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", "writing": "Black Hole: The Book of Iratus, Episode 13\n\nChapter 121\n\nIratus paused; his emotions portrayed a curious and forgiving expression.\n\nClamor, \"They tried to kill us, and even if that first man thought his life was at risk, he was hateful to the end. Let's go.\"\n\nIratus, \"Let's get this guy out in the open, and we can ask questions under cover.\"\n\nClamor, \"Kid, you are breaking my back, and I don't know if I like it.\"\n\nResonantia, \"Funny, because the others didn't like us kids being in charge, so...\"\n\nClamor, \"Ok, fine, but only because we might not actually be able to outrun them or something.\"\n\nEveryone looked around and found a large dirt mound on the side of the road that the party took advantage of. After a long minute, another Invader came running out of the woods. His breath could be heard as he clearly ran with all his effort.\n\nIratus, \"That's far enough. You wish to talk?\"\n\nThe Invader slowly disarmed himself and placed his firearms on the ground.\n\nInvader 2, \"One...second.\" As he took time to catch his breath. \"My name...ok, my name is Invidus.\"\n\nInvidus took off his helmet and revealed himself as a mousefolk like Iratus, and in fact, he looked very similar to Iratus with the blonde hair but dark blonde fur. Now the scars lining his face were similar to the wounds Iratus had on his. The main difference was that Iratus had a somewhat masculine-like face despite his young age, while this man had a soft, almost feminine-like face.\n\nIratus, \"Who names their kid Invidus?\"\n\nInvidus, \"Funny.\"\n\nHe looked around and saw the others on higher ground.\n\nInvidus, \"Oh, perfect, King Clamor Amethyst Cold Iron the Second, I've been looking for you.\"\n\nClamor, \"My friends tied me up because of you.\"\n\nInvidus, \"That was metalhead sickness. Their brains were chemically poisoned by being around metalheads.\"\n\nIratus, \"What do you mean? What are you talking about?\"\n\nInvidus, \"No idea. No one has been around metalheads long enough to discover that they have this ability. This discovery will actually put us in the books, and I'd thank your friends, but they've long since been torn apart by metalheads.\"\n\nClamor, \"I think he means, what is metalhead sickness?\"\n\nInvidus, \"Like I said, I have no idea. A gathering of metalheads allows their chemical substance to proliferate. If you are around many metalheads, you will get mentally sick.\"\n\nClamor, \"Unholy.\"\n\nResonantia, \"Hold on, you said our friends are dead? Can we even trust you? Trust that you didn't kill them?\"\n\nInvidus, \"You will just have to have faith. To be fair, once they realized I didn't mean to take them home, they lost it and killed one of my friends.\"\n\nClamor, \"Right...what were you trading?\"\n\nInvidus, \"A taste of their home. I was going to bring information and things from their worlds of the present. I can't bring ghosts back with me, uh, but I'm positive I can bring back famous historical figures.\n\nResonantia, \"Hey, I'm an Eques. Shouldn't I be important?\"\n\n---\n\nChapter 122\n\nInvidus, \"The computer shows Resonantia Diamond Heart Steel. Sorry, but history has already been mapped out by previous ghosts. This means, are you important or not? From what I've seen, the answer is no.\"\n\nResonantia, \"You keep calling us ghosts; why?\"\n\nInvidus, \"Ah, right. You are all already dead. The summoners here can summon the dead, though from what anyone has seen, you only get this one extra life.\"\n\nThere were some unsure looks about this information. Clamor was more in deep thought, but this was interrupted when Iratus continued to speak.\n\nIratus, \"You keep using confusing words. Who are the summoners?\"\n\nInvidus, \"Guess being dead isn't surprising information? Show some real shock!\"\n\nResonantia, \"We've actually had discussions on this subject several times.\"\n\nInvidus, \"Alright then, anti-climatic. So look, I prefer not to be here all day. Clamor, buddy, I can give your friends here a lot of resources for you to come with us.\"\n\nClamor, \"I'm not too keen on trusting you guys. Already, I can barely keep up with what you've been saying. Just leave us alone.\"\n\nInvidus, \"Hm, very well then. Although you can't keep the gear that you stole, please return them.\"\n\nDespite the evil glare Resonantia gave, Iratus and Clamor came down from the dirt mound, making Resonantia face palm.\n\nClamor, \"Step back from your weapons, please.\"\n\nInvidus did so, and so the party dumped the previous Invaders gear onto the road.\n\nClamor, \"Just to check, you can't bring my friends with me to wherever?\"\n\nInvidus, \"Honestly, I don't even know if I can get you out of here without causing a lot of problems for myself and my allies. What I'd get for you was merely worth the risk. No way I'm trying with a bunch of nobodys. No offense.\"\n\nIratus, \"None taken.\"\n\nInvidus, \"Then, with business concluded, I'll be leaving.\"\n\nInvidus packed up the stuff and headed back to his friends. After a minute passed, the group talked amongst themselves.\n\nIratus, \"See, everything went well.\"\n\nClamor, \"You take a lot of risks. One day you will fail a gamble, and it is going to suck for me.\"\n\nIratus, \"Why do you two keep saying that word? Sucks what?\"\n\nResonantia, \"Ugh. Anyway, let's count our blessings that we made it out of this venture alive.\"\n\nWith several nods, the group heads back to the tower to discuss what had happened.\n\n---\n\nChapter 123\n\nAnother two days will pass without much happening, but sometime during a hunting trip on day twenty-seven, the group of Iratus, Ignis, and Aestus came across a bag in the middle of an open area in the woodlands.\n\nIgnis, \"Merciful or trap, someone else please decide.\"\n\nAestus, \"Or someone lost their stuff!\"\n\nIratus, \"I mean, I guess we could leave it. but it really looks like someone dropped it here to lure someone to it.\"\n\nIgnis, \"We must give overwhelming thought to a plan then.\"\n\nUsing a long stick, the group poked and moved the bag around before finally giving in and rummaging through it. It was filled with canned food, which confused Iratus and Aestus. There was some medicine and some more tools that would fit fine in the workshop. There was also a map that, after looking over, was most likely a map to the city, Last Mistake, and there was a circle around a specific building.\n\nAestus, \"A message, oh!\"\n\nIratus playfully, \"Suspicious, oh!\"\n\nIgnis also playfully, \"Treasure map, oh!\"\n\nAfter some chuckles, they continued their talk.\n\nIratus, \"Let's be real, we have no way of knowing if this is a trap or not.\"\n\nAestus, \"Who would be making this trap? Do we even know anyone that wants us dead?\"\n\nIgnis, \"Or help us?\"\n\nIratus, \"No, to both questions. Though there is one group working around here,\"\n\nAestus, \"Invaders.\"\n\nIratus, \"Let's discuss this with the others.\"\n\nOnce they arrived at the tower, they stored the items and gathered everyone around the table. Once the map was revealed, the discussion started.\n\nIgnis, \"Someone left a bag in the middle of the wilderness, most likely for us. Far beyond that, we found a map that is meant to lead us somewhere in Last Mistake.\"\n\nVictoria, \"What was in the bag?\"\n\nIratus, \"Food, medicine, tools.\"\n\nVictoria, \"Dare we go to the location our new benefactor wants us to go?\"\n\nIratus, \"I have a bad feeling about all this. This feels like a trap.\"\n\nResonantia, \"By the Invaders?\"\n\nIratus, \"I don't know. This world has been so strange that I suspect this is just another faction of people, monsters, or whatever those summoners are.\"\n\nClamor was staring out a window. His mood had been down for a while now.\n\nIratus, \"Clamor, buddy. Come on over and join us.\"\n\nClamor, \"I am still stuck on us being dead. How could God let this happen? Souls are his domain, not whoever these summoners are.\"\n\nVictoria, \"I am sure there is a reasonable explanation. Then, there is the fact that the guy you met could have been lying.\"\n\nResonantia, \"I met the man who said he killed me. I think it makes sense that we are all dead.\"\n\nClamor, \"Then where are we? Not paradise, not the hells, where?\"\n\nIratus, \"The Nexus Prime silly.\"\n\nClamor after a smirk, \"Darn you.\"\n\nIratus, \"I don't remember dying, and I don't remember going anywhere after dying. Maybe before we went to the afterlife, the summoner people brought us here instead of death, and maybe that's why we can't come back again. Our souls are so close to death that not even the summoners can stop us from finally passing on.\"\n\nIgnis, \"Or God simply won't allow us to live for a third time.\"\n\nClamor, \"That makes sense. Yeah, maybe this is God's will. We must be here because he needs us here.\"\n\nIratus, \"Considering these summoners are probably just people, maybe God just let them have their choices; whether or not it's a good thing is another topic. People can do evil things to others, but God still allows them to do so because they deserve free will and consequences, even if it harms their soul.