A thick, golden shield spread over the five of us, swirling with intricate patterns similar to those of a fast-moving stream. I snapped my gaze over to Reed and gasped, my jaw falling open. Strings of golden light, nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the light around us, were flowing out of his paws and into the space between him and Jasmine. A similar phenomenon was occurring with her, and their separate strings seemed to entwine and fuse together, creating a glowing, pulsing ball of energy. The shield sprouted from it, curving out and around us. With a start, I realized that their magic was mixing together, and they were controlling it as one. Just who is Jasmine? I thought, curiosity blending in with my fear.

I didn’t have time to ponder that thought, though.

With an ear-splitting roar and a blast of heat, a gout of sooty, reddish-orange fire spilled out of the rip and towards us, racing towards our shield. Tranquility had just enough time to squeak softly and fall to the floor, covering her head, before the fire washed over us, bathing our little group in a Tartarus-like glow, a color that struck primal fear into my heart. I heard Jasmine let out a strained groan, but the shield held up under the onslaught.

And then… it was over.

The flames suddenly cut off, evaporating into the air and leaving behind a fine mist of fine, black powder. A body fell out of the rift, completely covered in ash and soot, and then it closed, leaving behind a pristine, unmarred sky.

“What the heck?” Reed muttered, narrowing his eyes. Jasmine seemed to share a similar sentiment, a look of confusion overcoming her face. The two didn’t let down the shield.

As the body fell, I got a closer glimpse of it. It appeared to be the charred remains of an unfortunate Wolf. Tranquility let out a startled exclamation of horror, and my voice caught in my throat. Cam shielded her eyes, and Reed’s eyes shot back open in shock.

Then, the body moved.

It was subtle at first. The body started to reorient itself in midair, standing upright. It appeared like something a natural falling object might do, so I didn’t think much of it. Then, its arms stretched out and above its head, sending ash cascading off its shoulders and revealing a pristine, immaculately cared-for golden coat. My heart started racing even faster, but this time, it was because of the fear of the unknown. I had no idea what was going on, and as a result, seeing something that I’d previously assumed to be dead move was frightening.

The Wolf continued to stretch, and in the process, knocked off all of the ash and soot that clung to its body. It appeared to be an older Mage, well muscled and confident in its movements. There was a certain way that it conducted itself that made me want to trust it, for some reason, but ignored that urge. I was still scared, scared out of my mind, and I couldn’t get past that.

“Who’s that?” Jasmine whispered.

“I don’t know,” Reed answered back, pouring more magic into the shield. “Too far away to tell.”Jasmine did the same, and the magic glowed brighter.

“What’s going on?” Cam whispered, her ears folding to the. None of us had an answer for her, as we were all wondering the same thing. I stepped in front of Tranquility and Cam and tried to spread my wings protectively, but stopped when I felt a jolt of pain, a reminder that they were still broken.

The Mage continued to fall from the sky. Its paws glowed, and a platform of magic appeared under its feet, slowing its descent to the speed of an elevator’s travel. As it got closer, several details that hadn’t been obvious at first made themselves known. There were faint trembles running up and down its body- not the shakings of trauma, but ones of overexertion. I could also see its chest rising and falling rapidly, indicating it was breathing hard. I could also assume, from what I’d seen from Reed, Jasmine, and the other Mages, that it was male.

“What the heck?” Reed whispered. “I’ve never seen that Wolf before!”

“Let’s get his magic signature,” Jasmine muttered. Reed nodded, and the two twitched their paws slightly. A fast-moving stream of magic branched out from the shield, snaking its way towards the strange Mage. The way it moved reminded me of the lethal spell that Ivy hit me with, causing a shudder to run through my body.

As the tendril of magic got closer, a sense of foreboding came over me. I wasn’t sure exactly why, but I knew in my gut that something would happen if that spell reached the Wolf. “W-wait,” I whispered softly. “I don’t think-”

I was too late. The magic made contact with the Mage.

