Manx struggled against the ropes cutting into her wrists and ankles, desperate to escape before any monsters showed up. Her sunset orange eyes gazed around the stones that swept up the sides of the mountains. She wished that they were sharp enough to cut her bindings. She was a withyr sprite, with a catlike face and golden fur, and one stubborn curl of hair that always seemed to get in her face just for the sake of annoying her. This particular hair was busy tickling her nose, as if taunting her that she was unable to sweep it away due to her current situation.

A silver collar dug into her neck, the metal band sapping her strength and inhibiting her silver helix ability. The neutralizer as it was called was a little gift from her former best friend and his sadistic companion, who had clipped the thing around her neck so that she would not be able to teleport away through the shadows. Not long ago she had cursed her ability, for how it had made her spend eleven years of her life in a dungeon without having done any wrong, and how it had caused people to fear her or judge her for being different.

Now however, was the one time she wished she could use her shadow powers to get out of this humiliating predicament, but alas life had decided to be unfair on her. Now would have been a good time if any to swear, if she had learned any swear words in her seventeen years of life. Her only chance at learning that kind of language had been sidetracked when she had decided to release that small herd of unicorns. That had ended badly when Lyrica had gotten stabbed by one of the beasts, causing her to become alive and start dying at the same time. It had turned out that the dark magic making Lyrica a dracolitch and the light magic which the unicorns possessed didn't mix well. And now Lyrica was trapped as a vapor in a bottle at Xolt's waist, being delivered to the Empress to be killed either way.

This really wasn't Manx's kind of day. She had seen her former best friend betray her. His little friend had beheaded an innocent young dragon right in front of her, just because Xolt thought it would distress her even more than his betrayal. And he had been kind enough to stun her with his silver helix ability of lightning, bind her hands and feet, and leave her in the mountains to be brutally slain by whatever horrible creatures might be waiting around. On top of all that, she would have sworn that he claimed to have gotten the magic to trap Lyrica from Celyn, which was the name Lyrica claimed the voice in her head went by.

Manx heard a fluttering noise far above, like the wings of some great beast, and she froze in apprehension. Last time she had been in these mountains, she and Vaskin had almost been eaten by a Roc, and she wondered if the giant bird had come back still hungry. She examined the clear blue skies, but nothing seemed to be flying overhead. If there was nothing in the sky, then where was the sound coming from?

She looked around the surrounding cliffs towering above her. Nothing really of interest, besides a pair of bluish colored Kraggers screeching at each other over the fresh carcass of a goat. The scaly hyena like long armed scavengers were busy for the moment, but Manx wondered if in her current state they would view her as prey. She had to undo the ropes before something bigger noticed her. The only problem there was that Xolt knew how to tie a mean knot. Because her hands were bound behind her back, that made things even more difficult.

Something made a low clicking noise nearby, and Manx was beginning to dread whatever wasn't showing up yet even more. A dark shape swooped into the sky, its shadow falling over Manx as it passed. Whatever the thing was, it was at least the size of a dragon, and with the excited clicking sounds it was making, it had just found its next meal. The beast landed inches away from Manx, all six of its legs delicately touching the ground. The thing gazed at her out of giant bulging compound eyes.

The creature was even larger up close, with a large hairy segmented body and feathered antennae that felt for vibrations in the air. Its two front legs were modified into long jagged scythe like shapes like the arms of a mantis, and its massive wingspan barely fit across the path between the mountains. Two words connected in Manx's brain as its glittering eyes stared into her soul. Reaper Moth. The creature's name.

"Go away!" Manx yelled at the giant insect, hoping that maybe her voice would scare the thing away. It was a dire hope, for the monster was nearly ten times her size.

The moth clicked its mandibles in excitement, reaching out with a foot and gingerly touching Manx on the shoulder. "Get off!" she snapped, rolling away from it as best she could. The moth uncoiled its long proboscis slightly and tilted its head.

