A Deck of Fates

A Deck Of Fates

Matthew Stirts

8/11/2025

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Prologue

 

The past can be a hefty shackle; with a frail and uncertain future twisting and writhing under its gravity, sometimes it can be too much to bear. Somethings are certain yet some certain things can prove far more malleable than they seem. The steady flow of time, the unbending course of change, are not always as constant as they appear. This is what we know:

An antithesis of all natural laws, the Vaynegia created itself and split all reality at the seams. Sellaya, ever the desperate genius, harnessed it’s power for the good of dragonkind and engineered wonders far beyond the scope of reason. All came at a terrible price. The laws of physics aren’t lightly cast aside and a plague of schism split the universe into two parts and shattered the very soul of god into a waning rainbow of Ogigah Wraiths. A soul divided cannot survive and as the eons passed all broken shards seemed doomed to burn away.

Despondent at her terrible mistakes she sought to reunite the universe and destroy the fragmented god to heal creation and end the schism. But the act would also bring a catastrophe sure to end all life. To do so she created a trigger to summon the great eraser of existence, the Vytorneyga. This trigger grew into a dragon and a man named Sayth and he sought a better way. Alongside Spiral, Mayne and Alouve, he turned the eraser into a force of creation, the Ogigah were destroyed and the universe was healed. This event was labeled the convergence. Sellaya and Alouve perished in the conflict but the lines of fate are ever being written. Alouve was resurrected but only as a child.

Now a new force is ravaging the cosmos, the Midnight Winds. An arcane enigma which converts life into time all to revert the universe back to the Midnight Hour. A point of perpetual black. Countless star systems have fallen. Nothing could counter the impending darkness. However a new hope, or threat, has emerged for someone is engineering new Ogigah Wraiths. The now married Sayth and Spiral are working with Mayne, Alouve and the disgraced scientist, the floodgate, Rayne to unravel these mysteries before it is too late...

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1

“...So that’s where matters stand. All attempts at halting or reversing the Midnight Winds have proven futile. They currently have consumed roughly twenty eight percent of the known universe of Rainbow’s Wane and are growing exponentially. I’ve seen it all; entire civilizations reduced to ritualistically chanting pillars of sand. It’s bad, which leads us to our next point, why we’re here” Sayth cleared his throat. “Now Rayne will present us with a detailed analysis of this particular construct.”

The five of them stood on a grain in the mote of a cosmic eye. The pupil twitched, a black hole capable of consuming planets. Its iris, a pulsing sea of violet energy and the sclera, a nebula of milky stars. Veins of plasma coursed through it and the divine entity gazed with somber intent.

Rayne approached the hovering podium. She appeared that of a middle aged woman in a conservative lab coat with black hair but Spiral knew better. It was all a ruse as she could alter her form at will. This shouldn’t be concerning in light of the universe ending implications they were addressing but it was. Spiral couldn’t shake the feeling.

“What once was thought to be the God’s Eye Scar is in actuality an artificial bio engineered Ogigah class glitnium construct. We believe it to be one of an, as of yet, undetermined quantity as the original Yhonkatar it imitates was also a shifting assortment of celestial oculi that would sporadically appear across the universe. The Beholder, the violet Ogigah. Due to observable behavior we have reason to assume a certain level of intelligence but sentience remains undetermined. It appears quite interested in the Celestial Cradle. The previous schism levels have declined to safe parameters as well. Although my exact summations could continue for 9.3 more drakean hours, I’ll be curt: this must be the work of Sellaya. No other race nor faction in the known universe have access to this advanced a degree of technology. Technology based on unreal algorithms so complex that we’ve concluded they must be derived from the Vaynegia. Thus it continues to support my theory that a schismed half of her being survived and is actively constructing Neo Ogigah. I needn’t remind you that Phallun nearly conquered the universe with nothing but tenuous understanding of her genesis drive. He created an army of infinite nightmares and forcefully tore open the ghate, the dimension when souls move from one life to the next. What someone who engineered the technology can accomplish is exactly as you see it: artificial gods, no less.”

“Could Sellaya be using of these Neo Ogigah as means to subdue the Midnight Winds? This is it! A chance we must take! The original Ogigah were that which kept the winds at bay prior to their erasure!” Spiral exclaimed.

“If the audience would please refrain from such conspicuous outbursts we can continue but, yes, that was my consequent point. Still such cognition is best left to the experts. Uneducated theorization will only serve to muddy the waters.” Rayne grumbled and fidgeted with her pointer, “continuing, this artificial Yhonkatar is not an isolated case study. Other Neo Ogigah have been discovered and the pattern suggests the full rainbow will eventually become evident. Most notably the artificial Oseair, the ultraviolet and current dreamer of Evnyance. Scellvanna, infrared, the architect and Aulatar, orange, the starstream, have also been identified and warrant further study. As with the originals, all are classified as Ogigah level threats and to be treated with utmost caution. Any one of these constructs could easily destroy entire star systems. For the foreseeable future we will focus however on this, Yhonkatar. I will now field any questions. Yes, you there.”

“Your speech was dry and humdrum. If you truly wish to captivate the audience I suggest some pictures. En-un-ci-ate. Perhaps some light pantomiming,” the young violet dragon commented.

“Alouve, hush!” Mayne scolded her.

“Any actual questions pertaining to the subject?” Rayne slunk her brown into her palm.

“Yes, what of Halika, the soul?” Sayth asked.

“No information has been accumulated.” Rayne replied.

Spiral leaned in and whispered to her husband, “you’re concern is for Mr. Rhyme as he was the product of a split Halika. You fear some version of him shall return?”

“Unlikely but he did nearly compress the universe into a singularity,” Sayth straitened his coat.

“I notice such sort of thing happens quite often in our line of work,” Spiral commented.

“It only needs to happen once,” he replied.

Meanwhile Rayne wrapped up her presentation, “I would desire to claim you all as the best in your fields but we know that statement’s a falsehood. Please attempt to be adequate. For what I would not give to be back in the drakean academic community. You have your assignments, dismissed.”

Spiral walked along side Sayth. Although her native species was feline, she had adopted the form of a human women, with wavy silver hair, a white sleeveless trench coat and a furry dragon tail. The skin of her face and right arm was the auburn of a native American but her left arm shown caucasian pink. The two colors spiraled together over her exposed midriff and undeniably pregnant belly. As a guardian dragon she could assume a number of forms, from dragon to human and anywhere in between, but had settle on this as her primary.

“I dislike this human form Rayne has taken. Very much so. The two of you have grown quite close and I believe she does it for your attention,” Spiral told him.

“Rayne’s a colleague, nothing more. Remember her native species is the Whittitteron. They have no concept of sexual attraction and reproduce through controlled conception in artificial wombs. You shouldn’t be jealous,” Sayth told her. He too was a guardian dragon but took the form of a middle aged man downing a black scale trench coat, shades and gloves with energy manipulation hemispheres on their backhands. His dragon tail ended in a wicked scythe-like blade.

“Jealous?! Who of us says I am jealous? Perhaps you can walk the way back by yourself,” Spiral, with great effort picked up the pace. She could feel the girth of her pregnancy with each forceful step.

“Spiral, wait. I’m sorry. All I’m saying is there’s nothing between Rayne and me and never will be. You’re the love of my life. How can I make it up to you?” Sayth jogged to catch up.

“Tell to me I’m pretty,” Spiral said.

