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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 34352" data-attributes="member: 63"><p><strong><span style="font-size: 12px">Chapter Sixteen: Archangel</span></strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Very late into the evening, the car pulls up to the grassy lot surrounding Sexton’s church. Over the drone of Atlanta’s nightlife, they can hear the lamentful calling of a lone gargoyle sitting watch atop the church, shouting that someone is already inside. Two shattered stone statues, once gargoyles, now lie lifeless in a charred patch of grass.</p><p></p><p>The Knights step out of the car, trying to spot anyone hiding in the dark scattered woods surrounding the old stone church. Herbie, Finagle’s pet gargoyle, flies up to the top of the church and tells his fellow gargoyle that there will be a fight, but his friends need to be able to avoid being ambushed. The crying gargoyle agrees to stay quiet, but makes Herbie promise that they will smite the one inside. Herbie agrees and flies back.</p><p></p><p>The Knights prepare for battle. </p><p></p><p>Madeline turns invisible and casts <em>spiderclimb</em> on herself, climbing the outer walls of the church to one window that is broken. This will be her ambush spot. From it she can see the interior of the church, which has a main floor, with a clerestory (an overhanging balcony with more seating) on either side wall. Candelabras in the nave of the church give off a faint glow, but it’s too dark to see anything right now. Madeline readies a <em>magic missile</em> for the right moment.</p><p></p><p>Jenny says a quick prayer, asking God for something that will let them stop Legion. She realizes that if Legion can simply leap from body to body, then killing Michael will only result in Legion taking one of them as a host. She feels the frustration from her ghost, Pataman, who barely tolerates Jenny’s beliefs. She turns to him and quietly asks him to work with her without any arguments, despite their disagreements. Their beliefs might be different, but right now they have the same goal.</p><p></p><p>Finagle listens to his late uncle’s ghost as the man gives him support, and as he relays a brief conversation between the technomage and Brian, the dead hacker. Tagin, unwillingly bonded with Brian, checks his empty clips absently while watching the others. Though he doesn’t want to be seen, everyone keeps glancing at him, as if he might have advice or an answer. He has none. He wishes he’d never heard of the Bureau, or at least, . . . he glances at those around him, . . . at least that he won’t have any blood on his conscience tonight.</p><p></p><p>Goghei’s scaled body stands stiffly, eyes closed, until Cai gives the signal to move. Activating his lightblade katana, Cai waves for them to follow as he strides across the field toward the church doors. Cai and Jenny take the front, with Tagin, Goghei, and Finagle following behind. They reach the church doors, and Goghei tells them that he smells the woman from before, Autumn, but he can barely notice her between the powerful auras inside the building in front of them. </p><p></p><p>Cai listens at the heavy oak doors, then pushes them open, letting a cool breeze blow in, gusting through the church across them. Jenny brushes her hair out of her face and levels her spear forward warily. She tries to detect evil, and though she can feel powerful evil nearby, something is blocking her from pinpointing it. Still actively sensing the vast room, Jenny leads the way down the central aisle toward the nave at back, where several candelabras burn. Tagin and Goghei walk down the right aisle, passing under the clerestory; and Finagle and Cai walk down the left aisle, passing under the other side.</p><p></p><p>Jenny reaches the nave and hears a soft voice coming from behind a cloth-covered pulpit. She walks around it and sees Sexton cowering on the ground. He still looks completely harmless, though even more paranoid than when they first met him. Certainly he does not look like he was once a crimson-scaled Dragon legendary for his vile hatred of humanity.</p><p></p><p>Jenny calls the others over, and they hurriedly finish their searching, then gather around the whimpering man. He is initially comforted by seeing the cross Jenny wears, but when he sees Goghei, scaly and reptilian, he shouts, “Demon!”</p><p></p><p>Jenny tries to find out if Autumn or Michael are in the church. She purposefully avoids mentioning Legion so as to keep from provoking the man. Finagle’s not as bright, though, and wonders aloud what in the world Legion could have done to a Dragon to make him snap like this.</p><p></p><p>Sexton pulls away and begins rubbing his forehead nervously, his fingers clenching the white cloth of the pulpit. Jenny is about to reprimand Finagle when her ghost, all the ghosts in fact, shout a warning. A tingling chill raises the hair on the back of everyone’s neck, and for an instant they hear a mental chuckle.</p><p></p><p>Enter Autumn.</p><p></p><p>She glides lazily down the center aisle, looking no worse for wear after the fight and car chase. The party waits for her to make the first move, since only Jenny has any ranged firepower. </p><p></p><p>Autumn stops twenty feet away, planting a hand on her hip. She gestures toward Sexton with her free hand. “Move aside, or I’ll <em>make</em> you.”</p><p></p><p>Tagin tries to bluff, drawing his empty pistol and pointing it at Autumn. “Back off. I don’t know why you’re working with Legion, so unless you back off and explain yourself I’ll shoot you where you stand.”</p><p></p><p>Autumn laughs. “You don’t have any bullets in there.”</p><p></p><p>Tagin grits his teeth and tries to close his mind. “I reloaded after you smashed your little head into a light pole.”</p><p></p><p>Autumn shakes her head, smirking. “Whatever, Sean. You people are such a hassle to get rid of. I’ve tried so hard, but you haven’t taken any hints.”</p><p></p><p>Finagle looks at Tagin. “She called you ‘Sean.’ <em>Sean?</em>”</p><p></p><p>Tagin glances nervously at Finagle, then looks back to Autumn in anger. Autumn laughs.</p><p></p><p>Jenny walks forward to within ten feet of Autumn, asking as she approaches, “So, are you going to tell us why you murdered Brian and J’Qwuan? Why you helped Legion kill Keira and who knows who else? Legion hates magi, so why did you do it?”</p><p></p><p>“Because he would have destroyed me otherwise. Because when I touched Michael’s mind and found <em>him</em>, he showed me what place I would have in the world he wants. I would be a slave. Better to go willingly now, and maybe find something I can fight him with, than to be crushed into subservience later.”</p><p></p><p>Jenny looks at Autumn in dismay. “Then don’t fight us. We’re going to stop Legion, and we need your help.”</p><p></p><p>Autumn laughs coldly, dejectedly. “Nothing can stop Legion. You’re too weak, and you will only suffer more if you fight him. Consider this mercy.”</p><p></p><p>Autumn closes her eyes and the air feels thick around them. A mental blast thunders outward, crashing into their thoughts. The knights cry out briefly in agony, and then Sexton’s voice rises loudly as he screams in mental pain, and for an instant his features contort into something hideous, reptillian, vengeful. Stunned by Autumn’s telepathic attack, Sexton cannot continue to suppress the overwhelming magical aura of a centuries-old Dragon. Just as with Dalavar in Hong Kong, the magical energies overwhelm natural magi, cancelling their powers.