By the time they returned to their senses, Mory's company found themselves 
scattered across an ancient stone floor, the walls built up of the same uneven boulders and 
guarded from the cold by thick tapestries. A thickness lay over their minds, taking them 
all a moment to realize what had happened.
	"What... How did we end up here?" Nigel asked, rubbing an ear. "I say... Is 
Randy responsible for this?"
	"I don't think we're quite dealing with Randy anymore," Lilly sighed, drawing 
her knees to her chest.
	Nigel looked over at her, concern mounting. "What do you mean?"
	"Groomsha." The answer came not from the fenix, but Guyth, who already stood 
staring off through the arching doorway that led out into a manicured English garden. 
The weight of his voice drew the attention of the rest of the gathered. "They are a mostly 
forgotten race -- I barely know them myself, and what I know I've pieced together over 
the years. Twin-tailed creatures of insatiable appetite, there's evidence of them in almost 
every major mythology: they are represented differently as devils, spirits, death... but 
always hunters. From what I can tell -- they are demons who hunt down the escaped souls 
of the damned, and devour them."
	Lilly stood with her face down, hugging her own arms -- none of this was new 
information to her. She just damned herself for not noticing, not realizing long ago what 
Randy was. Mory's Friend looked absolutely abhored. "That's... But how...?"
	"How, we're not sure," Guyth responded, turning and looking around. "I think our 
main priority now is to find Mory and get out of here... Wherever here is."
	Mordred gave the area a disdainful sweep, snorting. "Looks like some of the sets 
Randy spent so much time on."
	Something within his statement made Lilly jump, and she looked around: a small 
troupe of actors wandered by, laughing and jesting amongst themselves. "Oh, dear gods," 
she muttered, skirting a few steps away to be able to look at the entire group. "We have to 
find Mory... We have to find her right now! There's no time to waste!"
	Guyth raised an eyebrow. "Of course, Lilly, but why the pan--" He cut himself off 
as she grasped his shoulders, shaking the befuddled butterfly slightly. She looked the 
image of terror.
	"Guyth, think about it! Don't you see? Randy used that spell... He brought us 
here! Inside his computer!"
	Flick looked around. "...But, it doesn't seem so bad..."
	Lilly gave a frustrated sigh. "THINK, you guys! Ophelia... Randy named his 
computer Ophelia because his favorite play was Hamlet! If he takes this as far as he could, 
then Mory could--" She stopped, choking slightly on her own forthcoming tears. 
	Flick seemed confused still, though quieted by her outburst. "Ah... What happens 
to Ophelia in Hamlet? I never did, like, actually read the thing..."
	Lilly's voice was barely a whisper as she looked down, trying to gather herself. 
"...She goes insane when Hamlet denies her love, just like Randy did to Mory just then. 
Ophelia drowns herself."
 
#

	Nothing came to Mory's mind save escape. Escape and finding Randy and 
figuring out what on earth he had meant. He couldn't have... He couldn't have meant 
what he said... It was just impossible. But it was getting harder and harder to make sense 
anymore. The stones were uneven, and the thin leather of her soles made it difficult to 
keep her balance as she ran -- even when she burst forth from the castle, freed herself into 
the grassy pathway, the edges of her sight were never in focus, blurred by tears and 
desperation. The voice did not help as well. 
	She could hear Randy's voice echoing through the hallways, between the tree 
branches, leading her solidly on, unmistakably past the castle and through the worn 
wagon trails -- she knew it was a play. He'd done that for her, sometimes, when 
exhaustion overcame her but she was unwilling to sleep, he'd let her rest her head on his 
shoulder and give monologues from the productions he was in, and she would fall asleep 
to his soothing, calmed voice... But there was something different this time. Something 
driving... Goal-oriented. She had to find him. She would go insane if she didn't.
	The calm luring brought her out amongst the flower fields, and she paused to 
catch her breath -- her lifestyle didn't exactly involve a lot of long-distance running. 
Randy's voice waited for her there, patient and drifting between the scents of rustled 
wildflowers. Mory gave a shuddering sigh and looked up, striken by how beautiful the 
rolling hills of purple and green and gold were, lulling into a calm wave right before the 
stone bridge and the river at the base of the valley. 
	The river, she thought, taking a slowed step forward. That's it. She walked calmly 
now, and Randy wove his spell tighter around her, drawing her towards the bridge where 
he waited.

