The Summoned
Escape
The Dark Plane: Norax's Tower
Asa regarded the old man quizzically. "You're
the Seeker?"
The Seeker nodded. "Yes, yes. I suppose you
expected someone standing twelve feet tall wielding a staff and spewing
fire in every direction?" he inquired, raising one whitened eyebrow.
Asa didn't answer. Instead, he looked around
at the various books, scrolls, and other magic related paraphernalia that
littered the room. Finally, he turned back to the aged wizard.
"You... work for Norax?" Asa asked, feeling a knot form inside him.
If the Seeker had been converted to Norax's cause....
The old man started chuckling. "No, no no!
He certainly thinks I do, but I am actually here waiting for you."
"You knew I was coming?"
"Of course I knew!" The Seeker stood up, and
started slowly pacing the room. "What sort of self-respecting wizard
wouldn't know that the fate of worlds is hanging in the balance?"
He turned his gaze back to Asa.
Asa blinked, unsure whether Seeker was being literal
or just exaggerating. Instead, he asked "So what are you going to
do now?"
"What else? I'm going to get you out of here!"
he declared, taking hold of Asa's arm and pulling him toward the door.
A moment later, Seeker was leading Asa through the
labyrinthine corridors of the tower. Surprisingly, Asa had to run
to keep up with the wizard, who was moving a great deal faster than one
would have guessed from his age. Seeker managed to discover a stairwell,
and lost no time in guiding Asa down it, then following.
The Seeker didn't stop until they had reached the
very bottom of the stairs, and were facing a very old, and apparently very
strong, wooden door. Seeker was sitting on the floor, gasping for
breath. Asa was standing close by with a worried look on his face.
There was, of course, nothing he could do to help Seeker, but he could
still hope.
After a few minutes, the mage's breathing returned
to normal. "I may have overdone it." he panted lightly.
"I'm not so young as I used to be. Wait a few moments, and I shall
open this doorway for you, and we'll be off."
Asa sat, leaning against the wall, and trying to
think about the whole situation. It just seemed odd - just that morning,
he had been trapped in a cell, and now he was about to escape Norax's tower
with the aid of Seeker. Asa turned his thoughts to Seeker himself.
The old man seemed capable of strange things indeed - from the erratic
behavior of his character "Janus" - to the mysterious running ability he
had demonstrated in the hallways just moments before. Asa hadn't
noticed the wizard actually using any magic, but that didn't diminish his
belief that, if needed, Seeker could wield magic quite well.
Seeker slowly stood to his feet and approached the
door. He spent a few moment searching over it, looking at the hinges
and rusted iron supports. Finally, he took a step back, murmured
something under his breath, and pushed the door open.
Asa got up and walked through after the wizard.
"What was that?"
"What was what?"
"What did you do to the door?" Asa walked
closely after Seeker, making sure not to lose him in the increasing darkness.
"Nothing. It wasn't locked."
"Then what did you say under your breath?"
Seeker looked back, his face betraying a smile.
"I swore. I believe I said, 'Damn, this is easy'."
Asa shook his head, unsure of what to think of this
man. The Seeker continued on his way, humming something under his
breath. As far as Asa could tell, there was nobody else on this level
of the tower, but it still made him nervous that the old man was so overt
in his actions. Asa felt along the walls, his eyes straining to pierce
the increasing darkness. The only source of light was from the open
door that they had come through. He began to feel his way forward
by trailing his hands along the walls. He stopped suddenly, to avoid
crashing into the Seeker, who had done the same. He could barely
make out the figure of the aged wizard ahead of him.
"This way." Seeker whispered, and proceeded to clamber
down onto his hands and knees and crawl at a right angle to the direction
he had been traveling. He proceeded to vanish from view.
Asa stood where he was for a moment, trying to ignore
the growing fear within him. He slowly got down on his hands and
knees and felt the wall for the exit that Seeker had gone through.
