by Eric Vall
“We’re here!” she declared.
I ordered everybody off the ship, and the six of us made our way into the burning hot desert landscape.
The sun beat down on us and threatened to scorch the skin right off our bones. Sweat broke out across my forehead, and Varleth looked damp and dreary in his black banisher outfit.
“Alright,” I announced as we reached a patch of cacti and rocks. “This has to be close enough to where we found the desert cipher. If we wait for a rift to open here, we should come out next to the black palace.”
What if a rift doesn’t open? Sera goaded with a beguiling whisper. You can’t wait that long, and you know it. Just let me take over, and I can open a rift. I can help you find your precious ciphers.
Not a chance in hell, I warned the Archon.
I didn’t trust her to tell me the truth about whether or not she would give my body back, not to mention the danger she could pose to my team once she took me over.
That ridiculous concern? You know I only want revenge on Phi, so why would I even bother hurting your silly little friends? I have everything I want right here in your body. Just let me open the rift.
“Gryff? Are you okay?” Cyra asked as she peered at my irritated expression.
“Sera won’t shut up, and she’s doing a pretty terrible job of trying to make me trust her,” I muttered darkly, and the words were only partly directed to my friends around me.
Sera’s emotions spiked with frustration and anger. You could have power most humans could never dream of. You could scorch the earth and rip the sky asunder. You would be more powerful than any Grand Mage in history, more powerful than your precious Headmaster or your silly General.
So what? I thought to her.
You would give all that up based on the warning of a lying, scheming little monster like Phi?
It wasn’t Phi who had warned me about Sera, it was Gawain, and I trusted him too much to let his cautioning go to waste.
Gryff, Sera said in a low hiss, what if the next rift that opens here is the permanent rift? What if by the time you can get into the Shadowscape, Phi has already accomplished her goal? Can you live with that? We can stop her together, you and I.
I hesitated as I considered her words. Was it right for me to refuse her help, when doing so would potentially mean hordes of monsters getting released on the people of Mistral? After all, we didn’t know exactly how a permanent rift could be opened, but we also didn’t know how to close one. I could be making a terrible mistake here by refusing her.
It’s only right for you to let me take over, Sera purred.
No, I responded resolutely.
As much as I feared the permanent rift, if I accepted Sera’s offer, she could become an even worse threat if she was left unchecked. By trying to save lives, I could still end up releasing a violent monster of godlike power on all of Mistral.
You’re thinking too small, Sera said with disappointment. Forget the rift, it’s only a piece of a larger picture. You could travel to the other realm and kill the most powerful monsters in the Shadowscape with a flick of your fingers. With my help, we could destroy the biggest threats to humanity permanently and ensure the survival of your race. Don’t you want to save them all, Gryff?
Not if it meant signing over the fate of my people to a bloodthirsty monster like Sera. I would have to be an idiot to agree to her terms. Besides, the moment she stepped foot in the Shadowscape, her power would increase drastically, and I would have no way to stop her. She could betray me or even kill me in an instant.
Kill you? Sera asked with hurt in her voice. Why would I want to kill you? Wasn’t our kiss good?
Not good enough to risk all of humanity, I thought back as I bared my teeth.
The Archon’s tone grew sly. I don’t want power at all, I only want more of you, Gryff. You tasted delicious. Don’t you want more, too? Imagine us kissing again. Imagine my lips around that big cock of yours. Imagine me licking and tasting you while I groan with ecstasy.
“Shut up,” I hissed under my breath, but I could feel myself harden at her words.
Then, I’ll guide you into me. If you think your human lovers are skilled, wait until you feel me wrapped around your manhood. I’ll ride you like only a goddess can, and when you claim my fertile womb with your seed, I’ll bear you a child. A little demi-god offspring that will unite us forever. Won’t that be wonderful, Gryff? Don’t you want me? Don’t you want to claim me as yours? I want you to. So, so, so much.
