Twenty-six

Cedar Lake Hospital

Cedar Lake, New York State

Terra, Gaea solar system

Milky Way galaxy

Neutral Free Zone

 "It's been two months since the wave of the pandemic hit New York, and authorities are still trying to uncover the source of the disease. Sources state that the origin of the virus might have come from an airplane flight from Paris, France, which also seems to be suffering from the same virus-"

"Hmm! It's chaos out there huh," An Agent said. Rosa looked away from cleaning her spear on the weapons table to look at one of her comrades watching a hologram clip of the news from the mundane side. They were inside a hovercraft, a team of Agents of the Golden Dawn led by Rosa, a Low Guardian. The Hovercraft was stationed above a white building with a huge sign on it with the words: CEDAR LAKE HOSPITAL. It had been two weeks since Rosa had left Sam, to go on her mission which she hadn't told her what it was. Phoebe had warned her against informing Sam that Golden Dawn was keeping an eye on her Aunt. Rosa was interested in Cedar Lake, Sam's hometown which she had rarely discussed. All Rosa knew was that Sam wanted to get as far away from here as possible, so she chose Yesh University in Chicago. Strange enough, Chicago had been the place where Rosa had been stationed when Sam had gone there.

Not much of a coincidence if you ask me. She thought. Rosa trusted the Yesh and the Golden Dawn, they were all that she had left. But she knew that there were things Phoebe and Adonis were not telling her. Like this mission for example. There was something about this town that was strange. As soon as Rosa had gotten within the area of the town she had felt the large density of World energy in this area. A concentration of Odic energy that far surpassed any that Rosa had felt before. She suspected that there was a vergence somewhere in this land. If she were to look to the leylines in which World energy flowed through the land, it would lead to one spot. So Sam lived here huh? It was a wonder how Sam did not awaken here nor was she able to look through the Grey while living in this land. The seal that restrained her power must have been powerful. 

"....other cities like Beijing, Tokyo, and London are also experiencing-" Rosa walked up to the front of the craft and turned the clip off.

"Hey! I was watching that-" The Agent closed his mouth as soon as Rosa glared at him.

"We're not here to watch the news," Rosa said. She went back to the weapons table and picked up her spear. The artifact was pristine and maintained to her liking so she contracted the spear to the size of a rod and placed it in in the belt pouch of her armor. The other agents had gone back to their duties not intending to argue with their leader. Rosa bought up a hologram of the schematic of the town of Cedar Lake. She was studying it, checking out the various parts of the town. As she was doing that, on the roof of the hospital, the door opened, and a woman in a white coat, with a stethoscope around her neck entered the roof. She had strawberry blonde hair, with a fair skin that was almost pale under the moonlight. She looked young like she was in her early twenties so it was easy to assume she was young. But Doctor Stella Mccoy was neither of those. She was close to her early forties and it was only because of her slow aging factor that she was able to assume her youthful appearance. She bought out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and placed one bunt in her mouth. Before she could light it, her senses picked up on the invisible hovercraft that was above her hospital. Stella raised her eyebrow, not happy with Phoebe's action. Stella was glad that Sam knew the truth though she would have liked to be the one to have told her the truth. She had planned for Sam to finish college before she sprung the whole truth on her. She wanted her to have as much of a normal life as possible because that was what Jonathan and her mother wanted. But Stella felt like she had failed. She had failed Sam and her sister. She took out a picture from her pocket. A young teenager Stella was in it surrounded by two little girls with the same appearance. The picture looked old and crumpled. In a part of the picture was a patch of line like a part of it had been cut off and taped back together. A flash of light came down from the invisible hovercraft and a girl in an orange armor walked out of the light. Stella recognized who the girl was and wondered why she had been the one assigned to her.

