Sam ran deeper into the woods, lost, unable to navigate her way out due to the tricks of the shades hunting her. Between Sam’s exhausted gasps of breath were the laughter of a girl and the crashing sounds of battle as the Deer God tried to keep both her and the shades at bay. Sam could see the light of Elliot’s car in the distance, her only beacon of safety, and made a final dash towards it; but the light dimmed as she got near, the car and its passengers leaving her all alone—an afterthought. The roaming darkness then surrounded Sam, the eyes and grins of shades appearing from the trees.

A deep and guttural groan reverberated through the forest as Sam turned in circles, out of breath and huffing. Between the encroaching shadows, the Deer God stood before her in a black robe, his face bloodied and eyes a sinister shade of red. The girl’s laughter then returned, this time from the Deer God, as he pulled back his facial skin to reveal a fanged smile—the skull now a macabre helmet for the mara beneath. More shades appeared around the mara by lurking out of her shadow and taking the form of various woodland beasts. As much as Sam wanted to move, to run, she was bound by the awful gaze of the mara, so she closed her eyes and prayed for a savior; and if not, as swift a death as possible.

Her prayers were seemingly answered as Rosa fell from above and cracked the ground beneath her, kicking up dust to break the mara’s line of sight and knocking Sam over.

The mara shouted, “Mur-shi, Rosa-roni!”

Rosa spoke the mara’s name, “Moi-ra,” then relaxed as she followed with, “Or-as-ni-ma, ar-una.”

Moira’s expression changed to one of disgust as she said, “Ar-una? Lo-mir!”

Their language entered Sam’s skull as much as they did her ears. The words were becoming translated but not into a contextual meaning. The phrases instead appeared as a synthesized mix of concepts and images in her mind—a mirror with no viewer in a dark void, the reflection containing a red robe. Sam, standing before the mirror, saw herself with brown hair and eyes wearing the red robe. She reached out to touch the glass, but the mirror shattered back to the scene of Rosa and Moira talking in the woods.

Rosa took a short glance at Sam, then returned her focus to Moira. “She’s becoming lucid. It’s too dangerous to stay here.”

“But I’m starving!” Moira scowled. “You just want this one all to yourself.”

“I’m serious! Her mind can’t create what it doesn’t know—she’ll start pulling things out of our memories. And if there’s too much deviation, it’ll cause a merge with—”

A deep, unnatural rumble shook the ground accompanied by a reverberating sound of glass breaking in the distance. The circle of shades similarly broke apart as they fled for safety. Even the ones around Moira retreated back into her shadow to escape.

“What was that supposed to be?” Moira asked, picking at her teeth with her fingers. “An attempt to scare me?”

Rosa rubbed her temples. “Stick around and find out. But you’re gonna regret not bringing a swimsuit.”

Moira tilted her head back at the insinuation. “Ah. Well… it’s been fun.” She tried to walk away but stopped dead in her tracks as she faced an illusion of a younger-looking Rosa, but not one controlled by her.

The illusion spoke: “Ayla successfully infiltrated the Arbiters, but they did something to her—changed her—and now she serves them.”

Moira, trapped in a memory, said, “Whatever they did would only be an improvement. We wouldn’t need her at all if the rest didn’t keep dragging their feet and playing pretend. What good are any of you when I’m stuck doing all the work?”

The illusion crossed her arms. “Seems to me like you’ve also forgotten your role. Being a menace doesn’t help anyone; and just ‘cause you got a couple of pets doesn’t make you any better than the rest.”

Moira hissed. “The weak should fear the strong. That will remain true regardless of what happens. For me to command so many eidolons, well, that makes me the strongest!”

Sam weakly lifted herself up. “Eidolons?” Each new word carried a new burden on her mind. “Why do I…?” Rosa placed a hand on Sam to stop her from moving more, staying silent as she watched Moira continue to interact with the illusion.

The illusion spoke again: “The shades here are not the same eidolons that nearly drove us to extinction. These were left here to rot—cursed to wait for their betters to return to this world and be destroyed along with it… They deserve their fate. And you’re no better for exploiting them with promises that you won’t keep.”

Moira became quite displeased. “You’re one to talk. I know all that you’ve been up to. You’ve been giving technology from our world to the humans—letting them get ahead.” Moira touched her head, shaking it in pain in an attempt to break from playing out the sequence. “And the vampires…” But it wasn’t enough.

