(( I've been low on writing drive lately, but still aim to complete the story.
Well, this is the ending, but I'll be filling in the blanks between the previous and this final part.
This was RPed out ingame by Ravenswing, White_Warlock, Zortel, Catkeeper and me.
With Ravenswing being so kind as to storify the logs again.
Kind of fitting that he also writes the epilogue of this chapter
I did do some minor editing afterwards, but here it is! ))
Jessica and the Dragon
or How We Dragged Jess Back by the Hair
[u]October 21st, 2008, around 21:30. Unity Tower Infirmary.[u]
At least someone had done something about the face. It was not, perhaps the most charitable think to think about someone's corpse, but it was the first thing that Jason Caine thought as he walked into the infirmary, four large books under his arms. When he had last seen Jessica Stoneberg, her face was contorted in a manner he generally only saw on visits to Hell. He dumped the books onto a table, three smaller ones and one huge tomb, and looked around.
Hannah stood leaning against a wall dressed in New Vigilants uniform. The sections of her costume which were normally a bright blue were black. She was in mourning for her lost friend, even though they were here to get her back.
Mileena Lim walked in, tall and blue, and dressed as dramatically as ever, followed by Michael Maxwell, the White Warlock. He was carrying a large satchel which he swung down and planted on the floor near the table where Jason had placed his books. They made their greetings, none of them looking happy. Perhaps, then, only Jason had a feeling this would all work out. Perhaps the others did not dare hope, should it prove in vain. He shrugged and opened one of the smaller books, leafing through the ageing pages. "You've got the amulet, Hannah?" he said, still looking down.
Hannah, all blue hair and vibrancy normally, only had the blue hair today. Her fingers constantly played with the necklace Jessica had given her before 'going away'. "Yes, Mom mentioned what I told her, right? About it heating up a few days ago?"
"Mmhmm, that's why I started doing some research..."
Michael broke in. "I have some general ideas, but it would help if I knew exactly what she was attempting in the first place."
Jason frowned and looked up, his finger holding a place in the book. "I don't think anyone knows. The spell she was using in the cave was for transportation, but there's no logical reason for her to go to any of the places it might take her."
Mileena, however, did know. "She told Yoko she was cursed."
Jason raised an eyebrow. "A curse? Interesting..." He flicked over a couple of pages.
"The curse caused her to be rather uncaring toward others. Nothing major at first, but it caused a lot of issues and would have grown worse."
"I didn't think anyone could still do that one," Jason mused. "Well, except... never mind."
Hannah spoke up. "She said that to me, too. Said some book was responsible. I don't know where it is though... before she left, she gave me the amulet, for if something happened."
Michael was reaching into his satchel and pulling out books, a lot of books. Jason watched him for a second, bemused. "So I do research beforehand, you just bring your whole library?"
"Oh I did a bit," Michael replied wryly, "but I felt having them to hand for reference would likely help." He continued rifling through his bag before emerging in triumph with a large, leather bound tomb.
"This is why I keep PDFs up here," Hannah said, tapping the side of her head, "helps when dealing with systems."
"Jason, could you describe what you found when you discovered her?" Michael asked.
"She was lying in a cave," Jason supplied, "surrounded by a set of runes from about three different demonic languages. There had been a lot of fire. Burned her clothes off, but left her basically unhurt." He paused. "And she was, effectively, dead, of course."
"Hmm," Michael began flicking through pages. "And did she give any more details about the curse, aside from a basic description?" Jason shrugged and looked to Mileena and Hannah.
Mileena shook her head. "Not that I know of. I think anything too technical would have flown over Yoko's head.
Hannah had begun pacing between the wall and the table on which Jessica's body lay. She paused. "She said..." She closed her eyes, the sparks fading from around her body as she concentrated. "It was a subtle, low impact curse, making her apathetic in varying degrees. It got to her via a book that she started getting really obsessive over. Apparently it was from a demonic realm." She opened her eyes. "She then said her first stop was Tibet, and she wasn't sure when she would be back."
