Revaramek the Resplendent: Chapter One Hundred Twenty Nine (Patreon)

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Chapter One Hundred Twenty Nine

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Black nothingness surrounded Revaramek. In the darkness, there was pain. Revaramek’s heart, his very essence, ached with near-unbearable anguish, to have been torn from Nyramyn’s grasp. Worse still, he could only imagine how deeply their violent parting was going to wound Nyra’s still mending soul. At least this time he hadn’t left her behind on purpose, he thought. The dragon could only hope that brought Nyramyn some small measure of comfort until they were once more reunited. Revaramek swore to himself that they would be reunited.

For now, there was nothing the dragon could do but wait. At least there was no physical pain, unlike all his previous transitions between worlds. No sensations of scalding fire, nor freezing ice. Nor did he find himself adrift in a sea of memories that may or may not even be his own. This time, there was nothing at all but darkness, and momentum.

Eventually, a single rectangle of light appeared in the distance. As he drew nearer, the light formed a doorway, and the doorway opened. Beyond it lay a sea of stars. Everywhere he looked, stars were glittering, sparkling, chiming. He could hearthe stars, and they sang a song that grew hauntingly familiar. Revaramek knew the melody, and found himself singing along, without even knowledge of where he knew it from. The song was deep, and sorrowful, but hopeful at the same time. It made him think of snow falling on frozen stone, of rain falling on long parched desert sands, of hope persevering in a poisoned world, and of life built anew.

Beyond the stars, lay spheres. Revaramek could not tell if he was truly drifting through the cosmos, or merely glimpsing it like a map wreathed around existence. Was he seeing entire worlds at a distance, or simply their representations? He half-wondered if he could point to a world, and go there, just to see what lay beyond its protective veil. Focusing on one such sphere, the dragon glimpsed landmasses, and oceans, but they were so distant they appeared only as swathes of blue, green, and brown. It drifted past him, and ahead, another doorway opened in the darkness.

Through the doorway, and through another, he traveled. Gradually, the star-song faded from his ears, and soon, from his memory. His momentum increased, and he sped towards the next door. Yet he felt no wind against his scales, heard no rushing air. He felt nothing at all, as if he existed now only as a consciousness, with no physical form through which to interpret reality.

As he approached the next doorway, golden light shone from within in. This door seemed different. The cosmos shimmered all around it, like a great, unseen wall, barring entry to all save those granted permission to access this particular door. Revaramek suddenly had the feeling it was not the gate guiding him, but someone on the other side.

More and more golden light poured through the door like warm sunshine on desert sand. It enveloped him, and for the first time since entering the gate, Revaramek felt. The light’s warmth filled him, from his hide to his blood and bone, to his very essence. He would have stayed forever in that light, if it but gave him that choice. Just as quickly as it came, the light was gone, and the journey was over.

This time, there was no hard landing. He was not spat out the other side, did not tumble across the ground. He simply was, as if he’d always been there. Nor was there a struggle to remember who he was, or how he’d gotten there. He remembered the fear in the desert, the desperation to escape the furious entity, and the pain of being ripped away from Nyra and sent to…

Revaramek jerked his head up. He fully expected to find Asterbury standing before him, cackling like an idiot, and proclaiming his complete and total lack of surprise that his old friend just couldn’t stay away. But Asterbury wasn’t there. Instead, across the large, brightly light golden-walled room he found himself in, was Aylaryl.

Aylaryl sprawled out amidst an assortment of vividly hued cushions. Some were as purple as her scales, with golden lace. Others were a royal blue, with silver tufts. Some were gold, others the rich burgundy hue of wine. Aylaryl’s black-edged wings were draped at her sides, and her brilliant, silver-white eyes were fixed on Revaramek. As she stared at him, a smug grin slowly stretched across her muzzle. Aylaryl reached towards a large, silvery platter before her, laden with meats and fruits. With a claw tip, she speared a single morsel, and then held it towards him.

“Date?”

Revaramek groaned. “How long have you been waiting to do that?”

