Umph, a sudden gasp. Upon waking he first noticed being dizzy, an acrid smell filling his nostrils and it was freezingly cold. Great, he had not been dreaming that before. If he would have the energy to rant he wasn’t quite sure where to start. Besides him a fire had been lit, that much he could feel from the warmth it radiated.
“Master you are awake!” he heard a cheery voice that sounded like scraping knifes to his ears.
“Who, what, where, how,” Nic stammered, searching wildly for the speaker. Finally hearing a clanging giggle, he raised his head and could make out a small creature sitting on his chest. It was vaguely shaped like a cat, probably.
Blinking he studied the strange thing. Yes, his first thought told him that this was at least in its base the shape one would associate with a cat. And that was about all that one could say about the similarities to one. It had three glowing thin eclipses as eyes, with slit pupils and a smile that showed too many sharp teeth to realistically fit in a single mouth. On its back the being had small appendages that seemed to be wings, but so tiny he wasn’t sure they could even function as such. The ears reminded him of a lynx, but that was about all he could say to contours as there didn’t seem to be any. Well, besides the glowing red eyes and the teeth the small creature seemed to be made up of wavering darkness and shadows, as if the form was more of an afterthought and just something to use until something else was needed. He couldn’t even concentrate on the thing all that much or long as he was already getting a splitting headache and his eyes were getting watery.
Then he thought of something. “Did you pull me out of the water?”
“Why of course, who else should have master?”, it griped indignant. Arguably, he probably should have tried sounding less sceptic than he did, but well. And that voice was giving him the creeps.
“But you – but I – but you – but I,” he blurted out incredulously, but turned silent the instant he felt something wrap around his upper body. If someone asked how it felt, honestly, he couldn’t really describe what if felt like12. The tiny wings started beating and he would have turned white, had he not been chalky to begin with, as he felt himself being lifted off the ground. Just at a foot or two in height the tiny creature stopped. Normally he would have expected to be let go by that point, but was for once positively surprised as the cat just sank down gently.
His thought process on the whole could be described as such – oh god, that strong – if it swims as well as it flies – what is it, what does it eat – hopefully not me – why –...
But that paled as his mind had to latch onto the next thing that it found to be impossible. And that was the fire burning. Who in all that was holy had got the fire even startet? Though the who was much less important as he really wanted to know how.
‘If I am not just experiencing a strange fever dream and am actually on my way to the afterlife, that is.’
Which was entirely possible. He was strangely intact and in lack of pain for what he should be. Though if he was having hallucinations they sure were preferable to screaming his head of and lose his mind because of experiencing unfathomable agony. Though that was something else and there were so many things said about dying, something had to be true.
Should he still be alive though and wanted to stay that way he really should find a way out of here.
“Hey, what’s your name anyway? I can’t just say hey you every time,” Nic perused casually.
“I’m Kwez, nice to meet you!” the thing introduced itself jovially.
“Well, hello, my name’s Nic,” smiling slightly, raising his hand. It seemed a bit strange shaking the creatures ... paw.
The thing had under no circumstances given him his real name. It could not be as that would be just his luck and a really cruel joke of the universe that he just summoned a creature with about as frightening a name as his own.
Still, in some way he did summon it, that much he was sure of. But how? He had absolutely no idea. If he had to guess it would probably be a who knew how old ritual that had been long forgotten. With it being hard to even find anything in the city itself. And what kind of pact it might be he didn’t know either, as he would have to know about the ritual itself first. He didn’t remember giving any specific promises lately... Though, there had been that other thing while he had been too out of it to properly remember what had been happening either way... Or that other time where he had been of the opinion of it being a nightmare... Still, the baseline being he was a bit screwed, and it sounded like the perfect recipe for a massive disaster.
Well, no matter, it didn’t seem intent on eating him which would have to be enough for the moment. For the moment he had other, more acute problems that if he stayed would solve themselves one way or the other13. Though he would be napping a bit first, he was entirely to drained to move, let alone try stumbling around in a cavern full of water. He was a bit done with the near-death experiences for the time being.
