The sensation of movement gripped me, and cool wind whipped about my body as I stepped through the Gate. Immediately, I intuitively knew that I had traveled a very far distance from Ix. Opening my eyes, I found myself staring at an ominously dark hall of obsidian lined with occasional blue torches. Elaborately carved wide pillars of shiny black swirling patterns reached for the high vaulted ceiling ten meters above. This cavernous room was at least the size of a football field, and my perspective told me that I had emerged at one of the far ends. Right now, I stood on the top platform of a risen dais three meters off the ground, and the spicy scent of incense swirled around me, likely from the sconce I had spied when viewing this position earlier. I turned, and as expected, I saw a sconce fastened to the wall next to the arch. Soft misty fingers of spicy, musky incense fell from the nearby sconce, filling the air with an exotic scent. It reminded me of an exceedingly metal interpretation of a Catholic church back home. The expected blue torches offered a dim ghostly ambiance to this vast space, and a peculiar exhilarating rush filled my physical and esoteric senses.
So, this is Molech. Huh...
I briefly closed my eyes, and opened my senses, psychically tasting my new location with Sight. The air in here was saturated with incredible power, and my soul trembled with it. Opening my eyes, I then knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that a Warp Gate was spilling Immaterial energy into the local area. Briefly stunned by the raw power surrounding this location, I decided to rest for a few moments to get my bearings.
"Hey, record this if you can, but stop if you've got a low battery," I whispered to Jiminy on my left shoulder. The mantis drone quietly beeped an acknowledgment with a flutter of his metal wings. This slight noise ended up echoing across the vast space.
On top of being close to a Gate to the Deep Warp, I also vaguely heard the low peal of a distant bell that softly echoed, and then, was silent. I turned my head, trying to place where I had heard the noise. Was that an alarm? I closed my eyes again, and strained my senses, searching for what I had just heard. Unfortunately, due to the psychic static suffusing area, I was unable to directly sense what I had heard. All that I could parse was that the bell was "far away." After opening my eyes again, I realized my effort had summoned my Corona into existence with a strange brightness. Undeterred, I continued to swing my psychic senses outward, trying to find the origin of the strange noise. Sadly, the magical nature of this hall steadfastly scrambled my attempts at accurately placing the bell's direction, but at the very least, I couldn't sense any human souls roaming around within any reasonable distance. This whole place felt very metaphysically loud, almost as if it was actually a beach house on the shore of the Great Ocean.
I wiped my bleeding nose on my sleeve and had a stretch before taking a drink of Suntory for bravery. Okay, best get on with it, I thought. Find the Warp Gate, see if the Wizard needs anything, then turn around and come back. That's it. Easy! I clambered down from the dais made of uncanny large steps, and onto the main floor. The sound of my steps seemed to be both muffled and sharpened in the strange atmosphere here.
First, I decided to calm my aura since it made me uncomfortably visible in this hall. Even though there was no one here, I would be as visible as a bonfire if anyone were to walk through this lonely location, and I didn't want any trouble. To my surprise, however, my Corona wouldn't dim.
Holding my hand out ahead of me, I noticed that my halo was lit all around my body instead of just my head and shoulders. A thin line of flickering gold light now entirely surrounded me. I continued trying to suppress my glow, but the weirdness of this location wouldn't allow it.
Jiminy, possibly feeling my efforts, buzzed and fluttered his metal wings on my left shoulder. I reached up to pet the mantis with my right hand. "Yeah, this place is weird, buddy. If you still have enough power, just try to record some of this for your master later."
The drone beeped again in acknowledgment.
Alright, I won't be here long. Time was passing here normally, so I couldn't mess around here, I reminded myself. At least the Warp Gate was obviously very close by, according to my senses. Closing my eyes, I pushed forward with my Sight as I began to hunt for the location that was spilling all this invisible energy into this reality.
Despite the psychic interference, I was easily able to understand where I should go, which was the direction where the "wind" was blowing from.
"Left..." I whispered. I began to quietly and quickly walk to the left wall of this huge space. Another tall arch opened to a dark hallway. As I approached the arch, I passed one of the black pillars. The pillar was carved with strange designs that I couldn't make out, and it glittered against the light of my Corona, which I still couldn't quench at all. As I passed the structure, I swore I saw something move and smile at me on the pillar's surface, almost like a smiling dragon or a daemon.
