Page 25 of Shattered Darkness
“It’s Tetraromanis,” Cole explains, “it's an incredibly rare gemstone that’s only found in the mountains in the Dragon Realm, which, as you know, is completely off-limits to outsiders, and the dragons actually very rarely leave. Very little is known about the Realm; apart from if they really wanted to, they are strong enough that there is a chance that they could take over this Realm. They have a history of conquering Realms but they haven’t done it for a few centuries now and mostly stay in their own Realm, no one really knows why.”
I just stare at him, “Okay, I actually had no idea about any of that.”
“I know they existed and that they were reclusive, but I had no idea about any of the rest of it,” Erin replies.
“They absolutely fascinate me, but like I said, there is very little knowledge on them, and I have never even heard of one of them being in the Fae Realm. But there have been rumors that there are a few here. There are so few of them, and they stick to their reclusive nature and keep to themselves,” Cole replies.
“That is so fucking cool,” I reply, and I’m instantly intrigued by these dragons and want to know as much as I can about them, although I am aware that now is not the time to be doing that kind of research. I do put a pin in it though, so that I remember to come back to it later.
“It is, but my point in mentioning them is that it’s confusing how so many of these gems have ended up here and in possession of the teachers,” Cole points out, getting us back on track.
“Someone either has a nearly impossible connection to a dragon that is smuggling these gemstones out or, even more impossibly, they can get in,” I reply, as the wheels in my head start turning, and the implications make themselves known.
“That’s a big deal,” Erin says and then adds, “but he’s a God, so wouldn’t that make sense as to how he got it?”
“It could,” Cole replies, “but there’s something I’ve noticed not just about Kronos but Nyx too; they can appear in dreams and visions, but I think they are very limited in how they interact with us. I mean, otherwise, why hasn’t the Goddess just turned up in our dorm room and explained everything? Introduced herself properly, and why hasn’t Kronos just outright killed us? Why does he have minions.”
“All very good points, but like you said, Kronos did fight Kai,” Erin replies.
“Yes, but Kai held his own pretty fucking well, and I think it’s safe to assume that Kronos wasn’t prepared for that,” Cole argues back.
“It’s an interesting hypothesis, and it would explain a lot,” I start when one of the books thumps to the floor and its pages start flicking rapidly.
When the pages finally stop moving, we all share a look.
“Someone should probably read that,” Erin states, not making any move toward the book at all.
When Cole doesn’t move either, I sigh and head toward it. The book is pretty fucking big, so instead of picking it up, I just kneel in front of it.
“According to this, there are only a handful of situations where a God or Goddess can physically be on the plane, and it comes with limitations.” I read.
“So, I was right,” Cole grins.
“Yeah, yeah.” Erin replies and then adds, “Is that all it says?”
“Erm, yeah, wait, no, hang on, it's changing,” I reply, the shock evident in my tone, as my eyes widen and the ink on the page moves and twirls as it reforms. It’s pretty fucking spectacular to watch, and I feel Cole and Erin come to stand behind me as they watch too.
“Whoa,” Erin mutters, “we’ve been in this world for a while now and seen some incredible things that I, for one, used to only think of as fiction, but despite that, I think that I’m fairly used to it until something like this happens and I’m awed all over again.”
“I know what you mean. Sometimes, something will happen, and I’ll have to pinch myself to remind myself that it’s real.” I agree.
“They’ve stopped moving,” Cole says, and even though we can read it ourselves, he reads out loud, “Kronos has a contact in the Dragon Realm, one of his followers.”
“Wow, okay, that was straight to the point and not what I’m used to at all,” I reply.
“Wait, Kronos has followers in the Dragon Realm?” Erin questions.
“That’s going to be a big fucking problem. I mean, no one can get in there, and I’m beginning to think that this is what it’s all been leading up to, that our end goal is to take out Kronos or at least loosen his grip on the supernatural’s and the control of the Order. Right from the very beginning, we’ve been up against the Order and, therefore, Kronos.” I reply.
It's fucking terrifying to think that’s our destiny, he’s a God, for fuck sake, and we’re not, not even close. We may be more powerful than some, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll be able to go up against a God and his hundreds, possibly thousands of followers.
“That’s insane. We can’t do that,” Cole replies, echoing my thoughts.
“You won’t be alone,” Nyx’s voice vibrates around the room.
On the one hand, it’s reassuring to know that it won’t all be on us, on the other hand, she’s pretty much just confirmed that I’m right and taking down Kronos is our end goal.
“That’s not in the least bit reassuring,” Erin says, clearly having heard the Goddess as well and summing it up well.