"Ha-ha! Your health is down to Minus Two! That's super dead. I win!" Eclipse grinned broadly, tapping his trump card.
"Your mage obliterated my defenses. The field is empty. And I can't heal any more." Tarik leaned back and faked anger. "I will rise again as a spectre and haunt you," he threatened.
"Well, then I should probably make a 'Levinia' card," Eclipse said, rubbing his chin.
"What stats?"
"Six-four and when she enters the field your hero gets stunned and everypony else scared back into your hand."
"Too overpowered." Tarik scrunched up his face. "How the hell did we get here?" he asked, slightly bewildered.
"You wanted to explain the rules to him," Nylene reminded the knight. "Because you like the game much more than I do, apparently."
"Right." He looked at Eclipse who still could not wipe the grin off his muzzle. "Four out of seven?"
"Where the hell is Darren?" Nylene muttered to herself.
"Equestria. Their world is called Equestria." Darren scratched his neck and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. "Pardon," he said. "Long day."
Khadgar nodded. "Thank you for all of this information. If you could bring me the notes of your friend that would be extremely helpful. I have a rough idea how to make the portal you need," he raised his brows, "but there are a few things that I need to check first. And I will require your assistance for just a little longer, Darren."
"Certainly. No pain, no gain." Darren straightened up.
Levinia had actually expected Khadgar to say something like this much sooner and Darren did not seem surprised, either. She floated lazily into the air. Her hooves lost contact with the ground; her mane flowed more freely as she tapped into her magical resources.
"You know, I better tell the others it's going to take a bit longer. They're probably worried by now. Should I get the saddlebags and bring them here?" she offered. "If I'm going to the Rose anyway."
"Please bring them directly to the Mage Quarter," Khadgar suggested. "Do you remember the tallest tower in the centre?"
Levinia nodded.
"That's the Wizard's Sanctum. Just follow the ramp that circles it and after entering you step into the portal and take a left. You can put the bags on the stone elevation next to the water basin. Just not too close." He winked at her and rummaged inside the bag that was fastened to his belt. "Ah, there it is. Here." He tossed a small item to the surprised Levinia.
It was a gem the size of her hoof, a symmetrically cut, oblong blue sapphire. The pictograph of an eye and three arrows pointing downward was engraved into the stone.
"What is it?" she asked, running her hoof over the smooth surface. There was some kind of spell imbedded in the stone but there was no way for her to tell what it could do.
"That will get you into the Sanctum without trouble. It works like a badge. Meanwhile, I think it would be best if we teleported to my place right away. I need to consult some of my books."
"Okay," said Levinia. "See you later, then!"
"It might take a while," Khadgar warned her, swiftly lowering his hand to the height of his knees. Blue magical energy expanded from it and settled on the ground, forming a circle around himself and Darren. Runes danced along the lines. He did not even need to draw them - they just appeared along with the spell. A shiver ran down Levinia's spine.
Khadgar raised his hand again, this time with more effort as if he was straining against a force that prevented him from doing so. Strands of energy crackled, connecting his fist with the circle. Levinia suspected that the teleportation would ensue as soon as Khadgar opened his fingers. "Are you ready?" he asked, looking at Darren.
"As long as I'll be back before -" Darren began. Khadgar opened his hand and they disappeared in a flash of blue light.
"- Midnight." Darren blinked, staggering as if he had bumped his foot on a stair. He spread his arms to regain his balance. The sudden transference had been entirely different from a portal. It was one thing to fall through a magical current. It was something else to just instantaneously be someplace else. "Oof..." He took a deep breath. Even gravity felt slighty different.
Darren looked around, taking in the new surroundings. There were rows and rows of wooden bookshelves, slightly rounded so they would fit into the circular cavernous hall. A seemingly endless stairwell spiraled upwards into the higher levels of the tower. He quickly stepped to a window and looked outside.
Instead of the roofs of Stormwind there were trees, dead grey trees, stretching to the horizon. They were in the valley of a colourless mointain ridge, reddening in the light of a setting sun.
"This is not the Mage Quarter," Darren said accusingly, pointing at the window.
Khadgar raised his brows. "I thought that would be obvious when I said we'd go to my place."
"No!"
"This is Karazhan, in the Red Ridge Mountains. Well, formerly red. Now they just call it the Deadwind Pass, a rather dreadful name if you ask me. I don't live in Stormwind. Don't worry, I will portal you back at midnight or so." Khadgar smiled apologetically. "I forgot you aren't up to date with everything. Sorry about that."