I stopped immediately and summoned my Sight to examine the carved designs of the pillar. They resembled uncanny striated patterns that set off my sense of pareidolia. After finding nothing supernatural, took another whisky drink. Honestly, I was probably just super jumpy and probably a little intoxicated. I passed through the arch and began walking down the dark hall, which was long, straight, and lit by more blue torches. This hall was also oddly familiar, as I remembered seeing something like it in my dream. While I couldn't see this scary hall's end, I trusted my senses when they told me that the Deep Warp Gate was near.
Magic and power whispered past me in a thickly potent wind, and barely-heard secrets scraped across my subconscious as I walked for a few minutes. The walls in this corridor were flat, black, and shiny, and I was able to see my glowing reflection. My psychic senses confirmed that this was the right place. The astral wind in here was constant, and the further I walked, it increased. It felt as if I was wading in the shallows of something terrible.
How the fuck did my life get this way, I wondered in both distress and excitement as I walked. I'm a loser nobody that gets poisoned somewhere and my soul gets nabbed and sent to one of the worst places to be isekai-ed to, but somehow, I'm supposed to be this universe's new Empress. Are you fucking kidding me? I'd never read this fanfic.
I tried to laugh, but then, my face did not respond. A sensation of mild disgust at my own cowardly thoughts began to rise up in me like bile, and then, I realized what was happening. And there's that whole mind control thing with the big eagle ship, too. Fuck, I was screwed if I didn't leave! Sure, I could be a new leader for humanity, but would I even be me anymore? And, if I managed to become a big space Empress, how long would it take before everything I built collapsed and I was imprisoned in a place of eternal torment? I reminded myself that there were absolutely zero happy endings in this universe and that even though my life was shitty back home, shitty living was better than eternal suffering!
I took a deep breath, now upset. Luckily, I had my bloodstone to stop any mind erosion, I thought happily, reaching into my pocket and...
...finding nothing. Oh, fantastic. I paused my walk as I checked the rest of my pockets, just to make sure. I must have left the bloodstone in my other clothes, I thought with a grumble.
"Omega..." an otherworldly voice hissed from somewhere, and I jumped! Fuck, I'm tense! Immediately, I investigated to see if I was still alone, and of course, I was. This area was probably just a little unreal because of the Warp Gate, or I was finally losing my mind. I took another drink from my whisky bottle. It was now almost empty.
I walked deeper into the invisible cloud of unreality, and my Corona remained shining. This hallway was narrow, just like my dream, and it was only a few meters across while its height remained high and vaulted, like a cathedral. The walls were made of a somewhat reflective and perfectly smooth obsidian. Blue torches lined the wall at approximate ten-meter intervals, each hung about two meters up.
This was this way, yes. I could smell it. Home...
I continued onward, and then, something new occurred. Beside me on the left wall, a tall willowy white humanoid shape with many sets of feathered wings flickered into existence. It seemed to be slowly floating along, following me as I walked. I stopped, and it also paused. The shape placed a thin white hand on the obsidian wall as if it was a barrier, and the creature was trapped within. I couldn't discern many details from this misty shadow, but this was familiar enough that I froze with dread.
Oh, fuck...
Remembering my dream, I stood breathing heavily as the me-creature seemed to watch me, cocking its featureless head in a stilted unnatural way. The shadow moved as if its frame rate wasn't quite stable, flickering, jittering, and jumping. It appeared to have six wings, multiple arms, and at least one pair of horns, but aside from that, I couldn't really see many more details on its form. The white figure then crossed one pair of its arms as if frustrated. I blinked, hoping that I was just seeing random psyker bullshit from being in this crazy location, and when the terrible me-shadow persisted, I approached the wall.
The creature then abruptly recoiled backward, its many arms reaching outward in a frightened, defensive gesture. Strange dark speech that sounded like some kind of daemonic serpent then began to hiss and mock through the local Warp, and I stepped backward, greatly disturbed. As if this wasn't awful enough, I watched as a snaking black shadow darker than all the obsidian in this hall reached around the me-creature's midsection. It was then pulled backward into nothingness and vanished.
At the edge of my psychic senses, a long shriek of inhuman horror keened through the Warp before it was silenced.
