Chapter V - Brimstone

[IamLEAM1983]

The Knight looked back to the church behind him. "It's not exactly neutral, but I've never been one for custom-made rules of physics or outrageous constructs. I like to keep things simple and effective here - like the Creation I work to defend."

From above came a few weak shouts of surprise and grunts of effort as Archie, Vernon, Eir and Bucky negotiated their own descent. They landed more or less gracefully, Archie barely managing to wind up his main spring in time for his need to pedal against the floor, like a landing paraglider. Considering, his top hat went flying across the closely-mowed grass, a ways behind him.

"By George and all the saints," he breathed, looking back up, "this was quite the descent!" he said, a bit of an adrenaline-fueled smile hiding behind his mustache.

Bucky, who'd landed strangely gracefully, quirked an eyebrow at his friend. "Y'think? I mostly stayed upright, bankin' right the whole way... It felt like I was in some kinda invisible air balloon someone else was pilotin'. I had time enough to get a sense o' the scope of this place. What's this, Cuthbert? Like, fifty, sixty square miles o' French countryside?"

The pious Weaver shrugged. "I never really bothered to canvas it - it's a corner of Auvergne I took to visiting every so often, back when I mostly worked in Europe. You'll spot a couple fields, two or three gas stations, some farmhouses... We'd be about twenty minutes away from Clermont-Ferrand, in the waking world."

Vernon's descent had carried some Peter Pan airs, and he managed to keep his hat on unlike the Clank, who had to step away to retrieve his. He'd looked as though he would've kept his arms outstretched, his right hand reflexively clamping down on his gibus every so often. Landing had seen him grip his hat for the last few seconds, and he'd then settled with dusting his spats with a few experimental kicks in the air. "I haven't been to France in a while," he admitted, "not since Vichy fell to the Nazis. It's a shame I haven't been able to visit again."

Three seemed intrigued. "You fought in World War Two?
- Of course I did," noted Vernon, adding a smile and something like a very Disney or Milt Kahl-worthy prideful head bobbing. "The Accords weren't so much as a whisper in the minds of some immortals, the Nazis weren't shy about supplementing their own efforts with some Eldritch troops of their own - something to scare the untermensch, I'd assume - so Oberon and Titania hardly needed any coaxing to help a few of us blend in with the Allies and push back as best we could."

He chuckled. "Not that your average Waffen-SS knew what to do with a balding unit commander with pointed ears, a double chin and gymnast-level kicks and punches!"

Drake eyed Haskill's tummy. "I'll admit remembering you're actually spry is a bit of a challenge, Milord. I have an easier time picturing you with sandwiches and tea than I do with a sword and your ice powers."

Haskill's eyes twinkled. "The perks of social stealth... Ask Neasa, if you'd care to. She's seen what I can do."

Remembering Archie's daughter, Aidan then looked at his boss. "Where's Anjali, by the way?
- A good question, indeed," noted Archie. "Perhaps she requires a bit more exertion before dozing off..."

Bucky was about to add something when a hinge that wasn't on his body in the real world creaked, and a door in his furnace of a belly more or less swung open. Out of the inner depression crawled the girl, Bucky hardly managing something more than "Whoa!" at that sight.

"I'm sorry," she said as she stood up, "I didn't like the idea of falling. I stowed away in Bucky for the ride down."

That seemed to leave Cuthbert a bit perplexed. "That's odd," he said, "nobody's been able to alter someone else's projection in the Darkhallow to that extent before..."

It was Archie's turn to look proud. "My daughter is hardly any ordinary girl, Sir Knight.
- I mean, I remember seeing instances of a Void Weaver forcefully emerging out of another, whilst down here, but the intent was usually destructive or at the very least aggressive. Mar a mind's projection and you damage the mind."

Vernon grunted thoughtfully. "Well, she is extra-planar in origin. Perhaps souls native to Heaven take to the Darkhallow differently than the classically living."

As for the impossible hatch, it closed without a whisper, the hinge it had sported receding away in the normally uninterrupted curve of Wallace's metallic paunch. Bucky placed a hand on his stomach but didn't otherwise look ill or unwell.

