Flight Rising Discussion

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“Only a few minutes, and already so many things that I can’t explain.” Curiosity hummed, his fight with Dream still burning behind his bright pink eyes. “The state of this realm should’ve decayed far more from what we understand of the infection that threatened the gods. I can’t imagine that the Beastclan Tribes would’ve been able to hold back the Shade better than we did, but Null was certain that it was the same type of creature from the description, and the markings were tell-tale signs of the Shade’s influence.” He murmured to himself as he swiftly rounded a growth that seemed both familiar and so very strange. The language that the Void Wyvern had spoken had the same kind of familiarity. Everything in this place did.

It was unsettling but inspiring. Curiosity scoffed again at Dream’s insistence that the risk wasn’t worth it. He hadn’t been present for the war, true. He knew it was a close call, but still, as a Shatterspell, he couldn’t overlook such a prime opportunity to learn. So much material for testing, so many counter-measures to be found, and, most of all, so much power to be reined in for the Arcane flight. He was certain to be Exalted with the highest of honors once he established the eternal dominance of the Arcane flight. Curiosity had long been in the shadow of his Dreamstrider sister. She had always sought to temper his experiments with caution. Not this time.

There was no way that the possible gain didn’t outweigh the risks. If Null and his compatriots had held the gate for eons, surely the Exalted dragons of the Arcane flight — proven combatants and strategists — would fare just as well. Closing the gate was foolish and shortsighted.

Curiosity continued his exploration, throwing caution to the wind. He noticed a Starspawn Flyer hovering nearby, over a pool that bubbled like paper and gurgled with the sound of grinding rocks. Disguising his movements in the slow beat of the Starspawn’s wings, he managed to get within a meter of the creature before it reacted to his presence. It’s skin flaked and shimmered into a dark mist with every flap. It howled but he didn’t retreat.

He touched one of the scales at the base of the webbed, multi-gaze eye-wings. Noting the rigidity but smoothness of the scale, he tried to slip in to get a better hold of it, see if it would come off as easily as it seemed it should. With a pop, the scale did indeed slide out of the critters wing as it howled again. Curiosity only barely managed to dodge the tendrils that lashed out at him. He finally retreated, watching with curiosity the frenzy of the creature he had extracted a scale from until suddenly it’s movement stopped and it dove into the bubbling water below.

When it emerged a couple of seconds later, thrashing as if to escape its skin, Curiosity noticed dark tendrils wreathing it from a spot on its wing… curiously enough, from the spot the scale had been on. He looked at the scale in his hand as dark tendrils reached out from it as well. He moved it closer, losing sight of the creature to examine his trophy. Naught but a handful of seconds into his examination, he felt a heavy force break his concentration.

He impacted the world below him with such force that he had trouble catching his next breath.

Whatever had hit him stayed on top of him, too, though it writhed in pain. He managed to look up -- into the face of his sister. The terrified, pained face of his sister, who clutched him closer as her wings began to beat again.

“Damned fool…” Dream hissed, veering to the side as the Starspawn Flyer rushed by.

The creature was now nearly black from the contamination taking over its body, save for a spot of color nearly drowned by the void. It drew Curiosity’s attention.
A pinion from his sister’s wing.

He looked back and saw blood and ichor streaked across her right wing.
“Arcanist, Dream, your wing!” Curiosity shrieked.

“I can feel it, Curi, I know!” She growled back as she dove under another attack and he noticed Null chittering away as it chased down their contaminated aggressor.

A few heavy breaths later, the combat was over. A chitter and a gargled howl heralded Null’s victory, and in the denouement, Dream went limp.

“I’m sorry, sister. I lost track of it.” Curiosity started to cast Regeneration on the affected wing but she pushed him away. He started to say something, but he could already see discoloration at the base of the wing.

“Are you okay, Curi?” Dream’s voice was strained despite the caring warmth.
“I am…I am so sorry…” He responded.

“I…I know you are. But...when this kills me I’m still going to haunt your dreams, little brother.” She tried to laugh.

A familiar chitter bubbled happily back up to them. It stopped for a few seconds, watching Dream intently, before bobbing up and down and chittering at them again. It wrote the ancient script in shorthand. “Not much, won’t die.”

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“But I can’t go back through the portal like this,” Dream sighed. Null chittered at them some more, but it seemed an agreement with her statement. “I know we were just fighting about this…but this is why we can’t leave the portal open. We don’t have any way to safely decontaminate the shade-touched. My wing…it…creeps. You’ve seen how we handle the contaminated. How quickly it spreads and how deeply it penetrates.”

