The Coming Chaos

by D. K. Holmberg

  “You can fight.”

  “I don’t think I can. I don’t think you could. It’s possible the Great One would be able to oppose him, but that’s only if the Great One managed to catch up to him.”

  Ryn sat back, resting on her elbows. She thought about what the Great One wanted of her. He’d sent her here to observe, to understand what had taken place, and instead she’d uncovered something more.

  A part of her couldn’t help but think the Great One had known she would.

  If he had, what purpose would there be in sending her here? This wasn’t the kind of fight she could handle. This wasn’t the kind of thing she could even survive. This was far beyond her capacity.

  The Great One would’ve known that, too.

  Unless he had hoped to challenge her. It was possible he was using this as a test, perhaps to gauge whether she was ready for a greater task, or perhaps it was his way of forcing her to develop increased abilities.

  If that was the case, then it had worked, but not in the way he had intended.

  That was if the metal in her arms and legs would grant her additional abilities. She still didn’t know if that was the case. Why would she be able to be augmented further?

  “I need to get word to him,” she whispered.

  “To your master?”

  Ryn looked over to Dillon. “He’s not my master. He’s been working with me. Teaching me.”

  “He’s your master. You serve him. You serve at his leisure. And you have taken on an augmentation because of him.”

  She didn’t have a good response. She didn’t feel as if the Great One were her master, and yet, she had come here on his behalf. She was his emissary. It was a position she was proud of, a position that gave her an opportunity to understand him, and yet… it was a position that meant she served.

  “Regardless of what you want to call him, I still need to get word to him. He needs to understand what’s taking place.”

  “The moment you do it, the temple will be destroyed.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “As I told you, I’ve seen it. Your master will come here, destroy the temple and everyone in it if he can. It’s the same thing he’s done elsewhere.”

  Ryn shook her head. “That’s not what he would do.”

  “Unfortunately, it is. But you get word to him if you have some way of doing it. And if you don’t believe me, stay behind and watch. Wait and see what happens. When you do, you’ll realize your master is far more violent than you believe.”

  That didn’t fit with what she knew of him. It wasn’t the kind of thing he would do.

  And yet, it was possible she didn’t know what he would do. The Great One wanted her to observe, detect, and report back to him.

  That was what she needed to do.

  Ryn sat up, looking around. The pain was beginning to retreat, and as it did, her mind started to clear, enough that she thought she would be able to stand. She got to her feet. The throbbing was much less than it had been before, and she glanced over to Dillon. “Thank you for your help.”

  He watched her. “Eventually you’re going to find out your master isn’t what you think he is.”

  “I doubt that.”

  Dillon shook his head. “Unfortunately, you will. Unless he prevents you from seeing it, you’ll come to know exactly what sort of person he is. And when you do, you’re going to have questions. Know the things you think you know, the facts you believe, aren’t at all what’s real.”

  Ryn held his gaze for a moment. She had seen enough over the years to know the truth. She’d seen the way Lareth had destroyed her village. She’d observed the way he continued his attacks, and she understood his power destroyed, and because of that, others suffered.

  All of those were things she knew. Regardless of what Dillon wanted to tell her, she understood the Great One was responsible for protecting others. Because of him, many had been saved.

  “One day you might recognize that you’ve been wrong,” Ryn said.

  “Perhaps. And if I do, at least I’ll have an open mind about it. Can you say the same?”

  She stared at him for a moment. “Thank you again.”

  “Where will you go?” Dillon asked.

  “I’ve told you. I intend to get word to the Great One.”

  “So you said. But how? Where do you intend to go in order to get word to him?”

  The temple wasn’t safe for her, and that was the way she would have gone normally. Now what would she do? Where would she go?

  “There’s a temple in another city I can go to.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Ryn thought about the places she’d visited with the Great One, all of the temples, and every place he’d brought her in the time she’d been working with him. She had seen that some places were less safe than others. For the most part, the temples were places of safety. They were all places where the Great One had been welcomed, where she knew and recognized the nature of the power there.

  “I’ve been many different places. All of them are safe.”

  Dillon watched her for a little while, and then he shook his head. “I’m going to regret this, but…”

  “But what?” She tensed, fearing that Dillon might do something that would harm her. She had to be prepared for whatever he might do, and yet, if he attacked, there wouldn’t be anything for her to do. She wasn’t a fighter. She was trained to observe, to witness, to report.

  “I’m going to show you.”

  “Show me what?”

  “Show you the kind of things your Great One has done.”

  30

  Ryn

  Dillon held his hand out, waiting, and Ryn looked at it, not certain what he wanted her to do. The fire crackled softly, and it pushed back the chill within the air, but with the pain throbbing through her, there was a different kind of chill. She couldn’t shake the steady throbbing in her wrists and ankles. The sense of it was overwhelming.

