The Summoned
The Tomb Plane: Protector's Encampment
Asa awoke suddenly, shivering despite the fact that it was
relatively warm in his tent. A dream... it had been a dream.
He didn't know if he should feel relieved or panicked that he had
dreamt of such a thing. He was awake now, but he still remembered it, vividly
and disturbingly. Why couldn't it just fade away, like most of his other
dreams? Last time he'd had a dream that vivid....
Well, last time he hadn't been asleep at all.
He shivered at that memory as well. What was wrong with him? Was
he losing his mind? He supposed that, after all he'd been through, it wasn't
an overly farfetched concept. Perhaps he was. He considered the dream....
The First War of the Summoners was raging around him. Creatures of
fire, brought by summoners, towered over masses of demons, and yet were still
overtaken. Humanity was dying, unable to fight against the onslaught. And
the mastermind of it all was there, leading the charge against the resistance.
Nathekiorion - the Dark One - stood at the forefront of the demons, letting
them go ahead when they needed to fight, but vaporizing the opposition whenever
it seemed that his forces might fail. Such reversals happened often, for while
the demons were ferocious fighters, they were nowhere near as disciplined or
practiced as the human armies they opposed.
It was a horrid spectacle, but it was not that which gave the dream
its chill. She was there.
Floating above the ground, surrounded by a white shifting aura and
carrying the now-familiar Gatekeeping Rod of the Summoners plane, was the woman
responsible for his situation. Her skin was pale, nearly colorless, and
matched the color of her snow-bleached hair. He knew, in the certainty that
dreams bring, that she was the reason that he had come to this point in his
life, and it was her that was the true enemy.
Standing at Nathekiorion's side, Thalla turned her head and looked
directly at him. A smile, nearly imperceptible, crossed her features, and then
she looked back where she had been, to witness the deed which would come
next.
Asa's arm had come up then, holding the Gatekeeping rod that he now
had. He spoke words in the dream, but did not understand them. Nathekiorion -
and Thalla - turned to face him, their eyes gleaming darkly at him. The earth
gave way underneath the two, an enormous earth elemental taking shape. With a
wave of Nathekiorion's hand, however, it crumbled to dust before it could even
fully form, and the earth filled in underneath them. The demon's mouth opened
to speak, and suddenly the demon was no more.
A young warrior, holding an ebony sword, looked at where
Nathekiorion had stood, only moments before. Instantly, the demons' attack
faltered. Without the powers of their leader, they could no longer stand
against the summoners, mages, and fighters of the human resistance. The
humans' defeat had turned quickly into a rout of the demons.
Asa wasn't watching that, though - his eyes were on Thalla. The
young demon's eyes had widened at the Warrior's dispatching stroke. She was
crying out now, anguished beyond anything that Asa had ever experienced
himself. With a murderous turn, she flung herself at the warrior that had
destroyed Nathekiorion. The fighter hadn't seen it coming - he was fighting an
altogether new experience from the sword. A pull, greater than the one he had
felt from it in the past. Had he survived, he might have succumbed to it. He
never had the chance, though - Thalla had torn his throat out with her own
hands before he could even realize he was being attacked.
The demon threw herself to the ground then, screaming incoherently
in her own language, striking the earth futilely. She seemed to be - crying?
What was happening here?
She whirled then, on her feet and facing toward him faster than he
could register, yelling toward him in her own language.
Ra-sei te kah on rah leh tah! 'en ti lahn!
"Your line will suffer, like none other, and my spirit will seek
vengeance. I will recover what is mine."
Asa turned, little realizing that he had been both wandering around
the compound and mumbling to himself as well. He also hadn't been aware that
anyone had been listening. Behind him, Shaaron stood, looking toward him
quizzically. "What's that mean?" She asked.
"Just a bad dream" Asa said, wondering how he could have wandered
all the way out here without noticing... it was probably just a further
indication of how far he was from anything resembling a normal mental
state.
"It must have been a very bad dream, indeed, if the language of the
demons was even a small part of it." she said, whispering. "Are you feeling
okay?" Shaaron seemed very disturbed - in fact, she had been, ever since he
had shared his tale with her the day before.
He wondered why that might be. Certainly, he supposed, his tale
was more complex than most who had been sent to this plane, but there wasn't
anything overly remarkable about it. Unless his dream was right....
What if Thalla had been there, in that war long ago, and had sworn
revenge against him - or whoever had been there at the time - than his story
might be very significant indeed. He signed to himself. "I'm fine." he
finally said, not sounding very convincing at all. "It's just... taking me a
while to get used to this place."
