“Oh, yeah. I love vague item descriptions,” Tresk said.

Theo held the vial, clicking his tongue as he read through the description.

[Through the Storm]

[Dragon Elixir]

Unique

Created by: Theo Spencer

Grade: Ancient

Commune with the Storm.

Elixir Restrictions:

Only consumable by those at Ancient Grade.

The description wasn’t helpful, but there were some interesting things to note. The grade was weird, and only ancient dragons could drink it. Having a unique designation meant almost nothing other than the concept that it was strange. From the outside, Theo could assume that the Storm was something related to dragons, but he couldn’t glean much more than that.

"We know that dragons are segmented into flights, right?" Theo asked, tapping his chin as he rolled the concept over in his mind. "I suppose we can therefore assume there is some kind of elemental designation between them, which means there might be a Storm Flight."

"Take it a step farther," Tresk said with a laugh. "We know the other properties of this potion produce something either related to cold or to the shard network. Is it possible the Storm Flight is directly involved with the shards?”

Theo felt the foundations of his thoughts rocked for only a moment. He looked upon his small lizard-like companion, and a broad smile spread across his face. They had come a long way since assuming that everything that moved in a strange way needed to be stabbed. Even within himself, he noticed change. A desire to look deeper than the surface level bloomed within his mind. He wasn't sure if it was a permanent thing or just out of necessity, but he also wasn't sure if he was altogether unhappy with it.

Theo shook himself out of that momentary lapse. He would stop patting himself on the back for doing the most basic investigation and move on with his life.

"Of course, we could simply ask Pogo," Theo said with a shrug. "She's been very happy to share what information she has, especially now that she thinks we are dragons." Theo took a few more moments to think about the best approach to this. Figuring it out on their own was an interesting endeavor, but there was a quicker way, and he could feel it blossoming within Tresk's mind. “Really? We’re still doing that?”

Tresk stood there, potion already pressed against her lips. She shrugged. “Why not? What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Well, for starters…” Theo trailed off. Instead of lecturing Tresk, who had already quaffed the potion, he saw the world through her eyes.

“I get it! Layers on layers!” Tresk shouted, her voice echoing through the cave. “Like an onion? What was that movie?”

Around Tresk, a blizzard had formed. An impossible storm that filled the cave, obscuring everything. When Theo’s voice came, it came through the storm, muffled and distant.

“Focus. You’re saying this is a layer? Like the old realm system?” Theo asked.

“Yeah,” Tresk said, sending her senses as wide as they would go. “Yeah, feels like a fake place. Or an in-between place, maybe.”

“Well, you’re still here. Most of you, anyway,” Theo said. “But your soul is between two places, and I can’t sense where your soul is going.”

Theo’s brain went off to do the Theo thing of pretending to understand stuff right away, but Tresk wasn’t convinced. The only thing she knew was how much this felt like layered realms. But the power within wasn’t something she could sense. If anything, it felt as though there was no power here at all. Which would make it useless. But the dragons wouldn’t just do something with no purpose, would they?

A voice rumbled through the storm, almost stinging the edges of Tresk's senses as she stood. For a moment, she regarded the storm the way she did most things: asked something to stab. But once she reminded herself that more than likely this place was immaterial, she calmed down and listened to what the voice was saying.

"I had half expected an unknown fledgling to enter the storm. Instead, I find you," the voice said. It was clearly that of a dragon, sounding as though they were lingering somewhere distant, coiled to strike at any time. Tresk got the distinct sense that she was being hunted through the sheet of snow that obscured her vision. "Tell me, young one, why have you come here?"

"I noticed you didn't ask how I came here, which is pretty impressive. Seeing as I'm guessing you only have one way in and out of this place," Tresk said, looking around. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find the form of the dragon that spoke. "I came here because if there's a potion, it needs to be quaffed. I'm something of an expert potion quaffer, so here I am, I guess."

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“That is a very flimsy reason to visit the storm from the way you're probing every inch of it. I presume you mostly know what it is,” the voice said.

“Mostly,” Tresk said, nodding with agreement.

“Then you’ll know how important it is. You’ll know that you shouldn’t mess around here the way you’ve messed around elsewhere.”

Although it was an attempt to screw with a random proto realm created by the dragons, Tresk nodded once again. “I understand. But you have to let me know if my suspicions about this place are true.”

The dragon grumbled somewhere in the distance. “Fine. Make it brief.”

“So, we got this middle-place layer over the sector, acting as a shield for the shards, right?” Tresk asked, tapping her chin. It was true she was drawing heavily on Theo’s understanding of how space and all that crap worked, but she was making the conclusions. Mostly. “I’m gonna guess there are more barriers like this? But, what is the purpose?”