</p><p></p><p>All the knights except Cai groan in a moments pain as they feel the Dragon’s aura. The ghosts scream in panic, the overwhelming energy briefly blocking their connection to the ones they had bonded to. Goghei screams also, clutching his head. Autumn staggers back, covering her face with her arms as the backlash of her mental attack stuns her. In Hong Kong, the aura of a dead Dragon was enough to drive Dalavar into unconsciousness. It’s amazing that Autumn is still standing. In a second, it ends, and the knights recover.</p><p></p><p>But Autumn stands weakly in the center aisle, holding herself up on one of the benches. She puts a hand to her forehead, her eyes wide. “It’s so . . . quiet. What did you do to me?!”</p><p></p><p>She turns to look at Sexton, who is gripping the cloth of the pulpit in both hands. The man turns apologetic. “You shouldn’t have done that. It hurt me too. I’m-, I’m sorry.”</p><p></p><p>Autumn wails in despair and turns to run, stumbling in her high heels. </p><p></p><p>Brian, who was murdered by Autumn, yells at Tagin that she’s vulnerable for once, and they have to stop her before she gets away and recovers. Tagin begins to run after her, and the others recover from the mental attack and begin to follow, when Sexton gasps.</p><p></p><p>“No. He’s here.”</p><p></p><p>Tagin has already reached the door, but between him and the others, Michael leaps from the clerestory, his white coat fluttering as he lands easily in the central aisle. He holds an ignited lightblade scimitar, and narrows his eyes angrily, staring past the knights, toward a cowering Sexton.</p><p></p><p>When Michael speaks, his voice carries a different timbre. Something extra, archaic in his voice. “I’ve tired of taunting the wyrm; he’ll provide no sport. But you, you are traitors to your own people.”</p><p></p><p>Michael rushes forward, raising his scimitar to strike at Jenny. Tagin begins to run after Michael, but Cai shouts at him, tossing something through the air toward him. “Go stop Autumn! Take that whore down! We’ll handle this one!”</p><p></p><p>Tagin skids to a stop nervously and catches what Cai had thrown him. A clip of bullets, humming with faint magical energy. He looks on in dismay as Michael’s arcing slashes buffet Jenny’s defenses, but he forces himself to run after Autumn, snapping the clip of enchanted bullets—Keira’s clip—into his pistol.</p><p></p><p>He sprints out the front of the church, chasing after the fading noise of a staggering Elvish telepath.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Inside the church, those with ghosts can see the flaring red spectral image of Legion, the ghost bonded with and controlling Michael. While Michael’s body spins his blade dramatically downward, viciously trying to chop through Jenny’s defenses, Legion hovers close to Michael, turning his magical might upon the only obvious magi in the room.</p><p></p><p>Goghei falls to the floor, hissing and snarling as images of murder, agony, and death burst through his mind. Driven mad by Legion’s power, Goghei snaps, just like Sahkrekal did hundreds of years ago. Well, perhaps not <em>quite</em> like Sahkrekal did.</p><p></p><p>Goghei falls into a more bestial posture, snarling and swinging his head about, sniffing for the magic. Then, with a gurgling hiss, he begins to run four-legged across the tops of the church pews toward Michael. He pounces onto the man, clawing at his face and smashing him with the tip of his tail. Jenny takes the moment’s respite to move away and give Cai room to try to fight. Finagle fires a short arrow of electicity at Michael, and Herbie swoops in and buffets Michael on the head with his wings.</p><p></p><p>Madeline, standing invisible in the balcony above, creeps up and fires a pair of magic missiles at the possessed man. Jenny, busy getting her bow ready, shouts that they need to knock him unconscious, but not kill him. As far as they can tell, Legion can only jump when the original host is dead.</p><p></p><p>When Legion hears this he laughs, and with his off hand he fires a lightning bolt that skims across Cai’s torso and catches Jenny in the face, spinning her backward to the ground, where she struggles to remain conscious. </p><p></p><p>Cai gets only a few small hits on Michael, but Goghei fares better, repeating his vaulting attack to wound the possessed paladin while in midair. Herbie swoops in again and lands on Michael’s arm to bite him, but can’t get through the coat. Finagle tends to Jenny, casting an endure elements spell on her as a mild precaution. Madeline tries to fire a magical bolt from her wrist crossbow, but the wild magic reacts strangely and she ends up shooting a small sparrow at Michael, that begins to claw at him feebly.</p><p></p><p>Legion, frustrated at being nibbled at by puny creatures, has Michael wait to attack the lizard man when he gets close enough. Legion himself, able to act separately of Michael’s body, channels magic onto his host, which Finagle’s uncle recognizes as almost the same magic Finagle had just used on Jenny. But why would Legion be casting endure elements on himself?</p><p></p><p>Finagle shouts for everyone to get away from Michael, but Cai is too busy fighting to listen to the young kid, and continues trying to beat through the much more experienced warrior’s defenses. When Goghei again tries his leaping claw attack, Michael raises his sword directly in the lizard man’s path and gashes deeply into Goghei’s chest. Out of momentum, the monk falls to the ground, struggling to get back up and keep fighting.</p><p></p><p>Cai sees a sudden red flare in Michael’s left hand, shimmering an incandescent red. Deciding too late to take Finagle’s advice, Cai tries to leap away but is caught by the blast of a concussive fireball. The explosion slams Cai into one of the pews, singes away flesh and scales from Goghei, shatters the floor beneath Madeline, roasts the sparrow from her crossbow, and nearly kills Herbie, who weakly glides away to take cover under a pew. Madeline leaps and uses spiderclimb to hold onto the edge of the balcony, but she decides to drop and help her friends as best she can. </p><p></p><p>She lands heavily, too close to Michael (who was unharmed by the fireball), and gets slashed on her arm for her error. She sprints away desperately, trying to fire more <em>magic missiles</em> at Michael. Finagle runs forward to help Cai off the ground, and Jenny pulls up her bow and beings firing at Michael to keep him back. Michael dodges the arrows, trying to coup de grace Goghei, but he’s too busy avoiding missiles to get a good hit in, and Goghei rolls out of reach.</p><p></p><p>Michael takes cover behind a pew, and Jenny, too tired to run fast, stands still and waits for him to emerge. Legion apparently realizes that Jenny’s in no condition to dodge, and as he stands his hand begins to crackle with electrical energy. Finagle sees the attack a moment before it goes off, and he leaps into its path as a stroke of lightning crashes across the room toward Jenny. Finagle takes it square in the chest, and lands heavily at Jenny’s feet.