“By the Maker, shut up.” I slammed my mental walls into place and ignored the sound of her sultry, seductive voice. But before her voice faded, she made one last request.
Wait, Gryff. Fine. I’ll help you. No strings attached.
Oh? I thought to her as I hesitantly lowered my walls.
There’s no need for us to sit here sweltering in the heat. I’ll teach you how to open the rift yourself.
“Seriously?” I asked out loud in disbelief. “You’re just giving up after all that talk about how I need to give in to you to use your powers and then you talking about how you wanted me to claim your womb and all that bullshit?”
As much as your resistance irks me, the Archon hissed angrily, I have my own vendetta with Phi to fulfill, and it’s more important to me than overcoming your little mind. I’ll not waste any more time arguing with you when we could be chasing her down. Now, let me show you how to open this rift on your own.
“What’s she saying?” Erin asked. “Why are you talking about her womb?”
I held up a hand and requested for my friends to wait as I frowned and considered her words. For once, Sera seemed genuinely irritated, instead of her usual scheming attitude.
“I think she’s serious,” I said eventually. “Sera says I can use her powers to open the rift without her taking me over.”
“You’re sure you can trust her with this?” Varleth asked as he narrowed his eyes at me with suspicion.
I shrugged. “She says she’ll teach me to do it by myself. I still don’t trust her, but I think there isn’t much danger of me accidentally giving up control to her.”
Varleth slid his eyes over to the rest of the team, and Cyra and Erin gave approving nods.
“Fine,” Varleth allowed begrudgingly as he relaxed his posture and took a few steps away from me.
“Alright, what do I do?” I asked in a low voice as I stared out into the empty desert.
Spread your feet so your legs have a firm, steady base, Sera instructed.
I did as she told me and bent my knees like a fighter ready to face an opponent.
The rift will flow from the energy between your arms. Not from your hands, but rather from the interaction of negative space between them. Do you understand?
I didn’t really, since I didn’t have the spellcasting experience that elementals or other mage types did. Summoning was all about the bond between monster and mage, not about finger positioning or weaving energy.
Sera hummed thoughtfully. Imagine you’re shaping a ball of floating water between your arms. Be firm, but don’t move so sharply you destroy the ball. I want you to follow this path with your body.
In a flash, Sera cast me a mental image of what to do with my arms. The visual picture was fuzzy and indistinct, but I got the gist of what she wanted me to do.
After you make the movement, thrust out your mana and let it feed into the spell. The rift will open if you do this correctly.
I copied the movement carefully, and a feeling of anticipation grew as each step of the spell completed. At the pinnacle of the final twitch of my hands, I felt the moment the spell opened up and readied itself to accept my mana.
I poured energy into it, and a black scar opened in the air in front of me. I panted as I let the spell feed, and the scar peeled open into a full-fledged rift that roiled with murky darkness.
The portal was open, and the Shadowscape awaited.
I turned to my team, and they called out with impressed glee as they ma
de their way up to the portal.
“Why’d it take so much longer than Gawain’s did?” Layla wondered out loud as she peered into the rift.
Sera answered without prompting. Gawain let Phi’s power flow through him directly, since he was possessed. An Archon can open a rift like it’s second nature. A vessel like you can only access my power with difficulty and effort. It’s why you should have let me take control.
“She says it’s because I’m not possessed,” I explained shortly.
“That’s good news for us,” Varleth said curtly, and his tone was only half-joking.
“Thank you for looking out for me,” I told the banisher with serious gratefulness before I addressed the rest of my team. “Alright, time to go in. I think it’ll close when I go through, so everybody else should step in first.”
My team complied, and one by one, each member stepped into the rift I had created. Soon, I was alone in the Ortych desert.
You’re sure you don’t want to leave this all behind for a life of pleasure and relaxation? Sera asked as seduction dripped from her voice.
“Sorry, Sera, but I’m just not that desperate,” I replied with a chuckle.
Before she could argue further, I stepped into the rift, and in the blink of an eye, I was in the Shadowscape.
