Raven gasps for air raising in abruptly, his scans his body to find he currently inhabits his original body, turning he sees his double, on it's forehead is where Kevin had placed him,
"I see you're awake now" Kevin's voice states drawing his attention,
"Who was that",
"An old foe's student",
"Who?, Wait LAURA!!" He exclaims tossing the bed covers of his frame,
"What?, You think you can do shit with this body?, If yesterday event's wiped your memory clean how about you take a glance at the mirror" Kevin states nodding towards the standing mirror, Raven makes haste towards it, freezing, his breath, cold steam exited with every breath, his body pale, almost white, his eyeballs having taken an almost opaque tone, beady, and highly reflective, the changes where subtle enough for non's to miss or rather dismiss as a use of beauty products, he could feel the heat his heart compresses rapidly being pushed through his veins to combat his body's constant absorption of cold,
(I see, the more i advance, the more cold i can handle),
"Yin and Yang, Heat shifters and Cold Shifters, why do you think this is important?", Raven turns to him while giving thought to his question,
"I don't know" he replies factually,
"It's quite simple really, Artifacts...they are products of belief, Life and 'Force' are each products of the other, the worlds will, what some religions believe as God is naught more than the worlds will, the ultimate consiousness concerned with only self preservation, the planets will, we sentient sub beings are like parasites existing in perfect symbiosis with the planet, till we didn't" he begins,
"Industrialization" Raven replies,
"It's like having a tape worm eat you from inside out, the result?" He questioned rhetorically,
{The Nethers} Silver spoke, {In order for life to exist so must 'Force', for the state of non existence and absence of life is far more 'natural' than the presence of life,..Humans greedy in their nature desired to liberate themselves, to become something more than sub existences, and the use if 'Force' is how they achieved that},
"Martial arts, The way of the sword, training for combat call it what you will, as long as it uses 'Force' it would lead to the slow liberation of humans, but eventually a cap was reached, one imposed on us by 'Nature' ultimately life dies, it is a cycle, one even beyond the hold of influence of our planets will, anything biological will eventually deteriorate, but what happens when Force tempers inorganic matter?, An example?, The blade King Arthur wielded, he'd won so many battles with it people began to attribute mythical powers to it, and eventually as a result of the conception of 'Force', 'Force' itself being a product if existence, the result of the believe derived from mass consiousness and the power of it's wielder it slowly became so, the process of how exactly this happens is still under much study but ultimately that is how artifacts came to be, points holding clusters of imprinted 'Force'"
"Wait imprinted 'Force'?" Raven questions,
"Just as each human has their own thumb print and distinct DNA no matter how similar, our life 'Force' signature are each distinct, humans being sentient life, and not being product of conceptualisation means it is simply impossible for our bodies to become artifact's, but for inorganic matter or mass beliefs of mythic beasts..." He trails,
"Hundred maybe thousands, millions or billions of imprinted 'Force' subconsciously embedded into a single weapon or concept" Raven's eyes widen in realization,
"Precisely, this takes us to my question, Each artifact depending on it's conceptualised belief is either based on yin or yang, the spiritual representation for which disposition the artifacts exist in, the effect which their existence ultimately resulted in accordance to the world will's determination"
{Only those matching it's wielder's energy can be used, though there are some ambiguous artifacts, but in return their power can never really be fully enforced} Silver interjects,
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"The perfect Shifter" Raven mumbles, (so that's what it is, but why?)
"Does having more artifacts really make you stronger, surely just like with 'Force' there should be a limit" he questions,
Kevin smiles, "You're right...and wrong, for you to understand the race for artifacts you'll have to understand the ultimate goal, the fundamental nature of artifacts, but that's a story for another day, at the rate things are progressing in result of your manipulators will a holding for a year is far from feasible, Six months, within aix months i'll turn this gem into a diamond" Kevin grins with a slightly crazed expression as he beholds Raven's body,
"But Laura..." He speaks in reply,
"You're permitted to act while inhabiting that body" Kevin nods,
"Why can't you help though?" Raven questions,
{The same reason your mother and even you manipulator cannot get directly involved} Silver replies,
{The world's will},
"Why?" Raven questions,
"Why?, I've told you already haven't i, THE NETHERS"
Duke sits across from Dexter, the latter having called for a meeting,
"What exactly am i doing here" Duke questions,
"Dissolve DEALERS, there are more pressing matters to deal with" Dexter replies stoically,
"It seems you called me here to waste my time" Duke replies rising from his seat,
"Do what you will, my MERCHANTS are coming abd DEALERS will fall, one way, or another, i'll eve throw in a little suprise package and have my lapdog do it himself" he grins throwing a picture on the round table, in the picture is someone Duke knows all to well,
Sebastian Corinth, well and alive,
"He'll never do it" Duke replies,
"The man you knew is gone, he's nothing but a dog on a leash, he does look pretty when he's barking" Dexter smiles mockingly,
"The next time we meet, i'll put you in a coffin" Duke growls before turning away,
(I guess i really don't have a choice) he ponders silently,
"Boss" Tobi calls once the two are seated in the car,
"I know..." He pauses, "Bradley" Duke calls,
"Sir?" The latter responds,
"Get us to the station", ( If we're going to survive this war, we'll need more than back up, first to Xander, RELENTLESS, then to HIDE INDUSTRIES) he mules.
Maya frowns, her friend had been missing for days, she was undoubtedly sure the police where doing nothing on the matter and none of the guy's where present, ever since the event's in Belgrade thing's hadn't ever been the same, Jay, Yanick, Raven, James, Amy, Kaytlin, Mari and Dennis had gone ghost and had become unreachable, Konan ignored her very existence, and now her best friend had gone missing,
(What do i do?, Laura's parents are worried sick, I'm worried sick, but who the hell do i go too?!!) She ponders questioningly with a looming sense of melancholy, for once, she'd realised just how powerless she was, and in this moment all she could do was what she always has, pray, the question that boggled her was...if she sat in her ass and mumbled without getting something done, should something ever happen to her would she ever forgive herself?,
(KONAN!!, I DON'T CARE WHAT IT TAKES, I HAVE TO SPEAK TO KONAN!!!) she determines, one way or another she'd find her friend!
Laura groans struggling helplessly against her bonds, with her vision impeded she's unable to survey her surroundings, the periodic methodical drip of water somewhere to her left, the cool stale air, the ghost quiet atmosphere, the self induced tick of the mental clock in her head, her breath seizes, as anothers hot breath cascades down her nape, the latter chuckles, for him skewing a non's senses something but a childs play, a new form of imposed torment he'd found himself ensnared with, Jimmy smiled to himself,
(I must admit, i really can't blame them, power is! An amazing feeling, i must confess),
"Tick tock Raven Voss, the clocks ticking, the longer you hide, the longer her torment!" He shouts towards the recording phone,
"RAVEN!!" she shouts as a hand saunters up her tigh,
"Tick Tock Raven Voss, Tick Tock" he mocks, derision clear in his eyes.