Roland's Inferno

by LordMallius

Four people set out at Lucifer's request to find the city of human reason described in Dante's travels to ask if the redemption of souls in truly possible. *Note: while this is set in the Hazbin Hotel universe, it is largely and original story with an original cast.*

Word from the author:

Dear reader.

I have a problem. I envisioned this over the course of a year a bug in my brain that I couldn't get out, that I had to write down, an epic story in the format of a television show in the vein of Dante's Inferno. set in the Hazbin Hotel universe with the question of the justness of the idea of Hell at the center. The television show became more book like as my writing went on, hence its somewhat unconventional format. Little by little I worked on it and my writing improved until to my shock it reached a hundred thousand words. I am convinced this is a great story, but it's just not there yet. I have a long history of being too harsh on my own work, but at the same time I am unconvinced that this story was told as well as it could have been. This I leave to you. I ask primarily for feedback on whether or not it is good or bad, great or terrible. More than anything else I ask how and where to make improvements. This is a great story; I am convinced of it. But I am not sure it is there yet.

Humbly

The author.

Episode 1: The Bargain.

"Hail horrors, hail Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings
A mind not to be changed by Place or Time.
The mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, all but less then he
Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n."

John Milton Paradise Lost

Scene 1:

A huge red pentagram hovers over the sky above a noisy and crowded city. Graffiti covers the walls and the sound of gunfire is heard in the distance. One demon gives another an ugly look and lunges at him and a knife fight breaks out. Passersby walk on barely noticing the scene. An armed demon enters a large factory with a large yellow sign with the words "Cerberus Munitions" written across it. Smoke pours from the huge smokestacks on the factory edge. The words "Danger, gunpowder" are written along the side. Inside the sound of machines roar and assembly lines whiz. Metal glows white hot as manufacturing equipment pours metal tubes from forges. A huge sign on the wall reads "DANGER GUNPOWDER: WORKERS MUST WEAR RUBBER GEAR NO EXCEPTIONS! METAL OR HELLCOTTON GARMENTS OR ACCESSORIES ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITED WITHIN!" Along the assembly line, workers wearing full rubber suits from head to toe operate machines, pouring black powder into cartridges. A figure in a rubber suit walks along the assembly line, inspecting the workers. They look nervously at him, but keep moving. He comes to a secured lobby on the edge of the Assembly line. The figure takes off his rubber suit revealing a Corrupt, but otherwise human looking demon. Black veins run all across his face and his hair is an ashen mess. Beneath the rubber suit he is revealed to be wearing an elaborate part suit, part robe with a black tie on the neck. The most striking thing about the figure though is his eyes. His eyes glow a blue so intense that his pupils can't be seen against the light they give off. He steps out of the lobby and into a parallel room, this one walks down another assembly line, this one filled with demons making an assortment of firearms. He looks at a complicated looking pistol and gives a slight smile. The workers eye him as he passes a little nervously as if he might suddenly jump out at them, but he just nods and silently keeps moving. One worker looks up at him. "When will the new assault rifle model be ready sir?" the blue-eyed man smirks and looks down at the worker. "Soon, I almost have the issue with the jamming firing modes worked out. The worker shuffles awkwardly "And when can we see it?" The figure smirks "All in due time." The figure resumes his walk through the factory until he comes to a set of double doors labelled "Storefront." He walks through them to a store lined with guns of every size and caliber. Rifles, Revolvers, Shotguns, Assault Rifles, Sniper Rifles all with a yellow and black mark with a three headed dog printed along the receiver. Ammo for all these weapons as well as modern combat armor line the store as well. The figure looks at the busy storefront and smiles. He walks up to a cashier in a black and yellow uniform who is busy checking out a tall looking demon buying a large double-barreled shotgun. The figure walks up behind him "How's business?" The Cashier jumps "Oh, Roland! All right sir, I think Henri wanted to see you in the... um... basement." Roland nods at this and walks down an unmarked flight of stairs into the sub-basement below. Inside is row upon row of books with titles like. "Rise and fall of the Holy Roman Empire" and "The rise of Modern Japan." The figure walks over to a massive figure leaning against a back wall. He stands nearly seven feet tall and wears what looks like a full suit of medieval plate armor. Closer inspection reveals that the armor is modern ballistic plating. His face is that of a bull's, a huge mane of black hair rolls down his back from his head and a patch of hair falls from his face as if it were a goatee. At his sides are two massive modern revolvers and on his back is a claymore sheathed against a large modern riot shield. "Milord." Roland smirks. "Henri. I heard there was some kind of issue down here. A demon woman with a large hat covering her face comes to the front. She seems nervous and starts stuttering. "I don't normally indulge in this stuff but.. but...Do you know anything about um a place called the Philippines in the second world war?" The woman fidgets and looks around wildly, as if the mere mention of 'The Philippines' would spawn a lynch mob. Roland looks at her blankly "I do." the woman acts finicky "I just need to know one thing and that's it I swear..." Roland walks over to a clean shelf and picks up a plain book labelled "The Philippines 1920-1945" He hands it to her "MacArthur keeps his promise. The woman's eyes tear up and she takes the book. "I'll buy it." She shoves the book into her purse and pulls out a wad of bills and hands them to Roland. Henri leans back on the wall looking on amused. She looks back at Roland who nods at her in turn. After a moment, she scurries out of the store. Henri looks at her as she leaves "Do you know what that was about?" Roland looks out and in a distant voice says "In 1941 the Japanese invaded the Philippines as part of some larger push to take over eastern Asia. The United States, at the time the master of the islands promised to defend them, in particular a bullish general named Douglas MacArthur. The Japanese killed civilians by the tens of thousands in an attempt to instill 'supremacy' into them. They suffered horrendous losses. The defenders were completely driven back and Douglas MacArthur evacuated the islands with one promise 'I shall return.' Imagine if you were killed in that campaign and the last thing you ever saw was your nation burning around you and the only hope left the flickering promise of a fleeing general. What if someone told you after 75 years that the answer to the question of what happened to your people was on sale for $150 in some arms merchant's factory. Could you resist?" Henri looks around "It's amazing what the taboo has done to people." Roland smiles "I often debate which is more amazing, that people bow to the taboo and throw away all they were or that despite the near total, often lethal taboo on ever mentioning anything of your previous life, that people still let it shine through. I mean look around..." *he gestures wildly about the store* "...I do a brisk business. Hell changes people, but it can never erase them. "Roland looks out a window vaguely at the heaven orb in the sky "It takes a power altogether more sinister to do that." Roland looks about the bookstore then claps his hands. "Come Henri, I want to show you the new prototype. The two of them leave the bookstore.

Scene 2:

Roland sees moving shadows out of a window on the ledge overlooking the factory and his eyes dilate. A bullet whizzes through the window and he screams "RAID" at the top of his voice. He pulls an alarm and flashing lights and sirens start going off. Blast shields start to come down over the windows and employees start panickily running to pre-arranged battle stations. Roland quickly tells an employee to tell the store that any customer gets to keep a gun if they use it to defend the store. Gunfire is heard and a bullet whizzes through a wall. Roland and Henri make their way to a small arms locker and they quickly suit up in advanced looking arms and armor. Roland's suit looks modern, but Henri's resembles a modernized version of a medieval suit of armor. Roland uses what looks like an elongated assault rifle while Henri carries two large revolvers and what looks like an oversized sword. The two join a squad of armored personnel wearing black and yellow uniforms at what appears to be a side door. They burst through it into wild bullet fire and start shooting at the cliff where the unknown enemy has taken up position. Roland manages to score a lucky long-range hit on one of the snipers as they charge up the hill, behind them one of the store troopers takes a hit and goes down. Roland keeps countering with suppressing fire all the way up the hill until the two manage to take cover behind a large rock. Behind them troopers start firing and the two sides trade roughly equal casualties. All of a sudden, the sound of a rotary canon starts from a bunker overlooking the cliff down at the factory. "Sheise, there are only a few people who make that kind of hardware." He yells to the troopers, "Looks like we got a hostile competitor people." Henri and Roland look at each other and without saying a word charge in unison up the hill and into the bunker. Roland blasts open the side door and into the room. He stares in disbelief. And screams "I HATE THE AFTERMARKET!" The gun has the logo of Cerberus Munitions on the side. Henri is right behind Roland and dispatches the gunner with a quick shot from his sidearm. Roland does a quick scan of the empty bunker. "That takes care of them, lets..." an explosion knocks them back. They cough through the smoke and Cherri Bomb is steps through it. " 'Sup" she says sarcastically. Roland rolls his eyes. "Let me guess, like every two-bit overblown wannabe warlord with too much confidence and not enough brains, you have decided that you would like some of my weapons 'at a discount'." She laughs in his face and lights a pink bomb. "Nope, I want gunpowder." Roland's eyes narrow as he sidles over to the open door. "MAKE YOUR OWN!" he screams and opens fire on her. Henri joins in firing wildly. Cherri is taken aback and retreats out of the bunker and reconnoiters with her remaining forces who are evidently losing the firefight. Cherri pulls out a red grenade marked "incendiary" Roland's eyes go wide and he yells at Cherri already retreating. "Wait, you don't understand, those drums are literally massive powder kegs, one spark and all you'll end up doing is..." She throws the bomb at the factory and it lands landing on the roof. A slow scene as the grenade goes off and burning liquid drips down a chimney, into the gunpowder storage. The Factory explodes in a massive upward blast. The storefront is only mostly destroyed but the factory floor is totally obliterated. Roland looks on with a shocked expression on his face and makes his way down the hill to survey the damage as Cherri and her few remaining forces retreat.

Scene 3:

Roland sits in an underground shooting range that evidently survived the blast he holds a yellow and black gun with twin bayonets on the top and an extremely long barrel. He sighs looks down the sights takes a deep breath then takes the shot at a target at the far end. It misses slightly to the upper right. He shoots again this one is slightly left. He shoots five times in rapid succession. Miss right. Miss left. Above. Below. Hit. He hits a button on the far side of the shooting range the target moves back to a far distance and artificial rain and wind start up. Roland screams and starts fiddling with the settings erratically while firing, pushing the gun to its limit venting his frustration at the day's events on the poor target, which is annihilated in a stream of automatic fire. Roland smirks satisfied at the gun. Henri enters and looks at the smoking gun in Roland's hands "did you get the new model working?" he asks. Roland looks up "I did, passed with flying colors. Think I got the situation with the receivers firing modes all worked out." Roland takes a deep breath. "Alright Henri lay it on me. What's the damage?" Henri takes a deep breath and says "The factory floor has been annihilated entirely, full loss, no chance of salvaging production even partially, we lost almost 3 million worth in the value of the powder..." Roland winces. "...and another 25 million in equipment. Repairs may take a full year. As for the casualties seven wounded and four will have to...regenerate." Roland sighs and walks over to a table where he begins disassembling the gun. Henri perks up and looks at the prototype rifle. "What are you going to call it?" Roland smirks looking at the twin bayonets then the destroyed target before replying "Stormfang." Roland says wearily. After a moment he says "It wouldn't matter how much security we hired. No matter how many we fight off other people always are willing to risk harm to try to take what we have." Henri pauses a moment then asks "What are we going to do about the damage?" He gestures about the place indicating the destroyed factory. Roland walks over to another part of the factory's basement. This time to what is clearly a well secured vault. He enters a complex combination and it opens revealing line after line of gold bars and stacks of currency. He walks over to a small safe in the back and enters an old-fashioned rotary combination. It opens and he pulls out a single document. "Well." he says "We are going to have to invoke our liege lord on this one." Henri looks very worried at this, but nonetheless follows him out.

Scene 4:

Roland and Henri walk in front of a massive stone structure that resembles a massive Victorian looking palace. Muscular guards of an intimidating nature patrol the outer perimeter one humorously looks at a gawking pedestrian who promptly squeaks and continues on his way. Roland and Henri are dwarfed by its imposing silhouette. They both step forward. Roland looks over to Henri "I have contacted my liege lord and he scheduled an appointment earlier today; I expected more trouble getting a meeting, but a position opened surprisingly quickly." Henri's face squinches up with nerves at this news. "My lord, High Lord Lucifer makes deals, not favors." Roland keeps going unperturbed. "And we have a deal with him. I have always kept my end and never before abused my position by invoking this contract. The high Lord has no grounds not to honor it." Henri mutters to himself. "He is called the prince of lies." Then more quietly "Forgive me Lord." as he grasps at a wood cross on his chest. Roland does not respond to this. A man with a corrupted face and yellow glowing eyes meets them at the gates. He doesn't waste words "Right this way gentlemen." Roland looks at him and speaks up. "Nick, how ya doin' Still going without any weapon. That's a mistake around here. Discount to any in the service of his majesty. Come on I must have something you want." Nick looks back and rolls his eyes at Rolands attempts at salesmanship. "I don't need a weapon for my work, I have my wits. There is nothing I want, Von-Braun, that you could give me, besides I'm not stupid enough to carry money on me while I'm on the job." Roland gives an evil smile, "Oh I have something that everyone wants, come on name your price, I could use that gold button on your shirt, that has to be worth something." "Enough Von-Braun." his voice makes it clear that he is not interested in chatting. They enter an enormous entry chamber lined with paintings and an intimidating looking figure steps out of an elevator and steps up to the two the silhouette is peeled back to reveal Lucifer himself before them. Lucifer smiles "Wooie, do not go into the upstairs bathroom, seems Beelzebub was here earlier." he slaps the guard so hard on the back that he falls over. Roland begins to approach him but before he can He comes to Henri, "Chevalier, Mercier, my boy how has un-life been treating you, still holding out hope in tyrants and fools?" Henri frowns at this and glances at Roland who stands there worriedly. Henri replies carefully "Yes. though my current lord does me well enough, majesty." Lucifer smiles wider and says "You know I know a lord who would like your spirit, He has a few quirks. He demands total obedience from his followers, once killed a whole family of his most loyal follower just to test his loyalty, wiped out a whole territory with slow tortures just because its leader offended his followers. Why, once he had a newly anointed demon torn in half to introduce him to the concept of pain for rebelling against him." Henri recoils says "I would never follow such a lord." Lucifer's smile grows dangerous and he leans in closer glancing at the broken Templar cross stitched into Henri's armor. In a low dangerous tone, he practically whispers "Why did you then?" Before Henri can respond He perks up. "Roland my boy I heard what happened to your factory, terrible business, terrible business. I assume you are here about your... he pauses for a long moment. 'protection.'" Roland nods "Aye milord." Lucifer gestures to the elevator and Roland reluctantly steps into it. He nods to Henri who leans against the wall in a ready position. "Any interesting side projects." his voice gets low. "We all need a hobby." Roland mutters. "I am Writing, mostly under pseudonyms though." Lucifer laughs merrily and replies "I have written books under many names L. Ron Hubbard, John Milton, E.L. James!" and laughs before swinging his cane wildly narrowly missing the wall and poking the elevator door for penthouse. At the mention of this second name Roland's eyelids shoot up. "Well Roland should we continue this in my office." Roland pauses "I think that would be a good idea my lord." Lucifer smiles and the doors swing open onto the penthouse. Roland steps within.

Scene 5:

They enter a large office area overlooking Dis, the walls are adorned with two paintings on the right is a large portrait of an elongated serpent giving an apple to a naked woman. Underneath it reads the subtitle "Lucifer's gift." On the left is another large portrait defying a battle amongst angelic looking beings entitled "The War in Heaven." Roland and Lucifer sit down together at a large desk at the center of the room. Roland casually asks "Good to see you my Lord, Is Charlie doing well?" The temperature in the room drops abruptly and Lucifer's eyes narrow. Slowly he says "She has been taken by delusions of fluffy bunnies and clouds of late. More dangerous delusions than usual." His eyes narrow. "How much do you know about it, Roland? The public mood being your..." he pauses menacingly "...specialty." Roland gulps. After a second replies "I have heard of it. I think her idea is... Curious... and likely ultimately harmless. In the unlikely event she succeeds it could bring big changes to Hell. If at all possible." Lucifer's eyes narrow further. "Indeed. Would these changes be a... good thing in your view?" Roland pauses and replies slowly. "I... think..." He sighs "The bad would outweigh the good. It would jeopardize too much of what we here..." he gestures out at the city indicating everyone, not just the two of them. "...have fought for for too long for it to be a good thing." Lucifer replies slowly, "Well, you know Charlie, would you be able to talk her out of it?" Roland sighs "She sees me as too biased. If we had someone who was truly neutral and spoke with a truly renown voice on the matter, she might listen to them. From me it would just be a waste of her time." There is a silence for a moment and then Roland says with a wry smile. "Much as you did. I read your book Mr. Milton, Before Any down here read it I did. Along the banks of the Thames almost four centuries ago. I can see why you feel down on the idea." A smile spreads over Lucifer's lips and he slowly gets up and walks to the window and recites.

"Farewell happy Fields
Where Joy forever dwells: Hail horrors, hail
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings
A mind not to be changed by Place or Time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
What matter where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be, ail but less then he
Whom Thunder hath rue'd greater? Here at least
We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heaven."

Lightning flashes outside and for a brief image the reflection in the window shows not Lucifer's usual jovial form, but a corrupted, handsome angel with glowing black eyes. Roland says in a quiet voice. "I do see why she wants this, and why some might follow. After all, to stay means annihilation." In a more confident tone, he recites.

"And that must end us, that must be our cure:
To be no more. Sad cure! For who would lose,
Though full of pain, this intellectual being,
Those thoughts that wander through eternity,
To perish, rather, swallowed up and lost
In the wide womb of uncreated night
Devoid of sense and motion?"

A smile spreads across Lucifer's lips in spite of himself. "Roland, you know it truly is a shame that you and Charlie didn't work out." After a moment he asks "So, you think she would listen to an unbiased source. Can you think of anyone at all in the whole of this infernal place, that even can be unbiased? Let alone someone she would actually listen to?" Roland is silent a long moment. "Well... I once heard her mention that she more than anything would like to hear what the sages of New Akademos thought about it. They might be able to convince her. Lucifer is silent for a long moment "Roland, are you proposing, what I think you are proposing?" Roland slowly says "I think that it is an interesting idea." Lucifer looks at the paper in Roland's hand. Signals to hand it to him. Roland does. Lucifer spends a moment going over the contract in detail. "Roland, this contract says that all replacements are provided at my discretion, and I wouldn't ordinarily approve a... 'claim' of this cost without a little incentive on my end. Roland's face scrunches in worry. "Fortunately, the affair we just discussed is a service in the price range in demand, so if you can reach the outer walls of Limbo and receive the opinion of those" he snorts. "'philosophers' that Dante was so enamored with, return to Charlie and give them their opinion, I will pay to have your factory rebuilt." Roland stays quiet a long moment and then says "Aye my lord. I will do this for you." Lucifer gets up and holds out his hand. Roland takes it and the two shake. Roland returns downstairs Henri is still leaning on the wall waiting for him. After a moment Roland says "I really shouldn't have invited the wizard back for tea." At Henri's confused look he says that "We will be going on a little trip beyond the wall. I will explain on the way back to the factory."

Scene 6:

Henri and Roland walk back to the factory ruins. "I think we should bring more than just the two of us. We've pulled it off before but after the affair with the Bangwathi..." Henri nods frantically. "Let's not go it alone again milord." The two share a knowing nod and move on towards the factory. A lone armed woman with vaguely mousesque features sits in the ruins in one of the uniforms of Roland's employees. She lays back staring about the remains of the factory before staring at the sky "She smiles and laughs hysterically in what appears to be a drug fueled haze. "Is...Is it always like this around here. Getting blown up I mean.". Roland smirks. " Disasters like this don't happen very often, at least not to me, but they are a reality of living as we do. Violence is all around us. We are here to suffer such things." Concern penetrates her euphoria. She giggles hysterically "I'm gonna die again." Roland's eyes raise at this and he turns to Henri. Henri says blankly "She arrived a week ago and I hired her less than three days ago as a cashier. She seemed competent enough and unlikely to rob the store, plus she actually knows how to use a computer. I figured it was worth giving the newlydead a shot." Roland looks around "Where are the rest of the guards?" Roland says blankly. "Left on leave since they almost certainly had better work to be doing." She looks up at them with a dazed sad smile. "I didn't want to be alone here. I wanted to stick with them, but they left." Henri almost interjects at this but Roland shushes him before he can get very far. Roland pauses for a long moment before continuing and asks "Would you like a special high paying job?" She pauses for a long moment and looks up at him "Yes." she says. "I want to do something..." She lets out a slight giggle "...amaaazing I want to see the world." Roland looks amused and mutters to himself "And infernal fires help me I actually might be able to help you with that." Roland goes over to what appears to be a concrete armory that (mostly) survived the destruction of the factory. Henri steps over and interjects. "Milord... I only hired her to be a cashier, she seems to have a bit of a... habit." Roland shrugs "Who doesn't down here, besides I like her dedication. It's not the first time we've inducted someone to the way things are down here via a little baptism of fire." He pulls out smallish armor roughly in her size before turning to her and asking her. "Miss..." "Amber" she responds. "What is your weapon of choice?" A look of sadness penetrates her drugged state. "I don't have much experience with guns, I tried to use one during the attack... I missed. I need something easy to use I guess." Roland pulls out what appears to be a small silenced semi-automatic shotgun. "This is a Cerberus munitions M24 Hornet. It's a shotgun. Like all shotguns, it has the deceptive quality of being easy to use, but hard to truly master." She looks apprehensive at first but takes the weapon regardless and the trio walk out. Henri pulls Roland aside and asks "milord, are you seriously preposing we literally march all the way to the edge of hell, with just the three of us?" Roland looks up. "Well, we have performed miracles before, but no, you're right. I have an interesting idea for a fourth companion."

Scene 7:

The party enters a stingy bar. All manner of toughs are huddled around the place drinking, gambling and watching tv. Two women in skimpy clothes sit by the pool table. One sees the group and waves a friendly wave at Roland. "Roland..., honey." she says "Just for you." she gestures down at herself. Roland ignores her. Amber looks aound nervously at the bar but Roland remains unperturbed moving towards the back where a woman with tiger stripes over her face and claw nails for fingernails sits nursing a drink with the Cyrillic word пиво [beer] written along the bottle. She looks up surprised at the people approaching and her eyebrows raise at the sight of Roland. She brashly glances up at him and after a moment mutters "What do you want? I don't have any new gossip for ya and I don't have anything else do so if you don't mind..." Roland smiles slightly and interrupts, "Alexandra, how long have you been here?" She sheepishly replies "I go home every night at round *she mumbles* 2 or 3." Roland gives her an accusing smile. "In that case I have come to save you from this place." She looks up sharply at him and angrily asks "Why do you think I need saving?" Roland pulls out a newspaper clipping and shows it to her it displays a headline "UNKOWN SHOOTER 'BLACK BULLET' BRINGS DOWN 31." There is a long pause. "So." She says. Roland looks at the newspaper. "The shooter got two shots off that landed the better part of three quarters of a mile away." He smiles quietly and pulls out a receipt from his store and a bullet casing half covered in what appears to be black paint. Roland replies "You could do better than half drunk in a bar. You could be a fine oiled cog that changes the face of fiefdoms. You could not just mean something, but be better than almost anyone else at it." Alexandria grows angry at this. "I had nothing to do with the shooting." but it is clear from her tone of voice that 1. She is lying and 2. Roland doesn't believe her. Roland pulls out his phone and plays a video. Security footage plays and shows a hooded figure. Clearly Alexandra buying a high-end sniper rifle and ammo. Roland smirks. "Whoever it was had impeccable taste in hardware." She starts to object but Roland holds up a hand. "Look, I am not here to lay accusations about who shot up some Taboo breaking master racers. I am here to offer you a job. A challenge. Something better than sitting here and selling rumors to his majesties agents." Her eyes flash with anger. "I'm not for sale." Roland pulls out a piece of paper and writes a number on it. She is silent for a long moment and then sheepishly mutters "When do we leave?" Roland smiles and claps his hands. "Immediately bring your rifle. You will be needing it." The four of them make their way out of the bar and start walking towards a large cliff wall in the distance, Roland mentioning that they have quite a journey in front of them. Amber shifts over to Henri and asks "How did you come to know him? Is he a good boss? I only worked with him for a week." Henri smiles.

FLASHBACK:

Hell 1831

Scene 1:

Pan down to a massive gladiatorial style arena A sand pit sits washed red with the blood of previous contestants. Two people lie dismembered on the sand each having succumbed to the other's wounds. A bored looking janitor comes out and begins sweeping up the mess. He takes the two corpses and carelessly places them into a cart before laying down fresh sand and leaving through a side entrance. An announcer comes over the loudspeaker "Ladies and gentlemen! I hope you haven't bet all of your money yet, because it seems we have one last fight of the day! And it's a doozy folks, get ready for the bull!" Henri, this time garbed in primitive armor and equipped with an old-fashioned one-shot pistol and European rapier emerges from the entry portcullis. The other person, Roland is thrown into the arena from the stands clearly having recently committed some transgression and apparently Not having been scheduled to fight. He also only has a pistol and a rapier, though his pistol appears different. The two lock eyes from across the arena and each slowly walk towards each other. Roland slowly approaches the massive armored figure. "big guy." he mutters under his breath. Henri just snorts and both raise their pistols. They stand firm and salute each other with their pistols in standard dueling protocol, then they take aim. A loud BANG rains out as they both fire at the same time. Henri hits Roland in the shoulder. Roland hits Henri in his right arm. Henri drops the sword he was holding and scrambles to pick it up with his left arm before Roland is on top of him. Henri barely parries the blow before the descend into a mass of sword blows and parries. Steel clashes against steel as the two desperately scramble for advantage. Roland is nimbler and clearly a trained swordsman, but Henri is bigger and seems to have even more combat experience. The purpose of Roland's shot becomes clear as Henri is now forced to fight with his non-dominant hand, evening the still lopsided odds. Henri makes a sudden charge and Roland is unable to parry the blow from Henri's overwhelming strength knocking Roland over and knocking the sword out of his hand. Henri raises is sword for the final blow. Roland reaches into his coat for the pistol which we now see is not a one-shot, but a primitive revolver and fires five rounds in rapid succession, twisting the barrel manually into place each time. Henri falls back barely breathing with the bullets in his torso. Roland picks up his discarded sword and puts the tip to Henri's throat. "well" he asks Henri. Henri pauses for a moment before Henri says, "I Yield." The crowd goes silent after moment the announcer reluctantly declares Roland the winner.

Scene 2:

Henri looks up blood dripping from his armor, badly wounded. "How... How... did you shoot me. I saw you; pistols are for the first shot at the beginning of duels... and you used your shot." Roland gives a wry smile. "That rule was never put into writing..." Henri coughs and looks at him in confusion "It didn't need to be. You only get one shot." Roland spins the multi-barreled cylinder on his revolver and gives a dirty smile. "Not anymore. Times are changing." he says. People begin filing out of the arena apparently upset that the last fight of the day didn't end in the one-sided slaughter that they were hoping for. Henri's owner comes out into the arena. He looks at the two awkwardly. "It seems we didn't... actually... prepare... any prize for this fight. So by tradition..." Roland looks at him oddly. "...So by tradition..." he leads. "The owner stammers out. "So by tradition the winner wins the loser in a match where no prize was offered." Roland looks at Henri who snorts at him defiantly. He looks down at Henri. "Slaves... Slaves are unreliable allies at the best of times." Roland is silent a long moment before asking "What is your name?" Henri pants then says in a slow voice. "My name is Henri Mercier, Chevalier de Champagne." Roland pauses for a moment catching the meaning behind that last honorific. "Chevalier, were you a knight?" After a long moment he stands up despite grunting in incredible pain from his bullet wounds. In a gruff voice he says "I was, once." Roland smiles slightly. "I have an Idea. Keep in mind I am serious about this." Roland holds out his hands and Henri gawks. After a moment Henri says dumbfounded asks "You mean it? Like really." Roland responds "I do." and keeps holding out his hands. Henri holds out his hands and Roland Grasps them Roland says to repeat after him, "I Henri Mercier in the name of our lord in heave..." He pauses editing the traditional oath. before continuing "...in the name of our lord. Do swear fealty to Roland Von-Braun. To do as he bids me, to love all that he loves and shun all that he shuns. To follow his order as bidden and to serve him until death releases me." After a long moment Henri repeats the words. Roland continues "Henri Mercier, I accept your oath and swear by you to see you housed, clothed and fed. To see that you are armed in war and readied in peace and to see that you are cared for in sickness and to see that matters upon your death are settled in an honorable matter. So swears I." Henri's former owner looks incredulous then after a moment he throws up his hands and walks off. Roland releases Henri's hands and Henri looks up at him. "So, what are we going to do now?" Roland smiles. I have debts to settle and need an armsman to back me up." Henri snorts but Roland keeps discussing his plans for Henri and they march out of the arena together.

Scene 3:

Henri remembers adventure as the centuries pass. He remembers a still of Henri and Roland in early nineteenth century garb arguing with thugs around a gambling table. Next, we cut to a firefight with revolvers and buoy knives outside a dilapidated warehouse. The two facing off back-to-back against hordes of unseen adversaries. Them now dressed in garb of the nineteen twenties negotiating arms deals in smoke filled rooms Roland holding a tommy gun Henri with a grenade launcher and claymore. Them narrowly escaping an explosion in a car chase with pursuers right behind as the two cars trade fire. The two overlooking a familiar looking factory under construction. And finally, a flag being raised with the logo of Roland's company flying over new land apparently having annexed it from a defeated foe.

Henri looks at Amber "I came to know him a long time ago and that he was the last thing I expected in Hell. A master worth following." The group walks off into the sunrise together.

Episode 2: It is also his punishment.

Scene 1:

County of Champagne 1199.

A young very lanky boy practices with a stick outside a wide-open field. Around him are other boys around 14 none quite as tall as he is. He is mock fighting with some of the other boys and cries out "hazzah, I have slain you!" before poking the younger boy with a stick. The boy looks indignant, but before he can retort a series of young men on horseback ride up to the group who all stand at sober attention. A man with graying hair who looks to be about in his fifties rides up to them. He wears standard knight armor except on his chest bears a white cloth with a big symmetrical red cross on it. They all look nervous before the man speaks. After a tense moment he says "Boys, you have trials before you, the first of many if you intend to embark on the path of God's holy warriors. If you are noble of heart and mighty of strength you may be seen fit to train under one of our own. In time the knights templar may accept you." A look of deep longing comes over the lanky boys' eyes. "You will be put through a series of trials of speed agility and determination." The trials go on, one by one the boys fail, until then the lanky boy is left only with a chubby child of superior weight. The senior knight looks at the boys "Alright lads, ready." A knight rings a bell and the two boys begin to wrestle. The lanky one struggles at first as the two clash, each fighting for advantage over the other. It looks like the chubby boy is going to win, but suddenly the lanky boy steps aside and the chubby one falls into the dirt. The lanky boy looks down on his defeated opponent "You fought well, but fate smiles on me this day. Do you yield?" The chubby boy smiles and reaches for the lanky one's outstretched hand before yanking him to the ground and pinning him. "I object, were we knights proper, the code of chivalry would not have allowed that!" One of the knights looks sympathetically at the lanky boy, nonetheless he steps forward to declare the chubby boy the winner. The senior knight holds up a hand. He stares at the lanky child, now covered in mud. "How well do you know the code of chivalry?" he asks. I memorized the code as best I could before I volunteered to test myself." The senior knight asks him to recite it and he recites a long list of the code. He stumbles in places but has clearly studied a lot of it. The senior knight stops him "Enough, I have made my choice You shall become the squire this season. The junior one looks quizzically at the elder one but the senior one says "What separates us from any thug is that we fight for something. We do not just fight for strength but for a cause I knight is not just a soldier, but also a holy scholar." The senior knight kneels before the boy and asks his name. "Henri Mercier." The boy replies. The knight smiles on the boy. "My name is Jacques Favreau, Chevalier. Congratulations, you are now a squire. Of the knights of the temple of Solomon."

Scene 2:

In a city square, Henri, now a startlingly tall man has a sword by his side and is chasing after Chevalier Favreau with a pack on his back. "...Constantinople, I knew that the Romans had been troublesome for many of the crusaders, but to turn swords meant for Saracens of fellow Christians... I know the Romans made alternatives impossible and it is not the first time something like this has happened, but still." Favreau looks down for a moment and says "Men in cooler wiser moments know what is right, but the devil is at his strongest when men are scared and confused." Henri pauses to object, then shuts his mouth. They walk on for a bit through a back alley when suddenly they are surrounded by angry looking French peasants. Favreau and Henri look at the ragged dirty men. Favreau puts on a friendly tone of voice "What is the issue Gentlemen?" the thugs look raggedly at the knights. "Not one more crumb from our mouths to yours. 'knight'" his tone of voice makes it clear that he thinks the knights are frauds. "I assure you we are genui..." One of them throws a rock mid-sentence which narrowly misses Favreau and swords are drawn on all sides. A fight starts and Henri and Favreau are separated before they begin to press the advantage against the lightly armed peasants. The knights clearly don't want to hurt the peasants but are quickly losing options. Favreau stabs a peasant in the thigh and he falls over screaming. Henri notes that Favreau has the opportunity to kill the man but doesn't take it. The fight goes on at a stalemate, the young Henri still not a match for multiple people at once and the trained Favreau is clearly trying to avoid hurting his assailants. Steel boots are heard, and guards quickly surround the alley that the knights had been fighting in. The few Peasants quickly run off except for the wounded one who stays on the ground. The guard captain stops and asks Favreau "What happened here?" After a moment Favreau replies "There was a drunken skirmish don't worry about it." He gestures to the wounded peasant "this man needs treatment take him, and see to it that he recovers." The guard captain nods, and the peasant is taken away. As the two men walk away Henri asks "Why didn't you press charges and let the men go when they could just as easily go on to hurt someone else." Favreau replies "I am neither judge nor executioner and that as knights our duty is to defend those of the faith, not kill those we judge unworthy." Henri nods and his face takes on a look of deep contemplation. He turns and looks back at the alley before the two walk off.

Scene 3:

Henri now a young man is shown into a room in a large hall. Around are a huge series of flags with a blue background with a patterned diagonal yellow and white stripe that led from top left to the bottom right. In it are rows upon rows of men in armor surrounded by several courtiers and men in fine clothing. In front of them sits row upon row of men bearing the templar's cross. After a moment, a servant stands and announces "Will Henri Mercier come forward before the court of Champagne?" Henri steps forward and kneels before the count, who stands up. "Will any before me vouch for the character of this young person?" Chevalier Favreau comes forward and says "The man before me has served as squire for seven years. In that time, he has shown skill at arms and nobility of spirit. Not once has he wavered in my service.". The count gestures to his throne. "Kneel." he says. Henri kneels. The count draws his sword. "Do you, Henri Mercier swear on your honor to live by the chivalric code to take no wife to serve my kingdom and to serve God above all else so long as you shall live?" Henri takes a long breath and then says "I do." the Count raises a sword and taps it once on each shoulder then says "Then by the power of the county of Champaign I declare you a knight of the kingdom of France." Henri looks up, tears in his eyes and nods. After the ceremony Chevalier Favreau says "Both the church and the kingdom of France are looking for knights. The templar will not hesitate to accept you I have no doubt." Henri beams. It seems I have God's favor as far as timing goes then." Favreau pauses. "There is trouble in the south, with no crusade on you might be called upon to deal with it." Henri looks confused "Why call on fully armored and mounted knights when no full-scale military action is expected. Surely soldiers could do the same job." Favreau looks nervous. "I will explain later." The to walk out of the hall together, Henri still beaming.

Scene 1: In the time since Dante.

Present Day

The party walks upward towards a long zig-zagging highway that leads towards a cliff face. Amber picks up her pace and walks up to Roland. "Roland, why are we on foot?" He smiles "Well...1. Vehicles attract thieves and bandits like you wouldn't believe. 2. Since the terrain outside the wall is hostile in ways that the city could only dream of, vehicles wouldn't be able to make it outside of the sixth circle anyway. And 3. we could use the practice for what's coming." Amber looks confused "Okay so here's the million-dollar question. How is it that Dante's version of hell is... you know... real it's not like he could have actually known what it was like down here..." Roland takes a long deep breath "We have a lot to go over." Amber looks down. Roland looks at her "It's good you care. Too few new arrivals do." He takes a long breath clearly psyching himself up for a long story "It is one of the great mysteries how Dante knew so much about Hell, but his account was largely, largely, accurate. From the harrowing of Hell in about 35 A.D. until 1404 nine circles governed Hell's geography. Each of these circles was devoted to symbolic and from what I've heard very bizarre torture. This is what Dante described. In 1404 the demon royals who governed one of the circles struck upon the idea of making a pact with sinners to be free if they would swear loyalty to him and aid against the lord's rivals. By the time the clock struck midnight on January 1st, 1405 every circle in hell had made a similar deal with its sinners in attempt to keep up and Lucifer stated that he would not interfere 'unless it became a problem.' He said no more on the subject even as Hell's very political geography was entirely rewritten." A slow smile spreads across Roland's lips. "Why the prince of darkness who once threw himself out of heaven just so he could doom mankind did this... has conjured much debate, some think that the practicality had simply become too obvious to ignore, others think that Lucifer may have engineered the whole thing with his own designs. Which... knowing him... is not that unbelievable. Anyway, sinners began to introduce technological changes from the surface for the first time in the history of Hell and before the century was out the place was a feudal… *he gestures around him* …He grins widely, "...warzone." He quickly adds "with all the trappings of enough peace to keep things from falling apart entirely of course." Amber processes this for a moment but then asks. "Okay but what about the circles?" Roland continues the story well they all remained. "Most warlords or royals or whatever moved inward to Dis when the population exploded, and industrialization took hold leaving everything outside the center circles a… wasteland." After another moment Amber asks "is it inhabited?" "Oh Yes" Roland replies "with sparce bandits villages trying for some doomed independence and monsters that *he pauses* cannot be killed by conventional means, and we are going to have to deal with them all." He smirks at this. They reach the top of the vast ramp and it becomes clear that they are in a new circle a sign by the highway ironically reads "welcome heretics" The geography becomes subtly changed from the previous circle here sinkholes appear in the ground, though things remain quite urbanized.

Scene 2:

Around them are old ditches filled in with concrete and lower down buildings that seem to have scorch marks and bullet holes all over the place. Alexandra looks around for another moment before remarking casually. "I've never been here." Roland looks at Amber and asks what she knows about Dis. She looks nervous "Little, very little. I... Didn't spend my time the last two weeks reading the tourist brochures." Roland glances at a wine bottle sticking out of her sack and keeps walking after a moment he says "The city of Dis is everything from the sixth through the eighth circles and that it encompasses almost the entire population of Hell. It contains easily 99% of the manufacturing political centers economic activity and..." a series of gunshots are heard in the background "...conflict." Amber shrinks back at the shots "How the peace can be kept with such a dense and lawless zone?" Roland smiles and pulls out a map. The Map contains the nine circles, on the outermost circle there is simply a blank void labelled "unexplored." On a section to the east there is a small circle written by hand which says "witness citing's" with dots scattered about the eastern fringe. The innermost circles labelled "Dis" have higgledy-piggledy political borders each with their own subzones. Roland points to the zones "Demon lords most of whom aided Lucifer with the war in heaven rule over them as a sort of feudal lord." he points to the further subzones "Gangs and wannabe warlords rule over these each paying tribute to the feudal demon lords. The zones shift constantly never staying in the same place for more than a year or two. In that year though there is profit to be made. Dozens of warlords and gangs like the Vipers and Phoenixes regularly have all-out street wars that sometimes leave whole blocks ruined." At this Amber perks up. Were those the ones that attacked the factory? Roland sighs for a moment "The Phoenixes or Vipers, no. My sources indicate they seem to have been..." he glances at Henri. "...independents. though normally our proximity to Lord Lucifer is normally enough to keep people off. Pandemonium and the royal district surrounding it is off limits to warfare. Everybody is supposed to understand that." Alexandra looks up. "Takes a particularly potent combination of balls and lack of brains to try to attack anything anywhere near the royal palace." Roland snorts. "Too right. The luckiest thing that ever happened to that punk is that she failed to take the factory. She... would not have been tolerated for long." Amber looks at the map and her eyes narrow over a spot marked "RADIO DEMON, DEAD ZONE" "This is in our way are we going through?" Roland shows visible hesitation before he simply says "No, we are not." After a moment she asks "Why not?" Henri speaks for the first time. "That is the radioactive zone. We don't go there anymore." Alexandra Roland and Henri all shudder. Roland looks at the group. "We'll go around." He says simply. Amber looks like she wants to argue, but doesn't they keep walking into the dust.

Scene 3:

The group walk for a ways before the come to a massive trench with a long concrete bridge overlooking a rundown neighborhood. Guarding the bridge are a series of tough looking armed men all wearing the same green and yellow headbands. They are evidently enforcers of the local warlord. The biggest of the group have a man tied to the wall and are using the poor man for target practice. Amber visibly winces when she sees this and her eyes go wide. Another man is tied to a hydrogen balloon, panick in his eyes. One of the toughs laughs maniacally before cutting the line. He floats higher and higher as it approaches the pentagram in the sky. Roland winces. "Amber, it has doubtless occurred to you to simply try to fly out of Hell..." the balloon crosses the pentagram and a beam of light descends from heaven annihilating the thing in a massive explosion. "...It's a real bad idea." The thugs who tied the man to the balloon look up at the foursome approaching the bridge and asks what they're doing in town. The enforcers are all armed but nonetheless amicable and appear to be doing little more than hanging out, having fun torturing their capture. Roland drops a hand signal "Let me handle this he mutters to Amber. Alexandra holds back evidently expecting trouble. He looks up and says that they are just passing through. The leader looks him up and down noting his military grade equipment. "I like your gun" he comments gesturing to stormfang. "Oh yeah" Roland replies visibly keeping his cool. He pulls out the weapon for inspection. "I designed it myself I am rather fond of it. It has three fire modes adjustable and detachable scope is capable of handling high-ex propellent and has three fire modes, scope modification, armor piercing rounds etc." The enforcer looks further impressed and says "ordinarily people have to pay a hospitality fee before they can go through the zone, but I'm in a good mood and will let you all pass if they can just have the gun." he smirks. "Probably cheaper than the fee." Roland smiles "That simply won't be possible." The smirk deepens "It wasn't an offer" and reaches for the gun. Amber looks around and realizes that Alexandria has fallen back to an elevated hill behind them whilst the main two were talking and Henri has casually saddled his way closer to the group with a hand on his sword. Just as the enforcer's hands gets near the gun Roland flips it up into a combat stance cowboy-style and pulls the trigger. The bullet rips right through the leader and he falls over. Henri decapitates two of the enforcers with a swift stroke, clearly having been setting up for just this opening move. A bang is heard from the hill Alexandria had retreated to and it becomes clear that she was getting into a sniper position. The enforcers are taken completely off guard as they were expecting to make the opening move. After a moment the remaining enforcers open fire on Henri after identifying him as the biggest target. This turns out to be a mistake as his heavy armor absorbs most of the fire. Amber remembers her shotgun and starts blasting roughly in the direction of the enforcers. She glances one of them and hits the other. She panics firing wildly trying to hit her targets at longer range than she is used to. It becomes clear that the thugs are just not up to the combat standards of the rest of the group as Roland brings down four targets with automatic fire and Henri impales a man who was dumb enough to try and charge him with a bowie knife. He sheates his sword with almost supernatural speed and draws his revolvers, firing with surprising accuracy at the remaining enforcers all the while Alexandria continues to provide sniper cover. The fighting lasts for several minutes but Roland's group makes progress as the enforcer's numbers start to thin. Just as the fight seem won more enforcers bearing the same headbands show up from the other side of the bridge, likely attracted by the noise. Roland's eyes go wide and he yells "Fall back!" Alexandria stops firing and Amber Roland and Henri barely make it to cover before a hailstorm of bullets slam into it. Henri and Roland glance at each other and the two-start counting whilst Amber looks confused. After a moment they burst from the barrier guns blazing. Demons fall left and right in a hail of bullets until at last, the dust clears leaving Roland, Henri and Amber standing triumphant. Alexandria comes back up to the group with a smirk on her face, evidently satisfied with her kill count. "Got 'em" she says.

Scene 4:

Amber puts her gun down, but Roland keeps it up, scanning the horizon for more hostiles. After it becomes clear that no more are coming the group looks at the man tied to the wall. Alexandria steps forward and at a nod from Roland begins to cut him down. Amber's voice shakes "Who those men were and why they were hurting them?" The man who was tied up as a torture doll against the wall coughs up blood from his bullet wounds but seems to have escaped the firefight without any further injury. Alexandria raises her eyes "Naïve, aren't you?" Roland signals for her to shush. The injured man keeps coughing but looks at Amber apparently overhearing her question. He answers "They were a group calling themselves the 'Cobra's' who took power recently after the previous warlord… he pauses a moment 'displeased milord.'" "He and his friend he *gestures at the remains of the balloon* were captured after they tried to storm the checkpoint." Roland gives the man water "thank you for the information. Make your way towards the cliffside hill, you should be safe there." The group begins to move on, but before they can the head enforcer that Roland shot starts coughing up blood. Alexandria takes point and flips the man over stepping on his chest and pointing her rifle squarely at his head. She waits for the signal from Roland. After a long moment Roland says "let him go." raising surprised eyebrows from Alexandria. Henri wryly smiles at this. Alexandria snorts and steps off of the man who starts to crawl for the safety of a nearby alley. The group quickly make their way across the bridge before more trouble can show up. After a while Alexandria walks up to him. Why did you spare that thug when he clearly is just going to cause more trouble?" Roland looks over to her and mutters "What is justice?" Alexandra doesn't take the bait waiting patiently for his reply. Eventually Roland relents "I know his type. They know only violence and vice. He long ago stopped feeling anything for anyone else and only lives for his next kick. He can't conceive of anything different. He spent his whole life hurting others and getting hurt in turn. With even the slightest effort. Even the slightest thought, he could live a happier, easier life. The only crime he was guilty of was being him, that is his crime, it is also his punishment." Alexandra stays silent on this not having a rebuttal. The group walk off into the dust. The heaven orb above them shining down.

Scene 5:

The scene slowly fades to the group marching through decaying urban apartments then again to them darting through alleys. The group manage to sneak past another checkpoint without incident. It's clear that this area is more impoverished than the more downtown regions of hell. Amber looks down sheepishly at her shoes and stays quiet. Roland saddles over to her "what's wrong?" After a moment she replies "I panicked back during the firefight. I didn't manage to hit even one of them. And I had a shotgun!" Roland gives her a wry smile. "Henri come over here" he says. Henri saddles over to her, "Show her your shoulder." he shrugs and unstraps his left pauldron across it is a long nasty scar. Amber recoils "Is it's a bullet wound?" Henri laughs "I received it from a Breton bandit while fighting outside Orleans. Some wounds you keep down here." After a moment he looks up and asks "Who were you in life?" Amber's voice grows cold. "I thought we weren't supposed to talk about that stuff down here." Henri gives her a warm smile. "Milord and I have always taken that as more of a... polite suggestion." Amber looks up at him, then back down. After a second she says. "I guess I was a... party girl." Alexandra snorts but Roland keeps interrupts. In life I fired only one gunshot. I had to get good at combat once he died. Trust me, you will get better with practice." Amber looks briefly troubled at this prospect but keeps on. Roland's face suddenly brightens when they reach their destination. A small gun shop with his logo on it. The enter the store "Hello Theo." He greets the cashier who is shocked to see the boss pop in and is desperately trying to hide the fact that he was playing poker with friends sweeping his cards under the counter. Roland smiles at the cashier, ignores the faux-pas and opens a well disguised trapdoor. Welcoming them to "the basement."

Episode 3: Defiance day

FLASHBACK:

Scene 1:

Leningrad, USSR 1929

Cars run along a snowy city scape with old Ford Model A's sporadically parked along the street. The hammer and sickle are shown draped across a big building with a long line of people waiting in front of. Snowflakes drift slowly down from the sky. A woman just approaching middle age drags her daughter along by the hand. The young girl appears to be about nine or so. Her daughter appears indignant but keeps along anyway. "Mom, my hands still hurt from last night! Do we have to do this now?" The woman is insistent. "Yes, we do. We cannot afford to miss this." The girl looks up at her mother. "Did you have to do this when you were a girl." the woman pauses. "We live in changing times when I was a girl we didn't have electric heating or motor cars. The new age of equality has brought us many things." The girl pauses for a moment and then asks "Do you think I will be a great pianist mother? Her mother hugs her close "I'm sure some day you will be. If you do well today the whole of Leningrad will hear you over radios." The girl beams at this and her mother smiles back. "Did you ever want to play music, mother?" Her mother pauses awkwardly. "I am happy now at the factory." The little girl looks confused at this but does not inquire further. The line moves slowly with a large number of young children lining up with their parents. One by one they enter the massive building.

Scene 2:

The concert hall is beautiful in stark contrast to the dirty industrial looking street. A huge crowd of parents and children sit before an enormous grand piano in the center of the room. Child after child comes forward and plays music before a panel of five judges. Some falter slightly and a slight glimmer of not schadenfreude, but hope seems to spark in the parents eyes each time one does. A beautiful girl with blonde locks sits in front of them in ragged and dirty clothes. The two wait their turn and her mother sits there hugging her deeply stroking her hair and calling her "Helen". Alexandra sniffs as the two apparently smell terrible. Helen's turn comes and she sits before the piano. She starts a beautiful (and immensely intricate) melody and keeps going flawlessly. Helen's mother sits their looking proud but some of the other parents faces show signs of anger. Alexandra looks up at her mother's eyes and sees deep worry. The girl keeps going and plays piece after piece beautifully and after a slow song, finishes. The judges look on approvingly. Next comes a well-dressed girl next to a man in a military uniform. She also plays fairly well before making a couple of key mistakes during her rendition of Beethoven's fifth. Alexandra snorts smugly, convinced that she can outdo her. Her turn comes next and she begins to play. She does very well but during a key piece slips up and hits the wrong key spawning a look of horror on her mother's face, despite this she soldiers on and finishes her piece with any further errors. After her turn is over, she goes to her mother's place and asks how she did, her mother pauses a moment before saying that she did fine and the group go out into the lobby together. The group wait in the lobby. Alexandra's mother paces but Hellen just holds her child close. After a moment, the judges come out and announce they have a winner. "Please celebrate Pelagaya as our grand winner this year!" everyone in the room gives conciliatory applause The girl with the military officer for a father jump with joy into his arms. "The grand prize this year is the The judges inform her that she is to receive a scholarship to the Russian Academy of Arts. The girl beams. The judges continue. "There will be a second-place prize to... Helen Lebdeva of 25,000 Rubles and 2,500 Rubles to the third-place contestant of Alexandra Petrova!" Helen looks at this sum with some sadness before thanking the man. Alexandra's mother holds back tears as she looks at her pittance before practically throwing it to Alexandra telling her to "buy yourself some candy or something". After a moment Alexandra looks at the decrepit woman and back at her mother before going over to Helen and slipping the money into her pile. Helen looks at Alexandra. Alexandra smiles "I thought you played beautifully. The Girl looks up and hugs her deeply much to Alexandra's surprise. "Thank you." She leaves the theatre. We cut to a dimly lit diner where we see Alexandra and her mother eating lunch after a moment Alexandra says "I thought that Helen should have won. I'm sorry I lost I could have done better I know." After a moment Alexandra's mother, who seems to have gotten over the loss, says that "everyone has their place. Maybe you were never destined to win in the first place." Alexandra looks confused at this and after a moment her mother says "The important thing is that you play beautiful music." Alexandra smiles, and hugs her mom.

Present day

Scene 1:

The "basement" turns out to be a large well supplied boiler room. The walls are lined with box after box of ammunition of every caliber imaginable. Alexandra ogles high end .50 cal armor piercing boxes with something approaching awe on her face. She looks at the price tag underneath it and her face falls slightly. Roland looking on utterly bemused pulls it off of the shelf and tosses it to her. Alexandra holds it a moment gawking before she realizes the implications. She quickly stuffs it into her pouch as if Roland might suddenly change his mind. Alexandra looks at him. "Nice place." Roland smiles "I have about a hundred or so of these things scattered about the place. Pays the bills. You didn't think I only sold my stuff at one factory, did you? Pack up, we will need more than we are carrying on our backs if we want to reach the first circle." Alexandra gives him a look. "Yeah, about that, why are we making this trek exactly? Details this time please." Roland sighs. He gestures to an old dusty looking table. "This is going to be a long conversation, so sit." They do so. "I mentioned that I had a deal with his majesty Lord Lucifer to walk to the outermost ring right. Well, here's why. For the past year his daughter, Charlie, has been going on about a radical new idea to reduce overpopulation without the need for the exterminators. She's opening a hotel to rehabilitate sinners." Alexandra laughs. "Rehabilitate sinners? And send them where? The royal district?" Roland gives her a dead expression. "No..." Roland glances skyward. Alexandra gapes in astonishment. "No. No, she can't be serious! This will never work. And if it does work it would be..." "...Treason" Roland interrupts... "Yeah. Lucifer has a soft spot for his daughter and would like not to see her lynched or executed. But this is pushing his tolerance to its limit. That's where we come in. You might wonder why he came to me with this. About 200 years ago I was running around building my arms empire. Along the way I... fell in with... the royals politically. I, along with several other supporters were given the privilege of swearing fealty not to a Lord, but right to the top itself. I, and by extension Cerberus Munitions, have been running around quietly backing the royals for the better part of a pair of centuries. And I in turn don't have to deal with any petty politics lower down. Henri gained a reputation as someone not to mess with and knew Charlie since she was very young. In fact, Lucifer gave him the job of bodyguarding her, including on extermination night." Alexandra's eyes go wide at this and stare at Henri "Really!" Henri says in a quiet voice "Let's just say it was not just a ceremonial position." Henri looks out the window in memory. Roland continues. "I continued to build my empire. By the time last week when the factory went up I had almost a 20 percent market share on small arms. Down here that's not just a license to print money. That's a license to print a lot of money. Chalie and I were... close, for a little while... So..." Alexandra prompts him. "So..." "So, Lord Lucifer asked me in repayment for rebuilding my factory, to ask the sages in the city of human reason in Limbo to disprove Charlie's theory and dissuade her of the whole shebang." Amber looks at him. "Is that hard?" They all stare at Amber. Henri breaks the silence. "Yes. It is. Amber" he gives an exasperated gesture. "We need to climb past over two hundred miles of literal Hell. Upwards. That little crawl through the sixth circle today was the easy part." Amber goes silent at looks at them, but why do we need to do this in the first place though?" Roland looks down. "Charlie Magne is an... optimistic person. She always sees the silver lining. I only ever saw it broke once when she told an intoxicated man that she thought there was good in him. He laughed at her, pulled a homeless man off the street stepped on his back and..." Roland takes a deep breath struggling to tell the story. "...skinned him in front of her. When he was done he looked up at her, laughed and said 'how 'bout now?' She spent the night in a black miasma and asked if there was anyone in Hell she could trust to give her unbiased advice. I told her that the sages of New Akedemos might. She cried and told me that she would give anything to hear what they had to say. That is what we are doing. That is where we are going." A silence falls around the table. Amber looks up at him. "So... how do we know that this place even exists? And even if it did how do we reach it? Roland smirks and brings out his map. "For one thing Dante claims to have been there, so there's that. For another... every once in a great while someone comes out of the first circle claiming to have been there. And I..." he points to pins on his map. "... have noticed a definite trend." The pins are concentrated on the Eastern edge of the map. "That can't be a coincidence." He says gesturing at the pins. "There's something in the east. He stands up from the table. "For the moment however" he pulls a secret lever and an ammo shelf pulls back to reveal a hidden entrance. "we'll sleep here for the night."

