The D'Karon Apprentice Read Online Free PDF

at the dragon. “I
trust your meeting with the queen went well?”
    She looked to him doubtfully. “Come with me,
Father. There is much that needs to be discussed.”
    #
    At the edge of a yawning chasm stood a figure
of unnatural beauty. It looked to be the form of a woman shaped
from the stone of the mountain itself, and her unblinking eyes
gazed down into the blackness of the abyss below. The place was
known as Lain’s End, and the figure was Ether. She was a guardian
of her world, crafted by the gods themselves for the sole purpose
of turning back the dark menace of the D’Karon. Now that task was
complete, and she was faced, for the first time in eternity, with a
future without purpose. Her path from this point was hers to
choose, but freedom was uncomfortable to her. So she chose not to
look forward. Instead, she looked back, lingering here at the site
of her final meaningful act, and her greatest failure.
    For those lucky enough to have seen it,
Lain’s End was a wonder to behold. It was a gouge in the earth,
many miles across and with sides perfectly straight and extending
farther down than the eye could see. The pit was circular, save
where it curved in upon itself to a narrow point sticking up from
the southern side. It was at this point that the Chosen had taken
their stand, joining their strength to push back the cataclysm that
had swallowed nearly all in its path. What it spared from
destruction was perhaps even more awe-inspiring than the pit. Great
sections of land remained suspended in the air, some shifting and
spinning, others stationary. No two of these floating bits of
debris seemed to be the same. Some were lush and green, sprouting
with junglelike plants despite the icy cold. Others looked to have
been formed entirely from precious metals. It was a spectacle
unmatched anywhere in Ether’s world, but it did not interest her.
All she saw when she came to this place was one simple bit of
stone, just beyond the edge of the outcropping. The patch of rock
was stained black with the shadowy remains of a terrible being
known as Bagu. From the center of the silhouette stood a
masterfully crafted sword. And on either side of the remains was a
pair of footprints, etched into the stone itself. It was all that
remained of the mighty warrior known as Lain. He had given his name
to this tragic place, and his life to protect this world.
    Ether would linger here for days at a time,
gazing down into the darkness or staring at the sword. Her mind
fixated on what she saw. None of it made sense to her. She was
Chosen. A product of the gods. Unlike Myranda, Myn, or Ivy, she had
taken her place in history as she was intended to. She had
not been changed, and she was no replacement. The only one who
could say the same was Lain. The two of them were unequaled in
their world. They belonged together, even if Lain hadn’t yet
realized it. She had allowed him time to come to the proper
conclusion. Both were immortal, after all. They had the luxury of
time… but then he had fallen. He who should have lasted until the
end of time by her side had been taken. There was no sense to it.
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. And if he could fall, then what of
her? What did her future hold? Until now she had been an immortal
protector of her world, but if she was not immortal, and her world
no longer required her protection… then what was she?
    As the sun circled the sky again and her mind
spiraled ever deeper into this confounding riddle, she felt a
flutter in the back of her consciousness. It was difficult to know
how long it had been there. She struggled a bit to identify it.
Lately pulling her mind to order was more difficult than it had
been. After a few moments she heard the flutter become a voice. It
was one of the others… Myranda. The human was calling out to her,
requesting her presence. Ether’s stony eyes narrowed. It was likely
nothing, a ceremony or a celebration or some other mortal
foolishness. Myranda seemed to