"Guardian Mccoy," Rosa said. Stella sighed when she heard that. Stella Mccoy was a Guardian-one of the entities of the Golden Dawn assigned to guard and protect various important places in Terra- though she was not of the combat type like Rosa. So she rarely ever visited Golden Dawn's headquarters or any of its towers in the Hidden World. Stella liked to keep to herself and away from any Hidden World issues. But she felt like things were about to change. The planet was experiencing some weird events, like the strange virus in New York City, the presence of Abominations, and the Shadow War that was currently going on. Stella didn't care for any of it only for the purpose of why her family had lived in Cedar Lakes for generations.

"You must be Rosa, right," Stella said. "The little genius discovered by Master Nux." Rosa raised an eyebrow at Stella knowing who she was.

"I may not be involved much with the Order but I still have my contacts within it," Stella said. She eyed the girl that stood before her. The little bit of information that Stella had on Rosa stated that she had been Od-sensitive as a child and was taken in by Master Nux-another Guardian- and raised within Golden Dawn. Stella didn't care to know the reason why Nux had taken the girl. She knew it had to be some tragic reason but Stella didn't care. The world was a cruel place, and everyone had something they were dealing with. "I still don't get why Phoebe is making a big deal out of all this," She waved at Rosa and the Hovercraft above her hospital.

"The High Guardian wants to make sure you're well and safe," Rosa said. Especially with the way things with Sam were developing. "There are things in play, especially now that Samantha Mccoy, your niece has joined Golden Dawn." 

"How is she, my niece," Stella said. A spark of flame lit the blunt in Stella's mouth and she began to enjoy her smoke.

"Sam's ok. She's acclimating well to the Academy," Rosa said. Stella squinted her eyes at the girl before her. Though it was just a gut feeling, Stella felt like this girl was somehow close to her niece.

"Are you friends with my niece?" Stella asked. Rosa hesitated to say anything. Her relationship with Sam was complicated. She never wanted to be friends with her because the truth was that a part of her still had feelings for her ex. But Rosa had messed things up with the lies in the past and now she was left with just Sam's friendship. Which She would gladly take rather than be left with nothing.

"Yes, I'm friends with her," Rosa said. Stella was surprised to be right about her gut feeling. She was a little bit stunned to hear that Sam had a friend. Growing up, the girl had social anxiety that made it difficult for her to make friends in school. Though she had worked hard to overcome it before she left for college, Stella had never met or heard any mention of Sam having friends. Unless you count that boy she was recently seeing. Which Stella didn't. To Stella, Sam's relationship with Henry was just a phase she was going through.

"Hmph! My little Sammy, growing up," Stella said. She moved to the railing of the roof and laid on it. She blew out a cloud of smoke from her mouth as she looked upon the building of her town. The small town atmosphere lay above the town, the townspeople roaming about, attending to their mundane life unaware that the town that they lived in held an ancient secret. Stella watched them all, her eyes crossed as she thought about her family who had been stationed in this town since its founding. Stella remembered her childhood dream of leaving this place, going out to the world, and living a life outside all this mysticism bullshit. And yet here she is, unable to escape her fate. It had been the same for her sister, and now it seems it was the same for Sam. All this served to remind Stella that the path of one's fate was not something one could easily mold. James and her sister had tried to control it, and the result of it had been disastrous. 

"Forgive me for asking this, but why keep the truth about Sam hidden away from her," Rosa asked. "I read that the Mccoy family has a long history with Golden Dawn and the Hidden World. Why seal her power and make her live a mundane life?" Why? Why? Isn't that the million-dollar question? Stella wondered to herself as she glanced at Rosa. Her mind went to James, the night when he had brought that girl with him to this town.

"Promise me if anything were to happen to me, that you'll take care of her."

"Of course, I will. She's my niece."

"And you keep her away from the truth about who she is. Let her live a normal life as much as possible"

And that Stella had tried her best to give that to Sam even with all the tragedy that she had faced in her life. Though Sam's life had not been the kind of normal that James had in mind, she had done her best to keep Sam as far from the Mystical forces as she could. And yet... Stella didn't know how to answer the girl's question. And as a result, silence was all that was left between them. Five minutes passed and yet still Stella said nothing. Rosa's eyes frowned like she was disappointed.

