The Roaring Age (nWoD)

Page 108: All Cracked Up

Miriam knew that she only had to stall for a little while. She was more brilliant now than she'd been before, her mind whirring with ideas and plans so powerfully that even its division, even the push of fate itself is less importance than the brilliance of her scheme. It was not arrogance, or even pride, to admit that she'd found a way to win this fight. It'd be difficult, and perhaps even costly, but she knew that the fight behind her was one her people would probably not win otherwise.

All she needed was time, and in this cold, strange place, time was something she could buy, magic or no. Her magic whirls out, and she feels the pain of the abyss stabbing out at her for her hubris. She was going to regret this for quite some time, the many spells she was weaving. But her mind, however exhausted, was clear enough to easily form the spell.

'So. Why, Occlude, are you doing this? Surely the Marquis knows that he's valuable. I suffer this, you know, because I tried to protect him from the Abyss.'

Isaiah growled, "And I'm not going to have you two team up."

'If you leave now, you can survive' Miriam said, in all their minds. 'It is an offer I give to you, honored Demon-Spawn, because it is easier. But you have lost. You have lost already.'

"He has, of course. He's just a Demon-Spawn, not worth much," Occlude said. "Not compared to the might of the Supernal.

'That's for you to think. Tell me again, why?'

"Because you might have helped that fool Anant, that mere ghost, instead of the Archmage. Two seeds are better than one. I even offered, to the Marquis, that I could covertly eliminate Anant, so that there wouldn't be a choice." Occlude sighed. "But he insisted that this would be too cruel, even if you are his enemy. That you did him a service, and so he will refrain--"

Miriam tried not to see red. It was nice to know she hadn't gotten Anant killed, just because somehow the Marquis had learned of him, likely through reading her mind. But the idea that this was some sort of gift, something that the Marquis could promise.

The ground was cold, and Miriam, also known as Ruth, growled.

'You are losing my sympathy. You are losing your chance for a seed. Surely Isaiah, you understand how fleeing is best. You are about to lose everything, and your life is no doubt one of them. These people here, they have the means of your death, just as Occlude has the means for Virginia's.'

Miriam moves forward, positioning herself in front of Virginia, who was panting a little, clearly exhausted and yet ready to fight through this. The world feels as if it had shrunk in, on this strange tableau.

Isaiah and his monsters were crude, strange people, with flashing eyes and vicious smiles, tense and tight, in control and yet isolated. Wolfborne was looking this way and that, and his dark eyes seemed unable quite to decide what to do. Meanwhile Occlude was there, comparatively unarmored, except in the rather impressive arrogance of a Mage.

The ground groaned a little, and Virginia heard it, and decided to speak. "But you can get my seed, and your freedom, if you want it. All you have to do is act. All…" Virginia pulled herself up, to lean and bleed all over Miriam. It was frustrating and exhausting, to have to not lick at the blood. It smelled so good. Miriam knew it was because of the transformation, but that didn't change anything. Virginia smelled a little like food, and even if she wasn't going to do something that horrible…

She was hungry, she was tired, she was counting the seconds very exactly.

Less than a minute left. Occlude had taken a step back, carefully watching both groups, considering it already.

"All there is," Virginia continued. "Is this: only one of you can get both seeds. Whoever here wants it has to kill the other. We don't have the people to--"

"I could kill both of them with one hand," Suzanna shouted.

Miriam wasn't sure if she was playing along helpfully, or if she really was just a ball of anger and hate right now. It could be either, and if she were in human form she'd have to keep from smiling at that thought.

"Well, but you're not going to do so, darling," Virginia said. "Not if you want to still be with me. You're going to do what I say. Got it? So, Occlude, what do you say? You know you can beat us. You have that thing for one. Can you beat a mere Demon-Spawn like Wolfborne?"

"This is a distraction," Occlude said. "But I can't know for what."

Wolfborne let out a bark of laughter. "I'll just kill all of you! It won't be all that hard." He stretched slightly, clearly about to begin that part of the plan.

"You wish it were that easy," Virginia said. "But my friend here, Ruth. She said she's won, and she's never wrong about things like that. She's smarter than both of you put together."

Ten seconds.

"Ha!" Occlude said. "She's a mere child playing with forces she cannot understand."

Wolfborne looked down at the ground in sudden panic. "What?"

He could smell it as quickly as she could, the smell of rotting flowers. The smell of death and decay. The smell, for that matter, of defeat.

And then the earth began to shake, and crack, and tear itself apart.

And Miriam howled in triumph.

