I have spent the past week running through this in my mind and feel it is important that I share this with everyone. As I have posted I recovered the tome with knowledge given to me by what I can only describe as an entity. I probably will at some point give the details of this, but for now let's just say that I double-crossed the help given to me because certain things about them did not add up. My latest encounter with Mr. Slater confirms this.

When I handed off the tome to Michael T, he also generously offered to help speed my recovery. It was the oddest sensation, but it did as promised and I found myself more or less back to my old self. Even the more serious wounds healed with little scarring. I decided that it might be beneficial to continue to play the part of injured, since I would otherwise have to explain what he did. And I continued to use a cane and hobble.

I think this is what saved my life when I ran into Mr. Slater again.

There is a lot that I will no longer take for granted, and a lot more that I am now left to sort out. But I will post more this evening. For now I have a 8 hour drive to get to one of my client's regional offices.

I was making my way back to my car, which was parked in a parking garage a short distance from our meeting place. There is a bookstore there that I used to frequent, and I had spent some time there after meeting with Michael T. It was getting late as I climbed to the top of the garage to where my car was. I had not quite made it to the car when I heard a voice come out from the shadows.

"Where is the tome?" I froze at the sound, and instantly my senses were keyed up.

"In safe hands, away from all concerned parties." He stepped out from a column and slowly moved towards me. His expression darkened as he approached.

"Erik, my employer is not happy with you."

"I don't really care what your employer wants Frank. It was my understanding that I was cut lose."

He stopped roughly 20 feet from me. "When we found out that your wouldn't willingly work for us, we decided to let you think you had free will. It is amazing how many people will do want you want when they think they are making the decisions for themselves. All you took was a little nudging in the right direction."

That made me stop, and unexpectedly it got my anger. I demanded, "What are you talking about?"

He laughed at me. "You really believe what we put in your head don't you? I bet you even believed that a dead god visited you in your dreams. I am always amazed how well my associates do their work." He instantly became serious again.

"Why did you not do what you were told, you were supposed to give the tome to your help. Instead you left them for dead." He shook his head, "Not like you Erik."

"I discovered that they weren't the typically help," I replied. "I don't like finding out my associates are really the things I hunt. Kind of tipped me off that something was wrong. I quickly came to the conclusion that delivering the tome would have been as bad as leaving it where it was."

I prepared myself for what I knew as coming. "I take it you are here to change my mind?"

"You would be correct." His body started to change as he approached.

His body started getting darker while his eyes & mouth started glowing yellow. Before he finally reached me it was like his body absorbed all light while his eyes & mouth were emitting it. I was prepared for his attack and easily sidestepped it and attacked back with the cane sword. The speed of my reaction threw him off and for a second I had the advantage. I tried my best to make the best of it by unleashing a as many attacks as I could manage.

Unfortunately, he eventually recovered, pulled his blade and counter attacked. The speed didn't surprise me, but the strength behind the attack did. The first one hit my sword so hard I thought it was going to rip my arm out of socket. It threw my guard so far out of place I had to jump back to avoid the second. I adjusted my defense to redirect instead of stopping and seemed to do better, although the impact still jolted my arms.

We continued our fight, each of us scoring superficial wounds but neither of us gaining an advantage. I knew that I was going to tired soon, and was looking for an escape. I also knew that I had a loaded shotgun sitting in the trunk of my car, I just needed to get to it. I tried to maneuver myself there, but the best I could manage was to get myself to that side of the ramp.

Luck was to my advantage and a car came up the way about that time. I quickly took advantage of it forcing us apart and then stopping in curiousity. I remote unlocked the trunk. I quickly put the sword into the case and grabbed the bag that had my gear.

I spun back around and there was no one there but the driver. He looked at me confused and I quickly started spinning a tale of attempted robbery. The guy looked like he was going to dispute it, but then said he didn't get a good look at him. I explained that he came out as I was trying to get out of my car and attacked me. Fortunately, I had been taken self defense classes and more fortunately the driver showed up.

I pulled out my phone and told him I was going to call the cops, but first I was going to get to someplace safe. The driver agreed and then quickly turn the car around and went back down the ramp. I quickly followed and left town even quicker.

I had suspicions since I obtained that tome that there was another party involved, but I never believed that something this complicated was going on. How much have they been manipulating me now? Or are they just trying to make me doubt myself enough to make a mistake? What did Slater mean by letting me think I was making my own decisions?