A Shuffling of Planets (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 3)

by Daniel Ruth

  I glanced again at the wall. I could simply smash through but with a spacial entry here there was no guarantee I would actually be inside the pocket dimension. I could simply break on into the house behind.

  "All right, plan B," I sighed. I wasted another Clean spell on the area I guessed to be the entrance. Since we were on a ley line it wasn't that much of an expense. Kneeling down I rooted around in my bag for the placards I had made. I had dozens of them, each one with a basic ward drawn and prepped. All they needed was to be affixed and energized.

  I pulled out a tiny can of adhesive. It was mostly resin and ash, with a bit of dragon saliva to get the magic flowing. A minute later I had it attached to the wall.

  "Whatcha doing," the pixie asked. "If you stay here too long you might get invited in."

  "I am making my own invitation," I said as I brought out my runic tooth. I was just about to draw a drop of blood to activate the ward when the wall waivered. In its place was a door with a brass knocker in the shape of a beautiful lady holding a harp. The harp was the hammer. I looked at the tooth and shook my head. "Forgot about that. That has to be a secondary effect. I swear I'm not that absent-minded."

  "You opened the door," the tiny fae squealed in delight. Then she whispered, "You probably shouldn't have done that."

  I reached up to the knocker and swung it down with a resounding bang.

  After the knocker met the door the entire alley filled with a resonance. A vibrating hum that filled the air around me and set my teeth on edge. It actually felt a bit out of tune. If I had to guess I would think that someone had taken Sulayman's basic enchantments and warped them a bit. Of course, it may have been the reverse, since I don't recall seeing any spectacular special warping magic in the newer Purgatory.

  The sense of the burgeoning energies built to a crescendo and the door before me literally blew open in front of me. I swayed a bit in surprise as the open portal was accompanied by a huge gust of wind that didn't show any evidence of waning. Any remaining dust in the now clean corridor was swept past me into the gaping maw left by the entry.

  I felt a light weight on my back as the pixie slammed into me with a grunt, desperately clutching my shoulder in an effort not to get swept away.

  "I forgot about that," her piping voice shrilled in my air. "The great ones love a joke." Her voice sounded strained and the grimace on her face delayed her words. "How are you able to resist their might?"

  "I am heavier than I look," I replied. I reached out and put my hand around her, eliciting a thankful gasp.

  I tentatively reached out a hand into the glowing funnel in front of me. The warping seemed stable, so it shouldn't lead to an instant death trap. My clairvoyance wasn't telling me anything, but that was normal. It was notoriously unreliable. Also, precognition was infamously useless across dimensional barriers unless you were a god whose specialty lay in that area. Not that this was a real dimensional portal.

  In short, I didn't have a clue. So, I naturally stepped through.

  Chapter 24

  Once my feet had left the ground my borrowed mass didn't help me at all. I let it slide back into wherever my mass goes when I'm not paying attention to it. Meanwhile, I madly spun around in something that resembled a magical wind funnel. The light flickered in the smoke and fog surrounding me.

  While it felt like several minutes, I rather doubted my perception when I landed in a rolling heap on cobbled stones. I staggered to my feet, fighting mild dizziness. I frowned as I looked back to where I had landed. The stones were crushed by the force of my body. Mortals would have simply died outright and even shifters would have been bruised.

  Uh oh," I muttered to myself as I noticed a small, rather mauled figure laying in the bed of crushed stones I had left. "That can't be good."

  The pixie's body was mostly buried in the gravel. With a minute effort, I looked for her aura. She was alive. That was good, I wasn't sure I would have bothered with a regeneration circle for someone who was basically a stranger to me and whose race had a reputation only slightly better than Freddy Kreuger. There were also questions about fae souls and whether they minded coming back as living zombies.

  She also looked to be healing extremely slowly on her own. I took a moment to dig her out and with a poke of my finger healed her to consciousness.

  "Oooh," she moaned deliriously. "I don't feel good. Tell the boggart I don't want to play anymore!"

