Chapter 9: Pit

    For the hundredth time in the last two days, Deklos asked himself what had possessed him to take this journey.  Classes had finished up at the university, and classes were not scheduled to begin again for another month or two, allowing the students to get some hands-on experience in their chosen field.  Since finding that journal, Deklos had found a new direction in his research.  For the rest of the semester, he had worked on teleportation theory so that he could attempt to find Relos' Manuscript (as he now called it) by using the teleportation spell.

    Over the course of his research, he used the two siguls that were copied into Relos' Journal to refine the Three-Symbol teleportation technique.  Through experimentation, he had determined that two of the symbols (or siguls as Relos had called them), were map-coordinates.  The third, however, was a bit tricky.  It seemed to be a height coordinate.  Examining the two siguls that he already had, he could tell that Relos had teleported himself somewhere above the dark lands.  Unfortunately, without the third sigul, there was no way he could get to the place the manuscript was stored.  It was then that Deklos decided to find "those caves" where the third sigul was found, and perhaps find another clue.

    A quick review of the story of Relos the Fugitive had revealed the truth that Deklos did not want to face:  just before Relos disappeared from history, he had been followed by the police to the Edge, where he was found emerging from the caves to Pit.  This minor tidbit told Deklos exactly what "those caves" were, but he didn't like it at all.  The Edge was one of the walls of the Dark Lands.  It had a small system of caves that led to another decently sized subterranean valley, called Pit.  The land known as Pit was avoided by all citizens of the Dark Lands for a very good reason: it was the land of the vampires, who everyone knew despised the humans and desired to destroy human civilization.

    In the end, Deklos decided that going to the vampire lands was a risk he was willing to take.  It was considered treason to stay there for a considerable length of time, but the Magi were known to have visited there on occasion for reconnaissance and research of the vampires.  If he made sure he only stayed there for a day or two, he would probably be alright.  He was also powerful enough to protect himself from the vampires, so heading to Pit in search of the sigul was a risk worth the potential reward.

    At least that was how he had rationalized it at the time.  The day he packed the journal, the siguls and some basic supplies for a journey to Pit, he questioned his actions and motives almost every minute.  As he left town on his journey, he continued to wonder if he was doing the right thing.  In the end, though, the promise of the ultimate spell drew him steadily toward the Edge.  Now, here he was, on the road to the Edge with the journal and two of the siguls in his backpack, and he still didn't know if this was the best course of action to take.

    Looking up, Deklos realized that he had finally reached the Edge.  Before him was a rock wall of monstrous proportions.  At the foot of the wall, he could see a small cave, with two guards standing in front of the entrance.  He continued along the path to the place where the guards were, but somehow the situation seemed wrong.  He had been to the Edge before, but the guards were almost nothing more than a token presence at the time.  Now, however, the guards seemed to be fully armed, and for a moment it looked like the weapons they carried doubled as artifacts.  He was thinking about these things when the guards finally spoke up.

    "What are you doing here, citizen?"  One of the guards asked.

    At first, Deklos took offense at being referred to as 'citizen,' but then he realized that he was not wearing anything that would mark him as either a professor or an archwizard.  It occurred to him that anyone but archwizards, magi, and academics would have no business journeying into the caves.  Thinking that this was the problem, Deklos spoke up.

    "I'm a professor at the university, and I've come here because I want to study Pit."

    "Pit?  You can't go there.  It's off limits!"  The guard shouted in reply.

    "But..."

    "I don't blame you for not knowing.  We just got here a month ago, following a direct order from the Archmagus to secure the cave to Pit."

    "Ah...very well.  I'll take up my case with him," Deklos said before turning around and walking away.

    'I don't care if the Archmagus himself has declared the caves off limits, I'm going,' Deklos thought to himself, 'It's never been off limits to professors before, so the Archmagus is exceeding his rightful power in this case.  I'm going.'

    After he was a sufficient distance away, Deklos ducked behind a fairly large rock formation, hiding his actions from the guards.  Then, he prepared a series of stealth spells that he had perfected years before, back when he lived in the bad part of town.  The first one was a sort of invisible spell, it hid his form by subtly altering the light around him.  The second one manipulated the air, nullifying any sound that he made.  With these spells in effect, Deklos pick up his backpack and headed back to where the guards were.  As he approached the place where the guards had called out to him before, Deklos watched the reactions of the guards intently.  As far as he could tell, they could not sense him at all.  His confidence in his stealth solidified, Deklos walked between the guards, and into the cave to Pit.

