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.”

us the information we need.”

“Heralds?”

working through you,” Argrave

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

Dario’s letters, but he sought to confirm things. “They showed you us? Traugott? Mozzahr?

“Yes. All of you.”

Heralds’ omniscience was confirmed. “How long has this been

maybe more. Don’t have much grasp of time. Just… duty. They can’t interfere directly. They have to act through another, or they dissipate. Without a willing host, the most they can do is

“Why?” Anneliese asked.

not inside this realm,

against, then peered down at Dario. “And what was it that they showed you to

find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the

things I’m told Argrave can understand very personally.” Dario wrenched his gaze away, unable to hold

nodded. “You’re right. I’m not from here.

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 you why

the total eradication of magic and all creations it sustains. That's what could happen here, in this realm, alone. Beyond? A central pillar of existence would cease to be. Billions would be violently displaced as the natural order of things crumbles.” Dario closed his eyes. “Like it or not, this world we live in sustains billions

by other minds unconcerned with this realm and its fate.” Argrave tapped

lives, the same as yours and mine, to be built

Gerechtigkeit

Dario nodded. “Yes. Precisely.”

fill the universe? We're supposed to endure an endless

This 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

Argrave continued. “Oh, I bet it’s crossed your mind once or twice. They only show you the bad, while there’s a whole world of good out there just ripe for the picking. Only… it doesn’t align with their interests. So they kept it hidden,