Delver Magic: Book 04 - Nightmare's Shadow

by Jeff Inlo

  Thinking of Linda, Ryson ignored any consideration of turning back. He did not yet know how he was going to deal with Baannat, but he was determined to face him. The delver would not disappoint the ghoul.

  Racing forward, Ryson found the ravine on memory. He did not have to rely on any trail. With the cave opening in sight, he saw two bodies on the ground below a round, gray break hovering in midair. He ignored the eerie hole that appeared nothing more than a suspended shadow, and instead, he ran to his wife.

  He called to her, but she did not answer. He dropped to his knees by her side and carefully checked her condition. To his great relief, he found her alive.

  To his dismay, however, she still would not respond to him. Her heart beat, she breathed, her eyes blinked, but she looked through him as if he was not there. She made no acknowledgement to his touch and no resistance to any force against her. She remained crumpled upon the ground, making no attempt to stand or even sit up.

  The truth was plain. Lief warned him of what he would find. Only her body was in the dark realm. Linda's true being existed in some other place, some other dimension. Only the mechanics of her body functioned before him. Beyond that, there was no true consciousness within—no soul.

  Ryson gently leaned Linda against the wall of the ravine and then tended to Enin. He checked the wizard's condition which matched Linda's. He was alive, but not aware. His body was empty.

  He placed Enin's body next to Linda's and then stepped away from them. He gave them one last look, and finally peered into the shadow portal—the doorway he knew he had to enter.

  He saw nothing on the other side. It was not like the rift between the dark realm and Uton. In that gateway, no matter which side he was on, he could see where it led. The strange shadow before him, however, had no clear destination. It was a simple hole in existence.

  Ryson knew Linda and Enin waited beyond that rift, were held hostage by Baannat in the emptiness in front of him. He almost charged through, but he made one last consideration of his conversation with Lief.

  He had asked the elf apparition if there was a way for him to defeat Baannat and to save his wife. Lief implied that an answer existed, but the elf had no more to offer than vague advice. Ryson had to believe, but believe in what?

  The delver stood before the rift restraining the desire to jump in after Linda. Holding firm, he waited for some great awareness to strike him, some sort of inspiration that would guide him. The answer was supposed to come to him when he needed it most. He needed it at that very instant, needed it more than anything. If Lief was right, he would get his answer.

  Nothing. His mind was as blank as the gray hole before him.

  Ryson started to feel the anger rise up inside once more. He almost cursed at the heavens for leaving him so unprepared for what he faced.

  Remembering that Lief warned him about his rage causing him to fail, he did his best to bury such feelings. He could not do it completely, could not stifle the boiling emotions within, but he muted them to the best of his ability. He silently wished for an answer, wished for something to penetrate the gray haze in his mind.

  For whatever reason, he thought of what it was like to be a delver. For at that moment, that was the root of his dilemma. He always sought answers. He lived to explore. His explorations would lead him to new mysteries and his instincts and abilities would guide him to answers.

  He was facing another such mystery, but he doubted his delver abilities could help him in a dimension that could separate Enin from his magic. That's what he really faced. The portal was a doorway into nonexistence. If a wizard as powerful as Enin could be trapped in there, what hope did he have?

  He drove that doubt from his mind. He wouldn't accept it. The answer would come to him. Too much depended on it.

  Then he thought of puzzles he could not solve. They would often drive him to distraction, but he learned patience. Not all answers would come easily, and some not at all, but he always looked for them. He was always a delver.

  Still, what of those questions without answers or those moments of indecision? He dealt with them in the past. How?

  He then thought of the Sword of Decree. It was in the cave next to him. He knew it was still there. He didn't know why, but he could sense it. The sword would tell him what to do. When he truly needed an answer, it always offered one. All he had to do was retrieve the blade and hold it once more in his hand. The weapon would guide him.

