by Andrew Rowe
“Very likely.” She spoke aloud. “But if you wanted me dead, I’d already be that way.”
The first bar snapped.
Brute force was rarely her preferred method of handling anything, but she had rapidly understood that sorcery would not avail her.
Not when she couldn’t reach the stars.
Void was the bane of every sorcerer, mortal or deity. A sufficiently thick layer of void could prevent the use of any form of dominion sorcery. Spiritual arts and spells powered from internal essence could still be used, but those were not her areas of strength. Her opponent had known that, and he had placed her in a situation that would be nearly impossible to work around.
“You want me in your service. A mindless puppet, fulfilling your will. Death is preferable to such an existence.”
>You are wrong.<
His voice was agony, spreading like fire inside her veins.
She would not scream, however. She would not fail.
She was working, and would not be interrupted.
She tore another bar from the cage.
>You were born from the stars, a child of one of my compatriots. While Rendalir must end, you needn’t end with it. You may join me in building a new world. A grander experiment. I will allow you to retain your sense of self.<
Venlyra shook her head. “My role is to preserve. To guide. And even if it was not, I value the world that exists. I have seen how your experiments end, Sun Eater. When you bore of your next world, you will break it like you seek to break this one. Like a child who has lost interest in a toy.”
>Insolence.<
The single word struck her harder than any statement before. Wounds opened on her skin, bubbling with black, tar-like fluid.
Still, she didn’t scream. She tore away the next bar.
Almost enough.
>Destroying yourself will serve no purpose.<
Her eyes searched the void. There was no sign of her enemy there, so she looked inward.
“Won’t it, though?” Her jaw tensed. “You know how my abilities function. Even if I chose to serve you, the moment the next season came, I would change — and Venora would never surrender. Venshara least of all. So, there’s another reason you want me alive. You have something going that requires keeping me here for a long time. I don’t intend to give it to you.”
She tore another bar free. The pain and exertion were maddening, but now, she saw a way to flee.
That endless void.
She didn’t know what would happen if she immersed herself in it. Perhaps her existence would end in an instant. Perhaps she would float, helpless within that void.
In a best case, perhaps she’d survive and find a way to navigate through it. Void was not one of her dominions, but it was not impossible to shape. Or perhaps she’d find a place where it was thin enough to call upon the stars, or the power within her.
>You must not do this. If you persist in this foolishness, my true self—<
Venlyra stepped into the void.
Never before had the winter felt cold.
Her body slowed, beginning to freeze, but beyond the bars she sensed something — a flicker of distant power. The void was not the only force suppressing her abilities; the prison itself had been.
She had mere moments to work before her mind and body ceased to function.
And so, she latched on to that distant force, the vaguest light of a faraway star — and hurled her spirit toward it with all of her might.
And in that moment, Vendria shattered into pieces.
***
Venlyra opened her eyes.
She was in a library. Not one of Ionel’s, though. An unfamiliar one, with strange, white-stone architecture.
Where...
Something burned in her mind, a jolt of agony.
>Return to your cage.<
There was a flash of blackness. Pain. Her knees buckled, her eyes fluttered. As she began to fall, someone caught her arm and steadied her.
Venlyra blinked.
Her eyes turned upward. A bespeckled woman with a stern expression was looking at her. Her scarlet hair was pulled upward into a neat bun, the kind she might not have found strange for a librarian to have...but no librarian she knew of wore glimmering silvery armor or an arming sword on their left hip.
“...Ionel?” She asked. Had enough time passed that he had changed his manifestation so?
“I’m Lydia Hastings. I’m in your mind. Or, perhaps, you’re in mine. We’re sharing for a bit. Forgive me for the intrusion.”
She didn’t smile, but there was something in the woman’s matter-of-fact tone and demeanor that she could appreciate.
“A sorceress, then?” Venlyra frowned. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what is happening.”
>Return to your—<
Lydia pressed her fingers against Venlyra’s forehead, and the voice — that terrible, all-encompassing voice — fell silent.
For the first time in...how long had it been?...the voice had ceased to scream in her thoughts.
And, along with it, her mind began to clear.
Lydia helped haul her to her feet.
“You must not stay here,” Venlyra explained, as knowledge and memory began to flow into her. “It is not safe. I’ve been touched by the Sun Eater.”
Lydia nodded in understanding. “I believe I can assist you with that problem.”
“You have a cure, then? Has one been found?” Venlyra’s eyes searched the library, intuitively scanning for relevant books nearby.
There were many books on the shelves, but she couldn’t read the writing on the spines. Perhaps they were in a foreign language, but the more likely reason was that they were merely figments of the dreamscape. Representations of knowledge, not true books.
That was rather disappointing.
“Not a cure, no. But you are not infected in the traditional fashion. You have been separated from your other aspects, and I have one of them — Venora — with me. She is not afflicted as you are.”
Venlyra processed that. “...Separated? The void. When I attempted to reach beyond it, I must have...ah.” She nodded. “Fascinating. Ah, I believe I understand your intent. You believe you can reunite me with her?”
“That is the eventual plan, yes. Would you be willing to—”
The room around them darkened.
