Chronicle Four: Fall of the House of Helekar

In the postscript of the affairs in Mexico, it becomes known that Lotus gave birth to Sebastian's child, only to enter a death-like state and have the baby disappear. Even as mages, there is little her friends can do. The hospital does not know what happened to either Lotus or the baby. With few other options, Sebastian and the Harbingers 'steal' Lotus' body and care for her in the basement of the mansion. They examine her, both physically and magickally, but they can determine nothing; she appears to all senses dead, but the body isn't decaying—and they cannot find out why.

It is spring of 1997. Sebastian, Chip, Martin, Rayne, and Dylan are approached by the Council of Nine. This is surprising since Sebastian and those associated with him have always had trouble with Tradition mages. However, they are willing to heavily compensate them all if they take out the rogue House of Helekar. This house is supposed to be a group of Euthanatos who take out problems for the Council, but now they are the ones who are out of control. Along with Dylan's child (during Chaos Factor), several other children were kidnapped; the Council promises to return those children to their homes, offers the Cabal of the Phoenix instruction, gives them access to files, political manuevers, and so on—if they take out these Euthanatos; the Council also offers Dylan protection for his child. The Cabal of the Phoenix stands to gain recognition, as well as having Sebastian's infant craft (which consisted of the awakened Streetfighters, Devon, and himself), the Faulknarians, recognized.

When the mages get home from Doissestep, they also learn that the House of Helekar wants to take them out, which means that the Euthanatos might strike them, before they can strike the rogue house of assassins. Indeed, even before they get a chance to do much of anything, six mages from Helekar ambush the mansion. Chip and Sebastian, isolated from the others, put themselves at an accelerated pace through Time, moving faster than their attackers expected; between Chip's sword and Sebastian's Do, the two mages make quick work of four of the six Helekar assassins: the last two of whom had the Harbingers pinned down. The less experienced mages, Rayne, Dylan, and Martin, manage to take out the other two with a bit more trouble, and with Devon's help. As is Chip and Sebastian's way, none of their attackers are left alive or accomplishes any of their mission parameters. For the Cabal of the Phoenix, though, the mission is far from done.

 

*           *           *

 

Despite promises from the Council, Dylan fears for the safety of his child and decides to return to Milwaukee. Rayne, insecure about the danger they all face, flees, leaving only a vague note of absence (later to be tracked down by Sebastian to Tampa). Martin also realizes that the war-like nature of the cabal is no longer in line with his scientific goals; besides he kept dreaming of grand inventions, near-mecha devices and the like: Chip and Sebastian, always favoring coincidental magick, never allowed him to follow those desires, repeatedly cutting off his funding for such grandiose projects.

Suddenly finding three-fifths of their cabal out of the picture, Chip and Sebastian reluctantly must finish their war against the House of Helekar alone (the Harbingers and Devon were still mere novices, not ready for that kind of conflict). Using a talisman given to them by the Council, the two enter the House of Helekar's umbral realm. There, they encounter resistance sporadically, moving through a wooded terrain, making their way towards a spiralling castle in the distance. Yet they defeat any and all opposition: Excalibur cleaving through each twisted mage and Sebastian, finally becoming adept enough at Entropy to do direct damage to his enemies, causing probability to line up in the most brutal ways, initiating heart attacks and brain hemorrhages. Every enemy the cabalmates defeat, they kill, making sure to put two bullets in each of their prone skulls—to leave nothing to chance.

As they reach the castle at the heart of the umbral realm, the Phoenix mages are stuck at figuring out a way in. Utilizing his enhanced Life (due to the nature of the umbral realm)—just as Sebastian's entropy is also significantly boosted—Chip gives Sebastian angel-like wings . However, due to his inexperience with this ability, he cannot do the same to himself; nonetheless, Sebastian carries him over the walls. Inside, the resistance is less common, but more formidable. The first Chip and Sebasitan meet are bulky and powerful, but moving through time super-fast, the cabalmates hew them down. Another, a flying near-wraith, moving faster than even they can follow, proves more challenging. Chip is able to damage it with a skilled slice, as it flies by, but hitting Chip for the second time, its own powerful attacks cripple Chip, dropping him. Luckily, its preoccupation with Chip allows Sebastian to land a well-timed entropy attack, taking it out: after which, Sebastian, again strikes, making sure it is dead. Chip, on arising, uses his magick to heal them both and they move on.

At this point, the castle begins to shake and the duo is forced to retreat. Only outside do they realize that the final battle will be against the castle itself; it has transformed into a monstrously large golem. Sebastian flies around in angel form, striking down at it with powerful Entropic magicks, while Chip turns himself into a huge dragon, facing the enormous golem blow for blow. After a near cataclysmic struggle, Chip and Sebastian triumph and the monstrous creature falls, shrinking and reverting to its original human form: that of Voormas. However, soon after his demise, the entire dimension begins to collapse. Sebastian and Chip use the talisman to escape again (after making sure that Voormas is dead also).

The Council is amazed—if not a bit scared—that only the two of them were able to take out the entire House of Helekar. They expected five mages to make the travel and still gave them a better chance than not of failing. Needless to say, they are compensated as promised and their cooperation/treaty with the Council begins in full. It is after this affair that Sebastian makes some changes in both his personal and political life, transforming his Faulknarian craft into the Pendragons, co-founding it with Chip. The ex-Streetfighters and Devon follow Sebastian's lead into this new craft. This time, however, Dylan, Rayne, and Lee Rossdale (of the A-Team) join also.