[Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen] Light: Hospital

Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen

Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition

Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

                 Light's Epitaph: 
      The Hospital - Meeting Seraph

The following is a short journal entry from a Daimonoptikon recovered by the Sacred Realms cabal and found in a Scelesti lab located in a sub-basement of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science where Light was trapped in 2014.  Written by David Ledbetter (Light) and Mathew Hagen (Seraph), edited by Jerad Sayler. 

The strange artifact that Light has obtained is acting as an instructor along with his Daimons... he continues to navigate the ancient dreams and memories of, perhaps, a former self.  Angels and Demons is how Light frames his entire existence.  He encounters his first battle of spiritual warfare.  Keep in mind Light is most certainly an unreliable narrator.

Here is the thing I hate about hospitals point by point. Hospitals are full of people who are sick or dying, the loved ones of people who are sick or dying, or persons who have been trained to heal or comfort the sick or dying. The logical inference is that if you are in the hospital you are either, A. Sick or dying, B. waiting for a loved one who is sick or dying, or C. being paid and therefore benefiting from someone or their loved ones sick or dying. Perhaps it is the animal instinct in me but gathering group of the weak seems a great way to draw predators. Please imagine my joy at finding out I was in for an enforced stay in one. Still, with my bill being paid for and a little downtime, it looks like time to study.

The book is going into more depth, explaining the art of magic. I begin experimenting with imago’s and the basics of spells. I can see the potential my new state is going to offer me. It also makes me more aware of the depleted state my body is in. Weakness is understandable but not acceptable.  I find I can contain more than one thought in my head at once, a skill I find extremely useful. I devise a means of diverting the pain centers of my brain.  I will not detail here. It is a small start. I read about Daemons, the Onieros, and the Tenebrae. If Freud had had a clue I am betting he would have laughed his ass off. In my mind I explore the beginnings of each Arcanum. I pass a few days this way before I begin to notice a few abnormalities in the hospital around me.

It starts late one night. The ward is quiet and the nurses on duty are quietly chatting. I am reading an advanced application of time on the mind in the book; I do not wish to put it down until I figure it out. I hear a light tapping sound outside my door, like something dripping on the floor and hear two voices whispering lightly.

"This one?"

"No, another. This one is not suitable. He mends on his own."

"Another then." 

The tapping fades and the whispers recede. I stand up and move to the door. I poke my head out but do not see anything. I form the image of prime sight in my mind and straiten my glasses on my nose. As I do I whisper under my breath and blink. The world gets an outline of bright silver lines underneath it. I look at the ground; it has a black, almost inky dappled pattern on it that leads to then away from my door. I start to follow it when I hear the nurse ahem behind me. I check my monitor; a large portion of it is orange. I should not be walking yet. I turn and do my best bewildered look and she leads me back to bed. It has been four days since the accident. I sit on the bed and consider. I can't do much yet, and it may be nothing. Nevertheless, I begin to study defensive techniques.

Days pass, I mend. I study. I do not take drugs and begin to heal myself with magic. I do not hear any more tapping or see any dappled ink patterns around my door, though I look carefully. I continue to study. The book speaks of the sympathy that exists between all things and the levels of connection. It mentions shadow names, and while it doesn't go into detail I can see the reason for them. I start to think of what I should be.

*********

I am on my afternoon "Walk", so called because I am expected to shuffle around the hall and use the muscles I have been healing for a week now. I comply and shuffle, I don't want to let on that I have been healing. My daily shuffle mate, Katie from the next room, joins me. She has a degenerative nerve condition and is stuck in the ward pretty much constantly. I resolve to do what I can for her. She is trying to slow the effects of her disease and is walking to help with that.

“Hi Kate, how’s tricks?” I ask.

“Hi Dave, not bad.  Another beautiful day in the US of A.” Kate says

“Sure, and with all the lovely scenery and things to do around here it is like Christmas every day.” I respond.  We look around at the blank white walls and lack of anything going on.

She says, “Yup, Christmas and Mardi Gras rolled in to one shining package. And here is the grand organizer of the revelry herself.”  She gestures to the head nurse, Trina, who is looking drawn. “Hi Trina, how are you?”

Trina just stares for a second then goes back to typing on the computer. That’s weird. Usually she has something funny to say or a few words to pass on. As we pass by I notice she has a few files on the desk in front of her, the incurables of the ward. I know something is going on, but have no clue as to what. I glance at Katie and she nods, she noticed to. We continue walking and come back to our rooms. I say, “Ok, that was weird.”

