FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

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Chapter Fifty Two

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Revaramek watched the marsh speed by beneath the platform built from the city’s ruined buildings. As if the very concept of such a structure wasn’t unnerving enough, Revaramek couldn’t help but wonder if it was all held together solely by Asterbury’s will. If he forgot to keep it together, would it all just crumble beneath him? At least he had wings with which to catch himself. Jekk wouldn’t be so lucky, and Revaramek doubted he could catch him in time.

He glanced at the old man. Jekk sat cross-legged near the edge of the platform, bony knees pressed against his breeches. When Jekk saw him looking, the gave the dragon a dirty look, and muttered something under his breath. Revaramek snorted and growled at him, then looked away. He was glad he wouldn’t have to keep this up much longer.

The dragon turned his gaze towards Asterbury. The urd’thin sat in his makeshift throne, toying with one of the silver bracelets on his wrist. His ears were half splayed back, his muzzle twisted up. Ayaryl sat behind him, her neck curled so she could whisper into his ears. He lifted a hand and stroked her purple muzzle, murmuring back to her.

“Just kiss already.” Revaramek thumped his tail, glaring at them.

Since they both ignored him, Revaramek looked Aylaryl over. There was no sign of the wounds she’d suffered earlier. No scars lingered on her belly. Her wing and limb looked fine. Being healed hadn’t stopped her legs from shaking. When she lifted a foreleg to brush her pads over Asterbury’s fur, her paw trembled. Revaramek flicked his ears back, glad he wasn’t the only one shaken up by what happened earlier.

The green dragon still wasn’t totally sure just what he’d done. After his private talks with Jekk, he knew he must have some minor spark of Asterbury’s power. But it wasn’t as if he’d had time to test that theory. He wouldn’t even know where to begin. Helping Asterbury heal Aylaryl was the urd’thin’s idea, after all. Revaramek couldn’t even be sure Asterbury hadn’t used his own powers to coax something out of the dragon that Revaramek himself couldn’t access.

Whatever the case, it meant he was right about why Asterbury needed him. Jekk seemed pretty sure that if Revaramek’s mother could open those gates, so could he. Hell, for all Revaramek knew, he might have opened it as a hatchling. It wasn’t as if his memory of those moments were anything more than a fuzzy, jumbled up blur. The more he tried to think about it, the more confusing it got. As if his memories were nothing more than a set of images he couldn’t quite align. Almost as if…

Revaramek swung his head around to peer at Asterbury. As long as he was stuck with the crazy little runt, he may as well see what he could learn from him. “You said…traveling between worlds messes with your mind, so…do your memories get mixed up?

Asterbury perked an ear, leaning forward in his throne. “You mean like your déjà vu?”

The dragon blinked, curling his tail, the webbed-spines brushing his paws. “Is that where that comes from? From the gates?”

“Probably in part, yes.” Asterbury drummed his fingers on a skull capping the arm of his throne. “Making the transition can scramble things up, in your head.” He circled a finger next to one of his little black horns. “And for you, that left your young mind bare and exposed to new memories…memories that came from stories of other dragons, from other worlds. Half the tales the maidens used to tell you are histories of other places, based on storyteller chronicles. Others I’m sure your mother learned the same way.” He flopped back into his throne, tail twitching. “I suspect your parents, or their parents were brought to that world by the Storytellers. I remember dragons there, in their fortress city. Some of them looked like you.”

Revaramek splayed a wing, staring at the copper splotches across it. His mother had a good deal more copper than he did, while his father had more gold, as far as he could recall. “Why would they bring dragons?”

Asterbury splayed his hands. “To fight us, of course.” He waggled his fingers over one palm, and an image sprang to life above the platform. A vast, golden desert. And in the distance, a dozen or more dragons of deep green, some with copper markings, others with gold. A few were darker, one copper like sunburnt sand, another black with green splotches. Each dragon bore a rider wrapped in heavy robes. “Like in the old tales. The men in robes, astride their great, scaled beasts. I told you, you weren’t the first dragon they enslaved.” He lifted his voice, calling out in a cheerful, sing-song tone. “Right, old Jekky-poo?”

Jekk shifted around to gaze back at the urd’thin. “What do you want me to say?”

Asterbury gestured at Revaramek. “Just tell him where he came from.”

“How the hell should I know?” Jekk shrugged and folded his arms. “Codex says he’s from 3-D, so that’s where he’s from.”

“Not where he hatched.” Asterbury growled, ruffling the fur of a forearm. “How the dragons got there.”

“Some of them might have been native to the marsh. It’s possible they began there the same way your people began in the desert.”

Asterbury went still. A low growl crept up his throat, his fur bristled. “Careful, old man.”

Revaramek rose to his paws to stand between Asterbury and Jekk. He curled his neck to glare down at the urd’thin. “Remember what I said. He’s off limits now.”

The urd’thin gave Revaramek a big smile, and crackled his knuckles. “Wouldn’t dream of harming the old charmer.” His voice twisted into a snarl. “But he’d damn well better tell you where the other dragons came from.”