\"\n\nClamor, \"Right...\"\n\n---\n\nChapter 124\n\nResonantia, \"Now I'm still stuck on you shooting an unarmed man.\"\n\nIratus, \"He'll live. Probably has some sort of super medicine that heals all wounds. Anyways.\"\n\nResonantia, \"You can't brush this off. You shot someone who didn't need to be shot.\"\n\nIratus, \"Agree to disagree.\"\n\nClamor, \"Just enough punishment.\"\n\nResonantia, \"You're the super religious guy; you can't take senseless violence as just.\"\n\nClamor, \"A just punishment means a chance to learn from one's mistakes. This is an opportunity for that man to see how being a terrible person led to him being shot and become a better person.\"\n\nResonantia, \"What the hells do you mean, terrible person? We don't know anything about that guy.\"\n\nIratus, \"Maybe my friendly greeting provoked a violent and deadly response, but we tried to reason with him, and he didn't even try to make any conversation, not even go away; it was just die, die, die. You tell me to die, and I beat you till you improve your communication ability.\"\n\nClamor, \"Still reasonable to me.\"\n\nResonantia, \"Barbarians, the both of you.\"\n\nIgnis, \"I think they are more correct than wrong.\"\n\nResonantia, \"The three of you.\"\n\nAestus, \"Can we get back on topic?\"\n\nResonantia, \"Right.\"\n\nIratus, \"I don't mind going in, but I'm assuming it's a trap. What, a meeting place in a treeskin infested area? Or treasure, or whatever this circle means.\"\n\nVictoria, \"Can gray masks set this up?\"\n\nResonantia, \"They are smart, but they are not people. I don't think they have the ability to create traps like this.\"\n\nIgnis, \"We've rarely had to deal with them on the train. The others described a cunning animal in relation to the gray masks. Not one had a serious encounter with them, as the train allowed us to bypass any encounter indefinitely.\"\n\nIratus, \"Then who wishes to see this through? I'm willing to go.\"\n\nClamor, \"I, of my own free will, also choose to search for this thing.\"\n\nVictoria, \"You'll need my expertise and range weapon for this.\"\n\nThe other three girls looked at each other.\n\nIgnis, \"I am better off defending the tower. Though I will say I don't like being alone ever since the gray masks showed up.\"\n\nResonantia, \"Aestus should stay since I have combat training.\"\n\nAestus, \"I could have combat training. You don't know!\"\n\nWith the party members settled, everyone geared up and headed out. Victoria and Resonantia made sure to bring a wooden spear just in case, and Iratus brought the modern rifle.\n\n---\n\nChapter 125\n\nAt Last Mistake, the party did their best to look around before going inside properly.\n\nClamor, \"Any chance we can do this in the morning? It is already getting way too hot to be out here.\"\n\nIratus, \"Let's just check out the building and get out so that we can disrobe our excess clothing and armor.\"\n\nVictoria, \"Let's try to travel through the shade.\"\n\nThe group slowly got to the side of the town where the building was supposed to be. Everyone's senses were on overdrive as they neared the building, which was a three-story clothing shop.\n\nEveryone but Clamor searched around the location and nearby buildings as Clamor eyed the target building. There were no treeskins anywhere near this part of town. There were a number of treeskin corpses nearby, but other than that, there wasn't anything suspicious.\n\nClamor, \"I'll go inside while the rest of you stay out here just in case.\"\n\nResonantia, \"I'll stay nearby to cover you.\"\n\nVictoria, \"Guess the rest of us are on overwatch.\"\n\nIratus nodded.\n\nIratus, \"I'll cover the street corner over there.\"\n\nVictoria, \"Then I'll cover the back alley.\"\n\nOnce everyone was in position, Clarmor headed inside the building. After a few seconds, Iratus spotted gray masks being chased by treeskins. They were slowly leading them towards Iratus's area.\n\nIratus thoughts, \"I'll have to run to the others. If I start yelling, it will attract the treeskins.\"\n\nIratus ran over to the building, which caught the attention of Resonantia, but before she could speak, a loud horn could be heard from inside the target building. Victoria came out at the same time with a distressed look. After the horn went silent, everyone started speaking.\n\nVictoria, \"Gray masks are approaching. Let's go!\"\n\nIratus, \"Same over here as well as treeskins.\"\n\nClamor jumped out from the second story of the building, climbing down as opposed to jumping out, but he still had to fall down to reach the ground.\n\nClamor, \"It's a trap!\"\n\n---\n\nChapter 126\n\nThe group got ready to head towards the gate, but Clamor got everyone's attention.\n\nClamor, \"No, I'm willing to bet they are waiting at the front gate. We should head to the back.\"\n\nVictoria, \"Going through all the treeskins? That's madness.\"\n\nClamor had already turned to head off into town.\n\nResonantia, \"Grandpa? This is a bad idea.\"\n\nIratus headed off in roughly the same direction, with Victoria running behind him as Resonantia ran with Clamor.\n\nHe ran into the main road to look down and barely saw the front gate with a small group of gray masks guarding it as well as a massive horde of treeskins, mostly strange four-legged tiger-looking ones, coming in and attacking them. With that, Iratus headed back to the wall to catch up with Clamor. He and Victoria ran through a few houses to outrun some treeskins, but they would hit a road that would lead them to the back of the town.\n\nThey had to stop inside a building to catch their breath.\n\nVictoria, \"Why did we go this way?\"\n\nIratus, \"I just wanted confirmation without actually having to go to the gate.\"\n\nVictoria, \"Yeah, and bring a horde of treeskins on our tails.\"\n\nIratus, \"We still lost them, so everything is good.\"\n\nVictoria, \"We've been separated from Clamor and Resonantia.\"\n\nIratus, \"All part of the plan.\"\n\nVictoria gave a chuckle.\n\nIratus, \"Let's wait for a minute and regain our stamina.\"\n\nOnce rested, the two headed out once again, but this time treeskins wondered the streets as they had been disturbed by the sound of the horn. The two had to be mindful of where they went so as not to pull in the treeskins.\n\nThere was an explosion that rang out, and the pair ran over a few buildings to see what happened. Resonantia came out of another building.\n\nIratus, \"Sorry, we got separated! Where is Clamor?\"\n\nResonantia, \"It's actually fine. You getting separated might have saved you from getting crushed by a trap.\"\n\nShe was looking around, and the others started to join in, thinking it was for the search of Clamor.\n\nVictoria, \"What was that explosion?\"\n\nResonantia, \"The gray masks can use explosives.\"\n\nTreeskins started to pool in, and Victoria and Resonantia shot up a few while Iratus held them off until the girls switched to melee and helped. Another explosion rang out, and a building was torn down, bringing down a wall. The party took cover and immediately saw Clamor fall out of that building.\n\nHe slammed into the road, and the party rushed to him until several gray masks blocked their way. A gray mask wearing a regal dark red cloak aimed its bow out the opening and fired at the group, which then took cover. Many treeskins began to fill the crossroads and began to fight with both parties. The gray masks used daggers and short swords to fend off the monsters, while the tower folk tried to find better terrain to hold off the treeskins. When everyone had ear protection, Iratus shot while he could.\n\nThe red-cloaked gray mask fired two shots, one at a time, into Clamor, who couldn't even stand after his fall. The two arrows would find their mark in his back, which made Clamor go limp. Resonantia tried to shoot at the red cloak, but the group forced her inside a nearby ruined building as the treeskins were starting to not just fill the road but crawl over the buildings.\n\nEveryone crawled through the rubble to the other side of the building. They began to run for their lives, only for Resonantia to pull the group into a nearby building. She tried to speak but was out of breath from both physical exertion and the heat. Once everyone got a breath, she spoke.\n\nResonantia, \"We have to go back; Clamor will die without us.\"\n\nVictoria, \"The gray masks, if not treeskins, would have killed him by now! Nothing could be done.\"\n\nResonantia, \"Rush in and grab him? Shoot the firearm?\"\n\nIratus was looking out a window when he saw the treeskins fill out into the nearby road.\n\nIratus, \"No time, let's go.\"\n\nResonantia, \"But Clamor needs us!\"\n\nIratus headed out the door and started to run down the road. Treeskins cut off his escape. He got ready to fire the gun only to have Victoria and Resonantia join him, and all three fired their weapons at the treeskins.\n\n---\n\nChapter 127\n\nDespite the range advantage, the treeskins only continued to rush into their prey. Iratus had no choice but to backtrack as he fought the treeskins in melee. The monsters from back in the town now filled the area behind the group. Resonantia forced a broken door open, and the other two swiftly followed her in. They moved through the building, into another one, and again into another one. They had moved further inside the town to get away from the treeskin horde.