“Are you finished with Inquisition now? Can you move past your pain?”
“Honestly, for the most part, yes, but as long as the Inquisition is out there, I think part of me will never be finished with them. What they did to me is bigger than just Mary Damask. She might have been the one swinging the sword, but her actions were dictated by the whole organisation.”
“I understand,” Gentle Water replied, squeezing her arm gently as a sign that he would be there for her.
She reached over with her other hand and placed it over his. “Thank you.”
The Sigil
The Red Temple, Tibet
Amanda Ported into the courtyard of the Red Temple, having just left the deserts of Egypt behind. The cool air was a refreshing change from the oppressive heat of the Egyptian desert.
She spotted Liz and Gentle Water nearby, looking out over the view of the mountains. Gentle Water stood holding onto Liz’s arm. She felt intensely sorry for him but knew he wouldn’t want her sympathy. He’d want her to continue the fight and not give up.
His resilience against this horrible injury was inspiring, to say the least.
Sensing her return, Liz turned to face her with a smile and walked over.
“Thank God you’re back,” she said.
“Told you I wouldn’t leave you again,” Amanda smiled.
“Was Yasmin there?”
“She was. I think I scared her a little bit.”
“Good,” Liz commented, no small amount of spite in her words.
“Nefertiti told me how you stepped up and led the coven in my absence, Liz.”
“Oh, yeah, well, it was nothing,” she replied a little sheepishly.
“I wouldn’t call what you did nothing,” Amanda pushed back. “That took some real guts. Doing that after you’d seen what Yasmin did to me and the others, I’m impressed. I mean it. You’re turning into one hell of a Magus.”
“Thanks,” Liz said, a blush creeping up her neck and reddening her cheeks. “We were a mess after we left that fight. Someone had to do something.”
“And you were the one who stepped up.”
Liz shrugged. “The others were great too, you know,” she said. “Mercy, Tabitha, and Sabine volunteered to go back to Ultima Thule, even though it was under attack, and get Maya and Gentle Water out of there by themselves.”
“And that was amazing, too. You guys have really made me proud.”
“Just doing what needed to be done,” Liz answered.
“Well, whatever, I’m impressed.”
“Thanks,” Liz replied, her cheeks flaming red.
“I don’t mean to bring the mood down, but I’d like to know who didn’t survive.”
Liz nodded, her tone becoming sombre. “There’ve been a few casualties. Israel, Stella, and Aaron died in the same fight you did. Horlack, too.”
Amanda sighed. “Damn.”
“Horlack died saving Gentle Water, actually.”
Amanda nodded. “He died a hero, after all.”
“He did. So did Forest Ward and his wife, Stella.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, we were at Ultima Thule to see Trevelyan, who was one of the Magi who took a look at you. No one knew what to do or how to bring you back. But while we were there, Yasmin attacked.”
“They attacked Ultima Thule? Ballsy.”
“I know, right? Forest was there when we got there. He and his wife attacked Yasmin, but they were both overcome.”
Amanda nodded. “OK, well, at least they were on the right side this time.”
“I think that’s it. That’s all I can remember, anyway. Did Nefertiti survive?”
Amanda nodded. “And Bast, but that was all.”
“Well, at least Howie will be pleased.”
“Oh?” Amanda asked.
Liz shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, that’s a story for another time.”
“Fair enough,” Amanda answered.
“So, how did you come back? From the dead, I mean?”
Amanda smiled. “Well, I guess now’s as good a time as any to tell you what happened to me. Let’s sit down, shall we?” she suggested, waving toward a nearby bench. As they walked over, Maria and Balor appeared and quickly walked over when they spotted her.
“You’re back. How was Nefertiti? Did you see Yasmin?”
Amanda related a brief description of what had happened to her while she was in Nefertiti’s Null Realm, and how she’d confronted Yasmin.
“Oh, her face must have been a picture,” Maria said.
