When a key is not a key ((for Harry))

[slayers_desire]

It has started a few weeks ago, with the disturbing nightmares that forced April to wake up in the middle of the night. Nightmares that while connected to her voices, were so real and visual, that it was like she had been there in the moment.

In the moment of a death. It was not like most deaths that she saw through her voices... instead, it was like the person has disappeared. And April knew each time it happened it was like a little piece of the universe had been stolen.

Clark had advised her to go to the research library hidden in Lorne's bar. And that was where she was, when a commotion was raised from the meeting area of the Scoobies. Coming out of the library, she saw her father, Spike, placing Dawn onto a couch. The young girl was flickering... disappearing and reappearing... it was so shocking, she thought she was dreaming again.

"Someone help her! I am nothing without her!" Spike called out.

April frowned. Something was seriously wrong. And her intuition was telling her that whatever was going wrong, had to do with some serious magic. Returning into the library, April used her PINpoint to call up Harry Dresden. Hopefully he could provide some insight...

Comments

[slayers_desire]

"A center of knowledge?"

[thepizzalord]

Harry nods. "Somewhere where you can find information on almost anything you want. Sort of like the Nexus library, but it has to be here, on this Earth. Magical knowledge, mundane knowledge, you name it. If I was at home, I'd want to go wherever the Archive is hanging her hat at the moment, but we don't have that luxury here."

[slayers_desire]

"The Watcher library here is the closest we have... a lot of books and archives were lost to us... over the years." April frowns.

"Wolfram and Hart have a bigger library." Wes points out.

[thepizzalord]

Harry considers that. "Are they the kind of folks we want to say hello to?"

[slayers_desire]

"Not really. Last time... they tried to erase my existence."

[thepizzalord]

"Wouldn't be a good idea then, even if we could get away with it. Breaking in where you aren't wanted, opening a Way on hostile territory, is a great way to open a gateway to getting yourself killed. Any other candidates?" He's fairly certain that the Watcher library will do, if they have no better choices. But it's better to be thorough.

[slayers_desire]

"We could summon The Conduit... the connection to the Powers that Be..." Wes suggested.

[thepizzalord]

"The Conduit?" Harry repeats. "You wanna elaborate on that a bit?"

[slayers_desire]

"The Powers that Be can't be seen or heard by most people, because of their True Essence... so they once had a way to communicate with their heroes. First it was the Oracles. Then they were killed, so now it is the Conduit," Wes explains.

"It is like a fiery ball of knowledge..." Spike adds.

[thepizzalord]

That certainly has his attention. "That sounds as good as the Archive. Anyone know where to find this Conduit?"

[slayers_desire]

"Angel would know... he was the last to speak to her... him... it." Spike pulls out a cellphone.

[thepizzalord]

"Sounds perfect then." Harry wraps up the twine from the crystal and slips the entire thing into a little Ziplock baggie, to keep the coating fresh. "I'll need a compass. Got one of those in your magical back room?" he asks Wes.

[slayers_desire]

"Right then..." Spike takes his call to a quiet area, where he can argue his case with his 'Grandsire'.

Wes nods, heading in the back room to get a compass.

[thepizzalord]

"If this doesn't work, I might be out of ideas," Harry confides in April, while the other two are away.

[slayers_desire]

"There is something that is protecting me from them Harry... perhaps we can tap into that?"

[thepizzalord]

"Maybe, but I don't know what it is, or how we could extend it to Dawn. For all we know, it might just be that you live in another universe these days."

[slayers_desire]

"Then maybe we can take her to another dimension?" April was not sure what to suggest.

"Well kids... Angel told me how to summon the Conduit. So Big ol' Vamp needs to play with some fire..." Spike chuckles to himself, heading into the back room to find some supplies. He comes out with a shallow cauldron, an armful of different crystals, holy water and a old book. Wes follows with the compass.

[thepizzalord]

"If worse comes to worst, we'll give it a shot. If nothing else, maybe the Nexus can help." What he doesn't say is that any other Keys won't be so lucky, if no one knows who or where they are.

Harry takes the compass from Wes, tucking both it and the crystal into his pocket for the time being.

[slayers_desire]

Spike sets up the cauldron, pours in the crystals (in a certain pattern), adds the holy water, and then lights a cigarette to burn a page out of the book. Throwing into the fire.

"Bring forth the Conduit..." He demands, and the fire turns from an ordinary flame to something brighter. More white-flames, than red and orange.

The flame moves, forming the shape of a person.

[thepizzalord]

Harry's eyebrows go up as he watches Spike summon the Conduit. No magic circle is a risky, risky business when it comes to summonings, but he sure hopes Spike knows what he's doing. "That easy, huh?"

[slayers_desire]

In this case, the cauldron is acting like a magic circle.

The flame dances, as if waiting for someone to speak to it.

[thepizzalord]

"What the hell, might as well ask first." Harry takes a step forward. "Hey Conduit, don't suppose you'd know how to stop what's happening to the Keys?" he says, pointing at Dawn.

[slayers_desire]

The flames change... becoming pictorial in fashion. It shows several flame people, and them disappearing one by one. It then shows Three bigger flame-people, and a flame-sword removing their heads. And then the flame people reappearing.

[thepizzalord]

"Yep, that part we know. Trio killing them and such. But how do we make it stop?"

[slayers_desire]

The flames repeat the last sequence, the Trio losing their heads, and then the smaller flame-people, the Keys, reappearing.

"We have to stop them..."