Chapter XII: The Monster is Loose

Part III

The lead van, which contained the surviving Councillors and their driver, turned back and signalled the others to follow.  They parked in a nearby ramp most of them used when visiting the Great Hall.  The Consilium owned it and provided members with free monthly passes.  Everyone converged to discuss what had happened.  Initial popular theory blamed the Banishers, but Ace quashed it.

"The magick used to create that Aberrance didn't come from released Paradox.  This was intentional, and it's growing.  We're dealing with Scelesti."

Several gasps accompanied his words.  Similar to how the Seers of the Throne worshipped the Exarchs, the Scelesti worshipped the Annunaki, the rulers of the Abyss.  Unlike Banishers and Seers, they tended to hide within the other Orders, making them difficult to find.  Most that lasted long knew to be very careful about revealing their true allegiance.  They were considered the most dangerous enemy to the Awakened, even drawing Pentacle and Seer forces together to eliminate them.

"We did note the use of Spirit magick to open a brief Iris.  At least a few may have escaped into the Shadow, but I would think they would have contacted us.  I'll get in touch with the Uratha to look for them."  Ace turned to Sparky.  "Flawless Sword and I discussed it:  You're going back to your sanctum."

"Why?"

"You can barely stand," Flawless Sword replied, gesturing to her knee.  "We'll likely be needing to move quickly, and the trade-off to carry you just for your Spirit magick simply isn't worth the risk.  Get to your sanctum and keep it secure.  Until we know who the traitors are, we need a safe-house.  That's an order, Sparky."

'How dare he take us off the battlefield!' her other self protested.  'We can take care of ourself.'

"Yes, Sir."  Sparky offered an half-hearted salute and turned to leave, ignoring the ongoing complaints of her inner voice.

"Everyone else, prepare to move out," Ace called.  "We'll be forming three battle groups...."

In the Hierarch's absence, the Councillors would run the Consilium.  Normally, in a time of conflict, they would follow Flawless Sword or Marble.  Ace was seizing the reins, but his education in the Mysterium granted him an edge in dealing with Scelesti that only Marble could have exceeded.

Since she had parked in that ramp, Sparky was able to take her own car back to her home.  Rarity and Scootaloo were there, both nearly out of their minds.  The latter was hunting through the kitchen for anything that could be used as a weapon, the handle of a meat cleaver tucked into the belt of her shorts.

"Everyone just up and left before the sun even came out," Rarity cried.  "They had me take Pixie to school but otherwise told us to stay here.  What's going on?  Where are Sweetie Belle and the others?"

Thanks to the many hours it had taken to clear the fields, only another hour remained until Pixie's school ended for the day.  That gave Sunset time to decide what to do.  She knew her friends needed to be calmed, but she also knew that would require lying to them.  It was very likely that the others were effectively dead, so assurances would be far more painful if the worst happened.  That left only the truth, a bitter pill Sunset did not wish to swallow.

"Let me lay out what's going on.  Scootaloo, drop the knife and sit."  She waited for compliance with her orders.  "Remember the hate spirits and the people that exterminated them?  They're part of a larger group."

"What kind of group is this?"

"Like I explained back then, they use a different type of magick that comes from another world.  I've been friends with a few of them ever since they saved me.  We went to help them look for the killers.  Sweetie Belle and the others were at a safe place while I went with the group that was going to investigate a lead."

"You went to fight them?" Scootaloo asked.

"We wanted to turn them over to the police, but they attacked us.  There were so many more than we ever guessed.  It was terrible, but we beat those murderers.  We all thought it was over, but we came back to find the safe place was destroyed."

"My sister?  My dear Sweetie Belle?  Is she-"  Rarity choked at that point, unable to finish her question.

"I really don't know.  There's a small chance they escaped.  My friends are looking for them, and they won't stop until they're sure ... one way or another.  Just in case any of those killers escaped, I came back here to make sure you'd be safe."

