inspirationholics

[largemandrill]

Constantly torn between “Marika was a genocidal religious dictator who abandoned her children in a literal shit prison, plotted the death of the one child she did like, and ignored the consequences of her actions for so long that when they finally caught up to her, she took the entire world down with her” and “Marika was deeply flawed but was still a woman who resented a fate she was forced into, tried her best to undo what she had already done in an attempt to free herself and all of her people by sacrificing those she loved most for a better world, only to fail because every system that was set up prevented her from her freedom” and it’s fucking hellish

[black-moon-raven]

For every “beginning” there is an “end” but it doesn't seem to exist for me.

✦————————————✦

[Name] : Ianna Baskerville

[Alias] :

Ian (when she’s wearing male uniform)  

Anna-san

Ianna-kun

Transfer Student

Problem Child

Newbie

White Rose With Poisonous Thorns  

[Race] : Human  

[Gender] : Female  

[Age] : ??? ( appearance of 16 years )

[Birthday] : April 20

[Starsign] : Aries

[Blood Type] : -O

[Dominant Hand] : right hand

✦————————————✦    

PROFESSIONAL STATUS:

[Status] : Alive

[Affiliation] : Night Raven College

[Dormitory] : Ramshackle Dorm

[Year] : 1st year

[Occupation] :

Student

Dorm Leader

[Favorite Subject] : History magic

[Disliked Subject] :  ------

✦————————————✦    

APPEARANCE INFORMATION:

[Hair] : white

[Eyes] : red

[Height] : 1,70    

[Weight] : 54 kg

[Appearance] :

Ianna  is described as a very beautiful and attractive young woman, being  almost doll-like in appearance, with blood-red eyes, fair complexion,  and tall frame. She has long silver-white hair up to her knees with  strands that frame her face. She usually has her hair down but is  sometimes seen with hair parted on the side.

At the beginning of  Twst Ianna wore the male uniform and the hair pulled aside, because the  school did not have women's uniforms and because it was a boys only  school, she had to disguise herself because everyone thought she was  one, so Ianna stayed wearing the male uniform and using the male pronoun  until the end of the first chapter, which was when Dire Crowley, who  knew she was a girl, gives her the modified uniform. Her uniform  consists of a black blazer and skirt with gold accents (although she  rarely wears a blazer), a white shirt under the gray sweater, black high  socks and brown shoes, she wears a bow instead of a tie, and has the  magic crystal in the center of the bow. Under the skirt she has black  shorts, she has a black choker and also wears a pair of red earrings.

✦————————————✦    

PERSONAL INFORMATION :

[Family] :

Unnamed Father ( unknown )

Unnamed Mother ( unknown )

Oswald : Older Twin Brother (alive)

[Personality] :

At the beginning of Twisted Wonderland, Ianna was a strong and noble young woman with an attentive personality. This is seen over time as it disinterestedly helps others. She’s always, in most cases, calm and well-disposed, even in the worst situations. However, she is not afraid to hurt who she suspects of harming the people close to her. Her actions reflect the emotions she feels. She is also very perceptive of others' emotions, and tries to cheer them up in her own way. She used to be very abrasive, but she is shown to be kind, honest, and sweet. She still holds true to her independence as well as her personal values and beliefs.

Ianna in her first life was an innocent and naive girl, she spent most of the time smiling and having fun with her brother and her parents, but with the death of them and the cruel world that surrounded her, Ianna gets out of control and ends up dying. In the following lives, with always the same events, Ianna began to fall into depression and no longer smiled as she smiled in the past, she was no longer naive and she considered the world cruel, it was then that she decided to do everything to protect "her world "even if it is necessary to kill. Ianna started to get her personality unstable due to the extreme stress and pressure of trying to protect "her world" but she never managed, it was always the same ending. As a last resort Ianna started to forget those memories as a way to escape the pain or to sleep as another way to escape from real life. With no memory of past lives, Ianna enters Twisted Wonderland with her brother.

