Akira and I shared a glance and then we stared at Morrigan until she continued.
"The Ring has an ugly reputation and an even uglier history. It has been in the Texan's possession for let me see... 1890 until now that'd be 121 years now."
"You mean it's been in his family for that long..." Akira offered.
"No, I mean it's been in one man's possession for that long and he was about twenty something when he first put it on. Of course he doesn't look a day over twenty five last time I saw him. He has a thing for redheads you know."
"Does this Texan have a name Morrigan," Akira asked.
"Quincey Morris, but everybody just calls him Quinn," she said smiling.
"Okay, note to self when we get back to Arkham look up this Quinn fellow," I said aloud. "Now back to William, you said he wasn't built to last what did you mean by that?"
Morrigan thought over how to answer the question perhaps sensing it was a sore subject.
"The biological avatars were a bold new concept and were widely used at first but it was determined that their flaws outweighed their usefulness and they were discontinued or so it was believed. But apparently the Eternal Master sees a usefulness the others did not." She said licking her lips and I could see she was imagining her eight hours with me.
"I gave you my word now please continue, what use did they serve for him?"
"The emotional bond that humans attached to them were much higher than that attributed to holographic personalities," she frowned.
"I take it their lifespan is shorter than yours," Akira asked.
"Oh barely worth mentioning, on the outside barring injury and disease thirty years at best," Morrigan said casually and realized her mistake at once. "I'm sorry Master."
"It's chess but with William playing the part of the 'emotional' pawn that can be sacrificed once its part is played," I said grimly.
"Doesn't the avatar feel any rage or sorrow at its plight," Akira asked.
"I don't know I never asked," Morrigan shrugged. "We are wired differently than humanity Master."
"Explain, besides your obvious callous nature how else do you differ," I hurled.
"Master is unkind, though I do not possess empathy as you may see it I feel and grow as an artificial personality. The society that created us is so very 'inhuman' for lack of a better term. The Old Ones are a very cohesive family orientated society despite thousands of generations and they neither covet nor lust after property or power. That does not mean they do not feel carnal attraction to one another but they do not emotionally 'attach' themselves to one singular mate. When they are attracted to a partner the 'relationship' moves at its own pace and may see any number of other sexual partners enter and leave during that time. But they do not mate for life they are simply not wired that way." Morrigan paused at this point and looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "Master, how do you feel about your sexual partners?"
"Yes Kouryou, how do I fit in the scheme of things?" Akira jumped in unexpectedly.
How did I feel? When it came to protecting Petra or Kat or even Akira I felt a heat of passion because I cared because they were family. When I thought about them in a sexual way, well, there was the obvious attraction and each for a different reason but... there the fire died away. When I thought of them with someone else and I hoped to feel jealousy I felt nothing. They were my family and I found them incredibly hot but as far as possessiveness it just wasn't there.
"I'm sorry Akira, I would die protecting you and I care about you but. I just don't feel any jealousy when I imagine you with someone else. I'm not sure I understand how or why that is," I told them honestly.
"Perhaps I was wrong Master Nicholas," Morrigan said. "You may not be human after all. Perhaps the Eternal Master accomplished more than he realizes?"
"Are you saying that I have more of the Old Ones in me than humanity?"
"It wouldn't be a bad thing really," Akira said moving to spoon behind me. "Think of the incredible legacy that you are part of Kouryou. Think of a people who have thrived for so long and a culture that spans hundreds of millennia." She said her arms circling my waist and her body molding to mine.
"My confusion level has just reached its summit," I said shaking my head. "Are you saying you are okay with me being the way I am? That you are cool with me taking woman after woman to my bed and you would feel no jealousy?"
"Kouryou I accepted you the way you are when I pledged my loyalty to you and your cause. When I saw the light in your eyes when you talked about all the good that you want to accomplish in this world, is there really any room for such petty emotions?"
I began to suspect something, just an inkling really but I was going to have to test my hunch later but for now.
"Morrigan continue your rant please," I said.
"Oh okay, let's see... the community raises the children and everyone shares in the wealth and prosperity of the whole. The Old Ones have known no wars though they have suffered tragedies humanity could never hope to have survived. And for all their faults they look out after their children and hope that one day they will achieve a sort of enlightenment on a global scale."
"You speak as if humans and the Old Ones are related?" I asked.
