User blog comment:Doctor Ibrahim/Ask the Doc and his Family!/@comment-27550231-20160818030229/@comment-28358106-20160818042123

"You're here for two reasons, or perhaps three, Jorge.  Not just one." I speak quietly, looking down.

"When the Crucible was nearly complete, I was...contacted.  Called, by the dying Goddess, through the Crucible.  I was taken to her through the trail of echoes that reached across the planes.  She knew who I was, and she knew what was going to happen, to me and to my family, and to, well, everything.  She only confirmed what the Demon Lord and countless other trails of fate already had.  I had been searching, searching for so long for a way to stop what I knew was going to happen."

I entwine my hands. "But she told me something that the Demon Lord didn't, or perhaps didn't know.  She told me that there would possibly be a way to stop what was happening.  By then I knew that I wouldn't have stood a chance on my own...I had to find those who could help me, and the Goddess wanted me to find a way she might live on.  Talented though I was, it was beyond my power to heal a Goddess, even a forgotten one.  I had to discover a way for her to continue.  It couldn't be somebody from this world; a hero of this world would have fallen like the countless others that had come before.  That's why she chose you.  Where you come from, there is no magic, no monsters, nothing to dull the focused mind.  You were a good person back on your home world.  You are missed there."

I lean back, still looking down. "I found a way to do both.  The Goddess would have her Paragon, and I would have help.  I had to find a way to get you here; that's when the Crucible showed me your end on your world.  That's when I traveled there and took the projectile that was destined to be fatal to you."

I look up. "You're here because the Goddess wanted to live on in you,  Jorge.  Beyond that, I can't tell you what she wanted; you would know better than I. You're also here because I didn't have any other choice, and the Goddess couldn't have gotten to you without my intervention.  Although, I can't say if it will make any difference now."

'' You look up. You are no longer in the parlor. The Black crystals of the Crucible float all around you, reflecting the echoes of tortured memories. Ibrahim stands in front of you. He speaks... ''

'' "Because I don't know how to stop it.  I still don't.  They still have to die.  Even now, after all this, they're still going to die..." ''

Your head jerks up. Regina leans forward from her seat, her face crossed with worry.

"Are you all right, Jorge?  Are you feeling unwell?" The children are silent, concern on their features. Aurum's eyes search you for an answer.

"Jorge?  You left us there for a minute, old boy." I pat your hand and give you a glass of water. "Will this do?  Or perhaps something a bit more stiff?"

