<Doc> if I don't comment much, it's because you're getting to be a dangerously good writer. ;)

Just spotted one thing I'd change, though, in the last post:

<and used my Hybrid strength to roll a log over it>

Walay and Tala are both Hybrids, and they know each other well and worked together - it's not plausible that Tala would bother to explain her strength at this point. If the reader needs the explanation, I'd give it elsewhere, say in the warning speech Walay gave Tuman about Tala earlier.

<Please Tuman, the assassin they sent is my most frequent partner, a Hybrid. Maybe even a Tamawo like myself. She can break your neck with a single punch, throw your body five meters away, and roll an uprooted coconut tree over it. They’re rare in the Mainland, but DATA has a knack for finding Hybrids and recruiting them in view of their quickness, strength, and precociousness. I bumped into her in our last stop-over. She’s a couple of years older than me, and she’s better than me. If you meet her, you might think she’s a clueless talkative flirt, but she has racked up the second best kill rate among active agents, next to Manang Lili. I won’t be able to defend you when she hits you, and hit you she will.>

And

After dropping off the remaining students at Tubo City Port, the Shield proceeded to Buhi City Port. After a short meeting, it was decided that Luto would not go, as the avatars could be called up anytime by DATA in order to test more suspected Dark Kindred under Deceptive Disguises. There was no telling how long Mission USB could last.

Tahum, Tukib, and Pana debarked at dusk, using Lumba lumba lifeboat-ferry. Outside the port, they hailed a multicolored public utility vehicle jeep that displayed the signboard Igat. Two benches lined the side of the jeep lengthwise. They sat side by side together with the other passengers.

They got off Igat district. ‘This is where most of the high class karaoke clubs are located,’ Tahum explained. ‘The one establishment where there are always Dark Kindred present are classy nightclubs since almost all Maranhig and Nasipak Succubi end up working in them.’ The district was composed of several blocks of small commercial buildings, crisscrossed by small roads and alleys. Most of the buildings were modified into neon and LED lighted clubs, motels, canteens, restaurants, cafes, teahouses, and gambling joints.

‘We’re going to the Pusta Casino.’ Tahum led them to a posh casino and club complex of interconnected buildings. A well dressed security guard, whom they sensed was Possessed, greeted them politely. ‘Sorry no minors allowed.’

Pana scowled. ‘I’m not a minor.’

‘Inday, this is not exactly the place for little girls like you.’

‘Hey, I’m 5’5’’; I just look small because I’m slim and cute.’

‘It’s alright, manong. Please excuse my niece’s rudeness,’ Tahum interposed. She drew them aside. ‘Pana, you and I are going to that discotheque over there, and you are to keep a flat face all the time and be cooperative. Auto mode. Tukib, proceed to the karaoke; we’ll keep in touch by tabcom.’

Tukib entered a karaoke bar inside Pusta Clubhouse. The entrance fee was a whopping 2000 pesos. Tukib reached into a coin purse attached to his belt and counted out two 1000 peso Bugu coins. He was dressed in tight jeans and polo shirt. As he entered and took a table, several of the GROs scattered about the room eyed him speculatively, as did a few customers.

An attractive GRO came over their table. Tukib sensed she was Possessed. ‘Can I get you any drinks, Sir?’

‘Huo inday, two shots of tequila please.’ Tukib smiled at the girl. She smiled back. ‘This looks like a haunted house, with the sexiest of shades.’

‘You mean I look like a ghost?’

‘No, you’re a beautiful succubus or vampire. I wouldn’t mind you biting me. Why don’t you sit by me later on?’

The girl giggled. ‘Sure. I’ll fetch your drinks first.’

Tukib studied his surroundings. All of the girls and half of the customers were Dark Kindred. He spent the next several hours watching the GROs sing and dance, and tabling one girl after another. He paid each girl he tabled 500 pesos, asking her all manner of questions regarding unusual vampire, werewolf, troll, and succubus stories.

Near midnight Tukib reported to Tahum on his tabcom. ‘Damn, I’m running through my budget like water out of a busted faucet. No info yet.’

‘Come over here,’ Tahum ordered, somewhat unexpectedly.

Tukib exited the karaoke club and went over the discotheque. Tahum and Pana were by a table in an unlighted corner, sitting on the laps of two husky men that he could sense as being Abominations. Tahum’s expression was dreamily sultry; Pana’s deadpan bored.

‘Yikes! It’s Tiyoy, uncle Tago! What is he doing here?’ Tahum exclaimed. She stood up.

‘Sorry we have to go.’ She reached in her skirt’s inner pocket, and came up with a thousand peso coin which she placed on the table. ‘You don’t have to pay for our drinks. Sorry. Come on inday, little sister.’ She grabbed Pana and they left their two befuddled partners, making a beeline for the exit where Tukib was standing. They left the discotheque.

‘What’s with all the drama?’

‘I got the info we want. There’s an important meeting of the Dark Kindred at 3 am in the old cement warehouse by Buhi River in the abandoned part of the North Port area, regarding some very important news. I know that place.’

‘Me too. We better scope out it out. It’s 5 kilometers down the river. Shall we walk or take a taxi?’ Tukib asked.

‘Might as well walk. It would be strange if we suddenly showed up in front of the warehouse in a taxi.’ They began walking down Igat’s alleys toward Buhi River half a kilometer away, pretending to be drunken party goers on the way home. A deserted path ran alongside the river. They turned left and followed it. After two kilometers more the path turned up the riverbank, then down again into a deserted mangrove filled stretch. A score of people waited for them by the riverside, including several GROs from Pusta Clubhouse, Tahum’s and Pana’s ex-partners, and assorted bouncers and security guards from the discotheque.

‘You’re avatars aren’t you?’ A Caniform Possessed strode up to Tahum. ‘Your face was smiling and your sister’s was stony all the time for several hours while you were being rudely groped, something difficult for a sane human to achieve. Then some putative relative with an incongruously calm demeanor shows up and you get up and take off pronto. You ask the same repetitive questions again and again like broken recorders. You walk for kilometers in the middle of the night down a river from a red light district. Are you on a Bounty Hunt? Do you know that we abuse and torture avatars on the Bounty Hunt for our amusement before executing them, and arrange for persistent Maestro Hunters to have fatal accidents?’

‘Yes we are avatars and no we are not on the Hunt. You should know we are under orders not to talk.’ Tahum’s reply came immediately. The avatars recognized the Werewolf leader, but gave no sign of it. It was the Winged one that appeared in Lupad’s video, who spared his life and cuffed him to the slaughterhouse stairs.

Pana’s ex-partner growled. ‘You’re not really some nymphet aren’t you? Carrying anything in that perfect body of yours?’ He walked up in front of Pana and ran his hand down her chest and up her legs. Pana endured the examination impassively. Tahum’s ex-partner and a GRO from the club went over to Tahum and Tukib and did the same.

After a minute, the Kindred withdrew, announcing ‘They’re clean,’ except for Pana’s partner who continued frisking her body. His movements had become frenetic and violent. She stayed still.

The Winged Werewolf was looking at them quizzically. ‘You’re avatars alright. This little girl here would be reacting by now if she were human. Yet you don’t seem to be on a Bounty Hunt. Avatars on a Bounty Hunt shoot first and ask nothing. OK Kapyot, stop it.’

‘I should continue until she breaks,’ Kapyot snarled.

The leader’s nails elongated into talons. He drove them into Kapyot’s chest. The werewolf collapsed. Pana smoothed down her skirt, pulled up her tube top, and stayed still.

The leader licked at the blood on his talons. ‘May I remind the pack that insubordination is a capital crime. Avatars don’t break; Kapyot was just being a stupid maniac. Damn, but Nasipak Abominations don’t just dissipate as neatly as Maranhig Possessed. Kindred, eat his body so none is left for the police to see.’

There was a chorus of ‘Yes, Major Ido.’ The Caniform Possessed, including the Winged leader, wolfed up their skulls and teeth and fell on Kapyot’s body. In half a minute it was gone. They even licked up all bloodstains.

Ido turned toward Tahum. ‘You’re the leader here aren’t you? Who is your Maestro? You and the male one are pretty well made. Not so much the child, who acts like a beautiful walking doll. I haven’t seen such human-like avatars in a long, long time. I didn’t know there are Maestros who still make them.’