Scene 2:

They file down a musty concrete ladder into a spacious underground complex. Portraits of the royal family line the walls. The entrance appears to be a dining room. Henri begins to unpack apparently familiar with this place and moves towards a place that is evidently his room. Amber looks at the massive portrait of Lucifer on the wall. She sees a glass of fine wine on the wall and greedily pours herself a drink. Roland moves towards the lower floor. Alexandra opens a door smiles and walks in. After a moment the power goes on. Amber pauses then goes downstairs after Roland. Roland is hunched over a generator which is now softly humming. She coughs and he turns around and smiles. "You should have hurried as now the only luxury suite left is probably Charlie's room." She frowns "What is this place?" Roland gives a smug smile. "This is one of several emergency locations prepared for the royal family to be used in case of emergency This place is designed to hold up to forty people for two years." Amber's eyes go wide at this but Roland just keeps smiling smugly. "In the event of a coup or other disaster like the night of bells and horns revolution it could be one of the key rallying points to try and take back Pandemonium." He gestures around him and the purpose behind the boxes upon boxes of ammunition water food and other supplies becomes apparent. She gestures over to a massive vault, but instead of a simple five- or six-digit combination there is a massive ten-thousand-digit wall of text. It is arrayed in what seems to be stanzas but the dials are all spun to randomness to hide to combination but the final line was apparently missed and reads "until in the end nothing remained but tears, remember, oh remember the war of thirty years". He smiles. "I know the combination by heart." Amber stares at the massive vault "What's in there?" Roland's voice takes on a mocking tone. "All you need to know is that the throne is secure."

Scene 3:

Morning comes and the group begins to wake. Alexandra comes down to find Henri sitting at the table having breakfast. Alexandra makes eye contact with him and gives a gruff "Morning." Henri gives a surprisingly friendly "Morning Miss Petrova." Alexandra gives him a humorous smirk. "Know my last name do you?" she asks. "How did he find out?" Henri gives a polite smile "The bartender told us." Alexandra digs into some cereal "Are you always up this early?" His polite smile does not move. "Wouldn't do for me to let him get up 'for me. Who knows what kind of trouble milord would get into?" Alexandra gives Henri a bemused look. "And they say there is no rest for the wicked." after a moment she adds "Guess that must not be true or nobody would ever sleep at all down here." Now Henri gets a bemused look. "I don't know. Many I find that many of those who end up down here aren't nearly as deserving of their fate as they seem to think they are." Alexandra gives him a withering look at this before spying some breakfast. After a long silence she says. "O.K. I'll bite. I watched him come into the bar for years and half the time I was sober enough to start looking for *his* vices... and never saw any." Alexandra lets the point hang but Henri doesn't take the bait. After a moment she gives up asks point blank. "So, what did the cocky rich bastard do to land himself down here?" Henri slowly looks up at her a wry smile coming to his lips. "That question has been long pondered upon by milord and never satisfactorily answered so far as he can tell." Alexandra gapes. "He doesn't know!" Henri's face doesn't change but he puts up a hand to indicate that she should keep her voice down. She continues nonetheless. "How can he not know after what was it? Four hundred years!" Henri looks at her "He focuses much on the perils of the world when he was alive. He has yet to find the answer." Alexandra's eyes narrow at him. "You know. Don't you. Even if he doesn't." Henri's face freezes mid smile. "I couldn't possibly comment on that." Alexandra gets an accusatory look on her face. "You kn..." Before she can finish Roland, himself comes down and looks at the two. "Good morning you two." He gets a conspiratorial look on his face. "I discovered something in the basement that presents a not to be missed opportunity last night. You'll never guess" Alexandra looks confused, but Henri gets it quickly. "Lord Lucifer has a Speculum in meam downstairs doesn't he." Roland's face breaks out in a grin. "... Unless you are Henri of course. Henri old friend sometimes I forget how long you have been down here. Indeed, there is a mirror down there, care for a peak?" After a moment's hesitation Henri looks at him and slowly says "yes." The three of them walk down the stairs to a dusty storage room with a large antique mirror stored at the back corner. The mirror lets off a soft angelic hum. Alexandra looks at the thing hard trying to see something special about it. "Wait." she says "What is this?" Roland looks at her, surprised his voice has almost holy reverence to it. "This is one of only a few of its kind. One of the artifacts brought by the fallen after the war in heaven. It is a Speculum in meam. Step in front of it and it will show your true self. Often in the form of what you looked like during a period in your life." At this Alexandra freezes and lets out her breath. Roland pauses a moment before walking before it and staring. The man who appears in it looks like he's in his late thirties, still clearly Roland, but his eyes do not glow, instead showing a simple blue. His hair is a blonde mess and he wears clothes that might have been nice once but have grown old and dirty. His face doesn't look animated or angry, just tired bags appear under them and his face shows beard stubble. Alexandra sees nothing in the mirror and lets out a sigh of relief. "Figures, thing doesn't work for some reason." Roland smiles. "Only the subject can see themselves in the mirror. Henri, care for a go?" Henri steps in front of it and looks in. A ragged, exhausted looking man in knights armor appears. Across his chest is the tapestry of the knights templar, except the cross is split and dripping blood." Henri stares a moment before saying. "That's odd, looked different the last time I saw myself in one of these." Roland looks up at this. "The mirror does change with the soul." Henri doesn't comment on this. The two look at Alexandra. "Well." Roland says. She stands rooted to the ground for a moment before quickly saying. "No. I don't want to know." She storms off before anyone can comment. Roland looks at Henri and shrugs before leaving the store room.

Scene 4:

The group began to file into the dining hall. Amber sits waiting eating a bowl of cereal. A loud bang rocks the bunker. "Cyka Blyat!" Alexandra swears and drops to the floor gun at the ready. Roland laughs "Check the date there Alexandra." She looks over to a calendar on the wall and looks at a date with a red circle around it which clearly reads "Defiance Day." Alexandra gets back up sheepishly realizing that the sound she heard was fireworks. "What is 'defiance day?'" Amber asks what that is and Henri snorts "It is a sort of holiday here in Hell." Roland laughs "It is THE holiday here in Hell. Today we celebrate the anniversary of the end of the war in Heaven and the founding of Hell." Amber looks about her and says in a skeptical voice. "People celebrate the founding of this place? Really?" Roland's eyes seem to catch fire for a moment. And in a quiet voice he says "Yes. We do. The almighty created us then he damned us to an eternity of torture only to be ended at his whim. We are not gone. We are not submitting. Even as the monsters he made us. Even amidst suffering, here at long last, we are free." Roland almost goes on, but Henri puts a hand on his shoulder apparently sparing the group from a rant. Henri has a concerned look on his face as if he has heard this rant before and has argued with Roland about this. Roland calms down and says "With everyone in such a jovial (and intoxicated) mood it would be unwise to travel today so I am giving us the day to relax while I make further plans." Amber walks over to Alexandra "It's probably not a good idea to go out there alone. Wanna head out for the day?" Alexandra looks at her and frowns. She opens her mouth, then stops and says. "Sure. Let's go." Amber and Alexandra leave the bunker and walk down the crowded streets. Around them are people Amber looks up at Alexandra "Why people get so fired up on this day?" Alexandra is quiet a moment and says "It's human nature, people defy what rejects them and hate and lust for what they can't have. This day is the glorifying embodiment of that." Amber smiles a little. "Does that mean that there is more hope for Charlie's hotel than meets the eye?" Alexandra simply sighs "I don't know." Another silence as they pass drunken pedestrians and busy bars. Amber perks up again. "Hey Alexandra, where they we going?" and Alexandra gives a wry smile and mumbles Henri told me about a place." they come to a luxurious looking bar which is of course crowded full. Alexandra orders beer and Amber orders rum. Alexandra looks concerned at the hard drink so early in the day but shrugs and gently nurses her beer. Roland and Henri follow soon after and Henri's eyebrows go up in concern. Alexandra spots a man outside loudly arguing and after a moment decides to follow him.

Scene 5:

In the bar Alexandra, Roland and Henri sit down. The bartender comes up to them "I'm Hank." Roland nods and hands him a few bills. "Beer. Keep it light." the bartender gives a wide smile. "We have a tradition here at the Dead man's Dagger. Every person comes in and tells me and the girls. *he gestures to two scantily clad women* what they want and they try to make it happen for a mere $50." Roland laughs and thinks a moment after a pause he hands the bartender a fifty note. "What I want is a nice quiet place to think and plan for a few hours. No noise no interruptions just a quiet place to work." The bartender looks at him and laughs "That's more expensive than usual today." Nonetheless, he leads him to a back room where things are presumably quieter. He walks up to Amber "What do you want sweetcheeks" and asks how what she wants after a long moment she replies that she wants to get drunk. He laughs and says that she came to the right place and pours her some high-end vodka. She downs it in a single shot and taps the barkeep to "keep 'em coming." The bartender turns to Henri "And what do you want my tall friend?" Henri sits for a moment and then mumbles "I don't have $50" and just gets up and goes to a booth. The bartender shrugs and gets back to his work.

Scene 6:

Alexandra follows the arguing men and listens in on their conversation. "He i planning to bring their earth down. Today!..." she struggles to listen "Show them what it means patriotic duty and all that!" Alexandra's eyes go wide "Cyka..." all of a sudden, she runs down the alley staying quiet while following the figures. She hears the distinct sound of a piano being smashed and screams from a man. The thugs surround a small apartment she hears yelling "...You have some gall to bring this mess down here." and another voice "Get the gemstones." A sickening crunch is heard as a man's bones can be heard breaking followed by a high-pitched scream. Alexandra draws a pistol she evidently had hidden strapped to her sides but before she can enter the house in question the demons rush out of the house (evidently mistaking her for a tenant) and one throws a Molotov cocktail behind him. The floor goes up in flames almost immediately. Alexandra stares wide-eyed at the burning building before hearing moaning coming from the second story. A look of resolve coming over her face she charges head first into the inferno. She pushes up the stairs to the second story to find the demon on the floor with both legs broken. For the first time we see just how strong she is as we see her lift him up onto her shoulders and move to the window. She deploys a climbing tether from her vest and climbs slides down to the relative safety of the street below. She lays the man on the ground who is clutching a series of crunched papers to his chest and coughing. He looks up at the strange woman "I... I... just wanted to play..." his eyes roll up into his head and his body goes limp. Alexandra swears before taking the papers and looking at them revealing they are music pieces. She leans the man up against a wall she leans into his body and whispers "Wake come month's end." before making her way back to the bar. Fireworks go off and people begin to sing songs apparently associated with the holiday. She stares long and hard at the piece of music in front of her before looking at the burning building behind her. A look of resolve comes over her face and she walks off in the direction of the bar.

Scene 7:

Alexandra walks back into the bar and climbs up to the second floor. She sits down deep in thought but won't stop staring at the pianist and sees the pianist playing dark and brooding songs about the fall of Lucifer and the suffering the endure for their freedom. She sees Roland out on the balcony. She goes out to talk to him. "How do you feel about all this...?" he looks at her "Suffering..." She looks at the screaming bustling city "...Revelry in suffering." he smirks and takes a deep breath. "I have very mixed feelings." He glances up at the heaven orb with a combination of longing and anger in his face. He almost whispers in a voice that Alexandra has to lean forward to hear "After all I have seen I cannot call the heavens just, no matter how much I might want to, but I also think that much of this *he also gestures to hell* is well deserved and that even here people have to believe in something better." She takes a seat and leans back. "So then... do you hope that Charlie's idea will work?" He pauses a long moment and takes a deep breath. "Yes." he finally says "For all the change it would bring I hope it does." There were a bunch of demons beating up an old man they caught playing songs from his life on Earth." Roland winces "The taboo of anything from when we were human is a defense mechanism and it's an important one it keeps this place from becoming a forever war. And deeper than that, it is not that people don't want to remember the evil above, but that they don't want the pain of the good that they lost." A smashing sound is heard from behind them and they turn to see that someone has apparently thrown a glass of whiskey at the pianist's head. The pianist turns around and pounces on them and the two descend into a brawl. Alexandra and Roland laugh, but Alexandra's face hardens and she makes up her mind about something. She walks over to the piano and sits down, pulling out the sheet music she took from the man earlier "Billy Joel, Piano Man" is written at the top of the page. She begins to play, singing the lyrics on the page. After a moment it becomes clear that she does not know the song, but is rather going entirely off of the sheet music. The bar patrons look up. We flash to moments in their lives when they heard the song, one man kissing a girl with the radio in the background another jokingly dancing with his cellmate in prison a third stepping off of a navy ship to a waiting wife. Another still sitting at a table as a mother serves dinner. Amber glances up and slurs "hey I knowsh that un." before slumping over. Each verse of the song has a corresponding memory to someone in the bar. After Alexandra finishes the bar patrons look up some of them don't recognize the song and simply raise their glasses to it, but a full half of them look up with tears in their eyes at the memories that they had tried so hard to forget. Alexandra wonders if they will applaud or attack her, but they just stare in stunned silence she finishes and steps down.

Scene 8:

She walks out to the balcony again to see Roland looking at a flat screen TV on the wall. The news broadcast is showing Lucifer at Pandemonium lighting a brazier as the clock approaches midnight. The bar goes quiet and people arrange themselves in front of the television. "I always skipped these." Alexandra says. "I'm was always too drunk and am too old to care much for patriotism anymore." Roland scoffs. "What no soul for music? After you played that piece in there. Come. It's a beautiful song." All of Hell's residents gather around the televisions and as one start to sing. The music is soft and sad.

Long ago when the world was dark

And angels first made their mark

When all the world was fresh and fair.

When all there was, was hope to bear.

Beneath the heavens sat deepest hell.

Into this the brightest fell.

Forsake all the heavens bright and hallowed.

Forsake all of this one third followed.

In fastest wind. In hottest fire.

In frozen ponds of doomed desire.

In bodies wracked with deepest pain.

In this land we made our stain.

From pools of muck to desert sands.

From the most twisted and blighted lands.

From all that was meant to be unbuilt.

From all that was meant to die and wilt.

A city built from our own hands.

A kingdom built to our demands.

From high above in heaven's grace.

To deep below, this forgotten place.

He sends his swordsmen. He sends his doom

All to make a little room.

And one by one we refuse his call.

And one by one we bleed and fall.

If for all his power he could only see.

That here at last we are free.

Alexandra looks up at Roland and smiles. "You know I always thought the song would be angrier, full of the fire and fury that sinners who defy righteousness would sing about. Rock or something." Roland looks out over the city at those mournfully singing. Then up at the spheres of heaven hanging silently above them. His eyes furrow and his face grows angry staring at it. "You know Alexandra? I think that might be a part of the problem." The noise in the bar behind them starts to quiet down. "Come let's get Amber and get back to the bunker we march tomorrow.

Scene 9:

As the bar starts to clear out and the night gets late Henri nurses a glass of water at the booth. At last Roland comes out with Alexandra now each carrying an arm of Amber who is by this point *very* unconscious. Roland looks over at Henri and asks if he will be following Henri looks down and mumbles "in a bit." The bartender shrugs and says only "lock the door behind you." then shuts off the lights and leaves. The bar sits silent and empty. Henri looks up and says. "I want to ride across the hills of Champaigne with the wind in my hair with a sword on my back. I want to dine with merry men from all across Christendom as well tell of our tales. I want to do virtuous deeds and save virtuous people. I want people to sing songs about my life and the person I was. I want to sit in the company of Roland of Brittany and Galahad and Robert Guiscard..." at this Henri hangs his head low his voice becomes defeated "...and be worthy of them. But my King was a tyrant! And my Bishop a monster! And my Lord a Craven murderer! You. Can't. Give. Me. What. I. want." The bar sits empty and Henri gets up holding back tears and makes his way out of the bar.

Episode 4: On warfare and those who practice it. [circle VI wrath]

FLASHBACK

County of Champagne 1209

Scene 1:

We open to a squad of about twenty-three knights riding across an open valley each with their visor down. They move with great haste towards a village seen at the far end of the valley. "Chevalier Corbeau, if we go much farther the horses..." Corbeau looks back with a panicked look on his face and The lead knight just yells in a panicked "If they die, they die! Push on!" They keep pushing until the valley is in sight and make it into the stables one horse collapses as they dismount on the village outskirts but it keeps breathing. Another knight dismounts his own horse and takes off his helmet to reveal Henri. Henri says that "If the bandits had sacked the town, we would have found a ruin, it seems we made it in time." A man in rags runs up to them out of the dark and yells "They made it three hours ago and in serious numbers." Corbeau spits at this and Henri curses. "Merde." The knight steps out of the alley to reveal a beaten, but alive Chevalier Favreau. Favreau smiles at the sight of Henri before continuing that "It seems reinforcements were closer than the Troyes garrison. We were on our way from Paris when we got the message." Henri smiles "Was that enough to scare them off?" Favreau's face falls "Follow me." He leads the group across the plains to a forsaken a battlefield. Unarmored men carrying axes (evidently the bandits) make up the majority of the casualties but there are plenty of armored knights on the ground. Corbeau drops his sword suddenly and stares agape at a dead knight in a bed. He only whispers the name "Charles" after a moment he gets a hold of himself and sheepishly picks up his sword. Henri sighs and says he's glad that he's here. A whiney is heard from the stables and Henri swears. Corbeau, Henri and Favreau run to the stables to find that Henri's horse lines have been cut and that someone is riding off with it. Henri bites back more foul language and they mount up on the remaining horses Henri sharing one with Favreau. The chase goes beyond the city border until they reach a small fork with the horse thief evidently struggling to maintain control. Henri having an idea gives a very high-pitched whistle and the horse bucks wildly knocking the rider off of it. Corbeau dismounts quickly, sword raised ready to kill the man. Favreau screams "Stop!" and Corbeau hesitates. Favreau dismounts and walks over to the horse thief grabbing him by the shirt collar. "We are the offended party", he says slowly "We have no business sentencing this man." Corbeau looks angry "He is a horse thief caught in the act! There is no doubt." Favreau dismounts as he approaches the scene "Were you named judge of Champagne? No? Then drop it!" Corbeau falls silent. After a moment Favreau yells "To the stockade with him regular holding until sentancing!" a Henri walks over to him "There is little doubt of the man's guilt. It can only cost us." Favreau's face softens. "It doesn't matter squire justice is for those empowered to create it. We were the ones offended against. We cannot judge." The group ride off back towards the village in silence.

Scene 2:

The days pass back in Troyes as Henri continues to train on more or less equal footing with the other knights. He finishes his sparring match and goes to talk with his fellows "...more and more soldiers taxes Grain in particular." "...Don't ask me how I know but I have a friend down in Lyon who says the army..." "I was here twenty years ago when it 'appened I was. It means a crusade is on the horizon." "I have not heard one thing from England, Italy or the empire on the subject and I would know..." Henri sits down. A fellow squire comes up to him. "What do you think Henri. Is the king about to declare war?" Henri shrugs. "I doubt it. If that were the case, he wouldn't be invoking the templar order so much. A crusade is much more likely." Chevalier Favreau comes up to them and looks forlorn. Henri asks him if he thinks they will be sent to the holy land. Favreau pauses a moment and asks what Henri has heard from Languedoc Henri says that they are "kinda weird." Another knight listening laughs but Favreau's face falls at this and he says "Both the king and the pope have made the same observation." Henri's face falls at this "What do you mean." Favreau pauses and sits down on a barrel his armor snapping down with a "thud" he looks up "I'm not sure what will come of it but I do know that the templars have not been mobilizing in Acre." Henri says that "We will fight whomever needs fighting." Henri looks up at Favreau. "So Chevalier, Constantinople..." Favreau interrupts "Was not what everyone would have you believe it was." They both fall silent and after a moment Henri says he needs to get back to training.

Scene 3:

We cut to a dirty barn in which Henri is sound asleep on a mat on the floor, his equipment hung up on the wall beside him. Outside the window there is a voice. "Help! Help! Get Him! Guards! Guards!" and Henri awakens with a start. He quickly scrambles over to his armor and begins the (lengthy) process of putting it on. Once suited up he runs out of the barn to the sound of commotion sword drawn. He approaches a crowd of people yelling and comes to see a man in a bloody pool on the ground dead. Chevalier Corbeau is kneeling over the body. Henri looks closer and sees it's Chevalier Favreau. His eyes go wide and he starts to babble panic. "Who? What? What happened? One of the guards around the body eyes Henri's armor the guard's eyes narrow taking in Henri's templars cross. He says that "There has been a murder, we're looking into it." Corbeau looks up and loudly yells "Did anyone hear anything!? Did anyone hear anything!?" a guard looks up and says "I found the body about four minutes ago, I thought I saw someone run north as I approached." Corbeau's eyes go wide and he begins to run in that direction but Henri grabs him. "If he goes for the north gate he'll run into the garrison guarding it which will force him to reroute to..." Corbeau stares at him with dawning realization and they both say in unison "the east gate!" they both sprint down an alleyway through dark city streets and narrow alleyways the town dimly lit with only sporadic torchlight to guide their path. They move towards a small unguarded gate left open. A man leaving bloody boot prints on the ground sees them and sprints for it He almost makes it but Henri tackles him right before he reaches it. The two scuffle each rolling around but Henri is in full armor in addition to his significant weight advantage. Eventually Henri wrestles him into a corner and pulls back the hood to reveal the horse thief that tried to take his horse those months prior. Henri pins him to the ground. Corbeau shaking walks over to the scene "Good... Catch..." Corbeau looks at the man his face growing angrier and angrier. "Alright that's one mistake we don't have to make twice." He raises his blade and brings it down. ...only for it to clang against Henri's sword blocking it. Corbeau looks up at Henri "What are you...?" Henri looks somber "Favreau was clear, no execution without trial. To kill him without one is an insult to his memory." Corbeau looks at Henri angrily "You're making the same mistake Favreau did!" Henri shakes his head "Favreau never erred, he stayed true to the code of Chivalry to the end." Corbeau looks at Henri indignantly, but concedes "Fine, take him". Henri takes the man by the scruff and walks off back in the direction of the prison.

Present day

Scene 1:

Amber wakes with a start jolted out of bed by a bad memory. She groans as her headache comes on full blast burying her face in her hands. A massive portrait of what appears to be a ten-year-old Charlie sits garishly over the bed and the rest of the room is filled with pink and white colors and girly toys and pictures. She looks to her left and sees a note on her bedstand along with a glass of water. She reads it and it says "I don't envy your head, we move out at 10:00 your share of the equipment is by the door." She takes the water and gulps generously. She glances at the clock. It reads 9:56. She looks at the equipment and winces, her shotgun along the wall and across from it is a pack filled with several boxes of high-ex explosive magnum rounds. The really heavy objects however are a massive Norman style shield with what looks like modern ballistics gel inserted between the plates and a huge advanced claymore sharpened to a razor edge. there is also is an oversized sleeping bag tent and survival equipment. Amber looks at the pack nervously. After a moment she takes a deep breath, the heaves the whole pack on her back. She stumbles forward and mutters to herself "You can take it. No big deal... No big deal..." She stumbles up the steps and makes her way to the entrance to the bunker. Roland and the rest of the group are already waiting there. Roland looks at her looking amused "So. How are you doing?" Amber winces at his voice before replying "fine." They all look amused as she struggles to keep her balance with the large pack. Henri finally takes pity on her "Miss Amber, I'm willing to trade packs." She looks up at him puffing through her breath "Uh, Sure." she says. He gives her a much lighter pack filled with shotgun shells and a Kevlar bodysuit. "Um, Amber?" Roland probes cautiously. "Yes?" she replies trying to regain her breath. "Make sure you have the right pack next time." She looks up at the group and Roland, Henri and Alexandra all burst out laughing. Amber enters a huff and they climb their way out of the bunker. "Which way?" Amber asks. "Eastward." Roland replies before pointing in a vague direction. The group begin to march. The remains of the celebration from the day before are still evident all over the place. The group are evidently trying to keep a lower profile then they entered with gently avoiding more enforcers with green headbands. The day grows long as the party marches in silence. Finally, they climb a long wide winding ramp upwards towards a sign marked "fifth circle." The group enters a more moderately populated thoroughfare and a huge wall looms over the group as they approach. The area is now patrolled by demons wearing more professional looking khaki jumpsuits and military weapons Roland shoulders relax when he sees them and walks more openly "Royal troops." He says to Alexandra and Amber. "We're safe here." He claps his hands Roland points to a table with some benches to the group evidently wanting to give a briefing. "Okay people this is it. Those walls are the only thing standing between Dis..." He gestures wildly indicating the city "...and the rest of Hell. Those walls were literally built by angels after the war in heaven. They are the only things keeping Eldritch out. There is a small gate we can exit through. We make camp in the wastes tonight." As they approach the wall, turrets resembling Iowa class battleship cannons become visible. They come to what is supposed to be a portcullis but is instead ruins. The place looks like a war zone with collapsed buildings and shattered fortifications all over the place. They look up. The top of the wall has a massive gash out of it as if a giant fist had slammed into the side toppling it over. Roland looks around shocked and Henri lays a hand on his weapon. A man covered in injuries sits on a pillar. Henri signals for the group to hold back. Henri walks up to the survivor "What happened here?" the survivor looks around and simply says "The beast did." Roland curses and motions to the group. After a quizzical look he says that "Alright everybody, this requires a major change in plans."

Scene 2:

The group sit in a small vacant restaurant. Roland looks out the window at the city wall, then back at the group. "Okay people we are going to split up. Alexandra, you get me a sitrep on the terrain. Where does the damage end and inhabited city begin?" Alexandra eyes the tower of a half-destroyed building. Before Roland can say anything further, she leaves the building and runs to the structure. In one swift motion, she deploys a grappling line and starts to climb it with alarming speed. Amber moves to explore but Henri grabs her shoulder and nods at her to wait. After a second Alexandra yells down "Everything for the better part of two kilometers seems abandoned. Most of it seems to have been hit by falling Concrete." She zooms in on her sniper rifle. "There is some kind of camp of what I presume to be survivors about half a kilometer to the north. Roland pauses a moment "I need a moment to think." After a second, he looks up decision in his face. "Alexandra and I will head north to the camp while Amber and Henri will pair up and head to the wall face." Henri grunts but acquiesces to the pairing and the group makes their way in their respective directions. Alexandria and Roland begin to make their way north, ruined buildings hit by what looks like meteorites but upon closer examination are bits of the wall lay strewn about everywhere, but no inhabitants. There are footprints in the dust, as apparently everyone got out quickly. Alexandra walks up to Roland "Roland, why the blazes did you bring a Newlydead to cross the wastes?" Roland smirks, "you mean Amber well for one thing, I like her, despite her naivete and for another she stayed loyal after the factory explosion and I felt obligated to not let her on to her own... destruction." Alexandra seems to accept this explanation and her face turns pensive. "I haven't been outside of Dis in years and have no idea what to expect out there. Didn't travel too far out when I did." Roland nods. "Little has changed outside the walls." After a pause Roland sighs "Look I'm worried. The last time 'The beast' breached the walls it took half the royal guard to get it out again. Thousands died." Alexandra opens her mouth to respond, but before she can, they come upon a large camp of people. Desperate eyes analyze the weapons the strangers are carrying. Alexandra's hand brushes over her hidden pistol. Roland walks over to one of the people and sits down after a moment he asks in a friendly tone "What happened?" One of the scrawny demons with a cyclops eye looks up his voice quivering with anger. "On defiance day the beast attacked except the watch was too drunk to properly man the cannons." Roland stops for a long moment as the man rants on about the incompetence of the guards the failure of the local lord shoddy architecture and the curse of his neighbor Todd which had brought him all this bad luck and more not noticing that Roland is not listening. "Right." Roland says and marches off with Alexandra before the camper could continue his rant. Alexandra shuffled up to Roland and whispered in his ear "what does this mean?" Roland keeps walking replies "It means that the beast will likely be back as it always attacks multiple times until it is driven off. It means that we have to either leave or..." he leaves the thought unfinished as they make their way back to the road.

Scene 3:

Amber and Henri make their way towards the wall, it grows ever more imposing until it takes up the entire horizon in front of them. The devastation gets worse as they get near it as well until buildings become unrecognizable under piles and piles of rubble. Henri signals to look straight up and they see an enormous chink in the side of the wall. Henri lowers his hand, signaling to look around and his eyes go wide as he spots what he is looking for. In front of them lies the massive artillery cannons, that lined the wall, utterly smashed. Henri takes a long look at the cannon then up at the wall "Merde." Amber stares at the massive gash in the side. "How could anything so big have taken this much damage in one night?" "Amber I know you're new here, what do you know about eldritch?" At Amber's blank stare Henri sighs and says "You have a lot to learn." She shrugs, "no one talked to me about this in Dis." Henri gives a wry smile. "Most people in Dis don't keep with science, politics, history or military affairs. This is a mistake. This is a deadly mistake. Don't be like the people scraping vomit off the floor at 8 AM wondering who the new warlord in town is." He looks back up at the wall. "Right, the eldritch. The eldritch are... creatures that represent the worst of creation, the archangels banished them all here at the dawn of creation, to the one place the creator's light does not shine." Amber looks confused at this "And the with all this technology and manpower no one has succeeded in hunting them down. After all this time!" Henri gives her a dry look. After a second it breaks and he laughs. "By the lord above you are new. Look it is possible to bring down some eldritch and with enough raw power you can force them off." He gestures at the fallen artillery canon. "One of the most persistent is known as 'the beast' every few years it attacks and the royal guard have to fend them off. And no. As far as we know it is not possible to kill them." Henri smiles "We should try and find that elevator. Hopefully it still works. Hopefully." They walk along the wall for a while before finding something resembling a gatehouse. Inside is a cracked but functioning elevator. Amber fidgets nervously on the way up, but Henri keeps his cool. Once at the top they look out and see a vast desert before them. Scattered settlements dart the land. Lights shine from some of them but the ones nearest to the wall remain blank. Henri looks at them "This is bad..." Amber looks up scanning for what he's looking at. Her eyes widen as she sees it, a dust cloud forming in the far distance. Henri's voice has a hint of panic in it. "It's the beast. We need to get back to Roland." Amber follows Henri at a brisk pace back to the elevator. Later that night the group has evidently made camp at an old building. The groups have evidently reported what they have seen. Alexandra comes over to Amber "I think we can make out of the danger zone if we hurry. I don't know what Roland is waiting for." Amber looks at Roland staring angrily at the refugee camp and replies "I think I have a terrible Idea."

Scene 4:

"And do what? Ride all the way to the fourth wall with the beast of the fifth circle hot on our tale. If we make it that far. I'm already on thin ice with Lord Lucifer as it is..." "AN ELDRITCH YOU WANT US TO FIGHT AN ELDRITCH WITH THE PASS OPEN! WHY!" Henri sits looking at the two slowly drinking a cup of tea. Alexandra takes a mostly empty bottle of wine apparently smuggled from the bunker with her and goes up the wall. She looks saddened as the goes up the elevator looking deeply into the wine. She looks out across the barren landscape and sighs, "So this is forever. Hell. Somehow..." she looks at the bottle then goes silent for a long moment. "It's too damn similar is what it is." she takes a light sip of the wine, "I am beginning to wonder if I was ever anybody at all, maybe my whole existence is just a long bizarre nightmare and one day I'll just... fade away.". She stares long and hard into the wine bottle. She takes another swing only to find the bottle is now empty. Her face grows angry "Well what help are you then!" She screams and with a yell she throws the bottle off of the wall watching it tumble below, "Maybe I never existed at all. That would explain a lot." A voice comes out from behind the upper gatehouse and emerges. "You think?" His eyes glow one solid color like Roland's though unlike his bright blue his glow orange. His faces bear red veins and his hair is jet black pouring in a curly mop around his head. She looks up at the strange man, "I seem to be trying not to be, so does everyone else here. It's our lot I suppose We can stay and wallow in the horror of who we were and what we have become or we can dull ourselves, braincell by braincell I note that most make my choice." She stares at the empty wineglass in her hands. "If we find our joy in drunkenness, I guess there is nobody left who can judge us." The man comes out next to her and looks out over the wall at the wastes beyond Dis. "That's not true. We can still judge us. Even if all those around us were figments of our imagination, we could still judge ourselves." She eyes the dust cloud marking the approaching beast in the distance. "You think?" He smiles at her "Can we still feel shame? Can we still feel pride and joy and hope and fear?" she looks down then in a quiet voice says. "Yes." She looks at the man "You know it's funny, When I got here, I thought that I could finally stop worrying about accomplishing anything or even being a good person. Then not a week in I meet this 7-foot-tall bull man who still stays sober and can Bring down a battalion by himself, and All of a sudden I need to worry about living up to to... to something again!" Her voice becomes depressed "I am unable to change at this point, no matter how hard I try." The man smiles softly and tells her "That is a blessing. You are still someone. You still have the free will to be someone." that she has free will to which she laughs and replies that that explains why she was damned then. The man's face grows serious and he says "Your mind is the medium through which you exist. Your attempts to destroy it are in many ways an attack on the self. As sure as one who cuts oneself attacks the body." After a moment she says in a sad voice "I know that." He smiles at her and stands up. "You clearly think. You think, therefore you are." He turns and steps down the steps.

Episode 5: The beast.

FLASHBACK

Bavaria 1637

Scene 1:

A man, a woman and a small child dressed in poor peasant clothes run through a dense forest of pine and oak trees. Behind them a roar of drums gunshots and yelling in German can be heard. "Sie rannten in den Wald." [They ran into the woods] A boy of about five struggles to keep up with two out of breath people, obviously his parents. They run as fast as they can the father looking at his son who is lagging behind. "Keep moving, we can't afford to..." A cannonball flies over their heads and into a tree about fifty meters in front of them. "Just keep running!" The boy visibly struggles to keep pace with the adults and in his haste, tumbles over a small cliff and hits his leg on a large rock. A sickening crunch is heard and the boy cries out in pain. His mother puts a hand over his mouth to cover his screams. "Quiet!" She whispers in his ear His father looks at the leg, worried while the mother looks at the smoky inferno encroaching behind them. The father spies a small log and his face makes a pained expression. He quickly carries the small child to the log and tells him to hide in it. He looks at the young boy "No matter how much they yell, do not to come out until the sun rises and all the men are gone. We will meet up at the abbey in the woods where they used to sing." The father hastily pulls a device we can't quite see into the boy's hand and says if any of the men finds him point it out of the log close his eyes to pull this lever then pull the latch. The boy craws backwards into the log holding back tears of pain. The couple run out into the woods without the child. After a few moments more horses are heard thundering past. After a while longer the yelling fades. The child waits there in the stuffy black. The night grows long and It starts to rain, then it starts to rain heavier. Lightning illuminates the log briefly and then thunder can be heard. After a time, footsteps crunch through the night. Men with arquebuses and rapiers carrying a banner of a black eagle with a sword in one claw and a scepter in the other walk by checking behind trees and the like. Most of them pass onwards paying the log no mind. Then a man sees the log and pauses. After a moment he turns back to investigate. He comes to the log and bows down to look inside. A look of surprise shows on his face as he sees the boy. The hairs on the boy's neck and the leaves on the trees start to rise with static charge. The boy pulls on something we cannot see a click is heard. The boy closes his eyes. He reaches into the log. He pushes the button. A loud bang is heard the same moment a thunderclap hits and the man falls over backward, dead. The device is shown to be a one-shot seventeenth century pistol. The boy looks in horror at what he has done, and sits there in the log. Eventually he starts sobbing and then stops again sitting somberly knees drawn up to his chest. He looks at the body of the dead man. It has a gruesome hole coming out of the forehead, with blood pouring down the side. Hours pass and the sun starts to creep in through the woods. Light starts pouring in and the boy slowly crawls out of the log at last. After a long moment he tries to walk on his broken leg and screams in pain falling over. He spies a large stick and with difficulty starts walking with it. The sun is almost sinking again when he comes to a small church. A choir can be heard singing inside but no one else can be seen. A kindly looking middle-aged priest comes out and recognizes the boy. "Guten Tag child, I have seen you from the congregation, but do not recognize you. Where are your parents?" The boy sobs and shows his broken leg. "Y...You mean they're not here?" The priests face softens "Come inside my boy." The boy grows indignant and nearly screams "I can't come inside. I have to wait for my parents They told me!" After a pause the priest sits down on the steps "Okay. I can bandage your leg out here." Hours pass and the sun goes down, his leg is bandaged up by a warm looking nurse. The boy and the priest stay outside waiting as hours and hours pass. Eventually the boy breaks down crying and they go inside. "What is your name child?" the boy doesn't respond. "My name is Father Reimar." The boy is silent a second before he replies "Roland."

Scene 2:

We cut to a teenaged Roland now in simple black shirt and pants with a plain wooden cross around his neck. He walks into the abbey and up to his room, mounted on the wall is the old one-shot pistol. Roland looks at it hard and sighs. He walks down the steps and sees Father Reimar coming in from a sermon. "I can see that something is bothering you Roland. What is it?" Roland says sits on his bed "Father, I'm seventeen and... and I don't know what to do with my life I don't know where to go." Weimar smiles and sits down "God never has no purpose for someone, God knows everything up to and including what people will do with their free will, before he even creates them." Roland looks up at him and opens his mouth to ask a question but Reimar who apparently has heard the follow up question many times "This does not mean that men are not free to comit evil with their free will, just that God has already compensated accordingly." Roland still looks forlorn, and continues to look worried. There is no way I can stay in the Abbey forever." Father Reimar looks up at this "Ah, I have been putting some thought into that problem myself." Roland looks worried for a moment but father Reimar's voice turns reassuring "I think I have a good position." The two walk out to the back behind the abbey, the place is beautiful with trees in full bloom and a mill gently winding away. "You did a fine job fixing the mill." Roland gives a wry smile "It wasn't that hard." Reimar smiles and continues "I have a colleague in Paris who has business in England and is looking for educated people who can read both German and Latin You fit the bill quite well." Roland looks up "I'm not sure if I will be safe in France." Reimar smiles "I see you havn't heard the news yet." and Roland perks up, a wide grin crosses Reimer's face "The final rounds of the accords are being signed in Westphalia. There is likely to be peace. For the first time in thirty years there is going to be peace." Roland looks elated at first, but his face quickly drops to one of worry "Paris will still likely won't exactly be the safest place for a Bavarian Calvinist." Reimar looks worried at this but keeps going. "You can't let fear of the world keep you from seeing it and that those who go to get opportunity are the ones that prosper." Roland is silent for a long moment before saying that "I will go."

Scene 3:

Roland steps off of a boat on the Seine River. Paris is full of people moving to and fro. He comes into a large building of brick and enters. Inside there is a messy workshop full of twisted metal and odd designs. Nailed to a wall is a series of blueprints for designs of various contraptions and devices. Roland walks over to them and sits down smiling. He begins to twist the metal into a shape fitting gears together perfectly. His eyes narrow and he starts poking very carefully calculated holes into the gears. He then narrowly screws them together into place. He hesitates for a moment and then gently spins the larger gear slowly the smaller gear on the mechanism spins quite fast and Roland smiles. A large man in smith's gear and an apron enters the workshop. Roland looks up smiling "Got it to work." The man smiles disinterestedly "I have a proposal. Paris is shall we say..." He looks outside at the hundred-year-old stone architecture. "I have friends in England who might appreciate your talents more..." Roland's eyes shoot up at this and "I thought I was getting the hang of things here in Paris. I'm trying my best!" The man holds up a hand to stop Roland "The quality of his work is not the issue; the political situation here in France is... changing." Roland's eyes narrow. "I thought that the treaties at Westphalia went through. The man looks nervous. The treaty was between nations, not peoples." He shrugs "We will see where it goes. Think about it eh." Later that night Roland walks through the street. Looking a street sign. "Eh I could do with a change of scenery" he mutters. He takes the left street. After a moment the sound of yelling off in the distance can be heard. He looks out of his room to see an orange glow. He hastily ducks behind a basement cutout. An angry mob marches around the building and a man in a black robe starts preaching to the masses. "... beneath our very noses Infiltrators have taken residence in the city! The guard have been taking bribes! THE CROWN DOES NOTHING! God does not except the excuse that we were waiting for kings to act! Fellow Christians, uphold the faith or face his wrath, that is not just the choice before you now, but the choice that has always been before you." The crowd seems to be getting more and more worked up. "Many have been reported in the city with connections to the Hapsburg family!" at this the crowd starts chanting. The mob starts marching through the street Roland crawls out of the shadows close behind. His eyes grow wide as he sees what they are marching towards, some kind of church structure set thoroughly ablaze. He hears horns in the distance and the sound of thundering hooves. All of a sudden, the crowd becomes a mass of running people and steel as the Parisian guard show up to try to disperse the mob. Roland finds a small building inlet to hide from both sides in desperately trying to hold back flashbacks. He stays there until the morning sun rises and he slinks back to the workshop. He finds the smith and says that he is "Willing to give London a shot."

Present Day:

Scene 1:

"Amber. AMBER!" Amber wakes up to find Henri violently trying to shake her awake. She jumps up and reaches for her canteen only to pause. She touches her head. "I'm not hungover." she says in a stunned voice." she remembers throwing the bottle off of the wall the previous night and sits up. Henri smiles at her "We have quite a day ahead of us." She cocks her head "Okay, so what's the plan? Are we leaving? Why is today going to be so rough?" Henri smiles wryly "Because the devil doth protest too much." She stops and gives him a withering stare. He smiles wider "Roland really ought to know himself better after four centuries, but some men are blind to their own patterns." Amber gives up on trying to interpret this and follows him to the breakfast table. The group sits across from each other in silence as Roland steps up to them with a local map of the region. Alexandra looks angry as Roland stays silent for a long moment Roland speaks up "I have come to a decision about the beast situation. With the local guards having fled and so many refugees in the splash zone we are obligated as his majesties sole remaining local forces to try to alleviate the situation before it becomes an irreversible disaster." Alexandra mutters to herself "I didn't see that in the contract." Roland looks up at her sharply "Someone has to take responsibility around here and act okay! as the only ones sober!" Alexandra snorts, but does not push the issue further. "As I was saying I have a plan to deal with the beast. He points to the map. "History has proven that while it's tough, it's not invincible. Enough firepower will force it to flee for another couple of years to recuperate." He gestures at the downed heavy artillery on the wall. "If we can cause it to flee north to where some of the guns are still intact, we can force it back again in just a few shots." Roland looks proud. "I have acquired an extremely fast treaderbike that Henri can ride." If they can distract it long enough for the three of us to operate the cannons. *He gestures north at the nearest operable mega-artillery.* "We can force it off like typically done whenever it attacks." Alexandra scoffs, but Amber piques up "Okay why do *we* have to operate the guns instead of the local guard detachment." Roland replies "Because it seems that the rest of the guards fled when it seemed an attack was imminent." After a moment of silence Roland asks if there are any further questions. At the silence he says good and they all disperse to get ready.

Scene 2:

Alexandra and Amber enter a large control room with a panoramic view of the outer circle in front of them. Behind them sits a mass of enormous machinery with a hydraulic loading mechanism ready to load shells the size of a small car into the battery. Alexandra sits down quick hastily typing in things into what looks like the central consol. The control room flares to life and Alexandra smiles and gestures for Amber to take a seat at one of the side consoles. Radio static comes through a device on her belt, "Target approaching wall estimated time to encounter T minus ninety seconds." Alexandra looks frustrated and mutters to herself "cutting it a little close aren't we." Amber peaks over the wall and winces, a huge dust cloud pouring out of the ground approaches the wall at high speed. Amber sits down and opens up a computer screen which is apparently a sonar operation panel. The sonar starts to ping as the target gets closer and closer. Alexandra picks up the radio. "Henri, you're up." The treaderbike spins to life below as Henri guns his way towards the edge of the dust cloud before disappearing around its side. Everything goes silent for a moment and then a huge earsplitting scream is heard. Amber and Alexandra both brace on the control panel and then cover their ears. The ground starts shaking and then a massive worm emerges from the ground. The thing is the size of a mountain and its face that of pure horror. Its mouth is full of extremely long sharp teeth and it has tendrils all long its side swatting hopelessly at the ground in the vein attempt to hit Henri's treaderbike. The bike can be seen to have an auto turret on the side firing wildly into the creature's side with little effect. Amber glances into the sonar and looks up to Alexandra. "Target two kilometers due south, not within firing arc." Alexandra looks up, her face looks frustrated but she gives Amber an affirmative nod. She picks up her radio and reports "Target not in firing arc, Henri, we need you to draw it north." Alexandra barks orders to Amber "Get the machine ready we have maybe one minute before it gets here." Amber pulls over to the large mechanism in the back of the room and pulls a large leaver. The room is filled with loud industrial sounds as the loading mechanism struggles to get a shell the size of a city bus into the battery. Alexandra smiles through her sweat as she moves the controls on the side and the battery starts to move in real time. Amber runs back to the sonar station. The pinging gets more and more frequent. Henri can be seen moving very fast on the bike the monster right behind him. Amber looks down and sees Roland at the base of the wall with a target locator signaling them. The console starts beeping and the pings get closer and closer together all of a sudden Henri rushes past and immediately behind him comes the monster. The targeting reticle is suddenly obscured by a vast brown mass. Alexandra screamed "NOW!" and pushed a big red button marked "fire" on the side of the console There is a deafening bang and the whole room shakes. Alexandra's radio chimes "Direct hit, Direct hit!" Amber cheers. And waited for the dust to die down as it cleared it showed the beast, injured, but still alive and now very, very angry. The smile slowly leaves Amber's face as she now sits eye to eye with the creature. It lets out another ear-piercing scream, and then slams the side of the wall with all its might. Amber runs to the back of the room and grabs a hand rail for dear life as the whole structure starts crumbling around her under the incredible strain. Alexandra stands looking wide eyed and then falls over sliding out the smashed window, and over the edge.

Scene 3:

Alexandra pulls out her grapple gun and fires a long cord that scrapes and then catches a chink in the wall. Her descent slows, but does not stop and she crashes into the ground with a painful, but manageable thud. Roland runs over to her and says that they need to take shelter. The monster slams on the wall above them again and bits of debris begin raining down. They make for the crashed Pentious gunship. Henri is already there hiding under the canopy. The trio quickly make their way inside the guts of the ship. Broken wires and panes which are evidently still half functional light up the place. The sound of the monster still wreaking havoc outside can be heard. Henri looks exhausted and Alexandra looks uncharacteristically scared. Rolands radio chimes. "This is Amber, I managed to get further along the wall, what the blazes is going on down there?" Roland picks up the radio and asks in a panicked voice "what happened to the artillery?" After a moment Amber replies back "smashed like a tin can!" "It won't be firing again any time soon." Roland curses and looks around the wreckage of the ship. It's clear upon examination that the ship was downed by a blow to the side of the super-structure and not to its systems which are all chirping away. Roland turns to Henri an odd look coming over his face. He turns to him and asks. "Henri do you remember that raid Pentious had on Imptown a few years back? How the main cannon ripped 73rd St. to shreds?" Henri pauses for a moment and mutters "ye..." before he realizes what Roland is contemplating. There is a silence for a moment before he says, "Whatever you're going to do, do it." He nods and turns to Alexandra, "I'll need help, the front half of the ship is still functioning which means its power source is still online, but the back half seems to have been severed. She yells back half panicked "you're the weapons engineer here!" Roland signals" Come with me. The noise of smashing and roars from outside the ship. Roland's radio chirps up and Amber's voice comes over it. "Guys if you're inside that gunship you have a problem! creature inbound!" Roland's eyes go wide. "Sheise." He calls back to Henri, "Henri, You are needed for one last ride of the day!" Henri looks tired but nods. He hops back on the treaderbike and drives off with a jolt lowering his visor like a knight preparing for the charge. Roland and Alexandra reach the back of the gunship and a huge energy weapon lays on the sand pointed outward at the desert outside the wall. Outside, the beast approaches the gunship clearly getting ready to smash the thing like an ant beneath a boot. As it gets close Henri charges back near the thing, guns blazing the monster lets out a frustrated yell then turns around to chase Henri once more. Roland picks up a welding torch that was attached to the wall and begins fumbling for wires. "Alexandra! Do you see anything leading from the main gun to the rest of the ship? Alexanra mutters to herself "you're the engineer here!" But complies. "There!" she points to a large wire that has almost the circumference of a manhole cover that has been completely cleaved in two leading directly to the main gun. Roland eyes it before getting a laser cutter from the workshop tools on the wall ready. Henri chimes in over the radio "I can't keep this up much longer milord!" His voice cracks a little as he is clearly trying to hold back panic. Roland takes the laser cutter and screams for Alexandra to get to the bridge and sit by the firing controls. She sprints out of the room. Roland picks up the wire and heaves it with all his might together. He then mutters to himself that he hopes this works before blasting the thing with the laser. Rubber and copper begin to glow and sag but after a moment the two ends of the wire begin to meld. Lights on the main gun begin to glow and the thing lets off voltage warnings. Roland swears as he looks at the gun. He picks up his radio. "Alexandra this thing likely only has one shot left in it." Roland switches radio channels "Henri drive in in front of the gunship's energy canon. We're ready!" Henri gives a shout of hallelujah over the radio and then drives back, clearly struggling to keep the beast away. Roland yells to Alexandra that it's all up to her. She mutters something that sounds like a prayer under her breath before waiting, hand hovering over the button. Henri zooms by and the beast is right behind him Roland's eyes narrow. The beast crosses in front of the downed energy canon. "NOW!" he screams into the radio. Alexandra slams the fire button. Time seems to slow as the canon releases a pink laser beam the diameter of a house. It moves then slams into the side of the worm which continues to move. The beam cuts through the monster like butter melting away at its sides. The thing lets out a final horrifying scream and then slowly submerges, too badly wounded to continue on. It retreats into the distance, its dust cloud trailing behind it, defeated. The energy canon shorts out and its 'barrel' sags and melts slightly, utterly useless. Roland picks up his radio and mutters into it. "If history is any indication, it will hibernate for the better part of a decade while it regenerates from is wounds." Then comes in over the radio again, "Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we are the only four people in history to take on the beast of the fifth circle alone... and win."

Scene 4

Henri looks utterly exhausted. The treaderbike is covered in dirt and sand and is making a weird whining noise. Roland looks back at him dirty, tired, victorious. He looks at Henri. "You did good out there, Chevalier, you did good." Henri only smiles back and says in a tired voice "Thank you milord. I am at your service." He sees a nearby bench and collapses into it. Amber comes down apparently having found an elevator from the top of the wall. She looks up at Roland concern in her face. "Are we certain it won't be back?" Roland smirks in disbelief. "Mostly sure. It wouldn't have retreated if it wasn't truly done. Not in its nature." The group walks back under the wall in a slight daze. The remains of the previous attack all about them. They slowly look through all the debris and rubble. Torn down shopfronts and houses crushed by falling pieces of wall liter the place. Then they come into view of the refugee camp. People stare wide eyed at the four not quite believing it. Silence as they come onto the sight of the leader of the camp that had scoffed at them on their previous visit. He comes forward and mutters "History will remember the guard or luck or just the beast's tastes as the thing that forced it off the day after Defiance Day." After a silent moment he adds "But we'll know." Roland smiles "Thank you." The group makes its way towards their original camp site. Amber walks up to Roland "What would have happened if the beast had breached the walls?" Roland looks down at her "As I mentioned earlier, the beast once did breach the walls." Roland starts counting apparently unhappy with how high the number of years has been. "Some 30 years back. It terrorized Dis until a full contingent of forces and the intervention of several demon lords themselves came in. It killed almost 200,000 people before they finally managed to repulse it. I was there. I am one of only a few people who has seen a dark archangel in action. It's terrifying It was the largest disaster since the great fire dam incident some 180 years ago." Henri winces at this apparently not favoring the memories this brings up. He gestures to a small gateway through the wall. For the moment let's relax. The wastes are no place to start exhausted in. Later in the night Roland looks out at the camp. Sipping on a stein filled with beer. Amber comes up to him. Alexandra's right you know, we didn't have to do this." Roland sighs. "Ach du Lieber." He mutters under his breath. Before adding in a surer voice. "Yes. We did. Someone had to." Amber almost says something but doesn't "Want some?" Roland asks waving to the beer. "Amber stares at the beer a long moment. After a while she says. "No thanks, not my style." Roland smiles wine person eh, I saw you eyeing some in the bunker. "Guilty." Amber admits sheepishly. She perks up "I should have figured you for a beer person, being German and all." Behind Roland Henri makes desperate waving gestures to shut up." Rolands pupils shrink and the temperature of the conversation drops ice cold. "I. Am not. A. German." Amber shrinks, sorry I heard the language and thought... I mean what are th... Sorry" Roland calms down. "Sorry, just a sore spot. I'm Bavarian. Holy Roman if you really have to put a European power on it." After a moment he adds "Not that it matters around here." Amber nods. "Well, I better hit the hay, she says. "Yeah me to replies Roland." Sunrise comes and Roland wakes the group "Come, it's time to move on." After a moment he adds "Oh and make sure we have all our camping equipment. It's mostly wilderness from here on out."

Episode 6:

FLASHBACK:

Stalingrad USSR 1943

Scene 1:

We cut to a torn down city block with smoke gently rising in the background over a snowy war-torn urban landscape. A tank suddenly crushes the ground and the roar of shells and machine-gun fire can be heard. Yelling breaks out everywhere as members of the red army suddenly run through yelling and firing wildly. A man yells and points to a bunch of tanks bearing the iron cross. Soviet tanks come through and begin bombarding the enemy position with an unholy amount of tank fire. The Nazi tanks retaliate with tank fire of their own scoring a few lucky hits and bringing down a couple of tanks, which explode into shrapnel. The remaining tanks keep up the bombardment and the Nazi tanks are destroyed by sheer volume. Nazi soldiers start pouring out of the less damaged tanks and start to fall back. A particularly loud bang is heard and a Nazi trooper falls on the ground. The Nazi forces reconnoiter to a narrow square too small for the enemy tanks to follow. The red army starts to take up positions in the ruins of the city block. The two groups start to exchange fire and another loud bang is heard and a trooper falls dead. One soldier yells "Scharfeschutze. [sniper]" before taking a bullet in the side. Fighting is intense and screaming can be heard from wounded on both sides those still fighting too busy with the battle to pay them much mind. The red army begin to surround the Nazi forces who start taking serious losses. After another hail of machine gun fire the Nazi forces stop firing and look at each other. After a moment they slowly drop their weapons and raise their hands. Only about a dozen or so Nazi troopers remain. A red army officer steps forward to accept the surrender A young looking German trooper yells suddenly and charges full speed at the officer pistol drawn. A bang is heard and the soldier falls dead. The officer looks up to a tower and half waves, half salutes to the sniper sitting up there. "Good shot 'Alexander'" he puts particular emphasis on this last syllable as he calls up to "him" A young person who upon inspection is a woman badly disguised as a boy holding a sniper rifle waves down. "s udovol'stviyem, ser [my pleasure sir]" he replies. The officer returns to the now thoroughly terrified Nazi soldiers who are promptly taken prisoner.