Alyaryl shrugged her black-mottled lilac wings. “Nice to see you, too.” She took the date from her claw with her teeth. “Where’s the family?”

“Safe.” Revaramek grit his teeth, gazing around. “What the hell is going on?”

The room he found himself in was immense, easily large enough for a half dozen dragons to lounge around in. The walls were something akin to polished golden sandstone, rising toward a domed ceiling paneled in turquoise. The floor was smooth, cool white stone, marred here and there with gouges and scratches. A line of tall, narrow open windows let both bright sunlight and fresh air flow into the room. Decorative shutters carved to look like palm fronds and hand fruit sat alongside each of the many windows. At the far end of the room stood a pair of dark wooden doors more than large enough for a dragon. Each was intricately carved with swooping images of stylized sand dunes, and flying dragons.

Revaramek turned around, but found no gate, only another wall. This one was painted with a wide mural, depicting a circle of urd’thin draped in bright silvers and vibrant blues. They stood with the hands upraised, fingers splayed, as if each was grasping for the enormous golden sun hovering just out of reach. Sunbeams brushed each urd’thin in the circle.

Revaramek slowly turned back around towards Aylaryl. She looked entirely too smug for his liking. He took a few steps towards her, sniffing the air. Her scent was heavy there, but urd’thin scent lingered too. “Aylaryl, where the hell am I?”

Alyaryl’s smile only wider, and smugger. “The capital.”

“What capital?”

Alyaryl only stretched her forelegs out on either side of her platter of food. “The capital. The name is hard to pronounce, it’s urd’thin.” She yawned, then pulled her legs back. “It means…oh, what was it again? The Sun’s Chosen? No, that wasn’t it.”

Revaramek’s stomach twisted. “Star’s Blessing?”

“Yes!” Aylaryl lifted her head, laughing. “That’s the one. See, you knew all along.” She circled a paw in the air. “And this place, they call The Temple of the Wandering Star.” She dropped her paw, and speared another fat date. “Are you sure you don’t want one? They’re delicious.”

“Aylaryl…” Revaramek took a few steps towards her, batting aside a cushion. “What has he done?”

“Who?” She glanced at the date, then shrugged her wings again and popped the fruit into her muzzle. “Suit yourself.”

“You know who!” Revaramek fought back the urge to growl, his tail lashing. “Where the hell is Asterbury?”

“Communing.” Aylaryl pushed herself to her feet. “Come on. I’ll show you.”

“It’s extremely important that I talk to him about what’s happening in…well he probably already knows!”

Alyaryl glanced back at him, and gave him a long, hard look. “There are many extremely important things happening, to many people, on many worlds, all the time.” She turned away and flicked her tail at him. “Your emergencies are no more important, on the grand scale, than any other life or death emergencies.”

“Been rehearsing that, have you?” Revaramek snapped at her tail.

Alyaryl ignored him, padded towards the end of the room. She pushed open the large doors, and led him into a long corridor. Along one side was a mural of a deep blue oasis, lined with bright emerald reeds, and rounded yurts. Urd’thin pups were painted amidst the yurts, depicted in play along the oasis shoreline. Beyond them, distant dunes were shone in rolling golden waves. On the other side of the wall, grand floor to ceiling shutters covered windows. These shutters too were inlaid with intricate, decorative designs, with coils of silver vines and overlapping hand fruits made of polished red stone. A bit of sand dusted the floor ahead of them, where two young urd’thin pups were busy sweeping up.

When they saw the dragons coming, they straightened up, and gave nearly twin yaps of surprise. Their eyes fixed on Revaramek, the stranger in their midst. Aylaryl waved them off, and spoke a few words in urd’thin. Her accent sounded rough, but she was clearly better at it than he was. The urd’thin picked up their brooms and dustpans and scurried off down the hall, vanishing through a smaller door.

Aylaryl led him to where the urd’thin had been sweeping up. There, another set of immense doors led to what looked to be a massive, circular balcony. The doors were ornate, and beautifully designed. Golden filaments were woven in intricate, decorative coils between panes of shimmering, crystalline glass. It was the first time Revaramek had seen glass here, and it stood out all the more for its inclusion. Aylaryl pushed down the handles, clearly designed for dragon paws, and the doors swung open.

