Into a Dark Realm Read Online Free PDF Page B

returned the honor.
    “Do you know why I’m here?” asked Pug.
    “A grave threat approaches, faster than you think, but…”
    “What?” asked Pug.
    “It is not what you think it to be.”
    “The Dasati?”
    “They are involved, and are the primary cause at this point, but there is a much larger danger behind them.”
    “The Nameless?”
    “More.”
    Pug was stunned. From his perspective, there could be nothing “more” in the universe than the Greater Gods. He gathered his wits. “How can there be a greater threat than the Nameless?”
    “I can only tell you this, Pug of Crydee: across the expanse of time and space the battle between good and evil transcends all else.
    “What you perceive is but the smallest part of this struggle. It is ageless, begun before the first of the Aal rose from the mud of our homeworld, and it will endure until the last star is extinguished. It is part of the very fabric of reality, and all creatures struggle within that conflict, even if they are unaware of it.
    “Some beings live their entire lives in peace and security, while others struggle without letup. Some worlds are virtual paradises while others are ceaseless wretchedness. Each in its own fashion is part of a much larger balance, and as such, each a vital battleground in this struggle. Many worlds are in balance.” The Oracle paused for a moment, then said, “Some worlds are teetering on the brink.”
    “Midkemia?”
    The great dragon head nodded. “Your lifetime is long compared to other mortals, but in this struggle, what will come to this world occurs within the blink of a god’s eye.
    “Midkemia has been too long without the influence of the Goddess of Good. What you and your Conclave have begun has blunted the Nameless One’s efforts for a century and more.
    “But he lies sleeping, and his minions are but dreams and memories, powerful by your measure, but nothing compared to what would be faced should he awaken.”
    “Is he waking?”
    “No, but his dreams are more fevered, and his cause is embraced by another, a being even more powerful and deadly.”
    Pug was stunned. He could not imagine any being more powerful and deadly than the God of Evil. “What sort of being could possibly…” He could not finish the question.
    “The Dark God of the Dasati,” said the Oracle.
     
    Pug materialized in his study. He took one quick glance around the room to see if he was alone, for his wife often curled up in the corner to read in peace when he was absent. He was shaken by what the Oracle had told him. He had thought himself a man of experience, one who had faced calamitous events and survived, one who had seen countless horrors and endured, one who had confronted Death in her very hall and returned to the realm of life. But this was beyond any ability he had to comprehend, and he felt overwhelmed. More than anything, at this moment he wished to go somewhere quiet and sleep for a week. Yet he knew such feelings were only the result of theshock he had experienced, and would soon pass once he began grappling with the problems at hand. Ah, but there was the rub, as the old expression ran: where to begin? With a problem as immense as the one now confronting the Conclave, he felt like a baby asked to move a vast mountain with his tiny hands.
    He went to a cabinet in the corner and opened it. Inside were several bottles, one containing a strong drink Caleb had brought to him the year before. Kennoch whisky: Pug had developed a fondness for it. He also had a set of crystal cups given to him by the Emperor of Kesh recently, and he poured a small dram of the drink.
    Sipping the pungent yet flavorful and satisfying drink, he felt its warmth spread through his mouth and down his throat. He closed the cabinet and moved across to a large wooden box sitting upon a bookcase. It was simple in design, yet beautifully carved, acacia wood, put together with dovetailing and glue, without a single nail of brass or iron. He set aside