The Thing From Beyond

“Great God’s beard! Kalek! What have you done”, cried the old wizard Hadrith, when he saw the glowing, gaping rift in time and space that had opened itself in the middle of his apprentice’s sleeping quarters.

Kalek cowered in fear of the old Wizard, gripping the stolen “Book Of Summoning” to his chest like a shield, “I just wanted to work a spell, Magister. Just one spell”, he said.

“But that rift leads deep into other worlds, boy”, said Hadrith, booming gravely, “Theres no telling what foul and fiercesome monsters may slither through it”.

Then, suddenly, as if in response to what the old wizard had just uttered, a strange dark alien voice was heard from the other side of the crack in space that shook the ancient mage and his foolish apprentice to their very cores.

“Mummi-Mummi-Mummi-Mummi!”, it said.

“Wh-what was that?!”, stammered Kalek, scurrying like a frightened rat over to the door of his room; dropping the ancient “Book Of Summoning” near Hadrith's feet.

“Whatever is on the other side of that rift, boy and it’ll be coming through into our world, if I can’t find a spell that will heal the rift”, he told Kalek, grimly, picking up and flicking through the pages of the old book until he found the chapter on “Spells for returning”.

Just then Kalek shrieked in terror, his eyes growing wide and white with fear as he pointed a shuddering finger towards the immense, hairless, spider-like thing that was slowly crawling, one gigantic limb at a time, out of the magical rift, “Aggh!”, wailed the apprentice, “Don’t let it near me! Don’t let it near me, please!”.

“By rights, I ought to feed you to it, you wretched boy”, replied the old Wizard, sternly as he drew back from the approaching behemoth.

But the spider- creature did not seem interested in his apprentice, instead it caught hold of the old wizards long cloak between two of its enormous limbs and began dragging him towards the rift.

“Quick! Quick, Kalek! My sword! Fetch my sword!”, cried Hadrith as he struggled against the beast.

The apprentice hesitated for a moment, “If the creature eats my master”, he thought, greedily, “Then I shall have all of his magical secrets to myself and then I shall be the Wizard”.

“What are you waiting for , boy”, cried Hadrith frantically, “Fetch my sword!”.

“No”, said Kalek, grinning evilly, “I’ll not fetch your sword. I’ll let the monster eat you”.

The wizard’s eyes became narrow and hard like sharpened flint, “And you will pay dearly for your treachery, boy”, he said; then, reaching out an unwavering hand, the old man called upon the secret name of his sword, “Halaxydon, my falchion, come!”, he commanded.

Suddenly a strong, cold gust of wind slammed open the door of the Apprentice’s room and, through the open door, flew the wizards sword, thrusting its hilt into the firm grasp of the wizards hand and, with one swift movement, Hadrith raised the sword and drove it, hilt-deep, into the flesh of the monsterous spider, causing the creature to release its grasp upon him and retreat, in pain, back behind the rift.

“Mummy! Mummy!”, cried Malcom, pulling his right hand from the crack in
his bedroom wall, “Something bit me and it hurts”.

“Well, Malcom!”, scolded his mother, “If you will stick your hand into every hole you see, that’s what happens”.

Malcom's mother inspected his hand, “It’s just a splinter”, she said, “I can get it out with a sewing needle”.

However, to the amazement of both Malcom and his mother, the tiny, sword-shaped splinter seemed to remove itself and, rising up into the air, fly back through the hole in Malcom’s bedroom wall as it travelled home, through the rift in time and space,to its owner, Hadrith the Magician who was just about to use it to smite his treacherous and ungrateful apprentice.