There had always been a thirst within him, an unquenchable need to obtain information whether that entailed prying it out of minds, absorbing the memories of past victims into his own or by doing it the old fashioned way through learning. Aegir had no apprehension to cracking the spine of ancient texts in search of answers to his questions or simply to while away the time as he acquired even more knowledge to add to what was a near infinite collection of details, facts and memories that spanned ... well longer than even he could remember.

That was saying alot considering how good his memory usually was. Having witnessed the birth and death of more than one star in his impressive life time Aegir had been a spectator at a great many events on the cosmic and personal scales. He also had a way of manipulating matters to abate his curiousity or more often to set up events as he had wanted them to be. What a thrill it had been to play master over time itself! Such a thing had no command over him. He could pierce its mysterious veil looking to the far reaches of the future and with that knowledge he could manipulate events to his chosing. He could also be infinately patient when it suited him for time was meaningless. Threats today would be long gone a century or two from now, secrets hidden would be uncovered, empires would rise and fall, but Aegir would remain. He always had.

While he had entertained his doubts that the campus library would contain any secrets he had not yet unlocked Aegir had come to the conclusion that this was an alien world, that there could have been (however minute) a tid bit slipped into the book shelves or maybe just maybe a clue as to where to look to whence he could learn more. It hardly mattered what he learned as long as it was new. Even a drab fact to someone as timeless as Aegir was worth getting excited over as there had been very few things that would constitute getting worked up over. Having lived so long did have its drawbacks in that few things were ever new. His only respite was that he had been tainted upon consuming human minds. Their emotions were totally alien to him. They were new and while he had mastered some of them there were others that were so bizarre to him that they may have forever been elusive to him. Still the newness of them, the fact that they were something he had not yet achieved or understood, drove him to acquire more experience of these peculiar behaviors.

Today he had gone to the campus not to hunt despite one of his nodes informing him about a mysterious student. Charolette Tepes Belnades ... as interesting as she was Aegir was still mending himself after an unexpectedly fierce encounter with Christine Savron. It had awoken him to the fact that even with the inhibitors upon this island he was not entirely invulnerable. In fact two of his tentacles still bore scorch marks from the electrical energy she had used against him while a third had been severed by his own doing. The pain in the appendage was too great for him to bare and thus he had called upon a rather primitive ability of his species to detach the tentacle, an ability once used to draw predators away from themselves and to the wriggling limb so that the limb would be feasted upon while they made a clean get away. From the stump a new tentacle was already growing though it would still be another week and a half before it would be fully recovered.

So it was by chance that he would find Charolette in the library as he entered. The veil of an illusion draped over his form he took on the persone of Clive Burrows, an elderly gentleman with kind blue-gray eyes and narry a wrinkle upon his features save for on his otherwise smooth brow and at the edges of his eyes. He had used this disguise once before when testing out the prowess of his illusions and quite liked this skin. When employing it he had assumed the role of a fictious theater instructor so he already had a personality for this skin in place.

Adorned in black attire he wore polished shoes so shiny that they reflected images upon them. His hands wore ivory colored gloves and though he moved with a fluid grace his gait was slow and assisted by an ebony walking stick topped with an emblem of a dolphin braking out of the waves of an ocean. Thumbing through a few books Aegir began to consciously wonder if fate had drawn him here. What were the odds that Charolette would be here only a short while after his node made telepathic contact with him? Weighing that thought, Aegir focused on scrolling over the book titles as he walked down the aisle between two massive bookcases. The soft click of his walking stick audible with every other step he took.

Deciding finally that it would not hurt to learn more about the young lady that would one day become prospective prey Aegir figured he could interact with her, delve into her mind and draw out her thoughts and memories. In this way he would not be surprised when unleashing his attack upon her. Given his injuries he was not about to make the same mistake twice after all.

"Ah, you must be the new student I've been hearing about," while his mouth moved Aegir did not actually speak. Rather his words were relayed into her mind telepathically for Aegir had no vocal chords. This gave him the facimile of speaking though anyone gifted in the realm of psionic abilities may have picked up upon the matter. "Miss Belnades was it?"

"Hmm? Oh right... yes I'm new though I didn't assume anyone was talking about me other than the usual screams of terror being alone with me seems to bring."

