“Call King? Are you out of your goddamn minds?” James shouted five minutes later, once the initial uproar across the room had settled down. “This is a stupid idea. King is looking for the same keys to godhood as Val! Us bringing Angela, or possibly Rick, to him, is terrifying! That puts Val one step closer to her not-so-delusional goal of taking the power of a goddess!”

He's suffered through Drenar's batshit crazy plans, physical punishment, Kyle's zaniness with all things magitech, and he's held up, so far. Angela rolls her eyes at him, knowing that for once, she and Drenar are in the right.

“Brother, we are in uncharted territory. Our mother decided to completely and utterly screw with my life, without even asking me! Am I happy to be not dead? Yes, I am! Dead is a permanent problem, even in the mage world. We need answers.”

“This guy has been playing us for six years.” She peers at him unflinchingly and points to her chest for emphasis.

“Samarina has been warning me other stuff was going on. And she was right. I don't think even she knew about all the details, because when I first heard her, she was a broken mess,” Angela explained.

I didn't. I was fragmented. The crystal shard seems to have…grown, in a way. And as it did, so did my consciousness. The fact that she has to relay this on Sam's behalf, is annoying. Except for Joey, leaning in and looking more perturbed than usual.

“Eight years. King has been playing cards for longer than we know, and if he intervened in Angela's demise, it's even longer than that. What is his end game? Did he know about all this beforehand?” Joey raises unsettling questions, and even Drenar is weary of it.

“Add it to my bingo card, King’s a rival to whoever wanted Gaia out of the picture. And I think they partially failed to wipe her out, as intended. Whether that's outsiders, the Conclave, or some other shady group. Maybe even the Followers. Damn, I don't have a grasp on this one yet.” Drenar looks exhausted, because it's now approaching closer to morning than it is midnight. “Fates on a stick, the aspect of a goddess? Reality is body-checking my agnosticism.”

“Sounds like a medical condition,” James grunted.

“Dude, several civilians almost lost their lives because of this stuff tonight. We are lucky that Kiera and company were on standby.” He rubs the bridge of his nose, while her brother continues to glare at him.

“You’re pissed that your date night got ruined.” That barb from her brother sets Drenar off, with the way he focuses on James, with deadly intent.

“Oh, do not go there,” Drenar warned him, and even the kitsune was edging her teeth out a little. “When it comes to protecting lives, that is our number one job. Period. Now, let’s focus back on details. Where the hell is Volkir?”

“Still here, little dragon,” Volkir calls out in a bemused way, while peering at an arcanist data pad. “Not like I haven’t been busy for the past month and change. I warned you that there might be repercussions for the device being active. But, this behavior of the mana is quite unusual.”

“I observed the same thing in Peru,” Amaranth chimed in. He pointed to Rick. “We need to establish key facts, first, before we consider trying to find this King fellow.”

“Listen, Professor Dragon, dealing with King is the most dangerous move we can make,” James counters flatly, while Angela glares at him. “There is no outcome in dealing with King where we come out ahead. None.”

“And yet, my mother said to trust him with our lives,” Drenar states through gritted teeth. “I despise the guy, and he clearly has ulterior motives that I’m not sure Val and Crosomer know about. Well, maybe Crosomer, but Val is the Kefka wannabe out of the three of them.”

“It’s a pretty bad day when we get to make fun of our villains for being batshit nuts,” Julia sighed. “Look, let’s lay the cards out on the table. We need to know what we’re up against. First, Rick. then Amaranth. Then our dragon sage.”

“I’m not a sage,” Volkir grumbled. “Dragon youth these days. So uncouth.”

“We’re teenage dragons with attitude, what were you expecting?” Julia asked with a raised eyebrow. “Look, the night isn’t getting any younger, and we might need to pack up soon. Chief reason? Val is the kind to burn the world, if she thinks she has a chance of getting Rick. It won’t take them long to figure out where we are.”

“Asqualia?” Kyle proposes. “Renovations are almost done. Even as loathe as I am to go back to the place I know people died in.”

