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    Enough was enough. Sarien’s gray flame surged within him and he let it blaze in the palm of his hand, ready to fend off any attackers. Only no attacks came. Neither did his gray flame. He goggled at his empty palm and then tried again with the same result.


    “Stupid little stable boy!” Lila barked, obviously pleased with his confusion.


    “The Gatekeepers control who can and cannot use the flow here in Nexus. Thus, the power is in our hands,” Piatr intoned, nodding to Sarien’s mother.


    “I am sorry, my dear son, but we cannot allow you to leave. Not until you have seen and understood our work, and your part in it.”


    Ein’s voice carried both fury and relentless sadness. “Anja.”


    Anja did not reply.


    “Bring them to the prepared guest room,” Piatr ordered.


    The doors opened behind them and soldiers appeared. Most wore white tabards over chain mail armor. Less wore black with the Slayer’s emblem. It seemed that the two forces in Nexus weren’t working in complete harmony. Anja stepped past them and motioned for the soldiers to bring Ein and Sarien along.


    Sarien and Ein were escorted to a lavish room fit for royalty. Heavy black-and-white carpets adorned the floor. Deep-seated chairs sat in a half-circle around a low oak table polished to a shine. Beyond the first room, there was a bed wide enough to fit five people.


    Anja dismissed the guards and closed the door behind her. Then she locked it.


    Ein immediately turned to her. “Please tell me they’re forcing you to do this.”


    “I resisted the idea for a long time, my dear Ein, but no, they are not forcing me,” she said, taking both his hands in hers.


    “You agree with everything they believe? What they have done? Don’t you care for Maydian? For all those doomed to die?”


    “I feel for all the sons and daughters of the worlds, Maydian included. My time in your world was short, but I cherished every moment. Well, after we dealt with the Halvgudar.”


    She chuckled, a strange sound behind her white mask.


    “What about me? My friends? If Wyndemir claims Maydian, the world will be thrown into chaos!” Sarien said.


    His mother released Ein and approached Sarien. She leaned in close enough for him to see the purple haze over her eyes.


    “Maydian is your home. We understand that. I understand that. Your friends are there, those you love. I understand that too. What you must understand is that Maydian is one world among thousands, tens of thousands.”


    Sarien pulled his hands away. “Therefore, it can be sacrificed?”


    “It is our best option,” Anja said, gesturing to the chairs. “Please, come sit and I’ll try to explain.”


    The three sat, Anja on one side of the table with Sarien and his father opposite.


    “All these years,” Ein whispered, his eyes glistening.


    “It has been a long time,” Anja said, straightening.


    “Why didn’t you return? Why didn’t you send for us? I didn’t even know that you were alive!”


    “The work—” she began.


    Ein stood, jabbing a finger at her. “Blast the work! What of your son?”


    She flinched, then sat in silence for a moment before speaking. Her voice was once again full of steel. “I have sacrificed. Once I saw the Gatekeepers for what they truly were, I had no choice but to help overthrow them. If you were here, you would have stopped me, Ein.” Her face turned to Sarien as she continued, “I’ve longed to hold you. You cannot understand how much I’ve wished that things were different. But they’re not, and I’ve made my choices. They would have used you against me.”


    “So, you left me to rot on that rock after all the work we did. All that we shared?” Ein’s chest heaved with barely restrained anger. “You are not the person I loved. This lust for power is not you. The Anja I knew is dead.”


    “She is dead,” Sarien’s mother agreed. “For the survival of all, I had to destroy who I was.” She removed her mask, revealing her deformed face. “This is who I am now. More powerful, yes, but more capable of continuing the Wayfarer’s calling. So many others have seen the light. Now you, too, must see it.”


    Sarien peered over his mother’s shoulder and saw Daisy sitting on the large bed, a very human-like frown on the dog’s face. He silently scampered off and out of sight.


    Anja followed Sarien’s gaze. “You must be exhausted. Rest and I will come again tomorrow. Please think on my words.”


    She stood and Sarien grabbed her arm. “Wait, mother. Please tell me one thing.”


    “Anything.”


    A million questions raced through his mind, but those would have to wait. Like his mother, Sarien needed to put his own feelings aside for the time being. “What will happen when Wyndemir reaches Maydian?”


    “The Prime of Chaos will make the world his and then extend his hand to the council. Through Qieza, he vowed to bestow us with great power. Even now, we are far stronger than we thought possible. He will bring the flows of magic together and bind them to us.”


    “Why?”


    “What do you mean?”


    “What makes you so sure he won’t break his promise?”


    “The Prime of Chaos is a force in the universe, not unlike the flows of magic running through and empowering it. A Prime would not have a reason to deceive.”


    “How did you communicate with him?” Sarien asked.


    “He spoke to us from his void prison once Eld, Anea, and the others escaped, and his restraints had deteriorated. As I was on Maydian at that time, I did not hear his words, but others on the Council did. They kept me on Maydian until their plan to oust the Gatekeepers was already underway.”


    “You are fools to trust a Prime,” Ein said. Sarien’s father looked deflated, like he didn’t know what to do with himself now that he’d finally rejoined Anja.


