Chapter 13: Anxiety

“Ugh, what happened?" Merle muttered as she finally regained full-control of her body and attempted to stand up, which she eventually managed to do with the aid of me and Lepris; “You flew right into a cloud of... poison, or something like that, and fell all the way to the ground." Lepris replied, reminding her of the battle she had just fought a few minutes before “Thank goodness that girl was there: if it weren't for her, I... I don't know what would've happened." he continued, laughing nervously. I, for one, would have never dared to speak so... brutally to a woman who just risked her life like my friend just did, but Merle did not appear to care about him at all “Is... is that kid okay?"

“Of course she is." I answered, making her feel much better already “Felicity handled the situation brilliantly, and now you are both safe from harm. Now you just need to rest for a minute or two while your body recovers-"

“Wait! My booth! My stuff!" she suddenly yelled, shutting me up in the process: she then recovered completely in the blink of an eye and ran away from the small shelter we had found for her between two brown stands, evidently directed towards her own.

“How could she recover so hastily?" I inquired, baffled by her behaviour.

“Maybe she's afraid of someone stealing her paintings? I heard it happened plenty of times at these conventions before." Lepris responded as we headed towards Merle's booth at a slightly slower pace.

When we finally reached her stand, we found her behind the counter, a relieved expression on her face “All of my stuff is still here... geez, that was close." she told us as we approached her and inquired what had happened; it appeared as though Lepris had been right after all... until she sighed, both annoyed and slightly sad, and added “I wasted a whole lot of time though... I could've sold at least a few paintings instead of fighting those monsters."

“Is that really the only thing you can think of!?" Lepris almost shouted, taken aback by Merle's words “Do you really value your paintings over yourself?"

“Of course not!" she replied, pretending to be shocked by the rabbit's accusations “If death were profitable, I would've died ten-thousand times already!" I admit, I chuckled upon hearing her joke... some may think laughing at dark jokes is quite inappropriate, but telling grim jests is one of the military's (and the nobility's) favourite sports back in Flammaria: needless to say, they usually involve dragons of foreign tribes... and most if not all of them end with said dragons using their own magic to blow themselves up in rather creative ways. My favourite one is about a thunder dragon electrocuting himself while attempting to light a simple candle... but I am digressing far too much: let's return to what I was saying earlier.

“Seriously though, this darn headache just won't go away..." the bird commented as she massaged her own head, still suffering from the wounds the last battle had inflicted upon her; “You really should rest for a while..." Lepris suggested, quite interested in the lady's well-being for some reason I could not understand “Maybe I could run the booth for a while until you feel better, if you want..."

“No way!" she stubbornly refused to accept my friend's proposition... until another sudden headache made her change her mind instantly “Alright, I give up... but you better do as I say, or else I'll be really mad..." she then allowed the rabbit entry into her stand and instructed him on how to sell her properties and at which price: only after doing so she finally left the booth, giving Lepris one last warning “And don't take anything for yourself, unless you have the money to pay for it!" I am quite sure the rabbit mumbled something under his teeth, but sadly I could not hear it... and thankfully, neither could Merle.

Feeling compelled to act like the valiant knight I was raised to be, I inquire the woman as we reach the main lobby “Is there any specific place you would like to go to that might make you feel better? I have yet to fully understand the layout of this edifice, but I can accompany you wherever you want if you so wish." for a second I thought she had misinterpreted my words, since she immediately asked in return “Are you inviting me to a date or something?"

“Of course not!" I shouted in return, even redder than I usually am “I would never dare to ask a lady I practically just met-"; “Oh, come on! I was just teasing you!" the bird briefly laughed at my embarrassment before replying to my earlier question “I don't really feel sick any more... so why don't we go to the cafeteria? This way we can talk about what just happened over a cup of tea... and maybe a biscuit or two."

My name... is Red. I am a fire dragon, and the only survivor of the massive surprise attack that completely destroyed the capital of my kingdom. After meeting yet another one of Karma's agents, 'Felicity', the feral dove named Merle was attacked by some 'F.E.A.R.'s... and the cat prohibited any of us from interfering. In the end, Merle was almost killed... but Felicity somehow managed to enter the fray, allowing her to escape while she dealt with the rest of the monsters herself...