“We brought them.” Jekk tugged on his shirt sleeve, and stared at his hands. “I think that’s obvious enough by now. There were quite a few them around the colony when I was young. Had to build around a big oasis, get some pumps to keep pulling up groundwater, not just for us but for the dragons. And even before I was born, they’d had others there. Some of them escaped, I’m sure. I’d always imagined they died in the desert but…maybe they found enough trails of oasis ponds to survive, found their way to the marsh.” He waved his bony hand at the urd’thin. “After you were gone, they all fled in the chaos. With the way the world was changing, probably made it easier to find their way out of the desert, and south, to the marsh. It wouldn’t have been poisoned all at once, so-”

“Now you’re just rambling.” Asterbury snapped his teeth, flicking a single ear back. “Point is, Revaramek, you’re descended from storyteller slave dragons. Even if there were already marsh dragons there, I’m sure the escapees had quite the celebration with the natives, and soon all the bloodlines were mixed up. Half those stories your mother used to tell you were probably learned from storyteller tomes. Or from hearing them told by other dragons from other worlds. And after you came here, your poor little hatchling mind got all mixed up with those new stories the maidens told, until part of you was sure those deeds were yours, not theirs.”

Revaramek glanced back and forth between Jekk and Asterbury. He considered a moment, and decided it didn’t matter where his ancestors were from. It did not change who he was. The dragon licked his nose, and gave a long sigh. “That’s a nice story, but I don’t care. Stop deflecting my question. What about your memories? They get scrambled too, don’t they?”

“Not really your concern, is it?”

Revaramek flexed his wings, shifting his weight. “Seems like if I’m going to be stuck working for you, I ought to at least know what I’m dealing with. You’re already told me you see…” The dragon circled a forepaw in the air. “Everything. Versions of yourself when you’re happy, or something different happens. Does that interfere with your memories?”

A smile twitched at Asterbury’s muzzle. “Why do you ask?”

The dragon rubbed at the base of a horn. His head ached a little. “It’s just…the more I try and remember exactly how I came here, the more I feel…well, as if my memories are all painted on glass, and stacked in front of each other. Like I’m…trying to see…”

Asterbury leaned forward in his seat again when Revaramek trailed off. “Four versions of the same thing, but they’re all a little different. Be glad that’s only your early memories, and that you don’t see it…all the time.” He glanced away, flattening back his ears. Aylaryl stroked them with a paw, and he leaned his head into her touch. “And that you’re the one who lives. You got the good ending. I still think you were meant to die there, or…at least, to be stuck there. But you’re lucky to be in the only version of your life that made it here. So maybe if you’ve started to see the other versions of your story, it means your transition opened up your mind, so to speak, to those other existences. But those images will never line up, because the rest of you die.”

“Lucky me.” Revaramek grunted and shivered, his scales clicking. The idea that there were other versions of him who never made it out of that swamp sat cold in his belly, as if he’d swallowed a whole lump of ice that wouldn’t melt. “Now I’m stuck dealing with you.”

“Yes, isn’t that exciting?” Asterbury bounced in his throne, looking like an excited pup sitting his father’s chair. “Now you get to have adventures all around the many worlds, with your old pal Asterbury.”

Revaramek flared his spines, glaring down at the urd’thin. “Your mind’s like a puzzle missing a few pieces, isn’t it.”

“Oh, I’m way more fun than a puzzle!” Asterbury leaned back in his chair, smiling. “I’m more like a drinking game that’s gone on way too long! First you’re laughing, but soon everything’s spinning and any moment now you’re gonna puke!”

“You got the puking part right, anyway.” Revaramek stretched out his forepaws, and dragged unsheathed claws across makeshift floor.

The dragon turned away from the urd’thin, and padded towards the edge of the platform shooting through the sky. They were far enough outside the town that the boardwalks spanning sections of marsh were now few and far between. Only a few wooden walkways were visible in all directions. Tangles of knotty cypress root stretched out between canopies. Immense willow boughs bent towards the increasingly deep water. Lily pads and duckweed covered sloughs and backwaters. Stands of reeds covered rises, and sprawling swamp rose bushes occupied patches between the water.

Judging by the water’s increasing depth, they were further southwest than Revaramek had flown in years. When he was younger he used fly a long ways from the village, back when there were more dragons and gryphons to visit. Since the truce took effect, he hadn’t been anywhere near this far. Even before that, the last time he thought he’d been this far into the wilder parts of the marsh, he had just arrived with his mother. Vague memories of those hazy days drifted through his mind. She’d wanted to get far from this place, as if she was afraid the poison water would one day seep into this world, too.

A structure stood out against the horizon, faintly visible at first. As they sped across the marsh, Jekk pushed himself to his feet and came to stand alongside Revaramek. The old man shaded his eyes with a hand. “What the hell is that?”

“Ooooh, that looks promising.” Asterbury clambered up Aylaryl to stand atop her, shading his eyes with a furry hand.

In the distance, stone walls marked the marsh in angular lines. Vines crawled everywhere, layering rock in star-shaped leaves of emerald green. There were three sets of walls in total. Each formed another strange design. The central most wall formed a pentagon, with five even sides. Further away, set around it were seven walls that formed a heptagon. Beyond that one, nine more walls formed an immense nonagon around the other two. Three immense sigils set in the earth within one another. Some of the individual walls were crumbling, with broken limestone chunks scattered around them. Other walls were partly submerged in water, swaths of green algae clinging to the base of the stone.

