Stronger Together chapter 109 (Patreon)

Though we couldn't interfere in the Sanctum invocation we were easily  able to climb a nearby hill to watch. I had luckily had the foresight  to bring a pair of binoculars. Barb had come equally prepared but the  other two were clearly never whatever Remnant's version of scouts was  because they only brought their weapons. I put the binocs up to my eyes  and muttered out of the corner of my mouth "I know jack shit about lip  reading and since they can't see can you give a running commentary of  what Harry says? I doubt the island has lips sadly."

Barb  snickered from behind her own binoculars "Sadly? Planning a make out  session with the primordial prison guard? Sounds kind of hot." She  paused as Harry completed the first stage of the ritual and the spirit  appeared. "Nope, never mind, that thing hit every branch on the way to  the bottom of the ugly tree, I regret putting that mental image in my  own head. You were right though, no lips." Which I could of course see  for myself since I was watching too, but I suspected that last bit was  for the other girls. She was doing the whole overwatch thing.

Harry  began speaking, we had made sure to pick a hill top with him facing us  so Barb was able to see him easily. "Harry bid it greetings...blah blah  blah formalities. He thanked it for responding and asked it to become  his Sanctum. That didn't look like a good reaction. He's stammering.  Trying to explain why we're here and what's at stake. Do we have to  fight this thing if he can't manage to tame it? Because it's pretty  fucking huge." I was smirking behind my own binoculars as she spectated  the ritual like a pro sports commentator.

I  frowned at the last part though "Hopefully not. The spirit is massively  powerful, to the point it doesn't really even treat Mab like a threat  and was able to subdue a fucking Titan. If we have to fight Demonreach  on this island we're all going to fucking die. The Titan in question was  about as strong as Kara and was pretty much invulnerable to energy  attacks and Demonreach pretty much dragged her into the lake and shoved  her in a box. Spending untold millennia soaking up all that dark energy  has made it scary. Hell considering the temporal shenanigans that made  this place it might be older than the dinosaurs."

Barb  winced visibly enough I caught it out of the corner of my eye. "Time  travel makes my brain hurt. I know we got the cliff notes on this place  and aren't even supposed to talk about that but the idea of it predating  the birth of the person who built it is annoying. Anyway whatever Harry  was stammering seems like it worked. It hasn't smitten him yet. Smited?  Smote? It hasn't struck down upon him with furious anger. Wait, the  ring you gave him is glowing. He just used his blasting rod. Wow that  fire is pretty. So many colors." She was right, it was pretty. Kind of  crystalline and translucent and shimmering.

I  let her keep narrating for the others rather than interrupting. "Oh  shit. He knocked it down. It's just laying there. I think it's stunned.  The ring supercharged the spell even more than the soulfire did. Harry  looks pretty surprised himself. The spirit is getting back up. It's  keeping it's distance. Harry is putting down his rod. Heh, dirty." I  smirked because she had been watching Gilmore Girls with me. It was  still airing at this point in time, and apparently was also on in this  dimension. She continued her narration. "Huh, the island is...kneeling?  Never thought I'd have to say that sentence."

She  stopped talking as Harry turned toward us with unerring precision and  nodded, waving us over. Damn. Intelluctus was no joke. We stood up  telling Yang and Cinder we were good to go and trekking down the hill we  were on and up the one that Harry was standing atop. When we got closer  I saw he looked pale and a bit sweaty. Aside from your garden variety  existential dread though Harry showed signs of extreme fatigue.  Apparently even without using actual soulfire he had seriously taxed  him.

He  smiled at us triumphantly when we made it to the top. "Hey guys. I'd  like to introduce you to Alfred. Al, these are friends, you are not  allowed to imprison them. Or have them eaten by the trees or something.  They're under my protection." He waited a beat then shrugged at us  nonchalantly "He isn't super talky, but he's a stand up guy. I mean,  aside from being about to pull me into the depths of the earth forever. I  feel like he was a bit jumpier than you said he'd be Cam." He turned to  the island spirit. "What's the deal with that Al? Why were you so  trigger happy?"

The  island glared at us, the spooky towering figure's eyes were a haunting  eldritch green and glowed like the fires of hell. With the cloak and all  he kind of reminded me of the Swamp Monster from Scooby Doo, but darker  and way more terrifying. His voice was the rumble of an avalanche  coming down on your head, the buzz of a swarm of bees chasing you toward  a dead end. He sounded creepy as hell. "The anomalies have disturbed  the temporal matrix that sustains the prison with their machinations. A  small hole was created and a single entity escaped. The breach was  sealed but the presence of the prim anomaly warranted caution. At the  Warden's behest the prime anomaly has been reclassified as a friend."

