MagTech Suit Up

  Things That Go Bump In The Void

  TOC

  One hundred and fifty years earlier a young man scrambles out of bed and almost falls as he runs down the hall to a meeting that he is late for. Jonas why are you late again, one of the other attendees asked as he loudly enters the room they are all gathered in. Sorry everyone, I have not been sleeping well, he said as he finds his seat. Master Godfrey was just telling us that he feels there is something important about to happen, and he was hoping some of us with pre-cog abilities might assist him in finding out more about it. Yes, of course, Jonas replies, still haunted by the nightmare he woke from. Thank you, Master Jonas, Master Godfrey said, noticing the dark circles under his eyes and the far away stare. So we shall start after lunch then, Master Godfrey, stated to the room at large.

  There was only a few of them in the room, being part of a select few who shared the pre-cog gift. After everyone filed out of the room Laura stayed to speak to Jonas. Jonas, I am worried about you, she said. Why do you worry, he asked her. Because you admit you are not sleeping and are always late, and you look terrible, she said, with obvious sadness for her longtime friend. I have been having nightmares that is all, he said, trying to ease her mind. Is there anything I can do to help, she asked. No, I will be fine I just need to meditate and try to settle my thoughts before I go to sleep at night that is all, he said. I hope that is all there is to it, you know if you ever need to talk I am here for you right, she asked him? I know, he said, feeling the warmth of her smile and knowing if she saw the horrible things he saw when he closed his eyes that she would be more than a little concerned for him. She might even think he was going mad, the thought had crossed his mind more than once. I will be fine dear Laura, thank you for your concern, but really I will be fine, he assured her. The fact that he could say it with a straight face was amazing, since the darkness inside him was clawing at his eyes trying to get out to destroyer her and everything else that was good in the world.

  She finally got up and left the room. He stayed trying to get the strength to lift himself up to walk out of the room, the darkness that was growing inside him was trying to take over, and it took every ounce of his strength to fight it. “In his head a booming voice screamed, you cannot fight me. I am Mordeck of the Zeal’lee, we have been around since the beginning of time. We were ancient while the first pitiful creatures of your plain were still squirming their way out of the mud. Your kind has been encroaching on our realm, ever since you bipeds first started forming thought, not that you have the mental abilities to really think. Now you have started to take energy from our plain, with some perverse sense of impunity or entitlement. Therefore, I will use you to destroy those that would take from our realm, and when I am done with them. I will enslave the others of your realm and force them to worship me. The keepers of the light with their benevolent stewardship rules will not save you”, Mordeck boasted. His words fell like acid burning into Jonas’s brain and ripping at his soul. Why had he ever tried to venture into Mordeck’s plain, when his astral-self encountered him and he tried to run, he followed him back, and ever since he was trying to push his way in. As they say be careful when you stare into the void because sometimes the void stares back.

  As Laura left the room she waited in the hall outside the door to see if he would come out. She wanted to be with him, to comfort him, the man she secretly loved. She was too shy to tell him how she felt. She had hoped that he would notice and tell her how he felt, then she wouldn’t have to embarrass herself if he didn’t share her feelings. There was a time when she was sure he was going to make a move, but lately he seemed so distant and preoccupied with something. He was clearly not sleeping and she rarely saw him eat. She wished he would just talk to her, tell her what was wrong so she could help. She wanted to be part of his life and she was sure if he just talked to her she could help.

  Jonas knew it was only a matter of time before Mordeck had complete control of him. Even now when he tried to tell someone, Mordeck inflicted so much pain on him, and he could not scream out load, only in his mind. A mind which with every passing day was becoming less and less his own. The parts that were still him were shredded tatters of his memories, and that which he held dear, that which he thought to be him. The very fabric of thoughts and memories woven together, of what he identified as himself. The darkness was taking him and he had nothing left to fight it with. “Yes, Jonas I will destroy everything you hold dear, and I will make you watch as I do it. In time there will be little of you left, and when that last spark of self has burned out, I will live on inside this carcass you call a body”, Mordeck mocked.

