Revaramek the Resplendent Chapter One Hundred Twenty Eight (Patreon)

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Chapter One Hundred Twenty Eight

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“Are you insane?” Mirelle stood before Revaramek, holding her hands up. “We’re trying to avoid the wrath of a god, and you want to desecrate his tomb, in the once place he strictly forbid you from going?”

“Actually, Mirelle…” A whirlwind of ideas and possibilities churned inside Revaramek’s head. The dragon grasped at them, struggling to collect enough to fit them together into something comprehensible. “I think he’s only part of the god.”

“Let me guess. The angry, vengeful part?” Mirelle stomped a boot on the sand. “You can’t be serious about opening that thing up.” She grabbed his muzzle, her fingers warm against scales. “Rev. Tell me what you’re thinking here. Please.”

Revaramek flopped onto his haunches. He looked over at Nyramyn, who was still sniffing around the stone monolith. She’d torn down a few more vines, and exposed enough stone to make it clearer it was a gate. Yet something looked off about it, different from the other gates. He tried not to think about it, struggling to focus on the idea at hand.

“I think Star’s blessing is their story.” The dragon worked his jaws a few times, puzzling through things aloud. “This whole desert, it’s a blessing from their god. But it’s more than that. It’s…a second chance.” He lifted a forepaw and pointed a single digit at Vakaal. “For him. For his family. For all of them.” Revaramek took a slow breath. “He called this place, a story for urd’thin. It’s…it’s a new life, for the shapers. And if the urd’thin believe the gods to bestars, then what might they call their second chance at life, but a blessing fromthe stars?”

Mirelle scowled, slowly turning in place to gaze across the whole sands. “The whole damn desert is the Stars’ Blessing.”

Revaramek nodded one. “I’m starting to think so.” His gaze drifted over the statues, soon landing again upon Vakaal. “And I think he might be out there, somewhere. Living…a new life. A life his father doesn’t want us to interfere with, even if Vakaal’s the only one who could save Nyra.”

“Shit, Rev.” Mirelle rubbed her face, grimacing. “That’s…a leap, but not one I can argue with. And after all the horror they went through last time, I damn sure couldn’t blame the father for wanting to keep us away. Especially…” She trailed off, staring at the dragon’s chest as if she could see his soul.

“Especially someone with the spark.” The dragon rubbed at his chest plates. “The same ‘stolen’ spark that ruined their lives, last time.”

Mirelle gently stroked his foreleg. “Okay, let’s assume for now you’re right. If the desert itself is Star’s Blessing, why did Ekki send us here, to this specific place?”

Revaramek licked his muzzle, considering the question. “I think the phrase has multiple meanings, especially to the urd’thin. Ekki probably thought we were asking about the tomb. Or about the statue of Vakaal. It’s obviously a sacred place, to them. And then there’s that…” Revaramek pointed towards the unusual gate. “I haven’t seen one like that, before. But I’m guessing that’s how they came here, or how they return to wherever they came from.” He drummed half-unsheathed claws against the sand. “Ekki kept talking about star talkers, right? Higher ranking or more powerful urd’thin. Maybe that takes her to see the star talker.”

Mirelle scowled and ran a hand back through her hair. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s for the star talkers themselves, takes them somewhere they can commune with the stars.” She paused a beat, her frown deepening. “Ekki told me they were dangerous. I’m getting my maul.”

As Mirelle fetched her weapon, Revaramek stared at the tomb. “Maybe the Father presents himself that way. Not as a god, but someone who talks to the gods.”

Mirelle returned with her maul. She thumped the heavy head down onto the sand, the leaned against the handle. “Okay. Let’s…go with that, for now. Let’s assume that Asterbury…” Mirelle trailed off when the winds whipped up, stirring sand around them. Clouds of it billowed in the distance.

Revaramek turned his head to follow the sands across the deserts. “Let’s just call him Mister A.”

“Right.” Mirelle swallowed, then licked her dry lips. “Let’s assume that Mister A was telling the truth, about saving Nyra. Why would he send us after something called Star’s Blessing, if that’s the entire desert? If that’s this new urd’thin story?”

“I have two theories. One, I’m not sure he understood what he was sending us after. That the words, the phrase, was just…something in his head. Some glimpse of a future he saw, where I find a way to save her, and that way involves Star’s Blessing. So he gives us the clue, but the rest is up to us. Maybe Vakaal even put the phrase into his head.”

Mirelle nodded, rocking her maul back and forth, digging a little furrow in the sand. “And theory two?”

Revaramek lifted a forepaw, pointing at the statue of Vakaal. “That’s theory two.”

“Vakaal?”

“If the father is a god, and the god is a star, then in his mind? The pup is his true blessing.  And Vakaal could heal anything, given a chance.”

“But isn’t Vakaal…Mister A?”

“Part of him is. But he…merged all the versions of himself, once. For all we know, maybe they can be…” He circled a paw in the air. “Un-merged. Maybe they already have.” Revaramek slowly turned his attention back to the tomb, his ears splayed. “He seemed confused, Mirelle. Like he couldn’t remember if he ever had a son, or not. Who does that remind you of?”

