TO BE OR NOT TO BE
By Nexus Humanis
Prologue
The prophet ran through the woods. He could hear his pursuers behind him, shouting directions to each other. Dark, booming demon voices calling out in an unknown language. He realized he had no real hope of escape, not with the gaping gash on his belly haemeraging and draining him of strength, and not with the fact that the demons could see very well in the dark, while he just fled blindly, with no particular goal. He could not die, not with what was inside his head. Someone had to be told. Someone, anyone.
Then it was like lightning struck, and he fell to the ground in a world of agony. As soon as he could see anything again, he discovered a hulking shape standing over him. Against the starlit sky he could see bulging arms lift a heavy axe, ready to split his head in two, obliterating the priceless treasure hidden in his head forever, and possibly dooming the world. He sought his despair for more energy, and somehow found the strength to start kicking and clawing his way backwards through the forest. But to no avail, the demon only needed one step to keep up with him. The prophet faced his defeat, and prepared to die, knowing that at least he would not have to be around to experience what was going to happen to the world.
Then, another flash of light, a loud crackle, and a feeling like a discharge of power near him. The demon with the big axe was lifted from the ground and thrown brutally several feet backwards, and smashing into a tree with a sickening sound of flesh and bones disintegrating. Then he could see shapes around him, human shapes. One of them seemed to have engaged another demon in hand to hand combat, a small slender form hammering with unproportional power into the much larger fiend, driving it backwards while expertly dodging its brutal blows. Another one, a man, let go of another one of the lightbolts, taking out a third demon by ramming it on to an extending branch on a fallen tree. He felt someone lay their arms around him, and lifting him to a sitting position, holding him and stabilizing him. A loud crunch anounced the demise of the second demon, as the person attacking with bare hands twisted its neck like a twig. But more attackers came, and another form joined the ruckus, also this a smallish female form, attacking with no weapons but hands and feet. The moon had peeked down through the foliage, and he could see that the two combateers were women, a young girl, and a grown, though not yet middleaged woman. "Slayers", he thought. So, it was true, there were more than one slayer these days.
There were no more magic discharges, the warlock must have run out of juice to cast such powerful spells that had created the lightbolts. But nevertheless, after just a short while, the fight ran out of sides, leaving just the two women standing among broken demon bodies. The prophet turned his head to see who was holding him, and found it to be a black man, elderly, but yet he could feel that it was not a feeble body that held him.
"Did we make it in time"? asked the warlock. " Im not sure" replied the black man, speaking english with what to the prophet seemed like a very strange accent. " He has a serious wound in his belly, and he has lost much blood." The prophet knew the answer, he could feel his life starting to leave him. He tried to speak, to bring on his secret, but his voice would not carry his message. "No!" he thought. "Not this!Not when people have come!" Bitterness and anger flooded him, so close, and yet to late.
The women had come closer, and his eyes met those of the elder of them. His inner sight looked into them, as it inadvertently did with everyone, and he froze. This was no slayer! This was something else, something much more! She was beautiful, and she was human, yet not human at all. What was this? What was this creature? She spoke. "He will not make it, there is little time left." "Miriam, you must do that thing of yours, and quickly!" Another person appeared, blocking the woman from his view. This also a woman, who huddled down in front of him and took his head in her hands and held it. The prophet looked into her eyes as well, and froze in shock, and then enormous relief. In those eyes he saw prophecy. Not one, or maybe two, but many. There were thousands of them, and thousands more. A Sekiraghi, a prophecy vault, was still walking the earth, and had come to him. She looked at him, and smiled gently. He wanted to tell her the joy of seeing her, but broke out in a brutal cough that sprayed blood out of his mouth. "Don't try to speak" she told him. "Just give me what you have inside" He felt her then, her mind touching his, calm and waiting. And he opened up his own, and gave it to her. He could feel it flow into her, could sense her absorbing it, picking up pieces of it and mentally tagging them, to ease future reference. And at the same time, he got a glimpse of what was already there, and he was in awe. He saw ancient prophesies of events long come to pass, and he saw predictions of unknown worlds. He saw those who had never been fulfilled for some reason, and those who would not be in the future. He saw the revelation of John, of Isaiah and of other, forgotten and famous prophets.
It did not take long. As prophesies went, his was not a big one. More like a leaflet among encyclopaedia. But he doubted that there were many among them to rival it in importance. A tiny vision, but with implications that he felt could decide the fate of the world. He did not know how, but he felt it in his bones. Plus, his very precence gave witness to it, his sanity. He was here, still coherent and sane, handing over a complete and intelligible prophecy that spoke of the veiled one.