At the center, another stone structure sat atop a tall rise. A dome comprised of limestone blocks, with a large, crystalline skylight in the center. The front of the dome, where an entrance likely once stood, had collapsed over the years into a pile of rubble strewn beneath the yawning opening. More battered hunks of stone were scattered across the hill, some overgrown with swamp rose and moss. Lily pads and reeds encircled the slope where it met the water.

As they drew nearer, Jekk sucked in a breath. “Holy shit.”

“Such language!” Asterbury put a hand to his muzzle, then cackled, his ears up. “See something you like, old man?”

Aylaryl carried Asterbury towards the edge of the platform. She stood alongside Revaramek, peering down over the edge. “I’ve never been out here before.”

“No, I’d wager not.” Asterbury scrambled up her neck to stand atop her head. “This is the sort of place creatures like dragons would do well to avoid. You’re an old breed, slow to adapt, but quick to feel the changes in a world’s nature. Something like this….” Asterbury pointed down at the structures below. “Something…tied to ancient forces, this would fire up all your instincts to stay well away.”

Hints and flashes of flickering memory filled Revaramek’s mind. Darkness and cold, heat and light, fear, and that unmistakable acrid scent. The sunlight, and the smell of water like he’d never know. Walls of stone still standing, not like the crumbling piles back in the swamp. He lifted a paw, scratching at the base of a horn, then snorted as if to clear the scent of burning vellum.

“This is it.” He swallowed, glancing over at Asterbury. “This is where we came into this world.”

“Yes, thank you, hero, but I did gather that.” Asterbury plopped himself down between Aylaryl’s horns, glaring down at Jekk. “Guess you missed one, hmm?”

Jekk combed his fingers through his gray beard, pale and wide-eyed. “Missed it? I didn’t even know it was here. This isn’t-”

“The walls.” Asterbury cut him off, waving his knife at shapes in the stone. “I’ve seen walls like that before, five set inside seven, set inside nine. I’ve seen cities built around that design. It’s a sigil, right? Designed to help draw in and guide the powers, the forces that this thing connects to. Or to keep a place going, long after everything around it crumbles.”

Jekk turned his head, giving him a bewildered look. “I’ve no idea, Asterbury. I’ve never seen one from the air, before. I’ve seen diagrams with sigils on them, but that’s it. I think it’s something they took from another world, and how they work was never as important to me as what they do. But this…” Jekk swallowed and ran a hand through his scraggly gray hair. He stared down over the edge of the platform. “We didn’t build this.”

“Well, of course you did, you old-”

“If we built it, there’d have been a record of us building it. And if there’s a gate in there, I’d have sent people out to take it apart.”

Asterbury sighed, a deeply frustrated sound. He rubbed the top of his muzzle. “Jekk, I just don’t have the patience for your senility. It didn’t have to be your men in robes.” The urd’thin strode towards Jekk, spreading his hands. “It could be from one of your survey crews who never made it home.” Images of men being mauled by dragons sprang to life above his palms. “It could be from another version of your story.” New visions twisted into life over Asterbury, two parallel groups of people appearing in different parts of the marsh. One led by Jekk, one led by someone else. “After all, it stands to reason that every version of The Storytellers finds their way here sooner or later. Maybe you’re just the only version who survived. Or hell…”

He smiled up at Jekk, snapping his fingers in front of the old man’s face. “It’s not as if the rest of them stopped world-jumping just because you did. Maybe the commanders didn’t like you cutting this place off, decided to risk piercing a new hole here, and never told you.” He gave a mock gasp, and clapped his hands. “Why, they could be everywhere! Quick old man, summon the men to investigate!”

Revaramek arched his neck, groaning to himself. “Will you just shut up, for once?”

Asterbury ignored him, poking Jekk in the chest instead. “Oh, that’s right. You haven’t got any men now. Not since our benevolent overlord here seems to have beaten me to the punch at having you removed from office. We’ll just have to investigate ourselves, won’t we?” He smiled at Jekk. “You first!” Then he shoved the old man right off the edge of the platform.

Jekk screamed as he tumbled through the air.

Revaramek surged forward, leaping after him. He folded his wings and dove after Jekk, but the old man was falling too fast. They weren’t high enough, he didn’t have enough room to work, enough time to catch up. But that wasn’t going to stop him from trying. He tightened his wings further, tucked his limbs up, made himself as small and sleek as possible. He hurtled towards the earth, his heart hammering. The dragon closed in but it was already too late, he’d never slow himself enough now.

Jekk hit the earthen rise, and the ground rippled beneath him, bending to absorb his impact. Revaramek spat the filthiest draconic curse he could think of and threw his wings open. Claws raked over his damaged flight muscles from the sudden strain, but he caught enough air to end his dive. He swooped over the old pitted stone walls, circled around, and dropped onto dry land near Jekk. The dragon trotted up to the old man as he sat up.

“Are you alright?” Revaramek offered him his paw.

“I’m not dead, at least.” Jekk grasped the dragon’s paw, and hauled himself to his feet. “Though, I’m unsure just how long that’s going to remain the case.”

Alyaryl swept through the air above them. Downdrafts from her black and purple wings swirled Jekk’s gray hair in all directions at once. Even with Jekk safe, the dragon’s heart thundered a frantic pace. He whirled around to face Aylaryl as she landed, not to catch Jekk with his tail. The green dragon stalked towards her and her laughing passenger, hissing, his spiny frills flared.