#

	Lilly thought that the group should head straight out to find Mory and rescue her -
- Mordred argued that it would be most effective to find the Randy masquerading as 
Hamlet and stop the problem at the source.
	"Once we stop Randy, this whole thing'll fade away and it won't matter where 
Mory is, she'll be safe!" Mordred called, circling the stone room trying to guess where 
the mad prince might be. Guyth shook his head.
	"A good thought, but not our option. We have no idea what point of the play we 
are in, and there was a part in which Hamlet is sailing out of Denmark. We have no way 
of knowing what would lie beyond those grounds outside our view."
	"Then where should we begin?" Mory's Friend asked, working her hat in her 
hands with increasing concern. "Would it be too dangerous to split up, some check the 
field and some the castle?"
	Lilly scanned around the castle. "It might. We have no idea how the other 'actors' 
are going to treat us, and if they're part of Randy's creation they can't be trusted. But, 
then again, as Guyth said we might not have a choice -- she might not be to the river yet. 
We... Might be too late."
	Nigel looked to Lilly, then nodded, addressing the group. "I think that should 
decide it, wot. We can all jolly well look after ourselves, but Mory can't look out for 
herself at this point. So I say we split up and keep on finding her. But whatever we decide, 
we decide right now... We're losing valuable time."
	The group more or less agreed: Lilly, Guyth, Mory's Friend and Berty-chan 
agreed to check the field, while Flick, Nigel, and Mordred would search the castle, and 
deal with Randy as well if they found him. 
	They were nearly past the forest's reach and to the field of flowers when Berty-
chan suddenly made a choked, airless sound and fell to her knees. They skidded to a halt 
and turned to help their fallen companion.
	"Berty-chan!" Mory's Friend cried, kneeling beside her and trying to help her up. 
"What happened?" Instead of being met with a verbal response, the fallen girl's hand slid 
up to Mory's Friend's throat, grasping with a strength foreign to them both. As Berty-
chan stood, Mory's Friend still in her grasp and held up off the ground struggling for 
freedom, a deep, resonating tone came from Berty-chan.
	"Tsk, tsk, my dears..." She looked up, her eyes devoid of any pupils and filled 
with glowing red. She smiled widely, too widely to be normal. "You should keep mind to 
where you leave your bodies."

#

	The wires within Mory's room stirred slightly as the spill of hallway light spread 
across them and the heaped bodies of their connected. They assembled within seconds, 
ready to drag the next intruder down before they interfered with the connected, but with 
the wave of a clawed hand, the wires fell short of their target, lifeless. 
	Lilla stood in the doorway, smiling too widely to be normal. "Well, well, well... 
What do we have here..."
	She could smell it. She could smell their collective will to do good, their noble, 
beating hearts -- it was a wretched smell she had come to love. Too long she had been 
depraved of her nature, and now at last was her time to shine. She tilted her head from 
side to side, a bone-cracking pop accompanying each movement as she dropped her 
crutches. Her shattered legs supported her for only an instant before her spiney wings 
stretched out, six of them lining her spine and growing out to such a distance and strength 
that she could plant them into the ground and support her body with them. The others 
lengthened though not as much, snapping and stretching out like a new set of limbs. Her 
claws were already longer, her pupils shrinking down to give her an air of joyful madness 
as she approached the unconscious bodies. She spotted Berty-chan and smiled. 
	"Oh, little one, I even warned you of what was to come, and yet here you are... 
Well..." She kneeled down as her spines set her closer to Berty-chan, a long claw leaving 
a blood trail as it carved cryptic patterns over Berty's cheek. "Let's see how well your 
strength serves me, instead of your friends..."
	The violence that unfolded within the computer was not beyond her sight -- she 
stared into the empty monitor, smiling in satisfaction as Mory's Friend stopped struggling 
so fiercely, and Lilly and Guyth attempted to restrain her puppet. It was amusing until she 
began to twist Berty-chan's movements towards a more deadly attack... Then a sheering, 
familiar pain ripped through her hand holding her victim. Berty-chan's form fell as a 
golden plumed arrow stuck from Lilla's hand. She turned her eyes to a familiar figure in 
the doorway, holding a similarly crafted spear. She smiled widely.
	"I was wondering when you would get here," she muttered, drawing herself up on 
her spines again.
	Suka looked at her without interest, the tribal markings glowing along his back in 
the form of wings. "Even you know as well as I that we must be balanced, Lilla. Of 
course I came."
	Lilla half-chuckled, half hissed. "And now you come to finish what you started on 
my legs all those years ago?"
	Suka shifted his weapon, stepping forward with all the weight of justice in his 
steps. "I didn't want to, Lilla, but I had to and I had the right. You should know so 
much."
	"Hm, I do. But I would not have showed such mercy in your spot. I suppose it's 
just time for another dance?"
	Suka bowed his head slightly. "You lead, milady."
	Claws and spear clashed, ringing through even to the ears of the connected who 
lie still around them.

