Somewhere, West Virginia, USA.

Despite the "war" ending. Over at Jeb's the mood was less than celebratory. Jeb, Ruby, the Trap Master, and the Chief, watched as 8 kobolds were placed on funeral pyres. 6 had died during combat, 2 more died from their wounds.

It was less than the kobolds feared. But more than they could afford. Without a way for them to grow their numbers each death brought their extinction that much closer.

God damn Morty, Jeb thought bitterly. He's done some real stupid and selfish shit in the past. But none of it had been this bad!

Ruby looked up at Jeb as he grumbled to himself. She held his hand as she watched the funeral. The contact caused him to cease his grumbling as his face turned slightly red from embarrassment and shame.

None of the kobolds knew how the war ended. They just knew Jeb went into town, came back, and the attacks stopped. When asked by Ruby or the Trap Master, the only thing they got was a stormy look on Jeb's face and a "it was settled". Despite Ruby trying to get Jeb to talk about it his mood remained dark throughout the night and into today.

The only good thing today was that the Chief was up and walking. Most of his scales had fallen from the shield spell, but after some rest and care has recovered his strength. Though his bare skin was still visible the scales had started to come back but it was slow going.

As the pyres burned into ash Jeb's kin said their farewells and made to leave, but Jeb stopped them.

"Hol' up! I'll come with you!"

The kobolds meanwhile got back to their work as the embers faded, working on their home. They avoided digging in the direction of where the tunnel used to be though. They didn't want to chance a repeat of the war.

Ruby looked at Jeb with concern. She still recalled the image of his "mother" in her mind.

"What?! Why?!"

"'Cause I've been meanin' to visit and haven't had the time these few days 'cause of everythin' happenin'. That and I need to thank her for sendin' these lot to help out!" Jeb said as he smacked Cole in the head.

"Yous know Imma get back fer hittin' me da ofer day?!" Cole warned as he rubbed his head.

"Sure, and it will snow in hell!" Jeb chuckled as he made to join them up the mountain.

"I-i-i'm coming with you!" Ruby stated as she ran to catch up with Jeb.

Jeb looked between Ruby and his kin continuing up the mountain.

"Are you sure? You don't have to."

"Yes! I'm sure!" She huffed with false bravado. She didn't want him to think her afraid.

Hope they don't get too many weird looks, Jeb thought as the humans, plus one kobold, made their way up the mountain.

As they made their way up the mountain though Ruby felt more and more like she wasn't welcomed. The shadows seemed to stare back with malice and hunger and she kept seeing movement out the corner of her eyes. But whenever she would turn her head to spot whatever it was, she wouldn't see anything.

After several minutes of watching Ruby look around like she was about to get jumped, Jeb spoke up.

"Are you alright?"

She flinched at his voice.

"Y-y-yeah! A-a-all good!"

It was obvious to Jeb that something had her spooked. So he picked her up and held her to his chest. The movement startled her, but the contact and closeness seemed to steady her nerves and though the dread feeling she felt was still there, it was less oppressive.

They left the forest and entered a large camp. It was a mix of trailers, cabins, and huts thrown around the area. Little planning went into the set up, if there was open ground someone laid claim to it somehow.

They passed by a pit about 10ft wide, and 5ft deep. In the pit were several people fighting. Ruby watched and realized quite quickly that they weren't sparring. Or if they were they weren't pulling punches as several were beaten bloody!

When in the pit anything went. Scratch, claw, kick, bite. Winner was whoever was standing last. Or conscious. No one has died despite the brutal bloody combat, which was stopped briefly as those in the pit turned and cheered when they spotted Jeb. Who gave a grin and wave in return.

"Do you know them Jeb?" Ruby asked as she shrunk further into Jeb's embrace.

"Yeah, their kin."

"They are?" Ruby said questioningly as the image of his mother came to mind once again. None of these humans looked at all like the horror she saw! They didn't even resemble his father the other day.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"But, then, why do you live down there and not up here?" She asked.

"That's, a long story. To make it short. My Pa and Ma met, got together, made me, then they separated. It was an ugly thing. My Pa had custody of me for most of my childhood. Once I was of age enough to wander up the mountain I spent more time with my Ma."

