Entwined Realms Volume One(143)

“The Great Collision came about because two Realms collided, and instead of destroying each other, somehow they merged together. Well, that old bitch librarian always called them dimensions and not Realms when I asked her any questions about it. You remember any of that?”

His level stare told her what he thought of her question. “I’m not the brain you are but I know that.”

“Sorry, I never knew when you were listening or not. I only got your attention for sure if it was connected to fighting.” She drew a deep breath, loosened her shoulders to try to fight the tension. “Anyway, when you think about it, if there were two Realms, there’s got to be more out there, right?”

He shrugged, small annoyance across his face. “I guess yeah, makes sense…” Esh trailed off and the annoyance faded, his gaze locking on her throat, the spot where once a red ring rested upon its chain. “You called it a Realm Jumper.”

She spoke quick and short, wanting to get it out before he could interrupt. “There are eight known Realms beyond this one. It’s mixed what you find on them, but a couple of them, the phrase hell on earth couldn’t be more fitting. They’re a necromancer’s wet dream.” Pictures of the last world the ring had showed her skittered across the front of her mind, and now that she knew what she was seeing, that it was real…

“Nalah.” Esh’s voice was a whip crack, hitting and banishing the image for now. His hand cupped her cheek, forced her to stay present. “Finish telling me. What can this ring do?”

“Magical travel is possible between the Realms, but accomplishing it, we’re talking multiple high-level mages and very exacting conditions and even for the most powerful, it’s a dangerous spell. With a Realm Jumper though, it still requires powerful people, but so many of the variables won’t matter, and it’ll be much easier to access the other Realms.”

“And? So some necromancers get to take a vacation. Why’s that matter?”

She shook her head, trying to dislodge the scenarios that were fighting to bury themselves in her brain. He never saw…he didn’t understand. “It’s not them leaving. Don’t you see, what’s terrifying is what they can bring here.”





Chapter Twelve





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Round two began in one hour, a two-part extravaganza where the real fighting started.

Esh stretched, limbered up. He wasn’t fighting either Rorth or the albino today, and none of the other fighters worried him. He wouldn’t underestimate anyone, but those were the only two who had his palms itching.

Still, he worked his body, more to get the mental game going than the physical ready. Everything was turmoil in his life right now, and not shaking it off could have him lose real quick.

He’d gone from the high of tasting Nalah for the first time only to plummet, learning about the ring and having their contact here get captured. If Nalah thought she was horrible for not mourning the guy, he better not tell her all he felt was pissed the idiot got caught.

Back to Nalah. They weren’t alright, despite yesterday’s making out and last night’s holding onto each other. Nalah pressed herself close to him even in sleep, like she trusted him to keep the boogey-men away. It was nice, it was flattering, but it wasn’t quite real.

He understood her, though. Nalah was a creature of black and white, and he’d introduced a lot of grey into her world. She never took change well.

Closure his ass.

He ran his hand over his face, through his hair. On top of all that, he had himself to deal with. There had always been a burn in his gut, a flame that rattled its chains trying to get free. He didn’t know what it was and never tried to find out. He never even mentioned it to Nalah. She was obsessed with finding his heritage, that’s what she called it, and he had no interest in that.

He wished he looked into it now, though. Whatever it was, it was getting stronger here. The proof was in his eyes, in the strength of his body, the quickness of his reflexes. He had been stronger last night than he had been yesterday morning, and today he was stronger than he had been last night. His body was his weapon, and even though it was improving at an astonishing rate, he didn’t like not knowing what was happening with it.

The heavy steps announced Beylor’s arrival before he came into view, the loudmouth guard from before with him. “Esh, how goes it?”

“All right.” He kept himself neutral, not welcoming, not threatening, and hoped Beylor would go the hell away.

“Good to hear. I’m expecting a great fight from you.”

“Won’t disappoint.”

Beylor puffed himself out, showing the gold around his neck. Esh supposed the smile was meant to be fatherly, but all he saw was full of shit. “Esh, a man like you, you can do so much better than the circuit. You’re young and with so much ahead of you. If you chose the right paths, of course, paths I’d like to help put you on.”