Episode 2

Proposed intro music

Mori Calliope Ch. hololive-EN

【MV】Non-Fiction 【hololive English -Myth- Original Song】

The Case of the Last True Daughter of Atlantis

"If you go looking for a friend, you're going to find they're very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you'll find them everywhere."  -Zig Ziglar

"The only way to have a friend is to be one."  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The beach of Santa Monica

Los Angles, California

November 5, 2019  (16 hours behind Tokyo time)

She was hired to find someone.  The process of finding the person turned out to be much harder than Amelia Watson had anticipated.  There were far less clues than one would have thought.

Sure, she’d survived several vampire attacks.  Her attackers were all dust now.

That was part of the problem.  If the person she was trying to find had done the same, there were no vampire bodies to use to figure out where this person was.

There was also a stupidly high chance the person she was looking for had not survived such an attack.   Several victims had been fed on and died in Santa Monica.

Days had passed by.  The trail might be getting cold.

The woman she was searching for was most likely blending with the crowds in a fashion that was unnaturally persistent.   For Amelia to have had this much trouble for so long actually suggested magic.

She had gifts that made her extraordinary in her profession.   It was reasonable to assume someone might have gifts that could counter that.

In the end, she had to look for what was out of the ordinary in a broader sense.  That’s when she noticed the surfers were out of the pacific.

Most walked up and down the beach in a huff, unable to follow their passion.   It was what was in the water that stopped them.

A virtual school of shark fins lined up and down the coast.   Though unlikely to kill the surfers, no one wanted to get bit.

The pattern of the surfers also made one other thing stand out.  Standing alone far from the others was a form that appeared to blend with the crowd with a cold weather wet suit.

The figure had no surfboard.  The figure had also wandered far away from the other surfers who had been trying to avoid the sharks.

The lone figure was right in the center of the activity.   Amelia headed to the figure.

She watched the aimless wandering on the beach.  She also watched the detached look in the tiny silver-haired surfer’s eyes.

The surfer was hungry.  She was disorientated.

She blended perfectly with the background.  That said, she was way too comfortable being near a school of sharks for it to be any normal person.

As Amelia approached, she felt a hum from the watch she hadn’t felt since she was a little girl.  When she opened the device, she noticed the branch symbol glowing.

As soon as she looked up again, the girl was dressed quite differently.   She wore a blue shark suit that must have been bought by someone’s mother or grandmother.

It was an expression of adoration for someone they still saw as a child.  It was not a statement of fashion by any stretch of imagination.

Gura wandered the beach on the verge of blood frenzy.  A school of sharks feeling her hunger had come to investigate.

Strange people spoke in strange clothes wandering up and down the beach.  They complained nonstop about not being able to get in the water.

Gura had avoided them out of annoyance.  She wanted to be alone, but she was getting progressively hungrier and more stressed as the days out of water dragged on.

That’s when the lady in strange yellow clothing approached.  She had a calm smile.

The first person in forever really saw her and came up to talk to her.  Despite being a shark, Gura found she was quite shy when so confronted.

The lady asked, “Would you like to go get something to eat?”

Gura would normally be reserved.  However, at this moment, hunger got the better of the Atlantean.

The shark simply replied, “Yes.” 

A Lady on a Mission

“I am a very shy and an introvert by nature and I take a lot of time to open up.” -Tripti Dimri

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do." -Eleanor Roosevelt

On a remote mountain in Northern Japan

November 6, 2019 (16 hours ahead of LA time)

Ninomae Ina'Nis prepared herself, as if going to battle.  She researched clothing and ordered it online.

She researched makeup.  She ordered it and practiced applying what she learned on Youtube.

She was a priestess of the Old Ones.   She had survived countless horrors.

She could do this.  She had found the target by locator spell.  She also knew that they were destined to be friends.

The spell opened the void for her to step through.  The darkness surrounded her for an eyeblink and was gone.

She arrived instantly in Tokyo.  She instantly regretted it.

The city was large and overwhelming compared to her peaceful mountain home.  There were gigantic crowds of people.

The masses of crowds were so vast it was claustrophobic.   A person could literally get trampled if this amount of people became frightened.

That’s when Ina spotted her.  The Phoenix was in a large crowd. 

She was chatting with several foreigners while drinking something at a café.  About ten people were around her.  Maybe up to a hundred other people were silently and secretly watching.

