Brian Pratt - Shades of the past

James’ feeling of foreboding begins to grow into one of impending doom with every step he takes. Just then, the tingling that warns of magic being worked comes to him. Strong and powerful, the feeling is more intense than anything he’s ever felt before.

“Jiron,” he whispers urgently. “Magic!”

Stopping, Jiron glances back and sees the pallor of James’ face. “Close?” he asks.

“It has to be,” he replies.

Then Jiron’s eyes widen. “James!” he says pointing to his chest. “The medallion.”

Looking down, he sees light coming from his beneath his shirt. Pulling out the medallion, the Star upon it bursts into brilliant light.

A frigid wind sweeps down the corridor from further ahead bringing despair and sapping the will. James looks down the corridor to find a figure standing there. Suddenly, the air around them is filled with dozens of the tiny creatures. Chittering and shrieking, the creatures avoid close proximity to the light as they move to strike at them with their tiny claws.

Jiron draws forth both knives and begins fighting back. The creatures move so quickly he is having little effect. A shimmer forms around them as James creates his barrier to keep the creatures at bay. But it does little good, the creatures begin appearing within the barrier.

Jiron finally manages to impale one on his knife. The creature lets out a high pitched squeal then disappears. “James, do something!” he yells as his knives continue to dance, keeping the creatures away.

You have come, mage.

The light coming from the medallion keeps the creatures away from him, the effects of contact with it appears to hurt them. James stands transfixed by the figure at the other end of the corridor until one of the creatures braves the light from the medallion and scores on his right arm. Three lines of red, each several inches long burn like acid as blood begins to well. Then another scores on his leg, ripping the pant leg and baring the flesh beneath.

The tingling sensation spikes and he throws up a barrier to seal off the corridor between themselves and the figure in the hallway. Energy, massive energy strikes the barrier and shatters it. Then all of a sudden the air is free of the little creatures as they disappear all at once.

Jiron grabs him by the arm and hollers, “Come on!” Dragging him back down the corridor, they flee.

James glances back and sees two other cowled figures in the corridor next to the first one. Moving around the stationary figure, they make their way down the corridor toward the fleeing pair.

Running fast they return to the room with the raised dais. “Now what?” asks Jiron. From his position at the entrance to the corridor, he sees the cowled figures coming closer. The original one they encountered is now lost in the darkness.

“I don’t know,” admits James. Searching the walls, he prays to find a secret door or any other way in which to escape.

“How did we get here?” asks Jiron. “Think fast we don’t have much time.”

“Uh, we were fighting,” he says as he tries to recall just what happened. “We were struggling and then the ceiling fell in. Then suddenly we were here.”

“How!”

“How…” mumbles James as he tries to figure it out. From his position in the room, he can see the two figures coming closer. Glancing around the room, his eyes settle on the dais. The dais?

His skin crawls as the tingling sensation spikes. “Away from the opening,” he yells to Jiron.

Jumping backward behind the wall, he narrowly misses being struck by a flash of light which strikes the far wall with a sizzle. When it’s gone, they see the surface of the wall where the light hit now has a hole, six inches wide and three deep, eaten out of it.

“They’re almost here!” he cries.

James feels another spike in the tingling sensation and hollers, “Watch out!”

Jiron jumps to the side again but no attack materializes.

“Just what is going on here?” a deep male voice asks from behind them.

They both turn to see the armored figure of a warrior priest standing upon the dais. That’s it! Lashing out with a wave of magic, he catches the warrior priest completely by surprise. As the warrior priest is thrown backward off the dais to smash into the wall, James grabs Jiron.

“Now!” he yells. “Dive for the dais!”

They both jump and land on the dais at the same time. A momentary feeling of disorientation then they find themselves upon an identical dais sitting in a different, larger room. James immediately recognizes this place. They are in the underground temple they found on their way back from Saragon last year. But why did they come here of all places?

The room is large with two rows of three wide columns, each extending all the way to the ceiling. Between the two rows of columns lies an open area where four braziers form the points of a square. Fire burns in each giving ample light with which to see. The dais they find themselves upon sits in the middle of the square formed by the braziers.

“How is this possible?” Jiron asks as they get down from the dais.

“I have an idea,” says James. “But I’ll tell you as we go. They may be able to track us to here.”

No sooner do they get off the dais than one of the cowled figures appears upon it. James lashes out immediately with magic as Jiron moves to attack.

The cowled figure is thrown backward off the dais and lands on its back. A flash of light shoots toward James only to be absorbed by the medallion, causing it to burst forth with light.

By this time, Jiron has closed with the figure on the floor and strikes out with a knife. The blade sinks into the robes striking the flesh underneath. One hand of the cowled figure touches his shoulder and he rears back in pain. His arm goes numb and lets go of the knife still embedded in the cowled figure.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jiron sees another cowled figure appear upon the dais. “James!” he shouts as he points to the second one. Turning back to the one on the floor, he lashes out with his foot and connects with the side of its head. The force of the blow knocks its head to the side and causes the hood to fall away.

The sight of what’s revealed elicits a gasp of surprise from Jiron. He steps back two feet as the skeletal face turns its lifeless gaze upon him. “They’re dead!” he exclaims.

James, now turned to face the new arrival, lashes out with a wave of force which picks up the creature and throws it across the room. His head is clearing from the earlier blow Jiron dealt him but it’s still an effort to summon the magic. He glances over to the other one on the floor and sees the skeletal head and empty eye sockets. A spike in the tingling sensation and the creature on the floor hits Jiron square in the chest with a flash of light. Knocked backward through the air, Jiron lands on his back a dozen feet away. Rolling, he quickly regains his feet.

“Jiron!” he cries as he rushes over to him.

“We can’t win this,” Jiron tells him, the front of his shirt smoking.

“Maybe,” asserts James. “You okay?”

“Not really,” replies Jiron. The front of his shirt has been burnt away and the skin of his chest is an angry red. “My left arm is numb too.”

James turns to face the two attackers and summons the magic, encasing each within a barrier. One of the creatures reaches out and touches the barrier with its hand. Upon contact, James cries out and sinks to his knees. His head feels as if it’s about ready to explode. Releasing the power maintaining the barriers, the pain eases and then finally disappears.

Holding aloft the medallion, its light blazing forth, he gets back to his feet and faces the approaching creatures. One sends another flash toward him but is absorbed by the medallion. Lashing out with his own magic, he knocks them off their feet. One took the brunt of the wave of force and is thrown backward several yards. It hits one of the large stone braziers before sinking to the ground.