The League Of Darkness

“What do we do now?” asked Hannah, breaking the silence after a while of not speaking.

It took me a moment to respond, as all I could come up with was a gentle shrug. “What do you mean, though? Right now, I guess we wait for Elizabeth to tell us.”

“And then what? From what it looks like, we’re about to go through some serious changes over the next few days, if not even longer… What do we do? Do we keep ourselves in hiding? Does Elizabeth just expect the world to accept us becoming ponies? What about you… you two? Will you be OK?”

“I’m not sure, Hannah. It’s too early to jump to conclusions.”

“Hypocrite!” Nightmare Moon yelled in my head.

“I’m sorry?” I accidently said aloud, Hannah seemed to get what was going on.

“Jumping to conclusions is all you’ve done today, from what I can tell. I may be crazy, but at least I’m consistent!”

This made me a tad annoyed that I was the only one who could hear her when she wasn’t in control. But I thought it was probably for the better, an uncontrolled mad pony I don’t think needed her opinions broadcasted. Especially someone who has access to every single thought I have and have ever had.

That level of exposure was not something anyone would want.

“Have you tried calling your family?” probed Hannah, bringing my attention back to the now, “If these changes happen, wouldn’t it be for the best if they knew what was about to happen?”

“I don’t think that’ll be good. They’re coming round in the next day or two. They said it was for my birthday.”

My eyelids extended as Hannah’s words sunk in. “OH GOD!” I yelled, “What would they say if they saw me? I have scars and a second personality! They’d think I’d gone mad! I don’t want them to feel that! That’ll be awful! I-”

“OK! OK! Bad idea to leave them to their own devices, and I’m guessing calling them would be a bad idea due to disbelief.”

“Then what do we do?”

We pondered for a bit, unsure of what was the lesser of the two evils. Although… Was there a third option?

“What about Darius Jem?” I suggested, “What if we get Darius to explain, it’s a well-known fact that he’s unbearably honest.”

“That may be a good idea. But didn’t Elizabeth say not to call him?”

“She says lots of things, what if it’s just superstition?”

“I believe that you’re forgetting a lot of today. Most things that Elizabeth has said have either come true or are in our benefit. What if something bad happens if you call Darius?”

I shook my head, “I know Darius more than anyone. If there’s one thing he is other than honest, is that he’s loyal to the bone. And although his methods may be quite questionable, what he does is beneficial to all of us in the long run.” I took out my phone from my pocket, flinching slightly, “I could get him to talk to our families and find some place for us to stay while these changes happen.”

“Heck, he could even make us welcome to society if we fully transform- he could be our ambassador.”

“And… Nightmare Moon? Would the people, him included, manage to accept someone who is known by only a few as just a villain?”

“We’ll think about that later-”

“No you won’t!” she laughed angrily, “You always try to plan things ahead, but in the process you end up at the most dangerous of potentially avoidable circumstances! You don’t even know if Darius will believe you, and if he does, will he TRUST you?”

“He’s my friend!”

“But She isn’t. Just because he’s nice to you, it doesn’t guarantee that he’ll be so forgiving of her. He may not even recognise you through her. And then what? What will he think? Will he still be your friend?”

I stopped, and finally put the phone back into my pocket. “You did the right thing. From what Elizabeth said, that was probably what was going to happen. Let’s think things through with the rest of the guys and then we can move forward, without any other risks.”

“That seems to be the best way forward as of now. I think we all need our say on the matter,” said David from the other sofa, much to our surprise.

“How long were you awake?”

“Long enough to know that you know the Prime Minister personally,” he sat up on the sofa while holding his neck, “and that I’m not the only one having a tough time with what’s happening. But at least you haven’t been kidnapped.”

“Actually, we also have no idea why you’ve been brought here. For all we know you can go-”

“But you know that I won’t go now-”

He cracked a sinister smile and made a single quiet chuckle.

“Why don’t you want to go?”

“Just because I’m an actor, it doesn’t mean I’m not human-” he paused and looked down at his trousers, “for now. But in the meantime, I’m still curious about what’s happening. And it’s obvious that sticking around will help provide those answers.”