There was a point where the immortal spirit sensed her.  The Phoenix looked in her direction.

Ina stepped back into the darkness like a squid retreating behind ink.  She was back home in an eyeblink.

Ina panicked so badly that she was shaking.   She was also silently crying in disappointment with herself.

She would have had to wade through a crowd of people to even have a chance to talk to the extroverted Phoenix.   She would have had to compete with several people just to vie for her attention.

Ina was not prepared for that level of social interaction or distraction.  She took off her makeup and changed her clothes.

Today’s victory was that she tried.  Today’s defeat was that she retreated.

Ina lay on her bed and tried to calm herself.  She hoped that the dark energy she used to retreat wouldn’t put her at odds with the person that was supposed to be her friend one day.

She would try again one day.  It would not be today.  It will not be tomorrow.

She’d regain her inner calm.   She would try to meet the Phoenix or one of the other three.

Regardless of her position, Ina was simply shy by nature.  She quietly envied the lady she had almost met today.

What would it even be like to be that comfortable around strangers?  This Takanashi Kiara was a formidable woman indeed…

The Case of the huge Five Guys bill

“The man who invented the hamburger was smart; the man who invented the cheeseburger was a genius.”  -Matthew McConaughey

“Educational refers to the process, not the object. Although, come to think of it, some of my teachers could easily have been replaced by a cheeseburger.”  -Terry Pratchett

“Tried to amend my carnivorous habits, Made it nearly seventy days, Losin' weight without speed, eatin' sunflower seeds, Drinkin' lots of carrot juice and soakin' up rays, But at night I'd have these wonderful dreams, Some kind of sensuous treat, Not zucchini, fettuccine, or bulgur wheat, But a big warm bun and a huge hunk of meat.”  -Jimmy Buffett, Cheeseburger in Paradise

schmoyoho

OH MY DAYUM ft. ‪@DaymDrops‬

Santa Monica
Los Angles, California
November 5, 2019  (16 hours behind Tokyo time)

A shark supposedly only eats about 3% of its body weight per day, as opposed to a human being who eats about 2% of their body weight over the course of an entire day.  Amelia observed these scientific facts confirmed on her phone had nothing to do with Gura.

Gura could eat.  Perhaps, it had to do with her Mythic origins.

Five guys was not the cheapest option.  That said Amelia was glad she was here.

The magic surrounding Gura and Amelia’s watch made sure they both blended.  Gura had helped herself to the soda machine about twelve times so far.   She had scooped up the courtesy peanuts about ten times without people noticing.

She could gulp down a double cheeseburger in about two bites.  The large amount of fries served here was how Amelia kept the hungry shark fed.

Amelia had to go up and order again three times already.   This time she had made sure she had ordered ten large fries, a mix of regular and Cajun style.  She also bought ten more burgers and ten shakes.

She’d do it a few more times if she needed too.  Amelia watched as the shark girl lay into the food with fascination.  Gura’s appearance was changing as she kept consuming.

The more Gura ate, the more human Gura looked.  Amelia had the chance to talk to a few philosophers about magic in ancient Greece.  

Socrates, Pluto and Aristotle all had the idea that transformation magic on some level reflected the inner person.  In a way, it was somewhat similar to Carl Jung’s shadow theory in the past hundred years.

Amelia suspected that Gura wasn’t good at feeding herself.  She would get lost in what she was doing and forget to take care of herself.

The shark had questions too.  She’d ask about the food and how it was made.

As she became more human, Gura’s humor started to come out.  She had natural charisma.  

She was like a natural born standup comedian.  Tragically, she was way too shy to ever be in front of a live audience.

Gura stated, “I’m from Atlantis.  They don’t have French fries there, so I’m not going back.”  She punctuated this fact with a large handful of Cajun fries.

Amelia inquired, “So are there a lot of people there?”

Gura said, “There are lots of people there.  They don’t wear clothes.  It’s underwater.”  In the moment, what she said wasn’t funny.  The humor came from how she said it and how she moved her face.

Gura might be one of those people that could read a phone book and find a way to make it interesting.  Amelia was watching closely, as the shark kept talking about impossible things and making it obvious that Gura was bad with math.

There was something else there too.  There was a hint of loneliness and loss.

