Prologue: Once burnt
The main street was packed with people. Most nights it had been a trading Bazaar but tonight was different. Tonight was going to be a night of miracles. So instead of trading caravans and shops, the street was packed with the sick, dying and recently deceased.
Spectators stayed to the outside of the crowd, careful not to get too close, while further to the center of the streets were the poor souls in need of help.
Word had come from the city up river. Of the man that came to town and healed everyone. The sick, the cursed, the crippled. He never asked for repayment and he never had to even cast a spell. He carried a lantern and everywhere he went death recoiled. It was even said that it cured necrotic cysts and could turn back the curse of a vampire bite.
Two observers had stood waiting patiently to see this miracle worker. Each sat at completely different sides of the street, each had separate motivations.
Gerald had been reluctant to come to investigate, stating he had no interest in necromancy. Though once he found out that it was in fact not necromancy at all, that it in fact seemed to consume necromancy, he began to take interest. All he was asked to do was go and observe. He was also given a small charm to use that he was assured would help him to figure out what was going on, he need only get close and use it.
The other was Izorshi who happen to be in town at the time but became intensely interested at the prospect of perhaps being able to quell her internal evil.
There was a slight mist in the air that made everyone uncomfortable, making sure no one was able to stay completely dry. People were growing restless when suddenly someone spotted a glowing light in the distance.
The man seemed crooked, in a long drab brown cloak. He carried his lantern in hand, though with how feeble he looked it seemed like a miracle he could lift it. He hardly stopped along his path, just walking near someone seemed to cure most wounds, for cripples he needed the briefest of pauses. He stopped at one body laying on the ground. He stood for a bit there, muttered a few words and the body slowly sprang to life coughing a wheezing, but alive.
Gerald had reluctantly left his quiet, comfortable chambers to go on what seemed like just another one of those token jobs the wizards were occasionally sent on to keep them busy and maintain the appearance they actually served a useful purpose.
The story sounded like the same supersticious nonsense that popped up every now and then. People just didn't understand magic, whether it be arcane or divine and made up all kinds of stories.
Anyone with a convincing looking costume and a good act could easily fool a group of commoners into believing pretty much anything they wanted.
So when the man showed up and started his act, Gerald was mildly surprised. He'd read up on the topic and had a general idea of what was possible...
He wasn't certain, but this seemed like it wasn't.
Trickery. It has to be. Maybe the man's an illusionist? But why? He doesn't really seem to be looking for fame or fortune...
Sceptical but certainly intrigued, Gerald tried to look like a casual observant as he got to his feet and stepped a bit closer, his hands hidden inside the long, oversized sleeves of a dull brown robe, fiddling with the charm.
How was this silly thing supposed to be helping me again?
The magic had an odd field about it from 2 feet away it didn't show a trace of magic on it, but once you got closer then that the charm lit up bright displaying a variety of colors and brightnesses.
The charm itself looked like a small length of twine made of crystal. Each thread woven in held a different spell. They were set to all break simultaneously, a simple chain reaction from fracturing any part of the crystal.
He recognize nearly all of the spells except one that was at the center which was a highly potent divination. Perhaps it was overkill, or someone knew more then they were letting on. Though the more powerful spell is burried deep in, as if someone was hoping you might overlook it.
People. Too many people. Izorshi looked through the crowd hesitantly. That can't be a good sign. She had heard plenty of stories of supposed-miracle-workers in her time, and most of them were scams. The fact that so many common people are flocking to see this might have been an indication that it was a well-presented hoax. Still, it was worth a shot, and she was not in any particular hurry, after all.
Well, at least their attention is occupied. Izorshi hated the attention of humans, and she hated large crowds. Fortunately, most of the crowd seemed oblivious to her, as their gazes were fixed on the possible powerful caster who could just as easily be a con-man.
.
The results of his short examination of the charm took Gerald somewhat by surprise. It had much more power than anything he'd been allowed to handle before and much more than he'd expected his order would devote to something unimportant like this.