"How did they meet?" Ruby asked. She wasn't sure about human mating habits, but she was sure most wouldn't willingly mate with a creature that looked like her!

Jeb got a curious look on his face.

"I'm... not actually sure. Every time I'd ask, each would give me a different story. Maybe they got drunk?"

Intoxication would be a poor, but most likely, reason, Ruby thought as they reached a hut that overlooked the rest of the hodgepodge of dwellings. The others departed while Jeb rapped thrice on the door before entering.

"Jeb!" His mother cheered as she got up from her rocking chair and made to hug him. Jeb sat Ruby down so she wouldn't get smushed.

After they parted she looked down at Ruby.

"Oh and you brought your delicious little girlfriend!"

Ruby's eyes widened as for a brief second the mask was gone and she saw the horror again. She looked at Jeb, waiting for him to say something! But he just acted like nothing happened! Can he not see?!

"Yup, this is Ruby she's my... wait? How did you know?"

His mother just waved a hand dismissively as she sat back in her chair.

"I'm your mother. I know everything!"

She looked at Ruby with a glint in her eye as, once again, the mask fell for but a moment. Could she see through the illusion, Ruby thought. Or was she doing it on purpose?!

Jeb and Ruby took a seat on a worn couch that sat across from her.

"I wanted to come see how you were, I know I haven't been up to see you lately."

"Oh, no need to apologize! I know you've had your hands full these past couple days." She kept her gaze on Ruby, her voice was sweet and so was her smile. But her eyes said something that was less than so.

"Hey, I know we just got here. But I gotta piss real fast!" Jeb said as he got up to leave.

"Your leaving me?!" Ruby asked fearfully.

"Relax! I just gotta use the bathroom! You'll be fine. Right Ma?"

"Of course! We'll have all sorts of fun!" She said, gaze still on Ruby.

"You better not tell her any scary stories to freak her out!" Jeb said as he left to use the bathroom. Leaving Ruby with his mother. Alone.

Her gaze was firmly on Ruby, while her own was locked on the door of where Jeb was.

"What's the matter dear? We wont bite!"

Ruby finally pulled her gaze from the door and looked at Jeb's mother. She was expecting the illusion to finally fall. For the horror to reveal itself now that they were alone!

But all she saw was a middle-aged human woman with a kindly smile on her face as she rocked in her chair.

Now Ruby was questioning herself. Did she really see what she saw? No, she thought. If she truly was some creature from the void, then what would that make Jeb?

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. The strangely earthy smell helped comfort her.

"Nothing. I'm just nervous to meet you again. I also wanted to thank you for sending your family to aid us!"

"Oh, no need to thank Us!"

"But I should! Without your family we might have been wiped out!"

"You're right. Without Our family you WOULD have died. Unfortunate." She said simply as her gaze turned cold.

Ruby looked at her with confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"What We mean. Is that We were looking forward to you and the greenskins killing each other! But you had to get Our Jeb involved in you're little scuffle!" Her voice turned hostile, and that's when Ruby heard the whispers.

"W-w-what?!" Ruby stuttered as the air around them began to distort.

"We SO wanted to feast on you when you first showed up!" She chuckled darkly as she watched Ruby squirm.

"You should be grateful that Jebs claimed your lot. If he didn't, you wouldn't have lasted the night in Our domain!"

Ruby made to retort. But stopped she she realized she couldn't speak!

"Oh, what's the matter dear? Lose your tongue?!"

She cackled as she held out Ruby's wiggling forked tongue. Then the illusion shattered! No longer was she in the hut with a human woman, now she was in a clearing in the woods. Surrounded by warped dark trees, she could see silhouettes of horrid abominations run through the darkness of the woods and hear their unholy calls. She turned towards Jeb's mother as she cackled. What sat before her was NOT human!

A creature sat on a rocking chair, whose skin was ancient and warped like the trees around her. Countless eyes peeked between the lines on it's skin and through the tears in it's tattered robe. It's face was covered with a hood, but what she could see was smooth and bare except for a great maw filled with sharp teeth that seemed to cleave the head in two! She couldn't see it's legs, but from what she could glimpse from the frequent, though brief, times the hem lifted it walked by a multitude of tentacle like appendages.

