Trailing a Glitch wasn't the easiest thing. Sometimes it soared up high above the clouds so it was impossible to see. More often, it hovered a few feet off the ground as if goading us to try and catch it. And every time we did, it evaded us like a slimy eel.

I somehow convinced Vincent to wait two more days so we would just have to stay in Nirvana for twenty-four hours. Rest assured, Vincent would manage to withstand the tearing force of the 'other side' and if he's lucky, get out unscathed. Now, about me, that was another matter.

The forest floor proved to be a pain in the butt with all the hills and the cliffs hidden beneath the thick flowery bushes.

Vincent was persistent though. If every muscle in my body ached and objected with every stride, what more for him? Quickly healing his injury had sapped most of his energy.

Good thing I didn't feel hungry considering that I hadn't eaten for more than two days. One of the Halo's mysteries. No complaints so far.

Mechanically, I followed Vincent, his brooding quiet spreading to me like a contagious disease. My boots seemed to have a mind of their own, avoiding fissures, protruding roots and vines while I kept my eyes peeled for the Glitch.

He made an abrupt halt, pulling me back.

"What the hell-" I started to yell angrily before he put his index finger in front of his lips and pointed at something behind me.

About a foot short of where I was standing was a crag running down to what appeared to me as an abyss. It cut through the ground, as wide as a typical highway, travelling across the woods as far as my eyes could see.

The hammering of my heart doubled. Cold sweat trickled down my neck as I felt blood pump out of my face.

"That was close," he said.

In the darkness of the pit, I saw something move at the bottom. It was something dark and menacing, I supposed, since the mere knowledge of it being there made my stomach roil. The entity licked the walls of the deep hole, creeping up to the surface without much success. The gruesome creature must be gigantic.

I jumped back and swallowed. "Whatever's in there, I don't want to know."

Vincent looked stoic as he stepped closer to the edge and reached out for something invisible to me. He paused, his palm encountering some resistance. He tested the invisible wall. Reddish light appeared out of thin air, like a transparent barricade soaring three hundred feet over our heads, stretching down into the abyss' bottom. If it had one.

"A barrier," he said with a grim expression. He automatically backed away from the edge of the cliff.

"What on earth is that?" I murmured shakily, my caution easily defeated by curiosity.

"Souls," Vincent answered, eyeing the creature. "Millions of them. Got stuck here. Went bad. Joined the get-together. Became one hell of a nightmare. I thought you didn't wanna know?" he chided, giving me a lopsided grin.

I hugged myself, a sharp chill running down my spine. "If I'm going to die, I might as well know what ate me."

He kept walking ahead of me. I thought I heard him laugh quietly. Then he pointed a finger to the west where the ground sloped uphill to the highest point of the cliff. On the edge of the triangular jutting rock, precariously perched an old gondola, cream and gold against the sooty background. It stood proud, like a ship's mast.

It was unmistakably weathered by time. The pillars were overrun with vines and the gilded roof was crumbling in places. It led to a tastefully constructed wooden bridge that joined the two lips of the abyss.

"As long as we don't go across the abyss, we're okay," Vincent added, deep in thought. "We'd better take a rest here."

He hunkered down the bank of the stream and splashed cold water on his face. As soon as I bent down to drink, he held my hands to stop me.

"No drinking if you don't want to go crazy. The water's tainted with the souls' essence. Can give you a hell lot of illusions."

"Tch. Is there anything here-anything at all-that's not deadly?" I grumbled.

My throat was parched and even though it was technically possible for me to survive in this realm without water, it still seemed wonderful to have a sip.

In silence, we sat down beside a crystal rock roughly shaped like a camouflaged bull bent over the stream.

Rosario touched my mind again. She was killed by a raging bull before she became an immortal. Funny in a Tom and Jerry way.

With a deep sigh, I leaned back on the rock and stared at the sky. It was dark and sinister, threatening to cave in on us the instant we drop our defenses. Above us, the Glitch loitered lazily, seeming to watch us.

Vincent silently cursed, tapping the side of his Fossil sports watch. "Twelve more hours," he muttered sullenly, grabbing a crystalline pebble and throwing it to the stream. It skipped three times before sinking.

Twelve more hours of waiting and trying to stay alive.

"You should get some sleep," I said. "I'll wake you up when the Glitch moves."

