The vault door swung open. Roth was stood in the doorway as Kristoff sat, crumpled on the bench.

"Why did you let me go?" He said wearily as Roth stepped in.

"The lock on the vault door doesn't keep for too long as I told them. You'd be free soon anyway and I wanted to make sure you were with me. I need you along for the-"

"Not this vault." Kristoff said staring into nothingness.

"Why did you let me go free at the base? Why did you tell me I was better? Why did you let me go back to her? Did you think it worked?"

Roth sighed and sat down on the bench. He paused in thought before finally speaking.

"Genesis teaches us that Adam partook of the fruit from the tree of knowledge. In eating the fruit he gained understanding and free will. But the cost of those things comes at a high price."

"Had he been content to reside in bliss, had he and Eve resisted the temptation that comes with the pursuit of knowledge, they both would have lived eternally in peace and happiness. But they, like I sought for understanding."

Roth glanced up at the supply racks.

"Many have fought and died throughout history for understanding, power and control. But the root of it all is free will. We reason, make choices and bear the consequences. The first independent choice that Adam made, caused him to sacrifice ignorance as he gave in to free will. Just as we all do eventually. And with that he carried the burden. He carried pain, death, suffering."

Kristoff was silent as Roth continued. He was glancing at the photograph he carried, transfixed.

"These are our burdens to suffer for the lives we lead. I could have let things be, and rightly I should have but I made a choice. One which I thought was for the best. It's not the last time I ever made a bad choice either come to that. But of all the choices I did make, I have carried the burden this far."

Kristoff rubbed his head. "I didn't choose to do what I did. I...I had no choice at the time. When there is no good choice...what do you do?"

Roth sighed. "You had the choice to leave. You chose to go back and speak to her. It wasn't my place to intervene. I could recommend against it as God did with the tree of Knowledge. But all I can do is advise. It's not my place to tell others what they should or should not do."

"On top of all that...I just tried to help. But I failed. Failure is something I've gotten used to now."

Kristoff stood upright and walked towards the door. "Are you going to try to exorcise me again?"

Roth shut his eyes and thought carefully before speaking.

"That was my intention. I gained a great power when I was taken away. I gained the ability to do it. That ability sacrifices a little of my own life energy each time I try but for this end...I wanted to. I needed you in one piece. It was vital to my journey."

The two figures began walking down the corridor.

"What is this journey you keep talking about? You're never specific. It's all been such a rush. I don't even know where we're going."

Roth smiled. "Purgatorio. That was the plan. A man...if such a word can be ascribed to what he was...he appeared to me after I died. He took me to a mountain. The mountain of Purgatorio leading to Paradiso, the holy realm. The place where ultimate judgement and justice is carried out, and the resting place of the sacred and the noble."

"The man was called Virgil. He told me a terrible fate had befallen the world. That the damned had been released and that there was no way to prevent doom and chaos from spreading. I contested this statement. There must be a way. He insisted that no, there was no way. But that I could assist once more in the prevention of total destruction. I don't know the specifics. I had apparent "unfinished" business and needed to find redemption in the mountain of purgatorio."

Kristoff shook his head. "This all sounds crazy but you say it so convincingly every time. I have to believe it."

Roth nodded. "It was crazy. Crazier still was that I refused to take the journey. Virgil looked confused. I wasn't aware it was possible to confuse an immortal, supreme being. I told him on no uncertain terms that I would never find redemption alone. That the wealth of my pain and guilt was centred around two things. One of them, were the events that led to Melissa's death."

Kristoff stopped dead, looking at the floor through tear strained eyes.

"I ask that you accompany me further. So that I may find this redemption. So that I can let this be put to rest. Half of my journey relies on this."

"And the other half?" Kristoff asked.

"The other half is not far away. If I keep following the path I'm on, I might be able to work that out too. I ask that you join me the rest of the way."

Kristoff looked down at his hands. "Whether I want to do it or not, I'm a monster. I can't control myself. I hurt them. They will want to kill me, and I won't object."