</p><p></p><p>Jenny hesitates, unsure whether to go to Finagle’s aid or fire another again at Michael. Goghei solves this for Jenny when he furiously leaps up from the pew behind Michael and tries to pull the possessed knight into a headlock.</p><p></p><p>Jenny kneels quickly beside Finagle, taking a moment to throw a caustic glance at Sexton. The man, if he really did hate Legion so much, could become a Dragon and save all their lives, but instead he cowers in fear, only shaking his head.</p><p></p><p>Sexton sees Jenny’s eyes and tries to say something to her, but Jenny ignores him, turning her attention back on Finagle. Finagle, however, seems to have gotten away unscathed. His own affinity to electricity has protected him, but his spellbook is fried, sputtering and unusable.</p><p></p><p>Jenny pulls Finagle to his feet while Madeline and Cai try to get close to Michael, who is being grappled by Goghei. Just as they get near, Michael plants a palm onto Goghei’s cranium and <em>chill touches</em> the lizard man to unconsciousness.</p><p></p><p>Michael glances at those still weakly standing, and he calmly holds his sword ready.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Outside, Tagin refuses Brian’s shouts to shoot at Autumn. Though almost unable to see in the dark beneath the trees, Tagin can follow the moving silhouette of Autumn. After half a minute of chasing, Autumn slows, seemingly to catch her breath against a tree, but as Tagin nears her he feels her trying to worm her way into his subconscious. </p><p></p><p>Brian, by now having figured out how to link closely with Tagin, shifts the attack to himself, and the ghost begins to cry in remembered agony as Autumn sifts through his mind. He hears the woman chuckle softly, but as he finally comes into her view she gasps in surprise, apparently thinking she had been psychically attacking Tagin.</p><p></p><p>The woman is still haggard and wide-eyed, but she does not give up. She draws a pistol and fires at Tagin, but he ducks behind a tree. He can hear Brian groaning in pain, sounding perfectly like a groaning spirit, and he realizes that Brian is no help.</p><p></p><p>“<em>His</em> ghost bonded with <em>you</em>?” Autumn rasps quietly to Tagin. “Even in death he could never do anything right.”</p><p></p><p>Tagin leaps and takes cover behind another tree, dodging another shot from Autumn. She continues to mock him, her voice coming in exhausted gasps from the exertion of running. “He did you a favor, Sean. He gave you a chance to run. I’ll give you that chance too. Whatever that Dragon did to me is no longer a problem.”</p><p></p><p>Tagin pulls out his switchblade, turning on the safety of the pistol and tucking it into his pants. He recognizes that she’s lying. He hears the fear in her voice.</p><p></p><p>“I’ll even,” Autumn offers, “get rid of Brian for you. I know how much you don’t want his depressing ego hanging around you for the rest of your life.”</p><p></p><p>Tagin feels the tree shudder beside him as Autumn fires a bullet into it. Cringing, Tagin shouts into the trees, “Brian, get ahold of yourself. You’re already dead, so stop whining!”</p><p></p><p>Autumn laughs, and Tagin hears her circle around the tree for a clear shot. Oddly, her voice comes from the opposite side of the tree, some kind of psychic projection. Tagin wavers, uncertain which way to move. He sprints for another tree, staying on the move, even as Autumn follows him.</p><p></p><p>“Well, Sean? Drop the gun, run away, and you’ll be able to go back to your meaningless life, free from the Bureau. No one will ever notice you ever again. You don’t want to be famous, or a hero. You just want your life back.”</p><p></p><p>Tagin hears a pained groan in his head, Brian’s voice. Autumn’s movement and voice, disparate, drown out what the ghost is trying to say.</p><p></p><p>“Your life alone,” Autumn continues, breathing more regularly now. “This matter never concerned you in the first place. It was <em>Brian</em> that dragged you into this, making you a target for Legion. If you leave now, I promise I’ll make sure Legion never finds. He’ll never even care that you existed.”</p><p></p><p>From within the church a huge thunder reverberates, and a red glow briefly fills the darkness between the trees. Tagin hears a scream, Madeline’s or Jenny’s, desperate, in pain.</p><p></p><p>“What about the others?” Tagin asks, feeling a cloying weight pressing in on his senses, cutting him off from what Brian’s trying to tell him.</p><p></p><p>“Oh, so you do speak?” Autumn laughs. “Either way, I know you more deeply than you know yourself. You don’t care about the others. You need to go your own way. Why don’t you leave? I promise you, by tomorrow you’ll have forgotten this ever happened.”</p><p></p><p>Tagin glowers, eyes wide in disgust at the sound of Autumn’s voice. But he doesn’t know where the voice is coming from. He tries to fight her out of his head, and when her voice comes again, it sounds surprised.</p><p></p><p>“I don’t know why you’re fighting me. I’ve never done anything to hurt you.”</p><p></p><p>A sudden mist fills the forest, and in surprise Autumn gasps and sounds like she’s stumbling away. Both her voice and her movement now in the same place. Tagin leaps from the cover of the tree and sprints through the mist toward the noise, jumping and tackling the slender silhouette before him. </p><p></p><p>Tagin crashes into Autumn, shoves her to the ground. Her eyes are wide with panic, and her face strained from trying to use her power but failing. She stops struggling and stares into his eyes as Tagin draws the pistol and places it to her head. </p><p></p><p>“You killed my friend,” Tagin shouts at her. Brian shouts for him to kill her and Tagin’s finger twitches.</p><p></p><p>Then, in a shout of disgust, he slams the metal of the pistol into her temple and knocks the woman unconscious. He hits her once again for good measure, and then without a word to Brian he speeds off toward the church.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Michael forces his way back into the relatively open area of the central aisle. His flashing sword shoves Cai backward, and horrible nightmare images confront Finagle, trying to phantasmally kill him. Madeline finally realizes that some spell Michael has is blocking her magic missiles, so she waits for an opening to taser the man.</p><p></p><p>Herbie’s high-pitched shouts of “smite the evil!” help Finagle overcome his fears of the illusionary monsters, and so he’s of right mind enough to see when Tagin reappears in the main doorway. Of course, he’s not smart enough to keep quiet, so he shouts an encouraging, “Go Tagin!”</p><p></p><p>Michael glances back at the recently entered hacker and hurls a fireball toward the entry to the church. It sets the door aflame, but being a 3rd level rogue with evasion saves Tagin as he ducks behind the cover of a pew.</p><p></p><p>Jenny, unable to get a clear shot at Michael because he’s shorter than Cai (and Cai is in the way), tries one last time to get Sexton to help. She tells him how they’re all going to die, how the church will burn and Legion will kill millions if he gets free. Sexton just whimpers, and Jenny starts to stalk off, giving up on him. She readies her spear and steels herself for her final fight, when Sexton says something unexpected.