Gently, he shook his head and placed his hand over mine. "I just have twelve more hours with you. I won't miss a minute of it."

Smooth, Vincent. Real smooth.

"Ugh," I groaned irritably and feigned a proud smirk. "I'm not going to die, you know?"

For a moment, his enigmatic eyes rested on me. It was that sad smile again that curved the corner of his lips. "No. You won't die."

How reassuring.

I couldn't read him at all. He must doubt if I could stay long enough in Nirvana without being annihilated. That or he doubted himself. To me, he sounded like the boy in that old movie when he was saying goodbye to ET. Weird. I didn't know he had a little pinch of sentimentality in his body.

"We'll both get out of Nirvana without a scratch. We'll get backup, get back here, kick their butts, save Vlad. Simple," I sounded lively enough. Even I didn't believe what I just said. Awesome. Just pure awesome. "That's the plan, right?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he plunked his head on my shoulder and closed his eyes.

Even when I pestered him about it, he kept dozing off. Or at least pretended to. Obviously, he valued my opinion so much. I kept nagging at him while he kept ignoring me. Sweet. And we're not even married.

As if!

In the end, I just fixed my eyes on the Glitch, feeling the even rise and fall of his chest against my back. Two hours felt like two days. The numbers on Vincent's watch blinked sluggishly, giving the world a slow motion effect.

Leaves rustled as the soothing wind touched the trees.

My eyes were getting heavier. Just as when my lids were about to drop, I heard a muffled noise. Feet sloshing in the water.

I stiffened, suddenly on the alert. I did a quick scan of the area.

The sound stopped, letting loose a daunting, unnatural silence.

I stayed put and held my breath. The smallest of movements seemed too loud. At that moment, in the darkness beneath the trees, I saw a pair of eyes with a feral glint. Then another pair, and another. Make that seven.

First instinct was to wake Vincent. Bad idea. The enemies would know I had seen them. We couldn't afford that or we would be shish kebab in no time.

I closed my eyes, pretending to sleep. In my head, I was screaming at Vincent to get up. When he didn't show any sign of coming around, I willed my mind to travel deeper into his mind using the transference link.

Frantically, I searched for Vincent's consciousness through the deep dark tunnels of his mind. Quick flashes of incomprehensible images gushed into my head.

For a second, I thought I was going to drown in his very old unfamiliar memories. I sunk deeper and deeper, suffocating with the overload, my head threatening to split open.

As I was about to withdraw from trespassing in Vincent's mind, I heard a tiny voice laugh. The memory was hazy, slowly getting clearer as I pushed forward to get a better view.

A familiar meadow stretched in front of me, strewn with blood red flowers. I knew that place. That was the spot where Vincent and I used to train draughting. But it was spring and the foliage was flourishing, vivid and breathtaking.

On a picnic blanket, Byron Flynn sprawled lazily on his stomach, his enormous head resting on his paws. Clambering up the huge dog's back was a little boy, about three or four. With light brown wavy hair, pale heart-shaped face and eyelashes that would shame any teenage girl, the boy was a would-be heartbreaker.

What hit me hard was the pair of big silver eyes that seemed to smile at me. That look was terrifyingly familiar. Much like Vincent.

"Mommy!" The boy called, waving to my direction as though he could actually see me.

First impulse was to look over my shoulder. But there was no one else there. I wasn't supposed to be seen. I was just an observer.

I saw my own feet slowly materializing, up to my body, to my hands. Suddenly, I wasn't just an invisible intruder but a part of the memory. Or nightmare, whatever. It was rare for me to get all tongue-tied but that was what exactly happened.

Someone stirred in the blanket right next to Byron Flynn. And that someone scooted up, ruffling his dark hair as he looked left and right, seemingly half-asleep. He was grumbling about me being noisy.

My eyes narrowed when I saw who it was.

"Vincent!" Frantically, I stepped to him. "They're here! Wake up or we're toast!"

Vincent instantly froze, swallowing his complaints the second he set his eyes on me. He was stunned as he shifted his eyes at the little boy, then back at me. He looked like I just went inside his bathroom while he was taking a butt-naked shower.

"Holy sh-" he cursed, lurching up to his feet. "Get out of my head!"

The strange little boy pouted, brows furrowed. "Mom! Dad's saying the 'S' word again!" he told me.

