I cracked my eyes open and looked around me.

  To my great displeasure, I was alone. My companions, whom I had carried into this place, were nowhere to be seen. Passing through the prismatic break in the sky had been incredibly disorienting. Gravity, distance, and time had temporarily loosened their grasp on my body. When they suddenly snapped back, I lost consciousness.

  In the process, it seemed that I had been separated from the people I’d brought with me.

  What I saw around me was intensely confusing. All around me were shelves stacked to the gills with books. The smell of ancient paper was intense, making my nose itch. What was disorienting was just how far the bookshelves spread out around me.

  They soared into the air overhead, reaching so high that I couldn’t see where they ended. Forward and backwards were the same. My left and right were both blocked off by shelving.

  A faint rustling could be heard from the shelves. If I focused, I could see that the books were shifting back and forth minutely. They put me in the mind of an enormous flock of birds roosting on the shelves, fluttering their pages like they were wings.

  ‘An infinite library?’ I thought to myself as I stood up and stretched. ‘Who has the time to collect that many books? I wonder if there’s a volume of fairy tales my Cassia would like…’

  Wait, what was I doing here again? Why was I worried about books at all? It felt like a fog had drifted over my mind. When I tried to focus on the reason I came here, the fog rose up and resisted. Thick clouds of obscurity gathered at the place in my mind that I wished to see.

  A small familiar voice was shouting, trying to get my attention. As I looked around, I couldn’t see where it was coming from. I even checked under my feet to ensure I’d not stepped on someone small. With my increased size these days, I often had to double check to make sure I didn’t crush someone by accident.

  There was someone I knew who had a strange interest in being held beneath my claws. Where were they? As soon as the thought floated upwards, it was buried in a tide of mental fog. The little voice in my head shouted more persistently. It was so much smaller than myself. I remembered being afraid that it would blow away if I breathed too hard.

  The little voice in my head?

  The fog rose like a tidal wave in my mind, trying to drown the tiny voice. That was intensely irritating to me for some reason. I didn’t like people messing with things that were Mine, even if they did tend to nag me.

  My Intent was focused into a needle and stabbed through the oncoming wave. It pierced through something surrounding the tiny voice, which popped like a bubble.

  ‘SANGUINE!’ Sixth screeched in my mind. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head. ‘This is just like Second all over again! Quit running into traps head first!’

  ‘I get it, I get it,’ I grumbled. Now that she was out of her bubble, Sixth was able to swim above the tide of fog swirling around my mind. ‘At least this time I’m not chained up. Do you know where we are?’

  ‘Not a clue. I got the impression you were fighting, then you ate something big and gross, and finally you were really angry about something.’

  ‘... Yeah that about sums it up,’ I thought after a second. With a hole punched through the fog, bits of memory were starting to leak in. As I squinted at my surroundings I noted a change in atmosphere. Before, the infinite bookshelves had been ancient but unthreatening. Now, they were almost leaning in towards me with an aura of menace. ‘Is this place an illusion? My senses insist that it’s real.’

  ‘I think it is real, for a given value of real,’ Sixth responded. The sensation of her looking out through my eyes was a bit uncomfortable, but it didn’t bother me too much. I’d more or less left her to simmer in the background while I was distracted with other things. If she wanted to use my eyes for a bit, I’d bear the discomfort. Even if it did make them itch terribly. ‘It’s like your Dream Den.’

  ‘But that’s a dream…’ I started to think, then stopped. Who was to say that my time in the Dream wasn’t real? Sixth was real enough, even if she only existed as a spirit who liked to complain about my decisions. ‘So if this is like my Dream Den, does that mean there’s something controlling it?’

  ‘Yup, probably. And I’m pretty sure you’re pissing it off, the longer you stick around.’ Much as Sixth suggested, the space around me was gradually becoming more hostile. The air darkened, even though there was no visible light source to turn down. In the distance, I was fairly certain that the book shelves were closing in on each other. Directly next to me, the rustling of the books sounded increasingly sinister.

