Umph, a sudden gasp. Upon waking he first noticed being dizzy, an acrid smell filling his nostrils and it was freezingly cold. Great, he had not been dreaming that before. If he would have the energy to rant he wasn't quite sure where to start. Besides him a fire had been lit, that much he could feel from the warmth it radiated.
"Master you are awake!" he heard a cheery voice that sounded like scraping knifes to his ears.
"Who, what, where, how," Nic stammered, searching wildly for the speaker. Finally hearing a clanging giggle, he raised his head and could make out a small creature sitting on his chest. It was vaguely shaped like a cat, probably.
Blinking he studied the strange thing. Yes, his first thought told him that this was at least in its base the shape one would associate with a cat. And that was about all that one could say about the similarities to one. It had three glowing thin eclipses as eyes, with slit pupils and a smile that showed too many sharp teeth to realistically fit in a single mouth. On its back the being had small appendages that seemed to be wings, but so tiny he wasn't sure they could even function as such. The ears reminded him of a lynx, but that was about all he could say to contours as there didn't seem to be any. Well, besides the glowing red eyes and the teeth the small creature seemed to be made up of wavering darkness and shadows, as if the form was more of an afterthought and just something to use until something else was needed. He couldn't even concentrate on the thing all that much or long as he was already getting a splitting headache and his eyes were getting watery.
Then he thought of something. "Did you pull me out of the water?"
"Why of course, who else should have master?", it griped indignant. Arguably, he probably should have tried sounding less sceptic than he did, but well. And that voice was giving him the creeps.
"But you – but I – but you – but I," he blurted out incredulously, but turned silent the instant he felt something wrap around his upper body. If someone asked how it felt, honestly, he couldn't really describe what if felt like12. The tiny wings started beating and he would have turned white, had he not been chalky to begin with, as he felt himself being lifted off the ground. Just at a foot or two in height the tiny creature stopped. Normally he would have expected to be let go by that point, but was for once positively surprised as the cat just sank down gently.
His thought process on the whole could be described as such – oh god, that strong – if it swims as well as it flies – what is it, what does it eat – hopefully not me – why –...
But that paled as his mind had to latch onto the next thing that it found to be impossible. And that was the fire burning. Who in all that was holy had got the fire even startet? Though the who was much less important as he really wanted to know how.
'If I am not just experiencing a strange fever dream and am actually on my way to the afterlife, that is.'
Which was entirely possible. He was strangely intact and in lack of pain for what he should be. Though if he was having hallucinations they sure were preferable to screaming his head of and lose his mind because of experiencing unfathomable agony. Though that was something else and there were so many things said about dying, something had to be true.
Should he still be alive though and wanted to stay that way he really should find a way out of here.
"Hey, what's your name anyway? I can't just say hey you every time," Nic perused casually.
"I'm Kwez, nice to meet you!" the thing introduced itself jovially.
"Well, hello, my name's Nic," smiling slightly, raising his hand. It seemed a bit strange shaking the creatures ... paw.
The thing had under no circumstances given him his real name. It could not be as that would be just his luck and a really cruel joke of the universe that he just summoned a creature with about as frightening a name as his own.
Still, in some way he did summon it, that much he was sure of. But how? He had absolutely no idea. If he had to guess it would probably be a who knew how old ritual that had been long forgotten. With it being hard to even find anything in the city itself. And what kind of pact it might be he didn't know either, as he would have to know about the ritual itself first. He didn't remember giving any specific promises lately... Though, there had been that other thing while he had been too out of it to properly remember what had been happening either way... Or that other time where he had been of the opinion of it being a nightmare... Still, the baseline being he was a bit screwed, and it sounded like the perfect recipe for a massive disaster.
Well, no matter, it didn't seem intent on eating him which would have to be enough for the moment. For the moment he had other, more acute problems that if he stayed would solve themselves one way or the other13. Though he would be napping a bit first, he was entirely to drained to move, let alone try stumbling around in a cavern full of water. He was a bit done with the near-death experiences for the time being.
How much time had gone by he couldn't quite tell, but he was at least a bit refreshed. He really should get going though, who knew how worried Ivan was. At that thought he laughed tonelessly. Yeah, the idiot was sure to be worried. But as they were in a city brimming with magic where his friend was about as comfortable as a fish on a mountain he was about right out of his depth. And even if he tried finding him, tracking him would be a bit difficult. Footsteps were a bit hard to see on stone and even if his friend managed to somehow find his way down the catacombs he wouldn't have it any easier finding the stupid cave he had tumbled in. Worse even, then they would be sitting down here together and just be two idiots dying. Well, at least he wasn't alone...
"Kwez, you don't happen to coincidentally know a way out of here?"
Maybe he was lucky for once.
The small creature seemed to bob his head, before answering, "Sure, just over there is a path leading to some stairs."
Well, Nic was happy, and a bit confused at the same time. So he wouldn't have to try climbing, that was a good thing, but why the stairs were even there was a bit strange. As long as he didn't manage to stumble into another ritual he should be fine. And hopefully reach the surface a bit faster.
"Come along, the way up is here," an enthusiastic clanging resounded in his ears.
