Leo's Dream (pre-dawn Sun. 4/1/07)

[Detritus]

Suddenly, inexplicably, you find yourself in the countryside beyond Marseilles. You're uncertain how you know, but you do.

A bright, strobing light flashes perhaps a dozen times in the space of a breath you no longer need to draw, and you find yourself at the door of Delbert Villon's haven. The same sense of foreboding builds inside, just as it had when you first read Mme. Desmoulin's memories.

Another set of flashes, and you find yourself on your knees, reading Delbert's memories, unearthing a truth to terrible to contemplate. Just then, fangs settle into your neck, and you surrender to the ecstasy of the vampire's kiss. In this blissful haze, all you can do is think vaguely that you have succumbed to the same attacker who destroyed Delbert.

You are surprised to learn that your existence does not snuff out after you have been drained of all your vitae. A soft, horribly familiar voice says, "That's right, mourn, you pathetic wretch." The voice of Samantha Drake. And you do exactly that, fleeing Delbert's haven for your own, barely making it back to secure yourself against the coming sunrise.

[Detritus]

You now find yourself lying on your back, completely unclothed. You look up to see Anneke standing over you, to your left. She is equally unclothed, and her glass eye is removed. See reaches down to touch your forehead and says, "I release you."

Then, you see another woman (http://forum.criticalfumble.net/showpost.php?p=234131&postcount=28), one you are unfamiliar with, who is also in the nude, standing over you to your right. She touches your forehead and says, "ego te absolvo."

Both women step away from where you are lying, and say, "attend me," in unison.

Which way does Leo go?

[Huxley]

One, proven to be true, the other, a possible source of new information. Someone who has not contacted me for an end. Which only means she is now getting involved, and has an end.

Leo will attend Anneke.

[Detritus]

You move towards Anneke, and the other woman dissolves away, along with your prior resting place.

"The unblinking eye sees all," she says, and she raises her left hand. Her glass eye rests on her palm. She extends her arm away from you both, and the eye begins to look outwards, slowly turning to and fro.

Wherever the eye looks, it seems to act like a spotlight, if spotlights worked to deepen darkness instead of illuminating it. For a few moments, the eye traces out a Stygian cone of utterdark amidst the dim gloom of your dream. Then scenes begin to appear in the eye's beam.

You see Kallista and Radeyah conversing in a museum. Kallista leaves and Ramiel replaces her. Then Radeyah and Ramiel leave, and one of your brethren appears from the shadows after they are gone.

You see Jocelin and Antoinette sitting back to back, bound in chains, while several streams of blood spray on them.

Then the strange woman moves a shield to deflect a blow directed by an unseen foe. The shield cracks, and she lets it go. When it lands, it turns into Jack's broken body.

The eye illuminates one final scene, and your perspective jumps. You see Jocelin kneeling before the strange woman, and Anneke stands to her right. It dawns on you that the strange woman must be Anneke's sire. She seems to be knighting Jocelin with her sword.

Jocelin then gets up, and the woman beckons you to kneel before her. The ball of ice forms in your stomach when you realize what the scene implies for Arcadian's chances of survival. You also notice that a dark tunnel stretches away to your right.

Which way will Leo go?

[Huxley]

You move towards Anneke, and the other woman dissolves away, along with your prior resting place.

"The unblinking eye sees all," she says, and she raises her left hand. Her glass eye rests on her palm. She extends her arm away from you both, and the eye begins to look outwards, slowly turning to and fro.

Wherever the eye looks, it seems to act like a spotlight, if spotlights worked to deepen darkness instead of illuminating it. For a few moments, the eye traces out a Stygian cone of utterdark amidst the dim gloom of your dream. Then scenes begin to appear in the eye's beam.

You see Kallista and Radeyah conversing in a museum. Kallista leaves and Ramiel replaces her. Then Radeyah and Ramiel leave, and one of your brethren appears from the shadows after they are gone.

You see Jocelin and Antoinette sitting back to back, bound in chains, while several streams of blood spray on them.

Then the strange woman moves a shield to deflect a blow directed by an unseen foe. The shield cracks, and she lets it go. When it lands, it turns into Jack's broken body.

The eye illuminates one final scene, and your perspective jumps. You see Jocelin kneeling before the strange woman, and Anneke stands to her right. It dawns on you that the strange woman must be Anneke's sire. She seems to be knighting Jocelin with her sword.

Jocelin then gets up, and the woman beckons you to kneel before her. The ball of ice forms in your stomach when you realize what the scene implies for Arcadian's chances of survival. You also notice that a dark tunnel stretches away to your right.

Which way will Leo go?

The man empowered by greater beings in an effort to do good, or the man empowered by his own freedom, blissfully unable to make a change.

I'm sorry to have failed you, Arcadian. Your survival was my only objective.

Leo kneels.

[Detritus]

Your new liege lady approaches, and a faint glow surrounds her, as if she literally radiates the Divine Right of Queens. Without a word, she taps the flat of Jocelin's blade on your left shoulder, then your right. She inverts the blade and kisses the point where the quillons form a cross with the blade and hilt, and then turns the sword and presses her kiss to your forehead. You black out for a moment.

You find yourself on your feet again, and watch as Anneke plucks her glass eye out of its socket. With blinding speed, she reaches out and mashes it into your forehead. You feel the distinctly odd sensation as the lidless eye orients itself to face outwards, and then sinks completely below the surface of your forehead.

"The unblinking eye sees all," she whispers, and you realize that you can now see with Sight beyond sight.

You look in one direction, and see Jocelin furiously chasing Heather, yet unable to close the gap between them.

You look in another direction, and see a shadowy figure stalking Jack. You think it is a woman, and that she is in the middle of blowing a kiss towards Jack, who is oblivious to her presence.

You look in a third direction, and see a wild-eyed Samantha Drake claw her way out of a grave, in a cemetery you know not where, surrounded by people you half-recognize.

Would Leo like to investigate one of the scenes? If so, which one?

[Huxley]

Leo gazes upon the scene with Samantha Drake.

[Detritus]

You watch as Samantha emerges from the ground, and the hazy figures resolve. You see Heather, Lucian, Bianca, Black Cat, Anvil, Rake, and the woman stalking Jack. The others bring a hapless human to Samantha, who drains him dry; Lucian then incinerates the body. All eight Kindred drip in some of their vitae into a vessel that looks like a beer stein. They pass it around and each takes a drink from it.

"That fucking bitch," says a voice from behind you, and when you turn you are startled to see that it's Demetrious.

Suddenly you waken to find yourself lying in the buff, in an unfamiliar, dimly lit room. The unclothed form of Anneke stands by you, her left eye socket gaping in the absence of her prosthetic eye. She observes your reactions in silence.