******

The seed was so complicated that she actually had to move it in her tongue for a little to think on it. It was… well, if a Mage was doing something like it was, they'd have to have Fate, Mind, and Matter just to begin to create something like this. It was the work of a Master or better, and replicating it exactly would be hard.

So would changing it. There was absolutely no way to change the fundamental nature of the seed, now that it'd been made as it was. It was a metaphor, but a metaphor made material, and thus it wasn't just Mind that was needed.

Depending, all of the Arcana could be useful, because that was how it worked, sometimes. There was no way she could change it, not witht he skills she had.

No. But a metaphor could be symbolic. It wouldn't take much to alter it, not really. Taking it anywhere out of the hole wouldn't work or do anything. Spit it fifty feet away, and it would still crop up here (and even if it didn't, fundamentally as long as it grew to shade the moon, and tie the whole place together, then that was that).

So, she knew what she did. Swirling it around in her tongue she spit it back into the dirt.

Upside down.

******

It worked, that was the first thought that went through her head as she leapt back.

The roots were dark green, the flowers red, and pitch black, and they weren't meant to grow under the ground, and because of it the moon was collapsing as it spread. The cracks grew wider and wider, flowers bursting up as bits and pieces of the landscape collapsed inward, or fell away. And with one came others, until within a few heartbeats the moon was merely in its dying phases.

It'd take time to die, time enough for Miriam and her friends to escape. She did this, the landscape twisting and warping as flowers grew, as it all began to crumble. This was her plan, this was her action.

She hoped it would pay off, or she was going to have a lot of guilt to fight through.

"Oh golly, Ruth!" Virginia giggled hysterically as she stood up. "You did it… didn't you? Oh wow, I--"

Which was when, holding on tight to the piece of the moon that was bucking beneath him, Occlude threw a perfect fastball right at her.

Miriam leapt up, catching the ball in her mouth, teeth gritting around it as she landed. She was growling before she did.

"Good girl!" Virginia said, her eyes wide, as Occlude dodged the bullets coming his way from Suzanna.

Wolfborne too was retreating, this time down, making his way over the shadowed, strange landscape with his men. Clearly, he'd rather live and fight another day with his men than die.

"I… I need to get back to the rest," Virginia said, turning towards where the rest of the team had been.

"And I need to go after that bastard, Wolfborne."

'Language' Miriam thought out loud, to all of them.

"C'mon, will you come with me?" Suzanna asked, frowning. She was inhuman, but there were almost a dozen of them… the odds might be bad. But Virginia was wounded, and then there was Occlude. He was getting away too.

What to do?

[] Occlude is a Mage, and that makes him a Mage problem. Of course, there is only so much that Miriam can do, but she can at least make sure that he 'crashes' out of the Astral. It'll make him weaker and more vulnerable if someone else needs to, well. Deal with him. Like the Guardians, or… someone.
[] Virginia's… beloved. Is that the word? Miriam doesn't know. But she's charging ahead to go and fight Wolfborne all on her own. She could use backup, and of course the second seed is there, if she wants to try for both. If Wolfborne escapes, then he's probably lost enough that he won't do anything like this anytime soon… but there's at least a chance that he could try again.
[] Virginia is her friend. She's wounded. Perhaps Miriam could help her get back with the rest of the group. She almost died, died in real life, just a few minutes earlier. Even if the threat is mostly gone…

******



A/N: I'm releasing it early this time because I feel that the next update will actually be not-short, or at least a little bit longer than this. So getting time for that is good. Sorry this is short, it's just, you know, action scenes. Or at least, there's only so much to put, before it becomes redundant.

Page 109: Crumbling

Miriam let out a bark, looking at Suzanna as she did. It was this simple: she had to get the seed. This wasn't all about it, she knew. But the seed was the thing keeping her going forward, now, after all she'd seen in done. It was hard to remember how long it'd been since this began. She knew that she was deprived of sleep, of energy, of everything. If she had luck, surely it must be fraying at all of this. After all, she was pushing it so hard.

Suzanna laughed, though it was an exhausted, almost hysterical laugh. "Alright, here we go. Let's go fuck--"

Miriam barked.

"Let's go deal with him," Suzanna said with a sigh.

Down below, it was all falling apart. She could smell the pollen, could notice the way the ground itself was cracking further. There was a core, perhaps, something that kept all of this together. But she'd done the calculations, she knew that there was no way that it could be saved now. So she raced on through the darkness, the white walls shadowed as they cracked. The splinters were dangerous, but for almost two-dozen seconds of running and jumping, her legs aching with some of the longer jumps, nothing went wrong.

