In the midst of the battle, Allen and Helsing were backed into each other. The black smith glanced up at the wolf’s four empty white eyes. The wolf grinned like he cooked up a ridiculous plan.

Helsing then felt a chilled claw puncture the back of his skull. The blacksmith roared in fury, as the black haze swarmed all around his body forcing him to shift into the monstrous bear tiger beast. Allen reverted back to his human form then disappeared into the shadows. While the monster rampaged throughout the battlefield defeating the angels with only one bite or one paw swipe.

“No! No! No! Why can’t I control myself?! What did that bastard do to me?!” Helsing scolded.

*********

Norah watched in horror as the large blood-colored hazy beast destroyed the angels in seconds. Gabriella charged at the beast but it knocked her out with a sweep from his large paws and crashing into a boulder. The beast roared in victory then twisted its head to lock its raging eyes with Norah.

Norah began to panic as she tried to spark her auroran flames in her hands while the beast stalked toward her. She continued to snap desperately trying to ignite her flames as the beast was inching toward her.

“ You! You are in our head! Why did you ruin the world?! Why do we see you in our dreams?!” Hex snarled.

Gran used her war hammer to bash her grandson’s head, pinning him to the ground squirming under the hammer.

Meanwhile Norah quickly picked up Gabriella and she stared back at Gran and the beast before they left. A faint glimmer of somesort of longing lingered in her eyes. The elderly woman stared back at Norah and her expression softened when she saw that look. Then the angels just flew away to lick their wounds.

Gran didn’t have time to celebrate her victory while the hazy beast was freed from the hammer and focused on Gran.

Helsing’s voice echoed inside for only the beast to hear.

“ Alright, the battle’s over! It’s my turn to-”

“ No! I control! He summoned me! I am finishing the job! All are enemies! Trust no one!” The beast snarled back to Helsing in his head.

Gran stood her ground in front of the beast as stubbornness flared in her eyes.

“ Helsing! You’re not this beast! Remember you have control! I know a lot of things are out of control right now and this is all stressful, but this beast doesn’t have power over ye! Helsing, Hex does not define who you are! That is up to you!” Gran held the ghostly beast’s face, but the creature only snarled, ignoring every word she preached about Helsing’s inner self as the creature prepared to claw her aging body.

Out from the shadows, Allen appeared from the beast’s shadow holding its paw mid-strike. Allen’s golden eye shimmered sending the beast into a roar of agony, then it took shape back into Helsing once more. But the black symbol on Helsing’s arm grew darker and larger than before.

“ Welcome back to reality snake boy,” Allen said with a charismatic tone.

“ Oh so I make an inspiring speech and I almost get killed, but Allen pokes you and you’re fine. It’s not like I took you in after your mom abused you,” Gran muttered in annoyance.

“ Why did you force me to become that thing?! Are you trying to make me a beast forever?!” Helsing yelled as he stood to his feet with the help of Gran.

“ Oh quit yer whinin’, I knew what I was doing. Now we need to get to Crow, then the plan can be put into action at last.”

Helsing and gran gave each other looks that seemed to say ``can we trust this guy?

The trio passed under the arch standing in front of the misty abyss. Helsing tried but he couldn’t see beyond the mist. But he could hear faint whispers of familiar voices.

“ This mist feels alive…there’s something odd about this,” Helsing murmured.

“ Psyche spells commonly become unstable as its user does, and that fits Vita perfectly. Perhaps not yet but soon, how soon,” he reached into one of his pockets pulling out a small rectangular metal object. Allen tapped the box and it glowed to life. Helsing noticed the box had the time on it as well as a picture of a wolf.

“ This is no normal spell is it? This spell feels unnatural,” Gran rubbed her arm to soothe the uneasiness that infected her body.

“ This is what happens when a mage goes against their nature,” He summoned a ink colored droplet in his hand and moved it around his hand.

“ What do you mean? I thought mages could cast any spell?”

