Into Oblivion (Book 4) (3 page)

He was thankful for the young man’s mercy. Brynn could have—should have—killed him in Taryn. But the honorable man, now a Knight of The Dragon, had spared his life. Perhaps it was to give Khalid time to think of his sins; to find a way to redeem himself. Or, perhaps, Brynn just didn’t have the stomach to kill him as Khalid knelt before him at his mercy.

Either way, Brynn and the other Knights were now his brothers, and he was thankful for that.

“Brother Khalid,” Dael said behind him. Khalid turned to his priest, smiling as the man approached.

“Yes, Dael?”

“The temple is alive once more,” Dael said. “People from all over the south have come to worship on this grand day.”

“Ah, yes,” Khalid said. “The anniversary of Eamon’s ascension. Has it been a year already?”

“Indeed it has,” Dael replied. “But the celebration will need to continue without your presence. The Dragon calls for you. My brothers and I will lead the sermons and perform the temple’s functions in your absence.”

“Very well,” Khalid agreed. “Give the people what they need. I will attend to our master.”

Dael nodded, returning to the complex to blend in with the crowd. Khalid followed, smiling and greeting the people as he passed them. They seemed truly glad that the temple had been returned to its former glory, and that it was now occupied by a new generation of priests.

Khalid was glad as well.

The Dragon stirred in his cavernous prison, gathering the strength to project himself into his more human-friendly study. This was the same means of communication he had used to greet his own son, Eamon, at their first meeting. It was better for him this way, as his human form would allow him physical contact with those he loved.

His previous meetings with Khalid had been in dragon form, where he had been bound and imprisoned in this wretched cavern. He had allowed Khalid to see him in his most vulnerable state; his true form in bondage. He had done this to show Khalid that he, too, was a being of humility. It was the only way he could convince the rebel Jindala man that he was no different from Imbra.

Now, the Dragon awaited his servant in human form. Khalid would see him as just another man, no different than he would see Eamon. It would be easier for Khalid, he reasoned, and would make the conversation go more smoothly. He needed Khalid to focus on the importance of his words, and not his appearance.

As Khalid’s form began to materialize on the throne at the far wall,
the Dragon sat back in his own throne. He watched Khalid’s eyes flutter open, his brow furrowing as if he was expecting to arrive in a different location. The Priest looked directly at him, a slow realization coming over his face.

“I was looking forward to being in the cavern again,” Khalid said. “It was rather warm.”

The Dragon chuckled, his deep voice booming in the velvet-walled room. “Welcome, my friend,” he said, standing.

Khalid stood, walking across the room to greet his master. The Dragon was much taller than he had imagined; though he supposed the Firstborn could take any form
they wanted. Still, he resembled Eamon, only older and rougher around the edges.

“It is good to see you again, Khalid,”
the Dragon said. “Make yourself comfortable.”

“What is this place?” Khalid asked, admiring the room’s octagonal shape.

“This is what I call my study,” the Dragon replied. “I spend most of my time here, perusing my maps, studying the stars, and watching my children.”

Khalid nodded; looking at the twelve zodiacal tapestries in turn, two on each of six walls, and the remaining two walls that boasted murals of the past Kings of Eirenoch.

“It is much more pleasant than the cavern,” Khalid agreed, taking a seat on the plush velvet red couch. “But what surprises me the most is your human form. Is this how you presented yourself to the Queen?”

“No,” The Dragon said. “I wore clothes more suited for a musician. I knew she was a lover of music, and that the vestments of a warrior would be less to her liking.”

“You came to her because you felt the presence of The Lifegiver?”

“Yes. I knew he would return, once he found the means. And that means was the Sultan, Tyrus.”

“I know very little of his origins,” Khalid admitted. “I only know what I have witnessed in my own life. His past is clouded in uncertainty.”

The Dragon sat forward, pouring a goblet of wine for Khalid to drink.

“He was not always a sorcerer,” he said. “In his youth, he was somewhat of a peasant hero, like you. He was a faithful servant of Imbra, but was seduced by the promise of ultimate power. The Lifegiver, who was then nothing more than a voice in Tyrus’ mind, convinced him to cast aside his faith and turn his back on the Earth.”

