For all that Ansel complained about age, his spirit's ban was quite thorough- it might even have kept a lesser mage from leaving the Theater at all. But it was ultimately the work of a spirit, not a god. An experienced Railrunner such as Aurin had little difficulty in navigating the contours of Slipspace even under suboptimal conditions, and it was only a matter of time before he found his way through.
Time, though, that was the factor. The difference between a heroic rescue of the kind Imogen wanted and showing up to find a lifeless corpse could well be a single second.
When Aurin hopped through Slipspace, he found himself emerging somewhere not wholly unlike where he'd left, and that was almost worse than the converse. The sky above was wholly dark; not the darkness of clouds, or of the firmament studded with stars, but of a great empty arch. Even without a Traverser's senses, he would have known at once that this was nowhere on the face of Ransera. Nevertheless, vaulted rooftops surrounded him, white walls and crenellations in the telltale fusion of Gelerand's style which was the hallmark of Zaichaer.
Aurin found himself standing in a strange imitation of Zaichaer, but devoid of the gas and electric lights which would ordinarily have sparkled across its face. The city seemed dead, both in the literal sense that nothing was moving or making noise, and in a metaphorical way. Looking down and around, it became quickly apparent that he had appeared on the roof of the Pfenning's dark reflection, a brooding gothic sentinel presiding over a black and silent shell of a city.
...with certain exceptions.
The streets surrounding the Pfenning had cracked and swollen, lit orange by the glow of slowly-cooling lava, of all things. Voidlings thronged around the molten rock, jostling with one another as they tried to absorb some semblance of light and heat. A few of the houses nearby smoldered with silver fire, but the blaze seemed in no danger of spreading further as the void quietly sucked all of the light and heat away from it.
At first, there was no sign at all of Imogen- until something soft and heavy bumped into Aurin's leg. The witch's pet jaguar looked up at Aurin, the mirror Imogen had taken with her clenched delecately between his teeth, and tried to yowl at him. It didn't quite work, sounding more like "yarrrrgglll".
Immediately, another sound intruded on the scene. The door of the balcony on the roof below exploded as a white-scaled snake burst through it, trailing blood. The creature was easily twenty feet long, large enough to swallow a man whole, and adorned with a set of enormous wings. Both wings and scales were scarred and torn, weeping red as it collided with the balcony's stone railing with a heavy thud! and slid to the floor. The huge creature struggled to pull itself back up, turning from whence it came to face-
-some sort of black sludge, or ooze. It crept out of the hallways of the Pfenning below Aurin's feet, surging with surprising speed towards the balcony below. The stone melted away where it touched the black liquid, matter fizzling away into vapor on contact. When enough of the black slime had collected in the doorway, it drew itself up into an almost-humanoid lump, and its head split open to reveal a gleaming red smile. The thing advanced on the cornered serpent, and Imogen's cat made a plaintive noise, garbled only slightly by the mirror in its mouth.
Time, though, that was the factor. The difference between a heroic rescue of the kind Imogen wanted and showing up to find a lifeless corpse could well be a single second.
~~~
When Aurin hopped through Slipspace, he found himself emerging somewhere not wholly unlike where he'd left, and that was almost worse than the converse. The sky above was wholly dark; not the darkness of clouds, or of the firmament studded with stars, but of a great empty arch. Even without a Traverser's senses, he would have known at once that this was nowhere on the face of Ransera. Nevertheless, vaulted rooftops surrounded him, white walls and crenellations in the telltale fusion of Gelerand's style which was the hallmark of Zaichaer.
Aurin found himself standing in a strange imitation of Zaichaer, but devoid of the gas and electric lights which would ordinarily have sparkled across its face. The city seemed dead, both in the literal sense that nothing was moving or making noise, and in a metaphorical way. Looking down and around, it became quickly apparent that he had appeared on the roof of the Pfenning's dark reflection, a brooding gothic sentinel presiding over a black and silent shell of a city.
...with certain exceptions.
The streets surrounding the Pfenning had cracked and swollen, lit orange by the glow of slowly-cooling lava, of all things. Voidlings thronged around the molten rock, jostling with one another as they tried to absorb some semblance of light and heat. A few of the houses nearby smoldered with silver fire, but the blaze seemed in no danger of spreading further as the void quietly sucked all of the light and heat away from it.
At first, there was no sign at all of Imogen- until something soft and heavy bumped into Aurin's leg. The witch's pet jaguar looked up at Aurin, the mirror Imogen had taken with her clenched delecately between his teeth, and tried to yowl at him. It didn't quite work, sounding more like "yarrrrgglll".
Immediately, another sound intruded on the scene. The door of the balcony on the roof below exploded as a white-scaled snake burst through it, trailing blood. The creature was easily twenty feet long, large enough to swallow a man whole, and adorned with a set of enormous wings. Both wings and scales were scarred and torn, weeping red as it collided with the balcony's stone railing with a heavy thud! and slid to the floor. The huge creature struggled to pull itself back up, turning from whence it came to face-
-some sort of black sludge, or ooze. It crept out of the hallways of the Pfenning below Aurin's feet, surging with surprising speed towards the balcony below. The stone melted away where it touched the black liquid, matter fizzling away into vapor on contact. When enough of the black slime had collected in the doorway, it drew itself up into an almost-humanoid lump, and its head split open to reveal a gleaming red smile. The thing advanced on the cornered serpent, and Imogen's cat made a plaintive noise, garbled only slightly by the mirror in its mouth.
