Re: The Aswadim, Hope and Despair IC Thread 5

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Diego was still securely bound, both by the plants Duncan had wound around his wrists and arms and also by the rope made by your shirt, the Nephandus was also still in a deep sleep and had not woken while he was hauled across the forest, including not being awoken by allot of loud swearing from Hannah every time she stumbled on a branch in her high heeled shoes, chances where he would not wake up for a long time or until magick was used to rouse him.

You try to scan the car for magick but the threads of woven reality just slip away from the grasp your Awakened will try to have on them, you just are not able to focus well enough and you feel that the rotes just refuse to form, you words and actions are correct but nothing happens, you gain not insight from the deeds, you are simply to tired and your head is hurting to much. Jeffry nodded.
"I will take care of it, just get into one of the cars in the meantime."
The old mage said, his face was unreadable bit it was clear from how he looked at you that he was quite concerned, but he did not dwell on it instead he performed the same rote you had tried, though he used more gestures then words as he focused more on them, then he nodded to himself.
"Everything seam fine...Mr Ackermann would you mind driving one of the cars and I will drive the other?"
The old Hermetic asked and Duncan nodded.
"Sure Master Morgan, no problem."
He said and got into the driver seat of Steelhaven's station wagon and adjusted the seat for his short legs.
"If someone would hand me the keys."
The Verbena said and held out his hand. Jeffry gave you an apologetic look, he knew you would find it embarrassing that he asked someone else to drive, but if you where tired enough to fail a simple Prime scan, you should not be driving either.

You give the cars a quick looking over but nothing seam out of place, not to a quick glance at least, it was not easy to see footsteps as the dirt ground was pressed down pretty hard, but you see nothing out of the ordinary, not that it was a guarantee.

(OOC: No more Prime scans for Adley before he have slept.)

[Adley]

"I will take care of it, just get into one of the cars in the meantime." The old mage said, his face was unreadable bit it was clear from how he looked at you that he was quite concerned, but he did not dwell on it instead he performed the same rote you had tried, though he used more gestures then words as he focused more on them, then he nodded to himself.

"Everything seam fine...Mr Ackermann would you mind driving one of the cars and I will drive the other?" The old Hermetic asked and Duncan nodded. "Sure Master Morgan, no problem." He said and got into the driver seat of Steelhaven's station wagon and adjusted the seat for his short legs. "If someone would hand me the keys."
The Verbena said and held out his hand.

Jeffry gave you an apologetic look, he knew you would find it embarrassing that he asked someone else to drive, but if you where tired enough to fail a simple Prime scan, you should not be driving either.

Adley took the keys out of his pocket and handed them over. He frowned but didn't protest, not quite in the state of Colin but he knew if he couldn't even do something simple like that it was probably better to let someone else drive for now. It was probably worse that he didn't even have the energy to look embarrassed, just frustrated. His head gave him a renewed reminder of the day before and the effect of the spirit had worn him down as well. "I'll ride with you, Hannah," he said and made sure Colin got into one of the cars safely.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Duncan took the keys and turned on the car's engines.
"Ok who is taking which car?"
The Verbena asked. Jeffry glanced over at the shape changer.
"Take Colin, I will take Adley and Hannah"
The old mage commanded just to make a quick decision on the matter.
"Let us get going, we need to give our Cultist the time to set up his rote, and get you two and a few others some much needed rest before other appointments tonight."
The war mage said not mentioning stopping the Nephandi's expected delivery, but it was still clear that is what he meant. Hannah nodded she got into the back seat of the Chief's car and sigh with relief as she sat down.
"I am never wearing heels again ever."
She muttered. Jeffry gave a slight smile.
"I remember when it was fashionable for men to wear high heels Madam, I would say I do not miss it, but then I was never a very fashionable gentleman, I never wore the darn things."
Hannah glances at you and whispers.
"How old is he?"
She looked half impressed half almost worried, after all she had only come with you halfway willingly and here was a mage that had to have enormous power not an arms length away from her, and that was a bit scary.

[Warpmind]

Colin lurched into the passenger seat once the station wagon seemed cleared, fumbled his seatbelt into place, and started snoring softly a few seconds later.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Duncan smiles a little when he sees Colin fall asleep, though he also looks a bit concerned for the very exhausted mage, then he wait just long enough for Jeffry to get his car going and he begins to drive towards Steelhaven.

[Adley]

"Ok who is taking which car?" The Verbena asked. Jeffry glanced over at the shape changer. "Take Colin, I will take Adley and Hannah"

"Let us get going, we need to give our Cultist the time to set up his rote, and get you two and a few others some much needed rest before other appointments tonight."
The war mage said not mentioning stopping the Nephandi's expected delivery, but it was still clear that is what he meant. Hannah nodded she got into the back seat of the Chief's car and sigh with relief as she sat down.

Adley nodded, opening the door to the back seat of his pater's car and seating himself, pulling at his undershirt with a mutter about being warm. He drew the seatbelt across and then rubbed a hand across his face, tired and irritated but trying to regain some of his waning focus. He felt just his side of hellish but they weren't home yet and even then, there was more to do on the horizon.

"I am never wearing heels again ever." She muttered. Jeffry gave a slight smile.
"I remember when it was fashionable for men to wear high heels Madam, I would say I do not miss it, but then I was never a very fashionable gentleman, I never wore the darn things."

Hannah glances at you and whispers. "How old is he?"

Adley felt a smile form on his face. "Old enough to be wary of the pitfalls of fashion trends. After running around in that dark forest you'll probably have the same wisdom," he said, trying to sound a bit reassuring.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Adley:

Jeffry put the car in gear and followed Duncan in the station wagon out of the forest parking area and driving towards Steelhaven, he did not say much on the way, there was not that much to say.

Adley felt a smile form on his face. "Old enough to be wary of the pitfalls of fashion trends. After running around in that dark forest you'll probably have the same wisdom," he said, trying to sound a bit reassuring.

