Here seethes The City, a nightmare braved daily by virtuous and venal alike. Corruption duels decadence for rule of urban decay. All vices vie for that base distinction. Then deepen the discord with shifting times. Old methods spurned by doctrine hell bent on hegemony. Artisans replaced by machines forsaking any craft trapped in stasis. Religions scorned by skeptics who deem the human mind the sanctity worth worship. The arcane and sublime clash for control of a populace believed beyond control or even salvage. Rival groups strive for influence by any means present, with no quarter given those opposed to a new order. Might is right, and let no light hinder the ordained path. This is their tenet, and hell forbid the pious or pagan who reject allegiance to the temple of tyranny.

Garrett the master thief reflects on recent events, all wearing heavily on his ravaged soul. Erin's fate and the Primal are forever entwined in tragedy, with thoughts further darkened by his own doing. Was a different outcome possible, or were results decreed beforehand. As a scoffer of destiny the regrets only grow, with her final accusations stinging worse. He knows in his vocation the unexpected is common, with reckless behavior aggravating an already risky situation. He tried to impart that viewpoint upon her but to no avail. Still he feels responsible. He possessed more experience and a cooler head, yet his own indifference insured a dreadful end.

Fortunately Basso has bidden work to divert his blackened mood. It's time to trek to a particular inn for a bit of imbibing and professional talk.

"You made it."

"How could I resist."

"Resist my charms? So you got my message."

"Things are back to normal, I see. You got a new bird."

"Hopefully this one will last longer than the last. Damn I miss her. Who would a thunk it, huh?"

"Watch out. You'll ruin your reputation."

"Pfft. Fat chance. So how you been?"

"You need to ask?"

"I suppose not. Your appearance says it all. You look like shit."

"Now that's the Basso I know."

"I'm not trying to give you shit, just stating the obvious."

"It fits how I feel."

"Still thinking about Erin?"

"Among other things. We could all use a lift."

"In this town? Thing'll get worse before better."

"Unfortunately, now what do you have for me?"

"Something to get your mind off things, and serve my needs as well."

"Should I even ask what your needs are this time?"

"Would you believe simple self preservation?"

"I heard you were getting squeezed."

"Just more fallout from your affair."

"You set the damn thing up, and why'd you have to get Erin involved?"

"She demanded it. She loved being part of the action. You inspired her, for better or worse. I couldn't have stopped her if I tried."

"Always avoiding responsibility."

"Spare the sermon. You're not the only one who cared, little good that did. She was a good operative. Yeah, she was reckless, but the job isn't fit for the feint of heart, or a long life."

"She was just a kid."

"So were you when you started. It's not a career choice. Some of us have that decision thrust upon us."

"Is that your excuse?"

"I don't need to defend myself to you or anyone else…..You're full of venom today."

"Why should today be any different."

"It's gotta start sometime, but enough jousting. I called you for a reason, a different one than usual."

"What makes this so different?"

"Because instead of stealing something, you're going to return something."

"Have you forgotten what I do?"

"I know, it's against your nature, but consider the bright side. For a guy like you it'll be a cake walk."

"Why do the hairs on the back of my neck stand when you flatter me?"

"Just giving credit where credit's due. My old man said a pat on the back takes little effort, yet inspires more effort in the recipient."

"I feel like a lab experiment."

"Hardly. You're untrainable anyway. Still one can always use added incentive, and the ego is an excellent means."

"You a shrink?"

"You give me too much credit. I could never pull the wool over your eyes. I'm just a child of the streets like you. However in our line of work I'll take street smarts over book every time."

"What would you know about a book, except the one you had me steal."

"Good segue, Garrett, because that's exactly what you're returning."

"The book you had me steal for Orion."

"We all suffered from that fiasco. This will help set matters straight."

"For you perhaps. My consequence is permanent."

"Still hearing voices, seeing visions of Erin?"

"It's like my mind is on constant replay, repeating over and over the moment she fell."

"The subconscious can be a bitch."

"What are you saying, guilt is causing the visions?"

"Who knows. That's above my pay grade, though it's a logical thought."

"When does a man driven by base emotions think logically?"

"When his friend is troubled."

"Now you're really starting to scare me, logic and compassion in the span of seconds."

"What can I say, I'm a renaissance man."

"Right. Okay, you're on. Have the book ready in an hour. Right now I have another engagement."

"Anyone I know?"

"The Queen."

Garrett traverses roof tops and darkened alleys to reach the west side. His contact is a wizened woman who employs a network of informants. Her commerce is knowledge. She possesses all facts pertinent to City affairs. Her sway is considerable. She's both prized and feared. Just her presence affects results, though she prefers anonymity.

