“So, the red sands are Rohami?” Mera asked, her eyes on the map.
Reece pointed up to the northeast corner. “Yes, the red is the Rohami dynasty.” His finger then moved across the other lands, working counter-clockwise. “This is the Guardians, which is the closest to the Delfora; both have black sands.” His finger moved again. “This is Shale with dark brown sands, Fret to the west with terracotta, Holinfra with dusky grey. Wanders are from the violet sands filled with the thyreme blossoms. Crani, sands of gold, and Yemin, the smallest land with its light orange sands.”
“Eight dynasties,” Shadow said as we stared at the map. “All controlling vast deserts and powers.”
“Except for the Delfora,” Reece said, tracing to the northernmost part of the map. “No one controls it.”
“Holy fucking fuck,” Mera breathed. “It looks like it’s bigger than all the rest of the lands put together.”
At this point Alistair returned looking refreshed, with damp hair and skin and wearing only a pair of yellow shorts, leaving the rest of his lithe body bare. He settled into a cushion near me, bringing the briny scent of oceans with him.
“The Delfora is massive,” Reece confirmed. “And no Desertlandian lives there. Outside of the first flat section, the rest is completely forbidden to even step foot on. There are layers of security to stop anyone from just wandering through. Those who’ve dared to try without an invitation are generally never heard from again.”
“Who invites you?” Lucien asked, genuine curiosity in his voice. If there was one thing all of these guys had in common, it was that they loved power. And the Delfora was a vastly untapped source.
Reece shrugged, broad shoulders lifting under the thick material of his black shirt. “It’s mostly myth since I’ve never known anyone to make it deep into the lands.”
Outside of his parents, of course, but he didn’t want to tell that story.
“They believe it’s the ancient gods,” I drawled, dancing along the truth. Let that bastard sweat that I might reveal his secrets. “Giving the invitations. They might be buried and sleeping, but their power seeps through the land still.”
Reece shot me a look, and I shut up. “The imbalance I feel didn’t originate with the gods,” he said with obvious reluctance. “But there’s no denying that the Delfora feels different. A darkness lingers there.”
That had my full attention. “What else resides there except the ancients?”
His gaze pinned me to the spot. “It is said that the ancient gods, who are guarded by the valley of the dead, are also the gatekeepers to a darker being.”
An eerie silence descended over the room as we waited for his next words.
“In the deepest recesses,” he continued, “far beyond any exploration, lies the namesake of the ancient lands: Delfora, meaning Death itself.”
My choked gasp echoed through the tent, and with my back ramrod straight as I half got to my knees, I shook my head. “If that’s true,” I managed to say, “we could be facing another extinction level event. Akin to Dannie.”
The ancient gods were one thing, but Death itself…
Reece and I had lived for a long time, and we’d fought many battles together, until the one that tore us apart. Only we knew the true implications of what he was saying right now—not just for this world, but all of them.
“How is this possible?” Shadow rumbled. “I know your land is an original, one of the first that many others evolved from, but are you telling me that Death, the very being who coined the phrase, originated in your Delfora?”
Reece looked grimmer than usual. “I don’t have evidence, but I’ve seen and felt new tendrils of an ancient energy and feel it’s best to warn you now of what we might be dealing with here.” His eyes were hooded as he let out a deep breath. “The calling is stronger than ever from the Delfora, and now that we’re here, I sense that once again someone is working to raise the gods.”
“Every few thousand years this happens,” I said flatly. “A select number of Desertlandians get it in their heads that they can control the ancients. We’ve had to battle over it before, and we lost too many the last time. But Death… that’s an entirely new challenge I did not see coming.”
“It was always a possibility,” Reece said, his focus unwavering as it felt like he was just talking to me. “If Death does reside in the Delfora, then raising the ancient gods would almost inevitably lead to raising it as well. It’s just that most don’t know, or believe in, that fable. I didn’t believe in it until these recent days, but now… I can just feel that there’s more waiting out there.”
Shadow’s chest rumbled as he drew Mera closer, his hands protectively cradling her and their unborn child. He had a lot to lose, much more than the rest of us these days, and I knew that he would do whatever it took to keep the worlds safe. To keep Mera safe.
He wasn’t the only one. “We need to figure out who it is and stop them from putting this into motion,” I said, my energy shooting up as my adrenaline did. “Why are we wasting time in this tent? Or here at all? Shouldn’t we be at the Delfora?”
Reece’s voice was as icy as mine. “Because multiple dynasties called this random meeting, gathering all their power together. Members of those dynasties could be using this as a catalyst to form enough energy to break through the spells holding the ancients.” His expression wasn’t the only grim one at this point.
“So, whoever we’re looking for is here,” I mused, finally understanding his plan.
Shadow was on his feet in that same instant, Mera clutched in his huge hands—in his rage it appeared that he’d forgotten he even held her. “Mera needs to return to the library.” The glare he leveled on Reece would have made a normal male cry. “You should have told us how serious the situation was.”
Reece and Shadow didn’t fight a lot, but when they did, the worlds felt it.
“I didn’t know for sure,” Reece said, almost sounding weary. “And in all honesty, I need your help. Not even I can deal with this alone. I knew Mera would never stay behind, and if this comes to pass and the ancients rise, the worlds will be absorbed by their greed. And if Death is truly a possibility… Nowhere is safe.”