“That wasn’t funny!” Revaramek snarled at Asterbury as he leapt of the purple dragon’s back.

“You’re right, it would have been funnier if I’d just let him go splat!” He tilted his head to give Jekk a toothy grin around the dragon. “Shall we try again?” Then he snapped his teeth, gesturing at Revaramek’s head. “Lighten up, Hero. It’s not as if we actually have a deal yet. This is just a trial run, remember?”

“You’d better remember what I said. You harm Jekk, or anyone else…” Revaramek dropped his head, snorting into Asterbury’s face. His angry, panting breaths ruffled the urd’thin’s gray fur. “And there is no deal. One of us just dies, and either way, you lose.”

Asterbury only smiled the same infuriating smile. He patted the dragon’s nose. “Which is why I just put a little scare into him, instead of a little death. Now, let’s go see if you can’t open up this old gateway, hmm?”

As Asterbury flourished his cloak and turned away, Revaramek growled low in his throat. He wanted to tear that little monster’s oversized ears off and shove them down his smirking muzzle. Instead, he let the furry bastard walk towards the dome that capped the hill, and gazed around. Beyond the five walls forming the pentagon, towering willows obscured just about everything. He wasn’t even sure if there was a pathway leading out. If not for saying the place from above, he’d have never known there were two more sets of walls encircling it. More memories flickered through his mind in stuttering cascade. Sunlight on mother’s copper and scales, while she sprawled on the grass, collecting herself. Then she’d carried him from here…didn’t she? Yes, he was sure of it.

“If I get this thing open, and he doesn’t hurl you through it…” Revaramek turned his head to gaze at Jekk. “Head northeast.” Revaramek lifted a paw to point. “That way.”

“I know which way northeast is.” Jekk grunted and trod up the hill. “Probably get eaten by something out there, anyway.”

Revaramek grunted, padding after Aylaryl and Asterbury. “I think there are urd’thin villages scattered out there. Sometimes travelers pass by through our part of the marsh, vending wares. I think that’s where they come from. So if you find a village, if anyone speaks your language-”

“How do you know I can’t speak theirs?” Jekk folded his arms, walking alongside the dragon.

“I just assumed because you’re a bigoted old man, you never bothered to learn the native tongues.”

“Well, you know what they say about assumptions. Then again you are an ass, so I shouldn’t be surprised.”

A smirk tugged at Revaramek’s muzzle. “Not bad banter, Jekk, but you’re no Mirelle. Speaking of which, if you can speak their tongue, and they’re not already allied with the fluffy nutroll up there, tell them Mirelle is opening up citizenship and free trade with their people. Maybe they’ll help you get home.”

“Assuming, of course, he doesn’t march me through that gateway first.” Jekk scowled as he skirted around the mossy stone blocks littering the hillside. “I’ve a sneaking suspicion he intends to strand me in your swamp.”

“Then you’re just screwed, aren’t ya old man.” Revaramek flicked his tail. Maybe he could help the old man out, one last time. He tilted his wedge-shaped head back to gaze up at the massive dome ahead of them. Even half broken, it was still more than large enough to fit more than a couple dragons inside. “So you really didn’t build this thing?”

“No.” Jekk shook his head. “This might be older. From before we were fleeing, and when were just…” He waved his hand. “Exploring. The designs changed over the years. Hell, Asterbury could be right. It might be newer, rather than older. There might still be versions of us out there, piercing the void. This world, this place we’ve come to call home. It touches so many other-”

“Less chitty-chatty, more gatey-openy!” Asterbury called back to them from atop the pile of debris where the dome’s entrance once stood.

“Other what?” Revaramek sighed, glancing down at the old man. “Never mind. Suppose it doesn’t matter. Assuming you make it out of here alive, you can have that talk with Mirelle. Let her decide what needs to be done about this gate.”

The dragon picked his way across the mossy rocks that covered the slope’s summit, just before the dome. The whole front of the structure had long ago collapsed. Though most of the stones were softened with a natural green carpeting, others were still gray. A few jagged edges protruded here and there. Revaramek glanced up. Cracks lined the ceiling. One of the walls sagged inwards, with ragged, shattered edges. Revaramek flicked his ears back. It looked as if the whole place was still falling apart, day by day.

Inside what was left of the dome, sunlight poured in through the crystalline skylight. The crystal panels distorted the light, lending an ethereal blue hue to the beams that dappled the dirty stone floor. There were no other windows. Moldering bookshelves lay on the floor, with rotted tomes scattered across the ground. A threadbare, faded tapestry covered in symbols of spheres connected by lines, and marked with strange runes hung on one part of the wall. There were no sign of birds nesting in crevices, no evidence of rodents hiding in holes in the wall. Their absence made the dragon shiver, his scales clicking. Even all the animals gave this place a wide birth.

Partway across the room, a stone arch reached nearly the ceiling, with several enormous rings set inside it. The inner ring was made from odd black rock that resembled the stones left around Mirelle’s now-poisoned spring. Even without catching the light, it seemed to shine, and yet held no reflection at all. The next ring, larger and encompassing the first, was comprised of silvery stones, all cut to strange angles and flat surfaces. Letters, numbers, and bizarre runes covered each surface. The rings sat at a slight angle, pointing towards the crystal dome. Words were cut into the stone arch that held them, but Revaramek did not recognize the language. On either side of the phrase, a book was depicted, held in clasping hands.