Rarity was especially distraught.  She may have focused on the potential loss of her sister, but the fear was accompanied by images of all of their friends.  Her distress was going to ruin her health; Sunset was uncertain whether it could put Rarity into premature labour, but she refused to take the risk.  Words were not helping; Rarity's control of herself was slipping.  Finally, Sunset forced her to sleep, modifying the spell to give her good dreams as she did with Pixie when the girl had trouble sleeping.

"What did you do?" Scootaloo demanded.

"Remember how I used magic to rescue Sci-Twi at the Friendship Games?  We all still have it, I'm just better at using it."  Sunset preferred not to lie to her friends, but justified it for the situation.

"So we'll just be waiting here until we find out if everybody else is okay?  We aren't going to help look for them?"

"For now, but we do need to get Pixie from school.  Can I trust you to get her and only do that?"

Scootaloo glared at her.  "Of course.  I'd never put a little kid in danger."

"Thanks.  She attends Smiling Flowers.  Do you know where it is?"

When it was time, Sunset gave Scootaloo the keys to her car.  Thanks to lessons dating from when Sunset first gave Sweetie Belle a safe home, Scootaloo knew how to drive a standard.  She had grown to like them so much that she preferred them.

Karen and Spike were both standing on the back of the couch to look at Sunset.  She wanted to smile at them but could not.

"Sweetie Belle is lost in the Shadow?" Karen asked.

"Maybe.  We don't know who escaped."

"I'm going to gather all of her friends.  Most of us may not be able to enter it, but we'll do what we can."

"Take me with you," Spike demanded.  "If Twilight's lost somewhere, I have to help find her.  I'd find her scent no matter where she is."

"You'd be a snack to the creatures out there."

Spike growled in response.  "Let them try me."

Karen nodded.  "Fine.  If you take my tail, you can follow me into the Hedge.  We'll use that to spread the word."

"Stay safe, guys.  Let me know as soon as you get some news."

Karen and Spike saluted.  She leapt from the couch and scurried out the door.  Spike followed her into the yard, where he grasped her tail in his teeth.  He showed no hesitation as he dashed through the bushes and into the Hedge.

That left Sunset alone with an unconscious Rarity.  Violet and Water Sapphire were sleeping upstairs, both undisturbed by the earlier noise.

Sunset could not rest, pacing like Twilight as she waited for some news.  Without intent, she found herself imagining the many horrible things that could have happened to her friends and the rest of the Consilium.  Each scenario was more terrible than the previous one, and she was afraid she would snap if she continued to receive no updates.

The Shadow was almost always a dangerous place for anyone, even the Uratha despite being half-spirit themselves.  Sunset was familiar with the Spirit Arcanum, though there were several others far more skilled than she.  Ace was an example of those, which was part of the reason why he was frequently a liaison to the Uratha.  If spirits had captured the group, she told herself they at least had a chance of surviving.

Before Sunset's thoughts could turn yet darker, a magickal presence approached the house.  Sunset halted, probing the intruder.  It was moving slowly, the signature familiar.

"Pearl?"

'If she's alive, maybe some of the rest of the Consilium survived?'

'Then why isn't anyone else with her?' Sunset's other self asked.  'Do you really think she would abandon your friends?'

Sunset looked into the yard to see her mentor walking up the drive, a slight limp to her gait.  Pearl was filthy, her cheerful red skin blackened by dirt and smoke.  Despite her slow walk and ruffled appearance, she looked to be healthy.

'She's a pragmatic person.  If she couldn't save anyone else-'

'She would have stayed to protect them, not abandon them.  Something's fishy.'

'Stop trying to make me doubt my friends.  I'm sure she's-'

The retort of a gun sounded.

Sunset was already pulling her gun while reflexively stepping behind the door's frame before Pearl's body had even fallen to the street.

'Oh gods, her brains are plastered on the side of my house!'

'Keeping us alive now, Sunny, dead mentor later.'