“Spiral, you know you’re gorgeous.”

“I need to hear it. Tell me I am pretty.”

Sayth took a knee. “Spiral, I know no night when I’m with you because your radiance outshines the sun. You grow more brilliant with each passing day. I can’t imagine life without you.”

“Thank you. It’s these hormones. Being pregnant, sometimes feeling beautiful is rather difficult. Not merely that but the limitations. I cannot transform, fly or use of signature energy for the health of the baby. I once was an admiral and protector of all TriCora. I feel so useless now.”

“There’s no greater work than bringing a baby into this world.”

“I do know, its that, its just more difficult than I anticipated. With Phallun and the Weaver defeated I had thought this the perfect time to rear children. But so now, with the Mindight Winds, I can’t help but think I ought be doing much more,” Spiral sat down in a rocking chair in their research ship. It squeaked and strained at her weight.

“Come on. I’ll show you a new card game I made up. That should return that smile. It’s called “Applause”. Sayth summoned a slick deck of playing cards from his pocket. The backs featured a star spattered spiral galaxy. He knew Spiral to be very found of card and board games as she played many with her tribe growing up in Harpe Forest. He tapped and activated a hover-table.

Sayth dealt the two of them six card each and laid the remaining forty face down in four rows of ten. “Twelve cards are always dealt to the players so if three people play they each get four cards and if four people play they each get three. The player with the highest card goes first, then the order circles clockwise. The order of suit priority is Spades>Diamonds>Hearts>Clubs. For each turn, the player who's turn it is will pick up one card from the table and replace it with one of their own face up. The cards above, below and to the sides of the card laid down will be turned face up as well. Only face down cards may be picked up and replaced. They will then score the points from the highest numbered card turned over face up if the suit of their initial card equals or beats the suit of that card. Remember the suit priority, spades are very valuable. If not the next highest card is used. Aces are worth one, twos are worth two etc, up to jacks being worth eleven, queens twelve and kings thirteen. So if a two of spades is placed down and turns over a king of hearts as the highest card, thirteen points will be scored but if a king of hearts is placed down and turns over a six of Spades as the highest card that will not count because hearts do not beat spades and the next highest card will be used. If the card placed on the board doesn’t beat anything then the lowest numbered card is scored. Every turn has a score. If an ace is turned over the player claps (applause) and turns over the cards touching it as well and those cards are included in the scoring. At the end of the turn the player’s score is written down. After a turn ends the next player plays, until the round is complete and everyone has scored. Then a new round begins. Rounds are played until all cards on the table are face up, unless there aren’t enough face down cards left for every player to score in which case the game immediately ends. Every player has equal chances to score. Afterward scores are calculated. The player with the most points wins and the other players must applaud them. Cool right?”

“Indeed, quite fanciful. It seems the highest on mine is the king of diamonds,” Spiral blushed.

“My highest is ten of hearts so you go first.” He said.

Spiral thought carefully, it might be best to save her highest suited card for when a good scoring card appears. She removed a card from a middle row and replaced it with her two of diamonds face up. She then flipped the cards to the top, bottom, left and right to face up. “My best scoring card is jack of spades but my two of diamonds doesn’t beat it so I must take the points of the nine of hearts, which my diamond beats,” she analyzed.

“You catch on quick. Nine points. Not bad for a first turn. Now I notice this jack of spades will score a lot of points, so I take my six of spades, which equals its suit, and place it adjacent to it. Now I turn the remaining cards touching my card face up. Even though the jack was already face up it counts because it was adjacent to the card I played. There, jack’s the best so eleven points for me,” Sayth calculated.

On the next turn Spiral flipped an ace up. Sayth called out “applause” and clapped. “Now you also turn the card around the ace face up.”

Spiral calculated her points. “The best card of mine is queen of clubs so twelve points,” she proclaimed.

“Not bad!” Sayth said.

Just then Mayne knacked on the metal hatch. He was a dragon, although not that fierce or impressive. Microscope goggles draped around his neck and his scrawny physique hunched lamely, “hello, Sayth, Spiral. How are you feeling? The baby must be arriving soon, right? Although I’m not the most knowledgeable on human gestation.”

“Yes within the time of a few weeks. I shall be so glad once all is done and I’m holding my healthy child,” Spiral answered.

“That’s a relief. If you were to get any larger I’d be afraid you might pop. Heh, heh. I came to give you a little warning: Alouve has recently learned the phrase “an affront to dragonkind” and she’s using it everywhere. This morning the sandwich I made her was “an affront to dragonkind”. Mayne ruffled his white feathered wings and scales.

“Such must be difficult for you; Sayth rescued Alouve from the ghate but with having it washed away her memories?” Spiral asked.

“All except those of her childhood. We’ve accelerated the growth of her new body to that of an adolescent to match her mental age. I’m sad she’s no longer the Alouve I once knew but I couldn’t be happier to have her back, at least in some rendition. She’s taken a very similar approach to her last life and become obsessed with theater from across the universe. She’s even seen human Shakespearean plays,” Mayne acknowledged.

“So, what do you think about working with Rayne? I know she doesn’t have the best people skills but you’ll never find a more brilliant scientist in the galaxy,” Sayth leaned back in his chair.

“And one disgraced. Sealveybreon terminated her position for once she concocted a doomsday weapon,” Spiral added icily.

“Everyone makes mistakes, you can’t blame the scientific mind for a little illegal experimentation,” Mayne blushed, thinking of his own questionable creations. “I’m honestly trying to keep pace. Her drive, her passion; it’s that of a bright-eyed grad student. Though frankly I’ll be glad once we find the Neo Foranga, the Ogigah of plants. That’s where my talents will truly shine.

Well, I’d better get back to my research. All these unreal equations are crazy, aren’t they? Enjoy your game!” And with that, Mayne fluttered out the door.

Spiral hefted herself out of her chair, “I should help as well. There’s most surely mountains of work to be done.”

“Are you sure you don’t need to rest? We can finish the game,” Sayth suggested.

“No, I know for certain myself to be an invaluable asset of this project. I am going,” Spiral headed for the door.

“Alright then. You do you,” Sayth followed her.

 

They took a portal to a research station Rayne had established on the rim of the eyelid. A strange place where a wall of colossal charcoal pillars extended far beyond the vanishing point, left, right and out to the starry sky. The lashes. On one side a milky nebula shifted like ocean waves. The other side was composed of jet black diamond-hard scales, although warm to the touch, the skin of the lid. Both sides stirred uneasily. The whole locale created a very disquieting ambiance, a seashore of alien flesh.

The station itself was a series of protective bubbles bracketed along the length of one lash and extending down into the cosmic aqueous. The interior immediately proved rife with complicated looking crystalline equipment that made Spiral feel she may be in over her head. Geodes, prisms, geodesic orbs and the like. One thing was certain; drakean technology was quite colorful and regal. Despite being complex computing systems, the pieces looked like they’d feel just as at home in a museum as in the facility.

Rayne, of course, was everywhere prevalent. Nothing was beyond her meticulous tweaking and observation. Although she maintained her human body, gelatinous blue arms extended from gold rings hovering around her for even greater efficiency. So great was her focus that she became completely oblivious to them entering until Sayth cleared his throat.

Rayne nearly dropped her beaker from the surprise, “Sayth! I’m happy to see you! -I mean, good, this will boost our productivity. And Spiral, ever present. Are you certain you belong here in your current condition?”

