Waybound (Cradle, #12)

by Will Wight

“Was Suriel the one that granted you these powers?” Li Markuth asked. He still worked for a way out. “Suriel and Ozriel,” Lindon said.

“We were taxed for overuse of the Worldline, but now none of those rules can be enforced. Everyone knows it’s killing us, but they can’t stop using it. If you were to write a new code and show off a little—maybe fire some plasma bolts or whatever your weapons can do—then people would follow it for fear of getting disintegrated by alien weapons.” Ziel scratched between his horns. “I feel like you just need someone in charge who’s going to maintain the Worldline.” “Exactly! Who are you going to appoint? Not me, I hate this job.” Dross could show Ziel exactly what was involved with this, but he’d run a sect before. He already felt the truth in his gut. This would involve meeting candidates, establishing his own identity, soothing scared people, making promises, writing rules, hearing out all the sides to every issue, and ultimately making a decision that the colonists would hate him for. “Do you have a monster I can fight?” Ziel asked. She offered him a pen. “Sorry.” “…do you think you could find one?” “Are there monsters on your planet?” she asked excitedly. Ziel heaved a sigh and picked up the pen.

Not a single word of the man’s sentence was familiar to Lindon. It almost didn’t sound like speech. Dross? Lindon asked. [Did you expect me to be able to translate that?] Dross asked blankly. I hoped that maybe, with a deeper connection to the Way… [This is a world I’ve never heard of. The man says five words, and you expect me to have reverse-engineered an entire alien language.]

Kareia,

Meanwhile, the Abidan had turned his face away from his opponent to regard Lindon. “You finally made it!” Akura Fury said happily. [It’s amazing how relieving a familiar face can be,] Dross observed. [Especially when he’s saving us.]

“Did someone say, ‘Where’s Eithan?’” Eithan cried. He popped out literally from nowhere, his white hair standing in stark contrast to his black armor. [Not yet,] Dross pointed out. Eithan beamed at Lindon, holding him by the shoulders and looking him up and down. “Well, well, that’s a fine pair of Icons you have there. Ozmanthus Arelius would be proud, may his name live in eternal handsomeness. And what an aesthetic you’ve chosen! You know I do love bright colors, but there’s something timeless about the stark black and white. We match!” To his own embarrassment, tears welled up in Lindon’s eyes. “Hello, Eithan. We…I missed you.” Eithan’s smile shook. He stayed frozen for another long moment, then he hauled Lindon violently into a hug. “Thank you,” Eithan said quietly.

Eithan threw his hands up to the sky. “Lindon, my home is yours! And more importantly, your home is mine. Add whatever you like.” “It will take up quite a bit of space,” Lindon warned him. Eithan smiled broadly. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” “What did you bring?” Mercy asked. “The labyrinth,” Lindon said. He started to stretch his spiritual perception to the end of the Grave, getting rough measurements. Ziel stared. “All of it?” [All of it,] Dross confirmed.

“How did it encourage you?” “I’m not sure I know the right words, but it gave me perspective.” Lindon held up the marble and looked through it, to the planet below. “It helped me believe that one day, I would be up here with you.” Suriel smiled. “Then it served its purpose better than I could have ever imagined.”

“How can you face that?” the prince asked. “That’s not an enemy, that’s…the end.” Lindon lifted into the air and turned to face the Fiend. Dark fire kindled in his hand. “No,” Lindon said. “I am the end.”

“Worst book in the series,” Eithan declared. Lindon shrugged. “I don’t know, I liked it. Lots of powering up. What’s your criteria for a good book?” “Percentage of Eithan. The more lines I have, the better the book. This one didn’t have nearly enough Eithan for my taste.” “You weren’t in the first one either,” Lindon pointed out. “Oh, but I was there in spirit.”

In a world that still seemed frozen, Yerin pulled her sword back almost casually. An image formed in the sky at the motion. Not a sword. A vast, smiling face with twinkling blue eyes. “Die,” Yerin ordered. And at Yerin’s command, the Eithan Icon descended on Akura Malice.

Yerin clung to the edge of the cliff by the tips of her fingers. Lindon peered down at her. “What are you doing?” he asked. Yerin shrugged as best she could while still hanging onto the cliff. “Not sure. I hear we’re supposed to end books this way.” “Not this one.” “Really?” “Yeah, this is the last book in the series.” He reached out a hand to pull her up. “Now we don’t hang onto cliffs, we rest on flat, open, empty ground with nothing left to look forward to and only an all-consuming sense of emptiness.” Yerin looked around her, seeing nothing. “That sounds worse.” “It is worse. But hey!” He clapped her on the shoulder. “At least we’re not hanging on a cliff.”