Jeff Inlo - Nightmare's Shad

The practicing spell caster, a man named Jure, was not surprised at Enin's magical and unannounced appearance. Jure allowed his spirit to embrace the magic, and he immediately noticed the strong vibrations within the energy the moment Enin seized upon the imprint of Jure's spells.

As Enin approached, Jure gently bent his head downward and lowered his gaze to the ground, a great display of trust and respect. He raised his head only when Enin had stopped directly before him.

"Believe it or not, I owe it to you." Jure's voice was deep, but not booming. A solemn acceptance of solitude crept into the tone. "I came to you a while ago and you pointed me in the right direction. Do you remember?"

"I think I do," Enin admitted. "Your name is Jure, right?"

"It is."

"My memory is actually quite good. I've been told it's my focus that's the problem."

Jure found the admission somewhat surprising.

"Your focus? With all the control you have, you have a problem with focus?"

"Oh, I can control the magic when I want to, but you must realize by now how much the energy opens your perception. There are so many things to consider these days. Each spell can be altered a hundred different ways, maybe even a thousand, so many new ways to look at how the energy exists in the land… "

Enin stopped himself with a shake of the head.

"Ah, as you see, my focus is the problem. I'm going off again, not concentrating. As to answer your question; yes, I do remember. You came to me early in the magic's return. You understood water so well. Perhaps too well. I think it scared you."

"It did," Jure was not embarrassed to admit it. "That's one of the reason's I came to the desert. The water's presence isn't so overpowering to me here. When it all began, if I walked by a river, I felt like I was going to drown. That's why I came to you, and you told me to see things differently. You showed me how water was part of nature and of storm. How it could reflect light and douse fire. You also told me how it could feed the land. If I let my blue aura stretch out, I could touch all the other colors as well. I'm very close to that. I think it's the yellow that is the last obstacle for me. Once I understand that as well as the others, I think I might get that pure white circle."

Enin found no threat in hearing this. Jure was very different from Neltus. Enin could sense wisdom in the magical aura that surrounded the spell caster before him. Where Neltus acted like an immature adult trying to regain a youth that had passed him by, Jure accepted the role of an elder statesman and allowed the magic to refresh his outlook of life. Beyond that, Enin sensed a desire for justice, fairness and consistency within the man. The wizard believed that such qualities might allow Jure to become a great force for compassion, perhaps more than even Ryson Acumen, and that was a remarkable consideration.

"That makes me very proud," Enin proclaimed. "Many have come to me for answers. I won't refuse to offer my suggestions, unless I know it will only lead to hardship or acts of pure selfishness. You, however, have an understanding that many lack. Most want to increase their power over their natural gift or to master the control over the energy they contain. You are expanding to areas that were not immediately within you and you have gained greater control over them all. The circle was not your objective, but it has become a reward for an open mind."

"As I said, you're the one who opened it."

"Speaking of which, I'd like to discuss past actions and obligations of responsibility. You don't owe anything to me, but we all owe a debt, and that is why I'm here."

"I thought you were here about the rift."

Enin was only mildly surprised. Jure had no connection to the portal, but the gateway was now a source of disruption in the land. Even in the far reaches of the desert, Enin could sense the break-magical energy in upheaval.

"That is part of the reason I'm here. You are aware of it?"

Jure looked off to the northeast.

"I can sense it. It's an imbalance. It's not so much a gateway as it is an anomaly. It's a bridge to be sure, but it doesn't just bend the magic, it slices it."

Not a description Enin expected to hear.

"Slices?"

"Yes, like small breaks in a line. The line exists through both realms-ummm, energy that connects the two dimensions through the gateway-but there are small gaps." Jure frowned at his own statement as he considered the ramifications and revealed his own concern. "Breaks shouldn't exist in magic. It should be a continuous flow, but for some reason, the breaks are still there."

Enin understood the description, but he grew confused over its implications.

"Is this the current rift or the previous one?"

"I don't follow," the spell caster admitted.

"There were two portals. I created the second. The first was created by a sorceress named Heteera. Her gateway lacked stability. It phased in and out of existence. I could understand breaks in the magic which coursed through Heteera's gateway, but that one is now closed."

Jure considered the point and expressed a new understanding of his own.

"Two portals, huh? That would explain the change. At least to some degree."

"What change?"

"Many days ago, when I first sensed the portal, I could feel the magical flows and they were continuous for a period of time. Then, they would cease. But this wasn't a blink or a break. It was a long pause. Then, the flow would continue. It was like it was turned on, then off, and then back on again. Those I actually understood. I thought someone was just practicing with portals-making a new one, then closing it. That must have been the first portal."

"What is it that you feel now that's so different?"

"Now, it is like I said-a broken line, quick breaks. The flow doesn't turn off completely. Instead, it's like someone is constantly chopping at the stream or perhaps swinging a blade through it over and over again. The magic comes and goes through the portal in segments. All of the breaks are very small, almost insignificant, but they are there."

"You are certain?"

"You don't feel it?"

Enin frowned.

"No, and this is the second time I have missed such subtleties. My apprentice-my guard-noted the remnants of a powerful spell that was meant to raise a legendary figure. I missed it completely. Now, I am missing this."

"Maybe it's because you cast the spell… created the portal."

"That only has me more puzzled. It is my spell. My connection to it should give me greater awareness over its properties." It was Enin's turn to gaze off into the direction of the rift. The more he considered the dilemma, the more it confounded him. "This is most perplexing. I understand the instability of the original spell. Heteera lacked control to keep her portal in existence, but the second portal is of my own casting. There should be no such deficiencies."

Jure did not wish to dispute the wizard, but he remained certain of the anomaly.

"I wish I could explain it better, but it really is like I said. There's magic flowing through the portal, that's for certain, but it's… constantly interrupted. That's the best way I can put it."

They were both silent for long moments as each contemplated the situation. It was Jure who began to put the pieces together, but he needed confirmation of certain facts.

"Am I correct to assume you opened a new portal as opposed to reopening Heteera's?"

"Yes, the old one had been closed," Enin revealed, "but I mirrored Heteera's spell in order to have it open to the exact spot in the dark realm. I needed to follow the trail of magic."

"So you sensed the characteristics of the initial portal and utilized them to create a new one?"

"Yes."

"And you cast it in the same spot?"