Dragon Unity, page 5
part #12 of Blood of the Ancients Series
And yet, she also didn't know if there was something else that Maggie was doing, perhaps hiding from her. There was no city or other part of the Borderlands, just the old woman's sense.
Gradually, an image of Maggie began to manifest, standing in the center of the trees. She was much like Serena had always remembered, with a wrinkled and weathered face, gray hair pulled up into a bun, and her cloak dappled and green, reminding Serena somewhat of Tessatha. That brought a smile to Serena's face. Maybe Maggie and Tessatha were more alike than she knew.
Maggie took a deep breath, something that Serena knew was unnecessary here.
"Something's happened," Serena said, sharing a series of images, filling her in on what Rob had uncovered. Maggie was quiet for a long moment, and when she finally spoke, she did so by looking around.
"I have also felt everything shifting around me," Maggie began. "It has been surprising. I do not know what it means, only that the changing of power around us is significant. I suspect it's what Rob has done, this unity, and…" She paused, turning back to Serena. "And I don't know what it means."
"You seem nervous," Serena said, realizing that was the emotion emanating from Maggie. That was an odd feeling, though. Maggie was never nervous. She was the one person that Serena could go to for answers and guidance. Even more so than her own mother, she realized.
"When everything begins to change, I think it's hard not to feel nervous. It is the only world and life that I know," Maggie went on. "And it's changing." She waved her hands towards the trees. "There is life essence there, but life essence is getting replaced. And once it's gone, what will it be?"
It was more than just what the trees would be, Serena knew. It was what Maggie would be. And it was a question that Serena had for herself.
What would she be once that unity essence pushed through?
Serena didn't know. She could feel that essence and the slow creeping of unity as it began to flow everywhere, even though she wasn't entirely sure what it meant. The only thing that she was truly aware of was that it was power. But was it an unknowable power? Not for Rob, as it was the kind of power he possessed, but for everybody else…
Looking over to Maggie, she saw that the other dragon blood was worried. She didn't say it, and Serena suspected that she wouldn't, as this was Maggie, after all, but there was something in her bearing, something in the way that she looked around, that left Serena thinking that was her real concern.
"Even within unity, there should be some sense of life," Serena said.
Maggie bowed her head.
"There is. And I can feel it. Even as it flows through here, and begins to chase the life essence that exists in my realm, I'm aware that there is something more. I just can feel something else to it as well. I begin to question. I don't know what Rob has started, and I don't understand."
"You fear it," Serena said.
"Do you not?"
"Ever since he stopped the Eternal and the attack, I thought that his chasing this unity was for the best. And…" She shrugged, as there was a different awareness of the world than before. Not only was their unity, but Serena was aware that the power she possessed and felt within Maggie also bridged in a manner that had not been done previously. It was that bridging, and that power, that Serena thought was necessary, and beneficial. By all of them had that same potential, everything would be different.
They would be different.
"I have had nothing but time to think," Maggie said. "Now we have this ancient relic that has suddenly appeared. We don't understand what it is, nor what it means."
"But it has to be old," Serena said.
"Almost certainly."
"But what does that mean?"
Maggie looked over to Serena. "The time that I can guide you has long since passed," she said. "There was a time when you first came to me that I thought I would be able to help guide you through your transitions, as I thought that was what your mother wanted. But I rapidly saw that there would be limits to what I could teach. And now I think you and Rob are the ones to provide me with the guidance." She smiled. "I'm afraid of what is changing, but I'm afraid in the way that someone who fears life has passed them by, is afraid. I don't want to stop it, and honestly, I'm not entirely sure that I can, but I'm not sure I'm supposed to be a part of it."
"But you're a dragon blood," Serena said.
"I am…" Maggie took a deep breath and looked up at the treetops. "But I am tired."
It was a different admission from Maggie, and Serena wished that Rob was there with her, wishing she had somebody to share this with, as Rob felt a closeness to Maggie that she understood. He felt as if he owed Maggie for everything that he had been through, everything that had become, much like Serena felt that she owed her to a certain extent.
"You don't want to face this other," Serena said.
"I suspect we will all be tasked with facing whatever it is to come," Maggie said. "But I do wonder if every change that has happened has brought us deeper and deeper into a path that we might have avoided."
"Now you sound like my mother," Serena said.
"I may sound like her, but I won't act like her. I recognize that there are certain things that I can intervene in and certain things that I should not. I will not try to prohibit what is happening. But…" She looked up again. "As I said, I'm tired. I wonder if perhaps my time is coming to a close regardless of what happened."
"Do you have anyone to replace you?"
"There are many candidates," Maggie said softly. "And yet… I feel like I want to see this through, if only to satisfy my curiosity. Whatever we see now is tied to something from the past. Something long before any of us, and perhaps it is so far before us that we can't even fathom what it might have been like."
