Here's part 6. It's amazing how quickly I keep putting these out. I'm surprised at it myself. Not upset mind you. But certainly surprised. If you like the story e-mail me and tell me. If you don't like it, e-mail me and tell me that too. I'm a junkie and I freely admit it. I need my e-mails. You can contact me at Mist_dark@hotmail.com
The disclaimers. This story isn't supposed to imply anything about the sexuality of the members of Nsync. If they're gay, then that's their business. Parts of this story are based of the RPG Rifts. All trademarks belong to Palladium books and Kevin Siembieda. If you're too young, homosexual themes offend you, or it's illegal in your area to read this, please leave. I don't want anyone to get in trouble for this.
Enjoy the story, Rune
PART 6
A faint smell filled the room from the burning herbs. Evelyn sat cross-legged in front of Joey. It had taken them about two days for him to be comfortable in this position. It wasn't truly necessary, but it was nice to be able to get the body out of the way. They both sat with their eyes closed inhaling the herbs.
"Joseph," Evelyn spoke directly into Joey's mind. "Open yourself. This isn't a difficult exercise, but it can be taxing. I'll guide you, so don't worry about being lost. Are you ready?"
"Yes," Joey responded telepathically. "At least as ready as I'm ever going to be. This is kinda cool, but freaky at the same time."
"Relax," Evelyn told him warmly. "You'll be fine. You're ready for this, trust me."
"Okay, let's do this."
Evelyn pulled back from Joey's mind for a moment. With a mental gesture she stepped out of her body. A thin silvery cord attached her to her body. Her body just sat there cross-legged. She turned and looked down at Joey. He was having difficulty trying to leave his body. Smiling she reached out and grabbed his hand. Leaning backward she pulled him out of his body.
"Whoa," Joey said as he tipped forward and fell into Evelyn. "This is just so weird." He looked down at first his body and then hers. "Are they going to be alright? Like will we be able to come back to them?"
"They'll be fine Joseph," Evelyn assured him. She touched her silver cord.
"This attaches us to our bodies. They'll be fine as long as no one attacks them."
"Attacks them?" Joey asked with alarm.
"Don't worry, I've asked Christopher to watch them for us."
"Where is he then?" Joey glanced around the room and didn't see anybody. "We're the only ones here."
"I didn't want him to distract us. He'll be along shortly. He's just waiting in the other room." She took his hand in hers and floated upward. "Now, let's get to the second part of your lesson."
Evelyn guided them both upward. Joey flinched slightly when they passed through the ceiling, but was fine after that. She noticed that he never looked down. She found that slightly amusing. She hadn't looked down her first couple of times either. It was sort of disturbing to see your body and the ground in general just falling away from you.
"Joseph," she said gently to get his attention. "The gateway." She watched as Joey's jaw dropped in awe as the gateway appeared. It started off as a small disturbance in the air, but quickly grew into a large hole in the sky. Through the hole you could see flashing lights and something that looked like mist. It was a beautiful sight.
"Are we going through that thing?" Joey asked. A touch of fear could be heard in his voice.
"Yes, Joseph," Evelyn told him. "I'll be with you. Nothing is going to hurt you." She squeezed his hand to comfort him. It was odd how physical sensations still applied even though the physical body was miles away.
Taking one last look at Joey, Evelyn plunged into the gateway with Joey at her side. The lights that had been faint from the other side were brilliant here. Every light seemed to demand your full attention for an instant. There were thousands of them. Every colour imaginable. Most of them were blues, greens, or reds.
Once the lights had calmed down mist began to roll in. It was a pale white at first, but gradually began to change to pale green. Then to deep red and from there it faded to pink. The mist continued to shift colours as Evelyn led them through it. She stopped after they had been traveling for what felt like twenty minutes.
"Welcome to the Astral Plane Joseph." She noticed that as he looked around he never let go of her hand. He probably wouldn't until they were back in their bodies again. She didn't mind, she cared deeply for Joseph and if holding her hand made him feel better, she'd let him do it.
"Wow," was all he could say at first. "This is amazing. I didn't know this even existed. It's beautiful."
"It is, isn't it?" Evelyn mused. "I come here a lot when I have to think. It's peaceful most of the time."
