"Have you heard? Apparently there's this creepy painter that shows up at 8pm when you walk through the woods."

"A painter? At 8pm? What would he do there at such a time? And in a forest?"

"Apparently he can paint your future. Rena apparently was a victim of his. She had a strange precognition after meeting him: Getting run over by a drunk driver at 9pm on the 20th July 2015."

"But isn't that the day she passed?"

"Exactly! So creepy! And we're just about to pass these woods as well!"

"I'm never gonna enter that place! I don't wanna end up like Rena!"

It was gossip. Simple gossip told by two teenagers was what caught Alpha's attention as he was about to fall asleep. He had heard of a girl getting run over and not long ago and that rumor was somewhat worrying. What if there was a Demon purposely painting people in accidents and making them come true? He had to go investigate and check whether this was gossip or a Demon running amok.

Not living far from that supposed forest of awful precognitions, he got off his stop and headed straight towards it. His village bordered right around that forest and as such a bunch of people that jog there or take a stroll may get killed if he doesn't do anything. As he had just found out that Prometheia had a burner phone he could call her on if there may be a Demon around. Messaging her that she should call Elena if he doesn't message her again in a minute, Alpha made it onto a trail leading into the forest.

Upon transforming he found himself... in front of the pearly gates of heaven? It was strange as he had just transformed and then found himself directly in front of a golden gate he couldn't see through. Attached to white marble walls, it lead towards the Demon responsible for the creation of this domain. Behind him was a long staircase that stretched into infinity surrounded by the rising sun and the heavenly golden clouds. The gate slowly opened revealing a tall figure. It was a mere skeleton that wore a black robe as tall as 2.5 meters. It showed no hostility and simply pointed at him.

"I have to call my friend first! She's waiting for me!", said Alpha trying to see how it would react. It simply opened a crack in space that led back onto the forest trail. Alpha stepped out and transformed back to get his phone. Messaging Prometheia, he stared at the Demon as the three others he had met so far were hostile. Texting her that it's just a rumor, he head back into the domain following the Demon unaware of the one sneaking around within this forest.

The gates revealed an long marble path that stretched for kilometers towards a golden dome. That dome had just one massive gate with the same golden ornaments as the one before. The gate also had some kind of scripture he couldn't quite decipher. It just seemed ancient and therefore made this Demon even more interesting than the rumor about it.

"So then... Do you have a name?", asked Alpha.

No reaction.

"Did you create this whole thing by yourself?", he asked trying to get anything out of this Demon. It wouldn't budge when it came to answering questions. He could try aggravating it but he has no idea just how strong this Demon is and whether or not it truly isn't hostile.

Finally, after a long walk, they reached the next gate. This one also opened on its own and revealed something even more fantastic the one before. Within was a massive observatory with the stars and the cosmos painted onto its dome. The dome turned out to be just one massive golden ball the stars could be observed from. In the midst of it all was a platform they were walking to. On that plaform is a tower that spiraled downwards. Alpha could only wonder what could be within all that.

That wonder was broken by something swishing by him. A blade clashed with something the Demon held in its hand. Turning around, he saw another Dream Catcher with cuts and bruises all over its body. His attire reminded Alpha of a prince and a kinight. Though the knight parts were limited to a breastplate, gauntlets, grieves, and sabatons, it still had someting knightly in it. Underneath that armor of his he wore white pants with blue G-Clefs on them and a blue coat with white G-Clefs. His hair was blue and quite messy with neon blue strands. Wearing a golden belt to which he attached the sheaths wherein he would place his longswords, and the white cape attached to his neck by buttons and a golden chain, he backed off as he had sustained more damage than expected.

"Wait! Don't fight it!", yelled Alpha trying to deescalate the situation.

"That's a Demon! We have to kill it before-"

"And it showed no hositility, right?!"

The stranger resheathed his longsword and took note of that statement. Turning around, he asked, "Are you sure you know what you're doing? You could be killed."

"I'm sure."

He left just as he had entered the battle: in a flash. Not allowing Alpha to explain himself further, he left them behind without a care in the world. Alpha and the Demon simply continued down the path they were taking.

