Hello Everyone. I'm back, and here's the final part of the Path of Destruction series.
Although this fanfic started out as well… a fanfic, I have also treated it as a sort psychological metaphor. And now, it's progressed into new directions throughout its entire work.
Thanks to all my readers and I hope my work has stimulated some good things in you.
Enjoy.
- JO
Obligatory Disclaimer: All characters on Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are properties of Joss Whedon and company, etc...
Previously:
When Aidan, Lawin, Malachi and Connor first met, they regarded each other with distrust, xenophobia and suspicion; which included insults, name calling and nearly killing each other. Each one of them had his own agenda, and no one was above manipulation and trickery to serve his own particular ends.
However, despite their mutual contempt and distrust for each other, the boys were able to work together as a team. Their first work together consisted of intercepting various skirmishes and helping the slayers behind the scenes. They went about this with the objective of serving their own unique agendas. For Connor, it was to find Angel. All this came to an abrupt halt when Marastoth, a renegade demon god from Quortoth, manifested himself itself into the world.
When the essence of Marastoth was allowed to enter this plane, he possessed a human host. Armed with a material form, Marastoth created a powerful artifact known as the Bane Crystal which can manifest demons into physical manifestation, and from there the demon god from Connor's enigmatic past conjured up his legions.
Knowing full well what would happen if they allowed Marastoth to continue using the crystal, Connor and his unlikely allies took it upon themselves to destroy it. They succeeded in their goal but something went wrong. For when Connor struck his blow, the crystal's energies infected his mind and weakened the part of his memories that was attuned to his humanity.
It should have destroyed him, but for the intervention of Whistler, who had orchestrated a complex plot to create a mental link between Connor and another being whose human personality was based on false memories - Dawn Summers. It worked and the plot to accelerate Connor's transformation into the Destroyer was thwarted. Barely.
There was however another unwelcome addition to the entire mess for as Connor's mind was linked to the crystal at the time of its explosion, the resulting mass of energy conjured up one last demon, an Angelus doppelganger – the manifestations of Connor's darkest fears and hatred.
Sensing how the doppelganger could compromise his plans to unleash Connor's powers, Marastoth enlisted it into what was left of his army, the Kluthu'kar. Marastoth then ordered his legions to attack his enemy Vorathon, an ancient snake-like demon who was hellbent on releasing the Gods of the Deeper Well from slumber, another faction with vested interests in the coming conflict.
In the coming weeks, these two demon armies waged a covert war against one another all over the world, and amidst an unsuspecting humanity. They hid their actions by conjuring disasters and spells where their battles were to take place. Only the powerful knew the truth and they knew it by the devastation which was left in the wake of the two warring factions. The slayers – humanity's greatest guardians - were powerless to stop the war because they too were being manipulated by forces beyond their control.
This war reached a climax when the combined demon armies of Vorathon – beaten and broken by Marastoth's legions – retreated to the Deeper Well where they attempted to force it open with the use of Glorificus' Key, Dawn. So they kidnapped her and quickly brought her to the Well to be sacrificed.
Around the same time, Connor, Lawin and Aidan found out that Malachi – the servant of the Powers that be - was actually working with Marastoth at the behest of the Powers That Be. It seemed that the mentalist was tasked in preventing the transformation of the Destroyer and his alliance with the Kluthu god was his means of doing just that – a mission that the boys could scarcely understand.
So divesting themselves of Malachi's help, they sought to rescue Dawn on their own. It was a good thing that they knew a portal to the Deeper Well, as time was of the essence. Not even the Slayers could find her in time. After a tense battle, the team managed to save Dawn and she was reunited with her sister safely and Vorathon was defeated, his heart mysteriously and treacherously ripped out by his own ally, an ancient sorcerer named Rukash. As for Marastoth, he used most of his powers to transport the Deeper Well from England to LA.
After the battle, the boys separated for awhile to attend to their respective interests. Lawin, who once worked to the order of mages that Rukash was once member of, went to find the sorcerer to recover the heart and to stop him from creating a mystical bomb.
Aidan got a call from his Pryce and Sirk that they had his friend, Malcolm hostage. They wanted to know what he knew. Luckily, Aidan managed to defeat them and their henchmen and rescue Malcolm.
As for Connor, he went back to his family when his father miraculously recovered from a mystical disease that was ravaging different parts of the world – which meant that something seriously worse is about to transpire.
Laurence as it turns out had made a pact with the First Evil to allow two other Kluthu demon gods to simultaneously possess Laurence's body. In exchange, the First will not destroy Connor's human memories and thus plunge him into madness.
As for Malachi, the mentalist and soldier fanatic of the Powers that Be witnessed all his plans unraveled, and all the prophecies turn against his masters, the powers that be. When he heard about what Laurence's deal with the First, Malachi tried to kill Laurence, reasoning that the repercussions of one man's death would be less disastrous than endangering the Destroyer's transformation. This plan was thwarted by Connor.
