“Tell us why you want the portals closed so badly,” demanded Boudicca. “Your people hunted mine down. You drove us to near extinction, both here and in our own world. Your people hunting mine caused mine to go into a great civil war that wiped out most of my species! Tell mewhy.”
“Because you created the portals! Because only your blood can stop them. And because youwouldn't listento us.” He hung his head. “My ancestors tried so hard to convince yours that the portals must be destroyed forever. Your ancestors were greedy and enjoyed being worshiped. They wouldn't listen or believe us.”
“So, you killed them all?” I asked, furious. He killed my husband and impersonated him. HestoleMichael. There wasn't much he could say that would redeem himself.
“Not at first,” Peter replied. “At first we pleaded with them. Then we destroyed portals, any portal we could find. They caught on, and the old gods began returning to their home worlds in droves, scared of being stuck here forever. It took us hundreds of years to find the ones we did destroy, but by the time we found out this was going on, you’d created portals all over the world. We were behind before we even got started.”
“All of what was going on?” asked Elias, obviously still in pain watching an impostor speak through his best friend’s mouth.
“Portal travel.” Peter adjusted his position a little and moved his legs. Axoular jumped and loomed over Peter threateningly. “I’m not getting up, dragon. I’m just shifting a little.”
Haha. My thoughts were a little crazed. The shifter was shifting. My mind was a maze of emotions, and I was struggling to navigate my way out of it. A short giggle erupted from my mouth and every eye was on me. “Sorry, it slipped out. I’m overwhelmed. Please, continue,Peter.”
Peter, behind Michael’s face, stared at me with wide eyes. “Yes, um, as I was saying. Portal travel. I’m not from another dimension. I’m from Earth’s dimension, but I’m not from Earth. Humans would call me an alien.” He paused there, I supposed he expected us to shout or react in fear or something. I wasn’t sure if anything could ever shock me again.
When nobody else spoke or reacted, I said, “Okay, so you’re analien. You’re from another planet in Earth’s galaxy or dimension or whatever?”
“Yes,” Peter said. “We were an advanced race. Our science was a millennium beyond that of the young Earth. We visited Earth many times—it was a sort of vacation destination for us.”
Anthony snorted and Peter gave him a nasty glare before continuing his story. His people were working on teleporting: stepping onto a teleportation device and being instantly transported to another location. The how behind it was scientific, not magical. But their science went terribly wrong. Their teleportation device, instead of moving them to another destination, opened a portal to another dimension.
“You understand, I wasn't alive when any of this happened. I don't know the science or the magic. When the transporter was activated, our world began to disintegrate. It took several years for them to understand what was causing the world to dissipate. It started with the plants. They died and crumbled to dust. Then our sun dimmed. Scientists who were already scrambling to find a disease that could be killing the plant life were baffled by the sun. We kept the teleportation device active and visited the other dimension often. It was a lush planet with active wildlife, but no intelligent beings. By the time they figured out the teleporter was essentially dissolving our world, it was too late.”
Peter’s head fell back against the wall, and he stared up into the air. “We made mass evacuations. Many of my people came here, many went to other planets that could sustain life. The scientists that studied the other dimension went there and convinced thousands to go with them, even knowing they could never return. We managed to get the entire planet evacuated as it died. My great grandfather was on the ship that stayed and watched the planet break apart and blow away. The sun was almost dead, the gravity evaporated. The atmosphere outside the ship was too cold for life.”
He brought his gaze back to me. “We began our lives on Earth and destroyed proof of our technology, but we never forgot. Then, we found your portals. They were made with magic. And they’d been open long enough that they were obviously not destroying this world, but who knew what dimensions they connected to? We learned they connected to many, many other worlds. The proof was in the creatures that came through them to Earth. The Old Gods. We were trying to save a world—which world didn't matter. No creature should have to watch their home crumble, especially considering that most worlds were not able to evacuate as we did.”
Boudicca’s face looked like it was etched from stone. “So, to save lives you took them? That sounds like a warmonger’s defense.”
“We were left with no choice!” Peter cried. “On Earth, we have been taught to never take a life if it can be avoided. We began killing Sárkányonly when we thought we had no other alternative. And it worked! Most of your greedy, power hungry kin went back home. We were able to destroy many portals. Eventually, only one Sárkánywas left, and we knew when she left Earth because the portals went silent. We destroyed any we found, until we started finding them already destroyed. We never knew if they were somehow demolished from the other side, or if someone on Earth did it.”
“It was us,” said Boudicca. “Iwas the last Sárkányyou searched for. I had a family, Shapeshifter, I had children on Earth. My elders wouldn't let them come to my world, and I knew if I had any chance of ever seeing them again, I had to return home and leave them here with their father. I've lived over a thousand years with no knowledge of them.” She leaned forward and pointed in Peter’s face. “I don't know if they survived or ifyour peoplemurdered them.
“Back in Galdiart, we argued among ourselves. Many wanted to return en masse to Earth and destroy the shapeshifters hunting us. One on one, you are no match for our magic and strength, but you always attacked us when we were vulnerable and alone. Our arguments escalated into a civil war that wiped out most of our population. We’re an almost extinct species because ofyou! You should've tried harder to warn us. What did you do, go try to warn the most power hungry among us? Every species has their bad seeds; the humans certainly have a great number of power-hungry leaders. We had our share of them too, as I’m sure did your people.”
“Well, they did try to contact the most powerful. They thought they could do the most good,” said Peter. “Maybe they did take the wrong approach, but they were desperate. The different Old Gods on Earth, that came throughyourportals, were corrupt and ruining society. They were ruining the new world we’d escaped to.”
“So, you followed the dragon lines through the ages. Are there more?” I asked. “Are there more of my people, with dragon DNA, in the world?”
“There are several dozen surviving, that we know of,” he said, his voice defeated.
“And how many shapeshifters are there?” I asked.
“We have several clans, totaling maybe a two hundred in all, spread over the entire world. Our sole purpose is to guard the world against these portals. We’ve been searching for this one for eons, but since it was inactive for so long, we were no longer able to pinpoint it. I’ve searched this room myself, but the well just resembled a well.”
“And where were you in the five years I believed my husband to be missing, dead?”
“Waiting on this idiot to make his move,” he said, nodding at Elias.
“What did I have to do with it?” Elias was outraged.
“I needed you to either take Riley and try to find a way to the Supay, or to show me where the children were. The children were the real danger. We had to watch them and make sure they never opened a portal. We never wanted to kill anyone, I swear.”
“Then why did you kill Michael?” I screamed.
“Because he was going to die anyway! Having his appearance gave me an edge. But even with his face, I had no desire to interfere in your life unless absolutely necessary. When you three moved toward Bolivia, I knew where you were going. I was afraid you’d try to get Riley to the mythical spring of life.”
“It’s not mythical,” interjected Anthony. “We just left it.”
