She had lived in many dank places.

Places dark, quiet, damp, and suspiciously tranquil.

Now she lived in the center of the darkest forest of the southern continent of Aspel. Aspel was a large purple planet. It obtained its purple hue due to the abundance of spiritual magic used and generated on the planet.

This forest was dark due to the thick tree canopy and the dense infusion of spirit magic. It was the ideal location for her.

Today seemed like an ordinary day. She had decided last week that she would invoke a special spirit today. A spirit that could help her travel through different dimensions. The previous spirit she used for this had been trapped in a dimensional black hole and she had not been able to free it yet.

She was meditating when there was a knock on the door. She ignored it and continued centering herself. The knock became more insistent and she continued to ignore it.

People did not come to her home for no reason and usually they left her alone when she ignored them. The persistent knock was an abnormality and if she was not focused on being obstinate she would have understood something was amiss.

The knocking abruptly stopped. "Anabel if you do not open this door I will open it."

The voice was frosty and her soul shivered. She was instantly on her feet. What the hell was he doing here?!?

She was at her front door instantly and she heard the frosty voice chuckle.

"Why are you hear?"

"Open the door and talk with me properly "

"I hear you just fine."

There was a short pause and her skin began to prickle as she decided to open the door. "Please Allistar I can no longer do this dance. Allow me to bow out."

Seeing him was startling but she maintained her composure.

"I have given you time and allowed you space, but now we need to work together for a common goal. We can work together without being together. I promise to keep everything professional."

She listened to that frosty voice and gazed into those blood red lifeless eyes that, lacked any trace of sclera, and she wondered both how she could have ever loved him and how had she been separated from him for so long. Looking into those eyes also told her she could not work with him and keep it professional.

At the thought his sensual lips parted into a smile that made her heart thump a bit.

She wanted to slam the door in his face at that moment. She wanted to tell him leave and never come back. She wanted to be able to continue hiding in her forest.

A strange wind blew through the trees circling her property. She calmed herself before her defenses were fully triggered.

"We need to talk. You are the one who pledged to protect this planet and this dimension."

He turned to look at the trees. When his gaze returned to her his face was once again lifeless. "I told you that this place is not worth it. We can always find another source of spiritual magic for you. It is abundant here but the purity…"

He didn't complete his sentence and he didn't need to. She sighed and moved to allow him entry. She had decided to remain here and protect this place. It was solely for selfish reasons. She wanted this planet to be an endless source of spiritual magic for her.

What she did not expect was him staying here with her. Allistar was a lich and he forgot what normal emotions were long ago. He felt things only when they were intense. Subtle things alluded him.

A part of her was happy that he somehow still loved her but the rational part of her had long decided that their love was way too toxic. As soon as he decided his current path any love between them was doomed.

She went and poured herself water and handed him an empty glass. As soon as it was in his hand it filled with a thick, viscous orange liquid.

They sat opposite from each other sipping their drinks and looking at each other.

Allistar spoke first "Understand me well my love. I am only here because I know how important this is for you. Have you sensed the changes in the island chain of Bologna? You know I have a research area there and I have sensed it but it didn't seem serious at first."

She listened to every word but did not comprehend anything after he said "my love". She looked at him blankly for a long moment.

She internally shook her head. 'How am I going to do this without being distracted? I shouldn't have stayed away from him so long this time.'

"I have noticed. It is just a new, and powerful, entity being born. Is there a problem with this entity?"

He looked at her for a second. He could tell she was distracted but he couldn't understand why. "This entity's nourishment is the spiritual energy that swirls in the core of this planet. It was steadily syphoning it with no detriment to the planet… until early this morning. Suddenly it began taking copious amounts from the core alone and two fissures have formed within the core."

Anabel thought contemplatively for a moment. "But this does not mean that this entity's existence could destroy the planet."

Allistar shrugged "At this point we do not know what it means. I did not think you would want to take a chance."

He was right. She did not want to take the chance. She had worked hard to ensure that this planet became a rich source of spiritual magic. She convinced many sorcerers, warlocks, and spellcasters to relocate to the planet, and together they had made the environment even richer in a cyclic rejuvenation of the spiritual magic. With each ten cycles the magic became stronger and purer.

She was planning on creating magic conduits that would link to her soul sea and continually feed her with magic no matter what planet or dimension she was on or in directly from the core.

