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<blockquote data-quote="Ulfgeir" data-source="post: 7809300" data-attributes="member: 7015719"><p><strong>Book 9: The Hellbound Heart</strong></p><p></p><p>During the next six months that followed, I continued to study hard under Eibon. I was no longer considered just an apprentice but now I was a wizard in my own right. That was quite a step, but it was worth all the troubles. I now had more freedom, but also more responsibilities. It also provided me with more protection in the supernatural world. Being a member of the White council had its benefits.</p><p></p><p>Speaking of which, in Edinburgh, three different groups still working on some of the research that Imogen was involved with earlier during the sleeping phenomena, had formed. It was an open secret that they had gone a bit crazy from the research into dreams and animals, making them feral for a lack of better word. Those three groups had started becoming a bit hostile and were fighting each other for territory in the east tower. The tower itself was under lockdown by the wardens. Hopefully nothing would happen, but people were on edge.</p><p></p><p>Some of the my friends had been scarce. Carl and Peggy had their family. I visited now and then. If nothing else to see how much Ask and Embla had grown. I was proud that Carl had asked me to be their godmother. I did not hear much of Ymer as he was busy ruling his little kingdom. Always a good thing though to be on friendly terms with the local supernatural community, and he and his trolls certainly counted there. Star had gone into hiding, as she was afraid the White Council were angry at her for her role in what happened to Imogen. And yes, she was right to some degree. I know at least Maria were a bit upset. She wouldn't do anything but she really didn't like what had happened. I also know that quite a few other members of the White council were glad that Imogen was not around any more. Not sure what kind of weird business-deals that Mirou had been involved in. He did seem to enjoy it though, but did not speak of them. At least not to me. Antonio had been doing lots of travelling and acting as a luchadore. There had been some offhand-comments that he was after corrupt cops and politicians. That was a really dangerous activity if true. His sister had started working for a law firm, and liked to help the less fortunate people. Good for her that she had finished her studies, and fully recovered from the ordeals she had been through earlier. She was a goood contact to have, even if I hoped I would never need legal help. Antonios girlfriend Catherine had become pregnant, so he would be starting a family soon. Must say I was surprised that their relationship still held together, as he wasn't exactly the type for long-term committment. Imogen and Lisa was still together, despite my fears of what would happen due to Imogens change, and she had spent lots of time trying to figure out what she was now, and how that would affect her.</p><p></p><p>I also made a new acquaintance as Lisa's younger brother Kevin had started studying at the university. He had a talent for divination magic, but lacked training, so he had asked me to help him. I could tell that Lisa wasn't quite happy with it. She had no problems of me teaching him, but was a bit sceptical of him being able to do magic at all, and then even more so that it was divination that was his field. She had seen how it affected me, and it was an area that was considered grey magic. She certainly took her status as a warden very serious, so I knew that she had lectured him about what to do and what not to do. Still, I just hoped he would not have any visions that might give away my secrets or those of Isabella, as that would lead to an awkward and potentially dangerous situation.</p><p></p><p>The night of the 10th of August, I had a rather long vision or rather a set of visions in the form of a dream. A very weird and vivid dream where all the senses were involved, and the scenes covered a stretch of thousands of years, and the different scenes were somehow interconnected. </p><p></p><p>It started with me standing on top of a ziggurat, looking out over a jungle that surrounded a city. People were walking around. I had a feeling that it was not on Earth. I was standing there together with other priests, and we all wore dark red open robes, slit to let the air in due to the heat. In front of me a dead fae lay bound. He had been sacrificed. All the priests cut pieces of his body and eat in order to partake of his strength. Below the ziggurat were hundreds of more bound fae that were being prepared to be sacrificed. I could tell that I was looking through the eyes of a woman, and I could see a symbol of a spider on her chest.</p><p></p><p>The scene then switched,I saw the same city, but now it was besieged by conflicts and houses were damaged and even destroyed. A lot less people were around. The inhabitants were preparing to leave what they called the third world. People were walking through a portal in the ziggurat. I get the feeling that there were not many survivors lefts. The Anasazi warriors stayed behind to keep the invaders away. As the people walk through the portal, they came to a place with lots of red sandstone cliffs. They decided to build a city inside the rocks, and used lots of ropes t move around the area.</p><p></p><p>The scene then switched, and I saw animals, including a sabre-tooth tiger. I was standing on top of the rocks. In front of me was an altar and a female human sacrifice. The people were still persecuted and harassed by those around. The people performed a massive ritual where they killed 1100 persons to summon a Goddess to help them. Something went wrong, and the priestess were transformed into a half-human, half spider hybrid. The people themselves also transform over time to become more spider- and insectoid-like.</p><p></p><p>The scene then changes again, and this time the whole region around the city is dead. Nothing is growing. Other people around the city are waging guerilla warfare against the city and the priests. The people have decided they are willing to kill everything in order for them to live, as they refuse to die. At the end there is only death and destruction, and as I looked up I saw an airplane flying over my head. 50 000 years had passed.</p><p></p><p>The dream then shifted focus, and I was in a beautiful ballroom. The images shifted to lots of other ballrooms, and I saw lots of different very rich people in beautiful clothes. I somehow knew that it was early 15th century in Florence seen through the eyes of a woman. Somehow I knew her name was Margrave Marchesella de Este. her family was not among the richest or the most cut-throat of the nobles, but she wanted power, so she entered the political game. Started using forbidden black magic to enthrall others, as well as intrigues. Within 20 years her family had risen to the top. </p><p></p><p>Outside were a warzone between the Margraves de Este and the White council who did not appreciate the use of black magic. The scale of the use had drawn the attention of the council. Marchesella cut deals with demons in order to ensure her family's success. This was about the year 1425. The war ended, but no one knew why. Centuries later the woman were betrayed by one of her granddaughters, whom she saw as her heir. It was a debt that could only be paid in blood. I had an inkling that the granddaughter was Isabella.</p><p></p><p>The vision then shifted to a totally different scene, where I knew I was a young woman in present day, who felt lost in life, and didn't know where she would go. She found love, and happiness, but the love was unrequited. Society was hard for her as a lesbian. She then found friends and a purpose with live. She still felt empty though, and couldn't find peace. One day her love was answered, and she felt complete. After some time she starts doubt herself and her relationship as it is not equal. Her love isn't answered the way she wanted. She tried to hold it all together, but it does not work. She starts feeling bad, loses her confidence and starts hating herself, always self-criticizing herself. It is a downward spiral. The young woman's loved ones, friends and family try to help but they can only watch when everything fall apart.</p><p></p><p>I could tell that the visions were related, but not how. Maybe I would learn that later. I could tell though that even though they were very intense, I didn't think I would be knocked out from the after-effects of them, like I had been so many times before. In short I knew that they were dreams, but I also knew that they were true.</p><p></p><p>The dream then shifted to a final scene where I was out shopping with Isabelle, and then I saw a war deep underground. It was in a huge cavern where a beautiful city existed, I knew that over 50 000 dwarves lived there, and that the city was the most beautiful that had ever existed. 14 kings were fighting against a huge vaguely humanoid creature, covered in fire and darkness. I saw how the kings fell, and the city were destroyed. The Earth shook, and a chasm opened up to the ground above. The creature started climbing up, and it was followed by an army of goblins, svartalfer and other nasty beings.</p><p></p><p>I then woke up. Definitively one of the strangest dreams I had had in quite a while. Dear Goddess, maybe that binge-watching of the extended version of first Bilbo and then all the Lord of the Rings hadn't been such a good idea. Surely Balrogs could not be real, could they? That part had to be symbolic of something else, but what? Sadly Isabella was not at home when I woke up. I would have liked to talk to her about the dream. Especially the part about what I believed to be her grandmother, who were the last of her family remaining as far as Isabella knew.