My  eyes widened at that. Oh. That...that was bad. It made a weird amount  of sense. The prison was built in multiple timelines at once to create a  four dimensional (at least) construct. If one of those points in time  was in the future then the massive changes we made to the timeline would  have crazy consequences. From the sound of it that hadn't happened  thankfully but even one escapee was a massive problem. This place was  the magical alcatraz. The entities under the island were the kinds of  beings with whom wise men did not fuck.

I  hadn't considered that massive disruptions of the timeline, especially  local to Demonreach might open it. That would be way fucking worse than  anything Nemesis could manage. I spoke up hesitantly my voice ragged  sounding from shock and fear. "If...if the changes continue, will the  matrix continue to destabilize? And could more things escape? What got  out this time? How bad is it?" I felt faint. This was a very bad place  full of very bad things. Another Skinwalker was literally the best case  scenario.

The  monstrous spirit shook it's large head slowly. "The ripples were not  beyond the predictions of the creator. They were simply more momentous  in scope than had even been recorded. The matrix has stabilized and  adjusted to the new temporal flow. It will not falter again even should  the alterations continue. The escapee must be returned. The wolf woman  was to be prepared, but the Warden will serve. The prime anomaly will  aid him." The rumbling voice changed slightly in pitch, the vibrations  seeming to get deeper, more of a bass. It was angry.

I  nodded, hands up in supplication "Hey of course I will. If this is my  fault I'll help fix it. But we need to know what it is. We cant  apprehend it unless we know what it is." I wasn't talking shit here. If I  let something here out we needed to find it immediately. The timeline  was changing but it was still similar because of all the outside players  targeting Chicago. If some kind of super monster was running loose  everything I knew could go right out the window. Even the bits of  consistency caused by the conservation of history would be gone. Plus  what if it somehow used that to spring more stuff.

The  rumble seemed more approving this time. "It is well you know. The  escapee was an ancestor of the lifedrinkers. It sees the minds of its  prey, their memories and can change its form accordingly. It feeds on  the years its victims would have lived. It ends the lives of those who  believe it's ruse with trickery and uses the connection formed by their  emotions for its host to absorb their potential.  As it feeds it's power  grows to hold sway over many, to manipulate and alter the memories and  minds of others as easily as you draw breath. In the past it would start  wars using a false face and absorb the power caused by the untimely  death of tens of thousands."

I  was horrified. A psychopathic shape shifter who could read peoples  memories and killed them for their remaining lifespan? That was  horrific. Throw in some mind manipulation shit and you were in nightmare  fuel territory. Harry looked just as horrified. He cleared his throat  "Of course we'll get it back. Be won't leave something like that loose  in Chicago, or anywhere else. Will it stay close? Knowing where to limit  the search would help. And Cameron has helped a lot of people, the  changes he made with his visions have been for good. I won't let some  monster tarnish that."

He  nodded reassuringly at me before turning back to Alfred. The island  spirit waited in silence for a few beats then spoke "The escapee is  weak. It can only affect a few minds at a time at the moment. It will  seek out prey close by with long lifespans most likely multiple beings  in one place. It will use trickery to pit them against each other and it  will feed. When it is strong it will go forth into the world. It will  twist whole nations, it will cause untold death and destruction and it  will become as a god. You must recover the escapee as soon as possible."

I  shuddered at that description. Hell yes we needed to find it as soon as  possible, this monster was a world ending threat on it's own. It made  Nemesis like like a cuddly imaginary friend. At least Nemesis didn't  gain power from twisting others. This thing not only caused conflict, it  grew fat on the stuff. I turned to my boss who looked as sickened as I  did and met his eyes. We nodded at each other. Harry turned to Alfred  again remembering our current world ending crisis. One thing at a time.  "Alfred, can you contain some of the energy spilling out of the island?  Divert it somewhere else maybe? We need to lessen the flow in the  leylines."

The  bright green burning lights in its sockets went out for a minute. I  started to freak out but realized it was closing them in concentration.  "The energy has been redistributed into the matrix to strengthen the  containment protocols. This was a wise decision Warden." Apparently it  couldn't do stuff like that on its own, which made sense since turning  the restrictions up meant it could also turn them down which could allow  escapes. The Warden needed to be the one to make those decisions. Harry  made a few more commands. Preparing the way for Raven to be allowed on  the island. As long as she had his permission Alfred made it clear he  didn't give even a fraction of a fuck.

Finally  the creepy spirit faded from the hill top, vanishing in a blink. Harry  turned to look at us, his expression worried but determined. I could  understand that combination of emotions. He exhaled "We should go warn Tera. It's not on the island anymore, I would know, but it could sneak  back on and neither Alfred or I would know unless we were actively  wondering about it. I'll move Conner and her up to the cottage. The  island can protect them better here." We nodded solemnly and followed  him down the hill, plenty of things on our minds.