As Revaramek followed her outside into warm, fresh desert air, his heart dropped into his tail. Not only were they far above the ground, but stretching out below them was the largest city he’d seen. So entranced was he at first that he barely even noticed the balcony’s details. There images of dragons inlaid in the floor, cushions and dragon-sized padded loungers, and a railing made to look like a line of wind-sculpted sand dunes. Overwhelmed, he stumbled towards the railing, gazing at the city below.

Hundreds of sandstone buildings stretched as far as he could see. The buildings varied widely in shape and size, from single room structures, up to sprawling complexes with multiple stories and silvery spires. Roads and lanes great and small wound between the buildings. Groves of trees shaded plazas amidst intersections. There were hand-fruit trees and palm trees, flat looking acacias, dates and figs and dozens more the dragon could not identify. Channels filled with water ran alongside some of the roads, with smaller channels carrying it to fountains, or pumps in front circular areas in front of houses. Vibrant flags fluttered in the breezes, hanging from lines stretched across streets. Brilliant beadwork tapestries decorated the orange sides of buildings.

Everywhere he looked, there were more urd’thin than he’d ever seen. Pups played in dusty streets, and splashed in fountains. Mothers chased their children away from canals. Adults hauled produce in heavy sacks, or carried crates filled with birds, or led livestock to markets. In one place, he saw stone workers with hammer and chisel sculpting blocks of sandstone. In another, he saw a group of shapers constructing a new home, molding hunks of stone together with their powers. Smoke rose from cooking fires, as well as chimneys all throughout the city. A few urd’thin even rode in saddles atop great, pebbly scaled beasts lumbering along.

In awe, Revaramek turned to gaze back at the temple. The building towered the city, and was elegant in every way. All along its walls, urd’thin were carved. Some were shown exulting the sun. Others were in jubilant pose, arms spread wide. Still more of them simply looked as if they were dancing. Though the temple’s outer walls were made of the same beautiful golden stone as the inside, the urd’thin were gilded in silver, and turquoise. They shone in the late afternoon sunlight, glittering in mercury and pale blue. There had to be hundreds of them, layered atop one in another in long lines across the face of the building. All together, they looked as if they flowing outwards, away from the building’s center.

Along the building’s roof, sand dunes made of gold rose and fell all along the edge of it. Towards the center of the building, the decorative golden dunes grew higher, and higher, piling unto each other. At the very center, rose an enormous, shining sun, as if a star forged from the desert itself. When taken together, the urd’thin, the sand and the sun seemed to be one. As if the sun itself was forging beautiful, happy urd’thin from the infinite dunes, and sending them out into the world.

Other wings of the temple were curved, almost semicircular. They too, were golden stone, and gave the appearance of sunbeams, pouring out from the center of the temple to embrace the grand plaza before it. Mirrored surfaces edged other sections of the temple, as if to ever reflect the sky, the sun, the stars.

Still trying to come terms with everything, Revaramek turned his attention to the plaza below. It dwarfed even the largest such square back home in Refuge. Ekki’s entire village could have fine within its confines. Stark white alabaster flagstones lined it. On either side rose dozens of towering columns of polished turquoises. The columns closer to the temple were taller than those nearer the rest of the city. Graceful aqueducts supported by the columns ran from the temple down into the city. Between each set of blue pillars were hanging gardens in elegant arches, watered by the aqueducts. Vines stretched from garden to garden, or hung down towards the ground. The gardens provided both shade and beauty, redolent with red and purple blossoms, and plump orange fruits.

Beneath the garden, the plaza was filled with urd’thin of all types. There were young and old, male and female, fur in every shade Revaramek had ever seen among their kind. Pups balanced on their parents’ shoulders to see over the crowd. Revaramek walked along the balcony railing until he had a better look into the plaza. At the plaza’s head, a raised dais of black stone jutted up from the alabaster. In a way it was not unlike the plaza from which Ekki addressed her people, simply on a far grander scale.

