Crystal Throne
Author: D.W. Jackson
Date: 2015-03-15 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy
Description: The veil between the world of man and the world of the gods has been torn and the only hint on how it can be repaired lies in a land of crystal and magic. Thad and his companions must brave the wrath of the scions if they have any hope of saving their land from becoming a desolate waste.

PROLOGUE

Thad sat near the edge of the valley watching everyone. To him, it felt as if only weeks had passed, but his son was no longer the small child he had once known. He had grown. Thad didn’t know why it seemed so odd to him. He had watched his son travel halfway around the world in search of him, but it was still hard to believe his eyes.

At the moment Bren was talking with a Vathari woman whose eyes were soft, yet dangerous. Thad had seen the young Vathari many times while he was watching his son, but he had not paid much attention to her. Shaking his head, Thad looked back to the shimmering door that stood in the center of the valley.

The large crystal creature still pacing back and forth in front of the door. The scion, as the gods had called it, had tried twice to exit through the doorway. Each time, the shimmering had abated and the scion had been unable to enter. Though it had failed to enter their world so far, Bren could feel that the doorway was getting stronger with each try.

“Are you enjoying the fresh air?” Humanius asked, taking a seat next to Thad.

“It feels odd,” Thad admitted.

“It won’t be long before the door stabilizes and the scion can get through,” Humanius said, following Thad’s eyes to the shimmering portal.

“Can’t you stop it?” Thad asked. “You are a god.”

“We could fight it,” Humanius replied. “A lone scion would be easy to kill with our numbers, but where there is one, there will be many more, and they are just as strong as we are, if not stronger.”

“Then, what do we do?” Thad asked.

“I hate to say it, but I think our only option is to try and seal the door. However, I don’t think that will work unless we limit the source,” Humanius said, not sounding very pleased at his own words.

CHAPTER I

“Bren, we need to talk,” Thad said quietly to his son.

Thad led Bren to the edge of the valley where Humanius and the other gods stood. “What is this about?” Bren asked, his voice stuck between anger and curiousness.

“Things are a bit complicated,” Thad said to his son as he looked to the gods.

“We have to enter through the door so that we can find out what has gone wrong with it,” Humanius said, walking up behind Thad.

“The door is right there,” Bren said, pointing toward the shimmering door and the scion that waited on the other side.

“Not that door,” Belaroan said, followed by a mocking laugh. “We need to fix the door that connects our world to the center.”

“What are you talking about?” Bren asked, slightly confused.

“Magic, the source of all of our power, comes from the center of the Omniverse,” Humanius said, giving his sister a scathing look. “Long ago… Long before I or my father were born, our ancestors found a way to open a door between the overlapping universes. When they opened the door to the center of the Omniverse, they found they couldn’t close it. Their first choice was to explore, but more than ninety percent of those who entered through the doorway died within a few hours. The few that survived were unlucky enough to meet what later became known as scions. Crystal guardians that killed all but one of the men who was able to make it back through the door. The scion tried to follow, but there was not enough magical energy at the time to sustain the creature. Deciding that the door posed too large of a risk, they made a wall of sorts to block off the doorway. It wasn’t perfect, and still allowed the energy to slip through, but it kept the scions from being able to cross over. If there are now scions in our world, then that door has fallen and needs to be fixed.”

“Why don’t we just close off this door?” Bren asked, looking back toward the shimmering door.

“That might work, but we don’t know for how long,” Humanius replied. “As I told you, the last door was closed off so long ago, I doubt that the mountains would remember it. We could try to close it off, but if we fail the scions will come through, kill us all, and this land would become nothing but a wasteland. We need to make our way to the palace and find out how they made the original door and fix it while we are there. If we can do that, it will give this land a buffer from the scions, and I promise you that you want as much distance from them as you can get.”

“If they can get through, then what do we do to keep them out while we are gone?” Bren asked, looking back toward his friends.

“There are steps that we can take to slow them down and weaken the doorway,” Belaroan said, stepping in front of her brother. “We can’t stop it, but we should be able to buy us enough time to make it where we need to go and back.”

“What do we need?” Thad asked, looking at Belaroan skeptically. He trusted Humanius, however that didn’t mean that he liked him. So far the god had done nothing to show dishonestly in his nature. He was not so sure of Belaroan though.

“There are only a few things that can disrupt magical energy,” She replied, waving her hand at the shimmering portal.

“Such as the white metal that the swords were made from,” Bren said hesitantly.

“No, dear boy,” Belaroan said with a dark laugh. “My brother’s little toys were well made, but they didn’t destroy magical energy. Instead they redirected it so that he could use them to power his own spells while he was in the abyss.” Belaroan turned to Humanius and gave him a toothy smile. “I must admit, more than once I wished I had the same foresight.”

“That was always your problem dear sister, you never thought ahead,” Humanius said, shaking his head. “All you ever cared about was what was happening in the moment. You never cared what might come in the future.”

“There you go again,” Belaroan said with a snarl. “Always preaching the same things as father. If we spend all of our time worrying about tomorrow, then we might as well be dead.”

“The same thing can be said about living in the past,” Humanius said, his voice rising slightly. “We need to be mindful of our past and future otherwise…”

As Thad watched the two, he didn’t see gods. What he saw was two overgrown children bickering. “Enough,” He said after a few moments of the siblings continuing their argument. “What do we need to slow down the doorway?”

“What!” Belaroan said, turning her attention back to Thad. “A lot of glass will keep the door from being able to stabilize longer. If we had some of the material that your son’s sword is made of, that would be the best, but normal glass will work for what we need.”

Thad watched as Bren looked down at his sword. “The only person I know who could get more of this would be Crusher, and he is far away from here.”

“Where is this friend of yours?” one of Belaroan’s sons asked. He was a young looking man who stood over eight foot. His skin was a slight golden color and his eyes looked like emeralds sparking in the firelight.

“He is in his shop in Torin,” Bren replied after a short moment of looking over the strange god.

The elven god stuck his hand onto the ground, but after a moment pulled it back and looked to his mother and uncle. “My magic won’t reach past the mountain. Something is interfering.”

“Brother,” Belaroan said, looking to Humanius with a crocked smile.

“Fine,” Humanius said. The god walked up to the mountain and placed his hand against the cold stone. Thad could feel a large amount of magical energy gathering, far more than he had ever felt before. If he were to compare it to his strongest spell, it would be like comparing a mug of water to a lake. It was in that moment that Thad understood why people called him a god. “It is gone,” The god said as he removed his hand from the stone.

The elven god once again placed his hand on the ground and closed his eyes. Once again, Thad felt a rush of magic though not as strong as what Humanius had used. After more than an hour, a large root twice the size of a man erupted from the ground and spit out a large dwarf who looked none too happy.

“What in the nine hells is this about?” Crusher said, awkwardly pulling himself to his feet favoring one leg over the other.

“Still as much of a cantankerous old fool as ever I see,” Thad said, helping the dwarf to his feet.

“Thad…” Crusher said, blinking his eyes as if he was just waking. “I thought that you were dead.”

“You should know better than that my friend,” Thad said with a short laugh. “You’re not that lucky.”

“That aside, what are ya thinking dragging me through the dang ground to this god forsaken place,” Crusher said, his voice recovering much of its bluster. “Gonna take me a year to wash out all tha sap from those blasted trees.”

“We need more of the black glass that you used to make my sword,” Bren said, walking up beside his father.

“Bren, should have known that ya would be about,” Crusher said, giving the young man a strong hug. “So ya need more do ya? How much do ya need?”

“As much as you can get, my son,” The short and broad dwarven god said stepping out from behind his mother.

As soon as Crusher saw the god, his eyes went wide but he didn’t hit his knees or prostrate himself. “That might be a bit tuff,” he said, his gruff voice sounding more humble. “If I was back at my shop, I have a few bars about, but my source is far to the east in Uraler.”

“We can’t transport the black glass like we did your friend, but I will go and talk with the dwarves of Uraler and have them bring as much of it as they can, as fast as they can. With a little divine help, it should take no more than two weeks for it to reach us,” the dwarven god said to his mother.

“Then hurry. The longer we wait, the more scions that will be drawn to the door,” Belaroan said turning to her son.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the dwarven god was gone and along his way. “While we wait for the black glass, we should find a source of normal glass to slow the opening of the gate,” Humanius said, bringing everyone’s attention back to the present.

“That should be easy enough,” Bren said, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “Just past the mountain is a sea of glass that could fill this whole valley.”

“Then all we need to do is to make sure that it is gathered and positioned around the portal to keep it from stabilizing,” Thad said, looking between the god and his son.

With the discussion over, Thad and Bren walked back to where the rest of his son’s friends waited.

“Father, it seemed as if I was missing something,” Bren said, once they had moved a few feet away from the gods. “Is there something that you’re not telling me?”

Thad ran his hand through his hair and for a brief moment looked back toward Humanius and the other gods. “There is something, but I am not sure if it is a good idea. Humanius believes that the only ones who should cross over the door into the other world are the gods and the demi-gods as he calls them, and that would include you. He said he won’t stop me from going though, and he was not keen on the idea, but no others may come with us.”

“I don’t think that my friends will agree to that,” Bren said, looking at the small group sitting near the entrance to the valley.

“It’s for their own good,” Thad said, following his son’s eyes. “As Humanius said, most of those that had first entered the center died within hours. It was because the immense magical power warped their bodies. The one who lived, died within a year of returning and he was there for less than a week. If they cross the portal then you might as well dig their graves now.”

“I can understand that,” Bren said with a weak grin. “Though I doubt they will understand.”

“They don’t have too,” Thad replied. “Humanius said that since the door is not completely opened, he and his sister will have to force it open so that we can pass and only those he want to will go through.”

“Wait,” Bren said, stopping in his tracks. “Won’t you die if you pass through?” Bren asked worriedly.

“Humanius is not sure on that matter,” Thad replied hesitantly. “There is a chance that I will, but since I can use magic I will have a chance. How much of a chance, I don’t know.”

“Then you should stay back with the others,” Bren said adamantly. “I didn’t travel half way across the world to have you throw it away.”

“I see that you have inherited your mother’s tongue,” Thad said laughing. “My life is my own and I will not have my son face danger that I am unwilling to go through myself. If you wish to stop me, you will have to lock me away in a prison much stronger than the one I was in before you found me.”

“Father,” Bren said, but he was cut off by the look on Thad’s face.

“Nothing you say will change my mind. I already have Humanius’ word that I will go with him, and not even you have the power to change that, god or not.”

“I am not a god,” Bren said, his voice more of a whisper.

“You are the same as those two,” Thad said, waving his hand toward Belaroan and Humanius. “Just like them, you have enough power to change the world, you just haven’t mastered it yet. You are a god, if not in mind, at least in name.”

“What was that about?” Faye asked as soon as the two mages came close.

Thad moved away from the group as Bren explained what was happening and about to happen over the course of the next few days. Sitting with his back against a small tree, Thad watched his son. He was a strong and confident man. Much stronger than Thad himself had been at that age.

Shortly after Thad sat down, the Vathari woman came over and stood in front of him, her eyes dark and unreadable. “Yes,” Thad said, shifting uncomfortably on the hard ground. Even after years, he still found the stare of a woman unnerving. How many times had he let those looks move him into doing something he shouldn’t have?

More times than I think anyone can count. I wish you would get over that little weakness. I can understand you following your son, and risking your life for him. I have grown quite fond of him myself, but I still don’t understand your weakness for these women.

“It is good to know that you haven’t changed in my absence,” Thad replied to Thuraman with a mental chuckle. “I half expected you to have found a nice female staff to enjoy your time with by now.”

“You’re my father,” the Vathari said, snapping Thad out of his mental discussion with Thuraman. Thad was too stunned to say anything, so he leaned against the tree and listened to what the young woman had to say. “My mother was the priestess that brought you to Sae-Thae. I doubt that you would remember her.”

“Bahai,” Thad muttered more to himself than to the young woman, but at the mention of her mother’s name, Thad noticed something akin to a smile briefly flash across her face. “What is your name?” Thad asked, his mind still in a haze.

“Isophena,” she said strongly, her eyes never leaving his. “Bren and the others call me Phena.”

“Isophena,” Thad said, tasting the name on his tongue. “It is a very beautiful name.”

“Bren said that you, he, and the gods will be going through the door to the other world,” Phena said her voice sounding tight. “He said that you were only allowed to go because you could use magic. I am a mage as well, so there should be no problem with me accompanying you.”

“I am afraid that won’t be possible,” Thad said, his voice lacking the strength that his words needed. “Only Humanius can allow others to cross the threshold.”

“You could speak with him on my behalf,” Phena said, her voice still strong but her eyes pleading.

“I could,” Thad replied, his voice regaining its former strength. “I won’t though. I have just learned that you are my daughter. I cannot stop Bren for going, if I could I would do everything within my power to do so. With no other choice, I will follow behind him, but I doubt I will be of much help. I will not bring one of my few children into hell with me.”

“I am just as strong and skilled…” Phena began to say before she was cut off.

“I am sure that you are,” Thad said, his voice slightly raised. “That does not change the fact that you are my daughter, one of only two I have. You can hate me for it, curse my name until your voice is lost, but I will not change my mind on this. No matter how this turns out, it is in part my fault. As unfair as it is, I leave it to you and the others to fix it in my stead.”

Thad could tell that Phena wanted to say more, but after a few moments of indecisive thought she simply turned and stomped away muttering underneath her breath.

CHAPTER II

Early the next morning, Thad and the others made their way through the dark tunnels. From what Bren had said, it had taken them days to get through it to get to valley, but this time, in less than an hour, they walked through the double doors and into the hidden village.

As they exited through the doors the two guards stationed on either side started shouting. Before they made it more than a few feet into the city proper they were greeted by a host of people and at their lead was the village elder.

“You have come back,” the elder man said to Bren then he began to look around at everyone who followed behind him. “And it does not look as if you came alone. Were all these people in the valley of the gods?”

“That is hard to explain, but let us just say that we found them at the center of the valley,” Bren said laughing to himself.

“I can see that there is a long story behind this and I can also see that it would take far longer than you are willing to spend at the moment,” the elder said with a slight frown. “Shall we retire to a more comfortable place than the middle of the road? It might be a bit hard to find lodging in a single place, but I am sure we can manage something.”

It took the better part of the day to situate everyone. The few members of the Brotherhood who had appeared were the largest problem. It wasn’t that they were itching to kill the mages, but that they followed Humanius around like lost puppies and refused to be separated from their god. In the end Humanius, along with his sister and the godlings, created a house of stone on the outside of town that could house them all.

Thad didn’t know how he felt about sleeping under the same roof as members of the Brotherhood, but there was little choice in the matter without causing trouble.

After a night of not so restful sleep Thad and the others gathered in a large center room that easily fit all of them. The room was split into three groups. The first was his son Bren and his friends. The second were the gods and the last was Thad who sat alone with Crusher, unsure of where he belonged. At first he moved toward Humanius. He didn’t know why but even though it had been a short time he felt a connection to the god akin to that he might feel towards a brother.

Bren was his son, but he knew little about the young man. He had watched him grow in spurts thanks to Humanius, but having now spent time with his son he felt more and more disconnected from him. In the end Thad found himself sitting at the edge of a large table sitting in-between the two groups.

“You think making the door larger so you can walk through is the best idea,” Cass said leaning forward. Thad liked the young man, but he was too direct and upfront. He had little in the way of tact when it came to discussions though. Crusher had often compared people to weapons and in Cass’s case he would have been a mace. Strong, hard, ridged and good at bludgeoning.

“I can understand your concern,” Humanius said calmly. “Opening the doorway will make it harder to contain, but if we do not then we will never learn how to close it off for good. A small risk now is better than simply letting the gates of hell open.”

“You think that just because you are a so called god that you know what is best?” Cass asked his voice raised.

“Yes we do,” Belaroan said with a sneer. “We have lived for longer than your oldest history books. Do you think your few years on this earth can prepare you for what waits on the other side of that door?”

“Fighting will get us nowhere,” Thad said standing before Cass could make another response. “As Cass has said, he is worried about opening the door, and as you have pointed out it is our only chance. You must understand that we do not possess your knowledge, so if you could enlighten us about what is waiting on the other side, then we might be more understanding of your point.”

“That is an old and long story, and it is not what we need to talk about right now,” Humanius said dismissively. “We need to plan so that we can gather what we will need and gather the people to get it accomplished while we are gone.”

“Humanius, you know I understand, but you out of all of them have watched humans. You know that without a clear reason that they will never simply follow you. Give them the answers they want otherwise you will find them fighting you every step of the way,” Thad said, his voice calm but his eyes pleading to the god.

“Very well,” Belaroan said almost laughing. “Tell them what they want to know brother. History has never been my passion.”

Humanius looked around the room, then let out a small sigh. “As I have told Thad, long ago our ancestors were just like you. They were simple humans and lived off of their own kind of magic that they called science. They created a world of wonders, but at the same time they slowly destroyed their world. As the land and people died everyone sought a way to find a new home. Some reached for the stars beyond their own world, but another man searched for another solution. He found it in opening doorways to other worlds.”

“You mean like the one that is now open in the valley,” Bren said leaning back in his chair.

“Yes and no,” Humanius replied his voice showing his annoyance. “The doorways were small and he couldn’t control where they opened too. Each time he found a world that could sustain life, he sent through as many other humans as he could. If the stories are true this went on for years. Then he opened the doorway to the center of all the worlds. Unlike the other doors, this one didn’t weaken over time, instead it spread. At first, the spread of magic was slow. There were more than a few odd things happening because of it but the most important was that children were born who could use magic to their own desire. The more magic was used the wider the door opened and the more magical energy that came through. Until there was enough magical energy to support the scions and the first of them came through the doorway. The scion killed thousands before they were able to take it down. It was then that they started working on a way to close off the door. I don’t know how they did it, but it took years to figure it out. During that time, other scions came through killed most of the population. After the doorway was closed and they felt safe my great grandfather found out how to imbue infants with strong magical powers. Over time, they perfected it and my kind were born. My father was one of the first, but he learned that the wall was weakening with the more gods that were created. At the time, my family had made themselves the kings of the new world, and he forbade any more gods to be created. The others didn’t agree with his laws and a rebellion was formed and our father was killed and we were forced out of our home. My sister was bent on revenge,” Humanius said his voice droning on in a bored tone.

“They deserved it,” Belaroan said hotly. “Father was right and they ended up killing themselves.”

“Just as my sister said, they must have created more gods and broke the wall between the two worlds,” Humanius said looking at his sister. “The magic in this world has been leaking through for generations, and while most of the world is too weak for a scion to live sooner or later they will do just as they have done to our old world and it will be destroyed. Now do you understand why it is so important that we fix this? If a world of gods could not stop the scions what do you think will happen to this world once they begin to come through?”

“That doesn’t sound very good,” Cass said leaning back.

“Now that we have that out of the way we need to figure how we are going to move enough glass to fill the valley,” Humanius said.

“If we fill the valley with glass then won’t that completely close off the doorway anyway?” Bren asked.

“No,” Thad said in reply drawing the eyes of his son. “Glass can’t completely sop magic. I used to use glass balls to contain magic but I did that by forcing the magic through the glass. If it got too strong the glass would break. It would slow it down, but the magic would get out sooner or later. We need something more powerful.”

“I get all the bellyaching, but I don’t think anything ya say is gonna change the mind of the gods and I don’t think ya can do it by force. What ya can do is get this moving so that we don’t spend our entire lives arguing over it,” Crusher said rolling his eyes.

“What do we need?” Bren asked.

“People,” Humanius said. “Those who can move the glass and those who can bring in anything else we might need. Metal, stone, gems, wood, or anything else that might be required.”

“You have the gods of all the magical races, I am sure that they can get most of what you need. And most of the Brotherhood is not far away, or at least they weren’t when we reached the valley. My and Jin’s mothers can transport most of the goods if that’s the problem.”

“That was my thought as well, but I figured it would be easier for you to reach the same conclusion without me,” Humanius replied. “I didn’t want you to feel as if I was the only one in control. Now with that settled, once we have enough glass ready to be brought into the valley we will leave. There is no point in putting this off for longer than we must. It will be hard enough to kill one scion and more will gather over time.”

“I understand that, but why can’t any of us go along?” Phena said the same fire in her voice as she had when she had talked to Thad.

“Some of you might already be feeling it,” Belaroan said looking around. “The magical energy is stronger here than anywhere else in the world. What lies on the other side of that door is much stronger. It will rip you apart from the inside out.”

“Yet you are letting Thad go,” She said her eyes flashing with pent up anger.

“I don’t agree with that either, but my brother wants him along,” Belaroan said giving her brother a sideways glance. “It would seem that their time together has warped my brother’s mind. I think he will be a liability, but it was not worth arguing about, but no others will travel to the other side. I will take no more risks than I have to.”

I would have thought that you would have caved in and begged the god to allow the girl to go with us. It seems that you time alone in the dark has changed you.

Thad laughed, making everyone look at him. Thuraman had been mostly silent since Thad had exited the vale. Thad wasn’t sure that he had changed, but he was sure that Thuraman had. The staff still hated women, but it was surer of itself and seemed less cocky. From what Thad could tell, his son had a positive effect on the staff.

You would think that. I can promise it was not your son that has changed me, though I can understand why you think I have changed. The truth is, I have though it is more recent. When we first entered the Deadlands I had to save your son’s life and I pulled in far more magical energy than I should have. It has affected me.

Before Thuraman could say another word, Thad focused his attention and looked at it through his magical sight. Thuraman was right, there had been a change in the staff, and it wasn’t a small one. Thad couldn’t remember how many times he had looked at the staff through his magical senses. Before there had always been small links of energy connecting each gem, but now, where there had been thin threads it looked more like beating veins and the diamond on top was the heart. “You have changed,” Thad said inside his own mind.

The gods and Bren were discussing what to do next, so Thad excused himself and left the large room and headed outside. Thad opened himself to the magic energy, but found that the amount surrounding him was far more than he could control.

I am glad that you are smarter than you son. He didn’t even think before he tried to pull in magical energy and he let it overwhelm him.

“He is still young,” Thad replied trying to excuse his son’s action though he knew that it was foolish. He had learned magic mostly on his own and he had learned to look at the magic surrounding him before using it without help, and Bren had a whole tower to train him. Most likely Bren had been too strong and forgot to care about the fear that most mages had about burning out.

You can try to convince yourself of that, but we both know the truth. Bren is strong, but he has little respect for the power itself.

Thad refused to respond to Thuraman’s taunts. They were nothing new to him and, in all honestly, he had missed them greatly. As much as the staff annoyed him, when he was without it, he had felt as if part of himself had been ripped away. Knowing that he couldn’t draw in magic himself, Thad lifted Thuraman into the air and pulled in magic through it. The diamond glowed as it pulled in the magic and he could feel Thuraman as if he were holding a beating heart. Once he had gathered enough magical energy, he created an illusion of Maria. He gave a faint smile then let the illusion disappear. “I wish you would have been this useful when I was younger.”

That would have made things too easy. Just as if you had been as strong as your son, things would have been much different though that does not mean in a good way. You never liked the idea that others were controlling you, yet more often than not, you let them do just that. At first I hated that dual nature of yours, but now I think I see something I have never seen before. I don’t think it is the so called gods that control us, but the world itself. I think there is much more going on here than we might see.

“You might be right,” Thad admitted. “Things have not always worked out perfectly, but they have worked out, and in some cases even when there was no reason for them to. If there is something steering us then there is little reason to think about it. We will do what we must. To its design, or our own, that is all that we can do.”

CHAPTER III

It took Humanius six days to get his children to help with the effort to bring the glass in from the Deadlands. Getting in contact with them was the easy part; getting them to work with mages without trying to kill them was the hard part. Even with their god telling them, it was hard for many of them to set aside their swords and many of the mages, who had been trapped in the void, didn’t make it easier as they held grudges for the action of the Brotherhood as most of them were from the time of the Fae war.

Thad spent much of the time while he waited talking to the mages from the long past. At least the ones of them that still lived. Within the first three days, a good number of the mages tried to use magic causing them to either go insane or burn out. They knew the risks, but the call of the magic after being cut off for so long was just too much for them.

What he learned after talking to the remaining mages was that there was much more to the Fae Wars than he had believed. He also learned that mages back then were not as strong as the ones that are around now. The same was to be said of the other magical races. The longer the bloodlines stretched the more magic seeped into them. It was almost like a gradual progression, and made Thad think of the things Humanius had said about the weakening of the vale and how mages had first been born in their world. If Thad was right, then even without Belaroan’s help, a new god would have been born eventually though most likely not before the vail had completely fallen and the door to the other world had been completely open. That also meant something else to Thad other than the obvious dangers. If they shut off both doors, then the flow of magic would greatly decrease, and mages might disappear completely given enough time.

Are you just now figuring this out?

“Don’t act like you already figured it out,” Thad said almost laughing to himself. “You always do that. Whenever I figure something out, you act as if you had already know about it. I wonder how many times in the past you have done that and I just went along with it.”

You just now figured that out. I thought it would be good for you to think I was always a little ahead of you. Kept you from getting too full of yourself. No reason to worry about it now, I think you have enough to care about. What are you going to do about this current one that has caught your attention?

“Nothing much I can do at the moment,” Thad admitted. “I will just have to think, and hope to find a solution. The wall has to be built, but I would hate to see mages fade from the world.  If that must happen then so be it. The world lasted over a thousand years thinking that magic was nothing but a fairytale, it can do so again.”

You are thinking too small again. It wouldn’t just be the mages that would disappear. What about the elves, dwarves, and the other magical races? Without magic they wouldn’t be able to survive in this world.

“Not to mention that anything born of magic such as a certain staff would die along with them,” Thad added with a sneer. “We can’t fight the scions. If there are things that must be sacrificed then that will be the cost.”

You have changed. There was a time that you worried about every cost, every loss, as if it were your own.

“That may be true, but there was also a time that you never cared about losses,” Thad replied. “I can tell that you are worried about more than yourself. You have grown a heart since I have last seen you.”

For the first time since Thuraman had first spoken, Thad found that it was the staff that chose to remain silent. Thad found it slightly vexing. The staff could almost always see into his thoughts yet the connection never went both way. True, Thad could get some sense of the staff when they were talking, but it was nothing as strong as what the staff could do. It made Thad think, that if he spent more time maybe he could strengthen that bond and allow himself more insight into the staff, but that would take a lot of time and that was not something he had readily available at the moment.

“Thad,” a voice said from behind him, drawing Thad’s attention. “It is time.”

Turning around, Thad found Belaroan standing in the doorway. She was very unlike the picture that her brother had planted in his mind. He expected her to look like some half crazed devil but in the end, she looked much the same as any other woman, though her skin was a light silver and her eyes were a deep golden color that seemed to shine in the faint light streaming into the room from the window. “I would have expected that Humanius would be the one who came to get me.”

“My brother is busy trying to explain to his children that they are no longer allowed to hunt mages,” Belaroan said happily. “That, and that they are not allowed to go with him. I was having fun watching, but it quickly grew tedious so I thought I would fetch you since you have been preoccupied with your own thoughts.”

“You seem different than I expected,” Thad said as he buckled on a sword that the dwarven god had acquired for him. It wasn’t his but given that that one was in the Farlan palace it would have to do.

“That is true,” Belaroan said, her eyes somewhat sad. “For years, I dreamed of my return to my home, but it was at the front of a conquering army to take vengeance on those that had wronged my family. It would seem that they have already suffered their fate. Even so, I do wish my brother had not held up my designs for so long. I really wished to see the faces of pain the other gods would have shown me.”

Thad walked past the god and kept his head down. “I think that’s enough of that talk,” he said as he walked down the hall leading to the door outside.

As soon as he walked through the vine made door that the elven god had made, Thad found most of the gods and Bren waiting on him. Once everyone was gathered, Humanius led the way to the door to the tunnel on the outskirts of the town.

Just as the trip back through, it didn’t take too long to reach the center of the valley. As soon as they walked through the large double doors they didn’t find the serene valley they had left a handful of days before. There was no noticeable grass as now the entire floor of the valley was covered in piles of glass that had been moved from the desert.

Thad had heard of the glass desert, but had not made the trip himself. Bending down, Bren scooped up a pile of glass and ran his fingers through it. The glass was fine, almost powder yet the tiny shards still dug into his skin. Turning his hand Thad let the glass fall back to where it had been.

As soon as they were all gathered in front of the shimmering doorway, Thad found himself staring at the scion on the other side. “I will open the doorway,” Humanius said looking around. “Let the scion enter first. While there is strong magical energy gathered here, it will not be enough to sustain it for long. Once it has fallen I will reopen the doorway so that we may enter through it.”

Everyone moved back from the doorway as Humanius and Belaroan working together pulled it apart. It looked almost as if they were parting a waterfall. The shimmering stopped in the center and moved outward until it looked as if they were looking through a slightly misty window.

The second the doorway was completely clear the scion stormed through. The scion’s eyes focused on Bren and it took a step forward, then a second. With each step the scion started to move slower.  By the seventh step, it looked more like a statue then suddenly it crumbled to the ground.

Thad had watched the odd creature, not though his normal sight, but through his magic. It pulled in vast amounts of magical energy, more than he could ever believe possible. It was not the first time he had seen something draw in magical energy; Avalanche lived the same way, but the amount she pulled in was like a pebble compared to a mountain.

Walking over, Thad picked up one of the shards of the creatures body. Once it was between his fingers he could feel the immense power that it held. It was like a heartstone, yet more refined. Without even trying, Thad began to think of the things he could do with such gems. He could make enchanted items that were immensely powerful that could work forever without worrying about them losing their charge.

Slipping a piece of the scion into a pocket inside his cloak Thad moved to stand with the rest of the group.

With the scion dead, Humanius and his sister once again opened the doorway. It didn’t take as long for the door to open this time, and within moments it was completely open. Humanius was the first to step through quickly followed by the godlings and Bren, then Thad. Belaroan was the last, and as her foot crossed the threshold, the doorway behind her slammed shut.

Thad turned and looked through the door. He could see the piles of glass on the other side, but it was like looking through a dirty piece of cheap glass. Turning back, Thad took a long look around. It looked like a place straight out of a dream.

Walking over, Thad bent down and ran his fingers over the grass. It bent and swayed in the wind, but glittered in the sunlight and felt like stone beneath his fingers. Everything was made of gems, from the grass to the very stones beneath his feet.

There was so much magical energy in the air, Thad could feel it entering his body even without him trying to call it. At first Thad paid it little heed as he walked behind the gods, but before half the day had passed, Thad was finding it hard to breath. It was as if something was pressing down on his chest. It didn’t take him long to figure out what was happening. The magical energy was building up in his body at an alarming rate so he released it. Unlike back home releasing the magical energy wasn’t as easy as simply letting it go, but he had to force it out, which was painful in its own right. Thad looked at Bren and the others who didn’t seem to be affected at all.

I have spent a lot of time with your son. The amount of magical energy that you just expelled wouldn’t be enough to fill his little finger. Still given enough time I am sure that it would cause trouble for him and the other gods as well.

At least we know what killed the other humans who had entered the center. Unless you were a mage the magical energy would literally eat you alive. Even if you were a mage, it did a fare job of trying to eat you alive.

