You're My Only Hope

[Nailah Al-Ammar]

June 20th, 2017 -  2am

Alistair Greene's Apartment

 

It was so cold. It was impossible to think that anything could survive in such numbing cold. Time meant nothing here, nothing meant nothing here. The Abyss was all encompassing, all engrossing. It was everything and it was nothing. That was it's nature, and Nailah Al-Ammar knew it all too well. It was her lover, her best friend, her teacher, her mother and her mortal enemy. Memories came and went, fleeting things that barely brought any emotions any longer. She'd been here too long, the cold had seeped into her bones, into her mind, into her dreams...if she even dreamed any more. Were they memories? Or just dreams? Consciousness came and went until it was almost too difficult to tell which was which. Sleep. Awake. Up. Down. There was just darkness. Just the never ending cold.

 

Except for the intensely annoying feeling of magic against her skin, itchy and irritating. The Magic of other mages that kept her from embracing the Abyss like she was used to. It kept her contained, kept her in tact, but more importantly kept her from simply leaving. Her magic would have allowed her to leave of her own will anytime she wished, but she wasn't here of her own will. She was trapped, imprisoned by the very people she'd dedicated her life to. The Order of First Light had betrayed her, but worse then that her own father had betrayed her. He'd looked her in the eyes before pushing her into the Abyss without so much as an apology or a remorseful look. He broke what remained of her dark heart in that instant, smashing it to pieces and awakening a monster he had yet to see. A monster that he trained personally.

 

The magic that had kept her imprisoned had weakened, though she had no way of telling how much time had passed. Still, it was enough to bring some level of consciousness back to her as the Abyss began to whisper and taunt, to seduce and plead. She ignored it, as she had for so very long, brushing off the inky touches to use what power she could grasp onto. She had to make contact, had to find some way to escape. People needed her, needed her strength and power and logic. The memories were hazy, but somehow she knew. She needed to get out, and she needed people powerful enough to keep the Abyss from claiming her when she tried. She had been there too long, without help she'd never get out.

 

It took so much effort to focus past the magic that held her physical body and push her mind into the Abyss she knew so well. There was no distance here, no sense of direction. Somehow that had always made it easier to move about then it was on Earth, in the physical realm. Intangibility had it's ups. Reaching out she searched for the only person who would even believe her, even consider the strangeness of what she was going to tell him.

 

Her White Knight.

 

Ever so slowly, the darkness parted, but it was like looking down a well and trying to see light on the other side. It was night time, her brain registered that, as the form of Alistair Greene came into view. Asleep in his bed, so peaceful, so pure. He was a force to be reckoned with though and that was the biggest reason she needed him...the other was because she trusted him which she could rarely say about anything. Remembering how to project her voice took a bit of time, it told her she'd been here far longer then she'd first thought but eventually she found it.

 

"Alistair...wake up Alistair!

[Alistair Greene]

Peaceful might not have been the best word for it... though he was sleeping quietly enough. He'd never been much of a snorer, so there wasn't a ton of noise in the apartment, just the current Public Enemy #1 of the Order lying facedown in his bed, most of the blankets discarded so there was only the dark gray sheet over his apparently naked form.

The last few months had been rough, each in their own special way, but he and the others had been surviving, which was always a good thing. The Order had even gotten a bit quiet, and he wasn't sure what to make of that. There had been little word lately from the Vatican at all... not their usual shouts of propaganda, and the trickle of magi of the Inquisition had slowed to an apparent stop. It was a blessing... but it left him wondering almost constantly when the other shoe was going to drop. They had to be working on something, planning... the hell of it was, he didn't know what it was.

Thankfully, with Lydia's little prison break, they had a victory on their side, and that was always handy. Plus it was going to throw a bit of a wrench into the works of whatever they had planned.

Before, she might not have woken him. He'd been a sound sleeper, once upon a time... but having been the victim of attempted murder so many times tended to beat that out of a man, so when she said his name, his eyes opened slowly before he rolled over, glancing around the room. Yet...

[alistair]Christ... could have sworn...[/alistair] he muttered, sheet falling away a little as he started to sit up, rubbing at his eyes. Still though, there was nothing.

[Nailah Al-Ammar]

When it became obvious that Alistair had heard her, Nailah focused a bit harder. Idly she thought that this was how ghosts must feel. She had to be careful how much magic she used, if they guessed she was stirring too much they might reinforce the magic that was holding her and cut off what little she could do. It didn't take too much more energy to push her presence in the void out into Alistair's bedroom. She couldn't come through completely, but she could project herself into the room, much like she could her Voidlings. Her image would be wispy, almost inky and basically insubstantial, but it would hold her shape. The feel of her magic would be unmistakeable, and Alistair had ridden the Void with her before. He'd know her power, and Nailah was counting on that.