    The cave seemed oddly familiar to him.  He had never been to Pit before, but he was getting a strange sense of deja vu as he walked down the tunnel toward the land of the vampires.  As he continued down the tunnel, it became darker since he was getting further away from the guards and their lamps.  He decided that now was as good a time as any to light his way.  He cast the spell of illumination carefully, making sure that he did not create a light source that hovered by him, but rather one that projected from his hand.  It was a much tricker variant of the spell to cast,  but it was ideal for situations where a light could give away his presence.

    As he finished the spell, he held his left hand in front of him, palm facing outward, to see if his enchantment had worked.  To his relief, a pale white light was projecting from the palm of his hand, illumination the passage before him.  With this task done -- and his position still a secret from the guards -- Deklos continued down the passage toward the land of the vampires.

* * *

    After about an hour of walking down the tunnel, Deklos noticed that the walls of the cave were reflecting some of his light.  He stopped his journey for a moment, and walked over to the wall of the passage to examine it.  To his surprise, the wall was wet!  Suddenly, the feeling of deja vu returned with a vengeance.  He was certain that he had experienced this before, but he knew that had never been through these caves before.  The only possibilities left, then, were that he was mistaken in thinking that he had done this before, he had experienced something very similar somewhere else, or that he had been here in some other form of existence.  He could almost certainly rule out having experienced something similar somewhere else, because he had never explored caves before, not even as a child.  Considering that this was the second time that he felt that sense of having done this before, he thought that he could also rule out the first possibility.  That only left...

    Now that he thought about it some more, there was another likely possibility besides having experienced this trip in another form of existence.  It could be that he actually had experienced this before, but he had forgotten about it completely.  However, that was absurd.  Deklos had never visited Pit before, he was certain of this.  After a few moments of this internal debate, Deklos realized that he was getting nowhere.  He took one last look at the slick walls of the tunnel, and then continued on his journey to the land of Pit.

    Not too long after Deklos stopped to look at the wet walls of the cave, he came across the exit to the cave.  He walked outside, keeping his magical light focused on the ground.  If the vampires meant him harm, it would do no good to alert them to his presence by flashing a light around.  He looked around, and seeing that there was no one around, stopped and removed his backpack.  After a few minutes of rummaging around for something, Deklos pulled out a glove that had a medium-sized crystal embedded on the top of it.  He put this glove on, and then put out his light.  In an instant, all went dark.

    In this shadowy shroud, Deklos began to cast a pair of stealth spells.  He thought that if they were effective against the human guards, then perhaps they would be useful enough to hide him from detection by the vampires.  He cast the spell of silence first, followed by the spell of invisibility.  With his form hidden away, he concentrated on the glove, and watched as a sphere of light rose from the embedded crystal and floated beside him.  Now that this task was done, he continued on his journey.

    As Deklos walked away from the cave, he took some time to examine his surroundings.  He was on a relatively barren plain, with only a few patches of some sort of grass breaking the monotony of the flat ground.  As he walked, he saw a strangely shaped shadow being illuminated by his light source.  Curious, he began to walk toward it.  The closer he got to it,the more it looked less like a rock formation and more like a building.  Indeed, it did seem to be a building of some sort.  It was tall and thin, and seemed to be constructed out of a collection of small stones.  He was going to examine it further, but then he heard a gruff voice.  To his charagrin, it seemed to be calling out to him.

    "Stop, human.  What business do you have here in the land of the Seven Clans?"

    Deklos looked around for a bit, and seeing no one there, continued to examine the building.

    "Respond, human!"  The disembodied voice called out, "Your petty stealth spells are worthless against vampires!"

    Deklos quickly decided that it might be a good idea to not aggravate the vampire further, so he said to no one in particular, "I am an Archwizard of the Dark Lands, and I've come here to your lands in search of a particular sigul."

    "Very well, step inside the guardhouse and we'll ... talk," the voice in the darkness replied.

