Vakaal was still standing by the massive window as Kierianne and the guards returned with their prisoner held between them. The Dalsrayon lord smiled as she turned around to face her visitor.

   "I trust your journey here was a pleasant one." It was more of a statement than a question. Mani shook his head.

   "About as pleasant as having my butt gnawed by a jackal," he admit. "Now, had you built this little stronghold in a valley instead..." Lady Vakaal smiled as she slowly approached, motioning for the guards to release his arms, who immediately left the chamber upon doing so. She stopped a few feet away, glancing down at the cut in his uniform.

   "Did you hurt yourself climbing?," she wondered, shaking her head. Mani was slightly disturbed by the fact he couldn't tell if the question was sincere, or if she was mocking him. He shook his head.

   "Your daughter really has no sense of humor."

   Vakaal chuckled slightly to herself. "I think she likes you."

   "She's got a funny way of showing it. Last time someone supposedly liked me and then tried to hurt me was back in second grade."

   Vakaal turned towards the chamber's entrance and began to walk. After a couple of steps, she motioned for him to follow. "Come, let's take a walk." Not having much of a choice, he decided his best bet would be to oblige her.

   The two walked out of the chamber, past the guards and through another massive chamber, a dining room of sorts. Taking care to keep his pace with Lady Vakaal, Mani began to look about the chamber. Like the entire stronghold, it was a sight to behold. The gothic structure made it seem immense, even larger than the room really was. Large pillars carved of dark marble were placed about the chamber, each doing its own part in supporting the ceiling high above. There was a table, a table of the same material of the pillars in the center of the room, with two elaborately decorated chairs at either end. This place was no doubt for dinners of a more intimate nature- there was no way each of the Dalsrayon he had seen about the stronghold could fit around it. There was no light within, save from the moonbeams, shining dimly through the massive window at the opposite wall, another window with an awe-inspiring view of the sea. In the distance, Mani could see the mainland of Hamir Tobei, the desert nation giving off an almost earthy glow. Above the fireplace near the table were three portraits, each undeniably painted by a master. In the center, and the most elaborate of the three, was a portrait of Lady Vakaal, a calm and defiant look in her eyes. She was wearing an elaborate black dress, cut very low in the front, yet modest enough for the portrait not to be deemed vulgar. Her fiery red hair stood out the most, enhancing her beautiful and fair-skinned face.

   Beneath it and to the left was another portrait, this one of a young girl in a red dress and with long, black hair, sitting on the ground with her hands clasp before her on her lap. She neither smiled nor frowned- her feelings were completely hidden behind the mask of her expression. Mani took another look and recognized the figure- Kierianne. Without the armor and spear, he almost hadn't been able to tell it was her. The final portrait was of a man, a man whom Mani could not recognize. He was slender, yet there was undeniable power behind the portrait's gaze. His neatly-kept black hair stopped abruptly at his shoulders and his clothing showed that he was indeed a wealthy man. There was a look of confidence in his eyes, and Mani could also see a smile on his face.

   The two kept walking, passing through the chamber and into a corridor at its side. Mani continued to follow closely behind, taking a moment to size up Vakaal should something happen. She was a very tall woman, easily six feet, which caused her to cast a long shadow down the hall. She wore a tight fitting outfit, the pants fitting like ebony flesh, her shirt cut to show most, if not all, of her cleavage. A long, black cloak hung from her shoulders, stopping just shy of dragging the ground behind her, the bottom forming two distinct trails, almost as if she had wings.

   "So tell me," Vakaal began, her voice having a slight echo in the corridor, breaking Mani's thoughts. "Is this death-defying journey of yours... personal?"

   "Hardly." Mani shook his head. "I was the only Traveler stupid enough to try a rescue."

   Vakaal let out a little laugh as she continued her walk down the hallway. "Rescue...," she repeated. "In order for someone to be rescued, they have to be in a situation they don't want to be a part of..."

   Mani slowly turned towards the Dalsrayon lord. "What do you mean?"

   Vakaal stopped walking and smiled at him, her fangs as sharp as daggers. "You'll see." She then continued walking. After a moment, Mani began to follow again. Straining his ears, he could begin to hear a sound coming from the end of the hallway.

   Music.

   As they approached, the music got louder and louder, and soon the two were standing at a balcony, high above another massive chamber. Vakaal swept back her hand, indicating that Mani should look.

