Delver Magic Book III: Balance of Fate

by Jeff Inlo

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  Keeping his own magical shield intact to fend off Enin’s attack, Baannat garnered the remainder of his energy to focus on Linda. The white circles of power rotated over his head as he whispered words of ancient evil. The white magic turned gray and though it could not touch Linda it began to swirl around her.

  Shadows grew in the pale misty fog. They spun in all directions and the twisting spin of gray made Linda even more unsteady in her surroundings. Slowly, the gloomy chaos around her began to take actual shape and form. More color became prevalent as Linda witnessed the insipid haze dissipate into clear horizons. Three very different environments came into focus—one of a barren desert, one of a mountain top, and one of a lush forest. The three scenes continued to sway around her, shifting and changing their location relative to her own position. With each moment that passed, the detail of each place grew more vibrant and very soon each came alive with moving nightmares of terror.

  In the desert scene that flashed before her, she saw an army of mutated insects swarming toward her. The bright sun highlighted their sickening features as they skittered over gritty, dry rock. The swarm included insects she thought she knew and horrid creatures she could not describe. They flew, they crawled, they leapt, and they slithered forward in a sickening motion of unorganized chaos. Almost immediately, they were upon her, and just as she could actually feel the hot sun baking her skin, she experienced the painful bite of misshapen ants and the piercing sting of scorpions. Her flesh felt as if it was going to disintegrate away in this agonizing attack.

  Just as nearly every insect had reached her body, the desert scene washed away into the background and she found herself upon the side of the mountain with its peak at the forefront of her vision. The ground was steep and rugged. There were no trees, only rocks of varying size. At the start, all was peaceful and she felt a wave of relief from the removal of the insects. Her relief would not last as the peace and tranquility were immediately shattered by a thunderous explosion. The ground beneath her split and it seemed as if her body fell into a wide fissure.

  She did not sink below the surface. Linda’s arms, chest and head remained above the ground, but her legs and hips were below the surface and she could not pull herself free. The echo of the blast faded in her ears, but the thunder returned in a rolling, swelling tide that grew louder with each passing moment. She looked up to the peak of the mountain and saw a swirling cloud of brown dust coming right for her.

  At first her cheeks were stung by the impact of small pointy rocks and pebbles. The dust seemed to swallow her entire body and she coughed at the taste of dirt and debris in her mouth. Soon the sting on her face turned to much harder collisions of hand-sized stones that bounced down from the mountain and struck her arms and chest. She felt as if she was being beaten to death by a thousand angry fists that struck all about her upper body.

  Soon after, she felt pressure increase on her legs and waist. She looked down into the fissure and realized it was filling quickly with dust and dirt. Now, she felt the bottom half of her body being crushed but she could not pull herself free. The rocks and dirt began to accumulate around her middle. The pile of debris continued to rise up her chest. Soon her arms were completely buried just as the top of the mound reached her chin. She tried to scream but could only cough out a cry. The dust began to fill her mouth as she was drowning in dirt.

  Once more, the scenes shifted. The mountain faded away into a forest of lush green. Linda’s body fell limp as she felt the pressure of the dirt freed from her body. The overwhelming swing of sensations, however, left her gasping for breath. Terror gripped her mind as she peered into the trees around her and wondered what waited for her there. She would not have to wait long for an answer.

  The trees themselves bent down over her. Thick, wooden branches wrapped around her arms and legs and pulled her high into the air. In the blink of an eye, she went from the forest floor to a point well above the surrounding treetops as several tree limbs stretched high into a deep blue sky. She looked down in sheer terror, realizing a fall from this distance would leave her body crushed and broken.

  The tree limbs that held her aloft began to swing and sway in an uneven pitch. As the horizon appeared to roll back and forth all about her, Linda began to feel queasy in her stomach. The fact that she had no control over her own motion and that all of this movement occurred apparently high above everything else did little to calm the sickness growing within her. She tried to shut her eyes to the tumultuous scene, but every time she did, she heard the crackling snap of branches below her. Her growing fear of falling forced her to reopen her eyes to ensure the branches that held her remained intact.

  Enin continued to press his spell upon Baannat, but he stole a glance toward Linda and realized her mind was under the assault of an illusion. He could see the torture painted on her face as tears streamed down her cheeks. He watched as she opened her mouth over and over again to scream only to clamp her jaw shut before she could make a sound.

  “Linda!” Enin shouted out. “What you see is not real! It is an illusion in the space around you. He can’t hurt you physically, but he can alter the appearance of your surroundings. Whatever you think is happening to you is only in your mind. Magic can not touch you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t see it. But whatever surrounds you is only a shadow of a false image.”

