The morning sunshine pierced through the opened part of the window, rubbing Mason's face, and he woke up. He yawned and stretched his arms. He looked around but found no one.
Then voices came to his ears. He traced the voices across the living room and found himself in the kitchen. Nana was cooking, and Raymond was assisting her.
"We don't have time for all this, guys," Mason said.
"If you're to be chased again, you'd run better on a full stomach," Nana replied, and she smiled. "Happy birthday!"
"Oh my God!" Mason exclaimed. "It's toda—"
"I said it, didn't I?" Raymond said to Nana, grinning. "He'd forgotten."
Nana shook her head as she glanced at Mason. "Mom called a few minutes ago. She asked of you," Nana said. "Don't worry, I didn't tell her anything about what's going on."
"Ugh! Thanks for that," Mason sighed.
"Do you think I'd make them worry?"
"That's so considerate of you, Nana. Considering your–"
"I'm no longer a chatterbox!" Nana retorted and rolled her eyes.
"I know. You're my considerate, pretty little sister," Mason said. He gently pinched her cheeks and smiled charmingly at her. Nana blushed and returned to continue what she was doing.
"I haven't seen Nathalie. Where did she go?"
"We didn't see her when we woke up either."
"Perhaps she got her spell broken and ran away."
"That'd be the end of us all then," Mason muttered. "Demons hold grudges, she'd never let what we did to her go by."
"Not all demons, though," Nathalie's voice came from the entrance, and everyone swiveled over their shoulders to look. "I particularly forgive easily," she added.
"Lesson number–" Nana raised two fingers. "Never trust a demon."
"Where did you go so early in the morning?" Mason asked.
"I went to recharge. I'd need a lot of energy to track your artifact," Nathalie replied.
Nana clicked her tongue and turned off the cooker. "I pity those men; they would have grown old by now," she whispered.
Nathalie grinned mischievously and headed for the dining table.
After eating their meal in silence, the party set out from Nathalie's house. They hailed a cab. Nathalie manipulated the driver, and without telling him, the man already knew where she wanted him to go.
Nathalie had told them traveling through the portal would do nothing but expose their supernaturality to the world, since CCTV cameras are everywhere.
After a long, boring ride, the cab finally stopped in front of a bar. The party stepped outside and scanned their surroundings.
"Don't worry, we're in the right place," Nat said. "The necklace is near, I can feel it. Finally, I'll be free from all this–harrr!
"You're forgiven."
Mason squeezed and tossed a bill into the cab for the driver, who had a smug grin on his face.
Following Nat, Mason and his cohort entered the bar. The air that greeted them when they entered was ominous, and Mason could feel that something unexplainable would soon happen.
The bar was almost empty. Odd. No matter how early it is, bars located in an exposed area like this were not supposed to be this empty.
"Didn't you read the warning on the door?" A deep, shaking voice came from behind the counter ahead. Everyone raised their heads and saw a man gawking at them.
"You mean the one that said 'Not Open'?" Nat said. "We didn't read it. We're too impatient to waste our time on it."
Mason set his eyes upon a beautiful lady sitting in front of the counter, her eyes darting between the group. She would've been called the queen of all succubi if she were a demon. Her beauty was outstanding, and Mason felt himself almost enchanted.
Mason peered at the lady and he could've sworn he saw her eyes flashed red for less than a second. Was he seeing things now?
"What do you want?" the bar owner demanded, still gawking. "And whatever it is, you'd do better by coming back. Right now… as you can see, I'm busy attending to a… guest."
"I don't think we have time for that!" Nathalie retorted. "I think you have something in your possession that belongs to–" her words halted as her eyes caught something the beautiful lady was holding. Mason followed her gaze, and he saw it too.
His necklace!
How did she get it? Mason wondered. He was about to speak when Nathalie took action.
"Hello, young lady. Hand over that necklace to me!" she ordered.
No, no, no! You can't collect it from her like that! Mason screamed inwardly. Bargaining is what humans do in this situation!
But it was too late. Seeing that the lady paid no attention to her, Nat charged at her to forcefully snatch the necklace from her. Alas! That was a very bad decision. With a flick of the girl's hand, Nat was sent crashing against the wall beside the group.
"Damn! She's a demon!" Nana screamed. But that didn't stop the lady's next attack. She swung her hand toward them as if to throw something, and a vortex shot forth from it.