#

	Berty-chan suddenly fell limp in Guyth's arms, unconscious as the butterfly 
struggled to keep from dropping the girl. Lilly made sure that Mory's Friend was all right 
for the most part, then came over and checked Berty-chan's vitals as well. 
	"She's alive, just out," Lilly finally stated, sighing. "I don't know what on earth 
drove her to act like this though..."
	Guyth looked up with concern. "She said something about watching where we left 
our bodies... I fear we might have trouble back in the mortal realm. We must get 
moving."
	It only took a few moments to wake Berty-chan, a few more to inform her of what 
happened and accept the confused, profuse apologies... They made it to the stone bridge 
just in time to see Mory fall from its lip into the frigid waters.
	"MORY!" Her friend called out, running to her rescue. Randy was blocking her 
path before she even realized he was in the area.
	At least, she knew it was Randy. He hardly looked like the same unassuming 
actor they had known before. His black form twisted in some unseen wind, the dual set of 
eyes glowing maliciously as the scythe in his hand, the runes still illuminated. He smiled, 
and is teeth almost cracked his face.
	"She is mine," his resonating voice said, "As she always has been." He started to 
raise his scythe, and to the group the world of flowers and stream faded away -- Mory lay 
on the ground away from them, still and her breathing beginning to shallow. Her friends 
struggled, fought against Randy with all their might to reach her before her breathing 
would stop -- Randy did his best, but Lilly and Guyth were armed with knowledge, 
charms and wards that fought back his dark impulses. Mory's Friend grew more frantic in 
her attacks as she heard Mory's breath struggle, shudder to a whisper... She could hear it 
echo in her ears, even now...

#

	The waves were somehow warmer than Mory had expected them -- when her ears 
dipped below the surface, she could hear Randy's voice murmering there amongst the 
rushes. There were still flowers clinging to her hair and skirt, filling the air with a 
perfumed sense. She allowed a quiet smile, closing her eyes and following the water's 
invites to draw her down.
	But something was wrong. There was some... Strange tinge of darkness, like a 
raincloud overcasting the sun. Mory's face contorted with worry as she suddenly 
remembered... Where was Randy? Why didn't he come out? And where were her friends? 
She felt suddenly cold... Suddenly as if it had been the last time she would see any of 
them. Tears began to mingle with the water surrounding her cheeks. She couldn't leave... 
But for some reason, she couldn't move. She tried to cry for help, but no breath left her 
lungs properly, her ears picking up all too well the hidden whispers of the water. When 
the waves lapped back, she could suddenly hear shouting, combat... Randy. She could 
hear him, beyond the insatiable verse... Perhaps, if he could not hear her voice, he could 
respond the same way she had called him. She tried to cry it with all her heart, but it 
came out barely a whisper.
	"If I profane with my unworthiest hand
	  This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
	My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
	  To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss..."
	
	Randy stopped. He paused his assult upon the others, turning with wide eyes. 
When his voice did not respond, Mory continued.
	"Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
	  Which mannerly devotion shows in this:
	For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
	  And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss."

