Chapter CCCL: Somewhere In Between ~Artemis

She looked onto the scene in utter horror. The young woman stood over the man, her facial features blurred from her view. But she knew them to be twisted in anger and hate. The man's features, too, were blurred. His, however, were contorted in surprise. He had just discovered something that was of great importance to him. His mouth moved in soundless syllables, the words he was spinning only causing the woman growing hostility. She shot more words back at him in a soundless retort, her right hand drawing a tighter grip on the weapon she carried.

There was no visible light in the room, but somehow the blade shone brightly before it was plunged deep into the beating heart of the man. The silent words were halted as his eyes focused on her for the last time, and even though his face was blurred and unable to be seen…she knew that he smiled. The woman ignored the man's smile, kicking him in the face before twisting the blade where it had been thrust. She pulled out the sword and tossed it to the side, kneeling down beside the man. At first she thought the young woman was feeling remorse for what she did, but she flinched violently as she saw her hand thrust deep into the inflicted wound. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the woman's arm go deeper into the man's chest.

Finally the arm ceased its invasion and was forcefully drawn out, the hand clasped firmly around a small spherical object. The woman's eyes locked upon her own, and began a quick stride to make her way to where she stood, watching everything. She was unable to move and unable to look away, despite her burning desire to flee. She put the object in her pocket, and stopped a foot away from her. In a flash her hand came towards her chest, and she suddenly found that same arm that had been fishing around inside the man was now fishing around inside her as well.

Thankfully she did not have to know if it would hurt or not. The already pitch-black room plunged into darkness...

Lady North sat up quickly, her scream still echoing among the treetops. It was from that alone she was able to wake from the nightmare. She took a moment to catch her breath and slow her rapidly beating heart, quickly checking to make sure none of the skin was broken. The woman breathed a deep sigh of relief that she was physically whole, but her mind was at a loss for words to describe what she had just witnessed.

Witnessed? Lady North asked herself. Witnessed, or... committed?

When she was satisfied that she would be able to stand, Lady North made her way slowly to her feet. She looked around, noticing two young men lying passed out on the grass. They were at the campsite where she had first come through the portal from the Tower. She had a deep feeling that they were unconscious for the same reason she had been, and knew that, unlike her, they might not wake up for a good long time.

Lady North took a step and jumped back, letting out a yelp of pain as she picked a thorn from her foot. Growling something under her breath about the second time that had happened, she stepped on an air current, allowing her the ability to walk above the sadistic grass. She had no idea what to do, and she could hardly remember even why she was here in the first place.

Suddenly she felt a presence near and she whirled around, her dress floating for a moment before settling back around her ankles. A man wearing a cloak and using a cane was approaching slowly, his head bowed low enough that Lady North had to wonder how he knew where he was going.

"My, my...what have we here?" he asked, chuckling softly. His messy blonde hair bounced slightly as he laughed, yet it did not disturb the neat part down the center of his head. "Why are you still here my dear? Should you not be with your friends?"

"Who are you?" Lady North inquired, unsure as to what was happening. The man chuckled again, stopping several feet away from her, changing the angle of her perception every time she tried to get a view of his face. He waved his free hand dismissively.

"That does not matter right now," he told her with an odd ring of authority. "However, what does matter, is that you get to where you are supposed to be right away. Now, I do know of an old means of transportation that is not used very much anymore, but is still quite reliable."

"Where is it I need to be?" she replied, thinking first of her Tower.

"Elsewhere," was all he said, snapping his fingers and waving at the ground.

Before she even knew what was happening, she was falling.

Falling through what seemed like rays of sunlight. How could she be falling through rays of sunlight though? She wasn't even sure if she was falling through sky, let alone sunlight. Lady North watched as the yellows, reds, and oranges raced past her in a blended mixture that she should have thought would hurt her eyes.

And then as suddenly as she had started falling, she landed.

It took her a slight second to regain her balance, and she stood up straight, drinking in her surroundings. She was in some kind of crudely made hut, and there were four other creatures in there as well. Three of them looked somewhat alike; the other she was not quite sure what it resembled. It looked much like a giant black egg. Her body made to turn away, to possibly talk to the creatures she had just been unceremoniously dropped next to, but her brain refused to let her move a muscle. Her eyes remained transfixed on the figure that lay on the bed.

Time seemed to stop around her as she slowly approached him. Him? Her conscious mind questioned. But she received no answer, and her living mind was blended into the mind that seemed to be the one in control, feeling for the second time that day, like she was only a spectator in the vast arena of her mind.

She stood now leaning over his body, wondering if he were only in just deep sleep. Lady North stretched out a pale hand, resting it where his shoulder would be, shaking him gently.

"Agent..." she whispered, feeling a trail of wet tears falling from her eyes. "Agent, you must wake. I cannot find Fang."

The wolf lunged at her from behind, knocking her down as she laughed. She managed to wiggle out from under him, pinning him to his back and his wet tongue licked her hand in defeat.

Fang...

Yatina...

"Agent..." she whimpered, feeling the blackness starting to shroud her leaking eyes. "Agent, please, you must wake. I fear something terrible has happened to my forest. I cannot find Medor...he is lost to me. Agent..."

With that her eyes slid closed and she pitched forward, collapsing upon the still body of Agent Multehx707.