The Priest

[Alais d Nitesong]

I' Taurn seemed quiet and a bit subdued when I returned. I was told my guests had returned and had been asking for my presence upon arrival, but I'd already seen that from my time with Khirsah.

I headed for the third floor where my guests were housed, knocking lightly at Sai Jon's door. It was opened by the demon. "g'e'en Saltera, mayst Ah coome 'n?"

Saltera is a formidable creature, and having a demon in my home is a reminder of what awaits us in Tass' world. I am thankful this one is on our side.

He admitted me into the rooms, taking me to Sai Jon's side. He lay quietly, but they told me he had bouts of extreme restlessness. They had not been able to keep him lucid, and I could feel the curse seeking to destroy him, and it would given enough time. What I felt though, was not pure Annaran. The curse had been modified. Lethal, but modified.

I summoned my staff to me, the Annaran words bringing the Rouwanwood staff into my hands, but also triggering the onset of the restlessness. The curse had responded to my link to the dead Annaran legacy, and as I reached out to touch Sai Jon, images of deep pain, suffering, flooded into my thoughts.

I'd come to try to save the Guardian at Khirsah's direction - but this man held so many secrets, I may not be able to do as I was bidden by the Eldest.

Focus.

Focus on summoning the curse to me. The Annaran summons riffled into the night as my hand rested against Sai Jon's chest....

[Byzannce]

Without meaning to, without realizing she was, she remained in tenuous telepathic communication with Jacob.....


"Scaley?"

"Spellworm?"

"Are you TRYING to tick me off?"

"And what do you mean you don't eat meat raw... you RUIN your meat by cooking it all?"

[Nithhogr]

He continued to watch quietly. For a dragon his size, even transformed into that of the human form, he moved quietly and efficiently. He had watched as the young blue had been torn from the sky, and then as her body was sent to the winds.

Yet, something bothered him. He could still sense her.

He watched the man who had launched the projectile that had taken down the blue for days. He was changing… and one could not say that it would be for the better.

He would need to find the Lord and convey this information… if he could get past the rage that he felt within the Lord…

[Kor Jon]

He had left the clouds behind but he didn't know when. He was walking across the wastes again and he didn't know how long he'd been doing it. He was hunting something...someone. He looked down at his clothes, he was in tattered fatigues. Where were his robes? Where did that thought come from? A voice whispered through the air. It wasn't calling him but he felt drawn to it anyway. No! Thratchen must be found then he could follow the call. He would never hurt his friends again. Kor Jon trudged across the wastes, hunting a demon.

And the ghost followed him, unnoticed, unseen. The ghost heard the call, but he was bound to the man. He had stood here before and he knew he would again. The clouds rolled behind him, chasing the ghost as the ghost chased the man. Sai Jon trudged across the wastes, hunting a memory.

The corruption wasn't responding to her. Alais had tried summoning the corruption and she had failed. It felt as if the corruption had become part of Sai Jon himself. But it was still killing him.

[Alais d Nitesong]

Alais felt the curse stir within Sai Jon. She felt his mind wandering in places she could only guess at, and she felt the lethal actions of the altered curse.

He'd changed it. Modified it, but it was still essentially the Annaran curse. It was burying deeply into the man, and would in time destroy him.

She called to the curse. It shifted, resisted.

She called more strongly. It resisted more strongly.

Gauging the resistance in slow increments, she let it go. She could force it to come to her, but it would tear the man to bits doing so, and she was not sent to kill Sai Jon. She'd been sent to heal him.

She lifted her hand from his chest, turning toward Saltera, "If I remove the curse, I will kill him. I cannot do that. We need him conscious though."

[Kor Jon]

Sai Jon followed the man who had been him. The man he had been stumbled on through the wastes heading home. Trying to outrun his past and unknowingly running right back to it. Are we any different? Sai Jon asked himself. Here I am again, I must relive my past to face my future. But I faced what I had done and she forgave me. Why am I here? He followed the man he had been and then it hit him, I never learn do I? Sai Jon moved a little more quickly and disappeared into the man he had been and gave himself up to the memories.