As the night began to fall they picked a place on the side of the road to camp. At first Thad thought that they would simply be sleeping on the ground, which made him regret not bring a pack; then again his travel gear was years old and still in Farlan. Before Thad could find a place to sleep, Humanius bent down and placed his hand on the ground and a large wooden stricter popped into being. At the same time the building began to build itself, the gemlike grass began to break apart and turn into dust.

“Not even we can directly draw magic,” Humanius explained. “It is too strong. We would be consumed by it. The only way we can work magic is to pull it from the gems that have collected it. I would suggest you do the same though I would still take care. Compared to us or your son you are like a blade of grass to a tree. Take care, I have grown… fond of you during our time together and I would hate to see you as a burnt out husk laying in the dirt.”

“I will take that under advisement,” Thad said as he looked at the building. It was small yet detailed, far more detailed than was needed for one night.

It would seem that your friend has a flair for the dramatic.

“That it would,” Thad replied.

The inside of the building was as elegant as the outside and even came with large beds, though they looked good they were not very comfortable. After more than an hour of trying to sleep Thad gave it up and went outside for some fresh air. Shortly after he left the building he heard the door and turned to find his son standing there.

“Having trouble sleeping as well?” Thad asked looking toward Bren.

“It’s the magic,” Bren replied. “Doesn’t it bother you as well? It’s like a gentle tugging at my mind.”

“I can feel the magic though I bet it is not the same,” Thad said looking at his son. “I can feel it, though it does not call to me.”

“You have never felt the call of the magic?” Bren asked his eyes brimming with curiosity.

“I have felt the call of many things over the years the foremost of those was that of your mother,” Thad said with a smile. “Maybe it has to do with the fact that I am enchanter, and not a regular mage.”

“How do you see magic?” Bren asked.

“I see magic like threads,” Thad answered. “Most the time the threads are thin and easy to pull and manipulate into the shapes I want. Here it is a bit different; the strands are too thick for me to hold, but they are still nothing more than strands of energy. What about you?”

“I see them more like rivers of mist. I bend them to my will and shape them. I can feel them as well. They are alive,” Bren replied hesitantly. “I find myself getting lost in them sometimes.”

Thad laughed and Bren quickly gave him an annoyed look. “I used to view them like rivers as well, though not of mist. I could bend them to my will, but it wasn’t easy. I will agree they are alive, but I learned long ago that it was much easier to move them by giving them the idea that I wanted then forcing it upon them. As long as you know how something works you can make it. Why do you think mages spend so much time pouring over books? Thuraman told me that you are far stronger than I am and honestly I could tell that with one look, but you must learn. The more you know…The more you understand the easier magic will come to you.”

“I remember Thuraman saying the same thing,” Bren said with a faint smile. “He always said that while I have more power than you ever dreamed of, I was still weaker than you because I lacked knowledge and even worse, I lacked the desire for knowledge.”

“That is not always a bad thing, though with magic it can prove to be deadly,” Thad replied patting his son gently on the shoulder. “Magic is a gift and one that we do not choose. I have known men who could sing better than any troubadour, yet they hated crowds. Magic, like any other gift, is only one part of us and we shouldn’t let it decide the course of our life. Yet you should still yearn to learn to use it properly.”

“I wish you would have been around to say that when I was younger,” Bren said with a weak laugh.

“So do I,” Thad replied his voice catching slightly on the words.

The two sat in an eerie silence; nether knowing what to say to the other. After the silence became deadening Thad stood up and went back to his bed. He found the cushions no more comfortable than before, but he was tried and when one was tried even a rock would look appealing after a while.

CHAPTER IV

As the days went by, Thad found little chance to talk to Bren. It wasn’t as if his son was never alone, it was that each time he saw him it didn’t feel right. Besides watching Bren’s back, Thad spent most of the quiet days looking around at the scenery.

For the past two days, Thad had seen what appeared to be buildings in the distance. At first he thought it was a large mountain, but the closer they came the more clear it became. They were massive, tall, and just like everything else, they were made of gems. Once Thad knew they were buildings, he thought that they would reach them in a matter of hours, but as the days passed and the buildings grew closer, he began to be amazed. He had seen tall buildings such as the tower he had helped build, but that was like comparing a blade of grass to a tree. The tower had no more than ten floors, but some of the buildings he was seeing in the distance were easily four or five times that height.

Thad had met a few of the gods during his travels when he was younger, but the few meetings he had with them had not made them friends. Just as Thad started to feel utterly alone Humanius dropped back and started to walk beside him.

“You have been keeping to yourself for the past few days,” Humanius said. “Even when you wanted nothing more than to cut out my heart you would still talk. Is there something on your mind my friend?”

“Many things,” Thad said nearly laughing to himself. “The magic here is so strong I have to constantly drain it away. Then there is my son who I am finding it hard to connect with. At the same time, I have found myself alone with only my staff for company. It is not the first time I have been alone, but it’s different this time. There are people around me, but everything and everyone feels so distant.”

“You are home yet nothing is the same as you remember it,” Humanius said. “That is completely understandable. You son is ages older than when you last saw him in person and though you watched him it is not the same as having been there with him as he grew. To make things worse, instead of a grand reunion your life has forced you to come on a journey that you and I both know will most likely take your life.”

“I could live through it,” Thad replied. “It’s just not very likely,” he added with a smile.

“Let us place the hard topics aside for now,” Humanius said. “What do you think of my homeland so far?”

“It is unique,” Thad replied. “I can see why you and your sister have such strong magical powers if you came from here.”

“It was not always like this,” Humanius said as he looked in the distance. “Long ago there was real grass and trees. You must understand that it has been more than ten thousand years since I have been home. I don’t know when the wall fell nor how long afterwards my homeland was turned into this.”

“Does it bother you?” Bren asked his godly friend.

“Yes and no,” Humanius replied. “I have been gone so long I find it really hard to see this as my home. The only things that I loved here were my sister and my father, and my father is long past gone and my sister is still here with me. In all honestly, we lived less than five hundred years in this land so if I had to choose, your world is also my own.”

“I guess that should be comforting,” Thad said. “At the moment though it doesn’t seem to really matter.”

“What could matter more,” Humanius replied. “As I told you, there are countless worlds, and for over thirty years hundreds of thousands of people from this world were sent to other worlds. There is even a chance that your ancestors might have come from this world.”

“I understand what you are saying, but it is a little much for me to think on,” Thad replied. “Where I come from never concerned me as much as where I was going. To know now that we might be connected by more than chance is… I don’t know if it is comforting or not. Not to mention that there might be many other worlds with people on it that are connected in the same way.”

“I know it is a lot to think on, but having something to keep your mind busy might be a good thing everything considered,” Humanius said with a slight grin. “I have lived a long time and understand being apart better than any other. Knowing that there are things larger than yourself is sometimes helpful in these situations.”

As the god picked up his pace and started to head back to the front of the group, Thad looked at his son. Bren was a lot like him but in many ways he was better. He was confident and strong, never having to look to others for answers. Thad was proud of him.

I raised him as best I could in your absence. That devil of a wife of yours didn’t make it easy, but I believe he turned out ok, though he never learned my lesson about women. Just like you, he will have to learn their dangers on his own.

“You have done a fine job my friend,” Thad said to Thuraman. “Speaking of Maria, how was she when you last saw her?”

I guess it was too much to believe that your feelings toward her might have changed. She was much the same as when you left. At the time, she was fighting with Eloen as usual over something that didn’t matter. Your daughter was doing well too. For a female she isn’t as bad as many of the others, but she still has years to come into her own.

Thad let out a long laugh that drew the attention of his other companions. Shrugging his shoulders he turned his attention back to Thuraman. “I have missed you my friend. As much as I have complained over the years about you and your quirks, without you I felt more than lost.”

I felt much the same way. Your son was a good companion, but it was not the same. When you left it was as if one of my gems had been ripped from my body. I know one day you will leave me, but I could still feel you. It was weak, but I knew you were there somewhere. It is the reason I pushed your son so hard to find you.

“Then you are partly to blame for this situation,” Thad said, his mental voice sounding slightly sharp.

Yes, though I believe it was still worth it. I am a creature of pure magic and no fool. I knew that there was a chance that the veil would be completely destroyed. I didn’t care, what mattered was that you returned.

“I always forget that you are like that,” Thad said shaking his head. “You never care about the consequences, you only care about what you want. I think one of these days when this is over we will have a long talk about this.”

I am not human. I have no real feelings, or at least not in the way you feel them. Through my connection to you I can feel some of your feelings; that is why I don’t like Maria. She is the only one who can hurt you so badly. Why should it matter to me if the world ends? I care nothing for the rest of them. They mean nothing to me.

Thad could think of nothing to say. It was easy for him to forget that Thuraman was only alive through magic and was no more human than the rocks on the ground. It was a tool, it was just one that happened to have its own thoughts.

Thad turned his attention back to their surroundings as they walked. Everything looked much like he would expect with grass and mountains; they even passed a few buildings. The only real difference in this world and his own was that everything had been turned into crystal.

After countless hours of walking, Thad’s foot started to ache. For a while, he thought that he might have gotten a small pebble in his boot, but he didn’t have the time to stop and check. By the time the sun went down the pain had moved from a slight annoyance to nearly bringing tears to his eyes.

That night they picked a large tree to camp under. The sky was clear, and Thad had seen no sign of rain in the sky so he saw no real reason to look for a place to stay dry, but he figured it was more of habit then for any real tangible reason.

As soon as he had found a place for the night Thad began to strip off his boots. When he took off his first boot it revealed a metal leg that was attached right above where his ankle should have been. Thad ran his fingers slowly across the cold metal as he remembered when he had first lost his foot. It had been ages since the Ablaians had captured him during the war. They were a warlike nation and their way to keep prisoners from escaping was to remove one of their feet.

Thad looked over the boot and checked it for wear. It was still in good repair though the heel was slightly more worn down than the rest of the sole. Setting aside the first boot, Thad removed the other. Thad had to hold back a shocked yell as he looked down at his foot. His pinky toe was stiff and hard and had a slight sparkle to it. Thad didn’t have to think hard to figure out what had happened. Just like the other things on this planet his body was slowly turning to crystal and it wasn’t a painless transformation.

“Thuraman can you do anything about this?” Thad asked having no clue himself about how to solve the problem.

I have been draining away the excess magical energy as fast as I could, but it looks like I was still too slow. It is amassing in your body and crystalizing much the same way it does within the earth, though in this case it is doing it much faster. Unless you can block the magical energy or harness it somehow there is nothing that can be done to stop the process.

“What about the others?” Thad asked a slight trace of concern in his voice.

Unlike you, they can hold a lot more magical energy and most of it is naturally drained away though some still lingers.  Should they spend enough time here the same thing would happen to them though it would take years for them to start showing signs. That includes your son.

“That’s some good news at least,” Thad said as he probed his crystal toe. “How long do you think it will take at its current rate to completely take over my body?”

It is hard to say, but my best guess would put it at no more than twelve days.

Twelve days was not that long and Thad was sure that it would take longer than that to reach their destination and return home. He had to find a solution, and fast, otherwise he would become nothing but a burden to the others.

Thad opened his magical senses. Everything around his radiated magical energy. Usually there was small lines of magic running through the world around him, but now it was almost blinding. There was not a single place where magic had not permeated. His own body was no different though it didn’t shine as brightly as his surroundings with the exception of his one crystal toe which shined as brightly as the rest of the world around him.

It was odd to see the magic gathering in his body. It had a different feel than the magic he was used to. He had long known that magical energy had its own direction. It wasn’t so much as thoughts but simply a direction for its course. The magic in this world was different…It was much stronger and had a hostile feel to it. Thad could almost see the small pieces of magical energy attacking his body, trying to take it over. He felt as if he just listened a little harder he could hear it as well. Thad had to force himself away from the energy and its almost hungry pull.

Thad began to look at the rest of the world and its eerie crystal structure for answers to his problem. He had always considered himself skilled in magic, but compared to his son and the other gods, he was nothing more than a babe, but he still had one skill that he believed was unmatched, maybe not in power, but at least in drive and ingenuity.

Thad had spent years with different gems, learning how they worked and why. The crystals here had much the same structure to them, though they were far more pure and dense. It was almost like the difference between copper and steel. There were plenty of gems around for him to use. All he had to do was break off a blade of grass and it would be of more use than the purest diamond in his own world. He still needed a body for an enchantment and with nothing in sight beside gems that would be the hard part, but Thad had a few ideas running through his mind. The real question was how to make an enchantment that would draw the energy from his body and not the vast amounts of energy present in the world around him.

Thad wished he had days or weeks in order to come up with a solution, but that wasn’t possible. Every day that passed, the more of his body would be lost and as soon as he lost his foot walking would become a problem. Each passing second was time that he couldn’t afford to lose.

A solution entered his mind shortly after he began to think about the problem. It wasn’t a pretty solution, but it was the only one he had at the moment. Taking out a small knife he had gotten from the village, Thad mentally prepared himself as his fingers tightened around its hilt. After a few moments of heavy breathing, Thad cut his toe from his foot and quickly used the staff’s power to heal the wound. His toe was gone, but so was the crystal and now the magic would have to retake its hold on him.

As the sweat beaded and slid down his forehead, Thad quickly continued with his work. Unable to tap into the magical energy around him out of fear of what it would do to him, Thad focused his thoughts through Thuraman causing the knife’s metal to bend and fold around his discarded toe until it was fully enveloped.

Thad felt tired. Working through the staff was much harder than doing the work on his own as he had to allow Thuraman full access to his mind. The staff always had a link to him, but he subconsciously blocked it from interfering with who he was. Those blocks had to be taken down, making him and the staff the same as long as he was working magic. This was the only way to use his gift without burning himself out. When he was finished and Thuraman was once again out of his mind, Thad felt the lingering effects of the meld. He could see how Thuraman viewed the rest of the world. It was nearly maddening, but after a few seconds the thoughts and feelings passed from his mind and Thad continued with his work.

Etching the spells into the metal was far easier. It didn’t require him to use large amounts of magical energy. All he needed was what was already within his body, though there was still some risk involved, though at this point it seemed necessary.

Thad worked slowly making sure that each spell had a purpose. It required different layers of spells and each one worked with the others. The first layer was simple; it directed the gem to only draw magical energy from him. The second limited how much was to be taken, otherwise he risked it taking too much which would kill him was easily as a dagger to the heart. The third layer of spells directed the magical energy out and into the ground to cause it to harden beneath his feet. It was a useless spell, but it gave a place for the energy to go. The last layer of magic directed a small portion of the magical energy collected to work on his muscles. As he began to crystalize it would allow him to keep his mobility.

If everything worked perfectly he wouldn’t need the last layer of spells, but part of Thad knew that no matter how hard he tried, in the end the magic would take its hold on him. His only real concern was to make sure that he didn’t slow down the others. Thad knew only a little of his son, but he knew that his kind nature wouldn’t allow him to simply watch as his father died; especially considering how long he had worked to free Thad from his timeless prison.

Once everything was done, all that was left was placing the enchanted item somewhere it could stay in contact with him. In truth, it would work as long as it was close to him, but the more contact it had with him the better it would work.

Gritting his teeth Thad tighten his grip on Thuraman and once again opened his mind as he pressed the metal orb into his chest. The pain was immense and more than once Thad thought that he would collapse from the strain that it was putting on him. When the stone only barely showed from his chest, Thad withdrew his mind from Thurman and slumped on the ground. He casually looked around to make sure that no one had noticed his action and found his eyes meeting with those of Humanius. The god only gave him a comforting smile before turning his attention back to his sister. Thad didn’t know if the god knew what he had done, but he suspected that he knew more about what was going on than he would ever admit to.

Thad had learned that the two gods were nothing more than humans who had been born with immense power. It had been regular people who had decided that they were more than that, though Thad could understand why. Not only did Humanius have power he had knowledge and understanding that came with untold centuries of knowledge. The other gods were nothing more than Belaroan’s children. Thad still wasn’t sure what they were, but he was sure they were still nothing more than creatures elevated to godhood by those who worshiped them. Thad felt sad that he no longer believed in a true higher power, but at the same time it gave him hope. If humans had moved as far as this, then completing their task didn’t seem completely impossible though it still seemed unlikely they would succeed with those scion creatures running around.

That night as Thad slept, his dreams were not peaceful, but neither were they so foreboding that they kept him awake.

CHAPTER V

It was three days until they reached anything that resembled the remains of a true city. There were houses, though their form seemed a little odd to Thad. Like everything else, they had long turned to crystal, but they still held their original form.

Thad noticed that Humanius and Belaroan both remained silent during their walk through the village. When they reached the center of the village Humanius led them to one of the larger structures.

“Why are we stopping here?” Thad asked as he walked up to the god. “There is plenty of daylight left for us to continue our journey.”

“We have walked for more than a few days with little rest,” Humanius replied. “You may see us as gods, but here we must rest the same as you. If we had access to our full range of magic it would not be the same, but here we fear tapping into the vast powers surrounding us. If we must, we tap the gems around us, but even that could carry an unknown risk. There is also a chance that we might find some record of what transpired here somewhere in the remnants of these buildings.”

Thad cursed to himself, not wanting anyone to know the reason for his impatience. Over the past few days, the spread of the crystallization had been slowed, but there were places on his foot where small specks had started to appear. Thad figured he had months before the damage would be noticeable but that wasn’t something he wanted to risk. The sooner this was done with the sooner he could be home and back to safety.

With no other choice, Thad joined the others moving from one building to the next in search of anything that might be of use. The inside of the houses were much the same. Everything inside them had been turned to crystal with the exception of the windows. It would seem that even here the magic couldn’t touch the glass. Thad didn’t know why but he found that piece of knowledge strangely reassuring.

Thad came across many books in his search, but he found them hard to read. Like everything else, they were no long made of paper but of crystal and the words were almost indistinguishable from the rest of the book, and only with a large amount of effort was he able to see them. Most of the books were useless to him though still interesting in their own way, though not worth the headache to read.

After hours of searching, Thad joined the others as the sun began to set. As he watched the fiery orb leave the sky, he wondered if it too had turned to crystal. As night descended, all of them gathered in the large room of one of the buildings. There was no joy or merriment in any of their faces. Every day that Thad spent with them the more he believed that the countless ages had robbed them of most of their humanity and the feelings that went along with it.

For a while Thad listened to the others as they talked, but it became clear that it was the same conversation that they had every night for the past few days. Belaroan told her children about the days long past when the world was in its prime, long before the crystallization. At first, Thad had sat with rapt attention when she had told the stories, but it didn’t take him long to understand that they were all the same and had little to do with their current situation. Now when she started to speak, Thad found his way to his bed wanting sleep more than long stories about a forgotten time and place.

As he did every night, Thad checked his foot. There were a few more dots of crystal than before, but it was still progressing slowly. Before he slept, Thad let his mind focus on Bren and what all the young man had gone through in the past few years and how much more he might have to endure. The magic coursing through his body would keep him alive long after everyone he currently knew was dead. A long life was one thing, but Thad feared that he would turn into a cold being like the other gods.

As he slept, Thad found himself embraced in the cold darkness that he had once found familiar. As the darkness disappeared, Thad found himself back in Farlan in the room he had once shared with Maria. “I see you found out that I was back,” Thad said without turning around, knowing Maria always loved to show herself when she was ready.

“It is really you,” Maria’s voice said in a half whisper. “When we received news that you had returned I didn’t really believe it. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I couldn’t stop myself from looking for myself.”

“Our son has done the impossible and brought me back from the abyss,” Thad said turning around to face his wife. She looked as lovely as he had last saw her. There were a few more wrinkles and a few strands of hair had a slight grey tint to them. Those changes mattered little to him; she was still the lovely young woman he had pledged himself too all those years ago.

“Our son,” Maria said with a dark smile. “If anything, he is your son. I have done everything I could to teach him not to rush off half blind to what is around him and yet, like you, he never listened to me. I swear that he is more interested in an early grave then living a good and long life. Our daughter, on the other hand, follows me much closer than you.”

“How is she doing?” Thad asked moving closer to Maria.

“She is a little spitfire just like her mother. She will make a fine queen,” Maria said wrapping her arms around him.

Thad stood with his nose buried in Maria’s hair for a long time. She still had the faint aroma of lilac that she often wore. It wasn’t long before he felt cold tears dripping on his exposed shoulder. “I missed you,” Maria said in quiet sobs.

“I am sorry,” Thad said. He knew that he should say more, but nothing came to mind. Just like with Bren, a lot of time had passed since he had left. Suddenly the darkness began to close in. Thad knew that his time with Maria was almost over. She still cried into his shoulder, but her grip had lessened.

When Thad opened his eyes he once again found himself in the crystal house he had fell asleep in. He reached his hand up and touched his shoulder where Maria had placed her head and could feel her warmth. The others were still asleep so Thad went outside and sat under the stars. The moon was high in the air though Thad could see a faint glowing on the horizon. The sun would soon be up and once again Thad would find himself marching endlessly across the crystal waste that this world had become.

It wasn’t long before the others began to wake and prepare for their daily march. Thad watched Bren as he did almost every morning, looking for some sign of what the young man was thinking. Thad still considered himself to only be twenty-eight yet his son was every bit of eighteen…Maybe even older; Thad was too embarrassed to ask. If one were to stand the two men side by side, Thad would look more like an older brother than a father.

Thad felt lost when it came to Bren. As he watched Bren lace up his boots, Thad noticed that his son started with his left foot, just as he did. It was something small, but it still brought a small smile to his face.

“Something is coming,” Belaroan said in a slightly raised voice.

Thad quickly strapped on the sword he had procured from the hidden village. The sword felt odd in his hand. It had a straight hilt and blade, and held an edge, but he was used to his sword with its slight curve to it. Thad flexed his fingers around Thuraman taking comfort in its familiarity. “Can you tell what it is?”

“There is only one thing it could be, considering where we are,” Humanius replied. “It will be a scion. What kind, how many, and how strong it is we will only be able to tell when it reaches us.”

“Is there a chance that we can out run the creature?” Bren asked while clutching the hilt of his own obsidian sword.

“There is a chance, but a small one,” Belaroan said. “They don’t need sleep or food so unless we can match their pace without rest it will catch us. I would prefer it to be before they come in numbers and while we are still in a position to fight. If we wear ourselves out trying to escape then it will just makes its job that much easier when it finally does reach us.”

Humanius directed them to take up their positions. Thad, Bren, Humanius, and Belaroan took up the rear, while the eight younger gods took the front. Thad found it more than a little odd that the two older gods who were vastly more powerful and knowledgeable were at the rear with them instead of fighting at the front, but considering who they were had no voice with witch to challenge their decision.

The creatures that came over the hill looked nothing like the scion they had met when the veil had first been torn. They ran on four legs and looked much like wolves, though slightly smaller and made of a dark blue crystal.

Thad counted four of the scions and they were fast and moved with far more grace then their crystal bodies would have suggested. The eight younger gods met the scions and within moments three of the younger gods were down and only one of the scions lay broken. Without the aid of their vast magical powers the gods had to rely on strength and speed and in in that regard they were no different than their children. Thad and Bren moved to join the younger gods at the same time and Humanius stopped them. “There is little you can do to help. You two are what will be needed to close the other end of the gate.”

Thad felt helpless his eyes fixated on the dwarven and elven gods who seemed to be faring better than the others. The dwarven god wielded his massive hammer knocking large chunks off of the scions, but unless they were completely broken they continued to move. Thad let his magical eye look upon the battle. He focused on the scions. They had so much magical energy coursing through their body, but as chunks were broken away, Thad noticed the fallen pieces turn slightly grey as they lost the majority of their power. The scions were moving so fast that it was hard for Thad to get a good reading on them, but as one of them lunged at the dwarven god he wrapped it in his massive arms and began to squeeze.

Thad watched as small cracks began to splinter across the creature’s body. It was then that he saw the creature’s core. With his normal eye it looked the same as the rest of the scions body, but from his enchanted eye it looked like a shining beacon. The dwarven god gave one finally squeeze and the creature burst apart and the core quickly began to dim like a candle being snuffed out.

“Strike at where their heart would be, that is the only way to stop them for good,” Thad yelled as the last scion hobbling on three legs without its head bore down on the elven god.

Taking Thad’s words to heart, the elven god pivoted on his right foot and danced out of the way of the lunging creature far more gracefully than Thad would have thought possible. Using his long and equally strong limbs the elven god stuck out with his massive long sword, its blade shattering crystal as it dug deep into the scions chest. For a brief moment, the scion stopped and seemed to shutter then its body simply fell apart leaving nothing but a heap of slighting shining blue crystals.

As soon as the last scion was dead, Belaroan ran to her children checking each one. The dwarven god and elven god had come out of the battle with only minor injuries. The dragon god had a massive gash along his right leg, his scale-like skin keeping the worst of the damage at bay. The other five gods lie dead or dying on the ground.

From what Thad had heard and seen of Belaroan, he had thought she would care little of what happened to them, but he saw more than a trace of sadness in her face as she looked upon her dead children. There were no tears in her, but her eyes still wavered as she looked upon their battered bodies. “Sleep well,” Belaroan said as she turned away from them and simply walked away to speak with the three of her children who still lived.

“If four scions could do this much damage what are our chances of making it to our destination and back home?” Thad asked Humanius, trying to keep his voice as quiet as possible as not to alert the others to his fears.

“My sister’s children have never been much for war,” Humanius replied. “She designed them to fight against magic with magic. With the exception of the three that remain, they had very little chance of winning that battle. We might not have a great chance at completing our task, but there is always a chance no matter how slim.”

“I don’t find that very reassuring,” Thad said as Humanius turned away and started walking down the path toward his sister.

CHAPTER VI

After two more days of travel, they had not come across any more scions and for that Thad was extremely grateful. At first, the crystal surroundings were breathtakingly beautiful, but now Thad barely took notice of it.

To keep his mind occupied Thad had taken to practicing with his sword knowing that his magic would be of little aid during this trip though his mind still tried to find anything that might aid them against the formidable scions, but so far he was coming up empty handed. At night, he prayed that Maria would visit him, but so far she had been absent from his dreams. He didn’t know if it was harder for her to contact him here or if she hadn’t been looking. She was an odd woman, sometimes she would barge ahead with little care for his wishes and others she would hold back thinking she might put him in danger. He didn’t know if that was the case this time, but he hoped that she would contact him soon. It had been far too long since he had looked upon her face and right now her smile would do great for his shattered spirts.

“It won’t be much longer now,” Humanius said, seemingly listening into his thoughts. “The capital is only a few more days away. It was a large and grand city stretching more than twenty miles across with buildings that touched the sky. I don’t know how much is left, but it should still be a sight to behold.”

“What will we find there?” Thad asked trying to picture the city.

“My father’s palace,” Humanius replied with a wistful look on his face. “It was a massive building, the largest in the city with more than a thousand rooms. Growing up, my sister and I used to play hide and seek with the servants. The palace itself was built long ago to hide the doorway. In the lowest sections of the palace is a massive archway made of a strange metal. My father only took me there once, along with my sister. He told us then of what the world once was and what had happened along with our family’s solemn goal. Our job was to safeguard the gate and to make sure that it never reopened. When my father learned how to make stronger children he noticed a weakening of the gate. The more magic that went through the gate, the weaker it got and it was beginning to stress the gate.”

“Will the gate show us how to fix ours?” Thad asked with hope starting to build up.

“Not the gate, but my father’s library. There are numerous books salvaged from the time before the crossings,” Humanius said his eyes wandering again. “There is one book there that should tell us how to fix the gate as well as how to build one in your world as well. It was bound in dark leather and smelt of rosewood. My father kept it hidden among the numerous other books he had collected. It had no title on its spine but each member of the royal family signed the first page of the book. If we can find it then we will find our answers.”

“How big is this library of yours?” Thad asked torn between wonder and trepidation. Knowledge had always been a love of his, but the thought of going through a mountain of books while scions stalked them was not an appealing thought.

“I don’t know the precise number, but I do remember as a child that I could not see from one wall of the library to the next. It was vast and my father’s pride. He spent most of his life combing over those books and that is something to be said given how long he lived.”

“Do you have any idea where the book might be found among the countless others?” Thad asked hopefully.

“No,” Humanius replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “I spent a great deal of time in the library, but my father spent even more time browsing those dusty shelves and every few days he would change its location. My father was many things and anal was chief among them.”

“At first I thought you were trying to cheer me up,” Thad said with a grunt. “It seems though you wanted to give me a glimmer of hope then douse me in enough doubt to drown me.”

“That was not my intention, but I have never been great at comforting those around me,” Humanius said in a way of explanation. “As dauntless as it all seems, we will prevail, otherwise your world will end up just as this one, though that might not be the worst of the consequences.”

“What could be worse?” Thad asked not really wanting to know the answer to his question.

“As I told you, a long time ago a man opened bridges between this world and others. Though it has been decades since those bridges were opened the veil between this world and them has already been weakened.”

“What does that mean?” Thad asked though he was sure he already knew the answer.

“Just as my sister and I used our power to break through one of the already weakened veils, it is possible that as the power between the worlds builds, other bridges will break down until the entire Omniverse is reduced to what you see here.”

“That doesn’t sound very promising, but I find it hard to care about worlds that I have never seen,” Thad said. There was a lot to take in and the news did not leave a good feeling within him. It was bad enough to have one world depending on him, let alone a countless number of others.

Shortly after Humanius left, Thad found himself once again watching the scenery, but using his magical eye instead of his natural one. He had spent hours looking at the landscape, but Thad had never thought of looking at it though another perspective.

With his natural eye, there were different colors of gems and crystals, but they tended to blend together after looking at them for an extended period of time. With his magical eye, they stood out and Thad could tell where the grass and ground met. The colors didn’t stay the same, but they seemed to pulsate with life. Unable to help himself, Thad felt himself reach out with his magical senses and he felt the world around him reach back.

It was an amazing feeling. The entire world had its own life and Thad was touching it. Thad started to feel his hold on his own person disappear as the world around him pulled at his very being. Just as the last strand of his consciousness began to unravel, Thad felt something pulling him back into himself.

Let go of it and come back to yourself.

When Thad opened his eyes all he could hear was Thuraman’s words echoing in his ears. Looking around, Thad noticed that he was sitting on the ground and Bren and the others were gathered around him. “Looks like I was careless,” Thad said with a weak smile.

That is one way to put it. I expected this foolishness with your son, but I was sure that you were brighter than that. Have you not learned that magic is dangerous, especially when there is this much of it floating around? Fool, dammed fool.

Thad ignored Thuraman’s words knowing there was little he could say in his defense. The staff was right; what he had attempted to do was pure foolishness, but at the same time he didn’t regret it. In those few moments that he was bonded with the world around him he had learned something that he doubted few others could ever comprehend, even Thuraman who was a creature of magic. The world around them wasn’t alive in some obscure fashion. The truth was far more surprising. The ether and core of the world was made up of those who had passed, adding their own essence to the collective. That didn’t mean much considering the current position. It couldn’t help, but it meant that there was more to a human besides what could be seen. That knowledge lessened some of the fear and doubt that had been weighing down upon his shoulders since he had decided to follow his son on this suicidal mission.

“Are you ok father?” Bren asked his face slightly crinkled though his voice showed no real sign of worry. Thad wasn’t sure what that meant, but he tried not to let it bother him at the moment.

