After what seemed like an endless series of monotonous days, Tylen's intuition told him they were close to their destination. He couldn't explain the feeling, but he trusted it.
Late that afternoon, there was no doubt he'd been correct. Ahead of them was a vast valley conspicuously free of trees. Nestled in that valley was one of the largest structures Tylen had ever seen. The structure's light-colored stone remained perfectly intact even though it must have been here for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Tylen pointed toward the structure. "That's where we'll find the stone."
Chapter 34: The Cold Wastes
Nadia and Klint had been walking for hours, and nothing had changed around them. The sky remained dark. The world remained quiet and empty. Snow continued swirling in the air, and cold wind blasted at their faces.
They had left the skeletal forest behind and were crossing what had once been a grassy plan. Now it was nothing but a brown expanse covered in a dusting of snow.
Nadia's stomach rumbled. She couldn't recall the last time she'd eaten. The time before traveling to this future had been so chaotic that eating had been the last thing on her mind. Now she wished they'd taken along some provisions.
The sky grew even darker, signaling the approach of night. It would have been too dark to travel without the light of Klint's staff. They were both on edge, expecting monsters to be lurking in the shadows.
But nothing threatened them. For now.
After a while, they were exhausted, and they decided to rest for the night. Klint kept the first watch, letting Nadia get some much-needed rest. Halfway through the night, he woke her, and she stood her own watch.
It was one of the most boring experiences of her life. She scanned their surroundings again and again, but she could see nothing in the darkness, so she listened for the faintest of sounds. Even that didn't help, however, as all she could hear was the wind.
With every passing minute, she grew more anxious. She could have sworn she felt evil hovering in the air, but perhaps that was only her imagination.
The darkness became more and more suffocating, reminding her of the Forest of Darkness. It was darker than the cloudiest night back home. She wished she could see the moon and stars, but she had the feeling nothing cast light upon this ruined world.
Klint lay on the ground nearby, snoring faintly. After their conversation about his past, they hadn't spoken much. She still wasn't sure she held complete trust in him, but it didn't matter. He was all she had in this frozen wasteland.
She missed Kara and Markus and all the others. Even worse was the chance that she might never see them again. Surely this world would kill her.
She paced the edges of their rocky campsite, trying to keep her thoughts positive, but nothing she did could distract her from the seeming impossibility of the task ahead of them. Still, as difficult as it might be, she had to free Markus—or at least she had to try.
Her stomach rumbled again, and she felt hungrier than she'd been in a long time. Tiredness began to take hold of her. It would be so easy to lie down next to Klint and fall asleep, but she couldn't do that. There was no telling if or when monsters might attack them. This world could be desolate, but so was the Shadowed Land, and Kara had faced many monsters there. Still, Nadia had expected to encounter something by now. Anything.
After what felt like an eternity, the black sky lightened to a dark gray. Eager to get moving, Nadia woke Klint. He grumbled a bit, then got to his feet.
"Anything happen while I was asleep?" he asked.
"Nothing. I think this world is empty."
"It could be, but I have my doubts."
They walked beneath the oppressive sky, their steps echoing in the near silence. From time to time, wind whistled across the desolate landscape. They followed a path consisting of dirt and rocks and the occasional twisted, skeletal tree.
There were no plants, no animals, nothing they could eat at all.
The more they walked, the more Nadia's stomach complained, but she pushed through it, knowing that complaining would do them little good. Klint didn't complain either, and she was grateful for that. Above all, he was a pragmatic man. You had to be in his line of work.
The first sign of trouble came a few hours after they'd begun walking.
A faint scuttling sound was just audible over the whistling wind. Nadia peered through the snow and darkness, but she saw nothing.
She held up a hand. "You hear that?"
"Yeah, I did," Klint whispered, and pointed his staff in the direction of the sound.
The scuttling sounded again, closer. Nadia tensed, imagining all the horrible forms this monster could take. But as the scuttling continued to approach them, it sounded too quiet to belong to a large creature.
At last, it stood in the yellowish light of Klint's staff. The creature appeared to be some kind of large spider perhaps three feet in length. It should have scared Nadia, but she'd seen much worse.
The spider stopped perhaps thirty feet from them, raising its front legs in the air. Klint didn't give it a chance to get any closer, sending a wave of fire at it. The spider recoiled from the flames, but Klint's magic was too strong for it to escape. The spider hissed and shrieked as the flames consumed it. In only a few moments, it fell still.
"Hope you like spider meat," Klint said, grinning at her.
"At the moment, I'll take anything I can get."
They cooked the spider meat, and it tasted much better than Nadia had expected. What they couldn't eat, they saved for later. It wouldn't keep all that long because they didn't have salt, but it should last long enough to give them another meal or two. The cold would help as well.
With a renewed sense of energy, Nadia trudged across the frozen wastes, Klint beside her. They didn't share much conversation at first, but soon the silence irritated both of them.
"You got any idea how we're gonna free Markus?" Klint asked.