It was at that point that he realized that the ground was covered by a
thin layer of water and slime, the former of which started seeping into
his clothing. Asa crawled into the cramped hole in the wall that
Seeker had vanished into, and was plunged instantly into darkness.
Asa began moving forward through the crawlway, feeling
the walls of the small space pressing against him on all sides. The
darkness seemed to close in on him, and he felt himself suffocating.
He crawled faster, at moments nearly becoming stuck in bumps that jutted
out from the crawlway. Panic nagged at the edge of his mind, and
he fought it off desperately. If he panicked, it would be the end
of him - he'd be stuck in the crawlway, stories and stories of concrete
above him, pressing in on him.... Suppressing the strong urge to
scream, Asa moved forward even more quickly.
Then suddenly the floor was gone, and Asa fell before
he could check himself. There was a splash, and the cold temperature
of the water that he found himself in roused him to action. Sputtering
and flailing, Asa managed to find his way to the shore. Gasping for
breath, he threw himself onto the ground. Opening his eyes, he found
that his sight had returned - somewhat. Apparently, it was night.
Coughing, he looked around himself to see if anyone had noticed the commotion.
Only one person was nearby, and that was Seeker, who was looking around
as though searching for something. He spotted Asa and helped the
man to his feet.
"Ah, it's good to be out of that sewer and into
the great outdoors, isn't it?" Seeker inquired. Asa, who hadn't
realized that he had been in a sewer, nodded without saying anything.
Seeker took a few steps back and looked around some more.
"We don't have much time." he declared.
"I was supposed to bring you to Norax. When he realizes we've escaped,
he'll try to summon you back. I've got some magic I can use to counter
that, but it won't last long."
"Why are you doing this?" Asa demanded, suddenly
angry. "Just so I can go through everything I went through before?
Just so I can end up right back under Norax's control? There's nothing
that can undo a summon! Don't you understand that? Until he
releases me, I have to do what he says!"
Seeker nodded. "I don't know your profession
as well as I know mine, I'll admit. But there is something that will
allow you to resist a summon. All that you need is to have as much,
or more, power than the one that is summoning you."
Asa shook his head. "I can't compete with
Norax! He's lived over a century! I'm not even close in terms
of ability."
"You forget!" Seeker said, "Norax is a warrior,
a fighter. I assume you've heard the story of his fall..." the mage
trailed off. Asa nodded, and the mage continued. "Good.
Norax took up summoning only after he had defeated Kanaos, you see.
None except my mentor Luther realized that he was being controlled by the
malign spirit within the sword. He extracted promises of summons
from many, but his learning ended there! That is all he knows of
summoning... he cannot even raise an elemental. His power that he
has arises from the rod he possesses - the Gatekeeping Rod of the Dark
Plane. It is an artifact that once belonged to your ancestor, Tonir.
He also possessed the Gatekeeping Rod for the Light Plane as well."
"And the rod for the Summoner's plane? I guess
there is one."
Seeker nodded. "You guess correctly, though
I am surprised that you need to guess. The Gatekeeping Rod of the
Summoner's plane is currently in the hands of Thalla, a demon from that
very plane."
Asa started. "Did you say Thalla?"
"Yes, Thalla. You would probably had run across
her in your wanderings, for she too has dealings with Norax. However,
I've trapped her - you need not worry about her interfering."
Asa didn't say anything, but instead looked away
from the Seeker. The old man didn't notice. Instead, he returned
to an earlier point of the conversation. "You didn't know that there
was a Summoner's Gatekeeping rod?"
"No, I had just supposed that one existed - you
know, one for each plane."
"But do you know how it came about?" When
Asa shook his head, Seeker sighed heavily. "You don't even know the
origin of summoning, and yet you practice its magic? I am surprised!"
"You know the origin of summoning?"
"I do." Seeker affirmed. "It's one of
the few good things that came out of the Abhorrent Triad." Seeker
looked around again nervously. "Now is not the time. Come,
I will lead you to Naogon, and try to protect you against Norax's magic
there. And on our journey, I will tell you of the triad."
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