	The words struck deeply in his mind, and the scythe dropped, the hold over him 
wavering. In an unsteady, still hauntingly resonating voice, Randy spoke in turn.
	"Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?"

	Mory smiled, comfort soothing through her.
	"Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer."
	
	Mordred, Flick and Nigel joined the group, skidding to a stop as Randy stood 
there over Mory upon the ground. The blackness surrounding him began to shrivel away, 
shrinking and flaking off like a light shell of fabric exposed to fire.
	"What the hell is it?" Mordred muttered, his sword in hand as he looked between 
the group there and the two standing off to the side.
	Guyth gave a quiet sigh. "The Palmer's Sonnet... Romeo and Juliet's first words 
to one another."

	Mory looked up, the distant gaze diminishing from her eyes as the gown and 
waters faded away. Her body ached with near-death, but it did not matter -- she reached 
up for Randy's hand. He stood there, his eyes hidden, as if ashamed to come any nearer. 
His voice was shakey at best.
	"O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do...
	  They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair..."

	Her fingertips brushed his, and he sighed heavily, falling to his knees beside Mory. 
She continued softly, her hand tightening over his. 
	"Saints do not move, though grant for prayer's sake."
	
	Randy took a deep sigh, shuddering.
	"Then move not while my prayer's effect I take.
	  Thus grom my lips, by thine my sin is purged."

	He gently took her hand, kissing it softly, his voice shaking. "...What have I 
done..."
	Mory gave a weakened smile, reaching up and hugging his neck loosely. "Shh, 
Randy... It's okay. You came back. It's all right." Randy shuddered again but didn't 
respond, hugging to Mory tightly.
	The roar of Ophanim was what brought them back to their present situation. He 
was still possessed, and the last stronghold of the hacker's virus now.
	
#

	Lilla's claws were slightly stronger than Suka had remembered -- it took him a 
moment as he wiped the blood from his chin to remember that they had probably grown 
off her festering resentment of their last encounter. Demons had a way of growing 
stronger off such things.
	"Why do we keep doing this, Suka my dear?" Lilla asked, her eyes far from as 
calm as her voice. "We get along so well on an average basis, but the first tilt one way or 
the other in the tide, and we meet here on this field... I am afraid I can't let you walk 
away from it this time."
	As she drew closer, Suka tried to sit up, and a painful reminder shot through his 
elbow to his hand that hung at an awkward angle. She'd done more damage than he 
thought.
	He gave a heavy sigh as he sat up, his polearm limp in his hands... Until she came 
within range and snapped the weapon out, the blade flamed white as it cut through the 
supporting tendrils from her back. She let out a surprised cry as she plummeted to the 
ground, lying there still for a moment as Suka regained his standing slowly. He rose his 
weapon again, his eyes solemn.
	"No, my friend... I am afraid I am the one who cannot let you walk away from 
this." Lilla did not look up as his arms fell.

