A Twist of the Sands

by P R Glazier

Chapter 48. Within the City of R’Iggorr’Thegoran

  Amndo followed Deanola into the rift, he felt the arcane energy of the shroud that the dark T’Iea had put in place as they crossed through. Suddenly he felt the shroud give like a bubble and form itself around them as if inviting them to enter. It almost pulled them through. He made a mental note to ask Deanola how she did that. Once on the other side Amndo found himself looking up at the dark fume that boiled in the sky above his head. The dark T’Iea certainly did things with a theatrical feel. He found himself thinking that not only had they abused the use of so much power in the creation of the shroud, they wasted even more, possibly just as much, on how it looked from the inside. Someone was trying to make a point he thought. Deanola beckoned to him and they walked briskly off down the path.

  Amndo and Deanola crept through the ruined city that had once belonged to the Pnook. Amndo marvelled at Deanola, how she had recovered so quickly from the potion he had administered to feign her death. She was an old woman, but obviously not such a frail one. A couple of Startmektoken had appeared and he still marvelled at the power that Deanola could so easily wield, he still found it amusing how the super-cooled metal seemed to explode, thought how the temperature inside them must be approaching absolute zero where even the atoms that made up their bodies would cease to move and be frozen solid. He wondered at how Deanola would then suddenly raise the temperature of the moisture surrounding them at certain points, she only had to do it slightly to cause such a catastrophic failure of the very molecular fabric of the material of which they were constructed. But he thought that the amusement was more to do with relief than anything else. Thinking about these things kept his mind busy and away from other, much darker thoughts. He wondered if he too could ever control such arcane energy in a similar way, in some ways he found himself comforted by the fact that he probably could not. To have such power must be a terrible burden. He would be content with the skill of understanding such things, not the skill at wielding them, a scholar, not a soldier.

  The fume of the shroud hung above them churning and writhing as if it had a life of its own. He felt his skin stretch almost drawn towards some limitless force to his left. A great deal of arcane energy was being released in that direction, he recognised the pull, he had felt it many times before, yet the concentration of it made him think twice. He knew Deanola felt it to for she kept glancing in that direction. Perhaps she had experienced this before. “What do you think it is?” He whispered.

  “A great deal of energy and power is being used in that direction, I have not felt it before, I do not know what it is.” Was Deanola’s reply.

  Now Amndo knew what it was, but he had never felt one of this concentration, or size. “I do. It feels like a portal, but not just any portal I have felt them many times before. This is a massive rend in space, a portal designed to accommodate something huge is my guess. I would like to take a look if possible.”

  They turned down a ruined street and there before them was the great gate into the dark elven city. Amndo’s heart fell it was tightly sealed shut. Deanola said, “no not that way, come we have our own entrance.” She led him into a derelict building and down several flights of steps. At the bottom a tunnel led horizontally in the direction of the dark elven city wall.

  “I had this dug many years ago, my teacher helped me place the ward around it. I use it now and again to enter the city. Hopefully it remains unseen and undetected.” Explained Deanola.

  Once inside the city everything seemed quiet. They walked silently down narrow back streets and little used alley ways. They dipped in and out of doorways and alcoves to avoid being seen. Thankfully these back streets remained empty. Deanola took a sharp turn down a narrow alley, Amndo could see that at its end it opened up into a large open space. Eventually they reached the end and cautiously looked out.

  What faced Deanola and Amndo was beyond belief. A wide gulf in the earth lay before them; a massive chasm leading down into the very fabric of the world. Its edges rose up as if something enormous had thrust up through the earth with fantastic power. He was reminded of the volcano they had seen in the island chain over the Sea of Beadreas. A wide span, a causeway of sorts, cut across the gulf. Again they were both surprised for no one could be seen walking around this open area, where was the populace of the city? Deanola and Amndo walked across the wide roadway that ran around the open area and after looking around to see if anyone watched them, they walked out onto the causeway. Amndo was looking towards the central point of the causeway, there could be seen a wider platform. From this platform emanated a vast circular portal, energy flowed from the gulf below sustained it, Amndo knew this must be the Rift. Tendrils of the oily substance could be seen flowing upward to the massive portal stone that stood in the centre of the platform. Amndo was astonished at the size of the block. The material of which it comprised originated in the voids; it could be mined if you knew where to look. The Keepers had employed the Grûndén to do their mining for these stones, in return the Keepers allowed the Grûndén to mine in the voids for whatever minerals they coveted. But never in his life, probably in any Keeper’s life throughout their history had a portal stone of this mass ever been discovered. Before this the largest one he had ever seen was the size of his fist. What was causing him more angst was the fact the his people the Keepers were the only ones that had any interest in the material, had they created such a large stone? If they had, what was its original purpose?