“He didn’t attack outright, though. It can be contained!” Curiosity pleaded, not wanting to accept her fate.

“The Arcanist won’t share your…optimism. You need to tell him of the dangers, Curi,” Dream grimaced, trying to smile at her panicked younger brother.

“It can be contained! If we study this realm any longer, we could find a way to contain, maybe even destroy the Shade!”

“Curi, listen to me, Curi!”

Curiosity wasn’t paying attention to Dream. He was ranting on the possibilities of finding a cure, a way to rescue everyone from the Shade.

“This realm is the realm the Shade originated from. If we can find out what caused it, we could perhaps find a way to destroy it! The infected aren’t much stronger than average and-”

“Shut up,” Dream snapped flatly.

“Listen to me, Curiosity. My wing isn’t getting any better while you’re yapping away here and this realm isn’t getting any prettier as we speak.” Dream sighed and shifted her weight onto her uninjured wing.

“Do you want to know the truth Curi? This realm is doomed. Cursed. Dead. There were reasons why it was closed off in the beginning. Null is right, we should’ve never come here in the first place. It was a mistake. A mistake which doomed countless lives. Look around you Curi. Do you think that this can be fixed?” Dream gestured around her, at the grey and decaying landscape.

“I-I...” Curiosity had no response to that. Dream laughed without humor.

“There’s only one way to fix this now. You have to close the portal. Close it. Seal off this realm and quarantine the infected. Seal it off like what they did countless eons ago.”

“That’s impossible! It took nearly all of their surviving mages to create the portal in the first place! And...and what about you?”

Dream tried to break the news to him as gently as possible. “What about me? Look at me now, I’m Shade-touched. I’m infected just like the rest. Who knows? I might become another loose cannon in the future.”

Curiosity couldn’t look away from his sister. What she was suggesting…it was too horrible to consider.

“Look, Curi. You have to leave me here. The Arcanist was the one who opened the portal, he has to be the one who closes it. I’ll stay behind while you go convince the Arcanist to seal off the realm.”

Seal off the realm. Close it. Trap the beings inside. Cut off the infected limb. Leave them here to die. Leave Dream here to die. Curiosity’s eyes filled with tears. He couldn’t even find the words to protest. Curiosity would have to leave his sister here. Alone.

Alone in the wasteland of the Forgotten Realm. Abandon her to the mercy of a merciless god.

There was no doubt of what would happen to her. Dream would waste away because of the slow, painful consumption of her magic by the Shade. Dream must’ve somehow known what he was thinking of because she reached out to gently caress Curiosity’s crests.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine here. I’ll be with Null. Think of all the lives you’ll be saving if you close the portal.”

Curiosity nodded numbly, barely comprehending her words. He was crying silent tears as he hugged his sister one last time.

“Don’t be silly Curi. I don’t die. Even if I do, I'll be here,” Dream tapped Curiosity’s chest “and here,” she tapped Curiosity’s head.

“If I die, I’ll be sure to haunt your dreams forever.” Dream tried to smile, tried to reassure her brother.

Curiosity was barely listening, clinging on to Dream. Tears dripped down the side of his face and his crests quivered, signaling sadness and heartbreak.

“There there Curi. Remember all the lives that you’re going to be saving.” Dream hugged her younger brother for the last time, wincing slightly as the tendrils of darkness clawed at her injured wing.

“Remember the stories and myths that you loved to read so much when we were hatchlings? There was always some sort of sacrifice for the hero near the end. To reach the brightest of stars, you have to cross the darkest of space.”

“Promise me one thing Curi. Promise me that you will close the portal.”

Curiosity agreed without thinking, “I promise.”

Dream smiled through her pain as she gently set Curiosity down on the ground and nudged him towards the portal.

Curiosity looked at his sister for the last time with teary eyes. “Good-bye Dream.”

“Good-bye Curi.”

Null chittered and scratched out his farewell on the parchment. Good-bye

Curiosity felt numb as he stepped into the portal, with none of the sadness nor heartbreak he had expected to feel as he left Dream behind in the Forgotten Realm. He only felt numb. Empty. Calm.

The calm before the storm. There was a storm of emotions, of hatred and guilt, of pain and anguish when his mind finally wrapped itself around what he had done. Snatches of memories of recent events flashed through his mind.