In addition insight and intuition earned the appellation oracle. Some confer merely for consolation. For loners like Garrett, he disdains using anyone outside his inner circle. Yet his troubled mind could benefit from sage advice.

"I was wondering if you'd show."

"Was there any doubt?"

"Our actions are often determined by events that leave little choice."

"You're enlightening the wrong person. I don't believe in providence."

"You don't have to believe to play your part in the grand procession."

"Is that what you call life? I can think of worse descriptions than grand."

"Nonetheless life is a series of events that affect not only our actions but our very being."

"Then who are you, and what is your part, to speak in riddles?"

"Why seek answers if not couched in questions. You did seek me after all."

"Desperate times demand desperate measures."

"You're hardly desperate, Garrett. Confused perhaps, angry most certainly. However at times like this bad decisions make matters worse."

"Bad decisions are at the heart of my pain."

"Yet your pain is in your heart, a most common place. I imagine it feels good somewhat, especially for one afflicted by an absence of feeling."

"This dark place drains emotion right out of you. For most of us it started long ago, too long to remember any other way."

"That's the price we pay for our physical surroundings, yet the effect on our mental outlook is not set in stone."

"What if one possesses a heart of stone?"

"I don't believe that for a minute, but you're the one who has to believe. You being here must tell you something."

"Maybe I don't want to listen."

"You're referring to the visions. They haven't stopped."

"If anything they're getting worse. They come in greater frequency, greater intensity. Sometimes I think I'm going out of my mind."

"The mind is a fragile thing. It deals with sorrow in different ways in different people."

"Basso thinks it's guilt rising from my subconscious."

"Manifesting in apparitions. Perhaps it's not the visions that are important but what they are revealing, and what they are revealing to you."

"I'm not sure they're revealing anything. She keeps screaming the same words. Garrett, I'm slipping. Give me the claw."

"That was a device she used."

"I scorned its use but it was important to her. She designed it. Besides being a climbing tool it symbolized her independence and superiority over me."

"Perhaps there is significance besides the obvious."

"I've analyzed it backwards and forwards. Nothing comes."

"Leading Basso to a psychological basis, but enough of him. What do you think?"

"I think she's alive."

"Then follow your instincts and find her, but do so quickly, before it truly is too late."

"First I have another task to complete."

"Your quest may require a succession of tasks. We're talking arcane forces beyond the scope of mortal man."

"Which created this mess in the first place, short sighted men seeking immortality."

"Demanding a combination of hindsight and foresight to correct."

"Then it's damn well time I made some corrections."

A quick reversal returns Garrett to Basso's den.

"I'm here, Basso. Give me the book so I can get on with it."

"You're not going to believe this. It's gone."

"What do you mean it's gone?"

"Like it's gone! It's not here."

"What the hell happened?"

"I don't know. Three hours ago I was looking through it, then I placed it in a safe spot. Not more than ten minutes ago I went to retrieve it, and it was gone."

"That spot obviously wasn't so safe."

"But it was. No one knew its location."

"Somebody did. Who else knew about the book?"

"I don't confide my affairs to anyone, you know that. I'm a middle man. People employ me, I employ people. The only ones who knew were Orion…..and you."

"I didn't like the emphasis placed on the end of that sentence."

"Don't be crazy. I don't suspect you. I was going to give you the damn thing to return."

"Exactly how secure was this location?"

"It was known only by me, but there's another mystery. The container was opened in a strange way."

"How strange?"

"Physical force was not used. It's as if something unnatural opened it."

"The Primal!"

"That's what I was thinking."

"If that's true it leaves the Attuned, or Erin."

"The Attuned are scattered in disarray. As for Erin, maybe she is alive."

"To channel the Primal required certain objects. The book, the ring, the stone. Still they were never able to control it. A part was missing. They thought it was my eye but were wrong."

"If Erin is alive, why would she be collecting these objects?"

"To release the Primal from her. What I saw was torment. The human body is incapable of being a receptacle for such power."

"Nor the human mind."

"Within time it'll destroy both."

"If a group of objects are all pieces to a puzzle, they must each possess some property unique and vital to the whole. You may need to consult a chemist."

"How about an alchemist."

"Maybe we were wrong. We believed the book's value was in the printed word upon the page…."

"When it was the pages themselves that were important, or the paper used to make the pages."

"The book is old, hundreds of years, yet there was little decay. I never gave it much thought, but now…."

"It must be a special parchment. Who made the book?"

"Would you believe Druids?"

"The damn fools. Thinking the Primal was some almighty power dispatched from the heavens, when all along it had a southernly source."

"Hell! But how does this help uncover the missing piece?"

"I need to consult the Queen again."

A return trip reunites Garrett with the Queen.

"Back so soon. That can only mean more questions."

"You are known for insight. I have need of that skill."

