by Paul Sobol
Colour.
Very faint, but it was definitely not black.
He could now see tendrils of red and orange in the distance, and it now seemed he was moving at a rather high speed towards them. The tendrils gave way to a vortex of fire, and there was nothing Alex could do to stop himself from falling into it. As he neared the inferno he could feel such intense heat that he feared he was about to experience being cremated alive. The fire roared around him and he imagined his flesh blackening and peeling off, burning to ashes.
A large rock zipped past. Several more followed at various distances and Alex had the sensation of falling through an asteroid field. It was then that he saw it. His high school science teacher, an avid astronomer, once tried teaching his class about the various moons of Jupiter in an attempt to explain gravitational forces. Those closest to Jupiter’s huge mass underwent tremendous seismic activity and were little more than floating balls of lava. Every so often the inner moon's crust would crack, and its’ fiery contents exposed to the vacuum of space resulting in a large eruption that would fall back to the surface to form a new skin. This is what Alex saw beneath him. It was a world or volcanic rock, cracked and bleeding from hundreds of fissures, spewing fire and brimstone.
Alex knew he was going to land on this nightmare world of fire, but at his present speed there probably wouldn’t be much left, assuming he didn’t burn up entering this world’s poisonous atmosphere. As the ground got closer he could see a large chasm, dominating a sizeable portion of the moon, but rather than filled with lava it contained nothing but inky darkness. Hurtling into the black for a few moments he no longer had the sensation of falling, and reaching out with his hands he found himself floating a foot above volcanic stone. As his fingers made contact gravity came rushing back. The short fall to the ground startled him and he instinctively rolled onto his back.
A white light shone from above. Looking up Alex saw a star, only it was increasing in size. He assumed it was getting closer. Great, what next? If the lava world doesn’t kill him something else will. Fearing some new catastrophe was about to befall him, Alex searched around for some way to escape.
In the growing brightness he could see he was at the bottom of the chasm, its walls jagged and pitted, but crudely carved into the rock face was stairs leading up and out. The floor of the chasm was also unusually flat, which Alex had expected to match the walls. Looking around he noticed a hole in the wall, little better than an archway, leading into yet more darkness.
Contemplating the doorway as a means of escaping the white light descending from above, Alex stumbled back in horror. A demonic figure shuffled forward from the dark. Its skin resembled the planet’s surface - fissured and issuing tongues of flame. The monster's eyes burned with an orange intensity, and with every breath gouts of fire were expelled. As it approached, Alex felt waves of heat radiate from the demon and tried to scramble away. The demon let out a deep, menacing laugh and reached out with a clawed hand.
Alex opened his eyes to the sound of screaming, and shortly after he realised it was his own. Gripped with such terrifying fear and the overwhelming urge to escape to safety Alex wasn’t consciously aware of a pressure building inside him. In the infinitesimal space between thoughts the world around him disappeared in a flash of white. The feeling of pressure inside was now around him, and as quickly as the world vanished it reappeared. A sudden wave of dizziness threatened his sense of balance, and for a moment he thought he was going to fall over. Thrusting out a hand it came in contact with cold, smooth walls. As vision returned, Alex was surprised to find he was staring at a rather familiar wall. He was home.
Lady Gwynneth cringed as the psychic connection between herself and Alex was severed so suddenly. During her time connected to his consciousness she had discovered barriers in his mind, but unlike anything she had encountered before. There were the usual psychic scars everyone accumulated within a lifetime, traumatic events they try to forget so hard, or a secret shame they don’t ever want known. These barriers she had ignored, but there had been one that was so alien, so strange, that it frightened her, and it was this one she had tried to penetrate.
There were generally two ways to get past such barriers – simple, inelegant, brute force. Like using a cannon to kill a mosquito, as the saying goes. This however was usually painful and had the potential to cause complications – like permanent psychosis. Insanity sums it up nicely. The second method was more time consuming but equally as effective as using brute force.
Mentally sending forth small tendrils of power, Lady Gwynneth examined the nature of the barrier, probing for any cracks or signs of weakness. Finding none, she gave the mental equivalent of a frustrated sigh. She would not give in to temptation. She didn’t even know if throwing all her power at this psychic barrier would work. Employing every trick she knew about mental barriers she was surprised when it suddenly opened.
Something was wrong.
She had done nothing to cause the barrier to open. The only way to describe it was that she was being allowed inside. But by whom? Lady Gwynneth doubted Alex was the architect of this barrier, which meant a second party, an outside source perhaps...or something inside. If that were the case it could be a trap. She had come across magicians in the past that employed similar barriers, containing nothing but a psychic trap. Anyone snooping around would be enticed by the barriers presence, believing something important to be behind it, and once opened the trap was sprung. The ensnared would be completely at the mercy of the captor, which usually didn’t bode well for the curious magician.