“Ooooh…” Jekk gave an odd cooing noise, as though he were both awed and terrified. “This is…” He held a trembling hand out towards the thing, then pulled it back. “I’d have had this destroyed ages ago if I knew it was here.”

Asterbury patted him on the arm. “Better luck next time, old man.”

Revaramek lifted a paw, pointing to the arch. “I don’t know that language. What does it say?”

“Oh, I can answer that one.” Asterbury swept his hand in a grand gesture at the carved words. “Who tells the storyteller’s story?” He dropped his hand down, snorting. “It’s the riddle they ask themselves.”

“It was a rhetorical question.” Jekk sighed, glancing away. “It was never meant as…”

“It was a riddle Jekk, and we both know I solved it.” A smile spread over the urd’thin’s muzzle. “Of course…both the question and my answer take on a different meaning now, don’t they?”

A shudder ran through Revaramek. Ice prickled at his wings. Oh, Gods. He clenched his jaw, swallowing back his fear. It didn’t matter if Asterbury knew what he’d descended from. It didn’t matter how strong the urd’thin was or how many worlds he thought he could bend to his will. All that mattered was that Revaramek’s plan worked. If he succeeded, all that would matter is that Mirelle, and her village, were safe.

“So this is the gate?” Revaramek glanced down at the little urd’thin.

Asterbury gave him an exasperated look. “No, it’s a laundry press!” He flattened his ears. “What’s it looked like, Dragon?”

“A buncha rings.” Revaramek shrugged his wings.

Aylaryl reached out towards the inner ring. “This looks like what the vault was-”

“Don’t touch that!” Asterbury slapped her paw away. “You wanna lose a foreleg?”

The purple dragon jerked her leg back, cringing.

Revaramek took a step towards it. The air around the rings felt thicker, harder to breathe, harder to push through. “So…what do you want me to do?”

Asterbury gestured for Aylaryl to move back. “Let’s see if you can activate it.”

The dragon flicked back his frills, his tail tip twitching. “How the hell do I do that?

“That’s a good question!” Asterbury drummed his fingers against the hilt of his knife, murmuring to himself. “Jekk, tell him what to do, or I’ll hurl you through first.”

“How the hell should I know?” Jekk glared at the urd’thin, then walked towards the gate. It towered above him, the smallest ring more than large enough for even Revaramek to fit through. “I don’t have the spark.” He pointed to a few of the angular, silver stones with their many flat sides. “These look like coordinates. Those would be how you’d set your destination in a gate like this, I think. But it needs to feel the spark. Normally you’d…” Jekk circled his hand in the air. “Reach out with your power but I wouldn’t even know how to begin instructing you in that. Asterbury’s power won’t activate it. If anything, it might shut it down. But…you should be able to jump start it.”

“And how would I do that?” Revaramek walked closer to the colossal rings. As he neared it, something pulled at him, tugged at his heart, his mind. Something unseen brushed against his scales, a wordless inquiry awaiting an answer. It probed at his mind, next, and he froze, stumbling over his words. “I…it…I think…it’s working?”

“What do you mean?” Jekk glanced up at him, furrowing his brow.

Revaramek licked his muzzle, holding back a whine. “I…I feel it. It’s like it’s…questioning me but…I don’t know how to answer.”

Asterbury growled at him. “You’d better figure it out, dragon.”

“Your blood.” Jekk gestured towards the dragon’s foreleg. “It’s been asleep a long time, so…give it a taste of your blood. It should sense your spark within it and activate more completely.”

“A taste?” Revaramek jerked his head back, neck curling. “I don’t like that connotation, Jekk. Please tell me you haven’t built some monstrosity that feeds on blood.”

Jekk shrugged. “More like a failsafe, I think. To be honest, I’ve never worked with one of these. People with the ember always ran the gates, and this one is…different than most. Most of them are just one destination, tied to a specific gate. This one’s different. Gates like this can go…”

“Anyway.” Asterbury’s voice was a silken purr. “Which makes it perfect.” Asterbury walked a wide circle around the thing, snarling in excitement, fur bristling out across his body. “I’ve seen them like this, but…never had a chance to use one. Go on, Hero, let it taste your blood. Let’s see if she still works.”

Revaramek grimaced, all his frills flattened back. He approached the gate, then lifted a forepaw. He didn’t want to open up his pads just to get a few drops of blood as it would mean he’d be stuck walking on the cut. Instead, he unsheathed a single claw, and stretched a wing forward. He flicked his claw tip through the edges of his membrane, wincing. The little wound stung, but a few droplets of blood welled up immediately. He collected them in his paw, and with no further guidance offered, reached out and smeared the blood across the inner ring of black stone.

The gateway sprang to life in an instant. The rings separated from one another, suspended amidst the arch by wavering blue light. Indigo sparks whirled within the black ring, flying in all directions at first, but soon coalescing into a blue spiral. The ebony circle began to rotate, spinning in place around the blue sparks and cerulean spiral. All the silver stones that made up the second ring detached from each other, floating around the dark circlet, twisting in the air. Once more Revaramek felt its unseen presence, touching him like the whisper of wind against his scales. A sense of questioning hung in his mind and coiled around his heart.

“I…I think he’s…testing me, now.”

