MAGE 20 - The Tomorrow Unknown - By Moonlight Pale and Blue

[Kaitlin Vandussen]

A great lover of nature, Kaitlin watched in wonder and delight as the tree branch grew and blossomed into full growth right before their eyes to mark Akemi's final resting place. It was a suitable and spectacular gesture, all the more so that none of them had done it purposely. Kaitlin patted the craggy bark of the thick trunk then headed for the van.

Kaitlin climbed into the back of the van, since her arcanely enhanced size in the remnants of her dress might draw too much attention from any passing motorists and the bucket seats not really suited for someone of her current stature. The others could hear tearing and ripping from the back as Kaitlin changed out of her destroyed dress into the t-shirt and athletic shorts she had been wearing earlier. The shorts looked like a pair of spray-painted on short-shorts and the sleeves of the t-shirt split over her biceps when she flexed unintentionally and looked more like an overburdened crop-top, but they did the job of keeping Kaitlin relatively modest.

She nodded in agreement with Aja's suggestion. "Good call, Aja," she said. "If Mia wasn't just trying to get the Vamps killed, it means she wants those Keys and can't get them herself for whatever reason. She might send someone or something else when we're dealing with her. So Cade, the House first, then the Warehouse."

Sitting on the floor of the van, tensed and taut, Kaitlin kept her amber eyes on Penny, suspicious of any possible betrayal. She narrowed her eyes, pursing her lips curiously as she shifted her sight to sense the energy of life itself to see what she could see inside the vampire. There must be some mechanism for the vampires to do what they could do, and Kaitlin wondered if she could copy or adapt it, to turn herself into a better monster-hunter.

[SalmonMax]

"But you know," Triessa added, "Maybe that means we shouldn't bring the Keys? If she can't take them from where they are, that doesn't mean she can't take them from US. We could be delivering them straight to her without even meaning to."

[MAGE20 ST]

After a few more minutes of discussion, it was decided to retrieve the keys then head to the seaport.

They drove in silence everyone casting looks at the vampire who sat entirely motionless her head turned staring out the window. Occasionally they would look in the very back of the van at the hunched figure of the animated tree sitting there.

Everyone had been surprised when they went to board the van and the giant tree had walked up to the van after it had pushed the wreckage off the road. It seemed the creature had no intention of returning to its roots so to speak and instead it opened the back door and pruning itself of unnecessary branches and foliage folded into the rear cargo area.

No one objected.

Arriving at the Astrarium House they disembarked. Not wanting to let the Vampire into their sanctuary they had Triess instruct the tree to watch the vampire. Penny just shrugged and stayed in the van.

Inside the house, they met with the servant and asked if Mia had been there this evening. After being reassured that she hadn't been they went into he living room and looked at the box on the mantel.

No one moved to take it down.

[Cade]

Everyone seemed unwilling to take up the keys, they'd seemed taboo since this whole thing had begun.  "Whatever it is that we're part of, these keys are what she wants most, but she cannot take them, nor can she enter the rooms that they open. "  He reached up reverently, taking down the box, and opening it, to make sure that the keys were actually within, careful not to touch anything within it.   Within the box were six golden keys, and two that had turned black, signifying the two lost members. 

He was looking away, and closing the box, then it hit him like a lightning bolt.  'There are only two black keys, there should be three.."  He reopened the box, and indeed, one was glowing more brightly than the others.  He looked at the symbol on it to see who it matched to, quickly recognizing it as his.  "Interesting."   Having taken note of the symbols he saw that Akemi's key hadn't turned, either, and he was even more curious about that.

[Kaitlin Vandussen]

The disparate mages stared at the box in the silence, within which were the Keys that had changed their lives in so many ways, and which had ended up costing Akemi hers. They stayed like that for a moment, then Kaitlin shrugged a shoulder and was about to step forward when Cade beat her to it. Kaitlin frowned and cocked her head to the side.

From what they had heard, Mia had sent the Vamps to claim the Keys for her - that seemed odd to all of them. The currently Hulked-out young woman concentrated, shifting her sight to the arcane spectrum to see if the Box, or the Keys themselves when Cade opened the Box, were trapped in some eldritch fashion.