Jason nodded. "That would fit with all the likely destinations the spell could have taken her."
Mileena was frowning. "That book... it didn't happen to cost her fifty thousand dollars, did it?"
"She never said... Why do you ask?"
"She bought one a while ago. She really ate into her personal savings so I offered to pay for it."
Hannah was back to pacing. "Might have been that one. Seems really expensive."
"Well, we don't have it, but we do have Hannah's pendant," Jason said "Stop pacing, young lady, and come over here. Step one is to figure out where she is, and I have that covered, I hope."
"Sorry," she replied, wandering over.
"Do you mind if I touch that?" he asked, indicating the amulet. Barely waiting for her nod, he took the glossy stone in his hand and began to recite from the open book. "Har nem kofec. Num elito. Sanctum nar est colegium. Far por na then." Hannah looked a little nervous at the chanting, but Jason just paused to check the amulet and then continued. "Adenum coprectus mar tolegedo calthec." He paused again, pacing was important for this part. "Tor... belenus... malcus." The pendant's jewel began to glow with a silvery light and he dropped it suddenly.
"Jason?" Mileena sounded concerned.
"Was that a good drop, or a bad drop?" Hannah asked, looking at her necklace, which had stopped glowing.
"Um... nothing to worry about... let me just look something up." He reached for a second of the smaller books and began leafing rapidly though it. "I got an image..."
"What image?" Mileena asked.
"Oh, burning sands, weird creatures, that sort of thing." He tossed the book aside and reached for the third. "I just have to find the right imagery... There was an impression of... pain... hostility... not very nice."
"Sounds like too many places."
Jason nodded absently to Mileena "Yes, that's true." he continued searching, clearly becoming more frustrated at not finding anything. "She was being followed... chased..."
Hannah looked worried and Mileena said, "what? By who?"
"I'm not sure, but it wasn't good." He closed the book and turned to the big one. "Now... Hannah, if I ever hear of you trying to get a PDF of
this in your head, I'll skin you, okay?" As he opened it, the room filled with a scent of must tinged with iron, or maybe blood.
"I won't, promise."
"How old is that book?" Mileena asked.
Jason turned over a couple of pages. "It was bound like this in sixteen-oh-four. The pages themselves date back to the twelfth century. The text is older."
"I'm guessing torrenting it would be a
really bad idea," Hannah asked. "And whatever's in there wouldn't interest me. My magical knowledge is just from stuff Jess and Milly taught me, and a few things Jane did."
"Torrenting it would be a horribly bad idea." Jason turned another page and went white, or as white as his complexion would allow. "Cornathas," he said.
"Cornathas?" Mileena repeated, questioningly. Jason just nodded.
"Do I want to know?" Hannah asked.
"I don't think so," Mileena replied.
"I don't," Jason added. "Never been there. Don't want to. You'd have to be desperate..."
"Which explains how Jess felt," Mileena supplied.
Jason nodded. "Okay, on a scale of one to ten of bad, this is a thirteen. She'd never get out on her own." He flipped over a page and began to read, carefully.
"Then we have to get her out ourselves," Mileena said, standing up straighter.
"Then we have to do something!" Hannah was saying. She was starting to panic, her eyes darting between the amulet and Jessica's body. "I mean... we need to get her out! Really, now!" Mileena laid a hand on the teenager's shoulder, trying to calm her.
"Well," Jason said, hefting the book into his arms, "there's a way, but you aren't going to like it."
"I can guess," Mileena said as Jason carried the book over so that he could prop it against the wall near Jessica's head.
"I can't guess," Hannah put in.
"Someone anchored to here has to reach in and pull her out," Mileena explained.
"Yes, but it's the pulling part that's the problem," Jason said, settling the book in place. "We're going to need a lot of juice."
Michael raised an eyebrow. "Define 'juice'."
Jason smiled slightly. "Well, power... but considering the location and the
amount of power, I think we need blood." Hannah raised her arm, offering it to Jason. "A bit more than that, Hannah."