“Don’t get your hopes up… Mr Tennant, we can’t guarantee that you’ll get what you want,” I said in a warning tone. “We know what has happened, but all we know about the future is that we’re going to shift species.”

“Well at least I’ll be able to probably meet Mr Jem as a person for once. And not some kind of corporate joke or an actor on TV.”

“Again, don’t get your hopes up. Darius is usually on a tight schedule and even then, as we said before, it’s unlikely that he’ll trust us after-”

“Don’t worry, Patrick. Just because I was knocked out, it doesn’t mean that I couldn’t hear anything. I’m well aware of what’s going on and the risks of meeting him.”

“That would explain why you trust us a bit now- so you know that your family is safe, I presume?”

“Yes, and I am thankful that you are now not using that drug again on me. I can trust you two as long as she can promise that they are safe and will be safe without me there.”

I sighed, “We’ll make sure that Elizabeth keeps her word, OK David?”

“Yes, and I believe that you two have something for me?”

Hannah nodded and took out the small package from earlier, he took it slowly and began to unwrap it. “So Hannah, what do you think these are?”

“They’re just books, Elizabeth gave us them for our birthdays. Considering that you had your birthday a while ago, consider it a late birthday present.”

He shrugged with his mouth and unwrapped the books contained within the packaging. He did not read out the titles, nor did he show them to us. He kept himself reserved and small with his reactions. The most we got was a raised eyebrow. And unlike what we did last night, he actually started reading one of them.

“Why are you reading that now?” I asked.

“Better now than later. Simple as that,” he peered up at us, “I imagine that you have your own, do you?”

“Yes, would you suggest that we start reading them now?”

“I’m not forcing you. I’d just say if you have no information, your best hope is the information that was given to you on a silver platter.”

I shrugged, “Fair enough.” I said while standing up.

Hannah looked like she was about to stop me, “It’s fine, I’m just heading up to my room.”

I walked out of the sitting room with a leisurely pace, walking past the main stairs that only lead up to the first floor.

In the dining room, I found Elliott, thankfully with new bandages covering the side of his face, preventing any more scares. I left him to his own and he gave me a friendly nod.

I opened the door in the corner of the room, just next to the service window in the wall to make my way to the flight of stairs that would lead up to my room.

My room and the other connecting rooms were exactly as I had left them, organised, but with still an unmade bed and clothes thrown onto the ground… I had to blame this on either my laziness or someone getting me changed last night.

The blinds were closed, but it still allowed me enough light to determine where some of my stuff was, and it wasn’t very long before I stumbled across the small collection of books, the armor that Hannah had given me and the sheathed sword.

The books, of course, had had my curiosity since last night, due to their strange nature in subject. But since I had a rough idea now of what I would have to use them for, my attention was drawn to the armor and the sword.

I remembered a rough portion of my dream where the pony I was seeing from had the same sort of armor, but I never remember the sword.

And an even larger question was if that armor was the armor from my dreams, how did it get through to this world? Elizabeth never specified that for Dimensia to happen the components needed to be biological. Although in the analogy she used, the process was described with inanimate objects. If that was the case, wasn’t it that for the others to come through, didn’t we need Nightmare to awaken, or for something to have a host in the case of Nightmare? Then why was it that I was given this armor before Dimensia even happened.

It could have been a replica. I mean, Elizabeth was that desperate, she probably would have made a replica. But even still, why would I need it, even if I did become a pony? I wasn’t a king. Did it serve a purpose?

“Perhaps I should show you,” said Nightmare Moon, I attempted to avoid her. My body, without resistance, could not.

My hand lurched fourth in a manner of strange stamina and speed, she seemed to have warned me just there that she would seize control of a part of me, but I didn’t expect that she would have regained so much strength to take control after I was completely drained from our last encounter, but I guessed from the way that I was not simply an observer, she could only control a small part of me.

The rogue right hand grabbed the armor in front of me, more specifically, the crown.

Nothing much happened, only that my arm seemed to wave around, with the crown being grasped. Until-

“THERE!” Nightmare Moon yelled in my head, alerting me to a strange phenomenon.

It wasn’t immediate, only gradual, but still obvious what was happening.

