Scorn remembers Hell hath no fury
As I relax in my bath, the candlelight flickering, casting odd shadows and shapes, I think back... yet again. I'm loathe to remember it all, but I fear it is my penance for some of my actions. Ah well, remember it all I shall.
I was a "normal" girl. Whatever that means. I can remember the choices that lead me to this place in my life in college, but I think it started much earlier. I was 9 the first time I remember magic changing my life. Mom woke us, my siblings and I, like any other day. Hurry for breakfast and school and all that. I remember something about there not being too much of the cereal my brother and I liked, we'd have to hurry to get that last bowl. Then mother screamed.
Logan wasn't in his room. The bedroom window was open to the crisp morning air, a thin trail of blood from the bed to the window had caused mother's scream. We lived on the 18th fllor of an apartment building in Founders' Falls. Supposedly a nice neighborhood. I remember how nice the police and heroes were to my sister and I. How they consoled mom and dad. One of the heroes gave Lily and I teddy bears. He promised he'd find Logan. I never saw that hero or my brother again. If I knew that hero's name now...
Ah, but I'm rambling again...
I was too young then to do much of anything, but I never forgot. I suppose that's why I'm so protective of Lily now. Those bastards won't get her to.
It was years later, I hadn't forgotten, I gleaned any bit of information I could find from old newspaper clippings after classes. Lily said I was being obsessive. I had to know what happened to Logan. Mom and dad never talked about him after he disappeared. Whenever I asked about him, mom looked at dad, then she looked like she'd cry. I stopped asking. One night, I heard them argue. About Logan. Mom blamed dad for what happened to him, though she never said why. After Lily and I were both in college, they divorced.
After some research at the library, through old newspaper articles, I discovered that 32 children from around Paragon were abducted the same night as Logan. 27 were rescued by various Super Groups from the Circle of Thorns. The other 5 kids that weren't found in time, heroes found them during or just after some ritual the Circle was doing. There was an earthquake that night too. Logan was one of those 5. They didn't find enough of him for a funeral. We held a memorial service.
I had the names of the other kids that hadn't been found in time, I took that list and snuck into M.A.G.I. That was just too easy. Good thing too, I didn't find anything and had to go back several more times to search through there archives. One night though, I got lucky.
I found an old tome that held family trees dating back to the Muvians. Each of the abducted kids was a direct descendant. Including my brother. On my fathers' side. Now I knew why mom blamed him. But I couldn't. Dad couldn't help who he'd been born to. He tried his best to hide us. He denied all forms of magic hoping that we wouldn't set off some magical radar. He was wrong.
Then I heard the rumors, horrid little tales of the missing kids, the ones that disappeared that night like Logan. None of them had really been found. The P.C.P.D. thought they died, M.A.G.I. helped that along. They thought it would be best if the police stayed away from the Circle. They didnt want the families to wonder if anything remotely resembling the missing kids lived, better to move on and accept death than wonder if a bit of their soul was still there, watching. The ritual, I later learned, was to place the soul of an ancient Orenbegan into their bodies. The rumors were that the rituals succeeded, but didnt banish the souls of the kids. They were still in there, trapped in their own bodies as some powerful entity directed the Circle on the best way to resurrect Oranbega, and other ancient wizards from there.
What else could I do? I had to know more. I had to find Logan and either save him or free him. Then I found a text in the M.A.G.I. vaults about the Muvian descendants. The Circle chose them because magic was already in their blood. Their bodies were the only ones capable of holding the magics of the Oranbegans. Lily and I were in danger. I couldnt let what happened to Logan happen to her. He was the oldest, with him gone I was oldest now. It was my duty to protect us. Dad avoided magic at all costs and mom had no Muvian blood. I was the only one who could, who would do something to save my brother and protect my sister.
I searched the vault for Muvian texts, tomes of their magic, I had to learn more. There wasnt enough in those vaults, barely enough to light a lamp. But I found a few names, one of a Circle mage who had been known to do things for his own desires, even when it conflicted with the CoTs goals. After a few weeks, I found him.
I dont think Id have done anything different, its still the only way to protect my sister and I, the only way I might find Logan. He had me meet him in an abandoned warehouse in Kings Row. He was into far darker magics than the rest of those Circle nutjobs. He thought hed feed my soul to a demon in exchange for power and knowledge. I guess Muvian blood is powerful. I took the demon. Then the mages soul. Took them both, melded their souls into mine. Then I went hunting, for more. Ive lost count of the number of demons I have in me now. I dont bother with hunting. Most of the demons Ive met recently are more than happy to teach me what I want. I guess they dont want to be part of me. No matter, several demons plus the Muvian blood makes me more than a match for any stupid mage I find. CoT I still hunt. And Ill continue until my brother is returned to me whole or freed, whichever is best considering what they may have done to him. Ill still hunt them after that, until Lily is safe to remember all Ive hidden from her. Ill hunt them still, until Orenbega is a forgotten legend and the CoT merely a fairy tale told to frighten children. A story with no basis in reality. Then Ill hunt their souls. They will pay. There is no power to stop me, no mercy for them, heaven fears and despises me, hell has no place for me, the only thing left at all for me is to completely and utterly remove any vestige of Orenbega from the skin of the earth.
