Princess Hannah of the Jade Harem CH 35

Hannah, Umtha, and Frank stood in the mechanical wonderland of Legeis's workshop as they waited for his analysis of the strange disk recovered from the necromancer's tower. Umtha insisted it had to be an engineering device and wanted Legeis to confirm it.

“What am I looking at?” Legeis asked, turning a metal disk the size of a large dinner plate over in his hand.

“It's a map we found in an old necromancer's tower,” Hannah explained. “It's the one we took you to when we used the mirror to enter that shadow world.” Hannah watched Legeis nod as they both recalled the unpleasant trip. Hidden just outside Legeis's workshop was a mirror etched with magical symbols. If pushed in the right order, the mirror became fluid, allowing a person to walk through. Unfortunately, the world beyond wasn't anywhere a person wanted to go. It was a barren world of gray sand and wind-blown rock where you could only see for a dozen feet at most. Beyond that was a darkness that moved, writhing and pulsing as if alive. Looking at it gave one the sense that it was hungry and eager to devour the intruders who had dared to come through the mirror. The only thing that held the darkness back was a series of metal pillars like big lances pierced into the ground. They produced a slowly growing wailing noise that echoed in your ears. The pitch of the wail grew until it reached a peak, and then it pulsed with a bright light that seemed to frighten the darkness back. The sound was the most unpleasant thing Hannah had ever heard, making passing through the world a nightmare.

A trail had been carved through this shadow world by a long line of these lances, leading from the cliff tower to the necromancer tower far to the south. Somehow, the distance in the shadow world was different, or maybe the time was different. To walk to the tower in the real world took nearly a week, but it felt like hours in the shadow world.

“So this was in the tower?” Legeis asked as he looked over the surface etched with a map. “What’s it for?”

“We were hoping you could tell us that,” Hannah said as she traced the map. “This looks like a map, but it has no major features like roads or rivers.”

“If it's a map, then it only shows a tiny portion of the world,” Legeis said as he lowered a lens over his goggles to examine the disc. “Was there anything else with this?”

Hannah described the map room with the larger map and the twisted metal frame. She drew attention to the other tools that seemed to be used for mapping, but of course, nobody could be sure.

“So you think this might be part of a machine?” Legeis stated as he took the disk to a nearby desk. “I got to say, it does sound strange, but then we know your alter ego worked with the goblins before.”

“And they built that giant machine to repair whatever was broken,” Hannah pointed out. “So it stands to reason that they may have built other things.”

“Yeah,” Legeis agreed as he took out a scanner and waved it over the device. It immediately produced a holographic readout that caused the goblin to squint. “Well, it is part of a machine,” he said. “It says this is a charged reflector, which is a component of something larger.”

“So, can you tell us anything about the machine it was used in?” Frank asked.

“Not really,” Legeis said as he handed the disk back to Hannah. “It's a component of a larger machine, but it could be used for a hundred things. I can tell you it's usually put into a machine to focus energy to a point.”

“A point on the larger map, maybe?” Hannah offered as she looked at Frank.

“For what reason?” Umtha asked as she looked at the disk.

“Who knows,” Hannah said. “Why does the larger map exist? Why does that mirror world exist? Nobody can explain it, but somebody built it, so it has a purpose.”

“Somebody alive has to know what this was for,” Frank said as he considered the small map.

“No,” Umtha said in alarm as she turned to confront Frank. “If you ask people to help explain this, it might get to the wrong ears. If this is important to the necromancers, then we will draw the scrutiny of our enemies, and they will come to investigate.”

Hannah could tell that Frank understood her point and the danger of asking too many questions represented. If they were going to investigate these things, they needed to do so carefully. If it turned out to be some relic of the necromancers, it might cause their enemies to descend on her kingdom to put an end to their investigation.