Shaaron nodded. "That happens to many people, upon their initial
arrival here. I recommend walking around, so you get to know the area. That
way your surroundings will seem more natural to you."
Asa managed a weak smile. "Thank you. Would you care to accompany
me?"
Shaaron seemed a bit surprised by the question, but Asa was moreso
- why had he asked her along? Perhaps it was because she likely knew the area
better than him. More likely, though, was simply that he didn't want to be
alone.
"Certainly.... I trust you've already seen most of the camp?"
Shaaron regained speech as her surprise subsided, and Asa couldn't tell how she
felt about the question. He hoped he hadn't made a fool of himself. If he was
going to be stuck in this place forever, he wanted to make a good first
impression.
Asa nodded, and Shaaron spoke up again. "Well, is there anywhere
you had in mind?"
The young summoner spoke immediately. "The upper level." He
frowned to himself - why there? Shouldn't he ask her to lead? She did, after
all, know the area better than he.
"Very well. Follow me". She lead him out of the camp, and toward
one of the large staircases. He couldn't tell if it was the same one that he
had descended to enter the camp in the first place, but he thought that he'd be
able to recognize it again, if he needed to.
Their ascent was slow. Asa had been in fairly decent shape before
- having trained for the battle at LePaige's - but had never been at his peak.
He found himself able to keep up the pace set by Shaaron, but not without a
little work.
His eyes moved down to the Gatekeeping Rod, which he held at his
side reflexively as he had the entire time it had been in his possession. He
hadn't felt any summons, though - apparently, Norax was not trying to get him
back. That idea made him a bit uneasy, though he couldn't really say why.
His thoughts turned back to Thalla - the "spirit of Banishment",
according to Seeker - the one that he had freed from the pass long ago. When
he had first spoken to Seeker, the old Planeskeeper had seemed to know that Asa
had run across the demon, and had permission to summon her. But how? Asa
supposed that the old man had the power to see such things. It still unnerved
him, however. The question kept resurfacing. Had he been set up?
Ask her.
The thought flashed across his mind quickly, but suddenly it seemed
like a very good idea. He could summon her here, and ask her: was this all
some sort of plot? Was she setting him up for whatever reason? And if so,
Why?
Asa stopped walking suddenly, looking around himself in an effort
to regain his grip on reality. What the hell was he thinking? Summon a demon?
Just to answer the sort of stupid question he ought to be able to figure out on
his own, and didn't matter that much anyway now that he was trapped in another
plane? Paul would have been ashamed - no - Asa was ashamed of himself. He had
fought for a long time against his increasing need to summon the demon, and for
the longest time he had succeeded. He had been tempted in the battle with
Norax, but he hadn't done so. And if such circumstances didn't warrant
bringing the demon into play, a simple question definitely did not.
"Asa, are you certain that you are all right?" Shaaron had stopped
with the young summoner, and she looked even more concerned than she had when
he had first ran into her that day. "You look like you need to rest."
Asa shook his head. "No, I'm okay. I'm just a bit
distracted."
"All right.... It won't be too much longer, we're nearly there.
I'm sorry about all the stairs, but they're really the only way to get around."
Shaaron smiled apologetically and started back up the stairs.
Asa followed her, purposefully keeping himself occupied by looking
at the scenery - such as it was. The stairway was widening as they moved
upward, and large support columns began to be apparent. Asa felt himself
become very small as he entered the cavernous throne room.
There were plenty of guards here, consisting of members of the
Light Guard as well as the Protectors. Two dozen guards, heavily armed, were
patrolling throughout the room. A few of them had turned at Asa's entry, but
upon seeing Shaaron they relaxed and went about patrolling.
But what if it was a plot? -- the thought surfaced again.
He shook his head, wondering why the thought had occurred to him. Still, it
was a good question. He started crossing the room unconsciously as he thought.
What if Thalla had manipulated him? What if - perhaps - she still was,
somehow?
Ask her....
The hand holding the Gatekeeping rod seemed to come up in front of
him, of his own volition.
Ask her!
Asa found himself holding the rod up, staring at it, and his mind
began to shift into the necessary state.
Bring Her To Me!
His eyes settled on a small black box, inlaid in patterns too fine
to be distinctly seen by the untrained eye, a box which seemed to pulse, which
seemed to be radiating its will to him.... Asa's mouth opened.
Set Me Free!
"Shaaron!" Asa cried out, feeling his mind begin the summons
without his consent. "Stop me!"
The Gatekeeping Rod flared up brightly....
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