"I didn't mean to be poke-" But she didn't get to complete her words as a powerful pop, like a balloon bursting spread around the whole town. The Odyllic shook, and the World energy within it flowed erratically like a hole within an ocean, the pressure of it sending a literal shockwave that had the hovercraft going visible and crashing to one of the many buildings in the area. The crash sent an explosion that lit up the sky, shock, and horror pasted on both Rosa and Stella's faces.

"The Barrier...the Barrier that Phoebe set up," Stella said. "It's gone. Someone deactivated..." Screams ripped throughout the town, the hair on Stella's body rising as she felt an intrusion within the Odyllic. It was a disgusting feeling, like maggots were crawling all over her skin.

"Abominations," Rosa said. Her spear was already in her hands, her eyes set across the town where most of the screams were coming from.

"Impossible..." Stella said. "The Town center..." Another blood-curdling scream came again, pulling Rosa away from the burning site where the hovercraft had crashed. Her men were gone, dead the instant the Hovercraft had crashed. She could feel her blood freezing at the thought of if she could have survived that even though she was at the peak of Diamond rank. But instead of falling into despair at the thought of nearly dying, Rosa grabbed Stella's hand and pulled her towards the door of the roof. They ran down, Rosa trying to get the doctor as far away as possible. Her mission was to keep her safe... as much as it pained her that people out there were being attacked by Abominations...Rosa knew her priority. Doctors and nurses were running around, it was chaos on the hospital floors as people tried to find out what was going on. As Rosa pulled Stella with her, one of the security guards tried to stand in their way, but Rosa just used her spear to smack him out of the way. Her eyes were focused and her mind was thinking so many things. There was a secret Tempus gate somewhere in this town, something that Phoebe had told her about. They could use it to transport themselves to Luna. Stella realizing what Rosa was trying to do pulled her hand away from her. For some reason, the woman had more strength than Rosa had realized. Of course, she did. She was a Guardian too.

"Dr.Mccoy, I don't have the time to persuade you on the importance of getting you-"

"You're trying to get to the Tempus gate, aren't you?" Stella said. Rosa raised an eyebrow at her. "The one Phoebe probably told you about is in the Town Center plaza. By now the horde of Abominations should have reached the place. It's no good." Stella kept walking towards the exit of the hospital, into the open, Rosa right behind her. Right now, black smoke filled the midnight sky, fire spreading around the town. People were gathered around the crash site, trying to see if there was anyone alive, wondering where the ship had come from in the sky. Not knowing that a horde of monsters were heading towards them. Both Stella and Rosa could feel the horde spreading around the town, ripping through the humans like they were nothing.

"There is another Tempus gate that is available," Stella said.

"Where?" Rosa asked.

"My house," Stella said. "Luckily, my house is in the opposite direction from where the horde broke through." Rosa felt the flow of Od circulate throughout her body, infusing every body part with power. Just as Stella flew off in the air, jumping on it like there was a platform below her, Rosa followed her, using the Skywalk Mystic technique to follow her. Rosa could hear the screams of thousands of people behind them as they went the opposite way. She closed her heart to their suffering, knowing her priority was to get Stella out of there. One would think as a doctor, Stella would care about the Oath she swore, but she didn't focus on it instead focusing on the Oath that was more important to her. The reason why her family was in this town in the first place. They arrived in a part of the town where the buildings looked marvelous with their beautiful aesthetic. People were out of their homes, talking among themselves and wondering what was going on. When Rosa and Stella arrived in the sky, Rosa was surprised that the humans could see them. A little girl was pointing up at them and the humans looked up at them.

"Looks like the barrier wasn't the only thing that was destroyed," Stella said.

"How...How was the Grey destroyed," Rosa said as they descended into a beautiful courtyard. There were gardens planted around them and a large white mansion in front of them. 

