Eva stared at the window; not the one in her mind’s eye but the one she could see with Beyond Sight. Or rather, the window she could not see. It was the darkest black. She knew that this meant the heretics had blocked God's light from entering through it.

Her eyes gone, she could not see the sun that passed through it. Only darkness.

She turned her attention to the window in her mind.

That Which is Broken

Quest - Special Quest

Objective: Servant of the Harbinger, Jacob, has seen directly into the beyond shattering its mind. Repair its mind.

Added objective: Servant of the harbinger, Jacob, has died. Secure sufficient raw materials and revive it.

* Collect (9) Flesh of the Beyond 9/9

* Collect (1) Regeneration Essence 0/1

* Perform Ritual of Undeath. 0/1

* Repair mind 0/1

Reward -

* (6) Legendary Essences

* (12) Flesh of the Beyond

Jacob had overstepped. God had confirmed it for her. First she had found out his mind had been shattered. His very sanity had been sundered for his affront. Lot’s wife had turned around and been turned into salt, God had been merciful with Jacob.

The sinner’s of AROG had taken him though, and they had brought death upon him. Somehow, she had thought they were invincible, if not impervious. She had been wrong though, wrong again.

She still remembered when she had first met Jacob. She had been lost and friendless, her first quarter at Berkeley had not been all she had hoped. Home far behind her, her family out of touch and distant, she had drifted.

He had met her that day and shown her somewhere she could belong. He had shown what true love was. Not romantic love, but the love of a community. Something that had been absent even in her home had come from virtual strangers.

She remembered how nervous he had looked, the day the Father had told them he would be announcing who their partners were to be. She still remembered how his eyes had lit up when he had found out they were to be partners. She remembered how he had tried to hide it.

She smiled, still facing the cold black mirror of the window. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Despite receiving the quest she felt lost. Unlike Grant she had not been motivated into action. She had been paralyzed by fear and loss. She had watched the harbinger act through the walls. He was strong enough to open a hole and pull through trials, reaping more essences.

What could she do to help him. She couldn’t tell him what she had learned, she couldn’t tell him anything. She wasn’t strong enough to call forth any trials. She had tried and been unable.

Instead she had been wallowing, thinking of Jacob. The Harbinger would bring him back, of course. Once again though, she would be useless.

She shook her head.

“No!” She said, startling herself with how loud and forcefully she said it.

The word was the catalyst for new emotions. Anger, righteous anger, blossomed in her chest. She was God’s servant, a Servant of the Harbinger. She could do something. She must do something. She must not be weak.

Jacob would not be weak. She turned away front the window.

The feeling swelled within her. She would help. God had commanded it. She looked again at her ability, Servant of the Harbinger.

Servant of the Harbinger

Increased Focus

Passive: Amplify and resonate the power of the Harbinger, Grant Walsh.

Skill: Create, stabilize, or destroy pathways unto the realm of the Lord.

Drink of my blood and have life eternal

She looked towards Isaac and Hannah. They were still lying down, insensate. They had not woken after they regrew their eyes. Each of them had chosen differently; from each other and from Jacob.

They had not been admonished by God as Jacob had. She could only hope this meant they would be ok in time.

She knew she could not count on them for help though. No, she was on her own. She took a deep breath, she shuddered as she exhaled.

She repeated until the breath came steadily. She would be humble, but she would not be weak. That was the way. A smile graced her lips.

“Thank you Lord.” She said breathing out.

The world was filled with tiny little open pathways. Pathways unto the realm of God. Some of them were stable. Others blinked and pulsed. Those eventually blinked out of existence like shooting stars.

She reached out with Servant of the Harbinger. She felt one, it was a hole smaller than a pinhole, yet still there was a warmth there. She basked in it for a moment before she pressed into it. She pressed hard until sweat broke out on her brow. Something gave.

Slowly the speck of light grew. It became the size of a pinhole. She felt it threatening to tear itself apart. Instead of pressing into it, she pressed down on the edges. She hardened it.

She repeated the process. It grew larger with each iteration; only fractionally though.

When it was the size of a seed, she could make it no bigger . She pressed hard for many moments, many deep breaths in and out. It became as hard as rock, her little seed.

Her breath was coming hard like she had just ran a mile. She could feel the exhaustion beginning to creep in. It was only her body though. Her soul, her true self, sang as she began the next one. She let the song out in ragged exhaling breaths as she worked.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine."

—

Grant felt the weight of the silence that was hanging in the room around them. He watched as Olivia resolved to tell him something. Her face hardened, the disbelief and shock washing away replaced by anger.

“Grant, do you really understand how big all of this is? Have you stopped to let it sink in?” She asked.

