by Kyle West
“Keep going, then,” Shara said.
It began to drizzle, even as a cold mist overhung the bog. It became nearly impossible to see. We were forced to stop since there was no telling east from west. For all we knew, we were just going in circles.
Thunder sounded yet again. It was the first time we’d heard it in half an hour. But it sounded strange. Garbled, almost.
“Is that really thunder?” Isaru asked.
There was a long pause as everyone considered.
“If not thunder, what could it be?” Isa asked.
Unconsciously, we each reached for our weapons. I went for my blade, as did Isaru, while Isa nocked an arrow to her bow. Shara got her crossbow ready.
The thunder came again, and with it, the various puddles standing in the saturated xen rippled. Vibrations in the ground tickled at my feet.
“Earthquake?” I asked.
“No,” Isa said, her face going white. “If it’s what I think it is…our only hope is to stand completely still and pray that the cover of fog is enough.”
* * *
Everyone looked to Isa for further explanation, all the while fighting the urge to move even an inch.
“What do you mean, stand completely still?” Shara demanded. “Why?”
Isa swallowed before she could speak. “Yesterday, I didn’t believe mimics to be real. And since then, I’ve been thinking of all other creatures that were in stories. Lurkers, magmons, shellocks. But the most dangerous one was a worm the size of a building, or even bigger, that burrows through the xen. It’s said the sound of it entering and leaving the xen is like thunder.”
The thunder came again, only this time, it was closer. Now that we knew what it was, it no longer sounded like thunder, but like nothing I had ever heard before. Vibrations in the xen tickled my feet and made it difficult not to move them. The puddles were rippling all the more, and the vibration was becoming strong enough to shake my knees.
“Don’t move,” Isa said, softly.
I wanted nothing more than to run, but I sought Silence while holding my blade at the ready.
“How large will this worm be?” Isaru asked. “You said the size of a building.”
“I don’t know. As large as a tower. Maybe even larger. It’s called a basilisk.”
The ground then heaved violently, to the point where I could no longer keep my feet. A great wave of water rose into the sky and fell like rain. And through the haze, I could see it; a giant monster through the thinning fog, stretching high into the sky.
Even as terror coursed through me, I felt as if I had seen this thing before, a long time ago. One of Anna’s memories again?
The creature’s long body twisted and writhed, until it was facing us. A multitude of white, glowing eyes shone, even as water continued to rain down. Its maw widened to reveal thousands upon thousands of teeth, so large that they were visible even with the distance. It towered above us, larger than anything I had ever seen. Much larger than even a dragon. It might have been able to swallow a smaller dragon whole.
If this thing chased us, there was no way we would escape it. It was far too large, far too fast.
All I could feel was sheer panic.
Focus, I thought. Where have you seen this before?
A memory flashed into my mind. Four hundred years ago, there had been a similar creature – or even the very same – that had attacked during the final battle. It was a creature so large that only a weapon that was like the sun could destroy it.
Such a thing was unimaginable to me, but there it was, in my memory. I didn’t know whether this monster was the same one, but it was of the same kind.
“All of you, run,” I said.
“What?” Isaru said. “No. We aren’t going to leave you behind.”
“I know how to stop it, but you have to run.” I said. “Trust me.”
I didn’t even know what I was saying, but all the same, I felt sure of myself.
There was only a moment’s hesitation before Shara moved, pulling both Isaru and Isa with her. Both protested, with Isa screaming, but if there was one thing I could count on, it was Shara having a level head.
I stared up at the monster’s mouth, still agape and filled with teeth. I could feel a malevolent intent emanating from it. It meant to kill me, of that I was sure. But it seemed to be doing something else for the moment.
I put my sword in its scabbard, knowing it would do no good. Now standing alone, every part of me shook with fear, but I forced myself to close my eyes all the same.
In the Sphere, I had somehow broken the connection Mithras had forged with Aether. Markas had said what I had done should have been impossible.
Perhaps I could do something similar here. It was our only hope, because running would do no good.
It was insane to think this might work, but I wasn’t counting on myself. I wasn’t expecting this monster to listen to me. I was hoping, with everything I had, that it would listen to Anna.
The few seconds I had left stretched for what seemed an eternity. The basilisk remained still, each of its countless eyes staring into mine. There, it concentrated all of its power into conquering my own mind, and I fought back against its attack with everything I had. At any moment, the basilisk could have swallowed me whole, but for some reason, it couldn’t. Not yet. Letting go of the hold I had on its consciousness wouldn’t just see me dead. It would break my mind.
Horrifying images flashed through my consciousness, at a rate of what seemed a thousand per second. My parents being tortured by Valance. Their dead, decomposed bodies with worms writhing out of their eye sockets. The Sanctum burned to the ground, the bodies of initiates piled and burning. The streets of Colonia, at night, with hordes of people shambling, their eyes blazing white. Every one of these images seemed true, or if not true, as if they would be true.
But still, I held on, even if it took every bit of strength I had.
