Lighting Distant Shores

by Nathan Thompson

  To that end, he had spent even more of his power creating this new brood, this last litter, of Scalelings. He was mighty, but a considerable amount of his creations had already been slain as they tried to battle the Atlantean remnants down below. Each slain Scaleling was a scale he could not recover. He could salvage a scrap of power at most from their deaths, and that was only if he was extremely careful.

  He did not care for careful. He did not care about losing so much power. He wanted answers and hidden knowledge, and the key to greater power right now.

  The Atlanteans had secrets to augment beasts of the sea. Surely he could use that, being among the mightiest beasts of the sea already, and a true dragon as well.

  Perhaps, with just the right knowledge, there might soon be a new Cosmic Wyrm, the likes of which even Aegrim and Vinclum would learn to fear.

  But to gain that power, he had to risk more of his scales. It would be best to make them count.

  So he threw as much power as he dared, to create his most advanced Scalelings yet. Into these, he would forsake as much combat potential as he dared, making them only as strong as they needed to be. Instead, he would make them as enduring and observant as possible, even investing a drop of Water magic into each. This would help them resist the cold by a small fraction.

  That part confused me. The Ideal of Water already granted resistance to cold inherently. That gradual resistance had been the foundation for my eventual understanding of the Ideal of Ice itself. The Tidefather’s vulnerability to cold made no sense, as his power over Water should be at least as great as my own. A moment later, some shred of memory held the answer: the Tidefather was a creature of flood, not water in all of its forms. It held power over the rapid, powerful movement of liquid, but such power was anathema to the immobile cold. Since it never comprehended the Ideal of Water completely, it was vulnerable to the contrasting aspects of its specialty.

  But again, access the libraries of old Atlantis, and its knowledge over the Ideal of Water itself would be sure to grow. Maybe it would grow enough to gain mastery over Water completely, maybe gain the powers of Ice in addition to Flood. But again, it needed the secrets of the people of water and wisdom.

  So this clutch of Scalelings was torn from the Lesser Wyrm’s body. They were made as durable as possible. Given what little resistance to cold the Tidefather had, as well as some small amount of magic itself. They used their magic to force open the entrance to the underground mountain. Then they moved as fast as possible, passing their dead and hibernating brethren to reach the bottom. They could feel Father’s irritation at seeing the hibernating ones. Had any Scaleling been powerful enough to risk returning, he would have ordered their recovery, so that he could reabsorb them into himself. But it could not be done, so it was no longer considered. They raced down the cold hallways, staying close together and casting their magics to help resist the cold.

  Then they reached a safer place, where his floodbreath still wrecked the underground village. The Scalelings marveled at the architecture that stubbornly resisted total destruction despite the ageless power of Father’s mighty breath. They dove into the warmer waters, where Father’s breath recognized them as kin and spared their bodies its wrath. They swam past the ruins and its relics, unwilling to risk the cold that warded the remaining lesser treasures.

  Eventually, they reached the halls that their earlier kin had traveled down. Again, they relied on their magic to endure, and this time it was much easier. The most intense region had been the stairways and the tunnels after them, and they had recently been refreshed by the breath of Father. Still, they knew they must move quickly. They would still not last long down here if they were not careful. Not as long as they needed to, at least.

  Finally, they reached the great cavern where the previous generation had fallen. This time, there were no more Atlanteans left. By now, Father knew that whatever power was haunting this place had driven them all mad and left them lifeless. That same power had to have been the one that drove their people offworld before, for they had no defense against it. But that power had yet to manifest, giving Father confidence in facing it.

  But frustration reared its head once more. The final room, the one place he had not explored, after sending hundreds of Scalelings down the many twisted halls of this realm, was blocked. A massive door, with wards both Shaped and Scripted into its materials, thwarted his children. The seal was made by Avalon itself, the script said. There were warnings regarding what lurked beyond those doors, the doom of Atlantis itself. Father snarled through the Scalelings in memory. His ally, the one who invited him to take part in the war for this planet, had betrayed him. Somehow, he had brought the plague of beings known as the Flood to this world, and had unleashed it in the Tidefather’s wake. At some point, when the dragon had forced the surviving Atlanteans to flee to this place, the Flood had swept in and wrecked them all.