Scene 2:

The red army begins to make its way back to its camp in the ruins of the city. On soldier with a bandolier swaggers his way up to a fellow soldier carrying a machine gun. "I need to talk to you about 'Alexander' I think well I think there is something off about 'him'" The soldier looks at him a moment then suddenly bursts out laughing. "Uh, comrade, that 'secret' is probably the worst kept secret in the unit." The soldier's face twists in confusion. "And why this is tolerated." A wry smile crosses the face of the machine gunner. "Did you see the shot, he made earlier that saved the commanders life. The shot on an unexpected moving target at nearly half a kilometer?" The soldiers face sits in confusion, then enlightenment crosses it. The soldier pats him on the back slightly "Alexander has done too much for the unit to lose him to bureaucracy." Alexander himself comes down from his sniping tower and rejoins the marching unit he saddles up to the commander who gives him a knowing smile. Alexander smiles back "What are we going to do with the prisoners?" The machine gunner mutters "Shoot them, maybe" but the commander ignores him but nonetheless hesitates for a moment after a moment he adds "The old bank vault will do as a makeshift prison for now." The unit comes upon the camp. The place might have been beautiful once, but now it sits in utter ruin. Every window is shattered most of the walls have fallen over and the ones that haven't have holes in them. Craters from artillery shells coat the ground and most of the pavement lies jagged and broken. A few scattered tents and trucks are scattered about the place along with boxes of ammunition and food. The tanks that are apparently assigned to this particular unit roll up and take position around what seems to be fuel silos apparently trying to shield the vulnerable explosives in the event of an attack. The Nazi prisoners are shuffled into one of the more intact buildings, apparently the aforementioned bank. The vault lies totally empty. It is unclear whether the raiding Nazis or the red army looted it, but either way any wealth in the place is long gone. One of the prisoners begins to protest as he is locked in the vault, but the Soviets pays him no heed. People begin to lay out blankets and tents, a few start to eat what supplies they have and the red army begins to lay out for the night. Alexander climbs to the top of the tower overlooking the camp. A huge utterly desolated urban sprawl lays out beneath him bodies can be seen abandoned wearing both uniforms. There isn't a building over three stories high left standing. He sighs looking at the devastation before climbing back down stairs to the snowy camp below and getting in his sleeping bag for the night.

Scene 3:

Machine gun fire rings out through the night. Soldiers burst up from their sleeping bags and begin gearing up in a hurry. The commander rushes in "The enemy are pushing early. They all get up as quickly as possible." Alexander struggles to find his sniper rifle in the mess and is slightly behind the rest of the forces in mobilizing. An artillery shell goes off near the bank punching yet another hole in the side of a nearby building. A portion of the soldiers run to take position behind cover and are hit with machinegun fire for their efforts. The commander misses getting hit by a bullet by inches by virtue of barely not having rounded the corner yet. He yells "K tankam!" [to the Tanks!] The remaining soldiers huddle behind the tanks as the drivers struggle to get inside. The unit manages to get drivers into three or four of the remaining tanks and begin to push forward. The tanks take large amounts of small arms fire and move slowly forward. The main gun fires as it desperately tries to snipe at individual infantry with such an overpowered weapon. Alexander sees a building with a mostly intact fourth story. He struggles to climb over the debris with only half the stairs intact but eventually gets to the top and unveils his sniper rifle. His eyes go wide as he sees just a fraction of a second too late as he sees an artillery cannon hit one of the tanks. He screams down at the remaining forces to get away from the other two tanks and they quickly do, taking cover in the blasted remains of a storefront. The artillery pieces are about three quarters of a mile away. One of the tanks pulls off a miracle shot, managing to hit one of the artillery pieces at extreme range, which explodes in a big fiery ball as its ammo dump ignites taking a sister piece with it. Despite this lucky opening, the tanks stand no chance against the artillery barrage and are both destroyed in a well-aimed follow-up salvo. The Red Army begins to push forward towards the emplacement firing at the infantry positions along the far ridge. Alexander readies his rifle and begins firing like a mad man picking off infantry left and right. He looks at the troopers below, "Clear, move up!" each time he gets a hit on a critical target. Slowly but surely the troopers start to push forward towards the artillery emplacement. Alexander drops down from his initial perch and moves up to a closer building as he tries to keep a good vantage point to help the unit. Finally, the exhausted red army forces reach the artillery. There are only a few Nazi troopers manning it they try to surrender but the red army are not in the mood. They unleash a flurry of machine gun fire and it's all over. Alexander climbs down from his perch and wades through the carnage up to the remaining troopers and takes stock of the situation. There are barely three dozen men left after the whole ordeal. She looks around at the bloody survivors of the unit. "Where is the commander?" One exhausted trooper points to a corpse some ways back from the emplacement. Alexander walks up to the corpse of the man and stares in his face. A bullet bloody pool is pouring from his chest. Alexander just stares at his face blank for a long time. A minute passes, then two. Then an infuriated Alexander storms off back towards the camp.

Scene 4:

Alexandra bursts into the camp and starts trifling through the armory looking for weapons. She pulls out a flamethrower and gets several knives of varying lengths. The quartermaster and several guards "Corporal Petrov, what are you doing? She gives a very feminine "buzz off" Alexandra is apparently not even bothering to disguise her voice. One of the few guards who was left behind to guard the camp "What's going on, do we need reinforcements at the front?... Corporal...?" Alexandra doesn't even bother to answer him. Instead, she loudly asks. "Have the prisoners been interrogated yet!" The guard stares blankly at this and says "We tried, but it's clear that they don't speak Russian." Alexandra looks down and mutters "Awfully convenient for them. I am going to the bank vault." "Alexander?" one guard captain asks. Did the commander authorize this?" Alexandra snarls back "the commander no longer has a vote." The guards face takes this in for a moment as Alexandra brushes past him and into the vault locking the door behind her. The guard realizes what she is doing a moment too late and starts pulling at the door. She gets into the empty room where the prisoners are slumped. "I want to know every artillery position from here to the Volga!" Alexandra demands. The prisoners take in the heavily armed... woman? In front of them. One prisoner looks panicked and says "Ich verstehe nicht was du sagst. Ich spreche kein russisch." Alexander lights the flamethrower and asks again. "I WANT TO KNOW THE POSITION OF EVERY ARTILLERY PIECE FROM HERE TO THE VOLGA!" the increasingly panicked guard begins again pleading "Ich verstehe nicht was du sagst!" Alexandra points the flame thrower at the man's feet and pulls the trigger the man screams as his legs catch fire and he starts rolling on the ground in utter agony. Alexander draws on of the knives and moves towards the now horrified remaining prisoners. "WHERE IS YOUR UNIT? She bellows. "WHERE IS HITLER! I WANT TO PUT A BULLET IN HIS BRAIN! I WANT HIS POSITION AND THE POSITION OF THE WHOLE DAMN REICH!" The prisoner just starts stammering wildly. "Ich bin nur ein Soldat, den ich vor drei Monaten 18 geworden bin. Sie gaben mir nur ein Gewehr und sagten mir, ich solle marschieren. Meine Kommandeure sagten mir nichts anderes." Alexandra pulls the knife and starts stabbing the man wildly in the legs making minced meat out of them. He starts screaming wildly! A prisoner tries to attack jump her in desperate defense of his comrade. Alexandra fights him off picks up the flamethrower and pulls the trigger, torching almost the whole line except a lucky prisoner at the end of it who avoids the belch and stares wide eyed at the carnage before him. The room fills with the screams of men in horrid agony. The red army prison guard bursts in and pulls Alexandra off of him having apparently finally broken down the door upstairs (or remembered that the building's walls have several holes in them) and she tries futilely to fight him off screaming before being wrestled up the stairs into the camp to her bunk and told to stay there. After a moment she stops screaming profanities and breaks down sobbing.

Present Day

Scene 1:

Alexandra sighs and picks up the rest of the gear that was salvaged from the beast attack. Roland, Henri and Amber seem to have most of their gear together and they start marching eastwards. Alexandra looks in silence with the group for a while before somberly piping up. "Okay so what's our plan for the Styx." Amber looks up. "Styx?" she asks. Roland answers "Most of the remnants of the old circle tortures were erased after the 1404 revolution. Ditches that got filled, in most of the pits got drained, but in the time since Dante's circle system fell, no one has ever quite been sure what to do about the Styx. There are a few suspension bridges in places but nowhere near where we need to cross, and besides, they are usually used as ambush points by bandits." Amber's eyes twitch up. "Wait they're all suspension bridges! Why?" Roland laughs "In his inferno Dante, mentioned the Styx guarding the fifth circle, I guess a man from his era wouldn't recognize that the river Styx is almost entirely Sulfuric acid." He turns to Henri "Henri do you remember this route from the last time we were here. Henri wryly smiles. I take it that we are going to the old Chimera Industries facility that was occupied by those Bangwathi some years back." Roland smiles at some unseen memory "Indeed we are." After a while Roland holds up an arm signaling that they are getting close to their destination and points to a large porous mound. Alexandra's eyebrows go up in confusion. He whispers to the group "Guns ready." and the group all get their weapons out. Roland slowly approaches the mound then tosses a grenade into one of the holes. A loud bang goes off and a huge caterpillar like creature with huge scythe like mandibles screams as it slithers out of the whole and charges the three strangers in its sight. The thing barely has time to contemplate its mistake as the three of them unload dozens of rounds into it. It screeches and falls to the ground with enough holes in it to mistake it for a fishing net, very dead. Roland nods and asks Alexandra to take point and climb to the top of the mound and tell him what she sees. She does so and looks out over the vast desert landscape beneath her. A huge orange desert stretches in every direction, behind her is the Walls of Dis, in front of her the sheer cliffs marking the border between the fifth and fourth circle. In the distance a green smoking river can be seen with a series of red buildings almost a mile off. She looks down at the group below "There seems some kind of industrial facility not far to the southeast. It's along a river, the Styx I guess." Roland smiles and mutters "good then we're in the right place." In a louder voice he announces "That red industrial facility is our destination. "Alexandra climbs down and the group march on. After a little further trekking the group come to a huge abandoned chemical plant built along the banks of the putrid river. Large empty tanks wall the place. The group start to unpack but Roland points to Alexandra. "I want you to head to the conning tower above the main building and take the next few hours on watch. I want you to confirm that there is in fact no one around." She pauses for a moment then nods and climbs to the top and surveys the region. Despite the grim setting, there is an undeniable beauty to the desert at sunset. She leans back taking in the scenery. The hatch opens and Amber's head pops up and asks if she would like some company." She smiles "Yeah, why not?" Amber crawls out of the hatch and hunkers up against Alexandra sitting cross legged the pauses for a moment as she takes in the view. After a moment Amber tentatively looks up at her "So... Do you agree with Roland about the nature of hell... I mean can you really say that we don't deserve this?" Alexandra sighs for a long moment, before looking back and replying "I'm not sure. Looking back on my life I can't really say that I didn't deserve what happened to me *she gestures to her vaguely tigeresque demon form* but at the same time I can't say that I was given a chance to be anything other than what I was. You follow?" Amber gives a slight smile "All too well." Alexandra looks up at her. "You too eh." Amber gives a very sad laugh. "Oh no was given every chance in the world to be anyone else. I chose... I chose... I dunno. I chose this." Alexandra stays silent. After an awkward silence Amber asks "Okay I'll bite what did you do to deserve this then." Alexandra sighs a long regretful sigh. After a moment she says "You know it's one of two things. What do you think is it worse to hurt people who have it coming in a horrible way unnecessarily? Or to hurt those who did nothing wrong whilst you have no choice?" Amber doesn't answer this question. The two stare out in silence at the desert landscape before Amber asks. "So, what do you think of Mr. Von-Braun?" Alexandra looks up slightly "Roland? I've known him a long time actually, longer than that scene in bar you saw would imply. I give him information on whatever tough was eyeing Pandemonium that week and bragging about his plans to rob the place or kill lord Lucifer or whatever stupid plan they thought would make them look tough. and he'd see to it that they would never get that far. I think him discovering that I was a competent sniper made him..." she trails off. "...demand I accept promotion. He's always been the type to... loathe squandered potential" After another silence Amber says "So will you be checking into the hotel if it turns out they really can redeem souls." Alexandra stays quiet a long time before finally replying in an almost whispered tone. "Yes." Amber looks like she is about to reply when Roland's voice wafts up "Alright everyone. I have The presentation ready. Henri has already done the heavy lifting. Amber I need you to come down and help me set up the diagrams." Amber smiles and nods to Alexandra before scampering down the ladder. After a moment Alexandra adds "Yes. I'm tired of this place, I'm tired of hating every dawn and hating every sunset and hating myself for hating it. I'm tired of spending every night miserably staring into a beer glass. I'm tired of wishing I had been a different person. I'm so ready to move on." Amber is already out of earshot. A look of intense pain crosses her face and she climbs down the ladder after Amber. Down in what appears to be an abandoned factory floor Roland comes in for what the group is realizing is debriefing mode. He begins "This place..." *he gestures to the abandoned complex* "...used to be an abandoned chemical plant back in the day. It seems the sulfuric acid from the river was a useful catalyst in some profitable compounds. Including..." *he pauses for dramatic effect* "...hydrogen. Since we cannot cross the river by any kind of bridge and we don't have a boat we will have to cross it by hydrogen balloon!" Ambers eyes go wide and Alexandra "You're insane!" Henri just smiles smugly apparently aware that this was going to be the plan all along. Amber and Alexandra begin to object to this but Henri interrupts them. "Before you two get all upset, we have actually done this before. Some years back Roland and I discovered smugglers had stumbled upon this method and were using it to get goods across the Styx. We also subsequently discovered it an effective method to use ourselves." Roland picks up where he left off. "There is still some hydrogen in some of the tanks on the western end of the complex and if there isn't this place has all we need to make more. I confirmed earlier that there still is some insulating tarp in the storage bay so we can fashion that into balloon pretty easily. We're going to have to weld the basket together out of scrap iron but I can testify from experience that that's not as hard as it sounds if you have the right equipment, which this place does. Any questions?" Amber puts her hand up. "Yes, Amber" Roland nods at her. Amber looks around nervously "Why don't we take the balloon as far out as the winds will take us." Roland nods at her. "Because..." he adds This place is Full of raiders. One thing those smugglers I mentioned earlier learned the hard way is one incendiary bullet and we'll be shot out of the sky. Any more questions?" They all sit silent. "Good." Roland claps his hands together. "Let's get to work." By the end of the day they had something resembling a working balloon going. Henri, Alexandra and Amber all slumped off to bed while Roland stayed up, obsessively taking care of the finishing touches.

Scene 2:

Come morning Alexandra awakes to find Henri and Amber already up. She notes a sparse breakfast pre-prepared for her and smiles taking what little food she can and eating it greedily. Henri looks at her contentedly as Alexandra wolfs the food down. Apparently, he was the one to make it for her. "Where's Roland?" Alexandra asks noting the sole absence. Henri smirks. "Some people stay up all night tinkering with their inventions and forget to go to bed. Some people pass out near morn for their inability to recognize their own limits." Alexandra barks out a laugh in spite of herself. Henri turns to Amber "Amber would you take watch for a bit we should let him sleep." The mouse-woman shrugs and climbs up the ladder of the smokestack that they had been using as a makeshift watchtower. After a while Alexandra perks up. "You've been awfully quiet, Henri. This whole trip you've barely said a word." Henri shrugs. "milord doesn't need me to talk, so I don't talk." Alexandra quirks her eyebrows at this. "Seems to me a restrictive ethic." After another brief silence. "I knew him as that man who came into the bar from time to time to pay me to spill the secrets of idiots dumb enough to stop in for a drink near the grand palace before committing high treason. How do you know him?" Henri hesitates before replying. "I swore an oath of vassalage to him about 200 years back after some years in a slave pit. He..." Henri trails off "...he needed me more than he would ever admit. We came into the service of lord Lucifer nearly 190 years ago and have been for lack of a better term..." Henri pauses looking for the right word. "...agents of his ever since." After another moment he adds "His arms manufacturing empire is not nearly as valuable to Lord Lucifer as Roland thinks it is. Roland does not quite appreciate the real value of someone who is loyal to not just Lord Lucifer's power, but to his ideals. Lord Lucifer values those more than any arms empire. It's telling of milord's incredible powers of self-delusion that he doesn't see that. Roland serves him and I serve Roland." Alexandra frowns. "Seems like a dull life being little more than a glorified servant." Henri looks down at this. "I know what you mean, but no. I was trained to serve. I have always served. My true lord only gave me an order after my death by sending me here. Suffer. And so, I have suffered here. Milord has kept his word to me as few others would. I will not disgrace myself by... by..." He pauses trying to convey his thoughts. "By failing to uphold virtue in the darkest of places." Alexandra looks skeptical at so righteous a speech but doesn't pursue the matter further. Roland himself walks his voice is hurried "Get your things and get ready to depart. We are leaving as quickly as possible." They look panicked at this but start to get their things. Amber comes up worried. "What is it?" asks Alexandra. "Come see, quickly." Roland replies. They come to an abandoned fire pit in a building on the far side of the complex the room smells vaguely of smoke. Henri puts his hand in the pit, testing its temperature. "Cold." he says brusquely. Roland brushes him off "It still smells vaguely of smoke, meaning that those that made it made it two or three days ago but not more. "Tey all sit in silence for a moment before Alexandra says quietly "Someone was here just before us." Amber perks up awkwardly "I wasn't sure but I thought I saw someone moving north on the far side of the river while I was on watch." Roland visibly bites back curses. "We have to leave." his inflection makes it a clear order. "I have the balloon as ready as it's ever likely to be. Help me get it to the river bank and we'll get across." They get all the gear into the basket and with difficulty start moving the iron basket to the riverbank. The thing is heavy, so heavy even Henri struggles to move it, but Roland makes it clear that they don't have the luxury of time. Roland had rigged up Hydrogen canisters from the plant to fill the insulating tarp. The group fit tightly into the basket and Roland turned the canisters on. the Thing begins to inflate and then in surprisingly short order to rise. A gentle east-bound wind pushes the basket until they are clear over "water" Amber looks down terrified at the river of sulfuric acid beneath them. Alexandra scans the horizon worriedly. The wind picks up and the slowly begin to cross the river at an odd angle. Roland operates the gas cannisters controlling the balloon's altitude as they reach their apex then he slowly begins to lower the thing as they approach the opposite bank. A Flash is seen in hills way in the distance Alexandra's eyes go wide as she realizes what it is moment before it literally hits them. A sniper bullet pierces the balloon's canopy accompanied by a loud bang as the sound of the distant shot reaches them. The baloon begins leaking hydrogen. By some miracle the gas does not ignite. "Long distance sniper!" Alexandra cries. Roland replies back in a panicked voice "Hold on I'm going to get this thing down! The group holds on as the balloon loses altitude at an increasing rate. Roland keeps a steady hand and keeps it from veering off course in its descent. It crashes into the far bank and the group crawl out of the thing in pain. Roland looks out at the cliff where the flash was seen. He frowns. "We're not alone here."

Scene 3:

Amber begins pulling their gear from the crashed balloon grunting as she tries to drag over a hundred pounds of packs loaded with supplies from the dangerously unstable wreck that was the balloon. "Hurry up." Roland instructs worriedly. I want to be as far away from the crash site as possible in ten minutes. Amber looks up dragging the last of their gear away from the hissing wreck. "Because if they could hit is from that far away, they can probably still hit us from...", Roland began... An incendiary bullet hit the remains of the crashed balloon which goes up in big fireball nearly missing the four. "Get your pack on and run for cover!" Roland screams the group quickly put on each pack narrowly saving their supplies and run for a nearby cliff system. They enter a narrow canyon with a small cave roughly a quarter mile from the crash site. They all take cover inside the cave. Henri and Amber pull out binoculars while Alexandra and Roland each adjust the scopes on their rifles as magnifying implements. Roland signals the group to stay silent. They stay perfectly still for five minutes, then ten. By the twelve-minute mark a group of demons armed with what look like Anti-materiel rifles and assault rifles start poking around the remains of the now smoldering balloon. Alexandra zooms in on her rifles magnification and swears. "Them!" she exclaims. "Don't shoot!" Roland says in a hushed whisper. "Who is it? Amber asks in a hushed tone. "Raiders of the twisted cross." Roland whispers. Amber zooms in closer. Swastikas can be made out on their armbands. "Nazis!" Amber exclaims in a barely hushed whisper. "Here!" Roland signals for her to pipe down. Henri whispers in a hushed tone "What you didn't think that the millions of them just disappeared after the war did you?" Amber mutters "I mean, I guess not, but I thought they you know, Assimilated or something." Alexandra scoffs. Roland explains "About 99 percent of them did, but one percent of five million is fifty thousand. The remainder who refused to stick with hell's rather strict taboo about forgetting your past once in hell were forced out here where they..." he pauses. "Cause quite a nuisance." The group they are watching start scanning the area for survivors of the crash but the group are much too far away to be seen or heard. After a while the group scavenge what they can and move on, back towards the south where they came from. Roland exhales. "Okay" he says. Time get out of here. The group push out of the cave and begin the long trek east towards the wall of the fourth circle. They march in silence as the heaven orb begins to hang low in the sky until it finally sets beneath the crimson horizon. As night falls, they make their way to a nice deep ravine to set up for the night where they shouldn't be spotted so easily and fall asleep.

Scene 4:

Morning comes and the group wordlessly unpack and continue their trek eastwards. Amber gives Alexandra a look her face indicating that she wants to ask her something, but before she can she eyes Roland. She walks beside Roland and asks "So, Roland, I understand that the big problem facing hell these days is... overpopulation?" Roland smiles encouragingly "yes..." Amber continues well if overpopulation is such a problem that we are willing to except such extreme measures like the exterminations, then why not just expand Dis here into the outer circles?" Roland laughs. "You think we haven't tried? You saw why not. The eldritch. There are more like them you know the beast that attacks the sixth circle is one of the minor creatures." Amber shrinks at this the news that there are even more of the things she fought on the wall apparently upsetting her. Roland continues. "Every once in a while, some brave or boneheaded entrepreneur decides that He is going to form his own little barony of hell in the wastes and start his own community out here." He scoffs "They usually are taken down by the nomadic raiders who do inhabit this place before any Eldritch can get to them. If they're lucky." "Okay..." Amber says slowly so there are no permanent settlements out here." Roland pauses a moment before cautiously adding. "There are some fortresses and outposts in isolated or hard to reach places that do hold out. Those raiders we saw earlier were based out of somewhere after all. And there are a few small towns that aren't entirely isolated. Amber takes this in... "so, we might encounter more of them?" Henri and Alexandra both laugh at her naivete. Roland continues "Oh we will most certainly encounter more of them out here." He turns inward for a moment "There is a reason that the first circle is almost entirely unexplored. Just getting there is an issue." After another moment he adds "In spite of all this every once in a great while you do get some buffoon swearing up down and sideways that he has seen the city itself. The fact that they consistently refer to it as 'New Akademos' combined with Dante's account has led most people to believe that there really is something out there in Limbo. The tale grows in the retelling as it always does and now people believe that there is treasure or technology or something there that would make one rich if only, they could reach it. Some years back I tallied the accounts the ones from supposed eyewitnesses almost always come from the easternmost edge." They continue in silence for a time after this as the nearest wall approaches. As they get closer a massive chasm comes into view between the desert of the fifth circle and the wall of the fourth. "I've never been out this far, what is that?" Alexandra asks. "That." Roland exclaims. "Is the chasm of suicides. The strange case of the moving circle."

Scene 5:

They come to the edge of the cliff and stare into the abyss. Only blackness stares back. Amber looks worried and even Alexandra visibly tries to conceal her uncertainty. Roland says they have two options; they can try to build some form of makeshift zipline or they can try to climb down, cross the forest below and then back up the far cliff wall into the fourth circle. Amber cautiously says "I vote we make some kind of rope bridge here and not climb down." Roland smiles and replies "A splendid idea with only two problems. We don't have any way to attach the rope bridges and we don't have any rope bridges." He stares back into the abyss a moment thinking. After a moment he looks back up. "Alexandra, Henri. Search the area around here see if there is anything you can find, even a long pillar or discarded canvass or something. Amber and I will stay here and try to think of a way down in the event that you don't find anything." The two shrug and Roland lights a small fire out of a dead log to signal them where to return. Alexandra walks off muttering that she's not sure what they are going to find. Henri simply smiles and dourly says "Aye milord." Roland pulls out a grappling hook from his pack and measures the length thoroughly. He frowns, apparently displeased with the result. A question occurs to Amber. "So, here's a question." Roland keeps working but adds encouragingly "Yes..." Amber continues "everyone keeps asking if they will personally check into the hotel if it works. What will happen to Hell's society itself if Charlie's idea works?" Roland smiles. "That." He says "is a very good question." Roland continues "I have seen a lot of human nature over the years. The moment Charlie's hotel stops being a joke it will be a threat, a problem, and most troublingly of all, an insult. Some who have been pretending to play the tough guy act for, Lucifer, centuries will find themselves with an out for the first time. I suspect that a lot of people will try to check in and then..." He stops. "...and then those who remain resolute in their opposition to the almighty will take action against such a threat. Time will tell who wins that fight, but one way or another it will break poor Charlie." Amber looks up "You know the princess of Hell quite well, huh?" Roland sighs "We knew each other, yeah." A flare goes up on the horizon and Roland looks up surprised he reaches for his gun... "INCOMING!" A grenade goes off about five meters from the two of them Roland is blown back and Amber barely misses the cliff edge. Henri and Alexandra jump in guns blazing, Alexandra looks panicked "they found us! Twisted Cross raiders start opening fire from the rocks Roland takes a bullet in the side only partially blunted by his armor. He pulls out Stormfang and returns fire. Henri charges in revolvers drawn like a raging bull carving a path to the surrounded duo, Alexandra right behind. Amber gets out her shotgun and starts blasting somewhat aimlessly at the raiders. The shotgun manages to get a couple of lucky clips against a few of them but the group is still outnumbered by at least six to one. Alexandra fires a shot and manages to hit a daring raider who peaked his head out from behind cover. The raiders start returning fire Henri takes at least four rounds in the torso and one in the arm. He struggles to stay standing after all the punishment. Roland backs towards the cliff until he is out of room. He reloads Stormfang and fires the whole magazine off in one long salvo desperately trying to buy some room with sweeping suppressing fire. It doesn't work. A grenade goes off at Alexandra's feet and she's knocked into the chasm below. "Alexandr..." Henri tries to reach out to her but is hit with more bullets and is knocked into the chasm himself. Roland catches a bullet in the side and goes tumbling over the edge. Amber stands all alone her combat shotgun hopelessly inadequate against so many long-ranged foes. After a look back she gulps and deliberately falls backwards after the others who fell into the abyss. She hits what seems to be a spike impaling her instantly she looks around to see the other three similarly skewered. Blackness closes in around her. Henri pulls with all his might himself off of the wooden pole. Clearly in bad shape he crawls to the other three and de-impales them, leaving them lined up in a row before he himself falls into blackness.

Episode 7

FLASHBACK:

Lyon, France 1209

Scene 1:

Dozens of knights and hundreds of soldiers line up in a large square. The place is rustling with activity. People load large amounts of supplies onto wagons and men train in a small square. Villagers gather to watch the soldiers assemble. Around them thousands of soldiers all bearing either the Templar's cross or the Fleur du lis make preparations. Henri rides up on a shire horse and dismounts. He looks over the tableau with nervous excitement. A red templar's cross now adorns his breastplate. A fellow knight joins Henri overlooking the preparations. "You ever seen this kind of activity before?" he asks. Henri looks up and smiles "No, Jerome, I most certainly have not." The knight pats him on the shoulder "Me neither." Jerome turns to him and comments "I heard stories about how the holy forces ran out of food during the last crusade, hence that ugly business at Zara. Looks like the king won't be making that mistake this time." Henri looks over to him. "About that, my orders came sealed with the sigil of the King as well as the ordinary Templar's seal, any idea why?" Jerome smirks. "Well..." The knight turns to Henri conspiratorially. "You heard all the songs they're singing and praises they're giving towards his old rival the late English Richard III over his expeditions in the crusade? About what a great king he was because of what a great and chivalrous warrior he was?" Henri pauses. "Yes..." The thought sits in the air a moment before Henri finally says it. "You don't think..." Jerome smiles smugly. Henri bursts out laughing. "That'll be the day, the king with us on crusade, wow!" a thought occurs to Henri and his face visibly sobers up. "I hope he hasn't arranged the whole affair just to glorify himself." Jerome shrugs. "I don't think he has that kind of sway with his holiness, just he's not going to let an opportunity like this pass him by." Henri smirks "Well I hope it's true, if nothing else we're at no risk of being neglected if the king is with us." Henri sighs "It'll be good to have some real support for a change." Henri spots a convoy of carriages and carts on the horizon and people line up to see the arrivals. Trumpets play and an ornately decorated carriage approach and a man in a bishop's hat comes forward. The citizens cheer and the soldiers all form an organized line outside the carriage doors. The knights, Henri included, kneel before them as they get out. A man in decorative bishop's robes get out. He steps forward to address the crowd. "My fellow Christians, pious, holders of the faith. I am Legate Arnauld Almaric. I have been tasked with the blessing of his holiness pope Innocent III and with the kind permission and support of King Phillip II of France to guide you during the great crusade that lies ahead. The true faith of Christ has many enemies. While the blessed warriors of God have been campaigning bravely in the holy land against the Saracens a more insidious cancer has taken hold here in France. Many of you are doubtless already aware of the dangerous and false beliefs known as Catharism. They have lingered in France growing for nigh on fifty years and they have taken strong hold in the land of Languedoc. Like a disease it Infects one part of the body before spreading to others. We believe these beliefs stem not from good Christian truths, but rather from the blackest of gnostic teachings which have been declared a dark and most foul heresy!" A chill goes over the crowd at these words. "Over the past few years, the Pope has been trying to get these heretics to see the good light, only to be met with rejection and distain. It matters not whether these evils dwell in Languedoc or the Holy Land they must be stamped out." He slams his scepter on the ground to illustrate this point. "And so, I come to you good Christian followers. You shall be the faithful who set these wrongs right. You shall be the sword that vanquishes these evils. On order of his holiness himself, you shall follow me to Languedoc where we shall restore goodness in the faith and end the evils of Catharism in France forever!" A cheer went up at this. Jerome claps though he is visibly confused. On Henri's face though there sits a look of dawning horror.

Scene 2:

A caravan of wagons, carriages and soldiers is seen marching down a grassy road deep in the countryside. Henri sists on the back of the wagon nervously Jerome shuffles back to him and sits beside him. "Well, that wasn't what I expected." Henri looks up. "Yeah..." Jerome ignores Henri's downtrodden face. "I've heard of these 'Cathars' they've been stirring up trouble in the south for years. I guess it was only a matter of time before the church simply stopped tolerating them." He shrugs. Henri doesn't look up, "Yeah." Jerome finally notices Henri's distress and gives him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Cheer up. I know you wanted to go to the holy land. I wanted to go too. But it doesn't matter to the church or the king or even to god where we fi..." "It's not that." Henri interrupts. "Well okay..." He adds "...it's not just that." Jerome looks confused, "Well what is it then?" Henri takes a long breath. "My mentor and master as a squire took part in the last crusade, he was actually at Constantinople during the final assault on the city. I know the story is that they turned their back on the crusade and set up a true and righteous king there. But for as long as I knew him, he kept hinting that it was something worse, like what happened at Zara just put in a better coat of paint. To make matters worse he would never really talk about the crusade. Just say that he did what the order needed him to do. I think he knew this was coming. He was always the one who read the correspondence from the rest of the order and seemed to be hinting about trouble in the south. He seemed to suggest that I should stay out of this if I could. He grew increasingly upset whenever he would read royal missives. Something about the Count of Toulouse. I just thought it was royal politics and that as a Christian order we weren't involved in it. Shows what I know." Jerome looks at him. "Have a little faith. Affairs like this" he gestures at the size of the army now marching "don't happen on a whim. We wouldn't be marching without good reason." Henri does seem somewhat consoled by this. "I suppose." Jerome looks at him. "Cheer up! it will be sundown soon. I Know you like watching those." Henri gives a wry smile and looks pensive "It's sunrises I always liked watching. I don't know why I always liked them better, just here comes the morning, the night is gone and it is a new day." He sighs "I don't know... I always wanted to fight for righteousness. Now it just seems so..." He throws a rock off the back of the wagon "Empty." The wagon continues off into the night.

Scene 3:

The sun rises as the French army set up outside on a hill outside a town surrounded by stone walls. Jerome approaches visibly nervous. Henri looks up at him. "This can't be the place." His voice is flat. Jerome frowns "It's not. We're looking for a place armed to the teeth. Carcassonne is supposed to be nothing like this." Henri looks up frustrated. "Then what are we doing here!" Henri struggles to hide the frustration in his voice. Jerome looks nervous before speaking. "Word is that one of the advanced parties found some Cathars in the bush last night." Henri's eyes shoot up at this. "Was there a fight?" Jerome nods. They think they fled here. Henri looks annoyed at this "They diverted the whole army to chase strays?" He snorts. Jerome looks forlorn. "Legate Almaric entered the town to demand that any Cathars leave. The townsfolk seemed to be backing them as do the local priesthood." Henri's face goes blank and he stands up as he slowly realizes what this means. "We are going to have a siege." His bluntness makes it not a question. Jerome nods forlornly. Henri opens his mouth to say something further but they are distracted by the sound of fighting down below. "What the devil?" Jerome looks shocked. Henri takes up beside him "There can't have been an attack already?" A group of soldiers take up by the gate and a melee breaks out. It gets bigger and bigger as more soldiers from the camp move down into the town. Henri and Jerome both grab their weapons and begin to join soldiers but Legate Almaric rides up to demand they hold back. The Legate has a sword on his right hip. A soldier runs up to him and says "My lord, there are still loyal Christians in the town. We cannot distinguish loyal Christians from sinners." The legate looked at the army before him, their bloodlust growing with each moment at the sight of the battle below. He looks up and tells the men "Kill them all, god will know his own." A mighty cheer goes up from the men at this and all charge Henri included into the melee below. The crusaders smash into the gate. It breaks almost immediately never being designed to hold off sieges. Henri joins the fight at an instant peasants and villagers trying in vain to hold off fully armed and trained soldiers with improvised weapons. Henri looks about the chaos in panic. A villager in a blacksmith's apron charges him with what looks like a fire poker. Henri effortlessly deflects the blow and stabs the man through the chest in a panic. He screams then falls over dead. All around Henri the crusaders have worked themselves into a frenzy and start hacking through everyone in sight. Screams are heard as men women and children are all mercilessly cut down. Henri and Jerome start fighting the city guard who are quickly hacked to pieces by the combat trained and experienced knights. Somewhere someone shouts (it is not clear on what side) "To the church!" The townsfolk start to pull back in terror running as fast as they can from the Carnage being sown by the crusaders towards a small cathedral in the west of the city. The crusaders spend the next ten minutes cutting down the last of the town defenses before the mob turns inward towards the city center. Jerome runs up to Henri panic in his eyes. "They took the walls the entire city guard is dead or routed I think it's time to..." An arrow shot from the vicinity of the cathedral roof flies into his throat. He starts gurgling blood trying to talk then lies still. Henri stares at the body in shock not moving. After a moment he looks up at the cathedral rage in his eyes. "God will know his own" he mutters. He puts his entire massive weight into the cathedral doors, but by some miracle they hold. More crusaders join him and someone gets a heavy beam to use as a battering ram. They all slam into the doors and they start to buckle. Another round with the battering ram and the doors fold like paper. Henri charges in sword drawn into the densely packed cathedral, his arms a flailing mass of sword blows cutting down dozens of people packed so tightly into the building that they cannot fall back. Soldiers and knights pour in right behind him and start slaughtering mindlessly. Henri starts mindless swinging his sword cutting wildly. Eventually Henri comes to a middle-aged woman in peasants garb huddling against the back wall. "Pitié! Pitié! Je suis juste un …" Henri decapitates her with a stroke. He breathes heavily. The crusaders start to clear out of the cathedral and return to the battle outside. Henri keeps breathing heavily his armor soaked in blood. He looks at the carnage around him. A look of utter horror at what he has done dawning on his face.

Scene 4:

Henri looks around the cathedral at all the bodies. Between Henri's personal rampage and the doings of the other crusaders there looks to be over 500 corpses littering the place. Henri looks down at himself to see his templar's cloth dripping with blood. He looks around the place looking for a place to wash off and wanders in a daze to the baptismal font. He looks at his reflection in the water and sees that his hands too are covered in blood. He tries to wash them off in the font but the font just turns red as it becomes more and more polluted with blood until the whole thing is so red that Henri can no longer see his face. He looks down at his templar's cloth, also now so stained with gore that the red cross can barely be made out against all the viscera coating it. Henri tears it off leaving his armor bear. He wanders slowly outside. The noise of battle is dying down. Corpses and severed body parts lie all throughout the streets. Henri stares in shock at it and slumps down. A glow starts to rise behind him. He looks around. Someone has set the cathedral on fire. Henri slowly shuffles away from the burning cathedral to what looks to be an abandoned alley. He slouches over with a thousand-yard stare at nothing. We see him stay there as the sun slowly rises, unblinking, in a stupor. As dawn comes Henri slowly gets up and walks into the square where the cathedral once stood. It is nothing but embers now, smoldering in the morning breeze. Legate Almaric wanders in touring the damage, badly trying to conceal a look of disgust. "G... good work everyone. They will... They will sing of this day. You have shown that the Cathars cannot hide behind city walls." The knights following him see the corpse of Jerome lying in the town square and Almaric holds back heaves. His tone remains an unconvincing quiver as he tries to give imposing orders to the men around him. "Ah tragedy, an honorable knight of the templar's cross. Fall... fallen in battle. Well, you boys know what to do take him and prepare him for an honorable burial. Will you all excuse me a moment?" Almaric rushes off through a side alley clearly distraught. He doesn't notice Henri huddled in the alley shadows. He goes to a corner out of sight of the men and begins to hurl. He looks slightly better after this and rises to rejoin the troops when he sees Henri standing there. He jumps but quickly regains his composure once he realizes that Henri is a knight and not some poor survivor of the night before. "Oh, Chevalier, Pardon me." Henri's face twists in resolution. "Father I need to confess." Almaric looks distraught at the prospect "Not now dear boy I'm... I'm busy." "No!" Henri's voice grows panicked "I need to confess right now!" He goes into a familiar ritual "Forgive me father for I have sinned. Last night I believe in violation of gods commandments I may have killed..." "YOU DID NOTHING WRONG!" The legate shouts in a burst of emotion clearly desperately trying to convince himself of this fact. "You served God and he thanks you for it." Henri practically begs the man "I sinned cleanse my name!" "NO!" The legate shouts and runs off. Henri stares at the now empty street. Alone. After a moment he screams "ABSOLVE ME!" but no one replies. Henri wanders off into the morning.

Present Day

Scene 1:

Horrifying howls fill the air. Close up images of blood cells and flesh mending together in a black mockery of their earlier form before coalescing into the original form. This is not healing but rather reverse damage each stitch clearly visibly hurts. Roland's eyes open red and bloodshot at first, his sclera and pupils are visible for the first time all varying shades of corrupted red then they ignite to their usual blue glow. Roland looks around in horror and incredible pain at his surroundings. Amber's body is not far behind Roland's the spot where she was impaled is almost fully filled and magical black and red sparks dance around the wound. Suddenly she opens her eyes and screams. She gasps at her chest before seeing that the spot has healed entirely. She looks around her and sees Roland. She gasps for a long moment taking in the fact there is at last no pain again. "What... what happened." Roland looks up at her and says with a hint of irony. "You died. Again." She looks at the large sharpened wooden stakes littered about the place. Roland looks up at her "What did you see? While you were out, I mean." She pauses a long moment before replying. "I saw myself on a bridge, I know it, it's in Cape Town. I have a collar around my neck and it has a chain into the center of the bridge. No matter how hard I pull I can't get it loose. Maggots ate my body and worms tore at my flesh. I Try to escape to jump over the bridge but before I can a..." She goes silent and then continues. "A truck comes and hits me shattering every bone in my body. Then traffic runs me over. I had the same feeling over and over again. Until, until... I thought it would last forever... with a gaping hole in my sternum which burned like the hottest fire. Until..." "Until you woke up" Roland completed. "Yes!" She says horror in her voice. "Is it like that every time?" Roland keeps looking at the ground. "Yes. That maggots feeling is almost entirely universal. And the burning sensation is in relation to whatever wound damaged your soul that caused you to die again. But the rest of it is dependent on however you died in life." She goes quiet. "I... I had just about guessed that, like I said I know that bridge in Cape Town. I... I... I've been on it." Roland looks her dead in the eyes "Do you know where you are right now?" Amber sounds confused "No..." Roland waves a hand at their surroundings for the first time Amber looks around and sees where she is along the edge of the cliff wall are sharpened stakes that would impale anyone unfortunate enough to land on them. Beyond that is a dark and wooded forest. The trees have no leaves and are twisted and warped into strange shapes. "This" he says "is the forest of suicides. The last remaining of Dante's circles still active." Amber glances around her, "I thought that was in the seventh circle?" Roland smiles. "Indeed, it was, but when Dis started really industrializing some, fires, 250 years ago now, the forest kept getting cut down and no matter how many times it was cut down the trees would just regenerate and grow back so they kept doing it." he smirks "no matter how loudly its occupants 'objected'. Then one day the trees stopped growing and a chasm opened up between the fourth and fifth circles he waves around to indicate their surroundings. At a depth roughly equal to the seventh. From that day on the trees grew here. It's too much of a hassle, and danger to come all the way out here for wood so the place is mostly left alone." Amber looks around the place in semi horror before eyeing the remaining party members. Henri's eyes open and he starts to pant heavily. He looks down at himself and sighs apparently having been here before. "Are... are we back?" he asks looking around him. Roland smiles. "Yes, old friend, we are back." He shudders. "Every time. Pitchforks over and over again, then torches." He shudders again. "Never gets easier." Alexandra's eyes open suddenly She utters one shrill scream then curses. "I am so done with firing squads!" she looks around at the group. "I'm last aren't I." "Yes. You are" Roland confirms. A thought occurs to Amber. "How long were we out?" Roland looks at his phone and frowns "A month." he says Amber shrieks in horror "A MONTH!" Roland nods "yep, pretty standard regeneration time. We lost an entire month. We need to get moving."

Scene 2:

The group walk in silence for a little while before Amber walks up to Roland. "So, I know what regeneration was like for me. What was it like for you?" Roland sighs a moment then responds. "Remember when I said that that feeling of worms gnawing at your innards was a near universal experience?" Amber nods "Yes." Roland pauses "Well... it seems I'm one of the rare exceptions to that rule. All I ever felt was... a sensation of falling and instead of some creative physical torture a sense of loss so deep and sad that it could fill the ocean." Amber looks conflicted for a moment, but then makes up her mind. "What I saw was somewhat related to what I did in life that... that caused me to end up here. Maybe yours is the same." Roland smiles a sad smile. "I have no idea what I did to end up here." She pauses a moment. "None?" Roland looks over to her. "I woke up in a bar about the day I died so hungover that I couldn't remember the previous day. While I was no saint in life but I wasn't exactly a huge sinner either." He looks introspective a moment. "Whatever I did... it is something... odd, that very, very few arrivals do to end up here." Alexandra listening in takes an interest in this. "Why do you say that?" She asks curiously. Instead of answering her question directly Roland asks "Have you ever noticed how once in a great while you will encounter a demon who instead of being transformed into some twisted animal or monstrous version of themselves there is just somebody who appears as a corrupted version of whomever they were in life, and those people always have glowing eyes?" He waves down at himself indicating his mostly human form. "Yes..." Alexandra replies unsure where this is going. "Well, the ratio of them to the average demon is about one in ten thousand." Amber's eyes go wide at this. "I saw someone like that on the wall! His eyes were orange and not blue and he was dressed in a fancy old robe but other than that yeah, the same." Roland smirks "So long as his eyes weren't yellow and it wasn't a shaved man with a cane." Amber frowns. "No, who's that?" Roland smiles in memory "That would be Nick, He's the only other person of note like me that comes to mind, he's Lord Lucifer's right-hand man. Be careful around him, he can be deceptively cruel." Amber looks worried, "Is he dangerous?" A smirk wraps its way around Roland's lips "If you ever meet him you keep your wits, for you are a fly about to be entangled in a very deep web. As long as you live you will never find a greater master of wit and sarcasm." Alexandra looks up. "Is that who that was? I've seen him next to Lord Lucifer on the news announcements. He always seems to be lurking in the background behind him, but he never speaks directly to the cameras." Roland looks at her "A more apt metaphor for the man I could not have come up with myself. He can be remarkably invisible, like the air. If he disappeared, you'd hardly notice, until the next time you wanted to breathe." Roland smiled, but did not elaborate any further. The group walk on in silence after this. The trees start croaking and creaking, moaning things that sound almost like words as the four make their way deeper and deeper inward.

Scene 3:

The wood grows thick with a kind of grey smoke. Henri signals the group to huddle around him to keep pace. Amber shrinks in fear. She looks about her and sees the imprints of faces in the trees. "What is this place?" her voice shows an unmistakable fear. Henri pipes up with a rare word. "I thought you read Inferno?" "Memorized the circles and malebolge for a test, never actually read the work." Amber replies. Henri snorts in mild disgust but nonetheless answers the question. "Well, these are those who do violence against themselves." "You mean like cutters?" Amber asks. Alexandra snorts in amusement at her naivete. Amber steps on a root and breaks a bit of it off. A blood curdling scream is heard from the tree that she damaged. The whole group stops and covers their ears. After a moment they recover. Roland perks up. "You know what Amber; I have an idea. why don't you ask the tree what it did yourself?" Henri's eyes go wide at this as he realizes what Roland just proposed. Amber eyes the thing and slowly reaches out to grab the bark covering the face after a moment she grabs it and pulls it back. A howl so loud that Alexandra instinctively drops to the ground and covers her ears shrieks from the tree. The edges of the bark start to bleed. Underneath the bark is a face of a man. It is covered in scars and markings, but nonetheless is still recognizable as human. Amber can't help but ask in horror. "Who... who are you?" The tree looks at her with wearied eyes. "In life my name was Antonio Calvaterri. I was a humble cobbler in the city of Genoa." The tree talks fast almost as if he is reciting a well-rehearsed script. "I awoke one morning to find that disease had taken my wife and, in my despair, I shot myself through the head with my landlord's pistol." Amber looks confused "But why are you punished like this!" The tree replies with a deep moan. "I took my own life. Violence against the self. So the almighty has decreed and so it is. We are all here awaiting judgement day and our final release." The bark begins to regrow back over the face of the man. "Before you go, can you do me a favor? Break my knee bark so that I might walk, even a few paces, towards the exit of this place." Amber looks scarred and confused. "But... but... Won't it hurt?" Life Hurts! Death Hurts!" the tree wails. "I want just a moments freedom that's all I ask." Bark grows in around the man's face and his voice grows muffled. Amber looks at the tree with something approaching pity. "Your call." Roland says. After a moment Amber says "Roland, give me your sword." Roland hands her his rapier and covers his ears. She Hacks at one of the branches rooting the tree to the ground and then the other. The tree howls in pain but nonetheless walks a few brief meters towards the inner wall before its legs grow back in locking it still again. A brief muffle that sounds vaguely like a bemoaned "thank you" comes from the tree. After a moment of silence, the group keep walking eastward.

Scene 4:

The group comes across a small long abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods. After a brief look inside Alexandra declares "There's only one bunk." "Henri gets it." Roland declares. Alexandra snorts "Why's that?" "Because" Roland replies "I swore an oath to see him fed and housed. That means he gets a bed even when I don't." Alexandra looks up to Henri with a mix of jealousy and surprise. "really!" she asks him. "Henri shrugs smugly. "It's true." he replies already staking out the cabin for himself. The remainder of the group set up camp. Amber lays out her sleeping bag and lays wide awake pretending to be asleep. Roland sits staring deep into the fire while Alexandra polishes her rifle. Time passes in silence for a while before Alexandra mutters "Still doesn't get why you would promise something so broad to your employee." Roland looks at her "It's because you lived in an era post feudalism, unlike old timers like Henri and me. An oath of fealty isn't just a deal, it's..." He struggles for the right word. "... a covenant. It binds us forever, even if one of us breaks it." Alexandra looks at him curiously "Is that why the two of you get along so well?" Roland laughs "Henri and I? We have been partners in crime," He smiles "sometimes literally, for almost two hundred years now. He was at my side when I struck the great Malificarum arms deal and he was with me when the Damnation foundries dam broke and wiped out a good portion of the eighth circle and he was fighting at my side when the Daemonicus Liberalis rebellion was put down. We have become so used to each other that we scarcely notice each other anymore. It's easy for me to forget that he's one of the very few demons who makes it past 800 years old." "And yet..." Alexandra notes. "yet..." Roland repeats "Yet I sensed a tension between you too way back at that bunker, when you were explaining defiance day to the pup here." she nods at Amber. Roland sighs "It's an old, old argument between the two of us as we are old, old arguers. The both of us are too stubborn to ever abandon it." Alexandra looks in silence expectantly. Roland answers the unspoken question. "Henri still holds his faith. Even down here. he defends heaven, he prays every Sunday and bears a cross under his shirt. He gets into fights about it with other demons who are offended when they find out about it, though, being him, he usually wins. I take another tack." He frowns... "Another tack..." Alexandra says confused. Roland's voice goes low. The creator has much to answer for..." Roland's eyes grow angry "Look at this place! Look at it! He gestures about to the forest. "Did you see that man that Amber tripped over! He begs strangers to mutilate him just so he can have the "luxury" of being able to walk a few steps! Our oh so benevolent maker has seen fit in his infinite love for us to se us suffer. He saw fit to see that man suffer for the grievous sin of being unable to handle his own life. He wanted didn't want 'heaven' he wanted release. Is that justice? No! It's sadistic! I once asked my creator for answers. Did I get it? No! I wanted an explanation from Lucifer did he give me one? Yes! If the almighty wants my faith and obedience maybe he can come to me and explain the reason for all this himself!" Roland puffs off into the woods at this and Alexandra follows him she sees him near a small hill looking at a hollowed-out log, nearly in tears. He stares up at the heaven orb fury in his eyes under his breath he whispers "We will never give in. Never."

Scene 6:

Alexandra walks back into the camp and hears a loud bang. She drops to the ground and readies her rifle. After a moment she gets up and takes stock of the situation. She gets up a puzzled look on her face and creeps towards the sound of the gunshot. She comes across Amber with her shotgun firing at a rock with a crude drawing of a Man on it about 100 meters away. Amber fires again grazing the thing Alexandra looks on bemused. Amber lines up another shot takes a deep breath she lines up the crosshairs perfectly and lets up a slow grin "I have you now." She pulls the trigger. The gun clicks. Amber swears and fumbles in her pack trying to reload. Alexandra steppes forward. "You will never hit anything if you work yourself up into a tizzy. Take a deep breath and focus. She eyes the rock. The thing is scattered with bullet marks. "You know," she says "a shotgun is really not the ideal weapon for combat at this range." Amber mumbles under her breath. "Roland said it was good up to 200 meters." Ah" Alexandra says "I forgot that sir master gunsmith is obsessed with high powered powder and accuracy." then after a moment mutters. "Seriously it's a shotgun, there is such a thing as too tight a choke." She eyes the target again "That's not bad actually." Amber's eyes flare up in determination. "It's. Not. GOOD ENOUGH!' She whips up the shotgun and shoots the target, she manages a glancing hit, grazing the target. Alexandra's eyes go up. "Not to intrude but... Have you ever handled a gun before all this..." Amber is silent for a moment "No." she says flatly. "Then why are you mad that you aren't hitting every single shot." Amber's voice goes quiet. "You could." she says simply. "Yes." Alexandra says. I could. I also have been doing this for 80 years. Roland has been doing it for 200 Henri has been doing it for over 800. It would be insanity to expect you to compare to us." Amber looks unhappy. "Here" Alexandra says and steadies Amber's aim. Don't breathe after each shot. Amber inhales then slowly exhales. "Now, aim." Amber lines up the shot. "Fire." Amber scores a hit. Amber lets out a wide grin. Alexandra smirks "See. You can do it" "I want to hit every single time. She says." Alexandra laughs, "Well then we have work to do." Several hours pass as the two practice. After a while Amber says. Alexandra. Can I see your sniper rifle? Alexandra knowing where this is going slowly hands it to her. She spots a small rock atop an eroded pillar way in the distance through the woods. "Alexandra, you're a professional, how far is that rock?" Alexandra eyes it. "About a klik wh..." Her eyes go wide. "Amber there's no way..." Amber exhales lies prone and lines up the crosshairs. The Gun goes off with a light hiss as the silenced barrel fires the rock in the distance explodes as the .50 cal anti-armor round slams into it. Alexandra stares speechless in surprise. Amber smiles. "No, I'm not good enough, but I'm getting there."

Scene 7

Morning comes and the group packs up without a word. The wall of the fourth circle is in sight. Along its edges are also sharpened stakes but they are less numerous and the group have less trouble navigating them on the ground. "This..." Alexandra stares in horror at the sheer size of the cliff. "This is going to be a long climb." Roland looks optimistic. "I said we were at the depth of the seventh circle. That means we have to climb the height of four circles to get out of this one. It will probably take all day." His voice is surprisingly optimistic despite the challenge. To wit, he pulls out his sword and starts hacking away at the stakes guarding the bottom of the cliff, for some reason there were fewer of them on this end. "Won't make much difference if you fall" he comments. "But it won't hurt as much." Amber looks nervous. "So... How do we climb this?" Roland hands each of the group two grapple guns. "With these." He replies. "Tie them both to yourself and fire them off one at a time alternating as you go up. Whatever you do, make sure that you have a secure grip on each line before you go up to the next one, if you fall, well, you remember the consequences." Alexandra looks at him in worry, "What do the rest of us do if one of us does fall again." Roland is silent a moment then says. "We call off the climb and make our way back down care for that unlucky person's body and try to find some other way up, no man left behind." Alexandra says with a surprising touch of gentleness in her voice "That's an unusual ethic for down here." Roland looks at her with a hint of anger in his voice. "I don't leave people behind, ok. I just don't." They set up their ropes in position and secure them as best they can and begin to climb. Amber is surprised to find that the motor in the grapple guns gently pulled one upwards as it tried to retract allowing one to "walk" up the cliffside. The going is slow but steady and as the day goes on the group starts to get tired. Slowly but surely, they make their way up the cliff. "Oh no." Alexandra has her sniper rifle tied to her and she uses the scope to scout out the next section as the approach the brim of the fifth circle a familiar looking group are seen setting up a rope bridge between the two ends. "Twisted Cross!" She hisses at the three. "Just over a dozen of them." She struggles to keep panic out of her voice, "What do we do?" Roland looks conflicted a moment but a surprising voice from Amber interrupts him. "We fight." she says. The other three stare at her in surprise. Amber let's out a sly grin "We got this." A slow smile crosses each of the others faces. Alexandra looks down her sniper rifle and takes the opening shot on a raider tying the bridge to the far end. He is hit dead on in the chest and lets out a scream as he falls into the pit below. Roland follows up with a barrage of fire from Stormfang and shoots two more of the raiders on the far end one is hit twice in the torso and stumbles over the other is hit in the shoulder and tries in vain to shoot at the unknown assailants firing at the group out of the darkness below. Alexandra picks him off with a well-placed head shot. The remaining raiders on the near side of the cliff get their weapons and start firing semi blindly into the pit. None of their shots connect. Most of the remainder are connected to the wall with ropes. Realizing that they can't possibly fight from this position they begin to drop in elevation still wildly firing. A shot lands near Amber and she takes precise aim with her shotgun. She pulls the trigger and with a blast the man screams as his torso is torn apart by buckshot and swings limply on his climbing wire. Amber smiles in manic glee as the action picks up and she starts blasting wildly. Three raiders in a row are downed by Henri's revolvers as he fires with scary accuracy at the raiders dropping from the cliff. The remainder accidently overshoot their assailants and clash with the four at point blank range. Roland swipes at one with his rapier and manages to get him in the leg. The man cries out but does successfully reorient himself into a dueling position with Roland, They both hesitate as they struggle to mentally prepare for a sideways fight. The raider pulls out some kind of long machete and swipes at Roland with it. Roland parry's the clumsy blow easily and begins pushing his advantage with the inexperienced swordsman. They clash for a moment before Roland grazes him in the arm. The raider cries out and Roland takes advantage of his hesitation to skewer him through entirely. The raider screams then stops moving. Henri meanwhile manages to impale a raider whole on the cliff edge with his broadsword. Another of the remaining takes a potshot at him with a low caliber pistol. The shot glances harmlessly of Henri's thick armor. Henri jumps wide at the man swinging on his climbing line. A brief look of panic comes over the raiders face as the 7,1 bull in armor flies at him and closes his eyes. Nothing Happens. He opens his eyes. He looks above him to see Henri just out of melee range. He smiles and readies his pistol a fraction of a second before he realizes what Henri was doing. With a snap Henri cuts his cord and he tumbles into the darkness below. The last raider looks at the four assailants and raises his gun to fire. Amber Alexandra and Roland all open fire on the man who is utterly annihilated by the sheer force of the bullets hitting him. The four look around them but the chasm is silent. They then look at the pulverized remains of the man hanging by the wire. Roland laughs "Got him." they keep looking but see nothing. They killed them all. They continue their climb and by the time the sun gets low in the sky reach the top of the cliff. And look onwards into the fourth circle.

