Chapter Eighty-Six: Home Before Dark
My heart beat so fast that it felt like a humming sound. Was I back on Earth? How could Alexius possibly have been able to do that? I remained still, staring at the metal under my hand, my mind entirely consumed by these questions. I barely registered the voices, sounds and echoes of everyone else getting to their feet in the background, clutching the piece of railroad in my grasp like it was a lifeline.
But something must've clicked in my head, because I realised the humming I was hearing wasn't my heart and was coming from above me.
I looked up and could almost make out powerlines buzzing above me, like for a streetcar. It was familiar, that's why it had snapped me out of my trance, but I couldn't remember from what or where exactly. I finally got up, not taking my eyes off the wires.
"Void take us, where are we now?" Aurelia asked, looking up at the same spot I was, "What are those?"
"Power lines for a subway train," I said reflexively, before clarifying, "Horseless carriages that run on the rails using electricity. The same way my tools use electricity to create light, see in the dark and communicate over distance."
"We are not that primitive you know?" Dorian objected, the sound of him brushing himself off accompanying the complaint, "We have built movement engines that run on electrical current, for spectacles and the like."
I levelled a look at him to tell him just how impressive I thought that was. If they had that technology, not using it for useful things was a pure stupidity.
"Talk when you've built a helicopter," Julie said to him, before turning to me, "This is Earth, right?" There were mixed feelings in her tone, feelings I shared. My gut was already stirring with that possibility.
"Wrong," Aurelia said instantly, to our relief, "Gereon Alexius doesn't have the magical power to breach the Veil even once, to say nothing of the barrier between the Fade and Terra. I am not even sure that I do, and I am the single most potent mage in the world."
That was a pretty large assumption; the whole Breach thing had proved there were artefacts on Thedas that could have the power to do it. It seemed like more evidence that Alexius was responsible for the whole thing to me.
"And you never miss an opportunity to point out your potency," Leha remarked, squaring up to Aurelia, "Then where the shit are we, chief?"
"Apologies dwarf," Aurelia said, her voice taking on a dangerous edge and pushing Leha away, "But I do not keep counsel with Magister Alexius nor am I a mind reader, so I have no idea."
Leha bristled, her hand wrapping around the grip of her firelance pointedly.
"Somewhere in the future, would be my guess," Mariette chimed in from the side, "That pendant he held up... it's something to do with time magic, right?"
Dorian opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted after half a word, when the rest of us turned our heads on hearing the other person speaking.
"Contact rear," Ciara said calmly, using the radio to get the message into our ears. It seems while we were all in a panic about where the hell we were, Ciara and Armen had put their NV back on to take up point and rearguard positions as a matter of habit.
Funny how the youngest of us were most accepting of the situation.
Ciara's warning lit a fire under all our asses. We pulled our night vision goggles down over our eyes again. Those of us with firelances crowded in a double rank, ready to shoot at the target. But we hesitated... the target was not human.
It slinked along like it was half-gliding, having some trouble with the rail sleepers running under the rails. It was a shade demon, and it was a damn miracle that Ciara had picked it out even with the night-vision. The slight glow coming from the tunnel behind it in infrared was only reason she was able to at all. The thing was walking darkness, with a mouth and claws.
"Hold fire," I ordered, "Where there's one of these things, there are more, and these tunnels will make our gunshots sound for miles." We all lowered our weapons. It was still too far off to worry about a charge.
"A demon?" Dorian asked, not having the NV goggles or a radio headset.
"Yeah," I replied, "Shade."
"Just walking around?" Dorian said, confused, "I don't see a Fade rift anywhere."
"It is coming this way," Tam interrupted, "Do we have a quieter way of dealing with it?" The fiend did seem determined to move in our direction, and seemed to gasp in frustration that it wasn't able to do so faster. It was maybe fifty yards away and closing.
"It can see us," I concluded, "Of fucking course." Duh, a shadow creature that can see in the dark isn't exactly a surprise.
"Allow me," Aurelia said, once again happy to be the one person who could assist, or thinking as much anyway.
She went ahead of us, presumably to get away from the collective anti-magical aura that was being produced by myself and others. A wave of the hand to her side produced a very nasty looking icicle hanging in the air, followed closely by two more, the only sound being a slight cracking noise.
Judging the shot for a second beforehand, Aurelia shoved her hand forwards quickly, sending the trio of projectiles flying silently through the air, directly at the shade.
Two struck it directly in the chest, burying themselves half way. The third punched right into the throat above where the collarbone would be on a human. Smart move, I remember thinking, as it had disabled the ability of the thing to shout or scream.
The Shade slumped to the ground, only the gravel shifting underneath it making any sound. Job done.
"Nice shot," I said to Aurelia, "Didn't think you would be that accurate with the goggles."
"Aiming magic is not the same as aiming a firelance," Aurelia chirped happily, turning around to us again, "But it does take some skill."
"It's more about anticipating the target's relative position to you," Dorian agreed, "So it's dead? Forgive me, but I can't see a damn thing in this dark."
I looked down the tunnel again. The Shade was slumped over the rails, not so much as twitching. "Deader than Tupac," I sighed.
"Why isn't it disappearing?" Ciara asked innocently, "Shouldn't it be..." She made a sucking sound with her mouth and a swirling motion with a hand, illustrating what happened to demons that we killed inside hellgate zones. The physical being dissolved and was returned to the Fade piece by piece, glowing green the whole time.
Ciara was right, there was no green glow nor was the body disintegrating at all.
"Interesting," Armen said, with the detachment of a scientist from behind us, "That could mean any one of several possibilities for our situation."
One of which sprung to mind immediately, and was very much not something I wanted to know; demons had acquired a greater tolerance for our reality. Yet I had to know for sure.
"Armen, Aurelia, Dorian, with me," I commanded, "We're going to check it out. Leha, give Dorian your goggles. Everyone else, hold here." The mages would know best, being my logic.
Cue a lot of cursing from the Minister for Finance, but Leha did as she was told and handed the Altus her goggles.
"Don't take risks," said Tam, curling an arm around me briefly, "That is an order."
I grunted an affirmative, pulling Dorian along from his fascinated inspection of the tunnel wall using the goggles. I took point, keeping my firelance up and ready to fire at a moment's notice. The glow in the tunnel beyond got brighter the further we went forward. A light source was ahead somewhere, but weak.
We reached the demon's position, and it wasn't pretty. The thing stunk like corpses do, though this had the added aroma of rotting wood. A lolling tongue hung out of its mouth onto the slightly melting icicle sticking out below its chin.
"It's all still here," I said barely above a mumble, via radio for the benefit of all, "That help narrow down any of your theories Armen?"
"It eliminates one," my companion said, "We're not in a larger than normal hellgate zone. If the demons could get far enough from the hellgate itself, it might delay or slow down their bodies being pulled back into the Fade. But it wouldn't stop it completely."
