The sound of voices could faintly be heard outside the cell, slowly growing louder until it seemed to be just outside the cell, but still muffled enough to not be entirely clear to the imprisoned group.
The sound of metal on metal sounded as the door opened slightly, accompanied by one of the guards uttering, "Move an inch and you'll think the shock earlier was pleasant, beasts." This was shortly followed by the guards tossing what appeared to be an unconscious human into the cell and slamming the door shut before anyone could get any ideas. As the sound of the door being secured again echoed through the cell, people got a better look at the individual, he was quite large, with wild red hair and a big beard, and dressed in worn and nearly shredded clothing, the arms and legs in particular were riddled with holes and ripped. Lying face down, he started moving slowly, the sound of a chain scraping against the floor as he moved his manacled arms.
OOC: I'm back after my particularly long absence. And don't worry, I already cleared it all with LITV.
John stepped up to Wes and despite only being about half the man's size, he was sure to make himself look as big as possible, "Back. The. Fuck. Down," he stared at the Skinwalker, "I don't like this either, but unfortunately I'm not the ones making the plans; that was Anthony, that was the Mother, Lucas and every other manipulative fuck that you've met. I'm being straight and I'm being honest; I wasn't put here because I wanted to; no, I was put here because it was the right place to be, according to them."
John's rant was interrupted by a someone else being cast into the cage with them as well, "Well look who's back? You folks can take the testamony of someone you do know and trust then, although you've likely not missed him, here he is in the flesh, you Draug friend, Rolf."
Rolf's bones creaked as he got back to his feet, the chain binding the manacles still clinking when he moved his arms. He was obviously in his human guise, still looking more like a member of some heavy handed gang, or perhaps a hobo, than anything else, but the smell of decay still hung heavily in the air around him and revealed his true nature.
Seeing the others in the cell, but making no real indication of surprise, Rolf walked to the wall opposite everyone else and sat down under a series of small holes that seemingly were coupled to the air ventilation system, drawing the smell away from the other prisoners. Now, after sitting down, he finally spoke to them.
"Testimony? You've told them why we're all here, John?" He asked, but apparently only rhetorically as he continued in his usual monotone voice, but without the pauses in his speech, "Whatever he's told you, it's probably the truth. He's not very persuasive of himself, but I worked with him a good while here in London before he was captured. He's not one to betray or deceive, from what I've experienced. And his explanation has a more honest ring to it than anything we ever heard about their plans from anyone else in the blackjacks. And, to be perfectly honest, I can endure two years of being shot to pieces to the sound of rhythmic gunfire, sadistic laughs, and insults if it helps put an end to this all. There might have been another way for the same effect, perhaps, and I'm not going to let Anthony get away unscathed for lying to my face. But I'm not going to throw away this opportunity..."
"Right, well none of us appreciate what's happened..." Justin began.
"Some less than others," Sky interrupted.
"...but if we don't go along with it, it was a waste. We've all lost something, and we'll lose a lot more if this doesn't work. There's not much hope for escape after you're executed, so I'm not much better off than you guys."
"Oh, of course not, you just won't feel as much pain." Justin thought about a few things he'd seen at the prison.
To find ones reason to live; that was the goal of most beings, the hierarchy of needs, to obtain self-actualization. This was Anthony's quest as well as he approached his final steps to his rebirth. A simple wooden door stood in front of him; however still beautiful despite the simplicity of the design. Anthony sighed and opened the door resigned to what he was about to encounter. An obsidian room, black as the night sky, is what he found himself in. A single light at the end of a long tunnel appeared to be the only way out. He began to walk towards it, his footsteps feeling heavier every time he got closer to the light. When he had finally only seemed steps away from the light; it burst forward, bathing the room in its radiance. There in front of him, sat the Mother in all her glory, her brilliance blinding him, "Anthony," she spoke, "Your judgement has come once again, you stand here, Death brought you here and I am expected to defy him to bring you back, what say you that would convince me to do so?"