The waste stretched out for hundreds of miles in every direction. The stolen hover bike had broken down about twenty miles back. Kor Jon had forgotten how much he liked walking. He had been awake and traveling for fifty-three hours but he was almost to his destination. The sun slowly rose behind him sending shafts of red light over the land ahead of him lighting it up in the color of blood. He stopped and watched as the sun rose over the wastelands, for the first time he had seen it in two years. He stands at the edge of the canyon looking out over the waste. The sun peaks over the hills to the east and light spills out over the landscape like a wave of liquid gold. He feels her step up behind him, sliding her hand into his as she comes to stand next to him. He shook his head to clear away the memories. Up ahead the waste looked like it had been bathed in blood; Jon thought the image was appropriate for his homecoming. Out ahead he saw the shrine lit up on the horizon. He began to run, he knew this land, he’d lived here most of his life. Faster and faster he ran until he was climbing the hill, he was at a dead sprint when he reached the top.

As he reached the top of the hill he tripped, going to his hands and knees in front of the altar. He looked up at it, silent for a moment and then let out an anguish filled cry. All his guilt, anger, frustration, and hate manifesting itself into one piercing, soul shattering scream that echoed out over the wastes. His voice spent he collapsed to the ground. Two days of hard travel without sleep finally caught up with him. He lay on the ground and he slept and then he dreamed.

He stands alone in darkness. Nothing exists but him. Suddenly there is another. His father stands there, but young again, as he remembers him from childhood. His father’s eyes look at him, look through him. He can feel his father’s sadness. “Where is your God, Rainne?” his father asks.

“That’s not my name father.”

“You were named Rainne, you were the Righteous. DO you deny yourself?”

“I know myself. My name is Jon.”

“You have many names, and that is but one of them.”

“My name is Jon. My name is Death.”

His father looks disappointed. “If that is your wish then it will be so.” His father turns to leave.

“I did not choose this!” he yells as he moves towards his father. “I was made this!” He grabs his father’s shoulder and spins him around. The man turns, but it isn’t his father; it’s Giles. His hand drops.

“Then come Jon, we will see what you have been made.” Giles steps around behind him and places his hand on Jon’s shoulder. They begin to move forward, flying through the nothing towards a shining door floating alone in space.

“Where are we going Giles?”

“I’m taking you home.”

“God, No!”

There is a flash of light and they are standing in a small stone building. He looks around, eyes wide. His breath quickens as he stares around in awe. Joy and terror fight for dominance inside of him. He watches her come in the door. His heart wrenches as he sees her again. “Alynne,” he whispers with a sob. He tries to turn but the hand on his shoulder holds him fast, forcing him to watch.

“You must see what was. You have been gone from here for too long.” Kor Jon stands quietly now, he cannot fight that voice. It’s not Giles behind him anymore, it’s Kor Rainne. A man he has killed again and again, a man he no longer has the will to fight.

Alynne moves through the room, strapping on her armor and grabbing a force lance off the wall. She prepares herself for her day in a ritual that was familiar to him. She hit the door’s latch and was confronted by Kor Rainne standing there, his hand raised as if he was about to knock. In Rainne’s hand was a long red silk scarf.

Blood so red. It splashes on his face.

She stood there and without a word Rainne raised his hand, holding the cloth out to her. Suddenly he was inside Rainne again, looking out. He could feel his body around him, and then she took his hand and stepped forward, kissing him softly. “Yes,” She whispered into his ear, “I will be your wife.” He felt his chest tighten at those words, knowing what he would do

Blood so red.

“NO!” He screamed, and he was back outside of Rainne watching as they embraced. Tears streamed down his face as he watched the joy on Rainne’s face. He cried for the coming pain, but even more so he cried because he would never be that man again. He could never be Rainne, never be ‘Righteous.’

“You must remember,” the voice of Rainne said from just behind him. “If you don’t you will die.”

“I deserve to die!”

“Yes, but not yet,” a female voice whispered into his ear, “not yet.”

Pain shot through his body like someone had poured liquid flame into his blood stream. Memory after memory passed in front of his eyes. Each one burning itself into his subconscious but each one passing by before he could grasp it. “You will remember,” the voice said. Closer this time, almost inside his head now. “And then you will face your demon.”