“Much as I did,” Khalid said, sadly.

“Yes, but Tyrus was different. His arcane studies allowed him to reach out between dimensions and open a portal to connect the two. It was a bridge between this universe and the universe of shadow; a place where matter and antimatter exist as one. It is the only place where the two can exist without complete annihilation.”

Khalid thought for a moment, realizing that
the Dragon had been contemplating The Lifegiver’s current form. If the entity was in this universe in his true form, he would be annihilated. He could only exist here if…

“The Lifegiver is a mere avatar,” Khalid said. The Dragon smiled, impressed with his servant’s astuteness.

“Yes, Khalid,” he said. “This is what the outside powers are trying to tell our friends; Farouk and Eamon. While Farouk has an understanding of these concepts, Eamon’s mind is not attuned to these energies. He can only be the sword, not the mind that wields it.”

“I understand,” Khalid said. “It will take the mind of the Druid to create the correct conditions, and the strength of the Onyx Dragon to destroy The Lifegiver’s avatar.”

“And also the lives of the Firstborn to finally close the portal.”

Khalid sighed. “Then what will become of the world without the Firstborn?”

“Humanity will survive,” The Dragon assured him. “But the world will change. As we speak, there are many places in the world where the lines between dimensions are becoming blurred. This fabric of reality will merge with others. It is the only way the life of this universe will continue to exist. When this occurs, many species will seem to disappear, and others will come out of nowhere. The blending of three parallel dimensions will ensure that the balance will be restored.”

“I have felt strange things,” Khalid said. “As if things were near me that I could not see or hear.”

“That is what I speak of,” The Dragon replied. “I wanted to warn you of this, so you would not fear. This is what the powers of the universe have told me, and what the Great Mother confirmed. We are coming upon a great change, and as a result, the powers of this world will eventually become mundane. But life will go on.”

“And what of all the knowledge that mankind has gathered?” Khalid asked. “Will this be lost?”

“Some of it, yes,” The Dragon said. “But Farouk, as the Grand Druid, will ensure its survival, and the survival of mankind.”

“Does he know this?” Khalid joked. “That is a very large burden for one man to bear.”

The Dragon chuckled. “You know as well as I do that Farouk is more than just a man.”

Khalid smiled, thinking of the young man he once knew in Khem. “Like his Father, he is greater than most.”

“That is true,” The Dragon said. “Even now he possesses the ability to travel between dimensions. The powers from the outside have given him this ability. It is a gift that not even his predecessor, Ptah, possessed. He was given this ability to help ease the transformation of the Earth.”

“I understand,” Khalid said. “But why have you summoned me?”

The Dragon stood, hanging his head in thought. He paced for a moment, struggling to put together the words he needed to say.

“I am dying,” he said, finally. “Though we Firstborn will all perish in this battle, my power has been weakened to the point of rendering me useless. I no longer have the strength to do my part in this battle.”

“What is it you want me to do?” Khalid asked, feeling sympathy for the Firstborn.

“I need the strength to return to the Earth. I am trapped here in my realm, I understand that now. There is nothing anyone can do to set me free. I must do it on my own, but I do not have the strength.”

“Then how will I do this?”

“I want you to travel to another realm, where the spirit of a long dead Mother resides.”

“Where is this place?” Khalid asked.

“Within the Earth itself; in the deepest caverns, even deeper than the great ocean itself.”

“I do not understand, my friend.” Khalid said.

“Within the Earth, The Great Mother has kept the spirit of her primordial sister, Theia. In the beginning of our world, The Great Mother and her sister collided. Theia’s flesh was cast into space, and became the moon that you see in the sky. It is dead; its spirit having been trapped within The Great Mother. A temple exists in the caverns within the Earth, erected by The Great Mother to house her sister’s spirit.”

“Why has The Great Mother not used this spirit to strengthen herself?”

“A Mother spirit may not do so,”
the Dragon explained. “It would be like me melding with Imbra; though we may impart small amounts of power to each other, it must be given willingly. I, however, can use Theia’s strength as my own, for she is of a different kind of spirit; not a Firstborn.”