The portal.

The bleak landscape.

Finding Null.

The cruel history of the Forgotten Realm.

The fight.

Curiosity’s leaving.

Dream’s infection.

It was all Curiosity’s fault. All. His. Fault.

The promise.

“Remember the stories and myths that you loved to read so much when we were hatchlings? There was always some sort of sacrifice for the hero near the end. To reach the brightest of stars, you have to cross the darkest of space.”

“Promise me one thing Curi. Promise me that you will close the portal.”

“I promise.”

“I promise Dream,” Curiosity whispered. “I promise.”

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“I promise.”

Curiosity’s whispered words rang around him as his surroundings span out of sight and darkness engulfed him.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

End this.

After what felt like an eternity in the void, Curiosity felt a gentle heat touch his skin. He opened his eyes and no longer saw a wretched and forgotten wasteland, dark and cold with a haunting aura of death, but a colorful landscape of a world bustling with life and warmth. He took a moment to bask in an image he hadn’t realized how much he missed: home.

Crossing the stone arch, he noticed that the gateway was now charred bleak black.
No, not charred. Infected black.

The Shade had come.

Despite his sister’s reassurance, Curiosity still felt an agonizing ache in his chest. It had been him who had convinced her to come; despite the danger of the adventure and against her better judgment, Dream had come to protect him. And now she was gone.

Immediately, the guilt, pain and memories flooded him once more, the darkness of the Forgotten Realm following him even after his departure. It felt wrong to leave her behind, but both of them knew they had no choice. He had to warn everybody and figure out a way to solve this…oh man, what was he going to tell the Arcanist? Sealing a portal is a lot easier said than done, and that’s if he could actually convince the deity that it was too dangerous to keep it open, which was likely the bigger challenge. As Curiosity walked through the streets, he shook that worry away, he would just come up with something when he got there, that always seemed to work well.

As he made his way to his destination, Curiosity had a nagging feeling that something was odd. In every direction he looked, Curiosity saw dragons celebrating; crowds that kept growing with faces full of excitement. What had happened while they were away? For the amount of movement he saw around him, it had to be something big, maybe a new stall opened?

It was strange though, it was still June but there was so much pink glitter everywhere and the only situation that would have this amount of glitter was…no, it couldn’t be, could it?

Time defied logic, he understood that well enough, but they had only been gone for a few days, how could the difference be so big? A couple of days, maybe even a few weeks of time dilation could be expected, but months? How could he know now how much time they might still have to prepare until the Shade reached their realm? Curiosity nervously started writing on a scrap of paper, trying to come up with a formula that might answer the question, but the results were nothing but unintelligible scribbles. Barely thinking straight, the only thing he knew was that he must reach the Arcanist and do everything in his power to fix this. He needed to fix this.

With wings sore from rushing to the Focal Point, Curiosity landed on its highest peak and ran toward the Observatory. He threw open the large doors and entered the structure with an intensity that caused startled heads to turn.

Ignoring the inquisitive looks of the Exalted around him, Curiosity continued his path through the halls which he knew by heart. It was here where he spent countless days and nights reading ancient tomes, experimenting with odd new findings and causing the occasional explosion. All of those moments felt like a distant memory since his recent endeavor.

Reaching the top of the building, Curiosity burst into the Arcanist’s personal study, disregarding any proper etiquette of interactions with deities. There, he found the Arcanist on his desk, stacks of books and scrolls scattered across the table with candles lit atop the piles, barely giving enough glow to light the room. The Arcanist flipped a page on one of his open books as he wrote glowing runes on the parchment, symbols that Curiosity had never seen before, which instantly disappeared as the Arcanist looked up to see who his eager visitor was.

“Ah, Curiosity! Back already? Come, come. I want the most detailed report, I must know everything, every detail about what lies beyond that mysterious portal. Did you collect any samples for analysis? Were there any signs of civilization or maybe even beings you encountered? Were you able to establish contact with them?”

The Arcanist bombarded Curiosity with questions as each limb did a different thing: one opened a new bottle of ink, another reached for an open parchment that seemed to have a sketch of the portal and notes scribbled around, and a third reached for Curiosity with an open palm, waiting for the samples.

Handing the vials of substances collected and his notes, Curiosity grew anxious:
“Arcanist, there’s actually something we need to discuss. In the realm beyond the portal me and my sister encountered-”

“Oh, so you did encounter something! What types of life forms were they? Were they intelligent beings or a more simple intellect? I need to analyze those samples, I wonder what their main structural compounds are.”