‘We are not allowed to answer that question,’ Tahum replied. ‘My apologies Major. You must be an Ancient, and an Officer in the Dark War.’ She gave him a respectful asian bow.

Ido bowed back. ‘My apologies too, avatar. Kapyot was an arrogant disrespectful pup. He lost control and behaved like a wild animal. I haven’t been so strict in recent times with the pack members. Do you intend to do us harm?

‘No. You know that avatars don’t lie.’

‘Unless you are under instructions to do so, and even without direct orders, you can indulge in dragon lies, half truths that are meant to deceive. You better come with us. Colonel Ayam will wish to question you. Or are you under orders to commit suicide if you are captured?’

‘No, Colonel.’

The Dark Kindred and the cuffed avatars walked swiftly and easily down Buhi river, effectively invisible among the unlighted mangrove trees. They arrived at the old ordinary looking gray warehouse. Beyond the warehouse, small roads and houses again began to proliferate increasing in number as Buhi River entered the Port area a kilometer downstream.

Untrained humans would have not have seen the dozens of Dark Kindred, sticking on the roof and crannies of the warehouse, crouching along the swampy vegetation beside it. The avatars pretended not to see them. They entered the closed warehouse by a side door. Inside scores of Kindred squatted, stood, or strolled all over the place. They seemed comfortable even without seats. There was a small elevated platform at the far end of the building. On it was a table computer.

In the next several minutes, more Kindred entered and they assembled themselves in front of the platform. Soon an audience of hundreds of Kindred had formed. An ordinary looking middle aged man climbed up the platform and stood before them.

The man bowed. Around a third of the audience bowed back, including Major Ido and his pack, but the rest did not. The man held out a USB flash drive in his right hand.

‘For the visitors who don’t know me, I am CEO Ayam of the South Eastern Islands Society, and Colonel in the Dark War for the 5th Army Corps. Maranhig Possessed and Nasipak Hybrids, Dark Kindred of the Offshore and Eastern Islands, you know why I called for this meeting. I know some of you have come all the way from the north Eastern Islands and the Offshore. I must say that the Offshore contingent is double of what I expected. Thank you for coming and for your enthusiasm.’

‘A few years ago, Kindred employees of the Provincial Bank of South Eastern Islands made it known to us that the last Anachronista Maestro, Professor Sri Duro of the Sun and Sky, deposited an important artifact in their bank, which was described in his notarized letter as holding the secret to eternal darkling life. To shorten the story, most City and Town Kindred Societies decided to obtain this artifact, which turned out to be a USB flash drive. No Kindred was foolish enough to attempt the theft while Sri Duro was still alive, and risk getting hunted down by Sun and Sky Veterans from the Dark War. When he died, his avatars called up the bank for the purpose of securing it. So the Kindred Society of Buhi City made an emergency decision to raid the bank. The task force managed to stage the raid just as Sun and Sky avatars arrived. Three Nasipak Caniforms and one Maranhig Caniform died. Unfortunately the Maranhig was team leader Major Kawat himself, my second in command and a valued Veteran of the Dark War. He was shot down flying in the sky from a distance of 3 kilometers by an Archer. Major Ido, Kawat’s second, witnessed the three Nasipak Caniforms being slain by a Knifer. The skills these combat avatars displayed indicate that they are Veterans of the Dark War.’

‘In spite of the casualties incurred, the mission succeeded. We obtained the USB. Unfortunately when I and several CEOs of the Eastern Islands Kindred Societies tried to open it two days ago, we found out that it was encrypted.’

Colonel Ayam inserted the drive into a slot in the table computer. A hologram of professor Duro appeared. ‘Maayong adlaw. Good day. Nice to see you again my daughters, although by now I must have passed away. Why have you opened this drive?’

The hologram froze. ‘It stops there. Notice it is speaking in Sinayabi. Apparently it only responds to people speaking in Sinayabi in a native accent, and only if they ask the right questions in a natural manner completely devoid of tension. We haven’t succeeded in breaking into the message yet.’

‘So you called us up in order to report your failure, Colonel Ayam?’ an Offshore Werewolf asked.

‘We got the USB, Colonel Pilit.’

‘If you haven’t cracked it, you should hand it over to us of the Offshore Societies. We have access to better cryptographers, and code cracking computers.’

‘That isn’t proven. We in Buhi City will keep it, following the deal we the CEOs of the Societies signed, that the ones who secure it have the option of keeping it.’

Grumbles and growls could be heard all around the warehouse. ‘There’s no guarantee that you’ll ever crack the USB’s code,’ someone yelled from the audience.

‘Bear with me for a minute. We in the Eastern Islands have been living in proximity with the Sun and Sky for 40 years. Never have they once indulged in a Bounty Hunt, except if the Kindred involved had turned criminal. We have reason to believe that they harbor no ill will toward the Dark Kindred. Yes there is no guarantee that we’ll ever crack the USB’s code, but the same applies to the Offshore Societies too. Now the Sun and Sky avatars don’t have much time to live. They’re due to fade out 40 days after their Maestro’s death. It’s possible that only they can obtain the message, which after all is meant for them.’

‘I would propose that we send emissaries to the avatars of the Sun and Sky. We return the USB and apologize for stealing it. In return we ask them to reveal the message. Elders among us who have witnessed the Dark War can attest that the avatars of the Household of the Order of the Sun and Sky have always conducted themselves with reason. There must be very good chances that they will just tell us the message.’

‘Are you insane?’ Pilit shouted. ‘It was the Sun and Sky combat avatars that slew my Maker Demon King. Your own Maker too Ayam. Have you forgotten that?’

‘No of course not, but those happened in times of war. Everyone was killing everybody then. My own Maker challenged the Gisaligan that we knew as Beauty, Child, Fire and Arrow, in a one on one duel, while covering the retreat of the fifth army corps in the Battle of the Broken Spear. He fought bravely and ferociously and I thought he had a chance. Then, although I was a kilometer away, I saw her tear off his throat with her battle gauntlet. I swore revenge. But Fire and Arrow herself died in combat later on, falling into a cleft in the Tela in the Battle of the Black Castle. I was also there and saw her final stand on top of a tower. She was dauntless until the end. We live in a different era now Pilit. There’s nothing left to avenge, and the Sun and Sky itself will be dead and gone next month.’

‘And so will you, much sooner than that,’ Pilit snarled. ‘Mission Retrieval, execute!’

The Offshore Islands Kindred wolfed and vamped up into nightmarish monsters of talons and teeth. They fell on their surprised Eastern Islands brethren, none of whom had time to transform.

Pilit in winged wolf form leaped onto the platform. Ayam was still in the process of wolfing up. Pilit engulfed his head with his massive jaws and crunched.

A Winged Vampire sank her talons in Ido’s shoulders, and then sank its fangs on his neck. The bite seemed to paralyze him so that he could not transform, and the Vampire eagerly began sucking up red blood.

‘Damn, I was getting totally tired of being a walking statue. S__t. Tahum, Tukib, and even you Colonel Ido- you’re bleeding like slaughtered pigs. Better absorb those auras on your backs and heal yourselves.’

‘Pana slay all Offshore Kindred, and the ones attacking,’ Tahum mumbled out.

‘Sure sis.’ Her bow and arrow appeared. She shot Regent Pilit, who was busy eating the body of a Succubus I front of the platform, through the head.

The avatars watched the show. Every time Pana fired, a Kindred died. At such close range, she had no problem shooting them all in the head. They were not high Dan darklings, and her arrow could easily penetrate their skulls, even those originally infected by Demon Kings. In less than a minute nearly two hundred Kindred lay turning into gray ash all over the warehouse.

Pana lowered her bow frowning. ‘What’s the point of this Tahum? They’re not even darklings. You might as well order me to slaughter hapless fanged chickens.’

Tahum hesitated. ‘Uhm, I might have overreacted.’

‘Whatever. I’m hungry,’ Pana announced. ‘I haven’t eaten anything since you placed me on auto mode. Let’s eat their auras.’

‘Get these F__king cuffs off us!’ Tukib demanded. Pana quickly shot Tahum and Tukib’s metal cuffs, breaking them apart.

‘Hey you could have shot my hand,’ Tahum complained.