</p><p></p><p>“You’re right. He-, he must be stopped.” </p><p></p><p>Jenny stops and turns, seeing him staring intently at the pew’s cloth, which he holds in his hands. She rushes back to him to see if he will indeed help.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, in the meanwhile Cai is getting tired from the ongoing fight. Michael has stopped attacking them directly, and simply parries all of Cai’s attacks, blocks all of Madeline or Finagle’s spells.</p><p></p><p>Michael begins to speak during the battle, his voice tinged with the spirit of Legion. “You won’t get away, demon. The first time you killed me I was helpless.”</p><p></p><p>Michael ducks one of Cai’s attacks, then disarms the man with his scimitar and shoves him to the ground with a gust of wind.</p><p></p><p>Tagin begins to run up behind Michael, gun and switchblade in hand. Michael advances toward Sexton and Jenny.</p><p></p><p>“The second time you killed me, I was careless.” At Legion’s command, a snaky arm of stone lashes out from the floor and wraps around Tagin’s leg, holding him fast. Madeline tries to taser Michael, but the possessed knight simply bats her aside. Only Jenny and Finagle stand between him and Sahkrekal.</p><p></p><p>“This time,” Legion states, “you will pay for all those who you murdered.”</p><p></p><p>Jenny helps Sexton to his feet, and the frightened man weakly says, “You are the murderer.”</p><p></p><p>Michael raises his sword to leap out and strike down Sexton, but Jenny throws out her hand, snapping her necklace as she thrusts out her cross. Michael begins to shout in denial, but he suddenly goes weak, falling forward and collapsing to the floor. Briefly, everyone in the room can see the spirit of Legion burst from Michael’s body, then hover for a moment before it vanishes.</p><p></p><p>The knights all exchange surprised glances at how it had worked. Jenny turns to Sexton, amazed. “That did it? Legion is gone?”</p><p></p><p>Sexton shakes his head desperately. “No. No! No! He’ll just take someone else! Please no!”</p><p></p><p>Though shakin his head in denial, Sexton staggers toward Michael’s fallen body, staring down at something only he can see. His eyes close and his mouth tenses in fright, and then Sexton passes out, falling to the floor with a groan.</p><p></p><p>There is a general consensus of “what the hell?”s going around, and Jenny limps over to Sexton. Finagle runs to try to break Tagin free of the stone arm holding him, and Madeline and Cai begin tying up Michael with his own coat.</p><p></p><p>Jenny is kneeling next to Sexton, about to put a hand to his face, when the man’s eyes snap open, crackling with flame.</p><p></p><p>As Sexton pushes himself off the ground, he lashes out with a hand and <em>claws</em> Jenny across the chest, digging in only shallowly with nails turned to black claws. Jenny shrieks in panic and leaps away, and everyone turns to Sexton in shock.</p><p></p><p>He begins to laugh, his voice tinged with the same odd timbre Michael had while possessed with Legion. “Oh, God! I never realized how powerful you bastards were. You’ll help me destroy . . . dest-”</p><p></p><p>Sexton hunches over, his voice back to normal. “No. Please stop him before he-”</p><p></p><p>They hesitate momentarily, realizing that Sexton and Legion are vying for control of the Dragon’s body. Jenny tries to again help Sexton, but this time she’s ready when Legion takes over again, and doesn’t get clawed. The knights’ ghosts begin to shout in pain again, the same pain they felt from Sahkrekal’s draconic aura. The aura of a centuries old Dragon crashes through the church, stunning everyone present. Even Sexton falls to his knees, falling silent.</p><p></p><p>When Legion speaks again, his voice is panicked. “What did you do?! I can’t use any of my power.”</p><p></p><p>Sexton pushes himself to his feet, his body contorted as two souls struggle to command it. One of Sexton’s hands lashes out toward Jenny, trying to fire another lightning bolt, but nothing happens, and Sexton laughs weakly.</p><p></p><p>Legion takes over again. “Damn you!” he screams. “I don’t need it. Your body alone is powerful enough!”</p><p></p><p>Cai runs forward to try to tackle him, but the balding priest opens his mouth and spits a gout of flame, driving Cai back. Legion, though unable to use any of his own magic because of the Dragon’s aura, is almost in control of Sahkrekal’s natural draconic powers.</p><p></p><p>The back of Sexton’s shirt begins to tear as small scaled wings stretch out from his flesh. Jenny shouts at Sexton to try to get him to take control again, but at those instants Sexton does have control he just shouts that he’s not a Dragon, and that he never wants to be one. Legion seems to be winning, just driving Sexton more and more mad as he loses control.</p><p></p><p>Legion in a draconic Sexton leaps forward and laughs in ecstasy at his power as he claws at Madeline, forcing her to run away. Jenny grabs her spear and tries to hold the man at bay, but an incredibly strong swipe knocks the weapon from her grasp. Legion is about to pounce upon her when he doubles over, clutching his stomach.</p><p></p><p>Sexton’s face turns up to Jenny, and with pleading eyes he says, “I don’t want to become a demon again. Please . . . stop me.”</p><p></p><p>Legion takes control again, opens his mouth to incinerate Jenny.</p><p></p><p>“Jenny, duck!” Tagin shouts, and as she leaps away Tagin fires a shot from the pistol. The enchanted bullet snaps into Sexton’s arm and knocks him back, then explodes into a crackling sphere of electricity.</p><p></p><p>Jenny clambers backward desperately, staying low as Legion tries to leap for her again. Tagin fires another shot from the gun, hitting Legion in the chest and knocking him down.</p><p></p><p>Sexton’s misshappen body relaxes, and Sexton’s voice softly says to Tagin, “Thank you.”</p><p></p><p>Legion takes control for the last seconds of Sexton’s life, roaring in panic, flames licking across his body. With the Dragon’s aura stopping his magic, he can’t escape his current host. He chokes in pain and desperation, and gets out a pleased, “At least I took you with me, you murderer,” before he dies.</p><p></p><p>Cai remembers what happened the last time a Dragon died, and he shouts for everyone to run. They grab the wounded—Michael, Goghei, and to a lesser extent Herbie—and sprint for the doors. Behind them they hear pews being shoved against each other, shattering thunderously. Glancing back, Tagin and Jenny see the quickly expanding body of a now dead and reverting ancient wyrm red Dragon bursting through the walls of the old church. Stones and glass come falling down, and as the impact tears into Sahkrekal’s body, flames gout out, demolishing the church in an explosion that fills the night sky. </p><p></p><p>Debris flies around them, knocking them to the ground. When they get back to their feet, they find that what little of the church wasn’t destroyed by Sexton’s reversion to Dragon form is now being burnt to the ground.</p><p></p><p>Jenny says a prayer for Sexton, and Legion, and they tend to Michael and Goghei. Tagin goes off to check on Autumn, and finds her with a terrible headache, but seemingly far less vicious now that Legion is no longer controlling her. Cai can’t find his own cel phone, and everyone else’s was damaged in the explosion, so he ends up borrowing a cel phone from one of the Atlanta citizens who comes out to see what’s going on. He makes a call to the ‘Fire Department,’ and tells them that there’s a major clean-up job they’ll want to take a look at.