Amorak's Secret

Amorak was pulling two long bits of wood he was able to salvage from the remains of his shack. Almost all the other wood was either lost or too damaged to use. He would have to go later to the forest to get more supplies. The problem was the forest was two miles away, and he didn't look forward to dragging the wood all the way back to the island.

He sighed and walked to the water's edge, prepared to dive into the salty water. One way or another, he needed that wood.

He was halfway across the lake when a shot of pain streaked through his body, arcing from the soles of his feet to the tips of his outstretched fingers as he swam. His back convulsed and he inhaled a mouthful of water. In seconds, Amorak was unconscious.

He awoke a moment later in a giant circular room dimly lit by candlelight. There were columns ringing a chamber in the center of the room, which was like a massive amphitheater. At the center of the chamber was a raised platform with a single figure strapped to a table. Around the platform, numerous hooded figures were swaying and chanting loud enough to be easily heard, but too low to make any sense of what was being said. Around the room, seemingly random marks of red, purple, and black lined the walls and columns with eerie symbols, and the symbols were pulsing with an ethereal light.

What is this? Amorak thought to himself as he edged closer to the platform. As he neared the figures, he feared they would discover him, but they seemed not to notice him. Rather, they kept their heads down underneath their hoods and chanted with single-minded vigor.

He climbed the few yet steep stairs that lead to the platform and the table. The figure was also hooded, the edge of a chin barely protruding out from the darkness within the garment. It did not move. Out of unconscious curiosity, he reached for the hood and pulled it back to reveal the face of the person underneath.

It was him.

With a yell, he thrust himself backwards, away from ... himself. His foot caught the edge of the stair, and he fell back off the platform. He jumped up with a fright, poised to fight off the hooded men if need be, for surely they were alerted to his presence now. But no, they were as devoted to their task as ever. He straightened up and looked at the figure again, certain he had hallucinated, but the unmistakable face was still there, lying on the table in a comatose state.

then he noticed something he hadn't before. From underneath the robes of the chanting figures emanated a soft fog, colored a shade of deep red. When he had first descended to the chamber, it was unnoticeable, but now it almost filled the while lower part of the room, with the platform solely standing above, and growing all the while.

It was when the fog reached the table and his other self upon it that all the forces of chaos broke loose. Lightning of every evil color imaginable filled the room, bouncing off walls and wrapping around the columns. Mysterious floating glowing orbs of light flew out from underneath the chanters' shawls. And the fog started to coalesce around the table and...boil?

The lightning struck the orbs, which grew in size and luminosity. The orbs then began to home in on the bubbling mass of fog. When one of them touched it, the fog flashed the same color of the orb it absorbed.

Just before the final orb was drawn in, a blinding flash of white light filled the room. The chanting figures were thrown back across the room, their incantation interrupted. Their hoods were forced back by the momentum, revealing their features to be rough and mildly scaled with a hint of red.

From the origin of the light came a horde of robed beings wielding rods which shined with the light that was filling the room. They rushed at the platform and blew away the fog, destroying the final orb. His other on the table convulsed and let out an unearthly scream of terror and pain. His shriek alerted the chanters, who leaped back to the platform with catlike speed and dexterity, poised on all fours. they were baring their teeth, which were pointed and uneven, giving them the appearance of deranged beasts.

What happened afterward threw Amorak's head in circles. The chanters threw themselves into the mass of lighted beings, whose light was now flickering in the room, mixing and swirling with the darkness of before; it was as if the light itse;f was warring with the darkness. Explosions rocked the floor, several columns collapsed, and all the while his other was still howling and convulsing on the table...

When Amorak regained conscoiusness, he saw the swimming images of Elsteba and Jacob hovering above him. He was lying on the beach of the lake. He coughed violently, and a lungfull of water sprayed out of his mouth.

"Are you alright?" Elsteba asked him worriedly. In response, he coughed out more water.

"We heard you shouting, and Elsteba saw you in the lake first. It took a while before we could get past your fists in order to get you to shore, " Jacob said, a little too smugly. Indeed, he had a few scratches on his face that he had apparently recieved from Amorak's flailing limbs.

Amorak pushed Elsteba off of him and got up from where he was laying on the ground. He straightened himself up and walked off, intending to get back to his task of rebuilding his shack.

"Who were the hooded figures?"

Amorak froze. It was unmistakably Jacob who spoke, but his mind was suddenly reeling. How did he know?

He turned around. Jacob was looking him straight in the eye. Elsteba was looking away shyly, which told him she also knew about his vision.

"After we pulled you to shore, Jacob's wrist thing went haywire and threw us into another holographic vision," Elsteba said hesitantly, "We...we saw the whole thing."

Amorak glared at the two of them for a moment longer, then turned on his heel and started back to his island, all desire of rebuilding his home lost. He just wanted to be alone.

"Wait," Jacob called after him, "What exactly was that whole bit about?"

"Long live the Umbering," Amorak responded with a mix of irony and sarcasm. He then swam to his island and sat on the shore, watching the sunset. He didn't once look back.