Any time an aura or resonance was examined, it was done so through the spells most mages learned in their early training.  But even the most powerful scrutiny still contained within it the impurities of the Fallen World.  Most were unaware of this, and even those who came into understanding left it at that, for to step outside the flaws of the Fallen World was solely the province of Archmasters and those Ascended Masters who dwelt within the Supernal.

Except, there was one other way. 

A way that only a Mystagogue could know.  Luckily, she was a Mystagogue.

A way that only a Hierophant Superior of the Mysterium could know.  Luckily, she was this, too. 

A way that only a Hierophant Superior who had the right setting and a Hierophant to act as theonom to repeat a Mystery already experienced could know.   Zohar was thrice lucky, for she had just inducted one. 

It was with this in mind that her consciousness flew through the Temenos, the challenge of the Mysteriorum Focus.   Past ideals and concepts alien, wonderous, and frightening, she followed the threads and wove herself around the obstacles as she had done once before. 

At last, she caught the end of the thread, and wrapping it around herself, took it not within her, but went within it. 

*****

The mithraeum was dimly lit, and she was alone.  She looked outward at her surroundings, perfect and purified.   Within the room around her, was the expression of her melded aura... perfect.   Zohar spent what could have been days going over even the minutest detail. 

In that moment of perfect insight, she did see something in her aura...

She saw that she was touched, not by "Destiny" but by..."Potentiality."  She had the potential to do many things, and to effect great change in the world, but that change was hers to determine and not set in stone at the moment of her birth. Overlaid on top of that sense of Potentiality, she saw that many others had, are, and will attempt to use that Potentiality for their own ends.   She saw the hand of Atropos in this, just as she saw the hands of many other Pentacle Magi and enemies thereof, attempting to use her to fulfill various purposes. Their remnant mystic fingerprints were still on her, evidence of them pushing her to and fro. Finally, she saw that the alternate world was still calling out, that she was still tied to it, that it still touches her a little, because she once touched it through finding it and exploring it.

It is not a tag, or taint, or other thing that would keep me from my next step.   This is good... I won't be attacked the way I was before.  Nothing is embedded within me... 

This... makes it seem like I can be used... like a tool.  Not destiny, not destiny but the power to change others...by existing.  This is why they wanted me so badly... because through me they have the power to destroy the world... or others...to save it.

...what am I?  

The object in front of her was ancient, prized, the topic of rumor and speculation for centuries throughout the entire Order.  None outside the local caucus had ever openly spoke of its purpose, though many Mystagogues from all over the world had spent time in its presence.   It would be a Libertine's wet dream, though in their hands the true nature of its purpose would never be realized, let alone understood. 

Times and traditions were changing, however, and she had barely contained her surprise when the silence was broken.   It was necessary, she understood.  But she had to admit, it was also exciting... to have the honor of doing something no one from the outside had ever done.   And if her request was granted, to be the first from outside the caucus and Consilium to ever...

The Mechanism may be a key to finding the answers.

She remembered the first time, the unorthodox but amazing experience...its revelations both of the seeker and the lesson.  The world had been changing so much, so quickly.  Not just the world, but herself.   The more she saw the more questions she had.  Now, she realized, repeating the Mystery may be her best chance of taking the next step...  

No.  There is one other avenue.  But that door has not been opened, yet.  Perhaps it will, but perhaps by then I'll know a bit more. 
 

 Maybe things would be all right after all.

Back in Zohar’s house in Baton Rouge, everyone felt a huge surge of magical energy. The Faerie Glades that they had worked so hard to set up vanished in an instant, just as Zohar was diving for the portal. She quickly caught herself, flipped and landed on her feet. She looked at the Artifact, and saw that something odd was happening with it.

Where there was previously a vortex of swirling blackness leading somewhere else, it now seemed more like a whirlpool of blackness sucking things in. Everyone present saw themselves in the vortex, all of the possible world and all of the impossible worlds arrayed before their vision. In the middle of the magical hurricane came a suction, a pull at all of their souls.

Everett spoke up, saying, “I told you this was a bad idea!”

Zohar tried to back away from the Artifact and the growing vortex around it, but was being pulled in. She felt parts of herself being pulled away, as though they were forming something, elsewhere. Everyone felt as though elements of themselves were being ripped from their souls, to make something elsewhere, to power a world that might never be and might never have been, a place of shadows and ape-things and bugs and sewers without rats. It was like they were being stretched and split, to form two selves in two universes, separated by a gulf of Impossibility.

Everyone braced themselves as best they could against the storm, but were eventually sucked in, their consciousnesses disappearing in the vortex.

When they all woke up, each of the group remembered a narrative in a foreign universe, bit of events that shouldn’t be and never were. Mingled in that image were many others, reflections of places that should not have been and never were, things that might have been, and things that surely were or would be. Which was which, they couldn’t say… but they all felt as though something had been taken from them and sent elsewhere.

Zohar, along with the others, stirred from her unconsciousness. She looked at a watch and noticed the time, 13 hours she’d been knocked out. She looked at the Artifact and saw something in it, felt something in her mind. In her thoughts, she heard:

Nothing comes without a price. Maybe you’ll see him again some day, as he navigates the impossible gulf from there to here. Or, maybe not. In the mean time, you have done the impossible.

She shook her head at the strange thoughts, in an alien voice, and looked around. Her companions were starting to wake up.

April looked around and said, “Hey… what happened? Did we win?”

Zohar shook her head and said, “I don’t know…”

The trip back to the hideaway was dicey at points, but they arrived safely. Once they did, they took a seat and started to lick their wounds. After a moment, Anu spoke up and said, “Has anyone seem Moira? She was supposed to be here…” Everyone looked around, but she was nowhere to be found. Anu was especially frantic, calling out on the radio for her and looking high and low for any sign of her.

Zohar flopped on a chair and said, “We need to get back, soon. How much time do we have until 13 hours has passed, relative to the time of our arrival?”

Phobos looked at one of his watches, and answered, “About two hours. It’s been 11 hours since we arrived, relatively.”

April said, “Well, what do we need to do to get our of here, then?”

Zohar said, “Cancel the effect that took us here, according to Morior’s notes. That means a Dispellation, maybe, or a counter-casting of the Faerie Glade to reverse the effects.”

April said, “It hurt my head plenty stacking two opposite Glades on top of each other spatially. I don’t want to think about stacking them on top of each other across multiple dimensions, or else I’ll have to find some Excedrin to make the pain go away.”

Zohar laughed a little then said, “Okay, Dispellation then. Lets have the other strategy as a backup, though, in case our first plan goes awry.” The group set about preparing, while Anu was still frantically searching for Moira. Once he had exhausted all other options, he asked the group for help.

He said, “She’s gone, and she’s all I have. I don’t know where she went. Could one of you help?”

