Liv continued back into the mountains, this time taking a path that didn't lead her through the mountains, but instead appeared well-used by people who were attempting to amateurishly cover their tracks. Assuming they were criminals, Liv continued, ignoring the obvious attempts at deception.

  Soon, Liv got into a rocky area, still following the path, but more warily. Before she had entered, there were massive amounts of false trails and covered tracks. Now it was all gone, allowing her to assume she was near their camp. Sneaking along the path, Liv found the camp, a small group of tents put close together. People were exchanging money in the center, talking and gambling all over the place. Liv skirted the camp, ready to go somewhere else, but suddenly had a thought, which for some reason had never come up before. How am I going to search the entire goddamn mountain range?

  Liv, concealing herself by having the earth create a hole(which took a surprising amount of energy-the spirits did notwant to move), thought of a few options she had. First, she could search the mountain range by hand, which was already crossed off the list. Also, she could fly over the range and look down from above. However, that was a last resort, as she would miss things. Then Liv had a brilliant idea.

  Why search the mountain range yourself when others could do it for you? Who, here, knew the most about the mountain range?

  The criminals. By extension, the nobles who backed up the criminals. The nobles who were coming for her.

  Liv smiled. This would be fun.

  The hooded man stared out the window. He had felt that explosion of energy. Weakly, but it had crossed the massive distance to make it to him, and still contain traces of the power it used to have.

  The girl he'd sent was dead, definitely, after the amount of power expelled there. What was her name? Andrea? Louvette? Bah, he couldn't remember.

  The hooded man debated going himself. However, that idea was already off the table. If he went, his disappearance would be noticed, and noted. There was no way for him to safely go. However, he refused to play the cliche villain any longer.

  Nodding, the hooded man released a tiny burst of dark energy into the air, barely enough to be noticed. Nothing changed, yet he started speaking to the air. "You seven assassins, best of my troops. You know of the girl I want dead. Do not hold back. Do not give her a chance. Remind the world why you, and you alone, are known as the Reapers."

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  A coded message started playing back, dark energy pulsing in front of him. Nodding, the hooded man grabbed the flickering energy and cast a teleportation spell, shoving the energy through the small portal before urgently closing it and expanding his senses. Seeing no one there, the hooded man sighed in relief. "Can't go leaking the Reapers' secrets."

  The hooded man stood at the window, waiting for the girl to die at any moment. He didn't feel any fluctuation of energy, however, no spirits lamenting the loss of a friend. Confused, he sat down. The assassins worked fast. They should have taken her out by now. Suddenly, his portal appeared in front of him, the message he sent through coming back out. A ghostly figure appeared.

  The hooded man shot an incredibly compressed bolt of dark energy at the man, but it dissolved before reaching him. The man's eyes glowed and an image of a bluejay condensed for a second behind him as a medallion appeared out of thin air. Still ethereal, the man grabbed the medallion and put it on. "I am Jay, and I come from the Eternal."

  The hooded man's eyebrows shot up as he fell to his knees, begging. "Please don't kill me, lord savior. I had no idea it was you I was throwing a bolt at."

  Jay looked down at him, his eyes filled with contempt. "Someone stronger than you appears, and you grovel? This is one of the reasons you were not invited to join the Eternal. Another was what you've done in the past, all of that evil to increase your strength."

  The hooded man slowly got up, his pride now wounded by himself. "Sorry, senior. I would like to ask for guidance." 

  Jay's fist snapped into being barely in front of the man's head, the resulting wave of air enough to blow the room's furniture away. "I would have killed you already, for what you've done to the child and her parents."

  The hooded man's eyes, which Jay clearly saw, widened. "Senior... by chance, do you mean... the child I'm trying to kill and Jessica and Randall?"

  Jay's fist inched a bit closer. "Yes."

  The hooded man gulped. "Um. What do you want me to do, venerable senior?"

  Jay pushed into the hooded man's face. "I require you to send the Reapers, but command them not to kill civilians."

  The hooded man nodded. Easy enough, right?

  Jay started to turn translucent. "Please disappoint me. I still want to punch you."

   After he reappeared high above the planet, surveying what was happening below, Jay sighed. He was sorry the girl had to go through all this, but... she was the strongest prospect for the Eternal that he'd seen in a while. She also seemed to share a connection with a similarly strong prospect, and he expected to be able to try and subvert the upcoming crisis with their help, especially if he mentored them. After all, he was the strongest.

  Jay noted the seven people after Liv. Based on their spacing, he expected that she would encounter them one at a time, from the weakest to strongest. Seems like they have a sense of honor.

  It would simply make it easier for Liv to win, and more likely. Jay took one last look at the world and disappeared into space. She would have to make it, whether she thought she could or not. There was no other way for the universe to survive.