"You didn't think I'd... forgotten, did you?"

"Who.... who are you?"

"Heh... Poor girl. EC decided she wasn't having the hassle of it this year, so who else would come torment you for the rest of the year?"

"...No. It can't be you, Sumayah took you out ages ago! He's the only one with enough power besides Isabella to do what you're planning! It won't work!"

"Think again, AngelSlayer. I'm BACK and no one will even be able to tell... You won't even remember me when you wake up."

---------------------------------------

     Her eyes flew open as she sat bolt upright, heart racing from a nightmare she couldn't even remember. Her hand flew to the phone on her bed, still open to the horror video playlist she'd fallen asleep to. Well, that probably explained the stupid nightmare. "Ugh, I should have known better." She muttered to herself, sliding her legs off the bed and standing up.

     Almost at once, her alarm went off, causing her to chuckle. Waking up before her alarm had started to become normal between the nightmares and her insomnia. She was surprised she'd been able to sleep this long, normally she woke around 3am, or didn't get to sleep until then. Maybe things were finally turning around?

     Yawning widely, she started to walk towards her bathroom, but stopped as something flashed in her mirror. "...Huh?" For a moment it had almost seemed like... 'Na. It couldn't be, I'm just on edge from the nightmare.' She thought, shaking her head at the sheer absurdity of it. She made her way to the bathroom sink and started her morning routine as usual, her mind miles away as she went through the motions.

     Only to be brought back by another flash. She blinked, surprised, and looked more closely at the mirror. She stared at herself, especially the eyes as that's where the flash seemed to come from. Her watery grey ocean eyes looked back at her, no different from normal. The lines under her eyes a little less than usual, perhaps that's what caught her gaze? With a shrug, she finished combing her hair, and after throwing it into her classical ponytail with side braid style, she left the bathroom.

BRRIINNGGG BBBRRRIINNNGGGG BBBRRRIIINNNGGGG

     Her phone? 'Must be Landon.' She thought to herself as she pulled it from her pocket. It was the only logical explanation since that was the only friend who called her these days. However, to her surprise, it was an unlisted number. A bunch of 0's, yet not labeled as a spam call. 'How odd...' She thought, pressing the button to decline the call as she placed the phone back in her pocket. The day had continued to grow ever stranger, but she pushed it from her mind, determined to not let it bother her.

     She found herself on the hour long bus ride to her favorite Starbucks without any more incidents, and stared out the window at the passing city as the bus rode smoothly over paved roads. Her mind drifted, and this time she didn't call it back. She started to drift off, the world beyond the window blurring and disappearing before her gaze.

     She blinked, and found herself beside a large tree, branches covered in tiny, multi-colored orbs. "Back here already?" She murmured, glancing up at the towering cinnamon tree. "How odd, I normally only end up here at night or after a traumatic event." She walked closer to the tree and trailed her fingertips over it, feeling the hum of life under her roughened fingertips. "Am I here for a reason, or merely to feel the gentle pulsing of you under my fingertips?"

     "Actually, you're here to meet me." A soft voice came from behind the girl, and when she glanced back, it was almost like looking into a mirror. Yet, the girl that stood beside the humming scrying pool was younger, and wore a simple purple hairband. Her eyes were a sharp blue, the color Cassia's used to be before they dulled to time. "I'm here with a warning, Cassia."

     She blinked, a little surprised. "A warning? About what? EC changed herself and Ultima no longer exists. Who else of you would I have to fear, Isabella?" Her gaze met the younger masks' gaze. and she saw true worry in that gaze. Letting out a sigh, she sat on the stool the tree formed under her with its roots. "Talk. There's more of you than I thought, isn't there? More than you, Sumayah, Amite, Inferno, and Summer?"

     Isabella glanced around, and then sat as well as the tree grew another stool under her. "Two more. They aren't new, but one is too weak for you to notice often and the other is coming for control as EC did so long ago. Sumayah and I tried to slow him down, to stop him, but he's gotten powerful. We don't know how, but only you as the Host has the power to stop him now. You need to be on guard, Cassia. Has anything strange happened these past few days?"

     She thought back to this morning, the flashes and the strange phone call. But, what good would it do to tell the masks when they couldn't even stop the one after her? "No." She said simply. "I don't think I have. How would one of you even show yourself in the real world? You're all locked up inside my head."

     Isabella tilted her head, eyes narrowed for a split second. "Well... If you're sure... Just, be careful. I can't tell you their name but they will try to convince you they're telling the truth, yet they always lie." She sighed, and glanced down for a moment before meeting Cassia's eyes again. "I'm sorry we couldn't stop them. As you grow further from your childhood, I grow weaker and the others grow stronger. I must go now, Sumayah said he had a plan." The young mask stood, and smiled sadly at Cassia before disappearing.

     The hiss of the bus brought her back to reality as it pulled up to the stop right outside the Starbucks, and she blinked, her eyes appearing yellow for a second in her reflection before returning to normal. She shook the memory away before standing and exiting the bus, walking towards the Starbucks with her laptop bag slung over one shoulder.

     It was Thursday, which meant she had the day off from work. Normally she hung out at Starbucks and wrote more of her book, or just played Minecraft for a few hours as she sipped on overpriced coffee and iced lemon cake. She sat down at her favorite table, and set up her laptop, plugging it into the wall and pulling up Wattpad. She began writing, and soon lost track of time as the story flew from her fingertips to the page.