"Yeah, I think I will have to invest in some sensible shoes."
Hannah said with a grin then her smile faded and she asked nervously.
"What will happen to me at your Chantry, will I be a prisoner? Will I be interrogated."
Jeffry glanced at the Orphan in the rear view mirror and shook his head.
"No, well I guess it depends on how you look at it Miss Laron, but I have learned that you have to give trust to get trust. You seam to be a very talented young mage, my hope is that when this is all over you will stay with the Traditions and that is not likely to happen if we treat you like a common criminal. On the other hand I can not have you running around completely free, not yet. I will assign you a room, it is not fancy but it will be comfortable, I will not have you bound or restricted in any way but I will put a ward on the doors and window so I know if you leave and ask you not to do so without an escort. Now if you do not cooperate then I might be forced to take more drastic measures but if you cooperate like I said you will be our guest until this whole mess is over and then be given the choice between leaving in peace, joining the Traditions as an Orphan or that I find you a good mentor to teach you further. Now as for interrogations well as soon as a few things are taken care of I will sit down with you, with my apprentice Adley present if that will make you more comfortable and we will talk, I will as you questions and I will be insistent on answers but I will not touch you physically or magically to force your cooperation, off course how cooperative you are will determine your future with the Traditions, you can stay silent and still join as long as you have no contact with the Traditions once you do so but very few Chantries accept you, if you help us however many will see you as a hero and it will be easier for you to get a good mentor and a membership with a good Chantry."
The old mage said and smiles.
"The Traditions do have strict laws against cooperating with the Nephandi and some hold non Traditionalists to the same laws, I however do not, and if you after all is said and done want to return to them that is you choice off course then chances are sooner or later you will end up dead on a battlefield somewhere on their side, or worse in a Caul and I do not want that, but the risk is yours to take."
The old war mage said and Hannah looked down.
"I well...I guess that is far better treatment than I had feared."
She muttered and Jeffry save a slight smile.
"I do not harm women, or anyone else for that matter if I can avoid it Madame, and I do try to reward cooperation when I can. There will be mages who will look at your background with anger or even hatred, but I am not one of them, you have nothing to fear from me and nothing to fear from Steelhaven."
Hanah nodded, she glanced over at Adley then down again. Jeffry sigh and asked.
"Now like I said I will not force any information out of you, however time is of the essence, some of our people do need to sleep and I will arrange for a time bubble to do so in, even so you know about the transport that are coming to Boston tonight...we have limited time to stop it, any information on it will be useful, please will you share what you know Miss Larson?"
Hannah sigh and glance out the window.
"The problem is that if I do more people will likely be captured and...people I know and have grown up with. I know the Nephandi are...for a lack of a better term, evil, well most of them are and I somethings feel twisted by how natural that feels to me. I mean I have seen folks tortured and murdered from I was a toddler, a giant eye grew out of the wall over my childhood bed and my brother is a bloody portal to hell...however evil or not I also know them as people, I know what movies they like, who is attracted to who, that one of them are afraid of spiders after an unfortunate event with a Ananasi...ah eh werespider years ago, that another sings in the shower, a third have a wife and a family outside of the Labyrinth that know nothing of his life as a mage. You see only the monsters, I see the human side of these men and woman to to be responsible for them being captures and Gilgulled...that is what you call it right? If it was just death that would be one thing but that...no I can not help you with capturing them for something like that."
Hannah said and her fingers went to her locked and she grasped it firmly in one hand.
"I could never do that."

Colin:

You dream as you sleep in the car, and in the distance you see a mirror, a beautiful, old fashioned mirror with a slightly warmed real silver under glass surface and sett in a faded gold painted frame. In the mirror you catch the glimpse of yourself, but without your scars, this figure holds his hand out to you in the mirrored surface of the glass, his hand appear real though, but slightly muted in color. The you in the mirror do not speak, he just stands there, looking at you, his visage slightly warped by the old silver surface, his hand held out towards you in invitation, around you is darkness but in the mirror there is a slightly dim light.

[Adley]

Of course, there were many things he wanted to say about Hannah's stay at the Chantry and what might come after but they weren't something he could talk about in front of her, so he remained silent and listened. When Hannah looked back over at him, he realised he must look quite a state removed from the polite if removed professor she knew, like skinning back the mask he wore to reveal part of his real self. And the same could be said of her.

"Hannah, if there were another way than doing that to prevent the creation of widderslainte, to return that avatar to the light again, I would be most glad to employ it. Most wholeheartedly I would. Even now, there are...circumstances where no, I do not believe that rite is appropriate. Yet these people seek to turn others to that darkness, to taint your avatar as well, turn anyone they can. And they do it by pressuring people when they need help the most. By taking advantage of their weaknesses, their needs, their sorrows, their loves, their humanity.

"But while I might have seen them as monsters, I do see them now as people, ones that have done and do monsterous things, worship monsterous beings of nothingness and void. Some of them...I have sorrow for their plight because their steps into darkness were not always of their volition. But there are those like our friend in the trunk where I cannot say I hold much sympathy for - he tried to kidnap you to corrupt your avatar and kill my friends. He is far down that path and I have not shared much life with him as you have. Yet even so, I would do what I have to do to stop the progress of his darker works, Hannah. I cannot allow the corruption to spread to people who would be harmed, like yourself and worse, continue onto the next life to bring more sorrow to someone who did nothing but be born." He paused, sounding rather more emotional than he would have liked, sad but determined. "I would find another way, if I could...perhaps it is ironic given what I am but I would prefer to cleanse those avatars rather than destroy them," he said to her.

"But until that way is known, until that knowledge has come to fruition, if it can be plucked from the vine and can be applied, then the corruption must be stopped before it gains more traction than it already has. There would no time to search for other methods, then. It would be too late. Your brother does not deserve the suffering he has been subjected to, or to be used in such fashion. Nor do the widderslainte that had no choice but to be born in the darkness. And you deserve to have a life where your avatar is not constantly threatened by corruption, to learn...Those Nephandi that bounced you on their knee, that have families...yes, they are people. But they are working to destroy, even their own families. I do not make this stand lightly. One shouldn't. If it were 'just' death that would stop them, then death is what I would prefer to apply."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

Hannah listened to Adley and looked down for a long while she was silent then she spoke again.
"I...know the situation is difficult, once an Avatar is inverted, that is it, forever it will be so and travel through the incarnations in that way, we have people at the labyrinth who are the third, and forth and even fifth incarnation widderslainte. But still, once someone are mages, magick is a part of them to take that away, that is barbaric. I would say magick is like your arm or your leg but it is more, far more, it is the core essence of what you are."
Hannah muttered then she continued.
"I can not see as what the Traditions do to Nephandi as fighting evil, with an even worse evil. Not all widderslainte are ravaging, murdering monsters, I have seen some of them be good people, at least for a while. Would it not be better to try to find widderslainte when they are very young and try to teach them to be better."
The young woman said and sigh.
"Felix was a widderslainte and had been for many incarnations, yes he was of the Malfean faction, but he was not cruel. He wanted to world to end yes, to turn into nothingness, but is that really worse than any other kind of global Ascension the other factions push for, I for example would rather not exist at all than live in the sterile, unchanging world the Technocracy want."
Hannah said and she turned alway so Adley would not see her sadness over her lover.
"Felix was a good man, he even got into trouble more than once when he stepped in and stopped the cruelty to the others...and the Traditions still."
The young woman's voice turned hard and angry.
"They still ripped his soul out as if he was nothing, or at least that is what I assume happened he...got this insane idea in his head after a Seeking to surrender to the Traditions and believed there was a Chantry near the university, so he went there...and never returned."
Hannah muttered she held the pendant she was wearing in the tighter grim and muttered.
"I should have stopped him, I should not have let him leave when he was still in the grip of an Epiphany. It is my fault he got caught, but I did not know he would do something that crazy...that stupid, how could I have known until I found his letter...but I should not have let him leave."
Hannah whispered, she was still upset after how that dark entity had affected her, blaming herself for her lover's demise.
"He never returned...is there any chance he was just executed?"
The Orphan asked hopefully, though she knew what the answer would be, no a widderslainte Nephandus would not have been just executed.

Hannah took a deep breath then she looked down again.
"I am getting off topic am I not, that damned entity..."
She muttered then she continued.
"Yes there are those like Diego...there are many like Diego who are monsters now, they are also people but they do so horrible things that it is hard to have sympathy for them, I guess my mother would be first on that list. And yes I want to stop the spread of corruption and my bother do not deserve to suffer, he needs to be destroyed so his suffering will end...but if he had not been sacrificed...if he had lived and we had grown up together, if the Traditions had found him they would have Gilgulled him to, he was born a widderslainte...even if they had found him as a child, they would have done that rite on him, can you imagine doing something like that to a child Mr Roth Hicks? How are the Traditions that much better than the Nephandi are?"
Hannah muttered angrily.

