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.”

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

“Heralds?”

thing that was working

it came to me through dreams. Dreams at night, daydreams during the day that alerted me to things I couldn’t see. Never got

but he sought to confirm things. “They showed you us? Traugott?

“Yes. All of you.”

omniscience was confirmed. “How long has this

“Don’t know. A year, maybe more. Don’t have much grasp of time. Just… duty. They can’t interfere directly. They have to

“Why?” Anneliese asked.

they’re not inside this

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

story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please

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

“You’re right. I’m not from here.

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

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

realm and its fate.” Argrave tapped his temple. “I went, Dario. I saw. And I think I know how this

was, wasn't what is,” Dario rebuked. “Many millennia have passed since that scene you saw, that child’s memory of events millennia past. It was time enough for lives, the same

telling us that Gerechtigkeit

Dario nodded. “Yes. Precisely.”

poor natives that have to die so that luxury homes can fill the universe? We're supposed to endure an endless cycle of judgment so those people can live happy lives? Is that what you’re conveying to me?”

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

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