by Sam Cheever
As I’d been working on pulling my senses back together, the area within the power barrier had become very crowded. I currently found myself elbow to elbow and butt to...whatever, with the entire dangerous looking “army”. My nose wrinkled at the combined, very pungent smell of demon and lesser devil, but I closed my eyes and forced myself to remain calm. I had to keep reminding myself that they were on my side. Well...at least they were on Dialle’s side and I thought he was on my side. Shit. I really don’t like to share the sandbox with others, it’s just too confusing. You never know who you can trust with your favorite shovel.
Conversation thrummed around me as Dialle’s power began to throb in barely visible waves away from his body. Expecting the waves to ping off my own power shields, imagine my surprise when I instead absorbed them. As his power flowed into mine, my mental drawers shifted and he was there.
We enter the shadows, Astra. Do not show any weakness there or you will die.
I frowned. Gee thanks for the pep talk. Remind me not to come to you for grief counseling if someone I love dies. I can see it now...Dialle, I’m so sad, someone I love has died...you’ll say, death stalks us all, Astra, no one is immune.
Dialle laughed and squeezed my hand. Then the world shimmered into neutral again and I emerged into every child’s nightmare.
~SC~
The world was nothing but varying shades of black. There was no light at all in the shadows. No geographic forms, no rounded outlines, no trees, grass, or flowers, no buildings, nothing at all but a gray mist, melting into darker gray, flowing into black.
As disconcerting as the lack of light, was the fact that the shadows were not dead. They lived and breathed around me, flowing alternately toward me and then shifting away as I turned to look at them. They throbbed and scurried and changed shades until my skin crawled with the feeling that it was only a matter of time until the shadows flowed over me and melted me away.
The fogginess around me seemed to beat against my brain until it sounded suspiciously like a heart beating in an open chest. With each thunderous beat my breath became a little shorter and my own heart ceased to work its solitary magic. My own rhythm slowed and merged with the rhythm of the shadows. I tried to take deep breaths to calm myself and nearly choked on the thick, slightly sulfuric air. I coughed and closed my eyes, fighting to remain calm and pull breath into my lungs. When I opened them a moment later I tried to find Dialle and the guards but couldn’t see them. Fighting panic, my lungs struggling to stay inflated, my chest screaming for air and my heart trying to leave my chest, I threw my sensing power out and scanned the immediate area with it. I could sense other life forms nearby, but I couldn’t tell if they were friend or foe. Come to think of it, they were pretty much all foes, even the ones who’d entered the shadows at my back.
I opened my mouth to call out to Dialle but my voice clenched in my throat. Dizziness swamped me and I realized I was having a full-blown panic attack. Suddenly Dialle’s words came back to me and I wasn’t sure if he was in my mental drawers or just a figment of my memory. Do not show any weakness, Astra.
Much easier said than done. I initiated a field trip, looking for my devil. Dialle, you out there?
The silence in my head was deafening. Suddenly the shadows wavered and split and a familiar form appeared in front of me. The shadows wreaked havoc on depth perception so that, at any given moment it looked like the demon king was standing several yards away from me, or just inches from my face. All I knew for sure was that he nearly glowed in the deep gray of the shadows around him. As usual Abrine was dressed entirely in bright white, to match his tint-free skin.
Seeing Abrine pushed my feelings of panic to the back of my mind. At last I had a visible, physical enemy to deal with. Things were looking up.
His glowing, white face stared at me for a long moment. I would have tried to come up with some kind of smart-ass remark but I wasn’t sure my voice would work and I didn’t think, “Frunk you.” would be very effective if it came out in a mouse-like squeak.
Finally the colorless lips opened and he spoke. “I have to admit I’m a little surprised to see you here in the shadows lovely halfling. Your kind generally doesn’t fare well here.”
It took only a couple of throat clearings and a few croaked syllables to get my response out. “Now you tell me.”
I guess he laughed. I heard laughing sounds and his chest jerked, but it was hard to see the individual features within his blank, white face.
The shadows wavered and split behind him and several figures emerged to stand beside and just behind the demon king. I recognized a few of the demons from Demonica in the thick, shadowy fog. I was particularly displeased to see Mx. Wormhead among the disreputable crew. “I see you’ve brought your friends. You don’t by any chance know where my friends are do you?”
Abrine’s snowy shoulders rose a fraction of an inch. “It appears they’ve deserted you. I guess you’ll need to come with us.”
It was my turn to shrug. “No chance in Hades of that, Abrine.”
His instruction to his guards was more a twitch than a movement, but suddenly they were moving toward me. I didn’t have much time to decide what I would do, or whether my powers would even work in the shadows, I simply reacted and prayed.
I grabbed my power and space shifted, ending up somewhere in the deep gray shadows beyond the demons. Turning my head to the right and then left, I saw Abrine’s glowing form several feet away at my back. I moved quickly away from them as quietly as I could, trusting the thick, dense air to muffle the sound of my movements. I wasn’t sure if the demons could see better than I was able to in the gray murk but I suspected that they could. Creatures of the dark world are truly in their element in the shadows. They move freely among the shades of gray and black with little concern for the thickness of the air or the low visibility. In fact those things strengthened them, providing food for their very existence. Although I have a dark side as do all halflings, my light side was definitely not happy being in that murky, soulless land and I was finding it increasingly hard to breathe and concentrate as I plowed through the lighter shades of gray and moved into the charcoal gray around the edges.