</p><p></p><p>Too tired to bother keeping onlookers away, the knights slump to the ground to wait for the Bureau to show up. It takes over an hour, but when the Bureau finally does, the Chief sends a message that he knows something strange controlled him, and he’d like to talk to them as soon as possible to find out what. Michael and Autumn are taken off for medical and psychiatric care.</p><p></p><p>And Goghei?</p><p></p><p>When they look for him, the only lead they get is that a man says he was mugged by a huge dark person with a strange lisp, who took his jacket and disappeared into the alleys. The insanity, they hope, isn’t permanent.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>To be concluded tomorrow.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 34352, member: 63"] [b][size=3]Chapter Sixteen: Archangel[/size][/b][size=3][/size] Very late into the evening, the car pulls up to the grassy lot surrounding Sexton’s church. Over the drone of Atlanta’s nightlife, they can hear the lamentful calling of a lone gargoyle sitting watch atop the church, shouting that someone is already inside. Two shattered stone statues, once gargoyles, now lie lifeless in a charred patch of grass. The Knights step out of the car, trying to spot anyone hiding in the dark scattered woods surrounding the old stone church. Herbie, Finagle’s pet gargoyle, flies up to the top of the church and tells his fellow gargoyle that there will be a fight, but his friends need to be able to avoid being ambushed. The crying gargoyle agrees to stay quiet, but makes Herbie promise that they will smite the one inside. Herbie agrees and flies back. The Knights prepare for battle. Madeline turns invisible and casts [I]spiderclimb[/I] on herself, climbing the outer walls of the church to one window that is broken. This will be her ambush spot. From it she can see the interior of the church, which has a main floor, with a clerestory (an overhanging balcony with more seating) on either side wall. Candelabras in the nave of the church give off a faint glow, but it’s too dark to see anything right now. Madeline readies a [I]magic missile[/i] for the right moment. Jenny says a quick prayer, asking God for something that will let them stop Legion. She realizes that if Legion can simply leap from body to body, then killing Michael will only result in Legion taking one of them as a host. She feels the frustration from her ghost, Pataman, who barely tolerates Jenny’s beliefs. She turns to him and quietly asks him to work with her without any arguments, despite their disagreements. Their beliefs might be different, but right now they have the same goal. Finagle listens to his late uncle’s ghost as the man gives him support, and as he relays a brief conversation between the technomage and Brian, the dead hacker. Tagin, unwillingly bonded with Brian, checks his empty clips absently while watching the others. Though he doesn’t want to be seen, everyone keeps glancing at him, as if he might have advice or an answer. He has none. He wishes he’d never heard of the Bureau, or at least, . . . he glances at those around him, . . . at least that he won’t have any blood on his conscience tonight. Goghei’s scaled body stands stiffly, eyes closed, until Cai gives the signal to move. Activating his lightblade katana, Cai waves for them to follow as he strides across the field toward the church doors. Cai and Jenny take the front, with Tagin, Goghei, and Finagle following behind. They reach the church doors, and Goghei tells them that he smells the woman from before, Autumn, but he can barely notice her between the powerful auras inside the building in front of them. Cai listens at the heavy oak doors, then pushes them open, letting a cool breeze blow in, gusting through the church across them. Jenny brushes her hair out of her face and levels her spear forward warily. She tries to detect evil, and though she can feel powerful evil nearby, something is blocking her from pinpointing it. Still actively sensing the vast room, Jenny leads the way down the central aisle toward the nave at back, where several candelabras burn. Tagin and Goghei walk down the right aisle, passing under the clerestory; and Finagle and Cai walk down the left aisle, passing under the other side. Jenny reaches the nave and hears a soft voice coming from behind a cloth-covered pulpit. She walks around it and sees Sexton cowering on the ground. He still looks completely harmless, though even more paranoid than when they first met him. Certainly he does not look like he was once a crimson-scaled Dragon legendary for his vile hatred of humanity. Jenny calls the others over, and they hurriedly finish their searching, then gather around the whimpering man. He is initially comforted by seeing the cross Jenny wears, but when he sees Goghei, scaly and reptilian, he shouts, “Demon!” Jenny tries to find out if Autumn or Michael are in the church. She purposefully avoids mentioning Legion so as to keep from provoking the man. Finagle’s not as bright, though, and wonders aloud what in the world Legion could have done to a Dragon to make him snap like this. Sexton pulls away and begins rubbing his forehead nervously, his fingers clenching the white cloth of the pulpit. Jenny is about to reprimand Finagle when her ghost, all the ghosts in fact, shout a warning. A tingling chill raises the hair on the back of everyone’s neck, and for an instant they hear a mental chuckle. Enter Autumn. She glides lazily down the center aisle, looking no worse for wear after the fight and car chase. The party waits for her to make the first move, since only Jenny has any ranged firepower. Autumn stops twenty feet away, planting a hand on her hip. She gestures toward Sexton with her free hand. “Move aside, or I’ll [I]make[/I] you.” Tagin tries to bluff, drawing his empty pistol and pointing it at Autumn. “Back off. I don’t know why you’re working with Legion, so unless you back off and explain yourself I’ll shoot you where you stand.” Autumn laughs. “You don’t have any bullets in there.” Tagin grits his teeth and tries to close his mind. “I reloaded after you smashed your little head into a light pole.” Autumn shakes her head, smirking. “Whatever, Sean. You people are such a hassle to get rid of. I’ve tried so hard, but you haven’t taken any hints.” Finagle looks at Tagin. “She called you ‘Sean.’ [I]Sean?