Dawn's POV

I stumbled in recoil as the teleportation effects slowly faded, allowing me the opportunity to look around our new surroundings. The room was dim, and the only visible light seemed to be coming from a lone, flaming torch that was hung a little way down the large hallway. I blinked quickly, and the room brightened a little, allowing me to see where we were.

My eyes widened in awe and surprise. Every inch of available space was lined with shelves, and rows upon rows of books filled the wooden gaps. The walls were at least ten feet tall, and there were shelves from the floor to the ceiling. The hallway stretched for what seemed like forever, but there were some side routes that branched off, and a watery, dark blue light rippled on the walls across from the openings.

I turned to Bane, my eyes wide. "This is..."

"Exciting?" Bane finished hopefully, perking up a little.

".... I'm not sure what to think. You brought us here? Where even are we?"

Bane smiled. "I'll tell you in a little bit. Don't worry."

"I...I think I need to sit down."

We turned around and looked at Cory, who's face had dizziness glazing the surface of his eye."My head's still spinning," He mumbled. Bane's eyes widened. As calmly as I could, ignoring the savage pain in my stomach, I walked over to stand beside him and grabbed his shoulder, easing him slowly down into a sitting position with his back to one of the shelves.

"Erm... that isn't really supposed to happen." Bane worried her bottom lip between her teeth, showing a hint of fang. "It might be because you weren't supposed to be here in the first place. But it should pass, I'm sure of it. You'll be fine in a couple minutes," she assured.

I glanced at her with a raised metal eyebrow, wondering what she'd meant, but didn't really question it. Cory's face was pale, and he looked like he might vomit. I kept a reassuring hand on his shoulder as his head swayed back and forth, eye squeezed shut.

He took a deep breath, wincing, and slowly, most of the color returned to his cheeks. He opened his eye and blinked a few times, tilting his head one way, then another. "Okay. I think it's gone."

"You sure?" I worried. "This might be a concussion, for all we know. And you did crack at least one of your ribs."

Cory made a sour face. "Thanks for reminding me."

He clasped onto my arm and I helped him stand, ignoring the shooting pain in my stomach. I tried to do a scan of his body and take in his vitals, but a strange blue light flashed in my vision, making the scanner glitch out. Shaking my head slightly, I cleared the program, and my vision returned to normal. What is wrong with this place? I wondered, irked.

Bane came up to his other side, eager to help, but I glared at her over Cory's shoulder, still not completely trusting her after the whole "gun" incident. Cory's face was knitted into focused concentration as he struggled to stay upright. "Okay," Bane mumbled, eyes downcast and narrow. "Follow me." She motioned for us to follow her, walking slow so we could keep up. The longer we walked, the more endless this place seemed. Old books left a dusty trail in the wake of Bane's fingers, which gently glided along the shelves, watching the bluish black light ripple against the walls. Turning a corner, Cory whistled in awe as we saw what was making the strange watery illusion. A pool of blue and black essence was swirling around a hole in the floor, covered by a thick layer of slightly scuffed glass. We walked into the cavernous room and onto the glass, directly over the portal, which was speckled with white stars.

"Where does that go?" I asked, peering down into the swirling abyss.

"I'm not sure. It seems to like to reunite evil beings, though," Bane looked at the ceiling and put her hand over her heart. "R.I.P Spartacus."

"Is that a Har..." Cory was cut off.

"ShhhHHHHhh. We do not speak of that here," Bane whispered, her voice becoming squeaky, as if she'd plugged her nose, and a goofy glint shone in her purple and magenta eyes.

I reluctantly laughed, and a smile tweaked one of the corners of Cory's mouth.

"Stay here," Bane told us, raising her hands up to emphasize. "I'll be right back. Make yourself comfortable." And with that, she slinked away, heading off down one of the other corridors.

Cory and I blinked and looked at each other in confusion.

"Bane doesn't seem like an everyday hero that just broke us out of a prison," I noted.

