Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

is your burden. For another thousand years, Archemi will know a stalemate—if not true peace.”

“It will know peace,” I said. “We aren’t going to renew the Caul like the others. We’re going to destroy the Drachan and put an end to the cycle once and for all.”

The Avatar’s expression shut down. “That is not possible.”

“It has to be,” I said. “You said it yourself. Entropy effects everything, even Drachan. Archemi’s been living in the shadow of this looming crisis for too long. The Meewfolk lost everything, the dragons lost everything, and the Aesari and Tulaq fucking went extinct, pardon my language. It has to end somewhere, and the buck stops here. With us.”

Gar scratched his head and grimaced.

“It is not possible,” the Avatar repeated. “The Drachan destroyed every world they passed through, and they nearly destroyed ours. The only reason we were able to stop them at all was because we had two sophisticated, intelligent species with great resources, a high concentration of mana, and the Nine. It was a stroke of luck that the Solonkratsu’s gods were embodied deities capable of taking physical forms. Without their sacrifice, this world would be a lifeless sphere of ash and fire.”

“Every time the Caul’s been repaired, it’s a little less effective. A little weaker. It might have been designed to be here forever, but the design isn’t working. Souls leak out of it, power leaks out of it, and the damn thing is falling apart,” I said calmly. “And this time, there are more than six Starborn in this world. There’s a couple thousand of us, and a number of them are actively trying to free the Drachan and unleash them on the world for their own purposes. We don’t have a choice: we have to defeat them. If we repair the Caul, we’ll be doing it every other year from this point on, as greedy Starborn go into the Dragon Gates or travel to Rhorhon to look for treasure or power or both. It’s a matter of time.”

“Then this world’s end has arrived,” Sanayam said simply. “And soon, it will be a grave for all species, all races, other than the Drachan.”

“Don’t count on it.” Karalti stretched her knuckles, her eyes narrowing. “Suri fought her whole life to survive. I was born dead and clawed my way back to life. The biggest war machine in the world of Earth wasn’t able to kill Hector, no matter how hard it tried. I dunno about Rin and Gar, but I bet they’re just as tough as we are. We have something the Drachan don’t—we believe life has meaning. And we’re willing to fight for it.”

Suri nodded, her golden eyes as bright and hard as a hawk’s. Rin pressed her lips together in determination. Gar looked away, lost in his own thoughts.

“Do you know where we can find the other Keystones?” I asked. “There’s still five missing.”

“I only know the location of two, and a story about a third.” The Avatar shifted slightly, his tail swishing under the train of his robes. “The Bloody Jade of Joyous Pursuit, the keystone of Veela, Goddess of the Hunt, was given to the daughters of the Mercurion Artificer Zarya as a gift by the Fifth Paragon. It is no doubt a treasured relic of that clan to this day. The Prehnite of Boundless Sky is the responsibility of the Songmaster of Tungaant, an abbot who serves a similar function for the Tuun that I do for my own people.”

[Map updated; New Quests Available!]

I mentally swiped the notification in, then dismissed it. “Thanks. That’s a huge help. What about the story?”

“It regards the Cerussite of Endless Longing, which is the Key to Veles’ Dragon Gate,” the Avatar said. “Its last known location was in the Aesari city of Cham Langukan, which fell from the sky into the Grand Ocean between Artana and Daun approximately one and a half thousand years ago. Following the end of the Aesari Wars, the floating island that hosted Cham Langukan left the mainland and fled out to sea to escape the wrath of the peoples they had oppressed. Some magical calamity ensued, and the city—and the Cerussite—was lost over the sunken continent of Orcam.”

“Fan-bloody-tastic,” Suri muttered. “Seems to me like the Aesari have a lot to answer for.”

“They were beings of incredible memory and intelligence, but they were arrogant, and they lacked imagination.” Sanayam shrugged minutely. “Their story is a parable of how power leads to madness, if it is not combined with hard-won wisdom. Something to bear in mind as you progress to ever greater heights, Paragon. The Spear of Nine Spheres is indeed powerful, and yet even I—a man fated to be inked in knowledge that slowly poisons him over the course of his lifespan—could not consider the burden of bearing it, yet alone wielding it against the Deceivers.”

I nodded. “Well… thanks for all that. It’s going to take a while to digest.”

“Indeed.” The Avatar rose to his feet, and so did we. “You will have time to think as you test the portal to the Chorus Vault of Perilous Symphony. If you wish to travel there straight away, I can transport you.”

“I think we’d all really appreciate that,” Rin said. “And like Hector said. Thank you for all your help.”

Sanayam shook his head, reaching up to carefully rearrange his veil over his face. “I have much to tell you about how to repair and restore the Caul… but not to destroy it. I fear your course of action will fulfil the speculation of the sages before me: that the Sixth Age will be our last, not because we have conquered the Drachan, but because they have finally destroyed us utterly.”

Chapter 45

True to his word, Sanayam teleported us back to Devana’s Gate, right into the middle of a storm. Warm monsoon rain thundered down like a sheet of water