‘That’s better than deporting or executing unbelievers who refuse to convert and confiscating their properties, as what Unitemplist Nations do,’ Arangan retorted. ‘Besides the Cephalian Unitemple receives foreign funding from Theocracies in Antigua Continent which allows you to set up comprehensive private insurance systems, which take the place of our Medicare and Social Security systems.’

Sayloha shrugged and turned to the Eastern Islanders. ‘If I may ask, what do you believe in?’

Tahum shrugged. ‘We’re mostly agnostics.’

Both Sayloha and Arangan looked shocked. ‘I didn’t know..’ Sayloha said.

‘Agnostics are the first to go to Hell, in both Unitemple and Pantheon theologies,’ Lili confirmed, playing her Unitemplist role.

Arangan was looking at Lili curiously. ‘If I may say so, you look Nova Continenter, rather than Alogostani.’ She turned to Elam. ‘You on the other hand are, well, quite peculiar. Uhm, no offense intended.’

‘Oh, that’s because my biological parents were from here. Elam comes from a far off place.’ Lili quickly changed topics. ‘It’s Monday tomorrow. Aren’t you girls going to find it hard to get back to your classes? National Capital City is 50 kilometers south from here.’

Sayloha laughed. ‘No Labay. I live in the compound for employees behind the temple. Arangan lives in the second floor of this café. We can go between Ghetto City and National Capital City by Bullet Train in 30 minutes. The train passes right into a terminal in the University of Cephalia. I must say my school organization in the University was one of the strongest lobbyists for the Bullet Train to Ghetto City project. The track had actually already been completed a decade ago, but some xenophobic MPs in the National Capital had blocked its opening. We had to lobby against them.’

Arangan looked in admiration at Sayloha. ‘In spite her being a religious fanatic and such a flirt and swinger, that’s one thing I admire about my friend here. She was always attending those rallies at the National Parliament with her school organization batting for better services in Ghetto City. She’s made me feel guilty that most of my family, except for Mother and Kindred relatives, live in the National Capital, away from the source of our income. I’ve joined her org 3 months ago. I’ve effectively transferred residence back to Ghetto City. Thanks to the Bullet Train, it’s even faster going to classes from here than through National Capital’s congested traffic.’

Elam looked puzzled. ‘Uh, I’m not sure what you’re talking about.’

Sayloha giggled. ‘Arangan’s family owns this café and 10 blocks of Ghetto City center. Her mother Manggad has just been appointed President of the local government here. She’s a demonic vampire who’s been around for 450 years and has accumulated much wealth, but fortunately Arangan is attenuated like me, and is human. Arangan is Manggad’s only living child. She had a brother who lived and died a hundred years ago, and begot several children and grandchildren, so Arangan has many relatives. Manggad though has raised every one of them in National Capital City in the past, while doing all her business in Ghetto City. She acts as the typical rich provincial landlord and businesswoman, whose income derives from the provincial peripheries, but spends her money in the Nation’s center, thus contributing immensely to capital flight from province to center, and impoverishing her own people.’

‘Yes, and I’ve seen the error of that. Mother isn’t the only vampire in my family. We all are economic vampires on Ghetto City’s impoverished residents. Say why don’t you join our org? It’s called Kagawasan, an affiliate of an Alogostani-based NGO called Kaluwasan.’

Sayloha looked at her tabcom. ‘Here’s an excerpt from the latest article we downloaded from our Kaluwasan mother NGO. We were discussing if we should make it one of the official aims of our affiliate org: The traditional government functions, including Taxation, Education, Culture, Public Works, Health, Industry, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and so on are devolved to the local state. By the Law of the Land, the central government may not encroach on the local government functions.’

‘Sounds pretty highfalutin, but if you think through it, it’s quite a revolutionary idea,’ Arangan added. ‘Everything in Tera depends on the Capitals of the Nations.’

It was as if iced lightning had just hit the members of the Household of the Sun and Sky. Before their silent stares became noticeable, Tukib interposed.

‘You mean you’re advocating for small societies that practice participative democracy, provide basic goods and services to all their citizens, preserve their ethnolinguistic peoples' diversity, and that are ecologically sound.’

Sayloha drew back in surprise. ‘Hey that’s it exactly.’

‘Yeah you could say we’re interested in the same cause,’ Lupad affirmed laconically.

Sayloha typed excitedly on her tabcom. ‘See here. One of the Kaluwasan blog sites is encouraging like-minded people to join in the Alogostani Senate Hearing on Devolvement a few days from now. You’re from Eastern Islands Alogostan aren’t you? If you’re interested in this cause, aren’t you going to attend? There has never been anything quite like this in the history of Tera. I would go if I had sponsors.’

A police car zoomed down the street and parked in front of the Path to Paradise temple. They got out and approached the temple’s security guard.

‘What’s this?’ Sayloha gawked at them, distracted.

The security guard tried to talk into his tabcom. One of the policemen grabbed at his hand trying to prevent him from making the call. The guard drew out his gun with his other hand and shot the policeman in the chest. The other policeman belatedly also drew out his weapon. He and the guard shot each other simultaneously.

Elam, Sayloha, and Arangan stared dumbly at the scene. Lili calmly got up.

‘Are you allowed to go into the temple at night at this time of the night, Sayloha?’

‘Uh.. Not in the past year.' Sayloha was stammering. 'The, uh, Amo Cleric said his health was bad. He did not want, hmm, to be disturbed at night. We enter the employees’ compound at the back by a separate entrance.’

Lili switched to Sinayab, rendering her unintelligible to Sayloha and Arangan. ‘I’m going to go in and see exactly why that guard was under orders not to allow the police in. Pana better come with me as my second; you may not have the strength but you still have the expertise in combat situations. In addition, no one shoots two beautiful and panicky girls in miniskirt and tube top, who happened to run into the nearest building when they heard gunshots, which is what we will be if we get caught inside the temple.’

She faced the avatars. ‘We’ll stay in touch via encrypted Household Broadcom channel. Let’s go, Pana.’

Lili bent over the bodies in front of the temple, doing diagnostics. Her Seals glowed.

‘Damn! The security guard is Infected. He’s hemorrhaging internally from a perforated liver. He’s unconscious; and will die and rise up as a Maranhig. No wonder he was willing to shoot it out with two cops.’

‘What do we do?’ Pana inquired.

‘Nothing. More police and probably Manggad herself will be here soon, along with the Cephalian Kindred. They’ll take care of the situation, and this security guard.’

The main door was unsurprisingly doubly deadlocked and padlocked. Both Lili and Pana had already noticed this from café, and unhesitatingly veered to the left, where there was a narrow path between the temple and the adjacent building.

‘Did you spot that window there?’ Lili asked Pana.

‘Yes, even when we first came here this afternoon. I can heave you up there. Even in this weakened form, I can easily jump in after you.’

Overhearing the conversation in her tabcom, Aya sighed. ‘It’s why I don’t get to join these infiltration missions. I don’t notice these things. I just do straightforward combat.’

‘What the hell are they doing?’ Arangan, who did not understand a single word of Sinayabi, looked confused. Fortunately it was dark enough so that she and Sayloha could not properly visualize Pana jumping 6 meters into the open window, after she had flung Lili up first.

They found themselves in a small balcony inside the auditorium. It was dark except for the moonlight that shone through a few open windows and glass panes. It was light enough for Lili’s Tamawo senses. She immediately led the way down a winding staircase, across the sloping floor full of chairs, and up onto the right side of the stage. That area was carpeted. Lili rolled back the carpet. There was a trapdoor under it, deadlocked. Lili did not waste time producing her silenced 9 mm pistol from a pocket inside her skirt. She had to shoot the sturdy lock 6 times before it burst inward.

‘How did you know about this tunnel?’ Pana whispered.

‘I chitchatted with the most addle brained indigent worshippers I could find while you gals were eating sandwiches in the foyer. One of them was prattling about some of his fellows that had disappeared under the carpet on the stage. This is the only carpeted part of the stage.’

‘In what language did you interview your nitwit worshipper?’

Lili turned toward Pana in the dim light. ‘Very perceptive, my dear Pana. Before the temple service, the only time I’ve spoke in Cephalian was inside the Port Immigration office. I’ve never spoken in Cephalian in front of you and the others, yet you’ve deduced I can. Let’s go.’

Lili lowered herself into the tunnel. Pana followed. ‘The tunnel goes into the bedrock,’ Lili reported. ‘If we continue, we will lose our tabcom signal. I will leave an extra tabcom here. It will act as a relay transmitter. As long as the tunnels we move in are oriented in a straight line we should be able to communicate. I suggest we move on until we lose signal just to get an idea where the general direction of the tunnel leads to, and then come back.’

In the café, Tahum sighed. ‘So typical of a spy. Lili persists on keeping secrets. I hope they don’t take a sudden turn or we’ll lose their signal.’

‘I don’t quite get it,’ Elam mulled.

‘The tabcom? DATA agents are known to carry an extra one. Lili must have lots of pockets inside that skirt of hers.’

‘No, the language thing.’

‘Oh. In Tera, the only way one gets to learn Esperanto is through schooling or study. The uneducated beggars and addicts Lili talked to probably don’t know Esperanto.’

‘That’s how Pana deduced that Lili spoke to them in Cephalian?’

It was Tukib that answered. ‘Yes. I recall Lili telling me she was subjected to several Memory Restoration spells by MDEs and hypnosis by Psychiatrists as part of her DATA spy training. Heck from what I know, every DATA officer is subjected to that. She arrived in Layo Island at age four from Nova Continent. If her biological parents were from here, those sessions would have recalled back her Cephalian four year old preschooler vocabulary, syntax, and accent. From there, it would only be a matter of learning more Cephalian words.’