Alekto replied, “I can find her. Just give me a minute.” She cast out with the threads of Space, and found Moira. Alekto then continued, “She’s in the safehouse, where we all arrived and where you met us.”

Anu thought aloud for a few moments, saying, “Why would she be..? Oh, no… I hope she didn’t go there alone…”

Zohar leaned forward and said, “Why would she go there? Isn’t that place full of bugs?”

Anu replied, “Yes, it is… but I never told her that. She might have gone there looking for a stash of goods, thinking it was safe. We were so busy, I never got to mentioning that the safehouse was compromised…”

A worried look came over Zohar and April’s face, then, and Everett said to Anu, “We’re going there anyway. Come along, and help us get her back if she’s in trouble?” Anu nodded in agreement, and grabbed his bag to make ready to go. They all got ready to go, and then ventured out through the sewers one more time. Some commented that they were almost getting used to the smell, and got a disapproving look from Iblis, who was very upset at his suit being mussed up with all the sewer spelunking.  They arrived at the manhole and climbed up and out of it, after a quick glance to make sure the coast was clear. Moving to the warehouse, they peeked through the ajar door. Zohar, who looked through first, gasped in shock at what she saw.

Inside of the warehouse, at approximately the spot in which they all arrived, Moira was suspended in the air. She was held aloft by her intestines, which had been removed from her abdomen and wound around her limbs, then around the beams above. She was crying in pain, obviously still alive, and bleeding all over the ground. Some sort of Life effect was keeping her alive through all of this, though clearly it wasn’t dulling the pain at all.  Surrounding Moira were at least a dozen bugs, two ape creatures, and a man in a black trench coat. The man was obviously Awakened, but his eyes were inky pools of blackness that gave you a shudder to look upon. His smooth, calm demeanor overlaid a viciousness and inhumanity that chilled the hearts of those whose eyes dwelled too long on his form. Seemingly in command of the creatures, he ordered the ape-creatures to grab sharp objects and start poking at Moira.

He laughed and said, “Like Jesus on the cross, and my Longinuses… all I’m missing are two thieves and a crown of thorns. Or…”

He turned toward the front door and gestured in the direction. The doors flew open and knocked the group back. Anu immediately found his feet and unslung his assault rifle. He unloaded at least a dozen bullets in the direction of the man, to no avail. The bullets veered off in strange directions, and missed their target.  April quickly gestured in Anderson’s direction, and enchanted his gun for extra damage. Iblis nodded at the dark man’s style, then launched a spell of his own in the man’s direction. Anderson also unslung his gun and fired at the man, though his bullets were no more effective than Anu’s. Alekto gestured in the direction of Moira, and tried to as an act of mercy, kill her. Moira took in a rough breath, but it was not her last – whatever life spell was keeping her alive, managed to do so despite the massive damage of Alekto’s spell. Phobos stepped in front of April and pointed at the dark man, sending a lightning bolt in his direction that didn’t seem to have any effect. Everett looked at Zohar and then at the man, and said, “we’ve got bigger fish to fry than you.” A spell careened in the direction of the man, but missed. Something about him was sloughing off all of the magic and the attacks cast in his direction, making the mages’ efforts all the more futile. Finally, Zohar looked around the warehouse and cast a Forces spell in the direction of a stack of shipping containers. The containers fell in the direction of the man, but he dodged out of the way just in time. He was prone, though, and had got his trench coat dirty. A blow to his ego, if not to his flesh.  A fierce fight started, then, as the bugs and ape-things came to life and started toward the group. After much spell-slinging and the firing of numerous bullets, it became clearer and clearer that the fight was not to be won. The dark man was still uninjured, and the group was losing to these horrific monsters.

Suddenly, Zohar had an idea. While calling down a lightning bolt through a hole in the ceiling, she asked Phobos, “How much time do we have left?”

Phobos looked at his watch just in time to be caught off-guard by one of the bugs. The thing took him down to the ground and started chewing on his shoulder. Phobos screamed out in pain and tossed the thing off of him, then pointed at it and said “Die you otherworldly horror!” The thing exploded in a sudden burst of energy, but Phobos fell to his knees in pain as paradox wracked his body.

Zohar grimaced at the trouble she inadvertently caused and looked at Everett. She repeated her question to him and he replied, “one hour, almost exactly.”

She frowned and said under he breath, “too much time.” One of the ape-things ran for her and tried to grab her. She dove between its legs and rolled up into a standing position on the other side then ran over to Everett’s position.

April was pinned down between a few stacks of boxes, and the other ape-thing. It raised its fists in anger, and brought them down on her… but never quite connected. From behind the thing she heard, “Not… ever.” She saw Anderson limping toward her, maintaining concentration on a spell that had stopped the creature dead in its tracks. His one good arm was held in front of him, directing the energies to maintain the spell.

Alekto looked at Moira again, and realized that her time had come. This man, whatever he was, was preventing her from moving on. Her soul was trapped in her body, through all the torment and injury, despite all the pain. Her heart reached out to Moira, and she finally managed to slay the spell keeping her alive. Moira slumped down, dead, finally released from her torment. Anu looked relieved, but didn’t have time to react fully before he was attacked by one of the bugs again.

The whole time, the dark man stood in the center of the storm and waited. It was as if his purpose had already been achieved, like he was celebrating victory while the fight raged on. Zohar looked at him and realized that this was just what he wanted. She turned to Everett and said, “This is all part of his plan. He wants us to fight! We need to end this…”

Everett took a shot at the ape-thing that attacked Zohar, earlier, and replied, “What did you have in mind?”

Zohar created a cage of light to hold the thing in, and said, “Open a portal to the future. Let me cast a Dispel through there so that it can take effect when we need it to. It’s not… ideal… or normal, at all… but it might work.” Just then paradox wracked her body and she doubled over onto her knees in pain. Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.

Everett nodded and slung his assault rifle, then held up a hand to focus energy for his spell. In a moment a pool of shimmering light appeared in mid-air in the warehouse, leading to the same place but an hour in the future. He added, “Nothing animate can be sent through it, and it’s… unstable at best. But you can try to cast through it and see what happens.”

April screamed from one part of the fight, as she was grabbed by one of the bugs. Her body was carried up, and out, into the stacks of boxed. Anderson cried out “No, don’t you take her you bastard!” and pursued it on foot.  Iblis and the dark man were locked in some sort of mental duel. Both of them were silently staring at each other, though it seemed like Iblis’s resolve was starting to crack. Bit of emotion began to cross his face, but he refocused himself on the task ahead of him and did his best to keep up the fight.

Zohar called together the energies of her soul and projected them through the portal. It seemed like everything slowed for a moment, as her Legacy’s pinnacle power sent the praxes if dispellation through the portal. The energies disappeared into the swirling vortex of energy, to parts unknown.

It’s either this… or nothing. This is the best – probably the only – shot we’ll ever have at this.