Then, suddenly, it was done. He had made it, and he could welcome death with a peaceful mind. He had not asked to be a prophet, but when prophecy visited itself upon him, he had accepted it, let it come.
His work was done.
The last thing he heard before darkness overcame him, was the voice of the womanthing, saying; "Say, Henry! Now we have it, what the hell are we going to do with it?
The mother weeps. One of her children has been lost, dead, at the hands of the undead. It is not the first time she cries, and she knows it will not be the last. Yet she knows, that had she been given the choise again, even had she known what she took upon herself, she would have done the same. Her guardians look helplessly at her. Her lover, and the veiled one. They can do nothing, say nothing. There is no escaping the grief that befalls her when a girl is destroyed. Neither does the mother wish to escape. She must feel all the grief, and all the sorrow, every inch of the way, or her mission has failed. The mother does not despair. She bends, but does not break.
Such is the way of motherhood.
CHAPTER 1
The slayer watched from the shadows, as the young woman walked arm in arm with the vampire down the deserted street. They were talking low, the woman looking adoredly at the fiend, not knowing what she was getting herself into. If no one did anything, she would likely be dead withing minutes. Well, someone was about to do something. She gripped her wooden stake, and prepared to pounce.
Buffy looked around, there was no one there. She was going to ask this particular vamp a few questions. How the hell did they know she was in town? She wanted to know. She had not in any way announced her precense, yet she had heard someone tell the vampire and his companions to "get rid of the Summers woman". Not "the slayer", or "that slayer", she was identified by name. Had she been followed, monitored in some way? Was someone tracking her? Or had she merely walked into some sort of evil scheme, and been recognised by some unknown menace who did not dare to leave her alive? Or was it vengeance from some previous trouble?
The possibilities were numerous, and honestly, knowing was not the most important thing. Not being killed, was.
"Get rid of the Summers woman. She will not die easily, she is extremely powerful, but make sure she does, ok?" That was the order.
The vampire turned towards his intended victim, his face suddenly full of undead bumpyness. It was time.
Buffy was just about to attack, when suddenly, out of the shadows, someone else flew at the vamp, a strong kick to the torso sending him clear across the pavement and into the wall. Stunned, for just a second, she saw him get quickly to his feet, and lunge for the young girl standing in the street in combat position, stake in hand, waiting for him. She dogded his attack easily, another kick landing on his back this time, and he was thrown forwards on his face. He got up once again, attacking again, only to be picked up bodily, and tossed through the air into a light post, and Buffy heard his back splinter. The girl then rushed to him, held him down with one hand, and with the other ran the wooden stake through his chest and into his heart. The vampire exploded into dust.
The girl turned her back on the scene, and walked up to Buffy. "Are you alright"? she asked. "Uhm, ahh, yeah, I guess", Buffy replied. The situation was strange to her, "are you alright" traditionally being her line.
" Hes dead, you don't need to be afraid anymore"
"Ah, well, Im really not" said Buffy. "But, ahh, thank you, I guess, though I really had it all under control, just so…. ah, you know?
The girl looked at him and smiled. " Yeah, Im sure" "But this is sort of my job, so I figured Id lend a hand, you know."
"Ok, good. Good slayer come to save me". There would be no questioning the vamp, but it was hardly fair to blame the girl for something she obviously could not know. She had acted like a slayer should, saving the innocent from evil fiends wherever they were found.
Then Buffy saw that the girls puzzled expression.
"You….. you know about the.. the slayer?"
"Yaha, uh, yeah, sure"
"But how? But… you knew he was a vampire, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I knew".
"That, that's pretty stupid, you know, you would have been eaten alive"
"Nah.. told you I had it under control"
"Well, you know, vampires are much stronger than people, I can tell for pretty sure that you would have been in over your head."
"No, really not, you see, Im Buffy, you will have heard of me"
"Who"?
" Buffy. Surely Willow, uh, the mother, will have told you…."
"Who?, said the girl again. "I don't quite follow you""Whos Willow?"
Buffy gave a mental gasp. Willow had told her that there were slayers out there who did not, or refused to hear her when she tried to contact them. She called them "the unwilling", and had decided to use only so much time on them. There were plenty of slayers out there that did heed her, and she needed to be there, to guide them, and to coordinate them. She would speak to them, inform them, comfort them when they were scared, reassure them that they were not going crazy when she spoke to them inside their heads. But some could not accept that. Some would shut her out and never listen. It was understandable, but it made Willow sad sometimes.