Growing agitated, Curiosity slammed his hands down on the table, causing one of the Arcanist’s ears to perk up in confusion.

“There’s no time for this! We can’t just sit and write down stuff or analyze some weird goo! The Shade is back and it’s ten times stronger, my sister is already gone and I’m not letting it take anyone else!”

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The Arcanist stilled at Curiosity’s words.

Before the Arcanist could say anything, another dragon — a green Skydancer — burst into the room screeching, “Arcanist! Arcanist! Creatures are pouring out of the portal! Creatures that have never been seen on Sornieth before!”

The Arcanist’s ears’ rose and he bounded over the tables and experiments scattered around the room to the opening around his telescope. Curiosity flew behind, perching on the sill to gaze at the charred landscape in the distance that surrounded the portal to the Forgotten Realm. The Skydancer who landed next to him was right, there seemed to be several creatures like Null who had exited the portal.

“Fascinating!” The Arcanist exclaimed, and one hand reached for a notebook, another for something to write with. “We must head to the portal and see if we can record these creatures up close. Quickly, gather all the scholars you can! There is no time to waste!”

The Arcanist, notebook and writing utensil in hands, bounded back across the room and through the door on the other side to fly off to the portal. Curiosity scrambled after him, wings beating furiously. If Null was with the group that had come through, there was absolutely nothing for him to worry about, but if Null wasn’t…

Curiosity didn’t want to think about what they would do to the Arcanist. The history of the Forgotten Realm painted the gods in such a horrible way, there was no way they would take kindly to the Arcanist showing up out of nowhere. Curiosity needed to be there to try and tell them that the Arcanist only meant to study them. And maybe, just maybe, if Null was there it could tell him if Dream was okay. For Dream only seconds had maybe passed since Curiosity left, but for Curiosity? It had been hours already since he left the Forgotten Realm. Null had said Dream wouldn’t die because of the infection, but Curiosity still felt sick with worry that something - anything - else might happen to her.

When Curiosity arrived at the portal though, things couldn’t have been worse.
The creatures from the other realm were attacking the Arcanist, and the Arcanist was defending himself.

“No!” Curiosity said, all four frills flaring up as his colour paled. He dove down, intent on stopping this.

Curiosity sent a bolt of mana energy down at the other-realmly creatures, taking care to not hit any of them. More bolts shoot down from behind Curiosity and he saw the green Skydancer leading a very disordered group of scholars while screaming that they were coming to protect the Arcanist. Curiosity swooped to the left, coming alongside the Skydancer.

“Don’t hurt them,” Curiosity told the Skydancer, “I know they look scary but just help me contain them and stop the fighting and everything will be fine.”
Curiosity didn’t believe his own words, but he needed to act as if he did.

“Sure thing little buddy!” The Skydancer told Curiosity, turned upside down, and dove with Curiosity towards the creatures. “Name’s Lu, by the way. You’re mighty brave for going through that portal!”

With a couple more wingbeats, Lu pulled ahead and disappeared into the fray, screaming and catching the attention of the creatures as they scattered away. Other scholars followed Lu’s action and many of the creatures turned their attention to them, chasing after the scholars as they winged away. Bolts of mana magic shot in random directions from the scholars as they scattered. Curiosity turned his attention towards the Arcanist who was using his extra limbs and wings to ward off the attacks, taking notes on them all the while.

The few creatures from the Forgotten Realm who turned their attention towards Curiosity sent loud chitterings toward him mentally. He couldn’t understand them, but he recognised them. One of them looked like Null. In fact, Curiosity was sure one of the ones chittering at him was Null, and he pulled up short in front of them, thrust out a scrap of parchment at them, and spoke hastily toward the small group.

“You have to stop attacking him, he isn’t like your god was. He’s coming to study you because you came through the portal, and I’m trying to convince him to close it.” Curiosity’s last words hurt to speak, but that’s was what he had promised Dream. He wouldn’t let his sister down now.

The creatures stopped their chittering and looked at each other, and Null broke away. Runes appeared on the parchment Curiosity held out.

This god, he is not like Xhaztol? He has not summoned the Shade being to destroy you?

“No, not outside of the time all the gods fought the Shade before we existed. They destroyed the Shade, in our realm. The influence it has still is found only in the Beastclans, and very rarely does it gain enough power to infect a dragon.”