“Yep, but I am sure she has a reason for it. Well, see you tomorrow. I am feeling tired.” Kate says.

“Um, sure. See you then.”  I am wondering why she wants to go so quickly. I shrug and head back to my room. I have been learning about warding magic and plan to put it into use. I sit down with the book and study for a while. I try to put an armor up and then feeling tired I fall asleep.

I open my eyes to the sound of the ocean. I am standing on a beach, the sand warm under my toes. In front of me Sariel is sitting, flipping pebbles into the surf. My face looks A bit more animated on him now. His eyes glow as he looks up at me. 

“We need to talk,” says Sariel.

“No kidding,” I say. 

“I have studied the lives of mortals; I have read their essence and felt their pains. I am conflicted and yet at peace. Mighty are the works of the Creator.” He says.

As he is talking I look at him through my new sight. He appears as a ball of glowing light, which is reassuring. Or he can twist my perceptions, which isn't.

I say, “That’s spiffy. I have a bone to pick with you and your boss.”

He looks surprised, then slightly guarded. 

“Yes?” He says.

“You deceived me."

“Never, “Sariel responds.

“From the start,“ I say. 

He asks, “How?”

I say, “You led me to believe my family was dead. You used the assumption of their death as a goad into climbing that tower. You pushed my anger to the point of manipulation and used it as a lever. And when I was there I had a conversation with my wife and child. It didn't happen. I then had you pushed into my chest and pushed back into a world bigger than I knew it to be. You and your boss deceived me.”

He says, “No.”

A voice behind me speaks out. "Everything he has said is factually correct, at least from his point of view." I turn and face Jen. She walks forward until the three of us form a triangle. 

Sariel says, “He is wrong. The creator does not deceive. He is incapable of it."

She says, "And yet his wife and daughter live. Now would be the time to explain, if you wish him to trust you."

“And yet I am him. How can he not trust me when I am him?”

Jen says, “He doesn't trust himself as himself yet, much less you or I. Again, explain it to him.”

He looks confused then shrugs. 

“As you wish. He did not put your family’s death into the scene of your awakening. You did.”

Jen speaks up, "You know that our problem has never been lack of ability, merely lack of ambition. The only way to jumpstart our progression into a higher form of learning was to create one of the few emotions we feel well. Rage. and we did. By putting our families death in mind it gave us the will to pass beyond our natural apathy and push through the trials of scourging. You knew and therefore we knew what it would take to get you up the tower. “

I say, “And yet when I was at the top of the tower I was shown my family doing well beyond death. And yet they are alive and well.”

Sariel speaks. "Time. The family you saw was real, they just came back to comfort you during your trial. He allowed this knowing the import of your life in the upcoming war."

I ponder this. I know that manipulation of time on such scale is possible, just not commonly used. I can't read their minds, which supports that they are me, but doesn't prove it. I will buy the explanation for now. Kristina knew things only we know, so either they messed with my mind or they are telling the truth. You have to trust someone. Doesn't mean I will not verify.

“Alright. So your boss is God, huh?” I ask Sariel. Jen turns and smiles.

"I can field that one, actually. Yes and no, as Kristina says. His boss is a small focal point of the being you call God."

“More explanation required,” I say.

She sits on the beach and lies back. "God is everywhere and all powerful, but sometimes a more concentrated part of Him is needed to pass information. When this is necessary He uses a part of His being, a splinter of His consciousness to personally manifest. This splinter is called an Oracle. The particular splinter that runs this side of the cosmos is Sariel's boss."

I say, “So God multitasks and the part of Him that is managing a presence here is personally interested in me?"

“Yes,” says Sariel. “He is interested in us because a side of the great War is here.”

"There is much in your education we must discuss," Says Jen. "Starting with the nature of reality. What you know as Earth is merely the most concrete form of a much greater cosmos. We are the tip of an iceberg, floating above an abyss. That Abyss rests on bedrock of Supernal realms."

Sariel breaks in," And the Supernal realms are the foundations of Heaven."

Jen laughs, "And so on. We are going to talk at length about each of these places, about the shadow world and the underworld. But we really need to start at a place called Atlantis."

“I am listening,” I say.  And I do. The basic cosmology is simple enough. I listen as Jen explains the New World with Sariel chiming in.