  Linda could hear Enin’s words, but only barely. The limbs had dropped her and she was falling through the air at tremendous speed. First, she broke through the top branches of the surrounding trees and the leaves and thin branches split and ripped as her body plummeted past them. She then passed into the thicker limbs and these would not bend or break. Her body bounced off of them with heavy thuds. Back and forth, left and right, she tumbled through the thick branches like a ball being swatted by a thousand paddles. Very quickly, she could no longer focus on which direction was up or down. She believed the ground was close and she wondered how long it would take before she met the bone crushing impact and how it would feel.

  With that thought and with Enin’s words ringing in her mind, she grabbed on to a substantial realization. Although she believed she could feel the crack of the limbs against her body just as she felt the sting of the insects that attacked her or the impact of the rocks battering her body, it no longer made sense. Had she truly fallen from that height and struck so many tree limbs, she would have already been torn apart and unconscious. Her arms and legs would be broken and paralyzed and yet she could still wave them within this downward fall.

  “I haven’t hit anything!” she screamed. “I’m not even falling.”

  She shut her eyes again and this time kept them closed despite what she thought she heard. She focused on a spot of inky blackness and let it expand across her mind. She blocked out all other sensations, she even hummed to herself to help drown out the sounds of the illusion. Slowly, the sensation of falling faded away and she found herself rooted in the same suspended position she was in when she was first brought to this place.

  “That’s it!” Enin shouted again. “Take hold of your reality. He can not hurt you! Keep telling yourself that.”

  At that very moment, Ryson appeared in the same misty paleness of this place. With his first appearance, he found himself overwhelmed with the environment. He could see, but only three figures. Everything else was nothing more than a misty fog. He could hear, but the sounds he was so used to were absent. There were no voices in the background, no insects buzzing or animal calls off in the distance, no rushing sound of the wind or running water of a far away river or stream. He could smell, but again, the ever present scents of Uton were gone. They were replaced with the unequivocal smell of the magical energy. He could move, but without anything around him to act as a marker, he could not judge how fast he was moving.

  The senses of a delver were all much more receptive than a human or even an elf. In this place, Ryson’s senses were completely awash with the extraordinary. Just as Linda had to block ou
t the illusions that assaulted her to regain her sense of reality, Ryson now had to readjust his own senses so that they might cope with the complete strangeness of these surroundings. As he focused on what he could see, he placed all of his attention on Linda and in her he found an anchor for his own consciousness.

  “Linda, are you alright?” the delver called out.

  Linda heard his voice and at first wondered if it might be another mind attack by Baannat. Still, she could not resist and opened her eyes. The three scenes of shadowy illusion still swayed all about her. She focused all of her energy on brushing these images aside and peering into what was really there.

  “Ryson?” Linda replied. “Where are you?”

  “I’m over here.”

  She focused on the sound of his voice and slowly his body came into view. She felt at first a wave of relief to see him, but then it turned to a shiver of fear as a new scene appeared around the delver. It included monsters and dark creatures beyond her ability to describe and they stalked her love with hateful intentions.

  Enin realized at once that the true moment of fate for all of them had now arrived. None of them could afford to be weak.

  “Not now!” the wizard demanded. “The two of you must face your foe! Linda clear your mind and remember what you see is not real. Ryson, if you wish to save Linda you must defeat Baannat. Otherwise, we all die here now!”

  Ryson saw the look of terror on Linda’s face but also sensed an immediate danger behind him. Regardless of that danger, he wished to run toward Linda and help her, and an overwhelming instinct brought his hand to the hilt of the Sword of Decree. As he pulled the blade free, an understanding of what he faced in this place came across him with unerring force. The blade did not glow, for in this place there was no natural light of the sun or the stars. Still, the weapon remained a magical talisman and it held the power to reveal an all encompassing knowledge of a certain time or event. The sword gifted Ryson with the understanding that Baannat was causing Linda’s terror and the dark magic-caster was the true threat to them all.

  Swirling about and facing the slink ghoul, Ryson growled with authority. “Leave her alone!”

  Enin continued to focus on his spell that was draining the magical power from both him and Baannat. His own energy was pouring into the power of the attack just as the ghoul’s magical energy was being drained by the defensive shield. Even with that, he knew his own level of power remained very high and thus Baannat’s would be even greater still. He allowed himself a moment to yell a warning to the delver.

  “He is still very powerful and very dangerous, Ryson! Be careful!”

  Baannat seethed with hate and scorn. “So this is the precious delver that is so special. Tell me, brother, what should I do with him? Should I blast him into a thousand pieces or burn him into a cinder?”

  Ryson said nothing. He only steadied himself for an attack. He bounced evenly on the balls of his feet as he did everything in his power to attune himself to the strange realm in which he now stood. He held the sword in front of him with both hands just below the hilt and he prepared to move in any and all directions.

  “Neither of you answer?” Baannat screamed. “Then I will decide myself.”

