And Jess blinked, her eyes catching the faintest glimmer. She focused again, and after some long moments she gasped as she beheld the secret of his very being. Like a beautiful cloth distilled with the essence of rainbows, she could sense the whole of his soul. It was indeed woven through him, every fiber, his physical body but a projection of his will. And she sensed that here, in Shadow, she had the capacity to resonate with his spirit to a degree impossible in the real world; each of their souls bare before the other, naked of all pretense, here in the realm of dreams.
Jess felt a tingle of exhilaration but didn’t let it distract her. For now, the real task was to begin.
She let her eyes slowly travel downward and gasped, seeing in that beautiful pristine shimmering cloth that comprised his soul a rotting blackness emanating from the gaping tear at his side. It was as if his wound had been poisoned; malignant corruption slowly eating his essence. – The fragile mask hiding the fiery cauldron of inconceivable death and destruction carefully hidden underneath – Jess shivered, grimly forcing away thoughts she dared not look at too closely, firmly focusing on the task at hand. The enemy at hand, that twisted darkness eating into his soul – It's gentle covering, the Malek she knew and loved.
Just gazing at it, she could sense how its dark resonance mirrored the fallen horror's perfectly. She could only imagine how potent the rotting poison would be if the creature were still alive. Even now, it was still sickening Malek's soul, forcing it to try to tear free of its fleshly moorings, to escape the pain of its torment through the oblivion of death. – Burning so brightly it could rupture the very stars, screaming through the midnight sky.
Jess grimaced and gazed carefully at the black corruption, her eyes sinking deep into it, until at last she could see the vile threads that twined together into the malignant whole. With grim focus, she touched the foulness with her finger, imagining herself spooling up all the winding filaments of that foul darkness, as if she were carefully gathering the strands of a rotten spider's web.
At first the threads of the black infection seemed to vibrate, as if seeking her sweet flesh to infect, before abruptly pulling away. As if it feared her.
Jess realized to her horror that it was on some level sentient. The remnants of a fallen soul twisted into rotting, seething hate. She hissed. Grimly, she forced the stuff of dream to obey her will, imagining herself snapping its weak resistance with her hot fury, visualizing spooling it all together, every last trace, every dark fiber that tried to bury itself deep into Malek's body, and with a grim tug that left Malek gasping and groaning, she pulled it free.
Malek gazed at Jess in shock. His expression was that of an exhausted man put through agony, forced to run miles at a sprint, and suddenly able to rest at last, feeling unutterable relief. He flinched and covered his ears as Jess began whispering alien words too hideous for his mind to bear, for the strangely familiar language taunted him with the glimmer of terrible memories slammed tightly shut, many years ago. Then the jarring, sibilant utterances stopped; the dark something in his shieldsister’s grip bursting into brilliant flame. And Malek was certain he heard it screaming.
Jess blinked and shivered, realizing for a moment she had glimpsed Malek's mind as he gazed at her and thought of her. How odd it was to see and hear herself utter words of malignant madness, while at the same time it all made perfect sense, the utterances no more alien to her than speaking an odd dialect she had somehow learned in childhood, yet hadn't had cause to speak in years.
Jess gently stroked her shieldbrother's trembling features as the last of the traces of the sentient foulness burned away to nothing. “It’s okay, Malek,” she smiled. “We cleaned out that infection, whatever it was. Now we just need to patch you up.” - Nothing could touch that. Nothing. And they had tried. Oh, so desperately, so long ago, they had tried...
Malek gazed at her apprehensively as she approached, and Jess felt her heart ache at his expression; like a once happy puppy suddenly flinching, afraid of being kicked. "It's okay," she soothed again, her eyes once more unfocused, and she saw the snapped and torn strands of his soul - must patch it up, now! - where the injury had occurred.
Almost effortlessly; far easier, actually, than gathering the sentient malignant slime had been, she gently sewed together the ripped fabric of his being. And Malek gasped as his body, being but a projection of his soul in this realm, immediately followed suit, appearing to spontaneously regenerate before their very eyes.