</p><p></p><p>Later during the morning, Kevin called me, and he was quite upset, as he had had some powerful visions, and he was suffering from the effects of it. When he started describing the vision, I knew that he had had the same dream as I had. Maybe that was why I had not suffered from the dream. But how had we had the same dream? Or at least close enough, as we interpreted what we saw differently. He said that he felt like he knew some of the people in the dream, but he could not put it together. He was most upset though over the dreams about the creature at the end. That scared him. I tried consoling him, and said that I would look into things. As for how we had had the same dreams, well I told him that some people could project dreams to others, but that it was very rare. I knew I didn't have such abilities, but maybe he did. I had no other explanation though, unless what we saw were so significant that we both had picked up on them.</p><p></p><p>He also told me that he was worried about Lisa, that she didn't seem to do so well, and that she wouldn't answer his calls, and didn't want to see him. He didn't quite like that she spent so much time with Imogen. He had nothing against her, but he felt shut out by his sister. I promised him I would try to get hold of her and talk to her. As I was amongst her oldest and closest friends. I tried calling Lisa, but got no answer, so I did leave a message. She was probably busy with something and would call back later when she could.</p><p></p><p>The day after, I got another call from a hysterical Kevin. Lisa and her group of wardens had done a mission and something had gone wrong so two persons had died. Lisa had been at Kevin's place crying, then stormed out saying that she had had enough and couldn't take it any more.</p><p></p><p>Just as I hanged up to try and reach Lisa, I got another call, and this time it was Imogen. Someone had taken things from her house. Only things that belonged to Lisa. She had tried to call her but hadn't gotten any answers. She asked if I knew anything. I told her that I had just spoken to Kevin, and that he was quite distraught. It felt as an invasion of privacy, but maybe if Imogen knew that Lisa had been troubled, she could give more answers to what had happened. I told her about the dream that Kevin and I had had the day before. Or rather I told her about the parts that I thought dealt with Lisa. I certainly left out the identifying parts that dealt with Isabella's family.</p><p></p><p>Imogen tries to track Lisa through magic. I might be much better at it, but she had access to all the material parts that would form the symbolic links. I try to first reach Lisa again, but no answer. Imogen find that Lisa is on her way to New York, so she heads off to the airport. She wanted me to come with her, but I reminded her that me and airplanes were probably not a good idea. I would inform Kevin, and also try to find out more. A first called Kevin, and he would start packing and getting a car and would pick me up later for the drive to New York. Yes, there were ways through Nevernever, but they were dangerous, and it would take as long if not longer.</p><p></p><p>I called Maria at the White council, to get an idea of what had happened. It took an hour before she called back. Apparently, the mission had involved a full house of people that had been mindcontrolled. It had gone on for a long time so all the involved persons were beyond rescue. Their minds had been shattered. The team of wardens had prepared for heavy opposition, and in the magical exchange two 12-year old girls had died. They couldn't tell who had cast the spells, if it was one of the wardens or someone else, but a full inquiry were going on. Regardless, all responsibility fell on Lisa's shoulders as she was the one that had planned the mission. I leaned that the two girls were fiends, and not relatives. At the moment wardens would also investigate the other family. So far they had not picked up anything there, but had not gotten very far in that investigation. And they still had to do a lockdown on the place of the mission so their resources were stretched thin.</p><p></p><p>I knew they wanted to get hold of Lisa, and I also knew that I might get in their way of the investigation, so I ask if I was allowed to try and find her. Maria said that of course I was allowed to do so. They knew that Lisa and I were close friends, so maybe she would be more calm and talk to me, and not react with hostility as she might if wardens came after her. I told Maria what I knew so far.</p><p></p><p>Before Kevin came picked me up, I talked to Isabella. She understood that I had to help my friend. She asked me to be careful though. She had found out that someone were targeting her financial properties, and had frozen one of her accounts. I told her would be as careful as I could. We both knew that if her grandmother was after me there was not much I could do to defend myself, but any resources spent on protecting me could distract Isabella in such a way that her grandmother would get us both. I told her about the dream I had shared with Kevin. She couldn't make heads or tails of them either, but she confirmed that I had indeed dreamt about her grandmother. She would tell more about that later.</p><p></p><p>I kissed Isabella goodbye for the time being, and asked her to be careful with her own investigation. Hopefully it was not her grandmother that was involved in the freezing of her account, but she should still be careful. Could be criminal groups or law enforcement. Neither of which were to be underestimated.</p><p></p><p>Before Kevin came to pick me up, Antonio called. Imogen had arrived in New York, and then lost all track in central park. She had called him to learn if there was a portal to Nevernever there. He didn't know so he wanted to get in touch with Star who knew Nevernever better than he did. He had lost the address that she had given as she went into hiding, and wondered if I knew it. I had to look around for a while but could provide an address. Antonio was a bit surprised as that was the place he was just staking out as he were looking for ways to bring down a corrupt police officer. The officers wife were apparently engaging in some extramarital activities, and they had been going on for some time. He had heard some rather wild rumours about her. If he hadn't been with Catherine he would certainly have looked at a chance to join. Could that be Star that had taken such a disguise? It would not surprise either me nor Antonio. Subtle wasn't one of her strong suits. He would go and check it out, and then get back to Imogen.</p><p></p><p>It was going to be a long and anxious drive to New York. Kevin was driving. It was his car after all, and he was better at it than I was. I did a couple of attempts at calling Lisa on my cellphone as were driving. No answer of course. I could not use my magic while we were driving of course. It would hex the car. Kevin and I talked a lot of Lisa and what we should do once we got to New York.</p><p></p><p>It took some time, but we met up with with Imogen, and also Star and Antonio in Central Park. How had they gotten there before us? Then I found out how they had gotten there; they had driven a Ferrari down to New York, and parked it in the middle of Central park. A couple of thoughts hit me, first where had they gotten a Ferrari as none of them had that kind of money, and secondly, why was there arrows sticking out from it and why was there bitemarks in the chassi? Oh dear goddess, please tell me they had not driven that through Nevernever. I was not sure I really wanted an answer to those questions, though. I guess they had found the portal, and it sure had drawn some attention as the police had cordoned off the area around it.</p><p></p><p>What I could see though was that yes, they had been that stupid. It appeared that the car had materialised from a bush. That had to have been Star's doing. Antonio was reckless, but he wasn't totally stupid. I feared that that would have consequences later on.</p><p></p><p>We withdrew to a nearby place where we could perform more tracking magic, but we found no trace of Lisa in New York. Instead the trace now went towards Detroit. How had she managed to do such diversion? I did not think she had the skills for that. She certainly didn't use to have the control at least, but wardens did get good training.</p><p></p><p>As we debated on how to proceed, Volund showed up in a black strange-looking coach, that did not have any horses drawing it. It was covered in snow, so he had driven it through parts of Nevernever that belonged to Winter. Not that surprising though. I guess Imogen had called for him to arrange transport. Kevin felt a bit uncomfortable about the whole thing and decided to head home. I promised I would keep him informed. He did say though that their family had some connections to some place there.</p><p></p><p>We took the coach through Nevernever. I can't say it was very comfortable though. We arrived after some further divination at a farm. If it wasn't for the car parked outside, it would have looked abandoned. We could tell by the tiretracks on the gorund that it wasn't that long since the car had been used.- We looked around but could not find anyone, and the door was unlocked. Inside, in a bedroom we found a jacket that belonged to Lisa and footprints in the dust, but they mysteriously stopped at a window. We now knew that she had at least been there.</p><p></p><p>I tried to cast a divination-spell to see what was going on, and instantly passed out as a wave of power rushed over me. I saw visions of fire, chaos and destruction and felt something drawing power from me. When I woke up, I found that I was lying naked in a bed, bound with the linens. Imogen had managed to wake me up with a spell. When I asked why I was lying bound in the bed, They said it was something Star had done to keep me from moving. What the hell? Sure, I liked being tied up, but the only person allowed to do that was Isabella. How would I make Star understand the concept of consent? She really was broken, and I feared that if that continued, someone would have to find a way to per away in her lamp again.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Antonio had found a bag belonging to Lisa in the kitchen. As we could not find any other tracks of her in the building, we started searching the backyard. Imogen tried to call Maria, but could not get any connection. She then tried to do a divinations spell as well, but she too fell unconscious in the same way I had done We manage to wake her up, after Star wanted to tie her up as well. I think I got my point across that she could not just do something like that.