Kor Jon woke up abruptly, the words of his former life still floating in his head. He was laying spread eagled out at the foot of the altar. His entire body ached as he struggled to sit up on the cold rocky ground. The sun hung low in the sky, inching upwards slowly. He accessed his internal clock and the readout flashed red on the output screen of his cybernetic eye. He had been asleep for less than an hour. He pushed himself to his feet and he felt the weariness leave him. Standing there in the rising morning he felt as if he had slept for hours.

In the distance he could barely see the canyon that housed the remains of Kor hold. He looked out over the miles to his home and he felt the need to go, to be there, to walk the streets of home again. He set off into the morning, both anxious and fearful of what he would find on his arrival.

The words still haunted him as he walked towards the distant canyon. In the back of his mind he heard the words whispered again.

“…You will face your demon…”

The man walked on through the wastes, heading home.

[Kor Jon]

Kor Jon looked down into the canyon that used to be his home. He marveled at how little had changed in the two years he had been gone. The houses still seemed to be in good repair despite the fact that they looked to have become quite overgrown. He had expected more damage from the elements now that there was no one here to fix roofs and repair the walls and windows. Home, he thought to himself, I’ve finally come home. He looked out over the village and his eye was drawn to the large building in the center of the marketplace. The church still stood. His home still stood. Remember, a voice said in his head and then he dreamed.

He stands at the top of the canyon looking down at the busy streets. Children run down the stone paths that connect the houses and other buildings in a spiral that takes you slowly inward to the center of the town. The church stands there, the doors stand wide open and the sun reflects off of the steel cross that stands at the apex of the dome that tops the circular building. He watches the children play and knows that this may be the last time he looks down on his home. He had said his goodbyes to his father, his father had said nothing, and now he only waits for Alynne to come.

Blood so red. It splashes his face. Dripping.

Darkness. We can’t stop them. The pain, oh the pain.

His hand stops halfway to his face and he looks around confused. Then a pair of hands slip around his waist and he feels Alynne hug him close her body armor pressing against his back as she rests her chin on his shoulder. “Have you said your goodbyes Jon?” she asks quietly.

“Yes though father still doesn’t want me to go and Saltera can think of nothing but coming with me.” He answers, he voice betraying his bitterness at his father’s refusal to give his blessing, “He says that I should stay here and continue my training with him.”

“You will be the priest of our hold someday Rainne,” she says quietly.

NOT MY NAME!

He shakes away the voice, “But how will I know what the warriors face if I do not see it for myself. I’m tired of staying at home to learn words when others go out to find glory in battle.” He says vehemently.

Alynne’s face twists at the mention of glory in battle but she says nothing. After a moment she moves around in front of him, taking his hands in hers. “You are set on this course?” She asks, her face showing her concern.

Rainne almost gives in then but something in him rebels against the safe path, he always takes the safe path. “I need to do this Alynne. I need to see.” She just looks at him for a second and then gives in. Come on then, the muster is in three days and it’s a long march. They turn and head out into the waste.

He’s floating in darkness. “I don’t want to see this!” He screams into the emptiness around him.

“Why not?” A voice asks. His father stands before him again. “It is your past Rainne.”

“That’s not my name!” he shouts defiantly.

His father just smiles gently and asks, “Why do you fear it so Rainne?”

“That’s not my name father!”

“You have many names, and that is but one of them.”

“Rainne is not my name. I am no longer Righteous. My name is Jon. My name is Death.”

“And so you choose again, beware the third time.” His father says quietly.

“I didn’t choose this life. I didn’t choose this pain. It was chosen for me by my God.” He shoots back, but his father is gone.

“Those are dangerous words my friend” the voice of Giles says quietly. He spins around to see Giles sitting quietly at a small table. There is a second seat across from him in which sits Kor Rainne. Giles looks to Rainne, “If you wouldn’t mind sir, I’m slightly rusty.” He says in a soft voice.