‘Not a chance. You know that at this distance I could shoot the wings off a fly.’

‘Show-off!’ Tahum retorted.

The avatars went around the warehouse in fast motion, absorbing the auras of the slain Maranhig Possessed. Along the way, Tukib retrieved the USB flash drive from where Pilit used to lay. Their wounds from the vampire bites rapidly healed.

A werewolf tried to jump out of an open window in the warehouse’s side. Pana shot it through the nape in mid air. A dozen made a break for an open door at the front. Pana shot them down faster than a machinegun could.

Major Ido stood up looking astonished. ‘Beauty and Child, Fire and Arrow. I didn’t recognize you; you survived the War!’ He turned to his brethren and announced in a loud voice. ‘Kindred, nobody try to escape. The Salig commandos are programmed to terminate nonhumans that display escape behavior. We have to ask Fire and Arrow her permission first.’

The Kindred stood still. Ido faced Pana. ‘Or are you going to execute us? I plead for mercy, Beauty and Child.’

Tukib laughed. ‘Pana execute you? That’s like asking a little girl if she can kill her neighbors. She has never killed anybody outside combat and assassination missions.’

‘Hey Tukib, I’m not a little girl. See, as the good Major says, I am also Arrow. I’ve no idea what Fire is.’

‘OK stop engaging in pointless discussions,’ Tahum interrupted. She turned toward Ido.

‘I’m afraid we will have to confiscate the USB drive, Major. It is rightfully ours anyway. Don’t worry, we will tell you the message, once we listen to it, free of charge.’

Lili woke up at 6 am. Here tabcom was ringing in the encrypted DATA comband channel.

‘Sir?’

Minister Kusgan spoke tersely. ‘Government employed Maestros; and agents of DATA, Bureau of Internal Investigation, and National Intelligence Agency have been investigating the background and lives of the Palace employees that turned out to be Possessed. There was a fascinating fact. Many of them were observed to have been having interactions with people that looked like you, Lili.’

‘What?!’

‘I mean they looked like Nova Continenters. The neighbors, friends, or relatives that managed to talk with these foreigners say that they had a Cephalian accent. So I’m ordering you to Cephalia. Our Ambassador there has been instructed to receive you and give you his full cooperation.’

‘That’s, uh, good news, sir.’

‘Yeah you’ll fit right in. You’ve had missions there before, so you should be familiar with the setting.’

‘I could go there in the Shield. DATA can reimburse the costs later.’

‘Why not? You can start at once. Just keep me updated.’ He signed out.

Lili began calling the avatars, beginning with Tahum.

‘Great!’ was Tahum’s response. ‘Father’s USB drive is there.’

At 7 am, Bugsay started the Shield’s Outrigger engines. The Shield began its journey to Nova Continent, using dark energy that the avatars had gathered from the Kindred Bodhi had slain in the palace, and Pana had slain in Buhi City.

The Veteran avatars held a breakfast meeting in Café Pahuway as the Great Eastern Ocean passed them by in a series of staccato freeze frames. Tahum and Tukib recounted the events of Mission USB while they were eating breakfast around a table, mainly for Lili and Elam’s convenience. The avatars did not need to sleep and so had been quickly updated the moment Team USB arrived from the Buhi City. There were two Dark Kindred from the Buhi City Society, a Werewolf and a Succubus, who went along with them. They were housed in hotel rooms and were not invited to the meeting.

‘We brought back Ayam’s USB anyway.’ Tukib inserted it into a slot on one of the café’s computer table. An image of a man appeared. ‘Fooled you,’ it said.

‘That was Colonel Ayam, until tonight the leader of the Dark Kindred Society of Buhi City. He and scores of Eastern Islands Kindred were slain in a set up. The Offshores arrived with a hundred extra members and then transformed without warning. Pana killed all the Offshore Dark Kindred, and a score of Eastern Islanders as well by, uhm, mistake.’

‘Hey it was Tahum’s fault! She gave the order in a Mission where I was only third. Pana slay all Offshore Kindred, and the ones attacking, she said. Unfortunately by then, some of the Eastern Islanders had mounted a counter attack. Since they were also attacking, I shot them as well. Blame the commander, not the shooter.’

Tahum shrugged. ‘OK I overreacted. My fault.’

‘You can’t lay it all on command responsibility. The shooter also takes some responsibility, right?’ Elam mused. ‘Don’t get me wrong I’m not blaming Pana. Everything was so confused from what I’ve heard.’

‘You got bitten by Vampires? Wouldn’t you turn into one?’ Elam looked worried.

Tukib grinned. ‘Don’t worry. Avatars are darklings, made of pure dark quanta. Our bodies can incorporate any of the dark quanta they inject into us, similar to the way we absorb their auras. It’s just the opposite; as darklings we can infect the Possessed and the Abominations if we wanted to. The danger for us from a feeding vampire is that we get wounded, and we can die from those wounds. Those vampires tore open our carotid arteries and we could have bled to death. We managed to heal because we got to absorb the auras of scores of them, starting with the ones that were feeding on us.’

‘Why are most Dark Kindred Vampires and Werewolves?’

‘Because those are the popular cultural images of monsters since the Great Dark Shift era. Before that, there were other monsters such as the Kapre you saw in the bank. That was quite an Ancient fellow, from a pre-Shift era. When a person is injected dark quanta, she takes the form of her stereotypical or preferred image of a monster.’

Tahum continued. ‘At any rate, the Eastern Islands Societies have offered to escort us to Cephalia, the large Nation that encompasses most of Nova Continent Norte. Father’s USB was deposited in Cephalia Capital Bank, main branch. Our two escorts have the authority to take the USB from its safety deposit box.’

‘Pana just killed Eastern Islands Dark Kindred. Why are they still friendly?’

‘Violent death is part of Dark Kindred culture. Murder, thievery, insubordination, and almost any other crime is punished by death, meted out by a senior or superior in their rigidly structured societies where everyone knows her place in the pecking order. Moreover, they honor the same ancient Code of Challenge that darklings adhere to. Thus duels are commonplace. The usual way they rise through their Society’s hierarchy is by Challenging rivals of similar rank. A rival can concede immediately, and the physical battle is cancelled. If not, a physical fight occurs, the winner rising in the ranks, and the loser dying,’ Oisa explained. ‘From what I can recall of the Dark War, they seemed to have adopted such a societal system from their darkling overlords.’

‘Violent battles and wars also occur more frequently, such as the one that just happened.’ Tukib added. ‘When one perishes in such a battle, for them it’s like military KIA. The Eastern Islanders that Pana slew are considered acceptable friendly fire casualties. Pana in fact came to their aid and saved them.’

‘There’s no need to be surprised, Elam,’ Tahum said. ‘It’s actually the same for combat avatars. Most modern combat avatars don’t last three battle missions. As far as we know, during the Great Dark War more than 99% of all combat avatars ever made got KIA. Pana, lucky girl that she is, may have been the only Gisaligan to survive.’

Lili interrupted the conversation. ‘We digress. I am being sent to Cephalia in order to find out how the Maranhig Possessed there are turning up in Alogostan. That means I have to question the Cephalian National Kindred Society. While we are there, we might as well try to recover our USB. Ido has agreed to help us in this secondary task, and our escorts have been instructed to arrange a friendly meeting with Sun and Sky emissaries and the Cephalian Dark Kindred. Now who’s going? I strongly suggest just around a handful, so they won’t find us intimidating.’

‘The obvious choice would be Tahum, Tukib, and Pana; they performed well in Mission Tandayag in Sanag River,’ Bodhi opined. ‘However, there could be dissident elements among the Cephalians that may see us as hostile. How about us Wings? Our presence should be enough to deter any hanky-panky.’

‘And also end up intimidating them,’ Tahum interjected. ‘If we are to glean any information, it’s best that they see us as equal partners and remain relaxed. Hell, even High Demon Kings grew nervous when you were around, Bodhi.’

‘OK, good point,’ Bodhi conceded.

‘Why didn’t Colonel Ido recognize Pana? He is obviously an Ancient himself.’

‘I reckon it’ just Psychological blindness,’ Tenloa opined. ‘Their remembered image of Pana was that of an extremely lethal combat avatar covered in a beautiful golden armor who was nearly always shooting them down a flame-tipped arrow. Would anyone honestly associate such a resplendent killer demigoddess with a consenting tube topped doll on robotic auto mode?’