As the shark joked, the detective had the feeling that it wasn’t all true.  There would be nothing positive from calling the bluff though.

Amelia offered when there was silence, "I spent most of my life caring for somebody, and when they weren't here anymore, I felt like I lost my purpose."

Gura froze.  She empathized in a way that potentially contradicted much of what she had said.  

Amelia watched the little shark’s eyes water.  Gura stopped eating and the detective instantly understood the root of the eating issues.

Amelia offered, “I need help with something.  I think you might be able to assist.  I’d only be able to pay you with food, room and board though.”

Gura asked, “What’s going on?”

Amelia explained, “I’m being hunted by the undead.  Vampires keep taking shots at my life.”

Gura looked heavily offended.  The shark inquired, “What are vampires?”

“Blood sucking undead.”

“They turn to dust when you kill them?”

“Yep.”

“I think I killed about eight of them.”   Gura held up ten fingers.

Amelia smiled.  She had a way to bond with the shark.  The detective stated, “I’m just a normal human Gura.  I could use a bodyguard to help keep me safe.  I could give you a place to live, food and show you around the world here.  Are you interested?”

The shark wagged her tail excitedly.  Due to magic, no one noticed.  Gura proudly proclaimed, “I’ll take your offer and none of the dusty creeps will touch you.”

Gura finished her meal with the fourth round.  They both walked out together.

Amelia simply stated, “Thanks Gura, I already feel safer with you around.”

The shark looked both happy and sad.  There were stories hidden there that Gura wouldn’t tell for a long time.  

Amelia did what came to her with instinct.  She hugged the small shark girl.

Gura hugged back.  She happily took her first hug in thousands of years…

The real Song of Fire and Ice Begins

“Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides.” -Lao Tzu

"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" – Benjamin Franklin

"Shit, I wanted to be your enemy, but I think I fell in love." – Anonymous person on Pinterest

Takanashi Kiara Ch. hololive-EN

CHIMERA - Takanashi Kiara (Official Music Video)

A park

Tokyo, Japan

November 6, 2019 (16 hours ahead of LA time)

Takanashi Kiara could feel the damned thing’s presence, before she could see it.  A spirit incarnation of the very thing that had stolen everyone she had ever cared about was in the city.

The Phoenix was pissed off by its very presence.  That a spirit of death dared manifest in her presence infuriated her.

She had lived too long to be unwise.  Was this thing here to kill this entire city?

She grabbed a couple of cups of coffee.   She might as well talk.  

Forty-one million lives might be at stake.  Tokyo’s people didn’t deserve to die.

It was about a kilometer away and on a park bench.   The Phoenix calmed her nerves.  She wanted to fight, but she could no more kill what was before her, than it could kill her.

Maybe she could reason with it.  Maybe she could negotiate. 

It wouldn’t be the first supervillain she had to sit at a table with.  Had the situation she was summoned for already come to pass?

Kiara had never failed to save a planet before.  Her own inner doubts started running through her mind at lightning speed.

She thought of a thousand past scenarios.   Nothing that would signal something apocalyptic had come to pass yet.

What bothered her most was that it could be something quiet.  It could be something she had never seen before.

There had never been a harsher critic of Kiara than herself.  It was maddening, but it was an edge that defined her.

Unlike her other brothers and sisters, she had never failed in her sacred mission.  That meant constantly learning and adapting.

She was never someone comfortable with settling for the skills she had.  There was a drive to her that always pushed, even when it was mean to herself.

At a certain point, she calmed some.  It wasn’t apocalyptic death, something akin to the appearance of a Great Old One.  

It was a standard spirit of death.  The world wasn’t about to die.

That didn’t mean the city wasn’t in danger.  One of these things could kill thousands or tens of thousands in the time it was taking her to walk over.

She could see it.  It was a woman with pink hair, sleeping on a park bench.

The thing had grave robbed.   It took an innocent person’s body and identity.

On the positive, it meant the death spirit was weaker than normal.  On the negative, the Shinigami could blend.

That was a real issue.  There were too many victims in close range.

This thing could have run around murdering people in Tokyo for years.  Takanashi Kiara never would have sensed it, if she wasn’t close by.

Kiara put on a kind face.  She relaxed her grit teeth.

She’d put her guild leader face on.  She’d put her idol training to good use.

