“Karon...” Trixie whimpered.

Karon was too tired to think. His eyelids felt like they were made of lead, and it was a struggle just to open his mouth and form coherent words.

“Trix...” he muttered weakly.

The unicorn stared at him with terror-stricken eyes, which were now ten times the size they had been just a moment ago. Karon looked back dumbly for several moments, but soon the drained feeling in his body proved too much.

“Don't let anyone see you," he blurted out just before his eyes rolled back in his head.

Trixie looked at Karon, shock and denial spreading across her features. She shook him by the shoulders, yet elicited only a listless bobbing of his black-feathered head.

"Karon, no! C-Come on, talk to me! This—"

"Ugh, what..."

Trixie stopped, then turned around to meet the bleary eyes of the other unicorn in the party.

Lyra rose from the ground, shaking off the last remnants of the trance that had had her captivated before. She frowned deeply at Trixie, then she lifted up what should have been an arm, her brows knitting together in consternation when she instead found a hoof. She made a quick evaluation of her current form, then squeezed her face in concentration.

Nothing happened.

"What the he—" Lyra's eyes snapped back to Trixie. "What's going on? Where are we? And why can't I use magic?" she asked with strained calm.

"You were kidnapped," Trixie explained, casting a nervous glance toward Karon. "We freed you, but the sorcerers— oh, shit!"

She turned back towards the street, taking a few tentative steps forward to get a better look, yet keeping herself lowered expertly under the shade and foilage that made up the forested patch they were in.

Trixie spotted the sorcerers exactly where they'd been standing before; but of the eight there were last time she counted only four still standing, and they were busy trying to rouse the others, who were down on the ground just as unconscious as Karon.

"What's going on?" the unicorn behind her whispered urgently.

"Lyra," Trixie said hastily. "I can explain everything later, but right now we have to get out of here."

She turned sharply away from the sorcerers and hurried over to Karon, then began to wriggle her head in underneath him.

“Where is 'here'? And what's the rush?” Lyra asked Trixie's butt, which was swaying high in the air while the rest of her was buried beneath Karon.

“Londom, or something! The sorcerers that kidnapped you are still after us!” a muffled voice answered from somewhere under the blanket of flesh and sweaty robes.

Lyra blanched slightly, and then staggered woozily. Pressing a hoof up to her head, she turned and looked out towards the road Trixie had been staring down, and then spotted the sorcerers.

“I remember,” she said with a wince, then frowned down at Trixie. “Why are you doing that? Just lift him up with your horn.”

“I tried!” a shrill voice answered as her head popped up on the other side of Karon. “I tried the second I turned back into this... thing! It doesn't work!”

Lyra blinked, then her face fell as she absorbed the information. “So, what you're saying is that we're both stuck as ponies, with no ability to use magic, in the middle of London, with a group of sorcerers chasing us?”

“Yes! And Karon used too much magic while we escaped and now he's out cold, and I have no idea how long it'll take before he recovers! We'll have to carry him,” Trixie huffed as she forced herself to stand up on shaky legs, the entirety of Karon's weight pushing down on her.

Lyra groaned loudly, all of her frustration manifesting itself into a single, glorious facehoof.

“So where do we go?” she asked.

Trixie spun around, looking in every direction for a viable escape route, before she gritted her teeth in frustration. “I don't know. We can't go north to the trains again; Karon said we can't be seen like this or the humans will panic, or something.”

Lyra nodded. “We need a place to bunker down,” she said.

“Bunker what?” Trixie asked.

Lyra sighed, then her eyes widened as an idea struck her. “I know a place. It's east of central London, south of the Thames. The guy who lives there likes me, so I'm sure he'd let us stay there for as long as we need.”

Trixie looked back out towards the road nervously. The sorcerers had carried their unconscious comrades to the sidewalk, and were sitting down next to them, looking haggard and ready to fall down themselves.

“We need to go somewhere before the sorcerers recover. But are you sure this person can be trusted seeing us like... this?”

Lyra looked away with a sheepish look on her face. “Well, he might... kinda somewhat think that I'm a goddess.”

Trixie's eyebrow shot up, and her expression turned deadpan. "Really?"

Lyra shrugged. “He saw me shift from a bird once, and... well, the attention was nice, you know.”

Trixie shook her head in exasperation. “We don't have time for this. If you know the way, then let's go. If this guy makes trouble, then we'll deal with him later.”

Lyra nodded, but cringed a little from Trixie's harsh tone. Even so, she looked up into the sky, then around to get her bearings, and eventually she set off to the right, away from the road where the sorcerers were still recuperating.

They moved slowly, with Lyra running from cover to cover, and Trixie doing the same, although at a much slower pace. They passed through backyards and private areas, most of them covered in shadows, allowing the ponies to move unseen on their way north-east.

                      ***************************************************

“What now?” Marie asked, looking over at Markus who, beside herself was the only one now that hadn't dozed off on the sidewalk.

The sorcerer turned to her with a dark expression, his eyes noting the sweat covered brown hair plastered over her face, then looked back at the distant cluster of trees the three refugees had taken shelter in. Their presences were fading even now, but it didn't matter; the curse had done its work exactly as intended.

“We return home, and we wait for them to come back to us,” he said with a wolfish grin.

“You're certain they'll come back?" Marie frowned, pulling her black coat tighter around herself, then glancing at the rest of their unconscious comrades. "They just barely escaped this time, and we allowed them to get close. They can't be stupid enough to think we'll give them such an advantage twice, can they?"

“They have no choice now if they want to get rid of the curse,” he answered simply.

Marie didn't respond. To bind the curse with their own lives as the focus had been a foolhardy decision, in her opinion. Yes, as long as they continued breathing the curse would maintain its effect, but that also meant that the only real way to lift it was to kill every single member of the cabal, since they had all linked to perform the curse.

They had just chased off what might be very dangerous people, and Marie wasn't sure she wanted to give them a bullseye to aim for—especially not if it happened to be on her back.

“Wake the ones that can stand. We need to get back home and begin making preparations,” Markus told her curtly.

Marie nodded. Targets or no, their cabal still held the advantage, and they'd forced their rivals to come back to their home turf.

Still, though, she couldn't shake the nagging feelings of dread she'd felt ever since she'd sensed them. No matter what Markus said, this wasn't going to be easy.

                 ******************************************************

They wouldn't have made it for more than ten minutes if it had been during the day, but thankfully, the night was kind enough to provide a shroud of darkness that left many a nook and cranny as viable places to hide.

Trixie kept on following Lyra's lead, who stopped almost every few minutes to once again get her bearings. She had offered only the explanation that she was used to viewing London from a bird's perspective, which did not do much to inspire confidence in her fellow unicorn.

However, the further north they went, the more people could be heard out and about. More than once Lyra had bounced back into cover as a group of people passed them by. It was especially awkward for Trixie, since she was burdened with an unconscious trickster on her back, but with luck and many a panicked hiss from Lyra, they managed to make it to their intended destination.

The apartment was located on the second floor, with a wooden stair leading up to the door on the outside of the house. It must have once been a grand manor of some kind, or maybe a boardinghouse, Trixie couldn't guess. But it was obvious from the many entrances and array of mailboxes that the building had now been chopped up into smaller apartments.

The two ponies were hiding in an alley, located on the other side of the road the building stood on, and were keeping an eye out for any sudden figures appearing in doors or windows.

“Ready?” Lyra whispered, her eyes jumping from one window to the next.

“Yes, just say when,” Trixie wheezed, nearly out of breath.

“Go!” Lyra exclaimed, and together the two of them ran forward as fast as they could, heading straight towards the stairs.