Lili and Pana race walked rapidly in a straight line, using their tabcom lantern lights to illuminate their way. After several minutes, Pana’s still clear voice came over the tabcom. ‘We’ve entered a relatively large chamber with multiple exit tunnels. There are scores of bodies here. Lili is doing diagnostics; her Seals are glowing. I’ll feed you the view here.’

Police cars zoomed down the road and stopped in front of the temple. Officers with guns held in their hands swiftly got out, ready to shoot. One of them examined the bodies of the policemen and security guard, and shook his head.

‘Yikes. The police are here,’ Tahum told them.

‘It’s OK. If we’re caught, with all these would be vampires around me, I can easily claim I am fulfilling my duty here as a Maestra, investigating the undead,’ Lili said.

Pana was examining the cadaver nearest her. ‘Tattered shirt and trousers; this one is a beggar.’

The dead man opened his eyes. His arm shot up and grabbed Pana by her ankle. She lost her balance and fell on the ground. All around the cavern, corpses were sitting up.

‘Oops. I think the Corpse Preservation spell just went poof,’ Pana astutely observed, while kicking at the Maranhig with her free foot. It held on easily.

‘Who the f__k are you?’ A masked man in a black robe addressed them from one of the chamber’s exit tunnels. Behind him a blacker presence stood at attention. Dozens of razor sharp horns jutted up from its head.

‘None of your f__king business, Sorcerer.’ Lili did a little jump, avoiding an ankle-grabbing vampire, and another, and then another. In a few more moments, she was doing a kind of jump up dance dominated by short hops and the occasional kick.

‘Very well, Halfbreed. You can have dinner with my vampires. Or be the dinner.’ The man melted back into the shadows of his inky tunnel, his pet Demon following him.

One of the revived corpses in front of Pana gawked mindlessly at her, then grabbed her throat. Decayed and dirty teeth began to taper and sharpen themselves into the fangs of a Bloodsucking Humanoid Possessed. Meanwhile the vampire by her feet squeezed.

‘Hey, let go of my foot!’ The animated cadaver crawled up her leg and started chomping on her thigh as if it were cob of corn.

‘Ouch,’ Pana yelled.

The Vampire at her throat squeezed and nibbled on her neck.

‘Uhh,’ Pana sputtered.

Lingaw grabbed Elam’s wrist and shouted into his tabcom in Sinayabi. ‘Beauty be Fire; Child be Arrow!’

There was a sharp crack, audible from their tabcoms. The teeth of the vampires gnawing at Pana’s thigh and neck were suddenly munching on hard armor, and had broken off. Pana’s cyanotic face exhibited surprise. She clasped the offending taloned claw on her neck with gauntleted hands. Another crack rang out from their tabcoms as she tore the claw into two equal parts. Then she brought her right hand in a karate chop on the vampire’s head on her thigh. The skull of the vampire promptly split apart, its two cerebral hemispheres parting sideways permanently. Pana rose up, in her fully armored Archer’s Aspect. The iridescent scales of her yellow armor glittered golden sunbeams in the shadowy chamber. The tip of her cocked arrow glimmered as blue fire.

‘Kalayopana. Fire and Arrow,’ Abtic whispered.

She stamped on the vampire that had been choking her on the ground with a spiked combat boot. Its head popped like a catsup-filled balloon whacked by a sledgehammer.

A risen vampire behind her was rushing in. Pana held out her bow. The serrated limbs transversely transected the vampire at thoracic vertebra 4 level. Its lower torso walked a few more steps pass the sidestepping avatar before realizing that it had left its shoulders and head slipping off behind. It flopped down onto the ground and began turning into ash.

Without more ado Pana began shooting. She acquired moving targets in milliseconds, reloaded at the speed of sound, and shot her arrow at nearly light speed. In a few seconds, more than 50 newly risen and confused fledging vampires had been drilled through the head.

‘You alright, Lili?’

‘Huo,’ Lili affirmed. ‘I guess you’re not mad at me anymore. Thank you for saving my life.’ Pana grinned happily and began moving around, absorbing the auras of the slain Humanoid Possessed.

Lupad crossed his arms. ‘Obviously we don’t know what you’re talking about. Please explain.’

‘Salig Commandos have at least two Aspects. One of them is lethal and used to kill, the other benign and used as a disguise. Kindred lore has it that Gisaligans were made with a failsafe program, rendering them vulnerable to Aspect Adjustment. A Maestro could transform a Gisaligan’s lethal Aspect to a benign one ASAP and without spells, by chanting the proper command. Darklings however soon noticed that if a Gisaligan was properly distracted, a darkling or Kindred could effect the same transformation.’

‘By the latter half of the Dark War, Kalayopana had become one of the most feared of all the combat avatars. Most ordinary female combaters only had a Succubus and a Polearmed Aspect. Gisaligan combaters usually had three. Kalayopana was known to have had four at least. In her Fire Aspect, it was rumored her flaming arrow could penetrate the eye of Demon Emperors if they were distracted. Spies for the Darkling Army managed obtain info about Kalayopana’s failsafe. It was the command- Fire be Beauty; Arrow be Child. Pronounced in her Maker’s native Sinayabi, even by a darkling, Kindred, or human during a time when she was distracted, it caused her Fire and Arrow combined Aspect to transform into harmless Beauty and Child. It is told in Kindred legends that during her final stand on top of a tower in the Black Castle, she slaughtered a dozen attacking darklings before a lowly Kindred chanted this incantation. It caused her to temporarily transform, thus rendering her vulnerable. Her thigh was slashed by a mere darkling Pawn, and she lost her balance and fell down into a Tela cleft.’

‘How could you have known for certain,’ Tukib asked.

‘My Maker was the Kindred who chanted the spell on top of the tower, thus defeating Kalayopana. She told me that the failsafe program actually worked both ways. So I just reversed the legendary command. It worked. It broke her Lock and transformed her into Fire and Arrow.’

Pana finished absorbing the vampire auras. ‘Hey I heard that, Lingaw! Salamat!’

Elam shook his head. ‘I’ve always thought of vampires as invincible, powerful, terrifying creatures.’

Lili made the decision to see the other side of the wormhole.

‘We’re going in further, after that Sorcerer. Pana can you handle his pet Demon?’

‘Yes. I can sense it’s a Dan 54, probably the same source of dark quanta that the Sorcerer has been using to infect indigent worshippers of the Path to Paradise. An individual Junior Regent should pose no problem to a Salig commando, such as me, in a one on one duel. Just hope there aren’t two of them, because then I’ll get my head eaten off.’

‘We’ll run if we get a sniff of a second one.’

‘You might.’ It was an entirely unexpected voice in their tabcoms.

‘Yudiputa, Ihap,’ Pana exclaimed. ‘Where the hell have you been?’

‘Better if I show you,’ Ihap said.

Their tabcoms’ monitors switched to an audio-video of Ihap in a huge underground cavern. Hundreds of bodies lay neatly in rows. Examining the bodies were soldiers armed with assault rifles, Rocket Propelled Grenades and Anti Tank Missiles. Most were dressed in Dalokistani uniforms, but a significant number were also in Alogostani attire.

A familiar voice interrupted Ihap. ‘Whom are you talking to, my dear?’

Lupad raised his eyebrows at Ihap’s appellation.

‘Maestra Lili, Kuot, pangga dear,’ Ihap replied.

Now even Elam was raising his eyebrows.

‘After all I just heard President Tagas ordering us to inform DATA of this find on your tabcom.’

‘Uh, OK. Go on then, pangga.’ The head of the Alogostani Presidential Aides disappeared from view as he went to discuss things with a Dalokistani officer.

Ihap resumed talking ‘OK I’ll try to be brief and quick. These bodies are not Manogbanhaw, waiting to rise up as the undead. They’re just corpses, humans that have been sacrificed, probably for enabling spells on Darkling Summoning, Connecting, Compelling, Disguising, and so on. I’m communicating via the private internet channel managed by Insta Com Service, the company Father hired to protect our privacy. It’s patched up to a table computer in the Shield. The computer rebroadcasts my communication in the quantum encrypted Household Broadcom channel and gets beamed down to you also via Insta Com Service satellites.’

‘I am now in the southern Dalokistan boundary town of Tapad. It borders both with northeastern Iladistan’s Trough Region, and Puntabanwa town in northwestern Alogostan. This cavern is a small extension of the Iladistani Trough Region into Tapad Dalokistan. I’ve found out that this is the source of the Palace Possessed, and told President Tagas and Kuot about it. Those bodies are sacrificed victims. There are five hundred in this cavern alone; perhaps more in the caverns ahead. Unfortunately those caverns are already in Iladistan territory, and connect into the mines of their Trough Region. So if we trespass and are discovered, it could spark an international incident.’

‘How did you find out?’ Tahum asked.

‘Inihap here told me.’ The view switched to a beautiful young lady with flowing midnight blue hair. Elam gaped at her.

‘I didn’t know you had a twin!’

‘No Elam. She’s my Possessed Dark quantum daughter. When Bodhi slew all those Kindred in the Presidential Palace, it stands to reason that a few latecomers would have witnessed it and deferred their own escape. I also noticed an easy way out of the now heavily guarded and monitored Palace.’

‘Yeah, Tunga River,’ Pana stated. ‘Any combat avatar would notice at once that it’s not heavily patrolled. The Presidential Guards probably assumed no boat could dock and pick up escapees without being easily detected. However, a Kindred doesn’t need a boat. It could just wallow into the river under cover of the night, and swim underwater to freedom. All Kindred I know of are physically strong enough to do that.’

‘Very good Pana. I stayed behind in order to do more intel gathering. I persuaded General Kuot to indulge in a romantic tryst with me on one of the Palace Houseboats on the Presidential Pier. I spent the whole evening entertaining him while avoiding his advances so I could monitor the River properly. Sure enough, near midnight a dozen or so Palace employees arrived quietly in various parts of the Pier. Most were too far for me to investigate or stop, except for three.’