"That was the least likely possibility anyway," Aurelia sighed, "Unfortunately, it was also the most pleasant."
"Demons walking around implies something terrible happened here," Dorian said, "If we are somewhere else in time rather than another world, I can't think of anything else it could be, but magic doesn't always follow rules."
"Or we simply haven't discovered them yet," Armen said, "Everything follows a natural law. Those of the Fade are simply different and harder to test."
The unknowns combined with the strange familiarity of the tunnel were beginning to set me on edge. "Now is not the time for a philosophical debate," I said, "Do you have answers or not?"
"Not yet, but we can test this," Armen said, pointing at the dead demon with the spear-tip of his staff, "Touch it, Sam."
I was reluctant... but I knew where he was going with it. Demons didn't survive contact with me. Even those possessing other physical beings had trouble staying in one piece, like abominations or sylvans. So, I crouched down and put my gloved left hand on the head of the dead one, expecting it to dissolve into nothingness immediately.
The shade did nothing of the kind. Instead, I got a real good feel of the top of its head, which was as big as a cow's. As a bonus, I got a black sticky mess on my hand for the trouble. The thing stubbornly remained corporeal.
"Shit," I said, wiping the nasty crap off my glove on the rail beside me, "It didn't work."
"That eliminates Pavus' theory," Aurelia said, ignoring my complaint, "Demons held in the real world by traumatic events or by spellwork are just as affected by the Outlander trait as those coming through the rifts."
"Does that mean my magical immunity doesn't work here?" I asked.
Aurelia flicked a finger at me, and a small bolt of lightning hit me. The flash of light and small crack were not very noticeable, but they were enough to give away our position if anyone was paying close attention. I was too annoyed by this to notice that I had not in fact felt the magic at all.
"What the hell?" I hissed, "Why don't you shout out 'we're over here, come eat us' to every demon nearby?"
"Question answered," Aurelia said, "And we needed that answer immediately. There are almost certainly many, many more demons here. The only possibilities left now are that we are in a place where demons can exist naturally... and there are only three potential places in the universe like that."
To prove us both right, there was a howl in the direction of the glow. The sense of inevitable dread brought by the sound made me feel twice as heavy. All of us turned our heads, to find more Shades sliding along. They came from one side alone, like there was a side tunnel.
"Don't fire," I whispered. There was something about the way the demons were moving that had caught my eye. When they moved into view from the side, they seemed to have no trouble, but as soon as they came onto the tracks, they immediately slowed down.
It wasn't a side tunnel they were coming from, it was a station.
This put me between ideas. Pushing forward and seeing what station it was would give us a clue about where the hell we were. On the other hand, the number of demons I could see went from three to six to twelve in the space of about ten seconds, and continued to rise with every passing moment.
They were more distant than the first one had been when we first spotted it, and they did not seem to see us yet. Strange.
"Sam, there are a lot of them," Armen whispered, only audible thanks to the radio, "Orders?"
Fuck.
"Withdraw," I replied at the same volume, "Bring the demon with us."
"What?" Aurelia questioned, "Why?"
"Armen, Pavus, take the corpse," I continued, "As far as his buddies here are concerned, he went for a walk up the line. Hurry."
"Got it," Armen said, pulling one of the demon's arms over his shoulder. Dorian gingerly did the same, muttering about ruining his silks but seeing the obvious survival value in tricking the demons. Aurelia shook her head in disgust, as black ichor dripped all over their clothes below the waist. The icicles were melting in the oppressive heat, allowing more of the liquid to leak out of the thing.
We moved back to the others very quickly, almost at a run. There were some remarks about the demon we had with us, but I said I'd explain later. Leha got her goggles back from Dorian, and we kept on moving.
We went maybe two hundred metres when the tunnel opened up into a wider area, divided by fences, but it was still pitch black. We kept to the right, the side where trains would come from behind us, so we wouldn't have to turn to escape if one came down the tracks. A silly precaution, but a train coming down the tunnel with demons smeared all over the front of it wouldn't have surprised me at this point.
The glow came into view again, and it became apparent what it was; light coming down a staircase to the outside. I lifted my goggles briefly, and saw that it was street lighting rather than sunlight. The problem was that the staircase was on the other side of a large number of fences.
"Ciara, are we clear?" I asked by radio. She was still on rearguard duty after all.
"The demons have stopped where we landed," she said, "They're circling it."
"Residual magic," Aurelia mused aloud, "They'll find that interesting for some time."
"Good," I said, "Ciara, come on up. Armen, ditch the dead demon in a corner. Everyone wait here."
Everyone did as they were , as I wandered forward slowly.
There were platforms to either side of the right-most track, and I hopped up on the one on my left, the side closest to the stairs.
The signs were now visible. Most were commercials trying to sell something, the likes of which I hadn't seen in years. Pictures of happy people and graphic art stared out over an empty station. They caught my attention first. The names of the companies trying to do the selling were all familiar with me.
But the real kickers were the signs of what station exactly we were in. The familiarity turned to complete recognition, and I examined every angle of the place from where I was standing, kicking myself I hadn't understood immediately.
"Park Street," I read aloud, "I don't believe it."
"You know where we are?" Mariette asked.
"Yeah, I've been to this station many times," I said, "I had to go through it every time I visited my grandparents. We're in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., on Earth."
Pity it hadn't been Philly. I knew that city far better.
"Boston, as in where the American Revolution began?" Julie perked up, "But how?"
Count on Julie to care about that detail.
"It can't be," Armen said, "Your world doesn't have demons wandering around it, right?"
"Right," I said, "But this is Park Street, right down to how damn hot it is in summer." We were all sweating enough that the war paint on our faces was beginning to run.
"So this is your world?" Mariette continued, eyes scanning the place, "Not as impressive as I would thought it would be."
"We're in a subway station," I replied flatly, "It's not meant to be impressive, especially without any trains running. Besides, someone should've come out to see what the hell we're doing here, so I'm not sure this is actually my world."
"The real question is how do we get back to Thedas?" Tam said impatiently, "I do not wish to spend another minute here."
"Well, lucky for you, I am here," Dorian said, "I worked with Alexius on that pendant. If it was time magic he used, I can replicate what he did. But to do that, we need to know with absolute certainty where and when we are. If he used the pendant some other way, that's the only way to discover how."
There was another howl, this time from across the station. The station had another set of platforms underneath the one we were on, and shades were coming up the stairs from those below. In company strength, that is to say, dozens upon dozens of them.
They moved immediately towards the tunnels we had just come out of, not noticing us yet. The others raised their firelances, waiting for an order they assumed I would give to engage. I was calmer. I knew a different way.
"It seems our arrival attracted all of the demons nearby," Aurelia said, flourishing her naginata, "We can talk about where we are and how to get home later. The flare of energy Alexius created is acting like a beacon."
