by Gage Lee
I’d known Xaophis had infected Christina, but I’d thought he wouldn’t know how important she was. I hadn’t seen this coming. If I didn’t think fast, my mission was doomed before it began.
I tried bluffing. “Leave her alone, and I won’t hurt you.”
“No, I don’t think I will,” it said in a voice filled with unearthly creaks and groans. “I’m very comfortable right where I am.”
I activated the Borrowed Core technique and simultaneously lashed out with one of my serpents to snare Christina’s thread of fate. Her body was trapped in that cell, but her spirit was not. The instant I contacted my clan member, her fear and terror washed into me.
“Help me,” Christina pleaded, her words echoing through my thoughts like a tuning fork’s vibrations.
“Soon,” I promised. “But time is short and I need your help. Do I have permission to activate the Borrowed Core?”
“Yes,” Christina said, her voice a ragged sob. “Anything, if it will get this thing out of my head. It’s horrible, Jace. I feel everything it feels, I hear every thought in its twisted mind. The things it wants to do—”
Xaophis shrieked like a steam whistle, but it couldn’t break the connection I shared with Christina. And through that sacred bond, I borrowed Christina’s very special version of the hollow core purification technique.
I lifted the bucket and ripped off its lid, opened the containment vessel, and drank as much of the waste as I could stomach.
It was really too bad I hadn’t remembered to ask for a purification mask.
The foul fluid sloshed through my core, and I used the ability I’d borrowed from Christina to strip away the precious aspects and store them in my core. I was amazed at how easy it was and terrified at the power my young clan member commanded.
If anyone else found out...
There was no time for that worry. I pushed it away and continued my sloppy purification. My robes were soon stained with the foul waste, but my aura sparkled with rainbow-shimmer aspects. Perfect.
One by one, I filled the vials and replaced them in the case. It only took fifteen minutes to finish the task.
“Thank you,” Christina said. “The bond helps.”
“I’m glad,” I said. “I’ll be back for you, soon. Hang in there.”
She laughed in my head, a braying sound on the verge of madness. “I’m trying, Elder Warin. I’m really trying. Hurry back. I don’t know how long I’ll last.”
It hurt like crazy to end the Borrowed Core knowing it would return Christina to her tormentor. She sobbed when it ended, and Xaophis used her voice to hurl vile insults at my back as I returned to Reyes with my briefcase of precious cargo.
“You couldn’t help her?” she asked, perplexed.
“No,” I said. “But I will.”
“You have what you came for, then?”
“Yes.” The case felt heavy, like the price I’d paid to get it.
Reyes nodded and looked deep into my eyes. “What will you do now?”
“It’s time to get out of here and finish this thing,” I said.
Reyes fixed me with an angry glare. “You’re leaving this facility.”
“The only way to finish this is to go to the Grand Design,” I told her. “My body will stay here, but my spirit has to leave.”
“And I suppose you’ll take your friends with you?” Reyes asked, anger thick in her voice.
“Yes,” I said.
“Then I’m coming, too,” she snapped. “Along with ten of my best. You may have fooled the dragon, but I smell the stink of a trick on you, Elder Warin.”
“This won’t be a picnic,” I told her. “That thing you saw in Christina? It’s out there, waiting for me to come onto its home turf. Do you want to put your people in that thing’s way?”
“I will not allow you to roam free,” Reyes snarled. “You can’t scare me into making that mistake.”
This is not how I wanted things to go. If the Consul came along for the ride she’d try to bend my quest to her favor. She knew what I was up to, and she’d had plenty of time to scheme with her clan while she kept me waiting. For all I knew, the Disciples had an entire plan to subvert my quest.
I’d have to be very, very careful around Consul Reyes.
“Fine,” I said, knowing there’d be no fighting her. “Try not to get in my way.”
“Do not forget who’s in charge here, Elder,” Reyes said archly. “I’ll return you to your friends and prepare my forces. It won’t take us long.”