With no other alternative to stop the First Evil from possessing Laurence's body, Connor was forced to kill Laurence Reilly to prevent the two other Kluthu from using his father as a host. Doing so however, put too much stress upon Connor's already straining emotional reserve and drove him to the brink of insanity.
With his mind slowly turning against him, the Destroyer taunted Connor that "Connor Reilly and Steven Holtz" will soon fade from existence, leaving only the demon the "only real Connor" behind. This was the breaking point and it caused Connor to cut his wrists open, rather than allow his own demon to take over.
In the meantime, Lawin caught up with Urkonn, and successfully stole the Heart from them. However, at the very moment he was about to destroy the Heart, he was confronted by Anash, telling him to relinquish it to her. When he refused, she blasted him with a powerful energy blast that shattered most of his ribs and leaving him with tremendous blood loss.
Aidan, with his own misfortune, was betrayed by the very friend he had rescued, Malcolm Ingram, who was secretly working for the First. Malcolm gloated that he had been a spy on the council for a long time, and that were it not for him, the First's plans would have been seriously thwarted. He then shot Aidan numerous times and then once in the head.
With all the other factions beaten, Angelus and the First have merged into a single being. The sorceress Anash is trying to create a demonic army. Marastoth, now pressed for time, has opened the Deeper Well and is siphoning all the powers of the old ones into a single power source to help fight off the First – the final piece in the puzzle that is Connor's transformation.
And the Path of Destruction continues…
Main Characters
Connor Angel/The Miracle Child/The Destroyer/Connor Reilly/Steven Holtz/Tracey's Bitch – Raised in Quortoth, Connor Steven Franklin Reilly Holtz Angel is an unknown paradox of limitless power and potential. He was taught magick by the Kluthu with the aim of corrupting him. Luckily for him, it failed as Holtz managed to wipe out all the corruption done to him along with all his warlock knowledge. After a great struggle, Connor soon returned to LA to find his real father Angelus.
In LA, he fathered Jasmine, boinked Cordelia, sank Angel into an ocean and precipitated a lot of terrible things, and once again had his memories wiped out to protect him from himself. But that was only temporary and soon Connor was returned all of his original memories – the ones wiped out by Angel and the ones wiped out by Holtz - along with the dark powers that he tried so hard to suppress.
Here and now, Connor faces the past that he tried so hard to leave and in doing so he will take one step closer to the singular and lonely choice that is fated to change creation.
(OC) Lawin De La Vega – is a powerful sorcerer from an ancient yet very amoral family of mages. A libertarian by politics and a Gnostic by creed, Lawin can either be very amoral or very compassionate depending on his mood or his alcohol levels.
He learned magicks before he learned to walk thus, he is very proficient in its uses. The only downside is that his powers tend to be unstable and causes bodily harm after prolonged use. In addition to his powers, Lawin also has a voice inside of his head of one of first ancestor, a condition that is slowly driving him insane.
Lawin also has an unnatural taste for chick music, and listens to Michelle Branch, Kelly Clarkson, Dido, Sara Evans, etc… Lawin also has a strong drinking habit and is often seen sucking out the contents of his alcohol flask.
Originally, he worked for a council of mages known as the ancients, super humans who were the original architects of the Slayer line as well as several other mystical weapons. This went to an abrupt halt however, when Lawin was betrayed by his masters after their leader, Rukash sided with the invading demon lord, Vorathon.
His close encounters with Connor and Malachi has made his life a lot more complicated.
Aidan Travers – A Heavily Medicated Kiwi Watcher. Somewhat xenophobic, Aidan has a deep distrust of foreigners particularly of "bloody yanks" and Australians. Aidan is also an artificial necromancer, one of the products of the council's secret attempts at creating supersoldiers to fight the demon world.
Despite his choleric disposition and the amount of meds he sticks down his throat, Aidan is quite intelligent. He has memorized a significant number of national anthems from around the world and is amenable to singing them when he's drunk.
He is also a dedicated gamer, often foregoing his researching duties to play world of warcraft or badly made flash games from porno sites. On the plus side however, he has extensive field experience… something he'll need in the coming conflict.
With the old council gone, Aidan is seen as somewhat of an anachronism of an age long past by his fellow watchers, something to be admired though feared at the same time.
Aidan is also a double agent and is secretly being controlled by the remnants of the old council, acting as a spy on their behalf and leaking valuable information from Giles to the others.
This situation went terribly out of control when he stumbled upon information that hinted of a possible demonic invasion.
Malachi – a soldier-fanatic, Malachi works for the powers that be, much in the same function as Doyle and Whistler. However, his line of work is much grayer and consists of making sure that the "greatest good" is achieved, regardless of the cost.
Malachi is no longer human even though he appears as one. He is now more of an artificial construct created by the powers to serve their ends, a mission that he sees through with fanatical zeal. This fanatical conviction was pushed to the limits when Malachi made very secret alliance of convenience with the Kluthu god Marastoth. Though distasteful to him, Malachi saw this as a necessary evil in order to fight an even greater threat: The Destroyer.
