Between the lines (Arc 4 Side Story)

August 20th, 12:30 A.M.

It was a usual night. A couple of minutes ago the clock had struck midnight. London, being one of the world’s largest metropolis, however, was still pulsating like the heart of the country. People were out on the streets, walking, driving, riding as passengers or simply loitering. Even though many stores had already shut their doors, countless establishments would still attempt to lure in customers.

And yet among that bustling normalcy, there was this odd isolated spot right at the heart of it all. An area devoid of all life. Entirely abandoned by the natural flow of things. As though something was driving the people away.

About 20 minutes ago the first alarm bell had been rung. Soon after more followed. The source and centre of the incident being the British Library. While to the public there was seemingly no special merit to the place other than some antique books stored away in its basement, those living in the dark corners of the country knew way better: Given that the entire United Kingdom was dyed in the colours of Magic, the vast collections of knowledge locked up behind these walls could easily surpass any nuclear arsenal anywhere on the globe.

Thus, when the bell had been rung, the official forces would not hesitate to move. Special personnel has been sent. First the guards then higher classes. However, ever since nothing had been heard or seen. No trace of anything going on. Only silence. Until…

BOOOOOM!

A large explosion reverberated from inside the building.

BOOOOOM!

Shortly after another.

Something was surfacing. And as it did the dire circumstances were clear as day.

«The perimeter has been cleared. There is no word from the guards or the first attack team. Seems like the party’s going to blow up for real now!»

By nature the Anglican Church had been the first to move in an incident related to Magic. Among the three powers ruling the kingdom they clearly were the one with the greatest interest in maintaining the balance of the magic world and thus protecting the forbidden knowledge of falling into the wrong hands.

However, even they had taken their time to gather their assets. Using whatever forces found nearby they had only just dispatched another group jumbled together out of whoever had been free and sent them straight for the main entrance of the national library.

«You, try’n track down the intruder. I’ll see what I can dig out in the meantime.»

A laid back chewy voice was speaking to them through a communications charm replacing the inferior technology that was a radio.

«Ah right…good luck everyone! And don’t die, ok?»

Due to the chaotic circumstances there hadn’t been any proper information yet. All contact to the other team and the guards had been lost. It was a black box. And they no longer had any time to prepare. It was time to go. Now, what would their first move be?

August 20th, 12:50 AM

Sara could hardly call herself a delinquent. She was definitely out on the streets of London late at night, but she could hardly call herself a delinquent. After all, she may live in a women’s dorm, but the dorm enforced no curfew as it was one that housed people of many ages from old to young working in a somewhat professional setting.

In other words, as true as it was that she was out late at night after even the last of the trains in the Underground had finished running, she was not breaking any rules, and was, thus, not a delinquent.

“Haaaaahn~” The girl covered her yawn with her left hand as she closed her eyes stretched up into the air with her right arm, shaking up the fabric of her clothes near her shoulder slightly. Despite the late night chill, the girl was still seemed to be quite comfortable in her sundress held up by thin straps around her neck and shoulders. The messenger bag strapped around her left shoulder threatened to drop  to the side as the strap began to slip downwards.

As much as one would think that the girl was out too late at night, one would be more accurate to chalk such a thing out to pure planning. She had gone out for a night of prayer at one of the many temples littering the East Ham area and subsequently decided to splurge by eating out. She was always a bit of a frugal girl, which Akash noted to be a bit of a cultural thing that didn’t change despite her isolated upbringing, but her pay grade was still pretty solid—at least enough that she could go out and splurge far more often than she did.

Needless to say, it was meant to be a pretty eventless night aside from the fact that she could no longer take public transport back to the dorms.

“…” Her left eye opened as a voice relaying orders echoed throughout her ears and her left hand moved from its position in front of her mouth, placing her index and middle finger in front of the tragus of her ear.

“I see. A hunt has begun.”

The girl looked around the streets as she groped around the contents of the bag at her hip. At her fingertips, she could feel a wide variety of jewelry and flowers sitting inside, along with other contents like knives and a hammer.

London may have still been active in parts, but in the area of East Ham, Sara could honestly say it resembled a ghost town that night. Still, it wouldn’t hurt just to move into a corner. As she did, she placed on herself seven water lilies and as she finally stopped, she adorned herself with a pair of  fingerless gloves, a pair of bracelets, a necklace, and a headdress, all made of gold. Even though her outfit seemed almost mismatched, it didn’t matter.

“Yes, I’m set~” The combat-ready girl said as she let down the flap of her bag but kept it unlatched.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the girl jumped up onto the roof of the nearest building before heading across roofs and streets towards the direction of the British Library.

“This is Nair. I can be in the vicinity in 4 minutes. What’s the current status on the intruder and his whereabouts? Any idea on what his objective was?”

For the time being, she needed to gather as much intelligence as possible. It would be poor form to run in without any knowledge. She may have been fast, but she would be useless if she had nothing to work on.

London, land of the Anglican cross. It was far too late in the evening for any person possessed of a respectable job to be out and about. Those who persisted in their activities despite the late hour were invariably young men and women enjoying the nightlife of the city, or else individuals using the cover of darkness to carry out actions of ill repute, such that could never pass so easily during the illumination of the day.

Needless to say, a young girl not even of the age to enter high school held no place in either such category. Too young to be accepted by that community of hedonists who sold their rest for pleasure, and too inexperienced to serve as anything but a victim in those ill-mannered dealings which found shelter 'neath the light of the moon, the place she belonged was only at home, resting in bed and conserving her energy for the next day.

Nonetheless...

"--------"

Nonetheless, long past the setting of the sun, a young girl who offers no name but Vita 'Vesta Caesar' received a certain message from a certain emergency channel.

Surrounded by a group of men who obviously outclassed her in size, strength, and seniority all, she stood docilely in an alleyway far removed from the illuminating shine of the streetlights of the main road. At a glance, one could that they weren't simple thugs, but they lacked the imposing presence of true professionals. Second-rate criminals whose ranks were made up of the likes of swindlers and career robbers. But to a girl as young as her, such a distinction hardly mattered. Rather than enjoying the nightlife, it was clear she was involved in far less savory matters. As if unaware of that, she innocently inclined her head upwards as if in thought; perhaps craning her neck to catch sight of the moon.

"So, what now?" The man - second of a trio - spoke with a clear eagerness in his voice. He seemed unaware of their young companion's preoccupation.

"..."

Vita, as if unaware of her predicament, seemed to show no response to the men's excitement. On a closer inspection, however, faint signs could be seen. An ever-so-slightly crumpled brow, perhaps a faint glimmer in her eye. Noticing those minor signs, the men became agitated.

