Forgotten Dogma II

“Dharm, grab on!” Finn called out to the Elf, extending an enchanted gauntlet. Dharm caught a grasp of Finns forearm and in an instant they winked out of existence in a burst of eldritch light, mere moments before being consumed by the unstable Nether portal below.

All was silent and all was black as they drifted, weightless through the void. Below them, a constellation, a single light in the vast expanse of nothingness. It called to their bodies, their minds… but something else did, too.

“Finn… you hear that?” Dharms’ ears flicked at the faint whisper that seemed to slither into his mind, alien words that caused his thoughts to ache and eyes to itch. “It’s kinda creepy and annoying.”

“I don’t hear… wait.” Finn closed his eyes and quieted his racing thoughts. The words seeped into his mind, too. Animating alien and aberrant thoughts in the dark recesses of his conscious. “We’re not alone out here, Dharm. Block it out best you can.” Finn kept his voice low, leaning on the chance whatever was haunting them could not understand or hear him. The metal and leather bound tome flew before him and cracked open, pages fluttering searching for a spell of some kind to resist this alien creature’s babble. “Hmm…” he hummed the archaic words with monotone speech, taking special care not to waver while the assault of incomprehensible words waged a war over control of his thoughts.

“Where the hell are we, Finn?” Dharm grew ever more uncomfortable as the whisper gained voice, the mere tone of it eating away at his sanity. “Finn… what the hell, make it stop, make it stop!” his nails dug into his scalp as he clawed at his head, “Finn… help me!”

The tome slammed shut and returned to its resting place on Finns hip and his eyes shot open, shining with starlight and what he saw made him cry out in fear and disgust… a wretched mass of tentacles and eyes surrounding a churning maw of what he and every sane practitioner believed to be nonexistent. Elemental Madness. “Dharm, let’s get out of here!” Finn rolled himself over and latched himself onto Dharm before propelling himself towards the constellation of stars below them, shooting forth much like a comet.

Across many of the celestial bodies he mapped, soaring ever faster. He had never imagined seeing them like this or how large they truly were but fear drove him to propel himself ever faster towards Fira, his world.

Dharm noticed his fright, a rare thing for Finn and inquired upon his observation, “Finn… what did you see?”

Finn ignored him and continued murmuring the spell propelling them towards their home world. He slung around a pair of moons, one of red stone and another, now discovered that it is covered in churning ocean, the moons of Solvei and Falear respectively. “Almost home…” they showed no sign of stopping as they entered Fira’s atmosphere in a sheath of bright blue light against the burning Allegrian sunset.

Dharm was screaming in terror as they streaked across the sky and ever closer towards the city of Gran Ilena and closed his eyes moments before impact. He felt not but the firm thud as if landing in a hay bale, yet the scent and texture of the material was far more pleasant. Carefully, Dharms sapphire eyes cracked open to carefully take in his surroundings. Piles of folded linens surrounded him and his unconscious partner. Standing up and freeing himself proved to be a tad challenging, being partially enveloped in a thick stack of down blankets. “Heh… Allegrian nobles’ laundry. Beats the sea, Finn…” bracing himself against a wooden post, he strained to pull Finn out from his pile of laundry confused as to why it was so difficult. After dragging him clear of the linens he straddled the man, slapping his cheek gently, “C’mon old man, you save our hides now time to wake up.”  

“We… we made it.” With a sigh, Finn opened his eyes and gave a weak triumphant laugh. “We’re alive…” his eyes locked onto Dharms and his face quickly shot him a dreadful glare. “Get off me, brigand,” and shoved Dharm off with a wave of his hand. Finn stood, brushing the wrinkles from his robes.

Dharm approached him, tone heavy with the gravity of the situation prior, “Finn, I’ve never seen you afraid before. What did you see?”

“Something…” his mind flashed back to the image, now burned into his mind of the horrors he witnessed, “Something that is impossible... Madness.” His body shuddered at the sound of the word. Madness. “Unfettered, pure madness.”

The expression on Dharms face was a confused and lost one. Figuring it to just be the speech of what all mages were accustomed to using. “I don’t get what you mean. Madness, like what? Some sort of demon out there?”

“No, no demon.” Finn made for the exit, stopping in the doorway, and making eye contact with Dharm. “Worse. I only pray it is a long way from Fira, for we are not ready for the nightmare that it heralds.”