"With respect Mother, I believe that the group will die if I don't, and we owe them their life once over again," he said standing his ground against the Goddess, "I think that without me on Earth, we will lose this war. While this may seem arrogant, I think circumstances speak for themselves, they need me and I need them to get this done, you know they need to hear the full story, it isn't fair to keep lying to them."
The Mother paced back and forth, pondering Anthony's arguments, "Or perhaps those who they have been temporarily partnered with will serve a greater purpose than you give them credit Anthony."
"That's bullshit and you know it Mother," Anthony retorted, "He is hotheaded and deserves to be where he is, I refuse to believe that any good can come of that. I think it's better that I go and help; I know what to do, he simply knows what he wants to do."
The Mother smiled, "You're right I did know that, but I wanted to be sure that you understand your and your teams' position, you are more than simply individuals now and history will remember you for better or worse."
The Mother waved her hands and a door drew itself, "I hope you like London summers," she said with a smile and watched as Anthony entered the real world again; she silently questioned to whether she had made the right decision; she wished that deities were actually all knowing, that would make her decisions so much easier to make.
The Security Council had only met in person like this one other time in its entire time of this term. It was only for true emergencies and special occasions. Today it was to sign in the Mythos Administration Act. This would render Mythos, by law, lower than humans in status and would require each mythos to register themselves into the system. It was also a good front for the UN's next project. This was to discuss all that was about to happen.
They shook hands, all formalities were exchanged and they were set to sign the bill. After a short lunch of course; after that they would reveal their new project to investors of the companies that had put so much capital into; the new way of defeating Mythos. Easier than any other way they had and it was all thanks to the French Security Council member, who's private companies had developed the technology. This registry would only help what they were trying to do. And it would be a glorious . He motioned for his assistant to bring the bill over. A man stepped out of the shadows; it was more than a man though; under the skin lay a Dragonkin, one with close blood to one of the group that lay in the prisons below.
Now I'll be gone for the next two weeks, if there are update they'll be small ones from the cruise ship computers. As such just post in relation to the last couple posts and then I'll come back with a fresh head of ideas and creativity to shower you all with
So the decision has already been made for us. What a fucking surprise.
She wasn't happy with the decision, far from it, but she knew in the back of her mind that they were right. If she didn't help, if she ran away and hid, then she'd end up dead in a ditch somewhere.
The satyr saw the look in the werewolf's eye, "You're right, you don't have a choice at this point; I won't lie to you by saying otherwise. However once we've gotten out of this you will have a choice; your choice of whether you want to just simply live your life or come with me to finish this; no compulsory missions, no 'greater good' nonsense, choice is what I will found this new group on; something I'm sure Anthony and his charade are not familiar with."
He took a deep breath; he was tired and they were running out of time, "Despite knowing that you are going to accept, since my offer is your only offer, I want to ask your opinion anyways, will you join me? Will you help me? Will you help yourselves?"
Those were the final words he was able to say before a guard pounded on the cage, "You've been requested in front of the Security council and you're going to stand for your crimes there; get ready and don't do anything funny, we're deactivating the cage's defences so you can come with us," as if on cue, the sound of the electricity humming through their bars ceased and the cage slowly began to open as what seemed to be too few of guards stood in front of them.
Despite their lower numbers they seemed as confident as ever that they would be able to control these rogue Mythos and soon their method became apparent. A giant beast loomed in the shadows of the room, a Dragonkin; one that had a cruel collar attached to his neck that hummed slightly, only detectable by those Mythos with animal like hearing. His body moved but his eyes held no life in them, he simply looked as a machine would. It was Burst's older brother; thought dead and yet in front of them, what possible reason would this being have for working with the UN. That answer would be unanswered for now though as he simply jerked his head in the direction that they were to be travelling in. Towards judgement; towards death and towards destiny .
The UN Security Council sat at their tables waiting for the Mythos, there was an unspoken agreement amongst them, they knew what was about to happen to the group and the rest of the Mythos that stood against this new order. But that was to be put aside; if only for just a short time though, for they had a meeting with this group, the one's that had caused and cost them so much; they would finally have their revenge.
