Realms of Shadow - Lizz Baldwin [29]
Zossimus knew at once what was occurring. He whispered it aloud, awestruck. They're taking the city fully into the Plane of Shadow."
The cyclones were planar vortices, present anywhere that two planes violently collided.
At the same moment, he realized that Shade was no longer sinking. Moving the city farther into the Plane of Shadow must have strengthened the Twelve Princes' Shadow Magic. The city had stabilized, at least for a time.
Gleeful, he turned to Jennah to sweep her into an embrace.
The look of horror on her face stopped him cold.
"I won't go," she said, and took a step back from him. "I can't live like that-like this."
She gazed skyward, and made a gesture that took in all of Shade.
The curtain of darkness-colorlessness-drew nearer. A peculiar sonic effect preceded it: not silence, but a dulling of sound. Even the destruction wrought by the planar cyclones sounded muted.
"There's nothing else to be done, Jennah. Dearest."
He moved toward her, one hand outstretched. When she recoiled, he struggled to keep the pain from his face and voice.
"Well die otherwise. The shadow magic won't keep the city afloat. Jennah."
Something within her seemed to break. Her eyes grew pained, and when she spoke, her voice was thick with the attempt to control her tears.
"I don't care, Zoss. Don't you understand? I can't live like this anymore. I'd rather die. I stayed for you. Only for you. We've lived in the dark too long. I-"
He felt it at the same moment she did. Pleeancis must have too. From high in the air, the quasit let forth a squeal of joy.
"I can teleport, Boss! I can teleport!"
As though to make his point, the little demon began repeatedly to do just that-disappearing from one location only to instantaneously reappear in a different location a stone's throw away. His high-pitched, delighted laughter filled the sky from ten different directions.
The Weave had returned!
Zossimus's soul refilled. The flow of magic that had ebbed moments before, now re-entered his being like a riptide. He smiled fiercely.
Jennah laughed for joy. She spoke an arcane phrase and alit from the earth to frolic in the air. "We're saved, Zoss! Oh, thank Tyche!" She spiraled about in the air, as gleeful as a child at play.
Pleeancis teleported onto Zossimus's shoulder. "I'm back, Boss," he said with a fanged smile, "and better than ever."
Zossimus reached over to scratch the little demon's scaled head. "Indeed, little one. Me too."
Beneath his feet, Shade lurched. The sky grew nearly pitch. Pleeancis yelped and teleported under Zossimus's robes. Zossimus looked skyward. The black, colorless curtain of the Shadow Plane continued to rush toward them. Despite the return of the Weave, the Twelve Princes were still taking Shade to the Plane of Shadow. Perhaps the unexpected return of the Weave had caused the spell causing the move to go awry. The latter seemed more probable to Zossimus, because in only a heartbeat the seething darkness that represented the border between the planes had picked up speed and the planar cyclones had grown larger. Whole buildings flew skyward under the force of the roaring winds.
"Jennah! Pleeancis! Get into the villa, down to the wine cellar, both of you. Now!"
Pleeancis poked his head out of the robes, looked at the seething sky, and teleported out of sight without a word. Jennah still flew high above Zossimus.
"Look, Jennah! Look!" Zossimus pointed to the onrushing planar border. "Come down! It's our only chance!"
"I can't, Zoss," she shouted above the rising wind.
She looked at the onrushing darkness and her face went pale. A gust of wind caught her and sent her spinning toward it. Zossimus's throat grew tight. He mouthed the words to a spell that would grant him flight.
Jennah recovered quickly, however, and steadied herself.
"I love you, Zoss, and I always will, but I can't here anymore."
Zoss, unwilling to let her go so easily, took flight toward her. "Wait, Jennah. Please, dearest. Don't leave!"
She backed away from him, as though afraid to let