"So this guy Jacob Shaw, he believed he could create other worlds." "Ugh, you know, I saw Bloody Mary once in high school." "Yeah, I opened my eyes, and, bam, there she is." "You're not sitting near me when we do this." "Okay, okay, hey, hey, everyone, listen." "He claimed with this book, he could travel to those worlds." "Now, hand over the candle, and repeat after me." "Come on." " Sorry." "Sorry." " God." "Doo-wat ak-em ka ren el-bee shoit." "Doo-wat ak-em ka ren el-bee shoit." "Doo-wat ak-em ma-at." "Doo-wat ak-em ma-at." "No... way." "Adam?" "Hello?" "Get down." "He can see you." "Please... please hide me." "Hide me." "What was that?" "*Shadows are falling and I'm running out of breath*" "*Keep me in your heart for a while...*" "Here's to you, old son." "Never the dull moment, eh?" "Well, if I was you, I wouldn't have much to say to me, either." "Wow, self-pity parade." "Is this what you do when you're left to your own devices?" "Well, what's the point in having a mirror that shows you the past if you can't wallow in it?" "Now, Zed's on bed rest, and Chas is playing family man, so, if you don't mind, leave me to it." "Have you checked the scry map?" "No." "And I don't intend to." "You know, even God rested." "God rested because he'd finished creating the world." "Your job is just heating up." "There's an old friend you can still help, John, and it's in your own backyard." "I've only one friend in town." "If you can call him that." "And you're all he's got." "Well, that is a little less cryptic than usual, o' feathery one." "Seems you're getting used to breaking Daddy's rules, eh?" "*Keep me in your heart for a while.*" "Buddhists believe it's possible to achieve a liberation from samsara, the repetitive cycle of birth and death." "The idea of transcendence is found across cultures all over the world." "The ability to live on after death or extend your experience beyond..." "Uh, all right, for, uh, next class, just read ch-chapters, um, 25 through 28." "Thank you." "I've got a question." "In order to achieve liberation from the cycle of life and death, don't you have to fulfill your life's purpose?" "Liberation is the purpose." "It's a state of peace." "A state of peace that I-I was really, really enjoying right up until this very moment." "Whoa, is he all right?" "He was just standing there." "He just collapsed." "Carter?" "Carter." "He's not breathing." "Carter?" "Carter, can you hear me?" "We had a... a deal." "I help you, and you-you do what?" "You stay way away from me." " Forever." " And that was my every intention, Ritchie." "No magic, no demons, no John Constantine whatso-damn-ever." "You swore it." "You promised me." "Gary's dead, Ritchie." "W..." "Wait." "D... dead?" "I'm sorry to spring it on you like that, mate, but, uh, now I have it on good authority that something ill-natured is circling you like a pack of wolves, and I'm not just gonna sit there and wait for it to attack." "Why me?" "I..." "Have you noticed" " I-I teach class," "I hold office hours, and I go home." "And I partake of a whole lot of sedatives in between." "And that's all I do." "What about the data-mining?" "You found any unusual spikes in activity around the campus here?" "The data-mining." "You know what?" "You gaze at the chaos long enough... can swallow you whole." "I shut my program down." "You shut it down?" "That's right." "You know what I'm focusing on now?" "Solutions." "What exactly are those solutions, Ritchie?" "Oh, would you like to hear some...?" "Here's the first one." "Solutions." "Yes, Adam." "Professor Simpson," "I need to talk to you about my office hours today." "My friend Carter, he, uh... he collapsed outside of his dorm." "He's dead." "I..." "I'm so sorry, Adam." "What happened?" "He just... stopped breathing." "You-you just, you take whatever time you need." "Don't worry about your office hours, okay, Adam?" "What's wrong?" "I-I..." "I-I saw someone." "It's okay, there's no one here." "No one but me." "Come here." "It's okay." "What right do you have to stop me right here?" " I need to see that boy..." " Just get out of here." " Get out of here." " All right, all right." "Your towering respect for law is just astounding as always, John." "Oh, I