The illusion cracked vertically down the middle, half of it reflecting Sam’s appearance. “The humans need all the help they can get.”

Moira scowled. “Who gives a shit what they need? We can always go to the next world when they ruin this one like before.”

The illusion shook her head. “No more running. We need to do what’s necessary here. For mortals and mara alike.”

Moira scoffed. “I don’t get what’s so special about this world to you. The eidolons love to spread their image—there’s no end to worlds with mortals that look like the ones here. Just give it up! This place is a bust… We may as well drop the moon on it like they do to all the other failures.”

The illusion gave an assertive look, “We will do no such thing! If you can’t cooperate, then leave. I’ve no patience for unruly children—and I’ll put you down myself if I have to.”

“Alright, fine; I’m going. It’s about time I got to have some fun on my own.” Moira walked forward, breaking through the illusion and causing it to dissipate. Moira’s body then disintegrated and disappeared completely in presence—remaining only in mind.

Rosa turned her full attention to Sam. Sam was looking at her in kind, but her vision was more like a projection on a screen with Rosa’s face appearing obscured by static. Sam asked her, “Is this a dream?”

Rosa used vines to lift Sam into her arms. “Yes, but one with too many conflicting elements—too many memories in one place.” More illusions were starting to form around them, all blurry silhouettes from Rosa’s past, with the land becoming chilled around one in particular as it approached.

“Whose memories?” Sam asked, barely able to keep her eyes open in the cold. “Yours or hers?”

With a frown, Rosa said, “Ours.”

Sam tried to force herself awake, like with any overly stressful dream, but was unable to. “Why can’t I wake up?”

“Your consciousness was trapped by a mara so she could feed. Now it’s somewhere else… somewhere it shouldn’t be.” The ground shook again, a tower rising in the distance. “I’ll get you back home, don’t worry.”

Sam thrashed a bit in Rosa’s arms but moved too softly, too slowly, to make much a difference. “Let me walk—I’ll take us there.”

“It’s not a matter of walking. Just relax. Sopor.”

Such a simple word caused Sam to become still in Rosa’s arms. The illusions were closing in but were shattered and twisted apart by the swirling environment—transforming into a familiar scene of Sam’s front yard. The sound of rushing water was coming closer as Rosa took Sam inside to her parents, both asleep in separate rooms, and left her in her bed. Alone, Rosa sat on Sam’s roof and stared at the moon above, that looming egg of destruction, as the world began to flood. She then sighed and closed her eyes as the cold dark surrounded her. And when she opened them again, she was in her own bed; the morning of the next day.

❦ ❦ ❦

Rosa walked up the stairs from the basement of the Rose Den and carried on to the bar where she sat in front of Marie. Rosa, with an exacerbated huff, warned her, “Don’t ever have kids.”

Marie plainly responded, “I was not designed for procreative stimulation, oral service, or sexual entertainment. Performing such tasks would be more exciting than bartending, however.”

Rosa was unable to tell if she was being sarcastic or not. “Do you not enjoy bartending? I know it’s not exactly what you’re designed to do—you can always tell me if you’d rather do something else.”

“I have no complaints. I find it easy to apply some of my functions as a maid and musician for entertainment. The only limiting factor is that I do not have a sense of smell or taste.”

Rosa sighed while shaking her head. “I’ll put out an ad for some bartenders. No point in you doing it all on top of the finances.”

Marie looked down, then at Rosa. “I enjoy being able to talk to so many people. It would be acceptable to continue in this position for the remainder of my service life.” She leaned in and placed her hands on the bar counter. “I believe that my performance has proven my capabilities in this occupation.”

Rosa let out a conflicted laugh. “Relax, Marie. I’m not trying to replace you. You know I’m willing to pay for any maintenance or upgrades that you feel is needed—just say the word.”

Marie leaned back and put her hands together. “My erg has started to enter a state of rampancy. The few parts that still exist are better spent on others. It would be more beneficial to request the service of a lapidarist to cut the excess growth.”

Rosa was silent for a bit, knowing that ergs were the crystal equivalent of both a brain and soul. Replacing it would effectively kill Marie—giving her body to a new personality. But doing nothing would mean that the erg would continue to grow and eventually pierce through her hollow shell, cracking it apart. “Are you sure? Those growths are your memories. You’d be lobotomizing yourself.”

Marie gave a resolute nod. “I would like to remain in service as long as possible.”