Their journey concluded at an odd door in the sewer. It looked like the sort of bulkhead one might find on a submarine, not something rigged together in a sewer. Anu knocked in a peculiar way, and they door was opened from the inside.  Anu waved everyone else in before him, saying, “welcome to our little hideaway. You’ll find some canned goods in the kitchen, and some chairs for sitting in the common area. Let me know if you need anything…”

The woman who opened the door shot Anu a glare as everyone entered. He calmed her, saying, “It’s all right, Moira. I checked them out on the way over. No taint at all; even cleaner than us. I don’t think they’re from around here, but I think they can be counted as friends. “

Everett spoke up then, saying, “We are indeed friends, but we’ve come with a particular purpose in mind. Have any of you seen a Mage come through here lately… looks like Anu over there but isn’t him? Calls himself Morior.”

Moira pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, looking at Anu and saying, “This again? I thought we agreed that was all some weird, trippy intrusion, maybe a Doppleganger or something?”

Anu waved his hand dismissively at her and sat down on a cushion placed on the floor, then spoke, “Yeah, there was a guy who came through here about a month ago. He looked like me, sure, but we parted ways. I ran into him as I was headed out to my o- um, as I was headed to the residential district. I saw him glowing like a Christmas tree from down the street, and was going to tell him to cut it out. All of that spellcasting was sure to get him noticed, and I didn’t want to be caught alongside him. I got closer and saw that he looked like me, but didn’t have much time for chit-chat. Right about the time we were getting to introductions, the first bug found us. We fought it, killed it, but he did it with magic. I was too busy killing it to notice he’d put a big neon sign on us saying ‘Dinner: come eat us, please,’ and didn’t know to get the hell out of there quite that fast…”   Anu took a sip of water, then touched a scar on his arm, and continued, “Well, the next time they came it wasn’t just one of them and it wasn’t just bugs. We caught the eye of some other Uglies, had bit off more than we could chew… and it wasn’t going so good. Last I saw of him, he opened a ghost gate for us to escape through. I jumped through it, but one of the bugs ate it before he could follow. I don’t know what happened after that. I went back there the next day, but the only thing I found was…”

Anu rooted around in his ‘personal’ box for a minute, then took out a pendant. He held it out and Zohar sighed deeply. Everyone else in the group recognized the other half of the Artifact, and nodded thoughtfully. Anu said, seeing the group’s reaction, “Was this. It’s an Artifact, near as I can tell, but it doesn’t do anything. Supposed to teleport you somewhere, I think, but the mechanism is broken.”

Iblis put a hand on Zohar’s shoulder to comfort her, and then Everett spoke up, “Did you… did you find proof of his fate? Could he have made it out, could he have escaped to safety?”

Anu replied, “Nobody could have survived that. He was surrounded. It would have taken a Mage more powerful than any I’ve ever seen to stand a chance. I was surprised when he even got the gate open, with all that interference keeping him from casting effectively.”

Zohar said under her breath, “There’s always hope… there’s always…” Everett put an arm around her to comfort her, but she seemed not to be paying attention.

Alekto turned to Anu and Moira and said, “So, what the hell happened here? You said the verges did this, but didn’t the verge open in Houston and not here?”

Moira spoke up first, “Sure, the first round of verges missed us. The second round, well… they caught us. New, improved model, kept the doorway open twice as long, let through even bigger nasties. They coupled it with some sort of technological terror, something meant to kill people silently. Killed thousands, got the President’s attention. This whole place is a disaster area, mandatory evacuation on account of the radiation. It’s just a cover story, of course, but it keeps Sleepers away so that’s good. Us… we’re in here trying to find the source of this, to fix it and make it better. The world’s got enough problems, we figure, so we might as well try and take a whack at fixing some of them.”  Everyone wandered around the hideaway for the next few hours, having private conversations and eating while they could. The talk among the group was on finding Morior, whatever was left of him, to confirm his fate. They couldn’t just accept that he’d disappeared. Zohar was the most determined of the group. In time, a plan started to come together. Zohar and Everett talked about the plan in front of the group, eliciting their comments and suggestions.

Zohar said, “We should get out there and look backward through time, see what happened. That’s our first and best option.”

April said, “Why don’t we just divine and ask if he’s alive?”

Zohar swallowed and said, “That wont work. It will tell us he’s dead even if he’s not. Trust me.”

Everett replied, “It will be dangerous, but we have our mission and we can’t ignore it. The less magic we cast, the better. It seems to attract those things, and we don’t want to do that.”

Anu, who was listening this whole time but not replying, said, “I don’t recommend going there. Those things have been crawling all over the whole area ever since he came around, and I don’t know if I can guarantee you safe arrival to your destination. I can take you there, I remember where it happened, but it’s not safe.”

Phobos spoke up, “We’ve got plenty of backup, here. It would take a small army to stop us from getting where we’re going.”

Anu started to say something, but Moira stopped him and replied to Phobos, “Don’t get cocky. There’s more of them than you, and overconfidence could get you killed. Just… be careful, okay? Anu here is very good at finding things, but he’s not invincible and I want him back.”

Everett replied, “We’ll be careful, of course. We just… need to know. It’s what we came for, and so we can’t leave without uncovering that fact.”

Zohar spoke up, then, “If we find out that he’s still alive, we’ve got to find out where he is and recover him. Then, figure out how to get back…”  The last sentence fell over the group like a lead veil. They had the other half of the Artifact, so they should be able to get home, but they didn’t know. The thought of being stuck in this hellish place for the rest of their lives… it didn’t go over well with any of them.

The preparations for the trip were solemn. Anu said that cloaked spells weren’t usually noticed by the bugs, so if you had to cast anything on yourself to cloak it against Mage Sight. Those who could do so, did. He also advised that prepared spells were easier to use in combat with the bugs than direct spells, due to the interference generated by the creatures. Stealth and combat readiness were the name of the game, as everyone made ready for the journey ahead.  Once they were all ready, Anu gave some final notes before taking them out of the hideaway. He said, “I’m going to take you as far as I can. There’s a manhole a bit down the street from where the whole thing went down. I’ll take you as far as that, then wait underground for you to come back. Going outside is… well, I think Moira would kill me if I lived, and would kill be twice if I didn’t. It’s not safe, but I’ll be waiting for you all to come back so I can take you to safety.” The group agreed to that, though there was some displeasure at his refusal to take them all the way to their destination, and they set out.

The sewer was no more pleasant the second time around, but they managed. This trip was much longer than the first, though, and several in the group started to tire. About the time that the group was ready to demand a rest, though, Anu stopped and looked up, saying, “This is it, intersection of Braeburn and Lake. Go north a block, east two blocks and then half a block more north. The whole thing happened in the middle of the street, across from the house with the blue mailbox.” He climbed up the ladder and pushed the manhole cover up, slightly. Looking around, he lowered the cover back down and addresse the group, “Looks mostly clear right now. This is a good time, but you’ll want to hurry. Nightfall is coming up, and you don’t want to be outside come night time.”