Alistair probably wasn't going to count on what happened next however. In the bed next to him her projection coalesced into the form of Nailah, lacking her major features, like color but it would still be her to those who knew her. "You shouldn't swear Alistair, even if he isn't my god." She teased him. She knew he'd freak out, Alistair had always worn his heart on his sleeve...and currently he wasn't wearing any. Her image would make the familiar incline of the head as she admired his almost naked form for a moment before it's gaze returned to his face...it wasn't like she was his superior now after all.

"I'm sorry for appearing like this Alistair but I don't have any other choice. I need your help Ali.  I know I'm probably the last person you want to see, or believe for that matter but you're smart Ali...use that mind I adore so much." Nailah told him, though she made no attempt to reach out to him, not like it would do her much good. She needed Alistair to believe her. She knew the Order would have covered up her disappearance some how, she had been one of their most famous members, and they couldn't have let her go without a fight.

Which they were going to get if she had anything to say about it. The Order would pay for what they'd taken from her, but more importantly they would pay for the hundreds of lives they'd ruined in their pursuit of power.

[Alistair Greene]

Nailah was not the person he expected to see.

In other understatements, he started a bit when she started pouring out of the inky blackness in the room and into the bed next to him. He hadn't quite gotten used to sexy monsters coming after him, as it turned out. It hadn't exactly happened that often, and certainly not when he was naked. But he recognized the voice and the figure a moment later, and his vocal cords managed to unstick themselves. It was a good thing he had recognized her, too - the bulb in his nightstand had started to glow a little as his power began to ready a blast, but it faded again as she spoke.

[alistair]Son of a bitch... you scared the shit out of me.[/alistair] he said, realizing a moment later how much he wasn't wearing. He didn't have the time at the moment to be embarrassed about it, though. He didn't know what he needed to do with this... what she intended. He had counted Nailah a friend, and he'd never believed her one to toe the party line of the other Grand Overseers, but... She was the High Inquisitor, too. Then again she hadn't exactly been seen for some time...

[alistair]You're certainly the last person I expected to see. I can probably think of a few people I'd like to see less... but I want to kill a lot of them. So, you know.[/alistair] He shook his head slightly - notably, he had NOT said he wanted to kill HER.

The hell of it was, what was going on here?

[alistair]Well, as it turns out you have my attention. What's going on? Where have you been?[/alistair]

[Nailah Al-Ammar]

Nailah was quite pleased to see that Alistair didn't immediately jump up into fight mode, not that it would have done him a lot of good if he had. The most he'd have done was disrupt her spell and send her projection back to the void and piss her off.  Which would not be good for him now that she knew she could bother him till he gave in and listened to her anyway. She didn't apologize for startling him, they both knew it would have been a lie, Nailah had always been a bit of a trickster.

"I'm not exactly sure how long I've been gone, time has sort of lost it's meaning for me. I remember going to the Vatican to meet with the other Arch Mages and then they attacked me. They'd managed to come up with a spell that could hold me without killing me. My own father dealt the final blow and threw me into the Void. They've kept me trapped in here for so long..." She trailed off slightly, as if she were getting distracted by something else. Her inky form wavered a bit and Alistair would have to snap her attention back to him before she could continue.

"I can't leave the void on my own, they have Mage's actively holding the spell that's keeping me here. I need your help to get me out, but you won't be able to do it alone. I know you don't have a lot of reason to trust me. I've had to do things I'm not proud of, but you should know I've always been behind you, from the moment I met you. I knew you'd find a way to fight the Order and their backwards dogma. I helped you in the small ways I could without drawing attention to myself. Please Alistair, I need your help."

Alistair would know just how much it had to kill Nailah to ask for help with anything. She'd always prided herself on being better and stronger and more powerful all on her own and she hated asking for help unless she knew she had no other choice. And Nailah knew she needed it, needed him. He was her only hope at being free, at ever leaving the Void again. She wasn't sure how much longer she could remain trapped before the void claimed her like it did everything else.

