Quoth The Raven's posts

How I came to it I cannot rightly say,
so drugged and loose with sleep had I become
when I first wandered there from the True Way.

But at the far end of that valley of evil
whose maze had sapped my very heart with fear!
I found myself before a little hill

and lifted up my eyes. Its shoulders glowed
already with the sweet rays of that planet
whose virtue leads men straight on every road,

and the shining strengthened me against the fright
whose agony had wracked the lake of my heart
through all the terrors of that piteous night.

Just as a swimmer, who with his last breath
flounders ashore from perilous seas, might turn
to memorize the wide water of his death —

so did I turn, my soul still fugitive
from death's surviving image, to stare down
that pass that none had ever left alive.

And there I lay to rest from my heart's race
till calm and breath returned to me. Then rose
and pushed up that dead slope at such a pace

each footfall rose above the last. And lo!
almost at the beginning of the rise
I faced a spotted Leopard, all tremor and flow

and gaudy pelt. And it would not pass, but stood
so blocking my every turn that time and again
I was on the verge of turning back to the wood.

This fell at the first widening of the dawn
as the sun was climbing Aries with those stars
that rode with him to light the new creation.

Thus the holy hour and the sweet season
of commemoration did much to arm my fear
of that bright murderous beast with their good omen.

Yet not so much but what I shook with dread
at sight of a great Lion that broke upon me
raging with hunger, its enormous head

held high as if to strike a mortal terror
into the very air. And down his track,
a She- Wolf drove upon me, a starved horror

ravening and wasted beyond all belief.
She seemed a rack for avarice, gaunt and craving.
Oh many the souls she has brought to endless grief!

She brought such heaviness upon my spirit
at sight of her savagery and desperation,
I died from every hope of that high summit.

And like a miser — eager in acquisition
but desperate in self-reproach when Fortune's wheel
turns to the hour of his loss — all tears and attrition

I wavered back; and still the beast pursued,
forcing herself against me bit by bit
till I slid back into the sunless wood.

And as I fell to my soul's ruin, a presence
gathered before me on the discolored air,
the figure of one who seemed hoarse from long silence.

At sight of him in that friendless waste I cried:
"Have pity on me, whatever thing you are,
whether shade or living man." And it replied:

"Not man, though man I once was, and my blood
was Lombard, both my parents Mantuan.
I was born, though late, sub Julio, and bred

in Rome under Augustus in the noon
of the false and lying gods. I was a poet
and sang of old Anchises' noble son

who came to Rome after the burning of Troy.
But you — why do you return to these distresses
instead of climbing that shining Mount of Joy

which is the seat and first cause of man's bliss?"
"And are you then that Virgil and that fountain
of purest speech?" My voice grew tremulous:

"Glory and light of poets! now may that zeal
and love's apprenticeship that I poured out
on your heroic verses serve me well!

For you are my true master and first author,
the sole maker from whom I drew the breath
of that sweet style whose measures have brought me honor.

See there, immortal sage, the beast I flee.
For my soul's salvation, I beg you, guard me from her,
for she has struck a mortal tremor through me."

And he replied, seeing my soul in tears:
"He must go by another way who would escape
this wilderness, for that mad beast that fleers

before you there, suffers no man to pass.
She tracks down all, kills all, and knows no glut,
but, feeding, she grows hungrier than she was.

She mates with any beast, and will mate with more
before the Greyhound comes to hunt her down.
He will not feed on lands nor loot, but honor

and love and wisdom will make straight his way.
He will rise between Feltro and Feltro, and in him
shall be the resurrection and new day

of that sad Italy for which Nisus died,
and Turnus, and Euryalus, and the maid Camilla.
He shall hunt her through every nation of sick pride

till she is driven back forever to Hell
whence Envy first released her on the world.
Therefore, for your own good, I think it well

you follow me and I will be your guide
and lead you forth through an eternal place.
There you shall see the ancient spirits tried

in endless pain, and hear their lamentation
as each bemoans the second death of souls.
Next you shall see upon a burning mountain

souls in fire and yet content in fire,
knowing that whensoever it may be
they yet will mount into the blessed choir.

To which, if it is still your wish to climb,
a worthier spirit shall be sent to guide you.
With her shall I leave you, for the King of Time,

who reigns on high, forbids me to come there
since, living, I rebelled against his law.
He rules the waters and the land and air

and there holds court, his city and his throne.
Oh blessed are they he chooses!" And I to him:
"Poet, by that God to you unknown,

lead me this way. Beyond this present ill
and worse to dread, lead me to Peter's gate
and be my guide through the sad halls of Hell."

And he then: "Follow." And he moved ahead
in silence, and I followed where he led.

Death incarnate tilted his head contemplatively, a clawed finger tapping out a staccato rhythm on his bone white mask. Not for the first time that night he found himself wondering why this guy had been marked. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the engineer, he thought, at least not once you got past the visually bizarre combination of short stature and almost comical muscular build. Had he been into body building? he wondered briefly, before deciding that he didn’t really care. /Whatever./ Red eyes narrowed as they continued to rove over the lifeless body slumped haphazardly against the wall before him.