But then the earth bucked beneath her. She scrabbled for a moment as it fell out from under her, desperate and terrified, briefly alive after the strange deadness of action and reaction.

Suzanna turned, shocked. "Ruth! Hold on. I'll… fuck." One of the roots shot up through her piece of the ground. The walls were all jagged and closing in, and there was no time. None at all.

Miriam fell, pushing herself forward in the air, paws scrambling over and over against the walls of this failing moon, until at last she tumbled safely free onto a vein and a platform of rock that hadn't yet collapsed.

But she was bleeding, and the pain shot through her. Without even looking she knew that Cain's Mark had been torn off, along with the skin around it. That that's why she'd fallen as badly as she had. She could feel Fate, somehow, weaving its way around her.

Making her suffer more because she didn't need to be held back. She could feel the abyss, could hear the whispers of thou-shalt-not, of Satan in the guise of God. It was a dog at her heels, nipping painfully when she slowed down, and so she hurried on, squeezing through a crack. She could feel it. This way.

It was following the sound of the wind, it was like knowing true North. In this place, the space and her mind were one, a simple reality. So she knew where to go, because she was thinking about where she should go.

So onward she went, as the world fell apart. The Astral Realm would collapse too, sooner or later. It'd probably take a night, or perhaps even a full day, for it to fully split off. But that too would pass. She'd done it, they'd done it. Now all that was left was trying to--

She ducked under a pair of claws, a blue-black creature on all fours leaping just over her, hitting the ground with a snarl. It was one of the true-believers with Wolfborne, probably a Demon-spawn of some sort. It was huge enough for it, and its eyes seemed endlessly, mindlessly angry. It roared, and leapt after her, but she was shifting, moving this way and that, going right for a avenue of the cracking rock that was starting to press together.

She wiggled, her ears perked up to listen for trouble, her tail pointing straight, as she slipped through the gap. Miriam could feel the way it pressed in on her, and if she'd tried it even a minute later she'd have been stuck and then smashed between the rocks. As it was, she left her blood, a bright trail after her as she continued to slip around, jumping and dodging as bits and pieces of rock fell.

It was as if nothing could touch her, now. As if she'd marked herself, as if she'd torn herself apart with her own follies, and now nobody else could.

The Abyss whispered to her, Fate whispered to her, her own mind whispered to her--while her body acted thoughtlessly--and somehow it all added up to leaping over a man, side-swiping a wolf-man, and snarling with bright, gleaming teeth as she finally smelled him.

Wolfborne smelled of fear, he smelled of worry and he smelled, more than anything else, of wet dog. Of desperation. Of course he was afraid. He should be afraid. She was going to hurt him badly and take the seed, and it'd be a tough enough fight just to avoid trying to kill him. Of course, considering how impressive he might well be…

But she wasn't afraid. She wasn't even halfway to fear, not now. Not when she had something to focus on.

When she rounded another corner and saw Wolfborne, standing there, waiting, the first thing she noticed wasn't the claws, or the shaggy mane of hair. No, it was the look of exasperation and exhaustion in his eyes, the way his lips were set together in what was quite obviously a pout.

"Mageling. What do you gain from this?" he asked. "What profits it you to kill me. I've lost, and lost to a bunch of weaklings unable to see that man needs an outlet, that Gods need obeying." Wolfborne stalked forward. "You doubt me?"

The magic to form telepathy isn't hard, really, and this time she shifts it, her head tilting, her claws gripping into the ground even as it continues to shudder. Something about this part of the moon was more solid, perhaps because they were closer to the core. Now, everyone in a few hundred feet could hear. No doubt they'd wonder.

'I do. God would not want this, and man does not need to encourage his vices. Give me the seed, and I'll let you go.'

"You care so much. Vicious, ugly brute. Without grace, without true savage fury. I can feel it, the way you're still some girl, some… religious girl." He said it the way one might a curse.

'My fur is the color of midnight, my teeth are the color of your death' Miriam thought, without realizing that it slipped out. 'My eyes watch you, and read your every thought.'

It was a boast, but he did seem almost unnerved. "So, white?"

'Gleaming.' Miriam worked to pull together the spell she had in her head, preparing it for the moment she was going to use it. It was going to be touch and go, it was going to be brutal. This form was very good at both.

"You're stalling, aren't you?" Isaiah asked, incredulously.

'Yes.'

"Why?" he said, gritting his teeth and preparing to leap.