As soon as it did, he whirled around, snatching the stream of magic as if it were a physical rope. His eyes flashed brightly, a golden glow similar to the sun’s washing down over us, nearly blinding me.

That was only the beginning, though.

Jasmine let out a startled grunt as the shield over us began to warp and distort, pulling towards the Mage as if he was a black hole. At the same time, he launched himself off the platform he’d created. Instead of resuming his fall though the air, though, he shot towards us like a bullet, pulling himself along by sucking the tendril of magic into his paw. At the same time, the shield continued to weaken, more and more of the energy being pulled towards the Wolf. A spike of fear drove its way into my heart, and I stumbled backwards. Reed had just enough time to squeak in surprise before the Mage smashed into the weakened shield, ploughing through it and knocking him onto his back. Flashing his paw up to Reed’s throat, he growled softly, his glowing eyes boring into Reed’s.

“Why weren’t you in Paradise when Ivy and the others returned?!” he yelled in a deep, raspy voice.

“W-what?” Reed gasped, starting to shake. Jasmine began backing away from the two, preparing some sort of magic. I did as well, my heart pounding.

“Was I not clear?” the Wolf asked softly, a blade of magic extending from his paw and pressing up against Reed’s throat, sending a pang of shock through me. “WHY WEREN’T YOU IN PARADISE WITH THE OTHER MAGES WHEN THEY RETURNED?!”

“I’m not one of them anymore!” he cried desperately, trying to edge away from the blade. “I’ve realize what I was doing was wrong and sided with the enemy!”

Instantly, the Mage’s demeanor changed. His eyes lost their glow, revealing soulful, orangish-yellow orbs. The blade vanished, and he climbed off Reed, smiling apologetically. “Sorry about that,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if you were a threat.”

Reed scrambled to his feet and stuck out his paws in front of him, his eyes wide with fear. “Who are you?” he whispered shakily, his paws starting to glow.

The Mage sighed, his face morphing into a soft frown. “I... I’m not sure I should say,” he murmured.

“You better,” Jasmine growled. “Because I’m about two seconds away from flipping out. You just wrenched my control away from my magic! I didn’t know that was possible!”

What?! I thought, my eyes widening.

The Mage spun around, his eyes going wide. “Jasmine?” he whispered, shocked. “Is that really you?”

“In the flesh,” she growled. “I’d probably be overjoyed to see you, but I don’t know who you are.”

“So Ivy wasn’t kidding,” the Mage whispered, his eyes widening. “You four actually did go to Has’rou.”

“Unfortunately,” Tranquility muttered.

“You really have defected, haven’t you,” he said, turning to Reed, who hadn’t lowered his paws. “You’ve distanced yourself from the Wolves and have joined forces with the rogue.”

“Bingo,” Cam muttered softly.

“It’s nice to see you again, Cam,” he said softly and sincerely. A look of confusion spread over her face, and she started to back away from him.

“Cut it,” Jasmine said sharply. “Who are you?”

The Mage smiled softly. “You’re going to regret phrasing that comment that way in about two seconds,” he said. Then, he raised his paw, holding it in front of his face. Ever so slowly, he began to move it to the right.

It was like wiping dirt off of a surface to see the shining surface underneath. I watched the Mage’s face ripple and vanish, revealing an older, more grizzled muzzle beneath. I felt a sudden surge of awe and an overwhelming urge to bow. Something about the barely noticeable wrinkles, the grey-tipped fur, and the hard-set mouth invoked a feeling of… regalness in me.

The most striking feature about him, though, was his eyes.

As he passed over his eye, a pattern became visible in the fur. It looked like black lines sprouted out from the outside of his eye. A double helix with a line down the center adorned the top right corner, and two lines sprouted from the top of that, connecting it to the front of the eye.

