(collab between Letter Bee, Viridity, and LuciusCypher)<br/><br/>After a few minutes, Morgan arrived at the top, Merin presumably following behind him. And, what the man found was an odd assortment of people; whom he assumed weren't local inhabitants, Talibs, or US Soldiers. This time, however, Morgan was ashamed of his wild conclusions regarding Merin (conclusions that came because of the person's non-knowledge of Afghanistan and the Talibs), and decided to rein in his imagination, and stick to the obvious.<br/><br/>There were clearly mutants and magical creatures in the congregation in the middle, but there also seemed to be ordinary humans, three of them, in fact, including an old grandmother who looked more in place in the First World than in this hellhole. But, the one that caught Morgan's attention was the terrifying, obviously inhuman<span style="font-style: italic">monster</span>that was at the centre of the top.<br/><br/>Morgan drew back his gun, and took out Clarent. Such a sword would be useful against a magical creature of such obvious power.<br/><br/>"Halt, you inhuman beast," the Journeyman said. "Who are you, what are you, and are you the cause of all this madness?"<br/><br/>After  handing Om his object, he heard a rather hostile voice call out to  them. Damian turned his head and saw another mortal, armed with weapons.  Unlike the ones here, this mortal seemed more tailored for combat.<span style="font-weight: bold">"How rude. They are mortals too, you know."</span>If Damian's face had  the muscles for it, he would have smiled, but he would have to settle  with sarcasm. In all seriousness though, this was a sticky situation. It  was obvious that this mortal had planned on resistance, so Damian  figured it would be a good idea to be compliant.  But at the same time, this mortal obviously did not think highly of  anyone gathered here, less of all himself. It would be no surprise to  him if the mortal went ahead and tried to kill Damian even if he was  helpful. Such was the life of demons. For now, Damian needed to try to defuse the situation with some peace.<span style="font-weight: bold">"And I would ask you the same, mortal. It is obvious that neither of us belongs here. And it would be within reason to think that one another may be involved with the reason why we're here. But if you're a thinking creature, perhaps you'll be willing to think first before things escalate uncontrolably."</span><br/><br/>Damian motioned towards the others.<span style="font-weight: bold">"I am unsure with your mortals, but I have no reason to come here on my own. And I would like nothing more than to figure out how to reutrn home. I have no reason to do to you, or anyone else, any harm. Perhaps you can share the same sentiment?"</span>It was a bit of a strech on Damian's part. For all he knew, this man could very well be a fanatic who enjoyed killing, and would do so with little provaication. Even should Damian somehow avoid dying immeadiately, he was in a bad postion to avoid any attacks, what with being out in the open. Not only that, but should the man attack, it would be likely that the others woud end up dead or injured. And while Damian didn't "care" for them persay, they could at least help him return back home. They couldn't do that dead. Who knows, maybe this mortal could even help him.<br/><br/>Om received the object from Damian, and briefly checked to make sure it was The Guide. He looked at the front, and the rather reassuring words confirmed it. Om was about to turn it on and start using it when a human approached them, then addressed the demon. For whatever reason, he seemed to be accusing the demon of the carnage around them. He was also holding...a sword? He hadn't seen anyone wield a blade since the day he left his colony, but the human's tone, and also the way he held the sword made him nervous. Fortunately, the demon did not respond with any sort of hostility, but rather, seemed to be attempting to defuse the situation. Om hoped that would be enough to make the human stand down, but he decided to add in something.<br/><br/>"While he...this demon's appearance may be startling to you<span style="font-style: italic">hoomans</span>, he has not shown any sort of hostile or potentially dubious intentions since I first met him a short while ago. I would not jump to conclusions like this so quickly. It seems we are all at a loss as to what is happening here. I do not believe trying to kill each other would be a very effective method to achieve that."<br/><br/>While Merin had been following Morgan the whole time, he had decided to stay a short ways behind him once he had started going up the stairs to the center platform of the temple, and then once Morgan had reached the top, Merin stopped ascending the stairs. Then, Merin heard the man almost shout at somebody else at the top of the platform in a rather accusative manner. Merin cursed under his breath. He did not want to get involved in, or attempt to stop a potential conflict. Fortunately, he heard a couple other people respond to Morgan, presumably to make him reconsider what he had said. For the moment, Merin decided to sit on the stairs, hopefully out of sight of those at the top of the temple.