“Step back!” Terrance yelled suddenly. Adam froze; he did not move an inch, then slowly backed away from the patterns Terrance had drawn on the floor. They were strange circles, triangles and other markings in languages long forgotten, spread out over a surface ten feet across. Terrance stood in the middle of it, crouched. A bottle of blood in his hand, he occasionally dipped a pen-like piece of ivory into it, before continuing his sketches on the stone.
“Don't step on it, Adam,” Terrance said. “This is a very precise work.”
Adam scoffed. He just wanted to get a closer look at the markings. It wasn't every day the Immortal saw an aether portal being created. He motioned at the series of triangles near Terrance's left foot. “What kind of portal is this again? I don't recognize that part.”
“I won't bore you with the details, but this portal is meant to let the aether pour in,” he answered.
“Poor in? That's kind of... dangerous, isn't it?”
“We've got a Brandenshield,” Terrance said with a shrug. “And besides, if everything is correct, it will stop at the markings.”
“And why do we need the aether in this world? You really haven't told me enough to help you perform this ritual,” he muttered.
“We need the shades. We'll make Oleyrean glass from that, then process it to make the soulbottles.”
Adam chuckled. “I never figured it was made from shades.”
“Oleyrean glass is concentrated soul,” Terrance explained. “Why do you think it's unbreakable? There are very few people in the world with a soul strong enough to break it. In order to make it, we have to open a portal to the aether, let it flow into the room, lure in several shades, then close the portal and compress the aether; the shades have no physical form, they cannot exist outside the aether. It will compress them until they form the glass.”
“So you'll need me to be your anchor.”
“Yes,” Terrance said, slightly surprised.
“I may not be an expert, but I have helped with a portal into the aether a few times,” Adam told him. “Not to make glass or anything, simply for traveling. Very useful, although those shades always seem to cling to me...” He chuckled and watched as Terrance continued his work. He carefully added a few more marks, then smiled over his work. He stepped lightly, making sure not to smudge a line of blood. “Watch the tail,” Adam warned, but Terrance gracefully made his way out of the circle and put away his tools.
“You stand over there,” he told Adam and pointed at a corner of the room. “Do you know what to do as an anchor?”
“I need some of your blood and watch you work.”
Terrance smiled. “Good. And if anything goes wrong?”
Adam grinned and said, “I'll jump straight into the portal after you, of course. Nothing better than to be stranded in the aether with your best friend, isn't it?” He shrugged. “Though I'm probably not your best friend now that you and Michael buried the hatchet...”
YOU ARE READING
Water's Reflection or Hero's Guilt
Fantasy[Part Four of the Travelling with a Wolf series]