"I wish I knew. I wish I could feel sure about anything right now. It's hard to feel like I'm doing the right thing. My heart tells me I have to save Markus, and there's no way I'm going to turn away from that mission. But my head tells me that it's exactly what Krinir wants. I don't know why. I can't even begin to guess. What happened to life being simple?"
Klint chuckled. "Life never was simple. Not for me."
"Well, it was for me. I wanted to kill Warrick, and that was all that mattered."
"That couldn't have been the only thing important to you. What about your friends?"
Nadia trudged through the snow. "They did matter to me, but not as much as killing Warrick." She shook her head. "I was a terrible friend, really. I was always focused on my own dreams, and I didn't care what Kara or Varek or any of them wanted."
She shouldn't have mentioned Varek. With everything that had happened, she'd been able to bury the pain she felt at the deaths of so many good people. The deaths of Varek and Len still bothered her more than the rest. They'd died to protect her. They'd died because of her.
"You all right?" Klint asked, surprising her with his sympathy.
"I'm fine. I was just thinking about all the friends we've lost."
Klint looked away. "I know that feeling."
As they traveled, the weight of their losses hung over them, almost as oppressive as the cold and darkness of this ruined world. The sky never gave any hint that the sun might emerge, and Nadia felt as if her own hopes had met a similar fate.
"How are we going to walk all the way to Luminia?" she asked. "Not only is it a long journey. There is also an ocean in between."
Klint kept walking, avoiding her gaze. "Wish I had an answer for you."
Answers. Getting some real answers would have been helpful. Instead, she felt as if her entire life had become as bleak and mysterious as the world in which she walked. What had happened to this world? How could Krinir have destroyed it so thoroughly?
The ground trembled faintly. The vibrations seemed to be coming from somewhere to their left. When she
glanced in that direction, she thought she saw movement, but it was distant and impossible to see anything clearly.
And then the scuttling sounds came again.
Her heart climbed into her throat. "That sounds like a lot more of them."
Klint swung the light of his staff in the direction of the scuttling, and when the light illuminated the source, Nadia's legs became suddenly weak. Trembling, she watched the army of spiders race toward them. There had to be hundreds and hundreds of them.
"Don't think they're gonna be happy with us," Klint said.
"Can you handle this many at once?" Nadia asked.
"I don't think so. We should probably try to outrun them."
She watched them approaching with alarming speed. "I'm not sure we can."
"Well, it's the best choice we've got."
They took off running, the spiders close behind. The scuttling grew louder and louder, accompanied by angry hissing sounds. Nadia and Klint traversed the rocky terrain, and Nadia prayed they wouldn't slip on any of the snow. The landscape they crossed was devoid of places to hide. It was flat as far as Nadia could see.
As she ran, Nadia focused on summoning boulders from the sky, but her raw power was nothing like Markus's. The rocks that fell hit only a few of the spiders and barely delayed them. She tried sending wind back at them, but it didn't slow them either. At a loss, she sent spikes of ice over her shoulder, but the ice couldn't penetrate the spiders' tough shells.
"Klint, do you have any ideas?" she asked breathlessly, desperation welling up within her.
He pointed his staff over his shoulder, blindly launching fire, lightning, wind, rocks, ice—anything he could think of. None of it was enough. The numbers were simply overwhelming. Nadia's legs burned, and her lungs screamed for her to stop running.
But she kept running, pushing her body as far as it could go. With every step, the army of spiders grew closer and closer. The scuttling had grown almost overwhelming—a mad, frantic sound that put Nadia on edge. The spiders hissed more and more as they closed in for the kill.
Then scuttling began to come from every side. Nadia looked ahead to see more spiders. To her right. More spiders. To her left. Even more.
"Damn," Klint said. "Looks like we'll have to make our last stand right here."
As Nadia faced the incoming spiders, she knew it didn't matter what she and Klint did.
Chapter 35: The Restorers
Nadia sent a small whirlwind at the spiders. It tossed a few of them aside, but it wasn't nearly powerful enough to handle the numbers. Klint was launching every bit of magic he had. The air glowed red and yellow. Bursts of rock slammed into spiders, knocking them aside.
The ground shook.
Nadia glanced at Klint, but he looked just as confused. When the ground shook again, the spiders began to scatter. Nadia turned toward the source of the shaking to see the largest thing she'd ever seen. She didn't even know how to describe it.
It stood twenty or thirty feet tall and had the look of one of the robots she'd seen in the New Earth Empire. This contraption, whatever it was, shook the ground with every step it made, covering immense distances with each movement of its four giant legs.
Bright blue lights burst from the front of the device, spreading out and hitting at least a dozen of the spiders at once. The spiders shrieked as the weapon burned them. The rest of the spiders began running faster than before, turning their attention away from Nadia and Klint. Soon all the spiders were gone, scrambling off into the distance.
Nadia turned to their saviors. The giant robotic thing had come to a stop. Some kind of door opened in its underbelly, and a ladder dropped down. A man climbed down the ladder. A few rungs from the bottom, he dropped to the ground gracefully.
Klint pointed his staff at the newcomer. Probably a wise decision, Nadia realized. There was no proof that these people had entirely good intentions.