</p><p></p><p>We realised that we needed to get some more and better material links in order to track Lisa, and the only place we could get that would be back in Boston, so Volund drove us back through Nevernever.</p><p></p><p>When we got back there, we found that there had been an Earthquake that had killed over 5000 persons, and left even more injured. Imogen and Star was now homeless as a huge sinkhole had opened up beneath Imogen's house, and engulfed the whole neighbourhood and opened what looked like a huge cave, with a kilometer-long faultline ran from the center. The city was in utter chaos. Was not much that we could do though, other than quickly try to connect with friends and family to see that they were ok. I was greatly relieved that Isabella was OK, she had left looking for some clue about who had gone after her assets. But we could not get hold of Karl as he was away somewhere, and Mirou still did not answer any calls. Peggy and her children were fine though. Even getting hold of them were problematic as the whole city was in chaos.</p><p></p><p>After we had gotten the things we needed from Lisa's apartment, we headed back to the farm near Detroit. The car was no longer there, so it was likely that she had moved elsewhere. I tried another divination magic, but could not get any information. Imogen and Antonio combined their magic to try and dispel whatever blocked my ritual, and when they did that the whole farm just disappeared, and we found that we were out in the middle of nowhere. We did find Lisa's jacket and some bread that she had brought.</p><p></p><p>Antonio thought that she might somehow be in another dimension like Nevernever. Imogen somehow managed to break through, and we found Lisa lying on the ground asleep. After a lot of trying did Imogen manage to wake up Lisa. She did not appreciate being awakened though, and we could see that smoke came from her eyes that shone with a bright purple light. Without even breaking a sweat, and a simple flick of her hand, she sent us all flying about 50 meters away. I landed hard enough to knock the wind out of me, but otherwise unhurt. When Antonio told her to stop it and calm down. Her response to that was to fling him away hundreds of meters with a single move. How had she gained such incredible power? I could not believe my eyes. That should not have been possible.</p><p></p><p>Then Imogen did something equally strange, and that was to somehow split into multiple versions of herself, which should not be possible. I guessed most were illusions though, or rather the use of glamour, as I had to remind myself that she was now a member of the fae, one of the shidhe to be more precise. Imogen then tried to calm down Lisa, but she did not have that much more success.</p><p></p><p>Lisa then pushed away the real Imogen, and started gathering power as she erected a shield around herself. The words that came across her lips were chilling to say the least, as she said that she could not take it any more, and it had to end. She drew in so much power that the air itself stated to almost vibrate, and I knew we did not want to be anywhere near whatever she planned on doing. Imogen and Volund had the same idea, and he managed to open a portal to Nevernever. We just made it through before Lisa let loose the spell she had gathered the energy for. As the portal closed, I saw a purple light as from an explosion. It was clear she had cast a death-curse upon herself, but I doubt even a member of the senior council could have drawn that much power in such a short time.</p><p></p><p>Yes, going though a hastily opened portal to an unknown part of Nevernever was bad, but it was much better than the alternative. We dared not go back directly to where Lisa had cast her spell, as there would be lingering effects. It was so bad that we could feel it in the Nevernever. Which was not that strange, as things on one side could affect the other if they were powerful enough. We travelled a long distance before we felt it safe to go back. When we did go back we saw that everything in a 30 kilometer radius from what had been ground zero was destroyed. A strange purple fire burned everything with a fire that even though it did not emit any heat, it still consumed everything so that nothing, not even ashes remained. Going in while that was still burning would be pure suicide. Even things that normally could not burn, like steel and concrete, burned with that sickly purple fire.</p><p></p><p>When we looked towards Detroit, we could see that the magical energy had been enough to knock out all electricity in the city, even though it had been many miles away. In fact, all electronics in a 200 kilometer radius had been destroyed. We could only imagine the chaos that would be in the city.</p><p></p><p>I needed to get back to Edinburg to talk to the White Council, as I was the only member. They needed to know what had happened so they could take appropriate measures. Imogen on her part would head home and talk to Kevin. I told her to tell him I would talk to him later if he wanted to. I am after all quite good at being emotional support, and I was one of her closest friends. And Imogen wanted me to pass a message to Maria that she wanted to talk to her, and that they should meet at a certain pub in Edinburgh.</p><p></p><p>I learned later that President Trump had declared war, but no one could make sense about what the target was. The event was seen as a terrorist act, and Detroit was now under martial law following riots and most of the state had been declared a disaster area.</p><p></p><p>It was not until I had started travelling towards Edinburgh, that the reality of the situation really sank in that Lisa was dead. I started crying, and went into a bit of shock. It was willpower alone that kept me from falling to pieces. I must have looked like a real mess when I arrived at the castle. The Senior council was in an emergency meeting when I arrived. I did get to speak to them though, and describe what had happened. The Merlin demanded a complete report. Apparently the car that Star and Antonio had used to travel through Nevernever had led to a Wild hunt materialising in Central park and people had died. He did not believe me when I told him. He seemed to have made up his mind about something, and blamed the fae for the death of three wizards. He really is an intolerable naughty word, and I could well see why there was a coup earlier. In hindsight I learned that I had said too much, and that it had had repercussions.</p><p></p><p>I more or less collapsed after giving him the report, so Eibon carried me out of the room, and let me cry a river before he and Maria started asking me some questions, while also trying to comfort me. I also got to talk to the wizard that had been Lisa's mentor. They were very concerned with how Lisa had gained such power. They thought that whatever it was that had possessed Imogen earlier, had somehow taken over Lisa, and that was what had given her power. What I could understand was that they thought it was an outsider, a really powerful one, and when Imogen had died and been reborn as a fae, then that outsider had become free. They also told me that they were finished with their investigation of the events during the mission Lisa had been on, and it had been her who had killed the two children with magic. They didn't know if it had been by accident or by purpose, but that had probably been the last straw that broke her. She had already been under a lot of stress.</p><p></p><p>And to make things even worse, the wizards that had been part of the dream-experiments earlier, and who had started acting strangely after absorbing the personalities of some of the animals, had now become even more crazy. The wardens had had to seal off the entire tower that they were in, as those wizards could infect others through dreams. That certainly was bad, but I hoped that they could find a solution for it. A solution that did not include any one else dying.</p><p></p><p>I made my way home after having calmed down and gotten some rest. I knew that Imogen had a long talk with Maria. How would I explain what had happened to Kevin? He must have guessed though. And why had no one seen it before? Could any of us had done anything else to have changed the outcome? I guess I will never know. But all the doubts and questions caused me great pain.</p><p></p><p>Once I got home, I also learned that Mirou, Karl and Ymer and a large part of Ymer's army had been away and fought against the Anazasi. The same ones I had dreamed about. They had won, but at a great cost. Most of the trolls had died, but as afar as any one could tell all of the Anazasi were dead. There had also been a new Earthquake, that had widened the chasm that went through where Imogen's house had been. It was now 100 meters wide and almost 900 meters deep. That had happened at the same time that Lisa had killed herself. The chasm gave off a lot of heat, so people wondered if there would be a volcanic eruption. Surely, there were no volcanoes on the East Coast?</p><p></p><p>I heard rumours a few days later that the Merlin had sent a formal request to the Summer Court to have Antonio extradited and killed as a response to his involvement in a Wild hunt appearing in New York earlier. Some kind of Wereguild. Had that had anything to do with what I had said back in Edinburg? As far as I could make out that was not going to happen though. I did not know all the details but it had something to do with who his father was.</p><p></p><p>Isabella came home with very good news, we would no longer have to fear anything from her family again. Her grandmother had been rendered powerless, and Isabella had regained all her own assets, but also taken control of all of those from her family. I asked her if I wanted to know how that had happened, but she rather clearly told me I did not. Which, kind off was exactly what I suspected. The things we overlook for love. I would love her just as much even if we had no money, but I must say her wealth was very nice. I could definitively get used to that.