The mental projection of Lady Gwynneth within Alex’s mind waved her hand. Around her slender figure appeared several circles composed of mystical symbols which glowed with a light blue intensity resembling a neon sign. At first the circles hovered at differing levels, but they began to swirl and compress together at her feet as though caught in a vortex. The blue circles of protection settled, and as Lady Gwynneth moved so did they.
With the barrier fully opened there was nothing but whiteness beyond, and taking a metaphysical deep breath, slipped past and into the white light. Like most voids this one contained no gravity, and Lady Gwynneth found herself weightless. Psychically she willed into existence a small piece of floor, then four walls and a ceiling. Inside the box she created a source of light in the form of a small chandelier – complete with flawless crystals hanging beneath white candles. The bare room was suddenly furnished with a chair, and as she sat down a large TV screen appeared on the wall. “Ok, time for you to show me what’s in here?”
A remote control appeared in Lady Gwynneth’s hand. After a moment of examination she pressed the ON button, and as the screen lit up she was rewarded with a clear image.
From the moment he had awoken at work, she followed his movements through the explosion and resulting journey to the fiery world. She stood witness to the terror that had appeared at the bottom of the chasm, reaching out towards Alex, who suddenly vanished. The demon had howled in rage at being denied a fresh soul to torment, and for the briefest of moments it seemed to look right at Lady Gwynneth before she too disappeared.
The unexpected disconnection was painful.
As Lady Gwynneth rushed back into her own body it took every shred of her mental strength to stifle the feeling of absolute terror experienced alongside Alex. What made it even worse was the knowledge it had happened for real to the young man before her, while she had only felt it second-hand. However, deep down, she couldn’t quite shake the feeling it had been something more. That demon had seen her! Impossible, she told herself mentally, but even that was small comfort.
At the same time awareness had rushed back into Alex, but without the proper mental training had been overwhelmed with terror at reliving the experience. In a flash of energy Alex had willed himself away in an attempt to escape the nightmare inside his mind.
Lady Gwynneth looked to Silver; his expression mirrored hers exactly – showing complete surprise. Alex, without any mag
ical training, had managed to teleport himself away. Without a word, Silver closed his eyes and began to draw in power. He was able to sense the small magical tear in the fabric of space-time, and before it closed completely he teleported through. It was the quickest way of finding out where his companion had disappeared to, otherwise Alex could have gone anywhere in the world.
Looking around his apartment, Alex was glad to finally be some place familiar. Suddenly, he remembered everything. His whole life flooded back like one big tsunami; memories old and new, and in an instant he relived every moment again. The mental pain at remembering so much so quickly was sharp but mercifully brief. Tears came unbidden, but Alex didn’t bother wiping them away, he was simply overjoyed at being complete.
Then his world came crashing down.
Chapter Five
Silver appeared in the middle of the apartment. He saw Alex standing a few feet away, backed turned, and for a moment he was relieved. It lasted about two seconds before the apartment exploded. Luckily it only took a single thought to erect a shield of protection, and burning rubble smashed indiscriminately around Silver and Alex. Blasts of purple energy flashed through the dust-filled air only to be stopped by the invisible barrier. The protective field flared a light blue in response, and as the magical attacks continued Silver drew upon more energy.
He tried calling out to Alex, but under the noise of the continuing onslaught wasn’t sure he could be heard. If only he could reach Alex, they would be able to teleport away to safety. In desperation, Silver threw a fireball in the rough direction he thought the attacks were coming from. Hellish light flooded the surrounding area, and Silver managed to catch a glimpse of several dark figures outlined against the backdrop of flames.
Turning away from Alex, Silver began to prepare for what would be an intense magical battle that, in all likelihood, would not end well. All he needed was to buy enough time so hopefully his own allies would arrive to help.
A brilliant flash of green energy sped past and engulfed one of the darkened figures. Silver grinned as his long time half-elf companion appeared and joined the fray. “Timing as usual is impeccable Archer.”
Stepping over a pile of smouldering rubble, Archer loosed three bolts of green energy in rapid succession. The large bow in her and was made of some ancient, darkened wood. The string between her fingers shone like silver spun by some magical spider, and as Archer drew it back to her cheek an arrow appeared.
Faster than lightning the projectile sped away, leaving a contrail of green sparkling energy. Expecting the attack, the closest figure made a sweeping motion of his hand and the magical arrow was deflected. What hadn’t been expected was for the arrow to bounce off a rear wall to strike one of the other figures in the back.
Screaming in pain and surprise, the unknown assailant was soon consumed with green fire. He – it was clearly a male by the sound of his voice – didn’t die quickly. Running about aimlessly, screaming and trying to pull the arrow out of his back, it took one of his companions a moment to finish the job.
Silver took the opportunity to send a volley of sparkling blue lights at the four remaining magicians. While they may have looked pretty, like Christmas lights, they were anything but innocent. The magician distracted by dispatching Archer’s unfortunate victim got a face full of blue energy. In an instant the figure froze as though dipped in liquid nitrogen, and then shattered into a thousand crystalline pieces as Archer loosed another arrow from her bow.
