Path of the Mage
The Land of Milk and Honey 9-97


	"So as you read this, know my friends,
	 I'd love to stay with you all.  
	 Please smile when you think of me.
	 My body's gone, that's all."
		-- Megadeth, "A Tout le Monde"
	

	9-10-97

	This is rare for me, a diary.  But, as it seems to happen from
time to time my memory becomes corrupted, and in this case I do not want
to lose what I have known.  So I write.  
	The endeavor below is what I, or indeed, any dedicated sorcerer
must do for his magic.  There comes a time when one form of magic is
not good enough, not powerful enough, not all of the magic that one
can learn.  When that happens, a new magic must be known.  In this 
case, I have taken my vampiric Thaumaturgy and Disciplines to the limits
of my own ability to understand them.  It is time to move on.  
	The magic I have chosen to learn anew is that of mortal Sphere
magick.  As a vampire, I attempted to construct a theory of sphere magic,
and while my theories do seem to have merit, they are not the truth.  
They are instead a corruption of Thaumaturgy into a new shell.  It has
become apparent to me that I shall never comprehend this form of mortal
magic unless I take it for my own...by becoming mortal.  
	The power to throw off my vampiric self has long been something
I possessed.  But as a mortal, I lose everything vampiric, and I am 
a very powerful vampire.  Power also brings enemies, and I have no 
shortage of those.  Enemies who would bring my destruction immediately
if they knew I had become a weak and helpless mortal.  A ruse is needed,
a plot.  Something to draw away attention and at the same time disguise
me beyond simple matters of face and aura.  I will take a new body.  
	And I know just the form to assume...  

	Beyond the glass of Artemis Tower, the lights of downtown 
Tokyo sparkled like jewels in the night-time darkness.  Inside, three
rigid businessmen bowed formally to their new business partner.  A 
slight smile graced her lips as she repeated the gesture.  The men
were escorted out by her secretary, and Akemi Ito turned to gaze at the
city around her.  
	She had built all this.  Not the city, but the tower she stood 
in, the airplanes and boats and vehicles of all sorts which delivered her
company's trade in packages, she had created from her own hands Artemis
Shipping.  In a country where the man is lord and ruler, she had carved
out her own kingdom.  In a world where age is respect, she had brought
the elders to respect her youth.  By her twenty-third birthday, Akemi
Ito was a millionare, cut from a business world where all that matters
is success, and wealth the only guide of conscience.  
	But it had become old.  Stale.  The young woman stared out over
Tokyo, and saw the lights of its cars and trains moving, reaching 
towards their destinations.  She had reached hers; now it was time to 
move on.
	"Jordon?"  She queried to the air.  
	"Yes, Ms. Ito?"  The air replied in perfect English through a 
series of hidden speakers and microphones.  
	"Arrange for the helicopter to make a flight to Osaka, Jordon,"
she ordered her personal assistant.  Jordon was American, hired for his 
command of both Japanese and English, a language Akemi desired to
learn.  She thought of him briefly...it wasn't just his speaking skills
she had chosen him for...
	"Oh, and Jordon...I won't be coming back.  You know as much 
about this business as I do, by tomorrow morning you'll have the stock
proxies to take my position at the head of the company under the new
owners."  
	"Thank you, Ms. Ito.  May I ask where you're going?"  
	"Away, Jordon.  I'm going away."  

	9-14-97

	It has been done.  Thanks to the wonderfully complex world of
international commerce, I've found a way to sell one of my companies,
in this case, Artemis Shipping, to another, Pentex.  Just for the record,
I must say that I do not control the whole of Pentex; it is far too 
massive a beast for that.  However, if Pentex were likened to the great
octopus as Standard Oil was, I would be holding the tentacle on the 
far left.  The resources of Pentex are far too useful for destroying and
cleansing the sites of the Infernals for me to pass up, even if I do
know something of the corporation's true nature.  No matter.  The
devil of one's own world is better than the true devil from beyond.
But this is not a forum for my preaching, but a record.  To continue...
	In selling Artemis Shipping, I can free up the altered form I 
use to head that company, and have her vanish from public life.  She
can retire, buy a nice little house in the United States, and never be
seen again.  I will create a mortal body in her image, and by means
of my Necromancy and Thaumaturgy, place my soul and spirit inside.  
	I shall have to work out the details of this process in depth.
While I have done similar before, never before have I quite needed a 
body so magically clean and metaphysically sound.  No one wants any
spiritual decay from the process...

	The helicopter flight was uneventful, and Akemi only stared 
out the window.  Several times, her eyes met those of Jordon's 
reflection, but she said nothing.  She would miss him.  
	In Osaka, there is a restaurant where very rich people go to 
be very private.  The food, although excellent, is only a cover for the
true purpose of the meals served within.  It is a haven, a secure place
for deals to be made and decisions to be handed down without any chance 
of outside interference.  It costs ten-thousand yen simply to walk 
through the bullet-proof doors, but once inside, a businessman and his
clients are no more to the outside world.  It was in the deepest, most
highly protected room of the restaurant which needed no name, that
Mr. Winters waited.  The door to his purchased sanctum swung open at
Jordon's touch, and finally, Mr. Winters came face to face with Ms. Ito.
	He stood up from behind the slim wooden table, and bowed 
politely.  She looked him over before herself bowing.  The man was dark.
Mr. Winters was dressed completly in black.  His suit was black.  His
shirt, black.  Black slacks faded into black leather shoes, and around
his neck he wore a black tie crested with an inverted silver cross as 
a tie-pin.  The cross seemed to draw the eye, to mock whoever cared 
about the Christian God, and Akemi noted this bit of obvious 
disdain for religious diplomacy with brief interest.  One might think 
Mr. Winters was trying to be the devil.  
	As Jordon took his place against the wall by the door, Akemi
sat down to deal.  