“Looks like another one off the list,” he finally mused, shrugging a shoulder nonchalantly as he leaned in closer, studying the multiple shotgun wounds his target had suffered to the chest.

The acrid scent of blood and gun powder hung heavy in the air, the smell pervading his nostrils as he poked and prodded at the torn flesh with a sick curiosity. The aroma was heady, borderline irresistible, growing more so the longer he kept picking at the wounds. Pupils expanding to take in the gory sight, it was only when he noticed his fingers vaporizing, trying to worm their way into the cavity of the deceased's chest, that he took a shuddering breath and forcibly removed his hand.

Gritting his teeth, the mercenary rose from a crouch and ghosted across the dark lab, stopping in front of one of the multiple computers tucked away neatly into a corner of the room. A purple skull was rotating lazily on the screen, informing him that data extraction had been completed. //Looks like we’re good to go…// With a grunt, Gabe removed the transmitter he had inserted earlier, pocketing it for safe keeping. A cursory glance around confirmed that he hadn’t left anything incriminating behind. Satisfied, he left the way he came, funneling through the building’s ventilation system before emerging on the rooftop a few minutes later.

Taking a deep breath as he collected himself, Gabriel closed his eyes briefly, basking in the light of the moon before grudgingly orienting himself south. He longed to head home, wanted to shed the weight of the guise he wore, but he had a detour to make. He briefly considered putting off the meeting until tomorrow, but knew in the end she would just seek him out at his house, bitching and griping until he wished he’d just gone to her. With a heavy sigh, he scanned the horizon. //Might as well get this over with.// Dissipating from the rooftop and reappearing on another, he repeated the cycle until he finally materialized on top of the designated coffee shop a good fifteen minutes later.

As expected, Sombra was waiting for him, sprawled out freely on her back, nary a care in the world for all the consideration she gave her surroundings. A star chart was spread out before her, aiding her as she scoured the night sky in search of constellations to name. The light pollution was making it difficult, of course, but it didn't deter her, and she had soon highlighted three stars that were lined up neatly in a row. //Well, that's one way to pass the time,// Gabe mused, intrigued in spite of himself. He cleared his throat, and at the sound, her head turned in his direction.

“Hey,” she greeted, acknowledging him, but instead of getting up, she instead returned to her chart, apparently not in any hurry to get down to business. Gabriel sighed internally and looked away, fingering the transmitter in his pocket, wanting nothing more than for her to take it so he could be on his way.

A voice in his ear made him jump. "Have you ever stopped and just looked up at the sky? I hear you can see all sorts of things."
Gabriel whirled around to find Sombra innocently studying her fingernails, but the smirk tugging at the corners of her lips told him that she was anything but.

“Sombra,” he began, berating himself for having reacted.

“Gabi,” she responded sweetly, cutting him off, her smirk growing wider.

The mercenary jolted as if he had been stung. “Don’t call me that,” he growled, mood instantly becoming foul. Sombra paused, and for a moment Gabriel thought she was going to continue pressing his buttons, but for some reason, the hacker relented.

“I take it things went well for you?” she asked instead, changing the subject.

Still irate, he answered gruffly. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Indeed you are,” she mused, tapping an index finger against the corner of her mouth thoughtfully. She held her hand out expectantly, and Gabriel gladly withdrew the transmitter from his pocket, setting it down in the palm of her hand wordlessly. “Gracias.” Without further ado, she began tapping at the air with her left hand, a user interface popping up at her fingertips instantaneously. She paused, closing out of multiple screens before finding the information she sought. Gabriel had learned long ago that she had no qualms about displaying private data in the air; all her documents were written in a code that only she knew. He heard a small ping emit from his phone; the mercenary hazarded a guess that the decrypted message she had forwarded to him had something to do with a job. She confirmed it with her next words. “That would be your next mission.”

She looked at him, her expression one of curiosity. “You know, I think you’ll find this target… of interest to you,” she confided, a wave of her hand dismissing the final screen.

Gabe tilted his head. “Is that so?”

Sombra opened her mouth as if to add something else, but quickly changed her mind and closed it instead. The assassin raised a brow, but the gesture was lost on her due to his mask.

"Anything else I should know?" he queried, fixing her with a stare, but the hacker just shook her head.

"No, jefe. I'll let you know if anything comes up."

Deciding not to pursue it, Reaper gave a curt nod. "Vaya con Dios, entonces."

The parting words were so unexpected, especially coming from him, that she looked taken aback before realization dawned on her. "Oh, so you've got jokes now?" she retorted, shaking her head, but the corners of her mouth were twitching into a smirk. Giving him a one-finger salute, she translocated, a flash of purple light marking her disappearance.