<br/><br/>It was time for Morgan to use his empathy with the supernatural, an empathy that he didn't use earlier due to Damian's inhuman appearance and his shame over his wild conclusions. And, with this empathy, the man saw that Damian was sincere. So, he moved to sheathe his sword, while keeping his gun ready in case there was any treachery. The man began relaxing, and was about to say something...until Om called the monster (this word wasn't meant hostiley now) a demon.<br/>"You're lucky that I'm one of those people who belives<span style="font-style: italic">Satan</span>is an allegory for the evil of humanity..." the Secret Order often drew heretics and unconventional people, "...or I would hew you in - sorry! I'm really sorry; it's just that demons contain negative connotations in my faith, as they do in everyone else's. Anyway, another apology, and, all right, we can discuss what happened to you."<br/><br/>"First up, my name is Morgan Black, and I am part of a group sent to investigate mystic phenomena. The person behind me is Merin, another human, but one who is...unfamiliar with certain terms that should be common. Who are you guys?" Morgan's tone was friendlier now, more concilatory. And, just to prove that he was friendly, the man sat down amidst the corpses, and took out an extra flask of water and filled it; supernaturals had different dietary requirements than humans, but most of them at least needed water.<br/><br/>"To prove each other's good intentions, want to share water with me?"<br/><br/>Damian let out a soft sigh when  it seemed like things weren't going to evolve into a blood bath. He was glad, of course, but all this tension was making him more uneasy than he'd like. When the other mortal called Morgan offered water, Damian  shook his head.<span style="font-weight: bold">"Thank you for the offer, but I will have to  pass."</span>Damian didn't require food to slate hunger or drink for thirst (Another concept  for mortals), though many demons consumed for the pleasure of taste. Damian didn't. Pleasure was the least of his concerns right now, he needed to  figure out what is happening. From Morgan's statement, some sort of magic did happen, but one that was perhaps uncommon in his world? Why else would they call it a phenomena? And who was Satan?<br/>Directing his attention back to Om, Damian quickly got back to their previous interaction.<span style="font-weight: bold">"So this object of yours, what does it tell you?"</span>Damian did make sure to keep an eye on the other mortal however. He may speak of peace for now, but unlike him, Damian had no way to read empathy. And as far as he'd care, the fact that Damian still had no idea where he was put him in greater danger than he can anticipate.<br/><br/>Om did not respond to the human, and had already been putting commands into The Guide to have it pull up an article for their current location. Just as Damian asked him about what it could tell them, an article came up.<br/>It was for Earth, and the main article consisted of only a handful of words.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Mostly harmless.</span><br/><br/>Om was dumbfounded for a moment, he had never seen an article this short for any planet that...then his shock turned into frustration, and then he was more or less livid.<br/>"Burn me, we're on some place called Earth, and what The Guide can tell me about it is less than useless. 'Mostly harmless.' What sort of planet is this to have an article like this? Even the most desolate planet in the galaxy has more to its article than<span style="font-style: italic">that</span>."<br/><br/>Om quickly descended into angry muttering, which seemed to only intensify as he found even more nothing about Earth.<br/><br/>Morgan's eyes turned upwards in puzzlement. So this guy was an alien? If so, how did he speak English; some sort of universal translator? After all, certain concepts and symbols would carry over species; that's natural - perhaps that can be the basis of translation?<br/>"I'm a native of Earth, so you'd better watch what you say before you offer any unintentional insult. Anyway, yeah, this place is Planet Earth, and you, like Merin and the Demon, seem to be unfamiliar with it - at the very least, Merin is unfamiliar with the most globally-known conflict, meaning that you are foriegners of a sort. And, you want to get back to where you came from, right? Well, what I want is to investigate what happened here, and I think that that goal coincides with yours. So, if you can tell me anything about what brought you here, that would be welcome."