"That's all you are, you know? The unintentional consequence of the last pitiful gasp of a dying creature that doesn't know that it's sands about run out!" The creature hissed. A long black tongue glided across it's serrated teeth.

Ruby coughed when she realized she could speak again!

"Why are you doing this? We've done nothing, I'VE done nothing!"

The creature lurched towards her and she realized that she TOWERED over her.

"Nothing? NOTHING?! You are pests! Vermin! Invaders! Your very presence in Our domain is an affront to Us!"

"We had nowhere else to go! Don't you have compassion?!"

"Compassion?! Should you have compassion for the rats in your home?! Or the bugs in your food?! NO! You squash the bugs, and you skin the rats for daring to take what is yours!" It hissed.

She wasn't sure where it came from, but Ruby summoned up some form of courage as she stood her ground against the entity even as her own body screamed to run.

"Then what do you want?! What will it take for your compassion, your acceptance?!"

The creature's smile widened and leaned forward, the whispers quieted to nothing, and everything around them seemed to still.

"You want Our compassion. Our acceptance?"

Ruby nodded with what little strength she had left.

The creature held up a clawed finger. Where a gold orb formed.

"Then all you have to do. Is. Follow. The. Light!"

Ruby watched as the orb floated away, she turned towards the creature. Only to find it gone and her alone in the silent dark. So she followed the golden orb.

As she followed, images flashed in her mind. Images of a great war of worlds. Images of an ancient network below their feet awaking from slumber. Images of people in blue arcane robes casting magic. Images of a golden cross and a banner of a burning heart. The image she focused on the most was of her and Jeb, he stood surrounded by orbs of blue flame, his eyes blazed with the same ghostly ethereal blue fire, and she was at his side, and she was happy! The Tribe was there and they all looked happy too!

Then they faded, and the orb filled her vision. When she could see again she was standing in front of Jeb.

"Ruby, you alright? You need to use the bathroom?"

Ruby looked around. The forest was gone! The creature was gone! It was all gone! She looked at Jeb's mother. Who only held a finger to her lips and gave a wink.

She tried to speak with Jeb, but then she felt sick, and ran into the bathroom.

Jeb was debating whether to go in and help her... somehow. That's what boyfriends do right? Before he could his mother called him over.

"She'll be fine dear! It's just a woman thing."

Jeb looked between her and the bathroom.

"What type of "woman thing"?"

"The type that you should get used to!" She cackled as Ruby finally left the bathroom.

"Are you alright?" Jeb asked as he crouched down to check on Ruby. Who weakly nodded.

He sighed before picking her up in his arms.

"Looks like we'll be goin' home sooner than we wanted. Sorry Ma."

"No need to apologize! It's always good to see you and your little girlfriend too!" She said as she got up and hugged Jeb and Ruby goodbye.

They made their was back down the mountain, Ruby peaked her eyes over Jeb's shoulder and watched his mother waving, before smiling and melting into the darkness of her hut.

After so long of peaceful quiet Ruby finally spoke up.

"So, what happened with your parents?"

She felt and heard him sigh.

"I'm not sure, a little bit of everythin'. Ma got me a dog, Dougie the 1st! Pa HATED the poor thing! He ran away one day though, it was a big fight between them. Pa said good riddance, but Ma said it was alright and that he would always be lookin' out for me. 'Course that's just what they tell you when your pets dead and they don't want their little boy to bawl all night! Pa got me Dougie the 2nd not long after. He was a good Bassett Hound that lived to a ripe old age."

"Eventually it was just too much and they parted ways. They've hated each other ever since. Holidays sucked. About four years later, Pa got with a woman that had too much hair, ass, boobs, and lips and not enough brains. A few months go by and out pops Sammy, and out goes her. She had her then cut and ran away west to be a 'movie star' and that's all there was too it."

Ruby went quiet as she thought, Jeb thought she might have fallen before she spoke.

"I'm glad to be with you."

She hugged him tighter. She wasn't going to be scared away by his mother or whatever she actually was! She would stay by his side!

Jeb smiled to himself as he held her, he was glad to have her around. Glad to have all of them around, even if he had to strap down everything.