How much time had gone by he couldn’t quite tell, but he was at least a bit refreshed. He really should get going though, who knew how worried Ivan was. At that thought he laughed tonelessly. Yeah, the idiot was sure to be worried. But as they were in a city brimming with magic where his friend was about as comfortable as a fish on a mountain he was about right out of his depth. And even if he tried finding him, tracking him would be a bit difficult. Footsteps were a bit hard to see on stone and even if his friend managed to somehow find his way down the catacombs he wouldn’t have it any easier finding the stupid cave he had tumbled in. Worse even, then they would be sitting down here together and just be two idiots dying. Well, at least he wasn’t alone...
“Kwez, you don’t happen to coincidentally know a way out of here?”
Maybe he was lucky for once.
The small creature seemed to bob his head, before answering, “Sure, just over there is a path leading to some stairs.”
Well, Nic was happy, and a bit confused at the same time. So he wouldn’t have to try climbing, that was a good thing, but why the stairs were even there was a bit strange. As long as he didn’t manage to stumble into another ritual he should be fine. And hopefully reach the surface a bit faster.
“Come along, the way up is here,” an enthusiastic clanging resounded in his ears.
Yeah, there had been stairs. Old, barely recognizable as such and slippery like a slope at times, so Nic had had to climb. And that just had been the first set. The next might as well have been stairs constructed for giants, as the were about half his own height, so much for an easy way. At least they had reached the catacombs, but even that had taken longer than he would have liked. He was thirsty, he could by now eat a horse, he was that hungry and had aches in muscles he hadn’t been aware of having in the first place. On top of that the blasted cat seemed to have an endless well of energy and its jovial mood was about as welcome as the blisters on his feet. At least it had a way of orienting itself, he had no idea where they were.
Though he really had to admit the shape of the creature was downright unfair. As it looked like a cat and behaved about like one, if you ignored the talking bit, he couldn’t even be as foul to it as he would have liked.
At the moment it had been leading him down a long corridor that was leading to a door that did look deceptively good, compared to the others he had seen down here. It was for once not seemingly breaking down at the slightest touch and seemed sturdy and doing its intended purpose. Though he did miss a few details, like the shimmering runes on the edges of it or the other shadowy symbols and signs carved into it. So, he just pressed down the ornate handle without even thinking about knocking and it swung open easily.
He was surprised enough to just stand there blinking, as for once he did not barge in on an ongoing ritual, that would have gotten a bit ridiculous otherwise.
The man within the room looked at him with little surprise, though seemed a bit irritated. Without another word he pulled out a pocket watch, studying it frowning. He had long hair that fell down his back in numerous thin braids, on top of his head sat a chaperon with a wide brim, adorned with dark crystals, that looked vaguely like bones, some were braided into the hair as well. He had a beard growing around his mouth and down his chin well down to the middle of his chest, it was well groomed, though his cheeks were clearly rather freshly shaven. The long liripipe was adorned with the crystals as well, seemingly glittering like the night sky. His robe reminded Nic of what usually was worn by elemental mages, but that was the end of any similarities. Instead of being of one color in different shades it looked a mix of black and white had exploded on it without a real sensible pattern and he could see the hems being adorned by the same crystals, though now he wasn’t quite sure whether they were light or dark. The man was pale, his skin seemed ashen and like it shouldn’t even be there anymore, his veins clearly visible in a darkish blue.
“I will admit I have been expecting your arrival a bit later today or much earlier. Be as it may, enter and close the door it you will,” he commented, not even looking at Nic, his voice unexpectedly full and deep.
Nic got the hint and did as told, noticing Kwez having taken place on his shoulder. Even the weight was similar to that of a cat, funnily enough. With a quiet click the door fell into the lock.
Ivan had no idea whether he was coming or going. After Ysenda, that shopkeeper of that small curiosities shop hat explained a few things he followed her advice and stayed put. Well until the evening, that is. He shouldn’t worry too much, she would be sending him to someone when the time had come.
He had to admit he didn’t quite get what she did explain, but the gist of it being Nic having started an age-old evocation that would be coming to a close this day. Or something along those lines, there had been a lot of technical (or rather magical) mumbo-jumbo that went right over his head. But, and that was the important part, Nic would have to do that alone.
Though to Ivan it was very strange that everyone seemed to understand that at first, after thinking it over it made a lot of sense in hindsight. They were in a city full with magicians and they had a feeling for such things, if not more than enough people who probably could plainly see it. Back at home only the druid might have noticed, if at all, but the rest of the townsfolk? Yeah, not so much.
