Nagratek stumbled back, fire coiling around him. His back hit the wall of the cavern and immediately spikes formed from the rock, tearing off the wall and through his body. He barely managed to liquefy himself before they hit. Right as the spikes left his torso, he was struck with several bolts of electricity that forced him to his knees. Tree roots and rocks sprung up around him, impaling his limbs as the lightning and fire continued to bombard him. After struggling against his restraints for a moment, he stopped moving. Instead, he began to focus his attention on building up pressure inside his body. Forcing his atoms to move at speeds that came close to breaking the control he had over his own body. Just before he ran out of energy to keep up the pressure, two molecules of his body collided and fused.
His body exploded from the inside out, a wall of black liquid riding the resulting explosion. It coated or flew through all six of the First Folk corpses attacking him. What remained of his body collapsed in a puddle and collected in the crater he'd just blown in the cavern floor. The First Folk walked to the edge of the crater, ready for Nagratek to reform and continue the fight. After a moment, the eyes of the one made of rocks went dark, and it collapsed to the ground. It was followed swiftly by the one of trees and the one of water. The one of air began to waver, the gale-force winds bound together that formed its body breaking down as a black cloud grew inside it. The ones of fire and lightning flickered as well, black liquid and gas spread throughout the room slowly moving to entangle them. The one of lightning attempted to escape but ran headlong into a black cloud. The energy that formed its body began sparking between the molecules of the gas, a little more of its soul extracted with each successive pass. Soon, all six First Folk were dead or gone.
It took several minutes, but the various parts of Nagratek's body, turned liquid by the explosion, began to coalesce, drawn together by gossamer threads leading from each patch of liquid back to where his main body had collapsed. After they all had pooled in the center of the crater, Nagratek's Bone form slowly pulled itself from the resulting sludge. He was missing most of his nose and right arm, and his left eye was clouded with some substance he lacked the energy to manipulate, but he was still alive. He stared at where his arm should have been for a moment, trying to force it to regrow. After it didn't, he gave up, limped over to where Smiley lay, and checked the Bone's pulse. Still breathing.
"Well, well, well." The voice echoed through the cavern as Nagratek sat down next to Smiley's body. "They're dead. And here I thought First Folk were the one thing you couldn't eat. I suppose that's what I get for putting them on autopilot." The voice condensed, drawing in from all around Nagratek to a single point in front of him. The body of a small human boy, ten or eleven years old, formed around the point like a cloud out of thin air.
"We don't make a habit of it." Nagratek sighed, pulling himself to his feet. "Part of our programming prevents us from absorbing the soul of a First Folk. But I'm partially free of my programming, and those weren't really First Folk, so…" He shrugged. "That's what you get for assuming you know the ins and outs of us newer editions."
"Finally figured me out, huh? I'm surprised anyone knows about me other than… What does he call himself these days, the Crystal Councilman? Or does he make you all call him father?"
"It took me awhile to pin down exactly what you were." Nagratek took a step forward and walked straight through the image of the boy. "You've made extensive modifications now that you're in a new body. The Ghost Circle was a nice touch, by the way. But, at your core, you're still the Cipher. The Councilman held onto your former shell, and though a friend of mine has made some modifications of his own to it, it's the same basic principle. Big well of sentient energy able to run all the Councilman's twisted experiments while he's away."
"Those modifications wouldn't happen to include merging my former body with those of the dead Veni-Yan-Cari, would they?" The boy smirked.
"How did you-"
"Now, now…" The boy wagged his finger. "I can't be giving away all my secrets, can I?"
"You're stalling." Nagratek's brow furrowed. He picked up Smiley with his free hand and slung him over his shoulder. Smiley groaned but didn't have the agency over his muscles to move. Nagratek began marching over to where he'd broken through the wall before, black liquid dripping slowly from his missing arm.
"Actually, I'm gloating. The process entered its final stage while you were busy in here. In fact, I've half a mind to-" His form flickered for a moment, and the entire complex shook. He frowned. "Well she certainly is punctual. I just wish she'd stop bringing uninvited guests." He sighed and began floating. Nagratek meanwhile had reached the cavern wall. He bent his legs and prepared to jump right as it came apart.
A tangle of tree roots as thick as the one that tore the Queen of the Sly to the ground shot through the cavern wall, knocking Nagratek and Smiley flat. The Cipher floated through the hole as they recovered. Smiley managed to stand on his feet, stretching his arms and trying to get some feeling back in his fingers.
"I'm ready for round two." He announced. Nagratek just grunted, forcing a piece of wall off his chest and staggering to his feet. "You alright?" Smiley asked.
"I'm not dead yet." Nagratek replied. "Though I'm not sure how long that'll last. Let's go get your cousin." He grabbed Smiley's shoulder with his one hand and jumped into the air, taking the two of them through the hole the Cipher had gone through.
Eosutana, Lorimar, and the Cipher were waiting for them on the other side. Roots had burst through the walls and ceiling at various points around the room, cutting off most of the entrances and exits save for one, which Lorimar stood in front of. In the middle of the room was a mass of shattered crystal. Strewn about the crystal were more than half a dozen bodies, including Tom, Roderick, Percival, and his family. Tendrils of vine wrapped around them and connected them back to Lorimar's body. Above them all hovered a crack in the air, a rip, folding inward on itself and sparking with white energy. None of the three conscious being in the room noticed Nagratek or Smiley as they entered. Or they simply didn't care.