He didn't really know what exactly to make of it, other than the fact that they seemed to be taking this a lot more serious than he was.
There must have been some kind of a mistake... Or more likely, I must have misunderstood or misinterpreted something here., the young wizard thought to himself while mindlessly playing with the charm with his fingers.
Suddenly feeling colder than he had been feeling previously, Gerald used some minor magic tricks he learned to warm his undergarments and managed to keep himself from shivering.
Uncertain of what he should do and hesitant to use the charm -he'd have to break it!- Gerald slowly approached his target and concentrated his detect magic spell on the man and the wheezing person he'd just healed instead.
Izorchi could not believe what she saw. There was not a trace of magic on the man, not in the lantern he carried. In fact some of the people he healed were effected by powerful necromacies. The spells and curses were attracted to the flame the pulled from the victim and fed into the fire, being consumed. Other magic was left along, only death magic seemed to be drawn.
Izorchi started to feel something deep down in her core as the man approached. Her faint heartbeat began to grow, pumping harder and its warmth started to flush her face. She felt her hands and for once they were perfectly warm.
Gerald edged his way closer in, as did a few other he could see who also were using spells to detect magic. They all saw the same thing, all were flabbergasted.
Gerald saw no trace of magic on the man who had been recently healed.
One man who had lost a hand had it regrown right in front of Garald. Though strangely it came back with all of its nicks and scars.
A woman who has been laying down in the middle of the street uncontrollable sobbing sat up, wipped away the tear and muttered to herself "How have a let my life get so out of control?" she broke a small smile and stood up with far more resolve and walked off.
Amazingly astonished, bewilderingly befuddled, confusingly confounded and disconcertedly dumbfounded, Gerald could have tried coming up with alliterations all the way from A to Z were he not so surprisingly stupefied by what he was seeing.
This was impossible!
Now close enough to the crooked man to speak to him without shouting, his amazement made him forget about the charm his hands were playing with or the task he was sent for. He simply had to know for himself what was going on here.
"Ahum.", he coughed. "Excuse me... I, uhm, what are you... Well, no. You're healing these people, that's obvious. But how are you doing this? It's... It's not possible!"
Izorshi was visibly impressed. Either this person is very powerful, or is extraordinary at feigning power. She saw that a confounded human mage of some sort was having a similar reaction. Perhaps this meant she was becoming more human, to react like a human would.
"Excuse me, sir..."
Izorshi struggled to keep her voice calm and smooth as she spoke--it was not easy.
"By what god or power are you doing..."
she waved her arms around at the crowd
"...this?"
Gerald finds that his own comments are mirrored by several others around him. Some demanding to know what's going on and other claiming it isn't possible.
The man in the cloak just smiles and continues walking forward.
He slows and then eventually stops in his tracks when he gets to Izorshi. He brings his lantern in closer to her and she can feel the warmth coming back to her but it is slowing in pace now.
He walks up to her. "Ah this?" He points to his lantern. "It's simpler then you would think. But you... My lantern is having trouble -... uh, fixing you. This is the trouble with vampirisim. It doesn't matter what kind you are, be it full half or thrall. All the matters is how powerful the master vampire you are tied to is."
He hands her a slip of paper "Meet me here and we can work on your little problem." He smiles and walks on but now everyone around Izorshi is staring and slowly backing off.
"Did he say.... vampire?"
Gerald was among the people backing away from the vampire. The woman didn't appear all that threatening but then again, he knew the most dangerous things sometimes didn't appear so. Wasn't that what made them most dangerous in the first place?
Too much people, too much confusion going on and he needed answers. He could use the charm, but in this crowd and with so much distractions going on, he might miss something.
The vampire, she was invited to meet with the man. She seemed genuinely surprised and impressed. Did the undead feel surprise? And he couldn't possibly risk following a vampire, or what if it changed into a bat or mist or someth...
Wait! If she really is one of those things, she'd hate mirrors, no?!
With practiced precision, his fingers reached into his spell component pouch and came out with a tiny mirror, little larger than a coin.
