Sophia - Throne Room

The directions were simple, but they didn't prepare her for what she saw when she pulled open the door. The far wall was seventy feet away. To her left the massive hall extended another fifty feet, to the right it extended almost two hundred feet to a raised dais, supporting a large throne, crafted from enormous bones, and illuminated by a single shaft of light from above. Raising her eyes she saw a spiral galaxy swirling high overhead, where the ceiling should have been. The walls were black obsidian with veins of golden light shimmering from them. Tall, graceful columns of the same material reached to where the ceiling should have been. The floor was pink granite with etched black runes swirling and eddying about.

Her footsteps echoed in the cavernous hall as she started walking, then running, toward the throne. Caution tried to pull her to a stop, but the need to be in the throne won out. Warmth and comfort enfolded her as she settled onto the cushion resting in the hollow of bone forming the seat. Images crashed into her head, faster and faster, twisting and roiling like an angry sea. For long moments she tried to cling to them, make sense of the currents. As they overwhelmed her she fought against them, pushing and twisting, trying to claw free of the pounding intensity of them. Blackness closed in around the edges of her vision and Tyana's voice whispered softly, "Let go. Let it happen. Become one with us and find peace." She fought to relax, to give in to the sucking blackness, but her mind fought to hang on.

One scene flashed by, clear and complete. The view was from the throne, looking down on a blonde haired, boyish looking man. His face was pouty and spoiled looking, wearing a pleasant but almost gloating smile. He was dressed in rich, gaudy black clothes trimmed with orange. Four men in black armor with orange trim flanked him. "Mistress of the Hut, I would ask you to grant me the knowledge of the shifting magic you use to move this hut. In return I shall grant you several Ancient Magic items I have in my possession."

A name flashed into her mind, Aztol, followed by various incidents of horrific deeds perpetrated by him. After a pause she spoke, "Upstart, what makes you think I would wish your tech? You seek knowledge beyond your wisdom, power beyond your ability. I shall not grant you anything. Take your rag-tag bunch of misfits and leave. Seek not to bother me again, for that day shall be your last."

His composed face twisted into a mask of rage. "You think you are so powerful. I will crush you like the insignificant fool you are. Soon the very demons of hell will tremble before me. You will beg me for mercy but it will be too late." His wild violet eyes stared into Sophia's calm ones as he spit and twitched with rage. "Doom shall fall upon you and I shall be its instrument." He turned and stalked from the room as the image faded and Sophia slid into unconsciousness.