A Prison of Worlds (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 1)

by Daniel Ruth

  My breed is fairly scholarly as dragons go. My ancestors had dealings with most of the previously mentioned fields of magics and since we are immune to most toxins many pursued alchemy either as a hobby or primary method of study. Even thinking about it I could feel vague concepts and principles ready to bubble up through my subconscious mind. A similarly distracting sensation arose as I thought of painting spells onto a person's skin. Pushing this sensation aside, I concentrated once more on the issue at hand. With a few years of study, I could possibly do everything that the girl mentioned except for the pacts. The very idea of making contracts with the vermin of the firmament gave me the creeps.

  “You know something,” the little Asian girl said, staring intently at me.

  “Well,” I paused, not really sure how I wanted to say this. “I have a much better idea of what his abilities are thanks to you.”

  “And would you like to share this?” she asked sharply.

  Not really, but my poker face really sucked. If I wanted to work with this girl I had to say something credible. I would try the truth. It's usually slippery enough to do the trick. “He could possibly be of a supernatural race some call,” I spit out a name, half cough, half growl. It actually was the term of the overall dragon race given to us by some extra planar natives whose name wasn't important enough to be included in the racial memories.

  “So he is not human or were,” she stated as if this actually explained something. “What is this race like?”

  “Oh, typical supernatural race of shapechangers, magically inclined. The rogue members are prone to have followers that behave like this fellow.”

  “They are not all evil?”

  “Generally not, most people believe they are extinct,” I added. It must be the scholar in me or I would have just shut up. It really could have been almost any dragon breed, but the description of his minions matched what our ancestral knowledge gave us more of a leg up on. If it wasn't one of our kind then it was likely a very old dragon that had time to branch out or a demon. I shivered as I felt phantom pains from the lines etched in my body. Did I really want to get involved in fighting an older dragon? I had lost everything that was dear to me the last time I had blindly played hero.

  “What killed them?” she asked a bit too eagerly, obviously wanting a new weapon against her enemy. I could relate to that, however this was not my favorite subject.

  “Rumors say it was a plague.” I was pretty skeptical of this. We are almost immune to toxins, possessed an insane regeneration and had the hardiness of our entire race. If it was a plague, it would not have been a natural one. Still it is true that our numbers aren't what they once were. I have never seen another one of my particular breed since I was born. That’s not saying much considering my modest age.

  “Hmm, useless,” she grunted. Couldn't argue with that. “How does this change your analysis?”

  I hadn't realized I was analyzing anything, but if she was happy with me talking shop I was okay with that. “Well, it's harder to pin him down. As a major supernatural creature he will have larger energy reservoir than a mortal...”

  “Mortal?” she asked sharply. “He isn't mortal?”

  “I suppose it depends on how you define it. His kind grows old, but they never weaken by age, they only grow more powerful. Most grow bored with life after six to ten thousand years and just go to sleep and fade away.”

  “That sounds ominous.”

  “He can't be that old if he's playing ‘take over the world’ games,” I offered. Older dragons become more introverted. Wanting to rule the world is pretty immature. At least I was going grasp that hope with both hands. “However, that means that he could probably make use of the lesser nexus point as opposed to requiring the big one.”

  “Do you know where these are?”

  “Not really,” I thought back to my travels through the city. I had passed over a few, but I had no doubts there were more. “I know where three are, but I haven't been in the city that long. Are you sure he won't change his mind on doing this in Arc? There are plenty of nodes outside the city.”

  “My informants were very sure. For whatever reason he will enact his plans here.”

  “Do you intend to stake out every spot in the city?” I offered, somewhat dubious.

  She was silent a moment. “No, I may be able to use the resources of the packs in the city.”

  I was a bit surprised. “The packs are that organized? I had kind of thought the vampires had organized the entire legal thing where supernaturals got civil rights and they got dragged along for the ride.”

  I was rewarded by a somewhat sour look. “Mostly true. The packs are organized on a smaller scale than vampires. If I want help from the packs, I will have to discuss it individually with each group.”

  “And they will help you out of the goodness of their heart, because of what an upstanding citizen you are,” I offered, with as much sincerity as I could muster. I was rewarded for my efforts by another glower.

  “No,” she admitted reluctantly. “Likely I will have to offer each pack a separate deal.”

  “Sounds pricey. Too bad the mayor's idea of a separate supernatural police department isn't in place yet. I think you may have issues with the present police force when they find out you rented the rooms where the bombs went off.”

  She gave a bitter chuckle. “There won't be any police involvement. Jin will ensure that any traces that he or I were ever there are gone. His connections go deep everywhere I have gone.”

  I contemplated her statement. In today's world of rather intrusive recordkeeping and holo cameras, it seemed more than odd that a master wizard could be a master hacker as well. It wasn't hard to fuzz sensors. I could do it with just my psychic abilities and almost any supernatural creature's aura tends to make modern technology unreliable. This was the major reason my appliances blew up on a daily basis and I didn't have a reliably functioning vid terminal. However, computer records were completely different. This meant that he had most likely enslaved some poor soul to do his dirty work for him. Or maybe he just paid well. Considering I had seen firsthand his retirement plan I was guessing on the first.