“Do you think you could learn more if you studied the larger table?” Hannah asked to steer the investigation in another direction. Legeis didn’t know for sure but admitted that seeing the larger device might help. However, he wasn’t eager to use the mirror to get to the tower, even if it would save time.

Hannah couldn't fault him for not wanting to use the mirror as she wasn't eager to go herself. She considered other options, including using a wizard's portal to get closer. However, there were no cities closer to the tower than Gwen's, which meant an overland trip was in order.

“That’s a long way to go,” Frank said as he considered it.

“Hmm,” Hannah replied as she paced with her tail swaying. “Maybe we can get Gisley to help.”

“Taking him to the tower in the dream won’t help,” Frank replied.

“No, not in the dream,” Hannah laughed. “I was thinking she could fly and use the magic disk to carry people with her. We could get there faster if we flew in a straight line, avoiding the roads and other delays.”

“Blackbast can summon the disk as well,” Frank pointed out.

“Yeah, but she can’t fly,” Hannah said.

“She can run super fast,” Frank replied. “And with your help, she could go virtually in a straight line. Besides, she has to come with us anyway. You can't be away from her for as long as it would take.”

“Oh, right,” Hannah said as she touched the collar around her neck. “Which means all my girls have to come with me.”

“But we could be there much quicker if we use the mirror,” Umtha insisted.

“Well,” Hannah began as she considered combining the options. “Why not have her run through the mirror? She can get us there much faster, and we won't have to endure that terrible place as long.”

“We can always ask her,” Frank sighed, showing his obvious disdain for going into that other world. Hannah shared his desire to avoid it, but she also secretly harbored an interest in seeing the world again. It had been suggested several times now that this was the buffer, but none of them could prove it. Hannah wanted to pay more attention this time to see if she could spot anything that would indicate this was the case. If it was the buffer, then it warranted more study and perhaps a good hard look at those poles that kept the darkness away.

Legeis relented and agreed to use the mirrors if Blackbast would take them across faster. Frank suggested they ask her, so Hannah and Umtha went with him to visit the sleek, black cat woman. They found her in the palace, sitting on her throne with Quinny, Breanne, and Evalynn, lounging on the silk cushions at her feet. The three beauties looked up with sultry smiles as the group approached, prompting a low purr from the cat woman.

“I can see you have come for me,” Blackbast purred. “What is it you want to know?”

“It's a request,” Frank replied and looked at Hannah. He explained the desire to take Legeis to the tower by going through the mirror dimension. Blackbast looked disturbed at the idea, and Evalynn asked if she could go with them, interested in seeing it. Breanne tried to talk her out of it, highlighting how miserable the experience was. Evalynn was undaunted, arguing that she wanted to see it at least once. Hannah pointed out she would have to make the trip twice, as they would have to return by the same route. She still wished to go and wanted to ask Roric if she could, but Frank reminded them that Blackbast hadn't agreed yet.

“As much as I desire not to experience this place, I will take you,” she replied as she sat up. “I assume you want to go soon.”

“As soon as possible,” Hannah replied. “Today would be good.”

“We should ask Chandice to go,” Evalynn said. “She might learn something from that place or your destination.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Frank said with a shrug.

Evalynn ran off to ask Roric and find Chandice while the girls changed into suitable outfits for travel. Quinny put on her gold and blue armor with an Egyptian flare, getting a strange look from Blackbast.

“Where did you find that?” Blackbast asked as she considered the armor.

“We found it in the tunnels under Hannah’s tower in the swamp,” Quinny said. “We went in to explore more of them and found a few things.”

Blackbast nodded, but Hannah noted an odd recognition as if she had seen that armor before. She wondered if the woman's mysterious connection to a lost desert empire had something to do with a very Egyptian-looking armor. Blackbast said she wanted to get a few things and headed off, promising to meet them in the swamp in a few minutes.