"Agreed," I said, "Follow me." I crossed the tracks to the right-most platform, taking point myself.
I remembered the way with perfect ease now, like it was yesterday.
I was right in the middle of the route I used to take between the airport and my grandparents. I took us in up to the mezzanine and into the Winter Street concourse, a tunnel for passengers to walk from the station at Park Street to the one at Downtown Crossing without having to climb up and down the steps to the outside. I hadn't been to the latter station very often, only once or twice.
The pillars were painted orange facing the direction we were coming from, and green the other, representing the fact we were changing over to a different 'line' of the subway. The place looked larger and smelled cleaner than I recalled, but I had missed a lot and it had been even longer since I was in that section.
We were about half way down when another set of demons came wandering into view, without any audible warning, at the end of the tunnel. Yet more Shades, though these ones seemed to have pieces of brass or bronze armour on their shoulders and heads.
I held my fist up to call a halt, and took a knee, waiting to see if they could see us. They were close enough for it I thought. They came into the tunnel right away, with no hesitation. Aurelia was definitely onto something, they were without a doubt coming because they were being attracted.
"Firing line," I commanded, "Aurelia, come to me. Dorian, stay with Ciara on rearguard."
Those of my companions with firelances spread out across the tunnel and they took a knee as I had, aiming their weapons at the slowly advancing demons. Ciara must've dragged Dorian back to watch our six o'clock, because he didn't comment on just how many of the damn things there were. They were wall-to-wall.
Aurelia joined me, and looked down for what I wanted her for.
"Well now, dear wife," I said, "Think you can kill all of those without making too much noise?"
The walking-nuke and mother of my firstborn son thinned her lips at this request, observing the problem before us. She was calculating something under her breath for a moment.
"Am I allowed to use fire?" Aurelia asked.
"No, it'll set off the fire alarms," I replied, before adding, "They can detect fires and set bells ringing, maybe even spray water everywhere. Every demon in both stations will know something is up. We might as well start shooting."
"Then no," Aurelia said, "The supporting structures in the middle of the tunnel are in the way, and ice attacks won't be able to penetrate through multiple demons. Electrical attacks big enough to do the job cause thunder, they'd be louder than your firelances in this place."
I rubbed my chin. That had more or less been the response I expected. "Okay," I said, "Here's what I want you to do, and you've got about half a minute to do it." I told her the plan, and then radioed it to everyone else.
Twenty seconds later, and the air in front of our firing line was full of floating icicles, so many that you could barely see past them. Aurelia had her arms held to either side of her, her naginata on the ground, waiting for the moment.
"Take aim," I ordered, "And don't start shooting until I do."
A huge screech from in front boomed up the tunnel at us, assaulting our ears. The demons had recognised what they were seeing.
Aurelia unleashed her magic.
Icicles flew out from the top and bottom of the hovering formation. The ones from the bottom shot in an arc, just over the heads of the demons in front. The ones from the top flew straight into the bodies of the front rank. There were moans and groans of pain and hisses of anger, as a full third of the demon horde coming up the tunnel at us fell in seconds.
The assessment about the columns holding up the roof were correct however. Many demons that had been moving between them had escaped the flying ice spikes, and moved forward, not making a sound. Smartly too; they were ducking low as they moved.
Not willing to see what the demons could do to me up close now that they could use their claws without disappearing, I brought up my firelance and picked off the first one with a single bullet, shattering its head like a melon filled with black ink. It was very satisfying, particularly when everyone else opened up and shot down others with just as much efficiency.
The demons began to thin considerably in the front by the time all of us had finished putting our first thirty bullets downrange, but they were still coming into the tunnel, and not just from our destination either.
"Contact rear," Ciara called once more, before shooting off a few rounds of her own.
"Move forward," I responded, "Let's get to the other end."
No one thought that was a crazy idea, especially after having a look at just what the hell was coming for us from Park Street; it seems we had only just missed an even larger horde of Shades, because they seemed damn endless.
Note to self; avoid the Red Line, it's packed no matter what damn world you're in.
We advanced with little trouble from the front, as Aurelia unleashed her magic once more, switching to highly effective mass-lightning attacks. The demons twitched and shook as they fell in clumps, the air which had been relatively clear smelling like carbon and ozone as well as gunsmoke.
Her efforts allowed us to delay the demons coming from behind, with the rest of us pairing off to move and shoot in tandem.
Dorian was using some spells I hadn't seen before, that didn't seem to be doing any damage but rather sending the demons nuts, making them run away or hide. I made a mental note to ask what the hell those were.
We made it into Downtown Crossing station at last, but found demons coming in from all the stairways and entrances, even on the other platform beyond. Everyone took a direction to aim at, but the demons were almost anywhere we looked. We were trapped... but not defeated. We had plenty of ammo left, for the moment, though that would change unless we made a decision quickly.
"Where to now?" Mariette asked, reloading again. She was gaining experience with the Earth weapon she was feeding, but was still a long way off great marksmanship.
I looked around, before my eyes came to rest on another sign right beside me; the map of the line network. Bingo.
"Down onto the train tracks!" I ordered, "Follow me! Mages, give me regular light!"
We rushed down the stairs, shooting demons as we went, onto the Orange Line platform. The targets were less plentiful, thankfully, but I knew that would change soon as the Shades above got together and rushed the same stairs we had used.
I sat down on the edge of the platform, which was raised unlike those at Park Street, and hopped onto the ground. To my surprise, rats scurried away at my arrival, but I paid them no more heed.
A quick check of the direction I wanted to travel in confirmed my hopes; there were no more than two demons that way. I snapped off a pair of rounds each to deal with them, and they fell with surprised gasps, one of them frying on the third rail when it tumbled.
I waved everyone else down, covering them as they came and warning them to avoid the third rail. Why there was electricity but no lights did not occur to me at all.
Feeling that we were going to get out of us, I grinned like a damn man, something I remember because the feeling of the warm, smokey air filled my mouth as a result.
We were all on the tracks by the time the demons made a significant reappearance and moving quickly towards the next station... But we needed to stop them following us further. I called a halt and turned to Aurelia once more.
"Can you bring down the roof?" I asked, "Or burn them all?"
It didn't matter if the fire alarms went off now, the demons already knew were there.
"I may have something for it," Dorian said confidently, "If you'll allow it."
I waved towards the station, inviting him to try... because the demons had finally got down the stairs after us and were jumping with complete abandon into the tunnel. They practically bounced down the rails at us. Meanwhile, Dorian was taking his sweet time, glowing purple light swirling around his staff.
"Any time now, pretty boy," I said, very tempted to start shooting again.
"You think I'm pretty?" Dorian asked jokingly, the energy gaining in momentum and mass, "What a nice thing to say!" I began to notice a trend in the guy's jokes; they increased in number with his nervousness or anger. Still though, it was hard to hold it against him.