"Have fun, you two." Havaki laughed, looking between Eosutana and Lorimar. "I'm going to go enjoy my new body for a spell." He winked out of existence as the two prepared for another fight. Nagratek and Smiley, meanwhile, crept around to the room's exit while Lorimar and Eosutana rushed each other and began exchanging blows. As soon as they slipped into the tunnel Lorimar was guarding, they began running.
"Do y'know where we're goin'?" Smiley asked, panting as the two of them tore through the complex.
"No." Nagratek grunted in reply, clutching his arm stump. "But it was the only exit left." He slowed his pace a fraction so he ran next to Smiley. "We should really do something about that." He motioned to the growth of crystal that was still sprouting from Smiley's face. He wiped some of the black fluid dripping from his arm onto his finger and jabbed it into the crystal. It turned black and began retracting, pulling back into Smiley's eye socket and reforming back into his eye.
"How'd you do that?" Smiley asked. "I don't seem to have any control over the darned thing."
"It's not a part of you. I think it was supposed to keep you alive and under Deyavara's control, but I'd be more than a little surprised if you managed to exert some control over it yourself."
"But you said you'd train me."
"I lied."
"You lied? Why?"
"Thorn needed to think we had the situation under control if she was going to leave us behind and find Fone. I was improvising."
"So you can't train me?"
"If we survive the next ten minutes, I promise I'll give it my best shot." The tunnel in front of them opened up into another room. As they approached, they heard laughter. Manic laughter. They slowed to a halt just outside the room as they took in the scene before them. Thorn was lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood. Fone was standing over her, his eyes sunken, his ribs showing, and his arm coated in her blood. He was laughing like a madman. As they stood in shock, Fone noticed them out of the corner of his eye. He stopped laughing and turned to face them, his expression darkening.
"So, it wasn't enough that you turn her against me?" He asked, his throat hoarse. "Now you've got my cousin coming after me too? Well fine. I'm not going to just roll over and let you kill me, so if you're going to come at me, let's get this over with. If not, get out of my way." He began walking forward toward the pair. Smiley's breath caught in his throat as Fone advanced, and he found himself unable to move or speak, simply staring wide-eyed at the unfolding scene. Nagratek, for his part, grit his teeth and began snaking a line of black liquid from the small of his back down his arm, where it formed into a blade.
"I'm not here to kill you." Nagratek said, being sure to keep the blade on the back of his arm out of Fone's line of sight. "By the looks of it, you're the only one who's done any killing today." He nodded to Thorn's body.
"She tried to stop me." Fone shrugged. "Tried to deny me what is rightfully mine."
"So, this… Destiny of yours. It's that important to you? Worth killing the woman you love?"
"She didn't love me!" Fone shouted, his voice almost a screech. He pointed a bloody finger at her. "She wanted my power, nothing more! Same as you! Neither of you wanted to help me, all you wanted to do was take what was rightfully mine! Use me for your own twisted ends!"
"I don't know where you've been getting these ideas, kid." Nagratek sighed. "But if you feel that strongly, then go ahead. Kill me. I'm not going to last much longer in this state anyway."
"Good." Fone smirked.
"But are you really going to kill Smiley too?" Fone stopped his advance as Nagratek spoke, hesitating to step forward for a moment. "He wanted to help you, you know. He left Phoney and Bartleby behind, volunteered to come with us, just to make sure you were safe. You really think he wants to use you? That he doesn't care about you?"
"I think…" Fone paused, looking between Nagratek and Smiley for a moment. "I think that you'll do anything to satisfy your own goals. I think you'll say anything to get what you want. I think I can't trust a word that comes out of your mouth, you snake."
"It looks like there's nothing left to say." Nagratek took a step forward, spreading his arms a fraction wider. Fone ran forward, a guttural scream tearing from his throat as he drove his arm through Nagratek's chest. Nagratek raised his arm as Fone reached him, slamming the back of his forearm into the side of Fone's head in the same moment that Fone impaled him. Fone and Nagratek stood still for a moment, eyes locked. The blade in Nagratek's arm had liquefied and penetrated Fone's skull. After several seconds of prolonged silence, Fone's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground. As Fone fell, Smiley shook himself from his stupor and ran to catch him, lowering him to the ground gently.
As Fone's arm slid out of Nagratek's chest, the hole didn't close behind it. The wound instead began leaking black liquid, less that it would have if Nagratek had regular blood, but enough to cause Nagratek pain. He tried to take a step toward Fone, but his body was unwilling to listen. His legs gave out and he fell to his knees next to Fone's body.
"Wha…" Smiley stammered, cradling Fone's head in his arms. "What happened to him?"
"We were too late." Nagratek said. He threw himself to the ground and began dragging himself toward Thorn's body with his good arm. "The Spark, or the Catalyst, or the old Cipher, or… I don't know, take your pick. Something's taken control of his soul. He might still be in there somewhere, but it'll take time and energy to get him out, neither of which we have here." He pulled himself up next to Thorn and hefted his good arm onto her back. His hand came to rest on top of the wound Fone had left. He concentrated for a moment, turning his arm into liquid and pouring it into the wound. He solidified it once it was filled, forming a crystal mesh that closed her wound.
"That should stop the bleeding." Nagratek said, rolling himself over onto his back. "It's the least I can do for her, after everything. You take them and get out of here."
"What about you?" Smiley asked, throwing Fone over his shoulder. "Aren't you comin' with us?"
