Out of the Black - Lee Doty [178]
This was it. Alex spared a fraction of his energy and focus to push a tendril of Vision up into the Overworld. He wanted to see her just one last time. Maybe he even had enough juice left to tell her goodbye.
After microseconds that felt like minutes here in the fringes of the Underworld, he could just make out the blurry outlines of the four people around his body. His vision was dim and dominated by the milky static of Kaspari's Cast. He didn't have enough energy to punch his Vision completely into the Overworld, so he saw mostly the constructs of the Loom, with only phantoms and ghosts to show him those in the "real" world.
Kaspari's body was at the nexus of dizzying patterns of energy. Anne was there, too; he could see her clearly because of the Forging of her flesh. In his vision, she shone like an angel, vibrant with heavenly power. So that's what she looked like without all the blood- beautiful.
A dim shadow leaned on Anne for support. Alex could only tell it was Ping because of the brightly urning sword in his jacket pocket and the fire-traced ring that unlocked it. On closer inspection, he could also see the vestiges of the Casts Alex had worked on him earlier. The signature of the Obscuring he'd worked to fix his mind on the antique keys was gone, but the remnants of his last Healing still smoldered with the consistency of slowly dissipating smoke.
Near the shimmering power surrounding his own body was the only person he really wanted to see. She was kneeling, his head in her lap. Thankfully, he could see her clearly. He toyed with the idea that it was because he loved her so much that he'd made it happen somehow, but he knew the real culprit was the cameo hanging from her neck as she bent over him, alternately sobbing and breathing out threats.
He didn't have time to relish his last look at her. Even now, she was darkening, fading, like the rest of his Vision. Below, where the lion's share of his effort was focused on clinging to Kaspari and holding on to this world, things continued to get worse. They were now past the event horizon and the blackness was closing about them. The tendril of his presence in the Overworld was faltering, fraying under the strain.
Maybe he had enough time for one last message. He'd just completed the preparations, when inspiration struck him. With a new sense of hope, he sent his message. But before he could be sure the message had been received, his eyes to the Overworld were closed.
Time passed. Light faded. Their desperate struggle continued.
Then, below him, in the midst of his struggle, Kaspari seemed to explode.
Rae screamed as the blade thrust into Kaspari's chest. The entry wound was clean, there was no spattering blood, but her ears popped as a familiar pressure wave seemed to rock the forge of creation.
Alex was not letting go. The supernova that had engulfed Kaspari blew over and through him, tore him apart, tore the pieces apart. Not letting go. He couldn't really tell anymore if he was holding Kaspari, but he was holding on to something.
The fire burnt him black, scattered the ashes. Not... letting... go!
"Don't you ever get tired of doing that?!" Rae screamed in disbelief, but Ping didn't move the blade. Anne was insensate from the tornado of power erupting from Kaspari. She fell sideways, not seeming to notice when her head cracked the cement. Her arms covered her face, her knees pulled up to her stomach.
Hawthorne emerged from shadows into a blurred and swimming reality. Her first thought was that the microvan had gone off a bridge and they were drowning in a fast moving river. After a few panicked seconds, she cleared the deflating airbag from her face. Her awareness increased and the wet electricity that seemed to rush over her subsided somewhat.
Still alive. After a few seconds, she managed to wrestle the driver's door open. She tried to step out, but was stopped by her seatbelt. It took her a few ticks of the clock to figure out the problem, longer to fumble the seatbelt's catch open. Somewhere not too far off, Rae screamed in exasperation.