</p><p></p><p>Imogen had after her talk with Maria decided to move away from Boston. She wanted nothing to do with the intrigues of faerie courts, and she was not very fond of the White council either. I don't blame her, she had gotten a rough deal. She planned on moving to the islands of Abaranth in Nevernever, and wanted to be left alone.</p><p></p><p>Then a few days later, another Earthquake struck Boston, and from the deep chasm came a huge fiery being, just like I had seen in my vision. Oh crap, Balrogs were real, and it was much much bigger than I could have imagined. It was followed by an army of svartalfer, goblins and other similar beings. That army was under attack by an army of dwarves who tried to stop them from coming into our world. Everyone in the path fled in sheer panic, and it did not take long before the National guard and the army came to try and stop the invaders. All they could do was slowing them down. I called in to the council. Hopefully they could help. If nothing else they might be able to help with evacuating the inhabitants.</p><p></p><p>The councils came through with a bunch of wardens and other wizards. I hooked up with Eibon, and tried using my divination magic to scry so we could predict the movements of the army. We got some unexpected help as Ymer came with his army of trolls as well as the three ancient Faerie Queens that were around in Boston, and then Antonio came with an army of Shidhe. I later learned he had somehow been elevated to a Summer Prince and was now head of his own kingdom. Then Imogen arrived with the wizards that had been part of the dream-experiments. They had taken on inhuman appearances and really seemed to enjoy the fight. I saw Joshua, Megan, Austin and Hannah helping out, as well as some members of the motorcycle gang that Karl was with helping out. We got help from other unexpected sources as well, like Harry Dresden, the wizard who now was the Winter knight, as well as Vadderung, the chief of Monoc Securities. He brought with him undead vikings, and real valkyries. Isabella helped out by reanimating the fallen soldiers of our army, so they could continue fighting. There were many others that helped but I did not know who they were.</p><p></p><p>We all knew that if we failed, then it would be the end of our civilization as we knew it. As if to underscore that, there was a sudden solar eclipse. As if the Balrog changed the very reality around itself. Our combined efforts slowed down the goblin army, but we could not do much about the Balrog, whom Volund claimed was named Surtr. How would he know that? Then Dragons arrived and Star in her new role as the new Brass Lady came. She changed into the role of a huge woman made of fire, wielding the sword she had got from Ymer's father ealier, and then started attacking the Balrog. Fire fighting fire. She somehow had much more effect than we had managed to get earlier.</p><p></p><p>This turned the combat, and our forces could now start defeating the goblins. We all focused now on giving her whatever edge we could. I called upon the Goddess, and drew power from the aspects of Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali and Inanna and put all my divination magic into finding some weak spot that she could use. Antonio and Imogen used their magic as well. After a long drawn-out fight that went back and forth, Star managed to finally kill the Balrog with a final attack where she gave it all. As she did that, the solar eclipse vanished, and we could now finally defeat the goblins and svartalfer. Isabella ended her spell, so the reanimated soldiers fell down again dead. Hopefully no one from the council would notice, or if they did, they would let it slide. Necromancy was against the laws of magic, but without it many more would have died.</p><p></p><p>Boston was in ruins, and thousands lay dead, among them many wardens. We had won, but at what cost? Could life ever go back to normal, for all those that had lived in the city? Now after the battle, more of the US military came into town. The city was placed under martial law. All the supernatural beings that had come, quietly moved out before the army came. Their presence would only have made things much worse. If I thought the Merlin had been an arrogant naughty word, that was nothing compared to president Trump. I could not even stand the thought of that man, or anything he stood for.</p><p></p><p>My friends went separate ways after the war. Star went back and started rebuilding the Brass Court. That was something that did concern me, as I feared she would use that power to do something stupid, so I would have to keep an eye on what was going on. Earlier there at least was someone that could put her in her place if she screwed up too bad. She had now risen to the rank of Brass Queen, and she made Imogen her lady. That was something that Imogen really disliked, and I could definitively see her try to break free. Not sure what was most frightening, having Star or Imogen as the queen of a faerie court that actually had any real power. Even though they were my friends, I hoped they did not succeed. If they had power, it was like giving a child a loaded gun.</p><p></p><p>Antonio was now the Prince of Oak. Obviously he was no longer a changeling, but rather a full Shidhe, that meant I had to be a bit more careful in dealing with him. Hopefully, he did not think I had wronged him. He married his girlfriend Catherine. I don't know if she knew what she was getting into, but I think she did as she was a wizard, if nothing else she would be able to handle the strange new surroundings that the Summer court consisted of. I heard rumours that she had been turned into a shidhe. I was very happy for them though. It turned out later that Antonio had not quite given up his old habits, and actually kept his own harem of women. Fidelity was not his strong suite. He arranged for his sister to get a job as a hotel manager at Barbados, at a hotel he had inherited. I think she liked that, and she deserved some happiness after all she had gone through. Besides, it might come in handy to know the manager of a hotel if I should ever be there.</p><p></p><p>I am not entirely sure where Mirou went, but he set himself up to be a broker of information and services to any who would pay. Doing anything to get rich, and gain influence. I think the old Isabella from before she met me would have liked that very much, and would have used him for anything she could. Best to keep track of him though if the need for any such information came up, and especially to take steps if he were looking for some things that was best left a secret. I had to hand it to him, he did have lots of contacts, and I trusted him enough to know that if he was bought he would stay bought, and do whatever it took to protect what he considered to be his assets. He was predictable in his greed.</p><p></p><p>Karl and Peggy moved to Karl's home in Sweden with their children until things calmed down and things went back to what passed for normal. They lived happily afterwards, and were perfectly suited to each other. I stayed in contact as much as I could. I really liked them, and they were the only ones in the group that was not actively working on making things more complicated.</p><p></p><p>Volund said he would help the old Norse gods to rebuild the world, and help them restore power. He said this had been Ragnarok, or at least as close as we would come before the world would end. That did nothing to comfort me. In fact I feared that things would get even worse if old gods would make a comeback. Yes, that was perhaps hypocritical of me, as I had my own beliefs and ways of worship, but there was something cold and scary about him.</p><p></p><p>For my part, I moved to Italy with Isabella. She wanted to get back to Florence, and it really is a lovely city. There was nothing else tying me to Boston, and America under Trump's rule had simply got unbearable for those that weren't rabid right-wing rednecks. I had drawn so much power through the battle against the Balrog, that I was exhausted, and suffered from headaches, double-vision and sleep-problems for the next few weeks. Nightmares were of course frequent.</p><p></p><p>Once in Italy I married Isabella, after we had settled in properly and we both had recovered. We had a very nice wedding. Our friends were of course invited. White might not be my colour, but I made a very lovely bride if I say so myself, as did Isabella. My wedding dress was fabulous, and the sex on our wedding night was mindblowingly good. Now I truly belonged to her; mind, body and soul. It was pure bliss. After the wedding, I had in private as a bit of a joke, but also as a very symbolic representation given her a leash that fit to the slave-collar I wore as a fashion statement. Even though we had been together for a couple for years, now it really was forever. Isabella perfectly understood the meaning I put on it.</p><p></p><p>One thing we did later was that me and Isabella went back to the ruined castle in Romania, and recovered all the artwork that was still there. We took lots of precautions on how to transport and preserve the art in the best way. Isabella had contacts that helped us with their expertise. We kept the most beautiful pieces, but discretely sold off the others to various different museums. Would have been a pity to see them be destroyed. Some pieces of course was so badly damaged by weather and fire, that there was no way of saving them. Such loss for the world. I also made sure we got all the diaries that the vampiress that used to live there had written. They made for some interesting reading, but it was mostly to protect ourselves. If anything in them pointed to Isabella in any previous body, then someone jut might be able to put two and two together and that would be dangerous.</p><p></p><p>I started to learn Italian, with good help from Isabella, and it did not take long before I was fluent in it. Sure I had a bit of an accent, but no one cared, and it was not my intention to be able to pass as a native speaker. Once I had the language skills, I started with theatre again.