“I’m going to be nice”, she thought. 

She took the absolute hatred out of her eyes.  She looked at it thinking, “You little shit.”

Her sword was ready to be summoned.  She could take true form and roast it.

It wouldn’t kill it.   It would just delay it and really piss it off.

The Shinigami’s scythe could kill almost anything, even when immortal.  The Phoenix was one of the few exceptions.

They were a living stalemate.  Both supernatural cancels of the other.

Shinigami didn’t just take lives.  They enjoyed it.

Someone would have to keep this psychopath under watch.  The Phoenix knew she was likely the only thing on this Earth that could.

Innocent lives were at stake.  Protecting lives was her people’s purpose.

She sat on the bench and offered the just waking spirit a coffee.  As it awakened and tried to blend into the other humans, Kiara got full sense of it.

It was literally just less than a planet's Grim Reaper.  This wasn’t just a standard rank and file Shinigami.  It was just below the leader.

The thing looked at her with the eyes of a serial killer.  Kiara could tell as soon as it took the coffee, it was stronger than she was.

It was stronger than she was.  The Phoenix just thought, “Fuck.”

Kiara thought back to the celestial that drafted her into this world.  The Phoenix thought, “Irys, what the fuck did you get me into.”

The Case of the Curious Shark

“When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'.”  -Groucho Marx

“By playing games, you can artificially speed up your learning curve to develop the right kind of thought processes.”  -Nate Silver

Amelia Watson’s Private Detective Agency Residence

Los Angles, California

November 5, 2019  (16 hours behind Tokyo time)

Several hours later, two new friends sat in the living room gaming.  Amelia was teaching Gura the basics of console gaming.

The shark was naturally good at video games.  She took to them naturally, unlike many people with thousands more hours of playtime.

Gura was also a very aggressive player.  The game was more challenging than it should have been.

Amelia was doing her best to make the shark comfortable.  That said, the shark was bringing out her competitive side. 

They’d been playing for hours.  They were both having a blast.

The wall tv squawked with the sound and the music of the game.  The sound effects kept going off.

For someone that had just learned the concept of driving, Gura was already nipping at Amelia’s heels.  It wasn’t like Amelia was still babying her through the process either.

Amelia had mostly taken the gloves off already.  They were competing.

Amelia eked out a win.   Gura was happily swishing her tail sensing a chance to honestly beat her new friend soon.

Amelia offered, “We should get pizza for dinner.”

Gura asked, “What’s pizza?”

Amelia reassured, “Just try it, you’ll love it.  I promise.”  Amelia made a mental note to order at least seven different large pizzas for Gura to try and to make sure she got a few pieces herself.

Gura mused, “Do you like this life?”

Amelia asked, “What do you mean?”

Gura inquired, “Do you like this world above the sea?  Do you like living here?”

Amelia answered, “I do.  With a little time, I bet you’ll like it too.”

Gura was thoughtful.  She liked the company.  She liked the food.  Secretly, she was sick of hunting raw seafood.

Gura asked, “What’s a Private Detective?”

Amelia rattled off, “We investigate cases for clients.  We can find people who have gone missing.  We can find people who have violated contracts, committed crimes, cheated on spouses, and a variety of things.”

Gura didn’t really understand.  The shark didn’t like not knowing, but Gura faked that she did.  She asked, “Do you like being Detective?”

Amelia confidently revealed, “I’m not just a Detective.  I’m a Time Traveler.”

Gura stopped playing.  She stared right into Amelia’s eyes.  The shark had a hint of hope in hers.

Gura stated slowly, “What do you mean you are a time traveler?  What is a time traveler?”

The Reaper gets a Roommate

"Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see" -Helen Keller

"You will always be my favorite hello and hardest goodbye."  –Cecelia Ahern, the novel P.S. I Love You

Mori Calliope Ch. hololive-EN

[ORIGINAL SONG] 失礼しますが、RIP♡ || “Excuse My Rudeness, But Could You Please RIP?” - Calliope Mori

Mori Calliope’s inherited apartment

Tokyo, Japan

November 6, 2019 (16 hours ahead of LA time)

Smoothie and Chonkers sat in the back of their cat carrier wondering what the heck their Phoenix owner had gotten them into. 

The Grim Reaper’s apprentice watched the felines.  They were creatures that had a mythical nine lives. 

