Chapter One: Death is Only a Beginning
"Go. Caramon, get out of here!" Raistlin screamed at his twin. Caramon gave his brother one last pleading look before jumping backwards through the portal. Raistlin closed the doorway behind his brother, then turned to face the Dark Queen.
Takhisis glared at the mage fully enraged by his defiance. Yet, this one had brought her so close. Right down to the last moment, her re-entrance unto Krynn had seemed certain. But then something had changed the mage's mind, now he stood in her way. This insolent human waste of a man had provoked her ire, defied her rule as well as the goddess's power. This mortal had thought to become a god, thought to replace her.
Had Takhisis not been so angered by the apparent multitude of his betrayals, the Dark Queen might have found herself perplexed or even intrigued by the apparent duality of this mage's nature. As it stood, Takhisis was too distracted by her anger to take much notice of that small detail with in the current moment.
Aided by the Staff of Magus, Raistlin stoop up the best he could. He was determined to stop Takhisis in her tracks, here in the relative safety of the Abyss, even if it meant the cost could be his own continued existence. Thoughts swirled through the mage's mind like many particles of dust stirred up by a strong wind. Nobody knew what happed when some one died in the Abyss. Raistlin was feeling completely uneasy about being the first person to find out. And reflecting on the numerous theories, which he knew all of, proved to be only a small comfort.
The black robed mage had done thorough research during the planning stages of this adventure. Raistlin had spent years pouring over all the volumes he could find regarding not only gate travel, legends surrounding the cataclysm, and stories of the gods, but the nature of the Abyss itself as well. Raistlin knew well that the popular and prominent opinion revolving around the possibility of a person in his current situation was that not only would the individual die but their very soul would be destroyed. Having no where to go, in effect the displaced soul would short circuit the system becoming vaporized ether in the process. It was the spiritual equivalent of dividing by zero.
Raistlin had never felt particularly warmed by the theory. And now preparing to be its first test subject, he hoped more then any one else, even the lone wizard who had written the sole opposing theorem, that the majority and the generally accepted were wrong. Raistlin stood firm trying not to let his fears over run him. He focused on trying to feel the magic building up inside of him, refracting it for one last spell. Raistlin's last internal thought before he let the magic over run him was that this was one hell of a long shot, but by th Abyss it better work.