Nikola gasped as he entered the vast chamber, its seamless obsidian walls filling the expanse with a pearlesque magenta glitter as the torchlight reflected back at them. The vaulted chamber was immense stretching into the darkness, beyond view. "Mandolus, this has to be the place." Nikola whispers, awe struck by the immensity of the cavern.
"You should see this." Mandolus answers from the cavern floor below, the circle of his torchlight reflecting in golden glints. Nikola makes his way carefully downward, finally reaching his comrade and the rest of the sentinels.
The base of the cavern is bevelled, forming a basin into which magical golden sigils have been inscripted, forming a circle of protection. "No doubt, this has to be the place."
"Alright everyone, this is what we have been looking for." Nikola begins. "I want you sentinels to stand about the perimeter, along the inside of the circle, while Mandolus and I prepare. NOTHING gets in, nothing gets out, unless we say otherwise. Am I clear?" He stares emphatically at the remaining troops, none say anything.
From the volumnous folds of his cloak, Mandolus withdraws a container and removes the lid. Walking about the perimeter of the circle, he casts a glittering sand, barring spiritual entrance and escape within the range of the spell to come. Nikola unfolds a golden byre and sets it in the exact center. Arranging the fuel components, Nikola quietly chants. Magical fire leaps to life in the byre, radiating no heat and glowing a pearly white.
"Are we ready?" Mandolus asks quietly, the severity of what is about to occur weighing down the room. "Yes." Nikola answers, sitting before the magical flames. "Sit across from me." Taking his seat, Mandolus begins to synchronize his chanting with that of his brother, their words losing meaning, melding with and bouncing from the cavernous walls, overlapping and echoing.
The glyphs react, glowing with their own ambient light. The sand ignites into flames, reflecting their own black fire to counter the white flames before them. The sentinels gasp, backing further into the range of the ring, away grom the black fire.
Their chanting halts, their eyes open simultaneously, staring into each other. Their irises are gone, Nikolas reflecting the pure white of the pearl flame, while Mandolus' sight reflecting the ebony fire. Their speech alters, taking on the echo of ages, beyond mortality, beyond ages.
"The barrier of dimensions for ages has now stood." recites Nikola.
"Broken now, in dire need and desire, by consecrated blood." recites Mandolus.
"We open now the gate to the realm of Chaos lost." intones Nikola.
"Retrieving that which was miscast, and untimely crossed." recites Mandolus.
The flames, dark and spectral, brighten, flare, fill the expanse with power. A pair of screams escape the soldiers as two fall forward, lifeless. "What in the name of the realms is going on!", yells a soldier, hastily sweeping the area with a gaze, seeking the source of the attack.
Nikola and Mandolus' eyes grow dim, their heads slump forward. Alarmed the sentinels rush forward, yet stopping short of touching the Tabernacle priests. "What should we do." Asks a confused sentinel. "We wait as instructed." answers the captain. "Surround the mystics, keep watch, stay away from the flames."
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Nikola awakens. At least he thinks he is awake. He raises his hand to his face, but feels nothing, whether lack of a hand, or lack of a face, he senses neither. He merely is. He exists.
He is aware that Mandolus is nearby. Unseen, yet there all the same. "It worked." he imparts, for nothing is heard, nothing said. "Yes, it worked." comes Mandolus answer, silently.
"We must hurry, we cannot survive this spectral form long." They descend into the flames of the byre, through the unseen gateway opened by the arcana of their magic. "Goddess protect us."
Posted by Navarre at October 30, 2004 05:01 PM