Page 45 of The Dragonrider and the Void
“It’s possible,” Lark said. “Perhaps the Void Drinker is the reason why the gods send Hyalites and Yogos through theveil. They need dragonriders and mages to keep these things contained.”
“Many Elven philosophers suggest Sataran is a world designed to trap the evils of the realms. Some suggest the gods send their powers for angelic figures to rise and act as wardens of this world,” Yarla said.
“This entity could be a fallen god, its power intentionally diminished and trapped here by the others. Now that it’s free of its prison, it wants to escape this world,” Ezra said.
“Whatever the Entity is, the original twelve dragons clearly believed it was going to create chaos,” Venrick said simply. “With every Flashover, armies from other realms try to take more resources from us. With the veil left open completely, forces from other worlds could pour through. We know little to nothing about what powers exist in other realms. The one we know the best, through Lark, is the fae realm.”
“Every five hundred years the veils between worlds thin enough for us to be reminded that more dangerous and power-hungry monsters exist beyond Sataran’s influence. With all that’s been going on here, Kings manipulating each other for control over the Everburning Forest, mages and members of the North partnering with rimeshade to harvest magic, and now this… why Lark? Why did you need to try to fix those wards now?” Cheyanne said.
“The rimeshade we faced in Haven’s Edge, Lady Sanj, was working with a Magus,” Venrick said in her defense.
“This Magus would’ve had to have been powerful to help the rimeshade weaken the wards containing the Void Drinker,” Lark said.
“Do we know which Magus?” Cheyanne said.
“Hierro De Vonte, the Archmagus of Lamar’s Magi Order,” Venrick said.
“Do you have proof we can bring the Commanders of the Keeps?” Cheyanne asked.
“We don’t have proof yet, but I know it in my heart,” Venrick said.
“They’ve clearly been trying to set the Entity free for much longer than we thought. Eventually, they would’ve succeeded whether or not we intervened. White Eye and I did our best with what we had at the time,” Lark said.
They stared at one another, the tension between them palpable. Cheyanne softened slightly, and said, “You mentioned that the Entity created rimeshade and is connected with the shade at Haven’s Edge. What else had they been doing with the magic they were harvesting from living beings?”
“It seems that Lady Sanj’s mission was primarily to harvest magical essence in order to free the Entity we now know as the Void Drinker, but that’s not all. We think they had plans to prepare a conduit for the Void Drinker to use in conjunction with the Realmstone to open the veil permanently.”
Silence fell over the tent as Cheyanne processed this information. Outside, the camp continued its hurried preparations, unaware of the true scope of the threat their leaders were discussing.
“I owe you an apology,” Cheyanne finally said, the words clearly difficult for her. “When you left, I thought you were abandoning us for personal reasons. I see now that you were following something vital. And thanks to your efforts in Red Lodge, we now have the Morsythians on our side.”
Lark nodded, accepting the closest thing to reconciliation she was likely to receive. “The Entity, the Void Drinker, is real, Cheyanne. And it’s growing stronger.”
“A few days ago, we were focused on revealing to the world how powerful monarchs are positioning themselves to take full control of what creates magical energy in our world. Now we’retalking about external threats the rimeshade and their leader are trying to summon into Sataran. What do we do?” Ezra asked.
“We’ve weathered Flashovers for millennia. Some bring new eras, others set progress back,” Yarla said.
“But this is different. How do we fight something like this?” Ezra repeated.
“With that,” Venrick pointed at the book. “The dragonriders of old and the fae courts set aside their differences to create a binding ritual to imprison the Void Drinker. The instructions for that ritual were in this book, but key pages are missing. We believe they’re in the Vermillion Keep.”
“There are key pages missing. How do you know these instructions will even be described on the pages if you’ve never seen them before?” Cheyanne winced.
“Everything leading up to the ending suggests the instructions were there,” Yarla said, backing Lark and Venrick’s position.
“And you’re telling me that you believe they’re at the Vermillion Keep?” Cheyanne’s eyes widened. “In Astral City? The dragonrider stronghold of Northern Lamar?”
“Yes,” Lark said. “The Keep was built on one of the oldest dragonrider sanctuaries known to riders. The text says it was the seat of the Concordat, which was an alliance between the original twelve dragons and the Nobles of the fae courts. If there’s anywhere the missing pages might be, it’s there.”
“And you’re proposing what, exactly?” Cheyanne asked, though her tone suggested she already knew the answer.
Lark met her gaze steadily. “We need to infiltrate the Vermillion Keep. We must find the missing pages of the ritual so we can learn how to bind the Void Drinker before the Flashover begins.”
Cheyanne chuckled a humorless laugh. “And that’s it? You’ll simply walk into the most heavily guarded fortress in Lamar,find ancient texts that may or may not exist, and leave without being executed as traitors?”
“Actually,” Lark said, a memory from her past coming into focus, “we already have a plan for getting into the Vermillion Keep. One that you and I created together, before I was struck with amnesia.”
Cheyanne’s expression froze, then shifted to one of reluctant recognition. “The plan to steal a Hyalite? The harebrained idea you had before you and Sasja took Barrik’s astral lathe in an effort to gain a more powerful Hyalite for the Morsythians. You mean that trash-fire of a plan?”