"Spatial interference," Stella said. "In the end, the Grey is a barrier that operates on the spatial continuum on an atomic level," Rosa had no idea what she meant by that but just followed the doctor inside the mansion. "This way," Stella closed the door as she led Rosa to the basement of the mansion. Passing through the hallway, Rosa glanced at a picture that hung on the wall, a picture of a family. She noticed Stella sitting in front of two adults, one male and one female with Stella resembling the female. And besides Stella were two little girls that resembled Sam. Rosa paused in front of it, staring at the picture. Stella noticed it and walked backwards to where Rosa was.

"That was a long time ago," Stella said before Rosa could say anything. "Come, we need to get to the basement." Rosa followed the doctor as she took them to a door that led to the basement. As they walked down, a set of light crystal lined down the staircase began to burn bright. There were some weird symbols on the walls, a sort of unknown language that Rosa couldn't read. When they got to the bottom, a large chandelier on the ceiling glowed and brightened the room for Rosa to see a slab of black rock in the middle of the basement. Surrounding it was a pentagram circle filled with runic symbols. The rock was a monolith that had unknown symbols etched on it, a feeling of dread settled in on Rosa as she looked at the rock.

"What's going on?" Rosa said. "Where's the Tempus gate-"

"The Tempus gate is not here," Stella said. She was moving her hands, making gestures with her fingers as a circle of light began to manifest. Rosa recognized it as her weaving her magic.

"What do you mean the Tempus gate is not here," Rosa said. She felt anger at being tricked by Stella. Stella didn't answer, concentrating on the spell she was performing. Just this single spell required massive amounts of magical energy. She had to focus on weaving the energy into the magic circle she was manifesting. As she began to do that, the pentagram circle around the monolith began to glow, like it was responding to the magic Stella was weaving. The Pentagram circle began to move beyond the floor, spinning around the monolith as the space around it began to shift. And then the rock was gone, vanished like it was never here. The sound of Stella's breathing took up most of the silence that was left behind. Rosa couldn't stand it anymore before she turned around to question the doctor. But Stella beat her to it.

"Forgive me, but I had to uphold my oath no matter what. I couldn't just-"

"Now look at what you've done," A voice said. Rosa and Stella spun around to see a woman sitting carefree on the stairs. She wore nothing on top, exposing her white skin, her long black hair covered her bosom, and her face held a frightening beauty to it. From her waist downwards was a black skirt that completely covered her legs. Resting on her shoulder was a long spear that she held within her arms. Her presence was enough to send chills down Rosa and Stella's body. She was an Abomination. And not a Lesser one, but a Greater one. Rosa was panicking in her mind, wondering how the monster was able to get so close without her picking up on it. Stella was also sweating profusely, knowing that it should be impossible for this creature to enter her home. There were wards, protective wards assigned all over the mansions to keep out Infernal creatures.

"H..How did you get through the security," Stella screamed. Right now, her brain was being flooded with too many chemicals that allowed her to feel fear and anxiety, and screaming was the only way she knew to fight through it. The monster seemed to have realized it for she only smiled at her question, not bothering to answer her.

"His Majesty won't be happy with the seed gone," The Abomination said. "Well, I guess it's a good thing that you're still here, Stella Mccoy. Better you than the seed in my opinion." Rosa felt a murderous pressure from the creature which made her act. Her spear moved fast, striking at the stairs where the Greater Abomination was. But the monster was faster, jumping through the air, the skirt that covered her legs parted revealing huge bat-like wings with sharp claws at the edge of it. Her legs were covered by a veil of Infernal energy. Rosa moved to where she was going to land, thrusting her spear at the monster. But the Beast Abomination simply used her own spear to parry Rosa's strike, who then used her spear as a support to push herself up and send a forward kick tight at the Beast's face. The Abomination was sent flying, crashing through the wall and to Stella's neighbor's house. 