Roth sighed. "They'll try but it won't matter. And furthermore you can control it. Because you're already dead, Kristoff. Just like me, you died. I didn't realise this at first, but the series of events that have led me here are unanimous."

He paused, speechless as Roth looked over sympathetically.

"It's not so bad. At the least they are allowing you to redeem yourself for my sakes. Many people don't get this chance once they are torn from the world. You can control the possession because it no longer has a hold on you. It possessed your body, not your soul."

Kristoff crouched down, catching his breath before stopping.

"If I was dead...why is my breath short? Why do I still transform."

Roth placed his hand on Kristoff's shoulder.

"Our beings...our subconscious selves...they still continue. The first time I died...it flickered into nothing. The second time it was allowed to carry on. Some continue indefinetely like your monster...and the monster who destroyed my life. They are too powerful to be silenced so easily."

"But they'll try to protect themselves at first. I was lucky to have this explained to me. Without the explanation it'll create a story. Yours persuaded you that you could control the possession through ritual. And it blocked the memory of your death. Others...they'll block entire chunks of their lives. Whatever protects them from realising. They have to find their own path and come to terms with it by themselves."

They stepped into the basement, leading towards the church.

"Why do you bring all of them into it?"

Roth sighed.

"I don't believe I have a choice."

Come to me. I can make all that has been done, undone. Only I possess this power.

Kristoff stood upright and stared at the window. Helios was still pacing the floor angrily. He'd been torn up and smacked into a giant magnet. He wasn't feeling fantastic for the experience.

"What's he staring at?" He demanded. He took another step forth and was forced to leap backwards as a bolt of lightning smashed into the floor. The room darkened and filled with electric energy.

Crouched in the centre of the surrounding darkness was Roth. He stood upright, a little shakily and looked at the group.

"Did you just...teleport...on a lightning bolt?" Ari asked in awe.

Roth shuddered as a spark leapt from his body onto the floor.

"Kind of. For the sake of argument at least."

He looked on at the bewildered but weary faces.

"I was given a tremendous amount of power which I'm only just now learning to control right..."

Dutchiee scratched his head.

"So you sparked up the shuttle and teleported on lightning? You couldn't use that to fight off the shadows on the bus?"

Roth shook his head wearily.

"It drains me each time I have to concentrate it on myself. The teleportation isn't so bad. It leaves me a little out of sorts. Some of the uses can full on knock me out."

Rob snarled. "How does a dead man lose consciousness."

Roth glanced into the middle distance.

"Because death isn't quite how we think we understand it. It doesn't matter. We don't have time to focus on the nature of existence right now. They're coming."

Jeff nervously jumped around.

"I thought this was Sanctuary."

Roth shook his head. "This is the end of our journey. Sanctuary doesn't exist here. Come on."

He took a few steps forward and glanced at the stained glass windows. Taking a big step forward, he stepped into the pane of glass and disappeared.

The group was staring in disbelief as Natalie cautiously stepped forth and walked through it too. The rest followed, leaving just Helios and Rob who both reluctantly joined.

Come to me and make it all go away. What does the past matter when everything that has been can be made not to be?

Beyond the stained glass window was the base cargo area. Roth was stood in the doorway as the shadowy figures appeared from behind crates and strode forth. Raising their arms they shot more blasts of energy into the air, narrowly missing the group who ran out of the door. It led back to the village.

"The hell is going on here?" Helios screamed, a bolt of energy nearly taking off his ear.

Bring her back to you. The power is yours. You just have to find me and open...we can re-write history

Roth stepped into the bakery as the group followed suit. It led to the interior of the wrecked bus. Mal's body was strewn across the wheel still. Natalie stumbled, unable to comprehend what was happening.

"Just a little...more...." Roth insisted and stepped out of the bus doorway. The others followed, pulling Natalie along. They were back outside the motel.

Helios sat down. "I give up. I've just flipped a circuit right? I'm just nuts. This is some crazy dream."

Rito stood up triumphantly.

"No dream! Everything Rito does is very important!"

"We can discuss it later. We have to stand very still...and we have to fight..." Said Roth, staring at the approaching shadow armada.