Breanne put on a lovely blue dress while Hannah went with her favorite yellow. She left off her big hat but collected Webster to ride on her pack. He chirped to ask where they were going, and Hannah explained the plan. Twenty minutes later, they were in the swamp at the base of the tower, waiting for Blackbast. Evalynn arrived in full armor and carrying her glaive like a warrior. Chandice stood beside her in a black battle gown with small metal plates on her shoulders and red symbols down the sides.

“So I am told we are going into oblivion,” Chandice said as she approached.

“That’s a very good description of it,” Breanne said. “It’s a blackness that defies description.”

“It moves,” Quinny said. “Whatever you do, don’t leave the path.”

“Oh, this sounds lovely,” Chandice laughed and turned to Evalynn. “Why did you suggest I go with you?”

“I thought you might want to study it,” Evalynn said with a shrug. “Besides, we all agreed to help Hannah with her research.”

“I can’t ask any of you to go through this with us,” Hannah said with her long tail swishing. “It really is a horrible place.”

“Well, I am here now,” Chandice said as she came to stand right before Hannah. “And it can’t be any worse than that dream.”

“That dream was a lovely picnic in the park by comparison,” Breanne replied.

“And now I have second thoughts,” Chandice said as she leaned back. “This is important to you?”

“It's part of the mystery,” Hannah replied. “These mirrors go to another world that links this cave to a hidden necromancer tower. The necromancer who built it is dead, and his body is a pile of bones on the floor.”

“Which means he never respawned,” Frank added. “So, for some reason, he stayed dead, and his tower stayed where it was instead of collapsing like it should have.”

“Very interesting,” Chandice said with a nod.

“And there are skeletons in the void dimension,” Hannah said. “We have reason to believe they are paladins that chased me into that world while I was Hathlisora, and we all died in a battle there.”

“But you have no memory of this happening?” Chandice asked.

“No,” Hannah said as she held up her hand to show the simple blue crystal ring she wore. “But the first time I put this on, I saw a flashback that showed me as Hathlisora fighting the paladins in this dark work. I saw us die when I caused the devices that hold back the darkness to fail.”

“That sounds horrible,” Chandice said. “But we really should scan that ring in the machine to see what we can learn about it.”

“It’s my panel,” Hannah said as she lowered her hand. “We know exactly what it does.”

“I don’t trust anything mysterious from your past,” Chandice said. “We should check it.”

“I agree,” Frank said. “We should check everything just to be sure.”

Hannah relented and agreed to let them test it when the machine was ready again. They briefly discussed it until Blackbast arrived in white silks and a backpack. She wore a necklace of thick golden bands and three blue gems as she looked over the group.

“I assume we are ready,” she said in her usual sultry voice.

“How are we all going to fit on her disk?” Quinny asked. “There are too many of us.”

“I can make the disk a little larger,” Blackbast replied. “It will drain my mana pool to keep it going, but I think we should be able to make it.”

“I can run in my ghoul form if we need it,” Frank offered, but Blackbast explained that she could easily outrun him with her feline speed. She suggested he stay in his human form to conserve space and suggested they head inside to find Legeis.

Hannah led the way, taking them into her magical tower built into the face of an icy cliff beside a waterfall. The tower was a home she had built, but the cliff face was full of tunnels belonging to Hathlisora and a team of allies working on a secret project. After a prolonged battle to recover Gwen's kingdom heart, Hannah had claimed this space and hid the entrance to the deeper tunnels behind her tower. She led them into the upper halls and through several secret doors until they arrived at a hidden tunnel that ended in a large rectangular room just outside Legeis's hidden workshop.

This dark, musty stone room had once contained some simple furnishings, but those had long since been removed. Now, its only feature was a large, rectangular dark mirror that stood ten feet tall and nearly as wide. The mirror was set in a metal frame whose sides contained magical symbols used in a process that would turn the mirror into a doorway to another world. Hannah had discovered the secret of the mirror in a letter she found in a secret chamber of this dungeon. It was addressed to her by Hathlisora and contained information about what was going on in this hidden lair. It also strongly suggested that she and Hathlisora were two different people, closely bound but very different.

