Revelations

[Cracked View]

A vision was one thing, but a vision *within* a vision? That sucked ass, because one never knew when the line of Reality was crossed, or uncrossed. Take Eve N. Lizt, for instance. Of all of her abilities, this one was the most random and could be the most frustrating simply because she had no control of it. When it happened, *how* it happened, and how long it happened. Of late, there wasn't any real warning any more; the visions could happen while she was performing any task, even interrupt something as simple as walking. Why bring all of this up? Because she was the latest victim of another vision-inside-a-vision.

Devantious had attempted to shake her out of the trance, but Jara had intercepted him instead, telling him to let this play itself out. Bemused, Devantious simply nodded, his focus returning to waiting on the intern who had went to find the duty roster.


The visions, regardless of their nature, always left Eve confused and uncertain of what was Reality, and what. . . wasn't. The pinprick points of her pupils expanded once more to normal size, and the blankness of her expression disappeared when she drew a breath that sounded as loud as a shotgun blast to her ears in the quiet room. Her pulse was pounding, and she twisted, wide-eyed, looking around. Thoroughly confused, but saying nothing yet, trying to make the distinction for herself of what was Material and what was Mental.


Jara knew the telltale signs well enough to approach her fellow PSD associate once Eve started blinking and glancing around. "You look like that one was quite wicked, hmm? Need to sit down?" She walked Eve over to a nearby stool.

Devantious made a mental note of the situation before the intern returned with the roster. He went over it several times before a small frown appeared on his features. Looking over at the two women, he shook his head no, and handed the papers back to the intern. "Nothing out of the ordinary. She going to be alright?"

Jara nodded in return. "Yeah. Too much morgue smell making her feel all woozy. We done here, Lizt? Need some air to clear your head?"


She wasn't shaking, surprisingly. Confused, but not trembling. Maybe that was a good sign?

. . .Or maybe she was on the brink of overload? Eve tried to shrug the thought off, squeezing her eyes shut briefly as she sat on the edge of the stool. "Did anything happen while I was. . . out?" She asked just loud enough for Jara to hear, but anymore distant and it would just be the soft murmur of her voice. But the idea of getting out of there suddenly became the best thing she'd ever heard, and with a nod, she was up again. "Yeah. I think I need some air." And just to get out of that creeptastic place.


"Outside of you looking like a fish out of water? Newp. Not at all." The intern was thanked, and the three would be outside the main building scant moments later.

Devantious leaned on the hood of his SUV, occasionally glancing over at the two girls while rubbing his chin. He was going to continue to let this play out a little bit longer, before running this pair in for questioning - if he did not have a solid reason not to.

Jara knew the routine. She'd let Eve gather herself, before hitting her with the whole twenty question routine.


Well, that clarified things a little. The air outside tasted better, but almost anything was better than the closed confines of the morgue. Just knowing what went on there on a daily basis was enough to make her a tad on the queasy side of things. "So Darcy didn't actually come running at me with an ax?" She was tempted to find something to lean against but wouldn't let herself. Eve needed to stand up, move around a little, vent some of the nervous energy that was now coursing through her.


Uh-oh. Devantious was giving her that *look.* Or at least it looked that way, no pun intended.

Jara was shaking her head slowly from side to side, slipping her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "Uh, nope. That would have been a little hard for us to miss, kiddo. You think she was there?"


"Maybe. It was a vision, but it was like. . . one locked inside the other. First, I Saw Cromwell, in Daemon form mind you, come in and go right for lucky box number six-six-six. I swear Jara, he looked right at me and *smiled.* The next thing I knew, I was being thrown on the floor because a screaming Darcy had an ax and was trying to take my head off. Then. . . Then I woke up." Eve didn't like this feeling; everything was even more confused and convoluted than usual, and she was wishing she could crawl off under a rock somewhere, just give herself a little time to sort it out, recuperate. "And don't look at me like that. Please." She'd given Devantious that stormy-eyed stare for a moment, before breaking away to pace a little, folding her arms.


