It was a mere day before Brigid allowed them to leave again. For some reason, Astrid did not have any work for her two servants. Shane carried Felix to the workshop campus, and while Felix was inspecting the latest prototypes, the Green Dragon's men summoned them both in a panic. Even the Draconic Paladins were agitated. Felix stalked out into the courtyard.
"What's this about?" Felix asked.
A pompous man on a horse trotted up to Felix, wearing a gleaming white uniform with two red armbands. His face was filled with contempt, and suddenly Shane remembered the man. His name was Gero, and he had fought alongside Shane and Brigid in Needlewood, during the Rilnese worker "uprising." Two more Heritage Militia thugs with crossbows marched up alongside the man.
"My name is Commander Gero," the man said.
"I know that, idiot."
"Friend Paladin, I have been sent by Supreme Commander Albrecht to investigate this compound. We will not tolerate any insult, nor will we tolerate any violence."
"Albrecht the Oathbreaker," Felix said. Then, without preamble, Felix lunged forward and grabbed Gero by the leg. With inhuman speed, no doubt using the full power of Astrid's blessing, Felix ripped the man from the saddle and slammed him into the ground so hard that his head exploded in a cone of reddish-pink gore.
Shane froze in astonishment. The horse screamed and fled, slamming into one of the two men so hard that he collapsed. Then the horse trampled the poor soul, with one heavy hoof smashing through the man's teeth and crushing his neck. He made no sound. The final man made one feeble attempt to raise his crossbow, but he was quickly disarmed with a high kick to the chest. The weapon was turned on him as he scrambled in retreat. The bolt struck him in the eye so hard that his other eyeball popped out of its socket, spraying red mist as it flew vertically into the air.
Remarkably, Felix did not have any blood on his hands, nor were his clothes stained. The sound of clapping sucked Shane out of his shock. The Green Dragon approached the corpses in the center of the courtyard. His face was merry. "Well struck Felix!" King Cyneric cried. "Well struck!"
"Oh how horrible!" Alice shrieked. She averted her eyes.
"King Cyneric," Felix said. "Do you see those red armbands?"
"I do."
"Tell your followers that they should kill anyone that approaches the compound wearing those armbands."
"And what if they come by stealth?" The King asked.
"They are blinded by pride," Felix replied.
"I will inform the Sergeants," Deorwine said. The advisor to the King turned and began shouting orders to the green-haired soldiers.
"We have dallied long enough, Shane. Go ahead and use that foul sorcery of yours to take us to the Realms."
"As you say, let us be off." Shane reached out and established a connection to the Realm of Lightning. Then, he expanded the connection into an opening, a tear in reality that manifested in the courtyard as a foggy surface with a rim made from pale-gold light. The fog began to undulate with golden light, and then the fog cleared, revealing a space beyond, a space outside of the world. A desert world, with a sky as black as night, filled with stars. He grabbed Felix by one arm and shifted through to the other side.
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The blue-haired man used his foul sorcery to open a portal to some strange desert place. Then, without warning, Felix found himself on the other side. The portal vanished, and Felix was trapped.
"I did not give you permission to trap us here," Felix growled.
"Trust me," Shane replied. "The portal always closes when we are both through."
Felix let it pass. He was no stranger to being yanked into another world, not after his visit to Flood's End, and his encounter with that dark mockery of reality that Shane now called the Elemental Plane of Spirits. This world was bright and filled with harsh light. The landscape was unrecognizable. Red stone canyons, stone spires crafted by unfathomable years of erosion, and that solid black sky, filled with stars, bright as tiny suns.
And then Felix saw the white lines.
It was like a box. A box that had been crushed slightly inward, as if the square at the top of the box was slightly smaller than the square at the base. The lines were made of white light, faint but still visible, and the surfaces of the box wobbled and reflected light in strange ways, as if the space outside the box was just an illusion. In the dark sky, a huge moon was racing toward them. Fast. Very, very fast.
"Oh! Just in time!" Shane said. "Hurry Felix! Cover your eyes, or you will go blind!" The funny little man stuffed his entire face into the crook of his elbow.
Felix wanted to defy this order, but he was quickly dispossessed of this notion when he saw the opening act of what was to come. Thousands, no millions of bolts of lighting struck the desert floor, originating from that too-fast moon as it scraped the atmosphere. Felix used Astrid's blessing to compensate for his lack of faith in Shane's words, quickly stuffing his face into his elbow just as the other man did. They sprawled out flat on the ground waiting for the lightning to end.
Then Felix remembered that lightning was always paired with thunder. Millions of bolts of lightning should have permanently destroyed his ears. And then he saw a shimmer, a familiar, teal, bubble-like shimmer surrounding them both. In that moment he realized Shane had saved their hearing with wind magic.
"Maybe your sorcery can sometimes be useful," Felix growled.
The space outside the box was steamy. The dark sky was no longer visible. Whatever lakes existed on this desert world had been boiled away by the lightning storm. Remarkably, the space inside the clear box appeared to be completely unaffected by the lightning.
