Glen was sitting at a table that was placed by a window where dark clouds were circling, flashing of lightning of all different colors appearing outside. He seemed to be peaceful and harmless, a platter of food beside him and a teapot, and this looked like any other person enjoying their midday meal. He looked over at Ray, smoke still seeping from his mouth, his throat a bit raw despite performing the spell correctly in a way that would protect him—he would be dead if he didn't—and his mouth creased in contempt. "I see that even when you've come to face your clear end, you still arrive before me in that form. It's really just such a waste. We really hit it off, I think, when you were a woman."
"I really can't imagine what you mean by that," Ray answered, croaking a bit before clearing his throat. "I don't remember a moment in which you didn't have some outlying motive even when we were getting along, and that's really a shame because I honestly did enjoy your research and the things you were doing with water. You could really have made lives easier and better with that sort of research. This? I don't even know what this is."
"This is a new world," he answered. "A world with creatures that contain powers beyond your or my dreams. New people and new life."
"And what do you plan to do with it? What possible benefit could you possibly gain from bringing beings from that world into this one?" Ray replied, "You can't even seem to manage the people already in this world."
He then realized that Talem wasn't beside him and he looked around to see her standing as if with her hands on a glass wall. His eyebrows raised for a moment and Glen commented, "I haven't been able to do anything with it, really, since that spell was put into place. I've been trapped here, though I figured you knew. I thought you might have known or maybe have been the one to cast it since you were able to walk into it, but now I think I know what's happening."
"What's happening?" Ray asked, not really asking what was happening, but questioning what he had said.
"You're an important part of the spell. You're some sort of animal, though I haven't figured it out yet. Your magic gives off that sort of aura, but I didn't know what it meant. I suppose you think you're here to stop me? That might be true, but I can assure you that I've already been stopped, and now you're going to finish it, aren't you?" Glen asked. "If you don't, Yanille is going to be destroyed, and nothing will be able to stop that. I know I can't stop it, trapped as I am."
Ray turned to face him again, and this time he realized he could see five points in the distance, through the walls, that formed a pentacle where they stood. It enclosed them in a neat triangle, and he could practically see where the lines intersected on the floor. "What if I decided not to stop you? What if I chose to walk away?"
"Yanille would be destroyed likely, and undoubtedly it would spread without me to control it," he replied. "I, however, won't say you shouldn't walk away. It would probably be for the best if you did."
"I won't," Ray replied after a moment, seeming to be deep in thought and slow to answer.
"You don't seem so certain. Did you come up here not knowing whether you actually intended to stop me? Is there some other reason you wanted to see me?" Glen grinned at him. "I get how you wouldn't want the guardian to catch you, but couldn't you have tried a bit harder than that to come here in the right form?"
"Shut up," Ray answered, marching forward. "I wasn't certain because I wasn't sure if it was my problem or not, but I realized that regardless of what I do or say, it's something that I need to do. Helping people is something I'm proud of even if I've felt as if nobody needs me and I've done a poor job of it up until now. Now? I'm almost certain that I'm needed."
Glen stood, his hand moving to his belt as if to pull out a wand or any kind of weapon really, but Ray's hand was already on his face, holding him from the top of his forehead in place. The moment they came into contact with each other, he could feel the five points flaring to life as the spell began. He realized that he wasn't quite the one that was performing the spell, but he was the catalyst. His golden eyes were bright and sharp as he stared into him, like twin topazes.
Outside, each point seemed to grow brighter. They were placed around the city of Yanille and a fire seemed to rise up from each point before convening towards the tower, but from Ray's perspective, it felt like the energy was rising up from his own body. He felt much like a lamp, both as if he was meant to contain a vast amount of energy and release it.
"You know, Ray," Glen, Oztraz, commented. "I don't believe you understand what you're doing. I don't think you understand the full weight of what role you play in this. They needed an animal to seal me away in, something that was considered thoughtless and empty. I'm sure she mentioned something like an aviansie, but I doubt the creator of this spell cared whether they were sentient or not. She just knew that it needed to be something that was capable of seeing both this world and the other world."
Ray could see fire rising up outside, blanketing the city, though it didn't seem to destroy anything. He worried that if it wasn't harming this world, it was damaging the other, but even then, he could see nothing that was destroyed on the other side. It felt like it was manifesting somewhere in between. Even now the clouds were dissipating. Glen gripped his arm with one shaking hand, steadying himself as he felt his essence being dragged out of him. Ray hadn't noticed, but he was changing himself. He was growing bigger and stronger, his hands becoming like talons and his teeth growing sharper. He was becoming as much a being of the other world as this world, and wings were starting to form on his back.
