by Jada Fisher
But then, just beyond them, in the endless expanse of white, I saw something else entirely.
My eyes widened, breath quickening as claws came into view. Then shimmering scales. It should have been impossible for anything to move at its own discretion within the void. We were outside of time and space without a single thing around us. And yet the shape grew closer, its edges defining themselves and colors shining that much brighter.
The rotted dragon.
Except he wasn’t rotted anymore. That much became starkly apparent as he burst into full view, wings flaring and his shining feet aiming toward us like a raptor about to snatch a fish from a lake.
The holes were gone. The pustules were gone. The old scars and chipped scales were gone. Everything noxious and awful about him had vanished, leaving one of the most beautiful dragons I had ever seen, and I just so happened to be dating a gorgeous silver one.
His scales weren’t any one set color. They shone so brilliantly they were practically iridescent, one moment a shimmering red when the light hit it directly only to shift into a truly royal purple. Then a ripple of light and they would be something else entirely. I didn’t think it was possible for a dragon to be holographic, but that was the closest word I could think of to describe him.
And those broken, cracked or otherwise rotten horns were all back, nearly a dozen atop his head like a crown and more going down his back, ending in a weapon-like cluster at the base of his tail. Each one of those points almost seemed to glow, and actually… I wasn’t certain that they weren’t really glowing. It was too hard to tell in the incredible void we were all tumbling through.
Well, we were tumbling. He seemed to be flying just fine.
And that certainly wasn’t good for us.
His eyes locked with me—beautiful, golden pools of sparkling magic. It wasn’t right for something so evil to be so beautiful. If I didn’t know better, I would think he was the hero, all resplendent artistry and perfection, beautiful lines and shining glory.
His outstretched wings, shining like gossamer though there was no way they were that delicate, suddenly folded in while his talons flared. I couldn’t be absolutely sure, but those curved claws looked to be a shining gold, surely a testament to his vanity and dramatic flair.
But what I was absolutely sure of was that he was about to divebomb us and snatch us right up in those vicious claws.
It surprised me how adamantly I wanted to avoid that. We’d already lost. We were dead. The convergence was happening, and sure maybe we were breathing, maybe we were technically alive, but there was no way we would be for long.
Yeah, the dimensions were similar, some of them even so similar that it would take a thorough investigation to figure out what was different, but that didn’t mean that all of what existed could be pushed into a single thing.
I’d drifted a lot during the time I was dead, learned a lot, saw a lot, all through the eyes of other oracles. And while I had lost much of that knowledge when I came back to the land of the living, I did remember how strange some places were. And not strange as in fascinating, but as in completely incompatible with my world’s way of life. In a way that made Mal’s world look like a cakewalk. Some worlds with giant monsters. Some with technology far beyond our own. Some with not-quite-humans. Not to mention all the duplicates. It had been confusing enough when we had met Mal. What happened when five more Davie Masters beings popped up? What if not all of me were good? There was a reason why we were separated by the fabric of reality. And yes, sure, I’d torn it a little when I’d made sure Mal got through the veil and stayed in our world, but one teeny, tiny little hole was nothing compared to the way Faeldrus had ripped it right in two.
So anyways, we were falling, we were about to die, and we were at the point where it was stupid for me to resist. And yet, right there in my chest, was the burning desire to fight back.
The rotted-but-totally-not-rotted-anymore dragon’s claws flashed, and I reached out for my friends. Somehow, I hooked my foot through Krisjian’s loose shirt while my hand caught the sharp point of Bronn’s horns. It was like that prick of pain, blood already welling up from the cut and traveling down his horns, was enough to wake me up within, because I felt a fizzing sort of power that I had missed oh-so-terribly.
Faeldrus must have sensed it, he must have, because there was a sharp flash in his eyes and a snarl from his mouth that revealed row after row of perfectly-pointed teeth.
And then he was gone.
Everything blinked out and I thought I was really dead, but then reality rushed right back in again. Between breaths, I swore I saw that kaleidoscopic energy stream that I had spent so much time in, but they disappeared as soon as my mind could register what it was seeing.
Then there was a great pop, one that I felt right down to my heart, and then we were…hitting water?
I was so surprised that I gasped, which was not a great thing to do while underwater. My feet touched something solid and I rocketed myself upward, praying that I wasn’t too deep.
Thankfully, I did burst into oxygen, coughing and hacking. I tried to open my eyes, but they burned something terrible. However, I didn’t need to open my eyes to hear the cries of shock and alarm all around me.
Huh.
I bounced on one foot in the water, the other bent to accommodate where it was twisted in Krisjian’s shirt. Enough to wipe at my eyes furiously. Familiar scents were coming back to me, coconut, sunscreen and acrid chemicals.
…were…were we in a pool?
An enraged roar sounded from above us and I decided to deal with the burning pain. Opening my eyes again, I saw we were indeed in some sort of apartment complex pool. Of course, it couldn’t just be any regular sort of hot summer day we were interrupting. That was clear by the decorations, modest pile of presents, and cake over in the shade with all the other snacks.