‘I’m going but on the condition that I won’t play the hapless damsel in distress anymore,’ the referred to killer demigoddess declared. ‘Heck, if Tahum wasn’t able to command me back to my human mode, that witch of a bloodsucker would have siphoned me dead and dry.’

‘How about me?’ Bantay asked. ‘Nothing much to do as humans have stopped visiting the Shield. My job was mainly to escort visitors who wanted to see Father.’

‘Bad idea,’ Lupad declared. ‘You’re tall, large, and all muscle, Bantay. You stand out whenever you get out of the Shield, and the Kindred will be wary of you. But not of a slim youth that I resemble. I’m going instead.’

‘Looks like a nice team for Mission Emissaries. That’s settled then,’ Lili declared.

‘How about your passports? Surely Cephalian officials will require them for you to enter?’

Lili spoke up. ‘I was born in Cephalia, and DATA has found out that my retinal scan and birth name of Labog is still listed in the Cephalian National Survey Office. Under Cephalian law, I’m a Cephalian citizen peculiar as it seems after all this time. In any case, I also have visas to practically every Nation in Tera, as part of my job. Since I carry the Sun and Sky Seal, the avatars can go with me legally through Cephalian immigration. I’ve already arranged with the Alogostani embassy to pick us up in the Cephalia National Port.’

‘How about our Eastern Islander escorts?’

‘You mean we’re still in international waters?’ Elam inquired.

Sugo looked puzzled. ‘I don’t know how it is in you Null World Elam, but this whole world is under the jurisdiction of the WDF. Although all humans have National citizenship, everyone is also an effective citizen of Tera under one governing body, the WDF. By international waters, you must mean WDF administered seas, where WDF default rules prevail.’

They finished breakfast. In the proficient manner of avatars, Tahum, Tukib, Pana, and Lupad stood up and held hands with Aya. She morphed into a woman in her 30s. Then they held hands with Pana. Nothing happened to her.

Elam did a double take. ‘What happened? Aya looks like the librarian in a school somewhere in my Null World.’

‘We transferred the Dark Energy of more than a hundred Maranhig Possessed into Aya,’ Tahum explained. ‘We have imprinted a Deceptive Disguise on her. Only on the Wings, and some combat avatars can it be done ASAP, without any complex ritual, and also some of the Natural Darklings and Dark Kindred.’

‘Uh, did Aya take the form of some dead teacher?’

‘Oh, no,’ Aya herself answered. ‘It’s a General Disguise. My exterior is the avatars’ idealization of how a female school librarian should look like. I can also kill someone and take her form in a Specific Disguise, but don’t worry I won’t do that. My attributes are now those of an ordinary human’s, but I can transform at will back into my real Winged self anytime.’

‘You did the same to Pana. Yet she looks the same.’

‘We just infused her with a score of auras. That was all left. She has taken on a watered down version of the Deceptive Disguise,’ Tukib explained. ‘It’s called the Glamour Make-up. It makes Pana feel harmless, nothing like the combat avatar she truly is. The Kindred won’t ever associate her with Fire and Arrow. While on this Glamour, she is almost human, although she still retains some of her superior reflexes and strength.’

Lili, Tahum, Tukib, Pana, Lupad, Aya, and Elam proceeded to one of the Outriggers where they boarded the Tulingan lifeboat-ferry. They were shortly joined by the two Eastern Islands Kindred, guided by Henloa, Tenloa, Limpyoha, and Bantay.

Tenloa introduced them. ‘These our Maranhig escorts Werewolf Abtic and Succubus Lingaw.’

At the Port main building, Cephalian officials took Elam’s Anachronista ID, verified it on a table computer, and waved him through. Lili, Abtic, and Lingaw had to pass through the Cephalian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office of Immigration inside the National Port, while the avatars waited in the arrivals’ section. When the Immigration officers found out they had Alogostani Passports, they were led to separate cubicles for closed interviews.

Lili looked around. The cubicle had a table computer in the middle and a retinal scanner on the back wall. ‘Look into the scanner,’ the Immigration officer instructed in Esperanto.’ Lili did.

The officer looked at the retinal scan result on the computer table. It registered a positive for a citizen ‘Labog.’ She gave Lili a quizzical look. ‘What’s your name and your business here?’ The officer had switched languages to Cephalian.

‘Labog. I came in order to tour Cephalia National Kindred Ghetto City, in order to further my knowledge as a Maestra.’

‘That’s right. Why the Alogostani passport?’

‘I’ve been living in Alogostan for a long time, and have acquired its citizenship when I joined the Alogostani Polytemple as a child.’

The officer visibly relaxed. ‘My mother is a Polytemplist herself, although the rest of my family are Pantheonists. My name is Usisa. Do you know you’re a Cephalian citizen by law?’

‘Uhm, please enlighten me. As I’ve said I’ve been in Alogostan for some time now, but I sometimes get homesick and pay a visit.’ Lili played along her ignorant expatriate cover.

‘According to Cephalian law, you’re an automatic Cephalian citizen if: one, you were born in Cephalia and spent the first seven years of your life here; two, you were born to at least one Cephalian parent and you speak perfect accentless Cephalian.’ According to your profiles in both the National Survey Office and Foreign Affairs, you were born in Cephalia to a Cephalian mother, father unknown, and emigrated abroad at an unknown age. At the very least, the second criterion makes you a Cephalian citizen. You’re free to enter anytime without visa.’

‘Oh. Thank you, madame Usisa.’

‘You’re a Maestra? Why do you have two Seals? Never seen two on a Maestra before.’

‘It’s a long story but the WDF knows about it; and begging your pardon in advance you’ll have to ask them for that info. I’m not authorized to talk about it.’

‘It’s alright, we don’t pry into WDF or MDE affairs in Immigration. May I confirm if those are your avatars outside, Maestra Labog?’’

‘Yes. Don’t worry; they’re harmless, well behaved, and well trained.’

‘OK. I’m sorry for all this hassle, Maestra, but we’re under strict orders to profile and check closely any Alogostani and Unitemplist who arrives. Alogostan has been hit by a spate of terrorist attacks in the past year. We have to make sure none of those elements get into our Motherland. Cephalia has experienced three terror attacks this year, and the suspects were Alogostani Unitemplists or their converts.’

‘Well, no.’

‘I’ll make you one right now. We’re under instructions to extend all assistance to legitimate Cephalian expatriates.’

A videocam on the wall took Lili’s picture. The officer punched on a few buttons on the table computer. A modern printer at the back of the cubicle whirred to life. It ejected out an ID. At the top was the title Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cephalia, the name ‘Labog,’ and the officer’s name, Officer Grade 4 Usisa. She signed it and gave it to Lili.

‘Welcome home to Cephalia, Maestra Labog.’

Lili, Abtic, and Lingaw rejoined the avatars in the arrivals’ section. They proceeded to a café. Lili briefed them on the details of her plan.

‘I will be carrying out my mission for DATA, while you will be retrieving the USB drive which I believe is a relatively straightforward task barring unexpected events. So you will proceed to Ghetto City while I stay behind in Capital City where I will be talking with local DATA assets in order to glean info on possible routes through which Cephalian kindred are getting into Alogostan. I shall be keeping in touch via tabcom. Abtic and Lingaw have been there before and should know the way. Outside this port, an Embassy van is waiting. We board it, go to the Alogostani Embassy, pay a courtesy call to the Ambassador, and proceed with our missions.’

They proceeded outside the Port. There a van from the Alogostani Embassy with a reticent driver waited for them.

‘That’s strange,’ Abtic the Maranhig Werewolf mused. The van was driving them to the Embassy. ‘Last time I was here in Cephalia, Immigration took an hour to investigate me. Now it took like nothing.’ Lili kept quiet.

Elam was gazing outside his window. ‘Nice scenery for a change. What happened to all those squatter’s shanties that fill up the coastal road outside Buhi City Port? Those are apartment buildings.’

One of the Eastern Islands Kindred, the beautiful Maranhig Succubus named Lingaw, replied ‘The Cephalian Government used Kindred labor to build those low cost modular apartment buildings. Slave labor and the fact that there is a Trough Region where dark energy is easily accessible north of Cephalia’s Capital City is the basis for Cephalia’s wealth.’

