-The Summoned-
Ascension
The Light Plane: South of Tyre Outpost
"Going to the mountains are you?" she asked curiously,
looking over one of Asa's maps that he had been given. Asa, struggling
to awaken, at first did not know where he was, or how he had ended up here.
Seeing the look of suprise on his face, she smiled and tried to explain.
"You are just south of Tyre Outpost, and you have spent the night here.
You slept long enough though. My name is Jamie Kinlon, and I'm coming
with you."
The explanation only confused Asa further. "What?
What do you mean you're coming with me? You don't even know who I
am!"
Jamie glared at him. "I know you're from the Outerlands,
and you're going to the Tyre mountains. I also know that you'll be
dead in no time whatsoever if you don't have a guide. Whoever sold
you that map is a fraud."
"And so" Asa got out of the bed so that he wouldn't
appear so vulnerable and continued, "you want to guide me across the mountains."
"For a price, of course." Jamie said, leaning back against
the wall.
"Of course. But why didn't you just take my money,
instead of offering to actually do something for it?"
Jamie feigned suprise. "Me? Steal from you?
My friend, it wouldn't be worth my trouble. However, you seem like
an adventurer, and if you should happen to stumble onto any treasure, I
wouldn't mind being there at the time."
With a great use of willpower, Asa managed not to laugh
out loud at that statement. Him, an adventurer? If Jamie knew
about the true nature of his journey, she might not be as willing to come
along, and a guide was something that he would need in this unfamiliar
country. Slowly, he nodded his agreement. "You want a cut of
what I find?"
"Half." Jamie said.
"Half!?" Asa demanded, before he could manage
to control himself. Settling down, he sighed and put out his hand.
"Very well, half."
Jamie smiled smugly at her victory and shook Asa's hand.
"One more thing. If we're going to be business partners, I'm going
to have to know your name."
"Asa Brown."
"Asa, get your things together." She commanded,
gesturing toward a table where all of Asa's possessions were situated.
"We leave for the mountains in an hour."
An hour later, the two departed from the small house
and began walking south. The land began to rise, slowly at first,
then with alarming rapidity. Jamie led the uncertain outlander along
the path with surety, not bothering to say much besides pointing out landmarks.
The solid ground gave way to loose rocks and the wind grew colder.
Involuntarily, Asa shivered. Briefly, he wondered why Jamie had not
packed winter gear. It seemed cold enough at this height, and the
temperature was quickly dropping. After two solid hours of marching,
Jamie held up her hand and called a short rest.
"Okay, I'm going to give us fifteen minutes to relax.
Then it's back up the trail!" She said, as though expecting Asa to object.
Asa nearly collapsed right then, which earned him a look of contempt from
the thief. "Oh stop it. It's only been two hours."
"Only two hours!" Asa said, unbuckling his heavy
pack that contained the group's supplies. "It feels like I've been
walking all day! And why do we have no winter gear? It's freezing!"
Jamie rolled her eyes at having to explain these sort
of things to the man. "Listen, the reason you were going to get yourself
killed off here is because you were going to try to go over the mountains.
That's your mistake. We're not going over the mountains."
"What?! But I have to go-"
Jamie cut him off impatiently. "I said we weren't
going over the mountains. We're going through them."
Asa was too stunned to react. Through a mountain? As though
reading his thought, Jamie answered "Yes, through them. These mountains
are crisscrossed with tunnels and passages, and I know them all.
So through the mountains we go."
Asa found no fault with the argument, although he didn't
think it was the greatest of ideas. He still didn't know if he could
trust this person, but he really had no other choice. Sitting silently
and trying to rest for the remaining few minutes of their stay, Asa tried
to plan his journey. He had little knowledge of the lands to the
south of the mountains, but he had faith that he could continue in the
correct direction. Somewhere inside himself, he knew that he couldn't
help but to go toward the Nexus. Seeing himself on the slope of the
Tyre mountains, resting after the first leg of his journey, Asa found that
he was more committed to this quest than he had originally thought he would
be. The thought of what he was getting himself into was frightening
to him, but he knew before he even asked himself that he was going to do
it.
Jamie glanced over at her charge curiously. Asa
was looking into the distance quietly, and apparently didn't notice her
attention. Vaguely, she wondered why this man had decided to journey
this way. She was beginning to have doubts as to Asa's quest.
From the maps she had seen, it was clear that he was going to the south,
but the reason eluded her. She had been into the central lands, and
there was nothing special there. Just memories.... Deciding
that their rest time had passed, Jamie got up and ordered Asa to his feet.
"Come now, we're not too far from the entrance."
For another hour, the two walked up the path.
The ground beneath them grew progressively worse, and it was clear that
this particular trail had not been used in some time. Asa stumbled
repeatedly, but Jamie kept her footing the entire time, somehow staying
to a path that had long ago begun to look a lot like the surrounding terrain.
The two reached a small plateau that jutted out of the side of the mountain.
On the south end of it, clearly visible, was a gaping hole. It was
impossible to see more than a foot or two inside of it, and just the idea
of entering it made Asa very nervous. Jamie motioned for him to stop
again.
"Okay, we're here. This is Sol Yin pass, and it
will take us all the way through the mountain. No need for winter
gear, just lots of torches. Open the pack."
Asa shrugged and took the pack off, much to his relief.
Opening it, he discovered that most of what he had been carrying had been
torches. Carefully removing his precious rod so that it wouldn't
be confused with kindling, Asa set it aside. Jamie watched impatiently.
"Here." Asa said, taking one of the torches and
handing it to Jamie. He was in the process of finding one for himself
when he heard the scream. A high screech of absolute terror echoed
from the depths of the cave, paralyzing him. Jamie had noticed it
too, and had drawn her short sword. They stood motionless as the
screams repeated themselves, becoming louder each time. Finally,
the source of the noise careened out of the gaping cave and out into the
plateau, still screaming.
Asa had prepared himself for some horrible, death-dealing
fiend from the netherworld, and found himself completely shocked when he
saw that the source of the inhuman wails had been a ten year old girl!
"Elayna!" Jamie cried in regognition. The
child, glancing around wildly, looked at Jamie confusedly.
"J- Jamie?" Elayna stopped screaming long enough
to ask. Bursting into tears, the child threw her arms around Jamie's
neck and cried onto her shoulder, trying to explain what had happened through
her sobs. "J-jamie- he- he- told me... to come here-"
Jamie held the sobbing child who she hadn't seen for
years, wondering what had happened that had brought her here. "There
there..." she tried to sound reassuring, but wasn't sure if she was doing
a very good job of it. Elayna continued to try to talk, heedless
of what Jamie was saying.
"And th-then i-i-it came and h-he tried!" A fresh
flow of tears erupted from Elayna. "Buh-but he c-couldn't stop it!
And I couldn't b-bring him back!" she howled in anguish. "i-i-i-it
came aafter meeeee and I ruh-ran b-but it still came!"
Asa witnessed the spectacle from his viewpoint on the
edge of the plateau, looking past the two into the cave. He had heard
another noise: faint, but growing. Some sort of scraping sound
that he couldn't identify echoed up the cave, almost drowned out by the
sobs of the poor child. Grasping his staff and moving forward cautiously,
he opened his mouth to tell Jamie what he had heard.
It was at that moment that the monstrosity burst from
the cave.
Back - Home - Next
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page