The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage: Wandmaker Vol.2

WM [78] Destruction

"Son!" A thousand voices spoke in unison.

Bjorn blinked and he was back inside the corroded dream realm he had spoken to his father and mother through. The world was little more than a blank void of rolling clouds. Bjorn looked in the distance and saw the thousands of baleful lights in the sky. Each was one of the Queen of a Thousand Heads' eyes. Her massive body was already perched in the distance as much part of the landscape as a mountain. She didn't look as fully formed as before or as his father had looked. He then remembered his father saying that his presence corroded the dream space.

"Bjorn? What is going on?" Tanisha's voice asked.

Bjorn's eyes opened wide as he turned around and saw Tanisha standing in the void a few steps behind him. She appeared to him not as the cernunnos she had been since Lavi but as herself. As the wendigo girl she had been up until he changed her. Yet her form was unstable, shifting and flickering as though the dream realm struggled to interpret her presence. Tanisha's gaze lifted, her eyes drawn upward to the multitude of glaring lights fixed on her. The murderous intent radiating from the Queen's countless eyes was palpable.

"Tanisha?" Bjorn hissed and his voice escaped all of his heads at once. "What are you doing here?"

"Bjorn, you can talk?" Tanisha said, her voice full of panic. "Are we dead? How did we die?"

Thousands of voices rumbled in the sky. "You are not dead yet, thief. No one invited you I want to speak to my Aki'al not some mortal. You may have saved Aki'al recently, witch, but that does not excuse you nor will it save your world."

"Mother, please do not threaten Tanisha!" Bjorn growled. "I told you this is my world."

"Aki'al That is no way to talk to me. I thought your father would have spoken some sense into you." P̴̧̌O̴̟͒Ì̷̦S̵͇͂O̷̻̚N̵̖̍ said as the dream space shook. "That is not your world and that mortal is nothing more than a thief that stole you from me. If not for the tether you have with this thing I would rip it's soul out right now."

"Qu-Queen of a Thousand Heads?" Tanisha trembled but did not bow. "I am sorry for what happened with Bjorn—"

The void seemed to boil as P̴̧̌O̴̟͒Ì̷̦S̵͇͂O̷̻̚N̵̖̍'s rage rose which choked out Tanisha's words before she could finish speaking.

"His name is Aki'al Hashemi!" P̴̧̌O̴̟͒Ì̷̦S̵͇͂O̷̻̚N̵̖̍'s voices rumbled soul deep. "You will do well to remember you speak before the Poisoner of Worlds, mortal. I am Lernaean Hydra. I am True Immortal."

"You are not My True." Tanisha said defiantly though her voice nearly failed her. "I am cernunnos, I am Tanisha Scalebound. I bow to no one and follow only my True, Bjorn the Sonr Orma Eilífra."

"Tanisha." Bjorn said his voices pleading. "Please, you are not helping. Mother. Tanisha and I are bound, as you said, you called me here urgently, did something happen?"

A long, tense silence followed. The Queen's myriad eyes remained locked on Tanisha, a clash of wills playing out in the oppressive void. Bjorn felt Tanisha's emotions through their bond—she was inwardly terrified, her mind racing with confusion, yet she refused to look away. Her resolve was ironclad and she would not leave Bjorn's side even if she could.

The Queen finally spoke, her many voices reverberating like thunder. "Something has happened, my son, but your thief cannot stay. Her presence is a stain on this place."

"If you are just going to insult my family, I think you should let me leave." Bjorn said.

P̴̧̌O̴̟͒Ì̷̦S̵͇͂O̷̻̚N̵̖̍'s voices cracked as the gaze that had rested on Tanisha shifted to him. "Aki'al, she is not family. She is a pet at most and I am your mother. You need to listen to what I say. Unfortunately I haven't seen you in so long. So, I will not have my time cut short for this mortal." She sighed and one of her heads lowered from the sky. "Fine, my little sweet boy. You can keep your plaything for now."