Liv awoke, esconced in a veil of Dream. She got up, gathering it around herself. Based on the fact that none of the pedestrians looked her way, this was probably enough to stay unnoticed for now. She strode into the crowd, weaving amongst the people, both moving with and opposite to the crowd. None of them noticed more than a slight gust of wind out of place as she slowly made her way through the city. Nothing screamed 'hooded man', and Liv hadn't expected it to. I'll need to gather information.

  Then a voice came to her. "Girl."

  Liv quickly turned, paranoically looking around before she found the speaker. She sighed in relief. It was someone in an alley, next to a girl who seemed to be a few years younger than her, based on how she was about three-fourths Liv's size, with bright red hair and blue, piercing eyes. Then she noticed the other person, a dark-haired man, was openly holding a knife to the girl's neck.

  "You see how they're passing by?," The man asked her. "They don't care. Give me all of your valuables, or I'll get to taste your blood."

  For a second, Liv thought the girl would do it, give up and give over her possessions. She started pushing through the crowd, small amounts of alarm appearing at being pushed aside by thin air. The girl's eyes suddenly shone with determination, and she punched the man in the eye. As he stumbled back, she ran, trying to get to the crowd. Smiling back at the man, she stepped into the crowd. Liv relaxed, assuming the girl was safe.

  Then the girl stumbled back herself, surprised. The crowd didn't let her in. The people passing by looked at her with glares, refusing to allow her in. The girl, dismayed, turned back to the man, who was holding the knife and pointing it at the girl. "Girl, you're done. They're not going to let you, of all people, in."

  The girl sighed, and Liv could not see her face anymore, now that she was turned away from her, but she felt that the girl would fight to the end. She finally parted the crowd right behind the girl, the man not noticing. Liv watched the man walk up to the girl, grabbing her by the neck. She kicked and punched, but it did nothing as the man laughed, raising his knife to strike. Grabbing the man's arm, Liv ripped it out of his shoulder, catching and placing the girl on the ground once his grip was released. She stared, wide-eyed, as she punched through his windpipe, grabbing his spine and ripping it back out the front of his body. Liv turned to the girl.

  "Choose," she said, dangling the spine in front of the girl.

  "Go with me." Liv pointed to the spine. "Or don't." She pointed at the crowd.

  The girl ran further into the alley, and Liv sighed. She had expected the girl to acc- wait. The girl came back with the man's knife, which had flown aside when Liv had ripped out his spine. She slowly sawed away at what was remaining of his neck, and managed to break off his head. She held up the man's decapitated head, blood still dripping off of it. "I accept."

  Liv grabbed the man's head. "Do you understand what this entails?"

  The girl shook her head. "You have power, and I don't want to be weak."

  Liv felt there was more than just that, but she let it slide. "Tell me you accept after this. If you accept, we will fight. A lot. You will most likely die, but if you don't, you'll get stronger for it. This is probably the last day you will see the people you know, because after goodbyes, you're not talking to them again. You'll also have to follow my goals, but I feel that some of my goals intertwine with yours." She cocked her head. "One of my goals is preventing the terrorism of the weak."

  The girl blushed. Liv had guessed correctly. "I'll go with you," The girl said.

  Liv nodded. "Name? I'm Liv."

  "Luna."

  Liv reached a hand down, and Luna clasped it. The crowd had ignored everything going on, simply leaving the body to rot. Liv and Luna stepped into the crowd. Liv had to create a small space for Luna to walk, because the crowd didn't like her there, but they made progress. If an outsider watched them walk, they would assume the two were a mother and daughter pair, taking a casual stroll through the streets. With bloodstains, of course.

  Liv quickly found an inn. The innkeeper looked at her, and then at Luna. He made a covert hand signal, smiling at them. "Hello! What would you like?"

  "Theysh would l-like shome go-OOd ashcolol," a random patron said, bumping into them.

  Liv knew they weren't really drunk. This was a ploy to start a fight. She ignored the patron, telling the innkeeper. "One room with two beds. Two meals."