“We’ll sort that out in a bit,” Joey interjects. Angela can feel the dread emanating off of her–going back there, will not bring good memories. Drenar takes the cue to change the subject.

“We’ll need someplace more defensible soon. Rick, meeting room. Miss Waterson, we’ll need your husband to answer a few more questions, if you don’t mind,” Drenar redirects, and Rick’s wife nods after a brief pause. “You and the little one should get some rest. We’ll make accommodations.”

“Please, my husband is a good man–”

“I’m not here to judge him for his career choice," Drenar assures her. “I’ve learned very quickly in the past few months that not every decision is straightforward. Angela, I need you on this one, too, and the rest of the team.”

“Yeah, kinda not feeling a lot of love in this room, on account of the actions of some people here,” she utters between gritted teeth, and looks right at her mother. She has not even attempted to hug her once, after this devastating reveal. “Let’s get this done.”

Five minutes later, Rick is sitting in a large room that Nick had set aside in the downstairs facility. He looks even wearier than before, and a cup of coffee chatters in his hand. Angela looks at him, and at the rest of the occupants–Levine and Nick are busy still chewing out SAF to figure out who jumped the shark, back at Rick’s house. Or how Val got there, too, and then vanished in an instant.

“First, Rick, I need to know one thing. When you went to the aether, you did so, twice. What happened, exactly?” Drenar asks calmly.

“Thought I was dead, to be honest. Unlike my peer Bill, I knew the void bubble on the back end of a portal link does connect to places. But…no one’s ever come back, which is why people assume it just deletes reality,” he added with an eye roll. “I thought I could get off the platform in time. That crystal started saying a Champion had risen. That she had to survive. Next thing I know, I’m floating in this off-white place, tumbling through space. I think I blacked out at one point.”

“Okay. Any signs of a two-meter-tall, draconic woman?” Joey asks pointedly.

“Or anyone with green eyes, and silver scales?” Angela asks pointedly, from her own brief flash. She wonders if she and Joey saw the same thing–was it possible? This place wasn’t a physical place. It seemed to be a very un-reality. Like a dreamscape, even.

Rick shakes his head. “Not at that time. Not that I could see. I come to, and I’m on the floor, inside some ancient temple, and a circle of that glowing mana is sitting over my head. It was like…I was teleported.”

“Describe the structure of the crystals.” Kyle tunes in, arcanist pad in hand. “Was it the normal hexagon structure of the mana crystals? Similar to what you saw in the mines you described?”

“Yeah. but brighter. And louder. Well, louder to a guy like me,” he added with a shrug. “It formed some kind of tri-point hoop, like someone built an ancient teleportal. But, there wasn’t a platform. It was all a natural formation, I think. The temple was built around it, tan and grey slab, jungle vines, hot as hell, when I was in that hazmat armor. I think that was…I don’t even remember when that was. What’s today?”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“The twenty-second,” Drenar inputs. Rick nods.

“So, a day, total. I started exploring, holding on to that crystal for dear life. The phone was inoperable when I got there, stopped working or something. Anyway, there were glyphs. The whole temple seemed to have this chill vibe. Old, forgotten, but it still stood. It stretched up high. But when I saw the sky, it wasn’t blue. It had this golden sheen.”

“Pocket plane,” Volkir murmured. “You find them everywhere across the planet, but getting in and out of them is usually by magical means. Perhaps it can only be entered by that crystalline gate?”

“Can’t be. I was there, watching Rick get chased by a Kryn'gaxx that he disturbed. Must have set up a nest in the temple,” Amaranth countered. “Maybe it’s a one-way entry? It’s possible.”

“Still haven't explained why you were there,” Joey reminded him. He put a hand gently on her shoulder and nodded solemnly.

“I know, Josephine. When I saw Richard here disappear in a flash–and left me running from a very confused Kryn'gaxx, I knew I was onto something massive. Please, continue.”