Even though there apparently is a 'cafeteria' inside the building hosting this 'furry convention', Merle forbid me from stepping foot inside it, claiming that one of her friends who visited it the previous year almost exited on an 'ambulance'... then, after I told her I did not know what an 'ambulance' was, she said it almost sent her friend to a 'hospital'... let's just say it took me a while to understand the joke: apparently a 'hospital' is a place where the ill are sent to have their illness treated... something that we fire dragons would never need, basically. Almost all of us are capable of using their own fire to cure most infections and diseases, and the mages (or doctors, as they like to call themselves) back in my castle know decently-well how to handle anything else.

Oh darn it... once again, I am leading you astray: what I mean to say is, the dove did not want me to set foot inside that bar... which is why she instead lead me to another one almost right in front of the edifice. This 'Caffé Palazzo' place was made mostly of... glass, it seemed, and other more resistant materials that I could not discern: because of that, a considerable portion of the building, from the front side to the tables and seats and even the very counter the bartender served his orders on, was transparent... the rest, unfortunately, was disgustingly grey. Some other people, a few of which had come from the same 'convention' we had (as I could discern from their horrendously fake hide and scales), were also sitting at the tables, but none of them minded us as we ordered two cups of tea and sat on the last empty table for two.

“Do you really think that bunny can manage my booth? I'm sorry, but... he just doesn't look very smart." Merle asks me a rather rude question, but I answer her nonetheless “You should feel sorry towards him, not towards me; answering your question, I met Lepris only yesterday, so I do not know him as much as I should... but I have faith he will surpass your current expectations."

“Well, that's good to know." she replies as she sips her tea before putting it down, claiming it's still too hot to drink; “This is one of the very few occasions I have to actually make some good money, so I can't waste any time... if I can't sell enough artworks, I might not even make it this month, what with the rent and everything..." I know nothing about this 'rent' she mentioned, but it is clear her very life depends on how profitable this day becomes for her... I truly feel sorry for her situation.

“Do not worry: you are a great artist, and I am sure someone both kind and wealthy will recognize your great talent and skill before the Sun sets." I compliment the girl as I sip my own cup of tea; she then smiles meekly as she thanks me in return.

“So, you could see the monsters too, right?" Merle inquires more seriously, evidently tired of making small talk, as she drinks her whole cup of tea “Why didn't you do anything, then? I thought you guys were knights or something..."

“Technically, only I am a knight: Lepris is more like... a rather eccentric squire, in my opinion at least." I reply while chuckling, before continuing on a more serious tone “Frankly, we would have both been more than happy to intervene, but we could not find a way to enter the 'Astra-grid' and so-"

“Astra-what?" she asked, confused by my words: I considered answering her every question as she asked them, but immediately opted to tell her the whole story in one piece, so as to not confuse her even more... it took me around ten minutes to tell her everything, from Karma and their agents to the 'F.E.A.R.'s and the 'Astra-grid'.

“So you're saying those monsters from before were 'F.E.A.R.'s?" she finally asked, apparently satisfied with my explication “I guess that explains why I've never been attacked by them before... but why did they attack me in the first place? Why couldn't they go after... I don't know, you, Lepris or those other guys you mentioned?" to be honest, I do have a theory: Dante said that I was going to make the people around me suffer... maybe that's what he meant. Everyone that I make contact with eventually gets attacked by 'F.E.A.R.'s... that would explain why Lepris got attacked by them even when I wasn't present with him: I cursed my own friend... with my presence?

“I have no idea: I am still trying to figure it out myself, but Karma did mention that they go after people who can 'change the world' or something similar... but I would not trust their word too much if I were you. The only thing that is for sure is that, now that you have been attacked by 'F.E.A.R.'s once, you are bound to get attacked again in the near future..." I decide to hide part of the truth, both ashamed of it and fearful of her reaction may she learn it... technically I am not lying since I am not too sure of it myself, but I still feel like a coward nonetheless. This is the opposite of how a prince should behave, especially with a young lady such as Merle.

“I... think I get it... kind of..." she sighs, clearly displeased with her current situation “I don't know if I can fight them though... I mean, yeah, I can fly and manipulate wind, but I'm as frail as a butterfly: you've seen how easily I got knocked down... if you guys hadn't been there to help me, I don't know how I could've gotten out of there..."

“You have no reason to be afraid: I shall make sure those monsters never lay their filthy claws on you ever again." I reassure her, making her smile softly as a vague expression of relief appears on her face; “Thanks.", she simply replies, evidently not used to this sort of chivalry.

“Speaking of your strengths and weaknesses, you held your own quite admirably before." I point out, interested by the feral's battle prowess “You fight quite well, for a simple artist: when did you learn how to fight this well... and also, who taught you how to use your magic in the first place?"