The vortex grew rapidly as it closed the distance between it and the group. The darkness materializing within it was thick, as though it were a gateway to the abyss itself.
The swirling darkness was now as large as the portal Nat normally conjures, swallowing everything in its path. The sound of a storm filled the atmosphere like a cacophonous avalanche.
"The necklace belongs to me!" Mason shouted at the pretty lady before Nathalie ran toward him to shield him from the vortex.
"You should've said that earlier, and I would've handed it to you," the lady said. Her pitiful expression was the last thing Mason and his party saw before stretching and mysteriously pulled into the darkness.
"Goodbye, Earth."
Mason heard Raymond's distorted, sad tone as their consciousness began to reel and darkness gradually took over.
When Mason woke up, a pang of pain settled over him. He opened his eyes to behold an eerie orangish color sky. The beautiful yet foreboding atmosphere left his mouth agape.
"Is this heaven?" he muttered under his breath, his eyes widened with incredulity.
"No, this is Perebia," a soft voice replied.
Mason dropped his head and only then did he realize he was tied up and was sitting on the ground of a hall built in a circular structure. The wall was misty white-painted, and above, there was no roof, allowing him to see the amazing sky.
Finally, his eyes flickered to where the voice came from. On a raised platform about three meters or so, stood a menacing figure, identical to Mike - the bat-man that had saved his life the previous night.
Just this one was old and a female. Her black bat-like wings spread wide, as though cautious of the human. Her wrinkled skin was pale, and her neatly kept gray hair cascaded down her shoulders. Her menacing gray eyes seemed to bore deep resentment, making Mason's neck flush.
"What the hell is Perebia?" Nat's voice came from behind. Mason turned back and saw his party similarly tied up and kneeling on the gemstone floor.
"They're pretending not to know where they are," a raspy voice came from ahead, and Mason turned to see a young bat-boy who would've been about 14 years or less if he were human. He was standing on the left side of the old bat-woman, a few feet from the raised platform.
"After everything they've done to us, they still came back!" the bat-boy added.
"Calm down, Thanny," the old bat-woman said. "If they don't tell us why they're here, we'll kill them."
"The Jyuran would never allow that," another bat-woman, who was sitting on a wooden chair on the left side of the hall, said, her short hair allowing her long pointed ears to be revealed. She would make a middle-aged woman if she were human. She glared at the humans and continued. "They came from his planet, he would want to protect them."
"We need to do something, Cat, perhaps torture them," a chubby bat-woman said impatiently. She was also sitting down on a wooden chair behind the humans.
Mason turned around to scan the hall. They're surrounded by the bat-people. There are muscular ones behind, probably guards, judging by their plate armor and weapons. There are about five of them, staring at the humans with disdain. On Mason's both sides are four bat-people; their eyes were filled with expressions that were both unnerving and mesmerizing.
"You can't torture us without asking us what you want!" Mason said defensively.
"They already did," Nana whispered. "But they didn't believe us when we told them."
Mason assumed all must have happened while he was still unconscious. The old bat-woman folded her wings and stepped down from the platform, allowing him to see two huge, magnificent thrones sitting on the platform.
"What are you doing on our planet?" the old bat-woman asked. Her voice conveyed strength despite her old, cranky bones.
"Planet?" Mason echoed. "We're not on Earth?"
"I hate this repetition!" one of the bat-women grumbled. "They planned their answers firsthand!"
"Wait a minute," Mason continued, ignoring the bat-woman's grumble. "If we're not on Earth, where are we?"
"Didn't the one who sent you here tell you?" the old bat-woman groaned.
"No, she just threw something at us and we blanked out."
"What is blank-out?" the bat-boy frowned.
"I mean, we lose consciousness," Mason replied. "I guess we're not on Earth after all. But what planet is this?"
"You're on Noan," the old bat-woman replied; though she still had a look of hatred in her eyes, she perfectly maintained her calmness. "We found you people here when we arrived a few minutes ago. You're asking for death if you don't tell us what your purpose here is."
"They don't need your lecture, Cat!" the bat-boy groaned.
"Calm down, Thanny!" she barked. "Let's hear him out before we take matters into our hands."
"Suit yourself," Thanny said relentingly and stomped toward one of the chairs to sit.
"Now, young boy, this is your last chance," Cat said. "And don't expect me to believe someone sent you here through a Giras."