“I understand,” Khalid said. “But how do I reach this temple? And must I go alone?”

“You will not be alone, Khalid. I will go with you, in this form. This temple exists between the realms of the Firstborn, therefore I am able to travel there. I just cannot enter the realm of Earth. Once I am strengthened with Theia’s power, I may enter the portal and return to the Earth. Then, I can do my part in the battle against Absu.”

“Absu,” Khalid repeated. “The Lifegiver’s name.”

“Correct,” the Dragon said. “You learn quickly.”

Khalid smiled, looking back up at
the Dragon’s face. “Well, then,” he said. “What are we waiting for?”

The Dragon grinned. It had been a long time since he shared an adventure with a good friend. Khalid was that.

It would be the Dragon’s last adventure, and possibly the greatest.

Chapter Two

Farouk and Aeli returned to the tower later that evening. They were surprised to find Jodocus still awake, and the entire company of Rangers gathered around the cottage. Jodocus ran straight up to Farouk, excited to meet the Druid that his mother had spoken of on many occasions. Farouk knelt down to greet him.

“Hello, Jodocus,” Farouk said, placing his hand on top of the boy’s head. Jodocus giggled. “Your mother has told me a lot about you.”

“Uncle Adder caught me,” Jodocus said.

“He did, did he?” Farouk replied, looking up to see the Ranger shrugging.

“He is a quick runner,” Adder said. “Fast as a deer.”

Farouk stood, reaching out to greet Adder with a handshake. He nodded to Jhayla, taking her hand, as well.

“I heard of your actions during the battle,” Farouk said. “King Eamon is fortunate to have such dedicated servants.”

“Thank you, friend,” Adder replied. “But we are glad you are here; both of you.”

“Why?” Aeli asked, lifting Jodocus to her bosom. “What has happened?”

“We sensed something moving through the forest earlier,” Adder said. “Though none of us could hear it or see it, it was there.”

“Jodocus sensed it as well,” Jhayla added.

“Watcher,” the boy muttered.

“Watcher?” Farouk said. He turned to Jodocus, who lifted his head from Aeli’s bosom to grin at him.

“Watcher,” he repeated.

“Explain it to me in more detail,” Farouk suggested.

“Perhaps it would be best if we went back to the path,” Adder said.

“Very well,” Farouk replied. Aeli nodded in agreement, handing Jodocus to Jhayla. She snuggled him close, tickling his ribs as she carried him inside.

The Druids followed the Ranger as he returned to the path. The rest of the company remained behind to guard the cottage in the event of any intruders. They spread out around the area, blending into the underbrush.

“We had just caught up to Jodocus when all of us sensed the presence of something unusual,” Adder explained. “He sensed it first, and more strongly.”

“Was it a physical presence?” Farouk inquired.

“No, just a feeling I suppose. But it was there.”

Aeli was intrigued. “Did you get any sense of what it was, or if it meant any harm.”

“I didn’t,” Adder replied. “But Jodocus said he felt sadness.”

“Curious,” Aeli said, looking to Farouk, who returned her expression.

The group arrived at the clearing where the encounter took place. There was nothing unusual about the surrounding area; no strange plants, no features that would attract attention, and nothing out of the ordinary. Farouk, however, felt something strange.

“What is it?” Adder asked. “Do you sense something?”

Farouk was silent, but slowly turned his head as if aiming his awareness around the clearing.

“I feel nothing unusual,” Aeli said.

“I do not feel a presence,” Farouk added. “But I do feel something strange.”

Adder crouched, remaining still as he tried to focus on the area. Try as he might, however, he felt nothing. Aeli gave no indication that she felt anything, either.

“I feel nothing,” she said. “No life here other than the forest and the creatures that belong here.”

Farouk held his staff out before him, using it to gather more energy from the clearing.

“There is nothing unusual here in the sense of something being present,” he said. “At least not anymore. It’s something different. A strange energy I have felt before, but cannot place.”

“I would hate to try and guess the strange things you have felt,” Adder said, humorously.

Aeli smiled. “He is attuned to higher planes,” she said. “Is that what you feel, Farouk?”