"Insight requires input to analyze. I take it you've considered something new."

"The book that is critical to this affair is missing."

"Meaning another party has joined the fray."

"Unfortunately."

"Perhaps, but let's put a positive spin on a negative development. Instead of raising more questions, it may provide answers, if we know how to look."

"It comes down to the significance of the book."

"Or its significance to some one."

"Either the Attuned or Erin. Basso and I ruled out the Attuned."

"Under the circumstances I agree. This could be propitious for you."

"She needs the book to expel the Primal from her."

"Yet remember the visions and what we spoke of earlier. What are they saying to you? What does the book's disappearance tell you?"

"What are you saying, there's more to the theft than practical gain?"

"Now you must attune, and unlike before be willing to listen."

"It's all a puzzle, and pieces are needed to control the Primal. But a piece is missing, and its substance is the key."

"The book's disappearance enforces the message. It must come down to the visions. Think!"

"I have. It's just a replay of her fall. The more I think about it the more Basso's conclusion makes sense."

"Yet we're discussing a nonsensical situation. The fantastic, the supernatural…You were there when she fell. What object was made from a rare substance?"

"It's not the house. It's built with wood, and the glass can be found anywhere."

"What were you carrying, your tools perhaps?"

"I use rope made from hemp, and arrows forged from steel."

"All common. Still through the Primal she's conversing with you."

"If I hear her scream 'I'm slipping' one more time I'll scream."

"When this happened she never asked you to grab her?"

"No. All she asked for was…"

At that point a realization hits Garrett. The answer was right before him all the time. He now knows the missing piece and where to find it. All that remains is a return to Moira, a hellish asylum where hell itself manifested in a force spawned from that infernal realm.

"Erin!...Erin! I know you're here…Okay. If you don't want to talk, listen. I've been doing a lot of that myself lately, to others, but more importantly to voices in my head. And guess whose voice keeps repeating over and over?"

"Losing your mind, Garrett?"

"I thought so, until people who cared told me otherwise."

"Having someone to care about you is a rarity in these times."

"And someone to care about."

"Who do you care about, Garrett, truly care about, besides yourself?"

"Would you believe…you?"

"My my, talk is cheap. It's easy to say words, but showing it with deeds? That's where the true test lies."

"I'm sorry, Erin. I did fail the test, but not from lack of caring."

"Lack of character perhaps?"

"If you believed that we wouldn't be talking."

"I trusted you. I believed in you."

"You were reckless. You made bad decisions. You killed! I warned you, because despite everything, I cared."

"People you care about don't end so well."

"Is that my fault? Now who needs to take responsibility."

"I've done a lot of thinking lately, and it makes me angrier and angrier."

"You always were angry. We're alike in that regard. Yet I'm able to control and channel my anger. It's why I do what I do. It's a release for all the energy inside me."

"Maybe I don't want a release. Maybe I want to feed off the anger."

"Is that what the Primal's doing, allowing you to feed off its anger? It is angry, isn't it?"

"Shit, it's a raging beast."

"Did it seek you, look for a kindred spirit?"

"There was a spark. I was…..attuned."

"Sparks burn out you know, and the hotter the spark the faster the burn."

"Some of us weren't meant for long relationships. You relate."

"I do. In fact I'm here to quicken your breakup."

"You're not my type, Garrett. I like bad boys, and lately you haven't measured up."

"Then if I can't have you no one shall."

"Jealous?"

"Protective. You did consider me a big brother, one you never had. Let me play the part."

"You really do care, don't you?"

"So much so I brought you a present."

"And it's not even my birthday."

"Let's consider it a coming out party, as in the Primal coming out of you!"

"How do you plan to do that?"

"Objects, a few known. A book, a ring, a stone. And one missing item."

"How did you find this item?"

"Through you."

"Me?"

"You told me."

"When?"

"In my visions, over and over."

"I told you about the missing object?"

"You didn't tell me. You asked for it. You asked me to give it to you."

"What did I ask you to give me?"

"I'll never forget those words. Four simple words, but why talk about it. Here, let me show you."

"No!"

"I thought you'd be happy to see it, or relieved. You wanted me to give it to you. You remember what you said? What you screamed before you fell? Garrett, I'm slipping. Give me the claw!"

The claw! The missing object, made from a rare metal unearthed centuries ago. The puzzle is complete. Four objects which created a conduit for entry are now inducing egress. Intense light and energy radiate from Erin's form. Unnatural forces fight to escape. Her body racks with convulsions and tremors. With one final spasm the Primal retracts and flees into the ether.

She slumps at Garrett's feet. He bends to comfort her and detects shallow breathing. On the surface she's stable and physically sound, but what of her mind, her troubled soul? For one young woman, more primal screams await.