The man approached alone. That was a good sign.
Of course, there were probably many others inside the large vehicle, and they probably had weapons pointed at Nadia and Klint. Still, it was a good gesture.
The man held some kind of rifle, reminding Nadia of the weapons she'd seen in the New Earth Empire. He held it relaxed, though, pointing it at the ground. Despite her immediate suspicions, she felt surprisingly at ease.
The man stopped about fifteen feet away. He had dark skin and a short beard.
"Thank you for saving us," Nadia said. And thank God there are other people in this world. She watched the man's expression, trying to judge his character from afar.
The man took a few steps closer. "We were almost too late, but you're welcome."
"I don't understand," Nadia said. "Were you expecting to find us here?"
Klint had not lowered his staff, and he glared at the man. Nadia wanted to tell him to relax, but she turned her attention to their savior instead.
"We have one among us who can read the Webs of Fate," the man said. "She is not particularly gifted, but she saw this thread clearly enough that we knew we had to come to your rescue. Unfortunately, we ran into a few problems along the way. We almost didn't make it in time. We had to push our Walker to its limits."
Walker. That must have been the name for the giant, four-legged vehicle.
"And why did you think it was so important to rescue us?" Nadia asked.
The man took another step closer. "Because you are our best hope of seeing Krinir defeated. I can't say we know exactly what secrets the Webs hold, but we know that a lot of threads cluster around you, and they hint at Krinir's defeat."
Nadia pushed aside her irritation at being controlled by the Webs of Fate once again. At some point, she would have to accept that the Webs would always dictate her life. She was a Weaver, and she had to make the most of that gift—or curse, depending on how she looked at it.
"You haven't told us your name," she said.
"I'm Deon." He stepped within her reach, then held out a hand for her to shake. "And I'm the leader of the Restorers. We're the last line of defense in this world. We seek to free Lionar from his captivity and use his powers to restore the world that once was."
Klint cleared his throat. "Then I suppose our interests align."
Deon smiled disarmingly. "There is no need to be suspicious of us. We are good people. This is a cruel world we live in. A dark world. And we seek to bring light to it."
"All we have is your word," Klint said. "That ain't a lot to go on."
"Then how about our actions? We did just save your lives."
"You could have your own reasons," Klint said.
"Well, as I see it, you don't have a lot of choice. You're gonna come with us 'cause it's the only way you can survive in this world. Those spiders you just fought—well, let's just say there are far worse things roaming the wastelands." He gestured toward the Walker. "Now why don't you join us? It's warm in there, and we've got food."
Those were good enough reasons for Nadia. Even Klint's expression softened a little.
They followed Deon toward the Walker. When they reached the ladder, he motioned for them to ascend ahead of him. Klint hesitated a moment before stepping onto the ladder. Nadia followed, relishing in the thought of food and warmth.
Soon they climbed into the Walker. The space inside was much warmer, and it was filled with the same kind of lights Nadia had seen in the New Earth Empire. There were glowing computer screens everywhere, and she didn't know the purpose of even a small fraction of what she saw. She felt overwhelmed as she tried to take it all in.
Six people were already inside the Walker. They turned toward Nadia and Klint, acknowledging their presence, but didn't say anything. Soon Deon entered the Walker and closed the hatch behind him. The cold from outside immediately vanished.
"All right, it is warm in here," Klint said. "I'll give you that."
"Welcome to our home," Deon said, striding toward the center of the cluttered chamber. All kinds of humming and whirring noises filled the Walker, t
he inside of which smelled of chemicals like Nadia had encountered in the New Earth Empire.
Deon went on to introduce his crew.
"This is Jen," he said, motioning toward a dark-haired woman. "She's my second in command here. She's also the one of us who can read the Webs of Fate." He then told Nadia the names of the rest of the crew, but they struggled to stay put in her head.
"It's nice to meet you," Jen said. "I only wish I could have seen the future with more clarity. I couldn't see this event until it was almost too late."
"Well, you made it in time," Nadia said, "and that's all that matters."
Jen turned away as if she disagreed with that statement. Noticing her discomfort, Deon said, "You're probably starving. I'll get some food for you. Anything you want?"
"We'll take whatever you have," Nadia said.
"You don't understand." Deon gestured to a nearby computer. "This machine here will make any food you desire."
"Oh, I am familiar with that kind of machine," Nadia said, remembering her time in the New Earth Empire. Though she'd been a prisoner at the time, she had enjoyed the variety of food she could order from a machine like this.
Nadia didn't know what to order, so she went with the kind of simple fare she'd enjoyed back in Crayden. She and Klint both ate beef and cheese sandwiches. They were nothing fancy, but after sustaining themselves on spider meat, they might as well have been gourmet entrees.
She swallowed a bite of food. "How do you power all this?"
"We have a crystal at the core of the Walker," Deon said. "It's a powerful Technomagical device created back when the New Earth Empire existed."
Nadia frowned at him. "But I thought we destroyed the empire's technology."
"Perhaps in your timeline," Deon said. "But this is not necessarily a future that branches off directly from your own time."
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