Everett started up the ladder first, but Phobos stopped him, saying, “I came along to protect us. Let me go first.” Everett nodded, and assented to going up the ladder later.

Phobos climbed the ladder and pushed open the manhole cover. He popped his head up, and quickly climbed out of the manhole. He looked back to his companions and kneeled, saying in a hoarse whisper, “Quick! Not much time… there are things about.”

Anderson and Everett went next, followed by Zohar, then April, then Iblis, April, and Alekto taking up the rear. Each helped the next out of the manhole, reveling in the somewhat fresher air of the surface while simultaneously keeping their eyes peeled for bugs on the prowl. They seemed to be in the clear… for the moment.  As Alekto finished climbing out of the hole, Anu said, “I’ll be here waiting for you. Can’t afford to keep the manhole open any longer. I’ll see you in, what… half an hour?”

Zohar said, “Sounds good.” Anu closed the manhole cover, then, and after that brief commotion the group realized that everything around them was completely silent. The normal sounds of the city – street lights, passing cars, conversations, lawn mowers, and people – were entirely absent. It was a lurid suburban cityscape, the houses still there but abandoned, looted, windows broken, lawns yellow and dead. Even the sun seemed paler in color, casting everything in a sharp relief that highlighted the starkest whites and darkest blacks, making everything else in between seem muted and dead. A soft wind blew through the streets, the sound of it deafening against the silence.  Zohar broke the silence, saying, “Lets get going. We don’t have much time.” Her words shocked her companions at first with their volume, before everyone realized that even as loud as she seemed she was still whispering. They collected themselves, and began the walk to their destination. Phobos and Anderson took point, with Alekto taking the rear and everyone else filling out the spaces in between. They moved off of the street, first, and crept north by dodging between houses and fences and long-ignored flower beds.

They turned the last corner between them and the destination, and Phobos said hopefully, “Almost there.” He took a step forward and then stopped dead in his tracks. The others followed his gaze up the street, and saw what took him aback.  Standing in the spot they meant to go was an ape-like creature. It had no skin, and bones poked out from the underlying tissue. Maggots ate its dead flesh, but its eyes glowed orange with an inner malice. Even though they were almost a hundred yards from it, the whole group could smell the horrid, putrescent odor it exuded from its dead flesh. It sniffed the air, perverse in its insistence, and then started to walk slowly in the opposite direction. Anderson and Phobos looked back to Everett, whose shocked expression was cleared with a quick shake of his head.

Phobos said, “Should we, y’know, kill it?”

Everett replied, “We have a mission. I suspect that if we tried to kill everything bad that cropped up around here, we’d just get ourselves killed. Lets wait for it to go away, then take care of our business.”  Phobos nodded, then crouched with the others and waited for the coast to clear. The ape-thing ambled slowly out of sight, taking several minutes to go north up the street, then turn down a side street and disappear. Everyone sighed with relief when it passed from the notice of their eyes and nostrils. They waited a few more minutes just to be sure, then Phobos and Anderson led the group up the street. The blue mailbox that was their landmark had long since fallen off of its post, but it still served its purpose well. They gathered in a small circle in the middle of the street, some facing outward while the others faced in. Everett spoke up, saying, “we need to take care of this fast. April and I will look back while the rest of you keep an eye out.”

April and Everett then started concentrating hard on the task at hand, reciting small snippets and words out of context to help them remember parts of their imagoi. As they did, everyone around them felt the Supernal energy well up and focus along the lines their will directed it. They both then started to speak, to recite parts of what they saw. As they did, things started happening around the group, all going very fast.  April said, “I can see the fight. There are so many of them…”

Phobos heard a fluttering of wings, and saw a flock of ravens rise and take to wing from a back yard across the street. He said, “I think they noticed us…”

Everett said, “They had him surrounded. Pinned in. No way out. Each one was eating his spells as he cast them.”

Anderson turned to the group and touched his nose, saying, “I think our friend might be coming back.”

They all caught the putrescent smell of dead flesh, then, as April continued, “They’re trying to subdue him, but he’s repelling them. Protection spells, something improvised, keeping them at bay. But they’re pushing, and pushing, pressing in on him…”  An inhuman roar then came from down the street. The ape-thing rounded the corner and thumped its chest, sending maggots flying in all directions, The dull thud of meaty fists against its ribcage was matched by a roar that was too high-pitched to be natural, but reverberated the teeth of everyone who heard it. Whatever that thing was, it just announced dinner time.

Nathaniel continued, “He’s losing the fight, they’re getting closer and closer…”

Phobos pointed at the thing and said a command word in High Speech, sending a lightning bolt ripping into it from the clouds above. The thunderclap was even louder than the ape-thing’s roar, but it knocked the creature off of its feet and augmented the rotten smell with a tinge of burned flesh and hair.  Anderson leveled his pistol at the ape-thing and fired two shots as April continued, “They’re biting into his flesh, taking chunks out. He’s… letting them. Doesn’t seem to be fighting them. Has he given up?” A buzzing sound filled the air, then, as two bugs landed on the roof of the house with the blue mailbox. They climbed down the roofing shingles, their glistening black bodies menacing in the stark light. The ape-thing had meanwhile found his feet, and was charging at the group. He would reach them in mere moments, moving with a swiftness born of madness and desperation.  Alekto stepped up and cast a spell at the ape-thing. Its wounds seemed to deepen, while something was extracted from its flesh and absorbed by Alekto’s pattern. The thing stumbled on its charge toward the group. Anderson made it fall in mid-stride by hitting it in the kneecap with another bullet, sending it careening wildly toward the group on its leftover momentum.

April continued, “Is this all part of some plan..?” Phobos concentrated hard and tried to hold the ape-thing in place with an improvised spell. The force the creature was exerting seemed to be shunted away into another form, as the space around it closed into a loop to prevent its escape. It howled in rage and lashed out at the nearest of the party, though it could not reach them.  Zohar, who had stayed silent and ready up to this point, drew a sword made of light out of nowhere and swung it at the creature. Kept still as it was, it could not dodge her blade. The blade of light ripped deep into the muscle of the creature’s shoulder, though as it did so Zohar observed that the spell became diminished for being touched by the thing.

Nathaniel, who was still concentrating on the Postcognition, said, “He… it’s not him. This is some sort of decoy. But where’s the real Morior? It’s going to, oh my…” The two bugs flew off the roof and dive-bombed the group. Iblis dodged one’s attack, sending it sliding along the ground wildly, as Zohar was knocked off her feet by the other. It found its feet quickly and snarled at her, making ready to pounce on top of her while she was prone.