\n\nThe party ran down the main road with the treeskins nowhere in sight except for the ones on their tails. Through all their exhaustion, they had run to the far gate. They began to walk, with their strength failing all three of them. From inside a faraway building, a group of blue-cloaked gray masks entered the streets and strided towards the party. Victoria and Iratus took a defensive position to guard Resonantia, as she still had enough strength to fire a few more arrows before she could no longer draw her bow.\n\nHer arrows took down a total of three gray masks, whose bodies disintegrated into smoke as they died. A gray mask pulled out an old-looking hand bomb and lit the fuse. It was about to throw it at the party, along with all of its allies engaged with them. Before it managed to throw the bomb, a four-legged tiger-like treeskin tackled it, with two more of these special treeskins diving into the treeskins. The explosion was small, but it was enough to drop the tiger-treeskin.\n\nThe group managed to disengage the gray masks and leave them to the treeskins. They didn't get very far before Iratus and Resonantia started to take off their armor and heavy clothes. They strained themselves to make their way to the semi-tropical area that was their home. They took another breath before looking around and making sure they were safe.\n\nIratus, \"I'm sorry for what happened to Clamor.\"\n\nResonantia, \"Yeah. I was nearly crushed by another gray mask trap, but luckily their trap wasn't very effective, as I was in a corner, but if you two were around, you'd both been at least seriously injured. By the time I crawled out, well, I met you guys.\"\n\nVictoria, \"Clamor wasn't with you?\"\n\nResonantia, \"That red guy led a group to separate us, and I assume he dived into that building so as not to be surrounded. I guess he was just going to jump out again, but it seems like he was pinned down until...yeah.\"\n\nResonantia held her emotions close and shook off her despair.\n\nResonantia, \"Let's get back to the tower. If those treeskins are still on our trail, then we need to get into the tower.\"\n\n---\n\nChapter 128\n\nThe day was burning softly as everyone continued to watch out the windows. Victoria was shocked to learn that a treeskin somehow nicked her and that a small little spot on her hand was missing its flesh. No one else suffered any damage otherwise.\n\nIgnis, \"We can't stand guard forever. One must recover themselves physically and mentally.\"\n\nResonantia, \"Yeah, I'm going to bed early. Keep it quiet, please.\"\n\nIratus, \"We should still have people watching the area.\"\n\nIgnis, \"I'll take first watch.\"\n\nAestus, \"No one will get past my excellent night vision, second watch!\"\n\nVictoria, \"I'll take the rest of the night. Not too much different from my last job.\"\n\nIratus, \"Weren't you some sort of bandit?\"\n\nVictoria, \"Yes. Watching and waiting throughout the night was how most of my nights went.\"\n\nIratus, \"So, the gray masks have finally acted.\"\n\nVictoria, \"I mean, they didn't plant bombs everywhere. Summoning the treeskins onto themselves also seemed dumb.\"\n\nIgnis, \"They are very smart and cunning. The only downside for them is that they lack the personhood to fully understand things. Of course, now we must be even further on the defensive Now that they revealed the ability to make machinations like that trap.\"\n\nIratus, \"How are we supposed to gather food and resources now?\"\n\nIgnis, \"This is why people do not gather in large numbers in the Nexus Prime. Who knows what happens to us now?\"\n\nAestus, \"Do you think if I or Ignis were there, we could have saved Clamor?\"\n\nIratus, \"According to Resonantia, she fell into some sort of falling rock trap; if you two were with her, then you'd be buried long enough that the treeskins might have gotten to you. Now if we imagine a better outcome, it would require a serious set of decisions that result in rescuing Clamor before he was trapped in that one building alone.\"\n\nVictoria, \"Either that or we tried for the gate with our numbers. Unfortunately, I saw those treeskin things. That might have gotten someone killed.\"\n\nIratus, \"At the end of time, it is best not to dwell on what could have been. Bad things happen, and we can't be trapped by the past.\"\n\nIgnis, \"We can't afford to stop; our situation is too dire for such things.\"\n\nIratus, \"I'm going to bed early too. I need to give my prayers to Clamor as well.\"\n\n---\n\nChapter 129\n\nAnother two days passed without any incident, to the point that the tower folk started to slack on their watches, but without any gray masks in sight, they didn't mind too much. They continued to work on their defensive work. The treeline had been pushed back; spikes littered all around the tower, as well as debris on the backside, ready to be ignited. Iratus resisted scratching his face as his wounds began to itch a lot. His leg was looking good, or rather, it was no longer a hindrance as it actually looked bad instead of being bad. The group had several prayer sessions for Clamor for a couple of days and did their best to make something to remember him, with Iratus carving a small wooden figure of him.\n\nThe days felt like they were becoming warmer, as despite the so-called cold season, which was not a season, the days were getting hotter. Everyone wore as little as they could and had a barrel full of water that everyone used to wet their fur.\n\nIratus, \"You know, if the gray masks attack, won't it take extra time to get armored up?\"\n\nIgnis, \"No way this one is wearing anything.\"\n\nVictoria, \"We were told it was the cold season, not season. I demand the cold!\"\n\nIratus, \"Should someone go on patrol? We have to keep an eye out.\"\n\nThere was silence.\n\nIratus, \"I guess I'll go. Try to keep an eye out while I'm gone.\"\n\nAestus, \"I'll join you. Give me a minute.\"\n\nEventually the 30th day would come, and this day was the hottest yet. It was hot enough that shelter and drinking water wouldn't be enough to survive. There came a point where, one by one, people used the barrel as a bath just to cool off. No one risked going to the hot springs to find some cold pools because the gray mask threat had shaken everyone into being very cautious. The day would progress into the hottest point of the day, and that's when Victoria yelled out that the gray masks had come.\n\nEveryone got their gear, though no one wore their clothing or armor. Iratus gave it a thought, but he assumed that he would die from a heat stroke if he tried.\n\nVictoria and Aestus went upstairs to watch the back while the other three took to the front door. A line of gray masks walked past the tree line, all of them deep blue, with that one red cloak leading them. They stopped, and Iratus looked out to see what they would do.\n\nIratus, \"Ok, I'll go light the fires. Cover me!\"\n\nBefore Iratus left the tower, the red cloak tossed Clamor's great sword onto the ground and then removed its hood, allowing its rabbit ears to pop up. It removed the gray mask too, revealing a rabbitfolk as old as Clamor, but this one had his hair and fur much darker gray. This male rabbit also had a third of his face converted into a metalhead with an empty eye hole on his left side.\n\nRabbitfolk, \"Resonantia! You can never run from me!\" It sounded like he was trying to yell, but it seemed like he couldn't raise his voice that loudly.\n\nResonantia, \"Blasted retch, Tacitus! How are you still alive?\"\n\n---\n\nChapter 130\n\nTacitus, \"Resonantia, you poor thing, you should have made sure I was dead. You can't leave a few arrows in someone and walk away and think the job is done. Just like how I shot you dead only to find you still walking around.\"\n\nResonantia, \"Because we are dead! We just got sent here instead of the afterlife.\"\n\nTacitus, \"What blasphemy! You see, it is things like this that make people hire someone like me to kill you.\"\n\nIratus, \"Can you explain to me what's going on?\"\n\nResonantia to Iratus, \"Just a second.\"\n\nResonantia, \"So you were an assassin? Look, we are not on Sanctum anymore. This is a different planet with different people.\"\n\nTacitus, \"It is my duty and my vow to kill you. No matter how far you run—even to another planet, another time, another life—I must find you, always.\"\n\nOnce ear protection was in place, Iratus opened fire with the rife at the rabbitfolk, but with the first shot, the rifle malfunctioned with a horrific clang and bang, and then the rife stopped working.\n\nIratus, \"What in the hells?\"\n\nTacitus, \"How foolish of you to try to fight one of us with such negative Karma. You think you can enslave and drive a whole species to extinction without suffering the cost? How feline of you.\"\n\nResonantia, \"What is that thing talking about?\"\n\nIratus, \"Remember, I am a cat. The Mousian people were bred to extinction. There are no pure mousefolk anymore.