Chapter 32
Sol helped Archer climb out of the well, water streaming from his robe.
“I can’t see anything,” Archer said.
“I’m blind.”
“Make room,” one of the senior spellcasters said as he approached.
The monk began casting a healing spell.
Archer felt healing energy surge through him from head to toe.
But when the spell ended, he still saw nothing but darkness.
The spellcaster tried again.
And again.
Nothing changed.
Then the mage-monk tried a different spell: dispel magic.
When that failed, he cast a spell designed to remove enchantments.
Still nothing.
Other mages began trying as well.
After a while, Archer stopped them.
“Enough!
“We’re wasting time.
“I just need to die and resurrect.”
Archer returned to the well, climbed into the water, exhaled all the air from his lungs, and submerged himself.
Underwater, he inhaled.
His lungs filled with water and pain.
His body fought back.
Every instinct screamed at him to surface, to struggle, to survive.
But Archer endured.
Through the agony and the spasms wracking his body, he remained underwater until at last he lost consciousness.
Soon afterward, he died.
“Forgive me, Archer,” Dumo’s voice said one last time.
“I couldn’t protect you.”
Everything was black.
Archer awoke in a bed, but he still couldn’t see.
Feeling around him, he realized he was back in his apartment in the skyscraper.
“Archer, we’re here,” Anka’s voice said.
“Me, Sol, and Mailik.
“We’re all here.
“We brought several doctors with us.”
“I still can’t see anything,” Archer said.
“That’s new.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Anka said.
“We’ll find the cause and restore your sight.”
The Painter felt Anka touch his hand and then embrace him.
“Yeah,” Archer said.
“I’m not particularly worried.
“Let the doctors take a look.”
The small medical team asked Archer to lie still on the bed while they scanned his head and began testing his neural connections.
After twenty minutes of examinations, the lead physician gave his diagnosis.
Degeneration of the visual cortex.
The neural connections responsible for processing visual information were simply gone.
Archer was taken to a clinic for more extensive testing.
All five of his other senses functioned normally.
Only his vision had been completely shut down.
The doctors told him that his condition was extremely rare—but not unprecedented.
The doctors offered him a tactile alternative to sight known as the Unger bandage.
A belt containing thousands of microscopic electrical stimulators fit tightly around the patient’s torso.
A sensor-equipped band was worn around the head, providing a 360-degree view of the surroundings.
Computer software then translated the sensor data into tactile sensations delivered through the Unger bandage.
With the prosthesis, Archer could quite literally feel what was happening around him through his skin.
But adapting to it would take time.
The doctors warned him that the process could take a year or longer.
Archer thanked them and began using the visual prosthesis, but he had no intention of giving up that easily.
With Anka, Sol, and Mailik helping him, the Painter returned to Mos.
Standing outside the monastery, he spoke to Dumo.
“Dumo, what was that?
“Why did I lose my sight?”
“Forgive me, Archer,” Dumo replied.
“I believed Mos was impregnable.
“For thousands of years, this monastery has stood as an invulnerable fortress.
“No evil force has ever been capable of penetrating these walls.
“What happened to you has shaken our understanding of magic.”
“Dumo, what was it?” Archer repeated.
“I don’t know,” Dumo said.
“I have never encountered anything like it.
“All I know is that it was an immensely powerful being.
“And something completely otherworldly.
“No such power has ever existed on Planet before.”
“Then how do we find out what it was?” Archer asked.
“I would not subject any of the monastery’s other brothers or sisters to the same ordeal you endured, Archer,” Dumo said.
“I would not attempt to look upon this being through the spirit realm again.
“But there is something we can do.
“Give me access to your consciousness.
“Allow me to examine your memories.
“Perhaps I can discover what you saw.”
“All right,” Archer said.
“How do I give you access to my consciousness?”
“In a moment, you will feel your perception of the world beginning to blur.
“It will feel as though you are falling asleep.
“Do not resist it.
“Simply observe.”
“Understood,” Archer said.
Archer began to drift into sleep.
He did not resist.
Everything around him became less and less distinct.
The figures of Anka, Sol, and Mailik disappeared one by one.
Until all that remained was Archer and the darkness.
“Hello, Archer,” Dumo’s voice said.