The dragon bellowed a laugh, causing the snow to hang mid-air for only a moment. Tresk thought she caught a glimpse of the beast for only a moment. After pushing down the desire to draw her daggers and stab it, as she often did, she listened to what the dragon had to say.

“Astute. I’m happy to learn you’re walking the path to become one of us. When we work together, I’ll look forward to ways you and your bonded companion improve the Nets,” the dragon said. “Until then, goodbye. The effects of your potion are wearing off.”

Of course, Theo had been watching the entire exchange through Tresk's eyes. He helped steady her when she stumbled forward. She shook her head to remove whatever strange psychic connection existed between her and the dragon. There was a lot to go through here, including the fact that Tresk was apparently classified as an ancient-grade dragon now. That was not supposed to happen for a while, but they had apparently made more progress with their new identities than he had expected.

"So what exactly does that mean?" Tresk asked with a nervous laugh.

"I'm not entirely sure," Theo said. "I think we're looking at something similar to an interdiction field of sorts. If you consider a singular field of magic resting over an area with the sole purpose of catching people traveling using the system's interdiction methods, I believe this Storm we witnessed will do something very similar."

"That's right, he called it a net," Tresk said, punctuating her words by jabbing a finger into the air. "So they're trying to catch people. But how does that work?"

"Through the same mechanism you just described. People from outside the sector come in using the interdiction feature, and then that storm catches them. But what does it do after it has them?"

“Who knows?” Tresk asked. “Sends them to hell, or something?”

“Could be,” Theo said, reaching out to touch the Storm once again. But he couldn’t find it. Unlike the other layers of the world, which had now been spread out to appear more like a solar system, he couldn’t find where it was. He could sense the paper world, and all the various realms that had gone into disrepair. “The dragons might be stronger than we thought.”

“I thought the dragons were pretty strong. Just for the record.”

Theo waved the statement away. "That's not what I meant. I meant that in the way that they can maintain something like this. It's well outside of the system's bounds, and what I would consider in line with the concepts of celestial magic. To maintain something like this over a long period would be difficult, if not impossible, for people like us. That puts them in a class far above us.”

“So, we joined the winning side. Got it.”

With absolutely no way to probe and sense any other realms the dragons had established, Theo filed this misadventure away in his mind. It rested among many other ventures they had undertaken. He didn't have the kind of power required to get proper answers. Although it was unfortunate, the only thing the alchemist could do now was to continue his daily life, as arduous as that had become. He looked to his companion and nodded.

“Let’s check on a few things before we go back to eating dragon energy,” Theo said. “I need to be sure of something.”

After thinking about the concept of the dragons’ proto-realm for a while, it made Theo curious about something. Since Tresk wanted to come along, he dropped them into the void and lingered in the darkness for a while. First, he checked to ensure there were no more stars in the sky, which there weren't. All of Elrin's people had been activated and, from what he understood, were currently assaulting the godly realms. Next he probed the edges of the heavens, sensing places in the seal that were weakened from the attack. He frowned as he looked at them, getting closer and imagining it as a massive wall that barred entrance. The truth was, anybody right now could slip through the cracks and enter if they had the knowledge.

“What are you thinking about?” Tresk asked. “Thinking about patching the holes? Is that your job?”

Theo shook his head, not because he wasn't thinking of patching the holes. Of course, he was thinking of patching the holes. He was trying to determine if this was his job. He focused on the Dreamwalker’s Core in his chest and developed a slight twinge. It was as though it didn't want to volunteer for the job, but it was within his responsibilities to maintain barriers like this. That got him thinking about what the dragons had done and if he could help. Sure, on the grand scale of things, the system's authority wasn't everything, especially when it came to things that might come from outside the system. But the power of that core was expansive, encompassing everything within the void.

Although Void himself had more authority, he was a bit busy.

Theo held his hands out, feeling the seals that kept the heavens segmented. He couldn't quite understand the underlying magic that shielded them, but he could tell where there were holes. He added his own energy to those places, the Dreamwalker's core provided the massive amount of energy required for such a repair. The alchemist flitted from place to place, patching things and reinforcing what felt like a weak shield. He then turned his eyes to the distance, where the edge of the void rested and the far-flung parts of the universe awaited them. He couldn't help but consider something similar to the storm the dragons had erected. That constant blizzard drew on the power of the shards to maintain itself. He thought about doing something similar.

"So we're just taking on more work," Trask asked. "Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"I don't know if it's a good idea, but I know it's necessary," Theo said, shaking his head. "We need to talk to somebody who knows what's actually coming. I have a feeling we'll be trapped in this sector for the rest of our lives, and our jobs as the dreamer and the dream walker will take most of our time. We might as well get good at it before the temporal barrier drops."

“Sweet. I’ve always wanted to be a space wizard.”