Jekk wrung his hands. “The blood is…not the key. You’re the key. The blood of someone with the spark just helps awaken it, but…a living spark is required, with the desire to activate it.”

“So you’re saying I can’t just bottle up Revaramek’s blood, or drag around his corpse if he gets tiresome?” Asterbury cackled, thumping his fist against the dragon’s foreleg. “Lucky you!”

The unspoken question intensified, and before he could stop himself, Revaramek thought of the swamp, as if the invisible touch had plucked a memory from his mind. The questioning feeling faded, replaced with a strange sort of ethereal satisfaction. As if the gate was pleased by his answer. The silver stones whirled faster, rearranging themselves, shifting positions, leaving new runes facing the dragon. One by one, the stones stopped moving. Each settled into a fixed alignment with new symbols facing outward.

“What the hell’s it doing?” Asterbury moved to stand between the dragons, snarling.

“How should I know?” Revaramek backed away from it, lashing his tail. As each stone took its place and stopped twisting in the air, they created a new set of runes, letters, and numbers. “I think it’s a countdown.”

Asterbury whirled on Jekk. “I thought you said they were coordinates!”

“And I told you that was only a guess!” Jekk stared at the thing as the black ring continued to spin. Several more loops made of brilliant, blue-white light sprang into being, each a little smaller than the last. Together they formed a sort of cone, pointing at the crystalline dome above them. As the angular silver stones continued to fall into place, a few of them settled just above the top of the gate. “Look! See? Some of them are coordinates.”

The two stones that now floated just above the black ring read a number, and a letter.

3-D.

“How’d it know what world you want?” This time Asterbury spun around to snarl at Revaramek, baring his little fangs. “What did you tell it?”

“I didn’t tell it anything, you paranoid little murderer!” Revaramek gnashed his teeth, and thumped his tail against the floor. Webbed spines scratched at the stone. “I felt it in my head and…I thought of the swamp, I couldn’t help it!”

“He’s been through it before!” Jekk thrust a finger towards the blue spiral, turning faster and faster inside the ebon circle. “He doesn’t know how to give it instructions, so it’s just going to send him back where he came from.”

Asterbury balled up his fists, growling. “I thought you said you could-”

“I said I could open the gates!” Revaramek lifted a paw to jab a single claw tip against the bone-carved symbol on Asterbury’s chest. “You can’t expect me to know how to control them yet! Even you can’t expect me to just magically understand how it works. Jekk said you stole a vault, so…there’s probably information in there I can study.” The dragon sighed, glancing at Jekk. “How do I shut it down? I’ve proven I can activate it, now we’re going back to town to negotiate for-”

“No!” Asterbury snatched the nub of the dragon’s broken horn while his head was lowered. “We’re not done here. You proved it opens, now you have to prove it works! Tell it I want to go to 3-B!”

Revaramek hissed, pressing his muzzle to Asterbury’s. “I don’t know how.” He flared a wing, gesturing at Jekk, then pushing the old man back with it. “And you heard Jekk. 3-B is gone. You turned it into the swamp, into 3-D. You want to go there? We’ll go.”

Behind Asterbury, the black ring suddenly stopped spinning. At the same time, the indigo spiral erupted into a yawning chasm that stretched through the rings of shimming light, up to the crystalline dome. A concussive thud shook the room. Cobalt lightning crackled inside the passageway. Beyond Asterbury, it resembled a cone of darkness that came to a sudden stop at the crystal skylight. Blue-white sparks swirled around it, frantic and angry. Revaramek nudged Asterbury aside and peered into the gate. Looking through the rings, it stretched on forever. A pinpoint of light glimmered at an impossible distance, a place he could never reach that called to him just the same, a siren song beckoning him to his broken home.

The dragon stepped forward, reaching for the gate, compelled to enter it. He glanced down at the urd’thin, tilting his head. “Are we going, or not?”

Asterbury growled under his breath, flattening back his ears. “You wouldn’t be trying to trick your old pal, would you?”

Revaramek gave a frustrated sigh. “You’re the one who brought me out here. You wanted the trial run, remember? We came all the way out here, just for this. You wanted me to open it, so now it’s open. Do you want to go through and see what happened to your home, or are we going back to the village to help Mirelle negotiate?” He glanced back at Jekk, even as the portal pulled at him, tugged at his soul. “Jekk, how do I shut this stupid thing-”

“We’ll go.” Asterbury gestured at the gateway, smiling. “You first, my benevolent overlord.”

“Make up your damn mind.” Revaramek took a deep breath. He stepped towards the gate, closing his eyes. He wasn’t sure he wanted to watch, this time. He lifted a paw, reaching forward. Heat and cold alike gripped it, pulling him forward, guiding him.

“Wait.” Asterbury snarled, twisting around to glare at the old man. “Jekk first.”

Jekk gave a heavy sigh, shaking his head. “Fine, fine. Out of the way, Revaramek.” Jekk slowly walked up alongside him. He put a hand on the dragon’s shoulder, and gave him a little smile. “It’s alright. I’ll go first. If I’m drowning in poison when you get there, pull me out, won’t you?”

Revaramek grit his teeth. No way he was making Jekk go through.

The urd’thin only laughed. “Oh, I don’t think anyone’s going to be pulling you out of anywhere, old man. Now go on.” He waved at the gateway, smiling. “Destiny’s calling, and it’s about time you finally answer-YAAAAH!”

