A ripple of pure power passed over Nikolai. All the fine hairs on his body stood on end.
Ah, lovely. Guests.The voice sounded amused rather than alarmed.
A glow appeared among the thorn trees, and squinting against the light, Nikolai glimpsed what looked like a house made of interlocking stone, appearing suddenly through the branches.
His body thrummed with the expended power—what was this? The building didn’t exist, and yet, it did. It was as though he peered through a window to another place.
He saw movement within the glow, and along with it, new life essences. They materialized out of nowhere. Impossible. But he was certain they hadn’t been there before the light appeared.
It wasn’t a window. It was adoorway. To some other place. His heart hammered. He couldn’t be right.
You are,the voice confirmed.
Nikolai shivered. If such a thing existed, what was it linked to? A spirit realm? Ngubi had never believed in such, but many Khomani did.
The universe is so much bigger than you know.
Bigger? The gateway shone so brightly Nikolai barely deciphered the two forms stepping through it and onto the sand. But he sensed their essences, and it made him doubt his spirit theory. Perhaps the voice knew what it was talking about. Because he doubted the dead could have such powerful energy in the living realm.
But they were unlike anything he’d ever felt before. They spiked and pulsed in muddy reds and blacks. It seemed a natural thing for them, rather than a sign of illness.
It wasn’t just their essences he sensed. Faint, so faint—but he caught it, pulled it in. Another life, far, far away, on the other side of wherever that doorway opened.
It was familiar, and he struggled to identify it. An image, of a beautiful woman with amber eyes, popped into his mind. The woman from his dream. Wherever that portal led, he felt certain it went to her.
But she’d only been a dream...
She is nothing,the inner voice insisted, and Nikolai’s heart accelerated.
The voice acknowledged what his senses revealed—she was real. And as he shoved the voice away, he knew it was wrong.
She wasn’t nothing. She waseverything.
Mai chittered nervously and huddled against his neck. She didn’t like the new arrivals. But the fact that she perceived them at all confirmed that they weren’t spirits.
As they stepped away from the light, they revealed themselves as two thin, tall forms—one with predominantly white hair flowing to his waist, the other had hair of similar length, but much darker. They had up-tilted eyes, high cheekbones, and razor-sharp lines to the jaws. But the weirdest things about them were their eyes.
They were the color of blood.
It all combined to present Nikolai with one conclusion—these things weren’t spirits. They had bodies as solid as his own.
But they also weren’t human. He had no idea what they were.
They are not from this realm.
Not from this realm? What did the voice mean? The white-haired one seemed familiar—and suddenly, Nikolai realized why.
He’d seen the thin man in his dream. How was that possible?
In the wake of the two humanoid figures paced several huge, furred masses of muscles and teeth and claws. Mai squeaked in fear, and a surge of protective rage rippled through Nikolai. Whatever these things were, they weren’t here to enjoy the view.
They are here for you. But they will get a surprise, I think.
No sooner had that sentiment flashed through his thoughts, then the white-haired one raised his glowing hands and shot a blast toward Nikolai.
The energy ball moved like lightning. Still sluggish from saving the elephant, Nikolai only partially dodged it. It caught his blood-soaked shoulder and spun him into the dirt. He had to contort as he fell to avoid crushing Mai, and her terror ignited something within him.
Another blast shot toward him, and an enraged Nikolai grabbed for life essences as he rolled out of its way. His skin emitted swirls of black smoke that obscured his prone form, but there wasn’t enough energy left in the life around him...
