I finished nomming on my sandwich, occasionally flickering the lighter’s flame to top up my mana. I topped it with my 4-Omnid shake that contained Kat's scales, Ci's and Vee's feathers and Io's fuzz ground down into microscopic particles by Guild Chef Rostika Terringhelm's Agitix Kitlix.

"What were the Echoes of us like?" Cinder asked.

I described the entire experience.

After about twenty minutes of this I felt considerably better.

"Hey, Vee," I addressed the Thunderbird who was investigating the various old crystalline runes burned into the grimy, dark gray stone by the Guilders many centuries ago.

"Ye?" She looked down at me.

"Can I get a million magic skills this way?" I asked her. "Just endlessly drink shakes made from Omnids?"

"No," she shook her head. "If you consume too much Omnid crystalline strata too quickly, they will overload each other and implode your stomach. Your current limit is five. I might be able to up it, we'll see... lots of modding will need to be done on ya. I'm monitoring the situation and adjusting... things."

"Thanks," I smiled at her.

It was time. Time to initiate one of my potentially most insane plans, based on my long evening discussions with Shash about how wizard towers of Undertown functioned.

"Sooooo, are you done crying like a little sad kitten over your ghost-mom?" Vespera asked.

I squinted up at her from my mossy rock seat.

"Vee!" Cinder smacked the Thunderbird. "Don't make fun of his… deep trauma!"

"I'm all bout' tough love, Skittles," the Thunderbird shot back at Cinder, silver-gray eyes running me up and down. "Your legs obviously work now. Better start running. How about a twenty five seconds head start? Twenty four."

Cinder huffed at the pet name.

My heartbeat accelerated.

Oh, it was definitely time.

Vespera's magisteel talons spread out, wings puffing up, electrical arcs dancing across her magisteel laminar armor. "Twenty three..."

I stood up and stretched, joints cracking.

"Twenty two..." Vee’s gray eyes gleamed dangerously. "Twenty one... Less stretchin' more running, little fox.”

Cinder looked between us with a somewhat concerned expression.

"If I catch him first, I get to bite him extra-hard for my claim," Vespera clicked. "Waiting stresses me out. Fourteen. Someone ain't running. Aren't we brave..."

"What?" Cinder sputtered. "That's not what we..."

“Are you chickening out?” The Thunderbird asked.

“Am not!” Cinder huffed.

“Then get ready for a good chase. I do wonder if humans taste like chicken..." The Thunderbird grinned wide. "Eight. Getting awfully cocky there, aren’t we, prey? Four..."

Twenty hexasuits ignited one by one under my jacket. I didn't face away from the two predator-girls. My hands dug into my pocket.

"Threeeee... Twoooooo..... Oooooonnnneeee." Vespera drew out her words, staring me down. "Zeeeeeerrr...."

"Sheshaaaah! Poketbeasts!" I yelled, unleashing a small dimensional bag filled with glowing mites from my pocket at the faces of the Thunderbird and Quetzalcoatl.

Vespera shrieked in surprise, batting at the luminescent parasites with her magisteel-covered talons.

"Gah what the ffffffuck?! Who throws Dusssskbloom at people?!" Cinder cried, flailing angrily. "Frighhh they're in my eyes, I can't see! I'm going to effing murder you, you chuppy!"

"Feh! You little deviant!" Vespera cried out, flailing blindly. "That's cheating!"

"Expect the unexpected, knobs!" I spun through the air, kicking at Vespera with a roundhouse.

"Too slow!" The Thunderbird caught my leg mid-kick, her magisteel talons clamping down with superhuman strength. Electricity crackled along her armor, making my hexasuits light up like Christmas trees.

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"Got you," she purred dangerously, pulling me closer despite my attempts to break free. "I think that some knob forgot that I don't need eyes to see. Mites don't block electrical sense."

"But do you know what happens when you mix water and electricity?" I asked as she slowly pulled me to her face.

"What? Don't think that drooling at me will help you avoid getting bit, hooman critter," Vespera growled, beak opening wide, gleaming, sharp chompers aimed at my neck.

"Let's find out!" I shoved the insta-rain stone that I was holding in my hand into her mouth, igniting the activation hexagram.

A cloud of rain exploded from the stone, instantly drenching us both. Vespera's electrical field went haywire, sparks dancing wildly across her armor. She yelped and spat dregs of water, releasing me as her talons spasmed from the short circuit.

"You sneaky little fox," Vespera hissed, flailing blindingly through the raincloud now filling the tunnel, her feathers dripping. "That's twice you've gotten me soakin' wet!"

"What's wrong birdie?" I taunted, ducking under her wild swing and throwing an uppercut into her chin. "Can't handle a little... rain?"