After recovering the memories though Ianna began as a happy and free spirited individual, she soon developed a new respect for the world around her. Ianna grew to not care what other people think of her so long as she was able to continue enjoying herself, allowing her to see the light even in the darkest corners of the world. Perhaps a little carefree and rather impulsive. Ianna could be seen as cruel, which is further supported by instances like when she almost massacred students who had spoken ill of her friends on their backs. Despite her apparent mental instability, Ianna is quite composed, and balanced her free spirit with her emotional concern for those closest to her. Ianna is also cared deeply for her brother.

She is a person of soft-spoken and calm at most times, but is also unstable, and known for her rapid mood swings. She is often seen with a friendly smile though she is known to tear people down with her words when she is in a bad mood, or when they decided to speak ill of her friends. She can talk extraordinarily bluntly and coldly, and yet cheerfully, demonstrated when he was informing everyone not to mess with her or with her friends if they didn't want to meet death earlier. Ianna also masks her venomous words with sweetness, and talks in a cheerful, crazed yet somewhat childish tone.

[Background]:

Ianna was raised in her first life by her parents and twin brother  Oswald. She was an innocent and naive child who spent most of the time  smiling and having fun with her brother and parents, a calm and peaceful  life, or at least it had been in the beginning. In the time when Ianna  was born, children like her were called Child of Ill Omen.  Due to being a  Child of Ill Omen, Ianna's existence attracted misfortunes causing  unspecified hardship toward   both her and Oswald   during their early lifetime, but that didn't stop their happiness, not  until this cruel world for her killed both her parents and Oswald in her  front. With despair and stress at seeing such a scene, Ianna loses  control and ends up destroying everything around her, and for the first  time she realized what it was like to be a Child of Ill Omen.

In  the following lives the same events were repeated, Ianna lived happily  with Oswald but then he died and with that Ianna either committed  suicide or lost control of herself and destroyed everything. An endless  cycle, Ianna started to go into depression and no longer smiled as she  smiled in the past, she was no longer the same naive girl who smiled and  lived in a colorful world, she now considered the world that lived  cruel and dark. Ianna was already going crazy with this cycle of events,  it was then that an idea crossed her mind, if the world does not accept  her, she only needs to create her world it was then that she decided to  do everything to protect the “ her world ” even if it was  necessary to kill to protect him. Ianna, with the passing of  reincarnations, started to have an unstable or broken personality due to  the extreme stress and pressure that she had in protecting “ her world ”  but she never managed, it was always the same ending. As a last resort  of events, Ianna began to lose or forget those memories that caused her  pain as a way to escape.

Ianna lived with her brother and her  parents in Twisted Wonderland, she no longer had many memories of the  past, at least those that caused her pain. Ianna had returned to be the  same, smiling and having fun, she had even made two new friends who were  brothers, but as a Child of Ill Omen she would always be a Child of Ill  Omen. One day Ianna was in a tower that her brother and friends said  was " Ianna's Tower " because she spent a lot of time in that tower,  that tower was located on their family's property so Ianna could stay  there as long as she wanted. She was playing with her dolls with Oswald  looking out the window. Oswald sees his mother running towards the tower  and she  goes up the stairs and warns Oswald and Ianna to run away, Ianna didn't know why but Oswald  did, someone was coming to kill Ianna or to take her due to her powers  that had been discovered days ago before when Ianna had been upset with  some people for speaking ill of her best friends and hurting them. Their  mother with the last remaining strength uses magic to take Ianna and  Oswald to another world and change Ianna's memories, she says goodbye  and asks Oswald to protect Ianna as he had do in all reincarnations.

The  memories that Ianna had, had been changed to memories of the world in  which they were as a way for her to forget everything. Ianna and Oswald  were growing up in the orphanage and as they grew up Ianna was having  heart problems and went to a hospital where she spent most of the time,  she was stuck and could not leave. Oswald worked to earn money for the  operation to Ianna's heart. One day Oswald was returning from working  with a gift for Ianna and has an accident where he dies, that same day  Ianna has a heart transplant that was her brother's heart, when she  wakes up a week after the transplant she asks who it had been the donor,  the doctors told her with a very sad face that the donor had been her  brother who had had an accident . Ianna, at that moment when I heard  that her brother has died, she lost her emotions and the clarity of her  eyes. Days, weeks passed, and Ianna was a living dead who lay in the  hospital bed looking out the window. One day a doctor brings a gift and  says it was what her brother had when he was found in the accident and  leaves. Ianna opens the gift and sees a cat's plush, when she looks she  hugs the plush and starts to cry. After crying the only thing that came  to Ianna's mind as a way to escape reality was to go to sleep.