Mirelle scrunched her face. “Mister A. When he wasn’t even sure if he was the father, or the son, or…”

“Or all of them.” Revaramek worked a single claw into the sand, tracing shapeless runes. “If Mister A, or… Vakaal, or anyone, really did start a new tribe out here, with a new father, and a new pup? What happened to the old ones?”

Mirelle stared up at him. “You think there’s a new family out there? Not just…the old ones, starting over?”

Revaramek growled, spines flared in frustration. “I don’t know, Mirelle. I’m only making assumptions. But, for the sake of argument, if we assume the father and the pup are out there, somewhere? Then someone has to have put them there.” He flicked a claw towards the tomb. “And I don’t think it was him. I can’t say that for sure, of course, but…something about him just seems off.” Revaramek chuckled, a little smile flitting across his muzzle. “I don’t think he’s the one telling this story.”

Mirelle grimaced. “Then who is? Mister A?”

“Vakaal, I think.” The dragon shrugged his wings. “When I last saw him, I asked him if he could still shackle the monster. And he told me…” He licked his nose, watching a sand devil dance across the nearby dunes. “He told me if his plan worked, he wouldn’t have to. Maybe this was his plan. A life woven anew, a chance to finally live as normal urd’thin.”

Mirelle ran a hand back through her hair. “That’s what Aster…” She snorted. “He wanted in the end, right? After all the Storytellers were dead, he wanted to find his way back home. We hadn’t seen him truly angry until he realized his home was gone.”

Revaramek nodded. “Even the monster longed to see his home again. So maybe Vakaal rebuilt it for him, here, in our desert. Or maybe the monster’s gone for good, and there’s only Vakaal…weaving himself back into the life he should have lived.”

“And his father’s angry god-ghost…” Mirelle turned towards the tomb, her eyes narrowed. “Trying to keep the illusion intact.”

“I don’t think he’s a ghost, Mirelle,” Revaramek said, chuckling. “Just a god. Or at least, part of one.”

Mirelle smirked at the dragon. “Made you laugh, though.”

“That it did.” Revaramek curled a foreleg around her shoulders, gently hugging her. “There’s still a problem with my theory, though. The world the gate sent Mister A too wasn’t this one. It was the storyteller’s original home.”

Mirelle patted Revaramek’s forepaw. “Doesn’t mean they couldn’t find their way here. You did say he’d be able to open gates himself, eventually. Or maybe it was Vakaal.”

“Maybe.” Revaramek watched Nyra pad around the overgrown gate. It showed no sign of activity, but seeing her so near it still left an anxious churn in his belly. “That might explain the strange gate. Or maybe…” He lifted his frills. “How many holes do you think the original storytellers punched through their own world’s fabric?”

Mirelle shrugged. “I’ve no idea.” She tilted her head, gazing up at him. “Why?”

“Just a passing thought…” The dragon scratched his neck. “They called this place a nexus because it had so many connections to other worlds. But what if the tunnels the storytellers dug through existence to other worlds, were still there? Would that make whatever was left of their world, a nexus too?”

“I’ve no idea, Rev…” Mirelle blinked, then sucked in a breath. “Wait, you don’t think-”

“I don’t know whatto think, Mirelle.” The dragon lashed his tail, stirring up a little golden cloud. “As I said, just a passing thought. One that hardly matters, at the moment. What does matter…” He gestured towards the statues guarding the tomb. “Is them. And whether or not they’re actually out there.”

Revaramek turned his head to stare at Nyra. She had settled on her haunches near the odd gate, panting a little from the heat. Her pale green wings were half draped at her side. When she saw him looking, she smiled, and waved one of her wings at him. Revaramek returned the gesture, happy to let her enjoy her own little investigation of the area. And then a terrible thought struck him.

“We might be making a terrible mistake, Mirelle.” Revaramek swallowed hard, hugging her tighter.

Mirelle looked up at him, her brow furred. She stroked his scales. “What is it, Rev?”

“If I’m right, then somewhere out there, Vakaal and his father are guiding their own little tribe, no memory of all the horror they went through. They finally get to live their story, as it was meant to be.” Revaramek took a deep breath, then let it out slow. “Until someone shows up, and demands the help only a god can give. To savesomeone meant to die. And Vakaal? Vakaal only ever wants to help. And so…” He smiled at Nyra, a wistful smile. “So Vakaal saves her. And then they all realize what he is. That he’s not just a pup, he’s their god. And just like that, their normal lives are over. Just like before.”

Mirelle offered him gentle comfort, caressing his chest. “That wouldn’t be just like before, Rev.”

“You know what I mean, Mirelle.”

“I do.” Mirelle rested her forehead against him. “But why would Ast… Mister A send us out here, if he was risking all that?”

