The halls of the school were full of young women in school uniforms, all lovely, of all human metatypes, heading to and from classes. Many regarded Aleks with idle curiosity, as there were no boys enrolled.

Khione led them through to what was likely the administration hall, producing a small clear "card" to scan on an access panel. The door slid open, and loud conversation could immediately be heard coming from one of the rooms.

"The situation requires immediate action!"

"We must implore the Imperium to intervene!"

"Yes, but to what end? The rift is opening at an alarming rate!"

Khione didn't bother knocking. She led them into what was a large, cozy study, with a roaring fireplace and many seats situatated around a large ovular table. Most of the men and women were wearing Collegium robes, but others were in more conventional military garb. They seemed to be in intense discussion.

Everyone looked over as Khione entered.

"There's nothing you can do for the rift," she said grimly to the assembly. "The best we can achieve is a mass evacuation for any survivors. Aspire is lost."

"Khione!" one of the men suddenly said, standing from his seat. "We were worried!"

Khione shook her head. "We're fine. Prince Eurus is dead, but at a cost, I'm afraid.

"The Throne is polluted with Hex. Aspire is being absorbed into Hell, and at least one of our own is trapped."

A familar fellow to Aleks suddenly spoke up.

It was the same man who had appeared just before they faced the dragon at the concert.

"Yes. My daughter. And I intend to get her back," he said.

Aleks turned to the man when he spoke, and saw him as he gave an audible intake of air. "You're that being that came to warn us about Chalice." It wasn't a question so much as a statement of fact.

It took only a split second for Aleks to correlate the missing friend and daughter. Then came time for a question even though it was one Aleks already knew  the answer to, "You're Lorei's father?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:32, Sun 23 Aug 2015.

The man nodded. "Yes. I'm Michael Cannon, Chief Executive Curator and Master of Artifice for Avalon, Inc.," he replied in brief introduction. "But none of that matters right now."

He looked back over to the other man, who'd spoken to Khione. "We can't stay here, sitting on our hands, Damocles. That's Lorei in there!"

"I know, Michael. Believe me, I know how you feel," Damocles replied, sounding very tired. "I'm doing everything I can to put together an evac operation.

"Lorei's strong. She'll be ok for a little while longer. In fact, I'm sure she's doing everything she can to protect the other trapped survivors."

The man looked at Aleks. "I'm Ralgar Damocles."

Khione didn't bother pointing out the significance to Aleks; he'd been present when a young Damocles was rescued from Hell, seemingly days ago for them. Instead, she said, without missing a beat, "What can we do to help?"

The War Magus shook his head. "Unfortunately at this time, very little," he said, "Until a proper force can mobilize and contain the rift, we can't risk a rescue operation. We're stuck for the next twenty-four hours."

Michael tried to object, but Damocles was having none of it, "We're stuck, Michael."

"But once it's contained, we're going in, yes?" Khione clarified.

Damocles nodded. "By tomorrow, Mythos and the Imperium will have sent their forces. Until then, we should all get some rest."

Michael heaved a sigh, relenting to the other man's words. "Alright. Then we'll head back to the Skyforge and keep monitoring," he said to the room at large. The others in the room started getting up from their seats then, as it looked like the meeting had adjourned.

Aleks went up to Ralgar before it looked as if he would be about to leave. With a wide smile, he said, "It is good to see you again, Rurik. I am glad to see that you are no longer on the Hell Cow's chained leash. I'm glad I got the chance to meet you again especially now that I know who you became, Archmagister Damocles. Did Dawn make it back, too?"

He figured the Archmagister didn't recognize him because he wasn't exactly conscious when Aleks saw him last.

The wizard frowned in confusion at Aleks. "I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you're referring to. Have we met before?"

Aleks looked perplexed for a moment but then remembered that Rurik was effectively 'unconscious' when Aleks last saw him, Dawn, Kara, and that guy, Jaecin. He looked closer and saw that it appeared to have been decades, so it could be he didn't immediately correlate what he was talking about, he could have forgotten what happened to him, or he could have had his memory wiped. Aleks decided to find out which it was.

"Ummmmmmm... in looking at your face, it would appear as if tens of years have passed since I last saw you. I guess the best way to figure out if you are who I think, is to ask... do you remember the young priest Dawn?" Aleks asked the Archmagister.

The War Magus frowned again and exchanged looks with Michael before replying, "I remember a priest named Dawn, but that was a long time ago.

"He was killed in the war," he finished simply. "But how would you know him?"

Damocles had a cautious, perceptive look on his face...

Aleks took a deep breath before he began, "Before I begin, I apologize because I know that you wanted to rest but this may take some time to explain. And before I forget, Mr. Cannon, I am going to need to speak with you before we leave here, as well," he nodded at the gentleman.

"My name is Aleksandr Kai-Amari Nigil, and over two hundred years ago my father, a Nephandi by the name of Lysias, apparently that some call the Despoiler, after spending years of torturing me because I was a Sleeper, my father decided that my eighteenth birthday would be the best time to sacrifice ninety-eight other Sleepers and I to tear a hole into the Abyss. He would have succeeded if not for my mother having cast a spell upon me after foreseeing the future evil my father would do. I had Awakened and my father's ritual was undone. Skip ahead two hundred years and I awake from a mystical stasis in the Sorcery Collegium of one, Headmaster Fenwick, we would find out later that he and Archmagister Tomlin were working for Bael-Shiva a.k.a. his vessel Jadesong Fire. The headmaster sent me with Khione to Prince Eurus's court on a request to assist the Prince. While en route, I made the foolish decision to take the Sine Amduscias which by extension bound me to Bael-Shiva," Aleks paused as he remembered how masterfully he had been played and it angered him.