He held it out in front of him and looked quite ridiculous with his quivering hands aiming the small coin at the vampire as if it were a weapon.
Oh...oh dear. A look of true panic enveloped Izorshi's face. I at last found someone who might be able to help me, and he has revealed me to a big crowd of people.
She did not believe she had means to convince the crowd of her harmlessness. Her head hung in shame, yet her eyes and face seemed to darken. Quickly, she looked around to see if there was a clear path she could follow not blocked by frightened people.
The man walked on and the crowd nearly started to panic.
But then a raven flew into the crowd landing on Geralds shoulder. It was the familiar of a wizard that Gerald worked under. It squawked "The Boss sent me to see if you had done your job! What's the deal with that thing?"
With that the crowd turned its attention from the Dhampir giving her the opening she needed.
Izorshi tried to run after the mysterious man. As she traveled she looked at the paper he had given her .
"I... I'm working on it, okay!", Gerald exclaimed a bit more fiercely than he had expected. "It's not like there's a manual for this kind of thing, okay?"
Why in Nethys' name had they sent him for this? This wasn't for him! He was supposed to be lazily spending his days reading, tending to his small patch of herbs, fetching books and food for the others.
Okay, focus Gerald!
The woman hadn't recoiled from the mirror, that was a good thing, right?
But now both the man and the woman his power didn't work on -that meant something, right?- were getting away and obviously his own skill wasn't sufficient to find out what was going on.
He sped after the two, preparing to break the charm when he was close enough.
Izorshi slipped through the crowd past the people who recoiled from her. Thanks to the raven she was able to make a clean break. Once she delved back into another crowd she was able to maintain her anonymity.
The man was hard to follow with everyone who was trying to make their way to him and so many who were cured that were trying to leave.
Gerald also found little luck keeping up, the bird squawking in his ear "Of course this is simple, you just had to use the charm we gave you!... Oh hold on- the Boss is busy with a mummy." The raven stared off for a good while. Gerald wasn't able to get close enough to the man, his window had passed.
Meanwhile the man with the lantern reach the end of the road, finishing his work. Looking to Izorshi, he simply pointed to her. "Midnight, at the location on the paper."
And then he simply wasn't there anymore. All that was left was a small breeze of air, filling in the empty space that he left. The trick was familiar to Gerald who had a similar trick of his own.
The raven came back to his senses. "WHAT!? He got away!... hmmm, I'll follow that girl with his note, maybe we can still figure this out."
Well, that's that, then. I must simply wait until midnight, and get there.
The moon was a full pale yellow out from all the crop fires. Izorshi followed the instructions on the parchment and found herself along the outskirts of town. A small cottage sitting just between the city and a large plantation just outside of town.
She could see a dull light coming from one of the rooms.
Meanwhile Gerald received a message from the raven using a message spell.
"OK I think I got where she is going... are you ready this time?"
"Yes, yes. I got it. I said I was sorry!"
Gerald was angry.
Angry because he was being humiliated by a darned bird bossing him around!
So, he was angry and embarrassed.
Embarrassed that he'd messed up so badly and angry that he'd been sent on something so... terrifying.
Okay. So: Angry, scared and embarrassed. But that was it.
Embarrassed he couldn't understand a thing of what was going on.
Angry because he'd gotten so little advice and information about something which appeared to be so very powerful and serious.
And scared of having to go in blindly after a man who worked miracles without any apparent effort and a woman who, for all he knew, was a vampire or something too closely related for comfort.
But he had a job to do. He'd chosen to become a wizard instead of a warrior or a blacksmith and besides reading books, this is what wizards did... apparently. Stalking young women in the night, meeting old men in cottages.
At least the familiar had made it easier to follow the woman. Gerald cautiously approached the cottage.
Gerald found himself in a field of tall stalks, about 100 yards from the main house.
Ahead along the bottom of a slope there was some light peeking out of the ground. This was not reflected light of the moon but more like the eery green light produced by magic.