The Painter turned and sensed a butterfly fluttering nearby.
“Dumo, is that you?” Archer asked in surprise.
“Yes, it’s me,” the butterfly replied in Dumo’s voice.
“Are you ready to enter your memory?”
“Wait a second,” Archer said.
“I still can’t see anything.
“I can only feel that you’re beside me—and that you’re shaped like a butterfly.”
“That’s enough,” the spirit said.
“Follow me.
“I’ll take you into the realm of your memories.”
Archer felt the butterfly fly forward, and he followed.
“Very interesting,” Dumo said.
“Your earliest memories are no more than a few years old.”
Archer began remembering the infinite white space.
He remembered learning to use the magic brush.
He remembered drawing himself a house, a garden, a forest, and a stream.
But he could not visualize any of those memories.
He could remember only the facts themselves.
“But we need your most recent memories,” Dumo said, leading Archer in another direction.
“Here.
“Stand here and tell me what you remember.”
“I remember getting into the well.
“I picked up the Shard and looked through it,” Archer recalled.
“I saw Kronveld.
“Then I turned the Shard over.
“And I saw countless threads extending from beneath Kronveld’s feet.
“Then I noticed one extremely bright thread rising high above his head.
“I looked up...
“And high above him, I saw something that looked like...
“a dragon,” Archer said.
Dumo instantly ended the memory session.
Through the Unger bandage, Archer once again became aware of Anka, Sol, and Mailik around him.
“Dumo?” Archer asked.
“What happened?”
There was no answer.
“Dumo?” Archer called.
“Dumo, where are you?”
“Yes.
“I’m still here with you,” Dumo said.
“For a moment...
“I became afraid.”
“I thought I sensed a dragon,” Archer said.
“Is that right?
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m afraid so,” the spirit replied.
“What does that mean?” Archer asked.
“According to certain esoteric teachings,” Dumo said, “the Dragon is the oldest of all beings.
“It lives for hundreds of thousands of years.
“It devours the souls of other creatures and the mana of entire worlds.
“Nothing can rival it in strength, intelligence, or wisdom.
“And so, when the Dragon sets its sights upon a world, that world is doomed.
“I’m afraid, my friends, that this is the end of our world.”
“I don’t believe that,” Archer objected.
“I don’t believe this is the end.
“The brush couldn’t have brought us to a world that was doomed to perish.
“Sol, you studied hundreds of books about magic.
“Did any of them say anything about Dragons?”
“Only myths and legends,” Sol said.
“Fairy tales.
“I doubt they’ll be useful.”
“What does it mean that there was a thin but extremely bright thread leading upward from Kronveld to the Dragon?” Archer asked.
“The thread definitely indicates a powerful spiritual connection,” Dumo said.
“But I can only speculate about the nature of that connection.
“If this truly is the Dragon, then perhaps it is influencing the archmage’s mind.”
“If that’s true, then everything Kronveld has done has been dictated by the Dragon, correct?” Archer asked.
“If the Dragon is guiding Kronveld, then yes,” the living spirit of the monastery replied.
“Could Kronveld himself be considered a victim of manipulation?
“That’s what I want to know,” Archer said.
“Yes,” Dumo replied.
“I suspect very few could resist the will of a Dragon.
“Attempting to resist a will that powerful could destabilize the mind.
“It could drive a person insane.
“Woe to anyone chosen as the Dragon’s target.”
“And where is the Dragon itself?” Archer asked.
“Is it somewhere on Planet?
“Why hasn’t it revealed itself?”
“I don’t know,” Dumo replied.
“If Sol is correct about its plan, perhaps that is precisely why the Dragon remains hidden.”
“And what happens if we interfere with its plans?” Archer asked.
“We can protect the forest elves and the Dreurgs.
“Then higher magic will remain inaccessible to Kronveld.
“Correct?”
“Yes,” Dumo said.
“You could seriously disrupt the Dragon’s plan.
“But then you would anger it.
“And I fear another catastrophe would befall the world instead.
“The wrath of such a being would be terrible.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?” Archer asked.
“How do we defeat a Dragon?”
“I’m afraid defeating the Dragon is beyond your power,” Dumo said.
“There are too few of you.
“And it is far too strong.”