"They are," Morrigan said tactfully. "Your holy books speak of it clearly enough. Did not the gods create man in his own image?"
"Why," Akira asked.
"There is a strong emotion that ties both the Old Ones and Humanity together, curiosity. They saw the rise of a bipedal creature and thought what harm in nudging it along the evolutionary path. So one was chosen to oversee the project and report back to the Old Ones on all if any progress. Myths paint him in many ways, some call him the giver of fire, other tribes of humanity called him the trickster and others still the devil. But he is all and none of them he was just a scientist working in a very large laboratory. No one expected the onset of sentience in this little project. But it was he who first 'tampered' with the results of the project. He who crossed the line and started all the trouble," Morrigan said.
"Tampered how," I asked and she gave me that knowing smile. "He slept with an early human? Oh... he introduced Old One's DNA into the mix didn't he?"
Morrigan nodded and let me figure the rest out.
"So, there arose a hybrid tribe of humans that were neither human nor fully Old Ones and that had to cause some serious problems," I said.
"We are still seeing the ramifications to this day. The pure strain humans were safely isolated from the contamination for a time but the hybrids needed human stock to 'breed' and infiltrated the colonies and expanded their numbers despite the best of efforts. These Nephilim were a sturdy and resistant strain of infection that could not be easily expunged despite great efforts to eradicate them." Morrigan said sadly.
"Are you talking about Noah's Flood," I asked one of my friend's at the academy was a devout Catholic and would talk about the dangers of being an atheist, good kid just a little overzealous at times.
"That was supposed to be the Nephilim Final Solution but it failed. Somehow the aberration in their DNA stabilized and they were after long generations able to breed amongst themselves and so left humanity as a whole alone, or so it was believed."
"I do not like the sounds of this, I take it the Nephilim survived to modern day?" I asked and Morrigan nodded.
"Not just survived but thrived. True they no longer to breed with humans for they are a species separate and apart but they have formed a kind of parasitic relationship to humanity. It is because of their interference that humanity as a whole is being held back. But removing the Nephilim infection is impossible without killing the host, the entire human race."
"So I take it they look just like humans... these Nephilim?" I asked.
"At first glance but they stand out as a whole for their beauty and perfection of form," Morrigan said.
"Reminds me of you in a way, the perfect symmetry that you possess," I told her.
"It is true that my dimensions are flawless but I was patterned after one of the Old Ones not a Nephilim. So you see the problem now?"
"Hybrids possessing characteristics of the scientist's DNA and that of humanity; yeah I can see how that could piss off a people who were tinkering with a mindless animal and ended up with a lot more than they bargained with. Speaking of, whatever happened to that scientist?"
"He has been trying to make amends by trying to push humanity on the path of enlightenment all these long years," Morrigan said.
"I take it things didn't work out as planned," Akira asked.
"Um no, he is not allowed to directly interfere but can try to persuade strong leader types to step up and nudge things along. He has used prophets, military leaders and even the occasional religious figurehead to steer a spiritual course for humanity but the Nephilim always step in and screw the pooch. The religious wars that are now prevailing and the need for one sect to be right over the other... it just screams Nephilim. They sow chaos wherever they can to keep humanity from becoming what it could be." Morrigan said and fell silent.
I stood up and looked out over the ocean with its gentle waves trying to process all that Morrigan had said. I let my mind drift with the waves and saw the connecting pattern of one wave as it flowed into the next. Each action has so many unforeseen affects and how could anyone possibly plot them all? I knew that Oswald and I needed to speak again and soon but before that happened I had to find this Texan, this Quinn so that I could ask him about the Bloodstone Ring. Suddenly I remembered some of Oswald's words and they came back to haunt me. Cities, what purpose did they truly serve? Man was quite content to have small settlements or wander after game. I am sure that life was harder but is what we have now any better in the long run? I thought of my friends from the academy who had grown up in small towns and the light in their eyes when they talked about home and family. Cities... parasites... chaos... what was the connection? She said that the Nephilim were a parasite linked with humanity. What does a parasite do... it feeds off of them! But she couldn't mean a literal feeding could she? Let's say she does I thought what is the easiest way to gather prey and hunt them? Keep the herd animal in a corral just like mankind does with cattle! Cities are the Nephilim's corrals for humanity! I spun around to face the bed.
"Oh My God... they are using cities as hunting grounds! They keep human's close to keep the culling easier!"