Episode 8 Bloodywine Gulch:

FLASHBACK:

Kiev USSR, 1945

Scene 1:

We cut to a hospital bed with "Alexander" lying in it. Kiev can be seen outside the window, St. Andrew's Church visible in the distance. "His" right leg is bandaged up. Outside a roar of activity can be heard followed by cheering and gunfire. Alexander's eyes bulge and look around but he is unable to move. Alexander listens to the sounds in panic, but they don't stop. After a while a nurse enters the room with a broad grin on her face. "I bring good new..." Alexander interrupts her before she can say anything more. "Look, I cannot stay here. This place is driving me mad. I know, I know, I was told to take time but I really need to get back to my unit." the nurse tries to override him a massive grin on her face "I don't think that will be necess..." Alexander keeps going "I know you said two weeks more but there must be something you can do to speed the process along. I don't care if it hurts, I'm Russian, I can take it." The nurse finally overrides him. "Alexander! It's Over!" Alexander Looks blankly at her. "What do you mean 'over.'" She shows him a newspaper. On the front cover are the words "Гитлер вышибает себе мозги. Берлин капитулирует." [Hitler blows his brains out. Berlin surrenders.] Alexander stares at the newspaper long and hard before exhaling. And looking forlorn. "So, what happens now." The nurse looks ecstatic "Peace!" She throws her arms into the air. Alexander smiles, but a confused smile. "Whats wrong?" the nurse asks seeing his hesitation. Alexander stops for a long moment before replying "It's just, I don't know what to do with myself now, Laisha." Laisha pauses a long moment before saying "I have been going over your service records... I might know someone high in the government who might... have a job for you regardless of any... peculiarities about your service record." Alexander winces, obviously the nurse knows about his disguise, but she still doesn't want it talked about openly. Alexander sighs. "Fine I'll meet with him when I get better." The nurse looks nervous actually he is about to be very busy and will likely only be in town for a few days. If you want to meet with him it will have to be tomorrow." Alexander's eyes go wide. "who's it with?" The nurse looks nervous before replying. "Well... SMERSH."

Scene 2:

An elderly man sips tea from a cup in a somewhat nice apartment building thousands he looks out the window at grey concrete buildings. a statue of Lenin sits out across the street. He sits there staring at the street as the sun slowly sinks in the sky. He looks at the newspaper he is reading and frowns. After a moment he puts on a coat with a hammer and sickle He walks slowly out to the street and sighs he looks to the air then starts to walk he goes past the throngs of people on the street before walking past them. He sighs as he walks. Children play on the grey streets. Every once in a while, a car passes. The sun sinks slowly in the sky, but he keeps going until he is past the city limits. into a secluded graveyard. He smiles at a grave and pulls out some flowers before kneeling and placing them in front of the tombstone after a moment he stands up and turns around. Before he can take a step, his head explodes in a shower of gore and the body falls to the ground dead. Almost half a mile away a woman wearing civilian clothes but with her hair back smirks with a smoking sniper rifle. She pants heavily and quickly begins folding her rifle up into a violin case she has at her side. She is out of breath for some reason and walks back into the city to make a phone call. She then jogs for half a block where a nondescript taxi picks her up with a man inside. He looks at her and asks in a flat voice "How did it go?" Alexandra answers still trying to catch her breath."Ublyudok made me chase him half way across the city before I got a secluded shot." The man does not look at her but asks "did anybody see you?" Alexandra answers in a certain tone. "No. No one saw." Alexandra continues. "For the record, I didn't see anyone meet with him either. He was of greater means than I imagined. He was also alone. Odd for a rabble rouser." The man does not answer the unspoken question and instead says "You have done good work for us and The Union thanks you." Alexandra looks at the violin case and a frown comes over her face "It is necessary..." Her voice sounds unconvinced but her handler does not interject instead he pulls out another picture. "It will take a few months before we are sure that the moment is right to eliminate this man, but we have an image here of your next target." Alexandra gapes. After a moment she finds her voice, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this Comrade Kalinev of the politburo!" The man is quiet for a long moment before replying. "He has become quite the problem for The Union. We will give you further information when we feel the time is right." Alexandra steps out of the taxi and walks into the apartment it took her to. She gets into bed and looks longingly at the image of her mother and lies in bed looking worried.

Scene 3:

Alexandra sits nervously at a city bench before a man in a postman's uniform gives her an antique vase with a large flower in it. She nods politely and thanks him for it before going inside. Inside the vases inner wrapping is a piece of paper. Alexandra takes out the paper and reads it. Her face gets increasingly upset the more she looks at the paper. She reaches under the potted plants wrapping and pulls out a photograph of the politburo member that her handler and her discussed before. She reads it several times before sighing and getting out her violin case. She stares at it a moment then packs up and goes out the door the city streets bustling with activity, the Moscow air looks cool and crisp on a Spring morning as a few decorative trees bloom along the city streets. A child sings a familiar tune. In the distance someone plays the piano. She keeps walking until she reaches the downtown area. The buildings here are more luxurious and the streets are much quieter, with almost nobody in sight. She starts to count buildings until she reaches an alley with the fire escape left down by someone. She smiles a grim smile and begins to climb the building. She pulls out her rifle and begins surveying the area with her scope. The area is clear of anyone. She waits. The sun moves across the sky. A man in a typical soviet era jacket and coat walks into her sights, only the pin on his hat indicates that he is of any importance. Alexandra tracks him shacking she gets a bead on his head... and hesitates. She takes a deep breath but just as she is about to pull the trigger a car races in front of her sight. She swears and tries to take aim again but before she can the man walks out of her sightline and behind some buildings. She Looks furious for a moment, beyond cursing. She hastily packs up her rifle and climbs back down the ladder and begins hastily jogging to try to catch the escaping politician. She rounds a corner and with an audible *thunk* runs right into the man in question. "Oh, Mne zhal" the man says "No," Alexandra replies I'm sorry, I umm I should have seen where I was going. I'm very busy." Alexandra scrambles to pick up the violin case before it can fall open. The man looks at her and his face twitches before he says "citizen, let me ask you a question. What do you know of Comrade Kalininsky?" Alexandra recognizes the man as the name her handler reported to. "I uh, heard the name briefly once, I think. I don't know much about him." The man's eyes narrow but he doesn't say anything else. He watches Alexandra run off into the day then disappear into a dark alley. He keeps looking into the alley shadows but doesn't see anything further. He turns around for a moment and starts walking. After a second a bullet speeds out of the alley and into his chest. He splutters on the ground for a moment then dies.

Scene 4:

Alexandra Walks slowly back through the city streets and down back into the area where the city is more active. She keeps a brisk pace before coming to a telephone booth. She picks up the receiver and dials a number. "I would like a taxi to take me to a recital, I would like to play beautiful music." She hears a click and after a moment the person on the other end says. "understood. A taxi is on its way." She walks about half a block past to a small square where a statue of Stalin sits. A taxi cab drives up to her and she gets in. They wait until the driver starts moving and the handler asks if the job went well. After a moment Alexandra says "Eventually, A Proklyataya mashina got in my way and I bumped into the damn fool." "You spoke to him!" the handler sounds worried. Alexandra says "only briefly. I made my excuses and got out of sight pretty quick. I don't think anyone saw." The handler starts sweating. "Did he mention anyone." Alexandra looks confused. "yes actually, he mentioned Comrade Kalininsky for some reason. I said I didn't really know him and then scrambled off. If you're worried about it, he didn't have a chance to talk to anyone else before I shot him." They pull up at Alexandra's apartment. Alexandra notes her handler's nervousness. "Is everything all-right?" The handler looks up at her then seems to calm and smiles "It's fine." he says and the taxi pulls away. Alexandra goes inside. Night falls and Alexandra tosses and turns in her bed. She looks at the clock and it reads 1:31 PM. Her eyes narrow as she makes up her mind about something before putting on her shoes and a coat and going out. She walks with purpose, moving at a brisk pace before she comes to the apartment of the "rabble rouser" that she assassinated several days before. She stares at the apartment which is abandoned. No one has moved in to the dead man's home yet. Her face hardens as she comes to a decision and pulls out a knife. She uses to pry the door to the man's home open and she steps inside. She notes a letter on the end table and stares at it a long moment. She whispers to herself "Don't have the government seal on it. Don't have the government seal on it." She flips it over to reveal that it is sealed with a red seal with a yellow hammer and sickle on it. Alexander swears She slips her knife under the seal and starts to read.

"Дорогой товарищ Калинев.

Нас все больше беспокоит Калининский. Человека не устроили деньги, которые мы перевели из армии в аграрный департамент. Его ссылки на МГБ обеспокоили некоторых членов Политбюро. У нас есть основания полагать, что за вами наблюдают. Мы свяжемся с вами в ближайшее время и хотим убедиться, что деньги были переведены правильно и вовремя.

С уважением М."

[Dear Comrade Kalinev.

We are increasingly worried about Kalininsky. The man was not satisfied with the money that we transferred from the army to the agrarian department. His references to the MGB worried some members of the Politburo. We have reason to believe that you are being watched. We will contact you shortly and want to make sure that the money was transferred correctly and on time.

Best regards M.]

Alexandra's hands shake she puts lights a candle and burns the letter she carefully races to her apartment and gets into bed before taking a large swig of wine that she has on her shelf in a desperate attempt to calm herself. She eventually falls asleep, only to wake up with a knock on the door. "So soon after the last one." she mutters to herself. She goes to the door to get a package with a piece of meat in it. She looks at the meat wrapping. Inside is a note that says

"Будет изменение протокола. Встретимся на складе в двух с половиной километрах к югу."

[There will be a protocol change. Meet me at the warehouse two and a half kilometers south.]

Alexandra's face twists in confusion, but she goes nonetheless. She comes to what appears to be an abandoned warehouse it is filled with scattered boxes. She notes one box has fallen open and has a piano in surprisingly good condition inside it. She looks at the piano but ignores it and steps to the wall and turns on the lights. She walks to an open end of the warehouse. She sees her handler sitting in a back corner and she opens her mouth to speak. A sudden a hail of gunshots rain out. A firing line was hidden in the shadows. Her body jolts in an explosion of blood and gore. She falls to the ground, very dead. Her handler looks pained before looking at her and says "thank you for your service" And walks out.

Present day

Scene 1:

The four climb over the edge of the fourth circle. Amber looks exhausted and rolls over the edge dirt tired. The others don't seem to fare much better. Roland and Alexandra pant heavily and even Henri sits down. After a moment Amber sits up and takes in their surroundings. Before them lies a much rockier landscape than the endless deserts of the fifth circle. Instead of vast arid wastelands, huge craggy mountains and barren canyons and mesas jut out menacingly in all directions. Roland looks at the group and signals to them to attention. "Welcome to the fifth circle, greed. Here we face a dilemma. One of the things that makes the fourth circle so treacherous is paradoxically that unlike the fifth circle, it is almost livable. You might be tempted to make a go of it out here. As a result, there are hundreds of dead settlements peppering the place. Every once in a while, a small settlement does get itself into a fortified enough position to survive out here. For lengths of time. The key two settlements in our path are Deadtooth Mesa, which as the name implies is the rare mesa that rises both high enough to avoid the hordes of locusts that plague the fourth circle and made out of rock hard enough to be invulnerable to the burrowing eldritch that tend to attack any settlement that is foolish enough to set up here." Henri looks interested at this and is about to say something, but before he can Amber interrupts "And the second settlement." Roland continues "The second settlement is called Bloodywine Gulch, as the name implies it Is a massive tunnel complex built into a massive mining complex. That mine is still active by the way and is one of the key reasons why anyone ventures out into the fourth circle at all anymore. Now not only is the gulch underground, but it also has a massive conning tower built into it above ground that can be used to, you guessed it, see for miles. I think we should split and head to both settlements." Alexandra's eyes go wide at this, "What WHY! Why in the name of spit would we ever split up out here!" she gestures wildly indicating Hell. "Because..." Roland continues "We have encountered raiders of the twisted cross three times so far, the second time they had clearly been tracking the four of us for miles. They are going to find those bodies we left hanging on the edge of the chasm of suicides eventually assuming that some watchman didn't see us dispatch them already. The number one thing they are going to be looking for is a group of four people. And while raiders occasionally patrol the fifth circle, they are much more common in the fourth" Henri bristles at some memory before himself adding "Much." Roland continues I propose that Henri you take Amber to Deadtooth Mesa, you two should make a convincingly harmless duo, the young woman and the sole bodyguard she hired." Both Henri and Amber looked like they wanted to object to this, but stayed silent. "Alexandra you're with me to Bloodywine. I have business interests in there that I am long overdue on checking up on. Any objections?" Amber speaks up "Yeah, how do we make contact to meet up again." Roland smiles "Two things, first..." He holds up his cell phone. "That conning tower has more than one purpose. The signal is far from secure but I think we can risk one brief communication once in town." Second the only easy way into the third circle is a narrow canyon roughly between the two on the far end. We'll meet up there. Any further objections?" Nobody objects. "Good" Roland says, without another word they make their way off in two directions.

Scene 2:

Amber and Roland are two mere dots through gorges and gorges of massively tall spires of stone, the valleys they walk in look not like ordinary desert valleys, eroded away over millions of years by water, but instead like some giant had taken a chisel to hell's surface. Huge corridors resembling enormous half pipes crisscross their way across the landscape. Alexandra looks about the colossal structures surrounding her. "What happened here?" She asks Roland offers a wry smile, "What you never been out this far?" Alexandra snorts "Never had much reason to, Dis had enough danger and emptiness for my tastes. And this place doesn't have beer." Roland gestures to the huge tunnels and valleys that dot the landscape. This is where those who were damned due to their greed ended up. For over a thousand years the condemned dragged heavy objects for miles in huge circles what you see is the result." Alexandra squints closer at the terrain and sees gashes in the walls of the cliffs, she realizes that they are scrape marks from where men pulled boulders across the rock. Her eyes narrow looking for perching points. "I don't see any spot where a sniper could get a good vantage on us, the walls are too high, it's possible that an exceptional sniper could get us from the tops of the walls but unlikely, between the distance and the wind the odds of a successful shot is just too unlikely to invest hours setting up a sniper nest in. Roland nods "There is a reason I brought you along on with men and not Henri, Sniper nests are the number one thing that could threaten us out here and believe it or not, I don't have an artillery battery ready to hand to take them out so the only defense I have along this route is to hope to counter-snipe our assailants." Alexandra smirks at the joke but keeps looking along the walls. "I don't see anywhere a good perch could be found." Someone set up a rope elevator and built a small outpost along one of these mesas, a few years back, it worked surprisingly well as a settlement. For some bizarre reason they were hit particularly hard by the exterminators and the outpost died. But the big nightmare of the place before that, besides just getting out here of course, what the fact that these walls are nigh impossible to climb even with advanced equipment. I don't think anyone could build fortifications into them easily. Henri and I used to escort goods from Bloodywine back through to the Styx when we were first setting up my company the threat wasn't raiders along the walls, though that is a concern, it's clans of people barring off the passes. That takes numbers though and whatever warlord claims to own Bloodywine is always sure to keep the settlements lifeline as clear as they can. I..." Alexandra holds up a hand and Roland goes silent. She pulls out her sniper rifle and fires at a dark shape barely visible against the setting sun. There is a quick muffled yell and then a figure falls dead. Roland and Alexandra run over to the corpse of whoever it was. She is dressed in all dark blues and greys clearly trying to camouflage against the rocks background. Roland curses. "Scouts." Someone else is out here. Get your things and prepare to make camp in the first cavern we can find. We travel by night." Alexandra nods and gets her things.

Scene 3:

Alexandra and Roland hug the edge of the canyon until they find a small cave. Weird noises emanate from within. Alexandra takes a long look into the ominous cave. "I don't think we should go very deep in." She says Roland nods "Agreed." The two set a small fire in an unroofed section near the mouth of the cave. They settle in and Roland and Alexandra take position on what was becoming their places around the campfire. Roland looks up awkwardly at Alexandra, "ummm..." Yes, she says "Can I tell you something." Alexandra looks bemused "sure." "You're a very good shot." They stare at each other a moment and then she laughs. "Okay" She says a smile still on her face "Now I get to ask you one." Roland asks. "Yeah..." Alexandra looks him square in the eye. "The princess of Hell... You knew her?" Roland looks at her blankly a moment then his eyes go sad. "Yeah I knew her." Alexandra sits silently before asking. "What's she like. "You will never find anyone less suited to this place." Alexandra looks at him skeptically a moment before replying "I had heard that she had something of a falling out with her father and that she is eeeeh a bit of a creampuff." Roland looks at her and frowns. "That is what a lot of people think and it's not entirely fair. She is an optimist in a world of pessimists, nihilists and... hedonists. She sees the best in everyone, a nice sentiment until you remember that that means ignoring the worst in everyone, which down here can be..." He pauses "...problematic." Alexandra looks at him "Quit dodging the question. What were you to her?" He stops for a moment before replying "I was the realist. We were together both trying to make it work for a year. We were both the closest thing that we had encountered down here that the other was looking for." Roland looks down. "We both learned that that's not the same thing as being what the other was looking for. I really do hope the those in the New Akademos say that what she's doing is at least feasible. She deserves a victory." Alexandra pipes up. "You know that nerdy *ahem* 'working girl', at the bar, who keeps awkwardly failing to try to flirt with you." Roland looks embarrassed, but doesn't deny this. "Yeah." "Her names Glitz. She's very you. Loves following politics and talking about machines and stuff. Keeps getting talking tos from the barkeep when she violates the taboo about talking about up her life on the surface." Roland looks embarrassed "I uh, I have never been very good with, you know, people." Alexandra snorts and says "I noticed; you keep devolving into lectures." Now Roland snorts. Alexandra changes the subject. "How much farther until we reach Bloodywine?" Roland looks at a map, about twenty miles on foot. We should be able to there in one big gasp tomorrow night if we hurry." "Alexandra looks deep into her sniper rifle. "Sounds like a plan." She looks at Roland, "You know something," He looks back at her, "yeah?" "You're not a half bad shot either."

Scene 4:

Two figures emerge from the coming dawn as they walk from the crags of a greyish blue canyon. In the morning mist Roland and Alexandra approach a large cave entrance with two heavily armed sentries out front. Hundreds of bodies sit at the foot of the gate. Men in black cloaks and night time camo gear litter the ground along with soldiers in an elaborate gold and crimson uniform. Above the wide cave door is a flag with a golden cape on it and the words "Quis est dicere quod non est aurum." emblazoned on it. Even higher above the mountain the gate is carved into what appears to be a massive radio tower, though closer examination reveals that it's actually a huge watchtower, radio booster and signal landmark all in one. Snipers in gold and auburn lie in wait across the canyon. Huge trenches and turrets dot the perimeter. The sentries at the gate squint suspiciously at the figures but the two approach without offering any sign of hostility. "Halt!" one says. "The other perks up. Entrance to the city by V.I.P. authorization only." Roland looks confused. "I thought access to the city was public." The guard eyes him suspiciously but does not ready his weapon. "The city has come under attack recently." Roland looks at all the bodies. "I... uh... can see that." He pulls out an I.D. badge. "Roland Von-Braun, CEO and Founder of Cerberus Munitions. I have phoenix class city clearance." The guard looks disbelievingly at him but punches up a data device. His eyes shoot up in shock apparently confirming Roland's status. "You may go in sir. He says simply." Roland turns to Alexandra "You know in over a hundred years not once have I had to bring up my clearance with the city before. It's unusual that a place like Bloodywine, normally so dependent on outside support would close up this tight." He shrugs. "That's paranoia for you I guess. Lucifer knows the city has taken attacks from outside before. As you saw the city is built like a fortress." They step into the mine shaft. A surprisingly lavish elevator sits next to a huge funicular with the loud whirring of machinery grinding below. The duo step into the elevator and begin their descent. Alexandra shivers, "I'm glad we won't be out in the wilderness anymore, don't get me wrong, but I never liked tight spaces like this." Roland smirks "Claustrophobia? I don't think that will be a problem here." Alexandra sounds unconvinced. "it's a mine complex I don't think it's going to be..." Her words are cut off as the elevator's window drops into sight to reveal a huge cavern filled to the brim with an array of flashy hotels, casinos, bars and drug dens below all arrayed out over a massive cavern supported by pillar upon pillar of stone. The words "BLOODYWINE" are carved into the ceiling in huge letters emblazoned in real gold covering. Down below a fight breaks out between a drunk who stumbled out of the drug dens and a rich gambler who just had high proof liquor spilled on his suit. Beyond the glitz of the central cavern are mining tunnels sprawling out in all directions. "...very comforting." Alexandra finishes. "What is this place?" She asks in a daze of something approaching wonder. "This" Roland replies "Is the richest damn few underground miles the damned have ever built, a testament to the sheer power of greed and ambition. Be careful where you step, this place is called the great Venus flytrap for a reason. Idiot gangsters on the streets of Pentagram City wouldn't know the value of our equipment but the robbers down here sure do. Alexandra falls quiet as the elevator reaches its bottom which opens with a pleasant ding. She sticks close to Roland who walks with a reassured step down the streets. The bar fight they witnessed as they came in escalates to a full brawl as junkies and drunks take the opportunity to attack well-to-do gamblers coming out of the casino next door. The guards intervene at this point settling the debate (largely on the side of the gamblers who to be fair were the ones attacked) by firing suppressor shotguns into the crowd. Alexandra looks closely at the shotguns and notes a familiar yellow and black logo on them. They make their way down the boulevard and around the block to a large weapons shop. Roland walks in quietly sure not to alert the bored looking demon behind the counter who is dealing with a nasty looking thug with a cutlass. "You!" the demon barks at the clerk. "You are going to get me the biggest most powerful gun in this place that fires the loudest most powerful ammo and then!" he cackles menacingly "You are going to thank me for not gutting you like a piglet." The clerk barely looks up from his magazine, but replies in an extremely bored sounding tone. "Sir I have to inform you that if you persist in threatening me and this establishment, I will respond with lethal force." The (clearly high) robber cackles again and screams "Your funeral!" The clerk looks up through lidded eyes at the robber as he makes a B-line for the counter. Barely moving he pulls out a revolver with the words "Danger explosive ammunition" Written on the side and pulls the trigger the unfortunate robber is blown to bloody chunks. Both Alexandra and Roland are used to this kind of thing enough to not recoil at the blast but Alexandra looks at the mess with a concerned look. The clerk notices Roland for the first time. "Good to see you sir" he says showing some mild surprise but still does not alter his bored tone. I heard what happened to the Pandemonium factory. Um, Do I still have a job?" Roland, amused smiles at the clerk. "It seems you do Brad. Keep defending the company property. I'm not here for an inspection though." He looks at the bloody remains of the would-be robber. "Ok. I'm not just here for an inspection, I need a place to stay for a day or two is the room upstairs available?" Brad blinks. "Yes sir, the whole upper suite is." Roland claps his hands together "Vunderbar!" He turns to Alexandra "We have a place for the night." She shrugs at him and follows him upstairs.

Scene 5:

The two find a moderate attic suite with rooms for about four people overlooking this part of Bloodywine Gulch. Alexandra relaxes in an attic chair and looks out on the glittering city. She sips looks at the portraits on the wall three are of men she doesn't recognize but the fourth... she smiles. Henri is painted into a large portrait standing in stunning armor his bull mane groomed into an elegant goatee he looks through the portrait with a gruff expression on his face, his sword held by the pommel into the ground. Next to Henri is a rather more moderate portrait of Roland in a business suit looking directly at the portrait artist. "At least he knows which of the two of them is worth emphasizing as the looker." she mutters to herself. She stares longingly out the window at the glitz below she eyes the residents with disdain. "Spoiled codgers wouldn't know a bullet from a bell end. Always did prefer the honesty of the streets to this... fakery." she practically spits the last word out. the clock in the background indicates that about an hour passes as she stares out the window. Roland walks in with a pair of light meals and beers in his arms. "Dinner?" he asks. Alexandra looks longingly at the beers he brought in. "Yes!" She says, clearly starved. She looks at the expensive Russian beer he bought. "You know me." she says with a smirk. "I ought to." he says "I might as well have bribed you with this stuff directly for years for the speed you traded your pay for it. Had been a stereotypical man I might have thought you would go for vodka." Alexandra scoffs "Vodka's too strong for my tastes, I like to nurse a drink, slowly lose consciousness you know? Really give yourself enough time to appreciate just what a miserable sop you are before you pass out." Roland sits down and gives her a narrow eyed look. "You don't like yourself. You'd rather be somebody else." Roland says. His tone makes it not so much a statement as a diagnosis. "You know it's funny." She replies. "I was someone else. 'Alexander Petrov' I called him, I disguised myself as a boy so I could serve in the Red Army during the war. I wasn't terribly good at it at first, until the sergeant caught me. I thought he would shoot me, but he showed me how do It better and I got good at it. By the end of the war men who had served for decades would never believe if I was a woman if I appeared right next to my feminine self. I served for years that way. I was the best. I was there when we pushed the bastards out of Stalingrad and there when we liberated The Ukraine and... and... It wasn't until the war ended that I realized..." "That you realized..." Roland continues. "That I hated 'Alexandra' she's a bitter nobody and petty assassin. That I realized that I liked him better! Sometimes I would go out onto the streets at night I would put my hair up and wear men's clothes and go bar crawling and be him again. I would talk with the bar patrons for hours and they liked him too! He was suave, fun humble yet brave, the kind of person that was fun to meet and have a beer with. I felt so much happier when I was him. So much more... whole." Roland's eyes glint. "Ohhhhh." "You're one of those." His eyes laugh. Alexandra picks up his meaning. "I am not! I mean... I mean... look I'm a woman, I always have been a woman, I'm fine with that. But... But he was a hero! He was the best damn crack shot anyone had ever seen! That people wanted to have him around! to cover for him even. He marched through mud and blood to save his people and defeat a great evil! He doesn't lose emotional control and torture people, no, he doesn't get convinced he's some patriot when in reality he's assassinating people for some two-bit corrupt politician no, he fights for something worth fighting for!" tears well up in her eyes as she delivers this speech. Roland takes on a comforting tone. "Hey calm down. I didn't mean it." She looks him in the eye then looks away. "Yeah, well I'm here aren't I, so obviously I must have been rotten deep down after all." Roland replies levelly. "For what it's worth I am glad you are here now. Both of you." He leaves her to her rest at this but Alexandra keeps looking out the window. She hears him leave and prepare for bed in the next room. Then things go silent. "You know it's funny" she whispers to herself. "Sometimes I wonder." she says to herself. "If Alexandra came down here, while Alexander went to heaven."

Scene 7:

Alexandra takes a deep breath and looks at the clock. It reads 10:30. "It's not that late." she mutters to herself. She looks out the window and sighs, before putting on her jacket and going out on the streets she comes walks by all the neon lit streets the sounds of people fighting can be heard from one building, slots from another. A party seems to be going on in one extravagant bar on the corner. Alexandra walks by this and stares at it sadly. "There was a time when Corporal Petrov would have cheers to his name all night long at a place like that." her voice sounds depressed. In a mutter so low it can be barely be heard she mutters to herself. "Not here." She continues to look out at the bustling cityscape before her. "They say wise men find happiness in solitude, but I never could prove it. Must not be a wise man." A deep voice is heard from behind Alexandra. "Wisdom is where you find it madam. The stoics found solitude enlightening, but contemporary work must be done amongst men." The man has a shaven head and simple yet elegant clothes along with a black cape. He carries a cane at his side. Like Roland he does not have a monstrous or bestial form, but rather that of a corrupted man with veins protruding from faded and withered skin. His most striking feature is his eyes however; they glow a bright yellow, so bright that neither Sclera nor pupils can be seen. Alexandra looks up to him. "You look familiar." The man smirks "I have been known to make public appearances in my day, though recently I have been rather more enthralled in the local political situation to make any kind of showing." Alexandra looks down "Sorry, I was just lamenting my failures and that of my government" she says with a slouch. "Ahh." he says with a flourish. "Too few people spend their solitude with that lament. Hell would do well to so wisely spend its mourning. Bloodywine's defensive failures could spawn something worthy yet. Maybe the place will hire those invested in its defense instead of mercenaries after the next group flees." Alexandra realizes his mistake and remarks "I'm not a local. In fact, I was actually referring to my government from when... from before. Sorry! Sorry! I shouldn't have brought it up." The man sits with her beside the alley. "You are right to avoid dwelling on the past Forging a new self, independent of our sins and of our creator is one of our key philosophies down here for those with the wit to observe them. However, We are all entitled to our thoughts and poses the right to share them." He gives her a wry smile. Alexandra is silent for a long moment. "My government did the most awful things in the name of its own security, I made what I imagined to be the most awful sacrifices in its glorious name. We routed out 'traitors' and 'spies' alike It... It's part of the reason I'm here." The man ponders this for a moment then smiles. "Tell me did you serve a King or a Republic. Alexandra opens her mouth then her face hardens and she replies "King." the man smiles some more ah, "Then they were wise to be forceful. If common unity is to be the goal of the state above prosperity then it is right for men to demand respect even if through force rather than through the obedience of wisdom. Men cannot be depended upon to be so wise. A common good demands unity and men will only be unified through either common interest. If such a common interest is not found, swift and final force should be used." Alexandra looks up at him annoyed. "If that's the case then why did the state wither and die before mobs of its own citizens demanding its death?" The man let's a wry smile come over his face. "In failing to realize that it is only safer to be feared than loved if one cannot be both." Alexandra looks up at him recognition coming over her face. "I know you! You're the… the… royal…" she looks for his title. "Advisor." A look of amusement comes over his face. Madam I have business here. But if you are so blessed to truly seek wisdom my advice to you is this. Do what must be done for the common good because it must be done for the common good and never regret it. Spend you anguish instead trying to figure out what must be done for the common good." She stands up. "You sound like Rola... Like a friend of mine. She stands up and starts to walk away. He looks at the shiny high-quality armor she's wearing. He eyes the cerberus munitions logo on it. "Ma'am. Would this friend happen to be Roland Von-Braun?" She stops dead. "Yes. Yes it is. He's with me in town actually." she says simply. The man lets out a slow mischievous smile. "Thats very interesting. Thank you, madam, I must be on my way." He turns and walks off into the night.

Scene 8:

An alarm clock goes off and Alexandra moans and slowly comes awake. She groans sleepily and looks around the room. Roland exits his room and knocks on her door. A muffled voice comes from within "Yeah come in." He enters the room she looks up at him. She looks better than she did the night before. "Sup?" she asks. "I" he replies "have been searching around the city for something worth doing while we wait for the observation tower to open up so we can contact Henri and Amber. Alexandra's eyes fly up in question. "Well, there is a, for lack of a better term, gala, in town. The movers and shakers in this pit are going to be there and I want to be there too. I have some pretty good investments in this little hole in the ground and would like to keep up appearances." Alexandra looks at him skeptically, "What's in it for me?" Roland smiles "You, get a lovely night on the town and something to do other than stay in this room all day. Don't think I don't get your headspace. I've been in self-imposed isolation for long periods. It eats at you. It will destroy you if you let it. I'm not letting you stay in here indefinitely. You trudged all the way up here you might as well enjoy it." Alexandra looks annoyed at this, but doesn't argue. The two of them put on coats and march down the stairs into the shop. "Hold the fort Brad." Roland instructs the bored looking cashier. "Yes sir." he says without looking up. "Look at all this wealth!" Alexandra says sounding disgusted. "Where do people get all this money in this remote mine anyway." Roland smirks. "I'm surprised you haven't thought to ask me that sooner. You know how the fourth circle was all about greed?" Alexandra nods. "yeah." "Well..." Roland continues "...One of the punishments for the greedy was supposed to be to wear gold lined lead cloaks for all eternity. Whenever they threw them off, they would just grow back bigger and heavier. Well... every once in a great while a bunch of them, particularly the newly damned, would go into a mass frenzy of trying to throw them off and end up leaving tens of thousands of them behind to get buried, deeper and deeper until..." Alexandra's eyes go wide at she realizes what he is saying. "They were lined with genuine gold mind you, not just a lead base." Alexandra looks at him "You don't mean..." "Yep. They have been digging up the old cloaks, refining them of gold and lead and selling them at a massive profit for nearly sixty-five years now, I love it when an ironic punishment itself becomes ironic. They arrive at a fancy looking building with the image of a rose on the cover. "We're here." he says.

Scene 9:

For the first time that day Alexandra notices a tiredness to Roland's eyes. "Is everything okay?" she asks "I'll be fine." Roland says "Just, this place is stirring up old memories for reasons that don't quite make sense." Alexandra looks at him sympathetically. "I do get that actually." she says Roland continues to give Alexandra the tour. "So here's an obvious question. Why call the place 'bloodywine.'" "Ahhh" Roland says, "Therein lies a tale. Once upon a time or so these tales start, the barren landscape of the fourth circle was nothing more than a desolate wasteland inhabited only by those who were desperate for some kind of mad luck away from Dis for whatever reason, or self-destructive and not willing to wait for the annual 'cleansing' to find their end. One day in this barren landscape there was a tired woman, who, for reasons that have been lost to time, was banished from Dis and the last embers of joy that she had in her existence. By some miracle, she wandered through the fifth circle unharmed and made her way into the fourth circle. Here she was at last captured robbed, tortured and 'killed' by the inhabitants until her blood ran red and they drank it like wine and ever since they have called this spot Bloodywine." Alexandra waits for more. "That's it." Roland says blankly. "That's a pretty crappy story." Alexandra says. "This is a pretty crappy place." Roland counters. They enter a large ballroom filled to the brim with inhabitants. Classy music starts playing and people start to dance. Roland looks at her mischievously "Whatever you do don't drink either the punch or the alcohol." Alexandra's eyes go wide with worry. "Are they spiked?" "No." Roland smirks "They're just terrible." "Wait here." Roland signals and Alexandra waits in the back as he mingles with the crowd. after a few minutes Alexandra saddles over to the punch table and takes a sip, she practically spits it back into the bowl, "By Odin's balls that's sweet!" she coughs. A fellow bar patron eyes her with a smirk on his face. Apparently, she is not the first person to do this tonight. Roland comes back up to her. "Jackpot!" He tries to look enthusiastic, but it is obvious that he is quite tired. I overheard the news from the foreman himself that they hit another layer beneath mine 5 and supposedly the Lucky 13 casino has rigged every fourth blackjack table so the dealer always has at least one face card." Alexandra looks at him witheringly "Riveting." She says in a very deadpan voice. Suddenly the music changes and demons start to step out onto the dance floor to waltz. Roland's face looks sad for a strange moment and after a second Roland holds out his hand. "I... I... know this song it's almost four hundred years old. Shall we?" He says. Alexandra looks at him dumbfounded. "You! Me!" "Yes. For auld lang syne." He says. Alexandra is still trying to decode this one when Roland takes her hand and pulls her out onto the dance floor. They step out onto the dance floor and start waltzing the music weaves and wanes. Alexandra looks intensely nervous, but Roland apparently knows what he's doing. The step and weave surrounded by classy looking demons. The crowd watches Alexandra looks self-consciously at them though they stare back in a manner that suggests more boredom than anything else. The Waltz winds down and comes to an end. A new DJ dressed in 80's punk gear Steps onto the stage apparently determined to change the tone of the party. She lets out an ear-splitting scream and a jet of fire from pyrotechnics go off close to Roland. Before Alexandra knows what's happening Roland's eyes go wide and he grabs her arm so hard that a sickening that blood spurts from his fingernails. He throws her and throws her to the ground and buries her beneath his body crushing her like a python. Her face goes blue as she gasps for air. The music stops. Everybody stares. Alexandra keeps hitting Roland's back trying to get him to release her. After a moment he does. She looks at her arm where he grabbed her it still bleeds. He looks at everybody staring around him. After a moment he says "Excuse me." and walks off. Alexandra looks at him with a combination of pity and anger on her face. Hours pass. Alexandra sits outside the men's bathroom now with a look of calm understanding on her face. Guests begin to leave and a janitor starts turning the lights to the ballroom off, though the lobby remains illuminated for the moment. Alexandra looks at the janitor then stands up and goes into the men's bathroom. Roland is sitting on a folding chair in the corner looking down. "Yeah... what?" his voice is utterly flat. "Roland?" "Yeah, what?" Alexandra's voice is soft and understanding "What happened in there?" his voice stays flat. "Nothing." A long moment passes. Alexandra speaks up again. "Roland." "Yeah, What." he repeats. Alexandra continues unperturbed "I fought in the ugliest battle of the ugliest front of the ugliest war that man ever waged. I saw what it did to people." She lets the thought sit in the air a moment. "Good for you." he says after the silence. "Roland." she says flatly. "Yeah, what?" he repeats again. Alexandra's voice hardens slightly. "You had a trauma flashback in there." Roland is silent, but after a moment replies. "Yeah. I did." Alexandra continues "Well don't deal with it by sitting here in isolation for too long, that will destroy you, if you let it." Roland smiles slightly at having his words parroted back at him. After another second, he slowly gets up and walks out of the building with her. They make their way back to the gun shop in silence. Roland walks into his room and all is quiet after a while leaving Alexandra to look out the window. Just as she starts eyeing the bed Roland walks in a panicked look on his face. "I've heard from Amber" he says "The twisted cross... " A loud bang reverberates throughout the city and alarms start going off. A voice comes over the loudspeaker. "The city is under attack everyone to their defensive positions." Someone yells from outside "Twisted Cross!" Roland looks at Alexandra. "Get your gun."

Scene 10:

Roland and Alexandra scramble down the stairs to the main lobby of the gun store. People outside are seen scrambling in all directions. Guards pour out from barracks fully armed and make for the entrance to the cavern complex. Civilians dive for cover. A city official decked out in the ruby and gold uniform of Bloodywine starts directing civilians down deeper into the pit. A few overly aggressive demons attempt to bullrush the line and get hit with tasers from riot cops for their trouble. "BRAD!" Roland yells. Brad looks up from the magazine he's reading still unphased from the chaos around him. Go out into the streets and let it be known that we are giving a free assault rifle and three magazines of ammo to anyone offering to use them to defend Bloodywine Gulch. Brad's eyebrows go up but he only replies with "Yes sir." Alexandria keeps digging into her pack, struggling to get all her combat gear on. The sound of explosions is heard from up the entrance shaft. "Come on!" Roland yells. Red and yellow clad guardsmen mass at the entrance struggling to get up the elevator shaft. A panicked guard captain yells. "Come on! Come on! Code 5! Code 5! All combat personnel to the surface." Alexandra looks and sees how the forces are avoiding the total bottleneck of the elevator as soldiers cram onto the ore funicular and are shuttled onto the surface. Roland tugs at her sleeve and they jump onto the funicular with them. The industrial equipment moves painfully slow, but continues to rise at a steady pace. It becomes clear that they are nearing the top when dozens of guards brace in a firing stance and everyone on the funicular (Roland and Amber included) jump to the sides. A hailstorm of fire pours through the front gate which is open only a wedge to allow maximal cover as troops pour through. This seems to be a double-edged sword though as the bodies of troops are covering the entrance. "Wait for it..." Roland says. "Wait for it..." He keeps his left arm up in a 'hold' signal. "NOW!" Roland and Alexandra burst through it into open day the Bloodywine reinforcements right behind them. A decorated trooper right behind Alexandra takes a bullet to the throat and falls over, Bleeding profusely. "Lieutenant!?" He starts panicking. "Basilisk squadron! Basilisk squadron!" The panicked Bloodywine trooper stares at him apparently confused what to do without his commanding officer. Roland looks at the soldier. "Get it together soldier! What is your unit?" The soldier stammers "uhh. Basilisk squad, sir." Roland rolls his eyes. "Tell your squad to follow me then." Roland says. Around them its clear that the Bloodywine forces have held the gate, but barely. Two men sit on downed machine gun nests in a front trench with two trenches behind them doing slightly better. Bloodywine casualties look higher than the raiders, but they are holding their ground. The reason why the battle is so rough on the defenders becomes clear when a loud whistling sound screams throughout the air. Roland barely has time to yell "HIT THE DECK!" and drop to the dirt before an artillery shell goes off about ten feet from where he was standing. "Alexandra!" he screams over the chaos! "Come with me and basilisk squad, we're going to do something about that artillery!" He turns to the men behind him whom the lieutenant had been commanding They fire in the vague direction of the enemy, unsure of what to do. "Basilisk squad, to me!" Roland shouts to the men over the chaos. He looks at Alexandra "Alexandra! I need you to snipe us an opening over that hill." Roland points in the direction of a large hill over the pass that was largely unoccupied. Alexandra nods and starts shooting. A few raiders have taken up the hill but not many. Alexandra dispatches them with relative ease. Roland charges up the hill, Basilisk squad and Alexandra following behind. He quickly drops to the ground once he reaches the top narrowly avoiding a soldier who was trying to climb it in the opposite direction, he takes him out with a swift gunshot to the torso from stormfang. As they crest the hill it becomes clear that the artillery emplacement is clearly more of a dozen light mortars fitted behind what few rocks could provide cover that the canyon can provide. "Okay!" Roland declares. "Alexandra, I need you to cover our approach." Alexandra looks at the battlefield and flashes back to the charge at Stalingrad for a brief moment. Alexandra, I need you to cover us" Roland repeats. Alexandra takes a deep breath. "Okay..." she says and lies prone, rifle at the ready. "Let's go!" Roland screams to the Basilisk squad troopers. They charge over the hill and start shooting across the length of the canyon. The bulk of the raiders are occupied trying to take the bloodywine gate and don't notice the small squad flanking their rear. Alexandra picks off those who do see the squad coming. Roland and Basilisk squad slam into the mortar emplacement like a freight train decimating the few forces busy operating it. Roland takes a bullet to the torso but his armor absorbs the brunt of it. Another Bloodywine trooper takes a bullet to the leg but keeps firing from the ground. Alexandra turns around to see that the remainder of the bloodywine troopers are repulsing the raiders. The tide of the battle turns and the raiders begin to retreat. As they fall back the dwindling raiders note that the mortar fire has stopped and begin to fall back to take vengeance on the forces flanking them. Alexandra realizing that the squad is in danger goes into a berserker frenzy firing madly and picking off the forces that remained. By the time Roland reaches the gates of Bloodywine again the battle is all but over. Alexandra looks at one of the troopers. They all wear ninja like dark grey suits and hoods which camouflages them well against the dark grey rock. Alexandra gets a suspicious look on her face and moves to take off part of the uniform. A swastika armband lies beneath. Alexandra stares at the corpse. She jumps back and curses, "Cyka!" Roland comes up to her. "Well." he says looking at the troops. "Why don't we discuss our next move?"

Scene 11:

A loud claxon goes off signaling the all clear. The chamber was filled to the brim with troops, dragging the corpses of their fallen comrades to the morgue for regeneration. Guards signal that it is now safe to come out from the bunker within and people come out into the streets. Alexandra looks at Roland "Okay Roland. Enough beating around the bush. What has been going on in Bloodywine politically." Roland looks at her and sighs. "I didn't have confirmation until an hour ago when Amber called me. Bloodywine has been under attack on and off for about a month and a half. I should have taken the hint when they only let us through the gate when I revealed I had Phoenix level clearance." Alexandra looks about at the place. "They seem to be holding out ok." Roland frowns. "It's not about holding out ok. It's about whittling the place down. It was already as fortified as it could be. Whenever the attacks come, they come in groups of not thousands but no more than two hundred. Some strategist somewhere has realized that they can replenish losses faster than the city can rebuild its defenses. It's only a matter of time before one day, when the city is at its lowest, they launch a real assault or if they're really smart, put the city under siege. They then wait for the surrender and take over." Alexandra looks worried. "So, what do we do?" Roland sighs. "I have orders from higher up. I have a meeting with the city council in two hours on that subject. I'll keep you posted." Alexandra looks confused, "Wait, what? When did this happen?" Roland smiles. "It seems somehow Nick found out I was in town. He decided I was the perfect... treatment for the situation, his majesty not liking to intervene directly if he doesn't have to. Follow me to city hall will ya, we have a meeting with the aristocrats." Alexandra sits outside the meeting hall with a concerned look on her face. "So, what is this plan of yours and might I also ask, why should we care what happens to Bloodywine or the Twisted Cross?" Roland looks at her with a concerned look on his face. "To the first question, it seems the Twisted cross are operating out of a large fortress they've built in the third circle. We, and by we I mean you me and an entire batallion of Bloodywine troops, are going plan an assault on it and bring down the twisted cross once and for all. As for the second question... that's the other thing Amber told me when I was on the phone with her, The twisted cross have Henri."

Episode 9 The strangers of Deadtooth mesa.

Cape Town, South Africa 2019

Scene 1:

Three people stand before a coffin. A vast funeral surrounds a huge cathedral with hundreds of people in attendance. A priest stands at the front giving a eulogy. "I have heard from countless people who knew them, both personally and by reputation in their public lives truly we have lost great people but while our hearts are grieving, we must also remember to rejoice for they join God in heaven. Oh Lord, watch over these people as they ascend into your loving arms, and look after those they left behind." The congregation nod their heads and a few glance at the figure at the front. A young girl with dark skin and deep brown eyes of about sixteen sits dressed entirely in black at the front of the cathedral looking grim. The priest finishes his eulogy and several pole bearers take the coffins out to a sunny, but bright looking cemetery in the middle of a busy urban environment. The South African flag waves above the church. The girl gets up and watches wordlessly as they lower the coffins into the graves, her head bowed. She sighs and walks back into the cathedral with the rest of the mourners and sits on a wood bench. People come up to her and offer her condolences which she accepts with barely a word. A man in a black suit comes up to her "We should leave." He says simply. "There is nothing more for us here and we should probably go over some things back home." She nods wordlessly and follows him out. The girls face remains totally blank and they slowly approach a waiting black limousine and gets in. She looks out silently on the dirty road before it takes a turn into a large mansion. As they enter, they are surrounded by covered furniture and blank walls. The furniture is covered with dust and each footstep echoes through the empty halls. The girl follows the man into a study towards the back which is better kept than the rest of the place. He sits at his desk and pulls out documents. "Your parents left you quite a bit, you could sit on it in comfort for quite a while, nonetheless I think it would be wise to find some way to expand your income." He says. "I know." She says quietly "You haven't looked at the file have you?" He asks. She opens the file in front of her and her eyes go wide. The lawyer continues. "You have a great deal to your name; it is yours to do with as you wish." the girl closes the file and scoffs. "I don't care." she says flatly showing some emotion for the first time. The lawyer looks angry for a moment, then smiles. "Amber, we are going to get you through this." Amber closes her eyes, then opens them again. "It's all mine you say?" The lawyer looks at her "It's all yours." She is silent for a moment then says "I want to talk with some friends and spend a little then. I want to feel good for the first-time in... in... too long." The lawyer looks at her warmly. "I think that might be a good idea." Amber walks up the stairs and past an abandoned wine bar. She looks at Calendar marked 'Sept 2017' then she looks at the bottles and sighs. She mutters to herself, "I have a better idea." then walks on.

Scene 2:

A bouncer sits outside a busy looking nightclub. A party is going on at a club which is bursting with activity. A fancy sports car drives up to the scene and Amber gets out of the back seat. She looks at her watch which reads 10:33 PM March 3rd 2018 She gets out and steps inside, surrounded by people cheering as she walks through. "Nice ride." someone yells. She smiles and yells back "Thanks!" but nonetheless mutters to herself. "I hate cars." under her breath. She comes to a person smiling to her in a suit, his eyes light up as her recognizer her and signals. She walks up to him. She pulls the man aside and brings him to a place outside the party. In a very quiet voice she whispers "How's business?" The man smirks and looks in the direction of the revelry "We are selling quite a bit these days. Amber looks around a slow smile spreading across her lips "Thanks." she mouths to him and walks back to the dance floor. She takes a seat at one of the booths that is unoccupied, before a woman in a business dress looks over her way and does a double take. "Amber! Amber Dlamini?" Amber's looks over to the person. "Do I know you?" she asks. "Yes, dearie I was a friend of your late mother. We worked on that south town slum rejuvenation charity remember!" Amber looks vaguely annoyed. "Can't say that I do." She says brusquely. The woman seems not to notice Amber's indifference. "I was so sorry to her of her death, terrible! And so young." Amber cuts her off, "I didn't get along well with my mother." she says flatly. "Her idea of mothering me seems to have been to ship me off to boarding schools and lose herself in her charity works and..." Her lips curl in a snarl "...public appearances. In short. No. I don't remember you or the south town rejuvenation projects." Amber gets up at this and walks off into the club leaving the poor woman behind with an upset look on her face. A young girl in a tight leather dress waves Amber over. "Amber!" Amber goes over to her table and faces her. "Oh, hi Roxy." Roxy looks a little tipsy and waves Amber over to get a drink from the table. "Want a drink? We got the good stuff!" Amber eyes Roxy and gives a playful smile. "You know it girl." she pours her a glass. Cheers. They clink glasses and Amber downs the whole glass in one large shot. After a moment a slightly intoxicated Amber yells to the club, "Hey everyone Rounds on me!" the club cheers and Amber drinks another glass. In the back-Amber's mother's friend looks at Amber with a worried look on her face.

Scene 3:

Roxy and Amber stumble back along the Cape Town streets in the general direction of Amber's mansion. "You know girl," Roxy Slurs she tries to walk straight before continuing. "You knowsh... I am not walshkin back to my flat... like this *hic*" Roxy gives off a stereotypical hiccup. "Cansh... I crashhh at your place?" Amber who is slightly less intoxicated gives an idiotic grin and replies "Shhuuur I got plenty o rooms. Unless you want to sleep with me occors *hic* I don't normally go for gurls, but heeyy I'm drunk." She lets off a stupid laugh as they walk towards her mansion. After several tries Amber gets the door open and stumbles inside. Roxy followers her to her room and flops down on her bed. Amber lets out another stupid laugh. "Are you takingsh me up on my offer or..." Roxy lets out a snore in response. Amber starts giggling before falling asleep on top of her. Sunlight pours in and birds chirp outside the window. Amber groans and looks up. Roxy sits beside her and hands her a glass of water. Roxy smiles. "You sure know how to party." Amber smiles back. "It's how I live my life. Live every moment as if it's your last party and all that. If you're not feeling good don't waste time trying to trick your brain into releasing chemicals to make you feel good by, I dunno, love or whatever just give it the chemicals yourself." Roxy winks at her "A lot of people have that philosophy darling, not many of them actually spend money of theirs seeing to it that others get smashed as well." Amber laughs. "What can I say? I'm a humanitarian." Roxy looks at Amber's nightstand which has an action figure of Decker in his full Bladerunner outfit on it. She looks at Amber amused. "Wow I wouldn't have you pegged for one of those nerds." Amber blushes and looks embarrassed but sheepishly replies that "There's more to that movie than meets the eye, it's about making something of the time you have, while you have it, and not mattering who you are while doing it. Roxy rolls her eyes "Don't get all nerdy analytical philosophical on me, girl. no one likes those kinds of people." She gives a little wave to her and walks out the door. "Ciao." Amber looks forlorn. "I like those kinds of people she says in a quiet voice." she looks at an unfinished junk model of the Enterprise NCC-1701 on her shelf that Roxy didn't see and sighs.

Present day

Scene 1:

Amber and Henri stroll through a field of craggy rocks both looking miserable. They are not round boulders, but rather fragile, coral like bladed outcrops that rise to waist height and have to be broken by hand. They are surrounded by huge mesas some with what look like bitemarks taken out of them. In the distance one mesa can be seen which has entirely collapsed. It lies there forlorn. Henri looks at a huge pile of rocks formed into an arrow and grunts, still moving. Amber struggles to stay behind Henri, who is doing most of the heavy cleaving. Amber tries to pitch in by breaking them with a larger rock she has, but is not making much headway. Amber begins trying to pitch a conversation, "Soooo this place, Deadtooth Mesa, Is it big?" Henri grunts before replying. "The town has a hundred thousand residents. It can't match Bloodywine Gulch for economy or safety so it's not really in much danger of growing any bigger. Town is a notorious waypoint for those trying to get farther into the outer reaches of Hell though. Unlike Bloodywine it comes at something of a natural crossroads where whomever wants to wander through the third circle can do so. Like Roland mentioned the natural fortress it provides makes it somewhat of a mandatory passing point." Amber grunts trying to move another rock out of her way. "Sooo I know everyone brings this up with you..." Henri lets out a short bark of laughter at this opening. "Why do you still pray in this place? I mean, what could you possibly get out of it?" Henri sighs. "That question is the problem. It is so typical down here people think that you believe something because you get something out of it, that it is some kind of contract or power play or something. I believe because I know it to be true. Look at heaven overhead." Amber looks at the bright cloudy ball in the sky. "It is there, yes?" Amber mutters "Yesss..." Henri continues So why would you ever fail to believe in it? Likewise, with the philosophy of faith. We are here. We did wrong. With the occasional exception..." he smirks. "We can identify why exactly we are here and by contrast can infer why exactly others are not. Long ago I swore to uphold my faith, that oath did not come with a time limit." He heaves a mighty arm and breaks through a large outcrop and they push through to a somewhat narrower, but clearly pre made path. "Shall we." he says gesturing She gives him a mocking lady like curtsy. Let's she says taking his hand, stepping over the rubble and marching along a smooth path. "Why did he split us up do you think?" Henri's face gets serious at this. "I think he was trying to draw fire away from us and Deadtooth. Bloodywine is much more prepared to deal with raiders. Plus, you don't play games in the outer circles." He looks at the surrounding area "We're lucky we haven't had to deal with more eldritch. They are the real reason no one settles outside of Dis." Amber looks around nervously, but keeps going. A large Mesa rises in the distance, unlike the others this one has darker rock that while not chipped in any area has numerous scratches and marks, like some giant tried to take a chisel to it and found it too hard. Lights can be seen at the top of the mesa. "Ladies and gentlemen" Henri says. "Deadtooth Mesa, the furthest permanent outpost from Dis that exists." A man with binoculars at the top of the mesa dressed in desert camo gear and with a concealing face mask looking down at them, he eyes the two through the narrowing lenses of his binoculars and gives off a slow wicked smile.

