Holding Back the Darkness
Mar 23, 2014 19:30:01 GMT -8
Barnaby Cuthbert and Ascanio Giovanni like this
Post by Kaine Chandler on Mar 23, 2014 19:30:01 GMT -8
Ileana sat in the Shadowland’s reflection of the Smith Tower, watching as Karimkayaan, the Necromancer, and the Lasombra, Artemis, prepared their magics. Karimkayaan was building warding circles around them, while Artemis set up a series of three black mirrors crafted from the untenable material, Abyssal Jet. Occasionally, the ancient necromancer would glance over at his unlikely partner in magic and shake his head in mystification at the strange rituals.
Ileana didn’t find them strange at all. She had seen Cal do them often enough, and she had helped Artemis to find the right way to create this new spell that they hoped would bring Calisto back into their world.
It had been almost five months since he vanished without warning. Most of the Domain seemed to have forgotten him already. It was amazing how quickly the Kindred here seemed to adjust to change, as though it had never happened at all. But after eight centuries of companionship, Ileana could not bring herself to see five months as a long time, and she would not stop searching until she found him.
The first Lasombra who had answered her call to aid their lost cousin had been a great adept at the Mysticism of the Abyss named Claude. At the near completion of his research, he had been murdered - by someone she had hoped once to call friend. The second, Artemis, had to start from the wreckage of what was left behind: bookmarks in crumbling tomes and notes in private code.
Whatever had taken Captain Calisto Santiago that night at the Smith Tower was preventing his return, but no one knew for certain what the creature was. It seemed composed of great emotion, yet the Abyss should not be capable of emotion, even after the formation of the Great Maw, this was unusual.
They theorized that perhaps the destruction wrought by Durante Giovanni, bringing the Maelstrom to the Gaslight before detonating it, had weakened the veil not only between the Shadowlands and the Material World, but also between the Shadowlands and the Abyss, thus allowing some of the substance of each to merge.
Then one night she saw a vision of Artemis, using a single mirror of Abyssal Jet to summon the Captain from the Abyss, but Cal was not alone. The creature followed him, and when he was halfway through, the Santiago twisted around and brought his sword-cane down, shattering the glassy surface and returning to the blackness, taking the other with him. She knew that he would not pass back through the portal with this creature on his heels, that he would not see it loosed into this world.
So she consulted once more with Artemis and the necromancer. If the creature was indeed part Shadow and part Abyss, then perhaps it could be trapped in the Shadowlands, prevented from entering the Material World, allowing the Captain to break free. They agreed to try, and after each one had made as many preparations as their limited knowledge of this uncharted territory allowed, they left the Material World behind.
And now they were here, the most unlikely trio, perched in the ruins of the Necropolitic Gaslight Lounge, building a portal with magic no one had ever used before, to try and bring back the dark and ancient mariner who meant so much to her.
The three black doorway-sized mirrors were set up in semi-circle, and as she watched, two giant hands of Shadow came out, one from each of the mirrors on either side, and reached into the third and central mirror. After a short time, they could feel the presence of something that seethed with wrath, anger and hatred. Ileana knew this must be the creature that held the Captain back.
Then she saw him. He had always looked older, more worn than most Cainites. The sea had been cruel to him as a mortal, and he was not Embraced in the bloom of youth like so many, but only after time, salt and sorrow had ravaged his body. But now he looked even worse. The strain of the Abyss and the creature he battled had taken so much from him.
As the Abyssal hands drew him toward the frame of the mirror, he flung out his arms and stopped himself partway through the Abyssal Jet, as though emerging from a pool of water.
“I cannot let it through.” he growled, “It must be contained.”
Ileana stepped toward him, hesitant to touch the mirror lest it interfere with the spell. “But we came here to help you fight it, Cal.”
He looked up at the sound of her voice, his mouth twisted as he tried to smile, but was overcome with the struggle to keep from passing through the portal. “I see that, sweetie, but I don’t know how to fight it, only to contain it. That’s why I left in the first place.”
“But,” she said hesitantly, “I came here to find you.”
“I’m not gone, Lena.” he said, trying for her sake to keep the strain from his voice, “But I can’t let this thing into the world, it would destroy everything.”
