When he stepped outside, he wasn't prepared to find a dozen elders standing in a half circle around Mother. Father was standing tall, positioning himself to attack if necessary.

One of the elders caught James's eye. "Victoria?"

The blonde woman turned toward him with a frown. "I thought you were the one."

Nearly a hundred low ranking cultivators were gathered nearby, nervous and twitching as they watched Mother glower at everyone.

"Why have you come here?" Mother demanded.

"You know why?" Victoria shot back. "The whole continent felt the discharge of energy from the rent being destroyed."

"Correct," an elderly man stated. "We came as quickly as we could."

James cleared his throat. "How did you get the other cultivators here? I can understand the elders, but the young ones don't make sense."

Victoria turned to a tawny haired man. The man in question answered, "flight. As an elder of Soaring Winds, I collected those on the way and hurried them here."

"I was already nearby," Victoria stated. "I was checking on the nest, or should I say, absence of the nest."

Crossing his arms, James looked each of them over. "I did what I could, but Europe still has a rent and nest."

The tawny haired man nodded. "We are aware. But I thought you should know that nature is already reclaiming the wasteland in southern Asia. The soil and grass are spreading. Trees are starting to sprout as if the earth has been saving its lifeforce for this moment. It won't be longer than a month before this rent has been reclaimed by nature."

Eyes wide, James turned to Amber and Zenaria. Both of the ladies were beaming.

"What are we going to do about the monsters?" Victoria asked. "We are all here, so we should clear them out."

The other eleven elders nodded.

"I won't be able to help," James announced. "I have to go to the Underworld."

Victoria looked past him and into the entrance of the dome. Frowning, she panned her gaze over Amber and Zenaria before turning to him. "Where's Luna and the others?"

Closing his eyes, James let out a slow breath.

"I'm sorry," Victoria whispered. "May I ask how?"

"The Pact," Amber answered for him. "They came for James and Luna sacrificed her life to save him. The others fell to their soldiers before I could kill them."

Opening his eyes, he found that all of the elders had their eyes closed and their expressions grim. Their bodies sagged slightly for his loss.

"You didn't deserve that," Victoria said after a moment. "Are you going after the bastards?"

"I am," he admitted.

"They believe the world will heal with your death," the tawny haired man stated. "It won't, will it?"

"No. The energy that I found keeping the rent alive was from my people," he stated. "The rent was feeding off the energy and cycling it back into a collective pool. The death of my people created the rents. At least the others apart from the first."

"Is there anyway we can stop the other rents?" Victoria asked.

"No." James held up his hand. "I can reclaim the energy and kill the rents and nests, but none of you are strong enough to reach either. The rent tried to suck me dry just for approaching it. It also corrupted our wounds so that they didn't heal right away. It's a death sentence to send anyone but a soul cultivator to destroy one."

The elders all nodded.

"How can we help?" the tawny haired man asked.

James was glad they asked. "Find the facilities that my people are being kept in. Bring them to peace for me. That's all I can ask. If you do that, I can close the other rents and kill the nests."

Victoria turned to the west. "I'll head into Africa to see what I can find."

Two more elders stepped up to her side to join her. The tawny haired man turned back to the north. "I will deliver messages to your sects, telling them to find the facilities that they can. Are we all in agreement?"

"Yes."

James let a smile show. "Thank you. I'm going to travel through the Underworld to reach the other rents and nests. It might take me a few months, but I promised my brother that I would destroy them."

The somber atmosphere came back. Amber took his hand. "Since they are here, we should descend into the rent and find the queen. I feel like I need to kill a few things after this talk."

"You're right." Turning to Mother, James said, "get the dragons ready to march. Tell Shadow Paw to gather the animals. We are heading down, and I don't know when we'll be back up."

"Understood." Leaving them for now, Mother entered the dome to gather everyone.

Squeezing Amber's hand, he added, "empty the tubs and put them in storage. I don't want to leave anything behind."

"Will you be okay without me?" she questioned.

"I have Zenaria still."

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The kitsune in question took his other hand. "I have him, Amber."

"You look a little pale, James," Victoria pointed out.

Touching his chest, he forced a smile. "Destroying the rent damaged my soul. I'll be fine in a day or two, but for now, I must rest."

"Will you be okay descending into the rent?"

"I'll be fine. I can still punch and kick harder than anyone here. I just can't use any of my abilities."

Clapping his hands, the tawny haired man looked up and down his row of elders. "Let's split up and spread ourselves along the rent. We can kill those on the surface before descending."

"It'll be good practice for our young," a woman stated.

Splitting up, the elders left to gather their cultivators to get started. Victoria stayed behind for the moment.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Thank you, James. You truly have tried your best to help, haven't you?" Swallowing, she added, "did you ever see yourself reaching this point?"

Chuckling, he shook his head. "I didn't. If it wasn't for Luna, I wouldn't have converted anyone. I wouldn't have found my family."

"I hope you find happiness after this, James. I mean that." Turning, she walked away.

"That went well," Zenaria murmured.

Priest walked over, having not joined the conversation. "I will protect you while the girls hunt down monsters."

"Don't you dare tell him any stories of his parents or people without me," Zenaria snapped.

Smiling, James glanced over his shoulder at the dome. Amber was already walking back towards them. "Looks like we are nearly ready."

***

Luna woke to a pounding headache and throbbing chest. A comfortable blanket was draped over her, covering her up to her chin. The humming melody of a strange song was coming from her side.

Opening her eyes slowly, she groaned. "How long have I been out?"

Jamie came into view a second later. "Three days. The temple could use your help."