“I mean not really, but I think I have an idea of how big a deal magic powers are.” He said.

He tried to suffuse his voice with a calm, reasonable air. He even thought it would work. That it would just chill her out.

“Magic powers? Grant you have been mutated in world altering ways! Stop being happy and excited. Be worried! You have to come down to earth before someone else gets killed!” She shouted at him.

Grant didn’t know how to respond to that. Jacob hadn’t been his fault. What could he have done? He had tried to warn them about the cultists. That was as much for the cultist’s protection as everyone else’s.

“Olivia, I’m just trying to make the best of a bad situation. If I stopped and really let all of this sink in, I’d be sitting in the corner crying.” He said.

He was still trying to use his calming voice. That time he heard how weak and childish it sounded.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“You fucking should be in the corner crying! People died today! You might have died today! You still could!” She was still screaming but tears were not flowing out of her eyes.

That more than anything made the weight of the day start to settle on Grant. Not the words but seeing the sadness, and the fear that was hiding behind her anger. It had taken Grant too long to realize what was really going on here.

She was worried about him. Well, probably mostly worried about her brother, but still.

He saw her expression weaken. She had been stern and was now… broken. No, something else was going on here. There was something more. A piece to the puzzle he couldn’t see.

He reached out with Resonant Mind. It was as natural as breathing. If he had thought whether or not he should do it, he wouldn’t have. But just by being curious it just sort of happened.

Resonant Mind

Increased Focus and Perception.

Skill: Create, stabilize, or destroy resonant links with other minds.

Harken ye to the deeper song!

He felt the link establish. The act was similar to what he had to do to open a path to the beyond with Harbinger of the Beyond. At least, it was as similar as swinging an ax and swinging a sledge hammer.

The connection formed and he could feel her again. The connection threatened to tear apart. With an effort he held it together. It became easier as it stabilized.

The wild shaking became a gentle sway. He couldn’t stop it, he realized, at least he shouldn’t stop it. That vibration was needed. That movement, that pulse, was the connection. The rhythm of their connection stabilized. More and more crossed between them.

The physical stuff was the top layer. The heat and humidity of the suit. The plasticky chemical smell covered everything else in its cloying layer. Her body was achingly tired, weighing her down.

As he held on, as he kept it going, the connection grew deeper. The anger was on top, but it was just the surface of a deep lake. Fear and guilt pervaded the depths.

He felt her become aware of the connection. She could feel him too. She could feel his curiosity. Part of her was angry at him for his intrusion, but again that was just on the surface, almost a veil for her to hide behind, because beneath that was fear and shame.

They could both feel it as she tried to break the link. She was desperate to break it before he could see. The very act of trying to hide this thought from him brought it to the forefront though. It played once, twice, three times in quick succession like a short gif on a loop.

He saw Jacob being held down by two soldiers, those horrible eyes he had seen on the tablet now so much clearer, as Olivia had seen them. Meera walked towards him with a hypodermic needle and injected him. He died in an instant.

They had killed him.

The link broke. Grant’s shock had overwhelmed him once he processed what he was seeing. He hadn’t been able to maintain that connection, he hadn’t wanted to either.

He looked at Olivia again. She looked back at him. He knew, and she knew he knew.

“Why?” He asked.

“Grant the whole world is in danger. We have to do what we-” She started.

“Don't." He said.

His voice was flat. He could have screamed and shouted. He felt very little at that moment though. He just felt empty. He had been worried about dying, not about being killed. That was a possibility though. He might die on the altar of protecting the world.

Not to some freak accident but at the hand’s of people. Doing what they thought was right. He wasn’t even sure if he thought it was right or not.

“So it would help if I just sat here? If I didn’t do anything. At least, nothing else.” He said, not really asking.

“Yes, that would be best." She said.

He had wounded her, by looking. He felt guilty about it, but that too was muted, quiet.

“Ok then.” He said.

He nodded. The weight of everything seemed to pile in on him. It buried him. The world was above him now.

“Are you going to bring my stuff here?” He asked.

“Yeah.” She said, pausing before continuing.“Yeah, just tell me what to get.”

“Just my laptop, some clothes, and toiletries.” He said. “I don’t really care what clothes.”

He saw her lip start to tremble. He looked out the window. The sun was nearly set for the night. The sky was orange red fading into dull gray.

“It’s ok.” He said.

He turned back after the silence had hung between them for too long.

“It’s ok.” he repeated.

She took a deep breath, eyes closed, trying not to cry.

“Thank you for saying that.” She said.

The words were as hollow and empty as he felt. He let out a deep breath, sat down on the bed. Olivia turned and left the room.