</p><p></p><p>We talked about later on getting children. I would very much want to become a mother. Not sure if artificial insemination would work though, given that sensitive technical things often broke down near wizards. I would of course not have anything against the natural way of getting pregnant if I found the right partner, but that would cause too many other problems. Not the least that Isabella would probably never allow it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ulfgeir, post: 7809300, member: 7015719"] [B]Book 9: The Hellbound Heart[/B] During the next six months that followed, I continued to study hard under Eibon. I was no longer considered just an apprentice but now I was a wizard in my own right. That was quite a step, but it was worth all the troubles. I now had more freedom, but also more responsibilities. It also provided me with more protection in the supernatural world. Being a member of the White council had its benefits. Speaking of which, in Edinburgh, three different groups still working on some of the research that Imogen was involved with earlier during the sleeping phenomena, had formed. It was an open secret that they had gone a bit crazy from the research into dreams and animals, making them feral for a lack of better word. Those three groups had started becoming a bit hostile and were fighting each other for territory in the east tower. The tower itself was under lockdown by the wardens. Hopefully nothing would happen, but people were on edge. Some of the my friends had been scarce. Carl and Peggy had their family. I visited now and then. If nothing else to see how much Ask and Embla had grown. I was proud that Carl had asked me to be their godmother. I did not hear much of Ymer as he was busy ruling his little kingdom. Always a good thing though to be on friendly terms with the local supernatural community, and he and his trolls certainly counted there. Star had gone into hiding, as she was afraid the White Council were angry at her for her role in what happened to Imogen. And yes, she was right to some degree. I know at least Maria were a bit upset. She wouldn't do anything but she really didn't like what had happened. I also know that quite a few other members of the White council were glad that Imogen was not around any more. Not sure what kind of weird business-deals that Mirou had been involved in. He did seem to enjoy it though, but did not speak of them. At least not to me. Antonio had been doing lots of travelling and acting as a luchadore. There had been some offhand-comments that he was after corrupt cops and politicians. That was a really dangerous activity if true. His sister had started working for a law firm, and liked to help the less fortunate people. Good for her that she had finished her studies, and fully recovered from the ordeals she had been through earlier. She was a goood contact to have, even if I hoped I would never need legal help. Antonios girlfriend Catherine had become pregnant, so he would be starting a family soon. Must say I was surprised that their relationship still held together, as he wasn't exactly the type for long-term committment. Imogen and Lisa was still together, despite my fears of what would happen due to Imogens change, and she had spent lots of time trying to figure out what she was now, and how that would affect her. I also made a new acquaintance as Lisa's younger brother Kevin had started studying at the university. He had a talent for divination magic, but lacked training, so he had asked me to help him. I could tell that Lisa wasn't quite happy with it. She had no problems of me teaching him, but was a bit sceptical of him being able to do magic at all, and then even more so that it was divination that was his field. She had seen how it affected me, and it was an area that was considered grey magic. She certainly took her status as a warden very serious, so I knew that she had lectured him about what to do and what not to do. Still, I just hoped he would not have any visions that might give away my secrets or those of Isabella, as that would lead to an awkward and potentially dangerous situation. The night of the 10th of August, I had a rather long vision or rather a set of visions in the form of a dream. A very weird and vivid dream where all the senses were involved, and the scenes covered a stretch of thousands of years, and the different scenes were somehow interconnected. It started with me standing on top of a ziggurat, looking out over a jungle that surrounded a city. People were walking around. I had a feeling that it was not on Earth. I was standing there together with other priests, and we all wore dark red open robes, slit to let the air in due to the heat. In front of me a dead fae lay bound. He had been sacrificed. All the priests cut pieces of his body and eat in order to partake of his strength. Below the ziggurat were hundreds of more bound fae that were being prepared to be sacrificed. I could tell that I was looking through the eyes of a woman, and I could see a symbol of a spider on her chest. The scene then switched,I saw the same city, but now it was besieged by conflicts and houses were damaged and even destroyed. A lot less people were around. The inhabitants were preparing to leave what they called the third world. People were walking through a portal in the ziggurat. I get the feeling that there were not many survivors lefts. The Anasazi warriors stayed behind to keep the invaders away. As the people walk through the portal, they came to a place with lots of red sandstone cliffs. They decided to build a city inside the rocks, and used lots of ropes t move around the area. The scene then switched, and I saw animals, including a sabre-tooth tiger. I was standing on top of the rocks. In front of me was an altar and a female human sacrifice. The people were still persecuted and harassed by those around. The people performed a massive ritual where they killed 1100 persons to summon a Goddess to help them. Something went wrong, and the priestess were transformed into a half-human, half spider hybrid. The people themselves also transform over time to become more spider- and insectoid-like. The scene then changes again, and this time the whole region around the city is dead. Nothing is growing. Other people around the city are waging guerilla warfare against the city and the priests. The people have decided they are willing to kill everything in order for them to live, as they refuse to die. At the end there is only death and destruction, and as I looked up I saw an airplane flying over my head. 50 000 years had passed. The dream then shifted focus, and I was in a beautiful ballroom. The images shifted to lots of other ballrooms, and I saw lots of different very rich people in beautiful clothes. I somehow knew that it was early 15th century in Florence seen through the eyes of a woman. Somehow I knew her name was Margrave Marchesella de Este. her family was not among the richest or the most cut-throat of the nobles, but she wanted power, so she entered the political game. Started using forbidden black magic to enthrall others, as well as intrigues. Within 20 years her family had risen to the top. Outside were a warzone between the Margraves de Este and the White council who did not appreciate the use of black magic. The scale of the use had drawn the attention of the council. Marchesella cut deals with demons in order to ensure her family's success. This was about the year 1425. The war ended, but no one knew why. Centuries later the woman were betrayed by one of her granddaughters, whom she saw as her heir. It was a debt that could only be paid in blood. I had an inkling that the granddaughter was Isabella. The vision then shifted to a totally different scene, where I knew I was a young woman in present day, who felt lost in life, and didn't know where she would go. She found love, and happiness, but the love was unrequited. Society was hard for her as a lesbian. She then found friends and a purpose with live. She still felt empty though, and couldn't find peace. One day her love was answered, and she felt complete. After some time she starts doubt herself and her relationship as it is not equal. Her love isn't answered the way she wanted. She tried to hold it all together, but it does not work. She starts feeling bad, loses her confidence and starts hating herself, always self-criticizing herself. It is a downward spiral. The young woman's loved ones, friends and family try to help but they can only watch when everything fall apart. I could tell that the visions were related, but not how. Maybe I would learn that later. I could tell though that even though they were very intense, I didn't think I would be knocked out from the after-effects of them, like I had been so many times before. In short I knew that they were dreams, but I also knew that they were true. The dream then shifted to a final scene where I was out shopping with Isabelle, and then I saw a war deep underground. It was in a huge cavern where a beautiful city existed, I knew that over 50 000 dwarves lived there, and that the city was the most beautiful that had ever existed. 