They went up them loudly, the clopping sound of their hooves upon wood making both ponies wince as it echoed out into the still night air. With her breath held, fully expecting every human within earshot to poke their head out to investigate the ruckus, Lyra banged a hoof on the door. She kept banging on the door, the seconds passing by at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Eventually a voice could be heard from the inside, “Who is it?” it asked.

Lyra reached up a hoof to wave in front of the peephole in the door, hissing loudly, “It's Lyra. Open the door, now!”

There was a mumbling sound as the man said something, then a chain rattled and the door opened outward. A red-haired, blue-eyed man peered out the crack, his face moving downwards until he was staring right at the ponies.

“What?” he slurred and rubbed his eyes.

With a growl Trixie pushed past both Lyra and the man, bursting into the apartment. Lyra followed her lead while the man remained standing in the doorway with a dumbfounded look on his face.

“Close the door!” Lyra exclaimed.

The man obeyed, never taking his eyes off the two brightly-colored unicorns that had just invaded his home. Then he slapped his head.

“Man, I knew it was something fishy about that last batch,” he mumbled.

Lyra sighed and rolled her eyes. “There's nothing wrong with your drugs, I think. You're seeing us exactly as we are... I think. How much have you taken?”

The man went down on his knees and leaned in close towards Lyra, peering into her eyes, studiously moving up and down her body.

“Holy shit, what happened to you?” he eventually asked.

“Complicated,” she answered, then looked over at Trixie. “She could probably explain it better than I could.”

The man rose up and shook his head, bloodshot eyes staring at the both of them in incomprehension.

“I get that, like, we mortals aren't supposed to question the gods and such, but why would you change into a small, chubby unicorn? You could give someone an epileptic seizure with that color, you know,” he said and walked over to a nearby couch, which he fell into with the practiced ease only attained by a professional slob.

With a great sigh of relief, Trixie dumped Karon's body to the floor. She turned to Lyra. “This is the kind of person you think might help?” she asked with a raised brow.

“Hey, I take offense at that... whoever you are!” he protested.

“Andrew's an alright guy,” Lyra reassured her, then moved in closer, clearing her throat before whispering. “He used to think I was an alien, which I thought I technically might be; but then Varsif explained Equestria is in another dimension entirely, so when I told Andrew I wasn't even from this dimension he kinda assumed I must be a goddess.”

“And how exactly would that be a good thing for us?” Trixie whispered back.

Lyra looked away with an amused expression, then cleared her throat again. “Well, I kinda happened to mention I live far up north, so he started going through all these different kinds of  northern goddesses, and eventually figured I must be Freya.”

“Still not seeing the point,” Trixie said impatiently.

“Well... Freya is kinda a fertility goddess... and Andrew is a pretty lonely guy. I think he expects that I somehow will fall prey to my fertility goddess instincts sooner or later and... you know.”

“So, you're counting on him helping us because he expects you to jump into bed with him at some point?” Trixie asked.

“He's a twenty-seven year old virgin with a social anxiety disorder, he would die for me if he thought it would up his chances of getting laid,” Lyra deadpanned.

Trixie shook her head, resisting the urge to facehoof.

“And are you actually planning on ever doing that?”  she asked.

Lyra looked away, her cheeks reddening slightly. “Well...”

“Really?” Trixie asked skeptically.

“What? I'm lonely, too,” Lyra muttered.

“So you're basing our safety here on a guy's sexual frustration?"

“Basically.”

“Sounds foolproof,” Trixie said, and the two females nodded with sagely wisdom.

“Always is.”

                 ******************************************************

It took eighteen hours from the time they arrived in the apartment before Karon regained consciousness. During that time, Trixie had been forced to deny herself the pleasure of kicking Andrew in the head on twice that number of occasions.

The man had been insistently pestering her with questions, and in between the slight scraps of information Trixie had given him, tried to feed her some very suspicious-looking pills. They had smiley faces on them.

When Karon finally opened his eyes, it was to the sight of a red mess of hair, located on top of a scruffy-looking man, dressed only in a stained white bathrobe, munching on a bag of chips.

“Oh hey, man, good to see you're awake. That blue one has been complaining all day about you sleeping,” the man snorted, then gave Karon a wide smile, complete with half-chewed flecks of chips. “Women, ehh,” he said with a nudge of his elbow.

“Charming.”

“Uh, yeah...” Karon muttered, and threw an arm over his eyes. The stranger was sitting on the end of a couch Karon was almost completely sunk into, providing such a degree of comfort it was actually uncomfortable.

“Where am I?” Karon asked out loud, grimacing at the pounding in his head.

“We're in the home of Andrew, who you've just met,” Trixie's voice answered.

Karon sat up sharply, and was faced with the sight of a light blue unicorn looking at him with displeasure evident in her lilac eyes.

“Crap, that really happened,” Karon grunted and gently massaged his temples.

“Yes, it did happen. I'm stuck in this form now; actually, I can't perform any magic at all, Karon. Would you mind explaining to me why?” she asked in a tone promising suffering and death.

Karon closed his mouth tight and held up a hand as a wave of nausea swept over him. When it passed, he let out the breath he'd been holding, and considered the situation.

“Well... no, fuck, I got nothing,” he eventually offered, holding out his hands helplessly.

Trixie stared at him. “You're joking, right? Karon, you're the one with the sensitivity for this kind of crap! I've tried to make out what it is that's binding me to this form and keeping me from using magic, but I can't! You're the one that's supposed to handle this stuff!” Her voice had risen higher and higher in octave, until she eventually ended up shrieking.

Andrew was observing the scene with wide eyes, occasionally popping a chip into his mouth, chewing on it slowly.

Karon sighed. “Trix, come over here.”

The unicorn moved closer until he could put both his hands on her, then he closed his eyes, and focused all his senses on her. The web of energy that had been spun around her was ridiculously complex in its design, and the more he tried to discern how it functioned, the more complicated it became.

He let his hands fall down from her in defeat. “No, sorry Trix. I can sense it, that's not the problem. But this kind of magic... this is high level stuff, higher than what I'm on, and higher than what any sorcerer in that cabal should be capable of, or they would have been able to take over all of Britain by now.”

“What does that mean?” Trixie snapped.

Karon shrugged. “Dunno. Either they used some kind of artifact that they just needed to put some juice into and aim... or they used that weird web of theirs. It linked all of them together, so that could give all of them some freaky tricks they wouldn't be able to do otherwise.”

“Karon, I want you to answer me honestly,” Trixie spoke very carefully, then took a deep breath and braced herself. “Can it be undone?”

Karon leaned forward and cradled her face in his hands. She started trembling at his touch, and the anger in her eyes melted away, replaced by a shimmering threatening to turn into tears.

“Of course it can, it's just a matter of figuring it out. Exactly everything that exists is governed by some kind of rules, even this. All we need to do is figure out how it works, and then we will know the best way to unravel it.”

Trixie nodded, not trusting her voice not to break. She climbed up into the couch, and the two held each other, shifting slightly before finding a way that was comfortable for both of them. In the silence that followed, the slight crunch of Andrew chewing his chips grew significantly.

Karon gave him a glance over Trixie's shoulder, and the man stared back at him with a jovial smile, and gave him a thumbs up, before letting the hand dive down into the bag.

“Maybe human sacrifice would be enough to unravel the curse.”

“He did offer up his home to us.”

“Yeah, uhh... why?”

“So... Andrew, why exactly are you letting us stay here?” Karon asked while the unicorn nuzzled against his chest.