The video switched to a scene on the pier. A gardener and two maids were walking toward the Pier. The view was taken from a docked boat. Once the three Kindred neared the boat the view rapidly closed on them.

The next scene showed the three snarling and growing fangs. Two leaped at Ihap. ‘I had to kill those two.’ Ihap’s polearm could be seen flashing sideways slicing off coronal and sagittal sections of the two vampires’ skulls and brains. Then the view rapidly closed in on the survivor, a Vampire Palace maid. Ihap’s mouth and teeth could be seen connecting on the maid’s arm.

‘Ugh! You bit her, Ihap!’ Elam looked disgusted.

‘Brilliant!’ Tahum opined. ‘So that’s how you got your personal spy.’

The video was showing Ihap punching the maid repeatedly on her face. ‘Huo. I clobbered her into a coma with my gauntlet, weakening her resistance. Then I waited the rest of the night in Kuot’s lusty company. When she woke up next day she was my own junior Possessed.’

‘Why does she look like you?’ Elam asked. ‘I mean, if I were to get bitten by a vampire, wouldn’t I still look like me?’

‘Yes, if your donor is an ordinary vampire. However, darkling and avatar infecting quanta are so powerful that the host tends to take the appearance of the donor darkling, unless the Maker instructs the awakening fledging to retain her original host’s appearance.’

‘To sum up matters, Inihap told me about this place, based on the memories she retained from the maid. Since technically this cavern is in Dalokistani territory, President Tagas contacted President Dako. A task force made of soldiers from both Nations was formed ASAP and sent here.’

Tahum grimaced. ‘You mean sects of the Unitemple from Iladistan, Alogostan, and Dalokistan have been cooperating in order to summon Demons? Then they Compel the Demons to infect the unmissed scum of society, thus forming a veritable army of the Possessed?’

‘Right. There are catches though. According to the Alogostani Presidential Chief Maestro, Dugang, these bodies around us were infected by Demons before they were sacrificed, while still in a human state. They were all ritually killed by a dagger thrust into the eyeball and into the brain, which prevents them from rising up as Maranhig Possessed. That’s quite reasonable to me, because an infected human can either be sacrificed or allowed to become a controlled Possessed, depending on the day to day situation of those running this show. I can recall that the Darkling Army used to do this all the time during the Dark War.’

‘Doesn’t Inihap know?’ Lupad asked.

Somewhat unexpectedly, Inihap spoke up. ‘Ihap gave me a tabcom that can tune into the encrypted Household channel. My memories don’t reveal the mode of transport from Cephalia to Dalokistan. I remember part of my original human host’s life. Without going into details, it was a drug addict’s hell from beginning to the end. When age caught on to me, I became an old beggar in the streets of Ghetto City. The Path to Paradise temple was offering free food and clothes, and so I attended a night service. I got pricked by a Demon-laced stamp. On the fourth night, while lying down on the sidewalk, I died in silent agony as the injected Dark quanta killed off the last of my cells.’

‘I woke up a Vampire. Nothing made sense except that my Demon Maker was telepathically telling me to retain the beggar’s body that I originally wore and all her memories. Shortly after, my Maker began calling me back into the temple.’

‘Do you have access to all her memories?’ Elam asked, fascinated.

‘Originally, I had access to both the beggar’s and my Maker’s; later only to the beggar’s.’

‘Huh?’ was Elam’s confused response.

Aya, the former medical student, offered a more biological explanation. ‘The first set of memories in the cerebral cortex of an awakening Possessed is always that of her Maker, derived from infecting dark quanta that had adsorbed onto the brain’s surface gray matter. However, the fledging also has access to the memories of the host, as though they were in USB drives that she could copy-paste into a main drive in her brain. The host’s memories are stored in the brain’s limbic system, the seat of short term memory, and begin to fade after about two hours, but can be preserved for four more days by an act of preternatural will that Possessed are capable of, after which constant daily sensory inputs eventually replace them. A fledging can save them into her brain’s cerebral cortex, the seat of long term memory, permanently as though copying them into a hard drive. If she does so, she would delete some of her Maker’s memories.’

Inihap appeared quite interested. ‘Ah, so that’s what happened to me.’

‘So what happened next?’ Lili asked with a hint of impatience in her voice.

‘Under the telepathic command of my Maker, I immediately cut all of the old beggar’s memories in my, uh, limbic USB drive; and copied them into my, hmm, cortex hard drive. With exactly the same memories as the beggar’s I thought of myself as her, except that I was aware I was Possessed and that my Maker was calling me.’

‘Go on,’ Lili prodded.

‘Under my Maker’s instructions, I walked to the Path to Paradise temple, along with four other new undead recruits. We were expected, and were led down a tunnel under the temple’s stage by one of the clerics. Then we walked for several kilometers. At a certain point I could sense we had sidestepped into a passageway off tangent to the reality of our world. Then the tunnel opened into this cavern and we were back in Tera. Here we met our Maker in person, a Demon Regent.’

Inihap bowed apologetically. ‘So if you ask me how I got from Cephalia to here, I’m not quite sure.’

‘Tell them how you became an Alogostani Palace maid,’ Ihap said.

‘Well, first our Maker directed us to place ourselves under a Binding Compulsion, that we should try to escape if captured by hostile forces and failing in that to commit suicide. Next, a small computerized transmitter was implanted inside my neck.’

‘Next a guide, another Vampire, brought us out of a side exit into Puntabanwa town of Alogostan. We were made to travel in a private van with other vampires. We got off at Tunga City. There we were separated and assigned missions. Mine was to infect a Palace maid. I simply sat by the sidewalk in front of the girl’s apartment, pretending to be a beggar again. When the girl passed me, I scratched her ankle as though by accident. Four days later, I woke up wearing the girl’s body, and with access to her memories, languages, and reflex reactions. This time my instructions were to replace some of the beggar’s memories with some of the maid’s. So the new me had memories of both the beggar and the maid.’

Elam interrupted. ‘I’m curious. When you, or the beggar, first got possessed, what would have happened if you had chosen to retain your Demon Maker’s memory and deleted the beggar’s?

It was Aya who replied. ‘Without any further instructions from her Maker, she would have assumed both its form and memories. That would have left the beggar with the outward body and memories of her Demon Maker, but without its full powers because the host body is basically still made of human cells and tissues of mundane matter, covered by an adsorbed layer of dark quanta.’

‘What?’ Elam was frowning, confused.

‘If the beggar were a lower Dan darkling or an avatar instead of a human being, and she chose to delete all of her previous host’s memories while retaining only those of the infecting Regent’s, she would have dissipated. There cannot be two sentient beings in the Tela with identical quantum states.’

‘OK. I’m beginning to get the gist of this. What happened to the old vampire beggar?’

Inihap continued her narrative. ‘I was ordered by my vampire handlers to terminate it. I did, stabbing it through the heart with vamped up talons. It turned to gray ash.’

Elam gawked at her.

‘My Demon Maker was compelling me to follow my handlers, so I had little choice. As a fledgling Vampire, I still did not know how to resist the will of my Maker. My handlers wanted to eliminate the beggar because she had the appearance of a Cephalian, and as a foreigner would have surely caught attention sooner or later.’

‘OK. Another thing; why did she turn to ash instead of dissipating as darklings do?’

Aya again answered. ‘The Possessed are made of dead human cells animated by a cover of adsorbed dark quanta. Upon death, the dark quanta do dissipate into a fading formless aura, which we avatars can feed on. The dead human cells without the dark quanta to hold them lose structural integrity and literally explode apart into their natural components. Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen turn into H2O, CO2, and N2, which gasify. The remaining calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, sodium, magnesium, chlorine leave salts and compounds that makes up ash. Darklings, being made only of dark matter and energy, dissipate away entirely. Hybrids, including abominations, are composed partially of live human cells; and so don’t dissipate nor ash up.’

‘Uh, thanks for the biochemistry lesson, Aya.’ Elam peered at Inihap on this tabcom. ‘If I may ask, are you the old beggar or the maid in Ihap’s form?’

‘Neither,’ Inihap replied without hesitation. ‘While I was awakening Ihap was ordering me not to delete their memories, but I still am animated by Ihap’s dark quanta.’

Aya once more offered a more medical explanation. ‘In other words, the dark quanta in Inihap’s long-term memory compartment in her cerebral cortex carry Ihap’s complete set of memories, but she can still access some of the memories of the old beggar and the palace maid in the short term memory compartment in her limbic system. However, the humans’ memories will begin to degrade after four days or can get deleted any time Inihap wills it.’

‘Damn. You seem to treat Inihap’s brain as a computer with drives containing memories that can get cut, deleted, or copy-pasted,’ Elam noted.

Aya laughed. ‘For us avatars, that may be true. We’re artificial intelligences composed of dark quanta.’

‘I don’t want to play the killjoy, but enough of the metaphysics and back to intelligence gathering,’ Lili interrupted. ‘When you woke up as a seeming palace maid, what happened next?’

‘My Demon Maker telepathically compelled me to go into a safe house run by Unitemplists. There, I was made to accept another avoid-capture-and-suicide Binding Compulsion. Another computerized transmitter was also implanted into my neck. Most of the Kindred agents of the Unitemple extremists are subjected to these as fail safes.’

‘What do you mean by the Unitemple extremists? Do they control this show?’

‘Yes. They are cooperating factions from various sects- Righteous Fire, Fiery Path, Path to Paradise. Other sects may be involved. They refer to themselves as the Unitemple Cooperative.’

‘Can you still sense your old Demon Maker?’ Elam interjected.

‘No. The beggar and maid are dead. My Maker is Ihap. I can sense her and she can sense me, but I feel that as time passes, our link keeps on fading. Immediately upon waking up, I actually thought I was Ihap since I had her full memories; then I began to access some memories from the beggar and maid.’