"I can barely talk." Nagratek said. As if to punctuate his statement, he began coughing and spit up a spray of black liquid. "My body won't listen to me. I'm more than out of energy. Had to burn off part of myself just to disable Fone's nervous system, and who knows how long that'll last. I'll only slow you down. You need to get them back to Ven. She'll be able to think of a way out of this one. I'll catch up once I've regained my strength." He smiled, for the first time in a long time. His mouth had begun to fill with liquid again. "Go."
Wordlessly, Smiley bent down and grabbed Thorn's unconscious body. Gently, he draped her over his other shoulder, and began the long march out of the complex. As he entered the tunnel, he took one last look at Nagratek. Smiley hadn't known him long, but it was the first time he'd ever seen him relaxed. He looked at peace.
As Smiley left the room, Nagratek closed his eyes. His body wouldn't recover, he knew that. He'd burned through too much energy. He'd even had to burn through some of his own memories just to stay in the fight. And he'd paid the price. His Dreaming Eye was shredded. He couldn't draw any more energy from the Dreaming. He was dying.
"Sorry, Ven." He muttered as his vision began to fade. "I'm dying on you again. It's up to you, now…" He trailed off as blackness claimed his vision. He floated in a void after his passing. His body still wouldn't listen to him, but he wasn't certain if that was because of how he died or if that's just how the afterlife was. He floated, almost weightless without the sensation of his body, waiting for the light to appear. Before it could, he heard a voice cut through the silence. Smiley's. It took him a moment to realize he wasn't dead yet.
"Nagratek!" Smiley shouted, watching in frustration as darkness poured into the room like water rushing from a broken dam. It had enveloped him up to his waist and kept him from moving. He couldn't feel any part of himself that was trapped in the substance, but his loss of sensation hadn't caused his legs to fail entirely. It had washed over Nagratek as well, completely enveloping him where he lay. As Smiley tried to figure out a way through the darkness, Nagratek's body began to rise. Underneath him, arms formed from the darkness. An entire person coalesced. A woman draped in blackness as if she herself was a hole in reality.
"Well, Nagratek." Eosutana laughed. "You finally found an enemy you couldn't fight your way through. But you've not earned your rest just yet. Father still has need of you." Her expression soured as she turned to face Smiley. "He has need of all of you. There is little time left." Tendrils of darkness reached up and grabbed Smiley, pulling him toward her. As he moved, he began to sink into the darkness, falling below where the floor should have been. The darkness began constricting around Eosutana as the five of them sank. It pressed them together. As the darkness enveloped Smiley entirely, he felt some invisible force pull on him. The darkness shrank to a single point, and as it winked out of existence, Eosutana and her captives disappeared.
Izaroth and Nemyunoi looked out across the skyline of Argus City from the presidential mansion. Their defensive lines further in the city were failing. Most of their aircraft never recovered from the EMP strike, and their remaining anti-air systems were no match for the coordinated efforts of the Western Air Force and the UHF's Aerial Division. Every hour, another block of the city fell into their enemies' hands. Soon, they would have nowhere left to run.
Izaroth drummed his hands on the crystal Glaian had given him before sending them back to the Republic. The Triggering Mechanism, he'd called it. Their final weapon against the human scourge. He had a device beside him that kept track of the Dreaming's progress across the country. It moved at a similar pace to the human forces chewing through his men. In a few hours, either it would reach the sea or they would reach him. Either way, the war would finally be over.
"They're here." Nemyunoi said, drawing Izaroth out of his introspection. She drew a sword as the door opened. Nibet walked in, sword at her side.
"So glad you could make it, Nibet." Izaroth smiled. "Speaking face to face like this without Glaian's interference is… invigorating, to say the least. How are the others? I take it at least Satranik survived?"
"You're going to pay for what you did to them." Nibet said.
"Such cold eyes." Nemyunoi spat. "Are those the same eyes that betrayed my mother? Or killed Izaroth's father?"
"You're Izagail's kid." Nibet said. The three of them stood in silence while she digested that. "I guess you should know, he died on his feet. Pride intact, for whatever that's worth."
"My mother used to tell me stories about the night you killed him." Izaroth said. "How you made her watch."
"I didn't make her do anything. She could have run. They all could have. But your father… He made me choose. Either kill him or lose my target. I got the target."
"I can't tell if you're trying to console me or twist the knife, but whichever it is it isn't working."
"Neither, actually." Nibet sighed. "I'm just stating facts."
"Enough talk." Nemyunoi spat. "You're going to pay for what you've done."
"Alright." Nibet took a step forward and grabbed a chair. She walked with a limp. She dragged herself over to it and sat down, never taking her eyes off the pair. "What are you waiting for?"
"Finally accepted the inevitable, have you?" Izaroth asked.
"This is some kind of trick." Nemyunoi said, slowly approaching Nibet. "Admiral Haenkos or one of her men is waiting for us to let our guard down, I take it?"
"Just me." Nibet smirked. Nemyunoi put her sword against Nibet's cheek. The pair stared at each other, neither moving. Just before Nemyunoi swung her sword, the ceiling collapsed.
Debris rained down on the three, knocking Izaroth and Nemyunoi to the ground. Nibet drew a knife from her belt and tackled Nemyunoi, pinning her to the ground. Izaroth stood and began to draw a gun, but a hand pushed his arm down. He turned to see Glaian standing in the middle of the rubble, missing an arm at the shoulder, and wearing a large collar around his neck. He slid the gun from Izaroth and tossed it to Nibet, who leveled it at Nemyunoi's head.
"I still like my plan better." She said.
"You survived." Glaian smirked. "Stop complaining."
"You…" Izaroth muttered. "No, it can't be… What are you doing here? Why are you siding with her?"