“Because he didn’t know.” Revaramek’s voice shook. “I think he planted a clue in Korakos’ head, a long, long ago. A clue that he intended to lead us to Vakaal. And I think it almost has. But he didn’t expect Vakaal to…” He waggled his claws. “To trap the monster, by wreathing him in a brand new life. And Vakaal didn’t expect usto end up here, looking for them. If that’s what’s happened, then…Vakaal won’t remember me, Mirelle. And he can save Nyra, but doing so would ruin their lives.” Revaramek sighed, hanging his head. “And that’s all the Father ever wanted. A normal life for his beloved pup. That’s Star’s Blessing. A normal life for Vakaal. A life we’re going to ruin.” He sniffed, a few tears dribbled down his muzzle. “If his tribe learns Vakaal’s a god, his whole life will come crashing down around him, all over again. And that’s why his Father will never let us reach him.”

“Oh, Rev…that…” Mirelle put her arms around his neck, hugging him tight. “That…there has to be more to it, than that.”

Her comfort was balm to his aching soul, but Revaramek was certain he’d figured it out. Asterbury had tried to give him a way to save Nyra, and remained true to his word. There was something here that could save her. But even Asterbury could not have predicted what must have happened when he went through that gate. Revaramek put a foreleg around Mirelle, rubbing her back.

“Maybe there is, Mirelle!” The dragon took a deep, shuddering breath. “This is just…” He waved a paw. “Me, thinking out loud, I suppose. But I think I’m right.” He slowly turned his gaze towards the tomb. “And we still don’t know who, or what, is in there.” Revaramek growled to himself. “I guess we may as well just break in and get it over with.”

Mirelle shifted around him to cup his chin. “Do you really have to do that? What are you even planning to do? Barter with the body of an angry god?”

“I don’t know.” Revaramek closed his eyes, resting his chin against her hand. When she stroked his nose with the other, he purred just slightly. “Promise him I won’t ruin Vakaal’s story? Maybe the tribe has a way to save Nyra that won’t shatter their illusions of mortality. Or maybe if the god won’t play along, I’ll just scream Mister A’s name until he shows up. Little bastard owes me one, after all.”

“That sounds like a terrible idea.” Mirelle gripped his chin and shook it, then let him go. “Assuming there even is a Mister A, anymore. The way you put it, it almost sounds like Vakaal’s taken over.”

“Those are all just theories, Mirelle.” Revaramek lashed his tail against the sand, stirring up a cloud. “Just because-”

“Revaramek!” Nyra’s voice drifted back to them.

“Just a moment, Nyra.” He opened his eyes again to glance back at his mate. She’d pulled away more vines, and was now staring through the gate at the desert beyond. He turned his own gaze down to his forepaws. “Mister Asshole’s real name makes the locals fearful, right? And the father angry? Seems to me they’re afraid he can hear his name being called, so he must still exist in one state or another. Why else wouldn’t they want us saying it?”

“I suppose that’s true.” Mirelle frowned, moving to lean against her maul again. “But are you really sure you want to get his attention?”

The dragon heaved another sigh. “I’m out of ideas, Mirelle. We’ve come all this way, and every sign is pointing towards Vakaal being the only one to save her. And if the Father won’t let us reach him, then I might need Asterbury’s help.”

The earth rumbled beneath his paws when he spoke the name. Revaramek snarled at it and stomped a foot. “Oh, stuff it! We’re got enough problems.” Then he flashed Mirelle a playful, if forced, smile. “Maybe we’ll luck out, Mirelle, and it’ll be his body in that tomb!”

Mirelle laughed. “I call dibs on caving in his skull with my maul.”

“Rev!” Nyramyn called out again, her voice a little sharper. “Revaramek!”

“Yes, Nyra!” Revaramek turned towards his mate, trying to keep his own tone measured. “What have you found?”

Nyramyn lifted her forepaw, and pointed a single unsheathed claw towards the horizon. “There’s someone out there.”

Revaramek peered out into the distance, his heartbeat picking up. “Where? I don’t see anyone.”

Nyramyn leaned around the gate, stared at the desert, then lowered her head and peered through a hole in the shroud of vines obscuring the gate. “How strange…”

“What’s strange?”

Nyramyn glanced back at Revaramek. “There’s an urd’thin out there, walking towards us. But I only see him when I look through this circle of stone.”

“Shit.” Revaramek’s blood went cold.

Mirelle snatched up her maul. “What? What is it?”

“Nyramyn sees an urd’thin coming, but she can only see him through the gate.”

“You think it’s him? The Father?”

“Who else would it be?”

“Mister Asshole?”

“Right now, that would be preferable.” He lifted his voice to his mate. “Nyra, come here.” Nyramyn hurried back from the gate to join him. He nuzzled her, then pointed at the ground, near the two statues. “Stay here with Mirelle.” Before she could protest, he put a paw atop her muzzle. “Please, Nyra. Just this once.”

Nyramyn glared at him over his forepaw, but then nodded her assent. “Alright. But if you’re in trouble, we’re coming to help you.”

Revaramek grit his teeth, turning away from her. If he was in trouble, they were all in trouble. The dragon padded towards the gate Nyra had been investigating. Even with the vines that Nyra tore down, the old circles of stone were still heavily shrouded in vegetation. Just like the tomb, there was no obvious source of water nourishing them, and yet the flowering vines were in perfect health. Green leaves and blue-black blossoms obscured some of the details of the gate’s structure.