My question seems to unsettle the girl quite a bit, but she answers it nevertheless “Is that magic? I never really believed in magic... but yeah, I found out I could do it, like... two years ago, I think, and I've been training my skills ever since. You know, for emergencies... like this." I have a feeling she's hiding something important for me... but that may just be because of how little time we spent together: after all, Lepris was reluctant to answer some of my questions as well when we first met... and, in fact, as of right now he might still be hiding a few skeletons in his closet that I am unaware of... but I have no doubts that time will show both of them my sincerity and reliability.

“Ah, I see... and what about these 'ferals'? You yourself are one, and it seems as though you have met plenty others as well: could you tell me more about them, if you may? Everything you say might help my friend understand himself better..." I inquire, hoping to learn something interesting to share with my comrade.

“Well, I haven't met a lot of them..." she answers, diverting her eyes from me as if attempting to hide something “...But the ones that I did meet were... horrible people. Disgusting, despicable people... I really don't want to talk about them: they made me hate myself and what I am more than the rest of society ever did." that is... definitely not something that would help Lepris whatsoever: should I hide this information from him... just like I hid my suspicions to Merle? Can I truly bring myself to harm my friends with the same truth I sworn to defend long ago?

“But..." Merle continues, a genuine smile on her face “Meeting Lepris and... well, you're not technically a feral, but you as well... you're making me realize that the world isn't as black as I thought. We haven't known each other for long, but I can already tell you're really nice guys... you protected me, offered to help me, genuinely cared about me... you're so much different than-" she suddenly stops as she turns towards the counter, inviting me soon after to do the same.

Sitting on one of the lone chairs right in front of the counter is what appears to be a blue, wingless dragon-like creature, its back turned towards us: the creature is quite similar to the other humans in the room in terms of body-size and the likes, apart from its clawed feet of course, and it's also wearing a dark-green and grey jacket with a 'hoodie', or at least that's what I think they are called, and long green trousers... is that another feral, I wonder?

“Hey, where's that drink I ordered an hour ago?" the feral, who I assume from the voice to be a male around the same age as Lepris, roughly shouts to the barmaid, who sighs as she finally finishes preparing a beverage that she immediately hands over to her grumpy customer; the feral empties his large cup in a few seconds, then hastily drops some silver coins and, curiously enough, some pieces of paper before jumping out of his seat and quickly leaving the locale, an angry expression on his face. Before he could leave, however, I managed to get a good glimpse at his face: his eyes are as green as his jacket and his jaws are as sharp as a dragon's, but his visage is much rounder than mine and his many orange horns are shorter and more curved than the few ones I have... he's most certainly not a dragon, but the resemblance is quite close.

“This is what I mean with 'disgusting' before... well, not exactly, but you get the idea." Merle commented as she showed her pink tongue to the feral, who thankfully was too far away to notice her “What an arse... was he a lizard or something? Never seen him around before for sure..." she adds immediately afterwards, expressing a wide variety of concepts in a remarkably short amount of time.

“I'd say he's a dinosaur." I hear someone say in a rather dark and serious tone from right behind me; both me and Merle turn around at the same instant, but only she is surprised to see the now familiar face of Dante staring at us soullessly from the table right beside us, holding a large cup full of a brown and white liquid solely with his left finger; “I'm sure Felicity could even tell you the exact species, among other things." he adds a second later as he inhales the sweet scent of his beverage, evidently looking forward to the moment he will finally taste it.

“Hey, aren't you the guy who dragged me away before?" Merle inquires with a penitent expression on her face; instead of asking something related to his sudden and unexpected appearance, after receiving a positive nod from the man, the girl thanks him for his trouble, lifting a huge boulder from her chest “Thank you, for... saving my life, I guess. You and that girl... I owe everything to you two."

“Pardon me, but I honestly do not recall you thanking Lepris the same way you did with him: after all, he did help you recover from that terrible poison..." I point out, making the dove blush in utter embarrassment; frankly, even though I am trying to defend him, I cannot remember Lepris ever wanting to be praised, even when he offered the woman to work in her stead... Gods, I do not think I ever met a more selfless individual in my entire life. I should definitely do something to celebrate his exemplar behaviour when we return inside the conference.