“Well, Lyra showed up with the blue one, and you on her back, and was all, 'let me in, we're in terrible danger, please I'll do anything if you help us'!” he told with a smile.

Trixie snorted, and climbed back down onto the floor. “You sure that's what she really meant?” she asked the munching Andrew.

“And as the gentleman I am, I offered up my home to save the fair ladies... and you, of course,” he continued, then gave a slight bow as if acknowledging their praise.

A door opened, and from the room it led into, Lyra came walking out while stifling a yawn. Her eyes brightened when she saw Karon awake.

“Karon!” she called, and ran up to embrace him.

“Hey, it's been a while.” Karon smiled while putting his arms around the small equine.

A jealous look of anger flashed across Andrew's face, then faded quickly as he noticed Karon had turned his attention towards him.

When Lyra moved back from the embrace, her hoof flew up and punched Karon in the chest lightly. “Yeah, it's been a while. You've been too busy to visit, or something?” she asked him half-jokingly.

“Something like that,” he muttered.

Lyra frowned, then dropped the subject, and climbed back down to the floor and went to stand beside Trixie.

“So now that you're awake, what are we going to do about all of this?” she asked, and the mood in the room turned somber.

Karon relaxed and leaned back into the couch—which resulted in half of him disappearing—and rubbed his hands together. “I can't break this curse they've put on you. I managed to keep it from sticking to me, but I didn't get any sense of what it was about when it happened. You're back to ponies, and can't do magic, but for all we know there might be more—a lot more—to it then that.”

Lyra swallowed, and Trixie nodded with a grave look on her face.

“So,” Karon went on, “We need to get to Varsif. Technically, we succeeded in rescuing Lyra like we were supposed to, and he's waiting for us to return. The man knows more about magic than I'll be able to learn in a century, and he's got the power to match. It's a given he'll be able to fix this.”

Trixie let out a breath of relief, and Lyra smiled.

Karon however, groaned. “The problem is just getting there without half the nation freaking out because a pair of colorful pony unicorns are walking down the streets.”

Andrew scooped out the last of his chips and shoved them into his mouth, them crumbled the bag and threw it over his shoulder. “I gt a cpt tr bi fou wan bot em,” he said through the chewing.

“Andrew, swallow first,” Lyra admonished in a voice that said it wasn't her first time doing so.

Andrew complied, then repeated himself. “I said that I've got a couple of big travel bags if ya wanna use 'em.”

Karon stared at the man, and Trixie and Lyra did as well, then turned to stare at each other.

“What do you mean? Why would we need travel bags, we haven't got anything with us.” Trixie said.

“I mean, you know, for you guys. You're pretty small, and if ya wanna keep anyone from seeing you, that would work,” Andrew answered her with a shrug.

Realization spread over both the unicorn's faces in the form of angry frowns, then Trixie turned to Karon when she noticed his poorly-hidden smile.

“No.”

“It would work,” Karon pointed out.

“I'm not getting stuffed into a bag, Karon!” Trixie exclaimed with an angry stomp of her hoof.

“Neither am I!” Lyra joined in, and both the ponies gave the two men angry stares.

“It's either that, or nothing. I can't pull a veil over us and keep it up for hours on end. But if you've got another idea, I'm listening,” Karon told them.

The glare both the unicorns gave him was responded with only a smile, and eventually, Trixie broke the silence.

“I hate you.”

                       ********************************************************

Two men stood at the train station, waiting for the arrival of the transport that would take one of them away, and the two heavy-looking bags that stood beside them. One of the men was wearing a brown leather jacket, and a fedora on his head, with red stripes of hair poking out from underneath it. The other one was dressed in regular clothes, but his hair made it look like there was a bunch of black feathers glued to his head, and his glowing orange eyes were obviously not normal.

People gave the two men weird stares as they walked by them, and Karon was looking right back with a frown. Andrew on the other hand was ignoring them, to the point he seemed almost oblivious, or what was more likely, because he had grown used to it long ago.

Karon's stomach rumbled suddenly, and he became painfully aware of its lack of content. “I'm gonna get something to eat,” he told Andrew, then gave one lingering glance on the bags, before turning around and heading towards one of the stores present in the station.

Inside were stacks of candy, chips, drinks and magazines. As Karon looked around, he managed to gather up an armful of energy bars, sandwiches, and other items in colorful wrappers promising to be both tasty and nutritious. Karon doubted the truthfulness of the claims, but he was a trickster, and he could appreciate the theatrics.

He brought it all to the clerk, a bored-looking young man dressed in an store uniform obviously a few sizes too large. He raised his eyebrows at Karon as he scanned the mountain of goods, but didn't say anything until after Karon handed over the money.

“Nice lenses, man,” he said, looking into Karon's eyes.

The trickster blinked, then racked his brain for information, trying to remember what that meant. Eventually, sluggish memories rose up to help him.

“Uh, yeah, right. Bought them at... uhh.... 'Lense world... store',” he said.

The clerk gave him a fairly condescending smile. “So how did you get them to glow like that? Do they reflect light, or something?”

“Yeah, that's it,” Karon replied quickly, then took the plastic bag the clerk had put everything in.

He left the store with a frown on his face, and absentmindedly unwrapped one of the bars and began eating it.

It had been far more difficult getting his memories to return than he liked; the ways of humans and his homeworld had grown to be distant things, unimportant. Even now, as he looked at the people around him, he felt how his mind analyzed everything the same way it did when he encountered a new world.

When he returned to Andrew and the two bags he stood guard over, the train had arrived, and people were already pouring into it.

“So, guess this is good-bye then,” Andrew said, appearing to be close to start crying.

“Looks that way,” Karon responded absently, eying the people climbing into the train.

“I'm gonna miss you, man,” Andrew sniffed, then threw his arms around the trickster in a brief hug, then gave the bag with Lyra hidden in it a quick pat, before turning around and forlornly walking away.

“I'm so happy we don't take drugs.”

“I dunno, might make life a little easier.”

“Doubt it. With our luck, the stuff would turn out to be possessed by an evil genie that would spend the next century riding shotgun in our mind.”

“Hope not. It's cramped enough in here.”

Karon watched Andrew disappear into the crowd, then moved down to where their cart stood, and with no small degree of difficulty, managed to hoist both bags up into the train, and finally into their compartment.

They'd been lucky the money Varsif had given them had been enough to get a car for themselves, otherwise the ponies would have had to remain in the bags for the duration of the trip. But as it were, Karon shut the door behind him and drew the drapes over every window, then zipped open the bags.

A light blue head popped up from the first one, and with a sound of great disgust, Trixie climbed out and stretched her legs. Lyra followed her example after she'd freed herself, and the compartment was filled with popping and cracking sounds as they stiffly reacquainted themselves with movement.

“Never. Again.” Trixie moaned with a final crack of her neck.

“You still have to get back in for when we get off,” Karon pointed out as he flung himself into one of the seats.

Trixie responded with a bloodthirsty growl that no herbivore should have been capable of.

“Can't you go get Varsif and bring him here instead?” Lyra asked with a sour look towards the empty bags.

“Since the train stops for only a few minutes at our station, no,” Karon explained, and put his feet up on the seat in front of him.

Trixie jumped up next to him, and Lyra took the seat opposite her, next to Karon's feet, which she sniffed cautiously before edging away.

“How many hours until we get there?” Lyra asked.

“Somewhere between four and five hours,” Karon answered.

Lyra nodded, then locked her eyes on Trixie, who had her head stuck in the bag filled with foodstuff Karon had purchased. She emerged from it with her mouth stuffed with wrapped bars and sandwiches, then spat them out in front of her. She looked down on her haul critically, then up at Karon with wide, sad eyes.