The British Library isn't far. I could make it easily. But considering their seeming lack of coordination, even if I ignore it, I might be able to skip out... No, but properly assisting would help considerably in accumulating merit...

With a sigh, Vita at last addressed the men surrounding her, whose confusion had only increased as she maintained her silence.

"We'll have to continue this later."

Casually escaping the encirclement, Vita began walking away from the trio and out towards the main street. And yet they offered no response, giving merely a shouted "Wait!" that they soon recognized was futile.

Certainly, Vita was entangled in the seedy underbelly of the city.

---But that didn't mean that the position she held was that of a victim.

---

In a city as large, old, and urban as London, not even the best and most draconian of police forces can completely stamp out crime. And though at the time she held a very different position than she did now, her time living on the streets of her home city of Rome had acquainted herself very well with their workings, an understanding which was only built upon by her later experiences in the Roman Catholic Church and with Necessarius.

Two-bit thugs and gang members were numerous, but they cycled in and out of prison, were untrustworthy, generally lacked in capability, and seldom stuck around long. Meanwhile, those legitimate professionals would never prowl the street, and associating with them would cost far more than Vita was willing to offer with her hands to joined to Necessarius. Their actions were too high-profile to pass muster.

But men like those she had been meeting when the emergency assistance request had been sent out were perfect. Career criminals, people who knew what they were doing well enough to stick it out in the long haul without being caught, whose actions were low-profile enough to not draw attention from the authorities, they were largely ignored in favor of bigger fish and easier bites. As a result, they were the perfect targets to form connections with, and then be used for a grand variety of purposes.

But Vita, having been interrupted by the emergency transmission during the middle of a discussion just three such individuals, had after that made her way to the front of the British Library where she received a more detail briefing on the situation inside.

"I know death traps are par for the course with us, but this really takes the cake..."

Despite her complaints, she was ready to move at a moment's notice, waiting only for the arrival of her fellow unfortunate compatriots. In the meantime, she paid close attention to the comms, eager to gain any and all information she could.

Slacking off might very well prove the death of her, after all.

"Dinner is ready! Sorry its so late"

The those words echoed out of the shaman's mouth movement erupted all around him as a number of animals seemed to peek out of every nook and cranny. A German Shepherd, an American Pit Bull Terrier, a black cat, and a few birds of varying species moved from their resting positions throughout the room and moved towards the small table at the center of the room were Atsa had begun unpacking the bags he had brought in with him. The birds had landed on the table and had already begun pecking at a small sealed container that the shaman had already unpacked while the dogs moved around the boy's chair sniffing towards the top of the table shaking the table slightly in the process. Meanwhile the black cat had managed to climb its way up to the boy's shoulder while it started to become more and more difficult to unpack the food as the small table had become significantly crowded.

It appeared as if all the animals were all going to make a mad dash for the food any second and Atsa was going to get caught up in the chaos he had accidentally started. Yet just as the situation was about to reach a tipping point until a high pitching short screech echoed out from one of the shelf towards the right side of the room as the bird sitting on the shelf opened it mouth and extend it wings before taking off and landing on top of the bags on the table. After the landing, the golden eagle released a few more short high pitched screeches and in response the rest of the animals immediately seemed to back down. The eagle was Atsa first pet and partner in crime and when it came to animal hierarchy in the dorm this bird stood at the top of it.

The shaman sighed with relief as the situation was diffused and returned to unpacking the food. The animals which had been on the verge of a riot just a few minutes before had seemingly calmed down and patiently waited for the food to be served as they were watched by the eagles watchful eyes. The only animal that didn't really change its behavior was the black cat, which had chosen to stay hanging about on Atsa's shoulder. After all the pet food contained in the bags had been unpacked the bowls were collected and filled with along with the bird feeders. As the rest of the animals began their meal Atsa returned to preparing his own dinner but not before putting out some rabbit meat for the golden eagle.

Unfortunately, the universe had no intention of letting him have his dinner as only a few moment later the call from the Anglican Church came in. For a moment, Atsa wished that he had been out of the country on some mission where his meal wouldn't have been interrupted but he wasn't so after a short pause the boy would run over to his bed and grab the bag that had been sitting on it.

"I've got to run! Don't break into the food bags while I'm gone!"

With that said the shaman dashed out the door and began to make his way towards the library as quickly as he could. Meanwhile the rest of his pets returned to their meals except for the eagle, which quickly took flight and followed Atsa out of the building. It didn't take him long to reach the front of the library after he took a short stop to cast the spell needed to assume the attributes of his spirit animal but he was still a bit out of breath upon his arrival shortly before the blonde haired girl made her comment about death traps and cake.

"They chose an awful hour to attack as well. Would've appreciated it if they had been polite enough to choose an earlier hour for this death trap of theirs instead of ruining my dinner along with my sleep. Anyways, you must be the other poor soul the Church managed to drag into this mess last minute. My name's Asta, could you tell me yours?"

«Let’s see…»

The man in charge sitting on the other end of the connection replied to the request for further instructions and information. From the way he spoke it sounded like his mouth was still somewhat full.

«Apparently someone attempted to breach the lower levels of the national library. It’s unknown how but it seems like they got quite deep before we became aware of them. Of course, they engaged with the guards immediately and after a failed attempt at stopping them reinforcements were called in. However, we haven’t heard anything from either group…so more people were called in.»

Speaking in a very laid back tone, he would easily invoke the mental image of a scruffy gentleman leaning back in an office chair while placing his feet atop his desk. And given that he was seemingly having a snack right now that image truly wouldn’t be that far fetched.

However, he was still working.

«Beyond that we have no clue what the intruder is after. But given they were trying to make it into the deepest depths of the place and the fact that it is the deepest place for a good reason, we can assume that it’s something really bad.»

Indeed, the British Library was not simply a place for people seeking education to find their spoils, but one where some dangerous knowledge would be stored as well. Grimoires were a threat and by the duty of the Anglican Church they had to be sealed away extremely carefully. There was no need to explain why that was necessary, did any Magician know the power of these cursed items.

«Let’s see…it seems like you guys need to head as low as possible until you encounter the intruder. Unfortunately we know nothing about them, so you will have to figure that out. Beyond that we don’t know the state of the security mechanisms either. But given that all contact to the inside is lost we can’t exactly hope for anyone to turn them off in case the stuff hasn’t been roasted yet. So that might turn out problematic. Annnd there’s also the enemy. Maybe they placed traps. They’re at least somewhat good if they can actually hold up against the guards and the emergency team. Sooo yeah, it’s bad.»

