Chapter 26: Path of Thorns
An eerie calm met Faith as she and Fred made their way down the hallway.
"I don't like this," she said as they round a corridor festooned with hooded corpses.
And she really didn't. Faith had been in situations like this before and silence always meant bad. Very, very bad. As they reached the end of the particular corridor she noticed something down a passageway to her left.
"God," she whispered heading down the hall with Fred right behind her.
"Connor."
Faith bent down to get better look at her fallen friend. He had been in one hell of a fight. His face mottled and bloodied.
"I thought I told you that I wanted no heroes," she said brushing the hair out of his eyes.
"We should really get going," Fred replied looking around apprehensively.
Kissing the boy on the forehead Faith got up to leave. Just as she was about to walk away something caught the corner of her eye. Bending back down besides Connor she noticed there was a chain hanging around his neck. Pulling it off she couldn't believe her eyes.
"A cross. A son of a vampire is wearing a cross?"
"Its the Cross of Durrow."
"The what?"
"Its a smaller representation of a High Cross from Ireland. Angel got it for Conner after he was born. Said that there was some myth behind it that whomever wore it would be blessed. He got one for Cordelia too."
Gears began spinning in Faith's mind. She had found herself back at the hospital with Riley 'The only way to destroy the book is by using divine sacrifice to counteract the evil aura'.
"Son of a bitch."
"What?"
"Nothing," Faith said under her breath.
Getting back up she looked Fred directly in her soulless eyes.
"How exactly do you plan to get them back?"
Fred hesitated.
"How?"
"Well," she muttered stuttering slightly. "They're not actually dead."
"What?"
"Well at least not in our reality. Its a physics things. Senefera's spirit isn't actually contained within the book, its within a hell dimension and the book is the portal to open it. In most hell dimensions time moves faster than it does here. Connor was just a baby when Holtz stole him from Angel but he returned a few months later a teenager. The dimension where Senefera was cast moves very fast. In what has only been a few thousand years in our time has been hundreds of thousands of years there. Most of the time demons can move between our dimension and hell dimension by creating a tear between realities. Now, this is only good for maybe a small cadre of individuals with little to no power volume. The more powerful they are the bigger the tear has to be. Now in order to bring someone like Senefera over from the other side, you need a really, really big tear. Now the bigger the tear you make between realities the more of a risk you face that the other dimension will leak into ours. When you add to that the dimension Senefera is in moves insanely fast, then you have yourself a problem. How do you fix that problem?"
"I don't know, not do it?"
"You stop time."
"Oh. And how exactly do we do that?" Faith pondered giving Fred a perplexing look.
"Stopping time on the entire planet would take an enormous amount of power both mystical and physical. That would create alot of unnecessary attention where Briar wouldn't want it to necessarily be. He needs to stop time to bring Senefera forth. To solve that problem you need to isolate time in a single area. In a single space. For example, a warehouse. Isolate time in a single space would achieve the goal that he desires."
"That still doesn't explain how they're not dead."
Fred sighed bracing for what she knew was going to be something way over Faith's level of comprehension.
"The universe is split into several dimensions, all existing at the same time, but never interacting. Now many dimensions you will find things to be drastically different from what they are now, but in most, they are very similar, to the point where the differences are so miniscule that they don't change anything. That means for every different dimensions like Quartoth or Pylea, you get thousands of Earth dimensions. Alternate realities. Now say that you were to open a portal to an alternate dimension, but instead of ending up in an entirely alternate Earth, you ended up in an alternate reality contained within itself."
Although still not quite sure why, Faith was starting to understand what Fred was telling her.
"Ok, so if I am understanding correctly and believe me when I state that its just a smidge, you're telling me that this whole warehouse is actually an alternate dimension that is running along with but not crossing with our own."
Fred nodded.
"And that because they don't cross, whatever happens in here won't effect the rest of the universe."
"Yes."
"Ok, what I really don't understand is, if Briar has the ability to create an alternate dimension, then why not create one where he is god or something. It seems like alot to do for just to bring some dead witch back to life."
"Actually it makes alot of sense. As I said before to open the dimension in our time would be too risky. But to create a dimension whose sole purpose existed only to achieve one goal, would in essence solve all the problems. It would exists only for only as long as its purpose was still unfulfilled. Once its purpose was fulfilled it would cease to exist. Every and anything left would become in essence a new reality."
"One where Senefera was live and kicking."
Faith hated to admit it but it was actually brilliant. For the first time she saw the full extent of what she was up against and for what was not the first time she truly felt what the extent of what she was up against.
"So how does this mean that they're not dead?"
"The entire universe exists for only the purpose to bring Senefera forth. Which means that time would consist on a loop starting from the moment the universe was created. The moment that you and Cordelia walked into the warehouse. So if you where to somehow thwart Briars plan, time would eventually reset itself."
"Ok, I understand that, but how exactly would I remember. How could I stop it if I start from the moment that time was reset."
"You take a token. Something that would remind you of what happened here. Although you won't be able to remember everything, it is possible to bring something back that would trigger it."
"You said possible, but not definite?"
"Nothing is ever definite?"
"How then would I stop Senefera?"
"The only way would be to bring her forth. Bringing Senefera into this dimension is the only way to stop you from having you're very own version of Groundhog Day. Once Senefera's into this dimension, you just do what you had come here to do."
Knowing what had to be done Faith wrapped her hands around Connor's cross tearing it off from his neck. Standing up with a determined resilience she turned to Fred.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"I wished there was some way I could repay you."
"Stopping Briar would be enough."
Taking a look at Fred, Faith knew deep down there was only one thing she could do. Elbowing a nearby wall she tore a jagged piece of board and plunged it into Fred's heart.
"What are you doing?" Fred asked with an astonished and shocked stare.
As the being before her crumbled to dust, Faith spoke softly to herself.
"What Angel never could."