“I am fit as when I defeated Phallun’s forces at the genesis facility, thank you. Such endeavors as this widespread affect the greater universe. I am ready to do my part,” Spiral responded.

“Acting as admiral of the unified resistance does not qualify you to operate this exceedingly expensive equipment. What is your formal education? Do you have degrees in organic chemistry, Ogigah class biology, astrophysics, unreal engineering?” Rayne pressed a finger to her while continuing to work with her abundant remaining hands.

“I shall have you know myself quite skilled at machanakun workings and airship repairs in TriCora,” Spiral replied.

“TriCora, splendid. The backwater dimension lacking even basic interplanetary travel. That and a few beta crystals will get you a cup of commonplace neuron stimulant,” Rayne replied. Although she normally displayed little to no emotion, there was the slightest hint of contempt in her tone.

“Spiral can do a great deal more than you think, Rayne. If you want my help you take her too,” Sayth decreed.

“I see. Fine. I’ve stationed neuro-convergence rods along the rim of the sclera but can’t get a reading due to electromagnetic interference. Go record their levels. Accurately,” Rayne ordered and handed her a holographic pad.

Spiral turned and headed through the transparent membrane and to the bay housing hovercrafts. She could hear Rayne conversing with Sayth as she left. The whole ordeal made her blood churn but she was not unfamiliar with being looked down on due to her TriCoran background. She was determined to do the job proper.

The moist air smelled very alien, although fresh, like mud after a spring rain. Warm, organic. She descended to the base of the lash. The skin shimmered waves of rainbow energy as she followed it to the sea. This reminded her much alike the Appalimn; a cosmic whale of sorts she had studied as preparation to send Magilike to when collecting her shattered soul. Perhaps that is an observation that would impress Rayne.

The baby kicked. Spiral cradled her belly. The thought of bearing new life filled her with an indescribable joy yet brooding anxiety. Leading armies, battling monsters, those were things she was skilled at. Raising a child, particularly one with unreal DNA, was conspiring to be a whole other matter. Perhaps she wouldn’t have pushed Sayth so fervently if she’d thought this through better. But she’d gone a bit baby crazy. She had watched countless videos of infants and young children doing adorable things. At times she’d held various pets and small animals and pretended to be breastfeeding her baby. Now that she was so close to having her own the sensation felt overwhelming.

Spiral activated a magnetic clamp to retrieve the first rod from the viscus liquid. Although it, at a distance, resembled a starry sky, it also behaved like a turbulent ocean. It too felt warm. If this truly was an artificial Ogigah it went to great lengths to mimic living organisms. She recorded the levels and moved on to the next.

The first several repetitions of this process went without incident but suddenly the eye twitched. A star-spanning field of violet energy rushed to her followed by a black void of infinite darkness- the pupil! The eye had shifted its gaze to her direction! Lightning bolts crackled from the iris and her small craft rocked as if engrossed in a mighty storm! At first she feared she’d be sucked down! But the gaze diverted as swiftly as it had come.

Spiral gasped from the startle and her heart raced. Breathe, in, out, just like the obstetrician taught her. In… out… There. She was feeling better. She hurried with the remaining rods and piloted the craft back to the facility.

On her way in she overheard Sayth and Rayne conversing. She hung back a bit to listen in.

“Of course you’d have to be svitched up to take psychology. That’s practically a requirement. You don’t spend that much time examining the abnormal psyche without having one yourself. What else did you take?” Sayth asked briskly.

“I had a phase when I grew intent on becoming a doctor of medicine, although it didn’t last. One requires a certain bedside manner to be a proper doctor and that became too much to bear. All those needy people, ugh. But of course there was the standard pre-med curricula- e.g., chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, and physics. Those sustained me for a time but I wanted more, something to push them all to their natural limits and beyond. The drakean institutes of higher learning didn’t go far enough into genetic signature splicing and schism engineering. So much of the strides there were made by my own team,” Rayne had a feint yet distinct inflection of joy, one Spiral didn’t like one bit.

“You know, I’ve never met a woman or god as passionately educated as you. I-” Sayth began but Spiral stepped in and cut him off.

“The levels have been accessed and recorded,” she announced and handing the holo file to Rayne.

“Mmmm, excellent. Record them again,” Rayne muttered.

“Again? Did I not record them proper the first time?” Spiral snapped.

“You did but the schmic frequencies are highly irregular and we shall need another sampling. Particularly from the array farther offshore,” Rayne replied without looking up from the file.

“I have observed this construct to share a great many similarities with the Appalimn,” Spiral injected.

“Fascinating but those levels won’t record themselves no matter what creatures you compare them to,” Rayne continued to not make eye contact with Spiral.

Spiral grumbled and turned to get the next batch of readings. She had an itchy feeling Rayne was trying to get rid of her but of course couldn’t prove it. After all, Rayne was nothing if not professional.

She hauled herself back into the hovercraft but this time the ride felt extra bumpy. She had to ford on but the queasiness wouldn’t subside. Perhaps she really should be resting. Although her guardian dragon physique allowed her far greater capabilities than an average pregnant women, she could only do so much.

That’s it! She turned and vomited out the window. It made quite the spectacle, spewing out of a vehicle traveling two hundred kilometers per hour. A long and turbulent trail.

Finally she reached the site of the rods. Their recording went much like last time, pull them out with the magnetic clamp, record data and return them. Although this time something was different. Her hairs stood on end. That eerie sensation. She wasn’t alone.

She spun abruptly to be faced with a hoard of nightmarish creatures and a familiar woman with enormous lips painted on a scarf across her mouth holding a great clockwork sypter that shined gold with the day.

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2

“Isiren! Sayth?!” Spiral yelled. She recognized it all: Phallun’s right hand woman. The Yopannagayne, the divine scepter Sellaya constructed with the power to change reality in her hands. The nightmares Phallun had lead against the resistance. All of her past stood readily before her.

“Sayth!” Spiral yelled again. She tried the com but nothing could get through the electromagnetic interference. She had no sylver, she couldn’t transform or use her signature energies! What could she do?!

“I had everything! The power, prestige! I was third in line to becoming the most powerful being in the universe! But you, you stripped it from me, you and Maggilike! I hate you! Now look at me; a war criminal. Scrounging for scraps like some mangy hound! I have nothing ahead of me! Nothing to gain, nothing to lose. So consider this a performance of pure unfettered vengeance, nothing less, nothing more. I finally found you,” Isiren spoke. Although cracked and gushing schmic energy, the Yopannagayne had granted her immense power. A distorted aura of shadow cracked around her and danced in the pale light.

“Sayth!” Spiral screamed but to no avail. No one could hear her. She attempted to start the hovercraft but Isiren tore it apart in a singe note from her scowling lips. Spiral toppled to the ground.

The nightmares circled around her, squawking and growling madly like blood starved beasts. Isiren closed in.

“You wouldn’t kill a pregnant woman, would you?” Spiral asked desperately, to which Isiren cackled. She raised her scepter-

But a shadow bolted across the field like black lightning. In an instant all the nightmares collapsed into bloody ribbons and Sayth stood furiously between Spiral and Isiren. “Stay away from my wife!”

A wicket grin flashed across Isiren’s face and she snapped her fingers. The world fell dark except for a mysterious spotlight casting her front and center from nowhere in the sky. The Yopannagayne transformed into a golden microphone and she grasped it with both hands.