   It seemed to be a festival of sorts, the music coming from several of the Dalsrayon playing a lively ditty with various instruments. Many of the young ladies danced around merrily with one another, no one seeming to notice Mani and Vakaal on the balcony high above the chamber. There was a table in the center full of various foods, the delectable aroma gently floating up to the two spectators. Lady Vakaal then pointed towards the far end of the chamber, where Mani's gaze fell next. Sitting at what appeared to be a throne was who he had come to rescue. There, sat Laura, laughing and mingling with the others as if she was one of them. She was speaking to several of the girls camped around her, a chalice of wine in her hand.

   "That's gonna do wonders to her already swollen ego," Mani mumbled to himself. Vakaal sat and watched for a while before turning towards him again, a smile on her face.

   "Just a little celebration for your friend joining our noble ranks," she remarked, sweeping her hand towards the gathering once again. "Look at her, my young friend. Doesn't she look happy? Does she look like someone that wants to be 'rescued', as you put it?" Mani stared at the gathering for what seemed like an eternity, his gaze focused on Laura. And unfortunately, deep down inside, he knew that Vakaal was right.

   "What have I gotten myself into...?"

   He left the thought hanging as he heard Lady Vakaal turn around, the clacking of her heeled boots on the floor an indication that she was leaving. She didn't stop or even look over her shoulder as she said the following;

   "One of the guards will show you to your room momentarily."

   Mani immediately snapped out of his trance and turned towards the leaving figure of Vakaal. "My room?," he repeated.

   Vakaal suddenly stopped, slowly casting a glance over her shoulder. "Laura needs to be initiated into our ranks the right way," she responded. "That means she needs to take her first victim at the ceremony tomorrow night. We would be honored if you would be that chosen one." Her voice was cold as ice, and there was no honor behind her words. She turned back around and continued down the corridor, leaving Mani alone to contemplate his situation.

   "Looks like I don't have much of a choice," he silently remarked to himself.

   Nightfall, the following evening.

   Mani had been brought into the gathering in shackles, his arms bound by a thin chain and led by several of the Dalsrayon guards. No one said a word as he was brought into the massive chamber he had seen on the previous evening. Each of the women in the stronghold sat upon their knees in dark robes, chanting in a low and ominous tone. At the opposite end of the chamber stood Lady Vakaal, wearing a more elaborate robe, and with Laura at her side. There were several torches illuminating the chamber, each doing its own part in casting a series of wavering shadows about, sending eerie reflections from the massive chandelier above the gathering.

   As his chain was being bound to a spike in the floor, Mani stood and took a moment to glance at Laura, standing at Vakaal's side. Her face contained no expression, almost no life. In the entire time he had watched her, he had not seen her blink once. A trance, he realized. Perhaps there was a chance.

   His concentration was broken as he detected movement- Laura and Vakaal were approaching from the distance. A quick tug at the chain told him that he would be better off trying to find escape by other means. Perhaps he could have picked the lock with the small rod hidden up his sleeve, but there was no visible key hole on the manacles around his wrists. The situation was not in his favor.

   Mani suddenly paused in thought. Above the chanting in the chamber, he could hear something... something light, something almost melodic... almost like... crystals, gently striking each other, like a wind chime that had just been disturbed by a gentle, summer breeze... he slowly glanced up towards the chandelier...

   As she approached, Vakaal smiled. These ceremonies always put her in good spirits- there was something about another joining their ranks that has always given her a feeling of satisfaction deep inside of her being. The sight of her new daughters taking their first victim would always excite her, the anticipation, the crimson blood flowing freely... just the thought of it made her body rise in temperature several degrees. There were times where she remembered feeling downright anxious after seeing the act. Vakaal smiled to herself, absently hoping that Naidisbo would return later that evening to help remedy these lustful desires of hers. Just the thought of it all made her shudder slightly with desire. She blinked hard, returning her thoughts to the activities at hand. In the distance she could see Mani standing, a strangely calmed look on his face. It was odd enough, but Vakaal was really confused when she saw him smile, then bury his face in his arms as best he could. Vakaal slowly looked about the chamber, trying to discern if anything was out of the ordinary. As her gaze fell upon the chandelier, she suddenly hissed, immediately stopping her advance, concentrating in order to form a barrier over Laura and herself.

   It was fortunate that she did, because an instant later, the chandelier came crashing down onto the floor, sending shards of crystal flying about the chamber like pieces of shrapnel.