"I wonder who that guy was?", wondered Alpha perplexed by this sudden arrival. He had a hunch of who it could be. Even if that knight looked completely different from the person he had in mind, he was sure that he had found out that person's identity. However, that had to wait as he wanted grasp what this Demon shrouded in mystery was trying to tell him.

Finally, they reached the tower. Closed off from the outside world, it had just one spiral stairwell reaching into the depths of this building. Paintings of bouqets of luminescent yellow carnations were painted all over the walls as a means to illuminate this tower. While it seemed like the average tower on the outside, it was seemingly endless on the inside. At the base of it was a collection of eight marble tunnels with paintings plastered all over them. Connected by a white room with something on a podest at its center, Alpha marvelled at this strange structure. On top of the podest sat its Devil Seed.

"Is this what you're trying to show me?", asked Alpha.

Gesturing that he should touch this heart-shaped and bloodred crystal, it fully trusted Alpha not to do it any harm. Slowly but surely did his finger come closer. After a solid ten seconds, Alpha gathered enough courage to touch it with his index finger. Its clouded interior was beautiful and gave Alpha's finger a red hue.

"Now we can talk," said the Demon within a deep masculine voice.

Surprised and taken aback, Alpha backed off the Devil Seed.

"You could talk and understand me all this time?", Alpha shrieked.

"No. I can only understand you now. I never had the ability to understand you before that. My name is Ban. What's yours?", it asked. Ban sounded rather monotone.

"Hyperion," Alpha said preferring that name over his given one.

"What are these tunnels?", Alpha asked. "Are these really just paintings?"

"They are. I made them. I don't know why people are so afraid of them whenever I show them to them..." Sounding rather frustrated yet still a little monotone, Ban was an interesting and peculiar Demon. The only one that didn't show killing intent was Blue Rose, the one Elena rescued him from, still had aggressive minions.

Ban grasped his Devil Seed and smashed it right in front of Alpha. The fragments revealed one plain key made of wood. Its plain design wouldn't make one believe that it held any form of significance. Still, it held all sorts of secrets within it. A tear in space appeared as soon as Ban positioned himself to open a door that doesn't exist. Therein was a massive collection of more keys. Exactly 541 keys were placed on podiums. Each one of them was labeled in different scriptures Alpha couldn't decipher. Only one of them followed the common english he knew. Ban picked that specific key and did the same thing he did with the previous key.

This time they were lead to a massive library that was as massive as a planet. Seemingly endless, Alpha wondered if there was a way to navigate through anything in here. Standing on top of a stage surrounded by terminals he could operate, Alpha noticed the train tracks all around the library.

"This should be the North Pole. If you want specific info about a person or a place, just tell me. I'm not that interested in “earth matters”," said Ban. Handing him the key to this library, Alpha was taken aback by this sudden gift.

"Really? I can have it?!", Alpha asked making sure it's okay with Ban.

"The key is yours. Since you're the only Dream Catcher to show patience and not attack me, I can gift you this key as gratitude for your kindness." The key was absorbed by Alpha's Soul Solid meaning that he'll only have access to it as soon as he can access his domain.

"This way we can see each other when you're ready and as soon as we both want to meet again."

It has been a day since Alpha has met Ban. No matter how hard he tried the day prior and this morning, he couldn't get in contact with this Demon. Meanwhile, Elena was rather busy with other things and couldn't train him at all. To alleviate that, she sent him to do an errand for her directed at Raven. By train he will take two hours to meet his destination. However, delays and a nasty feeling offset him a little. Stemming from one of the train toilets, that nasty feeling grew stronger the closer he got. With another passenger waiting for the doors to open, the toilet finally unlocked. Before that passenger could walk in, Alpha pushed him aside making that man trip and fall.

"I'm sorry!", Alpha said as he held onto his backpack. As soon as the doors closed, Alpha transformed as darkness sprung out of the sink. Filling the entire room it invited Alpha into another Demon's domain. Therein was a person being carried away by its minions.