Despite that, the gate was still clearly different than those Revaramek had seen before. The shape of the arch holding it was wider, almost oblong. The carved silver stones of the larger ring held different shapes than before, and none of the sigils that marked them were familiar. The inner ring of ebony formed a perfect circle, and almost looked suspended in the air, inside the silver ring and arch. It gave the whole thing the appearance of a great eye, hidden away behind a veil of vegetation.

As Revaramek neared it, the space inside of the black ring shimmered, like an iridescent lens in the sunlight. He pulled aside some of the vines, and lowered his head to peer through the inner circle. As soon as he looked through the gate, he saw dunes where they should have been only flat sand. When he looked away from the gate, the dunes were gone, but when he glanced through it once more, he saw them again. A single, lean, gray-furred urd’thin strode across the desert, towards the oasis. The entire world rippled behind him, as if all of existence was but a mirage beneath the desert sun. Revaramek took a step back, peering around the gate. There was no sign of the dunes, nor of the urd’thin. He looked into the gate once more, and the urd’thin was there, closer.

“I don’t think it’s just a gate.” Revaramek backed away a few steps, but kept his focus on shimming urd’thin, drawing closer and closer. “But he’s coming!”

Beyond the gate, clouds of sand billowed and roiled in the distance, as if beset by a sudden wind storm. They rose and boiled, and flashes of blue-white flickered deep within them. A moment later, and the clouds raced across the desert as a towering wall of churning gold, shuddering with furious indigo lightning. Though still distant, the sandstorm hurtled towards oasis even as it grew and grew, stretching across the horizon.

“Rev!” Mirelle called out, her voice taut. “I think we need to go, right now!”

“Agreed!” Rev whirled around, and bound back towards Nyra and Mirelle. He skidded to a stop, and dropped his head down to use it to shove Mirelle up against Nyra. “Ride Nyra! She’s faster! Nyra, we’re going back to the village!”

Nyra snapped her teeth at him. “By we, you’d better mean all three of us! Either we all go, or we all stay! But I go, where you go!”

“Rev!” Mirelle grabbed his horn, and pushed his head to the side. “Look!”

Back towards the western horizon, clouds of sand were rising there, too. They churned towards the sky. Tendrils of sand stretched towards the sun, grasping at it like fingers, eager to blot it out. Out ahead of the storm, the earth rumbled and shook, and forms rose from the sand as the desert built itself into an army of urd’thin. First there were dozens. Then there were hundreds. And soon, there were thousands of them, marching across the sand, converging on the small oasis.

“No…” Revaramek’s heart dropped out, thumping into his tail. His belly pooled in his hind paws, cold, and ice. This couldn’t be happening. All I wanted to do was save her. “He…he won’t let us leave…” He took a shaking breath, and took a long look at his beautiful mate. “I’m sorry. I never should have brought you here.”

Nyra only pressed her muzzle to his. “I’d never have let you go alone.”

“I know.” He kissed her, gently. “I love you, Nyra. And whatever happens, I will always love you. In this life, the next, and every existence to come.”

“I love you too, Rev,” Nyra said, her voice a broken whisper. Tears brimmed in her eyes. “Wherever you go, I will always find you.”

Revaramek swallowed back the sob threatening to shatter him. “I know, Nyra. I know.” He kissed her again, then turned away. “Be ready to fight, or to flee.” He switched to the human tongue. “Mirelle-”

“Do what you do, Rev.” Mirelle hoisted up her maul, hefting it in both hands. “We’re with you.”

Revaramek nodded once. “Let’s start with talking.” He took a deep breath, steadying his nerves, then called out towards the gate. “Leave them be!” He flared his wings, as if to shield Nyra and Mirelle. “And listen to me! You know why I’m here, but I think I know why you’rehere, too. I don’t want to damage your story! I don’t want to ruin Vakaal’s life! I just want my mate to live. I want my son, to know his mother!”

A voice answered, echoing as a rumble across the desert, a sound of distant thunder, and howling wind. “We do not always get what we want.” All at once, the urd’thin stood atop the tomb, his voice shook the stones on which he stood, and the sands beneath their feet. “I told you not to come here. I gave you warning. I told you to go home, to cherish your days together.”

Revaramek whirled towards him, still shielding the others with his wing. “How can you expect me to do that? You never let your son go, he never let-”

“And look what it wrought!” The urd’thin’s voice hit them like a wave, tossing them back across the sand.

From the trembling earth rose scenes of despair. An urd’thin cut apart, and pieced back together by his son. Over, and over. A monster born from anguish and despair. A world cast into ruin. A grieving mother and father. A whole world drowned by poisoned sorrow. Another world, and an urd’thin in a cloak, standing against an army. An army reduced to ashes, and another sky torn asunder. A lonely, wandering star, burning away all those it once held dear.