"Where the hell is the Tempus gate," Rosa yelled at Stella.

"It's in the living room," Stella said. She led the way up the stairs, moving around the destroyed stairs that Rosa had attacked. Rosa sensed something approaching them as they reached the top and out of the basement. She pulled Stella out of the way just in time as a fist rushed through the space she had once been. An explosion, with the entire mansion shaking like an earthquake had struck them followed by a huge swarm of dust. The two women watched as the dust cleared revealing a huge red-haired bipedal beast wearing black battle armor with a fist condensed in Infernal energy. His aura was equal to that of the Batwoman.

"A guardian of Golden Dawn. Tell me, do either of you know Leonard Haravok," The Ape Abomination grunted out.

"What about him," Rosa said with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you close to Leonard Haravok," The Abomination said.

"Not particularly," Rosa muttered thinking about the golden-haired boy who somehow had gotten close to Sam. She wasn't close to Leon but knew him due to some missions they had gone through together.

"So you do know him," The Ape Abomination growled. The Infernal energy charged up within him as he lunged at Rosa who used her spear to block the punch. The impact pushed her legs through the floor, cracks opening through it. She spat out blood trying to maintain the defensive aura she was using to enhance her body. "Oh! Pretty tough Armor you've got," Thanks to Rosa's armor features, her Defense technique was boosted to the point that she could handle the massive strength of the Ape. But then the Ape kicked at Rosa as a blue square barrier got in between the two. Rosa jumped away from the abomination, grateful to Stella who had conjured the barrier in time.

"The Gate is by the Fireplace," Stella said. "All I need to do is to activate-" Rosa's ear picked up the sound of a whipping effect getting closer.

Whop-eesh!

"Get down," Rosa jumped on Stella and pushed her down as the entire top of the house got cut through. Dust, debris, and blood were mixed above them, amidst the destruction was the batwoman who had swung her spear to cut through the entire mansions in the neighborhood, cutting through tens of people who were also in the streets and their homes. Rosa saw the body parts in the sky, rain down as gravity pulled them back. The blood and guts landed on Stella and Rosa like rain as the batwoman lunged at Rosa with her spear. Rosa struck back with her spear infusing her Od on the tip. The Batwoman swerved to the side, dodging the spear while she made a slash with her spear but Rosa used the bottom of her spear to parry it. The Batwoman raised her arms and made a slashing sound with her claws. The Abomination was too quick that Rosa was unable to respond back, the attack sent her flying to the other building that had also been attacked by the Bat Abomination. She used the blade of her spear to get rid of the momentum propelling her. There was a horrible slash on her face that was bleeding out. Her chest was rising and falling as she tried to control her breathing. She had exhausted most of the Od she had within her body, and by trying to control her breathing, Rosa was trying to channel more Od from the Odyllic. Her spiritual strength was still in good condition so she could siphon as much Od as she could. Then she began the process of circulating the energy through her body with her cultivation technique. The batwoman sneered at Rosa up in the air, her bat wing flapping and keeping her up in the air.

"His majesty was right. You humans do love to struggle," The abomination said.

"It's called tenacity," Rosa said as she stretched her body, snapping her body into a fighting position. The aura around her intensified into a cherry blossoming flower.

[Cherry Blossom style- First form: Five petal strike] A construct of a cherry colored flower with five petals struck at the abomination at the same time as Rosa thrusted her spear in the Abomination's direction. Huge five shockwaves occurred followed by a cloud of dust and debris. The Abomination flew out of the last one, her expression that of one filled with a maniac glint. She flew straight at Rosa. Rosa pushed her spear forward in the air, the aura of the cherry colored flower wrapped around her spear.

[Cherry Blossom style- Second form: One Branch thrust] Hundreds of sharp branches of concentrated energy burst out at the Abomination. The batwoman swerved to the right, evading the attack as the Ape Abomination leaped from his spot, lunging a punch at Rosa. But Stella casted a barrier spell in time to protect Rosa. Rosa turned her body sideways to look at the Beast Abomination.

