Seaxe and Sorcery Forums

Damien had been sitting at his computer at home, looking over news items concerning (well, in his mind anyways) the destruction of the Elven Undercity, trying desperately to find some clues as to any way to claim the surviving Elves' innocence, but much to his dismay he only found the same thing over and over again...

"Terrorist attack on Peckham."
"A new threat on London?"

Reclining in his computer chair, Damien couldn't help but replay the moment over and over in his mind. The Knights of Purity were just too damned advanced, no-one witnessed their being there, and why are the government blaming the Paladin? He had only been cured of his disease recently, he wasn't in any fit condition to be there, and to attempt genocide just wasn't in his ethos. Besides which, he had seen the Knights of Purity bombard the Elves with his own two eyes!

Just then, there was a knocking on the door. It was about 8:15pm in the evening and Damien rarely gets visitors to his flat at this hour, but he knew he was on the Knights of Purity hit list. Warily, he went to the door, peered through the peep hole and proceeded to open the door.

"John? Long time no see, it's a surprise to see you here. Please, come in."

John McKenzie was an ex-colleague of Damien's back when he was just a regular old cop, before he was promoted to Detective. They got along reasonably well back in the day, but John was never elevated to the position Damien was handed which, although he would never admit it, he was jealous of.

"Damien, we need a talk, is there somewhere we can sit?"

"Of course." Damien replied, somewhat concerned as to what the nature of this conversation would be. "We can go in the living room."

As they both walked into the living room, both police officers facing each other, Damien adopted a more relaxed position of laying back in his arm chair, whilst John sat leaning forward and interlocking his hands.

"Damien, I've been spoken to by the Chief of Police. I am to place you under arrest it seems."

This is what Damien was afraid of hearing, but not something he didn't expect. Though to be told so calmly came as a shock to him. He couldn't act like he knew anything though, it would only incriminate him further. "On what charges?" He replied, feigning surprise.

"Terrorism."

Damien didn't need to act this time. This time, he was genuinely shocked. "You what?" He said in humorous disbelief.

John shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "They saw you run away with those weirdos with the pointy ears, helping some of them escape even. I had to do a double take myself, I didn't think you were capable of such a thing. To make matters worse, I have been told to arrest you with the charge of breach of security."

Idiot! Was the first thing that went through Damien's head. The Knights of Purity had all kinds of technology, alot of which he's probably never seen. They probably traced his entire email history and got ahold of the file stating the government's plans to form a special ops group. Why didn't he think about this sooner?

"Now." John said calmly. "Your record before now is spotless. You were always the good cop. If you cooperate and do not resist arrest, I may be able to pursuade the higher ups to lower your sentence, what do you say?"

Looking around the room quickly to insure they weren't being watched, Damien leaned in close to John. "This is much bigger than you can imagine John, this is not what it seems, I assure you." He said in a whisper before sitting back up.

"Ok, well let's hear it, I find this whole thing hard to believe myself, so let's hear it. Better yet, I'm parched, is there any chance for a cuppa?"

Damien stood up and walked over to the kitchen area. His flat had an open kitchen joined with a living room so it didn't take him much effort. "Sure thing John." He said, switching on the kettle as John slowely snuck up behind him clutching a taser.

"Now, if I remember correctly, 2 sugars no mi..."

Upon awakening, Damien found himself staring at the ceiling of a car, the muscles in back of his neck clenched and sore and his thoughts were barely collected.

That SOB tasered me! Thought Damien trying to sit up, but his arms wouldn't move... handcuffs. So he really went ahead and arrested him. Those racists in the Knights of Purity really had a clutch on the city afterall!

"So, sleeping beauty's finally awake I see."

Damien turned his head to the left to see the partly obscured figure of John McKenzie at the driving seat. He hadn't turned around and seen him, he must've heard him stirring in the backseat as he tried to push himself up. "Sorry to do that to ya Damien, but my loyalty is to Queen and country, and unfortunately you've spat on that loyalty yourself. Don't worry though, we have a nice, hard cell back at the station just for traitors like you."

Damien was almost frothing at the mouth at such insulting and untrue accusation. He was gritting his teeth and barely containing his anger. "John you IDIOT, listen to ME." He said, making it clear in his voice that he was making a very big mistake. "I'm not a terrorist, and I was helping the victims of that attack, not the attackers themselves!"

John gave a sarcastic snort at this plea. "Really? And I suppose the Paladin just so happens to bare a grudge against people in costume, right? I hope for their sake that Fathers for Justice don't run into him." He paused for a couple of seconds in consideration. "You helped the Paladin escape justice when he tore up the Hammersmith and City Line too, didn't you?"

Crud. Damien forgot about that. Not that Val had ripped up that line of course, if he wasn't there in the first place the whole of London would be suffering for it now, but what was Damien meant to say? It's not like John would believe him if he told the entire truth about what happened.

"No." John replied to Damien's silence. "The only reason people would be in costume around an event like that would be to disguise their identity. It's not looking good for you and your chums now, does it? And we will find them all eventually."