She began to sing and how she could sing! A siren’s voice is a marvel most human performers could only dream of. As she sung her heart and very passion were made flesh by the scepter. A stage play of monstrous demons looking very much like props stitched together from fabric. Their teeth and claws were real though, deadly so.

Sayth battled his way through the hoard as she preformed. Every so often she would stamp her foot and a giant stiletto boot would manifest out of the air in an attempt to crush him. Her song flowed as follows:

 

“Honey drips like memory, hatred spreads as sauce. All the painful seasonings, all the tragic loss. The scrupulous divinity has simmered into smoke. That which remains all tastes the same, the succulent, the joke.

Times of tearful spices, wicked flows like wine. The delicate little crises tiptoe to the garnished crime. It’s a basted in retribution, a banquet of decay, a savory solution, the entrée’s on its way.

Every detail tidily folded in the crust. The soufflé is rising mightily, the fusilli’s beyond trust. The malice leaches far and wide and drifts on the bouquet. They say revenge is best served cold but I’ll have it my way.

The final course is falling as the waiter waits dessert. The final curtain’s calling and this one’s meant to hurt. The decadence, the lavishly-”

 

But her song was cut short as Sayth broke through. Again and again, he unrelentingly slashed at her with his tailblade. Isiren was forced to wield the Yopannagayne in defense, sending cracks of schismed light through it, which in turn shattered her conjurings. She formed her weapon into a rapier but was no match for Sayth’s savage might and ferocity. He sent he careening across the fleshy soil and dove upon her. She tried to summon more monsters but he granted no respite. The best she could do was form a force field around herself but that too cracked and shattered. Within seconds she abandoned the fight and dissipated into a pulse of light.

 

“Awww, I would have liked to hear the performance's end,” Alouve moaned as she had been drawn by the commotion.

“Dinner and a show. You have to hand it to Isiren: she does everything classy, doesn’t she?” Sayth commented.

“She had just attempted to slaughter me,” Spiral reminded them.

“Right, and she’ll be back. I’ll have Rayne relocate our research to another site immediately. I’m taking no chances. Too bad I couldn’t finish her off,” Sayth dusted and straitened his coat.

“If I must to wager, I’d suggest Rayne set up this whole ordeal,” Spiral said bitterly.

“It was Rayne who alerted me to the presence of intruders near the facility. If she wanted to, she could have left you for dead. Rayne might be rough around the edges but she’s not trying to kill anyone,” Sayth assured her.

“Why not? This morning, Rayne said if I didn’t leave her lab immediately she’d put me through the particle accelerator,” Alouve pouted.

“You did break an astonishing quantity of expensive equipment,” Sayth reminded her.

“You too, huh?” Alouve crossed her arms. As an adolescent, she didn’t quite measure up to the height of the humans.

“Enough. Lingering here may prove dangerous. We should hurry back to the lab,” Spiral advised. Sayth took her in his arms, he sprouted dragon wings and they departed on the sour wind.

 

At the research facility Sayth explained the situation to Rayne’s chagrin. “We’re in the process of ongoing experiments; abandoning them now is simply unacceptable,” she argued without pausing her work.

“Spiral and I are leaving; if you want to stay here that’s your choice,” he replied.

“We both know very well I cannot complete this research without you. You’re perhaps the only being in this universe who can understand Vaynegia quantum algorithms. We are a zeptometer away from a major breakthrough. Would you really discard all our progress for some uneducated TriCoran?” Rayne was getting visibly distraught as indicated by her eyebrows slightly flaring. Her face showed no other emotion.

“Goodbye Rayne,” Sayth turned to walk away.

“Stop, halt, cease your exodus. You leave me no volition; we will relocate our operation to the Phendyril sector to begin research on the Neo Ogigah Aulatar immediately,” Rayne stated irritably.

“Good, send me the coordinates.”

 

Within the hour, Sayth, Spiral, Mayne and Alouve were parsecs away, sailing the cosmos on their ship. Rayne had taken the lab and equipment separately. Alouve was absorbed in her screens but the others played a round of Applause to pass the time.

“Destination: Aulatar. Fascinating. You know if the sacterrian currents were a bloodstream Aulatar would be the red blood cells. Ogigah often take abstract and unexplained forms. My understanding is that the appalimn are, in fact, extensions of it’s consciousness and behave like a hive mind. Applause!” Mayne commented as he flipped over an ace. He marked his score on a hovering holo-board.

“Should that be the case how will we study such a creature?” Spiral asked, replacing a card on the table with one of her own.

“By studying individual elements and the current. I hear you’ve spent some time researching the appalimn yourself,” he replied.

“Indeed I have. Astounding creatures. Demigods themselves that travel across the entire universe. They are which carved the sacterrian currents to begin with. Though I never imagined them to be part of a larger entity,” she said.

“I notice you’ve abandoned your TriCoran accent,” Sayth commented, playing his hand.

“Perhaps I’m tired of always being judged as a TriCoran. “Tribal”, “primitive”, “uneducated”, I’m sick of it! Although we come from a wild frontier, Sypter and the greater TriCora are equally great to Drako or any society in Rainbow’s Wane!” Spiral slammed her cards down.

“Don’t let Rayne get to you. She lacks social skills,” Sayth said.

“It’s not merely Rayne. Most people of your universe barely know of TriCora’s existence. Those who do think it full of monsters and savages, which is a half truth. There’s barely any interaction between our groups, how could there be with TriCora tucked away in a pocket dimension? In fact most people only know her due to the alliance I forged to combat Phallun. My aim is to unite TriCora and Rainbow’s Wane so that everyone can share the vast knowledge and scientific acumen of both cultures but the dragons and whittitteron see this as a one sided handout,” she lamented.

“I know the feeling. The humans of Earth were the last species of the colonized universe to gain interstellar travel. We’re still light-years behind most other species, in terms of technology. In a weird way, Phallun’s aggression was a most beneficial act as it forced diplomacy between Drako and the United Earth System Federation. Anyway, the board’s cleared time to tally up the scores,” Sayth divulged.

“No need, we all know Spiral won,” Mayne gathered the cards and handed her the deck. “It’s strange, playing with physical medium. We always used holo-cards on Drako.”

“Yes, Sayth gave this deck to me so I wouldn’t feel homesick. Physical games are all we have in TriCora,” Spiral collect up the cards and slid them into her pack.

“I’m bored,” Alouve moaned. “Aren’t we there yet?”

“Because these marvelous currents through space we’re traveling far faster than the speed of light. This scientifically shouldn’t be possible. Isn’t that wonder enough?” Mayne asked.

“I suppose so,” she sighed.

“At any rate, we’re here,” Sayth informed them.

Rayne’s lab had been attached like a cluster of bubbles to her carrier ship for the time being. Crystaline cybernetic animals toiled to unload and secure it to the new location. They had landed on an unremarkable moon but strategically located adjacent to an artery of sacterrian currents. The shimmering sky-blue stream engulfed the entire horizon and distant golden whale-like creatures danced within it. The appalimn. Spiral greatly looked forward to this expedition.

As they exited their ship, Rayne could be seen busily conducting her labor drones. Sayth wasted no time confronting her, “how do we know this location is safe? What’s keeping Isiren from following us?”