He paused, took a bite, then went on.

«Just go down there. Stop the intruder from getting their hands on whatever they are after. And stay safe. Yeah?»

The way he phrased it made the entirely deal sound less difficult and urgent than it may have actually been. But looking at the bigger picture this kind of scenario fell perfectly well into Necessarius’s routine. Not to forget that there was a certain degree of trust placed onto the team making up the second wave.

And yet, just as they were about to push open the doors towards the beginning of their glorious quest, exactly that entry way was twisted beyond recognition. In a literal sense.

It was not only the main entrance doors but the entire outer facade of the building. The stone structure, the glass, the ornaments. Everything lost its shape and distorted. And then, with a tremendous booom it all blew up. Something from within the mighty structure burst to the outside, tearing apart whatever resistance offered by the warped structure and chased by steel melting flames.

All those three would see – if they even were able to catch up to anything in that mess – was a white and black shadow being launched far into the night sky, pursued by even more of those horrifying flames.

«What are you waiting for, you fools! She mustn’t escape!!»

The shouting voice of a battered red haired teenage priest emerging from the building’s ruins was what would ultimately underline the urgency of the whole situation.

Yet, while that temper laden boy obviously was no longer capable of giving chase, he had called out to his comrades to finish the job.

Fortunately, even though that unknown individual had disappeared from sight already, with the direction they were headed into it would take no genius to understand their ultimate destination: To the North East. King’s Cross Station.

Regrettably, Sara was the last to arrive at the scene of the magicians who had assembled before the British Library. She had landed only a few feet away from the entrance after jumping off the roof of a nearby building. There were already two others who had made their way to the scene: a shorter blonde girl and a boy of darker tone, the latter likely around her age.

The sound of the commanding officer reverberated through her ear before she could get the chance to introduce herself to the other two, but that could probably wait. It was hardly important when orders were coming down from the top—even if the orders were being given by someone who sounded like he was making light of the situation.

He’s definitely eating a burger again. Was his inability to avoid midnight snacking really always that bad?

She had worked with him before so she knew exactly what kind of man he was. Even if he was snacking away and making light of the situation through tone, it meant nothing. The gravity of the situation was evident just from what she was witnessing. Someone had dared to break into the British Library and there was not a single answer as to what the culprit was after. Moreover, they were thrown into disarray with faulty or missing intelligence.

The situation was clearly not favorable in any stretch of the imagination.

And things could not help but get worse. Before they could even enter the building, the doors began to deform and bend outwards, as if being pushed from the inside. Before the thunderous roar could erupt, the girl side-stepped to prevent anything from hitting her.

From within that billowy mess of a scene, a shadow flew out, launched into the night sky had launched itself northeast into the night sky.

Not much was needed to figure out what happened. Not even the voice of the priest who likely lay collapsed was necessary, though it certainly functioned as a nice kick in the rear.

“We’re going now!” Sara made her way to the other two and pulled one onto her back and scooped the other under her arm. It was hardly something that she found pleasant or easy, but inertia was not something she really had to worry about as she picked up speed and ran and jumped straight northeast before landing near the entrance to the terminal.

In simplest terms the entire situation had Atsa incredibly confused. He knew that the intruders getting deep into the library was a serious matter and yet the tone of the man in charge seemed to completely contradict that. Was he snacking while explaining this situation to them? The shaman was starting to think he had somehow gotten dragged into some elaborate prank. There was no way someone could be so chill when all of this was happening right? Then again when had he ever met a magician that was in anyway normal? It was very possible that this man acted like nothing was wrong regardless of what was going on.

"So we just have to go in, avoid all the traps, catch up with the intruders, and drag them all back up here? Sounds easy enough though I'm kind of regretting not buying life insurance."

They were going to die. At the very least Atsa expected at least one of them to die if they tried to maneuver their way past all the library's security and then somehow defeat the people who had managed to do that while defeating the guards. Before the shaman could put anymore thought into his imminent demise or even introduce himself to their new companion the library erupted. The shaman watched as the structure tore apart and flames exploded from the cracks followed by a shadow leaping from the ruins only for a beaten red haired priest to emerged a few minutes later. As the priest yelled out to them Atsa reached into his bag and was preparing to give chase but before he was even given the chance he felt the ground disappear beneath his feet.

Atsa say in his fate had been completely taken away. For a moment he had no idea what had even happened. One moment they had been in front of the ruins of the library and the next they were flying across London. Whoever this girl was she was fast as hell and before he knew it they had arrived at the station. As he got back to his own feet he murmured a short prayer in thanks for his survival before reaching into his bag and pulling out a wolf pelt he'd drape over his shoulder.

"You're fast as a falcon! I could've used a warning though but hey at least this is far better than that death trap of a library!"

King's Cross Station was one of London’s most famous land marks. Not alone because of its status as one of the entire United Kingdom’s busiest stations but also due to a certain piece of youth literature that had managed to polarise the world. In other words: The place was supposed to be buzzing. And yet, that was not at all the case tonight.

The place was empty.

No human presence. No hustle. No bustle. Just a large empty hall, harbouring empty platforms, some empty tracks and a few empty trains. The hallways, lobby, shops and outside square had been the same.

The work of the occult. For once the kind that had been on their side. The moment the incident in the library had been taken note of, all necessary emergency protocols had been executed leading to a large number of people clearing fields being set up around the area. By nature, special care had been directed at this beehive of humans, aiming to avoid any unnecessary victims in case control would be lost. Sadly, exactly that had happened.

Upon entering the small group of Magicians would be confronted with a scene of silence. Somewhere in the distance a radio was playing already overused pop song, while some machinery was audibly working elsewhere. It wasn’t dark, were all lights lit as though it was typical business hours. Still, right now nobody should be there anymore. At least, anyone except them and their prey.

And there was someone.

A single individual was standing right at the very centre of one of the four long platforms.

The floor around them was covered by many pieces of broken glass. A look up would reveal a large gaping hole something had left when breaking through the glass structure making up the area’s ceiling. An expert may have been able to deduce the trajectory and angle, thus confirming that whatever had come through there had emerged from somewhere South West.

Having noticed the group’s arrival that figure would turn their head.

They were quite small.

In one of their hands rested a wand.

Their blond hair swayed alongside the movement of their neck.

Obviously they had been somewhat tense that very moment.

They were wearing a dress of white alongside black stockings and pumps.

Even though Sara had touched down on King’s Cross station, the ardent blaze that was the hunt had hardly come to an end. The fact that the station that should have still been actively moving passengers even at this time of night was completely empty was an obvious sign of that.