‘Sometimes the Kindred do rebel,’ Lili said. ‘Then the State clamps down on them, hiring Bounty Hunter Maestros by the hundreds to crop them. Moreover the occasional historical civil strife sometimes turns ugly for the Kindred when rival human parties set them up as scapegoats. A real massacre could ensue; but traditionally Kindred have found a way out. They simply take boats to the Eastern Islands Far Islets. Sayabi culture has always been tolerant of foreign people, and they readily take them in.’

‘How do these refugee babies acquire Alogostani citizenship?’ Elam wondered out loud.

‘Simple,’ Lili answered. ‘Any pre-pubertal child inducted under a registered chapter of the Alogostani Polytemple inside the National boundaries of Alogostan automatically becomes an Alogostani citizen. That’s how I acquired my Alogostani citizenship. The Alogostani Senate inserted that provision into the Alogostani Law of the Land during the end of the Dark War as a way to counter the missionary efforts of the expansionist Unitemple even then.’

‘That’s like making a baptismal certificate the requirement to citizenship,’ Elam remarked.

‘You mean an Induction Certificate?’

Elam frowned, confused. ‘Don’t ask me why, but it’s something from my past lives, memories of which are jumbld up in my brain.’

The Alogostani Embassy was a small three story building. The guards saluted Lili when she gave them her passport. Tahum parked the van inside part of the 1st floor that was converted into a large garage. From the garage, a guard led them to the Ambassador’s office in the second floor.

‘Welcome, Colonel Maestra Lili. I’m Ambassador Sulti.’ A heavyset middle aged man dressed in traditional ancient Alogostani apparel greeted them. ‘Hmm, it’s not often that we get a visit from a high DATA officer. If I may say so, you look quite beautiful Maestra Lili.’

Lili played along the diplomatic game. ‘Thank you, Your Honor. You look quite resplendent yourself.’

‘So how can the Embassy help you, Maestra?’

‘All that I’m allowed to say is that we are on the track of a terrorist ring that may have been involved in the recent attack on the Presidential Palace. My team here is going to do the investigation incognito. I’ll be staying in a nearby hotel and call in local DATA assets. I may ask for logistical support now and then; however since I have access to DATA funds I won’t be much of a bother, Ambassador. No one in the Embassy needs to know, except you of course.’

After several more minutes of diplomatic chitchat, the Mission Emissaries team went on to a hotel were Lili dropped off. Then they proceeded to National Kindred Ghetto City. It was a separate city located fifty kilometers further up the coast and was in continuity with the Trough Region mines.

It was not possible to clearly distinguish where the suburbs of Capital City ended and Ghetto City began. Lingaw called their attention.

‘See? The Kindred housing is mostly comprised of modular type apartments like those in the Port area, but arranged in triangular blocks. Abtic and I have been here before. We’re already inside it. In ancient times, the border had a fence and military outposts of the Cephalian Ministry of Parahuman Affairs; but nowadays, the Government just lets the Cephalian Kindred govern and police themselves, with minimal interference.’

‘It’s clean. Affluent even. I thought it would look like a squatter’s slum area back in Eastern Islands,’ Elam observed. The avatars and Kindred just looked at him, baffled. [I must have a different concept of a ghetto from my Null World.]

They stopped at a relatively large modern looking two story house shaped like a triangle and that filled up a triangular lot. On top of its large entrance was the signboard ‘Cephalian National Kindred Society Headquarters.’ The avatars could sense excess dark energy inside. In a small lawn in front were a dozen men and women in formal suit and ties, and dresses and blazers on a small lawn formed by the tip of one of lot’s vertices.

Elam glanced around. Most of the Eastern Islanders, both avatars and Kindred, were garbed in cargo pants, T shirts and polo shirts, sneakers and flip flops. Pana was in the micro mini and tube top that she seemed to have begun liking recently. Lupad, Tukib, and Tahum had put on cargo shorts and sando tank top. Only Aya in her teacher-like disguise was wearing a more formal below-the-knee blue skirt, yellow button shirt, blue blazer, and black heeled shoes. She looked like a more prudish version of Ihap.

A male Vampire in his mid teens, dressed in a traditional academic gown, addressed them in Esperanto. ‘I am Dawat. I am the President of the Cephalian National Kindred Society. These ladies and gentlemen with me comprise the High Council of the Society. On behalf of our Kin, we welcome you.’

Elam stared at him. Before he could react to Dawat’s appearance, Pana beat him to the punch. ‘Boy, but you look like a boy!’

‘Pina!’ Tahum admonished. She had modified Pana’s name a little as part of her cover. ‘The President is known to be over 400 years old.’

Dawat smiled, amused. ‘Yes of course. How old are you, child?’

Pana was about to retort, and then stopped. ‘May I apologize for behaving out of protocol.’

Dawat raised his eyebrows. ‘I haven’t heard that style of apology since the Great Dark War. In any case, I do not mean to pry into your past. Come let’s go inside.’

They entered the house. To avatar and Kindred senses, the inside was shimmering with Dark Energy. To Elam it resembled the lobby of a small modern hotel.

There was a long table and chairs. They took their seats. A dozen huge men and lithe women strolled around the area, obviously acting as guards. One seven foot brutish looking guard caught Elam gaping at him in fascination. He mimed a snarl, showing rows of sharp teeth. Elam hurriedly looked away.

‘The ladies and gentlemen before you comprise the High Council of the Cephalian National Kindred Society. We form the local government of National Kindred Ghetto City, and supervise all the other Kindred societies in Cephalia. This is Secretary Balosa and Treasurer Manggad.’ Two young women across the table apparently in their 20s nodded at the visitors, but did not bow. Dawat paused, looking at them.

Tahum gave a bow. ‘I am Matahum, I am the designated first officer of this group.’ The rest of Mission Emissaries gave a short introduction of themselves, giving slightly modified names. Elam identified himself as Ambot. ‘These two are Abtic and Lingaw, representatives of Buhi City’s Kindred. They are authorized to take our Father’s USB drive.’

Aya raised her hand. ‘If I may ask the Guru, why was Ayam so trusting of you? It’s unusual behavior for Dark Kindred.’

‘That’s because Ayam and I are dark quantum brothers. Balosa and Manggad are our dark sisters. Most of this Council are. We had the same parent Demon King, a Regent.’

Elam peeked at Pana. [Yikes, you slew their Demon Maker! Lucky you have a Glamour Make-up on, or we could have lost all goodwill.] She was sitting still and keeping a straight face.

‘At any rate, let’s cut the chase. You don’t have to go to the bank. I have withdrawn the USB from the bank myself, and am returning it to you in good will. I trust that you will tell us of its contents.’ Dawat poked into his breast pocket and came up with Professor Duro’s USB drive. He began to reach across the table in order to give it to Tahum.

Four things happened at once. The Dark Energy field around them flashed so bright that even Elam saw it momentarily, black light flashing like an inverse camera bulb going off. The snarling guard who had scared Elam drew out a 9 mm pistol and shot Dawat at the back of the head. Manggad snatched the USB drive as Dawat collapsed. He began to crumble into ash. The rest of the guards drew out their pistols and submachine guns.

Manggad turned to the emissaries. ‘That was a Form Trap spell. It takes a lot of dark energy but this part of the Ghetto lies on the Tela Trough, and we can easily access it. It traps us into our present Aspects and Forms. None of’ us can vamp or wolf or troll up, but we have guns pointed at you, so don’t try anything fancy.’

‘Poor Dawat was as archaic in his attitude as the robes he wore, and many of us, even his blood kin, have been hoping for a change in leadership. We are keeping the USB drive. We will try to crack it.’

Cephalian Kindred confiscated their tabcoms and escorted them to the best hotel in the City, Namit Hotel. They were checked in the suite room, the tab being shouldered by the National Kindred Society. Before they left, their Cephalian Kindred escorts returned their tabcoms. Tahum immediately called up Lili via the suite’s table computer, explaining their situation.

The holographic image of Lili cursed on top of the table computer. ‘@#$%. There’s nothing we can do. The National Kindred Society is also the local government of the City. So far DATA assets here in Capital City have not given me any useful info, so I’m going over there. You might as well stay there until tomorrow when they will break the Form Trap. We can use the time collecting intel.’