"Cromwell? Daemon form? That anything like a . . . Demon?" Well, judging by the tone of his voice, he at least *sounded* like he believed them. That was until Eve gave him that off-the-wall comment. "Uh, look at you like *what?*"

Jara stepped in on the chit-chat session. "She sort of hates when folks gives her that 'uh-oh, she's loco' look. You kind of had that a bit ago. She's seen it enough to know it, if you get my meaning."

Okay, whether he meant to or not, Devantious was giving both women that look now, before mulling something over. "How about we find a place that's open late for
something to eat so we can sort this out. Then I'll know enough *not* to be giving you these looks you say I'm giving, despite neither of you giving me much to go on outside of something that would make for a good Sci-Fi made for TV movie."

Jara chuckled before nudging Eve with her shoulder. The act in itself served a dual purpose; One, it gave her something else to focus on to help pull her further out of that trance state, and the second was a gentle reminder that he was on their side, and had *not* ran them in, considering she looked a *lot* like the one that had been doing the killing, and Devantious had only seen *them* thus far. It *did* sound either a little far fetched, or like they were a pair of femmes fatales.

Jara caught her breath and nudged Eve again before putting an arm around her friend, then glancing over at him once again. "Look, I know this all sounds *reaaaaaaaaaaally* crazy, but for us, it's part of the job. Hey, I totally trust this wide-eyed sexy freak with my life, enough to know she'd never lie. Much." She said it with a grin.

Devantious stared at the pair, not with that *look* but just staring. "Fine. How about we find some local eatery so you two can fill me in so I don't keep giving you this look I don't know I'm giving you?"


"It's not just part of the job. It's a way of life, really." Eve had to throw that in, and though it didn't sound like she was altogether thrilled with it, the words had the tone of 'eh, what can you do?' "The weirdness is what our unruly little bunch is really about." Giving Jara a poke in the side, the young woman then reached up to rub that back of her neck. "Yeah, I know a place nearby. I need some coffee. Seriously."


Devantious simply nodded and they got back into the SUV and drove per Eve's instructions.

Moments later, the scent of coffee filled the air, and Devantious continued to wait quietly until one of them was ready to talk. Jara? She was on her usual feeding binge, as her mouth was full with her eighth donut. Scary sight in itself.


She was on her second cup of coffee, idly glancing at Jara every now and then. How *could* she eat like that? It made Eve's stomach hurt to even *think* about eating that many donuts! She still had her first on the little plate in front of her, though she'd done little more than pick the sprinkles off. The girl practically ran on caffeine and sugar these days. "So just how crazy do you really think we are?" The young woman had recovered a little, though she looked a bit tired, and was currently trying to ignore the itch of the new ink on her back.


The diner was pretty much empty save for the graveyard shifters that worked there. Devantious sipped his Colombian mix before looking over at Eve. "For the record? I'm probably one of the few outside your PSD that don't think you're crazy at all. It's not like having two other brothers, and finding out that one has been given a total remake? Not crazy at all, Ms. Lizt. This actually explains a lot of things now."

Now that caused Jara to stop eating. "It does?" She looked at Eve. "Is he being serious, or just keeping us busy until backup arrives to take us away?"


"No, he's serious. Tohmaz has been through some. . . changes, to say the least. He's been through a couple just since *I've* known him. Argus, then Tohmaz, then Tohmaz Argus Steele." A long sip of the coffee taken, before she added a little more sugar to the dark mix. "At least his attitude didn't change too much along the way. You and Arion have just enough of it that I wouldn't even have to know your last name to know you're related." The corners of her lips tugged up gently in a smile, slight but genuine. "Arion told me about the whole trying and such, but I tend to botch things in the retelling." Details were lost, or things were jumbled, turned around. She leaned forward, propping her elbows on the edge of the table, white coffee mug between her hands.

