The Chosen: the Age of Corbin Tyler the Undying

Part 2: Chapter 17

I sat in the library of the manor. Two months had passed since I had killed Diana. The thought still made me feel horrible inside, but I knew it had to happen. 

I was reading a book I had read a thousand times: The Failed Chosen. At first glance, it seemed like a children's book, but I asked Tritan about it, and he had told me that every book in the library was based in reality. 

He had also told me that every book ever written was based on real events. The authors have dreams, or they see their works in their minds, and what they see is actually glimpses into other dimensions. So even if the author thinks they came up with it on their own, the truth is that they are only seeing glimpses of real events somewhere in the Rift. 

The Failed Chosen was basically about a Chosen - like me - from another dimension who had been incredibly powerful, and when he went to fight Naught, the Chosen killed him, but was too late to do so, and in the process, lost his home. His entire dimension was reduced to a swarming chaos of rubble and bits and pieces of worlds. 

The book was sad, in a way, but it also was insightful. I learned some of the things that Naught could do. 

He lived up to the name. Naught was basically destruction incarnate. Wielding the scythe called Torment, he was able to reduce anything he wanted to rubble and ruin. 

He was a skilled fighter, and not one to be trifled with. But by then, I was pretty sure I would have become strong enough to at least take him down with me. 

"Corbin," Tritan called to me. 

I looked up from the book. 

"I think it's time," he said with a sigh. 

"To what?" 

"To take you to Serenadia," Tritan told me, turning around and heading out again. 

I stood up and sent the book back to its spot on the shelf, then followed Tritan.

"Why now? What changed?"

"I can no longer deny the need for you to gain knowledge," Tritan explained. "Knowledge that I don't have here. But also, to petition the governor of this Dimensional Region about reinstating Boleria as a trade center."

"Why?"

"It will help us maintain a good defense, as well as a cover for your family who will likely be made targets, and also because it will give us direct access to everything we might need."

"Clever."

"I was in your shoes once, Corbin, I know how the game works."

He led me down the stairs to where Katrina, Rebecca, and Alexa were all waiting. 

He leapt up onto Alexa's shoulders. "Let's get going. Unfortunately, we don't have an invitation, so we will have to walk."

"Walk?" I asked. But Tritan didn't answer, he simply warped us all away. 

It was different. The best way to describe teleporting was like walking through a door. Crossing the threshold from one dimension and into another. This time, there was no other dimension. It felt like we had started crossing the threshold but were then stopped and were caught in this space between dimensions. 

We landed in the middle of a field. I looked around and as far as the eye could see, there was grass. There was a path in front of me, and it stretched basically straight on forever.

"Where are we?" I asked. 

"This is The Path," Alexa told me. "Anyone who wants to get to one of the Thirteen Capitals without an invitation has to take it."