"I...how could I live with myself if I sacrificed these men and women that I know that I have grown up with, played with, studied with...comforted as they came out of the Caul...how could I live with myself if I gave them up just to create a cozy life for myself in the Traditions?"
The young woman said, this time your mentor replied to her, he was mostly silent as he knew there was a better chance of you getting through to her, than himself since you where closer to her age.
"Well realistically speaking, taking down the Labyrinth we will not be able to capture that many, there will be one hell of a fight and Nephandi know what we do to them as you yourself have pointed out, they tend to be quick to end themselves if they are on the verge of being captured."
The old mage said and Hanna gave a angry grunt.
"So it is supposed to be ok for most of them will be able to die before you catch them?"
She asked then she added.
"You know if you executed captured Nephandi instead of using...that ritual chances are you would get more prisoners to interrogate."
The young woman said and Jeffry nodded while he kept his eyes on the dark road.
"Yes that is correct Miss Larson, but then the problem also return, your compassion is commendable but let me ask you this, who do you think should suffer for a mage selling their Avatar to the Nephandi, themselves or an innocent child that is their reincarnation."
The old mage said and Hannah looked out the window again.
"Well you make those children suffer as well Master Morgan was it? There have been times when a labyrinth have find the location of a widderslainte, this happened a few years ago when I and June was sent to collect one such child over in Arlington, a little girl of four. Her parents said they had found her in bed one morning, her tongue bitten though, the palms of her hands cut open by her own nails and her ribs bruised as if strong convulsions had tossed her around the bed. Oddly enough they said they had been out like lights and not heard their child's plight, the father even said it was as if a spell had been cast on them then laughed that off, yeah I guess someone got some deserved Paradox for that one. In either case in addition to the physical injuries they found the girl crying helplessly, and nothing could be done to console her, the doctors found nothing wrong with her but over the next few months the child sank into a deep depression and died, the doctors her parents took her two though a grand mal seizure must have given her a stroke, but we all know better what happened to her don't we. And once the Traditionalists was done they just left the child there in the care of parents who would have no idea of what to do to help her. How is that any less monstrous than what the Nephandi do, how is that not just ad destructive?"
Hannah asked angrily.

[Warpmind]

Colin took a few steps toward the mirror, extending his own hand to his reflection.
"I... know you," he said, pressing his hand against the smooth surface.

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

You feel your own hand touch flesh, or at least that is how you feel it in your dream, though that flesh feel like it was made up of a million little firecrackers that exploded as you touched it and then reformed, a ever moving mass of energy.
"I am you..."
The figure did not as much speak as you knew what it wanted to say, then it turned and walked into the mirror again, becoming you to follow. You where dreaming but you had the sudden realization that if you went with this figure, more likely than not you would enter a Seeking with all the possibilities that held...but who knew how long it would take, how long you would be dead to the world while your mind and your soul communicated and learned. You had the choice to accept the Seeking or refuse it, your Avatar gave you that, which was rare enough, but the offer would not be on the table for long...

[Warpmind]

Colin didn't even hesitate to step through; in the outside world, he was dead tired and about to get dumped in a time bubble for rest, God knows for how long, and in here... it was the logical next step, building on everything else. Just a little pressure against the mirror, and...

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

You step through the mirror, it feels cold, as if you are stepping into a cold, still pond, though it also feels like a jolt of energy flow through you, all of you, it is exhilarating and frightening at the same time, then the figure in the mirror grabbed your hand and lead you the rest of the way in, and the world went dark around you, as your mind temporarily left this reality and stepped into a mindscape of your Avatar's creation, a universe created from your mind, your possibilities and from the needs of the lessons that lay before you, and for good or bad you would only return to the world shared with others once the lessons was learned or failed, fly or fall you where set on a path and had to see it though.

Duncan focused on the road, he did not notice how Colin's breath got more even and slower, how his large body became limp, he just assumed the Orphan was sleeping, though sleep had shifted into something more, and perhaps a chance for greater understanding and enlightenment.

(OOC: I think we will be doing the Seeking in it's own thread and here it is. https://chantrysteelhaven.forumotion.com/t61-ic-thread-colin-s-seeking#3672)

[Warpmind]

((OOC: Already on it.))

[Adley]

"I...know the situation is difficult, once an Avatar is inverted, that is it, forever it will be so and travel through the incarnations in that way, we have people at the labyrinth who are the third, and forth and even fifth incarnation widderslainte. But still, once someone are mages, magick is a part of them to take that away, that is barbaric. I would say magick is like your arm or your leg but it is more, far more, it is the core essence of what you are." Hannah muttered then she continued. "I can not see as what the Traditions do to Nephandi as fighting evil, with an even worse evil. Not all widderslainte are ravaging, murdering monsters, I have seen some of them be good people, at least for a while. Would it not be better to try to find widderslainte when they are very young and try to teach them to be better."

"All the more reason from preventing anyone from being born a widderslainte if it can be helped." He sounded tired when he continued, as if he'd been saying the same thing or similar things over and over. "I know that not all widderslainte are wholly consumed, at least...not right away, that degrees can vary and that sometimes they can do good things. In such cases I would argue that there might be something else done -if it could be done- and indeed, if they were not actively fighting on the side of the Nephandi. But that is not the case here; this Labyrinth is staging a foothold."

"Felix was a good man, he even got into trouble more than once when he stepped in and stopped the cruelty to the others...and the Traditions still." The young woman's voice turned hard and angry. "They still ripped his soul out as if he was nothing..."...how could I live with myself if I sacrificed these men and women that I know that I have grown up with, played with, studied with...comforted as they came out of the Caul...how could I live with myself if I gave them up just to create a cozy life for myself in the Traditions?"

"I am sorry for the loss of your lover," he said sincerely. "It is easier to see things in black and white instead of the reality, that there are shades of grey...even shades of damnation. That he gave himself up willingly, knowing what could come, perhaps he wanted to spare someone else his pain or perhaps had some other personal revelation about his situation. That was a brave act and one that you were not in control of...that spirit has brought up our own guilt and I can sympathize with your loss. I am not asking you to sacrifice them, because they have already taken their own steps. I am asking you to listen to your avatar, for it does not want to go into that caul. That says more than I could say right now about the reality of the situation. That each day there is an active caul, there are more Nephandi, more widderslainte in the future, an ever-growing threat that must be stopped before others suffer."

"Well you make those children suffer as well Master Morgan was it? There have been times when a labyrinth have find the location of a widderslainte...once the Traditionalists was done they just left the child there in the care of parents who would have no idea of what to do to help her. How is that any less monstrous than what the Nephandi do, how is that not just ad destructive?"

Adley was silent for several moments. "Not all of us are the same, either. You say that not all the widderslainte are beyond redemption and I want that to be true, I even believe it to be true at least in some few individual cases. I can see the -logic- of using it as a preventative but I do not agree with it in my heart. I believe that destroying an avatar is an act of ultimate destruction - essentially, doing the work of the Nephandi for them. It is not something that should ever be done lightly, just like killing one comes with the knowledge that another widderslainte will be born. But until there is another way, though I cannot condone it, I have not a better answer as to what to do with those that would cause such harm to innocents, to those that are in dire straights, to the world itself, to existence itself.

