And just like that, the vampire flipped the bird and blinked out of existence, at least, out of existence in that world. The ship rocked gently on the water. Eclipse stood watching, withholding judgement.

Mithias appeared back on the balcony in Hawaii. It was very, very late at night. He put his middle fingers down and looked around, verifying that he knew where he was. It was just where he had been when he had left, in the Compact world, after his dream. He took a step, and then realized his boots were still wet. 

Stopping, he looked down. He was wet and even still dripping. He asked himself what the living hell had happened and went to a mirror. He looked like himself, but the freaked out look in his own eyes surprised even himself. He calmed somewhat after that and resolved to change his clothes. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

Doing that, he put on his most protective wear, armor, for modern times. It was made mostly of kevlar, with some plates of puncture resistant carbon-fiber plating, black of course. It gave him security, but the honest truth was, he didn't know why he wanted it. After what had just happened, he expected a battle, either back in some foreign world, or in this one. He cleaned and prepped his weapons and the morning light began to break outside. The peaceful sounds of gently crashing waves were not enough to placate him. 

Armed and seriously suspecting treachery, Mithias began his search of the castle. Who was here? What did they know? Was this world unaffected?