A shriker walked down the streets of a small town. Her steps did not make a sound, nor did her body cast a shadow. Those who did notice her avoided her entirely or shut their doors. She could hear their whispers, unsure if she was friend or foe.

Unlike most of her kind, she was dressed in a black thick, leather coat. A hat that obscured most of her face outside of the tip of her pale muzzle and gleaming red eyes. Claws and fingers in silvery metal. Leggings and chest laced with pouches. On her back, a large, ebony crossbow with silver-tipped arrows.

She was close to her target. From what she was instructed, a rogue necromancer had been sighted in this town. Supposedly, he had taken something from her queen’s castle and she was to retrieve it from his cold claws. Quite droll compared to her other missions.

The Strath - what necromancers tended to call ‘home’ when not in a coven - was not hard to find. At the edge of the town, near a river illuminated by the twin moons, an abandoned home stood. The wooden exterior – a clear sign of its age – had begun to rot and fall away. A feeling of despair gently stroked her; tragedy taken place here some time ago.

The shriker felt the negative energies radiating from it. See the glowing, green energy that seeped through the windows; death magic. Invisible to non-magic individuals, but a beacon to someone like her.

Hunting down targets always gave her a thrill. No matter how swift or weak her opponents were, seeing signs like this tempted something deep inside. A predatory instinct she’d nourished over the years. Being this close to her prey almost brought a grin to her face. Hunting was all she knew for almost all her life, and without having a steady supply of targets, she’d experience wracking pains. Luckily, her queen had no shortage of enemies and tasks.

As she approached the door, she noted a few wards and traps. Weak and rushed, they posed little threat to her. Raising her right claw, she shot a tendril of shadowy energy into the ward on the door. It was blown open, and she strode inside.

He was not on this level. The tables had been used, however. Black liquid had stained them. Cabinets, laced with cobwebs, held vials of liquid. Another tendril shot from her black shoulder spikes, destroying them as she stepped down the wooden stairs to the basement.

Once she reached the bottom, she found her target. With one claw she raised her crossbow, ready to fire. The dragon whirled around, fear in his eyes.

“She sent you?!” The necromancer shouted. She remained silent. “Suppose I should have guessed it,” he laughed nervously. “It was a nice necklace.”

“Was?” The shriker spoke, hissing voice harsh and cold.

“I sold it.”

The shriker pointed down and fired the crossbow at his leg. The impact punched a hole through it. At first, he didn’t register before doubling over. The shriker was on him immediately, kicking him hard in the ribs to shatter three and stomped down. Pointing her crossbow down, she didn’t need to ask.

“Traveling merchant. Went to the west.” He pleaded with her. “Should be just over the mountains by now!”

The shriker detected no lies from the necromancer. Satisfied, she shot him in the head. The arrow had stuck itself into the ground so deep that it required her to yank it out. The other was the same.

At that moment, a presence entered her mind; her queen was contacting her.

“Tarvi, I have need of you.”

***

Tarvi, that was the other champion Azulia had. Kyrik never met her, but knew of her from what Azulia and Witherwing mentioned. Lei oversaw the castle defenses, but if Azulia had an exterior problem, Tarvi would be sent. She never failed her missions, either. The Huntress, she’d been labeled.

“Hurry and grab that necklace.” Azulia spoke into a basin.

They were in some sort of room in her private quarters that Kyrik had never seen before. Small and kind of cramped, it was black like a void. The only source of light was a wispy blue basin filled with churning liquid. A communicator of sorts, Kyrik figured. He expected her to be able to simply reach out with her mind to the champions, but this made slightly more sense.

Maybe she could and just didn't want to waste the energy?

“You sent her out…over a necklace?” Kali asked flatly.

“Not just any,” Azulia bared her fangs. “If worn by anyone other than me, it would result in the owner either going mad or dying. The less cursed objects in the world, the better.”

“Because you care so much?”

“No, because the last thing I desire is some foolish hunter coming up to my castle again. Terribly annoying, even if Tarvi and Lei get a thrill out of it.”

“What does it do if you wear it?” Kyrik tilted his head.

Azulia’s face softened a bit. Kali’s went unreadable.

“Nothing. It simply means a lot to me, and no one else will have it.”