Shane led Felix toward a canyon lined with tooth-like spires of stone. The rock was all layers of white and red and yellow. There was a stone archway that spanned the canyon, leading to a cave cut into the cliff face on the opposite side. Felix felt uneasy crossing the archway, though he was following Shane, and it would be difficult for the man to betray him without using his foul sorcery.
The interior of the cave was dark, but lit by a curious type of glowing teal mushroom that grew on the ceiling. After some time walking in the dim light, they came upon an opening into a deep hole, leading up into an open black sky. There was a spiral ledge that wound up the hole, leading to a courtyard surrounded by red stone. The ground was made from tiles of various shades of blue, teal, white, and indigo, arranged into intricate, never-repeating patterns. In the center of the courtyard, floating above a pool of clear water, was a woman.
At least, it had the shape of a woman.
She was made from swirls of dark and light gray clouds. The occasional flash of lightning raced across her skin. And while she was shaped like a nude woman, the features of her body were indistinct. Even her face was only barely recognizable as human. When she spoke, her lips did not move, and instead Felix heard her voice in his head.
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Shane, I recognize your face. I remember your name. You have brought an apprentice. I see that you are a master now. This apprenticeship is afforded to you. But I also see that you do not fully understand the nature of this place. As a master, this knowledge is also afforded to you. And your apprentice, he has knowledge that he should not have. You have both been to the other side, to the Domain of the Queen of Spirits. The Elemental Plane of Spirits.
Her voice was not smooth at all. It sounded as if a person had taken the sound of a spark and crafted an instrument capable of making a variety of such spark-like sounds. Then, they used such an instrument to play sequences of sound which resembled a voice.
This Realm of Lightning is the interstice between the Elemental Plane of Lightning and the Elemental Plane of Dreams. This interstice was created by Ingrid of House Veronika, the Ghost of Taisia, the Lady Ghost of the ancient tales, using the power of the Second-Born High Daughter, Titania the Luck Elemental.
Titania, Felix thought. The name struck him like a bolt of lightning. Old memories bubbled up. Dark memories.
Your Elemental Plane, the Plane of Dreams, is very close to the Plane of Spirits. You have access to an enormous amount of spiritual energy. As does your apprentice. Felix of Quaria. I shall feed upon your spiritual energy, and you shall have access to a connection to this place, a connection which will grant you power. Do you accept?
"Sounds good to me," Felix replied. But his mind was elsewhere.
It is done. Leave this place, Shane the Doomsayer. Your labors are not yet complete.
"Thank you!" Shane said. "Thank you, for this secret knowledge. I shall guard it well." A second portal opened, and then they were back in the city of Black River, in the workshop compound of the Green Dragon.
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The interstice with the Elemental Plane of Wind was similar in that it was surrounded by a box of white lines and shimmering, window-like planes. Felix stood upon sand. Deep, rolling dunes of sand stretched out in every direction. The wind outside the interstice seemed to change direction at random, blowing the sand into new formations. There was an ocean on the horizon, however the ocean was above them, and inverted. At the edge of this inverted ocean, there was a wall of waterfalls that flowed up into the sky.
Shane led them both to a dusty crag where the wind was fierce. There was a being made of wispy teal light, feminine, nude but indistinct. Felix recognized that female form.
I have no words to say that have not already been spoken. Her voice was a hiss, like the wind through a canyon. Felix of Quaria, I shall feed upon your spiritual energy, and you shall have my power. Do you accept?
"Yeah. Let's get out of here."
The real question was that of the Realm of Water. Shane was uncertain as he opened the portal and led them through. In every direction there were rolling waves as tall as buildings. Far below the waves, the sand beneath the ocean was not sand, but a maze-like pattern of sand and deep darkness. Islands dotted the horizon, each one crowned with an impossibly tall wooden tower, from which a red pennant was suspended in the ocean breeze.
Walking upon a frozen surface that Shane created with his sorcery, they came upon a floating iceberg, and then they traversed the slippery floor of an ice cavern within. Down they went, through ornate rooms filled with icicles that looked like the fangs of some beast. At the base of the iceberg, in a room surrounded by thin ice that betrayed the dark blue ocean beyond, they found the Water Elemental.
Words have been spoken to you, but I have more. I know what you seek. But I also offer my power to Felix of Quaria. It is known to me that you do not seek my power, but the arrival of your kind, those marked by Titania for special treatment, compel me to provide more knowledge.
She sounded as if a babbling brook had adopted a human voice. Felix scratched his head. "I, accept your knowledge?"
Imagine that you are flying at great speed. The wind crosses the surfaces of your craft with such force that mortal strength fails you. How can you remedy this?
"You promised knowledge, not a question."
Imagine that you are flying at great speed...
"Fine! I get it. You need some mechanical help. Maybe an additional engine that amplifies muscle movements to make them strong enough to move the surfaces of a craft at speed. Does that satisfy you?"
I have been instructed to inform you that I can help with such mechanical amplification. What I offer...
