Page 136 of Forsaken Secrets

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Kaiya

Itugged on his korra and felt myself disconnect completely from the physical realm, my korra catapulting forward down that silver bond.

When I opened my eyes again, I gasped. This place was similar to the real world, but so very different. I gasped as what looked like clouds flowed past, sticking to me and then bouncing away again. They wove against each other as though they were alive …

In the distance, below the river of clouds, there was something dark — ominous.

I shied away from it, allowing myself to relax and float with the clouds. But as I relaxed, I felt myself drifting away. Where did I end and the next cloud begin? Who was I?

"Kaiya. Not here. This is the spirit realm. You will lose yourself if you stay too long here."Ellingsworth's voice grounded me, and I shook off the strange sensations. He took off, and I chased after him, catapulting forward along that silver bond, again.

When I opened my eyes this time, it was to a world completely devoid of life. Rain fell silently around me, but I couldn't feel it. Waves rose in choppy breaks across the ocean, but they made no noise. And there, at the center of it all, was a man.

He stood, shoulders hunched, in the center of a small island. Was that Ellingsworth?

Everything about him was focused on a portal of some sort — the stone frame bracketing a glass image. In it, a little girl with blonde hair and rosy cheeks, waved up at him. His shoulders shook, and then the image shifted. Now the little girl was lying still in a coffin, her face peaceful.

I shook my head. No. I didn't want to see this!

"No, no. This is the mind realm. You must do all three at once."Lord Ellingsworth said, his eyes puffy and red as he turned from the portal to face me before disappearing again. I chased after him once more.

When I opened my eyes, I gasped. Darkness surrounded me from every side, except for the colorful korras. So this was the korra realm …

Where the essences had always been strands of color weaving into each other, now they were intersecting planes. The three realms, perhaps?

I stared at Ellingsworth's korra. Darkness permeated all three planes, and just staring at them gave me a small sense of what was inside.

Ellingsworth motioned towards another korra beside us.

The planes were covered by what looked like some sort of web? I stepped closer and gasped. Each strand of the web stretched out to the korras around us. There were hundreds to Ellingsworth and dozens more stretching to other korras.

Were these all bonds? Had Ellingsworth been bonding his followers to this person? Was that how he was healing them?

I felt sick at the thought.

"Meet the Drake."Ellingsworth gestured towards the person proudly.

I gaped. I thought this was the Druid? "The Drake? I don't understand …" I stared at the creature … Drake … whatever. He was so trapped that all I could see were the bonds, and if he was communicating with Ellingsworth, I'd seen no sign of it.

So how were they working together?

And wasn't the Drake supposed to be a dragon? Had history gotten it wrong? Were the Druid and the Drake somehow one and the same?

If he'd condoned the mess Ellingsworth had created, what did that mean?

No. The legendary healing Druid would never condone that!

I shook my head. "This makes no sense. How'd he get here? How did he heal you? And how am I supposed to help?"

Ellingsworth tsked. "That's a very long story, which I'm sure he'll explain once you set him free. Your only job is simple … .cut those bonds."

"All of them?"I asked, gesturing towards the mess. "Is that even possible?"

He shook his head. "No, those must remain. You need to cut those." He pointed to a point behind the Drake.

I shifted until I saw what Ellingsworth was pointing at and gasped. Instead of reaching out to other korras like the majority of bonds, these strands were thick, pulsing cords of oozing black sludge and fell straight down into the darkness below us …

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