"So, that's it," the Headmaster wheezed. He looked like he was about to fall over. "You really don't use mana, do you?"
"Not particularly," I admitted. "I used to when I was a student. And now and then I try to master a few new spells. Just to keep my hand in, you know. But after mastering Heigel's Compendium of The Apocalypse, there's not really any reason to do so other than professional curiosity."
Enid paled. "You can cast Apocalypse?"
"Yes," I said. "It's not particularly hard. It just requires a nimble tongue and a flexible jaw. Which void magic will teach you fairly quick."
The Headmaster tugged a small purple book from somewhere.
Most likely a spatial bag.
I was bit surprised he had one. They were quite rare. So rare that I'd been forced to make my own.
As I caught a glimpse of purple light flashing on a ring at his finger, I realised he didn't have a spatial bag. He had a spatial ring.
The flash was due to void magic leaking when bringing items out. Something that couldn't happen if it was made by someone who knew what they were doing. The only thing I could think of was it was a cheap version made by a bumbling apprentice, or…
He'd made it himself.
Frowning, I realised that the old man had some tricks after all.
"Now it makes sense," he muttered, flicking pages and stabbing a finger down. "I suspected, but I had to be sure. I assumed you needed to channel mana into the spell to contain the madness of the void. I thought it would form a shell around the void energy."
I smiled sadly at him and shook my head. "There's no way to avoid the madness."
"That's why my portals collapse," he said. "Because I poured mana into the framework of the spell."
"Interesting idea," I conceded. "Although I don't think the Old Twit likes the taste of too much mana. He finds it too spicy."
"Spicy?"
"He's a picky eater."
"I just have to accept that the void is another form of mana," he said, his eyes widening. "Once I do that, it all seems too easy! Why didn't I think of it before?"
"Because it's stupid?" I scratched at my chin. "The void isn't mana at all. Honestly, what nonsense are you reading? It's not Powell's Void Spellcrafting, is it? Please don't say it is."
The Headmaster's sour expression was all I needed.
Rolling my eyes, I let out a long patient sigh.
"Your opinion means nothing," he scowled, not looking at all embarrassed even though he should. "You didn't even finish your first year here! Besides, Powell was right about a lot of things. I've even managed to create a void ring!"
"It's leaking," I said. "Which means one day it'll explode and take your arm with it."
"It will not!"
"The purple flash is because you used a mana matrix to contain the void space instead of layering the space beneath the physical realm like you ought to have," I told him. "What you've done is create a bottleneck which causes the pressure of the void to increase over time. What you're seeing are ruptures in your mana matrix. That's why it didn't flash the first few times you used it."
"Nonsense," he rasped, but his eyes slid warily down to the ring on his hand.
I shrugged. "It's your arm."
He reared like a snake and hissed like one, too. His long robes swirled as he glared at me. His large bushy eyebrows almost fused together as he frowned.
Maybe that sort of thing worked on his students, but I simply stared back at him as he pointed imperiously at me.
"Re Nta'Ha Lert!"
I blinked.
It wasn't a bad try for a first time.
"I think you mean Re'n T'aha Lut," I said. "Try again, but this time really grind your jaw and try to keep your tongue from curling too much."
"Ren Tah Hal Rut !"
I shuddered. "That's even worse."
"Rennet A'ha Lurt!"
"It's really not that hard," I said, shaking my head at him. "Re'n T'aha Lut."
"Henry," Enid took a step towards him. "Stop this. Can't you see you're only alive because he's amused by you? Think about that, won't you? Look around. Everyone is gone, Henry. It's just you now. You're all alone, and you can't win. Just give him what he wants. Is that so bad?"
"Shut up, damn you!" He screamed, stamping his foot. "You think you're better than me, don't you? Just because you won a duel!"
"I won twenty-three, Henry," she snorted. "And those were just against you. I was our year's Duelling Champion. I'm sure you haven't forgotten that."
"See?" He sneered at her. "You even counted my losses!"
"You were always the one who challenged me, Henry. Not the other way around." She gave him a firm look. "I never wanted to bully weaker mages."
"I am not weak!" He raised both arms in frustration, waving them crazily. "And I'll show you! Re'n T'aha Lut!"
There was a tearing sound.
And long hollow scream from far away as though some ancient being was being dragged from its deathless slumber. Whispers tittered from the portal which warped space in front of us.
Cold whispers.
Whispers which promised to flay skin, shred flesh, and gnaw on bone.
Footsteps dragged slowly as our doom slithered close.
Enid tumbled backwards, horror in her eyes as she threw herself behind me. "Henry! What did you do?"
"Do?" The Headmaster began to cackle. Which I thought was a little annoying. Cackling was my thing. "Why, I've only just begun! For years I've suffered the humiliation of defeat after defeat! I've endured the mocking of the Council who knew one day I would be killed by Taran! They knew it, which is why they gave me the role. I was expendable, they thought. But I studied, Enid. I studied the secrets of the void! And now? Now I've mastered them! I will walk where few dare to tread! Behold! It comes! It comes for you!"
As his words rose to a feverish pitch of sheer bloodcurdling excitement, the long dragging footsteps grew louder and louder until two giant clawed hands seized the lips of the portal and forced it wider.
Wider.
And then, with a ferocious roar, it pushed its way out of the void and into the physical realm. Fangs like jagged splinters of white glass gleamed within the cavernous maw as thick viscous drool hung in slack trails from its jaws.
Its claws were stained with putrid venom which would kill a man in seconds.
Black tentacles squirmed out of its back, flicking this way and that like a dozen cat tails. Its body was covered by layers of white fur and dense hair. There was nothing to compare it to.
Just looking at it would make your mind recoil in terror.
"Do something!" Enid shrieked at me.
The creature crawled from the abyss, huffing at the air as though disgusted by it.
Slowly, it lifted itself. Its hunched form still more than twice my height.
The stench of it was thick and sour. Like old death and sickness.
It didn't belong here.
It didn't belong anywhere.
It turned to gaze at the Headmaster, who cackled madly with delight. He pointed to us, his mouth foaming as he howled; "Kill them! I command you! Kill them both! Tear them apart! I want to hear them scream!"
The beast's massive head turned to me.
The alien glow in its eyes flared.
Then, with more agility than it looked like it could master, it pounced. Its jaws wide as it lunged, ready to devour me whole.
There was no time to cast anything. No time to move.
The beast was too fast!
Enid screamed, a scream of mind-wrenching horror. The kind of scream which someone screams when faced with a true creature of the void.
I closed my eyes to the inevitable attack of tooth and claw.