“There are rules to this!” The urd’thin waved his hand at the sky, and suddenly they stood not beneath a blue expanse, ringed with growing sandstorms, but under the great cosmos itself. Revaramek had seen such a place, once before, when he met Vakaal. “There are rules to all of this! For every broken rule, a consequence!” His words were a roar, and with every breath, the stars and spheres turned in the sky, as if by thought alone did the universe move. “For every decision, a consequence! You save one life, you doom another! You mate dies, so that the child may live!”

“No!” Revaramek stepped towards him, shaking his head. “I’ll never accept that!”

“Neither did I!” The urd’thin splayed his hands, and in instant he was made not flesh, fur and bone, but of light. At first, the light was so brilliant, Revaramek could not make out the details. “He was not meant to live! She was not meant to have child!” As Revaramek’s eyes adjusted, the light’s shape became clear, like white fire wreathing an urd’thin in blinding silhouette. “So I flaunted their rules!” The god thumped a flaming fist to his chest. For a moment, the light cast aside the shadows within the silhouette, revealing a body of blackened sand. “And for my arrogance, they took him from me!”

“We won’t do that!” Revaramek stepped forward again, feeling as if he was fighting back against a surging tide. The brighter the god’s light grew, the harder it pushed against him, like a physical thing, dragging him back. “We only want help for her!”

“That’s all they ever want, help! Save my child, save my village, heal my world!” The god cast his white-flame hands out wide, and all the sand-urd’thin reached for him, clawing at the air. Begging, pleading, crying out. Calling prayers of mercy, of desperation, their voices louder and louder, a ever-growing cacophony. “He deserves to live a life! But when they know what he is, all they do is, ask and ask, louder and angrier! All he ever wants to do is help, but they won’t relent, they’ll consume him! I amsorry, but some stories are meant to end! Vakaal’s story was never meant to begin, and for that, we have paid our penance! We have seen our loves ripped away from us, for breaking their rules, for refusing to bow! But for all the centuries we have suffered, I will see Vakaal live the life he deserves! I will see my people live the lives they deserve!”

“What about the life my son deserves?” Revaramek had to lift his voice to nearly a roar to drown out the screamed prayers of all the urd’thin masses writhing beneath the churning cosmos above. “He deserves to know his mother!”

“Then go home! Let him know her, while he still can!”

“Revaramek!” Nyra’s voice cut through the cacophony all around them. Time slowed, and Revaramek turned his head to find her smiling at him. Her eyes glowed like silver flame in the god’s light. “It’s alright! You tried! But…it’s alright! I’ve already had more time with you and Korakos than I ever thought I would! We can go home! We can cherish the time we have! It’s…it’s alright, Revaramek. When the time comes, you can let me go, happy to know we had years together. I know, when I draw my last breath, it will be a joyful breath, because I got to spend my life with you, and with our son. It’s alright…”

Revaramek took a shaking breath, his head hanging low. “It’s…” Tears ran down his muzzle, glittering like white diamonds. “It’s not fair.”

“That’s how it always starts.” The noise died away in an instant, and the god stood before them once more as an urd’thin, nude save for the silver bracelets and a turquoise raindrop broach. “It’s never fair. It’s…” His voice shuddered. “It’s never fair. And you want so desperately to help them, but you can’t.” He dropped his hands, his ears drooping. “Or it all falls apart. His story…” An image appeared, of the urd’thin cradling a tiny, stillborn pup. “It was always meant to end. She wasn’t meant to have a child. They wouldn’t let her.” He lifted his eyes towards the stars glittering above them. For a moment, hatred and defiance flashed in his eyes. “I refused to accept that…” He balled up his fists, growling. “And for defying their rules, my reward was tragedy. Before we burned him, I named him after a parable. A lesson I’d refused to learn.” He lowered his face back to the dragon. “But here?” He lifted his head, turning back to the dragon. “He has a chance to live his life, rules of the stars be damned. And I’m going to let him live it.”

Revaramek took a step closer to the god. “You…you kept saying ‘we’ earlier.” He glanced back at Mirelle, and she nodded. She’d heard it too. “You’re…You’re not all of him, are you? The Father?”

“I was.” The urd’thin straightened up, and spun around. In a flash of golden light, they were in the desert again. Thousands of urd’thin built of sand surrounded the oasis, their every set of eyes fixed on their master’s movements. “Once. Sometimes, when the memories flood back, I still am. They’re always part of me, but…I’m not always him. Sometimes I’m just…” He lifted a hand, watching his own fingers crumble away to burnt, blackened sand. It drifted away in the wind, like smoke. “A broken vessel.”

Revaramek swallowed hard, his claws unsheathed. Whatever that meant, it didn’t bode well. “Where’s the rest of him, then?” He pointed towards the stone tomb. “In there?”

“Stay away from there!” The urd’thin’s voice struck the dragon like a hammer, knocking the air from his lungs. He stumbled back, coughing.

“Rev!” Nyra hurried towards him.

Revaramek caught his balance, and held up a paw. “It’s alright, Nyra, it’s alright…” He took a few deep breaths, focusing his attention on the god. “I…I can’t leave here, without what I came for. I think you know that. And I think you understand why, even if you don’t want to admit it to yourself.”