I told him closing a book that sat infront of meeyes seeming quite distant as I spoke to this man. I had little urge to converse right now but, I would given this man's apparent age; I couldn't disrespect the elderly when I myself was taken in by one of them... or at least I was told I was taken in. I hadn't recieved my uniforms yet the delivery would be later that day to my dorm whether I was in it or not. I didn't turn to face him nor did I find the prospect of wat I was reading very interesting.

"Sorry Janet, I just don't like this one It's really not in my taste."

I spoke to the air in the chair to my left before once more talking to Aegir.

"Yes my surname is Belnades that is fine with me."

I rolled my neck eyes half lidded as I pulled a pen and sheet of paper in front of me instead glancing at a book without a title; it was old fashioned one of my personal tomes of 'spells'. I often turned to these to calm my usually uneased mind.

"Is there something you need of me sir? If it's why I'm not in uniform they haven't yet arrived to my dorm room the administration told me I would have them by the end of the day."

She would prove to be an interesting study. As it were Aegir would have found her a bit odd had his nodes not explained some of her talents to him prior to this meeting, especially as she had turned to speak to the air as if there had been someone or something there. Naturally he could not perceive anything out of the ordinary for he had not been gifted with the "sight" that she seemed to possess. At most he could discern what was going on through brushing into her mind pulling upon her conscious thoughts.

Grinning, Aegir rubbed at his chin lightly. "So far I have not heard any screams of terror echoing throughout the halls. Admissions keeps me up to date with new arrivals though I must say I haven't seen your name enrolled in any of my classes, a pity. Perhaps next semester?"

As her attention turned towards the books Aegir's gaze swept down to take them in. A mere glance at the contents of the first refreshed his memory quite readily though it must have been close to 20 years since he perused it. No wonder she had found it rather dry reading for he found the content both drab and a waste of the paper it had been recorded upon. Though the spellbook captured more of an interest within him.

"You will find that I am less strict than other professors on this campus my dear," he answered her with a smile easing over his lips. "Being head of the theater department I'm a little more eccentric than my colleagues. Besides, my students usually don't wear uniforms being that they reherse in their customs. But I degress ... and it would seem that I have forgotten my manners as well. I haven't properly introduced myself. I am Clive Burrows, thespian and screen actor though your probably too young to recount any of the films I have been in."

Again he smiled trying to invoke a friendly, if somewhat disarming atmosphere. "I merely wished to make introductions and welcome you to this humble little school of ours. Still I can not help but see that you are a student of the occult." Letting his eyes slip again to her book before shifting back towards her he let a faint smile touch upon his lips. "Is that Ahraim's Summoning Charm? It never did quite work the way he intended it too, not without Sulstaire's therom pertaining to dimensional portals. Have you tried this spell?"

"I'm afraid my memory is only four years old unlike my body which is eighteen. I've never qwuite seen any films or plays though so sorry If I haven't heard of you."

I commented eyes not moving from my grimoire until his comments moved to the subject of the spells listed within. I glanced towards him then around the room; various staff & students studying for the next day's classes or wsatching the students so nothing against the rules occured. I had met a number of older men in the last four years and more than half had tried to grope me but, with so many witnesses and enough room tyo see his hands moving I was certain I was safe so I said nothing of his moving closer to me.

"I don't quite like summoning encantations... without knowing the correct locator and locking spell such a summoning spell could bring any manner of thing to you. they're not very reliable in theory."

I said with a hint of confidence in myvoice as I turned the page to one of my favorite spells, a flame incantation nicknamed Dracula's hellfire, three firebnalls summoned and fired in an arc following the path of the casting hand.I combined it often with a spell that prevented magic from damaging things; transfering her spells into special effects at will was a unique but, effective spell for parties I thought and just helped with my vamipre appearance.

"Surprising however that I meet someone whom is learned in the arcane on my second day in this forsaken tropical island."

Having had been informed by his node he was quite aware that she had only a few years of memories and it was his hopes to exploit that through this masquerade. The illusionary form he had maintained had no credientals. He was no film actor, he wasn't even a professor here at the college though with his prowess in the realm of mind control and implanting suggestions there had been few questions imposed about his presence. Those that had seen him as suspicious, picked up by his ability to read thoughts, were the ones that had found suggestions implanted within their heads that matters were quite ordinary, that he belonged on the campus and had always been a fixture here as far as they could recall.