[TennyoCeres84]

Meris watched the hatch close and then shrugged. "Suffice to say, Anjali may have unique talents we don't know about. It is similar to Matriel and Hanako's experiences with Nami. This is all new territory. As Lord Haskill stated, she's extra-planar, so that could come with unprecedented situations. And with the Darkhallow, it can be used for purposes other than destructive. In this case, it was perceived protection."

Neasa nodded in agreement with that. "That's not far from the way Mr. Ephesian has developed his own sway over the dead. So, Anjali's knack there may be something akin to it."

The matriarch smiled at Neasa's assessment and turned toward Cuthbert. "Speaking of youngsters, how about we get Aidan started with his corner of the neighborhood, or however you think we should proceed?"

[IamLEAM1983]

Cuthbert wrung his hands together as he took a few steps, and then looked back to the soldier and the others.

"Alright. We've already established how the Darkhallow is a place of literal ideas, Aidan. The catch is your head's probably swimming with expectations, right about now - but none of them just up and manifested while we were talking, right?"

Three nodded hesitantly. "I guess. I mean, isn't the process instantaneous? I thought the Darkhallow pulled from you from the get-go...
- It's pulling from you right now," explained the Knight, but it doesn't have a sense of what you want it to render. If you don't have expectations coming in here, you won't see anything specific. It pays to be open-minded, but it also helps to have some idea of what you want. It's an Eldritch rendering engine, and like any piece of software, it needs instructions."

Three scoffed and grinned. "So, what? I clack my heels together, chant There's no place like home and I'll somehow end up in my own projection of Hope?"

Out of one of the side paths walked Delmar, who now looked as physical and tangible as the rest of the group. "You could," he said, "but economy is a useful concept to keep to. Meris has some concept of what Hope looks like - she and I already share a fictitious stretch of land. Half the Orkneys, half of the last few blocks before Mertown. A craggier version of Mertown's little bay, more or less."

Three frowned. "Okay, so do I just-"

He didn't have the time to finish that the distant sound of creaking iron girders were heard, along with distant shapes that were seen moving somewhere beyond the blue, skylike fog of Cuthbert's little universe. Some sort of massive, dimly-heard thunk resonated in the ground, echoing in the group's feet as infrasound - even as a signpost smoothly rose out of the ground next to the open chunk of French départementale ahead. Three gingerly approached the signpost, clashing as it did against the little blue mile markers in its North American rounded and rectangular virescence.

Clermont-Ferrand 6mi.
Point Judith \ Hope 3 mi.

Three scoffed. "That's impossible.
- It might be," mused Archie, "but I appreciate the implications. Being a few minutes away from both a good glass of Cabernet and Rhode Island Surf-and-Turf is something I could take to. Alas, if globalization had actually shortened distances..."

Drake eyed Delmar. "More to the point, did I do that? I thought about it - I jokingly imagined it for a second."

Delmar shrugged happily. "This place isn't too keen on jokes. It only picks up intent, Aidan - or latent desire."

Hope's recognizable silhouette loomed somewhere ahead in the blue haze of the outer reaches of Cuthbert's sanctum. Meris would recognize it as her version of Hope, as the Centennial Tree's blown-up version was clearly visible, as big as Tom's new demesne in the city's outline.

Aidan's jaw hung for a moment. "Holy shit...
- Language," lightly chided the modern paladin.

[TennyoCeres84]

At the sight of the enormous oak tree, Meris beamed happily and gasped lightly with elation. "Everything you see ahead of you was the first inklings of what I saw Hope as, even before it was settled. And, as you can see, buildings can emerge and be constructed in the blink of an eye. Sophia's tree is obviously not as big as it is here, but I always figured it represented Hope's importance in the greater scheme of events, so I was eager to see its skyline eventually," she admitted.

"But yes, you created that building easily, and you could easily do more. The Darkhallow isn't typically bound by size constraints, so you could potentially make other buildings even higher than this version of the Centennial Tree. However, the home I made with Nereus is not far now. I don't know what the condition currently is, considering my absence, but it's up to you if you want to experiment some more with your mind or continue from here."