“You want something?” Karon asked innocently.

“I will hurt you,” she said without losing the puppy eyes.

With a snort Karon started opening her chosen meal, and then did the same for Lyra, after said unicorn had made a squealing sound of hunger.

“I hate this,” Trixie muttered as she stuffed a candy bar into her mouth, precariously balancing it on her hoof.

“You managed to survive most of your life as a pony, Trix, I'm sure you can manage an additional day or two,” Karon said with a smirk.

Trixie didn't look amused. There was a dangerous, almost feverish look of scornful hatred as she glanced down at her own body.

“You really don't get it, do you?” she spoke in a distant voice.

There was a grinding sound from the outside as the train started slowly moving, picking up pace with every spin of its wheels. The drapes over the windows swayed gently with the movement.

“What's there to understand?” Karon asked, and absentmindedly grabbed a bottle of some red liquid promising to be full of vitamins.

“Of the two former Equestrians in this room, which one seemed to be happy with their old lives and world?” she asked frostily.

“Uh,” Karon stalled, looking from the angry blue unicorn, to the awkwardly squirming turquoise one. “Neither,” he finally answered.

“Exactly,” Trixie spat.

“I still don't get why you're so upset, Trix. My own state as a human can be contested on multiple accounts, and I'm not talking about the moral side of it. But that doesn't mean I need to hate humans, or this world.”

Trixie sighed angrily, then rubbed her forehead with a hoof, which she then stared at angrily before turning her gaze back to Karon.

“It's not about physical shape... okay, maybe a little. It's not exactly practical having these hooves instead of hands.”

On the opposite seat, Lyra nodded sagely.

“The real reason I hate Equestria and every single pony on that forsaken world, is because they are wrong!” she hissed, her lilac eyes burning.

“What do you mean?” Karon asked carefully.

“They are so sure of themselves, so self-righteous and certain in their beliefs. They're all like children, Karon. I was like a child back then. The entire pony world is like one big stupid dream that they're too afraid of waking up from. They've never faced true darkness, seen what it does to you, and to others! They don't live with the terrors of the universe, the cold and heat, how life and death mingles with everything, in everything. They shut it all out, and will do anything to keep their vaunted harmony safe and secure. I HATE THEM! Every! Single! One of them! I hate how they can look at someone suffering with eyes that don't understand, because they've never faced, they've never felt what that's like! They understand nothing! They don't WANT to! They're content with living in their fantasy land, where nothing goes wrong, and every wound is healed without a scar, where every life is saved and good beats evil! They're WRONG, and they refuse to face that because it would END them!”

Karon let out his breath quietly when she finished. Trixie was hunched over, breathing heavily with unfocused eyes burning with hatred, fixed on something only she could see. On the opposite seat, Lyra was looking at her sadly.

“Where the hell did that come from?”

“Don't know, but she must have carried it around a long time for it to come flying out of her like this.”

“You think she means it?”

“Yeah, she definitely does.”

“You think she's right?”

“...”

“Well?”

“I don't know.”

Karon reached out with a hand, and carefully placed it on Trixie's shoulder. When she didn't brush it off, he pulled her into an embrace, and held her there. After a few seconds, he could feel her soundlessly sobbing into his chest.

The compartment fell into a deathly silence, and when Trixie removed her face from his chest, she wiped her eyes quickly, then laid down on the seat and closed her eyes sleepily. Karon stroked her back once, then took off the jacket he wore, which upon further inspection had a slightly face-like imprint on it, drenched in tears.

Both Karon and Lyra were giving the unicorn worried glances, until eventually a slight snoring rose from the light blue shape. Karon shifted his awareness to his other sight, and scanned her aura. She wasn't faking it, but had fallen asleep for real, and it was a deep sleep if her aura was anything to go by.

Karon moved over to the seat next to Lyra, and leaned in close and whispered. “Do you have any idea what that was all about?”

Lyra gave him a slightly amused look. “You're the one that's been spending years on end with her. I haven't seen either of you for a long time.”

Karon winced. “Sorry about that. At first there was just so much to explore and discover, and Trix wasn't exactly slowing down for anything, jumping into every pit and hellhole we came across gleefully. Then... something happened, to both of us. And we've been trying to deal with everything that's changed since then.” Karon said in a tired voice.

“Want to tell me about it?” she asked carefully, and put a hoof on his knee.

“Not really,” he answered. The silence afterward lasted for less then a minute, and then, almost by its own volition, words started flowing from his lips, and he told her absolutely everything.

He spoke of the time after they left Earth, of discovering The Walker's Rest, of the wild adventures and exploration of distant worlds. He told of growing into their role as mercenaries and troublemakers, of doing both good and bad all across the wide expanse of the universe. And then, he told her of the soul eaters.

The memories pressed themselves upon Karon's mind with painful clarity, and he told Lyra of the despair of losing Trixie, of finding himself the prisoner of a sadistic seductress who took pleasure in breaking him. He told her of the pain, so intense it had made him forget everything else but what Dolor had offered him, of how it had almost burned away everything that made him who he was. And eventually, he told her how it had changed him... what he had changed into.

Lyra didn't interrupt, didn't even make a sound as he relived his time in the mansion. If she had, Karon didn't think he would have been able to go on. But he did, and he told her of how he had grown to love Dolor, how they had hunted together, and how he had plotted to free her from the influence of her father.

And finally, he told her of Trixie's return, and how he had betrayed the woman he loved.

The tale of what happened after the mansion was quick, until Karon had finally told her everything, and closed his mouth to wait for her verdict.

“Karon,” she said, her voice thick with emotions. Her eyes, those big expressive eyes, were looking at him fearfully. “What have you done?”

“Mistakes,” he answered, his voice raspy after speaking for so long.

Lyra watched him silently, taking careful note of the slight ashen gray complexion she hadn't quite noticed before. Then she sighed, and of all things, started to laugh.

“What's so funny?” Karon eventually asked.

“We are,” she managed to gasp and hunched over as her body was racked with belly-deep cackling.

The tormented light in Karon's eyes receded, and an amused glint rose to replace it. He chuckled, then pushed her off the seat.

She gave a surprised shriek as she landed on her face, and struggled to stand up on her legs, but fell down several times as the laughter kept spilling out of her. The turquoise color of her face turning into a deep scarlet.

“Breathe, or you're gonna faint,” Karon advised with a smile.

She struggled to gain control over herself, and with a few final giggles, Lyra turned to Karon with a red face and lines of tears streaming down from her eyes.

“We're crazy,” she blurted out with a face-splitting grin.

“Can't deny that,” Karon agreed.

“No, you don't get it. We're really crazy.”

Karon blinked.

Lyra explained. “I was a unicorn obsessed with legends of creatures there was absolutely no evidence actually existed, and then one shows up, and I start stalking it, taking notes. And then, I ran away with it to a bunch of distant lands I had no knowledge of, and go through a bunch of adventures where we nearly died on a daily basis. Finally, I get shipped across several dimensions to a world full of the people I obsess over, and I become one, then learn how to become anything as long as I get to know it well enough.”

“Yeah, when you say it like that you certainly sound a bit off,” Karon agreed with a smile.