[/I]” Tagin glances nervously at Finagle, then looks back to Autumn in anger. Autumn laughs. Jenny walks forward to within ten feet of Autumn, asking as she approaches, “So, are you going to tell us why you murdered Brian and J’Qwuan? Why you helped Legion kill Keira and who knows who else? Legion hates magi, so why did you do it?” “Because he would have destroyed me otherwise. Because when I touched Michael’s mind and found [I]him[/I], he showed me what place I would have in the world he wants. I would be a slave. Better to go willingly now, and maybe find something I can fight him with, than to be crushed into subservience later.” Jenny looks at Autumn in dismay. “Then don’t fight us. We’re going to stop Legion, and we need your help.” Autumn laughs coldly, dejectedly. “Nothing can stop Legion. You’re too weak, and you will only suffer more if you fight him. Consider this mercy.” Autumn closes her eyes and the air feels thick around them. A mental blast thunders outward, crashing into their thoughts. The knights cry out briefly in agony, and then Sexton’s voice rises loudly as he screams in mental pain, and for an instant his features contort into something hideous, reptillian, vengeful. Stunned by Autumn’s telepathic attack, Sexton cannot continue to suppress the overwhelming magical aura of a centuries-old Dragon. Just as with Dalavar in Hong Kong, the magical energies overwhelm natural magi, cancelling their powers. All the knights except Cai groan in a moments pain as they feel the Dragon’s aura. The ghosts scream in panic, the overwhelming energy briefly blocking their connection to the ones they had bonded to. Goghei screams also, clutching his head. Autumn staggers back, covering her face with her arms as the backlash of her mental attack stuns her. In Hong Kong, the aura of a dead Dragon was enough to drive Dalavar into unconsciousness. It’s amazing that Autumn is still standing. In a second, it ends, and the knights recover. But Autumn stands weakly in the center aisle, holding herself up on one of the benches. She puts a hand to her forehead, her eyes wide. “It’s so . . . quiet. What did you do to me?!” She turns to look at Sexton, who is gripping the cloth of the pulpit in both hands. The man turns apologetic. “You shouldn’t have done that. It hurt me too. I’m-, I’m sorry.” Autumn wails in despair and turns to run, stumbling in her high heels. Brian, who was murdered by Autumn, yells at Tagin that she’s vulnerable for once, and they have to stop her before she gets away and recovers. Tagin begins to run after her, and the others recover from the mental attack and begin to follow, when Sexton gasps. “No. He’s here.” Tagin has already reached the door, but between him and the others, Michael leaps from the clerestory, his white coat fluttering as he lands easily in the central aisle. He holds an ignited lightblade scimitar, and narrows his eyes angrily, staring past the knights, toward a cowering Sexton. When Michael speaks, his voice carries a different timbre. Something extra, archaic in his voice. “I’ve tired of taunting the wyrm; he’ll provide no sport. But you, you are traitors to your own people.” Michael rushes forward, raising his scimitar to strike at Jenny. Tagin begins to run after Michael, but Cai shouts at him, tossing something through the air toward him. “Go stop Autumn! Take that whore down! We’ll handle this one!” Tagin skids to a stop nervously and catches what Cai had thrown him. A clip of bullets, humming with faint magical energy. He looks on in dismay as Michael’s arcing slashes buffet Jenny’s defenses, but he forces himself to run after Autumn, snapping the clip of enchanted bullets—Keira’s clip—into his pistol. He sprints out the front of the church, chasing after the fading noise of a staggering Elvish telepath. Inside the church, those with ghosts can see the flaring red spectral image of Legion, the ghost bonded with and controlling Michael. While Michael’s body spins his blade dramatically downward, viciously trying to chop through Jenny’s defenses, Legion hovers close to Michael, turning his magical might upon the only obvious magi in the room. Goghei falls to the floor, hissing and snarling as images of murder, agony, and death burst through his mind. Driven mad by Legion’s power, Goghei snaps, just like Sahkrekal did hundreds of years ago. Well, perhaps not [I]quite[/I] like Sahkrekal did. Goghei falls into a more bestial posture, snarling and swinging his head about, sniffing for the magic. Then, with a gurgling hiss, he begins to run four-legged across the tops of the church pews toward Michael. He pounces onto the man, clawing at his face and smashing him with the tip of his tail. Jenny takes the moment’s respite to move away and give Cai room to try to fight. Finagle fires a short arrow of electicity at Michael, and Herbie swoops in and buffets Michael on the head with his wings. Madeline, standing invisible in the balcony above, creeps up and fires a pair of magic missiles at the possessed man. Jenny, busy getting her bow ready, shouts that they need to knock him unconscious, but not kill him. As far as they can tell, Legion can only jump when the original host is dead. When Legion hears this he laughs, and with his off hand he fires a lightning bolt that skims across Cai’s torso and catches Jenny in the face, spinning her backward to the ground, where she struggles to remain conscious. Cai gets only a few small hits on Michael, but Goghei fares better, repeating his vaulting attack to wound the possessed paladin while in midair. Herbie swoops in again and lands on Michael’s arm to bite him, but can’t get through the coat. Finagle tends to Jenny, casting an endure elements spell on her as a mild precaution. Madeline tries to fire a magical bolt from her wrist crossbow, but the wild magic reacts strangely and she ends up shooting a small sparrow at Michael, that begins to claw at him feebly. Legion, frustrated at being nibbled at by puny creatures, has Michael wait to attack the lizard man when he gets close enough. Legion himself, able to act separately of Michael’s body, channels magic onto his host, which Finagle’s uncle recognizes as almost the same magic Finagle had just used on Jenny. But why would Legion be casting endure elements on himself? Finagle shouts for everyone to get away from Michael, but Cai is too busy fighting to listen to the young kid, and continues trying to beat through the much more experienced warrior’s defenses. When Goghei again tries his leaping claw attack, Michael raises his sword directly in the lizard man’s path and gashes deeply into Goghei’s chest. Out of momentum, the monk falls to the ground, struggling to get back up and keep fighting. Cai sees a sudden red flare in Michael’s left hand, shimmering an incandescent red. Deciding too late to take Finagle’s advice, Cai tries to leap away but is caught by the blast of a concussive fireball. The explosion slams Cai into one of the pews, singes away flesh and scales from Goghei, shatters the floor beneath Madeline, roasts the sparrow from her crossbow, and nearly kills Herbie, who weakly glides away to take cover under a pew. Madeline leaps and uses spiderclimb to hold onto the edge of the balcony, but she decides to drop and help her friends as best she can. She lands heavily, too close to Michael (who was unharmed by the fireball), and gets slashed on her arm for her error. She sprints away desperately, trying to fire more [I]magic missiles[/I] at Michael. Finagle runs forward to help Cai off the ground, and Jenny pulls up her bow and beings firing at Michael to keep him back. Michael dodges the arrows, trying to coup de grace Goghei, but he’s too busy avoiding missiles to get a good hit in, and Goghei rolls out of reach. Michael takes cover behind a pew, and Jenny, too tired to run fast, stands still and waits for him to emerge. Legion apparently realizes that Jenny’s in no condition to dodge, and as he stands his hand begins to crackle with electrical energy. Finagle sees the attack a moment before it goes off, and he leaps into its path as a stroke of lightning crashes across the room toward Jenny. Finagle takes it square in the chest, and lands heavily at Jenny’s feet. Jenny hesitates, unsure