The Hellhound's Demon

Arise the Crystal Eyes

ARCHAEOLOGIST ANNOUNCES RARE FIND!

Doctor Silvia Jennings announces last dig unearth five Crystal Eyes. Not much is known about the artefacts, only that they were supposed to hold DNA to long extinct animals.

Dr. Jennings has yet to release evidence to support these findings, or which eyes she is currently in possession of.

Kali furrowed her brow as she turned to the railing separating the loft kitchen from the rest of the house. "Hey, RJ, you ever heard of things called "crystal eyes"?" she asked.

"Did you say Crystal Eyes?" Rylie repeated.

"Yeah. Why?"

Rylie turned to RJ. "They can't be, can they?" she asked.

Kali raised an eyebrow at the couple. "Does someone want to tell what these things are?" she asked.

"The Crystal Eyes are linked to creatures known as Phantoms," RJ answered, climbing the stairs to the kitchen. "There were considered the baddest beast in the entire Beast War. One by one, the masters were able to destroy the Phantoms, and saved humans. When each beast was destroyed a Crystal Eye was left in their place, trapping the spirit of that beast inside it."

"How many Phantom Beasts were there?" Kali asked.

"Eight," Rylie answered. She picked up the paper from the table, reading the article. "She's only found five. That means there are another three-left unaccounted for."

Kali leaned back in her chair. "Okay, I understand that these things are dangerous," she said, "and I'm already considering paying Dr Jennings a visit in the morning to ask her, politely, to hand them over. But I still got to ask - why does she need to hand them over? The Phantoms are gone, stuck in these eyes, they can't come back, can they?"

RJ sighed. "Normally, no," he said, shaking his head. "It takes a rare celestial alignment to reignite the power inside a Crystal Eye. Unfortunately, that alignment happens tonight."

"Of course, it does," said Kali.

"Poor woman," said Rylie, staring at the paper. "She probably doesn't even know what she's got."

Kali nodded and took the paper back. "This is why I say certain things should stay just a myth," she said. "I'll grab Casey. We'll head to the lab as soon as the sun is up."

RJ nodded and watched Kali disappear before turning to Rylie.

"This isn't good," said Rylie, quietly. "We need to find the other three eyes before Dai Shi."

"I think it's a bit late for that," RJ admitted.

Rylie sighed. "For once, I hope you're wrong," she said.

~X~

Later that morning, Kali and Casey wandered up three flights of stairs and into an open floored lab. At the end of the room stood two people - one was the blonde-haired Silvia Jennings, and the other a brunette male, her assistant. They were looking over a couple of X-rays.

"The retinal scan was negative for Crocodile," Jennings said, turning to the second image. "And Iguana."

"Mastodon."

Jennings gave a start and turned, finding herself face to face with two unlikely people. They were too old to be students, but also too young to be scientists. She also knew everyone on her team, having handpicked them herself based on their credentials. She didn't recognise this pair.

"I'm sorry?" Jennings asked.

Casey held up a copy of the newspaper article. "We read that you hadn't identified one of the eyes," he said. "It's a Mastodon."