    Part of one of the walls swung outward, revealing an entrance into the building.  Seeing as his stealth spells weren't working, Deklos decided that it would probably be best to obey the vampire.  He took a moment to drop his stealth spells, and entered the building.  Inside, he saw a few chairs made out of wood, and a stone table sitting in the middle of the room.  On the table, Deklos saw that there was a stone platter with some sort of vegetable on it, an earthenware pitcher, and a earthenware cup.  On the far wall, he saw a ladder leading up to the next floor.  However, there was no one else in the room besides him.  Just then, the door slammed shut, leaving him completely isolated.

    "Sit down human, and lets chat," said the voice from before.  It seemed to be coming from all around him, somehow.

    By now Deklos was somewhat frightened, so he sat down, all the while trying to devise a plan to escape from this mess.  His thoughts were then interrupted by a rather strange sight.  A moment before, he had been alone in the room, but suddenly, there was another man standing in front of him.  This man was garbed in leather clothing, and wore a shirt of chain mail on top.  His skin was pale, as was the norm when you lived underground, and his hair was a dark brown.  He was clean-shaven, which was somewhat unusual for a guard.  His most distinctive feature, however, was his red eyes.  They seemed to glow in the light spell that Deklos' glove was generating.  The vampire spoke.

    "Now then, why are you here?  Studying perhaps?  Or maybe you're a spy?"

    "N..no, like I said, I'm looking for a sigul," Deklos said.

    "A sigul?" The vampiric guard asked, "What's that?"

    "I don't know what it looks like, but it's a part of a set.  The design on it should be similar to these," Deklos replied as he took the two emblems from his backpack.

    The guard picked up one of the siguls and looked at the design.  A look of surprise and recognition flashed across the vampire's face.  He put the one he was holding down and picked up the other.  Then he picked them both up and glanced from one to the other, comparing the two.  Finally, he put them both down and turned to Deklos.

    "You'll stay here until I'm finished with my shift.  Then I'll take you to see the Elder of my clan," the vampire told him with a slight smile, "I guess you should be glad I enjoy listening to the stories of my clan."

    Shaking his head, the guardsman disappeared from sight again.  Deklos stared at the sight of someone simply vanishing into thin air without casting a spell for a few minutes, but then started to find ways to entertain himself.  He hadn't brought anything with him to read or work with besides Relos' Journal and the two siguls, so while he waited he read through the journal again and thought about teleportation theory.  A few hours later, the guard reappeared.

    "Come along, human," the vampire said with a hint of contempt in his voice.

* * *

    The city of the vampires was at once marvelous and terrible.  The buildings seemed to be a part of the landscape, as though they simple carved out the rock formations of this area to build their homes.  A few buildings looked different from the rest, sporting the sharp angles used in the Dark Lands and elaborate statuary in the form of monsters and ghouls.  The streets were unpaved, though they were less streets than open areas where no one had bothered to build anything.  The layout of the city was rather chaotic, leading Deklos to believe that there was no city planning here, only the construction of new buildings where the architect thought it would best fit.  The most distinctive aspect of the city, however, was the complete lack of light.  The only way Deklos knew where to go was because he still had his glove's light enchantment in effect.

    As the guard led him through the streets, Deklos noticed people staring at him.  He presumed that it was because of the way he was dressed or due to the fact that he was human, but later came to find out that it was simply because of his personal light source.  The streets wound this way and that, and after a while Deklos stopped paying attention to where he was going and simply followed the guard.  A while later, they came to a rather large house that was surrounded by clusters of other houses.

    "This is the Elder's Mansion," the guard said as he walked up to the door to the structure, "You wait out here and I'll come back for you in a little while."

    So Deklos sat outside and waited for the guardsman to return.  While he waited, he watched the flow of vampires as they went about their daily lives.  A few of them walked down the larger streets that Deklos had arrived here over, but most seemed to favor the smaller streets and back alleys.  The other odd thing he noticed was that while the city was for the most part tended to have the buildings spread out, here by the Mansion the buildings seemed so close that it was sometimes difficult to tell where one dwelling ended and the next began.  He was thinking about these things when the door opened again and the guardsman stepped out of the building.  Trailing behind him was an elderly vampire with white hair.

    "The Elder will see you now," the guardsman told Deklos before wandering off into the unlit streets.

    The older vampire turned to Deklos and said, "I am Nostrak, Elder of the Demi-Vampire Clan.  Come in and lets have a little talk."