A few minutes later, the heavenly portal reopened and Sarapheen returned, with Robor's mentor Morrow Wind and Emend's mentor Jarome both descending down as well.
Morrow Wind appeared the same as the disciples had seen before - an elderly-looking American Indian with white hair in a long braid, but instead of the neo-modern native dress he had when they last met, he now wore the brilliant white trappings of a heavenly angel with modest silver accents.
For those who had not yet seen the angel Jarome, he was a man of great stature and looked like a Roman centurion in polished gold banding, with a bright red tunic, apron, and belt of leather straps. He flexed a glorious pair of white wings that dwarfed any the disciples had yet seen on an angel; and carried himself with a mantle of power, experience, and leadership.
Unlike other angels, Jarome did not seem to have a halo, but rather a column of light that constantly shone down on him from above.
"I brought help;" Sarapheen announced, "I believe you have all met Robor's mentor Morrow Wind. This is Emend's mentor Jarome," she continued, motioning to the large imposing angel with his own spotlight.
"Yes," Jarome spoke, "Sarpheen has informed us of the situation with the child Faith and Ursamorph UsdiYona. Also, that it may be the work of a high ranking demon, which - given the fact that blasphemous magics hide the child's location from us - certainly seems likely. Only a Demon Prince or powerful infernal artifact would be capable of frustrating us so greviously."
As Jarome spoke, Morrow Wind went over to the electrical socket, gave the little electrical spirit a nod, and then examined the socket with both the spirit and mind arcana.
For a few moments, he closed his eyes and held a hand over the socket in deep concentration. Then he withdrew his hand and shrugged.
"Nothing in the electrical wiring," he announced, then turned to Robor - "Robor, allow me the use of your sword a moment."
With Robor's sword, Morrow Wind observed for himself the grasping electric hand that had taken the girls and plied his spirit and mind mastery on the scene, as it unfolded.
"It is... massive..." he mumbled, speaking out from his vision, "covering the earth like a fly in its web..."
Then finishing his observations, Morrow Wind handed the sword back to Robor.
Speaking to Jarome, but clearly for the benefit of all, he explained, "What we are up against is a previously unknown Demon Prince. But this one is different. Where we have only encountered demons who have merged with their human hosts, this demon has instead merged with the world wide information system the mortals call their 'internet'."
"Ehh!" Jarome frowned, "While unheard of, this is hardly surprising - given the wickedness the 'internet' peddles all over the world; it's a wonder a high-ranking demon hasn't tried this before."
"Or maybe it has and we just didn't know about it till now," Morrow Wind pointed out.
"Maybe so," Jarome contemplated, "but its error in abducting the child of an awakened will be its undoing. Had it not done so, we may never have discovered it."
"Can't we just force it out?" Sarapheen asked the two other angels.
"No," Morrow Wind replied, shaking his head, "the Demon is the internet, not in the internet. Likewise, it did not take Faith and UsdiYona into the webs, it is the webs - it took them into itself."
"And here is where you tell us we can't simply go in and get the girls, right?" Sarapheen huffed.
"Correct," Jarome interjected, "We cannot go into the mind of a demon. We would discorporate in the same manner as if venturing into the Shadow itself."
"But our disciples can go in there," Sarapheen stated, brightening.
Turning to the disciples, Sarapheen continued directly, "Morrow Wind can allow you to dreamwalk inside the mind of the demon. You can go inside to bring UsdiYona out - and maybe even track Faith's path through the webs. It would be a way to find her, by following her trail, even though we are blocked from seeing where it ultimately leads!"
"Yes, well, I'll need to be close to wherever it has UsdiYona," Morrow Wind Pointed out.
"Allow me," Jarome offered, requesting the Saint's cell phone, which still had an open connection to UsdiYona.
Concentrating on the communication link with forces and applying the space arcanum, Jarome pinpointed the server UsdiYona was stuck in.
"She's in the Verizon building; Fairfax Virginia. I took the liberty of scrying out the area and deactivating the motion sensors. Sarapheen, if you would use your portal stone."
"Ah, yes," Sarapheen replied, blushing a bit for some reason at the mention of using a portal stone. She then opened a portal into what looked to be an expansive server farm, occupying a huge warehouse-sized floor in some building. The floor was of raised white tiles, with row upon row of server racks crowding every square foot and huge bundles of ethernet and fiber optic cabling running en-mass across the ceiling to disappear through large openings in the wall.
Lights flashed and fans hummed, as cool air blew up through the bottom of each rack from vents under the floor.
"We should have a few hours at least," Jarome surmised, stepping through the portal.
"Yes, this will work," Morrow Wind announced, joining Jarome on the other side.
"All right, let's go," Sarapheen said, motioning for the disciples to follow her through. "Any questions so far?"
