Hours later Dana stood, bleeding and tired as he watched the last embers burning out of the hotel he had affectionately called home. Everything he owned had effectively gone up in flames leaving him with no other place to stay. He walked his way back onto campus and headed to his classroom… sitting down in his chair as he looked over the wounds he had gained from the battle. The shine of green in his torn shirt brought his attention back to his scarab amulet.

More than once since he had found himself on this adventure he had seen the thing activate… lights along the back spiderweb pattern glowing and giving him a burst of energy. The times it had happened had all been during fights… but never encounters where he was alone. Maybe it was some kind of battle totem… he kept examining the strange totem, eventually falling asleep with it in his hand right there at his desk.

The last few days before the Culture Faire were too quick for any of them. Dana and many of the students just trying to recover from their different battles before their time was up. The day arrived, much to all of their worries as the Equinox was upon them. Much of the fields around the lake near the center of the campus were covered in various booths and stands and the various girls of the Academy made ready to welcome company.

Ruska had taken Dana’s advice and invited all the families of the girls attending to experience this celebration of multiculturalism… and encouraged all of them to donate generously to the school’s funding. She seemed to hope to use the money to not only rebuild the library that had been destroyed weeks before but also expand it into a mighty bastion of learning.

Dana awoke on the floor of the classroom, his jacket wadded under his head as a pillow. Having no other place to live he had been crashing on the school campus since the Exaulted was destroyed. Fyre offered Kasa the chance to room with her in one of the private cabins she had available to her, and Wilben decided to visit some family for a few weeks. The school had made a token effort to offer him a Resident Advisor room in the same dorm many of his students lived in but one look at how shabby the place was looking made him think camping out in the classroom wasn’t so bad.

The halls of the school were empty except for a skeleton that was sweeping while she hummed a jaunty tune. It was one of the school’s custodial staff that he often saw but conversing with her often made him just feel uncomfortable.

“Oh! Mr Wilde… the way you stare at me makes me feel like you can see everything!” The skeleton sauntered, somehow, over to him, she wore simple workers’ coveralls but being nothing but bones didn’t exactly mean there was much to see. “You always look like you want to just jump my bones right here in the hall… I won’t tell if you won’t”

“Good morning to you as well, Jan” The skeletal woman always had some inappropriate joke or another ready to fire off… usually accompanied by some horrible pun.

“Heading over to the Faire? They’re already set up out there… the scents I am catching are making my stomach rumble.” She elbowed him in the ribs at the joke he had heard her make no less than three dozen times in the past month.

“Going right now, have to grade the girls on their efforts and all. Don’t work too hard today…” Dana smiled and tried to keep moving towards the exit.

“I work myself to the bone for this place and you barely look twice at me… and after all the weight I lost just so you would think I was pretty!” She called after him as he left. He couldn’t help but shake his head and smile as he made his way back out to the sun and walked towards the sounds and smells of the festival. Booths were spread out as far as he could see, the sheer number of different students and species represented at the Academy hitting him once more as he looked over the field.

His first stop was a booth manned by a few werewolves, including to his surprise, Sally Mae… she had been spending almost all her time outside of classes with Trip as her family worked tirelessly to help him come back to himself.

“Hey boss man,” Sally Mae walked over with a tray of pastry. “Wanna try a mooncake?”

“Sure, Sally Mae…” Dana took one of the pastries off the tray and bit into it. It was a delightful mix of sweet and bitter at once. The young werewolf explained to him that the taste represented the dichotomy of the moon and their relationship to it… its ability to command their actions, while at the same time setting their most true selves free.

A few of the younger werewolves moved off by themselves to demonstrate an ancestral dance. It was filled with a mesmerizing blend of grace and power as they leaped and howled as one, moving with a fluid grace that few could ever hope to achieve.

“It’s good to see you here, Sally Mae, but it’s a little unexpected.”

“If anything is going to happen it’s going to happen today, right?” The resolve in her face said more than words could express to Dana. “My baby bro ain’t gonna get any better if this place gets blown off the map or whatever they are planning. The best place to keep him safe is with me here.”

He patted her shoulder with a grim smile… barely over twenty years old and her eyes held a haunted look already from her life. “There are few people I would rather have at my side than you when things go down… still, try to enjoy yourself a little today. It is still supposed to be a celebration, after all.:

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Moving on, he came to the Sirens' Serenade, a booth where a trio of students with fishtails and ethereal voices sang a haunting melody. The song washed over the audience, captivating all who listened. Dana felt the tug of the sirens' call in his very soul, a longing for adventure and the deep blue sea. He had to remind himself to breathe as the music swelled around them, threatening to sweep him away in a tide of emotion. The girls’ voices were as sweet as the honey they were selling at their booth… along with tips on proper ways to care for your throat and singing voice.