So, she had an unwilling before her. One who had shut out Willows call. But still, something did not fit. She was slaying. Most of the unwilling were normal girls and women, leading normal lives, and that seemed to be the reason they closed up, visions of white-haired ladies telling them to be superheroes and fight demons of the underworld was not part of their worlds. Willow would try some times, and then leave them alone. She would not force anyone into what they did not want. So they were out there, carrying on with their lives like before.
But this was a slayer. She was strong, agile and quick, and she knew her business. She had been trained to kill vampires, for a long time.
"You, you have a watcher, don't you.
The girl looked at Buffy.
"Of course, the slayer always has a watcher".
"Yeah, of course" Buffy was picking up more about the girl. The way she acted, and talked, it was like a wind from days passed. She never said " A" slayer, to her it was "The" slayer. She did not know. She thought she was the only one. The chosen one of her generation, standing alone against the forces of the dark.
She was a mystery. How could she not know? Everybody had to know by now, that the rules had changed. Slayers all over the world had cut huge swaths through the ranks of the undead and the otherworldly menaces for over a year, keeping no secrets about their numbers. It was impossible not to know. Exept, apparently, not. A mystery, and she needed to solve it.
"Take me to your watcher, I need to see him" said Buffy.
"I, I cant do that" the slayer answered.
"Yes you can. You might not know who I am, but he surely will, if he has been with the Watchers Council"
"Ahh.. well, I suppose, it couldn't do any harm, its not like you can harm him or anything, with me and, ah.. , with me there to protect him."
" Yeah, you can… protect him… sure. "
"Well, come with me, its not very far."
" Good, lets go. Care to tell me your name?"
"Im Leila, The Vampire Slayer. Now come"
Leila led Buffy throug narrow alleys and backstreets, climbing a few walls, until they reached what appeared to be an abandoned building,
where she looked around carefully before she went down a set of stairs. They went inside, to an empty appartment. Once there, she opened a closet door, and ushered Buffy through the door. Inside, Buffy found a ladder, taking her up through a hole in the ceiling, and found herself in the hallway of a large appartement.
It was cleaner here than downstairs, the dust had been cleared away, and the lights were working.
They entered the living room, which was sparsely furnitured, with an old worn sofa, a table, and some bookshelves, mostly empty. All the windows had been nailed shut with thick planks and iron bars, allowing no light to enter or escape. In one of the walls was a gaping hole, that opened into another room, but Buffy could not see what it looked like. By a desk in the corner, a man sat huddled over a book.
"Henry" said Leila. "We have a visitor". The man stopped reading, then got up and turned towards them. He was tall, middle aged, but yet with a youthful appereance, short cropped reddish hair.
Buffy froze in shock and complete surprise. Surprise could also be read in the mans face, as his jaw dropped. "Buffy?!" he expelled.
It took a while for Buffy to find her breath, the shock was to big.
In the end she managed to stutter; "D-d-dad?"
"Buffy, how, why,,,, what are you doing here!?" "You shouldn't be here, you have to leave" There was panic in Hank Summers voice.
Panic, and bewilderment. No less bewildered was Buffy.
"I shouldn't be here? No, you shouldn't be here!" "You should be in New York, being all lawyery with papers and fancy suits!" Buffy was near to crying with confusion and half-denial, making her short of breath and somewhat dizzy.
"Oh, Buffy" Hank rushed to her and embraced his daughter. "Oh Buffy, I dont know how you found me, but you cant stay. Its too dangerous."
"But I wasn't looking for you, I ,,, I didn't know…."
Leila broke in, "Henry? You have a daughter? "
Hank looked at her sharply. "Yes, I do. How could you bring her here, now? " "Did you tell her I was here?"
"No, not at all. She wanted to speak to mr. Zabuto. "
Buffy, teary eyed and still dizzy with surprise, stepped back from her fathers embrace. "Mr Zabuto? Is that your watcher? " Leila nodded.
"Mr. Sam Zabuto?"
"How did you know that?" Hank asked her.
"That's something Id like to know as well". Another voice entered the conversation. A deep, thickly accented voice.
Buffy turned her head towards the voice. It belonged to a medium sized, dark skinned man, wearing a somber suite and glasses. At first he looked skinny, but a closer look revealed tight, strong muscles and a straight, alert posture. He was impeccably shaved, and his shoes were perfectly shined, even in this rundown shack. "Oh, yes," Buffy thought. "A watcher, for sure."