[IamLEAM1983]

Meris' comment on distance made Drake tic. "Not far? I mean, if this is Hope, it looks like it's a good five minutes away by car. Do we drive there, or just-"

He didn't notice as Cuthbert placed a steadying hand on his shoulder, but did notice as his unspoken intent manifested. The French countryside blurred away around them, as though they were driving at a breakneck speed without actually moving, Hope's darker asphalt suddenly standing under their feet. The shock almost made Drake fall, the group finding various ways to steady themselves even as the Templar kept the soldier on his feet.

"Easy," he said. "It's best to stick to mundane means of transportation, at first. If you're not used to this place's liberal definition of distances covered, conjuring up cheats like this isn't necessarily wise. Meris, Delmar and Anton can afford to scrub across entire sanctums in one go - they're used to it. You're not there yet."


Aidan blinked and gasped. "Gah - sorry. I just - it's the Lexicon. It's trying to put me on some sort of fast track, I think.
- I doubt that this is Samuel's doing," noted Delmar, "Anton here has always capitalized on efficiency, sometimes at the expense of comprehension."

If Anton cared at all, it didn't show. "So," he said, "Nereus. How do we proceed?"

Delmar glowered at him again. "Architect's beard, Azardad - one thing at a time! If you made any more of an effort to prove my point, I'd call you a teacher's pet!" he said, after which he recollected himself. Then, steepling his fingers together, he beckoned Aidan with a glance and then turned to face the empty boulevard and deserted street corner they stood on.


"Normally," he said, "I'd ask Meris to help me with the finishing touches, but this is a teachable moment if there ever was any. What's wrong with this picture, son?"

Three looked around, inspected those storefronts that could be seen with a peering glance and tried to gaze far down Sixth Avenue. "I don't know," he then said. "The stores are where I remember, even the cracks in the asphalt are where they're supposed to be... What's wrong?
- No people," replied Delmar. "No birds. No wind, no cars driving by... The simplest and best projections are reflections of what is," he said. "Not what you think exists, not what you think you're perceiving in others - strictly what is. Abominations might be twisted reflections of the Earth's biosphere, most Prelates and Loyalists forget that unfettered creation comes after studious imitation. The simplest things to emulate are basic concepts. People as unformed crowds, a morass of skin tones, height and weight differences, vague features we never work to memorize as we pass them by. They're all there, we see them all - but we're not expected to commit them to memory. The same goes for cars, birds, aural landscapes - they're all part of the same neverending backdrop."

Three nodded. "So how do you make a projection gain in resolution? How do you make things clearer, more true-to-life?
- You inject meaning into it," replied Archie, in a moment of understanding. "Can I...?"

Delmar nodded. "Be my guest, Milord. Just wait for Drake to get the gist of it, first."

Three half-lidded his eyes and let his arms fall to his side, the old itch in the nape of his neck crawling along his skull as slowly, faint shadows began to emerge out of doorways. Splashes of color, dashes of urban noise, the tapestry of scents that you could smell so near the harbor, coming in one detail at a time... Slowly, the avenue's wide sidewalks began to fill with the weaving motions of the city's throng, cars coming into view as a projection jaywalked across the intersection, drawing angry honks from a driver that hadn't so much as existed moments earlier. The babble of a thousand isolated conversations rose; a street busker started playing jazz some ways away down the road, and a hundred different faces flowed and weaved and slipped through the group, like any hurried crowd faced with clusters that stood still.

By now, Aidan had both hands in his hair, eyes wide in disbelief at what had effectively left his own imagination and manifested here and there, in this place. "My God... What can't you do, here? It's... It's pure creation!"

Delmar's smile was more cautious. "There's very little you can't do, Aidan. There's plenty you shouldn't do. Don't bring back the dead, first of all. Save yourself the pain, the guilt. Poisoned projections make the dream fester; they're a guaranteed path to madness. Leave regrets be, if they're not part of a gestating solution."

Archie looked a little more stiff than usual. Three eyed the Clank and pursed his lips. "Who'd you bring back, Arch?
- My father," he admitted. "I pictured him in his Wednesday best from my years at Eton, and, well..."