Lyra shook her head. “That's not the crazy part. The crazy part is that I was in a world full of humans, something I would have drooled over back in Equestria; and once I'm actually here as a human, what do I do? Insert myself into their society so I can experience what it's like to live as a human; because, since we're being honest, that was what I always wanted. No, I don't. Instead I live in the middle of a forest with a cranky old wizard that has done everything he can to hide the place from the outside world. And I stay on the edge of society, I watch and observe but I never become a part of it. Every time I try and talk with someone, every time I try and make friends and become part of a human group, it ends in disaster. I don't understand humans, no matter how much I study their books and technology. The only person I've ever made any kind of connection to is Andrew, and he thought I was an alien, and now thinks I'm a goddess that's going to sleep with him.”

Karon absorbed the information, then nodded his head. “Yeah, you're crazy.”

Lyra snorted, then turned a sly look on Karon. “And you. If anyone that doesn't know you very well ever heard the tale of your life, they'd think you a complete and utter monster. They'd have warning bells for whenever you got close to town, and hide their babies while brandishing pitchforks and torches. I've seen how close to the edge you can get, Karon. Everyone could see it back in Canterlot. But what you've done lately, Karon... you're edging closer to becoming a real bad guy, and no amount of jokes and sarcasm can hide it.”

Karon's smile was crooked, and existed somewhere between amusement and desperation. “I know.”

“So be careful, Karon. Because even if you'd cross over that line completely, I'd still stand with you if you needed me,” Lyra said.

“Thanks,” Karon replied, and placed a hand over her hoof.

“I'd be the worst evil sidekick ever, though, just so you know. I would criticize every action you ever took, talk smack behind your back, undermine discipline by flirting with your minions.”

“What if my minions are ugly trolls?” Karon asked with a grin befitting an evil overlord.

Lyra shrugged her shoulders. “I can shapeshift into almost anything given time, and I've been alone for so long I'm considering hooking up with Andrew.”

Karon gave a mock sound of compassion. “You poor thing. If it weren't for Trix, I might actually consider...” he winked at her.

Lyra snorted and gave him a contemptuous sneer. “I'm not that desperate.”

Karon gave a dry chuckle, and Lyra climbed back up on the seat next to them. She made a content sigh and shook her head slightly. “What I'm trying to say, Karon, is that's it's okay to be crazy. You and I and Trixie, we live in the real world, the big world. The one that spans stars, and where a great game is going on between everyone living in this world. That world is crazy, Karon, so it's only right for everyone part of it to be crazy, too. We're not doing anything wrong, we're just playing by the rules.”

Karon folded his hands on his stomach and nodded. “Yeah, guess so.”  

Lyra gave him a superior look, like there could never be any doubt she was correct. Karon rolled his eyes in response, then grimaced as a thought struck him.

“So all my insane stunts is really just me playing by the rules?”

“Yeah,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

Karon groaned. “I must be the worst trickster ever.”

They both looked at each other, then started laughing.

                                   ******************************************

With loud grunts of exertion, Karon hauled both bags down the steps from the train. The overcast sky ahead had decided now was a good time to dump some of that excess water, and so Karon was greeted by a slight trickle gradually dampening his clothes, making them soggy from the combination of water and sweat.

He pulled both bags behind him, giving silent blessing to whomever came up with the idea of putting wheels on travel bags, and cursing whatever idiot that invented rain. On an afterthought, he took back that later part, or he might find himself less than welcome back at The Walker's Rest.

He managed to drag himself and his great burden all the way to the street where they had left Varsif, and eventually the pub he had spoken of came into view at its far left corner. With a relived sigh Karon increased his pace, and stopped only to wipe the rain from his face.

As his view was blocked by the sleeve of his jacket, someone bumped into one of the bags and cursed loudly.

“Oi! Watch we're ya place those things, ya clutz!” A thick accent shouted just a few steps away from Karon.

When lowering his arm, Karon came face to face with a very angry-looking man staring back at him. He had a blunt face with yellow teeth, and he had shaved his head and wore a leather jacket with a colorful scarf something was written on.

“I'm sure the bag didn't see you coming,” Karon apologized with a wry smile.

The man stood dumbfounded for a moment, and Karon could see the rusty gears slowly turning inside his head.

“U avin' a giggle, mate? I'll wreck u, I swear on me mums life I do!”

“What?” Karon asked with an expression betraying only confusion.

“I think it's trying to communicate with us.”

“Okay, remember to use slow words and lots of gestures. And if it should become hostile, just remain very still, they react on movement.”

“I said I'll wreck ya, mate! Ya freaky cunt,” the man finished with a kick to the bag he had almost stumbled over.

“Uh oh.”

The man's kick tipped it over, and as it fell to the ground, an angry voice shrieked from the inside. “Whoever did that is going to die!”

Karon facepalmed. The man stared down at the talking bag, from which angry growls were issuing forth while something appeared to be trying to get out.

“Trust me, this is a mercy,” Karon said, and the man turned to him with a look of stupefaction right before Karon's fist connected with his lower jaw.

The stranger's face glazed over, and he fell down to the ground with a wet thud. Looking around but finding no one staring, Karon kneeled down next to the bag and whispered. “Trix, calm down, I knocked the guy out. But if anyone spots us like this, there's gonna be trouble.”

A growl that might as well have come from a cave bear drifted out from the bag, but went quiet after that. With a final look around, Karon grabbed the bags and pulled them behind him as he walked as fast as possible towards the pub.

He reached the entrance without anyone calling out in alarm, and nudged the door open with a shoulder before heading inside with both bags trailing behind him.

It was warm and cozy inside, with the table and chairs made out of rich wood, and an aroma of stale beer and cigarette smoke soaked into the very foundations. There were only three other customers present, and one of them was a familiar white-haired, bearded old man dressed in a fur coat, sitting at the far end of the bar, nursing a glass of whiskey.

He gave a nod of greeting towards Karon, then drained his glass and left a bill on the counter before walking over to the trickster. Halfway there he turned his eyes towards the bags Karon was pulling, and his eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch.

“Encountered trouble, I see,” he commented with a deep rumble of his voice.

Karon nodded, and had to keep himself from squirming like some schoolboy caught peeking into the ladies dressing room.

The old wizard hummed. “We'll have to get back to the homestead before I dare taking a closer look at this.”

Karon nodded again, and at the wizard's wordless command, he turned around and went out the door into the rain once more. Varsif passed him by, leading the trickster and his two bags into a nearby alley, where he stopped, then looked down at the bags and grunted.

Karon unzipped the bags, and two unicorns, one looking very angry, climbed out of them.

“Where is that idiot that kicked me!?” Trixie spat furiously.

“Unconscious on the sidewalk,” Karon told her.

“I'm gonna impale him on my horn!” she hissed, and turned around towards the street.

“Not if you want my help removing the curse placed on you,” Varsif commented calmly.

Trixie gave him a baleful glare that had no effect whatsoever, then growled and went to stand between Karon and Lyra. They all joined hands and hoofs, and with a quick wrench of their entire beings, found themselves standing in a sunlit strewn glade.

Moments later, the door leading into the cabin banged open, and Promise came rushing outside. However, she came to a halt when she spotted Trixie and Lyra, and the less than human shapes they were in.

Her look of ecstatic joy turned into a malicious grin as she locked eyes with Trixie. “Has master finally gotten tired of you and decided you should return to your homeworld?”

“That's it!” Trixie shrieked and flung herself at the winged woman.

The attack caught promise off guard, and she crumpled to the ground as Trixie rammed her in the stomach like a light blue projectile of fury. The former spirit hissed in anger as Trixie raised a hoof to punch her face, and drew back a hand ending in razor sharp dagger-claws in response.

Before either could strike, Varsif flicked two of his fingers, and Trixie was flung aside like a rag doll by an unseen force. The wizard smacked his lips in annoyance, and Karon rushed over to position himself between the two combatants.

