[@Ace of flames01]
[@OtomostheCrazy]

Aden floundered for an answer, searching his mind desperately for who could have taken it. A chance to save Occus was enough to reignite hope in his chest. Who would know? Boreas might... where was Boreas now? Well he wasn't here, that was for sure. Boreas and Occus had been close, perhaps there was a clue? Aden stood abruptly, if the two were as close as Aden suspected then the loss would have affected the god deeply. There was a map, somewhere, a war map... Aden stood abruptly and ducked through into a side room, the war room. A table with violet hologram-like projections showed the planet and the realms floating around it. A few seemed to be missing... but there was no time for that.

There! A freakishly large blizzard was swirling across western Russia. That would be Boreas, it had to be. Now Aden knew what he had to do, if Hannah could do it then so could he...

But wait! He was inside the realm! He needed to find a way to force it open again. But there was no time! He debated for a moment which option was better, and then he heard a whispering in his mind. So that was what he had to do.

Aden was no mage, but he was Fae. He could do this, just a bit of the more dangerous magics was all it would take. Blood magic wasn't picky after all, blood was blood. He stalked back into the throne room purposefully, and picked up the still lightly humming staff Blodsec. He hesitated a moment, eyeing the pool of gold, and then decided against it in case the blood was important. He transformed his claws and tore them across his left wrist, dripping red droplets onto the staff's crystals, which absorbed the liquid like a sponge. So much dark magic today, it wasn't good for anyone.

The staff glowed brighter, the fresh sacrifice waking the artifact up. Aden fully transformed for the next part, using the superhuman strength of his werewolf form to jab the staff deep into the stone floor of the throne room, sending cracks every which way. The crystals' orange glow became violet abruptly as it was forcefully linked to the realm. Aden focused all of his mental power on the vision that assaulted his mind from touching the link, and quickly located the wards, which had activated after finding Occus dead when magic returned to the place. He switched them off.

Still linked to the realm itself, he was suddenly aware of hundreds of incoming portals. Soon the city would be swarming with refugee Fae. It'd be best if they didn't see Occus as he was now. The doors to the throne room abruptly slammed shut, and then Aden got to the whole purpose of this complicated magic trick; he opened a portal to Russia in the throne room. Boreas fell through immediately, shaking with grief and rage as he held the body of an ice cold goddess with snow white hair; Khione, his daughter. [color=004b80]"Ox!"[/color] The winter god shouted, and then seemingly realized what he was looking at as the portal closed behind him and Aden let go of the staff, returning to human form as he did.

[color=004b80]"No!"[/color] So Boreas hadn't even been aware of Occus' death? He wouldn't know where the heart was then. Aden rushed to explain before the distraught god could start assigning blame. "Rhona can save him, but we need The Heart!" Boreas straightened at that, but still seemed grief stricken. [color=004b80]"Who was here? Who saw this happen?"[/color] Boreas asked, leaning his daughter's body to the floor with a sad look and a soft caress. 

"No one," Aden said guardedly, "Hannah, Hannah Lane, she sacrificed herself to open a portal here. No one was here before us, and he was like this when we arrived."

[color=004b80]"All but one."[/color] Boreas said darkly. He turned suddenly to Rhona and Yuki, eyeing them and judging them, but he seemed satisfied by what he saw. [color=004b80]"I will get her."[/color]

He returned shortly later, face still grim and weary. Inquisitive whispering followed him, but he answered none of the too-quiet questions. Then Boreas moved aside, and there, in flesh and blood, renewed to her full glory, was Hecate. Her eyes were normal, unlike the red of the resurrected Old Gods, and currently widening in horror. [color=ed145b]"My son!"[/color] She choked, aghast and more emotional than she should have been considering he had been the one to kill her. [color=ed145b]"My- my son..."[/color] She rushed to his side, cradling her head in her arms - just like had been foreseen before all of this started.

[color=004b80]"Where is The Heart,"[/color] Boreas asked her, grim and only slightly sympathetic. [color=004b80]"I know you listen to it. We can use it to save him."[/color] He assured.

The goddess perked up at that, then deflated. [color=ed145b]"You have to try."[/color] She commanded, [color=ed145b]"No matter where I say, you have to go and get it anyway. Promise."[/color] She demanded.

Boreas didn't hesitate a second. [color=004b80]"We will go. I promise. Where is it?"[/color]

[color=ed145b]"Veroxese."[/color] she said, [color=ed145b]"Earth. It's hiding among the mortals, at the last place it visited in that realm."[/color]

Boreas frowned, a mortal club in Germany? How... obscure. The Heart was rather clever. But then... [color=004b80]"What awaits us there? You made us promise to go, why? What is wrong with this club?"[/color]

Hecate frowned, looking down at her son's still face. [color=ed145b]"That city is next. A light from the sky will destroy it soon, if you are still in the city when it does strike... God or not, you will not come back to us. Be quick, The Heart does not know, and it will not survive either."[/color]

Boreas looked surprise, the mortal aliens could [i]kill[/i] gods? He shook the thought away and turned to Rhona and Yuki. He remembered most of the Merged, even the drifting ones like these two. [color=004b80]"You will come with me?"[/color] It sounded like a demand, but he had meant it as a question. At Hecate's beckoning a portal appeared in the throne room, showing a deserted German city. Everyone was inside, hiding, or had long ago made a run for the countryside.