  Ryson almost turned away from the rift. His mind held to a hope that the sword would present the answer, but as the rift held his gaze, it also revealed a simple truth. He knew he would not be able to take the weapon with him through the portal. The existence on the other side was not one of physical being, not true existence at all. Linda and Enin's bodies were proof of that.

  That, however, was not the complete truth. He could still retrieve the Sword of Decree. It might give him the answer before he crossed over. That's all it had to do. Once he knew how to save Linda, the sword would have fulfilled its purpose.

  Ryson actually turned from the rift and moved toward the cave entrance. He almost rushed inside to retrieve the blade, but he stopped. The sword was not the answer. He knew it. He didn't know how, but he did. He had relied heavily on the enchanted weapon in the past, and in some cases, relied on it more than he relied on himself. If Lief was right, then Ryson had to believe in something, something more than an enchanted blade.

  The delver still didn't know the answer, but he knew the sword held only false hope. He turned back to the shadow rift. He needed to pass through it. He had to get to the other side. It was not just a leap of faith. There was something else, something he was missing.

  He had to believe in being a delver, believe in himself. He then thought of something Enin had told him before. With that thought sparking hope, he prepared to step into the portal.

  #

  "He's at the shadow rift you created. Even at this moment, he looks into the nothingness." Baannat paused, but then revealed the truth as a way to cause even more misery. "He hesitates. He is unsure!"

  Baannat raced back to the light of Linda's presence.

  "Your delver made it all the way here, but now he's not sure if he wants to join you. Does that make you happy? Maybe he'll stay out. You won't have to watch him suffer. That's good. Right? Or is it? Maybe he's worried more about himself than you. How does that make you feel?"

  Linda could not ignore the ghoul. She could not block out his words, but she discarded their meaning. She tried to force her own thoughts out from the emptiness. If Enin could speak, so could she.

  She tried to call out to Ryson, to tell him to turn away. As much as she wanted to be with him, she loved him too much to see him tormented. It was more pain then she could handle. It was better for her if he never entered. She believed that with all her being, until Baannat pressed the matter and doubts clouded her thoughts.

  "I would have bet he would have jumped right through. There's nothing in his way. You know that's true without even looking. I want him here. I made sure the path was clear. And yet, he doesn't want to take that last step. He's actually considering abandoning you."

  Would he abandon her?

  "No, he wouldn't!" Linda thought to herself. She couldn't speak the words, had not yet found a voice in the surrounding emptiness, but she understood the truth. The emptiness could not bar that from her. She knew that Ryson had always put others first, including her.

  Either Baannat was lying or Ryson had a reason for not entering. Maybe as a delver he could sense something and that was holding him back. Maybe he could hear her even though she couldn't speak. She focused even harder on trying to warn him to stay away, to find another way to help them. She fought through all the fear and torment to send one clear warning for him turn back.

  #

  Ryson did not sense any message from Linda. He only believed he could save her, and with that, he leapt into the shadow rift.

  In the physical plane of the dark realm,
Ryson's body simply passed through the break as if it fell through the beam of a gray beacon. His figure crumpled below the portal, but somehow it looked different than the other two bodies that it now rested near.

  Enin and Linda appeared as they always did. Their expressions remained blank and lifeless, but their bodies looked normal in every other way. The delver's mortal shell, however, appeared somewhat out of focus, not quite there, as if the finer definition had somehow been brushed away. It was almost as if a light fog had fallen all about him and blurred his body to anyone who looked upon it.

  Within Baannat's shadowed dimension of nonexistence, Ryson found himself standing in bizarre surroundings. The world about him was gray and empty. There was no air to breath, no horizon to see, no sky above and no ground to stand upon. Still, he was actually standing for he maintained a remnant of his form. He could also move, for just like Baannat, he had arms and legs... a body that was not complete, but substance nonetheless. Even in partial structure, he held to enough physical attributes to maintain his form.