Rick takes a moment to finish detailing his explorations, and Kyle sketches out the descriptions of what he had seen. “The place was ruinous. Big enough for dragons, sort of? But the stone seats–they were humanoid sized. There was a central chamber, of stone pews, and there were arcane lights still dimly lit. The place must have been thousands of years old. I saw little birds and small magical creatures scurrying around,” Rick closes his eyes, as he tries to recollect it. “In the center was a dais. There were thirty-something symbols. When I touched one, they unfolded and rotated. The structure of the runes changed as I tapped the symbols. They unfurled, rotated, reconfigured. Each tap seemed to change the runic language.”

“Were the symbols familiar to you?” Volkir asked, leaning in attentively. Rick shook his head.

“No. Except for one. May I?” Volkir lent him his notepad, and he slowly sketched out a symbol. One that Angela recognized, as well as Joey. “That was in the center, and it was the symbol that stayed constant. I’m not sure the thing was working, because it didn’t do anything. It looked like it was missing some big component, below the dais. There were sockets where you could plug something in. and mounts. It was made of some strange metal that looked organic. I…I’m not a metallurgist, but it could have been…” he furrowed his brow. He pointed to Drenar’s armor. “That metal.”

“Valkyrian steel?” Drenar asked, and Kyle shook his head.

“It’s chemically close, but different manufacturing means. Real Valkyrian steel takes a core temp the heart of a star to forge. I wish I were exaggerating,” Kyle responds while jotting more notes. Angela leans in, and taps the notepad.

“Joey, you know what this is, right?” that depiction of a simple draconic stick figure, with six wings, was all too familiar to her.

“The old glyph of Gaia,” she answered, eyes alight with recognition. “What else?”

“That metal matches the device we saw the Talons teleport out of the Mount Syren Mine. Coincidence?” Drenar asks, and Kyle shakes his head.

“No. this metal that Rick describes? You won’t find many other close matches. Maybe adamantine, but that is already a component of Valkyrian steel. But it’s not quite a match.” Kyle pointed out to Luminari, still sitting by Angela’s side. “But that is a much closer match.”

“Luminari is the same material?” Angela asks, and gently shows the material to Rick, who nods animatedly.

“Very close. The luster, coloration, the way it just…whispers. It’s like there’s a lattice of mana in the metal itself,” Rick says, and reaches out gently for the sword, but hesitates and pulls his hand back, rubbing it uneasily. “Anyway, I didn’t get to tinker long. I heard a loud sound nearby, almost like some kind of predator. So I high-tailed it out of there. Then I uh, stumbled over some reptilian creatures nest in my haste, and it saw me as a snack.”

“Kryn'gaxx are highly territorial. You’re lucky you’re still in one piece, Rick,” Joey said with a slight tone of admiration. “How on earth did you outrun it?”

“Slipped into some narrow side tunnels. I lost it for a while, but I could hear it bounding around in the main corridors. I figured my options were either wait it out, or run. It didn’t give up, so tossed my cell phone and played music as loudly as I could, as a distraction. It bought me the opening to escape, crystal and all. I can’t believe I didn’t drop it in my haste,” he added, and glanced at the sample that was sitting back in a container, now.

Rick continued and rubbed at his scuffed-up face slowly, and winced at an all-too-painful bruise. “I ran through the temple, and most of it was intact, minus some vines and some magical plants that occasionally grew inside. The brickwork was just…no human could have built that. Maybe not even dragons. That center spire, the place was a tower. I looked up and saw dozens of openings. But, I don’t have wings, so, I couldn’t get up there.

"That’s when the Kryn'gaxx caught up with me. I managed to give it the slip after it bashed into a wall, trying to eat me. I’ve learned to be very fast on my feet. I found another chamber, smaller, where I could hide. It felt like…like a church, or a small prayer room. I dunno why I got that feeling, just that there were a few stone pews, and an altar. There was a book there. It was written in some kind of runic language.”

“Where’s the book now?” Angela asks. Rick grunts, and pulls open his jacket, where he had stashed it in a pocket. The tome was pocket-sized and looked to me made of various glinting dragon scales. But the scales were much smaller than her own. They must have been individually weaved into a silky fabric that, showed no age. Several runic symbols were etched on the scales in a pattern, and Volkir lit up at this discovery.