A female urd’thin with fur the hue of sand stood at the front dais. She wore very ceremonial looking clothing of silver and blue, not unlike a robe, with a slit for her tail. Sunlight glittered off the bracelets at her wrists, and the runes woven into the fur of her neck. Though Revaramek was too far away to hear what she was saying, or see the details of her ornamentations, he was pretty sure he knew what they symbolized. She was their chief, or their high priestess, or whatever they might title such a role here. Standing behind her and off the side was another urd’thin, in similar clothes of silver and blue. That urd’thin was male, with light gray fur. He stood with his arms folded, but no sooner had Revaramek spotted him, than the urd’thin turned his head to smile a familiar smile at the dragon peering down from far above.

Revaramek flopped down onto his haunches. “Gods damn it!”

“Don’t blaspheme, Revaramek.” Aylaryl brushed at him, nipping at his scales. “It’s very rude to the High Priestess.”

“Tell me he didn’t!” Revaramek glared at her.

“Didn’t what?” Aylaryl clambered up onto one of the loungers nearby, and made herself comfortable. It was not unlike the furniture made for dragons back in Refuge, though in this case it was made of stone, with turquoise cushions all along its flat frame. “You’re going to have to be very specific.”

“Uughhh.” Revaramek closed his eyes, his head hanging. “Have you picked up all his bad habits?”

Aylaryl cocked her head, her ears perked. “Not all of them.”

Revaramek hissed, unsheathing his claws to scratch at the alabaster tiles of the balcony. He glanced around, and realized that the balcony was inlaid with images of colorful dragons, seemingly dancing. He scratched at another part of it, wondering whose idea it was, only for Aylaryl to hiss at him.

“Quit scratching my balcony!”

“Your balcony?”

“What?” Alyaryl cocked her head, smiling. “You don’t think the resident god-beast should get her own balcony?”

Revaramek wanted to hide his head under his wing. “Tell me he didn’t.”

“Didn’t what?” Alyaryl’s voice was a silken purr. She was ringing so much enjoyment out of this it made Revaramek want to try and slap it out of her. “You’re going to have to be-”

“Tell me he didn’t come here and make himself their god!”

Aylaryl only cocked her head. “He didn’t come here and make himself their god.”

Revaramek hissed at her, and snapped his teeth. “I don’t believe you!”

“Then why ask me?” Aylaryl snatched up a cushion and tossed at it him.

“Stop that!” Revaramek batted the pillow out of the air, growling. “If he didn’t build this city, who did?”

“The urd’thin!” Aylaryl tossed her dark purple head, glaring at him. “And what does building a city have to do with being their god?”

“So he is their god!”

“No! At least, not that way.” Aylaryl craned her neck to gaze down over the bustling urd’thin city below. “And he sure as hell didn’t build this place.”

“Oh, so an urd’thin city just built itself out of nothing? I suppose he just…” He waved his paw, hissing. “Popped in one day, did a little usurping? Made himself their new ruler?”

“No! It isn’t like that, at all.” Aylaryl kneaded her paws against the lounger, flexing her wings. “It couldn’t really be much further fromthat.”

“I don’t believe you!”

“That’s your problem! And isn’t that just like you, making some snap judgement about who’s right and wrong, and then riding it into the ground!”

“You better watch it! Last time we fought I was riding you into the ground!”

“Oh, yes, bring that up! You know, if you really want a rematch, I’d be more than happy to-”

“Children, children!” A familiar voice, grating yet chilling, cut through the air like a claw through flesh. “I’m gone for one Sun Communion ceremony, and you two are at each other’s throats! Am I going to have to put you two on time out?”

Revaramek jumped to his paws and whirled around to find Asterbury casually leaned up against the railing. The urd’thin was still wearing the blue and silver robe that Revaramek spotted him in before. But no sooner had the dragon spotted him than the clothes burned away into ashes, and the ashes rearranged them across Asterbury’s fur. From ash and ember grew new clothing, in similar colors but completely different style. A short sleeved turquoise tunic grew across his body. Black hemmed the sleeves, and silver threading cultivated itself all across the shirt, forming intricate coils and spirals. The bottom half of Asterbury’s robe turned itself into pants in the opposite set of colors, silver, with turquoise spirals and white edging.

