VESSA!
She raced through portal after portal at impossible speeds, worlds flowing past like debris in a gale.
There was no trace of the sage anywhere.
Krush.
As if from a great distance—a spiritual distance, not merely the physical divide between them—she heard Drishya call her.
It was time to face the tyrant, the one that Drishya had been born to kill.
This was what she had been preparing for the past few years, training for under Vessa’s tutelage, building her strength for, waiting for.
The time to end her father’s evildoing once and for all.
Where was Vessa now when she needed him most?
Guruji, she cried, please tell me what to do!
There was no answer.
She clenched her fists in frustration back in the wagon. She was mad enough to scream and did so. Here in the portals, the action reflected as a storm of worlds, swirling and spinning around her. As chaos in some distant universe.
Vessa!
But he was nowhere to be found, or sensed. Not so much as a scent trail.
She came to terms with the fact that she was alone. Not entirely alone, because she still had Drishya, but he could not do what she could. His goal was singular: to kill Tyrak. But he was a being of great power, an actual avatar of some mysterious stone god. Perhaps he could help?
She raced back toward him.
Him, she found easily enough.
Brother, she cried out, I need your help.
He paused a fraction before replying, And I yours, sister. I am already face-to-face with my quarry. I cannot leave off now.
My mother, my family, everyone I love is in grave danger. I cannot face the threat alone. I need your strength combined with mine.
Another long pause, during which she could sense the approaching dust clouds, almost feel the thrumming of the wagon beneath her supine body as the attacking army came closer, the hooves of a million dromads drumming the desert floor like a battalion of war drums.
Then he replied with a tone so full of sadness that Krush knew he wanted dearly to help her but had no choice:
I must fulfill my destiny first. It is my Auma.
Krush cried out in despair.
Do what you can, sister. I will join you as soon as I am able. If I am able.
And then he was gone.
Krush hung in darkness, spinning around as she tried to think of something, anything.
Finally, she knew there was no other way, she had no choice.
She would have to do as she had done in the earlier instance, against the deadwalkers.
She would have to fight the attacking army herself. Alone.
She tightened her jaw, held up her clenched fists, and flew toward it.