TRC - Searching for the Sky Ch. 05

"Come, come, now. You didn't actually think you would be able to defeat me, did you?"

"I suppose not," Kal admitted with a sigh as his staff turned back into a speck of light and returned to the replica of Ria's bag, "but it certainly felt like I was about to."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm a master of the astral arts, making me switch places with my doppelganger is no small feat. Of course, you also skipped over all the other fun things like astral projection and such in favor of combat. Given your reasons, I can't really blame you."

Kal put his hand on the man's shoulder, "Just in case... thank you for everything."

Kelthor did the same to the younger mage, "Just in case... have Rose go into my study if I don't wake up before you leave. There are some notes in there you might find interesting."

Kal nodded, "Ready?"

Kelthor took a deep steadying breath, "Do it."

The young mage drew a large amount of power through the thread connecting him to his body. Once he had enough, he sent a pulse of raw magical energy out in all directions. The pocket dimension broke as the sphere expanded outward. Carris forest changed color maintaining each hue for a few seconds before changing again. The tops of some of the grasses shifted over to the side, floating in the air but still moving as though connected to the rest of the plant. The small church flickered back and forth, seeming unable to decide which direction it should face. As the wave of magic smashed into the boundary of Kal's pocket, the astral plane heaved. It looked like the world erupted around the two men, large cracks forming in the air and ground which a gray fluid poured through.

Kal watched as a wall of the substance rose up in front of him, when it began to descend he felt himself ejected from the astral plane. He raced through the area between dimensions in a fraction of a second and came crashing back into his body.

He only got his eyes opened long enough to register Rose stalking towards him, covered in padded leather armor. In the lounging chair next to him Kelthor's body rose up in an arch, his mouth open in a silent scream before collapsing back onto the cushions of the lounger. Choking back a sob at the sight, Rose kept coming towards him menacingly.

Kal rolled out of his own lounging chair, stumbling to his feet as his shocked mind tried to remember how his body worked. "Ria, staff," He managed to slur before his stomach turned and he emptied its contents onto the floor. Kal spit then wiped his mouth with a sleeve as his staff appeared in his hand. Falling against the wall just to keep standing, he brandished the weapon in the direction of the dog girl while trying to keep the rest of his latest meal in its place and blinking rapidly in an attempt to make the room stop spinning.

Seeing the platinum end of Kal's staff pointed at her, Rose stood up out of her fighting stance. "Good enough," she said before unstrapping and peeling the leather headgear off while running over to Kelthor's side. Grasping his hand, tears started cascading down her cheeks.

A minute later the room was only trying to tilt constantly instead of spin and Kal pushed himself off the wall. He took a couple of halting steps before stumbling into the back of his lounger, grasping it with both hands to keep from falling. As his vision settled he could see that the wizard's face and lips were nearly white and he was starting to shiver. Looking down at his hands he could tell that he was about to be in the same state, the room had suddenly become cold to him as well.

"Get Dax and the others," he told the girl, "I'll take him up to his room. When you get back strip him and crawl under the covers, make sure he stays warm. I'll be in the guest quarters, send whoever you don't need to me."

Rose nodded and bolted out of the room stopping for just a moment at one of the windows to let out a long desperate howl, her armor falling off her thinner canine arms and legs as she shifted before rushing down to the front door. When Kelthor told Rose of his plan for today, the golden dog girl went and spoke with Daxas, asking them to stay close since the last time had been so traumatic for the old man. She really didn't know what the wolf's pack might be able to do when she made the request other than making her feel better that there was someone else around. Considering the situation, she was extremely thankful for their presence.

When Rose returned with the pack they found Kal kneeling on the floor next to Kelthor's bed, arms wrapped around himself and his teeth chattering.

Daxas addressed the girls, "Three with Rose, four with me. Rose? Where are the guest rooms?"

"Fourth landing down from here, beneath the studies and the projection room, the doors are unlocked just pick one of the four," she said as she began stripping the older mage, growing more fearful each time she touched his cold, clammy skin. The only thing giving her hope was the constant, if shallow, rise and fall of his chest.

Daxas pulled one of Kal's arms across her shoulders as another one of the girls did the same on the other side. The five of them walked out of Kelthor's bedroom, the wolf grumbling about the father of her child being a fool mage intent on getting himself killed.

Rose and the collie crawled into bed with the wizard, gasping as they came into contact with the man's icy skin. The other two girls found a blanket and wrapped up together, getting as warm as possible for when the women in the bed needed to switch out. The black- and white-haired girl reached out to the worried young woman lying across from her, Rose gave her a wane smile and reached up herself, their fingers intertwining over the wizard's chest.