"Then I'm glad you're sitting down for this because, we are *not* actually related. It was easier to explain why there were three of us." He gave Eve a knowing glance. Jara did a double take. "Yeah, Arion, Argus, and myself were survivors of our own destroyed Realms, and when teamed together, we just went with the whole brother gimmick. It worked out so well that we even started thinking we were. I even share a limited bond with them, or at least with Arion now. With Argus . . . Tohmaz being Reborn, this explains the Reality Glitches I've noticed the past several months." Another sip of his coffee taken.


Her brows rose with that one, and she was quiet, mulling it over for a moment. "Hmm. Well, the three of you pull that one pretty well, so no one would even know until you told them - just like this." Who was *she* to really consider anything strange? She tapped a nail lightly against the ceramic mug. "The Daemons also had a lot to do with those glitches, Cromwell especially. We thought maybe he was destroyed in the lower levels of Stonebridge. Hell, I even thought she - Eve X - was sort of the catalyst, because I think she's the one that pulled the trigger and killed Amber. But I don't. . .think that's over with." That little bit kept replaying in her mind - the creepy blue skinned, pin-headed figure that had grinned at her. She shivered now, and let a sigh hiss out between her teeth.


"Do you happen to have any pictures of this Cromwell person? He doesn't ring a bell."

Hell, if Eve was going to do all the talking, then she was going to finish off the donuts, looking back and forth at the pair as she did.


Her brows drew together for a second as she considered it. "I don't think so. Besides, what I Saw in the morgue, you'd. . . um, you'd know. He looked human, but think blue skin, black eyes, and pins sticking out of his head." She grimaced a little as she described it. "I'm not sure if he can fabricate his own human disguise, or if he has to take a host body. I've Seen a Daemon or two come charging out of hosts when things got bad before, but he's a Daemon Lord." A shrug, and she glanced at Jara, polished off the second cup, then looked back to Devantious. "This is still a major learning process for me." Aaaand she poured the third cup.


An arch of the eyebrow. "Really? Something along the lines of this?" He pulled out what kind of looked like an i-Pod, his brow creasing while he searched for the right image before showing it to Eve. It was *him!*


Just looking at it was enough to make her shudder. "Ugh." It was creepy, and there was just that Feeling of *wrongness,* even with the image. "Yeah, that's him. Can't miss that."


Pulling out his phone, Devantious pressed a number, a *very* serious look etched onto those features. "Arion, I hope you're close by, bro. We have big trouble. Christain Christ is back!"

Jara looked up, muttering, "Sounds like some '80's rock band!"


Jara had a point. "Yeah, terrible name. Let me guess: Things just went from bad, to worse?" His expression had pretty much said it all, along with the fact that he called Arion up.

[Cracked View]

Devantious cracked a small smile at the comments made as far as Christian Christ's, then nodded in response to Eve's question as well. "Yeah, this is major trouble in the worst way. At one point, there was a select group of people picked to safe guard Reality itself. They were called Realm Walkers. Argus ... Er, Tohmaz, Arion and myself were survivors from three different Realms that suffered from several stars imploding upon themselves. Unique, as well as strange because it involved three different Realities, and we happened to be the ones that survived. We were trained to be the next in line for the Realm Walkers. Tohmaz was assigned to watch over a Fantasy Realm called Rhydin." He paused long enough to field any questions, as well motion for a refill.


She'd finally doctored her coffee with cream and sugar, and started on the third cup. Not that it really seemed to be having much effect on her; Eve didn't feel any less tired or just very slightly dazed, that was for sure. "Think it was coincidence that it happened that way?" Very odd coincidence if he did. Not for the first time, Eve wondered if maybe she was a touch *too* paranoid. It was easy to see peculiarities, or even conspiracies, where there may never have been any.

Nah, she decided, idly. In this line of work, it was hard to be *too* paranoid.


"Rhydin?" Jara perked up. "I've heard of that place. I thought it was just a Fantasy Realm, like you said. Make believe. Never Never Land. Twilight Zone. Outer Limits. Fantasy Island. SG-1. Quantum Leap. Sliders. Just to name a few."