"Fighting non-existence with destruction is fighting fire with fire in the hope of creating a firebreak with a controlled burn. The theory seems sound...if cruel. Do I think it is wrong to harm children, especially those that are trying to fight their internal darkness? Yes. Would I prefer to spare those that are not consumed, see if they can be reintegrated and cleansed? Yes. Can I do that at the present moment? Can anyone? No, and I don't know. Will I fight to stop this Labyrinth before it destroys Boston, taints and kills others and brings more suffering? Yes. Oh, yes. I must. And then I will continue looking to see if there is another way. I am a strange sort of soldier; one who thinks that the best battle won is the one that never had to be fought at all."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"All the more reason from preventing anyone from being born a widderslainte if it can be helped." He sounded tired when he continued, as if he'd been saying the same thing or similar things over and over.

"Yes perhaps but the way of stopping that..."
Hannah sigh.
"Do you really think fighting evil with more evil will result in something good?"
She asked.

"I know that not all widderslainte are wholly consumed, at least...not right away, that degrees can vary and that sometimes they can do good things. In such cases I would argue that there might be something else done -if it could be done-

"Yes but the Traditions do not do anything else, as soon as someone's Avatar is inverted that is it...end of story, we know what your faction will do then."
Hannah muttered and looked angrily out the window.

and indeed, if they were not actively fighting on the side of the Nephandi. But that is not the case here; this Labyrinth is staging a foothold."

"Yes..."
Hannah said she could not argue that. Her mother's Labyrinth had been here for years operating in the shadows but now it was making it's moves and none of it's members was innocent in that, she did not like to admit it, but Adley was right the labyrinth was trying to get a foothold or more in Boston and it would do some harm.

"I am sorry for the loss of your lover," he said sincerely. "It is easier to see things in black and white instead of the reality, that there are shades of grey...even shades of damnation. That he gave himself up willingly, knowing what could come, perhaps he wanted to spare someone else his pain or perhaps had some other personal revelation about his situation.

"He...he..."
Hannah begun and swallowed hard.
"He went into a Seeking and was out for weeks. I was afraid he would never come out of it, but he did, but he was different, we spent a evening together, made love...we where just there together while I tried to ease the confusion of the Epiphany...then he said he needed air and left...when I returned to my room I found a note on my pillow, a note that said he had spoken with his Avatar and it did not want to reincarnate again...did not want to corrupt another...and that he had to follow it's will before the Epiphany ended and he lost his courage...he wrote he would look for the Chantry near the university and said I should get out of the Labyrinth...and that he loved me, and that was the last I heard from him."
Hannah muttered there where tears in her eyes but she wiped them away angrily.
"I should have stopped him, should have understood something was up, gone with him, knocked some sense into him, but I never suspected he would do something so insane."

That was a brave act and one that you were not in control of...that spirit has brought up our own guilt and I can sympathize with your loss.

"Brave...he...what he did....I..."
Hannah sigh then she shook her head.
"Yes that spirit stirred up these feelings but I have always felt it was my fault, I could have done something, what if I had gone to my room sooner, perhaps I could have convinced him not to do it..."
The young woman said and looked out into the darkness.
"Felix was the first person who saw me as anything as either the boss' daughter or a big magickal potential to make a weapon out of, he saw me, all of me...and where I have grown up, such a thing is rare...very rare."
Hannah said sadly.
"And now he is worse than dead thanks to the Traditions."

I am not asking you to sacrifice them, because they have already taken their own steps. I am asking you to listen to your avatar, for it does not want to go into that caul. That says more than I could say right now about the reality of the situation. That each day there is an active caul, there are more Nephandi, more widderslainte in the future, an ever-growing threat that must be stopped before others suffer."

Hannah was silent for a while then she sigh.
"No...it do not want to go into that Caul...every time it comes up, it protests, loudly...and it hears my brother's cries...he hears them more than me, they are...in contact. Me and my brother where conjoined, but not in the flesh like I said, and all my Avatar want is for it's companion, my brother to finally be free of his suffering, for the horror my baby brother have become to be destroyed...but if I follow it's wishes that means giving the Traditions a greater chance of capturing the ones I grew up with. Hell I am not even that concerned about my mother...I mean I do love her in a way, but she is a monster and if anyone deserves...what we have been talking about it is her, but there are others. June one of the few friends I have. Kienan who have a wife and children, Nephandi who do not kill and main for the hell of it but who only fight when they have to, yes they are...darkened in a way but they do not deserve what the Traditions would do to them."
Hannah muttered.

Adley was silent for several moments. "Not all of us are the same, either. You say that not all the widderslainte are beyond redemption and I want that to be true, I even believe it to be true at least in some few individual cases. I can see the -logic- of using it as a preventative but I do not agree with it in my heart. I believe that destroying an avatar is an act of ultimate destruction - essentially, doing the work of the Nephandi for them. It is not something that should ever be done lightly, just like killing one comes with the knowledge that another widderslainte will be born. But until there is another way, though I cannot condone it, I have not a better answer as to what to do with those that would cause such harm to innocents, to those that are in dire straights, to the world itself, to existence itself.

"I understand your reasoning and logic Mr Roth Hicks, it is just that when I look at my friend June for example, a Malfean so she is a worshiper of nothingness but she do not seek to just create death and destruction, I can not see that destroying her Avatar is better than to let her be with her beliefs. Or Kienan who is an Infernalist and who could not give a rat's ass about the ideology of the Nephandi, he sold his soul for the wealth and power to give his family a good life and a future, is he twisted yes, that wealth came with a heave price but would it really be so bad to let him reincarnate?"
Hannah muttered and looked at Adley.

"Fighting non-existence with destruction is fighting fire with fire in the hope of creating a firebreak with a controlled burn. The theory seems sound...if cruel.

"It is cruelty in order to obtain a goal, I understand that and I understand that there is a war going on an in war there are casualties, but how are the cruelty of one faction better than the cruelty of another?"
Hannah asked calmly.

Do I think it is wrong to harm children, especially those that are trying to fight their internal darkness? Yes. Would I prefer to spare those that are not consumed, see if they can be reintegrated and cleansed? Yes. Can I do that at the present moment? Can anyone? No, and I don't know.

"Like I said I do not think it is possible, a Caul do pretty thorough work. Now I get that you wish there was a way to undo these kids' fall, but given that there is not, do you support what the Traditions do when they find children who are Fallen? Would you have called in your superiors on that four year old girl if you had been the one who had found her?"

Will I fight to stop this Labyrinth before it destroys Boston, taints and kills others and brings more suffering? Yes. Oh, yes. I must. And then I will continue looking to see if there is another way. I am a strange sort of soldier; one who thinks that the best battle won is the one that never had to be fought at all."

Hannah looks down and sigh.
"You have to understand that I am in a difficult situation here. I spoke with June this morning on my phone, we talked about a upcoming movie like if we where normal girls what you are asking me to do is to give information that would put her in harms way...and not only harms way...but perhaps the worst thing that could happen to a person. June who have confided in me her desire to run away from her mentor, who likes cats, and bright nail polish and trashy romance novels, I can not do that to her...or to the rest of them I..."
Hannah hesitated.
"I do not want them to take over Boston, I do not want the Nephandi to win, I don't but I have friends in that labyrinth and what if the Traditions win, and they do not manage to escape or kill themselves, then what happens to them will be my fault...just as with Felix."
The Orphan said raising her voice and sounding quite conflicted about it.
"I can not bare that on my conscience."