A cane's tip clicked closer, much like Archie's, and Hiram Holden's darker, more hawkish features emerged out of the crowd ahead. Archie's father's eyes were severely cast ahead, his faintly hooked nose giving a pair of pince-nez glasses an austere perch, his age accentuated by his long sideburns. He wore much the same clothes as his son, in tones of Navy blue instead of Archie's copper and rosebud shades, all floral details here neatly excised. His voice was deeper, too - more authoritative. It was the voice of someone who'd realized they could crush dreams and instigate cold and harshly reasonable observations without so much as a raised tone.

"Archibald," clipped the projection, "your provisor tells me you've fancies of visiting the Colonies, and that you routinely take off with Mister Feeny's horse in the middle of the night. Before you quip in return, let me tell you I've discussed of the matter with your mother, God bless her."

Hiram looked like Jocasta's suggested concession was a hard thing to so much as speak aloud, as if it caught in his throat. "Your mother's arranged for a place in the Earl's hunting party in the West Indies. Spend the rest of the year behaving, and I might be inclined to let you go see these Amazonian savages of yours for yourself. You will assist Caldlow's retinue for three months next summer, and leave his hired guns to bring up the rear."

Archie looked almost ill. "I - I remember this exchange. I remember being furious at him for cheapening what I so desired. As if I would spend the summer in some mesh tent, being tutored by a... narcoleptic turtle in a pith helmet, while every man-jack from Argentina to Peru with a few stories and tattoos filled up his kill tally!"

For an instant, it looked like Archie's comment had registered for Hiram. His pointed disapproval then swung across the group, as if he saw them without really seeing them. Hiram's eyes were oddly both vacant and sapient - like a picture-perfect machine reproducing parental concern.

"And lo - these friends of yours, of which I've heard so much… You would do better than to associate with these ruffians."

The Automaton gave Meris a wary glance. "I don't like the look of this, Meris. I - I'd hoped for things to be different, in here."

[TennyoCeres84]

The Archmage's joy quickly diminished, and her expression was replaced by one of ruthlessness and a teacher's gaze, as she understood that she would need to coach them.

The aristocrat would hear the coldness in her voice, giving him a look into the kind woman who was also a skilled assassin. "This shadow isn't your real father, Archibald. He is a projection of your memories and their associated emotions. You must treat it as a distraction, and nothing more. You have Anjali and Crystal now. Shamus has been at your side on your great adventure, and Aidan, Neasa, and the rest have joined your family. Focus on the active and current connections you have. Let it be like a passing cloud, as you would while meditating."

Her tone became firmer. "Consider this as an extension of your training in Eien-no-Yuki, and then how you were able to fend off the Black Goat's mental predations. You overcame him, so show yourself that you can do the same here."

To affirm her urging, Crystal reassuringly grasped Holden's hand. "You don't have to prove yourself or appease your father. I know you are a great man and have grown since those days."

Neasa nodded in agreement with their responses. "We have a job to do, Archie, and we don't need to be delayed by this Madame Tussaud reject! Let's get this done!" she said encouragingly.

[IamLEAM1983]

"I know," hesitantly began to Lord, "but I cannot simply brush off my own father's shade, now, can I?"

Three glanced at Cuthbert and dawned on something. "Wait. This is your perception of your father, Archie. It's a partial image by definition, a portrait that's missing pieces. I went over Jocasta's diaries after you first hired me - it was easy to get a better sense of who your father was if you passed through your mother's recollections."

Archie lightly glared at him. "And why, pray tell, was I not informed of your infringing upon my privacy, Aidan?"

The soldier sighed. "I'd just been hired by someone I only knew from local legend, I was barely out of my own drama and I didn't know who to trust. Yes, Najeeban made me paranoid. Fuck, look at Zahavi and Jenkins! The point is, I think I can help fill in some details."

He reached out to Hiram and touched the projection on the shoulder. Something changed in its eyes, something that struck Archie, forcing him to lightly widen his eyes and crane his head back slightly. Paternal frost changed to a look Archie recognized in himself, as he'd once worn it in front of Crystal. Hiram looked equal parts scared, concerned and awkward; Jocasta's recorded earnestness now fighting for a way out.