Without heading or any other stimulant, the metal crown seemed to grow and morph in my hand, the black colouring faded to a light blue and the sharp spikes formed into long curves and intricate patterns.

I now realised that the crown had become Nightmare Moon’s headpiece.

I didn’t panic, nor had the same wonder that I had had when I had first seen her in the mirror. It was something just as crazy as the things that Elizabeth had explained, but judging by how she had reacted, I knew that she-

“Yes, I do know what it means-” she interrupted.

“And that is?”

“That this is the armor from my own dimension. I know it, since it is magically enchanted to shape to my form when I should touch it. My old host was… Persistent in his tastes, so I had to come up with a way of presenting us when one of us were to assume control.”

“Then how did it get here?”

“That is as much a mystery to you as it is to me. We do not know how far in time and space this Dimensia stretches.”

I guessed she was telling the truth at that moment, since she had no motive for all I know to lie to me about it. I turned my attention back to her specifically while I sat down upon the small unmade bed.

“Who was he?”

“I’m gathering from the tone of your voice that you are referring to my old host. I have already told you… He was an alicorn prince. I do not wish to go into further detail”

“Until one of us is strong or dumb enough to assume complete control, we’re stuck in a little hive mind- I’m going to find out more about him sooner or later. I promise I won’t tell anyone else about him.”

I repeated the line ‘I’m telling the truth’ over and over in my head- Nightmare Moon was not impressed.

“You are not convincing me that easily. But I will make you a promise- I will allow you glimpses of my past in your dreams. But at the same time, I would be using that time to build my own strength. It would be a waste of time in your part- but I will not try to assume control when you are dreaming for information in regards to him.

“Dream for any other reason, and I will not fulfil my end of the promise for those dreams. It’s a big risk for you- Is that a length you’d be prepared to go just to find out about one pony?”

I shrugged, hoping she would notice that, “I’m guessing that’s an agreement.”

I stared around, trying to think of things other than her just to take my mind off things, so I looked at the sword.

“Have you thought of a name?”

“A name? For what?”

“The sword, what else?”

“Would a name be necessary?”

“Only if it were needed, who knows, maybe you’d need it some time. Better to name it now than in the middle of a fight.”

“I don’t think I’ll need it-”

“Then if you don’t name it- I’ll name it! What about… The Rubber Sword? Or the Fairy Cake? I could get it engraved if you want-”

“No! I think I’ll name it, thank you!” I said, dreading having to walk around with a sword with ‘fairy cake’ written on it. That sort of stupidity in logic made me want to kill her.

I pondered for a moment, before taking the sword directly into my hand. I felt that drawing it may provide a flash of inspiration. Quickly unsheathing it- that was exactly what happened.

A sudden, non-physical burst happened in my mind, as if I had suddenly overcome a massive writer’s block, thousands of names coursed through my head, waiting to be chosen. I stared at the sword and only one name came to mind-

“Dragonbane.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I said: Dragonbane.”

Nightmare Moon stammered, as if I had just hit some kind of nerve. I took this sudden weakness as an opportunity for some questions- “Remind you of anything?”

She was silent, she was thinking. Which I had not heard until now, I could not hear her inner thoughts, but I knew there was something to it.

“That’s a stupid name for a sword. I’d pick a different one than that.”

“My mind is made, and the Sword is Dragonbane we had a bargain.”

Nightmare sighed, and then made a shrill laugh. “Oh, that flare! You remind me of myself when I was merely a filly.”
The obvious attempt to change the subject passed over my head, I did not reply, neither through voice nor thought, Nightmare Moon got the message. “You will get nothing from me. I am too strong.”

My hand slapped me roughly in the face. I had forgotten that she was still in control of it. And continued to slap me hard on the cheek until I thought it would draw blood. I never knew that I could receive so much damage from just my hand.

I seized it with my left hand, as it fidgeted and writhed. I used this moment as an opportunity.

“Give me my hand back and I will not ask about the Sword to you. Deal?”

The hand stopped for a moment, clenched its fingers into a fist and shook out of my grip. I stared at the limb for a moment before it accelerated and slammed into my face once.

“Deal.” Nightmare Moon said, making sure that she had her opportunity to give me one large hit.