"I accept," Felix interrupted. "Shane, ask your question."
I cannot help you create a portal to the interstice with the Plane of Fire. Only a High Daughter of the Queen of Fire can create such a portal. There is an interstice between the Elemental Plane of Fire and the Elemental Plane of Spirits. If you travel to the other side, and if you have a High Daughter of Spirit, then you will be able to find this interstice and enter without aid. I have spoken, and your question is answered. Felix has my power. It is time for you to go about your labors.
When Felix returned to the workshop campus, he felt the unmistakable feeling of a rope around his neck, tugging him toward the Purple Dragon.
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"You have been busy!" Astrid said as they approached the purple spire.
"You are invited to kneel," Brigid growled.
Remarkably, the hulking Quarian man was the first to kneel. Shane felt a bit slow as he dropped to one knee. Staring at the shining purple crystals at his feet, cast in a rainbow sheen, he felt ashamed of that slowness.
"My servants, I am proud of you. What servants would you be, if you did not think of my own comfort and grace? I have read the pattern of your thoughts. In your desire to be better servants, you wish to redeem your incapacity to provide adequate and safe transportation for myself and my sister. But did you come to me, begging on your hands and knees for help? No. Dear servants, your industriousness and tact in this matter has earned my thanks."
Brigid gasped.
"Dear Shane, speak now of what you desire."
"Almighty Dragon," Shane said. There was no use sugar-coating what he was going to ask for. She already knew exactly what his argument would be. Before they ventured out of the city to return to the purple spire, Shane had concocted a plan. Why not appeal to Astrid's hunger for luxury? An aircraft, with paisley wallpaper and cushioned chairs, with stewardesses that served the finest wine, would be a great boon to the Purple Dragon. And what would power such a device? Power siphoned from the Elemental Plane of Fire.
Elvira and Brigid could both create portals to the other side, and Shane suspected that between them they had access to a High Daughter.
"Oh don't bother asking," Astrid said, waving her hand dismissively. "I will grant your request. You wish to visit the interstice with the Plane of Fire. And this shall be granted, on one condition."
"We accept any and all conditions," Shane said.
"Dress warm. Very, very warm. Fur coats, fur gloves, everything. The constructs in the spire will furnish whatever clothing you need. Brigid will lead you to the interstice." With that word, Astrid ascended the spiral steps and said no more.
By the time Shane had finished dressing in the heavy fur armor, gloves, and boots furnished by the animated armor, he was so hot that he was certain he would fall over with exhaustion. Without ceremony Brigid took them to the Elemental Plane of Spirit, where Elvira was waiting in the center of the spire foyer. She led them outside.
"Third High-Daughter of the Queen of Spirits," Elvira said, "show yourself!"
Without a command Shane fell prostrate on the ground. The being that appeared was no less than twenty feet tall. A nude woman made of dull magenta light loomed overhead. Her impassive face regarded the party with a vast indifference. Shane only saw a flash of the creature before he decided to see nothing but the purple crystal below his feet.
"High Daughter! I Wish that these two could be in the interstice with the Elemental Plane of Fire!"
And then they were. And it was cold.
Suddenly Shane was very happy to be dressed in fur armor. The frigid wind blasted his exposed face. He had never been to the Realm of Fire, but with a quick glance around he became very confused. Snow, ice, and cold were all associated with the Realm of Water. Water Mages of a sufficiently high rank could use Frost Magic, a deadly affliction associated with necromancy.
The sky was a grayish purple, and the snow fell in heavy waves upon the clear surface of the interstice "box." Far off, Shane could see forests of snow-clad trees, the debris of avalanches, frozen lakes, and tall black peaks. Further still, massive snake-like dragons of pure fire roamed the skies, and volcanoes the size of planets spewed oceans of lava into the sky.
"I do not know where to go," Shane admitted.
"Over there," Felix said, pointing to a forest consumed by flames. "I guess the Fire Elemental here wants something to burn."
Felix was right.
The Fire Elemental also looked like a nude woman made of pure flames, her body smooth and almost featureless except for small pieces of wrought iron armor on her shoulders. She had horns like a dragon.
Felix of Quaria, your name is known to me.
Her voice sounded a bit like a forest fire, crackling and windy.
Your soul is marked by Titania for special treatment. I have a message for you. Imagine a snake made of metal, with countless wings, that is coiled so tight that the wings become a spiral. As the snake spins, the spiral sucks in air, and that air becomes dense. Then, as the air reaches the terminus, it becomes ignited with fire. Now imagine this snake is perfectly encased within a housing of metal, such that no metal melts, and the spiral is so balanced, that it can spin at a great speed without wobble. With this image in mind, I offer you my power, in exchange for your spiritual energy.
Remarkably, Felix said nothing. His face was filled with a determined understanding. Then, calmly, he said: "I understand, and I accept."
Shane the Doomsayer, I offer the same deal to you. It would be unwise to refuse.
"I accept," Shane said.
"Enough words," Felix said. "Time to go practice."