You have entered a fated path!

  David expected a long, dark road like the one that led him to Olam. But on the other side, he met the blinding glare of sunlight. His feet touched the soft bed of grass, then he saw Zoey’s frowning face. She stood a few steps away from the gateway, hands folded. Dal floated beside her, its large eyes watching David.

  The Vjognir looked leaner. Almost completely different, except for the eyes. Zoey’s eyes met David's, and he knew there was trouble.

  “What is it?” David asked, looking around. The gateway shrank slowly until it was gone. And David finally saw the sprawl of a city behind him. “Where is this?”

  “Tarthen,” Zoey said, walking past him. “Come, we have to hurry.”

  “Hurry?” David asked, breaking into a jog as Zoey ran towards the city. “What is going on, Zoey? What happened?”

  “They took Gis,” Zoey snapped, turning on him. David stopped a step away from Zoey. She was angry. Dal seemed affected by her state of mind, too. The Vjognir hovered above her, eyes fixed strangely on David.

  “What do you mean they took her?” David asked. He looked past her to the city. It was a grand spread of buildings. There were no walls, no guards that he could see from where he stood.

  “I don’t know, David. And we are wasting time.”

  “I don’t understand, Zoey. What happened? Who took Gis, and where are the others?” A stray thought formed in his mind. One that he hoped was wrong. “How long have you been here?”

  “Two days,” Zoey said, unable to stay still. Her hands were folded again. Her Vjognir settled on her shoulder, still glaring at David. He ignored it and focused on his sister.

  She stopped, took a deep breath, and sighed. “We don’t know, David. This place is…well, you will see. We have to go.”

  “You know where she was taken to?” David asked. He followed behind her, his mind working quickly to piece together what had happened.

  “They are waiting for us,” Zoey said. And in that instant, David understood. It all came together like the puzzle of a gruesome nightmare.

  “They wanted me,” David whispered.

  “Yes,” Zoey answered, leading him into the city. David saw what Zoey meant about the place. It seemed grand from afar, but now that he stood within it, he could see through the illusion. The buildings were magnificent and yet falling to neglect. The farther in they walked, the clearer it was that the city was broken. Not just the structures. The people, too.

  They walked around like husks. David saw no light in them. No life.

  “What is this?” David asked. The city’s interior was cold. The hum of life seemed hushed. “Zoey, slow down…what happened here?”

  “No one knows, David,” Dal said. The Vjognir’s voice was stern in David’s mind. A rebuke David would have shoved away any other day. But it stayed heavy in him, confusing him even more. Zoey’s reaction seemed strange, too.

  David stopped to look around him. Zoey’s stopped too. Dal narrowed its eyes at him. Visibly irritated.

  That’s new, Ignis growled.

  “What happened to you, Zoey?” David asked. He knew Zoey could be impatient and irrational. Yet, she always had a warmth he could recognize. Now, she stared at him with a coldness that filled David with dread.

  “What happened to me?” Zoey asked. A fierce look of disgust spread over her face. David flinched slightly. He noticed a few people look their way and walk away, mumbling something he couldn’t hear.

  “Why are you not worried?” she asked, her voice climbing. “What happened to you? Why weren’t you here?”

  David noticed her fist. He steeled himself, waiting in disbelief. She scoffed and walked away.

  “We have to get her soon,” Zoey said as she walked away. “We are almost late.”

  David followed quietly. More people milled about. Some with vague purpose and others staring vacantly about as they shuffled.

  Zoey shoved through a small crowd in a cramped street. David heard some mumbled curses, but no one reacted.

  A city of zombies, Ignis supplied. David wondered if that was true. He couldn’t sense any magic in the air.

  “How is it affecting everyone?” David asked.

  “I don’t think it is that kind of magic,” Aza said. “Vith, what do you think? I can vaguely sense the chaos, but it is distant. Hidden. Whoever did this--”

  “David!” Zoey called. She stopped in front of a tavern, gesturing for him to come in. He hadn’t even noticed the change in landscape. Here, the roads were narrow and silent.

  “Vith,” David called. “I need your help.”

  The silence from the fragment gnawed at him, but David stepped into the tavern called Famished Eel. The inside was warm and silent.

  He hadn’t noticed the stale smell outside until he perceived the smell of people in a cramped space.

  Every table was occupied. The sound of spoons scraping bowls, legs shuffling, and wood creaking was all he could hear. Like walking outside after a downpour. It was eerie.

  “It is not a spell,” David said. He couldn’t sense the working of essence or any other influence. But did that mean everyone was suffering from some kind of disease? How was it affecting Zoey?

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “David,” Zoey called from the back of the tavern. She was sitting with someone. Another woman. He could tell that only from the bust on her chest and her voice. The rest of her was covered in a black cloak and a mask.

  David looked at her, waiting. She didn’t seem formidable, but he knew it was hard to judge that in the tower. People hid who they really were all the time.

  “You have my friend,” David said.

  “We do,” the woman said. The silence stretched for several heartbeats. David watched her, a slow, agonizing fear coiled around him.

  “No more questions, Lord Ruler?” She asked sarcastically. Zoey hissed, and the woman turned sharply toward her. Zoey flinched, but the wail came from Dal. The Vjognir cried. The sound was shrilling. It soaked David’s soul, making him ache from within. The effect seemed worse for Zoey.

  She fell back, then off the chair. Dal fell from its perch, feather falling off it as it writhed on the floor. Zoey stretched as the pain spread between them, while it only created a strange sensation in David.

  He staggered back, trying to sit down. No one else was affected. Not even the people sitting close to them. David groaned, trying to throw up. He retched, but nothing came out.

  “I should stop,” the masked woman warned. “We don’t want you to die before you meet Lord Huz.”