I fell to the ground after that impact, but I did not pass out. Nightmare Moon must have found the right force to deal enough pain while minimising damage and preventing unconsciousness. Although I think she broke my nose with my own hand.

I went downstairs after that, holding the books and Dragonabne in both hands, while using one of my sleeves to hold back a possible nosebleed. I traced my steps back to the sitting room, where the two I had left were still sitting, but were now joined by Elizabeth, Josh and finally, Cordelia.

Elizabeth and Josh were pretty much how I had left them, with Elizabeth being quite sad, but keeping a fixed smile, Josh being twitchy and slightly angry.

Cordelia, on the other hand, had wildness to her eyes, fixed upon me with pupils as pinpricks; every action I took her eyes seemed to follow. I could not tell whether she was angry, upset or had gone completely insane from whatever Elizabeth had told her. Whatever it was, I felt that neither of us should cross her at that moment, for fear of what she would do to us, especially as we had a broken nose now.

“Glad to see you’re down now, were you getting those books?”

I nodded and placed the books and Dragonbane down while wiping my nose. I took the feeling of having no sudden torrent of blood to be a good thing.

I looked at the two lodgers in my house, who I guessed thought of me as some kind of alien being. They didn’t even notice the sword.

“So, what do you know?” I asked. Josh was the one to reply.

“Enough to know the Multiverse is a shit mechanic, you unintentionally caused this mess and I’m somehow not affected.”

I raised an eyebrow; this was news even to me.

The shock died down based on evidence that, I’m guessing, Nightmare made available.

-He was the one Elizabeth did not expect to come.
-His birthday did not coincide with ours.
-He did not say that he had a cutie mark either.
-He was not given any gifts or a plan for the day.

“Not everyone here was affected, as of now; Joshua Newport is the only true human in the room. We have no real use for him,” said Elizabeth, patting Joshua on the shoulder, who glared at her for a moment before she spoke again, “But due to his arrival yesterday, and his persistence to know about Cordelia, he knows everything we know, so we cannot afford to lose him.”

Josh blinked and sank his head into his hands, Elizabeth continued, “If we keep ourselves hidden, then Joshua will become our only connection to the human world until Hannah can master shapeshifting or we find another person willing to accept the transformation we will go through.”

David leant forward, “So when we are ‘complete’ we can’t go to the outside world?”

Elizabeth nodded, “We don’t know what the general public, let alone the Government would do if we went completely transformed. I believe the only reason to go out before some form of negotiation were to happen would be if a disaster occurred in the country, or by extension, the city.”

“So are we stuck in this house then?” asked David.

“Pretty much- Joshua will go out and get supplies, this house is very able to accommodate this number of people from what I can tell bedroom-wise. Plus we have enough games and movies to last us until roughly 2030. I doubt we’ll be bored.”

Cordelia squinted her eyes and glared at Elizabeth. She sat up tall and spoke with a hoarse voice. “That’s not all is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I doubt it’s just sitting around here that you have planned. You remember don’t you?” she glared at me with that last question. Only one thing was in my mind at that moment (excluding Nightmare Moon).

Night Fury.

“What about those phone calls?” she shouted.

“I’m guessing you’re referring to the phone calls I had planned for you all to take, and the code words that you were supposed to use. That, with the other information that you provided, I ‘all’.”

Cordelia stood up. “That’s just the thing, if we were meant to remain here completely under wraps as you said, what are we doing by taking a phone call and blurting a code word to someone that most likely we don’t know? You’re saying that we should remove all contact with the outside world, bar Josh, but what makes this phone call so special?”

Elizabeth smiled as a bead of sweat dropped down the side of her forehead, “I can’t exactly explain it in a manner that you’ll like.”

“Then do it anyway! Our lives aren’t exactly picking up on the funometer. Who are we taking the call from, and why do we need codewords?”

An awkward silence loomed over the room, since no-one knew exactly what to say in response to either of them. But the silence was broken by a sound that at this moment, no-one wanted to hear.

A ringtone.

More specifically, Cordelia’s ringtone.

She reached into her pocket and took out the device and scowled at it.

“I bet you want me to answer it don’t you?”

“Yes, I do…”

“What if I don’t?”