  “Hmm. Well, I think support for the new department will get a boost tonight. When the dust settles I can ask Conrad to give us a hand.”

  This seemed to perk her interest a bit. “Why, what's happening tonight?”

  “The police department is going to storm a magic user's lair. I suggested they gather a posse of shifters and vampires, but they seemed pretty skeptical.” I shrugged as I took another bite of pie. “I figure when most of the human's die in the raid it will either trigger an anti-paranormal riot or allow the mayor to get the support he needs for the new department.”

  I enjoyed my desert in silence until I realized it had been going on a while. Looking up, I saw the girl staring at me in horror. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

  “How can you just sit there knowing they are going to die?” she demanded imperiously.

  “Um, I don't know,” I muttered. She seemed upset, I wondered if this was a human thing or a woman thing. “The police asked my advice. I gave it to them. If they ignore it and die...” I waived my spoon in tiny circles.

  “But you know they will ignore it,” she stated.

  “I know nothing of the sort. It's just very likely. It's not like I spoke in riddles. I gave them step by step advice in storming the home of a possible circle master. They are adults, if they choose to ignore my advice... well I've heard a lot about Darwin.”

  “And you didn't offer any more help than advice,” she said, in a low voice.

  “They didn't ask.” I considered her words for a moment. “You seem to have a hero complex.”

  “You seem to lack any moral backbone altogether,” she retorted scathingly.

  I blinked at her somewhat confused. Did she really expect me to throw myself uninvited in the front lines of someone else's fight for no reason? I didn't really know how to respond to her
statement. Was it an insult?

  “You can always contact Conrad and offer your services. They may even accept.”

  “I think I will.”

  “Conrad seems a rather influential shifter. If he becomes the head of the new department he may be the most influential shifter in the city. I don't know how that translates into power in the packs, but it sounds like a good start.”

  She seemed to get even angrier at my advice. “You are the most coldblooded person I have ever met.”

  “Does this mean you don't want my help with the wizard?” I asked, to be sure I was interpreting her correctly. Maybe if the wizard killed her I could sneak into the lair and steal his books while he was busy. I didn't like the idea of leaving what may be one of my kind marauding among mortals, but I certainly wasn't going to challenge an older dragon to single combat. Been there, done that, had the runes on my chest to prove it.

  She took a deep breath and seemed calmer after a moment. “No, I definitely want your help. I apologize for my anger.”

  I think my eyebrows rose in surprise. That was a bit more than a yes or no answer. “Um, no problem. I just wanted to be sure we were on the same page. So do you want Conrad's number?”

  “Yes.”

  I pulled out a card that Conrad had given me. I had already memorized the information on it so I gave it to the little shifter. Pulling out a pen, I wrote my address on the back.

  “When you get done tonight, come by my place. You can stay there while we plan on what to do with Mr. Wizard.” After that, I finished my ice cream and went over the details on how to storm a circle mage's stronghold and how to deal with zombies. Her participation in the police raid would certainly lower human casualties, and would increase the likelihood of the new department getting support, while lowering the likelihood interracial riots. That had both positive and negatives, but I thought that in general it was good.

  Chapter 6

  Later, at my house I found my attention wandering. There were a lot of events happening in the city, and even though I was only involved in the periphery at the moment it made me think back. The city I had hatched in had been an oasis of peace and civilization amid a generally deadly wilderness full of wandering demons and hostile other-dimensional creatures. Only the fact that the city was full of experts in the field of magic and had its own share of not-so-human powerhouses kept it safe.

  For years I had lived there, made a home complete with the obligatory objects to guard and dwell with. It was these little things that comfort my kind. I even had human and not-so-human friends. I know I seemed detached from such things, but it is through such friends that events that don't really directly impact us gain importance. A bomb may go off on the other side of the city, killing thousands, and I would regret the loss but wouldn't shed a tear. If one of my friends was endangered my emotions would be very different and very personal. In this, I honestly don't think I am so different from the average human.

  It was these emotional entanglements that had urged me to join my friends on an ill-fated patrol to track down the unknown source, the danger, that had resulted in burned outlying farms and missing people. I felt some sadness for the missing, probably dead, farmers, but it was the fact that my companions had taken upon themselves to track down the cause that moved me. It was a dangerous world; however, I had been confident that my presence was all they needed to overcome any danger.

  I came to myself with a start. One hand was absently tracing the runes that lay on my chest through my shirt. I fiercely regretted being trapped in human form, but at times that wasn't what hurt me the most. I have no idea how humans feel friendship. My empathic powers only give me weak glimpse into the kaleidoscope of human emotions, but I felt more than mere possessiveness with them. Knowing I had lost them to death still filled me with anger and sorrow over a year after the event. I am not sure how long these things stay with you.