“Alright… Tell me if the work becomes too hard for you. I’ll find something else for you to do—something that you enjoy just as much.” Rosa stood up and waved for Marie to go on. “Search around for someone that’d be comfortable with working on your erg. I’ll take care of things today.”

Marie bowed and said, “Thank you,” then left to go upstairs.

The front door opened some time after—the first customer of the day. It was a raven-haired girl with red eyes in a black hoodie and monochrome thigh highs. On the back of the hoodie were angel wings, but the wearer was no angel, her devilish tail tipped with a red heart. The girl smiled as she sat down at the bar in front of Rosa, two fangs protruding from her upper lip. “I’ll have the usual.”

Rosa stared at the raven-haired deviant. “Enjoying a new look, Moira?”

Moira laughed. “Gotta keep the mortals guessing. A couple of them disappear and they all start to get paranoid. Thought I’d try my luck in this town for a while.”

Rosa started to pull out alcohol and ingredients. “Cranberry and vodka, right?”

“Yeah! Two Cape Cods.”

“You’re getting one, I’m drinking the other, and then you’re going to leave Sorrow. Understand?”

Moira tilted her head in disgust. “Ah, so it’s gonna be like that? Not even a ‘nice of you to visit’ or nothin’…”

Rosa put ice into two glasses. “I shouldn’t have to state the obvious to you.”

“Oh? You do like that I’m here.” Moira grinned. “That makes me the favorite.”

“Far from it,” Rosa said as she poured the vodka. “It’s one thing to eat dreams, but you were going to consume her entire consciousness. I would overlook it… if it were anyone else. But bother Sam again and we’re going to have a problem, understand?”

“Hey! It’s not like I knew who she was. She has the most intense dreams out of anyone in this entire town. Add in a dash of fear there’s no way I could resist.”

Rosa put a finished Cape Codder in front of Moira and held one in her hand. “You always take the easy route. Fear is easy to induce, sure, but it’s better to give good dreams instead of nightmares.” She hit her glass against Moira’s as she picked it up. “Tastes better too.”

The two drank in unison, pouring the entire drink down their throats into their void of a stomach. Moira said, “As if you know anything about taste—just look at this place. Do you even make money from this?”

“It’s not about profitability. It’s about providing a service.”

Moira smirked. “That’s a ‘no,’ then.”

Rosa magically whisked away the glasses in their hands. “Time to go. Bye-bye. Feel free to visit again in another decade or two.”

“Not yet.” Moira got up and pulled out a wad of cash from her hoodie and threw it on the bar counter. “I still haven’t paid.”

Rosa looked down at the stack of bills—one million yen. “This is too much.”

“Nope. You said you wouldn’t trade domains for any less than a million. There it is. A million.”

“I meant a million dollars, not yen. And I wasn’t being all that serious about it.”

Moira shook her head. “Really? You should’ve clarified that you wanted burger bucks. I can’t imagine you going back on your word like that… You’ll finally be able to have a cabaret like you wanted. One like that guy with the eyepatch had in the 80s!”

With a frown, Rosa picked up the yen. “This isn’t nearly enough for that, though.”

With a laugh, Moira said, “I already settled all that. Consider it a bonus.”

Rosa was starting to come around to the idea. “You mean it?”

“Yes! I’ll show you the place whenever you want. I think you’ll like the location more than this dump.”

With a smile, Rosa looked Moira in the eyes. “This might be the nicest thing you’ve ever done… But why?”

“Figured you could use a change of pace. Plus, I’d hate you breathing down my neck the entire time I’m here. It’ll be bad enough with the Arbiters.”

Rosa furrowed her brow with worry. “I can’t leave Sorrow right now. There are more important things to me here, but… I won’t be needed much longer.”

“A couple more years is fine—I think we can tolerate each other that long.” Moira did a pose while making a V-sign near her face. “Peace, peace.”

Rosa smiled again, feeling a little proud. “Bye, Moira.”

As Moira got to the door, she turned back towards Rosa and said, “There’s a sale at the mall tomorrow. Think you might want to go together and help me get some stuff so I can get situated here?”

Rosa nodded. “Sure, just come by when you want to go. I’ll help pay for any essentials you might need.”

Moira raised a fist of success. “Great, ‘cause I just gave you all the money I had.” Rosa tried to respond, but Moira quickly yelled, “You’re the best!” as she left.