The Watchers eyes had a sharpness about them as he took in the scene in front of him. "I would like an explanation, if you please" he demanded.
"Mr Zabuto, I…" Buffy started, but was interrupted by her father.
"Sam, meet my daughter" "I don't know how she found us, or how she knew your name. It appears she was looking for you"
"Ah. " Short, authorative. "Perhaps the young lady would care to explain?". Buffy opened her mouth to speak, but once again Hank beat her to it. "Um, Buffy, does this have anything to do with that incident in L.A., with the clinic?"
" Uh, well, I guess yeah. But only in a strictly non-delusional way", she was quick to add.
"You see, my daughter somehow learned of the existence of the slayer some years back, while I was still living with her mother." "She got the idea that she was in fact the slayer, and we were a little concerned for a while, but it passed. Or so it seemed, at least."
He went on. "Now I think things have gotten a little more serious, I am afraid." "And more dangerous".
He looked at Buffy. " Darling, did you come to be trained as a slayer? Cause it doesn't work that way, to be a slayer you must be born to it."
Buffy was speachless. How should she respond to something like this?
Leila offered her contribution- " She was walking with a vamp, knowing what he was. If I hadnt been there….. ".
There was a moment of silence, and Buffy lunged at the chance of clearing things up.
"Mr Zabuto, its not like that. I didn't come looking for you at all, I just happened to meet Leila here, and decided I had to talk to you."
"Yes, I am,um, Henrys daughter, and my name is Buffy. "
Buffy saw a glimpse of pain enter mr Zabutos eyes.
"You were Kendras watcher, were you not? You know who I am?"
Sam Zabuto took his glasses off, wiped his forehead, and sat down at the swivelchair by the desk. "Yes" he said. "Yes, I know". "Summers, of course, like Henry. " There was a stutter from Hank, "W-w-wha…." Then he fell silent. One could tell that Zabuto was not finished.
The watcher took a deep breath, then looked at Buffy. "So, it was the other one then? The murderer?"
"Huh..?
"She died, the one after Kendra. Faith, wasn't that what they called her?" " I have been wondering about that, but figured it would be you, since Leila was called when Sunnydale was destroyed."
Buffy shook her head. "No, Faith is alive, and, might I add, very non-homocidally acting as a slayer. Thats not why Leila was called." That is what I needed to talk to you about."
Buffy cast a glance at her father. Confusion was going rampant in his mind, it was easy to tell. But something was dawning. "Oh god, Buffy, you- you, youre really a slayer, arent you?!" She nodded. "For nearly nine years now"
Hank was shaken, fighting disbelief. "So..when we committed you, you…" "I was telling the truth,yes dad."
"And when Kendra was called it was because…." Hank struggled with his voice, could not say what came next. "I died" Buffy finished the sentence for him.
"Oh god", he said again.
"Yeah, I know" "Pretty intense"
"But the explanations will have to wait, dad, cause there are things I have to, uhh, explain, to mr Zabuto, and Leila."
"Whos Kendra? And how can you be a slayer, theres only supposed to be one, isnt there?" Leilas bafflement was utter and complete.
"Why dont we sit down and get comfy, and Ill be explanation girl, ok?"
Chapter 4.
In northern Louisiana near the town of Dibbley, there lay what had once been a large plantation. The central manor was a huge, stately house, now surrounded by many smaller buildings in similar style, some still in construction. Surrounding the area were high wire fences, topped with barbwire. Not in itself impressingly secure, it appeared at first sight, but anyone trying to cut through it would find it strangely hard to do so. On the other hand, someone attempting to climb it, would be able to do so with equally surprising ease, exept for the part where they could not seem to actually get to the other side. They would touch ground at pretty much the same spot they started from.
If one should happen to find oneself inside somehow, there would not be sign of the fence anywhere.
The official name of the manor was Duchamps manor, but its new inhabitants had, since they moved in about six months earlier, aquired the habit of referring to it as "Slayer Central". And while the state of Louisiana, had it registred as a private school for girls, it actually contained mostly remarkably strong-muscled and agile girls and women, studying not so much Mathematics and grammar(Though, it should be said, some did) as being trained in the tactics and technices of various martial arts.