    “One more thing. When I first discovered my white flame, something spoke to me through the wayfaring. Do you know who? Or what?”


    She shook her head. “I don’t. One of Life’s Halvgudar, perhaps? Why?”


    “What about Daisy?”


    “Who?”


    “The dog you sent me.”


    Anja nodded. “When did you see Daisy last? I sent her to look out for you a long time ago with the instructions of returning as soon as you got my message.”


    “It took me some time to find the bit of paper in his collar. What do you mean ‘her’? It’s obviously a male dog.” Sarien paused. “Is he a dog?”


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    A loud bang sounded on the door, and it unlocked and opened to admit the young boy that Kax knew. What had he called the boy? Reze?


    “They need you,” the boy said, looking past Anja to Sarien. The little brat extended his tongue and made a rude gesture.


    “I’m sorry. No more questions for now. Please rest. I will be back for you tomorrow. I’m so happy to finally be reunited.” She glanced at Ein and hesitated, like she didn’t know what to say. In the end, she said nothing before rushing out. The door locked behind her.


    Ein immediately went to the door and tested it without any luck. He got down on his knees and looked through the keyhole. “Can’t see a thing.” He stood and dusted himself off. “Used to carry lock picks with me, but I lost them in the sewers beneath Tyralien.”


    “What should we do?”


    Ein went over to the windows and peered out. “Too far down.”


    “I doubt they’d put us here if we could just jump out the window and escape.”


    “You’d be surprised by the stupidity of egomaniacs.”


    “Do you know who they are?”


    “I have some suspicions. Though, their real identity doesn’t matter.”


    “If we have to fight them, isn’t it important to know what they’re capable of?”


    “Sure. What we have to do is get away from here and rally everyone in Nexus against these madmen and women, then find our way to Sanctum and see who and what remains of the Slayers.”


    “What about your sister?”


    “Knowing Sofia, she’s already the leader of the resistance.”


    “Resistance?”


    Ein gave Sarien a serious look. “Son. Wherever there’s oppression, there is a resistance. Always.”


    A low bark sounded from the entrance to the bedroom, almost as if Daisy wanted them to keep their voices down.


    Sarien gave the dog a stern look. “I think it’s time you tell me who you really are. Do you really work for my mother?” Sarien frowned. “Are you really a dog?”


    Daisy tilted his head to the side, then grinned. Actually grinned.


    Sarien blinked and in the time between his eyelid closing and opening, Daisy disappeared. A girl stood in the dog’s place, waving and giggling. She was short, probably of a height with Kax, with messy fair hair, pale skin, and cheeks dusted with freckles.


    “Hiya!”


    “Who are you?”.


    “I’m Daisy, dummy! Well, that’s not my actual name, but I quite like it. Hart named me just fine, don’t cha think?”


    Ein took a hesitant step closer. “You’re the dog?”


    She pointed with both fingers and made a clicking noise with her throat. “Right you are, Einy!”


    “It’s Ein.”


    “Sure thing, Einy!”


    Daisy wore a short white sleeveless tunic speckled with mud. Similarly, her pants were dirty and ended well above a pair of scraped knees.


    “Who are you? How do you know my mother?”


    “It’s a long story. I’m her daughter.” Daisy paused, before smiling. “Well, maybe not such a long story.” She glanced at Ein. “I’m not yours, if that’s what you’re thinking, Einy.”


    “Anja has another d-daughter?” Ein stammered. “Didn’t take her long to forget me.”


    Daisy’s cheery expression fell. “Yeah, well it wasn’t like she wanted to. Wanted me, really. You know?” She pulled one of those white masks from behind her back and held it over her face. When she spoke again, it was with a fair approximation of Anja’s voice. “Having you was my duty, daughter. We must all do our duties. Now clean your room and stop pretending you’re a worm! Duty duty duty.”


    Daisy removed the mask and broke it into two against her knee before tossing it aside. “Parents, eh?”


    “You’re my sister?” Sarien asked, dumbfounded.


    Daisy broke out into a brilliant smile and charged at Sarien. She flung her thin arms around him and squeezed him with incredible strength. “Brother! Well, half-brother!”


    “You’re actually Anja’s daughter?”


    “Sure am!”


    “Who is your father?” Ein asked, his face a dark red.


    “No one.”


    “Impossible,” Sarien said, glancing at his father for confirmation. Things might work differently outside of Maydian, after all.


    Ein sighed. “Just tell us, little girl.”


    “Little? I’m almost fifteen!”


    Only a few years Sarien’s junior. His mother really hadn’t waited long before giving up on her other family.


    Sarien dropped into a chair with a thud. Exhaustion was catching up to him. “Forget it.”


    “No,” Daisy said. “You deserve to know.”


    “Then tell us,” Ein demanded.


    She fidgeted, chewed her thumbnail, scrunched up her face, then shouted, “Fine!” The word came out as a bark, sounding like her old form. “It’s the Prime! There, happy now?”


    “What? How!?” Ein couldn’t contain his shock and Sarien wasn’t far behind.