"They don't looked trapped with a magickal surprise from what I can see," Kaitlin said, her amber eyes growing hard and intent when she noticed what Cade said. "Huh. You're right Cade. Let's find Mia and finish this. so we can figure out what it means, after. We can see about each of us taking hold of our own Keys on the way, keep them separated a bit so Mia can't pull a fast one on us and get them all at once."

[MAGE20 ST]

Cade his mind spinning with imagined implications closed the box and handed it to Kaitlin who had stepped up right behind him. He hadn't really heard what she had said his thought on Akemi, but he did register her saying something about leaving to confront Mia. "Right. Lets get this over with.You take shotgun." Without waiting for an answer or for anyone else to speak her headed back to the van. The others followed.

Kaitlin had seen the Gold keys and she thought she had seen that there were still six but she wasn't sure Cade had closed the box so fast. She got into the front passenger 'shotgun' seat and after checking to make sure their vampire guest was still there settled in. Cade started the van and looking back at Penny asked through gritted teeth for directions. She gave them and he drove off.

Kaitlin opened the box as she spoke. "Like I was saying I think it might be better if we each carried our own keys that way Mia has less..." She stopped as she looked in the box. Sure enough Akemi's key was still there and still gold but what caused her to stop talking was that her key was glowing.

[Kaitlin Vandussen]

Kaitlin frowned, her amber eyes narrowing as she peered through the auric glow at the Key itself. Using her arcane sight, she noticed nothing expected, but did see that the glow was emanating from her Sigil, rather than the Key itself. She pursed her lips in consideration. She thought one of the Keys had been glowing more brightly when Cade had the box too, though she didn't think it was her Key due to where her Key was compared to where she thought the glow had been coming from.

"Hmm..." Well, she was suggesting that they each carry their own Keys anyway. A thick vein in her heavily muscled arm twitched as she reached into the box and picked up her Key, hoping it didn't explode from any eldritch trap she might've missed. "Cade, when you were holding the box, did you see any of the Keys glowing?"

As her fingers closed on her Key, the glow intensifies, but Kaitlin notices no shadows deepen or glare brighten, only she sees it. And that is not all she sees or experiences. The earthy smell of humus and crisp mountain air fills her nose. A rhythmic throb, like the pounding of drums or a heartbeat, sounds in her ears, underlayed by a rumbling purr. She can feel the stiff, silky fur of her feline Avatar brush again her bare skin, and  Pantheris' glowing golden eyes appear to her alone on the windshield. There is the vague image of sharp, ivory teeth and the mist of Primal Energy that is her Avatar's breath washes over her.

Her mind expands, her connection to Reality and what lays beyond it, behind it, deepens, and her ability to manipulate it to her will grows stronger - she knows this intrinsically. Kaitlin takes a slow, shaky breath as the feeling of epiphany fills her head, then the sensation sinks in and feels natural, the manifestation of her Avatar fading away.

She blinks her eyes, their amber colour looking especially lambent for a moment.

"Um... Cade, your Key is glowing. Trust me, you'll totally want to take it up. We'll all want to claim our Keys," Kaitlin says, angling the box towards Cade with one hand, and the other reaching over to steady the steering wheel, just in case...

[Cade]

Cade nodded once, letting her steer for the most part, not moving too fast, his foot over the brake, just as insurance.  Looking within the proffered box, he saw his key, gleaming in the moonlight, and took hold of it deftly, lifting it from the box. 

When the light of the moon touched it he heard the long calling howl of his other self. but there were no flames, no wolf staring back at him.  What he saw was the true form, Mars Ultor, Roman God of War.  There were no words, no praise.  The look between the two spoke volumes.  Sadness tempered by Resolve, and the other reflected Pride, forged in the crucible of combat, Rage fueled by loss, and in a moment, Understanding in the both of them.  This was the way of things, what was done should not be undone, and going forward was what would and had to happen.

The sadness faded, the rage burned itself away, leaving only smoldering ember, and Resolve which was strong before, was as steel, forged new,   "We will go forward, we'll see this through to the end."  The words left his lips as he could no longer see his other self, and he heard one last howl,, which sound, content, before fully returning his senses to rest of the world.