[Adley]

"Yes perhaps but the way of stopping that..." Hannah sigh. "Do you really think fighting evil with more evil will result in something good?"

"I think that it is far more complicated than that. More complicated than I knew just days ago, when my course was far more clear but also less true. Intent does matter. This laybyrinth cannot be allowed to proliferate, that much is still clear."

"Yes but the Traditions do not do anything else, as soon as someone's Avatar is inverted that is it...end of story, we know what your faction will do then."

"Until another way is found and put into practise, there is not another way to stop the inverted avatar from returning to continue its work in another life."

Hannah muttered there where tears in her eyes but she wiped them away angrily. "I should have stopped him, should have understood something was up, gone with him, knocked some sense into him, but I never suspected he would do something so insane."

Adley glanced at her, then shook his head just a little. "If that is true, that his avatar did not wish to return...then I do not know if you would have been able to stop him, not in the long run. I know it is hard not to blame yourself for not stopping him but I do not believe you were at fault."

"Felix was the first person who saw me as anything as either the boss' daughter or a big magickal potential to make a weapon out of, he saw me, all of me...and where I have grown up, such a thing is rare...very rare." Hannah said sadly. "And now he is worse than dead thanks to the Traditions."

He sighed. "He is dead, yes. And I am sorry...but as easy as it is to blame the Traditions, he did make his own choice. He could have turned himself over to the Technocrats. Or taken his own life. You, however are still alive. And that he didn't want to continue...that way...Hannah that is important as well. Please, consider that."

"Like I said I do not think it is possible, a Caul do pretty thorough work. Now I get that you wish there was a way to undo these kids' fall, but given that there is not, do you support what the Traditions do when they find children who are Fallen? Would you have called in your superiors on that four year old girl if you had been the one who had found her?"

"I do believe it is possible, at least sometimes. Rarely, perhaps." Then he looked at her. "I cannot answer that as a theoretical question. If my position were different, then perhaps I would see if she could be my apprentice if she were not through the caul, keep her from the darkness until I found the way and if she became consumed...then..." He shook his head sadly. "But I would never hide what I was doing. I will search to find a better way than that for my entire life if that is what it takes, until there is support to change things from the way they are now."

"You have to understand that I am in a difficult situation here. I spoke with June this morning on my phone, we talked about a upcoming movie like if we where normal girls..."I do not want them to take over Boston, I do not want the Nephandi to win, I don't but I have friends in that labyrinth and what if the Traditions win, and they do not manage to escape or kill themselves, then what happens to them will be my fault...just as with Felix." The Orphan said raising her voice and sounding quite conflicted about it. "I can not bare that on my conscience."

"I know you are," he said, not unkindly but continued. "If these 'beliefs' would not undo creation, then it would be different. But as mages, the combined effect of this Labyrinth has that potential. Can you bear on your conscience knowing that your mother's directives have come to pass? I think you know better than I do what they might be. Your friends would live for some while while being exposed to more of their dark urges and we would be either turned or die, sleepers would awaken as widderslainte and be preyed upon as needed....like ink poured in a clear basin it would spread, a shadow consuming, until everyone's Light had been turned to extinguishing darkness, craving that nothingness we sensed earlier in the glade. Just like that once wild and peaceful place had become riddled with our guilt, doubts, horror, and sadness, so would be existence, consuming itself, until it was Not. That is something I cannot bear on my conscience. Nor do I fail to recognize that things should change, that there should be efforts made to find a better way. I believe that avatars are rare and precious gifts that should be preserved....that light can banish darkness. But I can only do that if existence itself exists."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"I think that it is far more complicated than that. More complicated than I knew just days ago, when my course was far more clear but also less true. Intent does matter. This laybyrinth cannot be allowed to proliferate, that much is still clear."

"No it can not."
Hannah said and nodded in agreement.
"My mother do not tell me everything but if the rumors I have heard of her plans are true then no, it can not be allowed to continue down that path."
The young Orphan said as she glanced out the window.
"Damn why is everything so bloody complicated?"

"Until another way is found and put into practise, there is not another way to stop the inverted avatar from returning to continue its work in another life."

"But would it be so bad to just let them reincarnate, do anyone have the right to take the soul of another?"
Hannah asked softly.

Adley glanced at her, then shook his head just a little. "If that is true, that his avatar did not wish to return...then I do not know if you would have been able to stop him, not in the long run. I know it is hard not to blame yourself for not stopping him but I do not believe you were at fault."

"I...well if I could have kept him at the Labyrinth until the Epiphany..."
Hannah said then she sigh.
"He was never happy...Felix, he would weep when he thought himself unseen and often got hurt standing up to the older, more powerful Nephandi to stop their cruelty. He was on the spiral path yes, he wanted a personal Entropic Ascension, but he was never happy with the cruelty he saw around him...perhaps he truly did want to walk the path he did but...I..."
The Orphan sigh and added in a whisper.
"I did not want to let him go, I wish he was still here."

He sighed. "He is dead, yes. And I am sorry...but as easy as it is to blame the Traditions, he did make his own choice. He could have turned himself over to the Technocrats. Or taken his own life. You, however are still alive. And that he didn't want to continue...that way...Hannah that is important as well. Please, consider that."

"He did not want to die, he just did not want to be born another widderslainte. He had many memories of his past life and said in two of them he murdered his younger siblings before he himself was ten, in three of them he served the Nephandi and in another he killed his wife and child before the local town guards chased him down and hung him...he did not want another life, he told me once that he had contemplated asking a vampire ally to become one of them, but that he lost his courage, and yes he did make his own choice but..."
Hannah shake her head.
"However if there had been no Traditions there would have been none to surrender to."
The Orphan said.
"I know I perhaps give the Traditions more blame than they deserve but it is easier than being angry at him for leaving me."
The young woman admitted hesitantly.

"I do believe it is possible, at least sometimes. Rarely, perhaps." Then he looked at her. "I cannot answer that as a theoretical question. If my position were different, then perhaps I would see if she could be my apprentice, keep her from the darkness until I found the way and if she became consumed...then..." He shook his head sadly. "But I would never hide what I was doing. I will search to find a better way than that for my entire life if that is what it takes, until there is support to change things from the way they are now."

Hannah did not reply at once, she just looked at Adley as if she saw him for the first time then after a while she muttered.
"That is a worthy path."
She did not know what else to say about it.
"I hope you succeed."

"I know you are," he said, not unkindly but continued. "If these 'beliefs' would not undo creation, then it would be different. But as mages, the combined effect of this Labyrinth has that potential. Can you bear on your conscience knowing that your mother's directives have come to pass? I think you know better than I do what they might be.

Hannah looked down after a while she muttered.
"No...I guess I ca not live with that on my conscience either."
She said and sigh in frustration.
"I hate this, no matter what action I take in this, something horrible will happen, there is no good path to choose. I feel so bloody trapped!"

Your friends would live for some while while being exposed to more of their dark urges and we would be either turned or die, sleepers would awaken as widderslainte and be preyed upon as needed....like ink poured in a clear basin it would spread, a shadow consuming, until everyone's Light had been turned to extinguishing darkness, craving that nothingness we sensed earlier in the glade. Just like that once wild and peaceful place had become riddled with our guilt, doubts, horror, and sadness, so would be existence, consuming itself, until it was Not. That is something I cannot bear on my conscience.