We defeated you four centuries ago, I thought. Or have you forgotten?
The basilisk let out an earth-shattering bellow, which was shortly followed by a putrid stench.
Let me help you remember.
Now, it was my turn to implant memories. I thought of the exploding sun that had killed the other basilisk, along with Askala’s fall from power. The memories running through my mind were no longer my own, but from another life: Anna’s life.
And those memories were reviling to the basilisk. It wailed so loudly that the sound thundered through my bones. My legs wobbled and I crashed to the xen, just as the ground heaved and puddles splashed all over me. I was sure I had failed, that I was dead.
I closed my eyes, waiting for the end.
In time, though, the rumbling subsided, and when I looked up, the basilisk was gone and the dark clouds were clearing from the sky.
And all I could feel was utter exhaustion. My vision blackened and I fought to keep my eyes open. Isaru was in front of me, and I heard him call my name.
I tried to respond, but that was when everything went dark.
* * *
When I finally came to, the sun was low in the sky. I heard Isa’s voice first.
“She’s awake.”
She and Isaru’s blurred faces slowly came into focus. I could only manage to move myself into a sitting position; I nearly collapsed back to the ground, such was my exhaustion.
“Take it easy,” Isaru said. “Whatever you did, it took a lot out of you.”
I could only manage a weak nod.
“Where’s Shara?”
“Trying to find us something to eat,” Isa said. She looked at me worriedly. “What did you do? We got to a distance and turned to see you staring at it face to face…”
I didn’t remember it being that close, but so much was hard to remember. Some of the images it had shown me were still fresh in my mind.
“I…I don’t know. I think it was something…she did.”
“I don’t understand,” Isa said. “This has to do with what you told me b
efore you left the Sanctum? About you being…?”
I nodded. “Usually, I don’t ever know it or feel it. She comes out in dreams most often, or in thoughts. Sometimes, though…she takes over completely. That’s what happened here.”
And every time it happens, it feels like I’m going to completely lose myself all the more.
Talking about having another person living inside you was difficult. It was as good as saying, “I’m crazy.” For all I knew, maybe I was crazy. I had seen crazy people before; beggars, mostly, and some would even have conversations with people who weren’t really there.
I hadn’t gotten to that point, even if there really was another mind battling my own.
“She took me over, and she stopped it,” I said. “I don’t remember what she said, exactly. But it made the basilisk go away.” Isa handed me her canteen, of which I took to drink. Once done, I wiped my mouth. “I don’t think it will trouble us again, in any case.”
"It could have killed you at any moment, but you stopped it," Isa said. "I don't think I'll ever understand that."
"I won't either," I said. "Whatever it was she did…I'm not sure if it will work again."
"What do you mean, it won’t work again?" Isaru said. "Any time a monster attacks us, you can just turn it away. We'll be safe all the way to Hyperborea."
“You can’t ask her to do that,” Isa said. “Look at her!”
Before Isaru could respond, Shara appeared from behind some reeds, dragging behind her what seemed to be a rather large reptile. Dead, of course, but the thing must have weighed three times as much as her, and she wasn’t showing any signs of strain.
“Dinner is served,” she said, dropping the beast to the xen. One of its dead eyes stared at me out of a long, triangular face. Teeth lined below its long snout, and its scaly skin made it look like no lizard I had ever seen. It was similar to a dragon, only it didn’t have wings and looked like it was designed for swimming.
“What is that?” I asked.
“A croc,” Isa said, somewhat in disbelief. It was hard to tell if she was surprised by this “croc,” or the fact that Shara had killed one by herself. Maybe both.
I was surprised to see such a large reptile this far north. Usually, such creatures were cold-blooded and not suited for cold environments, but at the same time, the Red Wild had a way of changing the creatures that entered it.
“Start up a fire Isaru,” Shara said, hardly even noticing that I was awake. “Isa, help me gut this thing.”
Isa begrudgingly moved to help, and I decided that I was strong enough to lend a hand as well. We layered out long strips of meat on the xen. There were no sticks to skewer them, so we had to use our swords. They served just as well, if not better.
Within the hour we were feasting on the croc, which tasted a lot like chicken, except that the meat was a bit chewier. Once we were finished eating, we kept cooking the meat long into the night, as Isaru and I had done with the deer. I didn’t feel good about the fact that we were going to have the carcass ripe for the pickings not too far from us, but the other option was to move our camp, which didn’t make sense because it was likely the driest spot for miles around.
The Withering Waste felt unnaturally quiet as we settled down for sleep, but the brooding sense that something was watching us was absent. It was as if the entire place knew what had happened, and was making a point of staying away. Even so, Isaru kept watch while the rest caught what sleep we could.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
SHORTLY AFTER DAWN AND A light meal of croc meat, we were on our way east. After just a couple of miles of slogging through marsh and reeds, the land flattened and dried into a wide, desert plain, with only a few patches of xen breaking the monotony. For the first time, we could walk a mile without being soaked from the shins down. Although the sun was bright, the air was still cold and windy. Gusts swirled dirt devils across the expanse. Along the horizon rose a line of mountains, shining dull red in the early morning light.