“Angels’ mercy!” Malek exclaimed in wonder. “You are like the greatest of healers, Jess. How did you do it?”
Jess just shook her head, grinning. “I just visualized sewing you up, is pretty much all I did. Remember, Malek, we are within the Dreamrealms. We can control what happens to us, if our wills are strong enough, just like we can in a lucid dream. So, if we visualize healing ourselves, then our wounds will close. Just an act of will and faith, pretty much, if we can master the trick of it.”
Malek sprung up, filled with the same energy and exhilaration that had infected Jess but moments ago, cracking his spine and laughing with relief. “By the gods, Jess. You did it! I owe you big time.”
Jess grinned, affectionately tapping his helmet. “Happy to sew you up, shieldbrother.” She took a deep breath, glowing with a sense of triumph. “We did it together, Malek. We’ve survived our first encounter with the foul denizens that reside here. Shall we go on with our journey into the bowels of this dark tower? See what treasures we can wrest from the fates in the telling of this, our own tale of adventure and glory?”
Malek chuckled. “Why not? You should definitely tell Josie about your trick, however, should she ever have to heal someone in the realm of dreams.”
Jess laughed, already making her way further down the dark passage. “Come on, I think I see something ahead!”
“Wait, Jess!” Twilight called, but his words went unheeded. With a curse, he leaped to Jess’s shoulder as she tore off down the hallway, at least along for the madcap ride.
“What is it?” Malek asked, catching up to his now racing friend. Jess smiled, caught in the grips of an excitement she could not name, feeling both exhilarated and compelled, her ears having caught the sonorous notes of a blue song of power that teased and taunted her; a song of sweetest temptation, caressing her soul with a visceral intensity she could hardly stand.
Her infectious grin soon caught hold of Malek, and together they raced, no longer pacing, but rather leaping forward, blades upraised, dashing down endless tunnels deep in the heart of a vast complex that made no sense, save in the logic of dreams.
Slowly, that wondrous song of sweetest power coalesced into a shimmering blue light she sensed just ahead. Jess blinked in awe as the light transformed with a blink into a shimmering portal, iridescent with an azure purity that took her breath away. It was like peering through the brilliant facet of a massive sapphire.
The mad compulsion that had enveloped her left as suddenly as it had come, though now it was replaced with a bold curiosity to discover whatever lay beyond. Impulsively, Jess peered within the face of that massive azure facet, though even then she was exquisitely careful about not touching the oddly shimmering panel directly.
“Jess, what has gotten into you? You are surrendering entirely to mad impulse. At least know the nature of what you are racing to confront!” Twilight scolded.
Utterly oblivious to her familiar’s admonishment, Jess peered through the great azure pane, gazing upon what appeared to be a great library below. Tomes lined multiple bookcases facing the vast walls of the massive chamber, even as the center was filled with numerous slabs of veined marble, showcasing what looked to be various wizardly artifacts resonating with ancient powers she couldn't even guess at until she had a closer look. To Jess, the room entire seemed to radiate an enticing corona of forbidden power.
Jess took a slow breath, stepping back, examining carefully the azure barrier before them. She realized it was not an actual gem facet at all, but rather appe
ared to be made of shimmering light. Malek was about to touch it when Jess abruptly blocked his questing hand with her own. “Be careful, brother. All is not as it seems.”
Malek frowned, but nodded. “Trap of some sort? Barrier?”
Jess was silent, her eyes appeared to be captivated by the glittering display of lights, every color of the rainbow flickering from within the depths of the blue prism. Malek sighed, as if lost himself under the hypnotic pull of the strangely seductive magic.
After some moments of careful concentration, Jess emitted a short, sharp battle cry even as her blade lashed out, shattering the blue prism before them like a fragile pane of finely carved glass.
Malek grunted in momentary surprise, then gave a satisfied nod. “So, all we needed to do was to give it a good sharp blow then. Good to know.”
