by Jeff Inlo
"I offer my assistance and they accept it, just as I have accepted assistance from them."
"So very noble of you all."
"Nobility has nothing to do with it. It is about acceptance. I understand my place."
"I don't think you understand anything at all. You're here trying to find a way to get to me, but you can't figure it out, can you?"
Baannat paused. He knew the human wizard would not answer. He cackled once more for several moments, then revealed his own understanding of the situation.
"Why did you even come here if you didn't know how exactly how to reach me? Do you enjoy wasting your time?"
Enin frowned.
"Sometimes you can't form a plan until you know all the facts," the wizard finally responded.
"Doesn't seem like you've discovered any new facts," the ghoul taunted.
"Facts? Perhaps not, but a few insights gained."
"Well, let me share a few more insights, brother. Brother! You never liked it when I called you that. Does it still bother you?"
"I'm surprised you call me it now. We're less related than we ever were."
"That is true, and that's your real problem. You're still alive and I'm beyond that."
"But you are not beyond the magic."
"Are you sure? How can you tell?"
"Because you are sending your energy to this existence. You consumed magic that was trapped in the vessel created by Heteera and you are using magic to control the creatures of this realm."
"Am I? Maybe… Maybe not. Remember that magic came from dead creatures. The vessel killed them before it collected their power. You may wish to think about that."
"So you're saying death is the only way I can reach you?"
"Perhaps. Are you willing to attempt ending your own life to try?"
"No, because I do not believe you. You did not fully die and you are still connected to the magic, so there must be a way."
"If I knew, would I tell you?"
"No, you would not."
"Then maybe I'll surprise you and tell you anyway."
Enin raised an eyebrow as he waited for the ghoul to explain. Unfortunately, Baannat just broke down into uncontrolled laughter. Enin simply shook his head and returned to his dilemma.
He returned to the concept of a shadow. He believed that was the key, but he remained uncertain how to utilize the notion.
"It's a shame, really," Baannat said as his laughter died down to a few snickers. "We were once equal in power, then I surpassed you. You beat me because I was careless. Now, you're more powerful than I am. You could vanquish me with a flick of your wrist, but you can't reach me. Don't you find that amusing?"
"Hysterical."
"Sarcasm doesn't fit you well."
"And you're simply trying to distract me. You're reaching out to your army, preparing to send them through the portal, but it won't…"
Enin stopped in mid-sentence. He knew. He understood what was necessary. He needed another portal, but not a gateway between two dimensions or even between physical and spiritual existence. He needed the shadow of a portal, a rift between life and death. That was the answer.
The spell would be black, gray and yellow, a mix of change, shadow and light. He would focus on the alteration of death and the depthless form of shadow. The light would hold the link to the physical realm, or so he believed. A full portal would connect existences, but the shadow of a rift would serve only to reach the immeasurable space between existences.
He concentrated on the aspects of the spell, considered the subtleties of the combination. With the ability to cast white magic, he had significant and equal power over black, gray and yellow energy. He shaped both in his mind, molded the desire of his intentions into a clear objective. With a total focus on a shadow portal in his mind, he spoke the enchantment of his need. He took hold of the energies emanating from Baannat, that was the target, the exit point for his gateway.
White energy coursed about his body and brightened the dark lands around him. Two perfect circles first formed at his hands. They swirled about his palms in perfect unison until he flung them from his fingers. The two white circles combined to make one large ring. The ring turned yellow, then gray, then black, and finally a strange mix of all three.
A rift formed, but one that Enin had never seen before. It was in every essence the shadow of a portal. It had no true beginning and no true end. It was not a gateway from one realm to another, but an opening into a space of nonexistence.
Certain he could now reach Baannat, Enin stepped through. As he did, his physical body crumpled to the ground in the chasm of the cave. His body continued to function in certain ways-his heart beat, his lungs took air-but the completeness of his essence was no longer contained within. No consciousness, no light of true awareness formed behind the glazed over eyes. There was only the mechanical functions and the instinctive measures that sent impulses throughout his system. His mortal shell was empty.
Enin, however, did not see the fall of his body. It only occurred after his spirit stepped into the shadow of nonexistence. He believed his essence floated in the veil between life and death. He knew he was not dead, and yet, he felt so close to death, certain that the afterlife was but a shadow's width away.
Death, however, was not his goal. He had stepped into the veil so he could confront Baannat directly.
Without a body, his essence was now nothing more than a pool of light. The lack of substance did not deter the wizard. On several previous occasions, he had removed his consciousness from physical existence to explore the infinity of dimensional awareness. Under such conditions, Enin always maintained his force of will. That required no magic or physical existence. Focus and control were the tools of pure conscious thought, and though at times his focus wandered, his control made him a powerful wizard.
Enin placed his attention confidently upon the slink ghoul. Though he had no mouth, he had the will to speak.
"And so I am here… without the suicide."
"Yes, that's true, you are not dead," the ghoul responded, but he did not cower in any way before the more powerful wizard.