The higher-ups had deemed it necessary to set up the necessities to create people-clearing fields in advance when news of the incident at the library had made it to them and they had deemed it necessary to activate them when things went sour.

Within the eerie silence, that girl rushed through the now desolate terminal until she made her way over the turnstiles that separated the areas that staff and paying customers were allowed into from the rest of the station. Much like the rest of the station, it looked as if the people who had once been walking there had been raptured. Multiple trains sat at their terminals, but not a single person could be found in sight at any of those trains or in the waiting area benches.

As she she passed multiple platforms, she eventually found something that was out of place (as far as that deserted station was concerned anyway) and slowed herself to a halt, forgetting she was still carrying someone in her arms.

Standing underneath the glistening moonlight that slipped through the glass roof and made its way through all of that man-made light that normally kept the station bright and visible was a single girl. Down from the trajectory of the hole on the glass roof surrounded by fragments of shattered glass she stood.

She was a familiar one—a short, blonde girl in a white-dress and black stockings that could almost remind one of a piano’s keys.

Come to think of it, the blur was black-and-white too...

While it could be said that the only possible people that could be here were the hunters and the prey, Sara knew from personal experience that the girl before her would not be standing there in such an obvious position that would implicate herself if she were the culprit...or if reality was as simple as the image before her seemed to be.


“Alright, something clearly doesn’t add up. So, do you have anything to say, young lady?”

What was happening?

Things had been strange from the start but now they were spiraling out of control.

The late-night interruption had been unusual but not unprecedented, Necessarius frequently receiving assaults and infiltrations from parties who didn't know the limits of their own strength. It just so happened that Vita had been drafted to deal with it, this time. But upon arriving at the scene any such naive thoughts were wiped out.

Casualties unknown, status unknown, goal unknown. The outside of the British Library felt like it had been made into a battlefield. That on its own was hardly unusual for a location where a fight between magicians was taking place, but to reiterate, this was Necessarius - and the heart of London, at that. Far from a battlefield, it should have stopped at the level of shooting rats in a can. That was the normal way of things. But instead they had had the initiative stolen, and were operating entirely on the back foot.

Standing outside the entrance after arrival, it had felt like she was staring a powder keg, and that she was being asked to jump in and ignite it. Despite all reservations, she had been about to venture within, but the powder keg had chosen then to burst all on its own and send her fumbling. After that, she had been picked up and carried away by one of her two compatriots, leaving the library as abruptly as they had arrived.

King's Cross, their next destination, was quiet and lacking in that air of quiet explosiveness, but thanks to the figure that stood there, surrounded by broken glass, it had a full tension all its own.

She had long prepared an offering, taking advantage of the time she spent being carried.

What remained now was only action. Their target been located, pursuit had been completed, and the enemy had been confirmed. Taking into account all that she had seen up until now, she decided on the best course of action. For the moment, she spoke.

"Exactly what is it you came here for?"

«Ah. You were faster than expected. Actually, no, maybe I was just a bit too slow.»

This young lady went by the name Leivinia Birdway. Against the first impression her small size and petite figure – which were completely normal for a ten years old like her – would offer, she was entirely in the right to look down upon the newcomers. And that was something she wouldn’t hold back to exhibit.

However, that wouldn’t answer the Magicians’ question, so she would go out of her way to give them just that.

«You’d be better advised to stay away before you mess up even more than you already have. Take that as a fair warning.»

Yes, this girl was none of the polite kind. Not that she cared about unnecessary etiquette right where she stood.

Still, that was when the gears kicked into motion. It was an odd sound that pierced the silence of the main terminal. Metal was creaking, glass breaking, plastic tearing. Not slowly. Not steadily. But from one moment to the next it happened. One of the few empty trains along with its numerous wagons resting on the tracks would – no other word could describe it better – malform. Its entire shape bent in truly strange ways, collapse and yet somehow remain there, floating in that puddle of pieces and parts making up its foundation.

«Tch.»

And then it would reassemble explosively.

There was no pattern. No logic. Nothing at all behind it. But somehow it felt familiar. Somehow that chaotic scene appeared entirely natural. A phenomenon to be found regularly in nature. Somehow.

It didn’t leave them any chance to comprehend, as that odd mass of metal, plastic and glass would be launched at the Magicians at immense speed, easily capable of tearing apart the platform with unseen obviously lethal force.

A piano child. That was the shaman's first thought when he finally caught sight of the girl they had been pursuing. At the very least he'd have to say he was impressed. She only seemed to be about ten years old and yet she had seemingly managed to break into British Library and escape unscathed something Atsa had assumed would've taken an army of magicians at the very least. Then again, maybe the girl had broken in with a group but was the only one who managed to escape. Regardless of how she managed to accomplish such a task it was clear that it'd foolish to underestimate the person in front of them.

"Mess up? What do you mean?"

The entire situation felt strange. They had come here to catch the person responsible for breaking into the library and while the girl seemed tense it didn't feel like she felt particularly threatened by them. The warning could've been some kind of bluff but Atsa couldn't think of why someone who had just managed to successfully break into the library would need to rely on something like bluffing.

Before he had the time to think about their current situation the sound of bending metal would catch his attention. His eyes would quickly dart to the source of the sound and he'd watch as one of the trains began to distort. Breaking apart as it collapsed into itself before rapidly reassembling yet somehow this absurd scene felt completely normal. The shaman's fascination with what was happening came to an abrupt end when the pieces of the wreckage seemed to suddenly shoot towards them.

With his animal spirit spell still in effect from earlier Atsa would attempt to use his enhanced speed to move out of the way of the projectiles and moving towards cover as quickly as possible. What the hell was that? Had the piano girl launched some kind of attack on them? Why would she have given a warning if that was her intent?

"What the bloody hell is going on?!"

So she has no intent of cooperating.

It was a pattern Vita had seen before, back during her tenure with the Roman Catholic Church. Among the people that said things like this, some were more competent and some were less so, but not even a single one held the slightest bit of the cooperative spirit that would make her job easier. They had arrogance and mystery mixed in such a way that they were greatly irritating to deal with regardless of where on the scale of ability they fell.

And unfortunately, the girl before her eyes appeared to fall flatly on the 'competent' end of the scale, if it hadn't already been apparent from her ability to infiltrate London so effortlessly. As if in punctuation to her words (which were filled with trepidation but didn't give even the slightest bit actual explanation), the moment after the girl finished speaking a train from the station rumbled, rose into the air, and reconfigured before firing itself at her and her two companions.

"Do ut des, Vulcanus!"

