WHOOSH!

A cloud of black smoke billowed up around Narissa. She coughed as she tried to wave it out of her face, but it was futile as the smoke continued to pour out faster and faster. She ended up having to tun into the stairway of the subterranean lair to get some semblance of fresh air.

"What's the matter? Smoke got your lungs?" Chuckled Og'drimun as the smoke enveloping him didn't seem to affect him whatsoever.

Narissa coughed a few more times before she held a cloth over her mouth. "That's not the saying you brat."

"Uh, well saying something about cats and tongues wouldn't make any sense." he countered.

"Cute," she said mockingly. "But can't you do something about all of this?"

Og'drimun was obscured by the black smoke, but he still shook his head as he shrugged. "Ah, you know. I wish I could, but someone let an amateur pull me into this world. That made me lose a bunch of my raw power. If I was only at full strength, it'd be child's play, but in this body? Ah, just. Dang. Nothing I can do."

"How much power do you need to clear a little smoke?" she sneered before she closed her eyes to protect them from the smoke as it continued to spread.

"Everything's always so simple with you. We're working with exceedingly dangerous magic here! One mistake, and it'll easily take out this entire rock along with everyone on it." Og'drimun looked over at the small, red glowing orb in the center of various symbols. "So it's letting off a little smoke? Who cares! Let it release bits of energy instead of rupturing the protective ward completely."

"Except it's either going to suffocate me or make me have to leave," she coughed. "And you can't finish this on your own."

Og'drimun let out a haughty laugh, "Hah! Can't handle it? Do you know the things I have done girl! The powers I have wielded with my bare hands? This much magic is nothing to me."

Narissa tried to wave the smoke away from her face. "Was that magic made specifically to kill you?"

Og'drimun paused. "Oh...right...yeah, maybe we should do something about this smoke."

"Oh, what a great idea. I wish that I had thought of it," she sneered.

"You can complainl, or you can help me form a portal to release this outside."

"Really?" sighed Narissa. "You want to create a surge of magical energy outside of this protected room, and then, on top of that, release this huge amount of highly magical smoke loose outside? Do you know how quickly that will be noticed?"

Og'drimun groaned in frustration. "Fine fine, we'll...Well, we can't force it back in without risking a catastrophic rupture."

"What about how we handled that ever-burning fire that consumed anything it touched?"

"Oh yeah, wasn't that the crow wizard or something?"

"He was even cockier than you."

"Hah!" laughed Og'drimun. "I know, even I was thinking, 'tone it down man.' Like, who cares about your family issues? No need to take it out on the world just because."

Narissa chuckled. "Man, he was over the top. Couldn't even tell he lost until it was way too late. Shouldn't have focused so much on flashy magic."

Og'drimun started to draw symbols in the air. "Ah, good times, but that's not a bad idea. We just need some valuable jewelry...."

"Or just use one of the empty vials on the wall."

"Huh? You can see those?" Og'drimun asked as he turned to the wall.

"Not with my eyes shut like this. I just tend to pay attention to where I am, unlike some people."

"FIne, that'll work. I'll work on the funnel, if you can establish the frame."

Narissa kept her eyes closed and held the cloth tight over her mouth as she lied on the ground. With her left hand she started to trace various symbols in the air with the quick hand of a well-practiced witch. "Just guide the roots to the whichever vial you're going to use."

Og'drimun rolled his eyes with a small smile as he floated a little closer towards Narissa as he continued to wave his hands through the air. "Oh, sure make me have to multitask just because your fragile eyes can't stand a little magically dense smoke."

Slowly, the symbols they were drawing began to glow. Narissa's started to turn a bright green, while Og'drimun's glowed a deep purple. As Narissa's formed, Og'drimun stretched a hand out towards them. "In the name of the king under the mountain, form the basis of this unholy union. Establish your realm in the heart of this world and let it stretch out through eternity. Hold fast, and flourish beyond all imagination. I COMMAND YOU!"

