Germination 6

July 30th, 2032.

I sat down on my guest bed, folding my legs at the well-needed conversation. Dinah had squeezed herself into an odd crouch, like a scaly cat. Althea was leaning on me, and I enjoyed the warmth of her body.

“Before we continue anything else, there's something else I need to know. You said your grandmother might be a dark dragon. What does that mean exactly?”

Althea paled even as she whispered quiet words to spirits of wind and sound, isolating the room.

Dinah grimaced. “Dark dragons are dragons, people of Fire who are born with too much fire and not enough water. Without water, there's no family, no community. A part of them is just… missing. Dark dragons can lie easily, with no remorse or guilt.”

That sounded like… some form of antisocial personality disorder.

“And you think that makes her evil?” I said hesitantly. It didn't… feel like the right route to take here.

Dinah chewed on her lips. “No. Not on its own, but it does explain how she did what she did if not why. She has a stronger choice than most, but she still made that choice.”

“What’s so special about dark dragons being able to lie easily?” The two witches shared a look.

“Dragons are some of the oldest wielders of magic in the world, a lineage of a hundred thousand generations and more,” Dinah explained. “We learned long ago how to speak with one another spirit to spirit. Mind to mind. We learned that separation is an illusion, we are all part of each other. We can lie, but it pains us to do so. We have our honor and our loyalty.”

“The liar. The betrayer. The destroyer of clans.” Althea nodded, and I blanched.

“I’m starting to see the picture of how the Pale King got her loyalty.”

“What?” Dinah looked insulted.

“Dark dragons aren't born evil, just different right?” I asked Dinah with a serious expression. “Did they tell her that? Did they treat her worse because of that?”

“I… grandmother does not speak of her family. But that does not justify—”

“I’m not talking about justification here, I'm looking for reasons. Why did your grandmother do what she did? Was it for power, for vengeance, for fear for her own life? A hatred, a pain fanned by the Pale King, used by him to his own ends?” I rubbed my neck, rubbing pale white scars. “Every person has their reasons. Whether or not those reasons are acceptable is another question.”

“You want to understand her,” Dinah stated rather than questioning.

“If we’re going to do something about her, about the Chantry as a whole. We need to understand their reasons to be able to fight them. I… question this stuff a lot because I don't get people inherently. So I think of them like puzzle pieces, so I can figure them out my way.”

“You don't get people?” Dinah asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“Neurodivergent, autistic. This means I have difficulties with social aspects, certain neurological wiring is different.”

“Which is why how we described dark dragons hurt you?” Althea sounded guilty, and I smiled sadly.

“Humans have villainized different mental disorders before, it's not a good way to help people. Doesn't change what she did, but it gives me an idea of how she was pulled in. People like the Pale King… It's been done before on Earth, giving people acceptable targets, using their pain and hurt, and directing it towards others. Killing a language to destroy a culture, to kill the heart of a people. My ancestors did similar things, as did the other colonizers of the Americas. As did the Christians of Europe burn the sacred groves and slaughtered their pagan priests to break the line of cultural memory.”

Dinah’s face filled with horrified comprehension. “You believe that's what the Pale King is doing?”

“It's an old and worn playbook, the same justifications of evil, lesser people who need to be conquered for their own good. Monsters who need to be killed for the good of us all. It's how Mexico got its caste system based on how white you are, diluting the lesser blood of the natives with our own. Devil worshippers, heathens, lawless witches, it's all the damn same words used to other living breathing people.”

I jumped when Althea placed a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay? You're shaking.”

I was, wasn't I?

“Anxious. Not very copacetic. This kind of stuff is always infuriating to me.” A certain someone had instilled in me a strong sense of justice, of morality. No matter how much it hurts to think of her now.

“Caste system… like the growing prejudice between plainfolk, oddfolk, and first folk?” Althea inquired. “You think that's a part of it?”

“It's easier to not question your place in life when you have others to look down upon,” I said easily. “The Pale King doesn't want a united front, he wants a people he can easily manipulate while he maintains the largest and most cohesive force. A fifth of Calafia’s forces are his, and he can bring in more from overseas followers.”

“His forces are vast, three hundred sixty thousand soldiers across twenty eight kingdoms and empires.” Dinah agreed.

“His forces are spread thin though, still making them useful as an ultimatum.” I speculated, rubbing the tips of my fingers together.

“What do we think we need?” Althea asked, eyes gleaming. I ignored the warmth in my cheeks.

“Evidence, ways to break the stranglehold the Chantry has on your people. You need numbers, and strategies to keep ourselves alive. Both against your grandmother and against the Pale King.”