Something about how Reyes said those words set my nerves alight. She was up to something.
I just didn’t know what.
The Beginning
THE NEXT TIME I SAW Reyes she was leading ten Disciples decked out in their Sunday finest. Jinsei scrivenings covered their robes in a dazzling array of intricate designs that were so complicated I couldn’t discern their purpose. All the Consul’s entourage possessed artist-level cores, and hers was very close to master.
Close, but not there yet. Which meant I was still the most powerful sacred artist in the room.
I hoped Consul Reyes remembered that before she did something rash.
Like betray me.
“It’s time,” she said, beckoning to me through a hole she’d opened in the wall. “We’ve gathered your friends in the ritual chamber.”
“Oh, goodie,” I said, “it’s time to save the world.”
I grabbed the silver case loaded with containment vials and joined Reyes on the other side of the wall. We headed down a long black hallway with every surface so polished it reflected our images back at us. Golden Wardens lined the corridor in numbers far greater than I would’ve imagined possible. I stopped counting at thirty of the armored figures, but many times more than that stood in neat rows doing absolutely nothing.
“Where were all these hotshots when my mother was rampaging through cities?” I asked Reyes. “The rest of the Shadow Phoenixes might still be around if the Consul Triad had thrown some golden boys at the problem.”
“We only activate the Wardens in times of greatest peril,” Reyes said. “They’re reserved for the defense of our world against existential threats.”
The fact Reyes and her buddies hadn’t turned the tin cans loose on the all-out war between my mother’s cultists and the Shadow Phoenixes but had sent them to deal with me twice was both gratifying and ridiculous. The urge to point out how ludicrous that decision was nearly overwhelmed me.
But I bit it back like a good boy. We were very close to the end of this fiasco. Now was not the time to turn my inner smart aleck loose on Reyes.
We were allies.
I had to play nice.
The hallways shifted and blurred around us, like the unstable architecture that defined the School of Swords and Serpents. But where my old stomping grounds transitioned students smoothly from one slice of reality to the next, this place threw my internal compass around like a ping pong ball.
“Is the trip always like that?” I asked Reyes.
“It can be a tad disorienting,” she confirmed.
“You should try strengthening the threads of fate that bind the slices together. String some more jinsei around them,” I offered. “It should smooth out the transitions.”
Reyes stared at me with her jaw hanging open. “The work we’ve done here is more advanced than anything a student could understand.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged and hustled ahead of her to meet my friends. “But I’m a student who’s also a master that defeated a squad of your super suits.”
Clem, Abi, and Eric waited in the center of an ornate ritual circle laid into a floor of pure orichalcum. Judging by the depth of the etchings in the ritual circle, the sacred metal was at least several inches thick. It was worth a staggering fortune.
“This is nice work,” I said to Reyes, hoping I didn’t sound too impressed.
“I’m glad you approve,” the Consul replied. “That ritual circle is fifty feet in diameter and three inc
hes thick. It’s anchored to the obsidian walls and dome above us. We carved those from a single piece excavated in Shambala. This chamber provides perfect insulation against enemy sorcery. Whatever you plan to do, it will shield us from harm.”
Her precautions were impressive, I’d give her that. But the Triad did not understand what we were up against.
“It will make things easier,” I said to Reyes, “but it won’t offer as much protection as you think.”
“And why is that?” she asked as her disciples took up positions around the perimeter of the ritual circle. They gently folded themselves into lotus positions, already cycling their breathing as their leader spoke to me.
“Because it only shields our physical forms,” I said patiently. “We’re going to the Great Design.”
Reyes furrowed her eyebrows and steepled her fingers. “That’s impossible. The Design isn’t a place, Elder Warin. It’s a metaphysical concept, a jinsei construct that exists outside the boundaries of mortal reality. If I wasted all this time preparing for a child’s snipe hunt, your execution will happen immediately.”