“How the hell did you-”

“The clothes?” Asterbury looked down at himself. “A parlor trick. Why, would you rather I went naked? I can, if ya like.”

“Not the clothes, how did you-”

“Get from down there, to up here?” Asterbury tilted his head, smiling. “You do remember who I am, right?”

Revaramek grit his teeth. “Unfortunately.”

“No, the real trick is that I’m still down there.” Asterbury tilted his head over the edge of the railing, back towards the plaza. “And in a few other places, too. But right now, you’vegot most of my attention, you lucky thing.”

“A few other…” Revaramek peered over the railing. Just as promised, he still saw Asterbury standing on the dais below. He even waved up at the dragon. Revaramek sucked in a breath, stumbling back. “Holy hell, you really aretheir god.”

“Well, someone had to be!” Asterbury cackled and threw his arms wide, then patted himself on the chest. “So I thought, why not your old pal Asterbury?”

“This is…” Revaramek tried to steady himself. He glanced at Aylaryl, who only smiled at him. “What the hell did you do? There’s…there’s no way this is what Vakaal had in mind. This can’t be…”

“On the contrary!” Asterbury walked in front of the dragon, then hopped up on the balcony’s railing. The urd’thin threw his arms wide, calling out. “I give you, World 1-A!”

“That’s…impossible!”

Asterbury dropped his arms back to his sides, glancing at Aylaryl. “There’s just no pleasing some people, is there?”

Aylaryl shook her head. “He thinks you built it.”

“Hah!” Asterbury whirled around atop the railing to smile at the dragon. “So that’s what you think happened? You think what, exactly? That found myself in a dead world? Unlocked the rest of my powers, decided to atone for all my great misdeeds by building myself a brand-new civilization and ensuring it would grow and thrive?”

Revaramek glanced from the urd’thin, to the purple dragon, to the city, and back to the urd’thin. “Did…did you?”

“Yes!” Asterbury clapped his hands, laughed, and then shook his head. “No. No, not really. This was here when I found it. You see, this…” He pirouetted on the railing, then paused, staring down at his feet. “Ooh, Ayls, remember that time I drop kicked a severed head?”

“You don’t have to play crazy for company all the time, love.” Aylaryl snorted at him.

“I’m not! I’m just reminiscing.” He glanced back at Revaramek, smirking. “Besides, if he thinks I’m too stable now, he’s liable to get bored.”

Revaramek groaned, rubbing between his broken horns. “I’m starting to remember why I used to hate you.”

“You? Hate me?” Asterbury made a box around his face with his hands. “But no one could hate a face this lovable.” He turned around again, bushy tail swishing in the air. “So anyway.” He waved his hand at the city. “This was all here when I found it.” His voice softened, and he lowered his hand. “This is where it worked. You see, the numbers on the gates? Those always belonged to the storytellers. 1-A. Their original world. It was already dead when he found it.”

Revaramek slowly lifted his head, heart tightening. “When who found it? Vakaal?”

“No.” Asterbury chuckled and shook his head, his ears drooping just a little. “The First. The real god. This place was already dead, when he found it. All the storytellers had died, or fled, and so it was the perfect place to spin a story for urd’thin. And it worked. It actually worked. So he left, to start a new one…and that’s when it all went wrong, forevermore. But this?”

Asterbury turned back towards Revaramek, and hopped down from the balcony. A strangely nostalgic, bittersweet note crept into Asterbury’s voice. “This is where it worked. Where god and mortal together spun a story, and that story became a people. And that people…” He swept his hand across the city. “Built an empire. This place is old, Revaramek, older than your marsh, by far. No, I didn’t build this. They built this. Built it on the back of Mica’s story, and The First’s love. I’m just…” He sighed, and smiled, staring out across the horizon. “Watching over it, a while.”