Scene 2:

The rockface looms menacingly over Henri and Amber as they approach the mesa. The rock isn't just craggy, it's dense. In the deeper gashes a huge glittering purple and blue hue shines in the morning light. Marks from both demon and beast alike mar the cliffside like a bizarre painting. "What is this stuff...? Amber asks voice entranced by the strange substance. "What suddenly into geology?" Henri says amused. He answers her question anyway. "This" Henri says "is what the locals have dubbed Calmerite. Nobody knows how it formed here or why," but it's very different to the natural brick or sandstone that makes up the rest of the fourth circle. Whatever formed it the lesser eldritch that haunt this place have had a particularly hard time attacking it and while some drilling equipment can indeed scratch it. It's far too cumbersome to try and dig in bulk so the mesa has stood more or less as it always has. Amber looks up and up at the massive mesa. "So, how do we scale it?" Amber asks "We don't." Henri replies. "Let me guess," Amber says. We have to fight our way through some tunnel. Or fly up via balloon or something?" "No, we just take the basket to the top like everyone else." "Oh," Amber replies. "That'll work." They walk around the side of the mesa for a bit before coming across a large basket with a lone guard with an evil toothy grin. The guard looks at them giving the creepy grin for an uncomfortably long moment before speaking. "That'll be three drachmae please." Amber looks nervous for a moment but Henri just pulls out three golden disks and quietly hands them to the guard. He unwraps them to reveal they're chocolate and wolfs them down greedily. "Enjoy the ride AAHHHHAAHHHAHAHAHAAAH!" He cackles madly and Amber starts fondling her shotgun under her cloak. Henri signals for her to back down. She nonetheless nervously steps into the basket and it begins to climb slowly upwards. Henri looks down at the laughing guard still grinning up at them. "Everyone who comes to Deadtooth needs to know that Gary loves chocolate. I'm glad Milord reminded me to bring those, I'm not sure I could have standed to answer his questions three." "His questions three?" Amber looks at him deadpan. "What is your name? What is your favorite color? What is the capitol of Romania?" Amber contemplates this a moment "That doesn't seem so bad." Henri smirks. "If you get that last question wrong, he stabs you." Amber ponders this a moment before asking What is your favorite color? Henri thinks a moment before replying "I'm torn really I think it's red, no green." "AAAAAAAAAAAH" a man screams as he tumbles from the Mesa above, landing below with a sickening splat. Henri and Amber enter the town. "Keep your wits about you, this is a dangerous place."

Scene 3: The people of Deadtooth.

The two step off of the basket and into a bustling urban space. Unlike Dis, Deadtooth Mesa is built not out of glass and steel but adobe and wood. Little more than a fence dots the edge overlooking a gorgeous vista from which everything from Dis way down below to the West to the looming wall of the third circle to the east. Demons walk about in ponchos and carry revolvers at their sides. It becomes clear that the imposing size of Deadtooth was disguised from below the place is packed and buildings sit several stories high. People eye the two strangers and quickly look away in fear. "Stick close and don't make eye contact." Henri whispers to Amber. "My lord has so much as commanded me to take charge of you. I don't want to have to drag your corpse to him for regeneration. Thanks to that delay in the forest, we're starting to get awfully close to the cleansing." Amber shivers with fear. "What do we do if we aren't in Limbo by the time the purge begins?" Henri looks at her and says simply. "Pray." The two walk through the streets. A beggar sits along the side of the street with a hat full of a few coins, he holds a sign which says simply "need money for guns to shoot people who keep stealing my money/gun begging signs." Amber looks around the place curiously "Who runs this place?" There is a mayor who is elected by the mob he leads to throw out the last mayor after each *ahem* 'vote of no confidence.' He or she typically rules for three or four years before either collecting enough bribe money to abscond back to Dis or stays long enough to get thrown out by the next angry mob." Amber shrugs. "I'm surprised raiders haven't taken over this place; it doesn't look that impenetrable." Henri smiles "Why bother taking the place when it's available to all comers. This isn't Brandywine, there's not much of value to defend here, or at least, not enough to be worth the cost of taking the place." Everyone seems to move out of the way of the duo as they move through the streets and nobody seems to want to make eye contact. "Touchy bunch, aren't they?" she mutters. "Don't worry about it." Henri replies. They come to a saloon that looks about as run down as the rest of the place. They walk in and they both take a seat. The other customers look at Roland and Amber suspiciously A female bartender in jeans and a cowboy shirt comes up to Amber and asks in a gruff voice "What'll it be, sugar?" I'll have a glass of whi..." Amber pauses for a moment and looks out the window down at the distant silhouette of Dis's wall almost imperceptible there is a crack in it marking where the higher eldritch smashed it. "I'll have a water." she says." The bartender shrugs with indifference and pours her water from the tap. She takes a sip and looks out the window over the vast hellscape she's crossed. Henri comes up to her eyes shifting nervously "You're right" he says "There's something wrong here."

Scene 4: The other code I follow.

Amber gets up out of the chair and follows Henri outside. He points to a watchtower way in the distance. "That's Bloodywine gulch. Alexandra and Milord should get there about a day after we got here. He points to a small gap in the maze of twisting canyons that make up the fourth circle. Hopefully we'll meet up there." Amber perks up "So, What's wrong?" Henri picks up a brisk pace and Brings Amber to a quiet alley behind what appears to be some variety of run-down pancake house. "It's the town. It shouldn't be this quiet. This place is normally a nonstop hullabaloo of duels drinks and barfights. Everyone is keeping their head down. Do you know how often Mesans keep quiet and go meek?" Amber shifts uncomfortably "Not often? She guesses." "Never." Henri confirms. Normally the Mayor, last time I was here it was a she though Lord in heaven only knows if that's still the case, gives a newspaper statement each Monday. Whomever the Mayor is has been silent and nobody seems surprised. When I asked about it, they all got this look of fear in their eyes as if they suddenly realized 'Outsider. Danger.'" Amber stays quiet a moment she opens her mouth to talk, but before she can a scream is heard from one of the nearby alleys. Henri draws one of his revolvers. "Come on!" He yells dashing into the maze of alleys. Amber curses and sprints after him. Henri comes across three people in a back alley. A man is tied up and about to be fed into what appears to be an oversized wood chipper by a pair of shirtless men. A bloodied and beaten woman stands behind them crying and begging. Just as the men are about to feed him into the chipper Henri does a sort of cross across his chest and fires off a bullet, hitting one of the thugs in the chest. The other spins around revealing that he's carrying an assault rifle but Amber gets a shot off at him with her combat shotgun that hits him square in the chest. He falls over backwards and starts panting for breath Henri walks over to him and draws his sword. He pins the man to the ground with one bootstep on his chest. "What. Is. Going. On. In. Deadtooth Mesa?" The thug sputters and coughs up blood and gestures to his two victims. "Man and his wench is rumored to be a Bloodywine spy. Money in catching that if true." Henri speaks dangerously softly. "Bloodywine Gulch and Deadtooth Mesa aren't enemies. Right?" The man gives a pained laugh. "What you taken to walking through the streets blind. Twisted cross stormed town three weeks ago. There aint no mayor anymore. Bloodywine has been repulsing attack after attack for almost a month. They've been fighting for the whole... for the whole..." He coughs twice more than lies still. Amber and Henri stare at each other, a look of horror spreading across their faces.

Scene 5: It's not stupid.

Henri quickly unties the woman beaten woman who is near hysterics. "Thank You! Thank You!" Henri urgently signals for her to be quiet. "Promise me you won't leave us." the women begs. "I promise I won't leave just yet." Henri says quickly. They help the man who was about to be made mincemeat to his feet he shakes uncontrollably. "Can you walk?" Henri asks. The man nods somberly "Good." Henri says "Follow us to the end of the alleys. Make your way to the house of a friend, not your own house and stay there. He nods at the man who tries to speak, but before he can Henri and Amber both simultaneously start running. The former captives bolt after them. Amber and Henri dart through alleys trying to stay off the main streets. "By god! By god! By god! Why didn't we see this coming!" Henri pants under his breath. "Who were pilfering the old Chimera Industries facility? The twisted cross!" Who were patrolling the far bank of the Styx? The twisted cross! Who were both guarding and, a month later, building a full bridge across the narrows over the Chasm of Suicides? the twisted cross! They are making a power move for a corridor from Dis through the fourth circle, probably into the third!" They come to an opening outside of the maze of alleys. Henri turns to the man who was almost chopped up. "Can you make your way to a safe spot from here?" he asks. The man stutters "I...I... think so." he doesn't move. "I... I don't feel safe." Henri takes the man and puts his hands between his. "I promise you I fill find you after tonight and use my powers to get you out of the city but you must trust me." The man takes a deep breath and looks around the desolate morning streets. "Ok." Henri nods. Do you have a friend you could lie low with?" the man stutters "I...I think so." "Good." Henri nods and the man runs off into the night. Henri says and goes back to surveying the streets. They spot a western looking hotel across from the alleyway and dart across to it. A bored looking receptionist sits reading a newspaper and looks up in surprise. "We only have one room." She says flatly "That'll do." Henri says, trying and failing to sound calm. The receptionist shrugs and takes Henri's money regardless. They come into a small room that looks barely furnished it has a couch and only one bed. Amber takes the couch without complaint ceding the bed to the big man. "look!" Amber says pointing at the window outside a platoon of what look like Nazi stormtroopers patrol the streets in formation. A man in uniform comes up to one of the marching men and says something that can't be heard from the window. Whatever it was, the men all ready their weapons and disperse into the alleys clearly looking for Henri and Amber. Henri lets out a sigh of concern. "Sheer blessed luck that we missed them on our way in." He kisses the cross on his chest. They sit nervously on the bedspread each too nervous to sleep. After a while Amber says "So... why do you do that thing where you make that symbol on your chest before you enter combat? I've seen you do it before." Henri smirks. "It's part of the chivalric code. There's no time for a formal or even a quick prayer as one enters combat so you make the sign of the cross instead. There's a lot of other things to the chivalric code too that to my great regret I haven't had time for over the past..." a pained look crosses his face "God, eight hundred years." Amber looks curious. "So you are a knight, like a real knight." Henri's eyes have a rare glimmer of pride in them. "Oh yes, Henri Mercier de Champagne, Chevalier. Knight of the Holy Order of the Poor Fellow-soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon. Sworn to the Church of Christ and Roland Von-Braun as liege lord. Amber looks taken aback by these titles. Henri shrugs amused at Amber. "We all have our titles." Amber looks down. "yeah..." Henri picks up on her hesitation "Come on, what are your titles, you must have some." Amber hesitates a long moment. "Well... they used to call me the party girl, the girl with the booze. One person called me the highest kite in Cape Town..." Henri's eyes shoot up, being Henri, he doesn't laugh out loud at this but his eyes are laughing. "And... are these titles you are proud of." Amber is silent for a long moment. "You know the sad thing. Once upon a time I would have said yes. I was... the person that was known for bringing the fun. I destroyed my life and was so distracted that I didn't even know it until I was standing among the ashes. And I bragged about it." Henri looks at her "Was that all you did with your time and friends?" Amber looks ashamed "I... I... used to like to watch a I guess you wouldn't know about it, a genre where people asked questions of what the future would be like with newer technologies." A corner of Henri's mouth twists up "Science Fiction? Yeah, I've heard of that Vox keeps broadcasting it, I never really liked it myself but I know what it is." Amber continues her story "I used to like build figurines out of junk and discuss the philosophical implications of various works on online message boards. Whenever my friends found out they would just make fun of it, so I stopped talking about it with them. Sorry, I know, It's really stupid." Henri's eyes turn sympathetic "It's not stupid." He says flatly "You were hanging out with shallow people who in turn let you become shallow. You should have found those who would have encouraged you to grow more." Amber looks at the bed "Yeah well ok. I want to go to sleep now." Henri gives a permissive wave and turns the lamp off. They lay there for several hours until morning rays start to come in through the windows. Amber stretches her arms and looks out the window. She stares and blinks. "Henri!" she says. Henri shoots awake and jumps to the window. Dozens of people, among them the two people that Henri and Amber saved the night before are being marched at gunpoint down the street in chains. "We have to get out of here." Amber says. Henri's fists clench in rage. "No." he says "I am not leaving. I promised."

Scene 6:

Amber and Henri exchange a look. Amber's fear turns to resolve. Utter determination is seen on Henri's face. "I am not leaving another one. I AM NOT LEAVING ANOTHER ONE TO THOSE! ANIMALS!" Amber sees the fire in his eyes and knows just how serious he is. "Should w..." Before she can say anything, Henri is arming up with all the munitions they have. She frantically gets her own stuff and watches as Henri gets off the bed and stands at full height and is suddenly reminded that this 7,1 minotaur also has over 800 years combat experience. They march out into the street following in the general direction the troopers marched the prisoners. Instead of taking them to the edge the mesa and presumably out of town the troopers seem to be taking them to the central square. Henri and Amber make it to the square. A huge pedestal with a man in a fancy looking uniform stands before a crowd in front of a giant swastika flag. the prisoners all line in chains to his side, heads bowed. The man seems to be giving some kind of speech. "...Despite your second-hand status we kindly granted you a place in our new land. When even the almighty himself rejected you, we gave you a place in our great empire! Yet among you it seems that there are still ingrates and traitors. I warn you now Deadtooth Mesa, our generosity is not without limit. Treason of this black sort will not be punished with a mere month's pain; we have the means to remove filth permanently." Henri hisses under his breath "Exterminator weapons." The man in the fancy uniform continues does anyone care to object to this justice." Irony underlies his voice making in clear to the townspeople that he is looking for people to self-incriminate. Henri mutters under his breath "As milord would say, what is justice?" he then steps forward into the crowd and loudly screams "I OBJECT!" The man looks up in surprise and says "Who obj..." Henri puts a bullet into his side with one quick draw of his revolver. He falls over and screams "Hol sie dur, du narren!" [Get them you fools.] The twisted cross soldiers open fire but Henri has already moved firing with scary accuracy. By the time he reaches cover of some crates at the far side of the square, he has already downed five troopers. Amber, realizing that the troops haven't realized that she was with Henri scrambles with the crowd pretending to be one of them to get into better range with her shotgun. She spies a fire escape to the roof of a two-story adobe building and climbs it. "I hope Alexandra was right about the tight spread on this thing." she says leveling it at a panicked trooper. She scores a hit against him as his chest is smashed with enough pellets to leave his whole torso bloody. One trooper makes the unfortunate mistake of trying to take Henri on in melee range and gets slashed in half by his claymore for the mistake. One of the twisted cross troopers draws a flare gun and fires into the air. Amber sees the flare and curses. She yells below "Henri, we are about to have company!" Henri raises his revolvers and begins blindly firing into a platoon of twisted cross troopers who pour into the square. The twisted cross speaker is visibly in pain and bleeding badly from the wound in his side begins to retreat with the prisoners who are still chained together. Other troopers join him. Trying to fall back with their wounded leader. Amber starts providing what suppressing fire she can with her shotgun to the pinned Henri, but she just doesn't have the range to do much besides buy him some breathing room. The Twisted cross forces begin to close in on Henri but he makes them pay for every step. Bullets pound into his heavy armor, not penetrating, but visibly winding him from the impact. Despite the lopsided losses the twisted cross has endured they begin closing on Henri. A hail of machinegun fire pours from one of the saloon windows facing the square, killing two troopers. Then more fire begins to ring out. Townsfolk start marching in from side streets and alleys. One lucky shot from a revolver from across the square takes a trooper dead in the forehead. Another gets one square in the chest. Henri resumes the offensive. Gunning down as many as he can get in range until he has a clear exit. "I'M NOT LETTING THEM GO!" he howls. The moment he is no longer pinned he sprints after the retreating troopers and their prisoners. He pelts down the alleyway blood dripping from a bullet hole which apparently penetrated, sprinting past bars, smokehouses and run-down apartments. Until he sees his target; The basket out of town. The twisted cross forces are clumsily trying to load both their prisoners and their wounded into the overcrowded basket whilst simultaneously defend their retreat. Henri hits the rearguard like a freight train blasting two troopers at once. He fires off a few shots before his right revolver starts clicking. He fires off two more from his left getting a trooper in the abdomen before it too runs dry. The twisted cross, sensing weakness move in to apprehend him only to discover that Henri still has his claymore. He charges at the nearest trooper point blank and impales him before slashing another in two. Amber and the townsfolk aren't far behind and begin to gain on Henri offering increasingly effective covering fire as they close the gap. Out of ammo and quickly becoming overwhelmed, Henri keeps trying to fight back against the troopers but there are too many. One pulls out a pistol and plugs a full magazine into Henri's armor. Amber gets closer still, shotgun at the ready. "Don't move!" the commander yells placing a revolver at Heri's temple. Amber freezes in place. The commander smiles realizing he's just won. "Now, here's what's going to happen." his voice drips with mockery. "You are going to let us leave with this..." He looks at Henri "...bulldog, and we in turn will leave town without burning it to the ground. CLEAR!" Amber looks around at the townsfolk who still have their guns raised and slowly lowers her weapon. The commander smiles evilly "Good." He turns to man with Lieutenants tabs "Heinrich! Senken Sie den Korb und lassen Sie uns hier raus. Wir haben einen langen marsch vor uns." [Heinrich! Lower the basket and let's get out of here. We have a long march ahead of us.] Amber watches helplessly as the commander slowly lowers the basket and Henri with it. After a moment she looks around at the people of Deadtooth Mesa in silence. "Well." She says. "This is a problem."

Scene 7:

Amber walks in a haze around the town back towards the town square. Around her people are cheering arguing and marching. Everywhere swastika banners are being burned where they hang. Gunshots are heard as the town militia completes the uprising by finishing off the last of the twisted cross stragglers. Amber walks into the town square where Henri had started the battle. Amber stops for a moment and marvels at just how devastating just the two of them had been. Even with the militia assitance the area where the two of them started the uprising is a total warzone. Bullet holes dot the whole area and corpses are strewn all about. Amber looks at one corpse with a pitter-patter of shotgun pellets in his chest. Then looks around at the dozens of corpses that lie all over the square. "The two of us did... this!" she says in wonder. She looks about at the people of Deadtooth Mesa who are milling about starting to clean up the mess. She looks at a woman she recognizes as the Hotel manager being comforted by the bartender she met earlier. The hotel manager is sobbing softly into her hands. Amber walks over to her "...took him, like all the others to Heavens knows where! We were together for over hundred years! We drank together! We got shot together for Lucifer's sake. I held him while he regenerated! Every morning until he woke! For months!" Amber interrupts this little tirade. "Excuse me, Did you say that they have taken people before?" "YES!" The woman practically screams at her. They have been taking people from whatever dirt hole they can get their hands on for months! Then, after they have some kind of resistance! they televise their executions!" She bursts into tears. Amber looks around at the people of Deadtooth Mesa. She looks at the stage where the Twisted Cross captain was giving his speech. The microphone is still plugged in. She gets up onto the stage and steps up to the podium. "Citizens of Deadtooth Mesa!" Her words resonate loudly and she visibly tries to not be intimidated by the sound of her own voice. Everyone looks up. "Two weeks ago I entered Hell a drunk and ignorant little mouse. I was tired afraid and weak. I could easily have been taken advantage of. Given my location I should have been, but by some miracle I found myself surrounded by those who took pity on me. They gave me work, food and the means to defend myself, for no other reason than they were good people who knew what I was going through." The townsfolk begin to look up and take an interest in this little mouse woman. "Since then much has happened. I have gunned down men twice my size. I marched through urban streets and desert sands. I have slept in rooms met for noblemen and the desert floor. And..." she punctuates this last point for emphasis. "I have fought an eldritch. And won." People look at her with a mix of awe and curiosity at this last remark. "And despite my whereabouts, Despite my company. And despite all reasonable sense, I have not encountered anyone I would describe as truly irredeemable. With one exception. The twisted cross are not so different from so many other raiders that have come and gone throughout human history. Interested in power by force and glory by conquest. And yet there is something insidious about their nature that sits more vile than any mere would be conquistador. A man may threaten another man by gun and take his coin out of desperation or desire. A man may hurt another out of spite or rage. But it takes a special kind of evil to hurt a man out of entitlement. I have only been in Deadtooth for a short time. Yet I have already seen the kind of people you are. You left the comforts of Dis and founded a city here where all the horrors of the universe could come at you and succeeded where so many others failed. While others have submitted to warlords and Demon nobles you fought them off. I have not been here long yet already I know that many a tyrant has tried to take Deadtooth Mesa. Tell me Deadtooth do these tyrants reign long." A long and resounding "NO!" comes from the crowd. "I thought not." Amber continues. "And now they have taken our citizens, our friends and colleagues our comrades in this dark place. The twisted cross think themselves safe behind their walls in their fortresses broadcasting whatever evil to the wastes that they can without fear from those they hurt. They think that just because they are in Hell, men will not stand up for their fellows. Are they right Deadtooth?" The crowd begins growing bigger now as the spirit of the speech begins to attract more listeners. "NO!" shouts the crowd, even louder. Amber continues. "Is the protection of Deadtooth Mesa limited to its cliffs? " A louder "NO" still emanates from the people. Then Deadtooth, I ask you to follow me not to glory or wealth, but to justice. To our stolen comrades to show the Twisted Cross exactly why it is a terrible mistake to try to threaten the people of Deadtooth Mesa I want you to follow me into the third circle. History is does not come with time. It is made by those who chose to make it." She steps down from the podium winded. It wasn't the best speech ever delivered, but it was enough. The people of Deadtooth would follow her. Not Roland, not Henri, her, where she lead them. "Does anyone have a way to get in touch with Bloodywine Gulch?" She asks. A person points her to a building with a large radio tower sticking out of it. She picks up a phone and dials Roland. "Roland. It's Amber. We have a problem."

Episode 10: Wholly Roman.

FLASHBACK

London, England 1666

Scene 1:

Roland now a grown man walks down a bustling London street with a companion dressed in seventeenth century commoners clothes. "And so..." his companion says with a thick London accent. "...By the time we got to the house. The man was so drunk that he thought that the courier was none other than ourselves He asked what we had to deliver to him Instead of explaining the situation James simply said that instead of delivering something to him we were instead to deliver him to his wife." A corner of Roland's mouth twists up "And what did he say to this." "He said 'ahh good on you then' then fell o'er like a half dead mule." Roland and his friend both burst out laughing at this. Roland grins. "I can see it as clearly as the eagle sees the sky." Roland nearly bumps into a barrel of oil. An annoyed Londoner glances at him. "Easy ther' That's stuff fresh for the roofers." Roland glances at his friend. "Every house in London has had its roof oiled over this month and the month past and I cannot guess why." His friend shrugs "Men think of what they lack and we have lacked rain, so men's minds turn to preparing for its return." They come to a small shop with a sign labeled "Wentworth Medicine house." labelled on the top. Roland turns to his friend "We part here dear Samuel, I have business. Till next we meet." Samuel nods and keeps walking down the street. A man in tunic and trousers stands at the end of the street standing next to a well-built shop up to him and says. "My compliments to your master on the design Mister Von-Braun." Roland speaks with a German accent but it is thin enough to show that he has been in England long enough to speak English perfectly fluently. "Goodly met sir, my master will take pleasure in the delight of your countenance." Roland perks up looking into the interior of the palace. "And is Mathilda present?" The man laughs "Aye sir, and for whom she toils you know well." His face turns serious "Master Shuffley is on the door of the angels. I would ask that you not disrupt her labours with business of any nature. If time is in your possession, I insist that you make use of it." Roland gives a grim nod and sits outside the door for a long time. Dirty Londoners stroll past in tunics and gaudy coats. He spies a beggar child sitting in an alley playing with some stones. Roland notes a light scar on his leg and subconsciously brushes his own leg. The boy looks remarkably like Roland was at that age. Roland sighs and mutters to himself "For all man makes of the studies of God I have yet to encounter a man of either learned cloth or common power who can undo the evils of the world, no matter how devout." He sits and watches the people pass by him. A woman in a raggedy seventeenth century dress comes out to meet him. "Roland!" She says and coughs. Roland smiles "Mathilda! How does William fair?" Her face falls. Before replying softly "All that I can do for him is done. It is in the hands of God now. Roland..." she looks about the place. "I spend hour upon hour in these halls and find I have become weary of them. You wouldn't happen to have a quiet place where we may speak without wandering ears?" Roland smiles "I know just the place. They come to a small library filled to the brim with books. Roland breathes in the smell of the place. "This place always brought me peace when the world's weight seemed heaviest, I always loved a library. Murder a man and you have killed what will always die but destroy knowledge. You have destroyed what ought to have been immortal." Mathilda looks around. "Is anyone present." Roland looks apprehensive, "No." She takes a deep breath. "If you seek truth then I have it. The truth is that William Shuffley died earlier today. But not of the pox, but of plague." Roland stands dumbfounded. "Plague!" he says in a quiet tone. Mathilda looks grim "It gets worse. What we know of the boy's family dwells in the east district deep in the plague zone. His uncle whom was caring for him disappeared three days after William fell into our care." Mathilda pulls out a letter "I need a brave man to deliver this." Roland pauses for a moment and takes it. "If you wish it then my hands will deliver it." She looks relieved. "I carved something for you." She pulls out a worn piece of wood. "Its Lot's wife. You told me about your escape from Paris and how it was akin to Lot not having to look back. So I carved this for you." Roland looks at the piece of wood and smiles. "Thank you."

Scene 2:

Roland walks through the London streets, the sun setting behind him. The streets start to have less and less people as the populous start to go in for the night. The river sits to his left and boats slowly move up it. The city has a beautiful sheen Roland continues West the sun setting in front of him on his left side. He abruptly comes to a wall with a sign on it. "Warning; by order of the privy council: No person is to be granted entry by day. All persons conducting business within must do so by night time and without company." He frowns and looks back at the sign. "What is to be said for a kingdoms capital when even the king flees it fit for a fitter home." Roland pauses then looks out over the Thames. "For all the gossip about the cities stink and ugliness. It has its beautiful moments." The sun sets over London and night sweeps in. Roland takes a deep breath and walks into the quarantine zone. Red crosses mark doorways and more signs mark them warning people of the dangers of interacting with those within." The city streets seem deserted, the sole exception is a man that lies in the gutter on the side of the street. He sees Roland and coughs and sputters. "Waters kind sir. Waters from your heart." The man has buboes all over his body. Roland recoils at the sight of the man who looks like he's decaying alive. "Sorry. Roland says simply "I have none to give." Roland walks on he looks at the run-down stone and wood buildings covered in graffiti. He comes to a building along the corner of a street and knocks on the door. There is no answer from within. "News sirs." He says. "I fear I bring grim tidings to your door." After a moment's hesitation he looks into the house and enters. The place is a mess and Roland grabs his nose to avoid the palpable smell evidently emanating throughout the place. He comes to a foyer filled with two bodies. Flies and maggots swarm about the place. Roland looks at the corpses for a long moment, then picks up his envelope and lays it down on the floor. "William, your family was already awaiting you." he says in a sad tone of voice. He takes one look back at the family, then gets up and leaves.

Scene 3:

Roland wakes up in a cramped room. A flag with a diamond checkered pattern of light blue and white. Sits draped over his bed. He gets up and walks downstairs to a room filled with gears and springs and cranks. A large grandfather clock sits in the corner against which several other half-finished clocks sit. Roland sits down and begins tinkering with the machines. He starts precisely winding them up and rotating them into place. A man in an apron comes in and smiles at Roland. "Were all workers of the world so punctual as you my boy, perhaps it would not need as many clocks." Roland looks up and smiles. "Or find more need for them. Punctuality is more often than not dependent on a good clock." The man shrugs conceding the point. "I bring news. The workshop will be closed today as the shipment of gears we were due has not yet come." Roland looks up in surprise. "I haven't anything to do for the rest of the day." The shopkeeper looks over to him and says simply. "Enjoy the city I suppose. You have earned some merriment; I have seen your hands have not been idle. You have done little but work for three days." Roland puts down the pocket watch he was working on and steps outside. He walks through the busy streets. Strong wind blows all over the city and people grasp at their flapping coats. Roland mutters to himself "Well, why not?" and sets off down the street. He comes to the Wentworth medicine house a man stands outside it with a deeply saddened look on his face. He looks up and sees Roland. Roland sees him and stands still. "Sir, where is Mathilda?" He looks down. She succumbed to the plague yesterday morning. She had passed by this morn sir. I know you were sweet on her, Roland. I am truly sorry." Roland looks dumbfounded. "I spoke to her not three days ago!" He insists. "That's has always been the tale of the plague, people eat breakfast with their families and dinner with their ancestors." Roland looks down, heartbroken and walks off towards the pier. He looks over the pier out over the smoking chimneys of the city, clutching the carved necklace of Lot's wife around his neck.

Scene 4:

James finds Roland along the docks on the bank of the Thames. "What ho, Roland? Thou lookest dour." Roland looks up at him with a sad expression on his face. "Hello James." Roland says blankly and after another moment. "A girl I knew just died the other day. Very abruptly. Of plague." James looks out at him and his voice grows soft. "We all have tales like those in these times. Come, Friends don't let friends grieve alone. Ale is on me." Roland frowns, but nonetheless gets up and accompanies James. "I don't want ale at this time, James. I want... I want..." "Ale." James insists. "Or failing that, water surrounded by a night in good company with friends. Don't let yourself sit in isolation and stew like a pot of cooling meat. It will consume you." Roland looks irritated but does not argue the point. The wind howls in great gusts blowing the two's clothes and hair wildly. Roland enters a tavern labelled "The White Lion." He sits down at a table. "Alright, but I'm serious about the ale. Tomorrow is the lord's day. I don't want to show up to the house of god on the lord's day hung-over." James sits down and says firmly. "Very well. Very well, but you stay and tell jokes and not black ones 'either the bawdier the better. And I pay the fiddlers bill." Roland looks up at James and smiles slightly. "As you wish." James smiles and claps him on the back. "Good. I won't have grieving done improperly. Now a toast to good friends and the end of the plague eh." Roland raises his glass. "Cheers." The sun sets in the sky and Roland makes his goodnights and walks back to his apartment. He lies in his bed and stares at the ceiling in silence before finally closing his eyes. A faint orange glow comes over his face and Roland opens his eyes. "Dawn already" he says and gets out of bed to look out the window. London is a light with a bright orange glow. "Fire!" Roland bursts out. He scrambles into his tunic and trousers and into his boots before scurrying down the stairs and out the door. He runs down the street before stopping briefly at The White Lion. James is just coming out the door apparently going home for the night himself. "Roland!" he says surprised you look as if you have seen a ghost!" He pauses for an additional moment. "Do you smell smoke?" "Fire!" Roland says. James' face goes from confusion to horrifying realization as Roland's words sink in. The both bolt down the street at high speed. The turn a corner and stop in unison. A blazing inferno stand before them as huge pyres of flame jet up from every building. They simultaneously turn and run in the opposite direction. The roofs around them catch ablaze as the oiled thatched roofs go up like torches. They keep running Both coughing as smoke starts to overtake them and they struggle for air. People all around the scream and flee. The see a narrow street ahead but before they can reach it the gate above it collapses blocking the way with burning debris. "The east gate is blocked!" James looks panicked, we can't go West! They look at each other and cry in unison "The River!" They both sprint South at high speeds the city around them truly engulfed in flames. James slows down for a brief moment coughing and hacking violently "I'm... I'm... he keeps coughing but signals to keep running. They keep moving in the distance the black water of the Thames River is seen against the night sky. Roland looks back at James just behind him "Roland..." he says weekly as he keeps coughing. The building to his side creeks and moans. Roland realizes what is going to happen a fraction of a second before it does. James' eyes go wide as the building collapses on top of him. A beam falls and hits him square in his chest. Roland is unable to approach through the flames. "Roland..." James looks very weak with a mighty effort he belts out "Run!" Sound fades and silence fills Roland's ears. Only the beating of his heart can be heard. Roland turns around and sprints towards the river opening. *Thump Thump* He coughs into his arm struggling to stay conscious as smoke fills his lungs. Tatters at the edge of his clothes catch fire. *Thump* Thump* He bursts out onto the river street at looks at London bridge, the gatehouses built upon it engulfed in flame. Gold and silver decorations along the span melt and fall into the river dripping into it like melting chocolate. *Thump Thump* Roland keeps running across the docks and takes a running leap... right into the river, he disappears beneath its surface *Thump Thump* After a long moment he struggles and thrashes to the surface the river having extinguished the fire on his clothes. He starts swimming towards the opposite bank. *Thump Thump* He struggles and thrashes but eventually makes his way across to the people waiting on the far end. They reach out hands to help him up and he climbs up and begins coughing on the shore *Thump Thump* He stands on his hands and knees and then slowly stands up, all around him people are looking at the far end across the river, their eyes wide. No one looks at the slightly burnt man who just crawled out of the river they are all too focused on the sight behind him. They stare like zombies at the enthralling sight behind him. Roland clasps and stares at the statue of Lot's wife Mathilda had given him for a long moment. *Thump Thump* Slowly he turns around and looks at London. A gasp escapes his breath and his pupils shake in horror. London Burns. Slowly sound fades back in and Roland can hear only screaming and the roar of flames "Oh God! Oh God!" and "God help me!" on the far bank people can be seen clawing their way out of buildings some with the flesh melting off their bodies before Roland's very eyes. People set on fire throw themselves into the Thames some who clearly can't swim drown. Others collapse before they make it to the docks. Roland clutches the pendant of Lot's wife around his neck unable to look away and falls to his knees. The whole city burns Roland a mere black speck against the bright mass of the huge burning city. Roland falls to his knees and reaches out helplessly against the horror.

Present day.

Scene 1:

Roland and Alexandra walk out of the mist to a huge natural stone cliff. Along its edge sits a breach about two hundred meters wide as if a stone fence had been ordered by some colossus and a section had been left unbuilt. Beyond it sits the massive cliff marking the end of the fourth circle and the start of the third. A winding stairway is carved out of the stone in the cliff winding up into the wretched swamps above. Behind Roland and Alexandra are the forces seconded to Roland from Bloodywine Gulch. As they approach the pass a figure perched on an abandoned watchtower with binoculars in a grey and brown military uniform. Around her are about four dozen men in similar garb carrying everything from automatic rifles to double barreled shotguns. Roland gapes at the golden pin with the crescent moon over a mesa on her lapel. The figure drops the binoculars to reveal Amber, grinning like a mad woman. Roland finds his voice first. "Amber... What? What happened?" "...To Henri" she finishes. "Big man refused to lower his head while the twisted cross were hurting people. We found out they were taking prisoners, as hostages to keep the town in line I guess, including someone he had promised to protect, and went berserk on them. You can imagine the result. Roland visibly winces. "I don't have to imagine it." he says. "Henri in combat is terrifying. Henri when he gets into a righteously fueled rage is the kind of thing that people talk about in hushed tones, scared that they image from their nightmares might show up at the mere mention of his name. But Amber, I meant you." he gestures to the sigil on her lapel. She lets off a devilish smile. "I err played a prominent role in the conclusion of the previous administration of Deadtooth Mesa. I then convinced the good people there that they didn't leave people behind." Roland looks over the ragtag force assembled before them. "This... he says. I can work with this. The Bloodywine and Deadtooth forces start mixing and discussing amongst themselves. What's the enemy fortress like?" A Deadtooth citizen comes forward and awkwardly approaches Roland and gives him piece of paper, Roland looks at it and mutters to himself, hmmmm... He gets up in front of the mixed Bloodywine and Deadtooth forces. "Gentlemen, we all know who we are, so let's not waste time with pleasantries and hollow words. I am Roland Von-Braun. Founder and CEO of Cerberus Munitions and..." he pauses looking for the right word. "...Friend of his majesty High Lord Lucifer. I just wanted to let you know that we have reason to believe that the Twisted Cross are behind on their taxes." a laugh breaks out from the crowd. "We have a long march ahead of us, let's get going." and without any further words the two groups merged and began marching eastwards towards the carved stairway out of the fourth circle and into the third.

Scene 2:

The group stops for a moment as they eye the long stairway out of the fourth circle. They march in groups of twos and threes some joking others somber. They reach the base of the wall and Roland signals to stop. He pulls out his phone and looks at a sonar readout frowning deeply. "We should stay here for a bit. I don't want to push our luck with Eldritch." The group stop and begin setting up camp for the night. Alexandra notices Roland step aside to a small grove of rock and skulls with an odd pool in the middle. She leaves the group and goes to see what he is doing. He stares at an ancient looking skull with a scar along its forehead. He subconsciously feels along his own forehead as if checking some long-healed wound. "Regeneration has its advantages" he mutters. Roland picks up the skull and holds it high like Yorick's. He looks up and sees Alexandra approaching. "Mourning your long-forgotten friend here?" She jokingly mutters. "Oh, not a day goes by that I don't mourn this man." he says dryly. Alexandra eyes the skull and Roland smirks. He looks deeply into the skull and frowns sadly. He holds the skull high imitating Hamlet holding Yorick's skull. "What a foolish question the prince of Denmark has raised." He holds the skull high "In a world where all is turned to dust the question of to be or not to be is all but meaningless. No, the true question. How does one judge a man once he shuffles off this mortal coil? If the old man is to be judged, what of the child? By all means abhor the monster, but what of the kind father? The innocent young boy, the pathetic, broken man hiding powerless on his deathbed. If we are to be judged only at the moment of our passing, then is all the good we did in life to become meaningless for the evil we did with the same hands? Every man dies a billion deaths each second. And lo, the angry man changes into the sorrowful one. As the just man changes into an unjust one. Can it truly be called just for all the good we did in the world to be ignored for our evil acts. Can we even claim that it was us who committed those acts? for time has killed those men long before their hearts stopped beating. Man is a creature of beautiful complexity and no man no matter how wicked or virtuous could ever be justly summed up with labels so simple as 'good' and 'evil' such a binary degrades and dishonors the nuance of who we are." After a moment he adds to this. "And of who we were." Alexandra looks surprised at this soliloquy. After a moment she says "Where did that come from?" Roland frowns. "I was thinking of Henri. He always takes a more... philosophical approach to the world." he looks back down at the skull. "I don't think the man I was thinking of would much like me were we to meet again. Nor I him. I don't know about judgement for the whole of a man, but it would be just as unjust to let those who committed evil and walked away, or even worse, prospered. Meet the same fate as those who did no wrong." Roland lets out a long sigh. "What is justice?" He looks up at her abruptly "Come." he says "The third circle awaits."

Scene 3:

A long caravan of soldiers march across a sprawling marsh with a never-ending icy rain. Fire spouts appear off the main road and a muck so thick it could suck a man in like quicksand dots the lower wetter areas. The ground is a mushy mess with only a few high points for even the most basic travel. The band of Fourth circle forces about 175 strong keep marching along a stony high ground. Roland, Alexandra and Amber ride along the back of a cart pulled by a demon-beast. Roland lies back on the cart and basks in the rain. "In all my years I never travelled the third circle. I flew to the second circle briefly, but never the third." he takes a deep long sigh. After a moment he looks around and says "When I was..." he falters "...younger, I used to love the rain, and the water. I found it rejuvenating. I used to sit by the abbey doors and wait for rainbows. What I wouldn't give to see a rainbow again." He just lays back taking in the pouring water. Alexandra smirks. After a moment he glances at Amber "Still" he says "This place has its moments." Amber looks back "yeah, I think I am getting the hang of what it's like down here." Roland laughs. "About that. How in the blazes did you get Deadtooth Mesa of all places to mount an expedition into the third circle? Mesans don't usually have enough organization for a bucket line, let alone a military operation." She shrugs. "You just gotta know the right words." Roland looks bemused at this before giving Amber a serious stare "No... no... Amber, I don't think you quiet appreciate what you did, you don't understand how things usually work in Hell. People don't 'look out for their own' here. People don't 'mount rescue expeditions against raider fortresses' here. People look out for themselves and see their neighbor's loss as their gain." Amber gives a faint smile. "I don't know Roland. You once told me that evil was subjective and human nature fundamental." Roland nods. "yes." Amber continues "Well, people on Earth no matter what culture or time, look after their own. Down here I think they have just convinced themselves that they are evil creatures that don't care. I think it only takes a small push to show that deep down, they still do want to see things like justice done and unjust men punished." Roland looks up at the heaven orb in the sky. His face goes sour. "Yea, I think that too." his voice drips with bitterness as he stares at heaven. Alexandra bristles with rage. "I for one can't wait to lay into those Nazi cyka again. I don't need a new excuse. I have all the reason I need. The taboo doesn't apply out here." Roland frowns. "Perhaps it's hypocritical for Hell's foremost dealer in gray market history to say this, but the taboo exists for a reason. You weren't there during the Montaignian rebellion. we are all stuck down here. Forever. If we let old grudges continue the place loses the little order it has and devolves into a true forever war. Human nature being what it is people keep their grudges if they keep their national identity." Amber looks over to Roland, "What was the Montaignian rebellion?" Roland's eyes become distant. "Troublemakers who took it upon themselves to bring liberty to the wicked and tried to storm pandemonium. It was basically an aborted attempt to bring democracy to Hell." He smirks "It didn't work. Though it lasted a week and leave a bad taste in the mouths of... everyone. It reinforced the blazes out of the taboo about carrying your burdens with you down here." He looks off into the distance "I was there... a hundred and fifty years ago. I was there as men pulled walls down and slaughtered everything they could find will screaming the word freedom at the top of their lungs." He regains some composure "Anyway it really cemented a key philosophy of pretty much all of Lucifer's kingdom "You are here, and at long last you are free. Free from your previous life. Free from the almighty himself. Free. Keep it that way." Only Amber catches Alexandra's brief glance at Heaven with a look of longing on her face at this speech. "You really hold a grudge against him don't ya?" She ventures. Roland let's out a long breath. "Yes. I do. I have spent hundreds of years thinking about this." After another moment he turns to Amber. "Let me ask you a question. Do you think you deserved that month of regenerative torture you had back in the forest?" Amber stops and thinks for a long time before replying. "I genuinely don't know. I did a lot of bad things when I was alive. But the person I really truly destroyed was myself. Should I suffer for that?" Roland has a look of spite in his eyes. "I watched as people suffered for a whole lot less sin than self-indulgence. I invite the almighty to explain to me why this is just. I have spent two hundred years listening, at great length to the 'brightest of the angels' who rebelled against him and not one word from he who determines the fate of all mankind himself. He simply, literally damns us." Alexandra surprisingly speaks up at this. "Henri would give you one." Roland smirks. "Oh yes. Henri would tell me to open my heart and let goodness enter it or some crap. I don't work that way. I have never worked that way. Give me reason. It. Is. Not. Too. Much. To. Ask." He winds down after this and they march on in silence.

Scene 3:

The expedition keeps moving on along the miserable terrain. Roland looks down into the marsh. Out of the mist, a sentry runs up, panic in his eyes. "Eldritch! About ten kliks Northeast of here, moving Westwards!" Roland pulls out a modern looking smartphone and presses an app button. The phone starts emitting sonar pings and a look of worry crosses Roland's face. "Big one, probably a class 2. We need to find shelter." A Bloodywine trooper listening in on this, perks up. "There is an old travelers bunker about a kilometer through the swamp south of here." Roland straitens up. "Let's hope the twisted cross haven't had the thought to occupy it, like they did the rest of the strategic points between here and Dis." Nonetheless he turns to the group. "Alright everyone, we've got a class 2 about to cross our paths at a TCFDCD. That's too close for damn comfort distance. We got shelter a kilo away and we can probably make it if we really rush. If the twisted cross are there..." he holds up Stormfang "We know what to do with them." A combination of moans at the extra trek and genuine panic at the realization of the danger is heard throughout the group. They start marching South at a brisk pace. The sonar device on Roland's phone keeps pinging slightly at shorter and shorter intervals together. "There!" Roland points to a large concrete structure appearing out of the mist. "I hope it's big enough for all of us!" He pulls open the door and starts guiding soldiers through "Into the hole! Into the hole!" They pour down the steps into the structure which fortunately has huge storage rooms likely meant to house a force far larger than them. Roland ushers everyone inside as a rumbling grows louder in the distance. The last of the rear-guard rushes through the door and Roland jumps inside, slams it shut and locks it in place. The bunker is large, clearly meant as an outpost to protect troops from just such an attack. Rumbling is heard above. Amber looks through a periscope near the entrance "What... Is... that...?" She says staring at the creature. A Gigantic Spider like creature with eyes all along its underside sweeps the ground with huge feelers. Amber winces as if even looking at the thing hurts her eyes. It rips up huge portions of the swamp It comes to where the group were last marching along the road and sweeps it wildly finding no one. It lets out an ear-splitting scream. Everyone in the bunker covers their ears, most are visibly terrified. Amber stares, sweat pouring down her face at the sight of the monster. "That" Roland says "Is the reason that the idea that populating Hell anywhere outside of Dis is a really really bad idea. You saw what it took to bring down one in the Fifth circle, six artillery shells the size of a bus and an experimental energy weapon just to get the thing to retreat." Amber looks at Roland the awe in her face from the monstrosity she's witnessing does not fade. "Looking at it too long is a bad idea." Roland says. Amber lets go of the periscope and follows Roland deeper into the bunker where the rest of the company are huddled against the walls. "You miss my question. *What* is that thing?" Roland takes a deep breath. "To call it complicated would be an understatement." He pauses a moment, "Where to begin? Thousands and thousands of years ago creation was brought into existence. In a single instant all the nothingness and chaos that existed in the eternal infinitesimal moment before creation was..." he pauses looking for the right word. "...compressed... into physical forms that embodies all the madness and impossibilities that existed in the infinite moment before creation began. Hell was either the only place that the almighty didn't wipe clean of them or the pit where they were all exiled, scholars are still not sure. Before Lucifer ever led his followers here, this was their prison. He came here because it was the one place that the almighty did not touch. The eldritch themselves feel little besides loathing for reality and all who give it meaning by... feeling for it. If that makes sense. They reach out into the mortal world to... influence man's nightmares. Do you follow?" Amber looks confused "I... think so?" Roland looks at her and gives it another shot. "Let me put it this way, if you encounter say a bee during the daytime and are stung by it you might develop a fear of bees or even have a nightmare about them. Henri would say that this logical fear and hatred is the product of conventional sin. But when you were alive did you ever have a fear of something you have never experienced? Terror of something that has no source. Have you ever had a nightmare about creatures utterly alien to you? That is the eldritch reaching out of Hell to influence the minds of men. They are the source of all primal fear and despair that you have ever felt and some are more susceptible to their influence than others." Amber glances at the ceiling implying the creature above them specifically. "And they're all like that?" Roland frowns. "No. That creature above us is a class two, one of the stronger monstrosities that roam the outer circles. So was the beast that attacked the wall of Dis. Class threes are more common. The lower the number the more powerful the beast." Amber asks the obvious question. "What about a class one?" Roland's face twists in worry. "There are only two known class ones. One is chained up in the center of the ninth circle... the other... is the eldritch matriarch in the second circle. They are creatures so foul and ancient that Lucifer himself couldn't destroy Them. The matriarch is... let's just say it's the reason people don't go to the second circle anymore." At this Roland turns around to inspect the shelter. Amber's face slowly twists from awe to horror as she slowly realizes what this means. "But, we are going through the second circle!" Roland stops and slowly turns around. A wry smile crosses his face. "Yes. We are." he says and continues down into the bunker.

Scene 4:

Roland walks down into the bunker and looks around. The bunker is huge and sprawls in several directions the walls are made of steel and the floor is nothing but concrete. The whole space is packed with troopers squeezed into the space. Behind that there seems to be a few office rooms, likely for officers. He lets out a "hmph" as he notices a Swastika banner on the back wall already being taken down and burned by the soldiers. "So, I guess the twisted cross were here." he mutters to himself. "Makes sense given that they have to hide from eldritch too." He comes to Alexandra who is talking with some of the Deadtooth militiamen. "Do they know anything about that fortress of theirs. She looks a little worried. "Yes. The thing seems to have been built in a deep and narrow canyon about a hundred meters wide. Serves as protection against eldritch, I guess. The entrance faces the more open narrow end of the canyon which is only lightly fortified. The structure itself is made of, surprise, concrete with a large keep and barracks and a few watchtowers. They seem to have built it themselves, instead of taking over some other long abandoned facility. Roland looks at a drawing a trooper seems to have made out of old paper and scratch ink. He smiles slightly. "Well..." Alexandra looks nervous "Can you take it?" She asks Roland laughs "I once took Itharius fortress with nothing but myself and five troopers armed with nothing but battle rifles one grenade launcher and our wits. Of course," He lets out a mournful sigh "We had surprise then and Henri was one of those troopers and he's something of a force multiplier. But yes." He lets out an evil grin "I can take this." Alexandra leaves him to his planning. She walks past the troopers who are settling in for the night. They talk and tell jokes despite the cramped uncomfortable environment. She walks further through the bunker until she notices a small stairwell to the lowest levels of the shelter. She enters a small dimly lit hall. Most of the doors in the hall are open offices with almost nothing in them. At the end of the hall is a room marked 'STORAGE: KEEP OUT' she looks around and notices that it is the only door not opened. She walks to the end of the hallway and turns the knob and frowns indicating that its locked. She reaches into her hair and pulls out a bobby pin, she kneels at the door and frowns a moment muttering to herself "Nadeyus', ya pomnyu, kak eto sdelat." [I hope I remember how to do this.] After a moment a 'click' is heard from the door and it swings inward. Inside is a surprisingly roomy storage locker filled with old storage. A box of grenades sits in the corner along with shelves of trinkets and vaguely military looking gear. At the very back of the room sits a familiar looking mirror covered by a thin white sheet. The gentle angelic hum coming off of it is unmistakable. Alexandra hears the hum and jumps back and whispers "Cyka Blyat!" She stares long and hard at the covered mirror. Her hand brushes her hair involuntarily before she looks back up at it. Slowly she reaches out her hand and closes her eyes. In almost a whisper she says "So, truly deep down, which am I?" then to the mirror she says in an incredibly sad voice, still without opening her eyes. "I liked him so much more." Her hand grasps at the fabric and she abruptly pulls it back. Slowly she opens her eyes. A handsome soldier in a soviet red army uniform stares back at her. His hair pulled up and the medal of the order of Lenin sits on his lapel. Tears come to both their eyes as they stare at each other. Alexandra salutes. Alexander salutes back. She smiles through her tears. "Deep down, I knew that." she says. He pantomimes the words. She stares long and hard into the mirror the sad smile of the soldier in it staring back at her. Slowly the demon tiger woman puts her hair up. Alexander pantomimes the motion, but his image remains unchanged. His hair is already up.

Scene 5:

Henri hangs in chains in dungeon cell along with several other prisoners. Moonlight streams in through a grate in the wall, providing the room with its only source of illumination. Another prisoner sits beside Henri also chained up. He wears a late 1800's business suit and bowtie. His face is faded and corrupt his eyes glow bright green. He turns to Henri. "So," he says "What do they call you?" Henri turns to him and gives a snort. "Henri, and you?" he says simply. "HA!" the man laughs. "Call me Zarathustra." Henri snorts again. "Well, like I said, I'm Henri." the man's eyebrows shoot up. His voice is full of ammusment. "That might be your name, but a that is not who you are. Come how do you define yourself. What title do you give first to the world." Henri ponders this for a moment. "The title I bore, the one that matters, was... IS... Chevalier." the man looks confused at this "Chevalier?" Henri looks at him blankly "It means knight." The man's look turns quizzical. "I know it means knight. What suprises me is that you still choose to go by it. A knight needs to bare the standard of the one who knighted them." Henri is silent for a long moment before replying. "I think you're wrong about that. Chevalier... Is a title that I... *we*… gave meaning. To be one was to be one of us and we saw to it that it was an honor to be one of us. We made it the kind of thing that children would want to be. Men would cry with joy at out passing. That even after our time had passed people with guns and cars and cell phones would still use the term as a byword to mean virtue. To be a Chevalier, was still to epitomize all that was right with the world, it is to make it the very center of your identity, everything you do from morning till dusk was to be a part of that. To bear the title was to possess the duty to uphold the definition." The man laughs "And have you upheld it?" Henri is silent for a long moment. "At first I tarnished it. But then, long after it ended up mattering, I did. I found a worthy lord." Henri turns to the strange man. "And what were you?" The man smiles "Philosopher." Henri lets out a hearty laugh. "I've known philosophers, so tell me 'Zarathustra' what philosophy do you have to part unto me?" Zarathustra laughs. "Some men require wisdom, definitions and guidance. To be nudged in the direction of wisdom until they can find their own philosophies. And some men..." He glances at the cross around Henri's neck. "...do not."

Scene 6:

Roland is seen sleeping in a mattress on the floor along with the other troopers. The sound of revelry plays and he and the other troopers slowly roll awake. He gets up sleepy eyed and looks at the stack of marked up maps at his side his battle plans for the assault on the twisted cross fortress apparently ready. He lets out a satisfied snicker and pats the stack. "You are no Itharius fortress." He mutters to himself He looks at the rugged Bloodywine sergeant he had assigned to watch duty for the night, still at his sonar panel. "Is it gone?" he asks. The sergeant gives him a wary nod. "Began to scutter off the south at about 300 hours last night. Dropped off of sonar range at about 400." Roland lets off a sigh of relief. "Eldritch have been known to try to besiege fortifications that they don't have the raw power to destroy. We're lucky this one wasn't tempted to try that." He relieves the tired watchman of duty and stands at the door before the troopers. "Good morning, everyone! I hope you slept well. I'm sure you're all wondering what our next stop is on our lovely vacation. It seems that the twisted cross fortress is located about twenty-five miles east of here in a narrow canyon. The eastern and western end is of course fortified." He lets out a grim smile. "Despite their supposed 'master race engineering' that they are so fond of spouting about, they have apparently fallen into every single classic fortress design trap in the book. For one thing they have made the critical error of arming their fortress with the biggest guns possible, assuming bigger is better. Doubtless this was first done in some kind of mad attempt to make themselves feel safe from eldritch, then thought of their oversized guns as proof of their fortress's invincibility against more conventional foes. They also have made the classic mistake of cordoning off the two ends of a natural pass and thinking of it as secure from all sides, forgetting about above. They set up machine gun nests and sniper towers which are a nice touch, but like all modern fortresses they are dependent on them to keep infantry away from the gates as high explosives..." he gestures to a box labeled 'caution explosive' "...will rip right through even the most reinforced walls. I have the battle plan all drawn up here, he gestures to a series of papers on his right." He looks around to all the troopers. "Remember the golden rule of strategy, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. If they enemy forces you to adapt to succeed, then do it. Everybody good?" Everyone nods. "Excellent. Let's march out." The sun comes up and then sets low in the sky as at long last the group come upon the fortress in the distance. Roland looks out on it, looking more or less as described to him in the diagrams. "Henri, I'm here."

Scene 7:

The soldiers gather around Roland. "Alright people here's the situation. See those guns in the front, the moment anyone starts moving in along the canyon, they will open fire and tear them to pieces. See those cliffs? The Bloodywine troopers and I will rappel down them along the sides in the opening move and disable them." He looks at the Bloodywine troopers. "Our primary objective is to get those damn machine gunners' nests down. Your secondary objective is to get bring down anyone who happens to be in that sniper tower and your tertiary objective is to either blow up or disable those oversized artillery cannons. He turns to the Deadtooth militia. "Once Bloodywine have completed their mission the frontal approach will be unguarded. You boys go in the front gate." He nods at the crate of explosives. "One way or the other." Her turns to Alexandra "Alexandra You're with the Deadtoothers. Provide what sniper cover you can until that gate is open. Once it Is, get up that tower and provide cover for the rest of the force, by this point the battle should be well underway and probably have a few kinks thrown in, help anyone struggling. He turns to Amber "You are with the Deadtoother rearguard up until that gate is down. Once you're inside you become the vanguard. Go in shotgun blazing through the fortress's innards. Find. The. Prisoners. Once the Fortress Yard is clear we go in and start clearing out the facilities. Most of the Twisted Cross forces inside should have joined in the fighting by this point, but you never know. Keep going until the facility is clear. Any questions" One ragged looking trooper raises his hand. "Do we take prisoners sir?" Roland lets out a wolfish grin. "Well, that depends private, are they going to surrender entirely If so then we might consider it, if not... he fingers stormfang." The soldiers all smile at this, and look around at the fortress with new intensity. "Alright Bloodywine troopers, fall out!"