  The innkeeper sagged a little bit, annoyed that they hadn't gone and fought. "I'm sorry, but we don't serve people associated with that girl next to you."

  "Whyever not?," Liv asked.

  "If you don't know, I'm not telling you."

  Liv shook her head, reaching for a pouch on her. She pulled out a single gold coin and set it in front of the innkeeper, who looked at it greedily. "I think you do serve people associated with the girl next to me."

  The innkeeper nodded, grabbing the gold coin. "Yes. Yes, I do," he said, flustered. "We have roasted chicken with spices."

  Liv led Luna to a table, having her sit next to her. "That wasn't real, was it?," Luna whispered to Liv.

  Liv smiled at Luna. "No, it was not. It'll last long enough for us to finish our business, though. Do you have anyone to say goodbye to?"

  Luna shook her head. "Only those I want vengeance on. Why are you being so generous?"

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  "Did you assume I'd enslave you? No, I want a partner. You seemed like someone who would fit the bill, so I chose you."

  "There were more powerful people you could have chosen."

  Liv gazed into Luna's eyes. "Power isn't what I care about. Determination is more important, and you have that in droves. You also know what it is like to be weak."

  Luna glanced down. "Thank you."

  Liv nodded back. Luna didn't seem like one to give thanks often. Their meals arrived, the innkeeper setting two plates down in front of Liv. He seemed to expect her to eat both of them, and was surprised when she pushed one over to Luna, who immediately started eating as well. They finished their meals in silence, ignoring the innkeeper asking them if they wanted alcohol. Grabbing their room key, Liv led the way up to their room, opening the door and then locking it behind them.

  Liv sat down on one of the beds, Luna on the other. "How did you know it was fake?"

  "The coin looked slightly... wrong."

  "I didn't make the Dream that good, but it's impressive you noticed."

  Luna blushed again, a small smile breaking out. "It's not... weird?"

  Liv shook her head. "It just means you're really observant. Now, first lesson. Spirits are everywhere. The church says they're evil, but they're not. They keep the world running. Trapping spirits is trapping a living being. Don't do it. So, what I'm going to do is ask a spirit to appear to your vision."

  She asked a wind spirit to appear to normal human vision, and it did. Luna didn't show any reaction. After a couple seconds, she asked, "Where's the spirit?"

  Liv raised an eyebrow. "Right here?," She pointed at the spirit.

  "So all those glowing balls are spirits?"

  Liv sighed. Apparently, Luna could already see spirits. "Those are spirits, yes. You appear to be able to see them already, so this lesson is unnecessary. Next, try talking to them."

  Luna immediately started talking to a wind spirit next to her head, but it only came out as a Whisper. "Why can't I talk normally?"

  "For them to understand us, you need to use Voice. You don't have enough Voice, and you don't know how to use it to Speak to spirits. For now, you can only Whisper, which is a way of asking them to do things for you, though it won't be 'giant flaming meteor' level."

  Luna nodded, Whispering to the spirit next to her once again. The spirit made a small eddy in the air before stopping. "The more Voice you give them, the more they'll do. It's that simple."

  Luna fell onto her bed, seemingly exhausted. "Seeing spirits is normal?"

  Liv shook her head. "Most people don't. I and you can, probably from birth. I don't know why."

  Luna nodded. Liv opened her mouth, about to continue, but a voice sounded in her head. Uh. Help? Like, now?

  Liv quickly responded. Vivian? What's wrong?

  Materialize over here and you'll find out. Faster, please.

  Liv sighed. Quickly, she addressed Luna. "I'll be gone for a little while now. Don't leave the room. Don't make trouble. The people out there don't like you, as you can probably tell."

  Luna nodded sleepily, sitting up, suddenly alert once more. "I'll try not to be too long."

  Liv!

  Coming!

  Liv shoved herself into the link she had with Vivian, feeling her consciousness and body get yanked through. Her senses stopped working, before turning back on as she exited through the other end, appearing directly next to Vivian. She sat in front of a semicircle of people, tied to a chair. Liv was currently in an ethereal state, so she assumed no one could see her, as no one could see Vivian while she was ethereal. "What do you need me to do? And how did this happen?"