[Alistair Greene]

[alistair]Son of a bitch... well that does explain a few things.[/alistair] Alistair muttered, his brow furrowing as pieces clicked into place. They had known something was going on, there had been too much twisting in the mana field for there not to be. For a while they had been very concerned about what the Order might have been doing, but then... nothing. Not even any new artifacts. But forcing Nailah into her own prison that way? That might kick up a few disturbances... He took a breath finally, and looked back over to her.

[alistair]Sorry about your dad.[/alistair] he said finally. What else did you say to something like that? Her own father had essentially tried to kill her. No one had been exposed to the abyss that long, no one knew what it would do. And she very well could have died in their attempt to stick her there.

She spoke again, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a few moments to run it through. They would have to be at a nexus of energy... not necessarily at the Vatican, but... [alistair]You always were my favorite boss... not just because you were the hot one, either.[/alistair] he finally quipped, clearly slipping into the irreverant tone he was fond of using when things had gotten Seriously Fucked Up. [alistair]And now that you've got me here with my pants... more gone than down... you know I have to be careful with this, Nailah. But...[/alistair]

He watched her again, a faint light flickering once behind his eyes. There was definitely something wrong with her... [alistair]Somehow I don't think this is how you'd come after me. Can you tell me where they'll be?[/alistair] He turned to the nightstand, opening a drawer to grab some shorts. [alistair]If we're going  to be hitting a stronghold, I'm going to have to call Joce...[/alistair]

[Nailah Al-Ammar]

Nailah made no comment on Alistair's sympathy on her father. Her father was an asshole, something she'd known for a long time but something she'd always just assumed had never bled over to her...until now. Truth was, he'd never truly been a father to her, he was more of a teacher, a master in the fine arts of magic...Even when there hadn't been magic to actually practice with.  As Alistair got up off his bed, Nailah flopped back on it. She could just barely discern the feel of the fabric through the shadows, though it was faint, like trying to remember a dream after you've woken up.

As he made one the quips she missed so much, she leaned up on her elbow and put her head in her hand, laying on her side facing him. The shadows of her form wisped around her, making her seem far more eerie and scary then she normally did, though she had a softer side that most never got to see due to the position she'd held in the hierarchy of the Order. A position she no longer held of course, which meant she no longer had to be big, bed and scary.

"You won't need to face them directly. Distance and Time mean nothing in the Abyss, technically I was thrown in here at the Vatican but the same rules of this world don't apply which is how I can appear here to you. I need a strong enough power source so that I can latch onto it and essentially ride it out, I can't do it on my own because they're blocking my power which is why I need the training wheels. You don't have enough power on your own and I don't know exactly what you have at your disposal. Jocelyn will be needed for both her power and her skills. I have no idea what I'll be when you pull me out. I've been in here too long, longer then anyone ever has without being claimed by it, if you can't save me...then you need to kill me."  Nailah said these words with every once of seriousness she could muster, she really had no idea just how far the void had managed to corrupt her after all this time. She'd been pushed off the line she'd walked so very carefully and she wasn't even sure that being saved was possible.

Rising up from the bed, she half walked, half floated to Alistair, hovering just off the floor without actually touching it. "All you need is powerful team and a weak point between the worlds. The Vatican sits on one but so does the Federal Reserve, which was why the Order chose it as a Headquarters to begin with. That weak point acts as magnifying glass for magic, focusing it. It's why training with our magic always seemed so much easier in the training rooms in the lower levels. It's not going to be easy however, and once I'm out the Abyss is going to try and claim me again. You saw a small glimpse of that when I took you to the Vatican the day I was named an Arch Mage, when you learned your Spell of Legend. I will need your power as an anchor to keep me tethered to this plane." She explained, it was perhaps a bit more complicated then that but she knew she didn't need to explain all the details to Alistair.

[Alistair Greene]

His sympathy really wans't for Nailah's father - it was because it HAD to suck having your own father turn on you that way. But she didn't seem like she was letting herself be bothered. He wondered for a moment just how much of that was bravado, and how much she really just didn't care about the old bastard. He could sort of see both, in all honesty.

As she described what would need to be done, Alistair winced slightly. Great. This was shaping up to be a boatload of fun. He had an idea about where to do it, but it was going to be a risky operation... he took his phone out, putting in texts for Joce and Alia and a few others to meet him at the office, then they'd have to take the show on the road. He didn't want to start opening big portals to the Void in the middle of the city's most populated area if he could help it, but they had a spot not far away that was well shielded... it would work out.

[alistair]Got both. We'll get you out of there.[/alistair] He smiled faintly toward her, hoping to be a little reassuring, though given the situation... he wasn't terribly sure how reassuring he ought to be. It was a pretty bad situation after all - she really wasn't making it sound like a boatload of fun.