Hopefully his father was fine and didn’t run his mouth. But knowing him it would be well. And if he did say something – well, he was an adult, he’d know what to do.
Though by now he was getting impatient, as what he called evening had long since passed and it was nighttime, if he wasn’t wrong sunrise was about and hour or two away. So, as he always did, he went off on his own to find his friend. Over the years he had developed a skill with that and as soon as he had found him, well. He wasn’t sure whether he would tear him a new one or congratulate him for the ritual or whatever, maybe both in a not yet set order.
Happily he got going and soon entered the main streets, passing by their lodging. As he knew Nic well he was very sure he had not been particularly caring where he was going in his anger. So, he just walked down the next alley he came across and just kept turning left or right at random. Nic still held on to his opinion of him finding him by tracking skills, if he knew... At home Ivan did much the same, go in the approximate direction his friend probably went and he was rather sure to find him. After a while he usually just followed his ears. Loud cussing wasn’t usually something to worry about, but screaming was a bit different. But especially when there were more voices and a few calling things like “Get him, he’s over there!” he usually took up to running and being ready to pull Nic out of whatever snit he had gotten himself into. Most of the times by accident, funnily enough. But more often than not he just ran into the other direction, as Nic was already running away. He also kept his eyes open for possible hidey-holes as Nic didn’t have much stamina and even if he didn’t weigh much, Ivan wasn’t that fit to keep running faster while carrying his friend.
It had worked well enough, so he was sure it would work just as well in this situation. If not, well, he had an idea or two what he could try instead.
Grinning he turned right. That kind of screaming was nothing new, so he might as well just do as he usually did.
What did not register to Ivan was the fact that he shouldn’t even be walking around such streets like this. He was being followed for a while but those people had been followed by other things, which where more successful. That those were things made out of darkness was something else he was not aware of. In a way that was a blessing in disguise and coincidentally his habits did bring him on the right path, if not for the right reasons.
Finally reaching a building, he was pretty sure he was at the right place. It had taken longer than usual, but as he was in a city and one brimming with magic at that he wasn’t overly surprised. There were places that made you comprehend the taste and sound of the color blue for example, and that was the stuff of a more benign nature after all. Still, he had something of a sixth sense regarding his friend and be it excitement or lamenting, he could hear Nics voice somewhere nearby. Ivan was curious what it was about, for once he did seem mostly overjoyed, though that was less of a surprise. If it did make sense was another thing altogether, though to his friend it probably would one way or another.
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As he neared a building in lack of another word, he was noticing a lot of things that were strange. As a first it did seem incredibly tiny in the base, like a pyramid put upside down, but not the kind with straight lines but with steps, still seemingly round in build and not all that angular, if not flowing. The walls were black as tar, at least those he could make out which didn’t have some kind of liquid flowing down on them. At first the smell reminded him of blood but if it was blood it had a very strange color as it was more like a green tinged blue, so it might as well have been some kind of sludge. He couldn’t see a roof, but as he had seen some towers and battlements he was pretty sure it had to have those. Arguably, they might just be not really visible in the night sky, maybe he just couldn’t recognize them as such. The few windows he spotted were sometimes small, sometimes big and were never staying in place for long. Eerie half-light shone out of them, Ivan felt like he was being stared at by a thousand eyes with just three or four visible to him. The door was thankfully staying where it was as the sole things of the house, everything else seemed to flow as it wished but it was shimmering and smoldering like in the darkest night, runes and signs on it glittering like stars, some brighter, some dimmer.
He couldn’t see any kind of knocker and was about to just pound on the door which just creakingly opened in that specific moment, his hand still raised midair. A small girl was in front of him and caused him discomfort instantly. That was for a few reasons, the first and foremost being that as talented Ivan might be with many things, he just couldn’t deal with children of any kind. Even if the person was an adult, it was enough to look that childlike that he was lost and didn’t quite know what to do. Children could be small, sure, they were growing after all but should in his opinion just behave like adults would. He basically expected them to be adults in behaviour and manner, just still a bit short and be as courteous and reasonable like grown-ups would be.
In this case another part of his unease was caused by her appearance besides the stature. She had snow-white hair, her skin was a dark bluish grey, which seemed scorched at places and her eyes where vaguely almond shaped eclipses in the color of amber, he couldn’t see any kind of pupil or other things he usually would expect eyes to look like. The childlike being was wearing something that probably had been dress of some kind once upon a time but now it looked like ashes and embers made into something to wear, swirling around as some kind of clothing.