If she was trying to be funny, Devantious took her comment seriously. "You're pretty much on the money, Jara. Rhydin was often seen as a Glitch in Reality, so no one paid it much mind. By the time that mistake was finally discovered, Rhydin had become a Multi-Verse, growing out of control with no way to stop it. The basic rules just didn't apply there, which caused some Walkers to go rogue. Like Christian, and eventually Argu - Tohmaz. Christian saw a Realm where it was a virtual melting pot of possibilities. Different eras and cultures thrown together, medieval mixed with modern with no backlash."


"Christian is also a rogue Walker. Great." Followed by a sip of her coffee. It was a weird place to think about - all of that combined together with no apparent consequences. "So given that you called Arion, I'm guessing the situation just got a lot worse. But what would he have been doing in the morgue?"


"Argus was the first to encounter him, considering he was watching Rhydin at the time. He had established himself on Rhydin, as well assembling a group of people whom he trusted to aid him with stopping Christian. Dragons. Immortals. Monsters. Elves. And other humans. Christian had learned of a Book of the Dead, and it was rumored powerful enough to be used even outside Rhydin. He had his own assembled forces, scattered them throughout Time and Space in an effort to locate the Book before Argus and his lot could, because they would have destroyed it. Arion and I were called in to assist him. The Book was only half of what Christian was searching for; there had also been a Crystal of Making, an orb powerful enough to warp the very fabric of Reality itself by whoever possessed it. Argus found that first, and in defeating Christian, became corrupted by it."

Jara would just let out a low whistle. "Well, no wonder you believe us. Bugger, who would believe you?"


"Only people as loony as he is." Spoken with a brief smile as she put down the half-full cup and leaned back in her seat, hands falling into her lap. "Yeah, I remember the mention of that Crystal pushing Argus to the, um, Dark Side." Well, that had been Evan's phrasing for it, anyway. "So he'd been defeated then, but obviously not destroyed. With the mention of that Book, I'm not so sure I want to know what he might have been doing at our dismembered friend's fridge box." Not pleasant to speculate on, really.


"Argus picked up where Christian left off, hungry for power, and tampering with Reality. By the time he was brought down, enough damage had been down to enough Realities, and the Realm Walkers were all but destroyed. The few that remained were now seen as potential threats to also turn evil. We were stripped of our abilities, but allowed to pick what Reality we wished to live out our semi-immortal years in. Death was to be Argus' fate, but it was disputed because of the good he had done up to that point. The higher powers banished him to the Abyss, a never-ending void where he was to be trapped forever. Imagine falling for the rest of your life, at a high rate of speed,
but never reaching the bottom. There had been stories of those that found a way out, but also found their sanity altered even after a few moments inside the void." Glancing down at the table, Devantious would grow quiet.

Jara was taking all of this in, no longer interested in eating. "Wait, so how'd Tohmaz get out? He acts normal to me. Normal enough, considering what we do."


She'd been watching Devantious closely as he spoke. Though this was the second time Eve had heard this little tale, it didn't change that it was difficult to believe - but she did. She might have had a more difficult time with it if she hadn't seen the changes in Tohmaz herself, particularly that strange kind of adaptability. When the first real Shift in reality had occurred, most people had remained mostly the same - or failed to exist at all. But not him. He'd changed, adapted to it. At least it hadn't been as weird to her as finding Jared Rico as a girl, and one she could trust to say the most off-the-wall thing possible.

Glancing at Jara, Eve then picked up her coffee cup for another sip, and glanced back at him. Saying nothing, for the moment.


"Well, it seems that Argus didn't kill Christian, which brings up several points. Christian faked his own death only to return as this Daemon freak of nature. Argus is back without any memory of himself, so it seems. That could have only happened if someone tried to take him from the Abyss." His phone rang right then, and he excused himself to take the call outside, leaving the ladies to their own thoughts.

Jara whistled again, looking over at her partner. "Wow, you can certainly pick 'em, girl! It's usually us girls that come with the *baggage."