"Okay," I was only able to respond with a choke. Steeling myself and brightening my Corona to drive away any Chaotic bullshit, I drank the rest of my whiskey, and threw the empty bottle against the wall where I had seen "myself." Fuck all that noise. With a big inhale, I allowed the gold part of me that was an anathema to Chaos to reach through me to further bolster myself against Immaterial bullshit. It rushed through me with a not-entirely-unpleasant burning sensation in my veins and an ache in my heart. Without another thought, I continued walking ahead. That thing in the wall isn't gonna be me later. Nope. Not gonna be me because I'm off to see the Wizard of Molech, I thought, my heart in my throat.
And I'm now at Molech, already going to see the Wizard, so there.
My steps continued to echo with unnatural, almost "backwards"-sounding noises as I briskly walked down the dark hall. Luckily, the me-daemon didn't reappear, but instead, a new wraith-like shadow began to form on the right wall this time. The shadow appeared to be another person walking down the corridor, and as it configured itself, it even became somewhat discernable. This was a man who stood slightly taller than me. He had shoulder-length black and white hair split approximately down the middle in color, almost like mine. A crown of gold laurels encircled his head with a soft glow. The mystery man wore a black tunic trimmed with gold over dark trousers, and a single sword (likely a katana) lay on his back. This was actually pretty close to how I looked right now, but he was a man and I didn't have a katana. My intuition whispered to me that I knew this person, in a fashion. I realized that I was now seeing the Pale Lord as he walked this very hall at some point in the distant past.
Beside him, two more shades could be seen, but their shapes were very indistinct. They both trailed the ancient Inheritor as he walked ahead, seemingly deep in thought. I couldn't even see any specific details of what each of these figures looked like. They were just watery, fuzzy shadows, and I couldn't even tell if they were male or female.
"We'll be with you to the end, Mein Führer. My honor is my loyalty," a soft German-accented voice indistinctly warbled through the air. The words hit me like a slap. This... this must be the Heinrich copilot traitor that served under the Pale Lord, the one who had betrayed him. Uncomfortable, I noted that this confirmed that this man was also an unapologetic Nazi that calls his boss "Mein Führer," sort of like Alberich...
"What Heinrich said, my lord," an English-accented woman spoke clearly, confirming Heinrich's identity. "I made an unbreakable vow to serve you; I intend to serve you until my death."
I heard Pale Lord briefly chuckle. As he spoke here, I noticed that his Japanese accent was slightly more pronounced than how I had heard him speak before. "Your loyalty is inspiring, and I..." the vision sadly dissolved into vapor, and I continued walking.
The similarities between the Pale Lord and myself were starting to get creepy. I hoped that these similarities just remained similarities, but knowing Tzeentch, this probably was a bad omen for my future. Or, the god was just fucking with me, which he clearly enjoyed doing.
A familiar eldritch eye passed over me in a dark wave, and I felt it smile upon me, pleased and ever-happy with everything I was doing. In this place, it almost seemed to physically press down on me, due to the bent nature of reality in these dark halls.
Instead of worrying about Chaos Gods ruining my life, I began to ponder who the Pale Lord's mysterious female co-navigator was. Since nearly all Inheritors were male, I had assumed that their co-pilots would be male too, but that didn't seem to be the case here! This Inheritor had a female copilot! I would have to ask the hologram about her when I got back inside the simulation.
I continued wading deeper into the waters of the Great Ocean as they bled into this dimension from the Warp Gate, which I could now almost smell nearby. Yes, it was close!
Another shadow appeared on my right, and he was also briskly walking while appearing deep in thought. From his general shape, I could tell that the individual to my right was wearing a long, Greek-styled grey toga-styled robe. His dark hair was loose around his shoulders, and he wore his gold laurel crown. This was Sebastian, and he appeared far more tense than before in my dream. His Corona was bright and hot with energy. Behind him, an indistinct shape followed, rushing to keep up.
"No, I'm not listening. I'm through," I heard Sebastian's voice call angrily. "No more. We have what the Wizard wants. It's time for me to go. End of the line! You can have the damn ship!"
As fast as this shadow appeared, it quickly vanished into a cloud of vapor. I looked away and continued walking.
This was all probably just more Chaos nonsense trying to fuck with me again, anyway, I thought, allowing my halo to glow brightly in protection. I closed my eyes, and opened my senses again. Like a bloodhound trained to hunt out Warp rifts, I inhaled and processed the psychic wind that was breezing before me in this dark hall. Intuitively, I knew I was going in the right direction, and I smiled
"Don't be like me..." a whispered plea from a familiar voice called from down the hall in the direction that I was going. "Don't let them keep you!"