  Master Godfrey entered the room, Master Jonas are you still here he asked? Yes, I didn’t want to be late again, Jonas said, trying to block out the pain. Did you eat yet, Godfrey asked, with genuine concern for the man he did not know well, but still he considered a friend. I have not thought about it really, Jonas said, honestly he had been in so much torment and pain that he had not thought about eating. I will have one of the apprentices bring you some food, Godfrey said, as he contacted one of the apprentices that had serving duty, and had them bring food. Thank you, Jonas said, as he felt another sharp pain shoot through his body. As soon as Master Laura and Master Thetis arrive we will start, in the mean time you can eat, you do not look well, Godfrey remarked, wondering what might be troubling the man.

  A tray of food was brought in and Jonas tried to eat. He managed to choke down a few bites when the others entered the room. Master Godfrey greeted them and directed them to a table at one side of the room. If you are ready Master Jonas, we will start over here, he said, motioning to an empty chair at the table. It took every ounce of his strength, but Jonas managed to stand and walk over to the chair and sit down. When he was seated his forehead was covered in sweat, the others could tell he wasn’t well, but they said nothing. Not wanting to offend him and realizing they needed him for this to work. So if he was willing they would not dissuade him.

  All right than, said Godfrey, let us begin and he joined hands with Laura and Thetis, as they each reached out a hand to Jonas. Master Godfrey took control of the group guiding them into a pre-cognitive state, searching for the future events that might lead them to the answer to the question of what major event was going to happen that would not only affect them but humanity as well. They all saw it taking shape, a dark figure clouded in a thick dark fog that was clearly evil, they could not see who the figure was, except Jonas he looked into the darkness and saw his own face smiling back at him, only it wasn’t him, it was Mordeck. He could feel them pulling back from the darkness, but he was stuck unable to move.

  What was that he could hear Laura saying to the group in general, as if she was a thousand miles away from him. I don’t know Godfrey was saying, I have only seen the darkness before when I was trying to see the event, never the figure. Could you make out who it was , Thetis was saying, I could only see the figure not the face. They all said the same, Laura was shaking his shoulder, Jonas did you see who it was, she asked? He wanted to scream yes it was me, but all that came out was, no I didn’t see anything. Mordeck was stabbing into his brain punishing him for wanting to tell them. Ripping at all of the memories that he held dear, tearing them away or perverting them. I think we have all had enough for now, Godfrey said, obviously shaken from the experience. The others were too, and they left quickly.

  They got up to leave, are you coming Jonas, Laura asked? I will be along shortly, he said. Ok, she said, hesitant to leave him, but with no reason to stay in the room that suddenly felt cold and desolate. “You see Jonas, it is inevitable that I will take your body, you saw the future, you saw me staring back at you. Why must you make it so hard on yourself, give in to me and let me end your suffering”, Mordeck hissed into his mind. No, I will not give in, Jonas said, knowing it was a lie. He only had so much more he could take before he would give in. You, can lie to yourself, but you ca
nnot lie to me, I will have you, Mordeck said, with confidence and malice in his voice.

  Elsewhere in the realm of Zeal’lee. It is only a matter of time before Mordeck of Cortan takes possession of the mortal, Lord Selus, the herald said. I know Emrick, there is nothing we can do, we grow weaker every year while they grow stronger, feasting on the greed and hatred of the human realm and the energy it feeds into our plain. Surly there is something we can do, the herald said, if he is allowed to enter their realm he will bring nothing but death and destruction. “If the mortal lets him in by his own free will, there will be nothing we can do to stop it. He, was foolish to enter our realm in his spirt form without understanding the dangers he faced.

  All we can do is help give those that would stand against him inspiration and try to help guide them, until one comes that can stand against him”, Lord Selus said. Then you have given up on the mortal then, Emrick asked? “You, said it yourself, it is only a matter of time, he lacks the will power to stand against one as strong as Mordeck. The time of humans is but fleeting, but they have great potential. This one is weak, but others will come that will have the strength of character and the will to stand against this fiend, you must be patient. They are a young species and they are still heavily dependent on technology, they have not fully evolved yet. Their environment is based on the physical manifestation of the universe, and so their perspective of reality is also based on those physical limitations, in order to manipulate their environment they rely on tools, as they evolve their tools move closer to thought based technology. Until they do fully evolve all we can offer them is inspiration and the creative spark to advance their development”, Lord Selus said. So you think at some point they will evolve to the level of thought and deed becoming one as we are, Emrick asked? I do not know what path their evolution will take, but as they start to see matter in its basic form their perspective of reality is starting to change, Lord Selus said, whatever path they take we must guide them but not force them as Mordeck and his ilk would do.