see you managed to steal from the cop as well." "It's a campus cop, mate, big difference." "Let's see, victim collapsed." "Witness found him with blue lips and extremities." "Says here that's consistent with a sudden loss of circulation." "So you know this bloke?" "He was friends with Adam, my Teaching Assistant." "All right, we'll need to talk to Adam." "Okay, so does... that would be talking meaning talking, right?" " Not harassing." " Well, you know me." "I'm well-versed in the art of pretending to be a gentleman." "I do know you, that is debatable, here we go." "I know what I saw." "He was there in the mirror." "Did Adam see him?" "No, but he looked like the man you described in that house last night." "There was no man, Lily." "And there was no house, either, it wasn't real." "Wait, wait, last night you said you saw something-- we all did." "We wanted to see something." "It's called group hysteria." "My cognitive psych professor taught us about it." "When you're just trying to make sense out of things that just don't." "I didn't come here to talk about make-believe." "I came here for Carter." "I need to go clear my head." "Lily, hi." "You got a sec?" "Hi, Professor Simpson." "Hey, have you seen Adam?" "I've been trying to call him all day." "I left him in my dorm room." "His phone's probably off." "So, this chap Carter... he a mate of yours as well?" "It's okay, Lily." "This is my... colleague, of sorts, John Constantine." "I'm just trying to piece together what happened to your mate last night." "It's all right." "You can answer his questions." "I'm confident my associate is not gonna get you in trouble." "We were at the cemetery." "Look, we were just trying to have some fun." "Any others with you?" "My friend Miranda." "And Adam." "I should get back to him." "He felt terrible about missing office hours." "He's been taking this project of yours very seriously..." "That's fine." "You just tell him we'll pick back up when he's ready, all right?" "You take care and have a good night." "Thank you." "So." "The cemetery, eh?" " Got what you need, John?" " No, I don't." "She's hiding something and so are you." "But at least I know where to start." " Nice landing." " How's your old friend?" "Not very friendly, to be honest with you." "Maybe that's because you'd rather wallow in the dead friends than deal with them when they're alive." "Uh, you're a bit late to the party, mate." "Ritchie used to be my ace." "True partner in crime." "All the others were too easily dazzled, you know?" "Used to worship the bloody ground I walked on." "Modesty." "I thought to myself, here's someone with a sense of purpose, and twisted enough to face the darkest forces that evil has to offer." "Sounds like an interesting basis for a friendship." "Ah, it's a requirement with me, mate." "Newcastle left a mark on our crew." "We all shut down in some way, but Ritchie's fall... that was the greatest." "He sounds like he could be useful to us." "Maybe you can... guide him back into action." "Oh, I'm not exactly a guiding light, now, am I?" "Oh, bollocks." "Really get on my nerves sometimes." "All right." "Folde sela levego, hogy igaz legyen reveal" "E-te-titok." "Who's there?" "Open the door." "You have to open the door, quick, before he comes back." "What?" "Why?" "Why can't you do it?" "Beeswax candle, hieroglyphics and residual ash." "Now, you put those three together, Ritchie, and what do you get?" "An Egyptian ritual." "Well, I'm glad to see it's just your courage that's wavering." "Now, I found those things in the cemetery where your, uh, assistant was having a skinful last night." "And by the looks of the glyphs, I'd say it was a ritual for out-of-body travel." "Now, where do you think that a bunch of college students would get that balmy idea, eh?" "No." "No, no." "No, that's..." "Oh..." "It's gone." "What's gone, Ritchie?" "It was, uh... it was a private journal." "It was the private journal of Jacob Shaw." "Jacob Shaw." "I remember that name." "He was the bloke who fancied himself a traveler to alternative realms, right?" "Right, right, right." "The journal records his success with the Egyptian dream temple technique, but..." "Shaw stopped writing after he shot his