Nope. Not listening to any entities or ghosts in here. I'm headed to the Gate. Yeah. Gate's this way. I continued along with my physical eyes closed and my inner eye open, prodding my way along this strange magic hall. As I got stronger, I realized that I could actually just visualize where I was going, and that I didn't truly need physical vision. I guess where I'm going, I don't really need eyes to see, anyway.
An unpleasant tingle lashed down my spine as another weird mystery voice called, "Who rang that bell?!"
This voice was decidedly real, which caused me to stop and open my eyes, which then caused me to immediately regret that I had been running around down here half-drunk with my damn eyes closed.
Before me, a strange new scene presented itself. I was now in my Dorothy Gale body again, and this time, I was standing in a color-inverted version of the poppy field from The Wizard of Oz. Pale green-petaled flowers with whitish stems stretched as far as the eye could see in a vast field. Before me, I watched as the landscape shifted and writhed, struggling against the weight of reality that I was pushing against it. Above, the sky was a terrible cloudscape of eyes, and each of them whispered secrets that I couldn't quite hear, but I could hear someone (or something) chanting about "the Gate" just under my hearing.
I strengthened my gold aura again, and I watched as the psychedelic landscape retreated, forming itself into long dark halls again. However, I remained in my Dorothy Gale body.
"Neat," I chuffed hoarsely. I must be close to the Gate. Reality seemed to be badly fraying at the edges around me, so I concentrated on keeping my Corona up and glowing for protection. Now that the hallway was somewhat real again, I continued onward, intuitively knowing I was close to my destination. I'd ask the Wizard what he needed, and I'd get the fuck out of here. With a pop, Wolfie abruptly appeared by my side and barked happily. This did not make me feel safe, as the astral hound seemed to have a habit of appearing when there was trouble or the possibility of trouble. "We're going to see the Wizard, Toto," I tried to joke since I was Dorothy Gale right now. I even wore Dorothy's ruby slippers! I tried to find novelty in this situation so I wouldn't scream.
You know, all my adventures would make for a neat story. Maybe I'd write a crossover fic when I got home about all this. Not like anyone would ever believe me, but this would make for a nice outlet for my fancy new space PTSD. A Warhammer 40k and Wizard of Oz crossover with Dorothy Gale running around in the Warp with Toto. I could put Dorothy in Tzeentch's Crystal Labyrinth and have her mess with the Architect of Fate and...
Suddenly, I noted that my surroundings had further changed in the blink of an eye. Instead of obsidian, the halls were now made out of blue, shimmering crystal, and now, I stood about fifty meters before a supernaturally sparkly gold closed gate a few times my height. Magic and energy seemed to radiate from it, causing my skin to alight with goosebumps. My Corona, despite its strength, wasn't doing too much to keep this area suitably "real." Above this gold gate, there was a sculpture of a bird's head that smiled evilly in my direction. Was this the big "Deep Warp" Gate, I wondered...
Wolfie then suddenly raced ahead of me before stopping and turning around. The astral hound began to bark and bristle at me, preventing me from advancing further. This sure looked like the Gate, I thought. I mean, I had no idea what a Gate to the Deep Warp would actually look like, and this looked like it radiated power and Warp energy.
"What is it, boy?" I asked Wolfie, now concerned as I looked up at the golden gate. The bird's head at the top of the Gate was now definitely watching me, and Wolfie continued barking, ectoplasm dripping from his jowls. I tried to take a step forward, and Wolfie lunged at me, forcing me to take a step back!
NO GO... the Warp beast transmitted to me. WRONG WAY!
The Gate before me smiled. How could a Gate, of all things, smile? But if this was the way...
While Wolfie kept barking at me, I abruptly felt the urge to turn around, and I did so. On the right wall, I watched as a new bright ghostly shape appeared far down in the hall where I had come from. I could not discern any details about the shape from where I stood, but whatever it appeared to be seemed gigantic, and it possessed a very bright aura that blazed with light against the darkness of the blue crystal in here. It was striding ahead with purpose, clearing lots of ground with each step. In the shape's right hand, I could see that whoever (or whatever) it was held a long trailing dark object that smelled metaphysically rotten. Was that a ribbon? Or hair?