Revaramek puzzled over that a moment, flattening his ears. As usual when Asterbury was involved, he felt as if there were one or two major pieces of the puzzle he was still missing. But the name Asterbury spoke, that was familiar. “Mica. Star Talker Mica?”

“Star Talker?” Asterbury twitched his ears, and he turned around. A hint of amusement crept back into his inky black eyes. “That’s a terrible translation. She was our first high priest. And, the first to know the truth. That we were…quite literally…” He gestured towards the temple’s great walls, laden with urd’thin marching away from the sand. “Built out of sand, by a lonely god. She was the only one who ever knew, I think. Brave enough to demand the truth, and strong enough to bear it all her life. The first of her people, and the backbone upon which this whole story once rested.” He pointed to a statue of a female urd’thin, placed so that it looked as if she was holding the sun itself aloft. “That’s her. High Priestess Mica, who spoke the words of the gods, because she heard the gods. In her case, literally.”

“I’ve…I’ve seen her statue. There’s…” Revaramek licked his muzzle, suddenly quite thirsty. “There’s urd’thin, in the desert. Like you. Shapers. They…they have her statue.”

“Yes, I know. They’re carrying out their great duty. You see, there’s no more wasteland here to save. So…” Asterbury shrugged. “They look to continue their sacred duty to spread their tribe, by journeying to other empty deserts. From sand they came. From emptiness, existence. From nothingness, life.” He took a breath, and smiled. “But enough scripture. You didn’t come all this way just for a theological discussion, didya old buddy, old pal?” Asterbury walked towards him, his arms spread. “Whatddya say, old chum, how ‘bout a hug for old times’ sake?”

“How about no.” Revaramek snorted, backing away.

Asterbury put his hands on his hips, glancing at Aylaryl. “He’s such a grump. You know, he wasn’t this cranky last time I saw him. Why, he even hugged me!”

“For one, you were crying.” Revaramek thumped his tail against the balcony. “For two, I told you then, I was hugging Vakaal. Now, if he’s hiding around here somewhere, I’d be happy to hug him.”

“I can shift myself into a pup, if you rather.”

Revaramek only glared at him. “You’re right, you know. I did come here for a reason. And as genuinely fascinating as all this is, I came to talk about my family.”

“Yes! Your family!” Asterbury clapped his hands together. “Where are they, actually? I’d be delighted to finally meet them. You know, officially. Without the threats and posturing.” He glanced at Alyaryl again, ears perked. “Did you leave them in your lounging chamber?”

“He didn’t-”

“They’re not here.” Revaramek strode towards Asterbury. “I sent them somewhere safe.”

Asterbury’s whole demeanor changed in an instant. His eyes darkened, and his ears swiveled back. His voice took on a new, nerve-wracking sharpness. “You did what?”

Revaramek froze. Asterbury didn’t seem threatening, not the way he once did. Now, if anything, he seemed almost nervous. Cold tines of ice raked all the way down the dragon’s back. “We were attacked, in the desert-”

“I know.” Asterbury’s voice only grew sharper, as if a sudden sense of urgency gripped him. “That’s why I sent help. That’s why I told the gate to bring you all here. Revaramek…” Asterbury took a step closer, his ears flat. “Where are the others?”

“I’d rather not say just yet.” Revaramek lashed his tail, anxiety gnawing at his belly. “So that was all you? Even the statues, and the shield? I realized you’d told the gate where to bring me, but…” He grit his teeth. “Does Vakaal know his father…your father…” He blinked, arching his neck. “That is your father out there, in the desert, isn’t it? Or…or part of him?”

Pain twisted up Asterbury’s face. His ears drooped and his tail sagged. “Something like that. He’s…like a memory of father, in a shell given life. But right now, yourfamily is what matters.” Asterbury lifted his hand and held up a single finger. A tiny spark of indigo lightning crackled at the tip of his claw. “Where are they?”

“I’d rather not say.” Revaramek grit his teeth. “But I sent Nyra somewhere safe, along with Mirelle. We were all going together, until you snatched me away from her.”