“She certainly looked shell-shocked,” Amanda answered with a grin.
“Amanda was just going to tell us what happened to her and how she came back to us,” Liz said with a smile and a look of anticipation.
“Now, that is something I would love to know,” Maria commented as Maya, Matt, Howie, Balor, and the others moved to join them as well.
“Okay, well, it might sound a little weird, but while my body might technically have been dead, I didn’t truly die. My Anima continued on.”
“I knew it,” Liz interrupted.
“You knew it?” Amanda asked, feeling a little confused.
“We noticed early on that your Anima hadn’t left your body. Not like it had with Israel and the others. It seemed stuck within your body. We kept trying to bring you back, but our Magic did nothing.”
“That’s why you kept me with you?”
Liz nodded.
“So, what was it like? Being dead, I mean,” Matt asked.
“Did you go to Sheol or see a white light?” Sabine added.
Amanda smirked at the comment. “No, and kind of, but I don’t know if it was the same white light that others see.”
“So, what happened to you?” Maria asked.
Amanda smiled and looked down at her hands, thinking about what had happened to her, and the trace presence of Sophia that remained in the back of her mind. “I met my mother,” Amanda said, choosing to just come out and say it.
“Your what?” Liz asked.
“Excuse me?” Maria answered.
“Your mother?” Maya added.
“I was, I don’t know, really. I was taken somewhere. I don’t know where, but I think it was maybe outside of this universe to a place kind of between universes or something. Have you heard of the Multiverse theory?”
“Yes,” Maria answered.
“Totally,” Matt said.
“Multiverse?” Liz asked.
“Multi what?” Howie added.
“Right, so, there’s a theory that our universe isn’t the only one. That there are other universes out there, each with another Earth, with another me and another you on them, and each one is slightly or wildly different to the others. So, maybe there’s one where the Nazi’s won the Second World War. Or one where the lone survivor of the human race travels the stars with a green blob of slime. Or one where a massive interstellar war is raging across the Orion arm of the galaxy.”
“Yeah, right, that sounds crazy,” Howie answered. “A green blob of slime?”
Amanda smiled. “Who knows? Maybe I am crazy, but that’s what the Multiverse theory is.”
“Okay, I understand,” Liz answered. “So, you’re saying it’s real? You went to another universe?”
“I think I went somewhere between universes. My mother, Sophia, belongs to a race of beings called the Aeons, who live in-between. Sophia has had a long-term interest in our universe and has visited it many times. And on one of those visits, she got pregnant by Mr Black and merged her Aeon offspring with the embryo that was growing inside of the physical body she’d created. Sophia was the person who Matt met when he was travelling the Middle East and helped my mother give birth to me.”
“Excellent,” Matt exclaimed.
“You know how this sounds, right?” Howie said.
Amanda chuckled to herself. “I’m quite aware that this sounds completely cuckoo, and more like some kind of strange hallucination brought on by my death,
but I don’t believe that. I can still feel Sophia now, in my mind. I know I met her, and I know she spoke the truth.”
Liz nodded. “Well, the main thing is that you’re back now. You’re alive and well, and if it really was this Aeon, Sophia who saved you, then I for one am very grateful to her for it. Even if this all sounds batshit crazy.”
“Doesn’t everything we do sound batshit crazy?” Mercy asked.
“You make a valid point,” Liz answered.
“So, my grandmother is some kind of god?” Maya asked.
“Well, not a god in the classic sense, but certainly a very powerful alien,” Amanda quibbled.
“Even better,” Maya commented.
“Yeah, it’s all a little mad,” Amanda muttered. Trying to relate what had happened to her and not make it sound so crazy that her friends might think she had gone mad was always going to be difficult. Even as she’d been speaking and running through the events in her mind, it sounded like some kind of fever dream even to her, and yet, she’d experienced it.
Sophia was real, and some part of her, somewhere deep inside, knew that Sophia had spoken the truth. She had met her mother, and she wasn’t of this Earth.
