After a few long seconds of falling, Rythian felt himself collide with the hard ground. He gave a muffled grunt on impact and lay there for a moment, making sure he hadn't broken anything before trying to move. Once he realized he had nothing but a few large bruises, he hauled himself up into a sitting position. Lalna and Zoey had landed a ways away from him. The redhead had already sat up, scratching her sore cranium with her robotic arm while the scientist remained flat on his stomach. For a moment Rythian pondered if he was unconcious or not, but his question was soon answered when Lalna rolled onto his back with a pained whimper.

"Ouchies..." The blonde mumbled. He propped himself up onto his elbows to look around, his goggles now askew atop his blond head. The scientist then gave a sharp, annoyed exhale out of his nose. "Was a trap door in the dining room really necessary, Ridge?"

"Are we in the basement again?" Zoeya asked, looking around at the dark, dank cobblestone walls that currently surrounded them. The trio appeared to be in another hallway in Ridge's underground storeroom. It was eerily silent, and without the lights on, one could barely see five feet in front of them.

"We have to be. The dining room was on the first floor." Rythian spoke up. With his head clear of any confusion caused from his rough landing, he climbed to his feet and looked upwards. No small square of light radiated from above, so the mage figured that the trap door had closed. Good. At least the murderer couldn't follow them down.

"Okay, honestly? I have no idea what the hell is going on anymore." Lalna muttered after a moment. The scientist had already stood and had busied his gloved hands with fixing his goggles.

"Me neither. How the hell can he get around so fast? And what is he doing with everyone's bodies?" Rythian asked. More and more questions were piling up, and their answers were nowhere in sight. Lalna just gave a low hum of thought in response, his left hand reaching for his chin as he did.

"Hope he's not one of those Blood Mages. They've been popping up all around here lately..."

"Um, guys?"

The new voice caused the two men's attention to shift onto the third member of their little party. Zoey stood with her hands awkwardly fiddling behind her back, her right foot digging into the floor as she looked incredibly guilty. Her eyes fell away for a moment. "I think I just realized what's happening..."

"You do?" Rythian and Lalna spoke in unison again. The redhead absently started twirling a strand of her hair as she glanced upwards, obviously thinking long an hard about their predicament.

"Well, I'm not sure, but it could-"

Zoey suddenly stopped mid-sentence when a gloved hand clamped down on her right shoulder. A gasp escaped her as she was dragged back into the thick shadows, a second hand moving to cover her mouth.

"ZOEY!" Rythian had already taken a few rapid steps towards the redhead's position, but it was too late. He and Lalna could hear a short, startled scream erupt from the darkness before it was cut short by the sound of a knife impaling flesh. Rythian stopped cold. Though his mouth was covered by his cowl, it was clear that his jaw was slack.

The heels of boots could then be heard clicking across the floor as the killer finally stepped into the light. He was the same as Lalna had seen him before; black coat, bloody white dress shirt, and a hood and medicine mask obscuring his features. The killer finished cleaning off his large machete with a rag, the black eye sockets of his beaked mask staring into his next two victims intently. Rythian suddenly felt a firm hand grip his left wrist and yank him back in a speedy fashion, forcing the man to turn and enter a sprint.

"Run! Fucking run, damn it!" Lalna cried. His voice was reaching that high-pitched range he could only hit when he was hysterical. The mage and the scientist did their best to flee, though it was difficult in the winding hallways of Ridgedog's excessively large basement. Neither man looked back, in fear of seeing their assailant right behind them. After running a ways, Lalna and Rythian were forced to stop when they reached a dead end. Thankfully, a sturdy looking door was built into the wall beside them, so the two quickly ducked inside and slammed it shut behind them. Lalna took a moment to fiddle with the door's lock, a bit of a difficult task with his shaky hands. The scientist then backed away and grew quiet as the dreaded sound of boots grew closer and closer, stopping right outside the door. The murderer tried to open the door normally, but began to shake the latch in order to try and get the lock loose when it would not open for him. After a few heavy slams against the thick wooden door, the footsteps of the madman began to move away again. He had decided to leave the two alone. For now, at least. Lalna gave a sigh of relief.

"Okay Rythian, I think we're safe. ...Rythian?"

The scientist turned and saw the Endermage facing away from him, one arm raised above his head and pressed against the wall as his other was curled into a tight fist. Ignoring the blond behind him, Rythian raised his fist and slammed it against the wall in front of him, repeating the action with increasing ferocity. After a few fierce punches, the man looked about ready to start bashing his head against the hardened concrete instead. Lalna was at a loss for words again. The scientist anxiously bit his lower lip and reached for the back of his neck as he glanced this way and that, trying desperately to think of what to say or do.