"Blast! If I ever see Xolt again he's going to pay for this!" Manx muttered, as the moth continued to try and feel her with its feet. It was almost as if it was using its feet to taste her, because as far as anyone knew, moths didn't have tongues. The giant bug clicked its mandibles again, leaning in towards Manx's face.

"I'm not your dinner!" Manx yelled, trying to kick the hairy beast's leg despite the fact that her ankles were bound together. She knew she was virtually helpless, but it couldn't hurt to try.

"Ow!" Manx yelped, as she scraped her arm against a sharp rock whilst she was trying to squirm away. She then realized that this was what she had been looking for. Manx shifted her position until her bound hands were directly over the rock. She then began moving her hands over the rock in a desperate attempt to cut the rope binding them.

The moth regarded her with curiosity, reaching out one of its scythe like modified front limbs and lightly tapping her forehead, drawing a tiny drop of her blood as she pulled away. "Go on, shoo!" Manx growled, feeling the ropes binding her hands begin to slacken a bit.

"Almost...there!" she exclaimed in excitement as the ropes fell away. The moth made that clicking noise again, almost as if it was scolding her.

Manx dragged herself backwards. She reached down and tugged at the knots binding her feet. The moth reached out one of its forelimbs and slammed it down in between her knees, before it pulled backwards, severing the cords that bound her feet. Manx crept away from the giant insect, pulling herself to her feet. Despite the fact that it had just released her, it was still a giant moth with a wingspan as wide as the palace gates. So she did the only logical thing that came to her at the moment; she ran.

The ground pounded beneath her feet, she fled on without looking back. Minutes later, she heard the whooshing sound of the moth's wings as it flew in towards her at top speed. She was about to thank the moth, when she realized that it was toying with her. The beast was trying to get a good chase out of her before it finished her off.

If it wanted a chase, she was going to give it the chase of its life. Even if it felt pointless, she had to escape at all costs. Her lungs burned within her chest, desperate for air. Her heart raced and her blood roared in her ears, and it seemed for a moment as if she was finally out of the moth's reach. The exhilaration and adrenaline of the moment caused her to let out a whoop of victory.

Her celebration was far too soon however, as suddenly something wet and sticky hit her from behind, quickly expanding into a foam that trapped her within its stringy texture. The spongy substance coated her back and began hardening within seconds, making it impossible for her to run.

"NO!" she yelled, as the moth flew around in front of her and shot another stream of the foamy substance from its furry abdomen. Her entire body was encased in the awful stuff except for her head. The moth clicked its mandibles in delight before it lifted her up with its four back legs, the foamy substance ripping from the ground as the moth took to the sky.

Manx gazed down from the moth's claws, the ground shrinking beneath her. The substance had all hardened around her to a point where she could not move anything except for her head and neck. She willed herself away from there with all her might, but it wasn't enough. The neutralizer only caused a painful tingling sensation that increased with her level of concentration. It was an all too familiar sensation for Manx, as she had grown up in a similar collar during her time in the dungeon.

The moth flew on for a few miles before it flew into a large cave in the mountainside. It landed on its back legs before folding its wings and crawling forward into the darkness. Manx's silver helix ability added to the good night vision all withyr sprites had, and so she could make out a lot of the details as the moth crept further into the cave. She felt the shadows calling to her, as if they were whispering at the back of her mind. The farther in and darker it got, the more she had to resist the urge to answer. She knew it was hopeless. The collar would interfere with any use of her powers whatsoever, and unless the moth were to accidentally take off the metal band without slicing through her neck, the prospects were futile.

The moth crept on through the darkness until it began to grow brighter, sunlight streaming through the other side from tiny cracks in the wall. It was there that Manx wished she couldn't see where the beast was taking her. Just as she was about to yell in protest, her voice turned into a small squeak as it placed her into the pile of white spherical objects. They were eggs. The giant moth was feeding her to its young. She gazed around the walls and saw a few other creatures unfortunate enough to make their way into its lair.