“What if we gathered more people?” Archer asked.
“What if we mobilized all of Planet?”
“I don’t know,” Dumo said.
“I’m afraid we might only make things worse.”
“Dumo,” Sol said.
“You said the Dragon devours the souls of other creatures and the mana of entire worlds.
“What if we gave it more souls than it could possibly consume?
“Could the Dragon become satiated and leave Planet alone?”
“We don’t know,” the spirit of the monastery replied.
“This is the first time in the entire history of our world that we have encountered a Dragon.
“It is difficult to predict anything.”
“Can we contact it?” Sol asked.
“Yes,” Dumo said.
“The shortest path to the Dragon lies through Kronveld.”
“Sol,” Archer said, “you want to give the Dragon existence factor?”
“Yes,” Sol replied.
“It’s the only idea that comes to mind.
“The Dragon feeds on souls and mana.
“That’s why it orchestrated this entire drama on Planet.
“So what if we simply feed it its fill of souls—something we have in tremendous abundance in Trinity?”
“We can try,” Archer said.
“Dumo, what do you think?”
“It’s risky,” Dumo replied.
“We know almost nothing about this being.
“On the other hand, we are already in a dangerous position.
“The Dragon has come to our world.
“Nothing good can come of that.
“Perhaps trying to satiate it with souls is the lesser evil.”
“I agree,” Sol said.
“Thank you, Dumo,” Archer said.
“We’ll try to save your world.”
“Be careful,” Dumo warned them.
“The Dragon took your sight merely because you dared to look upon it.
“I shudder to imagine what it might do if you disturb it.”
Archer, Anka, and Sol gathered their belongings from Mos and returned to Ankarian.
While Anka helped Archer practice using the Unger bandage to recognize people and objects around him, Sol traveled to the Four Crowns to collect the existence factor that had accumulated there.
He returned the following day carrying a large tank containing more than three hundred billion units of existence factor.
They formulated a plan.
First and foremost, they would keep their discovery that a Dragon was behind the events on Planet completely secret.
Dumo had warned them that revealing the Dragon’s existence to others might only make matters worse.
Archer and Sol therefore decided to proceed carefully and keep the information to themselves.
The tank of existence factor was taken to Mos, where Anka remained with it.
With Sol’s assistance and the help of the Unger bandage, Archer managed—with some difficulty—to draw a portal arch, then a portal leading into the throne room of Pogrimar Castle.
Archer also drew two white flags for them to carry.
But when the two of them stepped through the portal, they emerged not inside the throne room, but in the city of Pogrimar, just outside the castle walls.
They were spotted almost immediately by flying mages patrolling the skies.
Sol and Archer began waving their white flags.
The mages responded with a barrage of destructive spells—fireballs and bolts of lightning.
The energy shields of their space armor withstood the enemy fire for a short while.
Then Archer and Sol activated their Amulets of Return and teleported back to their apartment.
They returned to Mos.
There, outside the monastery, Archer repeatedly opened circular, two-way portals intended to lead into Pogrimar’s throne room.
But every single time, the portal opened somewhere outside the castle instead.
Based on his knowledge of magical history, Sol proposed a theory:
The entire castle was protected by a spell of magical noninterference.
So they decided to approach from farther away.
Archer drew an arch and opened a portal to the outskirts of Pogrimar.
He also created new white flags, since the previous ones had burned up in the barrage of fire.
They stepped through.
After emerging on the outskirts of the city, they began walking toward the gates.
Once again, the flying mages spotted them.
But this time, instead of attacking the uninvited visitors, they merely surrounded them from above.
About a hundred mages gathered around them.
Archer and Sol stopped and waited.
“How’s the prosthesis?” Sol asked while they stood there.
“What can you see through it?”
“Not much yet,” Archer said.
“I can only make out rough shapes.
“You tell me there are a hundred flying mages surrounding us.
“I believe you.
“But all I can perceive is a lot of incomprehensible dots in the air above us and one continuous surface beneath my feet.”
“With time, this new form of sight should improve,” Sol said.
“Yes.
“I hope so,” Archer replied.
Before long, a flying negotiator in a white robe was sent to meet them.
“That’s Dola Ray,” Sol told Archer.
“Remove your helmets,” she ordered from above.
