There was something odd in the air, I felt. I couldn't quite place it, but it felt like something was wrong in the world. Even stranger, I got the weirdest that it had been wrong for some time and was about to be corrected. 

Weird, huh. 

I guess I'm probably just a little shook up from all this stuff goin' on. Or it could be my dangerously horrendous diet catching up with me. Y'know, I should probably work on that if I'm going to be an adventure-y type. Seems like a lotta physical activity. The master of darkness shouldn't have dietary issues.

Not gonna stop me from eating sweets. Soda too. Those are permanent, obviously. 

"Right... Anyways, if you're his, uh, 'sister', can you also do that thing with the holes?" S asked. Why did he say 'sister' like that?

"No."

"Really? I thought that was a familial thing."

"Oh, uh, s-she leans more towards m-moms side." I told S the same lie I told Charolette. 

"Right. That mean you got some other ability?" S asked Sis.

Sis just shrugged and pulled out her notepad and a crayon. "Kinda." She said, as she wrote something down. I didn't see what. 

"Right... Anyways, what did I miss while I was gone?" S asked me. I guess he's gonna make a tactical retreat on the Sis situation for now. Which was fair.

Speaking of Sis, something on her wrist seems to have caught her attention for some reason. Though, there wasn't anything there. She was just looking at her bare wrist as if there was a watch there, or something. These are confusing times.

"Uh... Wha?"

"Y'know, while I was out training on the mountains. Did you learn anything more about the mad beasts mutating and stuff, or more about your magic and all that, or about any of the weird crap Catface mumbles about? Or anything about Catface herself, actually? 

"Uh..."

"Any interesting encounters, at least?" 

"Uh... We ran errands... Went fishing... Eavesdropped on law enforcement... Got mugged at some point... Uh... Witnessed a mob... Ooh, I played cupid for a bit. That was fun." I explained, trying to recall anything at all interesting we did over the past few days. Man, we should check in on those two again soon. Wonder how they're doing?

"Cupid?"

"Oh, uh, y'know, romance and stuff. Helped out... A guy. I, uh, don't know if I'm allowed to say. You could probably figure it out, though, it's pretty obvious." 

"Romance, huh? Can't say I know much about that stuff." S said, simply and seemingly sincerely. "That's, like, hugging and stuff, right?"

What? "Uh, y'know, uh..." Seriously? How could I even begin to explain this? And how does he not... Oh, whatever. "Yeah, sure."

S shrugged.

"A-anyways, after that-"

"Hey, bro, quick question." Sis interrupted randomly. "Do you happen to feel tired or otherwise woozy in any way at the moment?"

"Uh..." Where the heck did that come from? "A-actually, kinda, now that you mention it. W-why?" 

"You feelin' okay, dude?" S asked.

She looked at her wrist again. "Hmmm... Almost... Halfway, maybe?" She muttered quietly to herself. What?

"Oh, uh, y-yeah." I said. Presently, I'm much more concerned about Sis. Also, I couldn't help but feel that this whole situation was vaguely familiar somehow. 

"Anyways, both of you just carry on." Sis said, getting behind me for some reason.

. . .

"She like this often?" 

"Uh..." I muttered with a shrug.

"Right... Anyways, what else happened?"

"Oh, uh... After that was-"

Oh shoot. That was the thing with the spike horse/centicorn/interdimensional unicorn. 

"Uh, one sec." I said, before I turned over to Sis. "Can I tell him about the 'tower?" I asked in a whisper. I'm not sure how effective it was since S was basically right next to me, but I tried anyway.

"Wha?"

"Y'know, the, uh, the 'horse'." 

"Oh, tha-"

. . .

"Sis?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure, whatever, I don't care."

"Okay."

"What are you on about?" S asked.

"Oh, uh y'know that thing in Starsford, in the guild jall, the job with the horse with all those spikes?"

"Oh yeah, that thing! I've tried to do that one before, but I was never able to find the place. After a few dozen attempts I gave up." That's probably incredibly lucky.

"Wasn't there a highly detailed map attached?"

"Don't underestimate me." 

"Fair enough." 

"Anyways, what happened with the thing? How tough was it? What was it, for that matter? Did it look like it does in the picture?"

"Yeah, kinda, actually. And according to Sis, it's a unicorn with a bunch of fake horns, for some reason." 

"The heck's a unicorn?"

"Oh, uh, it's like a horse, but with a horn. And it's magical and stuff, I think." 

"Huh. Sounds fun. I wanna fight one."

"Well, most of them aren't gonna be as tough as that one. It was special, I think. Somethin' about dimensions and stuff."

"Somethin' about what now?"

"Yeah, I don't really get it either. You'd have to ask Sis about it." Eyy, look at me, smoothly and seamlessly giving them a potential topic for conversation! Let's go, me! 

"Right. So, how tough was the thing? How'd the fight go?" 

"Uh..." The real answer is 'impossibly, incomprehensibly tough.' I mean, I'm pretty sure that thing, like, created matter in front of me. That violates some law of physics or something, right? Is that physics? I was never much good at science. Also, if I remember correctly, they could, like, cross realities and crap. I couldn't even begin to imagine the implications of that can of worms.

"Really freakin' hard." I summarized a bit. "Uh, Sis did most of the work, actually. Well, all the work." 

"What? That-" He stopped abruptly, and I noticed his nose twitching slightly. "S-seriously? You're... That thing had over 15 skulls! Dang! And at her age!?"

"Yeah. She's pretty freakin' nuts." I said. Aha! This'll pique S's interests for sure!

"How did you do it? What do you use to fight?" S asked Sis excitedly. I am a genius!

"Huh? Oh, I just had a really good fishing rod."

"A fishing rod? Is that like-"

"Oop. Hold that thought." Sis interrupted, looking at her non-existent watch again. "Bro, look that way. 3..."

"Huh? But he was-"

"2..."

"What are you on abo-"

"1, aaaan-"

What's she talking ab

 

 

 

and then everything went white. 

zzzZZZzzzzzzzZzzzz...