“...Are you seeing that?” Lydia asked.
“He’s coming.” Venlyra drew in a breath. “We haven’t much time. You should separate your mind from my own as quickly as possible.”
Lydia wrinkled her nose. “I think not. We are in a shared mindscape. I will fight this infestation along with you.”
“You don’t understand. He—”
>You were warned.<
Agony shot through every inch of her existence.
She stumbled, and this time, Lydia stumbled as well.
But when Lydia was afflicted, Venlyra saw a flicker of sparks in the air around her.
Some sort of...defensive spell, then? Was that even possible in a mindscape like this?
“Ah.” Lydia’s jaw tensed, her eyes searching the area. “I believe I understand now.”
Lydia snapped her fingers. “Sorcerous shield. Mental barrier. Comprehensive barrier.”
The air around Lydia glimmered with each phrase. Then she reached down and touched Venlyra’s head again. “Sorcerous shield. Mental barrier.”
Venlyra’s head swam as the second effect took hold on her. The voice in her mind quieted once again, but she could already feel it scraping against the walls of the shield.
“Your sorcery is most impressive, Lydia Hastings, but it would still be wise for you to withdraw. If the infestation cannot assault us internally, I believe it will manifest in our shared mindscape more directly.”
Lydia helped Venlyra steady herself again, then pulled her hand away and reached for the sword at her hip. “I understand. I’m counting on it.”
“You will be at great risk. If he wins, your mind is likel
y to be subsumed, as mine has been for entirely too long.”
Lydia smiled. “I accept the risks.”
“Why? You do not know me.”
The red-haired woman shook her head. “Irrelevant. You are being tortured and controlled by an external entity. It is my duty and honor to assist you.”
When Venlyra heard those words, she heard something she had not felt in a very long time — resolve. It was one of her defining qualities, once. Now, she felt like just a withered husk of what she once was, incapable of such certainty.
But with Lydia beside her, their minds in this shared place...perhaps she could borrow a bit of that strength and make it her own.
She had little time to find that resolve. The world around them continued to darken, with lines of blackness appearing across the ground and collecting into a single terrifying figure.
The creature was a twisted mockery of the human form, standing half-again her height with spindly limbs and a jaw containing far too many vicious teeth. His hands were eight-fingered claws, his head dotted with horns, and he had bat-like wings and a spiked tail.
Though the creature seemed to be formed from shadows, his body became more solid with each passing moment. Darkness rippled like water, forming plate-like scales on the creature’s body, which rapidly became more rigid.
Venlyra tried not to tremble as she looked upon him. Her memories of the creature were fragmented, but she knew this was the entity that had stolen her mind and power for centuries. Not the shapeshifter, but rather the being that had lived within the dagger that had pierced her other body.
“If you will not respond to my commands, perhaps I have allowed your consciousness to persist too long. A more direct approach may be warranted.”
The creature opened his hands, and two spheres of black fire floated above them.
Lydia smiled, adjusting her glasses. “I’m glad you’re here. I was hoping you’d show yourself directly. That simplifies this process considerably.”
“Fool. I am the Sun Eater, creator and destroyer—”
Lydia shook her head. “I’m sorry, you can’t actually believe I’m going to fall for that, are you? A true deity wouldn’t need to be riding around inside Venlyra’s mind like this. You’re just another shade. A figment. Nothing more.”
The creature growled. “I am more than a mere shade, human. While I may not represent the fullness of the Sun Eater’s strength, I am a part of him. I am Em’rak, eighth and strongest of his fragments. And, when I take your body and leave this place, I will be one with him once again. And he will learn—”
A blast of light hit Em’rak from behind. He spun around, hissing, and hurled both blasts of flame toward the direction of his attacker.
The black fire found only a hovering book, which floated out of the way of the flames.
Em’rak spun back toward Venlyra and Lydia, readying another blast of fire but Lydia was already speaking.
“Theas’ Introduction to Protection Sorcery.”
A book floated off a bookshelf to hover behind her, then glowed brightly.
As Em’rak hurled another blast of darkness, the book glowed brighter, and a shimmering blue barrier appeared around Lydia. The barrier shattered, but the blast was diminished enough that it failed when it hit Lydia’s second barrier, which she’d formed around herself earlier.
Lydia waved, and another book flew off a nearby shelf. “Hartigan’s Essential Guide to Flame Calling.”
The book opened and a white-hot blast of flame leapt out of the pages. Em’rak hissed, jumping to the side and avoiding the flames, only to be blasted again with a bolt of light from the book that still hovered behind him.
Em’rak howled, slamming his palms together. The floor of the room began to crack. “Your parlor tricks are infuriating, but they will not last for long. I will annihilate this place, and you along with it.”
Lydia pointed to the ground. “Theas’ Art of Structural Reinforcement.”
Another book flew off a shelf, opened, and pressed itself against the library floor. It vanished, and the cracks in the library vanished along with it. The earthquake ceased.
The attacking books continued to barrage the shadow with fire and light, and Em’rak raised his arms to defend himself.