“I am fine,” Thad replied hesitantly as he got to his feet. “I was trying to search our surroundings when they decided to search back.”

“You must be careful my friend; there is more magic in one square acre here then there is in the whole of your world,” Humanius said, lending Thad a hand. “I wouldn’t even dare to try to reach out. Magic has a way of taking you, though the more you can hold the more dangerous it is. If any of us had tried that, then the world would have pulled back with its entire force. Luckily, you were just a moth that nearly got drawn into the light of the candle. I would suggest that you be more careful in the future.”

“I will do that,” Thad promised. Bren and the others slowed down their pace to allow Thad to keep up.

As hard as he tried, Thad couldn’t keep up. He felt weak and his body was sluggish and didn’t want to heed his commands. It was almost as if his body was rebelling against him after his out of body experience.

Thankfully, Humanius got everyone to make an early camp. Thad didn’t complain, but he was sure that his friend knew of his weakness, though he didn’t use that as an excuse for stopping. If he had, Belaroan would have complained and demanded that they continue on until dark.

Shortly after they stopped, Thad found a place to place his blanket. There was no real soft spot on the ground since it was all composed of crystal, but he could at least find one that was at least partially smooth.

Thad was tired, but he didn’t want to sleep just yet. Making sure that no one else could see him, Thad pulled off his boot and checked over his foot. Most of it was still flesh, but the bottom half of his heel was now completely made of crystal and there were a few larger spots on the top of his foot.

Thad moved his foot to make sure that he still had his full range of movement. After a few moments he was sure that the crystallization wasn’t causing problems. The few places where the crystals seemed as if they should cause him pain didn’t, so he knew that his enchantments were working like they were supposed to.

Sitting his boot aside, Thad started rubbing his feet. His spells kept the crystals from taking over so quickly, but it didn’t stop regular pain from creeping in from the long hours of walking. After massaging the pain away, Thad left his boot off in order to allow his foot to air.

Are you still thinking about what happened today? I know the call of the magic can be tempting, but you will be lost within its light.

“Does that include you?” Thad asked curiously. He had spent years with the staff, yet he only knew a small amount about it in the end.

“Yes,” Thuraman replied. “Did you think that just because I do not have flesh and blood that I do not feel the call of the magic. I do, and in some ways I feel it much more than you. The only real difference is that if I let it in my core will still work, but my conscience, as you know if, would be dissolved. I would be joined with the magic, though honestly, I don’t know what the end result would be.”

“That is interesting,” Thad replied as all the possibilities ran through his mind. What if when Thuraman connected with the rest of the magical energies he could put a voice to their thoughts? If so, then he would have access to more knowledge than any other being alive. They might even be able to find out how to close the doorway without having to find the book Humanius had been talking about.

You do know that I can hear everything you are thinking right now, and I find it very alarming that you would be willing to sacrifice me in such a manner. I shouldn’t be surprised, sacrifice has always been in you. You have tried to kill yourself any number of times to get at your goal even when there were much easier and smarter ways to go about it. This time though, you will find that you are out of luck; I do not have the same self-destructive tendencies.

“I didn’t mean for you…” Thad started to explain, but there was little he could say when Thuraman could read his every thought unless he was actively guarding against it.

I know what you were thinking; whether you would ask me to do it is something completely different. In the end, it doesn’t matter because that is something I would never even consider. My life is my own and I don’t wish it end…Not yet anyway. Now that we got that out of the way are you feeling better? I know the magical energy pulled most of your energy from you when you were connected. I tried to replenish what I could, but there was only so much that I could do given the circumstances.

“Honestly, I feel as if I hadn’t slept for days. I am worn out and all I want right now is to sleep, but if do I will wake up too early and will be just as tired in the following days. I need to stay awake until I would normally sleep so that I won’t suffer for days.”

Sounds like nonsense to me, but then again I don’t have to sleep. I would suggest you get your rest and keep an eye on your foot. If too much of it turns to crystal then it will be hard for you to keep it from everyone else. Talking about that, did you have to cut off your toe? I have seen you do many things I didn’t understand, but that even made me feel uneasy.”

“I didn’t have to, but if I hadn’t, I would have been in a lot of pain and walking would have become nearly impossible,” Thad replied. “It was the best choice given what was going on. Even had I been back in Farlan, I think I would have cut it off. As it was, it was only a hindrance.”

If you say so, just keep an eye on it. If you have to keep cutting off body parts I don’t think there will be much left of you by time you return back home.

“Is that concern I hear in your voice?” Thad asked with a mental smirk.

I spent years trying to get your son to find you and return you, of course I am concerned, I don’t want all my hard work to go to waste this fast. You could be grateful and try to live for a few dozen more years at the very least.

Sitting back Thad let out a smile. “I will try.”

CHAPTER VII

As they came closer to the old capital city that housed their target, Thad spent more and more time alone. It was not that he wanted to separate himself from the others, but as time passed he found it harder and harder to talk to them. His son also spent a lot of time alone at the beginning of the trip, but as the days had passed he had started talking with Belaroan and Humanius. Bren’s drive for knowledge was envious and many of the conversations he overheard interested him, but Thad found himself holding back. The last time he had talked to Bren was to ask his son if he had a spare set of gloves. Bren had quickly given him a pair, and Thad had tried to think of more to talk about, but no matter how he tried, nothing came to mind.

As he walked at the back of the group, Thad tugged at the gloves that now adorned his hands, covering the small flakes of crystal that had started to appear. The way the crystals spread reminded Thad of how blood poison moved through the body. He had seen it a few time during the war with the Brotherhood. Often time when someone took an injury, it turned bad and their feet and hands started to turn and rot. The longer that it went untreated the more of the body that was lost to the disease, but unlike blood poisoning Thad knew of no way to cure the disease that currently plagued him.

Lifting up the cuff of one of the gloves, Thad looked at one of the light pink crystals that glittered on his palm. He could feel the magic stored in the crystal, but he could hear no voice coming from it. Thad wanted to reach out and touch the crystals that have begun to cover him, but after what had happened last time, he was afraid of losing himself to the magic.

Pulling himself from the depths of his own thoughts, Thad began to look around. Off in the distance, Thad could see what he believed could only be the palace Humanius had spoken of. It was massive, even from this distance Thad could tell that it was larger than any other building he had ever seen before. The top of the palace looked like a spiral reaching to the sky and past, so that you couldn’t even see the top of it through the clouds, it was like a manmade mountain.

Though Thad was sure they were still a full day’s travel from the palace, they began to pass more and more buildings. Not only were they passing more buildings, the buildings began to get larger with each passing mile until Thad’s neck began to cramp from looking up in an effort to see the tops of them.

It was not only the buildings that had changed, but the roads on which they traveled had as well. The roads stretched and rose from the ground in odd formations. Thad found himself looking at them wondering how and why they needed so many roads.

“They were built thousands of years before I was born,” Humanius answered the unasked question, startling Thad as he had not noticed the god’s presence. “My father told me that long ago our people made things that seemed wondrous, even when compared to magic and they did so with only their knowledge of the world around them, but as magic took over the world those things began to fail and were lost to the passing of the ages. Though the roads serve no real purpose, my people kept them to remind of what happens when people reach too far past themselves.”

“Not every place in this world must be like this,” Thad said as he looked around and marveled at the crystalline beauty of the world around him.

“I wouldn’t know what the rest of the world looks like,” Humanius said looking off in the distance. “We live on an island, a large one, but ever since the war that nearly destroyed our world, it was taboo to leave our own land. It was believed that the rest of the world had perished and in all the years we flourished not once had an outsider ever arrived to our land, so it is more than possible that nothing lies beyond our own shores. Even if there had been people beyond they would be long gone thanks to the cancer that has turned everything to crystal.”

“Brother, I think we will soon have guests,” Belaroan called from the front of the group.

“I had expected them far sooner, but I can’t help but wishing that they left us alone until we had reached my father’s house,” Humanius said sighing deeply.

“How can you tell that anything is out there?” Thad asked slightly curious.

“I and my sister have been keeping our senses aware. We have not really been reaching out to the magic, only leaving ourselves open to it. However, even that is dangerous, so we have been taking turns.

Thad followed behind Humanius as they moved to join the rest of the group. “How long until they reach us?” Bren asked looking over his shoulder toward the large palace looming in the distance.

“It’s hard to say, but they don’t seem to be moving as fast as the last group,” Belaroan said. “I would suggest we find a good defensible position and wait for them.”

Thad remained silent and quietly followed Humanius and his sister’s lead. He would have preferred to push forward and try to move around the enemy, but these were not humans they were fighting, but some odd creatures and he doubted they could be as easily fooled. Belaroan picked a large building covered in windows for them to make their stand.

As the others began to take up positions within the building, Thad made his way over to where Humanius stood looking out one of the windows at the road outside. “Humanius, don’t you think all these windows will make it easier for the scions to attack us from multiple directions at once?” Thad asked.

“There is the chance of that, but there are few buildings that are large enough for us to move about without feeling crowded. If they had been noticed earlier, we would have had many choices, but we are now in the common district and most the houses are only meant for families of two or three people.”

Looking around, Thad noticed a number of shelves holding what he believed once were books. Knowing that nothing he could say would make the gods chance their mind he wandered off down the rows. After some time, he picked one of the crystal books at random and pulled it from its shelf. As soon as his gloved hand touched the book something flashed through his mind.

Thad was no longer standing in a world of crystal, but in a brightly lit place of books where numerous people gathered to read at their leisure. “I wish mother wouldn’t force me to read these boring books,” a voice echoed in Thad’s mind. Shortly after the voice had spoken, Thad found himself walking toward the door of the building and out into the daylight. What he saw was unlike what he expected. The landscape was no longer made of crystal, but brick, stone, and metal. The road was made of a dark black stone that seemed as if it was one piece instead of individual stones.

Thad tried to turn around to move in any direction, but nothing he did made a difference. Outside, he mounted a horse and after a short ride reached a small house. As the door to the house opened, Thad’s eyes began to cloud and as everything cleared, Thad found himself once again standing in the crystal building. After a quick look around, Thad noticed that the others still stood where he had last seen them. After replacing the book where he had gotten it, Thad moved off to another section of the building.

Thad found an open section of the building with numerous large crystal chairs. His mind still muddled, Thad sat down and took a number of deep breaths. “What was that?” Thad asked himself, his voice carrying in the quiet building.

If I had to make a guess, I would say that it was a memory.

“A memory,” Thad said silently. Thinking about it, there was little else it could be. The real question was whose memory was it and why had he seen it.

Is it that hard to understand? If I chose, I could show you my memories. In the end that is all I am…An assortment of memories.

“That doesn’t explain why I saw it,” Thad said a slight trace of worry evident in his voice.

Don’t think I know any more about it then you do. I could feel odd magic from the moment that we crossed though the barrier into this world.

For the first time, Thad took a good look at Thuraman. It was then that he noticed that small lines of crystal stared to show on the staff’s smooth wooden body. Thad didn’t know why he was surprised, everything in this world was made of crystal, so why would Thuraman be immune from its effects. “Did you know?” Thad asked Thuraman worriedly.

Yes, though I am not bothered by it. Unlike you, it only affects me slightly. I don’t need my body to move, and as a creature of magic all it has done is increase my capacity. There is the slight murmurs of the magic’s pull, but it is easy enough for me to block it. I am made of gems and crystal so it cannot change what or who I truly am.

“At least that is one of us who doesn’t have to worry about losing himself,” Thad said with a meek laugh.

You might escape if you don’t linger in this place too long. It is hard to say what will happen to you in the end.

“That doesn’t really seem to help,” Thad said slightly irritated. After rubbing his brow, Thad laid his hands down on the crystal chair and once again his eyes clouded and he once again found himself sitting in the building long before it had been turned to crystal.

Thad found his eyes focused on a book that now sat in his hands. Unable to control himself, Thad read the words printed on the cream colored paper. It was a story about a young man who was sailing through the stars in the vast darkness of the abyss of the land beyond the worlds. At first, Thad thought that it might have been a true story about someone from this world, but it didn’t take him long to learn the truth. The story was nothing more than a fanciful story like his wife loved to read. It was meant to ensnare the mind and entertain. Thad didn’t know why, but he hated those kind of stories. Why read for leisure when one could better themselves by reading something that could better themselves.

His own memories clouded those he had been forced into. He had said those words to his wife many times as she had lay in the bed next to him reading. She had always protested that even books meant to entertain had lessons and things one could learn from. No matter what she said, Thad never could see what she meant, but he had learned that bringing it up only brought trouble, so he had stopped bringing it up.

As Thad’s eyes cleared, he was surprised that his own memories were as clear as the one that had overtaken him. With nothing else but time to wait, Thad tried to think about the memories. It wasn’t hard for him to notice that they came over him each time his hand touched something made of crystal. The gloves he wore were made of tanned deer hide and were so thin that it barely interfered with one’s touch.

Pulling off the glove to his right hand, Thad noticed that the crystal scale on his palm had grown much bigger, near the size of a small coin. It didn’t hurt, nor affect the movement of his hand. However Thad was sure that even if his whole hand was made of crystal he could still move it. That was what the enchanted stone he had made was supposed to do, but it seemed that it wasn’t slowing the effects quickly enough… it was still spreading too fast.

Shaking the depressing thoughts from his mind, Thad pushed himself from where he sat and moved back to where the others waited. He found Humanius still looking out the same window he had been moments before. “How does it look?” Thad asked, moving up behind his friend.

“They are moving slowly,” Humanius replied.

“How can you tell?” Thad asked taking a peek out the window himself.

“The scions have much more strength then the rest of the world. They are like a lighthouse to the captain of a ship. Though we can’t exactly tell how far away that beacon is, we can tell how fast it is approaching,” Humanius explained.

“How long do you think we have?” Thad asked as he moved back from the window and cut his eyes over to where his son stood leaning against the door.

“It is hard to say. If I knew how strong the scions were and how many of them there were, then I could better judge, but the truth is I don’t,” Humanius replied. “My best guess is that they will reach us between nightfall and morning, but I could be wrong and they could be here in the matter of moments.”

“I think I will trust you and have a rest,” Thad said turning to move away when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning his head slightly, Thad looked at the knowing face of Humanius looking at him.

“Is something wrong?” The god asked.

“Nothing really,” Thad replied. “Just a bit tired is all.” Humanius let go of Thad’s shoulder and let him go, but Thad knew that Humanius didn’t believe what he had said, but didn’t want to push the issue and that was something Thad was grateful of. It wasn’t that he wanted to hide what was happening, but he wanted time to adjust before he tried explaining it…At least that is what he told himself as he moved off back toward the open area of the building to lay down his pack and spread out his blanket so that he could lay down for a few hours and find some solace in his own company.

It might be best to talk to the god. He has lived a long time and I am sure that he knows far more than either of us about what is happening to you.

“I know,” Thad replied to Thuraman, a bit more bite in his reply than he had intended. “I just need to clear my mind first,” Thad replied in a calmer tone after taking a few moments to sort out his anger.

Time is one thing you might not have. You might not be able to tell, but more is changing than your body. I have seen you mad, confused, and calm. I have spent my life watching yours and you are not yourself now.

“I know, but right now there is little that he could do about it,” Thad said as he covered his eyes with this arm and after a few hours drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER VIII

“They are getting close,” a voice said in Thad’s ear as he was shaken awake.

As Thad’s eyes cleared, he noticed his son hunched over him, his face one of calm serenity. Seeing that his father was awake, Bren turned to move back into his position. Not knowing why, Thad reached out and took hold of his son ankle. “Wait,” Thad said as he pulled himself into a sitting position.”

“Yes,” Bren said his voice as calm as his demeanor.

“How are you doing?” Thad asked, unable to think of anything else to say to his son.

“Father, right now is not the best time to catch up,” Bren said calmly. “Maybe after if we survive we can sit down to have a nice chat.”

“That is just the point,” Thad replied. “We might not live past this day, and I don’t want to think that it ended without settling things between us.”

“Father there is nothing to settle,” Bren said almost confused. “I am no fool. I know your leaving was not your fault and I hold no ill will to growing up without you.”

Looking up into his son’s face, Thad couldn’t help but to laugh. “You might not think so, but your eyes tell a different story, but I won’t push it, not today, but soon you will tell me the truth. Life is too short to hold such feelings especially from yourself.”

As Thad got to his feet, Bren turned and walked back toward the three sets of double doors that led to the road outside and drew his obsidian sword. Thad didn’t know why, but each time he saw that sword something inside him shivered. It was much like the feeling the white swords had given him when he had fought against the Brotherhood, but it didn’t have the same sense of dread, then again the sword wasn’t trying to cleave his head from his shoulders.

Don’t you think that you should get ready?

Without replying, Thad moved into a position beside Humanius and drew his own sword, thought it felt a puny thing in his hand. As his fingers tightened and squirmed on the hilt of his sword, Thad wished he had his sword back in his hand. If only the sword headed his call as Thuraman did, Thad thought as he looked toward the doors and his son.

“Stay back,” Humanius said placing a comforting hand on Thad’s shoulder. “There is little you can do against the likes of the scions. The godlings stand a decent chance, but you would be killed before you could make a chip on their crystal hide.”

Thad felt like a child as he looked at his son and the other gods. For the first time, Thad believed that he should have stayed back if all he could do was be protected. It was a new feeling for him. Not once in his life had he needed to be protected, or he had never believed so himself, his wife might have disagreed with him on that point if she was here.

Taking up a place next to Humanius, Thad looked out the window and watched to road leading to where they waited.

Thad didn’t have to wait long before he got his first glimpse of the scions. Unlike the creatures they had seen before, these did not look like an animal, but stood upright and walked slowly on two crystal legs. There were three of the scions and Thad couldn’t help but think of them as humans. The way they walked, and looked around as if surveying the area, was far different than the scions they had seen last time and from what Thad could tell, it seemed as if they were talking among each other. It wasn’t that their mouths were moving, but from the way they looked from one to the other every so often.

When the scions were no more than a hundred feet from where Thad and the others hid, all three of the scions turned in their directions and walked straight toward the building where they were.

Right before the scions reached the door, the Godlings burst through and attacked them. Unlike the creatures before who moved like animals, these scions fought with an almost calm understand of their enemies. Within moments the only Godling that was left was the elven god, but the fight was not completely one sided, as one of the scions lay on the ground, its pieces scattered and broken.

The tall, strong elven god moved with grace; dancing outside of the scions grasp of death, striking whenever a chance presented itself. Each blow of the elven god’s blade made another chip in one of the scions, but it was making little difference until the blade dug deep into one of the creatures and its leg shattered.

Thad almost yelled with joy, but the scion was not the only one surprised by the shattering limb. The elven god lost his balance and fell on top of the scion as it tumbled to the ground. As it impacted the ground, the scion’s right arm shattered and large cracks formed on the creature’s head.  The elven god tried to scramble away, but the scion grabbed at him as he tried to roll away and before the Godling could get free of the creature’s grasp, the other scion grabbed the elven god’s head and pulled it free from the Godling’s body as if he were picking a ripe grape from the vine.

Thad felt his stomach churn as he watched the grizzly scene. It was not the first time that he had seen a death, but nothing like what was happening in front of him. In an instant, Thad watched as his son jumped through the door, his sword raised for a strike at the scion. Thad tried to scream for Bren to stop as visions of the boy’s death flashed through his mind, but all he could manage was a slight whisper of a scream.

Everything seemed to happen slowly as Bren’s sword seemed to flow toward the scion’s chest. Thad expected the blade to bounce of the crystal, creating only a small chip, if any damage at all, but the blade dug deep, cutting through the scion as if he were cleaving flesh instead of stone.

As the scion fell to the ground and shattered into half a dozen pieces, Thad moved to the creature lying on the ground as it clawed to get into a position to strike at him. Before Bren’s sword could strike, Humanius yelled for the Bren to stay his hand. Without asking why, Bren lowered his weapon and moved away from the pitiful creature lying before him.

Thad started to ask his friend why he had spared the murderous beast, but he never got the chance. Humanius moved toward the scion and using one hand, struck the creature on the shoulder and knee breaking the limbs as if he was shattering shale with a sledgehammer.

A moment of anger flashed through Thad. If Humanius could destroy the scions so easily, then why had he let the Godlings die while he watched; while he did nothing? The anger quickly dissipated, though the question remained in the back of his mind.

“Speak,” Humanius demanded of the scion.

Thad thought that his friend had lost his mind. If these creatures had the ability or desire to speak, they would have done so long before now.

“Young master, I did not think that it would be you that we found among the invaders. In truth, we all thought you long dead,” the scion said. Its voice was light and musical as if the words were sung from a flute.

“Roger,” Humanius said as he backed away from the scion.

“Roger,” the scion said as if tasting the name on its own lips. “I believe that was what I was called, though it was so long ago I am not sure; even my memories of you are muddled along with many others, most of those not my own.”

“What happened here?” Belaroan said stepping forward and looking down on what was left of the scion.

“Happened?” The scion asked, as if it didn’t understand what Belaroan was asking.

“Yes, what happened here? You know to our world, to you. When did the gateway fall?” Belaroan asked her face turning a light shade of red, though even without looking at her, the anger was clear in her voice.

“I don’t know,” the scion said. “Time passes, and all I know is what the voices tell me.”

“Voices?” Humanius asked.

“Yes, the voices of the one,” the scion replied, his face almost showing pain. “It is always there, though most of the time it is quiet like a light breeze blowing past your ear, but lately it has been like a mighty torrent… It has been demanding.”

“What has it been demanding?” Humanius asked, as he looked to the others.

“You,” the scion replied. “It wants those that cannot hear its voice. Those of us left… those chosen to hear its call have been called to find you.”

“Just how did you find us?” Belaroan asked as she clenched and unclenched her fist.

“We followed her voice,” the scion replied. “It was hard to understand, but as we got closer, the easier it was for it to guide us.”

“Thank you Roger,” Humanius said and he raised his foot above the creatures head. “Now rest.”

As Humanius said the last words, his foot shoot down and the scion’s head shattered like a vase dropped from a high ledge. “It sounds as if we won’t have an easy time of it, not with scions tracking us. I would suggest that we not waste any time and head straight to our destination.”

Without another word, everyone gathered up their belongings. Within moments, they were once again on the road marching toward the palace.

While they walked, Thad moved up to the front of the group next to Bren. “Son, do you mind if I see your sword?” Thad asked with a hint of hesitation in his voice.

Bren shrugged his shoulders and pulled the sword free of its scabbard and handed it to his father. Thad took the sword and carefully looked it over. It wasn’t hard to tell that it was made of some kind of glass, but what kind he had no idea. “Where did you come across this weapon?” Thad asked as he handed the blade back to Bren.

“Crusher made it for me,” Bren replied, his voice sounding somewhat distant. “At the time I was having trouble with the mage tower and needed something that could match steel as well as magic.”

Thad had watched his son during that time in his life, but most of it has passed from his memory. He had been so focused on his son that much of what had been going on around him passed his attention. “I see,” Thad said his mind working furiously. Bidding his son farewell, Thad slowed his pace and let himself fall to the back of the group.

“I know that look,” Humanius said, moving up beside him. “I have seen it many times when I watched you during your youth. Have you thought of something? If so, I would suggest you talk with me about it, I might just be able to help you.”

Thad stopped where he was and turned his head to look at the god. “Do you think you could make more of those white swords? If they worked as well against the scions as it did against magical creatures from our own world we might stand a chance.”

“Wouldn’t work,” Humanius said within the space of a heartbeat. “The swords were a channel to me, and while I can hold a vast amount of magical energy, it is nothing compared to what I would have to hold if it was used against a scion. Fighting the scions are not our main problem; their ability to find us is the real problem.”

“How do you think they do it?” Thad asked as the wheels in his mind began to turn.

“It is hard to say,” Humanius replied. “There is any number of ways that we might be tracked, my best guess would be that we are like a black spot on whatever it is this voice sees.”

“If you can give me a few days I think I can solve the problem,” Thad said after a few moments as ideas already shot though his mind.

“In a few days the scions will already be on us,” Humanius replied.

“Even if we reach the palace, how long do you think it will take us to find your book,” Thad replied. “Once we are there we will not be able to leave until we find our answers. If the scions know where we are then our job will be made that much harder.”

Humanius did stop in his tracks as he looked up to the palace that was growing ever closer. “Everyone stop,” Humanius yelled after a few moments.

“What is it now dear brother?” Belaroan asked tapping her foot in irritation.

“Thad thinks he knows of a way to hide us from the scions and has made a good point in, let us say, delaying our journey until he can do such a thing. I am in a mind to agree with him.”

“I see no harm in waiting a few days,” Bren agreed. “If we can keep the scions off our backs, I think it is well worth the delay.”

Belaroan looked to the others then back to the palace. “A few days and no more. I have been working my whole life to get back here, but now that I am home I want nothing more than to leave it behind me.”

“I have to agree with that,” Thad said as he unconsciously looked at his gloved hand, a movement that wasn’t lost on Humanius. “We will need to stay in one place for a time and I will need metal, gems are plenty enough, other than that all I will need is time.”

“I know of a place,” Belaroan said after a few moments. “The council building was large and defensible and might even hold a few records of what happened while we were gone dear brother.”

“As good a place as any, though it will take more than a day to reach the council building,” Humanius replied. “But maybe the more distance between us and the palace will help us in the end. If they knew where we were headed then they might set a trap for us instead of hunting us down.”

“Dear brother, I think you give these creatures too much credit. I saw the scion and heard him the same as you. They don’t have much thought left in them.”

“They might not, but we have no clue what this voice might know or think of,” Humanius replied. “In the end, I don’t want to take a chance when we don’t have to.”

“Then we have our next destination,” Bren said drawing everyone’s attention to him. “I would suggest we get moving before we have a host of scions bearing down on us.”

“Good point lad,” Humanius said as the god turned around and started heading back the way they had come. “The council building is at the northeast corner of town. I don’t know why, but the people of the past never like to place government buildings too close together unless they belonged to the same group. If they had half a brain, they would have kept everything in the same area so that you didn’t have to spend most your day traveling just to speak with more than one of them.”

“Then you must hate our world,” Thad said laughing. “We don’t even keep them in the same part of the country. If you need the queen’s justice, you have to go to the capital, everything else is in its own duchy or county. Honestly I think even my wife gets confused about who she needs to talk to about some of the country’s affairs.”

“Mother would get a bit edgy when she had to work out who was responsible for what,” Bren said, laughing for the first time in days. “Most of the time, the lines were so cloudy she would just decide who it should have been, then she would tell them. Though until she decided, she was a bear to live with.”

“At least that hasn’t changed about her,” Thad said with a smile.

They walked until the sun set, then picked a nice spot to camp. It had been a long day, but Thad knew that many more were ahead of him, so he took no time to ponder and quickly lay down for what sleep could be afforded him.

CHAPTER IX

As Thad dreamt, he found himself floating in the darkness he knew so well and for one of the few times in his life he welcomed it. Most of the time Maria had searched him out in his dreams, he had been on the wrong side of her anger, though in all honestly, he was sure that she was not that pleased with him.

As the darkness began to clear, Thad found himself in the Farlan palace gardens among the moon lilies. The moon was high in the sky and the lilies were in full bloom and glowing lightly.

“You always loved the moon lilies,” Thad said as he bent down and took a whiff of their fragrant bouquet.

“I remember when we were younger and sat playing cards in the balcony overlooking this garden,” Maria said in a lighthearted voice.

“Is that when you decided you would leash me for the rest of my life,” Thad said turning around to see his wife.

Maria wrapped her arms around Thad. “Don’t be silly,” she said a smile creping across her face. “I decided the day I first saw you that you would be mine.”

“I don’t think telling your husband that you decided to chain him to you when he was being sold as a slave is the best way to show your affection,” Thad said with a mock frown.

“I had mother pay for you then, and while you tried to run, in the end you were still mine bought and paid for,” She said pulling him down into a deep kiss. “You might not always listen to my commands, but in the end your still mine and mine alone.”

“I missed you,” Thad said after a few moments of silence.

“As I have you,” Maria replied. “That is why you need to hurry home, and bring our foolish son along with you. He has been showing too many of your less than desirable traits over the past few years.”

“I will,” Thad promised. “As soon as we have saved the world.”

“I could care less about the world,” Maria said angrily. “I would gladly watch the world burn around me as long as I knew that my family was safe.”

“I could easily agree with you,” Thad said as a tear rolled down his face. “The problem is our son doesn’t see it the same way and if I have any hope of bringing him back home then I will have to watch over him though I don’t really know what I can do.”

“You will do everything you have to, Thaddeus Torin, and more,” Maria declared.

“I am surprised that you haven’t visited me before this. I thought that after our first nightly visit I would be seeing you every night.”

Maria let out a soft sigh. “I wish that I could, but it is hard to reach you. I don’t know where you are, but each night I search for you and I must fight through a fog to even get a hint of you. When I do find you it leaves me tired and I wake as if I had not slept for a week.”

“Don’t push yourself,” Thad said as the darkness started to close back in on him. “This place is dangerous and I don’t know how it might affect you and your gift.”

“I will, but I won’t stop searching for you every night,” Maria said as the darkness claimed him.

When Thad woke, he looked around to see that everyone else was already preparing for the coming day. “Why didn’t you wake me earlier,” Thad said, and he rose from his pallet on the hard ground.

“We don’t need as much sleep as you,” Humanius said. “We do need to get going soon though, more of the scions are already on their way. We might be able to stay ahead of them if we move fast and keep moving.”

“Then we better get going,” Thad said as he quickly put away his blanket and pulled a few loafs of bread from his pack. As he broke off a piece and stuffed it in his mouth he was happy that he had made the pack when he was younger. It was one of the few things that seemed to be there each time he needed it.

Instead of heading back into the plains, they took an offshoot that skirted the edge of the town. They kept the buildings to their right as they followed the road. At first Thad thought it was because it was the easiest route, but the more he thought about it the more he understood the real reason. The scions were following them and at least this way they would be able to see them more easily than if they were completely surrounded by buildings. It would do them little good if they found themselves wandering into a mist of a large group of scions.

Thad couldn’t help himself from looking over his shoulder every now and then. Humanius said that more scions were already on their trail and Thad couldn’t help but feel as if something was watching him, though he wasn’t sure if it was the scions or the voice the scions had spoken of.

“What was the voice?” Thad asked himself as he walked slowly behind the others.

I believe it is the voice of the ether. The consciousness of the magical energy that has been gathered here. It is the same voice that called to you and nearly pulled you out of your own skin not that long ago.

“Can you hear it?” Thad asked Thuraman. The staff had been oddly silent as of late. Most of the time Thuraman hounded him every step of the way; telling him his every mistake, real and imagined. Thad berated himself for not noticing the staff’s silence earlier. He had learned long ago that nothing out of place that happened was without cause and he knew better than to ignore those signs.

Yes I can hear the voice, though I block it as best as I can.

“What does it say?” Thad asked, his mind whirling with possibilities.

I do not know…I don’t want to know. I am afraid that if I listen to the words…Really listen then it will take me like a thief in the night. I might not be able to lose my body to the crystal, but as I told you many times before, I can just as easily lose myself to the call of the magic as you can.

Thad cursed to himself. “Can you tell me anything of the voice…Can you tell me how it tracks us, how it works, how it sees?”