“So I wish for clarification on a few points,” I say. “The world once existed with all of its sister realms in a sort of Pangeal state before those who call themselves Exarchs came and built a ladder into the part of the mass that was supernal. At this point the Abyss did not exist. Then a group of other mages chased them up the ladder and broke it, tearing the whole damn thing apart and causing the Abyss, a hole in all of reality to appear. The five remaining mages in the supernal realms set up towers where future mages could awaken and the ones who went up the ladder first have been sitting there for the last entirety of human history pushing everyone down so they can maintain power. The mages who have clawed their way back to the top have not destroyed these ass-hats presumably because they are too powerful and have had all that time to prepare and bolster their defenses, is that right?”

"That is very simplistic but relatively correct." Jen says.

“I hate humanity sometimes.”  I keep listening as they relate more of the history, going over each of the towers and the orders remaining after the fall. I listen and learn. 

*****

I open my eyes. All is quiet in the ward, which is odd. I look at the clock on the wall. It is the middle of visiting hours. Normally the ward would be bustling with activity right now. I look at the door. The wards I have placed there to draw attention away from it are still in place. I stand up and open the drawer with the cloths my wife brought me. I dress and put wards on my clothing. I call Tina in Idaho to check on her, she and my daughter are OK. I set my sight to on and look both ways down the hall. The nurse’s station is empty. There are inky dots all over the hall floors. I hear softly whispered voices coming from Kate’s room next door. I move to stand by the door and listen.

“She doesn't suspect?” 

“No, we have been careful to maintain the covenant around her. She knows only that her friends are better. We have taken no one obvious around her.” 

“And she is prepared to pay the price?”

“Yes. Eager, even. At the locus she is being set up. Her friends are helping prepare her."

“Then the true portal opens, a sacrifice willing given to open the way.”

It does not take a genius to figure out what is happening here. I lower myself almost to the ground and move my eye by the doorframe. I see two beings sitting on the charge nurse; she is face down on the bed. Her eyes are open and her mouth is moving in time when one of the creatures speaks. On her back are sitting two inky pools of blackness. I look closer and they resolve into balls of eyes surrounded by thumbs. They have dug they're thumbs into the spine of the charge nurse. The eyes glare nearsightedly around them, misscolored and malevolent. The tips of the thumbs are extruding a black, inklike substance. I look at her with life and mind sight and see the blackness oozing along inside her, eroding her frontal cortex. The ink has charges of light in it, stimulating the nerves of control. As I look at them I have one of those timeless moments.

*****

My world goes white and I see a city, floating in perfection amid the sea. A ladder of silver rises above it, disappearing into the distant sky. As I watch the ladder shivers then cracks, breaking. as it breaks reality rips apart, a blackness enters the sky, spreading as each piece tears toward the ground. I watch as the city breaks apart and is covered by the sea. The blackness stares back at me, then moves across the whole horizon. It engulphs me. I feel things touching me in the darkness and whispering all the dirty secrets of the world in my ears. I feel overwhelming despair for a moment and the desire for oblivion rise within me. Then I remember my wife and child. I remember my faith. I rally. I will not falter. I will not fall. If the entire world is darkness and despair still I will not fall. I will fight. I will be that single ray of light in the darkness. I grit my teeth and stare into the darkness. 

Bring it on if you think you are hard enough, I think.  I feel more than see a bright white light shoot from me into the sky and across the landscape around me. In that light I see the survivors of the island pull themselves up. I blaze over the water and I know my name. I am Light. I snap back to reality. 

*****

“We are being watched.”  I hear one of the creatures say. I see in them the same darkness as my vision.

Here we go, I think. I slide upright and drop into the old school Marine Corps Basic Warrior stance. The nurse jerks upright and charges toward me, her eyes wild and pleading. I brace my back foot and extend my left hand as she tries to grab me, wiping her hands to the side. I shift my weight forward as I palm strike he nose, hard. I hear it shatter and then pull her hands hard to the ground as I trace a c with my back foot. The nurse collapses to the floor, screaming. Broken nose and cracked wrist. The creatures blink up at me, surprised. I see the connections their thoughts make in my mind. I suppose most people would scream at this point. I feel my face slide into a rictus smile and rip their thoughts apart. The creatures scream hoarsely and twitch. I continue to rip into them until they have no further movement and they are empty. I hear a sound behind me and shift my weight to a full combat stance. A man (SERAPH) and woman? (JEN) have entered the hall. I do not see any darkness in their mind. I wait.

