It's a terrible thing I'm called to do, I don't deny that. This is a place of beauty and peace. I'm here to destroy its sanctity and shed blood on these holy cobblestones.

I hate myself for what I do, but that's irrelevant. I don't make the choices about who lives and who dies. I take orders and dispatch my targets. It's about what they do, their decisions that bring them in front of my crosshair...

Streetlights make me think of the stars shining so brightly that I could walk forever and never get lost.

I'm a child at a concert, lulled by the music, and when it's finished I follow my father slowly out of the auditorium into the night air. The lights dazzle my drowsy eyes as I climb into the back seat of the car.

I'm an adult in New York City, and the lights never turn out. They stay shining...

I turn my head and I see him, just for a split second and he's gone. I shudder all over when this happens. A smell like mustard fills my nostrils. It's an hallucination, a seizure, some brain damage from the war. Paranoia; I need to get my medications increased.

When I step onto the subway car, his face is watching me from the window into the next car. I run toward the door and he vanishes; the d...

You are not dying, not the way you think you are. True, your body is dissolving. You're no longer even opaque to light.

How can you fight it? What could you do? What could I do? There's nothing to fight. The light is spilling out from within you and shining through your skin.

It hurts, I know it hurts. Your chest burns and you can't breathe. Everything is in a panic, a tumult. All that you've ...

I turned my hand over and over. Light was shining through it. The green of the grass at my feet, the brown of my shoes, and the gray of the rocks nearby, all were clearly visible through my hand. I shuddered looking at it, but wasn't terrified.

I'd been living and working in Anwyn for a few years. Virgo was training me primarily, and I'd spend time each day with Juan, the oracle, learning all I ...

One day, my son Ampyx finds me on the beach. He tells me that his mother is dying, and that I need to come and see her, one last time. I stand and follow him. The people waiting disperse, perhaps to return the next day.

"Did you forget us?" Ampyx demands as he leads me through the streets of Acis. "You've been on that beach for years, and you've never sent so much as a word to me, my brothers, y...

In the mornings I take my human form and walk out onto the beach. The people of Acis come to me with their disputes, and I am seen as a fair arbiter because I care about nothing but the truth. My days pass peacefully.

These situations are solved more simply than they would appear at first. By consenting to my arbitration and coming before me, much of the work of reconciliation is done already. T...

Cancer

Waves wash over me. I have no eyes. I have no face. I have existed always or I have only just come into existence.

It was like this before they resurrected me. I had found peace, after hundreds of years of life, life after life, endless struggle and pain. They brought me back for one last war. Now I'm here, deep in the ocean in my aquatic form, a crab, my human form transmuted and inter...

Juan stood to speak again, describing the need for the blockade of the Strait of Woes to be dismantled once the world's governments have accepted terms and recognized the new leadership of Cuahalan. He asked that magicians and scientists work together to cleanse the Bay and the water of the poisons there, so that the aquatic life could return. Libra suggested that Pisces be enlisted to lead this e...

We gathered together in the War Room, perhaps for the last time. Present were Juan, Scorpio, Dantalion, Libra, Orlando, Xicarus, Cainen, Byrn, Ampyx, Agrippa, and me, Oberon, the new Gemini. The events of the war were recounted, and everyone was made aware of what needed to happen next.

Juan explained to Cancer's sons how their father had decided to remain in his aquatic form and join the ocean d...