The night enveloped him and its cold air entered his lungs causing a slight discomfort but at the same time a feeling of peace.
If he had to describe how his life had been until this moment when he was in a world bathed in the light of a broken moon, he would only have one word: eccentric.
Stanley Quinn - her old "me" of his - had been born into a wealthy family. An orphan for as long as he could remember, he was raised by his uncle, Allen Quinn. A strange and reserved man but with a strong sense of protection towards those of his own blood.
They had comfortably in Britain, specifically London the land of the Witch Hunt.
Stanley grew up with an abnormal curiosity about the stories told about London and its relation to Western esotericism. It didn't help the fact that his home was relatively close to the Isis-Urania Temple, the first temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn founded by Freemasons and Rosicrucians William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers.
Looking back at his past, it was a bit obvious why his uncle's house was so close to that temple and Allen's interest in it.
As he grew older, "Stanley" was introduced by his uncle to deeper and deeper issues of esotericism and occultism, something strange considering that some of the parents or guardians of his friends and friends came to punish them for seeking "Satanic" things.
However, the themes that his uncle was showing him grew deeper and deeper until the truth came to the fore: Allen was an initiate of the Cabalistic Order of Nerthus.
The Cabalistic Order of Nerthus was one of hundreds of magical organizations throughout the world. In fact, in the grand scheme of what these organizations represented, it was nothing.
For Stanley, he had become his world when he was only 15 years old.
He undoubtedly asked his uncle to initiate him into the order and he did so, beginning his practice of Western Kabbalah.
Every initiate had to learn Kabbalah to be a formal member, but once they had the basic notions, they could freely choose their new "me" as well as the esoteric current they were seeking to learn.
In 2 years, common time, "Stanley" had achieved it and renamed himself Byrger Aurelius, a name he chose due to his admiration for Byrger Tidesson - creator of the runes - and the alchemist Theophrastus Phillippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, or better known like Paracelsus.
However, not everything was happiness in the cabal, at least not for the new magicians of this.
All over the world, orders, cabal, covens and cults had the problem of having too many new magicians who were unstable, could not and never could handle a single esoteric current 100% due to the generation they were born into.
Magic is something completely related to thoughts, sexuality, emotions, basically the inner "me". If it takes place in a conflict environment, then it would never have stability. It would always be part of the Arab 'Zaraq, the Ravens of Scattering.
The Order of Nerthus had to adapt to this and allow its new magicians to learn more than one stream.
Byrger was very interested in four in particular: the Upsalic Kabbalah, the Adulruna, the Sitra de-Kedusha, and the Sitra Ahra.
That was why his uncle sent him to Uppsala, Sweden. In that place he would learn about Kabbalah Upsalica and Adulruna. However, there was something else that he learned in that place, and that was the relationship between those two subjects with the Sibylline Oracles of the North.
Unlike the Sibyls in Greek mythology, the Northern Sibyls were all descendants of Alruna, the woman who found the Fallen Stone that aided Byrger Tidesson in creating the runes, the stone that gave FREY's message to MAN.
And how did he learn this? It was not because of his studies, but because he directly met the current Northern Sibyl that, to no one's surprise, he ended up loving in a romantic way.
Byrger Aurelius had fallen in love with Alraune Hirsing, current Northern Sibyl and a candidate for the title of Minerva of the North in the Boreal Order of Tiundaland. Surprisingly, the feeling was mutual although she did not reciprocate until after 2 months of dating.
Byrger and Alraune formally began their relationship and continued their studies, this time going for the Sitra de-Kedusha or better known as Tree of Life, a subject that was easy to learn.
And everything was screwed when they started with the Sitra Ahra.
Qliphoth, Sitra Ahra, Kingdom of Lilith, Nighthside of Eden or simply Tree of Death. That dark side of the "I" that must be faced so that the "ego" is destroyed and, according to Kabbalists, the individual can begin to ascend among the Sefiroth of the Tree of Life.
Everything went well up to a point. They faced the darker sides of their minds with incredible will, but if the Qliphoth was feared for anything, it was because it was always unpredictable.
The closer they got to that abyss beyond all the spheres of the tree, the more they felt it.
The one who walked in the abyss.
The one that was not destroyed, if not that ate the ego of the individual.
The one marked with 333 and the true ruler of the Arab'Zaraq.
Choronzon, the female demon of 333 and the absolute representative of the Dispersion.
Whatever they had done was so severe that Choronzon chased them into the physical world and pulled them out of that plane to throw them to who knows where beyond the veil between Aeons. She was possibly going to throw them into a world heavily affected by the dispersion as punishment.
And that sums up the life of Byrger Aurelius well up until the moment he woke up only to find a big, bright broken moon and the shadow of a woman in a scarlet dress as well as her hair and eyes.
Oh, and without Alraune who was possibly somewhere else on the planet.
"So..."
"Does this world have something to do with Babylon or because you are here? What? Did you think I would not recognize that dress? Please, many were warned about you... Whore of Babylon."
"Heh, boy, looks like I should bring you up to speed," said the woman stepping down from the rock she was sitting on. "First, this 'world', which is called Remmant for your information, has nothing to do with Babylon, it is only very affected by discord, dispersion, so it is as if it is yelling at me to come."
"And second ...?"
"I am not 'a' Babalon, I am Babalon. I am the original Scarlet Lady even before the Whore of Babylon appeared alongside Therion, the beast of 666."
"...! But that means-!"
"Exactly".
"... It can't be ... I almost completed my studies and now I'm in another world with Choronzon ..."
"Boy, I'd rather you call me Coronzon if you're so nice. Although, meh, both names are correct."