Free The Orb of Truth (The Horn King Series) by Brae Wyckoff Page B

Lester. I cannot take another silent treatment from you. Those years stuck in this bag, alone, with you in silence, were torture. I can’t handle it again.”
    “Oh, just be quiet for once, Ross!”
    Bridazak’s surroundings began to fade away as he searched deep within himself. His body stilled; there was no sound of a fire, or Lester and Ross, or the howling wind—just peace in this state of apparent solitude. There was a familiarity of his surroundings; it reminded him of the dream that haunted him for centuries. He saw a pinhole of light far off in the distance of his mind’s eye. As he focused intently on the source, it began to expand and move toward him. He was soon inside a tunnel with waves of warm energy gently washing over him. He felt the presence of a being so powerful that he could no longer stand, and dropped to his knees. There in the center of the splendor was the silhouette of a person.
    “Are you the one who gave me this?” Bridazak asked, and was suddenly holding the ornate wooden box.
    “Yes,” came the response; the voice, soft, pure, and comforting, yet somehow also terrifying and strong, penetrated his heart like nothing he had ever heard. He recognized this as the same sensation he’d felt while carrying the container, but it was no longer like looking through fog, or hearing underwater. He realized the door separating them was now open.
    “I don’t understand what I need to do, or why I have been chosen,” the Ordakian replied.
    Suddenly, Bridazak was standing before a mirror, endless in all directions. Inspecting himself quizzically, the voice returned, “For now you see only a reflection as in a mirror; soon you shall see me face to face. Now you know in part; soon you shall know fully, even as you are fully known. In time I will return and have already. Arise and return to me what was never lost; only waiting.”
    The mirror liquefied and wrapped itself around Bridazak. An intense heat wracked his body, and he felt like his heart might explode. His eyes opened and he gasped for air. The ground lightly trembled under his feet. He realized he was back at the campsite and looking straight at Dulgin, who stared, mouth open and eyes wide, beyond Bridazak’s head. He slowly turned around to see what Dulgin was looking at—it was a two-inch in diameter perfect sphere of gold hovering before him.
    “Do not be afraid, Bridazak,” it spoke with a deep, authoritative voice. The same strange sensation still enveloped him, though the peaceful realm he had visited seemed to be a distant memory. Dulgin’s knees slightly buckled from the Orb’s presence, but he stabilized himself.
    “Who are you, or what are you?”
    “I am Truth,” it answered.
    “You are the reason for the trouble I am in, and the reason my friend died, aren’t you?”
    “I am the reason for the trials you are facing.”
    “Why are you so important to have? Why does everyone want you? I have so many questions.”
    “I know your burden, Bridazak. I have been hidden from the world for hundreds of years. An ancient prophecy speaks of my release—a part of the prophecy that you have fulfilled.”
    “I don’t understand, so the prophecy is fulfilled? Can we go? What do I do now?”
    “You must complete what you have started, and bring me to the temple in Everwood Forest. The road ahead of you will be difficult, but you will not be alone. I have summoned a foreigner from the East to accompany you, and I will protect you from scrying eyes; you will not be found by magic known to any being while in my vicinity. Before you is a great task, with great rewards.”
    “What is worth more than my friend? I thought this would be different. You came from nothing—out of my dream. I felt that I needed to know what kind of magic could come from dreams, because I needed to find meaning in my life, but my wish for some unknown good to come out of my fearful imagination has only brought loss. How am I supposed to do this without