"The situation has changed." He said. He took the device from Izaroth's hand and studied the Dreaming's progression for a moment. "We're about three hours away from the end of the world."
"We are this close to killing off the human scourge once and for all." Izaroth spat. "What foul magic has possessed you, that you'd give this up right on the eve of our triumph?"
"Nothing. I've just gotten everything I need from this little uprising." Glaian set the device down and grabbed the radio set from Izaroth's belt. He raised the microphone to his mouth and activated it.
"This is Glaian Nagratek." He said. "I have returned to reclaim my position as leader of this uprising. And to announce that this war is over. Both myself and my lieutenants have surrendered to the Republic's forces. I order all the soldiers under my command to do the same." As he lowered the radio, the fighting outside stopped. It persisted in places, but the Republic's forces advanced swiftly. The war was over.
"Traitor." Nemyunoi spat. "We put our faith in you."
"I put my faith in someone once, too. I didn't know any better, but it cost me everything." Glaian grabbed Izaroth by the shoulder and led him to where Nemyunoi lay. "It was a mistake I never made again."
"Neither will I." Izaroth grunted.
"No, you won't." Glaian smirked. He reached down and touched Nemyunoi's forehead. Just as they realized what was happening, he began to drain them. Their muscles contracted and began to atrophy. Their skin turned leathery. Their eyes rolled back. Slowly, he took every last drop of their souls. When he released his grip on them, he undid the bandages binding his stump of an arm.
"Are you done?" Nibet asked. She stood up and slid back into the chair. "Listening to the pretenders go on was bad enough, so I'm not sure how much more of your pretentious ass I can handle today."
"I'm done." Glaian said. Slowly, his arm began to regrow, and he leaked a few drops of blood onto the carpet. He walked over to the device tracking the Dreaming and picked it up again. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"
Glaian opened his eyes to half a dozen guns being shoved in his face. He tried to sit up, but he'd been strapped to a cot by all manner of restraints. Two pairs of handcuffs his wrist and each of his ankles. Rope, leather, and chains all bound his limbs and torso. Even his head had been strapped in place. From across the room, Phoncible and Nibet studied him with cold eyes.
"Phoncible." He smiled. "Not the first time you've had me pinned down, is it? Though your setup is markedly more sophisticated than a rock this time around."
"Can I kill him?" Nibet asked.
"I can't stop you from trying, but I won't guarantee results." He smirked. "Thorn couldn't kill me. Deyavara couldn't kill me. What makes you think you'll be any different?"
"Your new collar isn't for decoration." Phoney said, standing up. Glaian could feel the metal digging into his skin, but he hadn't paid it mind before. "If you do anything I don't like, I'll blow your head off your shoulders."
"That hardly seems necessary. What if I told you I was willing to cooperate?"
"I'd tell you to go shove it." Nibet said. "You're about two condescending remarks away from me pushing the button myself."
"Enough." Phoney said. He dismissed the guards and picked up an object lying on a nearby table. He brought it into Glaian's view. An Extinction Drive. "We've found eight, so far. How many more are there?"
"The three Linara took probably burned up with her in the atmosphere." Glaian said. "So we're just missing one. Are any you found shaped differently from the rest? Pyramidal?"
"I take it that's the Triggering Mechanism?"
"Insofar as Deyavara understood the system, yes. It can only be activated by charging that node in the chain. As long as all twelve are connected to the Dreaming, and the mechanism is charged, they'll generate a feedback loop and create a pulse of energy designed to kill any living being that can sense it."
"Any living being?" Phoney asked. "You realize what that means, don't you? If Izaroth figures out how to activate it, he won't just wipe out humanity. Every Bone, animal, plant, insect… Every living thing on the planet will die."
"I know. That's why I had my men extract as many of our peoples' Dreaming Eyes as they could. To sever their connection to the Dreaming and ensure we would not be entirely wiped out."
"So Deyavara was planning to use them?"
"His hatred blinded him. He was willing to sacrifice anything and everything to wipe out humanity and spit on Nagratek and Ven's legacy."
"You talk like you didn't help him carry out his plan." Nibet said. "Growing a conscience all of a sudden?"
"Hardly. I have simply outgrown the need for Deyavara's plans. All I wanted from him was power. And now I have it. But I won't be a victim of his shortsightedness."
"It almost sounds like you want to help us."
"I would be open to the idea, if I wasn't strapped to an explosive device."
"Bullshit." Nibet turned to Phoney. "I say we kill him and be done with it. I can't stand hearing his voice any longer."
"I wouldn't advise it."
"Of course you wouldn't. I doubt you've got another method for cheating death conveniently squirreled away."
"Get to the point." Phoney said. "You know something you think we'll want to hear."
"Oh yes." Glaian said. "Very astute observation Phoncible. You've been sent here by Nagratek to fetch the Extinction Drives. He wants to keep them out of the Councilman's hands, but it won't matter. When the Dreaming connects, the Councilman will activate them all anyway."
"How? He sent you and Linara to retrieve them, unless the situation is even more out of hand than I thought. Why would he do that if he could trigger them remotely."
"All the mechanism needs is a pulse of Dreaming Energy. The Councilman can provide such a pulse at his leisure, but he wanted the Drives isolated within the Valley to keep the effects from reaching the rest of the world. Deyavara took away that luxury, and now that I've failed to return with the Drives he'll be forced to fall back on Deyavara's plan. To wait for the Dreaming to connect with the outside world and annihilate all life on this planet."
"You seemed pretty on board with this plan back when we took down your army. What changed? Why tell us this now?"
