Episode 118 - Nevermores

## Nevermores

A black background with a simple whit border, in the corners of which four small white feathers are depicted. Within the border a cluster of white silhouettes of ravens, in front of them is a more distinct silhouette of a raven in flight depicted in red. Bellow these images but still within the border the words "118.NEVERMORES" is depicted in white

### Author

William A. Wellman

Jonah tries a door, Diggory looks inward, and the Omen is waylaid. The theme of tonight’s episode is Nevermores.

> ***Content warnings**:* *Animal cruelty or animal death (Omen, Bert, Beast as usual), Violence, Kidnapping and abduction, Death + Injury, Blood, Birds, Gun Mention, Misgendering, Emotional Manipulation, Drowning, Body horror*
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## Intro - The Raven Returns

Nikignik speaks to the Dreamers of someone in isolation, who one day finds a raven in their place of living. They ask it how it got in, as all their doors were closed and their windows long boarded, but the Raven gives no answer. They do their best to ignore it, but the raven was not content to sit; when they least expect it, it fluttered, and screamed through the unlit hallways, frightened the, in the static light of their television. They wonder if both themself and the raven will die in the room, and - not wanting this - they take a crowbar and rip the boards down from the windows and feels the breeze on their face for the first time in 15 years. The Raven flies out into the night.

Nikignik lounges in the ledge of a doorway in the Temple of the End overlooking Jonah Duckworth as he fruitlessly attempts to open the door.

## Story 1 - Forever Locked

Jonah Duckworth takes a break from pounding on the door to the Temple of the End (see Episode 112 - Watchers), and The Rat King (see Episode 75 - Loyalties) makes its presence known in the form of a single rat, asking if Jonah had any luck. Jonah tells it that he'd gotten lucky once (see Episode 27 - Spirits), and apologises to the Rat King for making a ruckus as he'd though he was alone. Jonah asks the Rat King what was wrong with him, as he couldn't figure out how to return to Earth, he needed to go back now as all his friends were in danger. The Rat King tells him that he shouldn't have faced The Faceless King, as it would be harder for Jonah to return to life if he died outside of his designated area (see Herald). Jonah asks if there was any other way he could get back, and The Rat King tells him that there was a third door, but it was a mystery to it.

Jonah asks if there was any way to stop being a Herald, what destroying the Heart of Marolmar would do. The Rat King tells him that he couldn't stop being a Heral, that he was going to outlive all that he loved. That he was different to that Jonah pre-Episode 1 - Keys. Jonah tells it that he'd had a life before being a Herald and still had one now outside of it, people who were important, but The Rat King restates that Jonah would outlive them. Jonah tells it that he would find another way out, it asks him if he had no interest in learning about his calling. Jonah tells it that he hadn't said that, asking for it to tell him everything it knew about the change (see Marolmar). It tells him that to tell him everything it knew would take eternity, and Jonah remarks that it was a good thing that they might have eternity.

### Interlude 1 - The Grackle Is Not Death

Nikignik tells the Dreamers that when they died, they would find the Grackle looming over them (see Episode 36 - Swords). It was for its own clandestine reasons that it asks for something small and shining in recent years. If anything, it was a surprise that it maintained any semblance of its old duties, the Industry had departed, their flocks of soul-collectors brought back to the roost to ready for a new assignment, and the Grackle was only one wayward pilferer of souls. Nikignik tells the Dreamers that if they saw it, they should not attempt to frighten it away, The Grackle was not death, death makes it visible. The question was, in their final moments of consciousness did they wish to lie in the soil until the darkness claimed them, or did they wish to fly?

## Story 2 - A Blessing And A Curse

Diggory Graves sits with the rest of the expedition (save Jonah Duckworth, Hector Mendoza, and Heidi) after the events of Episode 117 - Natures. They ask the group how everyone was doing. Riot Maidstone comments that she'd been better, asking Olivier Song if magic healing was even safe. Olivier tells her that it wasn't, they were almost never meant to heal other people because they didn't understand their bodies the same as they might their own. Cindy Lockheart says that Riot could walk and that was good enough, she tells the group that they were going to have to move faster to avoid more black water affected creatures. Olivier tells her that they'd go as fast as they could, but getting further split up was dangerous.