"Uh...Rythi-?"

"She's gone, Lalna!" The Endermage suddenly spat, whirling around to shoot the other man a glare. His purple-grey eyes burned with the intensity of a million wildfires, but they could not hide his immense amount of sorrow that weighed down on his chest. "Zoeya's gone! Everyone is gone! And they're not coming back!"

The mage's voice began to crack at the end of his sentence, and he averted his eyes from Lalna across from him. The scientist could tell that his longtime rival was now just barely fighting back tears. After a moment, Lalna reached up and scratched the back of his head again. This was certainly more sad and awkward than what he was used to.

"Rythian...I'm sorry."

"Feeling bad for me isn't going to being Zoey back, Lalna."

"No, I'm sorry about the fued."

"Wait, what?"

The scientist's words caused Rythian to look up at him in shock. Lalna fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment, obvious not used to apologizing in such a way.

"I said I'm sorry! How many times do I have to repeat myself?" The blonde replied at last. He gave a sigh and ran a gloved hand through his messy mop of hair. "I'm sorry Sjin and I went too far those few years ago, and I'm sorry for setting up the nuke under your base. There. If we're going to die tonight, I figured we should at least do it with a clear conscience."

"Lalna-" Rythian began to say something, but he stopped, reconsidering his choice of words for a moment. "...It's fine. Really. You may still be crazy half the time, but I can see that you've...changed. Or at least a little bit. And I'll admit I had my own fair share of arrogant moments." After a brief pause, he offered his hand. "So...bygones be bygones?"

Giving the slightest of smiles, Lalna took the mage's hand in his own and gave a firm shake.

"Bygones be bygones."

Unfortunately, right after the two longtime foes finally laid everything to rest, a set of footsteps could be heard coming back from the hallway outside again. And then there was another set. And another set.

Rythian and Lalna shared another look regarding the strange development, but their curiosity quickly reverted back into panic when the sound of a pull-chain engine could be heard revving up just past the locked door. After the second tug, it was running at full power. The sharpened blade of a chainsaw suddenly pierced through the wooden door, sending sawdust everywhere as it began to carve its way down. Lalna screamed like a small child again, his shriek rising above the noise of the chainsaw at work as the scientist leapt into Rythian's arms. The mage could not find his voice to properly protest, his mind too focused on the spinning saw blade making quick work of their last protective barrier.

Only after a few fleeting seconds, the door gave way, splitting into two halves and crumbling away from its hinges entirely. The same masked figure from before stood in the doorframe, but now he was accompanied by two identical twins. The only minor differences were the shade of black their coats were, slight variation of height, and the original's two new brothers had less blood smeared onto them. The first killer stopped the chainsaw and tossed it to the one to his left, who caught it easily. As the trio of murderers began to approach, both Rythian and Lalna were quaking in their boots. There was no easy way out of this one. They were both as good as dead.

"Well Lalna, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it was good knowing you!" Rythian managed to find some final words to say. Lalna was still in his arms and gripping tightly to the Enderborn's coat, eyes squeezed shut as tight as they could be.

"Rythian before we die I may or may not have used your toothbrush to scrub my lab equipment!" The scientist practically sobbed. His words were enough snap the Endermage from his own panic to shoot the blond a glare, but the exchange was brief. Fear for his life returned when he noticed the killer closest to them pull something from his coat pocket. Both Rythian and Lalna braced for their end, expecting the sudden, final blow to be dealt any second.

After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, there was a click and a bright flash, but it was not accompanied by the sound of a gunshot or some form of searing pain. Rythian and Lalna both cracked open an eye to see the original killer holding a camera, the photo he had just taken printing out from the device's base. As the film developed, the three murderers started snickering before it quickly crescendoed into a whole chorus of side-splitting laughter. The mage and the scientist looked equally perplexed until Rythian began to recognize voices.

"Ridge?!" He practically shouted the question, picking out the overseer's distinctive laugh from the crowd. The lead killer failed to hold back a waterfall of giggles as he pulled back his hood and removed his mask, revealing a mess of slicked back ginger hair, freckled cheeks, and a familiar toothy grin.

"Surprise!" Ridgedog cried, though his laughing fit caused the word to taper off in the end as he went back to laughing his head off. The other two killers then removed their disguises, revealing the identity of both Xephos and Martyn.

