Legendazona, Murdered in Life

(continued from “Entreating the Mother-Goddess“)

Finally able to depart the ball, Xenograg rushes through Nestrian Palace into the private wing for the royal family. The palace also has a secret sanctum containing a mirror. Storming into his study, Xenograg throws his gilt baldric over his head. He ignores the thud of the heavy bronze sword against his hip. Next he turns to the plain wooden box on the desk with the magic lock. Opening the box, Xenograg takes out a bronze hexagon talisman covered in runes. Lastly, the Aastego Cloak jumps off its rack from across the room at Xenograg’s gesture. He pulls it over his shoulders and strides towards the secret door. As in the Dojo, it opens on a narrow stairway down. He descends.

Xenograg’s headache has him in a foul mood. Seeing Legendazona in the Barsi sanctum infuriates him.

“Legend! Damn you! You have gone too far now!”

The ghost paused in her gleeful sporting about the room as her arch-nemesis stepped down the stairs.

“Well, well, it seems the ever-watchful guard dog has come to protect his property. Too late, Xenograg! I have the key to your travel, and I am not finished checking out all of my options!”

With that, the ghost flowed over and through the sorcerer towards the stairs. Xenograg does not reply to Legendazona’s gloating, but he does speak: a single word.

“Zregohrmeithuun!”

Chaos engulfs the Barsi sanctum as the trigger word activates a contingency spell. The mirror shatters as a black maw of a portal opens. Seemingly open to a vacuum, the portal sucks in everything in the room—including the vengeful spirit of the priestess.

The portal closes. The sanctum is completely empty. Bare minutes later, Amaltea arrives. The whole palace had shaken as if from an earthquake. She descends the stairs to find the mirror and everything else gone from the sanctum. As foreboding as the scene is, Amaltea knows things are much worse. She cannot sense Xenograg through the amulet she wears. Once more, Amaltea can only worry and hope that her husband will return alive.

“Not again…,” she laments.

The disorientation from being sucked through the sorcerer’s portal fades, leaving Legendazona with a strange feeling—that of falling. She has no physical body, so how can she fall? Nevertheless, that is the sensation her mind receives. She wills herself to stop all movement and float in one place. Nothing changes, and her descent continues. Legendazona does not understand how this can be. Where is she?

The falling sensation is suddenly replaced with an even stranger one: of hitting bottom! Legendazona is completely surprised and just lays there. She realizes that she is not feeling any pain, only a new disorientation caused by the instantaneous deceleration. This also fades quickly, and Legendazona pushes herself up onto hands and knees. She looks around at her environment.

Everything is dark grey. The ground is barely discernable from the air (both arbitrary concepts of reference, she knows). The ground has a rough surface but is otherwise a single solid, dry piece. The air is likewise dry but hazy. Visibility is only about one hundred feet in any direction.

‘As dry, boring, and unimaginative as the Sorcerer himself,’ she thinks. ‘Now where is he?’

“Over here, Your Grace,” announces Xenograg as he walks out of the gloom. Legendazona scowls at his use of the honorific. Xenograg approaches within twenty feet of her. “You have pushed me too far, Legendazona. I will not suffer you any longer.”

“Hah! You cannot kill me again, Xenograg. You cannot even stop me, merely delay me!”

“You are wrong. Here, in this place between life and death, I can destroy you…with this!”

Xenograg brandishes the engraved hexagonal bronze talisman. Legendazona does not doubt it is imbued with magic. Xenograg crouches into a ready stance. He holds the talisman, fingers around its edge, and extends his arm—aiming it at her. Legendazona can still move as fast as a spirit. She flies up and around in an irregular course. Xenograg attempts to track her with his arm but cannot keep his aim. Legendazona is watching him carefully, waiting for her foe to change his tactics.

And he does. Legend sees him rise from his aiming stance. Xenograg appears to be preparing to pursue her in the air. That will not matter, though. Legend stops in mid-air and lashes out with all the energy she can muster. Xenograg staggers and the talisman is knocked from his hand; it lands almost ten feet away. The two combatants rush for the talisman.

Legendazona wins the race. She laughs mockingly at Xenograg, the talisman safely in her hands.

“Foolish man! Perhaps I should slay you with your own weapon.”

Xenograg does not reply. He just stands there without any sign of fear or frustration. Then he smiles—a dark, cold smile. Legendazona’s own smile dies on her lips. She looks down at the talisman in horror, and too late feels its magic working upon her. She screams as her essence is sucked into the prison.

“Nooooooooooooooo………!”

The bronze medallion makes a dull ring on the ground as it lands. Xenograg walks over and picks it up. Legendazona had expected a direct confrontation with Xenograg—some sort of honorable fight, not a trick. It was her assumption and mistake.

“You are correct, Legendazona. I cannot destroy you, merely delay you. Perhaps you will get free someday, a few centuries from now. Perhaps.” He tucks the talisman into a pocket and begins the spell to transport him home again.