Null looked back at its companions again and for several moments they just hovered there. Curiosity could hear the scholars running and throwing bolts as they tried to get the creatures contained, but he couldn’t look away from Null. When Null looked back at Curiosity finally, its jewel-eye is fixated on him while it nodded, and the other creatures behind Curiosity dove away.

They will stop the others. I am trusting you that your god is not like Xhaztol, Curiosity. Killing a god might not be easy, but I won’t watch a god destroy another realm like mine was.

The sounds of fighting stopped, rather abruptly too, and Curiosity saw the other two creatures that had been with Null had managed to make the others stop fighting. As the dragons regrouped, staring at each other in confusion, the Arcanist came closer. The creatures that had once been attacking him now rejoined the others from the Forgotten Realm.

We Void Wyverns are not very good at fighting. We lack magic in our realm, and without teeth, all we have is our feet.

It sounded like an explanation for why everything had stopped so suddenly, and Curiosity only nodded in reply. Curiosity flew over to the scholars, telling them what had happened, and how the Void Wyverns wouldn’t be attacking them or the Arcanist again.

“Well fry a feather and call me a Ridgeback,” Lu said. “Can I go talk to them?”

“Though they don’t speak draconic. They have a rune system, similar to archaic draconic, so if you take parchment they can talk. It’s how Null and I communicate.”

Lu whipped out a notebook - Curiosity isn’t sure where from since Lu doesn’t seem to be carrying anything to store a notebook in - and screeched excitedly with his mouth wide open. Lu flew over and grabbed one of the Void Wyverns and settled on the ground, laying next to the Void Wyvern and speaking excitedly. Words appeared on the open notebook and Lu clapped excitedly as each question was met with more words in the notebook.

Slowly, the other scholars settled onto the ground, and the Void Wyverns floated down too, speaking with random dragons and drifting around.

Curiosity breathed a sigh of relief and settled onto a boulder near the portal next to Null. Seeing the creatures Void Wyverns interacting with the scholars who had come to defend the Arcanist as friends was a relief. He had been worried as he tried to explain to Null that the Void Wyverns didn’t have anything to fear from their overly inquisitive god, that the Arcanist really did just want to study them. Curiosity hadn’t realised that the creatures of the Forgotten Realm feared the gods so much, but...it made sense. The Forgotten Realm’s version of the Arcanist had summoned the Shade, their version of their gods had lost against it, the Shade destroyed the realm, those who survived were almost all infected by the Shade, and the few who weren’t were always fighting to keep the Shade and his subjugates from reopening the portal - not that that had gone well since the Arcanist had opened the portal from their side.

As everyone scattered around the portal — a few of the Void Wyverns were even clustered near the Arcanist as he studied them and made notes — Curiosity knew he had to talk to the Arcanist about the promise he made Dream. The portal had to be closed.

Curiosity pulled a notebook from his satchel and told Null that he had to go convince the Arcanist to close the portal. Null looked at him, almost sad in a way, and nodded, emitting chittering noises as it wrote back.

Yes. The sooner we close this portal the better for both our realms.

A lump formed in Curiosity’s throat as he nodded in agreement, knowing that as soon as the portal was closed he would never see Dream again.

I will gather everyone and we will leave once you are ready to close it.

“Okay, Curi, you’ve got this. You went to another realm! You brokered peace! Talking to the Arcanist will be easier than either of those,” Curiosity said to himself. He put his notebook back in his satchel, and then flew over to the Arcanist, thinking of the best way to convince the Arcanist to help close the portal.

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“Arcanist, sir, I need to tell you abo-”

“Not now, I have to finish recording these creatures. They’re strange, unlike anything I have ever seen before.”

Curiosity snuck glances to the portal, where black gunk had already begun to seep out. He wasn’t sure what it was, and Curiosity wasn’t sure that he wanted to find out.

“Arcanist!” Curiosity practically yelled. The Arcanist wasn’t even paying attention to Curiosity. The Arcanist merely began prattling on and rapidly asking questions that came to his mind.

“I’m surprised that the Shade could overtake such a large realm. Were there any traces of magic? If there were none then how did they survive? Did they use technology like Lightning Flight? Or were they-”

Frustrated by being ignored, Curiosity swooped down and snatched one of the pieces of parchment from the Arcanist’s lower set of arms. Before the Arcanist could respond, Curiosity flew over to the Forbidden Portal, waving them in the direction of it, trying to attract the Arcanist’s attention.

