Colin's posts

Ash paused and raised an eyebrow... before smacking his forehead.

"Of course you wouldn't know where it is." he said.

"Memories. Vic's. Not yours." he recalled.

"Hang on." he told her, making his way to a smaller desk in the corner and digging through it. He then pulled out what she could only describe as an early 1990's cellular phone. It would fit in her pocket... and that would be all that would fit in said pocket.

"Here it is." he told her.

"It works... at about a mile radius." he recalled.

"They're mostly just over-complicated walkie-talkies for communication within this base."

"Fair." Ash responded.

"Yeah, there's... it's... a lot." he said.

"Regardless, see you later." he told her.

"I'll be on the roof, so if you need me for anything, just shout my name out the window." he said further.

"I'll hear you and make my way down." he went on, before pausing.

"Or... or just call." he muttered.

"Vic has a short-range communications device in here. I have one, too." he remembered.

Ash nodded.

"Yeah, as I said, Vic was... a heavy note-taker." he said to her.

"You can probably ignore THAT pile, though." he then told her, gesturing to one in the corner. "That's full of theories and such that never went anywhere and were obvious duds." he lamented.

"I mean, if you want to, go ahead. But... don't expect to find anything." he reasoned.

"Anyway, I'm going to check the roof again." he told her.

"Good luck. I'll be back later to help with anything you might need."

Savra was smiling at Eke as he said what he did, but his expression changed when Eke said what he did about Ryker.

"I'm... I'm sure he did." they tried to assure him.

They then looked around, and easily spotted their vehicle in the back corner of the large parking lot.

"Over there." they said.

Meanwhile, inside, Ryker was laying in one of the beds, with what looked to be a strange inky black substance on him... that also looked vaguely fuzzy. However, it wasn't on him. It just seemed like he was discoloured that. Or, rather, the left half of his body was.

And he seemed to be having a fitful sleep.

Ash just sighed.

"I've thought of it." he said.

"...if we can ever find them." he told her.

"They don't stop by here for fear of bringing immense hordes to this place." he explained.

"Believe me, a wish would be fabulous." he continued.

"But... really... as it stands, doesn't seem to be an option." he lamented, shaking his head.

"If they ever DO come by here, then maybe?"

"Normally he wouldn't be down there, but... well, he's half-undead. And they're pretty much immune to Hell. Well... their soul is resistant to it, and his soul status is..." he went on, but paused suddenly.

"That'll give me a headache." he growled.

"Suffice to say, he's down there." he said.

"And so is Anya. Forgot to mention her." he added, before pausing again.

"...also, I just realised you asked about the djinns a bit ago, and I never answered." he realised, smacking his forehead.

"As far as I know, they're out in the wasteland, acting as beacons for those monsters, constantly leading them away from civilisation. Keeping people safe." he answered her finally.

"Now, that may have changed recently. But that was the last I heard of it."

"Right." Ash responded.

"And for the record, Vincent has decreed that anyone associated with Heaven cannot help this world in their capacity of Heaven." he told her. "I'm part of the Harmony, yes, but I am acting as a Fyrane, NOT as a Harmony member." he said further, a little venom in his tone.

"And Sydney has essentially done the same, but more for the protection of her demons, and so that the monsters up here don't gain any infernal mana." he informed her further.

"Which means Azazel and Cain are confined to... Hell." he said.

"Lilim is not, as she was essentially cast out of Hell so long ago, and that was not reversed. She acts as a scout for us." he finished, figuring she'd like to know THAT info, too.

Ash shook his head.

"Don't apologise." he said.

"I've... I've been needing to say that for a while." he told her.

"...not everybody knows that. And if they were to, then they would probably lose ALL hope." he said, when she looked confused.

"Keeping that a secret was eating away at me." he sighed.

"I think it was good to just... get it out."

Ash nodded.

"Right." he said.

"...when we're both out and about, I'll show you the door." he then told her.

"It's... sealed with mana, but it comes off as just being jammed to the point of being unopenable." he explained.

"Also, people think it led to an old janitorial closet, so... yeah, people leave it alone." he shrugged.

"Like I said, I'll see what I can do." he reasoned.

"Maybe, hopefully, it can help you."

"...I think so?" Ash responded, a bit unsure.

"I know a lot of access has been blocked off, but I don't think it's been filled in or destroyed." he told her.

"And is there any way YOU can get down there?" he asked.

"Uh... maybe..." he mumbled.

"People are STILL leery about you." he warned her. "However, I've heard a lot more people realising that you're not... well, you're not as bad as Vic was, so there IS talk of letting you have more free reign." he admitted.

"I'll see if I can't speed that along." he told her further.

"But just make sure nobody sees you disappear into a pathway to the nexus."

"The nexus is still here." Ash assured her.

"It's... well, yeah. It's here." he said.

"Again, just... WAY down." he mumbled. "Not many people know of it still." he warned.

"Most people think it's a special generator down there, but... it's the nexus." he said.

"And it's diminished. Considerably." he then said further.

"But it's still going. Shows no signs of giving up just yet."

Ash shook his head.

"When Aimee found out, she let loose an explosive amount of mana. And it weakened her. Severely. Unfortunately, it lead the monsters right to her. She... she didn't stand a chance..." he told her.

"And then... the archangel side of Zeke took over. Angela and Liv tried to stop him, but it was too late. He was too far gone. In the scuffle to keep him from doing anything rash, he left Angela with a broken arm, and Liv with a pair of cracked ribs." he informed her further.

"He died as a mindless berserker." he added.

"Lex is gone, too." he lamented. "He was caught off guard while sneaking out to get supplies. Nobody knew what happened to him until... until Lilim encountered one of those abominations with the same mana as Lex..."

Ash shook his head slightly when she said that.

"No." he said.

"No. No, you... you need to hear this. And... and I need to say it." he told her. Before she could ask what he meant by that, he continued.

"Vincent organised a force to take down these creatures." he said. "The archangels. They were mobilised and sent down to deal with them. But... but they were too much. The archangels failed." he informed her.

"...they had to flee back to heaven. But... but not without loss." he went on.

"Uriel..." he said further, his voice quiet now.

"Uriel was taken. He's gone. They absorbed him. His mana. He's gone, Vicki." he said, biting his lip.

"And God's vengeance went back to Vincent. Vincent was unprepared for that, so... so even though he's not completely changed... he's taken the stance that this is what humanity... the world... now deserves."

Ash looked at her again, before shaking his head.

"All right. The full story." he said.

He then sat down in one of the chairs, and looked out the window.

"Vincent and Sydney DID take the positions." he confirmed. "As far as I know, they still have them. They're both still the rulers of Heaven and Hell. Those realms exist, but they're essentially completely segregated from this world." he went on.

"...and it all started that one day..." he continued, trailing off a bit.

What Vicki saw next in him, she hadn't seem before. Sheer emotion in his eyes. Anger. Sadness. Fear. Terror. She knew what it was. Post-traumatic stress disorder. Her brother was suffering from sheer PTSD.