In a nearly endless library, a gentle looking young man returned a massive tome to a bookshelf and stretched his slim frame, giving a great big yawn before turning around and promptly tripping over his hair.

[Ahem]

A musical voice coughed deprecatingly.

[Would you like me to cut your hair master?]

"Oof." Struggling to untangle himself from the long black hair that cascaded over everything in sight the young man muttered to himself. "Nia, how long did that last book take?"

[Seven thousand four hundred and twenty eight days, nineteen minutes and three seconds.]

"Huh, no wonder I feel tired." Said the young man rubbing his eyes.

[Negative, master cannot get tired.]

"Heh, I guess that is true." Standing carefully to his feet the young man snapped his fingers and his long hair disappeared, revealing a beautiful blue and silver robe embroidered with millions of twinkling golden stars. He looked to be somewhere between sixteen and twenty but his clear grey eyes held something truly ancient.

"Nia, give me a rundown of my current progress and location. Also, draw up a bath."

[You bath is ready master, I prepared it when you got to the last page.]

"Excellent, thank you." Walking out of the little alcove he was in, the young man entered what seemed like an endless library. Rows and rows of bookshelves that stretched into the distance covered the walls. Piles of scrolls and tablets spilled from cabinets and random piles of books were stacked to the ceiling. As he walked across the marble floor a small light accompanied him, hovering slightly above his right shoulder.

[It is my pleasure master.] The tinkling voice came from the light. [You have just finished Meteorlexecous Tenrix: A study of the Metri Phenomenon when observed through the Xerum Theories by Vanusilimex Jegborugh-Them, 9th Circle Archmage of the Febnulious Reality.]

"Yeah and it was about as pompous and worthless as it sounds," the young man grumped. "He completely ignored the permutations caused to the Metri when the Xerum Theories are performed in another reality. His foundational valuations have some value though, and it is certainly a novel approach."

[Is that so master.] The light was obviously not interested and even slightly annoyed at being interrupted so the young man waved his hand for them to continue.

[Thank you. That was the 326,314,538,764,263th book of 326,314,538,764,264 total books.]

"Wait, you mean to tell me that I only have one more book to read?" Looking around at the endless shelves, his brow furrowed. "I've read all of these?

[Yes master, that is correct.]

"What an absolute shame. I was really enjoying this. Surely there must be more books out there."

[Certainly, master. We have excluded any book that repeats subject matter or contains no truth. Sadly, these criteria disqualified the majority of the books we considered.]

"Why restrict books that contain no truth? Wouldn't they be helpful for understanding the way people think?"

[With all due respect, master, the last time you read a book like that you ended an entire reality and cracked the tower.]

Pausing, the young man looked at the light in surprise. A faint memory tugged at him, but when he recalled it his face blanched and he shivered slightly.

"I did? Oh, right the Xdxxssuisuus Event."

[Yes. You did.]

Coughing with embarrassment, the young man quickly changed the subject.

"Hmmm. What's my final book? What is the subject?"

[The book is called "Where's My Cow?" It seems that it is the story of a child who has lost his cow and is looking for it.]

"..."

***

The small air strip in the middle of the dense jungle was all but abandoned. Apart from the small shack at the southern end where the man responsible for keeping the runway clear lived there was not another building for nearly sixty miles. A humvee was parked near the shack, quite out of place in the rural environment until a cessna buzzed down and taxied to a stop about fifty feet away. The hot and sticky air rushed into the cabin of the plane as soon as the aircraft door was opened and Morgana could feel her shirt sticking to her back before she even got down.

Brock, in his typical camo pants and combat boots, was standing in front of the hummer waiting for Morgana, his hands behind his back. Even before the plane stopped moving he walked forward to help with the bags, but before he could get them a lithe figure jumped into his arms.

"Uncle Brock! Uncle Brock!"

"Haha, hello Morgana. I'm happy to see you too."

Setting the lovely young lady down, Brock couldn't help but marvel at how much she had grown in the last two years. He had been away from the mansion completing missions, but before that, he had watched Morgana grow for her entire life. He had never noticed her changes up until now. When he had last seen her she was still a gangly pre-teen but now all of that awkwardness had vanished. Instead, standing at 5' 8", Morgana was like a fresh flower that had just bloomed.

"Hey Morgana, I'm glad your dad let you come. And with no bodyguards?" Charlie walked by to grab the bags from the plane since Brock was busy.

"Ha. I'm sixteen Charlie, and well able to take care of myself, thank you." Morgana puffed her chest out proudly and brushed her hair behind her ear only to deflate at the polite but disdainful cough that sounded from behind her.

"Ahem."

The sight of the tall man in a three piece suit getting down from the plane sent a shiver down Brock's spine and he quickly bowed.

"Greetings, my Lord."

"Hm." Giving a non-committal sound, Duke Barith straightened up and looked around. Standing at a full six feet, ten inches, the Duke was thin as a rail, but gave off an incredibly sinister vibe. His reddish-orange eyes with vertical pupils swept the jungle unblinkingly. Every time his gaze crossed one of the mercenaries they could not help but shiver slightly.

"I am going to rest. Do not bother me unless you are actually in danger." Every word that spilled from his lips was accompanied by the sound of a snake's hiss that danced at the edge of hearing. Without waiting for Morgana to respond, the Duke snapped and vanished. A bronze bangle in the shape of a snake appeared on Morgana's wrist, tightening down so it could not be removed.

Sighing in exasperation, Morgana glared at the bangle. Of course her dad had sent her a protector, that was a given. But for him to have sent Duke Berith really irritated her. The Grand Demon Duke was undoubtedly one of the strongest of the 72 Demons of Solomon but also one of the most stuck up. Despite her position as the heir of Solomon he refused to treat her as anything but a little girl every time they met.

