any sense.”
Heinrich shook his head. “It does not. You sure this Professor Sturgis wasn’t just making this stuff up? Or maybe smoking night-root or sniffing ether dust or something?”
“Anything’s possible, I suppose,” Critchler replied, shrugging. “But I don’t know what he would have had to gain by making up a story like that. And someone with his knowledge would know the difference between a hallucination and a genuine out-of-body experience.”
“Heh. I’ve had some out-of-body experiences of my own and they seemed pretty gobbing real at the time. So what happened next?”
“Professor Sturgis decided it was time to look into the rift. He willed his astral self to rise up into the sky and after a moment’s hesitation approached the rift. And then he looked in and saw…”
“Out with it, man! What did he see?”
Himself.”
Heinrich blinked. “What? What do you mean he saw himself?”
“He saw himself, reflected back as if in a stagnant pond. And then the reflection quivered and the very edges of the rift trembled and widened just the tiniest bit. And as the idiot music below played even more furiously, the professor’s confusion became fear and he retreated. But as he flew away he turned back for one last glimpse and saw the rift from a new angle. And then he said he finally knew what it really was.”
“What was it?”
“He didn’t say.”
“Didn’t say? What do you mean he didn’t say?”
“He was practically screaming at this point. Then his body jerked and his eyes opened wide and I knew his astral self was back. He started shaking and foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. I was all set to go for help when he grabbed my sleeve and pulled me close. For a second I thought he was going to go for my throat, but instead he whispered something in my ear. He said, ‘It sees us, even in its dreams. And it’s waking up. It’s been asleep since forever and it’s finally waking up’.”
“What does that mean?”
“I have no idea. That was the last thing he said to me. As far as I know it’s the last thing he ever said period. But that’s why I’m here. I want to be here when it finally wakes up.”
“When what wakes up?”
“I don’t know. That’s what I’m here to find out.”
Heinrich sighed. “Okay, so what will happen when…’it’ wakes up?”
“I don’t know that either. The end of the world, maybe. That’s usually how it works.”
“Let me get this straight,” Heinrich said, scratching his head. “You gave up a free ride at a fancy college based on unverifiable events described in a story told by a lunatic and traveled to the ass end of civilization in hopes of getting a front row seat to the end of the world?”
Critchler nodded. “Pretty much.”
Heinrich stared at Critchler open-mouthed. “Why?” he finally asked.
Critchler was silent for a moment, and when he turned to Heinrich there was a strange look in his eyes. “Some wizards spend their entire lives in a virtual self-imposed exile, hunched over their cauldrons and spell books like cloistered nuns. They know plenty about magical theory and planar cosmologies but they don’t know the first thing about life. But me, I didn’t want to read about the Blight. I wanted to see if for myself. And I have. I’ve stood before the guardian pillars which have held back the Blight since before human history and fought against mutant horrors as alien as anything that could be summoned from the outer dark. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve already accomplished more than most of my instructors combined. And if Professor Sturgis was right about something that’s been asleep since forever finally waking up, then I’ll be here to witness it with my own eyes. And if the end is really nigh, then I’ll have a front row seat to a show so spectacular they can only do it once.”
“You know something, Critchler?” Heinrich asked. “I was wondering what a level-headed guy like you was doing down here. Now I know. You’re just as crazy as the rest of us. Maybe even crazier.”
Critchler smiled. “That’s a definite possibility.”
Heinrich stared at Critchler for a moment then did something he hadn’t done since his childhood in the labyrinthine slums of Varshan, the capital city of Drakenwald. “Well, in that case I guess we can be friends,” he said, offering a grubby hand with a stub where the pinky once sat.
“A man can always use more friends,” Critchler said as he shook Heinrich’s hand.
Out in the no-man’s land, a dark shape, fox-sized but with too many legs, snatched up a rabbit and dragged it back into the Blight.
“Not a bad night, all things considered,” Critchler said.
Heinrich nodded. “Nope, not bad at all.”
#####
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