"Son, I... Oh, bugger all, I've never been good with effusions..."

Hiram drew in a breath, looked away to marshal his strength and then met Archie's gaze again. "I worry about you, son. You were given all the cunning, the strength and power I never had in my youth, and half of me wants to throw my hat once our Queen inevitably congratulates you for whatever noble quest it is you'll undertake," he said, scoffing. "The other half... The other half is terrified of losing you. You are everything I had to offer to this world, everything I ever gave to your darling mother - me, the spindly and sickly fop who has a big mouse for a brother but still shudders at the thought of rats!"

He shook his head. "I thought Eton would keep you safe, that it would do for you as it did for Forsythe. I hoped it would lead you down charted roads, to the Houses of Parliament or beyond - to those places we Holdens were bred for. You and Arthur... Life had other plans for you, and it terrified me. It still does."

True sapience and empathy felt like they were a whisper away, so much as Hiram's eyes gleamed. "I know I should let you go, my boy. Your mother - she's the one who is skilled in these affairs, who understands those  transports of yours. I've tried - so hard - to be like her! England and all her cossetted fools - they've left me scarcely able to let my boys grow up!"

Another drawn breath, one that poorly hid a sob. "If I turn away once you'll leave... It is only because I cannot bear the thought of losing both my sons."

While Archie did look wounded, this actually looked like a wound he should have endured, and much earlier at that. His facial features rattled, even as a smile fought to appear behind his mustache.

"T-Telling me all this terrified you, didn't it? Which is why you never did...
- Yes!" came Hiram's strangled reply, as both Clank and memory figment advanced on one another and fiercely hugged each other. As they did, hyper-real details seemed to crawl over Hiram's previously bare-minimum human features, as old age and a sickly disposition were suddenly quite perceptible. Something shifted behind Hiram's closed eyelids, full sapience lighting up the previously deadened eyes. Again, Cuthbert was left looking shocked, although the shock was shared by Delmar as well.

"I love you, son," breathed Hiram. "My love and and pride for my boys knows no words. If they did, I would have shouted them to the rooftops ages ago."

Anton looked like all this was to be filed under a neat little box titled Effects of Human Empathy on the Darkhallow. Delmar, however, quietly beamed. If anything, this was another beacon of hope for their efforts.

"Do you know who you are, sir?" asked Three.

The now-sapient Hiram Holden duplicate didn't let go of Archie, but still reached out to shake Three's hand. "I came to with my heart being wrenched open, knowing the first of me died bitterly and resentfully - but not I. You all birthed me to a son's love. I am Hiram Alcibiadus Holden, reborn."

Anjali beamed as she looked up to the slightly more extravagantly-bearded man. "Hi, Grandpa!"

Quietly, Delmar telepathically pinged Meris. "So the old legends were true... We preferred the place of our memories to the surface world's Heaven and spent our nights in blessed company. If one of us died troubled and lost, we took to our dreams and healed their memories, purified their shades... How could the Darkhallow be a province of the Others if it can heal as much as it creates? Why call it dark, when there's so much light in it?"

[TennyoCeres84]

Mainly because the Others' voices and creed were louder than the understandings of your ancestors, I would imagine. Many have probably forgotten, and the rest just go along with what they're told. Though, having access to such healing would be absolutely wonderful for your people and anyone else who needed such aid. Even then, I think it could help with those who are alive, as I was able to have the shade of my parents here to guide me during hard times," Meris responded back, feeling regretful from her first reaction to the reborn Holden.

She offered her hand to him. "I apologize for my initial harshness, Sir Holden. I suppose I came here expecting some potential for aggressive obstacles, and I had forgotten my own peaceful ties to the shades of my family here," she said with a sigh, bowing her head lightly to display her remorse. "Now, that you have been reborn, I imagine that you'll be able to visit with your son, granddaughter, and his partner from time to time," she explained, as she looked down at the girl and then to Lowell.

"Hello, my name is Crystal Lowell. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I also apologize for my behavior from before," the werewolf greeted with a gentle smile, then gesturing to the beaming child near her. "And this is Anjali, our daughter."