Aya was taking Elam’s questions in stride and offered more info to Inihap. ‘A newly resurrected Possessed shares a twin mind with its Maker. As time passes your link degrades. First your twin mind splits into separate individuals, as you access your host’s memories and experience new sensory input. Then your telepathic link weakens. Eventually you’ll find out that Ihap can’t control or compel you anymore, although in practice the daughters of a Maker still follow her anyway by their own choice.’

‘What happened next?’ Lili asked, still in her intel gathering mode.

‘I infiltrated the Alogostani Presidential Palace. I made contact with my fellow Possessed infiltrators. Our orders were to carry on with the lives of our former hosts, until further orders arrived. When Bodhi slew most of the Palace Possessed, I was actually outside doing groceries with several maids. I carried on as usual and returned to the Palace. We then received a telepathic compulsion from our Demon Makers to make another escape attempt at midnight. We did, but Ihap captured me. She removed my transmitter. My link to my former Maker had been severed when I died as the maid; so I can’t contact them anymore.’

‘Demon Makers? Plural?’

‘Yes. There are at least three different Demons involved in making the Palace Possessed. I could sense immediately which of the Possessed were my Dark Siblings, and which were not. Many were not.’

Elam asked another obvious question. ‘How did you make your hair identical to Ihap’s so fast?’

Ihap answered this time. ‘I managed to completely mangle the maid’s face. So I infused some of the energies of the two other Possessed I had slain into Inihap so she could repair her face. She subconsciously activated her hair follicles to grow hair the same color and length as mine, and restructured her healing face to resemble mine.’

‘If a Possessed has so much control of her anatomy and physiology, why doesn’t she just get rid of all her human cells and become full darkling?’

‘It takes a lot of energy and powerful Sorcery to do that, Elam. I would guess that most Possessed just don’t have that energy and ability, although as usual, there are vague legends and recollections from the Great Dark Shift era of powerful Sorcerers and High Dans doing that to favored Kindred. The abilities of the Kindred, avatars, and darklings have limits.’

‘Do you have recollections of Possessed and darklings having the ability to teleport themselves?’ Elam had abruptly switched topics.

Ihap paused. ‘Well in a sense, yes. You saw the attacking darklings in the Battle of the Shield effectively get teleported into a Dark Realm, although it may not have been, strictly speaking, teleportation.’

‘Yes, Bodhi explained it to me; a Folded Connection between two points, in that case between the Tower and the Dark Realm. Bodhi mentioned that most of the rest of the Tower Rooms open to different parts of Tera, usually where there is a stable thinning or trough in the Tela, such as in the Southern Continent or the Trough Regions. She said that aligning the Origin and the Insertion of a Folded Connection is quite difficult if the two points are moving in space-time. The Balanghay’s Tower is designed so that Origins from it are always anchored in the here and now. You only have to align one point, that of the Insertion.’

‘I’m thinking that the Trough Regions represent relatively stable anchorage points in the Tela, thus resembling the Shield’s Tower. Why can’t a Folded Connection be made between two Trough Regions? I have had vague memories of people walking between two completely different places.’

Lili grinned. ‘Our resident prophet strikes again. That certainly sounds like a reasonable conjecture, Elam.’

‘Hey you might just be right,’ Ihap declared. ‘General Kuot is coming back. I’m going to suggest that we covertly explore these Trough caves and tunnels for such a Connection, even if it means trespassing into Iladistani territory. Signing out.’ Her and Inihap’s tabcom images blacked off.

‘Yes Mom. These are my friends..’

Before she could continue, Manggad stated, ‘Yes I know them.’ She eyed the Eastern Islanders coldly. ‘What are you doing here, and with my daughter too?’ She spoke in Esperanto.

Tukib smoothly replied, ‘We were just having a late night coffee chat. We happened to befriend your daughter in this cafe. At first we didn’t even know she was your child. We certainly do not have any intention to harm her, Madame.’

Arangan looked outraged. ‘Come on Mom! They’re nice people. Unlike some of those ancient creeps you keep associating with. He’s telling the truth.’

Manggad sighed. ‘You don’t know them at all, hon. They come from a time before me and all those ancient creeps. You can ask them later. You’re probably right though. I sense no hostility in them, and they would have harmed you already if they wanted to. OK I’m going off to the police in that temple and see what’s this all about.’

She whisked out of the café. They saw her cross the street and examine the bodies in front of the temple. She gave an order. The police cuffed the corpse of the Infected security guard and dragged it into a van.

Over their tabcoms, they could hear Lili chuckling. ‘Your mother acts protective of you, Arangan. Rare for a 450 year old vampire to act that way. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a compliment.’

‘Maybe it’s because I am her second human child and the only one alive.’

‘Lili, where in the world are you?’ Tahum suddenly asked, noticing an ornate pillar illuminated by Lili’s flashlight in her tabcom monitor.

‘Obviously in these tunnels, race walking in order to cover more distance in a shorter time span.’

‘You too Major Talatala, what are you doing here?’ Lili added.

Walay and Talatala were gawking at Lili and Pana. Tala snapped to attention and saluted Lili.

‘On reward leave, Madame. We were in Dakobalud Beach resort in Tubo Island. Walay told me she had received dire news about the death of a loved one, and insisted we go on an immediate prayer pilgrimage and vigil to the Daan Polytemple Ruins. Huna led us to this particular pagoda.’

‘Who’s Huna?’

‘Uh, she was just with us.’

‘I wasn’t aware you were on a reward leave, Major.’

‘I just completed an assassination mission, here in Daan Tubo Island, a designated Dangerous Secessionist.’

A look of anguish passed over Walay’s face. Lili saw it. Before Walay could exhibit more obviously emotional behavior, Lili reprimanded her.

‘Forgot to salute Captain Walay?’

Walay calmed her face and snapped a crisp salute.

In the café, Tukib shook his head slowly. ‘Damn. Tuman has passed on.’

‘What!’ Elam exclaimed.

‘How did Walay react to Tala’s report of a successful assassination mission on a dangerous secessionist in Daan town Tubo Island?’

‘Oh s__t. Poor Tuman.’

Sayloha cleared her throat. ‘I don’t understand what you are saying, but I recognize the name Tuman.’

‘Yes,’ Arangan affirmed. ‘Same name as the head of Kaluwasan. Sayloha and I are cyber fans if his, and follow his writings.’

‘He won’t be writing anymore,’ Tahum said sadly. ‘We can talk about it later.’

On their tabcoms, Lili assumed a thoughtful posture, fingers on her chin. ‘At ease. OK first where do you think you are located? No need to be formal, Tala.’

Tala did not hesitate. ‘My tabcom GPS reading says Daan Town, Tubo Island.’

Pana spoke up. ‘Yeah we must have crossed a Folded Connection. We sidestepped out of phase a little while ago, but did not recognize it as we stepped right back into Tera shortly afterward. You gals in the café; can you hear us?’

‘Yes Pana,’ Tahum affirmed. ‘The Connection must still be open.’

‘Yeah, I felt it too,’ Lili mulled. ‘It was as though we stepped through a curtain. First time for me.’

‘Me too, as far as my present memories are concerned,’ Pana quipped.

A still shocked Sayloha and an excited Arangan led them to an adjacent block where there was an elevated railway and a station. They climbed up. There was a stationary train above just about to leave. Arangan insisted paying for their fares with her debit card.

‘Aren’t you informing your Mom where you’re going?’ Elam asked Arangan as they entered the train.

She rolled up her eyes. ‘What, only to hear her say no? She’s always talking as if some of her vampire friends are going to suck me dry once I’m out of her sight.’

‘We’re just in time; this train has been here for 15 minutes,’ Sayloha observed. They sat down just as the train began to move forward. A ticket inspector hurriedly went to the newcomers and cursorily perused their tickets.

Elam looked around in wonder as the train picked up speed. ‘Damn but this looks like the inside of an airplane!’

‘Moves as fast as an airplane too. It uses magnetic levitation. The magnets are powered by Bugu fueled Reactor Plants along the railway.’

After a minute, the train abruptly slowed down to a halt. Sayloha began elaborating. ‘We’ve covered 5 kilometers in one minute. In urban areas, the bullet train runs for one to three minutes, covering a distance of 5 to 10 kilometers, and stops for 15 minutes at each station to pick up passengers. There’s a train every hour. This stop is called the Trench Station, named after the trench we’re getting to, and is located at the outskirt of Kindred Ghetto city. Beyond are the Trough Mines. The next station after this is 25 kilometers away, in the Trough mines proper. This track and train go all the way to the arctic provinces. This train is usually full in the morning, as the am shift goes to work. For closer distances, workers still use the free bus service. Our organization helped lobby for the implementation of free train service workers’ transport to the middle and far end of the Trough mines. The National Government pays for their fare.’

‘Why doesn’t the workers’ labor union help you lobby? You never mentioned them.’

‘What’s a labor union?’

Elam paused. ‘I guess in a world made of fascist states, labor unions simply can’t exist.’

They got down at the edge of a suburban area. Ten meters north of the station, the sparse housing stopped at a field of grass. There with a sign post that read ‘Cephalia Trough Mines.’ They continued through the grass field, parallel the elevated railway to their left, following a small foot path. After ten more meters, the ground abruptly sloped down into a natural geological trench. As they neared the trench, Sayloha and Arangan went straight to a small path that winded its way down; the rest followed. Several meters to their right, on the south side of the trench, was a cave.

Illuminated by their tabcom flashlights and lanterns, the cave interior turned out much larger than its opening. Rubbles of collapsed structures could be seen. Near the cave’s left wall was a pillar with ornate engravings.

‘Damn, but that’s the pillar we saw,’ Lupad declared.

‘OK let’s find out for sure.’ Tahum unhesitatingly walked toward it, followed closely by Tukib and Lupad, Lingaw and Abtic; with Elam, Arangan, and Sayloha bringing up the rear.