“That's enough, no more fighting!” he shouted.

Both Trixie and Promise rose from the ground, neither of them looking ready to surrender the fight. Karon turned to Promise first, and gave her a disapproving glare. “I have told you many times Promise, you are not allowed to hurt Trix in any way.”

“She attacked me!” she protested.

Karon turned to Trixie. “And you should know better. Varsif is going to fix this, Trix, so go inside with him and Lyra so he can check up on you. I think it's best if Promise stays outside until that's done.”

“Aren't you coming with us inside?” the light blue unicorn asked, glancing at the former spirit with disgust.

“I'm going to have a talk with Promise, first, and then I'm going to have a talk with you, don't you worry about that,” he said without flinching.

Trixie huffed, then walked up to the wide open door and went inside. Varsif followed after her with a rumbling chuckle, and Lyra tagged along after giving Karon a sympathetic look.

After the door closed behind them, Karon turned to Promise and waved her over. She walked to him with her head down turned, refusing to meet his glare. When she stopped in front of him and he didn't say anything, she scraped the ground with a foot and said in a small voice “I'm sorry.”

“You're gonna say that to Trixie later, just so you know,” Karon told her sternly.

“She started it!” she shouted and looked up at him with outrage.

“Yes, so she's gonna apologize to you, too. But I saw you about to slice her open, and that is not okay under any circumstances. Ever!”

The deep blue eyes shimmered, and she turned away and nodded silently. Karon's visage softened, and raised his hands slightly like he was going to give her a pat on the back, then changed his mind.

“So... figured out what it was you wanted to tell me but couldn't figure out?” he asked.

Promise scowled. “Yes, I mean...no... I...” She made a frustrated mewling sound.

Karon bit his lip, then spoke as kindly as he could manage. “You gotta give me something to help me understand, Promise.”

Promise looked him in the eyes, searching for something, then scraped her foot on the ground again.

“I'm bleeding,” she murmured quietly.

“What? Are you hurt?” Karon asked and grabbed her shoulders, looking her up and down in search of any wounds.

“No... not like that,” she said, shivering at his touch.

“What do you mean? Has something happened to you?” He let her go and peered into her eyes.

She looked back at him with an embarrassed expression, and when she didn't see anything but confusion in his eyes, she scowled.

“You are so... Argh!” she screamed at him.

Karon took an involuntary step back and stared at her.

“What the fuck is going on!?”

“Christ, you're stupid. She has a physical body now, idiot. It's not exactly a normal one, and I figure it's taken a few months for all the systems to fine-tune themselves to the new soul possessing it, but it seems like the normal cycle is reeving up.”

“What the fuck are you going on about!?”

“She's on her period, dumbass.”

Karon's mouth formed a perfect O as he stared at the angry woman. From his expression, Promise must have figured he finally got it.

“It's gross,” she complained. “And it hurts in my stomach! And whenever I eat I sometimes get really hungry, and then I feel sick, and sometimes vomit because food is so disgusting. And feel angry, and sad, and... and...”

“Uhh, it's okay Promise, it's okay,” he tried to calm her with while holding out his hands in front of him.

“And I feel like doing things! With males. With you!” she screamed and stomped her foot, glaring at him like it was his fault.

“Maybe we should throw in the discussion about bees and flowers. It's not like this could get any more awkward.”

“Uh, it's okay, Promise. Those kind of urges are completely normal for a... uh...”

“Woman? Girl? Homicidal spirit possessing the body of a former lover?”

“I know they're normal because I remember!” she shrieked at him.

Karon stared at her with a look normally reserved for deers caught in a headlight.

“I remember you and her. I can remember some of the things she did,” she finished with a stomp of her foot.

“Her? Wh-... Oh, shit.”

“Yeah, now in hindsight it's kinda obvious there would be some residue of Dolor's spirit in the body Promise inherited. I mean, they even shared it for a brief moment. If nothing else the neural pathways in the brain must have been pretty fixed after all those centuries.”

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.”

“Say something!” Promise demanded.

“I...uh... there, there Promise, it's all gonna be fine,” Karon tried to sooth her, then winced when he realized how it sounded.

“FINE!? You think this is FINE!?" she wailed.

“Yeah... I'm sorry, but I have no idea what to do about all this,” he meekly offered. “This is just a part of being of woman... or something. Comes with having a body.”

“But I HATE it!” she whined and stomped her foot again.

She looked at him with a face flushed red, contorted in an expression of anger and embarrassment, and eyes pleading him to fix what ailed her. Karon stared back at her helplessly.

“Promise, listen,” he began cautiously, taking a step closer to her. “I can't make this go away, it's just a part of how your body works, and you'll have to find a wa—”

From the look of fury that came over her, Karon suspected that wasn't the best way to put it, and changed tactics.

“I mean, look, I don't know what it's like... what you're going through, that is.”

“Thank god for that.”

“But pretty much every other woman does, so we'll just have to make sure you get to talk with one about all the... uh, stuff... that comes with being one.”

The image of Promise sitting down with Trixie and discussing the woes of womanhood while complaining about men briefly flashed through Karon's mind, and left an ice cold shiver running down his spine.

“We'll ask Lyra if she might be willing to help you,” he said after a second's consideration. “But you'll have to be on your best behavior if you want her to help you. She's not going to agree if she thinks you might decide to slice her open in a tantrum.”

Promise wrinkled her nose and clasped her hands together, fiddling with her fingers while she looked to be thinking it over.

“You're sure I can't make this go away?” she asked, looking close to tears at the prospect.

“Yeah, I'm fairly sure about that,” Karon told her.

She sighed angrily, then turned her head towards the cabin. “Should I go inside with you?”

Karon grimaced. “It might be best if you stay out here. Trix isn't in a very good mood right now, and she's going to be looking for someone to take it out on.”

Promise nodded, then gave him a faint smile. “Master?”

“Yeah Promise,” he sighed, fully expecting to hear of a new problem.

“Thank you... you're the best master there is,” she told him, and her smile turned radiant.

Karon cleared his throat, then rubbed at the back of his neck, “Hrm, yeah well, I try my best.” Gingerly, he reached out with his arm and gave her a pat on the head.

She gave him an incredulous stare, then spun around and marched away with an annoyed, “Ugh!”

Karon frown was deep as he watched her stomp away for reasons apparently above his ability to comprehend.

“I don't think there's a lot of wisdom to find in the man, but I'm gonna quote Andrew here and say, 'women'.”

Karon snorted, then turned and started making his way towards the cabin.

“We should have considered that Promise wouldn't be ready for all the million little hassles that comes with being corporeal. I don't know what kind of view she had on us fleshy creatures back when she was just a spirit, but I doubt it was very accurate.”

“Probably not. Even so, though, she's been handed a card that's especially hard to deal with.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that she was created by the fusion of two very different creatures, both of whom were pretty damned unstable in their own right. Reconciling their respective selves into a functioning personality can't have been easy. We saw how she got there for a while. And then pile that up with getting attached to a body where there's spiritual residue from a centuries-old sadistic soul-eating seductress that we had regular kinky sex with, and... yeah, shit can't be easy.”

“Fanatically loyal and loving servant plus amoral bloodthirsty spirit of conquest plus pathologically torturing cock tease...”

“Then throw in a functioning reproductive system and heaps upon heaps of hormones and that equals one giant clusterfuck of a situation.”

Karon reached the door, then stopped himself as he was about to open it.

“Holy shit.”

“What?”

“Promise is going through super-puberty.”

The voice didn't say anything, but there was a sound that could be interpreted as begging for mercy.

