Chapter 1

Blackness.

And then there was light.

Opposite states. A factotum to add. There was sound...shouting? How did I know this? Another datum. A higher pitched noise, repeating the same soundbyte, over and over.

Movement. More information to add to the growing pile. I could feel a heart beating, sensations through my fingers? Legs? How did I know these things.?

More data, more facts to add to mind.

Mind? Did I have a mind? I had a...heart...so I was a living thing, but processing data, storing sensations, facts, incidences, felt normal to. Was I a machine then?

The growing pain signals in my body negated that thought. So, living then. More factors added.

The noise began to form meaning, words, but they were still chaotic, jumbled up, many sounds...loud ...at once.

Visual input was required. I opened my eyes, noting that I had eyes. I saw...a face...eyes, nose, mouth, hair. The eyes were wet, more data. Some of the wet dripped onto me. It was from this face the repeated sounds were being emitted; Directed towards me. I was the subject of the sound, it meant me.

Somewhere inside the accumulated information a bubble formed, the first data retrieval. Its a name, the sound is a name, my name. I closed my eyes again. Visual input had been little help.

The face is quiet now, wet...rain?...seems to fall from its eyes. There was more movement around me, I felt myself being lifted from some hard surface onto a softer one. My mind noted this down. There were deeper sounds, not from the raining face. Different faces must be here then.

Soft probes were pressed into me all over, some hurt, most did not. I added the data to the increasingly confusing pile. My eyelids were held open. A small light was shone in, first one then the other. More sounds. I could see their...mouths...moving but I still couldn't make any sense of the noises.

Something was pressed to my...lips...it was wet, like the raining face. Some entered my mouth, so I had one of those to, more facts, more data. My mouth filled up with the wet, some trickled down my...throat?...and I spasmed, it made a sound, I could make sounds to. I spasmed again, another bubble formed in my mind. 'Swallow, you are choking'. My throat jerked involuntarily and the wet slid down; No more spasms.

The sounds had been shouting, but they were less now. Voices, The sounds were voices. Info filed.

I felt my upper half being raised up, something wet and...cool...was placed above my eyes, then moved around my face. It was...pleasant...it created more sensations, more info.

Something soft touched me, something familiar. Small, and yet whatever it was, it felt like it was encasing me, enfolding me with a luxurious warming comfort, easing the aching sensations, calming the turmoil forming in my mind.

A voice spoke from inside me, in my subconscious. "Welcome home Daddy."

Suddenly the warmth burned, fire flowed through my very being; through coalesced feelings, sights, sounds, smells, memories, all forged into place in the heat.

'Its a reboot' I thought, and almost laughed at that. 'I'm starting anew.'

But now I knew where I was, I remembered everything. But it was different, I couldn't tell how yet, but I knew. All the fear, all the revulsion, gone. All the hopes, all the joy, gone. I was once again a blank canvas, left only with the memories of what had gone before. A rebirth with a lifetime of knowledge attached. I opened my eyes again, and looked around me. I knew everyone I saw in the room and yet I was seeing them for the first time. But I was not just seeing them. It dawned on me very quickly that I was seeing these people in triplicate, what was, what is, and what will be, all overlaid in a hazy glow, shimmering between states. I tried to focus on the nearest figure to me, a small one, and realised that this one wasn't in flux, this one shone brightly like a beacon, steady and strong. Shone for me.

After a few moments steadying my coordination, I tentatively reach out an arm. "Nadya" I tried to say, but no sound came out. It didn't matter, she heard me in her mind and hugged me tighter.

The one called Sveta repeated my name again. I looked at her, she was the one with the wet face, the tears, that had fallen on me. My mind told me I should have an emotion fixated on her, but they were still lost somewhere inside. Only Nadya seemed to receive one of those from me at the moment. I didn't worry, somehow I knew they would come eventually. So I remained silent, watching her fluctuate between realities. It was fascinating, watching who she was, and who she would become. It was also a little disconcerting. Was it a form of future prediction? No, all I could see was the possibility of what she would be, and yet I still didn't know how I knew this. I tried to think about it, where I knew it from, but my head exploded in pain. I must have groaned a little because Sveta was holding me a moment later.

The one I knew as Boris/Gesar spoke. "Welcome back Anton" he said. I nodded once, but still said nothing, I didn't know if I could yet. The pain in my head eased slowly, the fog clogging my thoughts began to clear; I sat up, surveying the room. Suddenly my head snapped around and I stared at the creature called Zabulon. The look on my face must have been misinterpreted.

"Don't worry Anton, he's secure, he cant hurt you, I wont let him." Sveta scowled. Gesar gestured something. Sveta's scowl deepened, but she nodded.

She didn't see what I saw. I wasn't looking at the festering demon in front of me, or the strange, cloud-like entity I saw far in his future, but the past. I saw his past. And there was two of him, double? A twin? No, only one, so why the double image?

Glancing at the rest in the room, none had this doubling...so why him?

A glass was pressed to my lips, and I drank deeply, almost gagging on the fiery liquid inside, Gesar's best brandy. I let it work its way down into my stomach, the fire from it replacing the heat fading from my core. Then it truly dawned on me, I was back, I made it, but made it to what?...

While they were distracted she took her chance, just staying long enough to make sure the one watched, lived. Flinging an undirected portal before her she jumped through, anything to get away!

