Kara felt a lump in her throat. "I don't think I'm ready for this."
"Well, you're the only one who can do it, so it doesn't matter if you're ready."
She glared at him. "That's not very encouraging."
"I'm only telling the truth."
"I know. I shouldn’t be complaining." She took a deep breath, watching the beautiful glow that filled the chamber. Now that she stood far below the surface, she could see how the energy had formed an intricate dome above her. The threads of that energy danced in countless patterns, forming a complex spider web.
With every passing second, the threads shifted. For the first time, Kara understood the Webs of Fate. These threads were guided by the events taking place in the world. Every decision people made caused a new pattern to form.
Glancing up, she noted that some threads of energy were much stronger than others, pulling other threads toward them. Warrick had told her about such threads. These threads were probably guided by Weavers—people like her.
"I feel like I finally understand the Webs," she said.
"It's quite a feeling, isn't it?" Rador asked. "Seeing the world in all its complexity and finding you can understand at least a small fraction of that complexity."
"It no longer terrifies me."
"Good," Rador said. "That will help you to do what you need to do. Take my hand, and I'll guide you through the Webs. I wish I had more time to teach you the ways of a Traveler, but Berig is already running out of time." He gave Kara an encouraging smile. "Are you ready?"
She swallowed. "As ready as I'll ever be."
"Close your eyes."
Holding onto his hand, she closed her eyes. For a few long moments, they stood there like this with nothing happening. What was she supposed to do? She had no idea how to Travel, let alone how to enter the Webs of Fate.
"Let your instincts guide you," Rador said.
Images danced before her. She saw Berig, or at least fractured visions of him. Another Berig stood beside him in a forest. She saw the fear in both their eyes, then saw Berig disappear into nothingness. Following her instincts, she reached out for him.
The energy of the webs burned like fire. She screamed, but Rador didn't release her. It felt as if some unseen force were consuming her entire body, suffocating her. At the same time, she felt as if she might explode from a force within.
Something thrummed in her ears, the sound growing deafening with time. A bitter blast of cold washed over her. She wanted to release Rador's hand, but she'd lost all control of her physical body. She felt nothing apart from the energy. Darkness closed in around her, but she pushed against it, and somehow the blue-green light of the Webs filled her surroundings.
Berig was floating ahead of her, his eyes wide, the glow of the Webs reflected in them.
She called out for him, but no sound came from her mouth. The energy swirled around her, beautiful and menacing. As she floated toward Berig, she felt as if the air had grown thicker, repelling her. She pushed and pushed, but the air seemed to have formed an invisible wall.
No. She couldn't fail like this, not when she was so close.
Berig was growing blurry. The Webs were pulling her away from him. Gritting her teeth, she fought back with everything she had. The air slowly gave way before her, and the distance between her and Berig dwindled to almost nothing. She reached out, tried to take his hand.
All she needed was a few more inches.
His eyes were wider than ever. He'd seen her.
"Reach out," she screamed, her words lost in the Webs. But he could read her lips. He didn't hesitate, extending his hand toward hers. The next few moments felt as if they lasted an eternity. Inch by inch, their hands grew closer together.
Then some unseen force slammed against her. She was sent spiraling away from him, the air growing darker around her. She screamed out in frustration, but the sound was lost in the void. When she finally stopped spinning, she didn't see Berig anywhere.
The next moment, she lay on the rocky ground, covered in sweat, ears ringing, heart pounding. Rador sat beside her, his expression grave.
She pushed herself to a sitting position. "I was so close. We have to try again."
"I'm not sure that's wise. If I hadn't pulled you out, you would have died."
"I don't care. It's almost too late already. Berig was beginning to fade."
Rador bit his lower lip. "All right. You sure about this?"
"No, but we have no choice." Kara didn't understand much of what was going on, but she knew Berig would die if she waited any longer.
"You're right." Rador held out his hand.
Kara took it and closed her eyes, waiting for the torture to begin. Soon she was lost in the Webs again, floating in a vast black sea crisscrossed by the energy of the Webs. She looked for Berig in the dancing blue-green light, but didn't see him anywhere.
Had he vanished already?"
"Berig!" she called out, her voice silent in the darkness. She scanned her surroundings, desperation welling up within her. She couldn't fail now. Berig needed her. She'd never gotten to know him that well, but he was important to the fate of the world. They all were.
They were Weavers. Great responsibility had been thrust upon them. Once, Kara would have scoffed at the thought of destiny, but now she understood that her destiny held great potential.
She focused on Berig, on the events that had brought Berig here. She saw him scaling a fence, saw him racing away from guards in the New Earth Empire. As she floated in the vast, glowing nothing, she felt Rador guiding her.
His touch was comforting, giving her the sense that someone might be in control.
Even if she wasn't.
She focused again and again, recalling Berig as she'd seen him floating in this sea of black. Nothing happened, and her chest tightened. She had to think of something else.
But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she felt solid ground beneath her again.
Trembling, she glared at Rador. "Why did you pull me out?"