  They looked down into the crater, down into a boiling mass of darkness, it looked like boiling oil, a silvery sheen coated its surface, but Amndo knew it was not a solid, or a liquid, what he looked down into was a mass of raw arcane energy. It rose in the centre of the crater and seemed to move out to the edges where it turned back down on itself. He had seen it before, but only on a tiny scale, his professor when he was a young student took great delight in showing his pupils what pure arcane energy looked like in the physical sense. He knew that the motion was caused by the gravitational field of the planet, that the arcane energy being a form of gravity itself, had a tendency to follow the magnetic energies natural to any large mass floating in the great void. He remembered how his teacher had managed to concentrate all the energy in the classroom into a tiny glass cup, how he showed them with large coiled magnets, the containment coils, how the energy could be kept safely in check. But that experiment used a tiny infinitesimal concentration of the stuff, what they looked down on now was such a mass of the stuff it defied belief, immeasurable billions of times larger than his old professors experiment. The energies required to keep this amount in check would be beyond enormous, he couldn’t imagine anything native to this planet being able to do so. He wondered where the star people as Deanola called them got enough energy to pacify the Rift. To his knowledge there was only one source that he knew of in the whole universe that would be large enough, yet physically small enough to be able to accomplish such a feat. Amndo shuddered for if that energy failed the world would most probably be torn apart like a child’s inflatable rubber ball pumped up with too much air.

  He thought of the great machine, the one that Minervar and Serinae had put to rights, it must be enormous, its size due to the containment generators that would be needed to keep the source of the energy in check. But where did they get such a phenomenon from? If the star people were able to control such a thing, then their technology must be far advanced, more than he could ever comprehend. He looked back at the pit. It must have be at least a kilometre across, a wide causeway spanned the pit, or the Rift as he should call it, for the Rift this must be. But earlier descriptions of the Rift spoke of a small crack, a fissure in the earth. What in the Maker’s name had the humans and then the dark elves done to expand it to this gigantic gulf? Amndo understood that nearly all of the arcane energy present in the world must pass through this central point, his mind likened it to all the water in all the oceans and seas, flowing through a single vortex on its way around the globe. Yes, a vortex, that was
exactly what it was.

  Amndo and Deanola made their way up the causeway until they stood before the portal stone. Amndo stood inspecting the large block, it was enormous. He could feel the prickly warmth emanating from it, he could feel and hear the hum of the energies flowing through its dense matter, wondered at who had managed to transport such a large block of this material from the void from which it must have come, for nowhere could this element be found on this world, that he knew, it just didn’t exist in this time and space, at least not naturally.

  He raised a hand towards the stone. A small thread of power slowly snaked out towards his hand, like the outstretched finger of an inquisitive child. It touched his hand. He watched the power play with the end of his finger, he tried to understand it, he was aware of a physical force gently caressing his skin. But then the force jumped, increased dramatically in presence and immediately as it did so the tendril of power thickened it seemed to agitate, to vibrate, then suddenly it engulfed his hand and dragged him forward to his knees. Amndo gasped, his immediate reaction was to withdraw his hand but no amount of pulling could accomplish it. Calming his initial panic he tried to focus his thoughts, fight down the feeling of panic rising within him. 

  Suddenly Amndo became aware of a presence. He opened his eyes and stared at a dark face, red flaming eyes stared at him, the horned head tilted to one side as if it scrutinised him with mild interest. A long grey beard hung down form the slender chin, wide nostrils blew a sulphurous odour all over him. He coughed and tried to turn his head, but realisation dawned on him, this entity was intelligent, it had presence and great power. He asked. “You control the Rift?”

  The face smiled, a cackling laugh left its lips, a deafening noise that made Amndo jerk back. “Control it? I more than control it. I am the Rift, it belongs to me, its power is mine and mine alone.”

  Amndo managed to say, “Who are you?”

  The face scrutinised him and changed. Whereas it looked frightening before and perhaps a little benign, it now took on a horrific grimace, flames engulfed the features, all that could be seen were the piercing red eyes. “I am death, I am the evil one, the anti-god. Since time first began I was there, I was the thorn in the side, the sickness in the air, the blight upon all of creation. All quake and fear me. Do you not recognise my form?”

  Amndo was thinking fast, what did this thing, this entity want? It was almost a child-like reaction to his question. He remembered books in Solin’s library, books that described human behaviour, human superstition. Humans were famous for their wild imaginings. Well he was not human, if this thing designed to frighten them, it did not have the same effect upon him. “But you didn’t always look this way did you?”

  The entity looked back, it looked disappointed, it repeated, “do you not recognise this form? Most of the human creatures dread this image; it represents everything they fear most, that is why I use it.”

  Amndo without thought said, “I am not human, I do not recognise you.”

  The entity laughed, “then we will need to get to know each other better. I would love to find out what it is you fear most.”

  Pain shot through Amndo, he felt his mind being entered, something of great malice was trying to fight its way into his very being, tare his thoughts and memories from him. He tried to put up a barrier, but the thing was through. He felt his mental barrier give and buckle under the onslaught. Then it burst and something truly horrific rushed into his mind.