Where there is ruin... (Ireland)

[Sage]

Aiden fussed over him and Sage grinned at his boyfriend. "I've no internet." Where on this planet could they go that he didn't get at least some internet. Jaxen seemed to know where they were. But he was frantic. He looked afraid. And then a fireball flew out of his hand and Sage pushed himself and Aiden to the ground. It wasn't the first time he'd had to duck and cover. Nox liked to throw fireballs too. Thankfully Jaxen hadn't actually been aiming for them.

"Sorry." Sage said as he dusted himself off when the fireball splattered into nothingness. "We can't get separated." Sage pulled Aiden up from the ground where he'd landed on top of the rockstar. His rockstar, he thought happily to himself. Sage ran after Jaxen but never let go of Aiden's hand. They couldn't get separated. For some reason Sage knew it was imperative.

[Aiden Finnegan]

Everything seemed to happen in a blur. First, Sage had given him that goofy grin – the one that still managed to make him melt – and then he was shoving Aiden to the ground with his body. Were this a different time and place, he would have rolled the younger man around and… Well, this wasn’t a different time – Jaxen was throwing fireballs at Ethelinda before taking off down one of the passages. Sage hoisted Aiden to his feet and pulled him after the reckless trickster. As they passed through the doorway, Aiden’s skin turned to goosebumps as laughter erupted from Ethelinda. Her laugh sounded… off.

“Babe,” Aiden managed to pant out as they jogged into a long corridor, “Please tell me you heard what Jaxen said. He’s been here before, wherever this is. Who the fuck is Sora?”

Aiden had a sinking feeling that he would be dropping the ‘F-bomb’ a lot until they found their way out. This had to be some extraplanar realm – something straight out of Dungeons and Dragons or Final Fantasy XXIV. What else could it be? The sky on Earth just didn’t look like it did here; and Aiden was pretty sure this was not some dream. There were no drugs that caused this deep of a hallucination, either. Maybe DMT, but you had to inject that if you wanted anything more than visual stimulation. There was no possible way Jaxen could have secretly injected them. And even if he had, what would his goals be? No. This was most definitely some location that did not reside on the planet Earth.

Fuck. Were they transported to another planet entirely? It had to be that. Some kind of fucked up shit that only happened in the stories. Oh, the Ascendancy would shit bricks if he knew about this… But then again, who was Aiden to say that he didn’t?

Aiden shivered visibly and clutched Sage’s hand tighter. The corridor stretched on into utter darkness. They could only see a faint glimmer of light ahead, which had to be Jaxen. Aiden opened himself to the Power and let the torrent of raging Light permeate every ounce of his being. Two orbs of light sprung to life; Aiden tied the weave off and set one to follow himself and another to follow Sage. After that was done, he wove Fire and manifested a fireball in his hand. The blazing light hovered above his outstretched free-hand, ready to fly at anything that might threaten his boyfriend or himself.

They would find a way out, if only Jaxen would calm down and wait for them.

[Jaxen Marveet]

He ran until his legs ached and not in the good way at the top of his thighs. The passage chosen at random seemed to be the wrong direction. The walls blurred, smooth and doorless. There had to be a way out. The last time, there was a city buried in the labyrinth and an archway to somewhere. Okay. So maybe it led to an inescapable room dominated by a crazy old man. But at least the man was human. It was a better fate than being swallowed whole by a snake as big as a house.

He flung random fireballs over his shoulder, uncaring for where they landed or what they set ablaze in his wake. Finally, a door appeared. He skid to a stop, clutched the knob, and yanked it open, only to reveal a brick wall. He pounded on it until his fists throbbed like the barrier would crumble with enough force. With an angry, frantic growl, he abandoned the effort and ran onward.

Finally, the passageway came to a blunt end. Jaxen ran to the surface, palms beating at the nothingness of smooth wall. Above, the sky churned open and unreachable. He was trapped. Trapped.

He turned around, panting. In the distance, Aiden and Sage followed, but the hall telescoped the longer he looked. They seemed to grow farther and farther away. Or maybe it was Jaxen who moved backward.

