Free Into Oblivion (Book 4) by Shawn E. Crapo Page B

floating in the darkness. Without a word, Dagda stepped through.
    Hesitantly, Khalid followed.
    The priest glanced around at the darkness, looking for some form of support for the walkway. It was, apparently, suspended in thin air. It was well-lit, as if a line of bright lights ran along an invisible ceiling above. Try as he might, Khalid could not see any source of illumination. That was not surprising.
    “Where are we?” he asked.
    “This, my friend, is the Vault of the Earth. Here, we will find the doorway to our destination.”
    “It’s just a walkway that appears to go nowhere,” Khalid mused.
    “It appears that way,” the Dragon agreed. “But this is just the beginning.”
    Khalid shrugged, following the Dragon deeper into the chamber. He continued looking around, finding that some features were becoming visible as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He saw faint surfaces around him; subtle hints that other walkways were present, though not oriented in the same up and down fashion as their own walkway. It seemed all of the walkways were converging on a single point in the far off center of the chamber; each one originating from a different point on the outside.
    “This is a strange place,” Khalid remarked.
    Dagda chuckled. “Stranger than you think, Khalid. There are much stranger places, as you will soon see.”
    “What, exactly, is at the center of this chamber?”
    “The hub,” the Dragon replied. “It is where we will find the proper gate to our destination; to Theia.”
    “Theia is the Moon, isn’t she?”
    “The Moon is the bulk of Theia’s body,” the Dragon said. “But her core is at the center of the Earth, melded with the Great Mother’s. The Moon could be seen as her skeleton, so to speak.”
    “How is she able to exist within Earth?” Khalid asked. “Wouldn’t there be some conflict between she and the Great Mother?”
    The Dragon nodded. “Very astute, Khalid. There is, indeed, a conflict. There always has been. The face of the Earth was shaped by the whim of both spirits. Their ideas conflicted and created what we see today. If Theia did not exist, the lands would look much different than they do.”
    “What about the creatures of Earth? Were they part of that conflict?”
    “Only the sentient ones,” Dagda replied. “Theia had her own ideas of sentience. Her creations were shunned; banished to the center of the Earth or allowed to die off. This is not her world, and her creations did not mix well with Gaia’s. They are no more.”
    “I see,” Khalid said, not fully understanding.
    He would not question the Dragon, however. He would trust the Dragon’s words and be patient. Perhaps when this journey was over, he would understand more fully. For now, he would let the matter go.
    “When I was a child in Khem,” Khalid began. “I heard stories of strange creatures that lived in the ground. Many types, it seemed.”
    “Yes, there are many types. Here, in your lands, and in lands across the sea. The Druaga are among them.”
    Khalid gasped. “The Druaga are not a creation of the Great Mother?”
    “I created them,” the Dragon replied. “But their natural place is within the Earth. Theia’s creations, however, drove them to the surface. They have also traveled to other worlds.”
    “Interesting. What sorts of creatures live within the Earth?”
    The Dragon stopped suddenly, staring straight ahead at the walkway before them. Khalid saw what had caught the Dragon’s attention soon after.
    Ahead, corpses lay strewn across their path. Though unidentifiable from this distance, it was clear that they were humanoid. Among them, strange, winged creatures were picking at their flesh, fighting over the scraps of what little, rotting tissue they could scavenge.
    “My friend,” the Dragon said. “Your question is about to be answered.”
    Khalid drew his swords, moving forward to stand behind the Dragon. In the distance, the flying creatures saw them, turning from their meal