What the... Well, I suppose I'm here to investigate. Better get to it., Gerald thought in an attempt to keep himself from turning back.
"Hey, birdy. I don't suppose you can fly over at a uhm, safer altitude to help me investigate?"
His spell to detect and identify sources of magic active again, he slowly approached moving as quietly as he could. The plants sure didn't make it easy.
While waiting, Izorshi reflected on the current situation.
So far, this strange person has not been very helpful. Indeed, he caused me a great deal of danger with his words. But, he seemed to know something about my father. Or at least, it sounded as if he could sense roughly how powerful my father is or was, since that was his purported reason for needing extra time to help me. Was any of that true? Could he really do anything to help?
He could have knowledge of my father. He may even be using the time until I next encounter him to cast some divination magic concerning his whereabouts. But would anything this loose-mouthed person give me be worth the danger?
Yes, I think it might be. I was sent to this region to face something dangerous, and I should have nothing to fear upon death. I shall see what is in store.
Izorshi sees only the glow coming from inside the building. The glow is steady and consistent as she approaches. She rounds the doorway that is the entrance to the cottage. She can see past the shadows now, into a room at the center of the building where a fireplace is roaring. The man from earlier is stoking the flame, if he noticed Izorshi he didn't say a thing. The lantern lay callously strewn on the ground.
Gerald got the safe signal to approach by the bird. He found a wooden doorway that leads into an underground path. The path had been illuminated by minor magics.
These tunnels are common with the local farmers who have indentured servants. In case of rebellion it acts as an escape tunnel to the local city. This tunnel will likely lead back to the cottage.
Though the fact that Gerald was able to spot it out in the open made it suspicious. Normally this should be hidden. Uppon close inspection Gerald realized that the tunnel had probably been used, and recently. The door had been haphazardly shut and the grass had not had time to cover over.
Such a tunnel should be free of viscous traps, though Gerald could not be 100% certain.
Nervously, Izorshi approached the man.
"Good evening sir..."
What could she say? It might not even make a difference: it certainly not surprise Izorshi if this person could read her thoughts.
Well then. Just a staircase and a short tunnel. It should be quite stable and safe if it's recently been used. Nothing to worry about...
A snail could have outraced Gerald, slowly proceeding into the tunnel heading towards the cottage.
Izorshi scans the room to find no trace of magic except a faint glow beyond a bookcase.
As Izorshi utters her words the man startles and lets out a yelp and whips around. The fire makes it much easier to see his face, which is old but kind looking.
"oh, well... ah, you! Yes, I did tell you to meet me didn't I? Vampire was it? Yes, too big a source to glance over. We can prep the room here and make you better... You do want to be better, right?"
Gerald herd the shrill yelp from the other end of the tunnel. It echoed around the tunnel, making Gerald realize how acoustic it was.
though it was hard to tell what it came from or what it meant.
"Indeed, I do...
what are you going to do?"
"Well, I'm not going to do anything, not really. I'm just here to set up the room. Then I will let the lantern do its work." He looks lovingly at it.
"Don't worry, it will work. I once was an adventurer. I got in too deep and a creature called a Bodak got me. It looked into my soul and twisted me until I was like it, undead and relentless. But the lantern saved me, restored me! It can work for you too. You can't help what was placed on you but now you can change it."
"The lantern? What...what sort of object is it? From whence does it come?"
Izorshi waited, nervously, for the man to finish setting up whatever it was he needed to set up.
The man quickly set up the lantern.
does it matter where it comes from? I came from a Bodak and my father was a thief. What matters is what we do. This lantern creates miracles. Though if you want a location or physical origin then I will have to apologize. My memory from back then gets hazy, I don't think it was able to bring all of me back.
the lantern burns brightly.
Don't worry. Being a bodak is much more severe then vampirisim. Ridding yourself of your curse will allow you to finally be your true self, there is no need to live as a monster... I know
"Very well."
Still uncertain about her situation, Izorshi simply waited for him to finish.
Ah, yes. Shrieking. Of course.
Doesn't get much better than this!