  From the beginning of time the universe had tried to maintain a balance between all things. Creation and destruction, good and evil. Like the seasons sometimes that balance was cyclical and came in surges. There would be a time were one would seem to overpower the other, or tip the balance too far in one direction. Only to have the other surge back and restore balance. The universe is also vast, and so many plains of existence exist that are unknown to the occupants of other plains of existence. However, everything is connected and has an influence on the other. The realm of Zeal’lee was the astral plain, the place of dream, thought, and emotion all tied together and stitched into the fabric of time and reality. The beings that dwelled there had evolved beyond their physical forms and were more energy than anything else. They had learned long ago the concept of thought and deed, and the connection of one becoming the other without physical force, but the force of will. Their whole realm was made up of the energy created from the different types of energy expelled from our plain of existence.

  Their realm was made up of positive and negative energy, and the beings there were drawn to the energy that they were created from. The thought or spark of creation had created their realm at the same time that ours was created. They had existed there for some time, feeding off the energy of creation and the inevitable destruction that exists in nature. However, as we evolved, our thoughts and desires started to bleed into that energy, and shape it into a new form of energy. Or perhaps taint it, would be the better word, bending it to the belief systems that we held to be our reality. As our perceptions of reality evolved and our concepts of right and wrong, good and evil changed, so too did the energy. So too did the beings that fed off that energy and existed within it. The positive and negative forces within their realm were battling to gain control over the shape of their realm and the energy within it, as the universe worked to maintain the balance. Each side was trying to hold sway over the governing factors that would shape the energy. Each side had their own ideas how to best affect the changes in our plain of existence that would by proxy shape theirs. It was a battle that would last until the end of time.

  Jonas held on for several more weeks until finally dripping with sweat and tangled in the sheets of his bed, he said, I give in you can have me. Burning pain a feeling of being ripped from his body followed by total darkness. Mordeck, had arrived on the human plain. That morning Jonas appeared for breakfast, something he had not done for some time, he looked much more healthy except a kind of coldness in his eyes. Laura approached him, hi Jonas you look like you are feeling better she said. I am fine he said, with a cold unfeeling voice that she had never heard him use before. Something about his eyes did not look right either, she didn’t know why but she didn’t feel like she was talking to Jonas. His icy stare made her want to cringe and run away. So she said, Oh, ok well glad to see you are feeling better and excused herself and walked away from him, it was all she could do not to run. Later that day she spoke to Godfrey about it, he just doesn’t seem like himself she said, trying to convey to him the importance of the situation. Be honest, he has not seemed like himself for some time now, Godfrey said. This is different, not like before, he seems cold and he makes my skin crawl being around him, she said. Godfrey promised to talk to him.

  Several days later she approached him again, have you spoken to him yet, she asked? She had not gone near Jonas since the first day. No, I am sorry Laura I just have not had time, I have been helping Master Daniel with the new implant augmentation, we have finely got it ready to be tested, he said. I know it is important, but I really wish you would find the time to talk to him, she said. He has something going on with him and it could be important, she pleaded. I will try as soon as we get all the implants ready for the Circle of Masters, he said. She thanked him, and left him to his work. Shortly after she left Master Daniel came to see Master Godfrey. Is all the implant Nano-Augmentations ready for the meeting tonight, Master Godfrey asked? “Yes, they are all prepared, fifty cups of the liquid for the fifty Master level Faction members. After we have tested it, the apprentices will be given the augmentation as well. Are you sure we should be adding the offensive weapons to the default spells”, Master Daniel asked. Yes, I have seen the darkness that is coming, it is an ancient evil that we will have to battle, defensive tactics will not be enough, Master Godfrey said.

  How are the phase two augmentations coming, Master Godfrey asked? “You mean the AI and the identity cloaking software? The AI should be ready within a month or two, the identity cloaking software will take a little longer. We have one of our embedded operatives working on it. She is not gifted but her brother is and she was instrumental in helping him escape the government and find us”, Master Daniel said. Good, so by the time we have finished testing the gifted augmentations those changes should be ready to be added so everyone will get them at the same time, Godfrey said. Yes, she has been testing the software independently so it will not require further testing on our part, it can be integrated simply by adding it to the existing nano programming, Master Daniel said. Very good, the sooner we can travel freely throughout the Alliance the easier it will be for us to help the gifted escape the government, Master Godfrey said. Ok, well I must go make final preparations before the meeting, Master Daniel said, as he started to leave the room. Yes, thank you and let me know if you need any help with the meeting room, Master Godfrey said.