Archer and Sol obeyed.
“Archer and Sol,” she said, landing beside them.
“What do you want?” she asked in her pleasant voice.
“We want a meeting with Kronveld,” Archer said.
“We have something that may interest him—and that we believe could bring an end to all these conflicts.”
“And what might that be?” the ambassador asked.
“The equivalent of three hundred billion human souls,” Archer said.
“Explain.”
“There is a world called the Four Crowns,” Archer said.
“One and a half trillion people live there.
“A special device collects tiny fragments of their souls, and those fragments are stored in reservoirs.
“At the moment, we possess more than three hundred billion human souls’ worth.
“But we can obtain more.”
Dola Ray laughed.
It was a pleasant laugh, and she continued laughing for some time.
Archer and Sol had no idea what she found so amusing.
“And where are these souls?” Dola Ray finally asked.
“Do you have them with you?”
“No,” Sol replied.
“But we can bring them.”
“Bring them,” Dola Ray said, still smiling, “and I’ll arrange a meeting with Kronveld.”
“All right,” Archer said.
“Give us a couple of minutes.”
Archer drew a temporary portal to Mos.
Sol stepped through it and returned several minutes later carrying the tank, which he placed at Dola Ray’s feet.
Archer closed the temporary portal.
“The souls are inside?” Dola Ray asked.
“Yes,” Archer replied.
“Good.
“Now you wait.”
She flew back toward the city and the castle.
They waited for about five minutes.
Then, suddenly, as though responding to a command, the hundred mages surrounding them in the air returned to the city.
A single mage flew toward them.
He landed beside the tank, crouched down, and pressed a large crystal the size of a fist against it.
The crystal immediately began to glow.
It shone so brightly that the mage was blinded.
He stumbled, fell to the ground, and dropped the crystal.
“Damn,” the mage muttered.
He got back to his feet, dusted off his robe, retrieved the crystal, and flew away.
Two minutes later, Kronveld himself arrived.
“Gentlemen,” the archmage greeted them as though nothing had happened.
“Kronveld,” Archer said, recognizing the mage by his voice.
“We’ve brought something that should put an end to the war—and to all the plans behind it.”
“Yes.
“Indeed you have,” the archmage said.
Kronveld knelt beside the tank and pressed the same crystal against it.
When the crystal erupted in blinding light, he pulled it away.
“And what do you want in return?” the mage asked.
“Peace,” Archer replied.
“And answers,” Sol added.
“I don’t think you’ll like the answers,” Kronveld said.
“But you may ask your questions.”
“Is Galsius dead?” Sol asked.
“Yes,” the mage replied.
“And the previous version of me?”
“Yes.”
“What happened in the magical dimension?” Sol asked.
“You truly don’t know the answers to these questions?” the mage asked, sounding disappointed.
He sighed.
Then he answered.
“I tried to kill you.”
“Why?” Sol asked.
“Why?
“You were getting too close to the answers,” the mage replied.
“And you were interfering more and more with my plans.”
“And what role does Akbert play in all of this?” Sol asked.
“What difference does it make?” the mage replied.
“You’re outsiders in our world.
“Why are you so concerned about the fate of a foreign kingdom?
“Why do you insist on sticking your noses into the affairs of other worlds?”
“Because we’ve already created harmony in our own world,” Archer replied.
“Now we want to help other worlds.
“To do good for people.”
Kronveld laughed.
“You’re like characters from a fairy tale,” the mage said.
“‘Do good for people.’
“What absurdity...”
“Kronveld, answer the question,” Sol said.
“What role does Akbert play in all of this?”
“Akbert does what I tell him because I’m holding his daughter hostage.
“His adopted daughter,” Kronveld corrected himself.
“That’s difficult to believe,” Sol said.
“Akbert doesn’t strike me as someone who would surrender to blackmail.”
“No.
“Indeed, he didn’t give in to my threats immediately,” the archmage said.
“It was only after he heard his daughter’s agonized screams coming from another dimension that he understood I was not someone to be trifled with.”
“Will you release her?” Sol asked.
“Perhaps,” Kronveld said.
“You will release her,” Archer demanded.
“We’re making that part of the exchange.”
Kronveld sighed deeply.