“Kinsgardian? The same language is on the machine. But this…” Volkir breathed, the amazement apparent in his emerald-colored eyes. “Rick, this is a big find.”

“But, what does it mean?” Rick asked. “Sorry I didn’t mention it till now, I kind of forgot it was there. It’s uh…it’s been a weird day.”

"It is a big deal--once I can get a translation. Sorry, I didn't mean to interject." Volkir motions for Drenar to continue.

“So what happened next?” Drenar presses, leaning in and eyes attentively focused on the book that Volkir gently examines, and traces with a line of mana. “Is it dangerous?”

“At a glance, no. But, reading it will take time. This is not paper, either. This material the pages are made of is of the same organometallic substances you find in dragon scales. Fascinating.”

Rick took that as his cue to continue. “I backtracked. I couldn’t stay there forever. My wife was gonna kill me if I was home late, so I focused on finding a way home. I Tried to get the crystal to get me to go back, but it didn’t trigger by itself. Then I made the mistake of getting chased by that damn lizard that was trying to make me into a tasty snack. I stumbled down a hallway that was broken apart, slid down, and came out by some massive entrance. I felt something tug on me like a magic magnet once I broke outside, and the crystal started vibrating in my pocket. I was running for dear life, and I saw an azure dragon in survival gear peering at the place, and then, poof, back to the Aether!” Rick expanded his hands outwards for emphasis.

“We don’t go ‘poof’ into the Aether, Rick,” Drenar states dryly.

“Yeah, we call it the aether slip,” Angela added. Drenar looks at her, frowning.

“You know someone’s gonna make that a dirty phrase here, at some point, Angela.”

“Dibs! Giving the baddies the slip!” Julia declared. “Or, slipping it to them, bow-chica-bow-wow!”

“Oh for shit sake, Julia,” Drenar groaned, and there were more than a few laughs in the room–Angela included, and his mood instantly tanked. “Okay, so that brings us mostly to current events. You said you saw a goddess when you were flailing in the aether when I and Joey found you.”

“Oh, right, that part. I saw someone in there, for a brief moment—a woman. Very tall, draconic features, but I only got a glimpse. But, I saw something else—a sphere. Energy tethers connected it to…dark points in the space. I don’t know what they were. But they filled me with utter terror, Drenar,” Rick said warily. “I heard a woman inside my head, pleading for help. To find her children. I think that’s what she said? When I saw Angela here, crystal scales, I just assumed that…I dunno, it must be related, to when I got thrown right into a meat grinder. What were you two doing?”

“Dealing with Ravager Company,” Drenar stated flatly. “They were chasing Amaranth. Which, I believe, dovetails into your story, professor.”

“Amaranth, how did you even find that place?” Joey asked. Amaranth took a deep breath, and closed his notebook.

“After you told me about the events of Asqualia, I went seeking answers, about the drakensouls. And what you call those strange crystals. They are primal crystals. They are different, as you’ve ascertained. Joey, those runes on that dais? They might be able to help me figure out what the Kilnstar’noth is. And maybe, a way to permanently render it inoperable.”

“Except for one problem,” Drenar states hesitantly. “A seven-year-old girl–and my mother, the head Valkyrie hero, think that Gaia is not dead, and I'm all but certain that device cracked open her prison, and someone is not happy about that. Not only that, but she is being imprisoned by someone so dangerous, that they’re willing to send Ravager company to stop you, and I think that’s just the start. How on earth did you get their attention?”

“I got careless. And Davos himself is involved. I saw that metal-clad bastard before I gave them the slip.”

Angela sees Drenar’s fist curl tightly, and his stern face of his is tense. “That walking war crime is involved?”

“You’ve got history with him?” Amaranth asks. Angela puts a firm hand on Drenar’s shoulder, because he needs all the courage in the world to face that monster.

“He’s the one that killed my dad by proxy. He left my mother minus one arm, and in a coma for two years,” Drenar states with dead calm. “Yeah, he and I have business, Amaranth. The fact that that Davos and Val are working together, is not good news. Start laying out details. After that, we need to get rested. I have a feeling we’re going to be very busy, soon.”