They entered the narrow passage between the pillar and the left cave wall. A woman in her 20s dressed in the saffron robes of a monk of the Polytemple stood behind the pillar.

‘Walay told me to wait for you. I am Sister Huna. Please follow me.’ She began walking clockwise around the pillar. In front of the pillar Lili, Pana, Walay, and Tala sat on the ground in lotus position.

‘It’s about time,’ Pana declared, standing up. ‘What took you ground sloths so long?’

‘I can explain,’ Huna volunteered. ‘Approximately one year ago, even in our dream-like state in the absence of living Sayabis within our vicinity, we became aware of a Folded Connection. The Daan Ruins, which by the way to us do not look ruined at all but I will use your term, maintains a close metaphysical affinity to other ancient Polytemple worship places and is located at a small stable and thin portion of the Tela. The thinness of the Tela here is part of the reason why we could exist, as it allows Preservation spells for ancient structures and entities to be easily employable. What probably happened is that the Folded Connection passed through here, a point of weak resistance in the Tela.’

‘You’ve been aware of people traveling through this Folded Connection?’ Tukib asked.

Several saffron robed monks had begun approaching them from out of the shadows, each politely bowing before them. ‘Yes, and Sorcerers and Demons too. They have sensed our presence of course. On one occasion one of the Demons got hungry, stepped out of the Connection Tunnel, and snacked up on poor Brother Nakaon, absorbing his already attenuated aura. From then on we flee to the edges of the Ruins every time we sense them using the Connection. They tend to ignore us as insignificant entities. If they ever think we are a threat, they can easily destroy us.’

‘So why did you reveal yourselves to us?’

Huna gestured at Lili and Pana. ‘We were made more awake by the presence of two Sayabi, and so we peeked into the Folded Connection. It was obvious that Maestra Lili and avatar Pana were not expecting that they would be walking through a Folded Connection, or the Maestra would have been constantly running diagnostics with her Seals. They would have walked right into the Insertion of the Connection in the Iladistan Trough Region, and into the midst of Sorcerers and Demons. They were in immediate danger. So I intercepted their path, linking it to the location of Walay and Talatala, who were already here holding a vigil and chanting prayers for the departed here in this pagoda.’

‘If the Sorcerers discover what we have done, I fear it is the end of us.’

‘Don’t worry, we won’t tell, Sri Huna,’ Lili promised.

Their tabcoms rang in the Household Broadcom channel. It was Captain Sugo in the Shield. ‘Where in the Tela’s ass are you all? The Port authorities had requested me to move our very large Balanghay Boat to a less crowded pier. When I came back to check on you, I found out that the table computer is now receiving signals from your tabcoms with GPS located in Tubo Island Alogostan.’

‘That’s because we are in Tubo Island. We’ve passed a Folded Connection.’ Lili quickly explained the situation.

‘OK. I am still receiving signals from your extra tabcom that you left under the Unitemple in Ghetto City. I’ve been listening in to your conversations in the Household channel and so am up to date. I suggest you destroy that tabcom before the Ghetto police finds it. I know DATA agents have self destruct mechanism in their tabcoms.’

Lili immediately pressed on her tabcom. ‘Done,’ she confirmed. ‘Any more signal from Cephalia?’

‘None, except from the Shield itself. We are still in Cephalia National Port, you know.’

‘How about Ihap?’ Lupad asked.

‘I can’t locate her directly, as she is underground. She’s communicating via relay transmitters from the cavern to the cave mouth in Tapad Dalokistan. That’s where I’m picking up her signal.’

‘Sugo, I’m maximizing the video cam function of my tabcom and that of Inihap’s as well. I’m also sending you all the feeds I am receiving from the soldiers’ tabcoms too. You and your table computer should be able to reconstruct a moving 3D hologram of this cavern. You all should see what’s inside this cavern.’

‘Nice idea.’ After a few more seconds, Sugo continued ‘OK, done! I’m transmitting the video to your tabcoms.’

On top of their tabcoms, a moving 3D image of the cavern appeared. Hundreds of bodies lay in rows, nearly filling up the entire cavern floor. They could now clearly see Ihap. She still was dressed formally in her usual office uniform, short blue skirt, blue blazer, navy blue shoes, yellow button shirt with the tag ‘Avatar Ihap, C.P.A.’ on the left breast pocket. Her hair was set in an elaborate and elegant coiffure by a long blue hairpin.

‘These holograms never cease to amaze me,’ Elam remarked. ‘They’re as common as TV anime shows. Even the Shield’s computers are able to generate them.’

‘It’s not that difficult if you have fast computers and a Communicator avatar,’ Lupad explained. ‘Captain Sugo is one. His dark quanta can directly patch up to a mundanely made computer, although only partially. That’s what he does when he places his palm on table computers. It’s a big reason why he is Captain of the Shield; he can jack into the Shield’s computer grid.’

‘What! You mean he’s like those space opera droids that can plug into computers and tell them to open a door, lower a ramp, or shoot and enemy?’

‘Yes, except his access to other computer grid systems are limited if he doesn’t know the proper codes. For example, he can’t penetrate into that part of Tera’s internet grid that link to the security files of DATA. It has its own top secret codes, and DATA has Communicator avatars that act as sentinels, ready to detect and block any intruder.’

Before the curious Elam could ask more questions, Ihap made another announcement. ‘The Chief Alogostani Presidential MDE, Maestro Dugang, and a dozen other Dalokistani MDEs provided by the President of Dalokistan, his Excellency Don Dako, are now doing diagnostics.’

Lili, Aya, and Elam recognized Maestro Dugang from the Alogostani Presidential Palace. He was bending over a female corpse that possessed the shaper facial features of a Cephalian. Unlike most Alogostani MDEs, he was not a member of Lili’s Order of the Autumn Sea. His Seal glowed green and red.

The corpse opened her eyes. She grinned. Inside her mouth were sharp crocodile teeth. She abruptly did a sit up, which ended with those teeth sinking into Dugang’s neck. The Maestro’s scream was abruptly cut off when the vampire bit her way into his carotids and trachea.

‘I think I’ve seen this before,’ Pana laconically observed, as the dead began to rise all over the cavern.

‘Ihap!’ Elam shouted in alarm.

‘Don’t worry. If there are no higher Dan darklings in there, she’ll be alright. Can’t say for the rest of those poor people,’ Tahum opined.

The cavern erupted in a confusion of screams, orders, rifle fire, grenade and missile explosions. Half of the soldiers, by their arm patches, were from the Dalokistani and Alogostani Presidential Aide Commands; the rest were Dalokistani Black Berets, the elite special forces of the Dalokistani Army. They were clearly well trained commandos. After the initial disoriented reactions, they began to clump together in back to back pairs, each man classically covering his buddy’s back. They began to target the vampires’ heads, the only reasonable way to kill them in time to prevent them from biting lethally. Each pair methodically began to move toward the cavern’s small north entrance, where they had come from.

Unfortunately, they often failed to cover their top. Vampires would jump long distances and fall on them from above, unlike the usual human enemy. Their ranks began thinning out at an alarmingly rapid rate. Soldiers kept falling to the floor with the eerily silent fledgling vampires on top of them.

‘Inihap, lie down flat on the ground!’ Her Junior promptly did so, just in time to avoid another onrushing vampire, whose chest met the spiked tip of Ihap’s right combat boot. Its thoracic cage ruptured inward, squashing its heart.

Ihap jumped on top of the recumbent Inihap, and began a ducking spinning dance above her, without once stepping on her charge’s head, body, or limbs. Her polearm twirled like a majorette’s baton. The heads of the nearest six vampires promptly left their shoulders. As she cleared the immediate vicinity around the supine Inihap, she began dancing further away in a spiraling pattern, slaying dozens more vampires by slicing them transversely through the head, neck, or chest. Vampires leaping at her from above were cut down lengthwise.

The surviving soldiers swiftly retreated to the cavern’s north entrance as Ihap caught the vampires’ attention. Some were still firing their assault rifles. A bullet pinged off Ihap’s armored back. ‘Stop firing,’ she yelled. ’You’ll just hit and distract me.’ She did not slow down.

‘Ceasefire, ceasefire!’ Generals Kuot and Kutkot simultaneously ordered. Both were providentially standing near the north entrance when the fracas commenced.

After five minutes, Ihap stopped. ‘OK, cavern is cleared. Get up Inihap.’ Cross sections and the occasional sagittal cut of vampire heads and bodies lay crumbling into dust all throughout the cavern floor, side by side with the soldiers they had slain. Ihap swiftly began to move about, absorbing the slain vampires’ auras. Afterward, back in her office uniform, she walked toward Generals Kuot and Kutkot.

‘I suggest that you shoot all the human bodies through the head in order to prevent them from resurrecting as Maranhig. All of your soldiers who got bitten or scratched should be exorcised within four days by MDEs.’

General Kutkot had already recovered from the shock of seeing 80% of his men dying from a preternatural attack. ‘You obviously know more about these creatures than we do. What else do you suggest?’

‘It will soon be dawn in Cephalia. Aya has to be back there by 8 am, in order to get Unlocked,’ Lili announced.

‘Aren’t we going to do anything about recovering the USB?’ Elam asked.

‘If the Cephalian Kindred are bent on keeping it, there’s nothing much we can do. For all we know it could be in the other side of Nova Continent by now. Once they realize it’s useless to them, they’ll return it,’ Tahum opined.

‘If you think it’s not about immortality, and it’s just Sri Duro telling you to continue his cause and preserve his legacy, why try to recover it at all?’

‘He’s my Maker, my Father.’ It was Pana that replied. ‘Speaking for myself, I just want to hear his last words. I have no desire for immortality. Like all Salig Commandos, I’m programmed to seek a glorious end in the battlefield.’