protege." "Ooh." "Well, you know, in my opinion, the best ones are always a little bit cracked." "And Shaw, he said it was a hunting accident." "He was awaiting trial for murder when he fell into-- get this-- a catatonic state." "Catatonic." "Like, uh, Carter." "Yeah." "Like Carter." "And Shaw died a few weeks later, and there was a theory." "What theory?" "An "Elvis lives" kind of theory?" "They say Shaw's consciousness traveled to another dimension and stayed there to escape his fate." "Well, that does make for a better story." "One that... sparked the imagination of your young teaching student." "Well, if Adam's tried it once, he'll try it again." "And it's up to us to beat him to it." " Us." " It..." "But..." "Still not picking up." "Miranda was really upset." "I think we should go look for her." "What?" "I just have this... feeling." "What feeling?" "What if Miranda's back there?" "You mean at that house?" " If her consciousness traveled back..." " No, Adam." "If it did, if it did... then we have to back there and get her." "You just want to go back there because it's exciting for you." "No. 'Cause if Miranda's back there, it is my fault." "I need to find her." "You can try finding her your way and I'll try mine." "Where you going?" "Miranda dances to clear her head." "I'll be at the gym." "If those kids actually made it into another realm, then they've opened gates that won't be easy to close." "In current conditions, anyone can be pulled in through that gate, not just the four that took part in the ritual." "Yeah, well, it's worse than that, John." "Uh, Shaw had a theory." "If-if you're killed in another dimension, your body here suffers the same form of death." "Ah." "That would explain Carter." "How the bloody hell did Adam know about Shaw's journal?" "Uh, well, we were using... we've been using Shaw's research, just..." "Ha, ha, ha, yeah." "For your new pet project, I presume." "And what, exactly, would that Nobel Prize-worthy effort be, eh?" "I don't believe you would understand." "No?" "Well, you know, for idiots, then." " Singularity." " Singularity." "Do you understand it?" "Didn't think so." "Singularity's the idea that when humanity and technology merge, a person's consciousness can find immortality inside a computer network." "Oh, it's like a bomb shelter for your brain." "That would be the idiot version, yes." "Well, you're practically living in one now, aren't you, Ritchie?" "You've done a great job of making your world really small." "Hey, listen to me." "You really think I stopped data-mining by choice?" "No, no, no." "I got tired of crashing hard drives, man." "Way too many paranormal uprisings to keep track of." "The darkness is almost here, John." "If we don't find Adam and close that portal now, who knows how many more are gonna fall through?" "And I just... can't have that on my hands, John." "We'll find him." "We'll find him." "Doo-wat ak-em ka ren el-bee ak-em ma-at." "Miranda." "I knew you'd be here." " What...?" " He's after me." "We have to hide." "Miranda, I am so sorry..." "Miranda?" "Looks like Alice has already slipped through the looking glass." " Jacob Shaw." " That's right." " What do you want?" " Exactly this, young lady." "Thank you for asking." " No, no, please!" "Stop!" " No!" "Defensive wounds." "We need to wake him up now." "Wake up!" "Ah... no, no, no!" "Not now." "Ah, I got you." "Come on." "It's Miranda." "They found her... dead in the dance studio." "They'll be shutting down the campus, next." "This, right here, this is, this is all my fault." "Oh, spare me, will you?" "You didn't make Adam do the ritual." "Gary-- he unleashed that hunger demon..." "You are not Gary." "And I brought this into Adam's life." "You see what we are, John?" "To other people, we are what you call cancer." "And we're just spreading our disease." "You know, when you're done sitting on your bloody pity pot, we got work to do, all right?" "Pity pot, that's... that's good, John." "Yeah, laugh it up, tell your jokes, but I'll tell you something." "You don't fool me, man." "Not anymore." "I know your secret." "I know what you pretend not to feel?" "You know why?" "'Cause..." "I'm feeling it right now." "Let's go." "There's still one life left