Then, the wall parted to mist, and he fell weightless through the nothing behind. The fall knocked the wind from his lungs, and his head rang bells on the floor. Then a shadow came across the sky, leaned down and whispered in his ear. The heat of her breath shot a shiver across his neck. He didn’t want to see the slits of her eyes or hear the slither of her tongue. The ancient power might have flung her away, but his brain couldn’t concoct any form of defense. Instead, he flung a fist upward, but the strike met empty air as Ethelinda dashed aside.

Like a dream, everything shifted and the next heartbeat, he found himself on his feet. The hall was expanded and he was centered in a wide, thankfully empty. Sage and Aiden weren’t to be seen, and for the first time, Jaxen wished for their company.

[Sage]

[[ Going to make a few assumptions about what Sage would see please le me know if it's not what you had in mind. And a minor modding - let me know if I need to change it. ]]

Aiden and Sage chased Jaxen through corridors that all looked the same. Sage always employed GPS tracking but there was no GPS tracking. There was no internet, now safe house, just mapping software Aurora had written. A piece of software he kept in his phone. Nox used it all the time it couldn't be difficult. The transfer was quick and Sage was mapping the whole place as they ran. But not all of it, not the parts that had brought them here.

Jaxen ran headlong into the empty corridors. The chase was futile. Fireballs flung randomly nearly hitting them. Jaxen wasn't any safer than the emptiness. "We should stop and take stock. He's not thinking straight." Sage wished he could tag Jaxen. But there was no personal network set up. Aurora had thought of a great many things -- including a personal network so they could all hook into one data point while they explored places. The tunnels underground, the middle of no where Colorado where they had done most of their training -- anyplace off the grid.

Sage stopped. "I don't like this." He hoped Aiden would agree with him and stop running without knowledge. He could only hope someone kept their head on.
A fireball flew past Sage's ear nearly singing his face if it hadn't been for Aiden yanking him to the side with the hand he had grabbed to follow Jaxen.

[Aiden Finnegan]

Aiden growled under his breath as fireballs shot past him, one nearly taking Sage in the shoulder.

If he harms a hair on Sage’s body – even accidentally…! Aiden thought furiously to himself as he cast his fireball aside and let it fizzle out on the strange stone that made up the corridor. He immediately worked a thread of Air just so and tied the Weave off. An invisible wall sprung up before them, set to move forward as they did, and taking the blasts of the countless fireballs Jaxen lobbed at them. Aiden did not release the Power, he needed it to enhance his vision in the dimness of this strange and alien place.

“I don’t like this either, babe,” Aiden breathed out quietly, the raging torrents of the Power coursing through his every being – urging him on, pushing him towards the ever fleeting trickster.

Jaxen stopped ahead and began pounding on the walls. The stone seemed to open up for the man and pulled him in. Aiden cursed to himself. If he had only held on to that fireball, he might have been able to send it forward and stick it to the spot on the – now solid – wall that Jaxen had been pulled into. Without it, they’d have to search for the spot and hope that the wall would open to their touch.

Or I can just use Earth to slice into it… If Earth will work on this stuff… Aiden thought to himself. It looks like stone, but…

“Fuck. FUCK!” Aiden hollered down the corridor. He brought his hands up to his temples and rubbed at them, feeling a tension headache coming on. “You’re right. Of course, you are right. We can’t keep this up. Not if we are going to make it out of here alive. My gut tells me to find the spot on the wall that took him. I can use the Power to force our way through. If we can’t, then we can move on and maybe find a way out without him.”

Aiden didn’t think that Jaxen would put in as much effort to find them, but then again, Jaxen was an asshole.

[Jaxen Marveet]

Jaxen curled down upon himself, forehead on the floor. His ears throbbed. Drums rumbled inside his head. He could practically feel the tongues slithering up and down his body. Their venom dripped acid, scorching his skin. This was the end, again, he told himself.
Then an idea burrowed up inside his brain, taking hold like a parasite clawing from somewhere forgotten. “Oh shut up, Jaxen. Everything ended before. It’ll end again.”