*****

Seraph is driving home from work listening to the news on the radio. A human interest story comes on. One of the local hospitals has had a dramatic upturn of miraculous recoveries, a few cases of terminal illness recovering quickly and completely. On returning home he opens the newspaper and casts a spell to see what stories are supernaturally connected. The resonance is cold, peaking his interest. He goes to the hospital and enters the lobby. 

The lobby is empty and there are small dark marks on the ground seen through his prime sight. As he walks through the hall he meets no one. The trail leads to the intensive care unit. His normal protections and obfuscations are on. He rounds the corner his abyssal radar goes off. He sees a man; five feet nine inches tall with brown hair swing his palm forward and crack a woman in a nurse’s uniform hard in the nose. The man then sweeps her arms aside and slams her to the ground. On her back she sees two abyssal creatures sitting on her. He can tell they are physical creatures, but seem fuzzy and indistinct around the edges. He sees inside the nurse with his life sight and the darkness that has run up inside her to her mind. He turns his sight to the man and feels his awareness tingle as he feels a spell ripple toward the creature. The damage hits it and Seraph notes that it should not be possible for an abyssal to hurt like that. Then he sees the man doesn't know that, and hits it again and again, each time lucking out and hitting it just right. Seraph waits until the beings stop twitching and drops his cloak. The man turns and drops into a martial arts stance and waits, meeting Seraphs eyes and not blinking. Seraph recognizes the lack of compassion, the dead eyed look of a disassociated mind. He knows the man sees him as a threat and will not look away first. Glancing aside he waits.

*****

I look up and see a man roughly my size. He watches dispassionately. I need to ascertain if he is taken. He does not have blackness in his mind. I say, "My name is David. Who are you?"

"My name is Seraph," he says.

"Are you a part of this?" I ask.

"Not yet," he says. His eyes do not leave the nurse.

Sensing no lie I do a check on his distance from me, then move to a nearby rack of towels and break the metal struts off it. They are bout the right length to act as escrima sticks. Checking the length and heft I return to the nurse and begin to pry the creatures off of the nurse. I get one off and ram the strut through it. It disappears in a ripple of smoke. I glance up into Seraphs eyes and say, "What are these things?"

I see him double-check me, his eyes flashing to stare intently at me.

"You don't know what you are, do you?" I blink. 

"I know I am standing three and a half paces from you."

"And you know I could cover that in two."

"I am prepared for that eventuality." I pry the second one off. Again it turns to vapor.

He nods. "Do you know what is happening here?" Seraph asks.

"The woman in this room has made an agreement with these things; I believe she is going to sacrifice herself to allow them a greater hold here." I say. 

Seraph asks, "Do you know the woman?"

I remember the book talking about sympathetic connections. I nod. I picture Kate in my mind. Her smile, the tone of her voice, the way she walks. I form a line to her mind. The line races from me down the stairs. Seraph nods. 

He says "I would shield us from mundane eyes."

I nod. I feel the spell go into effect. The resonance differs from what he is showing on his person. A neat trick I think. His gloves change into a dai no dachi. I start to comment on the size issues of the hallway and then recall space magic.

I start moving down the hall. I trust him as an ally of convenience at this point. I immediately begin moving like a Marine, swift, silent, and deadly. I hold the struts escrima style, one under my right arm and the other held loose in the right hand. The weight is comforting. I stop at the corner and check the corners. I motion it clear. It is clear Seraph has had military training. We click together. I feel a flash of magic as we come to the next corner and he walks through. I feel the space around him shift to look around the corner before he crosses. I am learning and recording as we go.

 I let him take the lead. As he does he reaches over to the cord connecting Kate and I and takes a small strand from it, continuing to move down the hall. We reach the stairs, neither of us even considering the elevators. We move silently down the stairs. Close to the bottom he stops and holds up a hand indicting there are three of them. I sense them. I position myself on the stair rail sitting facing the wall. I indicate I am ready then swing myself in space. The rest of physics kicks in and I do a cherry drop, letting the struts transfer my weight and the kinetic force of my drop into the tip of the struts. They pass effortlessly under the collar bones of a taken security guard. He flinches then goes unconscious from the pain. I finish the flip and land on my feet. I pull the struts and watch.

Seraph flies by me towards the other two. He lands, his fists crunching into their skulls, instantly knocking them unconscious. 