It wasn’t fair. She’d worked so hard to find a way to reach him. Claude had died because of this, and now he was being stupidly stubborn and noble.
“But this isn’t the world, Cal.” she said, gesturing behind her to indicate the decaying barrenness of the Shadowlands around them. “We can try to fight it here.”
He shook his head, “No. It’s too much. I have to keep it trapped here. You have to tell him to stop trying to pull me through.”
She couldn’t believe this. She had found him again, and more than anything she just wanted to feel the reassuring touch of his shadow on her skin, and see his face as she told him everything that had happened while he’d been away. But there was no time, everything was happening too fast.
She reached up and took his face in her hands, praying as she did so for the peace and strength to do what must be done. She reached deep within for the Light of Wisdom so that she could give him strength as well.
Cal had always known her destiny, she had always been his light, even when he could not tell her what he knew of her future. Had this moment been in his book too? Foretold by her and then forgotten by all but him? How many times had her prophecies saved him so that he could be there for her when her destiny manifested here in the Emerald Domain? If he had gone willingly to fight this creature, then he must have known it was the only way. He would not leave her unless he knew.
Willing the Light within her forth, she kissed him lightly on the forehead, “Then take a piece of my light to guide you in dark places.”
“Thank you.” he said, the strain of his voice somewhat lessened. “I’m not gone completely, Lena. I can always hear you, and sometimes you’ll be able to hear me. It won’t be often, and it may be slow, but you will hear from me. And if I ever figure out a way to defeat this, I will return.”
Her vision hazed pink as the very beginning of tears welled up in her eyes. “I will never give up on you.” she said, her hands sliding down from his face and coming to rest over his heart.
“I know, sweetie.”
She turned to Artemis, “You have to stop the ritual.” she called over his chanting.
The Lasombra looked surprised, but stopped, and as he did so, the permeable material of the portal began once more to return to hard, cold Abyssal Jet. She felt Cal begin to move away from her, back into the darkness, and just as her fingers brushed his chest for the last time, a tiny tendril of inky blackness coiled onto her hands, winding down her arms and across her skin.
She saw too, a light that had gone from Cal’s eyes returning and knew that in some small way, his burden was no longer so great as it had been. She heard his voice in her mind, This isn’t goodbye, it’s only ‘good journey’. The mirror was once more the empty black glassy surface it had been before, but at her feet, where for five months had been nothing, there stretched a long, black shadow.
Ileana didn’t find them strange at all. She had seen Cal do them often enough, and she had helped Artemis to find the right way to create this new spell that they hoped would bring Calisto back into their world.
It had been almost five months since he vanished without warning. Most of the Domain seemed to have forgotten him already. It was amazing how quickly the Kindred here seemed to adjust to change, as though it had never happened at all. But after eight centuries of companionship, Ileana could not bring herself to see five months as a long time, and she would not stop searching until she found him.
The first Lasombra who had answered her call to aid their lost cousin had been a great adept at the Mysticism of the Abyss named Claude. At the near completion of his research, he had been murdered - by someone she had hoped once to call friend. The second, Artemis, had to start from the wreckage of what was left behind: bookmarks in crumbling tomes and notes in private code.
Whatever had taken Captain Calisto Santiago that night at the Smith Tower was preventing his return, but no one knew for certain what the creature was. It seemed composed of great emotion, yet the Abyss should not be capable of emotion, even after the formation of the Great Maw, this was unusual.
They theorized that perhaps the destruction wrought by Durante Giovanni, bringing the Maelstrom to the Gaslight before detonating it, had weakened the veil not only between the Shadowlands and the Material World, but also between the Shadowlands and the Abyss, thus allowing some of the substance of each to merge.
Then one night she saw a vision of Artemis, using a single mirror of Abyssal Jet to summon the Captain from the Abyss, but Cal was not alone. The creature followed him, and when he was halfway through, the Santiago twisted around and brought his sword-cane down, shattering the glassy surface and returning to the blackness, taking the other with him. She knew that he would not pass back through the portal with this creature on his heels, that he would not see it loosed into this world.
