Void Where Prohibited

A chill breeze whispered through the trees, bearing the stench of rotten corpses and death. Pale light flickered between the twisted branches as the moon rose eerily beyond the mists that clung to the swamp as damp cloth to skin. The totality of dusk smothered the land in silence, oppressing all who dared to enter it. It was beautiful.
My tattered robe flapped uselessly in the wind as the cold cut me straight to the bone. A thousand shards of ice seemed to pierce my flesh and reach for my bloodstream. The pain was severe, yet glorious. I was exhausted beyond reason from my journey here, yet the pain kept me awake and alert. My destination was close at hand.
..
A whisper of movement called through the shadows to my sharp and pointed ears, a disturbance in the air that sounded against the contrary wind. I froze, watching carefully for the unknown danger. Again it came, the deadly soft click of unsheathed claws, or of teeth, or of.. pincers.
The freezing wind gusted anew, stirring the dying grass and the dead trees around me. My eyes suddenly caught onto something, a tree that swayed not in the wind, but that was creeping toward me. Not a tree, but a leg. Not a leg, but several of them. Eight to be exact.
But the number of the long spindly legs was not what concerned me for the moment. I watched, entranced, as the large, ominous body loomed over me, several times my own size. A glimmer of moonlight reflected off a pair of long, lethal fangs.
This was no time to admire those very shiny fangs, fangs that would shortly be entering my own body and injecting a crippling venom. The enormous arachnid had crept to within a dozen yards, easily within the distance of a single pounce.
I did not want to draw attention to myself. Where one demon lurked there was another, as the saying goes. I was alone, and my enemy surely had extended family nearby. I took no chances.
My lips formed words and my tongue waggled as I whispered the demonic incantation, though the whispered sounds were lost to the wind. I twisted my fingers together in the sign of power, gesturing and directing the force. In the instant before the beast struck, my spell was complete.
An invisible bolt soared through the air straight at the beast. It penetrated its flesh, finding its tiny brain. Immediately I twisted my hands, gripping the will of the spider with my own. It was all too easy.
A thousand tortures I inflicted upon the mind of my prey, pain of the sort it had never felt before. With an arachnid shriek it tore off into the woods, traveling as swiftly as a three-hundred pound spider can. The immediate effects of the power would last several more minutes, though the spider was unlikely to want to return any time soon. Regardless, I decided to move on as quickly as I could.
..
Shadows loomed within shadows as the moon steadily climbed higher in the night sky behind me. With its dim light I could just make out the crumbling spires of the ruins ahead. I had arrived.
The trees were sparser here, the mist thicker. I stepped cautiously out from the cover of the dark dirt path and onto the cobblestone walkway that led to the ruins. All was quiet, save for the constant screams of the wind.
As I crept toward the old village, I stared around in awe. Though decayed and crumbled by the centuries, the grand spires and arches spoke of a majesty I could scarcely imagine. Actually, the buildings themselves were quite dull and depressing, not nearly as impressive as the beauties of Silvermoon. I marveled not at the architecture but at the tremendous force that had destroyed it. What powers had this destroyer commanded? What energies had been unleashed here? Visions of power filled me, and I craved it. Oh, how I craved it.
But I did not come here for sightseeing. I came for power. When magic is used, it leaves traces, whispers of remembered power. When large quantities of power are used in one place, the leavings are much more.. interesting.
The closer I stepped toward the center of the ruins, the stronger I could feel it. Subtle vibrations permeated the air. A pulse, a throbbing wave of energy shook me from my toes to my pointed ears. I could feel the power almost enough to taste it. Yes, the power was still here.
..
My thoughts were interrupted by a wailing scream. I ducked to the side just in time to see a shadowy figure with a shadowy sword pass through the space I had just occupied.
I studied my attacker for a moment as he recovered from his missed lunge. He moved with the grace of one released from the cares of the world and of the physical realm. His translucent body gave him away for what he was: a ghost. A trapped and tormented soul who was bound to this location even beyond the life of his physical body.
Usually ghosts are quite friendly people, when they’re not trying to chop off your head or steal your soul or whatever the case may be. Generally there is some final task they must complete, some noble quest to return that which was stolen or lost. This ghost also likely had a story of his own. Not that I cared. He might have injured one of my ears.
With a snarl I snatched my dagger from my belt. The ghost paused, confused, and raised his sword to block, thinking that I meant to strike.
I slashed down viciously with the curved blade, slicing into the flesh of my own arm. I cried aloud, feeling the cool surface of the metal and the warm flow of the blood that now gushed from the wound. I reveled in the pain, for the pain brought me power. My vision swam, the ghost swayed before me as I staggered.
Then suddenly I stood upright. My head cleared, the blessed pain bringing immediate clarity. Power surged within me, I reached down inside for the magic, and pushed.
Fel flames erupted from my fingertips, engulfing the ghost completely. I stepped back in astonishment, the sudden blinding light and the force of the explosion had caught me by surprise. The latent power must already be affecting me.
The ghost screamed in terror. Though he could not feel the pain as acutely as a living being would, the demon flames burned deep into his soul. Pain, glorious pain.
Hearing the howls of pain brought me to a new level of ecstasy. My arm was throbbing now, the blood still flowing freely over my ruined robes. My sight was again starting to blur.
More screams in the distances reached my ears. Other denizens of the dark had heard and had seen the commotion here. Trouble was coming.
Several other ghosts appeared, running toward me and their burning companion with cries of rage. I laughed manically, as I often love to do, and attacked.
Still feeling the excess power coursing through me, I felt invincible. I launched several more fire spells, surrounding myself with a wall of flame. Fire fed flame and the ghosts were caught in its destructive path.
Then I began to draw upon their essences, streaming power from my fingertips and into their souls. Their screams redoubled, murder to my sensitive ears, but I did not relent. As the energy of their souls withered and waned, I felt them drain through my power and watched as my flesh regrew itself and the blood ceased to flow. My vision cleared again as the ghosts burned away to nothingness, their screams still ringing across the once-again-deserted village.
..
I ran to the nearest and largest crumbled tower and hurtled up the spiral staircase inside. I did not know exactly what I was looking for, but I knew I would find it. As I emerged on the catwalks above I felt my pocket begin to glow warmly. I dashed along the rooftops, running from building to building. And there it was.
On the flat roof of a shorter building on the far side of the ruins was a symbol of power. One of the greater symbols, engraved into the rooftop centuries ago by a powerful sorcerer. The deep-cut lines formed channels filled with blood, in the shape of a ritual summoning circle. My pocket began to burn.
I reached my hand inside and withdrew the felstone I had acquired earlier. The stone was burning intensely, yet my hand felt frozen as I held it. I placed the stone carefully in the center of the circle, then knelt on the outside of it.
My eyes became attuned to the latent energies and I saw faint loops of purple energy circling around me. They seemed to twist and turn but all seemed to be connected at the center, at the stone. I reached mentally toward it, and pulled.
The earth seemed to shake around me as the forces collided and repulsed each other. Slowly, very slowly, the lines separated from each other and inside the tangled mass was an opening to.. nothing. I kept pulling. The stone glowed red, then flashed a brilliant purple for a moment before turning darker than midnight. The opening expanded suddenly to the size of a portal, large enough for me to step into. I dared not.
I reached then, calling mentally through the gateway into the twisting nether beyond it. I called, and there was an answer.
Through the darkness and the void I saw a pair of dark glowing eyes. I yelled aloud:
“Come to me, Hathphog!”