  Later that night the entire Master level group came together in their meeting hall. Only a few years earlier they would not dare gather together, but since they had been able to disable the tracking part of the implant it made them invisible to the Alliance. As long as they stayed on the hidden compound and did not try to go through any checkpoints they were safe. Tonight was a special night, years of research and development had come together and they were finally going to augment the implant to work in their favor. It was going to help them control and even augment their powers
. The original founding members of the faction got up and spoke and then as Master Godfrey was finishing up his speech the nano-agent was distributed to the group. Everyone took it at the same time. Food was served and they all continued with their meeting until the first changes started to take place. They all experimented with the augmentation and finally the meeting was adjourned so everyone could take some time to try out all the augmentation had to offer.

  Mordeck, did not need the augmentation, he had more than enough experience using the telekinetic energy from his realm, but he had been frustrated by his vessels limitations in channeling it into this realm. Also he now saw the potential of recruiting minions from these feeble human amateurs, at least with the augmentations they could now control their powers better. He would find likeminded or easily manipulated people to use to further his plans. He already had two in mind and now that he could show more of his powers and attribute it to the augmentation he could win them over.

  The next morning he set about recruiting some of the apprentices that he was supposed to be teaching. Once he had a few of them he would start on some of the Masters. He knew how to speak to their greed, he had witnessed it since the first humans walked out of the jungles and he knew how to sway the most greedy among them. The promise of power and control over others were always great motivators. Make them feel elite and above other people and soon you could justify other people being put here to serve their needs. The poisonous words dripped out of his lips like honey. He was a master manipulator and could tell within the first few minutes of a conversation if the person would be receptive to his ideas or not. Within a few weeks he had twenty five loyal followers. He was growing inpatient though, and wanted to take over control of the entire group. His arrogance told him he could not fail against these lowly humans. The weekly meeting was coming up and he had decided he would force a vote. He was certain that with the twelve Masters he already had and his powers of persuasion he could force a vote and take control of the group, if not he had already armed his followers with weapons and they would attack the other Masters if it did not go his way.

  Master Godfrey had not forgotten his promise to Laura and a few days after the night of the augmentation, he caught up to Jonas. After only a short conversation with him he was certain that Laura might be right about him, so he broke off the conversation and left to go find her. He found her alone in one of the meditation rooms. I talked to Master Jonas as you requested, and I am afraid I agree with you, he is defiantly not himself, Master Godfrey told her, as he sat down across from her. What was he doing prior to you noticing the change in him, he asked. Well prior to him starting to look sickly he was experimenting with Astral-projection, she said. “I was afraid you were going to say that, I have read books on the occult that talk of beings that exist on the Astral plain that can follow you back and exert control over a person in this plain. Based on the feeling I felt when I was around him just now, I would say that he is under the influence of one of these beings, and I would say the being is evil due to the dark aura I sensed around him. We have to find a way to help him break free from its influence.

  In the mean time I will have someone keep an eye on him, until we can find a way to help him”, Master Godfrey said. He got up and left, he felt bad not telling her that based on what he read, depending on the being it was almost impossible to free the individual if the being had taken complete hold. There was certainly no way that still was practiced in modern times. The catholic church had done some exorcisms in the past, but based on his reading it only worked with the lessor beings and even then it was more luck, than anything else. Also blind faith in the church had played a role as well, since a lot of the issue had to do with will power and those who had faith believed the church could help them so had the will to help themselves. In the new age it would be almost impossible to think Jonas had that kind of faith in the church. They had really lost a lot of credibility over the last few years.

  More than likely the only way to free him was to kill him. Master Godfrey was not going to kill a fellow Master unless he had no choice, so he had people watch and report back to him. Over the next few weeks he received word of the buildup of followers and using his powers had managed to probe the minds of some of the apprentices. It was worse than he had feared the entity that was controlling Jonas was going to try to take over the group. Luckily as the time for the meeting drew near they had a good idea who was with him and a general idea of what they were planning. Those that could be trusted began training in secret with the shields and attack techniques available to them through the augmentation, roughly thirty masters and several of their apprentices were ready to defend the group if need be. They hoped that force would not be needed but they were ready if it came to that. The Masters would use the shields and offensive measures they had trained with. The apprentices would use weapons, and would wait outside the meeting room to defend everyone that was not attacking the group.