“ARCANIST! LISTEN TO ME OR I SWEAR IN--IN YOUR NAME THAT I’LL DESTROY YOUR NOTES!”

That finally captured the Arcanist’s attention. The Arcanist turned around to see Curiosity hovering by the edge of the portal, his notes held precariously close to the entrance.

“That won’t be necessary-”

“Finally! That got your attention! What I wanted to tell you is that you need to close the portal. The Shade you know is only a fraction of its true might. If given enough time, Sornieth is as good as dead in its hands.”

“It won’t come to that. If we could study the-”

“ARCANIST. Are you even remotely concerned by what I am talking about?”

“No, why? It won’t happen and, by the way, I need to get back to-”

Curiosity cut off his deity again. Incredibly rude, but incredibly necessary. “Arcanist. I know the powers of the other realm’s Shade first-hand. I was one of the two explorers who went through the portal. I was the only one who came back. Do you want to know why?”

“Of course I do, why? I assume that Dream stayed behind to collect more samples?”

The Arcanist’s curiosity was seriously starting to grate on Curiosity’s nerves.

“No! Dream stayed behind because she-she...” Curiosity took a deep breath to steady himself before responding. “Dream stayed behind because she was infected.”

The Arcanist’s silence spoke of his shock.

“I’m genuinely sorry to hear that.”

Curiosity shook his head before continuing. “If you don’t close the portal, countless more dragons will end up like Dream. Do you want your Exalts to die by the Shade?”

“Well-”

“Do you remember the time when you blew up the world, destroyed the pillar and summoned the Shade?”

“...Yes,” the Arcanist said reluctantly. Reminding the Arcanist of the time when he accidentally ended the world (twice!) probably wasn’t the best of ideas, but it was entirely necessary at that moment.

“Do you want to be remembered forever as the deity who summoned the Shade and ended the world?”

“Both of those times were accidents!”

“I know! But this, this isn’t an accident. You opened the Portal on purpose and you’re purposefully keeping it open!”

“The creatures that came from it are harmless! They can be studied!”

While trying to prove his point, the Arcanist waved one spindly limb at a nearby Shade-touched creature. The creature was half-covered in the black gunk from the Portal, and the remaining half looked as if it had been melting away. Curiosity had no idea what it was given the fact that the Shade had corrupted it far too much for him to recognize its original form.
The action earned an enraged hiss from the Shade-touched creature. Snarling it coiled itself up and lunged at the Arcane deity. It didn’t make two feet before being tackled by Null, who landed with it in a snaring and wrestling heap. That was obviously not the response the Arcanist had expected.

Curiosity sighed inwardly. “Arcanist, do you even realize the danger you’re putting Sornieth in? Do you realize the danger you’re putting your children and exalts in?”

“It’s not that dangerous! And they can be contained, studied! We can find a way to cure the Shade-touched, perhaps even a breakthrough that will allow us to destroy it! There are so many possibilities of what we could discover!”

Curiosity’s crests quirked up a bit, signalling his annoyance and exasperation. “You seriously don’t think that there was a reason why the portal was sealed off in the first place?”

“No?”

It was then that Null decided to butt into their conversation. Chittering, the Void Wyvern dropped a torn scrap of parchment in front of the Arcanist, waiting for him to read it.

“They can communicate? Interesting! I mus-”
“Just read it.”

The runes were ancient and half-worn out, although there was no mistaking the figure in the middle. A wyrm with four arms sat within a circle inscribed with runes. All four of the deity’s arms were raised towards the sky and he seemed to be chanting something. Around him, multiple spellcasters resembling something like Fae were joining in in the spell. Above them, the stars were swirling and twisting with a strange aura. There was one word scribbled at the bottom of the parchment.

Xhaztol. The Arcanist of the Forgotten Realm.

Bobbing his head, Null pushed another scrap of parchment in front of the Arcanist.
These were taken from his notes.

This time, Xhaztol seemed to be finishing up the spell. The stars were churning viciously now, and a single tendril of darkness was seen among the stars. Xhaztol and his spellcasters had their necks craning towards the stars as if mesmerized by the darkness. Curiosity wished to know more, yet he feared what he would find.

Null pushed the third scrap of parchment towards the Arcanist. The tendrils were spreading throughout the sky. Yet Xhaztol and his scholars did nothing, simply watching the inkiness with something that resembled fascination. A single rune was written at the bottom of the page.

