Jeff Inlo - Nightmare's Shad

A dome of still water took shape almost immediately, water pulled from the very air. The dome fell upon the dark sorcerer and surrounded him completely. It was not, however, stagnant. Like river currents or mighty waterfalls, the liquid hastened to react to the movement it was anchored to, and it was anchored to Ansas. It moved as he moved, followed him wherever he might step, the walls always keeping just out of touch.

"What have you done?" the dark sorcerer demanded.

"Trapped you," Holli responded. "That's what he's done."

Ansas called on the ebony magic one last time, he pressed the dark energy against the walls of water, but it only flew back at him, discharged its power in a cataclysmic blast, causing him great pain.

"I wouldn't do that again," Jure advised. "It's a simple reflection pool spell. It's not really all that sturdy. It can be disbursed with a storm spell or even evaporated with air or fire, but you won't cast those, will you? You don't want to break your purity. But if you keep casting black energy at it, it will only reflect back at you. The more you try to overpower it, the more it's going to hurt."

"You can't possibly hope to hold me with such a pathetic spell."

"Normally, no. It takes a great deal of power to maintain it around you. If it were just me, it would dissolve in moments, but I'm drawing from two others as well, and Heteera is a vast pool of energy."

Ansas remained unconvinced. He threw spell after spell at the blue walls that surrounded him. Black energy exploded within the enclosed space. Each blast forced a scream of agony from the dark sorcerer. He ignored the pain, but only for so long. The strength of his own fury battered him both physically and magically.

Jure and Holli watched the display and carefully monitored the flow of magic from Heteera that powered the prison surrounding Ansas. The outpouring of energy reached staggering levels, but Heteera's pool of magic renewed itself simultaneously. The reflective spell would hold against the onslaught.

One last shriek of pain from Ansas signaled the end. Holli and Jure could only see his shadow through the dome of water, but they didn't need to see his expression. By his movements, they knew he had surrendered.

"Are you ready to face the consequences of your actions?" Holli asked.

"What is it you propose?" Ansas replied after a long pause.

"Over time, we could probably destroy you. We could cast spells at you that would leave the dome intact, but hammer at you no end. You would eventually succumb. Heteera offers us more than enough reserves to break you. You would have two choices: you could accept death or you could cast a spell outside of the ebony energy to break the reflective walls. That, however, would end the purity of your black power."

"Then I choose death."

"Let me offer you a third choice, one that will allow you to maintain your much beloved purity. Agree to remove the dark creatures under your control from these lands, bring them back to the dark realm. Go with them and vow to remain in the dark realm. You would be banished forever, but your purity would endure. Your choice. The consequences are but a result of that choice."

Holli was not surprised when Ansas vowed to return to the dark realm and bring along every dark creature under his command.

"Very Interesting," Baannat allowed. "That wizard you found in the desert is quite capable. First, he wins the day for the algors by killing a thrastil. To follow that up, he joins with your little elf witch and defeats what I thought was a far superior sorcerer."

"So even from here you face defeat," Enin noted.

"Defeat? That's almost funny. I told you I didn't care what happened in that pathetic town or in the desert."

"I know you said that," Enin argued, doing his best to keep Baannat's attention centered on him rather than Linda, "but you also made it quite clear you wanted to take the eastern plains and the western coast. Or, are you dismissing them as irrelevant as well?"

Baannat tilted his head as if bewildered, then let out a furious giggle that sounded like an evil child enjoying a devious act.

"I'll take them over eventually," the ghoul finally responded through several snorts. "Time is now on my side. I have all that I need. Your home is now my little sandbox and I can play in it whenever I wish."

"So delays and defeats don't matter to you? I find that hard to believe."

"Delays?Defeats? When have I faced either? I have enjoyed one victory after another where it really counted. You have to remember what was important. What I really wanted was to get you, the woman, and the delver under my control. I already have two thirds of that complete, and the final piece of the puzzle will fall right into place."

"The delver might yet surprise you."

"He's already on his way here. He cares too much about the woman."

Enin cursed to himself as he realized the ghoul's attention was turned exactly where he didn't want it to go.

As if to confirm Enin's concerns, Baannat moved back to Linda. He took great delight in tormenting her. He knew Enin shared in her pain to lessen it, but that just meant he tortured both at the same time. He could increase the torment at will if he felt she wasn't suffering quiet enough.

"How does that make you feel, woman? Maybe you're proud? Your brave protector is going to give up everything just for you. Does that make you feel all warm inside? Well, I'll let you in on a little secret. He's really not doing it for you. Oh, he says he is and you, of course, believe it, but it's not really the truth. You see, he's doing it for the reason all humans-and delvers-do things, he's doing it for himself."

Surprisingly, Baannat did not explain himself further, at least not immediately. He let the thought burn in Linda's mind as he turned away from her and placed his attention back on Enin.

"As for you, brother, I'm curious about you. How does it feel to be helpless? I'm betting you got terribly used to feeling all powerful. You were like a god. You could do anything, so much so that at one point you actually chose to do nothing. You were so powerful, you were afraid to interfere in people's lives. You thought they would start to depend on you. Good thing they don't. Oh, I forgot, you changed your ways. You did get involved and now they do depend on you."

"I only helped them, I did not takeover for them. There is a difference."

"Not to them. You restored their confidence. That's what they needed, and that's what they depend on. They started looking to you as the great protector, and look at you now. How do you think the people of Connel would feel if they could see you here? They'd realize a startling truth. You can't protect them and that's what they wanted most. It's what you wanted most."

"The people survived without me before, they will do so again."

"Only if I let them. You didn't want any harm to come to this new city of yours. That's why you put your little magic casters in the abandoned town. Don't you think I knew that? It doesn't matter. I can take Pinesway… I can take the eastern plains… I can take Connel. You can't protect them anymore. You can't even protect your little friend here."

Baannat charged back at Linda and slashed at her with his claws just to drive the point home. He laughed almost uncontrollably, but only until a sneer wiped away his maniacal smile.

"I didn't forget you, woman. I told you that your dear delver was coming here and I told you he was doing it for himself. I know you don't believe me, but let me explain so that even you can't question it. What is it that pains you most? My claws or the thought of Ryson Acumen facing the same pain?"

Linda didn't want to consider the question. She couldn't speak, so she couldn't answer even if she wanted to, but she had no desire to play the ghoul's game. She tried to flood her awareness with other thoughts, press Baannat from her mind, but he wouldn't allow it.