"That is what I...can not understand, why I have felt alone my entire life. June want that darkness, even Felix craved it, and I can not understand how anyone would want that, would desire that. And no I do not want that for the world, or for this city. I do not want what my mother wants, it would be horrible...but..."
Hannah hesitated.
"Your faction are going to hurt my friends, that fact still remains."
The Orphan said but it was clear you had gotten her thinking, she was not so sure anymore that refusing to cooperate was the right thing.

Nor do I fail to recognize that things should change, that there should be efforts made to find a better way. I believe that avatars are rare and precious gifts that should be preserved....that light can banish darkness. But I can only do that if existence itself exists."

"Your goals are noble and I believe you mean what you say Mr Roth Hicks, but any changes you can make to how the Traditions do things are going to be to late for June...if the Labyrinth is taken down chances are she will be dead or captured, not that taking it out will be that easy."
Hannah hesitated then she said.
"I am not saying I will cooperate I...have not decided but if I do, is there any chance to make arrangements to save June, she is my best friend and she deserves better than to go from being the punching bag of that bastard Diego to...is it at least possible to get her executed instead of..."

[Adley]

"He did not want to die, he just did not want to be born another widderslainte. He had many memories of his past life and said in two of them he murdered his younger siblings before he himself was ten, in three of them he served the Nephandi and in another he killed his wife and child before the local town guards chased him down and hung him...he did not want another life, he told me once that he had contemplated asking a vampire ally to become one of them, but that he lost his courage, and yes he did make his own choice but..."
Hannah shake her head.

"And that is why execution, allowing them to reincarnate is not as viable an option as might be wished...perhaps in this life, things are not so bad...but the next, or the one after. Felix's situation seems rare...and his revelation and what he chose, to me was brave. That does not mean it was not tragic."

Hannah did not reply at once, she just looked at Adley as if she saw him for the first time then after a while she muttered. "That is a worthy path." She did not know what else to say about it."I hope you succeed."

"I hope so too. Again, I am not sure...if they were not yet put through a caul. As for those that have..." He shook his head. "It remains that I would rather not have to destroy when it is not necessary. But given situations, given resources and limitations, sometimes it may be. For now."

"That is what I...can not understand, why I have felt alone my entire life. June want that darkness, even Felix craved it, and I can not understand how anyone would want that, would desire that. And no I do not want that for the world, or for this city. I do not want what my mother wants, it would be horrible...but..." Hannah hesitated. "Your faction are going to hurt my friends, that fact still remains."

"It also remains that they would hurt you. They have already tried to do that, some of them at any rate. It remains that they hurt us, harm others and want the darkness and we do not want that. Nor do we want your brother to continuing to suffer. I think in this we do agree."

"Your goals are noble and I believe you mean what you say Mr Roth Hicks, but any changes you can make to how the Traditions do things are going to be to late for June...if the Labyrinth is taken down chances are she will be dead or captured, not that taking it out will be that easy." Hannah hesitated then she said. "I am not saying I will cooperate I...have not decided but if I do, is there any chance to make arrangements to save June, she is my best friend and she deserves better than to go from being the punching bag of that bastard Diego to...is it at least possible to get her executed instead of..."

"I cannot make promises for things that are beyond my control and for variables that we do not yet know about, Hannah so I will not do you the disservice of saying that I can do as you ask in order for you to change your mind. However I will ask you to temper your decision with what we've just talked about - the ramifications of not co-operating could mean that you lose June in a different way, and not only June but many other people that you know and don't know. Perhaps even your own gift if things continue as they are. You have the ability to help us to stop their plans, help prevent situations like the one June is in from occurring to someone else." He looked at her again. "I will tell you that once someone is through the caul, co-operated with Nephandi, it may be a different situation than if they have not - if they have been resisting, without any control of their situation, or under duress. Even then, it is not easy and I cannot promise execution would be the end result. Has June been through yet?"

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"And that is why execution, allowing them to reincarnate is not as viable an option as might be wished...perhaps in this life, things are not so bad...but the next, or the one after. Felix's situation seems rare...and his revelation and what he chose, to me was brave. That does not mean it was not tragic."

Hannah nodded she did realize what Adley was saying was true but...those people this was about where her friends and to imagine something so terrible happening to them...and then there was Felix.
"Perhaps he was brave."
The Orphan muttered, in some was it hurt less to think of him that way, to think something good and positive of him.
"I just miss him so much."
The young woman muttered softly.
"He did not deserve his fate."

"I hope so too. Again, I am not sure...if they were not yet put through a caul. As for those that have..." He shook his head. "It remains that I would rather not have to destroy when it is not necessary. But given situations, given resources and limitations, sometimes it may be. For now."

Hannah did not know what to say she looked down she was running out of arguments for her choosing to keep the Labyrinth safe, it was not a cut and dry situation.
"I...just do not know what to do."
The Orphan admitted after a while.

"It also remains that they would hurt you. They have already tried to do that, some of them at any rate. It remains that they hurt us, harm others and want the darkness and we do not want that. Nor do we want your brother to continuing to suffer. I think in this we do agree."

"Yes on that we agree."
Hannah said then she sigh.
"And I know my mother can only protect me for so long, I know to much having lived among the Nephandi my entire life, sooner or later I will be told join or die, I know that...not to mention what they do to others. I, just do not want my friends to get hurt, even if my friends are corrupted monsters."

"I cannot make promises for things that are beyond my control and for variables that we do not yet know about, Hannah so I will not do you the disservice of saying that I can do as you ask in order for you to change your mind.

"I appreciate that at least, that you are not making promises you can not keep to placate me."
Hannah said and looks away.
"But what kind of friend am I if I put June in harms was, if I help set her in the Traditions path?"

However I will ask you to temper your decision with what we've just talked about - the ramifications of not co-operating could mean that you lose June in a different way, and not only June but many other people that you know and don't know. Perhaps even your own gift if things continue as they are. You have the ability to help us to stop their plans, help prevent situations like the one June is in from occurring to someone else."

Hannah gave a shiver at the thought of something happening to her own Avatar in this whole bitter conflict then she said.
"I do not want to go through the Caul, or see anyone hurt I don't I just...could you give up a friend to what the Traditions do to Nephandi? What if one of your loved ones was Fallen, what would you do?"
Hannah asked but she seamed unsure now, her walls was crumbling and she was more and more unsure of whatever or not the labyrinth deserved her protection, whatever or not she could allow love for some of it's members to prevent her from doing what she cold to stop their plans.

He looked at her again. "I will tell you that once someone is through the caul, co-operated with Nephandi, it may be a different situation than if they have not - if they have been resisting, without any control of their situation, or under duress. Even then, it is not easy and I cannot promise execution would be the end result. Has June been through yet?"