“So, if she’s so powerful, can she help us with Yasmin?” Sabine asked.
“She’s going to do what she can. Her kind have put limits on what she can and cannot do in this universe, but yes, she can help.”
“Good, I think we’re going to need it,” Liz said.
Amanda wasn’t going to argue with that assessment. Her friends continued to ask her questions about her experience with the Aeon and what had happened to her, but after a while, the conversations turned to more trivial matters and people ended up drifting off to find food and other things.
Sitting looking at the mountains, and the Arkady parked in the lower courtyard, a thought occurred to Amanda, and she suddenly wondered where Alicia was. After fighting her on the Syndicate Island when Yasmin got the Orb from Mr Black, she’d asked Gentle Water to take her to the Arkady. Was she still there? She asked Maria.
“She’s still in the ship,” Maria said, pointing back to the Arkady. “I keep checking on her, but she’s still unconscious, and her Aegis is still active. I’m not sure what to do, but I’m not keen on breaking down her Aegis and forcing my way into her head.”
“I understand,” Amanda said. “Still, I might just pay her a visit.”
“Go for it,” Maria answered.
Deciding that there was no time like the present, she wandered down to the ship alone. She had a curious mix of feelings about Alicia as she approached the craft. Alicia had been through a lot. She’d only ever wanted to care for the children at her school, and it was only because she cared and tried to stop a group of them from doing something stupid that she’d been possessed at all. She’d then been kidnapped by Yasmin and been brainwashed to fight alongside her, against Amanda and her friends.
They had her back now, though. She’d been unconscious ever since, with an Aegis around her that kept her protected. She couldn’t know for sure, but she guessed that something was going on inside Alicia’s head. She had no idea what it was, but hopefully, it was something good.
She really didn’t want to have to fight her again.
As Amanda walked under the hull, she reached up and traced her fingers over the ship, enjoying the feel of its cool exterior. The ship had been a home to her for hundreds of years and had been on many adventures with her. It was more than just a ship to her and she was glad to have it back, but as she approached the ramp and looked up into the shadowy interior, she wondered what she might see when she entered Alicia’s room.
Amanda walked into the ship and eventually found the room. Stepping inside, Alicia lay motionless on the bed, covered with a sheet. She looked like she was asleep. Serene and peaceful, and yet, Amanda knew that a spirit from the Aetheric Realm resided within her, hidden deep inside. They were joined and, for all intents and purposes, were one being.
She wondered what it was like inside Alicia’s head. Were their minds joined as well, or could they talk to each other? She also wondered what damage Yasmin might have done to her during the time she’d spent in her thrall.
Amanda felt sure that Alicia wouldn’t choose to ally herself with Yasmin. Yasmin had to have done something to her. Maybe she’d brainwashed her, somehow. Put her through some intense experiences to bring on Stockholm Syndrome, or perhaps she’d just used her Magic to bend Alicia’s mind to her will.
Whatever Yasmin had done, Amanda felt determined to break the cycle and bring Alicia back. She was her friend, after all, and she would do everything in her power to help her. Whatever it took. She wouldn’t fail her again.
She reached out and touched her friend’s hand. Amanda stayed there for a while, but Alicia didn’t stir or wake up.
***
“Alright, so sitting here and waiting for Yasmin to find us is grand an’ all, but we’re not going to achieve anything, and while we may be safe, she is out there, potentially killing other Magi and causing havoc. I don’t like that. I feel like we need to be a little more proactive than that. Now, Liz, you said that Shaun left the group to head back to New York to try and monitor what was going on, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Okay, I think we need to get in touch with him and see what’s going on. If I know him, he’ll have a good handle on the situation already. I can reach out to him through a Link and we can go from there. Is everyone okay with this idea?”
Everyone seemed to agree.
“Does this mean we’ll be heading back to New York?” Howie asked.
“Possibly,” Amanda answered. “We’ll see what Shaun has managed to set up, and decide from there.”