Ianna, when she wakes up, is inside a coffin without knowing why and  notices that she is not alone in the coffin and is with the company of a  talking raccoon she runs away from the talking raccoon, when a man with  a mask helps her, and takes her where she was before, she finds her  brother and stays close to him. When she and her brother stood in front  of the dark mirror, she didn't know why Oswald was nervous. When she  heard the dark mirror saying that they had no magic she just wanted to  go home but the dark mirror couldn't get them back to their world. The  headmaster asked them some questions and decided to let them live in an  old dormitory that had no use. Later the headmaster   told them that they were going to do some odd jobs as a way to pay for  their residence. (And the rest of you already know about the game's  prologue.)  

Her and Oswald's story may change when the game is released.  

✦————————————✦    

[Fun Facts]:

[Likes] :

Oswald (her older twin brother)

sweets

animals

singing  

read

dolls

[Dislikes]:

stew

bugs

hear people talking badly about her friends

when someone talks over her or interrupts her

[Hobbies] :

read

cooking

sing songs written by  Oswald

[Fears] :

see  her brother die in front of her

see her friends die in front of her

[Weakness] : bugs

[Favorite Food] : Chocolate Souffl , Chocolate Cookies

[Least Favorite Food] : Stew

[Favorite Drink] : Rose tea , Black  coffee , Ice tea

[Least Favorite Drink] : Carbonated drinks

[Talents] : singing

[Unique Magic] : Abyss Labyrinth

Ianna Unique Magic is the power to create an alternate reality or  dimension called Abyss, which is a huge maze where no one can escape or  leave without her help. She created this unique ability the moment she  wants to protect "her world" in a way that she can escape  reality. She created the maze based on all of her homes in all of her  reincarnations, and inside this labyrinth she has everything she likes.  She uses this magic just to have fun, since inside this dimension she  can do everything from changing the appearance and creating things to  destroying them. One thing Ianna doesn't know is that the  dimension has its own will and Abyss loves Ianna and does everything to  make Ianna happy. The dimension can also change itself and  can also create and destroy things on its own and change the time inside  itself. Ianna can create a space or area outside this dimension where  she can do the same things she can do inside it,  for example creating chains to arrest or immobilize opponents, create a  scythe or a spear as a threat, or destroy something dangerous.

She only fully uses her Unique Magic when she recovered her memories,  although even before recovering the memories she used her magic without  knowing it.

*

[ADDITIONAL FACTS] :

[Trivia]:

When Ianna went to Twisted Wonderland the only memory she had was of  being in the hospital but she didn't know why it was the hospital.

Ianna in the first chapter of Twst had to wear a male uniform because  there was no female uniform, and only at the end after defeating Riddle,  at the Unbirthday Party was when she started wearing a female uniform  and then they all realized that she was a girl.  

Ianna can be a very mature person almost as if she were the oldest but on many occasions she can be very childish.

Oswald is the one who wakes up Ianna in the morning and does her hair.

Ianna is a more nocturnal person, and she likes to look at the stars before bed.  

Ianna gets along with the ghosts of the dorm.  

Ianna usually drinks tea with Riddle.

Concerning personal interests, Ianna shared a certain love  for music with her brother, which was why she added lyrics to his melody  and often sang it to herself. People who catch Ianna singing report that her music calms a person down to the point of making them sleep or happy.  

Ianna possessed a rather irrational fear of bugs -  taking all possible measures to avoid them at any cost - a phobia that  will haunt her forever and always.

Ianna also dislikes it when someone interrupts a conversation of  'interest' that she is having with someone. With that said, she will do  something to the people who interrupted her.