\"\n\nIgnis to Tacitus, \"I thought Karma was about creation and destruction of places!\"\n\nTacitus, \"Places...things...people.\"\n\nIratus discarded his firearm while Tacitus placed his mask back on, pulled out a large bow, and signaled to his forces, who then spread out further around the tower.\n\nAestus came down from the stairs.\n\nAestus, \"Victoria told me to tell you they have sappers! Go outside and stop them.\"\n\nIgnis sighed and went outside, with Iratus covering the door from the outside while Resonantia fired arrows from windows and arrow slits.\n\n---\n\nEPISDOE 13: END\n\n---\nEpisode 13 End Character Sheet\nName: Iratus Lionheart\nSpecies: Mousefolk\nAge: 14\nCoverings: Blonde Fur, White Gambeson (moderately damaged, leather patchwork), leather gloves, tactical vest, tailorcraft backback\nWeapons: Long Sword, Knife\nEquipment: belt, belt bag, water skin, leathercraft backpack, 2 bags, 33 oval copper coins, 7 small silver bricks, 6 gemstones, 20 fine silver coins,20 fine gold coins\n\nCommunity Stash: a fire starter, whetstone, several leather items, a lot of animal bones, some animal hide, 3 glass jar, 1 fish net, primitive sewing kit, trowel, woodcutting axe, a lot of wooden spears, a bunch of small wooden figures, wooden dice, some of sheets, metal scrap, lots of rusted metal, several small fish nets, short sword, box of unknown ammo, some medical supplies, semi-automatic rifle and ammo, a strange device (Gameboy-like device), lots of wooden planks and boards, wood glue, sandpaper, lots of rusted weapons, many armor pieces, compass, sextant, some bedrolls, a tent, lots of rope, a large barrel, some ink, 3 papyrus paper, 5 hide paper (parchments)\n\nTreasure: 40 oval copper coins, 44 ancient metal coins, 40 fine silver coins, 44 fine gold coins, 23 fine copper coins, a tarnished silver brooch, a small ornamental figurine, a handful of sparkling glass beads, a small wooden trinket box, a collection of delicate, hand-painted porcelain charms, a few antfolk tapestries, some antfolk art, \n\nHome Base, Tower: Large Storage Area (many crates and clay pots), Basic Butchering Area (few tools, smoking rack), Basic Workshop Area (lots of tools, woodcarving tools), Kitchen Area (many tools, many cutlery items, pots&pans), Outside Makeshift Tannery, Underground Storage Area, Garden Area, Library, Armory, Infirmary room (surgery tools)\n\nBooks: 3x woodworking books, weathered leather-bound journal, war game booklet\n\nWounds: Left Leg bitten (mostly healed), Face (multiple severe injuries, some healing)\n\nYear 0, Day 30\n\n---\n\n(Extra Stories)\n\nExtra Story 1\n(Some time ago) Resonantia ran through a once vibrant and bustling metropolis that was from Earth and was now completely abandoned, frozen in time. The city was surrounded by towering mountains and dense forests and looked like a beacon of cutting-edge infrastructure and the technological advancements of its time. But now, the city's streets are devoid of life, its buildings cloaked in an eerie silence. The city was new enough to the Nexus Prime that nature had yet to take it.\n\nAshborn wondered through the streets, setting ablaze flyers, banners, and anything else that could combust. Several other large animals would stalk the streets, besides monsters. From monstrous wolves to truck-sized wasps, many beasts had begun to move in; even some of the ashborn were taken out, burning the unsuspecting predators. Graffiti-covered walls and broken windows were the norm, while twisted metal and decaying vehicles piled up all over the streets.\n\nAn arrow slammed into her breastplate, which deflected off, and so did the next three arrows. Resonantia turned and ran through several roads until she came across a tunnel, passing a small stream through it.\n\nDays later\nResonantia continued fleeing from her unknown assailant by taking shelter when she was tired and moving at all other times, with only so much time spent on scavenging food and water. She held a small bag with packaged food and bottled water. Somewhere deep in the forest, she had come across an old hunters lodge, and upon searching through it, she found a large number of items and weapons that she was an expert in.\n\nDays later\nResonantia searched for her pursuer from the roof of the large apartment. Around the building was a sprawling parking lot in the middle of a boreal-like forest on one side and a city that was reminiscent of one of her people's cities but more advanced. Several traps were laid around the area, so when Resonantia had no choice but to sleep, chimes rang out to alert her to an intruder. On the rooftop, she fired off a flare and readied her modern-made bow and carbon arrows. Once she saw her hunter, she saw that he had already moved halfway across the parking lot and was now moving between empty cars that were scattered around. After her first shot, the hunter shot back their own arrow, and a battle of archers began.\n\nAn hour later\nThe hunter ran inside the apartment, and Resonantia retreated inside as well; she didn't seem to get wounded during the battle, but now her foe was in the building. She opened up an elevator shaft and dropped a lit Molotov cocktail, which smashed into the ground and lit several flammable objects that spread fire to several trails of debris that Resonantia had set up previously before the battle, figuring this would be the last battle with her hunter. She doused the stairs with some petroleum from gas tanks and lit them with a lighter, and soon the whole building was set ablaze.\n\nThirty minutes later\nThe flames were still in their infancy as she went back and forth with her enemy, strewn about the apartments. Most of it was more range combat; some of it was setting off traps and sneaking around by both parties, and finally Resonantia climbed down an elevator while the fire finally took off.\n\nShe ran out of the building and took cover behind a car. She had five arrows left, and four of them looked well used or had fire damage due to being recovered later from the fight. A few arrows would come from a window while Resonantia retaliated with one shot, with neither party hitting their mark. Resonantia was waiting out in the open to bait another shot, which worked. She would take a shot to her leg, but she would hit her foe in the torso, which made the enemy fall out of the burning building, or maybe the flames were finally too much for him to handle and forced him out.\n\nRegardless, Resonantia and her enemy had one last close-quarters archer fight, though the foe was heavily wounded from the fall and couldn't properly dodge or aim. With one more arrow in his chest, the man fell to the ground. Resonantia walked up to the fallen man to confront him. The hunter took his cowl off, revealing the old bunny man.\n\nResonantia, \"Tacitus, is that you? Why are you trying to kill me? Where are we?\"\n\nTacitus, \"Stupid girl, do you not remember me killing you? You are in hell, like you should be!\" He grunted in pain. \"But not even this horrific place can stop me from killing you again, and if you come back again, I will find you again and again until you finally die!\" He whimpered in pain before lying on his back.\n\nResonantia, \"Killed me? Hell? I don't understand...but I can't have you coming after me again.\"\n\nTacitus, \"You can't stop me; I will never stop! Too many people are relying on me.\"\n\nThe shark girl shot one more arrow into the rabbitfolk's chest, which killed him.\n\n---\n\nExtra Story 2\n(Some time ago) The voice of Invidus could be heard behind the helmet.\n\nInvidus, \"I couldn't do anything.\"\n\nAnother member of his group came up, also covered in roughly the same kind of armor and weapons.\n\nFemale, \"Who cares? They are just ghosts.\"\n\nThese two were on some sort of temporary military base that was now part of Nexus Prime. Many metal heads were dead, most belonging to weasels, as this appeared to be a base from their civilization.\n\nThe metalhead corpse of Avaritia was to the side, nearly completely a metal head with the clothes gone and only some rotten bits of skin and fur, while Gelus was nearby with only his head bathed in hot oil, which had transformed the head into that of a metal head. Both of these corpses were shot up by the group.\n\nFemale, \"I heard a rumor that you offered to take them out of here.\"\n\nInvidus, \"Uh, no, no. I did not do that.\"\n\nFemale, \"Good. You know we can't do that. It was already a cluster bomb of feces just to sneak in here, and I'm not going to prison because some bleeding heart wants to save a few people from this hell hole.\"\n\nInvidus, \"But we are sending our discoveries to...uh, a science...place?\"\n\nFemale, \"Idiot, my brother is doing sanctioned experiments. We are sending the data to him and also not a discovery. Everyone already knows about metalhead sickness. What we have is just some updates to the information.\"\n\nInvidus, \"So we did find new things that no one knew about?\"\n\nFemale, \"By chains, I hate cats!\"\n\n---", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Black Hole: The Book of Iratus, Episode 13