It wasn’t true, but the superstition literally insulted the Reaper.  Death was a sacred release of people from endless pain and torture.  These cats mocked her with their very existence.

It was bad enough the Phoenix had barged into her life with its unkillable presence.   She literally couldn’t kill Kiara.

The cats though.  Calli could kill the cats, before the smell of their liter boxes invaded this place she was now forced to live.

The Grim Reaper’s apprentice was trying her hardest to fulfil her mission.  She was already sick of this world and walking around like a living creature.

Calli missed her real home.  She missed talking to her boss and mentor.

There was more.  She missed being on the job.

The Reaper had an itch that she couldn’t scratch.  She had the urge to end any existence that wasn’t walking around in pure bliss.

That would be ok, right?   If people were miserable, or burnt out, it would be ok to release them from their torment.

It felt like mercy.  She should dispense mercy.   After all, it was her sacred mission.

The Grim Reaper’s apprentice was irritated by having to be in this living world.  Evil wasn’t being smited.   The unhappy weren’t being released from their existence.  People in pain weren’t being released from their torture be it physical, emotional, or spiritual. 

As the Reaper was getting irate, Smoothie and Chonkers backed up in their carriers so far that they were one with the back shadows.   Normally, they would growl a warning, but right now neither feline dared.  They could literally sense they were in the presence of death itself.

Kiara asked for a box from her apartment.   Calli summoned it from the same personal nether space she stored her scythe in.

The Phoenix placed the items in the room where she found them aesthetically pleasing.  Calli should have been territorial, but she couldn’t care less.  

This apartment belonged to the dead girl.  Calli felt no personal attachment to it other than what the body forced her to.

The Grim Reaper’s apprentice was compartmentalizing that as much as possible.   The human emotions were pissing her off.

These human feelings had incapacitated her for days.   She refused to keep being weak.  She would not fail her mentor.

Calli noticed the Phoenix was already almost out of boxes.   Twenty had already been broken down after being unloaded.

Saving time, Calli went ahead and summoned the last three.   That was literally everything from Kiara’s former residence.

This was what humans called moving.   Lacking underworld nether space, they had to use things like moving trucks according to the memories she was still processing.

Kiara declared, “That’s enough for today.”   The Phoenix was irritatingly proud of herself.

Kiara continued, “We should go get something to eat.  We could even go out clubbing.  It’ll be my treat.”

Calli responded, “What’s wrong with your cats?”

“Cats take a while to get used to a new place.  They’ll explore when they are hungry or need to use the litter box.”

Calli watched the felines.   She didn’t say anything.

Kiara said, “I noticed you didn’t have any napkins.”

Calli reached into the nether space and pulled out about 100 napkins.   In the physical world, she parked them on Kiara’s lap.

Kiara was shocked by that.  It wasn’t the magic that dropped the napkins into her lap.   It was the things hidden in the magic.

Kiara took a close look at the golden embroidery of the napkin.  It was unusually fancy for something that the Reaper offered like a paper napkin to be thrown away.

It was likely English or German, and the Phoenix could read it.  Kiara asked, “What’s the Titanic?”

Calli answered, “Some ship I got the napkins from while on a job.   I like collecting things that catch my eye, when no one will miss them.”

Kiara declared, “We’ll save these for special occasions.   We can get some paper napkins and towels in the meantime.”

Over the next hour, Kiara offered some advice on how to dress to go out with what Calli apparently owned.  Both did their makeup to blend with the humans outside.

Minutes after they both left the apartment, two felines crawled out of the carriers.  They were both crouched only about a millimeter off the floor as they rushed around.

Smoothie and Chonkers would eat and go to the bathroom.  Both were wondering what the heck their Phoenix owner had gotten them into… 

The Case of a Daughter’s Love

"We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward, are dreams."   -H.G. Wells, author

"Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space. If you can bend space, you can bend time also..." -Margaret Atwood, author

“Good and evil are so close as to be chained together in the soul.”  -Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Amelia Watson’s Private Detective Agency Residence

Los Angles, California

November 5, 2019 (16 hours behind Tokyo time)

Gura was in tears.  Amelia looked at the watch and knew the flaw.

Amelia Watson explained, “There is some kind of event lock.  I can get around it.”

