Jackal Among Snakes

Chapter 663: Mirror in the Sky

Chapter 663: Mirror in the Sky

Though Argrave had said not long ago that he trusted his brother, now that his intentions were clear and they’d all agreed to help Orion on his search, he did consult two encyclopedias for answers. The first was his own head—not to toot his own horn, of course. He’d be tooting Erlebnis’, anyhow, considering the god had gathered the knowledge only to use it as a cudgel to unsuccessfully break his mind. The second encyclopedia was almost directly responsible for the first.

Its name was Raven.

“Do you know how many voyages have been attempted to the moon?” Raven asked Argrave as they walked side-by-side.

“Eighty-seven.” Argrave looked at the obsidian confines of Raven’s lab, wondering where the man was leading them.

“I’ll assume that’s not a guess. My point is the same—very many have voyaged seeking the stars, the sun, and the moon.” An eye and mouth appeared on Raven’s elbow, enabling him to emphasize his point without turning his head. “All of them failed. No one has been to the moon and back—not the gods of space, nor deities of any stripe. This so-called lunar dragon your brother insists exists is a statistical impossibility.”

“But not a physical one,” Argrave pointed out.

Raven stopped in his tracks, turning his body toward Argrave. “So you’ve told me. The notion of people, without magic, achieving such a thing is… fanciful. It was hard enough to get them collaborate to fight Gerechtigkeit—building a spacecraft capable of not only making it to the moon, but returning…”

“I’m no rocket scientist. I can understand that might surprise you.” Argrave held his hands out to kill the imaginary doubt. “But all of the problems that exist—lack of air, lack of protection, and I’m sure a thousand others I’m forgetting… they can be remedied. Flight trajectories can be calculated with math, and controlled with precise application of force. It takes a lot of data, a lot of time, and a lot of variables to discover and consider. But… from my meager understanding of the world, there’s no reason why it’s impossible. Doubly so when magic does exist.”

“I know.” Raven waved his hand, and an obsidian doorway parted. “By all means, it should be possible. Yet it never has been.”

Argrave narrowed his eyes. “I wasn’t expecting you to agree so readily.”

“I guarantee you—if it were possible, a god would have done it. Unless, of course…” Raven raised a finger up. “There’s a variable you’re ignoring. A variable that wouldn’t have existed in your world. That’s why I’ve asked you here today.” He entered into the doorway he’d made.

“I figured you wanted to cut me open, just like old times.” Argrave smiled and followed after him.

it.” Raven descended down rapidly-forming obsidian stairs, and they

posture with her grandiose blonde hair tied with pink ribbons. She turned away from the table she stood in front of to greet their arrival. The room that she was in seemed to be a storage area of Raven’s. There were shelves and drawers with several different labels, some of which had been left out—herbs, corpses of unusual animals, and

at the goddess that had made him the way he was. “I brought Hause here today to confirm what I have been telling you—there remains

Whenever she looked upon him, Argrave thought that he always saw a shudder from her, but perhaps it was his imagination. “He’s right in all except bringing me—I came of my own accord, to offer assistance where I believed it prudent.” She gave Raven a curt nod. “But I do agree with Raven’s assessment. Within you,

his brows, feeling an uneasy headache mounting. “Are you trying to dissuade me from helping

is necessarily wrong.” Raven stood

closer. “’No latent power in our blood’ and ‘unlocking the power of our bloodline’ are mutually

walked to a corner in the room.

suspicious. Ugly lady with red hair comes down, but she’s actually a dragon in disguise. Only guy who isn’t an ass to her, she takes to the moon. They do some freaky dragon magic up there, and

stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been

for cultures to develop similar myths. Mortals live life in the same nature, no matter how many thousands of miles away from each other they might be. It’s no wonder tribal cultures across the continents all speak of gods in

Argrave walked closer, coming to stand beside Hause. “What’s the

with vibrant red hair. “Something I picked up a great many cycles ago.” He laid down an immaculately preserved corpse, and Argrave looked away. “Look at it. Don’t act all prudish. How many

well, a corpse. A red-haired young woman, dead, with that blank-eyed gaze that so many bodies had. From the skin alone, he could tell there was no life left in her. The dead had no

one of those descendants?”

when I say she’s only partly human.” An eye grew

smiled. “So you have made a study

of it.” Raven swiped his hand, and a hole opened into the obsidian floor. He pushed the body in, then swiped again to close it, disposing of the body rather ungracefully. “There was no studying to be done.

Argrave narrowed his eyes. “You

head upon the rocks of a creek. One of my roaming chimeras found her and returned her.” He shook his head. “Bad luck on her part. Many die ingloriously. I suspect you will,

minorly offended as he asked,

a compliment.” Raven looked at Hause. “Now… are you sure on what

fiddled with the pink sleeves of her elaborate dress. Argrave wondered how she got her

am.” Hause closed her eyes.