  "I think that was a bit beyond the power of a boggart," I offered. "Your lords and ladies seem to have a mean streak."

  "I told you they hated visitors," she said woozily. "Unless that’s how they show you they like you..."

  "Yeah, I got that already," I hushed her gently. Turning around, I took in my surrounding. Knowing I was in a pocket dimension I wasn't surprised to be in a cramped space. The reason it felt cramped wasn't what I expected.

  I could see I was in what appeared to be a standard section of the city. However, the street lights were off, which wasn't a problem, but incredibly thick fog surrounded me. Even with my ability to see in the darkness I couldn't see more than twenty feet from me.

  Considering we were in a sub-dimensional bubble I couldn't tell if the fog was purposefully placed there to keep the simple-minded from getting headaches from looking into the void or a simple side effect of... well, something else.

  The buildings looked like the 'modern' area of New York. Without electricity or people, it appeared dead. Well taken care of, but abandoned. As I approached one side of the street, I saw that even though it had been empty for decades it had no dust or debris.

  "For an abandoned area its remarkably well taken care of," I mentioned. My own tenement likely wasn't any newer than these builds and it had taken a massive amount of magic to rebuild it.

  "The lords wouldn't allow that," the pixie piped up, apparently mostly recovered from her near-death experience. "I can sense a few brownies in the area. Obviously, they are keeping up the area to their requirements."

  I did see lingering hints of tiny supernatural auras. There were none in direct line of sight. They seemed a bit shy of visitors.

  The stores became less prevalent as we walked and we saw stores, movie theatres and even a decent number of live theatres. At least that’s what the signs showed on the outside, in elaborate plastered posters that left few undecorated spots. Almost all the eateries advertised live entertainment from comedians, actors, singers and band that were undoubtedly famous many years gone by. Not that I would recognize them but Jeremy would have gotten a kick out of it.

  Dead, black tubes became common, set above the storefronts scribbling names and titles. Neon lights looked dreadful without electricity to illuminate them. I was admiring how dead a city could look without actually having gone through an apocalypse when a flash of light caught my eye. Far down the street, light was approaching. It didn't seem to be a car or a person, as it got closer I saw that the street lights and store fronts were illuminating one step at a time. It almost seemed that a person was going from building to building, streetlight to streetlight and flipping the switches in a straight line to me.

  As the light approached, the fog receded slowly until I could see a few hundred feet around me. Then I was engulfed in the light shed from an undead city. Brilliant, multicolored neon signs now surrounded me. They lit the previously drab exteriors that now could display the gaudy colors of the posters everywhere there was a bare space.

  "The dead city comes alive," I said appreciatively. It would be a crime to ignore it after all the entire show was for my benefit. "Needs music though."

  Almost immediately music could be heard wafting from the restaurants and theatres. Voices and laughter could also be heard at the edge of my perception.

  "Better, thanks," I said to the no longer empty city. Not that the people I heard were real, but there was definitely a real person or creature behind this. The illusion was too thorough to be otherwise. There were circles that could create facades and even interactive images and
sounds but this had a depth that made it seem unlikely it was one of Sulayman's constructs.

  And if it was unlikely that the circle master had crafted this, it was even less likely a vampire did. Vampires could certainly beguile a person to think such things were happening but it would be accompanied by sluggish thoughts that would make it unlikely that it would be detected. My thoughts were shielded by my talents and race. I would certainly be aware of such attempts. This was more of a light show. I took out my terminal and verified that all that I saw could be perceived by the camera as well.

  As I was pondering the showmanship before me, I heard footsteps coming from the street ahead of me. My lips quirked in amusement. They were coming from hundreds of feet down the road yet I could hear them over the sounds of the city around me.

  Coming slowly out of the fog was a gentleman, a smartly dressed young aristocrat, dressed in a tailored suit of a casual style. Blue, green and red, the colors blended well together. I would admit that his suit far outshone my own rather drab, but comfortable imitation tweed.