One of the creatures falls from the ceiling toward me. I swing a strut and knock it to the ground. It begins a high pitch whistling noise until I ram a strut through it. I glance at Seraph then move toward the doorway that they have to move through to enter this area. I stand to the side. I stare at the strut for a second and try to reinforce it. It doesn't work. Seraph notices and stands up from healing the wounds the struts made in the security guards shoulders. He flicks a drop of blood at me. I sense more than see the spell on it. I trust him so far, I let it hit. I feel stronger and more connected to my weaponry. Seraph stands directly in front of the door, acting as a lure. Our unspoken communication would be frightening if it wasn't done from a place of logic. I hear the creatures coming, I let the first two fly by me and then smash two of them out of the air with the struts. There were only four I think as in my peripheral vision Seraph swipes his out of the air with the sword, a wall of steel between them. I step forward and impale the other two. I check the hallway, it is clear. We walk around the room and pry the creatures off of the people. 

"We need a plan of attack." He says. I nod and remember what the book has said about scrying. 

“We need to see what we are walking into first." I say. I walk to a wall and begin to picture a hole showing Kate. It resolves eventually into an image of the morgue, Kate in a hospital gown. Around her the walls are dozens of the creatures, hanging from the walls and ceilings. Far more than I could handle on my own. Sitting on the ground around the walls are the host bodies for some of them. 

"I do not like doing this. I am going to take away her free will. No, I do not need to; you can't give up something if you are unconscious." Seraph says.

"Is there a way we can drag her through without killing her or knocking her unconscious?" I ask.

"Yes, but it is unsubtle." Seraph responds.

“I would pay that price." I say.

"No need. I just needed to hear you were willing," he says.

Seraph pulls a cross bladed dagger out and moves to the door to the hallway. He begins to carve High Speech runes into the door in an oval, pouring a little of his blood into each as he goes. When the oval is finished it opens in the slab Kate is sitting on. Seraph reaches through and grabs her. As he pulls her back the veins in his hands burst, as if someone had beat on his arms. I note this as she comes through the portal screaming. The portal shuts off.

Kate continues to scream. Seraph puts his index finger to his lips and makes a shush noise. She falls asleep. I reach down and grab Kate. Pulling her up into a fireman’s carry I yell it is time to go to Seraph. He moves to guard our rear. As we go up the stairs several of the carriers and creatures run up the stairs. Seraphs glove becomes a desert eagle and he begins to shoot the creatures first out of the hallway. 

We run, behind us the creatures skitter over the walls and ceiling. I am reminded of the scene from Arachnophobia with the millions of spiders. I hit the top of the stairway and keep going. With the spell Seraph placed on me I am outpacing them, even with Kate’s weight. We fly down the hall and out the front door. As we are running across the lawn I trip. Rolling to prevent as much damage to Kate as possible she hits the bushes. I feel a sharp pain in my head. The world goes dark.

*****

Seraph sees Dave go down in a tumble in his peripheral vision. He turns the pistols in his hand back to gloves and races to pick Kate and Dave up. He runs. Behind him he hears the sound of motorcycles. Off-roading it is. Speeding up now that he doesn't have to slow down for the new mage, he veers into a nearby park. After getting a decent lead he turns and casts a spell and cuts the sympathetic connection between the girl and the creatures. As long as she sleeps the connection will remain broken. He keeps running. Dave wakes up.

*****

I wake up to the feeling of jarring up and down. I immediately gather I fell unconscious. We are running. I say nothing until we arrive at an apartment. I say thank you as we arrive. Seraph nods.

We walk into the apartment. I do a quick scan as we walk through it. The apartment is nice, but very sterile. It looks like something someone ordered out of a catalogue. I do note a few personal touches, a framed map from the Ebberon campaign setting, and a few DnD books on the coffee table. I recognize them as a piece of the camouflage the apartment is. Seraph walks to a wall and opens it. I recognize the space effect.

He carries Kate into the room revealed and sets her on what looks to be a rack. I look around the room as he straps her down. It looks like a medieval torture chamber but the resonance speaks of purity, not darkness.

 I flash to scenes from my childhood, my hands under scalding hot water to wash them clean. Purity through scourging is a concept I understand. 

