“Are you sure you can’t take them? If I understand how this crazy thing works, then you must be, like, a level twenty-something-or-another, right?” Esther hissed at the prophet as she trudged alongside him over the golden sands.
Their captors had taken them out of the deep deserts—so there was that at least, Esther thought—and into what appeared to be rocky scrubland in the foothills. Stone crags rose on either side of them, and the ground had gone from a dry orange to white, brown, and even green.
There were short grasses, desiccated bushes, and dwarf trees. More boulders than Esther could conceivably count lay through the gorges and riverbeds they walked through.
Sesuuk bristled as he stalked beside her. Their guards trudged around them and were mostly silent, save for occasional hissed word or hand gesture that Esther caught Sesuuk watching intently. These snake-people didn’t seem to want to waste any energy as they marched through the burning desert. The land was still dry, but at least it wasn’t the desert.
“I am not going to tell you my level, and you would be wise to refrain from asking!” he rebuked her.
“Why? It’s not like it’s a secret, is it? This whole celestial scam is all about levels and achievements and—”
“Silence!” Sesuuk quickly turned to grab her elbow with one of his bound hands. “You would do well to not remind people of your status, my girl!” Sesuuk murmured, and Esther felt a jolt of fear run down her back like ice water.
Oh, yeah.
She was supposed to have something called a ‘celestial inventory’ that appeared on her inner vision and updated her about experience, but it only seemed to work sporadically. Sure, she got experience upgrades when she managed to defeat a monster, but it didn’t mean anything since she couldn’t see what she was supposed to have—like levels, statistics, skills, or even an Ascension Path!
She tried to see if maybe it worked better in a different realm.
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> [CELESTIAL ENGINE ERROR!]
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No luck.
She figured it was because of her time incarcerated in that Qlippothic Realm. She still had no idea what Kano or his Asai master had done to her, only that she was different than everyone else now. She could pour green fire out of her hands, which was seemingly not done in this new world. It was, seemingly, just too different from the magic that others—like her brother and his friends—used.
She knew that her status, or lack thereof, freaked people out as well.
Just like Blackwood wants to imprison or kill me, don’t they? She felt a pang of regret at that. She couldn’t control her powers. She had no idea what she was doing or how she was doing it.
Not that it mattered.
Sesuuk cleared his throat and checked that their guards weren’t paying them any extra attention. He continued, “There are twenty-four of them. As impressive as your or my skills are, I could not promise that one of us wouldn’t be seriously injured… And sometimes, you will learn that it pays off to be underestimated by your enemy.”
Esther’s eyes widened. “Oh. You let them capture you… Is that what you’re saying?”
He shot her an angry look, but there was a sudden hiss from up ahead, and their train of people came to a halt. They were at a turn in the gorge, with high rocks walls on either side. The largest of the snake-people, the one with the most pronounced eye ridges, turned to them and thumped their bladed staff on the ground.
“Bring the prisoners forward! We are home!”
“Home?” Esther whispered as scaley, cool hands grabbed her and Sesuuk, shoving them forward.
“You will see, Esther Callahan. Say nothing and follow my lead,” Sesuuk hissed before they were shoved in front of the group’s ‘captain,’ who looked Esther over before disregarding and focusing on Sesuuk instead.
“You. If you try anything, then know that I will shove my blade right through your foul, treacherous heart, do you understand?”
Sesuuk, Lamakai Prophet of the Third Trine, merely smiled. “Oh, my poor Kessiva, is father not giving you enough attention? Is it lonely being the heel of the prophet-king? Has he not rewarded you with your own trine yet?” Sesuuk’s tone was mocking.
In response, the captain—Kessiva—stepped forward as fast as lightning and backhanded Sesuuk across the face.
“Hey!” Esther stepped forward as she felt her anger uncurl in her belly, but the other guards grabbed her.
Sesuuk didn’t even appear to mind being hit. He stood a little straighter and smiled into Kessiva’s snarling face.
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“You know that there is no Third Trine, Sesuuk! And you are no prophet!” Kessiva hissed. “Our father willed that the Third Trine be obliterated from the records when you decided to try and overthrow him, so now there is just the First and the Second!”
“And Keskul is still in charge of the Second Trine, I take it, meaning there is no place for you, is there, little brother, as father controls the First with an iron fist!” Sesuuk said.
So… Sesuuk and Kessiva—and this Keskul—were all brothers and children of the king? The king and two children were leaders of a trine, but Kessiva was left out and clearly not happy about it.
Kessiva opened his mouth to argue, but then abruptly turned and marched ahead. “Bring him!” he barked, and once again, Sesuuk and Esther were being pushed forward.
What is he playing at? Why is he trying to make them mad? Esther wondered until all other thoughts were wiped from her mind when she came around the corner to see what could only be described as a ziggurat.
Or half a ziggurat, to be precise.
Half of the large edifice was built into the mountain itself, and Esther saw layers of blocks reaching toward them, broken only by a long ramp that cut through the tiers of rock. There were no pennants, no flags, and it almost looked like the seven-story structure was empty.