"I'm going to deep-fry you!" Vespera snarled as I sent her flying into a cave wall. Her electrical attacks were going everywhere except where she wanted them to, conducted chaotically by the water.

I spun away from Vespera's flailing form, only to have rainbow wings wrap around me from behind.

"Got you!" Cinder announced triumphantly, her claws digging into my hexasuits.

"Do you though?" I asked, triggering the hexasuits at the top to maximum heat, keeping the layers below cold.

"YEOWCH!" Cinder yelped, releasing me as the suits began steaming. "What the shit?! What are you, a Cherufe now?!" She waved her burned hands, glaring at me. “Damn it, how are you so hot?!”

"Was that a compliment?" I slipped free of her grasp, diving below her hands and rolling to my feet. "What's wrong, predator? Can't handle a little heat?"

"Oh, you are SO dead!" Cinder snarled, her wings flaring with angry reds.

I kicked her feet under her, sending her careening into Vespera.

The two predators collided with a yelp, tangling in a mass of black, white and rainbow feathers.

"Oi!" Vespera complained. "Watch where you're falling!"

"Watch where YOU'RE standing!" Cinder groaned back.

"I still got effin mites in my eyes, you knob!" the Thunderbird growled. "N' I'm freakin' soaked to the bone so I can't sense shit. Where is he?!"

"How should I know?!" Ci growled, blinking rapidly and shaking her head, the raincloud still raining down on both of them.

I carefully circled the fallen predators and snapped industrial strength zip-ties around their ankles, binding them together while they were distracted arguing.

"What the...?" Cinder yelped as she tried to stand, only to find herself tied to Vespera.

"Ha!" I declared triumphantly. "Thus the hunter becomes the hunted!"

"Oh you little..." Vespera snarled, trying to reach for me with her talons but getting tangled up with Cinder instead.

"Smile for the camera!" I retreated away from the rain cloud and pulled out my DSLR from the extradimensional bag. I snapped several photos of the two Omnids tied together, soaking wet and covered in glowing mites. "#Knob-hunters!"

"Hey! You better not be taking photos of this!" the Quetzi-girl growled.

"These are going in my special collection titled 'Apex Predators Having A Bad Day.'" I laughed.

"I'm going to murder you!" Cinder snarled, trying to lunge at me but getting tangled up with Vespera again.

"Ow! Watch the wings!" Vespera complained as they tumbled together.

"Stop moving!" Cinder growled.

"You stop moving! Argh! I see… There's a thing on my ankle," Vee hissed.

"Consider working together," I laughed. "2/10 teamwork."

Vespera snarled, managing to get her talons under the zip-tie. She snapped it in half, untangling herself from the Quetzi. "Get him!”

I was already running across the long cold tunnel, laughing as I heard them scrambling after me. The mites were flaking off them, dying from the cold, so their vision was coming back.

I cranked the camera flash to maximum and spun around just as the pair caught up to me.

FLASH!

Angry howls and swears filled the tunnel as the two predators went blind.

Laughing maniacally, I sprinted out of the snowflake-marked door into my Adventurers Guild. The building was relatively empty as all of my employees were currently expanding the tunnels below, organizing temporary shelters and soup kitchens for the soon-to-be homeless and no longer constantly doped-up on Topaz people of Undertown.

The Duskbloom parasite plague I had unleashed on the cavernous city of eternal night would rapidly devour all magic drug supplies. Because Topaz was basically a high-grade, mana-rich, mind-dulling magic crystal powder that settled in people's bodies as iridescent blue skin lesions, the mites would eat it out of people's systems pretty quickly, solving the problem of rehab.

Duskbloom didn't actually kill people, it devoured mana and without mana the locals felt drowsy and then fell asleep. Without mana, Topaz was as toothless as salt, simply dissolved away.

Without mana, magic tools were useless junk.

Rushing up the spiral stairwell, now covered in hundreds of newly installed cold runes courtesy of our cook, I ended up atop of the rooftop terrace, panting and heaving.

I leaned against the parapet, catching my breath and watching my handiwork unfold. The mites were spreading faster than I'd anticipated, carried by the warm air currents from the newly opened fissures leading to Abystall dungeon.

The view of Undertown stretched out before me, glowing mites drifting through the air like luminescent snow. They were everywhere now, eating the magic moss up above and painting the cavern ceiling with radiant tones, building up on lanterns below, blooming all over junk piles.

The streets were empty. Those who had money and sense had already fled upstairs to Shandria proper. Those who didn't, were hiding in their homes, waiting to be saved by someone.

That someone was me, as the people above had sealed the tunnels out of Undertown just as Shash predicted.

A few mites landed on me and then fell off, finding me untasty.