Jade had made it clear that he was born ready and didn’t understand the delay. He felt we should have taken him months ago. That worried me; a cocky attitude was the fastest path to failure. Kymberly, on the other hand, felt that she wasn’t ready. When I spoke to her about it, I saw fear in her eyes. There was something there; I was sure I hadn’t heard her full story. Master Spectra was sure of Kymberly, though, far more so than Kymberly herself.
Most of the crew passed through the Spirit Realm very briefly to reach Nemesis, but that lasted for merely an instant, not long enough to take a breath. Spectra had two gates ready very close together, so that everyone could run straight through. She disliked that method, as it was difficult to protect both gates from unauthorized use, but it was the only way at the time to get everyone to Nemesis.
“When Spectra opens the gate, remember to walk through and place a marker,” said Master Dusty.
“You both have markers here, don’t you?” asked Master Spectra.
“Yes, Master,” they replied. Jade had been eager before but looked less comfortable now. His fist was clenched tight on his staff, and with his other hand he kept touching something in his pocket. Perhaps he had been bluffing about how ready he was or, faced with the prospect of realizing his wish, he had finally realized the danger. If so, that was a good omen for his future.
Kymberly was calm and looked resigned more than anything else. She gave the impression of a person who was waiting for some medical procedure which she knew she needed but didn’t want to go through.
“If anything seems amiss, no matter how minor, return. The Spirit Realm is no place for heroics,” she reminded them. It was probably the twentieth time she had said that. I expected I’d hear it at least twenty more times with the next group. She was deadly with her spells or claws, but when it came to her people, she was caring and genuinely concerned for them.
All of us were in full battle armor, and the magi had their staves ready. We shouldn’t need them on this trip, but it was the realm of the cursed so caution was necessary. Spectra had told them that if they needed power for any reason, they should draw it only from the staves. Nanny, of course, had ensured I had plenty of potions for the same reason.
Shea was also in attendance. She’d be on this side of the gate to assist in case there were any problems on our return. Catching my eye, she smiled. She was like a pool of everlasting calm; I could feel it radiating from her and filling the room. Nothing ever seemed to faze her, and her smile made me feel a little better. I could stay there all day drinking in her calm.
My precious angel Saraphym was there too. She wouldn’t be going through the gate on this occasion, but she wanted to be here anyway. She touched the cloth I had tied around my arm, the same one that she gave me every time I traveled away from her, and looked up into my eyes. She whispered, “Remember me.”
Taking her hands in mine, I planted a little kiss on her forehead. “I could never forget you.”
Master Spectra opened the gate and I went through first. As with the last few times, the gate opened onto a remote location in the middle of the area that could only be described as a flat, bland, empty plane.
Natives flew by without noticing me or the gate. They were drifting on the power currents that made this place so dangerous for my kind. I stretched out in my native form and floated around the area as the others came through. It was always a relief to return to this form. The atmosphere on the air-breathers’ ships was always oppressive. Even here in the Spirit Realm where there must be air, everything felt lighter and freer. I could stretch out and fly; truly relax. I had to admit that the realm might be cursed and the residents the very embodiment of evil, but it was very liberating to be able to assume my native form and stretch out muscles that were cramped as a biped.
On this trip I would have to remain even more vigilant than usual. My job was to watch; if Jade or Kymberly panicked and ran off, my greater speed would allow me to pursue them.
I drifted in lazy loops around the area, being careful not to accidently absorb any of the energy. In normal space, Shadow People constantly sipped on the current, but here that habit would be deadly.
As they came through, I could see tendrils of power move towards them and surround them. As long as it only encircled them and didn’t flow into them, they would be fine. They cast their marker spells and the realm responded, pulsing in time with their movements. The marker spell was very short and used almost no power, but for that brief moment of casting I could see the response from the energy around them.
Master Spectra came through; power flowed to her also, but rather than flowing around her like so much smoke, it embraced her. Her relationship to the realm was quite different from Jade and Kymberly’s. The darkness welcomed her, and her posture relaxed a little as the power caressed her. It was disconcerting to see her relationship with the realm. The power that caressed her and helped her to relax was evil, and yet I knew Spectra to be anything but that. She was dangerous, extremely so, but not evil; I could never think of her in that way, and yet there was no denying what I saw.
Would it be like that for Saraphym some day? In what way would it change her? Would she gain a dark streak and lose that innocent playfulness for which she was known? Would I recognize her anymore?
Master Dusty soon followed her through. Again the realm embraced him, as it had done with Master Spectra, but there was something different with him: around his neck there was a gentle white glow. It was the same kind of energy that I had seen Shea use, and only Shea. Maybe it was some protective magic? Whatever it was, it seemed to keep the darkness at bay and yet he too seemed more comfortable here.
“How are you all feeling?” asked Master Spectra.
She hadn’t yet closed the gate. I knew she was worried about that, and part of the reason I was here, so that she could stay by the gate and guard it; she needed a place for them to run to if the need arose.
Drifting on the currents, I came around again and examined everyone. Kymberly looked fine but Jade was in trouble. The darkness wasn’t yet pouring in, but it was much closer to him than to Kymberly. It seemed to be testing him, searching for an opening.
