PART THE SECOND: The Lady Appears
Slowly the universe twisted and was teased apart at the seams by magics older than man and Amanda Sefton stepped back into the world that had once been her own. Her silver armour glinted strangely in the darkness of the church. She rolled her neck upon her shoulders, desperately trying to get some feeling back into her stiff muscles and throwing blades of light off from her horned helm as she did so. Transdimensional travel was not at all good on the muscles. For every single trip between the myriad realms of reality was akin to running a marathon as the universe struggled to accommodate what shouldn't be there at all. This world, our world, was brighter than Limbo, more vigorous and more youthful. Yet Amanda did not notice it here. Everything seemed surprisingly old and a pure malevolence oozed slowly from the dry stones of the church. It seemed all too clear that the church was currently unoccupied, the mere presence of life should have driven the darkest of shadows away. For a moment, Magik considered whether a pack of lesser demons might have made it their home such was the tangible sense of despair and decay. It is good that she did, as otherwise she would have gone to coax a door open and catch a cab to Westchester to find him whom she did seek. Instead her eyes swept around the room and she adopted a fighting stance ready to wield that eldritch blade that was at once her gift and her curse. Only then did her eyes see the bundle huddled in front of the altar.
It seemed that the bundle was whither all the dark energies in the room led, and this was confirmed as the Lady Magik murmured a conjuration to enable her to see the ley lines within the immense hall. But there was something oddly familiar about the aura about the bundle, and as she drew closer her hand unconsciously slipped away from the dark sword upon her hip. And in the twilight darkness beneath the highest tower of the church, her breath caught in her throat and she was Amanda Sefton once more. She had caught sight of the indigo face of her dear friend, ally, and occasional lover, Kurt Wagner and had recoiled in horror at the torment etched into his features. She knelt down closer and brushed his long hair out of his eyes, only to see the red trickle of blood running down his face and onto the rich green of his surplice. It looked like some terrible jewel decorating an otherwise handsome, if unusual, face. As Amanda's eyes better adjusted to the gloom they picked out the deep scratches about his ears and, unbidden, glanced down at his still clenched hands and the blood trapped beneath his nails.
Then the silence was broken, as her voice rang out in the vaulted chamber, "Dear God, Elf, Liebchen, what has happened to you? What torments you? This place can't help, there is something wrong, something bad and twisted, about this place," and then she drew herself up and unsheaved her magical blade, "Soulsword, a stepping disk, please, two to Limbo."
There was a nimbus of light upon the floor that slowly grew around them and then they were gone. The Lady Magick had returned to her kingdom and she had taken the troubled young priest with her.