We have survived and I avoided being suborned by my legend. We have a mission and there is peace in my nation. We can be the place where man is safe from the inhuman if we have the courage to do it.
The Witch Finders are right. Beneath their city is a force that drives the sane mad and corrupts those who pursue the supernatural. Even the Morrigan fears it. Their methods are the only ones that seem to work and they are, at best, a fire break. I will be training with them at some point in the future. While we may not agree on many things, we do agree that mortal men should not suffer from supernatural creatures.
I only hope that God grants us a way to defeat what is there. Or that I can find one. I pray to Him but don’t tend to wait for signs.
Well, I seem bound to this creature no matter what I do. Most recently, she told me: “There is a knife at your throat, and I can save you, but only if you’ll let me. The greatest danger to your Empire comes from the East, and from that, I cannot save you.”
I do not know what the former is but fear the latter is Boston. Hell on Earth, it may become if NOLA is not already.
Oh, and I brought her here. Just fucking wonderful.
The surgeon tells me that the operation to repair my femoral artery went well but they need me in bed for a few days to recover and they are treating me for problems associated from being in the stone age for 9 months. I think I will leave dealing with Gray to others. Our debts are even and I have no need to repeat such an event. Odd that the Technosphere could not be bothered to send anyone besides Jack. At least she is not here. I would like to avoid that for as long as possible.
The prophecies and predictions are not Fate but warnings! I know now how my enemies will come and while I do not know who they are I know what and I will work to change the battlefield to my advantage.
God, grant me confusion to my enemies.
I will prepare the ground and the routes. I will use the legend that will one day devour me to confuse and destroy them.
In the name of the Empire and the people of New York, I will send them screaming to Hell or die trying.
To defend my nation, I ordered a nuclear strike that killed many and almost killed us (thanks to the Soviets). However, it created a new place: New Celtia. Some of this people know and some do not. Despite my attempts to save those brave, if overly supernaturally involved people, I failed. Then I was part of the team that had to kill them before they were born. From their death came Boston and that is a new can of worms.
In doing so, I confronted my own death yet again and may have doomed or cursed myself in an unanticipated fashion. Such is life since the Event. I got the job done but my own legend will continue to grow from that until it consumes me. At least I apparently die in uniform.
New Celtians, I raise a glass to you. Know that the one who helped create you and had to kill will not and cannot forget you. I hope you were in heaven an hour before the Devil knew you were dead.
Sykes took another drink of New Celtian Irish whiskey. “Goddamned Faeries and Ants! Maybe we should just cut out anything with a Sigma 3 or higher and be done with it. God, why do I have to even deal with this crap?”
“Supernatural threats are best dealt with as we deal with everything by prior planning, rapid response and overwhelming superior firepower. Our Strega do not dance around and try to banish things, they get us information and tell us where to shoot thus combining feminine wiles with male force. It is best not to be in our way.”
Finally, we know the truth. Sadly, I know too many truths and fear I will learn more. Resolve will be needed.
What are the Fey? Should our citizens be involved in their Paladin quest? It seems to create conflicting loyalties that could cost us dearly later. The fantastic is a distraction and in the end we succeed by ignoring it or eliminating it when it becomes a threat. Nothing resists firepower and logistical advantage for long and we will have a medieval army soon but I would rather push that to help New Orleans if we can. Time will tell. I hate the supernatural.