Ianna and Oswald are cursed. The curse they both have is the curse  of reincarnation. It is not known or certain why they have this curse,  but every time they die they always reincarnate, and with the memories  of the past.

Ianna started to lose the memories of the past  because they are so cruel and painful. Because she is always under  extreme stress and pressure from these painful memories, she started to  forget them as a way to escape from those painful memories.

Ianna's  personality has been changed over the course of reincarnation due to  the extreme stress and pressure of past memories. They used to have a  more innocent personality but then started to get more depressed and in  some ways crazy, no longer wanting to know anyone but her and her  brother and without fear of killing anyone who dares to do something to  them .

Oswald is always the first to die and with his  death, Ianna loses control of herself. She tries to destroy everything  or she goes into extreme depression or in many cases she kills herself  or tries to escape from reality.

Currently Ianna is more stable and is able to control her emotions, it  is clear that if they dare to say something bad about her friends or  Oswald she may have the desire to crush them as if they were insects.

Ianna is very curious, perhaps due to her childish side she has an impulse to touch the things that make her curious.

Oswald once said that Ianna seems to be able to see things that no  one can see, when he was younger he thought that she had only made  imaginary friends to play with, but he changed that thought over time.  Ianna confirms that she can see things but doesn’t specify what she can  see. (I will explain in the future)

Ianna  before recovering her memories and before awakening / discovering her  magical powers, she used the powers without her being aware of it and  without the others also being aware.

Oswald says that sometimes  Ianna doesn't seem to be herself, he says that she is someone else, and  he knows how to identify when she is like this "other person" (in the future maybe I will explain this)

* There is another person who had named his Unique Magic, Abyss, but there are no reports. (I  will talk about it in the future because it is part of my character's  story so that there, depending on the development of Twest, the story  may change.)

Many people often wonder about her and Oswald being twins due to the  appearance of both (Ianna having red eyes and white hair and Oswald  having black hair and blue eyes), Ianna is considered a Child of Ill  Omen because of her appearance (of being albino) if a child is  born with red eyes and white hair (which were rare at that time) he /  she was considered as a Child of Ill Omen. Of course, this opinion has  changed over time, and children born this way are not currently  considered Child of Ill Omen.  

[shipaholic]

Omens Universe, Chapter 18

We’re close to the end! Adam’s rediscovered the concept of murder, oops. Warnings again for death, mind control, creepiness, reference to nuclear strikes and car accidents.

Link to next part at the end.

(From the beginning)

(last part)

(chrono)

---

Chapter 18

Madame Tracy gave a great scream, in what was clearly her own voice.

“Mister S, Mister S, say something!”

She flung herself down beside Shadwell. In an act of great bravery, she grabbed and tore open the alarmingly dirty coat the man was wearing, and started doing chest compressions.[1]

Crowley stood, unmoving, and a little stunned. His head whipped around to the four Horsepeople. Death’s head tilted down and left. He appeared to be having a quiet conversation with someone no-one else could see. Crowley felt a little shudder.

Madame Tracy counted chest compressions under her breath. Crowley could see it was pointless. There was no life there to bring back.

Madame Tracy suddenly twitched and paused her first aid.

“I’m very sorry, dear lady, there’s really nothing you can do for him now.”

“No…” she whimpered.

She wavered as Aziraphale gently but firmly reasserted control of their body. He grasped the gun that had thudded on the lawn at Shadwell’s side, and rose to his feet, mouth set in a grim line. He cocked the gun at Adam.

Then, his face twisted in desperation, and Madame Tracy was back.

“Don’t you dare!”

Wincing with effort, she wrested their body back onto its knees by Shadwell’s side. Aziraphale just barely hung onto the gun.

Spacedog let out a string of whines.

Adam looked pained.

“Stop!”

He jerked his hand.

It was like a wave of TV static. Crowley wasn’t the target, but a wave of fuzziness hit him and momentarily wiped out all thought.

Tracy stopped struggling. She sagged, almost falling forward onto Shadwell.

Then her spine slowly straightened out. It looked robotic. Crowley could practically hear the clicks.