Her landing was rough, the exit was a few feet above the ground, a lot of feet. She landed awkwardly and twisted her right ankle. No matter, it would mend. Standing up she looked around her. Middle of nowhere. Again, no matter. He said it would be worth it, all the...nasty...things she had to do, had to endure, had to say, so the Dark one would have her. And it was worth it, if she could get back, report what she had seen. What she had witnessed. He said it was going something important, what precisely He didn't say.

She shuddered, it was raining, the fine drizzle oozing its way rapidly through her thin clothes. Concentrating hard, she visualised the rendezvous point. Whispering incoherent words she opened a second portal and slipped through, with nothing to show her passing but small footprints in the ground, slowly washing away...

Anton lay on Gesar's daybed, Nadya still had her arms around him. Sveta sponged his forehead with a damp cloth, her face damp from tears, but smiling. Gesar was grimly looking through the videoed record of what had happened on the small monitor on his desk. He watched when the girl teleported away, glimpsing leaves and vegetation at a strange angle. No real clues there.

Ilya was sipping some of Gesar's brandy, seemingly lost in though. Only Ignat wasn't preoccupied.

He watched Zabulon from the corner of his eye unobtrusively.

The Dark leader seemed deflated, all fight gone from him. He was sat, almost curled, on the floor. He was no longer held by the restraining spell, he could have wreaked havoc if he so wish. All desire to seemed to have gone. So he sat, almost quiescent. Ignat didn't trust him for a moment.

Zabulon was seething, the disinterested, defeated exterior was taking all his concentration and will to project. Sveta had dropped the shielding, at Gesar's urging. The desire to leap up and smash her to a pulp was almost unbearable, lacking magic didn't lessen his physical strength, and he could have delivered a killing blow before she could counter, distracted as she was by that...thing...on the bed. But he was more controlled than that. Self control was the key now, let them think him defeated. But Zabulon knew where that girl had gone. His powers might be weak but his mind wasn't. He was present at the 'turning' sessions, the torture needed to convert her ready for the Dark initiation. He remembered the gibberish ripped from her lips as they peeled the skin from her inner thighs, from her breasts, all the sensitive areas that would provoke the right responses, the sadistic stimuli needed to change her nature.

Zabulon almost laughed at the sudden arousal he felt, but his self control was better than that. He remembered in that gibberish a garbled name, and what sounded like a homing formula...she was trying to escape back to some place she held sacred even under the flailers knives. As soon as he was away from these idiots he was going to try to recreated it, with the help of some of the other 'converts'...only dispensable ones however, this was not going to be common knowledge. He saw Ignat furtively watching him. He gave a wan smile, howling with laughter inside at his acting skills, almost creating an Oscar award speech for amusement, which fuelled his mirth even more.

Ignat saw the smile, on anyone else it would have seem pathetic, but it didn't match Zabulon's eyes, behind them the fire still burned. He couldn't understand why the rest in the room couldn't see it, then realised they never would, it was a demon thing.

Ignat managed to force a smile back, hiding his thoughts as deeply as he could. This Dark demon could read your soul from as little as a twitch in the corner of an eye.

Zabulon saw Ignat's restraint, knew of his suspicions. So be it, the succubus was of no concern, his rapid ageing saw to that. A tremor ran through Zabulon's body, momentarily startling him, his own physical condition was becoming of some concern to. Damn the Inquisitor!

Ignat saw the tremor. Looking Zabulon directly into the fiery eyes he slowly nodded once and smiled again, this time a full, deep grin. Full acknowledgement of the situation hit Zabulon like a cold wave. How could he get back to try the formula, his transport was gone. It would mean involving others, ones who would see him weakened, ones who could take advantage of his situation, pull him down, snatch power from him, and he would be unable to stop them. For the first time, he needed help from the Light ones. The thought stuck in his throat like bile. This was why Gesar had Sveta drop the shielding. He couldn't escape, there was no where to run. He began to moan, a soft, keening sound.

Startled, Sveta looked up from Anton. She stared at Zabulon, then turned to Gesar. "What...?"

"Its alright Sveta, our guest here has just realised his situation." Gesar's face remained grim, but his eyes sparkled. "Is that not so, my old demon friend?"

"I am not your friend!" Zabulon growled, leaping from the floor. Before he had moved a few feet, Sveta had him locked down in a shield again, hovering him a few inches in the air. He didn't fight it, it was useless, he knew he was currently beaten. It was a bitter taste, something he had never know before.

Anton watched silently. He looked at Nadya, who nodded to him and let him go. Swinging his legs slowly from the day bed he stood up. Sveta turned to say something but Gesar motion her to be silent. Silently Anton staggered over to Zabulon. Reaching up he pressed his hand to the shield, it past straight through, and touched Zabulon on the chest. A silvery glow began to emit from Anton's fingers. Zabulon looked down and watched, frozen, his face a mask of pure fear.

"I'm sorry" Anton whispered horsely. The silver light engulfed Zabulon, the air began to crackle, a strong ozone smell wafted across the room. Suddenly there was a grey flash, and Zabulon was gone, the shield guarding just empty air. Anton slid to his knees, the effort clearly drained him.

"What did you do Anton!" barked Gesar..."What have you done to him? Have you killed him...answer me!"

"I...sent him...home..." Anton croaked, before passing out again.