With that, the noise stopped. The pressure fled. A fleshy hand touched his shoulder, and he looked up to find himself at the feet of a female. Not just any female, the hot woman from the surface. At least, the figure that masqueraded as a woman. The woman was mostly human appearing, but her yellow eyes were too narrow and her jaw too long. Her skin was scalloped with the sickening hint of scales that Jaxen was morbidly curious to caress. Her body was slender and lean with slim breasts and narrow hips that lacked the hourglass shape he remembered. More than that, she was dressed differently than Jaxen remembered. She wore a tall headdress of gold that was formed in the shape of flames layered upon flames. From it threaded beads of jewels that wove around her head. Luminous hair the color of murky green water toppled from her head to her waist. Her clothing was royal with curved metal elements rested upon her shoulders like armor.

Since it wasn’t like Jaxen to grovel, least not until really necessary, he climbed to unsteady feet. The ginormous cavern of a room felt smaller. Slitted eyes remained, watching from shadows, but they were satiated it seemed. Having taken what they wanted from him and waited for more.

“Have a good show?” He spat at the group. “Enjoy watching people panic?” he snorted, less than amused, and stared down the woman who was quite likely their host for the day, frantically trying to figure out how to get out of this.

“Are you not entertained?” he asked her, quoting a movie that reminded him of exactly their current circumstance. That’s when he realized what kind of place he was in. It was some kind of arena.

She didn’t answer, only studied what she saw. Jaxen breathed heavy, but he was too tired to dismantle the puzzles. What did she want with him? With.. shit! Aiden and Sage. What the hell happened to them? Were they even alive? Were they about to be paraded out onto the arena floor. He wouldn’t mind attempting to duel Aiden to the death, but he really wasn’t in the mood right then.

With that, the naga princess lifted her hand and up raised a hidden doorway. On the other side were two human men that he was most relieved to see.

In the blink of an eye, the royal woman was upon a distant dias. Her voice echoed in the chamber and her people listened intently.
"Only one issssss worthy. Let he claim the treassssssurrre,” she hissed and a cold shiver ran down his back.

“I have a bad fucking feeling about this,” he said to himself.

[Sage]

Aiden wanted to look for the way Jaxen had gone. The walls were perfectly smooth, there were no lines, or indication there might even be a door.

A section of wall lifted, parted, Sagre really couldn't tell you what it did, it was just there. Like Magic. Sage was quickly tiring of being useless in this world. He really didn't know why he came here at all.

The woman from before looked like herself and then like something else -- something more snake-like. Of course, it was. She spoke... worthy? Sage did not like this sound of this at all. He was dead if this was a battle of sorts. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Sage didn't even want whatever prize it was she was talking about.

[Aiden Finnegan]

Stone suddenly seemed to vanish as Aiden had pounded upon it. Had he done that? He wasn’t trying to use the Power. He was just frustrated and-

"Only one issssss worthy. Let he claim the treassssssurrre,” a voice hissed from beyond the opening. Aiden felt himself instinctively shiver as his eyes met Jaxen’s, who appeared to be standing in a dark, circular chamber. Aiden’s brow furrowed and his head began to shake slowly. He gripped Sage’s hand tightly.

Despite his persona and lifestyle, Aiden had indeed devoted most of his life to the stories and figures from mythology. A monomyth that had sprung up constantly was the Hero’s journey. It just so happened that many an adventure was modeled after the Hero’s journey. What had Aiden wanted? An adventure. What had he gotten? An adventure. Of course, there would be a trial of sorts in exchange for a boon. That is what always happened. Aiden felt the urge to roll his eyes as he made the mental connections.

Ask and ye shall receive, he thought to himself ruefully.

“I think that voice in there wants Jaxen and I to fight. Maybe to the death,” Aiden spoke soberly as he turned his head towards Sage, “If I die… Well…”

It would have been cliché for Aiden to admit his love for Sage in that moment, but he couldn’t find the words. He was not sure yet. Would he sacrifice himself for his boyfriend? Without question. But after the heartache of the past, Aiden still could not say those words lightly. Not even in the face of death. He had never fought another ‘God.’ Ever. He had gone hunting with Nox a few times, but never against someone who could harness the Power and if Jaxen’s show was anything to go on? Well, Aiden certainly felt like his work had been cut out for him.

As if by instinct, he embraced the Power and wove a few strands of Earth together before tying them off. A lithe, stone dagger materialized in Aiden’s left hand and he passed it into Sage’s hands before pulling him close. He kissed him deeply and tenderly. His head pulled away slightly and he breathed, “Save yourself, above all else.”

