When Eveline verified the location of the ebon falls Anabel left for the islands immediately and told Amethyst to tell Allistar to meet her.
He caught up to her before she left the continent.
She had been surprised. He was never able to move so fast before. Then she saw his new minions. Allistar had become a strong necromancer in the years that she had purposely ignored him.
Amethyst took her physical form and rode on his shoulder thus thoroughly annoying Anabel.
When Jolan found out about his older sister's current condition and that the final ingredient to the antidote was located and both found by his father he had mixed emotions to, say the least. He and Amethyst spoke for hours.
They both stopped as one as the reached the sea before them. There was a long uncomfortable moment.
"We could meet each other there." Anabel spoke without looking at him.
"Spirit Warlock dad does not have a travel ability. Why don't you walk the ways?"
Anabel's outrage was not due to the suggestion that she help him it was that he could be "dad" but she was "spirit warlock". What the hell was that about!?
"Fine. Are you ready?" Allistar nodded subtly.
Anabel could travel through the spirit realm with no problem and arrive at the island in an instant but the spirit realm would never allow a necromancer entry without some great cost that most would not want to pay.
But the way was different. It was a network of tunnels that connected realms with mystical doors. As new realms were explored new tunnels could be opened for exploration.
The way was ancient and many entities traveled them while others lived in them.
Anabel's arms swirled in elaborate patterns and as she finished her hands snapped up palms facing forward. A dark arch rose before them, just off the edge of the cliff they stood on. The entrance was black, dark smoke seeping from an unseen door.
A word of power, seemingly uttered from deep in the ground echoed and caused the air to tremble while silver and gold runes burned into the stones of the arch. The dark entrance way flooded with blinding light. Once they could see a long tunnel stretched forward within the arch.
The tunnel was brilliantly lit in greens, yellows, and blues. Along the tunnels were other archways, with some being lit and others dark. And every now and then the side of the tunnel would suddenly open up into vast caverns, lush valleys, or sheer drops that seemed to have no end.
Anabel and Allistar stepped forward at the same time.
'This is going to be a long trip'
Anabel was really walking much faster than she needed to. They traveled a great distance before they decided to rest. The way was a complex labyrinth and never allowed the traveler a direct route to their destination but it was still faster than traveling within a realm. They would arrive at the island in a day where as traveling across the planet would take a week.
She looked at Amethyst curiously. They were all sitting on lush grass in a depression hidden by a large Boulder. "You could not carry Allistar to the island?"
Amethyst looked at her with a smile. "Yes, but it would have taken the same amount of time and I want you and dad to talk."
"Which we are not doing. Am you need to stop worrying about us. Your mother and I are fine."
"That is not true. You and…"
Anabel stopped listening stunned by the fact that they were having such a conversation without any emotion. Both Amethyst and Allistar were completely emotionless. But not always. When they spoke to each other it was as if they forgot what emotion was.
When they resumed their journey Anabel had slowed her pace considerably. Amethyst was sleeping on Allistar's broad shoulder.
The way had been rather accommodating but both Anabel and Allistar were on guard.
"Do you think you will Hate me forever Bell?"
"I don't Hate you?"
He was quiet for a moment. Their footsteps silent on the rock of the way. "Well how long will we be like this? You and I are connected and we always will be. I have loved you for thousands of years Bell."
She did not see his shrug but she felt it. She had known that this was a bad idea. This is how she always ended up returning to him. Granted this was the first time he was trying to sway her as a lich but even with his frosty tone her heart still quivered.
"I will always love you Allistar. Love is not the problem. The problem is…" this time she shrugged. "I will probably never be able to forgive you."
"Why Bell? We both sought power and we both made bad decisions in the pursuit of that power."
"We both made bad decisions!" instantly she was enraged. "It is true that we sought power together for over a millennia but I never considered using one of our children in a ritual to obtain that power."
She had not notice that she had stopped, faced him, began yelling at the top of her voice, and was shoving her finger in his face. She knew violence in the way could cause ejection from the way and that ejection could be into a realm that the person did not know.
Amethyst was suddenly between them in her human form. She looked just as Anabel remembered. She felt hot tears in her eyes.
Anabel spun on her heels. She was an expert runner and she was prepared to run and leave him behind for good.
She took several deep breaths and thought about her son. She slowed her pace and suddenly Amethyst was wrapped around her shoulders. She spoke into her mind.
'Mom you are right. Dad is selfish. He regrets what he has done but how does a selfish person apologize? I have never heard him utilize words of apology. But he has remorse. I know that for sure.'
'I know. That is why I can not hate him, and the fact is I will always love him. But I can never forgive him.'
'But I forgive him and I was the one sacrificed.'
'And that is how you know that you are a better person than me.'
A black arch opened in a green meadow. Gold and silver runes burned into the stone and a tunnel could be seen within. Anabel and Allistar stepped from the tunnel onto the central island of the Bologna island chain.
Anabel's wards were waiting for them and as she walked to them her guard members moved to her. Some of them briefly glancing at Allistar.
Shining Light pointed his chin toward Allistar. "I can carry him through the spirit realm to the final ring of trees before the falls."
Anabel looked at Allistar for a moment and shook her head. We will use our step abilities. He can move pretty fast now.
