With each of them tackling a different arcana or set, they set about unraveling the Mystery of this strange place. Time passes without really passing, the gentle hum of the wind their main companion.

"It's a telescope," Arielle says. "It's the most incredible scale I've ever seen, gathering light from the entire spectrum from the entire sky and magic, too. It's studying the universe."

"It's not from our time," Ethan says. "Hell, it isn't from any time. It exists out of place, belonging to a timeline that vanished - that confirms pretty well that it's from the Time Before. I wish I could say if it still existed."

To Valerie, it's beautiful.

There is not one square centimeter, one fixture, one diode in the entire complex that isn't Perfect, and so much of it that her mind staggers. Its form and function is united in a glorious whole, and to her it is an inspiration of the heights to which she could achieve.

It's also the first time she ever had proof of the Imperial Practices, for even a Master could not have built this. Even as she watches, changes to the structure happen automatically, even transforming one perfect material to another, revealing the deeper hidden truth that all matter comes from the same root. The only reason she can understand it at all is because of how much there is to see and study.

Best of all, she can read it. The High Speech becomes clear at the molecular level, information arranged seamlessly in the material substrate. For a brief, shining moment, she glimpses the universe...

(Ecstatic Wind damage)

They're somewhere else. In the moment they glimpsed forever, they found themselves at eternity's limit.

The platform beneath them is the same, but the pillars of the ancient telescope are faint. The higher she looks, color is leeched from the surfaces, making them look as though they were being emptied out, until only outlines remain - until those, too, fade into darkness.

The rocks fade, too, away to form a beach that, really, she remembers quite well, if only the sand weren't so black, the rocks colorless outlines, for her family used to go down to Santa Cruz on weekends, when they had a whole family and she had whole legs. It all ends, all of it ends at the ocean.

The ocean is not black. The ocean is not colorless. The Ocean Ouroboros is nothing, and yet nothing laps at the shores.

Here, at the furthest shore, their path ends.

"I'm yearning right now," Arielle whispers, tears streaming openly. Ethan takes Valerie's hand, quietly overwhelmed.

They palaces of the Aeons - including Lilith - are here and there, few on the shore exactly, but all five of them in sight. The sixth is at the end of the pier, a ramshackle hut perched over the Abyss. A low fire burns at the beach at its head, but somehow she thinks she doesn't want to go there.

Magic flows in sporadic, weak gasps across the ocean, now that she looks she thinks she can almost see her Watchtower, a faint glimmering on the horizon that could be nothing more than spots on her vision.

Whatever it is, it's clearly too much for Arielle, and her already fragile psyche snaps.

"Oh god, Val, I can see it!" She spreads her wing and breaks gravity with a spell. "We can make it home!"

Before they can stop her from her mad course, before Ethan and she can more than shout in surprise and ready spells to stop her, a voice shouts like thunder, crashing against them with an anguished scream, "No!"

Arielle pauses and turns, panting and wide-eyed with her panic, to see a woman standing on the cliff above. Powerful magic lurks at her outstretched fingers, and she lets it fade as Arielle desists.

She wears a simple, contemporary dress, long golden brown hair held back from her face. Valerie had thought Lakshmi the most powerful mage she would ever behold - she was wrong.

Ethan covers his heart. "Ari, you can't..."

"I know!" she sobs in response to both of them. "I know. I'm sorry. I won't..." She pulls Valerie close and hides her face. "I'm sorry. It just hit me like a truck."

The woman walks down from the cliff. Her eyes look over the ocean, then they look over them.

"It's never easy, Ari," she says, using their word. "It never gets easier coming here, though you get more used to the sight... but there will come a time when you have the chance to return, if only for a little bit, and it helps. It helps me when I visit."

"I am Heimarmene," she introduces herself.

Arielle gets herself under control. She's honestly doing better than she was, taking strength from Valerie as Valerie took it from her.

Heimarmene gazes out at the horizon again. "I sought, and found, the Mystery of my second Awakening. Truthfully, I should not even be telling you this, but I feel like you two need hope. Most mages have heard of the Imperial Mysteries, but none really understand what's involved. Those of us who do find them are encouraged strongly to keep them secret. Once you Awaken for the second time, you may penetrate the Ocean on your own, unique path, your soul becomes potent enough never to need a Watchtower again - though not yet Ascended."

Ethan absorbs this news, stunned. "...so you're an archmage?"

She nods. "We prefer Seekers amongst ourselves. We call you Travelers."

"Since I've already played my hand when I had meant to simply observe, it can't hurt. Come - this is an unpleasant place to have a conversation. Besides... I was watching for a reason." They pass from the shore with her, and she holds her hands out. A line forms in the air, then seems to rotate into a circle. A rush of cool air brushes their cheeks, and they find themselves looking out onto a beautiful seaside home. It's very elf-like, and few rooms have walls beyond the main building of white stone like a Mediterranean home. The rest are pillared and airy, with the bedrooms veiled.

Ethan frowns, looking behind them before following. "This isn't Space magic."

Opening her gaze with all three Ruling Arcana, Valerie discovers something else, too - this is real, but it's not the Fallen World, but it's not exactly a creation of magic, either. There's a core of it, but this is someone's Oneiros, and it's completely physical and real.

They're still dream forms, but they've manifested like summoned Goetia.

Heimarmene goes to pour a jar of red wine into different glasses. "It is, yes. When I returned from the Supernal realms for my second time, this is where I found myself - the familiar confines of my soul. Yet, I discovered that my body no longer dwelt on the mortal world. I wasn't asleep - my soul had grown and no longer had need of a root. I can walk the Earth with a new body freely, and am able to go wherever I can forge a connection. Within time, I even learned the greater Practices that permitted me to draw places into myself. I contain multitudes."