   The gathering rose into an uproar as the chanting ceased and the Dalsrayon began to stand up all over the chamber. Mani immediately began tugging away at the chain hoping that maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to pull free. Vakaal, in the meantime, had stood back to her feet and could see his frantic attempts at escape. She immediately motioned to two of the guards to restrain him in case he actually succeeded.

   Mani looked up to see two of the spear carrying guards running towards him at full speed. And as if on cue, a trident went flying from the air, sticking deeply into the ground between Mani and the guards. Needless to say, the guards immediately ceased their advance. Mani looked up to where the trident had come, and was greeted by the sight of a large winged humanoid creature leaping down from the ceiling at him. The creature landed before him, and with a sweep of its claws, slashed the chain in two. It then grabbed him and took flight, landing upon on of the larger balconies surrounding the chamber. Mani quickly looked down at the gathering of highly annoyed and angered Dalsrayon beneath them, eventually catching sight of Laura's unconscious form lying on the ground. He smiled inwardly as he recalled reading once that situations of extreme stress could cause individuals to fall out of trances and return to their normal, former selves. Of course, her rescue would have to wait- several of the Dalsrayon had pulled out weapons and were quickly advancing up the stairs towards the balcony where he and the winged creature had landed.

   He quickly darted over to the door and slammed it shut, pushing a large, oaken table in front of it for good measure. He then turned around to see the winged creature slowly begin to transform, slowly morphing into the familiar form of Naomi.

   "Don't you dare give me some lecture about how you told me to stay back at the inn," she teased. Naomi then reached over to a long bundle on the ground at her side, tossing it to Mani. Mani reached up and caught it, quickly unwrapping it and smiling as he realized that she had recovered his weapons. Grabbing a katana in each of his hands, he went back to his task of keeping the door from caving in from the horde of Dalsrayon trying to knock it down.

   "Think you could grab Laura?," he shouted over the commotion.

   "Think you can hold them back?," Naomi wondered.

   Mani nodded. "Just don't take your time or anything!"

   Naomi quickly nodded and turned around, facing the gathering below. There were still several Dalsrayon below, including Lady Vakaal. She began to concentrate once again. A distraction was what they needed.

   Flames slowly began to circle about her slender form as she began to transform once again. Wings slowly began to form where her arms were as she felt fiery feathers began to cover her body. At the gathering below, one of the Dalsrayon pointed up to the balcony, fear etched into her delicate face as she managed to stammer her words.

   "... PH... PHOENIX!!"

   Naomi immediately streaked around the outside of the entire chamber, trails of flame stretched out behind her avian form. And just as she had anticipated, several of those flames leapt onto a number of the massive tapestries surrounding the hall while others landed upon the crimson and gold-trimmed carpet. Several of the Dalsrayon scattered in order to put out the spreading flames, but it soon became apparent that there were too many of them. Soon, the inferno began to slowly spread throughout the chamber.

   And in the midst of the ensuing chaos, Naomi quickly swept down and picked up Laura's unconscious form, bringing her up to one of the other balconies, the same balcony Mani and Vakaal had stood on the previous evening.

   As she morphed back to normal and looked down the corridor, she realized that perhaps this would be their only chance of escape. She quickly turned towards the balcony from which Mani stood. "Let's GO!," she shouted. "I've got her!" Mani quickly spun around and nodded. The door looked like it would have given way at any second, so getting away from it as soon as possible became his top priority. He turned to the edge and began to prepare to make a leap for his life, but as soon as he was at the edge, Lady Vakaal suddenly leapt up from the chamber's floor and landed before him, her eyes glowing red with rage.

   "Nice vertical," Mani complemented.

   Vakaal said nothing for several seconds- she just stared at him with a look of intense hatred on her face, breathing as if she had just run a marathon. She just pointed towards him and hissed, slashing at him with her nails. Mani narrowly dodged, pointing both of the katanas at her.

   "That's it...," he growled. "All right demon-broad, let's dance!" Mani quickly darted towards her, slashing at her with both of his blades. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach as he struck a protective barrier around Vakaal, who wasn't even phased by the attack.

   "I had no idea...," she snarled. "...that you were this anxious to die!" Mani quickly glanced down and realized that her hand was glowing bright purple with energy, barely having enough time to dodge as she lobbed a glowing orb at him. Instead of striking him as expected, it blasted a nearby wall, sending up a thick cloud of dust and several rocks. Vakaal shielded her face from the blast with one of the sleeves of her robe. When she pulled it away, she was surprised to see Mani running at her full speed...