“If Isiren has the technological capability to track my ship she deserves to kill us all. Even if she could however, I further possess an unparalleled form of insurance that will certainly interest you. I introduce project Neo Eden 2.0: A genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced snakoth capable of converting oth’s ghate infused poison into a plasma state; further perfected from the trial run against Magilike. Even possessing the incomplete Yopannagayne, Isiren’s odds against it weigh under 23%. I trust this meets your satisfaction and there will be no further inconveniences?” As Rayne spoke, the golden rings surrounding her stretched to create a watery portal, two stories high. A floodgate. From it a fearsome weapon stepped forth. Twelve tons of jet black muscles formed a centaur body bearing violet crystalline claws with further crystals jutting out at abstract angles from the spine and joints. The long neck stretched into two demonic sets of jaws brimming with metallic needle teeth and a single crystal eyeplate above them. The tail swept back and forth menacingly and its crystals separated into a swarm of levitating razors. It shrieked like Hades and its teeth blossomed into flowers of a thousand Tesla coils. The monster coursed with blood red lightning. Lightning that could instantly send any living creature into the next life.

“Yes, I believe this addresses my concerns,” Sayth acknowledged.

“Such a weapon would have been most appreciated against Phallun,” Spiral crossed her arms.

“It was under development besides, I refrain from political involvements. My loyalty falls exclusively to the development of science,” Rayne replied. “Now if we can please get back to work…”

And they did. The research continued unabated for the better part of three days. Spiral made it her pursuit to learn the workings of Rayne’s various machinery. They had much to do with the sacterrian currents. All readings indicated these currents were unnaturally strained, much weaker than they should be. Perhaps she should report this to Rayne?

She had to wonder if she felt safer with Neo Eden present or quite the contrary. When not in action it stood completely motionless, unflinching, not even breathing. Creepy thing.

Alouve caught her eyeing the weapon, “you don’t like Miss Rayne’s doll either, do you?” she asked. She had been playing dress up and donned a tattered coat of colorful rags like a stage pauper.

“No, I can’t say I do,” Spiral set down the equipment and sat beside her on the step.

“Mayne says she’s brilliant but she reminds me of Doctor Faustus,” Alouve continued.

“I can’t say I’m familiar with that one,” Spiral replied.

“No one is. It’s an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe. I wonder why Mayne likes to drag me along on his scientific expeditions. He knows I don’t care for science. We’re from two different worlds.” she said.

“You’ve really delved into that Earth literature I see,” Spiral commented, half guessing at the context. “You mean the moon and stars to Mayne and he’s just happy to spend time with you.”

“I suppose. He says he knew me in a past life but I don’t remember any of it. I don’t know how to tell him I’m not the girl he wants me to be.”

“You’d be surprised how much remains. I knew you but briefly too. You were a hero, you know? Sayth took special care to find and bring you back.”

“I don’t feel like a hero. Compared to people like Rayne and Sayth I feel, small. Like an outcast. I don’t want that anyway; being a hero doesn’t suit me. I’d rather be the bard who preforms great ballads of heroes instead.”

“Well, Sayth and I have many great stories to share.”

“I know but I want my own stories, ones that I’ve seen with my own eyes. Someday I’m going to be the greatest playwright and actress of my time and it’ll be based off my own adventures. Say, did it twitch?” Alouve stared at Neo Eden. Spiral looked too. “I think it did.”

An explosion rang out from across the compound and Neo Eden sprang into action. Shadowy, slithering meteorites showered from the sky and where they crashed nightmares emerged. The alarm sounded.

“I take it back! I don’t want to die!” Alouve squealed.

“Isiren found us! Come, I’ll take you to safety,” Spiral grabbed Alouve by the hand.

They ran for the ship but nightmares obstructed their path. Spiral made a hard turn to the testing site.

 

Across the way Sayth sensed the commotion, “Damn it! Where’s Spiral? I have to find her!”

“No, Isiren’s targeting the lab’s core reactor personally- you must stop her,” Rayne told him.

“I have to make sure Spiral’s safe.”

“If Isiren triggers a meltdown, Spiral and everyone within a two hundred kilometer radius will be reduced to a smoldering, radioactive heap of ashes,” Rayne argued. “I’ll see to the others.”

“Understood,” Sayth flew furiously for the lab.

 

Spiral darted with Alouve for the hovercrafts. The black monsters were everywhere; deformed masses of teeth and claws. A far greater force than before. If Isiren’s first attempt was an appetizer, this was the main course.

There, the hanger! They just had to get away. But to Spiral’s horror, a burst of energy from the sky blew it away in a molten storm of blazing metal.

“What do we do?” Alouve asked.

Spiral thought fast. Nothing left but to hide in the current processing site. The precision of these attacks- it’s like Isiren had advanced knowledge of the layout of the base.

“Follow me,” Spiral lead them in, winding around machinery and ducking in and out of vents. This was it. If they were found here there was nowhere left to hide with a barren landscape of craters spanning the entire surface of the moon. They crouched behind a large geode like console.

Nightmares rushed past. There were so many! Spiral held her breath and held Alouve tighter. She could only hope Sayth and Neo Eden could fend off the attack. But a hand came down on her shoulder, causing a surge of adrenaline. Rayne!

“Follow me, they’ll locate you there with a probability of-” Rayne began.

“We get it!” Spiral interrupted.

Rayne lead them to a large golden waterwheel channeling the current through a long series of tubes. Beside it lay a circular gate of some kind. Spiral and Alouve climbed in.

“Rayne, we can’t escape from here; the current will tear us apart,” Spiral observed.

“That is the desired outcome, yes,” Rayne stated coldly. A force field flickered on, locking Spiral and Alouve in place.

“Rayne, no! How could you? Why are you doing this?!” Spiral pounded at the wall of light with her fists and tail.

“Sayth is the most brilliant man in all academia. He deserves no less than the brightest, most educated and acclaimed woman to be his wife, not some savage he fell for on the battlefield. You could never love him like I do. You’re stifling him; smothering his greatness,” Rayne told her.

“Damn you Rayne! You won’t succeed in this!” Spiral hollered. She clutched and rotated the machinery. She’d studied this. There might be one chance!

“I have made positive there will be no evidence remaining. Sayth will believe this the work of Isiren and, in time, come to forget you and accept me. And so we part,” Rayne overloaded the device. In a tidal wave of current and electricity the entire testing site was washed out of existence.

​

3

The cosmic flow took them, shook them and irreparably hurled them across the universe. Spiral had formed a protective shield just before the attack but that wouldn’t matter if they were flung into a star or ended up parsecs from an inhabitable planet.

Alouve screamed. Spiral grimaced. The currents could flush them literally anywhere. Any way she shuffled it, their odds of survival were astronomically low. But sometimes fate deals the hand.

Stars flew by at incalculable speeds. A sapphire blue gleam appeared and grew into a spiraling galaxy as they neared. Around it shined vast cosmic rivers of some indigo substance. They were falling fast. The nebula- they entered the glimmer. Shimmering clouds obstructed their view- lights everywhere! Where would they impact?!

With a seismic splash they crashed into an ocean. The shield shattered. Dark. Which way was up? Wetness everywhere! Where’s the light? The water was a deep indigo but many wavy dots of brightness shined within. Up?! It was hard to say but one light definitely appeared more pronounced. Spiral tapped Alouve’s wing and pointed, directing her to the surface. They swam.

Spiral broke through and gasped. Her silvery hair fell limp and knotted across her face like a wounded hound. Where were they? A bitter chill. What exactly was this liquid they found themselves in? There- a floating mass of some kind. They climbed aboard.