"You two should have seen your faces!" Martyn chortled. By now Lalna had climbed out of Rythian's arms, his feet landing flat on the ground again. It wasn't long until the three men's laughter began to rub the other two the wrong way. Rythian's eyes narrowed, his shoulders hunched, and his hands began to curl into fists.

"You mean this was all a Notchdamn PRANK!?" He shouted. Ridge was still snickering as he took the photo his camera had printed and pulled out a pen. He quickly scribbled something down before slapping the photo onto the Endermage's forehead, letting it stick.

"There you go! A little momento." The overseer said instead of an answer to Rythian's question. Growing ever more annoyed, the mage grabbed the rectangular image and took a good look at it. It was a perfect photograph of him and Lalna cowering against the wall. Ridge's swirly signature along with a heart and a winky face were in the lower right corner.

"That's kinda funny, actually." Lalna said over Rythian's shoulder, a hint of a smile apparent on his face. But the Enderborn failed to find anything amusing about it. He crumbled up the black-and-white photograph and chucked it at the ground, still seething. Ridge, Xephos, and Martyn had stopped laughing by now, but they still looked amused by everything That had just occurred.

"Calm down, Rythian. It was just a little scare tactic." Xephos shrugged. "Ridge called this dinner to get you two to make nice, and what do you know, it actually worked."

"Of course it worked! I organized the whole thing." Ridgedog bragged. He used his powers to start floating and lean back like he was on a recliner, crossing one leg over the other as he rested his hands behind his head. His smug smirk never left his face. Rythian still looked ready to strangle someone when more footsteps could be heard echoing down a hall. Both mage and scientist turned their attention to the doorframe just in time to see a familiar head of red hair whirl around the corner.

"Rythian?"

"Zoey!"

The Enderborn's anger instantly disappeared as he rushed past Ridge and the others, taking his apprentice into his arms as tightly as he could. Lalna watched the two's brief but heartfelt reunion before the others began to come in. Honeydew, Toby, Lomadia, Kim, Minty, Nilesy, Ravs, Sips, and Sjin were all alive and well.

"Guys?" Lalna asked in disbelief. Even if Ridgedog had confirmed that everything was an elaborate setup, his friend's grusome demises were still all too convincing. "Everyone's okay? But how?!"

"Ridge handled everything." Lomadia replied. "Fake blood, some fancy smoke and mirrors, and a few hyperealistic puppet doubles can make a pretty convincing murder scene, can't they? Oh yeah, that reminds me," The owl keeper paused and socked Xephos hard in the arm, causing the man to utter a small "ow". "Trick me into thinking you died like that again and you'll be sorry!"

"Right. Sorry dear." The spaceman replied with a nervous chuckle.

"Y'see, we were informed by our invitations that something was gonna go down, but we'd no idea what." Nilesy further explained with another shrug. "That's why many of us didn't realize what was going on and we panicked at first."

"Well, all I have to say that your acting was impeccable tonight, Nilesy. I thought you were beyond convincing." Ridgedog chimed in, still floating in his invisible recliner seat. The pool salesman echies Xephos' nervous chuckle as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Uh, thanks. I think I was a little too good if y'know what I mean..."

"I hope you two learned a valuable lesson tonight." Minty spoke now. Her arms were resting casually across her chest. "No more bombs, no more fighting, and no more feud. Does that sound fair?"

Neither Rythian nor Lalna answered immediately. The two men shared another brief look, each studying the other closely for a moment. After a second or two, some sort of silent agreement had been reached, and the longtime rivals returned their attention to the crowd.

"We'll do our best." Lalna replied for both of them.

"Excellent! Now, I'm sure we're all still hungry, so how about we head upstairs and have dinner for real this time?" Ridgedog suddenly proposed, jolting upright as he let his feet make contact with the floor again.

"Sounds good to me!" Honeydew cried, and with that he was the first back out the door. The others began to follow him out, many more side-conversations starting up as they did so. Rythian and Zoey were about to follow in suit when Lalna unexpectedly hurried past them. He glanced over his shoulder back at the pair as he ran.

"Bet you ten diamonds I can get there first!"

"Wha-? Hey! No fair! You had a head start!" Rythian picked up the pace as he tried to catch up to the scientist ahead of him. Lalna just laughed in response as the pair disappeared around the corner. After watching them for a moment, Zoeya just giggled and shook her head before following after the others.

Some people just never learn.