Excerpt: Gateway: The Book of Magic

"Wait, killed?!" Greg shouted. Naturally, the idea that someone in the world wanted you dead did not sit well with him. The fact that he had arrived here barely an hour ago did not help matters any. "If that's what happened to THEM, and they KNEW this place... I... I just got here and already someone was after me! You saw them!"

"I understand your fear." she said, walking forwards once more. "However, now you are here, and so the choice is yours. I suspect the powers that brought you here will not let you return to your home until you and the others complete the task now before you."

A hurricane of emotions howled within Greg. He was terrified of this strange place. He was angry that he had been ripped out from his own world, the one he had known for 17 years and stuck into this one without a word. He was confused and wondered when he was going to wake up, IF he was going to wake up; his dreams were never this detailed, long or quite as coherent as this. His dreams also weren't in the habit of trying to kill him, much less have somebody else rescue him. It was like the dream he used to have when he was small, where he would be falling through blackness, no end in sight; the ones that would eventually end in a bump and the relief of finding himself on the floor beside his bed. Greg felt that this time, he might never reach that floor beside the bed.

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Three days went by, filled with planning, coordination and consulting between the various shrines involved. Greg snuck away every once in a while into the Library, found something that suited his interest at the time, and read. He looked at maps of Noctivagus. He learned of the world of Aurgrus, the Seventh servant. He read books from the early days of the Agastornin Crystal, where scholars had described the techniques of polyelemental spells. He completely forgot about the small stone in his pants pocket, the apparent Shard of Trellim, Ebb.
One particular night, he had a dream.
He was in a dark place. There was a long tunnel between him and a strange light that was neither bright nor dark. He recognised this place.
"Darkness, be gone."
The shadows that clun to the walls roof annd floor of the cavern fled. He saw the shifting earth ahead, and calmed it. He dispelled the blazing wall of fire, passed unscathed trhough a raging torrent of water. He quelled the vast whirlwind of the air and lifted the illusion of the Light. He was in the Crystal Chamber, its strained and irregular surface blazing with inner power.
He was not alone.
Eyes opened on the far wall, and Greg coould see the greed, the lust for power and the hunger for control. Slowly, the outline of a person appeared, but Greg could not tell who it was. They stepped foreward. A chime sounded.
It was a familiar chime, but he could not tell what it was. It tugged at his memory, driving him mad with the sound playing over and over within his ears. The eyes reached the crystal, and they were joined with a smile. It was not a friendly smile. It was filled with malice and ill will. A hand appeared, and rested upon the Crystal.
They both vanished.
Something within him stirred. Augrus stepped out from within his mind. He looked older, somehow. Weaker. He turned to face Greg, his eyes sunken, his hair gray with age, skin wrinkled and thin from time.
"Gregory...." he said hoarsely. A choking noise emanated from his throat, and his body became like a skeleton. His eyes rolled back in his head, and his body began fallinng apart at the joints. By the time they hit the ground, there was no flesh, no skin on them. They struck the stone floor,, now barren of moss, warmth, and light and shattered into dust with explosive force. The dust billowed into the air, and was gone. The cavern fell away into the darkness, and vanished.
Greg was alone.
He had failed.