Grant sat there for a few breaths. His head had emptied. His mind was in the bottom of a deep dark hole. He became aware of the hum of the mini-fridge.

Thoughts crossed his mind, briefly. Thoughts about three years of sobriety. Thoughts about calling his sponsor. Thoughts about how disappointed his family had been in him, how disappointed they would be.

Those thoughts drifted by on the surface above him. He was deep, too deep for them to actually reach him. He opened the mini-fridge and grabbed one of the small absurdly priced plastic bottles. He unscrewed the cap.

—

Eva had been creating seeds, her little pathways to the realm of the Lord. Each one was a taxing effort. Each subsequent one became harder because her body was that much weaker. She would not give up now though; her soul had all the strength she needed.

She was working on her fifth one. She had arranged them in a circle. It hadn’t occurred to her to do that, she had simply done it. Now she understood why. Whether it was God or her subconscious guiding her, there had been a reason.

Five points to form a star. The Star of Bethlehem had been subverted by the satanists. This holy symbol had for centuries been recognized as a symbol of Christ's divinity. The star was an allusion to his birth, as the marker which had drawn the faithful to his birthplace.

However it also alluded to his death, the five wounds that marred his body on the cross represented by the five points of the star. Many chose to worship the tool of his execution. This was sinful but not the worst of what occurred in the world.

Luckily she had been educated, had been shown the light, and knew the power in this symbol. She could feel that power now. Something flowed between the five points. Lines of thrumming energy flowed between the pinholes.

There was something missing though. She ran her hands along the lines. Each vertice was connected to four others, forming a star inside of a pentagon. The lines had weight now, but it was a weight without substance, like a magnet.

The thought of a magnet caught in her mind. Something was there. Her mind danced around the edge of that thought. She smiled as it came to her. There was one stepping stone between where she was and where she wanted to go.

Iron was magnetic. Blood was rich in Iron. Blood was the catalyst. It was what she needed. Her blood had a measure of that which made the Harbinger so holy. In sharing in his blood she had become an instrument of God.

She was the very blood of the lamb.

She began to sing again. No words this time, she sang something old, older than words. She drew from a deep place. Sounds escaped her mouth, a language she did not know, a musical melodic language. It was good, it was filled with power.

Humans were, by and large, weak in mind and spirit. That was why they sinned so. They lacked willpower. Most did not lack the physical strength to draw their own blood. They just couldn’t override the base instinct to avoid self harm, even if it was for the greater good.

She bit into her left forearm. Her teeth passed easily through the skin to clamp down on a vein. She cursed herself as her resolve weakened. She felt her blood pulse through the vein. She still hummed that song of power.

She took a moment to curse her weakness, her lack of faith, before she bit down. The vein was severed and blood poured out, faster than she had expected. She held her arm up towards the divine symbol she was creating.

The blood did not fall to the floor. It began to pool around the edges of the holes. Then it began to spread. It traveled along the lines between them. As it remained hanging in the air, it began to glow.

She felt lightheaded. She fell to her knees. The bleeding stopped presently, God healed her.

Your reserves are depleted. (1) Flesh of the Beyond have been automatically consumed to aid in the restoration of your body. You still require more raw materials.

Still she was weak though. She would need to acquire more flesh. She looked at the star hanging in the air in front of her. Her blood writhed and changed. God would grant her the opportunity to earn more of his favor presently.

She sang softly as she waited. Her voice was muted but her spirit was strong. The words failed her, but it was okay, the blood knew the song now. The holy symbol hummed with power.

—

Grant let the vaporous aroma hang under his nose. The bottle was pressed against his lips. The thought that this wouldn’t help crossed through his mind.

This will only make things worse.

He was too deep though.

He knocked it back. The cheap vodka burned in just the right way. He savored it as it trickled down his throat.

Something kicked alive and made the hair on the back of his neck rise. He reached out with Harbinger of the Beyond without thinking. Something big was coming. He tried to break the link, before whatever it was could come through.

It didn’t budge though. Grant stood up facing toward it. It hadn’t felt so big. He was unsure why he couldn’t move it. He pushed again. It was bigger now. He kept pressure on it, not actually trying to break it, just to feel it.

He realized it was pulsing, growing. He could not stop it, could do nothing to it.

The door to his room unlocked. He waited for Olivia to come back in… but she didn’t. He walked over to the door. He pushed. It swung open.

He stepped out into the hall.

“Harbinger!” The eyeless cultist greeted him, bowing her head ever so slightly.

A smile was plastered over her face.

“What did you do?” he asked.

Before she could answer, the whole building shook. The lights went out. Grant took a step back, knees weak. The only light now was coming from the room the cultist had just left. A pulsing red glow shone in the hall.

He turned from her and ran the other way.