Princess Of The Skulls - Chapter 87: Chapter 87
You are reading Princess Of The Skulls, Chapter 87: Chapter 87. Read more chapters of Princess Of The Skulls.
The northern territories looked like a painting left unfinished by a mad artist.
Kael and I had been riding for three days through an increasingly strange landscape, and with each mile, the wrongness became more apparent. Trees grew in perfect geometric patterns that hurt to look at directly.
Streams flowed uphill in spirals that defied gravity. The very air shimmered with possibilities that shouldn't exist.
"There," I said, pointing to a village that appeared to be occupying the same space as its reflection, creating a disorienting double image. "That's where the reports originated."
"It looks like reality is trying to exist in two states simultaneously," Kael observed, his hand resting on his weapon, even though no conventional blade would be useful against whatever we were facing.
As we approached the village, I felt the skull relics around my neck growing warm. The spirits contained within them were agitated, their whispers urgent and overlapping as they tried to convey information about the dimensional instabilities surrounding us.
"The dead are afraid," I murmured, interpreting their chaotic messages. "They can feel the boundaries between life and death becoming blurred. Some of them are being pulled back toward physical existence, while others are being pushed deeper into whatever lies beyond."
"Is that what's causing the visual distortions?" Kael asked, gesturing to the way the village seemed to flicker between different versions of itself.
"Partly. But there's something else." I dismounted, pressing my hand to the ground and opening my enhanced senses fully. Through the skull magic, I could perceive the flow of power beneath the surface of reality, and what I found made my blood run cold.
"The dimensional seals aren't just holding," I said slowly, my understanding growing with each moment of contact. "They're overcorrecting. The magical working we performed was so powerful, so absolute, that it's creating a rebound effect. Reality is trying to compensate for the forced stability by becoming unstable in other ways."
Kael dismounted beside me, his expression grim. "How bad is it?"
"Bad enough that if we don't find a way to stabilize it, the entire northern region could collapse into dimensional chaos. Different from the invasion we stopped, but potentially just as destructive."
We entered the village cautiously, and I immediately understood why the residents had been reluctant to report their situation. The dimensional instabilities weren't just affecting the landscape—they were affecting the people themselves.
An elderly woman approached us, but as she walked, her image flickered between different ages. For a moment, she appeared as a young maiden, then as a middle-aged mother, and as the elderly grandmother she was. The effect was nauseating to watch and distressing for her to experience.
"Your Majesty," she said, her voice wavering between the different versions of herself. "We've been hoping someone would come. It's been getting worse every day."
"Tell me what you've experienced," I said gently, using the authority in my voice to provide some stability to her flickering form.
"Time doesn't work right anymore," she explained, her image solidifying slightly as she focused on my words. "Sometimes I remember things that haven't happened yet. Sometimes I forget things that have happened. My grandson aged five years in a single day last week, then reverted to his original age the next morning."
"And the other phenomena?" Kael asked, his trained eye cataloging the various impossibilities surrounding us.
"Objects appear and disappear. Conversations happen with people who aren't there. Dreams become real, then become dreams again." She gestured helplessly at the chaos around us. "We're losing our grip on what's actual and what's possible."
I closed my eyes and extended my senses further, trying to understand the pattern of the instabilities.
Through the skull magic, I could perceive the dimensional fabric itself, and what I saw was like looking at a cloth that had been stretched too tight in one direction, causing it to wrinkle and tear in others.
"The magical working we performed created a rigid barrier between dimensions," I explained to Kael. "But reality is inherently fluid. By making it too stable in one area, we forced the instability to manifest elsewhere."
"Can you fix it?" he asked, though I could hear in his voice that he already suspected the answer wouldn't be simple.
"Not alone," I admitted. "This requires the same kind of combined working that we used to seal the dimensional rifts. I'll need Father's ancient knowledge, and probably the participation of others who were involved in the original ritual."
"Aldric," Kael said, understanding immediately.
"And Master Dorian. Maybe even some of the spirits who survived the sealing process." I opened my eyes, looking around at the increasingly unstable village. "But first, we need to establish a temporary stabilization field. Something to hold the chaos at bay while we organize a proper response."
"What do you need me to do?" Kael asked, his willingness to trust my judgment complete despite the obvious dangers.
"Help me create an anchor point," I said, drawing on the skull magic to perceive the flow of dimensional energy. "If I can establish a fixed point of reality, something that can't be changed by the fluctuations, it should create a zone of stability around it."
"And the risk?" he asked, though he was already moving to support whatever I had planned.
"The anchor point has to be tied to something that exists simultaneously in multiple dimensional states," I explained, my hands moving to the skull relics. "Something that bridges life and death, past and future, possibility and actuality."
"You're going to use yourself as the anchor," he realized, his expression becoming alarmed.
"It's the only way. The skull magic exists in the spaces between states—that's what makes it so powerful and so dangerous. If I can tie the dimensional fabric to my existence, it should provide enough stability for the village to return to normal."
"And if something goes wrong?"
I met his eyes, seeing the fear there that he was trying to hide. "Then I could be torn apart by the competing dimensional forces, or trapped permanently between states of existence."
"There has to be another way," he said firmly.
"There isn't," I replied, echoing the words I had spoken before Mother's sacrifice. "But Kael, if this works, if I can stabilize the chaos, then we'll have proof that the skull magic can be used to repair dimensional damage, not just cause it. That knowledge could be invaluable for dealing with future crises."
He was quiet for a long moment, his internal struggle visible in his expression. Finally, he nodded. "What do you need me to do?"
"Stay close. If the anchoring process starts to pull me too far into the dimensional flux, you'll need to ground me back to physical reality."
"How?"
