ONE
“You want us to go where?” I asked, barely understanding what Dex was saying. “The where?”
We were in one of the main conference rooms in the School of Battlemagic. Around the table sat Dex, the Morrigan, and Quan who sat opposite me. At my feet rested my hellhound, dozing lazily as we discussed the insanity of this mission.
Only Quan and I were going on this recon mission, because we were the only ones equipped to enter the space Dex was describing as the nightmare to end all nightmares.
“The Shades,” Dex repeated. “No living being can enter that space. It doesn’t matter how powerful. They step inside, they stop living. Which means…”
“I’m not dead, Dex,” I pointed out. “Quan is a mage and a medic, not an immortal, and I’m cursed alive.”
“I’m aware, lad,” Dex answered with a growl. “Mo can equip Quan to enter for a limited time, but you will have to do the heavy lifting here.”
“How am I supposed to enter this Shades area?” I asked, incredulous. “Then once I’m inside this place that can’t be found, I’m supposed to locate an undead necromancer?”
“Aye, that’s the gist of it,” Dex said with a nod. “What is the difficulty?”
“Oh, I don’t know, the whole ‘no living being can enter this space’ aspect of this mission?” I snapped. “How are we supposed to pull that off?”
“I told you, lad,” Dex replied calmly. “Mo will equip you to get you inside. Once inside, you will need to move fast, you won’t have long.”
“This is insane,” I said. “Tell me again why you’re a bad idea for this?”
“Energy signatures,” Dex said. “Mine is too vibrant, I would never be able to align to the Shades, but you two, you could, with Mo’s help. It’s not complicated.”
“You call this uncomplicated?” I asked. “This is virtually a death sentence of a mission.”
“No,” Dex said, his voice hard. “I would not send you willingly to your deaths, but remember who and what is at stake here. We need to bring Tristan back. If he falls to the corrupted White Heart, the Shades will seem like that beach and hammock you so fondly wish for.”
“I didn’t forget, I could never forget,” I said, my voice matching Dex’s. “I’m just not seeing how this will work. In order for this to truly have a chance, I would have to…die.”
“It’s fortunate that you have a special condition, then,” Dex said, his voice grim. “You don’t stay dead.”
The realization hit me like a truck.
“You’re insane.”
“I never claimed to be otherwise, lad,” he answered. “What will it be?”
There was never any doubt as to my response.
I had no idea if Dex’s plan would work, but there was only one way to find out.
“I’m in.”
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Absolution
Orlando A. Sanchez
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