"Crimson," Blackie starts when the ninja calms down, "the shape of your canines, is that not the shape of a Moon Number?"

Crimson nods, still smiling. "Yes, I suppose I cannot keep it from you longer. Half of me is a Number of the Moon, and the other half of me is a Number In Between." He acts like it is nothing to be half of one and half of the other. He then pulls his mask up. "Come. I can tell it is close. Maybe only a few more hours of traveling, and we will be there."

The five of us enter the den and continue on our way.

"Were we asleep the entire day yesterday?" Bura asks, adjusting his mask so it fits properly.

"Yes," I reply with a curt nod. "The air is dangerous to breathe in; you and Amber were affected by it the first night."

"Okay." He tightens the mask around his mouth and nose so it stays. "So, this is gonna help us not get affected?"

"Correct!" Crimson chimes out of nowhere. "As I said before, the masks have a filter much like my own, so the air conditions will not bother you!"

We walk on for a few more hours. Blackie and Crimson talk about adult stuff while Bura, Amber, and I tell each other riddles. So far, none have tricked me, but the same cannot be said of Amber and Bura, though. The cloaked brother answers more of them than Amber does, so maybe he's not as stupid as Crimson teases him to be.

"This is a different one," I say two hours into the game. "I heard this from somewhere, but I cannot remember where. Now, A dad and his son were riding their bikes, and then they crashed. Two ambulances came and took them to different hospitals. The man's son was in the operating room, and when the doctor comes in, the doctor says, 'I can't operate on him! This is my son.' How is this possible?"

Amber thinks about this for a while, but she cannot even think because Bura answers immediately. "This one's another easy one! The doctor is his mom!"

~.Crimson.~

I hold my hands, which hold a ball of fire, in front of me to light the way. I hear Nova tell the riddle, Bura answer the riddle with ease, and Amber gasp and groan in realization.

"That seems so obvious now!" she exclaims, sounding a little disappointed with herself. The two boys laugh in childish amusement.

I smile when I hear this. "Well, Black Mist, they seem to be getting along very well, now."

My king fiddles with his stuffed dragon. "It seems that way." A small smile finds its way on his face. "It's like they forgot about everything that happened before."

"Yes." I turn my eyes to him. "Have you gotten word from the kingdom yet?"

Black Mist shakes his head. "Not yet. I can only assume that 34 is gaining more control on the situation about the Numbers' disappearances." He grimaces. "Either that, or all of the Messenger Numbers have been taken away."

"Do not fret!" I chuckle. "The Numbers of the Moon are a difficult bunch to catch. The Messengers always have a way to escape the enemy. More likely than not, they are all safe."

A giggle from behind us tells us that Amber is once again fangirling over Nova's little dragon. She squeals about how cute it is and all that stuff.

Basically, girls stuff.

I stop, raising one hand up to signal them to stop, coating that hand with fire so they can see. "Here. It is here." I extend my hands to an unprotected and fragile gate. "We need to pass through this gate."

"Is that very hard?" Bura sighs. "It's a gate; I'm sure nothing's gonna-"

Before he can even finish his sentence, a snarl from behind the gate resonates through the empty space. All five of us freeze in place as a creature with six feline and canine heads climbs the stairs that leads down below the building that towers behind the gate. Some of the heads are mangled, and some of the heads are in perfect shape. The body is large, well-suited to support the mix of brainholders (Dat wordage . 3.). All of the felines are black, and all of the canines are a light brown. The body is a mix of those two colors with feline front paws and canine hind paws, and one feline and one canine tail on the rear end.

"Still seems easy, Captain Obvious?" I snarl.

Bura doesn't say a word. At first, I think it's because he has no comeback or something, but when I look back at him, he seems to be analyzing the beast. Maybe he's coming up with a way to defeat it?

"If I can get a hold of the area that houses the spinal cord, I may be able to paralyze all of the limbs and muscles at the same time," he says in a concentrated manner. "The only problem is how I can get a hold of that spot without getting killed."

Oh, look! He's contributing!

"I can hold him down with some flora," Nova says.

"Cool. So, I can either paralyze it or kill it. Which would be better?"

And now they're working together! Splendid!

I chime in, "It still needs to be able to protect this place from other things, so I suggest that a paralysis that lasts long enough for us to get what we need and get out should do. Can you do that?"

"No duh!"

Nova then starts tapping his now-green foot. "Blackie, Crimson, Amber, I need you to keep him down while I get the flora ready."

The three of us nod. The beast sees Nova tapping his foot, and like all good gatekeepers, it zips through the gate goes for the sorcerer first to prevent us from using his magic. Black Mist flies forward and launches a punch at the monster, but it catches his fist with one of its mouths and tosses him aside. It does not lose any of its momentum for the attack.

Amber jumps right in front of it and lets out a short, loud shriek right at its face. The beast squeals and stops, flattening all of its ears at once.

Nova raises his green hands up, wrapping the beast with thick, sturdy vines. Bura runs forward and jumps onto the gatekeeper's back and locates a suitable area to place his arms and legs so that he doesn't fall off while the beast struggles. He rubs his hands together for a small while and slams them down right in the middle of its back. The creature once again shrieks and falls limp, growling.

"It's done!" Bura shouts.

I nod and lead the four into the chamber; they follow me down the many flights of stairs. The farther down we go, the brighter the area becomes, and the less we need the fire from Nova and myself.

"What form will the item be in?" Black Mist asks.

"That is what we will find out," I reply.

The bottom arrives sooner than expected. By this time, the whole area is lit up with the daylight. We needn't adjust our eyes; the gradual building of light has assured that we wouldn't be immediately blinded. We look around for something that may tell us what we're looking for.

"It's empty in here," Amber points out. "There's no way it'd be in here."

"It is," I insist. "Sense around; the light pulsing of energy tells me that it's in here!"

Nova points upward. "There! It's coming from the chandelier!"

We follow his finger up to the ceiling. A very transparent chandelier hangs above us with various candles adorning it. I instinctively know what must be done.

I jump onto the wall perpendicular to the entrance and jump to the neighboring wall. With my speed, my feet don't have a chance to slip off of the walls. With each leap, I get higher and higher; I soon reach the chandelier. With a grunt, I jump off of the wall and grab one of the candles and land on my feet. Taking a jar from my tunic, I store the candle in it. Unlike normal flames, this candlelight doesn't die out.

"Let's go," I say, hurriedly giving the jar to Bura. "We need to get out before the beast recovers!"

We run out of the room and up the stairs quicker than we entered. The beast growls at us as we close the gate, making sure that it's inside of the fence so it doesn't attack us when it inevitably recovers. Bura holds the light in front of us so it can cut through the darkness better than the flames ever could. The whole world looks much more natural than when it was in the dark, but the creature shy away from the light.

"Where is the next border?" Black Mist calls out to me.

"It should not be far from here!" I reply. "Just follow me, and we should get there!"

The creatures squeal and get away from us, even the predators. Still, we run to not lose time and to make sure the beast doesn't get us should it break down the gate to attack us for taking what belongs to it. The border soon shows itself as a glowing sphere in the air. The animals make no move to approach it, but rather, they avoid it, as if they're afraid of it. A few brave souls approach it, but their parents pull them away. We enter without hesitation.

Blue and white surround the area. Biting cold rushes into us.

The memories rush in...