With that, and in a dramatic flare of showmanship, he pushed away from Sage and walked through the opening in the stone wall. He paused as he stepped through and turned around, weaving a shield of Air into the opening of the wall. Aiden did not think that Jaxen would attack Sage, but the man was a trickster, and a trickster always used what was at hand.

Aiden breathed in deeply, puffing out his chest and spun around, still holding tight to the Power.

“I think we both know what is to come next, Jaxen,” Aiden said soberly to the other man, “Just don’t drag it out…”

Aiden’s face was a mask of indifference as he looked about the room. Slitted, glittering eyes gazed at him from the shadows that edged the chamber. A strange, snake-like woman stood at a dias to Aiden’s left. She was regal and alien, a vision of something otherworldly. Were these the Tuatha de Danann? Aiden might never find out, but it was a problem to cast aside for the moment.

“I see no obstacle course. Only you,” Aiden broke the silence again as two fireballs erupted in his waiting palms, “No hard feelings, yea? Let’s just make this quick. I rarely perform for free.”

[Sage]

A kiss. A good-bye. Hell no. The dagger held firmly in his hand Sage walked forward. He wasn't going to let either of them fight -- not without a fight of his own. Sage took one step, then two and crashed into a wall of air. Fucking....

Sage pounded on the air like it would break under the duress. He knew better, Nox wove them all over his make-shift dojo to protect them. They held up to fireballs repeated splattered against them. Though with time they would weaken, and the same with the barrage. But beating with his fists didn't matter.

"Don't do this!" Sage shouted. He pounded on the door for emphasis.

He shouted a loud a he could. The speaker on the drone spouted the words even louder. The connection snapping into place in his mind. It was the only connection he had and it felt like such a mere trickle of information. But the power he could send was more than he thought.

"What fucking century is this! A fight to the death -- how fucking archaic." Sage growled and pounded on the wall with each word. "Pitting two men against one another in a battle neither of them will win. Killing these reborn gods is what you do? So do it your fucking self. Cowards the lot of you!"

[Jaxen Marveet]

Whoa.

In his twenty-some-odd-(ahem)-plus years, Jaxen found himself in trouble more than once. Since this whole Ancient Power thing came about, it seemed to be a more frequent problem. Rainbow haired teenagers with guns. Teleporting snake people. Cannibals in the banya. John White and his fucking zippo-revenge (still funny). Extra-bitey hot Irish girls lurking in libraries. Now he had to add treasure-hunting rock stars to the list. On one hand, this was definitely a new problem. On the other, shit, he didn’t really think Aiden had the balls to outright try and kill him. Guess you never really knew a guy after all?

“This is probably the one and only time I will ever agree with Sage,” Jaxen said, hands up and backing away from the wild-eyed Aiden. Power swarmed the man in a way that Jaxen never noticed before. He was stronger than even Jaxen realized. Which was a problem in and of itself to consider for other days. Surprising someone with a jolt of unexpected strength in this power could be an interesting twist. But what made Jaxen swallow his thoughts was the realization that Aiden was stronger than himself. Which just wasn’t fucking fair.


Suddenly, fireballs whirled into flaming existence and streaked like missiles toward a fleshy target. Jaxen practically fell out of the way, saving himself from landing flat on his back only by the many years of being a traceur. A dust cloud puffed upward as he rolled onto one knee, and a grit took his teeth.
If Aiden was the stronger one, well, Jaxen still had been doing this a lot longer. An idea suddenly sprang to mind.

As soon as he rolled back to his feet, an instantaneous shimmer wafted his body, followed a second later by the appearance of doe-eyed Sage.

“Don’t kill me,” the fake-Sage bellowed. A little extra twisting of the power around his throat even replicated Sage's voice. Of course, the overlay of the power would distort the effect Jaxen wanted. No point creating an illusion if the viewer was distracted by the weaves that made it in the first place. Jaxen grit his teeth and forced the flow to double-back on itself. A smearing, like the pelt of velvet brushed backward, occurred. Seemingly minimizing the visibility of the power itself. It settled into his skin like dust, and Jaxen knew it worked. 

After waiting for the appropriate stunning sure to come, a fling of gray spikes sprayed the air toward Aiden.