we might be able to save." "Bollocks." "Professor Simpson, thank God, please, please come in." "Where's Adam?" "I need to tell him about Miranda." "Did you hear what happened?" "We just came from the gym." "I-I found her body." "There was so much blood." "And I can't reach Adam." "So..." "Lily." "No." "No, n-n-no, please no." "We tried to save him, but he was trapped in another world." "No, I told him not to go back to that house." "Wait... what house?" "I never saw him coming." "I just felt the plastic over my face, and I just..." "I just couldn't breathe." "We died, so why are we still alive here?" "Is this hell?" "If we're still here, it's because Shaw wants us here." "Allow me to apologize for not giving you a proper welcome." "It has been a very long time since I've had any houseguests." "And I've completely forgotten my manners." "Forgive me." "Polite." "Respectful." "You young people remind me of home." "My old home." "So... so restrictive." "It's different in this house." "And I've always been a sportsman." "So that's what we do here." "We play." "Now, I'm going to choose a weapon, and you run along." "You have free reign, just know that I will find you." "Okay, come on." "Come on, let's go." "You control this place." "Which means you built it." "Hmm, you're smarter than your friends." "Smart enough to know that this is your reality and not mine." "And that you can't hurt me here." "Interesting hypothesis." "Of course, there is only one true way for a hypothesis to become a scientific theory." "Do you know what that is?" "Of course." "It means you got to test it, right?" "Test the hypothesis." "That's exactly right." "So... shall we?" "Where are we?" "Oh, think of it as a spiritual safe house." "This place is amazing, John." "Jasper did all right, didn't he?" "Now, based on what you told us," "Shaw's drawing your friends back into his realm through reflective surfaces." "In Egyptian magic, mirrors are doorways to other spiritual planes." "But lucky enough, our mate, he put protections on any and all reflective surfaces in this house." "I don't know what to make of any of this, but thank you." "Ah, the best thing you can do is take a seat and have a rest." "What do you two want to drink?" "Whiskey would be great." "Yes, please." "And my kingdom to make mine a double." "My mom was supposed to pick me up from the train station." "I'm just gonna give her a quick call." "Uh, n-n-no." "No, don't look at the phone!" "Lily." "Oh, my God, Adam!" "What are you doing here?" "No, you can't stay here." "You-you have to go back, it's not safe here." " It's Shaw, isn't it?" " Look, he's a lunatic." "He hunts us, and then he brings us right back to life." "It is a game that just never ends." "But you can still get out of here." "As long as he doesn't get to you, okay?" " Okay." " All right?" "Okay." "Her pulse is racing, John." "Which means two things." "She's alive and she's scared." "We need to get to her." "No, John." "Oh, no. no!" "Ritchie, Ritchie, Ritchie." "Listen to me-- we're going." "All right?" " We are going." " I..." "I can't do it without you." "Can't do it without you, Ritchie." "Okay." "There's only one way Shaw could pull Lily back into another world without a proper ritual." "It's a creation of his own design, right?" "He built it." "Right." "So we need... we need a plan." "uh, Lily..." "She said they all ended up in different rooms of a house..." "And we can't help her if we get killed, John, before we can find her." "All right, so the first order of business is-- we find each other on the other side." "That way, we got a better chance." "Right, but what about our bodies?" "John, you don't even want to know the dimensional mayhem it would cause if anything happened to our bodies here while we're on another plane, all right?" "Can we just discuss that a little bit?" "Just a little." "You know, I think we'll be all right here." "Now, come on, let's get to it." "John, John, John, John." "You got to understand." "We are flying blind into his domain." "He controls it all." "The only rule there is Shaw is God." "And it wouldn't be the first one I've dealt with." "So, shall we?" "Just like back in the day, eh?" "Yeah, a little too much like it." "Doo-wat