  I snorted. I really hated being maudlin. Bad things happen. You have to work with what you have and move on. It was time to concentrate on business. It's good to focus on events outside yourself since it helps distract from unpleasant thoughts. Brooding just makes you feel lousy and solves nothing. I had just started following my own advice and was focusing on understanding an obscure ritual that an extinct tribe in Africa had once known to use when a knock came from the door.

  Since I had many doubts about the entirety of the subject matter I was rather pleased to be distracted. Hopefully, Mei Ling was done playing the hero and we could focus on the wizard fellow. So when I opened the door and saw not a small Asian woman but a tall well-muscled European man in a rather old style conservative suit, I was a bit taken aback. I was surprised enough that I opened up my senses. A moment later, I realized I had a vampire on my doorstep.

  We stared at each other for a few seconds. Finally, I offered, “Is there something that you want or are you looking for a donation?”

  “You are not what I expected, Professor,” the man drawled in a cultured voice.

  I frowned before I realized that I hadn't changed from earlier. My clothes were still torn from claws and bullet holes. I guess my mind was more distracted than I thought. At least I had washed my hands for dinner. “I have a thing for the retro grunge look.”

  “May I come in?” he asked politely.

  I deepened my frown. These undead weren't evil, but they shared many traits of the vampires that had roamed my home dimension, and it was hard to separate the whole savage bloodthirsty killer from my mindset. Not that vampires were incredibly strong as supernatural menaces go, but they were worse than roaches when it came to killing them. You could literally rip out their spine and if you didn't take any further steps they would be fine the next day. It was creepy.

  “Um, sure.” I backed up and held the door for him as he came in. I admit I may have taken a sniff as he walked by. I had to see if he smelled of rotting meat. He didn't; he smelled of expensive cologne.

  I checked the time on the wall. It was after midnight. Mei Ling should have been done with her police thing, assuming I had guessed right about the reanimation process. It occurred to me to wonder if there were any hostilities between vampires and shifters. She already seemed upset with me, there was no need to make her angrier.

  Gesturing to the couch, I took my usual chair and propped my feet up. “So what brings you to my home?”

  The vampire rubbed his forehead. “We need your help.”

  This surprised me. It seems a lot of people needed my help lately. Before today, I would have sworn no one except the booksellers and antiquity dealers of the city even knew my name. “Can you be more specific? Do you need a rare book?” Of course, he was using the dreaded 'we' term. Either he was a nut who heard voices, or he was sent by someone else. He was a bit too well dressed for the loon option.

  “My name is Eric and I am a vampire,” he started, and paused. I am not sure if he expected me to gape like a landed fish. Meanwhile, I was starting to get impatient. I was expecting a guest any time now and he didn't seem to be in a hurry to get to any point.

  I started to drum my fingers as the pause continued. It occurred to me he wasn't going to continue without a prompt. “Oh my god. How startling. Can you get to the point? I am expecting company.”

  “You seem unsurprised.” The undead left the statement hanging, as if it were a question.

  “If you expected me to be shocked perhaps you shouldn't have done that whole 'I am a citizen, please don't stake me' campaign on the vid.”

  The man looked slightly ill at this. “It wasn't quite that bad,” he muttered weakly.

  “Well, I suppose I am paraphrasing,” I said with a small smile. “While it was brilliant to reduce the image of the evil undead lurking in the night, I think you may have lost a bit of your intimidation factor.”

  “It wasn't our decision,” he objected faintly. “The elders decided that immediate and drastic action was required to prevent riots.”

  “Fine. You're not a fluffy vampire. Who
is 'we' and 'us' and what do they want from me.”

  “I represent the master of the city. He requires your occult expertise.” He seemed slightly off balance by my lack of fear. Well, they really couldn't expect more from the average citizen after those rather pathetic ads several months ago. I barely have a working holovid most days, and I had laughed until I cried watching it. He rubbed his forehead again and I noticed that his rather pale complexion was developing a rash.

  “Does each city have a master? Do they answer to these elders you mentioned? Is there a council or a single vampire acting as the leader of all the vampires?” I asked. As long as he was here I may as well find out more about this new kind of vampires.

  “Each city has a master,” he paused after this, apparently not expecting the direction the conversation was going. “I... can't really discuss the private workings of our political system.”

  Well, darn. Vampires didn't have inherent spell magic unless they were a wizard in their previous existence, so they hadn't really been on my radar except for initial surprise factor in finding this dimension was infested with them. That's not to say I didn't want to know more about them; they had just been low on my research priorities. Curiosity is one of my weaknesses, but I have only so much time in a day.

  “Fine,” I grunted, slightly grumpy that my chance at easy research had been thwarted. What can I say; the occult has always been my hobby even if I only recently was driven to learn its more practical aspects. “Then what does the city master want?”

  “Lately, there's been a rash of minor entities invading the city,” Eric stated. He looked really uncomfortable and fine beads of pinkish sweat peppered his skin.

  “Like the zombies,” I prompted. He jerked as if he had been stabbed with a cattle prod.