Great, on top of the world ending, we’d crashed some kid’s birthday party.
A screech sounded in the air and I winced, glancing up as best I could, chlorine making my face and eyes burn. Sure enough, Faeldrus was high above us but diving again.
How had he followed me? Even I hadn’t known where I was going!
Eyes feeling like someone had held a match to them, I reached right back out for Krisjian, grabbing blindly with my bloody hand. Faeldrus was approaching so fast, I didn’t know if I could get us away in time.
He swooped down, claws still out and reaching, only to bounce right off something like a bird hitting a window. It might have even been comical if I hadn’t been so sure that we were all about to die. There was a faint ripple of color where he’d collided with the invisible force, reminding me of how my shield used to look before it was completely destroyed.
“Was that…” I heard Krisjian murmur beside me.
“I think so,” I answered back breathlessly, looking around for what could have made the unseen barrier. It didn’t take me long to find it, energy practically pouring from two little girls by the cake, holding each other’s hands and looking calmly upward while everyone around them was either screaming or scrambling to safety.
My first instinct was to start towards them, not sure what use that would be, but nevertheless wanting to be closer. I stopped dead in my tracks, however, when I was close enough to realize just who they were.
Both with dark, wavy hair. One with solid features and build while the other was finer. Familiar features, but usually housed in my memories, not right in front of me. It was Mickey and me, yet both the same age and dressed in identical outfits.
Were…were we twins in this world?
The idea was both heartwarming and so entirely alien that I couldn’t figure out how I felt about it. And I didn’t get a chance to before that same cracking sensation shook the entire world and it felt like the pool was sucking us down into it.
I’d seen enough horror movies with inventive deaths to know that decidedly wasn’t good, but I couldn’t even fight it. It was an impossible pull, yanking us d
own and back. But instead of meeting our end at a surprisingly-powerful drain, we were instead tumbling right through the void again—bright, white light all around us.
Why did I get the feeling that we were just getting started?
2
Hit the Ground Running
Tumbling, falling, careening, my mind rapidly went through all the different words that roughly meant flying haphazardly through the air with no hope of stopping. I couldn’t turn myself, couldn’t do much besides hold onto Bronn and Krisjian, but I could hear the rotted dragon behind us, snarling and wings furiously moving.
I didn’t know how we were keeping ahead of him, considering that we couldn’t influence our speed, and apparently he could, but I certainly wasn’t complaining about it. It was unsettling to feel like he was that much closer with every passing second while being in my blind spot, though.
No matter which way I craned my neck, I couldn’t see him. I could only see his shadow as it fell around us. And that shadow… Whew, boy, was it growing awful fast.
My stomach was doing something between twisting and turning itself into a figure eight when I caught the distinctive smell of his breath. It wasn’t as putrid as I was used to, missing the sulfur and the camphor of deathly fire, but it was still pungent.
He had us. Any moment, his teeth could clamp onto my ankle and that would be the end of it.
But then we were bursting back into color, back into reality, my arm barely going up in time to protect my head as we skidded across a solid surface. I wasn’t sure how we weren’t turned into a compete paste considering how fast we had been falling, but it seemed that our momentum was either an illusion or didn’t carry through dimensions. Or maybe it was my magic. I still couldn’t get a solid handle on it, but obviously, I had been able to use it at least a little bit to grab both of my friends and drag them out of the path of the rotted dragon with me.
“I would very much like off this ride,” Krisjian groaned, his voice muffled by something. “And please remove your foot from my face.”
Oh, that was me, apparently. Shaking my head, I sat up and realized that the three of us had landed in a heap. Bronn was back in his human form after our two jumps. I wasn’t sure when he had changed, but it couldn’t have been that long ago considering my hand was still bleeding steadily.
“Are you alright?” he asked, looking to me. But I was too distracted to answer, staring back at the dozen or so ashen faces in the room we’d fallen into. They looked human enough, but they were all dressed in period costumes like we’d fallen into the middle of a movie set.
“Wisschen?” one of them asked the other, breathless and with a thick accent. I was pretty sure they didn’t speak English, which actually made a lot of sense.
“Lauffsen!”
That was all the dozen or so young women and men needed to scatter, rushing out of what seemed to be some sort of medieval kitchen. It would have been fascinating if it wasn’t all so darn confusing.
“Davie, why do I feel so nauseous?” Krisjian growled from beside me, one of his hands resting over his eyes.
“I’m pretty sure there’s no magic in this world,” I said, standing and going to help him up but startling at the blood down the front of his shirt. Had he been hu— Oh wait, no. That was me and my hand again. What was it about hands, feet, and heads that liked to bleed so dramatically?
I opened my mouth to ask the others as much, hoping to bring some much-needed levity to the situation, when so many screams sounded above us that I could hear them through the stone floor. I jolted, swallowing hard when I recognized the roar that shook the cold building around us.
“Is he hopping with us?” Bronn asked, looking up to the ceiling. “Or are we all just caught in the same pull?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “But I think we should get out of here.”