There was a moment of sober silence, broken by Lili. ‘We better get back to Ghetto City. Elam can still get a few hours sleep. How about you, Walay, Tala? You’re on reward leave.’

Walay, who had been listlessly silent, replied. ‘I’m staying here to complete my prayers and vigil.’

Talatala rolled up her eyes. ‘Admittedly, I don’t know who my buddy is praying for, but I’ll pray with her.’

Arangan turned to Huna. ‘If I stay, can I get back to Ghetto City quick?’

‘Yes, as far as I know the Folded Connection has been stable for a year. I see no reason why it should suddenly fade anytime soon.’

‘Then I’m staying. This place fascinates me. By the way, who or what are you?’

Huna bowed. ‘That’s for you to find out, iha.’

‘I better stay with you Arangan,’ Sayloha stated. ‘I’m curious about this place too.’

‘Well then, let’s go,’ Tahum announced in the brisk manner of avatars.

Tahum went up the ancient temple pillar and began walking counterclockwise around it, followed closely by Tukib, Lupad, Abtic, Lingaw, Pana, Elam, Aya and Lili. To those with darkling blood, they were walking through a passageway off tangent with the Teran world. To Elam, they were just walking around an old stone post.

After several turns, they were back in the cave of ruins by the trench on the boundary of Ghetto City. It was three past midnight.

‘I didn’t feel anything,’ Elam observed, ‘but it seems that several turns were now needed to get back.’

‘That’s because you’re fully human, migo,’ Lupad explained. ‘We avatars and Lili, who’s a Hybrid, felt as though we stepped in and out of a watery curtain.’

‘You also perceived the journey to be longer because the more crossers and the more aware they are, the longer the Connection appears to be’ Lili added. ‘If you’re not aware of a Folded Connection, you can pass through it almost instantaneously as what happened when Pana and I crossed for the first time. Now that we know it’s here, it will probably appear to be more and more like a tunnel to our senses.’

They retraced their steps back to the train station on the elevated railway, using their tabcoms’ lanterns to light up their way.

Lili went up to a ticket booth. She talked with the ticker seller, and bought tickets.

‘Good thing your Alogostani coins can also be used here in Cephalia,’ Elam remarked, as they entered a waiting train.

Lupad looked at him, puzzled, and then chuckled. ‘I forget. Your Null World has different currencies for each Nation. Since the Great Dark Shift era more than 400 years ago, Tera has always been a single currency world, by mandate of the World Defense Force. It’s an indirect way of controlling the world’s politics, as you know.’

They took their seats 10 minutes before the estimated time of departure. This time they took a more expensive cabin with two face to face sofas and a small table in the middle.

‘We might as well get comfortable,’ Lili said.

As before, an inspector examined their tickets. With time to spare, he began talking, occasionally glancing at Elam. Without Arangan and Sayloha, it was Lili this time who answered, in completely fluent Cephaliani.

‘Give him your ID Elam,’ Lili instructed. Elam did. The inspector studied it, nodded in surprise, spoke with Lili again, and then exited the cabin.

‘He was curious about your appearance, Elam. I told him straightaway that you were Anachronista. These train Inspectors actually have police powers, to investigate and arrest if necessary although nowadays it usually just amounts to friendly chitchatting with the passengers. It’s another remnant practice from the Dark War.’

‘Don’t you get treated as a foreigner in Alogostan?’ Elam asked the inverse question.

‘Usually only in the Mainland, but that stops the moment I open my mouth and out comes my perfect Alogostani. There are enough people in Alogostan with Nova features, especially in the Eastern and Offshore Islands, thanks to past historical immigration. It’s more of a problem in Iladistan, where there are few people of Nova descent, but I sidestep the problem by wearing traditional Iladistani veils, as what I did during our last mission in Ngit-Ngit City.’

‘How did you learn Cephaliani anyway?’

Lili shrugged. ‘I spoke Cephaliani until the age of four, although with the vocabulary of a preschooler. I knew its basic grammatical rules and accent, but had forgotten them. DATA memory sessions at the age of twelve gave me re-access to that part of my brain where these were stored. It is grammar that distinguishes a language. Not as much the vocabulary. If you know the grammatical rules of a language, then to be able to speak it conversationally is just a matter of adding to your vocabulary. Dictionaries advertised as easy tools to learn a foreign language are scams. You need to learn the grammatical rules first. For example, Sinayabi, Alogostani, Dalokostani, and most of the eastern Antigua Continent languages are agglutinative in character. We keep on adding affixes to a stem word. Not so Cephaliani which is mainly an analytical language.’

‘Don’t you, uh, feel that you are Cephalian?’

‘No. When I speak Cephaliani there are no emotional overtones that I can feel, unlike when I do Sinayabi. That’s the language of my growing up childhood years, to which I am imprinted to emotionally.’

The train took off silently. It whizzed pass cornfields where mechanical combines were harvesting the crop.

‘If you notice, our hotel and eateries here serve mostly cornbread, cornflakes, and grits, although some imported rice is also available,’ Lupad remarked, seeing Elam’s interest in the harvester machines. ‘They prefer maize here in Nova, not so much rice.’

‘Whether rice or corn, inexhaustible dark energy from the Troughs and Anachronista technology has made crop growing and harvesting maximally efficient,’ Tahum added. ‘In the Pre-Shift era, most of agriculture was done by hand. During the Dark War, the Anachronistas drafted almost all of the Teran human population into government and military service in order to fight the darklings. They adopted efficient agricultural machines and techniques from their home worlds, so that farm laborers could be repacked as soldiers. Since then, Teran agriculture has been mechanically done. Computerized machines plow, plant, fertilize, water, and harvest all crops. Most of the plains of Nova and Antigua Continents have been transformed into croplands that support the 30 billion human inhabitants of Tera. If it weren’t for the historical World Wars and WDF purges, we would have more.’

‘What happened to Tera’s native land animals and plants?’ Elam queried.

Aya unexpectedly spoke up. ‘During the Dark War, the WDF ordered for the creation of protected Natural Parks. I can recall that safaris to these nature reserves were the high points of Biology courses. There are several in every Nation. There’s one the size of a province just North of Tunga City in Alogostan. The central plains and inland sea of Cephalia has at least a dozen. It’s not out of altruism. The Veiled Commission deems all living species as possible biological sources in the fight against darklings. Most Temperate Zone large mammals have been driven to extinction in the wild as the Teran population exploded, but all species still have representative populations in the Parks. If you have the money, you can pay to get into a safari and see all kinds of huge temperate zone Lions, Tigers, Bears, Buffaloes, Horses, Camels, Deer, Rhinoceroses, Wolves, Sabertooths, Mammoths, Ground Sloths in these Parks. You get to shoot video cams, not guns, or you’ll get executed for poaching. Moreover, tropical zone large mammals roam free in the uninhabited portion of South Continent. As for the seas, marine mammals are officially protected and commercial large scale fishing by factory ships are banned by the WDF. The latter providentially allows small fishermen such as the Sayabi in the Far Islets to prosper.’

Elam had a surprised look on his face. ‘Wow. Tera is a paradise for nature conservationists.’

‘I guess it is,’ Lili agreed. ‘People engaging in illegal hunting and fishing are killed, and so they’re the ones who are the endangered species.’

Elam paused.

‘You mean agents like you, Lili?’

‘Yes of course. For instance, last year a factory ship was filmed drift net fishing off Tumoy Town in northern Buhi Island by local fishermen who deemed it an unwanted competitor. The town police held the ship at the local pier. The local Mayor belongs to the political opposition to Governor Tiko. The owner of the ship was a shady multimillionaire with links to Buhi Island’s crime world. He was also one of the financial supporters of Tiko’s. The owner and a posse of his paid goons showed up in Tumoy town and called up the Governor. The Governor ordered the Town Mayor to transfer the case to the Provincial authorities, probably in order to railroad it and free the ship. Local fishermen protested in the pier. The goons beat them up. The Town Mayor, upon prodding by the fishermen, instead made a Transfer of Jurisdiction Request to DATA. I was on a reward leave vacation in Buhi Island then, and was the only DATA officer available locally at that time with a Judge Executioner license. Minister Kusgan called me, that it was my call whether or not to accept the Request, and that he would not give me an extra reward leave if I did because it was not an official mission. I accepted, even though most of these cases are left to the local provincial and town authorities to settle. I boarded a DATA flying boat along with a back-up platoon of agents with assault rifles, RPGs, and bullet-proof vests, flew to Tumoy port, and arrested the factory ship’s crew in the pier. The owner and his goons tried to obstruct me. I called for my back-up platoon from the DATA boat, and arrested them too. I had the crew, the owner, and his posse cuffed and brought up the DATA ship. There away from public view, I shot them, threw the bodies into the sea, and confiscated the factory ship for DATA.’

Elam gasped in disbelief, but he was learning about Tera and getting used to culture shocks. When he had regained his bearing, he inquired as politely as he could, ‘Lili, I don’t wish to offend you but didn’t you just murder your prisoners?’

Lili looked back at him quizzically. ‘No, Elam. Resisting, obstructing, or escaping an arrest, and aiding those who do, are crimes for which the death penalty is an option. I have a Judge Executioner license, which all DATA and other National agents grade 5 and above, and in special cases lower grades, carry. In fact all DATA agents into the targeted assassination work, including Walay and Tala, have such a license. We only execute people if the evidence is overwhelming, such as criminal acts caught in videos. Otherwise we can get charged with murder and get executed ourselves.’

The train abruptly slowed and arrived at the central Ghetto City Train Station. Elam continued questioning Lili as they got out of the train and descended into the street below.

‘What about the media? Aren’t they going to make an issue out of it?’

