Lem Dimension
As the dimensional door closed, a small ball of light flared once, rose over five hundred kilometers away, then flew back toward the small city.
To you or I, Lem would seem like an inhospitable place. Lem had four planets—worlds of fire, molten lava, sand, glass, and darkness. It was illuminated by two suns and one moon; the moon and one sun were both black, while the second sun had a dull red core surrounded by absolute blackness. This celestial triad was the perfect combination for the dimension.
Yana knew Lem; though her conscious mind failed her, her shadow memory recalled it. Shadow knew shadow, and as shadows touched, they told each other secrets. Only powerful sentients like Ka and Yana could resist this exchange.
Lem had many underground cities, ancient structures carved into the lava rock that resembled an Egyptian necropolis. They featured dark statues with intricate designs, arches, and broad doorways leading into vast common rooms. Most were religious meccas for shadow entities.
The cities above ground were built with massive slabs of obsidian, carved and secured with shadow magic. These structures were dark, spacious, and airy, their obsidian walls covered in exquisite artistic etchings. But there was a third kind of dwelling: ships of dense, inert shadow that sailed upon the continuous lava flows of the planets as if they were water, unaffected by the heat.
Yana stood on the bow of one of the great shadow ships, moving across a massive lava flow on the planet Fis. She was looking for two things here—and her shadow memory confirmed she would find both—a memory shade and an artifact for the Sparkling Light church. She chose this location because it was dangerous, and she was in the mood for a challenge. She still did not like the fact that Starlight had not followed them from Shi and that the Spitter was still so illusive. She decided to call her to Lem tomorrow, regardless.
The shadow ship gently crested the calm waves of the lava sea. She could feel that they were near and began to ready herself. DD moved to her side, his presence a silent declaration: she would not go alone.
"Shall we go?" she merely nodded.
They both dove off the shadow ship. Shadow senses did not register pain like human senses, so swimming in the lava flow was no different than swimming in water—an easy night swim for the demon. The lava's viscosity distorted positions, so Yana couldn't blindly teleport, but her Discernment guided their swim.
They swam toward the spot indicated. A memory shade sat in the lava about a meter away, and a strange crescent moon-shaped object lay just behind it.
She called the memory to her, and it sprang to her like it had been waiting for a long time. The artifact came to her as well. She looked at it curiously. Why had it answered her so quickly?
She did not hesitate and took both. The shade memory entered her, then entered her soul. She caught the artifact in her hand. Yana paused, realizing at the last moment that Starlight was still in Shi. She calmed herself, and she and DD took a look around the deepest area of the lava flow before returning to the surface.
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Back on the ship, Yana was relieved to see Starlight. Before she could speak, the Star Guide had entered her soul. Starlight was extremely tired but had completed her mission: Yana now possessed the Spitter’s shadow. Yana threw the crescent moon artifact into Starlight’s void space with a smile.
They were staying in an underground home on Zom, Lem's third planet—a home that was actually Yana’s. She had homes in every shadow dimension of Pa, a fact her familiars remembered, even if she did not.
Yana sat on a quiet, deep shadow in her room—she preferred custom-imbued inert shadows over furniture. She sat in a Meditation Shadow, which magnified tranquility and focus. In this room, she had shadows imbued with healing, magic replenishment, and learning aspects.
She meditated on the memory shade she had found. From it, she learned new techniques for Shadow Create and Illusion. She smiled; she was getting closer.
That night she found two more artifacts and two more memory shades. The artifacts went into Starlight’s void space, and she went to meditate on the memories.
She spent four days in her shadow domain (four hours in Lem time) using her new Shadow Create techniques. She brought forth tall, broad shadows from the dunes, trained them, and ordered the hundredth into her shadow soul void—the internal space where she kept her assistants. The second the shadow stabilized:
SHADOW CREATE HAS INCREASED!
SHADOW CREATE HAS INCREASED!
SHADOW CREATE HAS INCREASED!
ILLUSION HAS INCREASED!
ILLUSION HAS INCREASED!
ILLUSION HAS INCREASED!
She called up the System:
SOUL SYSTEM
Name: Yana Pallindrone
Age: ????
Location: Shi Dimension
Soul Depth: Seer Soul
Rank: Shadow Novice
ABILITIES
Dimensional step: Adept
Shadow call: Adept +0.5
Shadow Walk: Adept
Shadow control: Adept
Shadow step: Adept
Shadow dispersal: Adept
Discernment: Adept
Seer: Adept
MAGICS
Spell weave: level 2
Shadow manipulate: level 2
Shadow create: level 3
Fate: level 2.5
Illusion: level 2.5
Dimensional door: level 2.5
Pets: 2
Starguide
Name: Starlight
Abilities: Star Walk, Star Void Magic
Level: Advanced
Dimension Wraith
Name: Jasmine
Abilities: Wraith Walk
Level: Advanced
Familiars: 4
Shadow cat
Name: Amber
Abilities: Shadow Step, Shadow Weave
Level: Adept
Dark Fae
Name: Tasha
Abilities: Shadow Dimension Walk, Void Step
Level: Advanced
Marked Demon
Name: Demon Dust (DD)
Abilities: Shadow Kill, Void Rip
Level: Intermediate
Shadow Doll
Name: Alisha
Abilities: Shape Shifter, Shadow Flame, Shadow Weave
Level: Intermediate
Missions:
Hidden Mission – 3 Memory Shades Found Timer: 10 day 15 hours
Secret Mission – 0 Bounty Hunters Killed; Simms lives (No Timer)
Yana couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t understand why Illusion increased as well, but she was happy to accept it.
She joined the others in the main room of the home, which was entirely carved from the volcanic rock. "I don’t sense any more of the church’s artifacts here. Do you sense any more of your memory shades?"
Yana nodded, looking toward Alisha. "I actually sense two more, but on Tilla."
They all nodded. They could travel to Tilla directly from the house since it was a planet with no surface land.
"How about we rest one more..."
An alarm began going off. It wasn't a sound, but the entire room—carved from volcanic rock—pulsated with a deep, invasive red, like a massive beating heart. They all looked up toward the surface.
Yana’s smile was sharp and immediate. "Bounty hunters."
"Go rest. I will take care of this, and we will leave for Tilla early in the morning." Her scythe materialized in her hand. DD fell into step beside her, and they disappeared instantly from the room.