“ Oh yes any mage can cast spells in their field with the proper books. But if a light mage casts a dark spell then the spell becomes….I guess the best word is unstable,” he waved away the ink droplet.

“ Can’t your break it?” Helsing questioned as the whispers echoed beyond the mist.

“ No. I’m not at my normal strength and Vita is a High goddess. Her magic is strong…but we have to go in.”

“ If we get separated, try, and shout or shoot something up so we can find each other again,” Gran said, and they all murmured in agreement. Gran and Helsing all glanced at each other as Allen walked into the mist.

When the blacksmith opened his eyes the forest was surprisingly well lit by the sun that hung above, but the mist made it a bit dimmer than normal. Song birds twittered their soft songs, and the wind made the leaves rustle. This forest seemed exactly like any other forest that was around his town. This forest isn’t so-

His thought came to a halt when he noticed the trees. Every single tree looked exactly the same. The same height, the same leaves, markings, everything about them was the same. He glanced down and noticed his boots didn’t leave a dent in the ground. The blacksmith tried to draw something in the ground with his tail, and no mark was left behind. Nothing he did left an imprint on the ground. So everything looks the same and there’s no way we can track each other’s footprints..maybe I-oh no- where’d everyone go?!

Helsing gazed around not seeing any trace of the rest of the group.

“ Gran! Allen!”

His voice didn’t even echo throughout the empty woods.

“ GRAN! ALLEN!”

Nothing.

“ For Pestis’s sake! Where is everyone?! Ugh! How could I lose them like this! Wait, maybe.” The blacksmith summoned a blue fireball in his hands then shot it up in the air, but the fireball just bounced back at him. Thankfully he dispersed the flames before he got burned.

“ GRAN! ALLEN!” Hex was clawing at his soul roaring in extreme rage. Helsing was trying to stop himself from changing into the beast. Why did I make the deal?! Who was I kidding! I’m just a boy! Why did I think we could just ‘ power through’ it!? Damnit I’m so stupid! I shouldn’t have agreed to this! For a few minutes he switched from form to form, but Helsing calmed himself down flicking his tongue to smell the air.

“ Alright...breathe...in and out...in...phew...and ouuut...now I’m in a forest. No footprints, not scent other than pine-ew-no way to shoot up a flare unless I wanna get blasted. Okay so there’s a lot I can’t do, but what can I do?”

“ I can head out...I could leave and mourn my Gran. I could just go home or explore, no. No I can’t. My Gran is out there. She wouldn’t abandon me. So I won’t abandon her. Can’t believe I even considered that. What else can I do? I could just keep walking further in...well if that’s all I can do. Then into the woods we go,” the blacksmith willed his feet to carry him deeper into the misty forest.

Gran was snapped back to reality when she saw something move in the shadows. She swiftly glanced around seeing no one.

“ Oh no, damnit. Helsing! Helsing!” Her eyes frantically gazed around searching for grandson. But nothing.

“ Helsing! Helsing, please answer me, lad!”

Voices whispered around her, statically speaking.

“ Mama, why do you let them treat us like this?”

“ I’m leaving, and I’m actually going to make a difference in the world.”

The image of her daughter flooded into her mind. The day she left. Her daughter’s light skin and scarlett hair. The way the blazing sun reflected those defiant golden eyes, and her plump bag swung over her shoulder. Her expression is stoic as she utters the ever echoing words in Gran’s mind.

“ I don’t care how. But I’m going to change the world so status won’t matter. I will finish what you started, and I will actually succeed. Unlike you,” then just like that she shut the door. But where did that path lead her, huh? Tch it led her to the same place the rest of the family went. As lonely mindless beasts that are only meant to cause destruction. If she just stayed a day longer we both could’ve found a way for her to be free of that fate. Helsing’s time is coming up, we still have time...he can still be saved..no he will be saved. The rest of our family line will be saved.

“ Lost another one?”

Gran whipped her head around seeing Allen coming out of the shade of the trees.

