Beth's mind wove through a storm of magic, power, and will; a mystic chaos that spread down into the earth with eldtritch tendrils writhing, curling, twisting together to every side. This, of course, was the spirit's form, the ancient structure set down by sacrifice and ritual long, long ago. The spirit was a force of nature given corporeal form - not sentient, but canny in its own way. It had been created for a specific purpose, one that it was very much reveling in performing now. Even while the witch wove her magics through the spirit, it stood up from Emma's assault and bellowed again, taking another massive step toward the remaining Investigators. Again, it grew larger, more green and living plants lacing its body together, and that surge of energy burned and tore at the magic Beth sent into the creature.

Moving deeper, though, that's where the real answers were. The spirit's will held only action and purpose, but there was another will buried in the swirling tempest. Like lines of starlight, the tendrils of power from the will that summoned and bound the creature flickered in her mind. With words of power, she touched that will, drew its power to her, bound and befuddled it. There was another will on the other end of that power, another mind, another intention, of that she could be absolutely certain. Nothing ancient, nothing projecting through time or across vast distances - someone of the modern time...and someone quite nearby.

Confusion filled the link, and Beth's will began to subsume the other practitioner's. Images filled her mind, flowing in from the magic she wrapped around herself. She saw two men, one tall, one less so. She saw two minds, one sleek and luminous and filled with purpose, one like a box of jagged glass, all sharp corners and shattered edges. To every side of the pair, Beth saw innumerable small, bright lights, each like a tiny, golden sun. Each was trapped in a tiny copper cage, each cage hung from the distant, dark ceiling of the room the men knelt in. The lights danced in the cages, and the room itself seemed filled with echoes of distant emotions. She felt terror, helplessness, dread and loss, each modulated differently from each other, each fear a subtly different flavour. More seemed about to pour through the link when the tall man, the one with the luminous mind looked up. She heard a deep, rolling voice, though the man's lips didn't move.

[i]
Disband, of course, this deed is done,
And you'll soon see what I've begun.
This night marks mortal power's fall,
Soon, all shall fear the Shaman's call.
[/i]

The tall man placed his hand with a clap on the smaller man's shoulder, and the smaller man shivered. Both of their eyes closed, and the smaller man reached to a pair of the cages hanging from the ceiling, wrapping his long, dirty fingers around them. He took a deep breath, and Beth saw power - enormous, thunderous currents of [i]power[/i], surge through the small man. It didn't stay within him at all, only moving through the contact with the larger man like water over an aqueduct, and it gathered around him, heavy, vicious, dangerous. The smaller man dropped his hands, the golden lights he had wrapped his hands around faded, the last few sparks dribbling from his palms. The larger man smiled, raised his hand to where Beth's point of view appeared to be, and that power roared out of him, across the link, through the spirit, and into Beth, hurling her against the glass.

From where she landed, Beth saw the circle around the spirit's anchor-stone flare into blue fire edged with golden light, the circle and runes burning away to white ash. The magic binding the spirit to the caster's will crackled and faded at the same time, the spellwork unraveling like it had never been. Now, there was only the furious, surging feeling of the spirit's own will washing through the world, and if anything, it seemed to be growing faster. Glass tinkling down around her, Beth heard the spirit bellow again, another wash of blue sparks painting the dark sky.

[center] ---- [/center]

The spirit felt its bindings tear and fray away, fluttering into the ether, but it didn't care. It had already been given its purpose, and it would serve, even if there were no new instructions. Only a few steps away now, two men that smelled of fire and oil scuttled, and the creature took another huge step toward them. The others, it knew it would have to deal with soon enough. Doubtless, they were some kind of threat it had never encountered before, but these two, it understood. Metal and fire and bottles, those were threats it could make sense of. It roared again, and broke into a run.

Then...something else. Another voice, another will flickering through the spirit's consciousness. This one quiet, wild, nothing like those that had come before. Words flitted through the spirit's mind, a gentle entreaty. No orders, no binding, no commands. It didn't understand, not completely, but it did know this new person wanted it to...stop. There were no orders, but there was a desire - not quite a command, but the creature could not resist the will of one who held its anchor and addressed it. Confused, the creature slowed only a few steps into its charge, its enormous bulk meaning it still took several staggering steps to come to a halt. 

Slowly, the spirit turned its head, blue eye-lights fluttering in the early-morning darkness. It stood still, hands still bunched into fists the size of motorcycles, and looked at Mandy. She could feel its confusion, its desire for orders - and she could feel exactly how annoyed it was at being prevented from crushing these intruders into its sacred ground.