‘I’ve never heard of them doing that. If they do, theoretically that’s a crime punishable by death too, and in any case, executions and assassinations by the state’s agents are always kept hidden from the public as much as possible in order to minimize psychological trauma and social backlash to the surviving kin. A day to a decade later, depending on the circumstances, the agency involved in the execution sends a private letter to the closest kin that their relative has been executed for such and such crime according to such and such evidence. It’s not only DATA that does this; agents of the National Intelligence Agency and Bureau of Internal Investigation regularly do it too, as with all national intelligence organizations in all Nations. The factory ship was filmed fishing illegally, and the owner and his goons were videoed obstructing the arrest of the crew, clear actions that may be punished by capital punishment.’

‘Couldn’t you have just arrested them and thrown them into prison?’

‘No. I know you’ll find it strange but my license covers only judging and executing. It was for the Mayor to arrest, detain, and charge them properly in court. Besides, as a Far Isler raised to hate factory fishing boats that deprive our people of our rightful means of livelihood, I wanted to execute them.’

‘What’s an Inter-Polity Challenge?’ Elam inquired.

‘The WDF allows territorial governments to issue Challenges to each other in case of intractable differences. A polity issues a Challenge, informing the WDF about it. The opposing one either concedes the issue over which they are in conflict, or accepts the Challenge within 24 hours. It originated as an adaptation of the darkling Challenge Code. WW3 occurred after various Nations Challenged each other. If it had occurred in this case, people from the police, military, and armed agencies in Tumoy Town and Buhi Province would have engaged in a battle under set conditions, with representatives from the WDF as witnesses. Most likely, the Tumoy militia would have lost in short order. The Mayor would have conceded the case; the crew of the factory ship legally declared innocent. The Governor is given the option to punish the Mayor with hefty fines, confiscation of his private properties, and execution. Hundreds or even thousands could have died during the battle itself. The Alogostani central government would not have intervened because it is the WDF itself that has jurisdiction over Inter-Polity Challenges.’

Elam did not know what to say to this and kept his silence.

Lili arranged for two electric rickshaws parked below the station to carry them back to Namit Hotel, using the change she had gotten from the ticket seller in Trench Train Station. One of them stopped at a nearby fuel station first. Refueling consisted of an electrical cable being plugged into the rickshaw’s battery.

‘This is high tech. I remember these things from my Null World, but the drivers used their own feet to pedal them,’ Elam observed.

‘Their feet? Damn!’ Pana exclaimed. ‘Oh yeah, energy is limited in your world. Here energy is virtually unlimited thanks to dark energy from the Trough Regions.’

The rickshaws arrived in Namit hotel.

‘Good, I’m sleepy,’ Aya said. ‘This present Disguise of mine needs to sleep.’

Upon entering their suite, Elam and Aya changed into pajamas that the hotel suite provided. Elam asked Lili one more question.

‘Why doesn’t the Far Islets issue an Inter-Polity Challenge to the central Alogostani government? If you succeed, then the Sayabi could become independent in a hurry.’

All the avatars seemed to go to freeze mode. Lili quietly stared at Elam.

‘Larger and stronger disaffected provinces have been doing that for 450 years, and have kept on failing, unless the conditions are exceptionally favorable for them. Conversely, if a province is giving its capital too much trouble, the capital may issue the Challenge itself. We can’t well win against the entire might of the Alogostani army, navy, and airforce. The payback traditionally has been the genocide of the rebellious or troublesome province’s inhabitants.’

‘Wake up sleepy head.’ Pana was shaking Elam.

‘What time is it?’ Elam asked groggily.

Lili was already up and at the door.

‘7 am. You’ve had three hours of good night’s sleep. Get dressed and let’s go. We can take breakfast later.’

They took the elevator down. At the front entrance of the hotel, Lili requested the bellboy to call in a van for hire. It was a typical hybrid hydrogen fuel cell and battery vehicle. She talked to the driver, then gave him two 1000 peso Bugu coins.

‘I’ll pay him 2000 pesos more at the end of the day. He drives us all day within City limits. This is more convenient than flagging down two electric rickshaws every time we need to go from one place to another. Pana, they don’t know you’ve been Unlocked. You might as well keep on pretending that you are still Locked.’

Aya rolled up her eyes. ‘You sure like to keep info for yourself, Lili.’

‘Yeah. Who knows? It can save our collective ass.’ Lili turned to the driver and spoke in Cephaliani. ‘To the Parahuman Headquarters, please.’

‘Parahuman?’ Elam was raising an eyebrow. ‘I caught that word; it’s Esperanto.’

‘That’s the term humans everywhere in Tera use for Dark Kindred and any other unusual human-like creatures,’ Lili clarified.

‘And Tamawos,’ Tahum added. ‘In many places, Lili herself would be regarded as Parahuman.’

The van drove them to the Cephalian National Kindred Society Headquarters. President Manggad and Secretary Balosa welcomed and ushered them in. Lili had to turn over all of her weapons to the security guards. All thirteen members of the Council proceeded to stand around a chalk-drawn pentagram on the lobby floor.

‘OK. Aya, Pana, Lupad, Tahum, Tukib, Abtic, and Lingaw, you better enter,’ Lili said.

‘All of you have other Forms?’ Elam whispered.

‘I have a weak winged Form as you know,’ Lupad answered in Sinayabi. ‘Tahum has a Succubus form. When she takes it, she emits more female pheromones and her behavior becomes more alluring. Tukib likewise has an Incubus form. He takes this form when he’s gleaning info from women; as with Tahum, he emits male pheromones and exhibits behavior that makes him more attractive to women. We can’t take those Forms while still Locked into our present powerless condition. They are not true Aspects, just minor changes to our baseline construct. On the other hand, combat avatars have at least one weaponized Aspect.’ He entered the pentagram last.

The Councilors moved their hands in intricate helical patterns. To Lili, the avatars, and the Kindred, dark energy appeared as glimmering glyphs around the Councilors’ hands, some of which flew inside the Pentagram and imprinted on the subjects standing within it. To Elam, the Councilors were just waving their hands.

‘The minor Forms are Unlocked,’ Manggad declared. ‘Now for the Aspects.’

‘Wait a minute,’ Balosa requested. She continued waving her hands.

‘What are you doing, Balosa?’ Manggad had a perplexed look on her face.

Balosa reached inside her robe, took out a hand grenade with her right hand, unpinned it, and tossed it into the Pentagram.

Before it could reach the floor, Pana transformed into her armored Aspect and caught it in midair. She cupped the grenade firmly inside her gauntleted hands. Bang!

Pana opened her hands. Smoke rose up and shrapnel dropped off her gauntlets. Her arrow materialized in her left hand. She abducted her left arm and then adducted it fast, throwing the arrow straight into Balosa’s right wrist, disabling it. Next, Pana jumped forward and slammed both of her gauntleted hands forward and medially on Balosa’s arms. Humerus bones fractured. Finally Pana did a little hop and kicked at Balosa’s thighs with her spiked combat boots. Both femurs cracked.

Pana had moved so fast that only a few seconds had passed. Balosa lay on the floor all limbs totally disabled.

‘What the f__k was that all about?’ Pana asked her. ‘And don’t heal yourself. I’ll break all your bones except your head and neck if you try that.’

Lili’s Seals were glowing. ‘Damn! She’s Possessed by a Demon King.’

The Councilors had morphed up into their vampire and werewolf forms in a hurry. Peculiarly enough, most of them were staring not at Balosa but at Pana. More Kindred guards began to appear in the lobby, submachine guns at the ready.

‘Kalayopana, Fire and Arrow,’ Manggad addressed Pana. ‘I remember you. I saw you shoot my Maker through the eye.’

Pana looked around at the Councilors. Half of them were silently snarling at her, displaying an abundance of razor fangs. She eyed the guards. They were aiming their guns at her. She bowed asian style.

‘Sorry. I know many of you were Made by Manggad’s Mother. It was a time of war. Uh, are you planning on attacking me? Please don’t.’

The Councilors and guards glared at her.

‘Pretty please?’

She turned to Pana. ‘You are certainly right, Gisaligan. It was war. Before we continue, I want to hear from the rest of the Council. We can’t work together to solve this crime if half of us are harboring thoughts of slaying Fire and Arrow in revenge.’

There was some hesitancy. ‘Of course Kalayopana can always issue a Challenge to any of us, knowing that we have grounds to attempt her murder. If I remember correctly, combat avatars made such Challenges as SOP to Kindred they held in suspicion. Kindred would then have two options. Swear by their Maker that they had no intention of harming the avatar, or engage in a duel with her.’

Pana perked up. ‘Hey that’s a good idea. All of you better do as Manggad says. Anyone who doesn’t, I Challenge to a duel.’

In short order, all the members of the Council stated that they had forgiven Pana and had no grounds for her murder. At the end, Manggad turned to her. ‘Is there anything that you would like to say, Gisaligan Kalayopana?’

An uncertain Pana cleared her throat. ‘Uh, to be honest, the Dark Shift has erased most of my memories and has jumbled up those that remain. I did not even know I had four Aspects two days ago, let alone that I killed your Maker. Please believe me if I say that I have utterly no plans of doing you harm.’

‘Damn!’ It was Lili. She had approached Balosa, and was now grasping her head. Lili’s Seals had brightened. Balosa’s glaring eyes were glazing. ‘She has the same Compulsion to Suicide as the other captured Kindred.’

Elam remembered what Ihap did to the Palace maid and had an idea. ‘Why not Possess her?’

‘Probably won’t work since she’s already dying fast. Her aura is already seeping out.’ Lili paused. ‘OK that’s it. She’s dead.’ Balosa crumbled into dust.

‘Alright. Battle order! All members of the Council shall be tested now,’ Manggad declared in an imperative tone. ‘Maestra Lili?’