Jess smirked. “More or less.” She chose not to bore him with the details of the many minutes she had spent staring deeply into its depths, resisting its harmonic pull as she strove to uncover the deep strands of power, carefully hidden, that ran through it. When she finally summoned her will, it was as if she had to fight against a terrible crushing weight, almost paralyzed by strangely seductive apathy, finding it a struggle even to move for that first awful moment. She wouldn’t say Twilight’s claws had been necessary, as her throbbing earlobe might attest, but it certainly hadn’t hurt.
Her blade, when she had lashed out with it to shatter the azure panel, had seemed to stretch impossibly far, in directions alien and bizarre, to slice the subtle silvery threads so carefully hidden within that dreadful enchantment blocking their entrance to the great library below.
Her first blow had, in fact, missed completely. She had blushed fiercely, afraid of her companion’s mocking laughter, only to see him utterly under the spell of the glimmering prism before them. That alone had alarmed and refocused her resolve. It had, in fact, alarmed her enough that despite knowing the sharp sting would ache, she had deliberately recut her cheek, coating her blade with fresh hot blood, almost swearing she could hear it hiss against the metal before she cleaved forth once more, this time to slice through the arcane chords effortlessly, the construct entire shattering as if it had been but a single great pane of glass.
And just beyond the shattered pane was a short drop to the floor of the massive chamber. It was an easy enough descent for battle-trained Squires of War, their rawhide boots kissing the ground, their bodies absorbing the impact of the drop in a fluid roll, twin blades unsheathed once more as Jess and Malek proceeded to explore the great book-laden chamber, sticking close, side by side, instinctively covering each other from unknown threats.
“Wow,” Malek said, his awe matching Jess’s sentiments completely. She gasped upon catching sight of numerous volumes upon the shelves radiating powers foul and exotic, as well as spying potent artifacts lying upon darkly shimmering tables, somehow sensing the nature of their arcane contents in this odd realm of darkest dreams. She no longer had to work to see chords of power, Jess realized. The resonances of their forgotten lore and the dark powers contained therein seemed to shimmer from the very tomes and artifacts themselves.
Teasing Jess with ancient secrets, lost knowledge, and forbidden lore.
Malek whistled in bemused wonder. “Look at these tomes, Jess. Vaster than Rens’s own library.”
Jess nodded absently. “Agreed. Let’s scout out the room first, then explore. Twilight?”
Her cat leaped to his accustomed perch, a comforting weight upon her shoulder. “I sense no one in this chamber directly, but remember Jess, this chamber and the treasures within, however strongly they resonate with you, are still but the stuff of dreams. Things could change unexpectedly. It is best if we remain close.”
Jess nodded her agreement. A cursory check revealed no obvious enemy, merely two closed doorways. The smaller one constructed of ancient oak, the other a massive affair seemingly constructed of a single vast piece of iron, bolted from the inside. The sheer weight of the great block of metal took her breath away. It was a magnificent feat of engineering, the great iron door and its reinforced frame, crafted expertly in place such that it appeared to blend as one with the great basalt blocks that made up the vast study chambers.
Jess whistled her appreciation. “Unbelievable! Truly they were master craftsmen back in the days this tower was constructed. Either that, or it was an incredible feat of magic.”
Malek nodded. “Iron is one of the toughest substances to work one’s will upon. Far easier to blast an armored foe with lightning and let the metal work for you than trying to manipulate iron and steel directly. That doorway itself would be a masterwork, whether it be enchanter or blacksmith that forged it, constructed so as to fuse seamlessly with the great walls making up the archway. To say nothing of any enchantments it may possess.”
“And it does contain a few," Jess admitted. "Well, we know our ancestors were beings of power, that's for sure."
Malek shook his head. “Unless of course, like your familiar suggests, this is all little more than imagined figments of a reality that could have been, lost in the Dreamrealms. For all we know, it’s just some apprentice smith's fever-dream.”
“That's not quite what I meant, young Malek," Twilight interjected. "Rather, this realm of shadows carries within it the memories of all the magics, enchantments, wonders, and horrors that had resonated so strongly through the bones of this great tower, back when it had stood in mundus for all those centuries. Now those very memories resonate directly within the living dream we currently inhabit. It will all shift and warp, but by its very nature it will always morph back into that which was, and which might come again."