“I gave my cousin the mind-tale and told Alice, she knows the Truth. She's not beholden to truces in the same way… but her Way is compassionate and kind.” Dinah’s eyes were bright, angry things. “This is a matter of Low War, we do not have the strength to fight openly. We have to be like the fire below the surface, smoldering past roots, coal veins and more. Inching past where you think it's safe until it blows back up in your face.”

Althea had a dark grin on her face. “You've got a plan, don't you? To get us out of the clutches of people like the Pale King?”

“I owe loyalty to my parents, my people, and my clan. My parents in turn owe their loyalty to King Asriel… and the Pale Throne. I do not.”

I shivered at her tone, a dark predatory swirl in her eyes. “Loyalty, I'm not sure I fully understand it. Not the way you do.”

Dinah nodded. “There are many ties which bind us, spiritual or not. You understand enough.”

“But… maybe there's a way to help her understand.” Althea prodded Dinah with her words, pointing with a flick of her chin

“What?” I said defensively.

“I am a dragon, I can show you some of what I mean. Spirit to spirit. If you are willing?”

Was I willing?

“Okay.” I replied.

Dinah wiggled over, lowering herself into a position that met me eye to eye. She placed one hand on my brow and the other over my heart. She breathed.

And there was light.

Everything was light, a twisting mass of golden red and moon-blue, melting into one in an endless dance. It was her, Dinah’s spirit.

Yes, it is.

“Dinah?” Was Dinah in my head? I… could feel her worry and concern and fear of rejection. A determination as fierce as fire, a prickle of connection.

Yes. I'm here. Friend-ally-honorable-opponent.

Dinah’s thoughts were often in images and colors, she saw in ways I couldn't quite read.

She opened the connection and the world rippled inside my own skull.

Parents-kin-clan-people. Fire pulled by fire pulled by fire.

Rushes of images followed, loyalty baked into blood and bone seething under my skin, love aching and burning in my heart, a fire of the mind reaching out for connections, for trust and loyalty and love. Irrational, but so very human and yet not human.

You understand now. Prey, enemy, kin. The sun’s blood.

I swallowed. “Could you show me how you see me?”

Look for yourself, feel, as I do.

A shimmer of light like an outstretched taloned hand. I reached out and saw.

My soul was a tarnished silver bordering on black, with flecks of pale silver spirit stitching together dazzling fractals of color. Fire and Water twisted around one another like opposing mirrors. Air and Earth roiled together, with violence and peace all at once.

Oh.

Dinah took her hand off. “I believe we will need to sleep today.”

…

“Okay.”

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July 31st, 2032.

I kept myself from touching my hair as I was escorted by a guard to the grand hall, loading myself up with a hearty breakfast. I had carefully picked out the stuff that wouldn’t kill me dead, so flat-cakes, griffin sausage and terror boar bacon.

Plus eldritch orange juice because I liked the pop of impossible liquid geometries. Apparently the liquid was said to bounce to the tune of the smallest of seas, smaller than even atoms, the sea of space itself.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

So they have some theories on spacetime foam…

There were a number of people at the table, the queen and her council. Which wasn’t quite as large as one would think, being a petty kingdom rather than a larger one. So we aren’t talking decadent courts thousands strong.

Taifa courts tended to have a steward, a marshal, spymaster, a herald, lawsinger, a head priest, or a treasurer in charge of financial and economic duties. Both Caudalann and Anagen also had almoners. They were both in charge of ensuring the basic housing and food rights of their people. There were of course the clanheads to fill in the council.

Valka’s steward was a hawk harpy from one of the six clans that governed the settlement of ten thousand. He was all angles and sharp edges, like a brown-white razor wind. His gaze was curious, as if we were a puzzle that needed to be solved.

He was eating an odd dish, a mix of spices, garnished and drizzled… large guinea pig? Interesting breakfast.

Althea and I were both given seats right on Dinah’s left while two of her soldiers were on her right. A redheaded dwarf woman built like a brick wall, and a willowy framed raven-haired pale witch. The redhead was named Joanne while the guy was named Jonah.

The queen simply smiled as she ate her own breakfast, her daughter vibrating next to her with excitement. “You seem a tad overwhelmed. Are you surprised about eating with a queen?” She sounded bemused.

I blinked, looking at Dinah. She gestured back to Valka. “A little, but I have… gotten used to the strangeness of this realm. It's different from my homeland.”

“The Human Realm you mean?”

I nodded. “Very different, mostly when it comes down to the magic and the native life.” In terms of cities, they were pretty but in terms of scope…?

San Diego was half the size of her entire taifa and had more people than the entire overkingdom.