I smiled despite the gravity of the situation. "The same way you always have. By reminding me who I am when I'm not being the Queen of Bones."
Kael and I had been riding for three days through an increasingly strange landscape, and with each mile, the wrongness became more apparent. Trees grew in perfect geometric patterns that hurt to look at directly.
Streams flowed uphill in spirals that defied gravity. The very air shimmered with possibilities that shouldn't exist.
"There," I said, pointing to a village that appeared to be occupying the same space as its reflection, creating a disorienting double image. "That's where the reports originated."
"It looks like reality is trying to exist in two states simultaneously," Kael observed, his hand resting on his weapon, even though no conventional blade would be useful against whatever we were facing.
As we approached the village, I felt the skull relics around my neck growing warm. The spirits contained within them were agitated, their whispers urgent and overlapping as they tried to convey information about the dimensional instabilities surrounding us.
"The dead are afraid," I murmured, interpreting their chaotic messages. "They can feel the boundaries between life and death becoming blurred. Some of them are being pulled back toward physical existence, while others are being pushed deeper into whatever lies beyond."
"Is that what's causing the visual distortions?" Kael asked, gesturing to the way the village seemed to flicker between different versions of itself.
"Partly. But there's something else." I dismounted, pressing my hand to the ground and opening my enhanced senses fully. Through the skull magic, I could perceive the flow of power beneath the surface of reality, and what I found made my blood run cold.
"The dimensional seals aren't just holding," I said slowly, my understanding growing with each moment of contact. "They're overcorrecting. The magical working we performed was so powerful, so absolute, that it's creating a rebound effect. Reality is trying to compensate for the forced stability by becoming unstable in other ways."
Kael dismounted beside me, his expression grim. "How bad is it?"
"Bad enough that if we don't find a way to stabilize it, the entire northern region could collapse into dimensional chaos. Different from the invasion we stopped, but potentially just as destructive."
We entered the village cautiously, and I immediately understood why the residents had been reluctant to report their situation. The dimensional instabilities weren't just affecting the landscape—they were affecting the people themselves.
An elderly woman approached us, but as she walked, her image flickered between different ages. For a moment, she appeared as a young maiden, then as a middle-aged mother, and as the elderly grandmother she was. The effect was nauseating to watch and distressing for her to experience.
"Your Majesty," she said, her voice wavering between the different versions of herself. "We've been hoping someone would come. It's been getting worse every day."
"Tell me what you've experienced," I said gently, using the authority in my voice to provide some stability to her flickering form.
"Time doesn't work right anymore," she explained, her image solidifying slightly as she focused on my words. "Sometimes I remember things that haven't happened yet. Sometimes I forget things that have happened. My grandson aged five years in a single day last week, then reverted to his original age the next morning."
"And the other phenomena?" Kael asked, his trained eye cataloging the various impossibilities surrounding us.
"Objects appear and disappear. Conversations happen with people who aren't there. Dreams become real, then become dreams again." She gestured helplessly at the chaos around us. "We're losing our grip on what's actual and what's possible."
I closed my eyes and extended my senses further, trying to understand the pattern of the instabilities.
Through the skull magic, I could perceive the dimensional fabric itself, and what I saw was like looking at a cloth that had been stretched too tight in one direction, causing it to wrinkle and tear in others.
"The magical working we performed created a rigid barrier between dimensions," I explained to Kael. "But reality is inherently fluid. By making it too stable in one area, we forced the instability to manifest elsewhere."
"Can you fix it?" he asked, though I could hear in his voice that he already suspected the answer wouldn't be simple.
"Not alone," I admitted. "This requires the same kind of combined working that we used to seal the dimensional rifts. I'll need Father's ancient knowledge, and probably the participation of others who were involved in the original ritual."
"Aldric," Kael said, understanding immediately.
"And Master Dorian. Maybe even some of the spirits who survived the sealing process." I opened my eyes, looking around at the increasingly unstable village. "But first, we need to establish a temporary stabilization field. Something to hold the chaos at bay while we organize a proper response."
"What do you need me to do?" Kael asked, his willingness to trust my judgment complete despite the obvious dangers.
"Help me create an anchor point," I said, drawing on the skull magic to perceive the flow of dimensional energy. "If I can establish a fixed point of reality, something that can't be changed by the fluctuations, it should create a zone of stability around it."
"And the risk?" he asked, though he was already moving to support whatever I had planned.
"The anchor point has to be tied to something that exists simultaneously in multiple dimensional states," I explained, my hands moving to the skull relics. "Something that bridges life and death, past and future, possibility and actuality."
"You're going to use yourself as the anchor," he realized, his expression becoming alarmed.
"It's the only way. The skull magic exists in the spaces between states—that's what makes it so powerful and so dangerous. If I can tie the dimensional fabric to my existence, it should provide enough stability for the village to return to normal."
"And if something goes wrong?"
I met his eyes, seeing the fear there that he was trying to hide. "Then I could be torn apart by the competing dimensional forces, or trapped permanently between states of existence."
"There has to be another way," he said firmly.
"There isn't," I replied, echoing the words I had spoken before Mother's sacrifice. "But Kael, if this works, if I can stabilize the chaos, then we'll have proof that the skull magic can be used to repair dimensional damage, not just cause it. That knowledge could be invaluable for dealing with future crises."
He was quiet for a long moment, his internal struggle visible in his expression. Finally, he nodded. "What do you need me to do?"
"Stay close. If the anchoring process starts to pull me too far into the dimensional flux, you'll need to ground me back to physical reality."
"How?"
I smiled despite the gravity of the situation. "The same way you always have. By reminding me who I am when I'm not being the Queen of Bones."
End of Princess Of The Skulls Chapter 87. Continue reading Chapter 88 or return to Princess Of The Skulls book page.