Eternal Beasts

Chapter 13: The Summons

"No," Samantha firmly replied, her expression hard. "You are not healed from your wound. You may not survive a jump back to Ethaeron through a portal!"

"Nor do we know what will happen to us when we jump back," Nikeera added, her own face filled with worry. And a great deal of thoughtfulness; this was one of the moments she had prepared herself so long ago for, by studying every book and every parchment that spoke about the opening days of a War of Balance.

"There is a good chance that a second trip through a portal, without the ritual to mystically free us, would put both Samantha and myself back into stasis."

"Then we'll have to make sure the Watcher portals us back to Findias, or somewhere very close to it where we can perform the ritual," Jared said.

"Definitely," Nikeera agreed. "Even if we're not returned to stasis, we need to start bringing back the flights. And that means ..."

"You and I need to become a mated pair," Jared finished for her.

Nikeera reached out tenderly caress his face, her expression transformed into one of love and devotion, her highlights warm pink and red.

"Yes. The sooner, the better, my sweet Jared! I cannot wait to finally be in your arms and loving you!" A final caress then she drew her hand back.

"The ritual will need to be performed regardless, to start the magic that binds all of this together, working," the tuathan indicated. "Because while I know our child will magically mature to adulthood, I don't know how long that will take. It could be days or weeks. Or perhaps just a single day. We need as much time as we can beg, borrow, and steal!"

Nikeera paused there to glance at a frowning Samantha before returning her gaze to Jared.

"Does the Watcher know how long we have before you are required to arrive at the Arch?"

- Twenty four hours, as nysim count time, - the book answered without Jared asking.

"Twenty four hours," Nikeera repeated, her mind working furiously. "More than enough for you on griffon back to travel from Findias to Tammen Gall even after the ritual is performed and you and I mate."

"As long as I transform back into my natural form," Samantha added before looking at Jared. "But we need to delay, my rider. If the Harbingers attempt to take you at the Arch, I'm not sure even with my help that you'll have the strength to resist them."

"The corruption spell!" Nikeera breathed in pained realization.

"The one that broke the Lord of Dragons during the last War of Balance," Jared said with a grimace, unconsciously lifting a hand to his left eye. "I've already tasted it. Without my full strength, Sam's right. I won't be able to resist falling to it."

"Honored Watcher, is there some way we can delay Jared traveling to Ethaeron in response to the summons?" Nikeera asked out loud, knowing that the book was undoubtedly still listening in on their conversation.

- No, Princess Nikeera, there is not, - the book grimly replied. - Once the initial summons has been made, he must be standing on the Arch within twenty four hours. Or he will be ripped asunder by primal forces that were woven into the summons at the beginning of Time itself!"

"No!" Samantha snarled with enough volume that people at nearby tables glanced in their direction. "I will not let that happen! I am an Eternal Beast! My magic was also born of primal forces. Surely there is a spell I can cast that will counter ..."

"Wait," Jared said, taking hold of Samantha's hand and squeezing it to interrupt her, his expression also thoughtful. "Twenty four hours. Twenty four Ethaeron hours. Watcher, is there a one to one correlation between Time on Ethaeron and Time on Earth?"

- Correlation? I don't see ... Ah! I get what you're driving at. Give me a moment. I need to do some measurements and calculations! -

"Does Time not flow the same way on our two worlds?" Nikeera asked. Looking over at her, Jared shrugged.

"I'm not sure, actually. But I don't think it does. Because I spent almost two full years on Ethaeron before jumping back. Only to discover a matter of mere hours had passed by here. There's a disconnect between the two realms that, if leveraged right, we might use to extend our stay here long enough for me to fully recover."

"Except it looks like Time travels faster on Ethaeron," Nikeera pointed out. "If two years there equates only to a handful of hours here."

"I hope not," Jared said with a shake of his head. "Because then I would need to open a portal now to jump over and I still might be late!"

- Okay, measurements done, - the book announced. - And no, there isn't a one to one correlation between the two Time streams. There is a significant difference, in fact. -

"We were just discussing that," Jared indicated. "Time seems to run faster there."

- Not exactly, - the book corrected. - It runs differently, not more quickly. -

"Then how did you manage to drop me back onto campus only hours after I left, after spending almost two years on Ethaeron?"

- That was achieved by manipulating the portal itself, Jared. If we see Time as a stream that is constantly moving forward in a straight line, then it's impossible to draw a line with a portal from one reality to another. However, that is not how Time actually works. -

"If this is going to be a lecture on Temporal Mechanics, you can count me out, Watcher," Jared said. "That kind of stuff is only a thing in Science Fiction and superhero movies."

- No need to worry, boy. I'll make it simple. You see, Time is actually a ball, not a stream. All points can be accessed inside that ball from any other point, if you have the right magic and the right temporal coordinates. And that is the same case when you are connecting two realities together with that line. You just need the right coordinates and a powerful enough spell. -

"One so powerful, it unravels stasis spells that have held strong for five thousand years!" Nikeera said with a bright smile of understanding.

- Precisely, - the book confirmed.

"Okay. So we can adjust our portals to ignore the difference in time flow and gain time to strengthen up on our side before jumping to Ethaeron in time to answer the summons," Jared said. "How long can we stay here before the calculations get difficult?"

- They don't. But primal forces are primal forces. They make up the fabric of the cosmos, including the limbo between realities. They won't wait long after the initial call before they issue a summons of their own, the time difference notwithstanding. One that you will have to answer instantly, or pay the consequences. -

"And how long will that be?" Jared asked.

- From previous experience dealing with primal forces, I say perhaps a week, - the book replied. - Best guess. I would prepare to go before then, if I were you, boy. -

"Yeah, me too," Jared said, his expression resolute. "Five days, max. I just hope it's enough to get me in top form so I can resist another attempt at corruption if it comes!"