Page 45 of Nexus
“I thought we only had nine gates, one that leads to each realm,” I said in surprise. He lifted an eyebrow meaningfully and it took me a second to figure it out. “Are you saying the axis-gate is here, in this city?” I’d looked up what an axis was as well. It meant an alliance or partnership. I wasn’t sure why the gate had been given that name.
“Indeed,” he confirmed. “Only a handful of beings are aware of that fact.”
“Why tell me about it?” I asked, more nervous than ever now. I was just a low-level lackey on the hierarchy. He wouldn’t normally entrust this sort of information to someone like me.
“From what you’ve told me, you’ve been chosen to save our world from the next invasion,” he said.
I waited for both Drake and Ruen to burst into laughter, but their expressions remained grave. “You’re joking, right?” Neither of them reacted. “It was just a dream!” I exclaimed. “Sure, one of my distant relatives prophesized that a champion from her line would be born sometime in the future. Then my mom saw an omen that matched the prophecy when I was born, but let’s get real here!”
Ruen opened his mouth, then glanced at our boss. Drake nodded in permission, releasing his minion from his command to be silent. “What happened in the prophecy and the omen?” he queried.
“One of my ancestors could apparently see glimpses of the future. She had a dream about one of her kin giving birth on the full moon, with an owl and a wolf as witnesses. Mom said I was born under those conditions, more or less.”
“Can you describe your birth in more detail?” the dragon asked.
“Mom said she looked out the window just after I was born to see it was a full moon. An owl flew past the window, then she heard a werewolf howl. She seems to think I’m the one who the prophecy was about.”
The two men exchanged troubled looks. “I haven’t heard anything about any recent conspiracies in any of the realms,” Ruen said.
“Their plans are secret,” I reminded him. “So far, the overlords are still searching for the spell that was hidden somewhere in the nine realms.”
“I believe it might be hidden in all of them,” Drake said.
“Why?”
“Due to the vision you were shown. Each overlord held a short scroll and read from them in turns. It seems the spell was deliberately broken into fragments before being hidden, since they’re apparently searching for them.”
“Why would the agent of Chaos create the gate and the spell, then break the spell up and hide it so no one can use it to unlock the portal?”
“From what Fate told you, battles between Chaos and Order only happen after long intervals. The gate was intended to be used by the forces of evil during the next battle. In your vision, reading the scroll fragments in the correct order will trigger the axis-gate to open on all nine realms simultaneously. The whereabouts of the spell must have been lost over the millennia.”
“The overlords will be working in partnership to activate the portal,” Ruen surmised just as I realized why the gate had been given that name. “The time for the next battle appears to be drawing near,” he added. “Someone has to find the fragments of the spell before the overlords can get their hands on them.”
“I pity that poor idiot,” I said, shaking my head at their bad fortune. Both of their heads swung towards me. “What?” I asked suspiciously.
“The champion has already been chosen,” Lord Gilden reminded me and pointed directly at my face. “You must enter the nine realms, find the fragments and bring them to me.”
“Sure. Okay. I’ll get right on that.” I rolled my eyes, just in case he hadn’t picked up on my heavy sarcasm. “No one who passes through the gates ever comes back,” I pointed out when they just stared at me.
“The envoys of the overlords have no trouble coming and going,” Ruen argued.
“Do I look like one of their envoys?” I said, gesturing at myself.
“You will become my envoy,” Drake decided. “Ruen will be your guard.”
I gaped at him, then burst into snickers. I laughed so hard that tears spurted from my eyes. The vampire glared at me, drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair. “Are you quite finished?” he asked icily when my giggles petered out.
“Sorry, but the thought of you being my guard is pretty ridiculous.”
“You might change your mind about that once you’ve both passed through the gate to the first realm,” the dragon lord told me.
“Why?” Despite my growing fear, I was intrigued by the mysterious underworld I’d never wanted to visit.
“All creatures from the underworld shed their true forms when they pass through to this world,” he said. “The opposite is true when supernatural beings from our world cross through the portals to the underworld.”
Ruen and I shared an uneasy look at that prospect. “Do you know what my kind look like in the underworld?” the vamp asked.
Drake nodded. “The vampires I’ve met who originated from there described their forms as being quite unsettling. You’ll get to see it for yourself once you cross the threshold to the other dimension.”
