MAG 196: This Old House

A statement on Reality recorded by Martin K Blackwood.
==Pre-Statement==
Annabelle Cane and Martin Blackwood are walking to Hill Top Road, protected by the camera. Annabelle complains that Martin is being too slow. She thinks he is deliberately taking his time, because whenever they're near tormented souls, the camera can stop the torment for a little while. Martin brings up Mikaele Salesa, asking if he suffered. Annabelle admits that he was good to her, so she killed him in his sleep.
Eventually, she tells him that they are close and Martin is disappointed to realize that Jonathan Sims is not there yet. Annabelle reminds him that they have a substantial lead and the camera keeps John from tracking them. Annabelle reveals that Martin is there due to a combination of free will and blackmail, as she said if he waited or told John, she would leave without him and no one would get any answers- or a way out. Martin asks why she could not just tell them, and she says she could, but it is so much more dramatic if they see it themselves. Martin then notices that there are several tape recorders near and in the house. Martin and Annabelle enter Hill Top Road, and Martin is thoroughly unimpressed. While they wait for John, Annabelle has Martin read a statement she wrote for him.
==Statement==
Annabelle's statement explains that the place where 105 Hill Top Road currently stands has had a "crack" in reality for as long as the Entities have existed, and possibly even longer. However, its effects were subtle enough that most would barely note the changes while walking by or even through it.
Eowa, a Saxon who had fled the field against the Mercian king, was the first to build a home on the land. Having been in the battle, and stabbed with a seax knife, Eowa was affected by The Slaughter or The Corruption, though Annabelle is unsure which (or if the distinction is even possible). Eventually, Eowa awoke seemingly in a different timeline, where the Mercians had pushed further. He met a "quick and clean" death, and his hut eventually collapsed.
After, many lived on the land as the village grew. Sometimes, they might feel an echo of some other place not quite their own, but ultimately did not think much of it.
Eventually, a man named Geoffrey Neckam bought a house on the land to live apart from his peers, as he feared they were plotting against him. He began to notice the oddities in his home, even discovering a new room in his home once. Though he came closer to the truth than one might imagine, his mediations ultimately lead nowhere. However, due to his living in fear, he brought the crack to the attention of the Mother-of-Puppets. He was eventually killed.
Through the ages, The Web worked to lure in the servants of other powers, who would then kill each other, gradually widening the crack. Finally, Raymond Fielding was immolated and destroyed, along with his house, by Agnes Montague. This caused the crack to widen into "a hole around which time, dimension and reality began to bend, shudder and leak," which could open into other worlds. Though it is not wide enough to allow for more than the odd accident, it is wide enough for The Web's current intentions.
==Post-Statement==
Annabelle admits that her original plan involved hollowing Martin out and filling him with spiders. After assuring him that her plan has changed, she tells Martin that he was a master manipulator, perfect for The Web, but he got too deep in The Lonely, and his bond with John is too strong and too complicated. Martin asks why Annabelle is so forthcoming all of a sudden, and she admits that it is against her nature but the truth is necessary for her plan. She says her original plan was to kill Martin, driving John so deep into despair that he would do something drastic enough to widen the crack. The surrounding circumstances got too complicated, however, so she had to reevaluate. 
Annabelle realizes that John is approaching and decides to make the setting more "appropriate." She smashes the camera, creating an unfathomably deep crack in the ground, and binds Martin in webs. Martin says that John is going to kill her and she says fine, as long as he listens first. Martin then notices that the "webs" binding him are actually old tapes, and realizes that Annabelle has been using them to spy on the Archives. Annabelle tells Martin that he has no idea who is listening.
==Continuity==
*Anya Villette’s statement in MAG 114 is a likely example of someone accidentally passing through the crack in reality.
==Trivia==
*Annabelle's original plan for Martin was one of series writer Jonathan Sims' original ideas for the ending.MAG Season 5 Q&A - Part 2
*The three audio clips that play from the tapes at the end of this episode are from: MAG 160 (in 6:04), MAG 129 (in 3:20),and MAG 159 (in 23:28) respectively.
==References==
Category:The Magnus Archives Episodes