Elizabeth shrugged, “I cannot control free will. If you don’t answer then I don’t know what you’ll do. It’s as simple as yes or no… I have not told you who is on the phone or why they are phoning you. All I want you to do is to answer it.”

Cordelia stared at her, and then at the still-ringing phone. And then she looked at me.

I did not know how I could express to her without moving my mouth, I was in a similar mind-set as her at this point, and Elizabeth had told us nothing about this call other than what we needed to say. But I knew that what Elizabeth had done so far had been for our benefit, no matter what the cost.

If Elizabeth thought that this was the way to go, the likely possibility was that in total, picking up the phone for these calls would be for the greater good.

I nodded to Cordelia and, thankfully, she got the idea.

The anger washed out of her, to be replaced with fear and uncertainty. The button was pressed on the touchscreen, and the phone was placed to her ear.

Elizabeth turned to me out of the corner of my eye. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Cordelia stood, eversoslightly awkwardly, in the center of the room. With her phone pressed to her ear we all watched intently and in silence. No-one, not even her made a sound.

She broke the silence sharply with a phrase familiar to most of the people there.

“White Siren,” she said with a cold, almost robotic, tone. And a few moments after that, she hung up.

Josh immediately jumped to attention. “Who was it? Why were they calling?”

Cordelia blinked a few times, as if even she was unsure what had just happened. “I don’t know… They didn’t say… It seemed to be some sort of sales call.”

“Why did you say White Siren?” asked David.

“They asked if I had a Bargain code and, based on what Elizabeth said last night, it just blurted out. After that… They accepted the code with saying,” she squinted her eyes, “‘Golden Hope located,’ and then they hung up.”

“Golden Hope eh? Interesting,” muttered Nightmare. The name was familiar to me in some way, maybe one of the Ponies in my dreams, but I had to know more.

“Golden Hope? Does that mean anything?” I asked.

Cordelia did not respond, so only stared at me once more. The same level of fear and anger that she had had earlier. But now, she wanted to talk.

“You would know wouldn’t you?” she spat, “either from Nightmare Moon or the rest of that stupid pony knowledge?”

“Cordelia, I didn’t mean any of this-” she wasn’t going to listen.

“I don’t care! For all the interdimensional bullshit that could have ended up here, why the fuck did it have to be freaking Ponies? It’s all about you isn’t it!”

“Cordelia, stop!” Elizabeth shouted in an assertive manner.

“It had to be that! It had to be that you were the ‘chosen one’ and it was ponies that fucking-”

I snapped, “ENOUGH!”

The sheer force of my voice was enough to bring the room to silence. Even the ambient noise of pipes and heating seemed to have been dulled. Cordelia was all the more taken back. “I never intended this. I don’t even want this. I know that logically speaking from what you may have seen recently, I may be the one to blame.”

I rested the sword on the tip of the scabbard, still holding the grip firmly in my hand, while the other hand pointed to my eye. “I know that I have already gone through some things, but I am still the same person… More or less.”

“But you said it yourself, you’re Nightmare Moon.”

“I didn’t say that. Nightmare Moon did, she’s a different side of me. My body is the toolbox, she’s the hammer and I’m still a spanner. We exist together, one of us may be dominant, but we are still separate beings.”

Cordelia blinked twice, “What do you mean by hammers and spanners.”

Elizabeth interrupted, “He’s talking about the Universal Slingshot effect, or Dimensia. I just used a different analogy to describe it to you two. It’s essentially the same principle.”

Cordelia turned to me with a moment of silence. Inspecting. Learning and Understanding everything about me.

“So… she’s the Apple in the Orange bowl?”

I tipped my head. “You could say that. But now since there’s so much fruit ending up in the same bowl, some of us have become a little ‘pear-shaped’,” I smirked, smug that I could still make a pun in this situation.

Most of the people in the room groaned loudly, including Nightmare Moon. Cordelia flashed a small smile before the sides of her mouth dropped once more. “You’re still you still aren’t you?”

“Absolutely, I’m still me.”

At least… I hoped I was.

Cordelia sat down once more and put her phone into her pocket.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

“It’s fine. I’m not mad.”