   ...she was even more surprised when he tackled her, sending the duo over the edge of the balcony.

   Mani quickly pushed off of Vakaal before she landed on and destroyed a massive oak table on the ground. He immediately rolled away from the wreckage, and suddenly paused as he realized there were about twenty Dalsrayon standing around him, looking very upset and angered at what happened to their mother, who was lying unconscious in a broken pile of oak. Not wanting to wait around and explain, Mani quickly darted past the group and began to scale the pillar beneath the balcony in which Naomi was waiting. The horde took off after him in full pursuit as he began to climb faster than he'd ever climbed in recent memory. Naomi quickly reached down and helped him up, kicking a Dalsrayon that followed in the face.

   "The next time you decide to be heroic, you're on your own," Naomi informed him as they ran down the corridor away from the inferno, Laura's unconscious form slung over Mani's shoulder.

   "So where are we going?," Mani wondered.

   "Basement."

   Back at the chamber, chaos had taken over as most of the gathering had taken to the task of putting out the flames. Vakaal slowly began to stir about in the wreckage of the table she had destroyed as Kierianne approached. She had taken the ceremonial robe off long ago and stood in full armor, spear at her side.

   "Mother, are you all right?," she asked, reaching out towards Vakaal's hands. Kierianne was taken back slightly as her mother responded by slapping her hand away, but over the course of the years she had grown accustomed to her fits of rage. Vakaal continued to work her way back to her feet, eventually standing on her own.

   "Take ten of the guards," she hissed. "And find them. Do not let them escape." She then looked about the chamber. "As for the rest of you, put out this damned fire!," she shrieked, kicking a piece of the table in disgust.

   Naomi continued leading the way through several of the empty rooms of the stronghold, Mani and Laura close behind. They hadn't run into any of the guards yet, but that was sure to change sooner or later. They eventually came to a winding pair of stone stairs, which Naomi immediately began to run down. At the bottom was a door which she quickly kicked open, waiting for her associates to follow before shutting and locking it. Mani quickly glanced about the dark, musty room. There were several bookcases in the room, each containing what appeared to be damp and aged manuscripts of some type. The walls were slick from the dankness of the place, and he could had sworn he had heard rats. The place looked as if it hadn't been used in several years.

   Naomi quickly pushed a large chest in front of the door and knocked over one of the shelves to block it for good measure. She then darted across the room to another bookcase that seemed to already be pushed some distance from the wall, disappearing behind it. After a moment, she poked her head back into the chamber. "You coming?," she casually wondered. Mani didn't say a word as he followed, ducking in order to keep Laura's head from hitting the low wall. Behind the bookcase was some sort of makeshift entrance, an opening in the wall. After all three were through, Naomi reached back into the room, grabbing the edge of the bookshelf and dragging it back over the opening as best she could before leading her friends down the hidden corridor.

   Several miles north of Vakaal's island was the shore of the mainland of Hamir Tobei, and a little to the south of that was the island nation of Paradise, or the Isle of the Vain, as some preferred to reference it as. There was a strip of beach behind an inn, in fact the same inn that Mani and Naomi had staged their assault from. On that beach stood Darg X, his gaze fixed on the island of Vakaal visible in the distance, a large dark mass against the moonlit horizon. As he stared and wondered what was going on within that island at that moment, he couldn't help but smile to himself. He recalled telling Naomi that should the need arise, he would be willing to tear through the roof of the stronghold. But, as always, she had a better idea.

   She, instead, called in a couple of favors.

   Standing at Darg's sides were four figures, all of them Travelers. "Well boys, that's the island," Darg remarked, breaking the silence. "The Isle of Lady Idolsa Vakaal, Lord of the Dalsrayon and all-around meanie. On this island, you'll find one of the largest and horniest gatherings of demonic wenches to ever walk this realm..."

   "You sound like a tour guide," David teased.

   Kong quickly looked up from his seat on the sandy beach, where he had been stringing his bow. "Did you say something about horny demonic wenches?," he wondered outloud. "Heck, had I known that, I would have been here last night!"

   Darg X snickered to himself. "Control yourself Kong, you'd be much better off that way." He looked turned to his associates. "You guys ready?," he asked. Kong and David both nodded. Darg then turned to other side. "Neil? Jimmy?"

   "You know it," Neil responded, to which Jimmy nodded. Darg X smiled, turning back towards the island.

   "All right then. Let's do it!"