I see IV equipment and as Seraph blindfolds and gags her I wordlessly begin to set it up. He nods and moves around. He takes a catheter from one of the shelves. I think about stopping him but then the results of her actions go through my memory. Her long term incapacitation outweighs her dignity in this case. Seraph is very respectful of her, covering her with a cloth and setting her up for long term incapacitation. We walk into the living room. Seraph invites me to sit. I do. He asks if I would like a drink. I ask for water. He goes and gets a glass. I open the book and study the spells he has used during our time together as I wait. I put it away as he comes back in. I take the glass from him and set it aside for now. 

"We need to talk." I say.

He nods. "Tell me about when it happened." I do not ask what he means, the context is obvious. I relate the story of my awakening. My voice is deadpan. He only shows slight micro expressions on the mention of meeting God and when I tell him my family is alive. Disbelief at the God, relief that my family is OK. I store the knowledge for later perusal. 

He says, "I will share my awakening, the casual term for what you go through to become a mage." 

He holds out his hand. I take it. He casts a spell; I recognize the mind magic and store the knowledge for later use. His Awakening flashes through my mind as if I were him. The way we think and feel are so very similar, I recognize the emotional disconnect and the clarity of thought. I watch his flight across several of the realms and the final bleeding over the tower of lights throne. The name that appears is marred by light so bright I can't read it, I recognize this as an addition he made. I come to myself at the table, our hands still clasped. I squeeze his fingers gently in understanding and then share my awakening. I then add the memories of Sariel and Jen talking to me. I watch as he feels what I feel. He comes to the same conclusions I do. Our inner demons give each other a nod. 

"I think we have an understanding." I say. 

He nods and says, "We do". He smiles as close to a smile as he is capable of, extending as much of friendship as he can. I return it to the best of my ability.

 I say, "My name is Light."

"Pleased to meet you," He says.

I pick up the glass of water and drink, taking my hand back. "I have questions. What are we?"

He says, "That is a complicated question. We are magi, the wise, the awakened. You are who you always were, just purified, rarefied, by truth. If that truly was an Oracle you spoke to it seems someone has a plan for you in the future, of temporal or physical significance. I can't quite answer that question entirely to my satisfaction, that is enough for now."

"I have seen the darkness but I do not know what it is. The void between me and the greater light. The place those creatures come from. What is it?"

He says, "It is less of a translation of something you saw already, From your perspective the wall was separating the light and darkness, the first mages founded the city, pick your myth, there were several castes within the city, the warriors, the secret police, the priests, the kings and academics, eventually as is want to happen in mankind it became less a question of can we do it to what can we do. What they chose to do was become beings of light, and created a ladder, the priests ascended first. And once the other castes understood what had happened they sought to stop the priests and there was a great war. Some of the castes made it up and there was a battle in the light, some of them stayed behind and there was a battle to destroy the ladder. When the ladder was rent asunder it had the effect of separating the physical world and their light. And the darkness seeped into the cracks of the physical world. That event changed the rules now there is a narrow channel between us and the truth, now there is a lie between us."

"That lie is the Abyss?" I ask.

"Yes. Something else happened on that day, the priests won; they changed the truth, and its reflection. This world is now a prison." Seraph says.

"Why has no one gone and killed these asshats?" I ask.

"Because these ones have not changed despite the fall. What takes us a lifetime of study they learned to do as apprentices. Those who were their peers created the watchtowers. They did this so there is at least the possibility of fighting the priests, those who are now known as exarchs."

"Nothing exists in a vacuum. What is the state of society among mages now?" I ask. He smirks, I asked the right question. 

The mages on the island formed societies, Castes where they gravitated. Today there are remnants of each of the castes, who are determined to help mankind to achieve its destiny. They have changed from what they were, but are essentially the same. The kings are rulers and organizers, who call themselves the Silver Ladder. While there are those among them who are filled with vain ambition there are some who are worthy to wear the mantle. To hear them tell it they are the ones the oracles chose to speak through. Perhaps if it was an oracle you spoke to you would find most camaraderie among them."

"I have no desire to rule." I say.

"Often a great qualifier for leadership. Then there is the warrior caste, who are called the adamantine arrow. We have chosen a life of service, knowing that in order for the Awakened of this world to ever achieve the greatness they must be kept safe." He says.

"You are a Adamantine Arrow then?" I ask.