Mileena shook her head, squeezing Hannah's shoulder. "No, Hannah, not you. I think Jessica had a stone that bled."
Jason shook his head again and his voice came out low. "Life for a life..."
"Me then," Mileena responded immediately.
"Milly, think about Katie!" Hannah said, shocked. "Any more talk like that and I'll handcuff you to... well, something."
"No, I'm not risking you, Mileena, and besides, you have a link to Jessica we can use."
Michael frowned and began rummaging in his satchel again. "I think, perhaps, before we start resorting to blood magic and sacrifices it might be wise to explore some other sources of power." He emerged with a series of glowing gems.
"Right," Mileena was saying, "but if the worst comes to the worst, remember I'm already a demon. I may be able to twist things... though... even then..."
"What if I, like, upload myself?" Hannah burst out. "Y'know, like making a ghost?"
"Hannah, think of what you would be risking," Mileena replied.
Jason smiled at Hannah and Mileena, wondering whether their desire to help a friend would ever allow them to see the obvious answer. "What've you got, Michael?"
Michael tossed the gems to Jason, who examined them carefully. "These are the better part of 6 months work, enspelled crystals, think giant magical batteries."
"It's worth a try," Jason said. He had never been that good at magical sight, unless it was to do with necromancy. To him, they were magical crystals, but that was about it. "You willing to risk them on a failure."
Shrugging, Michael said, "better them than a living person."
Jason nodded and piled the crystals into a small cone shape on Jessica's chest. "Everyone gather around the body. I want you to fill your minds with memories of Jessica. Keep them fixed there, no matter what happens. That's what will draw us to her."
Michael stood up from reaching into his satchel, holding a staff. "Just in case we have any visitors follow her back." He took up a place and Jessica's feet, Mileena stood to Jason's right, Hannah to his left. He looks around the table and nodded.
"Okay, here we go..." His voice rose, becoming firm, confident, commanding. "I call upon the Guardian of the Watchtower of the North to open the aetherial gates. I call upon the Guardians of the Watchtowers of East, West, and South to guard their passes against intrusion. Jessica Stoneberg, harken unto those who those who love you and know you. Edarmortem, thoriagas markem. Come unto us. Now!"
For a long second, there was nothing. Then, in the air above Jessica's prone body, right over the pile of glowing crystals, something appeared. A spark, at first, a tiny, bright wisp which grew until it was, perhaps, six inches across and the landscape beyond it could be seen. Jason reached out a hand toward the crystals, willing them to draw more power. "Concentrate..." he hissed. Hannah focussed herself on the task, filling her head with every image and memory of Jessica she could dredge from her mind. Through the portal, they could make out a bleak, burned landscape, largely obscured by the bulk of a huge, medieval European-style dragon which was chasing... something. Jason got something of a sinking feeling, but this was Jessica Stoneberg, not some novice witch. "Keep... going..." he almost whispered, strain showing on his face. Sure enough, the dragon's prey resolved itself into Jessica. She was running to stay ahead of the dragon, returning its fire breath blasts with her own energy bolts. For a moment, she faltered, turning toward the portal as though hearing her name called. And in that moment, the dragon struck and she was enveloped in flame. It evaporated, leaving nothing behind.
"Don't... stop..." Jason breathed. Michael reached out with his staff to the crystals, his own power flooding along it to bolster the portal. "Arrey em..." Jason intoned in a strained voice, "han nach... morchenem..." The dragon quite suddenly doubled over as if struck and Jessica appeared from under its belly, flying toward the portal. She looked a bit scorched, but otherwise okay. "Little longer... parnem... thoveium... Taking too long... Move it, Stoneberg!" Flickers, and then tendrils, of dark energy began to spiral from Jason's hand into the pile of crystals. Mileena began to push her own power in, even Hannah, crackling with energy, began to stream charge into the crystals, which took it and adapted. Jessica was almost at the portal when the dragon caught her a blow with its tail and knocked her away. The portal collapsed in on itself, leaving nothing more than a tell tale shimmer in the air, and the sounds of the battle, still audible, behind it.