Going through a underground tunnel lit with a faint green light after beings of unimaginable power and possibly an undead. How could shrieks in a distance NOT be part of this. Only two things missing now, flittering bats and -
As Gerald thought this, taking a few steps deeper into the tunnel, he walked into a thick spiderweb which stuck to his face and a spider the size of his hand skittered into the shadows.
Okay. Only one thing missing and the story is complete.
...
Oh, and being chased by horrible creatures, of course.
He breathed deeply and slowly exhaled through pouted lips, uttered the words of some spells to protect him, wiped the sticky webbing off of his face and reluctantly went forward.
Gerald reached the end of the hall. Finding a circular wooden door with a peep hole in it. Through the peephole he could see the miracle workers and the girl from earlier, he could hear their voices, though a bit muffled.
"The lantern? What...what sort of object is it? From whence does it come?"
does it matter where it comes from? I came from a Bodak and my father was a thief. What matters is what we do. This lantern creates miracles. Though if you want a location or physical origin then I will have to apologize. My memory from back then gets hazy, I don't think it was able to bring all of me back.Don't worry. Being a bodak is much more severe then vampirisim. Ridding yourself of your curse will allow you to finally be your true self, there is no need to live as a monster... I know
"Very well."
The man finished his preparations and stood up straight.
"Everything is ready, you should be feeling it right about now. This will be over before you know it.
The girl began to slouch back as if she was falling over, but instead of hitting the ground she floated in the air. The man beckoned her with his hand and she floated closer, until she rested in front of him floating about four feet from the ground.
"Well, her master vampire must be strong indeed. This will make for a great haul. In fact this should fill it to the brim."
From Izorshi's point of view, The man finished his preparations and stood up straight.
"Everything is ready, you should be feeeeeeling it right about now. This will be ovvvVVvver bEfore yoooou knowwwwwwwww.....
The room went black, images fading out as if the fire had died until the room is pitch black. Slowly out of the black a form starts to take shape, black and reflective like oil, taking the shape of the lantern.
The lantern paused and then ignited a black fire. The flames licked out from the sides turning into tendrils that stretched out reaching around Izorshi to something she hadn't noticed behind her.
Behind her stood a tall cage of bone, inside was an insidious darkness, twisting and swirling as if were trying to find weakness in its cage. A seal bearing the symbol of Pharasma etched into the lock on the front of the cage.
The cage thrummed against the tendrils of the lantern, in a four beat rhythmic pattern.
Wow. Okay, the old guy is here and the girl apparently just got here. Looks like I arrived just in time to witness this man in action and see what's going on... Or should I stop this? If she's really infected with a vampire bite or something, curing her is good, right?
But that last bit didn't really sound so good. And didn't that yelp come from here? Whose voice was that? Gods, what should I do?!
Filled with doubt, no small amount of fear and tons of uncertainty, Gerald retreated to the safest option, which was simply following instructions. With trembling hands, he activated the charm he'd been told to use.
What's...happeni...
Izorshi couldn't think. Was it even working? What was all that black stuff?
There was nothing she could do, or even think. Only feeling, and not a clear feeling at all. A mix of...everything, everything being torn asunder!
Izorshi's world contained in the darkness shook. The bone cage violently torn against by the oily tentrals, ripping to get to the darkness within. The darkness began to get dragged out through the space between the bars.
Izorshi felt the pieces go. The darkness within her, her birthright began to slowly be consumed but it did not go alone. Other part of her life that the darkness also touched has to go to, like a doctor cutting out gangrenous flesh.
Part of her curse began to slip but also did the steely reserve it had given her from having to protect herself. So many aspects effected by the darkness it would be hard to tell what would be left if it continued.
The thrashing hurt her chest, and suddenly she realized that the bone cage wrapped around like ribs and the thrumming now sounded more like beats...bu bump...bu bump..... bu bump...bu bump.....
Gerald cracked the charm. Magic surged through his arm and up into his eyes. The Cristal fractured in sections like a rope having each strand of fiber burn up one at a time.