  One of Vivian's hands had a cuff on it, which Liv felt was blocking her powers. Vivian whispered a reply. "I was asleep, and they found me. Also, kill them for me, please. That would be helpful. They're... something worshippers who sacrifice random people to whatever they worship."

  Liv nodded. Her Will cascaded out, manifesting a blade in front of each of her enemies. They all chopped, ending the semicircle of peoples' lives in an instant. She cut the cuff off of Vivian, who froze her own bonds with a single note, shattering them with a flex of her muscles. "Is that it?," Liv asked, and Vivian nodded.

  "Yeah. Just a spot of t- what's that?"

  Liv turned, seeing a red sigil glow in space. Suddenly, someone appeared in front of them. "Stay back. Run, actually. This isn't something you should be fighting."

  Vivian, confused, started to run away, not questioning the stranger. Liv floated along with her. "Do you know him?," Liv asked.

  As Vivian ran, she answered. "That's Jay. The strongest force of Good in the world. If he tells us to not be somewhere, we shouldn't be there."

  Liv started floating backwards, watching the battle behind her. Jay was a flashing silver blur, circling a demonic entity of some kind, which was shapeshifting every second it got, each attack using a new form.

  "Eight Strikes to Cleave Eternity."

  Jay spoke, power suddenly condensing. Liv watched Will, Voice, and three other simple energies condense, before Aether and two other higher energies condensed with them. They braided into eight braids, flowing into a silver sword which formed in front of him. He struck once, a massive wave of power released from the attack. Only one of the braids was used in the strike, the rest of them staying inert.

  A crater formed, the simple shockwave from the attack creating it. The creature completely ignored the attack, and Liv's heart fell. Vivian might die here, if Jay didn't win.

  Then the next strike hit. It was magnitudes stronger than the previous one, but still, the monster ignored it.

  Then the third strike hit, causing the monster to flinch a slight bit.

  The fourth strike caused a small gash.

  The fifth caused a deep cut.

  The sixth caused it to lose a limb which swiftly regrew, for it shapeshifted a new one.

  The seventh ruptured space itself, lacerating the creature in many places, the 'crack' of multiple bones breaking heard. Jay paused before the last strike, and Liv saw the eight braids, originally separate, come together into one. The shapeshifting creature moved faster than Liv had seem before, even with its speed, enough to keep up with Jay.

  A massive bludgeoning tail crashed down on Jay, and Liv let out an involuntary "NO!"

  Vivian turned back as she drifted for a moment on the wind, before laughing. "You underestimate him. He let that attack hit him. He let the beast keep up with him. He let it live for this long because killing it with another move would mean causing mass destruction."

  Liv didn't calm until she watched Jay appear behind the demon, his eighth strike being launched. Time itself broke under its weight, as did space, the demon freezing as it appeared to be in multiple places. Jay's attack launched a crescent of energy that slowly cleaved through the demon, cutting it into two halves. A final screech came as it died, almost rupturing Liv's eardrums in this ethereal state. The figure that was Jay nodded at them from midair, unhurt, before disappearing.

  Vivian turned to Liv. "I can't hear you, my eardrums are broken. There's nothing else you need to be here for, by the way, so leave whenever. Jay... I've seen him do impossible things. Nothing I've seen has ever hurt him, or even touched him without him letting it. He's, frankly, a monster. But he's a monster who does good things."

  Liv nodded back at Vivian, telling her she understood. Then she transmitted a bit of sound into Vivian's mind. "Cool. If he fights, he winds, I guess. Also, one more thing-I have a student of sorts, now."

  Vivian seemed inclined to ask a lot of questions, but Liv left before she could. The earlier she went, the more likely Luna would be fine.

  Eternity watched from space. How had that Zarlan gotten here? Vivian was doing fine, now, so he left. He wouldn't help them, no matter what, unless something that shouldn't happen did. And that something did happen. The Zarlan was an impossibility, unless...

  Striaster was on the move again.