Last thing I saw, the little boy was about to get up from the picnic blanket to run to me. However, Vincent had already shoved me out of his consciousness and slammed a metaphorical solid wall in my face.

In one blink, I was back to the labyrinth, sitting beside Vincent and having this really terrible headache. He kept his eyes closed though I could tell by the way his arm muscles tensed that he was awake.

Inconspicuously, I peeked through my lashes. The enemies were approaching us carefully. They thought they had the element of surprise.

The Glitch. Where is it? He demanded, suppressing the annoyance in his voice.

Without making any obvious movements, I squinted to see the Glitch starting to move to our left, heading west, to the gondola's direction. I tapped back into the link and showed it to Vincent. Only now, the link was a bit tighter, less welcoming as though I had to cross fences and barricades to finally get through him.

Okay. I got it. I had crossed the line watching his memories without his permission. So I had seen him with some kid who called me Mom. So what? It didn't make any sense to me at any rate.

No harm done. No reason to get all furious about it.

Get ready. He had that I'm-the-King-of-the-world tone about his voice again. So Vincent. When I say jump, jump.

Seeing as there was no use asking for details, I braced myself.

Seven people cautiously stepped out of the trees' shadows, approaching us with barely a sound. Five of them wore long white prayer robes with Cairo's sign embroidered on the right chest area. Taking the lead was the white-haired Saul, his pale and scrawny body seemingly uncoordinated under the tangle of white cloth.

Behind Cairo's minions, Conrad and Amos strode complacently. Through my lashes, I could see that their Cataclysts were out, meaning they were there to capture, not to kill.

Or maybe not.

Saul advanced, his Cataclyst inches away from my throat.

I fought the strong urge to move away. I clutched on Vincent's arm until my fingernails dug into his skin. I could use some good old mad sprinting right now.

Just in time, Vincent raised his left hand. It transformed into a hellish monster claw in a fraction of a second. He battered the rocky ground with it.

JUMP!!! His voice roared inside my head.

The crash let off crystalline shards flying every which way.

I crouched on all fours and sprung out of the way, a few splinters grazing my arm as I tried to shield my face. I rolled on the ground, got to my feet and ran after Vincent.

The attack left a huge crater in the rock-strewn bank. Glittering dust lingered in the air, making it hard to see. That distracted the enemies for a while.

The path led uphill. My legs strained with every stride. We were about halfway to the gondola when a metal chain wrapped around my left ankle.

I crashed face first onto the ground. Dizzy and breathless, I looked behind me.

Saul stood a few yards away, flashing a thin-lipped sneer. He held two hand sickles connected to the long metal chain restraining my left leg. He pulled violently, the chain digging into my skin.

Feverishly, I grabbed a hold of a jagged protruding rock.

Saul yanked harder. My palms started to bleed in my struggle just as the rock gave way. Pebbles plowed through my skin as he pulled me to him.

Finally catching my leg, he lifted me off the ground, dangling me upside down.

I struggled free, kicking with all my might. My foot collided with the side of his neck. I heard a snap. I reached for his face and raked my fingernails on it.

He yelled in pain, cursing.

Next thing I knew, he had already lifted me up higher and slammed me to the ground. My head bounced on a jagged rock. For a moment, I could hear nothing. Everything seemed to blur and waver. I felt numb everywhere except for the tremendous throbbing pain in my head.

Something slick and wet crept behind my neck. I realized it was coming from the gaping wound on my forehead. I crumpled on the ground, my limbs falling in awkward angles.

With a hand pressed on his face, Saul staggered. Blood seeped in between his fingers. His neck was twisted a little more to the left.

I let out a gasp when I saw Conrad emerge from behind the still writhing Saul. A crystal shard stuck out of his bleeding left eye. It was from Vincent's attack back at the stream.

Blood trickled down Conrad's cheek then to the corner of his mouth. He licked it and grinned.

Gross.

A mad look flashed about Conrad's dark eyes, his now gruesome face contorting. He raised his rapier above his head, pointing it at me. "Now why don't you die, doll. Die and pay for what you've done to me!"

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Hi there! It's been a long time. So sorry for updating so late. These past few months had been very difficult. But I guess, it's time to move on. So here I am. I hope you continue supporting Reapers. Your well-wishes and encouraging words give me hope. Thanks so much, everyone!