"Well, at least we know you'll be safe." Charlie chuckled from the side, trying to fill the awkward silence that hung over the group after the Duke disappeared. "Not that you wouldn't have been safe with me here."

"Oh, come off it." Brock chuckled, patting Morgana on the head. "More like you'll be safe since Morgana is here."

"Seriously, Charlie. Morgana could already kick your butt years ago and I'm sure she is only stronger now." Max stuck his head out of the humvee and smiled roguishly at the young lady.

"Suck up." Charlie grumbled as he walked back to the vehicle and casually tossed the bags into the back.

Brock and Morgana jumped in the back next to Zeb as Charlie got into the front with Max. Smiling and nodding at Morgana, Zeb handed her a packet of information and a phone with an audio file on it.

"Your dad sent these over for you. Something about extra research."

"Thanks Zeb."

Growing up Brock had always been around and even though he was not her real uncle she had always treated him as such. Over the years he had put this team together and she had grown to love and appreciate all four of the members, not only for the care they showed for her but also for the loyalty they showed to each other. Putting the earbuds in her ears, she listened to the message from her dad.

"Hey Sweety, I hope your flight was smooth. I found out some really interesting things about that door. First and probably the most interesting is that you were completely right. Those symbols don't appear anywhere else in the world to our knowledge. I even called Dr. Severu and he looked through his database. What makes it even more curious is that it looks like the symbols might belong to an ancient language that eventually split into many others. Severu has a theory that this is the predecessor to all the ancient languages we know.

"Second thing is that the door probably has some sort of protective enchantment on it so be careful when you are trying to scry it. The formation of the symbols form at least 34 different barrier spells that should be..what? Oh, 35. The doctor just found another. Anyway, they form 35 different barrier spells that up until this point we thought were exclusive. So far as we understand them, they should not be able to be mixed. This means that who or whatever set up the enchantment had a much stronger knowledge of how barriers work and interact than we do.

"Last, but not least, we think we might have found a clue that could help you. Do you remember Grand Magus Gelich? That really old guy who I took you to see once a year? He left you a ring, right? Well, he left an ancient book for me. There is no translation for it, but so far, we're able to match the symbols on the door with the ones in the book. They're linked together in a variety of formations, though we have no idea what they mean. It just so happens that the symbols in the book can be combined into 35...wait, 36 arrangements on the door.

"Again, we have no idea what these spells are, or if they are even spells in the first place. The book and the ring also have the same symbol on them so they might prove to be of some help. I know you don't like it when I go in your room, but I took the liberty of getting the ring and putting it into IDS. I'm sending the book over as well. I used the normal family code for it. Anyway, love you. Say hi to the boys for me and come back safe."

Pulling the earbuds out of her ears, Morgana tossed them aside. With a flourish she drew back her sleeves and mumbled an incantation, her hands making a plucking motion in the air. A simple silver ring appeared in her hand, it's thin, intricate braiding throwing patterns of light around the bouncing vehicle. Looking up at the flash, Zeb just shook his head. No matter how many times he saw a magician use the Inter-Dimensional Storage there was no way he could get used to it.

Slipping the ring onto her finger, Morgana repeated the spell, pulling a red leather bound book from mid air. Flipping it open, she began to look through it as they continued to travel through the jungle. Filled with an incomprehensible language, Morgana settled for reading the notes in the margins.

The ride to the temple was rough and long. They followed dirt roads and bounced across small rivers blasting 80's hair metal the whole time. It was a full six hours before they saw the temple peeking out of the jungle.

"Max, cut the music!" Brock barked as he and Charlie jumped out of the humvee, slinging their assault rifles over their shoulders. "Charlie, perimeter, Zeb and Max be ready to roll in 2."

"Yes sir." Despite his normally wisecracking attitude, Max was a soldier at heart and hearing Brock's tone his training kicked in. Killing the engine, he slid out of the vehicle and onto the roof where straps held rolled fabric. In less than a minute the car was covered in a mesh tarp that not only helped shield it from sight by breaking up the silhouette but also shielded it against various scanners. 30 seconds later he and Zeb had their gear and were double checking their guns as Brock helped Morgana out of the car.

"Let's move," Brock took the lead with Morgana right behind him and Max and Zeb flanking, "weapons free. We don't know if any animals have taken up residence since we were last here, so be on the lookout."

The group moved carefully through the remaining three hundred feet of jungle to the spot where Charlie had set up and was scanning the ruins carefully. Approaching him quietly they waited until he finished his observation and signaled them forward. The ruined temple was covered in vines and trees that had, over time, grown up, around and through the stones that made up the temple walls. The resulting rubble made the team's approach difficult but after half an hour of scrambling up the side of the decaying temple they finally came to the entrance of the temple interior.

The trip down into the tunnels was uneventful, though Morgana did spot a few snakes slithering away when the beams from their flashlights swept the dark rooms. The combination of the heat and the darkness sapped her energy at a faster than normal rate and, though she was fairly fit, Morgana soon found herself completely exhausted.

"Hey, can we take a break?" Morgana asked Brock, tugging on his shirt.

"Hm? Oh, of course." Smacking his forehead, the mercenary captain signaled for everyone else to form a perimeter. "Do you need anything to eat or drink? Make sure you are getting enough fluids, this heat is a killer."

"Thank you, I think I'll be fine. I just need a few minutes to rest." Sitting down on a fallen pillar, Morgana gulped down some water and gave a satisfied sigh.

After five minutes, Morgana was feeling much better and the team continued on their way into the tunnels beneath the temple. Once they finally reached the door Morgana simply could not believe her eyes. Just as it had appeared in the pictures she had seen the door stood closed, unblemished by time. In person, the doors were even more magnificent than she had imagined and, almost unthinkingly, she reached out her hand to touch the smooth surface.