"I was informed about that tragedy," he attempted his hand at sympathy though that human emotion was still alien to him. He had seen condolences given and received in the films that humans made having seen quite a few of them in his day as part of his research of their kind. To understand one's prey was to know one's prey. While he would have moved to rest a hand upon her shoulder as he had seen in various films her memories about old men groping her sprang into his mind. Surpressing a smile he found it wiser to refrain from being so opened least it set her on edge which would have gone contrary to him attempting to relax her.

"Most unfortunate there. I once had an uncle that suffered a form of amnesia after getting into a rather horrible car wreak. He never did recapture all his memory though there was a memory charm that did assist him in recalling fragments of his past. If you are interested I could pass along that incantation to you. Its been a number of years since I've used it however, and my memory is nowhere at the stage it once was in my youth. Disuse and time have robbed that particular incantation from my memory but I do have it contained in my notes and could get that musty old tome sent out here when Shokushu gets its next delieveries that is if you think that it would help.

"Very wise of you to steer clear of the summoning incantations. When I was much younger, well, younger than you are now, my mentor relayed upon me the matter of never conjuring anything that I could not dismiss or otherwise deal with. He was rather persuassive with teaching me by some of his own mistakes speaking of legendary beasts that apparently still roam the earth if you buy into that sort of thing. I preferred not to test my luck, or at that stage my skill, refraining from that realm of study save for the simplest of conjurations."

He paused for a moment, realizing that he had made a plunder. Why had he said that he had such a tome away from the school? He should have mentioned that it was in his office ... should have lured her away with the promise of that incantation alone but the moment had slipped passed. Still, he hardly suspected that she would have fallen for that bait so quickly in their conversation. A learned one such as her, her mind was still suspicious even if she did not know what he was such a straight forward offer would have likely been rejected. Rather than mull upon this though Aegir turned his attention to warming her up to him further. Surely another opportunity would present itself, one that didn't seem so blatant. And since he had not come to the library to hunt using this opportunity to learn more about her Aegir had not lamented over the lost opportunity. If it presented itself that would be great though he was not about to jeopardize his well being to snare her. There was much that he had to uncover about her before manuevering her into one of his traps. Governed by a degree of caution he returned his attention back to her.

"The chances are slim indeed that two practioners would meet though you will find that there are a number of students that possess arcane talents. Some more so than others. However, there seems to be some sort of dampening effect in place that restricts the flow of magic. Perhaps one of the deans felt that students shouldn't be allowed to run amock with an impressive array of abilities, or maybe there is just something in the region itself. It never has been fully explained to me and since I have not practiced magic for many years I have not faced any such limitations while here. I've been more of a dabbler on and off these few years though I am well versed in magical theory and can still invoke a mean incantation when its necessary."

"Evocations are more forte, though I must confess I did not employ much in the realm of elemental magic. My specialty dealt with frost and wind driven effects." He smiled at the conclusion of his words.

"I might not know what I've forgotten but... I get the strange feeling it's best left forgotten. Maybe just women's intuition however I've learned to listen to it. as for the field surrounding the island; I don't see any reason that would be a problem the last thing we'd need is a bunch of rambunctious aracana users wandering the halls incineating people whenever they become angry."

my recollection of the last four years I'd never harmed a soul though in certain dreams I murdered two people whom meant a lot to me in them, every time I ended up weeping over their bodies before finally collapsing I didn't like thinking of that dream. I returned to my book pondering his words humming slightly to myself a finger tracing my fang now out of boredom turning the page was a gust spell, it wouldn't have done much other than flipped the skirts of every girl in the library besides myself. Normally I wouldn't do this but, I felt that I needed a moment of entertainment and practice beyond that I wasn't in a very good mood. I mumblerd the incantation under my breath and sneezed, and as I thought a dozen or so surprised shouts could be heard as flashes of the schools cotton white panties filled the library though normally if you sneezed during the spell it did more than just flip up skirts.

"I see, so it is weakened, with a sneeze that spell should have torn the skirts right off... anything you care to chat about seeing as my selection of books to look through were quite depressing.""

"Oh, it is for good reason Charlotte. I can understand the reasoning behind limiting magical effects here. As you mentioned all it would take would be a handful of delinquant students to turn this place upside down. Why we would need professors who's soul responsibility it would be to patrol the use of magic, analyze dweomers, undue enchantments particularly those nasty curses that can get tossed around ... it would be sheer madness, chaos at its finest. That is, if it were left unchecked. Though discipline here could be rather strict from what I hear."