"Because I lost." Glaian said, no hint of a smile left on his face. "I died that day. Have you ever known the feeling?"
"Can't say that I have."
"Then I can't describe to you exactly what it was like, but I never want to experience that again. And being trapped in Deyavara's head, I had time to think of a different solution." Glaian tore his arm out of the restraints and began to free himself. Nibet reached for her gun, but Phoney stopped her. The two backed up a few steps as Glaian swung himself off the cot, collar still intact.
"A different solution? You mean you can stop the Councilman?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"How? We've already tried destroying the Extinction Drives, and according to you there's nowhere we can take them that would be out of his reach."
"The Drives aren't the core issue. It's Mon'Yaran that he's trying to stop, after all."
"The name rings a bell. King of the First Folk, wants to enslave and or destroy the world."
"Close enough." Glaian shrugged. "According to Deyavara, the Councilman couldn't kill him directly, so he built the Drives to starve him of energy. But one of Nagratek's old allies, I believe you know him as Shard, developed a different weapon he was convinced could kill Mon'Yaran directly, no need for collateral damage."
"You didn't find it, did you?"
"No, but the idea got Archibald thinking. The Councilman and his peers were focused on attacking Mon'Yaran from primarily a Dreaming perspective. Understandable, considering it's the only place he seems to fully exist. But all beings are ultimately physical constructs. So Archibald designed a weapon to attack his physical body instead. A weapon capable of reducing any physical system to its constituent parts."
"The plasma weaponry." Phoney said. "You think it can kill him."
"I think it's our best shot, yes."
"Where are you keeping them?" Nibet asked. "If you're in such a giving mood."
"That I can't just give away for free." Glaian shook his head. "It's about the only thing keeping me alive, I dare say, if the look Phoncible's been giving me this entire exchange is anything to go by. But I can take you to our control mechanism. If you guarantee my freedom, I'll even activate it for you. We can melt Mon'Yaran to sludge and be done with this whole sordid affair."
"So where is it?" Phoney asked, looking around his former office. The fighting had settled down enough that Satranik had deemed it safe for him to approach. "And why hide it in here?"
"It seemed like the safest place for it." Glaian replied, digging through the desk. "After all, it's the last place you've managed to root my men out of. Any soldiers left here would have had access to the arsenal as a failsafe."
"This is beyond ridiculous." Satranik said. "For the record, sir, if we live through this I'm resigning."
"Probably a wise decision, all things considered." Phoney shrugged. "Let's just get this over with. How long did you say we have until the Drives activate?"
"An hour, at least." Glaian said, tossing Phoney the device tracking the Dreaming's progress. "After that, no guarantees. It'll be a crapshoot to see which brother gets to end the world first. Here we are." He set a briefcase down on the table and opened it up. Inside was a keyboard and a screen. He began typing in coordinates.
"That's not yours." Phoney said as Glaian turned the briefcase to face him.
"No." Glaian sighed. "But it is out only option. If you'll input the codes, we can proceed."
"I am not launching nukes, Glaian. What happened to your plasma weapons?"
"They won't cut it. They never would have."
"So you lied." Nibet laughed. "Why am I not surprised?"
"It was necessary to bring you here. The plasma weaponry was never designed to kill Mon'Yaran, but that doesn't mean your nuclear arsenal won't do the job."
"And wipe out the Valley in the process." Phoney said.
"It is preferable to the alternatives."
"No. I'm not going to be responsible for more deaths, Glaian."
"Spare me your conscience, Phoncible. Deyavara has forced us to this. I planned to bring the Councilman the Drives immediately after his release and giving them a painless end. Deyavara betrayed us to fulfill his twisted revenge fantasy. The Valley was never going to be saved. But we can do what is necessary to ensure their sacrifice will not be made in vain. We can destroy Mon'Yaran for good."
"I will not sanction genocide, Glaian. There has to be an alternative."
"The alternative is we wait and see who achieves their mad dreams first. The brother who wishes death upon the world? Or the one who would inflict worse? I'm aware of the consequences of this course of action, but we have no choice left. Mon'Yaran must be stopped, and the Councilman cannot be the one to stop him."
"If this is what it would take, than neither can we." Phoney reached up to close the briefcase. Glaian grabbed his hand before he could. Nibet pressed her gun into the back of his head, and Satranik drew her own.
"I will only ask one more time, Phoncible, before I stop asking at all. Input the launch codes."
"Step away from the President, asshole." Nibet hissed. "I knew this was a waste of time."
"You are the only ones wasting time here. We have no other options."
"Out allies in the Valley will stop this." Phoney said. "We just need to give them time."
"Nagratek is not powerful enough to stop what's coming, Shard has no interest in it, the dragons are too blind to see the threat, and Ven's already failed to kill the Councilman once. Thorn has the best chance, but even the Chosen One can't face this alone. And if it falls to relying on your cousin, then we've already lost. If we don't act quickly, then-" He stopped when he noticed the device beeping. The Dreaming had successfully reunified.
"You said we had time." Phoney said.
"This is not on me." Glaian spat back. "Input the codes now, or we will all pay the-" The Triggering Mechanism flashed, momentarily blinding everyone in the room. It began floating off the table, its sides unfolding and spinning rapidly. Glaian attempted to wrench it out of the air, but he couldn't move it. Nibet turned her gun on it. For a moment, Phoney glanced at the briefcase. Before anyone could act, however, a bright golden light swept over the mansion, and they all collapsed.
