°°° Gateway °°° In the basement of the Lower Class Condo, the Lower Nine and Lower Four coaches both looked into each other’s eyes. Miss Jameson was no longer trembling, but the look of horror on her face was still quite present. Carlos, on the other hand, remained calm and maintained his dominance. He had to be somewhere else at the moment, but he was still waiting for the lady to make up her mind with a patient smile. He was trying to get information concerning Sean, Kate, and the Cataclysm Order themselves from Miss Jameson, but he was also wisely using the time to adjust the energies flowing through his body at the moment. His seals had been damaged, and if he did not take the time to see to it that the rifts and crevices created by Miss Jameson's attacks were sealed, he risked an expansion, and he knew this body would break if more energy escaped without him resting for a while. He had maintained this aura of dominance not because he needed Miss Jame
°°° The Infernal Void °°° • Lower-class condos • In the unit allotted to Lower Nine, Sean Walker and Emily Sanders, the Lower Four imposters, sat on a workout bench in the living room turned gym. The beads of sweat on her face and her twitching at the slightest of sounds, even at the momentary complete silence, were indicators that she was scared witless. She had been assured that the risks involved in this mission were going to be little to none. She had further assured herself that with a sister as powerful as Radial Jameson, a Radial ranked at Sequence One of the Radial ranks, nothing could go wrong, but here she was, sitting in the target’s unit, not bound but afraid to leave. He had been gone for about twenty minutes, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave. She, for some reason, knew that her handler, Radial Jameson, was dead. If not literally, she knew she was dead morally and was probably being tortured. She sat in silence, afraid of the unknown. She
°°° Uncharacteristic Characters °°° After a full four minutes of pushing, Carlos was finally able to get the "table’s" lid to open up about a quarter of the way and stopped pushing. He staggered back and let himself fall into the embrace of the high-back reading chair, panting heavily. "Um... what just happened?" The confused Emily Sanders asked with eyes wide open. Is this not the same man that returned from a fight with a Sequence One Radial moments ago? "How is he straining to push this open?" she quizzed herself internally. Carlos took a moment to catch his breath, then he said, "A gate to the infernal void was just opened; that’s what happened." He really is rebuilding the Infernal Void. No one has ever been able to locate any of the three gateways, and he was fortunate enough to find them, and... could it be that he was also being honest when he said, "I am the Infernal Void"? Is this man the Black Death? "Is Carlos Wilson the Black Mist?" she thought to herself,
°°° Setting Up °°° In the well-lit underground study, Carlos sat at the study table that was a gateway to another "world," studying the Grimoire before him. Despite his heightened senses and mental activity, he had been studying for over an hour and hadn’t been able to finish up. This was partly because he would occasionally get distracted by the rituals he didn’t need and duplicate them, planning to use them for himself. Like the Ancient One had said, a war was brewing, and he was also planning to officially rebuild his "cult," as everyone was calling it. Having a few of these spells and rituals with him, he could also train some of his future offspring in this light; he could raise an army of warrior mages. He had to duplicate them immediately after he noticed them because it was expected of him to return the grimoire the moment he was done with it. The Order of Babel was definitely watching over Kate, and after he succeeds in undoing whatever was done to he
°°° Taste of Death °°° • Carlos Wilson’s Underground Study • In his study that once smelled like old parchment and wood, the Black Death scholar Carlos Wilson held back his urge to puke as the stench of rotten fruit and sewage took over the room. He had turned off all the light sources, turning the study into a dark space. Following the contents of the page, he created ragged, asymmetrical diamond shapes in-between the double circles of black powder with the same powder, placing them at the approximate north, south, east, and west sides of the double circles. According to the Grimoire, the black powder of crushed dragon bones and scales wasn’t just for containment. Apparently, it was also to appease and attract the attention of the entity he was about to call upon, as it produced a smell only this entity could perceive. After adding the blackish liquid he had put in the middle of the double circles to the center points of the asymmetrical diamond shapes and after
°°° Uncharacteristic °°° In his underground study, Carlos Wilson sat in a high-back chair, his thoughts focused on one thing. Helping Kate. It was already half past two. He knew that he needed to be quick about whatever he was going to do if he really wanted Sean to participate in the triple threat match. He had spent quite some time trying to recuperate from almost losing his life to save a life, and one thing was certain: he was fragile, extremely fragile, at the moment. "This won’t end well," he sighed as he thought. "My heart was damaged by that power channeling ritual." The slightest of exertions beyond my present limit might lead to something fatal. I can’t seem to even figure out what that limit is, too. This is terribly bad. And with me trying to give life, this could end in the disaster of both of us dying. I’m not a magician who can heal her or create a healing potion. Healing her will cost me directly, and with my present condition, it’ll be extremely cos
°°° Diversion °°° • Central City, Philadelphia • -Colonel Jennifer’s Residence- Sitting in the comfort of an arm chair in her bedroom, the Colonel and newly and officially appointed Oracle had her ears covered with ear muffs. Having just ascended, officially, to the class of an oracle, Colonel Jennifer Moretti was yet to get her body conditions completely under check. Her senses were almost literally all over the place. Although she was able to get most of it under control, her ears were still going crazy, hearing anything and everything within a kilometer radius. Although focusing her abilities on a single point on the outskirts of that radius helped to reduce the noise, some other sounds managed to squeeze into her ears. The muffs were to help with blocking out the sudden, ear piercing sounds that filtered in on their own accord. Taking deep and calm breaths, the kilometer radius slowly dropped. Finally she found a little peace and comfort, and a smile found it’s way
°°° Ambush °°° At seven thirty in the evening, Sean and Karen walked down the street hand in hand. Under the illumination of the street lights, Sean’s once lusterless blue eyes regained their vibrance. He smiled with contentment and joy. With his mom’s condition rapidly turning for the better, he could now return to his plans for the future. Carlos had told him he would arrive town later that night, and the next morning they’d be on the first available flight back to Pittsburgh for the triple threat match, which was set for midday the following day. As they passed through the almost empty Kemble Park, with only a few youths playing some late-night basketball, Sean began to think about his plans and his current financial status. The third round battle of the Domain of Warriors tournament, the Inner Ring, had raised him by four thousand dollars for participating, and after he won, an extra six thousand dollars had been added to his prize, summing up to