“I’ve heard plenty of rumors on the grapevine, like how you have thousands of great monsters of steel roaming your skies, and great towers reaching into the void.” Alice cut in with a deceptively innocent tone.

“Airplanes, flying machines like airships. But instead of buoyancy they rely on aerodynamics and thrust. They work like metal dragons, combusting fuel and air to power engines.” The entire table stared, and I grinned.

“I can see the workings of such a machine, much like how we also fly, whether with wings or staff.” Valka sounded intrigued. “Crystal batteries can only store so much energy however for large airships.”

“We had a similar problem, our early craft had weak engines and poor fuel economy. We just got better at making engines over years and decades. Over a century of work is a lot of time.”

Dinah rubbed her head, but didn't stop me.

“You still seemed to have adapted quite well to our world then,” the steward, Jochi, commented. “Perhaps the work of your Mentor?”

I didn't hide my smile, there was no point here. “Yes she did, she's been a wonderful teacher.”

The entire table offered various nods and sounds of agreement, which made sense from what I know. They all had a touch of Air in their souls, and teaching was a fundamental foundation of the element of the Violet.

“And now you’re meeting with a queen and her court.” Alice was having the time of her life, licking away at the meat scraps of a chicken bone. “It does beg the question of why though.”

“A series of unlikely events brought me into contact with Dinah,” I said with a straight face. “We ended up allies against… several dangerous threats and things unraveled from there.”

Dinah cleared her throat. “I believe we were here for the Koza we agreed upon earlier, which means the usual rules apply.”

Valka looked smug but didn't disagree. “Of course, pardon me for our curiosity.” She was sincere I think, but it was hard to tell. “As you know, there has been a rise of both piracy and… strange deaths on our shores. We wish to negotiate on joint patrols, from the seas and the skies to wipe out those pirates and uncover the mysterious killers.”

Mysterious deaths?

People turned… I said that aloud didn't I?

“We’ve found bodies that seemed to have been cut to ribbons,” Alice explained and my eyes widened.

“I… I've heard of something similar back home, a possible serial killer. At least two bodies were found with at least six disappearances.” It had been a horrific news report, they had been killed with impossible force. Like someone had taken a damn supersonic cutting saw to their flesh and bones.

“Cut to ribbons?” Alice asked. I nodded grimly. “Could they be related?”

“Potentially. Ultima has dealt with monsters that can move from world to world, things that linger in the spaces between spaces.” I shuddered at the thought.

“Perhaps that is something to add to the conversation.” Queen Valka added.

“I reckon so.” Dinah did her own thing, her inner fire pulsing outwards like a beacon. “So let us talk.”

I hid a wince, I had a feeling this was going to go on for a while.

----------------------------------------

The informal negotiations on mutual defense from both pirates and possible monsters had continued after breakfast was devoured. I mostly contributed by showing them images I had… procured from the internet on the murder cases.

The marks and wounds had been identical, where flesh had been shorn apart with ease. Whatever had done this cut with incredible force, and it was nightmarishly concerning.

“They’re pretty odd aren't they?” Althea spoke up from where she was leaning against a wooden facade. “I was always told people of Air… are a little touched in the head. Not in a bad way.” she scrambled for words at my hum. “Just different.”

“I don't really have the inherent cultural context for how Elements and Sources affect their bearers,” I said honestly.

“It’s not one way or the other with people. Everyone can touch any aspect of the craft. It's more that certain personalities better fit the ideals of the Sources and their avatars. It's the way we see and interact with the world.” Althea explained as she carefully swept her hands through the air, multicolored sparks of spirits following her moves. “We can of course expand our magic, and our perspective to drink from the ocean of other sources.”

“It’s what I've been doing, slowly. Ultima has been teaching me the movements of each element, the sources, and their philosophies and ways of perceiving the world.”

The werewolves were a good example, they were at the intersection between the Green and the Blue. Green was Nature itself, the order of life, and enduring stone.

The beastfolk embodied the Green, they were closer to the primal wilds, growing, hunting, surviving. With just a drop of the Blue for their dormant or active ability to transform, to change. The domain of the true Blue.

“How has that been going?” Althea inquired with a cute raising of her eyebrows.

“I’ve been looking to nature more directly for spells I can shape.” I lifted my hands and cast out a quiet pulse of Green through the air. It was a complicated weave, threads of magical energy hewn into place.

From the walls… came many, many insects, lured by the call of the Green. A spell I had learned from watching a frog known as a trap-gobbler. An enormous lump of flesh the size of a bear. It could spread out a pulse of Green to call swarms of insects, which it would then devour by the millions.

I could call the insects… and also push them away with a flicker of my mind. Insect Call was a good name for the spell.

