Crystal Throne (Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

that when I was younger,” Bren said with a weak laugh.
    “So do I,” Thad replied his voice catching slightly on the words.
    The two sat in an eerie silence; nether knowing what to say to the other. After the silence became deadening Thad stood up and went back to his bed. He found the cushions no more comfortable than before, but he was tried and when one was tried even a rock would look appealing after a while.

CHAPTER IV

    As the days went by, Thad found little chance to talk to Bren. It wasn’t as if his son was never alone, it was that each time he saw him it didn’t feel right. Besides watching Bren’s back, Thad spent most of the quiet days looking around at the scenery.
    For the past two days, Thad had seen what appeared to be buildings in the distance. At first he thought it was a large mountain, but the closer they came the more clear it became. They were massive, tall, and just like everything else, they were made of gems. Once Thad knew they were buildings, he thought that they would reach them in a matter of hours, but as the days passed and the buildings grew closer, he began to be amazed. He had seen tall buildings such as the tower he had helped build, but that was like comparing a blade of grass to a tree. The tower had no more than ten floors, but some of the buildings he was seeing in the distance were easily four or five times that height.
    Thad had met a few of the gods during his travels when he was younger, but the few meetings he had with them had not made them friends. Just as Thad started to feel utterly alone Humanius dropped back and started to walk beside him.
    “You have been keeping to yourself for the past few days,” Humanius said. “Even when you wanted nothing more than to cut out my heart you would still talk. Is there something on your mind my friend?”
    “Many things,” Thad said nearly laughing to himself. “The magic here is so strong I have to constantly drain it away. Then there is my son who I am finding it hard to connect with. At the same time, I have found myself alone with only my staff for company. It is not the first time I have been alone, but it’s different this time. There are people around me, but everything and everyone feels so distant.”
    “You are home yet nothing is the same as you remember it,” Humanius said. “That is completely understandable. You son is ages older than when you last saw him in person and though you watched him it is not the same as having been there with him as he grew. To make things worse, instead of a grand reunion your life has forced you to come on a journey that you and I both know will most likely take your life.”
    “I could live through it,” Thad replied. “It’s just not very likely,” he added with a smile.
    “Let us place the hard topics aside for now,” Humanius said. “What do you think of my homeland so far?”
    “It is unique,” Thad replied. “I can see why you and your sister have such strong magical powers if you came from here.”
    “It was not always like this,” Humanius said as he looked in the distance. “Long ago there was real grass and trees. You must understand that it has been more than ten thousand years since I have been home. I don’t know when the wall fell nor how long afterwards my homeland was turned into this.”
    “Does it bother you?” Bren asked his godly friend.
    “Yes and no,” Humanius replied. “I have been gone so long I find it really hard to see this as my home. The only things that I loved here were my sister and my father, and my father is long past gone and my sister is still here with me. In all honestly, we lived less than five hundred years in this land so if I had to choose, your world is also my own.”
    “I guess that should be comforting,” Thad said. “At the moment though it doesn’t seem to really matter.”
    “What could matter more,” Humanius replied. “As I told you, there are countless worlds, and for over thirty years hundreds of