Chapter 121

Iratus paused; his emotions portrayed a curious and forgiving expression.

Clamor, "They tried to kill us, and even if that first man thought his life was at risk, he was hateful to the end. Let's go."

Iratus, "Let's get this guy out in the open, and we can ask questions under cover."

Clamor, "Kid, you are breaking my back, and I don't know if I like it."

Resonantia, "Funny, because the others didn't like us kids being in charge, so..."

Clamor, "Ok, fine, but only because we might not actually be able to outrun them or something."

Everyone looked around and found a large dirt mound on the side of the road that the party took advantage of. After a long minute, another Invader came running out of the woods. His breath could be heard as he clearly ran with all his effort.

Iratus, "That's far enough. You wish to talk?"

The Invader slowly disarmed himself and placed his firearms on the ground.

Invader 2, "One...second." As he took time to catch his breath. "My name...ok, my name is Invidus."

Invidus took off his helmet and revealed himself as a mousefolk like Iratus, and in fact, he looked very similar to Iratus with the blonde hair but dark blonde fur. Now the scars lining his face were similar to the wounds Iratus had on his. The main difference was that Iratus had a somewhat masculine-like face despite his young age, while this man had a soft, almost feminine-like face.

Iratus, "Who names their kid Invidus?"

Invidus, "Funny."

He looked around and saw the others on higher ground.

Invidus, "Oh, perfect, King Clamor Amethyst Cold Iron the Second, I've been looking for you."

Clamor, "My friends tied me up because of you."

Invidus, "That was metalhead sickness. Their brains were chemically poisoned by being around metalheads."

Iratus, "What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

Invidus, "No idea. No one has been around metalheads long enough to discover that they have this ability. This discovery will actually put us in the books, and I'd thank your friends, but they've long since been torn apart by metalheads."

Clamor, "I think he means, what is metalhead sickness?"

Invidus, "Like I said, I have no idea. A gathering of metalheads allows their chemical substance to proliferate. If you are around many metalheads, you will get mentally sick."

Clamor, "Unholy."

Resonantia, "Hold on, you said our friends are dead? Can we even trust you? Trust that you didn't kill them?"

Invidus, "You will just have to have faith. To be fair, once they realized I didn't mean to take them home, they lost it and killed one of my friends."

Clamor, "Right...what were you trading?"

Invidus, "A taste of their home. I was going to bring information and things from their worlds of the present. I can't bring ghosts back with me, uh, but I'm positive I can bring back famous historical figures.

Resonantia, "Hey, I'm an Eques. Shouldn't I be important?"

---

Chapter 122

Invidus, "The computer shows Resonantia Diamond Heart Steel. Sorry, but history has already been mapped out by previous ghosts. This means, are you important or not? From what I've seen, the answer is no."

Resonantia, "You keep calling us ghosts; why?"

Invidus, "Ah, right. You are all already dead. The summoners here can summon the dead, though from what anyone has seen, you only get this one extra life."

There were some unsure looks about this information. Clamor was more in deep thought, but this was interrupted when Iratus continued to speak.

Iratus, "You keep using confusing words. Who are the summoners?"

Invidus, "Guess being dead isn't surprising information? Show some real shock!"

Resonantia, "We've actually had discussions on this subject several times."

Invidus, "Alright then, anti-climatic. So look, I prefer not to be here all day. Clamor, buddy, I can give your friends here a lot of resources for you to come with us."

Clamor, "I'm not too keen on trusting you guys. Already, I can barely keep up with what you've been saying. Just leave us alone."

Invidus, "Hm, very well then. Although you can't keep the gear that you stole, please return them."

Despite the evil glare Resonantia gave, Iratus and Clamor came down from the dirt mound, making Resonantia face palm.

Clamor, "Step back from your weapons, please."

Invidus did so, and so the party dumped the previous Invaders gear onto the road.

Clamor, "Just to check, you can't bring my friends with me to wherever?"

Invidus, "Honestly, I don't even know if I can get you out of here without causing a lot of problems for myself and my allies. What I'd get for you was merely worth the risk. No way I'm trying with a bunch of nobodys. No offense."

Iratus, "None taken."

Invidus, "Then, with business concluded, I'll be leaving."

Invidus packed up the stuff and headed back to his friends. After a minute passed, the group talked amongst themselves.

Iratus, "See, everything went well."

Clamor, "You take a lot of risks. One day you will fail a gamble, and it is going to suck for me."

Iratus, "Why do you two keep saying that word? Sucks what?"

Resonantia, "Ugh. Anyway, let's count our blessings that we made it out of this venture alive."

With several nods, the group heads back to the tower to discuss what had happened.

---

Chapter 123

Another two days will pass without much happening, but sometime during a hunting trip on day twenty-seven, the group of Iratus, Ignis, and Aestus came across a bag in the middle of an open area in the woodlands.

Ignis, "Merciful or trap, someone else please decide."

Aestus, "Or someone lost their stuff!"

Iratus, "I mean, I guess we could leave it. but it really looks like someone dropped it here to lure someone to it."

Ignis, "We must give overwhelming thought to a plan then."

Using a long stick, the group poked and moved the bag around before finally giving in and rummaging through it. It was filled with canned food, which confused Iratus and Aestus. There was some medicine and some more tools that would fit fine in the workshop. There was also a map that, after looking over, was most likely a map to the city, Last Mistake, and there was a circle around a specific building.

Aestus, "A message, oh!"

Iratus playfully, "Suspicious, oh!"

Ignis also playfully, "Treasure map, oh!"

After some chuckles, they continued their talk.

Iratus, "Let's be real, we have no way of knowing if this is a trap or not."

Aestus, "Who would be making this trap? Do we even know anyone that wants us dead?"

Ignis, "Or help us?"

Iratus, "No, to both questions. Though there is one group working around here,"

Aestus, "Invaders."

Iratus, "Let's discuss this with the others."

Once they arrived at the tower, they stored the items and gathered everyone around the table. Once the map was revealed, the discussion started.

Ignis, "Someone left a bag in the middle of the wilderness, most likely for us. Far beyond that, we found a map that is meant to lead us somewhere in Last Mistake."

Victoria, "What was in the bag?"

Iratus, "Food, medicine, tools."

Victoria, "Dare we go to the location our new benefactor wants us to go?"

Iratus, "I have a bad feeling about all this. This feels like a trap."

Resonantia, "By the Invaders?"