It seemed a little cool to me, but it was nothing compared to the effect it had on Reed, Jasmine, and Cam. Their jaws all dropped, and their eyes widened. Reed seemed particularly affected, starting to hyperventilate.

“Told you,” the Mage said softly, a smirk spreading over his face as he dropped his paw to his side, the illusion. “Does that answer your question?”

“Not really,” I said softly.

“W-what?!” Cam yelled. “I haven’t seen you in-”

“Five years,” he interrupted softly. “It’s been five years. And I must say, you’ve grown a lot since we last spoke.”

Reed started to stutter incoherently, lifting a shaky paw to point at the Mage. “W-what are you doing here?!” he yelled. “Hawkeye, you should be back in Paradise!”

Anything else he said was lost to me as my jaw dropped open in shock, the sounds around me seeming to become muted.

I didn’t know what to think about the revelation. On one hoof, Hawkeye, the Alpha of the Wolves, quite literally the top dog, was standing right in front of us! Suddenly, the pure awe that I’d felt when I’d seen his face made sense. He was a powerful, benevolent leader. He’d helped Cam in the past and actually let her remain free.

But on the other hoof, he was the leader of our enemy. He’d, in the end, sent the Mages after us. He could have chosen to just ignore the Wolf who told him Cam was there, but he’d still sent Ivy and the others after us. Ultimately, he was responsible for all the pain and misery that we’d gone through these past few days.

The conflicting thoughts crashed and bumbled together in my head, and my mouth dropped slowly open. I almost didn’t hear Hawkeye’s response to Reed, I was so conflicted.

“Not anymore,” he grumbled softly, a shadow seemingly flitting over his face.

“Not anymore?!” Reed gasped, his pupils shrinking in shock. “What happened?”

“Ivy happened,” he answered, his voice taking on an edge of steel. “In all honesty, I should have seen it coming, but hindsight is twenty-twenty, and I can’t change it now.”

“Explain,” Jasmine, Reed, and Cam said, perfectly at the same time. I felt a spike of curiousity, but didn’t say anything, still unsure if Hawkeye posed a threat to me.

Hawkeye sighed, closing his eyes and shuddering slightly. “It’s a long story…” he muttered softly. “It started a week ago, after that Wanderer told the entire Den that there was a rogue Mage…”

“Why?!” Hawkeye roared, storming into his private quarters and slamming the door shut behind him with his magic. Several enchantments flickered to life around the room, illuminating the royal-red walls, the regal, lush, lavish purple carpet, the four-post bed, the mahogany dresser and wardrobe, and the expensive, silver mirror. None of that mattered to him, though. He was too wrapped up in his own anger. His paws flashed in quick succession, powerful privacy wards springing up in the blink of an eye. A growl built in his throat, rising in pitch until it turned into a full-fledged scream.

“Why did he have to find her?!” he yelled as he st, the question being directed at nothing in particular. “Why couldn’t she have just lived a normal life?! Why couldn’t she have stayed hidden, safe in her safe world?!” Stopping, he took a deep breath, clenching his fists as his paws started to glow. His eyes took on a powerful, piercing, harsh light. “Why can’t anything work out like it’s SUPPOSED TO?!” he shrieked. Unfortunately, as his anger surged, his magic did too, and twin bolts of pure arcane energy blasted out of his paws and into the dresser, splintering the meticulously cared-for wood into thousands of smoldering splinters.

The loud bang that accompanied the sudden discharged shocked him back to his senses, and he stared at the ruined remains of the once-beautiful furniture. Closing his eyes, he took several deep breaths, slowly releasing the anger from his body. “Stupid…” he whispered softly, reopening his eyes. His paws began to glow, and the splinters lifted off the ground, surrounded by a barely-visible golden aura. “That was stupid, Hawkeye. Sixty-eight years old and still throwing temper tantrums like a pup… it was surprisingly therapeutic, though.” A chuckle slipped out of his lips as the shattered wood began to flow like water, melding back into a whole, perfect dresser. “I should vent like that more often.”