“That's them,” Isa said. “The Red Mountains.”
“The end of the Waste, then?” I asked.
She nodded. “This is the last stretch. After those mountains, Ragnarok Crater shouldn’t be far.”
We were close, then. It was hard to believe. We still had a few days to go, and if those mountains were any indication, it might be longer than that. Isaru and I had been reduced to a crawl crossing the Dagger Peaks. But given that we made it past these, all that was left was the Crater itself, after the Plains of Decay. Getting into the Crater wouldn’t be easy by any means. From what I had read, it was over a hundred miles across and miles deep at its lowest point, guarded by sheer cliffs on all sides. There had to be a way in. The Pilgrimage Road might pick up again somewhere around here, now that we were through the Waste. The road, though, was all but absent here on these dust-strewn plains. For all we knew, it was fifty miles north or south. The land was passable, and until the mountains, there would be nothing to bar our path.
By the time evening came, we were a little closer to the mountains. In the passage of hours, it was hard to tell if we were actually getting closer, but they were clearly larger now than they had been in the morning. Another day, perhaps, and we’d be in them.
“We have to try and find the road,” Isaru said, over dinner. “From what I’ve read, it goes through the only known pass in the north. The only other option is going far enough north to where the mountains taper a bit…but that means continuing to slog through the Waste.”
“We don’t have time for that,” Shara said. “It’s the mountains or nothing.”
That was at least one thing everyone agreed on. Our progress had been much better than expected. Despite everything we had gone through, it had taken exactly six weeks to get to this point. Considering all the rough country we’d had to pass, Valance had been far too stringent by only giving us three months. It meant we’d have less time to spend in the city itself to search for the Prophecy, and it definitely meant we had to take a shorter route home. Isaru getting discovered would be the least of our worries then. As long as one of us could make it back…
My thoughts went to Shara. Shara, who would no longer need us once we had the Prophecy in hand. I still didn’t know what we were going to do about her. I was guarded, and I would be doubly so once we reached the city.
Assuming we reached it in the first place.
I had second watch, and it seemed to come before I even knew it when Isa woke me. As she settled down for her own sleep, I was alone with my thoughts. I watched the mountains, glowing in the night almost like fire. It had probably been years, or perhaps even decades, since anyone had been this close to Ragnarok Crater. By all rights, we should have been dead by now.
I practiced sword forms until the eastern sky grayed above the red peaks. I fed the fire with some more scrub we had gathered, until it was bright and warm, which helped stave off the morning chill. As I warmed my hands, I also stewed some of the croc meat. It was surprising how much of it we’d already eaten. There were four of us, now, eating as much as eight for all the hard travel we were doing.
The others woke one by one, and after breakfast, we were off again toward the eastern peaks.
* * *
By afternoon, the plains quickly transitioned into steep, jagged hills, often filled with xenotrees. There was no telling where the pass might be, so all we could do was aim between two of the mountains, before which was a wide valley filled thickly with pink forest. Even if the swamplands behind had been decaying, this valley still seemed to be a haven for life, not yet poisoned by the reversion. Even so, there were few animals, and usually the only sounds were our footsteps and the breeze blowing through the branches above.
The forest abruptly ended to place us before a high cliff, below which spread the rest of the valley coated with xen. The mountains were pink until a certain height, the color switching to bare gray rock mostly covered by thick snow.
“Look,” Isaru said.
I followed where he was pointing, toward a single line weaving across the lowest part of the valley.
“We found it again,” Isa said.
“It’s amazing it’s still here,” Isaru said. “Let’s get down there.”
He led us along the cliff, and trying to find a safe way down took the better part of the morning. It wasn’t until early afternoon that we were in the valley below. Another mile through scattered forest saw us coming upon what remained of the road – nothing more than a slight depression in the vast valley of xen. On the ground it was hardly discernible, while on the cliff it had been more prominent. It hadn’t survived as well as Isaru had thought.
We followed it until it became too dark to continue moving.
After we set up camp, ate, and settled down for sleep, I had hardly closed my eyes when a high shriek pierced the night.
I was up in a second with my blade drawn, even as the others drew their own weapons. The shriek came again, although the tone was different, as if it had come from another creature. The sound echoing off the mountains made it difficult to determine where it was coming from.
But then, I looked up to see dozens of shadows blocking out the moon and stars, all flying south across the valley. We all remained perfectly still as the dragon swarm flew across the sky.
“More of them migrating south,” Isa said, putting her bow away
“There are much more here,” Isaru said.
It said a lot if the Northern Wild was getting too dangerous for even dragons. It also explained why this part of the mountains was relatively peaceful. The dragons living here had made it habitable.
Now, however, that would change. It might take years, or even months, for these mountains to become more like the Waste.
We only went back to sleep when the last of the dragons had passed out of sight, and with their departure, it was hard not to feel a foreboding emptiness.