Asterbury yowled in shock when Revaramek surged forward, snatching him up in a foreleg. With a furious roar, Revaramek squeezed the urd’thin against his chest plates in a crushing embrace. Even as Asterbury wriggled, bent the world, and tried to change the story, Revaramek leapt. He didn’t care if broke Asterbury’s ribs, didn’t care if the urd’thin blasted a hole through him with his power. All that mattered was that it took only a split second to leap forward and carry Asterbury through the gateway.

Darkness consumed him. Heat and pressure squeezed every inch of his body, stole his breath. Impossible momentum carried him forward. Flashes of images cut through his mind’s eye, as if he could see himself passing through the crystal dome and beyond, piercing through the sky itself. Bursts of unbearably bright blue-white light seared into his brain. He wanted to scream but had no air in his lungs, no voice with which to cry out. Was he truly punching a hole through the sky, or merely imagining it? A field of stars, of tiny, pinprick lights beyond measure. Then only an infinite void, and the strangely familiar smell of burning vellum. The scent consumed him, as though Revaramek himself were but paper being burned away in the emptiness between worlds.

Heat flooded him. Ice coated him. Every memory he had poured into his mind all at once, millions of moments condensed into one single, scrambled whole. And then more and more, flickers of other lives he wasn’t sure he lived. Or had he? The dragon couldn’t tell where his life ended and others began. Which was the story, and which the storyteller? Who the dream, and who the dreamer? A swamp he’d once died in. A swamp he once grew up in. Neither seemed true and yet both seemed real. The pain, the uncertainty of it, it bit so deeply into him he again wanted to scream, and again he had no voice.

Then a flash of a pale blue sky, a fading sun. A layer of endless, toxic clouds. A glimpse of a desert washed away, leaving only a bare, broken wasteland, and an ocean of poisoned water swallowing up the world. The sky cracked and shattered, the vellum burned, and in another instant, it was all just one more memory.

Revaramek tumbled across wet, mossy ground. He gasped for breath, sucking in big lungfuls of bitter, unbearably humid air. Everything was blurry, and dim. His head ached, his brain struggled to make sense of the torrent of memories that even now faded into noise. Where the hell…was he? What was he…doing here? Still panting, the dragon pushed himself to his feet. He stood upon a rocky hill surrounded by black water, and strange trees. An urd’thin in a vest, and a colorful cape lay nearby, coughing.

Before he even had time to make sense of it, a flash of blinding, blue-white light cut through the gloom. A rumbling thud accompanied it, and echoed across the land, sending ripples rolling across the water all around the hill. A purple dragon stumbled out of a strange set of rings, and collapsed to the ground, panting and wheezing.

Revaramek shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs that were his mind. He stumbled a few paces, gazing around. Broken walls ran around the edges of the hill. Beyond them was only dark water. Further away, there were glimpses of more walls, mostly submerged and just peeking above the water. Trees bigger around than he was jutted from the mire. Some of them looked like they were half-dead. In the distance, red birds winged away, startled by their arrival. Other things slithered through the water, or scrambled over fallen logs.

The dragon tilted his head back. Through the razor-edged leaves above him, low-hanging gray clouds writhed in turbulence that almost looked anguished. The air smelled off, as if the world itself was burning. An odd, burbling sound filled the air. Some of the black water bubbled in a few places. What sort of horrible place had he found himself in?

Oh. Right.

The pieces slowly put themselves back together in his head. He’d…come back to the swamp. But why? The groaning urd’thin nearby drew his attention. He swung his head around, watched the gray furred-creature try to rise, only to flop back down. Silver bracelets and shaper’s runes adorned his arms and fur, just like in the story. His name was…Vakaal. No, no that didn’t sound right.

“Asterbury.” The purple dragon moaned the name, as much fearful question as confirmation.

Asterbury. That was the bastard’s name.

“M’over here, Aylaryl.” The urd’thin tried again to rise, then ended up hunched over, groaning. “Awrrrhhhh…crushed my ribs. Give it a moment, dear…the fog will clear.”

Revaramek turned around on his paws, trying to remember. Why had he come back to the swamp? He hated this place.

“Dunno what you think you’ve accomplished.” The urd’thin sounded angry. “Did ya think I was gonna send Jekk through, and the make you close the gate behind him? I was thinkin’ about it. Was tryin’ to figure you out, Hero.”

Revaramek wobbled, shaking his head. Damn it. Why did Asterbury’s mind have to clear so much faster? He tried to ignore the furry bastard, and instead focus on his own plan. He…did have a plan, didn’t he? He was sure of it. That was why he’d come here.

“That deal…didn’t really seem like your sort of thing. Granted…” Asterbury groaned in pain, pushing himself to his feet. “You were saving your village. But something didn’t quite…add up. So now? Now I’m wondering. What were you hoping to do? Get me to go through the gate? Close it behind me?” The urd’thin gave a pained laugh. “Not…the worst idea. But it only works if you can get me to go first. That’s the problem with half-assed plans. See, a real hero would have…”

A real hero.

That was it. Everything else Asterbury said trailed off into silence in Revaramek’s head. That was the plan. That was why he told Mirelle he wasn’t coming back. Because to be a real hero, he had to make a sacrifice. It didn’t matter if Asterbury went first or last, as long as he went through the gate. When he hesitated, Revaramek just took matters into his own paws. But the truth was, Revaramek was always planning to go with him. That was the first part of the plan. Accompanying Asterbury through the gate, whether by free will or force. The deal was only ever a means to an end.