They watched as Lili’s holographic image faded. ‘I suggest that we mingle with the local population in a public canteen, or Temple, if we are to collect intel,’ Abtic the Werewolf suggested.

‘Nice idea,’ Lupad seconded. With the proficiency of avatars, they walked out of the suite and exited the hotel, with Elam, Abtic, and Lingaw tagging along.

‘Do avatars always act so promptly? This is the first time we’ve actually mingled with them.’ Lingaw questioned Elam.

‘Yes. Once every one of them in a group sees that an idea is good, they usually act on it without any further dilly dallying. They’re like a computer that has calculated the nearest short cut through a maze. Off they go without further ado.’

They spotted a seedy-looking nightclub that seemed to be doubling as a public eatery during the day next block from their hotel. They filled their plates with mashed potato and corn, fried chicken, and assorted viands selected from a row of trays on a long table. Tukib paid the tank topped, tight jeaned pretty cashier at the end of the row with a Bugu coin from their PF recently given by the Alogostan Office of the President. It showed ‘1000 pesos’ on the obverse side and ‘Alogostan 450 D.O.’ on the reverse side. The cashier gave them three Bugu coins that showed ‘100 pesos’ on the obverse side and ‘Cephalia 447 D.O.’ on the reverse side.

Lupad noticed Elam looking at the coins. He opened his mouth, but Elam stopped him. ‘Yes, yes, I know. Bugu coins are both currency for the world wide economy and fuel for Tera’s Reactor Plants. DO means year of De-occurrence. The coins we received were minted by the Cephalian Government 447 years after the De-occurrence of the Anachronista Maestros.’

‘Ask for an official receipt,’ Tahum reminded Tukib. ‘The Cephalian Kindred has promised to refund all our costs for the next 24 hours.’

‘No rice?’ Elam complained.

‘Cephalians eat potato, corn, and bread’ Aya replied. ‘They’re not fond of fish or seafood either.’

Lingaw, the Succuboid Humanoid Possessed, spotted a group of rough looking men having beer by a table in the cafeteria’s backroom, which obviously was functioning as a karaoke club. Through the open entrance, they could see a karaoke machine, a bar, and private VIP stalls. She turned toward Tahum. ‘You’re the avatar equivalent of a Succubus aren’t you? Better come with me. Drunken men with loose ladies talk a lot.’

Next she bowed a little at Pana. ‘Begging your pardon, Beauty and Child. The Aspect you have taken on now is also that of a Succubus. Would you like to come with us?’ The surprised Pana nodded her head. The three walked over to the men, leaving Elam, Tukib, Lupad, and Abtic standing by themselves.

Lupad was holding his head askew in puzzlement. ‘Pana a succubus? Our memories must really be whacked.’ He sighed and sat by a nearby table. ‘OK let’s eat by ourselves. Nothing much to do while the ladies try to glean information.’

It wasn’t only the girls that tried to glean intel. Halfway through their meal, Tukib began to exchange smiles with a young woman dressed in a college uniform, eating by herself. ‘You three can eat by yourselves. I’m going over to that smiling cutie.’ He went over with his tray to the girl’s table.

Lupad rolled up his eyes. ‘Hah. I knew this would happen. Abtic, could you brief Elam and I about this place while we are being wallflowers? You Kindred seem to know a lot about this place.’

‘Of course, every Kindred anywhere in Tera knows about Nova Continent. This is where we take vacations whenever Bounty Hunts heat up in Antigua Continent. Hmm, where do I start?’

‘If what they were looking for was cooperative behavior, it didn’t work. After De-occurrence, the native Teran Maestros initiated a massacre of the Kindred, and confined the survivors in Ghettoes. In Nova Continent Nations, they were often used as slave labor. However, as centuries passed darkling characteristics attenuated among the Kindred.’

‘Yeah, Lili explained that to me. The children of two humans each approximately 50% darkling would not be 50% darkling like their parents, but on average only 25%. Their grandchildren would only be 12.5% darkling, and so on,’ Elam said.

‘Right. So as time passed by, the perception that Kindred and Hybrids were threats also faded. In Nova Continent where they have legal status thanks to old Anachronista laws, they acquired more rights, resulting in a weird set of rules for them. In Cephalia and most Nova Nations, Kindred have the right to property anywhere in the Nation, but have to reside in a Ghetto. Kindred have the right to run for local public office or be appointed therein, but can’t vote. National Kindred Ghetto City, where we are in, has a local government that is run by Kindred in the Cephalian National Kindred Society High Council. In practice, the members of the Council choose their successors. Alternatively, succession can also occur through group assassination, since an assassination by a less than 5 kindred is regarded as murder, or by the Code of Challenge of the darklings. That if a darkling challenges another of similar rank, the challenge has to be met. The Cephalian Ministry of Parahumans has for the past 300 years simply appointed those that have assassinated or outdueled the previous Office holders.’

Abtic continued. ‘At any rate, after more than 400 years, there are far fewer powerful Kindred left. Most are survivors from the Dark War. If you might have noticed, most of the National High Council are. Here in Ghetto City, the majority of people are humans, who just happened to have Hybrid parents who reside here. I mean, you aren’t going to leave the house and property that you inherit from your parents just like that, would you? There are also Hybrids left of course. We call them the Nasipak, those with split double nature. They’re free to go anywhere in Cephalia but have to reside in a Kindred Ghetto.’

‘What if you’re a Hybrid born outside the Kindred Ghettos, to humans who happened to have Hybrid ancestry?’

‘Government employed Maestros routinely test all babies born in Medicare accredited hospitals and clinics in Nova Nations. Any baby found to have 20% or more darkling character is classified as Hybrid, and would be forcibly taken by the State, and transferred to an accredited orphanage in a Ghetto upon reaching the age of five.’

‘If you remember my old lecture on Lili, her parents were probably from Nova Continent,’ Lupad interposed. ‘Many Hybrid or Possessed parents that want their child to live free of the Ghettos or the Bounty Hunts in the Central Continent leave them in the Alogostani Far Islets, where the surviving Sayabis are known to have a culture tolerant of the Nasipak. Layo Island in particular exports fish to and imports a lot of finished products from Nova Nations, and it’s common to see Hybrid Nova Continenters there on business trips. It’s easy enough for them to leave toddlers and babies behind.’

‘Are the Kindred still used as slave labor in the mines?’

Abtic again took over. ‘Strictly speaking, not anymore. It’s now forced cheap labor. They are paid minimum wage. It’s dangerous work though; there are Tela clefts scattered all over the mine tunnels. Every year people disappear when they take a wrong turn in a tunnel. They descend into the mines with DarkAI objects called Dark Bullions that are essentially giant Bugu coins, each about the size of a watermelon. They plug these into concentrations of Dark Energy that run in the tunnels and walls like veins of precious metal, collecting them. These are eventually transported to the Reactor Plants. Untrained non MDE humans can’t locate these veins, and so the Government makes it a requirement that all Kindred- whether Hybrid, Abomination, or Possessed- serve ten years in the mines.’

‘May you find bliss,’ Sayloha greeted them in Esperanto, tapping her palm to her heart. Abtic and Lingaw looked at her curiously; they bowed to her instead. Elam noticed a gray scarf around her neck.

‘Uh, are you Hybrid?’ Elam asked.

Sayloha laughed. ‘Oh no. My parents were. They disappeared in the mines ten years ago. Fortunately, as I explained to Tukib here, Path to Paradise Charities took me in and paid for my schooling.’

Tukib hesitated. ‘Sayloha has invited us to her Temple’s Esperanto service. It starts in 15 minutes.’

Lupad, Abtic, and Elam looked at each other. Lupad rose up. ‘We better get going then.’ Sayloha, Tukib, and Lupad left the canteen, Abtic and Elam trailing along. Tukib texted in his tabcom informing Tahum and Lili where they were going.

As they exited the canteen, Sayloha gave an extra sandwich from her lunch to a beggar by the roadside.

The small temple was just next block. An usher greeted them at the foyer. ‘Welcome to Path to Paradise. He led them to an all male section in the front half of an auditorium style hall. At the back was an all-female section. They had arrived just in time as the Temple’s Cleric, dressed in white robes, walked up the stage. The whole audience burst into a rousing song, about the goodness they would find in paradise for living a righteous life.