  “What do you expect me to do?”

  “I expect you to let me guide you.”

  “You don’t want to help me get word to the Great One.”

  “If you manage to do so, I’m not going to stop you, but at the same time, I think there’s something I can show you.”

  “Why should I trust you?”

  “Because I could have turned you in before now. If I wanted to harm you, I would have.”

  “Why don’t you want to harm me?”

  “Because I see in you the same thing that is in me.”

  “Your homeland was destroyed.”

  “It was.”

  “And you blame the Great One for this.”

  “I do.”

  “I don’t blame him for what happened to mine.”

  “Who do you blame for that?”

  Ryn stood, twisting the fabric of her jacket between her fingers. It felt strange, and it took her a moment to realize it was because the burning in her hands changed the way the fabric felt. Somehow, she could feel the way the fabric rubbed against her fingers, almost as if it were attempting to wear off the tips of them. It seemed rougher than she remembered.

  “I know what happened. I was there when my village was destroyed. There was one man who was responsible. He made his way through the village, ravaging everything there.”

  Dillon watched her. “One man?”

  Ryn nodded.

  “One man wouldn’t be able to destroy a village.”

  “This one would. Everything I’ve learned about him since then tells me he’s incredibly powerful. He’s powerful enough that even the Great One is cautious with him.”

  Dillon lowered his hand. “Rsiran,” he breathed out.

  “Who?”

  “His name. It’s Rsiran Lareth. I’ve been looking for him, wanting to find him, but…”

  Lareth. The name burned in her mind, the memory of when she’d first heard of him coming back to her. She hated that name. He was responsible for what had happened to her father. He was responsible fo
r them moving, going to the village for safety. And he was responsible for the destruction of the village.

  She had been taught by the Great One to observe. And yet, despite her observing, there remained within her the strong desire to get vengeance. She was determined to do so, and yet in all the time she had been working with the Great One, she hadn’t been able to figure out how. She didn’t think the Great One wanted her to get revenge, but he also didn’t want her to suffer.

  “Why are you looking for him?”

  “Because my people need his help.”

  “Help? If you know anything about Lareth, you’ll know he doesn’t help. He destroys. He kills indiscriminately.”

  “You know him?”

  “I don’t know him. I know of him. I’ve seen him.”

  “You saw him destroy your village?”

  She closed her eyes. As she did, she swayed in place for a moment. The pain in her wrists and ankles was there, a companion to her, but she ignored it as she thought back, her mind drifting to Lareth. “I saw the way he tore through the village. My mother was crushed. People I knew destroyed. All because of him. He slung metal throughout the village, using it to destroy everything.”

  There was silence for a few moments.

  “Let me tell you my experience,” Dillon said. “When my homeland was attacked, it was caught in the middle of a battle. There were a dozen men. All of them with eyes like mine, and all of them with dark hair. They wore black cloaks. Black jackets and pants. All of them controlled metal.”

  Ryn opened her eyes. “What?”

  Dillon sighed. “All of them. There were a dozen men. They looked similar, and they all claimed to be fighting on behalf of Lareth as they destroyed the village. And yet, when they were gone, I followed them. I saw where they went. I saw who they were with. I know what they did.”

  “Who were they with?”

  “Your Great One.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”

  “You don’t have to believe me. I believe what I saw, much like you believe what you saw.” He held his hand up again. “If you want, I’ll take you from here and you can reach out to your Great One. And like I said, watch and see how he responds. See what he does. And see the kind of violence he brings.”

  Ryn hesitated. Did she dare go with him? She wasn’t sure if it was safe to do so, but at the same time, she thought that she needed to in order to understand. More than that, she needed to get out of the city and away from the tower in order to get word to the Great One. As soon as she did, she could return here and wait for him.

  Regardless of what Dillon said, the Great One wasn’t responsible for destroying his home. And yet, the way he had described the attackers—it was the same as what she had seen.

  She shook away that thought.

  Reaching her hand out, she took Dillon’s hand.

  Nausea struck her, and she pushed it away.

  There came a strange swirling sense, and Dillon cried out.

  And then they were falling.

  Ryn opened her eyes and saw that they were dropping toward the ground. How was that possible? They were outside, the sun was shining overhead, bright and warm, and then they struck.

  The air burst from her lungs. Pain hit her, but no worse than it had been before. She let go of Dillon’s hand and lay there, trying to collect her thoughts and figure out what had just happened.

  Rolling over, she looked at Dillon. His eyes had a glaze to them. She’d seen something like that before and was reminded of when her village had been destroyed.

  She looked around. They were well outside of the city, though she couldn’t see any evidence of it in the background. There was a road somewhere nearby, and clumps of trees grew up all around her. Flowers scattered the plains, lending their fragrance to the air.

  “Dillon?”

  He took a gasping breath and blinked, rolling over. “What… what happened?”