"Welcome," the British Security Council member said, his crisp London accent piercing the silence of the room, "Its truly enlightening to finally have met you; you who have done so well for the Mythos Rebellions. Your spirit is commendable, though despicable in nature; you've killed innocent people and for that, you are condemned already. Try and save yourselves though, justify to us that your slaughter of innocents is justified, show us why you monsters have chosen to torment us so."
The Council waited to hear the Mythos answers, in their hearts they knew what they were going to do already. And it was not their fault, not their fault their minds had been twisted to belief that they were doing well and good in the world; the tempter was always amongst them and he wasn't about to make his precense known yet, not while his cards stilled showed favourable results.
Meanwhile as the group was marched solemly into the grasp of the Security Council, Anthony also moved through the complex, though in a different manner. He walked calmly through the complex, showing the various guards an Id with his picture on it; the doctor appeared to be an expert on Mythos psychology and was thus needed to assess the stability of those that were incarcerated. Top clearance was needed for that and the need was so dire that there were also no checks. A flaw in the plan of the UN and one that Anthony was happy to exploit. As he walked through the complex; it struck him that outside of security and the odd employee, this large building was practically deserted. It was disquieting and added the feeling that he and others didn't belong here; even he was nervous to see what was behind the locked doors . However his curiosity eventually. Swiping his card against the security bar, he was buzzed in and almost gasped in shock and horror as he was shown what the UN was really up to. He studied it for a while and masked his horror before nodding to the guard and moving back onto his course with his team.
Azure stood still, it was obvious the council were trying to toy with them, but what kind of warrior would he be if this weak attempt provoked him to attempt an aggressive action, either way, something was off, there was another source of heat in the room that was too concentrated, there was only one similar that he knew of, Azure glanced at Burst for a moment before looking at the council member who spoke.
"To understand the prey, a hunter must learn to live like it, I simply acted on a human's instincts rather than my own." he said calmly as usual, without showing any emotion, were they quick to anger? how did the humans in charge act? were they chosen poorly? he watched each member carefully, waiting for a response to his comment, if they weren't worth their position, then there would be no room for negotiations when his people joined the war, genocide was not a nice concept, but if the Archon saw fit to cause it, then he would not object.
The silence in the room revealed a tension so thick it would take the sharpest blade to cut through it. A cruel smile crawled over the Council member's faces as they looked at their quarry, knowing that they were absolutely in control; the group's lives and they knew it immediately. The councilmen cast knowing glances to each other, "Nothing? Not one word to justify what you did to humanity, not one reason to live; truly you must not even believe in your own cause. How sick to know you were all manipulated into doing what others wanted you to do. No choice, not a real one anyways. Hah! Now you will die for a cause that you never believed in, how hilarious, you won't even be martyrs, we're making sure that your deaths never leave this compound."
"To understand the prey, a hunter must learn to live like it; I simply acted on a human's instincts rather than my own." Azure said curtly, interrupting the member of the UN.
Instead of flying into a rage, he laughed instead, "The human instinct? I think not; we have come a long ways from that barbarism that you seem to assume is our instincts. We are above animals such as yourself, we do not maim and kill unless necessary," he was whipping the few people into a blind frenzy as he always did, "We are on top because we are the best there is."
The door behind the Mythos team buzzed twice and opened, revealing a man in a suit, "Ah doctor-" the French councilman turned his attention from the group to focus on the doctor, "Good we were hoping to get this execution over and done with; the sooner we have this scum crushed, the sooner we can continue our efforts on the project; I assume you have the needles for the DNA withdrawal?"
The Doctor nodded curtly and moved in front of the Mythos group. Subtly he put his finger to his lip and pulled out a needle. The French Councilman smiled, again he had won; once again. The doctor turned around and revealed his true face for the first time since his revival, "We meet again it seems, Deceiver," and plunged the empty needle into the man's neck. He pushed the plunger in all the way, driving air into the bloodstream, a sure way to kill a normal man. However, as Anthony had finally learned as he awoke, the French Councillor was not an ordinary man.