Diggory asks Mort if he was alright, telling him that they were sorry for Bert's death (see Episode 115 - Fishes). Mort states that because Bert was already dead, she'd come back. Cindy points out that it was possible to kill the undead, and Riot tells her that she wished she'd been awake to see her kill Beast. Diggory continues their conversation with Mort, telling him that even if Bert was only temporarily gone, he should know that they were there to support him. Percy Reed asks Diggory if they'd had any memories come back that could help them. Diggory tells him that the forest did not exist when they went on their original mission (see The Crew of the Ruth Esther Barnes), they only knew that they were heading in the same direction. Diggory looks up to find that while they were talking, Beast had gotten up and silently walked towards them, now standing over them. Everyone leaps back in surprise, but Diggory gets slammed into the ground and torn to pieces.

### Marketing - Lay To Rest

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts Nikignik's broadcast with her 'Marketing' segment. She tells the Dreamers that she was at the Utah Great Salt Lake Memorial Desert Park. She tells them that back when there was a lake, people worried so much about what it was supposed to be, but then they realized that on the other side of every catastrophic change was an opportunity, they could market what an exciting new experience it was to explore a dried lakebed. She tells them that Lady Ethel Mallory was a lake, and now she was drying up. But they did not wallow in the damp soil, they looked at what they had and accepted that it was all they had left. It was time for to lay Lady Ethel Mallory to rest. She begins to take off the cloths that she was thrown out of the Botulus Corporation (see Episode 98 - Harvests) in, including her iconic glasses, saying that she couldn't find out who she was while she still carried all the tokens of her past.

### Story 2, Continued - A Blessing And A Curse

Diggory experiences flashes from their past, Irene Mend retrieving the remains of the Crew of the Ruth Esther Barnes (save Bartholomew 'Barty' Chum). Her making them. The black water dripping from the roof (see Diggory Graves) into their eyes. They find themself on the beach of white bone where they'd had conversations with their previous lives (see Episode 26 - Needles). They sit with Evelyn Fry, and tell her of the last time they were there, asking if they were stuck forever this time. She tells them that she didn't know, they'd know more then she would. Diggory notices four dark silhouettes watching from the nearby shore and tells them all that they would not have been them, that they too had failed at their mission.

Eve reminds Diggory that they'd all died so anything Diggory did was an improvement. She tells them that it was strange how entangled they'd gotten in each other lives, and that they were ready to find out where their intuition telling them were to go came from. They tell her that they were afraid to, and she tells them that they could chill on the beach instead, it was their life they could spend it how they wanted. Diggory tells Eve that Valerie Maidstone was safe, before standing up and walking into the ocean.

### Interlude 2 - Floodgates

Nikignik tells the Dreams that when God had said he'd never again flood the earth and destroy life upon it, he had not dream of the possibility that humans might do it themselves. When the heart of Marolmar was plunged into the freezing sea, Syrensyr must have thought no more of it, and opened operations to collect souls. But humanity had built industries of its own, undid the seals of ice and epoch, unleashed the floodwaters, reveal the blood the gods once spilled. He asks them if they could feel the sea rocking at the sides of their ship, the storm overhead, the song of what grew in the ocean beneath their shallow hull.

## Story 3 - Two Birds

The Omen flies above The Blackwood coven and the surrounding trees, only to suddenly be brought down, paralysed. They expect it to be C. S. Blackletter, but instead find that they were trapped by some kind of big metal device, which was propped up on three black metal legs, as set up by Mr. Raven and Mr. Writingdesk. Raven tells Writingdesk to keep the field up longer, as according to his readings The Omen was no birds. Writingdesk tells him that he'd hate to hurt some birds, and Omen screams out that they were not ordinary birds but death incarnate.

Raven ignores them and tells Writingdesk that each case of their found new ways to surprise and delight, leaving to get something appropriate to contain Omen. Omen screams out that no one contained them, as they were a free bird (see Episode 92 - Omens). They are once again ignored, and Raven comes back with a silver net and traps Omen inside. Writingdesk tells Omen of how they were missing Penny Rescher (see Episode 103 - Crossroads), and Omen knew exactly where she was. Omen yells at them, telling them that their ward cared not for their supervision, to begone and leave them both (See Friday Rescher) in peace. Raven exclaims that if Friday was there as well, then they had "*found a second bird* [their] *our stone*".

## Outro - Nevermores

Nikignik waxes poetics about nevermores, telling the Dreamers that it was tempting to move in grand resolutions. And if it felt correct, then good for them. But know that they were not always granted the grace of a clean exit or a stark beginning. They may not be able to run for safety, may have to walk one step at a time, and they were no less for it. That which was encouraged to flourish over many weeks grew as beautifully as that which sprouted overnight. The greatest commitments may be made of many small changes. He tells them to worry not about a dramatic tomorrow, but the smallest gesture towards that future today.