  Ryn shook her head. “You traveled us, but where?”

  Dillon shook his head. “I started to, but something happened. I felt as if I lost control of it.”

  “You lost control?” What was she thinking, traveling with him like that? He’d already told her that he didn’t have as much control as some, and here she had been willing to risk herself by going with him. In doing so, she’d nearly died. She very well could have died.

  “I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. I was starting my transport, and then all of a sudden, it felt as if I were thrown out of it. Almost as if I were pushed.”

  Ryn swallowed. Everything within her hurt, though it was no different than the pain she had been experiencing over the last few days. “Pushed?”

  He nodded. “I don’t understand it.” Dillon got to his feet, leaning forward and resting his hand on his thighs. “I’m going to try a small step.”

  With that, he started to move. Colors swirled around him.

  Nausea rolled through her again, and Ryn pushed it away.

  Dillon cried out.

  He lay on the ground a dozen paces from her, his body bent, and he slowly got to his feet, shaking his head. “It happened again.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I lost control again. I don’t really understand it. This has never happened before. I’ve been working on trying to increase my ability with it, trying to improve my control. It’s almost as if someone is forcing me along.”

  What had been the common features?

  Nausea.

  Not only nausea, but she’d been pushing it away.

  Ryn glanced down at her wrists. Could that be the key?

  It would be an unusual ability if true, but she had experience with unusual abilities.

  “Try it again.”

  Dillon shook his head. “I don’t want to. If it happens again, I don’t know that I can stand the landing.”

  “I think… I think I’m the reason you’ve been ending up somewhere else.”

  “How?”

  “Just try it again.”

  Dillon took a deep breath, and colors once again swirled around him. When they did, the nausea returned, rolling through Ryn’s stomach. This time she ignored it, letting it wash over her, and when he disappeared, the nausea vanished.

  He appeared a few feet in front of her.

  “It’s fine. It didn’t happen that time.”

  “I didn’t push the nausea away, either.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “To be honest, I don’t understand either. I was feeling nausea when you started your traveling, and I’d learned it to push it away.”

  “You pushed away the nausea?”

  “I don’t know how to describe it other than that, and it seemed to work.”

  “You think you can pull on the nausea?”

  Ryn frowned. “Why?”

  “Just try it.”

  Dillon jogged away from her before turning and facing her. He nodded.

  As he did, color swirled around him again, and the nausea came, rolling through her. This time Ryn pulled on it rather than pushing it away. A wave of pain throbbed through her, striking her wrists before ending.

  When it cleared, Dillon stood in front of her.

  He was panting. He leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs. “There it was again. This time was different. It felt as if I were drawn rather than pushed.”

  Could that have been her?

  If it was, how was she able to do that?

  “I don’t know why that should have been possible,” she said.

  When she had been traveling with the Great One, there had been no sense of anyone getting pushed or pulled along. It had always been safe. But then again, the Great One had always been the one doing the traveling. No one would dare interrupt his movement.

  “I didn’t even know such a thing was possible,” Dillon said, looking around. “We need to practice this.”

  “Practice? I don’t want to do it. What happens if I force you like you said? What happ
ens if I push you in the middle of some tree or into the earth?”

  “That’s why you need to practice. You need to gain control so you don’t accidentally influence anything—wait. What if you can control where we travel?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Well, one of the limitations to transporting the way I do is that I have to have been there before. If I haven’t, I’m not able to reach it, at least not easily. It takes longer. I have to have a line of sight, and I can make my way where I want, but it’s slower than simply stepping into a transport.”

  “Why would I be able to control it?”

  “I don’t know. It would be helpful, though, especially for one of the Great One’s emissaries.”

  She frowned at him. “I feel like you’re mocking me.”

  “I’m trying to help you understand your abilities, Ryn.”

  “This isn’t an ability I knew I had.” And it certainly wasn’t an ability she wanted to have.

  Yet, the more she thought about it, the more she thought an power like this would be useful for her to possess. While she might not have the ability to travel, she could draw on others.

  If it were possible for her to control where someone traveled, all she needed was to have access to that person, and she could use that ability, couldn’t she?

  Observe and detect.

  This was the kind of thing that the Great One wanted her to do.

  They would have to work on it later. For now, she wanted to get word to the Great One.

  “Can you take us to Blaspher?”

  “I’m not familiar with it.”

  “What about Yzern?”

  Dillon shook his head.

  “Horch? Vren? Cernal?”

  With each name, Dillon continue to shake his head.

  He didn’t know any of the places she had been.

  Unless he did, and he wasn’t telling her the truth, but she didn’t get that sense from him. She trusted her instincts when it came to this.

  Ryn sighed. What choice did she have but to work with him, to practice this, and to see if she could perhaps gain some control over whatever ability it was that she had developed?