"Let the others take theirs.  Aja,Triessa, who is next?"

[MAGE20 ST]

Cade drove on as each mage in turn took up their key. While none of the others saw anything beyond their own inner vision each had an epiphany. The tree seemed to sense something and made happy sounds. the vampire just watched and wished she had never agreed to help the witch.

In short time the arrive at the port. "Stop there by that gate, that's where we have to enter." It was the first words the vampire had spoken since they had been to the Astrarium house. She seemed resigned to her fate now. "I know some of you wizards can see ghost but be careful these are not your normal ghosts, these are specters and they are very very dangerous even to me. Your witch taught me the spell to appease them to allow me and those with me to pass unmolested. But there is one little hitch." She looked at Cade and shrugged.

"I'm going to need some blood."

[SalmonMax]

Triessa rides along in silence, her Key grasped in her hand. She's barely aware of it though, lost in the memory of what had happened to her when she'd grasped it.

Well. Look who remembered she could do magic.

It was true...if she was honest... She'd been living without money, living without rules or ties, depending on people and giving to people and having as few needs as possible. It had been exciting, and scary, and it felt noble sometimes. Sometimes she'd cast a little spell...only among the credulous, clad in a skin of spiritualism or new age psychics. Most of the time though she hadn't had to.

You're not running from power. You're running from responsibility.

That was a bit unfair. The one begat the other. ...except not. You COULD have power and avoid responsibility. It's what we call 'corruption.' Was that what she was afraid of? Why she was so reluctant to embrace what she could do?

But then she'd come here. Immediately she'd been literally DUNKED in magic. Surrounded by magicians. And what she'd done as a result...Triessa still wasn't sure how to feel about it. She'd created a new life. And told it to murder. Did it matter that they were vampires? It did, she thought...but maybe not enough.

She could go bad. Power without responsibility. She'd avoided the question for a long time, leaving the power behind. That wasn't an option anymore.

Ugh. Epiphanies were such downers!

Triessa looked at the vampire and shrugged. "If anyone wants to volunteer, I think I can fix your blood level once she's done."

[Kaitlin Vandussen]

Kaitlin looked over her shoulder and glared at the Vamp. It wasn't the prospect of losing some blood that bothered her, it was feeding it to a fucking Vampire, empowering it. There was power in blood, ask just about any athlete, especially professional cyclists about that. But she was going to let this little detail set them back now that they were here to confront Mia.

"I'll do it," Kaitlin growled, giving Triessa a nod - between the two of them, a little lost blood would hardly be a concern.

The oversized woman climbed over the front seat and barged her bulk into the back with the Vamp. No point risking the wraiths noticing them and making this whole exercise a waste of time and effort. Her amber eyes hard on the resigned Vamp, Kaitlin drew her survival knife from the strap secured around a hugely muscled thigh.

"Tilt your head up. I'm not letting you put your lips and teeth on me."

Kaitlin stretched her arm over the tree-bound vampire and without hesitation or flinching, she cut a line across her wrist. Rich, red, blood welled out. A drop fell, landing on Penny's lip, who licked it up with a hungry noise. Disgusted, Kaitlin closed her hand into a fist, magically enhanced muscles flexing thick and hard and a steady stream of crimson fell.

She might have been disgusted, but Kaitlin also couldn't look away. She shifted her sight to look upon the spectrum of Life itself, seeing her blood glow vibrantly as it entered the Vamp's greedy mouth. She could see it flow down her throat through her dead flesh. Kaitlin was curious to see what happened to the blood, its essence, when a Vampire drank it. Did it sit in some reservoir, did the vampire convert into some other substance it could use with it's undead physiology? How and why were Vampires so fast and strong?

Kaitlin wiped her knife on the shreds of her red dress and resheathed it, then picked up a scrap of the dress so staunch the cut once the vampire had had enough of her blood.