"Pavus," Aurelia warned, "Do what you're going to do or I'll turn you to a piece of glass right now."
Dorian leaned over to me. "She's no fun at all," he said, "When the spell hits one of them, you shoot it." I put my goggles over my eyes again.
"Kill the light!" I said. The world went darker in the green and black view I had.
And with that, Dorian pointed his staff at the mass of demons. The energy pulsed and blasted out. A bright white orb of magic burst forward, leaving behind a sort of comet's tail of black spots. Or at least, that's what it looked like in NV. With a Mark One eyeball, it was purple.
The spell hit the closest demon... and didn't seem to do anything. Even the demon itself did not notice or care, continuing forward. It was having the same trouble as the demons before with the uneven ground. It did however look like it had bright lights dancing around it in my night-vision, so there was no missing it.
Wondering just what the hell the spell was going to do, I brought my sights onto the target. The Shade swayed on the spot slightly, understanding what I was doing, but the others behind it boxed it in as they came level with it.
I put a three round burst into its chest, perforating it nicely.
A second later, and the world seemed to explode. My goggles showed nothing but the bloom of a detonation, bright enough that the emergency safeguards kicked in and dampened the image. As my eyes shut closed, a thunderous boom rattled past, followed the metal of the tunnel supports around us groaning in complaint.
Pulling my goggles off again and blinking, noticing the destroyed bodies of Shades the entire length of the tunnel and the station beyond, Dorian swung his staff again beside me. Yet more demons were coming down... But this time he swung like a parade baton spin. A glowing purple skull appeared at the tunnel mouth.
In response, the demons immediately fled in terror, shrieking as they hauled themselves up onto the platforms again.
With my entire body feeling jittery and my ears ringing slightly, I turned to Dorian.
"What the hell was that?" I asked.
"Walking bomb spell," he said, "Uses the life force of a dying being to cause an explosion. I've refined it so that it can cause a chain reaction; if another being is killed by the first explosion, then it too explodes, and so on."
I nodded. "Well, it works," I commented mildly, "So that's why you let them crowd into the tunnel? And threw in a 'scare them all shitless' spell for insurance?"
"Yes and yes," Dorian agreed, "Well, it is called a horror spell technically, but semantics."
"Both techniques are necromantic blood magic," Aurelia said from behind, with surprising approval in her tone, "Pavus, who knew you had it in you?" The Altus gave her a scathing glare, displeased that she was trying to sabotage his reputation with us, or so he thought.
"You can't criticise anyone about blood magic," Tam growled at Aurelia, "You are lucky I have not heard of you using any other spell than blood cleansings."
Aurelia conceded the point with little grace, turning on her heel and summoning a magelight, walking away carefully. Mariette and Armen went along, taking that as the cue to start.
"That spell won't keep the demons away forever," Dorian said to those of us still standing around, more seriously now, "They have the right idea. We should keep moving."
So we did.
The next station along the tracks was 'State', and it was thankfully devoid of all demons. It seems that the original waves of demons had come through there, as a great amount of debris was to be found around that indicated a large and sudden movement.
It was strange seeing plastic and aluminum trash again, and even more so in that the demons seemed to have been the ones to generate it; they were chugging down Coca Cola and munching on Hershey's before we arrived. But that didn't make any sense. If we were in some demon realm that had absorbed a part of Earth and the demons did in fact eat, the food and drink would've been gone long ago. Their arrival was recent, perhaps as recent as ours.
I mentioned this to Aurelia and Dorian, both of whom had no significant comment. It was an interesting detail but we didn't know enough for it to be sure it was part of the puzzle.
Knowing Julie would want to see it, I took us out of the station and to the street level again via the entrance that was located in the Old State House, a building with significant history where the American Revolution is concerned.
It was night outside, but all the old style streetlights were lit, so beams of soft yellow-white light allowed us to see around us very easily. There were no demons, and aside from the complete lack of people or vehicles moving around, everything appeared normal.
At least to me; almost everything was totally alien to my companions. We were at the heart of the Government and Financial districts, so skyscrapers whose images are in the books I brought to Thedas rose all around us. The star constellations and the single Moon peaking through the gaps in the massive towers were totally different to those of Thedas. The electrical lights were on for blocks, and you could see down the streets for quite a way as a result.
The others were rendered completely speechless for some time, and I could see from the gaping mouths and searching eyes that there was no hope of getting them moving unless a demon came along. So I had a look around myself for any sign of something useful.
I found one pretty quickly; a police squad car parked up to the side of the State House. An opportunity for various reasons. The equivalent on Thedas at the time would've been a cart with gendarmes' equipment on it, complete with the horses to pull it. Troy has more than a few automotive vehicles today, of course.
While the others were gawping, I happily strolled on over and tried the door of the squad car. It opened without complaint. The radio and computer inside seemed functional, and I began to wonder if we could take them with us somehow, as I tried to pop the trunk. A clunk sound later, and I was in.
The trunk was far more bountiful; it contained road flares, useful tools like crowbars, and best of all, yet more Earth weapons. My movement must've finally broken a trance or two, because Ciara made an appearance beside me.
"What you doing?" she asked, rounding the back of the car and looking inside the trunk.
"Years using German and British crap," I said, laying it on thick as I leaned inside, "But now, at last, Bushmaster has arrived. Fine American engineering!" I picked up an assault firelance and held it up, waggling it end to end.
Ciara looked at me with confusion and bemusement, eyebrow cocked.
"Is that better than mine?" she asked flatly, referring to her British pattern weapon.
"It's an AR platform," I replied, exaggerating, "Of course it is."
It led to a small conversation about guns that I will not bore you with, but it got everyone else's out of dreamland at least, as it was the only conversation in earshot.
"What are you doing?" Dorian called, "What is that?" I winced at the volume with which he was speaking. There were no demons in sight for blocks and blocks, but that didn't mean those in the station below wouldn't hear. The man himself wandered over.
"It's a horseless carriage, an automobile," I replied, via radio so I didn't need to raise my voice, "Everyone, come over here. We've got stuff we can use here."
Dorian was given my explanation by Armen, but the others did as they were told.
I took the assault firelance for myself, as even after years on Thedas using what had come through with me on the helicopter, the new one was of a far more familiar pattern for me. It wasn't exactly the weapon I had carried through my previous military service, but it was very close. It was a strange comfort to have considering I had no idea where the hell I was despite it looking like a city I knew a little about.
I handed off the one I already had to Armen, who took the ammunition in the trunk for it. Tam picked up a shotgun and 12 gauge buckshot shells. The tools I thought would be useful were variously handed out, though Dorian ended up carrying more simply because he wasn't already weighed down with arms and armour. He bore the duty without comment.
We returned to the large space in front of the Old State House, mainly because it was the most convenient way to go where I wanted to go. But as we entered, I saw movement in my peripheral vision.
