I now had a good idea of where to start.
I stood still for a moment and gathered what power I could. Then I formed the ball, tossed it into the air, and shouted a single word.
"Gaia!"
"It is about time you called on me." The woman stood beside me. She came with three other men and must have been the seer with the other group. "Lovely tree and nice dragon."
"Tell me how to keep them alive."
"I don't know the answer, or I wouldn't need you. I can tell you a few things you might not know, and together, we'll all come up with an answer, combine our powers, and deal with it. Here is a clue. Whatever is doing this is not alive as we understand it. And since it is not a part of nature, I have trouble tracking it."
"You made the glass balls."
Gaia looked at me as though I were an idiot. "Of course. And they were not evil, just insistent. If someone with magic arrived, I wanted to know as soon as possible to get them off this realm before it killed them. Sorry about the arrow and your leg. They were trying to scare you away."
"What do we do to find the enemy?" Rose asked. I was not surprised that she was ready for the fight, even though she did not know how to win.
"Oh, you've done quite enough -- for the enemy to come to you," Gaia said, nodding toward the tree and the dragon.
When had that breeze sprung up? And why were the birds calling out in shock and fear? Golden leaves rattle with a frantic tune as clouds spread across the sky. The world went almost night-dark, and we didn't have enough magic to give ourselves light.
Gaia provided one large circle of illumination that showed us the area around us and the base of the clouds.
"Well, this can't be good," Rose said.
"Inside my shirt!" Silver ordered and didn't wait for her answer. He grabbed the Pixie and shoved her beneath the cloth. I had the feeling he had practice at grabbing her out of danger.
I thought she might have said something impolite. We all ignored her. Not that it mattered. The wind came with such a force that even the tree bowed, and I saw many of the gold leaves torn free. The dragon caught hold of the tree and did his best to keep it safe. Fellet worked with him.
Gaia dragged all of us into a tight circle and roped us together with her power. It was akin to our magic but not the same. Still, I could tell even it wavered.
Something moved in the lower level of the clouds. First triangular and then circular, it moved against the wind with no lessening of speed. Appendages that looked like ropes of smoke reached downward.
A few were going to take the tree and the dragon. I threw magic at it, but it was as if nothing was there for my power to touch. I saw the others trying, too.
Then Rose screamed something I could barely hear about the wind. "It is not here! Portal!"
Then, despite Silver trying to grab her again, she got loose and headed straight towards those clouds. I could see some of the magic she was trying to make along the way -- and I finally understood.
"Portal!" I shouted. "Make portals!"
We did. Any of us with magic threw portals into the air, and even if they died quickly, I could tell they were causing problems for whatever was up there. My only genuine worry was that Rose was up there somewhere, too. She was so small that I couldn't see her. I did occasionally see a flash of her magic, though. I thought that might be all that kept Silver from turning into a wolf and howling.
I had a little magic left. The clouds dispersed, showing the black object spinning from one shape to another, sometimes breaking apart and crashing back together with an almost deafening crash.
Dragon rushed toward me and did something odd. He shoved a broken branch into my hands.
It had come from the tree. Even torn free, I could still feel the surge of power and I grabbed it and shot a spear of lightning straight up at the thing above us.
It cracked into a thousand pieces and fell.
I panicked, but there was no danger. The thing had never been fully here, and the pieces disappeared before they reached the ground. We all stood in silence, except for Silver, who paced much like a two-legged wolf.
Rose fluttered down and would have missed Silver's shoulder if he hadn't plucked her out of the air. She collapsed into his hand, looking bruised and unsettled. It was some time before she could tell us what she'd seen and done.
"I am glad you understood what we needed," she said. "Nearly every portal broke off some of the black and sent it to random space. Very few will have made it to other worlds. But … I don't think it is dead since it didn't feel alive as we know it."
"We will find signs of it again," Gaia agreed. "But for now, the tree and dragon are safe. I suggest you all monitor this realm."
Then Gaia disappeared before we could thank her. Our combined magic had defeated the black- at least for now.
Stejan, Rose, and Silver planned to head back to their headquarters immediately so that they might track some of the non-living creatures. Fellet and I returned to my temple, but only long enough to gather manuscripts I thought might help. I would miss this place, but I felt a lure to helping others again.
Life would be interesting.
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