A very long road led up from the large gates to the manor, on wich a car was speeding towards it. It stopped in front of the main entrance, and a middle aged man, clad in a well-tailored tweed jacket and good trousers stepped out from the passengers side. A young woman exited from the back seats, and together they went to collect pieces of baggage from the trunk. The man then went to the door of the car and leaned inside. " Park the car, Andrew, and get inside. We will be meeting with Willow and Xander as soon as weve had a meal."he said in a british accent.His voice carried impatience and a touch of anger. "Yes, mr Giles" came the answer from the drivers seat, with conciderable lisp, and nearly before Giles had closed the door the car was away towards the garages.
"Good lord, Im glad to be back" he said to the girl. "I must say, I am amazed at your calm, Rita. How do you do it?"
Rita smiled, "I think some of his thoughts are rather interesting. Dont forget, if you are to teach wisdom to hundreds of young slayers, it might not be wasted to communicate it to them in terms they are familiar with." And with a quick "Bye" she was off to her room in the slayersdorm.
Giles looked at her back, with his mouth gaping. Then he shook his head and picked up his suitcase. "The earth is doomed" he said under his breath and started up the massive stone stairs for the door.
Slayer Central had wings, and buildings with wings has quarters. Giles had some, and one and a half hours after his homecoming, he left them, stomach full and clothes changed. He headed for another wing of the house, until he arrived at the correct door and entered without knocking. He knew he was expected. Inside he found Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris sitting on the couch, laughing at some unknown, and, Giles thought, probably ununderstandable joke. They turned towards him, and Willow lit up. "Giles!" she cried, and ran towards him and gave him a big hug. "Weve missed you.!" "Oh, Im sure you have" said Giles, faking discomfort. Willow released him, only to be replaced within a second by a blurry shape throwing itself at him in a flourish of long dark hair. "Good heavens Dawn, are you trying to knock the breath from an old man?" " And when did you get so tall, anyway?"
" Maybe if you hadnt been away so long, you mightve found out" was Dawns snappy reply. "Im so glad youre back, are you gonna stick around this time?"
Giles wriggled his way out of Dawns strong grip, she really had grown since he last saw her, and was now actually taller than him.
"Well, it seems so, at the moment at least. Hello Xander."
"Hi Giles, how was Australia?"
"Big, hot, with loud strange-talking people, much like America really."
"Good, and your meeting with the wonderful wizard of Auss?"
"Oh, quite, um..fruitless, wich is what I had hoped for, I must confess." . But please Xander, I would appreciate it if you never again let Andrew do the travel arrangements."
"Why, something go wrong?"
"Nah.. it was cool!" came Andrews voice from the door.
"Do I sense trouble in the ranks?" Dawn wore her most innocent false bewilderment-face.
"Well," started Giles. "It seems that by some coincidence, apparently, the hotel we were booked into also played host to a Star Wars convention. So basically, I tried to carry out an important meeting with a very powerful wizard in the middle of what appeared to any sane person as a place to put those that are not"
He fixed a fierce gaze at Andrew, who seemed perfectly oblivious to him. Rather, he had a very exited look about him, a look that was suddenly mirrored by Xander across the room.
But Giles did not give up easily. " When Andrew gave me the date and location, he gave me the impression that it was on mr. Thilgates instructions. Mr. Thilgate, on the other hand, informed me that it was Andrew who picked time and place for the meeting. The place was packed with kids dressed in peculiar costumes, and at one time, Rita came within an inch of killing an especially eleborately made up member of the convention crew, believing it to be a demon."
"Whoa, lucky she didn't then" said Xander. "Did you get to meet any famous people, Andy?" Xander ignored Giles completely, his eye wide with envy.
"Ah..well, I saw some, but I only got to talk to Hayden, and he was, like, uhh, rude?" " I tried to talk to him about how Anakin should become Darth Vader, because, everyone says hes going to fall into a volcano, cause, that's what Lucas said in the "Return" novelization, you know, but that's all bullshit, you know?" "Cause, as everyone that pays any attention att all will know, when you look at still shots of Vader when the emperor throws force lightning at him, one can see that he has surgical implants grafting toghether his spine and neck in places that would explain both his need for the body suit and the breathing aid…you know. And none of those injuries can be explained by just falling into a volcano, would they?" Andrew was getting agitated, and Giles was busily polishing his glasses, while looking around him with increasing panic. Xander was already telling Andrew that while he understood his resonnement, he had to argue that Vader could have received the neck injuries at a later point in his career, before Giles could collect himself enough to insist "Does anyone care to here what news from London, or what I learned about the Hellmouth in Jerermys Bounty?"