The threat wasn’t as shocking as the realization that Reyes really believed what she’d just said. Hahen had made viewing the Grand Design seem like the simplest meditation possible. What if I was the only Empyreal who could see the whole thing?
“I’m sure that’s what they have led you to believe,” I said, hiding my surprise as best I could. “But I’m about to blow your mind.”
“We’ve come this far,” Reyes said, “I suppose there’s no harm in trusting you a bit further. What would you have us do?”
My next request would put Reyes to the test. If she let me have my way, then we were good to go. But if she fought me...
I didn’t know what I’d do, but it probably wouldn’t be pretty.
“Once my friends and I set up in the middle of the circle, I’ll bond our spirits to yours with one of my techniques,” I explained. “It’s perfectly safe—”
Reyes cut me off and shook her head. “This is absurd. You want me to put my clan’s most powerful agents under your control?”
“It’s the only way,” I said. “If you want to finish this, then you’ll have to trust me.”
I hoped that Tru’s theory was right. I’d played straight with Reyes this whole time. We were so close to the end. If she’d just trust me a little more, we’d get through this.
“You’re pushing me to my limits, Elder Warin.” Reyes stared at me, her attention a heavy weight against my aura. She searched me for any signs of dishonesty and found none. “Were it not for the dragons’ trust in you, I’d put an end to this whole charade. But if the First Scepter believes in you, then I can too. Tell us what to do.”
My friends watched the entire exchange with wide eyes. For the first time, they saw me for what I truly was: a clan elder and master sacred artist, the equal or superior to almost every other Empyreal. For anyone lower in status than myself, challenging Reyes like this would be unthinkable.
Not that it would have stopped me. I have a problem with authority.
“Form a circle,” I said to Reyes. “My friends will make another circle inside that, and I’ll be at the center. Just cycle your breathing as you would normally. I’ll do all the heavy lifting. If I need your help, I’ll ask. Otherwise, don’t interfere. And remember, I’m your only way home.”
That was probably an exaggeration, but the Consul didn’t need to know that. My odds of survival were much higher when she needed me.
Eric leaned in close to whisper to me while the Disciples arranged themselves in a neat circle at the edge of the ritual chamber. “This feels like a bad idea, man,” he said. “Us five against twice as many Disciples?”
I put a comforting hand on Eric’s shoulder. “They aren’t our enemies.”
“If you say so,” he said. “But I don’t trust them.”
“That’s the problem,” I said. “There’s not enough trust in the world.”
Eric shook his head but didn’t push the point. The prizefighter saw every challenge as an opponent in need of a solid beating. Until recently, I’d been a lot like him.
With everyone else seated, I took my spot in the center of the ritual circle and cycled my breathing. The air in the room was crisp, and the jinsei I drew into my core had no aspects or other pollutants. The orichalcum and obsidian chamber filtered out any possible taint, leaving us with unadulterated sacred energy.
Once I’d filled my core with that refreshing power, I began our journey.
My serpents stretched out like the limbs of an enormous spider. They touched my friends first and ignited the Borrowed Core and Army of Eyes techniques to bind us together. My friends were willing participants and didn’t resist my power.
The Disciples instinctively recoiled from my supernatural touch, their auras teeming with suspicion and fear.
“Don’t fight me,” I said. “We need our energy for actual threats, not ones you imagine.”
“Listen to him,” Reyes said. “He’s leading this expedition. This is no time for insubordination.”
My next attempt went far more smoothly. The techniques soon had all of the Disciples, including Reyes, bound to me and my friends.
I’d never worked with such powerful allies before, and the flow of jinsei through them was like the roaring of the ocean’s surface against the shore. Our breathing synchronized, and the sacred energy rushed through the living circuit we’d created.
“Okay,” I said. “Ready or not, here we go.”
The switch from the world of mortals to the spiritual realm happened in the blink of an eye. The power I borrowed from the Disciples was as pure and clear as the runoff from a mountain spring. It invigorated me and kicked my core into a higher gear, like running a race car on jet fuel.