He chuckled as she made use of her incantation, a sound that he could not make in his natural form though with the projection of his illusion he could mimic it quite well. His eyes flickered away to the effect of her spell then drifted back towards her. For a second he had been halted as if noticing her for the first time, watching as her finger casually ran against what looked more like a fang than a tooth. There were a few types of victims Aegir had primarily gone after. Atheletes for their physical conditioning and hardiness for the vessels of their bodies, if he could ever wisk them away from Shokushu under the watchful eye of the ADD and their pesky orbital blockade of course. Those with incredible will for the challenge they presented; musicians were a weakness of his while those with secrets and knowledge were always an interest to him. Charlotte fell into the later catagory. The mystique that had been there, the secrets, the unknown past, a good mystery served to intrigue Aegir. Normally he could pry into minds but hers was essentially a blank slate. While she did not remember events of her past he knew that they were there nonetheless. It would take excessive digging probing through her mind to uncover them. Like a locksmith Aegir would need time to open up the portal before him. Had the knowledge been accessible to her the matter would have been quite easy as the information would have readily been accessible even if the individual could not quite recall it.

"For instance that little incident could have warranted a detention from some of the stricter staff members." Leaning a little closer he lowered his tone to a mere whisper. "I am told they designed the basement around such a premises."

Then straightening his posture he let the slightest of smiles ease over his lips. "But I am new here and the staff could be just pulling my leg. I would not put it past them to rib the new guy."

Leaning back he pressed his weight lightly against one of the nearby bookshelves as he folded his arms across his chest. "But seeing how you are new I'll pretend I didn't see that little prank. No harm done, besides," he waved his hand in the direction of the eeps he heard that her spell no doubt caused, "I can't have the students thinking I'm some horrid crab apple in my first few days here, hm? Then no one would ever enroll for theater."

Drawing upon the imagery of her dreams Aegir had questioned if they were just that, dreams or portions of reality that were attempting to scratch their way to the surface. He was unsure as to the answer though he felt that it was buried somewhere in her subconscious mind. Lightly he probed into her mind making a mental map of it, exploring it and attempting to work out how he could unlock her past so he could gain glimpses into it. Just the offhanded chance that she might hold secrets he did not possess was enough of a lure for him to take his time as he worked.

When she posed her question his blue-gray eyes wandered back towards her own regarding their vibrant hue. Those orchid colored eyes caught his attention which seemed to go well with her dark hair. "Actually there is ... that necklace your wearing, I'm not sure if you know of its origins but it is quite the fascinating piece. Did you know that the craftsman who designed it Louie Francais only ever made three pieces like it? It was part of a set that I was interested in back in the late 1600 hundreds ..."

He erred in his choice of words though Aegir quickly remedied his mistake trying to pass it off as little more than a slip of the tongue. "What I meant to say was that I found the piece from that time period interesting. I happen to have one of the other two pieces, the other being a museum piece back in Monseiur Francais' homeland of France."

"No I'm afraid I didn't, Doesn't surprise me given I paid ten million for it at a sutherby auction."

I told him Marking that little tidbit of information in the back of my mind knowing that my spells could more than likely get me into hot water I decided no more jokes such as that just for entertainment.

"Well then..."

I paused shivering slightly tapping a finger against my chin...

-
In her mind he'd find another tidbit; eyes opening within a testtube to see that same young man in a labcoat and the same woman she had murdered in the previous dream

'Dr Belmont... Pandora is waking a little early what should I do?'

"A dose of serum 24 then serum 68 finally 172 she sould drift right back into stasis Miss Cleo."
-

I looked at him curiously shrugging.

"I Guess it was a bit mean. but I'm sure you enjoyed the white flag presentation you are male after all."

I spoke in the same monotone of vague sadness that filled my voice nearly constantly.

He whistled, much to the dismay to the librarian on duty who cast a scolding look in his direction for the volume of sound it produced. Already having manipulated her mind upon arriving here Aegir had no need to worry that she would find him out of place. "Ten million .... I obviously couldn't afford that on my salary. The piece I collected was entrusted to me when the original owner passed on. He happened to be a private collector and while he donated a good chunk of his collection to various museums upon his demise there were a few interesting pieces in his collection that he had passed along to me knowing where my interests were."