“Masters, keep an eye on Jade,” I sent to Master Dusty and Master Spectra privately.
“I’m fine. To be honest, I find it a little disappointing here,” said Kymberly. She was watching the natives idly flying by without apparently noticing the darkness around her.
“Great!” said Jade.
“Great?” asked Master Dusty, sounding alarmed.
“Yes, as if I could cast a million spells and never run out of power,” he said.
Kymberly turned and looked at him, her eyes wide. “That’s bad, isn’t it?”
He opened his mouth, probably to protest that he was fine, but then snapped it shut. More power started to flow around him. He looked toward the gate and then in the opposite direction.
“Not looking good,” I sent privately.
“Jade,” said Master Dusty.
Darkness was closing in tightly around him as if it were trying to force itself into him.
He looked back at the gate and then away. He began to step away from the gate, but Master Spectra appeared in front of him. “Focus! Who are you?”
He looked at her, confused, his eyes attempting to focus.
“I asked you a question, soldier! What is your name and rank?”
“Sixth Rank Battle Wizard Jade Evermore, of the spiritualist division of the Battle Wizard Navy!” he shouted back.
The darkness receded a little.
“Who am I?” Spectra demanded.
“Master Spectra!” he yelled and turned to run for the gate. As he reached it, something sprang up from the ground and leapt on his back.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” called out Master Spectra.
She reached out her hand and darkness flowed from her, wrapping around the form on Jade’s back. As Jade passed through the gate back into the physical world, Master Spectra pulled
back her hand and the creature was torn free of Jade. With a twist of her wrist she dissolved the creature, but first it let loose a shriek the like of which I had never heard before. A chill passed through me as the sound faded, and I was relieved that Master Spectra had stopped it, whatever it was, even though she seemed to have used the evil power of the realm to do so.
Kymberly started to shake and the darkness turned on her. She swung her staff around her body several times and then slammed the butt against the ground, calling out, “Second Rank Kymberly, Battle Wizard!”
A flash of light erupted from the place where her staff had hit the ground, and the darkness receded from her.
“Are you okay?” asked Master Dusty.
“Yes, Master. Darkness will never claim me again,” answered Kymberly.
There was a harsh determination in her voice which was nothing like her normal soft, sweet tone. What worried me was that word ‘again’. As far as I’d known, this was her first trip here. I would have to hear that story, preferably before we returned here.
Master Spectra smiled proudly, and Master Dusty said, “I’d better check on Jade.” He left via the gate, taking that strange, peaceful light with him. The place seemed a little darker with him gone. The light had been comforting, dim as it was compared to the power of the darkness around us.
I circled around again, watching them and trying to keep my eyes peeled for trouble. The darkness still seemed to caress Master Spectra, but it kept its distance from Kymberly.
“What made that scream?” asked Kymberly.
Master Spectra looked at me. “Well, I used to call them ‘Shadow People’, but that hardly seems appropriate in present company.”
“They definitely need a new name,” I said. Despite advice from others, both Saraphym and I had decided we wanted to keep the race name of ‘Shadow People’. I had spent my whole life as one of these, and many had died to keep that secret for me. I couldn’t let it go, and Saraphym didn’t think I should have to. Shea had entered it into the official record, though our closest friends tended to use the ‘butterfly’ moniker.
Master Spectra smiled at me. “I suppose they’re a kind of spirit elemental. I’m not positive, as most people can’t see them, not even the other natives of this realm, but they appear to be made up of the same stuff as the plane itself.”
I sent them both an image of what I’d seen. “I guess I’m not most people.”
“Butterflies don’t count, apparently,” she said.
“That is freaky-looking, Master,” said Kymberly.
“Nothing here is attractive by the standards of the physical world,” remarked Master Spectra.
“Even so, it’s horrible,” she said with a shiver.
“Let’s head back now. I think you’ve had enough exposure for one day,” said Master Spectra.
53
05-14-0067 — Greymere
Master Dusty and Saraphym were waiting for us when we returned to Nemesis. Shea had presumably taken Jade someplace to work with him in private. Whatever had happened to him, she’d know what to do. She was amazing like that; someone could walk into her office a complete wreck and feel better within a few minutes of talking with her.
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Master Dusty greeted us with a smile.
Saraphym grabbed me and with panic in her mental voice she sent, “Are you okay? Jade looked really scared!”
I pulled her close, squeezing her gently against my body, and said, “I’m fine, and Jade will be too.”
“What happened?” she asked.
“Jade was tempted, and resisted. It may seem terrifying, but overcoming temptation is the whole point of these trips,” said Master Dusty.
Master Spectra nodded. “It’s good for you to see that. Someday you’ll face that same challenge and you need to understand that, while it is intimidating, it’s not unexpected.”
Saraphym turned to face her. “But, Master, Kymberly seems fine. Maybe I’ll be more like her?”
Kymberly smiled. “I hope not, because that would mean you would have faced the evils that I have. The realm tried to get me too but I have more experience than Jade does.” She looked back at the gate and sighed. “Still, I don’t relish the idea of going back there to face that again.”