It doesn’t see…Not the way you do. It sees much the same way I do, much the same way you do when you use your senses instead of your natural eye. It feels the flows of magic, as magic is as part of it as your arms are part of you. It can tell where the magic touches and is received and where it is not.

“That’s it,” That exclaimed out loud, making everyone’s head turn toward him.

“Did something happen?” Bren asked a slight trace of worry crossing over his face.

“I think I know how the voice sees us,” Thad explained. “Now I just have to find a way to block it, though knowing makes it that much easier to do.”

“You didn’t even know how it saw us?” Belaroan nearly shouted. “If I had known you were so ill prepared for the task I would have never went along with this fool’s errand.”

“Quiet sister,” Humanius said raising his hand. “You know as well as I do that without something to hide us we will not last to reach our goal. It is a chance we must take and Thad we must put our faith in. Now let us continue; the scions are getting closer with each passing second and I would not like then to reach us before we are ready. Not to mention that if we wish to reach the council building on the marrow we also need not delay more than is necessary.”

The scions came into view just as night began to fall. Thad couldn’t help but think the way the failing light glittered over their crystal bodies was enchanting in its own way. Without the godlings, it was Bren and Humanius that stood at the front of the group to defend them. Thad didn’t like the idea of standing back while his son was in danger, but he also knew that if he stood next to him in battle all that he would accomplish would be putting himself in danger that he was not equipped to handle, and that would most likely endanger Bren as well.

There were only two scions approaching this time. One was human and the other reminded Thad of a horse, though its head was slightly larger than those back home. It seemed that the scions, no matter their kind, could work easily with each other.

When the scions neared, Bren took on the man while the god challenged the horse. Just as before, Bren’s sword cleaved though the scion as if the crystal was made flesh, though after the first strike, that took the creatures hand from its wrist, it kept a weary distance from the obsidian blade, trying instead to strike at Bren’s left side.

As Bren fought the human, Humanius struck at the horse. The gods fighting style reminded Thad of a mixture of a bar room brawler and an acrobat. The god used no weapon other than his fists, but those were put to deadly use. Each strike shattered crystal as easily as if the god was striking paper. The scion reared and kicked, but the god danced about, always gone before any attack could even touch a strand of his hair.

Humanius was the first to finish with his foe as the creature had made an ill-fated attack, leaving its flank open and Humanius had charged in, shattering the horse, leaving it in two pieces that was hardly a challenge for the god. Once finished, Humanius did not go to Bren’s aid as Thad expected, but instead stepped back and gave the other man plenty of room to work, the god’s hand resting calmly on his chin as he watched the younger god fight.

Bren worked cautiously, striking only when the scion presented an opening. As Thad watched the battle, he found himself watching the scion more than his son. The creature moved with the grace of a human and one accustomed to fighting. Thad didn’t know if it was due to the voice that he moved such a way, but he doubted it as the three before had not moved with such distinction. When the scion made a lumbering grab for Bren, Bren easily sidestepped and struck the scion at the neck, severing its head.

“Fool,” Thad yelled as Bren turned around giving no more heed to the scion. Hearing his father’s voice, Bren turned around just as the scion jumped atop him, its impossibly strong arm griping at his throat. Before Thad could think of helping his son, Humanius calmly kicked the creature in the side, shattering what was left of it to fine dust.

Bren quickly rose to his feet and dusted the fine shards of crystal from his clothes and hair. Humanius said nothing to him surprising Thad. When the god looked to him, Thad nearly nodded as unspoken words passed between the two. “There are more scions stalking us, but they are too far away to be of any real worry. The more we face them the easier it is for me to judge the distance and number, though it still requires a lot of guess work. I would suggest we push on a bit farther then make camp in a sturdy building.”

They continued down the winding roads for the better part of an hour before stopping at a small house, though one made solidly with just a few windows and only one way in or out. It wasn’t perfect as far as buildings went, but it was far better than anything else they had found thus far and with darkness creeping on them they had little choice in the matter unless they wanted to risk stumbling through the streets in total darkness.

Thad waited until Bren had chosen a place to sleep and then placed his blanket next to his son’s. Thad tried to think of how to talk to Bren as he smoothed out the folds of his blanket and set his pack where it could be used as a makeshift pillow.

“Son,” Thad said nervously as he worked up the words that hung at the tip of his tongue.

“Yes father?” Bren said looking over to where Thad sat.

“You almost got yourself killed today,” Thad said awkwardly. “The scions are not human, just taking their heads does little to them. You must break the core and even then I would not let down my guard.”

“I know that father,” Bren said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “I made a mistake, and yes I know it could have been a costly one, but I have learned from it. I am not a child that needs you to slap my hand and tell me the fire is hot, I can learn that on my own.”

“I did not mean to suggest that you were anything less than a grown man,” Thad said fumbling for the right words and cursing himself for not knowing what to say. “I just worry and so does your mother. If I don’t bring you back in one piece she will have my hide.”

“You have been talking to mother?” Bren asked his face slightly clouded.

“She visits my dreams when she can,” Thad replied.

“I haven’t felt her touch, but I have talked to my sister in such a way the other night. She tried to reach you as well, but since she does not know you she cannot touch your dreams,” Bren said with a hesitant smile. “Unlike me, she doesn’t even have the smallest memory of you. I have tried to show you some while in the dream world, but she says it is not the same.”

“My daughter,” Thad said almost dreamily. “She was just a babe when…When I left.”

“I am sure that you will see her…Hopefully soon,” Bren said.

“I came here to comfort you not the other way around,” Thad said with a weak laugh. “It is hard to tell who the father is, even people looking at us would think we more akin to brothers.”

“Don’t blame me that time hasn’t changed you,” Bren said joining in the laughter. “Honestly, you look the same as I remember not a hair of gray. I think mother would look like a cradle robber should you stand next to her on the throne now.”

“That she might,” Thad said as they both broke down laughing. “It has been too long since I enjoyed myself. I know you have spent years without me, but for me it feels as if only a span of days have passed. I don’t think I can simply pick up where I left off so how about we start anew…As friends.”

“I think that would work,” Bren said holding out his hand to his father, which Thad gladly took.

CHAPTER X

The next morning came earlier than Thad wanted, but when didn’t it? The sun never heeded a man’s need for sleep and neither did one’s enemies. It didn’t take long for Thad and the others to pack up their belongings, and like every day before, they ate on the go. As they walked, Thad took stock of what was left of the food within his pack. They had not seen any food since coming to this land and what was left in his pack would only last a few weeks, unless they began to ration it.

As they walked, Thad moved up beside Humanius. “I think we need to talk,” Thad said in a hushed whisper.

“What is wrong?” Humanius asked, without a care to how his voice carried.

“I don’t think we will have enough food to last the trip,” Thad said as his hand moved to absentmindedly touch the straps of his pack.

“That might be a problem,” Humanius said as he touched his chin, as the god often did when he was thinking. “If we were back in your world I could simply force something to grow, but in this land that is dangerous.”

“I might have an idea,” Bren said overhearing their conversation.

“I am more than willing to listen to anything that might be of use,” Humanius said in the bland tone the god often used. At first, Thad thought that tone meant that the God was simply humoring someone, but over time he had learned that was simply how the god talked when he was actively trying to be more human. Once again, Thad wondered if his son would lose his humanity as the years passed by him and those that he loved and knew passed away.

“When we were in the Deadlands no one could use magic without grave consequences. It was not as bad as here, but it was still too strong to risk. The people that lived there learned to use gems to cast their spells so that they didn’t have to do it through their own power.”

“Of course,” Humanius said in a berating voice. “It is simple, yet it still slipped past my notice.”

“That is why my enchanted items still work since they work by formula instead of direct control.” Thad said laughing to himself.

“Tonight after we read our destination we can each try. Tapping a gem’s power directly is not the same as using your own magic and it takes a deft touch,” Humanius said as he picked up his pace, leaving Bren and Thad behind to catch up.

As they walked, for the first time Thad and Bren talked. They didn’t talk about things of importance, but of simple things, the kind of thing that one might talk over during a simple dinner. Thad listened to Bren talk and asked few questions afraid to break the fragile bond between the two. Bren told of his life and the friends he had made and the woman who had taken his heart. Bren also spoke of Isophena, his other daughter. Thad was still shocked that he had a daughter born of his time in the Underearth. That part of his life seemed so far away that it almost seemed as if it had been lived by another person.

Having no clue where the council building was, Thad had no idea how long they would be on the road, but as long as he and Bren were talking he hoped that it took as long as possible. It was odd to talk to his son who had lived a completely different life than his own. Thad had been born in Farlan just as his son, but during his time, male children of families were often sold or traded and Thad was one such child. His mother paid for him to be trained as a top tier slave and then when he was of age, he went to the auction block for sale. That time in his life had left a mark on him’ one that would not disappear and it had nothing to do with the brand that Maria’s mother had placed on his forehead of the double crescent moons.

Looking at his son complain about how Maria had treated him when he was younger put a faint smile on his face. He would have given anything when he was a child to get any more than a passing glance from his mother, but Thad kept that to himself and simply listened to his son as he talked. In the end, Bren did admit that he believed his mother had done it out of some misguided attempt to protect him, even though he scarcely needed it.

“That is the way of women,” Thad said laughing. “They always try to protect the ones that they love, even when they don’t want or need the protection. That is something that you will have to learn, otherwise I doubt you will ever have a happy life. Take it from a man who has spent years with your mother, it is best to know when to give in, when to give up, and when to run.”

“I don’t know if I will ever figure that out,” Bren said with a shake of his head.

“Then if you ever get married I will pray for you because I think you will spend more time fighting than anything else,” Thad said laughing.

“I think I will stay clear of fighting,” Bren said solemnly. “The first time I had a run in with Isophena, she sent a shock through my body that left me twitching on the floor. Then she left me on and walked off to let everyone see my humiliation.”

Thad started laughing uncontrollably. “I don’t think I have ever had a woman do that to me, but if she is anything like her mother she was being kind that day. The Vathari are not the most warmhearted people, at least not in the open, yet behind closed doors they are completely different.

“Did you love Phena’s mother?” Bren asked his eyes somewhat distant and Thad knew that this was something he could not hedge on. The boy may have grown up without him, but he did grow up with the stories of him, and if they were anything like he remembered, they painted him as more than any man could be, both in stature and in deed.

“No I didn’t,” Thad said his voice barely above a whisper. “I was young and searching for my own path and at that time following the customs of the Vathari seemed the only way to gain those. I will admit this, though I did love another besides your mother,” Thad could see the questions in his son’s eyes, but Thad held up a hand for him to hold his silence. “I was a long time ago, before I was pledged to your mother; at least in my eyes though she would tell a different story. In the end it mattered little, she died because of me and my own carelessness. I will not speak her name now for fear of what memories that name would bring me in the night.”

“Why tell me this?” Bren asked looking more than a little uncomfortable.

“I don’t know myself,” Thad replied as he looked at his son. “It is not something I have talked about in a long time, and even now it still hurts to think about that time in my life. Maybe I thought that in sharing something with you that I have with few others it might bring us closer together. I am just a man son, and far from perfect.”

“I know that father,” Bren said with a thin smile on his lips. “Though I admit it is hard to reconcile the stories I have heard about you with the person standing in front of me.”

“I know son,” Thad said laughing. “I have the same feeling when I look in the mirror. You might as well get used to it though. With everything that you have done so far in your life, people will be telling the same kind of stories about your life.”

“I don’t think so,” Bren said his face losing its smile. “I have done nothing great. Most of my choices have led to nothing but bloodshed.”

“I felt the same way when I was younger,” Thad said comforting his son. “Honestly, I never thought of myself as the hero they speak about around campfires. All I ever did was follow along the path life seemed to throw at me, but you made your own path, and moved against the wishes of those in power around you. That is something I could have never done. I have never truly believed in providence, but maybe there is more to the world than we know. If we had been born in different times, to different people, then what we have accomplished would have never come to pass.”

“Maybe that wouldn’t have been so bad,” Bren said shaking his head.

Thad didn’t know what to tell his son. Everything had been going so well at first, but talking had never been his strongest point. “Why do you say that?” Thad asked though he knew the answer.

“Look at where it has led,” Bren said waving his hand at the crystal house. “My choices have risked our entire world to the same fate as this one. You cannot think that is a good thing.”

“It was bound to happen at some time,” Thad said, shrugging his shoulders. “Humanius said as much, though I must admit that he was in no rush for it to happen, then again he didn’t know that this had happened to his homeland. Because it has happened the way it has, maybe that means we were meant to come here at this time so that we could keep it from passing at a time when no one would have been able to stop it from destroying our world.”

“Maybe,” Bren said with a heavy sigh. “Father, it has been fun talking to you, but I think I wish to sleep for now. I am sure that we will find plenty of time to talk later.”

Thad cursed his own awkward nature as he watched his son lay down to sleep. It was not the first time his tongue had got him into trouble and he was sure it would be far from the last.

It would have been better if you had not mentioned his own choices. He frets about those and his own humanity. It has been a hard road for him and I fear it will not get better. He thinks that his powers have taken away his humanity when it is his own fear that holds him back.

“I watched him during most of his journey,” Thad told the staff. “I watched as he grew, but after his fight with the brotherhood I lost my window into the world. What happened there?”

Nothing good. Bren fought and killed those that have plagued the land, but at the same time something happened to him. He brought too much magical energy into himself too fast. I knew what was happening to him, but it was happening slowly until that day. It was too much for him and he had trouble separating who he was from the magic that infused his body. Luckily, now he has nearly completely shut magic out from his body. The small amount of energy that are slipping though his shield might help him overcome this problem, but I doubt it.

“You have changed,” Thad told Thurman with a slight laugh in his mind. “You would have never cared enough about another being to watch them so closely before.”

Everything changes over time…Even me, though it was not on purpose. Your son forced me to hold more magic then should ever be possible. When that happened, something happened to me that I cannot explain. I saw the world and the people in it though the vast flows of magic. I nearly lost myself at that time to the call, but I was able to hold on, but it still left its mark on me.

“When we get back I would like to take a closer look at you,” Thad said as he rolled over and covered his eyes.

Early the next morning, Thad and Bren were woken by Belaroan telling them that scions were once again closing in on them.

The small group quickly packed and tried to make as much distance between them and their pursuers as possible, but the scions were moving fast and a group of five caught them by midday. There were three animal and two human scions. The creatures were a mix, two of them looking like large dogs and the third was much smaller and had a sleek look. Thad wasn’t sure what kind of creature it was, but it moved so fast that it just looked like a multicolored streak as it darted around them.

While Humanius and Bren fought off the four larger scions, Belaroan and Thad were left to deal with the smaller creature. With his sword held out in a defensive stance, Thad took a brief peek at his son to see that he was having little trouble with the larger scions.

The second his eyes darted away, Thad felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder and looking, he found the scion lodged on him, its razor sharp teeth digging deep into his muscle. Just as Thad maneuvered his blade to strike the scion it jumped from its perch and was once again on the move.

Thad tried to follow the sleek creature as it darted around, but his eyes were not fast enough to follow the creature’s movements. The scion struck three more times and each attack left Thad with another wound.

As Thad spun around trying to follow the creature’s movements, Belaroan seemed to just stand there and watch him. Just as Thad made a quick turn to catch the scion, a crystal blur rushed at his face. The quick movement caused Thad to blink and as his eyes closed he expected to feel another flash of pain as his face was torn to shreds, but nothing came.

Opening his eyes Thad saw Belaroan standing in front of him, her hand only inches from his face, holding the squirming creature in her hand. “I haven’t seen one of these in years,” Belaroan said before she gave a little squeeze and the neck of the creature burst and the body feel to the ground to be crushed by her heel.

“What was that thing?” Thad asked as he took an uneasy breath.

“It was once a bobcat,” Belaroan said as she looked down at the broken heap of crystals that now lay scattered on the ground. “They used to roam this hills to the north of here. When I was a young girl my father used to take us out to look for them. I always found them lovely creatures.”

Thad could see the sad look in her eyes. He wanted to say something to comfort her, but what could you say to a god that had lived through the entire history of your world. Suddenly Thad remember that there were more scions and turned to find Humanius finishing off the last creature.

“Looks like you took the worst of it,” Humanius said as he looked over Thad’s wounds.

“Hurts a bit but nothing to slow me down,” Thad said as he lightly touched the teeth marks on his shoulder that were still seeping blood. Thuraman will have it healed in no time as if nothing happened.

“If he is not going to die, I would suggest that we keep moving,” Belaroan said as she turned and continued down the road.

“Would you believe that she used to be a loving and caring sister?” Humanius said with a large smile. “No… Well it was worth a try.”

Belaroan turned around and gave her brother a dark look. “I was caring when you were silent, now can we get moving.”

“It wouldn’t kill you to be civil and get to know them, will it?” Humanius asked his voice darkening slightly.

“Yes, it just might,” Belaroan said pointing at Thad. “This man shouldn’t even be here.” Humanius looked at Thad, then turned his head. “You know I am telling the truth. You can feel it as well as I do. The world already has a hold on him. How long will it be before we must leave him behind to die or turn into one of those things? Getting to know him will only make that much harder, and yet every second we waste could get us killed, and that includes time taken to talk to them.”

“You may think so, but I do not,” Humanius said with a sad shake of his head. “I think bringing Thaddeus was the right idea. If he can create something to hide us then he might be the best of us.”

“You could make the same thing if you wished to,” Belaroan accused him.

“You know that is not true,” Humanius said. “Neither you nor I have any talent with enchanting.”

“You don’t?” Thad asked curiously.

“It is the downside of our power,” Humanius said. As far as I know, there has never been a god who could enchant. I have many theories as to why that is, but why it is for sure I couldn’t say, but it is still the truth.”

“What about the white swords?” Thad asked, remembering the devastating weapons used by the Brotherhood that sucked n magic and worked to deadly effect against any creature that used magic.

“Those were not enchanted, but an active spell, much the way the protective spell around the valley of the gods was done. It works in much the same way as an enchantment, but the spell must still work through me, the metal is just a medium for the spell.

“Are you done talking yet? We need to keep moving,” Belaroan said, though her voice had lost a little of its ire, though not much.

Humanius looked at his sister and Thad could see the words forming on the god’s lips but instead of speaking he simply shrugged his shoulders and followed after her.

As the sun began to dip below the horizon, Humanius pointed to a large building. They were close, but Thad had little time to be overjoyed. He had plenty of ideas of how to make his enchantment work. So many things had happened over the past few days and his brain was working overtime. There were so many questions that needed answers, but there was no time to figure out the answers and that bothered him more than anything.

As soon as they reached the building, they secured the doors and Humanius led Thad to the inner most room where he could work without being disturbed.

Thad wanted to get straight to work, but he was tired and though it irked him, he laid out his blanket and laid down for a short rest.

CHAPTER XI

Thad sat in a crystal chair trying to think. The idea was simple; mask their presence with a bubble that soaked in the magical energy around them and directed it at the ground. The real problem was thinking of the best way to make his idea work.

Pulling out everything he had in the pack, Thad took stock of what he had available. In the end, Thad was left with a huge pile of numerous items. It would seem that Bren was a bigger pack rat than he ever was and Thad was happy of that. There were more than a dozen small daggers and other metal objects that could be used for the body of the enchantment and there was no lack of gems for the heart.

Using a small hammer that he had found in the pack he knocked a few large chunks of crystal off one of the tables in the room. Thuraman could focus a large amount of energy, but because of the way it was made Thad was worried that if he pulled too much through it then it would destroy everything that Thuraman was.

It took Thad a few tries but it wasn’t as hard as he thought to tap into the power of the gems. It was much the same way you casted a spell, but instead of pulling in the energy and focusing on what you wanted done you had to project what you wanted done into the gem. The process had its downside as it took far more concentration that using your own power, which meant using it in a battle would be nearly impossible, but it was better than being left in this world without one of the few tools he had to his use.

Once Thad had figured out how to use the power of the gems, he went straight to work in turning some of the metal knives into rings. As Thad looked at the more than a dozen rings on the table in front of him, he started to think of different ways to make his ideas come to life.

In the end, Thad couldn’t settle on one idea as he wasn’t sure what would work the best. In the end, he had made six different rings. The first was the simplest. It simply drew in magical energy in a specified area and directed it back out. It required six different stones, and since the ring could only hold smaller stones it was only able to cover a small area which made it impossible to test, but at least he knew the enchanted item could work.

The second ring was much more involved though it only needed two stones. It repelled the magic with a shield; since it didn’t need to cycle as much magical energy, the ring could cover a person easily though not much more than that.

The other rings each worked in a different way, but they all had the same goal and that was to make the magical energy around the person wearing it either to move away, or be absorbed. One of them moved the energy into the ground, the other into the air. The last ring though did none of that, it was an idea of his own and one that scared him.

Thad held the ring in his hand, but couldn’t bring himself to try it. It was far different than anything he had tried before and it was something that would only work in this world.

Using the gems, Thad had learned that the world was connected, not just in a general way, but completely connected. It was almost as if they were standing on a large gem and Thad meant to use it, so he linked the ring to the very crystal beneath his feet.

Thad held the rings in his hand. It had only taken him a few days to finish, but a new problem bothered him. How was he to test the rings to make sure they worked against the scions? He had thought long and hard on this problem, but the only real way to see if they worked was to put them on and then try to hide from the scions. That would mean that they would have to split up, and if they didn’t work the ones left alone would most likely face their own death. The idea was impossible, but it was the only one that he could think of.

With no other choice, Thad walked toward the door to his study. The others had left him alone and while he had heard fighting, he had dared not leave until he was finished. As the crystal door swung open, Thad looked around the room to find that numerous pieces of crystal lay scattered about.

Fear griping his heart, Thad quickly looked about for his son. Bren sat in a far corner of the building, looking out one of the windows, staring off in the distance. Relief flooded through Thad as he looked over his son, Bren looked the same as he had the same a few days before with no obvious wounds that Thad could see. Moving his eyes from his son took a great deal of effort, but Thad forced himself to focus on his true objective for leaving his work.

“Humanius,” Thad said as he walked up behind the large god.

“Thaddeus, my friend, have you solved our troubles with the scions?” Humanius asked his face bearing a wide smile.

“Yes and no,” Thad replied, stealing the smile from Humanius’s smile. “I have made a number of rings that might work, but I have no way to test which one is of the best design.”

“That does sound like a problem,” Humanius said thoughtfully.

“I was hoping that you might have an idea about how to go on from here,” Thad said looking at the god.

“You would think that for as long as I have lived, I would know of a way, but other than what I am sure you have already thought of, I am left without any other recourse. My best advice would be we try each kind as we move away from the palace. When one works, then we can turn our attention back to our original goal.”

“Honestly, I didn’t think of that. Give me one more day to make enough of the rings for each of us. Sadly only one can be used at a time, they tend to interfere with each other.”

“Then I would suggest that you hurry, more and more of the scions are coming toward us. Give it a few more days and there will be more than we could ever hope to fend off,” Humanius said sternly, a look of desperation on his face.

“Then I will get to work,” Thad said turning back toward his study, taking one last quick look at Bren.

Once back inside his study, Thad took stock of what he had used and what he had left at his disposal. He had used as little of the metal as he could, but the first ring needed to be larger and Thad knew that making four of those large enough to be of use he would have little metal left for the others. Sighing Thad tried to find a way to solve his problem.

You do know that you don’t need a ring. I can duplicate any of the enchantments that you have put upon them.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Thad replied laughing to himself. “I tend to forget about the simplest things some times.”

I hadn’t noticed. I have said it once and I am sure I will say it for as long as you live. You are one of the dumbest smart people ever born.

“Sometimes I agree with that statement,” Thad said, laughing out loud. With the need of only three of the large rings, there would be more than enough metal for his intended purposes.

Grabbing a large chunk of crystal, Thad lifted it to begin his work. He was amazed at how much energy one of the gems could hold, though he still went through quite a few of them working the metal. Just like a regular gem, once it was drained of energy, the crystals shattered and turned to dust. The dust still held a small amount of energy but it was such a small amount it was of little use, still Thad placed it in a pouch knowing that it could hold some purpose, though he couldn’t think of what that might be.

Placing the small bag of dust in his pack, Thad pulled up the metal items he had left and went to work. It was tedious having to reach inside the crystal in his hand to bend the metal to his will. It moved and shaped as if it were nothing but clay. The work was slow as his mind was already tired from his earlier work, but he knew that time was short, and every second wasted was time that the scions would have to attack once again. Sighing, Thad delved again into the gem, forcing it to push his will upon the metal that rested on the table until three large circles the size of his hand were formed.

When the last of the rings were complete, Thad sat down heavily in a chair that rested not far away. His head pounded and every muscle in his body felt as if it had been carrying a massive load, but he forced his eyes to remain open instead of allowing them the rest they so desperately wanted. As his attempts to stay awake failed him, Thad reached his mind out to Thuraman. “Can you help?”

You need sleep father. You are pushing yourself too far and the crystal is taking advantage and spreading faster. There is no reason to push yourself so far, it only weakens you.

“I know,” Thad replied. “There is little other choice. Can you help?”

Yes, Thuraman said, his voice full of concern.

Thad felt energy coursing through his body and within moments he felt as if he had rested a lifetime. Without taking time to think, Thad went straight back to work. With the three large rings created, it was little trouble to make the smaller one and set the gems.

There were no windows in Thad’s study, no distractions and no way for the scions to reach him without first going through the others, though that thought did no settle his mind since his son was one of those guarding the door. Without a window, it was hard to tell how much time had passed. He had made a few small enchanted items to create light, but still the room remained dim and his eyes strained with fatigue.

Once the smaller rings were fully enchanted, Thad once again felt his energy wane. He reached out to Thuraman again, but the staff refused to heed his call acting as if he were not there. Without the staff to refill his energy reserves, Thad’s eyes dropped and soon he was fast asleep.

Once his eyes closed it was only moments before he felt his wife reach for him. He knew that if the darkness took hold he would sleep far longer than he wished so for the first time in years he pushed against his wife’s call, but he was too weak to resist and soon the darkness claimed him.

As the darkness cleared, Thad found himself standing alone in the courtyard. The sun was hanging low in the sky and only the top of it peeked above the horizon, casting a faint orange glow across the sky.

Turning around, Thad’s eyes met those of his wife and he could see the lines of worry etched in her features. Without a second thought, Thad rushed up to Maria and wrapped her in a tight embrace his lips seeking hers. Thad had no clue another occupied their dream until a small cough came from beside him.

Looking down, Thad nearly jumped in surprise. Standing next to Maria was a smaller version of her. If not for the slightly lighter hair color and blue eyes, Thad would have sworn it was a younger version of his wife.

“Father, do you not even recognize your own daughter?” Sandrea asked with the same biting smile he had seen his wife use numerous times.

“I was just a bit startled dear,” Thad said, regaining a measure of his composure. “Last time I saw you, you were still suckling at your mom’s teats and wrapped in her arms.”

Thad pulled Sandrea into a tight hug. The small girl resisted at first, but after a few pulls Thad felt her arms embrace him.

“Father, as you can see I am no longer a child that needs to be held,” Sandrea said when Thad let her go and she had finally untangled herself from his arms.

“Is that so,” Maria said with one of her more devious smiles painted on her face. “It was only a few days ago you came to me demanding that I let you see him, if I remember correctly, you even had a few tears in your eyes.”

“Mother,” Sandrea exclaimed her face turning a bright red. “I just thought it would be a good time to see him for myself. Bren has been going on about how dangerous it is there and I wanted to see his face, just in case the worst came to pass.”

“Sandrea you will not even think of such things,” Maria said, a stricken look crossing her face for an instant. “Your father and brother will both be home with us as soon as they finish with this foolishness.”

“If you say so mother, but I prefer to be more reasonable,” Sandrea said with a sad look on her face. “Brother has told me what they plan and the dangers they face and neither he nor I am very optimistic about their chances of returning.”

“I need to talk to your father now,” Maria said with a displeased look on her face.

“But mother I haven’t even gotten to talk to father yet,” Sandrea said with a pouting look that melted Thad’s heart, but before he could ask Maria to let her stay, Maria gave them both a look that told them she would brook no argument.

“You have now touched your father so you should be able to find him with ease next time,” Maria said, and with a wave of her hand Sandrea disappeared as she was ejected from the dream. As soon as Sandrea was gone, Maria turned to him with a look he had seen too often in his life plastered on her face. “I have asked little of what you and my son have been up to. Honestly, I don’t think I really wanted to know, but the little pieces I have been able to garner from Sandrea have not been pleasant. You will tell me everything now, and I will hear no argument over this Thaddeus Torin.”

Thad thought about refusing, but it was a passing thought. He knew that she could do little to force him, but he knew that should he live to return to her, she would make him regret it a thousand times over. Sighing, Thad sat down on the cold ground and looked at the orange sky and began his tale. Many times Maria was not happy with his story and stopped him with questions, many of which were to questions he had wished she hadn’t asked, but still he answered. When he had finished his story, there was only a few things that he was able to keep from her and he was sure that even those she had figured out on her own or she would before he saw her again and she would make sure he paid for those secrets.

It wasn’t long after he had finished his story that the darkness coiled around him. He could tell that Maria tried to hold it back, but Thad welcomed it. There was much still he had to do before they could leave and he knew there was no time to waste.

As his eyes fluttered open, Thad stood from his place in the chair, his muscles groaning from the awkward position he had slept in. Looking at the table, Thad’s eyes focused on the three large rings, they were the only things left unfinished. Taking a deep breath, Thad lay his hand on the first ring and focused. The enchantment fought against him as he tied it to the crystals, but he pushed though. He knew that it would be easier if he took his time, but time was one thing he didn’t have.

Large beads of sweat dripped from his face as he pulled his hand away from the last ring. “It’s finished,” Thad said to himself, his voice carrying little of his excitement.

Yes and though you know you should rest, you will proceed to give them away and when they say you should leave at once you not argue and ask for rest even though you need it.

“That is the way of things,” Thad said as he made his way to the door.

“Are you finished yet?” Belaroan asked as soon as the door opened, her voice carrying her displeasure at being made to wait while he worked.

“Yes,” Thad said. “They are finished. There are three large ones in the study for each of you, along with a few small ones as well.”

Belaroan pushed past him without another word and came back a moment later carrying all three of the large rings. “How are we supposed to move with these things?”

“That is your problem,” Thad said irritated. “I have done what I was asked. I have listened to your complaints and I have tired of them, I have had enough.”

“He is right,” Humanius said, silencing both of them. “Their weight is little to us, we need to leave. Thaddeus which of the rings would you suggest we try first?”

“I would suggest the large one. Not only is it my best choice, it is also the one that would be best left behind if it does nothing for us.”

“True enough,” Humanius replied. “Then shall we be off. I see no reason that we should wait around.”

“Where should we head?” Bren asked as he moved to take his rings from Belaroan.

“South for now,” Humanius replied. “If they follow us then we will try another ring and change direction. We will keep trying until we find one that works.”

“And if all of them prove useless?” Belaroan asked, rolling her eyes.

“Then we will have no choice, but to fight though the scions to the palace,” Humanius replied solemnly.

“When that happens, and it will, maybe you would listen to me,” Belaroan said with a huff.

“Let us hope that they work,” Thad said. “Otherwise we will not likely complete our task.”