They nodded and we took off down the same stairs the other had fled through. It was pretty surreal to be in some sort of ancient castle. While I knew there was an infinite number of possibilities of worlds, I hadn’t thought about any of them basically being a free version of Medieval Times.
It didn’t help that we were damp, and the castle was fairly freezing. Either the world we had fallen into was extremely cold or they were in winter instead of summer.
Either way, my teeth were chattering despite our exertion by the time we burst out of the stairwell into what looked like a fancy hallway. From there, it was easy to merge with the fleeing folks all trying to duck debris as they escaped.
If any of them thought anything strange about our outfits, they certainly didn’t take the time to say so, and it wasn’t too much later that we erupted into what could only be some sort of fancy noble’s garden.
If I’d had more time, maybe I would have poked around. Our whole surroundings reminded me of one of my favorite movies—a multi-hour epic full of elves and other magical creatures—but I didn’t exactly have the time to linger, considering there was a very ancient and very angry dragon/oracle after us.
I didn’t get why he was so set on killing us. He had won. The worlds were converging. There was nothing he could do. Wasn’t he wasting time trying to go after three defeated enemies?
Then again, considering that he had won, did he even care about time? He had an eternity, thanks to his life being tied to the same reaper that had tried to collect me, yet had ended up saving my life a few too many times to be considered an enemy anymore.
“Watch out!”
A shoulder connected with my ribs, shoving me out of the way. Bronn caught me, still urging me forward even as I tried to figure what all of that was about. It only took a glance over my shoulder to see what looked vaguely like a flaming harpoon sticking out of the dirt right where I had been running to.
“Thanks, Krisjian,” I said with a nod, regaining my stride and hauling forward with the part of the crowd that had dashed in the same direction as us. It wasn’t as many as had been crammed into the hall as we were escaping, but I figured that was because they’d scattered in every direction as soon as we’d erupted outside.
Maybe it was selfish, but I was relieved that Faeldrus seemed more occupied with the ancient militia than us. Sure, he was torching their towers right and left, and their massive harpoons were bouncing right off him, but he wasn’t massacring them outright, so that had to mean something… Right?
There was another keening screech and I felt the rush of a breeze as his shadow crossed over us. It seemed like he was done playing with the mortals. More screams sounded around us and the citizens that had been running with us turned back. I, however, knew there was no point and skidded to a stop.
There he was again, my inescapable fate. Flying just above our heads, his giant wings barely moving but able to keep his truly massive form just floating there. He was a sight, a vision some might even say, but I only felt terror when I looked up at him.
Can you feel it? he asked, and I swore his voice was ten times worse than before. Instead of being something cold and oily, slithering around my ears and poisoning the back of my tongue, it was a booming force. Like lightning and thunder and an earthquake all at once. It made me want to fall to my knees, and it was only my ardent desire to run that kept me standing.
There’s no magic here, little one. Not even a drop. Your kind never made it to this world. Not a single oracle, seer, or even a miracle. Can you imagine what kind of progress we’ll be able to make when all are joined and the energy sweeps through here?
Oh, I could imagine it, alright, and it wasn’t good. Not even by a long shot.
“You’ll be turning this world inside out! Its natural order doesn’t allow for magic! You could cause irreparable harm.”
What is harm but a chance to learn?
I couldn’t stand his smug tone, especially in so much stereo inside of my own head.
“Don’t try to cushion this with talk of learning or benevolence. You want to use this place, take everything you can from it, then move on. And
you’ll do that to all of existence until you’re all alone.” I didn’t know where I was getting my words, but they were all rushing out, one right after the other. “And what then, Faeldrus? What happens when you’re all that’s left, floating through nothing, just hollow shells of what was? Who are you going to conquer? What gain can there be in ruling over dust? There will be nothing, nothing but you and your ego, and we both know without others to look down on that you’ll wither like the parasite you are!”
His responding drop to the ground was impossibly graceful, but also so sudden that I let out an undignified sound and leapt back. Bronn was in front of me in an instant, teeth bared. I had to admit, however, that it was a whole lot less intimidating in his completely human form.
Oh… There was no magic in the world. Did that mean he couldn’t shift? Was he unaware of that change or was the action just a habit? Did—
Ugh. Sidetracked. Even with all the adrenaline pumping through me, it seemed that my brain damage could still get me off-track.
Enough of this. We’ve played the game to the end. Do you really want your last words to be so bitter?
“Bitter enough for you to choke on? Absolutely.”
Clever. I won’t miss you.
He opened his mouth wide and rushed forward. My mind played several memories in an instant. The way that he’d done the same thing before and caught my arm. How many visions I’d had with his jaws trying to surround me. The way I always sank into his rotted flesh. Not even a second in real time, and yet it was a terrifying slideshow, a sort of preview of the death I had rushing for me.
But then there was a loud pop to our side and suddenly a bus crashed right into the side of his head.
…what!?
The horn blared and there was the sound of a terrible collision and shrieking metal. I faintly saw a flash of the driver, and I swore that she looked like one of the dwarves in our refugee group, just a bit…different? Older?
