Cedric sighed, climbing the staircase slowly, tired from loosing so much Mana. He was sure whatever was waiting for him at the top was bad. He heard a weird cracking sound, and looked up to see a large chunk of stone falling towards him. He only just dodged it, but was hit on the head by the debri that followed.
"Oww... How old is this place?" He grumbled, continuing up the staircase and watching out for more falling steps.

He reached the top and opened the door slowly, the room was dimly lit by torches on the walls, although the fire was green. He found himself in a large circular room. Green flames lit the room as they sat on the torches of the walls and in the middle was a large gold pedestal holding a golden bowl. Surrounding the bowl were 11 medallions.
Okay then... He stopped another door at the other end of the room, and silently started creeping towards it. The door slammed shut behind him.
"Fuck..." The Queen of the Stars appeared from the shadows, she had obviously been waiting for him.
"We meet again human." She rushed towards him, and evil glint in her eyes. Shocked, Cedric brought his forearm forth in an attempt to drive her back. The Queen glided back floating into the air and Cedric reached for his pistol and fired at her. She strafed around him as the bullets hit the wall behind her. As Cedric fired the sixth shot, the Queen stopped and fired a flurry of fireballs at him.

Cedric dove out of the way of the first three fireballs and reached for Excalibur. Excalibur in hand, Cedric rushed the Queen and slashed at her hip. The slash met nothing, but air and in frustration he swung his blade quickly. The Queen dodged the attacks and hit Cedric in the chest with her open palm. Cedric was knocked away by the hit. The air knocked out of him, Cedric began running at the Queen, jumped into the air, and attempted a downward slash.

Excalibur met a strange force field as it nearly hit her. Electricity flew from the area of impact and the blade was launched back by a shockwave. Cedric was launched backwards and Excalibur flew from his hand. He collided into a wall with a huge thump and slowly slid to down the wall.
"Ow... Holy shit." He rubbed the back of his head.
She leant down and kisses his lips gently, then took his head in her hands and kissed him deeply, passionately. The Queen then walked away, back towards the golden bowl in the center of the room.
What the fuck..? Cedric sat there in shock, wondering what the hell had just happened.

Up and up and up they climbed. At last at the very top Zeke crumpled to the ground panting with Eliza on his back. Unsheathing Amore, the Dweller pushed the door open, and facing them was a massive circular room. The four cardinal points of the room were marked with vicious gargoyles and several golden medallions glittered around a golden bowl, except for one spot. As they entered the door they looked around slowly, taking in the sights. "I knew you would find me" warbled a female voice which seemed to come from everywhere. Then she appeared, tall with blue hair and blue eyes with a glint of icy fire. twinkling starlight trailed with her steps and her gown flowed about her like a silver cloud on an invisible wind. "Half-Brother. How good to see you..." said th Queen walking towards the Dweller who said to her "You are no sister of mine, Queen, you toppled our society!" The Queen clicked her tongue and said "Brother why bother fighting? I will win, I always won when we fought...." the Dweller unsheathed, from seemingly nowhere, a long black sword covered in dancing blue flames. "Fortune favors the prepared, Half-Sister. I swear this shall be your very end!" the Queen summoned a long staff from between her hands, made of black stone and ending in two cruel hooks and the entire thing was woven with blue sparkling flames "I was born in a comet's tail. A sign of luck, Half-Brother. I fear this will be YOUR end. And with it, my plans will be complete." The Dweller advanced across the room and from the four corners hidden in shadow came Mooncalves, shambling across the floor. "HEY!" shouted Cedric who ran across the room and joined them saying "Thought I lost you." Rowan took up a defensive stance next to Eliza. The Dweller circled the Queen and said "This is our fight!"

Kane just stared ahead, mouth agape in typical Kane-like fashion

Zeke panted as he got up.

"Holy Shit Eliza, you've put on some weight. You giving birth to a giant? " He said out loud, not particularly caring for the respect that should be shown to the higher rankings.
He looked out into the room, the size of it almost staggering him. But what stunned him most was the beautiful woman in the centre.

" Damn Ced, you got yourself a handful there! " He said jokingly before howling and rushing at the woman. He wasn't so much 'repelled' as flung across the room by electricity. He got up groggily, smoke coming off his singed fur, blood leaking from several wounds.

" Fuck. Yep, a handful."

He kicked away the swarm of Mooncalves that had begun to congregate around him.

"Yeah, I really got lucky here." He said with irony, staying behind Jericho since his sword and gun were at the other end of the room. Jericho started shooting fireballs at random Mooncalfs.

Kane snapped out of his trance and began slicing into the nearest mooncalves

Eliza swung upwards and hacked a Mooncalf out of the air as it lunged for her face. The acidic black blood splashed on the ground and ate into the stone. "Lovely.....acidic blood." commented Eliza. Swinging again.