Gura looked at her and could not follow.  She still had hope though.

Amelia started going into her back files.  She opened her closet and opened the fake fuse box.  She punched in the combination and opened her armory.

A collection of twenty guns appeared as the false wall dropped.  She grabbed one and moved that collection out of the way with the sliding door the collection was hung on.

Behind the second false wall was the truly dangerous stuff.  Various ammunitions that would be outlawed for anything less than a country’s military were there.   

Among them were her own unique creations.  There were several unique glowing vials, each a Watson Concoction.

Ame ignored the interrogation liquids.  She needed the rare stuff.  Ame pulled two syringes, one glowing red and one glowing purple.  Ame looked at Gura and calmly stated, “We can do this.”

“Gura, I need you to explain how the bubble shield works again.  I need to figure out the math on that.”

Gura started a long explanation that her mother had once taught her.  Amelia listened, walked back to her office, and doodled math on her desk.

Amelia asked something in deep thought, “You wouldn’t happen to know why magic was so much more powerful thousands of years ago than it is today would you?”

Gura looked at her confused.  She didn’t seem to have any clue.

Ame explained, “When I go to ancient Greece, you can feel the difference through the watch.  Everything had something different about it.  I’ll have to show you at another time.”

Ame continued, “This sounds stupid, but it is important.  Did you lose sight of your mom as soon as you lost her hand?”

Gura replied, “Yes.”  She said so through tear-streaked eyes.

Ame stated, “That’s a good thing.  That means we potentially aren’t dealing with a time locked event.”

She explained, “I’m going to minimize the dimensional event horizon.  You’re going to create that bubble around her to keep the incoming water from killing her.   It’ll also make it easier for me to grab her hand and pull her through the time bubble.”

“If we calculated this correctly, it shouldn’t be any harder than bench pressing a truck to pull her through after you use the bubble.  Most of it is just pulling someone against the time current, not the water.”

Gura blinked, not understanding.  Ame looked at her.

Ame held up the purple glowing syringe.  Ame explained, “This is a serum originally used in the dimension that inspired the story Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  I was able to make it somewhat safe, with another version of me I met in another dimension.  I liked to call her Swol Ame.”

Ame then picked up the red glowing liquid.  She explained, “This is a near regeneration formula.  Your mom likely already has heavy damage from the event you described.  She’s also going to take damage from us pulling her through time.  We can save her with this.”

Ame explained why everything prior to this had failed.  The watch kept blocking her other entry points into the past.

Ame stated, “If I can’t pull you two through any time before, I can pull your mom the moment after you lost her.”

Ame continued, “We find the moment from your memory.  I enclose dimensional time around her.  You throw your magic shield.  I can pull her into our time using the very hand you lost touch within a second, after you couldn’t see her anymore.”

Ame muttered to herself, “That should get me past every last one of the watch’s safeties.”

Amelia Watson walked into the center of the office.  She began the process.

The magic circle of time appeared beneath her.  She crouched to begin calculating, with Gura standing right behind her.

The time circle appeared.  She began the spell calculating route.

Ame just needed Gura’s mother’s hand.  On this nineth attempt, she would do this.

The spell was flashing red.  The spell circle was flashing red.

Once again, it was trying to stop her.  This time though, Ame wasn’t moving there she was just making a limited bubble to what she wanted.

The time detective gritted her teeth.  She could do this, no matter how hard the watch tried to stop her.

Come Hell or High Water, she was going to save her new friend’s mom.  She was going to do it this time, no matter how the watch tried to block her attempt.

The Watch started screeching an alarm inside the time spell.  Gura looked shocked.

The shark asked, “What’s that?”

Amelia answered, “Don’t worry about it.”

The alarm got louder.  Red flashing started inside the time spell.

Amelia pressed on.  She was envisioning the target that she needed to acquire.

The alarm began vibrating through the spell.  The entire spell began giving light electrical shock like a 9-volt battery on someone’s tongue.  

Gura seemed more nervous.  Something was very wrong.

Amelia gritted her teeth.  She pressed the spell onward.  Nothing was going to stop her.

The alarm inside the spell was already so loud that it was painful.  The vibration turned up.

Gura was now genuinely afraid.  Amelia ignored everything and pressed on.

Amelia could feel the watch trying to stop her.  The electrical shock had upgraded to the feeling of thousands of fire ants biting her skin to stop her.

