Dorothy’s Awakening

Dorothy is studying a vase from the short-lived Sui Dynasty of the sixth century CE, on loan from the Taiwanese government. She uses utmost care in handling this priceless work of art, under the watchful eye of museum curator Xu Xiang. She realizes suddenly that something she really needs, her great breakthrough, is an internal sample taken from just beneath the paint. She tries and tries to get at this bit of the vase, using the most delicate tools imaginable. Nothing is working. On her third attempt, the tip of her tool touches the vase, and the whole thing shatters into a thousand pieces. When Xu Xiang sees this, he opens his mouth to scream at her in unintelligible Mandarin, but for her, no sound comes out. She bends down and picks up a shard of the vase. As Xu Xiang continues to harangue her in total silence, she finds the answers she has been seeking: All creation is destruction. To change something is to kill it. Wisdom is the only guide. Sweeping up the dust, she hands the shards back to Xu Xiang in a dustpan, and begins recording her findings: Emperor Yang was not assassinated, as was long believed, but was suffering from a form of bubonic plague that spread throughout the countryside at that time.

Stephen’s Awakening

Leaving class, Stephen realizes that the walls of the hallway are covered in mirrors: big mirrors, small mirrors, funhouse mirrors, tinted mirrors. They all show Stephen: sometimes old, sometimes young, always with silhouetted figures looming behind him. Some of them have beasts of various kinds lurking in their images as well. Two of those Stephens emerge from mirrors flanking the hallway and grab at him, demanding to know why this Stephen of all of them should be the one to Awaken. Stephen has to evade them so that he can get to the end of the hallway, where there is a door covered in an empty mirror. Stephen inscribes his True Name into the mirror so that he can open the door and escape into the light beyond. Three looming shadows linger in the mirror behind him.

Patrick’s Awakening

Sitting in his office, staring at a spider spinning its way down from the ceiling, Patrick lazily reaches up with one arm. When his fingertip brushes the strand, he realizes that he is climbing the strand. Looking down, he realizes that the spider has felt him and is climbing up. Patrick tries to flee by climbing, but the spider is faster. He leaps onto the spider’s face and holds on for dear life. The spider struggles, but eventually gives up and asks Patrick why he’s doing this. After some negotiation, the spider agrees to carry Patrick up to the ceiling. Slipping through a crack in the ceiling, the spider leaves Patrick on a path leading to a stone watchtower. Patrick follows the path and writes his True Name in the stone of the watchtower.

Danny’s Awakening

While patching up a wounded mob soldier, Danny realizes that this man is not long for the world: he’s been shot in the gut, and it’s going to be touch-and-go. Suddenly, some Italian goons show up and start shouting through the door. They threaten to kill Danny if he doesn’t let them in and give them Boss Flanagan’s son. Realizing how gravely he will be punished for handing over his patient or losing his patient, Danny redoubles his efforts. The goons break down the door and advance on Danny as life slips away from the soldier on the table. Danny turns to face the goons, grabs one of them, and breaks his neck in a single movement. The second begins to panic and scream, pointing a gun at Danny; in two quick steps and a circular motion, the gun is on the far side of the room. Flinging the man to the ground, Danny reaches into him and finds the core of his life. He extracts it with both hands and carries it across the room to the soldier’s corpse. Danny traces his True Name in the air over the soldier’s body. Placing the orb of life energy on his chest and pushing gently, the soldier’s heart restarts.

Surya’s Awakening

Imprisoned below a tower, some hundreds of tons of granite, Surya finally receives the summons he has been waiting so long to hear. His horn will have a voice once more. Gathering his rough-woven cotton robes layered over his armor, Surya takes up his silver horn. A thunderous blast from the horn turns the bricked-up doorway into rubble, and Surya steps over it casually. On the other side is the spiral staircase that leads to the surface. Surya begins his long climb. After what feels like a day and a night, he comes to the surface, and only one more wall stands between him and his freedom to return to the service of the Almighty. The first blast from his horn does nothing, however; the walls and ceiling shake, but do not crumble. Surya inscribes a word of power on the face of the wall: his own True Name, SARIEL WHO IS GOD’S COMMAND. Sounding the horn a third time, the wall is blasted to dust and smoke. Falling stones and timbers from the ceiling knock the horn from Surya’s hand, though, and he must flee through the wall before he is buried in the collapsing building.