"What do you mean most of the time?" Joey asked. He was momentarily distracted by the shifting mist. It billowed and shoved its way upward. Almost as if it were trying to attract his attention.
"There are dangerous creatures here as well Joseph," she told him. "There are dangers everywhere. And the beauty of such a place always has its trappings."
"What kind of dangers?" Joey asked. She had his full attention now. The shifting mist was temporarily forgotten.
"Like I said earlier Joseph, I won't let anything happen to you. You'll be fine." She started moving again. "Now there are a few things I want to show you before we go back. I don't trust Christopher with the stew."
Justin and Pyre entered the small village shortly after dawn. The night mist was dissolving in the morning sun. The buildings that lined the single street were made of baked mud bricks and were whitewashed.
"Where is everyone Pyre?" Justin asked. "Aren't most people in these villages up and about by now?"
"They usually are," Pyre told him quietly. "These are vampire territories though. They may be waiting until the sun has fully risen to come out. It's a common practice in these areas. Few people will even walk outside at night. It's just too dangerous."
The two of them walked to the village center and sat down by the well. Pyre drew some water and he and Justin refreshed themselves. They had been traveling all night and both of them were parched. When they had had their fill they each filled their canteens with the water. They sat by the well for an hour just chatting about nothing in particular. Justin had grown to like Pyre a lot over the last little while and felt completely at ease around him. Pyre felt the same way about Justin. They were rapidly becoming the best of friends.
"There's something wrong here," Justin said after an hour. "We've been here a while and we haven't seen anybody. Where is everyone?"
"I don't know," Pyre said standing. "But I think we should probably check this out. It is out job after all. Get ready and we'll search the village. You take the left side and I'll take the right side. If you don't think you can handle something by yourself, come and get me. Use force to get into an area if you have to, but do as little damage as possible."
Justin nodded his agreement. He pulled the claws Pyre had given him earlier and put them on. He slipped a few stakes into his belt and adjusted the cross around his neck. He had though the cross was only a myth, but then it hadn't been that long since he had thought vampires were only legends.
"Be careful," Pyre told him before he headed off down the street toward a home.
"You too," Justin said as he went toward the nearest building on his side of the street. It was a general store of some sort. The knob turned when he touched it. It wasn't even closed. He carefully pushed the door inward and stepped inside.
The front part of the store was clean. Nothing was out of place. In fact it looked like the store was ready to open at any moment. He did a quick sweep of the front area to make sure that nothing out of the ordinary was present. Satisfied he moved toward the back room.
The door to the back room was exactly like the front door to the shop. It swung open when Justin touched it. This was the area the shopkeeper and his family would live in. Sure enough there was a small table and a cooking area. A curtain hung off to one side. Behind it were four small beds. It wasn't a large area, but it appeared comfortable. No one was here.
Justin found every other building on his side of the street the same. All the knobs had been broken and the doors swung inward without any resistance. There were no signs of struggle, but every building was empty.
He was completely bewildered when he came to the last building on his street. It was smaller then the rest and appeared to be only a home. It stood out from the rest of the buildings in the town because it was only a home. The rest all doubled as something else, like the shop with the home in the back.
He pushed the door open stepped inside. The insides of this building were different. It had been torn apart. What little furniture there was inside was broken and scattered around the room. The table was broken in half and the occasional chair leg or other piece of wood could be seen sticking out of the mess. The beds had been ripped apart. The blankets and sheets were strewn about.
All of this disturbed Justin. He was never an overly neat person, but wanton destruction never appealed to him. What horrified him though was the child.
In the center of the room was a little girl, no more then five. Her dress had been torn in a few spots. She had been impaled on an upturned table leg. She stared blankly at the ceiling.
"PYRE!" Justin shouted as he backed out of the house. "PYRE!!"
"JUSTIN?" Pyre shouted from across the street. The red haired man jogged across the street to join him. "What is it?"
Justin didn't say anything. He pointed inside and walked around the side of the house. He dropped to his knees and vomited. He kept vomiting until Pyre touched him lightly on the shoulder.
"I know this is difficult Justin," Pyre said. "But I have to show you a few things with the girl before we bury her."
He nodded and let Pyre help him to his feet. "Did vampires do this?"