     Nearly 8 hours later, a barista tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to pause her music and glance up. "Miss, we're going to be closing soon, if you want a last refill on your coffee or anything now is the time to ask." Cassia nodded. "Of course. Let me save my document and I'll be going."

     As she boarded the bus that would take her home, she flicked through her playlist on her phone, headphones still connected to it from her earlier writing session. There was a few of her playlists at the front, Minecraft, Pop Rock, and of course her Calming playlist. She kept flicking as she sat down in her seat and placed her bag beside her, finally deciding on one of her oldest playlists, FNAF. Leaning back against the seat, she closed her eyes and let the music flow over her.

     Only to be thrust back to the tree area. This time though, something seemed... off. To someone just coming here for the first time, it wasn't really noticeable, but she'd been in and out of here more times than she could count. The tree appeared duller, and as she placed her hand on it, she noticed the normal rush of life-force was replaced by a stream rather than a river. "Who... who did this to you?" She murmured, placing both hands on the tree and pushing a little energy into it.

     It seemed to respond to her, the branches twisting in a feeble way as if to brush against her. "Shhh..." She whispered, pushing more of her energy to the tree. "You'll be better soon, I'll find out who was responsible for this and take care of it. You just hold tight, I'll find a way to fix this."

     "I know who did this." Another person emerged from the shadows, their gradient blue hair flowing gracefully as they moved. Cat ears the same color of the hair twitched as they stopped a few feet from Cassia. "I saw them poison your tree and run back to the Inner Mind. Isabella told me to come tell you, as she's busy trying to get him out of there."

     She frowned, turning around to face the person. It was hard to tell if it was a boy or girl, despite the long flowing hair. Seafoam blue met buttercup yellow as the two faced off for a split second before Cassia spoke again. "I don't recognize you as one of the usuals. Are you one of the two Isabella said was newer around here? She already told me she wasn't strong enough to defeat the one coming for me, so why would she be trying to get them out of the Inner Mind?"

    The cat-like person's smile only grew wider as they considered Cassia's words. "You trust her so easily, Cassia. You trust all of them so easily, yet for some reason you question me. I've been around longer than any of them, I merely stuck around long enough to see the rise and fall of the powerful."

     Cassia dropped her hand from the tree, fully facing the other person, her jaw set. Those words brought back a feeling she'd buried long ago, before she met anyone she could trust. "I trust them, as you say, because I know what they're capable of. Telling me who hurt this tree is one thing, if you want to gain my trust you'll need an action to match. If you know who did it, then I assume you also know how to heal it, no?"

     They chuckled, and paced closer to the tree, passing Cassia with a graceful gait only know to those with 4 legs. "I can heal the tree, young one." They said, touching one dark hand to its bark. Cassia whirled around, surprised at the swiftness. "If you hurt it further, you understand that you'll be taken out, right?" She snapped, backing up against the tree protectively.

     Their fangs showed slightly as they laughed, almost mocking Cassia in her tone. "Dear, I wouldn't dream of hurting your tree. It keeps us all alive in here." A warm yellow glow surrounded her hand as the tree shuddered, nearly causing Cassia to lash out again. But, slowly, she could feel the tree returning to normal- No, looking more vibrant than before. The life-force under her hand felt like it had the strength of an ocean now, heavy and deep.

     "There" They said, taking their hand off and taking a step back. "Now will you listen? I'm the only one that can stop who caused this, that's why he ran away from here instead of destroying it completely. He'd scared of me."

     Cassia cast a glance back at the tree, then at the person. "... Ok, talk. You've bought yourself an hour of my time, because that's all I have before I need to get off the bus and head home." Their smirk widened as they heard that. "I'll only need 10 minutes dearie."

     "For this to work, all you have to do is give me your hand." They extended one hand towards Cassia, nails almost like cat claws. "With out strength combined, we can drive out the one who is threatening us. All you need to do is trust me..." Their voice was almost hypnotic, and Cassia found herself drawn to it in a strange sense. It had changed from before, now instead of irritating, it felt... like home. "..You promise? We drive them out and then everything goes back to normal, right?"

     "I promise." A flash of light lit their hand, bathing it in a harsh yellow glow. "Simply give me your hand and it'll all be over before the sun even sets this evening." So alluring, those words with that tone. It was almost like velvet, or a stream, washing over Cassia and slowly sucking her in. She was tired of fighting every new part of her that appeared, maybe this one could actually get it over with before a new war broke out.

     Cassia took a deep breath, and then reached out and clasped the being's hand. Almost at once the yellow glow rushed up her arm to her head and she collapsed, eyes rolling back in her head as she passed out. Her entire body alight in a sinister yellow magic, causing her to float, suspended, a few inches from the tree. Roots slowly grew around the two, incasing them both in a tangled prison. The other person grinned, a sinister smile. "Guess you're just too trusting, dear Cassia. Don't worry, I'll take good care of you..."

     The screech of the bus brought me back, and I stood and walked off the bus. Walking down the path and up the stairs to her apartment, I marveled at the world around me. So this was how humans saw the world. Reaching Cassia's apartment, I unlocked the door and let myself in, locking the door behind me and walking to the restroom. There, I stood in front of the mirror and looked into it.

     My yellow eyes stared back at me from Cassia's face, and I grinned, a feral smile that no human could replicate. "It's time."