Alexandria waited for Merlin to say something. He'd demanded the entire story of Cauldron, their plans, even Her, Eidolon and Legend's entry into the plan. She couldn't recall the last time she'd spent so much time in a meeting.

Actually, that was a lie. It was right after the first appearance of Behemoth. A long, fruitful meeting that had come up with a number of ways to defeat the creature.

All of which had failed.

Merlin stared at his tea. "Have you ever heard the various legends of genies or deals with the devil?"

"That is what you think we are?" Doctor Mother asked.

"No," Merlin said. "The common failing in those stories is to assume that the wish granter is hostile. That the Devil somehow is interested in working your doom via playing on your wishes." Merlin snorted. "Idiocy. You can't sell a soul and the kind of people who would use a wish for evil reasons are already on their way to the nether realms. But, I suppose it's a good children's tale about being careful what you wish for."

He shook his head. "No, a wizard's main problem isn't hostility, it is the alien nature of some of the beings we treat with. Beings who cannot comprehend a physical existence, who understand good and evil in ways we don't. Beings who can be too literal in their interpretation of the order—and too energetic in carrying it out. It will be years before Fair Claire is skilled enough, mature enough, to treat with such beings, and even I only do so rarely."

"Beings like your power, Contessa." Merlin frowned. "Now, hear me out and answer this question. Let us say that you have an important meeting to get to at the end of the day."

"Yes," Contessa nodded.

"And then you wish to have a delightful lunch. Something you desire, but not so important… What happens to the first path you made?"

"It would be modified, but not to the point where it failed." Contessa shrugged. "If they were both incompatible, I would know."

"Yes. And the first path, the one with the greatest emotional impact, came from when you were…what, twelve?"

"Yes…"

"And asked Doctor Mother for guidance, and she suggested building an army. But you could not ask your power if building an army would be enough to defeat Scion. So here you are, building an army, every other path subordinated to that one goal. Even, I would expect, your paths to stabilizing the worlds have been twisted so they do not go against it." Merlin sighed. "You asked the wrong question."

"I do not see how we could find any other way to effectively fight Scion," Rebecca said.

"What makes you think I'm referring to fighting him? A hunter does not fight his prey. He traps them. He poisons them. He learns their mind so that he can predict their moves. He uses the power of his mind to compensate for the weakness of his body…" Merlin gestured at an image on the table, showing Scion's first recorded appearance. "Fair Claire saw—thousands, millions of species, many far more advanced than we are, destroyed. Their achievements incorporated into the next iteration. Do you think none of them thought to fight these beings with their own powers? No, I expect that literally every power, be it from Eden or Zion has its own weaknesses, weaknesses that Scion will know about and we will not."

"And your powers?" Alexandria asked. "They are unusual…"

"Mmmm… Unlikely, but possible." Merlin glanced over at Contessa. "But it would not solve the main issue, which is not this particular Entity, but all the Entities. We'd best try for a clean sweep."

We can't even defeat Scion and he's…

"That seems rather over optimistic," Doctor Mother said.

"Maybe not." Merlin smiled. "You see the Entities have no undying part. I do not ask that you fully believe me, but bear with me. They have no undying part, and yet they are terrified of the ending. They have done all of this, slaughtered all these species, in order to live and expand forever. But they cannot even comprehend of a spiritual immortality, and because of that, they are doomed to failure. The material universe will, unavoidably, end, and them with it." Merlin leaned back. "What do you think the mental impact would be of finding out that all their dreams are doomed to failure?"

"Some people are paralyzed with fear," Rebecca said. "Some lash out in anger."

"Aye." Merlin nodded. "And therin is their weakness. If we learn enough about their psychology, we can manipulate, first Scion, then all of them, into the mindset we need."

"And how are we going to show them this?" Doctor Mother asked.

"That's where magic comes in," Merlin said. "I have worked on sorceries and while traveling in time is normally forbidden—well, we can do little worse to this poor universal cluster. But it will require a great deal of work—a tunnel reaching 10^106 years into the future will be no small feat after all, and in the mean time, we must study the nature of the Entities powers and their own driving personalities."

"Ms. Nunez was able to read Scion…" Contessa said.

"Fair Claire caught a single glimpse of Scion and it was nearly enough to destroy her." Merlin shook his head. "No, we will have to find another way to learn of their personality, probably by using individual passengers, or…" he snapped his fingers. "Other routes. Given that the passengers also include the imprints of their dead species, it's possible that we might be able to find a personality within them, one that isn't overly pleased by the actions taken by the Entities."

"Very well," Rebecca said. "We'll continue on our own operations, but you have our full support, Merlin. Also as a cover, I'd like you to join the Triumvirate."

"As long as there is no PR. I do not play the fool for the crowd."

Later, when Rebecca was taking Merlin back to the Bay she stopped. "You said nothing about the Case 53s after we told you. Why not?"

"It is not the most terrible thing I have heard of, even if it's not exactly smart, given that we now have a ticking time-bomb within your very organization."

"And Mr. Lake?" Rebecca tilted her head. Jim Lake was a leader and she didn't expect he'd be pleased to hear about this.

"Why do you think I sent them out? Why do you think I didn't tell you to keep them from going to New Orleans? Right now, the Trollhunter is walking through flooded streets filled with the dead. He is picking up men, women, children who have lost everything. He may hold one as their life flees their body. When he finds out, I will ask him what price would he pay to stop that again, to purge the memories that I know will rise up and trouble his sleep for many years to come."

"Callous."

"I have walked in kingdoms where the king refused to sacrifice a single child, a single soldier, for the welfare of the kingdom. They were praised for their absolute morality and refusal to compromise. I have also walked through the ruins of those same kingdoms, full of the starving and dead, when those kings' inflexibility led them to their doom. I accept that you believed you had no choice, and at the start at least, attempted to only choose those who had no other choice, even if you were subconsciously unwilling to accept there would be any other choice."

"What?" Rebecca asked.

"My dear, you were fourteen, hooked up to machines, the beeping sound a countdown for your life. How many times did you watch the TV or look through the window, and hate those who didn't even think about their healthy bodies?"

Rebecca stared at Merlin, then with an act of will, relaxed her fist. "Quite a bit."

"So even if you died, even if you ended up without your memories, cast into a strange world… it wouldn't have been any worse, would it?"

"No."

"No. But you forgot that not everyone would have the same answer to that question. Well, it's done, though I will warn you—the Trollhunter will ask you a simple question."

"And that would be?"

"Once this ends, if we remain alive, would you submit yourself to judgment? Lose fame, honor, freedom? Or will you find another reason why you have to remain free to manipulate the world."

It is a test… Rebecca fortunately, knew the answer, and she didn't even have to lie. "So long as there is a humanity left to judge me. Yes. And the rest of Cauldron would as well."

"Well, My Dear, in that case, I think he will work with us. But remember, you will be held to that promise…"

With that, Rebecca nodded and started to show Merlin how to use the doors he now had authorization to summon.