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It was supposed to be a low-risk mission just dipping their toes back in the water. And of course it's not. There's wraith there and they have to run. The manage to dial fine, they even manage to get to the gate but as they're jumping through several wraith shots hit the gate and something goes strange. The normally smooth passage of the wormhole twists alarmingly and it's normal teal green shifts to a much more menacing red. And when they're finally spat out. They certainly aren't back at Atlantis.
SGA-1 finds themselves at the site of a demon summoning
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of-the-ice-and-snow
(Yeah there's a maximum of three humans who have ever done something like that who weren't Chaos, and one of them was the only thing that's arguably worse. Good luck!)
"But they were born human. How did they begin the... path to ascension?"
not_so_golden_retriever
Yep definitely shouldn't have opened this can of problems.
"Whether they really counted as human is a matter for debate. Regardless, we don't know how they ascended just that they did." Technically he knows how Daniel ascended and he's read the reports that Orlin was helped along in returning to that state but nobody knows how the Ancients did it in the first place.
of-the-ice-and-snow
"Who, when, and what were the last times someone tried to emulate them?"
not_so_golden_retriever
"When one of my people named Daniel Jackson was on the edge of death an ascended named Oma Desala helped him through the process of ascending. That was three years ago."
of-the-ice-and-snow
"Consequences? Costs? Side effects on the surroundings?"
Her grip on her staff shifts, and the air in the room starts getting significantly colder.
not_so_golden_retriever
Sheppard carefully avoids wincing. "I don't think there were any. There weren't any mentioned in the reports I read. Someone was trying to heal him and he somehow appeared to a friend mentally and asked the friend to have the healer give up and then his heart stopped, he glowed from within and he turned into a strange mass of golden light. Which then went to the nearest gateway, activated it and passed through."
of-the-ice-and-snow
"I don't think he is, strangely enough. To be clear: none of the terrain nearby changed in color or flora, no one involved or animals nearby acquired sudden physical deformities or mental derangements, and the normal laws of reality still appear to hold on the site and near the gate and around everyone involved, such as the healer and the friend? No sudden epidemics began shortly thereafter? No one was seized with a desire to preach a new religion or prophecy?"
not_so_golden_retriever
"No, I definitely would have heard about that and I've been in the room the report said it happened in since. It was more or less the same as all the hospital rooms I've been in in the past. I used the gate too and it worked normally relative to the other gates I've used."
of-the-ice-and-snow
Suddenly her smile entirely disappears, her demeanor abruptly changes, she starts sparking with electricity, her eyes glow like St. Elmo's Fire, and sudden wind seems to appear from nowhere at her back despite the door being closed.
It's unreasonably terrifying, even to people who are used to dealing with terrifying things.
"And you are very sure of that?", she asks in a voice that sounds like it belongs to someone five stories tall.
greet_the_dawn
Teyla frowns in concentration as she pushes the foreign influence from her mind. "Kindly refrain."
not_so_golden_retriever
Sheppard winces and shakes a little too. His voice is rough, "I'm quite sure. Now would you please stop doing that?"
of-the-ice-and-snow
"Not yet. Could be a witch herself." She narrows her attention to Teyla. "Daemons throw off that terror easily. Mortals do not. Speak quickly, maybe-witch."
greet_the_dawn
"Years ago, a wraith experimented on a number of humans in an attempt to make better stock for feeding on. They weren't successful but what they did achieve was giving those humans the ability to sense their presence and hear when they spoke to each other. The other wraith fearing this strength tried to wipe them all out but a few escaped and I am descended from one of them. I've learned to resist the influences of the Wraith using that ability and what you were doing felt similar."
of-the-ice-and-snow
The Winds are swirling around the room, mostly the crystalline web of the Tempest but also the traditional Eight.
Around Teyla, inside that web as she holds it away? ...Some Ulgu, for minds and deception, but more Chamon, for logic and metal, creeping up from the hidden metal weapons to her head. Not a hint of Aqshy, no fire or more importantly anger.
Which is far from infallible, but Teisiya isn't often wrong either.
Wraiths, vampires which do not feed on blood and run breeding programs on their serfs. That matches none of the known bloodlines, but other bloodlines are believed to exist in distant lands, and these men already claimed to be from them. And Kislev does not refuse immigrants for being Sylvanian - really, they're better citizens than a lot of southerners. Keep her under observation for a few weeks to be sure she's not feeding, but as a consistent story it's reasonable.
But it's also a potential cover story for being Tzeentch-touched.
She would bet on her being innocent or the Changeling. (Suspecting the Changeling is a fool's game; it will always look exactly as innocent as it wants to until it reveals its trick.) But she is not good enough at reading people to beat a Lord of Change.
...At least she has one other thing to check.
"Cousin Khmelny," her voices rumbles, before she lets the indoor storm drop. "...Please invoke Dazh's gaze."
Kislev.
"Gladly, Lady Kajetana," the man in the brown robe says, and stands just outside the main doorway, in the sunlight. He swings something that looks like a thurible-lantern, the flame clearly visible burning low but clear. He takes a small mirror out of a padded bag and turns it so that a ray of sunlight is reflected at the faces of the Atlantis team, going back and forth, though focusing on Teyla. He chants unintelligibly.
It will be a tense few minutes.
from-the-land
Teodor is back to not pointing his gun at anyone. Teyla's still the main one he's not pointing it at, though.
greet_the_dawn
Teyla and the rest of the team relaxes when the guns are no longer pointed at her and when the fear aura withdraws.
None of them speak, speaking too freely is what made this situation worse.
Kislev.
Eventually the priest outside stops chanting and swinging the thurible and mirror.
"I sensed nothing trying to hide from Dazh's sight, my lady. And I felt Him watching."
of-the-ice-and-snow
"...They can live. Under guard for the time being. I'll send the Tzarina a hawk. Let's get this place emptied of the living before we start smelling rot, and let the priests cleanse it."