“Do you remember back when you where Erik, back to how this all started? How you got all frothing at the mouth crazy and obsessed with bringing your family back to life? And how that eventually led us to where we're standing now?”

“Yeah, kinda hard to forget.”

“Maybe you should have tried therapy instead.”

Karon gave a dry chuckle, then opened the door and went inside. Varsif stood in front of the two ponies, who where confined within a circle glowing faintly red, marked with runes on the outside. Karon silently joined the wizard, and reached out with his senses to try and discern what he was doing.

“Don't meddle,” the old man warned.

Karon nodded, and touched upon the lines of energy, snaking unseen from the wizard to the circle and back, transferring energy and information, slowly taking apart and analyzing the design of the curse placed upon the two women.

It took a little more than half an hour before Varsif made a grunt and relaxed, and the circle instantly winked out of existence. A feat that made Karon's eyes widen.

The old man hadn't even had to draw the circle or the symbols governing its function; he had created it all directly from his mind, keeping it going through nothing but pure focus. Karon tried to calculate the amount of training he would need to be able to perform such a feat, but the result was nothing but a headache.

However, impressive as it may have been, there still remained two unchanged ponies standing where the circle had been.

“Well?” Karon asked Varsif.

The old man walked over to a nearby couch, a dark brown thing that looked ready to fall apart, and sat down on it. He pulled the same mug Karon had seen him with back at The Walker's Rest out from inside his furry coat, and took a swig from it. Where the content had come from Karon could only guess.

“It's a tricky sucker,” the wizard said after he had drained the mug. “And it's linked to one or more living beings, so a life was used as a focal point.”

Karon frowned. “That sounds suicidal.”

The wizard nodded. “Especially since they've been so clever in creating this curse. It's lodged into their brain, creating a dam of sorts. If the ladies would try and force themselves to break through it and channel magic, they'd end up frying their heads.”

The sound of two unicorns swallowing loudly filled the room.

“So why did they turn back into ponies?” Karon asked.

Varsif shrugged. “The curse must have caused a real impact when it struck, probably set every meridian in their being on fire. To put it simply, their aura rebooted to try and limit the damage. The design of their bodies are stored neatly in their soul, and they would just have reverted to that state naturally.”

“This is not who I am.” Trixie spoke through gritted teeth.

Varsif shrugged again. “You might have changed, but the foundational design in your physical DNA remains the same. Be happy there wasn't anything lost in the process—like all your memories.”

Trixie made a sour face, but made no further comment.

“So there's nothing you can do to lift the curse?” Lyra asked.

Varsif cast an apologetic look her way, and nodded. “Taking the curse out would mean ripping a chunk of yourselves with it. A big chunk.”

Karon looked at Varsif, and gave the wizard a lopsided smile.

“So, the only means we have of getting rid of the curse is destroying the focal tool it's bound to.”

“Indeed. Which in this case is one of the sorcerers.”

Karon shook his head. “No, I felt the power of the curse when it tried to latch on to me. There's no chance any single one of them could conjure up that much juju juice. They had this freaky linking web placed around the buildings they had claimed for themselves. It connected them and the people they had enthralled.”

Varsif made a disgusted sound. “Bad, really bad. With something like that they could all work as a hive-mind, and combine their power.”

“Any suggestions on how to beat them?” Trixie asked.

“Humans aren't designed to work like that. If they want to work as a hive mind, they have to have a dominating presence, someone that's directing the others. A queen, so to speak.”

“A king, in this case,” Karon muttered, thinking back to Markus.

Karon and Varsif stared at each other, and unspoken thoughts passed between them. It was partly telepathy, and partly the bone-deep instinctive understanding of one another that was created between a master and his pupil.

A hungry, almost evil grin spread across the wizard's lips, and Karon nodded, his eyes glowing with an amber light.

“What?” Lyra asked, her eyes narrowing at the unspoken conversation.

“Just coming up with a plan,” Karon said, then he turned towards the two ponies. “Varsif will take all of us, including Promise, far up north of London. Close to the Loch Ness where Jörmungandr sleeps. It will be so far away the sorcerers wont be able to sense it, even if they're on high alert. We three will head down south to London while Varsif and Promise remain behind, a—”

“Why don't we all just teleport to the middle of their place and start torching sorcerers?” Trixie demanded.

Varsif explained. “These sorcerers have a linking web that will let them combine their power. They're not gonna do that unless they are prepared to cause some real damage. A curse like the one placed on you is very focused, but if they were to channel all that energy into something a little more destructive, it would turn a large part of London into a smoking crater. And if they sense me coming in, that's exactly what they'll do just on the off-chance it'll allow them to get away.”

“What makes you think they won't do that even if it's just us?” Lyra asked.

Karon answered. “They could have done a lot of nasty stuff with that curse, but instead they just tried to lock all three of us down magically. They want us to come back. And since last time didn't end so well, I think they're pretty confident they can take us.”

“And are they wrong? Both Lyra and I are next to useless now, and you can't take on an entire cabal on your own, Karon,” Trixie told him.

Karon held up a hand to his chest in mock pain. “You wound me, Trix. Last time, we accepted their invitation. This time we're there to exterminate every living sorcerer around. I'm a trickster, Trix; fighting dirty and outnumbered is what we do.”

The unicorn didn't look convinced, and neither did Lyra, who smacked her lips and gave Karon a look that questioned his sanity.

“Just trust me,” Karon pleaded with open palms.

Lyra turned to Trixie. “What was that thing about tricksters, again?”

Trixie brought a hoof up and tapped her chin. “Something about them being liars and cheats and you should never ever trust them, I think.”

“Ha, ha,” Karon said dryly, then turned his gaze to Varsif. “You got any toys we might have use of?”

The wizard raised an eyebrow, then heaved himself out of the chair and headed over towards a corner where there stood a mahogany cabinet, which he started rifling through.

“Oh! I've got something we can use!” Lyra shouted, and ran over to the pile of items she could call her own. Karon and Trixie watched as she dug into it, flinging whatever she could grab aside in her search.

“I'm actually curious about what she cou— HOLY SHIT, DUCK!”

Karon threw himself to the floor as Lyra straightened, turning around with a huge assault rifle in her mouth, pointed directly at where the trickster and his consort stood. Trixie didn't know what it was, but she hesitated only for a fraction of a second before following Karon's example, and fell sprawling down on the floor.

“What?” she asked after dropping the weapon.

“Maybe you shouldn't point that thing at someone when you might accidentally fire it with your TONGUE!” Karon shouted and stood up at the same time as Trixie.

“Don't worry,” Lyra said and waved away his concerns. “The safety is on, and besides, its not like it would be very accurate if I held it in my mouth. The recoil would send me flying.”

“So you wouldn't just hit us, you'd spray the entire room with bullets?” Karon clarified.

“Well, if I accidentally fired, which I couldn't sin—”

“Alright, alright,” Karon held up his hands in defeat. “Where did you get that thing, anyway?”

“I took it. There's this military place in the forest pretty close to here. I took a look inside and found all this cool stuff, “ a maniacal gleam entered into the unicorn's eyes when she spoke, “and guess what?”

“What?” Karon asked, trying not to cringe in anticipation of the answer.

“I have ammunition that glows when you shoot it,” she whispered reverently.

Karon blinked. “That's it?”

Lyra nodded fast enough to make her neck creak. “Yes, but it's not magical, it's chemical.”

“So she broke into a military base and stole a weapon and ammunition.”

“I can already feel the satellite looking down on us.”