whether to go to Finagle’s aid or fire another again at Michael. Goghei solves this for Jenny when he furiously leaps up from the pew behind Michael and tries to pull the possessed knight into a headlock. Jenny kneels quickly beside Finagle, taking a moment to throw a caustic glance at Sexton. The man, if he really did hate Legion so much, could become a Dragon and save all their lives, but instead he cowers in fear, only shaking his head. Sexton sees Jenny’s eyes and tries to say something to her, but Jenny ignores him, turning her attention back on Finagle. Finagle, however, seems to have gotten away unscathed. His own affinity to electricity has protected him, but his spellbook is fried, sputtering and unusable. Jenny pulls Finagle to his feet while Madeline and Cai try to get close to Michael, who is being grappled by Goghei. Just as they get near, Michael plants a palm onto Goghei’s cranium and [I]chill touches[/I] the lizard man to unconsciousness. Michael glances at those still weakly standing, and he calmly holds his sword ready. Outside, Tagin refuses Brian’s shouts to shoot at Autumn. Though almost unable to see in the dark beneath the trees, Tagin can follow the moving silhouette of Autumn. After half a minute of chasing, Autumn slows, seemingly to catch her breath against a tree, but as Tagin nears her he feels her trying to worm her way into his subconscious. Brian, by now having figured out how to link closely with Tagin, shifts the attack to himself, and the ghost begins to cry in remembered agony as Autumn sifts through his mind. He hears the woman chuckle softly, but as he finally comes into her view she gasps in surprise, apparently thinking she had been psychically attacking Tagin. The woman is still haggard and wide-eyed, but she does not give up. She draws a pistol and fires at Tagin, but he ducks behind a tree. He can hear Brian groaning in pain, sounding perfectly like a groaning spirit, and he realizes that Brian is no help. “[I]His[/i] ghost bonded with [I]you[/I]?” Autumn rasps quietly to Tagin. “Even in death he could never do anything right.” Tagin leaps and takes cover behind another tree, dodging another shot from Autumn. She continues to mock him, her voice coming in exhausted gasps from the exertion of running. “He did you a favor, Sean. He gave you a chance to run. I’ll give you that chance too. Whatever that Dragon did to me is no longer a problem.” Tagin pulls out his switchblade, turning on the safety of the pistol and tucking it into his pants. He recognizes that she’s lying. He hears the fear in her voice. “I’ll even,” Autumn offers, “get rid of Brian for you. I know how much you don’t want his depressing ego hanging around you for the rest of your life.” Tagin feels the tree shudder beside him as Autumn fires a bullet into it. Cringing, Tagin shouts into the trees, “Brian, get ahold of yourself. You’re already dead, so stop whining!” Autumn laughs, and Tagin hears her circle around the tree for a clear shot. Oddly, her voice comes from the opposite side of the tree, some kind of psychic projection. Tagin wavers, uncertain which way to move. He sprints for another tree, staying on the move, even as Autumn follows him. “Well, Sean? Drop the gun, run away, and you’ll be able to go back to your meaningless life, free from the Bureau. No one will ever notice you ever again. You don’t want to be famous, or a hero. You just want your life back.” Tagin hears a pained groan in his head, Brian’s voice. Autumn’s movement and voice, disparate, drown out what the ghost is trying to say. “Your life alone,” Autumn continues, breathing more regularly now. “This matter never concerned you in the first place. It was [I]Brian[/I] that dragged you into this, making you a target for Legion. If you leave now, I promise I’ll make sure Legion never finds. He’ll never even care that you existed.” From within the church a huge thunder reverberates, and a red glow briefly fills the darkness between the trees. Tagin hears a scream, Madeline’s or Jenny’s, desperate, in pain. “What about the others?” Tagin asks, feeling a cloying weight pressing in on his senses, cutting him off from what Brian’s trying to tell him. “Oh, so you do speak?” Autumn laughs. “Either way, I know you more deeply than you know yourself. You don’t care about the others. You need to go your own way. Why don’t you leave? I promise you, by tomorrow you’ll have forgotten this ever happened.” Tagin glowers, eyes wide in disgust at the sound of Autumn’s voice. But he doesn’t know where the voice is coming from. He tries to fight her out of his head, and when her voice comes again, it sounds surprised. “I don’t know why you’re fighting me. I’ve never done anything to hurt you.” A sudden mist fills the forest, and in surprise Autumn gasps and sounds like she’s stumbling away. Both her voice and her movement now in the same place. Tagin leaps from the cover of the tree and sprints through the mist toward the noise, jumping and tackling the slender silhouette before him. Tagin crashes into Autumn, shoves her to the ground. Her eyes are wide with panic, and her face strained from trying to use her power but failing. She stops struggling and stares into his eyes as Tagin draws the pistol and places it to her head. “You killed my friend,” Tagin shouts at her. Brian shouts for him to kill her and Tagin’s finger twitches. Then, in a shout of disgust, he slams the metal of the pistol into her temple and knocks the woman unconscious. He hits her once again for good measure, and then without a word to Brian he speeds off toward the church. Michael forces his way back into the relatively open area of the central aisle. His flashing sword shoves Cai backward, and horrible nightmare images confront Finagle, trying to phantasmally kill him. Madeline finally realizes that some spell Michael has is blocking her magic missiles, so she waits for an opening to taser the man. Herbie’s high-pitched shouts of “smite the evil!” help Finagle overcome his fears of the illusionary monsters, and so he’s of right mind enough to see when Tagin reappears in the main doorway. Of course, he’s not smart enough to keep quiet, so he shouts an encouraging, “Go Tagin!” Michael glances back at the recently entered hacker and hurls a fireball toward the entry to the church. It sets the door aflame, but being a 3rd level rogue with evasion saves Tagin as he ducks behind the cover of a pew. Jenny, unable to get a clear shot at Michael because he’s shorter than Cai (and Cai is in the way), tries one last time to get Sexton to help. She tells him how they’re all going to die, how the church will burn and Legion will kill millions if he gets free. Sexton just whimpers, and Jenny starts to stalk off, giving up on him. She readies her spear and steels herself for her final fight, when Sexton says something unexpected. “You’re right. He-, he must be stopped.” Jenny stops and turns, seeing him staring intently at the pew’s cloth, which he holds in his hands. She rushes back to him to see if he will indeed help. Unfortunately, in the meanwhile Cai is getting tired from the ongoing fight. Michael has stopped attacking them directly, and simply parries all of Cai’s attacks, blocks all of Madeline or Finagle’s spells. Michael begins to speak during the battle, his voice tinged with the spirit of Legion. “You won’t get away, demon. The first time