She scanned the street but saw nothing directly in front of her sanctum.  Sunset moved to the side of the window to peer further down the block.  Pearl's truck was parked three houses down, someone crouching behind it.  Sunset extended her magickal senses toward the figure, expecting to find a dead zone from a surviving Vigilante.  Instead, that person was a Mage, one she knew well.

The butt of her gun shattered the glass of the front window.  She stayed hidden behind the wall as she called, "Ace, why did you kill Pearl?"

He stood, unarmed and hands raised to reply, "She was a Scelestus.  We found the evidence at her farm.  She showed up and attacked us, but she ran when we didn't go down right away.  I guessed she'd come here, since you'd be an easy target."

"How do you expect me to believe that?"

Ace waved his empty hands.  "Will you let me get closer so we don't have to shout this for the whole street to hear?"

She moved to the door, keeping most of her body hidden as she trained her gun on him.

"Okay, but one sign of magick and I open fire."

He nodded and stepped from behind the truck.  As he walked, Sunset risked a glance at Pearl's body.  Almost the entire front half of her head was gone, blood and brain matter sprayed across the lawn.  Something metallic glinted in the sunlight next to her.  When Ace neared the drive, he paused to gesture at whatever lay next to Pearl's body.

"Look at this."

"Hold it up.  Slowly."

He did as instructed.  The item was a knife in a medieval style, the blade long and tapering to a fine point.  The hilt was carved, but he was too far from Sunset for her to be able to see what pattern it used.  The guard curled away from the hand to form what look like small troughs with spouts at the tips.

"There's blood on this.  It's probably what she planned to use to kill you."

"I don't feel any magick from it."

"Look, I'll give you my True Name.  Use it to probe my mind for the truth.  You're skilled enough that you'll know if I'm lying to you."

"Okay, tell me."

Sunset kept her gun in position, not allowing the world to fade as she used her magick.  She could sense that he was lowering his own barrier, so she formed a spell in the back of her mind that would allow her to review his thoughts and memories.  To focus it at Ace, she gave it the name he told her and felt it spring at him.

Without him resisting, the spell worked quickly.  It was designed to show her what she wished to see of his specific thoughts and memories.  Just like a daydream, her mind's eye perceived the events since they had parted through his eyes while she was still fully present and maintaining her defensive posture, weapon at the ready.  If not for her practise with sharing minds, the dual-vision would have been disconcerting.

Sunset skipped from their separation in the parking ramp to the point where Ace and those with him arrived at Pearl's farm.  She could feel what he had of the death around the property.  Everything that had once been green and vibrant was dead and rotting.  Even the ley lines were corrupted with abhorrent energies that made Ace feel sick deep within himself, the sensation spilling from his memory to Sunset.  She fought the urge to vomit, gagging a few times until she could focus again.

Ace, Midnight, and a few Arrows entered the house, immediately rushing into the basement.  It was the most likely source of corruption, Ace's assumption proved by what they found:  Several bodies lay there, each gutted with the blood and entrails used to create a massive sigil that burned against Ace's eyes.  Another of the Arrows had to ward them all against the taint of the horrific magick at play.

Their examination revealed that the matrix and sigils were designed to open a gateway to the Abyss.  The Aberrance that had once been the Great Hall was only the start.  It would grow until one of the Anunnaki would be able to send all of its children through the massive breach.  The whole city would dissolve into the madness of that anti-Realm.

The spell tapped into every bit of Supernal magick that flowed across Pearl's land, twisting the purity for its own purpose.  The rot was spreading across the city, the nexus of Pearl's farm a beating heart to send poison to every corner.

As they studied the warped symbols, they discovered that it was not the only location.  The matrix itself indicated that there were four others equidistant around their city, which would form a circle with an epicentre on the Great Hall.  The spell was devouring all of the magick it could, gaining power until it could open the door to an aborted universe.