“Master has been expecting you, your friend has arrived a while ago as well,” she informed him, her voice was high-pitched and sounded like clinking glass.
Swallowing he entered, taking care to not touch the strangely flowing mass that was worn by the being. But also tried to look away from it as much as possible, alone the things he noticed in the corners of his eyes where something he sure would get nightmares from for weeks.
“Over there,” she instructed him, pointing down the hallway, “and turn right after the second door, there is a passage.”
Ivan did just that but was soon asking himself how that was supposed to work, the way had very unusual twists. He walked straight on, passed the first door and turned around to look back. Blinking he tried to comprehend what he was seeing but shook his head not a moment later. He had walked on instead, the girl standing at the entrance was one thing. That she was not upright like she should be, but more like a picture rotated at a right angle and as a whole not clearly visible but fuzzy, which was disturbing. After passing the second door, sure enough, there was the passage. Now that door had definitely been bleeding, the smell was distinctly similar to copper and the thing dripping was red. Sighing he risked it and took another look back. Right, now he could see her standing upside down. Ivan ignored his mental anguish at that and just hurried down the passage.
The corridor was normal enough, but only for the first ten steps before suddenly changing to a step and slim path that was spiraling upwards. Though he had yet to see any torches he had more than enough light and could see everything well enough.
“Magicians...” Ivan grumbled slightly peevish.
He wasn’t quite sure how long he had been going upwards but he had been reasonably sure he hadn’t been lost in his thoughts that excessively as he suddenly stopped in front of a door. Though arguably the thing might have just appeared at the moment just for him nearly running into it.
The door itself looked old and like it should be overgrown with ivy, like an ancient portal or a kind. Ivan also thought it was that run down that it surely was stuck or needed a good push to open, but one again it abruptly swung open without any kind of warning and didn’t even make a single sound. Ivan screamed though it wasn’t because the door opened but the girl from before standing on the other side of it. How had she been able to arrive here before him?!
“Ivan, there you are! Deva said you were supposed to arrive hours ago!”
Before he could even get a look at him Ivan was already being hugged tightly by a well known redhead. The moment didn’t last long and he was pulled along while Nic was babbling excitedly about a number of things. Everything he had learned about was enthusiastically recounted, regarding all thing magic. Or the strange, questionable and occult. As usual most of it went right over his understanding but it was good to see Nic being well and as excitable as always.
Meanwhile Nic was equally happy as he was embarrassed over his own reaction and quite tempted to lose it completely if he thought of Ivan’s reaction to Deva. As brave as his friend was taking on whatever task at hand, confronting him with children was the one thing sending him running for the hills, you couldn’t even see much with the dust he kicked up while dashing away.
“For once you seem to be in one piece, right?” Ivan probed briskly.
Nic just nodded, scratching the back of his head. He wasn’t about to explain what exactly had happened down there and would just leave it at that.
“Hey master, is that your lackey?”
The innocently voiced question had a very significant effect – Nics face looked somewhere between surprised, shocked and absolutely flabbergasted. His mouth opened and closed without him uttering any sound. Ivan on the other hand took a moment to catch on what the cat implied. You could see the moment he did so very clearly, as he started frowning heavily, snarling with gnashing teeth.
“Now listen, you flee bitten –“
“Kwez! Ivan is –“
“– to pieces –“
“– and sure as hell –“
“– gonna show you, you –“
Both were loudly talking over each other, so naturally they were many things, but understandable was not among them. They fell silent as Alistair’s deep voice cut through their exclamations with bellowing belly deep guffaws. Nic flushed, even his ears turning red at that, looking down to the floor, hoping it would swallow him whole just then and there.
“I remember having had a terribly similar situation once. Deva, as you may have noticed, is a being from a very different plane of existence. That childlike shape took time until it was fully formed and even then it is still not the most stable one.
“Regardless, one day after she took that form she met one of my business partners, meeting another human besides me for the first time. Now you have to know, that mage was an Terramagus, who had dark brown skin and was about a head taller than myself. Through a misshap with a ritual in his youth his hair had been turned green permanently and on that specific day he had gotten into a tussle with a weather witch. She had hit him with a powerful lightning strike, so his wavy hair looked all frizzy and stood up from his head in every direction,” he explained, stroking his beard in reminiscence.