  The time for the meeting approached both groups made preparations. Luckily only one group knew the other one was planning something. The Masters entered the meeting hall, as the rogue members filed in, a loyal member took up a position near them. They were unaware of the scrutiny, since in his arrogance Mordick assumed the humans had no idea of his plans and did not even consider them as a threat. Outside the meeting hall the apprentices that were waiting for his order to attack, grouped together just outside one of the side entrances. One of the apprentices loyal to Godfrey and the group had seen enough movies to know he should take up a position above them with some cover, so he could shoot them with the machinegun he had if need be, he also convinced one of his friends to do the same.

  The meeting started all the old business was discussed, Mordeck/Jonas was visibly agitated as he waited for the opportunity to speak. Is there any new business the speaker said. Yes, I have some, Jonas said, standing. I think we should be using our gifts to control the lowly norms of this world he said, we can accumulate a great deal of wealth and power if we only use our abilities to achieve it he said. All of his followers agreed with a “hear, hear” or “yes he is right”. Even some of the Masters that were not part of either group agreed. Godfrey waited for him to stop talking since he was busy basking in the praise of the crowd. Yes, obviously we could abuse our powers that way, but how does that make us any different than the government that we are hiding from, he asked? Most of the people that were not part of the rogue group said he was right, and felt guilty about agreeing with Jonas. Then what, would you have us hide in this compound forever, afraid to leave the gate and shut away from the outside world, Jonas asked.

  More agreement mostly just his followers. No, we are working on ways that we will be able to travel freely, answered Godfrey. Oh, and what are these great and mighty plans, Jonas mocked. I am not at liberty to say right now, Godfrey answered, it was a calculated risk, but he could not let Jonas know of the phase two plans. Oh, and do we now have secrets from each other, I thought we were all equals, is that not the case, Jonas asked sarcastically. We are equals, Godfrey said, but the people working on this, do so at great personal risk. It is for them that I cannot reveal anything further, he continued. So now we can’t be trusted, is that what you are saying, Jonas said. It is not a question of trust, a secret is harder to keep, with the more people that know it, Godfrey said.

  Who is it that decides who needs to know this secret then Master Godfrey you, Jonas asked, with obvious contempt and sarcasm. In this case yes, since I am responsible for the lives of those who share it, Godfrey answered. Well, I for one will not be controlled, Jonas roared, he was growing impatient with this conversation so he used the signal word. At once the twelve members stood up and prepared to attack the masters in the room. As soon as Jonas had stood up Godfrey and the loyal members of the group prepared to be attacked, they raised shields and so the energy balls and other attacks that the twelve used, hit their shields. Those not in the fight
dove for cover and most escaped with minor injuries before they raised their shields. Laura did something very stupid, she ran at Jonas screaming, “fight it Jonas, fight it”. Jonas merely hit her point blank with a white phosphorous ball, she fell to the floor in a burning heap. It distracted him enough for one of the other masters to attack him with his own white phosphorous ball, it caught him in the arm before he could raise shields. The pain of his arm burning off kept him off balance enough to give the loyalists a chance.

  As soon as the first blasts started flying the two groups of apprentices outside started to take action. The loyalist group started entering the hall from the rear of the building, the rogue group started to head for the side entrance, the two loyalists on the roof opened fire on them killing nine and wounding several others. They turned around and fled, not having the stomach for death from above. Inside several of the rogue masters were under attack from the loyal masters and the loyal apprentices firing on them with weapons. Two were down and most were injured not having the sense to raise their shields before they starting firing on the others. They now were trapped behind their shields taking fire from all sides. Mordeck/Jonas however, was attacking innocents and loyalists alike, but he realized he was hopelessly out numbered and decided it was time to escape. He hit the far wall and ten apprentices, with two huge explosive balls that blew out that side of the building. Then he sent a wave of blasts out toward the group, and started making his way to the hole in the wall, stepping over the dead as he made his escape. His followers ran after him, the defenders only managed to get one before they were out of the building and a wall of carbon blocked off the hole.