"June is Malfean, yes off course she have been through the Caul, her faction worships the things and the realms it takes a person to. Not all Infernalists have been through the Caul as they often just sell their soul to some demon or dark entity or another, but all Malfeans and K'llasshaa are always Fallen."
Hannah explained.
"I guess you do not necessarily know what the factions are, let me see if I can explain it more easily. The Infernalists are a mixed bag of everyone who practice some sort of dark magick and feel more at home with the Nephandi or who have sold their soul to something, you have people here who could just as easily been in the Traditions, they are well...the name say it all really. Then you have the Malfeans who want Entropic Ascension, what you call Descension. They worship corruption and decay. Then you have the K'llasshaa they are the well archetypal Nephandus, they will eat your grandmother while roasting your kids on a spit, they worship entities from outside of our reality, even more alien than what we encountered. If I where going to draw a parallel to anything they are the mythos mages from the stories of Cthulhu, it is a bad comparison yes but it is the closest I get. Well in either case, some Infernalists go through the Caul but not all...but members of the two other factions always do."
Hannah said then she sigh.
"I even saw her when she came out of it, June I mean, she was covered in slime and wide eyed, for weeks afterwards she screamed in terror at night over what had happened to her in the Caul...they all scream...all of them, the labyrinth is filled with screams."
Hannah said and her eyes went dark, it was clear she was not unaffected by growing up in such a place.
"But June is not a bad person, she deserves better than to have her magick and soul ripped apart and then be left to die in a ditch...she deserves better than that...she is a healer a good one...and she have had so much hardship in life...and...and I do not want to loose another person i care about."
The Orphan muttered darkly.

[Adley]

The Orphan muttered, in some was it hurt less to think of him that way, to think something good and positive of him. "I just miss him so much." The young woman muttered softly. "He did not deserve his fate."

"He did not deserve to be born widderslainte. And did what he could to save someone else from the same fate. He wanted to break that cycle."

"I do not want to go through the Caul, or see anyone hurt I don't I just...could you give up a friend to what the Traditions do to Nephandi? What if one of your loved ones was Fallen, what would you do?" Hannah asked but she seamed unsure now

Adley's lips thinned. "You are asking what I might do if I were you? If they were Fallen...If they could not be saved, if they had been through a caul, if this ritual were on the horizon, then I would do what I would have to do to protect others and myself. Depending on who they were, what relationship we had, perhaps I would still love them and mourn them; I would feel sorrow and empathy. Again, it is too hypothetical to give you exactness."

"June is Malfean, yes off course she have been through the Caul, her faction worships the things and the realms it takes a person to. Not all Infernalists have been through the Caul as they often just sell their soul to some demon or dark entity or another, but all Malfeans and K'llasshaa are always Fallen." Hannah explained. "I guess you do not necessarily know what the factions are..."But June is not a bad person, she deserves better than to have her magick and soul ripped apart and then be left to die in a ditch...she deserves better than that...she is a healer a good one...and she have had so much hardship in life...and...and I do not want to loose another person i care about."
The Orphan muttered darkly.

He sighed, looking inexorably tired...as if this were a battle that was happening on all fronts of his existence and had done so for a very long time. It felt nearly eternal, like the battles that took place before books existed to write them down. And if it were true what he'd heard, even some part of it, then perhaps that is exactly what it was. "If June has been through the caul, she is a full Nephandi. You would see that there is good in her, and I am not going to dispute it, nor would I dispute that she deserved better than to be abused by Diego. It is as you said more complex. But she wants the world to cease to exist, fundamentally - she is a Malfean, that is what you are telling me. Which means at some level, at some point, she will wish herself to not exist, your friendship to not exist. As a mage the stronger she becomes the more her path will take her downward and take others with her. And all your care in the world will not stop her from losing herself, in her own way, on that path, Hannah. If she does not succeed in that in this life, then her avatar will move to the next, find someone new to corrupt. And that loss too will hurt, as will what happens if your mother succeeds. Please, help us stop this ritual on Sunday. If there is no more caul, there are fewer Nephandi and your brother's suffering will end. Your mother's plan will not come to its rotten fruition, putting others at risk. And I do not want to see you lost to the Nephandi, Hannah. I do not want to see your soul corrupted. Not when you have fought for so long to prevent it. Not when your own avatar is telling you as best it can that it does not want that path for you both."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"He did not deserve to be born widderslainte. And did what he could to save someone else from the same fate. He wanted to break that cycle."

"He used those exact words in his letter, breaking the cycle..."
Hannah muttered she touched her pendant again.
"I guess he feared what his next incarnation would be..."

Adley's lips thinned. "You are asking what I might do if I were you? If they were Fallen...If they could not be saved, if they had been through a caul, if this ritual were on the horizon, then I would do what I would have to do to protect others and myself. Depending on who they were, what relationship we had, perhaps I would still love them and mourn them; I would feel sorrow and empathy. Again, it is too hypothetical to give you exactness."

Hannah nodded she looked out the window.
"I never wanted to be in this situation where I have to make such a choice, a choice between my humanity and the well being of my mother, and my friends...I never wanted to have to make such a choice."
The Orphan said her eyes was sad and far away.

"If June has been through the caul, she is a full Nephandi. You would see that there is good in her, and I am not going to dispute it, nor would I dispute that she deserved better than to be abused by Diego. It is as you said more complex. But she wants the world to cease to exist, fundamentally - she is a Malfean, that is what you are telling me. Which means at some level, at some point, she will wish herself to not exist, your friendship to not exist.

"Yes she do want to at some point not exist and if she get her wish, that means she would have never existed and nor would our friendship, that is true. But I do not think such an Entropic Ascension is bad in an of itself. What I am against is trying to make it a global Ascension. It is just as if a Technocrat want to reach a point of perfect stasis and control every part of his personal environment and Ascend that way that is fine by me, I only have a problem with it if he want to force that on everyone else as well."
Hannah protested.

As a mage the stronger she becomes the more her path will take her downward and take others with her. And all your care in the world will not stop her from losing herself, in her own way, on that path, Hannah. If she does not succeed in that in this life, then her avatar will move to the next, find someone new to corrupt. And that loss too will hurt, as will what happens if your mother succeeds.

"I guess you are right about that, most of them do end up more and more dark and twisted as time go by."
Hannah nodded she looks out the window then she reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet and took a few pictures from one of the pockets and looked at them. One was of a handsome, blond boy in his late teens, the second had to be of Hannah and her mother, you had never seen Lisa Larson in person but the woman on the photograph fit her description perfectly, a tall, grunt woman with a hard, angular face with high cheekbones, thin lips and pale blue eyes so cold they made a Technocracy Research Director look all warm and fuzzy. Her hair was the same shade of blond as Hannah though hers where cropped as her chin. The third picture was the typical girl's night out picture, it showed Hannah together with a girl of mixed Asian and African American ancestry. The girl would have been beautiful enough to be a model once, elegant and fine features with full lips, large almond shaped dark brown eyes and long, pin straight jet back hair, but she was missing one eye now and had a deep scar that ran from her forehead and all the way down to her left cheek, right across where her eye should have been, still both her and Hannah was laughing in the picture and lifting drinks with little umbrellas to the camera for a toast. Hannah said nothing as she looked at the pictures, her eyes lingering of the one of the teenage boy, finally she whispered.
"They get darker yes, but they are people to..."

Please, help us stop this ritual on Sunday. If there is no more caul, there are fewer Nephandi and your brother's suffering will end. Your mother's plan will not come to its rotten fruition, putting others at risk. And I do not want to see you lost to the Nephandi, Hannah. I do not want to see your soul corrupted. Not when you have fought for so long to prevent it. Not when your own avatar is telling you as best it can that it does not want that path for you both."