It required more than just ley lines and nexi.  The dead were not only contributing their bodies; the spell needed the power of life itself, consuming souls for its battery.  Whoever created it had either known of the coming attacks or had manipulated events to cause them.  Ace nearly became sick as he realised what had happened to the people used as the sacrifices and the many Witch Hunters they had so recently killed.

"This can't be a coincidence," he said.  "This spell must have been put in place before the battle."

"All those deaths triggered it," Midnight said, gesturing to a segment of the runes.  "We played right into their hands."

"Do you think Pearl did this?" one of the Arrows asked.

"It's hard to say.  I don't want it to be her doing, but only a few people know about this basement.  It would take a great deal of power to overwhelm so many people without any of them raising an alert.  Pearl's one of the few with that skill."

"There are quite a few bodies here, Councillor.  Not enough to account for the rest of the Consilium, but I'm estimating at least thirty.  Do you think whoever did this brought them in from the Great Hall?"

"No.  Those lost when the Aberrance opened would have fuelled it just as well.  I recognise some of these remains; they're Pearl's staff."

"Ace, we have a problem."  Midnight was using her foot to shift some of the bodies to reveal more of the spell.  "Souls in general will be pulled into the Aberrance, but it's specifically needing 'empowered' souls.  Not just Awakened, but the Uratha or Kindred will work."

"Damn it!  The Uratha are already in the Shadow.  Arrows, go warn as many as you can.  Midnight, we'll stay here and try to stop this."

They set to their tasks.  The van left the siblings alone with the aberration.  Both started work immediately, using everything at their disposal to put an end to the spell.  Ace ducked back up the stairs to return with a long hose.  He sprayed the blood and entrails, infusing the water with his Prime Arcanum to act as a sterilising agent.  It slowly dislodged parts of the terrible runes, but the twisted ambiance was not fading.

"Do you still have any explosives?" Midnight asked.

"A wedge of C4 and a grenade.  Why?"

"Drop the hose."

Ace obeyed his sister, releasing his grasp just as the water turned foul.  It glowed to their Mage Sight as though radioactive.  Where it touched the remains, they began to melt like they had been dunked into acid.

"We'd need Masters of all ten Arcana to stop this with magick.  Let's try blasting a section of the wall."

They set the bit of C4 before running up the stairs.  Ace detonated the wedge, which caused a much larger rumble than it should have.  Smoke rose from the basement with an otherworldly groan.  Part of the floor collapsed.  They did not bother to return to the basement; Ace tossed his grenade through the hole.

The nexus was no longer feeding the taint directly, but the twisted magick continued to flow.

"I'm guessing the other locations are self-propagating.  Let's alert the Arrows.  I'll call Sparky to come and get us."

Midnight placed a hand on his arm as he reached for his mobile.  "Someone's coming."

A soul Ace knew well appeared in the house.  They found Pearl, bloodied and gasping for breath as she beheld the damage to her home.

"Those damn Scelesti set us all up," she said.  "We barely got away."

"Where's the rest of the Consilium?" Ace asked.  "How did you get out here?"

"Ah had Sparky set a ward so's Ah'd be able ta teleport back ta mah property in case the Witch Hunters came after me.  Never expected Ah'd need ta use it fer this.  Everybody else is goin' ta the Sixteenth Street sanctum."  She pulled her keys from her pocket.  "C'mon, young'uns; Ah'll drive.  Let's take the Firebird."

Ace was not buying it.  He prepared a defensive spell, but Pearl acted first.  She used an inverted High Speech to pervert her Life magick in an attempt to kill both of her former friends.  Ace tried to block it with his own magick, but hers was too powerful.  Soul-wrenching Abyssal magick hit him while missing his sister.

Midnight grabbed his gun and opened fire at Pearl.  The older Mage was somehow able to move faster than any human should to dodge the bullets, yet there was no magick to support her preternatural speed.  She raced out the door to her Firebird, squealing from the farm as Midnight did what she could to heal Ace.

"Do you know how to hotwire an engine?"

"Of course."  She offered a half-grin.  "Clash taught me when I was nine."