After a moment, there was a grating sound, and the hiss of many claws on stone as a line of Lamakai jogged out from the distant gate at the head of the ramp. They wore simple brown tabards and ran in two lines, one on either side of the ramp. They held the same metal rods as the others.
“Er… What’s going on, Sesuuk?” Esther whispered.
The two lines drew nearer, their steps growing louder, until they came to a stop and stamped their staves on the stone. Esther waited and watched. Nothing happened for a long moment until there was the piercing cry of a horn.
“Ah,” Sesuuk hissed.
A cart began down the ramp. The sun reflected off the vehicle, and it was so bright that it was almost impossible for Esther to look at. When it drew closer, she could see that it was a chariot seemingly made of pure gold. It was being hauled by huge, burly Lamakai. From the iron collars around their necks, she assumed they were slaves.
As the chariot passed each pair of guards, they would slam their metal rods into the ground again, creating a threatening heartbeat sound. Soon she could see a figure seated in the chariot, under an awning of turquoise silk. The creature was clearly a Lamakai, but their body was bloated, and the proportions were wrong. The torso was far longer, and the arms were stubbier.
“Sesuuk?” Esther hissed urgently.
“That’s my father,” Sesuuk whispered as the vehicle approached.
The creature in the chariot leaned forward to peer at Sesuuk, and Esther could feel the waves of power radiating from him. “Sesuuk, my child, welcome home,” the prophet-king said. The creature was so close that Esther could see his eyes were an opaque, milky white and she realized he was blind.
Sesuuk stiffened but didn’t say anything.
“You tried to kill me, my son. You led the Third Trine away from this place. Did you build a realm? Did you come back here for revenge? No. You came back here with your scales about to shed!” The voice of the prophet-king was metallic and croaky, laden with such venom that Esther could feel the hatred reserved for his son.
So that is how you came to the New Zone, she thought, watching the interaction carefully.
“Perhaps you got your Trine killed in the New Zone and have sought to sneak back here to see if I will take you back? Allow you to build your Trine again! Is that it? Well, you are wrong, son of mine! You will face nothing but your own death!” the prophet-king stated.
“That is not why I am here, Father,” Sesuuk finally hissed.
“Prophet-King! You will call me by my proper title!” the aging serpent-man roared, and Esther wondered precisely how old he was. He looked as though he could be centuries old, although she was no expert on the aging process of snake people.
“Then, Prophet-King, look to my side— Oh, sorry, I forgot you cannot…” Sesuuk started to hiss with laughter, and Esther almost kicked him.
What did he think he was doing? Why was he trying to make things worse?!
The prophet-king moved his head, as if groping in the dark in Esther’s direction, and then he suddenly, unerringly fixated upon her.
Esther felt something wash over her, but she couldn’t say what it was. It felt like the static in the air before a thunderstorm.
“What…” the prophet-king started in wonder.
“I bring you a weapon, Prophet-King, a great weapon, and one filled with such destructive powers that we can use her to challenge any Elder or New Realm that we so desire. We shall never again have to hide in our halls. No one will dare challenge us again. Even the Asai themselves will be terrified of us! We will use her to claim the Shard of Time!” Sesuuk declared loudly.
“What?!” Esther turned to Sesuuk, but abruptly, there were blades pointing at her neck and body. She was pushed roughly to the floor, her face hitting the sand. “Sesuuk! What are you doing?!” She could feel the rise of that dreadful qlippothic power within her.
“Do not resist, Esther, or you will never see your brother again! I am the only way back to him, remember,” Sesuuk snapped.
Esther gritted her teeth, trying to control the energy, but she wondered what would happen if she unleashed it. Would it be enough to kill everyone here? Probably not. And then she would be stuck there, abandoned in yet another realm far away from her brother.
There was a moment of silence, and then a low, dry chuckle came from the golden chariot. “I see that you are just as loyal to your new friends as you were to me, my son… I am pleased with this gift. She will be of use to me, I have no doubt, but you, I am not so sure, not yet anyway. You know that we Lamakai never forget. Never.”
The prophet-king clapped his hands, and the slaves started to pull the golden chariot back up the ramp.
“Father? What do you mean?!” Sesuuk hissed.
“Throw them both in the lowest dungeons! Place upon them every enchantment to keep them secure!” the prophet-king cackled.
Esther snarled in frustration from her place in the sand. “You see, Sesuuk?! If you can’t be trusted, no one will trust you!” Hands seized her and dragged her to her feet.
Screw this, she thought, closing her eyes and reaching for the green energy inside her…
But before she could, a cloth was pressed over her nose and mouth. She gagged and gasped. When she managed to breathe in, she got a lungful of a strangely aromatic, fine dust.
“Let me go! Get off me!” Esther tried to scream and thrash, but the effects of the dust were almost immediate.
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> You are affected by Dreamers’ Sand. Your combined Wisdom and Durability is [UNKNOWN].
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> You have failed to resist Dreamers’ Sand. You will be unconscious until such a time as your Stamina recovers…
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No! Esther tried to shout, but it was already too late. A black cloud enveloped her mind, and she fell silent.