I had to give it to the creature. The ntal work was excellent. Every ghost has the natural ability to cause fear, but this show was really good—so good, in fact, that I almost missed the slight poke in my ntal landscape. The presence in my mind slowly made its way deeper, towards the part of the psyche where surface fears and phobias resided.
Breaking into soone's mind was difficult if you did not have a natural ability, like ghosts or seers. But even for those creatures, it was hazardous because to do so directly, you must establish a two-way connection.
And if you run into soone proficient in mind arts, it might not end up well for you. If I were a normal person, I would probably just wonder why I am thinking about so scary mory from the past right now, as the creature got a good look at my fears.
But I was not a normal person, and this was precisely what I was waiting for.
The presence in my mind was moving forward cautiously until it suddenly stopped. It finally noticed that sothing was horribly wrong, probably warned by a primal sense of fear that arose in it.
But it was too late.
Using my own ntal strength, I grabbed the tentacle-like construct in my mind, locking it in place, and made my way to the thing on the other end, no stealth, just a brute force attack. Once there, I started to rummage through the creature's psyche like an elephant in a glass shop, looking for its plan or, preferably, location.
I could feel the mind on the other end. It was much more complex than any spirit I had encountered before, but I had no ti to ponder. The part of it in my head started to retreat in a panic.
With access to so of my mories, it bombarded with visions of my own childhood, hoping one of them would elicit enough of a response to break my concentration.
The mories flashed before my eyes. I could see my own past intertwined with the ghost's surface thoughts.
A vision of a head in a complicated glass container looking at with a warm smile flashed inside my mind.
It was preparing a trap.
People chanting in strange language as thirteen-year-old sat in front of a massive sculpture with dinsions, angles and colors not of this world.
A distraction, then an attack, it was planning a killing blow.
An old massive book with strange symbols, the most blasphemous text of mankind, passed to .
Sothing more, a ruse within a ruse, sothing was wrong, sothing… As I tried to make my way deeper, the connection was lost, and the presence retreated as I quickly used a shield spell to block a hasty attack.
I revealed part of its plan, but there was sothing else, sothing I did not get to see. I had to be extra careful. All I could do was increase my focus and hope to kill it before any new variable ca into play.
Ti to spring the trap.
I raised a talisman not to waste my own mana as another black needle crashed into a see-through shield created by it and sprinted towards the place where the thing probably had its origin. The doorway at the end of the corridor where the man was shot was my destination. I pulled out a glass bottle with my special holy water concoction. Whatever was living here should feel the antithesis of its own energy radiating from the bottle.
As I was almost by the place where the man died, the trap sprang.
The doors to my left leading into the bathroom swung open, and a massive spike made out of shadows flew straight at . No shield at the first or second circle could block that attack entirely, as it was prepared and overcharged with mana in advance, almost reaching the level of a third-circle spell. The feeling of triumph could be felt radiating from the creature.
Gotcha.
Panther's Agility
I used a second circle spell stored in the staff and barely twisted myself out of the way of the spike. My left hand, holding the compass-like talisman, made contact with the projectile, so of the mana making its way into the contraption as the strength of the strike threatened to rip it from my hand. A trick only possible thanks to the exact angle and mont of the attack being revealed to .
I heard a shriek of anger coming from down the hall as I took the compass-shaped amulet and activated it.
I got the fucker now. Once the compass was locked in the direction of the spirit, all I needed to do was rip it to pieces. If it retreats into its nest, the needle will point at the entrance. I got it cornered now. I checked for any attack and looked at the contraption.
My mont of triumph was a mistake. As the amulet activated, I was ready to fire off a spell in any direction it pointed, but it just started to spin around like a carnival ride.
I tried to use a shield talisman, but I was a heartbeat too late. The attack connected. It was a dark, razor-sharp blade made of shadows that flew at , but this ti, it just materialized almost right in front of out of nowhere. The only thing saving my life was the fact that I was on edge, knowing there was a variable I was not aware of, and the lingering effect of the Panther's Agility.
To my surprise, the strike ripped through my armor spell, and only the slight movent I managed to make changed it from one that would have cut my throat to one that just left a long wound on the side of my neck.
I quickly used the staff to cast Wailing Armor, using up my last second circle spell stored as two more attacks nearly connected. Those two were normal strength, but I could not tell when the creature would manage another one powerful enough to rip a second circle armor.
What followed seed like rain pattering on concrete. The projectiles now rained from everywhere, originating right next to , not from shadows or the strange being now standing at the end of the hall, smiling.
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No, they simply appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the air.
It seed they couldn't appear right on my skin. There was so buffer, but not much. Attacks just materialized around half a ter from . I didn’t understand how. It made no sense, but I had no ti to think about it now. I was repeatedly recasting a first circle shield to block the assault coming from all angles, using the ti bought to cast another one before the old spell gave out.
But I could not keep going like that. The creature had more resources in its ho territory, and once my mana was out, it would rip to shreds.
I needed to break the balance.
I tried to move towards the stairs but stopped, seeing the thick tendrils of darkness protecting the windows. It would not let out this easily. I was too deep in the house.
If I were capable of panicking, I probably would be right now, but my mind was still focused, allowing to think clearly.
I needed a solution in the next thirty seconds. It was ti to gamble.