"Good.  Get her truck running."

He followed her slowly.  Midnight used Fate to guide her motions, having the engine purring in minutes.

"Do you think she went to one of the other locations?"

Ace shook his head.  "Now that we're on to her, she's going to try to finish her spell.  She's going to kill, and I'm sure Sparky and whoever else is at her sanctum will be her next targets."

As he drove, Midnight called the rest of the survivors to warn them.  He dropped Midnight with Flawless Sword's group, as they were on the route to Sunset's house.

Sunset allowed the spell to fade.  That hour had only required seconds to process.  She lowered her gun and rushed to Ace to hug him.

He returned it.  When Sunset felt her body stop shivering, she said, "If you hadn't gotten here when you did, I wouldn't have hesitated to let her in.  How did you get here so quickly?"

"I'm a Shaman.  We have our ways."

"But wasn't Pearl a Shaman, too?"  When Ace was suddenly very interested in the coat holder, Sunset shouted, "Don't tell me you forgot?  She could have murdered us all!  Why didn't you call and warn me?"

"Well, I'm sorry, maybe I didn't think about that because I was a little more focused on making sure I wouldn't arrive to find her pleasuring herself with your femur and cutting open Rarity to eat her baby!"

The children had managed to sleep through the gunshot and the earlier shouted conversation, but the raised voices woke them.  They began wailing, Water Sapphire screaming for his mother.

"I'll take care of Pearl's body.  You check on the kids."

Glad to have an excuse not to have to handle Pearl's body, she did not argue and moved up the stairs as quickly as she could.  Violet was in her crib in the master bedroom, still sniffling.  Water Sapphire was hiding under the blankets on the bed.  Sunset could not lift much weight, which was why she usually only held Violet when she was seated.  Ignoring the protest of a joint that had been abused nearly to its limit, she lifted the toddler and carried her to the bed.  With a little coaxing, Water Sapphire showed himself and allowed Sunset to pull him into her lap.

"Mama okay?"

"She's okay," Sunset whispered.  She wiped her own tears and tried to smile at the children in her arms.  "Can you smile for her?  She'll need you."

She continued to rock both, cuddling them and trying everything she knew other than magick to soothe the children's frazzled nerves.  When they were finally calming, Sunset changed their diapers.  She settled Water Sapphire into the bed and Violet into her crib.

"I'm sorry, but I need you to go back to sleep.  There's too much going on right now.  I promise, Scootaloo and Pixie will be here soon, and you won't have to be lonely or scared anymore, okay?"

Even as a toddler, Water Sapphire was a Sleeper, so she avoided any overt Yantras.  A quiet lullaby took their place.  Sunset wove a spell over her charges, allowing them to fall into dreamless slumber.  That spell would allow someone else to wake them as normal and included wards against dreamwalkers.

Ace was still downstairs when Sunset managed to work herself to the living room.  She would need to acquire some opioids for her knee and probably have a specialist look at it when the war was done.  She hoped that would be soon.  In theory, only the Banishers remained.  There was the possibility of one or two more Scelesti if Pearl had other apprentices, but that seemed unlikely since she had been alone at the farm.

"Hey, Sunset, I took care of the ... package.  I also scanned the neighbourhood, and it doesn't seem like anyone was here to witness it.  Are the kids okay?"

"I don't know.  I put them to sleep until Scootaloo and Pixie get back."  Sunset was feeling emotionally drained and could hear the emptiness in her voice.  "How could she have been one of them?  I thought she was kind, a good friend.  Ace, how can we trust anyone?"

"I don't know what to tell you.  I knew her longer than you did; how do you think I feel?"

Sunset hugged him again.  "Thanks, Ace.  For everything."

The taint had already reached the house.  It would devastate the city until Mages skilled in Prime could clear the filth.  The corrupted ley lines would not only influence the city's residents to negativity, they would draw negative spirits, which would cause further degradation across the area and prevent non-Scelesti using them for much of anything.  It would take years to recover from the damage, even if all of the remaining members of the Consilium survived.  It frightened Sunset that a single person could wreak such horrors.

