The castle within this strange portal world was as old as the building upon the floating mountains back on the other side. Chunks of stone were missing from stark black pillars. One passage had completely collapsed. Perhaps the result of time, or some ancient conflict.

Was this fortress built by the Valucians or someone else? And for what purpose?

Riese was filled with questions as she followed Rykus and the Morphs down its winding passages. But she did not dare voice them now.

The interior of the fortress had been restored to some extent. The inner halls had been cleared of rubble and overgrowth, and the central courtyard was breathtakingly beautiful. The castle might only be a rebel hideout now, but some of the revolutionaries had taken care to create some beauty. The courtyard paths were lined with flowers and greenery, and an alien plant that hovered a foot off the ground.

They’d just crossed from another world through a portal set in mountains that hovered thousands of feet above the sea. Yet, something about the plants unnerved her. Riese had grown up seeing the Spires every year at the end of summer, but floating vegetation with no roots buried in the earth?

It was perhaps the greatest reminder that this wasn’t her world, or even the Abyss. It was someplace else entirely, and the ramifications of this nagged at her gut the way it felt to look down over the side of a cliff.

But there was hish in this place. Hish emanating from the floating plants themselves, and in that, Riese found a little comfort. That and the soft reassurances brushing up against her spirit from the egg in her hands.

You are where you’re meant to be. You’re destiny.

The voice did not feel like her own. But it didn’t quite feel like it belonged to the dragon either. It was somehow both and neither.

Rykus and Deven hurried across the garden courtyard, and Riese nearly had to run to keep up with them. Dozens of rebels bustled about the castle, halting activities as they passed. Most of them were Valucian or Chardonian at a glance. But not all.

A resonance of fear hung over them all. Worried faces, hasty movements, hushed voices.

They crossed the courtyard and entered a wide antechamber. At the other end, tall wooden doors were guarded by a pair of Valucian soldiers with lances resting at their shoulders. Deven hurried past them, but Rykus stopped and turned to face Riese.

“You’ve a decision to make, Riese Torendeil. In a world of war, there is little time for deliberation. We must move forward with the character and resolve to make life-altering decisions in a moment.”

“Like choosing to leave your daughter behind on the battlefield?” Riese asked.

Rykus’s jaw tensed. He had managed incredible steadiness despite his daughter’s unknown fate. Despite the destruction of his island home, and the sudden attack on his Chardonian allies.

But at her words, Rykus showed fear and uncertainty for the first time since Riese had met him.

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Rykus held her gaze and nodded. “The cause must always come first. My daughter and I knew that long before we ever heard of Faltara. This is a fork in your path, Riese. Everything in your life will be marked by what you choose. For all our sakes, I hope you choose the right path.”

“And if I don’t?”

Rykus sighed. “A part of you still thinks we will kill you if you don’t give us what we ask for. But in truth, if you don’t aid our plans, this secret hideout will matter no more now than it did in the Uprising. Our revolution will die before it’s begun. Our only hope is cutting off Attica’s source of power.”

“Cutting off?”

Chills coursed through her, amplified by the power of the egg in her hands. Riese’s body thrummed with magic.

Rykus nodded. “Dragons are not native to our world, as I expect you know. Only a few people still hold on to this knowledge. Only a few still remember the truth about the Crossing. We did not arrive in Îrithèa across land and sea. We came from another world.”

Rykus gestured out a small window, toward purple skies rising over distant peaks.

“From here?” Riese asked.

Captain Rykus nodded. “Well, not so much from here as through here. But not only here as I expect you know. For we came from many lands. In the wake of a great and terrible calamity.”

“How could we have crossed through a gate hovering in the middle of the sea?” Riese asked.

“After the Crossing, I believe all the gates were moved. Or destroyed. Burn the ships so that all would remain committed to creating a new world. Most of the gates don’t work any longer, it is said.”

“How many are there?”

“There is no telling. I know of three. This one. Another in Elya. And now, one on Faltara. Which may be the most important of them all.”

Riese understood his meaning. She hesitated, running her fingers over the smooth ridges of dragon scales in her hands. She could feel the spirit within, pressing against her own. It was not hish. Perhaps it was the power of the dragon’s spirit itself. She was not quite sure, but she sensed something more.

Rykus stepped closer, pulling a glowing runemarked key from his pocket. He motioned for Riese to turn around.

In a rush, as the magic collar was removed, she felt magic surge back into her spirit. The resonance of the egg grew even stronger now.

“My people,” Riese said, “we believe that all peoples of our world came from the Abyss. From a fallen cursed world. That is where our Gate leads.”

“To the… Abyss.” Rykus raised a brow as he spoke the words.

“We believe we were entrusted by the All Mother and All Father, to safeguard the powers that destroyed that fallen world. But in reality, it seems, we were enabling the sort of destruction that was unleashed on your island. I see that now. I can hardly close my eyes without imagining innocent people engulfed in dragon flames. My people made a terrible mistake, Captain Rykus. And I fear making another like it.”

Rykus nodded. “That deliberation is how Deven and I bot knew you could be trusted, Riese. Why we did not fear bringing you here.”

“She’s not your servant, is she?”

Rykus smiled. “We are all servants of the cause in this place.”

“She’s Elyan.”

Rykus nodded. “The time will come for more questions, but for now, it is the time for an answer.”

Riese felt at her neck where the collar had been. Felt the surge of magic coursing through her body once more. The bond she felt with her dragon intensifying. She could practically hear it speaking to her. Urging her toward her destiny. Toward a new, uncertain future.

“I will tell you where the Gate on Faltara is hidden,” Riese said. As she spoke she felt a great weight lift from her spirit. A spark of joy burst from the egg, as though it were a child flipping and kicking in her own womb.

Rykus showed no joy. “I must ask more of you than that, I’m afraid.”

“What do you mean?”

“So long as there is a way to reach the Gate, your island will never be safe. It will be taken over, become a secret base for the empire. If we struck now, perhaps we could hold it for a time. That might give our revolution strength, but I fear, it would bring our demise.”

Riese’s voice trembled as she spoke. It came out barely a whisper. “What are you asking of me, Captain Rykus?”

“I need you to take me to the Gate of the Ancients. So we can destroy it.”