She clambered to her feet in a series of jerky movements. The gun was in her hands. She held it in a relaxed, almost friendly way, like one might hold a guitar. She smiled as though hooks were pulled taut in her cheeks. Her eyes stared into space.

She revolved to face Adam, face and mind as clean as a newborn.

~*~

Newt scurried down the corridor after Anathema. He couldn’t believe they’d done it. Three days of planning, holed up in Shadwell’s flat, marking up diagrams and drinking disgusting tea with condensed milk. All that work, and it had paid off. They’d actually broken into a London military base.

“I can’t believe all the amazing stuff we just did,” he panted.

“Shh,” Anathema said. Her forehead was creased in concentration. She was checking room numbers as they strode by.

“This one,” she said, and pushed the door open.

It revealed a room full of computer monitors. An ominous-looking flashing display was counting down to a very final sort of number.

Anathema grabbed a computer chair and pulled herself up to the nearest screen.

“OK,” she sighed. “Time for us to do something really clever…”

~*~

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kill him. I just wanted to see if I could make a real person stop existing, like the imaginary ones.”

Adam’s eyes held a shade of the same dull horror as when he’d shot Aziraphale. Already, though, he seemed far less affected from causing someone’s death.

Spacedog’s ears were pinned back. The little dog looked as if he were battling twin urges to back away from Adam and hide behind his leg.

The blandly smiling Madame Tracy stood like a statue drained of colour. A bead of sweat formed on her temple. Her smile flickered for an instant. Crowley’s heart thumped. That was Aziraphale.

He rounded on Adam. “Let Aziraphale go.”

Adam looked unimpressed with his lack of chivalry. “And that woman?”

Crowley would freely admit to caring far less about Madame Tracy. He had the feeling Adam was judging him, though, so he said, “Er, yeah, her too.”

“She’s still holding a gun,” Adam said, pragmatically. “But ok, I’ll let Aziraphale go. He shouldn’t’ve been in there. It’s not right, two people crammed into one person.”

He waved his arm.

Suddenly, Aziraphale stood next to Tracy, back in his own body.

Crowley almost yelled with relief. He held back the urge to bury his face in Aziraphale’s shoulder. He looked at Aziraphale’s right hand, searching, and felt his head swim with gratitude. His gem was back on his finger. Adam had brought it back. He was ok.

He looked at Aziraphale’s face, and saw that he was very much not ok. He looked as though he had seen Hell, from the damned soul end of the equation. He stared about the garden, wide-eyed.

Crowley stepped towards him. “Angel. Hey. It’s me.”

Aziraphale’s gaze wandered over and alighted on Crowley’s face.

“Hello, Crowley dear,” he whispered.

Crowley grabbed his hand. He gripped it tightly and ran his little finger over the ring, a solid bump between Aziraphale’s knuckles.

Aziraphale’s eyes still roved around the garden. He took in the frozen, washed-out Madame Tracy beside him. His gaze slid down to the gun, held in her arms.

Adam took a warning step forward.

Madame Tracy revolved, slowly, to face Aziraphale. Her smile did not falter as she tightened her hold on the gun.

Crowley gave Aziraphale’s hand a gentle tug. Adam had made his point. They weren’t getting the gun back.

“How’d you learn to do that, anyway?” Adam said.

He sounded casual, like he was asking for video game tips.

“What?” Crowley asked.

“That thing you do where you turn into one person.”

“Oh. That.”

Crowley squeezed Aziraphale’s hand, possessively. He wasn’t in the mood to share Zadkiel with Adam.

“That’s a long story,” Aziraphale said. A trace of a spark came back to his eyes. “I suppose it started in the Garden. He was a wily serpent, and I was technically on apple tree duty -”

“Natural disaster. Focuses the mind,” Crowley snapped. “What’s your plan here, Adam?”

Adam ignored him. “Can I do that? What d’you call it - fusion? Because we’re the same, aren’t we? We’ve all got one of these.”

He tapped his fingernail against Lucifer’s gem. It glowed red in the sunset. Crowley’s eyes darted upward. Was the sun setting, or was the sky just turning red…?