  ‘Can whatever you were working on for Second help me out here?’ No matter where I looked, I didn’t see a way out of the trap. A dull roar was growing audible as the distant shelves slammed together. They were speeding up.

  ‘Yeah, somewhat. It’s meant for actual illusions, but can work here too. You’re about halfway there already. The best way to break out of illusions is to find something that’s real and anchor to it. Dangerous illusions need to use at least something real-’

  ‘The quick version please Sister,’ I interjected. The slamming shelves were coming at me like an avalanche from both sides.

  A mental sigh echoed in my head. ‘Idiot. What’s the most real thing to you, no matter where you’re at?’

  ‘Cassia.’ The answer was immediate and instinctive. Even the fog that still had a stranglehold on my mind couldn’t restrain that answer.

  Another twinge of mental irritation, followed by resignation. ‘Stop looking with your eyes and focus on what you know is real. Then reach out and grab it.’

  That sounded suspiciously simple, but I tried it anyway. My foot reached out in front of me as I closed my eyes. I ignored the roar of bookshelves slamming together and the angry hiss of paper rubbing together. Just before the shelves closed in on me, I closed my claws around something and pulled myself towards it.

  I was briefly disoriented as my body was suddenly falling through the air. It did not take conscious thought to orient myself so that I was facing the right way up. My natural environment was the air. With that said, I could admit that this new location was weird.

  In the same manner as the infinite bookshelves, this place was an infinite sky. Clouds stretched into the distance all around me, sitting against a brilliant blue background. When my wings snapped open, a strong breeze immediately caught their membrane and lifted me upwards.

  When I twisted my head around to look at my environment, it was just in time to see my Cassia fall past to my rear.

  My body coiled around itself as I twisted my back and tucked my wings to flow into a dive. The complex maneuver came easily to me. Once, I had struggled to not run into trees as I flapped through the forest. I no longer suffered from the same lack of control.

  By folding my wings, tucking my legs, and flattening the crests along my back, I was able to fall faster than Cassia. She rose above me, her arms and legs spread out in a futile effort to control her descent. Just as I swooped in beneath her, I let my wings open a bit.

  It was a failure. She fell right past me due to a minute difference in positioning. Cursing, I tried again. This time, the air flowing through my wings slowed my descent enough that I was able to place myself correctly. Once I was in the right orientation again, I opened my wings.

  My Cassia landed on my back with a thump. Her hands scrabbled across my scales to find purchase before she managed to wrap her fingers around my neck crest. The way she clamped onto it was a bit painful, but it was a better alternative than having her start falling again.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Once we were physically reunited, the connection between us snapped back into clarity. While it hadn’t been severed, it had been heavily obscured by the mental fog. Cassia had been far worse off than me. Without a mental guide, she’d woken up not knowing where she was or what she was doing.

  Falling through an infinite sky as your first memory wasn’t a pleasant experience.

  It took Cassia several moments to reorient herself. The panic and adrenaline running through her body were difficult to get under control. Only the feeling of her arms wrapped around my neck seemed to center her. Just like Sixth had told me, the best way to fight through illusions was to focus on something real.

  Cassia wasn’t the only person I needed to go and collect. Once she seemed to have recovered, I closed my eyes and reached out again. There was a faint musical tune that could be heard over the sound of the wind whistling past me. I twisted my body and reached out for it.

  Visk was screaming when I pulled myself into the space they’d been trapped in.

  And you know what? That was completely fair. Even as a Dragon, I wanted to scream. Cassia certainly did as soon as she saw our new surroundings.

  For lack of a better term, we were located in a cavern. Like the precious two spaces I had been in, this one stretched as far as I could see. At least this one was bounded by a proper floor and a ceiling far overhead. Immense pillars of stone connected the two.

  Between those pillars stretched innumerable spider webs. Covering those webs were an equally uncountable number of spiders. They ranged in size from smaller than a human’s finger nail, up to that of a horse.

  The skittering sound of their pointed legs across the stone floor of the cavern was sickening. They flowed in a tide of dark chitin, trying to encircle their prey. Their prey was my elf. Visk had given up all pretense of stealth to flee for their life, screaming at the top of their lungs.

