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It's a quiet day, and a peaceful one in the home shared by Hearth and Harmony's cadre. The latter, for her part, is just finishing off some yoga stretches and is bumbling about the place, seeking food.
Hearth was, perhaps surprisingly, not baking. But she was sitting at the kitchen table reading a stack of papers and making notes on a tablet. A pretty green candle burned on the table, filling the kitchen with a piney scent.
The sensation visited upon them is difficult to put into words, in truth. They're both used to the sensation of Supernal magic, the way it washes over their myriad senses. But this is a far more profound sensation. The difference between driving over a speed bump and descending the business end of a rollercoaster's first rise. If an uncomfortable sensation might be described as someone walking over your grave, this is the entire Russian Army marching over it in single file. The sense of Otherness, the alien and oily discomfort that accompanies it, can only mean one thing. Powerful, Abyss-pissing-off magic of an intensity neither of them have had opportunity to experience until now. (In all likelihood, at least.)
And in the wake of it, Hearth and Harmony are sharing the company of another Hearth and another Harmony. They're simply standing in the kitchen of a sudden, looking about as surprised to be here as the others are likely to be in seeing them.
"Oh, the sanctum! That makes sense," NewHarmony asides to NewHearth, who quirks a small and wry smile, "Makes me wish we had time to bake some cupcakes."
The pair then address the other pair with a shared wave, "Hello there. Please don't be alarmed. Yes, it's really you. We need to talk, it's important."
It would have to be.
Technically this is something Harmony would know about, as Kay had discussed it with her. But, magic. That conversation had taken place in a future that hadn't come to pass, a divination on her partner's part. Which meant she was completely caught off guard and on her feet in a moment and stood between Hearth and their visitors, wariness in every fibre of her being. "I've reasons to be alarmed. Um, Hearth?" She glances back at her cadremate, trying to process.
Hearth immediately snatched up the mistletoe pendant she wore, shuddering at the intensity of the wrongness as the Abyss lashed back at whatever spell was performed. "What have you done," she demanded, her voice cold as ice as she stood up. She was already sketching a quick rune in the air as she moved, opening her senses more fully to the supernal.
"Imperial Time Magic, performed by an Archmaster from our time." It's Harmony that makes the casual admission of violating several precepts of the Lex Magica in one go. Largely because Hearth might shoot the future Hearth if she were to make that particular confession. The new Hearth has the good sense to look vaguely pained, if only for her earlier self's sake.
"We're from a future that is in jeopardy. We came to tell you about our future. And what we've won. And what's at stake. Our enemies are here, now, and they're undoing what we've accomplished. All the gains we've made, they're erasing here. Now. We can waste time adjudicating the legality of our presence, or you can hear us out. Either way, the longer we're here, the more likely we are to draw an Acamoth."
Harmony blinks, and then her eyes narrow. "That all depends on whether you're who you claim to be. And what's so important to risk Paradox on this scale? Because if you're us, you must be truly desperate. If." She raises her hands, taking a ready pose for spellcasting should it become needed. "Can you prove you're us?"
Hearth swore softly and stalked towards the spice cupboard where she kept her sword while she was here. (It's conveniently located to the kitchen and out of the way!) "If you are me, you know everything I have to say already," Hearth said grimly. "Speak in specifics or you'll be out of time." And their heads would possibly be on the floor.
"Have we not set the wards up in this time, Harm?" Hearth inquires of Harmony with a sidelong glance. Harmony plucks out her cell phone which is now pulling the current time and date from the nearest cell tower. She furrows her brows. "No." Hearth looks a little alarmed, "Oh. See. I figured if we just appeared in the Sanctum and passed the wards, you'd know-- shoot. I can answer you using Supernal Truth?"
The future Hearth, upon making that declaration, begins VERY OBVIOUSLY performing an effect using Prime magic. The magical equivalent of slowly pulling your wallet out of your jeans while the cop is pointing a gun at you.
In the end it's Hearth that does the talking. It would almost have to be for this to work.