The main trouble was translating the spell into a glyph array. If glyphs were like a written language, then shaping spells with will and gestures and visualization was spoken language. I could copy the desired shape, but Transcribing it into written shapes was hard.

“Amazing.” Althea breathed, clinging onto me as her nose twitched. My ears reddened at her close contact, claws curling into my sleeves. “Your magic has grown in leaps and bounds, it's incredible.”

I turned a bright red. “I… do try to put in the work.”

The corner of her eyes crinkled with her warm beam. “You are very cute when you get all flustered.” She leaned forward, almost whispering in my ear.

Oh.

I licked my lips. “Umm. Thank you.”

She giggled, gently tugging my sleeve. “I hope you keep making a mess of things, it's pretty exciting. But I've got Dinah to keep an eye on now, so keep on guard.”

I nodded with a quiet mumble.

Before I could blink she was gone, seeming to just skip out of reality. Shamans could move directly through the spirit world so that made sense.

She said keep up your guard.

A shiver ran down my spine, and I noticed the shadow on the walls move where they shouldn't.

“Who’s there?” I demanded and the shadows answered, as a person stepped out of them.

My blood turned to ice.

Fur black as night with streaks of aged silver, wearing forest green silks streaked with sky blues. He was about six and a half feet tall with the shoulders and chest of an archer, and a belly to match. A cervine snout snorted, head topped with brambled antlers and eyes a shade of amber.

Deerfolk, with a touch of Dragon with those wings and teeth.

Fire danced in his eyes. I swallowed saliva at the crown adorned on his head.

“You’re…”

“The King of this dark land known as Danab?” He replied.

“I… how?”

He raised an eyebrow with a curve of lips full of sharp teeth. “There is a reason I was chosen to be king. But that is not what matters now, I am here to talk. So…” He folded his hands together, almost politely.

“…”

“So let us talk.”

----------------------------------------

I swallowed my words as I took a step back from the Réu who presided over the entirety of Danab. But I didn't lose my nerve.

“I hear you've been looking for me.” Was what I started with, hiding the fear biting my beating heart. This man was not weak, he was a king of kings, a witch strong in both might and politics to have taken his place as the highest of the High Clans.

The pressure around him, where magic seemed to compress around him, was horrifying. The same power I had felt from other witches at the Convocation, from a person I didn't know. I had subtly weaved my void barrier, fingers twitching at his shifting stare.

“I am not planning to harm you,” Azriel spoke gently. “I simply need to speak with you, and clarify some things. To offer a warning.”

That didn't reassure me at all. “A warning?”

The king shrugged his shoulders, but there was concern, a hint of fear that made my stomach curdle. “I fear your arrival in our world is an ill omen, and has caught the attention of people who would not treat you well.”

I rolled my eyes. “What’s your point? I still deal with people who want to make me suffer for not being born a girl. My world is edging towards disaster, and I can't stop it.”

The king laughed, a deep booming sound. “You are quite blunt aren't you?” He shook his cervine head. “But you are young and do not understand the lengths that others would go to seek you out. As the apprentice of the Wandering Abyss, you are a threat and opportunity that can not be ignored.”

“Then it's a good thing Ultima is a good teacher,” I snarked, not caring for his cynicism. “I can deal with it.”

Azriel took a single step forward, an odd melancholy in his eyes. “All of the world will be your enemy,” there was an electric tinge to the air. “Witch with a thousand enemies. When they catch you, they will kill you. A death of the soul, the mind, the body. Heed my warning and listen. First, they must catch you, child of Man.”

“Then why aren't you catching me then?”

“No matter their role, no one gets to choose who they are in this world. But you are not of this world, of this realm, of this time. That is why I told my niece to hunt you. To see if you could free her from that birdcage, and you did. But I will not let an ignorant innocent walk towards a meaningless death.”

There was grief in those amber eyes, what had broken a king like this?

“You’re an Oracle, aren't you?” I asked quietly, unnerved by his words.

“I have learned to divine the future, yes, to See in ways others do not. Which is why I had to take your measure. To make my choices. Kill you, take you under my aegis by hook or crook, or an alliance in the shadows.”

I paled. “I…” Was it just me or did he have a few screws loose? “I won't change my mind that easily. I'm a very stubborn sort of person.”

Azriel acknowledged my answer, and the air rippled. I almost tossed a spell at him… as the air shimmers around a point in space. He unveiled a symbol on paper, an important one. A mix of Earth and Void, Erset, and Sifra. I burned it into my vision.

“The Glyph of the Chain is yours, remember it. Be swift, be cautious. Breach the darkness.”

I blinked, and he was gone.

…

What had just happened?