14 kings were fighting against a huge vaguely humanoid creature, covered in fire and darkness. I saw how the kings fell, and the city were destroyed. The Earth shook, and a chasm opened up to the ground above. The creature started climbing up, and it was followed by an army of goblins, svartalfer and other nasty beings. I then woke up. Definitively one of the strangest dreams I had had in quite a while. Dear Goddess, maybe that binge-watching of the extended version of first Bilbo and then all the Lord of the Rings hadn't been such a good idea. Surely Balrogs could not be real, could they? That part had to be symbolic of something else, but what? Sadly Isabella was not at home when I woke up. I would have liked to talk to her about the dream. Especially the part about what I believed to be her grandmother, who were the last of her family remaining as far as Isabella knew. Later during the morning, Kevin called me, and he was quite upset, as he had had some powerful visions, and he was suffering from the effects of it. When he started describing the vision, I knew that he had had the same dream as I had. Maybe that was why I had not suffered from the dream. But how had we had the same dream? Or at least close enough, as we interpreted what we saw differently. He said that he felt like he knew some of the people in the dream, but he could not put it together. He was most upset though over the dreams about the creature at the end. That scared him. I tried consoling him, and said that I would look into things. As for how we had had the same dreams, well I told him that some people could project dreams to others, but that it was very rare. I knew I didn't have such abilities, but maybe he did. I had no other explanation though, unless what we saw were so significant that we both had picked up on them. He also told me that he was worried about Lisa, that she didn't seem to do so well, and that she wouldn't answer his calls, and didn't want to see him. He didn't quite like that she spent so much time with Imogen. He had nothing against her, but he felt shut out by his sister. I promised him I would try to get hold of her and talk to her. As I was amongst her oldest and closest friends. I tried calling Lisa, but got no answer, so I did leave a message. She was probably busy with something and would call back later when she could. The day after, I got another call from a hysterical Kevin. Lisa and her group of wardens had done a mission and something had gone wrong so two persons had died. Lisa had been at Kevin's place crying, then stormed out saying that she had had enough and couldn't take it any more. Just as I hanged up to try and reach Lisa, I got another call, and this time it was Imogen. Someone had taken things from her house. Only things that belonged to Lisa. She had tried to call her but hadn't gotten any answers. She asked if I knew anything. I told her that I had just spoken to Kevin, and that he was quite distraught. It felt as an invasion of privacy, but maybe if Imogen knew that Lisa had been troubled, she could give more answers to what had happened. I told her about the dream that Kevin and I had had the day before. Or rather I told her about the parts that I thought dealt with Lisa. I certainly left out the identifying parts that dealt with Isabella's family. Imogen tries to track Lisa through magic. I might be much better at it, but she had access to all the material parts that would form the symbolic links. I try to first reach Lisa again, but no answer. Imogen find that Lisa is on her way to New York, so she heads off to the airport. She wanted me to come with her, but I reminded her that me and airplanes were probably not a good idea. I would inform Kevin, and also try to find out more. A first called Kevin, and he would start packing and getting a car and would pick me up later for the drive to New York. Yes, there were ways through Nevernever, but they were dangerous, and it would take as long if not longer. I called Maria at the White council, to get an idea of what had happened. It took an hour before she called back. Apparently, the mission had involved a full house of people that had been mindcontrolled. It had gone on for a long time so all the involved persons were beyond rescue. Their minds had been shattered. The team of wardens had prepared for heavy opposition, and in the magical exchange two 12-year old girls had died. They couldn't tell who had cast the spells, if it was one of the wardens or someone else, but a full inquiry were going on. Regardless, all responsibility fell on Lisa's shoulders as she was the one that had planned the mission. I leaned that the two girls were fiends, and not relatives. At the moment wardens would also investigate the other family. So far they had not picked up anything there, but had not gotten very far in that investigation. And they still had to do a lockdown on the place of the mission so their resources were stretched thin. I knew they wanted to get hold of Lisa, and I also knew that I might get in their way of the investigation, so I ask if I was allowed to try and find her. Maria said that of course I was allowed to do so. They knew that Lisa and I were close friends, so maybe she would be more calm and talk to me, and not react with hostility as she might if wardens came after her. I told Maria what I knew so far. Before Kevin came picked me up, I talked to Isabella. She understood that I had to help my friend. She asked me to be careful though. She had found out that someone were targeting her financial properties, and had frozen one of her accounts. I told her would be as careful as I could. We both knew that if her grandmother was after me there was not much I could do to defend myself, but any resources spent on protecting me could distract Isabella in such a way that her grandmother would get us both. I told her about the dream I had shared with Kevin. She couldn't make heads or tails of them either, but she confirmed that I had indeed dreamt about her grandmother. She would tell more about that later. I kissed Isabella goodbye for the time being, and asked her to be careful with her own investigation. Hopefully it was not her grandmother that was involved in the freezing of her account, but she should still be careful. Could be criminal groups or law enforcement. Neither of which were to be underestimated. Before Kevin came to pick me up, Antonio called. Imogen had arrived in New York, and then lost all track in central park. She had called him to learn if there was a portal to Nevernever there. He didn't know so he wanted to get in touch with Star who knew Nevernever better than he did. He had lost the address that she had given as she went into hiding, and wondered if I knew it. I had to look around for a while but could provide an address. Antonio was a bit surprised as that was the place he was just staking out as he were looking for ways to bring down a corrupt police officer. The officers wife were apparently engaging in some extramarital activities, and they had been going on for some time. He had heard some rather wild rumours about her. If he hadn't been with Catherine he would certainly have looked at a chance to join. Could that be Star that had taken such a disguise? It would not surprise either me nor Antonio. Subtle wasn't one of her strong suits. He would go and check it out, and then get back to Imogen. It was going to be a long and anxious drive to New York. Kevin was driving. It was his car after all, and he was better at it than I was. I did a couple of attempts at calling Lisa on my cellphone as were driving. No answer of course. I could not use my magic while we were driving of course. It would hex the car. Kevin and I talked a lot of Lisa and what we should do once we got to New York. It took some time, but we met up with with Imogen, and also Star and Antonio in Central Park. How had they gotten there before us? Then I found out how they had gotten there; they had driven a Ferrari down to New York, and parked it in the middle of Central park. A couple of thoughts hit me, first where had they gotten a Ferrari as none of them had that kind of money, and secondly, why was there arrows sticking out from it and why was there bitemarks in the chassi? Oh dear goddess, please tell me they had not driven that through Nevernever. I was not sure I really wanted an answer to those questions, though. I guess they had found the portal, and it sure had drawn some attention as the police had cordoned off the area around it. What I could see though was that yes, they had been that stupid. It appeared that the car had materialised from a bush. That had to have been Star's doing. Antonio was reckless, but he wasn't totally stupid. I feared that that would have consequences later on. We withdrew to a nearby place where we could perform more tracking magic, but we found no trace of Lisa in New York. Instead the trace now went towards Detroit. How had she managed to do such diversion? I did not think she had the skills for that. She certainly didn't use to have the control at least, but wardens did get good training. As we debated on how to proceed, Volund showed up in a black strange-looking coach, that did not have any horses drawing it. It was covered in snow, so he had driven it through parts of Nevernever that belonged to Winter. Not that surprising though. I guess Imogen had called for him to arrange transport. Kevin felt a bit uncomfortable about the whole thing and decided to head home. I promised I would keep him informed. He did say though that their family had some connections to some place there. We took the coach through Nevernever. I can't say it was very comfortable though. We arrived after some further divination at a farm. If it wasn't for the car parked outside, it would have looked abandoned. We could tell by the tiretracks on the gorund that it wasn't that long since the car had been used.