The fist spell turned his vision greyscale except for the figures standing in front of him. He instantly understood the colors and hues presented to him, like a person instinctively knows snakes are dangerous.
The man standing there was covered in a wafting purple hue. This was for evil but evil by choice rather then evil by nature. The girl was more complex, she was bathed in a pale golden light, she walked the thin line between lawful and chaotic but for good. Though inside of her was an oily blackness, the kind that came from things that were evil by nature but not by choice. It was blackest around her stomach and ran out from there through her veins, it made for a odd looking overlay of colors.
The lantern was so black it looked as if it were a hole in the sky, focusing on it seemed to make everything else around it fade away and Gerald feared that staring for too long may attract it attention.
Luckily at that moment the next spells kicked in four questions popped through his mind, forced into his head by the spells.
Is it dangerous?
Is it magic?
Is it Divine?
Can we control it?
The responses came rapidly but each in a weak whispering drawl.
yesssss
noOOooo
NooOOoo
NOOOOOO
Then the last spell kicked in and Gerald's stomach lurched. He saw again the lantern as a great black hole in the sky, this time feeling as though it did notice him and began sucking him in. He felt his body, space and time bend and warp together pulling his mind across ages and space, past the realm of man, into the cracks between life and death.
His mind smacked to a halt and found himself before a great forge. It was constructed of obsidian, though it was so dark little else could be seen. Above in the sky swirled a malestrum of lights, all funneling towards a dim light at the center. The ground was lifeless and it's form shifted from time to time.
A thunderous crashing sound came from the forge. Gerald could see a figure at the forge whenever the hammer crashed down sparking enough light to see. The face he saw in the sparks was not human nor any kind of creature he had ever seen. It almost gave the shape of and orcs skull that someone had tried to sew flesh back on to.
"Is it done?" Roared a voice.
"Yesss." The smith replied "This is my finest work."
"I still don't like it. Why the lantern? Why give them a light if our place is shadow?"
"Oh, but that's the point! We have tried plegues and we have tried invasion but we are always stopped because our place is the shadow. And what casts the darkest shadow?" He lifted up the constructed lantern "The brightest light we could make! Let it take all of their maladies and fears, let it take away their struggle, let it take away everything that makes them strong... and store it for us!."
The smith chucked gleefully. "can you imagine what one of these will be like to drink from when it comes back full?"
Gerald snapped back like a rubberband, falling over where he stood. His vision breaking up and reforming until it returned to normal.
The young wizard rolled and got up to his hands and knees when he suddenly felt weak and needed to concentrate his entire body on not vomiting.
The answers... He could have guessed at the questions, but the answers were worse than he'd feared.
Impossible. That's what it was. And incredibly powerful and dangerous and uncontrollable and so evil just thinking back of the sensation it had given his magical senses made him sick.
Gerald wanted to leave. He was alone, terrified and so completely not suited for this. Why hadn't they sent some powerful evoker or maybe an experienced abjurer or a wise diviner who'd know how to deal with this. Why send an adept wizard to investigate this... whatever this was!
But that was it, wasn't it? The investigation was complete. He'd done what was asked of him, no? He had the answers, or at least was quite certain he had all the answers that could possibly be gotten out of this from someone like him.
He -really- wanted to leave.
But he couldn't... could he?
That woman, she didn't deserve this, whatever it was. She wasn't evil. He had seen it. He'd seen the darkness in her but had also seen how she'd managed to suppress it, willed it out of her being and buried it away as deep as she could. How she'd fought it and had been fighting it for all her life.
Didn't he need to fight too, then? If he didn't, how could he live with himself, knowing he hadn't tried?
But what could he do?
He pushed himself up but still needed to lean against the wall to remain upright, he was dizzy and fought back another attack of nausea.
What can I do?!
This cannot be right, what sort of treachery is this?
Perhaps, perhaps this mystical 'lantern' is a parasitic evil. That must be why this wicked deceiver refused to explain it!