I could get used to that.
The spirit images of my allies floated around me in an approximation of their physical locations. Their appearances were slightly altered, more idealized, but I had no trouble recognizing any of them.
“What have you done?” Consul Reyes asked in a shaky voice.
“Nothing, yet,” I said calmly. “Relax. That’s the Grand Design. It’s cool, and it won’t hurt you. But this is not a sightseeing trip. Pull yourselves together.”
The jagged emotions of fear and confusion that emanated from my allies polluted our connection. I pushed back against them, filling their thoughts with peace and calm. It wasn’t exactly mind control, but it helped calm their minds. When they’d settled down, I started work on the next thing that was sure to freak them out.
The containment vials in the case I’d brought with me from my visit with Christina cast a prismatic light in the spirit world. I reached out to them with my spirit and drained them, one after another, until all of the vials were empty.
Motes of distilled time swam in my aura. My serpents gathered them into a ball, like herding cats, and held them in place while I drew threads of jinsei from my core. This was a delicate operation, and I wouldn’t have my full attention back for several minutes. It would be a great time for a certain someone to show up uninvited.
“Watch my back,” I said. “If you see Xaophis, scream and run around in circles until you have my attention.”
This process was much harder than binding gold and copper elemental aspects into my thread. Motes of time existed in the past, present, and future, but not all at once. Half the time I reached for one, it slipped out of my time stream, only to reappear seconds later. My serpents chased the motes like border collies corralling rebellious sheep.
A spiritual earthquake rumbled through the void, shaking me so badly I nearly lost control of the aspects I’d just harnessed. A roar like shredding metal chased after the quake.
Panic instantly flowed through my connection to the Disciples and my friends.
“What was that?” Reyes asked.
“You know what it was,” I said. “Calm down. You’re distracting me.”
The Discipl
es had scattered into a loose perimeter, scanning the horizon for a threat they couldn’t see. Reyes floated over to me, her lips pursed.
“We have to get out of here,” she said.
I looked up from my work and pointed at the time aspects gathered on the tips of my serpents. “We can’t. Not until I get all these wrapped up.”
The roar came again. Distant, but closer.
“Hurry,” Reyes said, her voice on the shaky edge of pleading.
She was right to be scared, but her fear wouldn’t help us. “Keep your head on straight,” I ordered. “And be ready to move.”
I lost myself in the sorcery, guiding the jinsei stitches around their targets with painstaking care. Xaophis wouldn’t shut up; his bellows counted down to his arrival. Ignoring them got harder the louder they became. It was like that old joke. Try not to think of a pink elephant, and that’s all you can think of.
“Warin!” Xaophis shouted. “Stop! You do not understand the forces you’re tampering with.”
The monster was too close to ignore. It was time to move, even if I didn’t have all the time aspects wrapped up. I released the ones I hadn’t sewn into my thread and blinked my eyes to end my meditation.
The Disciples had arranged themselves in an arc between me and Xaophis. Though the beast was still far away, its oily black shadow was clearly visible in the Design’s glow. My allies watched its approach with dread and fascination, hypnotized by the deadly creature’s undulating form.
“Hang on tight,” I said. “We’re moving out.”
“Hang on to what?” Reyes shouted.
The time aspects in my thread tried to hop forward and back through time, but I held them in my mind. Reaching the center of the Grand Design meant moving not only through space, but back to the dawn of time itself.
I locked my technique onto all of my allies and held them tight. Then I willed the time aspects to synchronize with the past. They jittered and juked within my thread, shifting, clamoring for chaos and freedom.
And then...
We rocketed across the face of the Grand Design, my allies trailing behind me like loosely strung diamonds on a length of black thread. Eric howled with delight, but the rest of them were shocked into silence by the sensation of movement and the silver blur of the pattern rushing beneath us.