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With the sound of a thunderclap, all of their symbols disappeared as one of the vials began to glow a sickly brown. Og'drimun floated over towards it and snatched it from the shelf. He shook his head slowly and gulped. "Alright, here we go."

Narissa planted her feet on either side of the door frame and nodded. "Let it rip."

POP

The cork popped off the top surprisingly loudly, but then it immediately began to suck in all the smoke around it almost like a black hole. It pulled so strongly that Narissa was forced up, as it tried to pull her in too. She planted her hands on either side of the doorframe to help support herself as the cloth she was using to protect her mouth got sucked away and into the tiny vial.

Og'drimun held it open a little longer than he needed to, but eventually popped the cork back on. Narissa stumbled forward but managed to keep her footing as she got into a small coughing fit to try and clear out her lungs. The smoke quickly threatened to overtake the room again, until Og'drimun loosened the stopper slightly, and it slowly sucked in the smoke. He set it just outside the symbols near the red orb and as the smoke constantly escaped, it was sucked straight into the vial.

Narissa groaned as she pushed her hands against the small of her back. "Ugh, that much smoke was definitely not good for my skin." She twirled her finger around outside of her mouth and then lurched like a cat throwing up a hairball as a solid chunk of soot flew out of her mouth. "Ugh, and bad for my lungs too, apparently."

"Alright, well that problem's taken care of. Ah, you're welcome." he said with a small bow and a huge, self-satisfied grin on his face. "Now, we just need to harness all this into that weird shape, right?"

Narissa wiped her mouth with another handkerchief as she walked over. She stuffed it back into her pocket as she leaned over the red orb as smoke poured out of a small crack in it and straight into the vial. "We have to compartmentalize it. Focus most of it into six areas the size of the head of a pin, but we have to form a strong enough barrier to actually hold all of that. Then of course, we need a secondary barrier to hold all of them together. We can't have it unstable so that all the energy just explodes when we don't want it to."

Og'drimun sighed. "This is such a pain. It'd be easier to just throw all this energy directly at them, and to gather it all at once? Into this small size?" He started to fidget with one of his long ears. "It's asking for more accidents like with the smoke."

Narissa smirked. "I thought you loved a challenge?"

"Hah!" he quickly shifted his hands to his hips as he puffed out his chest. "The might Og'drimun can defeat any challenge that comes his way! But this? This is like crossing an ocean of lava on a wooden board."

Narissa gently placed her finger on the red orb, and as she did, it started to glow brighter. "Just imagine what they'll say about you when we actually pull this off. Oh, and don't forget we have to make at least two, but the more we can get the better. So think of this as good practice for later too."

Og'drimun slapped his forehead. "Dang it, I forgot. That crazy task master doesn't understand what he's asking...we're going to have to make something that can handle using these too, aren't we?"

"Yep."

"Which will be just as impossible as this is?"

"Yep."

Og'drimun shook his head, but then took in a deep breath and let out a boisterous laugh. "Hahaha! Luckily you have me here! This would be impossible for anyone else? But for me! Hah! Meer child's play."

"Good to know, now help me reinforce the underside. It's trying to gain physical form and its sentience is advancing far too quickly." Narissa said calmly.

"What are you...oh geez! Quick, the Flamel algorithm! We've got to lull it back to sleep before it's too late!"

----------------------------------------

After that total bummer yesterday, I know just what we need.

Sentenza looked over at Death as he adjusted his new eye patch. "You know. I got to say. You're not quite the image of the Grim Reaper I had in my head."

Grim Reaper? What is that?

"It's what we'd call the fella who'd go around and collect the souls of the dead." explained Sentenza as he poked at the stir-fried peppers on his plate. "What I wouldn't give for some cow to show up and give us some actual milk," he mumbled to himself. "I've been dying for some good old flapjacks."

That's a pretty dark description, but I guess reaper fits pretty well with what I used to do. Just don't know why it has to be so foreboding when I was just doing a necessary job.