- We looked around but could not find anyone, and the door was unlocked. Inside, in a bedroom we found a jacket that belonged to Lisa and footprints in the dust, but they mysteriously stopped at a window. We now knew that she had at least been there. I tried to cast a divination-spell to see what was going on, and instantly passed out as a wave of power rushed over me. I saw visions of fire, chaos and destruction and felt something drawing power from me. When I woke up, I found that I was lying naked in a bed, bound with the linens. Imogen had managed to wake me up with a spell. When I asked why I was lying bound in the bed, They said it was something Star had done to keep me from moving. What the hell? Sure, I liked being tied up, but the only person allowed to do that was Isabella. How would I make Star understand the concept of consent? She really was broken, and I feared that if that continued, someone would have to find a way to per away in her lamp again. Meanwhile, Antonio had found a bag belonging to Lisa in the kitchen. As we could not find any other tracks of her in the building, we started searching the backyard. Imogen tried to call Maria, but could not get any connection. She then tried to do a divinations spell as well, but she too fell unconscious in the same way I had done We manage to wake her up, after Star wanted to tie her up as well. I think I got my point across that she could not just do something like that. We realised that we needed to get some more and better material links in order to track Lisa, and the only place we could get that would be back in Boston, so Volund drove us back through Nevernever. When we got back there, we found that there had been an Earthquake that had killed over 5000 persons, and left even more injured. Imogen and Star was now homeless as a huge sinkhole had opened up beneath Imogen's house, and engulfed the whole neighbourhood and opened what looked like a huge cave, with a kilometer-long faultline ran from the center. The city was in utter chaos. Was not much that we could do though, other than quickly try to connect with friends and family to see that they were ok. I was greatly relieved that Isabella was OK, she had left looking for some clue about who had gone after her assets. But we could not get hold of Karl as he was away somewhere, and Mirou still did not answer any calls. Peggy and her children were fine though. Even getting hold of them were problematic as the whole city was in chaos. After we had gotten the things we needed from Lisa's apartment, we headed back to the farm near Detroit. The car was no longer there, so it was likely that she had moved elsewhere. I tried another divination magic, but could not get any information. Imogen and Antonio combined their magic to try and dispel whatever blocked my ritual, and when they did that the whole farm just disappeared, and we found that we were out in the middle of nowhere. We did find Lisa's jacket and some bread that she had brought. Antonio thought that she might somehow be in another dimension like Nevernever. Imogen somehow managed to break through, and we found Lisa lying on the ground asleep. After a lot of trying did Imogen manage to wake up Lisa. She did not appreciate being awakened though, and we could see that smoke came from her eyes that shone with a bright purple light. Without even breaking a sweat, and a simple flick of her hand, she sent us all flying about 50 meters away. I landed hard enough to knock the wind out of me, but otherwise unhurt. When Antonio told her to stop it and calm down. Her response to that was to fling him away hundreds of meters with a single move. How had she gained such incredible power? I could not believe my eyes. That should not have been possible. Then Imogen did something equally strange, and that was to somehow split into multiple versions of herself, which should not be possible. I guessed most were illusions though, or rather the use of glamour, as I had to remind myself that she was now a member of the fae, one of the shidhe to be more precise. Imogen then tried to calm down Lisa, but she did not have that much more success. Lisa then pushed away the real Imogen, and started gathering power as she erected a shield around herself. The words that came across her lips were chilling to say the least, as she said that she could not take it any more, and it had to end. She drew in so much power that the air itself stated to almost vibrate, and I knew we did not want to be anywhere near whatever she planned on doing. Imogen and Volund had the same idea, and he managed to open a portal to Nevernever. We just made it through before Lisa let loose the spell she had gathered the energy for. As the portal closed, I saw a purple light as from an explosion. It was clear she had cast a death-curse upon herself, but I doubt even a member of the senior council could have drawn that much power in such a short time. Yes, going though a hastily opened portal to an unknown part of Nevernever was bad, but it was much better than the alternative. We dared not go back directly to where Lisa had cast her spell, as there would be lingering effects. It was so bad that we could feel it in the Nevernever. Which was not that strange, as things on one side could affect the other if they were powerful enough. We travelled a long distance before we felt it safe to go back. When we did go back we saw that everything in a 30 kilometer radius from what had been ground zero was destroyed. A strange purple fire burned everything with a fire that even though it did not emit any heat, it still consumed everything so that nothing, not even ashes remained. Going in while that was still burning would be pure suicide. Even things that normally could not burn, like steel and concrete, burned with that sickly purple fire. When we looked towards Detroit, we could see that the magical energy had been enough to knock out all electricity in the city, even though it had been many miles away. In fact, all electronics in a 200 kilometer radius had been destroyed. We could only imagine the chaos that would be in the city. I needed to get back to Edinburg to talk to the White Council, as I was the only member. They needed to know what had happened so they could take appropriate measures. Imogen on her part would head home and talk to Kevin. I told her to tell him I would talk to him later if he wanted to. I am after all quite good at being emotional support, and I was one of her closest friends. And Imogen wanted me to pass a message to Maria that she wanted to talk to her, and that they should meet at a certain pub in Edinburgh. I learned later that President Trump had declared war, but no one could make sense about what the target was. The event was seen as a terrorist act, and Detroit was now under martial law following riots and most of the state had been declared a disaster area. It was not until I had started travelling towards Edinburgh, that the reality of the situation really sank in that Lisa was dead. I started crying, and went into a bit of shock. It was willpower alone that kept me from falling to pieces. I must have looked like a real mess when I arrived at the castle. The Senior council was in an emergency meeting when I arrived. I did get to speak to them though, and describe what had happened. The Merlin demanded a complete report. Apparently the car that Star and Antonio had used to travel through Nevernever had led to a Wild hunt materialising in Central park and people had died. He did not believe me when I told him. He seemed to have made up his mind about something, and blamed the fae for the death of three wizards. He really is an intolerable naughty word, and I could well see why there was a coup earlier. In hindsight I learned that I had said too much, and that it had had repercussions. I more or less collapsed after giving him the report, so Eibon carried me out of the room, and let me cry a river before he and Maria started asking me some questions, while also trying to comfort me. I also got to talk to the wizard that had been Lisa's mentor. They were very concerned with how Lisa had gained such power. They thought that whatever it was that had possessed Imogen earlier, had somehow taken over Lisa, and that was what had given her power. What I could understand was that they thought it was an outsider, a really powerful one, and when Imogen had died and been reborn as a fae, then that outsider had become free. They also told me that they were finished with their investigation of the events during the mission Lisa had been on, and it had been her who had killed the two children with magic. They didn't know if it had been by accident or by purpose, but that had probably been the last straw that broke her. She had already been under a lot of stress. And to make things even worse, the wizards that had been part of the dream-experiments earlier, and who had started acting strangely after absorbing the personalities of some of the animals, had now become even more crazy. The wardens had had to seal off the entire tower that they were in, as those wizards could infect others through dreams. That certainly was bad, but I hoped that they could find a solution for it. A solution that did not include any one else dying. I made my way home after having calmed down and gotten some rest. I knew that Imogen had a long talk with Maria. How would I explain what had happened to Kevin? He must have guessed though. And why had no one seen it before? Could any of us had done anything else to have changed the outcome? I guess I will never know. But all the doubts and questions caused me great pain. Once I got home, I also learned that Mirou, Karl and Ymer and a large part of Ymer's army had been away and fought against the Anazasi. The same ones I had dreamed about. They had won, but at a great cost. Most of the trolls had died, but as afar as any one could tell all of the Anazasi were dead. There had also been a new Earthquake, that had widened the chasm that went through where Imogen's house had been. It was now 100 meters wide and almost 900 meters deep. That had happened at the same time that Lisa had killed herself. The chasm gave off a lot of heat, so people wondered if there would be a volcanic eruption. Surely, there were no volcanoes on the East Coast? I heard rumours a few days later that the Merlin had sent a formal request to the Summer Court to have Antonio extradited and killed as a response to his involvement in a Wild hunt appearing in New York earlier. Some kind of Wereguild. Had that had anything to do with what I had said back in Edinburg? As far as I could make out that was not going to happen though. I did not know all the details but it had something to do with who his father was. Isabella came home with very good news, we would no longer have to fear anything from her family again. Her grandmother had been rendered powerless, and Isabella had regained all her own assets, but also taken control of all of those from her family. I asked her if I wanted to know how that had happened, but she rather clearly told me I did not. Which, kind off was exactly what I suspected. The things we overlook for love. I would love her just as much even if we had no money, but I must say her wealth was very nice. I could definitively get used to that. Imogen had after her talk with Maria decided to move away from Boston. She wanted nothing to do with the intrigues of faerie courts, and she was not very fond of the White council either. I don't blame her, she had gotten a rough deal. She planned on moving to the islands of Abaranth in