Rainne reaches out and takes a small roll from the table and holds it up in front of him and breaks it in half and then begins to speak, “On the night in which he was betrayed he took the bread and having blessed it he gave it to his disciples saying take and eat for this is my body given to you for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you eat it do so in remembrance of me.” Rainne puts the bread down and picks up the china teapot. Rainne pours some into the teacup in front of him.

He finds himself speaking along as Rainne begins again, “After the supper he took the cup, and after blessing it, gave it to his disciples saying, take and drink for this is my blood shed for you and all people for the forgiveness of sins, do so as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.” They speak the words together but only one voice is heard.

He shakes his head violently. “No! I am not going to honor a God that would do this to me! That would take my family from me. He didn’t listen then and he’s not listening now!”

Giles looks at him with the same expression that his father wore, “Then again you have chosen Death.”

“I choose nothing. It was forced on me!” but again he is talking to empty air.

“The choice made there is still more to see.” Rainne’s voice says from behind him. “Remember Death. Remember the canyon.

His screams are swallowed by the darkness.

Kor Jon stood half way down the stairs that had been cut into the wall of the canyon that held his home. He realized he had been walking as his mind was elsewhere, as if his body had just gone on autopilot taking him somewhere his conscious mind wasn’t aware of. The thought of his subconscious leading him anywhere sent a chill down his spine. He continued the walk down. The terraced walls of the canyons had been overrun with two years worth of unchecked plant growth and the roads looked a little overgrown as he got closer to the canyon floor. The canyon walls were a slightly off white color streaked with gray bars that ran horizontally around the canyon’s rim. The sun had risen far enough that it was just peaking over the top of the sheer wall that stood next to him. Step after step he made his way down, memories of happy days filling his mind. He could see Hall’s house, the roof of which he’d fallen off of when he was six years old, pretending he was a biker scout, his hoverbike had been a wooden stick with a carved control panel tied to the front. Hours upon hours he had spent playing on these streets as a child. Hidden from the kolds, hidden from the Way’s inquisitors too. Always in the back of his mind though lurked the memories of madness, of blood and pain as death wearing his face had stalked the streets of his home. I walked these stairs that day too. He didn’t want to remember.

As he stepped off the stairs he came alert, there was something coming towards him through the tall grass that now stood on either side of the path from the stairs to the center of town. Jon watched as the things wake moved through the grass steadily approaching him. He drew his pistols slowly, trying to move as little as possible before he knew what whatever was stalking him was. Just then the creature moved forward at a blinding pace, a white streak shot out hitting him full on before he could bring up his guard. He slammed backwards onto the ground knocking the breath from his lungs. He raced to bring his weapons to bear but suddenly stopped as he recognized the creature that was on his chest licking his face repeatedly.

Lying quite happily on top of his chest was a massive white great dane, its pink tongue lolling out to the side between slobbering strokes that set Jon to laughing despite himself. It was his dog, Angel. He had found Angel the same year that Tobias had been born. When he found him, the dog had been half dead on the wastes standing guard over his recently deceased master. It had taken four days before the dog had let him come close and then another two before he had been able to bury the soldier and say the required prayers. The dog had followed him home just in time for the birth of his son. He had named him Angel because he stood as a guardian over his master, a habit he had continued for Jon’s family. Tears rolled down from Jon’s eye as he ruffled Angel’s hair and scratched behind his ears. The dog responded by laying his head down on Jon’s chest and looking at him with his huge green eyes that looked so out of place on the dog.

“Good boy,” Jon said as he gave the dog a big hug, “now get off me you walking flea circus.” He rolled side ways dropping the dog on his side causing a mad scramble until Angel had regained his feet. The dog looked at him reproachfully. “Oh come on, I came here for a reason. I never thought I’d find you.” He stroked Angel’s head slowly as he sat next to him.

A chill passed through him and Angel whimpered quietly as he stood. For a second he had felt a presence in his mind, as if someone was calling him. He shook it off and suddenly it felt like an icy hand had gripped the scruff of his neck. Remember. A now familiar voice said, and he dreamed.