I forced myself to plod along, although my calves had begun to ache as if I were walking through thick, wet sand and my eyes stung from the torture of trying to see through the constantly flexing, low light environment.
After a period of time that felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes, I thought I sensed movement from the darker shadows on my left and stopped. My heart had begun to beat wildly in my chest and my body was suddenly drenched in a cold sweat. After a moment of peering uselessly into the deeper shadows, I took a deep breath and forced myself to move toward the black abyss at the outer edges of my vision. If there was something out there it would be better to meet it head on than to have it sneak up on me. But as I drew nearer to the dense, black shadows, I descended into a full-blown panic attack that had me panting and nearly buckling over from the sharp pains in my bowels. I stopped, stepping away from the dense blackness in an attempt to regain calm. My pulse and breathing slowed.
In the lighter shadows, I was able to think more clearly and I realized I needed to use my powers. Closing my eyes, I threw out my sensing net and cast it in a three hundred and sixty degree arc around me. At first I didn’t sense any life. But after a moment I discovered a flicker of life at the furthest reaches of the net.
Unfortunately I couldn’t tell if the life was friendly or hostile and, since it had come from approximately where I thought I’d left Abrine and his demon guard, I had to assume it was them that I’d sensed. The good news was that they were apparently still some distance away. The bad news was that so, apparently, were Dialle and the rest of my support structure. That just sucked.
I retracted my sensing power and tried again to reach Dialle. The silence that met my foray into the mental arena was very disconcerting. There I was, in a strange, very unaccommodating land, alone, with n
o way to return to the physical world. I had no way of knowing at that point if I’d been ditched deliberately, or if something had happened to Dialle and his crew as we’d crossed into the shadows. I didn’t even know at that point if they had crossed over. All I knew was that my powers still seemed to work in the shadows and that I still needed to find the evil duo. The good news, if you’re bad at making hard decisions like I am, was that my options were extremely limited. The bad news was that my options were extremely limited.
Sighing, I initiated another foray into the mental arena. Nille. I know you’re out there. We need to talk.
At first I didn’t think he was going to respond. But then his voice filled my head. Even in my head his voice was larger than life, like his power and the core of his evil. Astra? Imagine my surprise. What are you doing in the Lion’s lair?
Good question. I think it had something to do with kicking your ass.
My head filled with the rich full bass of his laugh and a tingling sensation moved through my body. The air had begun to swirl visibly around me, throwing off a back draft as it morphed into a kind of tunnel in the midst of the shadows. Incredibly, there was a pinpoint of light in the distance. My feet started to move toward the light. Even while my head told me I was a frunkin’ idiot. I mean...how clichéd is that? Moving toward the light at the end of the tunnel? That’s only a good thing if you’re on the other side. And I was definitely not on the good side of the tracks.
Something was compelling me to move toward that light and I didn’t seem to have the strength to stop it. I tried to grab my power but found that it had been walled off somehow and to make matters worse, I was starting to get that panicky feeling again. My legs screamed with the effort of trying to stop their forward movement and my heart felt like it would explode.
Do not show any weakness, Astra...
“That’s pretty frunkin’ easy for you to say, Dialle...where are you when I need you?”
As the light grew near, I discovered that if I stopped fighting the pull I could actually reach some of my power. But unfortunately it also meant that I moved toward the dreaded destination more quickly. Just before I reached the end of the tunnel, in a last ditch effort before I faced whatever awaited me there, I coated myself in a protective bubble of my power and locked it into place.
As I emerged from the tunnel into a well-lit room that looked suspiciously like the attic room of the Church of the Twined Hands, I felt a little better under my coating of power. But then I found myself on the receiving end of a glowing blue gaze and realized that I’d merely covered myself with tissue paper and the world’s biggest, meanest pair of scissors was poised to rip me to shreds.
“Hello, Astra.”
Show no weakness...
“Prince Nille. We meet again.”
“Yes. And for the final time, lovely halfling. I’ve grown weary of your persistent interference. Unfortunately it is time for you to die.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
To Die to Die
The Shadows they did roil and pant and bring her to her knees,
But our fair lady must refuse to be conquered by the Beast.
I shrugged. “We’ll just have to see about that, Nille. I don’t die easily.”
He continued to stare at me, a small, self-satisfied smile settled across his face. I couldn’t help thinking how beautiful he was and how unfortunate it was that beauty and evil were not mutually exclusive so that we could all look at each other and know exactly what we were dealing with.
I pulled my power more tightly around me like a magic binky and waited. Since I didn’t know where I was or what was going on around me I figured it might be better to concentrate on reacting, rather than trying to instigate whatever was going to happen next. First one to talk loses. Besides, I was still hoping that Dialle and his motley crew would come riding to my rescue. A prospect that was looking more and more unlikely by the moment. But what the hell, I’m nothing if not optimistic.