you killed me I was helpless.” Michael ducks one of Cai’s attacks, then disarms the man with his scimitar and shoves him to the ground with a gust of wind. Tagin begins to run up behind Michael, gun and switchblade in hand. Michael advances toward Sexton and Jenny. “The second time you killed me, I was careless.” At Legion’s command, a snaky arm of stone lashes out from the floor and wraps around Tagin’s leg, holding him fast. Madeline tries to taser Michael, but the possessed knight simply bats her aside. Only Jenny and Finagle stand between him and Sahkrekal. “This time,” Legion states, “you will pay for all those who you murdered.” Jenny helps Sexton to his feet, and the frightened man weakly says, “You are the murderer.” Michael raises his sword to leap out and strike down Sexton, but Jenny throws out her hand, snapping her necklace as she thrusts out her cross. Michael begins to shout in denial, but he suddenly goes weak, falling forward and collapsing to the floor. Briefly, everyone in the room can see the spirit of Legion burst from Michael’s body, then hover for a moment before it vanishes. The knights all exchange surprised glances at how it had worked. Jenny turns to Sexton, amazed. “That did it? Legion is gone?” Sexton shakes his head desperately. “No. No! No! He’ll just take someone else! Please no!” Though shakin his head in denial, Sexton staggers toward Michael’s fallen body, staring down at something only he can see. His eyes close and his mouth tenses in fright, and then Sexton passes out, falling to the floor with a groan. There is a general consensus of “what the hell?”s going around, and Jenny limps over to Sexton. Finagle runs to try to break Tagin free of the stone arm holding him, and Madeline and Cai begin tying up Michael with his own coat. Jenny is kneeling next to Sexton, about to put a hand to his face, when the man’s eyes snap open, crackling with flame. As Sexton pushes himself off the ground, he lashes out with a hand and [I]claws[/I] Jenny across the chest, digging in only shallowly with nails turned to black claws. Jenny shrieks in panic and leaps away, and everyone turns to Sexton in shock. He begins to laugh, his voice tinged with the same odd timbre Michael had while possessed with Legion. “Oh, God! I never realized how powerful you bastards were. You’ll help me destroy . . . dest-” Sexton hunches over, his voice back to normal. “No. Please stop him before he-” They hesitate momentarily, realizing that Sexton and Legion are vying for control of the Dragon’s body. Jenny tries to again help Sexton, but this time she’s ready when Legion takes over again, and doesn’t get clawed. The knights’ ghosts begin to shout in pain again, the same pain they felt from Sahkrekal’s draconic aura. The aura of a centuries old Dragon crashes through the church, stunning everyone present. Even Sexton falls to his knees, falling silent. When Legion speaks again, his voice is panicked. “What did you do?! I can’t use any of my power.” Sexton pushes himself to his feet, his body contorted as two souls struggle to command it. One of Sexton’s hands lashes out toward Jenny, trying to fire another lightning bolt, but nothing happens, and Sexton laughs weakly. Legion takes over again. “Damn you!” he screams. “I don’t need it. Your body alone is powerful enough!” Cai runs forward to try to tackle him, but the balding priest opens his mouth and spits a gout of flame, driving Cai back. Legion, though unable to use any of his own magic because of the Dragon’s aura, is almost in control of Sahkrekal’s natural draconic powers. The back of Sexton’s shirt begins to tear as small scaled wings stretch out from his flesh. Jenny shouts at Sexton to try to get him to take control again, but at those instants Sexton does have control he just shouts that he’s not a Dragon, and that he never wants to be one. Legion seems to be winning, just driving Sexton more and more mad as he loses control. Legion in a draconic Sexton leaps forward and laughs in ecstasy at his power as he claws at Madeline, forcing her to run away. Jenny grabs her spear and tries to hold the man at bay, but an incredibly strong swipe knocks the weapon from her grasp. Legion is about to pounce upon her when he doubles over, clutching his stomach. Sexton’s face turns up to Jenny, and with pleading eyes he says, “I don’t want to become a demon again. Please . . . stop me.” Legion takes control again, opens his mouth to incinerate Jenny. “Jenny, duck!” Tagin shouts, and as she leaps away Tagin fires a shot from the pistol. The enchanted bullet snaps into Sexton’s arm and knocks him back, then explodes into a crackling sphere of electricity. Jenny clambers backward desperately, staying low as Legion tries to leap for her again. Tagin fires another shot from the gun, hitting Legion in the chest and knocking him down. Sexton’s misshappen body relaxes, and Sexton’s voice softly says to Tagin, “Thank you.” Legion takes control for the last seconds of Sexton’s life, roaring in panic, flames licking across his body. With the Dragon’s aura stopping his magic, he can’t escape his current host. He chokes in pain and desperation, and gets out a pleased, “At least I took you with me, you murderer,” before he dies. Cai remembers what happened the last time a Dragon died, and he shouts for everyone to run. They grab the wounded—Michael, Goghei, and to a lesser extent Herbie—and sprint for the doors. Behind them they hear pews being shoved against each other, shattering thunderously. Glancing back, Tagin and Jenny see the quickly expanding body of a now dead and reverting ancient wyrm red Dragon bursting through the walls of the old church. Stones and glass come falling down, and as the impact tears into Sahkrekal’s body, flames gout out, demolishing the church in an explosion that fills the night sky. Debris flies around them, knocking them to the ground. When they get back to their feet, they find that what little of the church wasn’t destroyed by Sexton’s reversion to Dragon form is now being burnt to the ground. Jenny says a prayer for Sexton, and Legion, and they tend to Michael and Goghei. Tagin goes off to check on Autumn, and finds her with a terrible headache, but seemingly far less vicious now that Legion is no longer controlling her. Cai can’t find his own cel phone, and everyone else’s was damaged in the explosion, so he ends up borrowing a cel phone from one of the Atlanta citizens who comes out to see what’s going on. He makes a call to the ‘Fire Department,’ and tells them that there’s a major clean-up job they’ll want to take a look at. Too tired to bother keeping onlookers away, the knights slump to the ground to wait for the Bureau to show up. It takes over an hour, but when the Bureau finally does, the Chief sends a message that he knows something strange controlled him, and he’d like to talk to them as soon as possible to find out what. Michael and Autumn are taken off for medical and psychiatric care. And Goghei? When they look for him, the only lead they get is that a man says he was mugged by a huge dark person with a strange lisp, who took his jacket and disappeared into the alleys. The insanity, they hope, isn’t permanent. To be concluded tomorrow. [/QUOTE]
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Savannah Knights (mild update 06-10-05)
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