Chapter 45: When the Dream Starts to Fade
Veritas had made its new home among the beige walls and golden carpets after switching from their old offices in Emerald House at the start of the week. Even without Godhand around, Phoenie’s paranoia meant the ‘newspaper’ staff changed their locale every fortnight. On their way to Topaz-Twelve, Phantasia spied a discarded copy of their weekly efforts sitting on a bench.
I must admit that I find their output underwhelming, said Faye, glancing only momentarily at the two sheets of stapled paper that made up the issue, and Phantasia couldn’t help but agree with her. For all the group’s clandestine investigations off old mansions, ghost hunting in abandoned warehouses, and their rebellious attitude towards Godhand, the reports on sporting success, local business developments and mundane crimes were a big disappointment. The only colour came from a ‘weekly horoscopes’ section written by Katrina, showing a deft analysis of personality types and leyline shifting she most likely wasn’t even aware of.
Guess they gotta keep the balance, suggested Phantasia, imagining what things would be like if Phoenie got her way and ran a front-page spread on spooks and goblins plotting a Torsten takeover. Maybe after this meeting that headline would be a step closer to reality – but given the past ‘successes’ of Veritas, Phantasia found this unlikely.
Topaz-Twelve, like many of the rooms in the over-large Academy, sat abandoned in the corner of the Maths department. The door was bordered by plastic display cases holding copies of student coursework dating back over the decades of the Academy’s life. Faye had already noticed on her first day there that the layers of memory took a dramatic shift around ten years previous, when Godhand first made its incursion into Torsten – when a proud Academy of SEELIE began its degradation into a school of misfits and failures. Learning that the superiors of SEELIE now considered Torsten Academy an embarrassment to be swept under the carpet inspired Phantasia’s determination, willing her on to encourage her friends to find the truth and prove everyone wrong.
Your actions are driven by your own personal agendas, said Faye as Phantasia reached out to open the door; You wish to empower them in order to defy the opinions of their elders as you can relate to their position. Allowing your emotions to fuel your actions is not a wise decision.
Phantasia grimaced, knowing that Faye spoke the truth. At least it wasn’t just the humans who were victim to her handmaiden’s elemental ideology. Resolving to do what she thought was best, and not what anyone else told her, she pushed the door open and strode inside.
~ How much longer can Titania hide the truth? ~
~ Next: the deductions of Veritas are…?! ~
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Chapter 45
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Early chapter
I’m going away tomorrow for a few days AND STUFF.
Originally this chapter featured the Veritas meeting and its aftermath, but they grew to such a length I can to cut things in two (again). This whole arc used to be THREE chapters – it’s currently at twelve! You can expect to see a lot more from the human characters soon – that original draft was focused entirely on Phantasia and Faye. Expect to see everything from lucky charms and enchanted weapons to plasma cannons and jet-packs.
Not much else I can say about this chapter, though XD
“And the source of all this corruption is…?”
Well personally i think its dante, but didnt Phantasia note in the last chapter or the one before that his very presence distorts the mana and ley lines around him? im starting to think hes erebus in human form but doesnt know it
I think possession is more likely. From the dream he had, it would seem to me that Dante encountered Erebus as a child and the Demon wanted to use him as a focus to return. Dante is still fleeing from that and Erebus hasn’t let go either.
Just my take on it anyway.
oo that could be true but didnt he start having the dreams after he seen the symbol or w/e? well that would support your possesion theory but i guess well just have to wait and see
I don’t believe it was AFTER the symbol but Dary never clarified that when he started the story’s twist into the human world so it’s still left to speculation. HOWEVER, at the start of twist into the human world, Dante was drawing an Erebus thingy AND I recall one of the Ravens saying that he freaked out in the club after seeing something similar to what Dante used to draw all the time but Dante stopped drawing after seeing the symbol in the club.
Although this will get clarified in the future, I don’t see much harm in revealing it now:
Dante saw Erebus-y images in his dreams before the incident in the club – that incident was the first time he suffered a public breakdown that caused weird things to happen (such as people fainting).
There’s a piece of non-linear fiction I wrote for my degree that deals with that night’s events from a variety of perspectives. I’ll be revising and putting it online in its full glory in a couple of months or so (or maybe earlier – depends on my workload!).
cool! well u never know he still could be posessed :3
The source of the corruption? Hmm…
I would say that Obama froze himself in Stasis and the capsul got “lost” by the government and the seal on his capsul is starting to crack D=
lol all kidding aside I think it’s A student, most likely Dante, but like Atrun said, it could be Erebus himself
I agree with Atrun. Methinks Erebus is trying to use Dante.
By the way, I love this story!!
Dante seems the most likely, but you must always be on the lookout for a red herring. Titania did say that she had already checked out Dante.
Most likely Dante (being possessed by Erebus and all), though it could honestly be anyone. There are many we do not yet know much about.
Source… I don’t think Dante is it. The darkness is definitely attempting to woo him over but none of the leansidhe or the chained ghost or the cults are his fault. The real source of the darkness would be what’s causing them all to do what they’re doing. Pointing fingers at Dante at this point is a bit too much like blaming the victim.
but we have to speculate the primary suspects an all. i could say phantasia is the bad person…
wait, phantasia COULD be the bad person! She may have the best of intentions, but for all the good there is, there is an equal evil, so just by being there she could have conjured up a horrifyingly evil monster bent on destroying the planet :O DEAR GOD! THA SUSPENSE!
I think its Erebus trying to strengthen his subconscious presence. Like Dormammu in the new Dr. Strange movie. Since he is the manifestation of human evil he should be bale to restore himself by strengthening that evil. That’s why I voted student+something else.
its either an object or something else. if it was a teacher or a student, phantasia or faye or princess titania (not sure if i spelled that right.) would have seen the source, or have been able to triangulate to find it if it moved around like teachers and students do.
I figured most people would think of Dante.
Is he the source? A source? Or just a victim?
Next chapter’s got a little bit of info on what might have caused people to faint around him, but the major Dante revelations won’t come until the second half of this arc…
:O *gasp* the suspense!
i find it amusing that the percentages and the amount of people that voted for that particular group are within 2 points of one another. Does anyone else see a coincidence? Or mabey someone is altering reality for coincedences like these to arise? Could it be Princess Titania? OMG it could be! with her wind faerie magic an all…
Oh my goodness. There are people who think it’s not Dante?