Mo'ke spent hours roaming the city, hoping to find Hiyoko. Unfortunately, Hiyoko was nowhere in sight. Mo'ke finally gave up and decided that he'd go back to the upper level of the Midnight Realm later on. As for now, he continued to explore every inch of Dai'rah.

He couldn't figure it out, but he felt strangly attached to it. He considered that maybe he might have lived there in a past life, but quickly shunned the thought since he didn't believe in reincarnation.

Suddenly, a sight snagged his attention. Just down the alleyway, a young Dream Guardian appeared out of nowhere, gasping for breat. Mo'ke ran up and knelt beside her. "Are you ok?" he asked hurriedly. She looked up at him, a bit speechless. "What happened?" he asked slowly.

"She was attacked by a Hunter," a woman said, walking over to the girl. Mo'ke came to think that this woman was the girl's mother. Before he could speak, the woman dragged a knife through the girl while shouting in a language that Mo'ke didn't quite understand.

"Why did you do that?!" Mo'ke gasped, backing away. The woman looked at him.

"We kill our own when they fail at keeping a human safe...remember that, Sage," she said. She sheathed her dagger and walked away, leaving Mo'ke nearly frozen in place.

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Hiyoko furrowed his brow as he read through the books he had found. They didn't make a lot of sense but they all mentioned almost the same thing. He quickly pulled out a scrap of paper and wrote:

In the Midnight Realm. the Dream Hunters are at the top of the food chain at the moment while the original rulers of the place have gone into hiding.

He set his pen aside and sighed, deciding that he would add to them later on. "Ever since I began reading, I noticed that they never mentioned why the Dream Guardians fled," he sighed, "Was there a war or something?" he pondered, skimming through the book 'Dream Hunters'.

While he read, the door to the small, untidy study he had been using, opened and Mo'ke walked in. "Mo'ke! I'm glad you're here! There's somthin' I want to ask you -"

"Hiyoko! Where've you been?!" Mo'ke interrupted, walking over. He noticed Hiyoko's notes and frowned. "What...are you doing?" he asked slowly.

Hiyoko shoved the notes into a random book and looked up. "Where's Sakuri? I have new that concerns all three of us," he said in an excited by confident tone.

"Hiyoko, so do we, but you have to come with me and stay quiet," Mo'ke sighed, gesturing to the door.

Looking to the books that contained secrets within their yellowing pages of parchment that he desired to know, Hiyoko bit his lip.
"I...can't leave," he said quietly.

Mo'ke scowled and turned abruptly. "Fine. Be that way. It'll be your fault when you fail as a Dream Sage," he muttered, leaving.

"I'm not a Dream Sage!!!" Hiyoko yelled in an anger he never knew.

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When Mo'ke re-entered the library, he saw Sakuri passed out under a mountain of books. "Hey, are you alright?!" he laughed.

"I could use a little help!!!"

Mo'ke grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. "How'd this happen?" he asked.

"I was trying to get one down off of the top shelf and they all fell!" Sakuri said in a frumpy tone. She punched Mo'ke in the shoulder for laughing at her and looked around. "D'you find Hiyoko?" she asked.

"No."

"Nowhere?!"

"Well...I went up to the upper city and he was there, going through the library himself. When I tried to get him to come back with me, he blew up at me and completely refused."

"Somethin's up."

"Definately."

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That night, as Mo'ke climbed into bed, he stared out over the city. He, too, felt his mind fogged over. Everything that he was learning didn't make a lot of sense at the moment.

As Mo'ke lay down, bells rang throughout the city and strange lights hovered throughout the city, lighting the streets and spoke to each other in whispers.

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