I stopped at once, dropped to my knee and brought up my new weapon. The others followed suit.
It was … a ghost, for lack of a a better term. A semi-transparent glowing-green spirit in the shape of a human. It floated rather than walked along, albeit at walking pace, crossing the street about thirty yards away.
I tried to remember all the classifications of demon from the pamphlet the Tevinters had provided to help us fight in hellgate zones, but there were many and I didn't remember anything like a ghost being in there. Probably because we hadn't encountered one before. A number of questions arose in my mind, but the most practical was the one I asked.
"Can bullets hurt that thing?" I asked quietly by radio.
"They should," Aurelia confirmed, "It is a Wraith. It is only semi-corporeal, so it is less susceptible than a Shade is, but yes."
"Is it a threat?" Ciara said, "Do we want to start shooting again?"
"Even to you, not much of a threat," Aurelia continued calmly, like this was an expected event, "Its attacks are weak. It may be best if we just let it pass."
No one said anything more, but there seemed to be tacit agreement on that idea, with the added caveat of constant vigilance.
We followed the spirit as it moved, following along the length of the State House, seemingly without trouble... until it reached the corner, where it stopped mid-float. I could see it was more skeletal than being a fully formed human ghost, but the empty eye sockets seemed to stare at me. It had noticed us.
Slowly, it raised a hand and pointed off to our left. The thing was actually communicating with us.
"Is that fucking thing asking to pass?" Leha whispered behind me, "Are they supposed to be able to do that?"
Only one way to find out.
I lowered my weapon and stood again, causing the Wraith to back off a little. I held up a hand as if to say "it's alright", before waving it across to where it wanted to go. There was no point getting into meaningless fights. We had gained a little more ammunition from the squad car, but we weren't ready to draw an entire city's worth of demons down on us just yet.
It seemed to hesitate, before rushing across the front of the State House and rounding the corner, swinging into the subway station entrance on the other side. It was going down to the tunnels, it seemed.
"Why is it going down there?" I asked Aurelia, as everyone relaxed.
"Probably to eat," she replied, "It is theorised that Wraiths are the remnants of dead or injured demons, or are weaker demons. The essence of the Shades we killed may be … tasty to it."
"So we rang the dinner bell by killing them all down there?" Mariette asked.
"More or less," Aurelia smirked, "But the Wraiths will ignore us unless enraged or irritated by something else. And their presence without aggression towards us is a clue about where we are."
"It's practically confirmation of where we are," Dorian began, ready to spill the beans.
"I will not speculate until we know for sure," Aurelia interrupted menacingly, "And neither will you."
Clearly she didn't want us scared shitless and talking about things we knew nothing about until she was sure she had answers. I could respect that position, but it was highly annoying.
"The two of you need to find somewhere private," Leha remarked from the side, "Work out that hatred you've got going."
The two Tevinters looked at my friend like she had two heads, which sent her chuckling under her breath. The outrage was pretty funny to us at the time. Like laugh out loud funny.
I realised that we were suffering from the stress, and decided to move us on.
"Okay, follow me," I said, pointing at one of the towers, "We're going into that building there."
Everyone looked up at the skyscraper, looking oddly excited. Save one.
"What for?" Mariette asked, "What's in there?" To her ear, it seemed like I had picked one at random.
"It's the Hyatt," I said, "A decent hotel."
We entered the building ready to face numerous demons were inside, as we had found the front doors unlocked.
Securing the building took some time, as there were many floors and we didn't turn on any lights, but we didn't bother searching every room either. Thankfully, those doors were all locked, so we could safely assume there weren't any spirits there. Dorian insisted that the Wraiths couldn't go through walls like a ghost would, though I was sceptical of it.
Helpfully, the fire escape maps on every floor let us know the layout of every room and where to look, so we were able to be thorough. The only place we didn't look was the roof itself, as the door had an electronic alarm that we didn't want to set off.
We found no hostiles of any kind. The place appeared to be as you'd expect a hotel; not exactly spotless, but very clean and lived in.
It was like someone had just zapped every human being out of the place in an instant. On two floors, we found cleaners' carts with fresh sheets and the rooms open, as if they were being prepared for the next guests but had been interrupted.
It was, for lack of a better term, fucking eerie. Particularly in the dim green of our NV goggles or the glow of magelight. It set my teeth on edge, and grinding with every movement I thought I saw out of the corner of my vision.
Still, my decision to get inside the hotel was justified in the end. It was safe, had everything we needed, was behind enough other buildings that we wouldn't be immediately spotted if we turned the lights on in the upper rooms with the curtains closed. Hell, the electricity, elevators and air conditioning were all still working.
I ordered us back downstairs via the elevators, which were a great novelty. I sent down half of my companions in one, then joined the rest in the other. It was quite a thing to have Tam grab onto me as the thing sped us down dozens of floors in a mere minute, the sense of weightlessness apparently disconcerting to her.
Something far more funny must've happened in the other one, because Leha, Armen, Ciara and Dorian all came staggering out of it like they were drunk. They refused to say what, but I suspect it had something to do with the stop button.
We needed to go down because the means of getting into the locked rooms was there. I wasn't certain if breaking into the rooms would set off an alarm. Unfortunately, the bar and restaurant area were on the lower floors, so the supplies were there too. The open windows to the street were a vulnerability, so we acted quickly.
I showed most of my companions what to take from the kitchen, the bar refrigerators and shelves, and when they got the general idea, Aurelia, Julie and I proceeded to the reception desk. It wasn't hard to find skeleton keys that opened every guest room.
Our work done, we used the elevators to go to the top floor and I dumped us into the largest room there. It was at the corner of the building, with windows overlooking the Old State House. More Wraiths were filtering in now, making me glad we had moved out of there quick.
It was time we had a chat.
I closed the curtain, turned on the electrical lighting and sat down in one of two comfortable chairs available, unloading my firelance and leaning it against the side of it. I never felt more exhausted in my life.
Tam sat down on the other one beside me, shotgun across her lap, while everyone else ditched boxes and plastic bags of food and booze at random, and arranged themselves on beds or on the floor. The door was closed by Ciara, still on rearguard, and for a moment, we were absolutely silent.
Everyone just needed a minute to digest. For all of my companions had just been bombarded with new experiences and high intensity combat.
After a few minutes of this, I crouched over and pulled a bag towards me. It contained glasses, soft drinks and liquor. As the others watched, I poured Coke and Jack Daniels into a glass, swirling it around.
"Don't suppose I could summon up some ice?" I asked Armen, who was the nearest mage to me, "Just a little?"
"It would melt on contact with you immediately," Armen replied with his signature grin, "Or have you forgotten?"
My anti-magical aura would've undone the magic to create the ice in the first place.
"Ah, right," I said absent-mindedly, glancing around the room, "Hopefully the fridge has a freezer." The machine in question was right beside me, and I opened it to find I was in luck. I opened the thing and then freezer section at the top, to find an ice tray ready and waiting.