Yeah, there had been stairs. Old, barely recognizable as such and slippery like a slope at times, so Nic had had to climb. And that just had been the first set. The next might as well have been stairs constructed for giants, as the were about half his own height, so much for an easy way. At least they had reached the catacombs, but even that had taken longer than he would have liked. He was thirsty, he could by now eat a horse, he was that hungry and had aches in muscles he hadn't been aware of having in the first place. On top of that the blasted cat seemed to have an endless well of energy and its jovial mood was about as welcome as the blisters on his feet. At least it had a way of orienting itself, he had no idea where they were.
Though he really had to admit the shape of the creature was downright unfair. As it looked like a cat and behaved about like one, if you ignored the talking bit, he couldn't even be as foul to it as he would have liked.
At the moment it had been leading him down a long corridor that was leading to a door that did look deceptively good, compared to the others he had seen down here. It was for once not seemingly breaking down at the slightest touch and seemed sturdy and doing its intended purpose. Though he did miss a few details, like the shimmering runes on the edges of it or the other shadowy symbols and signs carved into it. So, he just pressed down the ornate handle without even thinking about knocking and it swung open easily.
He was surprised enough to just stand there blinking, as for once he did not barge in on an ongoing ritual, that would have gotten a bit ridiculous otherwise.
The man within the room looked at him with little surprise, though seemed a bit irritated. Without another word he pulled out a pocket watch, studying it frowning. He had long hair that fell down his back in numerous thin braids, on top of his head sat a chaperon with a wide brim, adorned with dark crystals, that looked vaguely like bones, some were braided into the hair as well. He had a beard growing around his mouth and down his chin well down to the middle of his chest, it was well groomed, though his cheeks were clearly rather freshly shaven. The long liripipe was adorned with the crystals as well, seemingly glittering like the night sky. His robe reminded Nic of what usually was worn by elemental mages, but that was the end of any similarities. Instead of being of one color in different shades it looked a mix of black and white had exploded on it without a real sensible pattern and he could see the hems being adorned by the same crystals, though now he wasn't quite sure whether they were light or dark. The man was pale, his skin seemed ashen and like it shouldn't even be there anymore, his veins clearly visible in a darkish blue.
"I will admit I have been expecting your arrival a bit later today or much earlier. Be as it may, enter and close the door it you will," he commented, not even looking at Nic, his voice unexpectedly full and deep.
Nic got the hint and did as told, noticing Kwez having taken place on his shoulder. Even the weight was similar to that of a cat, funnily enough. With a quiet click the door fell into the lock.
Ivan had no idea whether he was coming or going. After Ysenda, that shopkeeper of that small curiosities shop hat explained a few things he followed her advice and stayed put. Well until the evening, that is. He shouldn't worry too much, she would be sending him to someone when the time had come.
He had to admit he didn't quite get what she did explain, but the gist of it being Nic having started an age-old evocation that would be coming to a close this day. Or something along those lines, there had been a lot of technical (or rather magical) mumbo-jumbo that went right over his head. But, and that was the important part, Nic would have to do that alone.
Though to Ivan it was very strange that everyone seemed to understand that at first, after thinking it over it made a lot of sense in hindsight. They were in a city full with magicians and they had a feeling for such things, if not more than enough people who probably could plainly see it. Back at home only the druid might have noticed, if at all, but the rest of the townsfolk? Yeah, not so much.
Hopefully his father was fine and didn't run his mouth. But knowing him it would be well. And if he did say something – well, he was an adult, he'd know what to do.
Though by now he was getting impatient, as what he called evening had long since passed and it was nighttime, if he wasn't wrong sunrise was about and hour or two away. So, as he always did, he went off on his own to find his friend. Over the years he had developed a skill with that and as soon as he had found him, well. He wasn't sure whether he would tear him a new one or congratulate him for the ritual or whatever, maybe both in a not yet set order.
Happily he got going and soon entered the main streets, passing by their lodging. As he knew Nic well he was very sure he had not been particularly caring where he was going in his anger. So, he just walked down the next alley he came across and just kept turning left or right at random. Nic still held on to his opinion of him finding him by tracking skills, if he knew... At home Ivan did much the same, go in the approximate direction his friend probably went and he was rather sure to find him. After a while he usually just followed his ears. Loud cussing wasn't usually something to worry about, but screaming was a bit different. But especially when there were more voices and a few calling things like "Get him, he's over there!" he usually took up to running and being ready to pull Nic out of whatever snit he had gotten himself into. Most of the times by accident, funnily enough. But more often than not he just ran into the other direction, as Nic was already running away. He also kept his eyes open for possible hidey-holes as Nic didn't have much stamina and even if he didn't weigh much, Ivan wasn't that fit to keep running faster while carrying his friend.
It had worked well enough, so he was sure it would work just as well in this situation. If not, well, he had an idea or two what he could try instead.
Grinning he turned right. That kind of screaming was nothing new, so he might as well just do as he usually did.
What did not register to Ivan was the fact that he shouldn't even be walking around such streets like this. He was being followed for a while but those people had been followed by other things, which where more successful. That those were things made out of darkness was something else he was not aware of. In a way that was a blessing in disguise and coincidentally his habits did bring him on the right path, if not for the right reasons.
**********
12It wasn't cold per se, but not hot either. Nor wet, but not dry, it just was.
13Probably based on the assumption of the dead not having problems anymore. Even souls that were called back were keeping mum, so nobody has any different notion about it.