The French Councillor gasped and fell to the ground writhing as the air bubble formed in his heart, blocking the air flow to his body. A guard cried out and fired at Anthony who grabbed the handgun forcing it into the guard's foot, firing twice and elbowing him in the face to knock him into unconsciousness. Before the other guard could level his gun, Anthony dropped him with a quick kick and a vicious punch. Dusting himself off he took the key's and the pistol off the guard and unlocked all the team but John. John could stay bound for a moment. Anthony took and picked up the French Minister and shook the glazed over eyes, "Come out of hiding fiend, you've been in there for far too long."
And as if on cue, as if Anthony had called him out with a binding leash, a hand crept out of the mouth of the Minister and the other members of the UN, Lucifer emerged, wiping his shoes on the French Minister's corpse and looked at the rest of the group, "Hello again, its been some time hasn't it?" he was the only one laughing at his joke, "So you know now Anthony, the Mother has finally decided to interfere has she? I knew she wouldn't be able to resist it forever, now all the fun can begin," he laughed as he caught fire and burned into ash in front of everyone. His laugh seemed to stay in the air longer they he existed in this realm.
Anthony turned to his freed group and looked at the UN, now they all had seen how much the world had been twisted by Lucifer's being on Earth, how many had died by his and other's whims, he was truly the Deceiver, the wolf amongst the sheep and he had proved again how good at it he was. There was only a few things left to do now. The clean up was almost done, he turned to the UN, "You see now what you did was wrong, call back the troops, stop this genocide now, before you condemn this world to burn."
One of the UN Councillors nodded shakily, change was about to come to the world and for once it would be a proper change. Not hatred, not fear but finally unity, that would have to wait though; there was still some work to be done. Anthony took an apple out of his pocket, one that was from the Tree of Wisdom, "Now this is the final stage, we take the fight to him and God, they both interfered in our affairs, though Lucifer's were much more immediate, I fear what God has planned with his manipulations. You all must take some of the apple, you must all become what I am and we must take the fight to Lucifer, we must go to Hell; all but John shall come with me; he doesn't deserve the bullet I want to put into his head now."
Anthony' s eyes softened, "I know I haven't always been the best commander, but I want that all to change, I want to take you and help you become heroes, to save this world, your world; will you do this with me?"
"You want us to take a bite.. from the apple? And follow you into hell?" Eryn asked, dumbfounded by Anthony's question. He was asking a lot from them, but really, how could she say no? They were all fighting to save the earth. They were all fighting to save their home.
She sighed, hating the fact that once again her decision had already been made for her.
Eryn quickly grabbed the apple from Anthony, taking a bite from it and tossing it back to him afterwards.
"For on the day you eat of it you shall surely die." She said to herself, reciting what God had said to Adam and Eve when he forbid them from eating from the tree.
Rolf had been silent as the grave ever since they had been taken from their cells, he had been looking for the moment to strike, to wipe the malicious grins from the faces of the Ministers and surely perish in the attempt. Instead Anthony had come to their side again, another person who he had a growing contempt for due to him scheming and plotting behind their backs, voluntarily letting his warband be captured and jailed, and drawing out their release until the time was right for a plan they never had a say in.
Stepping closer to Anothony, the Draugr seemed to increase in size, standing a good foot or two over him with his bones cracking and creaking as he curled and uncurled his fist. Finally, Rolf took the apple and took a single bite out of it before handing it back.
"After this is over, we're going to talk." Rolf told him as he stepped back again, shrinking to his normal human size, but still wishing he'd hit him. Now he only needed to see what effect the apple would have on him, if he would be destroyed utterly due to his undead status, or if something else would happen.
Sky took the apple and got a bite, quickly passing it to Justin. He'd been mentally preparing for his fatal torture, a traitor's death, so he was still surprised to learn that he had the chance to continue fighting.
"You do realize I've survived in this realm almost purely by luck, right?" he asked, staring at the apple. "I'll die quick as a snowball down there."
"But you made it through, which means you're very lucky or more resourceful than you think," Sky lectured, "and either would help. And you seem to think this is an option. You owe me more than a bit of blood." He held up the apple, took a deep breath, and bit a chunk off by where she'd bitten.
