The Gathering

[drake]

The fog thickened, and the grass grew stiff beneath Drake's feet once more as he and his friends continued through the astral plane. They came across a hooded shadowy figure, who hunched over, hissing and choking. Drake noticed the gray, clammy, scab-ridden skin, and long black claws protruding from it's fingers. He slowly turned his head and glared at Drake. Dark red skin with black streaks riddled the figure's face; he had glowing amber eyes and sharp yellow teeth. The demon lunged towards Drake, but stopped upon seeing Gabriel and Seraphina, who simply stared at him menacingly. He hissed savagely, turned, and fled off into the fog.

Once again, the fog lifted. A tall twisted tree, bare of leaves, towered ominously at the top of a hill directly in front of the angels. Drake and his friends ascended the hill whereupon they found the charred remains of a corpse, chained to a chair with an ancient rune inscribed on the tree behind.

When heaven's life shall end
And tear the world apart...

Drake looked around, but neither Gabriel, nor Seraphina had said anything. He stopped asking them at this point. The blocky top of the runes curved in the center and gave way to flat lines at the bottom.

"This must have been from the ancient era, Before Time..." Drake marveled. "It's unlike anything I've ever seen before."

"Why do you assume that?" Gabriel asked. "It could just be something you're unfamiliar with. Or the ravings of a dying lunatic."

"No," Drake replied pensively. "I can feel it. It's almost like this is connected... deeply connected to the heart of the world. As if it affected the very life forces of existence itself."

To sate wicked's demand
And mate with power's heart...

"It feels..." Drake mumbled. "Almost, Torrential."

Drake and his friends pushed onward until the fog lifted again. Ahead of him towered a large, grandiose castle, with visible dark hazy areas high in the plane. A large wall bordered the outskirts, and the inner structure stood about 14 stories high. The main tower, a direct addition of the main structure, rose 3 times as high as the main structure, and four towers, one on each side of the main hall, loomed about- the tallest one only 3 quarters the size of the main tower. The castle's rough, gray stone stuck out amongst the black clouds of energy that loomed about the lofts. Black energy nebulae floated around in the plane in front of him, and patches of fire littered the brown, dead grass. Drake felt a sinking feeling in his chest as he grew frightened.

"So we have to go in there?" Drake asked Seraphina sheepishly, with his eyebrows raised.

"Is that where your spirit is pulling you?" She replied.

"Yes," Drake responded.

"Well, we can't enter through the front gate," Gabriel said, "That's a Dark Host's Castle."

"Great," Drake said in horror. "Any ideas on how to get in?"

"Well," Gabriel replied, "If your spirit brought you here, it has to know a way in. Close your eyes and think of an entrance."

Drake closed his eyes and thought of the castle; at first he saw nothing, but after a few moments, the image of a wooden door in a stone wall came into view. "I see a door, with symbols on it."

When heaven's life shall end...

"Concentrate," Gabriel said. "What do they look like?"

"They look like... Some sort of language. Scratches... Beautifully inscribed scratches in the door. So elegant, and they stand out at you. They're so distinct."

"Think of that door and imagine yourself standing directly in front of it." Gabriel said. "Imagine your astral body flying through the plane, and arriving at the spot in your mind."

Drake concentrated. His brow furrowed, and he imagined himself so vividly in front of the door, yet nothing happened. "I can't do it," Drake said, opening his eyes and turning to Gabriel. Drake was taken aback, however, to find the three angels standing on a stone floor in front of the same wooden door that he had envisioned. He looked behind and noticed a very long drop off. The angels were on a stone platform close to the top of the main tower of the castle. Dark energy floated by, and the fog obscured the landscape out beyond the castle walls.

And tear the world apart...

Gabriel placed his hand on Drake's shoulder. "Good job," he said somberly, "We still must keep our guard up."

"How do we open the door?" Drake asked, "It has no handles. Is there a secret locking mechanism or something around here?"

"You never learned to open doors?" Seraphina asked.

"Of course I know how to open a door," Drake said defensively.

"You can open doors with angelic runes on them," Gabriel said pointing to the door. "Didn't you recognize them?" Drake looked at the door.

To sate wicked's demand...

The scratches looked very familiar, yet alien to him at the same time. "Don't you remember what that says?" Seraphina asked.

Drake looked at them, and focused. "What does that say?" He muttered to himself. "It looks so familiar, but I just can't seem to remember..."

An image of the stone tower, and blazing fireballs raining down from the sky flashed through his mind for a split second, and then he snapped back to the door. "Oh, yeah," Drake mumbled. "I don't know what came over me, I just... forgot how to read for a second." He read the words inscribed in the angelic tongue, and looked at his friends. "Now what?"

"You have to reach out to the door and receive the door's permission to enter." Seraphina responded. "Then it will open for you."

"Okay, here it goes," Drake replied.

He closed his eyes and reached out to the door with his mind. Once his mind met the door, he felt a magical seal on it- an exquisite ancient form of magic that the world had long since forgotten. A beautiful form of forbidden magic, which he yearned to be in the presence of. He spoke the inscription of the door's seal in the angelic tongues, and the door responded to his mind. Great fatigue plagued the door; centuries had passed since anything had interacted with it. It wanted to open for him, but it simply did not have the energy.

Drawing deep from his spirit, Drake opened a well of energy from his direct angelic tether to heaven, and fed the door energy from the divine kingdom. He also augmented this energy with his own astral energy, fed from the vibrations of the surrounding plane. The magical seal drank in the energy gratefully, and Drake opened his eyes to see the door swinging inward into the depths of the tower.

And mate with power's heart...