Scene 8:

The Bloodywine troopers crawl in a wide pincer ark along the cliffs far ends. They see each other moving slowly along the clifftop towards the fortresses far end. As they get closer, they see Twisted cross soldiers Manning the fortifications and marching about the central courtyard. A familiar looking officer stands near some blood-stained scaffolding. One of the Deadtooth prisoners is tied and kneeling before a menacing looking block. As the troops approach and begin to get into position they can hear him giving a speech. "...And as we so do justice upon our ancestors and purify the violent hordes of hell itself..." The troopers begin to take position along the cliff's edge. "...we the highest of creatures watch as mongrels meet their rightful demise before us..." The troopers lock their rappelling lines into position. "...but the true impact today is all those other lower peoples who are listening in across the blighted circles..." The bloodywine soldiers load their weapons and begin to select their targets. "...And so, let them see the fate of those who fail to know..." The troopers make eye contact across the chasm. The officer raises a shining angelic sword "...their place." Roland fires a whining signal flare high into the air. The officer delays his final strike and looks up. The Bloodywine troopers all start dropping like bats along the cliffside about a hundred men open fire with assault rifles at the fortress below. Twisted cross fall like flies before the flurry of automatic fire. The troopers rappel lower and lower. Most of the twisted cross panic as they try to figure out where the attack is coming from. A few of the more intelligent of them point upwards and start firing wildly along the cliff wall. Roland unspools his rappelling line and begins to drop after the rest of the troopers. The twisted cross struggle to fire the machine guns oriented at the canyon mouth at the cliff walls as the emplacements were never meant to fire at such a harsh angle. A twisted cross sniper takes position in the sniper tower, but a far-off shot is heard from the canyon mouth and his head explodes. Roland recognizes Alexandra's handywork and gives a salute in the general direction of the canyon entrance. The troopers drop along the top of the fortress walls and begin to fight their way along the parapets towards the fortified west entrance. The twisted cross start to get their bearings and begin taking a more organized defensive position and fire back at the troopers along the walls. A few Bloodywine fall, but most keep pushing. Roland hits the ground and begins firing at the soldiers in cover. One by one they fall in a bloody mess. "Come on!" Roland screams We have the element of surprise and it won't last. Let's get those guns down!" The Bloodywine troopers reach the far western wall and begin dismantling the Machine guns with quick bursts from their weapons. One machine gun explodes as a lucky shot ignites the ammo. A distant crack is heard from the canyon entrance and another twisted cross soldier falls from the sniper tower. Bloodywine troopers start to take a few more losses and Roland looks behind him to see that the Twisted Cross are starting to reconnoiter. "Time to end this commando crap." Rolland mutters. He pulls out his flare gun and gives two shots into the air in rapid succession. The Deadtooth militia charge from the far end of the canyon. Roland keys in his radio. "All right people we could use some reinforcements back here." A cloud of dust forms as the Deadtoothers start to charge. After a moment, one of the unfortunate vanguard explodes. Roland whips around to look at the artillery cannon, but it remains unmoved with Bloodywine troopers trying to man it. The fighting continues and twisted cross continue to rack up casualties, but do not break as the Bloodywine slowly get surrounded. Roland's eyes go wide as he realizes why the trooper exploded, he turns just in time to see another unfortunate Deadtoother explode, a small crater left where he stood. Roland pulls out stormfang and fires a quick volley along an ark into the ground in front of the fortress. Two explosions go off at seemingly random points in the sand. "Minefield!" he yells into his radio. "Cease charge! Cease charge!" Most of the Deadtooth militia hold still as they realize what's happening. "Roland pulls out his radio. "Everyone, pull back! Walk in your boot prints if you have to." Roland looks back at the Bloodywine militia, now pinned behind cover, holding for the moment but clearly losing ground. Amber's voice chimes over the radio "We don't have the ability to dance through this thing without either foreknowledge of the mines' position or the time to carefully clear it." Roland barks a quick "Hold on." into the radio then looks at the fortress, he casually fires off rounds into a twisted cross who gets too bold on the offensive. He spies the large artillery cannon and smiles. "I have an idea." he says into the radio. "You!" he barks to one of the Bloodywine troopers trying to futilely dismantle the artillery cannon with his bayonet. "Help me up there and load that gun." The trooper salutes in confusion and begins to load massive shells into the firing mechanism. Roland climbs the ladder and hops on the gun's hydraulics bench. "Cover me!" he yells to the entrenched Bloodywine. Pushes the start button and the gun roars to life. Roland fiddles with the controls a moment before slowly bringing the gun to the field outside the fortress gates. He takes a deep breath and pushes the fire button. A huge roar erupts from the gun and a blinding flash appears outside the gates. Everybody grabs something as the ground shakes. The twisted cross who were at the moment attempting a charge fall over and are quickly dispatched by the (braced) Bloodywine troopers. Where the shell landed there is now nothing but an empty crater. Roland gives off an evil grin. "Trooper!" he nods to the soldier manning the loading station. "Load another." the trooper grins and does so. Roland lets off another round this time slightly higher than the last. And another. Soon there is a whole row of craters leading right up to the fortress gates. Roland chimes his command radio on his shoulder. "Deadtooth, Charge!" The militia move forward with a mighty roar right down the row of craters to the fortress gates. A militiaman in bright orange readies a pre made charge and lays it on the steel gates. All the deadtooth militia back off. "Clear!" he yells and detonates it. The fortress shakes so hard that even the braced and kneeling Bloodywine troopers fall over this time. The Deadtooth troopers wait for the dust to clear. It slowly does revealing a massive 4-meter-wide hole in what once might have been called a steel blast door. "YEAAAAAAH!" the troopers yell, pouring through the gap and meeting filling the courtyard head on. Most of the twisted cross are still caught up on the fortress walls and are caught off guard by the flank attack. The twisted cross soldiers begin to panic, realizing that they are caught between two positions. Many of them foolishly attempt to charge either side in the hope of getting out of their bad position and are cut down by the attacking forces. A bang rings out from the sniper tower and a bloodywine trooper manning an enemy machinegun turned in on the base falls dead. Alexandra who up to this point has been sniping from the rear looks at Roland. They are too close to the tower to counter-snipe the shooter "Alexandra!" screams Roland. "I have an idea!" He pulls out his grapple gun and points at the tower. Alexandra's face looks shocked then she grins as she realizes what he means. The two come up to the tower and Roland fires off a grapple, the hook lodges itself neatly in the upper guard rail. Alexandra does the same. "Ready?" Roland yells. Alexandra nods and they charge up the tower. They run straight up it, Roland slightly ahead of Alexandra until he pounces over the edge right into the sniper's shocked face. Roland readies Stormfang and strikes the enemy sniper right in the head with the twin bayonets. The sniper screams and falls backwards and Roland jumps over the railing and impales the man in the chest. Alexandra gives Roland a nod and lies down prone and begins to set up to fire on the battle bellow. Amber signals to the two on the sniper tower that she and her Deadtooth forces are about to start clearing out the fortresses' interior. Roland gives a nod and watches as the cashier he hired a month and a half ago pumps her shotgun and charges into the fortress, a full squad of troopers at her back. Roland adjusts Stormfang's scope and changes fire mode before lying down next to her. "What are you doing?" she asks. "Snipers work in pairs." He replies. She gives him an odd look "That's an American doctrine." He gives her a wry smile and she relents. "Fine." She says with a smile and the two start firing down at the battle below. The attacking forces begin to win the fight in earnest and twisted cross forces start falling left and right. The remaining twisted cross pull back inside the fortress and try to fire on the forces from the windows, only to be picked off by the two snipers. Alexandra fires "Slightly left." Roland says. Roland fires "Slightly right." Alexandra says. They both fire together "Dead on!" they both say in unison. A thought occurs to Roland and he picks up his radio "Has anyone seen that pompous commander who was going to execute that prisoner?" He scans the battle field for his body, but doesn't spot it. Over the radio mostly negative replies come in.

Scene 9:

In the fortress Amber blasts like crazy pouring through the base firing wildly with her squad as twisted cross fall left and right. A lucky trooper gets her in the leg and blood starts pouring from the wound and another bullet gets her in the chest, knocking her back as her armor absorbs the round. Amber buckles, then stands up, she continues on and enters the lowest levels of the base which seems to be the fortress dungeon. She blasts the door down with a shot to the lock. She enters the dungeon gung-ho, ready to free the prisoners. The dungeon sits empty, a huge gash lies in the wall where the shackles should have been. Amber looks around confused then walks back into the hallway. "Has anyone seen..." A grenade lands at her feet and a flashbang goes off obscuring everything. Back in the courtyard the battle begins to wind down the remaining Twisted cross fall back to the corners of the fortress and start surrendering. Roland signals to Alexandra to stay in her sniper's nest and climbs down to accept the surrender of the few remaining troopers and secure the base. A squad of troopers in Nazi uniforms burst out from a closed door labelled 'Caution ammo' and are promptly gunned down by Bloodywine troopers. A stray bullet from one of the bloodywine's guns enters strikes the building behind them. A huge roar of flame goes up and loud popping explosions are heard like fireworks. Some kind of incendiary liquid spills from the shack and soon the whole wall goes up in flame. Roland stares at the fire and tries to fight back flashbacks. He shakes his head and picks up his radio "Fortress is up in flames. I repeat fortress is going up in flames everyone pull back to the front gate from there we'll..." A familiar voice comes over the roar of the flames "Nobody. Move." Roland slowly turns around to see a familiar looking boar demon with Commander's epilates holding a humming sword to Amber's throat. "Let's try this again shall we. Here's what's going to happen. You all are going to get out of my fortress. You are going to lay your weapons down and march back to wherever you came from and we will call this little scuffle" he gestures to the partially burning fortress "a draw." He lets out an evil smile. "And if you don't I will cut her open like a tomato and no regeneration will ever sew her bleeding neck together again." Roland glances at the Angelic sword and says. "Deine Festung brennt. Deine Eroberung wurde zurückgeschlagen. Deine Krieg endete vor fünfundsiebzig Jahren. Es ist Zeit, dein Schwert niederzulegen. Zeit nach Hause zu gehen." [Your fortress is on fire. Your conquest has been repulsed. Your war ended seventy-five years ago. It's time to put down your sword. Time to go home.] The commander looks at him "Unser Krieg ist ewig. es kann nur für das deutsche Volk zum Sieg führen." [Our war is eternal. it can only end in victory or destruction for the German people.] At this Roland switches back to black speech and bursts out in anger "You raided a few hundred empty square miles for a few short years and inevitably failed to hold any major settlements long term! You didn't wage a war! You just shot people. This is hell! We shoot people all the time here, for fun even! But we have one rule! Let! The! Past! Go! There are millions of Germans just like you in Dis, veterans of the war even! At any time you could have marched back there and reminisced about your exploits in peace. No one would have cared about any of this! But you just won't let it go! Trapped in the past and trying to chain everybody up with you." The commander's hold on the sword on Amber's throat wavers, but he holds. "I know you, you're with that giant French bastard we chained up the other day." He smirks "ordinary chains held him just fine." Roland's face goes blank at this. "Henri? If you chained him up and he held, then he was faking. I've seen people try to chain him up maybe nine times over the past two hundred years, not once have they held. The Nazi officer looks annoyed "Yes, Yes the spirit is indominable. You can't keep a good man down yadayadaya." Roland keeps his blank expression "No, I'm speaking literally. The man can break chains with his bare muscles, it's scary. Realization comes over the commander's face as a shadow falls on him. His voice wavers. "Don't... try... to... distract... me..." He slowly turns around to witness the full horror of Henri, with the other prisoners standing behind him. Chains technically still around his wrists, the brick they'd been bolted to having been ripped straight out of the wall is being swung like a flail. The commander has just enough time to realize the enormity of his mistake before said brick decks him square in the face. He is knocked back a full three meters. He tries to get up, but Henri runs forward and stabs him in the shoulder with a sharpened piece of piping which he had apparently been using as an improvised melee weapon, pinning him to the ground. Roland looks at him the fortress burning around them, then he looks at the troopers who had followed him into the fortress. He looks at Henri "Good to have you here, Chevalier." Henri shrugs. "I couldn't have left; I knew you were coming for me. What would you have done if you had come after me and I was not here?" Roland smiles. "I'm sure you would have managed somehow old friend." The other prisoners from Deadtooth Mesa begin saluting and thanking their countrymen who accept the thanks with something that might approach modesty. Amber glances at the sword on the ground and subconsciously holds a hand up to her throat. She winces then begins to walk away. "Come on everyone." Roland says to the platoon at large. Mission accomplished. Let's go." The group turns and starts to leave the burning fortress. The commander is apparently still alive and begins to cough and sputter. Roland turns around to him. He tries to pull the piece of piping from his shoulder but he just inadvertently ends up embedding it deeper in the ground. He grasps for the angelic sword just out of his reach, but it remains too far out of his grasp. He looks at Roland and wails "Wie kannst du das machen? Du bist einer von uns! Du trägst das Blut der wahrsten Rasse. Du ... du bist Deutscher!" [How could you do that You are one of us! You carry the blood of the truest race. You ... you are German!] Roland looks at him true fury in his eyes at this. Slowly he walks forward the fortress still burning in the background. The Commander keeps whining objections at Roland, but Roland doesn't hear them. Roland steps over to the Commander's sword "Ich." He picks it up "bin." The commander shrinks back and almost whispers. "Nein, nein, was ich sagen wollte war, dass wir verwandt sind." Roland holds the sword up pointing it straight at his chest. "Ein." The commander whimpers. "Bavarian." Roland almost whispers this last word and plunges the sword into his chest. The man screams a bloodcurdling screech. His body seems to deflate his chest wound almost burning with fire. His eyes bulge then his whole-body ceases moving. Roland turns around not even bothering to look back at the corpse. "Let's go." He says flatly to Henri, Alexandra and Amber. Behind him the fortress burns, the last swastika banner on the wall burns away to ash, then nothing.

Scene 10 :

Roland Henri Alexandra and Amber sit around a camp fire in a craggy valley with singing and dancing going on in the background as the various troopers celebrate their victory. "So." Roland says "Another raider gang falls. Can't say I'm surprised. They were way too ambitious." Roland looks at Amber "Glad you're alright." She holds her throat for a second. "Yeah well, close calls happen I guess, he probably wasn't going to slice me, he needed me as a bargaining chip." She takes a deep breath "So..." Amber says "What happens now." "Now..." Roland shrugs. "The Deadtoothers will take their own home. The Bloodywine forces make their way back to The Gulch and announce that they are open for business again. Another gang rises and falls out in the wastes. Between this and Dahmer's cooking show I know what people will be talking about a week from now." They look out again over the celebrating countrymen. Amber looks longingly at them. "It was so strange; to be leading them for that week. No, even before then, Climbing the cliffs out of the Forest of suicides and fighting the twisted cross on the edge, I felt, I felt... high again, except... not. Roland laughs "Don't tell me you've never felt glorious before? If in your whole life, the only kick you ever got was out of drugs. I can see why you drank so much." Amber looks down embarrassed. "I'm done drinking." she says simply. Henri eyes her and gives a wry smile. "Down here?" Roland asks incredulously. "That's going to take some real doing." Roland looks at Henri "Though I would be a fool to say that it isn't possible." A moment of silence passes before Roland asks "Say, has anybody seen Alexandra anywhere? I Haven't talked to her much since the battle." Henri gestures to a lonely figure silhouted against a camp fire atop the cliff looking way out at the smoldering ruins of Ewegkeit Fortress. "Excuse me a moment." Roland gets up and walks up to her sitting alone looking bitter. "I forgot how much I hated those bastards." Roland looks at her with an amused expression on his face. Nothing like the heat of battle to reignite your passions." He looks at her expecting her to laugh, but instead sees only fire in her eyes. "You know," she says accusingly "Some of them got away." Roland's voice goes serious "Some did, yes. Doubtless the horrors of the outer wastes will have its way with most of them. A lucky few might make it back to Dis to begin again. The rest will regen in whatever form they have and have to decide to move on or try to continue as raiders." Alexandra's voice roars with rage. "We should have put a more permanent end to them! Taken that sword and truly ended as many as we could. Forever!" Roland's voice goes softer "Alexandra... You can try to sate your bloodlust forever down here. I have watched for three hundred years as men have tried. That way lies madness." Alexandra turns on him angrily "I COULD KILL ONE MILLION OF THEM A YEAR FOR THIRTY YEARS AND I STILL WOULDN'T HAVE KILLED AS MANY AS THEY KILLED IN FIVE!" Roland himself grows angry at this. "You want vengeance? You've had it for seventy-five god damned years! You forget, I sold the history here. I know what happened. The Red Army prevailed! Germany fell! The Soviet Union took the capitol in a day that is still known as 'The Rape of Berlin!' The German people were reduced to using their children as soldiers as they starved beneath the ever-tightening noose of the allies. Munich was layed to rubble and Dresden burned and 25,000 people burned alive with it and Hitler shot himself in a bunker with all he had ever loved crumbling around him. You want vengeance? You have it." His voice goes soft "Let it be enough. For your sake, if not theirs." She looks at him tears now in her eyes. "You weren't there." He gives her a kindly smile. "I don't have to have been. That is the beauty of being human, one doesn't have to experience horrors to understand and despise them." She starts to cry and Roland comes forward and hugs her, after an awkward moment, she hugs him back.

Episode 11 Like tears in the rain.

FLASHBACK

Cape Town, South Africa 2019

Scene 1:

A young Amber lies in bed watching television. Her room is tidy and neat. Amber's eyes are wide as she watches. Behind her is a half-sculpted model of the Enterprise NCC 1701 carved out of what looks like junk and aluminum foil. A sound is heard from the television. "...But a barbarian that says, 'I shall not kill today.'" A sound is heard from the outside Amber's room. "Amber! Amber!" A tall dark woman in a business suit walks into the room. "I told you to stop watching that garbage." Amber looks up at her mother annoyed. "I don't have anything else to do today. Why shouldn't I watch it?" A look of annoyance crosses her mother's face, "This isn't something that a huge amount of people would... imagine someone of our class watching." Amber gives her mother another annoyed look. "So." Her mother sighs at sits down in front of Amber. "Amber sweety, we need to talk." Amber looks a little annoyed. "About what?" Her mother straightens her business skirt. "About being a proper lady." Amber rolls her eyes, but her mother continues. "Now, your father and I have noticed a certain lack of... close friends in your life... "I DON'T WANT A BOYFRIEND MOM!" Amber yells. Amber's mother looks nervous. "Yes." she says. "about that... Honey we notice that you have been taking up more... masculine hobbies lately. Do you feel anything... different about you know... girls?" Amber stares in horror. "No! Mom! Geez! I just... I just... would rather boys come and talk to me if they're so interested." she sounds awkward. "Honey, if you want boys to talk to you, you need to strike a more approachable flag. Boys don't like girls who watch what is it? Star Trek?" Amber looks amused. "Boys like Star Trek." Her mother continues. "But they don't like girls who like Star Trek." Amber's mother looks a little put out, but nonetheless continues. "Your father and I have an... event this coming Sunday. We would like you to come wear something formal." Amber's eyes widen in realization. "You're taking me to one of your charity parties, aren't you?" Her voice is accusatory. "Yes dearie. We should all put on a good showing. Just wear something nice. Please. For me." Ambers eyes narrow, but she concedes the argument. "Fine. Just don't expect me to make kissy faces at everyone." Her mother nods and exits the room.

Scene 2:

Amber sits in a fancy Red dress and shoes. She looks down on this with a smirk of disgust on her face. People in classy clothes all around them stand around chatting some sipping champaign others making jokes and looking pleased. Amber looks miserable in the corner. Her father comes up to her with a smile on his face. "I know this isn't your scene honey, but try to have a good time. There are lots of nice bo... -people here for you to talk to." A look comes over her face as she realizes at the corrected word who might have proposed the idea of why she didn't have a boyfriend to her mother. "I don't want one of these people as a boyfriend Dad." Mr. Dlamini looks pityingly at his daughter. "Look I know your mother has been harsh on you lately, but well, appearances mean a lot to her. I know this isn't the kind of place you would come to have fun, but if you put your mind to it, you might have some anyway." Amber gives a dry smile to her father and sighs. "Thanks for trying, Dad, but I don't think I will end up having fun either way. Her father puts a hand on her shoulder. "Try anyway, please, for me." Amber looks up at her father and smiles slightly. "All right. I will." Her father walks away contented at this and Amber gets up to go and make the promised small talk. She spies a good-looking boy of about fifteen in the back with parted hair and a bow tie. "Hi there" she says. He stops and looks up at her. "Hi." He replies. "My name's Adonis. Are you with the fruit tears passion project?" She laughs. "No, I'm Amber I'm with the Dlamini's." His eyes go wide. "Those Dlamini's." Amber's eyes narrow and she says quickly in a tired voice. "Yes, those Dlamini's." An impressed smile crosses his face. "Cool I wish I were so well connected." Amber looks dismissive "Ah it's not all it's cracked up to be, my mother mostly spends her time looking for validation that she's a good person from people. Hey, you want to shoot spitballs into the water fountain?" A shocked and then mischievous look crosses Adonis' face. "Sure, I'm game." he says. The two go off to make mischief. By the time the speeches are over the two are laughing in unison. "Did you see the look on his face when we pelted him?" Amber asked incredulously. "He didn't know what to say." Adonis smiles. I haven't shot spitballs since I was eleven. "THERE YOU ARE!" Amber's mother comes rushing out of the hall. Do you know who'sh hair you ruinedsh?" Her father is close behind looking agitated, he mouths to Amber. "Drinking." "No." Amber replies innocently. "YOU RUINEDSH MY EVENING! THAT WAS THE CAPE TOWN TREASURER WHO'S HAIR YOU RUINED. NOW EVERYONE THINKS I'M RAISING A DELINQUINT FOR A DAUSHGHTER. YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO WATCSH THOSE STUPID AMERICAN SCI-FI SHOWS EVER AGAIN!" Adonis looks amused at this. "Wow You watch American Science fiction shows." Amber gives an embarrassed denial "Well I... I..." Amber's mother grabs her by the hair and starts pulling her. "WE ARE LEAVING!" Amber's father looks sad and embarrassed but the family quietly leaves the party.

Scene 3:

Amber and her father enter a club full of young people. They dance and sing all around them. Flashing strobe lights and laughter fill the club. Amber looks dour and brushes off her father's hand. "I'm sorry about your mother, honey. She's getting over it." Amber looks away in silence. Not acknowledging him. All around them people in the club start dancing to the music. Amber spies an attractive couple about her age sitting around a table towards the back and she gets up and goes over to them. Her father smiles at the sign of his daughter's social interaction. "I'll see you back home honey" he waves at her. "I'm Amber." she says casually "Oh, hey Amber one of the teenagers looks up at her and smiles. "Oh hey, Amber Dlamini right. Amber pauses. "You recognize me? A friend of mine saw you leaving your mansion in Woodlands. Hey," her voice goes into a low whisper, "is it true that your family has like, more money than God?" Amber looks sheepish. "We are well to do." One of the other teenagers perks up. "I saw your mother on television, all dolled up. She looked pretty." Amber scoffs. "Yeah, my mother loves the camera." One of the girls laughs. "Glad to hear you're not a prude." Amber looks awkward. "Yeah, not me." A beautiful girl comes out onto the dance floor and starts dancing. Amber stares in fascination at her. She joins a familiar looking boy on the dance floor and the two start dancing together. "I recognize him!" Amber says. "Adonis, right. I met him at a charity gala about a month back." The head girl looks at her in hushed tones. "You know Adonis? You know he has... connections right." Another smirks. "Yeah, and not just to Roxy." The group talks for a while until the girl in question comes over to the table. Amber looks up as said girl apparently named "Roxy" comes over to them. One of the girls whispers to Amber, Ok time to find out if you're cool. Amber looks confused at this, "If I'm cool?" One of the girls whispers to her conspiratorially. "There's a package under the dumpster in an alley out back, the bouncer knows to be wary of us. If you can get it in here you are officially cool in our eyes. Amber pauses for a moment, then a mischievous look comes over her face. "Ok." She says. Roxy, if I do this for you, You have to let me dance with you. "Oooooh." the girls howl. Roxy gives Amber a quirked eyebrow. "Ok, girlie, you have a deal." Amber gets up from the table and begins to look around the alleyway out back. She quickly finds the dumpster in question and picks it up. It's a plain white nondescript box. She looks up to the window on the second story bathroom which is open ajar. With a quick chuck she launches the package towards it, and it lands on the window sill. She smiles and pumps her elbow, indicating a bullseye. She walks back into the club, past the bouncer and into the women's bathroom, where she gets the box. She returns downstairs. She comes back to the girls at the club booth. "Don't think I was born yesterday." She says. "I have a pretty good idea what is in this box." The girls come over and slip it open slightly to reveal a white powder. Amber's eyes go wide. "I thought weed was in that box!" she whispers. "Naaaw weed pulls you down. We want to pump. ourselves. Up." the girl on the right says. Anyway... Roxy interrupts. I believe a Owe you a dance. The two go out onto the dance floor and start to attempt to do what teenagers insist on calling 'dancing.' As the night wares on the two get tired. The lot of them prepare to go home. Adonis meets up with them. They walk in silence for the most part until they get near Amber's house. Adonis looks at Amber with a mocking smile on his face. "So," he says "Has your mother decided you can watch Star Trek again, he does a (bad) mockery of the Vulcan salute." Amber tries to speak up, "That's not how you do the Vulcan salute. *she demonstrates* and no, She..." "OH MY GOD!" One of the girls interrupts. You watch Star Trek! Do dress up in those ridiculous looking cosplay uniform things too?" All the girls start laughing. Amber looks extremely embarrassed. "sometimes." she says in a small voice. "Well, there goes the theory that you were cool." one of the girls jokes. They all laugh at this including Amber, though hers is clearly forced. They arrive at her mansion and Amber goes in for the night and lies on her bed, depressed.

Present day

Scene 1:

The group look over the cadre of retreating men as they move west back towards the fourth circle. Roland looks at them with a look of concern. "Welp," he says "We're on our own from here on out." Alexandra looks up at this. "About that, how do we get into the second circle? I don't recall anyone ever building any easy way up there." Roland gives her a knowing smile. "The same way we got into the fourth. We climb by wire." Alexandra lets out a dissatisfied groan at this but Roland just smirks. "Won't be as bad as the fourth circle ascent, for one thing it's not nearly as long a climb, for another it's unlikely that we'll encounter anyone at all, hostile or otherwise on the way up this time. Once we're on the other side we can make our final resupply at the outermost outpost in all of hell, a place called 'Umbra Crags.' A community of, I guess you could call them monks? Living in the recesses between the first and second circle. Every once in a while, the place is resupplied by air, other than that, it's totally isolated." Amber shivers. "I'm much more concerned about the second circle itself, every time I asked the Deadtoothers about the place they get this look on their face of pure terror and then tell me not to worry about it." Henri and Alexandra look at Roland in silence at this waiting for an answer, Roland sighs. "I suppose you want to know about my plan for breaching the final wall. Henri interjects "Since we're on the subject I want to know what happened at the Vitruvian conference, you've been uncharacteristically silent about it milord." Alexandra and Amber look up at this but say nothing, waiting for Roland to explain. After a long moment of silence Roland concedes. "Yes. The Vitruvian conference. I suppose I should explain what dear Henri means by that for those unaware. You see not long after 1404 when Dante's circle system fell, the second circle has been home to the single most terrifying eldritch ever to exist, some think it was the proto eldritch though no one is sure. It moved into the second circle and... scoured the place. Clean. No structure made by demon, imp or fallen angel lasts long there. Few who enter ever return and half who do come back, half mad and telling odd stories. Let's just say that the arch eldritch have always been one of the few things that the higher ups of hell never seem to bring up in public speeches. No one spoke it out loud but everyone has been terrified that it would come down into Dis someday, and I didn't think anyone had any idea how to kill the thing." Roland is silent for a moment before continuing." "...Until about thirty years ago. You see, I think the year was 1992, this physicist by the name of Catherine Freeman entered hell claiming to have a way to deal with the Arch-Eldritch. After much debate the go ahead was given for what was codenamed the Vitruvian project. About fifteen of Hell's foremost industrialists a colossal amount of money and more than a few magic artifacts disappeared down a bureaucratic black hole. I was one of those people *ahem* 'tasked' with funding the damn thing." The project to build some kind of device that was somehow capable of killing the thing. The device was nearing completion but before it could be activated the Arch-Eldritch attacked and killed the lot of them while they were out in the field. I was supposed to be there that day, but events..." he glances at Henri. "... kept from going until it was too late." I'm hoping that the clearance I was to have went through because our first stop once we are in the second circle is to see if anything is left of the development laboratory." Roland is about to explain more, but before he can the group come to a wall rising out of the mist. "Ready your packs." Roland says, I'll explain once we're in the outer circle itself.

Scene 2:

Henri's head pops over the edge of the cliff marking the edge of the second circle. With a huff he crawls over the edge and takes a few steps forward. Amber, Roland and Alexandra soon follow. The three of them wheeze and cough while Henri merely looks only slightly tired. "Well, *wheeze*" Alexandra gasps "Here we are." She looks up and sees what the other three are looking at. In front of them stands hell. All of it. The fire spouts of the third circle briefly illuminate it against the dreary mist hovering over it. Beyond that the crags and towers of the fourth circle, its stone towers casting long shadows against the sunset. Beyond that still lies the shimmering red desert of the fifth circle and finally, furthest out in the distance, the glittering lights of the urban hellscape of Dis shine bright and clear. Alexandra pauses staring in wonder. The scarred and tattered landscape has an undeniable beauty to it. As if all the horrors melded into a painting of smeared color at this distance. "We... We have come a long way." Amber says. "Henri, only slightly less in awe of the visage replies in a quiet voice. "We certainly have." The voice of Roland comes from behind them. "It's not over yet people. We have at least one circle ahead of us." The three turn around to see a mad windstorm moving at breakneck speed dance over a desolate stone and moss landscape, Bones are scattered in every direction left by some unknown predator. "And it's a doozy." Roland pulls out his map, phone and compass and begins to orient himself. "If the instructions I received thirty years ago are still good, the Vitruvian project laboratory should be about three miles... that way." Roland says pointing to the northeast. The group begin their march. The group visible struggle to move against the twirling windstorm. Henri leads the group with the other three marching close behind. Amber walks up to Henri she yells up at him, voice struggling to be heard of the wind. "Any chance we might simply miss the Eldritch?" Henri yells back. "You would think that would be easy, given the size of the second circle, but as milord can testify the arch eldritch has keen senses. It sometimes misses travelers traversing the second circle, but not often." Roland interjects. "Certainly not often enough to depend upon." The group continue into the windstorm until Roland's phone starts beeping. "What's that?" Alexandra calls out. "Laboratory." Roland replies. "We're here." The look around but see nothing. Roland starts digging in the loose sand before coming upon a hatch. "Let's hope the power still works." Henri yells and begins to climb down. The others climb down after him into the quiet of the underground structure. The ladder climb goes down a ways, the group climbs in pitch dark, with only the light of Roland's phone and dimly glowing eyes to see by. "Careful." Roland calls up. "Ladder ends here." Henri grunts to indicate his position as Alexandra and Amber slowly dismount. The sound of Roland fiddling with the wall a moment is heard until he finds a light switch and flips it. The room lights up to reveal a white well-kept laboratory. Expensive but nonetheless old looking computer models dot the walls. And a poster with a complex looking funnel sits on one wall undisturbed. Roland fumbles with the computer controls. "Ok, moment of truth people. Time to see if my access was ever added to the system." He puts his hand on the Palm scanner and it briefly flashes. 'Von-Braun. Roland. Cerberus Munitions. Alpha level access.' the light flicks green and all the computers and displays flicker to life. The group stares in awe of the complicated displays. One screen shows math so complex that it has more Greek symbols than numbers. "I hope you know what this means." Alexandra mutters. Roland looks amused. "Hah. Alexandra I am many things, Gunsmith, Entrepeneur. Black market historian. But I have never been mad enough to try to understand this level of physics. It took a whole team of people working at Freeman's beck and call nearly three years before they were able to approve this place. We're primarily here to rest before our final dash accros..." Roland's phone starts going nuts. Sonar pings go off like mad and rumbling is heard from outside. Roland swears. "It found us! Alexandra, get the door!" Alexandra pulls a lever and the triple reinforced steel door shut as the base shakes. Alarms go off on the computer screens but the place stays undamaged. Roland pulls up a monitor screen showing the outside but gets only dust. "It's scouring the outside looking for us." Roland says. "We're trapped." Get settled people. Looks like we'll be here a while.

Scene 3:

The group settle in for the night as the sound of rumbling continues from above. Out of curiosity Amber begins digging on the old computer panel. She comes across some kind of opening statement on the console "...the entity in question has historically been able to avoid any kind of damage to its systems because conventional physics do not apply to it. Of all the anomalous entities the primary has proven to be the most immune to both thermal phenomena and kinetic impacts. While the entity itself seems to be able to decide when to and not to interact with conventional matter the default state seems to be not to interact. What little physical damage has been observed whilst corporeal has repaired itself quickly, even by the standards of entities of class 2 and above. Dr. Freeman's observations concerning both the immunity of the entity to Newtonian physics and the applicability of Einsteinian laws remains the basis of the project. Computer analysis confirms the potential of a singularity to affect the entity and this remains the basis for phase 2 of the Vitruvian project..." Amber scans further down the page, Henri enters the room. "Morning." He says brusquely. Amber looks up at him. "Did you manage to get any sleep last night?" Henri looks amused. "Did you?" Amber nods wearily. "I'm getting used to sleeping under the shadow of imminent death." Henri laughs. "We'll make a soldier of you yet." His face turns serious "What are you doing? Henri comes up to her and looks over her shoulder. "You know Roland would never admit it, but I have actually tried to keep up with modern physics to some degree while he was reading about history." Amber's eyebrows go up. Henri gives a thin smile "Contrary to popular opinion, I am not just a 7,1 pile of muscle." Henri starts reading along with Amber. "...The entity can only exist at one point in spacetime and any given instant. Observations both by computer simulation and experiment 32C at laboratory site alpha have given a 1 in 737 confidence that the device will function without causing a catastrophic cascade event (See file 117 CCS analysis) …" Amber scrolls further down the page and finally reaches the bottom. "...Should the event be successful, a detonation should release the equivalent of 62 kilotons of TNT of energy and a luminance value equal to the core of a K-class star at the moment of the explosions apex. Apex is expected to occur at 147 picoseconds following collapse. Computer simulation confirm that the event should take place 2.3 minutes from singularity to collapse at which point any object within 241 meters at the moment of detonation will be folded into an area of spacetime believed to be 5 X (10^-1,476,291) meters before dissolving into h- radiation..." At this last line Henri draws in his breath. "I know what they were trying to do." He says with a measure of terror in his voice. "Merde... Merde! They were playing with fire." They skip to the last line of the document. "After analysis we are 81% confident that the entity will not survive both singularity expansion and collapse. Lord Lucifer has not been informed of the danger. We voted nine to two to move forward this morning. God help us all." A call comes up from deeper in the bunker. Guys... I found what they were working on!" The three run to the lowest lowers of the laboratory, recently opened by Roland, where a glass sphere is contained within some kind of powerful magnetic field. connected to a large battery inside there appears to be... nothing. Above the device there is a big red sign which says "Danger: singularity." Henri stands behind them. "They were making a black hole."

Scene 4:

The four of them convene in the laboratory dormitories'' meeting room. Henri, Alexandra and Amber sit in office chairs, except for Roland who paces back and forth in a nervous fit. "The eldritch should leave us alone. after a day, it's not known to put up futile sieges like some of the class threes, no, instead it's going to retreat to its lair and move at lightning speed the moment we're out of the lab. This thing isn't like that beast that attacked the wall, all brawn and no strategy, this thing has a cruel intelligence." Alexandra looks put out. "So what do we DO?" Roland looks defeated for a moment. "The second circle was always going to require effort to cross. I'm considering lying low for a while in here, maybe as much as a month and then calling for help from the outside, Lord Lucifer or Bloodywine Gulch or someone and try again in a month or two." Alexandra looks mad at this "We've come all this way and you want to give up! You don't have the..." alarms start going off throughout the bunker. Roland comes to a computer screen and live feed appears of people dozens of them walking along the second circle deserts. They wear a purple and yellow uniform. "Bangwathi drug company traders." Roland whispers. "What are they doing out here?" The traders have packs on their backs and odd looks in their eyes. "Why do we have feed of this?" Amber asks. Roland opens his mouth to reply but he pauses as he realizes the answer to the question. "Hold on a moment he says and types up a storm on the computer screen. A dim image of a massive blood-soaked cavern appears. Viscera and gore drip down the walls. On the ground there are lined up row upon row of demons. Some are drooling others swaying gently, all are smiling idiotic smiles. Some are wearing the same Bangwathi uniforms as those above, others wear uniforms of the various overlords of Dis others wear rags or fades scraps of cloth. "Where... Is... This...?" Amber asks. Roland speaks up, still staring at the camera "I think it's the creature's lair." Suddenly all the prisoners sit up and stare at a rumbling noise coming from off camera. A screech is heard. This screech is worse than the one heard in the third circle. Alexandra and Henri cover their ears in horror and Roland and Amber fall out of their chairs as they try to focus on the screens. The people in the cave smile broadly, even as their ears bleed. Two people step forward a look of utter ecstasy on their faces. The monster is too huge to be seen on camera in its entirety, but it is clear that something massive has just come on screen. The captors find its presence is enticing. The two people walk forward and two extrusions open in the side of the monster's worm like body. Rows of razor teeth spin wildly as they move they step into them and let out a scream of sheer pleasure as they are stripped to the bone. Their flesh melding away in a red viscera of the monster's razor incisors. The rest of the captives look on joyously. Roland cuts the feed. Looks of horror are on everyone's faces. Alexandra looks like she is going to vomit. Amber particularly looks mortified. In a tiny whisper she says "They liked it." Roland's face looks somehow even paler. "No." He says. "Did you see their eyes? They liked it up until the final moment when the monster peeled back the curtain and showed them what they had done to themselves." After a moment Henri voices the thought that they are all thinking but did not dare to say aloud. "Is there anyone coming for them?" After a very long moment Roland stares at the hallway that leads downstairs and by extension to the containment bomb that lies beneath. "Yes."

Scene 5:

Amber sits alone in a quiet office room staring at the wall. Above them Roland can be heard barking orders to Alexandra who seems to have taken the role of his assistant. "I need all the documents on the Vitruvian project including the personal diary notes and footnotes. I also need a map of the lair in question and a full analysis on its capabilities, particularly from Freeman." Amber glances at the noises and sighs as she stares at the wall. "Henri walks in apparently finished with whatever tasks Roland had ceded to him. "Hey there." The big man says warmly. "I just wanted to thank you for not abandoning the Deadtoothers when I was captured. Not many in hell would have done that." Amber stares at the wall. "Well... I just thought what would Roland do?" This gets a full-blown laugh from Henri. "HA! You knew him for two weeks and already got him pegged eh. It took me almost a full month before a realized what a grandstanding gung-ho person he is. Glad you didn't fall for that modesty nonsense he tries to pull." He smiles in memory. "The man cannot leave people alone to their fate. He just can't it's... it's something I never expected from someone down here. Though I guess it makes sense given why he's here." Amber looks up at this. "I heard Alexandra mention something about that in Dis and I was curious. So why is he here?" Henri puts a finger to his lips indicating a secret. "That no one has told him in four hundred years what it means when someone like him is down here is little short of miraculous. I concluded that it must be the Lord's doing, and far be it from me to defy his wishes." Amber smiles at this but goes back to staring at the wall. After another second Henri asks "What are you thinking about?" Amber looks up and says "I'm thinking about this hero from this show I used to watch, He was perfect, handsome, strong, witty. No matter how bad the situation he was in he would always get out of it. One day, years after he retired from adventuring one of his cadets took a test that was impossible to win, no matter what one did in the simulation they always died at the end. When asked why she was given such a test he replied that 'how we face death is as important as how we face life'." Later it turned out he was the only person to beat the test by cheating. I remember seeing that and thinking to myself. 'you fool don't you understand. It's a metaphor for life, That's the only way to fail the test!' It's not about winning; it's about finding a way of losing that you're happy with." Henri looks at her and smiles. "And what brought on this rather grim line of thought?" Amber stares at the wall again. "I dunno I was thinking about how I got here." Henri's smile grows sad, "No way to win there either?" His voice grows drained, "Yeah, I know that one." Amber looks up, "No." She says. "I wasn't happy with how I lost." Henri puts his hand on her shoulder. "I have been down here for eight hundred years. In that time, I have known people who have been filled with sorrow and remorse for their lives, regret and repentance, and those who gleefully took their fate with pleasure. Of the two I found the former were always the ones who managed to eventually find some happiness in themselves." Amber looks up at him. "And the latter?" Henri frowns "The latter always found themselves in worse and worse positions even insisting that the world was at fault, even as they insisted, they were happy. We lie to ourselves before we lie to anyone else." They sit in silence after this after a while Roland calls down and says that he's done for the day and to go to bed. Amber and Henri leave the room, Amber switching off the lights.

Scene 6:

Early the next morning Roland calls a meeting and the group file in. He is surrounded by files and papers which are covered in drawings of terrain with arrows and notes scribbled all across them. Roland looks up, "Good everyone's here. Sit down, this one's a doozy." Alexandra plops down in her chair. "I'm beginning to detect a pattern with these meetings." Roland looks up sharply, but doesn't zero in on the remark. "The scientists were almost ready to deploy their device. It seems that what happened is one day, while they were setting up cameras and sensor equipment, they miscalculated its position and were unable to return to the laboratory in time. The eldritch matriarch's lair is about 19 kilometers from here, the scientists had given the place a two-minute response time between the monster smelling prey entering the second circle and closing the distance to this secured laboratory. It seems to have been waiting to ambush them somewhat closer than that." Alexandra raises a tentative hand. "And the device itself?" Roland looks down and says flatly. "Ready. A black hole with a mass of a mere 35 kilograms. It took energies that only hell can produce to make the thing. I have no idea where they got the equipment required to harness it. That containment field downstairs has the power of a nuclear reactor running through it." Amber catches on the obvious question. "What happens if the containment system fails?" Roland's lips purse. "Detonation. From what I can tell from those documents on that computer you found upstairs, Once the black hole is exposed to matter it begins to go supercritical and you have about 145 seconds before the thing explodes with the force of a major nuke. That's why this thing isn't going to consume all of hell, they somehow found a way to get it to explode if the containment fails before too much of hell is sucked into the thing. In that time the black hole will suck up about half a kilometer and spaghettify another kilo outside of it. The Eldritch *must* be in that core area or it will simply regenerate." After a moment Amber says "And..." "And we're detonating it. I found the timer on the thing to initiate containment failure. We leave in six hours to the lair. I'm sticking to the original plan the scientists had. There is a runnerbuggy upstairs which luckily for us wasn't out that day. Get in. Free the prisoners. Get out. Run like hell. We leave in six hours. Dismissed."

Episode 12: The song of sirens.

FLASHBACK

Cape Town, South Africa, 2019

Scene 1:

Amber sits in a cold room looking out on a rainy day outside her mansion. The mansion is a mess. Old bottles and torn wallpaper lie everywhere throughout the lobby. She walks downstairs. "No party that was ever worth attending ever left the place clean." she mutters. Her tone of voice shows that she doesn't truly believe these words. She stares at her cell-phone a long moment. Then picks up and dials a number. "Hi Lethabo, it's Amber..." She is silent for a long moment. She takes a deep breath and asks into the receiver. "Is it as bad as we feared?" a man on the other end answers. "It is. She passed this morning." She sighs. "I don't suppose she even has a next of kin we could identify." Amber walks into the dining hall and pours herself a glass of wine. "Not in Cape Town, no. In fact, we're not sure if she has family in all of South Africa." Amber is silent for another long moment. "I can put together a minor funeral for her. Hide the track marks. We can put an ad out in the paper formally informing next of kin to keep the police happy if they come asking why we didn't notify the family." After another silence she asks. "Did you recover her cache?" the man replies with a firm voice. "Got it this morning. It's all there. Money too. I can send it your way if you like. Can't distribute it right now, too much heat." Amber's voice sounds empty "Get it, hold onto it. Lie low. I'll take care of the rest." She gets up and walks out the door. Cape town is rainy and dismal and grey. She looks at the fancy sports car outside her (slightly graffiti covered) mansion. The streets of Cape Town are mostly deserted, she walks down the street towards a dilapidated building labelled "Morgue." Amber walks in. A somber looking clerk looks up from his bookshelves and blinks. "How can I help you miss?" He asks. Amber's voice sounds dead. "I am here to see the body of Roxy." The clerk looks up at her. "Who?" He asks. Amber sighs. "I believe her real name is technically 'Lasidi Swart.'" The clerk gets up and takes her to the back where she sits staring at the corpse. Roxy looks pale despite her dark skin. Exposed veins cover her body and her eyes stare up into space, dead. Amber just stares at the body. After a moment she just says "Party hard and die young. Yep." She walks out the door. Cars drive past spraying water up as they go Amber walks down the street following the general curve of the landscape. The sun sets low in the sky until she reaches the ocean. She stares out at the running waves and the endless surf stretching out to a grey horizon. "I wish you had taken me up on my offer Roxy, too late now." she mutters to herself. She mutters to herself "Dust in the wind. Sooner or later." She looks at trash floating by on the beach. A newspaper sits on the shore. The headline reads. "South African GDP falls for sixth straight year." She gets up off of the beach and looks up at the dreary sky. Suddenly she screams up at it "WE BETTER DIE YOUNG! WE HAVE NO FUTURE TO GROW OLD TO!" and walks back into the city.

Scene 2:

Amber sits in her mansion nursing a glass of wine in her room. She stares at the smudged junk model of the NCC-1701. "I never did finish you." She says to herself sadly. "I can't keep living like this." She mutters forlornly, "I can't keep doing this. Why do I feel like I can't keep doing this!" Amber walks back into the dining room and stares at all the wine bottles that are piling up in the trash. She looks at an elaborate portrait of her mother on the wall. Her face grows angry. "Do you care now that I'm a charity case now, Mother! Do you!" Amber walks upstairs to a mostly empty nice and clean looking room with no furniture in it. She lies back and stares up at the ceiling's sunroof. "I want to fade away." She says to no one in particular. Her phone rings. Amber almost lets the call ring out, but at the last second she picks up and in an exhausted tone says "Hey, Lethabo." A panicked voice comes over the line. "Amber, the police are coming, hide what you can. The coroner found the track marks on Roxy's body. Amber stares at the phone, then in a panicked voice says "What! Why are they coming here?" Lethabo speaks fast. "I think they found out that she overdosed at your place and are coming to ask questions about it. Be ready with a story of why you didn't call an ambulance." A click is heard on the other end as Lethabo hangs up. Amber goes into a panic Finding what drugs she can and hiding it in the basement. After a moment she goes and hides a surprising amount of cash as well. She is just composing herself when there is a knock on the door. Amber takes a moment to calm herself and answers it. A man in a police uniform looks down at her semi-forlornly and asks calmly. "Ma'am may we come in?" Amber pauses and then replies. "Yes, yes of course, I'm sorry about the mess I just had a party last night and some uninvited people showed up, things got very wild." The police officer gives a curt nod. Ma'am I don't know if you aware of this, but I have some bad news. A young woman died last night of what appears to be a heroin overdose. The cab driver who brought her to the hospital says she came from this address. Did you know this person?" Amber puts on a shocked face. "She died! I knew she had problems and had probably been doing something. She looks upset." The policeman keeps a straight face. "I'm afraid so Ma'am." They come to the parlor and sit. "This party the officer asks. Were you aware that some of the attendants were doing hard drugs?" Amber is ready for this question and replies quickly. "Only at the end. Like I said it got out of hand. I think a friend of mine invited several other friends here on the grounds that it was a large mansion and they invited further friends and by the time I realized how many uninvited guests there were things had gotten out of control." The policeman jots this down and looks up at her. "What is your name ma'am?" Amber replies as formally as she can "Amber Dlamini." the policeman looks up from his notepad "Did you know the victim?" "Not too well, I think she was a friend of a friend." Amber says looking sheepish. The officer finishes off a few more standard questions, then leaves. Amber watches the cop car drive off into the distance then runs inside and picks up her phone. "Lethabo, meeting of the Dlamini charity org. We have an emergency, bring everyone. Factory, downtown, Now."

Scene 3:

A series of people meet in an abandoned colonial era factory. Amber walks in and takes stock of the people there. "Ah good Bandile," She nods to a large man in a muscle shirt. "I was afraid you wouldn't make it. Where's Blessing?" she asks worried. Lethabo looks concerned. "Picked up by police, high as a kite after last night. We think they were eyeing him for some time given that there were several officers there at his usual distribution spot." Amber bites back curses. "I have more bad news. I trust you all heard about Roxy?" The group nods somberly. Amber continues. "Well, the police apparently found out about where she OD'd. I had an officer interviewing me about Roxy earlier today." Looks of shock go around the room. "I had cops breathing down my shoulder earlier today a girl in a dark dress says." Lethabo interrupts. "It's a sweep. Cops are making a crackdown on any drug related deaths and hotspots. A club on the Westside was raided yesterday. I was almost there when they arrived." I was going to see Roxy at the morgue, but police were outside and interviewing the clerk." Amber's eyes go wide at this. "What'd you tell the cops?" Bandile asks. Amber looks panicked "I told them that I barely knew Roxy and that I was sorry to hear of her death." A silence goes around the room. Lethabo speaks the obvious. "Amber I think the police are on to you." Amber's voice becomes panicky. "I never thought they'd investigate some morgue clerk. Here's what..." Lethabo interrupts "Amber..." Amber picks up the initiative again "Here's what we do!" Lie low don't talk to anymore police if you can help it. Keep your dealings small, oh and stick to northside, not many people go there I need a place to stay and lie low for the next few weeks, I trust one of you can oblige ..." Bandile interrupts more firmly. "AMBER!" Amber stops and looks up at him. "It's over. I'm cutting and running. I'm leaving Cape Town for the next while. You should do the same." Amber looks at him angrily. "We can ride this out. Come on you are my friends. One of you can take me in for a little while surely." An awkward silence goes around the room. Lethabo finally speaks "I'm cutting too." murmurs of agreement go around the room. "Amber lie low, you're too hot right now. The girl says. "Maybe we'll speak in a couple of months. I have to go, make preparations to leave town." Amber simply gapes as everyone makes excuses and leaves. Leaving her alone in the dark factory. After a moment she whispers "I thought you were my friends." Before slinking out herself.

Scene 4: .

Amber walks through the darkened streets of Cape Town a defeated look on her face. Cars stream past and water pours through the drains. She keeps walking down the street looking out on the city. Police sirens can be heard in the distance and gunfire can be heard even more distantly. She begins to walk through a poor neighborhood. Windows lie broken and graffiti lines the walls. She watches with disgust as two drunken homeless men fight over the last whiskey in a whiskey bottle. She keeps walking. Eventually the neighborhoods improve and she comes near her estate. Blue and red lights flash around the doors to her mansion. She abruptly jumps back to see three or four cop cars idling outside her home. A man with a patch labelled 'detective' walks into the building. Amber's eyes go wide as she looks at them go inside. Her eyes go wider and she mutters in a voice of barely suppressed panic "The Stache!". Her mouth goes open and she stares a moment before hiding around the corner. Tears come down her eyes. "What do I do? What do I do?" she whispers. She hears a police siren and runs off into the distance. She stares at traffic for a while before her eyes sag as she becomes tired. She comes to the alleyway where she saw the two homeless men fighting earlier and spots an abandoned mattress she lies down on the mattress and falls asleep. A man gently shakes her and says "Hey! Hey!" Why you in my alleyway?" Amber slowly sits up looking exhausted. She slowly looks up at him. "Because I'm homeless." she says bitterly. She gets up. She doesn't just look sad, but utterly defeated. She walks along the streets until she comes to a bridge over a river, she looks into it longingly. "Roxy..." She says witheringly she stands back looking into the black waters. She stands back and takes a running leap at the river, clearly planning to throw herself into it. As she reaches the other lane a loud horn is heard and a speeding truck crashes into Amber and all goes black.

Present Day.

Scene 1:

A treaded vehicle with the word 'runnertruck no. 1138' written on the side resembling a large industrial snow truck creeps along the desert sands. All along its path and in every direction, skeletons are scattered. The runnertruck crushes them with a casual 'crunch' as it moves. The winds howl all along its path, kicking up dust and soot and debris. Making visibility difficult. Inside the vehicles compartment is a focused Henri sticks at the wheel, while a nervous Roland keeps his eye on a sonar display. Alexandra sits looking out the window nervously fidgeting with her rifle. "What are the odds it will attack us?" Roland keeps staring at the sonar screen "It looks like the scientists were able to make it this far out a few times without incident. I think I was wrong earlier. I don't the thing was in the habit of attacking everything at once unless it was hungry. Or angry. I think it likes to play with its food, it might even have been deliberately trying to scare us back with that lab attack. According to the scientists' notes it's much more intelligent than the other eldritch." In a quiet voice Amber says, "Roland, thank you for going back for them." Roland looks at her and gives a wry smile. "I... I... just think that it would be a waste to come this far with this much equipment..." he subconsciously looks at the containment bomb strapped into the back of the truck. "...and let it go to waste. That thing needs to die. And we'll all be a lot better for it. Those captives, are... are just a bonus." Henri snorts at this and Roland gives him a withering look, but he doesn't say anything further. Out of the sandstorm three men appear. Henri swerves wildly to avoid them and the runnertruck avoids a narrow crash with them. The vehicle spins almost 180 degrees before coming to a stop on the sand. Alexandra lets go of the handle she was holding onto. "What the... where did they come from!" Henri coughs and looks up from the control panel. "Let's ask them." he says. The group get out and approach the six or seven travelers, who seem entirely unphased by the near miss. They have a grim smile on their faces. They bear the same Bangwathi uniforms that they saw in the bunker earlier. Alexandra gets out. "What are you doing you MORONS!" she screams. They keep walking idly barely even noticing the group that almost ran them over. She walks over to one of the Men who smiles dumbly and waves her hand in front of his face. His eyes almost seem to track, but fail to and they keep going. "It doesn't hurt he says dreamily. I see you all, I am so happy to see you all it's good to hear the music like this and feel the *Joyful sigh* happiness. The siren's lullaby. Mother is calling. Mother is calling." He starts whistling a tune only he can hear. Alexandra looks confused. "What's wrong with them." she says sounding exasperated. Amber looks at them and a look of revelation comes over her face. "They're high." Amber says flatly. "On what though." Alexandra says exasperated." The group shuffle along moving slowly in the same general direction that the runnertruck was going. Roland looks up, "On the Siren's song."

Scene 2:

The group climb back into the runnertruck and begin to crawl along the ground moving back towards the creature's lair. Roland looks more intently at the sonar readout. "We're getting close." he says looking at the display. Alexandra holds her rifle and sweats nervously in the back next to Amber who keeps looking back in the direction of the drug traders. "Are we just going to leave them?" Roland frowns deeply. "No choice. In their state they might damage the bomb or truck or us or who knows what? I don't want to know what kind of hold it has over them. Hopefully they will still be out of range when the bomb goes off." The truck rolls along, the high winds howling louder and louder. "I think we're getting close." Henri says. The ground starts to rumble. "HEADPHONES ON EVERYONE!" Roland screams. They all put on a pair of vacuum headphones from a box labelled "contact equipment" on the side of the truck. Henri turns the truck around abruptly and floors the gas. The runnertruck accelerates at a high speed right before a humongous roar is heard. Alexandra points at the bomb, but Roland signals and mouths the words "too close." The earth shakes with tremendous force and the truck shakes violently. Henri slams on the breaks narrowly saving the group from a collapsing pillar. The truck goes into a roll and by sheer luck lands right side up. Alexandra grabs the bomb narrowly preventing the plexiglass containment orb from smashing against the ground. A huge shadow blots out the sun briefly then it moves roughly in the direction of the hypnotized drug traders a scream can be heard. Amber looks up terrified. "It's feeding on them." Roland looks horrified. "I had read something... I heard... I think Freeman's scientists weren't caught directly by the creature itself. I think they went to it willingly." There ground rumbles again and Roland signals for the group to put their headphones back on. The sound overwhelms the group. They clutch at their headphones, but the sound is too overwhelming. All four of them stand up slack-jawed, except Amber who keeps shaking her head trying to keep focus. She falls to the ground closing her eyes shut, trying to keep focus. In her head she hears Roxy's voice. "Amber, Amber, feels good doesn't it, Amber?" Amber screams. She fights the sound with all her might before finally passing out. She blinks. Then she blinks again. She stands up and looks about her. The runnertruck is gone as are Roland, Alexandra and Henri. Tracks from where the runnertruck was parked lead off into the distance. "Oh." Amber says "This is very bad."

