Dragons of Marak: Book 1, Wings & Sword

#22

 Leti had sat in silence the whole carriage ride to the union president's office.

On the blank sheets of paper she'd taken, Ana had hurriedly added a fifth term to the contract, one that outlawed Perez industries from harming dragons. Then she had signed the document.

It had been rushed, but Cee had looked over it. He'd thought it sounded great. It wasn't until later that night, as they unwound over tacos, that Leti mentioned Luka.

"I think we should go to the Iron Obelisk and demand to see him," she said. "If that doesn't work, we should bribe the dragonbounds there."

Ana nodded, silently contemplating Leti's ideas, though she wasn't so confident those ideas would work. She left unsaid her exact plans. She was becoming more and more convinced that she would have to use force to free her friend.

"How does that ring work anyway?" Leti asked.

Ana slid the Golden Ring off her middle finger where it rested. She held it up to the light, and considered Leti's question.

Then she made a snap decision. She aimed the ring at the ceiling, then twirled it through the air. It let out a rippling stream of purple liquid, which floated in the air like a gas. It swirled above them and formed a large sphere, then the liquid became more dense and gooey in texture. It bubbled.

"What in the Uniter..." Leti said. She didn't take her eyes off the entrance to the distorted realm.

"It looks like purple acid," Taea remarked, her eyes also glued to it.

"It's called the distorted realm," Ana said.

Cee huddled behind the back of her head, cautious, wet on her scalp. Leti, Taea, Pero, and Sil stood up as the mass swirled, gazing into the viscous purple and black with curiosity. Nobody moved to touch it, however.

"When the ring is spun, a portal opens," Ana said, explaining how it worked. "I've been told that what's on the other side is a parallel world. It has laws of physics different than our own. It's called the distorted realm. You can move through it, and then when you exit, you're in a different place than where you entered."

"So it's like a secret passageway that goes anywhere," Leti said. "Could it be used to find Luka?"

"Probably not," Ana said. Leti certainly was thinking about Luka a lot. "The distorted realm is only roughly parallel to our world. For escaping the Obelisk, it worked well. But for re-entering the Obelisk, it would be incredibly hard to use. I tried to find him a dozen times after I lost him. But most often I ended up in the sky around the building, and when I didn't, I accidentally landed near the dragonbounds that I wished to avoid."

"What do you mean?" said Taea, evidently still confused about how it worked.

"The sphere above is a portal," Ana said. "If you were to pass through it, you would enter the distorted realm, though I wouldn't advise it. From within, if you were to spin the ring again, like I did just now, it would open a portal back to our realm. The location of the portal in our world would change based on where you opened the portal. The distorted realm is roughly parallel to our realm, but for some reason, it doesn't seem to match up, exactly..."

Ana swirled the ring again between two of her fingers, and the portal unraveled, consumed by the ring once more. Ana placed the ring back onto her middle finger. She snatched up a taco. The last one on the plate.

"Once my father returns, we'll use the contract to ensure his operations stay shut down at the Obelisk," Ana said. "Since I have the ring, some of those operations are already halted. If Jack is successful, the dragons he's already captured should be set free soon as well. Hopefully, he will also manage to free Luka and Ashwell. If not...then we can try your plan, Leti."