He stands on the edge of a great cliff. He can hear a soft rhythmic beat on the wind. It sounds again and again getting closer, it is a gentle friendly sound but still he feels fear. He can feel beads of cold sweat rolling down the center of his back as he readies his rifle. The army is dug in around the canyon and they have to stop the swarm here.

Blood spatters from her throat. He carries her through the tunnels.

He glances next to him, checking on Alynne. She is breathing slowly, her eyes closed as she prepares herself for the coming conflict. He’s seen her fight like an avenging angel straight out of one his father’s stories. Her hair is pulled back and tucked into a tight bun at the back of her head and a collapsed force lance rests in her lap. She exudes an air of calm assurance that he knows he’ll never be able to match and he marvels at her. He says a quick prayer for their safety.

“Where is your God?”

Was that a voice? Great, now he is imagining things. He checks his rifle and crouches next to Alynne, staring into her face, memorizing every detail. As he stares her eyes open slowly and a grin appears on her face. “I love you.” She whispers, and rises to her feet, extending her force lance to it’s full six foot length.

Suddenly a yell goes down the line. The rhythmic beat has grown louder and as one the army of Than looks out and sees the dark line cross the horizon. A line of Tharkoldu winging itself slowly, almost lazily, in their direction. Death on wings of pain, Rainne murmurs. Alynne looks to him with a worried expression on her face, "By the Lord, it's a swarm."

The first beams of light lance out from the defending forces, piercing the oncoming night, and the oncoming horde with the same efficiency and permanence. As soon as the light falls away another figure moves into the place in the advancing swarm of the creature that was felled. Then with a guttural cry the flying formation breaks and races at the defenders. As one again they open fire and suddenly the coming night is lit with the flares of lasers and the screams of the dead and dying. Several times demons land near him only to be dispatched by Alynne with cool efficiency that is almost frightening. In a sea of enraged fighters battling ferocious demons, she stands alone, motionless until the very last moment when she strikes out, crushing ribs, smashing arms and legs, and launching demons into each other as her lance, wielded as a staff spins in a deadly arc defending both herself and him. He prays quietly and from his hand a beam of pure white light flares forth disintegrating the nearest demon, he offers a quick prayer for its soul as he fires his rifle again and again.

The fighting goes on. Hour follows hour as wave after wave of the swarm smashes into the defenders, each time taking a few more. The dead lay among them, their wounds terrible to behold but there is no time to tend to them. “Let the dead tend to the dead.” The passage flits through his face as he takes a moment to rest during a break in the assault. The soldiers are being pushed apart, broken into small groups so the demons can face them in single combat. He can see up and down the line of faces by the flashing lasers. We have to regroup. We have to get back before they pick us apart one at a time. The line moves backwards, lasers flashing through the predawn sky as the line of cyghouls advance. A light flashes and a searing pain shoots through his face. He drops into darkness again.

“Your God was there Rainne…where is he now?” His father’s voice rises out of the blackness that surrounds him.

“Why do you do this father, I’ve told you I can no longer be Rainne! I am Jon. My fate is sealed.”

“Do you claim to know the mind of God Rainne?”

“I know what I have done, I know who I have become. I am Death.”

“You have many names, and Rainne is but one of them. Do you choose this? Do you choose Death?”

Silence.

“I don’t want to.”

“Then find your God.”

Then he is somewhere new. In front of him is a mirror, he walks up to it and examines the surface. It doesn’t reflect anything though. What is this? Why can’t I see myself? He reaches out slowly and touches it. Spreading outward from where his finger touched, ripples like on a perfectly still lake move out revealing a young man in a long gray robe. He reaches up and touches his face and the image follows suit. He feels where his cybernetics are and he touches smooth skin.

When Kor Jon came back to himself his body was shaking uncontrollably. He reached up and felt the side of his face, the metal was still there; it was just another dream. A low whine came from his feet and Angel was laying there, his head cocked to the side. He forced a grin and she stood up and licked his face. "Shhh Angel, I'm ok. A few seconds again...it seemed like a lot longer." Another shudder went through his body. "I must be going nuts...but not yet, you'll keep me sane won't you boy? Just long enough to finish...just long enough to finish." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Lets finish this boy. I came back to say goodbye and I have a few more stops before the end...and not much time it seems." Kor Jon stood up slowly and looked around. He was standing at the bottom of a large canyon. There were houses towards the center of the canyon and a small forest farther down. The plants had run wild around the houses, ivy and other creepers had grown up the sides of the buildings that had fallen into disrepair.