Kyrik saw Kali’s maw open slightly, as if she were thinking. She’d been acting so weird ever since she showed up. Always second guessing Azulia, like she suspected the queen held ill intent. While it was true that Azulia wasn’t very…kind, the lack of aggressive moves should’ve been clear indicator. He remembered Kali mentioning the mental barriers, but this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“So, what do we do now?” Kyrik asked. “I mean, should we go down to the other room with the others?”

“Witherwing will be up shortly with the news.”

Almost as if on cue, the butler stepped in. Once again, his eyes were different. Icy blue, much like the basin. The slightly distressed look on his face drew far more attention, however.

“The blade is gone.”

Azulia looked like if she had something in her claw, she would have dropped it. “WHAT?!”

“Blade?” Kyrik questioned.

“Aurgal’s.” Witherwing said while the queen silently seethed.

Kyrik’s jaw almost hit the ground. Aurgal was a demi-god, one of the last remaining in the world. He and his sister Auraith – Aura for short - were both legends. Their tales of defeating creatures being circulated across the land. It was they who lead the charge after the Seraph, Ephiral, fell from the stars. It is said they perished in the final battle.

Not only that, but Jirmen used to train them. They were practically family, inseperable until death claimed the twins. Kyrik never asked much, seeing sadness whenever their names were mentioned.

Somehow, Azulia had his weapon of choice in her castle. Was she there at the fall, too? It’d make sense.

The queen all but shoved everyone to the side, taking off with Witherwing faster than Kyrik could keep up with. He and Kali looked at each other before following.

The moment they stepped out, however, the castle began to warp and change. Where there used to be a hall to the left and right, it now opened directly ahead of them. The long corridor was still shifting into shape with a swirling light at the end. The paintings seemed like they acknowledged their presence; some with curiosity, others with hostility.

“I’ve never seen it do this,” Kyrik said to Kali, who had a questioning look.

“This specific rearrangement or right in front of us?”

“Former. Latter happens all the time.”

As they approached the swirling light, Kyrik felt a weird sensation tingling his scales. Like someone running a gentle claw over them. Staring at the light, he felt like someone was watching back. It wasn’t out to harm them, nor did it feel as comforting as it should. Neutral would be the best way to describe it.

“Guess we should step into the light.” Kyrik said humorously.

“How many times have you said that?” Kali asked wryly.

“Surprisingly, only once.” Kyrik walked through.

Kyrik liked to consider he knew a great deal of magic from this world. At a younger age, he used to rely on something called Arcane Vision, which would allow him to see it on a fundamental level. As he grew older and he adjusted to the reaper inside of him, he grew less reliant on it.

For the first time, he felt like he was back at that untrained level.

The room they stepped into was upside down. A library from what it looked like. Books and scrolls, stacked upon each other, extended to the floor. Or was it the ceiling? Tables and lanterns hung alongside them. They didn’t show any signs of being upside down, either.

A scroll smacked Kyrik in the face as whipping wind kicked up around him. Taking it off, he saw that it was discussing something about hydra spotting. All he could gather before it was torn away.

“What the…?” Kali’s voice could be heard perfectly over the gusts.

Kyrik followed her gaze, seeing a vortex in the middle of the room. It was immobile, both aging and renewing scrolls around it. Beautiful yet terrifying. Inside, Kyrik could see images. What they were, he had no idea.

Kyrik shut his eyes and activated the Arcane Vision. When they opened, they appeared to be filled with stars. Now, Kyrik could see everything.

All around him, runes and strange lettering floated about. This was magic at its base level; the vision allowed him to join words together to create spells. For beginners, it was a godsend. He almost missed using it.

Looking at the vortex, Kyrik almost stepped away. The runes and letters were overwhelming! He could barely keep up and his eyes teared from the strain. What he was looking at should not exist. It couldn’t exist!

“That’s…chronomancy.” Kyrik announced. “An aberration of it!”

“Isn’t chronomancy forbidden?” Kali asked. “Or am I getting it confused?”

“No, you’re right.” Kyrik approached it slightly. “This isn’t being made by anything I can see. It simply…manifested.”

“This doesn’t look like the library we know, either.” Kali pointed out. “I can recognize a few things, but otherwise…”

“It’s different, yes.” Kyrik moved to get a better angle of the vortex. Around it, he could see reality tearing away. It twitched and vibrated, sealing and unsealing itself.