Amelia ignored the warning and the pain.  She could already sense that location of Gura’s mother when the young Atlantean had forever lost her.

Amelia just needed to endure the pain for 60 more seconds.  She readied her concoctions.

She was going to do it.  She was going to do it this time.

The spell’s pain pushed up to a hundred times what it had been before.  Watson pushed through.

The alarm was deafening.  The flashing red light was blinding.

Amelia just needed to endure the pain for 45 more seconds.  She was going to make it.

That’s when it happened.  There was a sensation like being in one car hit at high speed by another.

The time bubble was smacked off course.  Something powerful had just blocked them.

Amelia and Gura were both knocked on the floor.  The time spell vanished.

A voice that she hadn’t heard in years growled at her in anger, “That’s enough Amelia Watson”.  It was the voice of a person she had never seen vibrating through the watch.

A dimensional gateway appeared in the office.  A stern looking blue eyed brunette stepped through, before the gateway disappeared.

The figured stated with authority, “My name is Ouro Kronii and I am the Warden of Time.”

She looked at Watson with the look of a teacher that just had her last nerve plucked.  She was the very image of feminine fury.

Kronii stated, “I am so sick and tired of having this conversation with you, Watson.”

Watson gently protested, “You and I have never met.”

Kronii starred her down stating, “That’s just for this version of you and your perspective.  I must deal with your antics in multiple timelines and with multiple versions of you.”

Kronii stated clearly, “My Colleagues and I gave you that watch to help you save humanity.  We did not give it to you for you to put the entire planet in danger.”

Kronii continued, “It’s because you have to behave like some curious cat that must figure 500 different ways to get the canary, we always have to have this talk.” 

The Warden of Time stated with exasperation, “The whole point of the cage is for you not to eat the freaking canary, not figure out how to get past the cage.”

Kronii stated, “In this case, the cage is there for your own protection and that of the 8 billion people currently living on this planet.”

The Warden of Time snapped her fingers and the watch appeared in her hand.  She displayed the watch clearly to make her point.

Kronii continued, “Amelia Watson, we need to have a talk...”

Dancing with Death

"She had danced with death so often that she knew".  -Lacey Dancer

"No art is possible without a dance with death".  -Kurt Vonnegut

Takanashi Kiara Ch. hololive-EN

DO U - Takanashi Kiara (Official Music Video)

A Nightclub

Tokyo, Japan

November 6, 2019 (16 hours ahead of LA time)

Kiara led Calli onto the dance floor.  The Tokyo nightclub was packed.

There had been a moment when the crowds had made way enough for a spot to open.  Kiara took advantage of that moment.

Kiara remembered.  That memory gave what must happen purpose.

In the Phoenix’s last life, the celestial being known as Irys had empathically stated, “Hope doesn’t need you to be a leader this time, Kiara.” 

Irys had continued, “For the universe itself to have any chance to survive and move into the future, your group must survive.  For them to have any chance do that, they will need your heart.”

Kiara had figured out the meaning when she began guiding and moving in with the Reaper.  She knew what she was to do in a single moment.

The pink haired Reaper had stared for a fraction of a second too long.  The Shinigami, or the remains of the woman she had fused with, wasn’t someone who was only attracted to men.

That was how Kiara would save this planet.   This is how she would save the universe.

Love was the key.  Life had summoned her with purpose.  She would save everyone.

Not that it would be easy, hearts were tricky.  It would be harder than it sounded.

This wasn’t like direct battle.  Seduction was a different dangerous dance.

The Phoenix never had the power to breathe life into a human corpse.  That said, the living embodiment of Life itself could return that was not truly dead to the warmth of living.

She focused on Calli.  She danced with a charm that only one who lived centuries could.

The Phoenix placed her hand lightly on her new friend and slowly pushed the fire of life into her.  The cold figure before her warmed.

She could feel Calli’s heart return fully to a living form.  She could feel the nerves and endorphins move through the possessed body.

The beautiful Phoenix had thousands of years to perfect the art of seduction.  Further, as a being of magic, Kiara had tricks in her arsenal that no normal being could compete with.

Kiara watched Calli’s cold form begin to warm.  She took on a healthy temperature and a flushed complexion.  

