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Be silent. Rune hissed, ready to silence the creature if it continued with its outbursts.
The Familiar King tilted his chair to balance precariously on its two back legs, resting his booted feet on the table as he laced his fingers behind his head. “I said it would be in Rune’s best interest to look into The Crumbling.” Morbid corrected, staring up at the intricately designed ceiling.
Rune smiled at Jha’ant, a cold flash of his fangs. “Did you have another in mind to take my place? A rest would be welcome.”
“I meant no disrespect,” Jha’ant said as he paled before clasping his hands. “I’m not as strong as the rest of you. The shields are getting more difficult to maintain.”
The Crumbling gained strength with each passing day, building into a terrifying force over the last eight hundred years. The High Council decided each ruler would shield their realms when The Crumbling began. Within the first half-century, shielding both Necromia and Anaria strained Lyssa. Rune took Anaria from Lyssa in secret, shielding it along with Hell, allowing the realms to believe their High Queen protected them.
“We thank you for your efforts, Prince.” Morbid’s deep purring voice pulled Rune’s attention. The Familiar smiled then winked at him.
Rune turned back to Jha’ant. He’d given up his attempts to understand Familiar lifetimes ago. They worshiped Chaos and fate. Could see the past and future. Their perspective would always be skewed from reason. He inclined his head at Jha’ant. “If there is nothing else.”
“Thank you, Shadow Prince.” Jha’ant’s words closed the meeting.
Rune phased and reappeared at the far end of his crystalline realm. The loose crystal grinding under his steps as though he walked on broken glass.
The Crumbling rose before him. A mass of blackened clouds constantly rolled over each other, twisting sinisterly. Lightning arching within it, illuminating different depths in blacks, grays, and purples. Rune would have found the sight pleasing had it not been devouring his realm along with the rest.
Within its destructive clouds was something else. Something vast Rune’s senses couldn’t encompass. He tested it against the other realms. Found changes made in one realm carried to the rest. A single entity caused the slow destruction of the realms. Rune sought to overpower The Crumbling and break it under his will during his early attempts.
Force proved to be a fruitless effort leaving him with a single alternative. Rune needed to untangle the spell manifesting The Crumbling, dismantling it layer by layer.
Rune spent a millennia honing his power until he wielded it at will. The complexity of this shield was more advanced and intricate than any spell he’d created. He’d thought with time and patience he would unravel it. Mastering this as well.
It became a fascinating frustration. The spell changed as he manipulated it. Seemingly adapting to him as he learned it.
Rune shielded himself and stepped into The Crumbling’s rolling clouds. It enveloped him. Crushing pressure bore down on the layer of his power that protected his mind and body from being consumed and destroyed.
What he did was precarious. His protective barrier was spelled to regenerate as The Crumbling consumed it. In doing this, Rune perceived the burning pain of the steady pressure grinding against his mind and body. He focused through the pain and monitored the steady drain on his power. Rune would need to retreat from this place before his strength gave out and he was destroyed. Rune mentally reached for The Crumbling, pulling the spell that maintained it before him. Glowing green threads surfaced. The lines crisscrossed, tightly woven together. Rune selected the first strand, beginning the task of unraveling the spell.
His agile fingers picked up the threads, holding them apart as he unraveled the overlapping pattern. As he pulled up the last string, the first layer vanished. Rune worked quickly, untangling the strands as they slid to various positions. Rune adjusted his grip, trading filaments to other fingers as the pattern moved to avoid the silken lines pulling in the wrong order and snapping. Forcing Rune to start the process once more.
Rune reached the sixth layer. His reserves significantly drained in the ten short minutes he stood within The Crumbling. He swapped a line to his thumb, but three strands shifted, cutting the thread and shattering all the ones he held. The lines glowed, pulsating. Taunting him. Rune phased out of The Crumbling and would need a day and a half to recover before he could make another attempt.
Exhausted, Rune phased back to his home, appearing next to the desk in his room. He recalled the soul shard registry and set it down, impatient to review the new listings it would contain tomorrow.
He would slumber and recover his strength. Stripping off his suit, he lied in bed staring up at his ceiling. The next seven days would be the longest of his life. Darkness willing, his night breeze would be among the entries listed tomorrow.
Rune closed his eyes, and sleep soon followed.
His mysterious female’s scent drifted to him, teasing closer as Rune’s vision adjusted and cleared. They were seated on the settee as they had been the previous night. She wore a light gray backless shirt, this time with fawn-colored leggings.
“Is that the same book?” Rune asked the woman curled on her side, leaning against his chest.
She didn’t reply. Simply turned the page and continued reading.
Minx.Rune slid his finger down the inside of her wing, where it connected to her back.
The Ra’Voshnik seized on the breathy sound she made, focusing on her.Pull her closer and ask for her throat.
Rune dismissed the creature as it prowled his mind. His night breeze shifted her wing, but her movements did little to move his hand. Stroking the same spot, he continued to stare. She flattened her book to his chest and straddled his hips, knocking his hand away. “You’re being an ass today.”
“I promise to be better behaved in person.” He smirked up at her.
She pouted at him for a moment, letting the expression drop as she opened her book to begin reading again. She muttered, “I like it better here,” before turning a page.
Rune gently closed her book, and she reluctantly let him take it.