When the dresser finished repairing, Hawkeye set it down and trotted dejectedly over to the lavish bed, flopping unceremoniously down on it. “But the question remains… why did they have to find her?” he muttered sadly. “She doesn’t deserve what we put her through. At the ripe age of two, we took that poor girl’s parents away from her and tried to take her too… and forced her to kill someone, undoubtedly scarring her, possibly for life. All because of the STUPID laws we have to follow, written ten millennia ago by xenophobic, secretive morons. And I tried to help her by letting her go five years ago, without the Den’s knowledge, but now, I have to send the Mages after her, just to save face…” He sighed, curling up into a ball and bowing his head in shame.

“Cam, if by some chance you can hear this, I’m so, so sorry…”

“That little meltdown caused my downfall,” he said sadly, looking down to the ground in shame.

“How so?” I asked softly, my fear forgotten. Throughout his retelling, it had slowly faded away, replaced by respect, a tinge of sadness, and a little bit of awe.

Hawkeye froze, turning slowly towards Tranquility and I. “You’re the two natives who got wrapped up in this mess,” he said softly. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” I whispered, feeling a sudden and inexplicable urge to bow.

“I have to know something before I can accept that,” Tranquility whispered, a tinge of anger in her voice. “You said that you sent the Mages after Cam to save face?! What kind of sick-”

“It was either that or infuriate half of the Wolves!” Hawkeye firmly interrupted. “Could you imagine five hundred million citizens protesting against their leader, possibly violently? The best option for the society was to uphold the law. Making half of the population happy and the rest indifferent is better than a possible civil war.”

“Point taken,” Tranquility said sheepishly. “Apology accepted.”

“I want to know the answer to… his question,” Jasmine said, pointing at me. “How did that cause… whatever happened?”

“Ivy’s lack of regard for privacy and simple canine decency,” he said softly. “I only found out about what she had been doing earlier today.”

“What was she doing?” Reed asked softly.

Hawkeye let out a soft growl. “Well, let me tell you all about it,” he grumbled softly, closing his eyes once more.

The sound of a quill scratching across crisp parchment filled Hawkeye’s private study, its repetitive drone consuming the soft ambient noise of the room. Smiling softly, Hawkeye let the scratching fill and consume his senses, calming and relaxing him. He was drafting a simple piece of legislation, something to loosen restrictions on the Wolf city of Genesis. The sanctions had been placed on them after they had tried to break away from the rule of the Alpha, but that event had taken place over two centuries ago, and he felt that it would be appropriate to give back what they had taken. It was a small bill, borderline inconsequential, but it still needed to be done.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans.

The thick oak door to the study exploded inwards, peppering Hawkeye with shrapnel and filling the room with an acrid smoke. Ivy strode in through the ruined doorway, a devilish smile plastered across her face. The three other Mages followed, their expressions ranging from resignation to malice.

Hawkeye released an annoyed sigh, starting to massage the bridge of his snout. “There had better be a good reason for that… extravagant entrance,” he muttered softly, feeling annoyance rise up in his mind.

“There is,” Ivy whispered, childlike excitement in her voice. “Stopping you.”

Hawkeye let out a soft, exasperated chuckle. “This should be entertaining,” he said, leaning back in his chair.

“We don’t have a lot of time before the Protectors realize something’s amiss, so I’ll spare you the details and give you the choice,” Ivy said crisply. “We’re removing you from power. You can either step down peacefully… or we’ll take your seat from you by force.”

Hawkeye let out another annoyed sigh. “So, just to be clear…” he muttered softly. “You decimated part of my office… so you could commit treason?” There was a hint of disbelief in his voice, and as he was speaking, he raised one of his bushy eyebrows.