Master Spectra smiled. “That’s good but unfortunate too, since you’ll need to spend quite a bit of time there as you advance in your art.”
I knew I would be there quite frequently too in the coming years, and I relished it no more than Kymberly. This latest trip had served only to confirm my suspicions that, in all of Vydoria, only Master Spectra truly liked visiting the Spirit Realm. Master Dusty seemed somewhat ambivalent to the place, but Master Spectra behaved as if she were visiting her childhood home.
The plan was that I would accompany all training trips there to serve as an extra set of eyes, and if necessary assist in recovery efforts. Master Spectra really wanted my help with this, so much so that she arranged with Master Raquel for me return to Nemesis on a regular basis to make these trips. To my surprise, Master Raquel also thought the idea a good one. I don’t know why, but in the long run it would help Saraphym and so I would do it. Nanny was concerned for my safety there, but I’m pretty sure that being concerned for people’s safety is her natural state.
“Masters, if you agree, we would like to go to our new quarters on the Hospital Station to settle in before meeting with Master Raquel in the morning.”
“Certainly; do you have everything you need?” asked Master Spectra.
I had spent centuries making do with whatever I could carry in an armored backpack, but Saraphym apparently required quite a bit more. Since we would be living part-time here still, I tried to convince her to bring only the bare necessities, and I would buy her whatever she needed there in order to avoid lugging things back and forth each time. I obviously hadn’t convinced her, as she had brought two large bags which she must have fetched while I was in the Spirit Realm.
I smiled at her and picked up the bags, which were a great deal heavier than they looked. “Yes, Master, we’re ready.”
“We’ll have to hop through Raquel’s world,” she said, opening the gate.
We stepped through, leaving the hard metal surfaces of Nemesis and stepping onto the mossy ground near Master Raquel’s cottage. The fresh air and warm sunlight were a very welcome change from my last trip through a gate. For a moment I stood there in silence, inhaling the scents of this pristine world and absorbing the uncorrupted energy of the sun.
“Why can’t the Spirit Realm be more like this place?” I asked. Even through my armored boots I could feel the softness of the ground. The natives circled overhead as they did in that other realm, but these were birds, probably hunting small rodents. I knew that most animals fled when the gate opened, but if we stayed quiet some would start to return. I wondered how long this world had gone unnoticed and how long it would stay this way.
“Because then it wouldn’t be a horrible prison,” noted Saraphym.
“It might have resembled this place at one time,” said Master Spectra.
“What do you mean, Master?” I asked, turning towards her.
“Can you imagine someone like Shea creating that place?” she asked.
“Well, no; but she didn’t,” I said.
“She is a cleric, and clerics created that place. What if they fashioned it like this world? I could imagine Shea wanting the best even for the spirits banished there. What would this world look like after a million years hosting nothing but the accursed?” asked Master Spectra.
Saraphym looked around and replied, “I hope they never find this place.”
“Have you asked Shea?” I asked.
She shook her head. “She knows very little about clerics in general or their history,” she said, opening the gate to the hospital.
Taking one last deep breath of the clean, fresh air, I led Saraphym onto the Hospital Station and back into my past. We stepped off the soft, m
ossy ground back onto the hard metal of the station. Master Spectra peeped through, bade us goodbye and left.
“I would never have guessed we’d come back here,” commented Saraphym.
“It’s romantic, isn’t it? We had our first date on this station,” I said, leading the way to our new quarters.
She smiled briefly. “Yes, but … other things happened here too.”
Other things, like her first kill in the line of duty; best not to dwell on that, or on the fact that we were back in the territory where our people were hunted and killed.
“We’ve come a long way since then, and it’s time for us to reach out and help another lost soul,” I said.
“Lyshell seems so - I don’t know the right term - shy? Reserved? Do you really think we can reach him?” she asked.
“Honestly, I haven’t a clue what we’re going to do, but Shea really thinks we can help him just by being his friends. I’m relying on her to do the real work, and we’ll try to start him off well in his new role.”
It took longer than I’d expected to find our quarters, as they turned out to be in a section of the Hospital Station that hadn’t previously existed. Twice we went down corridors only to be turned back by construction crews and thrice we came to a dead end, but eventually we found the long hallway that contained our living quarters. Master Raquel had told me she’d acquired two identical sets of living quarters for us, next door to each other.
We opened the door to Saraphym’s first, and she gasped.
“It’s huge!” she exclaimed, and ran inside with her arms spread out like wings. “I could almost fly in here!”
“Except for that little gravity problem,” I reminded her.
I stepped in after her and chuckled at her antics. She continued pretending to fly around the room, stopping to open cabinets and closets. “I shouldn’t have let you talk me out of bringing more. There’s so much space here!”
They were standard living quarters, with a main room which functioned as both kitchen and living-room and a separate bedroom and bathroom at the back. The place was already equipped with all the basic furniture that the average person would need. It wasn’t really that big, but Saraphym had spent the last two decades either on a spaceship or at the Academy. At the Academy, she would have shared a room with many others, and space restrictions meant that rooms on spacecraft tended to be just large enough to be functional.
Mage Hunter (Lost Tales of Power Book 8) Page 27