  Baannat mouthed a few words strange to Ryson’s ears and then threw his arms toward the delver. Two pure white rings of power erupted from the ghoul’s fingertips and shot out toward Ryson like shock waves from some massive explosion. The force blast moved with such speed it created its own rumble of thunder.

  Even being prepared for any attack, Ryson was surprised with the speed of the assault. He leapt as high as he could at the very last possible instant and avoided the blast by the thinnest of hairs. The concussion of the explosion nearly sent him tumbling head over heels as he landed, but he caught his balance and danced away to Baannat’s side.

  Enin found this more than unsettling. That strike was simply too close and he knew that Baannat had great reserves of power. Ryson would not be able to dodge each spell for long. It would only take a matter of time before Baannat figured out how to offset the delver’s speed. If he managed to strike Ryson with a spell, the results would be beyond cataclysmic. Linda would see Ryson fall and she herself would spiral into the chaos of Baannat’s illusions. Everything they had gained to this moment would be lost. He had to do something more to help the delver survive.

  As if blessed by divine inspiration, Enin immediately thought of a way to assist the delver without tipping his strategy to the dark ghoul.

  “Ryson, do you remember how to fly?” Enin yelled out quickly.

  Ryson kept his focus on Baannat but shouted back his own reply. “How to what? What are you talking about?”

  “To fly! Do you remember how to fly?” Enin insisted.

  And in that moment, Ryson understood. “Yes!”

  Enin restrained his assaulting spell just long enough to cast a new spell toward the delver. He focused on the exact spell he had cast back in Dark Spruce Forest that allowed Ryson to enjoy the sensation of flying, but this time he would make the spell last indefinitely. Just as two rings of white magical energy spun about his wrists, he threw his arms forward directly at the delver, and the two circles of power twisted outward.

  Ryson saw the spell coming toward him, and unlike his reaction to Baannat’s spell, he raced toward this one. He allowed the energy to strike him at his center. As Enin’s energy hit the delver, the air shimmered about him and everything in this realm slowed to a snail’s pace to the delver’s perception. Ryson spun about and watched as the slink ghoul moved as if encased in molasses. Each turn of Baannat’s hand, every thrust of his arm appeared as if caught in a dream of slow motion.

  Disregarding Enin’s spell, Baannat could not understand what had happened, and he did not care. He focused the fury of his power on the delver, knowing that if he could defeat him he could finally turn the battle in his own favor. He cast spell after spell, firing flames and bolts of sheer energy in nearly every direction. The ghoul held little back and plastered the entire area with spells of devastation. His realm shook with the ferocity of his attack as he showered every inch of space with spells of vicious intent.

  Ryson, however, moved with uncanny speed, quickness well beyond that of even a full-bred delver. And it was not just speed with which he moved. He leapt and danced away from danger as if he knew ahead of time where a spell would explode. With his augmented perception, he watched the very fabric of Baannat’s spells unfold as if restrained by an unseen hand. Even as each spell exploded around him, Ryson maintained an awareness that far surpassed anything that the dark ghoul might possibly anticipate. For the delver, dodging these blasts of power was nothing more than dodging feathers being cast at him by a slow breeze.

  For his part, Enin returned his focus to his own spell. The constant discharge of the black facet of magic, the power of change, began to diminish his own vast reserves. He actually began to feel empty as the energy within him began to decline. Although Baannat now exceeded him in power, the ghoul was also expending much more magical energy. Both of them would soon reach a point where they would actually face the prospect of exhausting themselves.

  Baannat, however, appeared unfazed by the sheer volume of energy he was expending. Instead, he seemed bent on destroying the delver and infuriated with each failure. Frustration was growing within him and this simply spurred on the use of even more of his power. He continued to cast spell after spell as if he could not believe the delver could possibly survive another instant. When the ghoul watched in disbelief as Ryson simply dodged every assault, he raged on with even more spells.

  Even as this pale realm of pure magic erupted with raging assaults, no one within it was touched by any of Baannat’s wrath. The delver outmaneuvered every spell, Linda was immune to the magic, and Enin simply was not physically there. The fury of the ghoul washed over empty space and the cast magic began to spread out into the emptiness of this place.

  Realizing that vast amounts of loose ma
gical energy was now expanding the borders of Baannat’s creation, Enin made one last gamble to end the threat of the evil magic caster. The wizard ended his own spell of attack and turned his attention to the dimensional properties of this environment. He called on his understanding of existence and cast a new spell that would open a rift in this place. A gateway to a dark plane opened at the very heart of this realm and the pale mist began to gravitate to the fissure. It seemed almost as if the very essence of Baannat’s sanctuary was now being consumed.

  Enin called out one last time to Ryson. “Do not let him escape through the rift. He can not transport himself away without taking all of us with him. This place we are in is bound to him. He can, however, escape through the gateway.”