“Door’s locked.” Kali indicated from where they came from. Sure enough, the entrance was closed off by a gigantic…book.

Kyrik would’ve liked to say he had seen stranger.

“What do we do?” He asked. “I don’t really want to approach it. For all we know, it could-”

As if hearing his words, the vortex lurched forward and spiraled at them. Fear nearly caused Kyrik’s heart to stop as it enclosed in on them, growing wider and faster. Impossible to escape! What felt like thousands of claws gripped him, throwing him into the eye of the storm.

***

Emptiness.

That’s all Kyrik saw. A murky, black haze surrounded him and Kali, who had also been sucked in. Wordlessly, they looked around. What could they say to this? It was like they were floating on air but standing on solid ground. Hard yet easy to breathe.

Pillars made of brilliant white marble jutted up from around them. Tapestries of an unknown banner hung from them. The sky itself developed into night filled with thousands of stars. A temple of sorts; Kyrik recognized as silvery and gold floors developed underneath them.

Oh. Kyrik realized where they were; the ancient city of Olirek. Five thousand years into the past, at the height of the Ularian empire. Supposedly, the city vanished overnight, with the empire following suit shortly after. But this was against the rules of Chronomancy; travelling forward and pausing the space around him, that was fine. Going back didn’t work at all without destroying something.

“In all of time and space, we ended up here.” Kali touched the pillar. Her eyes narrowed. “Huh.”

“What?”

“Touch this.”

Kyrik did so, finding yet another contradiction. He could feel its smooth surface, the groves in its structure. Faint and distant as if trapped in between worlds. Here, but not here at all. Kyrik had little idea of how chronomancy worked outside the basic rules but this seemed more like a projection.

Splashing from behind drew their attention a large pool had sprawled itself out. The crystal waters held some sort of tiny creature that darted around the edges swiftly. A large fish?

The splashing drew the attention of someone else, if the tentative clicking of claws was any indication. From the entrance to the pools, a young female dragon stood. She was draped in white cloth held together with golden clips. They flowed off her blue scales, black ice-like horns poking through the hood. Ruby eyes, filled with apprehension and curiosity, locked onto the pool.

The dragon didn’t appear to notice them. As she approached the pool, the creature inside stopped before slowly swimming over to the edge. When the dragon saw what it was, she stepped away.

“What are you doing in here?” She asked as the head of the creature surfaced.

Or, rather, three heads. It was small and serpentine, with tiny claws for legs and fin-like wings on its back. The body was made of rough, white scales and its little eyes different on each head. Middle with fiery orange, the left icy sapphire while the last held electric yellow. The faces were a mixture of reptilian and fish, with long needle-like fangs that strongly resembled glass.

“Hydra.” Kyrik whispered to Kali. “Used to be really common back then. Pretty sure they only exist in tropics or deep ocean now.”

“How did you get in?” The dragon asked it. At the sound of her voice, the heads turned from looking aimlessly to her. “I thought we sealed that passage to the ocean…”

It let out a rattling hiss as an answer.

“Did you just hatch?” She asked it. “Or are you a runt?”

Another hiss.

“You can’t understand me, can you?” She tsked. “No doubt you’re hungry. I’ll go get you something, then we need to get you back to the sea.”

As she walked away from the hydra, the environment began to peel away into the void. Kyrik felt like reality itself was collapsing again, and before he knew it, they were stranded in the darkness again.

A blinding light much like before appeared before them. Churning and twisting like the vortex be, Kyrik felt a tug that drew him clsoer. Kali and Kyrik glanced at each other; no doubt she felt the same. No choice other than to step in if they ever wanted to go back home.

When they stepped through, they found themselves back where they started; at the corridor outside Azulia’s private quarters. The hall they previously ventured down had begun to seal itself, reverting to how it was before.

“What just happened?” Kali questioned. “What was that?!”

“I’ve never seen the castle do that.” Kyrik was just as stumped. “Should we tell Azulia?”

“…No.” Kali said after a moment. “If we do, she’ll be more paranoid. I don’t like the way she’s looking at you already.”

“What do you mean?” Kyrik tilted his head.

“I’ll explain later when I can confirm my suspicions. Right now, we should probably catch up to her before she comes back for us.”