Darren rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Let's just do this research before I get a headache," he pleaded.
"You're taking this teleport pretty well," Khadgar remarked, surprised. "Most people lose a bit of their lunch the first time. Especially humans."
"I lost my life once, I'm not going to lose my lunch over this," said Darren dryly.
"Right. Research," Khadgar called himself to order. "We're looking for a tome, about ye big, with a blue leather binding. It should be somewhere in that section in the upper half of a shelf. It's called Riftworld Codex. And I'll get the Essays on Dimensional Convergence and Walking Through Worlds ... probably also the Book of Medivh. And please, Darren - don't touch the book when you find it, just holler. It is a library but we are the only ones around. And the books here are not all... friendly."
"Rude." Levinia stared at the empty spot before her. She sighed. Better to get to the Gilded Rose and find the saddlebags. She flapped her wings, ready to take off.
Something was not right. Levinia flapped her wings once again, forgetting that she did not need to do that in order to fly. She felt strangely heavy. Something kept dragging her down like an invisible weight and eventually she gave up. Sitting on the ground, Levinia looked at her hooves in confusion. Had she used up her energy without noticing? No, she did not feel weak, just unable to float or fly.
Maybe she could turn into a wisp! Levinia smiled and stood up again. Her form dissolved into the blue light. Now she felt better.
"Now!" somebody shouted.
A strong force took hold of Levinia, dragging her away. If she had limbs she would probably have flailed them around, trying to dig them into the ground. But the way she was she could only watch as she was being pulled into a bottle in the hands of a hooded human. As soon as she was inside the green vessel somebody corked it.
"Well, that was easy." It had to be a male, judging by the voice.
Panic and claustrophobia took hold of Levinia. She tried to escape, flying around in the bottle, but she only bumped against the glass helplessly, like a firefly inside a jar. She had to get out! Yet the longer she struggled the more she had to admit to herself that she was stuck.
The hooded man held the bottle closer and shook it, making her dizzy.
"Stop it, the seal is not foolproof!" The hand of a woman came into view, taking hold of the man's wrist.
"Fine." More quaking, then darkness engulfed her. They had probably put the bottle into a bag.
Thankful that she could not get sick in her current form, Levinia waited until the shaking stopped. It went on for a while and there was a rhythm to it as if her captors were walking somewhere. After what felt like an eternity, the bottle was removed from its hiding place and put on a shelf.
The two hooded figures left, closing a door behind them. There was the sound of a key turning inside a lock.
Levinia was alone.
She sighed inwardly and tried to see in the dark. Her own light shone back from the smooth surface of the glass, creating disorienting reflections.
After a while, Levinia figured out on what to focus. As a wisp, she had unobstricted sight in all directions, theoretically, but she soon realized that this was only half true. Behind her was a wall, beneath and above, the boards of the shelf. Up ahead was mostly darkness. She could make out the silhouettes of books and different items such as scrolls and more bottles. Most of them were empty, carelessly piled up on a large table. Some of them contained irregular shapes, floating inside some disgusting liquid.
Oh merciful stars, was she in a laboratory? What would those people do to her? What could they do to her? She had thought that nopony could touch her without permission - she was a freaking ghost!
And she could not scream or flee or do anything really, except watch and wait.
Scared and lonely, she floated to the bottom of the bottle and just remained there, wishing she could cry.
As dinnertime approached and Darren and Levinia still were not back, Eclipse grew restless. He could not focus on the game with Tarik anymore. When Tarik interrupted his Khadgar card for the second time in a row, Eclipse put his four remaining cards face-down and put his head onto his hooves.
"What's taking them so long?" he asked glumly.
Nylene pulled a face. "I am going to check. You two stay here, please."
Tarik nodded. Then, a thought occurred to him. "But you already ordered your food."
"You can have it," Nylene offered. "For morale, you see."
Frowning, Tarik set his jaw.
Nylene squeezed Eclipse's hoof for a moment, then she rushed off.
"How about another -?" Tarik began.
"No!" the colt interrupted him angrily. "I'm not just gonna sit here when my friends are in trouble."
"You don't know that. They might simply be late."
"Well, I'm not taking any chances!" Eclipse declared, standing up. The whites of his eyes turned black and his irises glowed in an eerie purple light - he was using dark magic!
Tarik twitched, his hand reaching over his shoulder. Then, he remembered he had left his sword upstairs.