  Fire bloomed between my teeth. I unleashed it on my surroundings without a moment’s thought. Unlike the explosive energy that I had used to breach the Tower of Baedain, this was a more mundane red-orange flame. If I didn’t let the noxious fumes which fed the flames build up so much, it was technically ‘safer’.

  At a lower power, it also let me burn more of the spiders. That was important.

  I had to snap my jaws shut when Visk turned towards my flames without hesitation. The elf took a flying leap off of the stone floor and latched onto my neck just behind my head. They were still screaming unintelligibly, but I pretty much got the gist.

  Spiders needed to die, all of them. We needed to be somewhere else, anywhere else. My Cassia was of a similar mind from the feelings I was getting across our connection.

  I had zero inclination to deny either request. My claws reached up and plucked Visk from their perch, latched onto my neck. They didn’t seem to like that idea very much, but warmed up to it when I opened my jaws back up. Flames built up in my throat as I gave a flap of my wings to put some distance between me and the nearest spiders.

  Visk was deposited onto my back with Cassia. Neither seemed to mind the close quarters when it was compared to the oncoming tide of clacking chitin. The incoherent screaming actually died a little bit when they had someone else to latch onto.

  I didn’t hold back when I breathed out this time. The fire between my teeth came out as white hot jets. Anything the fire touched, be it chitin, webbing, or even stone was burnt away. Rapid ‘pop’ explosions echoed around me as the fluids inside the bodies of the spiders I missed vaporized from the intense heat.

  All of the webbing surrounding us was, as it turned out, highly flammable.

  By the time I snapped my jaws shut again, the fire was spreading out of control. The scent of burnt spiders and webs assaulted my nostrils. That wasn’t a smell that I ever wanted to encounter again if I could help it.

  ‘That’s two down,’ I thought in Sixth’s general direction. ‘ But, I don’t have anything to follow for the others we brought with us.’ With two of my people recovered, more of the mental fog had cleared. Some things were still hazy. I could remember enough to know that I was still missing a couple of people.

  ‘Honestly?’ Six replied. ‘I think you might be able to find them if you break enough stuff. This place is feeling kind of unstable after you broke through the liminal barriers a couple of times…’ There was a pause as Sixth inspected our surroundings. ‘Oh, you’re already on your way to destroying it. Dragonfire consumes magic as fuel.’

  ‘It does what?’

  “I hate this bloody city!” Sir Kenneth howled as he smashed a mirror copy of himself with his war axe. It reflected everything that he despised about himself back at him. He was fortunate that those combined traits made the creatures weak, cowardly, and prone to using sneak attacks.

  They were a lot easier to handle than Veda’s reflections. Those were frankly terrifying.

  What the Hells did somebody have to think about themselves, to produce humanoid locusts that tried to eat you alive? Veda didn’t comment on them. They grimly blew each insectoid creature apart as they appeared.

  If it wasn’t for Veda’s help, Sir Kenneth would have already been overwhelmed. The Witch Hunter had used means that he didn’t understand to latch onto him when they entered the rift. Rather than being cast into this mind bending space alone, he had been kept close to Veda by their hand wrapped around his tabard.

  That tabard had seen better days. Between the slicing blades of his mirror copies and the way Veda’s tended to explode in a shower of gunk, he’d need to acquire a new one before he could wear it with pride. At least his new armor was holding up fairly well. He had no idea where Veda had managed to acquire a set of half-plate armor that fit him, but it was a princely gift.

  He’d never given the elf his measurements either, which was a thought for another time.

  “I am-m inclined to agree, young knight,” Veda said grimly as they whipped their staff around with both hands. The hardened end of the staff smashed through one of Kenneth’s reflections, breaking its whimpering face into a thousand shards before it could stab him in the back. “Osteriath has thoroughly-y lost any novel charm it m-might have had.”

  The Witch Hunter making jokes concerned Sir Kenneth more than it should have. While he hadn’t known Veda that long, they had struck him as an overly serious type. ‘Stick up their ass’, as Sir Raban would have said. While Veda didn’t show the same kinds of exhaustion that a human might, Kenneth was starting to notice distinct cracks in their outward persona.