    “Wyndemir and my mother?”


    “Our mother,” Daisy corrected him.


    “That is impossible,” Ein decided. “She would never do that. A Prime can’t… Impossible!”


    Daisy shied back from the force of Ein’s words. “Sorry, but it’s very possible. I’m standing right here, aren’t I?”


    “She’s lying.”


    “Can you please tell us more?” Sarien asked. “Are you the child of Wyndemir?”


    “No.”


    “See? Told you she was lying,” Ein said.


    “They call me Spawn. A Spawn of the Prime of Chaos. What a mouthful, huh?”


    “How?”


    “My dear father needed ties to this world to escape his prison. As a way to seed his essence into the outside world, he needed someone willing to carry his Spawn. The Council had just learned of your existence. Just a small boy then.” She held her hand near her hip. “A child between a Wayfarer and a Slayer? They didn’t like that at all!”


    “What happened?”


    “They wanted you dead, gone, no more. Mother pleaded with them. The usual you know, ‘Don’t kill my son’, ‘I’ll do anything’,” she rolled her hand in the air. “Et cetera, et cetera.”


    “They forced her to carry Wyndemir’s Spawn,” Ein breathed.


    “Right again, Einy! And thus, I was made through a wayfaring union between an imprisoned Prime and a damsel in distress. A story as old as time.”


    Sarien’s heart ached for his mother. She’d sacrificed herself to save him, and he hadn’t even known.


    “What does that make you? Are you a Wayfarer?”


    She shook her head.


    “A Prime?”


    She laughed.


    “What then?”


    “I already told you. I am a Prime Spawn. Don’t know much about it, but I’m like one of the Halvgudar. Quite the sister to have, eh?”


    “And you can turn into a dog.”


    Daisy brightened. “I like dogs. Also worms. Want to see me become a worm?”


    “Maybe later. So, being an almost Halvgud means you’re a shapeshifter? Like the kozimuz?”


    She shuddered. “I did not like that one. Did you know it attacked me when you were stumbling around in the woods?”


    “It impersonated you.”


    Daisy made a fearsome face and squeezed her hand into a fist. “Should’ve bashed that dirty thing into the ground! Only mother said I was not allowed to intervene.”


    “Why not?”


    “If she’s the Spawn of a Prime, you better be careful, son,” Ein said.


    “Since this all happened, Daisy has been with me for longer than you have, father. We can trust her.”


    Daisy’s cheeks reddened and her lower lip started to tremble. “Sarien!” She threw herself into his embrace again.


    Ein rolled his eyes and went to lie down on the bed.


    “Mother had an understanding with the rest of the Council. Even with my existence, they didn’t like that you were around, poking about in Wyndemir’s world. They made a deal. She wasn’t allowed to contact you and they would leave you alone. Both mother and I were surprised they held up their part of the bargain when we found out you could do both, you know? The black and the white. Love the shape yours takes, by the way.”


    “She sent you to keep an eye on me instead?”


    Daisy swayed a little back and forth where she stood. “Dear mother sent me to deliver the message, but nothing else. Figured I could stick around a little longer if I kept the note hidden. Didn’t want to come back here. Then when you actually did get the message about not to sending Einy away, it was already too late. Sorry about that.”


    “It turned out fine in the end, I suppose.”


    “What they’re doing is evil, you know?”


    “Who?” Sarien asked, taken aback by her sudden seriousness. His sister was jumping between emotional states faster than he could follow.


    “The Council. Mother. It isn’t right. That’s why I didn’t want to come back, see? You needed to know, but I didn’t know how to tell you. Your father coming to find mother was good. It meant that you would follow.”


    “You’re not on their side then.”


    “There can be only one side. A Prime has no business getting involved in matters beyond the forces of nature.”


    “I’m going to kill Wyndemir,” Sarien said. He’d known he had to since the start but saying it out loud made it real.


    Daisy threw her fists into the air. “That’s the spirit!”


    “You don’t mind? He’s your father.”


    “Yes, well. He hasn’t been the greatest father figure, you know?” She craned her neck to peer into the bedroom where Ein snored loudly. “Another thing we have in common, eh?”


    Sarien sat back. His eyelids grew heavy. When did he sleep last?


    “I’m glad you revealed your true form to me. Do you know if there is a means of escape?”


    She sat on the floor and scratched herself behind the ear in a very dog-like gesture. “The problem with the wayfaring is that you’re easily tracked. You can leave, but they’ll find you again.”


    “What do you suggest? I’m not joining them.”


    “No, we should definitely leave! Unless you want to start walking around with one of those awful masks.”


    “So how do we get out? What do we do next?”


    “Leaving is easy. I can go whenever I want, comes natural to me. For you two? The little trick they played on you only works in select areas within these walls.” She nodded toward the closed windows before getting down to the floor and curling up into a small ball. When she spoke again, it was a tired mumble. “As to how to beat my father? I haven’t the faintest.”


    Daisy began snoring and Sarien couldn’t keep from following her into sleep, no matter how much he struggled against it.