The surface felt slick and jagged. Not an issue for dragons but Spiral scraped her belly hoisting herself up. This object appeared a floating sphere but with contour and craters almost resembling a miniature model of a planet. How strange.

Breathing heavily, Spiral observed the area. The ocean- was it an ocean? It looked like a starry night’s sky through a telescope complete with galaxies and nebulae but jumbled beneath the waves. The sky above was the ocean and the ocean the sky. In fact the entire plane curved up, folding against gravity. One and the same.

“Spiral, where are we?” Alouve’s words mimicked her thoughts. What was this celestial sea? An odd yet by no means threatening place. Everything felt calm and safe despite the alien nature of it all.

“I truly do not know. Come, we can’t stay here. We need look for signs of civilization or at least shelter,” Spiral tried to stand but her legs betrayed her. She collapsed in a heap, shaking.

“Spiral we almost perished. You have to think of the baby. Come on, sit and rest a bit, please?” Alouve sat down beside her.

“Yes, alright,” Spiral had battled nightmares, reality bending weapons and undead beasts with crystal hearts but now, of all times, she couldn’t catch her breath. She rolled over and wheezed.

“Remember your breathing. You’re a mother now. No more excitement for you,” Alouve patted her womb.

Spiral attempted to steady her breath. She felt isolated and scared on some unknown world and very, very pregnant. She started to cry. The tears came so much more easily now.

“Spiral you can’t cry! If you cry what will stop me from doing the same? I know. I’m a bard; I’ll tell a story. I once saw a Raydaytion play. A romantic tragedy of all things for this romance was forbidden. A Raydaytion drone and Lytrik wench had found themselves together yet at odds, stranded on a desolate moon. Over everything they argued for Raydaytion with their craggy shells are hard headed and the Lytrik soft from molting. Raydaytion are bugs and Lytrik lizards, you know.”

Spiral nodded.

“Now although the pair were mortal enemies both knew they must work together to survive. It was a savage and unforgiving land and they needed a ship to sail. In time they became tolerable to each other’s needs and that tolerance blossomed into fondness. Perhaps it wasn’t so bad in their current situation as long as they had each other. Could such fondness bloom further? How could this be, for he was Raydaytion and she a Lytric?” Alouve paused.

“What happened next?” Spiral asked.

“I don’t know. At that point the Raydaytion audience became bored and started eating each other. I cleared out in a hurry,” Alouve concluded.

“I see,” Spiral was feeling better, at least a bit. She sat there between the sea and stars, the stars and sea, contemplating the event.

Alouve fiddled with mossy rocks like puppets, “this is boring. Why couldn’t we have crashed into a city, preferably one with restaurants and a theater?”

Spiral shakily climbed to her feet, “we don’t know that there aren’t such things yet. We don’t know anything. I suppose there’s only one remedy,” she glanced around it search of some sign of civilization or at least land.

Alouve followed. “So it seems that Rayne’s the viper in all this,” she kicked a clump of sand. It was laid out on this planetoid almost like beaches. The odd mass featured it’s own tiny oceans and continents.

“Indeed she betrayed us. I knew I could not trust her! I should have followed my intuition. I worry for Sayth and Mayne. Isiren is no match for my husband but him being alone with that harlot makes my blood curdle!”

“Mayne told me a dash about Rayne. She’s been called many a name but you’re probably the first person in the universe to call her a harlot,” Alouve snickered.

“Well a fixation on it will not be of help to us. Please take flight and give us a report of our surroundings.”

“That’s right, I can fly! Why the Oth am I waiting on this rock??” Alouve flapped her scaly wings and took off in a pink and violet streak.

“Some present lack that luxury,” Spiral called after her. Being unable to use signature energy was the worst. She couldn’t even sprout her dragon wings. The things she took for granted.

Alouve hovered above. “Yeeeee! There’s a building; a temple of some sort over that way! A palace fit for a monarch. I bet they have food! This thing you’re on is drifting strait toward it. ...Slowly, very slowly. You know just because you can’t fly doesn’t mean I should be burdened with the waiting…”

“Go on. I’ll meet you there,” Spiral sighed.

With that Alouve was off like a shot from a rail gun. She hurried ahead, stretching her wings on the updraft from a miniature sun’s warmth. But the sight ahead stopped her in dead air. Winged creatures with glowing mouths, a whole swarm of them, flew by in the distance. She couldn’t make them out clearly but had no intention of getting closer to try. She dove and landed beside Spiral again.

“You know I felt rather like a cur leaving a pregnant woman alone like that so I’ve decided to wait with you,” Alouve said.

“How sweet,” Spiral smiled, unaware of the beasts.

 

As they neared the floating temple grew into a wonder of this wondrous world. A great monument of marbled sapphire and jade with towering pillars and murals flooding the walls depicting acts of motherhood and pregnancy across all the races of the universe. Floating rivers spiraled up around its domed peaks, and the floors were carpeted in flowering sky blue moss. A crystal stairway descended from its heights strait into the ocean.

“I know where we are; I’ve heard such tales of this- a temple to the mother of the cosmos, the blue Ogigah, Veiletto- which means this world we occupy must be the Cosmic Cradle as Veiletto’s form was the ocean herself,” Spiral announced to the marvels surrounding her. They ascended the banister and traversed a spherical bubble of an entryway.

“Pity, it looks abandoned,” Alouve observed. “Hello?”

“Yes, to most a legend, few have ever laid eyes on this place. Think of the knowledge we may reap,” Spiral told her.

“I’m thinking more about food or lack of right now,” Alouve told her.

“Yes, you’re right but look at these murals. I believe this portrays the big bang event but then, what is this part before it? And here, where the Vayngia split the single deity into the rainbow of Ogigah- the start of schism. What a trove of knowledge we’ve discovered!” Spiral half brushed her off.

“The floor’s moving.”

“What?”

“This floor is definitely moving,” Alouve repeated. The floor and murals crept slowly at first but ever accelerating. Certain images became illuminated while others fell to shadow. The temple came alive.

“It is almost akin to the temple itself speaking to us. It is ushering us along to more murals. Look here- the Midnight Winds! Perhaps this landing point was more than mere coincidence. We don’t understand! What are you trying to show us?” Spiral called out.

With that a great wave washed them away. The water moved with a certain sentience and carried them up stairways, down halls and around the cella.

Abruptly it stopped and they were flung before a rippling pool. Spiral’s pack was knocked loose and the deck of cards slid out in the process. She fumbled for them but they landed squarely in the water.

“Damn, I hope this has not ruined them,” Spiral fished the deck out to discover with great surprise the cards were bone dry. How odd indeed. She drew one to be sure of it. The two of clubs.

 

Suddenly she’d found herself inside a cloth tent. What happened? The dryness chapped her throat and what was she wearing? Robes obscured her full form but when she glanced her hairy hand it became readily apparent, this was not her body. Who was she?

Why couldn’t she feel anything? Surely she should feel surprise or panic yet everything seemed calm and familiar. She was weary.

A man dressed in similar robes entered the tent and from the flap she glanced an indigo desert of twinkling sands. This seemed important but her mind was hazy. She thought nothing of it.

The man spoke, somehow she knew him as Astre, “we should make haste, Edalah, these lands are cursed.”

Another man’s voice rang out; to her astonishment it was her own, “you worry too much my friend. Three days time we shall put these whole badlands behind us. Then you have a rosy cheek little warrior waiting for you, I hear? Come, get some rest. The sun is a fiendish adversary and we shall want an early start.”