  The revulsion vanished, as if it hadn’t been there before. David looked up at the woman, confused. Zoey dragged herself up, frowning. She glared at David, but looked just as confused as David.

  Dal flew up to perch on her shoulder, sparing David a glance.

  “What was that?” David asked.

  The woman chuckled. “Telling you takes away the fun. Sincerely, this is disappointing. I thought you would be tougher. Your brother was before he hid himself and the others away. You, you feel…weak.”

  Kill her, Ignis growled.

  “Are all dragons stupid?” Vith asked. The venom in her voice jarred David. “He can’t kill her. And she is the only clue to whoever this Huz is.”

  Curse you, fragment, Ignis roared.

  “Enough!” David yelled, and the woman shot up from her seat as if ignited. The table shattered, and a whip flashed into her hand, crackling with layered essence. Zoey and Dal shifted away, and the whip snapped, wrapping around David’s right arm, and pulled. He felt it burn his skin, but he was too shocked to feel the pain. Too stunned to stop himself from being dragged too. He had just enough time to block the woman’s kick to the left side of his head, but couldn’t stop the blade coming for his throat.

  He stood frozen. His arm itched where the whip burned him. The welt had ripped open, bleeding. The woman looked up at him, her eyes were the bright green of emeralds. She was so close, he could hear her ragged breath. The tip of her dagger pushed against his skin, but David didn’t budge. He could see her now, past the mask. Her eyes carried her fear so vividly, it could have been a scream.

  David sighed. “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  She blinked nervously, watching David. He stayed still, hoping she’d see he was not a threat. Zoey stood up, hissing a curse. The Vjognir floated about her, its eyes still on David and the woman.

  She sighed, taking a step back and lowering the blade. She let the whip stay, but the blade disappeared into a sheath hidden in her cloak. Her eyes didn’t move off him as she went back to her seat. The whip snapped off his arm and vanished.

  A summoned weapon, Ignis noted as the woman made a show of relaxing.

  “We were warned to watch for your attacks,” She said. “Not much is known about how you conquered Amareth’s tower, but we have heard the stories.”

  David stared at the tear on his arm. With Chloe’s help, it wouldn’t scar, but he would need to find Chloe and Elisha first. If he were to believe this woman, they were hiding somewhere in the city.

  “What about Gis?” David asked.

  “The woman you took,” Zoey clarified.

  “She is safe,” the woman said. “Safer than you will know.”

  David nodded at the others in the tavern. Even with the brief chaos, none of the others had moved to run or intervene. As if they were untouched by the violence.

  “What is wrong with them?” David asked.

  “Them? Nothing,” The woman said. “They were made to be like that. They accepted it. It is their curse, and at the same time a blessing.”

  “What do you mean?” David asked.

  “They were given the choice to die or live like this,” She said. She stood up, walking over to the closest table. She bent over the people there, waving her hand over their faces. They turned to her, briefly, then turned away.

  “A curse?” David asked, walking closer to the table. She shook her head.

  “No one knows what is wrong with this place,” the woman said, her voice carrying through the tavern like a cold draft. “Not even Lord Huz. But he has a plan.”

  David frowned. “And what does that have to do with us?”

  The woman leaned forward, emerald eyes catching the candlelight. “Everything. Lord Huz has a deal for you.”

  “A deal?” David asked, wary.

  Zoey slammed her hand against the table, the sound startling even in the muted tavern. “David, stop. We’re wasting time. Gis doesn’t have it. We don’t have it. If you want to argue, argue later. Right now, we have to go.”

  David turned sharply toward her. “And go where? You’ve been here for two days, Zoey. If you knew how to get Gis back, you would have done it by now.” His voice was low, clipped, trying to keep the rising frustration from spilling.

  Zoey’s jaw clenched. Essence flared from the Vjognir, the creature pressing tighter against her shoulder as if feeding on her unease.

  The masked woman chuckled. “She is right, in her way. But so am I. You have little choice, Lord Ruler.” She spread her gloved hands wide, showing the faint shimmer of essence curling around her fingers. “You must decide. Will you walk into the den of Lord Huz, or will you wander these streets, waiting for Tarthen to consume you like it consumes all things?”

  David studied her. The dagger was gone, the whip dismissed, yet she felt no less dangerous. Around them, the people in the tavern kept eating, chewing slowly, eyes glazed, unblinking. The sound of spoons on wood carried like a funeral march.

  “That’s it?” David asked, finally. “You’re just a messenger.”

  “I am a guide,” she corrected. “And I’ve done my duty. But I will not drag you there. You have to choose. You can’t find Lord Huz, you can’t save your friend. Not without meeting Lord Huz.”

  Zoey scoffed and stood, glaring at David. “If you want Gis back, you’ll come. If not, then we should never have opened that gateway.”

  David held her gaze. Something in her eyes flickered—anger, yes, but also desperation. And fear. She masked it well, but not perfectly.

  He sighed and turned to the cloaked woman. “Fine. We’ll see him. Take me to Lord Huz.”

  The woman tilted her head, studying him as if weighing his resolve. Then she nodded once. “Good. Then come. But mind yourselves. He does not suffer rudeness, even from guests.”

  The tavern doors creaked as she moved toward them. The crowd parted around her without looking, like water cut by a prow. Zoey followed quickly, and the Vjognir vanished, merging with Zoey again.

  David lingered a heartbeat longer. The people at the tables still hadn’t looked up. Not once. He could see the muscles of their jaws working, hear the wood scrape, smell the sour air. They were alive. But only barely.

  They are worse than dead, Ignis rumbled.

  David stepped out after them, his wound still stinging from the whip. The sun was already lowering, bleeding across the horizon. And for the first time since stepping into Tarthen, he wondered if he was already too late.