" I've had ENOUGH" Zeke yelled, summoning up magic he had almost forgotten he had. A fire nova erupted from his body, charring the writhing mass of Mooncalves that had been surrounding him. The fire engulfed the mass and soon only Zeke remained, his hands ablaze.

" Can we kill this bitch already?! " Zeke yelled, running on all fours back to the group, the fire slowly extinguishing itself as he ran. He piled into the Mooncalves that were surrounding the others and howled as loudly as he could, temporarily stunning the creatures.

" Get them while they're dazed!" He mentally yelled, slicing through the nearest ones with his claws.

"Dazed huh?" Cedric saw his opportunity and sneaked around the edge of the room until he reached his sword. He also pocketed his gun. He ran back to the others, but hid once again behind Jericho.
"I don't think I'm up to this.." He mumbled, already tired just from running back, his Mana was running dangerously low.

John stabbed one Mooncalf in the wing, ripping it in half as it bled to death. John ran forward and vaulted up off of Zeke's back, skewering another Mooncalf.

"Yes, we should kill this stupid Star Spawn quickly." He said, in response to Zeke's question.

Eliza hacked apart another disgusting Mooncalf and wiped the bleugh off of her sword. Looking at the Dweller he saw him fighting the Queen. Locked it mortal combat they danced around the room swinging their weapons, blocking and riposting and dodging under blows. The Dweller caught he Queens weapon and twisted it out of her hands and across the room. She flipped over, grabbed it as she landed and turned to face Eliza and holding a casual hand out the gold medallion Eliza had been carrying in her jacket pocket floated out of her hands. She dropped her word to catch it but it floated past her and into the perfect circle around the bowl. The Dweller charged and continued fighting. Eliza picked up her sword as the floor began to vibrate rhythmically. Why must things go from bad to worse? wondered Eliza to herself as yet another Mooncalf jumped at her head. "You are slow, Queen, not quick enough to fight me for long" snarled the Dweller.

Kane teleported his rifle into his hand and shot the mooncalf diving for Eliza out of the air, he then turned and fired at the queen, immediatley dropping to the floor, just in case

The Dweller dodged around several thrusts of the staff and brough his sword down and snapped it in two. The Queen threw the other half aside and leapt at the Dwelelr and grappled him to the ground. Grabbing the sword and throwing it aside they began fighitng hand to hand. The Dweller kicked the Queen in the chest and sent her flying into the golden pedestal. Shattering it and knocking some of the medallions off the pedestal. A piece of metal fell to the ground, it was another piece of the Mantle of Avalon, and the Dweller picked it up and backhanded the Queen with it. She crawled away and vanished in a flash of blue sparks. At one the tower began shaking and the roof dissapered, torn off. Above them a raging orange, purple and green whirlpool of energy was forming. "THE NECROPOLIS IS TEARING ITSELF APART. DOWN THE STAIRS! TO THE BASE OF THE TOWER!" yeleld the Dweller above a rising wind and thunder. Racing downt eh stairs they felt the stoens shaking and shattering. Dust and bits of stone fell upon them as they fled. Elzia was on Zeke's back as they ran down the stairs and once at their bottom they flew out of the door, through the main entryway and across the plain. Looking back they saw lighting bolts flashing down from the storms as it swirled inwards tearing teh Necropolis apart like ablack hole in the sky. The Titanic, floated up, whole, into the air before being ripepd apart into dust at the eye of the maelstrom. As the Necropolis collapsed upwards a massive metallic disc appeared from underneath the Necropolis and as it rose in the air the Dweller screamed for them tog et down. A flash of light and blast of white heat blazed overhead as the disc shot off into the sky. The tower vanished and the storm swirled into a tiny point before vanishing. The clods parted and the sun began to shine. Where the tower was only grass remained.

Thank fuck for that.. Cedric thought, lying down on the grass. He needed to rest to restore his Mana, and couldn't be bothered to wait until he got back to the Sanctuary.

Eliza blinked thrice and said "Well, that was completely random....." before laying down on the grass. "Everyone take five...."

Ewan laid down on the grass and stared at the empty space where the Necropolis was. He wondered if they would have to face the Queen again, if they would be successful next time. More importantly, he wondered if there was time to stop off at the Star and Pentacle for something to eat.

Eliza got up and aid "Everyone back to the Sanctuary." and teleported away with Rowan.

At the Sanctuary, everyone looked thankfully at the old church and went inside. Zeke transformed back into human form and opened the trapdoor and descended first. Sitting there in the corner in a chair was Aimee. Zeke swung her up into his arms and carried her off. Ewan sneaked off towards the kitchen while Eliza made her way to her room. She was tired. Seven months since she'd gotten pregnant and she still moved around though her bladder was being squashed. She needed a nap.