“Enough bickering, we need to leave, otherwise, it will not matter if they work; we won’t be alive to find out. A few scions are on their way here now and will arrive within the hour.”

CHAPTER XII

They only got a few hours of travel in the first day before the sun began to go down and they were forced to make camp. They had moved south away from the city and into more open land. Thad didn’t know why Humanius wanted them to be on open ground, but they all followed his lead without complaint.

When they camped the scions were close, far closer than Thad would have liked. Though he was on edge knowing that their enemies were so close, Humanius still advised them to get as much sleep as possible.

Thad knew that Humanius and the others, including his son, didn’t need much sleep compared to him. It wasn’t the first time he felt like the weak link in their group, but it was a harsh reminder considering how close their enemies were.

Thad didn’t think that he would go to sleep, but he was so tired that within moments after he lay down his head he was fast asleep. As tried as he was, Thad didn’t get to sleep very long, thanks to a scion wandering into the camp.

Humanius and the others seemed ready for the creature, but unlike the other times the scions had attacked, this one seemed surprised to find them. After the quick battle Humanius turned to Thad, who was still clearing the sleep from his eyes. “Seems like these work, but not good enough to keep them completely off of our scent. The scions are still moving in our direction, but it doesn’t look like they can tell our exact location.”

“Hardly an improvement,” Belaroan replied. “They can still get close enough to find us even without a precise accounting of our location.”

“It gives us more time, and a better chance when we must fight,” Humanius replied, dismissing his sister’s complaints.

His nerves on edge, Thad laid back down though he didn’t fall asleep nearly as fast as before, though within an hour his eyes were closed and he was snoring heavily.

Thad was awoken as the sun breached the top of the horizon and streams of light assaulted his eyes. Shielding his eyes with his arm, Thad tried to look around, but his eyes were having trouble focusing. It was one of the downsides to the large amount of crystals; they reflected light and when the sun was just rising it was like trying to look though endless rainbows. There was so much light that even after his eyes adjusted it was hard to see if he looked in the direction the sun was coming up.

With the knowledge that the large rings didn’t work, they decided to switch to one of the other rings, though Humanius decided to keep the larger rings with them since they did work in a fashion. Belaroan complained about having to carry the large ring around with her, but Humanius gave her a dark look that quickly silenced her complaints.

It didn’t take them long to learn that the second ring was useless, as soon as they switched Humanius noticed the scions turn in their direction almost at once and head toward them. The third ring had them moving off and fumbling around again and it looked as if they had completely lost their scent. Humanius still didn’t want to take a chance so they started moving southeast. It would bring them closer to the city, but still be hard to tell their desired destination in the event the scions could still follow their movements.

After two full days of walking with only minor trouble, Humanius declared it safe to head toward the palace. Belaroan was still skeptical since one scion still seemed to follow their movements. Humanius had admitted that the lone scion that continued to match their direction without error bothered him, but he figured that it wasn’t a danger, as the other scions, even the ones they passed close to, seemed blind to their movements.

By the time they reached the outskirts of the city, the scion that had been following them was nearly on them. Belaroan thought it would be best to wait in ambush for the creature, but Humanius wanted to push on. In the end, Belaroan wouldn’t let it slid and they had to agree, though Thad had to agree with her this time.

They chose a place at the edge of the city where the roads were still small and the buildings around them were of normal height instead of the ones farther that tried to reach the sky. It wasn’t perfect, Thad would have preferred trees or anything that gave some cover from the ground, but there was no place like that in this world he had seen so far.

Thad saw the scion as soon as it came over the small hill. It followed the road almost like a traveler. Thad couldn’t help, but watch the scion as it moved closer. If it was not made of crystal, Thad would have sworn the thing were human.

Just before the scion reached where they hid in ambush, it stopped and looked where they hid. “I have come to talk to you,” the creature yelled its voice loud, booming yet still sounding musical to his ears. “I do not wish to fight.”

“Are you serious?” Belaroan asked as Humanius moved out from behind the side of the building.

“I can take on one scion easily,” Humanius replied to his sister who had taken a place on top of one of the buildings. “I see nothing to fear from the lone creature.”

“A wise choice,” the creature said with an odd looking smile.

“What is it that you wish to talk about?” Humanius asked as soon as he stood before the creature.

“I wish for you and your friends to accompany me to my mistress,” the scion said, tilting its head slightly. “She wishes for your aid and said that the one she had prepared has come to free her from the usurpers hold.”

“The one she has prepared?” Humanius asked with a frown etched on his face. “Who would that be?”

“I do not know whom she met,” the scion said. “I only know what she has asked me to tell you.”

“Kill it and let us continue,” Belaroan said huffing.

“What do the rest of you think?” Humanius asked of them.

“Why do you want their advice?” Belaroan asked her face pinched in anger.

“They are on the road with us and should have the same say in what we are doing,” Humanius replied. “This is one decision I will make on my own.”

“I think we should go,” Thad said not knowing why he felt that way.

“As do I,” Bren echoed.

“Fools,” Belaroan said, more than loud enough for everyone to hear.

My thoughts as well. Why would you risk meeting with such creatures? It could be an ambush that will leave you all dead. I don’t even know why I am even talking about it. I know full well you will ignore my advice as you have numerous times before and each time you have ended up in a dire situation.

“Well why change now?” Thad said with a laugh to himself that he knew Thuraman could hear. After saying that, Thad couldn’t help but be a little fearful of what might happen. The staff was right about one thing; each time he hadn’t listened to the staff’s warning he ended up in a bad way. As they began to follow the scion, Thad decided to keep his eyes open just in case the worst should come to pass.

The scion was quiet and kept a fast pace. The scion also didn’t look around as it had before, it kept looking to the west with little care for anything else. When the night began to take a full hold and the scion showed no sign of stopping, Humanius called to the creature. Humanius had to explain that they had to stop a few times before the scion understood what they wanted.

Thad began to sit up in his bedroll, but his eye couldn’t help but notice the scion who sat by itself on the group, just looking into the distance.

“Something bothering you?” Thad asked as he walked up behind the scion.

“No and yes,” the scion replied. “I have been remembering what I once was and those memories are…Painful.”

“What do you mean?” Thad asked, not completely understanding what the scion was talking about. “You were human, and those memories hurt?”

“Yes,” The scion said in a soft voice. “Once I was a man much the same as you are. I was a level two mage in the employ of a duke. I was not a strong mage and my lot in life was not great, but it was much better than the countless magic-less who toiled in the fields. I had a wife, though I can no longer remember her name. It is the thoughts of her that bring me pain. I have not thought of her in centuries, but seeing you and your companions have brought those visions back to me.”

“I am sorry that we have brought you pain,” Thad said honestly.

“It will pass,” the scion replied.

“What is your name?” Thad asked. “You must have had one.”

“I don’t remember what I was called when I was flesh, but the mistress calls me Wardwell.”

“Your mistress,” Thad said. He had heard the scion mention her earlier, but Wardwell had said nothing else about the matter and Humanius had remained silent since they had left the city. “What is she like?”

“She is hard to explain,” Wardwell replied. “She protects us and we protect her. She is the voice and we are her eyes and ears.”

Thad had heard the term voice before, but it had come from a scion that had sought them dead. He wished the scion a goodnight and returned to his bedroll, once again expecting the worst.

I told you that you should not go along with this madness. Just wait, at the end, all you will find is pain and this time you do not have friends waiting in the shadows to save you.

“Then we will have to be careful,” Thad replied to the staff. “It is too late for us to decline his offer and the others would not agree.”

Belaroan would agree. She, at least, has a head on her shoulders.

“Thuraman,” Thad exclaimed. “I can’t believe you are talking nice about a female, even if she is a god, she is still a woman and yet you sound as if you like her.” As Thad spoke, he let the staff hear his laughter.

I do not like her nor trust her, but she has kept the most level-headed during this trip and I think you should listen to her advice a bit more. She can be no worse than that witch of a woman you married.

Thad had gotten so used to Thuraman’s complaints about Maria that he hardly noticed them anymore. “You just like her advice because it is the same things that you want, and most of the time you’re only concerned about your own agenda, the same as her.”

Just as you should be. You too often think of others and put yourself at risk. If you stop and think of yourself more often then I wouldn’t have to.

“You know, we will never agree on this,” Thad said shaking his head. He loved Thuraman and it was a part of him much the same way his hands were, yet they were different in most ways that mattered. Thuraman cared only about himself and Thad and never took others needs into account. Thad had tried many times to get him to look at things from the other side of the mirror, but nothing he tried worked. “One of these days you will love something other than yourself,” Thad said with sadness in his voice as he pulled his blanket over his head.

I care about you and your son. Is that not enough? The rest of the world is nothing to me, and I nothing to them. You may try, but in the end we both know it is an effort that will be made in vain.

That night as Thad drifted off to sleep, he found darkness pulling him in. At first Thad thought it was Maria pulling at him, but as the darkness coiled around him it felt different. As the darkness cleared he found himself standing in a large open field overlooking the ocean.

“Father,” a weak voice said barely above a whisper from behind him.

“Sandrea,” Thad replied slightly shocked to find it was his daughter that had called to him. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I know, why spend time with a daughter you don’t know when mother is around,” Sandrea said her voice filled with bitterness.

“No, nothing like that dear,” Thad said wincing, knowing that he had said the wrong thing. “Forgive me…I am new to this. I have bumbled enough with your brother and I don’t want to ruin our relationship before it has even begun.”

“Mother was right,” Sandrea said with a smirk. “You are like a lost puppy when you don’t know what to say. It makes it really hard to stay mad at you.”

“That is not something you should say about your father,” Thad said in mock anger.

“I suppose it is not, but just like you, I have had little experience with dealing with a father,” Sandra said her comment biting Thad hard. “I didn’t mean that,” She said quickly, noticing the pain her words had caused.

“You have every right to say it though,” Thad said as he walked over to his daughter. “If I had not been so focused in my studies then I would not have been taken away, and none of this would have come to pass. In the end, it is my fault and I wish to make things better.”

“Then why are you not home,” Sandrea said biting back her words.

“I wish I was, but not everything we want comes to pass,” Thad said with a weak smile.

“That sounds like something mother would say,” Sandrea said with a thin smile.

Sandrea gave Thad a weak hug and for the rest of their short time together they talked about simple things. To Thad’s relief, she had not yet taken a liking to any boys, though there was no shortage of suitors available. Though little was accomplished, Thad felt good about the meeting when the darkness one again moved in to take him back to his own mind.

When Thad woke the sun still hasn’t risen. Looking around he found that the rest of the group calmly kept watch while the scion still sat in the same place looking as if it hadn’t moved an inch all night.

Shortly after he woke, the sun began to rise and they were once again following the scion who continued to walk in the same direction without once having to stop and take measure of his surroundings. As they walked, Thad couldn’t help but think of what the scion had said the night before. The talk about his Mistress and calling her the voice still bothered him. If she was the same one that had sent the others to kill them then it might not be the best idea to walk right into where she was, though he couldn’t help but admit that he had more than a little curiosity about what he had meant when he had talked about the one she had prepared.

Thad matched his pace with Humanius and walked beside the god. “What do you make of our guest?” Thad asked, his eyes still lingering on the scion.

“He is an answer to a question,” Humanius said.

“What question would that be?” Thad asked, looking at the scion even harder.

“What happened while we were away and what is happening now. I know only that the scions were the guardians of the center, nothing more than that. I wish to know why they are hunting us and if there is a way we might work together. It would make things much easier if we didn’t have to fight once we reach the palace.”

“True enough, but do you think it will really be that easy?” Thad asked nervously.

“No, I do not,” Humanius replied. “I am sorry Thad, I know you have a lot of questions, but I need to think and figure out what I can before we reach our destination.”

Thad dropped back and continued to walk, watching the scion as the fears began to mount in his mind.

CHAPTER XIII

Five days on the road and they still followed behind the scion. Thad had tried many times to get the scion to talk about his mistress, but he never got more than he had the first night. At first Thad had thought the scion had the intelligence of a man, but he had found that he had been wrong, very wrong. What he learned scared him more than anything, not of the scion, but what his own fate would be should the crystal take him. It was already spreading and faster than he would like. His toes were now gone as were his fingers and most of the soles of his foot and the palms of his hands. It might not sound like much, but to Thad it was all the mattered.

“Would he end up like the scion, nothing but a scattered collection of memories and driven only by something more powerful than himself?” Thad asked himself as he followed behind the others.

Thad kept the gloves on all the time now for fear that his son might see what was happening and demand that his father return to their own world, though it was not like he could find the doorway or reach it alone. A part of Thad urged him to show his son and ask for him to take him to the door, but he knew that if he did that then they would never find the secrets they desired.

Everything would be easy to deal with if he only knew how much longer he must wait before they reached their destination. He had asked Wardwell how far until they reached the mistress, but like many other things, he had no knowledge of distance or time. All the scion would tell him was that she was not far. The first day he took that to mean that they would reach her by nightfall, but now he knew that could mean a year for the scion.

As the sun reached it midway point in the sky, Thad noticed a large hill in the distance. Thad couldn’t help but feel something when he looked at the mound of crystal. It was almost as if it was calling to him. When Thad noticed that the scion was walking in a straight line to the hill, Thad let his hope rise that they were near their goal.

As they neared the hill Thad noticed an opening in the face of the hill that might have once been a mine. Outside the mouth of the opening were two other scions that stood like statues. As they approached neither scion moved, but Thad knew they were aware of their presence.

The inside of the hill proved to be much larger than one would imagine from looking from the outside. The mine shaft led down and spread out and inside were numerous scions, most of them standing in long rows blocking most of the tunnels and none of them moving or showing any sign of intelligence.

The deeper they moved the more things changed. The ground around them slowly started to show small signs of dirt, and stone with only smatterings of crystal showing through. The scions also seemed different; the farther they moved, the more active the creatures were. When they passed a scion and he begged their pardon for being in the way, Thad nearly jumped in surprise.

The mine shaft soon opened up into a large room that would have put many palaces throne room to shame. Inside the room were five scions who stood around talking. For the first time, Thad noticed that he could tell which ones had once been male and which ones had been female, but one among the five stood out above the others. The scion was smaller than the others, but it was her color that shocked him the most. Unlike the rest of the world and the other scions, she was a multicolored crystal, but each part of her body was a solid color. Her hair was a dark black and Thad could have sworn that it moved, her skin was a light pink though it still sparked in the light that shone from what Thad believed were enchanted lights that were placed throughout the room. Though she was amazing, it was her eyes that caught him, they were made of emeralds and shone like stares in the sky.

“Thad, I see you enjoy my form,” the scion said flashing him a smile flashing teeth made of white pearl. “I made this body just for you.”

“Why?” Thad asked his voice stammering as the rest of the group turned to look at him, even Humanius looking as if he had been taken by surprise.

“Why,” the scion echoed with a small frown on her face. “I thought you would have known. I have been leading you to this place ever since you were born. I know you are smart enough to have figured that out.”

“What?” Thad said shocked. “How did you lead me here? I don’t understand, nothing you are saying makes any sense.”

“Oh dear, it seems that I might not have been as clear as I thought,” she said with a laughing musical voice. “Shall we sit and talk. I fear we have much to talk about.”

“Are you the one called mistress?” Humanius asked stepping in front of Thad and holding him back from moving toward the scion.

“Humanius, son of Trelan, I am glad that you are here and I wish for you to listen, but it is Thaddeus that I will talk to, as he is mine. You, I know, are your own and will always be such, just as your sister is her own and Bren is too confused at the moment to know where he might stand.”

Thad could tell that Humanius wished to say more, in fact Thad could see his lips moving, but nothing issued from his mouth. After a few moments of trying to speak, Humanius stepped back to his sister’s laughter and Thad moved forward and took a seat on the ground in front of the scion.

“Do you have any questions before I start?” the scion asked as she sat down across from Thad. “I find things are much easier if questions are answered first.”

“What do you mean that I am yours?” Thad asked, his voice low yet still held a great deal of strength.

“That is a long story and I think all of it must be told if you wish to understand the truth of those words,” the scion said with a small smile on her ruby lips. “I remember the day you were born, I instilled in you then the spark that would make you the mage you are today. I watched as you grew and was angered at how you were treated. When you were sold, I led you to the books; the ones I had kept safe over the years until a child was born that was of use. I watched and guided you when I could and in the end you became everything I wished for, though many times I wished I could have protected you when you faced the wrath of others, but I was limited in what my powers could do in your world. In many ways you could say that I am your mother. I can see why you might resent me for what I have done in your life, but I needed something I could only find in your world.”

“And what is it you needed?” Thad asked his eyes looking coldly on the woman in front of him.

“Someone to fix the balance…I need a strong enchanter. I started with your grandfather, and worked on your family’s blood until you were born, but I might have done so too well,” her last words slipped out of her mouth as her eyes focused on his son. “If your blood had not been so well suited for magic, your son might have not had to go through so much pain. As it is, I fear what shall happen in the end.”

Thad didn’t feel like pressing the scion on what she meant about Bren. He knew that it had to do with his turning into a god, but in the end he knew that was not her fault; at least he hoped that it was not. In the end, Thad knew it mattered little; it was done and looking on the past did nothing for the future.

“Any other questions?” She asked and Thad could almost see a trace of fear on her face.

“No,” Thad said watching her closely. “I am satisfied for now.”

“Then I will begin,” the scion said then looked to the other three who stood behind Thad, her eyes falling on each one. “I think it will be best if you joined us. This will involve you too, though not in the same degree.”

“So nice of you to include us,” Belaroan said with a hint of ire in her voice.

“What I need and what you need are much the same thing,” the scion said, her voice slipping into a colder tone. “I am the voice of the ether, or a being made of it to solve a problem that has plagued it. Long ago, the veil between this world and the center of the ether was opened, but it was quickly closed. We knew that it could never be completely repaired, but we were happy to know that it had been closed. Then it was reopened.”

“When did this happen?” Belaroan asked, but before she could continue her voice was silenced like her brother’s.

“I do not have the same grasp of time as you do, so I cannot answer that question other than to say that it happen before Thad grandfather was born. The ether spread through the tear and enveloped this world and its people. The scions, with no way to close the tear, moved to make sure that it could not be harmed, but those on this side had learned to use the power of the ether and fought back and beat back the forces sent against them. Over time the world became a home of the ether and those that were fit became scions, though not ones that were meant to be. Those of strong power kept who they were and moved to take control of the ether and its power. They used its power and knowledge to open more tears in the veil between worlds and conquered them. This was when the ether created me, but I if I move to close the veil, they will take control of my form and my purpose is lost; that is why we needed you. We will show you how to close the veil and restore the balance, but there will be sacrifices. Only Thad will be allowed to go back to his own world.”

“Why?” Thad asked, his voice nearly a shout as the shock of the statement ran though him. He cared little for the two gods, but he had promised his wife that he would bring his son home.

“Because he is no longer human and the veil can never truly be closed while he is on the other side. He must return with me to the ether and protect it as the scions who came before him did. That is the will of the ether. If you refuse, then I must do all in my power to see that he never leaves this land. He knows the truth of my words.”

“She is right father,” Bren said, his voice edged in sadness. “I cannot go back home. I knew it from the moment I stepped through the doorway. The others know it as well, though they fight against that truth.”

Thad looked to Humanius and Belaroan and the looks on their silent faces told him the truth. “My wife will kill me for this,” Thad said with a groan.

“She will be mad, but she will forgive you over time,” the scion said. “This is my fear. Your son was never meant to be what he is. I feared that should you learn the truth then you would refuse my offer.”

“How many veils are torn?” Thad asked, trying to work through everything in his mind.

“Five, and each one is guarded by a usurper. They must each be closed before the veil to the ether is closed, otherwise it will tear back open. The doorway to your own world is still weak, so it can wait until you have finished, but you must return to it on your own Thaddeus.”

“So we must fight five scion mages and close these gateways,” Thad said more than asked. “How are we supposed to close the veils?”

“Blocks of glass must be made with crystal inside absorbing the energy that slips past and pushing back the rest,” she replied. “There is a place full of glass and my children will gather it for you, but Thad is the only one who can enchant them. That was the reason he was born.”

“There are plenty of enchanters back home, any of those could have done this,” Thad said, anger touching his voice.

“That is not true,” the scion said, reaching her hand out and touching his cheek lovingly. “Only those with a strong affinity for energy can do this and that is rare among any of your people. For a time, I thought that one of Belaroan’s energy children could do the task, but none of them had the mind for enchanting.”

“Just why is enchanting so rare?” Bren asked. “Even now, less than a few dozen have been found.”

“To be a true enchanter, one must be able to commune with the ether. They must form it and shape it. It is a trait that is decided upon birth and even with the power granted to me by the ether, it took me a long time before I was able to make one that served my purpose.”

“I still don’t see how we are going to fight five scion mages and reach the veils when you are powerless against them,” Thad said skeptically.

“There are ways to fight them that I know, but I will only tell you when you and the others have agreed to my conditions. They must agree to stay with me and return to the ether when it is time,” the scion said, her face taking on a stern feature and Thad nearly laughed when he thought that it looked as if her face had been carved out of stone, because in many ways, it had been.

“I agree,” Bren said without hesitation.

Belaroan looked to her brother and nodded her head reluctantly and surprising Thad. Humanius was the last to nod his approval.

“Then after all of you rest, I shall revel everything that I know that could be of use. ‘Levinia please show them to a place that they can rest,’” the scion said.

A female scion stepped forward and bowed to the other scion. “It would be my pleasure mother,” Levinia said, as she started walking down one of the side tunnels.

“Not you Thaddeus,” the scion said, as she gestured for Thad to stay seated.

Thad noticed that Bren was looking at him, but he signaled for him to follow the other scion. “Do you need something?” Thad asked, turning his attention back to the scion in front of him.

“Yes,” she said, giving him a warm look. “First, I wish you would think of me as mother, or if that doesn’t suit you, another name of your choosing, but not just scion. It feels odd to me, but I have watched you your whole life and I wish you to think well of me.”

Thad looked at the scion and frowned. He had a mother, or a woman who had given him life, though she had never lived up to the name as far as he was concerned. In the broad sense of the term, the scion was a mother to him. “Mother will work, though I must admit, that name holds little meaning for me.”

“I know,” she said with an apologetic smile. “I wished to hurt her when she sent you away, but there was little I could do about your fate. I had to work with subtly so that the usurpers wouldn’t notice my actions.”

“Was that all you wanted mother?” Thad asked, now slightly confused.

“I just wished to spend a few moments with you alone,” she said, smiling again. “The ether gave me what it thought I needed to accomplish its tasks, but at the same time I was left…open. I have memories of being a mother in my past life though I cannot tell what memories are mine and what the ether had sought to give to me. I look at you now and I wish to hold you, but at the same time I do not know what to think of such things.”

Thad laughed. “I think I can understand you mother. I watched my son grow without every touching him, then once I was brought back to his side I was lost at what I should do.”

“I watched you,” mother replied. “It was hard to see you in such pain, but it was necessary to bring you to me though I wish it had not been your son that had to be the catalyst.”

“I am sure that we will have plenty of time to talk over the next few days,” Thad said stifling a yawn.

“That is true,” mother said with what Thad thought to be a touch of sadness in her voice. “Heratio will show you to your quarters.”

“Please to meet you Thaddeus,” the scion said with a slight bow. “Mother has told us much about you and I am pleased to finally get to meet you.”

Heratio showed Thad to a small section of the tunnel that had been converted into rooms like one would find at an inn. Thad was surprised to find that some of the scions had rooms as well. Shortly after entering the room, Thad found the bed and was happy to find that it was not made of hard crystal, but was made of some soft material that he didn’t recognize. Within moments of his head resting on the soft pillow, Thad was fast asleep.

CHAPTER XIV

Thad was woken early the next morning by Heratio. The scion knocked lightly on the door and Thad was more than a little surprised to find the scion smiling as he opened the door to let the scion in.

“Heratio, I didn’t expect you,” Thad said stuttering as he pulled on his gloves.

“Master Thaddeus, I can see that you are changing,” the scion said as Thad quickly pulled on his gloves. “I remember my change, it was not pleasant though it was very slow.”

Thad looked at the scion and looked at him again. While he could see no outward difference with the other scions, he had seen the way he moved and talked seemed more human. “You remember the change?” Thad asked, hoping to learn a bit more.

“Yes, though it happened more years ago than I can count. I was once one of the leaders of this land. Like the ones you travel with, though I didn’t agree with Costigain. That is the reason I am here now fighting for balance with mother.”

“Then you can use magic still?” Thad asked.

“Yes, I and the others will be going with you, though we don’t have the same level of power as the others guarding the veils, we can help in many ways.”

“Why are you not as strong?” Thad asked, still more than a little confused.

“That is hard to answer but I will try,” Heratio replied. “Costigain and the others tap into the very ether and force it to their will. They corrupt the ether with their touch, but gain power from it. I and the others refuse to use the ether. Even though our motives would be pure, our touch would still corrupt it.”

Thad reached in his robe and clutched the ring that was linked to the mass of crystal that the world had become and after a few moments of thought brought it out. “I am afraid to use this, but it might be useful to you,” Thad said holding out the ring.

“This is,” the scion said haltingly, as he looked down on the ring with awe. “Powerful. Where did you get such a thing?”

“I created it,” Thad said, as he held the ring out to Heratio again. It holds so much power I am afraid it would speed up my…Crystallization.”

“I think it would do that indeed,” Heratio agreed. “That is, if it didn’t kill you. Do you think you could make more?”

“No,” Thad said. “I thought about it, but this ring is connected to the world itself that; is why it has so much power. I can’t link two rings to the same source of power…There would be feedback and they might explode, or the gem powering them could, and that would be tragic.”

Heratio looked at the ring and Thad could have sworn that fear passed across his face. “That is disconcerting. We only had a few enchanters surface in our world and most of those were looked down upon because they could never obtain our level of power. We never knew that it could be used for such means.”

“If there were few enchanters then how did they close the first rip in the veil?” Thad asked, his curiosity piqued.

“I do not know the answer to that question,” Heratio said with a shrug of his crystal shoulders. “It happened long before I was born and in a time of science. I do know that science and the ether did not mix. The more magic that entered our world the more science failed us. I do not know the reason for such a failure or the marvels that the world once held, but only know what has been passed down through the ages, but the doorway between the worlds was not a story I know.”

Thad let out a heavy sigh. It didn’t look as if the information would just fall in his lap. He knew of how to close them, but there had to be more than one way and Thad always like to have options. “Shall we go meet the others,” Thad said, moving toward the door. “I am sure they are waiting for us.”

“Yes you are right, but what of the ring?” Heratio asked as he moved to let Thad pass.

“Keep it,” Thad said as he moved to the hall. “As you said, I can’t use it and it would be a waste to just let it gather dust.”

“As you wish, master Thaddeus,” Heratio said as they headed toward the main hall of the cave.

Within the main hall, Thad found the other members of his group; each one of them had been paired with one of the scions that had been gathered around the mother the night before, leaving only one scion standing alone.

“I hope that you each had a good night’s rest,” the mother said once Thad had entered the room and took his place among the others.

“That we did,” Humanius said with a bow to the mother. “I am surprised to find a place the crystal had not touched and I must admit I found it more relaxing than I could have imagined.”

“Yes, many of my children feel the same way. It is part of their lingering affection for their past life,” the mother said with a warm smile. “Now that everyone is here, I think it would be best that we plan for what comes next.”

“Yes…We heard a little of what you meant for Thad and the rest of us to do, but there was little substance in what you said,” Humanius said.

The mother never looked at Humanius or the others, her eyes remained fixed on Thad. “As I told you there are five gateways that must be closed before you attempt to close the one to the center. The closest of these gateways in located near the city to the north that used to sit on the water.”

“Before we decide on a path do you mind if I ask how you were able to find us?” Thad asked the question having lingered in the back of his mind most of the night. “It wouldn’t do for the usurpers, as you call them, to know of our coming.”

“I didn’t know the locations of the others, but I followed you,” she said looking at Thad. “I told you that you were mine and no matter how you tried to hide yourself I would find you. You can sit your worries aside, the usurpers are now blind to your movements.”

“What do you know of the leader in Coren?” Humanius asked.

“I know little of him other than that he holds open the hole in the veil. My children know more and I believe they will be of great help to you in completing your task.”

“Yes I am sure they will be,” Humanius said dismissively. “But what if they are discovered and taken control of. Is that not why you have not tried to do so yourself.”

“Their mind cannot be taken as mine can be,” the mother said with what Thad could have sword was annoyance in her voice. “They are not of the ether as many of my other children are and the usurpers can make no claim on them. Humanius, I know you have many questions. I can see them burning in your eyes, but they hold little sway over the future and, unless time permits, should be held in silence. Each day that passes, the more is lost and the harder your task will become. I will keep Prudence with me so that she can talk with the ones that travel with you and we may talk when you have time. But I would suggest that you make due haste and close the first of the doorways before the king of the usurpers understand why you are here.”

“King…What King?” Thad asked, not having heard they followed a unified ruler.

“Costigain,” Humanius and Belaroan said almost in harmony. “We can talk about that another time. One thing that is the truth is that we better get on the road as soon as possible.”

“I am surprised that your sister hasn’t complained about any of this yet,” Thad said, watching Belaroan closely. He don’t know why he had brought it up, but he had expected someone to complain about their decided course and she seemed the most obvious.

“She was livid about it at first until she heard the name of Costigain,” Humanius explained. “Having been the one who betrayed our father and caused his death, she is for anything that would cause that man…Or scion, as it is, pain.”

I still think you are all fools if that makes you feel better. It would be best if you left this all behind. I told you women were nothing but trouble. This mother of yours has been the one controlling you since before your birth.

“I see Thuraman does not approve of me,” mother said, looking at the staff in Thad’s hand.

“You can hear him?” Thad asked, more than a little surprised.

“Of course,” mother said. “His voice must travel though the ether to reach you.” I could do the same thing, but I thought you might not enjoy the invasion.

“You are right about that,” Thad said rubbing the side of his head. While Thuraman’s words seemed to slip into his mind, mother’s felt more forced and left his head throbbing. “If you could talk to me like that then why didn’t you do it earlier?”

“It is harder the farther away you are,” mother replied. “There is also the chance that the usurpers would feel my call. They talk to each other much the same way and might hear my words as they floated through the ether to reach you. They cannot feel my children as they would see one of their own but I…Am different. They will feel my energy the moment I leave the safety of this cave. The ether calls to me, and the crystals shine brightly when I tread upon them and light a beacon to me.”

“That explains why she picked a place so far down,” Humanius replied and Thad could tell that one of the god’s questions were answered. Thad liked Humanius, but he liked to know every detail about what was happening around him before he acted, making him more than a little hard to deal with. Belaroan, on the other hand, was the opposite; she cared little for details and would shoot toward her goal like an arrow loosed from a bow.

“I know you are eager for us to be on our way mother, but I think it would be best if we left on first light tomorrow. That will give us a chance to talk and plan what the days ahead may bring,” Thad said, looking around to see both Humanius and Bren nodding along. When Thad’s eyes feel on Belaroan, he noticed a deep scowl set in her face but she held her words back.

“One day will matter little when we have waited countless others,” mother said. Her words were soft and elegant, but Thad could tell that she wasn’t completely pleased with the delay even a day would bring.