It was a couple seconds before he began again, "The Prince would cater to my ego in the guise of pretending that I had saved him from a horde of demons, which I had but only because he played grievously injured. I joined his court as a knight cementing my bond with Bael-Shiva unbeknownst to me because I was caught up in the fantasy of being a hero. He then charged me, his new Storm Warden, with finding the sorceress Lamia. It was in that pursuit that we came across your niece," he said while looking at the Archmagister and nodding in his direction before he turned to Michael "that was looking for your daughter, Jenea. This led us to Dis-Tera where we were to fight a demon-god named Balor. We had begun fighting him when we found out that he was Samael and then Kara and Dawn showed up. Kara had tried to sell your soul... errrr shade self, whatever... and Dawn to Samael to get her soul back. She attacked me but Dawn sided with Khione, Kirin, and I to help take him down. He was reborn stronger and Dawn sacrificed a portion of his soul so that I could activate my Godslayer and together we all vanquished Samael." Aleks omitted the part about Kara taking in the remnant, hex, and essence because he had learned enough to know what that meant. He knew that Kara had assumed the mantle of Samael when she ate him, and he could have told the Archmagister at that moment, but it would have caused them to go after her, and after what Dawn had done for him... for Khione, he could return the favor, in part, by sparing his friend from having to defend herself from an onslaught of people trying to take down one of the Asmodei. And if Aleks ever saw her again maybe he could seek out her help if she was still in a position to grant it.

"It was at about that point that I had started to doubt my prince. While you were dangling in that Black Cathedral, Rurik. Kara... the hell cow, bartered with Jaecin to have you and her resurrected. We convinced Kara to abandon her deal for your's and Dawn's existence, to fight Samael which allowed her to get your soul freed and resurrect you. Apparently, you were a great teacher to Kara so she had your resurrection worked into her deal with Jaecin. You were 'unconscious' but that is how I met you and know you. Once you were resurrected, we went to find Dawn's pieces of soul and to find Lamia. That was when we had learned that Eurydice had, had Dawn killed to gain access to his graving for her and Astaroth's Black Array to rest alongside your daughter Jenea's, the Yggdrasil. It was revealed to Dawn through Devil Sight that you, Michael, and the Queen had completed the 'Vellum Project'. It was at a juncture when apparently you told the Queen that Jenea was enough and that no other girls needed to be sacrificed. We also found out that Bael wanted Dawn to assassinate the Queen and her son Daniel, but not Chalice, in his name. That is how I know Dawn. That is why I want to save your daughters Michael and my friend Ethan. That is how I know you Rurik. If Khione and I hadn't fought Kara and Samael, she was planning to sell you to Samael but he didn't even have her soul to begin with," Aleks relayed all this information without going into either Kara's new identity or any subsequent information unless it became pertinent to do so.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:56, Sun 06 Sept 2015.

Michael closed his eyes and punched the table in frustration after Aleks related his tale. When he spoke, it was through clenched teeth. "Jaecin, you son of a bitch," he said in a low, dangerous tone.

The Archmagister looked distressed and at a loss for words. "I-I had no idea... Aeire..," he said, looking over to Michael and moving to place a hand on the man's shoulder.

"...She sacrificed everything to undo what he unleashed. It was the only way the resurrection could even be possible. All that Hex, and she just... washed it all away."

There was a silent, significant moment between the two men who had both suffered tremendous loss, and then Damocles turned back to face Aleks and said, "I have no recollection of what took place in Disterra. But if everything you're telling us is true, then Kara, one of my students from Vangarde was killed, and somehow allied with the Gatekeeper, as well as the terrorist known as 'Dark Fox.'

"Kara had everything to do with my resurrection," he added, to Michael. "She was the weapon Jaecin was looking for."

Michael nodded solemnly and replied, "I knew he couldn't have pulled it off alone. The Queen was the only one with access to that kind of Craft, and he did it behind her back. And the Gatekeeper had to be in on it, because they needed all that mana to do it. Not to mention travel all the way across Twilight. No one's been able to do that since before... Well, since before Skye."

A look of revelation crossed his face.

"...That's it!"

Damocles shared Michael's look. "Chalice is the final piece to the Black Array! She's the keystone, Michael! That's why someone has been targeting her!"

Michael nodded. "Right! Now, more than ever, we have to protect Skye, otherwise they'll figure out that we've hidden the real princess!"

"I knew it!" Khione suddenly interjected. "Skye displayed all the signs of mind-soul displacement when exposed. There's a conflict there between the woman she is versus the woman she was created to be.

"So, she's a decoy?" she asked.

Again, Michael nodded in the affirmative and replied, "Correct. As part of the work that went into perfecting G.O.D.D.E.S., I oversaw the creation of 'optimized' nymph test subjects--Chalice clones--harvested and grown from the Queen's genetic material shortly after the original Chalice was conceived. The subjects had to be grown naturally, under extended stasis. When the time was right, several clones were 'activated' and trained, tested under the exact same conditions as the original.

"What we discovered was that even under the best, most consistent circumstances, the clones were unstable, too independent from the original. They displayed vastly different, equally strong personalities, fit for leadership. Simply put, they might all grow up to rival the original," Michael explained. "In the end, we kept the most adaptable, agreeable one. 'Kirin Skye' was the prime candidate."