“ It’s all yer fault ya know.”

“ Please enlighten me,”

“ You killed your family and began a cycle-”

“ I didn’t start the abuse. Those pompous shits started-”

“ Just shut it…blame doesn’t matter right now. Let's just find my grandson..and get out of this forest.”

“ Hmph. Agreed.”

The two walked on into the forest in silence letting bird songs fill the void between them.

************

After hours of traveling the two groups meet up with each other. Gran and Helsing hugged each other. Allen stood away from them.

“ Thank the gods you’re okay!” Gran shouted.

“ Same to you, Gran.”

“ How touching now you didn’t die out there, but at least you’re together,” Allen chimed in.

“ How do we get out?” Gran asked.

“ Shush,” Allen growled, the others glared at him but stayed quiet. A crow with blue markings stained on its feathers flew overhead with a scroll in its claws. The nightmare lord swiftly followed the crow and the others followed closely behind.

“ Why are we following this crow? I mean I know about the Spotters but won’t the crow get lost as well?” Helsing was dragging behind a little but still tried to keep up with the others.

“ The blue markings are symbols. They are safe travel blessings from Tonitrus. Meaning these crows have safe passage from their destination back to their home without any problems unless caused by Tontrius himself. As long as we stick close to the crow the spell’s aura should keep the mist’s curse at bay,” Gran replied.

“ Why didn’t we use those?!” Helsing shouted in annoyance.

“ Because he has to approve of the blessing and he is playing Switzerland in the war,” Allen replied calmly.

The trio eventually made it on the bridge that connected the forest to the beautiful library. The crow flew into one of the towers of the library.

They stood at the entrance of the library carved in the mountain. To Helsing’s surprise there weren’t any crows flying about like what the tales have said, there were only griffin gargoyles perched on the walls of the library.

Helsing couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. He gazed up at his surroundings, though he saw no one aside from the gargoyle griffins but the feeling never left.

“ Gran I think we’re being watched,” he turned his gaze to his Gran.

“ Yeah I got that feelin’ too. Just stay on guard.”

Just before Helsing could knock the door opened with a gust of wind blowing at the group Allen held his cloak tight, making sure it didn’t blow away. But the rest of the group’s weapons blew out of their sheaths, flying to the other end of the bridge closer to the dense woods. Helsing’s tail spines stood on end like his neck hairs.

Once the wind settled a crow with its skull exposed flew over to Allen perching on his shoulder.

“ Apologies, guests. I am Aella, I’m Crow’s right hand. Sean I ask you to-”

“ What was with the wind?” Helsing questioned cutting off Aella, and the empty eyes of the gargoyles began to glow red.

“ As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted.” The gargoyles’ eyes returned to normal. “ Welcome to Crow’s Library. Be careful not to move things around. You must leave your weapons there. None shall steal them I promise. Now let’s head inside.” She remained perched on Allen’s shoulder as they all entered the library.

Helsing trailed at the back of the group, as he gazed around at the magnificence of the interior of the library. Endless shelves and bookcases over stuffed with old books and scrolls. The light of lamps and lanterns provided a soft glow that illuminated the area. Dozens of crows with glowing blue markings were perched in various places on the book shelves, but there wasn’t any bird poop around.

The scattered display cases were full of wonderful trinkets, and Helsing swore he saw mugs of all kinds everywhere they turned. Helsing went up to one with a bizarre small white sphere thing that seemed to be plugged into the wall nearby. He read the label at the bottom of the display case, and it read.

“ Google?” Helsing said aloud and the white sphere lit up. Helsing yelped when it turned on. The group then came running toward him.

“ That thing is possessed!” Helsing screamed as Allen cheerfully laughed.

“ No no lad, that's just a Google dot. Back in my day these were like little assistants. Watch. Google, what's the weather for today?”