  Now, he knew what had become of the Flood and the remaining Avalonians. The hive of not-things had picked off the Atlanteans one by one, until it had been corralled into the room beyond, where the last library of Atlantis had served as bait, and then it was trapped by Avalon itself.

  But the door would only open to either the Lord of Avalon or a master of Script and Shaping magic. The Scalelings would have no choice but to climb into the nearby depressions in the cavern floor, submerge themselves in Water magic, and hibernate until the day one could open this door.

  And now, one has come, the voice of something ancient and powerful growled in my head. And he has proven to be the king of thieves!

  The rage poured directly into my mind, sought to gain control over what it thought to be a puny brain, unused to the attention of mighty and ancient beings.

  It made me laugh.

  I moved on to absorb the next dead Scaleling, as the ancient beast tried to succeed where Aegrim, Dark Icons, and probably Malus himself had already failed. When he called me a thief for the eighth time, I finally lost my patience with him.

  You came here, I began slowly, negotiated with me in bad faith, then attacked me when I refused to cooperate. Not sure where you were going with that last one, since you knew you needed me to open the door anyway. But you did all of that, while forgetting that, to be here at all, I needed Avalon to recognize that I had a claim to rule this world. So you have actually been stealing from me all this time. You should feel thankful I offered to let you leave with your life at all. That offer’s off the table now, by the way. When I get out of here, I’m going to crack your decrepit ass wide open and dig out every one of my people you’ve eaten. So go ahead and stay put while I fix everything down here.

  He actually went quiet at that, even while I finished absorbing another two Scalelings. None of them had any useful memories, so I skipped that part of the process and settled for absorbing as much power as I could, and denying the Tidefather the ability to reclaim as much power as possible. Finally, after I had absorbed a total of six Scalelings, he acted. The remaining Scalelings all dissolved into liquid on the floor. In destroying them all so quickly, the Tidefather had forsaken any chance he had to reclaim them, settling instead for denying me any further theft of his own power.

  Very well, oh Would-Be King, the ancient dragon answered me, his voice growing fainter as the Scalelings around us began to melt. I will test your claim myself, as soon as you dare to leave the safety of these halls. We will see if you are still bold enough to call Avalon’s throne your own when you face my jaws and rage.

  Then, no longer having a Scaleling body to project his presence with, his voice vanished completely.

  I shrugged. Recent events had given me fair cause for a bit of irreverence in dealing with cosmic, ancient beings that were also assholes.

  “Um, Wes?” Breena spoke up. “Were you using more Blood magic just then?”

  “Yeah,” I answered, turning around to look at her. “I wanted to keep him from reabsorbing the Scalelings that he sent down here. I figured every bit of power he lost permanently wou
ld help us deal with him later. And I’d get more knowledge and strength. It’s like what I did with those Hoarfolk back in the last Tumult.”

  “Um, okay,” Breena said hesitantly. She looked back at everyone else, who nodded at her, as if they had all privately nominated her to be the spokesperson for her concerns. “So, um, are you done?”

  “Yeah,” I said slowly. “Why? You guys saw me do this earlier. Did something different happen this time?”

  “Yep,” Val said, her dark eyes looking behind me. She pointed. “That. That’s kinda weird. Like eighties-horror-movie weird.”

  I looked behind me and saw the pools of melted Scaleling crawling across the cavern floor in my direction.

  The hell? I thought to myself.

  Oh, Teeth spoke up. Sorry, I forgot. That’s me.

  The hell? I repeated, far more forcefully this time.

  What? He replied unrepentantly. The others aren’t going to eat it, are they? Unless you want to offer Breena part of our kill. You know, like a normal male dragon. One that properly appreciates the female form.

  There were too many things wrong with that statement to answer all at once.

  Can we even absorb this much? I demanded, stepping away from the pool of melted dragon men still heading my way.