"No! Back off!" Izorshi Struggled, trying to escape the grasping embrace of the darkness. She tried to scream, but couldn't. Pure silent shadows filled her throat, she could not make a sound. She couldn't even cast spells without speaking. Oh, Lady of Graves, surely you did not send me all the way here just to end like this!
Clutching her birthmark of Pharasma in one hand, and her goddess' favored dagger in the other, Izorshi plunged her blade into the black tendrils.
Izorshi swung her dagger out cutting through one of the tendrils. The severed tendril immediately latched onto her arm. Wrestling around, making its way closer to her chest.
The lantern appeared to be gigantic now, the size of a castle perhaps, enveloping all she could see in front of her.
The scene was turning dire and the thumping began going faster and faster. Then another sound rang through the darkness.
"Are you seriously this weak?"In a low dull unamused voice."...oh no I was not speaking to you, can you excused me I have some business to attend to, we can reconvene later."
Out of the corner of Izorshi's eye she would see a faint shape, like she could see a scene through a fogged window. It was of a tall human sitting at a table. She could only catch the outline, perhaps they were being illuminated from some sort of fireplace.
The figure began to walk towards Izorshi now, slowly coming into focus. "What trouble have you gotten yourself into girl?"
Do something Gerald! Who knows what that thing's doing to her. Just... create a distraction and get that lantern away from the woman!
While concentrating on casting his spell, Gerald was surprised at his own bravery.
I'm really going to do this. I can do this!
An eagle appeared out of thin air at the entrance of the cabin and flew at the old man's face, shrieking loudly.
Almost at the same time, Gerald shifted through the door and appeared on the other side and went straight for the lantern.
Izorshi turned to see who was talking to her. Barely able to speak, she hoped that whoever it was could hear her over the noise of the evil tendrils, or at least read her lips...or thoughts.
"Something awful, I was tricked...who... are you...?" She was terrified--what would happen if the tendril reached her? In an attempt to shake it off, Izorshi dropped to the floor and rolled, hoping her sudden movement would shake it off. As she dropped, Izorshi focused her energy on channeling Pharasma's power into her surroundings, hoping it would harm the blackness that assaulted her.
She tried to move towards the other person...
The energy ripples our with little effect on the tendrils but the essence in the cage shrieks back. The golden light dissipates out and lights up the figure walking to you, which is a tall dark man.
He kneeled down next to Izorshi. A wide smile cracking across face reveals a fang. "I really thought you would be smarter then this. Do you want my help or not, your mine but I'm perfectly willing to let you follow your own fate."
Meanwhile back in reality.
The man jumped at the sound of the bird. "What's the hells is this!?" Being as jumpy as he was he flailed his arms to defend himself and attack the bird.
Meanwhile Gerald appeared out of thin space right next to the lantern, the old man oblivious to the new person in the room.
The fear had fallen from Gerald, his blood was now pure adrenaline. He saw the old man's surprise at suddenly being assaulted by a bird and couldn't help feeling a pinch of pride that at least that part of his plan had worked as he rushed for the lantern, reached for its handle and already prepared to turn about and run back to the door.
He'd just need to look through the hole -didn't need to see much at all, the green glow provided just enough illumination- and he'd vanish out of the cottage, maybe even before the evil man had realized what was happening. Hopefully the door would by him some time Damnit Gerald, why didn't you try jamming the door before you did this! to get some distance between them. Maybe even with some luck, the man would think Gerald a more powerful teleporter, in which case he could have gone anywhere.
Please don't be some kind of 'oh, normal mortals can't touch me' kind of lantern and turn me into a puddle of goo., he thought the second before his hand touched the lantern.
Terrified and alarmed, Izorshi gasped:
"Father?"
So was this him? The monster who had destroyed her mother and caused her and her family so much grief? Who she had never seen, but feared all her life?
"What reason have I to trust you?"
Yet even as she said this, she struggled towards him, trying to shake of the black tendrils.