“Perhaps.”

The Grand Druid stepped forward, farther into the clearing. Aeli and Adder watched him as he stood alone in the center, training his awareness on the area around him. Aeli, feeling a rustling in her pack, opened to release Belo, her homunculus. The little creature buzzed excitedly, shooting straight for Farouk to join him.

“The energy here is similar to that which I felt around Kronos’ temple,” Farouk said, waving his hand to keep Belo away from his face.

Adder and Aeli glanced at each other curiously.

“Could there be a Firstborn here?” Adder asked.

“No,” Aeli replied. “Only the Dragon.”

“At least in this realm,” Farouk said, prompting the other two to look at him in question.

“What do you mean?” Adder asked.

“I think what I feel is an area between dimensions,” Farouk replied. “I felt the same thing near Kronos’ temple. What I have learned is that the temples of the Firstborn are portals into parallel dimensions. It is in the temples that the barriers between realms are… thinner. That is, the fabrics of different realities are closer together.”

Though Aeli nodded in understanding, Adder scratched his head, chuckling. “You lost me,” he said.

Farouk grinned. “Fortunately, your place is here in the forest,” he said. “And you fill the shoes of your predecessors well, from what I hear.”

“They were big shoes to fill.”

“Tell me,” Farouk began. “When you felt the presence, was it a physical sensation or simply an intuition?”

Adder stood, shaking his head. “I’m not sure; perhaps a little of both.”

“And Jodocus?” Aeli asked.

“He was more attuned to the physical,” Adder said. “It seemed that way, anyway. The rest of us just felt an intuition. It was the same feeling you get when you know you are being watched. Whatever was here passed through without a sound. It was as if it weren’t really here, and could only be felt.”

“It returns,” Farouk said.

Adder and Aeli both sensed the presence again, training their awareness on the movements it made. Again, there was no sound, only the increasing sense of its presence. Belo stopped, hovering in the air near Farouk.

“It’s coming closer,” Adder said.

Aeli stepped forward, holding her staff before her. Sadness began to appear on her face, as if she were feeling the same emotions that Jodocus had described. Farouk felt it as well, and he looked to Adder to see if the Ranger could feel.

“Great sadness,” Farouk said.

Adder shook his head. “Nothing,” he said. “Only its presence.”

“I wonder if it is aware that we are here,” Aeli thought out loud.

“It may not be attuned to these things,” Farouk explained. “But then, Adder should not be, either. It is only his skills and training that makes him sensitive. Whatever is here may not even be aware of us. However, it seems to be looking for something.”

“You have abilities that none of us have, Farouk,” Aeli said. “Perhaps you should investigate. I should be returning to Jodocus. There is nothing I can do here.”

Farouk nodded in agreement. “There is no threat to the balance,” he said. “None that I can feel. But, like you, I am curious.”

“What will you do?” Adder asked.

“I think it is time to test my new abilities,” Farouk said. “I will try to enter its realm.”

Adder looked to Aeli in question as Farouk stood facing away from them.

“The Universal Powers have given me abilities unlike those of my peers or my predecessors,” Farouk explained, turning to Adder. “And the life forms within my staff’s gem have accentuated these powers.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“Multiple dimensions exist within the same space, Adder. They are separated only by variations in the frequency in which they vibrate, so to speak. These dimensions lie side by side, like sheets of fabric. Sometimes, as they oscillate, areas of two or more dimensions may drift closer together; even collide. When that happens, travel between them is possible.”

“So if I understand correctly, this being is in another reality, and its own reality is closer to ours in this area of the forest?”

Farouk grinned. “That is essentially correct,” he said. “Perhaps you should have been a philosopher rather than a thief.”

“Correction, sir,” Adder interjected with a sly smile. “I am a Ranger now.”

The Druid chuckled, turning back in the opposite direction. The two watched as he held out his staff, apparently getting a sense for the strongest area of the disturbance. Aeli watched in awe, hoping that someday she, too, would be able to cross dimensions.

“I am envious,” she said. “It would be an extraordinary thing to travel to different worlds.”

“I have enough trouble keeping track of all the things in this one,” Adder replied.

