Jackal Among Snakes

Melanie had said that Dario was ‘mighty ruined.’ Upon visiting him in the mountain prison cells guarded by far too many people, Argrave thought the description apt. They hadn’t treated him too poorly on account of the fact that he had alerted them about Mozzahr, nor had they been overkind. Ultimately, he was behind Castro’s death. That wasn’t something that could soon be forgotten, nor forgiven.

Bloodshot eyes, emaciated skin, an inability to even prop himself upright, cracked skin… he looked like a drug addict of thirty years, not someone who had been walking and talking down in the dwarven city of Mundi not too long ago. He had been laid out across a bed, bound by chains even with his battered body. Despite his state, his eyes appeared sharp and intelligent. Argrave held his red-eyed gaze, still thinking about Sophia. Were the subterranean mountain tribes related to her, somehow? He doubted it.

“You stare any longer, he might get the wrong idea,” Melanie commented. She leaned up against the side of the cell, arms crossed.

Argrave drew himself from his moment of scrutiny, grabbed a chair, and pulled it up alongside the bed. Anneliese did the same, the iron legs letting out an unpleasant screech against the stone.

Argrave hunched over, watching. “To be honest, I thought you’d have chosen death before prison.”

Dario closed his eyes to look at the shame he kept hidden in his mind. “Thought the same. Easy to talk, to think. Wasn’t the pain that stopped me. Dying turned out to be the hard part.”

“We have Sophia,” Anneliese was the first to break the silence.

“You do.”

“Hause has already revealed much of what she is,” she continued.

Dario turned his head to look at her. “She has.”

“Argrave told me that you were worried about the state the world would end up in should this come to pass.” Anneliese stood, and put one hand on the end of the iron bedpost. “If that truly is the case, I think you would be best served working with us, cooperating with us. If you represent yourself and your ideas well enough… Argrave is not unreasonable. He is not apathetic, nor uncompassionate. We intend to find the answers, one way or another.”

“I chose not to die because of fear. I didn’t know what came after.” Dario shifted his head to look up at the ceiling. “So why would you people do all of this—pulling apart the world we know by the seams, not knowing what’s waiting on the other side? No matter how bad things are, they could always be worse.”

Melanie scoffed. “They could also be better, you colossally moronic mummy.”

partly. Now, give us the information we need.” Argrave leaned close, cutting

“Heralds?”

thing that was working through you,” Argrave

thought for a moment. “Whatever it was, it came to me through dreams. Dreams at night, daydreams during the day that alerted me to things I couldn’t see. Never got a name. Heard its voice a few times, but it was never that significant. It showed me different lives, different scenes. Anything

of that given Dario’s letters, but he sought to confirm

“Yes. All of you.”

Heralds’ omniscience was confirmed. “How long

Don’t have much grasp of time. Just… duty. They can’t interfere directly. They have to

“Why?” Anneliese asked.

not inside this

walked away from the wall she leaned against, then peered down at Dario. “And what was it that they showed

aware that it

showed me things I’m told Argrave can understand very personally.” Dario wrenched his gaze away, unable to hold hers. “This place isn’t all

from here. Is

into this place, and now gorge yourself on the fruits of others. That’s their perspective.” Dario sighed deeply. “More than Traugott, more than Mozzahr, it was you they feared. Someone that doesn’t belong. Someone that sees like they do, even if in a stranger way. This cycle of judgment, terrible as it is, is far less costly than the alternatives they showed me. The alternatives that you careen toward headlong, seeking the source of Gerechtigkeit. I’ll tell

alone. Beyond? A central pillar of existence

a fabrication, a construction by other minds unconcerned with this realm and its fate.” Argrave tapped his temple. “I went, Dario. I saw. And I think I know

passed since that scene you saw, that child’s memory of events millennia past. It was time enough for lives, the same as yours and mine, to be built upon this edifice

you telling us that Gerechtigkeit sustains

Dario nodded. “Yes. Precisely.”

the poor natives that have to die so that luxury homes can fill the universe? We're supposed to endure an endless cycle of judgment

isn’t some enterprise by the… the Heralds, as you call them. This world, and all others similar to it, are not their manufactured design. These billions are living their lives just as you or me—they were born not knowing why, wandering through life seeking purpose and survival. But all of that could cease to be if Gerechtigkeit is thwarted. You could condemn them all, Argrave. If the cycle of judgment ends, you, yourself, would be casting judgment on billions you’ve not met. It could be a place just like the one you came

aren’t showing you the whole story?” Dario closed his eyes, and Argrave continued. “Oh, I bet it’s crossed your mind once or twice. They only show you the bad, while there’s a whole