So she consulted once more with Artemis and the necromancer. If the creature was indeed part Shadow and part Abyss, then perhaps it could be trapped in the Shadowlands, prevented from entering the Material World, allowing the Captain to break free. They agreed to try, and after each one had made as many preparations as their limited knowledge of this uncharted territory allowed, they left the Material World behind.
And now they were here, the most unlikely trio, perched in the ruins of the Necropolitic Gaslight Lounge, building a portal with magic no one had ever used before, to try and bring back the dark and ancient mariner who meant so much to her.
The three black doorway-sized mirrors were set up in semi-circle, and as she watched, two giant hands of Shadow came out, one from each of the mirrors on either side, and reached into the third and central mirror. After a short time, they could feel the presence of something that seethed with wrath, anger and hatred. Ileana knew this must be the creature that held the Captain back.
Then she saw him. He had always looked older, more worn than most Cainites. The sea had been cruel to him as a mortal, and he was not Embraced in the bloom of youth like so many, but only after time, salt and sorrow had ravaged his body. But now he looked even worse. The strain of the Abyss and the creature he battled had taken so much from him.
As the Abyssal hands drew him toward the frame of the mirror, he flung out his arms and stopped himself partway through the Abyssal Jet, as though emerging from a pool of water.
“I cannot let it through.” he growled, “It must be contained.”
Ileana stepped toward him, hesitant to touch the mirror lest it interfere with the spell. “But we came here to help you fight it, Cal.”
He looked up at the sound of her voice, his mouth twisted as he tried to smile, but was overcome with the struggle to keep from passing through the portal. “I see that, sweetie, but I don’t know how to fight it, only to contain it. That’s why I left in the first place.”
“But,” she said hesitantly, “I came here to find you.”
“I’m not gone, Lena.” he said, trying for her sake to keep the strain from his voice, “But I can’t let this thing into the world, it would destroy everything.”
It wasn’t fair. She’d worked so hard to find a way to reach him. Claude had died because of this, and now he was being stupidly stubborn and noble.
“But this isn’t the world, Cal.” she said, gesturing behind her to indicate the decaying barrenness of the Shadowlands around them. “We can try to fight it here.”
He shook his head, “No. It’s too much. I have to keep it trapped here. You have to tell him to stop trying to pull me through.”
She couldn’t believe this. She had found him again, and more than anything she just wanted to feel the reassuring touch of his shadow on her skin, and see his face as she told him everything that had happened while he’d been away. But there was no time, everything was happening too fast.
She reached up and took his face in her hands, praying as she did so for the peace and strength to do what must be done. She reached deep within for the Light of Wisdom so that she could give him strength as well.
Cal had always known her destiny, she had always been his light, even when he could not tell her what he knew of her future. Had this moment been in his book too? Foretold by her and then forgotten by all but him? How many times had her prophecies saved him so that he could be there for her when her destiny manifested here in the Emerald Domain? If he had gone willingly to fight this creature, then he must have known it was the only way. He would not leave her unless he knew.
Willing the Light within her forth, she kissed him lightly on the forehead, “Then take a piece of my light to guide you in dark places.”
“Thank you.” he said, the strain of his voice somewhat lessened. “I’m not gone completely, Lena. I can always hear you, and sometimes you’ll be able to hear me. It won’t be often, and it may be slow, but you will hear from me. And if I ever figure out a way to defeat this, I will return.”
Her vision hazed pink as the very beginning of tears welled up in her eyes. “I will never give up on you.” she said, her hands sliding down from his face and coming to rest over his heart.
“I know, sweetie.”
She turned to Artemis, “You have to stop the ritual.” she called over his chanting.
The Lasombra looked surprised, but stopped, and as he did so, the permeable material of the portal began once more to return to hard, cold Abyssal Jet. She felt Cal begin to move away from her, back into the darkness, and just as her fingers brushed his chest for the last time, a tiny tendril of inky blackness coiled onto her hands, winding down her arms and across her skin.
She saw too, a light that had gone from Cal’s eyes returning and knew that in some small way, his burden was no longer so great as it had been. She heard his voice in her mind, This isn’t goodbye, it’s only ‘good journey’. The mirror was once more the empty black glassy surface it had been before, but at her feet, where for five months had been nothing, there stretched a long, black shadow.