"Yes," Pyre told him grimly. "I think the rest of the village has been taken as cattle. There weren't any signs of struggle except for this house."
Pyre had straightened the room slightly so there was less clutter when they entered. He had also removed the little girl from the table and set her on a clean patch of the floor. Justin noticed that there was no blood anywhere in the room, or even on the girl.
"First off this girl was impaled after she was killed," Pyre said. "There's no blood so they removed that before she went on the leg. She was probably put there as a warning to the rest of the village, or anybody who came through after they left."
"Will she become a vampire?" Justin asked. He didn't like the idea of having to cut this girl's head off and burning her.
"No," Pyre pointed to two marks on the left side of her neck. "She was only used as food. It takes three bites for a person to be turned. They'll bite twice on one side of the neck and the third time they'll bite the other side." He touched the right side of her neck to show that there were no marks there. "If she was going to be turned there would be marks on both sides. Vampires are creatures of habit, they do things a certain way. And they never change that pattern. It's one of their weaknesses."
It took them less then half an hour to bury the girl. Most of that time was spent in pray. They laid the girl to rest just outside the village. They made a simple wooden cross to mark her grave.
"Don't worry Justin," Pyre pulled his friend into a hug. "We'll get them. They won't go unpunished for this."
Lance stood in front of the wooden door and hung his head. Gathering his courage he knocked.
"Come in," Selvar's voice drifted out to him. "The door is unlocked." He pushed the door open and stepped inside. He closed it after him. Selvar sat behind his desk. Several pieces of paper were spread out over it. "Yes? Is there something you needed Lance?" Selvar asked quietly.
Lance opened his mouth to say something and then closed it. He paused for a moment. "I was wondering if you had any gold dust."
"Gold dust? What do you need that for?"
"I've been reading up on diabolism," Lance told him. "I think I can fix your door, but I'll need some gold dust to do it. I asked Maria already about the other stuff. She knows you have it all. Except possibly the wax, but she said that would be easy enough to get. It's only the gold dust she isn't sure about."
"Diabolism? Interesting," Selvar mused for a moment. "I believe there's some in one of the lower store rooms. I haven't been down there in a while. The former owner of the castle was a diabolist. I moved most of his stuff down there when I acquired the castle. I imagine he knew what he was doing, so it should all have been stored properly. Ask Maria to show you where it is."
"Thanks."
"No problem," Selvar turned back to his papers. "Was there anything else?"
"No," Lance said. He turned to go and a pang of guilt hit him. "Actually.
There is."
"What is it?" Selvar asked with a guarded voice.
"I apologize," Lance said quietly. "I screwed up and I'm sorry. I'll leave if you want me to."
"Lance, I don't want you to leave," Selvar told him. "Yes you did hurt me the other day. You forced me to show you something I didn't want to show you. That hurt, but what really hurt was you broke your word. You said you would watch what you wanted to see. And when it got to bad you just ran. I know I have done some bad things in my life Lance. And for those things I am truly sorry. No one will ever know how sorry. I have never forgiven myself for what I have done. I can't make it all better. I can't even make amends. All I can do is carry on with my life and change the way I do things. The way I treat people, and the way I react to things."
Lance hung his head. "I know that now Selvar. I didn't think things through before I ran. I just freaked. I couldn't believe what you were showing me was true. I didn't want to believe it. And when I did accept it as true I couldn't accept you. I couldn't understand why you had done all those things. Maria talked some sense into me though. She told me about the spell and how that changed you. At first I thought it was just a spell that had changed you." He stopped and played with the cuff of his robe. "But I found a book in the library that really outlined the spell. I accepted it then. You had made the choice to change. I'm sorry I hurt you."
Selvar didn't say anything during Lance's speech. He remained quite for a few moments afterward. Finally he pursed his lips and spoke. "Trust is a delicate thing Lance. It's strong, but it can be broken. Much like love in that respect I guess. I'm willing to give you another chance. If you are willing to take another chance."
A smile spread across the blonde's face. "I'm willing to try again Selvar.
And I hope that I don't break your trust again. I am sorry for how I acted."
Selvar stood and crossed the room. When he stood in front of Lance he pulled him into a hug. "Forget it. It's in the past. And as I know all to well, one cannot change the past. One can only change the future."
