His hand tightened on Glorandal as he set off after the illusory figure. He had to turn sideways at times to move past the cocoons. No longer would he touch them for fear they would disintegrate like the first had. He listened carefully for any signs of life, but he heard and sensed none. This part of the nest seemed dead and not yet restocked and repurposed with food. He grimaced at the thought of that.
He turned a corner and nearly gasped. The nest, which had been narrow corridors, suddenly opened up into a cavernous-type space. The ground was free of threads. There were no cocoons here. But there was a white stone plinth that held a tablet also made of that same white stone. It was completely different from the dark stone that filled the Under Dark. In fact, he was certain that this stone was not native to this realm.
It is from the Lieran Plane. It is what the Eryas Palace is made of. What is it doing here?
But he thought he might know. After all, the books he was not supposed to read told him that Alduin had some role in creating Illithor. Maybe this was something he brought down here to commemorate that. But his thoughts on this matter got no farther as his mother stepped out of the gloom and put a hand on the tablet.
“You came,” she murmured, sounding grateful, awed and… afraid.
Aquilan opened his lips to answer her, but another voice spoke instead, “Yes, though I wonder why I should not kill you where you stand.”
The voice was dark and rich and filled with anger. The figure it came from emerged from the darkness. White hair, shaved on one side and long on the other. Red eyes glowing like fires in the dark. Pale skin that was mostly obscured by tattoos. Low cut silk pants that clung to his hips and flowed down to bare feet. Magic flowed around this figure like a cloak. Though Aquilan had never seen a portrait of the Night King, he knew this was Vex.
“I–I knew I was taking a risk when I came here. Using the secret way that only Ailduin could take,” she answered and her right arm curled over her stomach. It was only then that Aquilan realized that his mother was pregnant. “But I had no other choice.
Vex had just threatened his mother. His pregnant mother. He would not stand for it! Whatever was going on here, he would protect her! But neither his mother nor Vex acknowledged him and when he opened his mouth to shout nothing came out. When he attempted to move, he was stuck in place.
What is going on here?!
Vex’s eyes were fixed on his mother’s swollen belly. His expression–which had been so icy and remote–had become blank. The fires in his eyes became banked. He blinked.
“You are… you will give birth soon. Yet you came here? You seek me out? And you come with no armor, no weapons, no army? You are practically in your night clothes,” Vex said with a shake of his head.
“You are dressed even less formally and well than me,” his mother’s voice took on a trace of teasing. When Vex stared at her stonily, she quickly added, “But I understand that is the Kindreth way. Your Blood Tattoos are all the armor and weapons you need while we, Aravae, do not have such protection.”
“You do not,” Vex said simply.
“Even if I did, would it make a difference? Even if I had come here with the entirety of the Aravae army, would I be any safer, King Vex?” she asked, head tilted to the side.
Those red eyes flared. “No.”
A simple “no”.
She smiled and nodded. “That is what I thought. But I am not here to invade your home or bring you harm. I am here, because I need your help.”
“My help?” Vex repeated and his eyes widened.
Aquilan felt the same damned way. What could his pregnant mother want from Vex?
“Do you know who this is?” She cradled her stomach.
Vex’s eyebrows rose. “Not even you know who that is.”
“On the contrary, I do know. I have… been dreaming. Our people say that we return from death. That we are reborn. My grandmother told me the signs to look for. And I have experienced them. Dreams and nightmares of another time, another place, another life that is not mine have haunted my every sleeping moment. And some when I’m awake as my due date has drawn near,” she explained.
Her hands moved protectively over her stomach as she gazed down at her pregnant belly with love, tenderness and concern. Vex had gone very still at her words.
“I dream mostly of you, King Vex.” She looked up at him with that same mixture of emotions. “And when I do this, I feel such… such love.”
Vex appeared as motionless as a statue. Aquilan wasn’t certain he was breathing.
His mother’s smile grew, but there were tears in her eyes that suddenly spilled down her fair cheeks. “And such sadness. Grief. Agony really. I dream of eons by your side and you by mine. Fighting, laughing, loving, building, ruling and more. A lifetime far longer than my own.”
Vex’s expression was blank.
His mother didn’t wipe away her tears as she smiled at Vex. “But these are not my dreams. This was not my life.” Her hands stilled over her pregnant belly. “These are his dreams. His life. His love.”
Vex slowly blinked as his eyes dropped once again to her stomach. “You think–”