The big shape was now directly in front of me inside the wall! I stepped back, intimidated and amazed at what I was seeing. This bright shadow was over three meters in height. It loomed above me like an incandescent wave, and I could tell that this entity, person, or whoever it was, was judging me harshly. While the entity's features were still somewhat indistinct, I could vaguely make out that it possessed long hair (or just fire) that flowed behind its head and back in the shape of a flaming halo. The shape's eyes burned like gold stars as it raised its left hand, which had mysteriously transformed into a large brutal talon wreathed in fire. It pointed at me! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME! A powerful psychic voice struck me like a wave, and my ears began to ring! TURN AROUND AND GO BACK! YOU ARE TOO EARLY! YOU CANNOT RESOLVE THE LAST RIDDLE AT THIS TIME! YOU WILL LOSE, AND BE DAMNED FOREVER! THE WAY IS SHUT!
Was this just... a trick to keep me from getting home, I wondered with indignation. The Gate was right fucking there! This had to be the way out! My eye was again drawn to the long object that flowed like a black eel in the entity's hand. Whatever that thing was felt wrong to look at...
I turned away from the huge angry entity, and took a single step forward, ignoring the living fireball creature. Warp entities lie, and I knew that the last gate was right there! Wolfie stood his ground, and he continued barking at me, preventing me from moving forward. I stopped, confused. The giant specter stepped forward to follow me along the wall as I advanced another step...
The giant gold shadow pointed the talon in my direction again. SINCE YOU WILL NOT LISTEN, YOU WILL BE GIVEN AN ESCORT OUT!
And then, suddenly, a bell began to clang loudly through the hall! It was so loud that I fell to my knees, gripping my head with both hands! Who rang that bell?!
After a few moments of shivering in a ball on the floor, I noticed that the clanging bell had stopped. The sound didn't reverberate at all, and it had just stopped. Did I just... hallucinate all this? Was all of this Warp fuckery? But the gate had been right there! I stood up and found myself returned to my normal body, and Wolfie was now gone. The blue crystal corridors and the Gate had vanished, and now, the obsidian hallway reached ahead again. It was then that I suddenly sensed that I was not alone.
My psyker senses tingled, and far ahead of me, a doorway opened up on the left side of the wall. A massive shape over two meters tall wearing gold power armor stepped through and turned stiffly to face me. The individual wore a conical helmet topped with long red plumes and a tall halberd in his right hand. I scrambled to my feet, my eyes wide and my Corona bright with fear. Was... was this guy what I thought he was? Oh, no!
"Halt!" the Custodes shouted as he began to run towards me, his metal steps echoing in the supernatural hall.
"Oh shit!" I shouted, racing back down the way I came. Custodes! "Oh shit, oh fuck!" I whispered as I began to pull desperately into my Sight to enable my escape. I was way out of level here, I thought, sensing the massive, bright-souled warrior racing in my direction!
"You will halt, witch!" The Custodes boomed, his voice filled with anger. Holy shit, this guy sounded terrifying! His voice was deeper than Lian's, and amplified by his helmet, it had a note of power behind it that cut right through me.
Fuck, I've really done it now! Great job here, Erika! I thought, sprinting down the hallway. But, yes! I can use sight for this! Quickly, I drew upon my power to slow time so that I wouldn't immediately get killed.
Unfortunately, I noticed that as I ran, whatever power this area contained seemed to slightly interfere with my sort of energy. While Sight still worked, the Custodes behind me was still gaining on me. "Sorry, I was just leaving!" I shouted back to the armored superhuman monstrosity running me down like a fucking gold train! Instinctually, I felt myself briefly transfigure to my giant form, and I used those precious few moments to vault through time and space until I was back to the main room with the arch gate. Reaching this room, my giant form immediately failed, and I stumbled to the floor, covered in sweat.
I picked myself up immediately and turned around. I didn't see the Custodes that had been chasing me, but I sensed that he was still racing down the hall. Apparently, I had cleared a lot of ground when I was a giant! I struggled to keep my balance, and dizzily turned around, blood flowing from my nose and eyes. But, wait... I now found that I was standing at the opposite end of the huge room that I had come from. What? This didn't make much sense, as I had taken an immediate left turn from the arch gate. I turned back around, disoriented and slightly dizzy from being both partway drunk and psychically exhausted. It seemed that I had entered the arch gate room from a completely different entryway, but I wasn't going to worry about Deep Warp maze paradoxes or anything like that right now. I just wanted to get the fuck out of here! I'll go to Molech the normal way!