Rubbing her eyes, Luna forced herself to sit up, hissing in pain the entire time. Scanning Jamie's bedroom, she found cracks in the walls, and a slight fog rising from the floor. The usual white marble was tinged black from being burned, and she could feel it in her soul. Her and James were damaged by what he did. Not horribly, but enough that he would have to take it easy.

"Can you get up?" Jamie questioned.

Throwing off the blanket, Luna groaned. Her body felt like it was on fire as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "Where have you been sleeping?"

"With you of course," Jamie answered. "Don't worry, I only grabbed your ass once or twice. It was nice."

Chuckling, Luna shook her head. "For taking care of me, I should let you do more. It's time to gather everyone and clean this place."

Sitting by her side, Jamie pulled Luna's arm over her shoulder and helped her stand. "We'll walk slow. Once you are sitting in the central room, I'll gather everyone."

"Thank you."

Jamie led her carefully through the halls and out to the central room. Everywhere they walked was cracked and smokey and one glance outside the window showed the forest trying to regrow after burning.

"He really did a number on himself, didn't he?" Luna commented.

"Yeah. You gave us all enough energy to see him again, even the Elson brothers. We've agreed to take turns starting tonight. Depending on the stress it puts on him, we might have to skip days in between."

Nodding, Luna staggered along until they reached the central room. Sliding into her chair, she forced herself to sit upright as Jamie ran to get everyone. Normally, Luna would have been able to use the temple to summon them, but she would need to use her energy to repair it rather than do cantrips.

Closing her eyes, she focused on her soul, and in turn James's, and started pushing energy into the central room. Her chest burned with the effort, but she could already sense the cracks mending and the misty floor clearing. It would still take hours of concentration, but the process was starting at least.

"We're here," Jamie announced.

Opening her eyes, Luna found everyone waiting in their chairs for her. Several buckets of violet water were waiting on the table with brushes, sponges, and towels. They were all prepared.

"We'll start in here," she announced. "I'll continue to mend the room as I find the energy to do so. We'll be busy for the next few days, healing James. Whoever goes to him tonight will need to tell him it'll be at least a week before I can spend time with him again, if not longer."

Mender nodded. "I'll let him know. If you can, can you focus on the screen. It would be nice to see how he is doing."

Nodding, Luna closed her eyes again. "I'll do my best."

The shuffling of buckets moving let her know they were getting started. Pushing with her will, she started mending the room once again. Next time she would be prepared for the onslaught of energy. This sort of damage would not happen again.

***

James touched his chest as he felt Luna doing her best to heal him. The subtle changes in his soul were comfortable, if not a little itchy. He wanted to know how she was doing it, but that question would have to wait until she saw him again.

"Coin for your thoughts?" Amber asked.

Smiling, he glanced at her as they descended into the rent. The canyon grew increasingly dark the further they went, but never enough that they couldn't find their footing.

Zenaria had run ahead with Everest to cut down all of the monsters they came across. Despite it only having been three days since the energy supply was cut off, there were hardly any monsters present. According to Mother, the dragons and animals had spent those three days hunting and thinning the numbers.

"I could always use more coins," he teased. "Maybe I'll be able to afford you a cat treat."

"Ha ha," she deadpanned.

Smiling, he moved to the edge of the ramp and looked down. They had been descending for nearly an hour already and still couldn't see the bottom. Their pace wasn't as fast as it could have been with Shadow Paw's mate bringing up the middle and setting the pace.

"What kind of treat would I get Zenaria? Fox treat? Do they make special candy for Kitsune?"

Amber's expression turned sour as she smacked his arm. "You're pushing your luck, mister."

"When do you think we'll reach the bottom?" he asked.

"Another few hours at least." Peering over the edge, she whistled. "That's a long way down."

"Once we secure a foothold in the Underworld, I plan on making a private spot for the three of us."

Beaming, Amber wrapped her tail around his side. "Going to take us both at once? Will you be able to handle us?"

Laughing, he shook his head. "One at a time. You'll have the first night."

"Thank you." Pulling him away from the edge, she sighed.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just want to be done." Gesturing to the rent and the dying monsters, she added, "I'm tired of this, James. I simply want to finish destroying the rents and nests as quickly as possible."

"What about The Pact?"

Scowling, she clenched her fist. "We'll wipe them out every step of the way. We know that they have shields over their souls so they will be easy to find. I'm going to rip them apart and devour their souls."

Brows rising, James inched away from her aggression.

Pulling him back, she growled. "Don't you run away! You need to see how angry I am!"

Holding up his free hand, he whistled. "I know, Amber. They don't deserve to live after what they did. If they had simply left us alone, they might not be hunted down right now."

Snorting a laugh, the nekorian shook her head. "I would still hunt them down. What they did to your people and this world ensured their death."

He couldn't help but agree. He still had ancestors out there, suffering for what the humans put them through. The elders agreed to free them, ending their torture, but how long would it take? Would he have to travel the world to ensure they held up their end of the bargain?

"How is your soul?"

Turning back to Amber, he touched his chest. "Luna is doing her best to heal it. I can feel the little cracks mending with each passing minute, but it'll be a few more days at least."

"No fighting for you." Amber's tone brooked no arguments.

"Yes, ma'am…"

Softening her expression, she let him go. "I'm going to run down and help Zenaria. Will you be okay without me?"

Glancing over his shoulder at Priest, he nodded. "I have a feeling I'll be fine."

"You really need to include him more. But I'll leave that to you." Kissing his cheek, she bound away, her tail bouncing with each step as she raced down the ramp.

Waving Priest up to join him, he prepared to finish their discussion from earlier. Amber was right. It was time to rely on Priest more.

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