Tom floated through the void, silently cursing his own stupidity. He promised Nagratek he wouldn't try to show off, yet the first thing he does when things go south is try to play the knight in shining armor. He couldn't hold Havaki's attention for more than a few seconds before it followed Thorn out of whatever void the thing that wasn't Percival had trapped him in. He hoped that spall span of time would be enough.
He didn't have long to dwell on his mistakes, however. Soon, he felt something pulling him out of the void. Very physically. A vine wrapped around his chest, dragging him out of a mass of crystal. His eyes fluttered open, but the world was still hazy. He could feel a bed of small crystals below him, and just about make out Roderick's body lying next to him. And he could see the blurry shape of Lorimar's vine snaking its way back to her body. She'd spread them out all over the room.
"Have fun, you two." He could hear Havaki's voice ring in his ears, clearer than the other, more muted sounds. "I'm going to go enjoy my new body for a spell."
"No." Tom muttered, attempting to drag himself forward and cutting his arms on the crystals. "I won't let you."
"You're too late." He heard Lorimar say, dragging him and the others into the air. He thought she was addressing him until he noticed the mass of darkness at the other end of the room. A woman's face protruded from the front. Tendrils of darkness clashed with Lorimar's vines, but their main bodies stayed motionless.
"Still clinging to the king's vision?" The woman's face asked. "He's using you, sister. None of us will live to see the world he intends to create. If indeed he intends to create anything at all."
"You are not my sister. She died at the Councilman's hands, and every second you wear her face is an insult to her memory. She worked harder than any of us to see the king's vision through."
"Everything I worked for was a lie. But there are no words that will convince you. Perhaps the Locust's return will change your mind?"
"Return… Impossible. It was destroyed years ago, by the Chosen One."
"And yet it now lives, fully incarnated, in the body of a Pawan Yeni-Yan-Cari. If it is allowed to fester, then nothing we do here will matter. It will destroy us all."
"I should put you down here and now." Lorimar said. She paused for a moment. Eosutana did the same. "Yet what you say seems to be the truth. I must go guard my Master until this storm passes. But I will be back to collect the Second Vessel very soon. I will destroy you then." Lorimar pulled Tom and the others through a crack in the air and into another stone room. This one was significantly darker, no longer lit by glowing crystals. She released them and floated toward the door, which had a wooden gate bolted across it.
"You will all wait here." Lorimar said, closing the gate behind her. "I do not wish to shed any more blood."
"Why?" Tom asked, looking up at her. Feeling began to return to his limbs, and he stood up, leaning against the wall for support. She stopped and considered his question for a moment but didn't answer. He asked again, more distraught. "Why?!"
"I did what had to be done." She replied. She didn't look at him so much as through him. All the times they'd spent together went rushing through Tom's mind, and he could never recall her giving him that look. She almost seemed sad.
"No, you didn't." Tom shook his head. "You trapped our friends in that den of horrors. Nothing could have been worth that."
"I am sorry. But the will of my master is absolute. You will understand why I did all of this, in time."
"So you keep saying." Tom heard another voice in the room. His eyes took a second to get adjusted, but he saw a girl, only a year or two older than him, leaning on the opposite wall. A pair of men in Venu uniforms stood with her. She looked familiar, but Tom couldn't place where he'd seen her before.
"I don't have time for this." Lorimar sighed. "I will return to fetch you all when the time comes." She turned and floated down the hallway, leaving them alone. After a moment, a small winged red dragon crawled through the wooden gate. A green bug jumped off his back and bounded toward the girl.
"Thank th' stars we had th' sense t' hide when we did!" Ted said, jumping onto the girl's outstretched arm. "We'd have been her sooner, but things on th' outside sorta took a turn."
"It's fine." The girl said. "Any news from Red?"
"Th' Councilman's makin' his move as we speak, if I've got my timin' right. Somethin' big's got every critter from here to the Stair shakin' in their fur, so-"
"The Lord of the Locusts." Tom said, unintentionally cutting Ted off. "Last I heard, he'd somehow managed to put himself back together."
"The Locust…" The girl muttered to herself for a moment. "And you are?"
"T- Tom…" He stuttered. He was caught off guard more by being recognized than anything. "Tom Elm."
"Well, Mister Elm." The girl smiled. "It's a pleasure. My name is Taneal." The High Priestess. Tom resisted the urge to smack his own forehead. "Welcome to Tanen Guard."
"We're in the South?"
"Where'd Lorimar pull you guys from?" The older of the two men asked. Tom recognized him as the man who'd screamed at Nagratek just before they left to find Fone.
"North of the Valley, a large canyon system. We were looking for Fone, but…"
"You're the kid who was with the Queen." The man nodded.
"How's th' search comin' along?" Ted asked.
"About as well as it looks." Tom sighed. "I don't know what happened to the others, but Lorimar got her hands on me. I think she was there to collect Fone, but then news dropped about the Locust, and… Bloody Stars this is a mess."
"Are your friends alright?" The younger man asked.
"Unconscious, I think." Tom frowned. He bent down and pressed his fingers against Percival's throat. He could feel a pulse. Satisfied, he stood up and nodded. "We were trapped in a dream-like state before Lorimar got us. I'm a little more resistant to dream prisons than most, though."
"You are the boy who slew the Nacht?" Taneal asked. Tom nodded. "Then we will need your help."
"Finally moving out?" The older man asked.
"Precisely."
"I'll head back out, then." Ted said, jumping off Taneal's arm. "See if I can get some reinforcements. Best of luck." He bounded back out the gate.
"What's going on?" Tom asked.