[IamLEAM1983]

Hiram looked gleefully confused. "The pleasure is all mine, dear ladies - what is it that you feel the need to apologize for? I've only just come to!"

He then parted from his son, and seemed to realize he was holding an Automaton. Shock and dismay fought in his features. "Heavens above, son - what happened to you?!"

Archie pursed his lips together. "You... remember nothing of our past discussion?
- I remember holding you, a lifetime's worth of denied feelings finally given release and -"

Hiram paused, frowning. "How curious... I feel as though my mind were expanding, as though fog had been just lifted from it...
- The Darkhallow's allocating more resources to Hiram's projection," coldly explained Azardad. "I've seen it before in my experiments - pushing a projection into sapience can be a dangerous prospect if the load isn't shared by a network of dreaming minds like ours. Not everyone gets to go through harmonious co-consciousness like Delmar and Meris. On the plus side, he's a native. He won't be fazed by anything this place throws at him, so we'll be able to keep explainers to a minimum."

Hiram looked around. "Are you implying that things should look differently?
- You're not ready for that chestnut, Hiram," replied Anton, in clear disdain of the man's title. A slight and contained withdrawl gesture and raised eyebrows were the older Lord's reactions, which Archie tempered with a hand on his forearm. "Why don't you fill your father in, Arch?" added Azardad. "Just keep ten or so paces ahead of us, we'll lead from the rear."

Delmar nodded. "We're two blocks away from a good starting-off point for Aidan's project. If he was able to sanitize a shade of Hiram Holden, he might build a guiding shade of Nereus out of his own remembered correspondence with the man, and what he knows of his and Meris' relationship. After that, he'll have a starting point to connect to the Augur's own mindscape."

The neurosurgeon and former religious leader allowed the rest of the group to move ahead, Three and Cuthbert looking resolute in their intent of reaching Meris' little corner of the Darkhallow. That left Aidan, Cuthbert, Archie, Hiram, Meris and Crystal as the front half. Within a few minutes, the eldest Holden was again being put through an emotional rollercoaster as he both learned of and remembered Archie's acrimonious departure from Kent, all the way through his son's own demise.

Both canes clicked along the ground almost in unison. "If I had known half as much as I do now," noted Hiram with a shaking voice, "maybe I wouldn't have been such a stubborn fool! If the gentry hadn't so much as scared me off of caring for your efforts…"

Archie scoffed in amusement and eyed Crystal. "I'm reminded of a certain someone during our first date…"

The Clank then eyed Cuthbert. "Does the Darkhallow include a working knowledge of the modern day in its, er, figments?"

William shrugged and opted to throw a curveball at Hiram. "What year is it, Milord?"

Hiram welcomed the opportunity to recollect himself, sniffed and looked around once more. "I feel most odd, to be entirely honest. My heart wants to see the West End or Eastcheap, or Canterbury's cobblestones, but a part of me knows these places to have been swept up by the tides of time. I can sense that there should be more to these streets than what I can see, but…"

Three nodded. "You're in a better position than you'd think," he noted. "As soon as I'll start making my own alterations, you should have the same sense of, erm, mental unpacking take place. Since you'll leech off of my understanding of the world, you'll be off to an even better footing than Archie."

That left the Clank blinking. "Even if Father were to seamlessly adapt to the twenty-first century, this… instance of him is not native to the material plane! In whose head shall he live until we can find him a body?"

Hiram went for half-serious disappointment. "I didn't have our nannies raise you to speak of me behind my back, son…"

Archie rolled his eyes and looked back to Crystal and Meris. "Bloody nannies, of course. One wonders why the Age of Steam was also one of emotional castration, afterwards…"

[TennyoCeres84]

Meris walked at the front of the group and looked over at Aidan. "Was there anything that ever remained unclear or you were never able to glean about our relationship in the correspondences or conversations we've had, Aidan?" she inquired.

Meanwhile, Crystal looked contemplative. "Whoever's mind it is, it should be someone close to Archie, but I believe they should be mentally flexible enough to guide Hiram as needed," she mused.