  Slight stutters in their speech combined with minor errors in their movements added up to a noticeable drop in their combat effectiveness. While Sir Kenneth was not a skilled duelist by any means, he knew enough to spot ‘art’ when he saw it. Veda’s usual movements were grace and power in motion. The longer that they fought, the more ‘human’ they seemed to become.

  Sir Kenneth swung his axe and decapitated a locust-creature with eyes that resembled Veda’s a little too much for comfort. The elf ducked out of the way and flipped their staff around. A whispered incantation under their breath sent the corpse flying across the mirror space.

  Thousands upon thousands of mirrors floated around them, each able to spawn a seemingly endless tide of horrid reflections. Only dedicated blows from Sir Kenneth’s axe or a concentrated spell from Veda seemed capable of shattering them. The first couple of minutes after they arrived had been a mad scramble to identify the problem, then break enough mirrors to give them both some breathing space.

  “Who taught you how to fight?” Veda asked as they twirled their staff around and blocked a jagged dagger from a reflection. “You are a new knight, but you fare better than many high born sons with years of service.”

  “His name’s Raban,” Sir Kenneth grunted as he jammed the butt of his axe into the gut of the reflection Veda was blocking. It doubled over, allowing the elf to smash its head in with their staff. “I don’t get it. Everyone acts shocked when I tell them that-” He had to raise his shield to block a leaping locust. He gave a shove and sent it sailing overhead, right onto the conjured blade of Veda’s staff. “-but back home, no one’s heard of him.”

  “Raban the Flenser?” Veda asked as they swung the locust into two others trying to surround Sir Kenneth. He stamped down on one’s head before it could get up. The other had his axe buried into its chest at the same time. “... Yes, I can see it now. The signs are unmistakable, once you know what to look for.”

  “The Hells does that even mean?” Sir Kenneth asked in exasperation. “He was some kind of line soldier in a regiment, right? Why does everyone seem to know him?”

  Veda dragged Sir Kenneth out of the way as one of the reflections of himself that had been playing dead jumped up to stab him in the groin. The elf’s blast of magic in return was especially violent and threw most of the surrounding ‘bodies’ back a dozen meters.

  “I do not know what he has told you, young knight,” Veda responded with a teasing tilt in their tone. “But your mentor is both feared and respected across the Empire. He might have been a line soldier once, but he rose to far greater heights before he ‘retired’.”

  “That still doesn’t tell me much,” Sir Kenneth grumbled. He took the brief moments of respite to catch his breath. Whoever he was, Sir Kenneth was grateful for Sir Raban making him run around the walls of Castle Reimse so many times. If he’d stayed inside to read books all the time as he’d wanted, he’d already be dead from exhaustion.

  “I will not begrudge a ‘retired’ man the right to tell his own tale,” Veda responded impishly. “But I have a proposal, if we live through this, young knight.”

  “Sorry, I refuse,” Sir Kenneth replied caustically. “I’m not allowed to marry strange elves. I’m sure that’s in the knightly codes somewhere.”

  The remark seemed to throw Veda off. Their ears twitched and their shining blue eyes went unfocused for a moment. That didn’t stop them from casually smiting one of Kenneth’s reflections with a bolt of lightning when it tried to run up behind them.

  “I mean that you should travel with me, fool.” Veda’s tone was surprisingly snippish. It reminded him of how Visk liked to verbally jab at him. Maybe that had been one joke too far. “I need to report on what has happened here… and I’m sworn to deliver a criminal for Lord Draconis. You could see more of the Empire, since you’re already on ‘pilgrimage’.”

  “... I’ll think about it,” the knight said. “Speaking of the Big Guy, I think he’s coming this way.” Veda’s eyes followed Sir Kenneth’s. An immense fire was sweeping through the mirror space in the distance, headed in their direction. “I’m already on the hook for him, so you can ask him if you need me to give you an escort."

  Veda pursed their lips and raised their staff once more, watching the oncoming calamity with grim determination.