“And yet you have brought a sword into the sitting room,” said Josh, now holding the glares at me. I directed my attention to him and Dragonbane.

“I was interested in it. Not even Nightmare Moon knows about it… I just thought that there might be something unique about it.”

“Maybe it’s just a sword and you’re being a psychopath. I don’t think those swords are even legal in this country… Or safe,” he pointed quickly to his bandaged hand.

“It might be a regular sword, but why would Elizabeth give it to me then?” I turned to the aforementioned woman, “Elizabeth?”

Elizabeth smiled, “I don’t know either. I found it the same way I found you, just by pure luck. I gave it to you because I know you like swords compared to guns.”

“So… What you’re saying is that out of all the gifts that YOU gave us, only Dragonbane is an actual Birthday present?”

“Yes. That’s exactly what it is.”

I heard a sharp laugh from Josh, “Sorry- what did you say Patrick?”

“I called it Dragonbane… What about it?”

He held his head in his hands and leant back, “You’ve had that weapon for less than a day and you’ve ALREADY named it?”

Hannah joined in, “Yeah, that is a little weird, even compared to what’s been going on.”

“Hey hey!” David said, finally getting something out of himself, “Don’t berate him for that, I imagine that lots of people name their… Swords.”

Hannah responded appropriately, “Well you’ll find that a lot of those people are just-”

We were interrupted again, preventing her from finishing the quote, this time by David’s phone ringing.

“Is this going to happen a lot?” I asked.

Elizabeth stood up, “It’s going to continue until all of us, except Josh, have received a call and given their codeword. I’d suggest we go to different parts of the house so we can all take our calls in peace and,” She eyed that I had the books. “Catch up on our studies.”

David picked up the phone, giving us a chance to leave the room one at a time. Still cautiously, but with less tension between us.

Everything was mostly calm.

I sat down on a chair next to the dining room table, with Elliott sat on the seat opposite to me. He seemed restless, but not in a state of panic or intense pain as I had feared.

He did not respond to my sitting down. I took out my own phone from my pocket, thankful that it was only sixty-seven percent after leaving it on for a while. No e-mails, ten missed calls, all from family and Darius.

I placed the phone down, lest I felt tempted to call any of them.

All I had to do was wait for my own phone call.

“You do remember what you have to say don’t you?”

“I do remember Nightmare Moon. I’ve been having it going around my head all day.”

“Good. I wouldn’t like it for us to be the only ones who get it wrong.”

“Could you shut up?”

“Make me.”

“Good point.”

The phone sat idly, creating internal tension about when and if it would even ring. I knew full well it would. It was just a matter of waiting for it.

And waiting.

And waiting.

I felt that every second seemed to pass even slower as time moved forwards. Waiting became paradoxical syrup. Leaving me in silence, with only my breath and our thought to satisfy me.

Elliott shifted and stretched every now and then. But that was the only thing I would get out of him without deliberately waking him. But I felt that having another person to explain everything to would make things even more confusing and arduous.

But at last, Hallelujah. A response.

The gentle buzzing and the sharp tones alerted me to the inevitable.

I could not wait a moment longer. I seized the phone immediately and answered it.

“Hello?”

An automated voice answered.

“Hi! I’m Trevor from Dominoes UK. I’m just letting you know about the special deals of this week-”

Normally, I would have hung up rudely by now, but I had to keep listening.

“For a limited time only you can receive the Spring Fiesta deal for only £15.99 or the Half and Half meal deal only for £10.99. If you are interested in one of our deals, please enter your coupon code now!”

“I believe that’s your cue.”

I remembered that I had to do the code first, so I spoke the code clearly and softly. “4-849514996.”

Classically, the voice didn’t pick up on it. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear that.”

I spoke once more. This time trying to pronounce it as clearly as possible. “4.8.4.9.5.1.4.9.9.6.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Thank you, putting you through to an operator-”

A harsh shriek was emitted from my phone, at a sound that only increased with pitch. Elliott snapped awake and covered his uncovered ear.

“What the hell’s that?” he choked, unsure of what was happening. As was I.

The phone’s sound increased more and more. To the point it became difficult to hear due to its pitch, and then went even further to the point that it couldn’t even be heard at all.

