Eleven: The Sequel of AlterMyth

Through The Eye Of The Mind

Prologue

A small, makeshift campfire of broken-up furniture crackled in the lobby of the Yekaterinburg Train Station late in the evening, cutting through the darkness of its desolate halls. There, Baelz Hakos sat nervously still while Sana Tsukumo and Fauna Ceres chipped away at the rest of her crystal prison with chisels and mallets.

Eventually, the two chipped away at a peculiar fragment of crystal and freed Bae's guardian spirit, Mr. Squeaks.

"My goodness!" Mr. Squeaks exclaimed, seeing the crystal prison that he and Bae were trapped in. He looked around and saw the desolate space of the train station and gasped, "What in the world happened!?"

"It's a long story, my friend." Bae patted Mr. Squeaks' head to reassure him, "We'll have time to catch up for sure. For now, stay still." She snickered mildly, "Sana and Fauna can't see you, so they might chip off your tail."

The tiny red rat whimpered and did as he was told. All the while, Bae guided Sana and Fauna around the guardian spirit's outline.

Mr. Squeaks got out first but he chose to stay on Bae's lap. The rat-girl absentmindedly stroked her guardian spirit's warm, red fur and waited patiently for her own freedom. Thanks to her gentle ministrations, the guardian spirit drifted off to sleep in minutes.

A tiny, four-legged creature - albeit one that Bae couldn't see - trotted into the lobby. Fauna noticed the presence draw close and smiled at it.

"Did you come to see Mr. Squeaks, Nemu?" Fauna put away her mallet and patted her own guardian spirit, "He's alright now. Bae says he's tuckered out."

Bae snorted. Her imagination filled in the blanks. She imagined Fauna lovingly scratching beneath the miniaturized green kirin Nemu's chin. Then, the kirin plopped down by the fire to laze about. That mental image made the partially-crystallized Bae utterly jealous.

Oh, what I would give to stretch my legs out just a little.

Sana's eyes wandered from Fauna to Bae and a small frown formed on her lips.

"Yatagarasu's still out there somewhere." Sana sighed, "I wonder if he and Boros are getting along."

"Nemu says that they're probably doing fine." Fauna spoke on behalf of her spirit, relaying whatever she was told, "Yatagarasu is old and wise. He will be a hard spirit to break in the same way Nemu was broken."

"I sure hope so..." Sana sniffed.

"Boros, on the other hand, is fiercely loyal to the Warden of Time, Nemu told me." Fauna continued, "It will only do what Kronii wants him to do."

"But there's the rub." Bae argued, "Before Clover Gosling tried to finish me off, she said that she lobotomized Kronii in the Nephilim's Dream. Whatever that means. That - and the things that happen in that dream translate somehow in the real world." She slouched forward and grumbled, "If a lobotomized Kronii is tricked into doing things, would Boros act against it?"

Sana and Fauna fell silent. Instead, they picked up their tools once more and continued chipping away at Bae's prison. While they did, the one-armed Colonel Omega appeared with a folding chair in hand.

Bae, Sana and Fauna saluted Omega.

"I'm the Colonel of a non-existent army - and all of you would be out of my jurisdiction anyways even if I had one." Omega scoffed, "You don't have to salute me anymore."

"We're not saluting the rank or the hierarchy, Colonel." Fauna answered stubbornly, "We're saluting you - as a person." Still saluting, she wore a smile, "You've got us through so many challenges in the past already. We know you'll get us through this new challenge too."