Lili faced the Cephalian Kindred ‘OK. I will touch each of your hands. It will take only a moment, and it won’t hurt. I will find out if any of you are supra Possessed, that is if there is an extra layer of dark quanta adsorbed on your already possessed cells. Please do not try to engage in any action that can be construed as attacking or escaping. Combat avatars such as Pana are programmed to terminate Kindred or darkling that exhibit such a behavior.’

Lili went around briskly and proficiently. The Council members, including Manggad, all turned out to be negative for supra Possession.

Manggad faced them. ‘OK that’s clear. I am going to inform the Cephalian Parahuman Ministry of this matter, although since no human has been hurt so far, they probably would not bother with what they must deem as internal Kindred affair. I am now mandating all Council Members to do a check on all the resident Kindred in your respective districts. Operations are to commence immediately. I’ll be staying here as Control of this operation. Lili, I will be informing you of significant developments, and we will cooperate with you if you need to act within Ghetto City.’

‘Uh, Madame Manggad,’ Elam ventured. ‘Does such cooperation mean that you will return our USB?’

‘Unfortunately no. The National Council answers to Kindred Societies all over Cephalia. Almost every town and city has a Society. There was an emergency quantum encrypted online meeting of Kindred leaders all over Cephalia when it became known that Ayam had turned over the USB drive to our keeping. It was decided that we will try to crack it, before returning it to you. Even I can’t reverse that decision.’

‘You act like a commanding officer giving out orders, and the Council members act like junior officers.’ Pana was observing the various Council Members talking into their tabcoms issuing orders and leaving the lobby.

‘That’s because in the Dark War, I was a General in the Kindred Auxiliary Service of the Darkling Army. So were Dawat and Balosa. Three fourths of the present Council were our subordinates. They’re used to taking my orders in battle conditions, and I just declared one. Now if you excuse me, I will have to establish a command and control center in one of the secure inner chambers of this building.’

‘What about Ayoha?’ Lili asked.

Back in Namit Hotel, they held a brief discussion. ‘I’m still safe,’ Aya asserted. ‘I was Form Locked into this human Disguise before I got Infected. It takes four days for both phenomena to run their course. That means I’ll get Unlocked before I turn into undead Maranhig. Like Pana, who got Unlocked by Lingaw’s incantation, I’ll burn off the infecting dark quanta in my system immediately. I’m more worried about Elam.’

Abtic bowed before Aya. ‘Wings were known to have at least two Aspects, a human-looking one with retractable wings, and an energy-guzzling haloed one. There were rumors that you respond to a failsafe Aspect Adjustment command similar to the one Lingaw gave Pana. Perhaps your Maker knew the command, and passed it on to other Maestros of his Order. This was an SOP during the Dark War according to the Ancients. In case a Maestro died and his Wings turned rogue, others of his Order could still reign them in.’

‘If Father knew such a command, he probably had forgotten it on reoccurrence, because he never once mentioned it. There are also no other Sun and Sky Maestros in today’s Tera. Lili did acquire our Seal, but that was only a few days ago, and she is of the Order of the Autumn Sea.’ Aya straightened up.

‘I move that Lili exorcise Elam now.’

Lili protested. ‘Aya, you know that without knowing the infecting darkling’s name, it will take me a lot of dark energy to exorcise Elam. More so since it was no low Dan Pawn but a Demon King.’

‘I’m still carrying all that dark energy I ate from those vampires I slew in the tunnel,’ Pana announced. ‘I move for Lili to exorcise both Elam and Aya now. I’ll feed you the energy, Lili.’ The others quickly assented.

‘Very well. Pana give it to me,’ Lili said. Pana reached out and clasped Lili’s right hand. Lili’s Seals glowed blue, red, and yellow.

‘Come over to my front,’ Lili told Elam. First she grasped Elam’s shoulder with her left hand, while still holding on to Pana with her right. Multicolored lights on her Seals flared, like sapphires, rubies, and topazes chasing each other, and then dimmed out.

‘Ok Elam. You are now exorcised. That’s strange, it took a lot more energy than usual.’

Next Lili laid her left hand on Aya’s shoulder.

Her Seals shimmered, then faded back to normal.

‘S__t! There’s not enough to exorcise Aya.’

‘What in the Tela’s ass are you saying?’ Pana was frowning.

Lili thought for a few seconds. ‘The Form Lock spell was tweaked to become stronger and last longer than the usual four days by weakening and feeding on the quanta of the victim. My diagnostics now tell me that Aya is Locked in for about 8 days. That means Aya will turn Possessed before she automatically Unlocks. It was probably Balosa; remember how she kept on spellcasting after the minor Forms got Unlocked.’ She began typing on her tabcom, placing an emergency call to Manggad.

‘What is it?’ Manggad replied. Lili explained the situation.

‘Damn,’ Manggad cursed. ‘It was Balosa who prepared most of that Form Lock spell. We can’t Unlock it without her.’

Lili placed another call.

‘Lili?’ It was Ihap’s voice coming out of her tabcom.

‘Do you still have the energy you took from all the vampires you slew, Ihap?’

‘Yes, in my spleen, liver, and kidneys mostly. I’m planning to give it to Bugsay for the Outrigger Engines of the Shield.’

Lili explained the new situation.

‘No problem,’ Ihap stated. ‘The Shield can be here in Alogosotan in 30 minutes. I can meet you in Tunga City Port later this afternoon. Or maybe in Dakobalud Resort in Tubo Island. General Kuot and his Presidential Aides are going over there in order to provide extra security, after we do a little bit more exploration of this boundary cave system.’

‘Huh?’

‘As everyone knows, the Tunga City Coliseum, where the World Council of Nations Assembly is supposed to be held, was bombed by still unknown terrorists last week. Following tradition that goes all the way back to the Dark War, the WDF declared that there shall be no deferral or cancelation, but that the venue be changed. One of the designated second options for the conference location is Dakobalud. For security reasons, it’s only now that President Tagas has announced it.

‘I see. Dakobalud is the most famous seashore resort in Alogostan, with white powdered sand and huge waves. It’s almost always an alternative if not the main venue for National and International conferences.’

‘In any case, there’s probably an easy way to bring Aya back to normal without fancy spells,’ Ihap said.

‘There is?’

‘In the front page of all our Household’s original Credit and Debit Book from the Dark War Era, there is a series of numbers, in Father’s handwriting. He says he couldn’t recall what they stood for. I have analyzed them and believe I’ve deciphered some of them. One claims to be an Aspect Adjustment Command for the Wings.’

Aya frowned. ‘’Well don’t say it over the air, especially with you surrounded by agents, soldiers, and MDEs. They could have amplifying listening devices with them. If a recall correctly, Aspect Adjustment Commands were one of the most guarded of military secrets in the Dark War. You could try it directly on me once we get together.’

‘What about our main mission here, to recover the USB drive?’ Elam reminded them.

They checked out at ten, and went back to the Cephalian Kindred HQ. There Manggad gave them twenty thousand pesos, without asking for official receipts. It was more than what they had spent for Namit Hotel, the van for hire, and their food.

‘Keep the change. There’s bad news,’ Manggad informed them. ‘The Councilors have been detecting quite a lot of unregistered Possession cases in their districts. All of them have the Compulsion to Suicide if captured. It seems that some agency has been infiltrating the City. Admittedly it has not even occurred to anyone here that this could happen, as there is no sane motif to it. We are still investigating.’

‘Our police have also discovered a tunnel system under the Path to Paradise Unitemple that leads to the Polytemple Trench Ruins near the border of Ghetto City and the Trough Mines. In one of the larger underground caverns scores of ash piles were found, remains of Possessed Kindred that were recently slain. Yet no Ghetto Kindred has gone missing recently.’

Manggad held out the remains of an exploded tabcom. Engraved on a surviving piece of metal were the words ‘…ade in Alogos…’

‘Yours I presume? On behalf of the Council I thank the Order of the Sun and Sky for dealing with those rogue Vampires. We have 60 less undead vermin to detect and hunt.’

‘Uh, you’re welcome,’ Lili replied.

The avatars proceeded to the train station, for the trip back to National Capital City and the Shield. They arrived almost an hour before the train’s estimated time of departure. So they proceeded to a small 24 hour eatery across the street from the station to wait it out. Before they could buy drinks, their tabcoms rang in the encrypted Shield comband channel. Only Sun and Sky members could hear. Ihap was speaking excitedly.

‘We’ve found the Insertion of another Folded Connection. It’s in an underground cavern near the borders of Iladistan, Dalokistan, and Alogostan. The cavern and Insertion portal itself is in Alogostani territory, by GPS measurement. It was only lightly guarded by a score of Iladistani Unitemplists. They’re all dead. There was a shoot-out between them and the Dalokistani Black Berets.’

‘What are the Alogostanis and Dalokistanis planning to do with it?’ Lupad asked.

‘Kuot says they will secure the area and present it as evidence against the Iladistani Unitemple.’ Ihap lowered her voice. ‘There’s more. He says that President Tagas is planning to charge the Iladistani Mainline Unitemple of practicing Dark Sorcery inside Alogostan, since the exit portal falls in the latter’s territory; and in direct involvement in Demon Summoning in the upcoming World Council of Nations meeting. If the Iladistani Unitemple is convicted, he is going to ask the WDF and WCN permission for Alogostan to annex part of the Trough Region. The annexed area will be divided into private lots and rewarded to himself, his business partners and cronies, important government figures such as General Kuot, and to cooperating institutions. The latter includes us, the Sun and Sky. Our Household will be recognized as a legal entity belonging to Elam, with Lili as Maestra, and we will be part owners of the Trough dark energy fields. Imagine that!’

‘First things first Ihap. Could we take a look at the cavern and the portal to the Connection?’

Captain Sugo in the Shield Command Tower was listening in. ‘Yes, get a feed from your companions’ tabcoms and relay it to me. I’ll use the Shield’s computers to construct a moving 3D hologram of the cavern as usual.’