He tore his gaze back to Adam.

“Yeah, we’re the same,” he said. “If you like.”

“Am I an angel?”

Crowley laughed.

“Yes,” Aziraphale said, unexpectedly. “In a way, I suppose you are. Your father… was one.”

“My father?”

Adam stared at the ground. It was clear nobody was talking about Mr. Dowling.

“Yeah,” he said at last. “Well. The Book made that kind of obvious.”

Great. They were all singing from the same hymn sheet at last.

The sky was definitely red. Clouds churned overhead, bubbling like squid ink. Fish had stopped dropping from them, but in a way that made Crowley afraid of what might start dropping instead.

“So it’s all true,” Adam said. “I’m going to end the world.”

The Horsepeople grinned. War, Famine and Pollution leaned forward. Something oozed between their teeth. Crowley tried to ignore the sensation like creeping flies on the inside of his skull.

“But you don’t have to,” Aziraphale burst out. “You’re so powerful. You can use that power for anything. You could do good.”

Adam shook his head, slowly. “I don’t think I’ve got the good sort of power. I’m pretty sure all I’m made for is destroying things.”

“That’s not true,” said Crowley.

Aziraphale, at his side, looked briefly surprised. Crowley knew he was lying. But for a moment, he felt it would be pretty wonderful if it were true. Maybe it was worth a shot, anyway.

“You weren’t made just to destroy. That’s just something my people said to get you to end the world. But Aziraphale’s right, your power isn’t good or evil. Satan didn’t start out Lord of Hell. He was an angel, once.”

Adam contemplated, head on one side.

“So? Why do good instead? Why save the world?”

“Because you have to live in it?”

“Wasn’t really living, was it? My parents weren’t even my real parents. Everyone around me was lying to me. My Nanny was a demon -”

“Look, we’re not all that bad,” Crowley said, hastily.

“I don’t want to go back to that.” Adam gave a shudder. “Things’ll be better when I’m in charge of everything. It’s ok. I won’t kill any more people. I don’t think I need to. I think my destiny was to sort everything out by just being in control. Most people don’t really think, so I can do their thinking for them.”

Crowley tried not to look at the Dowlings.

“But you’ll be erasing them!” Aziraphale’s eyes were large and desperate. “They won’t even be human anymore, not really. It’s no better than killing them.”

“Adam,” said Crowley. “I know you’ve been told all your life you were put here to rule the world. But demons told you those things. No offence to me, but are you really going to trust them?”

Adam looked at him as though he was stupid. “My dad told me those things.”

Crowley had the terrible thought that he’d been right all along, and Lucifer was still in there, in his gem, lucid, planning Crowley’s horrific demise.

Then he cottoned on. “Wait - hang on.”

He looked at the slack-faced, smiling American ambassador.

Aziraphale caught on at the same time.

“Oh, no.” The angel paled. “He’s not demonic, he’s rich.”

Crowley swore. He hadn’t even factored American exceptionalism into this whole mess.

“Well, your dad was wrong too! What does he know, he’s a cultural attaché, whatever that is. He just… culturally… attaches things.”[2]

“So you’re saying I don’t need him?” Adam said.

He looked at his parents. They didn’t respond. They stood vacantly, arms floating at their sides. Like bodies washed out to sea.

“Fine.”

Adam stepped towards them, one arm already rising. Crowley and Aziraphale could do nothing to stop him.

A blood-curdling howl of rage rang out. Crowley’s skin wanted to turn itself inside out at the sound of it.

Adam’s hand dropped. He turned back, frowning.

Crowley was afraid to see what was making the noise, but he steeled himself and looked over.

The blood-stained, red-haired woman, whose skin gleamed unpleasantly like gun-metal, was screaming.

Crowley presumed this was War. Her scream was like the roar of a bomber coming in fast and unstoppable.

The two beside her clutched their heads. They also looked furious.

“What’s wrong with them?” Crowley shouted to Aziraphale.

There was no reason the angel would know, but Crowley was out of thinking room. He needed to at least outsource his bafflement to someone else.

Aziraphale winced, but looked like he was considering as he looked at War.

