“Susan, if we stay, we die! I know it’s difficult but-“
“No Tom. Absolutely not. This is our home, and I’ll be (-)ed if we have to leave it!” Louie and Tier relaxed downstairs in the Bradhurst’s living room on what might be their last time there. The fight carried on above them for what felt like hours, as Tier and Louie half eavesdropped half didn’t care. Tier was standing up pouring himself a flue of fine wine while leaning against an old record player. Louie had an arm behind his head and lazed on their sofa. More muffled shouting could be heard through the house, so Tier blew the dust off a record and delicately set the needle down on it.
“Didn’t Tom say it’d only be a few minutes?” he asked while trying to poke the play button and not destroy the thing. Both came true, as classical violin music flirted through the air but his claw broke off the button.
“What a piece of crap. Care for a drink?”
Louie gave another shrug of the shoulders. Annoyed, Tier raised the glass to his lips.
“Hrmph. More for me then.” He downed the glass as quickly as possible, accidentally breaking the glass in half. With a very agitated grumbled, skipped the glass entirely and began drinking straight from the bottle. More yelling could be heard from the room above them. Surprisingly, Louie coughed a bit and asked Tier if he found anything about Gary Parker.
“His guard’s heads are softer than melons. Barring that though, I made my way into his office. Initially I didn’t find anything that looked out of place, but I quickly found a passage down into a hidden chamber below.” Tier took a moment at this point to have a particularly large gulp of alcohol. “Ah. Well, it was pretty crazy down their. He had a blood-stained altar set up with bodies set-up for sacrificing, neatly stacked about 10 high. Tables with relics adorning various evil deities, mostly minor ones were down their too. I picked up a small depiction written on the back of a business card of a particularly interesting figure.” Tier stopped again to drink more. While lowering the bottle, he walked over to where his bullet-torn suit hung, and removed the paper from the inner pocket. A hole burnt through the corner of it, but the drawing and most of the writing remained intact. Tier flicked the card onto Louie’s chest and took a drink again as he looked.
“Hmmph.” Louie grunted while lazily bringing the card up to his eyes. When he saw the figure, Louie’s pupils shrunk to pin-points. He propped himself up slightly on his elbows. “This…what is it’s name again?”
“Bruhn.”
Louie’s eyes never wavered off the card as he spoke. “Estella worshiped this same being. She tried to convince me to as well, but I…it would have destroyed us. Yakira…she was harmed by Estella. Probably to help her gain power and favor with Bruhn.” Tier harrumphed.
“You sure your ex just wasn’t being jealous?” Louie shot Tier a dark look.
“I hate you because you’re smug.”
“Hmm…what do you know about Bruhn? Perhaps it’ll help us understand Parker’s motives.”
“Well, as you known, Bruhn is a soul that has transcended with enormous power, to almost a deity like state. However in his life he was an atrociously evil being, so it goes to show that he would be an atrociously evil demi-god. However, he with his ultimate banishment to the core of this world, he lost the power to directly act, and was forced to manipulate any potential followers into his will.” A loud thud came from the room above them. Tier and Louie paused to look up. Both shrugged, and Louie continued. “If I remember, in his early years, Bruhn was so spiteful about his situation that he would reach out and kill anybody who attempted to appease him. Their bodies would generally end up being incredibly mutilated. Eventually, he matured I suppose and now only kills the greater bulk of people who worship him. Parker must be somehow useful to Bruhn for him to not be outright mauled yet.”
Tier downed the last sip of bubbly and whipped his mouth across his arm.

“Sounds like a wonderful guy.”

“I agree Auntie, he’s amazing.” Majo and her Aunt were sitting at a table, sharing a conversation and coffee. “Although I have to wonder why he’s remained single for so many years.” By now, the sun had set long ago and the stars were almost coming into their full glory. Majo had freshly showered after her engagement with Keith. She walked on air without the stress that years on the road gave her.
“Well, he was probably waiting for you dear. And so have I. You’ve just returned and you’ve spent all day galavanting around. Why, you haven’t even unpacked yet. Please, settle down for a while. I made your bed and everything.” Majo sighed. While she thought, a light tapping sound beated against the roof. A small drizzle of rain had set in and nobody noticed.
“I suppose I should. It’s almost midnight, and here I am making you stay up so late. Well, I guess I’ll be heading up there. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Majo got up and politely pushed her seat in. She grabbed her small box of belongings and dragged it upstairs into her new bedroom. Cozy and small, this was where Majo hoped her new life would be. A bed, albeit a bit short for her now rested flush underneath a window. An end table with a reading lamp. A wooden bookshelf sagging under the weight of it’s literature. Warm yellow wallpaper that peeled at the corners. Majo let out a contented sigh, and dumped her belongings out on her bed. She sat next to the items and sifted through the pile. She barely had time to figure out what to bring, so the bulk of the stuff was clothes randomly grabbed from her dresser. She pulled out an undershirt to sleep in and out of it tumbled a small necklace. Majo bent over, grabbed it, and brought the necklace up to her eyes. A blue marble wrapped in silver. Suddenly, she instantly regretted looking at it. The necklace reminded her of how she got it, which reminded her of Louie. She wondered how she could possibly have been so foolish. He was a vampire for god’s sake. Majo told herself that she had no business to associate with him for as long as she did. She felt emotions, jealousy and anger building up in her. Other memories of Tom, Alexander, Tier, et cetera. Freshly met people who impacted her so much. She hated them all. She reached across and slammed the necklace down on her dresser in an outburst of this. Majo had crossed the point of no return. Turning back was out of the question. She was no longer a part of the group.
Suddenly, she realized that she hadn’t checked up with Alexander or the others in several hours. She didn’t care for them, but acknowledged that she would have to at least go back and tell them of her decision. She forced herself off the bed and grudgingly walked down the stairs again, making sure to walk lightly and not wake up Aunt Grenda. The door gave a creek as she pushed it open and stepped out into the rain.

Alexander’s chest felt like it was collapsing on itself. The tentacles bound so ferociously tight he couldn’t breath. Michelle was screaming. Tony babbling. It would prove to be a humiliating end to Schism unless somebody acted fast. Michelle’s shouting suddenly stopped when she remembered her own fighting prowess. Mustering up a bit of courage, she charged head-on towards the beast with an unsightly speed. She couldn’t even feel the liquid slowing her down as she practically skimmed across it. Michelle gave a battle roar that although needing practice, shook Tony out of his funk and into action. Thinking on his feet, Tony grabbed a blaster pistol out of a dead guard’s hand and began shooting blindly into the thing’s face and eyeholes. Michelle jumped up towards the monster and sunk her teeth into it’s flesh, not penetrating very deeply but hopefully causing pain. The beast didn’t even shudder, but it’s grip on Alexander relaxed. He fell to the ground, took a gasping breath, and immediately jumped onto it’s claw arm. With a huge effort, he bent the claw finger back upon itself, and with a large grunt, he felt it break. Michelle paused on biting her opponent for a nano to wonder why it released Alexander. Her attack didn’t do any major damage. Perhaps it was really just all bark and no bite?