Home.

[Kor Jon]

Kor Jon followed the path deeper into the hold. Angel walked beside him quietly picking up Kor Jon's mood. He looked at the abandoned houses. The blood stains were still there mocking him, calling for him to remember what he knew was coming. I really am losing my mind. he thought as he walked. He turned the final corner and looked at the church, the doors were flung wide open. Remember. The voice said and he dreamed.

Blood drips off of his hands.

"Not this. I don't want to see this. Please no." He cries into abyss around him.

"Where is your God Rainne?" his father's voice sounded sad.

"I am not Rainne." he sobs. He knows what is coming.

"You have many names, and Rainne is but one of them. Do you choose this? Do you choose Death?"

"I deserve it...God forgive me but I do."

"He does, but you don't. Find him my son."

"Where is your God?" The voice was that of the Other, the one inside his mind. It wasn't asking a question, it was taunting him.

He looks down at the blood covering him and tries to scream but nothing comes out of his mouth. The other won't allow it.

He walks through the front doors of the church. His father turns and runs towards him not realizing that the blood isn't his. Inside his own mind he screams a warning but his body wraps his father in a hug and his teeth bite into the old man's neck ripping the flesh away, spraying him with his father's blood.

He enters his home, blood still running down his face after ripping his father's throat out with his teeth. He passes through the front room and slipped into his children's bedroom. With one hand he reached into the crib that held his two year old daughter and he twisted her head until it snapped loudly.

His son Tobias opens his eyes, "Daddy?" he asks sleepily. His arm shot out and buried itself in his child's chest. His hand clenches, crushing the still beating heart.

"Rainne?" Alynne asks.

He spins, his clawed hand lashing out cutting a red gash under her chin from ear to ear. Blood wells out as she clutches her neck. Her eyes wide with disbelief, she falls to her knees and topples over at his feet. Suddenly the voice is gone and he can move again. He drops down next to Alynne and he finds his voice at last.

He screams.

No one answers his scream, there is no one left to do so.

Kor Jon's eyes opened again and he was kneeling before the altar in his father's church. Your church. He ignored the voice. "Why? Why not just let me die?" He asked the figure on the cross.

"Because I'm not finished playing yet" A voice growled from behind him. Sai Jon rolled to the right and leveled his weapons at the figure behind him as he came to his feet. It was a demon but something kept him from firing. "Drop them, you won't use them anyway." The pistols dropped from Kor Jon's hands as the demon stepped into the light. Thratchen had found him.

Angel sprung at Thratchen with a growl but the demon backhanded the dog absently. Angel hit the ground with a yelp and didn't move. Kor Jon growled and tried to move forward but his body refused to respond. "Your friends don't have a very long life span do they?" He asked with a chuckle. "I thought you might come back here so I brought another friend for you to watch die now that I'm done playing with him."

Another demon came through the open doors of the church. The demon was chained and walked with a limp. Kor Jon didn't recognize him until he spoke, "Rainne?"

"Rainne is not...Saltera? You...are you alive?"

Saltera let out a short laugh, "Do the dead talk to you often little brother?"

"How touching," Thratchen growled as he walked up next to Sai Jon and bent to whisper in his ear, "He doesn't know. I never told him about the people here." Thratchen straightened as Kor Jon struggled to make his body move. "Why don't you tell him what happened after I left you here. Why don't you tell him what happened to his family. Go ahead Rainne." Kor Jon growled and was answered by a crushing back hand that snapped his head back and staggered him into the altar. "What? Demon got your tongue?" Thratchen laughed and turned back to Saltera. "He's what happened my little pet. He came back here and killed them. Every. Single. One. Your dear father died right here where I'm standing. Your brother ripped out the old fools throat with his teeth before killing your sister and your niece and your nephew. And now, he came here to kill me. But he had forgotten that he was the one, he was the reason he was alone in the world. And now, to make him remember that I am the one with the power, he's going to kill you."

