Chapter Two: Passing Out of Darkness
Takhisis Queen of Darkness, sat in her throne quietly fuming. Yet again, she had been stopped in her quest to return to and rule over Krynn. A mage of her own order had stood in her path. The broken mage laying on the raised slab before her had dared to stop her and now lay surprisingly only unconscious. This mage was an enigma. Takhisis's magic should have killed this infidel in a mere flash of pure power. Instead, somehow, the black robed wizard had survived merely falling unconscious as the power of his own spell reflected back to him combined with the magical power the goddess had unleashed.
The power overload alone should have killed the mage. It would have killed any other defiant mage or person that dared to stand in her way, of that the Dark Queen was sure. But the outcome had not been the intended pile of ashes left behind by a no longer existant soul. It had been this unconscious and frail, yet still living body. Raistlin Majere, a broken man, a broken mage, had some how survived instead of dying, instead of becoming nothing, if even just barely he had lived. Takhisis was beginning to suspect there may be more to this mage then met the eye, apparently much more. The dark queen would however contemplate the deeper implications of all of this later, for now there were other matters to tend to. Takhisis waved her hand, a slightly bored gesture, and the slab and mage were both transported away to a holding cell hidden deep with in the bowels of her castle.
Mere visual glimpses, not even thoughts, whirled through the mind of the unconscious mage. Raistlin saw the last scene of his life unfold in the cinema of his mind. He saw himself yelling at his twin to take their friends and get out of there. Raistlin watched Caramon jump backwards through the portal and saw himself close the gateway behind his brother. Then he was preparing to cast a spell, but even as he had been readying himself the dark queen had already begun to strike. He saw himself get hit by the wave of power the goddess had unleashed. Watched as his own meager spell apparently backfired as well. Raistlin saw himself die. But then he was alive, yet helpless in the court of the Dark Queen being inspected as one might look at an insect they were dissecting. One and only one realization hit Raistlin, "I shouldn't be alive right now. Yet, somehow I am. I lived when I should have died!"
And then he painfully began to return to consciousness. Raistlin's head pounded as if it'd just been beat in by a party of orcs, his thoughts were entirely too quiet, and he was finding himself having an overwhelming and compulsive desire to throw up. As his eyesight came back into focus and he began to see where he was, Raistlin didn't feel much better. The sheer rock walls of this cell were dank with moisture and the reddish tint to every thing suggested that he was still very much in the Abyss. A half a million curses began to form in the back of Raistlin's throat, before he realized how much of a miracle his very existence at the present moment might be. Raistlin decided that it may be better to thank his old mentor and protector the god of magic instead of cursing his present surroundings. Besides even if he couldn't remember when at the moment, Raistlin reminded himself he'd gotten out of tougher jams.
Instinctively the mage reached down to check on his pouches of spell components. Everything was still where it should be. Perhaps it had been an oversight, but not likely. Dieties did not tend towards the accidental. What was more likely was that Takhisis probably didn't see him as that much of threat. And in this instance that might be a very good thing. Raistlin figured he may just be able to use the goddess's not seeing him as much of a coninued threat to his advantage. After all he had lived when he should have died, maybe there was something else he'd never realized he could do.