"There is a being in the heart of this place that is responsible for the destruction we are facing. The king of the First Folk. We must find him and confront him before his plan comes to fruition."
"Mon'Yaran." Tom said. "I've heard the name."
"Then you know what's at stake?"
"I've heard the story from Nagratek." Tom shrugged. "I wasn't sure how much I wanted to believe at first, but seeing Lorimar like this… Yes. I know what's at stake."
"Good." Taneal turned to Stillman. "We're moving now."
"Right." He grunted. He waddled over to the gate and puffed up his lungs. He bathed them in a gout of flame, burning the wood to ash. "This way." He ducked through the exit, Taneal and her guards close behind him. Tom took one last glance at his unconscious friends before following.
"You know where we're headed?" Tom asked.
"Have a little faith, Tom." Stillman smiled. "I know my way around these caverns."
"Six minutes." The older man announced. Tom wasn't sure what he was counting down to, but the others looked like they knew.
"What's the plan, then? And what do you need me to do?"
"For now?" Taneal asked, glancing around a corner before motioning the others onward. "Follow. When we arrive at the Crown, I'll walk you through what we-"
"Down!" The younger man shouted, grabbing Taneal and pulling her to the ground. A gout of flame passed over their heads. The older man whirled around, facing down the dragon that had entered the passageway behind them.
"Run!" He shouted. Taneal, Stillman, and the younger man scrambled forward as he advanced on the dragon. Tom hung back, unsure of what to do. The dragon made the decision for him, knocking the older man aside and lunging for Taneal. Tom threw himself between them. The dragon's claw grazed his stomach, and a burst of golden light drove it back.
Tom fell to his knees, clutching his stomach as the entire world turned upside down. He could hear the dragon thrashing around, roaring in pain. He felt someone grab him by the arm and begin dragging him away. Judging by how quickly they moved, it had to be the older man.
"You said six minutes, William!" He heard the younger man shout. "Did that feel like six minutes to you?"
"Their patrol patterns must have been thrown off!" William, the older man, shouted back. "Probably because the bloody Lord of the Locusts is back!"
"Focus, please." Taneal said. "We don't want to draw more attention to ourselves."
"Hold." Stillman said. The group ground to a halt near the entrance to a large, canyon-like cavern. Tom took the moment to break from William's grip and get his feet back under him. The cavern was deep, seemingly bottomless. Steam rose up from somewhere in the depths, and myriad pathways crossed from one side to the other.
"Dragons are swarming the pathway I had intended to take us down." Stillman continued, nose in the air. "It won't take them long to find us. How quickly can you get your ritual done, Taneal?"
"I cannot rush the prayers." She replied. "I will need several minutes to complete it."
"Time we don't have." William grunted. "Unless golden boy here can keep doing what he did to that dragon back there."
"Sorry." Tom said. "I wish I could, but… I have no idea what that was."
"You have power within you, Tom Elm." Taneal said, placing a pair of fingers against his forehead. "Do not be afraid to wield it."
"We're moving." Stillman said, slithering out onto one of the thin walkways. Wordlessly, the rest of the group followed him. They hung low, nearly crawling along the walkway to avoid the gaze of a pair of dragons several below them. They broke into a run again as they reached the other side. They continued to travel like that until they reached a cavern of glass. The floor was a perfectly smooth mirror, and the walls looked as if they'd been melted like wax. Large columns rose up from the floor or dripped down from the ceiling. The one in the center of the room dwarfed the rest. It gave off a soft, golden glow. The Crown of Horns.
"Alex, get up on that rock." William drew a knife and pointed to a large pillar by the entrance. "Nothing comes through this entrance until Taneal's done."
Alex nodded and did as he was instructed. William crouched at the base of the opposite pillar. Stillman climbed up onto the ceiling, eyes watching the entrance. And Taneal strode forward, a pouch of prayer stones in one hand. She placed one on the ground immediately in front of the Crown of Horns. It stayed put, almost locking itself into place as she moved on to place the next one.
"I don't think so, little welp." A voice rasped from deeper within the cavern. A long, black dragon slithered out of the darkness; serpentine eyes locked on Taneal.
"Vokelle." She said, barely looking up from her work. "I am honored by your presence."
"Spare me the pleasantries." Vokelle spat. William and Alex began sneaking around to his tail, while Tom stood by dumbfounded. "You were our most devoted subject. Why, now, do you turn against us?"
"You turn against yourselves, esteemed councilman. You were pledged to follow Mim's teachings, to bring balance to the Dreaming. But this king you now swear loyalty to will do no such thing."
"We give Mon'Yaran no loyalty." Vokelle hissed, smoke flaring from his nostrils. "He will bring harmony to the Dreaming, and so we support his efforts. This is naught but what Mim had taught us."
"You forget your teachings, then. Harmony and balance are not the same ideal. He will bring balance to nothing and no one, and harmony only to himself."
"What would a mere human know of our ideals?" Vokelle lurched forward and placed a claw against her forehead. William and Alex rushed him, knives drawn, but he knocked them back with a flick of his tail. Stillman dropped from the ceiling and began hissing at Vokelle, smoke rising from the corners of his mouth. Vokelle paid him no mind.
"Come on…" Tom muttered, practically dancing from one foot to the next as he tried to draw out the power he'd used against the previous dragon. He could see a smile spread across Vokelle's maw as his conversation with Taneal continued. He was playing with his food.
Reaching out to the same feeling he'd used to track Fone across the desert, Tom found himself back in the void. He could see Havaki's body, the small child that had accompanied Fone in his visions. It floated just out of reach. Its form was a distant memory for Tom, but he pushed that out of his mind.