“Technically,” Asterbury said, flourishing his hand. “The gate did that. But it wasn’t supposed to. It was supposed to bring you all here. You, Nyramyn, and Korakos…” He trailed off, his eyes slowly widening. “You…you didn’t mention Korakos. You did bring him into the desert with you…didn’t you? You were supposed to bring allof them!” The urd’thin pivoted, thrusting a finger towards the balcony. Lines of blue light followed his hands. “Here! Where they’d be safe! Where I could talk to you about what it will take to save your mate.”

“Wait…what?” Revaramek gaped at Asterbury. “You wanted us all to come here?”

Asterbury grunted, rubbing his head back a horn. “Not when I first conceived of…” He dropped his hand back down. “You know what? Skipping to the important part because time is suddenly of the essence. Yes, I intended for you to take your entire family into the desert. Father’s remnant would never have harmed you in front of your child. You’d have been safe that way. And yes, I wanted your family to come here, to the city of Star’s Blessing, in the world built by a creator deity who once called himself The First.”

Revaramek slowly lifted his head, gazing out across the vast city. “This…this is the place, isn’t it. The one you used to see. Where Vakaal would have been happy. It’s real!”

Asterbury grimaced, rubbing his muzzle. “Not exactly. But this is the ‘story for urd’thin’, as it was meant to be. Now.” Asterbury straightened up. “Clearly, you used your spark to try and override the gate, but it only half worked.” He waggled a finger at the dragon. “This is important, Revaramek. Where did you send you Nyramyn and Mirelle?”

Revaramek sighed, and finally relented. “Where I knew they’d be safe. I was starting to think you meant for us to find Vakaal, somehow. That only he could save Nyra. I thought Vakaal was the true Star’s Blessing.” He took a shuddering breath, staring at the thousands of urd’thin down in the streets below. “I didn’t realize it was a city. So…”

“Star’s Blessing is a lot of things.” Asterbury waved a hand. “An herb, a city, a tomb, a metaphor for family…” He ran a hand across an ear. “Truth be told, when I first put the idea in your kid’s head, I was thinking of the herb. But that was a long time ago, and I was trying to make good on my promise. Since then, a lot of things have changed, and…back then, I never really had the full picture of…” He scowled, shrugging. “Of everything. And now, the poison’s already gone, and the herb can’t heal the damage it did.”

“But you just said she canbe saved, which means…You can save her.” Revaramek hung his head, his ears drooping. “I sent them to the wrong Vakaal.”

Asterbury’s jaw dropped. “You did what?”

Revaramek slowly lifted his head again. “Vakaal. I send them to Vakaal, wherever he is.”

“Oh…” Asterbury looked around at nothing in particular, murmuring to himself. “Oh…oh, no, no no. No!” He whirled on the dragon, snarling, though it was a sound of frustration, and of fear, not of threat. “You were supposed to bring her here.” He lifted a single finger again, more lightning crackling at the end of it. “I led you right to Etchka’s own gate! He built it himself, and left it near his resting place. It’s one of very few gates in existence that can even reach this world.” Asterbury grasped his ears, growling. “I even set it to automatically bring you here! The last thing I wanted you to do is try to find Vakaal! Because right now? Vakaal can’t help Nyra.”

Revaramek’s frills sagged. His heart slowly sank towards his belly. “Because if used his power that way, it would ruin his story all over again. Which is exactly what that sand-god is trying to prevent.” After a moment of thought, he lifted his head. “Wait, if Vakaal is living his life all over again, then why aren’t you there? Isn’t that yourlife, to live again?”

“We don’t all get what we want. Sometimes, we have to make sacrifices. Sometimes, we have to let go!” Asterbury ran his hands down his muzzle, murmuring. “I let go of that life, Revaramek, for someone else’s greater good. And now? You’re about to screw all that up.” He took a breath, his voice suddenly sharp. “Where is Korakos?”

“He’s with Kurekka and Chir’raal. Why?”

“Because there’s a broken god out there, and in his eyes?” Asterbury turned, and swiftly walked away, beckoning for Revaramek to follow. “You may as well have just sent your mate to take away his child. If he thinks it’ll protect Vakaal, what’s to stop him from doing the same to you?”