How convenient.
I pulled the tray out, cracked off a few blocks of ice from it and into my glass, and enjoyed the first Jack and Coke that had passed my lips in years. It wasn't my favourite drink, but it was something I could make with the ingredients in the bag. And Almighty God, did it taste like heaven!
I drank half of it before handing it off to Tam beside me, who had taken a decided interest in it. She seemed to appreciate it, so I let her finish it off. I leaned back in my seat, exhaling.
"Well, we've had quite a day," I thought aloud. It really didn't require words to know that.
You could see and smell it off of us.
The warpaint that we had all worn was smudged and smeared. We were all soaked with sweat, to the point that the demons could probably have tracked us by scent if they felt the need. We had been running around in clothing more suitable for cold climates rather than the height of a temperate summer.
Everyone sat or lay down with the barest possible effort at remaining upright, yet everyone also remained wired. Alert or nervous.
"Time for the penny to drop," I added after a few seconds, "First thing is first... theories on where we are?"
I looked between the mages, knowing well that they'd each have an opinion. I was right. They didn't hesitate to dive right in.
"The Fade," Dorian said at once, leaning against the wall by the door, "I think it's the only possibility that explains the behaviour of the demons and the whole 'man from another world not dissolving them' issue."
"Impossible," Aurelia countered, from her position atop the nearest bed, "Alexius doesn't have the power to breach the Veil."
Which was true, and pretty easily determined even without hindsight.
"Perhaps he is responsible for the Breach," Dorian replied, "The artefacts to achieve that could have done this."
Possible, but unlikely.
"He used a pendant to do this," Aurelia said, "You said you worked with him on it. It's not elvhen."
"Alexius could have used such an artefact to supercharge it," Dorian asserted, stepping away from the wall.
"Wouldn't that cause an explosion?" Armen asked politely, perfectly aware that he was the least knowledgeable about such things, "The whole point of those artefacts is that they're uniquely capable of channelling mana. The pendant couldn't possibly be as efficient at it, unless your magic is even more advanced than what the Circle is aware of?"
Dorian frowned. "You have a point," he admitted, "But consider what we have seen. The demons here are acting how they would in the Fade, not if they had been summoned or had found a way through the Veil. The Shades attack us, the Wraiths seem to be conscious rather than blindly striking out. We are not under constant attack."
Most of the demons one could meet in hellgate zones had been driven insane by ordinary material reality, and so attacked blindly.
The only exceptions we had encountered were the Pride demons at the beach hellgate near Troy, the ones that had claimed they were acting under orders. They were an important distinction in their own right.
Dorian's idea didn't really tell us why it looked like Boston though.
"There are other explanations for the demon behaviour," Aurelia said.
The Altus crossed his arms. "Are you going to tell us what they are?" Dorian quipped back, "Or just sit there refuting my points."
I half expected Aurelia to insult him in response... but instead she shook her head slowly.
"We're in a Fade-adjacent realm," Aurelia replied slowly, "A reality not unlike the Eluvian Crossroads, probably created by the elvhen dreamers."
That struck my interest.
"Why does it look like a copy of a city from my world?" I asked, "And why would there be demons here?"
She curled a lip in thought for a moment. "Perhaps it is a sanctuary, designed to create a familiar environment to the first person who enters it," Aurelia replied uncertainly, "You were the closest to Alexius when he launched his spell. There are a few mentions of such spaces recorded in various grimoires. As for the demons, Fade-adjacent realms may have rifts to the Fade itself in them, just like Thedas does."
I didn't think the theory fit very well.
While I had been the closest to Alexius when he had activated his pendant, Boston would not be the place I would consider most familiar. Especially not the downtown area. If it wasn't for the subway maps on every wall in the stations we had been in, I wouldn't have been able to navigate to the hotel we were sitting in, for instance.
The reason why the demons were there was pretty plausible though.
"Could we use a rift to get back?" I asked, "Go to the Fade through one and then use a hellgate to get back to Thedas."
Aurelia rubbed her face, which she quickly regretted as her hand came away with a mix of white and blue paint.
"We probably could, but Lady de Villars here made a good point earlier," she grimaced, referring to Mariette, "Alexius' pendant was designed for use with time magic. Whatever else it did, I think we can be sure he sent us somewhere else in time as well."
"Forward to the future?" Julie asked, "Or back into the past?"
"Forward would be my guess," Dorian answered, "If we went back in time, we might affect various futures including the one we originated in, regardless of whether or not this is the Fade or not. Alexius couldn't take that chance."
Tam put down the now-empty glass with a loud clink, hard enough that I thought it might shatter. "Are you saying we are trapped in the future, outside of reality?" she asked, her face grave.
"Yes," Aurelia confirmed in a strange tone of voice, "That is my theory anyway. It will take more information to know for sure."
Tam got out of her seat, turned around and hung her head, tears in her eyes. She was in despair, and I knew why. Our kid was back in Troy, on Thedas in the year 9:40. I grabbed her hand quickly, and it gave a squeeze back in return. Julie got up and joined her, embracing her from behind.
Even Aurelia's indomitable spirit seemed dampened by the prospect that she may not ever see Mark again, after all the trouble she had gone through to bring our son into the world.
"It is not all bad news," Dorian said, "The advantage of time magic is that we have plenty of time to fix it. We can go back to exactly when we left, as if we never had, no matter how long it takes us to do it here. I have the equations and knowledge. Tiberia here has the mana, assuming she isn't boasting idly like most of her other relatives. We could reconstruct the pendant and spell used to get us here, but we still need to know exactly where here is."
I nodded. That made sense, and it was calming to hear that we weren't screwed.
"Alright, then that's our objective," I said, "Tomorrow, we'll do a bit of reconnaissance. Tonight, we'll wash up, eat something, get some sleep."
The smell of all of us packed into a single room was enough to knock out a horse, so emphasis on the wash up part of the idea.
It didn't take long to do what I said.
Everyone took a room, with Julie, Tam and I keeping the large corner room, Ciara and Armen taking the double next door and the others distributing themselves down the corridor.
I was the last to get showered, but ho-ly shit was it wonderful. Troy's plumbing was extremely basic for years, and to get a warm wash, we basically had to put ourselves in a Looney Tunes sized cooking pot doubling as a bath. We also didn't have access to soaps and shampoo on Thedas and everyone took full advantage of gaining them.
Some of the rooms had clothes in them, but they were mismatched for size and purpose for most of us, and we were forced to put on our dirty clothes again. No one brings a change of clothes to an assault on a castle, after all. Not even Dorian Pavus. That was all we thought we were going to be doing that night.
As the water poured down, washing the paint off my face, something did occur to me that broke the bliss for a minute or two. No matter where we were, it definitely wasn't Earth, which meant someone had constructed this place to look like it for a reason.