When the mother of the scions remained silent, Thad and the others took it as a hint that it was time to depart. “Heratio, do you know a place that we all can talk in peace.”

“You can talk anywhere in peace,” Heratio said, his face scrunched for a few moments. “There is another room, though not as large as this one, which can hold us all with comfort.”

Heratio led them to a room that was a few levels above and while most of it remained free of the crystals embrace, there were patches of crystal showing through the stone walls. “This was the mother’s home but we were forced to move further down as the ether began to take its hold.”

“Do we have to have them with us?” Belaroan asked, as she looked at the scions with more than a little contempt in her eyes.

“Yes we do,” Humanius replied, but Thad could hear a small amount in the god’s voice as well. “They will be helping us and I don’t think we will be able to get around without their help.”

“Why should we put any trust in betrayers?” Belaroan asked, not trying to hide her anger.

“We did not stand against your father,” one of the scions said. “We admit that we did not stand with him either, but we never betrayed him nor you majesty.”

“Doing nothing is the same,” Belaroan said, giving the scion a withering glare.

“I agree, but right now we have bigger trouble then these four,” Humanius said. “Costigain and his followers are the real problem and we will need the scions help if we have any hope of doing as the mother wished. The doorways have to be closed, otherwise there is no telling what damage will happen; not only our world, but countless others.”

“I could care little of the other worlds,” Belaroan said, though the fire in her voice had calmed, though not by much.

Humanius didn’t comment on Belaroan’s statement; wisely letting it slip by so that they could move on to more important topics.

The scions were a well of information about the world around them as well as the doorways. Not even Belaroan complained as they weaved the tale of what had happened to the world. So they began their story.

“After Costigain had taken the throne he found the gateway below the palace. Years he spent trying to find a way to break though so he would have access to more power, but nothing worked, but he never gave up. As time passed, Costigain created more gods; ones that were raised to follow him. Though they still were strong in magic, Costigain made sure that none of the new gods were strong enough to ever challenge him. After a number of gods had been created, Costigain found cracks appearing on the gateway and he attacked it with vigor and after a time it broke. At first the flow of magic in the world was a boon, but soon the scions crossed over and Costigain brought his gods to bare and a large war spread across the land. The war raged for more than a thousand years and the world itself began to turn to crystal. Though the scions died by the score the ether seemed to just make more, but we were losing ground; not only were our own people either dying or turning into scions to fight against us. Everything seemed lost when we first noticed that our own bodies were turning to crystal as well. It was then that the few of us left began to hide and even Costigain sought refuge. I don’t know how much time passed, but I remember when I first heard the call of the mother and woke as if from a dream to find that I no longer hungered nor needed sleep. She called to us and we found a world completely changed and Costigain had risen to power again, this time turning the very ether to his desire. The mother had come to set the world right and while we had once been his people she showed us what would happen if he was left to his own devices. The Omniverse was built on balance and it was being destroyed and if left to continue the whole universe was in peril. Not all had heard the call; some had chosen to follow Costigain as they had before and another war spread across the land. We were many in number, but we dwindled fast and soon what you find here is all that is left of the people who once stood against his numbers.”

After the scions told them the story, Humanius asked many question and Thad found his mind drifting in and out of the conversation. He didn’t know how the story of how everything happened mattered to what was going to happen, but it seemed important to Belaroan and Humanius so he kept his words to himself.

Finally after the gods had all the answers they needed, they talked about what really mattered, what they would find when they reached the city called Coren, or at one time had been called by that name. It was pretty straight forward, there would be many scions, but little else. The real worry was the scion mage that had once been one of the silver skinned gods that had fought with Costigain. They had large powers and while it was possible to move around them, it would have been foolish to leave it behind to tell of their powers, plans, or worse to join one of the other mages.

In the end, there was little to plan for as the scions couldn’t tell what they would find. Each mage was different and fought with their own style and none of the scions knew which mages had found homes where. Getting information would be key and doing it without being noticed would be paramount.

CHAPTER XV

Just as planned, they left as soon as the sun peaked above the horizon. From what Humanius had said, it would take more than two weeks for them to reach the city and that was if they moved at a slow pace. Most likely, they would be there in eight or nine days though that was only if things went as planned.

As they exited the mine, Thad had to shield his eyes as the sun assaulted them. Even though he had only spent a few days underground, it reminded his when he had left the Underearth after spending over a year in the darkness.

As Thad thought about that time in his life, he began to miss Crusher and Avalanche. They had been his only real friends during that time in his life and if not for them he most likely would have lost his mind.

Oh, you act as if I were not even there. If I remember correctly, I was the only one who you could really talk to.

“It was because of you that I thought I was losing my mind,” Thad said with a hidden laugh. It was true though, Crusher had been hurt and left without the ability to speak, but just having them around had helped calm his sense of loneliness.

Everyone seemed to pair off with their scion counterpart as they walked, leaving Thad alone with Heratio. Thad had plenty of questions and problems plaguing him, but none of those were ones that the scion could answer. The largest question in his mind was what was he going to tell Maria next time she pulled him into her dream? She wouldn’t be happy that was for sure. Thad thought about hiding it from her, but that would only make things harder if he ever did make it back home. If he told her now she would be mad, but most likely demand he find some way to change things. Thad knew that there was nothing he could do to save his son; the mother had made the truth known to him and Bren had chosen his own path.

Knowing that no answer would come to his problem, Thad turned his attention to other matters; ones that were a little more manageable like how to solve all the world’s ills, starting with the scion mages. He knew that magic would aid him little; the only real power he had here that could be of use was his enchanting.

Deep below the earth, in the mine, there had been plenty of metal ore that had been left untouched by the ether. He had gathered as much as he could the night before they left and placed it in his pack, and now he just had to find ways to use it.

Thad had thought of numerous ideas that might help them against the other scions, but only one of them really stood out in his mind, though he didn’t know if he could make it work. The idea had come to him when he thought about what Humanius had said about the white swords of the Brotherhood. They didn’t cut through magic the way Bren’s glass sword did, but instead they absorbed it and passed it along to the god. If he could do the same thing then his sword might be able to match the power of the scions and he wouldn’t just be a hindrance to the others when a fight started. There had be more than he could do beside close the doorways. The question was to find a place that could store the massive amount of magical energy that the scions carried within them.

The first problem answered itself quickly. The only thing that he was sure that could handle that much magical energy was the crystal that surrounded them. He didn’t know if it would react badly with the ring he had made, but as he thought about it, he was sure that it wouldn’t create a disharmony between the two. Only one of them would draw power from the crystal, the other would send power to it. While they were two different enchanted items they worked in different aspects so he wouldn’t have to fear destroying the world beneath their very feet.

The second problem was how to make a spell that siphoned magic. Thad had asked Humanius how the spell worked, but this was one thing the god didn’t seem to be able to help with. Unlike Thad, Humanius was a god and used his own blood to make a bond between the swords and himself and that was something that was beyond Thad; not to mention if he did that, then he would absorb the magic and that would be a death sentence.

Thad mulled over the problem while he walked, hardly paying attention to the world around him. It wasn’t until he felt something shaking him that he noticed that Heratio was shaking his shoulder with a look of worry etched on his crystal face. “Mother says that your mind was drifting. She said that is dangerous for you. She fears that the ether might take you.”

“I thought that the ether wanted my help?” Thad asked, looking at his scion keeper. “Why would it take me when doing so would ruin its plans?”

Heratio shook his head and a frown formed on his face and Thad could tell that the creature was fighting with how to form his words. “The ether is many voices and not all of them are in harmony, and even less so now that the usurpers have tainted them. Part of it wishes your help, but that part has separated and become mother. The ether is not like you or I. It doesn’t just think of one thing; it thinks of all things and gives form when there is need.”

“You don’t make much sense,” Thad said with a hint of frustration.

“You ask hard questions,” Heratio replied, still frowning. “Think of the ether like an ocean and each thought just a drop of water. When enough thoughts feel the same way, a part of the ether breaks off and forms its own entity, but the rest remains behind.”

Thad still didn’t completely understand what the ether was, but he did understand a few things. The ether was important and dangerous and he couldn’t wait to have it walled off back in its own world, though that would mean the loss of his son.

Thinking once again about his son’s fate made Thad scowl. He had just been reunited and now time was fading fast and he still didn’t know what to say to him. Knowing that this was their only real time together didn’t make things easier; in fact, in many ways, it made it harder. Before there was just an awkwardness between them, but now there was an added tension that was almost palatable when the two were alone.

Thad tried to work up his courage to speak to Bren, but as he approached his son, he found doubts entering his mind and soon he was once again falling to the back of the group with only Heratio to keep him company.

“What can I say to him?” Thad asked more to himself than the scion.

“I never had children and Mother seems just as lost as you about how best to approach the young master,” Heratio replied.

“I thought it was dangerous for the mother to talk over distance?” Thad asked, looking at the scion.

Heratio raised his hand to show only four fingers, the smallest one having been removed. “Even though removed, any part of our body is still part of us and mother can use it to commune with us, no matter how far apart as we were. The usurpers might sense my own magic traveling across the either, but it is unlikely as it would be too weak to draw their attention.”

“Even after being removed it still remains part of you?” Thad asked as an idea formed in his mind.

“Yes,” Heratio said. “I can still feel it and if I wished I could reattach it if I had it with me.”

“Thank you for letting me know,” Thad said, as his mind began to work. If he took a part from the earth and it could be reminded where it came from, then it shouldn’t be that hard for Thad to pass energy from one back to its source. He hadn’t done that with the ring. He had simply created a link between the earth and the ring like he did with many other gems when he enchanted.

Thad stopped and using the hilt of his sword broke a small piece of crystal from the ground. Enchanting was unlike any other magic. He didn’t so much peer into the stone as it opened itself up to him. There was no strain nor call of the ether as there was when he tried to open himself to the world around him. It was the opposite, as if the crystal heard his call. The more Thad thought about it, the more that sounded right to his ears. Mother had said that enchanters were rare because they must be born with part of the ether. Not just simple magic, but an understanding of the ether inborn within their minds. From what she had said, it was bread through generations, and was unique to bloodlines. Thad didn’t know why that seemed important, but somewhere in his mind he knew that it did, he just didn’t know why.

It wasn’t hard for him to remind the stone of the link it had with the earth. It didn’t create a link as most connections he had made. There was no line of magic connecting the stone in his hand to that beneath his feet; instead it was like the stone was still resting within the earth’s bosom. “Thuraman, can you send some magical energy into the crystal? More than it can hold.”

Without asking questions, Thad felt the staff pull in a large amount of energy and push it into the crystal until it pulsed with energy, but after an hour it never felt as if it would rupture.

I can do no more. If I take in or release any more energy then I fear one of my gems will crack. From what I can tell your test has worked. The energy is being absorbed by the stone, yet it is going elsewhere though I cannot follow where.

It had worked like Thad had thought it would. He didn’t know how the energy moved from the stone into the earth without a connected line between the two, but it did and that was all that mattered at the moment. He would have plenty of time in the future to figure out the why. Now he just had to find a way to make his sword absorb magical energy and that would be hard without being able to play around with his own magic to see what worked and what didn’t. Pulling in magical energy was one thing but breaking down spells and other magical entities was something altogether different.

Thad picked up another crystal, and using its magic, placed the first crystal into the blade of his sword. His first thought was to put it into the hilt of the weapon, but he was sure if the enchantment were to work, it would have to be touching the metal directly.

Give me a day or two to recharge, then I might be able to help you. I know you like to forget, but I can still use magic and even if you haven’t imprinted the spell, I can now use spells that you wish for me to use much more readily.

“I do tend to forget about that,” Thad said, laughing to himself. He didn’t know what had happened to the staff when his son had held it, but there had been changes. The staff was stronger now and could use magic freely without his aid. Before he had to call the staff for it to come to him, either knowingly or unknowingly. The staff could do nothing on its own, but now it had its own…Will. Thad could think of nothing else to call it. He didn’t know why, but the thought of Thuraman acting on its own bothered him. As long as he was around he could hold Thuraman in check, but some day he would be gone and there was no telling what trouble the staff might cause.

After all these years, you still have no faith in me.

“I trust you,” Thad said to Thuraman. “I trust you to be you, just as I trust Maria will make my life hell for years when she learns of our son’s fate.”

CHAPTER XVI

They made good speed and within six days they were now close to the city that housed the scion mage. Oddly enough, Thad didn’t need to be told that they were close, the change was obvious. The world around them had changed with each mile that they drew closer to the city. At first, it was small things like the crystal grass looking more green, then the multicolored crystal the world was made of, but the closer they drew the more the world mimicked the landscape he was used to until Thad could almost swear that the grass moved with the wind.

Thad hadn’t spent his time idly. He had found a way to absorb magical energy. It had not be an easy task, but like most things the answer was simple once he understood what he was really doing. It didn’t require him to destroy magic, just simply break it down at the smallest parts. It still had its weak points. Just like the white swords, it couldn’t affect attacks that used magic indirectly, but he hoped that it would take the scion mages more than a few moments to understand how the sword worked and if he was lucky, they wouldn’t figure it out at all.

Once the city came into sight, the small group moved back and camped out of view of those below. From a distance, there was still a chance of a scion coming across them and rising some kind of alarm, but it was a risk they would have to take. They needed information and the only way they could get it was to send down one of the scions to enter the city to see what they could learn.

The main question was which scion would enter the city. Belaroan was quick to offer Jindra, the scion that had been shadowing her. It didn’t seem as if one would be better than the others, so no one complained, but Thad felt a tingle of pity for the scion.

By the time their camp was set up, it was too dark for Jindra to go into the city with any hope of finding out anything of use, so it was decided that it would be best to wait until morning. The fewer times that she went into the city the less chance that she or they would be discovered.

Thad found a place that, while hidden, still looked down at the city. For a city of scion, there was much more movement below than one would have expected. From his spot, Thad couldn’t make out the creatures below, but something seemed off. The longer he watched and the sun set completely, everything clicked in his mind. The houses below had lights burning. Scions had no need of light. Something was different and he wanted to know what and he didn’t want to wait for it, but he knew going down there himself would endanger the others as well as himself.

Knowing nothing would be settled that night, Thad moved back to the camp and found his bedroll. The vision of the city ran through his mind and each viewing left him more perturbed than the last. As he drifted off to sleep, Thad was more unnerved than he had been hours before when he was sitting on the small hill overlooking the city.

As Thad dreamed, he felt the dark pull and this time there was no mistaking that it was his wife that was trying to contact him. He didn’t fight the coming darkness, but he didn’t embrace it either. As the darkness cleared around him, Thad’s mind whirled with what he would tell Maria about their son.

When the darkness receded, Thad found himself standing before the Farlan throne. The look on his wife’s face told him that she already knew the bad news and she was far from happy. “Dear,” Thad said putting on the best smile he could muster. “It is good to see you.”

“Don’t even try,” Maria barked, her eyes boring into him. “Sandrea told me what Bren had to say. What are you thinking, letting our son agree to be left behind? You promised me that you would bring him home.” Maria raised her voice again, though her eyes had tears teasing at their edges.

“Maria,” Thad said, edging closer to where she sat. “It wasn’t my choice to make. I didn’t want this for him and it is tearing me up inside as much as it is you.”

“No it isn’t,” Maria yelled, her voice breaking for the first time. “You weren’t there to watch him grow up. You were gone, and now my baby is gone, and it’s your fault.”

“That isn’t fare” Thad said, though his voice held very little strength to it. “I didn’t want him to come, hell I didn’t want to come, but I had to. Keeping him safe was all that mattered, but he has grown up and we can’t make choices for him,” Thad’s voice gained strength with each word until he was nearly screaming.

Maria didn’t reply, instead she broke into loud sobs. Thad rushed up to his wife and wrapped his arms around her. He had no words of comfort, all he could do was hold her until the darkness claimed him and brought him back to his own world and that was what he intended to do.

As the sun rose and Thad stirred from his troubled slumber, the events of the night still haunted him. It didn’t help that the first sight he saw was his son sitting in the distance talking to one of the scions. He knew that somewhere deep down Maria understood that there was nothing that he could do about their son’s choice to stay, but that didn’t mean that this wouldn’t hang over his head for the rest of his life.

When Thad woke, he found that Jindra had already left for the city and the rest were simply waiting for her return. With little to do, Thad took a seat on the rise of a small hill that overlooked the city below.

From where he sat, it looked like thousands of scions moved around below. The longer he waited the odder the actions of the creatures below bothered him. The few scions they had met, besides the ones they traveled with, moved with a singular purpose that had been given to them by whoever controlled them, yet the creatures below moved through the city in a way that reminded Thad of any city back home. Thad had to fight off the urge to go down to the city and find out the truth for himself.

Jindra returned shortly before midday. Thad had seen her approach long before she arrived and had returned to the camp in order to welcome her back and to hear what she had learned from her trip.

The tale Jindra came back with was far different than anything that they could have imagined. The city was not full of scions, but of normal humans. The few scions that Jindra had seen worked like guards and seemed to keep the peace. “The people of the city kept their distance and the few that would talk to me kept their eyes lowered and trembled as if they were afraid that I might hurt them if their answers displeased me.”

“How are there humans living there?” Thad asked confused. “Wouldn’t the thick concentration of magical energy kill them?”

“There was just enough magical energy to keep a scion from dying,” Jindra replied. “The only place in the city with a large concentration of energy was near the center where their scion lord has taken up residence.”

“What did you learn about their lord?” Humanius asked, looking off toward the city.

“Little,” Jindra replied. “The people of the city see little of him. I don’t understand it, honestly. We can’t eat or sleep so what do they want with the other worlds, and why bring them here?”

“That is easy enough to answer,” Belaroan said with a smirk. “What use is power if you have no one to lord it over?”

“Seems reasonable,” Thad said as he thought it over. “Eternal life with only a few people to converse with would be torture. My real question is how are they blocking off the ether so that the humans can live there without dying or turning to scions?”

“I can’t answer for certain, but with the level of magical energy it would take centuries for a normal human to turn to a scion,” Jindra replied. “I am sure there are some health problems, but for most it would take years for any of them to show any real problems and even then it would be hard to tell if it was of natural causes or not.”

“Is it safe for us to go into the city?” Bren asked casually.

“It should be, but most of you would stand out. Master Thaddeus, on the other hand, would draw little attention and being human, he might be able to learn more than I could.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Thad said, jumping at the chance to be in an area that would keep him from turning to crystal as fast. He also wanted to see with his own eyes what was going on within the walls of the city.

Thad wasted no time and left before anyone could raise an objection. Thad did his best to approach the city without anyone seeing him, though it wasn’t hard as few people came near the edge of the city. There was no obvious sign of where the magic began to weaken, but Thad felt it as soon as he crossed the invisible line. It was almost as if a large weight had been lifted from his chest. It wasn’t clear to him how sluggish he had felt until the moment he crossed over, but now he felt as refreshed as if he had just woken from a long slumber.

Thad found the city much the same as any other. Vendors lined the main street selling their goods. Thad made his way to a blacksmith shop that was located near the edge of what he surmised was the market district of the city. Inside, Thad found it much different than he had expected. Back home, blacksmiths hung armor in the windows and swords and shields lined the walls of most shops, but Thad couldn’t spot a single weapon in sight.

“What can I do for you?” A young boy, barely able to see over the counter, asked.

“I was looking for a new sword,” Thad said, as his eyes moved over the shops wares.

“Sword sir,” the young boy said, his voice slightly wavering. “You know that any weapon is banned within the colony unless you are an arena fighter.”

“No, I was unaware of that,” Thad replied, trying to think. “I have just arrived and it was not mentioned when I passed over.”

“You are new?” The boy asked. “What is the homeland like? My father talks about it all the time.”

“Jake, who are you talking to?” a deep voice bellowed from the back of the shop.

“A new comer father,” the boy replied in a high tenor.

A large man with short cropped hair wearing a thick leather apron walked through the door. “Newcomer eh?” the man said as he moved around the counter to stand in front of Thad. After looking over Thad for a few moments, his eyes lingering on the sword that hung on his belt. “Mind coming with me sir? I think there are a few things we should talk about.”

The large man led Thad through a large door that led outside, where Thad felt the heat of the forge. As the heat washed over him it, brought with it forgotten memories of the time he had spent with the dwarves. Shortly after the door had closed, the large blacksmith rounded on Thad. “My boy might not know people from his own world, but I lived there for nearly twenty years before I was forced to come here.”

“How were you forced to come here?” Thad asked, not even paying attention to the fact that the blacksmith towered over him with arms as big as Thad’s legs.

“First, why don’t tell me where you came from and how you got here,” the blacksmith said, looking down at Thad like a piece of metal that needed shaping.

“A doorway between my world and this one opened up,” Thad explained. “We came through to figure out how to close it and got roped into trying to close the others as well.” The explanation was short, but Thad was sure that it covered enough to make the other man happy.

“Didn’t know there was a new one,” the blacksmith said with a frown. “Don’t know how long ago, but some weird crystal men came into our world. At first they only lived for a few hours before crumbling, but somehow they learned how to live in our world, but still we outnumbered them greatly and when fighting was proving fruitless they turned to trade. In ten years’ time they had their own kingdom and started forcing us to come to their land.”

“Why?” Thad asked.

“Don’t rightly know, but I wish I could see my home once again,” the blacksmith said. “The creatures don’t ask much from us, but they don’t give us much either. Most of us eek by a living, but a few fight in the arena.”

“Arena,” Thad said. Back in the school there had been an arena. It was a place for the slaves to show off their skills and hopefully raise their ranks and privileges.

“Yes, the lord allows any who wish to try their hand in the area and is often bringing over new fighters and animals over from our world. The best he sends to fight against the other lords. The best arena fighters are allowed whatever they want and often treat the rest of us as their slaves. My son sees them as heroes, but soon he will learn that most of them are as bad as the lord they serve.”

“Does the lord watch the arena battles?” Thad asked, as an idea began to bloom in his mind.

“He watches some matches, but only if the fighter is believed to be good enough to fight against the other lords.”

You’re not thinking about what I think you are. It has been ages since you last fought in a real battle. One of these younger men will beat you around like an old man.

“It has only been a few years,” Thad replied. “Time didn’t flow the same inside the void. I am sure that I am god enough to get the scion lords attention.”

What would you do then? Try to reach him and fight against him on your own.

“No, I am not crazy,” Thad replied. “But right now it doesn’t matter. I have learned what I needed. I will go back to the others and see what they think of my plan.”

Thad found the others waiting on him when he returned. They didn’t even give him time to rest before drowning him in question. Thad explained what he had found and learned, then he let them in on the plan he had devised.

“So your plan is to join in these fights until the lord comes to watch you fight and then we will attack him?” Humanius asked.

“Yes,” Thad replied. “From what I learned, the fights are held in the city proper where the magic is still thin. I believe it is done that way to keep it from hindering the fighters. While there, the scion mage’s power will be limited making it easier for us to fight him closer to our own level.”

“And what are we supposed to be doing while you are fighting?” Belaroan asked snidely. “Are we supposed to just sit here and wait and hope that we are not found?”

“I haven’t figured that part out yet,” Thad admitted. “The only other option that we have is to try and rush the palace and fight him head on and I don’t think that will work too well.”

“My father is right Belaroan,” Bren said after a few tense moments. “Unless we can come up with another plan this is our best choice and it will also give us some time to learn as much as we can about our enemies.”

“I think it is foolish, but if it goes wrong then maybe will be rid of him,” Belaroan said looking at Thad with contempt.

Thad knew that Belaroan didn’t want him coming along and no matter how useful he proved he was sure that she would never change her mind, because if she did, it would prove that she was wrong.

CHAPTER XVII

The next day, Thad made his way to the arena where a line of people awaited their chance to fight. Thad got in line with the others. While he waited his hand kept drifting to his side where his sword was now missing. He didn’t want to chance having a sword causing trouble. He had also left Thuraman behind, though even without it near he knew that he could simply call it to his side if he needed it.

It didn’t take long for Thad to reach the front of the line where a young woman sat with a bored expression on her face. “Name?” She asked without ever looking up from the piece of parchment in front of her.

“Thad,” He replied a slight bit of nervousness in his voice.

“You are number forty-two,” She said, handing him a wood plaque with the number on it. “Go through the door on your right and talk to the weapon master.”

Thad took the wooden plate and placed it on his tunic before walking through the door. As he entered the noise on the other side hit him hard. The sound of metal on metal and the aroma of oil leather. It was a smell that brought numerous memories to his mind.

“Pick out a weapon,” an older man said as Thad looked at the large assortment of weapons. Thad picked out a bastard sword that fit well in his hand and a quarter staff that was about the same length as Thuraman. “A bit old to start in the arena. Get yourself in a bit of debt and trying to get rich quick? Well, wish the best for you. Hopefully you will live long enough to learn your folly,” the older man said with a shake of his head.

After strapping on his sword, Thad moved further in and found many different people sparing. Most of them looked as if they had never held a weapon before. After a few seconds, Thad noticed another gentleman walking among the different fighters, carrying a long scroll making notes. Every so often the man would stop and talk to a few of the combatants. Unsure of what he was supposed to do, Thad found an empty sparing circle and started practicing his forms. It didn’t take long for Thad to agree that Thuraman was right; he was out of practice, but after about a half hour the sword in his hand started to feel more natural to him.

“You don’t move like a new fighter,” a voice said from behind him. Turning around, Thad found the man who had been walking among the other fighters earlier. “Where did you learn to fight? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“From my father,” Thad replied quickly. “He didn’t much like the rules of the lord so he never joined in the arena himself.”

“Then why have you chosen to come to the arena now?” the man asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Didn’t have much choice,” Thad replied. They had expected there to be some questions and had figured out some answers so that he wouldn’t be grasping for answers. “Been living on the streets since my father passed and he left me in more than a little debt.”

“Not the first time I heard a story like that. It seems that a lot of the first generation colonist still harbor some grudge against the great lord,” the man replied with a causal disdain in his voice. “Well you have too much skill to be with the trainees. I think third rank would be best place to test your current skill.”

“I am sorry sir,” Thad said flinching slightly. “I never cared much for the arena before and as I said my father disdained anything that had to do with the lord, so I don’t know how the arena works.”

“Ah, yes,” the man said, looking back down at the long sheet of parchment in his hands. “The arena is set up in different levels. You start out in the training area. That is where we are now. There is no pay for trainees, nor privileges. Once I flag them, they move up to the first rank. There they receive a small amount of gold, enough to provide for themselves. From there, they move up rank by rank until they reach rank five. There they receive enough gold to live like kings and are given great privileges. From there, you pass on to be a champion. As a Champion, the only beings with more power are the scions and our great lord.”

“I have never fought against another human,” Thad lied. “Do you think you can start me on rank two? I would prefer not to jump into this.”

“I could do that,” the man replied. “Though I pity the poor men who you will fight. One of the reasons that we separate by skill is that is allows more to live. It is hard to replace good fighters.”

“I will do my best not to harm any of the fighters,” Thad said hesitantly.

“Well if that is all, I still have much to do,” The man said ripping off a sheet of parchment and handing it to Thad. “Take that to the man at the counter on the second floor. He will tell you what you must do and answer any questions that you might have.”

“Thank you,” Thad said, bowing his head. Without another word, the man walked away and started inspecting the other fighters.

It didn’t take Thad long to find the stairs leading up. The building he was in was large, most likely the second largest building in the city. As Thad looked up the stairs leading up to the floors above, he started to dread his choice. It had been years since he had fought in a real battle, and his nerves were giving him fits. Taking a deep breath, Thad walked through the door and found another man sitting behind a nicely carved oaken desk.

Walking up to the desk, Thad placed the piece of parchment on the man’s desk. The man looked down and picked up the piece of parchment and read it. “First day and already rank two,” he pulled out a full sheet of parchment and wrote on it then handed it to Thad. “You can take that to the first floor and you will receive your monthly stipend. Your first bout will be in three days. Until that time you can train here if you wish. Your weapons must stay here. If you wish better ones you may commission them, but until you reach rank four they must remain here.”

“Thank you,” Thad said, removing the belted sword at his waist and sat it down on the desk and walked back toward the stairs. After asking around, he found a caged room where he showed the parchment and was given a bag of gold. He quickly counted it and found that it held twenty small gold coins. “Do you happen to know where I can find lodging?” Thad asked hoping that the question wouldn’t give him away.

The man behind the desk gave him a weary look then wrote something down and handed it to Thad. “You can go down to Price and ask him to show you a house. I am sure you can come to an agreement.”

Looking down, Thad found that the man had drawn out a map to the desired location. “Thank you,” Thad said, before turning and leaving.

It didn’t take him long to find the building on the map and inside sat a mousey looking man. After a short talk, the man showed him to a three bedroom house near the edge of the city. He had wanted Thad to take a larger dwelling closer to the heart of the city. It cost him seven gold coins a month over the period of ten years, but it could be paid off earlier and should Thad die in the arena before it was paid in full it would return to Price’s ownership.

After a quick walk in the city, Thad had everything he needed to last him for a good amount of time. After he had purchased beds and other furnishings for the house, Thad found that he only had two gold pieces left or marks as the locals called them. It wasn’t a fortune, but more than enough to live off of until he received his next stipend.

Once he was sure everything was in order, Thad snuck back out of the city and made the long walk back to where the others waited. He was surprised to find Bren waiting for him not far from the camp. “How did it go?” Bren asked as soon as Thad had drawn within earshot.

“Well enough,” Thad replied. “I got a lot of information, joined the arena and procured us a house near the edge of the city.”

“That’s good,” Bren said. “I don’t mind living off water and magic bread, but I would kill for something with a little more flavor,” he added with a thin smile.

After rejoining the others, Thad explained everything he had learned. They decided that it would be best if they moved into the house one at a time so that if one of them got caught it wouldn’t endanger everyone.

No matter how well everything had gone, Belaroan still wasn’t happy with the plan. She would needlessly point out every conceivable flaw or problem that might occur. Thuraman was just as annoying, though his worry was easier for Thad to understand. The staff didn’t want for Thad to be hurt, especially given that if anything happened to him, there would never be another person to wield him.

After everything was planned out and the sun had dropped below the horizon, Thad made his way back to the city. The thought of sleeping in a real bed delighted him, but most of all he looked forward to having the weight lifted off of him.

The house was nothing special. It was made out of brick and had a grey slate roof. It wasn’t the outside that really mattered, at least not to Thad, it was what lay inside. The kitchen was small, but the living room held a nice fireplace. Thad took the upper most room and started laying out the things he had acquired. He had gone back to the smithy and bought a large amount of pig iron. He didn’t know what he would make with them, but it had been so long since he had done any enchanting he felt an urge to work while he was here. Maybe there was something he could make that would aid them in their fight.

After scratching down a number of plans, Thad began to get ready for bed. It was already late and he planned to return to the arena to practice in the morning.

Before shutting his eyes to sleep, Thad looked over to the corner of the room where both Thuraman and his sword sat. The sword was decently made, but not the kind that Thad was used to. He missed his old sword and hoped that once he had reached a high enough level in the area, he could either commission a better one or perhaps gain the use of a forge so that he could make one of his own. The idea of working a forge again thrilled him, though he doubted that he would have the months it would take to finish a proper blade using magic. It was a slow process letting magic flow into the metal with each strike and required long tiring hours of working and folding the metal so that it became strong. It was hard work, but in the end what was made would be stronger than any other weapon made and it would be uniquely his.