[SalmonMax]

Once Kaitlin was done, Triessa squirmed in closer and put a hand on the much larger woman's arm. The magic was like warmth, like a pleasant memory long-forgotten but suddenly recalled. For a moment Kaitlin felt as if she were in the embrace of something far larger than herself; an infant in her mother's arms.

And then it faded as Triessa took her hand away. It didn't just wink out all abruptly, but faded like the heat on the carpet when the curtains closed and blocked out the sun coming in.

"All right. Are we ready?"

She wasn't sure, herself...but this was her first time at this kind of rodeo. She'd follow their lead.

(Casting a healing spell on Kaitlin. Straight up Life 3 effect.)

[MAGE20 ST]

Penny sat back and watched as the crazy chick mumbled some trite poem or some shit waved her hand and the cut on the hot chicks wrist vanished. The blood had strengthened her but left her disappointed as well. This had been the first mage blood she had ever tasted and it was a big let down to her expectations that it hadn't tasted any different than a normal meal. Still the blood filled her and she felt to vitae suffuse into her system felt the strength return to her limbs. She briefly considered killing them, the mages, but the tree she would be vulnerable too. No, she had given her word, she might be a monster but that was one thing she would never be. Her word was all she had left.

“Where we are going it's that large warehouse at the end of the lane you can just make out its roof from here. It's right on the water there is a pier on the back side. We'll go thru that gate, If you have any magic that can hide our progress from mortal eyes it would be good. The specters will be on us as soon as we go through the gate. But the spell your witch taught me will keep them back. The tree has to stay here. The spell won't protect it and if it's with us, might not work for us.”

They got out of the van Cade stepped forward.”I can conceal us.” He made some gestures and drew circles around the party which hung in the air glowing softly. “Stay in the circle,” he instructed, he pulled Penny to the front scowling as he touched her. “Let's get going.”

Penny went to the gate, it was unlocked, she pushed it open all of the mages were watching her closely none of them truly trusting her. She began mumbling strange worlds that made little sense it sounded like backwards latin. She seemed to be taking great care to say the words and those watching her physically such as Kaitlin could see the blood in her system seem to disperse from where it was collected but no one saw anything that looked like magic emanating from her.

She stepped through the gate almost immediately figures started rising from the ground and from behind crates and containers. They were black shrouded creatures incorporeal but visible. They looked like some crazy scene from the harry potter movies where the dementors threaten harry. The air grew cold. Wraiths the forsaken specters of the dead, the minions of oblivion. They came toward the group but approached no closer than 5 yards. Dozens of them , tens of dozens the air was filled with their forms gliding silently but they let the mages and their vampire guide pass.

In a short time which seemed an eternity, the arrived at the aforementioned warehouse. The wraiths gathered about it circling. Cade motioned the vampire forward. “Check the door,” he instructed, Penny reached out and rested her hand on the knob.

“Should some of us go around to the back maybe?” asked Montros in a whisper.

“Kaitlin shook her head, “I think we should stick together. Plus those things.” Kaitlin pointed up at the wraiths circling they reminded her of the thing she had seen on Mather's porch. That made her nervous.

“Are you guys ready? Penny hissed back at them silencing them. “Go.” was all Cade said by way of reply.

Penny turned the knob and pushed, the door swung open and she entered. The others followed.

The warehouse was full of crates piled almost to the ceiling. The crates made a maze. They knew they were in the right place there was a strange bluish light flickering, which came from the far end of the warehouse and cast shadows over everything. There was only one way to proceed.

 

The Keyholders made their way through the maze they arrived at the center of the warehouse the maze gave way to a large empty space a chair like a throne floated in the middle of it. On the throne sat Mia Vail behind her floated the apparition Kaitlin had seen at Mather's house. “Y'all know I was born fully awakened.” her southern accent as pronounced as always. She raises her hand and waves it behind her at the apparition. “My Avatar is the oldest know one to still exist. Some believe it to be the first.”

She leans forward her eyes fixed on Penny. “Oh honey, I plumb forgot about you. Don't think I'll be needing your services anymore.” A quick flick of a finger and the floor crumbles to dust below Penny's feet and she falls as fi pulled by immense gravity. Cade steps forward and see the hole continues down as far as he can see, he feels the gravity lashing at the edge of the whole and pulls back.