Without confirming the strength with which the mass was fired, attempting to directly block it would be ill-advised. But it could, on the other hand, be redirected. Calling forth the power of Vulcan, god of the forge, Vita immediately began moving to one side - toward the piano girl - while the explosion her power called forth shoved the mass of metal into the opposite direction. Even if neither action alone would be enough to remove herself from its trajectory, together they would suffice.

And in the meantime, she would close in on the piano girl. The intruder would not escape.

Having leapt aside ever so casually to avoid the mass of man-made material as well as the explosion that had launched it off-course, Leivinia Birdway was still as relaxed as she had been before. That wand of red was still in her right hand, her attention occupied elsewhere.

Not even the loud crash of the gigantic mass hitting and tearing through one of the platforms shook her, did she pay it no further mind.

Momentary silence followed after that crude landing serving as testament of the destructive force behind its failed attack. Yet, only for a short instance. Instead of remaining flat where it laid, the sound of trembling rubble would become harbinger of its subsequent rise. The mass would slowly raise itself off the ground, assuming the shape of a larger cluster of random debris throning atop four pillars. While its shape may have appeared entirely nonsensical upon first sight, its nature was one that was all too common in this world. Four limbs and a torso.

A singular cluster had emerged from the outer shell of the large one.

A head.

Utterly defying nature while being perfectly well-built by its standards, that six metres tall mass of man-made material was moving its head. It was sighting its enemies.

In the meantime one of the three Magcians made her move.

«I don’t have time for this.»

This situation had grown beyond slightly annoying.

With little hesitation the girl began to spin her wand like a baton. And as she did flames emerged from its tip, growing ever larger until they formed a far stretching wall. A wall dividing the space between her and the incoming trouble. However, instead of simply serving as a boundary the scorching fire would instead spread further and move forward, consuming the entire space whole.

The flames were raging but left that monstrous mass of a train entirely unscathed. Completely unaffected it set off into an attack of its own, unleashing another high velocity charge, aimed at the back of its previous explosive attacker.

However, given that the lethal attack’s anticipated trajectory’s straight line would pierce right through that roman style magician, Birdway saw herself forced to jump aside immediately after landing, further increasing the distance between her and her opponents all the while moving closer to the edge of the hall and thus the exit.

Something was clearly wrong. The others were not thinking...or at the very least, they had succumbed to overlooking other possibilities. It was far easier to assume that things were as they seemed on first glance. The young blonde was the culprit and the thing rising to attack was something she had created.

Rather than taking position to corner the blonde like Vita had or taking cover like Atsa had, Sara leapt off and landed on one of the metal implements jutting out of the pillars and holding up the transparent ceiling.

She had long since thrown away the assumption that the blonde was the culprit. In all likelihood, the culprit was acting remotely or was letting the current onslaught progress autonomously.

Leivinia Birdway would not be so foolish as to let herself be caught committing a crime so easily.

Given that statement was likely right, she needed to focus on the tendencies of the attack that was currently ongoing. Even while the girl had set up walls of flames and began to slowly retreat, Sara needed to focus on what was going on here.

No, that retreat may have been exactly what Sara needed to focus on. That girl rarely took actions without meaning. Sara had learned that first hand.

So, when she thought about it, what was the first thing that the young blonde had said?

What meaning was there to her arriving too late? Was there some meaning to distance? Even as this train turned golem charged towards Vita, what meaning was there in distance?

There was something there and Sara was grasping at faint threads at best, but she needed to think through all of this before taking the next action.

The mass of metal, barely diverted, was a spectre of death even to all but the strongest of magicians. With that speed and momentum even a glancing blow would be certain to inflict severe injury. If it were to find its mark, that very instant would mark her transformation from 'human' to 'hunk of flesh'. A proper corpse would not be left.

With that grim reaper chasing at her heels, survival should have been paramount. A single misstep and it ended. But instead, she looked forward. Her target was fleeing while leaving behind cryptic words, sealing her path with a wall of flame. And at the same time, the next attack was coming. Certainly, with these circumstances she should have been forced to abandon the pursuit of the intruder and prioritize the new attacker.

But that would hardly display the caliber of the empress of Rome.

"If this is all it has to offer, it's no threat at all."

With that declaration, she immediately began taking action. Noting the intruder's last known location as had been visually confirmed before the rise of the wall of flame. Watching the metal mass with a careful eye. Ensuring she got as close to the flame wall as possible, measuring carefully the angle. It was a good thing it was fixated on targeting her. That was convenient.

"Do ut des, Vulcanus!"

When the mass came for her once more, she would repeat the previous scene once more, like a mad matador who had exchanged red cape for exploding flame. And the intruder, who had locked her pursuers away with that other foe, would find her path of retreat suddenly cut off as empty space was filled with burning steel.

The passage of the steel through the wall would open a hole. Simply the displacement of air from its passage would have been enough to extinguish any normal flame wholesale, and though Vita doubted that these particular flames were so weak as that, it would surely still open a momentary passage for anyone poised to take it. Shouting to her companions, she would beckon them to follow her through.

From there, it would be time to show this intruder that Rome was not something to be trifled with.

Since Atsa had jumped out of the way the situation had only grown more chaotic. It didn't take long for the shaman to determine he wasn't suited to taking on their new metallic guest. A person or some animal would be fair game but he didn't know of anything in the animal kingdom that could compete with the golem like creature he saw in front of him. No claws, teeth, or poisons were going to take down a creature made of the remnants of a destroyed train. Maybe he could reason with it? After all he could talk with plants and animals would his spell work on something created from magic as well? No, that would be way too risky to even attempt even if for some strange reason it worked.

With all that in mind he really only had one option, to go after the girl they had chased here. He'd take the his bow from his back and draw back the string as he placed an arrow into it. His plan was to use blonde companion's charge as a distraction so he could get a shot in. The leg or arm would do it, after all he wanted to stop the piano from escaping not kill her. However, before he even got the chance to aim a wall of fire would explode outward from the girl's wand cutting off his line of sight.

"Tch."

He had to find someway through the wall. Even if he could still make the shot they'd still be stuck on the wrong side of the fire and stuck with the murderous sentient train shards. To make matters worst the wall just seemed to be spreading out further and one of his companions was charging straight for it. He definitely wasn't as fast as the girl who had drag them here but he had to do something right? The other girl was charging straight into the fire with metal shards going in for the kill from behind. Without hesitating Atsa would take off towards Vita hoping to get her out of the way of the metal shards but before he even got there she let out another explosion.