Kor Jon looked up into to Saltera's eyes and saw his brother's eyes fill with pain. Thratchen held out one of Kor Jon's discarded weapons, "Kill him now my little puppet." He growled, his eyes glowing with anticipation. Kor Jon fought against it but his hand inched upwards inch by inch.

Dear God. I can't stop. I can't fight this. Please give me the strength to fight this. Kor Jon prayed honestly for the first time since he had laid his family to rest.

The world froze and Kor Jon was alone on a large stone disk. He stood slowly and out of the darkness came Rainne and a child he did not know. They stopped opposite him forming a circle at the center of the disk. The child looked at him with a sad expression, "Who you are does not have the power to defeat him. Who you were does not have the will. Decide now who will you be."

"Who are you?" Kor Jon asked harshly.

"I am who you are becoming."

Kor Jon hesitated. He could feel something coming, a moment where he would have to choose. He couldn't run anymore. He couldn't hide from what he was and what he had done. "What can we do?"

"Become." The child answered and Kor Jon understood. He stepped forward into the center of their circle, "I remember my past, though I will never atone for it."

Rainne stepped forward, "I know my present and accept it."

The child stepped forward, "I will be the bridge between them. I will be the silence between my life and my death. I will be Sai Jon."

"Where is your God Sai Jon?" His father's voice asked quietly.

All three of them spoke as one. "He is with me." The three stepped together and merged into one.

The world returned.

Sai Jon's hand shot up and grabbed Thratchen's throat lifting the demon off its feet and throwing him back slamming Thratchen into the crucifix behind the altar. Light surrounded Sai Jon and a bulge appeared above his mechanical eye. The skin split and a metal chip wiggled it's way out dropping into his hand. He strode over to stand over the stunned demon.

"Never again. I will not hurt my friends." He crushed the chip sprinkling it down onto the demon and then leaned down next to the demons ear, "and neither will you." Sai Jon's hand punched into the demons chest and ripped back holding the things heart.

The older Sai Jon understood. He stepped out of his younger self and turned slowly to face the black clouds that had followed him across his mindscape. He took a deep breath and stepped into the black taking it all into himself. The pain lanced through him, saturating every part of his body, filling him until the scream that had begun didn't seem to be enough to express it. The cloud soaked into him and he could feel his entire body change along with his mind as the corruption changed him and was changed in return. Wings raced across his mind. Shapes made of darkness deeper than Hell itself danced around him and through him. He was becoming something else. Something new.

Saltera jumped forward as Sai Jon screamed in agony and began to convulse. Sai Jon's back arched as Saltera tried to hold his brother down. He let go and jumped back though when Sai Jon's eyes opened and looked up at him, his natural eye had turned black. The scream continued in a single piercing note. Then it ended. Sai Jon relaxed back on the bed, his eye closed, and his breath evened out. Saltera moved over to the bed cautiously and almost jumped when Sai Jon's eye opened again to look at him. It was back to normal.

"Damn I feel like I got hit by a truck." Sai Jon rasped through his abused throat.

Saltera laughed and hugged him, "Welcome back brother."

[Kor Jon]

Sai Jon sat up slowly and with Saltera's help, and managed to sit on the edge of the bed unsteadily. He was weak and hungrier than he could eve remember feeling but he was alive and he would be able to fight a little longer. "Where's Tass?" he asked as he steadied himself.

"Gone," Saltera rumbled, "he left as soon as you healed him and we haven't seen him since."

"We've got to find him and get moving. That army was almost ready to move and it's been weeks. Who knows what's been going since we've been gone." He looked up at Alais who was hovering near the door, "Good to see you not abducted by a possessed dragon. Anybody got something to eat? I'm starving."

Saltera smiled and headed for the door, "I'll see what I can scare up...I am speaking figuratively milady." He added as he passed Alais.

Sai Jon took a long slow breath and then stood unsteadily, "Are the wards still up? We need to get back and find out what's going on as quickly as we can. And where the hell is Tass?"

