Jeff Inlo - Nightmare's Shad

Enin stood on his own as the full power of near infinite magical energy refreshed him almost immediately. With his strength growing, he stepped with great purpose to the gateway of emptiness, and he used that power to correct one of his many mistakes. Two perfect circles of white energy formed around his hands. He released them at the shadow portal and allowed both rings to encircle it. With one immediate flash of bright light, the circles of magic tightened about the rift and forced it to close in on itself.

Carefully inspecting the space, he ensured all remnants of the portal to Baannat's realm were gone. Satisfied, he called for Linda and Ryson.

"We must not linger here. We have to go quickly."

"We should be okay," Ryson offered. "The path was cleared when I came in."

"It won't be for much longer," Enin warned. "Many of the creatures here will sense my power, some will seek to escape out the portal to Uton, others will attack."

"I thought you said Baannat wouldn't be able to control them any more."

"He can't, not all of them as an army anyway. They know his promise is nothing more than a lie. Even monsters will reject Baannat's realm. But it also means they are once more left to their own devices. They will attack me as a powerful invader hoping to feed on my energy. And they will see you two as a possible meal."

Ryson acknowledged and accepted the new threat and he put Linda's safety first.

"Can you transport her to the portal?"

"Yes," Enin nodded.

"Do it."

Linda refused, maintaining her hold on the delver.

"No, I don't want to leave you again!"

Ryson understood. He didn't want to leave Linda, either. He, however, had one more task to complete.

"No one is leaving anyone, but I have to move fast."

"Why can't we transport together?" Linda demanded.

"Because I have to get my sword. I'm not going to leave it here. It's part of elflore."

Linda shook her head. She didn't want to risk losing him over an object-a weapon-even if it was part of the legends.

Ryson placed his hand on her chin and pulled her face to his so he could look her in the eyes.

"I'm a delver. I'll be alright. I promise."

Linda let out a heavy sigh as she released her grip. Yes, he was a delver and she couldn't keep him from venturing into danger. That would always be part of their lives. She had accepted that simple fact long ago, and despite Baannat's lies, she would never hold that against him.

Ryson placed his attention on the wizard.

"Enin, get her out of here, now."

"And you must move at your best speed," the wizard declared as he guided Linda next to him.

"Don't worry. I will."

Ryson watched them for only a moment. That was all the time it took for Enin to cast the spell and transport himself and Linda to the portal between the dark lands and Uton.

Once they were gone, Ryson raced into the cave and followed the path back to where he destroyed the vessel… back to where Baannat relieved him of the Sword of Decree. He found it right where it had been left-on the ground, dark with no light for the blade to reflect.

He snatched it up in his hand. He did not sheath it over his back. Instead, he held tight to the weapon, waiting for some new insight. Nothing. There was no message from the sword-no task that needed to be completed and no direction for action.

Ryson wasn't surprised. He had made the right decisions. He had saved Linda and Enin, saved himself as well, but any doubt about Baannat's fate was now also removed. The ghoul was a prisoner of his own twisted sanctuary and that was where he would stay forever.

With the sword still in hand, the delver ran out of the cave and back toward the portal. As he did, the silence that existed when he entered the dark realm had dissolved into the raging shrieks of conflict. Crashing explosions and pounding concussions reverberated over the gloomy landscape. Shouts of both humans and goblins rang out in the distance. More alarming, he could hear the unmistakable buzzing of a caelifera swarm.

Bounding over the twisted landscape, he eventually caught glimpses of the giant locusts shifting about in dizzying patterns of mayhem. He knew they were flying over the portal and he pushed himself to run even faster.

Once he broke over the last bluff separating him from the portal, he could see the scene clearly. He watched Enin standing at the front of the rift, casting spell after spell at a vast collection of monsters. Linda was not with him-Ryson spotted her past the portal and standing in relative safety in the badlands of Uton-but neither Enin nor Linda stood alone.

Linda was surrounded by heavily armed guards from Burbon. Sy Fenden directed their attacks into the dark land. From the Uton side of the portal, they fired their long bows in coordinated patterns, forcing goblin war packs into retreat.

Enin stood upon the dark lands with Holli and another magic caster, the one who saved the algors from the thrastil. Obviously guarding the portal, Enin focused his crushing spells on the caelifera, wiping dozens from the sky with each incantation. Jure targeted creatures in the distance, keeping them at bay with floods of black water and driving rainstorms. Holli kept both spell casters protected with a shield of pure green energy. Not a single bolt from a goblin crossbow could penetrate the barrier.

On both sides of the portal, Ryson noted the presence of dozens of cliff behemoths. Those who stood upon the lands of Uton threw any monsters back into the rift that dared to crossover. The ones in the dark realm knocked away goblins, gremplings and bloat spiders. They cleared a path for Ryson, which he quickly crossed to reach Enin's side.

"You have the sword," Enin noted.

"Yes, we can leave."

"Then let us do so."

All the Uton defenders in the dark realm stepped through the portal with Enin being the last to cross. When he did, he eyed the edges of the gigantic portal and sent his magical fury to bring them together.

The creatures in the dark realm reacted violently to the attempted closure. They threw themselves into the rift trying to escape, but they were all forced back by arrows, magical spells, and cliff behemoth strength.

The portal responded as Enin had expected. He had successfully removed the imbalanced nature of the rift that previously prevented him from closing the gateway. It disappeared from existence with a bone shuddering pop.

The portal was gone, only a somber view of Uton's badlands remained. The guttural shouts of the goblins, the buzz of caelifera wings, and the screeching shrieks of hook hawks disappeared in an instant. Those who stood safely in Uton did so in peace.

Sy Fenden, unwilling to accept such a simple resolution to the conflict, spoke first to his soldiers.

"Spread out! No more than fifty paces. Keep on the lookout for any stragglers that might have sneaked through."

Enin smiled. "Always the commander. You may rest, however, I sense no dark creatures in the area."

"Doesn't hurt to be on your guard," Sy countered. "Is the portal sealed for good?"

"Yes, another may open in the future… perhaps here or perhaps in Dark Spruce, but we have no control over that. In that regard, it will be as it has been in the past."

"What about Baannat?"

"Trapped in a dimension of his own making. Chained to emptiness."

The captain of Burbon's guard raised an eyebrow.

"Are we done with him?"

"Perhaps. Who's to say?"

"I don't like the sound of that," Sy admitted. "I was hoping for something a bit more final."

Ryson quickly joined the conversation, revealing what he understood to be an absolute certainty.

"I was hoping for more, too, but we did what we had to do… all we could do. It may not be as much as we want, but it's enough for right now. He can't hurt us like he could before, but we can't stop anyone from choosing a path that leads to him." Ryson then nodded to Enin and eyed the Sword of Decree. "We did the right thing."