Remtal walked through the darkened streets of Alantar. Actually, he glided through them. He had no need to walk as he had no physical form any longer. It was shed from him like the husk of a snake some years earlier. Where it not for the mental projection he placed in the minds of others, they would see an entity created entirely from mental energies.
The cold wind blew the cloak spread around his form behind him as he came upon his destination. Many times he had been on the precipice of the Plateau and looked out beyond the walls of the city but every time he could not help but be amazed by the sight. It was even more impressive now.
Remtal’s sight passed beyond that of mortal men. He saw the mundane as everyone else did yet he was able to see beyond into the Astral Plane. Everything left a mental signature, all living creatures gave off an aura of palpable energy that flared with every thought and emotion into a myriad of colors. From this vantage, Remtal looked upon the city of Alantar and saw a sea of colors dance before his eyes. The city was ripe with mental supplicants and they would all soon be his.
He gazed out past the city walls towards the Southwest and noticed something he had not seen before. A mental spike, a flare in the night sky, a beacon of sorts. This was not unheard of but it was certainly odd for the moment. The next Astral cycle was not scheduled to begin for another month. Suddenly, Remtal was forced to his knees as his head threatened to split apart from some unseen force clawing at it.
“METHANKERNAL!”
It hit him in at that moment that the Mastermind acted before preparations were ready. The Astral Gate was under attack before expected and it was calling out for help and writhing in pain. He had felt the Gate lash out, he heard its cry, and he saw what was assailing it.
The ball had been set in motion and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. The only action that could be taken now was to observe and wait. Hopefully this rush by the Mastermind would not have any major effects of disruption. Everything had to be precise in order to work properly and this threatened the balance.
With a simple thought, Remtal was gone over the distance of hundreds of miles. He appeared standing in front of a dark Illithid with rage pulsing over his physical form in tangible sheets of red energy.
“You have gone far enough you fool. Return to the Mastermind and inform it that you will not be allowed to continue on this course of action. Should you refuse, I will make you tear your own brain from your own skull.”
“Ha ha ha. You stupid human…you will never stop me or the Mastermind. The Astral Plane will be ours and there is nothing that can be done to stop it. The Illithids have waited for millennia for this moment. Now step aside or be destroyed.”
“Have it your way. I will send my condolences to your master before I destroy him as well.”
Remtal shed his physical form for that of his mental self, a whirling storm of force that glistened red and black in the moonlight. Methankernal was unprepared for the being who stood before him, or the onslaught that took place immediately afterwards. Even so…he had never been beaten in battle…tonight would not be the time.
Subject: Confrontation 
Thu Nov 11, 2010 12:16 am