Shutting out the thoughts that ran through his head, Thad closed his eyes and tried to sleep. For more than an hour Thad lay tossing and turning, some out of anxiety, some out of anticipation, until he finally drifted off to sleep.

Shortly after he fell asleep, Thad felt the call of the darkness. It was a warm call and he knew instantly that it wasn’t Maria that was trying to reach him. Thad feared that his daughter would want to talk about the fact that Bren would not be fighting and let the darkness take him.

As the darkness cleared, Thad found himself standing in an unfamiliar room. There was a four post bed that was covered in dark purple satin sheets. Other than the bed, the room was almost bare except the large number of books that covered most of the floor.

“Hello father,” A wispy voice said from behind Thad.

Turning around, Thad found his daughter sitting in a chair reading from a thick book. “It is nice to see you.”

“Mother has been quite upset,” Sandrea said coldly. “She won’t talk to me about it and Bren won’t answer her summons.”

“What do you want me to do?” Thad asked, though he was sure he knew what she would ask of him.

“I want you to talk to my idiot of a brother and get him to at least try and talk to mother,” Sandrea said in a huff. “I don’t care if they ever get along. He can’t let it end like this, mother will never forgive herself.”

“I think you would have more success with him then I would,” Thad replied.

“Don’t you think I have tried?” Sandrea said with tears brimming her eyes. “We got in a fight and he hasn’t talked to me since.”

“I will talk to him,” Thad said after a few moments. “I doubt it will do much good though.”

As he watched his daughter drop her head into her hands and weep, something tugged at Thad’s stomach. Thad took a step forward, intending to comfort his daughter, but before he could take a second step the darkness drew around him in an instant and he was carried away.

CHAPTER XVIII

Thad woke the next morning still feeling the need to comfort his daughter, but without the ability to do so. It was an odd feeling. It reminded him of when the children were still babes and he would hold them as they cried. He didn’t know what they wanted or what to do. He was lost and even as they grew, he never really got over that. Maria, on the other hand, always knew how to calm the children.

Sitting up, Thad threw his legs over the edge and looked toward the small window in the room. The light filtering in was still dim and Thad caught himself watching the dust dancing in the air. Reaching his hand out, Thad let his fingers comb through the light.

Blinking a few times, Thad’s mind cleared and he slowly got to his feet. Walking over to the corner of the room, Thad let his hand brush against Thuraman. “Wish I could take you with me, but I think you would give me away.”

Are you really sad that you can’t carry me around? I remember you threating to break me many times in the past.

“Let’s just say my time in the void without you opened my eyes,” Thad said with a shake of his head.

You will forgive me if I don’t believe you. Even so, you know that at any distance I can still talk with you and can come to you at any time. I would suggest that you worry more about keeping yourself alive than if you can carry me around or not.

“Point taken,” Thad said with a small laugh. “Well to make sure that I live for longer than a day then I better get going. I am out of practice and I doubt that the young soldiers will give me the time to warm up.”

When nothing was forthcoming from Thuraman, Thad pulled his hand back. With one final look back at the staff, Thad walked out the door of his room and into hallway leading to the living room. Sitting at the fire, Thad found Bren and one of the scion sitting and talking.

As soon as he saw Bren, Thad remembered his talk with Sandrea. A gnawing feeling ate at Thad as he looked at his son. “Bren, can I talk to you later?” Thad said as he berated himself for not knowing what to do.

“Sure father,” Bren replied without ever looking at him.

Thad felt as if he should say more, but nothing came to mind. It was as if he was walking in a darkness so thick that no light could cast a shadow. Disgusted at himself, Thad quickly walked out of the door without getting anything to eat.

The one downside to where his new house was located was that it was a long walk to the area, though today that might be a bonus as he passed many food vendors and had his choice of a nice breakfast. In the end, Thad opted for a loaf of oat bread and cheese. It wasn’t that he wasn’t hungry, but that he knew that eating a heavy meal might come back to haunt him, on the other hand, he could always eat more should hunger strike him later.

Just as the day before, he found a long line to get into the area, and just like the day before he got in the line and waited. While he waited, his eyes scanned the lines of people waiting to enter the area. Most of them looked to be in their early twenties, though there were a few that could barely be out of boyhood. The men in line reminded him of many of the soldiers that had fought in the Brotherhood Wars. They were not warriors, just farmers and common people, who were searching for a place in life to call their own.

“Thad, rank two fighter,” he said as he approached the table.

The man looked up from the long parchment and looked at him. “You do know that area fighters don’t have to wait in line. There is a door on the opposite side that you can enter.”

“Thank you,” Thad replied, feeling slightly embarrassed as he walked past the desk. Taking a sharp right, Thad went straight to the stairs and went to the second floor. Inside, he found a number of warriors already practicing. He also noticed five men moving through them and showing them their mistakes and helping them with their training. After watching for nearly half an hour, Thad went to the desk to claim his weapons.

“Did you find everything you needed yesterday sir?” the man from the day before asked as he brought Thad his weapons.

“Yes, for the most part,” Thad said with a weak smile. “I will still need to get some armor and the like, but that can wait.”

“Unlike weapons, you must provide your own armor,” the man said in an offhanded kind of way. “You can spar with the others or you can work on your own, but I wouldn’t suggest that you make friends,” the man added, almost as an afterthought, as Thad turned to walk away. “You might find yourself faced with them in a death match.”

“Death match?” Thad parroted the man’s words. “Are they common?”

“Not in the lower ranks, but they do happen when one sponsor wants to show up someone he has a grudge with.”

“Do I have a sponsor?” Thad asked wishing that he didn’t need to ask so many questions.

“Not unless one has approached you and you have signed an agreement. Most of the time, the sponsors are retired fighters who now have their own businesses and wish to regain some of their lost glory. There are also lords from the homeland who visit, who like to have a fighter or two with their colors.”

“You can travel back and forth from the homeland?” Thad asked with more than a little shock in his voice.

“Don’t get any ideas,” the man said with a sharp look. “Only those that the great lord has given leave may move through the gate when it is opened, and as far as I know, only his personal fighters are given that privilege.”

“Of course,” Thad replied, trying to sound properly rebuked.

Thad spent the first half of the morning switching between self-practice and sparing with a few of the other fighters. Very little was said during the sparing matches or after for that matter. By midday, Thad felt lonely even though he was completely surrounded by other fighters. When an elderly man entered the floor, he noticed that everyone stopped their personal practice and moved over to where he stood. Not know what was going on, Thad followed behind them, watching. When it became his turn the man looked at him with his clear grey eyes.

“What do you want to eat boy?” the man asked, looking Thad over carefully. “If you don’t know then move aside and let others who have decided what they are going to order.”

Thad pulled out a silver coin from his pouch and handed it to the man. “Just grab me anything that you think would be good.”

“And what name should I put it under?” The man asked, pocketing the silver coin.”

“Thad,” he replied, before turning and returning to the small stone circle that he had been practicing in before. Thad had not even thought about food all day, but now that it was mentioned, he felt his stomach tighten in hunger as he worked his sword through a few simple attacks.

“What are you doing down here in the second level?” A man slightly older than himself asked. Thad recognized the man as one of the trainers that moved among the group instantly. “The proctor must be losing his touch; you should be on the fourth or fifth level with your level of skill.”

“It has been a long time since I held a sword and I was a little unsure of myself,” Thad replied hoping that the man wouldn’t catch onto his ruse. “Thought it would be best to start lower and work my way up.”

“That’s one way to do it,” the man said with a laugh, slapping Thad on the back. “Better to live long than to live fast, I always say. The names Burk. I used to be a level four arena fighter before I took a bad blow to the leg.”

“Bad luck that,” Thad replied, noticing for the first time how the man favored his left leg.

“If you don’t mind me asking what happened to your eye?” the man asked.

“Lost it when I was a child. My father had it replaced with a colorful piece of crystal. He thought it was better than just leaving the socket empty,” Thad replied, this having been one of the questions he had been prepared for.

“From the way you move, no one would even guess that you couldn’t see out of it,” the man said, looking Thad over closely. “I would suggest that you play it a little. The better fighters will be watching the matches, and every advantage you have against them all the better.”

“I will take that under advisement,” Thad replied.

Thad tried to dissuade the other man from talking to him by making short barbed statements, but it had little to no effect. In the end, Thad and the man talked until the old man returned with their food. Thad ate a large bowl of what tasted like beef stew though it was very spicy and left him wishing for a cold glass of milk.

After the meal was finished, Thad went back to his training. Jerrod, the trainer, sparred with him and Thad found that even with a lame leg the man was twice the fighter of any of the others he had faced thus far. By the end of the day, Thad and Jarrod might not have been best of friends, but there was a silent understanding between the two.

The walk back to his house was much slower than the walk out had been. Every muscle in Thad’s body ached and a few of them screamed in pain. He knew that he could call Thuraman to help sooth him, but didn’t want to risk the staff drawing attention. He would have to wait until he reached the house.

As Thad walked down the street, his weary eyes noticed something that he hadn’t before. The people moved and walked as if they carried an unseen burden. Thad knew the look well; it was the same he had seen when one looked upon the young men of the slave academy.

From most perspectives the city was free and far different than he had expected. When he had first learned about them, he had thought they would be full of scions and he was more than a little surprised to find that humans lived within a protective bubble around the city. The truth though, was that the city was a prison. No one who lived in it could escape with any real chance of success.

When he first noticed a thinning of the buildings, Thad felt his hunger come back to him in full force. He was almost home and his body knew it.

Did you enjoy your first day?

“It could have been worse,” Thad replied to the staff. After looking around and seeing no one on the streets, Thad called Thuraman to his side. The staff appeared in his hand and Thad put some of his weight on the staff as he walked. The second the staff touched his hand, Thad felt some of his pain and exhaustion flee his weary body. “That is much better,” Thad said with a heavy sigh.

Then why did you push yourself so hard. I watched you through your own eyes and I felt your fatigue. Even when your body faltered because it was weak you still pushed yourself. This plan of yours doesn’t call for that level of self-destruction.

Thad laughed. “I was enjoying myself. I doubt that you will ever understand, but it was a way to relieve myself of some of the stress that has been heaped upon me since this trip started. The so called gods wouldn’t even give me a chance to fight any of the scions to get rid of some of the stress.”

Such as the talk that you will be having with your son tonight?

Thad cursed himself. He had completely forgot about that, and wished that Thuraman hadn’t reminded him or at least waited until he had reached the house, which now loomed in the distance. “You had to remind me of that,” Thad said out loud.

When Thad entered the house, he found most of the group in the living room sitting around a small fire that sputtered in the brick fireplace. “Has anyone seen my son?” Thad asked, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible, but not seeing his son among those in the room.

“He is down the hall in his room. I believe that it is the second door on the left,” Humanius said, looking over his shoulder at Thad.

“Speaking of rooms,” Thad said trying to distract himself for a few moments while he thought of what to say to his son. “Where are you and Belaroan, as well as the scions, sleeping?”

“My sister is taking the last room,” Humanius replied. “I and the scions will be staying in here. They don’t require sleep and I don’t wish to leave them completely untended.”

“Ah,” Thad said. When his mind could think of no other way to delay him, Thad let out a heavy sigh and turned and started a slow walk toward his son’s room. If anyone had watched how he shambled down the hall, they would have thought he was walking to his doom from the way his steps dropped heavily on the stone floor.

When Thad reached the door, his arm felt as heavy as lead as he raised it to softly rap on the wooden door. “Come in,” Thad heard his son’s voice say from behind the door.

Shaking the doubts and fears from his mind, Thad pushed on the door and entered the small room to find his son sitting on the edge of his bed. “I thought you would be here hours ago,” Bren said with a weak smile.

“Do you already know why I am here then?” Thad asked, looking gravely at his son.

“My guess is that mother wants you to intervene on her behalf and talk me out of my foolishness,” Bren said defensively.

“Actually it was Sandrea that asked me to talk to you,” Thad replied. “Though I am sure that your mother would love to hear that you changed your mind, but we both know that won’t be happening and somewhere deep inside she does too.”

Bren visibly relaxed his defensive posture and relaxed his shoulders. “She wants me to talk with mother. I can’t father,” Bren said with a look full of warring emotions. “Every time we talk, all we do is fight and I spend the next fortnight full of anger looking for anything to strike against.”

Listening to his son, Thad couldn’t help but laugh. “Your mother has that effect on people, but do you really want to leave it like this? Your mother is having trouble contacting us as it is and I don’t think she will be able to once you go to the center. I can’t force you to talk to her, but just think on that…please son.”

Bren didn’t respond, but Thad hadn’t really expected one. He had delivered the message and said what he could. The rest was up to Bren. He just hoped it was enough. He knew that Maria would never forget it if they were left on bad terms, and that would mean that she would never let him forget it either.

CHAPTER XIX

The next few days passed quickly. Thad continued his training and found Jarrod a good teacher. There was little the man could teach him he didn’t already know when it came to the sword, but he did learn a great deal about being an arena fighter that he would never had if not for him. As long as it didn’t go against the rules of the great lord which there were few, the Arena fighters were the law of the city. If a fighter wished something, they could take it and few would raise a word against them; any were allowed the right of challenge, though who could go against a trained fighter in a duel. To offset the unfairness, one could hire another fighter to replace them. While this didn’t sound very fair as one would think as only the rich could afford a proper fighter, it worked out well. All of the fighters came from the streets, and from what Jarrod said, many of them would offer their services for a pittance; it still happened time to time, though more often among those named champion. It seemed that once they reached the highest ranks, they tended to forget where they came from. When Jarrod spoke of some of the champions, you could hear the distaste in his voice.

There were only seven champions at any one time and the only way to reach their ranks was to challenge one in a duel and win, but to challenge one, you must be rank five in the arena. This rule was what allowed them a free reign within the city. Unless one could afford a rank five or a champion of his own, then you couldn’t challenge them, but they could challenge you and few would back you in such a fight.

Thad soaked up anything he could learn and found Jarrod an apt teacher, one who asked few questions of his own. One of the most interesting things he learned was that if he was moved up a rank he was paid that day and it became his new stipend day. It was the reason that most fighters tried harder just after they received their stipend, in hopes of receiving an extra pay.

Today Thad sat in a small room looking at a large door that would lead him to the Area floor and his first fight. Taking advice from Jarrod, Thad had bet most of his remaining coin on himself. If he lost he had enough left for food, but little else. If he won then he would have a heavy purse as the odds were set against him. The fighter was the same rank as him, but was expected to reach the next rank soon and thankfully the people who set the odds didn’t spend any time watching the fighters unless it was an arena battle, and to them Thad was unknown.

Thad didn’t know what he would do with the extra coin if he won, but he was sure that he would think of something. Most likely, he would put it back so that when he reached rank four he could purchase the materials to make his own sword. One interesting thing Thad had learned was that magical weapons were not a rarity for high ranking fighters, as they were often purchased from the homeland. To Thad, that meant that there were mages on the other side of the portal, but he hadn’t been able to give it much thought. When the door was opened, Thad strode through it and found himself in a large open area surrounded by a raised wall, with rows upon rows of people staring down at him from their seats. Thad’s hand nervously gripped the hilt of his sword that still remained sheathed and hanging on his hip. When his eyes fell on the other man standing in the large arena, Thad remembered him. He had seen the man a few times practicing at the same time as he had. The man had even asked to spar with Thad a few times and now Thad knew why. There must had been a place where one could learn who they were fighting. Thad cursed himself for not thinking of it earlier, but it’s not as if it really mattered until he fought a few more fights. The rules were simply that no one could move up a rank until they had won five fights out of ten. Once they had, then they would fight against a fighter from the next rank and should they win they moved up, if they lose they would start over.

As the other man moved toward him, Thad let the thoughts that cluttered his mind fade away. There would be plenty of time later to think of things; right now the only thing on his mind should be the other man and the sharp sword held in his hand. Jarrod said that it was uncommon for a fighter to die in a battle, but it did happen. Much more common was a debilitating injury, which kept up the need for new fighters to make their way up the ranks.

As the other fighter approached, Thad watched him closely. The man moved slowly, watching Thad with weary eyes. They had spared and Thad knew that the man’s skill was below his own, but that didn’t mean he would win. Many fighters lost not because of the lack of skill of their opponent, but because they were too sure of themselves and made mistakes.

Thad knew that leaving his sword within its sheath could be considered a mistake, but he didn’t want to give too much away about his fighting style. While he was in the fighters ring practicing, he only worked with either his sword or staff never both at the same time. He wanted to save that for when he fought against an opponent that would be a real challenge; even so, he was not going to take the man in front of him lightly.

Thad let the other man make the first strike. It came swift and hard, but didn’t catch Thad off guard. Thad stepped back from the strike, letting the sword pass harmlessly, by inches, in front of him. The other man didn’t relent when his first attack was thwarted, but continued with a flurry of attacks to the roar of the crowd.

Thad batted the attacks aside with little trouble. He knew the basics of fighting, not only one on one, but against greater numbers, and this man was breaking one of the most important rules. One should never lose himself in the fight. Sighing on the inside, Thad continued to use as little energy as possible while defeating the other man’s attacks, letting the man tire himself out.

Thad waited and bided his time until the man’s swings started to slow. Once Thad was sure that the bulk of the man’s energy had been spent he went on the offensive. Thad bent down under a clumsy swing and swung his staff as he turned, sweeping the man’s legs out from under him. As the other fighter fell to his back, Thad jumped up and stuck the man once hard on the side of the head and was rewarded when the swathe man’s eyes rolled into the back of his head.

The crowd above sat in stunned silence for the space of a heartbeat, then as if a dam breaking, the crowd roared in applause, though Thad could still hear a few curses coming from the stands, most likely coming from those that had bet against him.

Thad had to admit that he enjoyed the cheers of the crowd as he made his way off the field. It had been a lifetime since he had fought for the pleasure of others and he knew he enjoyed their attention. A part of him felt bad about this knowledge, but he shook it off. It might have been wrong, but he was who he was and at this time it was working toward a noble end.

So you enjoy a good fight and for people to look on you with favor. I have told you for years that if you wished it, you could have used your power to bring the whole of the world to bow before you. Instead you let yourself be bound to that infernal woman and deferred to her.

“The adoration and applause are good, but there is much more to that when one becomes a king. I got as much of that as I wanted when I married Maria and I was more than happy to let her keep her throne. I wanted nothing of the headache that comes with that power,” Thad replied, as he walked back through the doors he had entered through.

“Nice win, though you could have worked on the audience a bit more,” Jarrod said as he walked though. “The people watching give gifts to their favorites and while you won, you could have given them a better show. Instead of some young maiden, it looks like you will have to do with my company for now.”

“I should pay,” Thad said grinning. “It is thanks to your advice I won such a good sum today.”

“No, I insist I pay,” Jarrod said with a wide grin. “I won much more than you today I am sure. I only bet when I am sure of victory and when I am sure I bet heavily. Talking about bets, we should go receive our rewards from a few unhappy men,” Jarrod added with a laugh.

The man who they had placed their bets with was anything but upset, even though he had to pay the men a large sum. It would seem that a large majority of the bets had been against him, so that in the end the bookies had made a large profit. To show his gratitude, the bookie even threw in an extra silver into Thad’s pouch. “Got to love it when both sides win,” Jarrod said with a laugh, as they walked toward the town center.

“Someone lost though and from the look of the smile on his face it was more than a few,” Thad said feeling a little guilt about the new weight in his pouch.

“If they can’t afford to lose it, they shouldn’t use it to bet with,” Jerrod said dismissively. “If I lost more than I could afford my wife would strip my hid and I can promise you that I would do it no more than once…Or twice.”

“You’re married,” Thad nearly shouted in surprise.

Jerrod laughed heartily. “I know, a surprise isn’t it and she is a beauty to behold. Far too good for me, but the arena has its benefits. When I was just starting out, she was just a young lady and one of her suitors brought her to a bout and she took a liking to the fights and to me. When I was injured, I thought she would leave me, but she slapped that thought out of my head and before I knew what was happening, we were standing in the church awaiting the priests to bind us to one another.”

Jarrod chuckled to himself and shook his head as if shaking off old memories. “If you are lucky, you might find a wife for yourself among the ladies in the audience.”

“I think I can do without a wife for now,” Thad said with a thin smile. If I can ever get back home I have one waiting on me.”

“Ah… so that’s your reason for joining the arena. I had heard it was something about needing money, but it didn’t seem to fit you. I can tell you that your chances of becoming a champion and getting to travel through the gates are slim, but in all honestly you stand a good chance. I just hope that you don’t get your hopes up to high. I never heard of the lord letting anyone return home other than to accompany him.”

“I will take what chances I have,” Thad replied. “It is better than giving up.”

Jarrod didn’t prod him more, instead the man led him to a small dinner. From the outside, it looked like an unassuming place, but inside it was far different. Three glass chandeliers hung from the room and the walls were painted to look like rolling plains. They were greeted with smiles and led to a small booth in the corner. Thad let Jerrod order for them. “What kind of place is this?” Thad asked, as he looked around at the sheer opulence arrayed before him.

“It is the best restaurant within the city,” Jerrod replied. “It is a place to relax and enjoy some of the food from the homeland. The nobles bring it though when they visit and it costs a fortune to eat real food, but it’s worth it.”

“What is the other stuff, if not real food?” Thad asked slightly confused.

“It is real… but it is common foodstuff,” Jerrod replied. “What they have here is better. Only here can you get roasted Hornail eggs or fentil bread.”

Thad had never had either, so he remained quiet about the food and passed the time with idle chatter about the arena and fighters. When the food arrived, it was placed upon the plates in a fashion meant to please the eyes, much the way the ones he was used to in the Farlan palace.

If the food looked pleasant, that was nothing compared to the taste. The meat was new to him and shown as white as a pearl and almost melted in his mouth, with a sweat aroma and a light taste of honey and spices. The bread was warm and soft and tasted like nothing he had before. In the end, he couldn’t tell if it was good or not, as it was so different than anything he had eaten before. No matter what he thought, he had found himself more inhaling the food that eating it and within a matter of moments his plate sat empty.

“You look as if you have enjoyed your meal,” Jarrod said with a bark of a laugh. “Though given that each plate cost a gold mark I truly hope so.”

“A gold mark,” Thad gasped. “That was enough for a man to eat for a month with some to spare.”

“Don’t fret,” Jarrod laughed. “I won over fifty gold marks this day with only a wager of five. It was a great day and giving a little to the man who helped me earn such a sum is welcome to a good meal.”

Thad could barely believe it. Fifty gold marks. Thad looked in his own purse that hung at his side and quickly opened it. Inside he found far more coin than he had thought. When he had first bet, he didn’t pay attention to the odds, but from what Jarrod had said it had been ten to one and had earned him a tidy sum. He knew that next time the odds would be on his side, but that would mean that he would earn far less for his bets.

After the meal, Thad bid Jarrod farewell, then returned to his home to find everyone waiting for him. They welcomed his winning, though Belaroan still took every chance to complain about the sheer amount of time that it would take for them to reach their goal though his plan. Humanius quickly tried to bring the attention away from his sister, though Thad didn’t know why. Their band consisted of the four and the four scions and only Belaroan seemed to care about what she said.

After the small welcome, Thad quickly retired to his room. He was tired and all he wanted was to have a good sleep. There would be plenty of fights ahead and victories as well. That was as long as things went well. Thad didn’t hope though, he would fight and lay everything on his skill with the sword. If the plan didn’t work, there was always another way, no matter how unpleasant.

CHAPTER XX

The battles of the arena continued and Thad found himself watching as many battles as he fought in. His second battle came and passed and Thad once again enjoyed the cries of the crowd. After the battle, Thad was met by Jarrod and, as they left the arena, they were assailed by a number of people wanting to talk with what they saw as a rising star in the arena.

Just as before the two friends bet upon Thad, though this time their winnings were much less as the odds were three to one in Thad’s favor. Even though he had won little, he still found his way to the Matron’s Root, where Jarrod had taken him after his first win.

The battles continued and Thad enjoyed the fighting and the glory of the arena. The days passed and Thad asked for a bout as soon as one was over but still time slipped by. Five fights Thad entered, and five fights Thad won without ever having to draw his blade. Many of the people who came to talk to his asked about the sword he wore to the battle grounds, but all Thad would say was that it was a god luck charm and nothing more.

After his fifth win, it was announced that his rank battle would happen two days later. It seemed that the other members in his rank were as eager to see him leave as he was to go. He had been a thorn in their side, as none of them wished to be his next target as they were sure to lose and risk having to start over in their climb to the top. Jessop, the man he had fought in his first fight, had been forced to do just that and Thad saw the man looking at him with hate filled eyes more than once since the battle.

Not everything was going well. With each battle, Thad drew more attention and while that might be good when he needed to gain the attention of the scion lord, it brought with it its own complications. No matter where he went, he found himself surrounded by people wishing to talk about his battles in the arena. Even at home, Thad found people watching him; meaning that the other people living there had to be careful and limit when and how they left the house. Thankfully, the house was at the edge of the city so only the most persistent of his fans followed him there and most of those had been women.

Thad had grown up in Farlan, a place where women stood above all others. He knew strong willed women, but that was not what he found in this land. The women reminded him of the tales he had read in the books at the palace. They flocked around him like birds singing to him sweetly. Thad knew that many men liked such women, but to him they were an annoyance. Even though he didn’t like the young girls who fluttered around him, there was little he could do about them without being rude.

Though his rank battle would only move him up one rank, Thad had started to spend time at the smithy. He knew it would take a long time to finish a proper sword and even if he started now he doubted it would be done before he reached a rank where he could keep it with him at all times.

Thad had thought that he would simply start working on the weapon, but it turned out that there was much more to it than that. The blacksmith was not sanctioned to make weapons, so first Thad had to petition for a new weapon and ask that the blacksmith of his choice could make it. He explained the unusual request by saying that the smith was a good friend and would be much cheaper than one of the sanctioned ones. In the end, the smithy was given a limited sanction to make one weapon.

When Thad returned to Seth’s smithy, he relayed the news to the large smith. Seth just grunted and stated that he didn’t care about making weapons; not for his own countrymen to kill each other with anyhow. Seth did joke that if it was for fighting the scions back he would have made them by the dozen for any who wished to brandish one.

With the annoying part of the process finished, the next was getting the best materials. The dwarves used the best metal and poured their magic into it while it was being processed. The best he could get was fine steel from Seth’s homeland. It was pure metal, but it still wasn’t the same.

After he got ahold of enough metal, Thad started on the sword. There wasn’t enough of the strongest metal to make a full sword, but the dwarves had showed him more than a few secrets. Though he wished he could spend most of his time hammering away at the metal the truth was his magical strength wasn’t enough to last more than a few hours.

At the same time Thad was working on the sword, Seth’s wife Lori worked with her husband to make leather armor to Thad’s specification. He had learned that in the higher ranks the fighters tended to wear armor and most of them chose to wear chainmail or plate armor. That might work for some, but those trained to fight in Farlan used leather armor with metal plates inside of it. They were light and might turn away a blade but little else, but they allowed one freedom of movement.

Thad was short for most men, and while his body held strength it was nothing compared to most the warriors, but what he did have was agility and speed and heavy armor would take that away.

Thad’s first rank battle quickly approached and to Thad’s surprise, the betting odds were still in his favor though only two to one. Thad had spent hours watching the fights and more time watching fighters train and with Jerrod’s help he had made a tidy sum with his bets. He didn’t always win, but he won far more than he lost. Thad used every last coin left to him, a full eight gold marks. He had much more a few days before he had to purchase the metal and leather, but that was life. If he won, then he would have twelve gold marks plus his new stipend to spend on what he needed.

Thad found Jerrod waiting for him on the stairs leading down to the arena waiting area.  “Ready?” Jerrod asked, walking beside him.

“As ready as I can be,” Thad replied. “Do you know anything about the guy I am going to fight?”

“Yea,” Jarrod replied. “He is barely better than the rank two fighters. The reason he was chosen to fight you was because his record was the worst at the moment. If he loses, he will be fined three months’ pay. He has a bad gambling habit, where his luck is just as bad, so he can’t afford to lose this fight.”

“That is too bad for him,” Thad said as a small amount of guilt crept into his voice. “I can’t afford to lose this fight either.”

“Don’t let it get to you,” Jarrod said. “He used to be much better, but once he got to the third rank he started drinking and things started to go bad for him. That was two years ago and he has continued to make things worse on himself. Just remember my advice, give the crowd a show.”

“I don’t know if a show is a good idea,” Thad said with a grimace. “If I have to deal with one more flock of tittering ladies, I might just fall on my own sword during a fight.”

“That is the price you must pay,” Jarrod said with one of his barking laughs. “Speaking of tittering ladies, mine has taking a liking to you. As I told you, she is fond of the fights and she dearly wishes to meet you. After the fight, if you don’t mind, would you join us and her father for a meal?”

“I don’t want to steal your lady from you,” Thad said with a smirk.

“You can have her if you can take her,” Jarrod replied, laughing so hard his eyes were watering. “You have to take the kids as well as her father though.”

“No thanks,” Thad said, drawing back. “If they are anything like their father, I would surely fall on my sword within a span of weeks.”

“That I do not doubt,” his friend said, patting him on the back. “It was worth a try at least. You’re still not getting out of the meal though. I am not sitting there with my father-in-law without someone else to distract the oaf.”

“Not a very pleasant man I take it,” Thad said with a weary look.

“He is one of the main moneylenders in the city. Rich, but the man hates with a passion. Blames me for taking his little angle away.”

Thad’s reply was delayed by the opening of the door to the arena. With a nod of his head, Thad stepped through the door and onto the field. The man on the other side was well built and wore a very poorly taken care of chainmail shirt. He also carried a spear instead of the sword. It would be Thad’s first time to go against an opponent not using a sword in the arena, but far from his first time in battle against one.

After the crowds had died down, the two men approached each other. Thad could have sworn that the other man moved with the stagger of drunkenness, though Thad had been fooled before and didn’t let it change how he had planned to fight. As soon as they were close enough to fight, the other man merely watched Thad with weary eyes. With no other choice, Thad made the first move, a sweeping attack with his staff to the man’s midsection which the man blocked with ease.

Thad stepped back and took the man in again. From the smell on the man’s breath he had more than a little to drink before the fight, but it didn’t seem to be affecting him much, if at all. Jerrod was right, the man was not much better than the other fighters, but he was better.

His opponent watched him closely, and just as Thad began to move in again, he quickly stepped back and struck at Thad with a short jab. Thad pivoted to the side and knocked away the point of the spear, but it was a close call. As much as he had told himself to be careful, he still almost let himself be taken by the spear point. The man was not a great fighter when it came to weapons, his body betrayed that, but there was more to a battle then how great one could wield a weapon. The man had knowledge and a keen mind. Thad was sure that his success early on in the area was due to that and had he been properly trained then he could have been a great fighter. Making a mental notation of this, Thad once again moved forward, this time though, a bit wearier of the point of the spear that was leveled at his heart.

Just as before, just as Thad started to move in for an attack, the point of the spear lunged for him, but this time he was ready for it and let his staff in position to guide the point away from him as he moved closer to his foe.