"I agree," Cory narrowed his eyes in the direction that she'd left in, shifting his weight on my shoulder. "It's like she has five different personalities that don't get along."

I nodded, my mind wandering. Cory began to figit in place, so I lowered him onto the ground, letting him sit up on the glass, which was our seemingly only protection against the portal that swirled menacingly just inches below our feet. Wasn't the safest place to wait, but she told us not to move, so we would have to take her word on it and hope that it didn't break.

"Okay, I'm back," Bane called only a minute later, walking around the corner again, having fully shed the things that she had been wearing while in the facility, including the blue headphones. Our eyes widened. She had two light gray cat ears on top of her head, and as she walked into the room, we could see a fluffy tail of the same color swishing around her back. This explains the weirdly accurate reflexes and the purring. I realized.

Bane's eyes widened and she self-consciously reached up and put her hand on one of her ears, running her fingers over the silky fur. "Oh yeah, this is one of the things I needed to show you," she gave a small laugh.

"Well. I'm not sure whether to be surprised, or downright confused," Cory pointed out, snorting a wry laugh.

"Yeah..." Bane said, "Sorry about that. Secrets are kinda my thing."

"No kidding."

Bane sighed and reached into the pocket of her paint-splattered, tan overalls, pulling out a pair of black gloves. She looked back at us for a moment. "Brace yourselves," I heard her mutter, before walking over to an adjacent shelf. Bane reached up to grab a book, standing on tiptoe. When she pulled it down, I felt a chill waft through the room like a breath of ice. I shivered, and I noticed that Cory was squeezing his eyes shut, as of in pain. Bane was frowning, holding the book with both of her gloved hands. It looked like she was using all of her energy to just keep standing. There was something just utterly wrong with the tome she held.

With what looked like agony, Bane stumbled over to the portal in the center. She eventually placed the book on the floor next to Cory, letting go of it with a "thump." She breathed an audible sigh of relief and brushed her hands together, as if trying to get rid of evil residue left by the book.

Leaning closer, Cory and I saw that the book was bound in simple black leather, and strange, messy slashes in the shape of five tally marks was engraved on the surface. There was a sickly red aura that seemed to radiate off of it. The entire thing was awful to even look at, while a chill permeated the room, and Cory began to shiver.

"What is this?" I asked, feeling the cold against my metal skin, but not being affected by it. "I thought you were going to explain things."

"I am," Bane hissed through chattering teeth. "This is what you need to see."

She snapped her fingers. With a jump, the book flipped open to its first page, and the cold dissipated slightly. It looked like a guide to monsters of some kind.

"So... your world it isn't exactly.... normal, per say." Bane began to explain. "Heh, as shown by your powers and the fact that Dawn fell from the sky, as well as all of the other people with special abilities and traits." She gestured to her cat ears.

"You can say that again." Cory muttered, pressing two fingers up against his camera.

"Everyone here has their own agenda, for good or for evil, and that keeps the balance here. Nobody does things just for the sake of doing things, and nothing happens just for the fun of it. And that brings me to my point. The evil forces here are called The Fallen. They are under the guise of scientists and researchers and policemen: powerful people." Cory and I shared a look as she snapped her fingers again. The book flew to another page, and I caught a glimpse of a disfigured woman with what looked like a pig's head over her own. "But their true identities are much worse."

We looked at the illustration on the page. It showed what looked like a woman wearing a dirty, off-white shirt with overalls, multiple belts, and baggy blue pants. A black lace veil dangled off the back of her head and a half-skirt flowed off her hip. Her head was tilted downwards, glaring at the viewer through a crude white mask that covered most of her head, which was shaped like a rabbit's face, complete with ears and slitted eyes. She held a pair of sharp, bloody axes.

Cory sucked the air in through his teeth. We both turned to him in surprise and he looked up at us with wide eyes. "That's her. The one who called herself Anna. The one who was interrogating me when we were captured," he whispered.

