The Spawn of Grienwuld, Te'Ess-Arr's massive diamond citadel moved through Omnispace's eternal night quickly, making its way toward the sphere's wall.
On the bridge, Te'Ess-Arr sat on his throne looking out at the darkness before him. The command deck's walls were treated with several powerful, modified glassteel spells, allowing whoever was on the inside to look out, but anyone on the outside couldn't see in.
The deck was dark, as usual, and the light from each arcane's workstation cast shadows that seemed to dance in the darkness. Te'Ess-Arr, however, was lit from some unknown magical source above him, giving him the appearance of a godly glow. It was something he favored, something to remind all who saw him that he was in charge, that he was all-powerful. His actions here in Omnispace, the arcane mused, would only add to that belief.
"M'lord? Anomaly on the port bow."
Te'Ess-Arr's throne swiveled to the direction the arcane underling's message. Off in the distance, several thousand miles from the diamond citadel, was an eerie light. It looked like a portal was opening into Wildspace, but from where, no one knew.
"Slow to tactical speeds! All stations, report!" Te'Ess-Arr spoke into the air. Powerful spells surrounded the throne, transmitting his every utterance to whoever he wanted to speak with. The communications system was impressive, but costly. He thought of introducing it to other ships, but test markets found it cost ineffective, and wouldn't turn a profit. Instead, he had the dweomers installed in his ship.
"Engineering reports that is has no effect on helm or guidance."
"Sensor crews unable to determine what it might be."
"Energy readings going off the scale."
"Pattern is stable...wait...it seems to be increasing slightly. Whatever it is, it's growing."
Te'Ess-Arr leaned forward in his chair, as if to get a better look at the pure, white portal of light. There was something about it that upset the arcane, but he wasn't sure...
"Docking bay," Te'Ess-Arr commanded, "launch angelship shuttle to investigate. Take two platoons of Minotaur guards, standard survey group, and also those last 'Dowhar Corporate Raiders' we captured. They make excellent cannon fodder."
A minute later, from below, an angelship left the citadel's docking level. Gliding away from the massive diamondship's gravitational field, it soon began to move under it's own power moments later. After a few, tense minutes, it was about a dozen miles from the anomaly. Onboard the Spawn, a magically-created image appeared before Te'Ess-Arr.
"Report!"
"M'lord, it does appear to be an opening." The arcane looked over his shoulder toward the human mage powering the helm. There was a conversation out of the crystal's range Te'Ess-Arr could not hear.
"What is happening over there!" Te'Ess-Arr commanded.
"M'lord, the helmsman reports that he can see something moving around inside. It appears to be a large, winged creature, colored in blues, silvers, golds, and other metallic shaded. M'lord..." the other arcane stepped away for a second.
"What is it!"
Off in the distance, the anomaly's light flared and it began to grow. The angelship began to spin, caught in a pull not unlike a boat caught in a whirlpool. Te'Ess-Arr looked at the image magically projected before him, onto a bridge tossed into chaos. The mage was wrapped from the helm, and several of the dowhar started to attack their arcane captors.
The image went blank, as the angelship was pulled into the vortex. For only a brief instant, Te'Ess-Arr could see the image the commander described: an animal with large wings and curved tail, gold and silver structures on its back.
Te'Ess-Arr's face went white with fear, his eyes widening, his hands gripped the arm rests so hard his hands also turned white.
"Navigation, get us away from here, best speed!" The ship turned, and resumed its course toward the spherewall. It was several minutes before Te'Ess-Arr calmed down. Some of the crew members could hear him talk quietly, but none dared question what he was talking about. Most decided to put the incident out of their minds, for fear of their own lives.
"it can't be," Te'Ess-Arr said quietly, "it just cannot be. i got rid of you. you are gone, trapped forever, never to return. it cannot be."