It was inconceivable that reason would be unrelated to the reason why we were there.
I quickly squashed my worries about this, as we didn't have a lot of darkness left to sleep. Given the heat outside, it was clearly the height of summer in this clone of my world, so the sun would be up soon. We didn't know what would happen then, we needed to be ready for anything, and that meant catching some sleep.
I exited the bathroom, which every single guest space had at least one of, wrapped in towels, to find Julie and Tam curled up together on one of the two large beds with open bottles of wine in their hands. I sauntered on over, wondering what they were doing.
"Don't suppose you're going to be fit for taking a watch?" I asked, pointing at the bottles.
Julie gave me a warning glare, but not in time.
"This is only the second night I have spent away from Helen," Tam replied to me, raising the bottle in salute, "And look at this. We are trapped who knows where, and may never see our daughters again. This is not how I envisaged being as a parent. So am I fit? I do not know." She drank from the bottle directly.
The thing the Qun denied Tam was a family. We gave her one, and now in the service of defending a state that she hadn't wanted to lead, it was possible she had lost the newest members of that family forever.
"We're taking a moment," Julie added, "Sorry."
My heart nearly wrenched itself out of my chest with guilt.
"No, I'm sorry," I replied, "I guess the confidence that Dorian has reassured me that it isn't going to be a problem to get back."
The 'eventually' part of his little speech before did remain a worry though.
"I do not trust Dorian as you do," Tam stated, "He is Tevinter. They boast of their great power, yet are as fallible and vulnerable as anyone else. I saw that many times on Seheron, their incapability to deal with scenarios they could not conceive of beforehand."
I knew exactly what she meant. No doubt many a magister thought they were invincible until the Fog Warriors came out of nowhere and cut their throats. Aurelia in particular was becoming nearly insufferable in her attitude courtesy of her newfound power, something I intended to rein in if I could. I wasn't placing any bets on my possible success there, however.
"The experiments with time will need to be stopped," Julie said, moving us away from the dangerous topic, "If one magister can do it, others could too."
Not to mention forces far more evil than mortal magisters.
"Yeah, time magic is something we're going to have to do something about," I said, beginning to dress again in my dirty uniform, "We'll need to build defences against it back home." What those would consist of, I did not know.
It took a few minutes to get everything back on, and aside from underwear, it was all the stuff I had been wearing throughout the whole experience thus far.
"How was his magic able to take us from Redcliffe anyway?" Julie asked, "Aren't we supposed to be immune?"
"I intend to find out," I asked, "I'm tapping Aurelia for the first watch tonight with me, I'll ask her then. I'll put you on the second-to-last, before Ciara and Armen. Stop drinking and start sleeping. It'll make you feel better." I hoped.
Tam took a last swig and placed the bottle down off the bed, complying. I finished dressing, and not wanting to leave without a further word to her, I kneeled down at her side of the bed.
"Hey, I promise you, we'll get back and soon," I said, "You'll see."
Tam pat my head like I was a dog. "I shall believe it when I see it," she smiled, "I appreciate you trying to cheer me up."
"Any time," I said, kissing her forehead.
Julie leaned over Tam and gave me a quick kiss herself. "I'll stay with her," she said, "Go find out why we're in this mess."
"Gotcha," I replied, getting up again.
I grabbed my armour and weapons, and not putting them on me, I proceeded out the door and down the corridor. We had jammed all the doors open so everyone could hear a shout from those on watch if required, which made things a bit drafty but that was better than sleeping through the word going out that demons were attacking us.
I went straight to Aurelia's room, which was the finest in the hotel, at the exact opposite end of the corridor to ours.
I walked straight in, to find her lounging in a chair in front of a desk mirror in nothing but a bathrobe, brushing her hair.
"I see you used the hair dryer," I said, picking the thing up from the table as I got to the desk.
"I'm taking it back with us," she said, concentrating on her task, "In fact, I may take all of them back with us." Which she would power via her own magic. Electrical magic was something of a speciality of Armen, who had figured out long before how to recharge or power Earth devices.
Looting the hotel of modern conveniences was apparently on many of my companions' agenda, come to think of it. As I had passed Leha's room, she had one of the beds filled with such tools, and was inventorying them gleefully. She smelled profit.
Dorian on the other hand was trying on business suits that didn't exactly fit him, with Mariette looking on with amusement.
Everyone was de-stressing as best they could. I sighed, and wished it was a simple as a bit of looting for Tam. Julie at least seemed okay, fascinated by everything she saw.
"Will we be able to bring them back?" I asked, "Will they not disappear or something as soon as we get back?"
"I do not think so," Aurelia said, switching the side of her hair she was brushing, "They appear to be constituted as real matter, to quote your science books. They can exist in the real world without the Fade, in other words."
"So my peashooter can come back with us?" I asked, holding up my new weapon.
"Indeed it can," Aurelia smiled, finally looking my way via the mirror, "I presume you have come to ask how it is that someone with the anti-magical Outlander trait could possibly be transported through time and into an adjacent realm by magic?"
Of course she would expect that question. The only person more reliable to ask that I knew of would've been her grandfather, and I was very glad he wasn't there with us.
"Actually, you and I have the first watch," I said, "But we can multitask."
Aurelia ceased her brushing, and got up, stepping into her boots as she did so. She pulled her naginata and her Earth helmet from the side table by the bed with her magic, catching them mid-air with perfect coordination.
"Your helmets are pure hell on my hair," she said breezily, placing hers back on, "But I don't know magic to see in the dark yet, so I need something to hold the goggles on." She fiddled with the latter for a moment, making sure it was still attached properly.
I raised an eyebrow, as she hadn't told me to get out while she redressed.
"You sure you want to go on watch in a bathrobe?" I asked, "What if the demons assault the building?"
"Then I will annihilate them with my magic," she shrugged, "Unlike you, I don't need armour to protect my person. I do not fear being here."
That felt particularly callous in light of what Tam was going through.
"Question: are you not afraid of never seeing Mark again?" I asked, "You know, our child?"
Aurelia walked out the door, while I followed.
"I am certain we will find a way back," she said, "And even if we do not, he is with my family. He will be loved, and so will his sisters. He will know about his mother and father, and he will know his destiny."
There was a certain fatalism to that which I did not like hearing.
"So you don't care if you see him again?" I asked.
Aurelia stopped dead in front of me, her head still pointed forward. "I did not say that," she insisted.
We resumed our progress forthwith, and headed down a floor using the stairwell. Here, Ciara and Armen had been put on watch, at a window overlooking the street below and located beside the door to the stairwell.
In case you were wondering... the elevators had been disabled through the simple method of jamming their doors open with chairs on the floor; even if the demons could have called them, they would stay where they were, on the top floor.
Ingenious if I do say so myself.
My two elf companions were sitting by the window in another room with the door open, diligently observing the outside in darkness when we made our appearance.