Malek nodded. “In that case, yes. Somehow, they managed a miracle in forging this feat of ironwork smack in the middle of this massive tower, or are we now in the heart of the mountain itself, do you think?”
Jess shook her head, for the first time feeling uncertain. “Didn’t we start this adventure at the top of a hill? How did we end up in the heart of a mountain?”
Malek shrugged. “Why are we worrying about petty geography? Jess, we are here! In the heart of the great tower itself, with lost tomes and ancient magics displayed all around us!” He laughed in delight. “We are safe for the moment, no? Less speculation, more exploration. Come, sister. Let us see what treasures await our perusal.”
Jess chuckled. “Assuming we can even read the ancient script our ancestors used, by all means. Let us peruse these tomes.”
With a sense of delicious anticipation, Jess and Malek both made a beeline for the various shelves, both finding themselves striding toward a pair of particularly intriguing books their hands yearned to grasp. They didn’t question the compulsion, simply reached out to clasp the carefully worked leather tomes that seemed to call out so invitingly for their touch.
Jess found her eyes sliding to the slim tome bound in red leather Malek had chosen, opening it up gently, reverently, only to frown upon glancing at the pages of finest vellum, Jess noting the angular script the color of rust.
Her shieldbrother's eyes blazed with frustration. He began to slam the tome down in frustration when his fingers brushed gently against the words. His gasp was clearly audible as he stumbled back, his expression the odd surprise of a man overwhelmed, his expression turning beatific as he gently collapsed and began seizing.
“Malek!” Jess cried in alarm, her own unopened tome falling to the ground, exquisite writing flickering through the air before landing unceremoniously on its side, and for the moment it was forgotten as Jess rushed to her friend’s aid. “Malek, what happened? Breathe easy, I have you.”
She gently removed his helmet and held him close as a fit of palsy overwhelmed him. His features were locked in a terrible grimace, agony and ecstasy coursing through him in waves as his body shuddered and palsied. When his eyes opened they were red rimmed and mad.
“I understand, Jess. I see it. I finally see!” Malek began to gurgle and Jess quickly swiped his mouth, clearing hi
s tongue so he could breathe easy. His muscles tensed up and with a final spasm he collapsed in her arms, breathing at last the deep slow breath of utter exhaustion.
“By the gods, Twilight!” Jess exclaimed. “What did that tome do to him?”
Twilight slowly made his way to Malek, casually sniffed him once, then the tome. “Ah. Bloodmagic.” He sighed. “It is an old magic, from before the divide of celestial and infernal powers. Not evil, yet it is not the silver purity of moonbeams caressing a midnight garden either. For power and fury, not ethics, is the paradigm within which it resonates. Among the most primal of arts, there is a cost to its use. That tome has been here for ages, I suspect. Look at Malek’s hand. His fingers are nicked, and all it took was a drop of blood upon the page, and language was suddenly no longer a barrier.”
Jess nodded. She and Malek had both taken off their gauntlets of boiled rawhide in order to better access the tomes and valuables before them, and their cuts and scrapes would be a perfect entry point for blood magics, even that possessed by an ancient tome lost for thousands of years. She glared at the book.
“Ease your wrath, my queen. It is just a tome of knowledge, like any other, and by its very nature it can communicate its lore by more than one path. And Malek, like no one else, was open and ready, hungry for any scrap of power he could find to elevate himself from the grim mediocrity that torments him.”
Jess shook her head. “But Malek is fine, just as he is. At least he has some arcane power. What possible reason can he have for feeling so insecure?”
“It is not for you to judge, Jess," Twilight gently scolded. "You yourself, gifted in swordcraft and the lore of growing things; fit, hale, and beautiful, cherished by your family, with the potential for a sweet and secure life ahead of you, are blissfully free of the pain and struggle that is the lot of so many. Yet here you are, risking, for all you know, your very soul, deep in the bowels of an ancient tower lost for centuries in the Shadowrealms."
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