Ivy’s eyes narrowed, and a sinister grin appeared on her face, giving her a positively evil appearance. “Oh… I’m not the treasonous one here,” she murmured softly, a strange combination of malice and glee present in her tone. She slowly raised one of her paws, a golden orb of light springing to life in front of the center pad.

And then, the glowing ball started to pulse softly. A recording of sorts began to play, and Hawkeye’s jaw dropped.

He recognized those sounds, for he had been the source of them! It was a recording of his breakdown over Cam, with every single word being crisp and distinct. As the audio continued, the shock in his eyes became more and more apparent.

When it ended, he worked his jaw for a few moments before looking up at Ivy. “You bugged my room,” he whispered softly.

“That I did,” she said smugly. “And look how well it payed off!” Her paw glowed softly, and the sounds around them became dampened. She strode forward, starting to chuckle softly. “It took three years, but I finally have something on you, Hawkeye. How will the Wolves react when they see that their perfect little idol isn’t as flawless as they thought?”

“Having an opinion isn’t a crime, Ivy,” he said softly, the markings around his right eye starting to shimmer like light reflecting off of oil.

“Will the people see it that way?” she countered gleefully. “They’ll see it as you siding with the enemy. And even if that little rant isn’t enough to convince them of that… there’s the fact you helped that little girl some five years ago, letting her go instead of taking her in like you should have.”

“She was two!” he protested. “I couldn’t have, not after seeing what we had done to her!”

“You know that, but they don’t,” Ivy said, her voice sweetly poisonous. “For them, it’s a simple matter of good and evil, black and white. They won’t care about nuance! All that will matter is the fact that you sided with Cam, the evil, rogue Mage.”

Hawkeye’s eyes took on a golden sheen, and the markings around his eyes started to shine brightly. “Why?” he asked softly. “What do you get out of this?”

“A throne?” she answered simply, her smile taking on an innocent, pleading look.

“Like I’m going to give you that,” he hissed. The glowing pattern on his face took on a golden-white sheen, his eyes flashed a blinding white, and all Tartarus broke loose.

“That unbelievable, power-hungry, self-centered, narcissistic witch!” Jasmine yelled, startling me out of my shocked stupor. “She actually put a microphone in your bedroom?!”

“That she did,” Hawkeye confirmed. “One she created herself. It was ingenious, really.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said that she’d gotten worse, Reed,” she muttered softly. “How could she think that would actually work?”

“Because it did,” Hawkeye said sadly.

Everyone’s jaws dropped, including my own and Tranquility’s. Reed was reduced to a spluttering mess once more, managing to get one word out, a word that voiced all of our feelings at once. “H-h-how?!” he gasped.

“Not in the way you’d expect…”

It was quite apparent that there was something wrong in the palace to the citizens of Paradise. Bright flashes were visible through the stained-glass windows, the slate-grey walls seemed to bulge at times, soft booms and cracks emanated from it at frantic intervals, and a general sense of power radiated from it. Curious Wolves made their way to the large, spacious courtyard in front of it. It was generally used for the Alpha’s speeches, but today, it was the host of an inquisitive audience.

And they certainly got a show.

The sharp sounds of explosions reached a fevered climax, and the front wall of the palace exploded, sending sharp, heavy shrapnel flying over the crowd. The Wolves cried out in shock, but before the broken stone could hurt them, a glowing, golden aura surrounded the chunks and set them gently down on the floor. A golden, awe-inspiring silhouette appeared in the dust… and was promptly struck in the back with a powerful blast of magic, throwing it into full view.

Shocked gasps ran through the crowd as Hawkeye landed face-down on the pile of rubble formed by the wall’s collapse. Ivy strode confidently up behind him, a victorious smirk plastered on her face. The other Mages hung back, not wanting to interfere.

“Civilians, Laborers, Protectors, Wanderers… your alpha has betrayed you,” Ivy began, a spell amplifying her voice for all to hear. A hush fell over the crowd, some jaws dropping, making her smirk deepen. “He’s sided with the rogue Mage over the rest of the Wolves!”