“Yeah, uhh, how exactly are you planning to make use of that? You don't have any fingers at the moment, remember?” Karon noted.

Lyra shrugged and looked down at the assault rifle with a tender expression. “I'll figure something out,” she said while stroking it gingerly.

Karon took a moment to allow the situation to properly sink in.

“Yeah, definitely should have gone with therapy.”

                          ***********************************************

The wind was biting, and carried with it a drab cold that somehow fit in completely with the landscape around them. They stood upon the southern bank of the Loch Ness, where they had arrived mere moments ago.

After a quick discussion it had been agreed by all that it would be best to rest, recover and resupply at Varsif's place and await nightfall before returning to the British Isles; to gain the cover of darkness, if nothing else.

Promise's wings fluttered excitedly upon arrival, and her head darted from side to side as she scanned for something.

“What is it?” Karon asked.

“There's something here, I can taste its presence,” she replied.

Varsif chuckled. “That'd be Jörmungandr,” he said. The wizard pointed out towards the black waters of the lake. “He's sleeping down there, waiting for when the time has come to wake up.”

“When's that?” Lyra asked curiously.

“When the world ends,” Varsif answered with a grim smile.

All present stared out over the lake, but saw nothing save the wind brushing across its surface. All turned their eyes away from it, except Promise, who kept staring with a slight frown.

“What's wrong?” Karon asked.

“I can taste it. And it tastes... familiar,” she said, and gave Karon a thoughtful look.

Karon stretched out his senses towards the lake, into the lake. It wasn't difficult to detect the presence of the creature slumbering beneath the surface, as the power it radiated even in sleep was formidable. Karon felt a kind of timelessness over it, and he knew from the moment his mind touched upon the creature that it was indeed a true wyrm of old.

However, at that moment, something wet and slippery reached back into Karon's mind, and the trickster had to force himself not to recoil at the presence.

“Greetings to you, my brother.”

Karon shivered at the sheer, raw power that rung throughout his mind.

“I think you are mistaken, great Jörmungandr. We are not brothers through any relation that I know,” he answered.

There was a sense of great amusement from the being in the lake.

“Perhaps I was mistaken, then. It is difficult to discern the strings that binds father's games together.”

“What do you mean?”

“You will discover that on your own, or you will lose.”

Karon suppressed another shiver, and knew it would be futile in trying to get him to elaborate.

“How come you are speaking with me, great Jörmungandr? I thought you were sleeping, awaiting the time of the Ragnarök.”

“Can a sleeping mind not dream? I dream now of a trickster standing on the shores of my bed, readying himself for battle, accompanied by allies who carry the sound of battle in their spirit. A sound so clear I can hear it even through my slumber.”

“I am preparing for battle, yes,” Karon admitted, then took a leap of faith. “And if you have any advice or blessing to bestow upon me, I would appreciate it.”

There was a shiver across the entirety of the lake, like a vibration rippling out from its center, and Karon realized that the wyrm was laughing.

“Bold. I can detect the pyres of his arrogance within you. I can bestow no blessing without breaking my slumber, and I believe you would not like what would happen should that occur.”

Karon swallowed. “No, I don't think so.”

“However, you who I 'mistook' for my brother, I can grant to you advice.”

“Anything that might help.”

“You call me Jörmungandr, but that is not my name; that is a title I carry. But name and title are equally part of our being.”

“How... does this help me?” Karon asked carefully.

“You have both name and title branded upon your soul. They reveal the secrets of who you are, and what you are. If they are clever enough, all who can sense such things will know your weaknesses.”

Karon nodded, slowly. “How can I protect myself, then?”

The lake shivered once more as the Wyrm laughed.

“You cannot protect yourself from your own nature, trickster. You must embrace it, and gain all the strength it can offer you.”

“How?”

“Know yourself, Mendax Karon Bellum, vulture of war and deceit. These are your names and titles, and through knowing them, you will know yourself.”

Karon considered what the wyrm had said, but he couldn't discern the meaning of his name and titles. He wasn't sure he wanted to.

“Often I am discounted from the great games, despite being unshackled and without a tiresome duty weighing me down—far too often, in my opinion. I do not appreciate being viewed as impotent, and so I will make my own contribution to this game, and all the other players will know that I am not without influence.”

Karon held his breath as he felt power gather in the deep center of the lake, then the presence of the Wyrm struck against Karon's mind like a sledgehammer.

“Heed my words, Mendax Karon Bellum, vulture of war and deceit. There will come a time of war, and the heart of this war rests in a lie, and you will be drawn to it like a vulture circling a carcass. Know then that this war is the moment where all the stakes in this game are raised, and all the players will be at the edge of their seats, awaiting the final outcome. Know then this, trickster, for I will now reveal to you secrets of how this game will unfold.”

“Tell me,” Karon said. There was a ringing in his ears and his vision had grown blurry. Distantly, he could hear someone shouting.

“There are many players in this game. Some watch from on high, others from a darker place. Know that you will be betrayed by the one you think closest to you, and know that the one standing behind the betrayer is even more dangerous. You will think you know your enemy, but your true nemesis is hiding in the last place you would think to look. If you do not master this enemy of yours, and win the war through a great victory, you will drown in damnation for all eternity.”

“Who... is my enemy?” The ringing had grown louder, and Karon could taste blood in his mouth.

“There is a title and a name, and if you do not realize who that enemy is before the final moment, you will lose... and if you lose, brother, you will BREAK!”

The power of the wyrm lifted, and Karon blinked his eyes rapidly to find himself laying on the ground, with everyone else standing over him with frightened faces. Everyone except Varsif.

“What did he say?” he asked when he saw that Karon was back with them.

“He—” Karon began, then turned to spit out the blood gathered in his mouth. “He spoke of a war... and enemies.”

Trixie ran a hoof along Karon's chest, and he took comfort in her presence, in the presence of all of them. Then he narrowed his eyes at the old man.

“Varsif, you know the name and titles I carry now.” It wasn't a question.

The wizard nodded. “I do.”

“You know my fate, you know what the great big secret of what's coming for me is.”

He nodded again. “In part.”

“Tell me.”

The wizard shook his head. “I don't dare to. What's waiting down the line for you... even a careless word could change everything for the worse. But I will tell you this; no matter what anyone says, and no matter how convincing they might sound saying it, understand that you choose this path.”

Karon relaxed, and rested his head on the ground. The others standing over him had calmed, and Varsif had walked over to the shores, probably giving Jörmangundr a piece of his mind. The others shifted their weights around awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Karon didn't pay them any attention, there were far too many questions swirling around in his head.

“What the fuck have we gotten ourselves into?”

“I don't know.”

From a dark corner of his mind there rose a memory, of a final smile, and orange red-streaked eyes looking up at him sadly.

“Karon, my sweet Mendax. Your destiny is what I have always tried to teach you. You will find your truth in pain.”

Karon shuddered, then closed his eyes to keep the others from seeing the tears gathering. No, Dolor hadn't given him the answers he needed, and Varsif held back out of fear of messing him up even more than he already was. The angels kept to their cryptic ways, and Jörmungandr had already given more than could be expected.

“But there is one that's definitely in need of questioning.”

“Yeah, guess it's time.”

Karon opened his eyes and rose from the ground, giving the others a quick smile to reassure them everything was alright. He started to move away from them, heading for the hills rising from the banks of the Loch, but when the others tried to follow, he motioned for them to stay.

Alone, he ventured out into the dark, and when he had reached far enough to ensure privacy, he stopped, and called out.

“Loke, you smug fuck, get over here right this instant!”

Next Chapter: The Great Game (Part 3) Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 60 Minutes