“Oh, I understand why.” The god turned away from them, walking to the two statues. He put his hand atop the female’s head, and then gave one of her ears a delicate, loving caress. “Her name was Rain. She and I broke the rules, too. I think…I think we lived more than one life, together. But I can’t remember, anymore. Maybe he won’t let me.”

“Who won’t let you?” Revaramek glanced at the other two, waving his wing at them to urge them to move back.

“The First. Or…Etchka, I suppose. I was him, for a while. Or…or he was me.” He held his own hands out, staring at them as his fingers reformed. “He kept trying again, and each time…he needed a vessel. I don’t know if they were all me, or if there’s others still out there, remembering.” He sighed, and then his drooping ears suddenly perked. “But as long as he’s out there now, happy at last, that’s all that matters.”

“Who’s out there?” Revaramek raised his voice, pronouncing the name as clearly as he could. “Vakaal?”

“Yes.” The god turned, smiling at the statue of the pup.

“So Vakaal’s out there?” Revaramek walked closer, lifting his head. “Vakaal’s living the life he deserves? I’m glad…”

The urd’thin snorted, going still. “Are you?”

“Yes. I got to meet Vakaal once, and-”

“Do you think he hears you?” The urd’thin god whirled on the dragon, his eyes ablaze with burning light. “Is that why you keep saying his name?”

Revaramek couldn’t help but smile. “You’d be surprised. I woke him up that way, once and-”

“He’s not asleep anymore. He doesn’t hear you calling.”

“So it worked?” Revaramek cocked his head. “Vakaal caged the monster?” Revaramek took a step closer. “Vakaal stopped Asterbury?”

The god’s ears twitched. “It’s time you go home.”

“Or…” Revaramek tilted his head, slowly looking the deity up and down. “Or did the monster find a new host? All that anger in you…”

Mirelle sucked in her breath. “You don’t think-”

“I gave you a choice before, because I understand your pain.” The urd’thin held his hands out, palms up. “I offer you that same choice now. Leave this place forever. Return home, and cherish your last years together. Watch your son grow.”

“We’ll go!” Nyramyn bowed her head, her voice soft. “Rev, let’s just go before-”

Revaramek glanced back. “You can understand him?”

Nyramyn looked up. “Is he not speaking swamp dragon?”

Revaramek licked his muzzle. “No. I suppose he wants us all to understand what he’s offering. And I didn’t come this far to fail you, Nyra.” He took a breath, and returned his attention to the god. “You know I can’t leave until I speak to Vakaal.”

The urd’thin grit his teeth. Thousands of sand warriors snarled as one. “Stop. Saying. His. Name.”

“So he can hear me.” Revaramek tilted his head. “Can Asterbury?”

A blinding flash struck the dragon like lightning. Electric pain erupted through his body and blasted him clean off the earth. He toppled through the air, every nerve aflame. It was all he could do to gather his feet under himself, and send a mental signal to his heart, and whatever spark lurked deep inside him. He begged in silent plea.

Keep Nyramyn and Mirelle safe!

Revaramek hit the earth, and fresh pain thudded through him. He heard his name screamed in the distance, and hoped that meant the others were alright. Whoever, or whatever, this god really was, Revaramek did not think he would harm Nyra and Mirelle unless he had too. Revaramek was more than happy to draw the god’s ire for as long as was necessary. He had an idea, now, and if he was right, it might just save their lives.

The dragon staggered to his feet, groaning. He tasted blood. He took a few breaths, glancing around. The god remained near the statues, and Mirelle stood with both hands on Nyramyn’s chest as if holding her back by sheer force of will alone. Hopefully that meant Mirelle had at least an inkling of what he was up too. Revaramek half wondered if he died, if the god would cure Nyramyn, just so Korakos wouldn’t grow up without a parent.

“You know, sooner or later…” Revaramek coughed a few times, limping back towards the god. White light now once more wreathed him. An area of scorched sand and cracked black glass marred the desert where he’d been standing earlier. “I’m gonna get sick and tired of getting my ass kicked by whiny gods, and then I’m gonna start fighting back.”

“I offer you a chance to live out your story with your love, and your child, and yet you spit upon my sand.” The god’s white-fire eyes drilled into the dragon’s soul. “Why?”

“Pissin’ people off is kinda my thing.” Revaramek paused to catch his breath, and offer Nyra what he hoped was a comforting smile. “I’m alright, Nyra, don’t worry.” From the way she glared at him, Revaramek suspected if he made it out of this alive, she was probably gonna break his wings later. He turned his attention back to the god. “I’m willing to leave, but only after I-”

“This is not a negotiation. You will leave now, or you will never leave.”

“See, it’s funny you put it that way. Almost like you couldn’t bring yourself to kill me.”

“Revaramek!” Mirelle hissed at him, stomping a booted foot. “Don’t press your damn luck!”

Revaramek couldn’t tell if Mirelle was playing along or not. Didn’t matter. “Is it because Vakaal’s gonna be angry if you kill me? Or is it Asterbury? I gotta admit, it’d be kinda funny if after all these years, that crazy little shit took a shine to me, and wants me to stick around.”