As he watched the the train shards redirected into the fire the shaman had to wonder whether the girl was a genius or just absolutely out of her mind. Regardless it seemed she had created the opening he had been hoping for, now they just had to make sure they could get through to the other side without the piano child sending them back to step one with another attack. With that in mind Atsa would tap into the ley lines to locate the piano child and shot an arrow through the wall towards her shoulder as he made his way for the opening.

As another explosion bounced the mass of man-made materials off its original path, Birdway found confirmation that things had outgrown the category of being easy to handle. Sadly, with time working against her this would lead to only one conclusion:

This problem had to be dealt with. Now.

Faced with a giant burning clump of metal, plastic and glass that would easily squish any human being into a puddle of blood and organs, she immediately began the complicated process of summoning Thelesma into this world and giving it shape in a very casual manner. A flicker of light. Followed by a mighty golden explosion, powerful enough to knock both the four limbed creature and the arrow – she hadn’t even take notice of – away while sufficing to throw everyone around off their feet.

However, if she had simply left it at that, this would still go on forever.

No, solving this required her full attention.

So amidst the confusion and chaos she would launch herself up to claim position atop another metal mount for one of the many branded clocks around the terminal.

«Vulcanus? You like it ancient and mediterranean, don’t you?»

Arriving there she would once more spin the wand in her hand.

«Benefactors deserve honour!»

This time there was neither a circle nor a wall of flames.

No, the line she had quoted alongside the spinning of her wand were based on the tale of Ixion, who upon betraying Zeus by giving into his lust for Hera, was punished to spend an eternity tied to a spinning wheel of fire traveling across the sky. The wheel was the sun. The sun was represented by the wand. The wand was spinning. However, the target was not the sinner, but the sin. Lust, here, was represented by one of its most publicly well known symbols: The panties of a teenage girl. More precisely: The annoying Roman’s.

A connection was made between the fake sun and the target receiving the Tartarusian punishment. It assumed the form of a pull as mighty as a God’s trailing the spinning wand's tip, invoked at full force the very instance the spell had been cast. Thus, a truly torturous sensation was unleashed upon her enemy. One even the most tough skinned warriors would fall towards with tears dwelling in their eyes.

Tartarus’s spinning wedgie.

«You pesky fools don’t get it, do you? If you keep getting in my way that pilferer will get away!»

This girl was dangerous. Seeing the way she almost casually brushed off the projectile cemented that feeling. Although Vita had used the same method, it hadn't been done without care. In the first place, the blessing of Vulcanus could only be used against very specific targets, so it was fortunate she was able to use it here at all. And she lacked the confidence that she could destroy the golem with it. It had taken two or three blasts so far, but it seemed not to have received noticeable damage, and she was ultimately only diverting the trajectory of its charges; the blessing lacked the firepower to send it completely off-course.

This girl, however, had - without any particular sort of incantation or gesture - achieved that firepower. She even felt the blast from where she was, nearly being thrown to the ground if not for her quick reflexes allowing for a relatively graceful recovery.

But then again, she had known the piano girl was dangerous from the moment she came flying out of the library. Ultimately, this didn't change what she needed to do. ...Or so she had thought until the girl began casting an entirely new spell.

«Benefactors deserve honour!»

Although the Greek and Roman mythologies were separate entities, the Romans had admittedly syncretized much from them, and so it was only natural for a Roman magician of Vita's skill to recognize the references made by the spell from the words spoken and the ring of fire. The tale of Ixion, who had broken from his duty of trust to Zeus in repayment of his favor.

Fortunately, Vita's skill-set happened to contain a perfect counter to such a spell. Even as the piano girl cast the spell, Vita mentally simulated her counter, how she would use the opening her timely response to create to close the distance between them, making use of the super-close-range to draw her knife and interfere with the girl's use of her spiritual weapon-

And then she felt a strange pull upon the fabric of her panties.

"Uwah?! D-Do ut des, Jupiter!"

This spell, based upon the legend of Ixion, recognized Vita as guilty of showing disrespect towards and neglect of her duties towards Zeus, king of gods upon whose authority unspoken contracts such as the oaths of hospitality were written and enforced. By recognizing Vita as guilty, the piano girl visited Zeus' wrath upon her as means of punishment.

Yet with her magic, she was blessed by Jupiter - a deity who, although a gross oversimplification, is identified as a Roman analogue of Zeus. In receiving his favor, she receives his approval in following the ideal of do ut des, boons in exchange for offerings. Essentially, it allowed her to act with a portion of his authority.

On the one hand was a spell which sought to identify her as in defiance of the deity and as such deserving of punishment, while on the other hand was one which identified as received of that very same deity's approval. And compared to the spell the piano girl had haphazardly (although dangerously) put together, Vita's daily oblations in honor of the ancient contract of do ut des was a proof that ran far deeper.

As a result, the noble empress absolutely did not make any decidedly un-ruler-like noises of panic or distress in response to a narrowly escaped magic super-wedgie. No, she acted with a comportment that matched her station. Not at all blushing like a fourteen year old who had momentarily felt the extremely distressing sensation of her ass being pulled into the air by means of her underwear, she instead calmly delivered the counterspell.

With that completed, she was now free to coolly and professionally acknowledge the new developments that had taken place in the meanwhile. Namely, the piano girl's profession of innocence.

Needless to say, it couldn't be trusted. While a great many of Necessarius' members could be considered surly at the best of times, or else in violation of all standards of common human decency, the manner of this girl's actions up until this moment still sufficed to clearly mark her as not one of them. She was an intruder who had broken into one of Necessarius' most closely guarded sanctuaries - this was indisputable fact.

Laughing off the battle until just now as a mistake, hugging it out, and skipping along together after the real criminal wasn't an option. Even if there was another pilferer as she said, leaving her to her own devices was not an option.

Fortunately, however, they happened to have someone on the field who would prove very handy in situations exactly such as this.

"Saravati! Go!"

She and Atsa would hold their ground here. Meanwhile, their pursuit expert would run past all obstacles at great speed and investigate the existence of this supposed pilferer. They couldn't trust the words of this piano girl - but it, on the off-chance what she said was true, they couldn't ignore them either. They would adapt.

The chance she had intended on using to close the distance was gone now, thanks to her taking that moment to direct Saravati. She would have to take a different approach.

"Then tell me; what business does this amateur who doesn't even know the difference between Greece and Rome think she's doing pursuing that pilferer, hm?"

The venom in her voice stemmed entirely from her deep loyalty to Necessarius and the following hatred towards this outsider who had attacked it. Personal grudges had absolutely zero involvement.

It was all so stupid. Sara would not say those words out loud, but whatever spat was going on between Vita and the boss of the Dawn-Coloured Sunlight had long since passed the point of stupidity.

