than one would expect for the fabled Dragon Lord. It was hard to focus on the vague figure without shifting one’s gaze to the obsidian walls. Everything had the seeming of being slippery and resisted focus.
“He must have died half a dozen times trying to warn me. Why would you do something like that?”
“I could say that I was testing you. Your will to live, it is impressive. Possibly even surpassing my own. However, this would not be the truth. You were in complete control, only you didn’t know it. Few have the mental fortitude necessary to build memory constructs and even fewer can construct ones so dangerous. I did nothing. ”
“Are you saying that I was the one that killed him all those times?” Urake shook his head incredulously as much at Eld’or’s assertion as the queasy feeling acquired from not being able to look at anything without his focus point shifting.
“More or less. Your mental defense detected that his mind was alien and tried to eject him by any means possible. The same defenses that keep me locked in this chamber. I gave up attempts at wandering from this sanctuary years ago. Might you recall some nightmares after picking up my blade? It is a wonder Emeck came back, let alone so often. I died a hundred ways before giving up and experienced each of them in full.”
“While we are talking about that, how can you be here? You died centuries ago.”
“It is complicated. I am not even sure how it happened. When Yer’entho killed me with my own sword, my consciousness got entangled with Skeln’den’hal. My existence is bound to that blade now. It could be that all the others are the same even without having died by their own soul forging, but I do not know. The few I examined had… echoes. This might have happened no matter how I died. You have carried my sword for years now and we have, in a manner of speaking, grown intertwined. ”
“I could simply throw away the sword.” Urake clenched his hand to still the impulsive movement towards the hilt at his waist. Eld’or was smirking for the brief instant that Urake was able to keep his eyes on the sliding face.
“Could you? I mean, could you really do it? Remember how Skeln’den’hal called to you when the elves had him? Even now, you want to ensure that he still is with you. You would do anything to keep him close. You sleep with him in hand. Could you intentionally force yourself to part with him for even the briefest of moments? I think not.”
“My son did this. He said something that started this.” It was a wry smile this time before Urake had to close his eyes to settle his stomach.
“He did give me the opportunity to lead you here.”
“I saw him briefly.”
“Which one?”
“What do you mean? I only have one son.”
“In a way, because you and I are combined, he is your son as much as he is mine. What I meant is which one was it? Cero or Skeln?”
“I don’t know. His eyes were glowing that eerie blue.”
“Skeln was helping Cero make contact then.”
“What is wrong with him?! That one that calls himself Skeln claims that he is part of Cero.”
“He is. When I created the two new Dragon Lords, I had no way of knowing what kind of person they would turn out to be, so I bound their powers to soul forged metal. I thought that if perhaps the Dragon Lords existing within their soul forgings thought them worthy, then they could wield their full powers. There was the possibility that soul forged metal might not be available so I created a backup. It was a part of their mind that was tasked with protecting them and had access to their powers. It now seems that they have developed separate consciousnesses from their hosts. You met Skeln and I met Sarina when she held Skeln’den’hal. Sarina barely asserts herself while Skeln seems to be a more forceful personality. I believe it was because Cero carries the final soul shard within his blood.”
“The shard of truth…” Urake frowned as he tried to understand how he knew.
“Yes. It altered him in ways that I couldn’t have predicted. His powers aren’t bound to a soul forged weapon anymore because he is a soul forging. Inadar needs to be carrying a soul forging in order to access her powers.”
“That isn’t necessarily true. I watched her and Cero