My team stood a few dozen feet away, but they spun to look at me as soon as I came through the portal.
Immediately, Orenn called out my name, and my friends gathered around me with nervous energy.
“Boy, are we glad to see you,” Layla said in obvious relief.
“Huh?” I asked with a confused tilt of my head. “What do you mean?”
“It’s been ten minutes since we last saw you,” Varleth said grimly. “We were worried Sera had possessed you after all.”
I blinked. “Ten minutes? It was just a couple seconds on my end.”
Cyra made a thoughtful noise as she leaned back on her heels. “I guess in the Shadowscape, time acts screwy no matter how you make your way in.”
“That would make sense,” I replied as my brow wrinkled. “Anyway, let’s get going. Gawain needs us.”
The sky boiled angrily as the Shadowscape rumbled with thunder, and flashes of lightning illuminated the distant form of Phi’s black palace. The marble walls seemed to suck in the light itself, and the black darkness was absolute.
We weren’t very close to the palace, but I couldn’t see any monsters between our current position and the barren landscape we would have to cross. As we walked, I angled our path toward the spot where I knew there was a hole knocked in the wall from the last time I’d been here.
My teammates glanced nervously around the field as we traveled, but nothing appeared to fight us. It was quiet, but it was the kind of silence found in cemeteries and abandoned houses.
We jumped at shadows all the way up until we reached the crumbled hole in the side of the palace.
“Here it is,” I said in a low voice.
We walked through the debris toward the door at the end of the room. Gawain and I had once gone through it as allies when we rescued Nia, and now I was back to rescue him.
I pushed on the slick black surface of the door, and it glided open without a sound.
“I don’t like this,” Layla whispered.
“Neither do I,” I replied with a resolved voice, “but we have to get the ciphers back.”
Orenn and Cyra both pulled gas lamps from their bags and lit them. The fluttering blue light barely pierced the strange, dark interior of the palace, but it did help some.
We crept through the maze of the palace as I followed my dim memories of the path I had taken to find Nia so long ago.
“Do you know where you’re going?” Varleth asked in a half-whisper.
I gestured helplessly at the featureless, black walls around us. “Maybe, maybe not,” I replied. “We have to run into her sooner or later, right?”
“Only if she’s actually here,” the banisher murmured.
I shrugged and decided to take the next right. “If Sleet’s research says she’s here, I’m pretty sure--”
As we rounded the corner, my foot hit something, and I nearly stumbled straight over the obstruction in the path.
Someone on the floor let out a pained groan, and Cyra held her gas lamp close.
Gawain’s bloody, bruised face looked back at us.
“Oh, Gawain,” I breathed as I looked at him. “What did she do to you?”
He was slumped on the floor with one arm cradled carefully across his stomach. Gawain’s eyes were bright with pain and feverish tears, but they locked onto my face with lucid recognition.
“Gryff,” the fire mage croaked. “You have to get out of here.”
“I know, I know,” I replied as I crouched to examine his injuries. “Don’t worry, we’re taking you with us.”
“You can’t,” Gawain rasped before he coughed harshly. “She’s coming back soon. Here, take the ciphers and get out.”
The fire mage’s arm shook as he tried to slide his bag toward me. It had been patched sloppily after Varleth sliced it open, and a corner of a cipher tablet peeked from the hole.
“We’re taking you with us,” I argued with a firm shake of my head. “Come on. Orenn, Varleth, let’s get him up.”
“Wait!” Erin urged us she stepped forward to examine Gawain. Her eyes roved expertly over the injuries as she moved his arm away and lifted his shirt up carefully.
Underneath the dark stains on the cloth, an awful wound wept blood from his chest. As Gawain coughed, the flow bubbled and increased.
“We can’t move him like this,” I realized with growing horror.
“He’ll die before we get him out,” Erin agreed with terrible finality in her voice. “I think some of his ribs are broken. They could puncture a lung and suffocate him even if the blood loss isn’t too much.”