  “Then why did you open it?!” Ryson shot back angrily.

  “You will see,” was Enin’s only reply.

  Almost as if on cue, a wave of dark creatures beyond Ryson’s imagination bounded through the hole that Enin had opened. Monsters of every size swarmed into the pale space. They ignored Ryson, Linda, and Enin, but they set upon Baannat with ravenous hunger. They tore at the ghoul—bit and clawed at every opening. With each swipe, with each bite, they stole more and more of Baannat’s power.

  “No!” the ghoul screamed. The dark wizard attempted to make a path to the rift. He pushed aside those monsters that continued to crowd over him. With one massive burst of energy, he cast them aside and raced through an open path to his one hope of escape.

  Ryson would not allow it. He covered the space between them in less than a heartbeat and stood defiantly between the ghoul and the gateway. He held his sword in front of him to block any attack.

  Sneering and spitting, the ghoul’s eyes narrowed on the delver with hatred. “You will let me pass. I will kill you all. I will kill you, the woman, and finally the wizard.”

  Ryson responded with a swing of the Sword of Decree. The enchanted weapon sliced through the air and then through Baannat’s malleable midsection. The ghoul was cleaved in half.

  The dark creatures that had entered this realm fell upon the remains further tearing the ghoul into shreds and feeding on the torn pieces. When there was nothing left, they leapt back into the rift and out of sight.

  Staring into the fissure, Ryson viewed a land beyond description. For the first time in his life, he witnessed something completely foreign and felt no desire whatsoever to explore. He turned away as fast as he could.

  With the realm they stood in shuddering as if ready to break apart, Enin cast two spells. One quickly closed the rift and the second spirited them all away. The three of them were instantaneously brought to the Borderline Inn where Holli awaited.

  Ryson ran to Linda who had fallen to the ground in exhaustion. He held up her head and called for her attention.

  Linda appeared dazed as if looking far off into the distance. Her eyes were unfocused and her body mostly limp. Ryson shook her lightly and she finally came to. She looked about the room with a dazed expression and then into the face of the delver.

  “Ryson? You’re alright?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. What about you?”

  “Tired.”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No, I just need a moment.”

  Enin stepped slowly, almost painfully, over to them both. “She will be fine. Give her a few moments and she should even be able to stand.”

  “Enin…” Ryson began angrily, but then stopped to take a deep breath. When he continued, his tone remained bitter. “I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for this, for bringing her there, for putting her in danger.”

  Enin refuted the claim. “She has a gift that would protect her.”

  “Protect her?” Ryson questioned, his anger growing once more. He wanted to stand and face the wizard, but he would not take his attention away from Linda. “I saw for myself, she was in pain. You’re as responsible for that as Baannat was.”

  “No, he wasn’t,” Linda intervened. “I was. It was all an illusion and for a while I didn’t understand that. The pain I felt was inside of me all the time.”

  “It was still pain, and it was still dangerous. He shouldn’t have put you in that position.”

  Linda shook her head slowly and finally focused squarely into Ryson’s eyes with a resolve of her own. “You have to forgive him because if you don’t then I won’t be able to forgive you. He gave me something I needed very much, something you have always been either unable or unwilling to give me—a chance to help you. Since I’ve known you, you have helped so many—saved so many. You’ve never stopped thinking about other people first. Because of that, and because of what you are, it’s almost impossible to be able to help you. This was my chance to do that, maybe the only chance I’ll ever have. I can live with that now because I know that when you needed me the most, I was here for you. Enin gave me that and I will always be grateful to him for it. If you don’t forgive him, it means you don’t understand what that means to me.”

  “It was her choice,” Enin added. “I also believe it was her destiny, though on that I can only guess. She believed it was her duty to be there for you, her responsibility. She did not want to leave you to face Baannat on your own. I did nothing to force her and very little to convince her. Her decision was based entirely on her concern for you. You can blame me if you like, but it would be a dishonor to her if you did not give her the credit she deserves.”

  Ryson did not need Linda to take these kinds of risks to help him. He never expected it of her. It wasn’t necessary. It was enough that she accepted him for what he was and was willing to share his life. That was enough to ask of anyone. Still, he could not deny the courage it took to do what she did, and he could not deny the look he saw in her eyes as she hoped he would grasp what this meant to her. If this was something she needed to do, something that would bring them closer, he found it impossible to argue further. Ryson could say nothing. He held onto Linda and allowed the anger to flee from his soul.

  Holli placed a hand on Enin’s shoulder. “What about you?”

  “I will be fine,” Enin answered with a tired smile. “Baannat is gone and I am still what I was, but perhaps a bit less afraid. I just need to go home and rest for a while.”

  “With me?” Holli asked somewhat hesitantly.

  Enin’s answer erased her concerns. “Yes, certainly with you, and the dogs of course.”