“You think I won’t kill you?” The god took a few slow, steps towards Revaramek. The world rippled around him, dunes rose and fell in the distance as if each step was somehow rearranging reality. “Or do you want me to? You think if I kill you, I’ll save your mate, so she’ll have a lifetime with your child?”

Revaramek scrunched his muzzle. “Thought crossed my mind. But no. I’m just trying to get Asterbury’s attention, because I’m pretty sure he’s-”

This time, the god struck Revaramek with a physical blow, hurling him across the sand and towards the oasis. Agony ripped through him, and once more the dragon struggled to call to his spark as he hurled through the air. This time, he willed it to protect him, with whatever meager power it may have. Warmth blossomed, flowing through his body. Strengthening him from within. Revaramek crashed against the ground, toppled onto a hand fruit tree. His body bend around it, anguish filled him as his bones flexed and bent, but somehow, did not break.

“I warned you!” The god’s voice came as crashing thunder, a furious storm closing in. “I gave you every chance I could! I hoped you’d be better than them! But you’re the same! You don’t care about anyone’slives but your own! As if our suffering is meaningless, so long as you’respared pain! We should have annihilated them, to spare our son the suffering! But we tried to be better, we wanted to be better! And what did it get us? But this time, I will not let anyone ruin his life!”

The god flew across the sand, a flash of light that cut the sand in two. Revaramek cried out and tried to rise, staggering to his feet, and bracing the blow he feared would finally end him. He prayed, begged his spark to do anything it could to re-shape the story, not for him, but for Korakos. To keep Nyramyn safe long enough to raise him. Impact never came. Instead, there came a started cry from an urd’thin. Revaramek opened his eyes, and found the statue of Vakaal now before him, barring the god’s way.

“What?” The god stared down at the statue. “But…why? This is…it’s all for you…”

“Revaramek!” Nyramyn called out to him, and Mirelle’s voice followed just behind her. “The statues!”

“I noticed!”

While the god was transfixed by the statue of Vakaal, Revaramek scrambled away from him. Pain thudded through each limb, and deep in his body. His spark prevented him from breaking anything, but he’d certainly bruised and sprained whatever there was to bruise and sprain. Closer to Mirelle and Nyramyn, the other statue now faced a completely different direction. Its arms were no longer raised to the sky, but outstretched before it, pointing across the sand.

“They just moved!” Mirelle snatched up her maul, running towards Revaramek. “I didn’t even see them move, it was just…suddenly it was in front of you! And now this one’s pointing at the gate!”

“The gate?” Revaramek swung his head around, and saw that the gate was now completely active. Vines rippled and billowed around it as the silver stones spun around the rotating black ring. Coils of twisting blue lightning writhed in the center, where the lens once showed another desert. “Go! Go to it, now!”

Mirelle did not hesitate. She took towards the gate, her voice echoing back to him. “What did you do?”

“I don’t know!” Revaramek bumped his head against Nyramyn, and slipped into the swamp dragon tongue. “To the gate! I think it’s our only way out of here!”

Nyramyn bound towards the active gate, and Revaramek followed at her tail tip. He glanced back to the god, who stared at him. He moved around the statue, and the world flickered around him. The statue was once more in his way, as if it had been there all along. The god snarled something at it, waving his hands. Revaramek turned his attention back to the destination, silently thanking whichever friend or foe had come to their aid.

“What the hell were you doing back there?” Nyramyn hissed at him as they skidded to a stop at the gate.

Mirelle whirled towards her, fire flashing in her eyes. “What the hell were you doing back there?”

“That’s what Nyra…nevermind!” He tilted his head back, trying to figure out where the gate was going. It didn’t seem to have any set destination, and silver stones were still twisting in the air. If it already had a destination, he planned to override it. “Think about the sandstorms! He used one before to hide himself, right? On the dune! I think he was hiding from the tribe, not from you! He’s using them now, not just to box us in, but to hide this place from the rest of the desert.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Exactly!”

Revaramek set his paw on the base of the gate, willing it to listen to him. It resisted, trying to set its own destination. Revaramek poured his spark into it, screaming a mental order to obey him. He wasn’t sure it would work, but he had to try. When he finally felt it accept his spark, he breathed a quick sigh of relief, and looked down at Mirelle.

“He’s hiding his actions there’s someone out there who wouldn’t want him to kill us! Vakaal, or Asterbury, or whoever it was! Just like they don’t use Asterbury’s name because they’re afraid he can hear them. Someone out there can hear us calling his name or, could sense the Father using his powers! I was just trying to get him to use enough of his power that…whoever’s out there would notice it, sandstorm or no sandstorm! And then they’d start listening!”

“That was your plan?”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Yes! You…you magnificent, resplendent idiot!”

“I shall take that as a compliment!”

“Revaramek!” Nyramyn hissed her name. “He’s coming!”

