Chapter 1

Courtney slipped inside the meeting room, closing the door quietly behind her. The room itself was cold, if not as cold as outside, and not very well lit, but none among those assembled were complaining. The chill and darkness fit the mood perfectly. Dark rooms for dark days. Courtney suppressed a shiver at the insidious thought.

Anslov acknowledged her arrival with a somber nod of his head. Of course, he knew where she had been. Most likely, everyone present knew. It was expected. Courtney could easily remember the first time she had met Anslov; she had been less than impressed with him, but Jake saw his potential immediately. The greater duty given to him, the brighter he shined, until he was the de facto right hand of Jake himself. His original cocky flamboyance had been gradually weathered away over the intervening centuries into a man of gravity and depth, and although his face seemed untouched by the years, his demeanor bore the weight of heavy responsibility; the burden of being the most powerful Ascendant who had ever lived. One who did not know him would see the shock of dirty blond hair, the pale blue eyes, the laugh lines, and take him for a kindly but strict father-type just entering middle age. Truthfully, he was all of that, but so much more--and middle age was something of an unknown, for as yet, not one Ascendant had died of age--and all could look however they chose.

As if her arrival had been the signal to begin the meeting, Anslov announced his intent to speak by simply clearing his throat. Such was the respect he commanded that the murmured conversations among the various decision makers immediately ceased and all eyes turned on him.

"Friends, family... we are faced with a critical decision. As we all know, Jake has not been... acting like himself as of late, and recently, it has been getting noticeably worse." Anslov's eyes made contact with everyone in the room, driving his words home. "In the absence of his leadership and guidance, we must take on the roles left vacant." Anyone hearing him talk would assume that Jake had been acting strangely for a few months, not fifty years or more. But he was right--Jake was getting worse, and quickly now. "We must also devote as much energy as possible to discovering the cause behind Jake's... malady." There was some stirring about that. Jake had never been sick since he came into his power nearly a thousand years past. Anslov let the muttering quiet down before continuing.

"In this light, I propose we reorganize ourselves to best meet this threat. My idea is to split up the Circle, and begin to focus on areas of critical interest."

"Wait a minute, Anslov," began Rechart, another Ascendant that had been there from the beginning. "As far as I know, everyone has been talking about how Jake has changed, or been changed, but I for one would like to know exactly what you mean by it. From what I've seen, he may be a little more reserved than he has been in the past, but that's certainly no reason to start going behind his back, jumping at shadows. He is still Jake, and he is still the one who holds our allegiance."

Anslov frowned. "Perhaps you have not been paying close enough attention, Rechart. But, if you want a detailed description, simply talk to any of his concubines." All eyes turned to Courtney.

Courtney blushed. She was hardly the only concubine in the room, but for some reason whenever somebody thought of Jake's concubines, it was her they thought of first. Still, she was as capable of answering the question as anyone else.

"Sometime about sixty years ago or so, Jake started exhibiting minor symptoms of obsession; generally speaking, these obsessive tendencies showed themselves in his intimate relations with us." She blushed again and looked Rechart in the eye. "I trust I don't need to go into specifics, but suffice it to say, before that point, sex was hardly the definition of our relationship with him. We still love him absolutely, but for him, the sex has become by far the most important aspect of the relationship."

"I shouldn't think that would bother you so much. You have a history of almost excessive enthusiasm when it comes to that," Rechart commented. Courtney blushed again, but she knew he wasn't saying that to be small, simply stating a fact--a fact that she had to acknowledge as true.

"Well, yes, but even from the beginning, when Jake was just a horny teenager, there was far more depth to our relationship. Almost overnight, in comparison with the strength and duration of our relationship, he became shallow and selfish. He has never been like that before. For almost 900 years, Jake has been a caring, giving lover and companion, and in the space of a few decades, that facet of his personality has... well, it's either vanished, or it's been masked so completely that I can't even tell it's there." Murmurs and nods of agreement rippled through the other concubines present, an effect not easily overlooked by the others.

"In the last few months, this change in his attitude has begun to affect his official life. He assigns no more projects to himself, no longer seeks anything challenging, and no longer helps others with their problems. And of course, last week--"

"I don't think everyone needs to hear about that, Courtney." Anslov broke in firmly. Courtney blinked. Surely he could not mean to cover that up? Anslov had always been fiercely protective of Jake's image, as fiercely protective as Jake's concubines, but there was no way this could be glossed over. It was what had prompted this meeting!