April then broke her spell, saying, “He’s… we need to go into the house with the blue mailbox. That’s where he was hiding the whole time!” She opened her eyes to see the chaos around her and screamed in surprise.

Anderson grabbed the bug that was threatening to kill Zohar, and threw it back. It didn’t go far, but it went far enough to give him time to reload, aim and fire his gun into its head. It did some damage, and slowed the creature down.  The other bug had found its feet, and was advancing on Iblis. Iblis put a hand out in front of him and said, “Stop.” The creature froze in place, cowed by Iblis’s spell, and was then cooked by a prepared lightning bolt activated by Zohar. The ape-creature was standing calmly inside of its magical prison, eating away at the spell while the bugs kept the others busy. It had a wicked, intelligent smile on its face, as though this were all part of some malevolent plan.

Everett opened his eyes and grabbed Zohar, who was standing nearby, and pulled her toward the house. When she started to protest he said, “Not only are we on open ground, we’re also only a few feet from where he might be. Come on!” Zohar assented, and the rest of the group started to follow. Phobos was doing his best to drive them away with Forces spells, but was losing the fight.

They filed into the front door of the house, and looked around. Phobos quickly placed a strong, expanding bar across the door, barring it shut and preventing the bugs or the ape from getting in. In front of them was a set of stairs leading up, and a door probably leading down into the cellar. Everett opened the door and looked inside. He then said, “This is where we go, right April?” She nodded, and they started to file down the stairs.  Once they entered the basement, things seemed calmer. They couldn’t hear the monsters upstairs, and seemed to be somewhere relatively safe. Once Everett reached the bottom of the stairs, he whistled as though impressed. Zohar, standing behind him, stretched to look over his shoulder.  In the basement, it seemed, Morior had taken up shop. Pieces of paper covered the walls, notes about his situation and theories about how to cope with it. A few diagrams, in particular, caught both Zohar’s and April’s notice.

One note read, “Time here doesn’t flow per normal. Lynchpins of time allow operation of normal praxes, but in the gross and scope of situations the temporal velocity of this place seems off. Some sort of angular momentum? A possibility…”

This note was followed by a diagram: a vertical spiral, neither growing nor contracting (somewhat like a spring) being bisected by a straight, vertical line. The line was labeled ‘earth-normal’ and the spiral labeled ‘Shadowland’.

The note continued, “13 seems an important number, here. All over, things come in multiples of 13. Every 13 earth-hours, the spiral comes into alignment with the line, though that time is significantly longer here. Time flows forward at a remarkable rate, but is also quite slow to change as it revisits events of the past. Possibility of return hampered by unique temporal translation processes. As time passes, I grow more and more out of alignment with my true self. Where-when am I?”

There were notes all over the basement, covering the walls and littering the floor. It seemed that Morior had been here for some time, working and watching and waiting.

Zohar looked around and commented under her breath, “He never seemed this interested in theories while he was around…”

Everett replied, “Necessity is the mother of invention. I wonder where he got off to?”

Iblis picked up a note and read it, then said, “I think I know where he went.”

They all looked at the note. It read:

“Every 13 earth-hours is 13 here-days (what do I call this place?). Finding a way to reverse the temporal translation will require not coming here in the first place, of contacting the original temporal translation event and canceling it in some way. The event that brought me here was some sort of spirit numen, and so I will cancel it by improvising a temporal protection for myself. Time slippage will allow me to contact the relative past in the objective present; every 13 here-hours repeats 13 milliseconds after time of arrival. The line is broken into smaller and smaller spirals, like epicycles on a planetary orbit. By going to the point of entry and interfering with the translation event, I should be able to return home. The longer I wait, the more out of sync I will be, the less will be left upon my return. A trip here is one-way; my shadow will remain, but part of me will be unstuck in time and allowed to continue. It’s the only plan.

Zohar, I’m sorry. I’ll come find you if I can. I’ve been… I…

Oh, who am I kidding? She’ll never read this, so there’s no point in using the ink.

No one to wish me a speedy journey, so I’ll wish it on myself. Good luck.”

Zohar read the note and closed her eyes, a little in regret and a little in grief. Everett looked at her, but didn’t quite know how to react. The others started debating over the next course of action.

April spoke up first, “If he has tried to come home, then we should try to get home too. Maybe he’s back already?”

Iblis responded, “We don’t know if he succeeded. It might be better to go where he performed his ritual, then try to get back if we find that he actually succeeded?”

April continued, “There’s not much time. Zohar, what do you want to do?”

Zohar took a deep breath and opened her eyes, then said, “We should get back. If he’s tried to come back, then he’s either dead or he isn’t. We need to make sure that we aren’t dead when we do get there.”

Nathaniel then said, “It’s not safe outside. We need a quicker mode of transportation to our rendezvous with Anu. Anyone care to open a Portal, or shall I?”  The rest nodded to Everett, and he then waved his hand and opened a portal. He winced as he did so, a wound appearing on his hand from the apparent Paradox. The shimmering door opened up to the inside of the sewer system, then. The group stepped through.

When they got to the other side, Anu was screaming and yelling, “Close that hole! You’ll draw them to us!”

Everett quickly closed the door, then looked at him and said, “It was only open for a few seconds. Don’t worry so much.”

Anu sighed and replied, “Sympathetic magic is especially attractive to them, for some reason. It lets them get a fix on you, fast. They’re coming, now, so we had better get the hell out of here…” The group rushed down the sewer tunnels, just in time to hear the manhole cover get pounded in by something. They smelled a familiar, putrescent, as they rounded a corner and moved out of sight.

I can’t wait any longer. The longer we debate, the more likely it is that he’ll be dead… or worse. Divinations or no divinations, it’s time for action!

Zohar ran for the portal. Behind her, she heard the Nathaniel speaking up with alarm and concern. She appreciated it, but couldn’t abide waiting any more. The swirling, black vortex grew closer with each step. Nathaniel tried to catch her but, leaping up and over a chair and turning a flip in mid-air, she moved on a path straight for the portal. At the very last moment she wondered if she’d made the right choice… but it was too late to stop, anyway. She disappeared into the inky expanse, leaving her companions time only to respond. They all followed, in turn.

The first sensation she felt was heaviness. The slow-time Glade made the last few millimeters seem like a mile, as her companions fluttered about like hummingbirds. Slowly, too slowly, she crossed that threshold into the portal itself.

It wasn’t exactly cold, but it wasn’t exactly hot, either. It was both, and neither… like her body was confused as to what she should be feeling, precisely. It was pitch black all around her, except for the occasional flash of light. She’d expected silence, but that wasn’t what she got. An impossibly loud creaking sound filled her ears, making her wonder just where (or when?) she was. Off to her left she saw something forming, the lights growing in number and brightness, like they were forming an image. Looking back, she realized that she was moving away from the portal, and toward that thing. In front of her now, she realized that whatever it was, it was huge. It extended as far as she could see up, down, to the left and right, and it was getting closer.   Those look like… clouds. Is that a planet? Am I in space? But there aren’t any stars… how can that be?