"In our future, we have the Seers on the run. The Consilium and the Assembly found common cause. After the attack on the tree and the Hermes Protocol, the Children of the Tree decided to mobilize. Which they never do, and never have done since their creation. We ran the table on them, I want you to know that. We did some amazing things. Whole Pylons wiped out, MESSIX bankrupted. There have been more Awakenings in the Delaware Valley in the last two of our years than in the ten prior to them. We had them confused, scrambling. We were this close to finding a way to begin contesting their power beyond the Abyss, and then everything began slipping away. An Archmaster arose from among the number of the Children of the Tree, and they happened to temporally anchor themselves. When the changes to our timeline began, we didn't notice at first. But this Archmaster did. And so we began temporally anchoring ourselves. One by one, with their assistance, we kept the changes from impacting us so that we could begin to study where, when, and how these changes were manifesting."
"They couldn't fight us in the future. United as we were, as potent as we were, as damaged as they were. So the Exarchs just found a time before our primacy and began eroding our ability to reach that point. This is how they control this prison, Hearth. How often have you looked around at the world and tried to find the bars? Tried to see the lock and the key? I'm here to point you right to them. I'm here to name your jailer and help you fight them for your freedom. For the freedom of everyone. They're here to destroy my world. But they're doing it by destroying yours."
"Don't believe me? How's Philly PD looking these days? Are negative events coming at you faster than you can adapt? There's a reason for that."
Harmony blinks, trying to digest all this. She looks back to Hearth to try and gauge her own reaction, then back to NewHearth. "Let's say this isn't an extremely elaborate deception, for a moment. That you're not some sort of creation that believes what you;re saying, even if it isn't true." She runs a hand over her mouth. "We can contend with Seers if they've travelled back from another time, but the Exarchs directly? Then again, if they're having to do this, it proves they're not invulnerable."
Hearth turned with sword in hand and went utterly still, white as a sheet. She was deeply shaken but her hands were steady enough. "And if I believe you? Names, dates, places. You know we'll fight the Seers however we can. This kind of violation of time cannot be. You know it. Go back to where you came from and fight them there. And tell whomever cast the spell to go handle the shitstorm that is likely brewing off wherever archmasters go because of it. This kind of violation won't go unanswered for."
"Don't misunderstand," FutureHarmony answers Harmony after her statements, "The Exarchs will never willingly abandon their thrones in the Supernal. From there, they can simply meddle with the Ur-Symbolism of the realms and radiate out changes as they please. But for that fine detail work, they use the Seers. No, to fight the Exarchs, we'll have to fire across the Abyss. There's no reaching them without first tackling the oroborous ocean. How can humanity ever be free if the Exarchs hold the Supernal in their grip?"
Hearth answers her present self with pursed lips and a sigh, "You worry about one breach of the Law and ask us to perform another." FutureHearth worries her lower lip between her teeth for a moment, then comes to some form of internal decision. "Listen. You and I both know that definitive answers regarding temporal mechanics are next to impossible. Sometimes what we know isn't. Or never was. Or was it? What I can tell you is that your best bet, according to our divinations, is to find the others we've reached out to and work together. We're contacting key figures from every organization of magic here in the Delaware Valley. If you promise me you won't turn them in to the powers that be or act against them unilaterally, I can give you some names. If you want out, there's the door. We can talk to Harmony, and you can put your fingers in your ears and play the game by the old rules, much good may it do you. Cultor." Zing.
Harmony nods at FutureHarmony, but then stops and snaps her gaze to FutureHearth. "No." She states simply, bluntly. "If she leaves this conversation, so do I. We stand and act together. We don't work at cross purposes. And what reason is there for us not to tell our leadership about this? Either you're truly us from the future, desperate enough to break who knows how many laws and risk horrific Paradox, or you're part of a dangerous and powerful attack. Either way.."
"You came back here permanently" Hearth was completely aghast. "And the rules are in place for a reason. I am a Guardian for a reason, if you haven't forgotten that." She let the barb at her position as a Cultor pass by. If you really want our help fighting the Seers and Exarchs, and have others from your timeline recruiting those from our time, what is stopping you from recruiting the general leadership here as well?"