Still gripping his arm for support, Glen pointed past Ray towards Talem. She was desperately trying to get through, but once more she found herself helpless and unable to get through to Ray. "I don't think you know what you stand to lose. Do you see her? You're never going to see her again if you go through with this."
Ray, despite himself, turned to look at Talem. The moment he did, Glen took his chance. His fist slammed into Ray's stomach, and all his connection to the other world and the spell suddenly severed. The spell was interrupted, and the fire outside crackled violently, angrily, as if denied something it was promised.
His face snapped back towards Oztraz, and the man smiled bleakly, his soul already beginning to slip away, already twined with Ray's essence. "It wasn't enough, but at least I know that you'll forget and suffer as well."
The wizard's body collapsed, and a moment later the magic snapped into Ray's body all at once, and he was falling forward. Ray's eyes were wide as he stared at Talem who was beating desperately at the barrier that had become red before everything disappeared altogether.
Talem covered her head with her hands as she fell flat to the floor through the barrier. The next moment the roof was gone, and she was left lying there alone. She rose, and it took her a moment to realize that both Glen and Delarn were gone. A strong magical surge had gone through the room, and it was only her strong instincts that protected her from the brunt of what had swept through. Her mask fell from her face in pieces, and she stared at it forlornly, but only for a moment before looking for the companion she had lost.
"Delarn?" She called hoarsely, looking around as she brought herself to her knees. "Delarn, where are you?"
She looked up, and all signs of destruction were gone. There were no ominous clouds and nothing worth noting. The entire world seemed intensely calm, and the sky was a bright blue.
She immediately went to walk down the stairs until she was rushing down them, two and then three at a time, rushing to find anything that proved that what had happened had really happened. She went to Delarn's room, hoping that she might be there or there might be some sign that she was still around. She felt a hot pain in her chest when she went there and found it completely empty. There were no signs of anyone having lived there, not even a single red hair. She felt more and more afraid as she scraped and pushed the covers on the bed around. She then went on to Glen's room. She had expected to be rejected, but when she got there, she found that there was no sign of him being there either, no sign that he had existed at all.
The panic only grew as she left the tower quickly, went into town. She had hoped to find Reeva, but she doubted she was still in town. She paused, feeling intensely unnerved as it felt as if something was watching her. She turned towards what it seemed to be, and her heart nearly stopped. Furlish stood there, his deep blue eyes piercing into her. He was in his human form with his gaunt body and tuft of orange hair on his head. He stared intensely at Talem and then looked at her stomach. He seemed to swell in size for a moment before reverting back to his human form. He tilted his head and turned away, agitated in some way.
"Please don't go. Tell me where she is," Talem called to him.
Furlish looked over his shoulder for a moment before replying with a monotone, "no," before continuing on his way.
Talem was at a loss for words but let him go away. He knew he had to find Reeva. There was a moment in which she had no idea where she might be, and then she knew exactly where to find her.
He entered the little cafe, and she glared up at Talem. "Why do you still look like that?"
"Where is Delarn? What did your spell do to her?" Talem asked desperately.
"The spell failed, but it also got rid of Oztraz, so I suppose that's all that really matters at this point. The creatures from the other side haven't come over either, so that's fine," she said.
"But what happened to Delarn," Talem demanded.
"I imagine she's gone," Reeva replied. "The spell failed. I told you to get a being with animal eyes. Neither of you took what I said seriously. What can you expect?"
"You didn't tell us what the spell would do," Talem yelled at her. "Just tell me what it did to her."
"I can't imagine what it did to her. It was merely meant to set Yanille ablaze. It was meant to purge the ties between the two worlds so a man like Oztraz couldn't use it to do evil again," she answered. "I don't know why you both thought it was wise to use her as a catalyst, but I suppose neither of you were completely honest with me either."
"Are you saying she's just gone? What if the spell hadn't failed? Would she be fine now?" He demanded.
"I don't know," she replied, unbothered by his tone. "I merely intended for it to banish Oztraz for good. The spell failed. She failed to complete the spell, but it got rid of Oztraz anyway. What else can I say?"
"Can you say that she's still alive?" Talem asked softly.
"She could be," she answered.
"Can you say you care for what happened to her? That she was a friend of yours?" Talem went on, desperate.
"Friendship is relative," Reeva answered before answering softly, "I do hope she's not dead. I can't believe she's dead."
"I don't believe so either, and if you don't believe it as well then that's good enough for me," Talem answered. "I'm going to find out what happened to her and we're going to get her back."