Whereas Enin was nothing more than a presence of light without shape, Baannat maintained a semblance of structure and form. The light of his being resembled his previous body, even appeared to have substance in the gray nothingness that surrounded him.
"I will give you one chance," Enin offered. "Remove your control from the creatures outside this place. Leave the dark realm to its own designs and do not interfere in the lives of others."
"If I say yes, would you believe me?"
"It doesn't matter. I've now proved I can reach you. If you go back on your word, I will return to destroy you. I am giving you one chance to avoid destruction."
"And what should I do?" Baannat asked, almost playfully. "Should I just remain in this vacuum of nonexistence for all eternity?"
Enin did not answer, for he had no answer. What could Baannat do? There was no place for the ghoul to go. The wizard even wondered if Baannat could obtain true physical existence once more.
The slink ghoul did not wait for a reply. He simply made it clear he had no intention of renouncing his goals of destruction and revenge.
"Or maybe I should spend my time assisting those less fortunate than I?" the slink ghoul taunted the human wizard. "That would be amusing. Just like you are helping the humans and dwarves learn to live in harmony, I could teach shags not to eat goblins."
At that moment, Enin understood the pure evil at the heart of Baannat. The ghoul could never be trusted. As long as he existed, he would work to bring pain to others. The wizard considered the army of beasts waiting to cross into Uton. Many would die and many more would suffer. Enin would not allow such torment to occur.
Believing his power far superior to Baannat, who was now nothing more than a mere shadow of what he once was, Enin prepared to cast a spell that would stop the war, stop the suffering, and end the existence of the slink ghoul forever. He had
no hands to concentrate the magical energy upon, but he remained a force of will. The magic would bend to that force to destroy an enemy to all life.
"I am sorry," the human wizard said with all sincerity. "There is clearly no other way. I will rectify my earlier miscalculations and end your existence as it should have ended."
As Enin focused on a spell to end the threat of the ghoul, the white magic that once filled his body and his essence would not move to his command. Despite his unerring control over the energy, it would not respond to his call. The spell faded in his confused thoughts as his mind searched for an answer.
Baannat smiled.
"What's wrong? Can't think of a spell?" the ghoul asked with a mocking grin.
Enin ignored the questioning ridicule. He concentrated on the core of his essence. The magic within him as well as his vast links to the magic of the land were gone. Normally, his connection to the energy was so vast it was like an ocean falling upon a single grain of sand. At times, it could overwhelm his thoughts and bring him intriguing perception of so many mysteries, and yet, he was now empty.
"I know what you're thinking," Baannat boasted. "You've separated your consciousness from your physical being many times before, and you still held to your magical power. Even when you fought me in my magical sanctuary, you were not truly physically present and yet you cast spells against me of incalculable power. You were able to create a spiritual representation of your body, but you can't even do that here. There is something different. I'll give you a hint. Where is your anchor?"
"Anchors are diverse in nature," Enin argued, still searching for a clear understanding, as well as fighting against the growing panic of the emptiness that replaced his magical reservoir. "The portal I created should provide enough of a link to the physical plane."
Baannat's smile and even his snickers died away as he looked upon the human wizard with contempt and disgust.
"You still don't get it, do you?" the ghoul asked, dropping any taunts. "Where are you?"
Enin considered the question but would not answer aloud, and thus, Baannat answered his own question.
"You think you are in the shroud… between life and death."
"As are you." Enin added.
Baannat would not quite concur. Instead, he continued to define the truth of the situation. "I am not quite dead, and not quite alive. What are you? You remain clearly alive, but your body is trapped on the other side. I have brought part of my body into this veil, as you call it, but I am not whole. I actually have substance in this place, as strange as that might seem. You have no substance, and you have no anchor."
"That should not matter. Even without an anchor, even without substance, my connection to the magical energies should remain. They have before."
The ghoul growled in disgust. There was no more laughter in his stunning explanation.
"You don't even know where you really are? What do you think this is? A transitional plane?A shadow between life and death? You couldn't be any further from the truth. This is a new existence, one created from my rebirth. This is no veil! This is a new realm, one that formed to compensate for my rather unique form. I did not die, and yet I no longer live. I have form, but I am not complete in body. My essence is linked to a form that has no beginning and no end. Don't you understand what that means? It's not immortality because I'm not alive. It's not spiritual existence because my essence remains connected to a body that maintains at least partial substance."
In an instant, Enin understood. He had made a grave miscalculation, one that he could not possibly remedy.
"So you begin to understand," Baannat continued. "Your essence can utilize the energy, but even for you there are certain rules. Where is the vast reservoir of magical energy that you can hold? It normally fills you beyond imagination, but you left it behind with your body when you entered this place. That power-the magic you possess, the energy that you can use to cast spells-is at this moment connected to your body in the physical realm, but now your essence is no longer in contact with your mortal form, not in any way. By stepping into this new shroud, you placed a barrier between your spiritual and physical existences without severing it through death. No, you're not dead, but you split yourself and willingly sent your spirit into nonexistence."