There wasn’t much ritual involved in the Temple service. The Cleric came up with long lectures, interspersed by singing, exhorting his audience to a life of charity and honesty, the twin Hallmarks to the Path to Paradise. After an hour, the service finished, with the Cleric commanding them never to deceive people out of their money and to do one helpful or charitable work for the day, even just giving a peso to a beggar, or to the Temple itself.

People came up to them in the foyer as they left, talking with them in a friendly manner and asking them to keep on attending. Most of the worshippers passed by donation boxes on the foyer’s walls and dropped in cash and checks, not Bugu coins. There were free sandwiches and fruit juice at the exit for those that had gotten hungry. No one asked them for money. At the exit, pretty usherettes stamped their palms with red ink.

‘It’s today’s date and time, proving that you’ve attended temple service for the day. It fades quickly when you wash your hands,’ Sayloha explained.

They walked over to a small coffeehouse further up the road, upon Tukib’s insistence. Sayloha clung to Tukib’s arm, but kept on glancing at Elam. Elam, already used to being gawked at for looking exotic, smiled back at her.

Over cups of coffee, Elam remarked ‘Uh, excuse me Sayloha, but you didn’t, hmm, donate; while everyone else did.’

Sayloha giggled. ‘I did give my sandwich to that beggar didn’t I. Then bringing you in the temple was also a donation. Leading people into the Path to Paradise is the greatest work I can do for my Temple.’

‘That and slaying demons.’ Elam looked up in surprise as Lili took as seat. She was speaking in Sinayabi. She was in her sexy disguise, dressed like Pana, in miniskirt and tube top. A large and broad bracelet on her right forearm concealed her Seals. The Tamawo DATA Colonel and Maestra holder of the Sun and Sky Seal appeared no older than Sayloha.

‘Oh there you are, thought you would never come,’ Tahum told Lili.

‘I arrived half an hour ago, in the Bullet Train, but spent them with the girls, talking to those guys you left in the eatery. One of them is a small time drug dealer. They have info about a spate of disappearances, mostly drug addicts and pushers, petty thieves, pickpockets, beggars, street bums, and assorted scum around Cephalia, usually near Kindred Ghettoes. The authorities don’t care of course, because most of them are criminals.’

Then she turned toward Sayloha. She spoke in Esperanto.

‘May you find bliss in the demon-free Paradise that the Tela has pledged to the righteously honest and gracious, who follow the One Tome without question, who lead others to the Path and slay the demons of Hell.’ Lili tapped her heart with her open palm. ‘I am Labay of the Iladistani National Unitemple.’

’Lili, what the f__k was that between you and Sayloha?’ They were back in their suite in Namit Hotel.

‘I recited the first paragraph of the Unitemple’s One Tome, contractions of which are standard greetings for Unitemplists. It summarizes what you must do to get into paradise. Sayloha is a devotee of the Unitemple. There are billions like her all over Tera. Nothing unusual, Elam.’

‘OK, but she’s nice and kind! You’ve always described the Unitemple in terms of terrorism.’

Lili sighed. ‘I used to wear that gray scarf, too. Do you recall where you’ve seen one, pangga?’

Elam stopped. An image of a man plunging his knife into the heart of a girl on a dark island flashed in his mind. The girl wore a gray scarf.

‘OK, I see that you now remember Diha Island. Sayloha was a child bride of the Unitemple. In exchange for her services to the male devotees, she probably was given free board and lodging and education by her particular sect. As with many child brides rescued from a life of poverty and uncertainty, she has sincerely converted and is obviously a devotee herself. Maybe I would have turned out to be another Sayloha years ago, a contented and happy follower of the Unitemple, except that my husband turned out to be a professional assassin who used his brides for wet work and playthings for his buddies.’

‘I don’t, uh, get it,’ Elam stuttered.

‘Most Unitemplists are normal human beings, who live normal lives, with normal families, and normal aspirations. Individually, they can be as good or as bad as Polytemplists or Pantheonists. Their devotees though exhibit certain differences. Have you ever met a Polytemplist, like most Alogostanis, or an agnostic, like most of the avatars and myself, who was so committed to converting you to her Temple?’

Elam thought for a moment. ‘No.’

‘Unlike the numerous and varied writings of the Polytemplist sages, the Unitemple only has one holy book, the One Tome of the One Temple. A third of it is written like a law book, a legal code. It specifies wrong actions, and orders specific punishments for them, such as whipping, dismemberment, or hanging. The ultimate punishment is a fiery demonic hell, a real place in the Tela. For Sayloha, straying outside her Path leads to Hell, to which every unbeliever she meets will also go to. I think she likes you. She does not want you to go to a burning place in the Tela and be tormented by demons forever. In addition for Sayloha, Paradise is a real place somewhere in the Tela, with houses of the finest hardwood and lakes of sweet milk, where trees grow large fruits containing the most delicious of packed meals, grasses have perfumes that gives you a perpetual high without the addiction, and attendants can pleasure you like libidinous demigods. If her sect eventually requires her to do a terrorist act in order to save the world from going to the demons or to convert humanity to Unitemplism, I think she will, regardless of her inherent kindness as an individual. She’s quite a nice girl, truly, but she won’t let that get in the way of her core beliefs and perceived duty.’

‘One can say the same thing of you, Lili,’ Elam pointed out.

Lili chortled. ‘Quite true! We both make a stand. So where do you think we differ?

‘You don’t divide people into believers and unbelievers, nor base your beliefs on immutable religious doctrines.’

‘Hmm, we can discuss this topic during dinner. Sayloha has invited us to another Temple service at 6 pm. Do we go or not?’

‘Let’s go. We can get more intel about this place,’ Tukib opined.

They spent the rest of the afternoon watching Esperanto channels on their TV.

At 5 minutes before 6, Sayloha met them outside the temple. ‘I forgot to tell you that this service will be conducted in Cephalian. It’s a special one held for local indigents and, hmm, those with unsavory reputations.’

Lingaw raised her eyebrows. ‘You mean those like me and Abtic?’

A different cleric conducted the service. The Eastern Islanders could not comprehend the Cephalian language, except for Lili, but thankfully it lasted only 30 minutes. They maintained a polite straight face all throughout.

In the temple’s foyer, there was the usual table of sandwiches and fruit juice. Some of the attendees in tattered clothes appeared quite hungry, as they gobbled up one sandwich after another. Ushers and usherettes went about giving out clothes to them.

‘Most mainline Unitemples have longer more ritualistic services, and don’t give out free food and clothes,’ Lili noted.

‘Our sect is somewhat more fervent than most. The congregation donated those clothes, as part of our charity work,’ Sayloha explained. She was holding a sandwich. She gave it to Elam.

‘Elam, I’m curious. Your appearance is somewhat strange, hmm, quite exotic. Please don’t feel offended; you’re actually good-looking in your own way.’

‘Oh, I just come from a far-away place.’

‘In Antigua Continent?’

‘Maybe.’

As Elam obviously did not want to give more info about himself, Sayloha changed topics. ‘Well what did you think of tonight’s service?’

‘Uh, unfortunately Sayloha, I could not understand most of it.’

‘Oh of course, you don’t understand Cephalian. The cleric was talking about the hallmarks of the Path, charity and honesty; and how to get into it for a sure entry into Paradise.’

Lili came up to them. She glanced at Sayloha.

‘That gray scarf, you were, uh, married?’

‘Oh yes. I wed myself to temple devotees willingly and happily 30 times. I am now 20, no longer married. I work in this temple in a daily 4 hour shift, five days out of seven, as an usherette, janitress, and laundrywoman for a salary, and have belatedly gone on to college. I’ve decided to stop marrying since I can now support myself. Besides the male devotees prefer the younger converts. Aside from my job, which isn’t really that difficult since we have vacuum cleaners and laundry machines, I am a founder and active member of an activist organization. Most of my time nowadays is actually spent in school and on my organization.’ Elam did not quite know how to reply, and so just smiled at her, as what the avatars were always wont to do.

They went to the table and ate sandwiches. Sayloha stuck with Elam, trying to explain to him the tenets of her sect. Lili joined the group of indigents, seemingly taking an interest in how fast they could wolf down their sandwiches. After nearly half an hour of chatting, they exited; and received the usual date and time stamp on the palm.