Anslov seemed to realize it too, as soon as he noticed the frowns among the people in the room. Grimacing, he motioned for her to continue. Courtney nodded sympathetically. She understood his reluctance, but they had to be told. They had to understand how precarious the situation was becoming.

"Last week, he nearly killed Talamia in a rage that came on suddenly, and for no apparent reason. We literally had to pull him off her, and you all know how strong he is. He cooled down in seconds, but never offered a word of apology, and that night he called her to his bed as if nothing had happened." Murmurs of shock again rippled through the assembly. "I don't think he would have actually killed her, but who knows? He is no longer as stable as he once was, and he seems to be getting worse. The next time, there may be nobody to pull him off. The next time, he may not cool off in time. I love him with all my heart, but I'm afraid to be alone around him." That was where she had been when this meeting had been called... she shivered, remembering the cold fervor in his eyes as he had thrust into her. As always, his merest touch gave her a thrill of pleasure, but she hadn't wasted a moment to escape as soon as his attention had turned to other things.

Anslov turned to Talamia, who had been sitting quietly in the shadows of a corner. Since that night, she had barely spoken a word to anyone. Talamia was over six feet tall, with thick, luxuriant blonde hair down to the middle of her back, clear blue eyes, and the features of an angel. All women envied Talamia. She was almost unrealistically beautiful, and possessed a simple and unconscious grace that gave the impression that even when she moved, it was not her but the world that moved around her. Of course, she too was a concubine of Jake's, a position that nearly all women in this day and age found enviable.

"Talamia, can you recall what was happening when Jake attacked you?" Anslov asked gently.

Talamia looked at him and shrugged uncomfortably. She didn't like thinking about it, and had always been reserved when talking about her relationship with her Lord, but it seemed she felt compelled to speak.

"We were just lying together, after... after making love," she said hesitantly, and Courtney barely managed to cover a wince. Most here would assume that her hesitation was due her reluctance to talk of intimacies with Jake, but she and the other concubines knew that the times they spent recently with Jake could in no way be called "making love." There was no tenderness, no respect, no love involved... simply a mechanical animal satisfaction on Jake's part. Her heart ached for it. "I just... moved... to talk to him. To look at him. And he went crazy. I didn't even say anything." Unshed tears welled in her eyes.

Barrachus, the man responsible for creating and organizing the Disciplines, the Commandant of Academy Arcanis, the only true formal school of learning the Arts Arcane, started as if elbowed awake. "Excuse me, but can anyone in here recall an oddity in Lord Jacob's behavior that does not have some direct relationship to sexual activity?" The room was silent, partly in response to his question, partly curious of the conclusion he had drawn. Barrachus looked to be about 45 years old, but he was the oldest in the room, with almost 1200 years to his name. He had lived through witch burnings, the Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution, gaining experiences as an Adept of the Old Order before Jake had transformed him into an Elemental Mage, one of the Ascended. He was also one of Jake's most trusted advisors, due to his keen mind and nearly supernatural problem solving skills. There was yet to be a riddle or puzzle that Barrachus could not defeat.

At the silence, Anslov addressed Barrachus. "It would appear not, Barrachus. Does this have some special meaning for you?"

Barrachus frowned. "I am unsure. Let me ask this: has anyone heard from Ykir since Lord Jacob started acting different?" Again there was silence.

"You've certainly managed to pique my curiosity, Barrachus," Anslov began slowly. "What are you implying? That Ykir is somehow responsible for the change in Jake?" He obviously did not believe that possible, and neither did Courtney. Ykir might be Jake's equal in power, perhaps even superior, but Jake had a huge following of Ascended, all of whom bore loyalty only to Jake. Besides, Ykir had withdrawn almost completely from humanity centuries before Jake had even come onto the scene, choosing to spend more time flitting about in the Ether. He was no longer interested in the affairs of man. Or woman. Courtney herself had only seen Ykir once, many centuries ago, and only because Jake had invited him, on a seeming whim, to a party at the palace. It was not an uncomfortable engagement, but it was clear to all present that it likely would not happen again. Immediately afterwards, Jake and Ykir disappeared together; Jake didn't return for nearly a week, and when he did, he never spoke of what had transpired between them. Many of the former Old Order held Ykir in extremely high regard... after all, the 30,000-year-old man had created the Old Order thousands of years before any in this room had been born.