“You really are fairy-tale idiots,” he said.
“Fine.
“Take her.”
He waved his hand and opened a portal into a completely black dimension.
Vidya shot out of it as though hurled by some violent force and fell to the ground beside the tank.
Sol approached the girl and examined her.
The child was in shock.
She stared at him with empty eyes.
“It’s all right, Vidya,” Sol said.
“Do you remember Archer?”
The girl did not respond.
Sol lifted her from the ground, helped her to her feet, and turned toward Archer.
“Open a portal to Mos.”
Archer took the brush and drew a temporary portal to the island of Mos.
Sol led the girl through it, then returned.
“You can close it,” Sol said.
“Dumo will take care of everything.”
Archer closed the portal.
“And what do you get out of all this?” Sol asked.
“Why did you start any of it?”
“When a god from another dimension offers you friendship, you don’t turn him down,” Kronveld said.
“A god?” Archer asked.
“You mean the Dragon?”
“The Dragon?” the archmage laughed.
“No.
“I think I can tell the difference between a god and a Dragon.”
Archer and Sol looked at each other.
“What makes you think I’m dealing with a Dragon?” Kronveld asked, a hint of concern entering his voice.
“Because a Dragon is what I saw above your head, mage,” Archer said.
“And it blinded me for looking at it.
“No magic has been able to restore my sight.”
“How could...”
Kronveld fell silent.
“No.
“You’re mistaken.
“It couldn’t have...”
The archmage never finished the sentence.
He sank deep into thought, muttering incoherently under his breath as he paced back and forth.
The longer he paced and muttered, the redder his face became.
He was furious.
“Dragon!” Kronveld suddenly shouted.
“A Dragon?
“A Dragon...”
He began laughing hysterically.
“Of course!
“Of course it was a Dragon!
“And now you want to give it three hundred billion souls!”
The mage kept laughing.
“Archer, be careful,” Sol said through the neural interface.
“Kronveld is unstable.
“He might—”
Sol never finished his message.
A Melting Ray tore his head from his shoulders.
Through the Unger bandage, Archer sensed that the beam had come from Kronveld.
Then the ray turned toward him.
Archer barely managed to throw himself sideways, falling to the ground.
The beam struck him there.
It destroyed the energy shield of his armor and began melting through the chest plate.
Then the ray stopped.
Through the Unger bandage, Archer could sense Kronveld doing something, but he couldn’t tell what.
Without getting up from the ground, Archer cast Afflin’s Ninth Shield.
It worked.
He heard Kronveld choke on something.
Then the mage laughed.
He just kept laughing.
“Afflin’s Shield?” the archmage asked through his laughter.
“Well, look at that.
“We have a real mage before us.
“And how long do you think you can keep that shield up, Archer?”
Suddenly, the dull crack of an automatic rifle rang out.
The mage was violently thrown backward.
Archer sensed Sol moving.
Sol was still standing despite having no head.
And now he was moving forward.
Walking toward the mage.
Firing his rifle.
Shot after shot after shot.
Sol fired continuously.
Kronveld writhed on the ground, every new impact knocking him farther back.
Archer got to his feet and drew the pistol from his hip.
He aimed at what he thought was Kronveld.
But he couldn’t be completely certain.
Sol suddenly leaped forward, closing the distance between himself and the mage.
He reached Kronveld and bent over him.
“He’s alive,” Sol’s voice came through Archer’s neural interface.
“Multiple fractures, but he’s still alive.
“I used the nonlethal firing mode.”
“Sol, you’re alive!” Archer exclaimed happily, running toward him.
“I’m alive,” Sol replied.
“Archer, once he regains consciousness, he’ll become a threat again.
“We either need to kill him or find some way to restrain him.
“Perhaps...”
Sol fell silent.
Then he said:
“Mages are approaching.
“We need to teleport out of here.”
“I suggest Mos,” Archer said.
“Agreed,” Sol replied.
“Quickly.”
Archer holstered his pistol, took out the brush, and opened a temporary portal to the island of Mos.
Sol slung the rifle across his back, grabbed Kronveld, and hoisted the mage’s body over his shoulder.
Archer stepped through the portal first.
Sol followed.
Archer closed the portal before the Arkonian mages could reach them.