Aerta could see all things in the battle, in as far as the astral plane gave her "eyes" to do so. Only the most skilled of archmages could detect her presence, although she could see all, including...
"Dragons! Oh gods, they're holding them in reserve. Minbenthac could crack like a nut if they attack. I've got to warn Adykon!" thought the sorceress. By thinking in such explicit terms, Aerta made a terrible mistake, for the Astral Plane was not a private network. Her spirit appeared as a white form on a white background, punctuated only by the faint dots of magical energy visible on the material plane, where the battle was taking place.
Another was on the plane as well, watching the battle with great interest, but his spirit was not so clean. Normally, he remained hidden while in this realm of existence, but for now, he decided to drop the disguise. Out of nowhere, unseen even by the archmage Aerta came a black ooze, pouring out of a "hole" in the plane. With no sound, odor, or any other physical signs, she didn't see it. By the time it had shaped itself into something else and solidified, it was too late.
Sensing another presence with her, Aerta spun around to find
"Dememoras!"
"Hello, my dear. I trust you are enjoying the show?" This form of his was not much larger than a big Dracon male, but it was a good deal larger than her. The pitch-black, seven horned creature with a long spiked tail had manifested in a "scaled down" form his appearance here, in as far as anyone could travel to this non-physical plane. This was his Avatar here, his unreal appearance on a network that spanned all the planes and realities. Aerta's blank white form was her's, although one could tell she was female due to the general shape of the body it took on.
Dememoras sounded softer, calmer, almost seductive. A far cry from the roaring volcano that his voice resembled in his own plane or the material one.
"Have you come to mock me, Demon?" Aerta spat.
"Oh no, I'm here for the same reason as you are, to witness the first day of my glorious empire. Look well, female, for it is history in the making. A grandeur beyond your meager comprehension, the most important day in the history of-"
"Shut up! Just shut it! I can't let you distract me!" Aerta moved away, flying through the plane, heading towards the energy signature she knew was Adykon's. As with many females of her kind, the archmage was graceful, and cut through the plane's fabric like a skilled diver would pass through the water. Unfortunately, she failed to realize the true nature of her foe.
"Going somewhere?!"
"How did? I just- just left you behind me!"
"So you did. And I followed."
"How'd you get in front of-"
"In front of you? Silly female, there are some things about me you will never understand, such as how I can move along all the lines of this plane like moving from a vanishing point to anywhere else in the plane at will."
"What are you? Vanishing? What are you talking ab-"
"Enough chat. Time to get down to business." With that, several tentacles emerged from his chest, each with a sharpened tip. "You know that I can absorb energy, Aerta."
"No..."
"And that the purer the energy, the more of it I can use."
"No!"
"And there is no energy in the whole cosmos as pure, or as sweet as that of a SOUL!"
"NOO!!!"
"Your soul is sweet, very sweet. It brims with the force of magic, the power of the arcane, the very essence of life itself! Come to me!!!."
"NOOOOO!!!!!!!"
Scrambling to literally save her soul, Aerta cut the connection to the Astral plane, and suddenly awoke in her room, gasping and sweating. Lying on her back on the heavily carpeted floor, she was hardly able to keep calm. Her part of her body was twitching, from her head to tail to toes. Still shaking, the archmage calmly stood up, only to feel a queasy feeling. Falling down again, she could no longer suppress the urge to vomit.
"Huuuurrgggh!"
It was a physical reaction to her mental state. Dememoras nearly absorbed her soul into his being. Aerta was within a hairsbreadth of being lost in his darkness. Way too distraught to continue working her magic at the moment, she could only lie down on the rug, curled up into a ball, shivering in the darkness as the enemy outside continued to pound on her palace's defenses.