They spared us a glance to our leaving the stairwell only for a brief moment. Their goggles were on, and there was a ring of empty or half empty snack bags around them. Ciara whispered something to Armen, which caused him to give out a laugh as we went into the room.
Must've been the bathrobe, I thought, as Aurelia waltzed on right up to the window.
"Miss anything?" I asked.
"Wraiths and Shades in combat earlier," Armen said, "The locals are restless."
"Good, means they won't be expecting us," I said, "You're relieved. Here's the watch schedule for everyone else. And thanks for everything today... you two were the best. Saved all our asses. Get some rest."
I handed over a note to Ciara I had written while I was waiting for everyone else to shower.
"No problem," Ciara replied, "See you in six hours!" Armen grabbed a bag of chips and together, the pair went back to the stairs.
Aurelia and I were alone. I sat down where Armen had been against the corner where the wall met the window, picking up another bag of chips and opening it, popping down my goggles to begin my watch. I was soon munching away on the snack, watching far off demons in a surprisingly intense running battle a number of blocks away past the Boston City Hall.
"Wonder what they're fighting for," I thought aloud.
"Territory," Aurelia answered, "It seems this place has no ruler, no greater demon to claim it, so there is war."
"Does territory matter to demons?" I asked, "I mean, a physical space?"
"It does, though there are only unproven hypotheses about why," she replied, "It is an open question whether or not the Fade is infinite. The number of mortal beings is not and the Fade seems to be a reflection of the consciousness of mortal beings, dead and alive."
"And if it isn't infinite, then demons compete for space," I concluded, before putting more chips in my mouth.
"That's one theory anyway," Aurelia exhaled, "Another is that it is a great game played between the greater powers of the Fade, a means to satisfy the boredom of eons of existence. That isn't proven either, as it is unknown if spirits and demons are truly immortal. The existence of Wraiths and wisps would seem to suggest they are not."
"They don't need to be immortal to get bored," I said, "Most of mortal life is boring, after all."
We kept watch for half an hour, my head feeling increasingly more fuzzy. The demons mostly disappeared in that time, leaving empty streets. To the east, over the sea, the sky between the skyscrapers began to turn dark blue from the black of the night, ever so slightly.
Without warning, Aurelia moved elsewhere in the room and lifted a chair over to the window, a carbon copy of the one she had in her own room. She relaxed into it, kicking off her boots again and crossing her bare legs. The motion was somewhat distracting, I had to admit.
"You're wearing goggles," she said, "I can tell exactly where you're looking."
"Whoops," I replied flatly, returning my gaze to the streets below, "Sorry." My fatigue was getting to me, clearly, breaking down my discipline a bit. I was very much ready to sleep now that I had sat down for more than a minute.
"Don't worry, we'll try again in winter," she yawned from behind her hand, "You can look all you want then." She was referring to our marital duty towards her dynasty. Mark was to have siblings after all.
I remained silent.
Said duty wasn't unpleasant, but it was also a reminder of how much debt I owed and how I couldn't repay in gold and silver. Aurelia didn't seem to mind, she used magic to avoid the more onerous aspects of the deal and seemed to enjoy the process, not ever going out of her way to get it over with quickly. Though she never came to my bed for any reason other than procreation either.
"You wanted to know why Alexius' magic was able to portal you, right?" Aurelia reminded me out of the blue, "Or do you want to wait until after you've slept?"
"No, Julie and Tam will want to know when I get back," I said, "How'd he pull it off?"
There was a rustle of plastic as Aurelia took some chips and ate them, not deigning to speak while she chewed.
"His magic did not make direct contact with you nor was it trying to chance the material reality of your person," Aurelia replied after finishing eating, "He took a part of reality from one time to another. Not unlike how the eluvians create a corridor of reality between Thedas and the Crossroads. You are able to traverse those."
"But I destabilise the portal by doing so," I said, before realising the obvious, "Is that why we're here? Did my presence screw with his spell somehow?"
"I would assume so," Aurelia said, "As I told your dwarf friend, I don't know what Alexius was thinking, but I know where I'd send my enemies if I had such magic; to the end of time itself. This isn't the end of time. Nowhere close, if I'm guessing right. I doubt we're still in the same year we left, but I wouldn't expect that we're too far from it either."
She stretched her arms above her head, rolling her head. "Alexius put you in a bubble of reality, began moving it, and your anti-magical aura burst it before we reached our destination," she finished.
That seemed right, but what the hell did I know?
"So even if we can't recreate his pendant and spell, we might be close enough to go home anyway?" I asked, "No wonder you're not very shaken up by any of this."
Aurelia shifted in her seat. "It's a matter of deduction from the facts we have available," she said, "I could be completely wrong and Pavus could be right, though I still say that's unlikely."
Her answer had me lost in my own thoughts. Pondering on what it would mean if we were five, ten, fifteen years later than the time we left.
Would our children recognise us? Almost certainly not, though that might be remedied if we were only a few years removed.
Would Troy still be there? I had to believe so, with Soprano, Velarana and the Tiberii to watch over it.
Those two questions came first, but their answers depended on the question 'would the world still be there in five to fifteen years time?'. There was no guarantees it would have been at that point.
I was drifting off into these ideas, coming up with scenarios where Troy had to fight the entire Fade's worth of demons, to the point that it took Aurelia three tries to get my attention again.
"Wake up!" she shouted, pulling me back to the here and now, "Look!"
She stabbed a finger against the window, eastwards down the street that ran past the State House.
It was quite a sight indeed.
A whole column of demons was on the move, and these were no Shades. Fifteen foot tall Pride demons, at least a hundred of them, came stamping slowly into view, in ranks of three. They seemed to be in step, like they were on parade or a forced march, proceeding as quickly as the large, lumbering creatures could.
"Looks like a greater demon is making a move," I said, "Never seen a demon army before."
I really ought to have tried to get used to the sight, but it isn't easy.
"If my grandfather could only see this..." Aurelia mumbled, before speaking up, "Shouldn't we warn the others?"
I thought about that for a moment. "No," I said, "Let's wait and see where they go. They're too big to use the stairs or come up the elevator."
"They could climb the outside of the building," Aurelia pointed out, correctly.
"Not fast enough that we could warn everyone," I replied, "While they climb up, we can pile into the elevators and go down."
With that, we watched the demon column march forward, on its way. It did not halt and come towards the hotel, instead passing from left to right, east to west, with not so much as a glance in our direction. As soon as the first few began passing the State House and out of our view, Aurelia collapsed back onto the chair with relief.
"Told you," I said.
"This complicates things regardless," Aurelia said, with a wave of her hand, "We are in the middle of a demon warzone, Sam. That's what we just discovered. It is not a matter of 'told you so', it's going to make our job at getting home extremely difficult."
I couldn't argue with that.
"Yeah, alright," I said, "I'll go tell everyone."