The spear was a good weapon and had its uses and was best used against men on horseback. It was also good to keep your enemy at bay, but once in close it was close to useless. A lot of soldiers would grip the spear and fight with its owner, but Thad knew the other man to be stronger, so he had other ideas. Just like the spear, the staff was little use as close as he was, but he had other weapons. Stepping to his side, Thad kicked out shattering the man’s kneecap.

As Thad moved back the man leaned heavily on his spear to keep himself upright and the crowd cheered. The fight thus far had been slow and few attacks made for a poor show. If it was to end this quickly, he would move up in rank, but no one would talk of his victory. All they would say would be that he beat a drunkard and didn’t deserve his rise in rank.

Knowing there was no other choice, Thad pressed the attack, forcing the other man to stumble backward as he parried Thad’s slowed attacks. The man’s eyes narrowed and he stumbled and pulled Thad in close. “End it, or are you enjoying making a fool of me boy.”

Thad let out a heavy sigh and pushed the man back. “Another enemy,” Thad whispered to himself and redoubled his effort, this time intent on putting the other man down. Though he was trying with his full effort the other man wouldn’t go down. His opponent was fighting hard, but with a lame leg there was little he could do against a superior fighter. Within moments, to the roar of the crowd, Thad struck a hard blow to the other fighters head, knocking him to the ground. The only hint that the man was still alive was a light groan coming from his lips.

Thad suppressed an urge to bend down to check on the man, afraid he had struck him harder than he had meant and left him permanently addled. The truth was Thad couldn’t show mercy to a defeated enemy; it was seen as the highest rudeness and so he turned and walked back toward the door as other men moved onto the field to check on the fallen man.

Just as with the other fights Thad found Jarrod waiting on him. “Good fight, though I think the crowd was wishing for a bit more.”

“I tried, but little I could do,” Thad replied. “He was far too deep in his cups to be much of a challenge.”

“Ah,” Jarrod said with a shake of his head. “Well that doesn’t change the outcome. You have moved up a rank and tonight you will dine with me and my family. It you feel robbed of a good beating, I am sure they can give it to you.”

“Lead on then,” Thad said with a slight chuckle.

“Oh no,” Jarrod said holding Thad up. “First you will need a bath and better clothes. My wife would have me sleeping in a pit if I brought you as you are.”

Jarrod led Thad to a small store where he bought a good set of clothes. With the clothes out of the way, they went to a public bath house where Thad was surprised to find that men and women shared the same bath. Thad would be the first to admit that he was more than a little put off by having women staring at him as he bathed, but he did his best to put it out of his mind.

After the bath, Thad followed his friend to the same place where he had been taken after his first fight. He had eaten here four time since then. The only fight he didn’t eat here afterward was the fifth one, mainly because he wasn’t sure how much of his coin would go toward making his sword. Things were expensive here since it all had to be brought over though the portal, and to Thad’s surprise it was only opened once a week. Thad wished he knew how it was opened and closed at will, but right now he didn’t move in the right circles to learn such knowledge.

“So this is the warrior that won me a large deal of coin today,” a plump man sitting next to a dazzling young woman said, as he reached out a greasy hand toward Thad.

Thad took the offered hand and did his best to keep the look on his face natural. “This must be the lovely wife you keep talking about.”

The young lady flashed Jarrod a warm smile. “Yes, though I think you are lying for the sake of my husband. Now why don’t you sit down so that we can have a nice meal, and you can tell me all about how you and my husband got to know one another?”

Thad found Jarrod’s wife to be funny, beautiful and completely wasted on her husband. Life was seldom fair, but Thad was glad that this time it was the underdog that had won out. She was wasted on Jarrod, but seeing her on the arm of one of the dressed up fops would have been a true tragedy.

Her father, on the other hand, was as different from his daughter as could be. Thad had never had a father, nor a real father-in-law, and seeing the plump use of space across from him, he was silently glad of it. It took every effort to keep a smile on his face and from the looks of Jarrod and his wife, they understood the effort he was putting in.

As soon as the meal was over, Jarrod pulled him away from the table with an excuse about a young lady that was searching for the hero of the arena. The plump man scoffed and looked to his daughter and they took that as an excuse to quickly make their exit.

Thad said his farewells to his friend and made his way back home. Thankfully, the two would still be able to talk since rank two and three shared the same floor, though in different areas. Jarrod helped in both though he preferred the lower ranks. He said that it was before the fighters got too full of themselves. When Thad arrived home, they had already learned of his win. One of the benefits to being in the city was that magic could be used without fear of being overwhelmed, though the magic acted a bit different than normal and it had taken the gods awhile to get the hang of it. Now though, they could change the color of their skin by laying a thin layer of illusion over it and walk among the city.

Thad wasn’t in the mood for another celebration, so he retired to his room to work on one of his projects. He still had many ideas and wanted to start putting them to crystal and metal.

CHAPTER XXI

The days passed quickly to Thad. During the morning he trained and in the evening he worked at the forge. It didn’t leave him much time, but what little was left he used to work on enchanting.

The work on the sword was moving slowly. Thad had to fold the metal numerous times, but to make it harder he had to fold both metals, that in the end would become one, but that was still a long ways away. The one thing Thad didn’t like was that after arriving at a new rank, they wouldn’t let him fight for thirteen days and there had to be the same amount of days between each fight. It seemed that each rank had longer breaks between fights. That little bit of news would mean endless days of listening to Belaroan complaining.

Back at the home, things were going well as long as he didn’t have to spend too much time with Belaroan. Bren was starting to talk more, but it was hard to find much to talk about so Thad had nudged him to talk about his childhood which was one of the things Thad missed while he was stuck in the void. Thad still didn’t know what to think about his son, but he was starting to like him as a man, if not a son. Thad was proud of what he had learned about his son and felt some pity about how his mother had treated him. If anyone knew how controlling she could be, Thad did.

The days continued on and the fights still were easy. The biggest event was when he was afforded a chance to watch a fight between rank five fighters. Unlike the other fights, the ones between rank five and champions, you had to have a special pass to get into to, so that only the most prestigious in the city could watch, that was unless you wanted to rent one for five gold marks. The fight was great and after the show Thad wasn’t sure that he could have beaten either man without the aid of his magic, but that was something else he had learned. Magic was outlawed even among the fighters. If someone was found to have magical powers they were to be brought before the great lord and they either joined her service or were killed outright.

When Thad talked to Jarrod, he had to be careful not to give away that he wasn’t from their homeland. In the end, Thad had to get most his information from Seth and his wife who were more than willing to talk to him. It was the only place in the city that he didn’t have to keep his guard up all the time. Even at his house, he had to walk on egg shells as Belaroan would look for any reason to complain and sour the time for the rest of them.

The armor was finished, leaving Thad only having to enchant it and that would be a problem on its own. Thad had learned that the people of Seth’s homeland had magic, though it was different that his own. They didn’t enchant like he did. From what he learned, the magic smiths would soak items in ether while they chanted spells over it. Thad was sure that if he could train for a bit he could reproduce the effect, but he didn’t have time to experiment and if he messed up he might destroy the armor.

Thankfully, Seth had an enchanted hammer that had belonged to his father. It didn’t take long for Thad to understand how the enchantment worked. It made the hammer harder and added force to strikes that the smith made. The only real different was that it wasn’t so much enchanted, but enspelled, though Thad wasn’t sure how it stayed powered for such a long period of time. The main thing was that Thad had to make sure that any enchantment he made didn’t pulse, but kept a steady outlook of ether. He didn’t know if the scion lord had mages watching the fight, but he didn’t want to risk using the armor if it destroyed his plans. The second problem was how to explain how he had gotten the armor. Seth was able to give him a good reason for that. It seemed that during major crossings people were allowed to bring their possessions and Thad’s imaginary father, if he had been a soldier, could have brought them with him.

The sword could have been explained in much the same way. For all purposes, he had hired Seth to make it and Seth would tell anyone who asked that he used metal that he had brought over from the homeland. In the end, Thad decided to keep it simple, but the way he had to make it work was anything but simple. Most the time when he enchanted an item, he only had to engrave a spell on the item and link the gem to the spell so that it could power it. If he did it that way, then as the spell was used, the power in it would weaken momentarily as the gem drew in more energy. Thad couldn’t keep that from happening completely, but by linking many smaller gems to the main one he could make it such a small fluctuation that no would could see it. Beside the simple protection spells that would push against any force directed at it, Thad added two other spells that would mask the ethereal energy that the armor used and one that linked the armor to Thuraman. That took a long time to figure out as the staff’s ethereal lines had been long since set in how they moved.

Thad was amazed every time he looked upon Thuraman with his magical sight. He didn’t think that if he tried for a thousand years that he could reproduce the effect. The staff had moved past a normal enchantment and become a life of its own. As Thad watched the staff’s pulsing lines of energy, it reminded him of the veins in the body that carried blood. In the end, Thurman had to make the initial connection and Thad just had to use his mind to reinforce the connection. The connection to Thuraman didn’t add anything to the armor itself, but would allow the staff to act in a limited manner, through the armor, to heal Thad if it was needed.

Once the armor was completely finished, Thad went back to work on the sword with vigor, hoping to have it finished before he moved up another rank; but having to work on two pieces of metal at once was taking much longer than he would have thought. About the time of his fourth battle in the third rank, the metal was ready to be combined. Just like when he folded the metal, Thad pored magic into the metal as he shaped it. Once the softer metal was shaped to look like the sword, Thad started to work the harder and more brittle metal where the blade would be. That would make the blade itself more flexible and allow it to move with the power of the swing without worry about breaking, but also allow a sharp blade that could cut through a tree without losing its edge. The blending of the metal also gave the edge a beautiful look like when oil spread across the surface of water in the morning sun. The blending was a slow process and took far longer than Thad would have expected, but one started he couldn’t stop without making an inferior blade.

When Thad finally set down the hammer, the sun had long past set and the moon hung high in the night sky. He had no fight the next day and there was no rule about having to practice daily, though he felt bad about missing one, but given the state of his body he doubted that he would be of much use with any weapon for a few days.

Though completely worn out, Thad lifted the blade to his new sword so that he could look at it in the moon light. The blade was just short of four feet long and it had a slight curve to it. The tang of the blade was smaller than was common, but Thad knew that it wouldn’t break… at least not without great force. The hilt had been finished for days and had been done by Seth since it didn’t require any magic. It was a simple design and was a foot long and had a circular guard to protect his fingers and hand.

Thad took the armor with him, but left the sword with Seth so it could be delivered to the arena since he still wasn’t high enough level to carry it with him.

The walk back to the house felt much longer with his body pushed past the point of exhaustion. He was proud of what he had accomplished and he felt his chances to get into the champion level fights would come, though not as soon as he wished.

When he reached his house, Thad found that only the scions were still awake. Then again, the scions never slept. He gave them a slight wave before heading back to his own room to fall into a deep sleep.

He was so tired that even in his dreams he didn’t notice the darkness swarm around him and pull him off. Like many times before, he found himself in the room he had shared with his wife in the Farlan palace. He expected to see Maria when he turned around, but he was surprised to see both his wife and Sandra sitting there.

“What honor brings the two most beautiful women in the realms to see me?” Thad asked with a bright smile.

“Such flattery,” Maria said with a weak smile. “In my youth I might have stood beside my daughter, but I fear age has not treated me as kindly as it has you.”

It was true that there was a little more silver in Maria’s hair and lines had started to find their way onto her face, but she looked as lovely today as she had when he had first met her. In many ways she was much more beautiful as when he had first met her; she was more a spoil child who flirted in awkward ways. “Nonsense dear, you’re lovelier now then you have ever been,” Thad said, meaning every word of it and bringing a slight blush to her face.

“If you two are done trying your best to turn my stomach, we are here for a reason mother,” Sandrea said with a dour face, though Thad could have sworn he noticed a smile shining in her eyes.

“That we have,” Maria said, her face turning as emotionless as stone. Thad always shivered when he saw her do that. Not just because he liked her smile, but because she only used it when she was talking about business. “Crusher has gotten ahold of enough of the black glass, but he needs to know what you want done with it. He wants it ready for when and if you return. We have also started sending forays through the portal to retrieve crystals, but the doorway is still unstable and as you said, only mages of decent power may go through and only then for no more than a few hours. Thankfully, crystal is easily gathered as it is everywhere from what the reports say. The real problem is that tower of yours.”

“Are they causing trouble?” Thad asked, though from what he saw when he was watching Bren and from what other news he had received from these dream meeting, he was sure of the answer.

“Trouble would be an understatement father,” Sandrea said with a scowl. “Bren has been gone far too long and his proxy is finding it hard to keep the peace with the tower. Mother has already sent a contingent of guards to help him, but the tower grows bolder with each passing day. I am sure that soon they will try to break away.”

“That is not the worst of it,” Maria said, the hate in her voice evident. “They are sending mages to all the rulers. They claim to offer their service and knowledge, but in truth they are trying to push the kingdoms into their own vision. The fool Joren they sent here was thrown out after a few days. Tried to order me not to aid you or protect my son’s throne. He tried to convince me it was only a ploy of Bren’s to take my throne as his own.”

“That will have to be dealt with, but there is little that I can do from here,” Thad replied as he thought about the situation.

“I know you can’t do anything, but if they keep pushing it I will,” Maria said sternly. “I know you didn’t want kingdoms to interfere with the tower, but if they insist on interfering with mine, I will knock them down a few levels. When you return, you might find a hut instead of the tower you built.”

That sighed internally, but there was little he could say. He had tried to build the tower in such a way this wouldn’t happen, but men had twisted his rules and laws to fit their own ends. He should have known it would come to this. He could only hope that the peace lasted long enough for him to straighten the situation before it turned into another bloody war. “Have you talked to Bren about this?” Thad asked, hoping that his son had found a better solution than he had.

“Yes, though he didn’t seem that interested,” Maria said, the annoyance in her voice evident. “Since he doesn’t plan to come home, he said that it would be you that would have to deal with them and luckily that you were far more qualified. They only saw him as your son looking to build his own name. You, on the other hand, were their hero and founder. They would have to heed your words. In some ways, he is as naive as you were when you sat down the laws of the tower.”

“Then, I would suggest that you were and are my queen and I support your commands,” Thad said with an inward clutching of his chest. “Just don’t take it too far… Please dear.”

Maria smiled, though it was nothing pleasant, it was the kind of cold smile one saw on his killer before his death. Thad did his best to direct Maria’s wrath, but he knew that it was useless and soon he found himself being pulled back to himself.

CHAPTER XXII

With his sword and armor finished there was little for Thad to do but fight and train. The little enchanting he worked on wasn’t even enough to allow a break in the tedium. The only real thing he had to look forward to was the moments he got to spend with his friend Jarrod, and those had been fleeting since he moved up past rank four.

Moving from rank four to rank five took even longer as he was allowed only one fight every twenty days, and because there were fewer fighter in the higher rank, he had to wait until one of them wanted to fight; each had forty days before they were forced into a battle and most of them waited until the last moment, preferring to enjoy their time in the higher ranks. Thad still kept his sword in its sheath, though he really wanted to try out his new blade. The only time the blade had seen action was when he and Jarrod reserved a private sparing room and practiced. So far, the blade didn’t show any power that Thad could see, but he knew that many magical weapons made in the dwarven fashion only worked when they wanted to and how they wanted to, unlike when he decided the enchantments himself, such as he did with his armor.

The last sword he had made in the dwarven fashion had used energy to strike at foes. It didn’t work through thought or action and sometimes he wished it didn’t. That was one of the downsides to the weapons; they had minds of their own though not as clear as the mind that Thuraman had. At least with the staff, he could talk to it and get it to do what he wanted most of the time.

Other than fighting, Thad spent his time wandering the city. He had found a small out of the way diner that had the best meat dishes he had eaten in a long time and found himself spending a lot of time there. They had a young daughter near marrying age who would talk to him whenever he visited. At first, Thad thought she had grown sweet on him, but he quickly learned that she just enjoyed watching the battles and enjoyed talking about them.

After their daughter took an interest in him, the owners also started coming around to talk to him and to make sure that he got double portions of whatever he ordered without paying a mark more for it. It was one such day that Thad found himself at now. He had just won his fifth fight in the arena and was hoping to have his rank battle soon, and had come to celebrate his achievement along with Jarrod, who had yet to take up his offer to eat here with him.

Shortly after they had started their meal, a ruckus started from the other side of the small diner. Turning around, Thad saw a large man wearing a two handed sword strapped to his back. Thad had paid close attention to the fighters he had come across in the training area and was sure he knew most, if not all, the rank four and five fighters who were allowed the privilege to carry their weapons with them. “Do you know who that is?” Thad asked Jarrod.

“That’s Galavez,” Jarrod said with a deep frown. “He is a champion, though it has been years since he has fought in anything. Most the time he just walks around bullying the townsfolk. He has more gold than nearly anyone, but he refuses to pay for anything.”

“You dare ask me to pay to eat at this pigsty,” Galavez’s voice said, almost to accent Jarrod’s point. “I should be asking you for compensation for insulting my pallet with food that I wouldn’t feed a beggar child for fear of poisoning him.”

“Don’t,” Jarrod said, grabbing Thad’s arm as he began to stand.

Thad pulled his arm back. “I won’t just stand by why this man acts like this,” Thad said, anger clear in his voice. Thad had known men like this before and until someone showed them they wouldn’t be allowed to get away with whatever they wished, they would continue to push others around. Thad wasn’t a rank five fighter so he didn’t have the right of challenge against a champion yet, but he cared little. If the man wanted to continue this action, Thad would cut him down in the street and curse the consequences.

Thad walked over to where the man was making his fuss to the very sternly looking Seria, who owed the diner with her husband Maerius. “Is there a problem Seria?” Thad asked, walking up beside the sturdy woman.

“Nothing I can’t handle master Thad,” she said in a huff, though she didn’t make a move or ask him to leave.

“Who is this?” Galavez asked, looking at Thad as if he were an urchin. Unlike the other man, Thad didn’t carry his sword around with him unless he was going to the arena to fight. It wasn’t that he didn’t like having his sword on him, but he found that when he carried it people tended to move carefully around him and he didn’t like the feel of the eyes that lingered on him. “I would suggest that you pay me for my time and leave before I cut you down.”

“You couldn’t cut down a tree with an axe,” Thad replied tauntingly.

“That is it,” The man said, his hand reaching back for his sword. “I challenge you, as is my right. You will follow me now to the arena and if you refuse, I will burn this place to the ground and kill any who try to flee.”

“Lead the way,” Thad said as Jarrod rushed up to him. “I need to retrieve my sword, but you can be assure that I will arrive at the arena within the hour,” Thad said, after remembering that his sword rested in his house.

“Go get your rusted blade, but I won’t wait for you,” the man said with disdain. “If you don’t show, I will return and I will slaughter everyone who is in that hellhole that you called a diner.”

Thad rushed off knowing that the man was well within his rights to do just that if his challenge was refused. Though there was a bright side, if he won, he would take the place of Galavez within the Champions. He felt bad that he had used Seria for his own purposes, but he didn’t want to wait any longer to move up in the ranks.

It didn’t take him long to reach the house at a full run. After pulling on his armor and belting on his sword, Thad rushed out before anyone could ask anything about what he was about. Once outside, he slowed a bit, not wanting to tire himself before the fight, but he still kept up a steady pace knowing that thanks to his link with Thuraman, his depleted energy reserves could be restored it needed.

As he neared the arena, he noticed people running about yelling about the coming fight. It would seem that Jarrod had made sure the organizers knew that it was Thad who was fighting against Galavez and people were eager to see the battle.

Thad found his friend waiting for him at the fighter’s entrance. “I hope you can win because Galavez has declared this a fight to the death,” Jarrod said frowning.

“I will,” Thad said with determination, though he wasn’t happy about the news. So far he had moved through his matches without having to kill or seriously injuring anyone.

Jarrod held Thad’s staff out to him and sighed. “My wife will kill me if you die today,” He said with a weak smile. “She has come to enjoy your fights and has won a nice sum betting on you.”

“I didn’t think she was the kind to bet,” Thad said, taken aback.

“She is not the kind to gamble, she bets on her favorites whether she thinks they will win or not,” he said shaking his head. “Luckily she never bets above a silver mark, otherwise we would have been broke years ago.”

“What are the odds running right now?” Thad asked, hoping it would give him a hint of what kind of fight he was going to be facing.

“Nine to one against you,” Jarrod said with a weak smile. “I think their fools, but it could be worse. You are jumping up two ranks from most people’s point of view.”

“Go bet this on me,” Thad said, digging into his pouch and pulling out twelve gold marks.

“Are you sure?” Jarrod asked looking down at the large sum now weighing down his hand.

“If I lose, it’s not as if I will need the coins,” Thad said with a nervous laugh.

“True enough,” Jarrod said, patting Thad on the back before leaving him to wait on his own.

After his friend left, Thad paced back and forth nervously as he waited for the door to open. He didn’t have to wait long as he heard the loud voice announcer even from where he waited, announcing the coming battle. Shortly after the crowd died down, the door opened and Thad steeped through to see his counterpart standing on the opposite side of the arena field.

Galavez stood, sword already in hand, his eyes locked onto Thad showing nothing but contempt. It had been a long time since Thad had seen such adulterated hatred in someone’s eyes focused on him. No having one thought or another about the other man, Thad simply smiled as he let his hand slip down to the hilt of his sword. His last few fights had been hard and more than once Thad had thought about using his sword, but so far he had won without it. He didn’t think this time would be the same and not going after the man with his full effort might be the death of him. He might not like the man, but no one made it to the rank of champion and kept it without a great deal of fighting skill.

Using his thumb, Thad pushed up slightly on the swords guard, bringing the sword an inch out of the sheath. Most swords could be easily drawn from their scabbards, but the curve in Thad’s sword was greater right before the point and sometimes caused it to hang when being pulled free. Now with the tip freed, Thad wrapped his hand around the hilt and pulled the sword in one swift movement. Galavez advanced as the ring of the sword leaving the scabbard filled the air.

The fight was joined as soon as the two men met in the center of the field. There was none of the usual packing and measuring. This was not one of enjoyable matches of skill he had so far; this was a battle, and it was a battle to the death.

Thad brought up the staff and the force of Galavez’s blow from the two handed sword sliced through the head of the staff as cleanly as a knife through fruit. Seeing the power of the sword, Thad danced out of its reach and took stock of the blade once again. It wasn’t hard to find what he was looking for. The sword was enchanted, though without being able to touch it and explore it Thad had no way to know to what measure and effect it had been enchanted. If it had been enchanted like his own sword, even that would yield little. In the end, it mattered little, it was enchanted and that meant that it was a danger.

Thad tossed his staff to the ground. With a foot cut from the top of the staff it had become useless… worse than useless, it had become a liability. With the staff discarded, Thad took an offensive stance with both hands on the long hilt of his sword and then moved in to attack.

Thad kept his movements simple. He had been taught long ago how to move to the best effect with the simplest effort. There were ten positions one could take and to move from one to the next only took the slightest of movements and pivots. The first position was the deadliest, as it was directly in front of the opponent. The second was slightly to the right and the third was slightly to the left. All the positions had a use, but if you could ever get to the ninth position then you have the best chance to win, as that was right behind the person you were fighting.

Just as he had been taught, Thad attacked not with his sword, but his leg, kicking at the other warriors exposed left shin. The kicks held no real power, but served their purpose of drawing the other man’s attention from his upper body.

As Thad expected, after the fourth kick, Galavez struck out with his sword and Thad pivoted on his left foot, which was situated behind him, and moved into the second position and struck a glancing blow on the other man’s side. The wound wasn’t deep, but Thad didn’t let that bother him; the man’s armor, though thin looking, was enchanted to be strong enough to turn most, though not all, of his strike aside.

Galavez was a talented fighter and didn’t put too much strength in his first blow to overbalance himself and quickly adjusted but when he moved he found that once again, Thad had moved. Again and again, Thad anticipated the other man’s movements and struck scoring hit after hit though, none of them were deep enough to cause lasting damage. Though not deep, the wounds Thad inflicted made Galavez mad and the man moved with more predictability.

Had the man kept a cool head, he might have stood a good chance against Thad. His armor was strong and his sword sharp and Thad was starting to think that was the whole of his ability. That was until he moved into the ninth position and went to make a finishing blow at Galavez’s exposed neck.

Thad almost didn’t notice the subtle change in movement until it was too late, but his armor and reflexes saved him. Just as his strike was about to land, Galavez swung around with more speed than Thad would have thought possible of the muscle bound man. Thad’s sword came up and the larger weapon skidded off the blade forcing it aside from its intended path and scoring a small hit on Thad left arm, drawing a thin line of blood.

What happened next surprised Thad as much as Galavez. The sword nearly ripped from his hand as it moved his arm back in an awkward position and found its way into the other man’s chest. Thad was pulled in front of Galavez by the weight of the man’s body as he dropped to his knees, blood escaping in strangled coughs to run down his mouth. Then his eyes faded and death claimed him in full.

Thad placed his foot on the man’s chest and pushed him off his blade and the crowd rose to their feet in an ear shattering roar of screams and applause.

It had been ages since Thad had been forced to take a life and it rekindled feelings that he never wished to have again. Pity and remorse for the necessity of the deed rolled over him as he made his way off the field. He tried to push the feelings aside, but he knew that it was a futile gesture. When he saw the look in Jarrod’s eyes, he was glad to call the man a friend. Most people would be happy that he had won, but Thad found something different when he looked at his friend. What he saw was happiness and sadness at the same time. It was almost a mirror image of his own feelings, so he found it fitting that Jarrod held the same thoughts.

CHAPTER XXIII

Thad and Jarrod walked in silence back toward the main gate of the arena. Thad had accomplished his goal; he had risen to the rank of a champion, now all he had to do was prepare a fight that the scion mage would attend and find a way to get his friends there, so that they could end the beast’s danger and work to close the portal.

“My lord,” an older man, who Thad had seen a few times around the area, said grabbing his attention. “The great lord wishes to have a word with you alone.”

“Guess I will catch up with you later then,” Jarrod said with a weak smile. “Once everything has called down we will have a party to celebrate your new position.”

“Thank you,” Thad said, wishing he could convey his true sentiments to his friend. “We don’t want to keep the great lord waiting,” Thad said, turning back to the messenger.

Thad was led to a large sitting room and quickly took a seat. He had spent years in the court and knew that waiting was part of the game. Champions were considered high rank, but most likely the scion mage would keep him waiting for over an hour to show him how low he truly valued him. Thad had never liked the game, but it was one that held a purpose and that Thad could understand. He just wished that the others could be here so that they could put an end to this now. As it was, he would have to play his part. He doubted that he could win a battle against a scion mage alone, even with the aid of his magic.

Thad was only left to wait a scant few moments with his thoughts before someone entered the sitting room and announced that the great lord was ready to see him. Thad was surprised to be summoned so quickly and hoped that it didn’t hint at trouble brewing.

When Thad entered the scion mages throne room, he found a great pressure leaning on him. The magical pressure wasn’t as bad as it was out beyond the boundary of the city, but it was still extremely strong. Thad looked around the room through his mage sight and noticed the source of the power. A man shaped tower of crystal sat in the middle of the room radiating ethereal energy.

“That answers one question,” Thad said to himself as his eyes scanned the rest of the room. From the news he had heard, the scion mage went through the portal without trouble and he didn’t know before now how. If the scion who moved into his own world worked the same way, the magical energy of the other world would not be strong enough to support it. Thad didn’t know how the tower worked, but it mattered little. It did, and that meant it had to be destroyed just as the mage would have to be.

The mage himself was unimpressive. He looked like any other scion, with the exception that he wore stately clothes and a thin silver crown shaped to look like a laurel reef. The throne he sat upon through was anything but normal. It was made of crystal, but it did not have to normal multicolor of the crystals found outside the city; instead it glistened a light transparent golden color with small swirls of silver. It was beautiful and Thad found himself marveling at it until a small noise drew his attention away from it.

“I thought I would get a good look at the man that has roused such talk among the people,” the scion said thoughtfully. “A man out of his youth who had appeared as if by magic, fighting with the skill of a hardened warrior. At first, I thought you had just passed attention, but now I can see that assumption was wrong. I knew all the kinds of people who have been admitted into my realm and none such as you has been allowed to wander free.”

Thad grimaced at the scion mage’s words. He knew that his game was up, he didn’t know how, but he knew.

“I see surprise in your face,” the scion mage said, almost chuckling. “I can see the magic running from your eye and foot brightly. I can also see a small stream of it going elsewhere. Did you not know that I am made of magic? I can see where it calls home and it defiantly runs through your veins. Now why don’t you tell me why you are here and I will see if I should have you killed or brought into my service.”

Knowing that there was little he could say, Thad did the only thing he thought he could. He attacked; not at the mage more than twenty yards away from him, but at the tower standing in the middle of the room. Thurman heeded his call and appeared in his hand, sending a strong stream of pure energy into the crystal tower. The pressure that he felt soon began to ebb, though he didn’t get much time to notice the difference as the room was filled with an ear splitting yell.

“What have you done?” the scion mage asked, jumping to his feet and ranking a line of energy at Thad that threw him from his feet and throwing him into the far wall.

The breath was knocked out of Thad, but his armor had saved him from any further damage. Thad quickly got to his feet and rushed the mage, putting the last of his already waning strength into his legs. Just as before, his sword seemed to move of its own thought and stuck the scion mage. Thad had doubted at first the blade would have much effect on the scion, but the second the blade touched the scion he burst apart into a fine dust.

Pulling himself from the floor, Thad looked at the blade as if it had betrayed him. Not even Bren’s sword had worked so well against the scions. Sure, it had cut through them easily, though it had not completely destroyed them. As he looked at the sword, he pulled himself up to sit exhausted in the only seat in the room, the throne.

“Magic find its own place within the weapons,” Crushers words echoed in his mind. He had said it long ago when he asked about the dwarven method of working metal. He had never truly understood what he had meant, though now he was starting to understand. His thoughts and the purpose of his working the metal helps to mold just how the magic will change the metal. When he had made this sword, he had thought of nothing but the scion mages, so it had found a way to aid him in that quest. It would take a lot of studying for him to figure out how it had worked, but once he did, he might be able to make more of the weapons or a least a semblance of them.

Seconds later the doors to the throne room were thrown open and four human guards rushed into the room. “Where is the lord?” one of the men asked with a stern look.

“Beneath your feet,” Thad said with a weak laugh. He could fight though he doubted that he could escape the palace unaided.

The guard shifted his foot in the crustal dust that scattered the ground and when his face raised he held a smile. “It would look like we have a new lord then.”

EPILOGUE

Thad was surprised to find that no one liked the scion lord and were more than willing to let him assume control of the city. The party that was held at the passing of the scion mage was larger than anything Thad had ever seen held before.

With the help of Humanius, it didn’t take him long to settle things down and get to work on sealing off the portal. The scions that had come with them found the portal different than they expected. It wasn’t a rip, it was more like a real door that could be open and closed with little effort once they figured out how it worked. Still, given time it would turn into a full rip and that meant that it had to be sealed.

The scions moved quickly, bringing in large amounts of glass to be used. Thanks to the artisans with the town it didn’t take long for Thad to start making the glass bricks. The hard part was figuring out how to enchant them, but he had been working on that for months. It would take only a scant few weeks to close the rift, the real question was what to do with the people who wished to follow him instead of returning to their homeland.