Jack Hawthorne
Location: Limbo
Skills: Magical Expertise, Extraplanar Navigation
Spells: Twilight Doorway
Outfit
Prudence didn’t want to stick with them. That much was clear, but bickering between themselves wouldn’t solve anything.
”Please, all of you. She did not ask for this anymore than we did. She has a right to be frustrated and approach this on her own terms. Now, where were we?” He took their hands, and felt their power feed through him. His own magic spun through the circuit like electricity through wires. It was exhilarating. He saw memories of someone running from someone else… Purifiers. Someone he would feel grateful never to deal with, most likely.
"I will open our way out, bare with me..." He focused his magic into a point out before him, and slowly manifested a swirling disc of dark energy. He had to focus so much power into one spell that it took more time than usual. But gradually, the portal expanded into its proper shape. But while this was happening, their memories and thoughts blurred further until, for a brief moment, everyone experienced Jack's memories...
"Our passage has been secured. The portal will close shortly, if you're coming with us, then go now."
Jack trudged through the shallows of the Obsidian Ocean. He was up to his ankles in inky black water, and it didn’t help that Reza went limp hours ago. He wasn’t moving anymore, and Jack dropped him.
”Hey- Hey! I need you to get up, the rift is just over that mountain. Come on, man, I know you’re not dead. Reza- Hey! Wake up!” He shook the dark skinned boy like he owed him money. Jack could feel his pulse from under his shirt, even through the cold water, thick as oil, that lapped over him.
Reza was twitching, in his slumber. This had been the third time in the last hour he went comatose. The second time was longer than the third. No matter how many spells Jack bad cast, he couldn’t will the darkness out of him. Black patches continued to spread across his skin, almost like vitiligo if it was
alive. Fear gripped Jack.
It was creeping up Reza’s face at this very second…
”Hhhh… Jaaaa-“ Reza’s voice sounded wrong. It was like he was three people speaking at once.
He opened his eyes, and they were hollow. What would’ve been a pair of hazel diamonds that captivated Jack for hours were poisoned, black wells of tears. He held up a hand, lazily, and brushed it against Jack’s face. He could feel Jack’s heart hammering like a machine gun.
”Get up- The rift is open! We’ll get you back home! You- We can get there. The dark’s not that deep yet- You have ti-“”No.”He froze. A world that was alive in all the ways a person could be stood still.
”Iii- This is it… I’m sorry.”]”No! NO! I’m going to drag you out of here by any means necessary, do you hear me?! You- You’re not dying!” His voice cracked and wavered. In Jack’s hands, he gripped Reza as if his hands alone were all that kept the boy within the land of the living.
”Stand up!”Reza… Chuckled.
”I can’t… I… I’m slipping. It’s happen-en-eningnggg…” Reza’s hold on reality was shifting like leaves on water. He was not dying… He was changing.
”Go. Yoou know what has to hhaaaappen. You’re so muccch stronger than you think, Jack… Yyyyyou‘ll be okay without meeee.”The words that left Reza’s mouth grew more garbled by the second. Jack stared into his eyes, searching desperately with every fiber of his being, for some trace of humanity that hadn’t been
twisted.But even Jack Hawthorne knew when it was too late.
”You… You can’t leave me here alone. You can’t- We were going to see it all together. The House of Ideas, Jarnvidr, the Astral- You wanted to see the Astral Plane, remember?! We’ll stay there for a century, come on- Get up… Please…”Reza’s hand slowly slid down Jack’s face, down to his shoulder, and to his left hand. It was warm, where Reza felt frigid. His head tilted back.
His other hand passed something into it, and he kept both hands wrapped around Jack’s tightly.
”I know hooowwww brave you arree. And I know that you’ll be okay. Jack, thhhiisiss goodbyeee… Run.”Run. He told Jack to run.
”…I- Run from-“Reza’s head
snapped back up. Between the tears smearing against Jack’s face, he failed to notice the umbral rot had fully overtaken Reza.
His eyes were now two burning pits of white light… There was no human flesh. Only shadows made tangible by magic. An ear-shattering scream split the silent air, as Jack’s love swung a clawed, jagged hand at his shoulder.
Blood sprayed everywhere, and Jack was tossed backwards, clutching what remained of to be his shoulder, as his severed arm sunk into the dark sand.
The monster stood and set its gaze on Jack. He was no longer Reza.
”No.. Don’t- Please don’t make me do this.”
There's no place like home.
The portal lead them out of Limbo, to be sure. But this was not Earth. The landscape was cast in a somber, dim light. Where the Sorcerers Supremes arrived was a mountainous, autumnal valley, atop a rocky hill where the very wind felt alive. The grass beneath their felt as though it would crumble away into ash, yet it was very much there. Flecks of color danced across their vision, breaking up what seemed to be an optical illusion of grey and visible light. This was the Everdark; the Land between Lands, the shadow of the universe, and the realm in which Jack Hawthorne was nothing short of a god. A thousand wizards could wear the Cloak of Levitation, and work in unison, only to fall short of breaching this place. It lacked the hellish danger of Limbo, and the familiarity of Earth, but all around them, those who passed through could feel as though they were being watched by some ambivalent force. It was beautiful, in an otherworldly way.
The strangest part was perhaps their ability to see past their hands. If someone looked into where the sky should be, all they would find was nothingness. It was like trying to picture a color that couldn't exist. And yet there were phantom images of birds passing through the void, as if it was there for them, and only them. Jack stepped through the portal, only to find that they were here, and not on Earth. And he was confused.
"This... This can't be right. This is the Twilight Pass. We're in the Everdark, I did not open the portal here. But we can work with this- I know where we are, there is a rift that leads to Earth right down th-"He turned and looked down the hill, and thought he'd simply be pointing at his house, the only trace of familiarity in this place. And there it stood, but it was surrounded by an army of Green Eyed Ones. Hundreds of them, duplicated over, and over, and over.
"Oh, you bastards... That is my home! I ran into the Green Eyed One before we all met at Witchfire's castle... Immediately after it ate Klara's soul. I banished it here, because I didn't think we could've won in our condition at the time, but now it seems we have a problem. They've multiplied, no doubt because of the poisoning nature of this place. But this is perfect. One of them, possibly all of them, are in possession of Klara's soul. Down there is a permanent rift that will take us directly to Earth, and they are in the way. I'd like to make things right with her while we're here."The portal would close in roughly 20 seconds.
"I do apologize for this detour, it was not planned. However, it won't set us back once we're down there. Shall we?"