'Because Suzanna can--'

Miriam leapt mid-thought, and so did he. They both had ideas of ambush, which is how they both crashed into each other, clawing and biting as they went. They rolled in a ball, and Miriam tried to ignore the pain when he bit into her throat as if he were attempting to tear it off, or the way his claws skittered along her back, leaving agony behind. She kept at it, her claws sharp with blood, and then as soon as she'd worked her way to the right place, she bit his left hand, the better to cripple him. He dropped the seed, in shock and agony.

Miriam Green knew that alcohol had to taste good, surely, if so many poor and deluded souls ruined their lives by imbibing the devil rum. It had to be something amazing, like ambrosia. If it was half as good as the taste of blood and his flesh in her mouth, then she understood how I person could lose themselves. She knew it was the wolf: she knew that later she'd be disgusted with herself.

It's just that it didn't matter. She stumbled back, panting and in pain and yet savoring the bites as she swallowed it all. The blood was dripping all over her, and her muzzle was now stained with the act. She wanted more, more, more. She knew she wouldn't get it, and Miriam thought out. 'Well, you'd better hope you're going to die soon, because I've just infected you, you delicious monster.'

Miriam would have blushed, if she could. 'I-I didn't mean that last part. The words… but that's what you'll become, but worse. A werewolf, but of the Damned. Something wrong, something fighting against madness. But while I will go back, while I will… fix this. You? You won't survive.'

"You got the worse of it," Wolfborne said, panting. "And I can just heal."

'Not these wounds.'

Indeed, he grunted for a long moment, and nothing happened. She raced towards him, and he stood up straight as he gathered his strength, no doubt to oppose her. Which is how she slid under his legs, snagging the seed in her mouth, and running onward.

"What are--"

"Hey, flea-boy," Suzanna said.

There she was. It had taken her almost too long, Miriam thought.

"It's time to die. Go on, Ruth. I can handle this. And if we do hit the ground, well. I'll kill him first." Suzanna looked like she was going to enjoy herself, and so Miriam turned and ran, dodging falling rock.

*******

The moon was falling slower than expected. Slower didn't mean much, really, but two minutes later, when she leapt across a gap and glanced down, they were only halfway to the ground. It gave her the time she needed to get further towards where the beanstalk was, but it baffled her.

She left blood with every leap, a horrific trail of it, as she faded in and out of focus, stumbling at places, lucky that she hadn't fallen off and killed her Astral Body already. So when she saw Yue Ying, dancing on a very fragile looking crag of rock, her hands held out as she did, chanting in High Speech she couldn't understand in perhaps the thickest southern accent she'd ever heard… it made sense.

Yue Ying was what had slowed the descent, though that made no sense. It made no sense, but that had to be it. Or else why was she here?

"Ruth," Yue Ying said. "Do you have the Seed?"

Miriam froze, backing up a little, the seed still under her tongue, hopefully protected from the abyssal taint that was all around her. The taste of blood was minutes past, and she was starting to realize just how compromised she was.

'I do.'

"Please give it to me," Yue Ying said.

'No,' Miriam thought.

"Why… not," Yue Ying said, her arms still in the air. "It's needed to help that Archmage, isn't it? Occlude said that he needed it for that purpose, so that it could be studied. It's why I came, because it seemed… sufficiently important."

'He attacked us. He threatened all of us, including Virginia.'

"He… what?"

'The Marquis used Mind magic on him. But that's not why I'm refusing. I might even give a Seed to Marquis.' Miriam stalked forward, trying to look threatening, when in fact she was going to collapse.

"Then… why?"

Miriam gasped out, a sort of wheeze. It hurt, it hurt so much she couldn't even imagine how she was still standing. Certainly, she was swaying rather distressingly.

'I am a Mystagogue. When I…'

Was this right? Was she allowed to say this?

'A seed, and knowledge of just where to plant it. That is what I will bring to them, when I advance.'

"Oh," Yue Ying said faintly. Miriam stumbles, her attempt to get close in case she needed to fight foiled by her exhaustion. "Very well, then. If you give it to me, I swear that I shall give it to Virginia for safekeeping."

Miriam, seeing little other choice, spat out the seed into her waiting hand, and then toppled to the ground, exhausted and wrung out.

When she passed into bleeding, near-death sleep few seconds later, it was no surprise.