Images pressed into his mind, images of people that he had never seen yet appeared familiar flashed before his eyes. Names went along with faces as he drew upon what had to have been a memory that existed prior to her awaking four years ago given what he had seen a sedative had been used to put her back under. But for how long? A few minutes? Hours? Days? Months? It was hard to say from that mere glimpse back into the past though he had retrieved her name. Pandora. That had foreshadowed quite a bit actually given the origins of that name and whence he had heard it. In Greek mythology Pandora had been entrusted with a box that she was not to open. In such tales it was only inevitable that the box would be opened unleashing all manners of plagues, disease and other horrors upon an unsuspecting populace. All but hope had escaped. Aegir knew that this was a story that had been meant to teach generations to come about the folly of curiousity. He did not relate the tale to what he was doing, however, unable to see that he was delving into a mind that contained secrets that may have been left unrevealed. To paraphrase what she had said somethings were better off forgotten.

But at his core Aegir had been a very curious being, a matter that could get him in trouble. It was what lead to his exile, exploring the minds of these humans.

Drawing conclusions from what he saw may have been premature but if he had to paint a picture from what little information he had picked up already he would be willing to bet that she was some sort of experiment. The dream he had pulled upon earlier consisting of Charlotte ... Pandora ... murdering these two along with the uncertainty of the incident within her mind lead him to believe that there was a little bit more going on than what rested upon the surface. Did she kill them as a result of these experiments without knowing she did it? Were they attempting to make some sort of weapon to have it backfire upon her? Or was the explaination as simple as she discovering that they were running tests on her then flipping out in response. There were as many possibilities as there were stars in the heavens, perhaps even more.

Not knowing how much of it she had remembered he thought that he could try to draw out her memory a little by recalling an infomercial he had pulled from the mind of one of his earlier victims. A memory that he had ignored at the time for he had filtered through so much useless information while questing to get to the good stuff that he picked up a great deal of things. Just like a pack rat Aegir didn't toss out a single thing hoarding it all in his complex mind. From the late 1990's he pulled upon a reference that would let him test her recall.

"Miss Cleo," his eyes regarded her for any change or comprehension though he had not paused nor hinted at the fact that he knew that this name meant something to her or would have depending upon its place within her mind, "I recall there being this woman, she ran this Psychic Friend's Hotline or some such doing tarrot readings. Now she was a shame but there are others that are talented seers. I'm wondering if they could look back into your past, some diviners can do that though the vast majority of them focus in upon the future. You might not want to remember now but there could be a day where you change your mind on that prospect."

A little laugh passed out of his lips when she brought attention to the spell she had cast however. "Dear I wish that was the case, really I do. But its more tormenting than entertaining. I am well past my prime, and let's just say that not everything is working properly. Alas, the drawbacks of age. Course there's these pills on the market these days to help with such matters but they take so damn long to kick in." He chuckled again as he shook his head slightly from side to side. "Sorry, that's way to much information for your young ears."

Aegir dwelled upon the sound of her voice, the sorrow that had been contained within it as if she had suffered a great loss. He could not say for certain whether or not this was the case or just so happened to be part of her normal disposition. Still it was another inigma, another clue as to the greater picture. A puzzle that he worked upon fitting pieces together where they fit while working out where others needed to go. Still working on this puzzle was more complex than most, he had no picture to guide him and no clue as to what the final image of that puzzle would look like when every piece was neatly set into place. He doubted that everything would be so orderly with her, however.

'Miss Cleo' The name had struck a cord in her not a conscious one her eyes changed just slightly unnoticed to the normal eyes of a normal human perhaps but, to Aegir it the milisecond flash to a crimson red would have been easily noticed.
-
"Hmmm... Perhaps one day but, for now I'll stick with my intuition Will keep it in mind though."

I told him simply feeling a bit of an itch in my throat before looking at my friend, the female spirit at my side not the teacher I was speaking to; she was being quite nice and comforting for one reason or another, for a moment my eyes went wide when I saw a spirit not far away a young man around my age, he was only there for a second before vanishing but, he had looked so familiar.

"And yeah kind of a bit too much knowledge... have to admit it's a tad disturbing."

-

The next tidbit was her laying in a bed, Miss Cleo looking over her. a few pieces of medical equipmet making sure her heart rate was normal.
"Where am I?

'"Ahhh how nice of you to join us in the land of the living Pandora Vlad Belmondo!"

'Whose pandora?"

"Why you are of course I mean you're the only other one in here aren't you miss Belmondo?"

"Oh... ummm right I guess so... where am I though?"

"you're home of course!"

"Oh... can I get a mirror?"