Bane's eyes softened. "Yes, she is one of the Fallen. Her name is most commonly the Huntress. She calls herself Anna, as it was her given name. Apparently, she lived in the woods with her mother, hunting and trapping food and carving masks for fun, before an elk killed her mother when she was a little girl. Left in the woods on her own, she slowly went insane, killing humans for food but sparing little girls for some reason, before she became one of the Fallen."

I whistled through my teeth. "Damn."

"She became the leader of the facility where you were captured." Bane continued. "The people who work for her were either brainwashed, or are actually part of the Fallen themselves. People like her are everywhere in the world, but most of them are hideously disfigured. It isn't hard to miss them.

They also have control over the undead, but for some reason, only species of animals are affected by their curse."

I thought for a moment, the gears in my mechanical mind turning. I grinned and shook my head. "So... I'm assuming that you're telling us this so we can somehow figure out a way to stop them before they destroy the world, right?"

"Exactly." Bane chirped with a smile. The book flew closed with a flutter of pages, and Bane was quick to pick it up and set it back up on the shelf where it had originally been. The temperature quickly rose, and Cory breathed a sigh of relief as his body stopped shivering. "Where would we even find these creatures?" He asked, sitting up a little straighter. I was still sorta shocked by Bane's original response to my question. Did she know I was being sarcastic? A/N: #KillTheCliche XD

"Now, both of you are certainly in no condition to do anything at the moment," she cautioned as Cory began trying to stand up, wincing as he did so, and I suddenly became self-conscious about the dull throb of pain in my stomach. Bane's eyes wandered for a moment before they lit up, and quickly walked over to another shelf. She pulled out another book, this one a bright green hardcover with a budding flower printed on the front. I felt a warm, soothing wind ruffle our clothing, and I breathed it in contently, smelling grass and air and sunlight riding on the invisible breeze. Cory sighed, and when I looked over at him, his eyes were glassy, his body lax. Opening the book, Bane quickly scanned the first page, and grinned toothily. She muttered some strange words under her breath, and I felt the breeze start to flow through my teeth and down to my lungs. My body went limp and I grew drowsy for a moment, before snapping back to attention. As I opened my eyes, I could see a bright golden glow surrounding me and Cory, which was quickly fading. He blinked in shock, before poking at his ribcage. I realized that I couldn't feel the pain in my stomach wound anymore. Tentatively reaching my arms above my head, I stretched, bracing myself for the sharp bite of the gash, but it never came. It was completely healed. And by the way Cory's mouth was opening and closing dumbly, I could assume that the same thing had happened to him. Bane was grinning like she'd discovered the cure for cancer, and slowly eased the book closed, before running back to the shelf it came from, gently slipping it back into place.

"What was that?" Cory asked, a hand still tentatively touching his chest.

"Healing spell," Bane chirped giddily, her ears twitching. "Not a very powerful one, but it should keep your pain at bay until you can finish your first task," Her eyes shone. "I wasn't sure if that would work at all. I'm just glad it did."

We got up off the floor, feeling energized and refreshed for the first time in a while, and I bounced on the balls of my feet for a second, a small smile on my lips.

"Where do we need to go?" Cory asked. "You said we would need to complete our first task, so where would we go?"

"So.... right. The reason I healed you is to get you prepared for the task," Bane explained nervously. "As we speak, those other "magical people" that you guys were fighting in the alley are being--"

"Wait, how'd you know about that?" I accused.

"I have my ways," She rolled her eyes at me cryptically, her smirk showing a hint of fang. I blinked. Was that supposed to mean something?

"Well, anyway, they are currently being attacked by Anna's forces. And even though you all have some... differences... that you need to sort out, I think that it is also in your best interest to help them."

"Why do we have to?" Cory asked, a slightly worried expression on his face. "Can't they protect themselves? The guy with the fire sure was able to when we were fighting."