"Help me!", that person screamed at the top of its lungs. Carried by little green and strangely winged gremlins, the person wanted to be set free. With the gremlins carrying that person above their heads and digging their fingers into the man, they caused injuries that may be fatal.

Quickly, Hyperion motioned his divine key to enlargen and kill them in one swoop. Stabbing each one of them in a matter of seconds, Hyperion caught the person in peril.

"Are you okay?", he asked.

"Get me out of here!"

More gremlins approached them. As such, Hyperion had to use his divine key to form a barrier around them. Looking around, he tried to guess where the Demon may be. Located on top of a barren field, Hyperion did his best to spot anything. Hoping for the arrival of another Dream Catcher, he watched more gremlins approach with ringblades trying to breach the barrier. Far from them was a massive tree carrying bags looking like larvae instead of trees. From them sprouted even more gremlins. His barrier was starting to crack after minutes of assault on it.

"I should have called Elena! Maybe she could have contacted a Dream Catcher in the area to help out!", he thought as he started panicking. The man kept screaming to get him out of there and help out as he bled out. Slowly but surely, Hyperion had to watch in horror as the slowly turned quiet. Panicking, he reinforced the barrier with more magic until a monstrous beast stepped closer walking directly towards them. With a club in hand, this green giant was ready to smash Hyperion's barrier to pieces.

Fog surrounded the helpless Hyperion and the man that had just passed out.

"Hold him tightly!", said a deep and coarse masculine voice as he was dragged out by the hand of another. Holding onto his collar, he was dragged out by one mysterious man. At the height of 1.90 meters, a muscular build wearing only leather shorts and a necklace of shark teeth, he twirled his trident as he massacred several gremlins in the blink of an eye. Jumping into the air and running as far as he can, he reached the edge of this domain as they ended up within the toilets of a train station.

"Thank y-"

"What were you doing there alone?", questioned the man angered by Hyperion's carelessness. Covering the injured man in fog, he somehow healed him yet let him lie unconscious.

"I'm sorry but I had to-"

Not taking any more of Hyperion's lack of care for himself, he dragged the both of them into his domain. Consisting of only golden pillars far and wide ten meter in radius stretching to the ground witnessing the golden dusk within the clouds.

"Since you're such a hero you can save yourself, right?", Harpocrates said in a sarcastic tone. As Hyperion jumped away, he struck his target with the backside of his trident. Launching Hyperion through several pillars, Hyperion caughed up blood as he was stuck within another.

"What are you doing? Aren't we supposed to be fellow Dream Catchers?!"

The main paid his words no mind and attacked once again. This time it was an attempt to impale him. However, Hyperion took off just in the nick of time. Trying to reach the edge of th domain, he struggled to find an end. Avoiding confrontation was all he could think about but the strange man was right on his tail. Turning into fog, he was just about to catch up and hit him once again.

"Why do you want to fight me so badly?", asked Alpha but to no avail.

Filling his divine key with magic, he sped up and flew even faster. Now that he's just as fast as the one he's trying to escape from, he has a chance at survival until, a trident is thrown directly at him. His key defaulted to forming a barrier, stopping his momentum and making him fall. Just about to catch up, Hyperion looked at him trying to find any fault in that man's technique.

Transforming back to take out the packet he was supposed to deliver to Raven, he threw it up into the air where his opponent was located. Branded with Elena's name, the man took that packet and stopped pursuing Alpha. Transforming into Hyperion once again, he was struck by another trident missing its middle prong was removed and therefore didn't impale him. Simply pinning him to one of the pillars, Hyperion wheezed as he had thought that he just was impaled.

"What exactly do you want from me?", asked Hyperion after he calmed down from this encounter. Simply dragging him onto the pillar, the man had him stand up and look at him.

"From the way you handle yourself in battle I can guess that you're just a stupid rookie feeling heroic! Why'd you protect that man?" Angered by Hyperion's lack of care for his own safety, he berated Hyperion as he finally got the chance to.

"That's what made you angry? There was no need to go this far just to teach me-"

"You're worthless, absolutely useless, and helpless. What's the point of having a dead Dream Catcher?", asked Harpocrates. "We're better off not having you at all!"

