Julius swallowed. “That doesn’t sound very seer-like.”
“It’s not,” Bob agreed. “But I’m still confident, because it’s you.” He looked at Julius, his green eyes surprisingly serious. “You’ve only known me a short while, but I’ve known you almost my entire life. I’ve watched these last few months unfold in a million permutations, and in all those potential outcomes, even the tragic ones, you’ve never done less than your best. That’s all I could ever ask of my cornerstone piece, and it’s why I believe in you now. I know you, Julius. I don’t have to see the future to know that so long as there’s the tiniest chance of making this work, you’ll find it. And if you don’t, we’ll all be dead, so I’ll never know I was wrong. It’s called being an optimist.”
Julius would have called it crazy, but he never got to say so because Bob had already stepped back. “Time to go,” he said, lifting his Magician’s Fang. “Good luck!”
The seer hauled back as he finished, swinging his sword like a bat. The flat of the blade whacked Julius right across the middle, knocking the much smaller dragon high into the air just as the giant construct above them took a deep breath. The magic was so thick now, Julius could feel his feathers curling as the heat built and built and built. Finally, just when it seemed the air itself was about to combust, the construct of the future opened his mouth to release a gout of flame so huge and bright, it whited out the sky.
Julius went still so fast, he nearly fell out of the sky. The Black Reach’s fire was the most beautiful he’d ever seen. It was burning hot, but in that heat were more colors than he’d known existed, including the Quetzalcoatl’s famous green. If he hadn’t been in danger of melting, he could have happily watched it forever, but the lovely plume of deadly fire was already flying away, arcing like a solar flare to crash into the black underbelly of the Nameless End.
“NOW, HEARTSTRIKER,” Dragon Sees Eternity roared, his mouth dripping fire. “GO WITH THE FIRE NOW!”
Julius obeyed, pressing his wings tight to protect Marci as he shot into the geyser of fire like an arrow. As his vision went white, Julius closed his eyes, certain they were about to be burned to a crisp. There was just no way anything could survive fire this hot, and yet the magic didn’t consume him. It lifted him, carrying his snaking body like a leaf in a stream up to the Leviathan and through, past the melting wall of black congealed magic and into a deeper dark.
Chapter 14
After the chaos of the battle and their mad dive through the Black Reach’s kaleidoscope of fire, the sudden stillness inside the Leviathan felt like someone had pulled a plug on the world. The hole they’d flown through closed immediately, leaving Julius gasping in the dark, but while nothing hurt, he couldn’t see or feel his body, or anything else.
“Marci!” he called frantically, feeling around. “Marci!”
“I’m here,” Marci said, her voice surprisingly close. “But I can’t see you.”
“I can’t see you, either,” Julius said, his voice confused and frustratingly disembodied. The Black Reach had said his fire would protect them inside as well, but he couldn’t see a—
Light blossomed around him, making him jump. All over his body, the strange, thick darkness was boiling away to reveal a warm glow that came from below his feathers. It reached Marci a heartbeat later, revealing her face, and then her body in a slow unraveling as the light from his fire pushed back the dark. The change was primal and slow, but eventually it covered them both, surrounding them in a bubble of warm illumination that felt unspeakably old and fragile. The soft glow looked nothing like the brilliant multicolored fire outside, but it smelled strongly of the Black Reach, and when the flames crackled over Julius’s skin, they spoke in his voice.
You don’t have much time, the Black Reach’s fire whispered. I gave as much as I dared, but though he is not yet fully here, the Nameless End eats quickly. He will eat me too if you do not hurry.
“Then we’d better get moving,” Julius said, looking at the wall of liquid dark beyond the circle of the Black Reach’s flickering protection. “Any idea where to start?”
Marci shrugged helplessly, and the Black Reach said nothing. In hindsight, Julius wasn’t actually sure if he’d been talking to the construct himself, or if the words had been a message bottled up for him in the fire. Either way, it seemed they were alone in here for real now, assuming there was a “here” at all.
The inside of the Leviathan was empty in a way Julius had never felt. Even with the Black Reach’s fire illuminating the space directly around them, Julius wouldn’t have known there was a floor if his feet hadn’t been planted on it. It had no texture or temperature, no feeling of any sort. It was just… nothing. He couldn’t even smell the magic anymore, and the lack of it was making his dragon body feel heavier than ever. Much more of this, and he’d be forced back into his human shape whether he wanted it or not. Yet another timer they were going to have to beat to have a prayer of pulling this off. But just as Julius was wondering how one navigated through nothingness, his nose caught the faint scent of lake water.
His head shot up so fast Marci jumped. “I smell her,” he said, breathing deeply. “That way.”
He took a tentative step in the direction of the scent, pressing his foot down on the emptiness beneath them. But while there was no sensation at all—no movement, no solidity, not even the pressure of his own weight—he didn’t fall into the blackness, which was good enough.
“What are we walking on?” Marci asked, tapping her shoe against the blackness. “Leviathan guts?”
“Who knows?” Julius said. “We’re inside a Nameless End. Physics might not even apply here.”
“If that’s the case, why are we wasting time being cautious?” Marci asked, hopping back into position between his wings. “Let’s fly!”
Flying when you couldn’t see where you were going was a terrible idea. Technically, though, this entire journey was a terrible idea. Julius saw no point in being cautious now, so he spread his wings, pushing off the strange emptiness with his claws.