Irys needed Kiara to be the heart.  The Phoenix sat dancing with a living nuclear weapon.  

For the first time, the Reaper’s breath quickened.  Kiara watched as the reaper began to sweat and looked unsure.

If the Reaper couldn’t be tamed by morality or human thoughts, there was always another path.  Calli could be civilized by her heart.

It was a dangerous game seducing a mass murdering, homicidal psychopath.  That said, there was no one walking the Earth that was better qualified to do so.

Calli couldn’t kill the Phoenix.  The Reaper’s touch would not be her end.

Kiara had nothing to fear.  She could do this.

Kiara was the only one that could do this safely.  Any other living thing risked extermination by being this close to the spirit of death.

Kiara began pouring a part of her inner fire into the Reaper.  As the two danced, Kiara fused her heart and her passions into the incarnation of death.

She could feel life gathering in her target, as they danced.  The spell was working.

She moved closer as they both swayed.   The magic was flowing past both. 

The crowd was starting to watch the two ladies’ dance.  Human couples, both new and old, began spinning around them passionately.

Kiara moved the entire crowd into a romantic mood.  In a society that was often against public displays of affection, couples were openly frolicking on the dance floor and holding each other closer than normal.

Kiara danced and locked eyes with the nervous Reaper.  She commanded the Shinigami’s full attention.

Kiara was a Phoenix.  Kiara was an idol.  She knew how to be desired.

She could feel the Reaper’s possessed heart.  She could feel the Reaper’s quickening breath.

She watched the pink haired lady’s skin flush, likely for the first time in her history.  Kiara willed that this woman would love her.

She silently commanded that Calli would want her.   She manifested her will into the Reaper’s body.

Though it sounds like a simple charm or a spell, it was thousands of times more dangerous.  Kiara was only able to normalize the Reaper into the heart and body of a normal human woman. 

Kiara was in the position of having to seduce this extremely dangerous free willed being.  She had to have the confidence and the femininity to seduce her.

This was also a double-edged sword.  Kiara’s own heart had to be made vulnerable to make this work.

The pair locked eyes.   The two immortals matched rhythms as they danced.

Kiara could feel her own heart flutter.  She could feel her own breath quicken.

There was a real connection there.  The closer she looked, the more she realized how much chemistry the two of them had.

It was a terrifying thought.  She didn’t actually want to be vulnerable to a Reaper.

Kiara thought to herself, “Don’t you dare chicken out.  There is way too much at stake.”

The Phoenix fortified her will.  As they danced, she slowly lost the distance with Calli.

She watched Calli’s eyes dart to her lips.  Kiara knew that she had succeeded at that moment.

The Phoenix knew it was mere moments, before they would both kiss.   She would seal the deal at that instant.

Kiara poured more of her inner fire into the Reaper.  She would bond with this being and make them both inseparable.

From that moment onward, Calli’s heart would be hers.  She would teach this netherworld creature to love life and love her.

Kiara moved purposely forward mere millimeters at a time as they danced.  She would beguile Calli before they were at a distance to embrace.

Their eyes investigated each other.  Both smiled.

Kiara was ready to move in.  She’d make the first move, on this suddenly shy lady.

The Phoenix moved her foot back in her dance.  She was ready to lean forward into that first kiss.

The air shifted.  The mood between them changed.

Something was wrong.  The Reaper went cold and her eyes wandered.

Kiara mentally cursed, “Shit.”  The moment had been perfect.

Calli stopped dancing and stated, “Someone nearby is about to die.  It’s not their time.”

Kiara turned her attention back outwards.  The ancient warrior inside the Phoenix manifested.

She sensed life in the room.  There were figures that were not life.

Kiara agreed stating, “Undead, two of them.”

Both scanned the overly close crowd trying to figure out the victim.  That is when they spotted two men escorting a lady out of the club.

On the surface, the lady looked drunk.  That said something else was off.

With time to watch them, Kiara had a better sense of the targets.  She stated, “Vampires.”

Calli coldly moved into pursuit.  All the life Kiara had invested in the Reaper was already gone.

The reaper once again had her corpse like visage and demeanor.  All the work and fire Kiara had poured in Calli had evaporated.

Kiara silently mourned the wasted opportunity.  That said, someone was in mortal danger.

There was a life to save.  The kiss would have to wait…  

Continued on the next page....