"We were following the wrong strands. Berig was nowhere near you."
"I could have found my way to him."
"Not before dying yourself. You need to rest."
"I'm not going to rest," Kara said. "You know I can't." She wiped sweat from her forehead, then glanced up at the dome of energy. It remained beautiful and menacing, but she understood its nature, understood that she only needed to focus a little more.
"You won't do the world any good if you're dead," Rador said.
"I just need one more chance. I can do it this time." Kara didn't know where this sudden conviction came from. In truth, she felt lost in a sea of doubt as vast as the Webs of Fate.
"One more chance," Rador said. "If you don't succeed this time, we'll have to accept that Berig is lost to the Webs of Fate. We can still defeat Krinir without him. It will doubtlessly be more difficult, but I still think it's possible."
"It doesn't matter," Kara said. "I'll get to him this time."
"For all our sakes, I hope you're right." Rador's expression was grim as he held out his hand again. Kara took it before she could second-guess herself, and then she closed her eyes.
Immediately, she drifted away from her rocky surroundings and found herself floating once again in the Webs of Fate. The blue-green light filled every inch of her surroundings as she drew her thoughts toward Berig, feeling the guiding touch of Rador.
This time, she found Berig in the forest as he spoke his last words before disappearing into the Webs. The other Berig watched in shock and horror.
Kara knew this was the moment that had allowed her to find Berig the first time, and it was going to work again. It had to.
And there he was, floating in the darkness, his form blurrier than before.
She met his gaze, and he stared at her in wide-eyed terror. He reached out for her, blue-green energy dancing all around him. Steeling her determination, she willed herself toward him. She crossed the vast black nothingness, growing c
loser inch by inch, and beckoned for him to approach her. He hesitated at first, but then he looked down at his own fading body.
That terrifying image must have instilled new courage and determination in him. Slowly, he glided toward her, crossing between beams of energy. She reached out for his hand, and he did the same. Her heart climbed into her throat, and she felt like vomiting, but she pushed through her fear. She could feel herself slipping away already.
If she stayed much longer, she would join Berig in this bleak and cold place.
Their hands met. They tried to cling to one another, but their grips slipped.
No. It couldn't end like this. Fighting against panicked tears, Kara reached out again. She met Berig's gaze. His eyes were wider than ever, his face pale in the pulsing light, but this time their hands met, and Kara pulled herself toward Berig.
He opened his mouth in a silent question, but she shook her head. They had to leave now.
She focused on returning to the God Realm by Rador's side. At first, nothing happened. She glanced down at her body in the swirling, blue-green light and saw that she was fading as well. Not as quickly as Berig, but soon she would join him in nonexistence.
They clung to one another, waiting for death to take them.
But then Kara felt Rador's guidance, his insistent tug at her. She wrapped her arms tighter around Berig and returned her thoughts to Rador, letting him guide her again.
Nothing happened.
Another blast of unseen force slammed against her and Berig. She clung to him with all her strength as they went spiraling through the blue-green void. Nausea swirled in her stomach, and a flood of fear threatened to drown her.
Strangely, they seemed to spin faster and faster, as if the Webs of Fate were trying to rip them apart. Perhaps pulling Berig free from the Webs' grip was not allowed.
But she didn't care. She quested out for Rador, trying to find him in the darkness of her mind, but nothing was there. It felt as if his presence had abandoned her.
She looked into Berig's eyes and saw her fear mirrored in them.
Now that strange force seemed to be coming from all directions, trying to tear them apart. Without thinking, Kara wove the Yellow and Blue light within her. She hadn't used up the energy she'd stored from her most recent time in the sun.
As soon as she wove the colors within her, the force could no longer reach them. She held her shield strong, fighting as the force redoubled its efforts.
Sweat poured down her forehead, and she could already feel her energy dwindling.
Rador had to find them again, had to pull her free.
Then she felt it—the gentlest of tugs. It reminded her that she had a physical body back in the God Realm. She focused on the feel of rocks beneath her, on the beauty of that many-colored dome of energy that swirled above her. The cold around her began to fade. Gradually.
She focused all her thoughts, all her energy, on returning to the God Realm. She was a Traveler after all. She could do this. She had to do this.
A sudden image of Rador flashed before her. He had somehow joined them in the Webs of Fate. His form was not blurry like theirs, but his expression was grim, determined. He met Kara's gaze, and she understood immediately what he intended to do.
"No!" she screamed into the silence, her voice soundless. He was going to trap himself here, guided by her Traveling, and in doing so, he was going to send them back to the God Realm. Perhaps it was his touch in her mind that told her all this, but she understood everything so clearly. There was nothing she could do. He'd made his decision.
He pushed against Kara and Berig with surprising force, flinging them away into the darkness. She caught one last glimpse of him as the Webs of Fate faded around her.
And then she was back, trembling on the rocky ground, drenched in sweat. She glanced to her left to see Berig lying upon the ground beside her.
Rador was nowhere to be seen.
