[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/NvqYYuh.png[/img]
[img] https://fontmeme.com/permalink/240301/afc2e4e091f5e77155a2bde75504f79e.png[/img][/center][right][b]Interactions:[/b] Auri [/right][right][b][code]The Shadowzone[/code][/b][/right][hr]

The Shadowzone, regardless of its tattered state after the Temple's intrusion, was a window into Jack's mind. Vast troves of paranormal lore lay within its silent walls, a veritable library that he could spend years reading through. Bookshelves lined the room, and a desk was littered with the opened contents and countless loose sheets of notes as he tried to piece together what in God's name that book was. And like his mind, there was not a single trace of any answer to be found. There was Walter Cromwell, the white Adept who was rumored to develop an all-knowing spell. There was the Book of Stars that theorized the cosmological beginnings of the All-Verse, and an endless number of scattered accounts talking about a magical cup that produced healing elixirs; A book with stories about distant worlds and the events that ended them, a guidebook to godlike figures [i]throughout[/i] the All-Verse. 

Even when he tried to cross-reference all of that with what he knew about the Pit, the Mother Will, and the figments of knowledge on Sunshine Jones' horrid history... Jack found nothing. And it [i]infuriated[/i] him. A scowl crossed his tired face, Jack knew the deepest lore of civilizations that fell millions of years ago in unspoken parts of the All-Verse by [i]heart,[/i] and had rumored pieces of their deceased gods sitting on a shelf across from books written in languages never spoken on this plane of reality. 

And he couldn't get to the bottom of this. 

How long ago had Raven lost the Chalice, if it was in her possession? Sully was the Cupbearer these days, and he found it on a beach as a kid, didn't he? The Recollection in which that child had it could've been weeks before then, or a century ago. And that damn [i]book...[/i] If it was in St. Portwell, according to whatever voice they all were hearing in their dreams, then either no one had found it yet or someone was on the path to godhood already. There had to be reason why they were receiving these visions, a method to this. These things rarely happened aimlessly. Jack had so many questions and not a single answer. How did Walter's Book end up in this city? If the Chalice was out of the Pit, were Sunshine and Raven out as well? [i]How did a child survive the Pit?[/i]

Auri put out the call that they'd be meeting today, but if he kept looking...

Jack opened a small portal out of the Void and into Shimmer, typing a message to send to Auri before sticking his phone through to send it.

[quote][color=6644ff]I assume everyone else had that dream as well. I am in the Void as we speak, looking for answers. I will join you all at Kari's house, but I may be late.[/color][/quote]

Immediately after the text, Jack sent a photo of his desk and all the books opened to various pages. 

[quote][color=6644ff]I have found nothing so far, it is driving me mad. Sunshine Jones was a monster beyond definition, and I suspect that neither she nor that child are in the Pit anymore.[/color][/quote]

He snapped the portal shut, and made a mental note not to stay much longer...



[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/YPix3H6.png[/img]
[img]https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/a_ZXp74cmcnxAvQSBK0nee5IJqvtSKuclfYouJxS7HA/https/fontmeme.com/permalink/231126/fd923e18179d11fb770a1c53aea6dd00.png?format=webp[/img][/center][right][b]Interactions:[/b]  ̷̞̣̿̐ ̵̞̗̉ ̸̰̞̇ ̴̢͌ ̴̹̫̀ ̷͉͐̊ ̸̗͇̽̒ ̸̬̿ ̷͎̱̀ ̴͖͌̌ ̸̣̾ ̵͚̺̽͝ ̸̣͒̄ ̷̜̊̚ ̷̪̫͋̊ ̶̪̗͆̈́ ̸̜͇̑́ ̴̼̫̓ ̷̺͝ ̵̤̻͗̈́ ̸̟̄̎ ̶̝̌ ̴͕̅͠ ̷̖̒̏ ̶̓̇[/right][right][b][code] ̴͈̀ ̸͎͉̽̇ ̶̺̉ ̸͈͉̽ ̸̞̝͐̅ ̴̻̪̏ ̴͍̾ ̶̝̎̊ ̸̢̯̔ ̴̫̆ ̶̥̩̇ ̷̙̇ ̴͓͈̂͌ ̸̱̅̾ ̶̟͛͐ ̵͋ͅ[/code][/b][/right][hr]


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[youtube]https://youtu.be/RgUOfJ2tGiw?si=HmwTlYyCPbuUo6Ve[/youtube]
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Stormy ran through the streets fast as he could, hurling shields at the shadowy monsters that chased him. They bounced off of walls that exhaled past his awareness, swerving and striking home as each one exploded into thin air. The screams were getting closer, but the ground just would not let him run faster to reach them. It refused to. [i]Everything[/i] refused to. Nothing let him have a single atom of peace, a single molecule of [i]hope[/i] to get there beyond the burning in his lungs and the drive he didn't know he had. Stormy's path wound further and further the longer those nightmares tailed him, until it felt like he was walking across eternity itself.

It was neither day nor night, but the weight of the Snake's presence in this world was close enough to darkness it may as well have won by now. The corners of Stormy's vision were like watercolor smears, and all he could hear were their wails of fear, pleads for salvation that must have been endless from this far. The howls of the monsters chasing him were at the bottom of an ocean in his ears. Even if he was only leading them closer to those he needed to protect, it was better than not being there. He couldn't do anything unless he was in the moment, unless he was where he could be useful. He-

He must've been slowing down, one of the monsters grabbed him. A black claw lanced around his wrist, and then a mass of something vaguely animal shaped fell on him. Then another, and another still. The world flipped on its head, such that the damned and the dying were background noise and the Stygian Snake's minions were all that existed. Fangs and blades raked across his skin, inch by inch, to tear Stormy away from the land of the living. The pain was sudden, and absolute against the storm of fear that drowned him to his bones. 

