Enlightenment in some dark place.

John was a bit surprised to see them talking together. Anna didn't know who Moira was, and it seemed strange that Moira would have introduced herself.

"Newman! I was keeping company to your girlfriend. I have to give you credit, I wouldn't have thought that you would keep my name from her," said the Warden, smiling to him.

"I wouldn't break your trust like that. I told her about some people I've had contact with, but I didn't give any names or personal details until I was sure they were OK with it. I guess you had a bit of an awkward conversation?" he replied.

"I thought that she already knew who I was, but she quickly understood once we started talking. What did you want of me?"

"I'm looking into a few things, and I wanted to invite you for lunch so that we can discuss them. And I would like to meet with your seer Lorelei too, I think she could have some insight into this. I would say more, but I'd rather do it in a more discreet location," he explained.

"I had some free time on the second period, so I prepared some food in advance. I'm sure you will like it. And we could use the extra time too," added Anna.

The small group moved to a blind spot and held hands for a second, reappearing in the castle after a split second. Moira looked around with awe. On her first and unique visit here, the place looked unfinished and empty. A small room of rough dark grey stone, the words “castle” or “kingdom” sounding like jokes. But now the place was looking like a palace, white marble and gold everywhere, with banners on the walls.

"What? How did you get all of this in such a short time?" she asked.

"It's not exactly what it seems. I got a cosmetic upgrade as a quest reward. It looks good, but it is still made of the same base materials, and I can't harvest any of this to sell or use it. But there have been some changes nonetheless, more rooms, a few perks; my little kingdom is growing well. Tricia is even helping me with the lab," he told her.

"She told me she was interested in studying this place. So, where are we going?" replied the redhead.

Daphne was a surprise to Moira, and after her last encounter with slimes, it took some efforts and the fact that Tricia judged her safe to make the Warden accept her. The table was covered with various foods, and in the center stood a large piece of deer meat, glazed and roasted.

During the meal, John explained to Moira what he had been able to discover about this mysterious entity and the statuettes, which was not much. He had to reveal his relationship with June but kept the one with his mother a secret. It had been a shock to discover that the statuettes were absent from the videos in his gallery. John made a drawing of one of them, but it didn't remind Moira of anything and neither did some sort of secret magical sex cult like this. No clue either for the mysterious puzzle box or the runes on its surface. John had gotten it out and Moira's magic couldn't affect it either.

"It can't be demons, we would have detected demonic influence on this scale a long time ago. From what you have said, there are no harmful side effects appart from an increased... Libido. I did not detect anything magical about Miss Summers and got no report of anything weird from the team protecting your mother. We did not notice the usual hints of cult activity in town either. You are right to be curious about it, and I think we should consult Lorelei, see if she can uncover the nature of this. I will also show the drawing and pictures to Cornelius, he might find something about it in the archives," concluded the young paladin.

"On the surface it doesn't look like it is dangerous. But I would really like to know for sure. Knowing demons are not involved is already a relief. When can we go to the manor to consult with the seer?" he asked.

"The sooner the better. This kind of magic takes time: what she sees or uncovers isn't a straight answer most of the time, and it takes a lot of efforts to get to the truth. We should go now; I'm sure you won't miss much by skipping two hours of swimming in a pool. Anna, the food was delicious, and it was a pleasure to meet you. I'm glad that John found someone, but sadly, I can't accept your offer. I understand that the resident status in this kingdom comes with few strings attached, but my position doesn't allow me to freely enter such agreements, not before asking my elders for advice about it," she explained. Anna had offered her to become a resident, thinking that it would go better coming from her than from John.

John and Moira left the kingdom soon after, and Anna would wait for it to be time for her PE period. A few text messages ensured that June knew that John would be absent so that she could cover for him with Coach Conroy.

John sat behind Moira on her Harley and held her tight as she raced down the street towards the manor. John instinctively knew that her blessing probably gave her better reflexes, but this was still a hell of a ride to see her slalom between cars like that, driving way above the speed limits.

After a drive a lot shorter than it should have been, they arrived at the manor. And Moira led him to a part of it that he had not seen before. On their way, they met Reginald, her butler, and she gave him the pictures and drawings with instructions to give them to the sage for research.

A hidden staircase led them to a dark hallway underground, only lit by a few dim torches. John caught a glimpse of some men in arms and armor walking in the distance, no doubt some Knights of the Order who left them alone because of Moira's presence. Their trip ended in front of a large oakwood door, reinforced with steel bars, at the end of the corridor.

Moira opened it without knocking, and they entered a small square room filled with some acrid smoke. The walls were covered with small candles on shelves, their wax dripping on them, forming a large mass. A few bowls of burning coals were the source of the smell. Lorelei was there, kneeling on the rune covered stone floor, in the middle of a circle filled with various geometric shapes. She was wearing a grey dress embroidered with silver runes; it was worn-out and probably some sort of ancient relic; it didn't fit her perfectly, he noticed, having seen her in a better fitting dress. She wasn't wearing a ribbon as a blindfold but a mask of engraved silver with no holes to allow sight, probably designed to be worn by someone blind. It made John wonder if blindness was the usual price to pay for magic sight, as it seemed a frequent theme in legends and fantasy.

"The Warden and the king of nowhere, seeking enlightenment in a dark place, I was expecting you. Sadly, I don't know why you come to me, the light of the Lady doesn't shine in your realm, or she refuses to share it with me," said the seer as they entered. Dealing with someone who was blind and yet could see more than most people was a bit of a headache in regard of the way to act around her.

