Akoni, exhausted, injured, overtaxed, was unconscious for several hours. Had the nephilim Wrath not pulled him from the Eidolic Cairn, he'd have surely perished. It was rather funny, in a way. A career in demon hunting that spanned decades, including an entire ten years within Hell itself, and he lived long enough to retire for twenty years... And it wasn't until he agreed to get out of retirement that he faced certain death.

But Death was not the one watching him or Wrath at this point. Death was nowhere to be found, but one of his associates kept a good eye on the two. Akoni began to wake as the watcher and Wrath had their conversation. He couldn't understand any of it, he was still too out of sorts and in pain, until the watcher referred directly to Akoni himself. [color=cyan]"He goes too."[/color]

Akoni looked up with bloodshot eyes, recognizing the creature. Through slow, heavy breathes, he spoke. [color=dodgerblue]"I can... Understand why... The Council wants to see... A nephililm. What do they... Want... With a washed up... Old... Has-been human?"[/color]

[color=cyan]"Don't presume you know anything about the Council, human!"[/color] the watcher shot back. [color=cyan]"In any case, it is not your place, or mine, to question their orders. It is your place to prepare to be brought before them."[/color]

Akoni would have laughed, if it wouldn't hurt so damn much. The Charred Council wanted him? Really? Sure he had a reputation, but that was back in his heyday. Things were different now. Twenty years of laziness and stagnation did not a master combatant make. Even his magic had waned in that time. He recalled when he could forge his own gates between earth, Paradiso, and Inferno. Now? He struggled to create gates more than a few yards away. And more than that was his attitude. Akoni forgot his limitations, threw caution to the wind. He jumped into a dangerous situation and allowed himself to be distracted (mental note, send Snider an invoice for the boombox repair), and failed to properly assess the threat. Ultimately he had to use [i]that[/i] technique. Probably shaved five years off of his lifespan with that little trick. Better than dying on the spot, but it wasn't exactly an ideal alternative.

[color=dodgerblue]"Thank you for, I assume, pulling me out of there..."[/color] Akoni trailed off as he addressed the nephilim, but his eyes glowed a dull blue for but a moment and he continued. [color=dodgerblue]"Wrath. I never knew there existed a fifth nephilim. You're not one of the Horseman, but I sense holy magic around you. An agent of the Lumen Sages? Or perhaps Heaven itself? Regardless, thank you. Such kindness has never been expressed to me by a non-human."[/color]

Akoni struggled to stand on his own two feet, but found the pain to be too severe. He slumped back down, his face contorting in a strange combination of pain and anger at his own inability to be self-sufficient, when the watcher spoke up again. [color=cyan]"We're getting off track. Prepare yourselves to meet your betters, immediately."[/color]