Allowing so of the attacks to be taken by the Wailing Armor, I cast Do of Protection, a second circle spell much stronger than armour or shield, but not mobile, putting as much mana into the spell as I could without it going out of my control.
I quickly followed the do with Muffle, cutting off all sound from my surroundings. I sat down like a monk ditating in the rain, the water drops replaced by deadly needles ready to turn into a skewer.
With the stronger cast of the do, I had maybe 15 seconds. With my thoughts speeding up in the state of ditation, I may have bought a minute of uninterrupted thinking ti before my demise.
How was the creature attacking?
Was it spatial magic? But that was hard to cast and took massive amounts of power that I would feel.
So artifact?
A trap created by my broker? No, that was stupid, the organization wouldn’t fuck up their thousands-of-years-old image for one assassination.
No, I needed sothing simple. Most of the ti, the most obvious answer was the right one.
I felt the do creak. And it hit –a simple answer. My eyes shot open from the emotional rollercoaster. There was an explanation that I didn't consider, as it was impossible.
But it was simple and fit, and if it was simple and fit, then it should be correct.
But it can’t be. So part of protested.
A torrent of thoughts was now squirming inside of .
How?
Why?
Impossible.
But am I sure?
Should I gamble on the impossible being true?
The simple answer was not spatial magic but planar magic. There existed creatures with a natural ability to interact with other planes. They had the natural ability to cast so related magic silently and with little effort.
If this were the case, then the creature fit as well. It was not a ghost, spirit, apparition, or any other being that I knew, but one that I read about in old books.
It was a spawn, a shadow spawn, to be precise, a ghost-type undead that creates a separate, plane-like nest where the universe's mana vein ets the mortal plane. Its specialty was the ability to cast from anywhere near its ho, as the planes in that place would overlap.
It all fit. That's how it materialised in the client’s mother’s house, and mine. The creature's range of movent was relative to its plane-like lair's size, allowing for a wider range of movent, although its power was greatly diminished the further it was from the vein.
It would be a great explanation if not for one small problem. Mana veins no longer existed. They were shattered by the war two thousand years ago.
I felt the do strain. I needed a way to turn it around, fast. All I confird now, assuming that I was right, was that I’m screwed.
But wait. A terrible idea entered my head.
If this place connects to a vein, then it also connects to other planes and the rest of the universe. If that were the case, then could I, or more importantly, should I contact sothing from another plane?
It could be suicide but…
I fird my resolve as I let the do crack, not casting a new one. I closed my eyes once again as arrows of death hurled towards . This ti, instead of ditation, I went deeper into my own self.
Ti outside stopped having aning as I fell through my own psyche and then deeper beyond the mind. The feeling was similar to the sensation of falling one gets as they jerk awake in their beds, but it was constant. I felt myself in a free fall until the feeling stopped, and I arrived.
A place near the primal fears, a part of the unconscious mind connected to the soul, responsible for the greatest fear of all.
The fear of the unknown.
If entered by any person, their mind would collapse, seeing the manifestation of primal terror itself. But it was just an empty space for . Well, almost empty. I knew that ti had no aning here. This space was ruled by its own laws. Everything was gambled on this one card.
The mont I exited this place, I would be killed.
I looked around. It was missing any landscape, like a massive field of gray, cracked ground in permanent half darkness. Whenever I arrived, it was always the sa. The point where I stood was lit up like I was standing under a street light in the night. And no matter what, I would arrive standing with my back facing IT when falling here.
I took a peek over my shoulder.
A swirling abyss. A wall of darkness so deep that even looking at it made it seem like the light never existed, like it was but a fever dream of humanity. The manifestation of madness, the Liquid Chaos, the Nothingness that Devours.
I knew I should break eye contact, because if you stared too long, sothing would stare back.
I ripped my eyes from the darkness and looked to my right. There was a rope there. I could not tell you where it originated, even if I tried. It looked like an old linen rope, one end stretched far into the gray landscape, disappearing on the horizon, and the other end disappearing in the darkness behind . The rope was a symbol of a contract made years ago.
But I knew exactly what was there on that end. What I was feeling now was the closest I could get to fear. Like I knew I should be terrified, everything in scread to cower in fear. My mind should be pulverized by the smallest part of the entity behind , but at the sa ti, I could not feel the emotion that should kill right now.
My shaking hand approached the line, knowing I couldn’t stay in this space forever. I was still running through scenarios for other solutions, but nothing ca to mind. I fird my resolve.
Placing my finger on the rope, I tugged ever so gently and… it was attached. Any other ti I tried that anywhere other than in front of the statue back in my family’s storage or the god's idol, it would just fall to the ground at the slightest touch. But now it firmly stayed attached to sothing in the darkness.
One more deep breath. “Let's get it over with,” I whispered to myself.
I cleared my mind of any doubt. I was empty. Googlᴇ search NoveI-Fire.ɴet
'Nullus affectus in insaniam spiral. Nulla cupido in obsessionem crescat. Nullus tus in phobiam vertatur’.
I recited the old mantra. No emotion to spiral into madness. No desire to grow into an obsession.No fear to twist into phobia.
And with one quick move, I pulled on the line and invoked the eldritch god's na.
“Azathoth”
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