Farouk, having reached the opposite end of the clearing, turned to them once more. “I have found the strongest point,” he said. “The two realities are almost a blur here.”

The Grand Druid closed his eyes, focusing his mind on his destination. He could feel the vibrations of the other world, and the presence of its nearby inhabitant. However, as he attempted to extend his thoughts in order to communicate with it, it was gone.

Disappointed, Farouk decided his only choice was to enter its realm and seek it out. It would be a dangerous task, but he felt it was necessary. As the Keeper had told him, the pursuit of knowledge would take him to places unknown, and great dangers he never would have considered otherwise.

Once again, he closed his eyes. In his mind he pictured a curtain; black with white stars. He placed the universe upon it as if were a tapestry, spreading out all the stars he knew along its surface. Then, he imagined another curtain, identical to the first; placed a short ways apart. He reached out with his mind, touching his own curtain and pushing it toward the one behind it. As they touched, he felt himself shift.

Aeli and Adder saw the Grand Druid blur and blink out of existence. Belo disappeared with him. They gasped almost simultaneously.

“Safe travels, Farouk,” Aeli said.

“It looks like your little friend went with him.”

“Good,” Aeli replied. “He could use a little time with Farouk.

“But it looks like Farouk is a bit annoyed with him.”

Aeli nodded, laughing. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, he is.”

“Not nice,” Adder joked. “Not nice, at all.”

The Dragon King stared up at the full moon as he stood out on his balcony. He had taken up the former Queen’s bedchamber in Faerbane, and often enjoyed watching the sky at night while listening to the falls that were in full view. At night, the moonlight cast a beautiful glow on the waterfall’s mist, and he found it relaxing.

On this night, one year ago, Eamon had taken the throne of Faerbane and united the Kingdom of Eirenoch. The north and south were now one under his rule. Not since his grandfather, Magnus, had Eirenoch stood under a single banner. He only wished his mother was alive to witness the joining.

“I miss you, Mother,” he said into the night. “Your absence is a bane to me and our people.”

He swallowed hard, choking back the tears that threatened to burst from his weary eyes. Siobhan’s presence was strong here, he felt, as this very room was where she had died. He had chosen this room for that reason, and the fact that his mentor, Garret, had died at this very railing. Being here made him feel close to both of them; the two people he had loved most in the world.

It gave him a small amount of comfort.

As he resigned himself to returning to his chambers, the familiar form of a dragon appeared in the sky. He knew it was Erenoth, but was unsure as to why the High Priest of Dol Drakkar would appear at this hour, and by these means.

He stepped aside as Erenoth approached. The Priest took human form as he landed, standing to greet Eamon with a smile.

“Hello, Erenoth,” Eamon said. “What brings you?”

“Lord Maedoc has requested that I bring you this,” Erenoth said, showing Eamon a sealed scroll.

Eamon took it, looking it over curiously. “What is this?” he asked.

“It is a list of kings who have liberated their respective kingdoms and now stand ready to do battle.”

Eamon unrolled the scroll, going down the short list of kings and nodding in recognition at most of the names.

“King Tregar of Thyre?” Eamon asked, perplexed. “When did he ascend?”

“According to Maedoc’s peers on the mainland, it occurred shortly before you took the throne. His father, Adolus, was assassinated in his dining hall with a knife to the base of the skull.”

Eamon looked up, feeling a strange sense of recognition come over him.

“Erenoth,” he said. “You were an assassin once, correct?”

Erenoth nodded.

“Is that a common method of assassination?”

Erenoth shook his head. “No,” he replied. “Assassination of kings is typically done with poison. Only very skilled assassins can infiltrate a castle and execute a king personally. I, myself, have done it, but very few others have. Why do you ask?”

“I’m not sure,” Eamon said. “But how many others do you know of who could do this?”

“I know Adolus, and his predecessors. His security would have prevented any attempts at entering the castle by normal means. His assassin would have had to be someone he knew and trusted, or someone skilled enough to actually climb the walls. Thyre’s towers are tall, and very far apart. Any assassin of Adolus would have had to have wings, or be in possession of magical tools.”