Serena understood what she was getting at. It was the same thing that she had talked to Tessatha about. She had suggested that their knowledge of what they were dealing with was limited to her memories. Her memories might have been centuries ago and tied to a different set of knowledge, but in that time, there had been temples and power that they had not fully understood. So, anything they were dealing with now and still had to uncover was far older than anything they had seen.
"I'm looking," Serena said.
"I'm sure you have."
"I've been deploying manifestations. They were tied to the palace, but now that the unity has flowed through here, they're tied differently."
She could feel the librarian and his manifestations in ways that she'd not been able to feel before. Her connection to them was a little different, as well. It was part of the reason that she wondered if Rob might have a better connection to the librarian than she did, especially as he was the one tied to the unity, the palace, the temples, and the other places like that all throughout the realm that was now tied to unity, and not to individual types of the essence.
"And what have you found?"
"Nothing so far."
"And what has Rob uncovered?"
She focused on Rob, and now she was aware that he was quiet, almost pensive. As she focused through the conduit, she could feel his thoughts. That wasn't terribly uncommon, as Rob did not limit her from reaching his thoughts, and always made a point of keeping himself open to her as often as possible. In this case, though, she felt his worry, and she felt something else.
"I think he's concerned that we've gained the attention of something far more dangerous than we had before."
"If Rob fears it, then it must be true," she said.
"It probably is," Serena said. "And knowing Rob, I can only guess what he plans."
Maggie chortled.
"I don't know how that boy intends to progress this time. I didn't know what progression would look like the last time, but that is obviously what he's thinking of."
Serena snorted. "Obviously."
"And you?"
"I think that we all need to progress. Well, you can progress if you choose to, but we must fully grasp this unity essence."
"Yes. If we don't, our control will not be what it is."
"I haven't felt that."
"Haven't you?"
Serena hadn't paid much attention, but perhaps Maggie was right. She had known that there was some increased change, but even as she focused now, she started to feel for the different types of the essence and began to probe, wondering if there was any change she had not anticipated.
Maybe there was.
And if there was, it was certainly tied to unity.
Worse, if she didn't gain a greater understanding of it, the power that she had, the power that she used to hold her mother in place—and the power that Rob was using to hold the Eternal in place—might not be enough.
"You feel it," Maggie said.
Serena nodded.
"Good. Since you feel it, you must work quickly. The essence is changing, and I fear we don't have much time."
Chapter Six
ROB
Rob sat and focused on the essence.
His awareness of it was quite a bit different than it'd been for a long time, and he began to feel for the power that was out there and around him. As he did, he began to feel as if there was something more he could uncover. As he strained and stretched his awareness, Rob recognized that there was a limit. Ever since progressing to reach this unity essence, a power that felt as if it were a part of him in ways that it had ever been before, Rob had known there was a different limit than he had before. In this case, the limit came from how he embraced that essence and flowed through him, but also existed in how it was a part of the world around him. There was a point where essence no longer flowed and a point where he could not reach beyond.
He had been straining with it, trying to make sense of that power, and thinking that maybe there would be some point where he could feel for something beyond where he already was, but every time he attempted to do so, Rob realized that power was limited to him. It remained bound inside of him.
The Netheral was gone, having given him some space and the opportunity to focus more on the power he had been chasing. Rob appreciated that he did not push him, but also appreciated the fact that the entity that he had long known as the Netheral recognized that there were certain things that Rob could do that the Netheral could not.
But right now, it didn't feel that way.
Right now, it felt like Rob couldn't do the things that he wanted to do. He had been straining to make sense of it all, hoping that he could find an understanding and find a way to master all the power that was within himself, but so far, he continued to run into those limits.
What else was he supposed to do?
He had the unity tower, which he needed to understand. Why it suddenly appeared was a mystery to him, though Rob suspected that it was still tied to his type of essence. Somehow, having unified the land and bridged the powers here, everything had changed for Rob and some aspects of the land. More and more, Rob began to feel as if that change was the reason that the heralds and whoever they served had been drawn to him.
Somehow, all of this was tied to power.
But how, and what kind of power?
Those were the questions that Rob didn't have an answer to, though the questions that he thought he needed to try to piece together so that he could understand what he might be able to do.
He told Arowend that he needed to progress, but at this point, Rob didn't know what that would look like. He had this strange, unified essence and was aware of the power in ways he had not been before. To the point where he merely had to think about what he wanted to do with essence, and it happened. That was so drastically different from what he had done before, and it felt like he possessed something far greater than he ever had before.
But there was still something more.
And there was some other power that he needed to master, some of the power that existed out there, that he was going to have to counter, but he was going to have to do it with help.