#

	Mory's friends gathered to her almost instantly, Lilly the one who began to 
attempt drawing her from Randy's side -- she stuck by him though, looking at them all 
with the same stern demeanor of when they first entered the system.
	"We can't fight him here... Ophanim draws his strength from Randy's computer, 
and within his mainframe we'll be useless." She looked to Randy a moment, then spoke 
quietly. "I will take down the firewall. Bring Ophanim to INE. Once there, we'll be able 
to defeat him easily."
	Randy furrowed his brow. "Mory, if we do that, then INE could--" he stopped 
when Mory raised her hand, smiling softly.
	"I know, Randy. But we have no choice." She looked to her friends again, then to 
Randy. "There are more important things." 
	The group stood silent, grouped tightly around the two as Mory withdrew a small 
device, entering several codes into it. Ophanim loomed closer, rearing to strike when 
suddenly the whole lot of them went up in flames. When the painless pire died away, they 
were within Mory's computer once more. Ophanim stopped a moment, whirling at his 
new-changed environment.
	"What do we do now?" Mordred asked, the sword already in hand. 
	Mory paused. "I, don't actually know... If we don't act soon, then Ophanim's 
virus will begin to corrupt INE, and then there will be no end to it." 
	"Well," Mory's Friend chimed in, smiling and raising a mace that had appeared 
from apparently nowhere. "Let's get to it then!"
	Ophanim's distraction allowed the group to get in several hits, but then he 
bellowed and began to retalliate, his claws swift and fierce... Until a strange black dot 
impaired the movement of his left paw. He tried to shake it off, like a bothering mosquito, 
but they began to pool, more and more climbing on and encasing him like a great 
billowing blanket.
	"Mory, what the hells are those things?!" Berty-chan demanded. 
	Mordred stopped, flabbergasted as the impairment grew. "...Hot damn. They're 
those little hooded weirdos."
	The Mory Cultists were like a black plague upon Ophanim -- soon, so many of 
them crowded that he had difficulty moving. "We must protect the Mory..." They quietly 
uttered, their hoods melting out over the dragon's scales. "Even at the cost of the 
System..."
	As Ophanim slowed, he began to break apart and meld into different parts as he 
had when he had first taken Randy -- parts of INE fell to his touch, drawing in his power. 
Randy paused, breathing hard as he lowered the scythe he carried. "Mory... I don't know 
what else we can do... They're slowing him, but he'll devour INE..."
	Mory did not even look away from the beast as she pulled her sunglasses from her 
pocket, placing them on her face. Somehow, her voice was even. "INE was lost the 
moment we opened the firewall to Ophanim, Randy. I know what we must do." 
	He looked to her, befuddled. But when the silence said nothing, he knew what she 
expected as she held out her hand -- he shifted the scythe into her palm. She shifted the 
blade to point near her own abdomen and pushed in. 
	The silence was shattering as the crash of the system.

#

	They woke to their bodies within Mory's room, shaking off the now-limp wires in 
the dull glow of the auxilary lights. They were groggy and disoriented, but alive. 
	"Mory..." Mory's Friend muttered, snapping to her senses as she remembered 
what she saw before it all blacked out. "Mory!!" 
	"Duns yell scho much," a familiar voice muttered, weak but present. Mory sat 
with her back against the primary tower of INE, blood trickling from her wound. 
"M'finesch. I juscht need some help." 
	They rushed to her side, Lilly the first one there pulling things from her backpack 
-- a bottle of cleanser, cloths, bandages. "Dear Gods, Mory, what the hell was that stunt 
all about?! You could have killed yourself!"
	Mory shook her head, wincing as she gently pushed Lilly back for a moment, her 
fingers prodding the wound until she produced a small orb no bigger than her thumbnail, 
the tip of Randy's scythe imbedded into it. "I didn't hit anysthing vital to mesch... If 
Ophanim wouldsh have continued, he wouldsh have deschtroyed INE and all her 
connectscionsh. But, if I deschtroyed da Core of INE, da connectscionsh would be 
shafe..." She fell quiet, her voice not quite as strong as she held the heart of her system in 
her hand. Randy gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she rest her head on 
his shoulder as Lillyflower quieted and mended closed the wound.
	"And what of you, Randy?" Guyth asked, watching as the group gathered 
themselves. "What business does a Groomsha have in our realm?"
	At the mention of the word, Randy winced, ducking his head slightly and 
glowering in return from under his hat. "I am no Groomsha... One who calls himself so 
versed in lore should know that instantly." He held up his free hand so the palm was 
exposed to the group. "Does it look like I carry the mark?" 
	Guyth's eyebrows raised, then narrowed in thought. "...You do not bear the mark 
of the Hunt. Then why the demon form... Why everything else?"
	Randy sighed in return, looking to Mory -- she looked up at him, her features still 
hidden by her glasses. "I should have told you... Should have told you all, a long time 
ago. I was born of Groomsha stock, but I refused my first Hunt. I was cast from my home 
to this world, until I come to my senses, as the elders said -- until then, I am a wayside 
observer, a Loomsha, watching but not participating."
	The group fell silent, Lillyflower finishing up with Mory's wound. Mory's face 
indicated a blink as she looked up, her voice soft. "I knew whatsch you are, Randy... I 
could schmell it. But I knewsh you would nevah hurt mesh intentscionally."
	Randy smiled weakly, hugging her shoulders again as they all began to nurse 
what wounds they accumulated.