"Yeah, and they hurt us." I pointed out, gesturing to my neck, where bits of wiring was still exposed and scorched from my battle with the lighting girl.

"It isn't just for their health," She argued. "They recently found a healer. That spell I cast won't last for very long. You need something more permanent, so he's the only quick option besides waiting here for the next four months for your ribs to heal."

Cory and I exchanged looks.

"Fine. We'll go. If only for that reason." I grumbled reluctantly, shrugging. "So..... we just have to find them and help them beat some zombie animals?"

"It won't be that easy. There are a lot of them, and they're all out for blood. Anna can reanimate all sorts of creatures, big and small, predator and prey, so you are going to have to be ready for anything." Bane cautioned. She reached around into a back pocket of her overalls and procured the same book from when they'd been teleported to this place. Bright gold and purple light filled the room, tiny specks of it flying off of the book itself.

"Bob can take you directly there, and if you succeed in your task of defeating Anna, he will bring you back here. And when he does, I will be able to answer all of your questions, plus more."

"Why can't you just tell us now?" Cory asked incredulously, staring at the book in wonder.

"You aren't ready yet. I need to know that you're worthy of the information before I can trust you with it."

I sighed, knowing we wouldn't win this argument, and shook my head at Cory. Looking pleased, Bane opened the book-- no, Bob-- to a seemingly random page in the middle of it. The page was blank, but the small fragments of light that were flaking off of it made it seem like ancient runes were painted in a glowing purple dye on the parchment. Cory shifted the quiver on his back, holding his bow in his right hand, and I pulled out the blue knife I'd stolen, admiring the way the dim light glistened off the sapphire colored weapon.

Bane held out the book to us like the ring bearer at a wedding. "Remember what to do?"

"Yeah," I mumbled. I reached to place my right hand upon the paper, Cory following my lead. Just before my metal fingers made contact, hovering just millimeters over the glowing parchment, I hesitated. Are we really about to go fight undead animals for the sake of two people that we hate? Why are we risking our lives to do this?

But the nagging voice was quelled by a tugging, begging feeling in my chest, slowly pulling me back towards them. They were in trouble. They needed help. And they even though I hated them, the very thought still caused that feeling of familiarity. I knew them. And I couldn't just leave them to die.

And, they also have the ability to heal our wounds. That's a plus in my book.

Before I registered what I'd done, I felt the paper underneath my fingers, and saw Cory's hand directly next to mine. My grip tightened on the hilt of my knife.

Looking up as I felt the teleporter take affect, the last thing I saw through the whirlwind of light was Bane's face.

Her upbeat, happy mask had shattered, and now... She was terrified.

And then we vanished.

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First things first. I need to apologize for not updating this in so long. I don't have an excuse. I got so distracted with other things that I forgot about Wattpad altogether for a while. The fact that I haven't updated this since November is absolutely disgraceful on my part, and I'm not even joking, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to update this story more often again.

Secondly, I'd like to thank @ScapeShelby193 for letting me know that I probably should put a gore warning in the description of my book. I really don't want to make anyone uncomfortable just because my stupid past self wasn't able to think about the feelings of others. And looking back on it, I seriously went to town on that aspect of my story.

Third, I sorta gave up with this chapter halfway through, and I feel awful to make you guys wait so long only for me to post a crappy, boring backstory chapter that makes no sense anyways. But I have more ideas for the next one, and hopefully won't take as long, because I know where I'm going with this story now. And we have Pintrest to thank for giving me the inspiration to write. Seriously. Writing motivation and prompts is the reason I actually finished this chapter.

Lastly, I WILL be editing this story heavily once it's done, and it WILL be done. Someday. Even if that takes another year. I would never give up on something that I've worked so hard on. And I wouldn't have the heart to say it was "On hold." I can't do that. I can give y'all a little hope, right? XD

I hope you aren't TOO angry with me. Ahh, who am I kidding, I deserve it. Be as angry as you want. ^u*

Have a great day!