Chapter 24 Mist #2
Let’s go, I tell him now—but not before I note where the epicenter of that sigil is, in our version of reality. It rests right in the center of the silver mirror-stone; as I pinpoint it, I tug Baldur’s hand.
He resists me for a moment, and I have a sudden fear he’s going to fight me, to remain out in the Void and continue contemplating all that vast sigil-magic. But then he comes; we both flood back from the Void, into our bodies, as Baldur’s kiss breaks from me and we heave hard breaths.
All my drakes do too, from our sudden, spontaneous Bloodwalking.
We’re back to full power now, however; even though we didn’t have sex to power up, or donate any blood, we’re strong enough as a group now with all our magic being shared many ways, resonating with each other’s, that we didn’t need it.
Still, Bloodwalking is Bloodwalking; I feel how our extended moment in the Void pulled from all of us, since we didn’t engage in a proper ritual to do it. I make a mental note to not do that often, as I rub my chest and recover, feeling drained.
Baldur shivers, blinking off his addiction as he comes back to us as well, his eyes their more normal deep cobalt blue, rather than blue-black.
As I nod to the silver mirror-stone, we all turn.
We head over, and Bjorn uses a gargantuan push of his Bloodwind to heave the stone out of its axis, where it floats ten feet above the ground.
I didn’t think it would work; Bjorn’s packing rather interesting abilities these days, though, as he uses all our amalgamated Bloodwinds to heave the massive floating stone down from the magical vaults that keep it suspended.
As it thunks down to the floor now, rolling like a penny until it finally settles down like a disc, I know this is how we access the Black Dragon’s birthplace.
The insane cavern that is here, but not here right now.
“Focus your minds,” I tell my drakes as we approach the rim of the mirror-stone.
“If the mirror shows us what we need to see by focusing our thoughts and intentions, then it will probably take us where we need to go by the same mechanism. So focus all your mind and intention on us finding the birthplace of the Dragon of All Souls. Hopefully, we’ll find what we seek. ”
As we move forward, I feel the immense trepidation in each of my drakes. Because portals are tricky things; as each of us focuses on our intention, however, that we intend to find the birthplace of the Dragon of All Souls or die trying, I feel us come to accord.
A deep resonance takes us then, as we all step up onto the massive silver disc. The surface shivers like quicksilver beneath us as we walk across it, ancient rune-phrases whirling all around us upon its silver-patina surface.
I feel how all our focus on the Black Dragon’s birthplace increases tenfold, then a hundredfold as we near the epicenter of the disc. Silver runes swirl in a hurricane beneath us now as we arrive at the mirror’s dead center.
And everything around me vanishes.
Nothing surrounds me, as my world is suddenly swallowed by mist. Something tells me I’ve come through a portal; other than my snarling dragon-instinct, however, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up in shock, nothing else in my body tells me the portal was even there at all.
Because I don’t feel the high whine in my ears from crossing through Realms; I don’t feel the twist in my gut that signifies being wrenched through space and time.
One moment, I was in the library hall; the next, I am here. And this mist is endless, as it swirls all around me with a light blue-white sheen, the same as what I experienced in the triptych mirrors.
Except my drakes are not beside me.
And I cannot feel them—anywhere.
“Bjorn!” I cry out, as terror seizes me, that they are not nearby. “Strom! Baldur! Mikkel! Anyone?!”
My cries are absorbed into the swirling mist, however, the silence deafening. Like being in the world’s worst quiet room, all sound dies here, the moment it leaves my lips.
I can barely even hear my heartbeat as it thunders inside my chest now, my breathing rapid like I’m about to have a panic attack. Because unlike when I was inside the silver triptych mirrors, I can’t feel my Bloodbonds to my drakes here.
All of it—nothing.
I begin to do a calming breath I learned in my youth, so I don’t just freak the fuck out. Because even as panic assails me, I understand what this is; a test, to see if whatever Bloodwalker who arrived here has the guts and know-how to get herself and her drakes the fuck out to where we need to be.
This is a battle, set up by the ancients to discover what I’m made of. Deeply, I do my calming breaths now, murmuring an ancient mantra of our people to center myself.
Because I need to have my wits about me in this space, and not just lose my shit. As something deep inside me understands I won’t be able to leave this place or ever see my drakes again if I can’t figure this test out, I feel Aesa’s Truthstone flare upon my skin.
As I gaze down, I see that it’s come with me into this space, along with my battle-leathers and Aesa’s silver ring upon my finger. The ring flares with an ancient light, just like Aesa’s stone now.
As it confirms I’ll be lost here forever—unless I can figure this shit out.
“Is anyone here?” I ask now, though I feel no presences around me in this place. It’s confirmed, as nothing answers me—not to my ears or inside my head. Unlike the Void, this place has no community to it. It’s meant to be solitary. The worst solitary confinement of the ages.
Until I go mad, lost in this ancient mist.
“It’s just me here, but it can’t be,” I tell myself, as I try to think this through. “Somewhere, Bjorn and the rest are all going through what I’m experiencing. A test… to see how well we can function as a group.”
As it hits me, those words of deepest instinct spilling from my lips, I know I’m onto something. As Aesa’s Truthstone and her silver ring flare upon me, I’m triply sure of it.
As I dig in hard now—ready to figure this out.
“I need to locate my drakes,” I tell myself now as I formulate a plan.
“Somewhere, they’re searching for me. Though we don’t have our Bloodbonds right now, I didn’t feel them break.
Somehow, they’re still with me—still with us, together.
That’s the key… isn’t it? That’s the key to me finding them again.
And getting through this mist where we need to go, so we can put down the Black Dragon. Once and for all.”
I know I’m right, as some deep instinct inside me confirms it. Even if Aesa’s stone and ring didn’t flare upon me, I’d still know I was right, as I center myself now, to find my drakes.
Or go insane from this endless solitude.
Which surrounds me in the mist, forever.