Tricker Street
Sea City, Locus Apepi
October 17, 2016
8:41 PM PST
The four Nobilis stood in the middle of the dark street as autumn leaves were blown about in a light breeze. The street lights flickered, the shops were all closed, and the normally well-lit skyscrapers in the distance seemed to barely glow at all.
“Creepy.” Alex said, noting how typically horror-movie-esque it felt.
They approached their destination, an arcade with the Pokémon Litwick as its mascot. The inside was pitch black, offering no view of what was inside. “If my systems are correctly calibrated, the door is unlocked.” Ivee told them, and opened the door with her hand.
Inside, it became apparent just how dark it was. They walked forward carefully, hoping not to bump into anything or fall into a potential pit of death. Even with Gadgeteer's BOGGLES giving him night vision and Ivee's dim blue glow, they couldn't make heads or tails of the dimensions of where they were.
Soon they noticed they were quite far from the storefront behind them. A thin sliver of light was all that showed it even existed. “Guys?” Gadgeteer said nervously. “Do you think we should turn ba- OW!” he suddenly shouted, rubbing his forehead. He reached out, and found a doorknob sticking out where his head had bumped into it. Turning it, they were greeted by painfully bright light.
???
Castle of the First and Final, Locus Solari
October 17, 2016
8:41 PM PST
Inside was an enormous vaulted marble hallway, lit from above with beams of bright sunlight. A red carpet extended into the distance, and was about to unroll when a foot came down to hold it in place, belonging to a Power, dressed in a red sport suit, bedecked with thousands of pearls. She radiated Love, of all sorts, so it was obvious what her Estate was. "None Haggard. Love's-Pawn, as are we all." she said with a smile.
"What's the password?" Alex asked.
“Password?” None asked.
“Well, then. We're done with you.” Alex said, a little too loose-lipped. “Rau warned us about-”
"Fishing Ships. I take it Rau, or Solari as she wants to be known, wanted to remind me of that security method? She was always paranoid." None responded.
"Tell me about it. You think you've had trouble dealing with her? Try being her Powers for two years." Alex responded.
None gave a puzzled look. "What? This is Solari's Chancel. Who are you, exactly? And why do you claim to be her powers?"
Alex, Feeney, Gadgeteer and Ivee looked at each other. It was Ivee who first spoke. "What year is this?"
"2009. Do you mean to tell me you come from another time period?" None said.
"2016 to be precise." Feeney explained. "This Chancel… Is hers?"
A voice spoke from behind them. "That would be correct." A young woman in a bright dress stood in the hallway. "My name is Solari, Magister of the Light. The Egyptians once knew me as Rau, though they were oddly confused of my gender and their name for me kept being mispronouced. I do not know who you are, but I suggest you leave unless you come in peace."
"If you're Rau… then who is the Magister of the Dark going around with your name?" Feeney said, confused.
"Does a casual and ironically-chosen outfit ring a bell? Or an infinite box of Sunny Tzu's Chicken of War?" Gadgeteer asked.
The Magister of the Light took out a photograph. "Does this match your description?" she asked. There was the Rau they knew.
"That's her alright." Alex said.
"Well you can tell my sister Apepi that I'm on to her little trick." Solari said.
"Look, lady. We honestly don't mean any harm. As far as we can tell, Rau- er, Apepi -sent us through a door in her chancel that lead into your chancel, and the current year is supposed to be 2016." Feeney explained.
"She's created a backdoor into my Chancel. Clever. If you want to leave here, tell me, why would she send you into the past?" Solari asked them.
"Something about Jane Booth?" Gadgeteer said, shrugging. "Rau- I mean, Apepi… said Jane would be responsible for Creation nearly ending in 2014."
"I've never heard of a 'Jane Booth'." Solari told them.
"She did leave me with one specific piece of information. I was instructed not to reveal it to anyone until I was in your presence." Ivee revealed. "Apepi said that in December of 2012, you would be killed by Lord Entropy because None Haggard had beaten the Windflower Law on your behalf. Apepi had sworn she would kill you someday for what she claims is your crime against her, but once Lord Entropy did what he did, that chance for vengeance was taken from her. She, as your sworn nemesis, managed to convince Entropy to give her your Powers on the grounds that it would be like defacing your grave. However, her real plan was to destroy Lord Entropy using the combined might of both your Estates. He had a small suspicion of this, so he damaged the estate of Love before he gave it to her."
"It would figure that she would do such a thing. What do you mean by 'damaged'?" Solari asked.
"Love has been gutted. Now the only part of Love that remains is True Love. She recognizes it as a giant bullseye and has not created a Power for it. As for Light and Faith, she sacrificed them to fool Lord Entropy into thinking her ultimate plan had failed and she'd given up." Ivee explained.
"Why does she want me to know all this? To rub it in my face that she's going to win?" Solari said with a frown.
"No. She wants you to know that even as your biggest rival, she has seen the value of compromise. As a Magister of the Dark, she still wants to remove humanity from the picture by driving them to self-destruction. However, she has discovered a way to do so which does not exclude making humanity immortal. Lord Entropy is her biggest obstacle towards that, but not the only one. In 2012, if time was allowed to continue on what you consider its current course, the Power of Glass will sell 2 years to the Excrucians, in order to hold them off from destroying Earth. This will lead to the calendar jumping ahead by two years, to 2014."
"You said the date you came from was in 2016?" Solari asked.
"That was the other obstacle. Jane Booth, the Power of Halloween, would try to reason with the Excrucians after being corrupted by one of them. This corruption and the events that followed were inevitable due to a prophesy. In 2012, shortly before Halloween, and after Jane has… *ahem* …'spread the mayonnaise' with Lambkin, you must kill her and her lover. Otherwise, Creation will fall." Ivee explained. "When you do, shortly afterwards Lord Entropy will kill you, but humanity will live on and the apocalypse will have been postponed for the time-being.
Solari thought for a moment. "I see. Very well. I do want to know how she managed to create a direct link between our Chancels which goes back in time, but I suppose she would never share such a secret with me. It does make me wonder why she took my name?"
“Playing recording…” Ivee said.
“If I can't kill Solari, then I'll keep her memory so alive it ensures that Lord Entropy can never truly kill her either. I'll even take that nickname that irritated her so much and make everyone forget she was called anything else.” the recorded voice of Apepi said.
“That is so her. She always was a petty bitch.” Solari said.