Eve had only nodded slightly as he left, her eyes a bit distant as she thought back to her conversation with Arion before. No. . .he hadn't said *how* Argus had gotten out of the Abyss. Only that he *had.* The nails of one hand lightly tapped the ceramic of the mug, while her other hand rested thoughtfully against her glossed lips. Jara's words jolted her from her thoughts. "Huh? Oh, trust me, I have plenty of my own." A brief pause. "And I didn't pick him, either." Wait. . .what? Eve blinked at that one, and gave her head a little shake. Kind of scary that she was getting *used* to denying that she and Tohmaz were really anything more than friends. Liplocking didn't count. Did it? Whatever the case, she figured she'd get around to addressing that with Tohmaz. Sooner or later. "So what do you make of all this?"


"Hey, it makes me wonder if I'm some sort of Realm Walker. I am the sole survivor of my Reality, you know." Then she stopped. "Wait, this is really spooky. Tohmaz-Arion-Devantious. Me-Jared-Jarod. You-Evan-Eve X. Dun dun duuunnnn!"


"Yeah. They say bad things come in threes, so that explains you." She had sweet grin as she said the words, but it faded quickly. "Kidding. It is pretty creepy, actually. I've heard triads are more powerful than. . .well, any other number."


-*Thwap!*- "I wonder what he's talking about? He didn't seem to happy to hear his brother was back, did he? Dev mentioned something about having a Bond with his brothers. Mebbe that works for you as well? Jared an' I always seem to know where the other one is, and now it makes a little more sense. Mebbe that's the same with you and Eve X, and didn't Evan always seem to find you?"


Yeah, she took the lick with a little grin. Couldn't argue much, given that she deserved it. "Yeah, Evan did. I think he even said something once before about being able to kind of. . .sense me. Eve X, I don't know. It kind of happens at random - or it *seems* random, at least. If there's reason or rhyme to it, I can't really figure it out."


"Opps! He's coming back inside, an' looking even more sour than when he left."

Devantious was never one for sugar coating things. Argus was the smart ass of the trio, while Arion was the smooth one. Devantious? He was just himself. What you saw was what you got. Sitting back down, he looked from one woman to the other, then sipped his still warm coffee. Setting the cup down, he took a deep breath. "Seems that Argus still has enemies loyal to Christian. There was an attempt to destroy the void, to collapse it on itself. Not a wise thing to try, because it exploded, causing some sort of cosmic reboot, which not only freed Argus instead of killing him, but somehow *recreated* him as well. It was like glass breaking, the mirror of Reality shattering."

Jara blinked at his choice of words, having heard Eve say something similar to that. "Arion is enroute, and will be here shortly. We need to see Argus."


The young woman was all seriousness now, watching him quietly as he spoke. The mirror of reality breaking. Dropping her hands into her lap again, Eve tried to surpress a shudder. At his words, she looked at Jara, and arched a brow delicately. "Well, partner, what do you say? Should we give him a call?"


Jara was already on the phone before Eve even finished her sentence. "Hey Bro, where's Steele? Point blank? We're at a coffee shop, with his brother. *No bloody shyte, Sherlock!* (m) Well, he's sitting right across from us, an' he checks out. Yeah, we'll be here, and there's some stuff you need to be hearin' as well, but nae on th' phone."

Devantious had a slightly amused expression at the way Jara's accent changed when she seemed to become annoyed, or upset. He'd gave the quiet Eve a look as well before asking her a question. "So, I guess your story doesn't sound so crazy after all, eh?"


Well, at least she wasn't having to push Jara into it. Her brows rose, and she had a look of mild amusement before looking back to Devantious. Sounded like Jared's reaction was kind of like Jara's. "My story? No, it doesn't sound crazy - just as long as you're a bit left of center, like all of us." She grinned, and raised her cup for a moment, then downed the last bit of coffee in it.


She might have thought she was making a joke to lighten the mood, but in fact, Eve had no idea how left of center Devantious really was - especially if she knew that Tohmaz may have to be killed to save Reality.