Fastball o/` The Way o/`

[Dracos]

Dracos hums, his eyes calm as he considered, "Pardon me, Ezmereth, but I must ask, who are we to these events?  To this...Contest?  To my eyes of old, I'd see a scattered group of well...  not adventurers or really warriors by any call.  To my eyes new, I see powers great enough to quell even my arrogance.  Among us I see strange magic that to all science shouldn't even be there.  But it is.  Similar to myths of old.  I favor myself the belief I have somewhat of an open mind, but this is still quite well, strange to abuse the word.  Would you please enlighten us more?  Victor mentioned he knew us.  Or at least some of us from times that we do not remember.  And I agree, we don't.  So who are we that we forget and yet come back to things of import?  This contest is to protect...Gaea, I believe the greecian name for her was?  But what could have such power to sway in such a manner as you have described?  Some artifact?  A wave of magic and will comprised to some area?  A naturalized effect of will in the act of defending her to a given purpose?  My experiences here fail me, so please pardon my inquistiveness, Ezmereth."

Dracos

[Brian]

"That's up to you entirely, of course," Ezmereth replies, shrugging.

"Well, the Contest is of import to the Seventh Cabal, and the Pax Arcana," Victor adds, lounging near the fire and puffing on his pipe.  "That's what everything is about, to them.  Me, I don't really care.  I'm already dead, so what happens to the dreams of the living doesn't matter too much."

Ezmereth eyes Victor, and the vampire falls silent, puffing smoke rings towards the bonfire.

"I merely wish to make you aware of the Contest," he clarifies.  "You may yet be drawn into it, even if you do not wish such to happen.  I am the first key to anyone who wishes to undertake the approval of the Guardian Spirits, to pass the trials for this contest ... but I am one of several.  Your friend," he points at Nathan, "calls us Titans.  Some merely call us the Old Ones.  But we exist, and we are the keys ... possibly to the world's survival.  But who are we to say?  There are three ways the contest can end, and only two forces to try and fight ... to make one come about.

"There are those that wish to cull the weak, and there are those that wish to run away and find a new Sister Earth to despoil."  He grimaces at that.  "No one remains who would awaken the people of this world to what it was."

"They were called the Order of Harmony, the Order of Symetry, and other names," Victor adds.  "Wiped out long ago.  Tragic, really."  He nods, puffing at his pipe.

"As far as what you are ... you should all know.  You should all remember.  You do not remember all your names yet," he says, pointing at Phil.  "But you will awaken to your past and realize that you are a part of the old world.  If humanity flees, you will be left behind.  All of you bear within you something older than yourself ... something that cannot abide being parted with the land.  You are changing, because the world may leave you behind.

"And yet, you are not alone, either.  There are many like you, who are in the same position, who must decide which cause to champion ... and then, there are those who fight for a cause that is their own unmaking, not knowing who leads them."  He sighs.  "Such is the way of things.  

"However, I do not wish to bring you into the Contest, I merely wish you to understand that it exists, and what it may mean to you."

Victor merely grunts, his eyes distant.  "Oh, we've met before," he adds after a pause.  "Or shadows of yourselves.  Past lives, perhaps.  And now ... we meet again."

[Dracos]

Dracos nods, his face thoughtful as he brushed his beard considering.

Dracos

[Rezantis]

"I hate to sound impatient, because I know it's a really long and complicated story . . . but we really don't know anything.  I've got a million more things I'd like to know, but no idea where to start asking, so I guess I'll simply start with the place of obvious bias: what was the world?  What exactly the the Order of Symmetry champion?"

[Brian]

"You should ask your friend, the Oracle, that," Ezmereth says.  "She wishes to bring about harmony between the people and the land once more.  To unite the memories of what was, with what will be, and to defeat the Enemy on her own ground."

[Bjorn]

Bjorn nods, grimly.  "The ones who were behind the Workshop... they are the ones that want to cull the weak?"

[Ginrai]

"About the third option, to awaken all to what they have forgoten about the Earth, why is that no one fights for that cause nowadays?"

[Brian]

Ezmereth rubs his bare chin thoughtfully.  "The ones behind that place of darkness ... no, they wish to abandon this Earth, and flee.

"As far as why no one has picked up their cause," he says, turning to Ginrai, "many do.  But without a leader of the spirit ... your friend, the Oracle ... to guide them, they can never find the path.  We cannot be seen, except by those who have contacted one such as her ... or people like yourselves, who are a part of the older world."

[Bjorn]

Bjorn's face hardens.  "I see."

Well.  I swore to stop the Workshop, and everything behind it; and it turns out the only alternative on the field is even worse.  But there's still another option...

[Rezantis]

"Without a leader of the spirit, they can't find their path?  Do Ceran and Manos serve the same fuction for the Seventh Cabal and Pax Arcana?"

[Brian]

"That's right.  And ... if those are who I believe they are, then yes."

[Rezantis]

"Nebuchadnezzar and Rasputin, respectively - or so I'm told.  Rasputin was killed by a Brother of Morpheus while we were wrecking the Workshop."

[Brian]

"The Warriors of Dream favor a side so openly?" Ezmereth muses.  "How ... odd.  There must have been some change to them, then."

[Rezantis]

"Mm.  There was a wolf in the dream world, the few times I saw, it seemed to be allied to Ayame . . . the oracle . . . although I don't really know who or what it was.  I don't suppose . . . ?"

[Brian]

"I have ever been a friend to wolves," Ezmereth says, nodding.  "And they, in turn, have always been friends to the Warriors of Dream.  Brother Wolf ran with us in the youngest days ... though few remember such."  He points at Ginrai suddenly.  "You, for example.  Though your memory is probably gone, you would have been one of such."