The Name of All Things (A Chorus of Dragons #2)

by Jenn Lyons

The small open space under the lake fell into silence. “Why?” Relos Var asked at last, tilting his head. “You were going to kill him,” Brother Qown said. “I was not,” Var protested. “I need him alive for my plans to succeed.” Brother Qown nodded. “Good.” Tears rolled down his cheeks. “Because at least you have a plan. Because you’re the only one who has a plan. I don’t think the gods do.” “Give them some credit. The Eight have a plan. Unfortunately for all of us, it’s a really bad plan,” Relos Var said. “They want a stopgap measure, something quick and certain to buy them, oh a few centuries at most. But we only have one immortal race left who could seal Vol Karoth back in his tomb. Even if the vané sacrifice their ageless existence to re-imprison Vol Karoth, what will we do then? When this inevitably fails, just as the last measures did?” Relos Var snorted. “The demons will be free. A broken god who wants nothing more than to devour the universe will be free. And do you know what the worst part is, Qown?” Brother Qown wiped the tears from his face. “No?” “The worst part is those things I just mentioned are not the worst part. Every living creature on either side of the Veil will be destroyed long before Vol Karoth sates his hunger. The worst thing isn’t Vol Karoth and it isn’t the demon hordes—it’s a flaw in the universe. And every minute and every second, that flaw grows a little larger. It won’t stop until our entire universe is ripped apart. And that is our real enemy.”