> [Osiris]<br>> "All hell can break loose tomorrow." Osiris says. "I'm going to <br>> sleep in a real bed tonight, goddesses, demons and who-knows-what be <br>> damned. I do suggest, however, that we keep this all from the Prince.
<br>> They're good people, but that Bruth has got me more than a little <br>> disconcerted."<br>> [/Osiris]<br><br>> [Ted]<br>> "Agreed and I would not be surprised if this Bruth-character knows
<br>> something important."<br>> [/Ted]<br><br>> [Amanda Connors]<br>> "Believe me, he knows something. I'm a reporter, it's my job to<br>> pick up on things like that. He practically screamed 'interrogate
<br>> me, I'm a bad guy' at dinner."<br>><br>> She considers Carlos' words, then sighed. "Can we have an update<br>> soon? I've heard the name Rath-Iren over a dozen times now, and<br>
> about this Goddess almost as often. In all the excitement, I know I've<br>> forgotten a few things, but I don't think I'm much closer to knowing<br>> what's going on than I was when Pierre and I broke out of that CS jail."
<br>><br>> "That bothers me."<br>> [/Amanda Connors]<br><br>> [Carlos]<br>> "Bien, gracias. I saw ...a...stone wolfen... Rath-Iren is in the Land<br>> Where Hell Riseth. In three days the Time of Fire will begin. That's
<br>> all I know. Whatever that means, I can't tell. I think we should get as<br>> much fire power as we can and head to this Rath-Iren."<br>> [/Carlos]<br><br>> [Ted]<br>> "As I recall, Rath-Iren is a temple somewhere south of here, but I
<br>> cannot remember where.<br>> [/Ted]<br><br>[Osiris]<br>Osiris sits himself down awkwardly, a hiss of pain escaping his lips.<br>"Age and injury." he says. "Like I said, it's been thirty years for me,
<br>even if it's been only a few for you."<br><br>"Do you remember when I caught up with you a few days ago under Old Chicago." Osiris says. "Things have been pretty crazy since then, and <br>this is the first chance we've had to talk. Well, I have a few things to say
<br>before the Prince comes, and before we run off to catch Bruth."<br><br>"I gave Bongo a scroll to protect when you left me in Ireland." he<br>continues. "But I remember the words well, for my master sent me
<br>on a quest to Old Chicago, which is how I met Bongo, Alex, Lady <br>Frost, Rod, Kyle and poor old St. Pierre."<br><br>Osiris closes his eyes and begins to recite:<br><br><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">
"'There are few tales that survive out of the horrific years that followed</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">the Apocalypse. Humanity barely survived the unleashing of titanic mystical
</span><span style="font-style: italic;">powers and the beings that followed them. Most of the old cities were </span><span style="font-style: italic;">abandoned, left to the monsters that crossed into our dimension from the
</span><span style="font-style: italic;">rifts. Old Chicago was one of the great cities of North America, and though </span><span style="font-style: italic;">it was rebuilt, the original city was left to rust and decay. The
</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Coalition's only concern was to assure that no power could ever again use</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">
Old Chicago, with its ley lines, to threaten humanity again.'</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">'But out of the dark years survived a tale of Old Chicago, a tale of a time
</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">when it was the center of a demonic empire ruled by Vlykath the Warrior, one </span><span style="font-style: italic;">of the K'murd-faka, those demons who served Chaos and sought only to bring
</span><span style="font-style: italic;">ruin the Megaverse. Vlykath possessed a wealth of treasure, and most </span><span style="font-style: italic;">precious of all, a blood-red stone the size of a man's fist and the shape of
</span><span style="font-style: italic;">a heart. The stone had a single flaw shaped like an eye at its very center.'</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">
'In the end, however, Vlykath's rule failed and his empire ended. His body</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">was buried in his throneroom deep beneath Old Chicago, with all his riches,
</span><span style="font-style: italic;">and the Jewel of Vlykath tied to his brow. None of the tales go much </span><span style="font-style: italic;">further. Some say that a few of his worshippers still linger, generation
</span><span style="font-style: italic;">after generation, tending his body and awaiting his return to life. Others </span><span style="font-style: italic;">say that his tomb is lost, that the last of his worshippers were long ago
</span><span style="font-style: italic;">driven off by other powers.'</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">'But there is a dark prophecy that goes with this, that Vlykath was not the
</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">last of the K'murd-faka, and thought another will rise again and seek to</span><br style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">
spread Chaos across the Megaverse. He will seek the Jewel of Vlykath, and </span><span style="font-style: italic;">will bring it to an ancient place, the Temple of Rath-iren, and there will</span><br style="font-style: italic;">
<span style="font-style: italic;">set the Megaverse aflame with a war unimaginable.'"</span><br style="font-style: italic;"></div><br>Osiris sits silently for a moment. "After you left me in that chamber<br>
in Ireland, I was taken prisoner. That pale-faced horror that keeps<br>pursuing us questioned me for weeks, using magic and just plain<br>torture. I can't say how I survived, or how I kept my tongue. That<br>demon is terrible, as I'm sure Talas can tell you." Osiris shivers,
<br>as if feeling some new pain.<br><br>"I finally managed to escape, though I had little more than rags on<br>my back. I made my way to England, to the court of Camelot,<br>where I was restored to my health by men not that different in
<br>ethic than me and my fellow Cyberknights. It was upon my <br>journey home that I began to have visions. A woman would<br>come to me and tell me that I must meet my old friends in<br>Old Chicago."<br><br>"It was always my mission to seek for the Jewel of Vlykath.
<br>That was why I was sent to Old Chicago in the beginning.<br>We never found it there, because this demon, this K'murd-faka,<br>had clearly found it. The woman told me that the demon<br>seeks to destroy the Coalition, to bring about a new cataclysm
<br>which will spread throughout the world, and into the Megaverse.<br>It is at Rath-Iren that he will do this. I suspect that some of us have <br>a key to this puzzle one way or the other."<br>[/Osiris]<br><br>-- <br>
Aaron Clausen <a href="mailto:mightymartianca@gmail.com">mightymartianca@gmail.com</a><br>