AEHU/Plot/Plot Sketch Chapter 14

"Memento Mori"

Dalton and Artemis continue following Raqh and Magus, and they are shadowed by Wittel & co. Everyone learns Raqh's intention to forge Levantine with knowledge acquired from spirit channeling. Since Raqh is accompanied by the uber-powerful Magus, he is unapproachable. However, Dalton begins devising a plan for snatching the Levantine. His plan will require manipulating different factions, so he teams up with Ozzie while Artemis joins Wittel & co. on some pretense.

Raqh and Magus recount everything they'll need to forge Levantine: knowledge, materials, and facilities. Gladus informs Raqh that he can gain the knowledge he needs by absorbing the souls of several of Melchior's students, who now inhabit different bodies in the medieval era (Melchior's soul is unavailable because he's still alive in the 1000AG era). Raqh heads to Choras.

Raqh kills one of Wittel's monk friends in Sensei's monastery, and Wittel and Sensei mourn. Brione attempts to commit suicide because her caring for the Imp children is viewed as the cause of the spreading plague there, and her father lies ill with the plague as well. Wittel tries to talk Brione out of it but he feels he doesn't know the right things to say. Then he's unexpectedly backed up by Artemis, who seems to have an extreme aversion to watching suicides occur. However, it is Raqh who finally convinces Brione out of it by informing her that he has a better way. Thus Raqh recruits Brione into his cult.

Raqh proceeds to hunt down and kill another recognizable character who houses a necessary spirit.

Raqh wonders what he has become; the gift of Gladus' knowledge is both a blessing and a curse, compromising the moral standards he has set for himself and his cult. By killing these people and releasing their spirits into the Shadow Realm, he has denied them the salvation he wants to give as many people as possible, because it is assumed that the DBT gate will last only a short while once created and freeroaming spirits have a natural aversion to the Dream Devourer.

Next, Raqh learns that a Lavoid Core (a Lavos Spawn's immature Frozen Flame) will suffice as raw material for Levantine, giving it the properties necessary to catalyze a reaction between co-spatial temporal and dimensional distortions. Magus decides to send Raqh back to 12,001BG so that he can acquire a Lavoid Core from a Lavos Spawn already captured in the Schala chapters, and Raqh surmises he can use Melchior's facilities to forge the blade right then and there.

Magus creates a temporal Gate for Raqh and is rendered immobile by the need to keep the Gate functioning until such time as Raqh is ready to leave Zeal. Wittel's team confronts Magus again and tries to convince him to heal Frog for a second time, but to no avail. Frog falters, so Wittel & co. take him somewhere to rest. Frog's death seems imminent.

Dalton and Ozzie find wittel & co. at whatever rest house they chose and Dalton tells them of his plan to capture Levantine. This is important for them, too, because Magus is also desperate to acquire the blade -- if they cooperate to nab it, Wittel can use it as a bargaining chip per the original plan.