"Uh.. sure… "said Xander.
"Oh good heavens, I have a watcher that drags me halfway around the world so that he can run around in brown rags, waving a piece of green plastic, and a slayer who would rather take wisdom from a two foot tall muppet than from me." "Could you all pay some attention now?"
"Yes great Master, we will try" said Xander in mock somberity. " Do, or do not, there is no try" volunteered Willow, in her double-chin-voice.
"Ah…yes, what she said.."
"Oh, Giles, I can so hear that youre happy to be home" , Dawn chippered to finish off.
"Oh, bugger, would everyone just sit down?"
Everyone did.
"Well, first, things in London are coming along as fine as one can expect. We are getting the new Watchers Council going a little by little, trying to piece together a new library from various sources, and getting oversight over the Councils volumous financial resources. There is some disgruntlement within the council as far as its new role as a support and guidance-body goes, but…"
"But you will have them gruntled just like that, right?" "What, ah, yes thank you, Xander. Now, as it is, one of the things a Watcher has to learn to survive, is to know where the power lies. The old council forgot this, I am sad to say."
"This new council is put together of Watchers with actual fieldtime, and they have been made aware of, and recognizes, that now the power resides with the slayers. They will come around and they will fulfill their new role. I promise you. "
Everyone took a second. Willow spoke next; " And you told them nothing of me?"
"No, nothing. I agree with you, they are not ready for that knowlegde, that all the slayers are in telepathic contact with and coordinated on a large scale by one single person." "The power you hold is immense, Willow, and concidering some of your personal history….. well, one might suspect it could push some of the more reluctant watchers out into the cold, so to speak"
"No, I guess not" Willow sat in silence for a moment." Im not sure Im ready for them to know either. "
" How are you with all this, Willow? " Giles was starting to look concerned.
"Its hard, feeling them that way, out there." "And every once in a while, one of them dies, and its just horrible."
"I guess so"
"Yeah. But tell us about Australia. "
"Willow, if you…."
"No, tell. Nothing?"
" Yes, nothing. The wizard Thilgate told me that he is part of an order sent to Australia thousands of years ago to keep an eye on the hellmouth, to see nothing untowards was going on. Many such groups were dispatched all around the world, and it is dawning on me that just finding one still existing is probably a good sign nothing has moved there at all. "
"You see, any hellmouth leaking any demonic energy tend to attract the kind of attention to the effect that these watchers are immediately exterminated."
"Mr. Thilgate himself, while knowlegdable of magic, and well informed of his mission, and yet knew nothing of other hellmouths or of the other groups. "
" I see". Willow looked thoughtful. "He was under the impression that he was guarding the one and only hellmouth, right?"
"Yes."
"And nothing was going on?"
"He said the hellmouth, he didn't call it by that name by the way, is completely shut. The wall between the worlds is thin, a given, or it wouldn't be a hellmouth, but whole and undisturbed. All is calm and quiet."
"I see."
"So, please tell me Willow, why? Why did you ask me to go halfway across the world to talk with one old gatekeeper of a locked door?"
"Oh, Ive had people check other places too, not just Jeremys Bounty"
She turned towards Giles. "Your mr. Thilgate, he is either incompetent, or a liar"
"I have delved the earth, felt it, which by the way, Andrew, does not equal astraltravelling the Himalayas.Giles, the veils are under attack, all of them."
Jeremys Bounty, Australia
The town lay dark and silent beneath the hills. The Bounty slept, but deep within the abandoned goldmines a man was walking through the dark, with a magical light showing him the way through the tunnels.
He soon entered a large cave, brightly lit though it was impossible to spot any obvious lightsources. In the middle of the cave was what appeared to be only a dim shadow, but a closer look revealed a humanformed shape, of indeterminate gender. The man walked up close to the shape, and in the silent a faint voice could be heard.
"So Mr. Thilgate, did you manage to satisfy the man from the Watchers Council?"
"Yes,eternal one, he left assured that the veil is at rest and unpenetrated."
"Good, good. Then we can go on. I have spoken to my brothers, and everything is in place, The veils are being prepared for penetration, and soon we will eat them and gain the strength and power needed for our end. Only two things remain to be attended to, and our silly pets in dead Seraphapolis will see to one of them shortly. When the Shanshu Prophecy has perished, and the Zchimitad Prophecy is silenced,then our suffering will stop, and so will yours, my good servant. Yours, and everybody elses. Everybody!"
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