Cedric followed the Dweller back to the library, since he had nothing better to do. He slumped over one of the small circular tables as the Dweller wandered off through the bookshelves, no doubt to do more reading.
"Guh... so tired." He mumbled, before closing his eyes and resting.

And now is my chance to ask Zeke about telepathy, incase Eliza mutes me... again which will probably happen, Dekres thinks to himself cracking his knuckles.

But where did he go? he wonders before setting off to try and find him.

Zeke walked through the sanctuary with Aimee in his arms. Her face was stained with tears and as they entered she started screaming, pounding his shirtless body with her fists as he put her down on the bed.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME WHERE YOU WERE?!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
"What was I supposed to tell you? That I was going to go into a life threatening situation that could result in my death?" He sighed as he answered her question with one of his own.
"YES!" She screamed in adamant rebellence.
"Aimee. You're my student, I couldn't take you in there. You might have lost control...or worse." His voice trailed off as he forced the image of a dead student out of his mind. Her screaming had stopped and now only tears fell. "Hey." Zeke smiled "I'm back now, get some sleep." He bent down and hugged his student. Her warm body embraced his tightly, almost refusing to let go.

When she had let go Zeke walked out of the room, still only wearing pants. He made his way to the kitchen, his stomach grumbled fiercely.

"Fuck." He mumbled, feeling slightly dizzy. "Didn't realise being a werewolf made you so damn hungry all the time."

Kane entered the library, nodding to Cedric in passing "Hey, Ced" he then wandered through the halls until he found a book on witches, he found a chair and began reading through it rather quickly.

"Yo Zeke," Dekres grunts wandering into the kitchen just after him.

"I was wondering if I could ask you about telepathy? Just incase, ya know Eliza gets sick of me talking again," he laughs.

He notices his stance shaking slightly, "something up with you?" he asks raising his eyebrows to show concern.

"Um... Did you guys not notice that I was here?" Ewan asked Dekres and Zeke. "So... How's Aimee doing, Zeke?"

"Buh.." Cedric raised a hand in response to Kane, then decided to sit up, rubbing his eyes. He noticed the book Kane was reading, but he just blinked. He slumped down again, resting his head in his arms.

Eliza laid down on her bed, she was tired. Walking was really hard to do but she needed to keep moving or the baby wouldn't grow properly. She cupped her bulging belly and caressed it wondering if it was a boy or girl. Would they love her? Or would they resent her? So many questions. But first she had wedding plans to put together, too bad all of her adult parental figures were gone. All except the Dweller. She would talk to him later.

"Yeah...I'm fine." Zeke visibly wasn't. His hands had begun to shake. He stumbled over to the counter and grabbed a whole loaf of bread before sitting down. He started tearing it to pieces and wolfing them down. When he'd finished the loaf he leant back in the chair. His arms had stopped shaking.

"Phew....That's better. Sorry. I think that being in werewolf form uses up a lot more energy than human form. I'm still hungry..." He grumbled as he stood up and looked around for something more substantial, something more...meaty.

As he was searching he remembered what both Dekres and Ewan had asked him.
"Errrm. Telepathy?" he spoke with his head practically buried in a cupboard. "I don't really know how it works. The whole werewolf thing augments it A LOT. You've just gotta kinda focus on talking, but not talking. Just try and project your voice into someones head." He pulled his head out of the cupboard with a mouthful of biscuits.

" Like this." He would have smiled but his mouth was completely stuffed.

He watched Dekres' reaction as he swallowed the mouthful of biscuits. After his mouth was empty he spoke again.

"Errrrm. Aimee...She's fine. Not as hormonal anymore so it's not as if I get the urge to hump her incessantly every time. But It doesn't help she's ridiculously attractive as well." He sighed. "But she's a good student, and listens to me all the time. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing though." He laughed before returning back to searching for food.

"Why am I still hungry?!?!"

"I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that we just got back from a mission that could've nearly killed us." Ewan said sarcastically. "I'll cook something for us... Anything particular you guys want? Maybe a whole raw chicken for the puppy?"

"So..." Kane began, glancing up at Cedric momentarily as he continued to flip through the book, reading rather quickly for someone as (apparently) stupid as he was "Do you have a fear of witches, or do you just dislike them with a passion?"

Cedric's eyes snapped open, he hated being asked about Witches.
"Uhh... Is there a difference?" He asked, trying to dodge the question.

"I'll take whatever. Just something cooked that has or had blood in it. And please. Puppy?" Zeke laughed.

"Hey Ewan, how's the apprenticing going by the way?"