A kragger opened its toothy jaws and let out a piteous wail, while the back end of a goat kicked from inside its foamy white cocoon. The moth gingerly set her down and admired its collection of live prey with its bulbous compound eyes before it made that awful clicking sound and turned away. Manx gazed longingly towards the exit and yelled in a desperate attempt to be freed, "Wait! You've made a mistake! Please, I have a family and friends I have to get back to!"

The moth turned its head and clicked its jaws. It crawled back through the tunnel and far out of sight, leaving Manx trapped, scared, and alone.

Suddenly, a voice from behind her spoke. "My my, it looks like someone's in a bit of trouble."

"Who said that?" Manx snapped in alarm, craning her head around to try and see past the cocoon.

"Keep it down will you. If she comes back we'll all be in trouble." the voice said, deep and masculine.

"Can you at least move to where I can see you?" Manx asked.

"Move?! I'm in the same predicament as you, my dear. I was curious as to if moth silk really is impervious to magic, but the phrase is wrong until I'm dead." the voice replied.

"Huh? What phrase?" Manx asked.

"Curiosity killed the cat. If you haven't noticed I'm very much alive. And as soon as I find a way to overpower this silk's charms, I'll wreak some havoc on that bug like there's no tomorrow." he said in return.

"You're a cat?" Manx asked.

"Two tail." he replied smugly. "I've got a life or two to spare." he continued.

"I know a two tailed monster cat. Her name is Khashmyr. Have you ever met her?" Manx said.

He sighed and said, "Met her? No. She sounds lovely though. I wonder what kind of chaos I could make with a slice of heaven named..."

"Haven't you realized we're about to die?" Manx snapped.

"Correction. You're about to die. Me, well, like I said I've got lives to spare. If I die I'll just pop back up and laugh at your corpse." he replied.

"If you could just pop back up, couldn't you do that and then free me?" Manx asked.

"Only if the worms didn't eat you first. Hey look, it sounds like they're hatching!" he replied.

"And I thought Khashmyr was a piece of work." Manx muttered under her breath.

"Trouble causing is our job, Love." he replied with a slight purr.

"That puts it lightly." Manx sighed.

"You have a name, kid?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know my name if you want to watch my corpse get eaten by whatever's in those eggs?" Manx retorted.

"You look familiar. Like that girl on the posters the Empress put up everywhere. Any chance your name's Tamira Jade 'Manx'?" the cat said.

Manx gasped before replying with, "Yes."

"Good good. Alright, I'm getting you out of here." he said.

"Wait, what?" Manx said, shocked.

"You're worth seven hundred thousand golden dracquens, Love. As much as I'd like to see you get eaten before my last moments of this life, You're worth quite a lot more alive." he replied.

"But you're a cat! What would you want money for?" she asked.

"Simple. If I get the money, there's millions of poor chumps who'd need it more than me that all get to see a cat get the prize that their 'higher races' couldn't. Plus, it's entertainment to mess with the system. Anything in the name of Lady Chaos." he said suavely.

"What would you do with the money?" Manx asked.

"Melt it into a statue of yours truly I presume. It'll be useless to me once I'm done." he said.

"What about all the people who could use it to better their lives, especially after the battle?" Manx groaned.

"I can't believe you're asking about money when there's a big caterpillar oozing towards your face." he said.

At that, Manx looked around and screamed.

"What do we do?" Manx asked.

"Don't move. I'll think of something." he replied.

"It's not like I can move!" Manx shot back.

"Shush! Listen!" he said suddenly

"What?" Manx said nervously as the worm oozed over her cocoon.

"There's someone outside. Small dragon and a rider. If you scream loud enough they might dig us out." he said.

"How is that..." Manx started, before the worm slithered by her ear. It moved around until she was gazing into its maggoty face and beady eyes. Its hooked jaws opened and closed, making a high pitched clicking sound just like its mother. Manx let out a blood curdling scream, only pausing to take a breath, before screaming again.