Eclipse's coat rippled, dark smoke rising from it. He looked like a shadow priest, like those mad cultists from the sands of Uldum. Even though he was undead, Tarik shuddered.
Somebody screamed. That made Eclipse blink in surprise. He frowned and turned his head to see who it had been.
A woman cowered next to her table, her husband trying to shield her with his body. They were human, maybe Allison's age, and had waited for their own dinner while Eclipse and Tarik had been playing their card game.
"Stop this madness!" Tarik barked, hiding his apprehension in an angry shout.
"But I gotta help Nylene!" Eclipse said. His voice was still his own but it sounded deeper, more powerful.
"Why, don't you trust her?"
"I..." Eclipse sighed.
The dark smoke dissipated and mere seconds later he was back to normal. He hung his head, ears folded back. "You're right. I'm being stupid. I just wanna rush after her but I guess she's not dumb. Or weak."
"What the hell was that just now?" Tarik demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Eclipse who winced.
"My Void powers," the colt admitted begrudgingly. He hit the ground with a hoof, angry at himself. "I'm supposed to be better than that!" he snapped. "Stars dammit!" Eclipse spun around and bolted for the door.
"Eclipse! Wait!" Tarik ran after him, casting a look at the scared couple.
"Sorry about that," he said quickly, getting a shaky nod from the man.
Eclipse was not used to weaving through a dense crowd but people already gave him a berth when they saw how upset he was. He stopped gallopping after only fifty yards, slowing to a canter. Sitting down on the curbside next to a sign that said, "Gallina Winery", Eclipse wiped his muzzle and sniffled.
Tarik spotted him with ease. He strolled over to Eclipse and sat down next to him. Crossing his arms and resting them on his knees, Tarik glanced at the little pegasus. The colt's sapphire blue eyes met Tarik's cold gaze. Eclipse's eyes were bloodshot, he had been crying.
Since he did not know what to say, Tarik remained silent.
They continued to sit there until Eclipse sighed deepy and said, "Sorry."
"Forgiven," said Tarik. "You ready to go back?"
Eclipse nodded, slowly standing up. "I feel like an idiot," he muttered, barely audible over the noises of the street.
"Everybody does sometimes," Tarik assured him.
"Really? Even death knights?"
"Especially death knights. Come on, now. We should be there when our friends return."
"Hm..." Eclipse hummed. "Yeah, you're right."
With the little pony in tow, Tarik returned to the Gilded Rose.
As they entered, they found a letter on their table, next to Eclipse's cards. It was addressed to Levinia and sealed with the sign of the wizard council of the Kirin Tor. Tarik snatched it from the table and flipped it. There was no return address.
"It just appeared out of thin air," said the woman from before, her voice trembling. She and her husband were now seated again and eating some kind of stew Allison had undoubtedly made for them. Tarik should probably tell her to keep Nylene's food warm for her.
"Really? I see. Thank you." Tarik pretended that they were having a normal conversation, keeping his tone level. He turned to Eclipse. "Please gather your cards. I should read this somewhere private." He did not like it but if Levinia was missing this was probably his best clue.
Eclipse, his pack of cards under his wing, sat down on Tarik's bed. The sheets were still the way they had been when Tarik had booked the room. Sometimes he would lie down on it to think but most of the time he had walked around the city, visiting the occasional acquaintance and getting his armour repaired. The colt did not know about this, of course. Tarik was not the person to talk about how his day was.
Tarik shut the door and ripped the envelope open with his pinkie. He found a single sheet of yellowed paper covered in what was most likely Darren's handwriting.
Levinia,
we teleported to Karazhan for more research.
When you bring the saddlebags to the Sanctum, please wait there. Khadgar will set up a portal for me to get there as soon as we are done. I do not know how long it will take. Khadgar's help will speed things up. Maybe we can go home sooner than we thought.
Nylene should ensure that Eclipse goes to bed on time.
See you soon.
Darren
There was another comment in a different handwriting, this one smaller and more intricate.
Say hello to Eclipse from me. I promise I will return your friend in one piece.
Spunky
Apparently, Levinia had been supposed to return here and get the saddlebags from her pony friend. Now he, Tarik, was stuck playing babysitter for a little pony with Void powers. And how the hell did they meet Khadgar? Was he the raven? Tarik groaned.
One thing at a time. First, he needed to calm down Eclipse.
