A visit in dreams...

Even as consciousness slips from your fingers, a feeling of dread pervades you. However well you were coping in the real world you were certain your psyche hadn't recovered from the Abbey's torments, maybe it never would. You brace yourself to see the bodies of your friends, the succubus dragging Glenda off to hell, or even the imp closing in to ravage you... but none of these terrors manifest.

Instead, you lie beside the cliffs under the gnarled old tree to the south of the White Rock Abbey. The breeze is gentle, barely ruffling your hair, and millions of little white daisy's bloom around you. You feel calm, peaceful under the noonday sun. Several long moments pass before you realize it is not the sun that shines so brightly. Standing beside you is the Burning Rose herself, crimson hair seeming to wreath her face in a halo of flame. Oddly, rather than her usually nude depiction, she wears the austere robes of a War Mother, colored a white so pure you doubt it could exist outside of a dream. Her expression is one of sadness as she looks to the abbey, your home. You dare not follow her gaze for fear of what you might see.

Rising to your knees, you prostrate yourself before your goddess. Words fail you for a moment, then spill from your mouth in a flood, "Please, goddess, what is happening? Why did this fate befall my home? What corruption has wound its way into the order? How do I bring the sword to Gerlangen? What do I do?!" Even your dream self is practically in tears, begging your goddess for guidance. She does not respond as you had hoped, only turning to face you with a pained expression. She touches her throat, slightly shaking her head. You fall back on your heels, frowning in confusion, "You're a goddess... THE goddess. Why can't you talk?" She steps forward, sinking to one knee, and rests her hand on your chest.

Warmth spreads from her touch, filling your chest and pushing up your throat, "Because I do not trust the words I would speak." The voice that passes from your lips is your own yet... not. It's slightly deeper and has a strange vibration, like an older Sabine talking in a room filled with crystal. Putting aside the awe you felt for being a conduit for the goddess' voice, you continue to probe, "Why don't you trust your words?" She turns away, hiding an emotion you'd swear was shame, "You are right that a corruption has infested this abbey."

The scene shifts, tree and daisy's blurring into nameless colors before solidifying into sand and stone. The two of you now kneel before Sea Haven Abbey, the vaulting structure somehow seeming darker and more foreboding than in reality. It towers over you both, making you feel like two mice caught under the eyes of a predator. You turn to your goddess, her blue eyes regarding the monolith with worry, if not outright fear. Her whiskers twitch anxiously... Wait what the-?!

The shock of seeing a mousified version of the Burning Rose causes the scene to dissolve and you are sprawled in a blank open space with the once more humanly shaped goddess regarding you with mild irritation. She grabs you by the front of your tunic, dragging you to your feet and placing her hand directly to your neck, "Focus Sabine. I am spread too thin to compensate for your imagination." Her features soften and her grip relaxes, "keep your mind pliable, as in meditation. I will show you the way, if you let me." You nod. Doing your best to keep your mind blank, you concentrate on your link with the goddess.

The scene once again reforms, the Sea Haven Abbey standing tall in the night, this time during a great storm. You think back to being shipwrecked the night before but manage to quell the memory before it disrupts the scene. A figure barrels out of the darkness, weaving toward the Abbey and buffeted by the storm. As a particularly vitriolic burst of lightning splits the sky the figures face is illuminated and you recognize Selena, her features twisted in abject terror. She throws herself at the door, screaming for help at the top of her lungs, neither of which can be heard over the fury of the storm. Something moves in the darkness, a shadow quickly approaching and seemingly unhindered by the elements.

Selena turns and shrieks, flattening herself against the solid oak doors as the shadow makes an impossibly long leap towards her. CRACK! Lightning arks off of the Abbey, channeled from one of its many spires, striking the shadow dead center and revealing the demonic visage of a succubus, twisted mid-battle scream.

The succubus is blasted back into the darkness, landing somewhere unseen, and the door of the Abbey groans open. Selena vanishes inside and the scene blurs.

"So she was being chased... and you saved her?" The Burning Rose nodded darkly, seeming to regret the action immensely. "I mistakenly took her for an innocent and protected her from the demons grasp." "But Janine said the sisters confirmed she was pure?" The Rose closed her eyes wearily, "The presence of a hymen does not ensure purity, as I was quick to be reminded of." The scene shifted to show Janine and Selena reclining in the garden, staring heatedly into each others eyes. It was hardly surprising as they closed the distance and began passionately kissing, rolling around the well-kept flowerbed.

"Is she a demon? Some kind of shapeshifter that fooled you?" The Rose gave you a flat look that needed no translation. The Burning Rose knew a demon, regardless of its shape. "Then how...?" She looked coldly at the embracing sisters, "She is... unnatural." You were well versed in the cryptic words of the divine but you had to admit, it was frustrating to interpret them first hand, "What does that mean? Exactly?" The Rose gives you a defeated look, "More I cannot say without defeating the purpose of a translator." You lift your hands helplessly, "I'm sorry I don't know what you mean." Her white robe flickers for a moment, as though iridescent, and she grits her teeth, sagging. "Goddess!" She leans heavily on you but pushes more words through your mouth, "the divine are... defined by those who follow them. Given shape and... direction by the mass prayers of lesser beings." The words obviously pained her, her hand shook on your chest, bunching up your tunic. The scene shifted to a vast dark chamber, lit by flickering lights. You'd never been here in the real world and the details seem blurry and transient. An altar rises above a pool of water, dark and mirror-like. Heady chanting rises from a crowd of robed figures surrounding the mirrored surface, their faces concealed. "My followers... have turned..." Selena stepped up to the altar, raising her arms and shouting dark verses. The black pool grew even darker, seeming to deepen into an abyss. Seething fire flickered far beneath its depths, and the scream of a demon echoed through the chamber.