“Calm down and listen to her, Vita!” Sara shouted out. The lack of proper communication was starting to cause problems and the more she waited to try and bring the situation to some level of control, the further things would slip away.

And things had already gotten far too out of control with the debris demon that kept charging at the group (or Vita, in particular).

“If she was the culprit or if she wanted to cause harm, she wouldn’t be acting like this, so focus on the task at hand.”

She had long since come to this conclusion. She had hoped the others would too, but reality did not end up panning out that way.

With her response, at least what was necessary, done with, she could focus on trying to figure out what was really causing problems.

What meaning was there in distance? Sara couldn’t simply let that train of thought roll away, so she needed to experiment with it.

Rather than closing the distance to Birdway, she jumped from her vantage point to land on the other side of the wall of flames. Forgoing any caution, she landed on the side they were blinded from, near where the golem of debris had first landed. The situation would go nowhere if they let things go back and forth the way they had.

She needed to take some risks. Unintentionally set off a trigger, Find some idiosyncracy.

The young hawk needed to close in.

Just moments after they had gotten through the wall of fire Atsa's vision was consumed by giant flash of golden light before the pressure wave of the explosion would knock him off his feet and on to his back. Given the situation Atsa got back to his feet as quickly as possibly though by that point the piano girl had already jumped up and was standing on top of the support for one of the terminal's clocks. He debated whether or not to try to get up there and grab the girl but given the explosion that had so casually be released it was probably a bad idea. After all, even if he had some animal hide that would give him some advantage against their opponent he'd have to close the distance first and he didn't know of any creatures that could take a direct hit from the type of explosion he had just witnessed and keep moving.

At the very least the golem seemed to be gone for the moment and considering what had just happened it seemed the piano girl was definitely not on the same team as it was. Before he could share any of those thoughts though the piano and roman girl got into some kind of fight? Were they in a fight? All he had seen was the piano start casting a spell, the roman girl make some uwah sound before casting her own spell, an order get thrown at Saravati that she just seemed to ignore, and now they some Greek/Roman based insults were being thrown. With all that in mind Atsa would quickly begin grabbing some of the arrows that had scattered out of his quiver when the explosion had thrown him as he joined back into the conversation.

"Whatever we are going to do we should probably do it fast, agreed? You, piano girl, it seems there is something else going on here that we don't know about but even so it seems we followed you here from the now ruined library. Needless to say, I think you can understand that we have a lot of reason not to trust you. So how about as a show of good faith you take this fire wall down? Then we can all go looking for this apparent other culprit together? If the piano kid happens to be lying she'll be with us anyways so its not like she's escaping and it would still be the same three on one fight it was before."

With the end of that sentence Atsa would grab the last remaining arrow he was planning on looking for and would stand up straight again. Now looking at the very least two people, three if the piano girl put the firewall down. Atsa hoped that this compromise would work for everyone after all the Vita's plan had fallen apart the moment Saravati had chosen not to go looking for the other culprit and fighting to the death right here seemed like it'd go badly for them.

"Now I'm sure we are pressed for time so is everyone agreed? Shall we go?"

«Then tell me; what business does this amateur who doesn't even know the difference between Greece and Rome think she's doing pursuing that pilferer, hm?»

«[…] So how about as a show of good faith you take this fire wall down? Then we can all go looking for this apparent other culprit together? If the piano kid happens to be lying she'll be with us anyways so its not like she's escaping and it would still be the same three on one fight it was before.»

A heavy sigh was all Birdway could do in response to these two-thirds of the Magician group. Of course, she made sure to keep it audible and extra heavy.

While in the beginning she had approached this situation with the idea of running out of time, it had reached the point where it had been so annoying that she had seemingly forgotten about all that urgency.

«What other business than squashing the rat that has stolen from the Dawn Coloured Sunlight would I have in mind? Come on, that’s written all over the place. Or are you seriously trying to tell me that you have no clue who I am? Don’t they educate you lower thugs about anything in your mini scale cathedral? Hell, you don’t even have any clue who you are after, do you?»

The Roman’s venom was answered with scorn.

«In the first place: Why would I, Leivinia Birdway, risk stepping into the political minefield that is stealing from the Anglicans? To begin with, if I was ready to go through with something as risky as that, none of you would even be breathing anymore.»

However, even she understood the necessity for cooperation at this stage of events, so with nothing but a swipe of her wand the cheap trick that was the fire wall that had kept those three busy beyond their own capabilities was cleanly extinguished.

And yet, to drive home just how good willed she was while being as scornful of that group’s stupidity as she could imaginable be, she presented what she considered her final piece of evidence. Not wasting the opportunity to bite back at the amateur who had foolishly attempted to lecture her.

«Only a narrow-minded fool would rely on the Roman when striking a blow at one non-chalantly bragging about how they are showered in their blessings. Using the greek, however, easily would have allowed me to draw from the divide between the fake and original. Then what do you think would have happened? Begging for someone’s mercy by addressing them with the wrong name is  an insult of its own. Picture yourself the reverse of a blessing, will you? But did I go through with that? Clearly: No.»

Leivinia Birdway had no reason for fighting against those three anymore. They had not been her enemy and she wasn’t theirs. If at all they stood somewhere akin to the same side. A reality that made the leader of one of the world’s most dangerous Magic Cabals want to smash her head against a wall.

Still, there was no time for any of this. The true enemy was still en route. They had to catch up.

However, the living mass of metal, glass and plastic nearly everyone had forgotten about was still there. Even after having endured a clean hit by the full brunt of the summoned golden explosion it had taken no visible damage but remained perfectly intact. It may have been launched around by a few metres, but easily returned into a standing position atop its four limbs.

It had been standing there the entire time, staring at the four enemy parties as though eyeing its prey, switching the target of what may have been its eyes every now and then. But why hadn’t it moved?

The moment Saravati would be the one to come closest to it, its gaze shifted towards her nearly immediately.

But why?

The key word was distance.

«Metal, glass and plastic. Materials crafted by man moulded into a body. I assume that does ring a bell with you, Roman?»

Speaking in her usual cocky manner, the girl of white and black was relaxedly watching on as that monstrosity set into motion once more. This time charging and swinging one of its four limbs at the little sparrow trying to crack its secret. However, it wouldn’t stop just at a single strike and instead unleash a fury of them. Each bearing the speed and destructive force of a high velocity train.

To be completely honest, Atsa was far more confused then he was willing to admit to the people gathered here. He knew something had felt off when they had first met Birdway in the station but the new information coming out just left her with more questions. The most important question though was who they were after. They had followed a running shadow from this library to the station, found the piano girl, and then got in a fight with the girl while also being attacked by some golem like entity.