"I...will cooperate, I will tell what I know..."
Hannah said she looked down at the pictures again then she put them back in her wallet, her eyes where full of sadness when she looked up again.
"But I do not think I will ever be able to forgive myself what will happen to my friends if the Traditions win the fight...if any of them get taken alive, especially June. I am not sure I can live with such guilt or feeling like a traitor, but I will do what I can to stop my mother Mr Roth Hicks."
Hannah agreed finally.

[Adley]

"But I do not think such an Entropic Ascension is bad in an of itself. What I am against is trying to make it a global Ascension. It is just as if a Technocrat want to reach a point of perfect stasis and control every part of his personal environment and Ascend that way that is fine by me, I only have a problem with it if he want to force that on everyone else as well

"With this ritual Sunday, there would inevitably be severe repercussions. Not just for us, or for you, either." There already had been. The Maurauders had even been affected, the Technocrats for all the love he did not have for them, had been affected. And the rest of Boston, trying to go about their day...well, if that spirit in the forest had been bad enough he could not...did not wish to imagine...

"I...will cooperate, I will tell what I know..." Hannah said she looked down at the pictures again then she put them back in her wallet, her eyes where full of sadness when she looked up again. "But I do not think I will ever be able to forgive myself what will happen to my friends if the Traditions win the fight...if any of them get taken alive, especially June. I am not sure I can live with such guilt or feeling like a traitor, but I will do what I can to stop my mother Mr Roth Hicks."

He understood to an extent that she would feel that way no matter what she did. And she was not the only one to feel conflicted, not with everything that was happening. But the Nephandi had to be stopped. He could not promise to save anyone that was already Fallen, put through a caul but at least they might end her brother's suffering and save Hannah herself from a worse fate. He hoped that she would be able to make some peace with her decision, someday; that it would help stop the imminent threat. And he hoped the same for himself, for his friends, with all the things that had come to pass...

He nodded. "Then we will hear whatever you have to say so we can stop her."

[Anja Rebekka Schultze]

"With this ritual Sunday, there would inevitably be severe repercussions. Not just for us, or for you, either." There already had been. The Maurauders had even been affected, the Technocrats for all the love he did not have for them, had been affected. And the rest of Boston, trying to go about their day...well, if that spirit in the forest had been bad enough he could not...did not wish to imagine...

"Yes I do not know exactly what my mother have planned Sunday but I know it is big, it is more than a greeting for the arriving Gilledian, there are rumors she is trying to summon an Aswadim, if you know what that is...but that can not be, the Anti Oracels advice but they do not get involved in the war, if they did...well with the power of one of them, it could destroy the entire city or far, far more."

He nodded. "Then we will hear whatever you have to say so we can stop her."

"What do you want to know?"
Hannah asked, she looked like she felt ashamed for talking.
"I guess I can start with the location of the Labyrinth, at 36 Auburn Drive, this is in the suburbia West of the city, there are an old abandoned car repair shop with a few apartments on top of it. In the back of the shop there are a portal into the Labyrinth. Now the problem is that the portal will only respond to someone ordering it to open in the Dragon's Tongue, also called the Nephandi language. You heard that spoken in the forest tonight. I do not know the language though, only the Fallen can speak it."
The Orphan said and a tear rolled down her eyes as she spoke.
"Ehm...there are two guardian Umbood, both of them Jagglings, elementals caught and tortured into obedience."
Hannah said and you saw your mentor's hands got a bit tighter on the steering wheel, he did not like it when mages abused spirits, he did not say anything though he just drove into Steelhaven's garage and parked the car, not getting out yet as he did not want to disturb Hannah once you had finally gotten her to talk, he would have to speak more with her later but for now at least, he wanted to just hear what she had to say.
"My mother is the most powerful member of the Labyrinth for now, and she is a Master of several...ehm...what do you call them...aspects of reality...Spheres yes that is it, she is several hundred years old and are a force to be reckoned with. Other than that there are three other Masters working with her, the rest of the magi at the Labyrinth are not as powerful as her but they are generally fairly competed...there are thirty two...ehm...I guess twenty nine now Awakened at the Labyrinth plus a young widderslainte she have been forcing to work with them but I have a feeling she is planning to sacrifice him during Sunday's ritual as I have heard her talk about needing to sacrifice someone born Fallen to be able to strengthen the health of the Caul."
The Orphan said and another tear rolled down her cheek as she continued to speak.
"My brother is not well, and sometimes he do not manage to send those who step into him, my mother believes she can fix this with a ritual involving sacrificing a widderslainte and using someone skilled at manipulating Time...I do not know how that is going to fix things but she believe it will. She need my brother strong for she is summoning forth a leader from the labyrinth from some dark place of unreality in the Umba, I know nothing about who is coming though, I only know that he is an Archmage and some say he can call then a Aswadim."
Hannah fingered the locket hanging around her neck and she looked so lost as she spoke, betraying everyone she had grown up with.
"I...do not know what more to say...ehm we have a Node in the labyrinth...s strong one, there are around fifteen pawns in addition to the Awakened Nephandi, and yes we have been working with the group of Black Spiral Dancers..."
The young woman glanced at Adley to see if he knew what that was.
"They are like the werewolf version of Nephandi if that makes any sense, I mean they are not like us but they have a spiritual presence where their Avatars would have been if they had been human and they corrupt that much like a Nephandus do in a Caul...and well that is about all I know, unless you are looking for lists of names and such."
Hannah said and she sigh.
"And then I have betrayed everyone I love."

[Adley]

"Yes I do not know exactly what my mother have planned Sunday but I know it is big, it is more than a greeting for the arriving Gilledian, there are rumors she is trying to summon an Aswadim, if you know what that is...but that can not be, the Anti Oracels advice but they do not get involved in the war, if they did...well with the power of one of them, it could destroy the entire city or far, far more."

"All the more reason to stop her!" he said. So far, what she was saying tracked with their other intelligence. It wasn't out of possibility after all that Hannah was some kind of Trojan horse, or that she simply had wrong information. Still, what she was telling them could be incredibly useful, but it was always wise to be cautious of information given under conflicting circumstances. She hadn't been tortured, or coerced heavily but she still had her own reasons for not wanting to give up her friends, even with the threat hanging over them like the sword of Damocles.

What do you want to know?" Hannah asked, she looked like she felt ashamed for talking. "I guess I can start with the location of the Labyrinth...

Adley listened quietly, not wanting to interrupt her but occasionally nodding or making sounds that he was listening. He felt a pang of empathy for her when she started to cry but he knew that this information could save many lives and souls, including her own. He only interrupted to ask, "What is a Black Spiral Dancer?" Finding out there were werewolves that were -worse- than your usual werewolves, that were in fact in league with Nephandi and acted in similar ways was hardly welcome news. He was reminded of the Fomori threat and wondered if she knew anything about that. He also wanted to know if she knew anything about the tass delivery from San Francisco, though that seemed less likely. But for now, he just heard her out as they drove into the garage and sat there a moment.

"...and well that is about all I know, unless you are looking for lists of names and such." Hannah said and she sigh. "And then I have betrayed everyone I love."

He didn't know what to say, a rare enough occurrence most days. This wasn't most days though. He glanced towards the front of the car at his pater and then back to Hannah. "Alright Hannah. We're here; I think that what you told us is will be helpful to stop the threat. We might have a few more questions to ask. I know this was hard for you," he said, with empathy. "Saying thank you would not be sufficient or acceptable, or probably even welcome. So I will not. But you have helped to stop the threat to Boston, to us, your brother and your own avatar."

[Sponsored content]