2019.02.12 - Reflecting by the Black Lodge I

**Emitter:** Jason

*Jason sits out the journey into the Black Lodge and reflects.*

January 4th, Year Unknown; Evening

Outside the Black Lodge

Jason Christopher suppressed a snarl as he considered the situation. Outwardly, he was as perfectly calm and unfazed as ever. Inwardly, however, he was anything but. He glanced to see his son, Sly, approaching with more ingredients. Brewing various elixirs, salves, unguents, and liniments helped to distract him, particularly with Sly's assistance, using the various ingredients the forest around them provided. That was where the doorway was to that place, the Black Lodge, in the center of a circle of twelve sycamore trees deep in the forest. They were told ordinarily it would only open under specific astrological conditions, but the witches knew ways to work around that. To gain entry to the Black Lodge, which they said was where one of the ordeals to become the Supreme took place.

Of the druidic formulae he cooked, most important was a powerful serum, one whose purpose was to compel the imbiber to tell the truth. He remembered that wild man, in the forests all those years ago, screaming and frothing at the mouth about a twin that looked just like him, but with evil in his eyes. Jason Christopher was taking no chances. Everyone would drink when they came out.

WHEN they came out, because the alternative was not something he would even consider. He knew he was right not to go inside. It required fear to gain entry, something he was not subject to, largely. Then there was the other aspect, the darkness within. He had spent centuries harnessing his darkness, refining it, weaponizing it. Only for two brief periods in his life had he laid it aside--once with his wife, and now with Jacob--but Jason knew damn well how easy it was to reach for it, for it was always there, just within reach. Even despite that, he considered going in until he heard the story related to them the night before.

When Jack Marshak had joined them in Curious Goods, he related a story he had heard of the place from someone years before.

"For there is another place, The White Lodge's opposite, of almost unimaginable power, chock full of dark forces and vicious secrets. No prayers dare penetrate this frightful maw. Spirits there care not for good deeds and priestly invocations. They are as like to rip the muscle from our bones as greet you with a happy g'day. And, if harnessed, these spirits, this hidden land of unmuffled screams and broken hearts, will offer up a power so vast that its bearer might reorder the earth itself to his liking."

It had given Jason much to think on since. The concept of another place, a White Lodge, was interesting but largely irrelevant at the moment, though he wondered if the mirror they now possessed had not originated there, perhaps? He recalled a reflection of a place in that mirror months before when it had been used against them, a malevolent and dark place. Did the mirrors reflect what their opposite saw? A mirror of light and a mirror of darkness. Wasn't the world equal measures of both?

It was all the purview of the witches, and their like, but after the story Jack had told them he was certain of two things. One, they needed both of the mirrors to stop Michael. Two, he himself could not go into the Black Lodge to attempt to retrieve it. The thought of something using his darkness against him, well, he had faced that before. It offered him no real terror. But, the thought of something using his darkness against those he loved? No. Unacceptable. So, he remained behind, certain in his choice. He remained behind as he watched Jacob Black, his mate, go into that place, walking through possible soul-rending danger, without him. So, yes, outwardly Jason Christopher remained as calm as ever, while inside he wanted to roar, to release The Beast to shatter the earth and skies with the rage he felt at having to watch the one he loved do this. If Sly had gone as well, nothing could have prevented that very thing. So, he sat and considered many things, and as he did, a corner of his lips twitched in an ironic smirk.

So. That's what that felt like.