After Awakening, Stephen and Dorothy meet for coffee, as is their custom, and discuss the Very Strange Day they've each just had. They make plans to go to a local hospital where Dorothy has a contact and get themselves examined, just to be on the safe side.

Surya stumbles out of the gaping hole in the wall in his patient's clothes. He finds a vagrant and asks, in thickly Russian-accented English, about people with weapons who do not deserve them. The vagrant is confused, but points to a plainclothes police officer standing at the street corner. Surya makes the vagrant come with him and questions the police officer, asking if he deserves to carry his firearm. The cop is taken by surprise, and Surya's intensity keeps him off-balance. He turns to run, only to run into the frame of the bus stop, knocking himself unconscious. Surya takes his clothes, his wallet, and his gun, and gives the vagrant the cop's badge. He instructs the vagrant to guard this neighborhood.

While working on repairing his door, Danny spots Surya, who he recalls vaguely as a Russian guy that got sent to the looney bin a while back. He calls a guy he knows in Flanagan's organization, who assures him that the Irish weren't responsible for what happened to Surya, though the contact doesn't know Surya's previous name offhand. He tells Danny that Surya can stay at Matty's apartment for a few nights while they figure out what to do about him. Danny calls his friend Dorothy, who might know some people with a medical background, especially people who won't ask questions or make Danny or Surya walk through a metal detector.

Dorothy needs something or other (God help me if I remember what) from Patrick, and calls him. The five meet at the hospital, where a resident ("second in his class - the guy who is first in that class is an asshole") lets them in and uses some very expensive equipment to test them, mostly because he can. After a few hours of poking, prodding, and scanning, he pronounces all of them clean, though he notes lingering, inactive traces of anti-psychotic drugs in Surya's system.

The five stop by a bar briefly, but before long Patrick invites them to his apartment to see this weird thing in his library: it feels like a fold in space, and it seems to amplify light in the room oddly. While the room is lit, it seems like a light without source. Danny concludes that it is "rich guy lighting." They discuss this phenomenon at some length, and Dorothy tests its effects with differing light sources and other materials. They discuss where they might find a library with books on the occult that could tell them more about it; talking to Stephen's uncle Lucius seems like one of the best options available.

Patrick's intercom crackles, and the security guard from the entrance says in a nervous tone that there are some people here to see Patrick. He blithely tells the guard to send the four men on up. Stephen uses Mind magic to determine that three of the four are nervous-leaning-toward-hostile, and the fourth is calm, as they pound on Patrick's door. When Stephen lets them in, the three big guys have guns drawn, though not raised. The fourth man, who wears a tattered suit, has long, stringy, dirty-blond hair. He introduces himself as Vision, and explains that he is here representing clients who want to pay Patrick $8 million to find some other place to live because of the penthouse's remarkable view of the bay.

Patrick explains that he is not interested in selling, but asks to speak to Vision privately in the library. With Vision out of the room, Surya sizes up the three thugs and concludes that none of them know too much about how to handle their weapons. He speaks in a measured yet intense tone, encouraging them to put their weapons away as a sign of courtesy. The resolve of the nearest one looks especially shaken.

In the library, Vision increases his offer to $12 million. When this gets no more than hemming and hawing from Patrick, Vision comes back with a third offer: $4 million, and he won't ruin Patrick's business. Patrick responds that he could ruin the economies of several European countries if he set his mind to it, but Vision sneers at this. Patrick shifts the topic to the odd phenomenon in the center of the room, and this finally seems to get Vision's attention - the man is surprised that Patrick is even aware of its presence. He absorbs this information quickly, and asks if the other four can see the room's strange light as well; Patrick replies that some of them can. Vision makes some haste to withdraw peacefully thereafter.

Danny calls his mob contact again to ask about Vision. He replies that Vision is very bad news and heavily involved in the local drug trade; he knows nothing of why Vision is involved in real estate. The contact calls back half an hour later to mention that Vision has agreed to leave Danny and anyone he's with alone.

Quote: "He said he hasn't seen a prophet in a long time. Shoulda sold the fuckin' penthouse." --Danny