Before leaving, Ace called his fellow Councillors for updates.  He placed the call on speaker for Sunset's benefit.

"I still have Midnight with me.  We've already destroyed the other sigils," Flawless Sword reported.  "As far as we can tell, the Aberrance isn't growing, but it's tethered, so it's not going to shrink."

"That's still good news.  I've caught Pearl and dealt with her.  She came after Sparky, but I got to her in time."

"Good.  We're getting ready to enter the Shadow with a few Uratha packs.  Most of them are trying to keep as many of the new spirits distracted as they can.  According to reports, a whole bunch of fucked up spirits popped up around the Aberrance and the spell foci.  They're devouring other spirits at an alarming rate and getting strong."

"I'll be there shortly."

"Clash is leading an expeditionary force while we finish preparing.  He said-Oh, Christ, what the hell is it this time?"

Ace and Sunset glanced to each other.  Flawless Sword did not seem so much frightened as irritated.

"What's going on?"

"A bunch of different monsters are outside.  There are a couple of trolls at the front.  One them's holding ... a cat?"

Sunset hovered over the phone.  "Is the cat pure black?  Do you see a purple-and-green dog?"

"Sparky?"  There was a pause.  "Yes, I do.  Do you know them?"

"They're allies through Orchid.  If you can get them through an Iris, they'll help.  The cat is named Karen, the dog's Spike.  Talk to them; they'll explain the rest."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Positive."

"Right, then I'll just tell the others to stand down while I stroll out to chat with creatures that normally try to eat Awakened."

"Just tell them that you're leading the effort to rescue Orchid and the others."

Flawless Sword cursed again, though not in a manner that suggested an incoming attack.  He disconnected the call.

"I'm going to head out."

"Okay.  I'll be here.  Thanks again, Ace."

"I know it's pointless, but try to get some rest.  We may need you again."

"I'll be there for you, no matter what.  See you later."

He left, Pearl's body likely in the cab of the truck, though Sunset had not asked.  She was alone again, waiting for Scootaloo to pull into the drive with Pixie.  She did not look forward to the conversation of where the girl's family and friends were, but she would be glad to have others to share the pain of waiting.  In an effort to distract herself, she sat in front of the television and switched to the local public access channel.  Having one of Pixie's shows playing when she returned might help the girl's mood.

What played was not a series about a cute animated monkey.  Instead, a reporter stood in front of yet another ruined building.  "-are suspecting terrorist backing.  This marks the fifteenth attack over the past five days.

"I'm live at the scene where emergency rescue personnel are attempting to locate any survivors of what appears to have been several bombs at Smiling Flowers Primary School."

Sunset did not hear anything else.  She focused on what the camera showed of the broken school, where Pixel Bit had been playing with her friends and learning arithmetic.  She did not see her car, though she could see quite a few that had been damaged or destroyed by the 'bombs' as their owners waited for school to end.

Either Scootaloo had been there during the attack or she had arrived after it and had not returned because of a desire to assist rescue efforts.  The athlete would not abandon the school if she thought there was a chance any children or staff had survived, though she would have called Sunset.

That bright little soul, a large reason for many of the small joys in Sunset's life, had been snuffed for no reason.  Something within Sunset died with the news.  She could not mourn it, nor did she care.

'Hey, other me, are you still willing to help?'

'I've always been here for you.  Are you ready?'

'Yeah.  It's time to end this.  Are you with me?'

'Always.  We'll drink their blood.'

It was far easier than she expected to grant her other self the long-desired freedom to share their body.  Unlike the first time, there was no outward transformation.  She was not yet granting full control to the demon in an effort to ensure no one would know until they were ready.  The only sign to an observer was the hardened glare of unbridled rage in her eyes.  Those who had hurt the people she loved would pay, and she knew exactly where to start.