The grey expanse in front of her grew closer, the creaking sound growing louder, as though it were being borne on toward her by some huge, old, wooden crane. It seemed close enough to touch, now, and so Zohar reached out for it. Saying to herself, “might as well. I’ve come this far.” Zohar touched it. The moment she touched it, she disappeared.  Her companions, following her in turn, all found the same grey expanse, and all eventually gave in to curiosity and entered it as she did. They would reappear in turn, later.

Zohar woke up in a warehouse, surrounded by boxes. The first thing she felt was a splitting headache, the second was a sunburn. She looked up and shielded her eyes from the sun’s harsh rays, beating down in her skin through rusty holes in the roof of the worn-down warehouse.  She hoarsely spoke up, saying, “Where am I?” and got an unexpected answer.

A familiar voice, in an unfamiliar tone, responded. Morior said, “In a warehouse, in Oklahoma City. Now, who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?”  Zohar blinked, surprised at being addressed in that way, and in shock from her jarring journey. She squinted through the sunlight, and looked at the source of the voice. What she saw through the haze looked like him, though something didn’t seem quite right. In fact, nothing seemed quite right about this whole experience, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on what that was.

She looked up at him and said, “Morior? Is that you?”

Startled, he replied, “No, I’ve not gone by that name in… who are you?”

Zohar said, “I’m Zohar. Who are you?”

The man replied, “I’m Anu. Short for Anubian.”

Anobium? No, ah, okay. That’s strange…

Zohar stood up and looked at him, her vision finally clearing sufficiently to get a clear look. He said he wasn’t Morior, but he certainly looked the part.  Oh lord, I hope th is isn’t another one of those alternate universe things… Noting the silence, Anu spoke up first, “What are you doing here, Zohar?”  A sizzling snap interrupted Zohar as she was about to answer. The loud sound startled Anu, as well, stopping the conversation dead. Zohar turned then, instinctively down whatever was coming her way. She took out her wand and made ready to attack whatever had made the sound a moment ago.

Is that… April? At least we’re all coming out near the same time, at the same place. But, why?

Anu spoke up while backing away, saying, “Who’s that? How many more of you are there? State your purpose in being here!”

Zohar sheathed her wand quickly and put her hands out defensively, trying to calm the situation, “five or six more, but we mean no harm! We’re coming to rescue a… friend… of ours, who was lost some time ago. He looks a lot like you, and we’ve just come to see if he’s safe!”

April groggily pulled herself up into a sitting position, and looked around, while the two continued to talk. Anu continued, his bone wand at the ready, “How did you find my cache? What are you doing here? How did you come here in the first place?”

Zohar responded, “We… just came here. We were trying to find my fian- er, friend, like I said. We opened a portal that was supposed to take us to him, and it took us here.”  A rustling sound caught both of their ears, then, something like chitin skittering across metal. Anu looked up toward the source of the sound, and Zohar put her hand back on her wand. It sounded like there was only one source of the sound, but the nature of the sound was strange and so there could be more.

Anu said, “They’re attracted to Magic use, and that portal you used to get here is acting like a beacon. We need to get out of here, quickly.”

Zohar looked at him and replied, “They? What are ‘they’?”

Anu said, “Bad news, is what. Ridden… things. Used to be animals. They’re foot soldiers for bigger things, now, and are pretty dangerous themselves. Ready yourself, and make sure your friend’s ready too.”  Zohar moved over to April just in time to see the thing come in through a hole in the ceiling. It was a chitinous, inhuman thing, about the size of a large dog, with six (or seven?) legs, a glossy black body, and a head that looked more reptilian than insectoid. It growled at them in a tone not fit for a thing of the Fallen World, and started to climb along the ceiling toward a spot directly above Anu.  He put his wand away and took out a revolver, saying, “Don’t cast magic unless you have to. It draws them from miles around. “ He popped off three shots in its direction. One missed, and the other two ricocheted off its tough, chitinous carapace.

The creature leapt off the ceiling and into mid-air. Suddenly, insectoid wings sprung up off of its back and started to hum along on its descent. It was going straight for Anu, looking like it meant to grab him with its legs and carry him off. Just as it was about to grab him, Zohar heard another sizzling snap behind her, and heard another body hit the ground.  The creature turned toward the sound in mid-grab, and dropped to the ground. Anu, standing behind the abomination, pointed his revolver at its head. He nonchalantly said, “surprise,” and emptied his last three rounds into the back of its head. Yellow ichor exploded everywhere as its head disappeared into a million pieces, and its body slumped to the ground. Anu wiped his revolver off on his now-yellow shirt, and looked at the growing group.

Anu wiped a bit of ichor off of his face and, after a long silence, spoke up, “Someone gave them the name of Thaumivorous Insectoid Carnivorous Killers, or “TICKs”. I just call them ‘bugs’. They’re everywhere these days… ever since the verges popped up and let them loose. Now, mind telling me where in the hell you all came from?”

Zohar was too taken aback to speak, so April was the first to speak. She said, “We came to get… you? Morior? Is that you?” The tone of confusion in her voice was obvious, her head cocked to the side a little as though studying him.

Alekto shook her head, and looked up at him, saying, “He certainly looks the part. Personality is all off, though…”

The group gradually started to appear through the portal, as they all talked things over with Anu. When Everett, the last of them, came through the portal, Anu said, “We need to get out of here. All of this magic will be attracting things here, and we don’t want to be here when they arrive. The bug a minute ago was one thing… we don’t want to be here when they arrive in force.”  The group collected themselves, and got ready to move. In the mean time, they talked among themselves about what happened. Anu wasn’t Morior, that was clear… but why did they arrive here? They had no answers, right now. More important than that, though, was the clear expression of worry on Anu’s face. Whatever was coming, it had him deeply concerned and wanting to get out of there now.

Zohar asked Anu, “What are these things? Why are there more of them, where are they coming from? We’re getting ready, but we have no idea what we’re running from… could you give us a little information?”

Anu replied, “Sure. First, though, help me with this…” he lifted up a box and moved it, exposing a hidden compartment in the floor of the warehouse. “This was my safehouse, but it appears to have been compromised. Grab what you can from inside of there, and we’ll carry it with us.”