"Good job!" the cat congratulated.

"What do you mean good job? It's about to eat my face!" Manx yelled back.

A faint voice called from outside, "Manx? Is that you?"

"Bloody help us it's gonna' eat my face!" Manx screamed back.

"Thorryn, we did it! But since when did Manx ever learn to talk like that?" the outside voice called to her dragon.

"Get us out of here!" Manx yelled

"Okie. We're coming!" Ravenna replied, before there was a scuffling of claws.

"Hurry!" the cat yelled up at their rescuers.

Soon, sunlight poured in and Ravenna's face peeked through the hole in the wall, her magenta hair and elf like ears quite the sight for sore eyes. Ravenna's tail, which ended in a venomous barb, waved in excitement as the paraglisp looked into the cavern. Her dragon, Thorryn, who had grown to the size of a mule since Manx last saw him, greeted Manx with a friendly smile. Thorryn had yellow scales around his face and legs, with green paws and golden horns, while the rest of his body was white except for his long colorful prehensile tail. Thorryn buzzed his little green wings excitedly as he leaped into the cave, breathing a stream of acid green flame at the moth larvae.

Ravenna climbed in after him and said, "Wow, you really are stuck. It kinda looks like you were wrapped in a big white blanket."

"I've had a bad day and I don't need you stating the obvious." Manx grumbled.

"Well what happened to 'my hero' or 'you saved me' or at least 'thanks'?" Ravenna said.

"There is a worm about to eat my face!" Manx shot back.

"It's quite a show and the lighting is marvellous." the cat commented.

"Not helping!" Manx groaned.

"Since when did you find this cat? He's so handsome and fluffy!" Ravenna asked.

"I never saw what he looked like. Can you maybe get me out of this stuff?" Manx replied.

"Indeed, I am quite the specimen of my kind." the cat commented.

"Sure, just let me see where I put that dagger." Ravenna said, before grabbing the aforementioned object from her pocket. "Aha! There it is!" she continued, before kneeling down and sawing through Manx's cocoon. Within seconds it cracked open, almost perfectly in half, and Manx yanked her arms and legs out of its hold. She then got to her feet and almost tackled Ravenna in a bear hug.

"Whoa, I never thought your were a hugger!" Ravenna said in surprise.

"It's so good to see you! You would not believe the day I've had!" Manx replied, bursting into tears of relief and trauma.

"Aww, there there. It's alright." Ravenna said, patting her on the back. Manx winced slightly in pain as Ravenna's hand brushed the wound there from almost a week ago.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?" Ravenna gushed. "What happened? It's been so long, and we were worried you were dead. Where's Lyrica? Did she do this to you? Where have you been?"

"Vaskin's tail slipped a while ago. It's nothing." Manx muttered, pulling away and crossing her arms close to her body.

"Hey! Aren't you forgetting something?" the cat yelled indignantly from his cocoon.

"Oh, sorry kitty!" Ravenna said, as she rushed over to help him.

"My name is Perseveld!" the cat hissed.

"What a pretty name! Reminds me of Khashmyr. Although, she's yellow, red, white, and orange and you're just plain black and white. And you're floofier and your face is way flatter." Ravenna said as she freed him.

"It's hereditary." Perseveld said about his face. "And as for my colors, I do believe I look all dapper like how you two legs dress up."

"Aww!" Ravenna replied.

"You talk like you're a little kid. What are you, four?" Perseveld retorted.

"Actually I'm sixteen. And Manx is seventeen, right?" Ravenna replied.

"And I'm one!" Thorryn piped in.

"Yep. He just turned a year a couple days ago." Ravenna said, standing tall.

"Well, that's all good. But if you excuse me, I'm taking Manx here and getting my reward." Perseveld replied.

"What? I rescued her!" Ravenna interjected.

"I saw her first. My catch, my kill." Perseveld said.

"Nobody's killing anyone here!" Ravenna scolded.

"Figure of speech!" Perseveld shot back.