Jackal Among Snakes

At an unspecified time, Argrave found himself in an unspecified place. Considering he’d jumped into a pit, that was the intended outcome. But this was a little different than falling, he could tell—rather, it was like he fell out of the world they’d been standing atop rather than falling into it. He’d found a tiny crack in the firmament and slipped through like water.

“Parasite.”

Argrave couldn’t look around, not really. But he heard a voice. It came from somewhere in the direction of everything all at once. Or perhaps it was just behind him. The two weren’t mutually exclusive.

Though he tried to speak, he didn’t have a mouth anymore. He didn’t really have anything anymore. It couldn’t be some delusion, either—the Ravenstone was meant to protect him from all mental interference, all the machinations of the psychic and the divine. Yet somehow, the question he’d been intending to ask emerged from somewhere.

“Who’s talking?” Argrave’s tone was a strange combination of the voice he’d become and the voice he’d once had. “What is this?”

“Couldn’t leave well enough alone. Now you come picking at the bone.”

Argrave remained rational enough in this strange trance to puzzle out that whatever he was conversing with was directly related to Sandelabara. And if he hadn’t died following the psychopathic Alchemist into an untested pit, there was knowledge to gain from this encounter. “What exactly am I parasitizing?”

“You’re the first to arrive. Move quickly. If you cannot, more than your light alone shall be snuffed out. It would be better to accept a parasite than fall into a abyssal chasm.”

#####

Argrave once again found himself in a specified place at a specified time—namely, falling through the same pit that he’d jumped into moments ago. The wind magic that the Alchemist had cast to shield his body lowered him gently with his will, and finally, this vast pit began to open up into something grander. He looked around at the others floating about him frantically, but could tell at once that this experience was his alone.

“Anneliese,” he called out. “Look at me closely. Do you see anything off with your [Truesight]?”

Anneliese watched him as she descended, catching his unease. She did study him closely, but then shook her head. “What happened? You look pale.”

“Got a message. Just a message, I think,” Argrave looked down below, where the Alchemist continued to descend. “I’ll… I can’t even describe it with words,” he managed, shaking his head. “But there’s something here. Called me a parasite, yet urged me to hurry all the same.”

questioned, listening closely as

I guessed further. That something, whatever it is, knows we’re here. And I’m not entirely sure what that means for

vast cavern and stunned them all into quiet observation. Argrave could see isolated pockets of magma still persisting in the drained chamber, but other than that, this vast place had been completely purged of all molten rock. As in the magma moat where the dwarves persisted, miles away magma slowly encroached back

due to the Alchemist’s intervention. Now, that same spellcaster cast a grand spell that illuminated the entire cavern. Everyone’s eyes were drawn to the same thing.

Looking at it from above, suspending by the Alchemist’s magic, it looked like a portal into another world. An idyllic world, seemingly painted into the floor. Argrave saw a distant city past the grasslands. It could be likened to a portal into one of the gods’ realms—a split

like a lovely coastal city. Argrave could see seagulls, even, and trees flowing with the light sea winds. But something about the way the seagulls moved was… off, and the trees were odd in much

unusual, anyone?” Argrave asked, the

a long few moments

begrudgingly admitted

Stolen novel; please report.

tell that it’s a portal,” said the Alchemist. “It’s

to the portrait-like scene in the crater. It was vastly disorienting to have one world spread out before you on its side, obeying different gravity entirely. It was like

closely scrutinizing his fingers with several dozen eyes. He reported to them calmly, “Gravity changes. And the air pressure, the temperature… it’s impossible to tell this is a portal, and indeed I’m not sure it is one. I sense not magic nor divinity. But it’s certainly a different location.” The Alchemist reached within himself, then pulled free the vial. Argrave could see its dark malignance

into Sandelabara. Even Argrave’s jaw clenched when he saw the way the light fell upon the

the portrait-like scene. Soon after, the rest of him came, and he exited

caution. But the curiosity had set in on her face, and he knew then that their fate was

the advance, then Argrave. As the giant had said, as soon as they passed the imperceivable threshold, it was as though they moved into another place entirely. A new gravity, new suns, new winds, new temperatures… Argrave judged by the two stars in the sky that this must be somewhere in the world they currently resided, but he could recognize nothing about the city,

the Alchemist, then set off floating wrapped in magic. “Do not touch anything carelessly, even the

the distance near the outskirt of the city. The structures weren’t quite primitive, but they lacked the uniformity of something built by magic. They looked to be made of stone, and solely by hand. The style was blocky and rigid—function over form, put simply. And as they proceeded,

impossible to determine any reason to it all, but Argrave thought he noticed patterns. The trees, too, though few, snapped from place to place as the wind blew through them.

someone,” declared Orion, watching a tree. “A woman.

a cowl, and rocked the baby. They headed her way as quickly as they could. Her movements were

then her head was turned

She turned her head again as his huge body cast a shadow over her… and like it never moved,