Given a mirror she looked at her face; certainly it was charlotte no question about that though she looked at herself as if she'd never seen her own face before she shifted off the bed and stood, completely nude Cleo stared mouth agape surprised the girl was standing and walking around. the imagry ended when the doctyor roughly her age walked in staring at her bare front blushing heavily.

Weaving through her mind took a degree of care. Just as a spider needed to move with care along the longer threads of its own web least it fall into the stickier strands meant to ensnare prey becoming trapped itself, Aegir had to use a degree of caution least he make a misstep and press upon a trigger. As it were his bringing up a simple name caused a brief reaction within her allowing him to fathom that she did remember on some level. The brief illumination of her eyes caused him to reevaluate her though he had done so in under three seconds, less time than it took for his hearts to beat.

Could she be a disguised entity? It had not been uncommon for monsters to assume the guise of students in order to move about freely. Some used the ruse quite well given some of the memories he had pulled from past victims. Though she had gone through an entire interview process that had not ruled out the fact that she could have slipped into the program under the noses of everyone in order to maintain a low profile. The few matters he had picked from her mind tended to illuminate this possibility even further though the chances of it being an actual fact were unlikely. Surely Shokushu would have required DNA testing of some sort. So back to his initial theory he went considering that she was merely a human that had been experimented on in some way.

The quick change to her eyes faded almost as rapidly as they had come. The whole ordeal would have hardly been noticed if he hadn't been busy admiring her orchid colored eyes at that precise moment. "So true. Though I must say I am a bit envious of you."

He gave his statement a few moments to sink in, catching her eye before explaining himself further. "Its a chance to begin over. A clean slate, fresh start. Sure, the whole not knowing thing would be nagging initially but how often are we given the chance to simply press the restart button upon our lives? There are plenty of things that I have refrained from doing simply because I was concerned about this or that, or always said that I would get around to it after dealing with X, Y and Z. As unfortunate as your situation may be it does have a rather nice silver lining when gazed in that light."

Turning his attention about having supplied her with too much information Aegir had to agree. "Yes well I suppose it would be the reason why only a hand full of students have signed up for drama classes this semester," he mused. It had been awhile since he had partaken of a protracted conversation with anyone let alone one of the students here. Exiled from his own kind Aegir rarely had the chance to interact on this level with anyone, let alone someone that he was sizing up as prey. His aim of course was to appear as human as possible and so he had sprinkled some deliberate flaws into this masquerade along with a few accidental ones. If he came across as too perfect than his guise wouldn't have been believed or looked upon with a matter of suspicion.

Once or twice in the past he was able to speak in depth to a mortal and while he may not have been speaking upon anything life altering Aegir did find the mysterious girl interesting.

By this stage he had obtained a fresh memory drawn from her mind. Fresh in that it was a new piece of the puzzle and what an enticing little piece it had been. Course Charlotte had been younger than, and comparing the images he had seen of her nake form he had to admit that though clothed she had developed a good deal since then. She had matured rather nicely given the shapely manner of her physique. Her bust was fuller for starters while he had to wonder how she would appear in such a state now. Unclothed before him, his mind wandering into such a realm had been deadly given that often upon sexual arousal Aegir releashed a harmless pheremone that had the odor of musk about it. Used to attract his own species for mating purposes and to enhance sexual desireability the pheremones were unable to affect humans. Nowadays they were a redundant throw back to an earlier period of time.

Some how he had managed to keep himself in check. Reminded that there were too many witnesses about the library Aegir knew that he could not hope to take her in this place as it were. Someone would escape, he was certain of it seeing that he was a slow moving being by nature. There were a few tricks he could bring to bare but he had no certain guarentee that he would be successful in stopping the staff and students from escaping, dealing with Charlotte in a most delicious manner then altering the memory of all those that he would have to hold hostage. And if any of them elected to play heroine that would only detract from his enjoyment. Ah, well, Aegir had been in no rush anyway.

"Tell me, Charlotte, have you ever heard of the Codex of Madness?" His gaze flickered off to the spirits she was observing though seeing nothing even with his remarkable perception he brought his gaze back to her. She seemed to be looking for books that would perk her interests then the codex was the right avenue to transverse. While busying her with that question his own mind began to orchestrate how he could isolate her even as he continued to monitor her conscious and unconscious thoughts.

"Codex of Madness? I'm afraid not that I can remember."

