[center][h1]Through the Rabbit Hole[/h1]
[h2]Chapter I : The Summoning[/h2][/center]
[IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/22wdw.jpg[/IMG]

Suleya was running out of time. She knew this, but she would remain calm. Trying to rush the ritual would only result in failure, and she couldn't afford that right now. After all, her life hung in the balance. The Hunters and their thrice-cursed Sensors would be upon her any moment, and if she hadn't completed the ritual by then she'd be slaughtered. But she would, she told herself, and then she'd show them just how dangerous a witch could truly be.

This ritual was... strange, though. She had never attempted it before, and for good reasons. The description of it in the old tome was vague beyond irritation, but mentioned reaching for beings beyond the veil of reality and summoning them here. Suleya had only ever heard about beings from other planes once before, and it was because of that one time in particular that she hadn't tried this ritual sooner. She had heard terrible things. Things that keep you up at night. Things that she would rather not have known. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and here she was.

She could hear them, now, somewhere in the forest. Shouting, running, thrashing about through the bushes. Stealth was unnecessary at this point, they knew they had her and that escape was impossible. She forced the growing panic from her mind and, trembling slightly, lit the candles before her. All the preparations were finally complete. Now, for the incantation…

[i]”Heleveath amerathuen! Omuleidium isindien! Nagasta! Kvaka! Kvakis!”[/i]

The candles lit up furiously for an instant, and then immediately went out. Then all was dark and silent, the features of the surrounding terrain and the surface of the pond illuminated only by the faintest of moonlight. For what seemed like eons, there was nothing, no movement of any kind. Suleya was sweating now. Had something gone wrong? Had she not followed the instructions correctly, or misunderstood one of the passages? She glanced backwards in terror and saw something moving by her house. One of the Sensors? Or perhaps a Hunter, waiting to strike? Despair gripped her heart and thrust its claws into it, ripping it to pieces. All hope was lost.

A strange noise made her look back at the pond. At first, it looked as still as ever. Or wait, no – there were ripples on the surface. Then, a bubble appeared for an instant before disintegrating with a faint pop. More bubbles surfaced, and Suleya realized that someone or something was down there. Despair turned to ecstasy as more bubbles appeared on the black surface. And then, suddenly, a shape rose from the waters.

It was, however, not what Suleya had been expecting.