‘Ow.’ Elam nearly yelped in surprise. It felt like a tiny pin prick this time around. He looked at his palm. No blood, just an ink mark that stated the date and time of the service.

‘Hope to see you in tomorrow’s service. We can keep in contact by tabcom.’ Sayloha told them as they exited the temple.

‘Sure we’ll attend temple service,’ Tahum promised diplomatically.

As they walked away from the temple, Elam glanced back. Sayloha was by the entrance. She smiled and waved at him.

Once they were out of sight, the avatars’ pace quickened up. They breezed straight to their suite in Namit Hotel, as silent as a draft in the night. Elam found himself race walking I order to catch up.

‘Damn!’ Lili exploded once they had closed the door. ‘We’ll have to exorcise ourselves!’

‘Huh?’ Elam was utterly confused.

Lupad explained the situation. ‘That last palm stamp carried a microscopic needle that injected us with dark quanta.’

‘What!’ Elam blurted out. ‘I’m bitten by a vampire?’

Tahum tousled his hair. ‘Worse, a Demon King, although how they got one befuddles my mind. It must still be alive somewhere because its quanta degrade within a day outside its body. Don’t worry, Maestra Lili can exorcise the dark quanta out of you quickly while still early.’

‘I can exorcise most of you and myself right now. Our own dark quanta are resisting the foreign injection. She bared her forearm. Her two Seals glowed. ‘There! I’ve exorcised myself.’

‘That was quick,’ Elam noted.

‘What did you expect migo? Lili is a Maestra,’ Pana said.

‘It’s harder, since you don’t have a Kindred’s or avatar’s natural resistance. My Seals need an infusion of dark energy in order to exorcise you. The dark quanta are from a Regent, able to infect any lower Dan or Kindred, and harder to exorcise out of a human.’

Pana patted him on the shoulder. ‘Aya and I, in our Disguises, didn’t even know we got infected. Don’t worry, Elam. It will take about four days for the dark quanta to kill us and resurrect us as Maranhig Possessed. Unless you get killed before then in a manner that leaves your brain anatomically undamaged, in which case you’ll rise up from the dead earlier.’

Elam blanched.

‘Stop scaring the s__t out of him, Pana,’ Aya scolded her.

Pana’s face reddened. ‘I’m sorry Elam. It should not be a problem for us to obtain the dark energy for Lili to exorcise us.’

Elam was hardly relieved. ‘How about you avatars? You were unaffected by the bites vampires gave you at the warehouse weren’t you?’

Lupad gestured at Tahum and Tukib. ‘We were already in our natural avatar forms, not Form Locked in some Disguise, and as darklings we outrank the Maranhig; and so the foreign dark quanta were burned off immediately when they entered our bodies. No need to exorcise us then in the Buhi City ambush, because we weren’t infected in the first place.’

Lili again took over the explanation.

‘Aya and Pana are Form Locked in Deceptive and Glamour Disguises. They can be infected and are as difficult to exorcise as the ordinary humans they are mimicking. However, once they are Unlocked by the Kindred Council, they can immediately slough off their Disguises and assume true avatar nature. The general rule is that you can eliminate infecting dark quanta from a darkling that you outrank or are equal to. In other words, a lower Dan darkling cannot successfully possess a stronger or approximately equal Dan, because its infecting dark quanta cannot overwhelm the component quanta of the host. Pana is a Gisaligan; she outranks or is at par with all darklings except the High Demon Kings. Aya as an Arch outranks them all except for the legendary Demon Emperors of old to which she is at par. Their active dark quanta will quickly burn off the foreign quanta, which came from a Regent.’

‘What if 4 days pass and they are still in their Form Locked Deceptive Disguises?’

Lili frowned. ‘I don’t believe they taught us that in the MDE courses.’

Abtic and Lingaw were looking at each other. The latter cleared her throat. ‘Kindred legends tell of undead angels during the Great Dark War. Mythological creatures with the form and power of Winged avatars, yet fighting for the darkling army.’

‘Oh they’re quite real. Or were real. I slew at least three myself. They were like High Demon Kings, but had our form,’ Aya affirmed.

Elam was knotting his brows. ‘Aya? Please don’t turn into one! What if the possession becomes permanent?’

‘I hope not. A maranhig undead Arch Wing would have the power of the Demon Emperors of yore and can destroy or enslave all of humanity in this world if not stopped.’

Aya paused, looking at the avatars quite seriously.

Tahum was calling up the Cephalian National Kindred Society High Council. She went straight to the point, that Ayoha the librarian was actually Aya, one of the Arch Wings of the Sun and Sky. ‘It’s urgent that you Unlock them. We are going to leave Cephalia immediately. You don’t have to worry about any attempt from us to recover the USB.’

Manggad’s holographic image on the computer table held out her hands as if in supplication. ‘I told you that we are going to meet tomorrow at 8 am and Unlock you. Please understand. The Form Lock spell was powered by a lot of dark energy, taken from the Tela Trough which abuts our Headquarters. It needs all 13 of the Council members who Locked it to form the Key to it. The alternative to Unlock it without a Key is to figuratively smash the Lock, and that requires three magnitudes more of dark energy than what was required to make the Lock in the first place. That’s approximately a thousand darkling auras for each person.’

‘Why are you so insistent anyway? It takes 4 days for the Infected to become permanently Possessed. I am sure we can Unlock them before then, and an MDE can perform an exorcism. If you leave now you’ll have to wait 4 days for the Lock to automatically degrade.’

Tahum pursed her lips. ‘OK, we’ll wait until tomorrow.’

‘Very well. Don’t worry. Meanwhile, I’ve notified the Ghetto police of your accusations. They are planning to send detectives later tonight to the Path to Paradise Unitemple. See you tomorrow. Signing out.’

Tahum turned to them. I think we ought to observe that police investigation. This whole Mission has the makings of a cluster@#$%. Better we know everything that’s happening around us.’

‘I noticed there’s a small café across the temple; we can sit there’ Aya suggested. ‘We can only observe though. Even if we wanted to interfere, Pana and I have lost our powers. I am all but human and Pana, with her Glamour Make-up, resembles a Hybrid more than a combat avatar.’

To the Islanders’ surprise, Sayloha was in the café, talking to another female college student similarly unformed as she was. They were on a table nearest the door and farthest from the usual internet/TV widescreen monitor that was showing a Nova Pop girl’s band. She waved for them to join them. As they entered the café, she pulled close an adjacent empty table in order to form a bigger one.

‘Come join us. This is my friend from the University of Cephalia.’

The Eastern Islanders took their seats. The avatars and Lili maintained a flat face. Elam, Abtic the Werewolf, and Lingaw the Succubus looked confused. Sayloha was evincing utterly no sign of any knowledge about the demon-tainted stamp.

‘This is Arangan. We were classmates in University of Cephalia High School, and now we’re fellow college students. She’s here on weekend vacation.’ She proceeded to introduce the Islanders.

‘I’ve been trying to convince Arangan to attend one of the services. She’s a Pantheonist.’

‘What’s a Pantheonist?’ Like Sayloha, Elam spoke in Esperanto.

Aya patted Elam on the arm. ‘Elam comes from an old Sayabi community. He does not know that most Nova Nations adhere to Pantheonism.’

‘Pantheonism is Cephalia’s state religion,’ Sayloha explained.

‘Yes, but we don’t force people to convert,’ Arangan clarified. ‘Sayloha and I are good friends, so we have no trouble discussing these things straightforwardly among ourselves. The State’s Ministry of Culture merely subsidizes registered Pantheon Pagodas as part of our pre Shift cultural tradition. Sayloha insists we have no chance of getting to paradise, whatever that is, because we worship the multiple gods and demigods of the Pantheon. On the other hand, in spite of living a life that Prudish Sects of Pantheonism say is sinfully immoral, she will go straight to paradise because she’s honest, charitable, and devoted to the Unitemple. In fact, the most wicked of sins are forgiven and the sinners go to paradise, just as long as they get into the Unitemplist path before the end of their lives.’

‘Some of your sects essentially believe the same thing,’ Sayloha pointed out. ‘If you become a devotee of a Pantheonist sect’s favorite deity, then you are certain to get reincarnated into a better life.’