“You know, I think something’s gone wrong…”

~*~

Newt’s heart knocked at his esophagus as he sprinted up the road. The military base lay behind them. He wasn’t looking back to see if they were being followed.

Anathema was a step ahead. She held her hand back for him. Pulse leaping, Newt took it.

“Where are we going?” he gasped.

Anathema’s voice was grim. “To get my Book.”

~*~

“Something’s happened,” War screamed. Crowley felt the words hitting his organs like bullets. “The warheads are offline. There was supposed to be fire across the sky and now no-one’s going to die.”

Famine and Pollution, Crowley assumed, gnashed their teeth. Death just grinned. Although Crowley supposed he didn’t have much of a choice.

“Oh,” said Adam.

He didn’t look concerned. He’d also forgotten about killing his parents. Win-win, by the look of it.

“You are our leader, our master, our friend. Can’t you bring them back? Just bring them back online. Just think of all that death. Don’t you want that? All those clean strikes, falling from the sky, wiping everything away.”

War, Famine and Pollution looked feverish. Their teeth were on full display. It looked less and less like smiling.

Adam screwed his face up. “I dunno… I don’t see the big deal, pers’nally. What’s the sense in that? Just bombing everybody. I think I’m happy to keep them all alive.”

The three Horsepeople looked anguished.

“But humanity must end! It is written,” War howled.

“I can overwrite it,” said Adam.

The grass stirred in a nonexistent wind.

“I can overwrite anything.”

Adam’s voice had a sinister reverb. He stared into the sky, intent and hungry.

Crowley felt the sweep of a terrible power pass him by, as it crept out over the lawn and the house and the street, further and further, out across the world.

~*~

It was a ripple effect. Everywhere it touched, people stopped.

One by one, their eyes went blank. The colour drained from them. Their smiles turned vacant and ever-present.

Dick Turpin bounced up the road, squeaking like a wheelbarrow that hadn’t left the garden shed in quite some time. The wall of white static washed outward, through London, and passed through the car.

Dick Turpin rolled to a gentle stop. So did every other car. Some of them kept going just long enough to hit a building, or another car, or a person. Nobody reacted.

Newt and Anathema forgot about what they had been doing. Anathema had no thoughts of her Book.

Newt’s hands fell lax on the wheel.

They sat together, staring through the windshield, thinking of nothing at all.

~*~

Warlock cowered under the broken seesaw. He wanted to go home. He wanted his parents. He wanted to stop getting hit by fish.

On the last point, he got his wish. The sounds of the splats hitting the playground tapered off.

He raised his head, trembling.

Heaps of dead fish covered the playground. The three Them had fled back to the egg-shaped climbing frame thing. They were all huddled with their hands over their heads.

No more fish fell. Warlock got to his feet, wobbly kneed.

He wiped his grimy face and looked for Pepper.

She was helping the other two out of the cage-thing. All three of them looked spooked, but way less covered in fish-slime than Warlock.

Suddenly, they stopped dead. Their faces slackened. Their arms fell to their sides. Their spines jerked strangely, as though a marionette-holder had just plucked a string for each of them and reminded them they weren’t real.

Moving as one, they revolved on the spot and stared at Warlock.

Warlock stumbled back. No, it wasn’t even like they were staring at him. More like through him.

As if hooks had been inserted in the corners of their mouths, they smiled.

Warlock’s blood ran cold. He turned and bolted for the street.

He didn’t get far.

A wave of grey static hit him like a tidal wave. It wiped his brain clean. Every bit of anger, of unhappiness, of boredom, of anything at all. It left nothing.

There was nothing to do but smile.

Adam’s power rolled through Tadfield and onward, sweeping every mind it encountered.

The wave pushed on, relentless and pure, across miles, across land and ocean, until it covered the Earth.

---

[1] Madame Tracy took her obligations very seriously, especially for her clients who were a bit longer in the tooth. She took refresher first aid courses every couple of years.

[2] Crowley kicked himself for not having learned Tad Dowling’s job at any point during the many years he lived in his house. To be fair to him, it wouldn’t have helped.

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