"True," Lance said as he hugged Selvar back. "I do have another question though. This time though I'm not going to push you, and I'll accept whatever answer you give."
Breaking the hug, Selvar returned to his chair. "Ask away."
"Maria tells me that you're a very powerful necromancer, right?"
"That's true," Selvar responded.
"Okay, then where are you getting the bodies to work with? I mean I know you aren't sacrificing people or anything. But you have to get them from somewhere."
Selvar laughed. "Observant aren't we? I have a covenant with a few villages. Every adult will serve in my army. I protect them from harm as long as they live. Once a person dies they send the body to me. I use it for whatever purposes I may have at the time. Children are exempt. Criminals that are tried and executed are also sent to me. Bandits are the most common source though."
Lance nodded. "Thanks." He turned to go and stopped. "One more question."
"Alright. You accepted the last answer. I'll try to answer this one as well."
"From what I read in the library and what Maria told me. As well as stories I heard when I was younger. Necromancers always have hordes of the undead around them. Skeletons marching through the hallways, zombies patrolling the woods and all that. Where are yours?"
"I sent them away because they made you uncomfortable Lance." Selvar answered surprised. He seemed shocked Lance had asked the question. "Why do you ask?"
"I was just curious. I mean if you get attacked won't you be in trouble?"
"I'll be fine. I can call them back at any time and I can hold attackers off for a while until my minions return. Anything else."
"Just one last question. Why did you do that? Besides because it makes me uncomfortable."
Selvar smiled mysteriously. "The influence of Ishtar will make a man do strange things."
JC's head popped above the waves. The sun was just rising and the colours that painted the water were breath taking. He watched in absolute awe as the dawn broke. He had seen the sun rise on water before and it had always been beautiful. But he had never seen the sun rise like this before. He knew that he'd remember this sight for the rest of his life. You just don't forget something like this.
A splash behind him drew his attention. A few dolphins had come to the surface to enjoy the sunrise as well. The jumped out of the water and dove back under. Every now and then one would look at him and chatter for a few minutes. He had recently learned how to understand most sea creatures. It wasn't difficult once you got the hang of it. Mostly the dolphins were just asking him to join them. Smiling he obliged.
Both the dolphins and JC knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up with them at their full speed, but he made do for the most part. His swimming had gotten far better since he had started living underwater and he could magically enhance it with his songs. Soon all of them were jumping out of the water and spinning in the air before falling back to the ocean. They raced each other and tried to outdo each other in jumps and other tricks. JC couldn't remember the last time he had had this much fun.
Actually he did remember. It had been with the guys. They were in a hotel room on one of their tours. It had been a boring night for the most part, but someone had suggested they play a game of cards. Since they had nothing better to do they all sat around and played go-fish. It was a silly game, and none of them had played it in years. But they had all enjoyed themselves. The game ended up in a wrestling match, which led to a pillow fight. The pillow fight had of course ended up with everyone tickling everyone else. They had laughed for hours. None of them really remembered why they ended up that way, but JC had always cherished that memory.
One of the dolphins brushed up against him. He had stopped diving when he had his flash back. Grinning sheepishly he continued swimming. After a while they stopped playing. JC had learned that dolphins would always play if they could. Most sea creatures did. They could all be serious of the situation called for it, but they would relax and enjoy themselves when they could as well. This was one of those times.
"Do you want to sing with me?" he asked one of the dolphins. It clicked it's agreement. The two soon formed a duet. To most people it would have looked like an odd youth singing with a dolphin. To any person that lived in the sea, it was music rarely heard. The two singers rose in their song as the magic formed. Humans and humanoids weren't the only creatures to work magic. Whales and dolphins had been the first mages the world had ever known. Humans just happened to be natural mages.
The other dolphins stopped their games and joined in with JC and the first dolphin. They sang until noon. The wind quieted as if listening to them and the water itself seemed to respond to their voices. Nothing would take this from him.
Like the sunrise JC would commit this moment to memory forever.
TBC
I know this one is shorter then the rest, but it's got everything I need in it. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed me. You guys are great. I'm not going to put any names in, just because there are too many of you. But you all know who you are.
Question. Out of curiosity who is your favourite original character in my story? I was wondering about that this morning. Let me know.
Until next time,
Rune