[alistair]Yeah, I remember that mess... I'm going to get dressed and head in. You can stick with me, right?[/alistair]

[Nailah Al-Ammar]

Despite how not reassuring he actually was, Nailah could see what he was trying to do and she smiled all the same...though it'd be hard to tell she was smiling in this shadowy form. When he asked if she could some with, it was the first time she'd really put any thought to how they were going to remain in contact. She was  already beginning to feel the strain of using even this much of her power while trying to make sure she didn't get noticed...holding back when dealing with the Void was a tricky thing to begin with.

Then an idea came to her.

"I can't come with, not like this, it takes too much magic to sustain and I have a feeling they'll notice here shortly. However, I can put a small piece of the Void into your mind and use it to communicate with you. It would be just like my shadow bugging magic I used with our rings while I ran the Order. I will be in constant connection with it so it will be shielded from harming you but it will take far less power for me to hold onto. I've never done this with a living being before, but I've literally been marinating in my own power source for who knows how long now. I won't be able to speak to anyone but you however...I'll literally be inside your head Alistair, and I doubt I'll be able to control you."

Nailah wasn't sure if he'd be alright with such a huge step, though she had a feeling that if he trusted her this far he probably wasn't going to back out now. Alistair was the all or nothing type of personality, when he agreed to save someone...they got saved. If he agreed, Nailah would think a moment on how to do this as it was also the first time she tried anything like this when not in her physical form.

"Can't say I've never wanted to try this, though I wish it was actually me and not a projection of me." She said with a shrug before reaching out and gripping his shirt with her shadowy fingers. She had to focus to maintain their substance so she could pull him forward and press her shadow lips against his. Cold would shoot down his spine as the Void was the opposite of all things light and warmth. That spike of cold would move to his brain, settling in the back off his head like a bad case of brain freeze.

She let go of her shadow projection, focusing on the piece of the void she'd lodged in his mind. "Can you hear me Alistair?" It was much easier now that she didn't have to hold an entire form and merely focus on projecting her voice, and it'd be a far smaller trickle of magic she had to maintain and far less noticeable by her jailers.

[Alistair Greene]

[alistair]A small piece of...[/alistair] he echoed, looking faintly aghast at the idea, then shaking his head as he let out a sigh. NOW she dropped that one on him. Well, she was right, he tended to be an all-or-nothing sort. In for a penny, in for a pound, as the stupid old saying went. So, when she finished the explanation and everything, he nodded.

[alistair]Alright, yeah, go for it.[/alistair] he said. [alistair]Wait, try wh-[/alistair] he started to say, but she'd already grabbed him and kissed him. Ordinarily he supposed he wouldn't have complained, but the immediate aftereffect was a degree of brain freeze to which he had absolutely no previous reference, and he winced in pain as her form faded away. Finally he sat back down on the bed, pressing his hands uselessly against his head. It faded, albeit slowly, and when she spoke he took another breath.

[alistair]Yeah, I can hear y... wait. Do I even have to speak?[/alistair] Shit, are you reading my mind?

Now that he thought about it, this might end up being more than a little weirder than he had thought about. This whole charging ahead without thinking too much thing was going to get him into really deep trouble one of these days. How much COULD she see or do in there?

Mother fuck, he hadn't taken a shower, either.

Finally he settled for grabbing his phone. He had an alert system set up - it would hit Joce and Kelly and Alec and a few others... see how it worked for this - Got a special mission... we're going to break someone big out of an Order prison. Meet me at the airport hangar, we're going to need to hit that ley line nexus from last summer. Gear up for a raid.

[Nailah Al-Ammar]

"No, apparently you don't need to speak." Came her voice in his head followed by a soft chuckle. "Goodness it's a mess in here...how you do remember anything? It feels like your workshop." She stated. She chuckled again as he texted the others. "Something big huh? Glad to know you think so highly of me even after all this time."

She didn't comment on his order of gearing up for a raid, he was doing what had to be done, one of the reasons she'd chosen him. He knew what was at stake if she didn't come out of this as herself. There was no telling just how much the Void had managed to corrupt her. Her magical prison was keeping the effects at bay but what would happen once that prison was broken? Would she still be Nailah? Or would the Void reclaim her for it's own? That was inevitable but she'd like to stave it off as long as possible.

