It has been a year since Team Liberate added Free to their team. There was much progress made in the mission of freeing 144,000 souls from the realms of their own dark flaws. The
Shadows, now feel their grip loosening and their reign coming to an end, are on the move. For the past month, every night at 9:00, the Shadows from the Second Dimension begin a united hunt rolling in like a cloud of ash. If you get caught in the darkness, the light of the amulet is gone. Second Dimension is trying to regain their numbers, as if to say: Behold, this is Darkness.

"Come on, it's 8:57. We can make it." Said a tall girl with long black hair and amber eyes. She continued, "Bliss, get in front with your key in hand, we have to be quick."

The girl who was referred to as Bliss, darted in front with her key and asked, "Is everyone here?"

There was no response until a boy with black eyes and tan skin asked, "Where's Kai?" Bliss stopped dead in her tracks.

The black haired girl grabbed her arm, dragging her along, "We can't stop now, it's 8:58. Remember the mission."

"I can't leave him, Song!" Bliss screamed. She pulled away from Song.

"Look, Bliss! Who is that running towards your house from the alley?" Shouted a girl with brown skin and hair."

"Come on, we can't waste time, run!" The boy with black eyes growled. The four ran towards, Bliss' house. She quickly opened the door. To everyone's surprise the person running to her house from the alley was a tall, wiry boy.

"Kai!" Song shouted. Everyone charged into the house.

Kai said, "Go in. Hurry!" The door closed once five people were inside. Song looked at the soft pink clock on the wall. It was 9:00. Song walked to the front window and looked outside. The sky began to look like ash. A thick cloud of shadows rolled in. The light was gone. Everyone could hear distant screams, echoing throughout the night. Free walked over to Kai and hugged him, clearly relieved that he was safe.

The boy with black eyes held his head in his hands as he slid to the floor and said, "I think we should do a head count, every night. We also, need to check each other's amulets, every night."

Song turned towards him and replied, "That's a good idea, Onyx." She pulled out her amulet from out of her shirt. It was still bright orange. Onyx mimicked her to reveal an ocean blue amulet. There was a moment of hesitation from the other three. Song slid to the floor beside Onyx and asked, "Bliss you want to go?" Bliss looked away from Song angrily.

The girl with dark skin and hair looked at Bliss then Song and said, "I will go." She turned her chain around to present her sunshine yellow amulet, "See here it is."

"Thank you, Free." Onyx said.

"I have nothing to hide!" Bliss yelled and pulled out her soft pink amulet. She folded her arms and turned her back to them.

Kai lightly smiled and said, "This is so nice, you are all worried about me. But look at this." He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out an emerald green amulet. Everyone sighed in relief. "So, do we have any ideas? I mean we were making such progress and then this." Everyone looked at Song and Free.

"I don't have any ideas. Last month we just needed to liberate 500 souls, now today it's more like 5,000." Free sighed.

"This is our mission. The opponent never goes down easily. This experience is forcing us to get stronger and better faster. We have to liberate faster. We won't give up," Song said.

"Well, it will be over by midnight, like it has been every time." Onyx reminded them.

"And tomorrow night at nine, it starts all over again, the big question is what do we do?" Bliss asked frustrated. There was nothing but silence. Although they were all friends, this silence felt like a nightmare to come so far and save so many to be driven backwards. Song returned to the window and the ashy shadows brushed the window aggressively. Kai and Bliss sat on the couch side by side. The mood that hung over the air was tainted with an unspeakable fear: maybe we can't win. But no one spoke those words. Slowly midnight came and the cloud of shadows left.

"Let's go guys, we need to see the damage." Onyx commanded. Free, Kai, and Onyx left the house and began to roam the streets. Bliss and Song were left in the house.

"Are you angry with me?" Song asked.

"I don't know. Kai is my cousin. I can't stop thinking about what I would have done if the Shadows got him. He's the only family that I have left," Bliss looked down at her hands.

"To be honest, at that time, I didn't know what to do. I just knew that we had to keep moving." Song replied. She walked away from the window and out of the door, looking back to see Bliss staring out into space. Song closed the door behind her and witness the dark wake of the Shadows. Free, Kai, and Onyx were already having mind wars with people possessed by the darkness. Song looked around and felt hopeless. She decided to go home to make sure her father was alright after seeing the wave of amateurs coming out engaging in mind wars. She ran through the streets. In about ten minutes, she reached her doorstep of her tan cape cod and pushed open the door screaming, "Dad!"

"Yes, Song," she heard him reply.

"Dad!" Song yelled.

"Why are you still shouting?" He came down stairs quickly. "Song, why is the door still open?" Song knew why, she needed to be able to move quick in the event that he was infected. Her father walked towards her carefully. Slowly, he unzipped his black leather jacket and revealed his own golden amulet radiating magnificently. After seeing her father's amulet, Song relaxed and closed the door behind her. "You see, I'm all good. Nothing to worry about, Song." Her father said soothingly.

"That's good to know." Song sighed.

She thought about how Bliss reacted when Kai wasn't with them. There were two minutes left, but she was willing to try to find her cousin instead of getting to safety, knowing that time would have never been on her side. Song thought about what would she have done if her father had been swallowed by the shadows. She could always do a mind war. But would she? She had the door open as if she was prepared to run. Her train of thought was broken when her father asked, "Song what's wrong?"

"If there were two minutes left to nine and you knew that I was still out with no place of refuge, would you get to safety yourself or would you try to find me?" Song asked. Her father grabbed her hand and walked her over to their black couch in the front room.

When they both sat down he looked her in the eyes and said, "My first thought would be to try to find you, but I would make myself get to safety. It would hurt, having refuge and knowing that you were being consumed by the Shadows. But, I would make it my sole mission the very next day to find you and save you. Why?"

Song explained to him about what happened with Kai, how Bliss reacted, and what she told her. She told him how she wondered if that was the right choice. Her father put his large bronze hand over her slender bronze hand and said, "You can't save anyone until you save yourself. Pick your battles wisely, always." With that Song was satisfied and went to bed. Her father always reminded her of this important fact.

In another part of town, at Bliss' house, she tossed and turned in her bed. She was consumed by the haunting thought that her last living relative almost lost his soul tonight. Doubt prodded her mind as giving up the mission filled her heart. Bliss got up and walked to her window, hours ago the fog took hundreds of souls with them, while they had to take refuge. "Maybe, we can't win." Bliss whispered to herself.

"Don't say that!" Kai stormed in. He looked angry, but once Bliss looked deeper she could see that behind his anger was disbelief. "How would Song feel if she knew that you were doubting this? She trusts you, and you should trust her. She keeps us in mind with every decision she makes."

Bliss felt anger surge through her. "Oh really? Well little Miss Valor argued to leave you behind tonight. I argued on your behalf. I can't believe that you feel the need to defend her."

Kai turned his back to her, "There were only three minutes left, I would expect her to try to save everyone else. That's why I trust her so much." Kai left the room clearly irritated. Bliss couldn't help but feel that something else was behind Kai's passion. An annoyed Bliss walked back to her bed and tried to sleep.

Kai left Bliss' room and slowly walked towards his own. He couldn't believe that his cousin, who had lost so much, was doubting the mission. He wanted to tell Song, but he didn't want her to worry. This would just be another secret he kept from her. Kai detoured to his bathroom before going to his room. When he looked in the mirror he hated himself. "When will I ever be free of these secrets? I know that Bliss isn't well, but there's nothing I can do," he admitted to himself, but deep within the essence of his existence, Kai knew that if circumstances didn't not force his hand those secrets would always remain hidden.