"The mage Newman uncovered a mystery, an occult organization that escaped our attention. We do not know yet what they are or if they are dangerous, but we need your help to discover that. They deal in matters of the body and... Lust. Can you tell us more?" explained Moira. Strangely, Lorelei blushed hearing this. Moira finished explaining the rest of the details about what they knew about this mysterious cult.

"Then it was true... I thought it was... I would have never thought you would propose such a thing, or that it would be accepted..." she muttered.

"What is she talking about?" asked Moira to John.

"Hmm... I have thought about things and devised a few plans, dependent on what would be uncovered. One of them involves her, and she might have seen it in a vision. That is bad news though. If this is what I'm thinking about, it means what we are about to do will fail or give insufficient results. Let's focus on the task at hand and talk about it if needed when it will come up. What do you need me to do?" he asked.

"Kneel with me in the circle. If you have something belonging to someone touched by this cult, it could help. I will have to look into your memory for the places linked to it," she said.

"Wait... You're going to read my mind?"

"I'm not a telepath, what we will do will allow you to share with me what you saw."

John changed out of his school uniform to replace it with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, he did not want to get some wax or soot on it.

"Are all visions real? Will they all become real?" he asked, recovering from his inventory the thong that June had offered him during this first steamy encounter at school.

"You had visions and want to know if they are the truth or delusions? I can try to help you if you share them with me."

"One them involved a place, one that I believe linked to this cult and discovered happens to exist. But I had no knowledge of it before the vision."

"It being a vision means that I won't be able to read as much from it than you could if you really went there, but it could help me anchor my sight on the real place."

John put the hand holding the pair of underwear on her lap, and she put her left hand on it, then she put her right on his forehead, chanting mantras in a language John didn't recognize.

Suddenly, everything went black. He was lost in an endless void.

Show me!

This was sound, or text; the idea of these words imposed themselves on him. First he tried to focus on June, the person he knew that had been impacted the most by the cult and whose focus they had in hand. It was really hard to focus on her any other way than naked or performing exquisite things to him. After an embarrassingly long show of this, he managed to focus on her room, last Saturday afternoon. He focused on the statuette and showed it to Lorelei, trying to tell her that it was it.

This must be wrong. You must be wrong. There is nothing here. Why were you two talking about nothing? It can't be. What did you do? Lady, show me your light!

But it seemed that just like it didn't register on his gallery, the unseeing yet all seeing eyes of the seer couldn't look at the statuette. The vision was drifting slowly despite John's efforts. What followed this explanation was too tempting for his mind, and as Lorelei kept trying to see what she couldn't see, the John and the June of this vision jumped on the bed and began to have sex.

Stop! This won't work. Show me the other thing.

John changed the focus, and they arrived at Felicity's; here again it was hard for John to focus away from Anna's fashion show and them making out to try to show her the statuette.

You don't lie when you talk about these things... Why can't I see them? Show me the last thing, show me your vision.

John found it really easy to focus on the visions that the lightning stones had brought to him. They were engraved into his mind in the most minute details. But he couldn't stop the seer from getting a few glimpses at each of the visions before landing on the right on. Him walking into this club and everything that happened inside.

This is it... This is what I saw... What you would make me do...

The light came back to John, but his sight remained blurry for an instant. John noticed that Moira was seated on the ground against the door (the only vertical surface without dripping wax on it).

"Did you find anything? Cornelius told me that he found nothing in the most known references about something matching this," said the Warden.

"Wait! When did he say that to you?" asked John.

"About three hours ago, when he had finished doing his preliminary research and called a few sages from other chapters of the Order. He doesn't know anything about the runes or glyphs on your box either, as we have a program to identify things like that and he didn't find anything even related to it," she explained to him. John had trouble understanding what she just said; he was hungry, thirsty and drenched in sweat; Lorelei didn't look well either. He checked the clock of his interface and realized that it was now 10:37 pm. The whole afternoon and a good bit of his evening had flown away while in trance with the seer.

"Ward... Moira... I can't see it... It is in his mind, but I can't see any of it. I don't know why. And now it will come to be. My vision will realize itself," said the young seer. Moira looked at John in an accusatory manner.

"Alright, before involving you, I intended to maybe go back to the shop to get some answers, but after my vision, I decided to investigate the second location, mostly to know if it even existed. It's a club, a sex club, I managed to find it and get a membership. The thing is... On the first visit, members must bring a woman with them, one that would remain naked and blindfolded for the entire visit and obey her master's orders. And I noticed that I knew someone that could investigate without being noticed and see despite being blindfolded," he confessed.

"You! You wouldn't dare? How can you even suggest?" raged Moira.

"I can only enter the place if I bring someone. And I figured that if it was possible to scry the place from the outside, you would have detected it already. But since you can't, it made sense to bring inside the person who could get the most information from it," he explained. Moira was about to scream at him, but Lorelei stopped her.

"I saw it. I saw myself leaving the Manor, wearing naught but a cloak and leather hood. I didn't know why or what happened next, and it was haunting me, but it makes sense now. You can't go, Moira. And who else could he bring? We'll do some more research on it and come to a decision tomorrow," declared the seer.

"It will be hard to sell this to my father. I should try beginning to convince him. Do you need me to drive you home?" she offered.

"No, it's okay, I just need to get out of the manor; I guess you have protections against people getting in or out through barriers. I don't want to trigger all of the alarms. Lorelei, the visions, are they real?"

"The future is a strange place: many futures can be shaped from each choice one makes. Those were not delusions. Will they be your future? They could, not all at once, but depending on your actions, each could come true. I need to rest now," she answered, getting up with a great deal of effort.

Moira led John out and on the way said to a cute, black haired maid that the seer would need some help and a good bath. John waited to be outside of the limits of the manor and activated his ring to bring him back to Arcadia, where the waypoint of his mom would allow him to get home.