ak-em ka ren el-bee shoit." "Doo-wat ak-em ma-at." "Doo-wat ak-em ka ren el-bee shoit." "Doo-wat ak-em ma-at." "Ritchie." "That's the real bogeyman." "Come on." "We need to find Lily now." "Of course, a dead end." "A fitting choice for our mad architect." "Uh, John, wait." "I can do this." "I studied the principles of other planes." "I can do this, John." "I can overwrite his world." "I know it." "You're bloody doing it, mate." "Nifty." "Very nifty." "John." "Please." "Hide me." "He's watching." "Who are you?" "Where's Shaw?" "I'm Jacob Shaw." "And who are you?" "So the legend's true." "You did come here to escape." "I came here to live." "You're an arrogant, bloody sod, aren't you?" "You're here to mutilate and murder." "Beings of my own creation." "Those students you butchered, they didn't just leap out of your imagination." "They were flesh and blood." "Yes, and they invaded my space." "My world, my rules." "It's a lesson you're about to learn." "Boy, you are a waste, man." "You're just a psychopath, hacking up..." "These wounds, Ritchie, they're his reality, not yours." "You're the greater mind here." "You can beat this guy!" "Ritchie." "In this place, you..." "You decide." "Ritchie, look at me." "Look at me." "Ritchie, look at me. look at me." "I believe in you, old son." "Now, bloody do it!" "Do it!" "Some god you turned out to be, Shaw." "You forgot the sun." "No..." " No!" " Oh, yes." "All this time you spent here, you could've been building worlds." "You could've been redefining life and how we live it." "The day you gave into your weakness, Shaw, that was the day you became obsolete." "This is my world!" "Not anymore." "We have to get out of here." "This way, mate. come on." "Come on, Ritchie." "Okay." "Nice job, Ritchie." "You even got the temperature right." "Lily." "What's happening?" "Shaw's world is collapsing." "We need to get out of here right now." "Let's go!" "What are you doing?" "we have to go!" "This is as far as we go." "No." "No!" "no!" "no!" "No!" "no!" "no!" "No!" "they're all still in there!" "we have to do something!" "There's nothing we can do for them." "Come on!" "it's too late!" "Nothing we could've done, Lily." "They only existed inside that house." "Shaw's gone forever." "Their souls are free now." "On to the next journey." "Look at me." "It's your turn." "Oh... hold on a minute, squire." "And if I go back, what happens to you?" "I stay here." "Here happens to be an elaborate figment of your confused imagination." "What was it you said to me in there?" "I decide what's real." "This is it." "John, this is the reality that I want." "Simplicity." "And endless possibility." "This, John, this is, this is paradise." "Oh, what makes you think that after a decade, you won't go off your trolley like Shaw?" "Shaw was mad to begin with." "I'll do it right." "I'll build a world here." "I'll invent and create and thrive." "You know what?" "I've already lost one good friend to this fight." "and I'm not losing another, so I'm calling you on your rubbish," "Ritchie Simpson." "If you stay here, you will go balmy." "Balmier than you already are, if that's at all possible." "Better here than back home." "At least, in this world, I can forget about the darkness closing in on us, John." "Look, I just don't," "I don't want to be afraid anymore, John." "Fine." "That's fine." "Indulge yourself, Ritchie." "Just like Shaw." "You're two visionary peas in a bloody pod." "But do me a favor." "Don't lie to yourself." "This isn't about you creating something new." "This is about you running away." "Ritchie?" "Ritchie, Ritchie, Ritchie, Ritchie." "Come on, come back to me." "Come on, Ritchie, come on, man, come on." "Come on, come back to me." "Come back, Ritchie!" "You bugger." "In our last class, we touched on the subject of nirvana." "Achieving enlightenment." "In order to do that, certain truths must be accepted." "First and foremost, suffering is unavoidable." "Secondly, you must understand" "that suffering is caused by craving." "Humankind desires relief in ways that ultimately do not satisfy the soul." "The third and final truth is that inner peace is possible." "But humankind's suffering won't end until we learn how to stop our desire."