“ Okay searching for sweaters,” replied Google. Allen growled in annoyance then muttered under his breath. “ Stupid Americans. Never made anything that understands Scottish accents.” But Gran and Helsing were practically sparkling in awe at the white sphere.

“ Come along kiddos.” Aella ordered and they began marching up the stairs passing by numerous levels that were filled with more bookshelves and display cases then they finally reached the top floor which was emptier compared to the rest of the floors.

Aella led them through a hallway and into a room down the hallway. The room had two large windows to the right with a bird perching stand by the closet window to Helsing. The rest of the room has two large bookshelves filled with journals, scrolls, and bottles with strange herbs or glowing liquids. One large table was in the center of the room that had equipment scattered on it. Strange trays, cylinders with numbers marked on the side, containers full of strange colorful liquids, and things similar to medical tools.

At the back of the room was a messy desk with loose papers, books and scattered trinkets on it. The group wandered around the room examining everything, except for Allen who just sat on a strange plush chair with tiny wheels on the bottom of the legs. Aella sat on her perch, near the large window by the desk, carefully watching the group.

Helsing trailed his finger along the bookspines on the shelf, noticing they were all records of famous experiments. His finger came to a halt on one book. This one gave off a sort of aura that made him feel curious but afraid. He tried to read the title of the strange book, but the name on the spine began to blur.

Helsing then picked up the book looking at the cover he saw Allen in his black wolf form and a pale white owl griffin with large black eyes on its face and wings. They were forming the yin and yang sign Helsing has seen on many swords from Eastmen. He attempted to read the title but it began to blur as well. What is this? Did they do something so terrible that even reading the name is forbidden? Do I ask? Helsing glanced at Allen who had his one good eye closed. He inhaled a breath of courage then went over to Allen.

“ Hey. Why does this book have your picture on it but the name is unreadable?” The blacksmith questioned. Allen lazily opened his eye gazing at the book. A look of regretful rage rose in his eye but it was quickly replaced with his normal cold mellow look.

“ Put it back. Crow is coming.” Allen finally answered, and Helsing did as he was told.

A slightly taller than average man entered the room. His eyes were glazed, making it hard to tell what his eye color truly was. His pale skin contrasted the light gray, navy scholar robe. His unkempt shaggy long black hair hung from his head like matted dog fur. He wore no shoes to keep his practically white feet hidden.

In one hand he held a staff with a lit lantern on top of the staff and a spear head on the bottom. In the other hand he held a mug that read “ All I need is coffee and books”. Helsing also noticed he was wearing navy blue gloves with golden patterns sewed into it.

The group bowed to Crow aside from Allen, but he sighed softly in response telling them to rise and gather around the table in the center. They did as he said.

“ Sorry for the wait, I got caught up in reading an old classic.” Crow’s voice sounded like any normal mortal's voice but more tired. The knowledge god took a long swig from the mug that smelled similar to warm chocolate but more bitter.

“ Now I assume you’re here for me to come with you so I can get my father’s skulls to bring them back to my father to fight Auntie Vita. While needing me to do some other stuff on the side along with getting my armies to fight for you. But you all want to try to get the false chosen child on your side so the fabric of time and space doesn’t rip apart. How close am I Allen?”

“ About 98 percent correct, prince,” Allen responded.

“ Woah woah woah slow down. First off, how can you read since you’re blind? Secondly, what’s this father and auntie business? Thirdly, what do you mean ‘false chosen’?” Helsing asked.

“ Well I can absorb knowledge through bare touch. So I read by touching every page or sometimes holding the book depending on how much energy I want to use. Also yes Azrail is one of my fathers and Vita is Azrail’s half sister. And doesn’t anyone know that Norah isn’t actually the real chosen one?” Crow took a long sip from his mug. Sean and the group’s jaws dropped to the floor.

“ Wait she’s not?! But then why-wh…why was she chosen?! Who let some random person play a role in such a sacred prophecy?!” Gran protested.

“ But more importantly, who was originally chosen?” She continued after she calmed down a bit.