“I don’t like it. But to see my wife and son again, I would cross the gates of Oth,” Astre replied but had little choice but to pull up his own sleeping bag. They were in deep.

Everything felt natural even though Spiral had little control of this vessel’s actions. It was like she was a passenger in his body. Her consciousness and self faded. Thinking what he thought and feeling how he did. In this dream, she was Edalah.

He noticed Astre mumbling in his sleep but paid it little mind. Odd chants from some other world.

The next day found them trekking on through the desert. They rode on odd humped creatures of this world. Astre mumbled often on. At first Edalah ignored it but the chants became more frequent and pronounced. He was having trouble trying not to break into chanting himself. He had known Astre since they were boys together but had never heard anything like this. Finally he asked, “what is it you are chanting?”

“Nothing. I am not chanting at all. This heat must be getting to you, friend,” Astre replied.

“I suppose it is,” Edalah replied.

Night fell and they camped. No further oddities. Perhaps it was all in Edalah’s head. He closed his eyes. They days were long and the wind had risen. He hoped it wouldn’t be an indication of foul weather tomorrow. Sleep fell swiftly.

The following day was filled with more winds and more chanting. This time each sounded more pronounced. Again Edalah questioned Astre and he denied it. Astre questioned Edalah the same and he denied it as well. They mutually agreed there was nothing more to talk about but with a deep unease between them. Was Astre going mad? Or perhaps it was Edalah who was mad himself? Best not to think about it. Soon the journey would be behind them and so would this mess. They rode into the setting sun, pitched the tents and made camp. They decided to turn in early. Perhaps weariness had gotten the better of them.

Again he awoke to the sound of chanting but this time it was certainly his own. He consciously had to still his craggy lips. It filled his head. What was this? Darkness still engulfed the land and he was forced to light the lantern to make out the inky apparitions.

He checked the tent. An empty sack and cold pillow lay beside him. Astre must have gone to take a piss. But as Edalah lay there in the thick shadows an unmistakable mummer could be heard. A low and guttural rumbling. Taking the lantern, he stepped out the flap to investigate.

The many stars seemed to cast a glow onto the sand. All seemed still. He wandered ahead. Then, beyond the dune, a sight quaked him to the bone. How could this be? A vast expanse of rolling sands lay before him and all of it, every step, was etched with strange symbols. Along it all were Astre’s unmistakable boot prints.

“Astre! What is this foolishness?” Edalah called. He followed the markings. These were no language he’d ever seen before. A pronounced fear bit his brow and tugged his chest tight like a marionette. As he neared the chanting grew until finally he found Astre in the center of a massive ring of glyphs.

“Astre, what are you doing? You’re not well- this behavior is frighting!” Edalah yelled at him but to no response. He ran up and shook him hard to find Astre had carved these cursed symbols into his flesh as well. But no blood flowed from the lacerations, instead sand! He too bled the deep indigo grains from his eyes, ears and mouth as he chanted! His entire body crumbled apart in Edalah’s arms!

Edalah tried to think, tried to flee but his mind clouded over. He heard the chanting and glowing runes danced across his eyes. He couldn’t stop it; the din was consuming him! His own mouth betrayed him into chants as well. Everywhere, everything! The incantations! He crumbled away. The winds whipped and all that remained of the travelers were two heaps of rags in an endless desert of sand.

 

As the dream faded, Spiral found herself back in the temple, holding her cards. “Did you see that?” she gawked around in astonishment.

“What, you dropped your cards?” Alouve asked. For her no time had passed even though it felt like days to Spiral.

Spiral contemplated this occurrence. Now, back in her familiar body with a clear head, she realized she was reliving someone else’s days. Not only that but ones concerning the Midnight Winds. That wasn’t sand; it was time! The winds convert all life back into their potential time as a physical medium. All to turn the universe back to the midnight hour.

She attempted to draw another card but the deck was sealed shut. Perhaps it had lost its power and needed to recharge? A deck of memories…

Alouve noticed her significant change in demeanor. “Are you okay?” she asked but before Spiral could answer, another wave washed them away.

​

4

With a crashing wave, they surfaced but no longer found themselves in the temple. No, the pungent earthiness of the grass and dancing shadows of the leaves told a different tale. A faint wind whistled in the branches above them, harmonizing with the tweeting of the songbirds and buzzing of the bees.

Spiral climbed to her feet and Alouve beside her. The quaint brook which they had found themselves in barely reached their ankles. Far too shallow and weak of flow to carry them the assumed distance they had traveled. Another one of Veiletto’s mysteries to top off the day.

“And so we find ourselves lost once more. Bother,” Spiral breathed in her surroundings. The golden sun hung low on the horizon and the coolness of the budding night was beginning to take hold.

“And still with no food,” Alouve added.

Spiral’s nose twitched, a tickle. A faint but distinct fruity aroma wafted on the breeze. “You know, we just may be in luck. Have a glance up there,” she pointed across the massive and gnarled truck eclipsing them. A mighty tree, but true to everything they’d seen so far, an odd one at that. Lining the scraggly branches were not fruits but orbs housing miniature planets, stars and galaxies. Wherever they were, it felt at home in the Celestial Cradle.

“Oh wow. Do you suppose they’re edible?” Alouve licked her beak.

“My nostrils tend to be more sensitive than those of normal humans or dragons and that has only grown truer since I became with child. I can say with enough certainty for two stranded castaways that these indeed can be a meal to us,” Spiral confirmed. She tried to leap onto a low branch but barely caught the height of it with her arms, hanging there awkwardly.

“I’ll pick some for us,” Alouve assured her and spread her wings.

“Pick extra. My satchel’s interior is a pocket dimension that can hold far greater mass than its size suggests,” Spiral called after her and dropped to the ground.

Alouve fingered one of the larger fruits but reeled back.

“What is it?” Spiral called.

“They’re hot! My, my. Not an issue, it just startled me is all,” Alouve proceed to pick a solid arm-full. She returned to Spiral and they both bit in with great gusto.

The flavor! This was perhaps the most intense thing Spiral had ever laid upon her tongue. Fruity and sweet, like the scent, but a thousandfold! It made her eyes water and she instantly buzzed with energy.

“Oh, wow. Packs a rather hefty punch, doesn’t it?” Alouve asked, having had the same reaction. Almost like a drug. They both pondered this for a moment but hunger quickly won out. Although Spiral, as a guardian dragon, could convert sunlight directly to energy she had grown ravenous for solid food over the past eight months. She was eating for two now after all.

Rejuvenated by the meal they stored the extra fruit in Spiral’s pack and decided to explore the territory. They couldn’t possibly rest after ingesting something so electrifying. A quick trip ending where they began suggested this landmass to be another round planetoid, although significantly larger than the last. They had walked the circumference of it. Several others could be picked out of the auburn sky. Like before it featured miniature grassy landmasses, with mountain-like contour, beaches and oceans. The giant trees occupying each broke this scale-sized pattern.

“We’ve stumbled upon our own little punyverse,” Alouve commented.

“Very much so but all under a single sun,” Spiral added, glancing the horizon. But the sun she caught blinked. It sputtered for a second revealing a shadowy mass behind it. Spiral squinted for a better view and her glasses darkened to protect her eyes from the glare. It writhed. “That is no sun. It is the burning maw of a monster!”

