world and there's is getting weaker. It seems now that every time someone crosses, another creature is able to escape, something that was extremely rare in the past. And higher-floor monsters are becoming more and more common." Akeem let his sentence trail off, turning his head toward the corpse of the white ape.

Before Rein could ask about the corpse, he noticed Lee pointing to a coat in the office. The coat looked heavy. Made of deep red fur, it looked almost ominous and had a radiating aura. Similar to Samira's shawl, the coat it held seemed to almost demand some respect, but while the shawl gave off a prideful aura, this coat gave off rage.

Rein pretty quickly understood, "Your turning the creatures into tools and clothing?"

"Yes, it's the only way we can defeat them—well, minus your power. Think Samira needs heavy strings as strong or stronger than steel to be able to cut these creatures with ease."

Rein nodded. "Now that I'm up to speed, I'm guessing you didn't call me and Lee over to New York just to have us test a machine you knew would work or kill a monster you could kill with more ease."

"Haha," The non-serious tone returned to Akeem's voice: "So quick to a point, yes, your right. I called you here because I wanted to see your power in person—the ability to absorb creatures from the other side. What I want to know is... how far did you fall?" Akeem suddenly got much closer to Rein.

"Umm, I'm not sure what you mean."

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"You know slip and fall unless you know one of the other names given to it. Is this the point in your life where you unknowingly got close to the tower, maybe even within viewing distance of the town, or did you come into contact with the tower?"

Rein felt a pang in his head. He felt like he should have known; he felt like he did know but couldn't explain it. "I have seen the tower." Lee gave him a questioning look; this wasn't shared earlier, it almost seemed to say. "It only flashes different parts, like stairs and widows, some rooms even." Rein had decided to be honest here; what he described were the visions he saw as a child.

A long, deafening silence drew over the room.

"When you say stairs, you mean the inside of the tower?" Rein nodded, not understanding why the Akeem didn't seem to believe him; he did ask if he had seen it before. Akeem seemed to gather his thoughts before he continued. The most insane people—some truly powerful and absolutely messed up men, such as the likes of Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan—had something in common. Scientists were able to decipher records of their early days as children and some as adults. They had described the tower in their dreams, and many included some of the shadows that roam around it, usually the serpent, although others have been mentioned. All of these men had slipped into that world, not entered like you do. The big difference is that one puts your soul on the bargaining table."

Rein was trying to take it all in before a shift happened. Reality seemed to move a meter to the side, which was how his brain processed it. One second ago, he was talking, and then everything began to melt. He could see everyone being consumed by this ink-like substance; it looked the same as what had come out of his arms before, but this was foreign. Foreign but not uncontrollable, he concentrated and pulled it all towards himself. The ink substance seemed to not want to leave its hosts and left red marks on everyone it touched. Samira had been the only one much less affected, as she had put her shawl back on at some point, covering herself.

Rein shot the black substance at a wall, watching as its nasty form slid down, slowly sinking into the cracks. "What the hell was?" he barely managed a stifle, staring at the man with the answers to tell him.

"That, my friend, is what the tower connects; it's used as a tethering to purgatory; at least that's what we call it. That, my friend, is where you go once you reach the point of slipping. You fall; only two men have ever made it back after falling. We know very little about the fallen, just that they are strong."

Suddenly, they heard screams. Rein felt an almost gut-wrenching feeling; he hoped he had been wrong. As they all got up to walk outside, they saw it. New York City was covered in a black ink stain that, while only small for now, spread fast. In real time, they had seen a building get swallowed; what was left was still a building, but now its inhabitants slowly began to transform. Rein witnessed these transformations all around him.

Lee looked nauseous. "Why do they all resemble insects?"

"That's the form they always take on," Akeem replied.

Before any further discussion, Akeem signaled everyone over and got in his car; it seemed he decided his ragtag bunch wasn't solving this issue. Rein still hadn't trusted him, as he did cause a large accident just to observe him, but at the current time he had no other option.

Without reason, it seemed like New York was going to fall.