"Damnation!" Jason snapped.
"What happened?" Hannah looked confused and worried. Mileena just froze.
"I'm not sure," Michael replied, bending to examine the crystals. One of them still glowed slightly, keeping the remnant of the portal alive, the others were dull and lifeless.
"Not enough power," Jason said, "but we've got something of a link, we can still hear her..." He pulled a black hilted dagger from the back of his belt.
"Would the energy generators in the Tower be any good..?" Hannah trailed off as Jason handed her the dagger.
"Be very, very quick. After I speak, you cut my throat." Jason fixed Hannah's eyes with her own. She was the logical choice. She had the amulet, she was the closest person to him, but... She held the dagger, trembling.
"You have got to be kidding!" Michael cried. He was right, but...
"Hannah?" Jason asked quietly. "We can still do this and
I can't die.
"Hannah, give me the dagger," Mileena said. And Milly would have been a better choice under other circumstances, but...
"Alright, Mom always says sometimes the right choices are the hard ones."
"Good. If I don't wake up, you've done me a favour. As soon as I finish... Vitruvium, liverum nunc! Now!" The blade cut an arc through the air, blood sprayed from severed arteries until Jason clutched at his throat and sank to the floor. The portal burst into life again, a foot across this time and growing more stable as blood pooled on the floor.
"Oh jeez! Oh jeez! Oh jeez!" Hannah was shaking and looked panicked. "Is it working? Please let it work, I mean, it's
got to work!"
"Hannah..." Mileena said softly. "That idiot."
"He's been, like, buried under rocks for years and such! He said!" Hannah wailed. "Oh jeez!"
On the other side of the dimensional rift, Jessica spotted the open portal and made a bee line for it, tossing off a final blast at the dragon's head as she went. The dragon, dazed, let out a blast of flame which licked around the edges of the portal as Jessica's spirit flew through it. "Quick! How do we close it?" Mileena asked, moving toward Jason.
Michael stepped forward, around the table. His stave appeared to burn with a silver-white light. "You are barred from this realm creature, by ancient compact thy kind shall not walk here, you shall not pass." The dragon flew toward the portal, even knowing it was too big to pass through, as Mileena tried to bind Jason's neck wound with a strip torn from her coat. The blood stopped oozing and the portal faltered. Almost unnoticed, Jessica's spirit floated down to her body, which drew in a deep breath.
The voice was resonant and it seemed to be heard in your head rather than your ears. "Foolish human, you cannot stand in my way."
Mileena blurted a curse in her own tongue, Hannah had obviously shifted from shock to anger. "Stop this!" she yelled and unleashed a massive surge of electricity through the portal. Causing the creature beyond to rear back for a second before jamming as much of its head into the portal as it could manage.
"So proud, and so very mistaken," Michael said and then began speaking in what sounded like two languages at once. One was Celtic, the other was old, and the words sent shivers of power through your body. Mileena began throwing ice spells at the dragon's head, Hannah continued the electrical onslaught. Jason... lay still, but to someone watching carefully, was slowly rolling onto his back. Michael's staff grew brighter, almost blinding, and then he rammed it into the portal, through the 'spirit' dragon.
The portal was collapsing, it's energy source depleting rapidly. The dragon roared in pain, but continued its efforts to force itself through. Hannah yanked a fire extinguisher from the wall and throw it with all her might at the dragon's head. The purely mundane assault actually shocked the thing enough to make it rear back, so that only the end of its muzzle was sliced cleanly off as the portal snapped shut. The spirit muzzle hung there for a second before beginning to unwind into streamers of faint energy.
Jason suddenly coughed violently. Michael was suddenly beside him. "Easy old friend, you've lost a lot of blood."
Jason opened his eyes. He was pale, very pale, and when he spoke, his voice gurgled. "Did it work?"
Michael grinned. "See for yourself?"