My eyes return to face the man in black, who is now drinking his hot beverage with class, a somewhat pleased expression on his face; “Good Lord, how I missed my cappuccino. I'm honestly surprised I even made it through yesterday without drinking one... then again, that battle with that 'primal F.E.A.R.' really did get the adrenaline pumping in my veins..." he explains as he cleans his lips of some leftover 'cappuccino', already looking forward to drinking another one apparently.

“Anyway, you shouldn't thank me, but Felicity." he then explicates with a different, more concerned tone than usual “She could use some compliments, for all I know."

“I will, trust me." Merle replies, already feeling much better.

“On another note, why does every 'feral' I meet have so much darkness in their heart?" Dante wonders aloud, catching our undivided attention “Lepris, Merle, that guy from before... even you, Red... you all have lots of dark secrets within your souls. Mostly bad memories, really bad memories... but it's from bad memories that fears are born from... and from fear to anger the road is short." he can see... my memories? Does that mean he can also see...

“And before you ask, yes, I can read your mind too. Sort of." the human stops me from further delving into my psyche, explaining in detail “I can't read your thoughts like a book, but I can feel the same emotions you are thinking of, and the images you associate them with... kind of like a mute film. It's less complicated than it sounds like."

“Hey, who gave you permission to read my mind you... goof!" Merle shouts, miraculously not attracting the attention of anyone else in the locale; “Asks the girl who posts selfies on Instagram every two hours along with some personal random fact about her life. Really concerned about your privacy, aren't you?" the human answers soon after, making Merle drop her jaw before explicating “Yep, not something that I wanted to learn but... whatever. Trust me, if I could control this power of mine, I would... but it's not always that simple. Sometimes you're stuck with curses you never wished for, and the only thing you can do about them is try and get some value out of them." a quite interesting quote indeed... I should keep that in mind, I believe.

“Wait, can you feel this... feeling too?" Merle inquires as she puts her right hand right in front of her heart, and soon after both me and the human are forced to do so: we both recognize this oppressing feeling, and I am quick to deduce the reason behind it “Another 'F.E.A.R.' attack? So soon?" I inquire aloud, alerting Merle in the process.

My suspicions turn out to be true when everyone around us immediately disappears, transforming into almost transparent images in the background; “They're outside, we better move." Dante commands us as we run towards the road in front of the bar, ready to face whatever awaits us: before engaging the enemy directly we decide to take shelter behind a nearby car, which allows us to scout the road ahead undetected... unfortunately, said road is now overwhelmed with demons and monsters of all kinds, who are strangely enough scratching the nearby cars and walls in frustration instead of... doing anything else, really. Most of them are goblins, but there are also some big ghouls here and there, a few squadrons of avians, a platoon of barrel-wielding imps and... a few unknown creatures, half snake and half unicorn, that could not care less about us.

“Are those seals? Or narwhals?" Merle asks as she points to the odd creatures; “Who cares?" Dante replies as he summons his guns and prepares to reveal our presence “We got bigger problems to-" instead of finishing his sentence, he makes a concerned expression before starting a new one “What the... sorry, I have to go."

“Wait, are you serious? Are you leaving us to fight these things alone?" Merle inquires, visibly irritated; “Yep, that's the plan: there are tons of 'F.E.A.R.'s at the conference too, and some of them are attacking Lepris and Felicity... moreover, I can sense a whole lot of them idling around the building, probably waiting for something to happen... someone needs to take care of them. I'm sure you two can look after yourselves: you're too old for a babysitter anyway." and with those... encouraging words, the human disappears in a cloud of black dust as I knew he would.

“One second, are those monsters... waving at us?" Merle inquires, her index finger (or maybe index feather?) pointed towards the unknown monsters we spotted before: the small group is now literally waving towards our position with their large, fat arms of sorts... and a few seconds later, the rest of the enemy 'F.E.A.R.'s turn to face us as well, ready to fight!

“They are not waving at us: they are alerting others of our position!" I shout as I jump out of cover, ready to defend Merle at all costs “Retreat is not an option, we can only fight our way through them: prepare yourself!"

[1-01 – Glorious battle – “Glorious Morning: Techno Remix 2.0" by Acrion, originally “Glorious Morning" by Waterflame (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PgsxlvgeQg)]/[3-01 – Limpid sky - “Light The Fire Up In The Night (P4 Side)" from Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth by Shoji Meguro, Atlus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpM6wyE7Gx8)]

I rush a nearby goblin group before they can react and quickly mow down every last one of them with a series of wide, swift slashes of my sword; before I can move on to a second one, however, a brainless ghoul lunges at me from long range, but my quickness allows me to fleetly hunker under it before impaling it with my sword mid-air from below, ending its existence in a moment's notice. Another ghoul attempts to repeatedly scratch me from the front, but I smartly use the dissolving, impaled body of the deceased 'F.E.A.R.' to shield myself from its attacks while I prepare a diversion with my free hand: as ghoul rips what is left of the body of its brother apart, I quickly stun it with a rapid fireball to the head, making it stumble backwards a few steps... only to be slashed into two perfect halves by my sword a second later, a disintegrating into nothingness soon afterwards.