[Alais d Nitesong]

Sai Jon came to unexpectedly as I was just leaving his suite. Saltera was answering his questions as I paused in the door way.

"Good to see you're not abducted by a possessed dragon. Anybody got something to eat? I'm starving."

I watched him closely, for I'd felt the curse working on his body.

He rose unsteadily, asking if the wards were still up, and where was Tass.

Curling my fingers tightly around the staff as he moved, "Aye, th' wards 're still up, 'n we cannae ge' back 'ntil we dae find Lord Momus."

I was uncertain if I should tell him about my time with Khirsah, and what I'd seen from the darkness. We could not return without Tass, and telling him would only increase his agitation about getting back to the Isles.

"Saltera? Mayst Ah see ye a wee moment?"

[Kor Jon]

Saltera walked back in with a platter piled high with food. It looked like he had emptied the kitchens of anything that could remotely be labeled as food. Sai Jon grinned and sat down with the platter, immediately beginning to eat everything in sight. Saltera watched him for a moment smiling and then turned back to Alais. "Yes milady, what do you need?"

[Alais d Nitesong]

Closing the door as Saltera left Sai Jon to eat, she whispered in Annaran, hoping it would not call to the curse that still resides within the Guardian, as she pulled silence around she and the demon.

"Saltera, Ah'm nae ascertes tha' we shouldst tell Sai Jon jus' yet, bu' th' Daemon army hath alreada arrived 'n th' Aisles. Ah've seen th' hordes 'n th' damage they haff alreada done... 'n 't ist extensive. They haff slain manna o' th' dragons, 'n haff turned oothers intae dracoliches.... mine 'ome ist nearla destroyed.... " her voice trailed off as the images Khirsah had shown her brought unspeakable pain into her heart.

"We cannae r'turn tae th' Isles 'ntil we dae find Tass, th' wards dae r'main."

[Tasslehofl Momus]

He stepped into the hallway, though the portal he had torn open, as Alais began her discussion with the tecno-demon. He stood there quietly listening to what she had to say. So, what I have been feeling is true. The war has begun. He continued to watch them a moment, though his thoughts were elsewhere. If the war has begun, at least the Manor will be safe, and thus Spike and Indigo.

He snapped out of his revive. He would be there soon enough to make sure for himself. He had been gone too long,… as Lord, as Protector… as husband and father.

He stepped away from the portal and sealed it tight. He had learned to check to make sure the portals were closed after the incident that had started all this. It would be a mistake that he would not make again.

He laid a hand on the door handle that lead to Sai Jon’s room. “He needs to know everything. He is now family.”

With those words, he opened the door and walked in to the room, leaving Salterra and Alais gaping in the hall.

[Alais d Nitesong]

I was relating to Saltera the images I'd seen while at Khirsah's side when Tass opened a rift inside my home. By rights, it should not have been possible, but he had helped create some of the wards that protect my home. He headed for the door to Sai Jon's room, pausing to look at Saltera and I.

If ever I saw an angry Tass before, it was pale in comparison to what I saw now. He knew what Khirsah and I knew. He knew that the demon army was in the Isles. I could see it in his features and expression.

It was time to go. With Tass here, we could return through the wards again. Our time in RhyDin was about to end, and still Khirsah had not returned The Third to me. He said the book would return when I was ready and had accepted what I was. I do not know if that will ever come.

I have a sick feeling that the time is approaching fast when I will have to choose my path with regard to Daemonbane.

I glanced at Saltera, dispelling the silence, "Tass, pleases Ah am tae see ye auld friend. Ye dae see wha' Khirsah hath shown me?" I already knew the answer, but needed to break the silence before he entered Sai Jon's rooms.

[Kor Jon]

Sai Jon looked up from the half finished meal and was on his feet, pistol drawn, before he even thought about it. He moved towards the door slowly with his weapon raised. Something was coming, something powerful and filled with rage. He steadied himself for a moment and jerked the door open, his pistol training on the closest target. He stood there for a moment with the weapon sight framing an intense lavender eye and then slowly lowered the gun as he recognized the body attached to the eye. "Tass?"