Struggling and overdrawn, I began to make for the familiar arch gate that led "home" to the simulation and my nice holographic mansion. The gateway shimmered like cool water at the end of the room, but because my life is hard, another awesome surprise now awaited me.
The Custodes now appeared from a hallway at the end of the room to my right, directly beside the archway. The angry giant superhuman raced ahead, brandishing his halberd threateningly. A second Custodes also appeared from a hallway on the left side, and both marched to stand side by side before me, blocking my passage through the arch gate!
"Witch!" one of the Custodes shouted in my direction one day. Both giant gold warriors positioned themselves with perfect rhythm into a combat-ready pose, their halberds pointed toward me. Holy shit, these guys were terrifying! They make Space Marines look like weekend warriors! "You desecrate the sacred depths of Obsidian City, heretic witch! You will be purged from existence!" they boomed.
Well, shit, I thought, my heart fluttering, and everything else hurting. I had overtaxed myself while running around down near the Deep Warp Gate, and now, my hesitation had cost me early access to the Wizard, and apparently, my life. This sucks.
As I held both of my hands up in a defensive, fearful gesture, I wondered what the fuck Sebastian would've done here. Since these were both Custodes, he'd probably just tell these guys to fuck off, and...
Just then, I felt a peculiar sensation of a powerful presence well up inside of me. This feeling reminded me of what it had felt like to get possessed by Sebastian a while back.
Having no other option, I allowed whatever it was to come over me. Nothing left to lose, so whatever. As soon as I allowed the presence in the driver's seat, I became a giant once more.
I now felt myself looking down at the two Custodes, and that I was now suddenly very close to them. The Custodes, I could feel, were suddenly unsure what they were looking at, and their halberds began to dip. One of them even began to feel the emotion of fear, which amused and disappointed me at the same time.
"Thezus," I breathed gently, my voice now two voices. The right Custodes actually took a half step back. I felt his mouth grow dry, and his soul nearly vibrated with a mix of incredulous shock and wonder.
"Ariand," I now spoke to the left Custodes, who responded similarly.
"You have both done well in your eternal vigilance. You will now allow her to pass. Proof of her existence will be seen as she passes through this gate. As has been told, no unworthy can pass through that gate. This is my command."
The right Custodes was now shivering beneath his armor, and his eyes began to tear with emotion. This wasn't possible, he thought!
"Obey," I softly ordered with a small gesture of my left hand. I then spoke a series of powerful words that screamed through the mind and the Warp. Their meaning was lost to me, but I felt recognition and confirmation ring through both Custodes. I finished this string of powerful words by saying, "You will expect a Great Eagle in the skies above Molech. You will open the way when it arrives. This is my command."
The two Custodes both immediately stepped aside, dropping their halberds. Afterward, the right one fell to his knees, his thoughts swimming with wonder. The left one remained standing, and actually, it seemed that she had become so spiritually overloaded that she was frozen stiff, and she...
...wait, she? The part of me that was Erika was briefly confused before being subsumed again. Not caring all that much, I took two steps ahead. I was now standing between the two Custodes, the one on my left remaining standing, unable to move or react, her mind racing with what she now saw above her. And then, an unexpected thing happened. My soul darkened, and another presence enveloped me, taking control of my body. I turned toward Ariand.
"You have been crafted to be eternally obedient to one such as I, but you did not fall to compliance immediately," I said in a different, darker voice. It almost felt like a dissimilar presence from the first, and all I could do was watch as I continued speaking. "The penalty for this, of course, is such..." I made a slight dismissive gesture with two fingers of my left hand.
Both hearts in Ariand's chest burst, and she instantly fell. Incredibly, she toppled to the floor in a vague kneeling position, but her head lolled to the side like a broken marionette, the red plume of her helmet hanging limply to the side. The Key beneath my shirt blazed with her soul, and a great rush of energy filled me, almost as if her sacrifice had somehow been willing.
I turned back to Thezus, who had not moved from his kneeling position. "As I proclaimed before, you will expect the Great Eagle. You will remember everything you have seen in perfect recall."
"I obey eternally," Thezus replied in a low voice, trembling.
With a nod and a small satisfied grin, I found that my body was walking itself to the gate. The remaining Custodes did not move to stop me, and after climbing the dais, I was now back in the Room of Spirit and Time.
I immediately toppled to the floor as the overbearing presence (or two presences) departed me.