  He immediately sensed three other forms in the nothingness. Baannat was clear to him, but there were two other lights. He knew one was Enin and one was Linda, but initially he could not tell which was which. As he peered deeper into the formless entities, he felt a deep connection with one. He knew immediately that it was Linda.

  "Are you alright?"

  Linda couldn't speak. She had not yet developed any control over her spiritual essence. She was lost in a lifeless world. Despite her limitations, she threw her complete attention upon the delver. As improbable as it seemed, she could make out Ryson's figure. He was more than a simple beacon of light. He appeared like an angel to her, a silhouette of hope.

  While Linda could not respond, Baannat chose to remain silent. The delver's appearance clearly concerned the ghoul, and Baannat considered the implications with a miserable scowl.

  It was Enin that replied first.

  "Ryson, you're here?"

  The delver looked upon the other glowing entity.

  "Apparently so."

  "But how? How were you able to bring part of your physical existence into this plane?"

  "I'm not sure, but I have a theory."

  Baannat finally stirred from his silence. His confidence returned as he realized that despite the delver's trickery, the realm was his. He was the master and he would rule with savagery.

  "So the delver has a trick up his sleeve? Do you think that can save you?"

  The delver turned upon the slink ghoul. At first he did so with fury in his heart. He wanted to tear Baannat limb from limb, but he stifled the desire. Instead, he forcefully made his demands, demands he expected to be followed.

  "You're going to let them both out of here now. You're going to send them back to their bodies and allow them to walk out of the dark realm."

  "I am?"

  "Yes, you are because if you don't I'll do everything in my power to destroy you."

  "You tried that once before, you even cut me in half. Didn't quite work out as you hoped."

  "No, it didn't, but it's different now and you know it. You ordered the caelifera to bring Linda here. She didn't choose to come here."

  "So?"

  "So that makes you responsible."

  "I'm responsible for a great many things. Let me show you."

  The slink ghoul raised his hand with his claws extended towards Linda. He went to slash at her soul, but his arm was stopped in mid swing... against his will.

  Ryson moved at incredible speed. The silhouette of his own hand speared through the gray emptiness and grabbed Baannat's wrist. Both the delver and the ghoul were only shadows of their former physical beings, but both held enough substance to actually make contact in the otherwise empty plane.

  Ryson glared into the ghostly face of the slink ghoul.

  "You will not touch her, not ever again!"

  Linda rejoiced. She knew there would be no more pain. She did not know how, but Ryson had the ability to fight the ghoul and he would not let Baannat hurt her again. Relief poured over her soul. She had not yet escaped the emptiness, but removing the pain was like walking into heaven.

  Enin also celebrated the turn of events, and he pointed out a few simple truths.

  "He can hold you, ghoul. That means he can attack you as well. For some reason, he retains enough physical presence here to offset your contrived state of existence. He is also a delver. You saw his speed. You can't match him."

  "But he is only a delver," Baannat snarled. "And I am far more!"

  The slink ghoul yanked his wrist out of Ryson's hold. He then threw his hands outward and called on the magic he retained. No circle of white power formed anywhere about him, but the energy flowed out of him like a bolt of lightning.

  Ryson leapt away from the strike with ease. In fact, he felt more nimble than he ever had before, as if he was light as a feather but could still move with all the speed and grace befitting a purebred delver. Utilizing the full advantage of his free movement, he jumped behind the ghoul, grabbed him by the shoulders and flipped him aside as if Baannat was nothing more than a paper cutout.

  Showing no sign of pain or injury, the slink ghoul rose up in the gray nothingness and released a burst of magical energy that shot from his form like a spherical explosive blast. The shock swell did nothing to Linda and Enin—their glowing forms simply shimmered in the force wave—but it sent Ryson flying across empty space.

  Ryson felt the brunt of the initial blast. There was pain in the immediate concussion, but that is where the attack ended. There was no back wall for him to smash into, and no hard ground to land upon that would add to the impact. The momentum propelling him backward slowly came to a halt and Ryson controlled his movements once more.