"If I die down there, I'm blaming you."
"If you're not comfortable going to Hell as a human, just say the word and I'll give you your own bite."
Anthony offered the Apple to Burst and then to Wes. They both shook their heads and pushed his hand away. First Burst spoke, "I'm sorry Anthony, but Squall is still alive, you saw him and I saw him; he is not himself and he needs my help to heal. I want to see my Brother as he was before this war and as such I must take my leave to do this. I'm sorry Anthony, but too much has happened and I need to do this," Burst turned from the group, not wanting them to see the tears that stung his eyes; he wanted to help, but blood was thicker than water, "I can also use this to again help build human and Mythos bonds, I need to do that again, atone for what we have done."
Wes shook his head as well, "Sorry Anthony but I'm not coming either; you've fucked up too much for me to trust you anymore, you took too much from me and didn't just imprison me physically but mentally for those last years. You've caused nothing but hurt for me in this quest and I just can't do it anymore. I'm going go with Burst, I'm going to help people instead of hurt them; have you ever done that? I'm going to; good bye Anthony; maybe one day I'll forgive you, but not today."
With that Burst, Squall and Wes walked out of the office, leaving the group forever. Anthony turned to the remainder of the group, "And so we stand, just the few of us left; I thank you for coming with me; for this is it; this is where we leave this Earth and, without trying to sound too cliché, we're also going to save your world," Anthony looked at John, as he struggled against the ropes that bound him, "However I think I finally have a use our traitor here."
John looked as Anthony forced a slice of the Apple into his mouth, "I refuse to come into the damnable lands with you Anthony, not when you have hurt so many; what does this serve?"
"Do not pull the high ground John, not when you sought to damn us all by killing the UN, it is hypocritical and I shall not permit its sound echo these chambers," as Anthony spoke, the Earth shook as if an earthquake rocked the very foundation of the room; a tear in the air began to unravel the reality around them, as the UN members watched in horror; the world twisted and quaked until they had vanished away, into Hell and away into their mission; whether or not they succeeded would not be immediately apparent to those on Earth. The UN, the next day, repealed the orders only passed recently themselves, soldiers were called back on both the Human and Mythos armies that had amassed; peace talks began, all this happening over the case of only a year; humans, Earth in general was quick to anger, quick to fight, but they were also proving that they were quick to heal as well.
But what of the team that had started the revolution, whom had changed the world; had they succeeded or simply fell beneath the impossible mission? What had happened to them? They returned; returned, but not without losses, John and Anthony; both were missing from the group, as they returned to the Earth, they didn't speak of what had occurred that year, where they had gone and what had happened to them.
And as the world turned and healed, the Mother watched, now knowing she was the last of her kind, the last of the Creators; and just as the cycle changed to them all those years ago. It had now fell to the next race; what would humanity create?
Eryn and Wes had found each other; Burst and Squall, brothers once again, sought to heal the world with speech rather than violence, Azure simply wandered the world, finding meaning to his life and to find peace with his inner demons. Sky and Justin stayed together and joined as one after a while; all was right with the world; the Mother saw that her interference was finally done; as would all deities now that they were dead; well all but her. She knew what was to be done.
She looked at the Tree in front of her; the last Tree to be created, she let the tears flow freely, lit a holy fire torch and set the fire to the tree and watched the flame spread quickly and felt her own chest burn with the fire that now consumed her first creation; the Tree of the Life. Her face still wore a smile though, as the fire spread from her chest and consumed her as it had consumed her Tree; she cried out once and then was gone; as the Creators before and now she as a Creator would; the burden came to humans to create something more than they ever had; they and the Mythos together, would create perfection; she knew it.
One would watch them though; as he always had, a man in a suit, someone that could never have hoped to find peace anywhere but conflict; now he watched peace, hoping to learn to enjoy it as well, he watched them, a guardian angel. Anthony.
I'm sorry this took so long, but it was difficult to write for me. Anyways thank you so much for being part of this; while I regret it didn't go as far as I would have liked, it went far enough that I enjoyed my time during it and was happy to see it conclude; thank you all
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