Iratus, "I don't know. This world has been so strange that I suspect this is just another faction of people, monsters, or whatever those summoners are."

Clamor was staring out a window. His mood had been down for a while now.

Iratus, "Clamor, buddy. Come on over and join us."

Clamor, "I am still stuck on us being dead. How could God let this happen? Souls are his domain, not whoever these summoners are."

Victoria, "I am sure there is a reasonable explanation. Then, there is the fact that the guy you met could have been lying."

Resonantia, "I met the man who said he killed me. I think it makes sense that we are all dead."

Clamor, "Then where are we? Not paradise, not the hells, where?"

Iratus, "The Nexus Prime silly."

Clamor after a smirk, "Darn you."

Iratus, "I don't remember dying, and I don't remember going anywhere after dying. Maybe before we went to the afterlife, the summoner people brought us here instead of death, and maybe that's why we can't come back again. Our souls are so close to death that not even the summoners can stop us from finally passing on."

Ignis, "Or God simply won't allow us to live for a third time."

Clamor, "That makes sense. Yeah, maybe this is God's will. We must be here because he needs us here."

Iratus, "Considering these summoners are probably just people, maybe God just let them have their choices; whether or not it's a good thing is another topic. People can do evil things to others, but God still allows them to do so because they deserve free will and consequences, even if it harms their soul."

Clamor, "Right..."

---

Chapter 124

Resonantia, "Now I'm still stuck on you shooting an unarmed man."

Iratus, "He'll live. Probably has some sort of super medicine that heals all wounds. Anyways."

Resonantia, "You can't brush this off. You shot someone who didn't need to be shot."

Iratus, "Agree to disagree."

Clamor, "Just enough punishment."

Resonantia, "You're the super religious guy; you can't take senseless violence as just."

Clamor, "A just punishment means a chance to learn from one's mistakes. This is an opportunity for that man to see how being a terrible person led to him being shot and become a better person."

Resonantia, "What the hells do you mean, terrible person? We don't know anything about that guy."

Iratus, "Maybe my friendly greeting provoked a violent and deadly response, but we tried to reason with him, and he didn't even try to make any conversation, not even go away; it was just die, die, die. You tell me to die, and I beat you till you improve your communication ability."

Clamor, "Still reasonable to me."

Resonantia, "Barbarians, the both of you."

Ignis, "I think they are more correct than wrong."

Resonantia, "The three of you."

Aestus, "Can we get back on topic?"

Resonantia, "Right."

Iratus, "I don't mind going in, but I'm assuming it's a trap. What, a meeting place in a treeskin infested area? Or treasure, or whatever this circle means."

Victoria, "Can gray masks set this up?"

Resonantia, "They are smart, but they are not people. I don't think they have the ability to create traps like this."

Ignis, "We've rarely had to deal with them on the train. The others described a cunning animal in relation to the gray masks. Not one had a serious encounter with them, as the train allowed us to bypass any encounter indefinitely."

Iratus, "Then who wishes to see this through? I'm willing to go."

Clamor, "I, of my own free will, also choose to search for this thing."

Victoria, "You'll need my expertise and range weapon for this."

The other three girls looked at each other.

Ignis, "I am better off defending the tower. Though I will say I don't like being alone ever since the gray masks showed up."

Resonantia, "Aestus should stay since I have combat training."

Aestus, "I could have combat training. You don't know!"

With the party members settled, everyone geared up and headed out. Victoria and Resonantia made sure to bring a wooden spear just in case, and Iratus brought the modern rifle.

---

Chapter 125

At Last Mistake, the party did their best to look around before going inside properly.

Clamor, "Any chance we can do this in the morning? It is already getting way too hot to be out here."

Iratus, "Let's just check out the building and get out so that we can disrobe our excess clothing and armor."

Victoria, "Let's try to travel through the shade."

The group slowly got to the side of the town where the building was supposed to be. Everyone's senses were on overdrive as they neared the building, which was a three-story clothing shop.

Everyone but Clamor searched around the location and nearby buildings as Clamor eyed the target building. There were no treeskins anywhere near this part of town. There were a number of treeskin corpses nearby, but other than that, there wasn't anything suspicious.

Clamor, "I'll go inside while the rest of you stay out here just in case."

Resonantia, "I'll stay nearby to cover you."

Victoria, "Guess the rest of us are on overwatch."

Iratus nodded.

Iratus, "I'll cover the street corner over there."

Victoria, "Then I'll cover the back alley."

Once everyone was in position, Clarmor headed inside the building. After a few seconds, Iratus spotted gray masks being chased by treeskins. They were slowly leading them towards Iratus's area.

Iratus thoughts, "I'll have to run to the others. If I start yelling, it will attract the treeskins."

Iratus ran over to the building, which caught the attention of Resonantia, but before she could speak, a loud horn could be heard from inside the target building. Victoria came out at the same time with a distressed look. After the horn went silent, everyone started speaking.

Victoria, "Gray masks are approaching. Let's go!"

Iratus, "Same over here as well as treeskins."

Clamor jumped out from the second story of the building, climbing down as opposed to jumping out, but he still had to fall down to reach the ground.

Clamor, "It's a trap!"

---

Chapter 126

The group got ready to head towards the gate, but Clamor got everyone's attention.

Clamor, "No, I'm willing to bet they are waiting at the front gate. We should head to the back."

Victoria, "Going through all the treeskins? That's madness."

Clamor had already turned to head off into town.

Resonantia, "Grandpa? This is a bad idea."

Iratus headed off in roughly the same direction, with Victoria running behind him as Resonantia ran with Clamor.

He ran into the main road to look down and barely saw the front gate with a small group of gray masks guarding it as well as a massive horde of treeskins, mostly strange four-legged tiger-looking ones, coming in and attacking them. With that, Iratus headed back to the wall to catch up with Clamor. He and Victoria ran through a few houses to outrun some treeskins, but they would hit a road that would lead them to the back of the town.

They had to stop inside a building to catch their breath.

Victoria, "Why did we go this way?"

Iratus, "I just wanted confirmation without actually having to go to the gate."

Victoria, "Yeah, and bring a horde of treeskins on our tails."

Iratus, "We still lost them, so everything is good."

Victoria, "We've been separated from Clamor and Resonantia."

Iratus, "All part of the plan."

Victoria gave a chuckle.

Iratus, "Let's wait for a minute and regain our stamina."

Once rested, the two headed out once again, but this time treeskins wondered the streets as they had been disturbed by the sound of the horn. The two had to be mindful of where they went so as not to pull in the treeskins.

There was an explosion that rang out, and the pair ran over a few buildings to see what happened. Resonantia came out of another building.

Iratus, "Sorry, we got separated! Where is Clamor?"

Resonantia, "It's actually fine. You getting separated might have saved you from getting crushed by a trap."

She was looking around, and the others started to join in, thinking it was for the search of Clamor.

Victoria, "What was that explosion?"

Resonantia, "The gray masks can use explosives."

Treeskins started to pool in, and Victoria and Resonantia shot up a few while Iratus held them off until the girls switched to melee and helped. Another explosion rang out, and a building was torn down, bringing down a wall. The party took cover and immediately saw Clamor fall out of that building.

He slammed into the road, and the party rushed to him until several gray masks blocked their way. A gray mask wearing a regal dark red cloak aimed its bow out the opening and fired at the group, which then took cover. Many treeskins began to fill the crossroads and began to fight with both parties. The gray masks used daggers and short swords to fend off the monsters, while the tower folk tried to find better terrain to hold off the treeskins. When everyone had ear protection, Iratus shot while he could.

The red-cloaked gray mask fired two shots, one at a time, into Clamor, who couldn't even stand after his fall. The two arrows would find their mark in his back, which made Clamor go limp. Resonantia tried to shoot at the red cloak, but the group forced her inside a nearby ruined building as the treeskins were starting to not just fill the road but crawl over the buildings.

Everyone crawled through the rubble to the other side of the building. They began to run for their lives, only for Resonantia to pull the group into a nearby building. She tried to speak but was out of breath from both physical exertion and the heat. Once everyone got a breath, she spoke.