  "Welcome to our home under the stars," he said grandly, gesturing with a cane that he obviously did not need.

  "Hmm, an elf. I wasn't expecting that," I muttered to myself. The pointed ears were an obvious giveaway. Although since the Balkeez aliens were puttering around somewhere I suppose he could have been a Vulcan type alien.

  Apparently, he heard me. And wasn't pleased. "I am not an elf," he spat coldly, a chilled wind blew around us and static and sparks flowed from the neon tubes around us. "I am of the sidhe."

  "Ah, damn," I cursed. "Another magic elf." Diego had mentioned the possibility but I hadn't expected to run into a hive of them.

  "More like the Unseelie," the pixie's tiny voice whispered in my ear.

  "The sidhe are not elves," the man sniffed in disdain. "No more than humans are apes. Actually, that’s a poor example..."

  "A racist elf," I said nodding to myself. This seemed familiar.

  "You would be wise to hold your tongue, shifter," the elf said while gritting his teeth. "You’re a guest in Queen Madb's domain. Walk softly or bear the consequences."

  "Queen Madb," I asked, suddenly cautious. If these elves were similar to the Álfar I wasn't too concerned. Stella was dangerous because she was a godly Elementalist. A fact that hadn't been readily apparent before she had stolen over two hundred greater elementals in the country of Gildorn. As powerful as she was, she was definitely not representative of her race. Based on past conversations with her, I recalled her race had come into conflict with another supernatural elf variant. Of which I seem to have the pleasure of presently meeting.

  "Is she here," I asked tentatively. Magic elves were one thing, the Queen of the elves was another. "I would love to meet her."

  This was a lie of course. I absolutely did not want to meet her, but I think it was a safe gambit. This pocket dimension was obviously a dead zone. Why the heck would the queen be here?

  "She doesn't meet with animals," he stated arrogantly. My eyebrow twitched. I was pretty laid back with low level supernatural. It took a bit to trigger my territorial instinct. Stella's elementals did it in a big way. I had a hard time not jumping them, even though I knew it wasn't the wisest course of action. This guy didn't bring that out but my arm twitched as if it independently wanted to slap him upside the head.

  "We are planning an event," he continued blandly. "The food, music and most of the guests," he paused and looked at me sideways. "Will be of the highest class. You are welcome to join us."

  My arm twitched again. However, he was inviting me to free food. It was ironic that he was inviting me there. The entrance was a one-way portal. Anyone else would have been thoroughly trapped in this subspace with absolutely no way out. Where else would someone trapped here go? He was generous in the way a snake was generously inviting a mouse into its mouth.

  "I accept," I replied back with a halfway sincere smile. "I hope you have some delicious things in absolutely ridiculous quantities."

  "Delightful," he said with a curl of his lip. He turned and swaggered back the way that he had arrived. I lagged behind just long enough to verify the light and noise faded building by building as he walked before I caught up.

  I was relatively quiet as I calculated the effect's range and weighed whether my Counterspell would be effective. I shook my head sadly. This effect was greater than a student's cantrip. Chances were it wouldn't, although my ward should. Of course, one was a flick of my hand and the other several minutes of preparation.

  "Don't be afraid," whispered the pixie in my ear. "They love guests. They don't do horrible things until they're bored."

  "I hope they have a good chef," I told her in a low voice. "If everything is an illusion, I'll be extremely disappointed."

  "Have no fear," the elf said ahead of us. "We have invited the very finest talents in the mortal world to be our guests."

  "It should be delicious," the tiny voice chipped in. "Doubtless they have kidnapped the best chefs and musicians in the city. They will likely happily serve the Unseelie until they die of old age."

  "Oh, is there a temporal warp in this dimension," I asked eagerly. I wouldn't mind gaining a few hundred years. It was a long way to adulthood for me and the massive transformation that awaited me. Basically, the older a dragon was the more powerful they were, excepting their various magic skills and talents.

