Kreilor stops in his pacing and looks at the door, the door that leads to the room where his love has been ripped apart, her blood soaking the wooden floor. In the same room where they spent their first night together and has loved each other ever since, she lies in pieces, brutally murdered.

The wizard stares at the door, trying hard not to envision the gore within. He fails, however, and collapses onto his knees. Too much has happened in one day for him, having lost both people dearest to him in the multiverse. "Xia. . . Rabbilyn. . ." He buries his face in his hands and weeps like a child. A sparrow lands on the windowsill and tilts its head curiously at the mage, never having seen the tall, powerful man cry.

Rabbilyn wipes his tears dry, remembering how his father has always taught him to be strong. "You'd better not cry, or the sparrows will laugh at you," the boy mumbles to himself, imitating Kreilor's voice, and then his comforting smile. With that sweet memory and a child's emotional elasticity, Rabbilyn returns to a state of mirth. Mirth garnished with post-tear gurgles in the stomach, that is.

Rabbilyn looks around the desolate alley as he rubs his hungry tummy. A small pack of cranium rats scurry across the alley floor, circumnavigating piles of junk and scavenging for any scraps of cheese, or corpse. As the group rushes by Rabbilyn, a smaller rat stops to sniff his foot. The rest of the pack looks back several feet away and squeals at the distracted youngster, urging it to hurry up. The curious young rat, however, insists on taking a few more sniffs of the boy before leaving. Rabbilyn giggles as the rat's snout rubs against his ankle.

"What's your name?" Rabbilyn asks the little rat, who erects itself on hind legs and looks up at the boy with glittering black eyes. Rabbilyn giggles again at the rat's human-like behavior. "W-h-a-t i-s y-o-u-r n-a-m-e?" Rabbilyn tries again, pronouncing each of his words slowly as if talking to an infant. The rat tilts its head to one side, then squeals. "Eep?" The rat squeals again. "Why, hello, Eep!" Rabbilyn grins. Their 'conversation' attracts another younger rat from the pack, and the senior rodents make gurgling noises with their throats in impatience.

Rabbilyn is about to talk to the second rat when a collector emerges from a corner and snatches Eep. With one quick twist, the large man snaps the cranium rat's neck. Eep hangs limp and lifeless in the man's hand. "Gotchooo. . . Bogar gets deener tooniiight. . ." The collector snorts and giggles to himself, oblivious to the other rat's furious squealing.

The boy stares in disbelief as this Bogar murders his newfound friend. His lips tremble as he tries to comprehend the event. "Mister. . . you. . . you killed him!" Rabbilyn understands the implications of death only as he speaks the words, and his eyes water in anger and shock. The other rats jump and squeal angrily, but don't make any move to attack Bogar because it is obvious the large man could defeat the pack with ease.

Bogar glances at the child impatiently. "Bogar hungry. Bogar eat." The collector then sinks his crooked teeth into the rat's side, swallowing both flesh and hair.

"No!" Rabbilyn leaps onto Bogar's back and pounds at the large collector with his small fists. Bogar lets loose an irritated growl and hurls the kid onto the opposite wall. Rabbilyn lands in some junk and moans in pain, the collector's powerful throw cracking his hipbone against the wall. As he crawls through the junk, he sees Bogar take another bite of Eep. The rest of the rats are gone, perhaps to look for help, but Eep, Rabbilyn's first friend, is being devoured bite by bite.