“Excellent,” Matt whooped. “Amanda’s coven rides again!”
Amanda gave a thin smile to the comment, and it suddenly brought something else to the forefront of her mind. “You’ve just reminded me of something, Matt.”
“Uh, I did?”
“To be sure. Okay, so we’ve been working as a coven for a while now, but I’ve never actually officially named us as a separate coven.”
“We’re a part of the Legacy though, aren’t we?” Maya asked.
“That’s how we’ve been working, yes, but things have changed a bit since we first came to New York, and I feel like we need to be our own thing. We’ll still work closely with the Legacy. But, I want to have a coven of my own,” Amanda explained. She could see they were listening closely.
“I’m inviting all of you, and a few others as well. You’re under no obligation to join, I know that some of you have strong ties to the Legacy, and that’s fine. I don’t expect you to jump ship. So, that’s up to you. Just let me know when you’ve had a think about it.”
“Do we have a name?” Liz asked.
“Well, no, not yet,” Amanda said. “I think we need one, though. Any ideas?” For a moment, the group fell silent, and she could see them all thinking it through, some of them muttering to themselves.
“Oooh, oh,” Matt said, raising his hand as if he were in school.
Amanda laughed. “You don’t need to raise your hand, Matt. What do you have?”
“How about the Sigil?” He said it with a voice full of hope and sat there looking at her expectantly. Amanda thought it through. It wasn’t on her list of ideas, but she had to admit that it sounded better than anything she’d thought up.
Before she could give her opinion, though, Liz spoke up. “Hmm, I like that.”
“I do, too,” Amanda agreed. “It has a certain feel to it that I like. Any other ideas or any objections to the Sigil? I can’t think of any other coven with that name, off the top of my head.”
“No, I like it,” Maya said.
“Sounds good to me,” Maria added.
“Good thinking, man,” Howie complimented Matt.
“Cheers, dude. It just came to me. Popped into my head.”
“Alright, then we’re officially th
e Sigil,” Amanda announced, smiling to herself. She knew she’d be happy with the name. “So, if there’s nothing else, I’ll see if I can reach Shaun.”
She waited for a moment to see if anyone had anything else to say, but when nothing was forthcoming, she concentrated and sent a Pulse of Essentia out to Shaun.
She only needed to wait a couple of moments, when suddenly the Link opened, and she could hear Shaun in her mind as clear as day. She opened the Link up to the others as well.
~Amanda? Is that you?~ he asked.
~Hi, Shaun, yes, it’s me, alive and well, thank you.~
~Incredible! Did someone manage to bring you back?~
~Not quite, no. I brought myself back in the end.~
~Of course you did. Okay, well I’d love to hear that story sometime.~
~With pleasure.~
~So, is everyone else there with you?~
~Yes. I’ve got Liz, Gentle Water, Maria, Maya, Balor, Matt, Howie, Mercy, Sabine, and Tabitha all here. I was hoping that you might have some news for us.~
~Well, I guess I do, but nothing much on Yasmin other than where she’s attacked so far. Why don’t you come over and join me?~
~Happy to, where are you?~
~I’ve set up in the Pit Club. My place was too small and well, no one wanted to stay in the sewers. So, the Pit it is.~
~Yasmin knows of the Pit.~
~She does, but she doesn’t know we’re here. She killed the Magi who were here before, so I doubt she’d think to return to look for us.~
~Good point,~ Amanda answered. ~Alright, we’ll be there momentarily.~
~Looking forward to it,~ Shaun answered and closed the Link.
“Looks like we’re going to New York,” Amanda said out loud. “Gather your things and meet back here in five.”
Everyone nodded, and most of them disappeared off to pick up their personal effects. After a moment, she noticed Gentle Water had moved off a short distance and was standing nearby with Balor. The Scion caught her attention and waved her over.
Amanda wandered over to the pair. “Hey, what’s the craic?” she asked.
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