I sat down on the stone floor and ran my hands over my face. “What kinds of potions do we have?”
“Meridan couldn’t spare much,” Cyra replied in a worried tone. “Just a few mild elixirs. We could probably stop the blood loss with them, but the ribs will still be a problem.”
I swore and dropped my travel pack from my shoulders. “We can’t leave him. There has to be something we can do.”
“Gryff … “ Erin murmured worriedly, but she couldn’t say it out loud.
“Run,” Gawain croaked out. “Phi’s coming back. She’ll find you. Please, Gryff. Just take the ciphers and go.”
“No,” I argued vehemently. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Varleth stepped forward and put a hand on my shoulder. “Gryff, we have to leave him.”
“Varleth is right,” Gawain coughed. “Gryff, I’m … I’m sorry. I’m sorry to all of you. I should have fought harder. I shouldn’t have been such a dick. You all need to get out of here.”
“Shut up, idiot.” I ripped open my travel pack and rummaged through its contents. There had to be something I could do. I wouldn’t stop here, not after we’d tried so hard to save him.
My hand ran into a smooth, cardboard corner. I frowned as I dug out the object and examined it in the flickering gas light.
It was a pink gift box tied with a bow.
“Ilda and Gracia,” I realized out loud. “We never opened the gift from the alchemists.”
I pulled open the bow as my hands shook with anticipation. What if it was just chocolate or a knick knack? No, no, it had to be something useful. I peeled off a layer of cotton packaging and revealed the interior.
“Tea leaves?” Layla asked with despair in her voice as she looked over my shoulder.
“They’re not tea leaves,” I gasped out with excitement as I rifled through the plants. “These are powerful healing herbs. If we pick the right one, I’m sure they can fix Gawain.”
“Do you think you can find the right one?” Erin asked. “I don’t know anything about healing herbs.”
I nodded with determination. “Maelor and I once dab
bled in trading dried herbs. We’d collect them with our monsters around one town, and when we moved on to the next, it was sometimes possible to get great prices for what had been common weeds a hundred miles away. We didn’t do it often, but I recognize some of these.”
I set aside the smooth, featureless leaves that I didn’t know the names of and picked up a sheaf of distinctive, red-edged plants with serrated edges.
“Hurry,” Varleth urged. “We don’t want Phi to find us while we’re like sitting ducks in this little hallway.”
“We’ll be fine,” I said as I pulled out a valuable fuzzy leaf from the bottom of the pink box. “He only needs this one and the rubystem.”
“Go, just go, she’s coming,” Gawain moaned out as blood began to trickle from his mouth. “Leave me behind. I deserve this.”
I crushed up the plant leaves in my fingers until juice began to run down my hand, and then I stuffed them into Gawain’s protesting mouth.
“Shut up and eat your veggies,” I demanded as I held my hand over the fire mage’s face.
Gawain grimaced and coughed, but soon he had no choice but to swallow the fistful of plants.
Erin lifted up the hem of Gawain’s shirt again, and we watched in fascinated awe as the edges of his jagged wounds began to seal up before our very eyes.
There was a small pop, and Gawain cried out as something in his chest shifted and realigned. Miraculously, the plants were even moving his ribs back into place.
“Just like magic,” Cyra said wondrously. “What on earth did those old ladies give us?”
“The rarest, most pricey herbs any noble could buy,” I answered with a disbelieving laugh.
“Of course Gawain ended up being the most expensive one among us,” Varleth chuckled.
Gawain shook his head and gasped as strength began to return to him. Then he pushed himself upright on careful hands.
“Alright, now we can go,” I said as the color began to return to the fire mage’s cheeks.
As if on cue, the eerie laugh of a child echoed down the hall.
“Run,” Gawain rasped as we pulled him to his feet.
“C’mon, let’s go,” I called to my team. “We’re pulling out, we’re not ready to fight Phi in this place.”