Just as the silence was becoming too much for me and I thought maybe I should be trying to kick some ass, someone (or should I say something) did join us in that room. Abrine and his worm-eaten army emerged from the shadows and joined Nille across the room from me. Shit.
A silent standoff ensued. I was determined not to lose so I settled in to await the inevitable. It didn’t take long for my fate to catch up with me. The first fire bolt hit me right between the eyes, singeing my eyebrows. Stars burst before my eyes as I reeled backward. Fortunately, the magic bullet didn’t do any serious damage because of the cushioning power of my shield.
Still, I decided it might be prudent to make a move.
I dove behind a heavy chair just as another fire bolt pinged off the frame, leaving behind a smoking incision where once there had been a dense, wooden arm.
Gathering my power around me, I space shifted too quickly and ended up in one of the lower circles of Hell.
As I shimmered back, a horrific screeching greeted me. My body felt very strange and I knew something was very wrong, though it took me a minute to figure out what had happened. The horrible screaming ricocheted around in my head and made it difficult to think.
My lower extremities were numb and immobile, though I appeared to be flying around the room and my upper body hung at an odd angle and felt as if it were on fire. At first my mind couldn’t register what had happened, but then it hit me. I’d rematerialized half in and half out of old Wormhead. My lower body was embedded in her torso and my upper body hung off her right side.
Hell’s version of Siamese twins.
Son of a demon. If I survived I really needed to take some space shifting lessons. What if I had ended up inside a wall or something?
My new hostess was not taking my visitation well. The room spun past my vision as she took me on a merry ride. We pinged off walls, furniture and other demons while she tried to escape my embedded presence. As we charged past the rest of the evil crew assembled in the room, I almost laughed at the looks of true horror on their faces. It takes a lot to horrify a demon. Quite an accomplishment if you’re inclined to celebrate. But right at that moment I was getting a pounding headache from the screaming next to my ear and I knew that if old Wormhead got it together and stopped trying to outrun me, I’d be in trouble. To magnify my predicament, I felt the whisper touch of something heavy and slimy against my hair.
Revulsion took hold when I realized my face was just inches from the creepy passengers on her head. The sub-demons had begun to wriggle frantically, stretching and writhing as they tried to reach my eyes and nose. I knew what they were attempting to do. Sub-demons can enter a person’s external orifices and eat away at their organs, killing a human in mere minutes . It wasn’t a peaceful, painless death by anyone’s definition. Needless to say that was not something I wanted to experience.
The nasty things stretched and grew until, even though I was leaning as far away from them as I could, they were still able to touch my skin. It was only a matter of time before they managed to climb into an ear or up a nostril.
I needed to do something. Fast.
Closing my eyes, I pulled the power from its core and used it to probe Wormhead’s innards. Locating her frantically pounding heart, I wrapped the power around it, squeezing gently at first to see what would happen. She stopped dead in her tracks. She didn’t move or even breathe for long seconds as her horrified brain assembled the facts on hand and decided that I was going to pop her evil heart like an overextended balloon. Then her maggot ridden head turned slowly to face me. Her cold, black eyes spat terror at me like sparks and I could see her running through her options as she stared at me.
I knew her instincts for survival would force her to take me out before I could finish what I’d started. I also knew I had to finish killing her before she killed me. Unfortunately, Nille wasn’t going to allow me the time I needed. His usually melodic voice barked words in guttural Hades and the demon’s eyes widened as she realized what she needed to do.
Th
e arm on the side of her body that was away from me moved toward my neck. She grabbed my throat with her free hand and started squeezing.
I tightened my power around her black heart and prayed that she would die before I did. Lights danced before my eyes. My lungs screamed for air. And something in my throat creaked as it was slowly, painfully pinched off.
The first sub-demon slid up my nostril and I think I shuddered but I couldn’t do anything to stop it. Cold, like tentacles, wrapped around me and pulled me down into a black pit.
We both hit the floor at the same time. Wormhead wasn’t moving and I knew she was probably dead. But then so was I. So what difference did it make?
Something tugged at the corners of my mind, reminding me there was a damn good reason why I shouldn’t die, but I couldn’t remember what it was.
The last thing I was aware of as I succumbed to the shadows, was a shifting of my mental drawers and Dialle’s frantic voice, masked behind the static of my dying brain. He was calling my name. I think I might have answered him. I’m not sure. It’s hard to think clearly when you’re dying.
The first thing I felt as I swam back to consciousness was a healing warmth spreading through me. The feeling of warmth was quickly followed by a tingling sensation that made me want to twitch my legs. There was only one problem...my legs were still buried in old Wormhead. Mingled with the warm, tingly sensation was a painful throbbing that centered around the mark on my neck. That was a good sign. Maybe Dialle was close by. That thought brought with it a stab of dread. The last thing I wanted was for Dialle to see the predicament I’d gotten myself into. Shit.
I moved slowly from a dream state into full consciousness. Something made me lie very still and play dead. Nille and his band of merry weirdoes were leaving me alone. In fact they’d moved away from me and were discussing Dialle’s impending visitation. Apparently they thought I, like my unfortunate hostess, was dead. I was happy to allow them their illusion as long as they kept ignoring me.