Resonantia, "We have to go back; Clamor will die without us."

Victoria, "The gray masks, if not treeskins, would have killed him by now! Nothing could be done."

Resonantia, "Rush in and grab him? Shoot the firearm?"

Iratus was looking out a window when he saw the treeskins fill out into the nearby road.

Iratus, "No time, let's go."

Resonantia, "But Clamor needs us!"

Iratus headed out the door and started to run down the road. Treeskins cut off his escape. He got ready to fire the gun only to have Victoria and Resonantia join him, and all three fired their weapons at the treeskins.

---

Chapter 127

Despite the range advantage, the treeskins only continued to rush into their prey. Iratus had no choice but to backtrack as he fought the treeskins in melee. The monsters from back in the town now filled the area behind the group. Resonantia forced a broken door open, and the other two swiftly followed her in. They moved through the building, into another one, and again into another one. They had moved further inside the town to get away from the treeskin horde.

The party ran down the main road with the treeskins nowhere in sight except for the ones on their tails. Through all their exhaustion, they had run to the far gate. They began to walk, with their strength failing all three of them. From inside a faraway building, a group of blue-cloaked gray masks entered the streets and strided towards the party. Victoria and Iratus took a defensive position to guard Resonantia, as she still had enough strength to fire a few more arrows before she could no longer draw her bow.

Her arrows took down a total of three gray masks, whose bodies disintegrated into smoke as they died. A gray mask pulled out an old-looking hand bomb and lit the fuse. It was about to throw it at the party, along with all of its allies engaged with them. Before it managed to throw the bomb, a four-legged tiger-like treeskin tackled it, with two more of these special treeskins diving into the treeskins. The explosion was small, but it was enough to drop the tiger-treeskin.

The group managed to disengage the gray masks and leave them to the treeskins. They didn't get very far before Iratus and Resonantia started to take off their armor and heavy clothes. They strained themselves to make their way to the semi-tropical area that was their home. They took another breath before looking around and making sure they were safe.

Iratus, "I'm sorry for what happened to Clamor."

Resonantia, "Yeah. I was nearly crushed by another gray mask trap, but luckily their trap wasn't very effective, as I was in a corner, but if you two were around, you'd both been at least seriously injured. By the time I crawled out, well, I met you guys."

Victoria, "Clamor wasn't with you?"

Resonantia, "That red guy led a group to separate us, and I assume he dived into that building so as not to be surrounded. I guess he was just going to jump out again, but it seems like he was pinned down until...yeah."

Resonantia held her emotions close and shook off her despair.

Resonantia, "Let's get back to the tower. If those treeskins are still on our trail, then we need to get into the tower."

---

Chapter 128

The day was burning softly as everyone continued to watch out the windows. Victoria was shocked to learn that a treeskin somehow nicked her and that a small little spot on her hand was missing its flesh. No one else suffered any damage otherwise.

Ignis, "We can't stand guard forever. One must recover themselves physically and mentally."

Resonantia, "Yeah, I'm going to bed early. Keep it quiet, please."

Iratus, "We should still have people watching the area."

Ignis, "I'll take first watch."

Aestus, "No one will get past my excellent night vision, second watch!"

Victoria, "I'll take the rest of the night. Not too much different from my last job."

Iratus, "Weren't you some sort of bandit?"

Victoria, "Yes. Watching and waiting throughout the night was how most of my nights went."

Iratus, "So, the gray masks have finally acted."

Victoria, "I mean, they didn't plant bombs everywhere. Summoning the treeskins onto themselves also seemed dumb."

Ignis, "They are very smart and cunning. The only downside for them is that they lack the personhood to fully understand things. Of course, now we must be even further on the defensive Now that they revealed the ability to make machinations like that trap."

Iratus, "How are we supposed to gather food and resources now?"

Ignis, "This is why people do not gather in large numbers in the Nexus Prime. Who knows what happens to us now?"

Aestus, "Do you think if I or Ignis were there, we could have saved Clamor?"

Iratus, "According to Resonantia, she fell into some sort of falling rock trap; if you two were with her, then you'd be buried long enough that the treeskins might have gotten to you. Now if we imagine a better outcome, it would require a serious set of decisions that result in rescuing Clamor before he was trapped in that one building alone."

Victoria, "Either that or we tried for the gate with our numbers. Unfortunately, I saw those treeskin things. That might have gotten someone killed."

Iratus, "At the end of time, it is best not to dwell on what could have been. Bad things happen, and we can't be trapped by the past."

Ignis, "We can't afford to stop; our situation is too dire for such things."

Iratus, "I'm going to bed early too. I need to give my prayers to Clamor as well."

---

Chapter 129

Another two days passed without any incident, to the point that the tower folk started to slack on their watches, but without any gray masks in sight, they didn't mind too much. They continued to work on their defensive work. The treeline had been pushed back; spikes littered all around the tower, as well as debris on the backside, ready to be ignited. Iratus resisted scratching his face as his wounds began to itch a lot. His leg was looking good, or rather, it was no longer a hindrance as it actually looked bad instead of being bad. The group had several prayer sessions for Clamor for a couple of days and did their best to make something to remember him, with Iratus carving a small wooden figure of him.

The days felt like they were becoming warmer, as despite the so-called cold season, which was not a season, the days were getting hotter. Everyone wore as little as they could and had a barrel full of water that everyone used to wet their fur.

Iratus, "You know, if the gray masks attack, won't it take extra time to get armored up?"

Ignis, "No way this one is wearing anything."

Victoria, "We were told it was the cold season, not season. I demand the cold!"

Iratus, "Should someone go on patrol? We have to keep an eye out."

There was silence.

Iratus, "I guess I'll go. Try to keep an eye out while I'm gone."

Aestus, "I'll join you. Give me a minute."

Eventually the 30th day would come, and this day was the hottest yet. It was hot enough that shelter and drinking water wouldn't be enough to survive. There came a point where, one by one, people used the barrel as a bath just to cool off. No one risked going to the hot springs to find some cold pools because the gray mask threat had shaken everyone into being very cautious. The day would progress into the hottest point of the day, and that's when Victoria yelled out that the gray masks had come.

Everyone got their gear, though no one wore their clothing or armor. Iratus gave it a thought, but he assumed that he would die from a heat stroke if he tried.

Victoria and Aestus went upstairs to watch the back while the other three took to the front door. A line of gray masks walked past the tree line, all of them deep blue, with that one red cloak leading them. They stopped, and Iratus looked out to see what they would do.

Iratus, "Ok, I'll go light the fires. Cover me!"

Before Iratus left the tower, the red cloak tossed Clamor's great sword onto the ground and then removed its hood, allowing its rabbit ears to pop up. It removed the gray mask too, revealing a rabbitfolk as old as Clamor, but this one had his hair and fur much darker gray. This male rabbit also had a third of his face converted into a metalhead with an empty eye hole on his left side.

Rabbitfolk, "Resonantia! You can never run from me!" It sounded like he was trying to yell, but it seemed like he couldn't raise his voice that loudly.

Resonantia, "Blasted retch, Tacitus! How are you still alive?"

---

Chapter 130

Tacitus, "Resonantia, you poor thing, you should have made sure I was dead. You can't leave a few arrows in someone and walk away and think the job is done. Just like how I shot you dead only to find you still walking around."

Resonantia, "Because we are dead! We just got sent here instead of the afterlife."

Tacitus, "What blasphemy! You see, it is things like this that make people hire someone like me to kill you."

Iratus, "Can you explain to me what's going on?"

Resonantia to Iratus, "Just a second."

Resonantia, "So you were an assassin? Look, we are not on Sanctum anymore. This is a different planet with different people."

Tacitus, "It is my duty and my vow to kill you. No matter how far you run—even to another planet, another time, another life—I must find you, always."

Once ear protection was in place, Iratus opened fire with the rife at the rabbitfolk, but with the first shot, the rifle malfunctioned with a horrific clang and bang, and then the rife stopped working.

Iratus, "What in the hells?"