Zohar looked into the compartment, and surveyed the contents. A few assault rifles, some odd ammunition with a magical aura, a dozen or so pawns of tass, and a box marked “personal” were inside. She grabbed a rifle and shouldered it, took a bit of ammo and pocketed six pawns of tass.  He looks *just* like Morior. God, I hope he’s okay…

The sky outside grew strangely dark, the sky seemingly going from clear to overcast. Anu looked up and loudly proclaimed, “Time to go! Everybody, follow me!” He started for the door and the group followed along behind him.  Anu threw open the doors of the warehouse, and everyone in the group drew in a sharp breath. The cityscape around them was wrecked, ruined, as though a tornado had come through and wrecked the whole area. Buildings were falling over, vines grew up and out of parked cars, and storefronts were abandoned on the street. The sky above was indeed overcast, and the clouds hung low. So low, in fact, that it almost seemed like you could reach up and touch them with your fingertips.

Anu kept them focused, saying, “We need to find cover, fast. Then we’ll hit the tunnels and make our way to the nearest hideaway. We’ve got to stay moving, though. We don’t want to be outside when the rain hits.”

The whole groups thoughts seemed to be as one, in that moment, thinking in unison: what the hell is this place? What happened, why is everything ruined?

Anu directed them to an alleyway between two stores, and then to a manhole. Zohar and April grimaced at the thought of going down into the sewers, and Anu replied with, “Beggars can’t be choosers. You can stay out here with the bugs, if you like?”

Just then, almost on cue, they heard a deep buzzing sound all around them. They just knew that something about this was very, very wrong… that they weren’t supposed to be here, that this wasn’t the way things were supposed to be. The buzzing was growing louder, though, dispelling any thoughts or distractions they might have on their minds. The group dove into the sewers, as the buzzing seemed to be closing in on them with a finality that gave their souls a shudder.  Anu closed the manhole, and turned on an especially bright flashlight. The sewers were mostly empty, though the horrible, nauseating smell was still there. Several in the group retched a little, but quickly got control of themselves. The manhole cover above them rattled as though being struck by numerous small blows. Anu looked up and said, “That would be the swarm. Glad we made it here… they would have torn us apart and had us for lunch if we hadn’t.”

Zohar put out a hand to stop him and approached him a step, looking resolute and firm when she asked, “Okay, just what the hell is going on here? What are those things, and why is Oklahoma City in shambles?” The group echoed their agreement with her question, and the sentiment behind it.

Anu blinked with surprise, and looked at them, “You know, this is the second time in a month I’ve had to explain to seemingly intelligent, adult Mages why this city is fucked. Do you folks not have any sense at all? Where are you from, Jupiter? It’s like this in all the cities that got hit with the verges… they’ve become disaster areas to Sleepers and Awakened alike. Ever since the Seers did their mojo and let the Abyss run free, it’s been like this. Now, we have to get to the hideaway. It’s this way…” he started down a hallway and April took a step to follow him. The rest followed behind, most of them comfortable by now except for Iblis. He had a great deal of trouble keeping himself clean, and was most upset for the streaks of unspeakable nastiness that got on his suit.

April said, “Second time in a month. Was the guy who you had to… who didn’t know anything last time… did he look like you? Maybe go by the name ‘Morior’?”

Anu replied, “I… that’s complicated. We got separated. He looked like me, sure, but he sure as hell wasn’t me. I never did catch his name before he got… well, before we parted ways.”

Zohar joined the conversation, “You mean you saw Morior? Where, when did you see him last? Is he alive, healthy? Please, I have to know…”

Anu said, “We’ll talk more when we get somewhere safe, somewhere clean, somewhere not-in-the-sewers."  The group continued through the sewers for some time. Alekto observed one more unusual facet of this increasingly inhospitable place, along the way: there were no rats and no cockroaches in these sewers. The only living thing in the whole sewers that they saw, other than themselves, was the occasional fly or maggot feasting on the odd bits of refuse.

Kairos and tide wait for no man. In the Greek tongue, there are two words for time: chronos and kairos. The first means time as the sun passes through the heavens. But kairos means the necessary moment - the critical instant when one must catch the tide or be swept under and utterly destroyed. -Katherine Neville

*****
 

They were just finalizing the plans to find Morior, but had run across a snag in magical theory. Like always, Magely debate was making things drag along.

“I’m telling you, there’s something inside the Artifact that could be useful to us!” Zohar said, the tone of exasperation obvious in her voice.

“We have no idea what it is, though. As likely as anything, it’s only the ability to prepare a teleportation spell in advance. These Artifacts contain all manner of strange contingencies and unexpected magical inclusions. They’re working from an understanding of the universe that predates anything we know, so you really have no idea what it is.” Everett retorted.

April, who was looking at the Artifact while the two were talking, raised her hand. They ignored her and continued arguing. Looking at the Artifact, then to Zohar and Everett, then back at the Artifact, she eventually walked up to Zohar and tugged on her arm until she listened.

“What is it?” Zohar said, a little of the indignation characteristic of her Path still worked into her tone.

“I think I figured out what those runes mean, and what they do. I was looking at them and something struck me…” April began. Nathaniel held his tongue, as did Zohar, and they awaited the explanation. The others were looking at this, chatting amongst themselves, waiting to be told what of their part in this operation.  “They’re a sort of contingency, but not a prepared effect. They define a sort of trigger for a hidden effect in the Artifact, a different functionality than what is on the surface.” She continued.

“What sort of functionality? Is it useful to us?” Zohar queried.

“I think so. It looks something like a combination of Temporal Stutter and Teleportation, if my interpretation of the Space runes are correct. It’s like it’s meant to teleport through Space and Time, sometimes… but that’s not precisely what it does, either. This is all very strange, and some of the runes are simply unknown to me. There’s one other thing, though…” She trailed off as she turned over the artifact and pointed out thirteen overlapping circles on the surface of the Artifact. “It’s keyed to this, like this is some sort of map for how to activate it. I don’t know what it means, but whenever I touch it, that part glitters a little.”

“It’s a measurement device. I recognize the runes you don’t. It… is very useful to us. It’s a contingency that allows the Artifact to open a stable portal through Space and Time, given very special conditions.” Nathaniel interrupted.

“So I was right, then?” Zohar added with a smirk. Nathaniel sighed a little and kept talking.

“This contingency requires something very strange. Time needs to be stretched in two directions, the threads pulled as far apart as possible… and in the middle, between the strands, a tunnel will open. In this tunnel, the Artifact can function as a Portal Key, holding open the tunnel as long as it has energy to do so. But how do we…” Nathaniel finished, then seemingly kept the conversation going in his mind.

April was the first to chime in: “We put regions of slowed time and accelerated time right next to each other. In between the two zones, like the middle of a spinning black hole, we’ll get a small space of relative calm. If we don’t carefully control the interplay of fast and slow, though…”

“It’s too dangerous. We could be turned into temporal spaghetti.” Nathaniel interrupted.

“I came along to protect you, April. Is there some way to make it safer, April?” Phobos interjected.

“If we… well, it’s not quite like a black hole. We’ve got to pass through the membrane between fast and slow, from one to the other, but it doesn’t have to be very big. Create two planar Faerie Glades next to each other, allow them to partially overlap, and suspend the Artifact in the zone of overlap. In that space, time should be flowing at the normal rate… albeit a bit strangely. The conditions should…” April started to explain, then trailed off into thought again.