Nevernever, and wanted to be left alone. Then a few days later, another Earthquake struck Boston, and from the deep chasm came a huge fiery being, just like I had seen in my vision. Oh crap, Balrogs were real, and it was much much bigger than I could have imagined. It was followed by an army of svartalfer, goblins and other similar beings. That army was under attack by an army of dwarves who tried to stop them from coming into our world. Everyone in the path fled in sheer panic, and it did not take long before the National guard and the army came to try and stop the invaders. All they could do was slowing them down. I called in to the council. Hopefully they could help. If nothing else they might be able to help with evacuating the inhabitants. The councils came through with a bunch of wardens and other wizards. I hooked up with Eibon, and tried using my divination magic to scry so we could predict the movements of the army. We got some unexpected help as Ymer came with his army of trolls as well as the three ancient Faerie Queens that were around in Boston, and then Antonio came with an army of Shidhe. I later learned he had somehow been elevated to a Summer Prince and was now head of his own kingdom. Then Imogen arrived with the wizards that had been part of the dream-experiments. They had taken on inhuman appearances and really seemed to enjoy the fight. I saw Joshua, Megan, Austin and Hannah helping out, as well as some members of the motorcycle gang that Karl was with helping out. We got help from other unexpected sources as well, like Harry Dresden, the wizard who now was the Winter knight, as well as Vadderung, the chief of Monoc Securities. He brought with him undead vikings, and real valkyries. Isabella helped out by reanimating the fallen soldiers of our army, so they could continue fighting. There were many others that helped but I did not know who they were. We all knew that if we failed, then it would be the end of our civilization as we knew it. As if to underscore that, there was a sudden solar eclipse. As if the Balrog changed the very reality around itself. Our combined efforts slowed down the goblin army, but we could not do much about the Balrog, whom Volund claimed was named Surtr. How would he know that? Then Dragons arrived and Star in her new role as the new Brass Lady came. She changed into the role of a huge woman made of fire, wielding the sword she had got from Ymer's father ealier, and then started attacking the Balrog. Fire fighting fire. She somehow had much more effect than we had managed to get earlier. This turned the combat, and our forces could now start defeating the goblins. We all focused now on giving her whatever edge we could. I called upon the Goddess, and drew power from the aspects of Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali and Inanna and put all my divination magic into finding some weak spot that she could use. Antonio and Imogen used their magic as well. After a long drawn-out fight that went back and forth, Star managed to finally kill the Balrog with a final attack where she gave it all. As she did that, the solar eclipse vanished, and we could now finally defeat the goblins and svartalfer. Isabella ended her spell, so the reanimated soldiers fell down again dead. Hopefully no one from the council would notice, or if they did, they would let it slide. Necromancy was against the laws of magic, but without it many more would have died. Boston was in ruins, and thousands lay dead, among them many wardens. We had won, but at what cost? Could life ever go back to normal, for all those that had lived in the city? Now after the battle, more of the US military came into town. The city was placed under martial law. All the supernatural beings that had come, quietly moved out before the army came. Their presence would only have made things much worse. If I thought the Merlin had been an arrogant naughty word, that was nothing compared to president Trump. I could not even stand the thought of that man, or anything he stood for. My friends went separate ways after the war. Star went back and started rebuilding the Brass Court. That was something that did concern me, as I feared she would use that power to do something stupid, so I would have to keep an eye on what was going on. Earlier there at least was someone that could put her in her place if she screwed up too bad. She had now risen to the rank of Brass Queen, and she made Imogen her lady. That was something that Imogen really disliked, and I could definitively see her try to break free. Not sure what was most frightening, having Star or Imogen as the queen of a faerie court that actually had any real power. Even though they were my friends, I hoped they did not succeed. If they had power, it was like giving a child a loaded gun. Antonio was now the Prince of Oak. Obviously he was no longer a changeling, but rather a full Shidhe, that meant I had to be a bit more careful in dealing with him. Hopefully, he did not think I had wronged him. He married his girlfriend Catherine. I don't know if she knew what she was getting into, but I think she did as she was a wizard, if nothing else she would be able to handle the strange new surroundings that the Summer court consisted of. I heard rumours that she had been turned into a shidhe. I was very happy for them though. It turned out later that Antonio had not quite given up his old habits, and actually kept his own harem of women. Fidelity was not his strong suite. He arranged for his sister to get a job as a hotel manager at Barbados, at a hotel he had inherited. I think she liked that, and she deserved some happiness after all she had gone through. Besides, it might come in handy to know the manager of a hotel if I should ever be there. I am not entirely sure where Mirou went, but he set himself up to be a broker of information and services to any who would pay. Doing anything to get rich, and gain influence. I think the old Isabella from before she met me would have liked that very much, and would have used him for anything she could. Best to keep track of him though if the need for any such information came up, and especially to take steps if he were looking for some things that was best left a secret. I had to hand it to him, he did have lots of contacts, and I trusted him enough to know that if he was bought he would stay bought, and do whatever it took to protect what he considered to be his assets. He was predictable in his greed. Karl and Peggy moved to Karl's home in Sweden with their children until things calmed down and things went back to what passed for normal. They lived happily afterwards, and were perfectly suited to each other. I stayed in contact as much as I could. I really liked them, and they were the only ones in the group that was not actively working on making things more complicated. Volund said he would help the old Norse gods to rebuild the world, and help them restore power. He said this had been Ragnarok, or at least as close as we would come before the world would end. That did nothing to comfort me. In fact I feared that things would get even worse if old gods would make a comeback. Yes, that was perhaps hypocritical of me, as I had my own beliefs and ways of worship, but there was something cold and scary about him. For my part, I moved to Italy with Isabella. She wanted to get back to Florence, and it really is a lovely city. There was nothing else tying me to Boston, and America under Trump's rule had simply got unbearable for those that weren't rabid right-wing rednecks. I had drawn so much power through the battle against the Balrog, that I was exhausted, and suffered from headaches, double-vision and sleep-problems for the next few weeks. Nightmares were of course frequent. Once in Italy I married Isabella, after we had settled in properly and we both had recovered. We had a very nice wedding. Our friends were of course invited. White might not be my colour, but I made a very lovely bride if I say so myself, as did Isabella. My wedding dress was fabulous, and the sex on our wedding night was mindblowingly good. Now I truly belonged to her; mind, body and soul. It was pure bliss. After the wedding, I had in private as a bit of a joke, but also as a very symbolic representation given her a leash that fit to the slave-collar I wore as a fashion statement. Even though we had been together for a couple for years, now it really was forever. Isabella perfectly understood the meaning I put on it. One thing we did later was that me and Isabella went back to the ruined castle in Romania, and recovered all the artwork that was still there. We took lots of precautions on how to transport and preserve the art in the best way. Isabella had contacts that helped us with their expertise. We kept the most beautiful pieces, but discretely sold off the others to various different museums. Would have been a pity to see them be destroyed. Some pieces of course was so badly damaged by weather and fire, that there was no way of saving them. Such loss for the world. I also made sure we got all the diaries that the vampiress that used to live there had written. They made for some interesting reading, but it was mostly to protect ourselves. If anything in them pointed to Isabella in any previous body, then someone jut might be able to put two and two together and that would be dangerous. I started to learn Italian, with good help from Isabella, and it did not take long before I was fluent in it. Sure I had a bit of an accent, but no one cared, and it was not my intention to be able to pass as a native speaker. Once I had the language skills, I started with theatre again. We talked about later on getting children. I would very much want to become a mother. Not sure if artificial insemination would work though, given that sensitive technical things often broke down near wizards. I would of course not have anything against the natural way of getting pregnant if I found the right partner, but that would cause too many other problems. Not the least that Isabella would probably never allow it. [/QUOTE]
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Dresden Files rpg: Dresden2Boston
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