He'd been thinking about how he was going to be able to get the others around him to progress, but at this point, Rob wasn't sure what that was going to take. Maybe they would have to go into the nexus like he did, but she was hesitant when he suggested it to Serena. Perhaps afraid, though Rob wasn't even sure if that was the case. She had implied that it was more about a lack of understanding as to what she might find and about a danger that might exist there, hidden within the nexus. And for that matter, Rob realized that she probably was right. He had been to the nexus twice now, and each time he had come out of it changed, in a way that he couldn't even fathom. If another of the dragon blood that had gone with him were to enter it, maybe they could also find unity.
The dragon queen probably would, Rob thought.
He pushed that thought aside. He didn't need the dragon queen going into the unity and creating another problem for him in his realm. He needed to keep her restricted, so she didn't continue challenging them. And challenge them, she would. But the others, including Gregor, the storm cloud, and Maggie, could all have an opportunity to enter the nexus and see if there was any sort of power they could draw upon. They had not yet, which was unfortunate.
While he was sitting there, thinking about the different kinds of power that existed, and if there was any way he could coax the others that were working with him, Rob began to feel a strange presence along one of the borders.
Rob monitored it constantly, in case one of the heralds tried to attack him and his realm. So far, there'd been nothing, but Rob knew an attack was still imminent.
He also knew he couldn't stay. It was too dangerous for his people if he kept lingering. He needed to push back.
He stepped outside of the temple ruins, listening to the wind howling around him. The night was dark, and the air was cool. All around him was the sense of unity, the essence that he had mingled together, and Rob could feel how it was spreading out and around him, straining beyond the boundaries of where it had been before. He recognized that power and what he might be able to do with it, and recognized…
He recognized that, more and more, some aspects of it had been changing. Increasingly, he realized that he was going to have to talk to the others to see if their connection with their essence was changing as well. The fact that he had modified the essence by this connection to the nexus, unifying it into this unity essence created from the natural essence, might not be accessible to others quite as well as they once had been. That could be dangerous, and it was something that Rob hadn't even considered before.
The presence continued to push upon him.
Rob took to the sky.
It was a simple matter now. There was a time when he would've flown on lightning, and then used ice or one of the other essences so that he could travel, but now he simply burst upward, feeling the power of essence carrying him with little more than a thought. And then he traveled to the border, crossing over the water, aware of the distant sense of water essence down below, the hammering of waves and the spray that existed there.
He moved as quickly as he could, which was much faster than he once would've been able to do. When he reached the border, he was prepared for the possibility of a fight but did not see any gathering of dangers.
He moved along the border, continuing to test it. He had felt something. He had to find it. The night was dark. Even the moon was hidden behind a blanket of clouds, giving everything an ominous feel. Rob pulled upon the unity essence, drawing it into himself and then simply being. There were times when existing with essence was better than anything else, and in Rob's case, he could hold onto that essence, he could feel it flowing through him, and he could simply exist with it, letting it fill him, flow through him, and give him an awareness that he didn't have before.
Distantly, there was the sense of Oro and the other water essence, and even beyond that, Rob could feel his realm and the land. He could feel everything that was coming from it as he strained to try to make sense of it. Every bit of his connection, every bit of his being, bound him to what he was feeling, and the way that power continued to expand behind him. There was great energy there.
He did not feel anything amiss in his realm.
The only thing that felt different was the presence of that unity tower, a beacon that seemed to burn within his mind, blindingly bright, as he focused on the essence. He could feel that even without focusing on it. It existed out and around and continued to call to him as if the tower itself were trying to draw some part of himself into it.
Was it trying to drain essence from him?
He stopped, floating in place, and focusing on the power that existed, as he started to wonder if perhaps the tower might be more than just a tower, and perhaps a weapon that the heralds' master had erected. If that were the case, how would they have an opportunity to place it in his realm?
And it did seem as if it were tied to whatever it was that Rob had done with the essence, binding, and combining it together so that it was more than it had been before.
No. It was not tied to the heralds. This was tied to what Rob had done.
He had to intentionally calm his mind, trying to shut down the awareness of that beacon that was there, as the more he stared and focused on it, the harder it was for Rob to feel for anything else. There was simply too much power within it pushing upon him, trying to gain his attention. Rob had to ignore it, somehow. He struggled with that more than he had realized.
When this was over, Rob knew he needed to go back to the tower and try to make sense of why he was feeling so much power from it, and why it seemed as if it were so connected to him in a way that left him practically trembling.
Once he shoved that awareness aside, he began to feel a strange pressure again on the border. It wasn't where he thought it was, and he hurriedly traveled, pushing himself off with a blast of essence energy that carried him to where he detected it. As before, the boundary was empty. There was no sign of attack.