Shining Light looked at him appraisingly, nodded, and said nothing more.
"Update"
Eveline stepped forward "Nothing as changed Spirit Warlock. We can tell that moving passed the final ring is a dangerous endeavor. Hortense and Femir have both used sight to see the falls but we all feel breaching the final ring will end in true death for us."
Bev spoke next. "Even as apparitions we feel this and you know how difficult it is to destroy one of us. But we have cleared all threats from the outter rings. If those rings are any indication the final ring may have divine beings dwelling within it."
"She's right but divine beings alone would not give us the feeling we have about that inner ring." Anabel looked at Shining Light as he spoke.
She looked to Hortense "You can't see the levels of the beings living there."
Hortense's form shimmered indicating she was frustrated. "Forgive me Spirit Warlock I can only see the falls. I can not even see life within the ring."
Anabel looked at Allistar. "Do you have a way to see in?"
He looked toward the island where the falls were. "I think do. Let's camp near the inner ring. I can have something ready by dawn."
Anabel sent most of her wards to investigate the island at the center of the whirlpool and the second new island located at the opposite end of the chain and she and Allistar went directly to the final ring before the evon falls.
The trees were ancient, gnarled, and tall. They were in a perfect circle but they could not see the next closest ring of circle meaning the are and most likely the forest was vast.
She and Allistar walked the entire perimeter of trees. Anabel opened her third eye that sat in the middle of her forehead. It was deep purple and even with it she saw nothing. No life, color, or even magic.
She looked to Allistar. "Have you been this close before."
He only shook his head quietly. He turned on his heels. "Let me start this ritual. I prepared for it when we were in the Ways."
She knew Allistar was in the middle of a ritual. She had no idea what he would use but she knew that if it took him all night to complete it would be something formidable.
If she was honest with herself she would admit that all of his rituals made him nervous. They always made her think of that one ritual and what Aalistar was capable of.
She shook her head to clear it. "Get a hold of yourself Anabel. This is different. This is to help one of your children not destroy one of them."
She walked toward the swirling power at the opposite end of the camp. She stopped just outside the outter runic circle. There were six runic circles that glowed green in the dark. There were singular runes between each circle shining purple. She watched as currents of power rolled around and through the circles. The power flowed between the circles at the points where the purple runes were drawn.
Allister looked as if he was in meditation in the center of the inner most circle. But Anabel saw how the power moved from him in controlled bursts and dispersed evenly throughout the circles.
The black runes burned into his grey-green skin were glowing red as he worked the ritual silently.
Wave after wave of power flowed from him in a controlled, measured way. Anabel watched with morbid fascination. She did rituals all the time but she never used her own body as the focal point and source of power.
His body maintained the flow of power with precision; directing magic to where it was needed and ensuring that the magic did not become chaotic. It even subdued the magic so that others didn't sense it.
He truly had changed in the last four hundred years.
At daybreak Allistar was surrounded by dense green fog. Anabel had slept just outside the outter most ring on a fluffy layer of cloud like material that she conjured and caused to hover inches above the ground. She woke just before dawn to witness the fog quickly accumulate and thicken around Allistar.
As she watched his ritual coming to an end her mind went blank. Thoughts seemed to evaporate lost in moments she thought long gone.
She remembered how he was before he became a lich. She remembered the years, the centuries they had spent together.
Smiles flew by her mind's eye. Moments of joy, stress, and anger they shared flashed and something she had been denying for three centuries bloomed deep inside her.
A tightness formed in her core. Her heart raced. Her mouth went dry and she swallowed with great difficulty.
She never lied to herself about still loving him. She never denied that she worried about him and his choices more than she liked, but she had been admit about never taking him back. She swore they would never be together again and she stubbornly clung to the perceived importance of it.
And now her she was, longing for him. Remembering how his skin used to be such a deep caramel color. How his eyes were the softest grey and his hair long voluminous waves of the deepest amber.
The thought of how he had changed even sent a luscious tingle down her spine. His body was broader, more muscular and even though his skin was grayish green the black runes covering it gave a tantalizing dimension that she could not explain. Even his blood red eyes on her body sent her in a spin.
She suddenly found herself thinking about his embrace and wondering how it differed from before. She wondered if his hands were hard and strong or soft and gentle.
It started as a seemingly almost silent whisper at the back of her mind. Her name being called. Then it became louder and louder until she finally understood it was him calling her name.
"Anabel!" Her eyes focused and she saw him standing a short distance from her. Worry on his face. The fog had dispersed and there were two towering undead beings behind him.
One as a serpent with purple, green, and pink scales. The other was a large humanoid creature with four arms and the head of a ram. Its skin was black and seemed to ripple as if something moved just below the surface.
Allistar walked to her. "Are you okay?"
She heard the concern in his voice and her body flushed hot.
"I am fine. I was still shaking off my sleep. How will these two help?"
They both looked at the two undeads. Death magic flowing from them in dense ripples.
"Do not worry. They can walk through the death plane with no worries." He spoke with a slight smile on his face.
She looked at him in abject horror, her eyes widening "You called death lords to this plane?!?"
He was still so very dangerous. And now she was unsure how she felt about it.