"You." Havaki said, opening his eyes. "I don't know how you managed to drag yourself back here, but I'm not interested in you anymore. I've got a much more robust vessel now."
"I don't care." Tom said. "You used your power to save me back there. People are in danger. I need more of it."
"I did no such thing. A small amount leaked in a moment of weakness, nothing more. I will not permit a thing as small as you to channel my power a second time."
"I'm not asking." Tom grunted. He lunged forward and grabbed Havaki's body. Gripping the boy by the collar, he slammed his forehead into his nose. A golden light sparked between them, briefly drowning out the void.
A scream tore from his throat as he opened his eyes, drawing Vokelle's attention briefly. He ran for the dragon and leapt into the air, golden light dancing across his palms. He slammed his open hand against Vokelle's eye, instantly disintegrating it. The dragon recoiled in pain, dropping Taneal and retreating into the shadows. Tom ran after him, slicing through parts of his body, limbs, and tail until he stopped moving. The dragon could barely breath, and bled from a dozen wounds, but Tom stopped short of outright killing him.
"You have overcome your fear." Taneal smiled at Tom as he slumped against a nearby pillar. "I am grateful." She walked over to Vokelle and grabbed one of his teeth. With surprising ease, she pulled it free of his jaw, eliciting another scream. She took it to the entrance and stabbed it into the ground. In the hole she made, she placed another prayer stone. She then crushed it with the tooth, imbedding it in the ground and leaving it to stand.
"Is there a point to all of this?" Tom asked. "I can keep going for now, but if there's not some kind of end goal, I don't think it'll matter."
"The tooth is a forbidden ritual, designed by Tarsil's Vedu to ward off dragons. Highly inefficient, as it requires to have already killed a dragon, but surprisingly effective once put in place. It should buy us the time we need."
"To do what, exactly?"
"To restore the balance." She returned to the Crown and resumed placing her prayer stones. The first hadn't moved, despite all the commotion. William and Alex dragged themselves back to the entrance while she worked, and Tom joined them.
"How'd you guys wind up here, exactly?" He asked, casting a wary eye into the darkness of the halls beyond the room.
"Taneal was in Deren Guard working to coordinate what little help they offered in the war." William said. "After it ended, we lost contact with her. Alex and I went looking for her, and we found this little guy instead." He nodded to Stillman, who was nearby but keeping a wide berth of the tooth.
"The council had taken her prisoner." Stillman said. "They moved her here on Lorimar's request. These two boneheads wanted to kick down the front gate and drag her out, but I convinced them that was suicide. The only way to get into Tanen Guard is for the dragons to let you in, so I helped them get captured as well. That's when we hatched this plan."
"The plan being?" Tom asked again. "You still haven't said."
"She's going to kill him." Alex said. "Mon'Yaran, I mean. She's planning on destroying his consciousness or trapping him in the Crown forever or something along those lines. She's been preparing these rituals for months, it seems like. Ever since the start of the war, I think she knew it would come down to-"
"Tom Elm." Taneal said, interrupting him. "I require your assistance."
"Coming." He said, taking a last glance at the darkness to make sure nothing was approaching. He could hear the clambering of claws on stone, but no other dragons had made their appearance yet.
"I need you to channel energy for me." Taneal explained as he approached. Her circle was complete, and she stood directly in front of the Crown of Horns. "Place your hands on my shoulders and begin to supply when I start the chant."
"Are you sure?" He held up his hands. Golden light still streamed between the fingers. "Dragons can't handle this power."
"The power is not for me, it is for the ritual. What I am attempting is more complex than what prayer allows." She turned to face the Crown and clasped her hands in front of herself. Hesitantly, Tom placed his hands on her shoulders. Energy crackled from his fingertips over her arms and down into the circle of prayer stones.
"Is it working?" He asked.
I think so. A voice answered, echoing inside his mind. It was familiar in a way he couldn't quite place. Startled, he jumped back from Taneal, taking his hands off.
"Sorry." He said. "I didn't mean to…" He trailed off as he noticed she'd stopped chanting. She stood stock still, frozen in place mid-sentence. He looked back to see the others in similar positions. Even Vokelle's ragged breathing had ceased.
Such a curiosity. The voice continued. To think a Third Vessel would be born into this world. Pure coincidence. An impossibility of fate. And yet here you are.
"Who's there?" Tom asked, raising his hands to defend himself.
My name is Mon'Yaran. The voice let out a thin laugh. King of the First Folk. And you, small one, are the Third Vessel of creation. Brimming with so much untapped potential. There is much I would have liked to discuss with you, had Lorimar brought you before me sooner. But the Black Eyes are almost open, now. Soon the dream will end. There is precious little time left. You will help me retrieve what I have lost.
Tom felt something take hold of him. Against his will, his body began to move toward the Crown of Horns. He stretched out his hand and touched it, energy crackling from his palm along its surface. In response, the crystalline surface contorted, drawing him in. As he sank into its depths, more energy began to flow out from him. Too much. He thrashed and screamed, the energy burning his skin, but it didn't stop. It couldn't stop.
Suddenly, he felt something pull him back out. He looked over his shoulder to see Taneal, hands outstretched, prayer stone clutched between them. Blood ran down her nose, and her movements were sluggish, but she'd freed herself from whatever Mon'Yaran had done. He backed away from the Crown of Horns and retreated to her side.
Very well. Mon'Yaran sighed. I suppose we'll do this the hard way.