“It should work. Wherever this Portal is going, though… it’s one-way. Without a similar Faerie Glade on the other side, we’ll be stuck on that side. Even then, we don’t know if the tunnel can be opened anywhere, any time, or if we’ll have access to mana.” Nathaniel continued where April left off.

“Good thing I’m a Prime Master, then. Mana shouldn’t be a problem… and as long as we bring both of our Time Masters along we should be able to re-create the conditions for the Portal on the other side, right?” Zohar added.

“I…” Nathaniel fought with himself to add more, but couldn’t quite figure out what to say.

“You know I’m right. Is everyone else agreed?” Zohar spoke up and turned to the rest. They nodded their heads in turn, some curious and some just wishing for something to happen. April got out her ritual tools and started to demarcate the area for the Faerie Glade with runes.

“This has to be one of the strangest Time spells I’ve ever cast…” April mused, while marking out the boundary. Phobos moved to help her. Nathaniel moved over to Anderson and spoke with him quietly, then set about preparing for the ritual.

Anderson spoke up, saying, “It's time to hand over your sympathetic links, everyone. We don't want any of you lost on the way through the Portal, or at least we want to be able to find you when we get to where we're going. Hand me a natural link and I'll duplicate it so that we have a strong web of connections between us.” Everyone handed him small items of importance to them, though there were a few grumbles of protest.

“We will be getting these back, right? I'm not sure I'm comfortable having you walk around with a link to me...” Alekto said, a little annoyed.

“This is only temporary. We will be destroying the links and returning the items at the end of this, to assure all of our safety. If you like, you can watch me and test the results to keep me honest.” Anderson retorted.

Throughout it all, Iblis stood back, thoughtful. He seemed to know something the others didn't, but kept his lips sealed as though the time to speak it hadn't arrived yet.

The next ninety minutes were a flurry of preparations, as all involved parties worked to form the complicated imagos required to sustain the time tunnel. Making the Faerie Glades work together, rather than suppress each other, would be tricky. They were counting on the Artifact to do most of the work required, there. The two pancake-shaped areas of effect, stacked vertically adjacent to each other, were about the strangest setup for spells that any of the Mages there had ever seen. Even stranger was the effect, as the spells started to take shape.
The first Faerie Glade made time pass relatively fast inside, and had no visible effect as it activated. When combined with the second Faerie Glade, though, the world got a little stranger.

Each of the Mages present at that moment, looking through the overlapping area of both spells, was certain that they saw odd things on the other side. Like looking through a cloudy glass into a thunderstorm, there was much motion and random flashes of light, but that wasn't all. Deep in the stormy seas of the temporal vortex, all of them saw coincidences, certainties, potentialities, possibilities and impossibilities. Things that must be, things that never were and could not be, and those things that might or might not be all mixed freely inside of the Glades, as the magics all collided with each other and swirled around each other chaotically.  April, holding the Artifact, walked toward the temporal vortex. “Be careful...” Phobos cautioned.

“I will be. I just need to put this in the center of the vortex. That should activate the contingent effect.” April continued, and then reached for the center of the vortex with the Artifact in hand. As soon as it touched the outer area of the Glades it leapt from her hand and into the center of the vortex. The swirling storm of time dissolved into blackness, then, so dark that the Artifact was barely visible at all amid the tunnel. After a few moments, the blackness was lit with small points of light – distant stars, like candles against the night.

“Did it... is that what it's supposed to be doing?” Zohar said, looking at Nathaniel and April for guidance.

Alekto cocked her head at it and looked long into it, saying, “Doesn't look Abyssal... just dark and kinda creepy.” Anderson and Phobos nodded silently in agreement.

“I don't know what it's supposed to be doing... but... well... I guess? Everything seems to be in the right place, and all of my examinations are telling me that it's doing what it's supposed to be doing. It's... not like I've ever done this before.” April added, her head also cocked curiously to the side, looking into the blackness.

“Even if it's doing what it's supposed to be, we don't know if it's safe. We should send something safe through first and try to bring it back, to see where it goes.” Nathaniel added.

“The Portal is one-way, though. Even in the best of circumstances, nothing we send will be able to immediately return. We'll have to set up Faerie Glades on the other side if we want to come back.” April said, taking a step toward the portal.

Phobos put an arm out to stop April from getting closer, then took a step forward himself, saying, “We should send someone in first who can defend themselves. It could be hostile ground. I volunteer to go through first.”

“Whoa, whoa! We aren't sure that you wont just get annihilated, or be teleported into deep space, inside of a wall, or something like that. This thing could be a death trap, and you're no good to anybody dead.” Nathaniel added.  The group devolved into arguments, then. The Portal continued to swirl enticingly, offering a glimpse at something that none of them had ever seen before, as the indulgence of the Pentacle – Magely debate – consumed the group for several minutes. Nathaniel cautioned against jumping through recklessly, others were curious and wanted to go in. Through it all, Zohar was conspicuously silent, looking into the Portal curiously and quietly.

“Divinations on the other side of the Portal simply don't work. We have no idea where we'll be going. It's reckless, a waste of pers-- Zohar!” Nathaniel had turned away from her, just in time to see her out of the corner of his eye, breaking into a run toward the Portal.  He attempted a quick spell to stop her, but her nimble feet let he dodge around and flip over it without slowing down at all. She dove for the Portal, disappearing into the inky black tunnel with a sizzling, crackling sound not unlike lava breaking against the sea.

“Shit! Why did she have to...” Nathaniel cursed angrily under his breath, then took a quick look around. April had already started for the Portal, along with Alekto, Anderson and Phobos, leaving Iblis as the only companion who'd yet to move.  Nathaniel shook his head and said, “I might as well...” and jogged for the Portal. Iblis and Lyric followed. Each entered the Portal in turn, disappearing from the world that they knew and going somewhere else entirely. Left behind them, the Faerie Glades quietly dispersed and the Artifact fell to the ground. The former were no longer being sustained, the souls of the party now far out of reach, and the latter had no more mana. The only testimony to the Mages' presence in the room now, were the runic remnants of the Faerie Glades and the Artifact upon the ground.
 

It was hard to concentrate.   She knew the signs and symbols, she knew how to apply and manipulate them in theory, but hadn't delved into practice.   But every time she was beginning to absorb the material, she ended up becoming distracted.   They'd had their first "heated debate"... or as he called it, their first fight.   She expected concern, but not the outright objection to her plan. 

"But once you're there...you're *fucked* on getting back, because even if He is still holding his...it gets you...To you." 

She had a feeling she'd find a way, she always did, but it was just so difficult to explain.   Explaining the entire problem was complicated, as much as the situation itself was complicated.