When we arrived back at Sky City, a girl with ears like a fox was sitting on Pyro’s balcony. Following a twitch of her ear, a wry grin spread across her face.

As we landed she stood and stride toward us, two busy tails sweeping the ground behind her while a third swayed with her hips. “I was hoping to play with you today, remind you that the master you serve can’t protect you or anything you’ve built for him, but it seems someone else had a better plan than mine.”

Pyro eyed the beast woman as she came, but he did not speak. To me, she looked harmless. With only partial integration, she couldn’t hope to harm either of us, even if she could fully integrate with a spirit relic, she’d still be helpless against us. That was my assessment until I noticed Pyro seemed wary.

“Aren’t you curious about the storm wrecking your little house?” Starting from his chest and moving up his neck, the girl scraped a claw over Pyro’s scales as she spoke. When she reached the end of his chin, she pressed harder, hard enough to draw blood.

He still didn’t react to her provocation, but with each passing second his posture became more defensive.

With a roll of her eyes the girl pulled his head down by his horns so that their eyes were on the same level. “Go on, I want to watch you squirm. Go look at your little broadcast, it’s on every screen.”

Releasing his head, she strode to the terrace railing as Pyro cautiously ventured inside. I was too frightened to move a single step. The girl had ignored me thus far, but it was clear who controlled the space. If Pyro was afraid of her, shouldn’t I be also?

“You’re like a fly—your existence annoys me and yet you aren’t worth the effort of killing—be at ease, or shall I give you reason to fear?” As she finished speaking, the girl turned her face toward me, biting at the air between us.

Then Pyro returned. He was in human form, dark eyed and angry. Plumes of white fire swirled around him, instantly consuming everything they touched. His fist clenched into tight balls as he eyed the fox-girl. “You think I can’t overcome this?” He snarled. “Play your games. Your sister still remains imprisoned, and without her, it’s only a matter of time before he moves against you.”

The girl's ear twitched again. “Is that what you think?” She giggled. “There’s a lot more to that boy than anyone knows. Who knows, maybe he holds more secrets yet.”

Pyro gritted his teeth, the harsh sound of grinding scrapped through my ears.

With another laugh the girl leapt off the balcony and vanished as if she’d never been there.

Pyro launched off the roof heading somewhere with haste. Probably to put a stop to whatever event the fox was talking about.

I extinguished lingering flames left behind by Pyro’s wrath then opened my comm and looked up the SAFE broadcast.

Instead of the usual repeated messaging, video from some holocaster was being broadcast. “I don’t know where these people came from, I know none of them chose to be here. Look at them—chained to the walls like animals.”

The voice sounded familiar, like a vaguely recalled dream, but I couldn’t place it. That aside, I was more focused on the people in cells, some of them growing odd extremities, others already more resemblant of animals than people.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The boy swiftly punched a passcode into a computerized locking mechanism, opening all the cell doors. A moment later three enforcers rushed into the cell hall.

Why the enforcers were there was beyond me. I thought perhaps they were helping him rescue these people, but I was quickly proven wrong.

One enforcer, a woman, rushed past the others; she fired three energy bursts from her CAD.

Punching up through the floor, a wall of stone spikes intercepted the shots. A wolfman, that was chained up a few frames earlier, lunged out of his cell and ripped the woman’s head from her shoulders. As more beasts broke from their cells, the remaining enforcers retreated.

“Scared of your creations, now that they aren’t all chained up?” The streamer shouted.

The less mutated people seemed mostly focused on the enforcers, while the more beastly lashed out at anything close enough to bite or scratch. The streamer rushed through the crowded hall, dodging claws and swiftly dispatching the most dangerous of the creatures with an amethyst blade.

The way it glowed, I knew it must’ve been an ether weapon like the ones spirit reapers use. That made sense, but I struggled to grasp the significance of what I was seeing.

The boy turned after the enforcers, chasing them down a wide hall and mumbling, “it’s really the exact same layout.”

(Fey’s POV)

Realizing the similarities in the buildings design, I reasoned that there was likely a fairy here as well. Quite possibly the enforcers were trying to get to it before I, or the beasts I’d set free, could reach it.

If there really was a fairy, then I’d need to change my strategy.

“Fey, stay focused.” Xander said.

I nodded. “I am, but if there’s a fairy here—”

“You’re taking a foolish risk for an unknown. By now it’s certain that the heroes are aware of your presence here and I don’t doubt at least one of them is on their way. You need to get out before they arrive.”

I pondered the warning a moment, but if they had a fairy then they could just start over somewhere else. The fairy was a top priority. I had to at least check for it.

“While you’re checking, why don’t you ask around, see if anyone knows something about your mother.” X scoffed.

“Yea.” I nodded as I caught up to the enforcers. Grabbing one by the arm I spun him around and asked, “have you ever heard of Zeri?”

He shook his head, eyes wide with shock, then I drove my blade into his gut. Blood sputtered out of his mouth, his eyes glazed over; the man was dead.

“Okay first, I was being sarcastic. Second, did you learn nothing when Gunther interrogated you? No one’s going to just tell you what you want to know the first time you ask; you have to make them believe that they’ll suffer more for their silence.”

I rolled my eyes. “A fair point, but we don’t have time for torture, do we?”

Just then I noticed a comment on my stream. ‘Who the fuck does this guy keep talking to? Is he insane?’

I’d forgotten the most basic thing about talking to Xander, especially on a live stream. No one else could hear him. Of course he could have reminded me, but then he wouldn’t get to see me make a fool of myself.

The last enforcer reached the door at the end of the hall. As he placed his hand on it, the door blasted off its hinges. The door, propelled by billowing fire, crushed the man against the wall before hurtling toward me.

Ducking under it, I avoided a fatal collision; but white fire pouring into the hall signaled the arrival of Pyro.

“Hate to say I told you so, but… I told you so.” X groaned. “Hope you’re ready to blink, and you better get it right this time.”

As the fire encircled me, I conjured a gale for defense. It was enough to keep the fire away, however it didn’t lessen the heat.

“You’ve no idea how long I’ve been waiting to meet you.” Said a rumbling voice through the flames. “Your mother was a genius and one of my favorites until she developed a conscious.”

I hoped the white fire and his voice was enough to convince the viewers because I didn’t have the confidence to hang around any longer.

“She’s quite obedient now. Would you like to—”

“Blink”