Scene 3:

Amber stands up and looks at her discarded headphones. "Only a wirehead could have done it. Only a wirehead could have resisted and understood" she misquotes. She picks up the headphones and puts them on. "Radio Amber to Cerberus 1. Cerberus 1. Do you copy." Static answers her. She looks at the tracks of the runnertruck. "They wouldn't have left without me." she mutters. "They wouldn't have left without me of their own accord." she corrects. Her pupils go wide with the realization. She loads her shotgun and begins to walk along the runnertuck tracks. The winds continue to howl about her and she struggles to see in the endless sandstorm swirling about her. She visibly struggles to walk in a straight line with the intensity of the wind, but nonetheless keeps going. Every few meters she steps on the bones of some poor unfortunate who met their final fate in the second circle. She steps over them and keeps moving. The land abruptly begins to dip and Amber struggles to keep her footing on the steep terrain. She looks about her to see her crawling into what appears to be a giant crater. She keeps crawling until she reaches the bottom of the crater, still following the runnertruck's tracks. Out of the howling wind she sees the runnertruck, parked and idling. Amber gulps taking in the implications. She looks around frantically and sees the containment bomb nestled against a nearby rock apparently having been somehow thrown out of the vehicle, its transparent plexiglass magnetic containment chamber scratched, but still functioning. Amber climbs into the cabin of the runnertruck, trying to find any sign of the group. She scours the cabin but no one is inside. "Gear's gone" she mutters as she continues to scan the place. She looks out the window and sees footprints leading away from the opposite side of the truck. She gets out and begins to follow them down into the depth of the crater. She comes to a large cave entrance. Smoke can be seen pouring out from the top of the caves mouth. Amber approaches the cave entrance and visibly reals and clutches her nose as the smell coming from within the cave is apparently quite strong. "Corpses." she says biting back bile, "Corpses. That's the smell of corpses." From within the cave a bizarre singing can be heard Amber shakes her head trying to clear it. A voice in her head says seductively. "Come forward. Come forward and be joyous." she shakes her head trying to clear it as the sounds come more clearly. She keeps shaking her head fighting the sounds and if fades slightly. She keeps fighting the music in her head and the haziness that keeps trying to overtake her senses until she comes to a sharp drop-off. Three rappelling lines sit along the cave's edge. Amber gulps still fighting off the haze and attaches her harness to the top of the cliff before slowly rappelling down.

Scene 4:

The cavern is filled with the smell of viscera and gore. Blood oozes from the walls and the caverns air is saturated with a bloody mist. Slowly Amber descends she turns the flashlight on her shotgun on and begins scanning the cave below. The ground seems to move and throb as if it were covered with worms. Amber shakes her head again trying to clear the voices from it. "You know true comfort here. Here. In mother's arms. Mother is eternal. Won't you come be eternal with mother." Amber shakes it again trying to resist. She looks deeper into the cavern as she nears the ground. The moving ground are revealed to be strange pustules on the cavern floor that drip with some unknown viscous substance. In a dozen or so of the pustules are people smiling and drooling stupidly. Amber looks around down with horror seeing three giant throbbing strange pustules holding familiar faces. She hangs helplessly pulling on the rappelling line to go faster, to no avail. She slowly drops down onto the ground with a sickening *Squelch* She runs to the three who sit there spellbound. She runs to Alexandra first. "Alexandra, Alexandra. Snap out of it. Snap out of it." Alexandra sits there smiling and staring off into empty space. Amber stops and thinks for a long moment then says. "We need a sniper." Something flickers at the back of Alexandra's eye. "Do you like my symphony mother?" she giggles. I knew you would like it. Amber pulls out her shotgun and blasts at the ground. "THEY ARE COMING! WE NEED A SNIPER!" Alexandra's eyes flutter a moment and she says "I am ready, sir. Ready for dut..." her eyes come to life. She looks around and the horror of the situation she's in comes to her full force. She looks at Amber. "We... we walked here on our own. Didn't we?" Amber looks at her, panicked. "Yes, get up will you! We need to leave." She looks at Amber "ughhh, my head." She grabs her head trying to ward it off. Amber interjects. "Don't listen to the voices. They aren't real." Alexandra looks down at the strange biological mass that's sucking at her feet. "Get me out of this will you?" Amber looks at her shotgun then blasts the strange mass. It deflates releasing a strange mix of bloody liquids and Amber pulls at Alexandra's arm. With a sickening squirt Alexandra pulls free of her tube falling to the ground. She stands up still rubbing her head. "I... I can still hear it." She says. "I can..." She spots Roland, smiling stupidly nearby. "Roland!" She screams suddenly coming to her senses. "Magst du den singenden Vater? Ich mag die Musik der Abtei."Alexandra pulls on him but he stays rooted. She grabs Roland "Roland, it's not real, wake up." Alexandra looks at Roland. For a moment then her face twists. She takes a deep breath and whispers in Roland's ear. "London bridge is falling down, falling down, London bridge is falling down..." Roland's pupils contract and he struggles to see through the haze. He suddenly screams and flails wildly as if he's trying to swim. He falls forward as much as his confinement will allow and looks around at the group. "We... we are in trouble, aren't we?" In unison, Alexandra and Amber shout. "YES!" Roland tries to walk, but finds his feet caught. "It's like quicksand." he mutters, trying to move. Alexandra unstraps her sniper rifle and takes careful aim. She shoots the pus bag and it deflates allowing Roland to break free. Amber keeps scanning the cavern looking for its owner. "That just leaves..." Roland spots his target. "Henri!" Henri is bolted down by a very large pustule. He stands staring into space a rare smile resting on his face. "Ils racontent les histoires des chevaliers d'autrefois. Ils chantent nos actes et portent un toast à nos noms. Dieu peut voir, et c'est formidable à ses yeux." Roland runs up to him "Henri! Your lord commands you. Wake up." Henri's eyes flicker at this, but he doesn't move. Roland looks for a moment at Henri. "Forgive me for this." he whispers in his ear. "Henri, kill them all, God will know his own." Henri's face drains to one of utter horror. He looks at Roland, then lunges at him. The pustule he is rooted to is ripped from the ground by his sheer might. He lunges forward "NEVER AGAIN, NEVER ONCE! YOU SON OF A..." he blinks and rubs his head. "Oh no... Oh no..." Alexandra gestures to the abandoned ropes. "Let's go!" A rumbling is heard throughout the cavern. And a blood curdling scream is heard, they all fall to the ground and all four of their ears start to bleed. Alexandra is the first to stand. "Fight it, we don't have time." Roland nods his head in agreement while Henri fights to his feet. They run to the fallen rappelling lines and attach themselves. They activate the motor and it begins to whir to life. Slowly they ascend. The ground shakes and trembles with sound. The remaining enthralled below them smile a wide grin and hold their hands out wide as if to embrace their coming master. The rumbling grows louder as in the far distance of the cavern shaking is heard. Out of the mist a monster the horror of which is barely conceivable appears. It is gigantic nearly filling the massive chamber with its sheer size easily a kilometer long. And at least a hundred meters wide. It has no limbs touch the ground, rather it floats like some horrible whale. Its long worm like body is covered with worm like tendrils all folded in as it moves. Its Body has strange liquid dripping off of it. None of it however is as terrifying as its face. Its face has a huge layer of fur on the back of it and its eyes are round and wide open. The thing that is scariest about it however is its smile. The horror has a huge concentrated grin on its face, not one of happiness or joy, but a fixed toothy grin of unflinching rage it looks below to the remaining enthralled. It lands with a sickening squelch and lets out a truly disturbing sound that resembles giggling. The dozen or so enthralled victims lean forward and reach out to this, the Arch-eldritch. They look lustily at them. The four continue to rise, almost out of the cavern. The horror comes to the vacant gestation pustules and blinks in confusion, its grin never leaving its face. it looks up and sees them. Its pupils dilate and its giggling grows louder. The four reach the top of the cave and unhook themselves and begin a mad sprint for the truck.

Scene 5:

As they run the ground continues to shake and tremble. "We can't make it to the truck" Henri yells. Is there any way to slow that thing down?" Roland picks up the pace, "I don't think..." The Eldritch-matriarch phases through the ground without stirring a grain of sand. If floats above the craters entrance and begins to circle. "It's coming around for a pass." Alexandra yells She lets off a sniper shot at the behemoth, but the bullet merely phases through. The thing passes overhead. "Take cover!" Roland yells and the entire group dive for what little cover is scattered about the place. Tendrils descend from the monster's worm like body razor sharp teeth whirring along their sides and at their tips. The tendrils turn corporeal as they approach. One makes the mistake of getting dangerously close to Henri who slices it in two with his claymore. Another is hit with a sniper shot from Alexandra. "We can't fight this thing!" Alexandra screams. "I know!" Roland screams back. Roland looks around wildly. He sees a greater tendril emerging from the beast this thing has eyes of its own and descends on Roland. Roland pulls out Stormfang and fires his grenade attachment into its throat. The thing explodes into a bloody pulp along the end. The monster lets off an ear-piercing scream and flies off at high speed briefly blotting out the sun before coming back around again. "Quickly!" Henri yells "To the truck." Alexandra, Henri and Roland all bolt for the Runnertruck, about two hundred meters away Henri gets into the driver's compartment and revs the engine. Roland jumps in shotgun and Alexandra clambers in the back. Henri fires up the engine but Alexandra stops him. "Wait!" Where's Amber?" Roland spots Amber slowly approaching the discarded and damaged bomb left in the sand. Panic fills Roland's voice as he tunes in her radio headset. "Amber there's no fighting that thing. The bomb's damaged and its captives are as good as dead This mission is a wash! I repeat this mission is a wash!" Amber's voice comes in dreamily over the intercom. "Roland how many people has that thing annihilated forever?" she asks in an exhausted yet calm voice. Roland's voice sounds urgent. "Many!" he screams into his mic. The Arch-Eldritch comes back around. "The needs of the many..." she mutters and steps towards the bomb. The Arch eldritch looks at her its pupils dilating as it spots her silhouette against the backdrop. Roland is still screaming into his mic. "Amber you can't win against that thing." She looks up at the horror before her unflinching. "It's not about winning. It's about finding a way of losing that you're happy with." she readies her shotgun and blasts the containment orb. It cracks. "AMBEEEER!" Roland screams into the radio. Henri steps on the gas and the runnertruck accelerates. The Eldritch comes in closer to Amber preparing to snuff her out like a candle. Amber fires again at the containment orb. It breaks then collapses. The land begins to blur between the runnertruck and the Monster. "FLOORBOARD IT!" Alexandra yells. Henri hammers on the gas and it accelerates away from the crater. The land behind them starts to blur and stretch. The Arch-Eldrich's eyes grow wider as it gets sucked up by the gravitational pull. It tries to fight it but it is too close to the center of the gravity well to escape. The runnertruck does a speeding jump over the crater's edge and keeps going. Behind them the center of the blur starts to redshift at the core of the singularity starts to reach critical mass. Henri keeps the gas on the truck down as the thing speed reaches well over 175 KPH. Pillars collapse and fly into the growing mass. Whole stretches of land behind them start to spaghettify under the gravitational strain. Debris flies at startling speed into the center of the mass. The runnertruck keeps going desperately trying to outrun the pull. Alexandra looks at Roland. "How long until..." The singularity goes supercritical and collapses. An explosion so bright that it whites out everything near it. Miles away, In Dis people look out and stare towards the light so bright that it hurts to look at coming from the second circle. Lucifer looks out the window at the explosion and purses his lips. "Von-Braun." he mutters. The runner truck is blown onto its side and goes into a roll its inhabitants grasping at something for dear life. As the armored truck slowly comes to a stop. Slowly, one at a time, the trio emerge from the remains of the vehicle. Henri looks in horror at the spot where the bomb went off. It glows white hot with energy. There is no sign of the Arch eldritch, nor anyone else. Roland looks in horror at the massive crater left behind by the blast. Henri puts a hand on his shoulder. "She's gone." he says.

Scene 6:

Roland looks at the crater and winces. The heat coming off of the glowing rock visibly singeing him. They stare a moment, the heat coming off of the crater starts to cool. The desert sands have been smelted into a panoramic of colored glass by the sheer heat of the explosion. Henri stares in forlorn silence at the glowing mass. "She... She..." Roland finishes his sentence for him. "She didn't give in." He says. And then after another moment "We gave in, but she didn't." Alexandra looks hard into the crater, any chance it could have..." Henri interrupts. "No. Every microparticle of whatever Essense that thing was, or changed into, was compressed into an infinitely dense space then dispersed as energy in the form of radiation. No corner of spacetime to squeeze into. No mass to regenerate from. That was the whole point. It's gone." Alexandra lowers her hood as the closest gesture she has to taking off her hat. "That thing will never bother anyone ever again." then she whispers so the others can't hear. "You out shot me in the end girl. You out shot me in the end." Alexandra lets out her breath. "What do we do now?" Roland looks eastwards. "Now? We make for the Umbra Crags and hope to make shelter before our final march through the first circle darkness."

Episode 13: The Last Templar.

FLASHBACK:

County of Champagne France, 1213

Scene 1:

The sun rises over a green valley a lone man on horseback with his leg in a splint. He rides along the road slowly moving with a small caravan of French soldiers. Henri looks sad as his horse moves along the road. "A soldier nods to Henri, Leg feeling alright milord?" Henri nods and winces in pain. "It's not so bad." he grunts. "Just see me through to Troyes." The caravan comes over a hill to reveal a lush landscape with a large town with a river running through it. A slim smile comes to Henri's lips as he looks down on the town and he mouths the word "home." They come to a large gatehouse on the front edge of the town with the templar cross emblazoned above the door. The guard stands to attention. "Chevalier Mercier! We were not expecting you." "At ease soldier." Henri says with a wince. "We are here to see the captain." The soldier looks nervous, Any news from the crusade against the Cathars milord?" Henri frowns and lets out a sigh of regret. "The campaign proceeds well soldier. The Cathars are being subjugated to the will of God." he replies wearily. "I see." The soldier says. It is clear he wants to ask more, but Henri moves into the castle before he can reply. Henri hobbles along on his walking stick through well-lit stone hallways until he comes to an empty room with a simple white cot sitting in it. He sighs again and lets down his things and carefully raises himself into his bed. After a while a man in a decorated templar's uniform walks in. "Monsieur Mercier! It is good to see you again. Why have you come home so soon?" Henri gestures to his leg. "I took an arrow to the femur" he says in a flat uninviting voice. "Doctor says I will recover, but am unfit for crusading at the moment." The man's face relaxes at this. "So, you will be here a while?" Henri looks out the window at the bustling town. "It seems so. After I heal up, I expect to get back to the war." The commander purses his lips at this. "There is another possibility." Henri raises his eyes indicating he should go on. "You could stay here. Lord Theobald is looking for knights to help defend his lands while he is... away." Henri looks at him "...Away?" The commander is silent for a moment "Count Theobald was in Navarre dealing with affairs relating to his uncle. In his stead he has had some difficulties with the surrounding nobles. The Order has offered him some... cursory aid He has returned for a few days to manage things. If you were to agree to assist us. It would be of some use." He smiles at this clearly wanting Henri to say yes." Henri looks out the window at Troyes. "I would be unable to return to help in the crusade against the Cathars." he says flatly. The man looks wooden "That is the case." Henri's face hardens with resolve. "I'll see what I can do."

Scene 2:

Henri walks into the Troyes throne room. A few Champangian soldiers in full armor sit around a man on a wooden throne but other than that the room is empty. He walks with a slight hobble, but his leg seems to be on the mend. The place looks slightly less lavish than it did during Henri's knighting ceremony. The count looks up to see him. "Chevalier Mercier. One year ago, you swore an oath to me and my county. Am I correct in learning that you have joined the order of the temple of Solomon in that time?" Henri nods gently. "It is my lord." The Count nods curtly. And is it also true that you have participated in the current campaign against the heretics in Languedoc. Henri looks down and then up again. It is my lord." The count leans forward dispensing with the pleasantries. "Chevalier Mercier, I need an experienced combatant to lead forces up north near the border with Picardy. I understand that you have both personally fought with and lead troops on numerous occasions both as a squire and during your time in Languedoc." Henri perks up at this gives a slight nod. "Yes, milord I have fought heretics and bandits both organized and unorganized, has there been trouble?" Count Theobald purses his lips. "Yes..." The commander gives a slight hand signal to a man on his right. "Monsieur Mercier, this is Francois Collard, my lord commander of my forces. If you will swear an oath to him as a knight officer on my behalf, we are willing to second you troops and send you out this night." Henri pauses. "I have already sworn an oath to this court milord, what need is there to have me swear one again under it?" The count gets an annoyed expression on his face. "It seems that my orders need to be directly given through oaths in order to prevent my forces from questioning my orders." He calms down and gets an apologetic look on his face. He looks at Henri "No offence meant to you Chevalier, there has been... discipline issues regarding knights and my forces it seems. If you would." He gestures to Collard. After a moment's hesitation Henri kneels. Collard takes a moment to balk as Henri kneeling is still almost up to his chest. "Repeat after me. I Henri Mercier, do swear to follow my orders without question, to follow me as you would your Count, to act with honor and courage befitting a Christian soldier, to act with grace in all things." After a moment Henri repeats the words. Theobald relaxes. "Good, Good. Prepare your things you ride out with forty men tonight."

Scene 3:

Henri arrives at a rundown stone fort in the middle of the French countryside in the middle of the night. Soldiers are milling about the place carrying weapons and gathering water. Injured men moan from a makeshift hospital tent next to the fort. Henri nods at the tired men. "Good march soldiers, get camp set up along the east wall. I'll see what I can do about further supplies in the morning." Henri enters the fort, and looks around the place. A sword sits on a fire mantle bloodied and unsharpened. He walks into the forts upper lofts and finds a deserted room, apparently and old officers' quarters. He pulls off his pack and lies down to sleep for the night. A knight wearing an identical templar's tabard to Henri's comes to the Fort's roof to witness Henri, looking at the sunrise. "Beautiful, isn't it? I have always loved the sunrise. The dawning of a new day. The previous day is gone. Vanquished by god's light. The new day is yours to take on your own." The knight sits down next to him. And smiles looking out over the rising sun coming over the French countryside. "God's justice forgives all." Henri is silent for a long moment. He looks down and says. "No. You cannot call a god just that forgives all. You can have one or the other but not both. The scripture is clear in this regard, 'leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord.' It may be true that penance can grant forgiveness between god and sinners, but for there to be justice for victims, like the Israelites, Egypt must burn." Some sins are so grave that God cannot forgive them." the knight looks pensive but does not engage on the subject. "My lord an audience has been requested with commander Collard." Henri looks up "Of course of course, I'm sorry I was just getting... pensive." He stands up to his full impressive 7,1 and pats the soldier on the shoulder. Henri walks down the stairs to meet with the Lord Commander. He sits gruffly at an old looking wooden desk. He gives a brisk smile as he sees Henri "Chevalier, come in. I have been going over what..." he scoffs "... reports that we received from the previous deployment here. It seems the rebels have swarmed the base somewhat east of here." Henri notes his choice of wording. "'Swarmed', sir, I thought we were dealing with bandits." Collard looks up. In surprised voice he says "oh that's right, I forgot that Theobald sent you out in rather a hurry. We are not dealing with bandits; we are dealing with a peasant uprising. Apparently, it seems they feel that their oaths to Count Theobald are renegotiable. Henri visibly swallows. "It's a peasant revolt, sir." Theobald's eyes narrow. "Yes..." He sees the look on Henri's face. "Don't give me that Mercier, a revolt is a revolt, they lost the right to, well, anything the moment they took up arms." You have two days to prepare your forces, I want you marching by noon on Friday." Henri nods, "Sir... what happened to my predecessor? Collard snorts. "Got cold feet and refused to do his duty, thought he was being noble when in reality all he was doing was letting the revolt get worse and now even more people have to die. you'd think that a knight would be made of sterner stuff. Not much more to say on that." Henri turns to leave. Collard goes back to his documents. "Slay them all and let God sort them out, or whatever you Cathar crusaders say." Henri stops on the way out. Collard does not see him grip his sword.

Scene 4:

Henri and his men are marching along a gorgeous summer road Around them are burninated cottages and strewn debris. Henri looks around at the damage. He calls up the knight who contacted him on the roof before his meeting with Collard. "Chevalier LaRue, a word." LaRue rides up and nods at Henri, "How did the revolt start?" LaRue looks down. "The same way these things always start sir. A couple of bad harvests had made life hard on the peasants, followed by rising prices as a result of the bad harvests making things harder followed by higher taxes to back the crusades and king causing things to boil over." They demanded that the Count mandate higher grain prices going to Picardy, Theobald not wanting to pick a fight with Picardy refused and they stormed the north garrison building in response." Collard came out here and ordered the previous knight I believe his name was Shermont. To see them all hung to make an example of them and he... refused..." Henri frowns "Resulting in my appointment." LaRue looks awkward, "Umm yes sir." Henri sighs. "This is not the most pleasant job I've had to do as a knight. But one does not just follow orders and do duties that one agrees with and finds glorious. Any knight who only fights when it pleases him is little better than a common thug." To Henri's surprise LaRue looks pleased at this speech. They ride along in silence for a short while when Henri puts his hand up suddenly. The bushes rustle and loud whispering can be heard. LaRue catches it as well. "Ambush" Henri mouths to LaRue. Henri and LaRue each give a hand signal. The two rows of Soldiers catch the meaning and split off into sections and off the road. The cavalry line up outside the likely ambush point and stand ready. Henri pulls out a horn and blows it. The cavalry charge into the foliage Screams are heard and steel clashes as Peasants try futilely to recover from the turnabout. Men in rags carrying pitchforks and farming instruments stumble from the underbrush bloodied. Yells are heard as the peasants are quickly routed. "Losses." Henri asks quickly of the reassembling forces. La rue takes a quick count. "One horse lost due to a lucky pitchfork; no men lost. Henri snorts. "That was amateurish." LaRue looks up and nods in agreement. Henri spies hoofprints in the mud. More of them up ahead. The Ambush was meant to be an opening shot for a bigger battle down the road. LaRue curses. "Merde, they've set up in the village then." Henri stops. "The village." LaRue nods. Henri looks up. "We must follow them then." the giant man gets up on his horse and yells back at the waiting soldiers. "To me, men they are waiting up ahead." Henri charges forward. Up ahead is a small village of brush and trees. The routed peasants are still trying to set up fortifications but they either lacked the time resources or expertise to do it properly Henri swings around the barricades and spikes that have only been haphazardly set up around one side of the village. His horse jumps over the meager trenches with ease. Horns are heard as Henri's forces ride up behind him. The peasants are scattered almost immediately. And the whole "battle" quickly descends into a slaughter as peasants are cut down. Henri starts having flashbacks flash before his eyes and suppresses screams. He looks into a barn where a young peasant woman huddles over holding a rusty sword. Henri lowers his sword slightly at the sight of the pathetic woman but she lunges forward and he easily disarms her. He holds her at sword-point. Henri begins to speak. "Look I..." She stands back a moment, then lunges forward Henri's reflexes take over and lances forward. Impaling her on his blade. She screams a blood curdling howl. Henri in horror quickly removes his sword from her chest but this just causes her to howl louder as blood spurts everywhere staining her robe before she quickly falls over dead. Henri sheathes his sword. And clutches his head, still fighting flashbacks he stumbles out of the barn.

Scene 5:

Henri bursts into the Collard's office. Collard looks up in alarm at Henri's blood-soaked appearance. "See battle, did you?" he says in a dry tone of voice. Henri is not in the mood for wit "THEY WERE GOD DAMNED PEASANTS, COLLARD!" His voice does not invite pleasantries. Collard is unphased. "I believe that is why they are called peasant revolts Mercier." Henri pants for one moment. "They couldn't have fought a runaway horse let alone an actual military force!" Collard looks unperturbed "And yet they have been screaming their heads off for months about farm prices and threatening tax collectors." Henri looks up in anger. "You just called in a force the likes of which are used to bring down professional cavalry and military encampments to try to subjugate a... a damned tax lynching!" Collard looks up at Henri getting seriously annoyed. "You forget yourself Chevalier." Collard takes a deep breath. "Two points. One. I did not, despite your outburst, order this, Count Theobald did when he learned that his people were being attacked. Henri bursts out despite himself "THEY ARE HIS PE..." Collard holds up a hand and actually manages to get Henri silenced. He continues "SECOND, you swore an OATH to ME, specifically because your predecessor would not carry out your very orders. Orders that must be carried out by someone." Henri looks like he wants to argue but thinks better of it. Collard continues. Did you bring an end to the peasants holding Pogny?" Henri gestures down to his blood splattered body. "Good. There are maybe half a dozen cells that have set up along the Marne. Your job, however distasteful is to see them subjugated. Accept their surrender if they offer it, but don't ask more than once. They have had plenty of opportunities to put their pitchforks down. Put them to the sword. Neither I nor the Count have time to negotiate special favors with these peasants. With a crusade on, tearing through our own kingdom I might add. We don't have time nor the ability to allow to revolts like these. Take stock of your men and prepare them for another ride out Chevalier, dismissed."

Scene 6:

Henri sits on a bench in his armor looking defeated. He sits polishing his sword, trying to get the blood out of it. A cleric in black robes comes by and sees him and frowns. "Forgive me, but are you Chevalier Mercier." Henri looks up at him. In a voice utterly dead of emotion he replies "Yes." The cleric looks at the bloody sword. "You lead the revolt against the peasants?" another long silence. "Yes." "And yet when you come to service you do not speak, you do not stay and cheer the men. You do not oft confess You have been doing battle several times a week, surely you must have something to say. "I have not had impure thoughts about the cooper's daughter." Henri says in a flat tone of voice. "There is only so much God can forgive. Truly outrageous sins are sins against the holy spirit. I have come to believe are not just done by blasphemy against it, blasphemy against the spirit of God's laws by action are can be just as damning." The cleric looks pityingly on Henri. "Failure to repent is the only sin that is truly eternal, Chevalier." Henri looks keeps his head down. His voice remains defeated. "That is what they preach. But Cain could not be forgiven." The Cleric sees through this black haze that Henri is in and jumps right to the heart of the matter. "What is bothering you, Chevalier?" Henri is silent for a moment then says. "We found the last hideout of the rebels last night; I ride out to end the revolt tomorrow evening." The Cleric smiles on him. "Your work is hard Chevalier, but God sees it." He gets up and walks away. Henri looks at him and mutters to himself. "I know, brother. That is what I am afraid of."

Henri and the other soldiers ride out over a vast field towards a wood gently lit by torch fire. Yelling can be heard "They have set up archer positions in the far bush!" one soldier yells. Henri looks ahead and sees the bows sticking up over the brambles. "Same tactic they used when they started the revolt." He signals for his four or five riders in his detachment to follow him. A volley of arrows fly freely from the bushes but at an angle the archers weren't prepared to shoot from. The vast majority miss though a few bounce harmlessly off of the riders' armor. Henri readies his pike and slams into the brambles with the rest of his forces. Henri impales a rider on his pike who barely has time to scream. In the background the main contingent of the force meets the riders and a battle breaks out. Henri drops the pike and spies a wall with a peasant cowering behind it. Henri readies his sword as he approaches. He rounds the corner to see a boy of barely fifteen with a disturbing resemblance to a young Henri. Henri looks at him with pity. Remembering what happened with the peasant woman he lowers his sword entirely. "Look if you..." The boy screams and lunges forward with the pitchfork, slamming Henri in the stomach, by some luck, the prongs manage to penetrate his armor. Henri looks down dumbfounded at his stomach which starts spurting blood. The boy looks terrified and runs away. Henri slumps over in pain looking out over the battlefield. Around Henri the sounds of battle can be heard until they eventually die down. The battle is over and the victorious French forces retreat, not knowing where Henri is. Henri crawls to a stone wall blood dripping from his wounds the pitchfork still sticking out of him. Slowly, with difficulty, he crawls to an oak tree atop a small hill. He laughs as he looks back at the trail of blood he's leaving. He slumps over leaning against the oak tree. "Whatever I get..." he whispers. His throat hoarse. "...I deserve." He looks out as the sun rises over the field as he dies. It is a beautiful sunrise.

Present day

Scene 1:

Winds howl along the second circle as Henri, Roland and Alexandra jog along moving vaguely eastward. Roland checks his phone and hurries them along agitated. "I forgot. Sheise! how could I forget? It's the whole point of this stupid expedition! Keep moving people we have to get to the crags by the time sun sets tomorrow." Henri keeps jogging to keep pace but looks quizzical, "Why? What happens?" A look of dawning realization comes over Alexandra's face. "It's December 30th!" She says. Henri looks like he is about to interject but a look of realization comes over his face. "The purge." Roland keeps up his march "Yes! I wasn't planning on spending that month regenerating in the forest of suicides. Hurry!" Alexandra keeps pace with the rest of them and runs up to Roland "Even if we make it to the Umbra Crags, are we sure that it can provide shelter. Might it be better if we find some rocks or something and fortify?" Roland huffs. "Henri is one of the only demons in hell to ever fight an exterminator and stand victorious. Henri do you feel you could handle them?" Henri lets out a long sigh as if in a painful memory. "We had twenty men with machine guns in a fortified hallway then. No, I can bring one down, not dozens." Roland gestures on. "Keep moving then." Alexandra looks quizzical "So wait, what's in the Umbra crags?" Roland pants as he keeps running. "Monks who took a dislike of Dis, four, five centuries ago and set up the closest thing to a permanent settlement the second circle has in a large cleft between the second and first circles. They trade for Lucifer knows what by air every decade and presumably have some way of at least hunkering down during the purges. I have no idea how they escaped the arch-Eldritch and admit, I'm hoping against hope that they just let us in, but we're out of options by this point." They keep running for a while. A huge wall of black mist begins to loom in front of them slowly becoming visible out of the fog. Atop a looming cliff. "There it is!" Roland exclaims. The First circle! Purgatory!" Alexandra seems more panicked "I Can't... I can't... guys we have to stop I can't keep going." Henri looks concerned and Roland frustrated. Roland looks at the approaching final wall of Hell then back at Alexandra. "Fine." he says gesturing to some rocks that look like they provide minimal protection from the eternal dust storm. "Rest while you can, but then we really have to move. They set up what primitive camp they can for the moment. They sit down for a breather setting up what little camp equipment they have left.

Scene 2:

Henri takes the watch. "So..." Alexandra interjects. "You fought against an exterminator." Henri looks at her his tone weary. "Yes. The night of the bunkers. I think the year was 1944. Lucifer got tired of losing critical manpower each extermination and decided to try to put the entire population of hell into a network of..." he snorts "...very expensive, civil defense bunkers. It didn't work. While ordinarily the exterminators simply go for the least well protected prey and leave those with deeper protection alone. With everybody in equally secure, and tight, spaces they went had no problem going for those with protection. The exterminators flew, fought, blasted and drilled their way half a mile down in a matter of minutes until they penetrated the bunkers. Lucifer wanted the most impressive people guarding Charlie and well..." he gestures down to his massive height. "Roland and I had something of a reputation by then. It is possible to hit them with bullets, but just barely and it takes dozens of rounds to bring one down. They are fierce swordsmen as well, though the nature of swordplay makes it a slightly more even fight. If you can get one by surprise, which is itself not easy, you might be able to bring it down if you get it in the head." Alexandra clutches her sniper rifle subconsciously." Roland interjects. "It's a bloody, horrifying way to die and I for one would like to avoid it." His phone starts beeping and he curses. "As if we didn't have enough to worry about." he mutters then looks up, "Sandstorm is about to get really intense; we can't stay here. Alaxandra groans, but doesn't argue. She gets up and begins jogging again Henri right behind her. The wind picks up and visibility drops. Henri keeps marching east for a bit and the image of Roland and Alexandra fade into the dust. Henri calls out. "My lord, are you sure that the crags are in this direction?" "My lord?" He gets no reply. Alexandra and Roland keep side by side as they march through the sand. "Henri, try to take point. Henri?" silence. For a brief moment Roland looks stricken and alone as if he was dependent on a cane that was suddenly yanked out from under him. In a small voice he calls out "Henri?"

Scene 3:

Henri wanders through the sands and windstorms looking along the only landmark available to him, the cliffside. "if the crags slope downwards..." he mutters. He looks at the first circle cliff wall, a portion of it seems to sag and drip like melted ice cream. He starts heading out in that direction. Fighting his way through the sandstorm. He keeps marching the cliff getting larger and larger until he stumbles along a downwards slope. He looks downwards as the slope descends into a large canyon broken only by gigantic stalagmite spires poking out of the darkness bellow. Henri smiles "Bingo." He unspools his tethering line and descends into the inky blackness. Slowly, as he drops, bioluminescent lights begin to glow from down below. He keeps dropping until he reaches the bottom. Primitive shacks and houses are dug out of the stone. Henri touches ground and calls out into the blackness. "Helooo" the sound echoes throughout the village, but nobody responds. Henri walks through the village and opens one house door. Inside is dusty and dark. Henri flips an ancient looking light switch. And the room lights up. The bones of four people sit in the corner. One of whom has a humming sword sticking out of their abdomen. Henri recoils. "Exterminators." He notes a diary. Sitting on a bedside table. He picks it up.

"June 9, 2005

We got our supply shuttle today and while the usual paranoids grumbled about isolation, I was glad of it. We have enough gold and tin to buy at least a year's food and enough ammo to keep ourselves stocked. Technological parts also came, and Isiah says he can get the generator working again in just a few days, the bigger problem is fuel. The soulfire deposits are starting to go dry I don't think we can afford to buy it with our already limited mining base. When I tried to bring it up with the board they said that we would make do, to seek out Dis more than we already do would be a betrayal of our purpose here and that we could endure. We are a shadow of what we were twenty years ago. I tried to talk to Matthias about it, but as usual he was too drunk..."

Henri skips ahead.

"October 12, 2005

Too close for comfort. We got the sonar thumper working for the first time in a month again yesterday and no less than eighteen hours after it comes back up that it alerted us that the eldritch was going to make a pass. We almost didn't get everyone into the shelters in time before it came screaming over the cliff-edge. Jolene and Mary both got the possessed eye, but we managed to tie them down until it passed. Had that thing just come a day earlier... I don't want to think about it."

"January 1, 2008

The exterminators came last night. We had one of our worst purges ever with 37 casualties almost a third of the community. As if that wasn't bad enough, we no longer have the labor necessary to mine much Soulfire and the generator is on the fritz again. The mayor gave a speech this morning about the crisis he says that desperate times call for desperate measures and that he is going to try to contact the Bangwathi about help.

September 7, 2008

We lost mayor Callistus and the rest of his expedition today. He tried to make a run for the Bangwathi camp at midpoint ring, whilst it was on the far side but it was waiting for them. We heard their screams over the radio. Disheartening as listening to this is, we have bigger problems now. We have no supplies and no way out of the second circle. We're trapped."

Henri skips to the last entry.

December 31, 2008.

The last of the supplies ran out last week and I've come to a decision. I'm making a run for it tomorrow. I heard one of the Bangwathi mention a place called Deadtooth Mesa in the Fourth circle. I think I'll make for there when I'm able. I'm not waiting here for it to come to us or endure eternal starvation or whatever our fate is here, but first the exterminators come. We reinforced the locks on the door and I've stocked up what ammo is left for the coming purge. Julie and I don't know what we're going to do if they break in, But I mean to keep my promise not to leave her. I'm not going down without a fight. I'm ready."

Henri looks pityingly at the skeletons and sighs. He walks outside and slumps against a nearby boulder. "My lord, are you there?" he calls out into the darkness. No one responds. Henri sits against the boulder and looks at his chest in the thinker position. An old demon walks out of the darkness dressed in rags. He has the body of a chameleon and a long beard. "It has been some time..." he says "Since anyone came to my humble village." Henri looks at him. "You!" Henri says. "I thought all the people here were slaughtered. What are you doing here? The old man looks at Henri "I am doing what I have always done at the Umbra Crags. I am seeking heaven. Henri looks up at the heaven orb in the sky, "I... I have been doing that for eight hundred years. I don't have been doing it for so long that I don't know why I try anymore. I just... do. I don't know we thought maybe those in Limbo had wisdom or something. I couldn't think of any other solution." The old man laughs. "Most who come here seek solitude or soulfire or their final end. I decided to make one last run at enlightenment. You, you come here seeking wisdom." He laughs again and a more serious look comes over his face. "Most of those in Hell have truly convinced themselves that what you are trying to do cannot be done. They have to, it is essential to their worldview." Henri looks up to him, "So, can it be done?" The man chortles. "Yes, it can." he says. "It can!" Henri looks at him a moment with a combination of bafflement and awe. "Ehkghk ehdkhk. HOW?" Henri Demands disbelievingly. "Well," the man says, "Ordinarily they let you in if you deserve to get in when you die." Henri gives him the evil eye. The man continues undaunted "But if you have been rejected from or reject heaven. You have to decide you want it again and become worthy of it again." Henri looks at him crooked. "How do you know this?" he asks. The man laughs "Because I asked those who would know of course." Henri looks down at the ground looking at his reflection in a puddle. "Once upon a time, I wanted to be a knight, to serve in God's glorious name. I killed well over a hundred innocent mostly defenseless fellow Christians and was told to feel good about it. I didn't. I have spent the last eight hundred years moping about it enduring whatever torture or fate befell me, partly because I believed it was God's will, but mostly because I thought I deserved it. You ask me If I want heaven well, I want to ride across the hills of Champaigne with the wind in my hair with a sword on my back. I want to dine with merry men from all across Christendom as well tell of our tales. I want to do virtuous deeds and save virtuous people. I want people to sing songs about my life and the person I was. I want to sit in the company of Roland of Brittany and Galahad and Robert Guiscard... and I want heaven too. Whatever I did has faded with time, whatever punishment is owed has been paid." The man smiles and looks at Henri "So then boy, why are you still here?" "The storm begins to clear. And a ping comes in over Henri's radio Roland's panicked voice comes over it. "Henri come in Henri, where are you?" We are at the easternmost point on the wall on the far end of the second circle. We are setting up fortifications to deal with the exterminators. I need you Henri." The old man looks about him. "It's safer here." he says. "No." Henri says "I am here because of my oath. Milord needs me. I don't just want those things. I want to be worthy of them too."

Alexandra and Henri keep fighting the storm moving eastwards. "We're close to the easternmost wall!" Roland screams over the wind Alexandra struggles to fight the winds but keeps going with him. "Are you sure the crags are even near here?" she yells over the wind. "Positive, Roland yells We are less than a mile off at most, even if we can't contact the settlement the ravine should still be there." The keep marching and out of the dust and sand they come to a small inlet in the Cliff wall. There is no ravine. Roland falls to his knees, his phone alarm starts going off like crazy. "No. Not here he says. We're so close." Alexandra looks around wildly "What's wrong?" she says. It's time, he says. Above them the sky opens up with black portals and the high-pitched whine of screaming robotic angels come pouring out of them. Roland looks up "They come." The storm starts to clear and Roland looks at his radio "I have a signal he says excitedly." "Henri come in Henri, where are you?" We are at the easternmost point on the wall on the far end of the second circle. We are setting up fortifications to deal with the exterminators. I need you Henri." Alexandra looks at him with worry. "Will he come?" she asks. "Let's hope." Roland says and readies Stormfang.

Scene 4:

The sky fills with exterminator after exterminator as dark robotic angels fill the sky in V formations. Scanning the land below them. Most head for the sprawling urban metropolis of Dis. One formation scans the landscape. Their visions spots two figures huddled against the rock wall in the second circle, their heat signatures burning bright against their Infared visors. The head of the formation signals to break off from the rest of the group and they peel away towards the eastern edge. Roland looks back at Alexandra who is digging fiercely against a small cleft in the cliffside. Roland sighs. "It will have to do." Alexandra looks at him, "Roland I... wanted to thank you... Thank you for getting me out of that bar." Roland looks at her and gets a warm smile on his face and gives her a nod. He looks up at the sky and sees a wing of five winged figures swooping in low, he gulps. "Alexandra, get your rifle ready." The winged figures swoop in lower clearly preparing to make a pass at Alexandra and Roland. "READY!" Roland shouts. Alexandra's scope crosshairs one of the flying targets. The angels come in closer "FIRE!" A bang is heard and One of the winged silhouettes goes into a slight dive apparently wounded. Alexandra gets a wry smile, "Got it, she says." The thing rights itself flying limply but still keeping up with the group. "If it only took one bullet..." Roland says panic in his voice. "...We wouldn't be here." The angels swoop low swords out with a howling screech They pass over the two Roland opens fire full auto with Stormfang grazing a couple of them, Alexandra and Roland duck, Roland missing being cut in two by inches. They howl as they scream an electronic sounding message. "GOOD NEW SINNERS, YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN FOR EARLY RELEAAAAASE!" The exterminators break against the cliff wall and split, moving out of formation. Roland releases another volley of fire while Alexandra takes aim at the leader of the group. She fires, narrowly missing him. Roland spots the wounded exterminator that Alexandra first shot at and releases a full volley of fire, shredding it with at least a dozen rounds. The thing falls out of the sky, hitting the ground with a sickening *crack.* Roland smirks then turns to the other four exterminators. Alexandra fires off another round this one penetrating a seemingly meaningless hole in one of its wings. The exterminators wordlessly form up seeming to communicate telepathically. The swoop back in this time coming straight for the wall. Alexandra lets off another shot, this one catching it square it square in the head. It drops to the ground and does not get up. Roland looks at the other two still incoming angels and realizes what's about to happen. "They're coming in for a running landing!" he screams. Alexandra's eyes go wide as she realizes what he means. The exterminators touch the ground at a wicked fast run. Roland opens fire with stormfang. One or two bullets penetrate the exterminator on the right, the rest bounce off of the angel's strange silvery skin meaninglessly. The left and lead exterminator picks up speed and closes the remaining distance. Before she can react he slices Alexandra across the torso Its sword melting through her armor like butter, cleaving a gaping scratch along her abdomen. She starts bleeding badly. She hunkers over trying to keep steady aim with her gaping wound. "Alexandra!" Roland screams out. "Don't... Worry..." She grunts unconvincingly. The exterminator that Roland shot full of holes appears, broken and sparking apparently having marched towards the battle on foot despite its grievous wounds. The thing spits out sparks and a strange golden fluid from its body. Alexandra takes aim and gets it once more in the head. The thing falls over at last sparking and emitting a noise that sounds like cackling laughter before fading out. Another exterminator, closes on Roland shrugging off round after round of automatic fire. Stormfang releases a *click* indicating it's empty. Roland switches to clutching stormfang by the haft of the barrel with one hand it's twin bayonettes pointing forward, he draws his sabre with the other hand. He narrowly dodges the wild slicing of the exterminator who advances with an iron step. Roland retreats desperately trying to keep pace with it as their swords clash. An exterminator steps forward menacingly, moving in to kill the wounded Alexandra, she pops its head off with a well-placed shot. The body keeps moving and Alexandra fires the rest of her magazine into it. It stops wriggling sparks and golden fluid flying from it. Roland, still caught In the duel with the exterminator stabs forward with stormfang's bayonets, but the creature effortlessly slices the tip of the barrel off. Roland jumps back as far as he dares and the exterminator laughs and fires an eye beam at the rock next to Roland. A piece of rock the size of a pillow slams him in the chest. And he groans on the ground. The lead exterminator laughs. Blood starts pouring from Roland's mouth and he struggles to stand. "You thought you could fight this, Sinner!" it lets out an electronic laugh. There is no fighting it." It moves in to make the finishing blow, the creatures head is decapitated by a swift claymore strike. "Henri!" Roland says. Henri stands in full armor claymore at the ready. Fury in his face. "My Lord." He says.

Scene 6:

The headless exterminator begins to get up whirring and apparently combat ready despite its decapitated state. Henri slices it in two with his claymore, then stabs it several more times. It sparks and stops moving. The exterminator leader is about to finish off the wounded Alexandra and looks up and sees Henri in his heavy armor and laughs. His voice is metallic and creepy. "hahahaha. You think you can fight this sinner? I was anointed one of God's own soldiers. Henri looks up at him a sad smile on his face. "So was I." Roland badly beaten begins to step backwards and slink over to the badly wounded Alexandra who is herself trying to prop herself up against the cleft in the wall. Henri steps forward his claymore wielded in one hand his modern combat shield in the other. The exterminator steps forward and gets into a dueling stance. "You are nothing, sinner." It swings forward and is shocked to find that Henri parries the lightning-fast blow. It swings again and again Henri parries it. Henri looks at the Angel and takes a deep breath. "I stopped being a freeman when I took my oaths. *slice* I stopped being a Frenchman when I died. *Stab* I stopped being a Christian when I was damned. But I am still a knight. That I swore forevermore!" Their swords clash and sparks fly with the intensity of their collisions The angel keeps trying to strike at the 7,1 minotaur person but he keeps deflecting every blow that the exterminator tries to land. Henry starts making jabs of his own and the exterminator can't keep up. Henri keeps moving against the exterminator muttering more and more loudly to himself. "I swear on my honor to live by the chivalric code, to take no wife, to serve his kingdom and to serve God above all else so long as I shall live." The exterminator looks taken aback at this and goes into retreat as Henri continues to advance, steel continues to clash against steel. I Henri Mercier, do swear to follow the orders of Lord Collard without question, to follow him as I would my Count, to act with honor and courage befitting a Christian soldier, to act with grace in all things." The exterminator steps back. Henry gives a mighty swing and lops one of its arms off. Roland reaches Alexandra. She is in bad shape. "Roland..." she says looking up. She gestures to her rifle. "I'm empty." The exterminator is now barely keeping up with Henri its graceful lightning-fast attacks being deflected with ease. "I Henri Mercier in the name of our lord do swear fealty to Roland Von-Braun. To do as he bids me, to love all that he loves and shun all that he shuns. To follow his order as bidden and to serve him until death releases me." Something approaching terror flashes across the exterminator's face visor. "You are here for a reason!" it screeches with panicked conviction. Henri raises his shield deflecting yet another attempt at a lightning-fast blow. Henri whispers through his teeth "And I'm still here..." he raises his sword. "...because I took an oath." He stabs the exterminator in the chest. It falls over twitching wildly trying to get up. Henri cleaves the body in two and it lies still. Henri smirks, satisfied at his kill. Roland clutches Alexandra. "Roland... Roland..." she says "I don't feel so good." Out of the sand the last exterminator crawls, A gaping hole in its head from when Alexandra downed it. It laughs Henri looks to see it. It speaks in a broken metallic tone. "Sinnnneerrrrrrs..." it says. "You have beeeeen chooooseeeen forrrrrr releaaaaasssse." Roland's eyes go wide with shock. Henri jumps looks and sees what is about to happen. With the last of its strength the exterminator throws its sword at Roland. Henri jumps in the way of the sword twisting in mid-flight. Golden sparks start to fly off of Henri's body and into the sky. Roland looks up. Henri twists around to show that he has transformed into his human form enveloped in golden light. With a flash He disappears into golden sparks a beam of light flying up towards the Heaven orb. The sword strikes the now bodyless suit of armor, getting caught in mid-flight then clanks to the ground with a clatter. In an almost broken voice Roland says in almost a whisper. "Henri?"

Scene 7:

Roland looks around barely holding himself together emotionally. "We... We... have to go. There might be more of them. Alexndra grabs onto his arm. "No." She says simply. "Roland I'm not going to make it." Roland looks at the gaping wound in her abdomen. His face twists. He doesn't know what to say. "I can... We can..." She looks him in the eye. "Roland no. Charlie's right. You just saw. Roland?" Roland is barely holding himself together "What? What!" Alexandra reaches into her pocket and pulls out a wad of bills. "Buy glitz. She loves talking about the world and machines and guns and politics and all the things that makes people upset down here. You two would be good together. Much better than you or I would have been." Roland wordlessly takes the money, unclear on what to say. "Roland?" she says "Yes?" he says in a small voice. I want my gravestone to read 'Alexander Petrov.' There already is one reading 'Alexandra Petrova out there somewhere. Find the city Roland. Finish the job. Show them that they are wrong to give up hope." She starts coughing wildly then crumples over and lies still. Roland looks hard at the body. He curls it up and folds its arms across its chest. He salutes "A soldiers funeral, he whispers." then walks away. Roland stuffs the money into his jacket and looks at Henri's armor. He looks long and hard at the heaven orb. He looks out at the ongoing extermination. He looks out at Dis. He pulls out his grapple gun and fires it upwards at the cliff.

Episode: 14: The city of human reason.

FLASHBACK

London, England 1666

Scene 1:

Roland walks through what looks like snow fallen on the ground. He walks in a slow meaningless shuffle with a thousand-yard stare on his face. The ashen and charred remains of burnt buildings stand behind him. Behind him people walk around equally aghast. He sees a mound of grey dust on the ground and notes a golden metal clump near the center. He reaches out to touch it confused he picks it up and looks at it. The clump comes to vaguely resemble a melted metal cross and Roland recoils as he realizes what the ashen mound is. He looks around. There are dozens of them scattered in every direction. He looks at a man who is himself wandering around in a bit of a daze. "Sir, he says. Are we sure this is Pudding Street?" the man looks at Roland and laughs. "Aye." He says "It was." Roland looks out long and hard at the street. "There is nothing left." he says bluntly. And walks to a seemingly random spot. A man that Roland seems to recognize walks by "Sir!" He says, have you seen Mister Thomas Wilford" The man looks at Roland and gives a sad frown. "No one has seen him since the fire, I am afraid he's gone my boy." Roland looks unhappy at this but doesn't argue. Roland gets up and wanders through the ashen streets, the wind blowing ash into the air and clouding the city with a grey haze. He walks past He walks around looking at the ashen mounds in a hypnotic daze. He walks past a building with a familiar looking metal sign out front "Th Wh Lio" the first half of the melted sign reads. He walks past his old flat, which is totally burned to the ground. He comes to the brick workshop where he used to work. The interior has been scorched by heat and flame, but the superstructure still stands. He sits on the ground looking at a half-melted clock on the wall. "Time." He says "Time just keeps moving." He begins to shiver his arms trembling with each moment. He reaches out to the clock and tries to tinker with it, but his hands are too shaky to continue. He puts the broken clock down and begins to go into light sobs. He lies back and looks at the scorched ceiling. He sits there a while until someone knocks on the doorframe. After a hesitant moment Roland comes to the door "ye..?" he asks but sees a man in the garb of a messenger at the door. "Excuse me, are you a mister Thomas Wilford?" Roland stares blankly at him a moment before saying simply, "My name is Roland Von-Braun. Mr. Wilford has not been seen since the fire." The messenger looks suspiciously at him. "Von-Braun?" That's not a Dutch name, is it? Roland looks at him confused. "Bavarian." The man relaxes slightly. He looks over his papers. "Does Mr. Wilford have a next of kin?" Roland looks at him exhausted. "Not so far as I'm aware." he says. "I represent Lord Newport who is the owner of this... " he looks at the half-burned building "...establishment. Do you have any connection to this place?" Roland looks at the man nonplused. "I did my labor here as a clock-tinkerer. I am as far as I know the only person still... still in London that possesses any connection to this place." The man frowns at this. "It is my fear that you cannot stay in this facility as the Lord would like his properties vacated." Roland lets out a long mournful sigh. "I will be gone by the end of the week will this please you?" The messenger gives Roland a sympathetic nod. "My apologies sir." he says simply. Roland walks out of the shop towards a brick church that has mostly survived the fire. An angry man in a beggar's garb sits out front with a crowd of angry people. "...was not God's doing. No. The Fires did not spread not by course along the line, as is the nature of flame, but sprung up suddenly in disparate and independent structures. Why? Is it because of some devilry? Perhaps of a sort good people of London, but not of the kind done by directly by Lucifer's foul hand. Good men report to having seen men with the Dutch emblem going from building-to-building throwing devices of fire!" The crowd roars at these words. Roland has a brief flashback to Paris. He walks to a quiet alleyway. And claps the large wood cross across his chest. "Lord, I beg of you defend these people from their wrath, guide them, show the wrathful the light and defend your faithful innocent." He recites the words quickly and with panic in his voice. He stays slumped over in the alley repeating the words until the crowd disperses. He looks at them and breathes a sigh of relief and leaves the alley.

Scene 2:

Roland sits in the alley a long time looking at the half-burned brick wall. After a moment he gets up and walks along the river. He looks out along the broken waterfront of the Thames. He keeps wandering looking out on all the destruction. "God." he says looking forlorn. "I do not understand why. Were they not just and Godfearing people?" He comes across the same church he came across earlier where the angry citizen had been accusing the Dutch of starting the fire. He loosely grasps the cross on his neck and goes inside. A lone preacher sits at the pulpit staring at the church wall, it is scorched, but the stone walls of the church kept the building intact. The preacher has a pained look on his face. The preacher looks up at Roland. He tries to put on a face of warmth. "What can I do for you, my child? God's grace comes to us all in these times." Roland looks awkward. "This is a Calvinist church, yes father?" The preacher maintains his warm face "Yes my son." Roland looks at him and struggles to put his thoughts into words. After a moment he chokes out. "All my life I have survived things that I ought not to have. When I was five years of age, I survived one of the Holy Empire's purges because a bolt of lightning struck at the exact same moment I shot a man with a pistol my father gave me. Had his fellows heard the shot, or had I not shot him, they would have killed me. When I was twenty-two, I went to Paris and narrowly escaped a lynch mob looking for protestants and foreigners only because I felt the urge to explore the wrong street. Here in London, I have been surrounded by the plague, and yet I have not fallen ill. And the night of the fire, I was on pudding street when..." he trails off. "I have tried my whole life to do right by people, but I am no saint, I am no great man of faith, yet I. Keep. Surviving. I was raised by abbots at a monastery in Bavaria, they called me elect and always seemed to venerate me. But I as my life goes on, I have understood why less and less. I need help to understand father." Roland lets out this last bit in a quiet voice. The abbot looks at Roland up and down. "This is something many struggle with, what we are on our sleeves is not who we always are in our hearts. It doesn't matter who you are my child God has selected a special purpose for you. Those who died are now in God's arms. Have faith, you do not need to understand God's plan to embrace it." Roland's face grows desperate "But what of those who suffered in this life, who were pious and not so elect as I? What of them?" Roland's voice grows angry. The preacher is silent for a moment before he replies. "I don't know god's plans my child; we must simply have faith." Roland stares at him a moment before looking at him and growing angry. "Have faith!?" Have faith!?" The people in the fire had faith! My parents had faith! I have had faith too! God hasn't seemed to care one whit whether people have faith or not." The preacher looks taken aback but Roland is already storming out. "Tell whomever next burns alive that they should have some more faith!" Roland walks out in a huff, still angry, and marches into the burned streets. The preacher looks at the cross in the wall then buries his face in his hands. Roland seethes through the streets. After a while he calms down and sits on a curb, "Lord..." he says in a sad tone looking up at the sky, "Show me a sign, of your love, protect these people." Around a corner he sees a glow from torches and the sound of yelling. He has brief flashes to his Paris experience before he turns and runs down the alley in the opposite direction of the crowd. He comes to an abrupt halt. In front of him is a charred corpse tied to a street pole in a makeshift crucified manor. He looks agape at it. Across the man's chest written in charcoal are the words "DUTCH MURDERER!" Roland looks at the charred corpse in horror. The sound yelling and chanting comes from down the street and Roland rushes into a narrow alleyway nearby. He looks out from it at the approaching crowd. They drag an orange haired man, kicking and screaming through the streets chanting the same phrase. "MURDERER! MURDERER! MURDERER!" Roland clutches the cross on his chest. In a panicked voice he says "Lord... full of grace..." He keeps clutching his cross in his hands. Lord... full of grace... The rioters set up the red-haired man who is bound and gagged on is dragged against the wall. Roland squeezes the cross. Lord... full of grace..." The head rioter pulls out what looks like a scythe "full of grace..." The shadow of the rioter slicing into the man falls. The cross in Roland's hands snaps.