“Hehe stupid bloodsucker.” Mia stands and floats to the floor “But she wasn't the only one who was stupid. Anson and Mather thought they could outwit me, thought they were more powerful Than me!” She thumps her chest her voice rising shrilly. She stops and takes a deep breath smooths her blouse and skirt. “Well, they were wrong. And so are all of you thinking the same thing. I will, however, make the same offer they refused. Join me, swear eternal fealty to me and we shall set oblivion free and score the face of the earth and all realms.”

Wraiths, about ten of them rise from the floor, five on either side of Mia Vail. In that same instant, the Keyholders Avatars also manifest as physical entities and Simon appears standing by the crates to the right of the Keyholders. He seems larger and is dressed in some sort of archaic regalia none have ever seen. “And now, the witness is here. What say you Cade, Triessa, Aja, Montros, and you, precious little Kaitlin , Do you join me or do you fall?”

“Joining you is falling, Mia Vail.”

The disembodied voice comes from the center of the warehouse heavily accented English. The wraiths recoil as the spirit of Akemi rises from the floor, her swords burning silver flashing as she draws a line across the floor at her front, daring specters to cross.

 

[Cade]

Seeing Akemi's spirit had an effect on Cade, The flames of power within him were fanned again, he had drawn his gun and knife, ready to do battle with whatever Mia actually was.  Seeing her Avatar, her allusion to it being Death itself, her claim of being born awakened, it filled him with pity.  "You were born with insight, with power, and a great gift, and you have squandered it in the selfish pursuit of power  and nihilism to the exclusion of everything else.   There are no depths to which one can sink or fall lower than where you reside."

As he spoke he began to work his will upon himself and his comrades, holding his Father's WW! pocket watch.  He invested considerable personal power into it, and was rewarded with near full coverage.  It might not seem like much, but perhaps it would be the foundation they could build their victory over Mia upon.  Finally, he had the image of the effect within his mind, an incredible doubling of speed for them all, he held up the watch and closed it, and his will took hold of them all, doubling their physical speed. 

Cade's accellerating everyone but Aja  (die roller didn't like you) rolled 4 successes  

[Kaitlin Vandussen]

While the dark wraiths and Mia's Avatar made her uneasy, the appearance of her shadowy, feline Avatar, and the Avatars of the others, filled Kaitlin with confidence and a sense of surety, of rightness. Akemi's challenging spirit made her smile, in regret and pride for her fallen companion. As Cade's enchantment flowed over her muscled frame, Kaitlin stalked up to stand even with Akemi, her primal, feral Avatar prowling at her side.

"The problem with fallin', Mia, is that it's only final if you don't get back up," Kaitlin said firmly, looking at the woman less than half her size directly in the eyes. Kaitlin amber eyes were bright and hard, a match for the eyes of her Avatar. "Nobody claimed the world was fair, but it's wondrous too. Always some more to see, to experience. There's real Magick in it, and we're some of the privileged few who can witness it directly. And you can even step beyond its bounds to experience even more! Why would you want to burn it all down? It ain't too late for you to start standin' back up, either."

Kaitlin didn't think Mia would take the offer of redemption and she didn't have any power over spirits and the like. But perhaps she could strengthen the bonds of her Pattern to resist the effects of their ephemeral touch. Kaitlin breathed deep, some of the Primal vapor spilling from Pantheris' maw flowing into her as she ruffled her neck, and felt her empowered frame thrum, like standing under high capacity powerlines.

"But you mistake us, Mia. We don't think we're more powerful than you, and never did. It's just, it doesn't matter. What you want is wrong and together, we'll stand against you and what you represent. And if you bring us down, well, we'll just get up again."

Spoiler

Using a Life 3 effect to enable Kaitlin to resist Aggravated Damage (requires 3 successes according to How Do You Do That? p.67). Would have tried to extend the effect over some of the others with extra successes (if any) but requires Life 4 for that, I believe. Spending a point of Quintessence to lower difficulty to 5, and a point of Willpower for an extra success.