	9-27-97

	Everything is finished.  The clone is grown, and has been 
fleshcrafted to match the form of Akemi Ito.  The process was quick;
growing the organs and tissues in their own optimal environments and
then assembling them at maturity is a technique that could change the 
mortal's world -- should it ever be allowed.  Curse the ethics of those
who don't understand what they oppose.  
	I have purchased a house, an ancient house, in New Mexico.  Odd
as it was to find a near-mansion of victorian-colonial design, even I 
was unaware the home was connected to an underground cave network.  
Apparently one of the former owners didn't miss this little added 
feature, and had sunk a pit from behind a concealed doorway in the 
basement into the cave network itself.  What I found down there was 
amazing.  H.P. Lovecraft, with his story, "The Rats in the Walls," must 
have ventured into this home to gain such a vision.  Catacombs, filled
with eldrich sculptures and structures wind below the house for literally
miles.  Bones, human and otherwise, litter the hand-chiseled passages 
or are heaped in shallow pits.  Perhaps something still lives down 
there, but my vision could find nothing but rats and mold.  There is a 
slight psychic tinge of long-forgotten horror in that house, but also 
power.  Magical power.  It will suit my needs very well.  
	Lastly, I have secured a mentor.  His price, as yet, is un-named,
but I know what he desires.  I have power over one he loves, and this
troubles him.  With I as his student, he will be able to take that power
back, or so he thinks.  We shall see.  My vision is strong, but the
threads only shift after I have taken a course of action, never before.
Until then, I can only guess at the outcome.
	One final thing remains.  I will have to prepare Berengaria and
Esteban for my leaving.  The child is strong of mind and purpose; he'll
do well.  Bere, though...  She seems to need someone by her.  I know
she understands the call of magic, but still...  I'll have to hope her
work with the mortal mage, BV728, keeps her occupied until I can 
re-establish telepathic contact.  Communication must be secure.  
Safety comes before any personal concerns.

	"It is agreed, then?"  Asked Mr. Winters in his dark, smooth
voice.  "Artemis Shipping and all associated holdings for the sum of
one billion US dollars, half in stock on the listed companies, and the 
rest in cash."  
	"Agreed."
	"Excellent, Ms. Ito.  If you would sign your copy of the 
contract, I'll sign mine, and then our people can take care of the 
final details.  I noticed that your assistant there gets the chairman's
seat by this deal.  Any reason?"  Jordon glanced away, suddenly finding
his fingernails of immense interest.  
	"He deserves it."  
	"As you say, Ms. Ito.  You do know that in five years, we will
dismantle Artemis?"  
	"Yes.  I look forward to the day."  
	"So do we, Ms. Ito."
	Together, Akemi and Mr. Winters rose to their feet.  Jordon,
relieved to have something to do, punched in a keycode and opened 
the hermeticly sealed inner door.  The three walked out together,
although Jordon kept his distance from Mr. Winters.  Though he couldn't
quite figure out why, the Pentex representative frightened him.  
	Underground, in the secured parking lot, Akemi and Jordon 
both got into their limo first, leaving Mr. Winters to wait for his
own transportation.  As they pulled away and into the last remains of
a fading night, neither saw the man in black simply step around a 
corner and disappear.    
	
	9-29-97

	Tonight.  It will happen tonight.  If my calculations are 
incorrect, this will be the last entry I make.  If they are right, I
will breathe once more.  
	Bere has been told.  She now knows everything; the labs, the 
computers, the library, the bank accounts and hidden vaults.  What 
she doesn't know, Esteban does, and if they need assistance, 
Brian, the resort manager, can help them.  
	The laboratory where I'll make the switch is already set up.
The ritual has been constructed so that Bere can activate it, and a
second ritual to switch me back into my true body has been enchanted
into one of my own leg bones.  There's nothing left now but to wait 
for the proper time.  I think I'll spend these last hours undead on
the mountainside, watching the stars. 

	"Ms. Ito," Jordon asked, concerned and confused, "Why are you
giving it all to me?"  
	She turned to him and smiled, her dark eyes meeting his light
blue orbs.  "You've been good to me, Jordon.  You've kept my secret
well.  We won't see each other ever again, so a bit of a reward is in
order."  
	"So it's not a joke?  You really are a vampire?"  
	Her only response was to sink her fangs into his arm.  
	The limo turned slowly into Osaka International Airport, gliding
into its covered space by a private hangar.  Akemi stepped out, dabbed
at her lips with a white silk kerchief, then tossed the cloth back into
the car before closing the door.  The limo then drove away, Jordon 
asleep in the back, the driver not likely to remember this night for 
many years.  Akemi unlocked the hangar door and walked in.  
	Inside, a golden jet lay in readiness, and as Akemi moved  
towards it, her form changed, grew.  She morphed; blue business suit
into a faded green duster, her short, black hair into long, brown locks.
Female into male.  Reverend Omnicynic paused for a moment to retrieve 
his antique glasses from the duster, and after putting them on, 
proceeded into his aircraft.
	Akemi Ito would not be returning to Japan again.  

	9-30-97

	Success.