I was honest starting to enjoy this conversation as much as I enjoyed most things, which seemed to be very little for one reason or another I didn't quite understand it. I looked to him shifting in my seat to face him better my skull hair pin shimmered gently in the library's lighting.

"Do tell me of it."

-
Another moment of her past appeared to Aegir this one a bit further shortly before the murder of the two, miss cleo & the young professor.

"You Ruined my life Pandora! You ruined everything!"
Cleo shouted at the old charlotte stepping closer with a seringe of something that looked like a potent nerve toxin Charlotte or perhaps Pandora backed away wearing a simple white dress eyes filled with fear.
"I loved Christopher you bitch! He was mine Until you came along he only had eyes for me!"

"But... Jean... what are you talking about?!"
"Don't play stupid pandora he's fallen in love with you! If I'm going to have my christopher you have to die!"

she lunged with the seringe Pandora's eye turned a deep crimson and her hand rammed into Cleo's chest you could hear her ribs break as Charlotte's teeth clenched cleo slipped to the ground seemingly dead the young doctor entered and ran to Pandora's side only to be met with the seringe being plunged into hiis leg with cleo's last motion.

as that memory faded another appeared from much earlier than the previous.

"Yeah Pandora of course we're good friends right?"

the memories seemed to have no logical order and had been splintered most only showing half the information the other half being somewhere else lost within her mind.
---

"I've seen you every day since I got this ability! who are you?!"

again the spirit of the seemingly young doctor appeared though this time it was visable enough to one whom even had a small ability to see such a thing the air chilling as it pulled enough energy to manifest that far. I had been followed from home by this single spirit I didn't know whom it was but he seemed to know me.

"No, I suppose that you wouldn't have heard of it, few have. Apparently and this is according to legend, there was an Atlantean sage by the name of Eramus Salaius about ninety-five hundred years before the birth of Christ. Anyway, as these tales go he was visited by an entity that he had penned as the Whisperer in the Darkness. This entity supposedly came to him in the dead of the night whispering its thoughts and memories into his mind. Relaying unto him things that human kind had forgotten, things upon the present and things yet to come. Through this sage the Codex of Madness was inked. The codex derives its name from the fact that Eramus had gone insane a short while after penning it, undoubtly due to meeting his patron in the flesh or from the deranged messages he was receiving is anyone's guess. Though it is more likely that he was a raving madman before this, its hard to say without actually having been there.

"This codex was thought to have been destroyed when the fabled city sunk into the depths of the ocean. Some claim that Atlantis rests at the bottom of the Medeterian Sea and there are even accounts of its existance in Greek records. Regardless of the fate of those people there were some that spoke of this codex. Dark prophecies lined the work foretelling of earth's demise, of otherworldly creatures that sought to reclaim the birthright that had been stolen from them, of spells both mundane and sinister. Secrets, some best left concealed, were crammed into these pages. It is not a work for novices needless to say. It is anything but boring I might add," Aegir paused to gaze at her for a measured moment. The codex had existed once for he had been the entity that had commissioned its creation. If not for his own kind destroying Atlantis in order to keep their closely guarded secrets there is no telling how wide spread the particular work would have become.

"For many years I thought that the tales were bogus, hogwash meant to mislead scholars. That was until I came across it, well, part of it. I had the pleasure of seeing one of the pages of the codex. Carbon dating proved that the document was in fact from the aforementioned time and the script was similiar to a dialect used in the Meditereanean at that particular time. It took some time to decipher but let me tell you it was worthwhile. I do not possess the original for a short time after it was uncovered it was lost. Stolen and never to be seen again though I did make a copy of the page by hand that I have brought here with me. As you might have guessed by now I was not always a thespian. My early years were spent as an archeologist and historian with my primary focus upon ancient civilizations. If you are interested I'd be happy to share the page and its translations with you ..."

His words tappered off as he saw a pale light manifesting before his eyes. Aegir's gaze moved towards it as it took shape, his psionic ability and prowess of sixth sense allowed him to discern the being now that it was attempting to reveal itself. Remarkably, the shade resembled one of the beings Aegir had plucked from Charlotte's suppressed memories. He could have speculated about so much then and there but he didn't only because it had all seemed so fantastical to his mind.

A ghostly stalker? It did make a certain degree of sense considering what he had witnessed. "My word ..." he voiced softly, eyes resting upon the spirit, he had not had to stretch his acting abilities much to capture the surprised tone in his voice. Then it hit him, the information he had obtained about her "sight". Often times such individuals became a beacon to which spirits drew themselves if only to get their messages delievered to those that they were leaving behind. At least that had been part of folklore in some places Aegir had never found out whether or not that was true.

