hallway. Holding still, they await the approach of whoever it may be.
James is sure that the sound of his heart, which feels like it’s trying to beat out of his chest, will surely give them away. They don’t have long to wait before two sets of footsteps enter the hallway from the outer room. He holds his breath, his heart beating wildly in fear as the footsteps draw closer, and pass by, the front of the stairwell. They then continue to the room at the end of the hallway wherein the pentagram lies.
James whispers to Corbin as they return to the hallway, “Stay here, I’m going to see what they’re doing.”
“Are you crazy? I’m getting out of here. If you’re smart, you will too.” With that he brushes past James, quickly moves down the hallway and exits through the front door. Once outside, he breaks into a mad dash as he races away from the house.
Knowing logically that he should leave too, James has an undeniable need to know what is going on in there. Slowly and quietly, he makes his way through the rubble to the entrance of the room. As he approaches, a subtle, pulsing, dark blue glow begins emanating from the room. Steeling himself, he peers around the corner.
Two individuals stand motionless before the pentagram. A small vortex pulsates with a dark blue radiance in the air above it. A feeling of horror washes over James, yet he’s unable to turn away.
The taller of the two begins to chant; the unfamiliar words painful to the ears. The smaller one, which looks to be a young girl, snaps out of her lethargic trance at the utterance of the first word. With a scream, she tries to flee and is only able to take a step before the taller one seizes her by the hair, holding her fast. At the touch of the taller one, the ability to run seems to drain from the girl. Unable to run or even move, the girl stands there and cries.
From the vortex, a shimmering wave stretches forth and makes contact with the girl. A soul wrenching scream tears from her throat. Her body spasms traumatically as pulses travel along the wave from the girl to the vortex.
As more screams are wrenched from the poor girl, James reacts without thought. From a campaign wherein he played a druid, words of a spell issue forth:
Forces of Good, forces of nature,
Give me your aid this day
Sever the bond, free the girl
Course of evil to stay!
Tendrils of power spring to life and converge from all directions at a point somewhere deep within him. From there it surges outward from his outstretched hand and arcs toward the shimmering wave. A blinding explosion like a mini-super nova flares when the two powers meet. Once the dots cease dancing before his eyes, he finds the wave from the vortex gone and the girl sags unconscious in the grip of the evil’s minion.
Hatred and malice erupts from the vortex. As it washes over him, James senses that the evil in the vortex is now focused upon him.
The evil’s minion turns toward James, letting go of the young girl who collapses to the floor.
Wariness turns to shock as he discovers the evil’s minion to be a girl that looked a little younger than himself. Dressed in blue jeans and a black shirt, he’s further dumbfounded when he spies the words San Francisco written across the front. She’s from home!
Her eyes glow with an inhuman intelligence; her face twists in an expression of pure evil. Wielding a dagger in one hand, she chants words whose very utterance set James’ skin acrawl.
“I’m from Earth, too,” he shouts.
But her expression fails to change.
“We can help each other.”
Unresponsive, she continues toward him and the chanting continues.
Out of the corner of his eye he catches sight of a change in the swirling of the vortex. Taking his eyes from her for a moment, he glances quickly over to it. A shiver goes through him when he finds the vortex beginning to coalesce and take shape.
The chanting from the girl suddenly stops and a dark cloud exudes outward toward him. The sight of the miasmic cloud causes him to dart backward out of the room but the cloud moves faster. He holds out his arm as if to ward it off, but instead feels excruciating pain.
It engulfs his arm; welts form and fire races along his nerve endings. A scream escapes him as more of his body comes in contact. Somewhere amidst all this agony, he finds the strength to cry:
Soothe and heal
No pain to feel
Power courses through his body and reduces the pain to a dull throbbing. The black cloud dissipates when the power behind the spell is exhausted. The features of the girl are contorted, misshapen and twisted by the evil which controls her. She continues advancing toward him.
Thinking fast, James glances at the floor as an idea comes and casts:
Stone like pudding
Soft and slick
Entrap her feet
Then harden quick.
As her foot descends to the floor during her next step, it sinks beneath the surface. Then as she moves forward with the other, it too passes within the stone of the floor. Once both have sunk into the stone floor a little past the ankles, the stone solidifies around them, encasing her feet. Her legs continue trying to bring her toward him, as if she does not realize what has happened. She starts chanting another spell.
Taking a small stone fragment from the rubble littering the floor, he casts the same spell used when he killed the wolf and throws. Ping! The stone ricochets off an invisible shield surrounding the girl.
Her chanting raises an octave and there’s a disconcerting prickling of his skin. He reaches down for another stone. Then borrowing from his druid’s repertoire of spells, he draws his arm back and says:
Forces of Good, forces of nature,
More aid do I need.
Pierce the shield, through the heart
The power of good, succeed.
Again a multitude of power tendrils flow into him, meet in the center, and surging outward as he hurls the stone at the girl. This time when the stone connects with her protective shield, there’s an intense flash of light and the stone passes through to strike her in the chest. It then explodes out her back and she slumps lifelessly forward to the floor, settling at an awkward angle due to her legs still being encased within the stone floor.
Tired, exhausted and drained, James turns toward the pentagram and the evil coalescing above it. The swirling vortex has now almost completely formed into something inhuman in aspect and malignant in nature. The glowing red eyes of the creature are fixed upon him and he can feel hatred roll over him like a filthy tide. Somehow, he knows that he must find a way to close this portal between worlds before the creature is able to manifest completely. He modifies another of his druid’s spells:
Forces of Good, forces of nature,
Hearken to me one last time.
Seal the rift, the passage to close,
And let victory at last be mine!
One last time he feels the influx of multiple tendrils as they suffuse him with more power than ever before. So intense is the power as it passes through, that it feels as his nerve endings are being seared raw as it flows outward. In his mind’s eye he visualizes the portal and the power of the evil fighting to keep it open. Such malignant hate and evil; even in his worst nightmares he never could have imagined such to exist. His mind’s eye concentrates on the portal, directing the magic in drawing it close. The power continues flowing to, and then out through him, toward the portal.
Wave after wave of malignant hate strike him like physical blows, each nearly causing him to falter. Somehow though, he manages to remain focused and continues directing the magic in closing the portal.
Just before the portal is no more, a final surge of unbelievable malignancy blasts into him and knocks him back several steps. With the closing of the portal, he ends the spell and the magic tendrils cease flowing into him. He has little time to enjoy his victory. Completely drained and exhausted, his eyes roll up into the back of his head,
