Into the Abyss

All in all the room wasn’t much, but it was home. She hadn’t seen her parents since they’d sent her away, six years ago. She’d been eleven when she came here, already two to three years older than most of the initiates, like Daphne and Rupert and their friends. She had learned quickly though, now she was nearly caught up with the rest of the students her age. She still had trouble getting enough force into the destructive spells, her best talents lay in healing and nature spells.

Enough thought for one evening, Jenn decided. She blew out the candle and stripped off her gown. Quickly she slid between her covers, savoring the small relaxations in her life. For some really obscure reason, the flame of the candle had made her think of demons. Did they sleep at night? Did they even do much of anything when they weren’t serving, other than kill each other and perform other hideous and unspeakable acts? She knew then she must be tired, why else would she be thinking such silly thoughts.

Chapter 15

Tom dug the last bit of stone out with his index finger. Since Boggy and he had finished cleaning up the dragon, Tom hadn’t really had much to do. Boggy stayed around for a few more hours, talking about his experiences as a slave, and sharing a few of his personal thoughts on the situation. He had then decided he’d better go and find Tizzy.

Tom stood around for a while; when it began to look like he might have to dwell on his predicament some more, he quickly decided that what his cave needed most was furniture. How to get furniture? That was the problem. He had walked out of his cave and looked around a bit and finally came up with an idea. He would carve it out of stone himself. His claws/nails could easily dig through stone, so why couldn’t he carve with them?

Tom flew around until he found the best sized boulder that suited his purposes and that he could carry while flying. He then took it up to his ledge and into his cave. After a little bit of design work in his head, he began to carve. It took him several hours, but since he didn’t get tired, he was able to keep it up for a long time. Eventually it was finished, and he stood back to admire it.

It really wasn’t much, but it would have to do. The seat was about four and a half feet above the ground, it had armrests that raised another foot, and a back of about the same height. He couldn’t make the back too high or his wings would get in the way. After trial and error, he managed to get it at a comfortable height. He also had to punch a hole in the back of the seat, and a small groove, so his tail could fit through with plenty of room to spare. It was going to be tricky for a while to get sat down correctly, but he figured it would get easier with time. He also had to carve the seat in a few other places for his legs and hooves, but these were relatively minor, and mainly just for maximum comfort. Actually, the chair was not incredibly comfortable, but it seemed better than standing all the time. It would have been nice to have a cushion, but he had no way of obtaining one.

Tom also carved shelves into the walls of the cave, he didn’t really have anything to put there, except for the dragon teeth, which were a bit large for a shelf anyway. He hoped that someday it might be possible to acquire a few things, but for now it was something to do. He also considered a table, but for now it would be difficult to gouge one smooth enough, and he really didn’t need one.

Tom also didn’t like the idea of sleeping on the cave floor all the time, but again, he had no way of getting a mattress, or even any straw. As far as he’d been able to tell, there was no plant life here in the Abyss, as Tizzy called it. He also had no idea how he could get any from Astlan. If, as Boggy had indicated, only spirits could travel between planes, how could he bring anything material here?

While he was pondering this, he once again heard voices calling his name. Actually, this time, Tom really didn’t mind. He had been beginning to run out of things to do, and that meant he would have had to start thinking about his parents and friends again, which he really preferred not to do.

The world changed slowly this time, like the last time. This time, however, he was prepared and so could calmly watch the whole thing. The image of the familiar tower room slowly superimposed itself over his cave. He saw the pentagrams glowing at his feet, a shadowy Lenamare appeared to take form in his cave. The light level increased with the new image; eventually it seemed that his cave was the hollow image and the tower room the only real place. Shortly, his cave was gone, and he was completely in the tower room with Lenamare and Jehenna. The whole process had lasted about thirty seconds.