A Long Time from Home Ch. 34

Reaching out with my mind, I contacted Varro. "< Portal to Kemet! >"

"< Casting now >" came the immediate reply, but before anything could happen, a wave of magical ripped through me as the few magical items in the office exploded or simply crumbled to dust. Blood ran from my nose as I staggered and almost fell from the sheer power in the wave.

"< Sorry, Ivah >" Varro's mental voice said through the link, followed by a sense of frustration. "< But the wards are up. I can't make a portal out of Baylon and that last wave of power is causing a mess. I need to get hold of Ordo Vectio >"

"< Do it >" I ordered and got hold of Verina. "< Verina, my love. There's a chance I can't get to Baylon >"

"< NO! >"

"< Listen! If that happens, use my house, and live there with Jia and the kids. My family will help. >"

"< I will >" she said calmly. "< But they'll get yo... >"

Another wave of power hit me and while this one rolled over me without affecting me, the Ars Mentalis link between Verina and me was torn asunder.

Cursing loudly, I tried to open the link again, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get hold of her. With a sigh, I tried Varro and Tia, but with the same result. One the positive side, it felt like running into a wall and not the emptiness of trying to contact a dead person, indicating that the mental communication had been blocked when the shields of Baylon had been activated.

Reality twitched and screamed for a few heartbeats, before everything went silent and I knew that Baylon had entered the dimensional rift, making it impossible for them to make a Gate or even contact me or for me to contact them.

Cursing, I turned to look at Chuzara, but she seemed to have escaped with no additional wounds. I didn't dare leave the room in case I had misjudged the last wave of power and Varro, or someone else, managed to make a Gate from Baylon, but at least I could use the time to close her wounds. So, I placed her on a sofa and closed the bleeding wounds with some bandages from the bags. Ars Mentalis or Vis would have been better, but with what I had just felt, I didn't risk use any powers.

That done, I sat down in a chair and took a deep breath. I was sure there would be a bigger reaction later, but for now I was satisfied we had accomplice what we had set out to do. The last anchor was gone, securing Baylon and with that, my kids, family, my lovers, and everything else I held dear. Compared to that, everything else was secondary, even getting stuck alone on Earth.

The dream blurred, flickered, and disappeared as the darkness came back.