"When is a door not a door?" Spike asked, squinting as the pair of vampires stumbled through the fog. "When it's not sodding well there."
"Right there," Angel said, pointing at a large tree. "You wanna bet that's the entrance to the Deeper Well?"
"Either that, or Christmasland," Spike suggested.
Angel looked at him, eyes confused.
"Do you ever have any fun?"
They both looked up, hearing a noise in the distance. Sword bearing warriors came charging at them.
"I'm about to," Angel replied.
"And they even brought us weapons. Strategy?" Spike asked.
"Just hold my hand."
Spike nodded. "St Petersburg."
"Thought you'd forgotten."
Angel and Spike let go of each others hands, dropping a length of wire between them. The armored creatures approached and Spike and Angel stepped apart, pulling the wire taut. The demons ran into the wire and were clotheslined by it. Their heads fell to the ground.
"Is that all? We haven't even started," Angel threatened.
"I'd say that's enough," Drogyn told him.
"Drogyn?"
"Angel."
"You're the keeper of the well," Angel said.
"Have been for decades," Drogyn replied.
"Well, who in the bloody?" Spike asked.
"Do not ask me a question! If you ever ask me a single question, I will kill you outright. Don't think for a moment that I can't!" Drogyn snapped.
"He can. He would." Angel shrugged.
"Eh?" Spike asked, not getting it.
"You're here about Illyria," Drogyn said to Angel.
"Yes," Angel replied.
"Walk in."
"But how?" Spike questioned.
"I just said to you, not one moment ago, don't ask!" Drogyn replied angrily, walking away.
"Seriously. He doesn't like questions," Angel told the other vampire.
"Why the bloody hell not?"
"He can't lie."
The vampires followed Drogyn through a long tunnel.
"I would never have thought you'd end up here, Angel," Drogyn said.
"I could say the same," Angel returned.
"So, you two know each other." Spike held his hands up as the glare from Drogyn. "That was a statement. I already know that you do."
"I'll tell you as much as I can. The Old Ones were demons pure. They warred as we would breathe... endlessly. The Greater Ones were interred, for death was not always their end. Illyria was feared and beloved as few are. It was laid to death in the very depths of the Well... until it disappeared a month ago," Drogyn explained.
"Someone took it from under your nose a month ago, and you didn't miss it 'til now? That makes you quite the crap jailer, doesn't it. Also a statement," Spike clarified.
"Your friend likes to talk, Angel," Drogyn said.
"So much, he's even right sometimes. The man I remember couldn't be stolen from so easily." Angel shrugged.
"The tomb was not stolen. It disappeared. I believe it was pre- destined to as part of Illyria's escape plan. And as for my not noticing, well, my charges are not few." Drogyn gestured over the side of the bridge they were standing on.
"Bloody hell," Spike whistled.
"How far does this go down?" Angel questioned.
"All the way. All the way through the Earth," Drogyn answered.
"So, the coffin disappeared, teleported, but it was brought to us..." Angel summed up.
"Illyria was a great power...so great that, after millions of years dead, somewhere on this Earth still has acolytes," Drogyn explained. "But... it's been freed? The demons essence?"
"Yeah, it's been freed. Why do you think we're here?" Spike ignored the glare from Drogyn, too fired up to care. "And what's your favourite colour? What's your favourite song? Who's the goal keeper for Manchester United? And how many fingers am I holdin' up? You wanna kill me? Try. But I don't have time for your quirks."
"The power to draw back Illyria lies in there. It requires a champion who has traveled from where it lies to where it belongs," Drogyn told them.
"You got two of those right here," Angel said, and Spike smiled slightly.
"But I didn't know it was free. If we bring the sarcophagus back to the well, it will draw Illyria out of your friend... and into every single person between here and there. It will become the mystical equivalent of airborne. It will claw into every soul in its path to keep from being trapped. Entire cities... tens maybe hundreds of thousands will die in agony if you save her."
"No..." Angel whispered.
"That's madness," Spike chimed in.
"This is a place of madness. I'll prepare the spell. Your choice." Drogyn turned and walked away.
"To hell with the world," Angel said quietly. He turned to see Spike, peering down the well. "Spike..."
"This goes all the way through to the other side. So, I figure, there's a bloke somewhere around New Zealand standing on a bridge like this one, looking back down at us. All the way down. There's a hole in the world. Feels like we ought to have known."