Two against three, much better odds, Silver thought.
But the thought was short-lived as the three figures disappeared. Expecting this to be a ruse, neither Silver nor Archer let their guard down. In the sudden silence nothing stirred except for a bit of falling masonry consumed by fire.
“That wasn’t so hard,” said Silver. Archer raised one eyebrow at that statement, as though questioning his judgement. “Of course,” she replied with a hint of sarcasm. “You we’re doing fine without me.” This playful banter between the two would have continued, had a dozen or so more magicians not appeared in the area.
Looking around, Silver noticed quite a few Order members among the newcomers. He quickly ordered a perimeter established and for several magicians to help put out the few fires still burning amongst the ruined apartment building. No doubt there were quite a few mortals who were probably in need of assistance, and once the local authorities arrived they could take over. In the meantime, Silver had to get Alex out of this mess. Looking around, Silver swore in French.
Alex was gone.
“Did you see where he went?” He asked Archer who shook her head in the negative.
What was left of Alex’s apartment was quickly searched but there was no clue as to where he went. With the sound of approaching sirens getting louder, Silver concentrated on the immediate vicinity and let his magical senses do the work, but amongst all the recent activity it was difficult to sense anything else.
About to give up, Silver found what he was looking for – a faint trace of magic that was different to everything else around. It was one of properties of magic that Silver was thankful for, since it made identifying magicians so much easier. Each magician imparts a unique energy signature to their spells, much like a fingerprint, making it difficult for wrong-doers to escape punishment. Although the Sentinels maintained an extensive database of magical signatures, Silver didn’t require their help for this one. He knew exactly who had taken Alex, and if he worked fast he might be able to give chase.
The teleportation spell barely lingered, and Silver didn’t need any magical insight to know the space-time tear had already closed, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still follow – it would just give a general location instead of an exact point of termination. He spoke to Archer, issuing a few last minute commands before hastily constructing the spell that would reopen the tear. In a flash of energy he disappeared.
Silver flew over houses and buildings. His teleportation spell had worked as expected and he had found himself dumped on the outskirts of a large city. Sunlight was just peeking over the horizon as a new day began, and cloaked in an invisibility spell Silver was soon soaring above rooftops in the general direction of the city centre. His suspicions were soon confirmed when a large red domed building appeared in the early morning gloom – he was in Moscow.
The Kremlin looked dark and imposing as usual, and for once Silver had to double check his level of protection. Russian magicians tended to shoot first then ask questions. But that was to be expected having only just recently come out of the Cold War with America. Tension was still high between the countries even today, and although magicians were supposed to remain impartial to government politics it wasn’t always that easy. The Russian school of Magic Zhar-Ptitsa, or Phoenix, remained very protective of their teaching methods, even to the point of completely shielding their school with multiple impenetrable barriers designed to keep even the most inquisitive away. Permanently.
The last thing Silver wanted was to trigger a turf war with the local mages. No doubt they would be on edge after Alex’s reappearance. That much power was bound to attract attention, good and bad, and Silver wondered if it was all worth the trouble. He gave himself a hard mental slap for that. Of course Alex was worth risking his life over and over again. There was some undefinable quality about him that demanded a high level of unquestionable loyalty. Charismatic was one thing, but Alex took it to another level completely, almost as if Fate had singled him out for a special purpose.
The magician who had taken Alex was being very careful to hide their movements, providing the same protection Silver had to mask the newly awakened magician’s power. But that was not the only way to find someone or something; he would have to try scrying, but for this he would need to be on the ground. Choosing a secluded park, Silver gently landed on the ground. With no one in sight he dismissed the cloak of invisibility, letting it dissolve into the Aether.
Closing his eyes, Silver concentrated on Alex. The scrying spell was especia
lly useful when looking over large distances, but closer was always easier, and it often helped if you had something linked to the item you wished to find. In this case he needed something of Alex’s. A hair or fingernail would have been good, but a drop of blood even better. Unfortunately he had none of these, yet.
What’s taking so long? The thought was sent out, across a huge distance to another magician on the other side of the world.
I’ve got the items. Teleporting to your location soon. The reply was soon followed by a small burst of blue energy as another magician appeared. “His belongings as you requested. Shall I stay as backup?”
“Agent Moore, contact some of the Order members and have them stand by. I don’t know what we’re up against, but I have some idea as to whom. I will send word if needed.”
“Understood, sir.” Moore promptly vanished from the deserted park. He was one of the better field agents Silver had the privilege of teaching, and although Moore was an official member of Special Investigations, it was still nice to count on his support from time to time.
Silver looked through the blue plastic bag he had been given. A pair of work boots, black pants, and white shirt embroidered with a security logo, a set of keys and leather wallet. Everything except the keys and wallet were heavily scorched as though Alex had been in a fire. The scent of brimstone lingered around the items which surprised Silver. The young lad must have gone through hell and back, literally.