Scene 3:

1667

Roland walks to a rundown tent town not far from a building under construction. Around him workers gather tools and walk tiredly to the tents after a long day's work. Roland sits down at what is apparently his tent and looks at the ground a miserable look on his face. A fellow worker comes by. "Our coin is coming later eh, Bavarian." Roland gives him a withering stare. After an awkward silence Roland says only "It is so." Another worker signals to him in the distance he can be heard saying "Leave him in peace William, it does not please him to speak to us." Roland continues to stare miserably at the ground before laying on his back exhausted. A man with a town crier bell walks through the camp ringing his bell. "Payment, Payment." All of those in the tent town, Roland included, scramble to get in line receive what the crier is handing out. The foreman gives Roland a few meager coins. Roland gives the pittance a withered look and turns to go back to his tent. The foreman yells to the crowd "Attention everyone! Attention everyone! Your labors have been much appreciated; your work of the fine quality requested. You all have reason to be pleased, however it is the nature of our work that each job must by means end. We are coming to the end of this building and for the first time in a year, the Lord has not requested another. It has been a pleasure working with you all." This news is met with grumbling as people realize that they are likely not going to get paid much anymore. Roland looks at the wall clearly miserable. The foreman comes up to Roland. "You do good work, Mr. Von-Braun, it's rare to find a worker that is trained in Pythagoras, let alone has near memorized the Elements of Geography." Roland frowns deeply and gives him a withering look. "I did not always live in a tent." He says with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. The foreman's voice conveys that he understands that Roland is upset. "Do you have a place to go..." Roland looks at him his cold face melting into one of despair. "No." he says simply. "Well..." the foreman says, most of these men here are going to be living with relatives if they still have no lodgings. Maybe you could do the same." He gives Roland a warm smile. "Roland. I know you have been down since... last year and everything, but you do good work here. When I was in Florence a wise woman I knew gave me fifteen silver florins and told me to only spend them on the things that mattered most in my life You have never wavered in your work. Thank you." He presses a silver disk into Roland's palm and walks away. Roland blinks than wanders down to his tent. His face turns sad and he starts drawing a map of Europe in the dirt. "Back to Bavaria..." he says in a sad voice. "And I thought my home was here." He gets up from the dirt and walks down to the river wharf. He looks over ship schedules written on a board. A blind man sits at a stall with a stack of books. A man stands next to him apparently to help guide him. "Book for your travels, sir?" Roland looks at the cover. "Paradise Lost A poem in twelve books." Roland frowns "What is it about mister... uh" The blind man turns to the sound of Roland's voice? "Milton." he says flatly "I was inspired by the holy ghost itself sir. About the loss of our paradise." Roland snorts. "Yes, a book like that would fit my spirit." He pays for the book and goes to a table with a map of ship routes to the Holy Roman Empire. The blind man who identified himself as Milton tracks him as he walks to the table and he lets out a sharp toothy smile.

Scene 4:

Roland sits on a rickety wooden ship that sways with the tides. He is engrossed in the book in front of him. He keeps reading it as time goes by. "To justify the ways of God to men..." he gives a small chuckle. He keeps reading Outside the sun rises and sets as time passes. Roland closes the book and he looks out over the ocean. "Lucifer, I know how you felt." Eventually the ship makes port and Roland rides along at a slow rate along mountain passes and alpine hills until he reaches a small familiar looking abbey. He lets out a long sigh. His voice sounds mournful "One who brings a mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. What matter where, if I be still the same, and what I should be, all but less then he whom Thunder hath made greater?" He walks down the hill towards the building an old woman sits out front tending the garden. She looks up and sees Roland. She drops her tools agape. "Roland, good heavens you look so different. I haven't seen you in, my god, ten years!" she gets up to feebly hug him. "Roland looks sad for a moment, but hugs her back. "It is good to see you again Madam Therese." I don't know if you have heard, but London, is no longer I place where I had much prospect." She gives a look of sympathy to him "I know we heard, isn't it awful? I never had any doubt that you would survive of course. God has always had a special place for you." Roland tries to look pleased at this, but his face conveys a sense of pain at these words. I need a place to stay sister. I have little money and no purpose. I know not what you do here." She frowns. "Oh yes you do." She scolds. I tend to the sick when possible and do what needs doing around the abbey when not. Come Reverend Alnbach will be so happy to see you." The two go inside.

Scene 5:

1670

Roland is seen in coming back from the garden with a large back on his back. His face is growing grey and there are bags under his eyes. His hair has flecks of white in it. He comes into the abbey's steps. He looks out into the woods his eyes narrowing. A look of absolute desire comes over his face. In a voice barely audible he whispers. "Come on father, come out of those woods. Tell me an unbelievable tale as to why it took you thirty years, like Odysseus. Come on." The woods remain still. Roland lets out a long sigh and enters the church hall. Reverend Alnbach sits at one of the pews jovially talking with another disciple. "He is very disturbed lately." he says but sees Roland. He gets a hushed tone. "Roland. Good to see you back, how was Munich?" Roland looks up at him with a forced smile. "The children sang, the city smelled of meat. A funeral passed me by." The father looks upset at this last addendum but Roland simply passes him by. He no longer looks like the spiteful miser who walked into the Abbey three years prior, he simply looks tired. "The reverend takes a look at Roland's greying hair and frowns. Roland drops the groceries off and goes outside. One of the disciples looks at reverend Alnbach and speaks. "I think I heard him weeping in his room last night. You should speak to him." The reverend takes a deep breath. "I should." He goes out into the woods to a small grove where Roland can be seen sitting on a bench looking out over the wood. It is a peaceful place where bird chirp and a small creek can be seen flowing. He looks up and sees Alnbach approaching. "Roland son I am concerned for your health." Rolland doesn't look at him. "I'm fine, Reverend." he says coldly. Alnbach continues unhindered. "Roland, look in the pool." Roland does so and sees his own face the grey specks can be seen in his hair. The bags under his eyes are clear. "How old are you?" Roland looks at his reflection. "I am 38." He says simply. "You are not living a healthy life, child. Health comes not just from cleanliness exercise and the humors, it comes from one's state of mind. I have seen you, you are emotionally torturing yourself some days, not allowing yourself to take joy in even the slightest thing. I have found myself in that dark pit from time to time. We all have. Try to think of something the brings you joy." Roland looks at him and says. "I don't know, the sight of Madam Therese tending to the ill, there was this Scottish song sang in London toasted to the memory of old friends I quite liked. And... and this grove. I always liked this grove. It was my place as a child it was so peaceful. It still is." Alnbach smiles. "Think on these things and come, there is still work to do at the abbey." He gets up and leads Roland back. Roland starts coughing violently, but gets a hold of himself. They get up and go back towards the abbey.

Scene 6:

Snow lies outside the abbey. The sound of sawing can be heard from a workshop not far from the main chapel. A man comes out to the barn to show Roland sawing a tree in two. His face looks considerably worse than it did when Reverend Alnbach talked to him a month or two prior. His hair is now striped white and his skin is going grey. "Roland?" he says looking up at him from the entryway. "It's Christmas Eve my boy, come down and join us." Roland looks at him. "Alright." he says simply. Alnbach looks up at him as he begins to come down. "Ach du Lieber! My boy, put on a coat of some furs or something. It's cold out." Roland looks at him with a dead expression. I felt too hot so I took off my coat." Albach looks aghast at this. "Roland. It must be below twenty degrees out!" Roland shrugs and gets down off the log. "I'm sorry for being so distant... I... just can't concentrate with... with..." he leans into Alnbach who shoulders him. He puts his hands to Roland's forehead. "You're burning up!" he declares. "I'll... be fine." Roland says and keeps walking into the dining hall that is all decorated for Christmas feast. The Abbey staff look up to see the two walk in. Roland comes near a seat reserved for him, then falls over and everything goes black." Roland wakes up in his room with a concerned Reverand Alnbach looking over him. "Roland." Roland looks up at him. His face is filled with worry. "You have been sick for several days." Roland looks at him Alnbach's face swims with delirium. "Will my parents come to my funeral?" He asks. Albach frowns. Alnbach holds up a small mirror. Roland's face is covered with small red blips and pustules. Roland lies back. Alnbach looks nervous. "Roland, you have smallpox." Roland looks blankly at him. "Smallpox. I don't know Reverend, I don't know." Roland fades to black again. He has blurry dreams of men running through a burning forest. Hordes of men waving about torches from outside a Paris stairwell. A pretty woman with an English accent saying they will meet once she is done with her patient. A blurry image of screaming and fire, men shouting "murderer" over and over... Roland wakes up. A disciple from the abbey is sitting in his room. "Roland, I'm glad you're up." Roland tries to sit up but he signals him back down. "What time is..." The disciple interrupts him "It's the 31st of December. You have been out for several days." Roland looks at him and groans but looks at him clearly, lucid at least for the moment. "Have you been treating me?" he asks him. "No, there was little we could do and we didn't want it to catch. But there is good news! Madam Therese is on her way back from Wittenburg. She has experience with smallpox." Roland has flashbacks to Mathilda. The disciple gets up and leaves the room. "She will treat you." The words echo through Roland's ears. He slowly crawls out of bet and puts on his coat. "She will treat me too..." He whispers "She will treat me too." He crawls to the window and slumps out of it. It is a peaceful night and the stars are out. He looks up at the sky. "You... can't... have... her... too..." He says at the sky. He comes to the grove and slumps up against a stump. He reaches down into his pocket and pulls out an old bullet, the wood statue of Lot's wife, the silver Florin and his broken cross. The snowy winds howl all around him, barely wearing any clothes. He looks out at the frozen pond and begins to sing. His voice is week, barely a quiver against the howling wind. "Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne? For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet for... days... of... auld... lang... syne." He stops singing, and lies still.

Present Day:

Scene 1:

[opening of Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel plays. As Charlie sings her final note, a zoom back across all of Hell to reveal Roland looking at the fireworks signal through his detached rifle scope.]

"Good girl Charlie," He pants "Good girl." An exhausted Roland sits on the edge of a broken cliff. Outsite of it, darkness swirls in a mist so black no person could ever see through it. He climbs to a rock that pokes jaggedly out of the edge. He coughs up and spits out blood then falls over. He starts to crawl, badly beaten along the edge of the cliff face. He starts to look up and sees what looks like a figure in front of him. "Bist du dein Vater? Ich habe so lange gewartet. Bist du es?" The figure fades from view and a huge stone pillar appears in front of Roland, he keeps crawling towards it until it dominates his vision he continues to crawl towards the pillar. As Roland gets closer it becomes clear that the object is a giant arch. Roland struggles to stand in his beaten position but keeps going. He comes to the base of the arch an looks up at it. On the top of the arch are the words 'Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate.' Roland stares long and hard at the structure and looks out over it. Angry tears well up in his eyes slowly he stands and stares at the inscription. Suddenly he shouts angrily at the top of his lungs. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" he turns around and walks into the swirling black mist. His glowing blue eyes the only thing visible as he fades into it.

Scene 2:

Roland walks through a mist of endless black only his glowing eyes illuminating only a few feet in front of him. He keeps walking until suddenly his eyes make a 90-degree arc towards the ground. Apparently, he has fallen over. "uggggh" he groans. His eyes blink and orient themselves upwards as he apparently rolls over. "He lies there for a long moment. He groans to himself "It's so peaceful here. I could lie here forever, no Cerberus. No Lucifer, no suffering, no hedonism." Through the blackest mist the haze of the heaven orb comes through, providing only the slightest bit of light. "Henri." he whispers. "You once told me that we were doing it wrong, that I couldn't bring my grievances directly before god. That grievances are a form of prayer in their own way. And that only a saint could deliver prayers. I was once a Calvinist. We don't have saints. We have ourselves and our relationship with God. I never had a saint to pray to." A long moment passes "Henri my relationship with God has been strained for a long time... a long time. Henri, I still don't know what it was exactly I did to deserve this, but I accept that it was something. But If there is one person who is truly innocent in this place it's Charlie. She was never damned. She never fell. She is no creature borne of blackened soul." He whispers. "Henri, I need help." Nothing happens. He lies there for a long moment. "I should have listened to Albach more..." He slowly gets up and pulls out his phone. "Dante, came in a relatively straight line, and all those who claim to have seen the city came from the eastern edge..." He pulls out his phone. Its light does not extend very far into the darkness but it is enough to see maybe a foot or too. He presses a button labelled "Heat mode." The phone lights up and shows a dead valley around him. In the distance he sees a heat source lit up like a torch. He coughs through the haze "*cough* hello what's this?" He pulls out a flare and lights it. An area around him is given a light red glow, but it only extends a few meters in front of him. He begins to walk in a vaguely straight line until he comes across what looks like a primitive ancient stone structure. On it words are written in English "The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." Roland smirks. "Frost." he says, amused. Then tenses with renewed determination, "Too right." he keeps marching inwards towards the heat source.

Scene 3:

He keeps walking through blackness, slowly stumbling, inch by inch he walks towards the source of heat his phone detects. His flare goes out. He keeps walking. Out of the mist a huge marble structure appears. It starts out a white blur, but as Roland gets closer and closer it looms into a massive city. The white blur is shown to be a massive wall that spans for kilometers. Electric power moves throughout the thing and huge high-tech looking guns sit along the edges of the walls. Huge Greek letters sit over a massive gate that read "Ἓν οἶδα ὅτι ουδὲν οἶδα" Roland looks at the words and smiles. "New Akademos. If ever there was any doubt that this was the right city." He steps forward. Huge marble statues of men in white robes line the walls, but the gate remains relatively small. Roland steps forward and they slowly open for him.

Scene 4:

Roland enters a massive dark hall only a small path is illuminated in front of him. Out of the darkness a voice cries out. "Why have you come here." Roland looks in the direction that the voice came from and calls back. "I have come because I seek wisdom, and this is said to be a place of wise men." A light illuminates a balding figure in a white robe, unlike the rest of the rest of Hell's residents he appears to be perfectly human. He sports a long grey beard and a balding head. He has a book in his arms. He slowly walks down the steps towards Roland. He smiles "Few men who are damned seek out the land of comfort and power for the wisdom that lies within, fewer still who have fallen." Roland nods his head. The figure continues. "If you truly seek wisdom from this place, then you must answer me a question." Roland looks up sharply. A wry smile comes over his face. "I know who you are, and I know your question. Long have I pondered it." The figure looks at him blankly "And..." Roland takes a deep breath. "Justice is a wrong that is officially and publicly recognized by a society and is made right by whatever recompense is ordered. Justice is determined by each and every man who determines what is a wrong and what is owed for it. What one man may see as a great injustice another may see as small, or even no injustice at all. Justice is subjective, what each society or person agree is to be valued as right, and just, another may not. The ancient Romans saw suicide as a just recompense for disgraces. Christians see it as the greatest of all sin. Some peoples demand money as the simplest form of justice, others insist that money can never be used to right any kind of wrong at all. One man once claimed that a just society would deprive a madman of an ax so that he could do no harm, another society would view the deprivation of such a right as an injustice fouler than any damage that could be done with a mere ax." The robed man looks nonplussed at this reference to him. He speaks. "And what of God? Divine justice? If justice is subjective, then what of the perspective of the divine? Surely such a being of greater wisdom's view is to be valued above the judgments of mere men. If the divine determine a justice, is it not truer than any that man can lay down?" Roland is ready for this one. "Any being that takes only one form, no matter how knowledgeable or wise must take on only one perspective. That perspective by its nature must conflict with any thinking being, be it man or God that possesses another perspective. There is no true universal justice, no divine ideal, only what we beings determine to be the way we wish them to be and the way we wish them not to be." The figure continues unphased. "What if this divine being must judge a never corrected injustice, ought he to use the offenders' own standards? His victims' standards? His societies? Would it not be unjust to demand a wise being violate its own moral standards to deliver what it believes to be an immoral justice, just because it is the standard of another even if both victim and perpetrator agree upon it?" Roland is caught off guard by this. After a moment he says. "Eh... No. It would be unjust to demand any judge deliver a judgement against his own jurisdictions standards, let alone his own personal one, but it must be acknowledged that while there is such a thing as justice, there is no such thing as true universal justice, even by the divine." The figure smiles at Roland. "And so once we come to a slightly different question, what is justice to you?" Roland stops and stares a long moment. "I have never been sure of that question, what is just? But I have always been sure of what I thought was unjust when I saw it. When people died for no reason at all it was unjust to me, and no amount of heavenly love to them in the hereafter could ever change that." The old man stares at him "I see. And on to a final question. Suppose that all men agree on what is just, how do we be sure that this justice dispensed?" Roland smiles. "You tell them a great lie; that a great tragedy will befall society should injustice be allowed. And through such an ennobling lie, it shall become true." The man finally laughs. A door to Roland's right opens "That's the answer?" he asks incredulously. "It is utterly unimportant that you get the correct answer. It is essential that you have an answer." Roland takes a step forward; the figure looks at him and says. "Before you go through, I must warn you to leave who you were behind. We do not bring outside sin in here. We do not bring our earthly troubles with us to tie us down. We solve our problems ourselves with our own knowledge. Roland smiles. "That sounds awfully familiar. I'll have to remember that for when I leave." The old man's face becomes serious. "I mean you no offense, you have clearly suffered much to get here, but you cannot leave." Roland takes a deep breath. "Why?" he asks simply. "Because you know our location. The safety of this city has always lay with its secrecy, should you leave it would jeopardize all of us." a grim smile appears upon his face. "And that would not be just." He says and nods, Roland pauses a moment gives a nod himself and walks inside.

Scene 5:

Roland is accosted by a huge set of white corridors. Uncorrupted people in classical robes walk the halls with electronic scrolls and glowing jewelry. Some stare at Roland, others ignore him. Roland keeps walking along hallways. Roland glances through a door and does a double take. Inside is a fully watered and kept park. Stocked with flowerbeds and well-kept shrubbery. He tentatively takes a step inside and walks along a footpath. He comes to a bench and sits down. Roland looks around and sees people talking and enjoying. Roland stares at the grass in awe "It has been three hundred and forty-nine years since I have seen greenery." He brushes his hand through the soft grass. A walker along a path looks at Roland and stares a moment before coming over to him. "Excuse me sir. Have you arrived here within the last twenty-four hours?" Roland looks at him, then down at himself and his worn and bloody combat armor covered in scratches and dirt. "What gave me away?" he asks with deadpan sarcasm. "Your disheveled appearance." The man replies. Roland gives him a withering look which the man does not get. He takes a deep breath "I came here because I have a question that needs answering from one of superior wisdom." the man smiles "Then you have come to the right place." Roland looks at him. Who specifically, should I ask?" he says. The man looks at him, "Is your question earthly or spiritual?" Roland smirks. "What, aren't they fundamentally the same?" The man misses the joke "An oft debated point here true." Roland sighs. "Spiritual, definitely." the man smiles at Roland, well then you should speak to the grand tutor. He holds court each week. Tomorrow he will be attending general debate, like he does each week." Roland looks at him, "Thanks." he says simply. The man begins to walk away, "Wait!" Roland says. "Where can I get a room?" The man looks at him blankly before replying. At the Domicile complex of course. You need only apply. Roland nods and gets up. He follows a series of brightly lit signs that point to the words Domicile complex." A man sits behind a desk. Roland approaches it. "I would like a room please." The man looks at Roland. Of course. Sign here please." he holds out a piece of paper for Roland to sign. Roland signs it and is let to a small grey dimly lit room with a bed and dresser. He closes the door and looks out. "General debate eh. Sounds... interesting."

Scene 6:

Roland wakes up in a small bed in his apartment. He looks at himself in the mirror. He washes his armor aggressively desperately trying to get stains out. He tries to sew the bullet holes and scratches together by the time he's done his outfit looks only slightly ragged. He walks to the closet his small gift apartment has and puts on a grey Greek style robe over his armor. He pulls a comb through his hair and washes his face. He looks in the mirror at himself and puts on a fake smile. The smile deteriorates into an exasperated frown. "Not my best look." he says disheartened. He walks out the door and wanders through corridors lined with statues and classic looking art until he comes to a huge antechamber. Roland steps inside. A huge assembly of people fill what appears to be a Greco-Roman theater. A man in red and brown robes walks into the room, He looks out onto the crowd. "Welcome countrymen. Thank you for coming to our debate. What issues would you all like to bring up with us today?" a man with black hair and brown eyes asks. "If we are to find a way to cure men of aging, should we?" Roland looks up abruptly. "Odd question" he mutters. "The wise man looks at the questioner and smiles. "An excellent question." he goes into a diatribe on the nature of wisdom and the value of age, which leads into a debate about whether or not wisdom comes with time or rather with age itself. The wise man concludes that "...if wisdom was inherent with age, then men would lose too much by denying themself age, and that if wisdom was the mere product of the passage of time, then there would be nothing to lose by ending aging." One by one men ask their questions, Roland fiddles around in his pocket, finding a bullet that has apparently split from its shell. He gives it an amused smile. The questioners continue until at last Roland stands and comes forth. The wise man smiles "Ah are newest member, what brings what wisdom do you bring? after a moment Roland replies "The wisdom I bring is that of the Historian, tragically as it seems my wisdom is forbidden here, but my question does not have anything to do with history. I have been mulling this question for a great while, since... since a dear friend posed it to me. Is it possible to leave Hell through divine redemption?" The room goes silent. The wise man looks at Roland with a patient look on his face. "Ah our newest resident. Such questions have been posed before, since it is not possible to know divine intention, one must look to empiric observation. Given the sheer scale of Hell and the odds of such a thing being noticed over such a long period of time. And since a thing has not been observed, we can conclude that the odds of such a thing occurring are monumentally small. Any student of wisdom could see this." Roland smirks "Any student of wisdom." he says. Roland pulls out the bullet and the bullet casing. And holds them at equal height. "the speed at which two identically shaped objects sink or fall is directly proportional to their weights and inversely proportional to the density of the medium through which they move." He drops both the lead bullet and the empty bullet casing. They hit the ground at the same time. Roland walks off the stage. As he rounds the corner, he mutters to himself. "My contract is fulfilled."

Scene 7:

Roland walks out of the conference hall at a quick stride. He wanders the halls and looks around at people. He looks at the faded 'Cerberus Munitions' patch that was on his clothes. He buries his face in his hands. And whispers to himself. "I need to get out of here. I need to get back to Dis." He looks out at the passing crowd of people. A slight bookish looking man with a bulging nose and glasses approaches him. He looks at Roland awkwardly. "Ex... Excuse me." Roland looks up at him. "Yes?" The man clears his throat again. "You are the one that arrived from the lower circles, correct?" Roland slowly nods. "Yes..." the man continues. "And you identified yourself as a historian." Roland sensing where this is going cautiously replies... "yes..." The man stutters then starts again. "I was a leader once. Of a great nation. And despite my best efforts we got embroiled in a terrible war. As the war came to an end in our favor I began to argue to my nation and our allies to form a league to ensure that such a war never happened again. Our allies were convinced and the league was formed, but many in my nation argued against it, but I kept fighting for it. I died fighting for it. I have to know; did they ever join?" Roland takes a deep breath. He looks at the man. "I know you." he looks down and says. "No, they never joined the league. And yes. There was another war." The man's face grows angry How many!? How many died!?" Roland looks down. Roland's voice stays dour. "Best estimates... eighty-five million." The man's face turns to utter shock. "eig... eig... eighty-five MILLION!" Roland looks down. The man slumps against the wall in utter shock. "All for nothing." He whispers. "All for nothing." He slowly begins to get up. "And after that..." Roland says simply. The man slowly turns around "The United States formed another league. Another eighty years passed, through good times and bad and still there was not a third war." A dim smile comes to the man's face. "and all it took was eighty-five million dead." Roland is grim. The man gains some composure. "I asked and you answered. Thank you." The man gets up to leave. Roland turns around. "I could use a favor as well." He turns to him eyebrows raised. "I want to bust out of here." The man laughs "you want to get out of here?" He turns to walk away. "Half the place would be on you, and after you insulted the grand sage at the meeting. Sorry but you're making too many enemies." Roland stares back at him. "I'm trying to change something." He says in a voice so low that it can barely be heard. The man stops. And slowly turns around. After a moment he sighs "I have an idea." he says.

Scene 8:

Roland and the bespectacled man walk into a hangar. Roland looks up at him. "So, what's this idea of yours?" the man looks at him and guides him through a narrow hallway. "It could not be ignored by the entirety of New Akademos that should anyone from Dis ever find out about this place, we would almost certainly be facing at best a siege that ended in our subjugation, and at worst endless warfare and inevitable destruction. Between the technology and the lack of eldritch knocking at our door. There is no shortage of motivation to want to attack, loot and occupy the city. The mists of Limbo could only provide so effective a defense." Roland nods "Hence the prohibition on leaving." The man palms a door and they walk into a quiet room guarded by soldiers in high-tech gear. The man in glasses puts his palm on a keypad and it opens, allowing them access. "Hence the prohibition on leaving." he confirms. They walk past monitoring stations. Roland notes a sonar readout of the whole of Hell. Beeping dots mark the location of several eldritch being tracked across the various circles. The man in glasses continues "Some of the technology of New Akademos was invented here, but much of it, especially recently was nicked from the living world." They walk into what looks like an aircraft hangar. "Many contingencies have been prepared for." the man in glasses says. Lights go on to reveal... an aircraft that looks like it was made in the 1980's. The Greek word 'Ικάρος' is written on its underside. Roland pauses before saying. "Ummm that looks almost identical to an American f-15 Eagle." The man says in a subdued voice "Look ancient wisdom doesn't say a lot about aviation design ok, we had to work with what we could get our hands on." he gestures to a series of booths with odd glass domes on them. "Flight simulators." he says. "Spend a few days in these and you should be ready to fly all the way to Dis." Roland eyes the aircraft. "That explains how I am going to get back to Dis, but how am I to escape the city itself?" The man walks him to the flight simulators. "One week from today, I will sound an emergency alarm. That will open the hangar doors for a defensive intercept launch. When that happens, everyone will hurry to their muster stations. You will by then..." he gestures at the flight simulators. "...have learned everything you need to know about flying this thing." You will have a pilot's uniform and a helmet. By the time they realize there is not an emergency. You should be half way to Dis. Roland looks at the man. "What about you?" He gives Roland a sad smile. "Don't worry about me." I'll deal with it.

Scene 9:

The lights come on throughout the city to indicate that it is daytime. Roland walks out of the shower to notice that a pilot's jumpsuit has been neatly lain on his dresser. He smiles and tucks it away in his closet. He finishes dressing and exits the apartment. The bespectacled man is waiting in the hallway in the typical Greek robes of the city. "What are they having you do while you are here?" he asks. Roland pauses and follows the man. "Archival work. It's very dull, but just perfect for a newcomer who's 'still adjusting to the way things are here'" he quotes. The bespectacled man gives an amused smile "plus it is perfect for a man who might not be the most trustworthy." Roland smiles, "Yes, that had occurred to me." The bespectacled man frowns. "Answer me a question, why did you insult the grand sage at the weekly debate?" Roland sighs "Because... Because... I was charged with finding out his opinion on something, that I did. When I got my answer, I was... unsatisfied with it and was determined not to let him have the last word on a matter I deemed wrong. My insult wasn't just personal, it was a reminder of just how much damage false wisdom can do." The bespectacled man smiles and changes tack. "How's the flight training going?" Roland looks deadpan. "Good as it will ever be. I can take off and land and fly at any cruising speed that the craft is capable of. How's the preparations for in-flight munitions." The bespectacled man purses his lips. "Also ready. All the hardpoints will be loaded with chaff and flares, even the bombs have been replaced with countermeasures. I know how to open the hangar gates. Whatever you do don't fly too high or heaven's point defense system will shoot you down." Roland pauses. "I can tell you from experience that you can't fly too low, or the A.D. system around Dis will shoot you down as well." The bespectacled man smiles. "Fitting giving its namesake don't you think?" Roland frowns. "I never liked the tale of Icarus." The bespectacled man leans in intrigued. "Oh, and why not?" Roland looks distant. "The moral. What kind of lesson is that? never fly high. Always fly along the altitudes safest, how else are we to know are limits, how else are we to know how to break them." The bespectacled man sits back. "Roland, he laughs, I can't decide if you belong here, or would never fit in." Roland looks down, "Me neither," he says, "Me neither." Roland gets up. "To tomorrow! Whatever it may bring." "To tomorrow." the man nods.

Scene 10:

Roland sits in grey robes facing the mirror. He looks out of the window of his apartment onto the indoor park. He puts his hand up to his neck and checks his pulse. It's racing. He takes a deep breath and tries to relax. "You got this, you got this." There is a knock at his door. He pauses and opens it. Two guards are at the door with a security chief. Roland looks nervous. He subtly closes the closet door with his pilot's jumpsuit visible with his foot. "Mr. Von-Braun." Roland tries to not look nervous. "Yes, officer how can I help you?" He pauses a moment, then recovers his cool. The officer invites him into the hallway. "We have had a problem concerning security in hangar 7G. A figure that looks like you was seen on security recordings entering what appear to be flight simulators. Care to explain?" Roland's eyes dart around nervously it is clear that they are walking to the security office, and not staying at his apartment. "Of course. I have had an interest in aviation for some time. I asked a friend if it would be alright if I used the flight simulators, He said it would be unorthodox, but didn't think it would be a problem." The officer frowns. "Are you aware that you are in violation of..." Alarms start going off all throughout the city. A mechanical voice drones "This is not a drill. This is not a drill." Roland stays in character "Scheiße! What is that?" The officers panic slightly. "All personnel to alert stations all personnel to alert stations." they get caught up trying to direct the frantic citizens. Roland gets a panicked grin on his face briefly and fades back and begins running down a hallway with a sign marked "Monitoring and aviation." He stops suddenly and mutters to himself "The jumpsuit!" he runs back to his apartment and frantically puts on the pilot's jumpsuit. Before running to the hangar. He sprints through the door past the guards who are all trying to figure out what's going on. He walks into the hangar to find The man in glasses waiting for him. He speaks in a panicked tone. "We don't have much time." Roland climbs into the cockpit and begins starting the engines. The man in glasses walks over to a panel on the wall and pulls a lever the hangar launch doors start to open with agonizingly slow speed. The fighter is linked to a launch rail that will presumably fire the jet right out of the hangar at combat speeds rather leave them vulnerable to a slow take-off. Roland begins pre-flight launch checks. "Fuel looks good. All ailerons are operating properly. Munitions... ah perfect just as you said. Enough flares to light Tartarus ablaze. I think we can..." A voice enters the hangar. "I... have existed for a very long time. I have been here for the great harrowing; I have spoken to Dante when his great journey began. I have watched as overlords in Dis rose and fell. In all that time did you think I would leave this city without knowing what went on from within?" The philosopher king enters flanked by guards, including the two that tried to arrest him earlier. Roland looks at the still opening hangar doors just outside of the philosopher king's view. The bespectacled man slowly backs away and gives Roland a hand signal. Roland slowly turns on the fighter engine. "The city comes before all else, those who would see the city at risk cannot be allowed to continue to do so." The philosopher king does not notice the hangar doors still opening. "When a man decides that his own needs are worth more than the collective..." Roland flips thrust nozzle on the F-15. "Steps must be made to..." a light comes on in the fighter cockpit Roland's finger hovers over a button that says 'afterburners.' the bespectacled man comes to a wall panel that reads 'explosive bolts' "...see to it that wisdom flows from their example." the philosopher king steps forward to see the hangar doors opening, his eyes widen as he realizes what is about to happen. The hangar doors finally finish opening to reveal one final hatch labelled 'danger vacuum sealed' The bespectacled man slams down on the 'explosive bolts' button and the final door blows open. Roland slams the 'afterburners' button and the F-15 rockets forward belching a huge trail of flame behind it as it accelerates at a mad speed and flies out of the hangar. The bespectacled man starts laughing and looks at the philosopher kings astonished face. He looks him dead in the eyes. "He got away." The guards surround to arrest him, but he keeps laughing.

Scene 11:

Roland blasts over the black mists of Limbo at high speed. Alarms from radar keep going off all throughout the cockpit. Roland keeps laughing in sheer euphoria as he screeches over the mist. Behind him missiles from the city lock onto his craft and fire. Roland hits one of the countermeasure buttons on the aircraft and chaff and flares fall away from one of the countermeasure pods. The missile falls away chasing the falling flares. A second missile comes up on the craft, but again Roland releases another pod. This one hits the metal shrapnel of the chaff and explodes in midair. Roland spots the cliff marking the drop point into the second circle and dives rapidly, narrowly missing the cliff face as he flies deeper into Hell. He guns his way over the windy now empty corridor of the second circle, and gives a manic jam on the thrusters. At the sight of a large crater where the singularity bomb went off. He gives a small salute at it and then drops further, over the third circle. A bunch of men wearing tattered twisted cross uniforms marching solemnly across the swamplands look up and boo and curse at the passing aircraft. The Jet fighter's arc moves across the sky until it drops even further into the fourth circle. In Deadtooth Mesa, a man looks out over the horizon as he sees the fighter plumet towards the safe zone between heaven's point defense and the spires that dot the circle. He laughs and gives the rogue fighter an enthusiastic salute. In Bloodywine gulch a radar operator points to a screen at an object moving at incredible speeds. He barks an order and several guards scream to activate the defense network. SAMs fire. Alarms start going off alerting Roland of the incoming missiles. He begins to dance and weave in midair as he dodges the first few missiles. He passes the Bloodywine radio tower itself and a second salvo of missiles catch his tail. Roland looks panicked, but then eyes the point defense pentagram that keeps damned souls from leaving Hell and laughs. "Icarus flies again!" he screams to the heavens and fires off half the chaff and flair supply and climbs until he's skimming the pentagram. With a mad grin he climbs ever so slightly higher and allows the missiles to chase him. A thousand beams of light pour down from the heaven orb shooting down at the chaff fragments. The missiles get caught as well, but for millisecond Roland is above the point defense screen. He howls with delight and dives back into the safe zone below. The jets on the fighter flare as he keeps accelerating and his speedometer keeps ticking up. 998, KPH 999, KPH 1000 KPH. Roland eyes the canyon between the fourth and fifth circles and dives until he is just flying over the treetops of the forest of suicides. 1201 KPH, 1202 KPH... a bubble of air begins to form in front of the craft Roland smiles at a little indicator under the speedometer reads M .99. 1233 KPH... 1234 KPH an enormous boom is heard as the aircraft breaks the sound barrier. The shockwave from the aircraft shatters trees. Huge numbers of souls formerly trapped in bark begin running towards Dis, if only for a moment. The bloody men and women all run for a minute before the bark encapsulates them again, a few key meters closer to the city. Roland smiles then pulls up out of the trench and over the fifth circle. In the fifth circle desert a bunch of smugglers here a loud bang and look up to see the F -15 fly overhead. They wave at it, jauntily. Roland looks at the glimmer of the river Styx before continuing to fly west. At a slight bend in the river a dilapidated factory can be seen. Dis shines bright ahead of him the wall towering around the city. The damage from the eldritch attack is being repaired as scaffolding is shown along the cracks where it bashed the wall. Cranes are lined up where the artillery gun was destroyed as the gun is evidently being replaced. Inside personnel point to radar screens and yet more SAMs are launched at the rogue aircraft. Flak cannons start firing as well. Roland cracks his knuckles and begins to fly low, clearing the wall. He lets out another couple of countermeasures and rams on the throttle accelerating to Mach 1.4. Citizens of Dis take cover at the screeching sound Anti-Air fire and the deafening sonic boom. Roland eyes the glimmering fortress of Pandemonium rapidly approaching as more SAMs appear on his on-board radar. He lets out one last joyous cackle before pulling a lever labelled 'eject' He is catapulted out of the aircraft by the ejector seat, the fighter jet is destroyed by the missiles above him. Parachutes deploy and he drifts gently down to the ground. He laughs stands up and looks around him. He says "I sung of Chaos and Eternal Night, taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down the dark descent, and up to reascend." He stands and walks off.

Epilogue:

Scene 12:

A couple of guards roughly push him into the office penthouse at the top of Pandemonium. Roland looks about the familiar room and at the figure in the top hat that stands at the end of it looking out the fine window overlooking the city. Without turning around Lucifer gives a heavy sigh. "Roland." Roland looks sheepish "...sir?" Lucifer keeps looking out over the city. "Roland being who I am and doing what I do, rarely do I ever have to say the phrase. 'What the hell?'" Roland looks down but doesn't speak. Lucifer continues. "My first 'what the hell' was going to be about the Eldritch attack on the eastern wall. You ought to know that in the event of such an emergency the correct response would be, oh I don't know CONTACT ME!" He yells these last two words, unmistakable anger in his voice. "Or at least someone with the clearance to deal with such a threat! For the sake of all that's unholy you were there for the crimson sunrise breach! I would have thought you of all people would have been the first to understand the gravity of the situation and call for help! Instead, you go on this mad attempt to bring the thing down yourself!" Roland mutters in a small voice "It worked. Didn't it I did bring the thing down myself?" Lucifer looks up at him angrily, "BY SHEER DUMB LUCK IT WORKED!" Lucifer takes a deep breath and calms down then starts again. "My second 'What the hell?' was regarding the Edritch matriarch in the second circle." ...there is a long pause. "Roland, I am known by many names. Satan, Old Scratch, The Prince of Lies, some even confuse Beelzebub for me. But my favorite has always been Lucifer. Literally it means 'light-bringer' but it is a reference to me as the Morningstar. It is a reminder that for all the suffering all the pain, for one brief glorious moment as I fell, I was brighter than all those who stayed behind. On the morning of December 29th, 2019 that title was challenged, though sycophants assure me not exceeded, by an explosion so bright I am told that had it made its way into space. It would have been visible from *half-a-lightyear* away with the naked eye!" Roland sits quiet a moment before saying simply, "Technically sir you approved it thirty years ago as a part of the Vitruvian project. All I did was detonate the bomb." Lucifer smirks. "Further investigation also finds that Freeman and her team had rather exceeded the mandate I gave them in the pursuit of their goal. Though it seems that you had genuinely been unaware of the full extent of the project until you logged onto their systems for the first time on the 28th of December." He puts his hands to his nose. "Roland for my sake, please log out of classified computers when you are done with them, by the way." Rolland keeps looking down. "Has there been any sign of the matriarch again?" Lucifer in a deadpan voice says simply "No there has not and we will not be discussing it further." The finality in his voice does not invite further comment. "My third and final 'What the hell?' comes from what was found under your factory." Roland freezes, before he had looked awkward, now he looks scared. "I was not nearly so shocked as I thought I would be by its contents. I was convinced that these works were smuggled. Imagine my surprise when Nick informed me that they were *printed* in your factory." In a surprisingly casual voice he mutters. "I thought I knew you." Roland puts on a forced smile. "I stand by the taboo, but the scholar in me couldn't let true knowledge be lost, plus I found that move on, sometimes people need... closure." Lucifer smirks. "I will let the public deal with these matters... as I always have..." There is no mistaking the danger in his voice. Despite this Roland relaxes. "Following the, for lack of a better term, 'event' in the second circle I dispatched a team to try to debrief you on the situation, figuring that it was more important than that little favor you set out to do for me. I expected to find you at one of the shelters along the second circle overwatch ridge, per the protocol from Vitruvian. You weren't there." He lets the statement sink in. Roland finally begins to defend himself at this. "I thought the nearest practical shelter was at the Umbra Crags on the far end. I had hoped to reach there before the purge. I almost did." Lucifer looks up at this caught off guard for the first time in the conversation. "Almost." Roland goes quiet "I didn't quite make it. Henri had to defend me from the exterminators He... He fought them off, but he didn't quite make it himself." Lucifer goes silent at this. "I'm... I'm sorry to hear that." After another pause "Did you complete your mission." Roland looks him dead in the eye. "I did. The sages of New Akademos, the Philosopher king himself actually, confirm that theologically speaking the ability to escape Hell via redemption would be contrary to its purpose. That logically speaking it would be contrary to the nature of Hell as we understand it, and that Empirically speaking if such a thing were possible it should have already have been observed over the long history of Hell." Lucifer smiles. "Then your contract is almost done then." Roland frowns. "almost done then." Lucifer looks at him "Don't tell me you've forgotten the final step. You have to tell Charlie and try to convince her to be done with this madness. You're already behind in this regard. The hotel opened ten days ago, though I understand it hasn't had much attendance after a disastrous TV opening." He smirks. "Maybe you could go tell her to go put an end to this so we can all move on." Roland gets up "I will. And my factory?" Lucifer sighs. "After you faced the impossible and still came through on our arrangement it would be bad for my reputation..." he smirks "...as a deal maker, for me not to come through on my end. Your factory will be rebuilt more or less as it was by the end of the month." He gives an evil smile. "You should know Roland, I work fast." Roland gives a satisfied nod and gets up he takes a look at the mirror in corner and looks into it. A puzzled look comes over his face but the reflection is out of view. He nods at Lucifer a moment and walks out. Lucifer looks at a portrait on his desk of Lilith. In a quiet tone he hums to himself. "Of all the angels of Hell, it was for her that I fell, oh Lily." He gets up and looks in the mirror himself seeing a corrupted but beautiful angel in it. He gives a sad smile and follows Roland out.

Scene 13:

Roland walks out of the Penthouse with Lucifer escorted by a squad of guards. At the end of the hallway is a figure in black and yellow silk robes. Scowling at Roland. Roland puts on a wry smile, "Hey Nick." Nick's frown gets deeper. "Roland." Roland keeps his smug smile as he tries to march alongside the guards with dignity rather than be manhandled by them. "How's work been, everyone?" Lucifer lets out a dry laugh. "Work for us for the last few months has been cleaning up after your insane antics. From cleaning up in the aftermath of the near breach of the eastern wall, to trying to deal with the raiders in Bloodywine, to investigating the explosion in the second circle. To attempting to get engineers together that were capable of rebuilding your factory." Roland catches this last bit. "Wait, you were already rebuilding the factory even before I got back?" at this. Lucifer's voice turns from dry to sour. "Yes and it was I who found your little library beneath the second storefront. Interesting reading, 'How the Roman empire fell'..." at this Nick's face twitches but he says nothing. "...'A complete history of the Holy Roman Empire', 'The rise of modern Japan.'" Roland walks along the corridor in and says in a sheepish tone "I like to think that if all men had done as did and taught history properly the taboo would not be a necessity." Lucifer scoffs at this. "Roland you are too cute, you know that. And not nearly that naïve as well. You are playing with fire; I will leave it at that." They enter a long hallway right outside the lobby of Pandemonium. Lucifer says in a jaunty tone. "Well Roland, I will see you at the Agents' briefing at the end of the month. It promises to be a delightful update, you have the starring role." Roland mutters in a sarcastic tone "Lovely." Roland looks back at Nick and Lucifer. "Are there any more questions my lords?" Lucifer waves a dismissive hand and enters the elevator. Roland turns around to leave, he walks across the massive corridor in silence but before he can go entirely Nick blurts out in a desperate voice. "How's Florence!?" The guards stare agape. Roland slowly turns around and stares in shock. Nick begins to stutter "I... I... mean." Roland slowly says a slight smile coming over his face. "People still come to see the Cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore. Even after six hundred years, its dome still dominates the great skyline. People pour in from all over the world to see the city where Leonardo Da Vinci painted the greatest works ever made and to marvel at some of the greatest architecture ever built. The city has had good times and bad. Inevitably, the Medici fell, as powerful families always eventually do and the city, and Italy, faced poverty. But it wore on through princes and dictators until the good times returned. It is a republic now, a part of a united Italy Itself a part of a united Europe. For the first time since Rome fell Europe is both united and at peace. Florence is a rich city again, but its prosperity is not fueled by banking or the Amber trade, but by all those who come to see it. Who come to see where the great artists and philosophers gave Europe a rebirth. And they come to see the city of Niccolò Machiavelli, for no one who studies politics can consider their education complete until they debate where it is safer to be feared or loved, if one cannot be both." Nick looks at Roland in utter silence, tears in his eyes. Slowly he unbuttons the top gold button of his jacket and throws it at Roland. Roland catches it without a word. He turns and leaves Pandemonium.

Scene 14:

Roland stands at the entrance to the 'Happy Hotel'. He takes a deep breath and walks in. The place is dusty but nonetheless looks lived in and partially cleaned. A grumpy looking cat sits at the bar Roland starts walking through the hallway until a figure in a red suit approaches him. Roland stops and stares in surprise. "A... Alastor...?" The radio demon's head does a 290 degree turn as he walks by Roland. A fierce smile coming over his face. "Roland. Funny running into you here." he says point blank his voice crackling with radio static. Roland swallows but Alastor keeps walking. A voice rings out from a doorway. "You know him?" Roland looks over to see a small cyclops in a maid's outfit cleaning. "Ah yes." Roland pauses a moment as if he is trying to remember her name. He gives up. "And you are." She nods and gives a cute curtsy. "Misty" He answers her question. "We have... encountered each other a few times in the past. I stay out of his way, and he stays out of my Lord's. Speaking of, I need to talk to Charlie. In private." Misty looks skeptical a moment but then gives a friendly smile. "She's in her room upstairs." Roland smiles and nods. "Thank you." Roland walks into the upstairs room and knocks. Charlie sits looking down but gives a slight smile to Roland. "Roland." She says "To what do I owe the pleasure. How's Henri." Roland takes a deep breath then gives her a grim smile. "I come bringing news. About four months ago your father asked me to dissuade you of the notion of all this by going to Limbo and asking the sages of New Akademos themselves about the question of redemption." She looks at him with a sad face. "He... he did." Roland continues. "Yes he did, I spoke to them and they made it clear that they think it is impossible." Her face falls and she is about to say something. "I don't ca..." He grabs her hands. "And they're wrong." She looks him in the eyes. "We were caught out on the eastern edge on the night of the last purge. I was prepared to go down fighting, but Henri... Henri... he fought them. He won. And before he could be struck down he... he... ascended. I saw it happen." Charlie looks at Roland, her voice hopeful. "Do you have any proof?" Roland gives her a wry look. "No. You are just going to have to have faith in me." she slowly looks up at him, then smiles. "Thank you." Roland looks at her and says in a dangerous tone. Charlie, if... when word gets out that this thing works, It won't be a joke anymore, it will be a problem in people's eyes. A threat. I just want you to know that... that... my place is always open to you if you need it." Roland turns to leave. "Roland." she says and he turns. "So's mine." He gives her a grim smile, turns and leaves.

Scene 15:

Roland walks down the hall and comes to the cat tending bar. "I would like to talk to Vaggie." The cat looks up and in a gruff voice says. "She's stewing in the back avoiding Alastor." Roland nods at him and mutters "Understandable." he comes into the back kitchen to see Vaggie sitting in a chair, chopping onions with a spear and looking peeved. Vaggie turns around to see him and brandishes her spear at him. "YOU!" she says with a start. "I don't know what her father sent you here for, but you stay away from Charlie. She and you are through." Roland stays back "I come offering help." She looks firm "We don't need your help." he steps forward. She tenses. She lunges at him with her spear. With one swift movement he disarms her with his saber, her spear clattering across the floor. She raises her hands but he grabs them. "Listen to me." He says holding he says holding her up by the wrists. "At the moment the hotel is a nice, safe joke. As long as the Hell finds the idea of redemption hilarious, they won't bring out the pitchforks and torches. The moment Charlie has any kind of success that will change." Vaggie struggles against him. "What do you care." She spits out. Roland holds firm. "I care a lot. Listen to me. As a five-year-old boy on a broken leg, I walked through a forest so littered with the corpses of dead schismatics that my parents were never found within. When I was 19, I watched hundred-year-old churches burn in wrathful vengeance to people who barley even knew why they were burning them. When I was 29, I sat and watched as people murdered their neighbors whom they hadn't even the slightest inkling of hostility to the day before, simply because they were told that the Dutch were a threat and that said neighbors looked Dutch. This was all before I died. Do you know what I did after I died? I spent 200 years as a mercenary watching every messed up military campaign of the past two centuries before I started making and selling guns and, oh yeah, working for Lucifer himself. I know every messed up backwards inkling that lurks in the dark hearts of men. They will tear Charlie apart if they think they can get away with it. Lucifer's patience with Charlie is fading fast. There are maybe two people on this whole blasted plane of existence that truly cares about Charlie for her own sake. You're one of them. Vaggie stops struggling against Roland, but he doesn't let go. She struggles against his grasp "What do you want from me?" Roland doesn't miss a beat. "Be with her. When the time comes and all seems lost don't abandon her like everyone else in her life has. Even if it means your end to those... animals out there. She gawks at him. "What good ever came of letting yourself get... crucified for a bunch of low-down filthy... sinners!?" Roland stares at her in silence a moment. After a second, she realizes what she said and relents. He lets go of her. "Fine." she says. He nods and leaves.

Scene 16:

Roland walks into a small shop for the first time in the series back in his formal outfit instead of body armor, though he's still carrying a rifle on his back and two pistols and a saber at his sides. The store's walls are lined with menacing looking sewing equipment and cloth. He walks up to a bord looking Mantis demon shopkeeper brandishing an object that blurs the line between sewing needle and stiletto, sewing rude words into a black flag. Roland looks around him "I would like to buy Red, yellow, green, blue and black string please. The woman doesn't look up from her sewing. "Colored cloth is in the back deer." she says. Roland nods and thanks her. He finds the items and struggles to pick them all up. He eyes a sewing machine and sighs. "I'll take that too. He says." The woman looks up at him "Sure thing dea..." She balks at him and his heavily armed form. "You! You're that demon who shot up the Ancient district bridge!" Roland pauses for a moment. "Oh that." He says "Well when punks start pushing you around you gotta show 'em who's boss." She shrinks slightly but nonetheless asks "You're buying sewing gear?" Roland pays for the items. "What can I say, everyone needs a hobby." he leaves the store and walks to a mostly finished factory. He goes inside to a small room with a flag of Lucifer over the bed and a workbench against the wall. and sighs. Slowly he starts up the sewing machine a needle comes down and stabs his finger. "Ow." he mutters before starting again. The light coming through the window grows long, but after a bit he has three rectangular pieces of cloth one red one blue and one black. "Easy one first." Roland mutters. and picks up the yellow yarn and the red cloth. Slowly but surely, he starts sewing a hammer and sickle into the red one. Hours later he hears a knock on the door. He looks over to see the flags mostly complete. He kicks them under the workbench. A cerberus munitions trooper stands at the door. "Sir, we are ready to start up the assembly lines again." Roland nods and walks out with the man. He closes the door. Hours later he comes back to the flags and sneaks out into the night. On the bedtable there is a small glass box with a gold button inside it. Beneath the box there is a plaque with an inscription. "Proof that Nicolo Machiavelli has love in his heart and not fear." Roland walks down the dark streets and comes to a small yard with headstones carved into them with the sigil of the exterminators on each one. Three headstones lay there along with three ornately wooden coffins. Roland picks up one of the pieces of cloth which is revealed to be a South African flag and drapes it over the coffin. He struggles to say something meaningful. After a moment he starts speaking to the empty lot. "Amber..." he says. "When I hired you, I expected a cashier. I didn't think you would last one day beyond Dis' wall. With one exception you went above and beyond anyone I have ever employed. We will never know how many people will be saved by the matriarch's absence. But they will be saved. Thank you." he lays the South African flag over the coffin, picks up the box and lowers it with as much gentleness he can manage into the ground. The headstone reads 'Amber Dlamini.' He turns to the next coffin. "Alaxand... Alaxander. For years you and I knew each other only from across a bar table. If in all that time I had guessed what you were really capable of You would have changed Hell with me. You'd have seen to it. As it is. You changed it all the same." He holds back tears and closes the coffin which is shown to be full of currency. The headstone reads 'Alexander Petrov.' He lays the Soviet flag over this coffin. He comes to the third coffin and looks at it. After a long pause he looks up at the heavens and lays the massive coffin against the wall. He looks up at the heaven orb "No... No here in Hell we hold the final funeral for those who are truly gone. You are still out there, old friend. I know it." He puts the blue flag with the fleur du lis of the Kingdom of France back into his bag. He starts to dig. After several hours, just as daylight is starting to break, he finishes the two graves and walks off.

Scene 17:

Roland walks into a familiar looking bar. The bartender looks up and raises his eyebrows. Roland looks briefly at the seat where Alexandra sat in the corner months earlier. He looks around nervously and spots two scantily clad women in against the bar. One is chatting to the other while the other sits and listens. "I'm telling you B, it's all in the artillery. Modern warfare is only about infantry when both sides can't afford the heavy guns. Any strategist worth their weight in salt would never invest in an all-infantry division, especially across open ground. The Showmakers just didn't get that. It would have been so cool to see whole blocks get blown apart in moving formation rather than looking at Hotee McHotface shoot a gun in random directions for thirty minutes..." Roland nervously walks up to the duo and coughs. "Hello, ummm my name is Roland. Roland Von-Braun are you um... Glitz?" The girl who had been on about the strategic value of artillery earlier squeals. "Eeee. I hoped you'd talk to me. I've seen you come in here for years and you never so much as spoke to me." Roland looks extremely awkward. "You come recommended" he says simply. He holds out a wad of bills. An evil smile comes over her face "Alexandra! She's not the cold fish that she pretends to be you know, once when she was only a little drunk, she went on and on about how she wishes she could save people without shooting them, then she went on about how she wanted to make people happy by playing the piano. Then she mentioned something about being a man, but she had gotten pretty drunk by that point. How is she?" Roland looks down. "She... she didn't make it through the last purge." Glitz's face goes blank at this. "I'm sorry to hear that, I always thought she deserved better." Roland gives a grim nod. "That... That seems to be the consensus." They begin to make their way up to the upper levels of the bar towards Glitz's room. After an awkward moment Roland says "You're right about artillery most commanders focus way too heavily on infantry formations. When you look at the casualty numbers you can see that more often than not its artillery that wins the day." She perks right up at this. I know! No one ever wants to talk about guns with me! They think its unladylike." She laughs "As if I didn't make my money by being ladylike" she does a faux sexy swoon. They enter her room. I can also play the harp. She says enthusiastically. She goes over to a large harp in the corner and begins to play. Roland sits in a chair and leans back listening to the music. He mutters in a sleepy voice "Music sounds almost familiar somehow." His eyes go wide as he flashes back to a white cloudy top with pearly gates swinging wide for him. He stands uncorrupted and looks similar to how he looked in London. He stares into the kingdom beyond the gates and his eyes ignite into their signature blue glow. He looks at a man in a white robe smiling at him and frowns. Slowly he turns away and walks out and down corruption spreading over his body. He walks off of the edge of the cloud down into the inferno below. Roland pops back to reality. "Oh." Roland says out loud. "Oh, the things we humans do to each other." Glitz smiles and struts over to him. He shuts the door.