He wandered from booth to booth, each one an experience beyond anything he thought he would ever see. A group of goblins danced around a cauldron offering up dozens of shockingly delicious foods that he was advised not to look too deeply into the ingredients of. A group of Arachne, girls who were part spiders with only a humanoid torso, were knitting stuffed spider dolls to give out to kids made from their own silk. A line at the giant’s ‘test your strength’ booth that even the burliest of men couldn’t seem to move the indicator on.

As the hours wore on he came upon Jett’s booth along with some other vampires, she took the time to explain several of the vampire myths from around the world, some factual and others simple fantasy before offering him a crimson beverage in a goblet. She grinned an impish smile as she held it out to him.

“It’s bloodwyne, don’t worry, it’s completely non-alcoholic. We don’t want to cause any trouble… at least not that kind.” She smiled again as Dana raised the goblet to his lips and took a sip. A warm glow filled his body as the liquid flowed through him, its taste unlike anything he had ever had before. “We give it to our beloved to announce our betrothal. It’s an ancient rite that we take very seriously.”

He almost choked on the drink, liquid shooting out of his mouth in surprise as Jett nearly doubled over laughing. Holding her ribs as if trying to keep her insides from bursting out of her.

“So precious!” She shouted in glee. “It only matters if both parties are in agreement, Professor… I don’t need trickery to get a husband.” With a fangful grin, she went back to help at the booth with the other vampires. A glowing fae flitted by handing him a flier telling of a dance performance they were having once the sun had gone down.

The witches' booth caught his eye next. It was a hodgepodge of potions and spells, with bottles of every shape and size, each filled with a mysterious concoction. The witches cackled as they stirred bubbling cauldrons, and Mr. Wilde couldn't help but feel a twinge of nostalgia for his grandmother's kitchen, a memory from when he was so young he had almost forgotten it. "Care for a love potion, Mr. Wilde?" one of the young witches teased, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Not today, thank you, girls."

The sound of clanging metal grew louder as he approached the dwarven booth. The dwarf students were demonstrating their blacksmithing skills, hammering out intricate designs on gleaming weapons. One of them looked up and spotted him. "Mr. Wilde! Ever wanted to hold a sword that can cut through dragon scales?" The dwarf girl, beard flowing majestically in the wind, held out a weapon that looked more like a work of art than something meant for battle. He took it with a nod of respect, feeling the surprisingly lightweight in his hands.

"Impressive," he murmured. "But some of my friends are dragons… and it is not wise to anger them.” He smiled as he handed the blade back to her.

The gorgon booth was particularly popular, with its display of ancient artifacts and a live demonstration of how they turned people to stone. Mr. Wilde watched as a brave student stepped into the center, only to be transformed into a statue before his very eyes. He knew it was a temporary spell, but it still sent a shiver down his spine. The gorgon who had performed the trick had a shy smile as she turned the stone back into flesh. "It's all part of our history," she explained. "We want to show people that we can control our powers."

Movement behind her in the booth drew his eye to President Glimmerclaw, with an actual smile on her face as she watched over the young girl. The look faded almost immediately when her eyes came up and saw his… so he hurried himself along.

Further down the line, a group of mermaids had set up at the shore of the lake with even a makeshift waterfall dripping merrily in the background. One of the mermaids, her hair a kaleidoscope of colors, beckoned him closer. "Would you like to hear the legend of our lost sisters?" she asked. Her eyes held a depth of wisdom beyond her years. Dana leaned in, intrigued.

As he listened to the story, he couldn't help but feel a tug at his heart. It was a tale of love and loss, of the mermaid.s' gift and curse. It resonated with him, reminding him of the complexities of human emotion that he often found mirrored in the hearts of his monstrous pupils. The mermaid's voice grew softer, and the ground seemed to fall away. When the story ended, Mr. Wilde took a deep breath, surprised to find himself standing in a crowd of rapt listeners.

As the sun began lowering in the sky a flurry of colored feathers burst upwards as a troupe of harpies and angels dipped and dove across the sky in an intricate dance performance that brought gasps and cheers alike from the crowd. Before they landed, though, a loud thrum went through the fair. The sound shook the earth as it resounded again and again in a rhythmic tone.

Many of the families gathered looked around, eyes wide in delight as they wondered what spectacular thing they were about to see next. The performances were not to blame for the sound, however, as the very crust of the earth itself tors itself in two exposing a deep crag filled with a glowing purple light. The crowd watched in trepidation as figures emerged from the rift, indistinct forms made of mist and fog as they appeared one after another.

Before long a virtual army of the shades stood, still, as if waiting for some unknown signal surrounding the rent earth. Another figure, this one larger than the rest but misshapen, blurred, as if reality itself would not allow whatever it was to consolidate into the world appeared over the crowd.

Laverne came running up to Dana, panting and out of breath as she hurried to his side. She grabbed at his shirt, her right arm wrinkled and shriveled after having had it retrieved from the bottom of the ocean.

“That’s him, Mr Wilde… that’s the guy who wanted me to get the spell for him and poisoned the President…”

A grumbling roll of a laugh poured forth from the shape as it lifted one arm and pointed it at the gathering… families and students, women and children, all and uttered a single word.

“Destroy”