"Woman! Stay out of this. His Majesty will deal with you," The Ape growled. And then he used his other hand to send a second punch at Rosa as the Batwoman appeared slashing her spear at Rosa's head.

[Rapid Movement- First step of the Blooming season] A swirl of cherry flowers appeared around Rosa as the attacks from the two Abominations struck through the flowers. Rosa appeared in the back of the batwoman as she twisted her body around to face Rosa.

"Stay out of my way, Patau," The batwoman said.

"Kiara," Patau said as she swiped her wings at Rosa releasing a wave of several spiked blades at Rosa. As Rosa moved backwards in front of Stella, she used her spear to block the several blades that were coming. Unfortunately she wasn't able to block three of them. Two stabbed her in her left thigh while the remaining one got her in her left shoulder, penetrating her armor. Rosa felt an unimaginable burst of pain that nearly bought her to her knees. But she grind her teeth forcing herself to endure it.

"Human, this tenacity of yours, aren't you sure it's a defect," Kiara said as she whirled her body and spear in the air, sending rows of stabs and slices at Rosa. Rosa pushed herself to dodge each of the attacks, sometimes using her spear to parry and block the attacks. The two danced around each other, the speed of their movement increasing as they moved through the damaged house. As much as Rosa had siphoned more Od, her speed began to decrease, slashes of cuts began to appear on her body, her armor being cut up like it was nothing.

"Enough Rosa! The Gate is ready," Stella called out. She couldn't believe the tenacity of the girl fighting against the Greater Abomination even if she was a Peak Diamond rank. Only an Awakened Mystic at the Peak of Ascendance could go toe to toe with Greater Abominations.

"Get out of here then," Rosa said. "I'll keep them occupied while you escape," Kiara laughed out in a maniac laughter. Her right wing rose and shot out one of those blades from the wing. It flew and smashed through one of the mansions that was still intact. The entire building was demolished as a result.

"You got pierced with three of those, human," Kiara said. "Plus the poison in the blade has entered your body. How long can you keep struggling? Please show me more of your futility." She leaped up in the air, infernal energy charging up in her throat, and then she opened her mouth releasing a blast of sonic wave. But then a wave of water cut through the ground, forming a barrier that protected Rosa from the attack. Rosa slowly walked towards Stella who had set the Tempus gate already. She was breathing heavily after expunging so much mana in weaving the barrier. Stella could see the damage that Rosa's body had accumulated from the poison, knowing full well that she would die if not treated quickly. She needed medical treatment as soon as possible.

Too bad, I can't be the one to treat her, Stella thought as the light began to manifest from within the fireplace, the Tempus gate opening for them to escape.

Behind the waterfall barrier separating Kiara and Patau from the two women, Kiara landed on the ground, her mood darkened by losing her prey. Patau moved and punched the barrier but the waterfall held. A powerful spell. Kiara thought. It's probably a six-tier spell. As Patau punched and kicked the barrier, the sound of space opened up behind Kiara, and an orange-shaggy-haired man with rough, handsome features mixed with a bit of ferocity. He wore a white sleeveless garment from the shoulder, that revealed his chest with a scar, and black baggy pants. It was Sirius, the Beast king, and leader of the Greater Abominations.

"I see you guys are having fun," King Sirius said. Patau bowed to the king, showing his respect and admiration to the King. While Kiara stood there glaring at the waterfall. King Sirius chuckled at her behavior. He flicked one of his fingers, sending a wave of energy that cut through the waterfall, dispelling the spell. All drops of water were cut into nothing exposing Stella Mccoy who was closing up the gate. She turned around to face the Abomination, her chest heaving with great difficulty and exhaustion. She frowned as she saw the face that had joined the two Abominations. And then a wry smile came upon her face.

"Heh! it's you," She said.

"Yes, it is me," Sirius said.