When his vision was little more than black and red, the light of his magic burned from deep within. The Apparitions were persistent, but they were made frail by his Lux. Darkness was replaced with blinding green, and every creature that tore his flesh away from bone became ash on the wind. Stormy's Phantombane aura lit the world ablaze as if he were the second coming of the sun, and it was in the green glow of his protection that he saw them all. Not a sound was to be heard, but in every direction around him, Stormy saw the dead.

Bodies piled in mounds that stretched outwards into darkness further than his light could penetrate. Horror frozen on every last face that he saw in agonizing detail, he knew the name of every corpse. All countless thousands of them, friends and family, brothers and sisters. Blood ran down the mounds in rivers of crimson red, and soaked the ground where Stormy walked. 

He felt his heart fade out of his chest. He dared to whisper a plea for forgiveness, and the universe answered in one terrible scream. Not of sorrow, not of pain. But of hate.

[color=black][h1][i][b]Y̷O̷U̶ ̷C̸O̷U̷L̷D̷ ̴N̴O̶T̶ ̴S̷A̸V̴E̷ ̸U̸S̸[/b][/i][/h1][/color]

Stormy shot upwards, awake faster than his body was prepared for, with a shield between his fingers to throw at the first sign of danger. In a cold sweat, his eyes darted back and forth until he realized where he was. Luca's couch, he finally remembered. Luca let him stay over, he went to sleep. Nothing but a bad dream.

Stormy's heart hammered in his chest so loud that he wouldn't be able to hear someone if they chose to sneak up behind him. The silence eventually overtook him when he calmed down enough to get rid of the shield. He was just having a bad dream. Nothing to panic about. Nothing new, nothing he wasn't familiar with already...

He quickly laid back down to try and fall asleep, before allowing himself to think about it. That always made it worse.

[right][b]Interactions:[/b] The Coven [/right][right][b][code]Kari's House[/code][/b][/right][hr]

Clearly, he wasn't meant to sleep last night.

First he had that recurring nightmare again, and then he dreamed about Raven Jones again. Stormy wasn't inept in terms of magic knowledge, but most of what he knew about the overall paranormal world was of the historic variety. He didn't dive into the depths of things like others did, Stormy knew things about Shimmer's paranormal past, and that was it. He didn't even apply that knowledge, he was just someone who worked at a college. 

So instead of worrying about the implications of that dream, or devoting what little energy from sleep he had from thinking about Walter's Book, he finished grading the last few of those papers he meant to grade. As useful as this online format was, staring at a laptop screen for 3 hours gave him a huge migraine by the end of it.

He showed up just in time for Linqian and Ayrin to have their moment, looking around and trying to keep the fatigue from his face. Stormy looked around for a moment to make sure no one saw them. He was dressed in his usual tough-guy look with the jeans and the Carhartt jacket, since it was cold out. Ken was here, and that was great. He was honestly a little surprised Luca actually got out of bed today. He wasn't there when Stormy woke up.

[color=00ff98]"What's with the flowers, Drake?"[/color] He asked, so no one would pay attention to him looking a bit sluggish as he got there. [color=00ff98]"Trying to win Sloane over after last week?"[/color]

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/WmdEpkp.png[/img]
[img]https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/i9mJHtTQ4ljVlHKFlGvOBH8R-LYGwnr8vLigPvEQbVo/https/fontmeme.com/permalink/240204/a46d173d864e54efd06ab675a496cd2c.png?format=webp&quality=lossless[/img][/center][right][b]Interactions:[/b] The Coalition of Cunts [/right][right][b][code]Kari's House[/code][/b][/right][hr]

Amara parked her car on the other side of the neighborhood and proceeded on foot. Under her jacket was a pistol in a concealed holster, because she knew damn well that nothing [i]harmless[/i] was going to come from poking around in this house. She wasn't looking forward to meeting this many people at once after this long, especially not after her history with the PRA. But Amara was hoping the others either wouldn't ask or wouldn't give a shit when she told them she quit around a year ago. Her chat with Auri didn't make her very optimistic, and Amara [i]still[/i] couldn't fully remember Kari's presence in the coven during the old days.

And for that reason, she approached slowly, from a distance, when she neared the address that Auri gave her. Amara got just close to see the faces of the crowd forming. She recognized Ken, Ayrin, Britney [i]fucking[/i] Williams... Drake was there with flowers? What was that about? Wasn't he married? Who was it he got married to... Saskia? No, she died as a kid. Fuck, that was going to be awkward when she brought it up, wouldn't it?

Luca and Lynn, and a third girl whose face she couldn't immediately put together. Jasper was there, that was a surprise. And a kid who she didn't remember at all.

The funny thing about returning to the city was that Amara didn't actually think it would be that bad showing her face again. Maybe it was pride, but she remembered that she was damn good at keeping things on track back in the day. Aside from Britney being a monumental fuckup, she didn't have many enemies back then. What got to Amara though, was the fact that she had so many gaps in her memory, thanks to her Abstraction, that they might take it the wrong way.

[i]Fuck it.[/i]

Amara walked up, hands in her pockets and inserted herself into the conversation.

[color=789CAA]"Hey,"[/color] she said, fixing a grin on her face. [color=789CAA]"Wish we could've met up under better circumstances, but I just got back a while ago. So... Surprise- I lived, and I'm here."[/color]