"Darren is safe," he told the colt, waving the letter. "You'll probably see him in the morning."
"What about Levinia?" Eclipse asked, focusing on the thing Tarik had tried not to mention.
"I don't know. It doesn't say. Apparently, she was supposed to come back here. Nylene will find her, Eclipse."
Eclipse sighed. "I sure hope so."
"There is a line for you," Tarik told Eclipse and read Khadgar's note to him. Seeing the relieved grin on Eclipse's muzzle, Tarik put the letter back into the envelope and decided that it was not his place to tell him the raven's identity just yet. "Let's have dinner," he said instead. "I'll get the food from the kitchen."
It took him a while but by the time that Eclipse had eaten he had calmed down enough to be left on his own. Tarik took the bowl and went downstairs to ask Allison for a spare key to Darren's room. He would not let the pony sleep in his bed, not because he had a problem with that but because Eclipse had all his things in the other room.
As he had suspected, Tarik found Allison in the kitchen, washing the dishes of the other guests. Her son stood next to her, drying the plates and bowls with a ragged towel. The adolescent boy frowned darkly as he saw the death knight. Tarik exchanged a few words with Allison, asking her to get Eclipse to bed if Nylene did not return until Nine. He opened the door to room No. 3 for Eclipse and bade him a good night along with the promise of coming back. Then, Tarik quickly donned his armour, snatched his sword belt and slung it over his shoulder. The letter went into his back pocket. He almost forgot the saddlebags. As he entered Darren's room again, Eclipse gave im a bewildered look. Tarik shrugged apologetically and took the saddlebags from under the table closet.
"I'm going to need this," he explained. "See you tomorrow."
He closed the door and made his way to the Mage Quarter.
Eclipse is wading through snow that goes up to his barrel. Pushing through the cold white blanket, he calls out for his parents. The only answer is the cry of a wolf in the distance. He feels alone, so terribly alone. Everyone has left him! He has never been so lost and cold before - except at the beginning. But still, he has to keep trying.
He calls for Darren but all he gets is more snow falling into his face.
His shout for Nylene goes unanswered.
As he shouts Levinia's name, there is a faint reply.
Eclipse opens his mouth again and cries at the top of his voice, "Levinia! Where are you?"
He still cannot make out the words so he calls a third time.
Now, he can finally understand bits of it. Her voice is muffled and has an echo to it as if she were in a small room.
"Eclipse! Help - ! I don't - where I am!"
A weak blue light appears in front of him.
"Eclipse!"
He tries to touch it but as soon as his hoof gets close the light fades.
"Tell Darren and Khadgar! I've been ponynapped but I don't know where I am. Can you hear me?"
"Yes! Yes, I can hear you!" Eclipse shouts against the snow. "We'll find you! Hold on, we'll save you!"
The light fades away and he is alone again. The snow keeps falling, burying him until all he can see is white nothingness.
Eclipse woke up with a damp coat, panting heavily. His cheeks were wet, his eyes felt warm and his legs hurt. No Princess Luna had been there to help him. No Mom or Dad was there to console him. Even Nylene -
He angrily hit the blanket with his hoof. No. He would not give in to his fears. His friends all promised to come back. And his Mom and Dad were safe in the Empire.
... But something had been very weird about that dream. Like a dream interrupting another dream.
Eclipse's eyes widened as he remembered that you often forgot your dreams as soon as you woke up. He ran to the closet and opened it. There, Darren's backpack. Quickly, quickly... yes! An old inkwell, almost dried up. That had to be Twilight's. Eclipse took it and went to the washing bowl. He filled the inkwell with water, closed it and shook it. That should get him enough ink to make notes.
Using the feather he had brushed out of his wing before, Eclipse decided to sacrifice the cheap tablecloth. He wrote down a few words in Equestrian, splattering ink all over the cloth.
Levinia taken
where?
Track her somehow
no Luna
knows Khadgar?
As he was sure he would not forget anymore, Eclipse spat the quill out.
"Pwah!" He stuck out his tongue, disgusted. He had not had a chance to wash that feather. In the dim light of the moon, he could tell that the words were legible at least.
Eclipse staggered back to bed, slightly dizzy, and slipped under the blanket. Hopefully, when he woke up again, Nylene and Darren would both be back.
It was almost midnight when Khadgar teleported Darren and himself back to Stormwind. A blue flash of light exploded in the Wizard's Sanctum's portal room, leaving the two men standing on the exquisite carpet before a water basin that decorated a high wall. The blue fire in the lanterns on said wall cast an eerie light on their faces, making them look like ghosts.
