Anora looked back over her shoulder again at Pahn’s laconic answer to her speech. She gave a slight shrug, content that he was following, then led the way toward her apartment. She cast him frequent glances, growing uneasy from his expression and the way he looked at everything. Like he walked toward his death, soaking in everything he could. Or, perhaps, not [i]his[/i] death, but the [i]world’s[/i]. 
	She took a deep breath, and looked to the many people and cars going about their business as usual. For them, it was just another day, nothing more, oblivious to the danger creeping beneath their feet. Unknowing their world my very well be turned upside down in just a few short hours.
	Pahn’s words ran through her head, that [i]he[/i] was the one about to bring on an apocalypse. She cast yet another wary glance back at him, wondering if he had meant it directly or indirectly, as an aftereffect of what he had planned to regain his regalia, or by his hand perhaps in part from some deep seeded hatred for the place. As little as she knew about what was to come, there was one thing she was certain of: she would do everything in her power to defend the place she called home, and keep as many people—not just those she cared for—safe and alive as she could. No matter what that meant.
	The path to her apartment was one she could have walked blind. As the multi-story building and its neighbors all huddled around a grassy courtyard came into view, she felt a moment of minor panic as she realized she had not checked for her keys. Worried she had left them in the car with her wallet back in the parking lot, she reached fully into one of her pockets as they arrived at the building’s entrance. She let out a soft, "Phew," when she felt them inside, then pulled the door open, and quickly ascended the stairs to her floor.
	Once inside the small living room that served as the entrance, Anora turned around to look to Pahn, taking a couple backward steps toward her bedroom. She stopped as he entered behind her, his appearance already making the peeling wallpaper and dingy lighting look that much worse in comparison.
	Anora could not help but grin and cross her arms as she marveled at the contrast.
	[color=violet]“Make yourself at home.”[/color] She gestured to a small, worn love seat shoved against the wall opposite the door, a coffee table marred with rings in front of it, then hurried down the short hall to her bedroom.
	Just before she closed the door behind her, she peaked out of it. After listening to make sure he did not decide to walk back out, she shut the door, leaving it open a crack.
	She turned to her desk and shoved some of the drawings and paintings cluttering it aside, nearly knocking over a brush-filled cup of paint water, but stopped. She stared down at them for a long moment. She gently placed her fingertips on the topmost picture, the half-painted sketch of a bloody battle with both human-like and monstrous figures slaughtering each other. They looked about ready to jump off the page and wage their war in her room as they had in her head.
	For so long, she had felt all but a slave to her mysterious dreams, a captive to what they had to show her, leaving her only capable of drawing them out to maintain her sanity. But now, she stood her ground against the very things they were about, with a man she felt held answers to all their secrets, at last more of a player in them instead of a pawn. As horrific as many of them were, a sense of rightness seeped through her.
	But she had another job to do first.
	Pulling herself from her thoughts, she hurriedly grabbed a piece of notebook paper from a drawer, and started writing with the first pen she could find, trying to explain everything in as few, quick words as she could.
	A couple crumpled pages, many scribbled out lines, and no small amount of frustration later, Anora had a nearly completed note as good as she could hope for under the circumstances. She paused for a moment, twirling a strand of her died black hair, then wrote the last couple lines:

[center][i]This is something I [u]have[/u] to do. For my sake, and yours. Please understand. I’ll see you again soon.
	Stay safe. I love you all.
				Anora.[/i][/center]

	Hoping her words would not be a lie, she carefully folded the letter and placed it in an envelope she addressed to her family. With that done, she turned toward the rest of her bedroom. She gave it a quick once-over, scowling at the dresser with the drawer she had broken earlier, its contents still strewn through the room.
	As quickly as she could, she grabbed the backpack sitting at the foot of her bed, and exchanged the set of work clothes shoved inside for a few items she thought may come in handy, including a flashlight, a small multi-tool she kept in her nightstand, a few clothing items, the thick drawing pad she was rarely without, and a small pouch with an impressive collection of pencils, pens, and a couple erasers.
	With a nod of approval, she shouldered the backpack, grabbed the envelope from the desk, and left, holding her breath as she waited to find out if Pahn would still be there. She sighed in relief when she saw him standing in the middle of the room despite her invitation to sit.
	She gave him a nod in greeting as she headed to the coffee table, and propped the envelope on a mug she had forgotten to put in the sink, making sure it would be easily spotted. Straightening, she pulled her phone from her pocket.
	[color=goldenrod][i]Something tells me they probably don’t get service in the Underworld.[/i][/color] She placed the cellphone beside the note.
	At last, she turned back to Pahn, [color=violet]“Thanks for waiting.”[/color] She nodded when he spoke. An apprehensive, yet excited smile spread over her face. [color=violet]“Let’s go save the world, shall we?”[/color]
	She took a slight step back when he opened his eyes, now aglow with a silvery light. Her eyes were glued to him as an awesome aura radiated from him and filled the small apartment, an aura speaking of power and age beyond Anora's wildest imaginings, and his form became impossibly more perfect, the sensation all but drowning out the atmospheric change. 
	She gasped and flinched when a faint rumbling sounded. It took her a second to realize the sound had come from [i]outside[/i] the building. She spun toward a window facing the street. From where she stood, she could only see the change in the sky, the once light blue covered with fluffy clouds suddenly unnaturally dark in color. Before she could go to the window, a few shouts rising up through the pane from the street, her attention snapped back to Pahn as he spoke.
	She inhaled at the disorientating feeling of his voice, a voice worthy of the most powerful of kings, echoing in both her ears and mind in an all-consuming wave.
	[color=violet]“What’s [i]that[/i] supposed to mean?”[/color] she breathed, though she did not expect him to answer. She stared at him for a couple seconds that felt like minutes. Though she knew she had never witnessed such a transformation, the familiarity of it all nagged maddeningly at the back of her skull. Had she seen something like this in one of her dreams, or was it something more? 
	[color=goldenrod][i]There’s no way I could’ve forgotten a dream like this.[/i][/color] Again, she turned her head from Pahn as cars laid on their horns. She glanced once between him and the window, then rushed to the window, yanking the curtains back and peering outside.
	Her eyes widened and mouth opened slightly at the scene unfolding before her. She got there in time to see the men turn only a couple cars and their passengers to dust. She looked up as more of the swirling mist that was all that remained from their victims rose into the air above the city in different parts of town. Frantically, she tried to pry the window open, to shout a warning about the three men heading down her street to those they had not gotten to, but the window stuck.
	She stopped in her attempts and gripped the windowsill tightly when someone ran one of the men over. She watched, dumbfounded, as the seemingly normal woman got out of her car and fired rounds at them, turning them to stone, before returning and speeding off.
	Anora slowly backed away from the window, her grip the last thing to leave it. Had [i]he[/i] conjured the beings on a murderous rampage?
	She spun back toward Pahn, her mouth opening to speak, not caring what her words may interrupt, but it snapped shut when the inexplicable instinct warned her against it. But she did not have long to wait before he opened his eyes and spoke once more, his words still sounding unnervingly through her skull. 
	Still, her fists clenched and she glanced toward the window as the sounds of sirens grew closer. Despite his intimidating presence, a mix of confusion, fear, and righteous fury mingled on her face and glinted in her eyes as her gaze met his.
	[color=violet]“[i]What did you just do?[/i]”[/color] she hissed, each word short and snapped as purple mist swirled to life threateningly around her fists without her conscious command, making her eyes glow once more.