#

	"Night comes earlier and earlier of late," Suka pondered as he walked along the 
deserted street, his markings all but gone and his wings fading.
	"Hm," Lilla responded, her claws light around his neck as she clung to him. "The 
coming of winter. Part of the cycle and all that."
	"Very true," he responded, leaning his head a little to watch his step down a few 
stairs. He carried Lilla carefully, double-checking to see there was no trail behind them. 
No need for the authorities to get involved in battles of such magnitude. "...Again, I am 
sorry my friend."
	Lilla shugged slightly, making no attempt to shift the carefully bandaged mess 
that were her legs. "No need to be sorry, though I know that won't stop you. We help 
balance things, that's how it goes... Light won this time, and it's not like I'm unusued to 
being unable to walk. Just a bit more unlikely now that I ever will again."
	Suka gave a small smile. "Guilting won't help your case. Besides, you've left me 
with quite a few holes in previous fights when your side won."
	She chuckled, half-hugging the giant and resting her head on his shoulder. "Hmm, 
possibly, but it seems you've healed rather well."
	"...Some wounds don't heal." The tone and forced stiffness of his voice made 
Lilla pause, but she kept her head upon his shoulder, watching the scenery disappear 
behind them. Suka kept his eyes forward, trying to keep his mind in a similar direction. 
They saw no one else on their trek home. 

#

	The days flowed by, and life returned to the relevant level of normality that could 
be afforded. The only exception was Mory's sudden quietness -- it wasn't hard to guess 
that any work on INE would take weeks to repair, if it could be repaired at all. In sum 
total, she spent about ten minutes shifting the wires around inside the tower, and the rest 
of her time pushing back wires into place, cleaning the machine, trailing her fingers idly 
over the case and staring off into regions unknown. Randy's computer seemed to have 
disappeared off the face of the planet, only a charred black spot where the tower had once 
sat. He didn't seem to overly mind, more concerned with Mory's condition. 
	One night, Mory's Friend was awoken from her sleep by a timid knock. At her 
voice, Mory stepped in, her glasses missing.
	"Mory?" her friend asked, shifting to sit up. "Is something wrong?"
	Mory shook her head, looking up at her friend and hugging herself weakly. "My 
friendsch... I, I don't tink I can do dish anymore. It almoscht cosht me everything, having 
INE up like dat..."
	Mory's Friend stepped over, gently setting her hand on Mory's shoulder. "Mory, 
my friend, you've always been a bit remissive... INE has always been your best friend. 
But you did what you had to, and you saved us all, as well as yourself and in a way, INE 
herself. I think INE would forgive you, if she had a conscious to do so -- you did what 
was right. I heard on the news that some guy's house downtown exploded into flames -- 
he confessed to the police that he'd been hacking into systems and destroying vital 
information, not just to people but to hospitals and services... You stopped him, I know it. 
We all know it... And we're all here for you."
	Mory bowed her head slightly, nodding. "Thank yoush, mah friend... Can, I asck 
a favor, though?"
	Her friend smiled. "Sure, anything."
	Mory clutched her arms a bit more tightly.  "Can, I schleep in heyah tonight? I 
can'tsh... I can'tsh schleep in da same room as INE tonight..."
	Her friend's smile dimmed, but the sincerity stayed. "Sure thing, Mory. Make 
yourself comfortable."
	Mory settled herself with some spare pillows and blankets in a chair, used to 
fallign asleep at INE's screen -- but once her friend had nodded off again, Mory stood up, 
going to the window and carefully pulling back the curtain. Outside it was raining, the 
clouds dark and enveloping the entire sky. She knew in a few hours the clouds in the 
distance would lighten for the dawn, but she remembered hearing something on the news 
about how the clouds would stay and rain would continue through the morning. Rain in 
place of dawn. But dawn would still come.
	She looked down at her closed fist, carefully opening it to look at the small, 
stained sphere in her palm. She closed her eyes, holding the core next to her. 
	Mory would rebuild... She just wasn't quite sure how.