"Sure. Go tell Penance your future self appeared in an Imperial time effect and told you to conspire with other Awakened to form the nexus of a coalition for Shadow War and would she be interested in joining. I'm a Factotum now, and would be happy to represent you at trial." Harmony's deadpan delivery ends in a small shrug. "Together, you will all know how best to approach this matter with your respective Orders and governments. Come together first, and if you decide after consultation to come clean to the powers that be, so be it. All I can do is encourage you both to make contact first. To hear the others out. Consider the risks, consider the rewards, and consider the best course forward. But if this keeps up for much longer, I'm not sure we'll exist any longer. Our timeline will close, merge with another, and we'll be anomalous data. Orphans in time, if we persist at all in such a state. This is our hail mary pass, you two."
Hearth's direct questions are answered indirectly by Future Hearth, "Cultor, why do you imagine an agent would avoid making a report of Seer activity to the powers that be? What reason would an agent have not to report that? Think. And, no. We're not here permanently. Once this effect expires, we'll be back in our pocket of spacetime. One that's growing evermore estranged from where and when we came from as a result of their activities here. We're being brazen, but not heedless of the risks."
"You're not my future self." Harmony answers simply. "Even if this is true. You're a possible future version of me, one among many. And I trust enough in our leaders that I won't be held responsible for what someone from a singular future does, even if it's one I might end up in. And if you are telling the truth and we succeed, there's a very good chance you will cease to be regardless, as the exact events that lead to that future will no longer be. But we're going in circles now. We won't stop you from giving us the names and information you want to."
Hearth glared at the other Hearth. "Don't be an ass. Of course there's always a traitor or two. If you'd like to give us something more instead of just making vague accusations, that'd be helpful. I will not turn my back on the entire Consillium's wisdom and leadership based on what is already a given."
"We just gave you a hypothesis for how the Exarchs control the Fallen World. One you can test, if you want to, to see if you can replicate our findings. That it is in this manner. Through tampering in the pasts of possible futures. Through the Ur-Symbols. That information alone is enough to justify the risk in sharing it. Because it's not information that will ever escape their snare until and unless we break the rules of this prison." FutureHarmony's voice rises in pitch and volume towards the end. As though she's amazed at the resistance she's receiving.
But then again, one is always more sympathetic to one's own cause.
FutureHearth has grown rather shtum. The energy and hope she'd carried into this conversation is just gone now, and she's shaking her head. "Apparently the optimum time wasn't good enough, Harmony. Maybe we can try again."
Harmony gives FutureHearth a doubletake, "I don't think we can. We've already got a thumb in this timeline now. If we drop in at another point, we've already made a ripple once. It's not going to lead to superior outcomes."
"So?" Inquires FutureHearth of FutureHarmony. It ends with FutureHarmony sighing longsufferingly and suggesting rather despondently, "Kayla. Go talk to Kay. Maybe she'll know what to say to you." The last bit is offered to the present tense personages, apparently the only information they feel comfortable giving to the other pair. It's not like they'd harm Kayla, right?
They don't even bother saying goodbye. Having apparently given up, they shut down the conversation. Just as suddenly as they arrived, they're gone. The alien sensation of that great dark Other persists, however, though it too starts to fade once the effect dies out.
Harmony goes still after they vanish, staring at the spot and clearly shaken by one of the things they've said. What that is becomes evident as she exhales and speaks in a hushed tone. "Kay.. oh fuck.." A slow breath and she turns to Hearth. "We need to talk to her."
Hearth slumped once the attention of the Abyss faded, and her sword clattered onto the kitchen table. "Yeah... I know the feeling of things being tampered with. Something changed when I Awoke, and now this... well, it explains the fucked up Abyssal things that have been happening."
Mary reached out, straightening the sword before sitting herself. "I don't know if this is deception or not? Could things get to the point where we'd ever take the actions they did?"
"My mini-me did speak the truth as she believed it," Hearth allowed. "And... as much as I hate to say it, nothing is ever impossible. It really depends on how far into a corner they were shoved. That power though. I couldn't have dispelled the spell that brought them here if I tried."
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