Ususi said, 'We'll do what we can, Eined.' She hadn't quite lain aside her initial distrust of Eined. While events had done nothing to paint the Datharathi defector as anything but what she claimed, the possibility lurked that she was leading the two Deep Imaskari into a fiendishly designed trap.
Eined nodded and moved forward. They rounded a bend, and Ususi saw ruins. Imaskaran ruins, without a doubt, but older even than the empty outpost where Iahn had first found her.
Crumbling, half-excavated walls of purple stone cast dark shadows in the light of several dazzling magical lanterns. Small outcrops of Nadir crystal glinted here and there, somehow obscene in their excess.
Stepped excavations revealed deeper structures in three locations across the cavern floor. One of these was so deep that iron scaffolding fortified the sides of the earthen pit.
'Is this it?' Ususi asked, looking for a sign of the portal. No excavation tools were evident, and indeed, the entire dig gave the impression of having been abandoned months or even years earlier.
'No,' said Eined. 'If we take that tunnel…' her voice faltered as she pointed to one of the many tunnels that branched off the cavern.
A man stood in the shadows, his arms crossed. Ususi blinked-she hadn't seen him arrive. Was this Eined's trap?
'Grandfather,' Eined managed before terror smothered her voice.
'Hello. My name is Shaddon Datharathi. You've intruded into my sanctum, my place of business. In the process, you've apparently corrupted the mind of my poor, misguided grand-daughter,' spoke the man in a dry, piercing tone. His features were shrouded in darkness.
Iahn subtly shifted his weight, preparing to deliver a vicious strike if needed. In a rush, hoping to forestall the vengeance taker for a moment, Ususi said, 'We apologize for our sudden appearance. We don't want trouble. We'd like a little help. And we want to help you, too…'
'Indeed? You want to help me? In what fashion?' Shaddon sounded amused.
The wizard forged ahead. 'I have some bad news to deliver. I'm afraid the crystal you've been retrieving from… wherever you've been getting it… is infected with something terrible. It has the ability to take over the minds of those who wear it. Even people who simply remain in contact with unworked crystal too long may be at risk.' Ususi shivered, thinking back to the Celestial Nadir shards embedded in the shadow efts on the ship.
'Really?' The man sounded surprised, then stepped forward into the brightness of the chamber.
The light of a dozen torches flashed and twinkled off his crystalline face. For all Ususi could guess, Shaddon was completely sheathed in the stuff.
Shaddon said, 'That doesn't bode well for my health, does it?'
Eined gasped. Ususi put a hand to her mouth. Even Iahn seemed taken aback. In his stoic fashion, he blinked.
'Don't worry, you strangers who've appeared out of the blue to kindheartedly warn me of the shortfalls of the plangent program. I know something of the 'infection' of which you speak.'
'Then why haven't you closed the mine-and with it, the Body Shop?' demanded Eined.
Shaddon laughed.
'Because,' guessed Ususi, 'Shaddon himself is the source of the infection. He can influence the minds of those closely associated with the crystal.' But even as she said it, she wondered.
Ususi continued. 'Which means you've been aware of us for days, as we approached Vaelan, then took the ship across the Golden Water-you've been attacking us!'
The man appeared genuinely surprised. 'You think I've been attacking you?'
'You deny you can influence those with prostheses you install?'
'Can't deny it,' said Shaddon, grinning, his crystal face deforming as if flesh. 'I know the secret of branding each crystal I make so it serves as a conduit for persuasion. My influence is strong with everyone who possesses the enhanced abilities of a plangent. In fact, I can do more than merely influence. But, sadly, I'm not the only one who can access the crystal conduits I've fashioned.'
'Who else? Xaemar? Zeltaebar?' demanded Eined.
'No. Unless you're lying,' he told Ususi, 'the creature that watched you, for reasons I'd like to discover, is called Pandorym.'
Shaddon shuddered slightly when he said the name.
The vengeance taker shot a look at the wizard and said, 'That name was used by one of the creatures that hunted you before I slew it. I forgot it spoke that name until just now.'
Ususi cocked her head. Pandorym… Pandorym. The name was familiar. Something she'd read about long ago, something to do with ancient Imaskar. Then she had it. Her eyes widened. Of course, Pandorym was one of the first subjects she'd studied before she bypassed the Great Seal of her hidden city. Like many ancient, fell magics, Pandorym was supposedly stored safely in the Celestial Nadir.
It was one of the things she'd researched so she could steer clear of the creature's cage, should she stumble upon it during her quest.
'Ususi,' pressed Iahn, 'do you recognize the name?'
'Yes,' she replied.
Shaddon took a step forward, strangely intent on the wizard. He said, 'I could be destroyed for even asking this-but tell me more.
Quick!' He glanced back down the cavern he had come through. Ususi caught some faint sounds, like glass shattering and distant yells, but perhaps she was mistaken. She let her memory of the tome she'd found in the Purple Library swim before her eyes.
'Pandorym is the name of a doomsday weapon of sorts, a prototype entity conscripted out of desperation by the ancient Imaskari,' said Ususi. 'At least, so the records indicate in the Purple Library. It was designed solely as a deterrent, but a deterrent so potent it would give pause even to deities bent on vengeance.'
'Why vengeance?' wondered Eined.
'Nothing stirs the gods' wrath like the wholesale enslavement of their believers. Which is exactly what the ancient Imaskari were guilty of. They needed labor to support their expanding civilization.
The wronged gods' world-shaking anger exposed the Imaskari Empire to divine retribution. Thus, the Imaskari prepared their deterrent-Pandorym.'
'What is Pandorym?' demanded Shaddon, moving a step forward. The crystal on his face, as well as more crystal apparently hidden under his clothes, began to gleam.
'I don't know exactly what it was. Is. Like I said, the records, what I can remember of them, claimed Pandorym was a deterrent. Like all deterrents, they believed Pandorym would never be used. Or possibly-I'm not sure-he was too potent to be controlled.'
'But they eventually unleashed Pandorym, is that right?' said Shaddon, his crystal eye blazing with intensity.
'No. They didn't have the opportunity. True, Imaskar's ruins litter the empty places of the world. However, it was not Pandorym that brought them low-the Imaskari were never given the chance to offer detente. The raging gods and their empowered champions among the enslaved ended the Imaskari reign before the threat of the Pandorym doomsday entity was ever made. All their plans, weapons, and desperate schemes came to naught.'
'But Pandorym is loose now,' insisted Shaddon. 'It is in the crystal. It reaches out through the new crystal I use for artificial limbs and organs!'
Ususi looked at him. 'How did you find the crystal?'
'I found bits of it here in these caves. But a while back, I found an inactive portal to a nether space. After a few years of examination, I forced open the portal and discovered a demiplane of great age. In this space was a massive tower of ancient construction, cold and dead. I also discovered a mother lode of the purest crystal, which I've been putting to use ever since.'
A great crash and the faint sound of a distant, roaring wind issued from the tunnel behind Shaddon.
Ignoring these noises, Ususi addressed the elder Datharathi. 'You fool! The portal to this 'nether space' of yours-where is it? You have unstoppered Pandorym, who was held safely for millennia!'
The crystal-faced man only muttered, 'I wonder…'
'Grandfather, is it true? Is all this your fault? Have you done this willingly?' yelled Eined. She rushed forward, one hand raised in either accusation or anger.