For a while, Hannah and Frank clung to this letter as proof she wasn't Hathlisora, but that belief didn't last long. Hannah came into possession of a mysterious blue crystal ring that turned out to be Hathlisora's panel. This was her interface to her character sheet and something only the dead woman could use. Hannah had given her panel to Frank many times, allowing him to poke through menus and even make changes, but his access had been limited. Only a panel's true owner could access or make changes to the important things. Upon putting on Hathlisora's ring, Hannah discovered she had full control, leaving only one possible explanation: that she was Hathlisora reborn.

Now, they stood before the dark mirror, dreading the oppressive world on the other side. Hannah sighed and went to the mirror, running her fingertips over the surface and feeling the magic within. There was no point in hesitating now, so she began the process of touching the symbols, causing them to glow with a red light. When she finished, the mirror produced a strange hum, and the blackness became more like ink flowing in water.

Hannah took a deep breath and walked into it, passing through a barrier that felt like the cold of the grave. She came out in another world so dark and devoid that she immediately wanted to run back through the portal to escape. The world around her felt heavy as if a weight were pressing down. Her skin was bitten by a dry cold as if this world had no atmosphere. Sound felt distorted, as if muffled by being underwater, but that was a small mercy. Beside her, a pillar of metal and magical symbols slowly vibrated as it wailed with a horrible shrieking noise. It raised in volume and pitch while a purple light climbed the shaft. When it reached its peak, it pulsed with a brilliant blue light while releasing what almost sounded like a scream. The effect was as unsettling and horrible as Hannah could imagine, but that only added to the terrible landscape.

She stood on what appeared to be gray dust strewn with pebbles and backed in places until it cracked. It was only visible down a narrow path dimly lit by an unknown source. To either side of this path was a darkness so thick it appeared to be liquid, writhing and bubbling as if trying to consume the path. Hannah felt her skin prickle in goosebumps as she stood in the very center of the path, afraid to get too close to that hungry blackness.

Directly behind her was a black rectangle that was the mirror on this side of the world. It, too, glowed with an eerie purple light while its almost metallic surface flowed with swirling ink. Frank came through a second later, blinking as he entered the nightmare world. Breanne and the others followed, coming in one at a time until Legeis entered.

“Ugh!” Chandice cried as she reeled from the horrible sounds, pressure, and darkness. “It's worse than I thought.” Her voice was muffled as if she were far away, speaking through a vent, even though she was right beside Hannah. Evalynn was at her side in an instant, to protect Chandice from the darkness.

“I had no idea it would be so horrible,” Evalynn cried. “Even the air is bitter to breathe.”

“Let's not waste any time,” Frank said in a voice that echoed strangely. He motioned to Blackbast, who set about summoning her disk so they could move and finish this task.

“Why does it sound like we're in a tunnel underwater?” Chandice asked, holding out her hand as if feeling the air.

“Could this be one of the dead worlds Jaina’s dragon told us about?” Evalynn suggested.

Hannah hadn't considered that possibility before. Until now, they had theorized it was the buffer, but perhaps it was a previously destroyed world. If it was, then she shuddered to think what form of magic had caused so horrible a calamity. She winced as the magical pillar reached its crescendo and wailed with that horrible sound. Legeis was beside it with a tool in hand, trying to get some form of reading as the magic began to rebuild.

“What are those things?” Chandice asked him as she leaned over.

“It's some kind of nullifier,” Legeis replied. “It collects power from somewhere else and uses it to create a pocket of nullification.”

“Nullification from what?” Chandice asked.

They all looked to the inky blackness not ten paces away to see it pulsing and flowing to find their answer. Chandice dared to approach it, even as Evalynn insisted she stay back. Instead, Chandice began a series of spells, casting them one by one into the darkness.

“What are you doing?” Hannah asked as she came to the woman’s side.