As Hawkeye pulled himself to his feet, gasps of shock rang out among the throng. “Don’t listen to her!” he cried, augmenting his voice as well. “She’s-”

“Yes, don’t listen to me,” Ivy interrupted, chuckling sinisterly. “Listen to HIM!” She thrust her paw into the air, and the same recording she had played for him blasted out into the mass, reaching every ear clearly.

Hawkeye could only watch in horror as the shock and disbelief in his subject’s faces turned to anger. About halfway through the clip, shouts began to spring up throughout the crowds, saying things such as “How could you?!” and “You monster!” When it finished, a collective growl rose up in the throats of the Wolves, a sound of malice and hate directed at Hawkeye.

As his jaw fell open in shock, Ivy coolly strode up behind him “I told you,” she said softly, an euphoric happiness in her voice. “They’ll never trust you again.”

Hawkeye closed his jaw and turned around, a cold steel becoming visible in his eyes. “We’ll see about that,” he rumbled, his eyes starting to glow. Flashing his paw out to the side, he slashed downward with all of his will and might, tearing a hole in the fabric of the multiverse.

An unearthly shriek tore out of the rift, echoing over the city and startling the younger members of the crowd. A gout of heated air blasted out as well, ruffling Hawkeye’s fur. “I’ll be back, Ivy!” he yelled. Then, he jumped into the rift, sealing it and leaving Paradise behind.

Not a single sound could be heard throughout the dimension, the story seemingly having shocked reality into silence. I didn’t know what to do. It was just… an OVERLOAD of information.

Eventually, Reed broke the silence. “You have to get out of here,” he said softly. “She’s going to track where the rift you made went.”

Hawkeye just chuckled. “I made sure THAT’S impossible,” he said confidently.

“How?” Cam asked quietly.

“Void travel,” he answered simply.

Instantly, Jasmine and Reed’s jaws dropped. “WHAT?!” they shouted together. “HOW?!”

“What’s the Void?” I asked curiously, not understanding their shock.

Reed spun around towards me, his eyes still wide. “The Void is what we call the space between dimensions,” he explained. “It’s nigh-mythical, which is why I say stuff like ‘By the Void!’ sometimes.”

“And it’s not an empty place,” Hawkeye continued, smoothly breaking off Reed’s speech. “Most Wolves just think it is. In reality, there’s something there- you just can’t control where you end up. I’ve landed in saltwater before, and this time, I landed in the middle of some sort of firestorm. That wasn’t pleasant.”

“Unbelievable,” Jasmine whispered.

“B-but she can still get your magic signature, right?” Reed asked.

He didn’t hold back this time, letting out a full-on laugh. “The day someone gets my magic signature is the day I get dethroned by an ant,” he chuckled softly. “It’s not going to happen.”

“And what makes you say that, oh cocky one?” Cam asked sarcastically.

“Just like a written signature, a magic one can be changed,” he said, smiling.

The deafening silence returned, with Jasmine actually sitting down in surprise. I would have been mad at Reed for not using that when we needed it, but from the look of things, he hadn’t even known about it. In fact, it looked he hadn’t even thought of that as a possibility. Hawkeye knows things, things that they don’t… He could be our biggest helper! I thought excitedly.

Jasmine eventually got her paws back under her. “How the-”

“Later,” Hawkeye interrupted. “We have bigger problems right now.”

“What problems?” Tranquility asked.

“Ivy just took over leadership of the Wolves!” Jasmine answered, eyes wide. “That’s like-”

“The worst possible thing,” I completed, reviewing what Reed had told me about her. She’ll rule more harshly, tightening down the laws on secrecy. She thinks WE’RE dead, but what about others who might find themselves discovering a Wolf?

“So you understand,” Hawkeye said, relieved. “You know what she’ll do.”

“Yes,” the five of us said.