Tacitus, "How foolish of you to try to fight one of us with such negative Karma. You think you can enslave and drive a whole species to extinction without suffering the cost? How feline of you."

Resonantia, "What is that thing talking about?"

Iratus, "Remember, I am a cat. The Mousian people were bred to extinction. There are no pure mousefolk anymore."

Ignis to Tacitus, "I thought Karma was about creation and destruction of places!"

Tacitus, "Places...things...people."

Iratus discarded his firearm while Tacitus placed his mask back on, pulled out a large bow, and signaled to his forces, who then spread out further around the tower.

Aestus came down from the stairs.

Aestus, "Victoria told me to tell you they have sappers! Go outside and stop them."

Ignis sighed and went outside, with Iratus covering the door from the outside while Resonantia fired arrows from windows and arrow slits.

---

EPISDOE 13: END

---
Episode 13 End Character Sheet
Name: Iratus Lionheart
Species: Mousefolk
Age: 14
Coverings: Blonde Fur, White Gambeson (moderately damaged, leather patchwork), leather gloves, tactical vest, tailorcraft backback
Weapons: Long Sword, Knife
Equipment: belt, belt bag, water skin, leathercraft backpack, 2 bags, 33 oval copper coins, 7 small silver bricks, 6 gemstones, 20 fine silver coins,20 fine gold coins

Community Stash: a fire starter, whetstone, several leather items, a lot of animal bones, some animal hide, 3 glass jar, 1 fish net, primitive sewing kit, trowel, woodcutting axe, a lot of wooden spears,  a bunch of small wooden figures, wooden dice, some of sheets, metal scrap, lots of rusted metal, several small fish nets, short sword, box of unknown ammo, some medical supplies, semi-automatic rifle and ammo, a strange device (Gameboy-like device), lots of wooden planks and boards, wood glue, sandpaper, lots of rusted weapons, many armor pieces, compass, sextant, some bedrolls, a tent, lots of rope, a large barrel, some ink, 3 papyrus paper, 5 hide paper (parchments)

Treasure: 40 oval copper coins, 44 ancient metal coins, 40 fine silver coins, 44 fine gold coins, 23 fine copper coins, a tarnished silver brooch, a small ornamental figurine, a handful of sparkling glass beads, a small wooden trinket box, a collection of delicate, hand-painted porcelain charms, a few antfolk tapestries, some antfolk art,

Home Base, Tower: Large Storage Area (many crates and clay pots), Basic Butchering Area (few tools, smoking rack), Basic Workshop Area (lots of tools, woodcarving tools), Kitchen Area (many tools, many cutlery items, pots&pans), Outside Makeshift Tannery, Underground Storage Area, Garden Area, Library, Armory, Infirmary room (surgery tools)

Books: 3x woodworking books, weathered leather-bound journal, war game booklet

Wounds: Left Leg bitten (mostly healed), Face (multiple severe injuries, some healing)

Year 0, Day 30

---

(Extra Stories)

Extra Story 1
(Some time ago) Resonantia ran through a once vibrant and bustling metropolis that was from Earth and was now completely abandoned, frozen in time. The city was surrounded by towering mountains and dense forests and looked like a beacon of cutting-edge infrastructure and the technological advancements of its time. But now, the city's streets are devoid of life, its buildings cloaked in an eerie silence. The city was new enough to the Nexus Prime that nature had yet to take it.

Ashborn wondered through the streets, setting ablaze flyers, banners, and anything else that could combust. Several other large animals would stalk the streets, besides monsters. From monstrous wolves to truck-sized wasps, many beasts had begun to move in; even some of the ashborn were taken out, burning the unsuspecting predators. Graffiti-covered walls and broken windows were the norm, while twisted metal and decaying vehicles piled up all over the streets.

An arrow slammed into her breastplate, which deflected off, and so did the next three arrows. Resonantia turned and ran through several roads until she came across a tunnel, passing a small stream through it.

Days later
Resonantia continued fleeing from her unknown assailant by taking shelter when she was tired and moving at all other times, with only so much time spent on scavenging food and water. She held a small bag with packaged food and bottled water. Somewhere deep in the forest, she had come across an old hunters lodge, and upon searching through it, she found a large number of items and weapons that she was an expert in.

Days later
Resonantia searched for her pursuer from the roof of the large apartment. Around the building was a sprawling parking lot in the middle of a boreal-like forest on one side and a city that was reminiscent of one of her people's cities but more advanced. Several traps were laid around the area, so when Resonantia had no choice but to sleep, chimes rang out to alert her to an intruder. On the rooftop, she fired off a flare and readied her modern-made bow and carbon arrows. Once she saw her hunter, she saw that he had already moved halfway across the parking lot and was now moving between empty cars that were scattered around. After her first shot, the hunter shot back their own arrow, and a battle of archers began.

An hour later
The hunter ran inside the apartment, and Resonantia retreated inside as well; she didn't seem to get wounded during the battle, but now her foe was in the building. She opened up an elevator shaft and dropped a lit Molotov cocktail, which smashed into the ground and lit several flammable objects that spread fire to several trails of debris that Resonantia had set up previously before the battle, figuring this would be the last battle with her hunter. She doused the stairs with some petroleum from gas tanks and lit them with a lighter, and soon the whole building was set ablaze.

Thirty minutes later
The flames were still in their infancy as she went back and forth with her enemy, strewn about the apartments. Most of it was more range combat; some of it was setting off traps and sneaking around by both parties, and finally Resonantia climbed down an elevator while the fire finally took off.

She ran out of the building and took cover behind a car. She had five arrows left, and four of them looked well used or had fire damage due to being recovered later from the fight. A few arrows would come from a window while Resonantia retaliated with one shot, with neither party hitting their mark. Resonantia was waiting out in the open to bait another shot, which worked. She would take a shot to her leg, but she would hit her foe in the torso, which made the enemy fall out of the burning building, or maybe the flames were finally too much for him to handle and forced him out.

Regardless, Resonantia and her enemy had one last close-quarters archer fight, though the foe was heavily wounded from the fall and couldn't properly dodge or aim. With one more arrow in his chest, the man fell to the ground. Resonantia walked up to the fallen man to confront him. The hunter took his cowl off, revealing the old bunny man.

Resonantia, "Tacitus, is that you? Why are you trying to kill me? Where are we?"

Tacitus, "Stupid girl, do you not remember me killing you? You are in hell, like you should be!" He grunted in pain. "But not even this horrific place can stop me from killing you again, and if you come back again, I will find you again and again until you finally die!" He whimpered in pain before lying on his back.

Resonantia, "Killed me? Hell? I don't understand...but I can't have you coming after me again."

Tacitus, "You can't stop me; I will never stop! Too many people are relying on me."

The shark girl shot one more arrow into the rabbitfolk's chest, which killed him.

---

Extra Story 2
(Some time ago) The voice of Invidus could be heard behind the helmet.

Invidus, "I couldn't do anything."

Another member of his group came up, also covered in roughly the same kind of armor and weapons.

Female, "Who cares? They are just ghosts."

These two were on some sort of temporary military base that was now part of Nexus Prime. Many metal heads were dead, most belonging to weasels, as this appeared to be a base from their civilization.

The metalhead corpse of Avaritia was to the side, nearly completely a metal head with the clothes gone and only some rotten bits of skin and fur, while Gelus was nearby with only his head bathed in hot oil, which had transformed the head into that of a metal head. Both of these corpses were shot up by the group.

Female, "I heard a rumor that you offered to take them out of here."

Invidus, "Uh, no, no. I did not do that."

Female, "Good. You know we can't do that. It was already a cluster bomb of feces just to sneak in here, and I'm not going to prison because some bleeding heart wants to save a few people from this hell hole."

Invidus, "But we are sending our discoveries to...uh, a science...place?"

Female, "Idiot, my brother is doing sanctioned experiments. We are sending the data to him and also not a discovery. Everyone already knows about metalhead sickness. What we have is just some updates to the information."

Invidus, "So we did find new things that no one knew about?"

Female, "By chains, I hate cats!"

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