“Long story short, he looked rather wild and as he was still a bit peeved he didn’t keep as tight a leash on his powers as he usually did, so parts of his robes were overgrown with lichen and ivy. He made quite the picture. Deva, when seeing him, just in all seriousness and full of curiosity asked me whether that was one of those trees I had told her about. Me laughing uproariously didn’t endear me to that fellow for a while, let me tell you.”
Ivan couldn’t help himself and cracked up, howling at the image presented. Nic was a bit more restrained, but couldn’t help snickering as well. The small being smiled, trying to look especially innocent, but that fell a bit short when you saw the smile. Some things just shouldn’t smile, it was rather creepy, as Ivan just saw an opening with too many teeth.
“So, who is the small fella?”
“If I may – this is Kwez. It seems I kind of started some ancient ritual weeks ago and it has been concluded with his appearance. As it was still ongoing the people around here have something of a non-interference policy regarding that,” Nic clucked disapprovingly, sounding rather sour about the whole thing, “but to not even hint about it wasn’t nice. Someone could surely have given me some kind of hint. He brought me here after manifesting.”
“My name is Alistair, Chronomagus14, at your service,” the old guy took that as a cue to introduce himself. “You have already met Deva. As mentioned, my element, so to speak, pertains time and is a field that is subjected to many thaumaturgical fluctuations and is rather volatile in its own nature. So, it would really be appropriate to say that I expected your companion to arrive much earlier, much later or not at all at the same time. Time is one of the few disciplines that are facing a lot or scorn and ridicule, so many elementary mages view it as a nonsensical object of study. Coincidentally, according to many of my colleagues, I should be dead by now about a three dozen times over.”
Alistair suddenly started laughing again, though this time it was far from joyous or the kind that would be the reaction to a good joke. No, it was rather maniacal and tinged with madness.
“But as I already explained many times, you just need a certain mindset, certainty that all I ever did, all I am doing and will do just happens as it has, would and will. Therefore, I am not creating paradoxes or such silly things as time loops on accident. Especially the last are just useful for extensive studies or broadening your knowledge or some old texts. A bit tricky to get rid of without specific code phrases though. I remember a guy, he once in his drunken stupor used a groundhog as an anchor and a few other specific conditions that had to be met. Sadly, I hadn’t been present and finding what they were was a chore. That day happened much too often for my tastes.”
Nic had been listening attentively, soaking up every piece of information like a sponge. Ivan on the contrary was just smiling politely and trying to nod at appropriate places. And the old guy had been waiting for Nic specifically, because...?
“Listen, boy,” Alistair chided turning to Ivan, he really should stop running his mouth at times, “I am one of the very few who is handed books and scrolls that are of a unique nature whose sole existence alone is lacking. Those I bring together with who should read them or should get them in their possession at least. Sometimes the other way around, really. Those written pieces can only be opened by predestined beings, who bear the suitable characteristics, from birth spanning to but not limited to magical affinities, even just the successful completion of some ritual or other might be the key. At this point I am entering the scene, so to speak. I bring together the written word with the doer.”
Nic quietly sighed. He was thinking about that blank scroll he had been handed without much further ceremony. It was thick, but upon opening it had been empty. Patience was the key, as the thing had somewhat refused to be left behind. He had put it on a table, down in the basement, but later had found it in a bag beside him. Neither Alistair nor Deva had put it there, he did think that at the first moment. And no, Kwez hadn’t done anything either. Somewhen in the future it would surely have something to read on it, as he couldn’t write anything on it either. And not for lack of trying. If he did believe the strange bloke the thing was somewhat alive, in lack for lacking all that might count as being so.
Regardless, it was a priceless thing and he was curious as to what secrets he would find there in the future.
**********
12It wasn’t cold per se, but not hot either. Nor wet, but not dry, it just was.
13Probably based on the assumption of the dead not having problems anymore. Even souls that were called back were keeping mum, so nobody has any different notion about it.
14Chronomages are as a whole even weirder than cranky old wise men climbing mountains. Strangely enough though their life expectancy is much lower they most of the time do have long lives and usually die quite peacefully with a high age in their own bed than what other people prophesize them.