“Good.” Hawkeye walked up to Reed and extended a paw. “You know what’s at stake. Will you help me take back the seat of the Alpha?”

Reed looked at the paw for a while, seemingly contemplating what to do. In my head, I was rooting for him to say yes. No creature deserves to go through what we’re going through. If we let Ivy keep her seat, she’ll just make it worse.

Eventually, he nodded. “I will,” he said, shaking the outstretched paw.

“I will too,” Jasmine said determinedly. “I made a promise to help the Wolves in any way I could. Letting Ivy stay on the throne certainly won’t be doing that.”

“I’ll come too!” Cam said quickly. “It’ll be like a kick in the face to her when she sees I’m still alive. And that’s just what I want to do to her.”

“If you’re going, Cam, we’re going,” Tranquility said softly. “I don’t want to see you hurt.”

“Same,” I said lamely, not sure what else to add.

“A crew of six,” Hawkeye said, thinking. “I’ll give you disguises and re-do my own. Normal glamor magic won’t cut it in this case.”

“Normal- you’re using glamor magic?!” Reed gapsed.

“A variation of it that I created myself,” he stated smugly. “It’s more… undetectable.”

“What other magical wonders have you been hiding from us?” Jasmine asked gleefully.

“A great many things,” Hawkeye answered vaguely. “Now, get in a line. I’ll put your glamors on.”

The business of disguises was taken care of rather quickly. Hawkeye changed his disguise to that of a slightly scarred, grey Wanderer. Reed was given the appearance of a tall, lanky Protector, Jasmine that of a portly Laborer, and Cam was turned grey and given slightly longer hair.

Tranquility and I were turned into dogs.

“What the heck is this?” I deadpanned, looking down at my new whitish-brown forelegs. Tranquility looked back at her tail and started to chase her tail in circles.

“Dogs are pets in Paradise,” Hawkeye explained. “I can’t turn quadrupedal creatures into bipedal ones. It’s the best option.”

“Grand,” I muttered softly.

“Don’t be like that,” he chided. “Dogs appear to be universally loved across the multiverse. It really is a noble disguise.”

Tranquility stopped chasing her tail and looked me dead in the eye. “Woof,” she deadpanned, her expression perfectly neutral.

I lost it laughing.

After I had recovered from my fit of mirth, the six of us gathered together in a little huddle.

“Are we going to be jumping into Paradise through Void travel?” Cam asked, absentmindedly blowing the longer hair out of her eyes.

“Of course not,” Hawkeye answered. “That’s dangerous, and we’re not trying to make a flashy entrance. We’re going to use a normal portal and appear in the outskirts of the city. From there, we’ll make our way to the palace. I know a few ways in that are well-hidden, unguarded, and secret.”

“And what happens when we’re in?” I asked.

“I’ll ask you and Tranquility to stay back with Cam,” he answered. “I’m not putting a pup in danger. With luck, if you’re discovered, the guards will think that she got lost from one of the tours, and she brought her pets along. Jasmine and Reed will come with me, and we’ll… remove Ivy from power.”

A heavy, somber silence spread over the group. We all knew what he meant.

“Any other questions?” he asked. When no-one answered, he smiled. “Good. Shall we head off?”

“I think so,” Cam said.

With that, Hawkeye slashed his paw through the air. A normal, black rift appeared, and the six of us stepped through.

We landed on a paved, cobblestone street. I shook my head, clearing it from the dimensional travel, but I heard Hawkeye fairly clearly.

“Welcome to Paradise…”

Author's Note

Yes, I named the city Paradise just so I could make that reference.

This is a good thing.

ANYWAY, out goes the first of the sporadic chapters! I hope I sufficiently turned your expectations on your head.

If I made any grammatical or spelling errors, let me know and I'll fix them as soon as I can.

~Pyrepinna
Also, I don't think I'll be able to respond to comments immediately, like I have done in the past. That doesn't mean I WON'T, though, it just means it'll be a little later.