Dutchiee shook his head.

"We can't fight them. Not all of them."

Roth sighed. "We must try."

Into the basement...I am where you began...

Kristoff snuck away from the group and dashed down the staircase into the basement. The walls were still coated in his blood messages. On the floor however was something beautiful.

It was a decorative box, adorned in solid gold. It seemed to emanate a power...a great majesty. Every so often, a flash of something bright would surge away from the surface, burying itself in the ground.

Open me up, Kristoff. I contain your destiny...

Roth dashed down the staircase as Kristoff held the box upright.

"DON'T!" Roth shouted as he pulled, opening the box and covering the world with bright light.

Natalie opened her eyes. The sky was purple, tinged with an orange and red haze that flowed over the landscape like a cloud. A giant oak tree sat under the cloud. There was a rhythmic squeaking sound as a swing moved back and forth, gently on an invisible breeze.

The others were stood around, watching. Kristoff was stood at the front, mouth open as he watched the young girl swing back and forth with a smile. Her smile faded as she looked at Kristoff.

"Daddy...why are you here too? Did you die too?"

He nodded with tear strained eyes.

"Father Roth said that heaven was a wonderful place where angels sang and we got to eat all the ice cream in the world! But I haven't found any angels or ice cream yet. Maybe we didn't go to heaven."

Kristoff let out a deep breath before speaking slowly through the tears.

"Melissa...aren't you scared of me? I never meant to hurt you...I would never..."

She smiled in the red sky as a melodic sound fluttered through the imaginary breeze.

"You didn't hurt me. A monster did. Did you kill the monster daddy?"

Kristoff nodded wearily.

"I think so."

Melissa looked around puzzled at the group of bewildered onlookers.

"Father Roth is dead too..."

She looked back at Kristoff with a smile.

"I expected at least him to go to heaven!" She said with a confused frown before turning back to the group.

"Who are all your new friends daddy? They're all dead too aren't they."

The handful of followers looked at one another before looking at Roth who remained silent.

Melissa looked at the group with a saddened expression.

"You're all so alone. Did you lose some of your friends?"

Natalie nodded silently. Melissa's sadness continued.

"I lost my friend too. My bear. It's so lonely without him. Could you help me look for him? If you do, I'll help you look for your friends too."

Objectives:
Prepare for the final showdown. The final showdown starts in 24 hours time. It is completely automated. Any final actions must be performed during this phase.

So we can revote phase 1 and phase 11 now?

And I think we need to discuss this final list early. Maybe even focusing on who should be lowest since that may be more important at this point in the game.

Melissa smiled as she picked a teddy bear up from the floor. It had an eyepatch over one eye which was a rather strange design.

"Thank you very much!" She said excitedly. "Now I don't have to be alone anymore!"

She turned to face the group.

"And neither do you all! More friends to play with!"

The group turned around. Behind them were more people. It was everybody who had been lost on the journey so far.

Every once dead player may now view this thread and cast a vote.

Wasn't revote for phase 1 last time around?

Yea, I just wasn't sure if it had to be submitted during last phase or how that worked.

All right, so what happens now? Do we revote again or something?

We revoted for phase 1 last round and revote for phase 11 now.

Friends!! :D

Dead folks, any chance you'd like to roleclaim, so that our final lists will be more coherent?

I was just about to do so....I'm not sure how I died...I feel it's because I wasn't around to out actions in, but I'm not sure if mod kills were still happening....it said I was struck with lightning....anyways, beside the point.

I lied about my role....sort of. I have one more scan. I was waiting for a good time to use it...This seems to be a good time.

Who would you people suggest I should scan. Who is most scummy to you? Someone who probably was still alive since we probably killed off most dead people.

I only want an answer from Rob, Vernon, Dylan, Vespis and Dutchie. This is to keep the choices coming from people I asked so it's random. I don't want a bunch of people throwing out ideas. I don't believe all those people to be town aligned wither, but I'm curious to hear all choices.

Also, I have been able to view a good amount of past threads due to my role....so if you need info on something I might be able to find it.....