  Wes, Breena hissed worriedly at me. What’s going on? What do you want us to do?

  Nothing, I replied, my dragon’s just being greedy again.

  Can he even eat this much? Breena asked me. Do you need me to talk to him or something?

  Hey, that’s a great idea—

  NO, I replied, cutting him off. I mean, no, Breena, but thank you. I can handle him for now. I turned back to Teeth. Answer my question about whether this is safe.

  The hell do you mean, safe? He shot back. We’ve already eaten tiny pieces of Icon level powers. Plus that brother of yours. The big one, that keeps throwing demigods at us. He’s already bigger than this old, anemic thing. Besides, if it really is too much, we can just hibernate for a while.

  Hibernate? I asked, exasperated. And I don’t have a bro—

  Before I could finish complaining, the pool of blended dragon-men evaporated and floated up into my nostrils.

  Look, you’re overreacting here, FNG replied. The safest thing for us to digest is literally another dragon, with dragonkin being a close second. And this stuff right here is a distilled version anyway. It won’t be a bunch of unnecessary pieces like you got with our Blood magic earlier. Still purifying all of that, by the way. Don’t expect to get the full benefit for a few more minutes. But all of this? A lot easier. Just the useful bits.

  I made the mistake of inhaling then, even though he was in my head and I didn’t have it in? my lungs to shout at the jackass. The dragon vapor floated right up my nostrils and my body began to shudder.

  Hey, I was right! The Freaking New Guy shouted enthusiastically. This really is easy to digest! And after we digest it, I’ll be able to absorb some of the really big stuff we ate earlier a little better!

  You mean you didn’t even know if it would work? I demanded. And what big stuff?

  Your brother, mostly. He was a bit of an exception to ‘dragons are safe.’ But don’t worry, I’ve been careful. Anyway, here we go!

  My body stopped trembling. My muscles felt even denser than before, and my senses had sharpened further. I saw a level of detail in the cavern floor I hadn’t noticed before, and it was easier to see in the dark.

  My sense of smell had improved, although it felt like there was some kind of filter there, to where certain undesirable scents like the smell of blood and viscera from earlier had muted a little. I could still tell they were there, but they wouldn’t override everything else and disgust me.

  You’re welcome! Teeth said proudly. I worked hard on that!

  I didn’t answer him. Instead, I turned to look at the audience who had just watched me drink over twenty people.

  “Psst,” Petalbell whispered to Breena, her voice sounding loud now to my ears. “Has he done this before?”

  “Sort of, now that I think about it,” Breena replied thoughtfully. “I think he did that to Raw-Maw and the White Witch.”

  “So, um, is my brother just going to start absorbing stuff after he kills it?” Val asked carefully. “Is that healthy for him?”

  “He’s eaten bigger stuff and turned out okay,” Breena replied, sounding more confident now. “It’s just a side effect of his dragon bond. He’s started syncing better with that part of himself.”

  “I’m hoping it’s not going to be everything,” I replied, hand on my head. This whole situation had given me a bit of a headache. “Just dragon creatures and monsters that have a lot of power. I’m still me for now, guys, but let me know if I start acting weird.”

  “Alright then,” Eadric grunted. “In that case, you’ve been doing weird things ever since we met you. Glad we can give notice now, though.”

  I ignored the quip and walked toward the warded door. This time, I could see an indent that appeared to have been designed for Breaker to fit inside. I stopped a few feet away and removed Breaker from its scabbard.

  “You have it,” the ghosts spoke up again. “You were telling the truth.”

  “Yeah,” I replied slowly, glad the ghosts had decided to return and answer my questions. “And now we have to go in.”

  “You,” the ghost corrected. “You have to go in. If you would be king.”

  “Alone?” Val said. “But you said that the flood wrecked you all. Why would his going alone be a good idea?”

  “Because he would be king,” the ghost of the little boy said simply. “And, though it is no longer whole, he wields the blade that breaks all the things that lurk in the night between stars. He may have enough of the weapon to stop the Flood that wrecked us all.”

