Free The Shattered Land: The Dreaming Dark - Book 2 by Keith Baker

any rational world. A maelstrom of eyes and wings drifted by, equal parts human, insect, and avian. A circle of cloaked figures were engaged in conversation, but as Daine drifted closer, he realized that each creature was actually formed from a mass of fleshy tendrils, woven together in a crude approximation of human form.
    These are the children of this dream. They are darkness incarnate—the worst aspects of the mortal mind made manifest. Fury, fear, the lust for power or pleasure. Every dark impulse lives among the quori. They are immortal, and their minds are beyond your understanding. They are pure, driven, unburdened by empathy or personal ambition. They exist to serve the Dreaming Dark, and that is all that they do
.
    Even amid this darkness, there have been a few who have found a path to light. These rebellious spirits sought to incite the others against il-Lashtavar, to find a
way to transform this world. There in the circle, two of these agents of change are pleading their case, but it is a futile cause. They are the aberrations, and no amount of reason will persuade the others
.
    A host of horrors emerged from the citadel, charging toward the unearthly council. There were creatures formed of dark fire, swirling clouds of raw emotion, and far stranger things. Daine spotted a serpentine creature in the mass, eyes and cilia running along its length. Two oversized arms extended from its headless torso, tipped with massive claws; a vicious stinger lay at the end of its long tail.
    Tashana
, Daine thought.
    No, but one of her siblings. A tsucora, a spirit of terror that feeds off of mortal fear
.
    Suddenly Daine found himself in the midst of the circle. Suddenly he
was
the speaker, trying to show the others that there was a cycle to existence, that the transition from darkness to light should be embraced, not feared. The shadowy figures said nothing. The army of terrors spread around the circle, the venomous clouds drifting overhead.
    You are flawed. Embrace the gift of destruction, so your soul can be reforged in the depths and brought back to il-Lashtavar
.
    The storm descended, and claw, tentacle, and raw hatred tore into his soul.

    Daine’s eyes flew open. His breath came in gasps, and he could still feel icy tendrils of shadow sinking into his mind. Lei was pale, and she closed her eyes and slumped against the wall.
    “This is what my ancestors faced,” Lakashtai said. “Those who sought the light were hunted down and destroyed, absorbed back into the core of il-Lashtavar. They were hopelessly outnumbered, and fighting was useless; those killed would simply be reborn. The only hope was flight, so they fled into mortal dreams, searching for some form of sanctuary. The forces of the dark hunted them through the borderlands, through the dreams of elf and dragon. When all hope seemed lost, their leader stumbled into the dreams of a human monk from the land of Adar, a place that offered sanctuary to thosein need. Together, monk and quori found a way for the spirits to abandon their physical forms—to leave Dal Quor forever and find refuge within mortal lines, so the first kalashtar was born. Kashtai lives in me and in my sisters, and should I have a daughter, Kashtai will guide her as well.”
    Pierce seemed the least affected by the experience. “None of this explains the woman who attacked us or why she was interested in Daine.”
    “Kashtai only touches my soul; she is spread throughout my lineage. Tashana—she
is
a dark spirit, utterly dominating the mortal vessel bred to hold her. The Dreaming Dark has agents spread across this world, and destroying the kalashtar is but one of their goals. In time, they hope to dominate the waking world as they do Dal Quor—to create a stagnant world where nothing ever changes, where there is no light to threaten the darkness.”
    Daine massaged his forehead. “Yeah, and we all know I’m the key to conquering the world.”
    Lakashtai did not smile. “I do not know what