Asarasa *rolls* 4d10: 5+8+1+10: 24 = 4 successes + 1 from WP = 5 successes. Guess will use the extra successes to increase duration then (Stamina is already increased from a previous effect).

 

 

[MAGE20 ST]

Again the tiny woman laughs out loud. "So simple, to think that such a great man as Anson put his faith in you his disciples and you couldn't even rise to the occasion when he gave you everything. I don't seek power Kaitlin, my dear." She raises her arms and the air above her swirls and dark tendrils reach out toward crate and other big heavy things.

"I am Power!" she screams as the tendrils of entropy hurl the objects at the hapless mages.

Spoiler

it is initiative.

 

[MAGE20 ST]

 

Teeth gritted and amber eyes hard, Kaitlin ducked and wove between the flying crates and debris Mia hurled at them. She wanted nothing more than to plant one of her feet into Mia's mad, condescending smile, or rip her arm off and beat her with it, but something she said perked a thought. Instead of going for her throat, Kaitlin paused a moment to consider.

Anson had given them a lot, true, but in the grand scheme of things, the money and wealth didn't matter. But the Keys on the other hand, and the mystical properties they granted them access to, as well as the responsibility to look after them.... Somehow, they prevented Mia from using magick - some kinds of it, at least - directly on them, to observe them remotely. And presumably, they insulated them from the effects of Paradox to one degree or another.

It explained how Mia hadn't ripped herself apart with Paradox when she had dumped them into the Den of Vampires. And she had wanted their Keys too. Kaitlin's large, strong hand tightened around her own Key and she narrowed her eyes, peering into the arcane spectrum, looking at the flows of energy from the Keys to those they were bound to, and looked for the binding between Mia and her own Key.

Let's see about severing that connection, mystically, preferably, physically if that is all I can manage...

"Either keep monologueing and tell us the whole background and plan," Kaitlin retorted," or just shut-up, you crazy cunt."

Magick swirls and the lines divide as Kaitlin works a magick she has never attempted: looking inward in a manner she had never imagined . The moment freezes she is outside of time in no-space. She is her Key and her Key is her. Not her avatar, her soul if you will, but rather the very pattern of her existence, the key. The others are their Keys, as well, even Akemi, all but one.

Mia is not a Key.

She is her Avatar, Primordial, unique Oblivion.

While each of them is a power unto herself they are connected, the parts make a whole.

Mia's power comes from outside time and space.

Cade took a moment to remember his mentor's words about time, how it was a river that could flow forward and back for a Mage with the will to make it so.  he'd made his allies faster, and to compound this he'd make their foes slower.  Still it took much to affect so many at once but he could use one of the old tricks he learned to make those he shot easier to hit.   He reached out with his will to enchant his weapon, and was rewarded as it began to glow under the power of his enchantment. 

Akemi and he began with the nearest wraiths he shot them, the bullets doing no harm but the magick having full effect, they became slow and Akemi cut them her sword made of some unreal material sliced and where is cut the wraith died.

But for each that fell two more or three or four rose from the pits of hell and joined the fray.

“I am not crazy!” Mia screamed. “I am power I am the penultimate apex of the Ascension. You Anson and your little fleas sought to pull me down to halt the inevitable rise of Oblivion...”

Shift

Overlap

an image of this battle burns into everyone's inner eye. The space and time, different. The actors, different and yet they are you.

Anson, Archmage and Anarchist, Mather, the crazed marauder. Mia Black and rotten evil incarnate the manifestation of Oblivion, Simon separate and silent,  And you, each of you, the parallels of you.

Kaitlin sees all of this, she does not, cannot understand. But she does. A twist of a thought and all the Keys see what she sees. Knows what she knows.

“This battle has been fought and lost.” Anson's voice echo's across time and space.

Time and space. Time and space. Time and space.

 

Spoiler

The spell allows each of you to accesses each others spheres and as long as you work in concert your arete is effectively a 5, I expect questions. ask in chat or PM.

 

 

[MAGE20 ST]

Magick twisted and twirled around them it was as if the universe simply ceased to exist for all of them. Only the combatants exist, five and one. The Keys, integral to the great spell and Mia Vail, mortal vessel of Oblivion, locked in a battle that was lost. Or was it?

