Page 31 of Nexus
“So, because I’m single and friendless, I only have my mom to save,” I figured dourly. “I guess it’s lucky I have her, or I wouldn’t have any incentive to stop Chaos at all, would I?”
Exchanging a look at my snarky tone, Fate and Crowmon decided to get on with their pitch. “Perhaps you will realize the seriousness of this task if we show you what lies ahead,” Fate said.
Suddenly, the room was gone and we were standing at the top of a hill. Long grass rustled as wind rippled through the air. The tips of the grass were just long enough to brush against my fingertips. They felt solid, as if I was really here. Turning around, I stumbled back with a gasp when I saw I was standing mere inches away from the edge of a cliff.
Crowmon reached up to put his hand on my shoulder to steady me. He was a lot shorter than Fate and me. She was exactly the same height as I was. “You’re safe here, lass,” he reassured me. “No harm will come to you in this place.”
My heart was hammering, but I inched forward to peer downward. An ocean roiled restlessly far below. Waves tossed themselves on the rocks with suicidal abandon. Falling from this height would kill even someone as impervious to injuries as I was. “Where are we?” I asked.
“This is a construct of my mind,” Fate said. Her voice sounded even more hollow as she stood on the edge of the cliff. With a wave of her hand, a door appeared. Plain and unremarkable, it hung in midair. “Behold the destiny that your world faces if you fail to stop the coming apocalypse,” she intoned.
“Did you just say apocalypse?” I asked in trepidation, but she didn’t reply. At Crowmon’s grim nod towards the door, I turned to face it as it swung open.
Chapter Twenty-Four
IT WAS OBVIOUS FROM the first glance that the world we were seeing wasn’t earth. The sky was the color of old rust, but the rocky ground was normal shades of brown. Strange buildings made from crude brown bricks stood in the distance, surrounded by tall cliffs. A flying creature swooped past the doorway. I caught a glimpse of mangy fur, beady yellow eyes and leathery wings before it was gone from my sight.
“What the hell was that thing?” I asked in a disturbed tone.
“This realm of the underworld’s version of a bird,” Crowmon figured.
The image suddenly zoomed in closer to the buildings, making my stomach flip over. It was like watching a virtual reality game, but without the goggles.
I put a hand on my roiling stomach as the scene shifted to an overhead view. A compound of buildings surrounded an open area where strange creatures had gathered. They were wearing metal armor and were holding long spears and shields.
Once again, the image moved, this time swooping downward to come to a stop near the group of soldiers.
“I’m going to puke if this keeps up,” I warned the duo.
“Watch,” Fate admonished me. Heaving a silent sigh, I turned my attention back to the disturbing doorway.
Most of the soldiers were humanoid in appearance, if far larger than normal people. Their average height was nearly seven feet tall and they all had robust builds. They had to be strong to be able to support the weight of their armor. Most disturbingly, their heads weren’t where they were supposed to be. Their faces were situated in their torsos and were protected by their armor.
A trio of beings stood with their backs to the doorway. A weird red mist emanated from them, giving them an otherworldly appearance. Their helmets had horns and their armor was far more ornate than the ones their soldiers wore. Spikes stuck out on their shoulders and looked sharp enough to gore their foes to death. The trio wore ostentatious red capes.
“Who are these bozos?” I asked.
The tallest soldier spun around as if he’d heard me. Red eyes glowed behind his hideous helmet. Razor-sharp metallic teeth were fixed in a malevolent grin. A second face identical to his helmet was embedded in his chest plate. His eyes seemed to look straight through me, then he turned back around to face the army before him.
It was a shock when he spoke and I understood his words. “Soon, we will take possession of the spell to unlock the axis-gate that leads to Nexus,” he said. His voice was deep and filled with so much malevolence that a shiver wracked me. “We will be able to retain our natural forms when we use it to invade the humans’ world,” he went on. “They will fall beneath our might and we will rule their entire planet!”
Cheers sounded from the army, then the image faded away. Fate and Crowmon turned to face me to judge my reaction. Contemplating what I’d just seen, I shrugged. “So what if a ragtag bunch of creepy underworld weirdos invade Nexus? Lord Gilden’s goons will wipe them out.”
The dragon lord employed thousands of supernatural beings. A lot of them were dangerous and acted as his guards. I was pretty sure they could handle one small army.
“How much do you know about the underworld?” Crowmon asked.
“Not much,” I said honestly. “Most of the earliest supernatural creatures and beings on my world originated from there. They made more of their kind over the millennia and have increased in number. Only a small number of beings are allowed to pass through the gates from the underworld now.”
“There are nine realms in your version of the underworld,” Fate said. “Each one is governed by an overlord. They are conspiring to find a spell that will unlock the axis-gate so that they can come and go freely from your world.”
“What’s an axis-gate?”
“It’s the only gate that will allow the creatures to retain their natural forms once they enter your world, lass,” the trickster god said.
“I have seen something like it in another dimension,” Fate said. “The gates on that world were sentient, but this one is not. The axis-gate was created by a powerful being five thousand years ago. There is only one spell that will unlock it.”
“Did you create it?” I asked suspiciously. “Or did you manipulate someone into doing it for you?”