"Not everyone has such a high view of death." Sentenza continued as he pushed away his plate and pulled out a hunk of wood and a rather large knife. He began to whittle off chunks as he continued to talk with Death. "Not you directly of course, just the whole ordeal of being ripped away from the living."

Still man, ouch. Guess there were more people that must've hated what I did. Death seemed to think about this for a few seconds, but then crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall as he nodded. But that's not my problem anymore! I'm officially retired, and just here to party now.

"That's it. I always expected a more somber fella is all. You're definitely a lot brighter than I'd expect too. Black is the color I normally think of when I think of death. Well, that and red."

Well, I showed up here without any clothes, so I had to make do. Then, I just ran with it! I embraced what was in my heart and I things have only gotten better from there!

"You don't say." mused Sentenza as he continued to carve chunks off of the wood. "That's fine I suppose. Just unexpected. I guess I figured you'd have a style closer to mine."

Death scratched his bony chin as he looked Sentenza up and down. Nah. Way too restrictive. I need freedom to do all of my sick tricks.

"You'd be surprised, it actually..."

WAIT!

Sentenza winced as Death's voice interrupted him and rang out in his head like two slabs of granite crashing into each other.

I was talking about the big plan to fix things before you interrupted me.

Sentenza rubbed his finger in his ear, more out of habit after hearing a loud noise than that he actually needed to. After all, Death's voice simply appeared directly in people's brains. After all, he had no vocal cords. "You don't say." he muttered.

Yeah bro. Trust me, it's genius! We just need a few things to set it up, and then this place is going to be wild! Death pointing his fingers up into the air several times, as if to imitate dancing before he continued. You've got some free time, right?

"Hmm, I think there's stuff I'd rather be doing." Sentenza answered.

Ah, you don't want to miss this bro! We just need a karaoke machine, some balloons, a couple squirrels, a bowl of bottomless nachos, and a slip 'n slide!

"Yeah, I'm not sure what any of that is besides the squirrels, but it sounds like more trouble than it's worth." shrugged Sentenza as he turned his attention back down to the wood he was working on.

Oh man, have you never let it all out at karaoke night? I bet you'd be able to hit some sick low notes man! Come on, it'll totally be worth it! Death said as he appeared behind Sentenza.

"You're lucky I was expecting that," Sentenza said calmly as he kept his eyes on his current carving project. "But appear behind me at the wrong time, and I'll be liable to shoot your head off."

Pshaw. Trizel already knocked my block off once. It'll be fine.

"Right, well either way. I'm not going to be helping you out. If you want to gather whatever all that is, that's fine, but leave me out of it," said Sentenza.

Death tapped his bony chin. See, here's my problem bro. To get all this stuff, I'll need to head outside...

"Oh, how horrifying for you," Sentenza said. "Having to actually leave this building and get some fresh air? Ooh, I shudder just thinking about it."

No, you see. I'd have to actually walk to get around out there. And that on top of grabbing all this stuff is just way too much. I don't even know if I could handle carrying everything on my own if I have to walk it back step by step.

"Most people tend to manage. If it's too much to carry, just take multiple trips."

Come on man, we could work on this together! It'll be a fun surprise for everyone else from the two of us!

Sentenza sighed and turned to look at Death who was giving him a thumbs up. "Why do people keep coming to me with these secret projects? Wouldn't Trizel be better at hauling things?"

I mean...

"Is it because I'm right here? With your teleporting, couldn't anyone be right by you in the blink of an eye?" Sentenza asked.

Aha! I get it. Eye, because of the eyepatch. Nice one.

Sentenza sighed and shook his head. "Fine. Let's head out and get this stuff. Though if you want the squirrels alive, you'll need to handle that part. I don't plan on trying to hold onto live animals."

Let's just see how it goes my man.

As Sentenza got up, the two of them started to head for the door. As they did, Death started to pipe up. Hey, uh just one more thing. We could be out there a while, so could you maybe...

"I'm not carrying you," Sentenza replied as he pulled open the door.

Oh Come on! It doesn't have to be for the entire time!