The interuption was a set back of course. Aegir had sensed that Charlotte was beginning to enjoy his presence and while he may not have been capable of isolating her just yet this intrusion would only be another distraction that he had to overcome. Recalling that he had not designed himself to hunting today Aegir dealt with the matter quite well. If the opportunity arrived then he would certainly leap upon it, if not, then he would plan for a future engagement.

Hearing Charlotte question the shade Aegir took a gamble in answering on behalf of the entity before them. "Christopher. Christopher Belmont." Assuming the logical course of action Charlotte was likely to question how he knew this, his answer of course was the gamble that he undertook. Would she believe him? Would she freak out? He knew not which she would do but only time would tell. Then there was the factor of dealing with the spirit before them. Aegir was a psionic entity and despite knowing a great deal about the occult and arcane arts he was not a practioner. Still, Charlotte was, and while he may not have been capable of using the arcane arts himself he certainly could direct her to the rites and rituals he had become aware of that could thwart spirits. The thing that he had hated about apparitions was that they had passed on. They were manifestations that lacked a true mind and thus Aegir could not pierce into their thoughts, nor could he control them. Even his telekinetic abilities were rather worthless in dealing with an insubstantial being.

"That name doesn't sound familiar."

I shook my head trying to see if i could recall it with no luck at all. There was no reaction from my body or my eyes. The rest of what he had said slipped into the back of my mind I just looked at the spirit which smiled to me before glaring at my new friend with eyes of distrust and anger.

I didn't understand why this being would look at my friend in such a way but, it seemed to show me no ill will. I scratched my chin slightly before the spirit would fade away once more.

"How did you know what that thing was let alone a name for it?"

A reasonable question I though but then came another into the forefront of my mind.
"and why did it look like it hated you?"

No response seemed to draw forth from the young student upon the mention of the beings name. Aegir had concluded that those memories had to have been deeply buried within her subconscious yet accessible by his mental probing that had not meant that she could easily recall such matters. Strange thing, human minds, for they had a habit of blocking out trauma and with that any associated memories of such events.

Aegir had begun to wonder if there were more secrets in her past that had been locked away in such a fashion. Oh, there had to be, he had figured. The mysteries of her past while seen in fragmented pieces had allowed him to reconstruct some of what she had experienced making better sense of the student before him. Intruding into his own thoughts had been her question not to mention the accompanying thoughts.

He too had noticed the scathing look upon the specters face as it turned its attention towards him. Evidentally the thing did not particularly like competition of any sort. From what he had deciphered Christopher Belmont had been and still was infatuated with Belnades. From beyond the grave it seemed like Mister Belmont was keeping tabs upon her, quite interesting though he had read accounts of spirits that followed individuals haunting them wherever they had fled to. Poltergeists ... though such spirits were usually malevolent but he had not gathered such intentions from this spirit, at least not towards his beloved.

A guardian spirit perhaps? Aegir would have to ponder that further. Certainly the mystery that Charlotte presented to him was thrilling enough to distract Aegir. His gaze swept towards Charlotte a mere moment after she had voiced her question. A minute smile flashed against his lips as he attempted to place her at ease though that smile had not dwelled there for long. His blue-gray eyes regarded her as he voiced an apparently logical answer.

"I know him. Rather, I know of his works. Doctor Christopher Belmont had some very fascinating ideas that I had stumbled upon more or less in my years at university. Matters dealing with the occult primarily," Aegir explained. Though he had made up those details he had embellished them from what he had glimpsed into her mind and the conjuncture that he had made about these past memories. If Belnades was an altered human, or created by this doctor as he had suspected, then it seemed plausible that he had some renown in the scientific community and possibly even amongst the circle of mystics if he dabbled in the arcane arts. What he had not tried to explain was the look of hostility cast by the spirit. He could get into that if she delved into the matter though at present he seemed less interesting in being side tracked in such a fashion not wanting to tip his hand that he could glimpse into her thoughts.

"I don't think he will be a problem though if he is I can recommend some channelers capable of both communing and dealing with spirits of various sorts. And when all else fails there is the classic exorcism," he chuckled slightly at the later part as if dismissing the need for such matters or that in employing them that they would be going to far in the matter.