This seemed to continue even more, until a voice spoke loudly on the phone.

“Are you still there, Sir?” it said.

I placed the phone against my ear once more and spoke harshly, “What was that?”

“I’m sorry; if I had warned you then the integrity of this entire operation would have been compromised. It was crucial that this went as smoothly as possible to avoid suspicion.”

I frowned when thinking through the logic of what he just said. “If you wanted to be secure, why are we talking normally now?”

“Due to the frequency of the sound generated by your phone’s speakers, it will distort and eliminate the signal emitted from your phone when a call is made. To everyone except yourself and the person you are calling, your phone now doesn’t exist.”

I thought of some nutjob thinking about ‘governments tapping into my phone’ but I felt that in the condition that I was in, and was going to be in, it would be best if the authorities didn’t know where I was and who I was trying to contact. But the unanswered question was why this person would do this for me.

“Who are you? And why do I need a secure phone network.”

“I’m afraid that information is classified at your security level. In order for you to gain the information, your security clearance must exceed that of level 1. Your current security clearance level is 3,” he said, with an almost monotonous reading tone to his voice.

I had only picked up the phone, and already I had a high level security clearance for something I didn’t know about.

“How did I get such high level clearance?”

The line went dead, and no sound was heard. “Goddamnit!” I shouted, rubbing my ear a few times after the sound still left a ringing sensation in there.

“I believe that this may go further than we had both anticipated. A security clearance of any kind usually means that you yourself are classified information.”

“But context means everything, Nightmare. 3 out of what? If it was out of three then I would have the lowest security for whatever that was. If it was out of one million, then I would have a problem.”

“That ‘Darius’ could have been responsible. After all, he has access to all NATO and Anti-Spy Software. It would only be logical that he would keep you under wraps in both information and technology.”

I thought for a moment… It made some sense.

Darius had known me for all my life, he knew me since I was a child and I had become very strong friends with him.

But his anti-terrorist campaign and secularism of the United Kingdom had left him with one or two strong enemies that wanted his head. If they found out about me, then they would use me to get to him. So he would put me under deep security.

But that didn’t explain Elizabeth, or the fact that she herself didn’t want me to contact him. And that she was the one who warned me about the phone call itself.

Maybe it had something to do with Dimensia. Elizabeth knew about it… Could anyone else have known? If so, Darius would have. Tap ins on my phone would be through the roof, people would be trying to make attempts on my life. And the lives of my friends, shown by those men who attacked Hannah.

Darius could have orchestrated this entire operation and I wouldn’t know about it.

He would know that I would think he couldn’t be trusted at this point just so I don’t call him before he set up the anti-tracking frequency. His forces, spearheaded by Elizabeth, would keep me, and others affected by Dimensia, safe.

It made perfect sense. That man was more secretive than James Bond holding a surprise birthday party for a NSA agent.

But how would I know if that was true?

What if it wasn’t the case?

What if Darius was the problem?

I wouldn’t know for sure for now… But that was still the possibility.

I knew Darius, but I didn’t know his inner workings. If he knew about Dimensia I wouldn’t know if he would shun it or start research into exploiting it.

I didn’t know whether he would accept me or declare me as not being myself.

It was all too confusing. I felt that answers would be coming soon, but again I questioned… Would these answers be enough?

A lulled state of half-awareness and thinking was drawn to a close through the sound of one of the clocks in the room.

I had not noticed the time until now, nor the darkness of outside.

But it was midnight.

Elliott was still resting and Nightmare was still restless. I could only assume from the silence around the rest of the house that I was the only one still awake… The others must have found a bed.

Surprisingly, I did not feel tired.

“And you won’t. Since you’re currently host to the Queen of the night.”

Unsurprisingly, then.

I whispered quietly, to avoid waking Elliott. “I’m guessing that I won’t be getting any sleep any time soon.”

“Far from it. You’d be surprised. Due to us being two different beings, and thus having different sleep cycles. I am preventing you from becoming tired tonight by allowing you to tap into some of my own energy.”

“Why’s that?”

“You’re my host; I can’t hate you for that. And for now I might allow you to be privileged by my presence. I’d like it if your last moments of consciousness were of my kindness.