The “sun” closed and four distinctly shining eyes were revealed over it. The shadowy form of a wyvern became clear. The beast roared again revealing golden strands of light, spread its starry wings and soared for the planetoid.

Far larger than either of them, it dove with wicked talons and crashed into the ground they occupied milliseconds prior. Imposing horns adorned its head and its brilliant mouth snapped with bony plates for tearing and dismembering. It made good use of both, charging at them furiously. The beast was a juggernaut of land and sky.

Spiral swerved around a tree, baiting its aggression. Its horns were impaled in the thick truck and it thrashed to break free. This bought them a breath of time to escape. Alouve tried to carry Spiral into the air but found herself to weak for the ordeal. They tumbled to the cool grass and were forced to run.

“There, a hollow!” Spiral pointed at a nearby tree. Although the beast was mighty, the trees proved far to massive for even it to topple. It reared back and pulled free. Glaring menacingly, the beast charged fast, too fast! She wasn’t going to make it!

Alouve bounded onto its head, clawing at the eyes. It screeched and shook her off but this bought Spiral precious time. Alouve joined her and they leaped into the hollowed gap just before the monster collided with the trunk.

Leaves and branches were dislodged as it viciously shook the tree with its horns. The entire ground quaked but it couldn’t break through. It then attempted to snare them with its talon but failed to fit far enough inside. It let out a bellow of pure anguish before flying away.

“Do you think it’s gone?” Alouve trembled.

“That I know not but we had better spend the night here to be certain. It’s skin was black, implying nocturnal camouflage. Day is our friend in this peril,” Spiral said.

“Spiral, I’m scared. I didn’t sign up for this. I wish I was back on Second Drako with my cozy bed of coins.”

“I guess it’s my turn to tell a tale then,” Spiral began. “Once I knew an actress. She too was thrown into the tumultuous unknown by forces beyond her control. A journey to end all journeys. Along the way she faced many dangers from ancient gods to reality bending machines. But she also made many friends and saw worlds beyond her wildest imagination: ruins of stone where the ceaseless rain fell all colors of the spectrum, a fair in a colormill, and a grand city of tessellations that stretched beyond the stars. In the end she learned of a great calamity and gave her life to stop it. That’s how the universe was saved. That actress’ name was-”

“Wait, don’t tell me. I like it better when I’m not the one who dies.”

“Well, whoever she was, that was her journey, just as this is yours. Look to the horizon, not the past. For there you will find the greatest treasures of the universe,” Spiral concluded.

“Thanks. I think I’ll get some sleep now. All that screaming truly wears one down,” Alouve curled up into a ball of violet scales and soon found slumber. Spiral on the other hand could press on without sleep. She caressed her deck of cards, they slid like buttery silk again and she was able to draw another: the four of hearts.

 

She found herself beside a very large and busy street, bustling with dragons towering over her. She attempted to move but her pudgy body simply toppled over. All the big dragons and noisy vehicles. This felt bad, scary. She couldn’t describe it, all her memories and rational thought were dissolving into pudding. She began to bawl, curling up with her tail around her and her thumb in her mouth until someone picked her up and hoisted her against his chest. This felt warm and safe, her daddy. In this dream she was a mere hatchling dragon.

“It’s okay Amolee. Daddy’s got you. It’s okay,” he bounced her up and down in his arms. This made Amolee feel better but a black dragon approached them, this one a woman. Strangers were scary and she clung to the white scales of his chest.

“It’s okay baby, this is a friend. This is the woman daddy works with, her name is Sellaya. Can you say hi?” Daddy held her up.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, little one,” Sellaya held out her hand. Amolee felt shy and hid her tiny face in her daddy’s armpit.

“That’s okay, we’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other now that your father and I are finally working together on the same project,” Sellaya said. They began to walk. Amolee would periodically glace around to see the dragons. Something wasn’t right. Everyone looked so unhappy.

“About the project, we’re working with something completely alien. We can’t risk moving too quickly. I’ve been monitoring the Vaynegia levels but can’t get a clear reading. They’re like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Daddy looked worried. This made Amolee worried too even if she couldn’t make sense of the words.

“The levels will stabilize. Come, let me show you something. The transport’s late again, isn’t that always the way? But why wait for a shoddy transport when we can bend spacetime to place our office directly in front of us?” with that Sellaya turned a knob on some peculiar looking golden toy and the world literally curved and bent around them like liquid. Their office building, which Amolee remembered was a long, long, ways away, suddenly was set right before them.

“Sellaya, that’s astonishing but we shouldn’t do such a thing! We have no idea what the implications of bending reality are!” Daddy stumbled in bewilderment.

“I’ll tell you what the implications are: we could end the plague! Think of it; we’ll be worldwide heroes! Fame and fortune! Opportunity waits not for the timid. You’ve lost dragonkind you’ve cared about; so have I. Until now we couldn’t do a damn thing but accept it. What if that wasn’t true anymore? This Vaynegia is a gift! The greatest gift in scientific history and one we can’t afford to pass up!” Sellaya placed her hands on his shoulders.

“Yes, I suppose so. But only if we take every possible precaution,”

“Of course, of course!”

“Listen, I heard the news, about your unhatched child. My deepest condolences. Are you certain you should be working so soon after their passing?” Daddy and Sellaya walked through the crystal doors. Everything looked bright and fancy. There were several something or others that Amolee really wanted to suck on.

“Thank you for your concern but this is what I do. You don’t become the head of a multinational science conglomerate by pouting over ever little tragedy.”

“If you’re sure…”

“Listen, my husband has been tremendously supportive. He’s my diamond, my starlythium. We’ve been sad, we’ve cried and now it’s time to move on. Perhaps, someday we’ll try again. I hired you to be the pinnacle of extra-dimensional research, not my babysitter, got it? Speaking of which, here’s our childcare facility now. I’m sure you’ll find it apex in all regards,” Sellaya gestured to an area with lots of toys and other baby dragons. The floor glowed with low flames as hatchlings must be kept very warm. The toys looked sort of fun but Amolee didn’t want to leave her daddy. She began to cry.

“There, there, Starbright. Daddy’s got to work now okay? But look at this- doesn’t this look fun?” he picked up a flashy toy. “Look at all the new friends you’ll make.” Amolee nodded. The toy was rather amusing it was true, but she still didn’t want to leave. Alas she had no choice as the caregiver staff took her from her father. She wailed as she was carried farther and farther away.

Down the hallway she could faintly make out Sellaya saying to her Daddy, “come, Altnexxis, I’ll show you to the lab. Your personal lab, that is.”

 

With that, the dream ended and Spiral found herself back into scraggly hollow. Sellaya? Altnexxis! These were the dragons who almost ended all life in the universe during the convergence! Sellaya was the architect of Sylver and the reality bending cities in Prysm! Of the Yopannagayne too. Something told Spiral that this dream happened a very long time ago, as in millions of years. What was this? What was the logic behind what the deck revealed to her? Still these last two visions can’t have been coincidence. She needed more information. Unfortunately, to that end, the deck was once again sealed tight and with no trace of morning in sight.

What to do? She did the only thing she could do: study the tree. This seeming dull escapade however proved much more insightful then she could have ever fathomed. The findings filled her with awe. Prysm technology! The bark, when scraped off, pulsed with some unreal and infinitely complex equation. “This isn’t a tree,” she stammered, “it’s a machine!”