With that in mind it would make sense not to trust what Birdway was saying and yet there was plenty of evidence to support her claim. If she had stolen from the library she seemed to have had enough power to have obliterate them instead of trying to have a conversation. All it would've taken was one of those golden explosions and they would've been taken out. Instead she had simply separate herself from the party using a firewall. Then there was the fact that she was forced to redirect the golem with an explosion so she clearly wasn't in control of the creature.

As Birdway and Vita continued their discussion on Greek and Roman based magic Atsa would tap into the ley lines again. There were almost nine million people living in London but with the people clearing field set up in the station normal people would've begun avoiding this area a while ago. So that's what he'd be searching for, another person still within range of this station. Since they had stolen something from the library he'd look for people who were moving away at an accelerated pace. All he had to do now was hope that the culprit they were looking for was in contact with the ground, in range, and hadn't taken any precautionary measure against such tracking spells.

With his focus on the ley lines he wasn't entirely engaged with the conversation between Birdway and the rest of the group. That was until he caught sight of train creature again charging towards Sara. He didn't have any spells that could stop an attack from a train monster and he was slower than Sara so the only viable option he saw at the time was just to warn the girl while pointing at the incoming attack.

"Look out! It's back!"

Truly a fool. She spoke at length about 'making use of the divide between the fake and the original', but the hearth of great Rome was open to all. Be it the Greeks, the Phoenicians, the Etruscans, or any other, it mattered little. Fake or original mattered little. Such was interpretatio romana. Whatever it was, by granting it a suitable name, it would be recognized as such and re-identified. Disrespecting the god by beseeching him with the wrong name? Hardly. It was Zeus who had long since been consumed by Jupiter. It would be one thing if she used another foundation, but trying such a tact against a Roman magician was the height of folly.

But would she inform the poor girl of her mistake? No. She didn't deserve to be tutored so kindly.

"Like I said: amateur."

But since she was so kind, she would give her a lecture on another topic.

"If you want to be trusted, you have to put yourself in a position to be trusted, Ms. Birdway. Our historic enemy appears before us, whispering sweet words about how she's our ally? Laughable."

And she did indeed laugh. But with that said, despite her harsh words, she did see a logic to the situation. Up until now, her suspicion had been completely justified, but with Birdway's willing recession of the flame wall, things had changed. She had created that very position to be trusted that Vita had just mentioned.

And given that Vita was as far from an amateur as one could be, she had to follow through on her words, didn't she?

And so she pointed at Saravati and yelled.

"You! Idiot! If you trust her so much, you should've just left this to us and gone after the culprit! This might be a Hebrew golem, but given the man-made materials, it might also be modeled after the Greek Talos! If it's trying to guard something, all the more so! Look for a nail or something in its neck!"

Immediately after, she broke out in a dead sprint towards the way Birdway had been heading. According to Birdway's words, the culprit was currently fleeing and this mass of metal was meant to delay them. In that case, it was back to the original plan. It was a good plan, after all. No reason to scrap it.

But because a certain someone was slow on the uptake, the positions would be reversed~☆

"Atsa, with me! Catch up with us later, Saravati!"

At long last something like peace had been accomplished. Calling it something worth a celebration would be a crime, however. Even now Leivinia Birdway felt like bashing her head against one of these pillars she saw all around. But a true leader like her saw it was necessary to hold back such an insolent display and move forwards. While she did, she would suck up all frustrations, though. And there were quite many of those.

«Atsa, with me! Catch up with us later, Saravati!»

Fully aware of what was to come next, she simply remained an idle bystander, watching that comedic tragedy unfold.

As mentioned before the keyword had been distance.

All it took was just a single step and suddenly that high speed barrage of overpowered blows would stop chasing after the little sparrow that was Saravati and instead switch targets to the Roman and her comrade.

Yes, entirely mechanically that monstrosity of man-made materials had shifted its target, now weighing all effort into smashing the primary target. And while it struck like crazy monster none of its moves weren’t calculated at all. No, there was an underlying pattern to it all. The way it chose its posture. The way all of its attacks would force the enemy to back away. The way it shifted its target nearly immediately.

It was defending a specific location. It was keeping anyone from crossing a certain line.

With its massive body shielding the exit all of its high velocity strikes were executed in a manner that wouldn’t allow for anyone to pass through. Because anyone who would try, was destined to be squashed to a pulp by the full force of a train.

The path was blocked.


There was only one other person in the entirety of King’s Cross Station.

«Mhm♪ mhm♪ mhm♪ mhm♪ mhhh♫»

Her jolly humming as she walked down the escalator to the underground platform echoed softly throughout the halls.

«Mhm♪ mhm♪ mhm♪»

Clad in a gaudy victorian dress split by middle into a perfect balance of white and black with red highlights she’d stand out at any party. She was a refined lady through and through, but on top of that an eccentric as well. Her pale white face, deep red lips, blonde hair tied to a wavy long ponytail and purple eyes both made her a true eccentric and a sight to behold.

Her name was Stella Dellinger di Ariana.

«Mhm♪ mhm♪ mhm♪ mhmmmm♫»

That eccentric woman of white, black and red was in a very good mood.

After all, she had just managed to successfully intrude into and escape from the British Library, slipping away from both the Church of Necessary Evils and the Dawn Coloured Sunlight – an incredible feat to anyone involved in her kind of circles. And she had accomplished all this with great ease.

Yes. The very moment she had set foot onto the underground station’s platforms that woman had won.

As she arrived at the train tracks, she found a train was already waiting for her with its doors wide open. There were no passengers. No luggage. Nothing at all around. The train was devoid of anything, except for a driver. However, that wasn’t it. The true crux to the matter were the many graffiti spread throughout its interior, no normal person would interpret anything into. She, being a true eccentric, however, did. In her world none of these symbols were ordinary. They were complex yet at the same time simple.

A wild mishmash of folklore, mythology and their interpretations. All tied to a single concept entirely unexplored by man.

Interrupting her joyful humming, she’d lift her tongue and tuck a ticket she had bought just earlier underneath. Then she boarded the train.

When the doors closed shut and the engine kicked into work, the spell would activate.

She had borrowed a lot from ancient Greece but from there on had moulded countless more mythologies into it. Charon was only the beginning, but the end was the true concept behind the underworld, heaven, hell, paradise, Niflheim, Helheim, Orcus or whatever other name ancient cultures had given to it.

The intangible unknown.

As the train left the station, it was as though it had disappeared from the world itself.

The culprit had gotten away.