Revaramek glanced back over his wings just in time to see the god’s form erupt into a cloud of churning sand. It poured around the statue, flowing through the air towards the gate. At the same time, the ground rippled under their feet, and then froze, like golden glass. It cracked and shattered, and all the pieces flew up into the air. They assembled themselves a new, forming a golden-dome around the gate, and the three peoples nearest it. Lashing tendrils of sand struck at the glass, cracking it, but it did not yet shatter.

“Faster, Revaramek, Faster!”

“I don’t think I’m in control, Mirelle!”

More sand struck the dome. The sandstorm whirled around, screeching in fury.

“I think that statue sapped his power, or we’d all be dead by now!”

“Comforting!”

Where?

Finally, the question he’d been searching for exploded in his mind. It sounded angry, as if enraged he refused its preset destination. To Revaramek, it did not matter where it was previously set to. He could only think of one place that would truly be safe right now. A map poured into his mind, thousands of nodes and destinations, worlds and timelines. It was staggering, and he realized then why this gate seemed so different. This gate was nota Storyteller. This gate was built by a god. That was perfect.

“Vakaal!” Revaramek shouted his destination aloud. He pictured the pup in his mind, the way he appeared when Revaramek last met him. Surely, only the pup could save them from the father. “Take us to Vakaal!”

No sooner had it given it a destination, then the gate’s concussive thud rang out, and the tunnel through the void pierced the protective dome.

“Vakaal?” Mirelle whirled around on him. The dome cracked, and sand spilled in. “Are you sure that’s-”

Revaramek shoved Mirelle through the gate.

“You scaly son of a-” And then she was gone.

“Go!” Revaramek pushed Nyra towards it. “Go through! I’m right behind you!”

“You’d better be!” Nyra pressed her muzzle to his in a brief, loving kiss.

Revaramek returned the kiss. The dome cracked again, and pieces of it fell apart. More took their place, repairing the damage. Whoever their ally was, Revaramek doubted this was a battle they could win without being here in person. With a grunt of effort, he shoved Nyra forward, into the gate. She gave a startled yelp, snapping something at him in the swamp dragon tongue. Revaramek pushed to follow her as more cracks split the dome. But rather than accept him, the gate pushed back. Unseen forces clutched his limbs, holding him in place.

“What the hell?” Revaramek struggled, calling his spark, bidding it to free him. “Nyra, go!”

Instead, Nyra paused, seemingly standing in the midst of a long, dark tunnel wreathed with indigo lighting. She turned back, eyes widening when she saw him struggle. “Rev, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know!” Revaramek snarled, pushing forward. He made progress, but it was like wading through quick sand. “It’s like it doesn’t want me going with you!”

Nyra bound back towards him, grabbing at his foreleg. “Let him go!” She pulled his limb free, but the rest of him remained stuck.

Behind them, the dome cracked further. By now, the damage was accelerating faster than the repairs could keep up. “Nyra, go!”

“I won’t leave you!” Nyra wrapped both front legs around his limb, leaning onto her haunches to pull.

Revaramek fought harder, wrenching a hind leg free. He stumbled a little, knocking into Nyramyn. “Vakaal! Vakaal! Take us to Vakaal, gods damn it!”

All at once, the dome exploded with a horrible, shattering scream. Sand poured into the gate behind them, tendrils grasping at his limbs. With heart thudding, Revaramek reached deep inside himself, willing his spark to manifest once more. He called to it, let it well up through his body, and pushed it out into the world around them.

“Tell this goddamn gate to send us! Now!”

The gate obeyed. An immense, concussive thud rang out, and together Revaramek and Nyra were hurtled into the infinite space between worlds. Even as the strange disorientation set in, even as time stretched and compressed all at once, relief settled over Revaramek. The gate closed behind them. They were on their way to Vakaal. And at least, for a little while, they were safe.

And then Nyramyn was torn from grasp.

“No!” Revaramek screamed as she was wrenched away from him, hurtling in the opposite direction. “Nyra!” He struggled to follow her, snatching at the emptiness that grew larger and larger between them. “Nyra!”

“Rev!” Nyra battled against the unseen powers, but her war was as his futile as his own. Whatever powers fueled the gateway were too great for them to overcome. Nyra streaked away from him, and in only seconds, she was gone.

“Nyra!” Revaramek thrashed against the empty space for long, furious moments. He took a breath, and roared until his lungs hurt. He gasped and struggled, and finally, gave in. Panting, he hung there, awaiting the searing heat, the freezing cold, the ocean of memories. None of those things came. Instead, there was only the sensation of movement, and the feeling of passing through doorways in the darkness. Pain soon filled him, just the squeezing his heart. Poor Nyra, he thought. They did everything they could, and still she lost him again.

“She’ll be okay…” He muttered to himself, trying to catch his breath. “Vakaal will save her. Vakaal will…” He blinked, drifting through the darkness. “Wait…”

Something clicked in his head. If the gate had refused to send him to Vakaal, because whoever activated it had set a different destination, then…it wasn’t Vakaal who activated it. It wasn’t Vakaal who overrode the destination, or pulled him away from Nyra.

But if it wasn’t Vakaal, then that meant…

Revaramek’s heart sank. He already knew where he was going.

The gate was taking him to Asterbury.