"I concede your point, but I think that I can travel there myself to investigate." She stood to indicate their conversation was complete, so that he could leave.

Allistar did not move a muscle for a few seconds and when he did it was to ship the drink that she thought he had forgotten. He looked at her for a long moment and then a slow smile spread across his lips and her heart actually quivered. Her body was beginning to truly annoy her.

"You may need my help Anabel, or will you ask one of your "friends" for help."

He sarcastically emphasized the word "friend" and she rolled her eyes.

"How about I think about it? Give me a day. I will send one of my "wards" to take a look and then I will decide."

He shrugged again "friend, ward, same thing. I will camp in the glen to the east. I will return in one day, thirty-six hours."

He downed his drink, rose, and walked out of the door as it opened of its own accord for him.

As he left the glammer Anabel had on her home lifted. The single room beige structure expanded to a vast multi story building of varying subdued colors. Spirits, apparitions, ghosts, and various spirits beings moved about freely as if they were working.

A group of ten, 4 apparitions, 2 ghosts, and 4 spirits looked to her as one and moved to her simultaneously.

A large apparition that manifested as a dark blue haze spoke first. "Is everything okay spirit warlock?"

Anabel's wards' first inclination was to call her master but she forbade it. Over the years they came up with different ways of showing respect. They currently used "spirit warlock". She had not objected because that is what she is but hearing it still raked against her nerves.

"There may be an issue Shining Light."

She looked to a spirit that manifested as a woman with long brown curly hair. Because Anabel found this spirit and did not create it she did not know its previous form but she was abnormally loyal and protective so she had some guesses about the cause of her death.

"Clare take who you need and explore the area that Hortense alerted us to last month. He has already determined the anomaly is due to an entity but he is saying that it is feeding on the planet's core. I want you to determine if this entity can cause the destruction of the planet."

A ghost of a beautiful redhead woman walked forward "Will he be working with us?" she smiled coyly. "I can sense that he is not leaving the forest."

Anabel fought every one of her immediate reactions, stilled her face and maintained eye contact with the beautiful ghost.

Ghosts and spirits were very similar in that they manifested as actual people, animals, sentient beings, or even plants. They differed in how clearly they manifested to the eye of the living. Spirits had varying types of haze veiling them while ghosts manifested, seemingly, whole and clear. They did not look transparent and they could interact with things within the realm of the living where as spirits could not.

Apparitions, on the other hand, generally manifested as shapes of any kind but they were always obscured by thick haze. Some times the haze was so thick only the haze could be seen in the living realm.

"I do not know that as of now. We are merely going to verify things and decide after."

The beautiful ghost nodded. She looked to Hortense, who manifested in the shape of an intricate red dress, but the haze around her was so thick that she only seemed to be a red voluminous cloud with ethereal lights shining through it to the living eye.

"Clare I think Hortense and I should definitely go with you." Clare silently nodded.

The voices of apparitions always sounded as if they were transmitted from great distances over subpar equipment and Hortense's voice was no different. "I will get my protégé, he is a very skilled diviner." Clare silently nodded again and Hortense dissipated from view.

Clare thought for a moment and then projected her voice for all to hear. "I will gather the rest. I have five others in mind." She looked to Anabel. "Is this number acceptable spirit warlock?"

Anabel nodded absent-mindedly. "I trust you to do what is best Clare." She looked to the apparition that manifested as a dark blue haze. "Shining light keep a channel open to both Clare and Eveline so that we can know the situation instantly. Clare be safe and if you need help contact me immediately."

Anabel walked across the vast salon into a side hall. Her labyrinthine home was a nether dimension that she created many years ago. It had the ability to grow and evolve both as she grew and evolved and when it consumed magical items.

It now had anchors in six different dimensions but it had the capability to tether itself to ten.

She entered a vast laboratory where differing spirit biengs were working. A being that manifested extremely fat, amorphous, with lavender skin and vines of differing hues of green weaving around and through it. The vines had hibiscus type flowers of varying colors blooming all over them.

It took up a vast amount of space. It was an alchemist and this was its lab.

Anabel walked up to him."Marela we may have found a new entity, and it consumes spirit magic to live."

The large spirit creature had been about to great Anabel when she abruptly spoke. His expression went from confused, to contemplative, to shocked, and finally ended in elation.

"Things seem to be getting very interesting spirit warlock. I will make preparations."