But the second part of the plan…

The dragon turned back towards the gate. Here, most of the structure that once contained it had long since fallen apart. All that was left were a few ruined walls, and part of an overhanging ceiling. Gray moss and thorn-laden vines covered it all. The gate itself was not as elaborate as the one they’d come through. It bore a similar design, but with far fewer silver stones. And whatever crystalline dome once topped it was shattered by the elements. Still collecting himself, Revaramek made his way back to the ruined structure.

“Where do ya think you’re going, hero?” Asterbury’s voice twisted into an angry snarl. “I’m going to be disappointed if your great plan is just to leave without me while you think I’m recovering from your little bear hug. I saw how the gate takes to activate. And I know stays active a little while longer. So go on, Hero. Try and get out of here without me. By the time it’s working, I’ll be right as rain, and ready to kick your ass on the other side, back in the marsh.”

“Yeah.” Revaramek stumbled up to the gate, gritting his teeth. “I know.”

“Oh you do?” Asterbury cackled. “Maybe you should be the all-knowing, then! So tell me, all-knowing, do you know what I’m gonna let Aylaryl do to Jekk for your little stunt?”

Revaramek put a paw on the inner ring of the gate. Its power pulled at him, called to him. He moved his paw around it, feeling the ring. The black ring itself wasn’t very thick. The silver stones connected it to the larger arch, but the connections were tenuous. The arch itself looked weathered, pitted. Jekk seemed certain his plan would work, when they’d talked about it in private. Revaramek smiled. The old man played his part pretty well. Betrayal and confusion, indeed.

“Well, go on.” Asterbury walked over to Aylaryl, checking her over. “Re-activate it. Don’t make me beat you half to death just to get your blood.”

“You heard Jekk. Blood won’t work without a willing spark.” Revaramek took a few deep breaths, readying himself. Now or never. He tensed his muscles. “And…about that.”

Even before Asterbury looked up, Revaramek sprang. He barreled towards the gate as fast as he could, gaining as much speed and power as possible. As he neared the gateway, the dragon leapt off his powerful hind legs, hurling himself forward with all the momentum he could muster. Revaramek twisted his body in the air, slamming full-bore into the gate with every ounce of his weight.

The free standing archway cracked and broke beneath him. Silver stones shattered under the impact, scattering fragmented pieces through the ruin and across the hill. Pain thudded through Revaramek’s body as he toppled over the top of the crumbling arch. The power held within the ruined silver stones was unleashed into the black ring that once supported them. The gate’s magic cascaded around the ebony loop in a blinding, blue-white flash that brought with it a horrifying sound, a hundred thunderbolts cutting the air all at once. In the wake of the brilliant light, a thousand minute cracks spread across the black stone. Bit by bit, the tiny fractures gave way, and the ring crumbled away into a torrent of shapeless, obsidian dust.

Revaramek rolled up against a ruined wall, groaning. For a moment, his vision was white, and his ears rang, sharp and brassy. Above the din, he heard Asterbury screaming. Despite the pain rolling through his body from the impact, Revaramek smiled. If Asterbuy was furious, that meant he succeeded. It also meant he’d never again see Mirelle, or feel Enora’s touch, or wrestle the gryphons, or taste the marsh’s sweet, pure water. But none of that mattered. All that mattered was that his friends, and their world, were safe.

“What. Have. You. Done.” Asterbury’s every word was measured, level, and terrifying. His voice cut through the ringing of his ears as if the urd’thin was growling straight into his mind.

Revaramek pushed himself to his feet. He looked over the former gate. There was little left of it now but black dust, shattered silver stones, and a broken arch. “I’ve won.”

“What?” Asterbury balled up his fists. The air itself trembled around him.

“I couldn’t beat you, Asterbury.” Revaramek limped out of the ruin. “That was clear. But I told you I’d die before I let you hurt my village and my friends.” He snorted, glaring down at the urd’thin. “You see, I already knew where this gate would go. And Jekk told me the gates can be broken. Which meant all I had to do to save my world from you…” Revaramek settled down onto his haunches with a long sigh. “Was strand you here. Breaking the gate was the only way I could ensure you’d never leave. There’s no way out, now. Not even for you.” Revaramek lowered his head, his eyes burning with copper fire enough to pierce right through Asterbury. “I told you I’d do anything to be that village’s hero. And now I have.”

Asterbury just stared at him, his jaw hanging ajar. Aylaryl glanced back and forth between the green dragon and urd’thin, panic taking hold.

“What…what’s he talking about Asterbury?” She whined, her wings half-unfurling, then furling again. “What’s he done?”

Revaramek ignored her. She’d decided long ago which side she was taking. He smiled at the urd’thin. “Congratulations, Asterbury. You’re finally home. And you’re never leaving this swamp. It’s over. I win.” The dragon’s smile grew. “What’s the matter? Didn’t see that one coming? Guess you’re not so all-knowing after all.” Revaramek pointed at him with a claw. “Pawn.” He tapped the claw to his chest. “King.”

The dragon’s smug satisfaction in victory lasted for a few blissful seconds.

And then Asterbury hurled him into the poison swamp.