It took Darren a moment to get his bearings again. Then he recognized Tarik sitting on a stone plinth next to the fountain, in full armour, with his sword on his back and Twilight's old saddlebags at his feet. He had his hands behind his back for some reason.
"About time," Tarik grunted, sounding slightly irritated.
"Where's Levinia?" Darren asked with a frown.
"She didn't return from your meeting. That's why I came instead. Would you please release me?"
"Release -?" Darren repeated, now thoroughly confused.
Khadgar sighed. "Right, of course." He raised his hand, making a complicated motion with it.
Tarik twitched and moved his hands, flexing his fingers, then rotating his shoulder. "Sir, your assistant is kind of a dick," he told Khadgar. Standing up, Tarik snatched the saddlebags from the ground and gave them to Darren who reluctantly took them und tucked them under his arm.
"My assistant did exactly what he was told to do," said Khadgar. "When somebody enters the Sanctum without authorization they are detained until a mage with a high enough clearance frees them. Or the intruder is banished or destroyed."
"Lovely," Tarik commented. "Also, aren't you Archmage Khadgar?"
"That I am. For how long have you been sitting here?"
"Long enough to assume that Nylene must have returned from her search for you."
"Wait - are you saying that Levinia is missing?" Darren asked, alarmed.
"Yes. I would have looked for her, too, but somebody needed to meet you," Tarik explained. "And bring the bags."
"Forget the bags! You left Eclipse alone?!" Darren snapped. "Are you out of your mind?"
Tarik frowned. "I told Allison to look after him," he said defensively.
Darren sighed, rubbing his eyes. He took a breath, trying to stay calm. The only good thing about this day seemed to be that it was nearing its end. "Great," Darren muttered to himself.
"Are you doing this?" Khadgar asked, pointing at the water basin. The water in it was frozen.
He was losing control over his emotions again. Darren pressed his lips together and forced himself to focus. He had to make a plan. Give Khadgar the saddlebags so he could do his research on the portal. Find Levinia. Calm down Eclipse. Tell Tarik or Nylene to look after him while he would look for Levinia, not to mention that he still did not want to give up on that family reunion. Given the circumstances, Levinia was highest on the priority list. But he could get one thing out of the way right away.
"Never mind the ice," said Darren. He passed the saddlebags on to Khadgar. "You're free to go through the notes. But please consider that they're confidential. Also, they are in Equestrian."
"I'll need you as a translator, then," Khadgar hinted. "Although it would be very interesting to learn a new language from scratch, I'm under the impression that you are in a bit of a hurry."
"We've got to find Levinia," Darren objected. "That's more important than the portal. And someone needs to take care of Eclipse. So only two will be able look for her."
"We need to figure out what happened first," Tarik objected.
Khadgar hummed, thinking hard. His eyes on the bags, he said slowly, "Eclipse can read Equestrian, can't he?"
"True. What are you getting at?" Darren asked.
"If he helps with the translation all of you can investigate since I would, well, look after the little pony." Khadgar shrugged. "From what I've seen he would probably like to see a wizard's library from the inside. And he will be safer than at the inn - in case the people who took Levinia are also after him. It's not that unlikely with the Void powers he claims to have."
Darren's stomach made a somersault backwards as he realized he had not thought of that possibility. The ice crackled as the water froze through, right down to the bottom of the basin. But Khadgar did have a point. The only thing that peeved Darren about it was that Khadgar, the powerful Kirin Tor mage, seemed to want to remain behind the curtains. He could have been a great help tracking down Levinia. But, to be honest, he was not obligated to do anything at all. And Darren would take whatever help he could get.
"Thank you," said Darren, his throat dry.
"You're welcome. I'll be honest with you, I would be a fool if I passed up an opportunity like that," Khadgar admitted with an apologetic smile. "But are you sure you're alright with letting me take him to Karazhan?"
"If any harm comes to him I will kill you. I don't care how strong of a mage you are," Darren assured him.
"I'll remember that," Khadgar said, respectfully inclining his head. Darren was not sure if he was being ironic but he found he was too angry to care.
"Tarik, will you help me?" Darren asked the knight. "You have done a lot already but -"
"I am a freelancer, I can do whatever the hell I want. That includes tracking down a pony ghost."
Darren nodded, unable to express his gratitude.
"We will find and save her," he vowed.