Only one option left. Damien thought to himself, although he was disgusted at the thought of it, partially because it was immoral, partially because he still didn't understand how to work it. I'm going to have to use my power of suggestion.

Straining to activate his recently awoken power, Damien directed his thoughts at John. "Turn this car back and let me go. I'm telling the truth."

John went completely silent for a few seconds before giving his response.

"Yeah, right, and I'm Santa Claus." He replied.

Damien had nearly given up hope. Even when things got hopeless, he was able to conjure up some kind of plan to fix things at the last minute. He remembered being captured by Illithids and being trapped between Werewolves and Vampires, but this was different. It wasn't him hunting supernatural evils, this was humans hunting him. Prehaps this was why the creatures of myths and legends were mostly vicious, prehaps it was self-defence. Still, that wouldn't explain the hundreds of innocents that went missing from time to time.

He remembered times gone past, before he was a police constable, before his power manifested. He remembered when he would hear of cows being abducted by aliens in Texas and just laugh it off, but now... well, he didn't know what to believe. Genuine Aliens? Some kind of hell gate like the one Malcolm and Douglas discovered in Grays? Or maybe just propagander? It was too hard to tell most of the time. He was blissfully ignorant, the shades of grey that represented morality were far more vivid back then.

Yet, here he was. Sitting on a hard bed, behind bars with a dirty washing basin in front of him. How ironic it was that the Arcanium Society relied on Damien's influence in the Police Force to help spin cover stories, and yet now he had been arrested. Still, at least it was only him and Val they had an arrest warrant for, and at least Val could take care of himself.

Suddenly, a chill went down Damien's spine and a cold sweat began to form as his head began to hurt, subtley at first, but slowely getting more and more painful. Because of his arrest, he had missed his last dosage of his medication.

No.

NO!

Damien clutched as his head, falling to the floor and screaming in absolute agony as his precognition began to manifest. How long would this episode take? Fortunately for him, Damien had enough experience with his precognition to know four very fundamental and important rules about his ability.

1. The shorter the migrane episode before the vision surfaces, the closer in time he is to that event.
2. Likewise, the more vivid the images he could see, the closer in time he was to the event, like looking at an object closer to him rather than a mile away.
3. He never had visions about his own direct time line.
4. His visions didn't always seem to be fixed, nor were they always variable. Some visions could be averted with his interference, whilst others were fixed in time.
   

Fortunately for Damien, this episode only took half an hour, which was tame for most of his episodes, and the pain vanished quicker than it had come. Drained and physically exhausted, all he could hear when he came around was a clanging of metal coming from the bars of his cell.

"Hey! Keep it down in there, you've been screaming for half an hour, don't make us come in there Bennet!"

The Door to Bennets cell opened and a man in a suit entered . He was completly bald and had many scars over his face but Daimien couldnt see his eyes . Even though they were indorrs the man had kept his sunglassess on . " Mr Damien Bennet " the man said , in a voice totally devoid of feeling or emotion " you are coming with me . Any attempt to resist will result in you been shot . Do i make myself clear ". the man didnt wait for a response . he pulled Bennet up and cuffed his hands behind his back . " And dont try any of the mind stuff , it wont work on me". Bennet was lead from the police station and bundled into an unmarked black car . Damien wondered where they were going but the driver and the man in the suit said nothing . The car speed through london , entering the blackwall tunnel at high speed . When it came out the other end however , they were no longer in london , but rather on a country road in the middle of god knows where . They stopped nrext to a truck and damien was taken from the car and bundled into the back of the truck . From where they had dumped him he oculdnt see anything , just the black interior of the truck and the man in the suit who sat with him. When after what seemed like hours the truck finally stopped Damien was dragged out and uncuffed . He was in a castle , one he didnt recognise . Damien was marched into a large hall where a tall grey haired man stood , dressed in a long velvet coat . His face was thin and guant but the vitality in his eyes slammed into Damiens mind like a train . " hello Mr Bennet , Welcome to my home . You may be wondering who i am and how i got you out of prison . Well lets just say everything has an oposite . You mortals have the knights of purity for instance and in response we , well we have the soceity " . Damien felt the mans will boring through his skull . " would you like to join" he said smiling , revealing long sharp fangs

Richard Darkspring put down the phone . things were getting worse . Damien had gone missing from the police station . Security cameras showed nothing and no one saw him leave . Richard concentrated hard, honing his magical senses . There , by the blackwall tunnel , he could feel the disipating swirl of portal magic . With only seconds to spare before the trail was gone , he located the exit end of the wormhole and sensed Damien was close . By the feel of the land he was on Scotland . Richard followed the trail , homing in on Damiens essence . Then he was shut out . A barrier in the ether closed over the trail. But before it did, Richard felt a presence he hadnt felt in a long time . " by the gods , not him" he wispered as he returned to his own body

Richard grabbed the Phone , the one covered in the weird writings, copper wire and crystals . this call couldnt be recorded or traced and was the most secure line he had . He called William . " William , its just got worse . Damiens been taken by the soceity . I dont we can count on them keeping the oath now the knights have been so brazen in their attacks . We could have a full scale war on our hands "