Hyperion, though in doubt of himself, took a stance. "I don't care," he said calmly.

Prompting Harpocrates to creat another trident to finally impale Hyperion, someone else intervened as a means to protect him from pain. The same knight from before struck Harpocrates with that longsword of his pinning Harpocrates to the ground. His speed and strength was far above Hyperion's yet he stood no chance against the foe at hand.

Grabbing Hyperion, he took off at far greater speeds than the two had expected. Shortly after, the two of them left the domain that entrapped Hyperion. The knight holding onto him ran into a forest not far from the station and ran deep into it.

"Are you stupid?", he asked as he let go of Hyperion.

"I'm sorry..."

Catching his breath, he whispered under his breath, "I knew that you were stupid but that heroic spirit of yours isn't gonna get you far, Alpha."

"What else was I supposed to do, Franky? I can't just let that person die!", said Alpha. He knew it was Franky. Just like that, identities they were supposed to keep secret were revealed just like that.

"At least call someone so you don't end up cornered!", exclaimed Franky as Alpha got up. They could head back out the way they came from but they'd run the risk of running into Harpocrates once again. However, that fear would be voided as it became reality. Just like that, they were back in his domain.

"Hyperion and King... You truly don't know what's best for you, do you?"

The pair looked at each other and simply collapsed from exhaustion. Harpocrates had caught up but still felt less threatening than Elena herself. Both well-aquainted with her feared her more than they could ever fear Harpocrates.

"I've read the contents of this little package. It's off to training with the both of you!"

To their surprise, Elena had anticipated it all. She was aware of the way they would respond to such a situation and read Harpocrates like a book, an ability she would miss as soon as it is lost. Elena genuinely wanted them to become stronger and this was the best way for them.

"Well, well... It worked out fine in the end, right?", said Elena as she talked with someone over the phone.

"Seriously? What if Harpocrates hadn't found them in time? You'd be looking for their corpses instead!", exclaimed the recipient.

"Don't worry about it, Sylvia! I always have a plan thanks to meeting one of your kids! Had it not been for that prodigy of yours I wouldn't have made it far in life!"

They seemed to be rather well-adjusted to each other and knew each other well. Both a part of the same group, Sylvia started reminiscing about the past.

"Prodigy, huh?"

"What's wrong, Sylvia?", Elena asked rather worried.

"Sometimes I wish that I too could just disappear and pay no heed to all these responsibilities I have now. Sometimes I wish that I could be as brave or inspiring as you and Mort..."

"You are! Look at the children you're taking care of! I bet you could disappear and they'd do well on their own, right? Especially your two oldest and the angry one... and the two that are so playful and apathetic at times!"

Elena too wanted to get away and abandon everything but she could never do that, especially not after having two rookies and Prometheia to take care of. The separation would be cruel to her and to them. However, she knows that this dreaded separation will one day come. By then she'll need them to be independant and strong.

"Do you think that I too could become as awesome as that prodigy?", asked Elena. Knowing the answer she'll have to face in a couple of seconds, she braced her heart for heartache and pain.

"Of course not!", Sylvia said as expected. "You're a walking accident! Wherever you go there's disaster!"

The call cut off before they could say their goodbyes. Prometheia walked into the living room and jumped on top of Elena. Gently snuggling with Elena, she asked, "What's wrong? Something on your mind?"

"Stop pretending to not know! You've heard everything Sylvia said just now! I know that you were listening in from behind the door," Elena responded.

"I just don't like the way they talk to you... Forget it! Let's just watch some TV and wait out for whatever Demon may come! Tomorrow's our day off anyway so we can sleep until noon!"

Just like that, Prometheia eased Elena's mind. Though Elena loves portraying a massive ego, she usually just pretends. That facade of hers can be shattered by just one mishap or another loss. However, this time felt different, almost as if she'd never have to face the grief of loss again.

"This time it'll be different, right?", she asked Prometheia in hopes of an answer that would coincide with that of hers.

"Of course it will. You and your rookies are basically prodigies," Prometheia assured not picturing herself within that future Elena desires.