"Thank you Alistair. I mean that. You don't really have much reason to trust me, but I'm glad that you are. When this is over, if you manage to get me out in one piece, I'd like to join you." She told him. Being inside his head he would be able to feel the sincerity of her voice...and the loneliness. Nailah had been abandoned by everyone she'd ever trusted, she'd lost everything she'd ever known and if she made it through this then she'd have to start over.

At least now she'd have a reason to live. The Order would no longer be her life and she would do everything in her power to make sure that they knew it.

[Alistair Greene]

[alistair]Just don't go organizing. I'll never find anything. And at least you're not commenting on the amount of room.[/alistair] Alistair quipped in reply. He spoke out loud for now just to make it easier, though quietly - once he got used to it he'd probably quit bothering... but it was a hard thing to get used to, the idea of Nailah in his head. Talk about awkward.

There were plenty of questions of course about what to do once they found her... they weren't going out on an emergency basis and he had no idea where the people would be, which meant there was some time before they had to go there. [alistair]Pff.[/alistair] He snorted at her last comment, about joining him. The loneliness in her impression was met by warmth, and Alistair's usual joking tone - though there was an element of truth to it, of course.

[alistair]As big a pain as this is going to be, you think I'm going to let you get off easy? I don't think so. You're damn right your ass is working with ARMA after this.[/alistair] He laughed, standing up and walking into the bathroom. He needed to brush his teeth and shave at least, if nothing else... no sense going into a fight half asleep.

Making yourself comfortable in there, at least? he thought as he did, wondering exactly what that was like. And, for that matter, what was going to happen. Weird situations just followed him around, didn't they?

[Nailah Al-Ammar]

Of course, now that Nailah was inside his head, he no longer had to voice his thoughts out loud. She could see them just as if they were her own. So instead of voicing her thoughts she tired something else. Picturing exactly what he and the others would need to do, she pushed the thought into his mind much as she had done with her voice.

Blooming into the forefront of his thoughts, came an image, if a bit vague as she didn't have all the specifics. Alistair stood at the center of a group of mages arranged in half circle facing him. He would act as the focal point as their Mana converged, directing the power not into this world, but into the Void. Nailah would be there with him, helping to direct the flows of Mana to open the Portal. Since there was no distance inside the Void, no time, they could essentially pull her out anywhere if they had the power but without another Void mage using a convergence of Ley Lines would allow them to properly focus their power. Different Mages working together like this was a power to be feared, not just by their enemies. A Fire mage and a Water mage often could not work so closely together but with the proper training and focus..like the kind all Order Mages received, it was possible for short periods of time and it was exactly how the Archmage's had imprisoned her in the first place.

Nailah would be able to latch onto their power and ride it out, using it as the anchor to ground her and keep her from being pulled back in. They would only have the one chance however, the magical bonds that held her had weakened because there were only a few mages actively holding on to the magic. If they sensed her trying to escape they would no doubt add more mages to the collective and their chance would be lost.

"Oh, don't mind if I do." She responded to his thought of her making herself at home. Using this small piece of the void, she focused her power, reaching out to the Abyss and pulling it in around Alistair. The same shadow like apparitions that most had come to call her tattoos began to slither across his skin. some were tribal in design, others words of power written in Arabic, while still others would change, taking on new form that would mean something to Alistair instead.

"Well, isn't that intriguing," she mused, seeing that tattoos through Alistair's eyes as he observed them. They would feel cold against his flesh, tingling almost though it would not be unpleasant. "They always did like you, suppose I should have listened to them more."

[Alistair Greene]

Alistair paused, closing his eyes a moment so he could concentrate on the image she was projecting. Alright... that was doable. He nodded toward the end of it. They'd done something similar to draw out a pair of wraiths a couple years back. He thought he had the old materials for that stashed somewhere in the vault... they were probably going to need that.

Which was about the time the dark markings started to appear on his skin, and he blinked a few times as he saw them in the mirror, holding his hands up to look and make sure it wasn't just the reflection. They weren't as flowery as Nailah's... more jagged, suggestive of his lightning, but still... [alistair]Weird...[/alistair] he muttered. Though not unexpected. If Nai was keeping her power in him for the moment...

Shit.

[alistair]You know that wasn't really what I meant... Should have seen it coming though.[/alistair] He finished at least getting halfway presentable before he walked over to the closet, pulling on his usual shirt and pants before he walked back out into the main room to grab his coat. He didn't wear short sleeves or anything to a fight... meant at least most of the markings wouldn't be visible anyway, which was probably for the best. Fewer questions asked, the better.