  “You said it was Breaker’s light that drove it away before, yes?” I asked solemnly.

  “At cost, yes,” the little boy answered. “Driving it away will cost you as well.”

  “But there is no other way to remove the seal over your people, and to open the Pathway to the Sun-Jeweled Seas.”

  “The doors to the sister worlds were sealed when Avalon fell,” the little ghost affirmed.

  Right. That meant we were fresh out of the really good ideas people liked to shop for when they planned their life.

  Breena sighed.

  “Well, it’s not the first time you were about to take on a risk I didn’t like,” she said with a surprising amount of patience. “Just be careful, okay? We’ll support you from here.” She turned to look at everyone else. “If you have some kind of ward you can cast, now’s the time. Especially if it’s a mental one. Let’s load him up, people.”

  Everyone but Virtus began casting enhancement spells over me. My mind was strengthened. My body was strengthened further. Breyn was even able to do something to augment my Woadtattoo, which thrummed in response to his own marking.

  I doubted any of it would make much of a difference. The Atlanteans had been powerful mages as well, but they were swallowed. But I appreciated them giving their all, nonetheless.

  When the last enhancement had been set, Breena and Val both gave me one last worried hug, and I stepped all the way to the door. A glance behind me showed Karim, Weylin, and Eadric working to craft their shaping magics, probably for one last ward in case I failed to overcome what was behind these doors. Unlikely to help, but then again, we were out of good ideas.

  “Good luck, would-be king,” the ghost-boy told me again. “If you still fail, then thank you for making us sane one last time.”

  I placed Breaker into the indent, and the door began to rumble open.

  Chapter 12: What Was Once Lost

  “Activating,” Avalon spoke in the warbled voice it used whenever I encountered a damaged part of its system. “Recognizing the personal regalia of the Lord of Avalon. Query: Confirm the existence of the next Planetary Lord and Solar High King.”

  “That’s supposedly me,” I ans
wered. “According to what you told me above the surface.

  “Examining speaker to verify claim,” Avalon replied. “Identifying components of primary regalia. Insufficient Right to Rule detected. Subject is not Solar High King at this time. Examining body for further Right to Rule. Confirming that secondary regalia pertaining to sister world Woadhome exists. Bloodlines pertaining to Woadhome lineage also exist. Sufficient Right to Rule available to make claim on planet Woadhome. No bloodlines or regalia detected for remaining sister worlds. Examining for further Right to Rule on Avalon itself. Avalonian bloodline detected. Regalia pertaining to Avalon itself detected. Further recognition from local inhabitants detected. Subject has sufficient Right to Rule to make partial claim on Avalon itself. Confirming status of Planetary Lord. Final scan for personal power, taking into consideration additional bloodlines, access to magic, and number of Rises. ERROR: power exceeds normal parameters. Subject’s body and mind are much stronger than number of Rises would indicate for a native of Avalon’s worlds, even taking into account the number of innate Ideals. Identifying primary race as Earthborn. ERROR, Secondary: subject’s power is far below normal parameters established by previous Planetary Lord and by Earthborn of the same Risen level. ERROR, Tertiary: Subject’s age is also beneath the parameters established by Earthborn and Planetary Lords of the same Risen Level. Recalculating assessment…” the computer was silent for a few moments as it tried to assess just what kind of magical unicorn Wes Malcolm was, not that he had ever had a chance to figure out for himself, goddammit.

  “Avalon,” I sighed, “Can you link up with the rest of your system for assistance? Scan my mind again to determine what I’m talking about.”

  Back when I first opened this place, Avalon had to commandeer the device Rhodes’ people had put in my head to properly link up with itself.

  “Scanning,” This most recently encountered broken part of Avalon replied. “Further data detected. Updating assessment. Subject is a member of the hypothetical race of Earthborn known as the Dusk Era. Updating records to confirm the existence of Dusk Era Earthborn. ERROR: subject’s mind and genetic pool show signs of tampering. Possibility exists that the Dusk Era race was created artificially, and that said tampering may be reversed. Confirm whether subject was of the Dusk Era upon birth.”