Ryson actually turned from the rift and moved toward the cave entrance. He almost rushed inside to retrieve the blade, but he stopped. The sword was not the answer. He knew it. He didn't know how, but he did. He had relied heavily on the enchanted weapon in the past, and in some cases, relied on it more than he relied on himself. If Lief was right, then Ryson had to believe in something, something more than an enchanted blade.
The delver still didn't know the answer, but he knew the sword held only false hope. He turned back to the shadow rift. He needed to pass through it. He had to get to the other side. It was not just a leap of faith. There was something else, something he was missing.
He had to believe in being a delver, believe in himself. He then thought of something Enin had told him before. With that thought sparking hope, he prepared to step into the portal.
#
"He's at the shadow rift you created. Even at this moment, he looks into the nothingness." Baannat paused, but then revealed the truth as a way to cause even more misery. "He hesitates. He is unsure!"
Baannat raced back to the light of Linda's presence.
"Your delver made it all the way here, but now he's not sure if he wants to join you. Does that make you happy? Maybe he'll stay out. You won't have to watch him suffer. That's good. Right? Or is it? Maybe he's worried more about himself than you. How does that make you feel?"
Linda could not ignore the ghoul. She could not block out his words, but she discarded their meaning. She tried to force her own thoughts out from the emptiness. If Enin could speak, so could she.
She tried to call out to Ryson, to tell him to turn away. As much as she wanted to be with him, she loved him too much to see him tormented. It was more pain then she could handle. It was better for her if he never entered. She believed that with all her being, until Baannat pressed the matter and doubts clouded her thoughts.
"I would have bet he would have jumped right through. There's nothing in his way. You know that's true without even looking. I want him here. I made sure the path was clear. And yet, he doesn't want to take that last step. He's actually considering abandoning you."
Would he abandon her?
"No, he wouldn't!" Linda thought to herself. She couldn't speak the words, had not yet found a voice in the surrounding emptiness, but she understood the truth. The emptiness could not bar that from her. She knew that Ryson had always put others first, including her.
Either Baannat was lying or Ryson had a reason for not entering. Maybe as a delver he could sense something and that was holding him back. Maybe he could hear her even though she couldn't speak. She focused even harder on trying to warn him to stay away, to find another way to help them. She fought through all the fear and torment to send one clear warning for him turn back.
#
Ryson did not sense any message from Linda. He only believed he could save her, and with that, he leapt into the shadow rift.
In the physical plane of the dark realm, Ryson's body simply passed through the break as if it fell through the beam of a gray beacon. His figure crumpled below the portal, but somehow it looked different than the other two bodies that it now rested near.
Enin and Linda appeared as they always did. Their expressions remained blank and lifeless, but their bodies looked normal in every other way. The delver's mortal shell, however, appeared somewhat out of focus, not quite there, as if the finer definition had somehow been brushed away. It was almost as if a light fog had fallen all about him and blurred his body to anyone who looked upon it.
Within Baannat's shadowed dimension of nonexistence, Ryson found himself standing in bizarre surroundings. The world about him was gray and empty. There was no air to breath, no horizon to see, no sky above and no ground to stand upon. Still, he was actually standing for he maintained a remnant of his form. He could also move, for just like Baannat, he had arms and legs… a body that was not complete, but substance nonetheless. Even in partial structure, he held to enough physical attributes to maintain his form.
He immediately sensed three other forms in the nothingness. Baannat was clear to him, but there were two other lights. He knew one was Enin and one was Linda, but initially he could not tell which was which. As he peered deeper into the formless entities, he felt a deep connection with one. He knew immediately that it was Linda.
"Are you alright?"
Linda couldn't speak. She had not yet developed any control over her spiritual essence. She was lost in a lifeless world. Despite her limitations, she threw her complete attention upon the delver. As improbable as it seemed, she could make out Ryson's figure. He was more than a simple beacon of light. He appeared like an angel to her, a silhouette of hope.
While Linda could not respond, Baannat chose to remain silent. The delver's appearance clearly concerned the ghoul, and Baannat considered the implications with a miserable scowl.
It was Enin that replied first.
"Ryson, you're here?"
The delver looked upon the other glowing entity.
"Apparently so."
"But how? How were you able to bring part of your physical existence into this plane?"
"I'm not sure, but I have a theory."
Baannat finally stirred from his silence. His confidence returned as he realized that despite the delver's trickery, the realm was his. He was the master and he would rule with savagery.
"So the delver has a trick up his sleeve? Do you think that can save you?"
The delver turned upon the slink ghoul. At first he did so with fury in his heart. He wanted to tear Baannat limb from limb, but he stifled the desire. Instead, he forcefully made his demands, demands he expected to be followed.
"You're going to let them both out of here now. You're going to send them back to their bodies and allow them to walk out of the dark realm."
"I am?"
"Yes, you are because if you don't I'll do everything in my power to destroy you."
"You tried that once before, you even cut me in half. Didn't quite work out as you hoped."
"No, it didn't, but it's different now and you know it. You ordered the caelifera to bring Linda here. She didn't choose to come here."
"So?"
"So that makes you responsible."
"I'm responsible for a great many things. Let me show you."
The slink ghoul raised his hand with his claws extended towards Linda. He went to slash at her soul, but his arm was stopped in mid swing… against his will.
Ryson moved at incredible speed. The silhouette of his own hand speared through the gray emptiness and grabbed Baannat's wrist. Both the delver and the ghoul were only shadows of their former physical beings, but both held enough substance to actually make contact in the otherwise empty plane.
Ryson glared into the ghostly face of the slink ghoul.
"You will not touch her, not ever again!"
Linda rejoiced. She knew there would be no more pain. She did not know how, but Ryson had the ability to fight the ghoul and he would not let Baannat hurt her again. Relief poured over her soul. She had not yet escaped the emptiness, but removing the pain was like walking into heaven.
Enin also celebrated the turn of events, and he pointed out a few simple truths.
"He can hold you, ghoul. That means he can attack you as well. For some reason, he retains enough physical presence here to offset your contrived state of existence. He is also a delver. You saw his speed. You can't match him."
"But he is only a delver," Baannat snarled. "And I am far more!"
The slink ghoul yanked his wrist out of Ryson's hold. He then threw his hands outward and called on the magic he retained. No circle of white power formed anywhere about him, but the energy flowed out of him like a bolt of lightning.