  Hoping to catch the slink ghoul by surprise, Ryson raced with all possible speed back at Baannat. He ignored the absurdity of his surroundings, flushed it from his mind. He didn't understand how he could move. There was no solid ground for him to run upon, yet he moved by force of will. He simply propelled himself against the gray emptiness as if he could bounce off the wind itself.

  Bounding directly toward the face of his foe, Ryson took hold of both the ghoul's arm and pulled them together. Pushing forward, the delver pressed himself firmly against Baannat's chest.

  "Try that again and you'll go flying right along with me," Ryson growled.

  The ghoul spat into Ryson's face. It wasn't saliva, even though it looked like it. It was hate.

  "Will you now hold me for an eternity?"

  "I could if I had to, but I don't. Enin's going to get us out of here."

  Baannat laughed and more spittle went flying.

  It was Enin who corrected Ryson's apparent misconception of the situation.

  "I can't. I am cut off from the magic. I have my will, but that's all."

  "You're cut off from the magic out there," Ryson corrected. "Not from the magic in here."

  Baannat stopped laughing and eyed the delver with suspicion.

  "The only magic within his reach remains within me. Do you think I will let him steal any energy from me?"

  "He doesn't have to steal it, and he won't get it from you. He's going to get it from me."

  Both Enin and Baannat responded in kind, though with far different emotions. Enin revealed uncertainty and surprise. Baannat hissed with hatred as well as concern.

  "From you?"

  Ryson ignored the ghoul. He spoke instead to the essence of the wizard.

  "You told me the magic was a part of me, part of being a delver. I think that's why I have form here, just like him." He nodded to the ghoul still trapped in his hold. "The magic stayed with me when I came across because it's who I am. That's what I thought would happen when I stepped into the portal. That's what I believed would happen. I wanted to bring it here for you."

  Enin considered the point.

  "Yes... yes! The magic is part of you. You are born with it and you would die with it. You do not cast it out in
spells and you don't absorb it from the land. It is not simply part of your body. It is part of your essence."

  "That means it's here, and if it is, that means you can use it."

  Enin wasn't so sure. His mind reflected upon the intricacies of magical energy, his current state of existence, and the properties of the space he occupied. He began to speak openly of the situation, as if it was some elaborate puzzle.

  "Can I? I'm not so sure. My essence is here, but my link to the magic remains with my body. There is a clear separation. Still, you have brought magic with you. If you allow me to siphon energy from you, I might be able to channel some of the power into something useful. I don't..."

  "Enin!" Ryson shouted. "This isn't the time to ponder what is and isn't possible. Just try it!"

  Realizing that was indeed the best course of action, the wizard cast aside his doubts. He reached out to Ryson, just as he reached out to Linda, but with the delver, he grasped for something more than a simple link of understanding and compassion. He searched for the energy that was part of the delver. As he probed Ryson's inner essence, he felt the familiar pulse of powerful magic and he attempted to seize it.

  Ryson felt the wizard's presence within him. It felt almost as if something was tugging at his very core. Even as he fought to restrain Baannat, he allowed Enin access to the energy within his spirit. He battled the slink ghoul with one side of his consciousness and reached out to the wizard with the other. Without struggling, he let the magic flow out of his being and into his friend.

  The delver didn't need to hear it from the wizard, he knew it was working. Without hesitation, he demanded Enin use the power to save Linda first.

  "Open the portal on this side and get Linda out of here! Send her back!"

  Agreeing with the intention, if not the implementation, Enin focused his renewed power on revealing the portal that he knew still existed. The shadow rift had never been closed. It just remained hidden. He did not have to open the portal, he simply had to find it.

  Using a mere fraction of the magic now available to him, Enin created a magnetic like force that would pull at the vibrations of magical energy. The portal would radiate such energy, and thus, it would call to him through the shadows.