“Testing,” Chandice replied. She explained that in Hannah's dream, nearly all forms of magic had failed to work. She wanted to see if this world was the same and if particular schools of magic would fail. As far as Hannah could tell, they all worked, but Chandice took out her wand and waved it about, getting symbols to glow in the air as she scrutinized them.

“Does that mean anything?” Hannah asked as the symbols winked away.

“Necromancy,” Chandice said as she pointed to the darkness. “Whatever that is, it reads only as necromancy.”

“Can we please get moving?” Blackbast called from where she stood beside a floating magical disk. The blue translucent disk was nearly six feet across and floated three feet from the ground. Frank, Quinny, Breanne, and Evalynn were already climbing on.

Hannah suggested they follow, and the three joined their fellows on the magic disk as Blackbast's body glowed with a soft yellow light. Once they were seated on the edge, she took off, running at an alarming speed with the magical disk following just ten paces behind.

Hannah was grateful for the rapid pace, eager to be out of this world and back to a place that didn't feel like it was trying to crush her. They passed a magical pillar every fifty steps or so, placed to keep the path clear for fools like them.

“I regret volunteering to come here,” Evalynn groaned, covering her ears to avoid hearing the terrible wail.

“Well, get used to it,” Breanne countered while patting the poor woman's leg. “We have to return this way.”

“I think I am going to be sick,” Chandice moaned. “This place feels like it’s squeezing me.”

“It's the air,” Frank replied. “It's dense and full of something we shouldn't be breathing.”

“Great, we will probably have the plague when we get out,” Chandice complained.

“I am sorry we asked you to come,” Hannah said to comfort her. “I should have told you no.”

“We need her,” Umtha cut in. “She might be able to tell us more about this place.”

“I can tell you more,” Chandice mumbled. “Don’t ever come here.”

“I agree,” Quinny said, shouting to be heard even though she was beside them. “But I swear it wasn't this bad last time.”

“I was just thinking that,” Breanne agreed. “I remember the sound being unpleasant and the air feeling dry, but I don't recall it hurting to breathe.”

“Because we weren’t breathing,” Frank replied as he turned to look over his shoulder. “We were in our undead forms.”

Hannah realized he was right and had a sudden thought. She leaned into Chandice and asked if she wanted to become undead for the journey.

“It can’t be any worse than this,” Chandice replied. “But I don’t want to make you dabble with your necromancy.”

“Nobody is going to see me do it here,” Hannah countered as she raised a hand. A few gestures later, she touched Chandice, and instantly, the woman withered. Her skin sank, taking on an unhealthy pale gray color and shriveling. Her eyes became black pits, and her hair dead wire. She looked at her gaunt, bony hands as if unable to believe this was her.

“It feels so much better,” Chandice replied as they passed a pillar. “But those things are still disturbing.”

“I am going to revert to my zombie form,” Quinny said as she looked at Hannah. “Please.”

“Just do it,” Hannah insisted, wanting her family to be as comfortable as possible. “Umtha, go back to your goblin form, and I will make you a zombie.” Umtha nodded and let the succubus form fade, then was touched by Hannah, who turned her into a zombie. She offered the change to Legeis, but he declined. However, Evalynn couldn't accept it fast enough.

Frank also declined, citing he could turn into the ghoul if he wanted to. Hannah knew that wasn't exactly true, as that would make him too big for the disk, but she didn't argue. She finally used the spell on herself and sighed as a word of relief washed over her. Suddenly, it didn't feel as damp or cold, and the air wasn't heavy, filling her lungs as it tried to strangle her. The noise was still disturbing, and she felt the pressure pushing down, but that was tolerable.

The one disturbing thing was the undead sight that made the darkness around them more distinct. Now, it looked like a fluid, pressing in to fill a void but being blown back by a strong wind. If this was a dead world, why had anyone come back here to build this road? How had they survived the entrance long enough to place the first pillar and begin building that road in the first place?

