As The Snow Falls

Chapter Fourteen - The Luck of Those Who Persist

'James,' Raphael said, turning to his friend, 'can you open a window to the Nether Plane?' He asked in a way that suggested he didn't even know if it was possible.

'I don't know,' James replied, clearly not sure either, 'even if I could, I'm not sure I'd want to, the Nether Plane is a weird place, none of the normal rules apply there, I'm not even sure if gravity's the same there. And if I did manage to get us there, I'm not sure if I could get us back, I heard that people's abilities are different there, some don't have them, some are made more powerful, and others can have powers that don't normally.'

'There are ways to get there, beings do it all the time.' Nadia said, with a new determination, whether it was the possibility of getting someone else to help them, or that it might give them even the slightest chance of actually winning, something inside of her broke through the surface, now, she wanted to find people that could help.'We can ask Joshua.'

With that, the barn owl glided down from a bookshelf near them, and mid-glide morphed into the elderly form of Joshua. Enough time had clearly not passed for a new form to manifest itself. He greeted them all with a warm smile.

'Joshua, what do you know about entering the Nether Plane?' Nadia asked, both rushed and friendly.

'There are a number of ways to enter the Nether Plane, the most common of which is orb travel.' A book began to float towards them, Nadia saw it coming out of the corner of her eye.

'I'm afraid we haven't time to read right now, Joshua, could you not tell us?' Nadia was trying desperately to remain civilised.

'Of course, as I was saying, the most common way of travelling to the Nether Plane is by orb. There are two types of orb travel; singular orb travel is where a single orb is used to travel either from or to the Nether Plane, the user has no control over where they will end up in their travels, as there is no other orb to guide them. Double orb travel is where there are two "paired" orbs, one in our plane, and one in the Nether Plane, the other orb serves as a guide, controlling where the user will come out in the other plane, these are often considered safer.'

'Where is the nearest orb?'

'We have one here in our library.'

'Seriously?'

'Yes.' Joshua seemed pleased at his helpfulness, although it was hard to tell, as he is always smiling.

'Well that's lucky.' Kai added, clearly amazed at how their luck had panned out.

'Does it have a sister orb?' Nadia asked, ignoring Kai's comment in her blazing determination.

'No, it was felt that it would be unwise to have a doorway into the library from the Nether Plane.'

'Is there any other way to get out once you're in?' Nadia was wavering slightly at this slight set back.

'Yes, another orb can be found once in the Nether Plane, or another object with the ability to travel through planes, or, a powerful enough being may be able to send others across planes.'

'Does Coulok have the ability to do such a thing?' Samson asked.

The librarian paused. As if remembering a forgotten memory.

'Yes, The Electric One has the ability to transport himself and others across planes.'

'How might we find him?' Nadia asked, re-engaged in her verbal pursuit.

'Other beings within the Nether Plane can act as guides, however, it is to be noted that beings within the Nether Plane can almost never be trusted. Advice for seeking something within the Nether Plane is to either attempt to find a being to be a guide, or to use a seeking device, but those are difficult to come by.'

'Thank you, Joshua, where is the orb?'

'It is within the safe room.' Joshua lifted a finger gracefully, and pointed towards a door at the end the corridor that was the bookshelves.