“Plus… I am as curious as yourself to the contents of the next call, and by extension your future. I would not like you to miss this call by ‘sleeping on the job’.”

As if on cue, the phone began ringing again. This time, the sound of the ringtone sounded much harsher, clearer cut and deadly. I felt afraid to even touch the device. But I had made up my mind ages ago, and I was not backing down now.

“Hello?”

“Please state your identification code,” a voice said sharply on the other line.

“I’m sorry?”

“Please state your identification code,” it said, allowing me to notice the distinct male voice.

I replied clearly and carefully. “Night Fury.”

It felt that something had been lifted from my shoulders upon saying those two words.

There was a pause again, like the previous call. But this time I was not greeted by a harsh beeping, but instead, the voice spoke once more.

“You have been cleared for Security Level 0. Allow me to greet you, Patrick Taylor.”

The mention of my own name made me breathe deeply, as well as the zero on the title of the security level. It became clearer now how important I was to them. It felt that I was now about to receive some form of answers.

“Who is this?” I asked.

“I do not believe that you are familiar with our organisation. We are the TRIGON. A group specialised in tracking down and utilising the properties of Ultra-Terrestrial Life forms, such as yourself. We have become aware of your presence in this plain of reality, and will try our best to assist you in whatever means necessary.”

“My friends have all been given calls by you, haven’t they?” I asked, piecing together evidence from earlier.

“Yes, they have been given security level 4 clearance, far below what you have now. For now, you are the most important asset to the organisation. And we cannot afford for you to fall into the wrong hands.”

“I am disturbed in how you refer to me as some kind of inanimate object in that sentence.”

“Then I apologise for my phrasing. To put it bluntly, you are in far more danger than any of the others that have received calls from us. And you will need to act fast.”

Terror crept into my mind.

“Why? Why am I in danger?”

“Because you are the only thing that can stop this madness.”

“What madness? What are you talking about?”

There was a pause, and a rumbling sound on the other side of the call, which increasingly got louder the longer the pause was. A man started yelling in the background inaudibly.

“I’m sorry, I have to go. I will explain once you have completed the transformation. But for now, I want you to do something.”

“Yes… What is it?” I said, a tad annoyed that I could not receive my answer yet again.

“Do not trust Darius Jem.”

And then silence.

Left in silence with the name ringing in my head.

The name now left me in a state of fear that I had never experienced before.

When Elizabeth had said it the other day, it did not have as much impact. But now, with a whole secret organisation telling me that I can’t trust him, there was a whole lot more on my shoulders when that phrase was announced.

He was the problem, it seemed.

But why?

Why was he the problem?

I had no idea, and I felt I would have no idea at this time of Night. And the more I thought about it, the more tired I became. I decided to head up to bed.

I heard a rustling and creaking as I turned off the lights and made my way upstairs, allowing me to take note of the dark surroundings around me. And the gentle moonlight that slid through the window.

It was the dawn of the second day, and the moon held her ground magnificently. But I knew I did not have Nightmare Moon to thank for it-

“Yet.”

I could not dawdle, I had had a long Night and I did not want any more distractions from my own bed.

But fate was not going to be kind on this day, and especially not to me.

I took a majority of my outer clothes off, leaving me in just underwear and a Sherlock-themed shirt. And my clothes that I had taken off I placed, folded, back into a cupboard with drawers.

“Patrick, I believe that there’s something outside.”

I closed one of the open drawers quickly and knelt down instinctively… But I seemed to be too late; I heard a small knocking above my head.

He had seen me, and I knew that keeping hidden like this would only raise unwanted questions, with questions that I probably didn’t know the answer to. It was inevitable that I would have to stand up sooner or later, so I did so and saw him staring back in.

He was right there, knocking on the window, trying to get in. He had a welcoming smile and a small, wrapped gift in one hand and a ragged raincoat draped over his standard attire.

He had press meetings today, arrangements and loyalties; I guess that a midnight visit was the only thing that could fit into his quota.

His was a face of joy and excitement. Mine was cut and torn.

He was here, and could see me through my window. He could see the scar of Dimensia and the sword Dragonbane.

Darius Jem could see us.