I then hear movement on my flank, and spot the imp squadron taking position above some nearby cars, probably preparing themselves to shoot their poisonous projectiles when I will be more vulnerable... but I already suffered that humiliating blow once, and now I know how to make sure it does not happen again: “Volcanic Barrage!" I shout as fireballs are cast from my blazing body, directed towards the now fleeing devils... who are reduced to burning ashes a second later. I need not Dante's powers to know that none of the enemies I fought up until now will never return from the grave, that's for sure.

“Look out!" I hear Merle's voice yell behind me: at first I cannot understand what she is warning me of, but it does not take me long to see the entirety of the avian forces converging on me at once...

Before I can do anything about them, however, I hear the dove yell once again “Windgale!": with the aid of her magic fans, she creates a powerful whirlwind in the middle of the enemy group, sucking almost all of them towards its centre and compacting them into an formless mass of goo that evaporates as soon as the whirlwind disappears; some monsters manage to escape from her powerful vortex, but we immediately fix the problem with a few fireballs and precisely-thrown feathers.

“Heck yeah! We rock together!" Merle shouts as she throws her arms into the air, ecstatic at our performance: I cannot afford to be as carefree as she is being right now, but I guess it's good to see her morale is very high.

“Wait, what are those seals doing?" she then inquires, once again looking at the mysterious creatures from before: they appear to be spinning their heads around, creating iridescent light circles with their sharp horns... before we can realize what they have in mind, they somehow shoot the light circles towards us, hitting us both before we have a chance to block or evade them. I am sure that attack hit me, but I was not pushed back by it at all and, furthermore, I do not feel any different from how I felt before.

“Wait, what did that do to us?" Merle inquires as she touches herself in various parts of her body, trying to find a cut, bruise, or anything that would justify the monsters' attack.

“I would like to know as well, but we hardly have enough time at the moment!" I shout as I point to an incoming group of goblins lead by a ghoul somewhat bigger than the ones that came before it, its claws ready to spill our blood.

“Volcanic Barrage!" I shout, trying to use my magic to end the battle quickly... but I cannot find the strength within me to cast the spell. “Windgale!" Merle shouts a second afterwards, failing to produce any sort of damage as well; “Blowing Storm!" she yells other words aloud, attempting to cast another spell that, just like the previous one, cannot become more than an echo in the 'Astra-grid'.

“They sealed our magic! That's what those monsters did!" I realize as I point my weapon at the enemy, a bit scared to engage that huge monster directly; “Ooooh... because they're 'seals'! Now I get it!" the girl thinks aloud as she shoots some of her feathers at the gigantic ghoul, who keeps advancing despite the numerous projectiles that get stuck in its forehead: the creature then lunges at us both, but me and Merle manage to evade the imprecise blow by flying far above the 'F.E.A.R.'s, safe from their senseless rage... but what can we do now? Fly down and engage them directly? Keep poking them from above until they are sufficiently weakened and then strike?

[7-01 – High Speed - “Ludicrous Speed" by F-777 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLNjP1vkyYU)]

A series of loud bangs echo in the air as the monstrous creature stumbles backward, hit in the head by small projectiles similar in size and shape to the ones Dante shoots through his guns: it appears as though the shots were fired by much smaller gun held by a woman with long green hair and an inexpressive look on her face... is that the same girl from yesterday evening? The one that came to our rescue during our fight with Lepris's fear?

The 'F.E.A.R.' eventually succumbs to the precise wounds the girl inflicted upon it with her small weapon, and disintegrates into shapeless goo after crumbling to the ground like a ruined castle; fearful the enemies might attack her instead of focusing their attention on us, I fall right in the middle of the enemy group, securing my vital space with my first strike and proceeding to eliminate the rest of the enemies from there. Countless monsters hit me from behind and the sides, but I bravely fight through the artificial pain in order to protect the woman who helped my friend in the time of need; meanwhile, Merle and the unknown woman do their best to snipe the enemies from above and from afar, significantly reducing the amount of... goo, I guess, that I have to spill.