Rise.

The next one was even more troubling. The Shade was taking up the night sky, swallowing the stars whole and was nearing the Observatory. Yet Xhaztol and his scholars didn’t even flinch as they calmly jotted down notes and watched the dying stars. In fact, Curiosity could have claimed that Xhaztol was grinning. Xhaztol seemed…content as he watched the Shade devour the heavens above.

The void calls out, and I was the only one brave enough to answer it.

The final scrap of parchment was terrifying. It depicted a scene of destruction. The bodies of several fallen deities littered the scene and the remaining gods were losing quickly to the encroaching wave of nothingness. Meanwhile, near the corner, Xhaztol was grinning maniacally. His entourage of mages and scholars were missing, their dead bodies splayed around him. The last sentence that accompanied the maniacal expression of the arcane god was not something Curiosity would forget soon.

I regret nothing.

Then it all made sense. All of the small things that hadn’t made sense before finally clicked into place in Curiosity’s head.

Null. The Shade. The monster that lived in the Forgotten Realm. The spellcasters. The reason why only the Arcanist could close the portal. How easily his deity opened the portal. The hatred of the Void Wyverns towards the Arcanist. The Arcanist felt shocked.

Oh. My. Stars.

The Arcanist felt like the Shade was laughing at him this whole time. The portal, the Shade, the infection. All his fault. All of it.

The five scraps of parchment lay before the Arcanist, each telling their tale of sorrow and destruction. Several emotions played out very rapidly in his head. Shock. Then confusion. Denial. Refusal. And finally, guilt.

Guilt. Countless lives, countless deaths caused by one reckless deity in another realm.

“I… I had no idea…”

Null chittered once more, sounding resigned.

I do not hate you anymore. It is useless to cry over dead bodies.

There was an emptiness in the Void Wyvern’s “eye”, a void that used to be hate and bitterness.

Curiosity had always looked up to the Arcanist, to his deity, but now he knew the truth. No one is perfect, no one is flawless, and even the gods have their weaknesses.

Looking at his shocked deity in the eye, Curiosity gently tapped the Arcanist’s elbow. “You know what has to be done now.”

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“You know what has to be done now,” Curiosity told the Arcanist. A solemn silence hung in the air, and the Arcanist nodded.

“Yes, very well. It’s a terrible loss of knowledge to close the Portal, but…” the Arcanist trailed off, staring at the Portal which had more of the black gunk seeping out of it. Null made a heavy sounding chittering, which Curiosity didn’t need it to write to know what it meant.

“It has to be done,” Curiosity said. Null and the other Void Wyverns would go back through, and the Arcanist would close the Portal. Dream would never come home. Curiosity’s head crests fell at the persistent, reoccurring thought.

I will gather everyone to go back through.

Curiosity nodded at Null and walked with it to where the others were still. Lu had moved from laying beside the Void Wyvern he had grabbed, to having the Void Wyvern being tucked between his front legs. Curiosity looked at other dragons. Everyone else was in pairs or groups and talking to several of the Void Wyverns. Lu was the only one nearby talking to one of the Void Wyverns like Curiosity talked to Null.

Null stopped, turned away from the Portal, and the other Void Wyverns looked at it, breaking away from conversations and questions the dragons had been asking them. Curiosity couldn’t tell what Null was saying, but he felt nervous having all those eyes directed toward him, even if they were paying attention to Null rather than him.

Suddenly, the Void Wyverns turned back to the dragons briefly before flying over to the Portal. One by one, they went through, disappearing to the Forgotten Realm. It was then that Curiosity also noticed that there were a few other creatures among the Void Wyverns. Curiosity watched the creatures that floated by, not sure how he had missed them before. Especially the ones with tentacles that drifted past him. Even a few creatures that resembled three-headed cats passed by, and Curiosity’s back head crests shot up, even as the ones on his face fell.

Null chittered toward Curiosity, and Curiosity looked at the parchment he still held.

Goodbye, Curiosity. I hope we never see each other after this.

“Will you watch out for Dream?” Curiosity blurted out. Anything could go wrong over there, but he trusted Null to take care of Dream as long as Dream lived. Null simply stared at him for a moment before bowing its head.

Dream will remain safe with us unless she becomes dangerous to us all. You have my word.

Curiosity thanked Null. As the last of the creatures of the Forgotten Realm who had come through the portal arrived, Null went through the Portal. Curiosity stared after it as it disappeared as all the others had.