The greatest of the continents.
“You make it sound as if you put them there.”
He could almost see the being shake its head. The masters set such in operation. They made the tiny worlds so that when the turn came, each would open again unto this, the true world. They hoped that one would prove a successor to their own kind.
The creature had informed him of everything in a simple, unattached manner, which was why its words did not penetrate immediately. Dru sat still as the impact of what his captor had said burrowed its way into his mind.
You understand correctly. The places from which the Sheeka, the Quel, and even you originated are slices of this world.
“Nimth… Nimth isn’t… isn’t real?” Not possible! the sorcerer wanted to shout. The birthplace of the Vraad a falsehood? A… zoo?
He could sense the sadness around him, a sadness that deepened his own horror at what he had come to realize. The mighty Vraad race had risen to supremacy of a cage, another race’s toy!
Not so, the ghostly dragon emphasized. Not a cage. More of a birthing place for the masters’ successors. They were old; their race was tired. The masters wanted to leave behind a legacy, so they took from their own and worked to make them better. Then they set them in worlds of their own and let each grow. See it as it was.
The dragon sank completely into the darkness and was replaced by a tiny image that expanded gradually, filling more and more of Dru’s vision until he actually felt he was standing in another place, in another time. In some ways, it was like communicating with the Seekers, save that what Dru saw was not forced upon him. He could accept it or not.
He had no intention of refusing such an opportunity.
There were beings he could call human and many he would not have guessed could ever have been. The ancient race had chosen every conceivable variation they could think of, some of which even Dru, who had witnessed much over his gray life, found so revolting he was astonished that they even lived.
Many attempts did not. There were scores of empty little worlds, worlds created by slicing reality itself. Each had once housed a hope, but those hopes had died for one reason or another, sometimes in great wars that destroyed everything. More than a few were judged failures even if the race within survived; the elders had searched for certain traits among their children. Eventually, most of those failures destroyed themselves, only one had not… so far.
Dru knew without asking that Nimth was the one failure that had, up until now, not succeeded in destroying itself completely. The time was nearing, however.
“What about those that succeeded?”
There were those that matured to the second stage, the mock dragon responded. Images of various civilizations passed before Dru. He recognized only two. The Seekers and their enemy, the armadillolike beings called the Quel.
“But you said…
They have failed. The Quel hang on, but nothing more. They will never rise to greatness again. The Seekers have begun their own descent. Their arrogance and communal thinking make them unwilling to face ultimate change. As for the elves… they will survive and aid us, but they lack the drive to become what they are capable of becoming. Because of that, they are lost to the plan as well.
“And we have also failed you.”
Perhaps. Perhaps not. With time…
With time, they, too, will fade, the one who chilled Dru’s spirit whispered.
Their death knell has begun already, added the fourth voice.
Dru shook his head, trying to clear away the confusing echoes within.
Not so! the mock dragon overwhelmed his counterparts. There is still time.
We have interfered enough, the fourth countered, but uncertainly now.
Give me leave to do what must be done…
The sorcerer found himself in the midst of darkness again as the entities evidently discussed something not for his ears.
So many questions continued to clamor for answers, but Dru doubted he would ever learn everything. Still…
His musings were forgotten as the world returned.
The sun was in the sky, a brilliant, burning orb that the mage had never thought to see again.
The Seekers who came here have been taken care of. You will think of them no longer. It was the first voice, but there was no sign of the dragon form.
It will not be needed for this short time. You will listen, Dru Zeree of the Vraad. A wind picked up as the being spoke. I have removed the one called Darkhorse from this place and returned it to its own domain. It should have never come here. It does not belong.
“He did nothing to harm you!”
A strong gust blew a cloud of dirt into Dru’s face, blinding him and causing him to choke for a few seconds.
It… he… has not been harmed. We have merely placed him where he should be. His presence was only one more catalyst for chaos in something we have been commanded to preserve.
“You interfere quite easily for something that isn’t supposed to interfere!” the Vraad snapped. Darkhorse had aided him, had saved him several times. To be so carelessly removed was unfair to the ebony creature.
I leave you the elf, Vraad. That is all I can do for you. That your kind have breached their boundaries is a matter of importance. I must study what can be done to return things to what they were. If the Vraad are to succeed, they must follow the path set by the old ones.
Dru could not resist one more barb before his benefactor departed. “Things as they were? Complete collapse of your masters’ hopes is all that remains if you steer things back that way. We’re entering this world at this very moment. It’s too late to turn things back!”
A mocking laugh made the embittered sorcerer start. He knew it was not the laugh of the servant he had been speaking to. He knew which of the entities now enjoyed his discomfort.
It will be easier than you think!
He was alone in his mind again. Around him, the wind died abruptly, a sign that the guardians had abandoned him.
A moan behind him reminded Dru that he had been promised someone who could guide him.
“You… you are not an elf or one of those monsters, are you?”
The Vraad turned to his new companion. “Obviously not, as you can see.”
She was slighter than the dead female he had seen earlier, but identical in appearance otherwise. Her hair was bound back. Her eyes scoured his form, at last resting on his visage. Dru doubted that it was because she found him attractive.
“You are Vraad.”
He looked at her with renewed interest. “How did you know that?”
The elf rose, doubling the distance between them as she did. Loathing coated her words. “We thought we had left you behind forever! Now all of our work is for nothing! There’s nowhere left to hide! No hope of turning this insane sorcerer’s experiment in our favor!”
A knife materialized from her left hand. She had moved so quickly, Dru would have almost sworn it was magic.
“I will still get the satisfaction of killing you, though!”
XIII
I’ve given up my future… and for what? The imbecilic child of an outsider!
Gerrod knelt behind a ridge on the outskirts of Melenea’s domain. She could not possibly know he was so near, not if his calculations based on his brother’s work were correct. This region would be in the midst of one of the greatest instabilities existing, nearly as great as the area where the fool Dru Zeree had vanished. Already, the hooded Tezerenee had caught glimpses of a ghostly elsewhere that he knew had to be the shrouded realm intruding into Nimth. Would that his father’s so-called Dragonrealm would fully overwhelm the decaying world. Then, at least that problem would be solved.
It would still not solve the Vraad problem concerning colonizing a land that Gerrod felt wanted nothing to do with his kind… and that was likely why he had finally, in the hours since his last words with his mother, chosen to stay clear of the city. Missing the cross-over had likely cost him his life, yet he had not cared enough to abandon his plan to rescue Zeree’s daughter.