The tall vampire lumbered over Izorshi. His closes were refined but modest, he wore no armor or drab to give any his at what his profession or status was. He moved with perfect confidence, snatching Izorshi from the ground, ripping out the tendril and replacing it with his own icy grip.
His face was one of someone who was explaining things frustratingly to a small child.
"Trust is for those who are in a position of power. The only power you have is a simple choice: Do you face reality or perish? To take what you are and put it behind that wall is like a soldier hiding his shield. You will never get rid of it. It is a part of you!... Do you honestly think that sound is your heart?" His wicked smile returned. He leaned in and whispered "...It's your stomach."
He dropped her.
"That's your choice. Defend you facade and perish, or for once be who you truly are and decide you own fate. You can't pretend to be something your not, it..." His eyes trail off.
Quickly his eyes snap back, and he reaches out a hand to Izorshi's blade, grabbing it tightly in his palm, allowing blood to pour down over it. The blade end glows crimson red and the blood off the back of the hilt forms into a key.
The lantern in all of its years had never been moved. Being an object that existed pan-dimensionally it held places in several realities so movement on one plane was just a perspective on others, but what Gerald pushed into motion was different.
Everyone in the room could feel it. Even the summoned bird startled in the moment. It felt like Gerald had lived your life as a drawn character on a page and now all the drawings fell off the page, a 2D drawing trying to cope in a 3D world. The pull was like falling... No.... Ripping!
The Old Man was left in a haze of indecision that caused him to hesitate. When he finally did gather up his wherewithal to move it was too late. Half of him went to Gerald and the other half didn't as a whole chunk of the room was ripped out of space and hurled into the darkness.
The chunk of room landed in an all to familiar scene for Gerald. The darkness, the lights above. He was in the Shadowlands he had seen in the vision. Except this time it very much resembled his own world except everything was shrouded in the darkness.
Everything except the woman still floating, the chunks of room and of course the dismembered arm (along with some of the shoulder and chest)and leg of the old man.
Gerald would have been stunned with the realization that he was responsible for a man's death had this not all happened in such a bizarre and completely surreal situation.
He didn't understand. He'd read about magic, the world, the planes... None of this was supposed to be possible!
He needed to something to know he wasn't just going insane. Maybe he'd hit his head, or simply gotten so afraid that he'd fainted. That made more sense than this. He needed something... real.
The woman, she was real. He'd seen her, heard her.
The apprentice wizard gingerly reached out to touch her arm. "Lady? Are you... okay?"
Izorshi looked defeated, but still scared. Whatever reason he had for helping her, it couldn't be good. Yet there were no other options. It was either accept her father's key and assistance or die. Well, she thought, I was suppose to come here alive, so it must not be time to die yet.
Grasping the blood key, she turned towards the lock on the cage.
"Does this open that?"
No.. He grabbed Izorshi's hand holding the key. With irresistible force he twisted her arm around plunging the key deep into her chest.... It's for that.
Izorshi convulsed both in the lantern world and in the shadow world. Fire ran through her veins and after the burning past only cold would remain. She felt cold and still of death approaching, but her mind persisted.
The bone cage crumbled, falling to the ground. The darkness inside that had been shrieking away now viciously fought back like a cornered animal.
Izorshi's father watched with almost glee.
Gerald witnessed the woman convulsing, slowly loosing her pulse.
Gerald understood her heart was failing. This was something he had seen before. He needed to act of she would die.
When Gerald first touched the woman, he was incredibly relieved he felt a pulse. So not a vampire or undead!
But that was quickly replaced with worry when the woman started shaking and he felt her pulse grow more faint with every heartbeat.
No! I did not just do all this to have her die now!
Luckily, he'd had some training with healing. It was one of those things he picked up from books mostly, but he'd gotten practice after the locals found out and thought they might as well have one of those wizards do something useful for a change.
This was different though. Driven by necessity and half a gallon of adrenaline in his blood, he remembered his textbooks word by word and his body acted as if in a trance.
Afterwards, he would barely even remember administering CPR. He does, however, remember vigorously hoping she wouldn't bite when his mouth moved closer to hers.