  The rogue group of nine masters and Jonas made it off the compound before the others could get out of the building to follow them. The building was on fire and those that could walk were trying to get those that couldn’t out of the building. In the end twenty were killed, two loyalist masters, the rest innocents and apprentices. Of the rogues three masters were dead and thirteen apprentices, four of them in their cells after they were captured and imprisoned. They died of the wounds sustained in the gun fight at the door to meeting hall, as one sided as it turned out to be. It was by the insight of the apprentice that they did not have a chance to attack the masters in the hall, it would have been so much worse had they had the chance.

  After the Delta Faction found a new base they went back to completing the augmentation of the implant. With the setbacks from the attack, it took an extra month but they were soon able to implement phase two and had an identity cloaking component that allowed them to travel throughout the Alliance without being detected. Phase two also included the harmonic shield that caused people to overt their eyes and not see them. For years they did not hear anything of the rogue members of their Faction, during that time their numbers grew and they had a lot more operatives working with them from within the Alliance government, Academia, and industry.

  With the percentage of gifted people presenting much higher in families where both parents were highly intelligent, it meant that those people if not gifted themselves, had a higher chance of a close family member being gifted. With the government’s handling of such individuals being less than subtle, it made a lot more of them sympathetic to Delta Factions cause. Especially, when most of the time when they first heard of Delta Faction was when they were rescuing one of those close family members from being kidnapped by the government.

  It was because of this growing number of scientists and researchers that phase three of the augmentation came about. One of the researchers redesigned the interface to the augmentation enhancing the AI component to help bring new members up to speed quickly, since their first exposure to the necessity of needing the augmentation was usually when they were fleeing for their lives, he thought it would be better to have a dedicated teacher that could adapt to what they needed to learn and how best to teach them. Another researcher designed the invisibility cloaking shield, using a new twist on the meta material shielding the government had been developing for years. When he shared the idea with the group of researchers that were working on the augmentation upgrade, one of the members of the team came up with the idea of the augmentation to the visual cortex and scanning all of the light spectrum, they tied it into the new interface and created the early warning system that deployed protective shields at the first sign of a threat.

  Another researcher that had been working on teleportation using photons and quantum mechanics, joined the cause when his younger brother presented as gifted. He discovered a bunch of research that had been conducted in the middle of the twentieth century in regard to using telekinetic powers for teleportation. He joined the team and was able to create a portal device that could teleport inanimate objects through time and space.

  All the new updates all came together to create the first early prototype of the Merlin. It really improved the way the gifted could use their powers and gave them a fighting chance against the government that was hunting them. It also gave the researchers opportunities to experiment with telekinetic energy and gave rise to the use of terms like spells and magic. This was primarily because they all had healthy geek like tendencies, and they could not resist, when confronted with the very things they had read books about and watched fantasy movies about. The augmentation was updated several times based on their continuing research and had more functionality added to it, including several enhancements to the shields and offensive weapons. The cloaking technology was also improved upon over the years, to help keep the operatives hidden during missions.

  A few years after the release of phase three Delta Faction started hearing rumors of another group of seemingly gifted people attacking the government and civilians. Part of the rumors indicated that the group was recruiting the highly gifted and killing those that were not. After an encounter where a person that Delta Faction was trying to help escape from the government, was attacked by a member of the other group along with the Delta Agent helping him, they realized that it was the members of their Faction that had splintered off so many years earlier.

  Realizing that they were at least partly responsible for the problem, because of giving the splinter group the augmentation, Delta Faction decided to help the government in stopping what was now being called Gamma Faction. Of course because of their own precarious relationship with the government that aid had to be covert. They used their ties within the government to help track and fight the Gamma Faction threat wherever they could, and aided the security forces in fighting them as well through augmentations that helped them resist mind reading. They also helped conduct covert operations against Gamma Faction. Their own augmentations were also modified to include the possibility of attack from a gifted and augmented attacker. They even started work on augmentations for their non-gifted operatives to help protect them from the other Faction.

  Godfrey never told anyone that Jonas was being controlled by a being from another realm, he didn’t want them to fear him anymore than they already did. Throughout the rest of his life he made it his mission to stop Gamma Faction. Not only for the atrocities they committed, but also to try and destroy the creature that had taken Jonas and kill the women that loved him so much that she willingly gave her life trying to help him break free. In his mind what made it worse still, was because somehow he knew that Jonas was forced to watch as the creature destroyed her. He now had no reservations in killing Jonas to destroy the creature, because he knew that Jonas was in misery living with the actions of that day, and all of the atrocities ever since.