"Yes. My own opinion is that having a world is more important than who is running things in the supernal world. Next there are the secret police, or police of secrets. They are now known as the Guardians of the veil recognize the threat of the abyss. They seek to forestall the Lie from gaining more of a foothold. Every time you draw down the truth in violation of the exarchs will the abyss is able to latch on and ride its way into this reality. At each cast the abyss grows a little wider. Their job as they see it is to keep the abyss growing wider by eliminating any threat. They also keep sleepers sleeping till they are ready to wake up, in their estimation. Since every sleeper has a shard of the abyss in them, each viewing of the truth the lie latches on to the truth and corrupts it. This is why when I pulled Kate through the portal my veins burst, the lie struck me for using the truth."

I nod, etching each word to memory.

"The academics now refer to themselves as the mysterium or keepers of the mysteries, they view it as their task to reacquire all the knowledge that was lost when Atlantis fell. That covers all the cast of Atlantis save one, the priests, for not all those ascended, somewhere left behind , to serve the ascended. They are the seers of the thrown; they are the guards to our prison, with the exarchs as wardens. In recent years mankind has shown an increased potential for the truth, to this end there are many who rebel against convention to follow the truth of collective humanity they are called the free council. And that is mage society as it stands now, with the diamond orders, forming a shaking council, with the free council on the fringe as the abyss attempts to engulf us all." Seraph says. 

"I will think on what you have said. For now we need a plan of attack." I say. We both look to the door.

"Time to talk to Kate." I say.

We move back into the room. Kate, unsurprisingly, has not moved. Seraph places his hand on her head and looks.

*****

Kate is sitting alone again; it is her third trip to the ICU that lasts longer than six months. She has made friends who died, left came back and found friends who died. She is so lonely. And then she meets Jake. He is smart and funny and actually likes her. And he is like her, sick. She hates it. So she gets online and looks for a way out. Google pops up a website that talks about something that will cure anyone, if she was willing to make a deal. She was leary at first, and then decided why not, Jake was getting more ill. He spent more and more time unconscious. She sneaks out and buys a cat and then goes to the morgue. She sets the cat on the ground, whispers she is sorry, and slices its throat open. From its blood she draws the runes. The air forms a portal and a small ball like creature comes out. It speaks to her and agrees to cure her friends, for the price of her own life. She agrees.

*****

We look at each other over Kate's head. In my mental map of the room I see a knife on the self. I reach behind me and pick it up. The thought flashes through my mind that the easiest thing to do would be to kill her and short circuit the spell. Seraph looks at me. I say, "We can either catch a creature and use it to hijack the ritual or we can use her blood."

He nods and asks, "So who is finger-painting and who is holding off the swarm?"

"You have proven far more adept than I at holding off the swarm. Guess that leaves me finger-painting." 

Seraph's gloves turn to a trident. He sets up to fend off creatures. I take a bowl in hand and slide the knife across my wrist, horizontal, bleed but not enough to nick an artery. I hold it over the bowl and slice the ball of Kate’s thumb. I add her blood. I reach beside me and add some ethyl alcohol for the hospital. I put some clay Seraph has on hand to thicken it and begin to draw; the book has taught me the basics of High Speech. I draw the runes and connect us to the portal. 

*****

The next few minutes pass fast. The creatures pour from the hole I have created. A few humans crawl with them Seraph fends most of them off as I begin to hijack the spell. He creates a wall of defense with the spear. I chant. One of the creatures notices me and skitters over. I have just enough concentration left to kick it away. It flies back through the portal. I feel it when I get control of the ritual. I smear my blood across the runes on the other side, wrecking the carefully laid pattern. The hole into the abyss fails. The creatures all scream and wither into smoke. The few hosts in the room collapse. I watch as the creatures connected to them try and pull life force from them to stay alive. Ironically our boy Jack is in the room, unconscious from Seraphs blow to the head. I grab a large stick and begin prying the creatures off, then jump through the portal and pry the ones on the other side off. I don't think we saved them all, but more than we would have by killing her. I have to triage as I go.

Most of the ICU patients do not make it. I look at Seraph through the portal. I tell him my phone number and to keep in touch, I still have questions. He nods. I pull all my blood to me and the portal snaps shut. I walk back to the ward and sign myself out on all the paperwork two weeks ago. I write a few letters from the doctor and create a backdoor into their system. I erase all sign of Seraph and myself from the hospital. I portal home. 

"Hi, sweetheart. I am home."

******

The shadowed man is waiting in the park when Seraph gets there. He hands Kate and Jake over and tells them the hospital will need a full sweep. He walks away; glad as he gets that the job is done.