She pondered that thought as they crested a small rise, and Hannah was reminded that this wasn't the only path.

“Is that another path?” Chandice asked as she pointed into the distance. Hannah nodded as they all turned to see a magic pillar in the darkness not connected to their road. It ran off to the right, linking to other pillars to create a path, but it seemed to stop a hundred paced before reaching theirs.

“Do you think that used to connect to this road?” Quinny asked as they raced by.

“It might have,” Hannah replied, looking at the blue ring on her finger. That ring had come from this world, recovered by an undead minion who, of its own volition, wandered into the darkness to get it. When Hannah first put that ring on, she saw a vision of this place as she fled from a group of paladins. They cut this very ring from her finger, and Hannah recalled how her alter ego laughed as she caused the magical pillars to fail and the darkness consumed them. That was the end of the vision, but it left Hannah wondering about the strange gap. Had that been the place where the pillars had been commanded to fail? Was that where Hathlisora died?

The thought sent a shiver down her spine, but it made her suddenly realize she was about to miss an opportunity. With urgency, she stood up and shouted as loud as she could.

“Blackbast! Stop when you find the bodies!”

All heads turned to regard her as Hannah set her resolve. She had a plan to set in motion, and the key was finding answers, even if they came from her enemies. Sure enough, they found the bodies barely beyond the gap between the two trails. Frank asked what she wanted with the bodies as Blackbast came to a halt, looking irritated that they would be here longer.

“I want the skulls,” Hannah said, jumping down to collect them.

“What do you want skulls for?” Chandice called from the disk where she sat frozen.

Hannah moved to where five skeletons lay in the gray dust, little dunes collecting on the sides of their corroded armor as if blown by a wind. She wondered how that could be as this place had no wind to speak of, but she wasn't about to linger to study it. One by one, she reached down, plucking skulls as she felt a sense of remorse. Gray sand fell from eye sockets and tumbled helmets as she stacked them in her arm. The bodies looked as if they had been here a hundred years,  the skin long gone from their bleached bones. Strangely, their clothing was torn but not faded, as if the darkness were preserving them.

“I need them for an experiment,” Hannah replied as she turned to carry them back to the disk. She stacked them in the center as her companions cringed at the morbid sight. Hannah then climbed back on and bid Blackbast to continue, the cat woman eager to press on.

Hannah could see the confused looks of the others, wondering what her morbid fascination with the skulls was for. She didn't want to go into too much detail until they were in the tower, where she would have the means to demonstrate.

The rest of the journey seemed to take hours as they passed through a lifeless world. Eventually, they saw the goal of their journey and the dark rectangular shape of the second mirror. They arrived with a sense of hope, and Hannah quickly jumped down, going to the door where a single green stone adorned the metal frame. She pushed it, and it glowed, the black surface suddenly becoming fluid, and she could vaguely see through it to another world beyond.

“Let's go,” Frank called, waving people to the portal. “Quinny, and Umtha, carry Hannah's skulls.””

Hannah had almost forgotten the precious cargo but smiled as her two girls ran by with skulls in their arms, practically throwing themselves through the portal.

“I assume the other side is safe?” Chandice asked as she and Evalynn paused.

“An empty room,” Frank replied and guided them in. Hannah watched them go, followed by Breanne and Blackbast. As they stood alone in the terrible other world, Hannah took his hand, and together they stepped through.

Flashes of light and pain coursed through Hannah's body as she saw another place. She was on a ledge crying, looking over the side to see a smoldering crater. A dark form lay still in that charred bowel, and she knew instantly it was Frank. Above her, a voice called out as a being of light descended from the skies on angelic white wings. She looked down at Hannah with a spear in one hand and a wicked smile on her golden lips.

“He always fails you in the end,” the woman said. “And he has done so again.” Hannah last saw the spear, blazing like the sun as it descended on her.