 

Asa and Montros acted first as Kaitlin's spell revealing the true nature of the keys unfolded. Together they established an mental link and compartmentalized the the link so that the keys could continue acting a separate entities while they discussed the problem.

Magick flew about the interior of the warehouse spells of entropy and forces. Physical actions Kaitlin attacked and attack and was rebuffed and Mia's attacks were just as easily brushed aside. They appeared invulnerable to each others magick and the damage caused physically was instantly wiped away. It seemed the battle could go o forever.

Triessa was first to notice.

“Why haven't we all been paradoxed out of existence there is more reality altering going on here than in Timothy Leary's class room in the 1960's.” She spoke her voice echoing in the separate link they shared.

Asa his keen observations extrapolated from the minuscule data sudden calls out. “It was in front of us the whole time. Anson stopped the battle, he didn't end it. Even though we lost we aren't dead in that time and space if even for a microsecond frozen in time we still exist there and so does Mia.This is all an elaborate spell, a simulation with actual versions of us. I think.”

Cade chimes in. “Time and space. Anson created a pocket universe with versions of us.”

“And that's why the magick doesn't effect us directly we are like the simulacrum at the plantation.” Adds Montros.

Asa takes center again.”Except we can do magick.”

“Then we are attacking the wrong person. If your right and this Mia is a simulation like us, we need to attack the one in the real reality.” Kaitlin says.

Triessa grins. “Time and Space.”

 

The keys working together draw upon their combined might and knowledge and concoct a spell to strike beyond the boundaries of their pocket universe and into the true reality.

Simon impassivity watches as the mages discover the truth and while the pocket mia unaware continues her ineffectual barrage on the Keys they strike at he true Mia. With devastating effect.

 

At the moment of her victory as Oblivion is unleashed Anson in a last ditch effort to save reality creates a spell of massive power and even greater Paradox. He removes himself from the universe while simultaneously creating a pocket universe and populating it with his enemy and his allies and at the same time he freezes time. The paradox engendered is enormous. Simon the most powerful of all paradox spirits was about reap his just due when Mather the paradox mage stopped him and made a wager. The wager was simple. Since mages are mages and each is bound by his or her nature, why not let the drama play out in the pocket universe and see which one figures it out and solves the riddle.

“And what exactly is the wager you propose, Mather?” Asks the Great Spirit.

The mage looks on”The Wager is reality. If Mia wins again she wins and The Paradox incurred goes where it is aimed currently, where it belongs so to speak. If on the other hand Anson's keys win the paradox goes to Mia, and you reset reality to before the battle.”

Simon spends an eternity contemplating the nature of the wager. “Mia has won Oblivion is loose, I cannot in good conscience alter this nor would i be able too after all I am bound by the laws of reality as much as any other.”

Shaking his head Mather makes his rebuttal. “Oblivion is loose there. But here,” he spreads his hands encompassing the Anson created pocket reality, “ Here it is still bound. And paradox can substitute one reality for the other.”

“If I agree I will wish to choose where to establish the reset point and Anson will remain outside and no longer vex me.”

Mather nods agreement. “Anson knew the risks and understands he was prepared.”

“And what of you Mather? What will happen to you.”

“Why nothing you know I don't believe in you.”

Simon watched as the spell struck Mia across Time and Space. Watched as the forces of reality and entropy tore at her watched a s she lost control as Oblivion descended upon her. Satisfied he released the accrued paradox and since Mia was the only living thing left it hit her and obliterated her reality.

 

 

Kaitlin got home from school and checked the mail box on her way up the road. Graduation would be in two weeks and she was both excited and terrified. Bills bills bills and...whats a letter addressed to her. Her Jeep idled as she checked the envelope, the return address wasn't from a person but from some thing called the Astrarium House in New Orleans. She didn't know any one from New Orleans and had certainly never heard of this Astrarium House. Curiosity eating at her she tore open the envelop and pulled out a folded piece of parchment paper. Her eyes widened as she read...

 

That same day five other mages also received almost identical letters.