Mileena and Hannah were beside Jessica's body in an instant. Jason sat up, not yet trusting his legs to stand. Jessica was breathing evenly, apparently asleep. "Someone," he stopped as his voice gave a particularly alarming gurgle. "Ouch! Someone give her a poke."
Hannah turned to Jason as Mileena reached out and nudged her friend. "Sorry for... y'know. But thanks."
Jason smiled. "I did tell you..." he stopped as Jessica sat bolt upright, shedding dead crystals and the blanket that had been covering her.
"Wah..?" she said. She looked terrified.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Jessica," Michael said, grinning. He was leaning rather heavily on his staff, and there was a tiredness about his eyes. The struggle had taken its toll on both mages. The energy remains of the dragon seemed to be fading, but coalescing as they did, drifting vaguely in Michael's direction. He made an absent shooing gesture at them. The energy floated upwards, through the ceiling, leaving an almost audible chuckle as they went.
In the back of Michael's mind, an image formed. A woman sat at a writing desk entering something into a journal, perhaps. She turned suddenly, looking up, and he saw her face. Egyptian features, but somehow not quite right, and yellow eyes. She smiled, and the image faded.
Jessica was blinking, looking around, confused. "Wh-where's Ellie?" She managed to focus somewhat. "Milly? Han?"
"It's us, Jess," Mileena said. "We're here for you."
"Ellie's at home," Hannah told her. "You okay? I mean..."
"Glad," Jason stopped to cough. "Glad to have you back, Ms Stoneberg." He pulled himself to his feet by leaning on a table. He looked a little wobbly, but was rapidly regaining his strength.
Jessica swung her legs from the table, too preoccupied, and perhaps not even aware of the men in the room, to worry about modesty. "I can't sense Ellie..." Her voice was vague. Jason could empathise. Being dead could have that effect.
Mileena removed her coat to wrap around Jessica, materialising a white corset on her own body as she did so. "Don't worry, we'll get all that sorted out. She's on the Island, I believe."
"Ellie's okay," Hannah reassured her friend. "Your link kind of split when..." She stopped short of saying 'you died'.
"Listen Jess," Mileena was all practicality now, "let's get you home. You can rest and eat, and we can explain everything."
Michael was slowly dropping his staff and books back into his satchel. "Well, I really ought to go and lie down as that was somewhat draining." He hefted the satchel, staggering a little under the minimal weight.
Jessica frowned. "I hoped..." She shook her head, only then really noticing that the men were there. She looked at them, not knowing what to say.
"Michael and Jason helped a lot," Hannah told Jessica, and then turned to Michael. "Get one of the Vigilants to help you... and get some tea, and... the like..."
Jessica was looking at Jason's chest. He looked down at his blood-soaked shirt. "It's, uh, my blood, Jessica, don't worry about it."
Michael paused at the door and looked back. "Oh, yes... Jessica? In future, do everyone a favour and come to me first before trying something that foolish, all right?" He turned and vanished before waiting for a reply.
Jessica blinked, looking from the door to Jason's shirt. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she feinted. Mileena grabbed her before she hit the table again. Hannah yelped, "Jess! We should get her to a med scanner."
"Jason too," Mileena added.
BODICIA's voice rolled out of the air around them. "Rooms have been made available as required, for Michael and Jason. Mileena, I have prepared a private room for Jessica in the medical ward."
Mileena thanked the Over-AI as Jason was busy waving the assistance away. "I just need some rest." He pulled Mileena's make-shift bandage from his neck. While covered in blood, it was clear that the wound had now healed completely. He took a step forward and his knees almost buckled. "But not having to leave the building would be nice. Thank you, BODICIA."
BODICIA's voice rang out again. "It is what I am here for. The blood will be cleaned up." Was there just a tiny hint of annoyance in her voice?
"So," Jason mused, "that just leaves one question..."
"Is the curse gone?" Millena asked, lifting Jessica's body.
"I hope so," Hannah replied.
"It bloody well better be!" Mileena snapped.
"Okay, two things... What does a guy have to do to get redeemed around here?"