Enin looked for the portal. His only hope was to escape the shadow of existence, to pass back into life. He could not, however, find the gateway.
"You're going to have to search a long time before you find that doorway," the ghoul snickered. "Oh, it's still there, but now it's a shadow within a shadow. Have you ever been able to see one of those. Perhaps you could cast a new spell to uncover it?"
But Enin had no magic to call upon. The almost unending flow of energy that was once his to command was gone, left behind in the physical realm. It probably still coursed through his body back in the dark lands, but as Baannat had stated, a link to that body no longer existed.
"You know what you might try?" Baannat suggested. "You can't go back to the physical plane, but maybe you should move on to the spiritual existence."
Enin actually considered the thought.
Death.
Was that his only option? He then wondered if it was truly an option at all. Could he exit this realm of nonexistence and find the true veil between life and death, pass through it completely? If so, how? What was there for him to kill?
"Is that what you want me to do?" Enin tested the ghoul. "Do you wish me to simply surrender my life?"
"Actually, no. I want you to remain right here. I want you to watch as I take control of your pathetic world. Besides, you couldn't kill yourself even if you tried. Your body is on the other side of the veil. How would you reach it? You can't. And if you can't kill the body, how would enter death? Would you kill the spirit? You know that's not possible."
It was true. Even if he wanted to, Enin could not force his own death under those circumstances. He was trapped, but then, so was Baannat. The ghoul, however, was able to exert some influence on the land beyond the state of nonexistence.
"And how is it you can take control from here? How can you touch the magic that is kept from my hand?"
"Because that's the way I planned it. The vessel captured magic and parts of my mortal body. When the delver broke open the vessel, he returned my body and my magic to me, but he returned it to me in such a way that I remained incomplete. As I said, here I have substance, even minimal as it is, it is enough. Don't you see?"
And Enin did see. It was just as Jure explained. The energy coming from Baannat and coursing into the land of Uton was broken, segmented. Partially existent and partially nonexistent. Baannat had formed a lifeline to the physical world in a manner Enin failed to comprehend until he blundered into the trap.
The slink ghoul chuckled again.
"Hurts, doesn't it? To know that you stepped right into it? It's actually funny. When we first met, we were almost equals. You had a slight advantage, but then I grew more powerful. Still, you, the delver, and the woman immune to magic managed to beat me, reduced me to a wisp of what I was. You became much more powerful than me, but only on the plane of your natural existence. Here, even as I'm just a shell of what I was, I am superior to you and I still have the power to command every creature in the dark realm."
Baannat used his power to look out into the land of darkness and to review the legion of beasts waiting at the portal. The time had come for him take further revenge on those who had beaten him.
"You really thought you could stop me," Baannat growled, "but I give you credit. You planned for contingencies as well. Yes, I'm going to attack the algors in the desert as well as the spell casters in your abandoned town, but the truth is, I don't care who wins. It's all a game, but it's my rules. You see, I want the delver and his wife here along with you. That's what's important to me. I want to bring the three of you together, and then I will torment all of you for an eternity."
Enin could not imagine a worse fate. He might have actually taken his own
life at that moment, but he could not escape, even in that way.
Baannat drew closer to the wizard, touched Enin's spiritual form with a claw that flashed in and out of existence. A the sharp nails slowly sliced through Enin's soul, the wizard experienced an entirely new sense of torment.
"The delver is out in the desert," Baannat hissed. "I can sense him. He will fight with the algors. Maybe I can catch him there, maybe I can't. It won't matter if I can catch the woman. She's the one I want to bring here next. Once I control her, I control him. Where is she, brother?"
Enin didn't want to answer, but he was now powerless against the ghoul. It would only be a matter of time before he broke.
Chapter 21
Holli felt her connection with Enin break. It didn't shatter like exploding glass, or slowly fade like light after sunset. It just ended, as if it were cut by the fall of an axe blade.
The insight temporarily staggered the elf. Reality shifted and little else mattered. She stared off into space, searching desperately, trying to reestablish the link. Her reach, however, was limited. It was his power that fed the connection, that allowed it to exist beyond dimensions. He had promised to maintain that link, and yet it was most certainly gone.
Possibilities dwindled. Holli faced a certain horror. The break was now crisp in her memory-a moment in time captured with extreme clarity-it was as if it happened over and over again. It went beyond the diminishing end of a spell or the passing of some powerful barrier. There was sheer certainty captured in the severity of the disconnection and very few things in life held to such conviction. Aghast, she found one explanation defying all others. She believed Enin had died with that break, as she could not imagine anything less causing such a definite fracture, and the magic within her seemed to reinforce that conclusion.
A colossal sense of loss flooded her being. The sudden grief crippled her thinking as if a massive void opened at her core and then filled with unimaginable sorrow. She did not wish to jump to such a devastating assumption, but with each passing moment, she was more certain that Enin's consciousness had moved completely out of existence. She did not need someone to knock upon her door to deliver the news. The magic itself was the messenger making the declaration clear.