*******

Mr. Gilt's face wasn't one that many people wanted to wake up seeing. He was looming, tapping his cane again and again on the floor of… oh. This was inside her mind. She could see the pulpit. "No need to talk. Casting more darned spells won't make me do anything other than judge you. I am just here to say that we owe you a debt. The Seeds are both safe in Virginia's care, and are yours. If you wish to consult with a few of us on matters of Demon-Spawn, you may. I have the right to refuse any question." Mr. Gilt cleared his throat. "And if there's ever help you need, of a small or moderate sort… an object of some value, or a distraction. We are honor-bound to provide it. Once." Mr. Gilt sighed, the old man rubbing at his eyes. "I don't like you Mages… offense meant," he said, to where Sheriff was standing, a little worse for wear but mostly unharmed.

"Understood," Sheriff said, sounding bored.

"But Suzanna spoke of how impressive you were, and I am told that you saved Virginia's life. That is enough. I won't owe you some debt that can be exploited forever. But unlike you 'wise' we Demon-Spawn know how to feel gratitude."

"The actions you complain about were a decade ago," Sheriff said. "If you are saying what you think, Mr. Gilt."

"I am. And a decade is very little time when you're as old as me," Gilt said, stepping back and giving them room.

Nobody else was here, nobody at all.

"Can you use telepathy on me?" the Sheriff asked, reaching out a hand to rest it on her head, very lightly.

The spell wasn't hard. 'Yes?'

"Virginia has reported that Occlude has betrayed all of us. His mind controlled, and yet his will in some ways his own, he threatened death in some way, some weapon that would kill her. And he threatened a mission to deal with a major Astral threat for his own… agenda. This is against some laws, though his failure to do all that much will… mark against it." The Sheriff grunted. "But I must ask you, what do you want us to do? You are the wronged party."

'What about--'

"The wronged party who has legal rights in Mage society," Sheriff said. "If you press a claim, it may take weeks, or a month, for him to be captured. There will be a trial, and you will have to testify. If you don't, then there's no case, even with Yue Ying cooperative."

'Ah.'

"So, the real question is what you want done?"

What?

[] Occlude should simply be found, and the Mind magic removed. That is all. He was mentally influenced, he's not responsible for what he did.
[] The above, but… word of what he did should be spread. Those who trust him should know that they shouldn't, that they can't. That he has within him the potential to scheme like that, to… do as he did.
[] There should be a trial. She will have to testify, journey by whatever means needed southward--temporarily, perhaps using Space magic--to do so. And the punishment may not be as heavy as it might be, because of his total failure in this regard. But it's something.
[] Write-in.

*****
William stared at her. The pain was gone, the weakness was gone, but she was still a wolf. He wasn't cowering, in fact he looked straight at her… but he was as far away from her as she could possibly be while still being in the room. She stood on the table and looked at the boy.

"Are you going to attack me?" William asked.

She shook her head.

"Are you okay? I saw you transform, but you were sleeping, and so… I left you like this. I don't know what's going on beyond here. I've done my duty, and you?" William asked it quietly. "It's an hour past midnight. Are you okay?"

Miriam didn't know.

Of all of the emotions Miriam is feeling, most prominent of them, at this moment, is…

[] Grim Triumph: The cost was terrible, and she nearly became a monster. She walked a fine line, and lost a lot. Did a lot. Risked a lot. And yet she has the seeds. And yet Suzanna had killed Wolfborne (this she was told just before she left, as an afterthought) and Miriam had unraveled the danger of one of the conspiracies. As she was brought here to do. So it is a triumph, even if it tastes like ashes. It MUST be one.
[] Exhaustion: Was it worth it? How would she know. She aches. Her soul, her body, her mind. She's made her last decision today. There's not much left in her, not much left in her at all. She can't, can't keep on doing this, no matter what this is. At least not tonight.
[] Quiet sorrow: It wasn't worth it. She had to do it, it had to be done, but she feels impure, she feels scarred. She's going through heck and it's changed her, and she's pretty sure that it's mostly changed her for the worse. These last few weeks, she's risked everything, and for a world that. She has to fight for the world, but what has she seen here? Treachery, murder, viciousness, hatred, lies, unholiness. This is what she faces, and she can't imagine a way around it… yet. But she must be quiet, she must let it lie. She must figure out how to overcome it.
[] Scarred Faith: God… it has to be God's plan. And yet this time the thought is almost… disturbing. It's terrifying to think that this is God, that this is-- it doesn't help as much as she hoped it would. But it's something, something. Maybe, maybe it's something.

*******



A/N: And thus begins the epilogue, of sorts, to this first book/adventure. But it's going to be a long and complicated one. So not really an epilogue, and more an extended falling-action.