Ethan accepts a glass, fascinated but frowning as he goes to perch like the kitty he is on the side. "That's beautiful, in its way. If it's such a secret, though, why are you telling us? Not that I don't appreciate it."

Heimarmene glances at Arielle, who flops into a seat and relaxes her tension with a brush of Life, and Valerie. "I came because of the Mystery surrounding your friends. In return, I offer knowledge - and perhaps more, depending on how things go from here. It's arguably a bit generous, yes, but I'm not fully altruistic.

"I believe you two may be a special Mystery, one that we archmages seek - thus the name. Some Mysteries we call Quintessence, for they are the essential core of Imperial spells, and without them those magics are beyond our reach."

"Tragically, even we cannot endure there long without being torn into constituent symbols, but I can guarantee that your mother was not a Seeker when she had you. I would have known. The one thing I do know is that you're right. You are an angel from the Aether. I think you know that, though."

At this point, confirmation isn't even a relief - they'd already put it together. It just demands more questions. It demands at least a couple very big questions.

(Still, Gnostic beat for it, plus another for experiencing the general fact of Archmage existence. More may be gleaned!)

Arielle sighs. "Yeah. We do - it's been obvious for a while. How do you know that much? Just - mage sight?"

"I was familiar with your mother," she says sadly.

Arielle stares at the woman intently.

"I cannot say what became of her later. I can only say what I know. Your mother was a powerful magician who routinely called upon angels for advice, aid, and artifacts. I was aware of her activities. I want to understand what happened and why. I know you do, too, and I'd rather work with you than against."

"I dunno," Arielle says a little belligerently, "I'm a little pissed that you're hiding things about our mother. Val probably is, too, but she's the practical one."

Heimarmene sighs. "I can't. I'm sorry. I'd like to help you understand, though - you might be able to do it without me, and it is your right, but I would like to help you."

Their eyes meet, and Arielle sighs, sinking back into the chair. "Fine. I want to know more than I want pride."

Ethan flashes her a smile, and even Heimarmene smiles. "You two are a good team. I'm proud that you stood up to something that was unfair. Very well... we'll begin with what I know. May I show you? It will require my casting a spell on the two of you."

When it comes, she's able to watch as she weaves together an Unveiling of all five Subtle Arcana plus a combined Phantasm effect with Prime. She doesn't need to know them well - god, Valerie hopes she isn't that far ahead.

A tingling starts up her spine and little pops echo up. An image of their Daimon appears between them - just an image, that wasn't enough to pull her out.

That's not the only image, though - complexly laid about her is strange information. She casts two shadows, and two serpents coil up her arms, one made of flesh, the other of metal, each possessing a wing and linking at the heart. A two-sided tablet is held in her hand, each one written with a slightly different style. She has one form, though, and one divine glow.

"This is your soul - there's actually five distinct parts to anyone's soul, held together by the Prime part... or, in your cases, seven. Let's remove Prime from the image so I can show you. It's responsible for connecting them, but also holds your divine knowledge, your capacity for magic, and your mana - of which you have two repositories. We refer to it as the Ka, the Spark."

The radiance fades, and with it the eyes on her skin, vanishing into nothing. The tablet splits apart, one electronic, the other stone. The serpents fly off, circling alone each other. The shadows, too, go to lurk in corners.

"Your Ab - your Mind - is the same," she indicates the image of the girl who could be either of them. "You share one Oneiros, one Daimon. One is more than big enough for two. I bet you've found that you finish one another's sentences and share ideas without trying. That you each have unique personalities is due to something else - the Ab is purely about higher thinking."

She holds her hands out and the serpents come coil at her wrists. "Don't be fooled - these two are one Heart, one Ib. You inherit the Heart from your mother; it did not come from the divine realm, but it is yours." She scratches their chins and releases them to coil about their respective girls. "They help define your personality and preferences, and represent Spirit."

Arielle makes a soft little moan. "That's why the one wing and why it hurts, then? ...she really is my heart."

"What's the difference between being split and being unique?" Ethan asks.

"They are linked - let them go and watch how they love one another, touching and playing. One is only just now learning to love being separate, and see struggles with it."

Arielle sinks in further.

"The tablets are your Rens - your Names, your Fates, and they list your accomplishments and connections. If you look closely, you'll find your sympathetic names protected so that only you two can see them. They're mirrors of one another, distinct and yet the same. The shadows, now - Sheut. They represent Death, but also the cthtonic powers, the subtle magic of the world. They're totally unique."

Ethan glances between Valerie and her demon, and actually seems intrigued. He likes her divine.

While they hold hands, their serpents coil and nuzzle one another in midair, and that brings a warm smile to Arielle's face.

"As far as I can tell," Heimarmene says, "this has never occurred in the history of the world. Of course, that is difficult to say definitively - who's to know if it has or not for certain?" She lets them absorb it for as long as they like - it'll fade soon in any event. "I've been watching for a while. I tried not to interfere - I knew you would be drawn to Awaken someday. It's why I don't fear telling you as much as I have, either."

"Talked. Indeed. Lilith would be a good source of information, as the Aeon of Prime. You can of course return through the iris if you desire - I will leave it open for the time being." The woman nods. "Be wary of the Old Man, though - the Aeon of the Abyss. He's typically fairly harmless, but I don't want to know what he'd do if he saw part of an angel wandering about."

"How would we get in touch with you again?" Arielle asks, rubbing her thumb against Valerie's hand.

"I will leave you something to contact me with - you'll find it when you awaken. As for where to go after Lilith - well, I think the most obvious direction would be to find out more about what your mother was really up to. She had a cabal, after all, and there are certain to be angels in the Aether who remember you."

"They call themselves packs - for obvious reasons - and sometimes, yes. A stable pack is a large, well-managed family, essentially."