Chapter 48: A Lack of Guidance
Berig blinked his eyes a few times. He had no idea what had happened, or where he was. Though he recognized Kara, he didn't understand how she'd pulled him out of that void. So many questions swirled in his mind that he didn't know what to say.
He stared at Kara, his mouth hanging open.
"I imagine you have a lot of questions," she said.
"Yeah, you could say that." He glanced around the cavern in which they were sitting, noting the strands of blue and green crisscrossing the chamber and bathing the rocky path in their wavering light. "First off, where the hell are we?"
"The God Realm," Kara said. Before Berig could respond, she held up a hand and continued. "Think of it as another world, much like the Shadowed Land. This is the place where the Creator lives." She shook her head. "Or where he used to live."
Berig scratched his head. "Who was that other person I saw?"
"That was Rador," Kara said, fear flickering in her eyes. "He used to be the Creator. He gave that power up to Krinir, but he was still a god of sorts, I think."
Berig chuckled. "You sound like you don't understand this stuff either."
"Not really. I only just got here. It happened because of the magic I gained when I went through the Nexus down in the Shadowed Land. That magic came from another world and interacted with the magic of the Lightning temple, and somehow I ended up here."
Berig remembered the story Kara had told when their groups had briefly reunited in Luminia. It was hard to believe then and even harder to believe now.
"You still haven't told me how I ended up here," Berig said.
"I'm not sure I understand myself, but I think you ended up here because of a contradiction, much like what happened to me. By interacting with yourself in the past, you thought you were sentencing yourself to death, and you would have died if I hadn't pulled you from the Webs of Fate."
Berig scratched his head again. "And how exactly did you do that?"
"I'm not sure. It's difficult to explain. Rador told me I'm a Traveler. I possess the ability to Travel between worlds and between the different realms connected to each world. Somehow, that meant I could also travel into the Webs of Fate and pull you out of them."
Berig couldn't make any sense of this explanation. "In other words, it was a miracle."
Kara smiled. "That sounds more reasonable than my explanation."
"Guess it doesn't really matter." Berig pushed himself to his feet, glancing around the rocky chamber, awed by the swirling pattern of light above them. "What do we do now?"
"I don't know. Rador was supposed to be here to guide me, but I think he gave himself up to the Webs of Fate to help me pull you out."
"Well, can't you get him back out?"
Kara frowned. "I don't think so. I was only able to find you because he guided me through the process. I don't believe I can read the Webs of Fate on my own." Her face was suddenly pale. "But I can try. I have to."
She closed her eyes, adopting a look of deep concentration. For a few minutes, she stood there, chewing on her lower lip, but then she gave up.
"Nothing," she said. "I don't even know where to start."
"Well, it was worth a try."
"I don't even know how to get out of this place," she said. "Rador teleported both of us here. I guess we have to go back where I came from, but I'm not sure."
"Well, your idea's as good as mine."
Berig followed Kara as they ascended the spiraling path lining the edges of the vast chamber. Threads of light danced above them, their patterns beautiful and intricate. Many times, Berig caught himself glancing up at them instead of watching his steps.
"What exactly is this place?" he asked. "What is this light?"
"The Webs of Fate," Kara said.
"Then everything that has ever happened is here? Everything that ever could happen?"
"I suppose so," Kara said. "I'm trying not to think about it."
"Yeah, it kind of hurts your head, doesn't it?"
They walked in silence for the next few minu
tes, making their way carefully to the top of the chamber. From there, they entered a nearby passage and soon emerged in a more open chamber. This chamber, however, offered them no other exits.
Kara shook her head gravely. "As I said, Rador teleported me here."
Berig scratched at his beard. "So is this Rador guy God? You said he was the Creator?"
"No, he isn't God. According to him, he was once a normal person."
"My head's hurting again." Berig glanced around the chamber, searching for any sign of another exit, but all he saw in the blue magical light was rocks. "So what do we do now?"
Kara sagged against the rocky wall. "I have no idea."
"Well, we've gotta think of something. I don't wanna be stuck here."
"All right. You have any ideas?"
Berig paced beside the cavern wall, unable to think of anything. "We could go the other way. You know, deeper down."
"I don't like the thought of going deeper into that place," Kara said. "But you're right. It's the only option we've got. Surely this place will have an exit."
"Let's hope you're right," Berig said.
They returned to the chamber they'd just exited, then made their way down the spiraling path at the chamber's edge. Down, down, down—it felt as if they'd never stop walking. Berig had expected the blue-green glow of the Webs to grow duller, but instead it became brighter and brighter as they plunged deeper into the vast space.
At last, they reached the bottom of the spiraling ramp, and Berig glanced up at the multicolored web of light. It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.
"Strange to think this place holds all the world's possibilities," he said.
"I wish we could read the Webs," Kara said. "I have to think we'd read them more clearly from here. Maybe we could even see the path to defeating Krinir."
A voice came from their right. "Sorry, but that's not going to happen."
Berig turned toward the voice, and his chest seized with panic.
Warrick stood before them, smiling as if it was perfectly normal to meet here.
World in Chains- The Complete Series Page 168