Venlyra was done simply watching the exchange. She’d been idle for far, far too long.
As Em’rak finally managed to blast the light-throwing book out of the air with a burst of shadow, Venlyra conjured a rain of frozen spikes above him. The lances of frost flew downward and pierced the shadow’s body, pinning him to the ground.
Em’rak trembled, then shifted into a liquid state. The inky pool flowed along the floor, then re-formed into Em’rak right in front of them.
“Fools.” Em’rak grabbed Lydia by her throat, reaching straight through the barrier around her and smashing her into a nearby bookcase. “I understand your tricks now. Your conceptualization of this place as a library has given you flexibility, but not power. And in this world, power dictates all.”
Lydia coughed, struggling to tear free from the hand around her neck. After a moment of failing to speak, Lydia’s eyes widened.
[Ah. I understand. Speech isn’t necessary here. Choking me accomplishes nothing.]
A book floated off a nearby shelf.
[Tarren’s The Nature of Worlds.]
Lydia vanished from Em’rak’s grip.
Em’rak spun just in time for Venlyra to press a hand into his chest. “Stop.”
Ice covered the monster’s body. The ice began to shake almost immediately as Em’rak began to break free.
Lydia appeared again at Venlyra’s side. Or, rather, her sides — there were three copies of Lydia now, each holding out a hand toward the frozen shade.
“Eru volar shen taris.”
Blasts of blue-white flame engulfed the ice and shadow alike. The creature within howled and writhed. As the ice melted, Em’rak began to burn, parts of him vanishing into nothingness.
Em’rak screamed, and the environment changed.
In an instant, the library was gone.
They stood on a handful of grey stone tiles that hovered within a seemingly infinite void. The darkness around them was oppressive, omnipresent.
It was the darkness Venlyra had seen in her mind for centuries, that she had screamed into without effect. And as she watched, the few stone tiles they stood on began to fade.
Two of the Lydia copies vanished, leaving only a single one, and an oppressive pressure manifested in the air.
Em’rak in front of them changed and twisted, growing larger and larger. “Human. You have fought well, but it is at an end.”
The force around them intensified, pushing Venlyra and Lydia downward. Lydia’s barrier spells manifested around them both, but it only dampened the effect. They were barely able to remain standing.
Em’rak smashed a huge fist into Lydia’s chest, sending her flying back across the tiles. Venlyra moved a hand and raised a wall of ice, blocking Lydia from falling into the void.
Lydia began to push herself back to her feet, but the air continued to push downward on both her and Venlyra, making movement difficult.
And all the while, the darkness grew. “This is my true strength, mortal. You cannot stand against it alone.”
Em’rak raised a hand, and Lydia floated off the ground. A burst of force slammed her against the wall of ice, leaving cracks in the frozen surface. Lydia coughed on the impact.
Venlyra fired a blast of icy knives at Em’rak, but they shattered harmlessly when they impacted against him.
Em’rak drew back an arm. The arm shifted into the shape of a spear, and it aimed for Lydia’s heart and lunged.
Lydia didn’t move. Instead, she closed her eyes.
A many-faceted green barrier appeared around her, deflecting the strike.
“Who...said anything...about being alone?” Lydia struggled, blood flowing from her mouth and nose. She resisted the force of Em’rak’s pressure, pushing h
erself away from the ice wall, and raised her hand again. The glimmering barrier compressed, forming a shimmering field of green energy around her body.
Venlyra stared at the barrier in shock. She knew that technique; she’d seen it many times in fragmented memories of her mind.
It belonged to one of her other selves.
[I am here, Venlyra.]
Lydia pointed her finger at the titanic shadow again, and wisps of blue flame appeared around it. The flames grew brighter and brighter with each passing moment.
The shadow struck her again, cracking her green barrier and hitting Lydia hard in the chest. She coughed, stumbled back a step, and then steadied herself.
And still, Lydia’s flames grew brighter.
[It would seem this one wishes to save us, Venlyra.]
The shadow lashed out with a lance-like arm, this time piercing through Lydia’s barriers entirely. She twisted just in time to avoid a lethal blow, but a vast hole appeared in her left shoulder.
She staggered, gritting her teeth.
Still, her flames glowed brighter.
[She can. And she will — if we help her.]
He’s too strong.
The shadow’s lance came down again. This time, Lydia was too slow to dodge.
She didn’t have to.
A wall of ice appeared in the way of the lance-like appendage, blocking the strike. As the shadow reared back for another attack, Venlyra conjured more spikes of frost and hurled them toward Em’rak’s chest.
[We are stronger. Together.]
The spikes flashed green, glowing with inner light.
This time, they pierced deep into Em’rak’s shadowy form, leaving wounds that bled inky fluid. Em’rak screamed, reaching for the largest of the shards and trying to pull it from his chest.
Lydia took that moment to strike.
She vanished, reappearing in mid-air in front of Em’rak, and placed a gleaming hand against the shadow’s forehead. “Begone, monster.”
There was a flash of white from Lydia’s ring.
Then a sphere of purest white flame enveloped Lydia and Em’rak, exploding outward and consuming everything in its wake.