  "Not anymore," the elf said sourly.

  That was fairly noninformative. The trip was short but was relatively silent after that comment. The pixie filled in the silence with mindless chatter that I pretty much ignored. She constantly pointed out where various fae was hiding. I couldn't see them. They weren't invisible but they hid so well it was far more effective. All I could see were aura traces that showed where they were minutes before.

  As for the city, it got fancier and brighter. Unlike Arc, there weren't light shows and ads projected into the sky or on the wall and the lit signs and posters weren't obviously magical illusions, however, the colors were so vibrant and florescent, I imagined it was a lot like a psychedelic drug trip.

  Finally, we reached the far edge of the reality bubble. I should have known it would be a casino. It was extremely similar to the building Sulayman had created in Arc. Perhaps it had some sentimental value. Maybe the building's dimensions had a mystical significance related to his mastery of circles. Either way, I couldn't tell the difference.

  Walking in past the double glass doors and the brighter than reality lighting I saw the massive main room. Looking up I saw the edge of the second floor that wrapped around the edges of the room like a circular indoor balcony. It left me feeling a massive sense of déjà vu.

  "Lovely design," I complimented. "You elves must have spent a lot of time designing this."

  "Taste and elegance are what we are," he said simply though he did give me a nasty look for the using the 'e' word.

  As promised, there was very nice music. A live band, with an attractive female singer, was at one end of the room. She was presently singing a slower song, accompanied by ethereal instrumentals. She stared at us with dead eyes. I wasn't sure if anyone was home behind them and I couldn't resist checking her aura to verify she was living.

  She was, just numb. She was malnourished and in poor general health. The band members weren't even that. They weren't undead so much as constructs of flesh animated by magic. I wasn't sure but I think these may have once been the band. Now they weren't much more than recordings of what once was.

  On the cheerier side of things, the dining room looked like it was almost ready for the main course. It was filled with elegantly dressed men and women. All elves except the waiters. They were all magic elves with impeccable taste in clothes. If I had cared about such things, I definitely would have been jealous.

  Then I looked more carefully at the food and the waiters. The servers were constructs, similar to the band. More memories of real people than people. The food... well, I didn't see much aura. It co
uld have been cardboard for all my aura sight could tell. As for my normal vision, it looked delicious.

  I sighed in disappointment. Everyone looked at me.

  "Is something wrong, beast man," the elf next to me said. I think he was getting ruder.

  "Well, I was hoping to get some decent food," I looked disapprovingly at the pretend food. It looked so good and yet felt so off. I didn't really need to eat but I can't imagine even sidhe getting anything worthwhile out of it. No wonder the humans died. "Apparently I shouldn't have bothered."

  "Your kind seems to be getting more arrogant than ever," the elf spat out. The other elves appeared satisfied to leave the vocal disapproval to him. "You should know your place."

  "Right," I sighed. My arm swept up and met one side of his face. I felt almost petty for how good that felt. He flew upward in an attractive arc several hundred feet and onto the second-floor balcony on the other side of the room. "You magic elves seem to have mouths that are annoying as heck."

  "How dare you," a woman as impeccably dressed as the other beautiful elves stood up and stared at me commandingly. "Do you think we are helpless against the brute strength of mere beasts? We hold the magic of darkness and air!"

  The room blurred and I felt something trying to intrude into my mind. My psionic shields went up and most of the blurring was gone. I didn't relax though, the fact was that these beings were masters of illusions, they had more tricks than hypnosis.

  Sure enough, the waiters and the band members gained mass and transformed into lumbering tentacled horrors. I touched my runic tooth and some of the shadows and tentacles faded. The remaining were either light constructs or reality. Whatever they were they staggered towards me.

  The actual elves started shimmering with blue. Ah, finally a traditional invisibility talent. A common talent of greater magical creatures and supernaturals was to see the invisible. To me turning invisible was no more than putting a beacon on yourself. Most shifters didn't have this talent which was likely why these folk thought this was a good idea.