“Enemies to the right!" the woman shouts as she points her weapon to the monsters that previously sealed our magical powers, who are now creating other circles of light to further prolong our tactical disadvantage: a couple of well-placed shots both from her and from Merle prevent the creatures from using their powers once again, and in doing so we both instantaneously regain those very same powers... which we subsequently use to make the battle much easier to win.

I almost feel bad for having killed those otherwise harmless monsters, who proved to be our biggest adversaries in this whole fight despite having done no damage whatsoever to either of us... but overconfidence has killed more proud warriors than any other blade in history, so I accept the outcome of this battle with pride and enthusiasm... just like the dove, whose cheerful expression and uncontrolled laughter have the strength of a thousand words of encouragement. Weirdly enough, the woman who came to our rescue barely reacts to our victory at all: she simply puts her weapon inside a sheath of sorts near her waist and beckons for us to join her in a post-battle discussion.

“That was... really brave, and really stupid." Merle comments as soon as the three of us group up at the nearest walkway, evidently referring to my reckless assault from before “Don't know how to feel about that."

“You did so to divert the enemy's attention, correct? To prevent them from attacking me, I assume?" the woman inquires, spelling each word methodically and without any discernible tone or expression in her voice; I admit that that was my plan, and she immediately closes her eyes as she responds “While I... appreciate the gesture, you have no reason to defend or save me from any problems I might face. Moreover, just so you do not make such simple mistakes again in the future, I will reveal to you that I cannot be targeted or attacked by the 'F.E.A.R.'s, no matter the situation: I am invisible to their eyes, and they cannot hurt me even if I was not." an interesting reply, that's for sure... I am not sure whether to be more confused by her request not to be assisted in the future or astounded by her ability of being invincible to the 'F.E.A.R.'s: if only she had more skill in battle, and were not using a weapon that uses a full round of projectiles to kill a mere ghoul, she could probably take care of these monsters better than I ever could.

“Anyway, sorry for only asking now, but... who are you again?" the bird inquires to the lady who, instead of responding to the lady directly, turns to face me and says “Please forgive me for not telling you my name yesterday, there was no point in keeping it secret. You can call me Sophie. That is all you need to know." she finally told me my name, even though she could have kept it secret... how curious.

Merle seems to be quite annoyed by the long-haired girl's antics, but instead of shouting at her as I expected her to she simply turns around and leaves, explaining “Whatever: I got to go back and check on my booth... assuming it's still standing in one piece. And you better pray whatever Gods you worship it is, Red." her words remind me that we did indeed leave the 'Astra-grid'... but Sophie is still standing in front of me, as tangible as any other person is, meaning that she is now outside of it as well: any theory I might have had about her not being able to leave the 'Astra-grid' have been proven wrong... assuming I even had them in the first place.

“Are you not going as well?" Sophie inquires calmly; “I think so: I have to make sure all my friends are alive and well... and after that, there are plenty of things I feel like I need to tell them." I explain as I think about Lepris, who is probably waiting for me as I speak.

“Friends..." Sophie repeats in an... almost sad tone, which I never heard her use before; I turn to leave, not thinking about it too much, but the girl immediately stops me after regaining her usual tone and composure “Wait. There's something that I should tell you. Something important." I turn to face her and nod to her, silently explicating that I am listening to her “That conference you are all attending... something's going to happen to it soon. Something you do not want to happen. If you do not act fast when it happens, innocent people are going to die... or worse. It's your job to stop this catastrophe from happening, at all costs."

“A catastrophe? What's going to happen to that conference?" I inquire, in vain: “Pardon me, but I cannot speak about it any further. I should not have even spoken about it in the first place. Forgive me, but you will have to figure it out by yourself." she replies as she turns around and hastily leaves, confusing herself amidst a crowd of 'furries', as Dante called them, probably returning to the building hosting the convention; I briefly attempt to find the mysterious woman once more, but she seems to have disappeared from the area entirely... and all she has left me are a few answers, many questions and an ominous prophecy.

How does she know something horrible is going to happen to that convention? How does she even know I am attending it in the first place? That woman has helped me twice now, perhaps thrice if what she said turns out to be true, but that does not make her any more clear than Karma is... but the two of them do not seem to know each other: if that were the case, I am sure the cat would have warned me about her already as they did with their other agents.

No matter the answer to all these questions, I cannot do anything but listen to Sophie's advice and warn my friends about what's to come...